DEC 1995 Britain's favourite magazine MORTAL KOMBAT MANIA PAGE 98 Consumer PC/TVs Mortal Kombat mania

● December 1995 £2.95

Pentium Pro Arrives: Viglen’s P6 Powerhouse Overseas Price £3.95 France 110 FF Germany DM 20,00 WIN a ● Italy 18,000 Lire Spain 1,225 PTS Malta Lm 2.85c Holland HFL 17,95 Belgium 364.00 BFr Notebook p.266 Group Tests : Anti-virus packages, Storage and backup media Finland FIM 49.50 Canada CAN$12.95 VNU Business Publications At home with your PC/TVsPC/TVs computer ● Office hybrids: printer/fax/scanner Pentium Pro arrives First glimpse of ●

HP Omnibook 600CT Viglen’s P6 Office hybrids Printer/

● fax/ RAM Doublers scanner RAM Doublers Memory for less? IF YOUR CD-ROM OR 3.5" DISK ARE MISSING Anti-Virus packages ASK YOUR NEWSAGENT Seven of the best tested

ALL HARDWARE TESTED BY THE VNU LABS VOL18 NO12 Group Test All sorts of storage stuff December 1995 PCW December 1995 Contents Regulars Hands On 110 Group Tests First Impressions 55 18 Newsprint PCTVs Storage and Backup 56 Gadgets Macro virus sweeps the world. Intel 134 launches the (P6) Pentium Pro. First 60 HP Omnibook 600 CT Cited as the next big growth Hardware look at “Pentium class” chip for hand- ● Often a secondary concern, storage and The latest model in Hewlett-Packard’s helds. Eight-speed CD drives. New area for PCs, the home Omnibook range will give your desktop print system sprouts cheap lasers. backup devices play an important part in com- a run for its money. computing market is all set Sony MD Data drive arrives. More on puting. As technology improves, prices fall and cheap CD recorder. Palmtops beat to explode. PCW tries out data expands. Gordon Laing tries 11 SCSI- new notebooks for novelty. Novell five housetrained systems based removable and rewritable hardware tries to plug into the world. New solutions. Netscape browser. Nokia shows from IBM, Apple, Packard mobile video link. PowerPC maverick 273 Introduction Bell, Olivetti and ICL/Fujitsu, launched. 274 to see who’s top dog. 276 Windows 166 Network Lasers 31 News Analysis 282 OS/2 ● Following on from November’s test of low 61 Intel Pentium Overdrive PCW Cover Photography by David Whyte • Tim Bajarin on the crisis at Apple 284 DOS cost and mid range lasers, Nick Lawrence and Intel’s Pentium Overdrive chip could • Wendy M Grossman on Frontier give your flagging 486 the extra push 286 32-Bit the PCW Labs share their findings on nine • Clive Akass questions notebook design you desire. 291 Word Processing Cover Disk network printers. 296 Spreadsheets 62 OfficeBlox for Windows 95 39 Sounding Off by Michael Hewitt 302 Databases The first Windows 95 and Office 95 308 Graphics & DTP 41 Homefront by Tim Nott or CD-ROM 210 Anti-Virus compliant component package. 314 Multimedia ● 43 Straight Talking by Barry Fox 318 Sound Cover Disk 8 64 Gateway Solo and Hi-Grade Software 324 Visual Programming EXCLUSIVE! This month we bring you ● Prevention is always Notino 45 Business Matters by Nick Beard 328 Low Level PhotoPlus Intro, the latest from Serif — it better than cure. Adrian Top notebooks boasting Pentium 46 Letters processors and multimedia, including 335 Numbers Count Mars tells you how to provides all the features you need to get amplified sound and CD-ROM drive. 338 Networks diagnose a problem and the best from your bitmaps. 357 PCW Marketplace The best 342 Comms tests the latest anti-virus 66 Evesham place to compare hardware 346 Macintosh Platinum Computer Answers ● PCW Interactive CD-ROM 9 software designed to and software prices. 349 maintain your PC as a 133MHz 352 Beginners 650Mb of software, shareware, features, This top of the picture of health. 358 Buyer’s Charter demos, music and more. range Pentium 133MHz PC is 679 ChipChat super-fast and Features feature packed.

Office Hybrids 86 68 Cubasis Audio RAM Doublers 182 Go digital with the latest in the Cubase CUTTING EDGE by SIMON ROCKMAN by TIM NOTT family of sequencers. 229 Introduction Screenplay: Fury3 When is a scanner not a scanner? When it’s a printer-cum- Hot on the heels of Connectix RAM Doubler are two more soft- photocopier-cum-fax. Why have one of each when a hybrid 72 ImageAXS ware utilities designed to increase your PC’s memory. Do they Keep track of your graphics files, and PCW Online product will do all these jobs and connect to your PC? really offer an alternative to extra hardware, or is it just a bit of those pesky audio and video clips. 231 Focus: Net-nanny software woolly thinking? 236 Net.answers 74 4920 Mortal Kombat 98 Net.news This low-cost colour laser printer will 240 Screenplay: by TIM GREEN Language Learning keep a mixed platform office workgroup (incorporating Net.surf) A new Pitfall What began as a violent but enjoyable arcade game has turned Software 188 happy whether or not the job’s colour. 247 Net.newbies into a multi-million pound marketing success. We investigate by ADELE DYER 77 Teleshares 2.0 its fatal attraction. PCW Futures Parlez-vous PC? Always wanted to learn a foreign language? Show some flair with those stocks and 249 Innovations shares. We look at the latest Windows releases to help you brush up 251 Horizons Pentium Pro (P6) 104 on your French, German and Spanish. 252 Bluesky by NICK LAWRENCE 253 Retro Computing We examine the technology behind the P6 and check out the How ‘The Program’ Was PCW Media CD-ROMs: Apollo 13 first prototype next-generation PC from Viglen. 199 Made 254 Books 78 Autoroute Express for Psion Books: by MALCOLM SUTHERLAND CD-ROMs CorelDraw 6 122 Series 3a 256 Interactive by ALEX GRAY “The Program” is a new consumer-orientated TV show, for Turn your trusty Psion 3a into a portable Internet PCW Fun The Windows 95 compatible version of CorelDraw is here, Granada, about computers. Find out from its director how routeplanner with this remarkably good 261 Kids’ Stuff along with enhanced photo editing, animation and 3D facilities. digital graphics editing made a serious series fun to watch. PC conversion. 266 Competition: Win a high-end Hi-Grade notebook or a new Delphi Tutorial: Part 2 202 Case Study: OS/2 160 Long Term Tests Nokia monitor by TIM ANDERSON by GEORGE COLE 267 Screenplay (with Leisure Lines, Part two of our Delphi programming tutorial beefs up last 82 Epson Gti-8000 Not everyone with a PC uses DOS and Windows: find out why page 270) Panasonic’s IT R&D manager likes staff to be Warped. month’s free disk space utility. 83 Logitech Scanman 32

6 7 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 ON THE CD DEC95 PCW INTERACTIVE: DECEMBER 1995 Entire Contents List DOUBLE DISK THE PROGRAM MAGAZINE CD of the Granada TV series on Access –– Your flexible tutorial friend. SUPER PACK computers exclusively produced On your CD-ROM and 3.5" for PCW. Celebrity interviews, PCW Delphi –– Drive space monitor. Disk this month: reviews, features PCW Index –– Reviews index. HANDS ON MIDI Professional MIDI tracks from Sound –– Superb sound files. Queen, Phil Collins and more Visual Basic Hands On –– Get your hands on it.

3.5" DISK ON THE DISK PROFITS WARNING 1 PHOTOPLUS - from Working share-dealing game Cover SHAREWARE Serif. Fully-featured bitmap demo editor with gamma correction, special Anagram Genius –– Generate fiendish anagrams . effects, file conversion, TWAIN and CERBERUS Breakfree –– 3D version of Breakout. Photo CD support, and much more CD-quality music with Internet downloader EXCLUSIVE Canasta –– Music, sound effects... cards Run A:\PCW.EXE from Windows Disk CD Audio –– A handy CD player. Turn to page 8 for full details CDi –– CD-ROM performance tester. EXCLUSIVE! This month we’re proud FEATURES Chameleon –– Image manipulation. Granada TV –– Superlative demo from the Weath- Music Master –– Catalogue your collection. to bring you PhotoPlus Intro, the erfield wizards. Roxie’s Reading Fish –– Fish + feline = Edutainment. latest in a line of top-selling software UK Online –– A bright new electronic info system. Samplitude Studio –– Hard disk-recording multimedia Biblos –– Another selection of plays from Shake- program. from Serif. Robin Nixon explains what speare. Stereograms –– Their fun secrets revealed. it does and how to use it. Cerberus ––- Ground-breaking CD quality chart Thunderbyte –– Reliable and fast virus checker. music by modem. WinImage –– Invaluable floppy handling. Cover Disk –– The superb Serif Photo Plus. EXTRAS Midi Collection –– 15 popular rock n’roll raves. Status bar... Super VGA Graphics Drivers –– (Not for HintLine DEMOS Win95). The Status Bar shows information about the cur- If you can’t remember what a particular part of Avery Label Pro –– Create your own labels. Video For Windows Version 1.1e –– the latest (Not for rent picture which includes: The width and height the screen does, check out the HintLine which Deadlock –– Complete data protection system. Win95). Installing and of the picture in pixels; the picture’s colour depth, tells you the purpose of the screen item under Invoice 90 –– New improved invoicing system. MSCDEX –– Microsoft’s latest CD-ROM extensions (Not which is the number of bits used to store the the mouse cursor. If it contains “>>” when over a Macromedia Freehand ––Try out this excellent for Win95). running the PCW colour of each pixel; the amount of memory the button, this means that double-clicking on that graphics program. Quicktime For Windows –– The latest version. Cover Disk button will bring up a dialogue. CONTINUES Modelling the Dream –– Amazing animations. CD Test –– Test your CDs for duplication errors, scratch- Profit Warning –– Superb stocks and shares game. es or other damage. CUT OUT THIS LABEL AND KEEP WITH YOUR CD-ROM o install the programs, insert the Front Panel ON PAGE 131 PCW Interactive CD-ROM disk in drive A: or B:, and from Win- All the other controls are placed on the Front IMPORTANT David Price introduces videos, listen to audio files and much, dows run the file INSTALL.EXE in Panel. The controls in the top group produce T special effects. The second group manipulate PhotoPlus Intro is a fully working application. However, this month’s CD-ROM much more. When any of these options is the root directory of that drive. All the files colour, the controls in the third group perform when you install it you will be asked to call a freephone available an icon will be displayed indicat- will then be installed onto your PC. which includes a geometric operations, and the next line of con- (0800) number in order to be given an access code to ing the fact. All you need to do is click trols support the clipboard. The bottom group of use the program. This can be done any time during fabulous 400Mb+ once on it to activate the choice. PhotoPlus Intro controls manage the Preview Window’s Zoom office hours, it only takes a few seconds and costs you program from Granada [Minimum Requirements: Windows 3.1+, 256 percentage. The final button displays information nothing at all. colour graphics, mouse, 4Mb RAM (swapfile can MAIN FEATURES about the picture, including its colour histogram PLEASE READ THIS! TV, called The Program, be used)] which shows you how its colours are distributed. If you have problems with the Cover Disk such as receiv- PhotoPlus Intro provides all the features you packed with videos, ecause Granada TV’s demo is so Granada TV ing a “Cannot read from drive A:” error, please return the need to get the best out of your bitmap pictures. It comprehensive we have set the The producers of GranadaTV’s The Undo disk to the duplicator: TIB PLC (PCW), TIB House, 11 music and much more. has all the basic tools for gamma correction, CD-ROM up so that it boots directly Program have got together with Personal PhotoPlus supports multi-level undo. This is use- Edward Street, Bradford BD4 7BH (who may be contact- B adjusting colour balance, brightness and There’s also the best of ful when you are not sure how to get the effect you ed on 01274 736990) together with a stamped into it under Windows 95. You can then Computer World Interactive to amaze, contrast, rotating, flipping and cropping. It also want. You can try a button, and if you don’t like the addressed envelope and two 25p stamps. Where it is a the latest DOS and choose to enter PCW Interactive from absorb and entertain you with a multime- has a range of special effects and patterns, result, click on the Undo button and try again. duplication fault, the postage will be returned along with inside The Program. dia roller coaster. It contains a mixture of including emboss, posterise, pixellise your pic- Windows demos, share- Undo needs lots of memory to store old copies of the replacement disk. To run the program using Windows 3.x, video clips, celebrity interviews, reviews tures, solarise, enhance shadows and highlights, a picture. To get more levels (or to turn it off alto- However, you should note that if your problem is not due ware, utilities, games, and make pictures look hand drawn. It also has a from File Manager double click on the pro- and more. To find out how The Program gether), double-click on the Undo button. There is to a faulty disk, and a phone number is shown for the selection of digital processing filters. applications and drivers. gram THEPROG.EXE in the root directory CD-ROM was made, turn to page 199. also a button to reload the original picture from publisher of the program in question, then it will probably PhotoPlus supports TWAIN scanners and Kodak of the CD-ROM. If you have Windows 95, disk. This is like a “Super Undo” which undoes be quicker for you to call them first as they will be able to And that’s just the tip of PhotoCD directly. It can load and save pictures in just insert the CD-ROM and the program UK Online everything you did since the last load or save. provide direct assistance on their own programs faster a wide variety of formats, and convert between the iceberg... will automatically load. UK Online offers a comprehensive online than might otherwise be possible. Alternatively, ring our them. It also works as an OLE applet. To run PCW Interactive immediately service. From Windows run the file hotline on weekdays between 10:30am and 4.30pm on [Minimum requirements: 8Mb RAM use either Program Manager or File Man- \UKONLINE.EXE to view a chance to try MAIN FEATURES 0891 715929. Calls are charged at 39p per minute cheap rate and 49p at all other times. (4Mb of this can be in a permanent ager to select your CD-ROM drive and run out the system for yourself, the username The PCW cover disk is virus checked at every stage of swapfile), 386SX/33 processor, Win- the file PCWI.EXE in the root directory of is pcw and the password is freetrial. You Preview Window production. However, neither VNU nor PCW will accept dows 3.1. Users with less than this the CD-ROM. Or, if you are using can also call up the UK Online demo from Most of the PhotoPlus window is taken up by the liability for any problems arising from the use of the disk. should still be able to run all the DOS Windows 95, just insert the CD into your within PCW Interactive. Preview window. This is the workspace where Installing or running any of the programs on the disk indi- you see the results of your manipulation. If the programs on the CD-ROM directly CD-ROM drive and wait for it to load. cates your agreement to this condition. picture is too big to fit all at once, you can use the from DOS or Windows (rather than Cerberus You are advised not to install any software on a scroll bars to see different parts. You can zoom using the front-end). For best perfor- Using PCW Interactive Pioneering work from the company that networked PC before checking the disk. While PCW into the picture by dragging the mouse cursor mance we recommend: 8Mb installed Throughout PCW Interactive you’ll have aims to pipe the entire contents of a high maintains a high standard of quality control, disks may over the area you want to look at, or by clicking RAM, 486DX/50 processor, Windows the opportunity to run or install programs, be damaged in transportation. Check the disk’s shutter on the Zoom buttons. before inserting it in the drive by sliding it to the left and 3.11 or Windows 95] get further details on a particular program, CONTINUES PhotoPlus brings your bitmaps to life allowing it to spring back. try out demonstrations of programs, play ON PAGE 132

8 9 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 COVER DISK

the maximum num- an area shared between all Windows applications, picture takes up; and the cur- ber of colours possi- which provides a way to move pictures between rent zoom percentage for the ble in the image and applications which is sometimes more convenient Preview Window. the total amount of than saving them to disk. Cut puts the picture onto memory it needs. the clipboard and clears it. Copy copies the picture MENU OPTIONS Reducing the colour to the clipboard, without clearing it, while Paste depth reduces the replaces the picture with whatever is on the Open... picture’s memory clipboard. Cut and Copy put the picture onto the Clicking on the Open... button requirements but Clipboard as a Windows Metafile, a Windows brings up a dialogue which lets loses quality. bitmap and as an OLE object. These formats take you load pictures into PhotoPlus, ready for up a lot of memory, so PhotoPlus clears the clip- manipulation. PhotoPlus understands a variety Histogram Equalisation/ board when you exit it. of file formats. Brightening These two buttons maximise contrast by expand- Undo Save As... ing the range of colours used. As a result, they This button reverses the previous operation. Use it Clicking on the Save As... button brings up a dia- make dark pictures look brighter, bright pictures when you’ve made a mistake, or when a transfor- logue which lets you save your work to disk. look darker and tend to make obscure detail mation didn’t work out the way you hoped it would. more apparent. Histogram Equalise treats all Undo works by keeping a copy of the picture as it Update colours the same, giving a roughly linear distribu- was before the last change. This takes up memory. The Update button puts a copy of your picture tion of pixel intensity. Histogram Brighten If you have a low powered PC, or are using large onto the Windows clipboard, as a Windows increases contrast in the dark areas at the pictures, you can reduce the memory requirements

CONTINUED FROM 8 PAGE Metafile, a Windows bitmap and as an OLE expense of contrast in the bright areas. by disabling Undo. Alternatively, if memory is not a object. Most DTP programs will allow you to problem, you can increase the number of undo lev- insert the object using a menu entry typically Flip Picture els. To edit the undo settings, double-click on the labelled Edit/Paste Special... If PhotoPlus was These buttons flip the picture horizontally or ver- Undo button and set the undo value as required. invoked from an OLE container, then the Update tically. The result is similar to holding the picture button behaves slightly differently: it updates the up against a mirror. Most images look fine when Reload Picture container program as well as the clipboard. The flipped. Remember, any text in a picture may no This button throws away the copy of the picture formats take up a lot of memory, so PhotoPlus longer be readable. Horizontal flipping reverses you’ve been working on and reloads the original clears the clipboard when you exit it. left and right, and vertical flipping reverses up from disk. It’s like a “Super Undo”. It undoes every- and down. thing you did since the picture was last saved or Help loaded. The Help button calls up the Help file. You can Rotate Picture also get help by pressing F1. The first two of these buttons rotate the picture PhotoCD Gallery by 90 degrees clockwise and counter-clockwise. This button provides a quick and easy way to load HintLine You can use them to convert a landscape picture Kodak PhotoCD pictures from a CD-ROM drive. The HintLine tells you the purpose of the screen into portrait. They are especially useful when you Each PhotoCD file stores a single picture at a vari- item under the mouse cursor. want to scan a picture which is too wide for your ety of resolutions and colour depths. scanner as you can turn the picture on its side, Special Effects scan it that way and then rotate it back in Photo- Gallery These buttons perform a range of special effects Plus. The third button provides free rotation The Next and Previous buttons step forwards and and distortions: Charcoal, Mosaic, Emboss, where you can rotate the picture to any angle. backwards through the gallery, six pictures at a Posterise, Randomise colours, Negative, Grey When a picture is rotated to an irregular angle, time. You can double-click on one of the pictures to scale, Sepia, Highlight/shadow, Solarise, Pixel- the resulting picture is larger than the original as load it, or you can use the to switch lise, Sharpen, Smooth, Remove noise, and the corners of the picture have “pushed” the between them and then press Return. PhotoPlus Monochrome. sides out. The extra areas will be filled in with will then close the dialogue and load the picture. white pixels. Brightness and Contrast Scan in an Image These buttons adjust the brightness and con- Resize Picture This button supports the TWAIN image acquisition trast of the picture. The top row increases them This button brings up a dialogue which lets you system which allows you to scan pictures directly and the bottom row decreases them. Their effect scale the picture to an exact size in pixels. If you from your scanner, provided it comes with a TWAIN is similar to that of the brightness and contrast select Custom, you can enter any size you want driver. When you click on the Scan Image button, controls on a television. into the edit boxes. If the Maintain Aspect Ratio PhotoPlus finds and loads the scanner’s TWAIN button is checked, the width and height of the software. This will originally have been supplied Gamma Correction picture will remain in proportion so that, for with the scanner. The scanner’s dialogue will Click on this button to apply Gamma Correction example, a square object within the picture will appear, when you finish scanning, so close the to the picture. Gamma Correction helps to com- remain square and not become rectangular. scanner’s dialogue and the picture will appear in pensate for differences in brightness between PhotoPlus. various input and display devices. For example, Crop Tool Photo CD pictures are designed to be viewed on This button selects the Crop Tool which you can Zoom a television, and come out looking too dark on a use to cut unwanted information from a picture. If This row of buttons controls the zoom of the Pre- computer monitor Gamma Correction makes the you have a picture and you only want a portion of view Window. The current zoom percentage is dis- dark parts brighter without losing much definition it, use the crop tool to discard the unwanted played in the Status bar. in parts which are already bright enough. This areas. The new picture is smaller and hence gives a better result than adjusting the faster to manipulate and save. You crop an Information brightness and contrast. image by selecting the Crop Tool then dragging This button brings up a dialogue which provides out a rectangle over the Preview Window. The more information about your picture. The colour Convert Colour Depth picture will be cropped to the rectangle with histogram displays information about colours and This button brings up a dialogue which converts everything outside the area thrown away. how they are distributed within the picture. A picture the image between various colour depths. The is made up of pixels, each pixel can have a different colour depth determines how many bits are Cut, Copy and Paste colour and the colour of a pixel is determined by used to store each pixel in the picture, and so These buttons manage the Windows Clipboard, mixing red, green and blue components.

131 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 CD-ROM

street record store direct to you, in CD tune your PC’s performance without hav- you find the ones beginning: “Super quality. Please note that the demo is set ing to leave PCWI or restart Windows. VGA....” and select the one for the resolu- up to work best with Pentium PCs. If you But please remember that when you tion you prefer. The driver will then be have a 486DX/266 or a slower PC you exit from PCW Interactive, if you leave installed and Windows restarted. PCWI should install Cerberus and then, using the option for full screen video selected, and Video for Windows should then have File Manager or Win 95 Explorer, double then all video in other applications will no further problems. click on the program \CERBERUS\CERB- also be full screen. If you don’t want this, If this works (which it should in 95% PLAY.EXE on your hard disk. Then click then re-run PCW interactive and select of cases) you may wish to contact the on the top right-hand button and click on the “Windowed” option and quit again. supplier of your graphic card to see if “Half” in the frequency Box, followed by they have an updated graphic driver. If the “Downmix” button. This will reduce the Testing your CD-ROM Microsoft’s drivers don’t work you will quality of the music output slightly, but will If you suspect your CD-ROM may actu- need to contact your graphic card sup- allow the program to perform well on virtu- ally be faulty or damaged you can run the plier anyway. ally any PC. You can then use the new file CDTEST.EXE in the SYSTEM direc- • VIDEO FOR WINDOWS INSTALL Program Manager icon to call up the com- tory of the CD-ROM. The program will FAILS plete Cerberus player. Note that when it then examine every byte of data on the If the Video for Windows installation fails comes to loading in tracks to play, the disc to see if it can be correctly read. The and you receive an error such as music can be found in the \CERBERUS process takes up to 35 minutes and gen- “XXXXXXXX.YYY cannot be updated as directory of the CD-ROM. erates a verification code if the disc it is a shared file”. The answer is to CONTINUED FROM 9 PAGE passes the test. If the CD-ROM fails this delete the file “XXXXXXXX.YYY” (or test, try cleaning it with a light solution of whatever it is called) and try reinstalling washing-up liquid and dry it with a lint- Video for Windows. free cloth and run the test again. If it still • PCWI IS SLOW TO LOAD OR RUNS fails, return your CD-ROM to the maga- SLOWLY zine for a free replacement. You need to have at least 4Mb of RAM You are free to copy the free to use PCWI. If necessary you can CDTEST.EXE program to your hard disk obtain this by creating a permanent in order to test other CD-ROMs, as long swapfile of up to 4Mb. You are also as it is not distributed in any way. If you advised to enable read cacheing of your are running CDTEST from your hard CD-ROM by adding its name to the drive you need to specify the CD-ROM SMARTDRV line in your drive to test, as follows: AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You should also CDTEST D: allow MSCDEX to set up its own buffers PhotoPlus Note: We offer this tool “As Is” purely as an by adding a line such as /M:10 to the Top-notch photo editing from the market aid to diagnosing possible faults, some of MSCDEX line, also in your leader. For full details, see the program’s which may occur because an older version AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Please refer to comprehensive built-in help, and/or the of MSCDEX.EXE is in use and not your manuals for full details. cover disk notes (pages 8 and 131). because of a faulty CD-ROM, and disclaim • WINDOWS NT AND OS/2 any responsibility for any erroneous error Unfortunately Macromedia Director, the Mac Software reports that it may generate. program used to create PCWI, is incom- We’re sorry, but we had so much material patible with Windows NT. However, you this month we would have needed one IMPORTANT - READ THIS! should be able to run PCWI from OS/2 and a half CD-ROMs to hold it all. After • General Protection Faults by simply calling up PCWI.EXE from the selecting only the very best programs, If you receive General Protection Faults command line. there was no room left for Mac software, when running PCWI or playing any digital but we will bring you another superb videos, it is probably because your CD-ROM Advice & Contacts selection very soon. graphic display driver may not be entirely Microsoft compatible. The answer is The PCW CD-ROM is virus checked at Video for Windows Enhanced therefore to install one of Microsoft’s own every stage of production. However, neither Setup drivers, as follows (but not if you are VNU nor Ultimedia will accept liability for If you select the “New users start here” using Windows 95 as the drivers any problems arising from its use. You are button, on the next page of PCW Interac- supplied with it are even newer than the advised not to install software on a tive you’ll have the opportunity to install ones on this disc): networked PC before checking the disc. the latest version of Video for Windows 1) Run “Windows Setup” from File Man- For technical support on the CD-ROM runtime, so that you can view the digital ager, then select: “Options” followed by and the programs on it call the VNU 24-hour movies on the CD. If you haven’t installed “Change Settings”. Hotline on 01233 665800. This is a comput- Video for Windows from a PCW Interac- 2) Scroll through the list of displayed erised touch tone advice system providing tive CD before, then you should install graphic drivers until you get to the final hints and tips on a wide range of topics. It this new version as it contains the latest entry: “Other Display (Requires Disk from also offers you the opportunity to speak to a drivers which deliver higher quality, a OEM)”, and select it. member of our technical support staff during larger size and a faster playback rate. If 3) Insert this month’s CD-ROM into the office hours. Using the computerised system you don’t install the new version, some drive and replace the “A:\” prompt with you should be able to access the informa- videos will display the message “Cannot “D:\SYSTEM\SVGA256” (changing the tion you need very quickly. If you prefer you display this video”, or similar warnings. D: to the correct letter if your CD-ROM is can email [email protected], or Some extra buttons on the Video for not in drive D:), then press Return. on Compuserve 70007,5547, or write to us Windows page, which allow you to fine- 4) Scroll through the new drivers until at the magazine.

132 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 Editorial Advertising Editor Ben Tisdall Group Ad Manager Paula Devine 0171 316 9194 Associate Editor Simon Rockman Ad Manager Pranav J Oza 0171 316 9466 News Editor Clive Akass Assistant Ad Manager Kevin Elderfield 0171 316 9303 Cutting Edge Editor PJ Fisher Senior Sales Executives Features Editor Chris Cain Catherine J Russell 0171 316 9461 Reviews Editor Gordon Laing Jon Miles 0171 316 9302 Technical Writer Eleanor Turton-Hill PC Consumer Sales Staff Writers Adele Dyer Nick O’Connor 0171 316 9304 Dylan Armbrust Matt Rigney 0171 316 9306 Beccy Carr 0171 316 9307 Columnists Nick Beard / Barry Fox Fran Taylor 0171 316 9309 Michael Hewitt / Tim Nott Micromart Sales Executives Ben Hedges 0171 316 9308 International Correspondent Tim Bajarin Robert Miskin 0171 316 9305 Contributors Sales Support Executive Susie Ross 0171 316 9465 Jake Abrams ● Tim Anderson ● Nick Beard ● Paul Credit Control Manager Tosh Bruce-Morgan 0171 316 9667 ● ● ● Begg Chris Bidmead Stephen Caplin Doug US Sales Representative Global Media Representatives, Inc 0101 415 306 0880 Chapman ● Stephen Cobb ● George Cole ● Simon Collin ● JJ Clessa ● Michael Eagleton ● Joanne Evans Taiwan Sales Representatives Grace Chu/Kent Lai 010 886 2717 7663 ● Jeanine Fox ● Tim Frost ● Roger Gann ● Panicos Georghiades ● Terence Green ● Tim Green ● Wendy M Grossman ● Robert Hallam ● Simon Head ● Steven Production Helstrip ● Michael Hewitt ● Marc Hindley ● Gabriel Jacobs ● Nicola Kingsley ● Nick Lawrence ● Frank Production Controller Melanie Thomson 0171 316 9481 Leonhardt ● Mike Liardet ● Ken MacMahon ● Bruce Production Manager Adrian Brown 0171 316 9484 Mackie ● Adrian Mars ● Mark Mather ● Johnny Millar ● Micromart Production Assistant Susie Ross 0171 316 9306 Mike Mudge ● Robin Nixon ● Tim Nott ● Tim Phillips ● Stephen Rodda ● Malcolm Sutherland ● Jonathon Thaw ● Andy Webb ● Stephen Wells ● Mark Whitehorn Circulation ● Nigel Whitfield ● David Whyte Subscriptions Manager Leisha Bulley 0171 316 9712 Subscriptions Supervisor Joanne Nicholls 0171 316 9713 Editorial Phone 0171 316 9000 Editorial Fax 0171 316 9313 Editorial Email first name-last Publishing [email protected] Founder Angelo Zgorelec Production Marketing Manager Juliet Parker 0171 316 9191 Marketing & Sales Co-ordinator Timothy Mickelborough 0171 316 9820 Production Editor Lauraine Lee Portfolio Administrator Janaya Warren 0171 316 9462 Sub-Editors Patrick Ramus Publisher Jon Ross 0171 316 9187 Jessica Hodgson

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12 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 Editorial Next

The consumer PC/TVs reviewed in this issue (page 110) are the Month manufacturers’ first serious stab at the format. They know that some people are buying PCs for the home, but they’re not really sure what they want or where they’re going to use them Superfast PCs The result is a hotchpotch of machines. Some have TV tuners or fax/modems, some don’t. Pentium 120MHz Olivetti’s Envision even lacks a monitor, an echo of the first processors, 1Gb home computer revolution in the hard disks, 16Mb late seventies when home computers routinely plugged into of RAM, quad- televisions. None of them really speed CD-ROM exploit the format. The consumer PC/TVs of the drives. The future will have a high-resolution ultimate 17in, or larger, monitor, a TV tuner and a fax/modem as a machines for matter of course. They’ll be on running Windows the Internet and designed to send and receive email as easily 95 at speed. And as an office mail system. You with prices won’t need to dial up manually; starting from your PC will log on and collect your email for you. You’ll still under £1,500 need a keyboard though, perhaps an infra-red one like the one with Olivetti’s Envision. But your PC will also come with an all-singing all dancing TV remote control, with a built-in trackball (or similar) and designed to make surfing the Web as easy Accountancy software as, but faster than, using Teletext now. David Carter reviews 10 accounting packages, from the latest The challenge for the Windows ones to tried and tested DOS stalwarts. manufacturers is to deliver all this at prices consumers can stomach. Getting home PC/TVs to sell in large numbers will be all about hitting price points. I Booze round-up was recently shown a prototype Paul Begg£samples some of of the machine described in the last paragraph. It’s expected to the beer and wine guides ship in late ‘96 for around £2,000 now available on and will sell in small numbers to CD-ROM FREE SUPPLEMENT people with money to burn. The big retailers will sell a few, but won’t get too excited: what they January '96 issue GUIDE TO want is the same product at — On sale Thursday 7th GETTING ONLINE £499. For that we’ll have to wait. December The essential guide to Ben February '96 issue comms. All you ever wanted Tisdall — On sale Thursday 4th to know about getting online Editor January — choosing a service • Visual programming provider, buying a modem, tools and using the Internet. Plus • Fax/modems free trial with CompuServe.

13 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 PCW Newsprint NEWS Contents Pro by name 19 Threat to mail as macro Intel names its “P6” chip Pentium Pro. Watch it fly. viruses sweep the world Print things 21 New-generation lasers are cheaper, smaller and smarter. any users have yet to wake away. It will always be with us,” may have to disinfect thousands CD compromise 21 Mup to the danger of the new he said. “It is spreading like a of files. But it is in effect a virus The row over CD standard ends in macro viruses and other email petrol fire. People don’t realise template: a novice programmer compromise. boobytraps, security experts say. documents can be dangerous. could add a damaging payload. Go Internet 22 The Concept virus, also known They are not used to checking “It has lowered the thresh- Jerry Kaplan’s Go Corporation gets as Prank, is close to being the their email.” hold of who can be a virus into interesting Net venture. most widespread in the world One effect of the virus may writer,” said Andy Campbell, only weeks after Microsoft circu- be to delay a long-expected sales director of virus specialist Focus on palmtops 23 New palmtops launched. lated it in a Word document on a move from fax towards a more Reflex Magnetics. Raw text, as CD for Win95 technicians, said general use of email sent in ordinary email, is safe, Novell dumps Unix 23 Graham Cluney, senior consul- Lotus and Novell/Word- but any formatted document Major realignment in networking tant at S&S, publishers of Dr Perfect documents also look received or downloaded — world caused shock waves. Solomon’s Anti-Virus Toolkit. vulnerable to Concept-type even on Macs, and other plat- Software bestsellers 30 “Concept has got to the macros which use Basic-like forms — should be checked. stage now where it will never go languages that can perform Microsoft and S&S have posted virtually any task on a PC, like Concept detectors and Reflex 120MHz notebook formatting a disk or emailing has a fix. files (nice for industrial spies). The absence of major disas- Toshiba announced a portable using a battery-friendly 2.9-volt 120MHz Most dangerous are macros ters (as we went to press) may Pentium on the day that start automatically when explain user complacency. But Intel launched the you open a file — whether or Cluney warned: “The sort of chip. The Tecra not they reproduce to become people who write viruses looked 700CT also boasts viruses. down on Concept because it a quad speed CD There were no reports of does not require machine code. drive and an 11.3in problems with Lotus or Novell But that could change very 800 x 600 TFT products but neither company quickly.” screen. seemed eager to comment on Fixes can be found at www.microsoft. ● New notebooks the threat. com and www.drsolomon.com; Microsoft — page 23; news analysis — page 34 The original Concept is 01734 270000; S&S 01296 318700; Toshiba 01932 841600 harmless in itself though it can Reflex 0171 371 6666 ; Lotus 01734 prove costly for companies who 455445; WordPerfect 01344 724000

Grove makes some smart connections

fter the multimedia PC... the communicating will bundle videoconferencing, fax, voice and APC. This is the latest wheeze of Intel chief data comms, and support virtual reality and Web Andy Grove, described in his keynote address Page templates. (left) at Telecom 95 in Geneva and during a It will get a extra help from Intel in the form London stopover. of “multimedia extensions”; Grove declined to He also spoke again of his vision of a com- elaborate on these. He used Nokia’s mobile puter where the central processor (made by video system (see page 29) to illustrate his vision Intel, naturally) does the signal-processing tasks of the future. usually offloaded to subsystems such as video Meanwhile, a UK company has proposed a boards and modems. The next-generation neat reversal of Grove’s architecture, with a communicating PC, which Grove called the standard based on a general-purpose signal- Smart Connection, will emerge late next year. It processing subsystem — see page 22.

18 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 NEWSPRINT

Enter the P6... er, the Pentium Short Stories Eight-speed CD Pro, with 32 bits flying under NT drives on the way ● Several developers are said to have eight-speed CD- ntel has given the name full motion video, 3D graphics 82450KX for workstations, have ROM drives in the pipeline. IPentium Pro to its next- and Web authoring. One main also been introduced. Both have Diamond Multimedia is offer- generation 5.5 million-transistor feature of the Pentium Pro is been optimised for Windows NT ing one as part of a £425 processor, codenamed the P6. 256Kb of built-in cache. This and support multiple PCI slots, multimedia kit including a 16- bit audio card and speakers, The first machines to ship are improves the scalability so that “glueless” multiprocessing and but it was not available at the likely to run Windows NT and performance rises steadily as up to 4Gb of RAM. time we went to press. Unix. clock-speed is increased. The 0.6 micron 150MHz Diamond 01753 501400 On Windows 95, which still First versions will run at Pentium Pro will cost just under contains some 16-bit code, the 150MHz with a bus speed of $1,000 in volume — compara- Site takes flight Pentium Pro is not appreciably 60MHz. The first server imple- ble, Intel says, to the pricing of ● Isle of Man airport has faster than the equivalent Pen- mentations, which require high early . The 166MHz announced that it has put up tium. Running 32-bit software bus bandwidth, will run at 0.35 micron version, slated to a Web site at www. under Windows NT, the perfor- 166MHz with a 66MHz system ship in the first quarter of 96, will enterprise.net/airport/ mance is said by Intel to “have bus. cost $1,066 in volume. airport.htm “to provide infor- exceeded expectations.” Two new PCI chipsets, the Website: http://www.intel.com/ mation and support for both First applications will be in 82450GX for servers and the See review, page 104 passengers and pilots”. We hope the pilots have a fast line ... StrongARM challenge from Digital Lips Aid ● From the lovely kitsch lips of Joanna Lumley, a plea for wo moves by Digital last The second Net users to festoon their Tmonth pushed home the opportunity for Intel Web sites and email with red message that chipmaker Intel rivals stems from the ribbons on 1 December, will never regain the domina- fact that Microsoft which is World Aids Day. tion it had in DOS days. appears to be moving Ribbons like this, designed One opening for Intel rivals Win95 closer to Win- by celebrities such as Ms lies in the market for handheld dows NT, which has Lumley and Chris Evans, can organisers which are are not been ported to several be downloaded from the so tied to Windows and DOS. platforms including the Health Education Authority’s site at www.wad.hea.org.uk. A strong contender is the PowerPC and Digital’s StrongARM chip stemming fast Alpha chips. from a collaboration between About 100,000 Digital and Cambridge-based Advanced Risc Alpha systems are running in high-end systems Machines. worldwide. Now Digital is offering an Alpha work- Digital demonstrated the first StrongARM station (above) priced for the desktop. The XL (SA-1) core, running internally at 160MHz and with systems, which offer a choice of 233MHz or a claimed Pentium-class performance, or better. 266MHz Alpha 21064 chips, and are also available More significant is the fact that it draws only 120 with Pentiums, cost between £2,000 and £4,244. milliwatts — a fraction of the battery power drawn They are aimed mostly at CAD users. by the Pentium. Intel chief Andy Grove, asked in London (see ARM spokesman Trent Poltonetti said it would opposite) if he feared a migration to rival chips as also be much cheaper. ARM chips were used in operating systems become platform independent, the Apple Newton, and StrongARMs will power the said: “If we don’t keep ahead of the competition, next generation of organisers and portable video we don’t deserve to survive.” communicators. Digital 01734 868711; ARM 01223 400400

least next year. HP claims to beat Intel P6 board One criticism levelled at the Pentium Pro, with its integrated ewlett-Packard has made its (EDO) RAM, said European new data fetch (i.e. the data-out cache RAM and Orion support Hown Pentium Pro mother- PC product manager Alison time is extended, hence the chipset, is that it limits the board which it claims is faster McCallum-Varey. name). scope of manufacturers to than Intel’s. EDO RAM is up to 60 percent Third-party chipmakers, differentiate their machines by It has also made its own sup- faster than normal DRAM and indeed Intel, were expect- offering fast memory to boost port chips because Intel’s do not because it allows its output to be ed to produce EDO-friendly data flow. support Extended Data Out read while it is being primed for a support chips but not until at Hewlett-Packard 01344 360000

19 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 NEWSPRINT

Short Stories New print system ushers 64-bit Win95 accelerator in cheaper smaller lasers ● Trident has launched what it claims is the first 64-bit new generation of laser The first of the WPS Win95 accelerator chip, sup- porting direct draw and direct printers has hit the market range to be launched A video acceleration. which take advantage of Win- was the JX-9200 The TGU19682 accelera- dows software allowing them series from Sharp, tor also implements Unified to be cheaper, smaller and which claims they Memory Architecture (UMA), smarter. are the smallest laser using PC system memory They are bundled with printers on the mar- rather than extra graphics the ket. They measure memory to process images. Printing System which, just 299 x29 x185mm This saves up to £70 in like the so-called GDI and print at four pages a video RAM costs and the chip printers that became popular minute. The 300dpi JX-200 itself will cost about £20 in quantity, which should lead to under Windows 3.1, cut down on costs £329 and the 600dpi JX- cheap high-quality graphics hardware prices by allowing the printing can be controlled by 210 costs £429. acceleration. image processing to be done by friendly PC dialogue boxes Canon is offering the slightly Kudos Thame (distributor) 01734 351000 the host PC rather than the rather than by the ludicrously larger (336x319x249mm) 600dpi printer. They have to be used by complicated system of buttons LBP-460 for £349. The Windows Free service a Windows machine, but can be and tiny LCD screens that print- Printing System addresses only used from applications running ers have sprouted in recent 300dpi, and both 600dpi printers boosts sales ● A free after-sales warranty within a DOS box under years. If your PC has a sound use enhancement technology. scheme has left a direct Windows 3.x or 95. card, it will even tell you when Canon 0181 773 6000 reseller claiming sales of The system also means that there is a printing problem. Sharp 0800 262958 more than £1.1 million after just one month of launch. ICL subsidiary Alternatives, which launched the CareFREE war- Home PCs converge in style ranty in September, is said to be overwhelmed by the than a PC. Brother has response. CareFREE is on offer to ore manufactur- announced a TV-style PC buyers of , Toshiba, ers have with the monitor incorporated M IBM and Fujitsu PCs and pro- followed the lead of the into the system box. vides a full on-site parts and likes of ICL and Hewlett-Packard’s Vectra labour warranty for three Packard-Bell in bring- 5000 series are phones as years at no cost. The success ing out novel home and well as PCs, with sophis- of the scheme may lead rival small-office PCs, which ticated voicemail, fax, and direct sellers to follow Alterna- are leading the field in using remote access facilities. tives which is now expected converging TV and phone MJN announced a to extend the scheme into technologies (Newsprint, range of what it called specialised areas. Alternatives 01925 700007 November). “futuristic style” Olivetti, which is proud of its models with PC Italian styling, has launched the card options. Online share Envision (reviewed on page 117), HP 01344 360000; Olivetti service reopens ● which looks more like a video-recorder 0181 705 6666; MJN 01262 777555 The Stock Exchange has backed down in the row over its blocking of Britain’s first stock-dealing service for Web Compromise on new CD standardusers. The stated reason for the block was a claimed breach of confidentiality by he row over which standard to use for the the MMCD method of error checking was adopted, Electronic Share Information Tnext-generation compact disks has ended in and this uses 16-bit rather than 15-bit packets per 8 in its dealings with the media. compromise. bits of raw data. This was at the insistence of com- The ESI service is now back online at One contender was the multimedia compact panies like Microsoft and IBM, who had favoured www.esi.co.uk disc (MMCD) backed by Philips and Sony. The rival the MMCD format. SD (super density) alliance of Toshiba, Panasonic, The SD camp was dominated by entertainment Idealist 4.0 Thomson and Time Warner proposeda sandwich companies who were more concerned with packing ● Idealist 4.0, a Win95 ver- of two half-thickness disks. an extra eight minutes of video on a disk. Much of sion of the freeform database, The compromise is closer to the SD proposal, the impetus for the change has stemmed from the will be available this month for £149.50 or £69 for upgraders. allowing a slightly reduced 4.7Gb on a single side fact that a full-length film cannot be packed into the Blackwells 01865 206206 of the sandwiched disk. The reduction is because standard CD’s 650Mb.

21 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 NEWSPRINT

Tim Bajarin in the US Go man goes Could LSI’s ViPA be Intel’s with Net auction ● Lotus co-founder Jerry snake in the grass? Kaplan started Go Corpora- tion on the premise that pen computing would be hot and appeal to untapped markets . new British-designed update through software. You Pen computing went bust, Aarchitecture which could lead don’t have to change the hard- and so did Go. But Kaplan to cheap do-it-all multimedia ware,” said LSI business learned some lessons and comms cards is being backed by manager Ralph Weir. started an interesting Internet major IT companies, the develop- LSI has been looking closely venture called OnSale. It is a ers claim. at the Firewire and USB new type of interactive retail- At the heart of the system, communications ports, which ing program that is much from Loughborough Sound may be used to link next- more than an online store. It Images, is a general-purpose generation peripherals. Meet Adam and Eve, a virtual recreates in electronic form digital signalling processor card LSI calls the architecture reality man and woman who live the fun and thrill of bidding at an auction. which can act as a fax/modem, ViPA (Video Processing in the extensive clipart library of OnSale ISDN interface, SoundBlaster- Architecture) and said it would the lastest release of the V-R (http://www.onsale. compatible audio card, MPEG probably eventually be made authoring package, Superscape. com) exploits the unique player, and video-conferencing open standard. ViPA cards will Like their Biblical advantages of the online card. be made under licence by other counterparts, the virtual Adam medium to create a new Managing director Simon manufacturers rather than by and Eve can reproduce to popu- retailing format. It focuses on Yates claims the videoconfer- LSI. late an entire world. They have limited quantity goods, such encing quality is four times as The first ViPA cards are collision detection to prevent as collectibles and close- good as rival systems at a quar- expected to come out early next them crashing into walls. They outs, and offers them in a ter of the cost. year for about $1,000 (ISA) and can walk, run and climb stairs. series of fast action formats where prices and availability An upper software layer $750 (PCI). Yates said prices Superscape 4.0 supports change in response to communicates with Windows could be expected to fall VRML, the virtual-reality version demand. using standard hooks via a dramatically. of the Internet’s HTML markup OnSale creates an media manager. A second layer The architecture flies in the language. Also launched is a entertaining and exciting consists of server applications face of Intel’s strategy, which is software developer’s kit, includ- experience. Check it out. for functions such as fax or to concentrate all processing in ing a new module for designing H3120 videoconferencing. the main processor. device drivers, and an authoring New Sony Extra functions can be creat- Asked if LSI was not being tool for applications that can run link is Magic ed simply by adding software to optimistic taking on the might of across networks of up to 25 ● The PIC 1000 Magic Link this layer — limited only by the Intel, Yates said: “Wait until you PCs. personal communicator has types of input and output sock- see the companies we have The price of the Visualiser, won only a moderate follow- ets installed. backing us.” Superscape’s V-R viewer, has ing since Sony and General “The great thing is that if Loughborough Sound Images (LSI) been reduced to £99. Magic launched it a year standards change, you can 01509 634300 Superscape 01256 745745 ago.. But Sony is willing to give it time to evolve and has come up with the PIC 2000, First ISDN cards at modem prices a significant upgrade. It still uses GM’s Magic ritish Telecom was said last month to be ● Dataflex is offering a Plug and Play 14.4kbps Cap environment, but boasts Breconsidering its much-criticised charge for fax/modem that also provides hands-free speaker a backlight that you can turn setting up ISDN lines, as news broke of the phone and voicemail facilities for £129. off and on. It also includes a cheapest-yet PC interface for the fast digital link. AVM 01504 370370; Dataflex 0181 543 6417 built-in speaker phone, as AVM Telecom is offering an ISDN card, well as two Type II PC card supporting data transfer rates before compression slots. of up to 128 kilobits per second, for just £198. It is The Demon millions With a cellular modem it the first to approach the price of modems, for which Net pioneer Demon Internet has raised £8 million becomes a solid wireless communicator. RAM is the fastest VFast-plus mode offers just 33.6kbps. with a private stock issue which values the com- boosted from 1Mb to 2Mb — Ken Brown, AVM product development pany at £26.7 million. Chairman Cliff Stanford 1.4Mb of it free. The built-in engineer, said the new offering was “bringing ISDN said £5.5 million of the money would be ploughed modem now offers speeds up cards down to a realistic price.” British Telecom still back into the company, which he claimed has 45 to 14,400kbps. charges £400 for an ISDN connection — more percent of the UK dial-up market. He admitted Software is included for than ten times the equivalent charge in Germany. that there had been complaints from users about accessing various email pro- Brown agreed this was expensive but said the overloaded lines, but he pledged: “We have more grams and the street price is comparison with France and Germany was unfair than enough modems installed now and we will expected to be about $895 because the line charges were higher there. keep ahead of the game in future.” (the P100 price drops to “When you compare the charges, you break even Demon 0181 371 1234 $499). It will be available worldwide in late November. after about two years with British Telecom.”

22 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 NEWSPRINT

Palmtops set the pace for portable Short Stories Infra-red is innovation in for a boom ● The number of portables sold with infra-red ports will he focus for change in mobile The mid-range Versa 2000C quadruple over the next cou- Tcomputing has shifted use a 75MHz DX4 chip with 8Mb ple of years, according to IDC emphatically from laptops to of RAM, upgradable to 40Mb, figures cited by I-R specialist palmtops, judging from the latest with prices starting at £1,995. Extended Systems. The increase in sales round of launches. Hewlett-Packard has could bring down the price of The most innovative portable launched another Omnibook, the standalone ports — was the new OmniGo 100 5000, running a 90MHz Pentium Extended’s JetEye module organiser from Hewlett- with a choice of 10.4in VGA or currently costs £95. Packard. With the lid open it SVGA screens. “The price is a function of looks a conventional palm- Compaq showed its new LTE the volume of sales,” said top with a square LCD screen 5000 modular notebooks with managing director Julie and a keyboard looking like a choice of 75MHz and Jones. Sales of JetEyes are that on the Psion 3a, arch rival 90MHz Pentium pro- split roughly equally between to HP’s LX palmtop range. cerssors. It boasts printer and PC connections. But this, too, could change as It uses the GEOS graphical an IRDA- transfer rates rise from the interface and includes all the compatible infra-red port and an 115kbps of the older IRDA1 usual organiser features on 3Mb MPEG and TV adaptor. standard, to up to 4Mbps of ROM. With the lid flipped on A CD drive, a second hard under emerging IRDA2. its back, it can be pen driven, month), which boast 11.8in TFT drive, an extra battery, or a 3.5in David Dack, director of the using a redesigned handwriting colour screens, use pads, and floppy drive can be added to a communications lab at HP’s (see below) to get around the so do the new high-end NECs. spare bay. Screens can be either reseach centre, where recognition hassles of previous NEC’s flagship Versa 4000 an 11.43in STN colour or 10.4in much of the groundwork for pen-driven machines. uses Intel’s frugal 2.9 -volt TFT. IRDA was done, said he It will be priced below the Pentiums running at 7MHz or IBM has announced a new believed Windows 95 will drive down prices because it market-leading Psion 3a. 90MHz. Thinkpad with a 75MHz DX4 includes an IRDA driver. At the other end of the scale, NEC launched a complete processor and a choice of 10.4in “Before Windows 95, each multimedia notebooks have big- range, starting with the Versa dual-scan or TFT screens. manufacturer had to write a ger screens and there is a drift 500 aimed at private and small- Clive Akass driver as well as build the from nipples to finger pads as business users and having a NEC 0181 993 8111; HP 01344 360000; hardware,” he said. pointing devides. Olivetti’s new 9.5in dual scan colour screen. IBM 01256 343000; Compaq 0181 332 3000 Extended Systems 01705 875075 models (of which more next Prices start at £1295. ● News analysis — page 34 Psion palmtops beat the world New script could be easier than abc ● The British company Psion has thrashed the Americans As the fabled Irishman said when asked the way learned in 20 minutes. and Japanese to gain the to Dublin: “If I wanted to go there, I would not start HP seemed rather coy about using Graffiti, as if major share of the world from here.” Handwriting designed for our brains is it expected to be accused of defeatism over hand- market in personal organis- not necessarily the best starting point for a script writing recognition. Yet a new script is not such an ers, according to a new designed to be read by computers. outrageous idea: we take for granted the effort Forrester report. It reckons that world sales The problems stemming from similarities like required to master a cumbersome keyboard. of all makes will top 500,000 that of the figure 1 and letter l are obvious. Less so The big question is whether Graffiti goes far this year representing an is the fact that a computer could distinguish enough. If we do turn out to need a new script for annual growth of 40 percent. between the two if the computers (by no Psion tops the league with meaning depended on means certain, with 32.7 percent of the market, the way each was writ- speech recognition look- with Hewlett-Packard second ten: up for the number, ing promising) it should at 28 percent. Apple is well down for the letter. Com- be given very serious behind with 14 percent for its puter-readable script thought because we Newton range thus needs fewer shapes could be stuck with it for But Psion cannot afford to be complacent. It uses than the alphabet. a long time, just as we are stuck with the inefficient proprietary software and The Graffiti script used by the OmniGo 100, qwerty keyboard. Forrester predicts that the and available for Apple’s Newton, uses the com- And why stop at the alphabet? As the comput- market with shift en masse to puter’s sense of direction, but otherwise deviates er can make a few symbols go a long way, it standard graphical interfaces little from alphabetic shapes. Each letter has to should be possible to invent a very efficient PC- such as Geoworks’ Geos and start at a particular point, and capitals are marked readable shorthand. Microsoft’s Pegasus. by a separate symbol. Palm Computing, which Clive Akass Psion 0171 262 5580 licensed the technology to HP, says it can be Palm Computing 425 949 9560 (US)

23 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 NEWSPRINT

Short Stories Novell dumps Unix as system Smart switch sorts out the fax ● A new smart box will switch giants redraw battlelines phone calls automatically between a fax/modem, fa hocks waves from the Win- UnixWare and Netware software machine, answering Sdows bandwagon caused a would be merged into a single machine or voice phone as major realignment last month in net by 1997. appropriate. the networking world. Novell The scheme could remove The £119 Frontier TrioLine announced that it was selling its some of the confusion over dif- can drive up to five extension interests in the Unix operating ferent flavours of Unix, though it telephones, and if a fax or modem is in operation when system to concentrate on devel- leaves IBM a little isolated with someone tries to dial out, it oping its Netware software. its AIX dialect. will give two warning beeps The move was widely seen Novell chief Bob when the line goes free. as a bid to stave off the threat of Frankenberg announced a Electronic Frontier 01734 810600 Microsoft Windows NT, which Gates-style grand strategy to has been gaining support among provide a billion-node Smart Remote support corporate and academic users Global Network by 2000AD. A in your lap and is to get the same look and set of programming interfaces ● Traveling Software is feel as Win95, allowing organisa- called Net2000 will make the selling a cut-down version of tions to standardise on a single network accessible from any its Laplink software to allow interface. major platform including NT, helpdesks running Laplink for In a complex deal, Novell in conjunction with Intel. Windows, OS/2 and Unix. Windows to configure PCs passes its interest in Unix to SCO and HP have also Frankenberg said: “We’re talk- remotely. Machines running Hewlett-Packard and the Santa agreed to incorporate Netware ing about supporting all clients Laplink Host can be taken Cruz Operation in return for a 17 file, print and directory services and all networks. This is over completely by the percent share of SCO and seven into their versions of Unix; Nov- anathema to Microsoft.” remote caller. Compaq already uses years of royalties. SCO will ell in turn will merge HP’s Dis- Novell will launch a Web Laplink software to provide develop a 32-bit version of Unix tributed Computing Environment server suite early next year to technical support for Presario for Intel machines, and HP will into Netware. The deal means provide Netware users with users. Hewlett-Packard uses develop a 64-bit version primarily Novell will drop its so-called easy access to the Internet. the rival software Carbon for the RISC chip it is developing SuperNOS project, by which its Novell 01344 724000 Copy. Laplink Host costs £59.95, or ££349.95 for ten users. Traveling Software 01753 818282 Re-volt over poor power supplies Scanner puts finger on intruders he developers of software Plug and Play specification, memory conflicts through soft- ● Fujitsu has developed a and add-on cards are being which many devices do not ware. Then we thought we might system for identifying people T unfairly blamed for problems adhere to. as well sell the card.” from 3D scans of their finger- prints. A single Fingerscan stemming from poor-quality PC White said: “We built the The voltmeter was added to box with 512Kb of memory power supplies, according to the card for our own use at first check for power problems. can store reference images makers of a new diagnostics because there is no absolute The Conflix board costs £99. for up to 300 people locally. board. foolproof way of sorting out WCD 01734 391225 But boxes can be networked The problems occur when together or controlled from a the line voltage fluctuates PC network. False accep- beyond the tolerances of the tances are fewer than one in components on the motherboard Ear it is... the smallest PC a million, Fujitsu claims. or add-on cards, said Adrian Bannerbridge (distributors) 01268 419101 White, research and This tiny hearing aid contains what makers Oticon claim is the development director with WCD world’s smallest computer. The DigiFocus weighs just 4gms and Sales blip Research. “The first thing an includes two custom chips ● Applications software sales engineer will do when testing a capable of 14 million in Europe faltered in the run- up to the Win95 launch, piece of equipment is to instructions per second — according to Software Pub- measure the voltages. But your which Oticom claims (some- lishers Association figures. average user never thinks of it, “ what misleadingly) to be Sales for the three months up he said. equivalent to a 486 computer. to July were $423 million, an WCD’s diagnostics board, The advantage is that the increase of just one percent called Conflix, was designed devices can be fine tuned to over the previous year. Sales primarily to solve memory and the needs of the individual for the half-year were $9,390 IRQ conflicts which still bedevil user. million, up three percent. users despite the advent of the Oticon +45 39 17 71 00 (Denmark)

24 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 NEWSPRINT

Short Stories Sony MD Data drive arrives late as Fighting spirit ● The storage war (see story right) extends to tradi- storage war hots up tional hard-disk makers, who have been going through a shake-up. Market leader ony is at last shipping its MD to make the running in the Seagate had hardly finished Data drives, which it market, with a £149 Zip- the launch of a new software S division when it announced announced more than a year ago like drive offering which the takeover of rival Conner. as the death of the floppy disk takes the new Travan And Western Digital and the greatest thing to hit tapes with a compressed announced the sale to computing since the integrated capacity of up to 800Mb. It Philips of its multimedia circuit. will also use QIC 80 tapes division, which produces the But the delay could cost Sony (see page 150). Paradise video-card range. dearly, with a host of rival and Iomega also says that cheaper technologies already it will ship its new Jazz competing in the market (see drive in Europe in Janu- feature, page 134). ary. This will cost about None is quite as elegant as £400 and take 1Gb the MD drive, which can also be removable disks. used to play audio discs. Each And there are more details existing SCSI port. 2.5in MD disk can store 140Mb of Hewlett-Packard’s relatively You also get software which and will cost £15. But at £499, cheap CD-Recorder (see HP says simplifies CD record- the drive is more than three Newsprint, November). It costs ing, which can be a tricky President Chuck Haggerty times the price of Iomega’s Zip. £850 list price, though will business. The drive records at (above), passing through It comes with headphones, a probably sell for rather less, and two-speed and reads at four- London, said WD was lithium-ion battery, Mac and the price includes a dedicated speed. going to focus on storage Windows software, and a SCSI SCSI adapter card — you are Sony 0181 760 0500; Iomega 0800 management. He claimed the Seagate or PCMCIA interface. recommended not to daisy- 898563; Hewlett-Packard 01344 369222 merger could actually work Meanwhile Iomega continues chain this, and not to use an Clive Akass out well for Western Digital because it could curb an “irrational” price war. He added: “A lot of manufactur- Cold War cybernauts battle on Wall Street ers buy from Seagate and Conner because they do not want to be tied to one he thawing of the Cold War has led to source. Now they may a new type of warfare — between want an alternative.” T Haggerty said hard-disk financial analysts using sophisticated soft- data densities would grow ware. Arms development has slumped, by more than 50 percent a throwing highly-trained engineers and year “for the foreseeable mathematicians out of work in both the US future” — enough to fight off and Russia. Many have switched to drives like the Jaz, which finance, applying to financial structures takes removable 1Gb disks. mathematical techniques that were once used to design and control missiles. The 600dpi colour result is a kind of cybernetics of money. ● Lexmark, which broke “We are talking about areas in which you new ground with a relatively stand to make a lot of money if you get a 10 low-price 1200dpi mono percent edge, or even less,” said Mike Wolf, laser, is to introduce a head of finance-products group at maths 600dpi colour model for about £6,000. software specialist The MathWorks. Optimisation curve for an investment Lexmark 01628 481500 The company became aware of what was portfolio, showing the greatest returns for happening when it realised that its Matlab pack- given risk levels Drawing lessons age, traditionally used by academics and ● Fractal Design has engineers, was being taken up by finance houses Now The MathWorks is targeting a £745 launched version 2.0 of its and large corporates. finance toolkit at the market. Techniques used Dabble art package. It Wolf said one big difference between the include fuzzy logic, neural networks, signal includes flip-book animation engineering and finance worlds is that new ideas processing (to detect trends through “noise”), and tutorials based on Walter get taken up more quickly. Engineers get sued if dynamic system simulation, as well as more Foster’s Learn-How-To- anything goes wrong but “if you do something in conventional tools like data visualisation and matrix Draw books. finance and it works, you get a quick result and manipulation. Fractal Design 0171 454 9360 you use it again.” The Mathworks 01223 462244

26 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 NEWSPRINT

Video phones go mobile Short Stories

okia has shown a system Telecom 95 in Geneva, uses A European Telecoms Nwhich will allow mobile three of the time slots to achieve Standards Institute (ETSI) phone users to use cellular links a data rate of 28,800bps, which specification exists for the use of for video conferencing. is good enough for limited all eight timeslots and has the Normally up to seven callers moving pictures. potential for full-screen video share a single frequency, with The system uses a modified conferencing. each digitised conversation phone, data card and cell site. It The Nokia technology is still Dual card being allotted one of eight time can manage up to 7.5 frames experimental and uses a desk- ● Epson has produced what slices — the eighth being a per second, or a minimum of top computer. But it paves the it claims is the first PC card control channel. two per second. It conforms to way for video phones built into to support both 10BaseT The links are limited to a the H.261 video specification laptops and maybe even Dick and 10Base2 Ethernet connections. speed of 9600bps which is too rather than the more common Tracy-style video watches. Epson 01442 227291 slow for moving pictures. The H.320. Sound is limited to Nokia 01793 512809 Nokia system, shown at 5300kbps. Simon Rockman CD goodies ● Sprint Software’s £14.99 “Super Oz” CD includes New Netscape browser posts more than 3Gb of compressed games and educational shareware. secure sender/receiver envelopes Sprint 0161 477 4235 Versatile Brother etscape has announced that A new transaction system, ● Brother’s new multi- NNavigator Version 2.0 will be Secure Courier, has been function machine, the £1,299 available in early December for announced. This is described MFC 6000, can act as a Windows, Mac and Unix as an “electronic envelope” printer, fax, copier, scanner platforms. It uses nested frames, whereby only the sender and and modem, and can share a single line with a phone. described as metadocuments, receiver are able to view the Brother 0161 330 6531 turning single Web pages into contents. complete one-stop publications. Netscape believes it is Designers can now create right to release its extensions multi-layered Web pages con- to HTML ahead of the inter- taining, for example, a list of national committee approval hyperlinked contents in one but will continue to release frame with a separate frame to them into the public domain. display linked documents. Read- displayed within the browser — Three beta releases of Navi- ers no longer need to return to a enabling Acrobat’s own links gator 2.0 will precede the final home page to access the con- within the PDF document itself release and all will be available ● This shows Cirrus Logic’s tents list. and back out to the Internet. to download from Netscape’s latest 64-bit graphics chip, Multimedia developers will A Gold version of the Naviga- home page. This free download the CL GD5436, which talks be able to display video or other tor will allow readers to design policy has virtually made directly to the PCI bus and moving images within frames Web pages on the fly using cut- Netscape Navigator a de facto supports a resolution of up to using MacroMind Director and and-paste techniques. Users standard on the Internet and will 1024x768 in true colour. Hot Java Netscape extensions. can add pictures or video to continue. Netscape’s home Cirrus Logic 01727 872424 Version 2.0 supports an documents which can be posted page is on Adobe PDF extension which to Web servers or sent as an http://home.netscape.com. cc:Web allows Acrobat documents to be email message. Paul Fisher ● The new cc:Mail Web lets you access your mail via any Web browser. The software UK breakthrough claimed in speech sits on a Web server and translation talks to any browser or cc: Mail post office. It costs £149. UK-developed system for translating near- Most recognition systems require you to Anatural speech into computer-readable text will pronounce each word separately, Philips sells a be launched by the end of the year, according to its network-based continuous-speech recognition Hot Orchid ● Orchid’s Kelvin Video64 promoters. The Abbot Recognition System, based system designed for dictation tasks normally 64-bit graphics card offers on research at and Cambridge universi- undertaken by audio-typists. The Abbot system is full-screen video playback ties, was due to be launched at the Live 95 show targeted more at the individual user. Knowles said and resolutions up to last month by Responsive Systems. But marketing the first versions would have only a limited 1280x1024. It costs £99 and manager Melanie Knowles said at the show: “It vocabulary — but enough for standard letters. £147 for 1Mb and 2Mb of was not quite ready.” Responsive Systems 0171 603 9406 RAM. Orchid 01256 479898

29 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 NEWSPRINT

Short Stories BeBox-a-lu-lah - it’s a totally new PowerPC Apple woes start with a bang ● Apple recalled more than ormer Apple executive Jean-Louis 1000 of its new PowerBook FGassé has emerged from four years of 5300 portables after lithium- silence with a new PowerPC-based ion batteries on some mod- computer — and, more surprisingly, a new els exploded into flames. graphical operating system (pictured). None had been sold in The BeBox uses two Motorola PowerPC Britain and sales were 603e chips, running at 60MHz, that allow you quickly resumed with to run multiple Windows and applications with cheaper NiMH batteries. But the affair was one of no apparent degradation in performance. a series of setbacks for Gassé, who founded the Be company in Apple, in the wake of the 1991, claims it is the first PC operating Win95 launch, sparking off system designed specifically for multi- rumours of an imminent processing. merger with IBM or Oracle. He showed me seven applications working Apple warned that its all at the same time; they included three Web profits for the past three pages all getting data on the fly, and four other Gassé is positioning the BeBox for techies and months would be down due programs processing in real time. It was actually the audio-visual market but it could also be a pow- to a shortage of chips and the most amazing demonstration I have seen on a erful Web server. He has shown a lot of guts and he other components for its PowerMacs. Ironically, this low-cost PC platform — the base system will sell could end up with a winning strategy, albeit one was because demand was for around $2,400 when it ships later this year. with limited potential. greater than expected — the The machine will support the PowerPC More details can be found at Internet address company is said to have alliance’s CHRP architecture in the future, which http://www.be.com. back orders worth $1 billion. means the BeBox will run the Mac, NT, Solaris Be 415 462 4141 (US). Fax 415 4624129 Dataquest said Apple’s and AIX operating systems as well as its own. Tim Bajarin world market share was down 1.6 percent to 7.4 percent. See analysis, opposite Dream package

Ray Dream Studio is a suite of 3D imaging software for the PowerMac and Windows 95. The £375 package includes four modules: Designer, Animator, Models and Extensions – the last including a panoramic camera. Principal (Mac version) 01706 832000; Softline (Windows version) 0181 401 1234

Top 10 Windows and DOS Last Top 20 Windows Last Power accounts Product Manufacturer month Product Manufacturer month ● British software house 1 Windows 95 U/G Microsoft 1 1 Windows 95 U/G CD Microsoft 1 Global Business Systems, a 2 SoftRAM Memory Doubler RMG - 2 SoftRAM Memory Doubler - division of TIS, has ported its 3 Plus Microsoft 2 3 Plus CD Microsoft 2 flagship business packages 4 Office 4.2 U/G Microsoft 4 4 Office 4.2 U/G Microsoft 4 to the AIX 4.1 operating 5 Works Microsoft - 5 Works Microsoft - system, enabling them to 6 Uninstaller v3.0 Microhelp 11 6 Uninstaller v3.0 Microhelp 11 run on the Motorola 7 Office Pro 4.3 Microsoft 13 7 Office Pro 4.3 Microsoft 13 PowerPC. The range covers 8 Sidekick 95 for Win95 Starfish - 8 Sidekick for Win95 Starfish - accounts, distribution, and 9 Office 95 v7 U/G Microsoft 10 9 Office 95 v7 U/G Microsoft 10 manufacturing software as 10 PCDOS v7 U/G IBM - 10 PCDOS v7 U/G IBM - well as more than 200 11 RAM Doubler Com. Unlimited 5 specialist applications. Top 10 DOS TIS 01628 532565 12 Business Plan Builder RMG 8 1 PCDOS Version 7 IBM 1 13 First Aid Windows RMG 3 Freehand 5.0 out 2 QEMM v7.5 Quarterdeck 2 14 CorelDraw 5.6 U/G CD Corel - ● Macromedia has 3 Flight Simulator v5.1 Microsoft 3 15 Sidekick for Windows v2 Starfish 7 launched Freehand 5.5 for 4 WordPerfect 6.0 C/U WordPerfect/Novell - 16 WordStar V2 Softkey 18 PowerMacs and Macs, 5 Turbo C++ v3.0 Borland 4 17 Lotus Smartsuite Lotus 12 which it describes as a 6 PC Anywhere v5 Host Symantec - 18 Office Pro 95 (U/G) Microsoft - “significant upgrade”. 7 Easy to Learn Computing VCI - 19 Applications trade-in Pack Microsoft - Macromedia 01344 761111 8 Pegasus Solo Payroll Pegasus 7 20 Dr Sol Anti Virus Quarterly S&S 15 9 Solo Accounts Pegasus - Figures, supplied by Software Warehouse, relate to 10 Gardeners World Europress 8 bestsellers for September, 1995.

30 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 T Apple chairman MikeMarkula years: onereasonisthat have seenhiminthepastfour he wasthemostrelaxedI Spindler justlaughs.Infact, rumours thatheisquitting, until earlynextyear. demand foritshigh-endboxes able tokeeppacewiththe mas, butsaiditwouldnotbe range productsforthisChrist- enough entry-levelandmid- was confidentthatApplehas these challenges.Spindler Apple wasgoingtodealwith of uswantedtoknowhow the meetingwithSpindler.All past year,allcanbefixed. has mademistakesoverthe demand. EventhoughApple people duetolackof Sculley hadtolayoff2,000 poor management,orwhen fired amidaccusationsof co-founder SteveJobswas nothing likeasbadwhen through adifficulttime,but particular perspective. Apple fromdayone,Ihada analyst whohascovered Apple, foratalk.Astheonly invited sevenanalyststo about tobefired,Spindler strong appeal. lack ofaportableproductwith in ayear—perhapsduetoits from 9percentto7.4percent market shareashavingfallen estimating Apple’sworldwide the latestDataquestfigures could notmeetdemand,and because thesupplyofparts warning ofpoorearnings Book’s lithium-ionbattery,a the problemswithPower- of badnews(seepage30): few weeks,withasuccession of eyesonhimoverthepast something goeswrong. all eyesturntohimwhen Spindler tookover,andnow Apple, German-bornMichael his positionaspresidentof When askedabout This wasthemaintopicof Apple isclearlygoing Amid rumoursthathewas And therehavebeenalot Sculley wasforcedoutof wo yearsago,whenJohn ment creation,smallbusiness lishing, mediaandentertain- These segmentsincludepub- accelerate itsmarketshare. segments whereApplecan is tofocusonmarket all people.Hisstrategicgoal Apple cannotbeallthingsto last year. Power PCsoftware upgrading —andalotof software tocomeoutbefore waiting formorePowerPC 68000 Macuserswhowere oned onthethousandsof year becauseithadnotreck- Apple misjudgeddemandthis 68000 chipstothePowerPC. transition fromMotorola amazing jobofsmoothingthe demand isthatSpindlerdidan The keyreasonforthisstrong 35 percentuponlastyear. that demandfortheMacisstill problems, thefactremains because despitetherecent without thenodfromMarkula. the board,canoustSpindler Sculley —no-one,noteven Spindler withtheoustingof Steve Jobs,andthenhelped Markula helpedSculleyoust has publiclysupportedhim. the pastyear. Spindler pointedoutthat Markula supportsSpindler reviews ofWebsites.Avirtual newsroomprovideshourlynewsupdates. Bond, theywillbesortedintosubject area.Excitealsohasmorethan30,000lively chemical bondsandevenJames onmunicipalbonds, articles search on“bond”mayturnup searching, sothateventhougha service. next-generation Webnavigation www.excite.com isregardedasa Architext Software’ssiteat rave reviews.California-based tion site,calledExcite,isreceiving A newInternetsearchandnaviga- Michael Spindler is under pressure tofixthemistakesMichael Spindlerisunderpressure of Excite usespowerfulconcept Apple ishaving rideatApple arough themoment––president his strategic goaltofocus onalistofmarkethis strategic segments where hehopesthat canaccelerate its Apple where emerged Tim Bajarin’s Seeking excitement suffer toughtimes. the companywillcontinueto problems dealtwithquickly, its shortagesandpricing world. ButunlessApplegets extend itsreachinthedigital tootherplatformsand system to taketheMacoperating in allbyearly1996. in somemodelsthisyear,and Spindler vowstochangethat differences atthelowend. Meanwhile, thereareglaring comparable configuration. same asaPentium120of PowerMac 9500coststhe high endofthemarket;a that thereisnearparityatthe those ofthePCandclaims that Macpricesshouldmatch slightly: hesaidAppleknows Spindler haschangedhistune cent premium.Now,though, mand betweena12to20per- operating systemcouldcom- claiming thatitseasy-to-use sive onthisissueinthepast, PC —Applehasbeendefen- be onaparwiththoseofthe know whenMacpriceswould government sectors. graphics andengineering and homeoffice,PCs, Spindler wantseventually Several analystswantedto meeting withSpindlerrevealed Spindler’s ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL DECEMBER` 1995 list ANALYSIS share. NEWS 31 ANALYSIS NEWS ANALYSIS

The final frontier? delphi_direct, farpoint, thenet, and many others) shows the Subscribers to the Internet service of a company same pattern of promotion, followed by patchy service called Frontier Communications voiced severe and customer complaints, criticisms: a disappearing news server, unanswered followed by silence. Akhavi says that its corpo- telephones, lack of technical support. Then the rate customers (one of our company went offline. What has been happening? unanswered faxed questions Wendy M Grossman reports. requested a corporate refer- ence) were not interested in CIX but in Compuserve. But Akhavi’s Compuserve ID was cancelled last August. hen we reviewed Inter- These same questions Akhavi says the company Wnet service providers were among 12 queries we is taking up to 15 legal actions (PCW October), we gave the faxed in September, to FC against some of the users nod to a service called Fron- managing director, Eden who complained publicly, as tier Communications Interna- Akhavi, asking for clarifica- well as several Internet ser- tional (which we will call FC tion. He referred us to the vice providers, which “could for short). As we went to company’s lawyer, who be” including Pipex. press in early August, users declined to comment. Pipex says it terminated were reporting that they were Public records show that FC’s leased line feed on 25th happy with FC’s service and FC began as Philgan Ltd, September for non-payment. its technical support. But the with Akhavi as a company Akhavi claims it was his com- honeymoon didn’t last. director and Wenda Shehata, pany who pulled the link. Shortly after our review thought to be Akhavi’s By the end of September, a appeared, several users mother, as company secre- few FC users had received mailed me with criticisms: tary. On CIX, the resumé for refunds but one potential cus- engaged tones had become Akhavi’s “eden_akhavi” ID tomer, calling at around the the norm at FC and its news links him to a company called same time, was told he could be server had gone down for Expotech: FC’s tireless pro- connected in a couple of days. nearly four days, during which moter, Justin Rogers, who time the technical support logs onto CIX as “expotech”, Unanswered questions people were unavailable. has repeatedly said that FC is Another of our unanswered Since then people have “part of the Expotech Group” questions was: “When is the been asking questions, espe- which he stated had taken service expected to be up and cially on the CIX conferencing over Frontier Communications. running again?” As of 9th system, about claims FC A faxed brochure for FC, October, FC’s “thenet” made about its service and dated 12th September 1995, domain remained offline to the company behind it. was sent on Expotech letter- the rest of the Internet head, and FC users’ credit All who came into contact Claims card debits are headed with FC believed its claims; FC, based in Hove, Sussex, “Expotech Direct”. Akhavi even the unrelated, Hatton launched its service in June and Shehata, according to Garden-based Frontier Inter- claiming a huge bandwidth, its Companies House records, net Services, which has come own international links, seven- did have a company called in for a great deal of trouble day 24-hour technical Expotech Corporation, at the over the similarity in names. support, and as many as same Hove address as FC: Internet service provision 32,000 points of presence 24 Western Road. is an area where flaky service (since modified to 120), and But the Expotech Corpora- and growing pains abound. 100 staff (they now say 29). It tion was wound up in October Everyone longs for a low-cost, also claimed to be part of a 1994, by petition from IMSI all-purpose solution and large, multinational American UK, which claims that it is still wants to believe in a company telecommunications owed £18,000. that seems able to offer one. company. Users who asked It’s a shame: a service that on CIX for the name, address, Legal action could build a PoP network as and phone number of this Expotech seems to have quickly as FC, and offer 24- company and details of its specialised in Visual Basic hour technical support, even Public Telecomms Operator add-ons and tools for Borland if it were a small service, licence, were told to write to Delphi. A trail of old CIX con- would be welcomed with the company for information. ferences (expotech, open arms in this market. ANALYSIS

32 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 NEWS ANALYSIS

It’s a heavy scene

Today’s notebook PCs are akin to desktops on wheels, spoken on the subject: that and seem to weigh almost as much, Clive Akass users are not willing to sacri- observes. The latest crop of launches shows how fice features for portability. manufacturers have moved away from portability — why This may well be true for people whose notebook is can’t we have a notebook fit for a briefcase, he asks? their only machine, but I simply don’t believe it of those ome months ago I took to colour screens and the latest who use a portable as an Scarrying around an multimedia gizmos; low-end adjunct to a desktop. Amstrad Notepad costing notebooks using cheap off- Manufacturers say, too, about £100. The two-inch the-shelf components and that a low-featured lightweight deep screen is unreadable lower-quality dual-scan model cannot be made at a except in perfect light and the screens; and executive price that people are willing to technology is a decade old, mobiles — high-quality pay, particularly when it is for but it has a full-size keyboard. machines with pretensions a second machine. This argu- It stays live for weeks on four (my word, not Mainee’s) to ment would have some force if AA cells, and allows me to portability. it were not for the success of write on the move. In addition, there are palm- the Psion. If we can get a It is not PC compatible but top organisers which are machine that good and that it is lighter and more nothing if not portable. I’ve cheap into the palm of our genuinely portable than any been using a Psion 3a this hands, why can’t we have one state-of-the-art notebook cur- month, and have been pleas- fit for a briefcase? rently on the market. A simi- antly surprised by how easy it lar, perhaps better, machine is to type on (though I would Change of attitude is the Cambridge Z88 — also not use it to embark on writing Happily, the growing using old technology and a book). I’m told the two AA importance of comms and net- retaining a host of users, too. batteries can last months. working is already forcing a The trend today is to turn By contrast, I also looked change of attitude. With a out notebooks that are desk- at an Omnibook 600CT (see high-speed Net connection, tops on wheels, with all the First Impressions, page 60), a the world is your hard disk and facilities of a sit-up-and-beg prime example of an execu- you can contact your base PC packed into an A4 case. tive mobile. The Lithium Ion machine from anywhere — no That means having disk battery lasts two and a half need for power-hungry disk drives, backlit colour screens hours between charges. It is a drives. and even CD drives, which lovely machine: better to use PCMCIA cards are already add weight and need big bat- than most desktops and more available to link portables and teries to run them. You may portable than any standard mobile phones, to offer true also have to carry a mains notebook, but for hard travel- go-anywhere wireless charger/mains adaptor (one ling I’d rather take the Psion. networking for Europe. day, perhaps, the industry will Hewlett-Packard last month standardise to the extent that User demand demonstrated a hybrid organ- you’ll find notebook power The 600CT, which boasts just iser called the OmniGo 700, sockets wherever you go). about every desktop feature looking like one of its LX palm- short of a CD drive, is a curi- tops which had been speared Pattern ous case: it shows how man- by a Nokia mobile handset Last month’s crop of new ufacturers have actually (Nokia and HP have just notebooks from NEC, moved away from portability. signed a co-operation deal). Compaq and Hewlett-Packard The original Omnibook 300 The next step must surely be all fell into this pattern. They had its main software on to merge the palmtop are fine if you don’t plan to ROM and no hard disk, and completely into the phone. carry them about much, or could run off pen batteries. And if redesigned handwrit- can sling them into a car; oth- Hewlett-Packard says power- ing, like the Graffiti script used erwise, as the hippies used to hungry disk drives and colour by HP’s new OmniGo 100 say, “it’s a heavy scene”. screens were added in later palmtop (see page 23) takes Inteco analyst Rana models because of “user off, or predictions of a break- Mainee, speaking at the NEC demand”. through in speech recognition launch, put current machines This echoes what I have prove correct, the keyboard into three categories: high- been told by just about every and the notebook format may end notebooks with TFT manufacturer to whom I have go the way of the dinosaurs. ANALYSIS

34 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 PCW ● COLUMNS Sounding Off

recently had to have my business stationery reprinted. The Imain reason, apart from availing myself of Phoneday’s addi- tional digit, was that the UK press have taken it upon Michael Hewitt themselves to rechristen me. In PCW I am Michael Hewitt, as it says up top. However, for reasons best known to themselves, newspapers and glossies call me “Mike” Hewitt. Maybe “Ozzie” progress much beyond that. In other Wilde and “Ginnie” Woolf got this in their day, but had the wit words, he’ll save the document to disk, to do something about it. Not me. I just said What the hell? extract said disk, and pass it over to a and had the letterhead amended, instead. secretary for printing and posting, or subsequent faxing. It’s a bit like park- Anyway, as part of the amendment, I Fellowship. Actually, I’m about as polit- ing his car in the middle of the road asked that my email address be ically correct as a 12-month subscrip- and then taking a taxi to the kerb. included, too. It took the droid at Kall tion to Loaded. However, a study of UK Interestingly, the majority of British Kwik four attempts to get it right. Okay, business practice over recent years has businesswomen seem able to bypass typing in [email protected] convinced me that I’m right. this intermediate stage. Not only can might be the keyboard equivalent of If I get in touch with a fair-sized US they type, they’re physically capable of saying “The Leith police dismisseth company, the likelihood is that all the printing out and faxing their own us”, after downing a couple of large senior personnel will have an email documents, too. And when, once in a ones, but surely it isn’t that address. Furthermore, they’ll display it blue moon, I actually receive email complicated to master? The printer proudly on their business cards and from a British (non-technical) apologised. There isn’t much call for letterheads, too. And I’m not just talk- company, it’s usually been sent by a email addresses on business ing about hi-tech US companies here. woman. stationery, he explained, so he wasn’t In recent months I’ve had to contact All of which suggests that the main used to setting one. low-tech organisations as diverse as reason why British businessmen don’t That just about sums up the state of used-car dealerships and undertakers. use email is that it represents a chal- our nation, doesn’t it? Email ought to Whatever, even the head honcho is lenge to their masculinity. To click on be universally regarded as the major accessible via email, and usually reads that mail icon –– to have to take evolutionary leap in business communi- and writes his own. That goes for sim- responsibility to send and receive their cations: the homo erectus to the Aus- ple two-line memos right through to own messages, which is what email tralopithecus which is the fax and elaborate letters and proposals. In forces you to do –– could provoke telex. But the great British boardroom other words, there appears to be no instant and irreversible detumescence. just does not want to know. It makes “Take a letter, Miss Jones” culture. It might even drop off. you think: If the Institute of Directors Over here, the situation is quite dif- Fortunately, there are signs of had been asked to evaluate sexual ferent. Just a couple of months ago, for change. I was recently told the tale of a intercourse, by now we’d be having to instance, I had a department store senior executive who has gone over to rely on virgin birth to propagate the manager phone up and apologise for email in a big way. He insists that all his species. Why this peculiarly British not having faxed an urgent and short colleagues now send their messages to reluctance to move into the nineties? I letter through to me. There were two him electronically, eschewing the fax used to think it was simple technopho- reasons for this, he explained. The and the Royal Mail. He spends hours bia. But if that were truly the case, first was that his secretary (female, both reading and replying to their mis- you’d expect executive clonazepam naturally) was away and therefore sives. On the face of it, the guy sounds usage to have rocketed back in the couldn’t type it up. The second was like the corporate equivalent of a “New mid-eighties when the first fax that “the girl who operates the fax Man”. machines appeared. No; I think the machine” was out for lunch. Hit by this There is a downside, however: he real reason why more British business- double whammy, he was effectively has to get his secretary to log on and men won’t go online has a far more rendered incommunicado. Indeed, download the mail on his behalf. She simple explanation: bone idleness cou- credit is due to him for managing to edits it all into a single document pled with –– dare I say it –– vestigial dial my number without the assistance which she then prints out or faxes to sexism. of a Kelly Girl temp. But even on those him. Once he’s read it, he dictates his Apologies if I’m starting to sound like rare occasions where the businessman replies to her, and the cycle begins a member of the Neasden Socialist Veg- can do his own typing, I’ve often again. etarian Alliance and Gender Awareness observed a marked inability for him to Still, it’s progress –– of a sort.

39 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 PCW ● COLUMNS Homefront

Tim Nott s it now safe to turn on your television? I refer, of course, to Ithe Microsoft advertising campaign, which has been blasting us with the Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up, to foster the impression that computer operating systems are cool, sexy and fun. Yes, we’ve had it here in France, too. Night after night. grance and music. So maybe Microsoft is right after all. I’m sure that the reputed eight million pound deal included exclusive rights, so we’re There’s nothing new, of course, in like an aftershave, or at best, unlikely to hear Start Me Up being using well-loved music in an advertise- something Bertie Wooster’s Aunt used to promote laxatives. And the ment, in order to enhance the attrac- Agatha would have dabbed behind her Stones can now be considered a fairly tions of what might be an otherwise ears. Nevertheless, the marketing peo- stable product –– raunchy, but mature, dull product, but some might argue ple gave it their best shot. A smartly- and unlikely to embarrass their host. that it’s far better to stick with the clas- dressed woman is seen driving what is As computers and software become sics. Firstly, the music is out of obviously Her Own Car through an increasingly consumer-desirable, I copyright. Secondly, people are famil- expensive-looking suburb, stopping to think we can look forward to much iar with the tunes –– even though they pick up her immaculately-uniformed more of this. REM, apparently, have may not be able to quote composer children from what is, equally already turned down an offer from and work, they know that “tum-tum- obviously, a fee-paying school. Quite Microsoft, but in any case can’t be tum-tum-ti-ti-TUM”, technically known what this has to do with Shepherds seen as serious message-pushers as as Spring, from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Giving Thanks After the Storm is not everyone knows that, in computers, is posh and adds a touch of class to made clear, but the final movement of you ignore everything after a REM any product it accompanies. Thirdly, Beethoven’s Sixth rolls majestically out statement. For reasons of geographical long-gone composers are unlikely to as we are left in no doubt that “Mrs and spiritual affinity, WordPerfect embarrass their corporate clients by Upward-Mobile wears Tweed Parfum obviously has first claim to the dropping dead of a drug overdose, de Toilette spray”. And you can bet Osmonds, but hopefully, it will have the embracing a bizarre religious cult, or your bottom dollar she doesn’t own a good sense not to use them. Could U2 making a record with Tom Jones. Rolling Stones record. From then, it be persuaded to change their name to The real damage is to the was downhill for Ludwig Van’s TV OS/2? Or given IBM’s penchant for composers themselves. Take Dvorak, career, as the next time the tune sur- employing high-flying grocery and his New World symphony. Well, faced it was advertising a well-known executives, perhaps it has designs on why not? Many others have helped brand of lavatory roll. And having been the Jam. themselves. And since he himself lifted downgraded, so to speak, from toilet Perhaps it would be more useful to the “dah-dee-dah, dah-dee-dah…” bit water to toilet paper, poor Beethoven consider function. Obviously Blur are from what I am probably in flagrant was given the push in favour of a small non-starters in anything to do with dis- breach of political correctness in call- yellow puppy. This sad tale reveals the plays. Similarly, no peripheral manu- ing a negro spiritual, there’s an ironic fatal flaw in using out-of-copyright facturer is going to touch the Clash. nemesis in its being used to laud the music for advertising –– anyone can do But the Spin Doctors are heaven-sent natural, old-fashioned goodness of fac- it. Just when you’ve carefully woven for a purveyor of disk utilities, the Cure tory-produced bread. your advert for a 32Mb Pentium have got to be snapped up by an anti- Compared to Beethoven, however, portable around the delicate strains of virus company, and Eric Clapton’s Dvorak gets off lightly. Back in the Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, along Unplugged could bring a cachet of vir- eighties, when the corporate view of comes some clown using the same tuosity to any member of the Infra-red the Rolling Stones was that they were a tune to flog washing powder. Data Association. Finally, let’s not for- bunch of dangerous drug-crazed anar- Nowadays, Mrs Upward-Mobile get the users. As it’s becoming increas- chists, there was a TV commercial for a would have not just Her Own Car, but ingly common to involve the general perfume spray, called, if I remember her Own Job, Own Laptop, a nanny to public in beta-testing with “Preview” rightly, Tweed. A difficult one to mar- fetch the children from school, and software, then obviously the Crash Test ket, I would think, as it sounds more more sophisticated tastes in both fra- Dummies are on to an earner.

41 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 PCW ● COLUMNS

Straight Talking

Barry Fox hat a rare treat to find a computer company that knows Wand cares about its products. When I tried a copy of Flag- tower’s Space Race CD-ROM it threw up the error message without NVRAM. On all previous lasers “Application error –– call to undefined dynalink”. Flagtower’s it was possible to store favourite set- parent, First Information, then sent me a write-once disk con- tings in non-volatile memory. With the 4L, settings evaporate if the user pow- taining a new version –– which gave the same error message ers down to save wasting 10 Watts, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They also disappear if the printer has to be reset At this stage, most ROM publishers suggested that people with dead files or altered by other software. In each run for cover and concentrate on sell- should “find the directory on the hard case, the 4L resets to its factory ing as many discs as possible before disk that is labelled Nature, and defaults, which include the Roman 8 the bad news gets around. Instead, delete it.” character set which wants to print First Information insisted on sending a You cannot delete a disk directory hashes instead of pounds. It also software engineer round to my office to until you have first deleted all its files. defaults to 64 line page length. find the cause of the problem. Bulk deletion of files is always risky. In HP says, rather unsympathetically, The high quality images on the Flag- any case, it leaves the icons in that this only affects people who are tower disks are encrypted. They Windows and stray files in other direc- using a DOS program without the cor- display on a PC screen, but cannot be tories. This is just one of many recent rect driver. A lot of business offices copied. The encryption system is C- incidents which, until the Flagtower still use DOS (if only through a Dilla, which a lot of ROMs use to con- reassurance, had left me wondering Windows window) and cannot get new trol access. Flagtower’s installation whether there is anyone in the drivers for the older programs their program had found some previous C- computer business who really under- staff are trained to use. I regularly get Dilla files with the same name. It stands or cares about what they are business letters with hashes instead of should have over-written old with new, selling. pounds. If you are going to sell a but had not. So Space Race was look- I recently bought a Canon BJC-4000 printer in the UK which cannot be pre- ing in vain for its own code. We solved colour printer. For weeks it drove me vented from defaulting to North Ameri- the problem by renaming the old files mad, spewing out a three-line “info can settings, at least explain it in the and then reinstalling Space Race. It status” printout before each page of instruction book, I begged. ran like a dream. Flagtower say they real printing. Canon’s press office Now HP has launched the 5L. Like will now alter the installation program. referred me to several in-house blood from a stone, I have established Compare this to what happened techies, none of whom knew the that it too has no NVRAM and resets if earlier this year, when science maga- answer. I then spent ten minutes, at the owner is energy-conscious. But the zine Nature gave away CD-ROMs con- 49p a minute, on Canon’s helpline, 5L has a new feature. It comes with a taining full copies of all issues between much of it spent listening to horrid DOS utility which resets the printer to 1992 and 1994. The purchase price of Muzak on hold. For my £5 I got useless the user’s chosen defaults every time the disk is around £155. The free trial advice that failed to solve the problem. the PC is powered up. version stops working twelve days after Purely through trial and error, I This is a clear admission from HP its first use. But the dead files remain found the simple trick myself. Go to that the 4L caused problems for some on the hard disk. These files soak up Windows Print Manager, Options, Set- users. The 5L utility won’t work with nearly 4Mb of valuable space. And up, Connect and then uncheck the box: the 4L. I have suggested to HP that the Nature neglected to provide an unin- “Fast printing direct to port”. Hey company should now provide a 5L- stall option. presto. No more wasted paper. At 49p style utility upgrade for suckers who Nature’s office admitted that it had a minute shouldn’t Canon’s helpline bought the 4L. I doubt it will happen. been getting “quite a few calls” about have been able to tell me this? Dealing with HP is like dealing with this. But their technical helpline had A year ago I raised an issue with IBM five years ago — no sense of been closed down. Someone in the Hewlett-Packard about the then-new urgency or concern. And we all know editorial office tried to be helpful and 4L printer. It was the first HP laser what happened to IBM in the end.

43 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 PCW ● COLUMNS

Business Matters

Nick Beard

fter last month’s brief foray into the realm of the anorak, Amy personal computer world has been smooth and easy, with most things running as happily under Windows 95 as they did before. Some DOS games no longer work properly, much to my son Alex’s irritation, since Fatty Bear’s Birthday Surprise was a big favourite.

The “free” game, Hover, which office is in . This provides a full XYZ” and the image is sent. The desk- comes with Windows 95 is a tolerable suite of hospital applications, includ- top viewing client pops up, and there’s substitute, though (Hover involves dri- ing lab, radiology, pharmacy and the document. This means that when a ving a hovercraft around a disused “enterprise wide” systems such as user requests an electronic document, Doom set after the bodies have been patient registration, scheduling, and be it a summary of lab results or a sur- cleared up). ccMail works fine, which an ordering system to set up tests and gical operative note, they do not know means I can still access remote mail, investigations on patients. All clinical when they summon it whether it is but the remote log-in via our Shiva notes go straight into the system, so coming from the scanned document modem pool no longer functions, so my staff at HCI turn to the PC, not a filing source, as a bitmap of a sheet of ECCO file synchronisation mechanism cabinet, to find out about patients. paper, or whether it is a native Cerner is no longer working and I cannot pick We use a clinical workstation, file in digital text format. up files from my office drive. I have to which is an X Windows application It all seems very simple, yet we remember not to make changes to my running through an X-emulation rou- avoid using it wherever possible. Docu- home ECCO database, but sporadically tine on the Microsoft Windows desk- ment imaging is fine and clever tech- to bring changes back on disk. It’s a top. (The business of migration to a nology, and has a place. The concern hard life… Microsoft Windows desktop client is a is that it becomes a sop to people who I wrote, some columns back, that we near-future plan, and topic for this are too idle or set in their ways to learn have been restarting our document column.) A doctor may be reviewing a to use a computer “properly”. Instead imaging system. There had been prob- patient’s casenotes on the system, of going through the discipline of lems with the system since we through a database browsing tool devising an electronic form and think- upgraded the software to which it is which displays all the available data in ing about the data needed at a partic- interfaced. These have been solved, a spreadsheet-type view. Much data ular stage in a workflow process, an and we are merrily rolling it out. Mer- can be displayed directly in this fash- institution allows people to just carry rily, but with caution, since there are ion –– blood chemistry results, temper- on with their traditional paper things which document imaging simply ature etc. To access information which scribbles, and scans them all in. Of should not be used for. Our system is cannot be displayed in a single cell, course, there are good reasons to use from Atlanta-based company IMNET. such as a long clinical report, a doctor this technology: it is hard to capture a Their Image Engine product is pushed simply clicks on the cell which shows quick surgical plumbing diagram any as an “under the covers” solution — it that the report is there, and the report other way and surgical consent forms, is a fine technology which system users pops up in a window. Thus far, the signed by a patient, need to be kept. hardly ever get to see. As regular read- work is all being done by the Cerner (One could build a big online text data- ers know, at HCI we have implemented systems. base which builds a consent form a highly integrated hospital If the document is an image, then according to the scheduled surgical information system, which enables the Cerner application — an Oracle procedure, and uses pen-based com- doctors and nurses to access patient database — sends a message over an puting to capture the signature, but life records from any PC in the building. OS/2 gateway to the IMNET image is too short.) Document imaging is The primary clinical system software is engine. The message states “send powerful and effective technology –– if from Cerner Corporation, whose UK document number PQR to workstation it is applied properly.

45 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 Send your letters to: The Editor Personal Computer World happy to say have been Virtual reality VNU House addressed. In fact, customers When you “test” internet 32-34 Broadwick Street are now able to arrange a service providers, do you London W1A 2HG four hour slot with service connect through virtual points engineers, during which time of presence (where the or email the engineer will visit the cus- provider uses them) rather [email protected] tomer’s home. Additionally, than physical PoPs? or fax we have extended our on- Perhaps you should. My 0171 316 9313 site service hours, from present provider uses Pipex 8.00am-10.00pm Monday to virtual PoPs, giving a very Friday and 8.00am-8.00pm wide coverage at local call Saturday. rates. Or that’s the theory. In this particular instance I What Pipex and the other would like to point out that Mr VPoP providers don’t tell you Letters Geal has since been given a is that the reliability of these replacement PC and that VPoPs is so poor that over overall, Gateway 2000 has a the last four days, only half Gateway to hell asked to do the same things very high rate of customer my attempts to connect were I am writing to you about the over and over again; I lost the satisfaction; having recently successful. Each one of these extremely poor level of service customised working environ- won PCW’s award for best failed connections cost me that I have experienced from ment that I had set up on my after sales service. five pence and considerable Gateway 2000. I bought a P5 PC, and a considerable time and frustration. From the executive system from Gate- amount of time –– I would Demon overload correspondence with the way at the end of last year. estimate that I spent over ten I don’t think Cliff Stanford of provider (who is as frustrated After I had two faulty monitors hours on the phone and some Demon (PCW November) as its customers) I know this replaced, the system settled 20 hours re-installing and should be so dismissive is a common problem. To down apart from one annoy- downloading software. On about BT and the cable com- protect my provider (who has ing feature: it would not several occasions people panies. They are quite capa- used Pipex in good faith) I reboot when hot. I lived with promised to call me back and ble of picking off the 90 would be grateful if you would this for a while but as it was failed to do so. percent or so of Net omit my email address. taking longer and longer to The support I received was subscribers who know their John Gruffydd reboot I decided to get it fixed. badly informed, badly co-ordi- way around the system and Wales That’s when my problems nated (there has been hardly who just want a high quality began. Gateway decided that any continuity when I have dialup service without Rodent rage a new motherboard needed to spoken to different technical bottlenecks. I feel I must be fitted. Apart from the reboot support people) and cost me What Demon offers over register my problem, the system had been an awful lot of time and money. what BT is likely to offer is a dismay at working well. The engineer This is not what I had been news server, but the Demon Nick Beard’s arrived (a day late) to fit a new led to expect from Gateway server is so overloaded that comments in motherboard. He couldn’t get and the impression I am left while one can just about Business the system to work and diag- with is that they are keen to retrieve message headers, it Matters, PCW nosed the replacement board win your business, but if any- hangs after a few minutes September, denigrating what I as faulty. He fitted another thing goes wrong you will be without returning a single consider to be a very worth- board the following day and met with incompetence and message contents. I have while pastime; namely his was still unable to get the indifference. I hope this will tried it many times. In compar- view of wasting hours “spent system working properly. serve as a warning for anyone ison, the Compuserve server downloading useless After speaking to the Gate- for whom service and support is vastly more accessible. wretchedness from various way technical support team, are critical issues. The only other offering hamster-discussion groups”. he reloaded Windows, thus RV Geal from present Net service Many people might consider wiping out the PC tools desk- providers is web page stor- expense forms, freeform text top shell that I had a spent a Gateway 2000’s age. Despite media hype, databases, forms routing et al considerable amount of time managing director, this is of little relevance to the considerably more “useless” setting up and customising to Ian Pluthero, replies: average private individual, and “wretched” than dissemi- my requirements. He was still Having recently taken on the and technically this service nation of information on such unable to get the system work- role of Managing Director, can be provided by any net- a noble beast as the hamster. ing and left. And so it went on. Europe, at Gateway 2000 I am connected third party organi- Having participated in both I went from having a system extremely keen to maintain our sation which could easily sets of activities (corporate that was working extremely company at the forefront of charge far less than the software development and well to one that was not work- customer services and so value £25/month per 5Mb Demon hamster showing) I can per- ing properly for over two all customer comments, good charges. sonally vouch for the greater weeks. During those two or bad. Mr Geal has made Peter Holy fascination of the latter. weeks, I spoke to at least six some observations regarding 100103.554@ May I respectfully suggest different support staff; I was on-site service which I am compuserve.com that Mr Beard sticks to his

46 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 LETTERS

area of expertise and we, the programmers currently used South Of England Hamster by Microsoft et al; the flash of Club (email [email protected]) insight used to solve will desist from derogatory programs has to be rigorously comments about the merits of proved rather than assumed in-house ledger software. If correct. Mr Beard would like to experi- Incidentally, a few years ence the joys of hamster back (1989 I think) Intel (yes, showing first hand, he would that company with the dodgy be most welcome at one of Pentiums) funded a research our shows. project at Oxford University’s Adrian Dornford-Smith Programming Research (Secretary, South Of Group (PRG) to prove one of England Hamster Club) their Transputer chips correct. [email protected] Using the Z language, a spec- ification of the chip was drawn Correct diagnosis up and then mathematically Sometimes it’s clear that what modified until the spec columnists write has little matched the final chip layout. resemblance to what they And (surprisingly, perhaps) know. Nick Beard’s opening the chip was correct. More paragraphs in October’s surprisingly, the chip emulator Business Matters typifies this: used to test the layout was his knowledge of formal meth- proven to have bugs in it ods appears to fall far short of (Oxford PRG received the the two paragraphs you wrote. Queens Award for Technol- It is impossible to mathe- ogy for this bit of work). matically prove all programs Stephen Harris correct. I refer you to the clas- [email protected] sic “Halting Problem” for more details. Formal methods, Image problem however, are not designed to In Computer Answers (PCW prove existing programs cor- October) the picture on page rect; they are designed to 312 states “Data transfer create proven correct problems caused by a video programs. By starting with a card like this one could be mathematical specification of down to driver software”. I the problem, one can iterate suspect the fact that the through a series of proven “video card” is a disk drive logical steps to another spec- doesn’t help. ification, and finally to code David Pryor –– again via proven transla- [email protected] tions from your specification language to your coding lan- Wake up to MDL guage. Thus one can develop Tim Nott’s evaluation of proven correct programs. several CAD products Of course, there are still squeezed more than a quart problems with this process: of information into a pint of the “fuzzy” stage of actually review (PCW, October). determining the original specs However, he omitted to mathematically (the users mention that both Micro- rarely know what they want, to Station and PowerDraft from start with, as your recent Bentley Systems are open to columns show) and assump- third party developers through tions on the correctness of the the use of the MicroStation compiler and OS and Development Language hardware and so on. But the (MDL). This is an extended actual “spec to code” stage of version of C — the extensions the process can be performed covering areas such as com- in a rigorously correct mand parsing, the user inter- manner. It’s hard work face and data resource though, and unlikely to be of management. Developers interest to the brilliant familiar with Windows or

47 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 LETTERS

Macintosh programming will all necessary bits with them, feel at home with these MDL he would deserve a medal concepts. (Straight Talking, PCW The astonishing thing October). about MDL is that it is source- As a result of a recent code compatible across all the PCW review I opted for the platforms that Bentley support Umax Vista S8 scanner. A — every Unix workstation you fine machine by all accounts can think of, plus the Mac, –– but only if you can get it to and the PC in all its forms: work. After several evenings MSDOS, Windows 3.x, of poring over the manuals, Windows NT and OS/2. wondering what to do with a Jon Summers device driver update disk not 100332.3463@ mentioned in the documenta- compuserve.com tion, wondering how to config- ure the SCSI card model also Winword weightwatchers not referred to, wondering The time is now right for where my bundled OCR soft- Microsoft to prepare a version ware was, trying every combi- of Word for Windows which nation of options in the could be called Winword Lite. software and still not getting The latest version, Word 6, the PC to recognise the scan- is a huge heavyweight that is ner at all, and memory prob- simply over the top for most lems which Photoshop LE users. The hardware cost and reports as peculiar to Umax performance penalties are a scanner drivers, I was driven drawback. Part of my job to call the dealer for support. involves training novice com- “Sorry, we’re not really puter users in the gentle art of experts on this. You’d better word processing, and those phone Umax’s distributors.” that have seen current Technical support was out to versions of Word tell me that lunch (how prophetic) so an they were overwhelmed by hour and a half and five calls the complexity of the screen later I am told that the wrong and the huge array of mean- version of the driver and soft- ingless buttons. ware has been included for I am still running Word for that card. Oops. And sorry Windows version 1.1 and I about the OCR software. Yes, find it more than adequate. A we’ll send it by courier. And colleague used it for a 240- yes, there is a memory utility page document on a 286 to deal with the “Not enough machine with just a 20Mb RAM to run Photoshop LE” hard disk and 2Mb of RAM. problem. And in the meantime Word 6 would barely fit on the we’ll email you the necessary disk, let alone run. files and instructions. Need- In your October issue, less to say, the email doesn’t Eleanor Turton-Hill’s arrive. So now (with the docu- Beginners column lists some ment feeder) I have £1,000 interesting features of Word. worth of junk doing nothing Well, every one of them while I wait for the bits that except Word Art is available in should have been there in the Winword 1.1, although some first place. of the keystrokes are different. To avoid future grief and Adrian D Bailey anguish couldn’t we have a Loughborough University little item in product reviews of Technology like “Umax Vista S8 –– excellent scanner once it Three legged horse won’t was working but arrived as win the race complete and usable as a If Barry Fox could get PC three-legged horse”. suppliers to give us products Les Cowan that work, can be used by the 100421.2201@ average purchaser and have compuserve.com

49 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 LETTERS

Maudlin mugshot the October issue on the sub- has been practically yelling You just can’t cry naïvely Avid reader of PCW. Think it’s ject of guarantees. How about “GET 8MB RAM” for nigh on about trying to run today’s an excellent publication. a page each month on the two years and as recently as software on yesterday’s There’s a lot to praise and variations of guarantees April 1995 an extra 4Mb RAM minimum specs. very little to criticise. In fact, offered? On page 101 (Octo- was listed as the most impor- Kenneth Henry the only thing that lets it down ber issue) Gateway offer an tant upgrade with your spec, Enfield is the appalling photo of the extended warranty of three followed by the processor. Middlesex editor (page 13). What a years for £210 but “at Gate- dreadful cardboard, character- way’s discretion”. I am sure less exposition. The current your staff could come up with Hindsight photo has about the same many more examples of guar- effect as a pair of furry dice antee quirks which would Five years ago: December 1990 dangling in the windscreen of make interesting reading, Michael interview an Aston Martin. R Swarbrick, Troon “He managed to make one faintly incau- Graham S Mills Ayrshire tious prediction. By the middle of the Southwell, Notts decade, he thinks the PC will have Don’t cry, buy! dispensed with the need for mainframe Satisfaction guaranteed? Peter Brown (Letters, Octo- makers. ‘We’ll be selling mainframes in I always enjoy Barry Fox’s ber) stop whining. You’ve 1995.’” Straight Talking column and been buying PCW for years, particularly his comments in so you know the magazine Update: He was wrong. The death of the mainframe was widely predicted at the time but has failed to materialise. They’re still Big heap no fun doing surprisingly well, particularly with the move towards (the hot buzzword) data warehousing. At times this year, IBM has I am doing a project on problem, and if so, what would been unable to meet demand for its ES9000 enterprise main- Computer Desk Tidies for my you most like to see a desk tidy frames or its mid-range AS400s. GCSE technology course and I featuring? am going to design and make a Oh, by the way, your Ten years ago: December 1985 computer desk tidy. I find that magazine is dead cool. WordPerfect review I have a permanent heap of Victoria Folgate (14) “A useful question when approaching a new word processor is: useless items surrounding my Kettering How easy is it to write a short letter or document without using computer. It’s extremely Northants control codes? In this case, the answer must be ‘very easy annoying and no matter how indeed’. WordPerfect comes close to the ideal of ‘What you see many times I clear it away, it PCW replies: We could is what you get’ (WYSIWYG) and although it doesn’t show always returns. certainly do with some right-hand justification on-screen, you work at all times on a So that is the background desk tidies in this office. screen uncluttered with control codes...WordPerfect costs to my project. Please could you If readers have any £425.” tell me if you, your company, suggestions, please write or anyone else in the whole in and we’ll pass them on Update: As far as a DOS program working in text mode can be wide world suffers from this to Victoria. WYSIWYG! And that’s when £425 was a lot of money.

50 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 First Impressions

Contents

60 H-P Omnibook 600CT 61 Intel Pentium Overdrive 62 OfficeBlox 64 Gateway Solo and Hi-Grade Notino 66 Evesham Platinum 133MHz 70 Cubasis Audio 72 ImageAXS 74 Xerox 4920 77 Teleshares 2.0 78 Autoroute Express for Psion

First Impressions includes the irresistible “Gadgets” spread on page 56. Highlights include the tempting Intel Pentium Overdrive, a side by side comparison of the latest new-look notebooks: the Solo and the Hi-Grade Notino. And, Teleshares 2.0 might help you make your fortune on the stockmarket.

VNU European Labs

Labs tests cover every kind DOS mode. Start Doom 2 and set the screen size to maximum, VNUof hardware and software then quit. At the DOS prompt type including PC hardware, printers, network doom2 -timedemo demo1 products, modems and software applica- then wait for the demo to finish, automatically quit and drop back to tions. The tests are continually developed DOS with two results. Divide the first by the second and times the and enhanced to reflect hardware and software developments. result by 35 to get a frames per second total — bigger is better. Our tests closely simulate real-world use. For example, the ● To make them easy to read at a glance, all the graphs in PCW suite of PC hardware benchtests uses complete versions of are now drawn so that the bigger the bar, the better the result. industry-standard applications like Microsoft Excel and Word for Normally we’ll also include the original data we worked from: for Windows, WordPerfect 6.0 (DOS and Windows), Lotus 1-2-3 example, the time in minutes and seconds to print a page in a version 3.4 (DOS) and FoxPro (Windows and DOS). comparative test of printers. Application tests are the backbone of all the VNU Labs system evaluations but it’s nearly impossible to pin an appli- cation result to a specific machine component. Only system-level tests (also known as low-level tests) can reliably tell the difference. VNU Labs’ system-level test suite is called Euromark. The tests, which are mainly Windows-based, quickly size up a hard disk, sound card, motherboard, display adaptor and printer, and give individual and overall figures. Starting this month are our Doom 2 tests, which offer a good indication of processor, graphics and games performance. You can do these at home: quit Windows 3.1 or shut down Windows 95, restarting in

55 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

HARDWARE Hewlett-Packard Omnibook 600CT A classy little number that you’d be proud to take anywhere in your briefcase, says Clive Akass.

he lighter models of Hewlett- TPackard’s Omnibook range fall into the class known as executive mobiles, which are the nearest manufacturers currently get to making a truly portable, desktop-standard PC. They are not so portable as non-PC old bangers like the Cambridge Z88 or Amstrad Notepad (see our News Analysis pages), but unlike most notebooks they can be carried in a briefcase without putting your back out. They are also high-quality machines. Too expensive for your average punter and too useful to be dismissed as an executive toy; they sell on power, mobility and status. Omnibooks have undergone various weight reducing measures. Earlier mod- els dispensed altogether with heavy disk- drives. Sensibly, they relied on easy H-P has had to embed communications with a base desktop PC, the among the pioneering the use of an infra-red port but QWERTY keys but claims that other- also offering a conventional serial link. wise the keyboard is full-size. Certainly, it The Omnibook 600, introduced last is fine for typing on. Like its predecessor, year, had a 170Mb PC card disk, a plug- the 600CT has an extra which can in floppy drive as standard, and an 8.5in be used in conjunction with the function button, and a compartment for the dual-scan colour screen. The latest keys to launch chosen applications; you Lithium Ion battery with a claimed life 600CT packs a larger 9.5in TFT colour can write names or icons on a membrane between charges of up to three and a screen, 8Mb of RAM as standard and above the keys to remind yourself what half hours. new features such as 16-bit audio with a launches what. At the rear edge are a power-supply built-in microphone and tiny internal The CT also retains the traditional socket and the IRDA-compatible infra-red speakers providing surprisingly good Omnibook mouse, which pops out on a port, capable of transferring data at sound quality. short plastic arm from the right edge of 115Kb/sec — as fast as a standard serial Nevertheless, it weighs much the the machine. This works well (at least for link. A flap lifts to reveal the serial, same as the 600 at 1.72kg (3.8lb), or just right-handers) on a good surface in short parallel, floppy-drive, and exterior monitor over 2.1kg including the mains adaptor doses, but is difficult to use on your lap connectors, plus one for an optional and cable. The floppy drive would add and becomes very hard work during a enhanced port replicator with SCSI-2, still more weight but of course may be long session — though perhaps not so PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports. dispensed with on many journeys. The much as a trackball or nipple pointer. The Software includes HP’s suite of organ- 18.5cm x11.1cm x 4cm (7.25in x 11in x review version was a little tricky to get iser applications, including a phone book 1.6in) case is slightly smaller than a back into its slot, though we have not had and financial calculator. You also get standard A4 notebook. this problem with earlier models. good online manuals and Laplink Remote The screen supports only VGA to 256 Superficially, the CT looks much the for phone links to your office machine. colours but an exterior monitor can be same as the 600, except for three audio The review machine was supplied with driven at 1024 x 768 in 256 colours. sockets (stereo out, line in, mic in) on the Windows 3.11 but Win95 should be avail- Subjectively it gives a strong, easy-on- left edge; next to these is a slot for one able by the time you read this. the-eye display which can be read from Type 3 or two Type 2 device PC cards; a The Instant On feature works particu- quite a wide angle (not necessarily an similar slot on the opposite edge, in front larly well, without the disconcerting advantage if you want to keep your work of the mouse, carries a 260Mb disk delays of some rival implementations. It to yourself) and is desktop-fast thanks to (there’s a 340Mb option). lets you switch the machine on and off 1Mb of video RAM and local-bus Beneath the machine is a memory- like a light, with as-you-were boot-up and acceleration. expansion hatch (up to 32Mb), a reset no tiresome exit procedures.

60 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The review model had a pronounced and there seems no reason why the PCW Verdict whine, apparently coming from the 600CT should be any different. It scored screen; H-P said this was a problem on a nifty 5.47 in our Euromark tests — a Fast, elegant and roadworthy. some early products but had been sorted performance aided by its fast hard disk. Price 600CT £2,460; port replicator £259 out. Certainly, the second machine we The only factor that may hold it back is Contact Hewlett-Packard Customer looked at was silent. the processor: at this price level, Information Centre 01344 369222 The 600 proved robust on the road customers may look for Pentium power.

HARDWARE Intel Pentium Overdrive

Don’t be tempted into a P24T upgrade just because it’s there. If your BIOS and cache can cope it represents a reasonable upgrade, but you might be better off with a DX4, says Simon Head.

ith the release of the make this superfluous. One thing the W83MHz version of the processor will not do is switch back up to Pentium Overdrive chip, 83MHz when the fan is replaced, so if many people using 486 you stop the fan with your finger, or DX33 or DX2/66 machines if a cable in your PC fouls it may be tempted into an momentarily, the processor will upgrade. But this is not drop down to bus speed and necessarily as simple as it you will have to reboot your sounds, and with some machine to convince it that PCs, upgrading to a the fan is now working. P24T will not provide a Should you upgrade your performance increase over PC? In our VNU Labs we have a DX4/100, which is consider- experienced some problems ably cheaper. with PCs and P24T over- The main issue is that of the drive chips, particularly Level 2 cache in your PC. The with older PCs, so Pentium chip uses a bus operating unless you are sure at 60 or 66MHz, whereas a 486 chip that your PC’s BIOS can operates at 33MHz; so to get Pentium support a P24T you would probably performance from a 486 chip be better off buying a DX4 and using the immediately presents a problem in deliv- Power for price difference to upgrade your memory. ering data to the chip fast enough. To try existing fans is drawn to alleviate this, the Intel designers have from the power supply, either from pins Pentium Overdrive placed a large 32Kb cache on the over- on the motherboard or from a floppy disk Performance Graph drive chip; twice as much as is available power cable. The P24T draws power for on the Pentium itself. This cache has to the fan directly from the ZIF socket. The DX2/66 4.64 operate in conjunction with the cache on fan can be detached from the processor DX4/100 6.90 your motherboard to provide data to the and Intel offers a lifetime guarantee on P24T 6.95 (Write-through cache) P24T overdrive. the fan. Removing the fan reveals three Cache memory can operate in two contacts on top of the chip: two of these P24T (Write-back cache) 8.97 modes: write-back and write-through. In power the fan and the third provides 5 6 7 8 Faster write-back mode, writes to cache memory monitoring of the fan’s performance. 486 P24T are allowed and the changes to the cache The P24T can monitor the fan speed are subsequently written back to the main and, in the event of failure, will switch memory. This is the most effective mode down from its 83MHz clock speed to the PCW Verdict but is more expensive to implement as bus speed of the processor. Although If you have a BIOS and cache that can take you require logic to keep track of cache this will provide a performance loss it advantage of a P24T, then it represents a modifications. Write-through cache is stops the chip overheating. Intel provides reasonable upgrade. Many people will be simpler: when a memory write occurs it is a small Windows utility that can monitor better off with a DX4. immediately written to main memory. the fan and notify you if it breaks, though Price £219 One of the other major features of the the resulting loss of performance as the Contact Intel 01793 403000 P24T is the fan and heatsink design. processor slows down to bus speed does

61 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

SOFTWARE

of applications, and the differences require a change in your working prac- OfficeBlox tices. For example, with NoteBlox you can create little notes to yourself and This OLE-compatible component software can make others which can be posted anywhere. The functionality is nothing like Word’s or all the difference to the way you work. Users of small even Write’s, but it does allow you to hard disks or slow processors should take special easily drop text into whatever setting you note, says Adele Dyer. choose. You achieve more satisfactory results, for example, by dropping a note into an Excel spreadsheet than by lphaBlox is the first global compo- OfficeBlox will support any OLE 2 appli- embedding it in a Word document. The Anents company to ship Windows 95 cation but there is no fixed date for that simplicity of the design makes advanced and Office 95 compliant component soft- at present.) It also works as a source for functionality look like child’s play. ware. OfficeBlox is its first product and is dragging and dropping any application You are advised not to throw away built as OLE-compatible component soft- you wish to embed. You can open a fre- MS Office just yet: AlphaBlox removes ware. Put in non-technical terms, the quently used Word document from the the need to open these vast applications product is a series of building blocks ToolBlox, add a CalcBlox to do a specific so often, but it does not replace them. which can be added to any files of any calculation and then stick in a NoteBlox OfficeBlox rather supplements the most OLE 2 applications or which can receive to make additional notes to yourself. commonly used functions of Office, but files from the same applications. Another improvement to your working saves you processor time. For instance, The five components themselves are environment is supplied by WorkBlox. It instead of launching a large Excel a means of storing words (NoteBlox), looks like a filing cabinet, into which you spreadsheet each time you want to per- lists (ListBlox) and doing calculations can drop your documents. You can add form a quick calculation on some recent (CalcBlox). ToolBlox, a toolbar, controls as many tabs their operation and WorkBlox creates an and subtabs as area in which to store your work. The you need to functionality of each can be added to organise your simply by downloading code from work and mix dif- AlphaBlox’s Web site. Thereafter, you ferent types of can add only the components you need: documents as a result, each component is initially within those tabs. low on functionality but high on Documents can adaptability. be copied to This has advantages and disadvan- make multiple tages when compared with larger entries under applications. Firstly, OfficeBlox needs different tabs. very little resources: only 2Mb of hard The structure disk space. On the down side, compared of OfficeBlox with an application such as Microsoft takes a little Office, OfficeBlox at first seems a little getting used crude in its implementation. to after a It is suspiciously easy to use and the continuous diet size of the manuals does nothing to allay your fears: you expect a Above textbook to arrive with a new Workblox lets you application, not 15cm2 little book- store and view many lets containing only eight pages different file formats of explanation. You can learn to together use most of the functions of OfficeBlox in about half an hour, but this does not mean they are just toys. Toolblox is the first element which can be used to improve Left your working methods. The first Each component improvement is provided by the has a specific ToolBlox. From here you can purpose. launch any of the Blox as well as Information can be any MS Office application or dragged and documents you choose to include dropped between on the toolbar. (Eventually, them

62 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

figures you could keep the figures in a having to load cumbersome files several PCW Verdict ListBlox, export them to a CalcBlox and times a day or by having them running in An excellent working package specially for embed the results in a NoteBlox, then the background. They are ideal for low- use with small hard disks and low clock- use Microsoft Mail to send them to a col- end business users, allowing significant speed processors. league. Any figures stored in the ListBlox freedom of working methods but more Price £69.96 until 17th November; £99.95 can then be exported to Excel by importantly, for those with low clock- thereafter dragging and dropping. As a result you speed processors, the ability to work in Contact AlphaBlox 01628 777475; work in real time and are not held up by real time. http://www.blox.com, [email protected]

HARDWARE Gateway Solo and Hi-Grade Notino

The latest notebooks come equipped with Pentium processors, CD-ROM drives and sound capabilities. Ben Tisdall agonises over two able contenders, only to be seduced by Japanese elegance.

otebooks are going multimedia in a have a number of features in Nbig way. Everywhere, manufactur- common. They’ve gone for the ers are using fast Pentium processors, trackpad pointing devices which whipping out floppy disk drives in favour first appeared on Apple Powerbooks. of CD-drives, building sound onto These are easy to get the hang of, don’t towards active matrix screens at the motherboards and concealing stereo suffer from “sticky ball” syndrome which SVGA resolution of 800 x 600. These speakers. The Gateway 2000 Solo and often affects trackballs, and there’s refresh faster and prevent the mouse Hi-Grade’s Notino are two of the latest plenty of space to rest your wrists in pointer submarining (disappearing) as and the cheapest with starting prices of front of the keyboard. you move it around. Gateway has gone less than £2,500. They have 75MHz Pentium proces- fully active matrix. The dazzling 10.4in The machines sors (with faster versions promised), SVGA screen on our review machine 256Kb of write-back cache and 8Mb of would cost you extra. Hi-Grade still RAM as standard. Both have on-board offers a slower dual-scan screen on its 16-bit sound capability and are fitted entry-level machine. with dual speed CD-ROM drives (quad The Hi-Grade has nickel metal speed CD-ROMs for notebooks will hydride batteries while the Solo goes for appear as soon as the manufacturers the more leading edge lithium ion have sorted out power requirements). battery technology. The entry level Solo Each has plug and play BIOS, has a 720Mb hard disk, while on the enabling PCMCIA cards to be hot- Hi-Grade it’s 500Mb. swapped in and out, and support the Take a closer look at the styling and IRDA infra-red communications detail of the two machines and it’s the standard. And they’re modular so batter- Gateway which has the edge. Partly ies, hard disks, floppy drives and because it has a CD or floppy drive, CD-ROMs can be slotted in and out in rather than both, the case is more com- a few seconds. Both go for the pact. There are neat touches like the now almost standard LCD indi- contoured plastic moulding, the way the cator screen at the back of speakers are built into the hinges and the keyboard and both the special Windows 95 key. The have jacks for a micro- Gateway weighs less than the Hi-Grade, phone, headphones and too, and its power supply is lighter and midi on the side, although smaller. It has a ghetto blaster-type the Gateway gilds the lily by connector rather than the bulkier kettle including a volume control, too. Both lead variety. machines have port replicator bars. The Hi-Grade does, however, offer But there are differences. The trend the option of an internal adaptor which in notebook screen technology is fits into the battery compartment.

64 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Whether you prefer the black sports a couple of fairly pointless, but PCW Verdict Hi-Grade or the dark grey Solo is a harmless Windows 95 keys for the Start matter of taste. The overall look of the button and right-clicking. On the perfor- Both notebooks are capable, well specified Taiwanese-made Notino is a year or two mance front there’s barely a fag paper and competitively priced. But it’s the more compact, stylish Gateway Solo which gets behind the Japanese-designed Solo. Yet between the two machines’ performance my vote. the Notino has a couple of tricks of its levels. In our Doom frame-rate test both own. For example, it’s the only notebook scored just under 22.5fps: disappointing Gateway Solo I’ve seen with a built-in games joystick, results for Pentium-based PCs. Price £2,499 (75MHz Pentium, 8Mb RAM, 720Mb hard disk, active matrix screen) and promised soon is an MPEG/TV The Notino arrived a couple of weeks Contact Gateway 0800 172000. Tuner module to fit into the floppy disk before the Gateway and I became quite Fax 00353 1 848 2022 drive bay. attached to it. Yet just a short time with There’s little to choose between the the Solo was enough to cause a complete Hi-Grade Notino Price £2,125 (75MHz Pentium, 8Mb RAM, two keyboards. Gateway’s goes to the switch of loyalties. The Gateway is a 500Mb hard disk, dual-scan screen) trouble of lining up the touchpad with the better thought out and more complete Contact Hi-Grade 0181 591 9040. so it’s easily to hand for touch machine that illustrates the gap between Fax 0181 591 1586 typists, but it’s a trivial difference. And it Taiwanese and Japanese design.

HARDWARE Evesham Platinum 133MHz

This big, chunky, high-performance machine leaves little space on your desk for a telephone and a cup of coffee but is nevertheless well designed. Ben Tisdall gives it the thumbs up.

lthough Evesham Micros doesn’t million, annually. The name betrays its have inadvertently turned down the Aquite get mentioned in the same age. When the company started, 12 speed. breath as Dell or Compaq, it’s firmly up years ago, PCs were still called micros. Three cross-head screws get you into there with the likes of Viglen, Elonex and The Vale Platinum PCI is Evesham’s the all-steel case to reveal an airy inte- Dan Technology and now turns over £45 top of the range desktop. Despite the rior. There are spaces for two extra hard state of the art 133MHz Pentium disks if you need more space than the processor, it’s a traditional machine Seagate 1Gb EIDE drive, fitted to our which arrives in a desk-gobbling steel review machine, provides. case. Arrange the seriously large Other components are tidily arranged. Zydec Pro speakers on either side and The Intel Advance/EV Baby AT sized you’re hard pushed to squeeze a cof- motherboard has the latest Triton PCI fee cup and a phone alongside. chipset, three ISA slots and four PCI As befits such a generously propor- slots. There’s a special Card Edge Low tioned case, there’s a nice chunky Profile (Celp) for the 256Kb of second on/off switch at the front. To the left is level write-back cache, and support for a Toshiba XM-5302B quad-speed EDO (Extended Data Out) RAM or the CD-ROM drive above a free drive bay cheaper standard DRAM. Our review for another device. Further along machine had 16Mb of EDO, which is there’s a completely basically RAM with a small cache of its unnecessary clock- own. It’s faster and reduces the need for speed second-level processor cacheing. indicator and turbo Diamond graphics cards are fast and reset buttons. becoming an industry standard. So it’s They’re not recessed reassuring to discover that one of the and far too easy to PCI slots is filled with a Diamond Stealth press accidentally. 64 VRAM video card. It makes the Press the reset button machine a pleasure on which to run and you lose your Doom, and the 2Mb of on-board memory work. As for the will cope with 16.7m colours at 800 x turbo button — I 600 or 65,000 at 1024 x 768. The card once spent a cou- has its own slim manual and comes with ple of days wonder- Diamond’s easy-to-use InControl ing what was wrong with utilities. my PC before someone One of the ISA slots contains a Dia- suggested I might mond Telecommander 2500XL. This is a

66 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Psion Link for Nokia

The short messaging service, SMS, allows short text messages of up to 160 characters to be sent from one suitably equipped digital mobile phone to another. But entering the words from a mobile’s keypad is a real pain. Psion’s Link allows messages to be composed on the Series 3a and transmitted from a Nokia 2110 GSM phone. Nokia Oranges will work too if upgraded to firmware release 4.77. The cable will cost around £80. Call TBC on 0171 258 7368 Panasonic Panafax UF-S1

It’s a phone, a fax, a digital answering machine, and a copier! Yes, it’s Panasonic’s remarkable Panafax UF-S1, a feature-packed gadget which could singlehandedly look after most of your home or small office communication require- ments. It looks rather nice, too. Well worth the £299 asking price (VAT already added). Panasonic is on 0500 404041, price £299.95 inc VAT

Fujifilm FV-10

This impressive-looking gadget is Fuji’s answer to many imaging requirements. Using a 470,000 pixel CCD similar to those found in video camcorders, the fully automatic FV-10 Canon SV-15A speakers can focus its zoom lens and image anything. Use it for archiving, databasing, multimedia, the internet, or even film If your PC multimedia experience is lacking the sonic scanning with its 35mm film carrier. The PAL output can be punch it deserves, then you should be looking for a new viewed on-screen, recorded on tape or captured by a PC pair of speakers. How about these from Canon? They’re with a suitable card. not lava-lamps, oh no. With built-in mains powered Price £695 from Digital Imaging Group on 0171 586 5900 amplifiers, these magnetically shielded wonders wack out 40 Watts, with a wide sound dispersion offering a wider listening area than normal speakers. Price £179 from Canon UK on 0181 773 6000

Microsoft Sidewinder Pro To make Windows games more enjoyable Microsoft has released a joystick, which comes bundled with Fury3 reviewed in this Philips Routefinder month’s Screenplay. The Sidewinder Pro If you’re fed up with getting lost, tangled has multiple fire buttons, a special twisty up in maps or hitting inpenetrable traf- grip, and is ideal for both fast action fic, the Philips Routefinder could be and simulation titles. the gadget for you. This handheld Price £69.99. device calculates routes, estimating Microsoft is on 01734 270001. time and cost of journey, taking Whyte into account preferences for scenic or speedy routes. Don’t leave home without it. Price £199.99. Dial 100 and

Photography by David ask for freefone routefinder Gadget PCW Gadgets

56 57 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

multi-function fax/modem, sound and the right of the space bar which has the for this level of specification. Its Doom messaging card. It turns your PC, armed effect of a right click. benchmark result (57.56 frames per with a suitable printer, into a plain paper And there’s nothing wrong with the second) was excellent. fax machine/answering machine. It also rather unusual-looking 17in Ecoscan enables speed dialing and allows you to monitor. The controls were easy to use receive files from any ITU/TSS T.434 and the image was distortion free. Binary File Transfer (BFT) compatible There’s a decent software bundle PCW Verdict program. At the time of writing, the card included: Encarta, MS Works for A good-looking, well-designed, high- wasn’t quite BABT approved, although it Windows, MS Golf, Scenes, Money, performance machine with just a couple of should be by the time you read this. Call Dangerous Creatures and Photo CD niggles: the oversized case, and that reset button. Evesham to check. software. There’s a choice of Windows I liked the Keytronics Windows 95 3.11 or Windows 95 at the same price. Price As tested £2,528 plus £150 approx for keyboard. It’s somewhere between As this was the first 133MHz Pentium the Telecommander spongy and clicky in feel. The Windows we’ve tested with Windows 95 Contact Evesham 01386 765500. Fax 01386 765 354 95 keys either side of the space bar bring benchmarks, comparison is difficult, but up the Start button, and there’s a key to the preliminary figures looked about right

SOFTWARE Cubasis Audio Steinberg’s Cubasis has been given a tune-up and now includes a new stereo sampling facility. It heralds the end of traditional four-track recording, says Steven Helstrip.

teinberg has added audio capability The mixer Sto Cubasis, its entry-level version of provides Cubase. In addition to its 60 tracks for overall track recording MIDI, Cubasis Audio enables level and a you to record and play back up to four pan pot when stereo tracks of sampled audio — that using mono could be a live guitar, sax, vocals or a samples combination of these. Over the years, Cubase has established itself as the industry-standard music sequencing package and is distin- guished by its ease of use and intuitive hard drive and interface. Cubasis Audio is no different at the same and maintains many of the features found time tell you in the full version. These include a similar how many arrange window; score, piano role and audio tracks lists editors; a toolbox allowing you to you can play quickly edit parts; and drop-down menus simultaneously. containing many of the same functions as Our test machine, an Elonex P90 fitted out and/or deleted. What you can’t do is before. with 20Mb RAM and 540Mb SCSI hard quantise or fine-tune any performances. To get Cubasis Audio up and running, disk, had no problems playing four stereo More of which later. you need a Windows-compatible 16-bit tracks sampled at 44.1kHz. Systems with Audio is recorded as standard Win- sound card; see January’s sound card slower hard disks may only be able to dows wave, or .wav, files in either 11, 22 group test. Once you’re wired for sound, play two or three mono tracks and at or 44.1kHz. You can record in mono or it’s easier to install than it is to carry this lower sampling rates. stereo, but you cannot combine the two magazine from your doorstep to the living In the arrange window, audio tracks within the same song. When you hit the room. can be identified by a wave symbol in the record button you are given the usual Given the size of sound files (around track info column. Other than the way two bars count-in. As with MIDI informa- 10Mb per minute for a stereo track audio tracks are recorded (which first tion, Cubasis records between the left recorded at 44.1kHz), audio is recorded requires you to give it a filename) audio and right locators and allows you to direct to disk unless you have a few giga- parts can be treated in pretty much the punch in and out as normal. bytes of RAM to spare. Therefore, a fast same way as MIDI parts: you can move Unless you have a duplex sound card enhanced IDE (EIDE) or SCSI drive is them around; copy and drag audio parts such as the Turtle Beach Tropez, you will essential. Utilities are supplied with Cuba- to other sections in a song; parts can be not be able to record and play audio at sis Audio to test the performance of your glued together; and sections can be cut the same time. None of Creative Labs’

70 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Samples are then use the audio mixer to get the best and approached its authors with a view Acquiring new managed mix. This is a basic four-channel mixer to making it more widely available — a images is from the with sliders for output level and pan posi- case of: “We liked the product so much simple and audio pool. tion. One disappointment in this area is we bought the right to sell it.” NMS has quick: From here that you cannot record fades, or recall already created products for various thumbnails act you can mixes at a later stage. And unless you corporate clients, including a major car as pointers to audition, have a 500MHz Pentium system, company, and is now launching the actual files copy and changes in volume don’t happen in real ImageAXS onto the general market. create new time. ImageAXS lets you catalogue your audio Another drawback with Cubasis Audio pictures, wherever they may be held. sections is that there is no sample editor. If you Instead of storing your images in one need to create a crossfade or fade out, database, it creates a database of files and WAV you’ll need to export the sound files to a images with pointers to their locations, sound files from completed dedicated sample editor, such as Fast- while at the same time creating thumb- the Softkey Mul- the song you Eddie, then import it back. Well, you just nail representations. Three-megabyte timedia Library are working can’t have your cake and eat it, can you? GIFs can therefore be replaced with CD-ROM. The on, there is a Overall, though, what you get for your thumbnails of only 128 x 128 pixels, package “delete money is a solid system that looks set to allowing you access without crippling supports a rea- unused” make the traditional four-track recorder your hard disk. sonable selection of other file formats can be tailored to each collection you cards offer duplex audio as I write. In command which does just that. redundant. Those already familiar with NMS is keen to stress that the users including BMP, TIF, TGA, PCX, GIF, create, allowing a description of up to theory it is possible to use two cards, one After an audio part has been Cubase will only need a few hours to of this product do not need to be either EPS, JPG, WMF and JIF. As a cross- 32,000 characters and keywords. There for recording, the other for playback. That recorded, you can “chop up” the sections become proficient with this package and graphics gurus or database nerds. Its platform package you can happily point is no compulsion to fill in all of these, said, we tried this with a Roland RAP-10 you want to keep and position them as some excellent results can be achieved interface is very simple to use and with a to either Macintosh or PC files on a CD- although as they can be used to facilitate and Creative’s AWE-32, only to find it you would with MIDI parts. If there are with a highly-specced system and the little application you can go from taking ROM, your hard disk or a remote site. searches it’s an idea to cram in as much crashed the system. Steinberg assures timing problems, each track can be offset right sound card: we recommend at least off the shrink-wrapping, to producing To create a collection, all you need information as possible. In the case of us they have had this working on their and made to synchronise with any MIDI a DX2/66 with 8Mb RAM and a Turtle some fairly impressive results in an to do is tell ImageAXS where to find the the model agency, there was so much test machine, however. tracks. Beach Tropez, or equivalent. afternoon. relevant files. It then takes over to cre- disagreement as to what should and All editing in Cubasis Audio is non- All sound files are displayed in the We began by creating a database ate thumbnails, with blank records should not go into the descriptions they destructive, which means any edits you Audio Pool dialogue. From here you can which included PCD files taken from a attached for you to fill in. Each record decided to catalogue their models perform won’t change the original sound audition parts, copy sections and create PCW Verdict Kodak PhotoCD collection, AVI movie contains seven database fields which according to physical restrictions, set out file. Instead, a new image is created, new images. Images can also be based on the original take. For example, dragged into the arrange window for use When used with a highly-specified PC and the right sound card ,you can obtain some say you have recorded a 16-bar vocal in the song. Drop-down menus in the excellent results. However, even with our and you only want to keep the first two. Audio Pool allow you to optimise the gain test machine some glitches did occur. Cubasis does not delete the last 14 bars, of audio parts (the same as normalise), but makes a virtual copy of the first two. import sound files and reverse samples. Price £211; upgrade from Cubasis, £102 Contact Harman Audio 0181 207 5050 This, you may think, is a waste of hard Once you have your audio tracks laid disk space, but worry not. After you have down and positioned correctly, you can

SOFTWARE ImageAXS

Adele Dyer goes through the looking-glass to assess New Media’s ImageAXS image database and finds it easy to use, with impressive results, if a bit pricey against the competition.

mage databases have been around for shoot of Virgin, Ia while and this one follows very much has distribution in the footsteps of Kodak Shoebox and rights and has Power Album from Softkey. They are a anglicised what means of collecting together all your was originally a images without actually having to store US product. all your image files in a single place, so Asked to produce Multiple file formats can be saved in cluttering up disk space unnecessarily. an image database for Storm model each collection, including AVI movie New Media Solutions (NMS), an off- agency, NMS discovered this software files and WAV sound files

72 73 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS FIRST IMPRESSIONS

in the database fields alone. package lets you run slide-shows either already attached. printer, there’s no risk of spraying your- On the Xerox 4920, these techniques are output on these appeared crisp, showing Collections can be subdivided into of an entire collection or on a more But this is really a minor gripe. The self with toner. All you have to do is referred to collectively as “Intelligent the clear superiority of 600dpi resolution. projects, allowing you to copy records selective basis. These pull up the source package is easy to use and can produce remove a series of protective tags, fill it Colour” because the best image quality As well as its relatively low price and from one collection into a smaller one. files with alarming speed to roll through good results with little effort. However, with paper and plug it in. There’s nothing is applied automatically. manageable size, this printer is also one You can open as many projects as you a show of images. Unfortunately, you since it does very much the same thing fiddly about this either; the top cover If you’re experienced in tweaking your of the easiest colour lasers we’ve come want, so large databases can be broken cannot add videos to the slide-show as as Kodak Shoebox, it is a little opens to reveal the entire innards of the printer driver to provide the best possible across to set up. The automatic driver down into more manageable and poten- these need to be launched through a overpriced. printer and from here everything is clearly effect, there are advanced options for features allow non-specialists to produce tially more useful pieces. The real particular command. accessible — four toner cartridges con- customised adjustments. It is possible to good-quality, well-balanced colour docu- advantage is not the simple databasing If you want to see what is outside the taining yellow, magenta, cyan and black, adjust colour correction separately for ments. It’s also flexible across operating of images, video and sound, but the database you have the option to monitor PCW Verdict two rollers at the back which guide the text, graphics and halftone photographic systems working with Macs, PCs, and ends to which you can use them. So accessible material, even if it has not yet Very easy to use and you can create good paper out of the machine, and a selection elements. If you’re not into fiddling workstations, and has built-in automatic long as you have access to the original been collected, without leaving results, although it is a little overpriced. of colour balance controls on the left- around, the Intelligent Colour provides an sensing which allows you to talk to it in files, you can view them, including AVI ImageAXS. This is of limited use. You Price £149 hand side. “idiot button” pretty much like an any language without having to reconfig- and WAV files, through the database can collect images into the monitor Contact New Media Solutions The paper tray opens towards the automatic flash on a camera. This will ure the control panel for each print job. without opening other applications. window, but you cannot view them 0171 229 1708. Fax 0171 727 8200 front of the machine at the bottom. It has apply the most suitable imaging methods This printer is a sensible choice for small- Taken to its logical conclusion, the unless they are JPGs with a thumbnail a capacity of 250 sheets of ordinary to individual elements within a page, to medium-sized workgroups who need paper, or 75 transparancies. This can be such as halftones, graphics or text. good-quality colour as well as a reliable HARDWARE extended with an optional paper tray with In practice, the “intelligence” factor office workhorse. the same capacity, which slots in below. works better on some images than it We did have the odd paper-feeding prob- does on others. We found that Xerox’s lem, but this is easily resolved by opening smoothing technology worked exception- PCW Verdict Xerox 4920 the rear door of the machine and remov- ally well on large blocks of dark colour. Great buy for any office workgroup which ing any stray sheets. Lighter colours, on the other hand, needs black & white and colour capability, For small office workgroups looking for colour and black & white printing across mixed When it comes to quality of output, tended to suffer from a very slight band- especially across mixed platforms. There are Xerox has developed several imaging ing and shadowing effect. Compared to minor glitches in the “Intelligent Colour” tech- platforms, the 4920 offers a nice size at the right price. Eleanor Turton-Hill reports. nology, but otherwise, the 4920 is user- enhancement techniques including Quad similar products however, the overall friendly, reasonably priced, and versatile. Dot technology, Smooth Screen technol- quality was excellent. Performance p until recently, colour printing was years have got people used to the idea gives much better-quality results than the ogy and microfine toner which enhance increase was marked on plain black and Price £5999 Uconsidered by most computer users of producing colour documents. Many inkjet but the printing process is far more various aspects of the printing process. white text documents, and the quality of Contact Xerox 01895 251133 to be an expensive and unobtainable different technologies can be used to complex, and consequently, colour lasers luxury. But massive changes in the achieve this, but the most effective (and have not hit the mass-market in anything printer market over the past couple of affordable) one to date is the inkjet. like the same way. Most colour lasers are Laser technology, of course, massive pieces of equipment (about the size of a deep freeze) and cost several thousands of pounds, and this restricts their market to large corporate organisa- tions and medium-sized businesses. This latest printer from Xerox has a list price of £5,999, one of the cheapest colour lasers we’ve seen so far. It’s also a lot smaller than previous offerings – not exactly a neat desktop device, but it can be lifted by two people and will fit on a largish desk. It measures 533 x 610 x 380mm and weighs 49kg. The 4920 is targeted at small office workgroups and attempts to cater for all printing needs, producing black and white documents at a speed of 12ppm and full colour at 3ppm. The 4920 has Adobe PostScript Level 2 as standard, with optional PCL 5e. 24Mb memory is fitted out of the box, expandable to 48Mb. Ethernet and Token Ring network cards are optional. The engine will handle paper from 60 to 160gsm. The design of this printer shows Xerox’s experience in the printer market. It comes with all the necessary cartridges pre-installed and a “Getting Started” card showing how to set the whole thing up. As the cartridges are already in the

74 75 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

SOFTWARE

can take the free feed from Teleshares Teleshares 2.0 and, considering that the cheapest real- time data feeds start at about £1,200 a Stock market thrills and spills come direct to your PC with year (not including hardware), this looks a bit of a bargain. Updata’s Teleshares 2.0. Andy Webb reckons aspiring City The information in a custom window types will find this system pays for itself in no time. can be manipulated in several ways. You can choose to see the current or previ- ous day’s price, the highest/lowest price pdata Software not only offers a for the day, or the change on the day. A Urange of investment packages folders continually accumulate the data ”Leaders and laggards“ facility will sort aimed at the private investor, but has from the card into a database for each the page in ascending/descending per- also become a market leader at using security. The data can be manually formance order. If you don’t know the free Teletext data to feed those edited in case of errors, or exported to origin of a particular piece of data, a packages. Teleshares 2.0 can be com- other applications in a variety of popular ”Source“ command will put the Teletext bined with three different cards — formats. You can even import data and page number next to the name of the Hauppage WinTV, Opt III Teletext, or graft it to an existing Updata file. security. At present, the source of the Microtext. System requirements are not Teleshares offers DDE links to other data cannot be changed, so if Updata too demanding, so a 386 (DX for choice) Windows applications. If you set up your has decided that ICI’s share price will with 4Mb RAM and 10Mb of free disk share portfolio in an Excel spreadsheet come from Channel 4 not BBC2, tough. space will be able to cope. and use the ”Paste link“ command, you This can be bad news if there is a trans- The Microtext card used for this can have its value updated throughout mission problem on one channel and you review takes up a standard ISA slot and the day. At present, the only Teletext are left with no alternative data source. uses the same circuitry as the text card prices that are realtime (instantaneously Updata sasy this will be revised in the in a TV. It’s quite tall, so you have to be updated) are the currencies and the next release. sure that you have clearance between it FTSE index, while most other markets News stories are split into various cat- and any adjacent card, otherwise life are refreshed on roughly a three-hour egories — City, general, company — and could get expensive when you next cycle. Any software that supports DDE can be displayed as they break or saved power up. Tuning the card to the Teletext signal is handled by the software and takes less than two minutes. You aren’t restricted to UK text services with this setup, so if reception is strong enough you can access European data as well. The system is built around a series of lists and folders. The lists specify which text pages the software will strip from the text card. The program comes with eight lists already set up, but as the last four are duplicates you can alter these to suit yourself. The software only scans one list at a time, though you can switch lists manually and automatically. The fewer the pages in the list, the faster the refresh cycle; so it’s worth deleting any irrelevant pages. Each item on a list has a template (Updata calls it a ”mask“) that ensures only relevant data is stripped from the page. The folders allow the data collected from the lists to be grouped in a mean- With Teleshares ingful manner. The software arrives with you can access ten system folders already set up for Teletext financial markets ranging from commodities to pages — you don’t investment trusts. You can create your even need a TV own customised folders by selecting individual items from the system folders, so if you lust for a page full of obscure Middle Eastern currencies, you simply select the ones you want from the rele- vant folder and add them to a page. The

77 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

for later viewing. If you want to view com- aerial and a colour TV licence. plete Teletext pages as you would see There isn’t much to pick fault with. It’s them on a TV screen, you can do that not a clever move to have loads of win- PCW Verdict too. The program also screens incoming dows open simultaneously or the program A neat idea that will save the keen investor data for errors so you shouldn’t wind up starts hogging system resources to run serious money. with a database full of garbage. You can the refresh cycle. I ran the package on a Price £249 for Microtext card and even go on holiday and leave your PC to DX2/66 with 8Mb of RAM and by the time Teleshares bundle gather data in your absence by setting a I had eight text pages open, Word 6.0 Contact Updata 0181 874 4747 or software data capture timer. The only (where I was trying to write this review) Optimum Technology 0181 203 0220 additional costs involved before you are was going like a snail on sedatives. That up and running with Teleshares, are an aside, Teleshares looks like a winner.

SOFTWARE Autoroute Express for Psion Series 3a

Clive Akass was in no hurry to chuck away his well-thumbed road atlas for any new-fangled nonsense. But Autoroute Express might just have changed his mind.

he marriage of Autoroute journey- eminently portable and supremely blank space, and you press Enter when Tplanning software to the Psion 3a readable pages of a tupenny-hapenny you guess the view has shifted as organiser brings together two of the more road atlas. required. Only then is the map redrawn. successful British computer products of The designers have gone all out to The Psion’s diamond key cycles you recent years. It allows you to plan the prove that it can. Hotkeys allow you to through three main views: map, table of best route between any two of 7,200 zoom easily in and out of both text and written directions, and split map/table. locations and estimate the journey time, map screens, and you can select the There are hotkeys for most important all in a pocket device. And it will even level of detail to avoid cluttered screens. control functions, but you can navigate replan a route to take account of traffic Scrolling map views is awkward: you the program just as easily via the menu jams. The question is whether, given the have to press a hotkey, then hold down key. One aspect jars until you get used to inevitably limited display capabilities of a the cursor-key for the required direction; it: the dialogue box in which you enter palmtop, it can do better than the the edge of the map shifts, leaving a your start point and destination is sum- moned by an obscure option labelled Route/Calculate — which surely implies the calculation of data already entered. However, you can opt for this dialogue to come up automatically on start-up. Top Autoroute You can also specify roads and loca- allows you to tions to avoid, and set defaults such as tab between a your home location and average speeds route table, a for different road conditions. map, or a view Autoroute Express for the Psion of both comes on a 1Mb ROM card and is sold under the Microsoft Home brand — Bill Gates bought the company last year. It will work on any 3a with 512Kb of RAM Middle You get or above. an estimate of journey time PCW Verdict Below You can Quart-sized application crammed onto a zoom easily in pint-sized platform, but works well enough to and out of maps compensate for occasional clumsiness. Price £69.95. Contacts Microsoft 01734 270000, fax 01734 270002; Psion Dacom 0171 262 5580, fax 0171 258 7340

78 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 LONG TERM TEST ogtr tests term Long PCW How You Can Contribute To The Long Term Tests Section

We welcome contributions from readers for our Long Term Tests section. If you’ve been using a piece of hardware or software intensively for some time, just write a 450-word article (for hardware) or a 750- word piece with screenshot — GIF format — for software and send it on disk, in MS Word (Mac or PC) or ASCII format, to: The Editor, Personal Computer World, VNU House, 32-34 Broadwick Street, London W1A 2HG. Mark your envelope clearly “Long Term Tests”. We’ll pay for any contributions we use.

HARDWARE YEAR Epson GTi-8000 24-bit colour scanner

1TEST

Marc Hindley has pushed his GTi-8000 to the scanner is reliable, sturdy and accurate, limits. Speedy and reliable, it has proved up to and has given uninterrupted performance over the past 12 months. If I were to the task every time. reveal that I do up to 90 scans a week in mono and two in colour which are colour find it unusual that mechanical, corrected, adjusted or edited, and sepa- Ielectronic and household items are rated within Photoshop, printed on a given vehicular names. I’m just waiting for paper page printer with remarkable end turbo vacuum cleaners with intercoolers. results, most people in the media would But perhaps the ‘i’ suffix here is an apt find it hard to swallow; but it’s absolutely analogy. While Epson GTx scanners true. This is why I must have Photoshop, come with a cut-down version of Adobe and also why accurate calibration is Photoshop, GTi scanners are bundled essential. with the full version — fuel injection as Colour depth is a problem for all 24-bit standard, you scanners with dark images. The way to might say. get round this is to alter the curve before My specifica- you scan rather than after. It’s easy to go tion for this, my too far, but you’ll soon notice after scan- third scanner, ning — nothing but experience will help. was that it had Rather than manually alter the curve, I to be 24-bit and find that between one and four clicks on bundled with the scroll bar (note, not the button) will the full version give amazing results to dark pictures. of Photoshop, Relying on software curves will not give so it was a case the same results. not of what soft- A tiny amount of space is claimed ware do I get around the top and left edges of each with an Epson, scan — worthwhile bearing in mind but but more what hardly ever a problem. The TWAIN front- kind of scanner end is comprehensive and allows individ- do I get with ual setups to be named and stored, ideal Photoshop. if you have a large workload with differing Sorry, Epson, requirements. but there’s more I may not have chosen the GTi-8000 difference for its own merits, but I cannot fault its between soft- speed and reliability. I push it to the limit, ware than hard- and it never fails. ware here. After installation, Adaptec SCSI in this PCW Verdict The GTi-8000 has been superseded case, calibration is the first thing you need The Epson GTi-8000 scanner has been by the GTi-9000, pictured here, which to conquer, and I do mean conquer, discontinued and is very difficult to find. has won our Editor’s Choice accolade because Epson seems to make a habit of Interested users should look for the more bad documentation; and while printer recent and much improved GTi 8500 and installations are more or less self-naviga- GTi 9000 models, the latter winning Editor’s ble, scanners are not. In this case it’s Choice in our last scanner group test. best to read right through the calibration Price Epson GTi 8500 £769, procedure, then bear it all in mind as you Epson GTi 9000 £869 go through the stages for real. Contact Epson UK 01442 61144 Having said that, once set up, the

82 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 LONG TERM TEST

HARDWARE YEAR Logitech Scanman 32

2TEST A bit long in the tooth it may be, but the venerable Scanman 32 can hold its own in low-cost, low-resolution scanning. Jonathan Thaw praises its usefulness.

he Logitech Scanman 32: outdated, inside other applications; Fototouch Toutperformed and outclassed, Colour, a photograph-editing program; maybe, but still on the market at a rock- and OmniPage Direct, a not half-bad bottom price. Computer operators may attempt at an OCR application. want scanners for one of three reasons: If, for example, you want to put a for scanning-in photographs, diagrams, photograph into a piece of work, the or for OCR work. The Logitech Scanman process is quite straightforward. You tell can satisfy anyone’s your word processor to needs in terms of dia- insert a Fototouch grams, some people’s Colour object. Once needs for photographs Fototouch Colour is Don’t underestimate handscanners. They and a few people’s loaded, you click on may not be so great for OCR, but small OCR work. Thus is the Acquire, the Scanman line art and photographs are fine. Here’s dilemma of a scanner: window opens, and a scan made with the Logitech Scanman what is it going to be you’re ready to start 32, loaded into the supplied FotoTouch used for? One thing your first scan. This is software. It may only support 32 grey the Scanman is not nearly always the first of levels, but remains a bargain buy while suitable for is several, as it can be stocks last scanning large, high-quality photographs, quite difficult scanning straight, at the but with a little improvisation and a bit of right speed and at the right brightness. work into Notepad and copy it to the other effort it can fulfill most of your needs. Although a little primitive, the applications. On selecting “Acquire Text”, The Scanman 32 was one of the first Scanman software allows you to select you are asked what type of text it is: it hand scanners on the market. It has a the paper orientation, calibrate the scan- may be either continuous or in columns. 10.5cm (4.25in) scanning area and can ner and set whether it is Line Art (for Then you are confronted with the familiar scan in black and white at up to 400dpi diagrams) or Greyscale (for photos). The Scanman window, which has the same resolution. This means that it cannot, of scanned image then appears magically settings as before. The groups of little course, scan full A4 pages of text in one in Fototouch for editing. Although a bit black blobs scanned are then recognised go. These must be done in two strips, clumsy, this utility is quite useful and I by Direct (the speed depending on the which is a good idea, but in practice, usually use it to get rid of the stuff around resolution) and appear as text in scanning a page in two strips is a little the picture that I don’t need; but if photo Notepad. The quality of recognition fiddly. However, surprisingly good results editing is your game, you would be better varies from awful to quite good, but never are obtained if you put a little effort into it. off using something like Photoshop. stunning. The Scanman is only useful for The scanner achieves 32 levels of When Fototouch is closed, the image occasional OCR work but can be handy grey, unlike its big brother, the Scanman is pasted into the word processor (usu- and convenient when scanning smallish 256, which can handle 256 shades of ally in the form of a black & white blob, chunks of text. grey. It is TWAIN compliant, meaning that the quality of the printout being far If your use for a scanner is on an it will work with almost all applications superior). For diagrams, the Scanman occasional basis, and you require requiring a scanner. It is available for could fulfil your every need (except diagrams, black & white photos and a bit DOS and Windows. The Windows colour) and with a little perseverance, the of OCR, the Scanman is a must. It is version was always a better buy due to quality of scanned photographs is simple to install, easy to use and, on the the superior standard of the software surprisingly good. whole, produces good results. And at a included, and with the advent of Windows OCR work is a different matter. knockdown price of about £60 you really 95, the Windows version is essential. It Omnipage Direct is a little application can’t go wrong. comes complete with a dedicated which sits quietly in your memory and controller card which fits into a spare “registers” itself with your applications, PCW Verdict 16-bit expansion slot. with the words “Acquire Text” appearing Multi-talented no, multi-useful yes; the Getting the thing to work is as easy as on your file menu. This is all very well if Scanman 32 offers extraordinary low-cost, Microsoft intended plug-and-play you are using Windows Write or low-resolution scanning and at times can be hardware to be, as long as you don’t Notepad, but when it comes to register- incredibly useful. have any conflicts with other cards. It ing applications like Word, your whole Price £69 comes with three main programs: the computer is liable to give up. Contact Logitech 01344 894300 actual scanning utility, which is run from The simple solution is to scan your

83 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 TakeTake 55 Print it, fax it, and copy it — three different machines; three times the outlay and three times the problems. The new, hybrid fax-cum-printer-cum-scanner machines for small or home office use combine all three functions in one and make a lot of sense, says Simon Rockman. Here, he tests a selection, from the easy-to-use to the high tech, and there’s something to suit all pockets.

t makes a lot of sense: why buy easier to feed a page into a slot rather control, and you can edit and manipulate three printers when you can have than mess about with scanners. The the phone book in the printer which saves one? Whether you are setting up a machines reviewed here bridge the gap a lot of hassle in bulk faxing. Especially small office as a sole trader, a between easy to use and high so, as the alphabetic keyboard on the regional branch or just working from technology. device is in alphabetical order (rather homeI you’ll need a computer, printer, fax than QWERTY) which makes it very machine and a photocopier. The Lumina 2000 annoying to use. likelihood is that you could end up with a The Lumina 2000 is a very sensible With a Lumina 2000 at either end of tatty thermal printer spewing out rapidly device. It attacks what is currently the the phone line you can send files using a browning paper from your cheap fax sweetest spot of the computer market binary transfer mode. This conforms to machine, a workaday printer (probably and gets it just right. the T.434 standard so, in theory, you inkjet) attached to your computer and the The SoHo (small office/home office) could also send data to a suitably expensive bits of a laser printer in your market is more than just a fad. Many equipped PC. A variation on this is a photocopier. people will have a computer and a printer. remote print option. Instead of sending a The systems reviewed here offer all They will want a fax machine and think it bitmap down the phone lines, two Lumina the functionality of the basic office hard- a crazy idea to buy a thermal fax when 2000s can communicate at a data level ware. The devices from Hewlett-Packard, they already have a printer. The Lumina so that the phone line becomes a long Xerox, Lumina, Canon and Ricoh each provides the missing bits: a scanner and printer cable. The result is that the print take a slightly different approach. modem which can observe the fax quality at the far end is as good as it If you have a computer and a printer protocols. would be locally. you might argue that all you need is a Without a computer attached it’s a You can scan images into memory scanner and a fax modem, and from a send-only fax. Attach a printer and it and into the PC. TextBridge OCR technology point of view you’d be right. becomes a fully-fledged fax machine — if software is included and works quite well. But leaving the computer on all the time you want a laser fax, this is the cheapest The communication between the in anticipation of an incoming fax is a far way to do it. Buy a Lumina and a very computer and the Lumina is through a from satisfactory solution. And, while cheap laser printer: you will also reap the parallel cable, with a second parallel most systems will send and receive faxes benefits of the low-priced consumables of cable connecting the Lumina to the while you work they slow down the rest of a cheap laser. With an H-P Laserjet 4L at printer. Only one cable is supplied as the functions so much that the system under £400 in the shops, it’s a bit of a Lumina assumes that if you already have becomes pretty well unusable. Fax bargain. The printer varieties supported a printer, you also have a cable. modems are fine for sending computer are LaserJet 2, 3 and 4, PostScript, There is sensible software scaling to originated messages but once you want Epson, ProPrinter and BubbleJet. allow for a non-printing area all around to include a hand-drawn diagram or Hook up a PC (IBM compatible only, the image and this can be set to auto- annotation, the hassle of scanning, as unfortunately there is no Mac or odd- detect the image before printing. In our saving to the hard disk and then using the ball option) and you have a far more pow- tests the scan quality proved to be com- fax software is so great you usually don’t erful machine. You can use it as a fax parable with that of the H-P OfficeJet but bother. A British Telecom executive once modem and access all its functions from not as good as the Xerox 3006. said “Fax machines are not high-tech Windows. The Lumina control panel runs As part of its home office repertoire, because they are easy to use.” It’s much under Windows and offers basic function the Lumina has a phone connector for a

86 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 OFFICE HYBRIDS

telephone answering machine, but as BT option to add their own printer, but to a trick only the marketing departments of only charges £99 for a second line it is a expect customers to pay more for less is flash German sports cars can pull off. sensible option for anyone who wants a fax at home — at least that way the ring can be silent so you won’t get woken by faxes from overseas during the wee small hours of the night. The documentation is excellent: it covers the hardware and software in one easy-to-follow guide. Its only downfall is the lack of an index. The Lumina 2000 is an excellent product, but it does have one serious problem; the price. Small distributors are selling it for £550, which is £50 more than the OfficeJet with all its major features and a printer built in. You could argue that1 some people would rather have the

PCW Details Lumina 2000 Price £550 Contact Westwood Distribution 01753 887161 Verdict A clever and well-engineered device. With a lower price it could be the market leader.

87 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 OFFICE HYBRIDS

This should be £150 cheaper if it is to for rival manufacturers to compete on allows the OfficeJet to work as a take on the might of Hewlett-Packard price. The big mail-order discount com- faxmodem. This saves on paper rather than compete at the edges. panies work to very tight margins on (although the running costs for this Hewlett-Packard equipment which machine are already reasonable) and Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet LX further reduces the price to the customer. provides OCR. It allows the OfficeJet to Whenever a Hewlett-Packard printer is The OfficeJet LX uses the same work as a scanner, too. included in a group test we secretly hope 300dpi print engine as the DeskJet 520. You cannot use it as a modem — that there will be another printer able to This can be improved to 600 x 300 using although much of the hardware is there give it a run for its money. It can be H-P’s resolution enhancement software you’ll need a separate modem if you want slightly dispiriting to begin a test in the but the final results are still not as good to log in for a data call. This should not be frame of mind that the most obvious as the substantially more expensive much of a problem as even fast modems choice will in fact turn out to be the Xerox. With the H-P, the areas of black are now sensibly priced and, unlike the winner. But with this multifunction round- fill in badly, making reversed out text Xerox, the OfficeJet does not use a serial up there was some hope. difficult to read. port, hence the connection is unencum- The Lumina and Ricoh machines each The device was supplied with compre- bered. General faxmodem software can offer different approaches but ultimately hensive software support in the form of be used as the fax manager captures a it’s the H-P which will suit most of the fax manager software and Eclipse which virtual com3: and assigns it to the serial people most of the time. This is partly attributable to high standards of quality control but mainly due to the huge volumes in which H-P kit is manufactured. This makes it very difficult 2

PCW Details

Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet LX Price £650 RRP; £499 street Contact Hewlett-Packard 01344 369222 Verdict Excellent value for money. It’s the perfect solution for a growing number of people. A laser-based version would be even better.

89 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 OFFICE HYBRIDS

port. The modem can, however, be used keypad on the front of the unit. This may be substantially bigger than a by H-P technical staff to exercise remote alone would make it a good buy for many simple inkjet printer but it nevertheless diagnostics, trouble-shooting down the people. provides a good space saving over a line. The advantages of OCR and printer and a separate fax. The documentation is excellent. scanning are not quite so marked, but Installation of the software and hardware anyone who handles a lot of contracts by Canon B360 is easy: the printer cable attaches deep fax (or deals with a lot of drawings, for Canon is the company which seriously underneath the OfficeJet which means instance) will find it useful. It is not very rivals H-P in the printer market, so the turning the machine onto its side. Thus, if good as a copier: the inkjet may be B360 with a similar specification to the you want to swap leads to use another impressive for text and show no signs of OfficeJet was of particular interest. printer, it’s easier to have several leads banding, but it fills in shapes and there- A small, solid device; it is easy to set and disconnect at the computer end. fore isn’t a patch on a proper up with a photocopier-style paper tray, As a printer it works well, but as with photocopier. which affords it the greatest paper all inkjets it is sensitive to the quality of In the SoHo market, the size of the capacity (around 150 pages) of any paper. You might be best off keeping hardware is very important: people work- inkjet reviewed here. With a cut-sheet cheap photocopy paper in the tray for fax ing in a box room or a cupboard under feeder you cannot receive pages longer usage and replacing it with “best” chalk the stairs don’t want to give up their coated paper when you have an limited space to hardware. The OfficeJet important document to print. Most people will want a printer and fax and this machine performs those functions admirably. It’s competitively priced against standalone plain paper faxes. You have the additional advantage of computer control over the phone book and the fax sending, which is all very much easier3 than fiddling about with a

PCW Details Canon B360 Price £1,295 RRP; under £1,000 street; software £100 (free until Christmas) Contact Canon UK 0500 246246 Verdict A good buy, but just pipped at the post by the better value HP machine.

90 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 OFFICE HYBRIDS

than A4 onto a single sheet: the B360 will fax to be received in either PC memory, Conclusion either split the fax across several pages B360 memory, or printed. Pages can be or reduce it to fit, scaling either in propor- scanned and saved as .BMP, .PCX or tion or vertically. This can be set from the .TIF files. A meaningful file name of up to front panel. 24 characters can be used, even under Both scanning and print quality are Windows 3.11, although this needs the good: print quality proved to be better Desktop Manager to extract the name. than that of the OfficeJet with less The scanning ability is particularly useful filling-in on reversed out text. (All tests for logos and signatures, which can then were conducted using the same grade of be sent in paperless form, from the PC. paper.) The Desktop Manager saves the huge All communication between the B360 waste of paper usually encountered with and the PC is down the parallel cable fax machines which insist on printing using proprietary MultiPASS software. reports. The PC can read a log of This consists of two executables: the messages. MultiPASS server and the MultiPASS Overall, the B360 falls somewhere If all you want is a fax machine, go Desktop Manager. You don’t need to run between the H-P and the Xerox. It’s and buy one. A cheap fax machine the Desktop Manager the whole time but better than the former but not as good as costs less than £300 and will happily you do need to have the server running if the latter, and the price reflects this. It sit on a phone line and churn out you want to receive faxes to the PC (use looks good and occupies less desk space thermal paper. If you need a photo- the B360 printer drivers, or use the fax than the others. It did have a small prob- copier you’d better buy one of those, driver). In order for this to happen auto- lem with feeding a heavyweight original too — none of the systems reviewed matically, the server software is put into (all the others, bar the Ricoh, did too) but here really rival a proper office the Windows 3.11 startup group. If you ultimately it’s neither fish nor fowl. copier. There are much more expen- disconnect the B360, a warning pops up. Consider whether you are prepared to sive systems from Rank Xerox but Repeatedly. The only way to stop this is pay the extra for better print quality. they don’t really compete in the small to take the icon out of the program group. Alternatively, if you want the best option and home office sector. This is a Canon is clearly used to people deleting but don’t want to give up a serial port, the shame, because of all your equipment the icon and then needing it again B360 is a good alternative to the Xerox. needs, it is the one piece of machin- because a spare is provided in the Canon For some users, the higher paper capac- ery which will cost the most to run utilities group. ity and a longer-lasting ink cartridge and need the most attention. The MultiPASS software allows you to might appeal but it’s bad enough being But if you sit somewhere in the set up the fax with its number and your met by a small pile of papers on a middle ground, if you want company name (much easier than using Monday morning, let alone a large one. something better than the crudest of the keypad), but unfortunately these In the home office, its small size, fax machines and can live with the details are used only on the cover sheet. together with its ability to add a telephone inadequacies of the copier functions The page header information is still con- answering machine are a bonus, and of these machines, or if you’re pre- trolled by (and has to be set up on) the generally the excellent manual is worthy pared to nip out to a local copy shop B360. The receiving fax option in the of praise even though computer to get the more arduous work done, Desktop Manager allows the incoming operation is split between manuals for then these systems represent excel- hardware and software. lent value for money. No-one should consider buying a fax machine and an inkjet printer Xerox 3006 a separate board and a serial lead. This when the OfficeJet and Canon will do This is the slickest of the devices means that anyone who has a modem the same job, better and cheaper. It’s reviewed here and, in our tests, proved to and a mouse connected to their serial a plain paper fax machine at a com- have the best print and scanning quality. ports will need a third port to add the petitive price and you get computer The 3006 is closest in mien to the H-P. It connectivity. The H-P solution of using control, scanning, OCR and a decent has a centronics parallel port at the back the parallel port and trapping a virtual inkjet printer thrown in. and can be set up as a fax or printer COM3 is cheaper and neater. If you already have a printer, the astonishingly easily. The point at which it The 3006 is designed to be left on; it Lumina is an excellent system. You differs is its ability to act as a scanner, or will receive faxes to memory while you should make sure that it’s a printer to fax from the PC. This is an optional are printing. The memory can hold 35 which will work well with the device extra, as with the Ricoh (and was pages and can be expanded, with a but you’ll have to pay for the privi- supplied with the review machine). Set- 1.5Mb upgrade, to hold 115. This is bat- lege. The Xerox is the best money- ting up was simple and the tery backed up and will hold information no-object option but is it really worth documentation easy to follow. The printer for 24 hours. paying more than double the HP drivers for the H-P 500 compatible printer The two-line LCD gives sensible price for a slightly better machine? option proved to be reliable under reporting of the problems the device In judging the best compromise it Windows 95 but had to be installed using may be incurring and there is a menu is the HP OfficeJet which comes out a custom print program rather than the system which is easy to follow. Although top — it’s a great machine to use and Windows ’95 Add Printer option. there are lots of buttons on the machine the cheapest both to buy and run. Upgrading to PC connectivity requires they make things less confusing since

93 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 4OFFICE HYBRIDS

most have only one function each (a welcome departure from the Sinclair PCW Details Spectrum approach of having buttons feature you’ll love if, in another fit of with multiple functions). lunacy, Oftel decides to mess with the Xerox 3006 Price £1,139 RRP (PC interface £149) The machine is very versatile: it can phone number of every fax machine in Contact Xerox 0800 787787 scan to its own memory while printing the country. from the PC, copy a document while The PC fax software acts as an inter- Verdict Solid, well built and a good performer sending a fax from memory, and scan a face between the Xerox and the supplied with easy-to-use controls. A bit pricey, though. document to memory while sending a fax copy of Delrina’s Winfax Lite. This saves from the PC. There is a comprehensive the cost of a fax modem but since that selection of polling and documentation hardware is triflingly cheap compared solidly built. But being the best is not the features — the kind of thing no-one uses with the Xerox it’s no reason to buy the only criterion for buying something: it — and some useful features like the copy interface card. costs twice as much as the H-P and that function which asks how many copies of The PC Scanning software uses the seems too great a premium to justify the a document you want. industry standard TWAIN driver — you advantages. It is complicated to set up, The 3006 is supplied with three pro- should mention this at every opportunity too. The H-P puts the onus on the soft- grams for use with the Connectivity because it sounds so silly, but it works ware which runs all the control through option. The Fax/Printer setup lets you well and allows you to save bitmaps by the parallel port. The Xerox requires a program the telephone directory, mailbox, using a TWAIN compatible program. separate cable. fax and printer options. These can be Xerox supplies the Textbridge OCR soft- If you are in the market for a more uploaded into the fax’s memory. So if you ware, which works well. sophisticated machine you should look are a major corporation with regional The Xerox 3006 is the best device at the laser-based . Again, offices, this feature alone may save a here. It has the best print quality, the they are expensive but offer even better huge amount of time: it’s the kind of biggest document memory and is very print quality.

94 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 OFFICE HYBRIDS

Ricoh 2700L

The Ricoh 2700L is a fax machine — a big, industrial fax machine obsessed fax user would bother to set up the advanced features. designed for high-volume work with a £2,000 price tag to match. Unless the software with the forthcoming multifunction device Ricoh has taken the approach that once you have the laser offers a huge improvement — and Ricoh is about as well known for printer engine in situ it makes sense to add the electronics its software as Microsoft is for its pasta — the machine remains an necessary to turn the device into a printer. This takes the form of a expensive techies’ toy. box hanging on the back of the machine, to provide a standard This is a shame, because as a fax machine it works well. You centronics port. The addition is very new and was supplied in pre- can only feed in single sheets so it’s not much cop as a copier, but if release form. A more comprehensive add-on — which adds control you want to send and receive a lot of sheets it’s great once it’s set of the fax machine, faxing from and to the computer and scanning up; but the setup takes a lot more effort than just wrestling with the to the agenda — will be available soon. At present, the only way to user interface. send a fax from the computer is to use the printer, print it out, and The transit packaging has what appears to be an entire roll of then fax it. Sellotape holding bits in place. Removing the tape, and making Even on its own terms, the 2700L proved to be a sure that you haven’t missed a length, which will gum up the whole disappointment. As a printer it’s a very ordinary 10ppm laser at an thing, is an operation akin to taking the pins out of a freshly extraordinary price. But as a fax machine it’s an abomination. The unwrapped shirt: you know that if you miss just one, it’ll get you user interface is impossibly crude. There is a menuing system but later. (The toner and drum are separate units.) none of the options are presented in any kind of logical sense. The It’s difficult to know at which market this is aimed. A cheap laser result is that you have to resort to the manual — a book which printer and a cheap thermal fax machine are elevates patronisation to an art form — and type in long substantially cheaper to buy and run. and meaningless strings of numbers. Ricoh They are also easier to use. Only if you technical support intimated that this was a security are about to buy a laser printer and a feature, “a password” which meant that high-capacity fax machine does the unauthorised users (i.e. anyone with the 2700L make sense. manual) couldn’t use the machine. In practice it was such a pain to use that it seems unlikely anyone but the most

TABLE OF FEATURES OFFICE HYBRIDS

Product Canon B360 HP OfficeJet XL Xerox 3006 Lumina 2000 Ricoh 2700L Manufacturer Canon Hewlett-Packard Xerox Westwood Distribution Ricoh Fax Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Copies Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Scan Yes Yes Yes Yes No Printer Yes Yes Yes No Yes Price £1,295 (RRP) £650 (RRP) £1,139 £550 £2,000 under £1,000 (street price) £499 (street price) (£149 PC interface) Contact 0500 246246 01344 369222 0800 787787 01753 887161 0181 261 4000

96 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 MARKETING MORTAL KOMBAT

the animated video, the roadshow, the toy range, the comic book and (inevitably) the Web site.

Marketing genius Classic mass-market promotions have been put in place already. In the US, fans who buy the video receive a free watch offer and $70 worth of vouchers towards Mortal Kombat merchandise. But the coup de grace takes the so-called “syn- ergy” between licences to new levels. KombatKombat rulesrules It works like this: six original Kombat Games used to be… well, games, before they became “cross-cultural Kodes have been devised to unlock secret moves that can empower the phenomena” attracting multi-million dollar licensing deals and spin-offs. player against enemy warriors. The Kodes are cracked by arranging six out of Tim Green talks to Ed Boon, creator of Mortal Kombat, and looks at the a series of ten weird symbols. The clever bit is that clues have been hidden Above Outworld. A nice place cunning marketing strategy surrounding the launch of MK3 on the PC. throughout the game’s TV and print to visit, but you wouldn’t want advertising campaign and within the to live there. Ed Boon and video, live tour and movie. John Tobias felt the combat Boon explains the concept: “When we would be intensified by a very morning, Ed Boon helpful advice. Fatalities, along with other would be enhanced by an atmosphere of created Mortal Kombat we filled it with mythical backdrop. Our sorts through his post- original touches, helped make Boon’s mystery and legend. They set the game mystery and intrigue. Since the heroes come here to face the bag and waits for the full game so successful that it went from in a mythical domain called Outworld and beginning, fans have been obsessed with sinister forces of Shang E Right horror to emerge. There, being a decent piece of software to a gave each of the fighters a history and a discovering its secrets and finding its hid- Tsung. A genetically- among the bills and the junk mail, are let- licensing phenomenon along the lines of purpose. Visually, the tone was dark and den characters. So with MK3 we went fur- enhanced Jax thinks Sheeva ters from youngsters describingKO! sicken- Power Rangers and The Simpsons. Offi- foreboding. The concept was coming ther and put in an encryption code which is a real knockout. It could ingly explicit death scenes. Nothing cial figures say the MK (Mortal Kombat) together — all that was needed was a can be unlocked by putting the symbols turn out to be a fatal attraction makes Boon happier. The letters are series and all its merchandised spin-offs name. After Kumitay, Dragon Attack and in the right order to reveal secrets. Then proof that kids really love his special have earned a staggering $2bn so far. Combat were adopted and dropped, we thought; why stop at the game? We creation: Mortal Kombat. How things change. Four years ago Mortal Combat was finally agreed. At the decided to put the Kodes into the movie, voraciously in the playgrounds of the an expert (to say the least) on the chang- Boon is the programming genius who MK was an idea inside Boon’s head; an last minute, Boon changed the C to a K the video and the roadshow.” world. Cinemas will fill up with children ing technologies of the games business. gave gamers “THE FATALITY”: that attempt to cash in on the mammoth suc- for absolutely no reason at all and a Kunning or what? These hieroglyphics carrying notebooks. The hype has The factor that staggers him above moment in Mortal Kombat where a fighter cess of the first international beat-em-up cross-cultural phenomenon was born. appear in a panel at the bottom of the already helped the Mortal Kombat movie everything else is the evolution of the PC is impaled, garotted or decapitated as the blockbuster, Streetfighter. The concept In October, the “licence” reached its screen while the game is taking place. In gross over $50m and top the US box as a games format. He marvels at the soundtrack shrieks “finish him!!!” Parents gathered momentum when the program- zenith. MK3 was released on the PC as the film and video, they are harder to office chart. version of MK3 playing on his 486 laptop: and churchmen might like not it, but the mer and his game designer partner, John the focal point of a marketing bonanza spot. The idea of course is that their The stroke of marketing genius which “The PC version is the best: it’s closest to kids do — hence the postbag full of Tobias, decided that the combat element which also features the Hollywood movie, whereabouts will be discussed threw up the idea of the Kodes has made the arcade game, which is amazing Boon central to the really. It’s all to do with the access times And you thought it was just a game… licensing activity — running off a hard disk is quicker than surrounding his running off a CD on a console. Mortal Kombat’s publicity material reveals its subject to be “a multi-media helps define the characters and explains why they have been singled hi-tech audience interaction, state-of-the-art special effects and game. Suddenly, “I still think back to the roomful of licensing bonanza” and “a cross-cultural phenomenon that has generated out for this incredible mission.” illusion.” Parents are advised that it’s safe to go with their kids. They the man with the equipment we used to program the game excitement and interest worldwide”. Too bloody right: in all, 60 licensees won’t have a clue what’s going on, but they can be sure that the bad programming nous and I’m always amazed to look at the one have produced more than 100 products. Here are some of the spin-offs: The animated video guys will end up getting a good hiding. has been required square foot of machine we have here, Riding on the back of the live-action film comes the $15 video, featur- not just to finish the running it perfectly,” he says. The PC The movie ing a 15-minute “making of the movie” short followed by an hour of The figurines game on time, but version benefits from a networking facility In the late summer, New Line’s Mortal Kombat topped the US box animated “latest 3D techniques”. The full weight of the merchandising No licensing bonanza can qualify for the name without its figurines – foot also to make sure which allows users to “daisychain” office chart against all odds. New Line appeared to be the perfect machine has already kicked in Stateside where $3m has been spent soldiers in the battle to win the hearts and minds of the younger all the other spin- machines to play their own tournaments. studio to make it, with a track record that boasted Teenage Mutant on advertising the video. Each purchase additionally contained a consumers. The Mortal Kombat range includes a poseable Sonya Blade offs feature the Ninja Turtles and The Mask. But stacked against it were two mighty voucher book entitling the owner to discounts on all the other spin-offs. complete with her own missile launcher. correct Kodes. Getting in on the act negatives. First, none of the films-based-on-games that came before it Fortunately, Boon Developing technology has led program- had distinguished themselves. Second, neither the stars (a fading The live tour The web site still programmes mers in all sorts of directions. Now that Christopher Lambert and a rarely seen “Bond girl”, Talisa Soto) nor the Not content with stealing Rock’n’Roll’s fans, video games are now “More like a game” is how New Line’s marketing president, Chris Pula, every algorithm of motion pictures can be captured and director (Paul Anderson, a Brit whose only other feature was the flop stealing its venues too. “Mortal Kombat — The Live Tour” started at described the Mortal Kombat web site. From May until August, New Line the MK series video can be compressed, Boon and Shopping), had any kind of crowd-pulling appeal. New ’s historic Radio City Music Hall in September and will go on challenged browsers to find the extra information it had been feeding into single-handedly. Tobias find that they spend more and Unlike its game-based predecessors, Mortal Kombat emerged as a to more than 200 cities worldwide. the site. The central conceit was that MK baddie Shang Tsung wanted to Boon’s solitary more of their time in the film studio pretty good action movie. But the sheer power of the name cannot be The show features actors who appeared as digitised warriors in the shut it down and prevent the film opening. Only browsers could stop him position at the coaching actors. underestimated. Producer Larry Kasanoff says: “Our film is a high- game itself. They take part in what the organisers describe as an by solving the riddles that lined up alongside real-time video and audio forefront of the MK Boon would rather be programming. density companion to all the media formats. It offers the back story that “extravaganza that features martial arts, gymnastics and stunts plus clips, photos, interviews and competitions. story has made To him, filming is boring. But it’s not just him something of the tedium that puts him off; he’s wary of

98 99 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 MARKETING MORTAL KOMBAT

The PC comes out on top By the programmer’s own admission, the PC version of MK3 is the best. Here’s why. ● The PC version contains all the features found in the arcade version. This includes all the characters, play modes, finishing moves and hidden codes. A hidden game appears after 50 plays. ● New features include modem and net- work play, which allows up to eight players to take part. Participants can play round- robin tournaments and join in games-in- progress. ● Up to seven levels of multi-tiered back- ground scrolling, and all background ani- mations from the arcade version, are exactly as they were in the original. ● The program code runs at the same speed as the coin-op so there is no slow- down in gameplay, no matter how fast the PC. ● The game’s graphics are VGA. Two modes are used, 320 x 200 and 320 x 240 — so, no problems with video-card com- patibility. ● The average amount of compressed memory for each character is just under one meg. This fits the game completely in RAM. ● Background music is streamed off the CD during play.

anything that could make a games designer become slave to a schedule: “I think the danger with high-cost projects is Top Sonya Blade is back –– and how! that spontaneity is lost. For example, we Above and left The MK characters come didn’t come up with the idea of the Mortal to life in the latest US box office smash Kombat fatality until we were halfway through the first game. But it was such a good idea that we reworked the game to accommodate it. You couldn’t do that Games into movies — success at last with, say, an interactive movie.” As for the future, Boon acknowledges When video games began stealing children, Hollywood reacted in time-honoured fashion: it the impact that rendered 3D beat-’em- bought the rights to the biggest, and made films of them. Unfortunately, the film makers ups like Sony’s Playstation hit Tekken botched it big time and, until Mortal Kombat, they all flopped. and Sega’s Saturn flag-bearer Virtua In 1992, Disney unveiled the Super Mario Bros movie, confident of blockbuster success. It Fighter have had. But he’s wary of follow- had every reason to think Super Mario would be as much of a crowd-puller on the big screen ing the 3D route blindly: “I’ve watched as it had been on the small one. Here was a major motion picture event: a $50m film based on kids playing these games and they seem a series of video games which had so captured the imagination of American children that to get bored after a while. You can’t Super Mario Bros 3 alone had earned Nintendo $500m — more than any film except ET, The argue with the visual effects, but in my Extra-terrestrial. opinion the gameplay doesn’t match the But the blockbuster never came. Instead, Super Mario Bros grossed just $20.9m while its 2D of Mortal Kombat.” close rival, Jurassic Park, romped to $340m. Chastened by the Mario episode, Hollywood didn’t put any more video games on screen Animal magic for 16 months. And when a second attempt was made, it provided more evidence of how not So we can expect MK4 — and there will to do it. Double Dragon, a futuristic romp based on a 10-year-old arcade classic, skulked into be an MK4 — to continue in the same video stores after earning less than $3m at the US box office. vein as its predecessors. The worldwide Earlier this year Streetfighter, featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue, marketing machine demands it. As Boon showed box office promise. It grossed over $30m but then quickly disappeared as audiences says: “Mortal Kombat has become an cottoned on to the stars’ inability to act. animal that must be fed.” Despite this abysmal track record, Hollywood will not be deterred. Myst is being talked PCW about as a possible movie, and Ivan Reitman (of Ghostbusters fame) is developing a script Details based on Doom. Let’s pray he doesn’t call Rick Moranis. Mortal Kombat is distributed by GT Interactive on 0171 258 3791.

100 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 Whyte Photography by David PCW Going Pro Intel’s Pentium Pro chip has been designed to provide the rest of us with the kind of power previously enjoyed by he Pentium Pro has a staggering 5.5 million transistors compared high-end workstations with its predecessor’s 3.1 million. be bigger, faster and more powerful”. For and servers — and TThe first version will run at some older applications, P6 will be slower 150MHz and faster speeds will follow. In than a Pentium. The Pro comes into its Viglen has already development since 1990 (and known own when running 32-bit applications. produced a system until recently as the P6), the Pentium Pro The first machines are likely to be used is Intel’s successor to the Pentium as graphics workstations or network firing on this force. processor. servers, and it will be a year or two Nick Lawrence reports. Opting for Pentium Pro is not a before they migrate down to home or straightforward case of “it’s new so it must office use.

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Far left The Pentium Pro Left Viglen’s pre-production Pro-driven system Right Once again, UK-based Viglen is one of the first to support new PC technology. The Pentium Pro contains a staggering 5.5 million transistors

When Intel began designing the chip, it assumed that everyone would be run- ning 32-bit software by 1995 and so designed it to perform particularly well when faced with a 32-bit environment. The rate of change in the industry hasn’t been as fast as Intel envisaged, and most users are stuck with Windows 3.x and the partially 32-bit Windows 95. The Pro will be no faster than a Pentium when running these programs and 16-bit applications: in some cases, it will be significantly slower.

Computing power The Pentium Pro is best suited to true 32-bit software such as Windows NT which is particularly popular among two groups of users: system administrators, who enjoy its robustness and security as a server platform; and 3D graphics designers, who use its OpenGL architecture to speed up 3D graphics calculations. Intel is aiming the Pentium Pro squarely at these two markets, which have traditionally been dominated by workstations such as Sun SPARC- The motherboard (made by Intel) is use of the GX variant of the 82450 is stations and servers such as Digital’s officially entitled the “Performance/AU” somewhat surprising: Intel has clearly AlphaServers. The Pentium Pro should although it has been known for some positioned the GX as a server chipset, deliver this level of computational power time as the Aurora. The chipset is the and the KX as the workstation chipset for to the rest of us. 82450GX (previously known as the this type of system. That is, until the Orion), which supports multiple PCI Mars chipset appears for the lower end Inside the Viglen PC buses and up to four processors. The of the market. Viglen has built up a reputation as one of the best of the UK’s home-grown PC manufacturers. Its ability to get systems You should be looking at P6 systems if you satisfy these criteria: out early is now well established; initially ❑4 You are running mainly, or exclusively, 32-bit code — for example, Windows NT with the Pentium 133 and now the Pen- running Windows 95 applications. If you are running Win95 you can expect some tium Pro. The company’s close relation- performance benefits but not enough to justify the price premium. Microsoft has left a ship with Intel has enabled it to obtain lot of legacy code in the crucial USER and GDI segments. Legacy code slows down engineering samples of the new chip, and the Pentium Pro: in some cases to the point where it is slower than a Pentium. its accompanying Intel motherboard and 4 You need SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) or may do at some point in the future. chipset, before most other UK ❑ The Pentium Pro and its accompanying Intel chipsets support glue-less SMP of up to companies. four processors. This pre-production model of the Pentium Pro was housed in a desktop ❑4 You are looking for better data integrity than the Pentium/Triton combination can offer. case (a mini-tower will also be available) Both versions of the Orion chipset support ECC on the memory bus, and the server which has been altered from Viglen’s version (82450GX) supports parity checking on the system bus as well. usual design to meet the new ATX design ❑4 You are willing to take a small, but real, risk: just as early Pentiums turned out to have specifications. There are two 5.25in and an FPU bug, the Pentium Pro could have any number of nasties that escaped beta two 3.5in device bays positioned at the testing. front. Beneath the 3.5in bays is a blind 4 You have enough money to be an early adopter — the latest and greatest bay for a hard disk. At the top right of the ❑ always comes with an inflated price tag. case is the power supply with a modified design to fit the requirements of ATX.

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Let’s get technical

The first Pentium Pro will run at 150MHz (rather than 133MHz as Intel had originally promised) and will feature 256Kb on-board L2 cache, and is just one of the improvements Intel has made to its new baby. The siting of the L2 cache on the chip, rather than on the motherboard (as was popular with Pentiums and 486s), enables signals to get between the two on a 64-bit data path, rather than the 32-bit path of Pen- tium system buses. Their physical proximity also adds to the performance gain. The combination is so powerful that Intel claims 256Kb of cache on the chip is equivalent to over 2Mb of motherboard cache.

Dynamic execution An even bigger factor in the Pentium Pro’s performance improvement, over the Pentium, is down to the combination of technologies known as “dynamic execution”. This includes branch prediction, data flow analysis and speculative execution. These combine to allow the processor to utilise otherwise wasted clock cycles, by making predictions about the they connect, enabling shorter cable program flow to execute instructions in advance. RISC-like features such as pipelining lengths and a less cable-strewn case are being used to their full potential in the Pentium Pro, for the first time in the x86 family. interior. Another feature of the ATX Yet the Pentium Pro’s performance gain over the Pentium when running 32-bit soft- design is the ability to stack the I/O con- ware represents only half the story for its high-end users. One of the worst frustrations nectors at the back of the case so that suffered by many designers of Pentium-based servers was the difficulty of putting more they rise directly off the motherboard than one processor in the same system and making them work together. The Pentium instead of being connected via cables. Pro makes it much easier to design SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) systems, as they This looks neater and frees up space at are known, and both variants of Intel’s first chipset support more than one processor. the back of the casing for the possible The workstation version of the chipset (whose proper name is the 82450, commonly addition of serial-bus connectors like the known as Orion) supports one or two Pentium Pros, whereas the server version supports USB (Universal Serial Bus). up to four, as well as multiple PCI buses. Processor and graphics card Raw speed Although the specification of the final The Triton chipset, popular among Pentium systems, is not particularly suitable for server machine will vary, this is the sort of thing applications because it does not have ECC or parity (both methods for detecting memory you can expect. The processor will be a errors). Both variants of Orion support Pentium Pro 150 with 16Mb RAM, 1Gb ECC on the data bus, and the server ver- Availability and pricing hard disk, and 4X CD-ROM drive on sion additionally supports parity on the Enhanced IDE. The graphics card will system bus for enhanced error detection. At the time of writing, the release date for probably be a Diamond Stealth 64 Video The Pentium Pro and Orion chipset pair- the 150MHz Pentium Pro was 1st VRAM with 2Mb, driving a Viglen 15in ing therefore offers advantages for system November, priced at $974 in quantities of monitor. designers as well as those users who 1,000 (a UK price had not been This bundle will cost around £2,700 require raw speed for their applications. announced). The first 166MHz chip will and will have been available from the There is more good news for speed cost $1,066 in 1,000-unit quantities — no launch date of the Pentium Pro — almost demons, with the announcement of two price indication was available for the sec- certainly 1st November, at the time of more Pentium Pro chips. There will soon ond variety of 166MHz processor. The writing. be two 166MHz versions: one with workstation (82450KX) and server types 256Kb on-board L2 cache, available (82450GX) of Orion will cost $209 and Fitting in before the end of the year, and another $291.60 respectively in Quad Flat Pack- This machine fits into Viglen’s entry-level with 512Kb. The latter will be aging. A low-cost chipset aimed at desk- Pentium Pro range. The company is also manufactured using a 0.35 micron tops and codenamed “Mars” is expected working on an enterprise-level server with process instead of the 0.6 micron process to hit the market early next year, although a minimum of four Pentium Pros to be used for the first two chips. details are not yet available. available in 1996, and will offer Pentium Pro daughterboards for its Intel-designed EX EISA Xpress in the near future. It was not possible to benchtest this The Performance/AU, Intel’s first to the top right of the case, where it can machine as it was still pre-production ATX board design, has some surprises be cooled directly by the power supply when we looked at it and some of the for those used to the Baby AT style. The unit fan sitting above it. silicon wasn’t final. Nevertheless, with the slots — four PCI and three ISA, with one There are four SIMM slots, but instead right software, it is sure to fly. shared — are still positioned at the back of being hidden away underneath a drive left of the case facing towards you as device at the front right of the board, they PCW Contacts you lift the lid, but their path is no longer are positioned next to the PCI slots for blocked by the processor so all the easy access. The two EIDE connectors Intel 01793 40300. ☎ slots will take full-length cards. The and single FDD connector are positioned Viglen 0181 758 7000. ☎ processor, in a ZIF socket 8, has moved directly underneath the drives to which

106 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 Homeward bound Multimedia home PCs are gaining in popularity. These new PCs are designed to make computing more accessible to the wider public who may not know (or even want to know) their ASCII’s from their LQ’s. Our very own homeboy, Ken MacMahon, looks at five models and separates the domestic bliss from the domestic violence.

PCW Goldfish and Product Photography by David Whyte For those who may be concerned, the goldfish were returned to a larger, more suitable tank soon after the photo-shoot.

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aced with relatively flat sales of office machines, manufacturers are putting big efforts into infil- trating living rooms throughout theF world. Their efforts have been fuelled by a spate of reports, as well as the results of their own market research, which anticipates phenomenal growth in the sales of home PCs. It’s fair to say that there has never been a better time to buy a computer for your home. PC manufacturers have very different ideas on what consumers want from their multimedia home PCs. But one thing on which they all agree is the need for a fast CD-ROM drive and a bunch of multime- dia CD titles, although quad speed drives are not yet a standard feature. Another thing that all vendors are at PCW Details last coming to recognise is that many people are intimidated by a PC. They Apple Mac Performa 5200CDTV need plenty of help; not just to get up and Price £1,642 running, but with everyday tasks like Contact Apple 0800 127753 ☎ sending email. Attempts to provide a resolution of 832 x 624. Stereo speakers Verdict Without doubt, the best of the more accessible interface and improved sit either side of the screen and a tiny PC/TV home machines. help, range from the purely cosmetic to slot at the top betrays the presence of a Bundled Software MacOS 7.5.1 with At GUIs (graphical user interfaces) that are mono microphone. Slightly larger slots, Ease, ClarisWorks, Claris Organiser, fun to use and easy to operate, even for bottom left and right, provide access to Amazing Animation, Spectre Supreme, the novice. So choosing the right the quad speed CD-ROM and a 1.4Mb Mavis Beacon’s Typing Tutor, Thinkin’ machine is as much a question of “Superdrive” which will read DOS format Things, Click Art Performa collection, software as hardware specification. as well as Mac OS disks. Mac Gallery Clip Art Treasure pack, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Some models include extras like Beneath the floppy drive, brightness Leonardo the Inventor, MS Dinosaurs, fax/modems and TV tuner cards — and and volume controls and an infra-red Rosetta Stone, Benjamin Bunny, San there are even those that have been sensor label this as being a machine Diego Zoo, Guinness Multimedia designed to look like existing domestic destined for the dining room, rather than Records. appliances. Here, we review five of the the boardroom table. This is a “box” in latest models from IBM, Packard Bell, the original sense of the word: a TV tuner however, plenty of options for “spaghetti- Olivetti, Apple and ICL. and video card allow you to watch broad- lovers”: two serial ports marked for printer cast TV and videos. and modem, external SCSI, sound input Among the bits you can’t see are a and output and TV aerial socket, just for Apple Macintosh Performa 500Mb internal hard disk and 12Mb of starters. The video input card provides 5200CDTV RAM. The fixed disk is an IDE drive, three RCA phono sockets and an s-video Launched in April, this model is a return which is cheaper than the SCSI drives socket. The remaining two ports are cov- to the original Mac design philosophy of a which have been favoured by Apple in ered with removable plastic covers. One “one box” computer. Aesthetically speak- the past. The RAM sits in two 72-pin is an LC040 compatible processor-direct ing it’s gorgeous, but it’s also a SIMM slots which can be used indepen- slot which should work with most PDS supremely functional design which keeps dently (so you don’t have to fit matching- cards available from third party vendors. everything neat and tidy. sized SIMMs) and can be expanded to The other is a communications slot which This small box is home to a 15in 64Mb. can be used for an Ethernet card or a colour display which offers a palette of Around the back you’ll find holes for modem. (Apple has just released a 32,000 colours at 640 x 480 resolution the only two cables you need: the power 14.4Kb/sec modem with answering and 256 colours — good enough for most lead and an ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) machine and fax capabilities.) games — at the maximum available port for the keyboard. There are, Impressive though it is, the Performa

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5200’s hardware specification tells you video. Determined Quicktime movie teacher, to limit access to applications very little about it. It’s not until you switch makers will nonetheless be pleased with and files for a child user for instance (or it on that you get any real idea of what the inclusion of Avid Videoshop among even yourself when you’ve had a little too this machine is all about. With system the lengthy list of bundled software. much to drink!). On one hand, At Ease software (MacOS 7.5.1) and several Of great interest to parents will be the can provide the non Mac-literate with a applications already installed, you can security features offered by the Video simple method of accessing the get to work or play immediately. Pre- Player, which provides password protec- resources they need from the Performa. installed software is a canny mix of busi- tion for those channels you might prefer On the other hand, it’s the best way to ness, education and play stuff including your children not to watch. Of course, stop the kids trashing a week’s work in ClarisWorks, Claris Organiser, Mavis there’s nothing to prevent them watching less time than it takes to say “Apple Beacon’s Typing Tutor, Spectre Supreme it on your regular TV but that’s hardly Backup”. and a couple of pre-school play-and-learn Apple’s fault. The TV tuner also includes In a bid to stay one step ahead of its packages. When you get bored with a teletext decoder with a Fastext facility PC rivals, Apple is launching a new those, you can turn to the CDs. which stores up to 500 recent pages for beefed-up Performa, the 5300 CDTV, Sooner or later of course, you’re going quick retrieval — about 490-odd more based on the PowerPC 603e chip. In to end up watching TV. But the 5200 is than the average TV or video. addition to the TV tuner, the new more than just a computer with a TV Lastly, and probably most importantly, Performa will be Internet-ready with a bolted on: you can use Apple’s TV/Video there’s the ease-of-use factor. The word built-in 14.4Kb/sec modem and include System software to capture still images or “intuitive” could almost have been coined 16Mb RAM, an MPEG video player and video sequences from either a broadcast specifically to describe Macs. Apple pro- 16-bit stereo sound. Given the current TV channel or any video source (most vides lots of help for the uninitiated includ- dearth of MPEG video titles and a price likely a VCR) attached to the video-in ing an online tutorial in two parts and the tag of £2,375, budget-conscious house- port. Although much is made of this, most Apple Guide interactive context-sensitive holds might consider a 5200 with the people will probably ignore it. Spicing up help, which takes you through common modem card to be a more realistic option. your business presentation with snaps of procedures step-by-step, getting you to Captain Jean-Luc Picard confronting the press the buttons to make sure you’ve IBM Aptiva 941 Ferengi will soon lose its appeal — at understood and going over it again each The IBM machine is the most highly least for your audience, if not for you. And time you screw up. There’s At Ease, a specified of the bunch with the exception even RISC processing power can seem much-simplified graphical interface which of the Performa, but also the ugliest apart gutless when faced with the task of digi- sits on top of the Finder and allows an from the Spectria. Earlier in the year, IBM tising and compressing 25fps full-screen administrator, such as a parent or split its product range into four categories and aimed the Aptiva at the home consumer. There are nine PCW Details machines ranging from a IBM Aptiva 941 DX2/66 to a P120 mini- Price £2,199 (inc VAT) tower. None of them Contact IBM UK 0345 727272 ☎ include a TV tuner — IBM discontinued that Verdict Not one for the uninitiated. Good for business use at home, though. model last year because it wasn’t selling well. Our Bundled Software Windows 3.11, review model had Aptiva Guide, Music Centre, Jack Windows 3.11 pre- Nicklaus Golf, Aptivaware: Rapid Resume Manager, Custom Tools, installed but by the time Aptiva Index. MS Works, Launchpad, you read this, machines Personal Desktop, Wall Street Money, will have Windows95 Undersea Adventure, Magic Theatre, and Lotus SmartSuite Jumpstart Kindergarten, Cyberia, 4.0 in the software Hyperman, Sports Illustrated for Kids, bundle. Photodisplay. Compton’s Encyclopedia. The Aptiva 941 is a 100MHz Pentium with 8Mb of RAM and an 850Mb hard drive. An unexceptional- looking 15in tilt/swivel monitor sits atop the processor box which, in design terms, looks more in tune with the office of the seventies than the home of the nineties. A slightly curved front panel drops down to reveal the CD-ROM and floppy drives, but other than that there’s not much to see. The Aptiva is supplied with 30W exter- nal speakers, which means you get much better sound quality and volume than with the built-in type, except the spaghetti

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factor takes on significance when ICL Fujitsu PCTV metaphor; in this case the starting point is speaker cables and an external power Three things set the PCTV apart from the disconcertingly-named “Den”. That’s supply are considered. You need three other models: its sleek, curvaceous char- the only transatlantic twaddle you’ll have power outlets In all: one for the processor coal grey casing, the trackball on the key- to put up with, though: the voiceover on box, another for the monitor (there’s no board, and the fact that the TV functions the tutorial is reassuringly BBC English. through connector), and a third for the are completely divorced from the PC. “The Den” looks rather like one of speakers. A 16-bit SoundBlaster card is This means you can’t watch TV in a win- those room settings you get at MFI or fitted and there are two spare PCI-bus dow while you do other work and you Ikea stores where everything from the slots. can’t grab digitised frames or video clips. books, to the TV and the hi-fi, are really When you switch on you’re whisked, In every other respect the TV works as just cardboard boxes with pictures on the via Windows, straight into the Aptiva well as, if not better than, the other front. A click on the PC takes you into guide/demo. This multimedia affair gives models reviewed here. Windows, the hi-fi pulls up a CD audio a reasonable introduction to all the soft- It will receive teletext and you can player and sampling application, the ware installed on the machine. The soft- create “magazines” containing your bookshelf provides access to reference ware is divided into four categories: favourite teletext pages (although if you manuals and CD-ROM material. The games, multimedia, home productivity are the sort of person who has favourite light switch shuts down and you can and Aptivaware. teletext pages, you should perhaps con- probably guess what the TV, games The Aptivaware suite is, with one sider seeking professional help!). You can cupboard, filing cabinet and diskette box exception, a fairly mediocre collection of also program reminder alarms so you are for, but then, that’s the whole idea. utilities that allow you to undertake such don’t miss your favourite programmes. A rather revolting-looking picture exciting and groundbreaking activities as The interface which sits on top of hanging on the wall provides access to saving your Program Manager setup, Windows follows the popular room your personal file details. Parents and setting the resolution and colour depth of the display, and changing power management parameters. The exception is Launchpad, the interface your children get to play with. The Launchpad screen features a cartoon graphic of a dog sitting in a car that is straight out of the Jetsons. And if the dog looks familiar, it’s because you’ve seen him on a screensaver somewhere. Lauchpad is written by After Dark authors Berkeley Systems. Unfortunately, we couldn’t gain access to the parent section where you set kiddies’ access privileges and so on, because the password had been previously set and we didn’t know what it was. A trio of educational applets accompanies Launchpad. Kids Clock is a talking analogue clock which tells you the time when you move the hands, but unfortunately there’s a second hand so the time is always something like “half past three and twenty three seconds”. There’s a talking calculator as well, and a tape player which records your voice and replays it with wacky distortions applied. IBM has made little effort to disguise what is, in its basic format, an unrecon- structed office PC bundled with some PCW Details children’s software and a few CD-ROMs. It is an unquestionably powerful ICL Fujitsu PCTV Price £1,299 machine but although the build quality Contact ICL 0800 317711 ☎ is superior, it suffers from the same problems as the Spectria; namely that Verdict Quite a nice PC with a TV stuck it’s not a home consumer electronics on top. guardians can make use of the channel product. This is really more a machine Bundled Software PGA Tour Golf 486, barring feature which prevents minors on which to work at home than a genuine Putt Putt joins the Parade, Wing watching what’s not good for them. “home PC”. Commander, Privateer, MS Works, The PCTV isn’t short of connections to Encarta 95. the outside world, there are two serial

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ports and a parallel printer port. Of the three spare expansion slots two are EISA and the third is PCI bus. Installation of cards or additional RAM doesn’t require so much as a screwdriver: you simply turn a key at the back and the entire chassis slides out. Video in and out facilities are provided in the form of RCA phono sockets on a panel at the back next to the aerial socket, and there’s a SCART (Syndicat des Constucteurs des Appareils Radio Récepteurs et Télèviseurs) connector too, for video equipment. But don’t forget, all this is for your viewing pleasure only — you won’t be able to do any digital recording from external video devices. I very nearly missed the joystick/midi port and the mic and headphone sockets, which are mounted conveniently close to the front on the left-hand side. It’s clear that Fujitsu ICL has taken a PCW Details much more consumer-orientated approach to the home PC than most Olivetti Envision 400 Price £1,399 ☎ other manufacturers. The PCTV is very Contact Olivetti 0181 780 8032 accessible: it has good tutorials and documentation written by people who Verdict Innovative, fun, a real home understand that readers may never PC… can I keep it? before have set eyes on a PC. The whole Bundled Software Windows95, Olipilot the aid of binoculars. The keyboard concept has been well thought out and 2.0, MS Works 3.0, Cheyenne Bitware, powers down after a couple of minutes’ implemented, from the dialogue boxes Midisoft Recording Session, Incat Magic inactivity to save battery power and this that warn unsuspecting users they are Lantern 2.0 (Photo CD), Willow Pond can be a bit irritating, but a single key MediaRack, Kid Desk, Millie’s Math, about to leave the cosy security of “The press revives it once you realise what’s Thinkin’ Things. King’s Quest VII, Uncle Den” and enter Windows, to the thought- Archibald, Incredible Machines 2. happened. For some reason the trackball ful placing of the joystick port. It won’t suit takes about five seconds to kick in. everyone though. The lack of digitised TV Another surprise comes when you in a window will rule it out if you want to might as well make use of it. switch on. The Envision was the only one grab stills off the TV or play with digital It doesn’t stop at the TV though. The of the home PCs we reviewed to be video, and the lack of a modem renders it Envision has sockets to accommodate shipped with Windows 95, though you an Internet-free zone. virtually all your home’s electrical appli- don’t see a lot of it because the first thing ances with the possible exception of the it does is to launch Olivetti’s own GUI — Olivetti Envision 400 Hoover. There are two SCART sockets: the lamentably-named “Olipilot”. The first The Envision 400 marks Olivetti’s entry one for the TV connection and another thing to say about Olipilot is that it looks into the domestic market. The Italian for your VCR. Additionally there are and works a lot better than its name sug- company is probably better known for its audio in and out minijacks and RCA gests. It follows the room metaphor in a office products and its PC range includes connectors for your hi-fi , midi in and out similar fashion to the Packard Bell the Pentium-based M6 Suprema range. sockets, and a VGA connector for an Spectria, only better. You start out in the The Envision has only just gone into optional monitor. hall, where three doors lead to the study, production at the company’s Scarmagno Surprisingly, the keyboard is a cord- the kids’ room and the living room. plant, so our PCW review model was a less IR (infra-red) model about half the The kids’ room contains objects such pre-production prototype. size of a conventional keyboard and as the TV bookshelf, camera and hi-fi, It may not be the epitome of Italian incorporating a thumb-operated trackball. which appear in the other two rooms as style but the Envision 400 certainly looks It has sculpted handles at either end and well. These objects launch commonly- the part. The matt black box bears more two buttons at the front just where your used applications like online manuals, a resemblance to a VCR than anything else index fingers rest when you’re holding it. Photo CD viewer and the hi-fi stack. and would certainly not look out of place This makes it ideal for couch-potato- Clicking on the desk takes you into Kid underneath the TV or the hi-fi stack. The mode operation but if you want to look Desk, a separate interface for small peo- first surprise, which is evident from the more businesslike you can rest it on the ple with a propensity for deleting all your size of the box, is that there is no monitor. table in front of the Envision. The IR files. Here kids can customise the desk- In a rather neat inversion of the prevailing receiver has a range of over six metres top, launch their own applications, and philosophy, instead of providing a PC and a wide angle of view which, in prac- even send each other email and leave with a built-in TV Olivetti has decided that tice, means you can move so far away voicemail messages for other Kid Desk as most people already have a TV, they you can barely see the screen without users. Two excellent applications are

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pre-installed, Thinkin’ Things and Millie’s Math House, and there’s a further selec- tion of Sierra CD-ROM titles. There’s not much in the living room that you can’t access from elsewhere, though you obviously have the option of associating your chosen applications with various objects. The software cupboard is disappointingly bare but Willow Pond’s Media Rack is a functional Wav/midi/CD audio player and there’s a Midisoft Recording Session, too. Moving through to the Office, things start to look more interesting. The office suite is MS Works, accessed from the notepad on the desk. But it’s the presence of the telephone and fax which hint at the Envision’s superior communi- cations capabilities, supported by the LC144 14.4Kb data/fax/voice modem card. Software support is provided by Cheyenne’s Bitware suite of comms utili- ties which include fairly comprehensive facilities for managing fax and voicemail. There’s very little to criticise about the Envision. You can’t really get on with Works using a TV (at least not the 12in PCW Details portable we tried), so if you intend to Packard Bell Spectria Executive 9505 spend a lot of time looking at text you’ll Price £1,799 (inc VAT) need a decent monitor. And the Contact Packard Bell 01753 831914 ☎ documentation could be better. Other bulbous by today’s flatish, squarish Verdict Kidspace is good, but poor than that, I can’t find a bad word to say standards, with elongated speakers overall design and non-existent about it. It has a good specification: the emerging from either side and extending documentation means this machine is 400 is a 486DX4 100 with 8Mb of RAM almost to the depth of the screen. best avoided. and a 630Mb IDE hard drive and quad A quick look around the back does Bundled Software WFWG 3.11, MS speed CD. It’s expandable to 24Mb and little to boost your confidence. A rather Works, Lotus Organiser, Sage has one VL and three spare ISA slots. If feeble attempt has been made to colour Moneywise, PB Navigator, PBTV, PB you want more power, there’s a Pentium code the cables and ports, so you know Radio, Voyetra Audio Station, Cyberia 75 model with MPEG card for an that you must plug the purple keyboard (limited edition), Four Seasons of additional £500. The software is cable into the purple socket, and likewise French Cuisine, 3D Body Adventure, genuinely home-orientated and it offers for the green mouse cable. The serial MS Fine Artist, Knowledge Adventure: communications facilities that you can and parallel ports are also colour coded, Speed, Space and Undersea, Encarta 95, Language Learning with Asterix. actually make productive use of. but as this model is supplied with neither Olivetti has tried very hard to get every a printer or a modem it’s largely detail right — even down to the inclusion irrelevant. terminating in RCA phono sockets — of batteries for the keyboard and remote. The processor behind all this is a 486 presumably for video capture. But if you’re looking for something on DX2 66MHz, with 8Mb of RAM and a This might be less intimidating were which you can watch Neighbours while 500Mb IDE hard drive. The CD-ROM some kind of hardware documentation finishing off your accounts, this isn’t it. drive is a dual speed Matsushita unit. provided, but you are expected to get by So, nothing spectacular on the inside with a generic “486 personal computer Packard Bell Spectria Executive either then. User’s Guide”. Here, no attempt has Like the Performa, Packard Bell’s Spec- Three expansion slots are occupied been made to disguise the material as fit tria range of home PCs was launched in by a sound card, TV tuner/video grabber for home consumption: this is a typical April too. The Spectria Executive is an and the FM radio tuner. Here, non user manual of old, full of all-in-one design with a 15in monitor colour-coded black cables run incomprehensible jargon and pages of moulded onto a base, housing the moth- everywhere. There’s an anonymous- help for those interested in advanced erboard and drives. The monitor doesn’t looking black lead from the sound out of configuration of serial ports, configuration tilt or swivel so you need to be positioned the TV card, to the sound card’s line in, of motherboard jumpers and so on — right in front of the screen, at the right and an identical lead from the FM completely useless. height to get a good view. It’s nowhere tuner’s speaker port to the sound card’s It gets a little better when you start up near as stylish as the Apple or ICL mic socket. A VGA connector runs from the Spectria. A button on the front boots machines and has a shoddy, cobbled- the VGA port on the motherboard to the up, launches Windows 3.11 and starts together look and feel. The screen is TV card and three leads run off this, PB Navigator — Packard Bell’s attempt

119 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HOME PCS

to protect the innocent from Microsoft Editor’s Choice Windows. Navigator’s entry point is a hallway with four doorways leading off, Prior to having seen the Envision, there was no question that the Apple Mac Performa each providing access to a different work 5200CDTV was the pick of the bunch. Firstly, it is beautifully designed: the all-in-one unit area: Software, Workspace, Kidspace needs only one power supply and the built-in speakers means there are no cables to worry and Learning Centre. Each of these pro- about. Plug and play was a reality on Macs a decade before Windows 95, so you’ll have no vides an appropriately configured front- problem installing a end to application and data files, with big modem card or any buttons for individual applications or other third party application groups. upgrade. On the Perhaps the best of these is Kidspace, software side, MacOS which provides a secure but fun environ- 7.5.1 is such an easy-to- ment for small computer users. Applica- use interface it requires tions are stored as objects on shelves very little in the way of and files are tidied away in big drawers additional material to labelled “homework”, “letters”, and “per- make it suitable for sonal”. It’s all wrapped up with wacky home consumption. animation and sound effects and, speak- But then the Olivetti ing as an overgrown child, I thought it Envision arrived and we was pretty good. had to change our minds Workspace provides the same thing and make this the for grown-ups, and the Learning Centre Editor’s Choice. This gives a guided tour complete with a machine has a very high female American talking head. Informa- “wow” factor indeed. The tion, however, is not Packard Bell’s forté cordless keyboard is a and a lot of this is general to the point of real delight to use. It has uselessness. Generally, Upgrade Infor- some exceptional children’s software and the communications software makes the most of mation tells you that you can upgrade the built-in fax/modem. What sets the Envision apart is that it has been designed as a your machine by changing the processor, home consumer product from the ground up, unlike the Aptiva and the Spectria for adding more RAM or cache — call your instance, which are simply office products with a new coat of paint. dealer for more information. It proved impossible to get any kind of picture on the TV tuner using a portable aerial, and reception on the FM radio was to use the TV tuner, and limited help as tells you exactly what the machine can do poor using the antenna supplied. While far as the radio was concerned. and how you do it. The Spectria range is reception in our VNU Labs is not wonder- If Packard Bell is as serious about due for an update soon: if Packard Bell is ful, we were able to obtain a viewable cornering the home market as it claims, it to maintain its reputation as a market picture on the other machines with a TV needs at the very least to provide com- leader, it will need to provide home tuner. There was no information on how prehensive, clear documentation that consumers with better than this.

TABLE OF FEATURES CONSUMER PC’S

Product name Apple Macintosh Packard Bell Spectria ICL Fujitsu PC/TV Olivetti Envision 400 IBM Aptiva 941 Performa 5200CDTV Executive 9505 Price £1642 ex VAT £1799 inc VAT £1299 £1399 (P75 with MPEG £1899) £2199 inc VAT Contact Apple Packard Bell ICL Olivetti IBM UK PC response centre 0800 127753 01753 831914 10800 317 71 0181 780 8032 0345 727272 Screen size 15in 15in 14in n/a 15in Built-in speakers Yes Yes Yes Yes No (external) Processor PowerPC603 75MHz 486 DX2 66 486 DX2 66 486 DX4 100 Pentium 100 RAM (fitted/max) Mb 12/64 8 8/64 8/24 8/128 Hard disk (Mb) 500 500 350 630 850 Modem built in No No No Yes No Internet ready No No No Yes No Free expansion slots Yes No Yes Yes Yes CD-ROM Quad speed Double speed Double speed Quad speed Quad speed TV tuner/video card Yes Yes Yes No No Infra-red remote control Yes No Yes Yes No Windows95? N/A No No Yes No

121 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 CorelDraw 6 is bigger, bolder and more bundled than ever. Dual editing views, new tools, beefed-up photo editing, animation and 3D mini-applications, Windows 95 The compatibility... you name it. Alex Gray takes you on a guided tour Fastest of this new Draw in supersuite. the West

he CorelDraw 6 suite is the latest in a venerable product line, in which each new version has topped its list of Tnew features only by the number of bugs from which it suffers. This latest version is a 32-bit suite that relies upon the Windows 95 oper- ating system. Draw 6 seems significantly less bug-ridden at first release (6.00.118) than was version 5. The extensive range of Windows graphics calls made by Draw seems to expose weaknesses in a number of otherwise satisfactory video drivers, especially for the more advanced cards. It’s a moot point whether this should be laid at Corel’s door or blamed on the video driver suppliers; but the net effect for Joe User is the same — crash. Since version 5, a major change to this package is that as fast as it joined the bundle, Corel Ventura has now left the standard product again and will appear later in a separate deal with PhotoPaint. This will raise some com- plicated pricing and upgrade issues. Whyte Suite dreams The CorelDraw bundle is bigger than ever, with some parts old, some new,

Photography by David and others renamed. First, there are PCW

122 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 CORELDRAW 6

the two major applications of long stand- tion of fonts ing, Draw and Photo-Paint, plus three tops 170Mb. It new secondary applications for version 6: is possible to CorelDream 3D, Motion 3D and install the Presents. Then there are nine utilities, package to mostly integrated by way of OLE, cover- run from CD- ing OCR and tracing, font and clipart ROM, but management, application automation, performance and a few other items along for the ride. suffers terribly As if all that weren’t enough, there are and Corel Corel’s legendary (and now bigger than doesn’t ever) sets of fonts, photos and recommend it. multimedia bits and pieces. These CorelDraw is include 100 quaintly named “floating one of the few objects” (their logo is a hot air balloon, programs I after all). The whole kit comes in a large have found box along with manual, clipart/fonts which reference book, colour calibration photo supports the and other useful bits and pieces. new Windows Above Some recent 32-bit packages have 95 add/ There’s a been compiled to run under 32-bit native remove substantial set systems such as Windows 95, and under programs dialogue, so of program the old 16-bit Windows with the support that the package may items in the of the Win32s library. CorelDraw 6, be graphics group however, is full 32-bit only — the whole modified or uninstalled bundle has been compiled for Windows smoothly if required. 95 and cannot be run at all under It is not possible to Windows 3.1 or 3.11. (Ironically, one review all parts of the Left good example of Win32s programming, suite in depth, so I CorelDraw Xara Studio, will shortly be reappearing have concentrated supports the under the Corel brand.) here on the two Win95 Install/ Windows 95 offers standard benefits primary components of Uninstall not easily available under 16-bit the system: Draw and options Windows, and the Corel suite provides Paint. My aim will be to extensive support for its new features and look at where it differs working methods. These include support from version 5. drawing to be opened at a time, MDI for long filenames, extensive right mouse support within Draw allows several button context-sensitive menus, use of CorelDraw 6 independent views of the same drawing tabbed dialogues and property sheets, Draw is a classical vector-based drawing to be open at once. This is very useful, and the new help system. package, providing comprehensive for example, in allowing precise magni- The CorelDraw suite majors on shape, pattern and text creation and fied editing in one window, with a wider complete OLE support, in-place editing manipulation. It has an extensive range view in another which remains synchro- (so, for example, a Corel graphic can be of tools and features which make it the nised with changes in the drawing. A new edited in place in a Word document), and definitive PC package for display View Manager allows alternative magnifi- automation with a Basic-like language graphics, leaflets, typographic effects cations and page locations to be stored, and full script recording. It provides full and logo creation, and even some with meaningful names for quick recall. drag-and-drop support for moving objects technical drawing. Objects may be dragged and dropped between documents as well. A new initial dialogue provides a directly from one open document to guided start to a new or existing another; this is much faster than Installation document, or to take you on a tour of the import/export or cut and paste. No serious user of the CorelDraw suite system. The most obvious improvements Documents can now extend to an should be without a CD-ROM drive, and to Draw 6 are support of the Windows almighty 45sq metres, with precision to to emphasise that point there is no longer multiple document interface (MDI), and a 0.1 micron. Previous versions had a a floppy disk option. The 80 or more flop- huge dual improvement in the maximum problem with inaccurate placing of fine pies that would be required are impracti- drawing size, with greatly enhanced pre- detail, owing to rounding errors in the cal for installation and too costly to cision. Redraw speeds are greater than arithmetic, but this version seems to have produce by comparison with the four the previous version and the package put the problem behind it (unless you’re CD-ROMs supplied as standard. has a smoother feel to it all round. On the in the business of drawing life-size A minimal installation of Draw and downside, large bitmap-and-blend object bacteria). The zoom range is vast, and PhotoPaint will set you back around redraws are still noticeably slow even when working on the largest “page” 90Mb of hard disk space, while a compared with those achieved in Xara size you still get a decent pasteboard complete installation of all the Studio, for instance. area around the edges. components and a representative selec- As well as providing for more than one The user interface is similar to the

123 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 CORELDRAW 6

Right MDI allows allowing you to move it so that it no several views of longer lies over the subject, but maintains the same docu- the lens image. ment, with a View Manager to Bitmaps assist with rapid Bitmap processing has been navigation of considerably enhanced, particularly with pages and irregular cropping and colour masking. magnifications Irregular cropping is simple; the bounding box of the bitmap can be node edited just as if it were any shape drawn on the Below page. Colour masking allows the selec- Every aspect of tion of one or more colours from the Draw’s menus, bitmap to be the only ones shown, or to toolbars and roll- be rendered transparent. A tolerance ups can be control lets you remove a band of reconfigured to shades: a typical use of this would be your preference quick cropping of a character from a uniform background such as sky, without laborious hand masking or imperfect Drawing auto-tracing. A wide range of bitmap file tools formats is supported for import and As well as the export. usual tools for creating lines, Text handling rectangles and Draw continues to handle text in two ellipses there are modes: “artistic” for small blocks of text now new ones requiring a high degree of manipulation, for creating poly- and “paragraph” for long runs of body gons, stars, spi- copy. Artistic text objects may now con- rals and grids. tain up to 32k characters. Paragraph text Once created, may comprise a maximum of 32k frames these can be of up to 32k paragraphs, each with up to converted to 32k characters. The previous unseemly curves and collection of dialogues and roll-ups edited in the necessary to set all text attributes has usual way with been replaced by a toolbar integrating all previous version, and to other high-end the node editing tool. The polygon tool is text-related matters. Draw can also gen- graphics programs, but with the Win95 particularly powerful as it maintains the look and feel. There are standard menus, regularity of the whole shape as you edit System requirements toolbars, floating palettes, and a Corel one point, or side. The spiral tool is a For efficient use of CorelDraw 6, a sensi- speciality: roll-ups. These are mini real time-saver if you should happen to ble starting point would be a system with: dialogues for controlling a related group need spirals as they are tedious to con- • DX2/66 processor running Windows 95 of functions, that you can “roll up” (reduce struct any other way. The grid tool pro- • 16Mb of RAM to just a small title bar) with one click vides a shortcut • 420Mb hard disk when you don’t need them. Draw 6 pro- to graph paper and other cellular • Mouse, tablet or pen vides more options for grouping the roll- layouts. • SVGA display (256 colours) ups in such a way that they automatically Once the shapes are in place, there • CD-ROM drive arrange themselves, avoiding the previ- are new ways to destroy them. Knife and These requirements are in line with a ous difficulty of making sure they don’t eraser tools provide methods for separat- sensible minimum for any Windows 95 obscure each other when rolled down. ing or erasing parts of objects almost as if system. Although Draw 6 could be run on The entire user interface (drop-down they were simple bitmap objects, yet a somewhat lower specification, anyone menus, toolbars, roll-ups) can be maintaining the integrity of their outline with less would probably get better customised to the last degree, using a and fill properties. performance from Win 3.11 and Corel 5. consistent set of hierarchical command Draw 5 introduced lenses. These are For complex graphics work, a display trees to select and arrange the controls. processing functions that can be applied resolution of at least 800 x 600 would be Thankfully, there is also a command to within shapes overlying other objects, to advisable, and for multimedia work the restore default layouts. Comprehensive give effects such as a magnifying glass or CD-ROM should be at least double- edge rulers and layout guidelines are regions of transparency. Version 6 has speed. Photo-Paint, in particular, needs all provided and include, for the first time, extended them to offer fish-eye effects, the memory it can get so don’t skimp on slanted layout lines for unusual wireframe rendering, and custom remap- this if you plan to do a lot of bitmap paint alignment. ping of colours. You can now freeze the work, otherwise you could be in for a lot of lens image or apply it to a fixed viewpoint, tedious swapping to disk.

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erate and insert bar code label areas in “mail-merge” is available for printing now offers unlimited file size editing, the seven most widely used codes. things such as labels or certificates. although the practicality of this is Draw already had powerful multi-page The layout options reflect Corel’s sup- constrained by system memory. Many of facilities, with paragraph text flow from port of independent document page size the enhancements to this version of one page to another. It now handles and printing paper size. The dialogue Photo-Paint are package-wide improve- these more smoothly than before, has includes interactive cloning, scaling and ments that I have previously described improved word-wrap, tabs, justification placement of the print area on the page under CorelDraw; particularly the inter- and irregular text wrap around other with a visual preview. Multi-page face and printing details. Photo-Paint objects. Full proof-reading facilities are documents may be printed as basic images can be dragged and dropped into provided, which work in a similar way to impositions, ready placed and organised other documents, including Draw and those in Microsoft Word, and include for example as A5 booklets on A4. Ventura. substantial foreign language support and It still offers many of the advantages statistical functions. Corel Photo-Paint of a drawing program with the artistic Photo-Paint was consider- Object placement ably beefed-up in version 5 Before being moved around, objects to provide more credible must be selected. Draw 6 allows you to competition for Adobe Photo- select objects according to their proper- shop and other standalone ties (for instance, all the yellow bitmap editing packages. rectangles on the page, or all the pieces That approach has been of paragraph text). This can be a real continued and refined with time-saver when, say, you want to version 6. It sports the multi- recolour all the text on a page, or copy all ple document interface and the rectangles from one page to the next. Routine interactive object movement Top and overall scaling, such as shearing and One screen out of the three rotation, are unchanged from the earliest main tabbed elements of versions of Draw with grab handles Corel’s very appearing around the selected object(s) comprehensive to drag as you want. For more accurate printing options actions, the Effects roll-up offers numeri- dialogue cal dialogues for moving, rotating or scal- ing, envelope editing, applying lenses, skewing, resizing, intersections, trimming and welding. The last three provide for Right one shape or group to be used to add to, Fractal texture or subtract from, another shape or group. fills provide an The standard alignment functions (left, almost infinite right, top, bottom, centre) are provided for range of lining up multiple objects in respect to naturalistic fill one another. Draw 6 now adds distribu- patterns for tion functions to align multiple objects, or abstract copies of an object, at equal intervals backgrounds across the selected objects or across the and simulations whole page, vertically or horizontally.

Printing Draw and Photo-Paint print options are superb and apply across the suite. Open Pre-press Interface (OPI) is now supported, allowing you to work at speed with a low-resolution copy of bitmap images (such as photos), with a matching Left high-resolution copy inserted automati- Photo-Paint offers cally at printing/image-setting time. multiple-level Comprehensive options are available selective Undo, for the control of colour separation plates, providing flexibility non-printing colours, job information, crop for retracing your marks and registration targets. Different steps, and print setups can be stored on disk for changing an earlier repeated use as standard “recipes”. decision or Almost 850 standard label printing accident formats are built-in, and limited

125 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 CORELDRAW 6

Other parts of the CorelDraw 6 bundle pencils, pen, crayon and chalk. There are 77 standard image manipu- of dazzling flying logos and image lation filters in the system: new ones manipulations favoured by film company include terrazzo, tone map, embossed, animated logos. Final anti-aliased render- 3D stereoscopic, canvas and desaturate. ing of a ten-second sequence could take Should you be unable to find what you several hours on the average PC, but with are looking for among those, then you Win95 multithreading and helpful progress can fall back on the fact that Photo-Paint facilities, this can be run in the background, supports the use of the same range of or overnight at the end of a design session. “plug-in” accessory filters as Adobe During design, rapid wireframe renderings Photoshop (Kai’s PowerTools for exam- are used for visualisation. ple). User-defined filters are also possible Utilities provided you know what you are doing. Two of the utilities are small resource Photo-Paint now has full support for Corel Motion 3D provides facilities for manager applications: duotone images (and monotones, producing the full metallic flying ● Font Master provides on-the-fly installa- tritones, and quadtones), beloved of letters animation so beloved of TV tion and removal of TrueType and Type 1 many graphic designers seeking news programmes the world over (PostScript) fonts, and has facilities for font additional impact with only one extra ink preview and creation of custom font groups. colour. Text handling allows interactive s well as Draw and Photo-Paint, the ● Multimedia Manager is a comprehensive editing of text even after it has been ACorelDraw 6 bundle provides three browsing utility for identification and selec- scaled and placed in the painting — an other applications and nine utilities: tion of the items from the clipart, improvement on previous versions where CorelDream 3D symbol and photo libraries of CorelDraw 6. the text was frozen after initial placement. An adaptation of the successful Ray Dream Objects can be simply dragged from the Designer 3D modelling and rendering appli- Multimedia Manager into the workspace of Conclusion cation. It is supplied with a wide range of one of the main applications for use. More reliable 32-bit operation, an easier pre-built models, and others can be built Other minor utilities include: interface, and the multiple document from the tools provided. 3D scenes can be ● Corel OCR Trace. For bitmap tracing and facilities alone have made a step-change quickly created by merging the optical character recognition. in the usability of the CorelDraw suite. 3D-rendered scenes with bitmap images ● CorelDepth. For easy 3D text and logo Photo-Paint 6 represents a good and Photo-CD pictures in Photo-Paint. effects. evolutionary move forward and a consol- Corel Presents ● Corel Capture. For screen area captur- idation of Photo-Paint 5, which was itself This incorporates the earlier Chart and ing, including irregular masked areas. a major step forward. It is now a highly Move elements of version 5 into a new, ● Corel Script Editor. An automation useful and usable package to rival comprehensive, animated presentation system that allows macro routines and Photoshop. As separate applications or package covering similar ground as MS customisation of other OLE-enabled apps. OLE utilities, the range of minor applica- PowerPoint 7, with more bells and whistles ● Corel Presents Runtime. A portable tions doesn’t burden the main program (but perhaps less stability and speed). Built- viewer utility for distributing presentations to with unnecessary functions. Even built-in in wizards and a wide range of clipart, pho- those without the full Presents software. functions can be removed from the inter- tos and animation elements are available. ● Other utilities for bar code creation, face if you don’t like them. Some of the Corel Motion 3D charting and mapping of data, sticky notes extras will prove invaluable for some This niche package provides rendering and and equation editing that can be applied to people — there’s no reason why 100 animation of 3D objects to produce the sort other apps via OLE. percent of a package like this should be of use to all the people all of the time, flexibility of a paint program, and Colour Mask roll-up has been simplified provided it’s good value for the part that achieves this by maintaining the concepts too, but still manages to offer fading of a is of use to each buyer. of objects and layers for all components mask with control over the feathering One could spend a lot of money of a painting, even for processed options. The Object Manager roll-up assembling and learning to use bitmaps. Objects can be freely converted provides largely the same functions as alternative “best of breed” packages to masks and back again as required. the Layers roll-up in Draw: independently across the different elements covered by Unusually for a painting program, it offers controllable layers on which different the CorelDraw bundle, but it would be a rulers and snap to grid facilities. It can painting elements can be placed for ease tall order for most people. As a one-stop open a wide range of file types, including of manipulation. It’s possible, for solution with integrated menus and AVI video and FLC animation files. How- example, to hide or lock some layers, to support tools, there is no other suite on ever, if these are opened for editing, they prevent further modification. And it allows the market to touch CorelDraw 6 for pro- comprise a separate bitmap document for individual objects to be named, and can viding a comprehensive desktop graphics every frame of the movie so this work is a form the basis of a simple object library. solution at a good price. little slow and memory intensive, to say A new Texture Brush tool greatly the least. improves the range of natural effects PCW Details A lot of work has been carried out on achievable when painting with textures: CorelDraw 6 rationalising the mask and object with control over virtual grain, texture, Price £495 RRP handling in Photo-Paint, and these are bleed and wetness. And it comes with a Contact Channel MarketMakers 01703 814142 ☎ now integrated into one toolbar. The range of natural effect brushes such as

127 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 134 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

Storage backup&

No matter what your backup and storage needs, there’s something to suit everyone. On these pages we look at the whole issue of storage media, and Gordon Laing puts eleven devices to the test.

e’ve said it Maybe you need something as portable Storage and backup Contents before and and reusable as a floppy disk, but with we’ll say it larger capacity. Sometimes compatibil- 136 Conner CTD-8000e again: storage ity with another system is paramount. 136 Conner TapeStor 4000T16 really is A feature covering all types of stor- 136 Fujitsu M2512a 138 Graphtec Ranger MO becoming very age and backup devices would occupy 138 Hewlett-Packard SureStore 2000e interesting. Not an entire issue of PCW, and then 138 Iomega ZIP necessarily din- some. Since we’ve recently covered 142 Plasmon PD2000e ner party conver- CD-R and plan to round-up hard drives 142 Sony MD DATA Drive MDH-10 Wsation, but certainly fascinating for in the near future, we narrowed this 143 SyQuest EZ135 Drive anyone who needs more space to group test to devices with removable 143 SyQuest SQ 270 store their information. And that’s and rewritable media (no removable 143 Tandberg Data Panther Mini 1000 everyone, since who can honestly say hard drives however). 145 Optical drives that they have enough storage? We’ve got 11 devices in all, covering 147 Magnetic storage The interesting part is the wealth of all the tasks described above. None is 150 Tape streamer technology technologies that are out there. We’ve the perfect storage device, although 152 Performance Graphs all recognised, perhaps on several several appear to come very close. 156 Editor’s Choice occasions, the need for more storage; Along with reviews of the devices, 156 Table of Features but what do you go for? A second hard we’ve given detailed explanations of all disk? A single, bigger hard disk? Per- the different technologies and how they haps a removable storage medium, or work. We’ve explained the pros and something designed purely for cons to help you choose which is best overnight backup? for you. The variety is endless. There really If you have only 2Mb remaining on is a storage solution for every your hard disk and have made the deci- occasion: either for those who need the sion to buy, check out our findings to greatest performance, or the best value discover the perfect storage medium for money. Perhaps huge capacity is for your specific purposes. You may be an issue rather than speed of transfer. surprised to see what’s out there. PCW Storage Photography by Bruce Mackie

135 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

Conner CTD-8000e DAT is unparalleled. Tape sizes start at 2Gb side. If you want to go for a respectable and go right up to 8Gb on some drives using name with excellent products, then Conner is compression. If this kind of storage is essen- a good choice. If you need backup capacities tial, DAT is the only way to go. DAT media is over 4Gb, DAT is the only reasonable route quite cheap too, although the drives can be and the CTD-8000 won’t let you down. pricey. The external CTD-8000, denoted with an “e” at the end, carries an RRP of £1,395 or £1,245 for the internal. This does not include PCW Details software or a SCSI card as standard, but all Conner CTD-8000e suppliers will be able to sell you suitable Price External £1,395; Internal £1,245 accessories. Typical street prices are around Contact Conner Peripherals £1,050 for the external and £900 for the 01628 777277 ☎ onner’s CTD-8000e, also known as internal. Good Points Huge capacity and cheap Ca 4356XP, is a DDS-2 DAT drive. In In uncompressed native mode on a 4Gb media. native mode it can take 4Gb DDS-2 DAT tape, the CTD-8000 will do around 27Mb a Bad Points Relatively expensive drive. tapes, and can just about double this minute — that’s about 4Gb in three hours. Conclusion The only choice if you using hardware compression. Conner is a very well known name in the need this capacity. If mass storage is what you’re after, storage business, particularly on the OEM

Conner TapeStor 4000

capacity DAT drives, and the TapeStor cer- entry-level priced, well-performing backup tainly represents good value; street prices drive. If you only need 1Gb backup, and you have been seen at around £450 for the inter- can find the Tandberg Panther cheaper, then nal drive. Certainly when Tandberg Data go for that. If you can get a good deal on the releases its 2/4Gb internal QIC drive for Conner, it’s larger capacity would make it a £450, street prices on the Conner will match. better buy. The Conner price includes Arcada Back- up Exec software, but no interface. You’ll need to provide your own SCSI card, PCW Details he Conner TapeStor 4000 uses QIC although most dealers will recommend one. Conner TapeStor 4000 Price External £650, Internal £479 (pronounced quick), tape cartridges. Conner interestingly offers an internal E-IDE T Contact Conner Peripherals QIC carts are sturdier than DAT tapes, but version of the TapeStor 4000 which we will 01628 777277 ☎ cost around double for the same capacity. review in First Impressions next month. The TapeStor 4000 uses native 2Gb QIC- Performance-wise, the SCSI TapeStor Good Points Large capacity QIC drive, E-IDE version. WIDE tapes costing around £15 each, and offers 27Mb per minute, or 2Gb in around an Bad Points QIC tapes relatively through software compression is capable hour and a half in native uncompressed expensive. of raising this to almost 4Gb. mode. Conclusion Excellent, cheap backup QIC drives are cheaper than equivalent QIC is the format to go for if you want an drive.

Fujitsu M2512a here was a Fujitsu transports. The M2512a is its own and sturdy media, less affected by nasty Ttime when badged 3.5in MO drive, using 230Mb magnetic fields than some other media. magneto-optical cartridges, offering 217Mb post format. The Fujitsu’s bundle is good, but consider the was the storage external SCSI drive reviewed here costs SyQuest 270 and Plasmon PD before part- technology to £499 and comes with a Shuttle technology ing with money. have. The SCSI card, Claris Works, a SCSI cable and 3.5in one cartridge. Internal SCSI and IDE rewritable versions are available for £390, and an exter- PCW Details optical discs nal parallel model for £545. Fujitsu quotes typically around £17 for each additional cartridge. Fujitsu M2512a Price External SCSI £499, Internal SCSI offered Fujitsu’s MO system has to reset the state or IDE £390, External parallel £545 capacities of pre-written media before it can be written Contact Fujitsu 0181 573 4444 ☎ of 230Mb and were a godsend to those over again. This multipass system is conse- wanting transportable storage or backup. quently slow, especially compared to the Good Points Fair capacity, resistant media. Today, of course, there are lots of compet- SyQuests and ZIPs. The Panasonic PD sys- Bad Points Expensive drive, slow ing media technologies all trying to be the tem reviewed here under the Plasmon name performance. standard, and MO has a tough job ahead. can write directly over unwanted data in a Conclusion Solid, and a good bundle, Fujitsu is the leading company in MO single pass and is faster, too, than the MO. but a little dated. technology; indeed most MO drives use MO’s good point is the reasonably cheap

136 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

Graphtec Ranger MO

plain SCSI with Macintosh drivers, and shop around, the media is fairly good one which boasts SCSI and parallel ports, value. Ranger’s combined parallel and which we review here. SCSI version offers flexibility that the Graphtec throws in one MO cartridge Fujitsu doesn’t, but Fujitsu’s own drive is with the Ranger (ours was from Maxell), cheaper. Graphtec’s Ranger MO has the but quotes a high £32 for additional carts. edge on performance, but neither are Fujitsu quoted around £17 for the same ideal for running applications or operating thing so it’s certainly worth shopping systems. around for media. As with the Fujitsu, the Ranger MO takes 3.5in 230Mb carts, PCW Details which offer 217Mb after formatting. Graphtec Ranger MO raphtec has taken a Fujitsu 3.5in Graphtec claimed the Ranger uses the Price External SCSI £555, External magneto-optical mechanism, fitted same insides as the Fujitsu we reviewed, parallel/SCSI £595 G Contact Graphtec 01270 611234 ☎ it into its own case, and rebadged it as but our tests showed the Ranger to be Ranger. From the outside, Graphtec quicker. Both MO drives are still slow Good Points Model with parallel and has opted for a slightly taller and thin- though; better geared to backup than run- SCSI ports. ner case than Fujitsu and supplies ning apps. MO has the advantage of Bad Points Fujitsu’s MO is cheaper. Conclusion Good, and quicker than three different external configurations: being fairly impervious to potentially dam- Fujitsu’s. plain SCSI with PC drivers for £555, aging magnetic fields, and so long as you

Hewlett-Packard SureStore Tape 2000e

mer being 3.5in wide but too tall to fit in a The 6000 series can take 4Gb native tapes, standard 3.5in bay, instead requiring a 5.25in again able to double this with compression bay and the supplied panel converter. to 8Gb. The external 2000 drive costs £799, and Hewlett-Packard is a well-respected the internal £699. Both come with a suitable name in many fields, including tape backup, SCSI cable, diagnostics for DOS and and the SureStore range will help it retain its NetWare Loadable Module (NLM), a 90m good reputation. The 2000 series is an DDS DAT tape, cleaning tape, and Colorado excellent entry-level DAT drive. Backup for Windows software. The 2000 series do not use data compres- PCW Details sion of any kind, offering a maximum storage HP SureStore Tape 2000e ewlett-Packard does a rather neat line of 2Gb on 2Gb native DAT tapes. Backing up Price External £799, Internal £699 in backup drives using a variety of the entire 2Gb will take around three hours, Contact Hewlett-Packard H 01344 369222 ☎ technologies. We tested the 2000e model about 11Mb per minute. You will need a SCSI from the SureStore range of DAT drives; all card, and HP carries suitable Adaptec 1510A Good Points Good value DAT drive. are SCSI-2 devices. ISA SCSI cards. Bad Points Maximum of 2Gb storage. All SureStore drives are available as The 5000 series use the same 2Gb native Conclusion Ideal entry-level DAT. internal or external configurations, the for- tapes but can double this with compression.

Iomega ZIP may be seen. There’s no internal It isn’t quite as quick as the EZ135, and or IDE option, but both SCSI and the media is a bit smaller — when formatted parallel external versions are it’s 94Mb vs 126Mb — but both units are available for the same price of very cheap and incredibly useful. If carrying £149. the whole unit is a primary concern, the ZIP Each drive comes with ZIP wins. If you need the extra capacity and Tools software which helps you slight performance, the EZ135 has the edge. organise and track data. While the cartridges are of course removable and pocketable, Iomega is partly PCW Details omega describes its colourful ZIP drive selling the ZIP drive as an entirely portable Iomega ZIP Ias the new floppy drive, although it won’t device — just pick the whole thing up and go. Price External SCSI drive £149, External read conventional floppies. Instead, it uses You could of course buy two, but the ease of parallel drive £149 100Mb cartridges containing a flexible plat- carting a single unit around is certainly a cost Contact Iomega 0800 898563 ☎ ter. When formatted, the ZIP carts offer saving. At only 450g it is half the weight and Good Points Cheap and portable. 94Mb and cost around £15 each. a bit slimmer than the external SyQuest Bad Points Slower and smaller media The ZIP drive mechanism is fitted inside EZ135, the ZIP’s main competitor; you will than EZ135. an attractive-looking slim blue case, with a need to carry the heavy power supply Conclusion None the less excellent. clear window through which the cartridge though.

138 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

Plasmon PD2000e

matted; additional carts cost £39 each. either, since the cartridge tray has a circular There are no IDE or parallel versions. dip to take bare CDs; you can’t load a car- Panasonic’s PD system boasts the com- tridge and CD simultaneously though.The pany’s own patented Phase Change tech- PD system is extremely flexible and the nology; very similar to that used by phase ideal choice if you can stretch to the cost of change WORM (Write Once Read Many) the drive; remember you do get a CD-ROM such as CD-R. The difference with drive too. Panasonic’s system is that the active layer is made of a material with reversible proper- PCW Details ties, so it’s rewritable. Even cleverer is that it Plasmon PD2000e lasmon’s PD2000e is the only external can rewrite in a single pass, making it faster Price External SCSI £659, configuration of the superb Panasonic than MO technologies, but still slower than Internal SCSI £575 P Contact Plasmon 01763 262963 ☎ PD system (reviewed in First Impressions, the SyQuests and ZIPs. It’s still fast enough PCW, October 1995). Plasmon sells the to run applications but unfortunately cannot Good Points High capacity, cheap internal version for £575, same as Pana- be booted from, so no chance of different media and doubles as quad speed CD- sonic, while the external box raises the OSs on a set of PD carts. ROM drive. Bad Points Not quickest or cheapest. price to £659. Both come with one 650Mb What makes the PD system really spe- Conclusion Extremely flexible if you PD cartridge, resembling a CD-ROM caddy cial is that it doubles up as a quad speed can afford the drive. and offering a substantial 633Mb when for- CD-ROM drive. You don’t need a caddy

Sony MD DATA Drive MDH-10

the media not in FAT, but MDFS (Mini- Disc File System) format. This allows the media to be used between PC and Macintosh platforms. You can- not use the standard DOS format, unlike every other device on test here. We had difficulties operating the MDH-10 in Windows 95, but none in Windows 3.1 or DOS. Software for Macintosh is also supplied, and is a lot easier to use. The MD DATA blanks cost £15 each and can store 135Mb after format- ting. Performance is very slow even for a magneto optical drive. The MDH-10 is an ideal device on the move: battery operated, PCMCIA option, bout three years ago Sony launched reviewed here it can also run off batteries. A and doubling up as an audio player. It is very A its MiniDisc (MD) format, capable of very light but powerful 1200mAh lithium ion slow for storage, and the drive is expensive storing 74 minutes of digital audio on a rechargeable is included, as is a clip-on bat- compared to the ZIPs, EZs and in fact every- 64mm diameter MO disc. The company tery case for three AAs. There is a PCMCIA thing else here, but the MD DATA does offer managed to incorporate the same audio interface option for £149. a unique service and is the only truly capacity as a CD, onto the MD using a The MD DATA can play but not record portable device in this feature. compression ratio of around 5:1. Uncom- audio MDs. It has a line-out socket and pressed, the MD media could store 140Mb comes with a pair of headphones with a large PCW Details information and the world wondered when bulge in the cord for transport controls, and Sony MD DATA Drive Sony would get round to creating a com- even an LCD display. As promised in Sony Price External drive £499 puter data version. literature, the MD system is fairly impervious Contact Sony Peripherals After what seems like an eternity the to quick bumps and shocks, with its buffering 01932 816000 ☎ MD DATA has arrived, and like all Sony system. Keep shaking it about for more than, Good Points Truly portable plus products it looks and feels great. The say, six seconds though, and it will skip. audio MD playback. MDH-10 is a tiny Walkman-sized device It connects to your computer with a SCSI- Bad Points Very slow, and the drive is and the lightest in this round-up. It does 2 port on the rear, but MD media must be for- expensive. need its supplied power adaptor to work off matted using the supplied software. A Conclusion Perfect for the gadget the mains, but unlike anything else somewhat tortuous DOS command formats freak on the move.

142 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

SyQuest EZ135 Drive

SyQuest’s media is simply the rigid plat- around £13 each, and unless you absolutely ter of a Winchester hard disk fitted in a need more, the 270 version is not worth con- removable plastic cartridge; it is effectively sidering. a hard drive with the performance to The EZ135’s main competitor is Iomega’s match. The mechanism is fitted into a ZIP drive. They’re similar prices, but the neat grey box with two full-size SCSI EZ135 is quicker and has 32Mb greater for- ports and an ID selector at the rear. matted capacity. The ZIP is still pretty quick, Power comes from an external adaptor. but lighter, and consequently more portable An internal IDE version is available now as an entire unit. and an external parallel port version due by Christmas. All are bundled with one PCW Details yQuest introduced its 3.5in drives with cartridge. SyQuest EZ135 Drive Stwo models: one with single-sided Since the EZ135 needs only one head to Price External SCSI £179, media 105Mb capacity (now discontinued), read the single-sided media, it is consider- Internal IDE £149 and the other, a double-sided 270Mb, ably cheaper than the 270Mb drive. The Contact SyQuest 0800 526559 ☎ reviewed in these pages. The EZ135 Drive media is almost one quarter of the price too. Good Points Cheap and fast. is not much more than a remodelled, In fact, considering the similar performance, Bad Points The ZIP’s a bit lighter. repackaged and remarketed cross the 270Mb comes across as quite expensive. Conclusion Excellent all-rounder. between the two. The formatted 135 carts offer 126Mb for

SyQuest SQ 270

urations come with one cartridge; addi- price, there are the 230Mb MO drives — MO tional ones cost £42. We reviewed the media is much cheaper than the SQ 270s, SQ 270 external SCSI custom model but far slower. MO media is less susceptible (“custom” means just the drive and to damage than pure magnetic storage, but cartridge). Internal SCSI, IDE and SyQuests are very reliable. MO 230Mb vs external parallel versions are avail- SyQuest 270Mb is media cost vs able, along with value packs which performance. include SCSI drive, cartridge and Adaptec 1515 SCSI card. ll SyQuest drives use the same kind of The SQ 270 SCSI drive is very quick and PCW Details A media: the rigid platter of a hard disk, the 270Mb cartridges offer a decent capacity. SyQuest SQ 270 fitted inside a plastic cartridge. When However, the drive requires two heads, rais- Price External SCSI £450, Internal inserted into a suitable SyQuest drive, the ing the price well above that of, say, the SCSI £300, Internal IDE £360 Contact SyQuest 0800 526559 ☎ combination effectively becomes a hard SyQuest EZ135. If 135Mb is enough, the drive, with similar performance. EZ135 is the better choice. If you need the Good Points Fast, and good capacity. The SQ 270 is SyQuest’s largest capac- greater capacity and excellent performance, Bad Points Expensive media. ity drive, using 3.5in 270Mb cartridges, the SQ 270 is ideal but expensive. Conclusion Ideal if EZ135 is too small or MO too slow. offering 254Mb when formatted. All config- At a similar media capacity and drive

Tandberg Data Panther Mini 1000 is fairly similar between DAT and QIC, but more, and capable of taking the 2Gb native the QIC carts are around double the price. carts, approximately doubling to 4Gb through On the plus side, QIC drives are much compression (like the Conner TapeStor cheaper than DAT drives. Tandberg Data’s 4000). Unusually, Tandberg intends to keep Panther Mini 1000 drive costs £549 in an selling the 1Gb version at the old price to external box, or £449 as an internal; keep all users happy. We would recommend typically half that of a DAT drive. all new users to go directly to the 2Gb model. These prices include Sytos backup software for Windows and DOS. Another £48 gets you an Adaptec PCW Details 1510 SCSI card; parallel Panthers Tandberg Data Panther Mini 1000 andberg Data is well known for its are available. Price External £497, Internal £397 Tbackup devices, particularly its tape The Panther Mini 1000 takes 1Gb native Contact Tandberg Data 01582 769071 ☎ drives using the QIC minicartridges (pro- QIC-WIDE cartridges, and can squeeze up to Good Points Cheap drive, good nounced quick). QIC minicartridges are 2Gb through software compression. In native package. physically slightly larger than DAT tapes, mode the Panther backs up 1Gb in around Bad Points New 2/4Gb model is a but much sturdier. DAT tapes start at 2Gb one hour; about 18Mb per minute. better buy. capacity, while QIC carts can be as small By the time you read this, Tandberg Data Conclusion Go for the 2/4Gb version. as a few hundred megabytes. Performance will have a new Panther Mini, costing only £5

143 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

Optical drives

Optical drives include magneto-optical (MO), WORM (Write milliseconds, but they’re still about three times slower than the aver- Once/Read Many), and rewritable optical. All these read data with age magnetic hard drive. lasers which are far more precise than the drive heads on a disk So, why buy an optical drive? The main advantage with optical drive. They hold more data than traditional disk drives, too, allowing drives is their robustness compared to the normal magnetic type. more data to be packed in per square inch; hence the name Com- Optical drives offer a storage medium which is easily transportable pact Disc or CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory). and rugged. Optical disks are immune from head crashes and the kind of data loss which is caused by adverse environmental factors. WORM In fact, the relative advantages of the two types of system make them Write Once/Read Many storage has complementary rather than com- been around for about eight years, petitive. Optical drives offer securi- and as the name suggests this type Write Cycle ty, while magnetic hard drives offer of optical drive can be written to and Objective Lens real-time performance. read from. When data is written to a WORM drive, physical marks are Magneto-Optical Drives made on the media surface by a The performance problem with low-powered laser and since these optical drives has been addressed marks are permanent, they cannot Laser Beam recently with a new generation of be erased, hence write once. Rotation rewritable optical drives using mag- As far as the user is concerned, neto-optical technology and phase- Substrate a WORM drive behaves in just the change erasable technology. same way as any other storage Magneto-optical drives are the media. When a file is saved to the most widely available optical stor- drive and recalled for editing, the Recording age product with drives being pro- S most recent version appears. Material duced in two form factors: 3.5in and Unknown to the user, however, 5.25in. every version of every file is perma- N MO technology, as you might Electro Magnet nently stored; even files that the guess from the name, uses a com- user believes to be deleted. Finan- bination of laser and magnetic sci- cial institutions, government ence. An electro-magnet and a laser beam organisations and legal firms are particu- Read Cycle are used together to change the state of the larly keen on the use of this type of media Laser Diode optical media. The active layer of the disk is for storage as it provides a kind of trans- magnetic, with each element having its own parent archiving facility which ensures magnetic polarity. In order for an element to sufficient security for the storage of Collimater Lens change from a binary “0” to “1”, its polarity sensitive data. Linearly must be changed, and this is achieved using Polarized Beam Analyzer a combination of electro-magnetic and laser Rewritable optical disks technology. Because of the way in which Detector Rewritable, or erasable, optical disk dri- magneto-optical technology works, two or ves provide the same high capacities as sometimes three rotations must be made those provided by WORM or CD-ROM Half Mirror each time data is written to the disk: once to drives, but the data on them can be erase old data, then to write new data, and “0” erased. Most people perceive a drive thirdly to verify the data. This puts a consid- which is erasable to be a superior prod- “1” erable overhead on performance. Reading Objective uct, but this is not necessarily the case. Lens from the disk is much simpler and can be The erase feature can be an asset or a Kerr Rotation executed in a single rotation which takes liability, depending on the way you use it. half the time of writing.

Research into how people use their Recording Material storage media shows that most users Phase-Change technology who store hundreds of megabytes of Phase-change technology does not suffer data very seldom erase. The most effec- from the same performance overheads as tive application for erasable optical drives is for CAD/CAM files, or magneto-optical technology. It is the only erasable optical solution desktop publishing systems where large data files are continually which has direct overwrite capability. Using a purely optical technolo- altered. gy relying only on the use of a laser, phase-change is able to write Optical drive technology was often seen as the eventual new data with just a single pass of the read/write head. replacement for the traditional magnetic hard drive, but this is not A laser light is used to convert spots on the disk’s active layer the way the market has worked out, and optical drives do not look from a dull amorphous material into a highly reflective crystalline likely to take over in the near future. Fixed magnetic drives have state. The laser beam is then able to distinguish between the reflec- continued to improve in performance and capacity and offer superi- tive and non-reflective light and can thus identify a binary “0” and “1”. or performance to the optical drive. The average access time for a While phase-change media does not have the recycling properties of 5.25in erasable optical drive is around 40 to 60 milliseconds. The MO, tests show it can be written to at least a million times. new 3.5in optical drives are much faster, producing scores of 30-40 Eleanor Turton-Hill

145 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

Magnetic storage

he hard disk inside your PC is made of alluminium alloy This is usually quoted in milliseconds. As well as average access Tcovered with a magnetic coating. This makes the disk time look out for “transfer rates”. The transfer rate is the speed at itself a pretty rigid plate, hence the name “hard” disk. Hard which the drive can deliver the data from the disk platters to the disks are completely sealed inside the disk drive and are not CPU, and is generally measured in megabytes per second. removable like many other media. They also spin very fast In order to get an accurate view of a hard drive’s performance, and have high recording densities, which means they must the average access time and the transfer rate should be looked at be kept free from dust and any other kind of environmental together. Drive makers and dealers have a reputation for bending contamination if they are to be maintained properly. the truth on such issues and are often found to quote the fast Thankfully, for the user, most hard disks look pretty much the access time of a drive, without any mention of the transfer rate: same and people rarely know much about their internal workings. you’ll also see this in advertisements. Unfortunately, a high access Hard disks have changed radically over the years, especially in time coupled with a slow transfer rate produces a slow drive. terms of capacity. The smallest hard disks of long ago held a tiny Because access time is measured in milliseconds and transfer 5Mb while these days 8Gb is possible for a desktop PC. The aver- rate is measured in megabytes per second, the overall drive per- age PC bought today has between 500Mb and 1GB in hard disk formance can be difficult to get your head around: basically, you’re storage. looking for the lowest possible access time and the highest possi- Data is recorded onto the magnetic surface of the hard disk in ble transfer rate. exactly the same way as it is on floppies or digital tapes. If you’ve Another measure of hard disk performance which you should ever defragmented your hard disk, then you probably have some be aware of is “seek time”, which is conveniently confused (by mental image of how the surface of the disk looks. Essentially, the some people) with the access time. Seek time is also measured in surface of your hard disk is treated as an array of dot positions milliseconds and defines the amount of time it takes a hard drive’s each of which can be identified and set to a binary “1” or “0”. The read/write head to find the physical location of a piece of data on position of each array element is not identifiable in an “absolute” the disk. The seek time says absolutely nothing about the speed of sense, so a scheme of guidance marks helps the recorder find a hard drive. The importance of the access time and transfer rate positions on the disk. The need for these guidance markings is that they tell you how long a hard drive takes to locate and explains why disks have to be formatted before they can be used. retrieve data. When it comes to accessing data already stored, the disk spins PCW plans to benchmark a variety of budget and high- round very fast so that any part of its circumference can be identi- performance hard disks in the near future. fied quickly. Floppy disks spin at 300rpm which means it takes Eleanor Turton-Hill about one fifth of a second for any given part to be identified. Hard disks, of course, spin much faster; typically about 5,400rpm Here, the inside of the or one ninetieth of a second per hard disk is shown rotation, but these speeds are with the read/write being superseded with new, head placed over faster products all the time. the magnetic surface Hard disk speed The speed of a hard disk can be measured in lots of different ways, and it’s important to know exactly what figures are being quoted when you’re shopping for a new one. The performance of your hard disk is very impor- tant to the overall speed of the system. A slow hard disk will hinder a fast processor like nothing else in your system can. As an initial gauge, look for the drive’s “aver- age access time”. This is the time taken by the drive to locate the right track on which a piece of data is stored, and the spe- cific place on the track where that data is sitting.

147 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

Tape streamer technology

Helical Scan and Linear Recording There are two types of technology used for tape streamers: heli- Tape revolution cal scan recording and linear (or longitudinal) recording. The lin- Original Longer tape Wider tape Travan ear type offers better performance than the helical scan type, but QIC 80 120Mb 170Mb 210Mb 400Mb typically lower capacities. Helical standards include 4mm DAT QIC 3010 340Mb n/a 420Mb 800Mb and 8mm tape, while linear includes QIC (pronounced quick). QIC 3020 670Mb n/a 840Mb 1600Mb QIC-WIDE tapes offering higher capacities are becoming increasingly common but cost around double that of equivalent DAT tapes. DAT drives are usually more expensive than QIC Getting it taped: how data cartridges have evolved drives of similar capacities. When data is recorded to linear tape, the read/write heads lengthening and widening the tape (see table above). are stationary and the tape itself moves past the heads at 100- The three travan sizes, known as TR1, TR2 and TR3, are 125ins per second. The data is recorded onto the tape in straight wider and longer than the original QIC tapes and cannot be read lines. Extra read/write heads can be added to improve on QIC drives; but old QIC tapes can be used on equivalent performance. The 800Kb/sec achieved by two heads could be Travan drives. TR1, TR2 and TR3 cartridges will cost about doubled to 1600Kb/sec by four heads. In some environments £24, £28 and £30 respectively, so that the cost per megabyte falls where high performance and capacity are required, as many as as you go up the scale. 36 read/write heads can be stacked up at one time. TR3 drives will read TR2 tapes so some manufacturers look Helical scan recording is the same type of recording as that like skipping TR2 drives. TR4 drives using 4Gb tapes are expect- used in video-tape recorders ed to appear before and is inherently slower than the Christmas, and TR5 dri- linear type. For this reason, it is ves, storing 10-12Gb, generally only used in environ- will come in 1997. All of ments where high capacity is Helical Scan Recording these capacities can, of the primary requirement. The Read/Write course, be doubled with Heads read/ write heads on a helical data compression. scan device are attached to a Both Hewlett- rotating drum, and data is Packard and Iomega Drum Tape Paths recorded onto a tape moving in have launched TR1 dri- the opposite direction in a ves. Cheapest is stripped pattern. The tape Iomega’s Ditto Easy moves at less than one inch per 800, which has an esti- second but because it is record- mated street price of ing more than one line at a time, about £125 and looks it has an effective speed of almost identical to the 150ins per second. Zip. Iomega is also Just like the linear variety, offering a TR3 drive, the the performance would be greatly Ditto 3200, which we will be reviewing Linear Recording improved if additional read/write heads next month. were added, but this is problematic with 3M is encouraging the develop- helical scan devices as the majority of ment of software that makes tape heads require two parts (one to write Read/Write drives easier to use, particularly to and another to check for data integrity). Heads make them appear to the user as just The fact that the heads may only be another disk drive. added in pairs makes it difficult to fit the Travan’s major advantage is per- wiring inside a single drum and this lim- haps that a single tape can be used to its the potential performance of helical Tape back up an entire hard disk. It can scan devices. They are also rather Path also carry huge video and graphics prone to wear and tear because of the files. If tape remains much cheaper wide wrap angle of the tape. per megabyte than rival media, PC Eleanor Turton-Hill users may adopt the kind of storage management seen on large systems, Travan where data is shuffled between slow The Travan specification is an attempt data banks and fast local media. by the tape industry, particularly the 3M Clive Akass conglomerate, to offer still greater capacities and a degree of backwards 3M 01344 858000 compatibility. It stems naturally from the Iomega 0800 898563 evolution of the QIC cartridges, on Hewlett-Packard 01344 369222 which capacities were increased by

150 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

Performance results

Overall performance

Manufacturer /Model Totals 0 40 80 120 FASTER Fujitsu M2512a 46.4

Graphtec Ranger 58.5

Iomega Zip 100.0

Plasmon PD 2000e 59.2

Sony MD Data Drive 47.3

SyQuest EZ135 123.7

SyQuest SQ 270 106.5

Price (pence) per formatted megabyte

Manufacturer /Model Pence 0 6 12 18 COSTLIER Fujitsu M2512a 7.8

Graphtec Ranger 14.7

Iomega Zip 16.0

Plasmon PD 2000e 6.2

Sony MD Data Drive 11.1

SyQuest EZ135 10.3

SyQuest SQ 270 16.5

How we did the tests

This round-up is roughly divided into two halves: the four tape overnight. For this reason we have presented the typical backup drives and the seven other devices. All 11 were connected individ- rates of the tape drives in the table and the reviews, but not in the ually to a high-performance Adaptec 2940 PCI SCSI card, fitted to performance graphs on this page. a Pentium 90 PC with 16Mb RAM; at the time of testing, the only The remaining seven drives were tested with the database other SCSI device was the PC’s own hard disk. The PC was run- section of the standard VNU European Labs PC test suite. This ning Windows 95 with Adaptec’s EZ-SCSI 4 for Windows 95. repeatedly searches large databases, resulting in access times To put tape drive per- and transfer rates, both sequential formance into perspective, and random, which are weighted and you are always going to be combined into a single score. looking at rates of typically These final results for the seven 11 to 30Mb per minute. drives are presented in graph form on The point is that when this page; bigger is better. backing up entire, or large Out of interest we have also cal- proportions of a drive to culated the cost per megabyte of the tape, you’ll be waiting long media. This does not take enough to make a hot performance or the cost of the drive drink or even pop out for a into consideration, but is here only to short wander round. satisfy curiosity. That’s why so many backup software The FoxPro database portion of packages offer remote the VNU benchmarks, used here timers which back up, say, to test storage performance

152 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

TABLE OF FEATURES STORAGE & BACKUP

Manufacturer Fujitsu Graphtec Iomega Plasmon Sony SyQuest SyQuest Model M2512a Ranger ZIP drive PD2000e Minidisc data EZ135 Drive SQ 270 Technology Magneto optical Magneto optical Flexible platter Phase change Magneto optical Rigid platter Rigid platter IDE option yes no no no no yes yes Parallel option yes yes yes no no yes yes Unformatted capacity 230Mb 230Mb 100Mb 650Mb 140Mb 135Mb 270Mb Formatted capacity 217Mb 217Mb 94Mb 633Mb 135Mb 126Mb 254Mb Cost of media £17 £32 £15 £39 £15 £13 £42 Dimensions whd 89 x 140 x 206mm 77 x 152 x 253mm 136 x 184 x 38mm 210 x 62 x 270mm 86 x 30 x 131mm 122 x 53 x 215mm 181 x 54 x 205 Weight 1.75kg 2.7kg 0.45kg 2.52kg 0.34kg 1.05kg 1.73kg RRP external £499 £555 £149 £659 £499 £179 £450 RRP internal £390 n/a n/a £575 n/a £149 (IDE) £300 Telephone 0181 5734444 01270 611234 0800 898563 01763 262963 0181 860 0500 0800 526559 0800 526559

Editor’s Choice

here’s a storage device for every drive, and the SyQuest EZ135. Both use slightly larger capacity at the same price. situation. Whether you’re after per- media costing around £15 each, offering • SyQuest EZ135: Choice for general low- formance, capacity, portability, 96Mb and 126Mb respectively after format- cost use compatibility or maximum ting. If you want double the capacity of the megabytes per pound, there’s a The drives themselves are similarly EZ135 and ZIP drives, three fit the bill: the medium for you. priced too: the external SCSI ZIP and inter- two 230Mb magneto-optical drives from Fujit- TUnfortunately, none do it all. This round- nal IDE SyQuest cost £149, while the exter- su and Graphtec, and the 270Mb SyQuest up confirmed what we knew: before being nal SCSI SyQuest comes in at £179. SQ270. All three drives are similarly priced able to choose the right device, you must Performance is good on both, although the between £450 and £550, but the media cost understand your desired application and EZ135 is faster. is very different. The MO cartridges are avail- expectations. What storage characteristics Iomega suggests that its ZIP drive is so able for less than £20, while the SyQuest are most important to you? As almost every light, you can carry the entire unit around, 270’s come in at a somewhat hefty £42 each. device we tested uses different media, it’s saving you the cost of buying two. But the MO is very slow and only recommended hard to compare them and come up with any required mains power supply is fairly heavy, for backup, particularly so since the media is winners overall. Instead, here are our recom- consequently invalidating any portability relatively cheap per megabyte and quite mendations within each media category. advantage the ZIP has over the EZ135. resilient to ambient fields. The SyQuest SQ One of today’s most heated battles is for Both systems are ideal for cheap and 270 was big and quick enough to run applica- the low-cost, 100Mb-or-so capacity yet rela- fast backup and storage, and come highly tions or boot operating systems from. If this tively high-performance, storage market. The recommended. However, the EZ135 has the high performance and extra capacity is two contenders are Iomega with its ZIP edge thanks to the better performance and desired, the SQ 270 is the drive to go for.

Plasmon PD2000E SyQuest EZ135 Drive

Conner TapeStor 4000

156 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: STORAGE AND BACKUP DEVICES

TABLE OF FEATURES STORAGE & BACKUP

Manufacturer Conner Conner Hewlett-Packard Tandberg Data Model CTD 8000e TapeStor 4000 SureStore Tape 2000e Panther Mini 1000 Technology DDS-2 DAT QIC-WIDE Minicartridge DDS DAT QIC-WIDE Minicartridge Native backup rate 27Mb/min 27Mb/min 11Mb/min 18Mb/min Native capacity 4Gb 2Gb 2Gb 1Gb Capacity with compression 8Gb 4Gb n/a 2Gb Compression hardware software none software Software included none Arcada Backup Exec Colorado Backup Sytos Plus Dimensions whd 154 x 67 x 235mm 154 x 51 x 235mm 116 x 95 x 220mm 171 x 54 x 235mm Weight 1.87kg 1.38kg 2.2kg 3.2kg RRP external £1395 £650 £799 £497 RRP internal £1245 £479 £699 £397 Telephone 01628 777277 01628 777277 01344 369222 01582 769071

• SyQuest SQ 270: Choice for high sion of Panasonic’s PD System (reviewed in QIC-WIDE tapes capable of storing 2Gb performance October 1995). It is probably one of the most uncompressed cost about £15 each; double Also at the £500 mark is the long-awaited flexible drives we have ever come across, that of an equivalent DAT. However, QIC dri- Sony MiniDisc DATA drive. Its tiny discs cost being both 650Mb rewritable cartridge and ves tend to be cheaper. The two QIC drives £15 each and offer 135Mb after formatting. quad speed CD-ROM system in a single we looked at, from Tandberg Data and Con- Performance of this magneto-optical system unit. ner, both represent bargains. We’d choose is very slow, but flexibility, portability and At £39 per cartridge, the PD system has the Conner TapeStor 4000 as it’s only £100 sheer gadgetness are its strong points. The the lowest cost per megabyte of just over six more and can take the 2Gb QIC-WIDE media is relatively cheap too, although the pence. Performance isn’t up to the SyQuests tapes, whereas the Tandberg (at the time of drive is quite expensive. or ZIPs, but beats the conventional magne- writing) could only use 1Gb tapes. Tandberg The Sony MD DATA can play audio Mini- to-opticals. As a quad speed CD-ROM drive, intends soon to put out a 2Gb version at Discs (though not record them) and even it delivers 600Kb/sec and conveniently kills around the same price. comes with a pair of headphones. It has an two storage birds with one device. Thanks to • Conner TapeStor 4000: Choice for cheap optional PCMCIA adaptor and is the only its large, cheap media with reasonable per- take backup truly portable device here, capable of living formance and the double life of the drive, If 2Gb isn’t enough, DAT is the only route off its lithium ion rechargeable battery or a Panasonic has a winner with its PD system, left. All the established manufacturers have set of three AAs. Even with the lithium ion whether internal or external, from Plasmon. comparable drives and it’s difficult to choose battery, the whole unit weighs a mere 340g, • Plasmon PD2000E: Choice for flexibility between them. Both the Conner and H-P making it the perfect choice for the notebook Those who want to back up over 1Gb of DAT drives performed well, but the only con- user on the move who wants to listen to information can only look to tape. The two clusion is that DAT is the ultimate cheap music, and back up information. main format contenders use different record- media format: typically one quarter of a • Sony MD DATA: Choice for portability ing technologies. The QIC tapes are a linear pence per megabyte. If you can stretch to £659, the Plasmon system, only recently offering high capaci- • Any 8Gb DDS-2 DAT drive: Choice for PD2000e becomes a possibility. Plasmon is ties. DAT is a helical system, capable of ultimate capacity the only company to offer an external ver- storing up to 8Gb with compression. Gordon Laing

Sony MD Data SyQuest SQ 270

157 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 CASE STUDY Going

against PCW Photography by John Millar Panasonic FX600 PCs powered by an 8086 processor and running DOS programs such as WordStar. But it was becoming clear that the company would need to be networked in order to improve the flow efficiency. Around 1992, Panasonic intro- duced its Panalink token ring network. Then came the question of which operating system to use. Panasonic had worked closely with IBM for some time, and had even produced some products for “Big Blue” to badge as its own (such as monitors). Panasonic was also running an IBM ES-9121 mainframe: “We probably had access to more information than most people about what IBM was doing,” says Miall, “and so we saw Beta copies of OS/2 and found that it had the ability to give every environment we were looking for and every connectivity method we wanted to use. It was clear we needed an advanced operating system, and as we knew one was coming along, why not go straight in?”

Panasonic has been using OS/2 for years. It is Growing pains According to Miall, the decision was very confident of the future for OS/2 and is currently easy because there was no other com- installing Warp. John Miall, IT research and petition. Panasonic looked at Unix, but it lacked a graphical front-end and many development manager, tells George Cole how of the applications that Panasonic needed, like spreadsheets and word and why this high-tech company is bucking the processors. The DOS/Windows route was deemed to be fine for standalone trend towards Windows NT. PCs, but not for the networking facilities which Panasonic was planning. OS/2 version 1.3 was installed in 1992 but it wasn’t all plain sailing, says Miall: “I remember the outcry that was caused when it was discovered that we would n the PC world it’s easy to believe Panasonic is well known for its speakers, CD-ROM drive and optional of OS/2 have been shipped — three million time: “PCs didn’t get a firm grip in the need machines with 4Mb of RAM before Ithat you can have any operating sys- business and consumer electronics items MPEG moving video. copies of Warp have been shipped since company until 1989/90 but there was no you could load the operating system. And tem you like as long as it’s DOS and Win- such as TVs, VCRs, microwave ovens, So why has this high-tech company its launch in November 1994. It’s not an network in place. This is because we 1.3 was really for use on file servers: it dows. But not everyone has opted for Bill telephones, faxes and answering decided to swim against the tide of Win- insignificant number, but it does mean that work on the principle that you must have had excellent multitasking facilities, but Gates’ special brew. Panasonic UK, part of machines. Less well known is the fact dows systems flooding on to desktops? OS/2 is overshadowed by Windows. a sound business case before any pro- not the virtual DOS session [which lets the giant Japanese electronics group Mat- that the company has been making PCs There are already around 80 million PCs ject is put into place. So we started with a users run DOS programs] which was as sushita, has been using IBM’s OS/2 oper- and peripherals for years. Earlier this with Windows 3.x. Research group Right product, right time clean slate position as to which way the capable as the one you now have with ating system for more than three years, year Panasonic launched the CF-41, a Dataquest forecasts that around 30 mil- According to John Miall, Panasonic’s IT company should go and the operating Warp. You had a single DOS session and is busily installing the latest version, 486/Pentium notebook PC with full multi- lion copies of Windows 95 will be sold this Research and Development manager, environment we should use,” he says. which was very limiting on memory. OS/2 Warp, in some 500 workstations. media features including sound card, year. According to IBM, 10 million copies OS/2 was the right product at the right At this stage, employees were using You could run the very bare, basic, DOS

160 161 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 CASE STUDY: PANASONIC AND OS/2

Microsoft Office and Lotus SmartSuite, although Corel Draw and AutoCad are used, too, in some departments. Panasonic additionally runs some custom-written applica- tions. The network has 11 IBM PS/2 servers. Panasonic uses a clever method to install OS/2 on its work- stations. It runs a central file server, allowing you to pull the operating system and network connection from it and place them onto an empty machine. Miall says OS/2 has been very easy to install. Everyone using Warp has the same machine configuration and Panasonic uses a restricted work- place shell which stops users from

programs and only after it had switched the processor into DOS mode — so your OS/2 applications tended to come to a stop while you ran DOS. On a scale of technical achievement, I’d give OS/2 version 1.3 a score of minus one.” But Miall says Panasonic started off OS/2 Warp, Pana- with version 1.3 because it knew what sonic has been IBM was planning and had seen previews cautious about its of later versions. Around 1991, OS/2 ver- introduction: sion 2.0 arrived: “This was a pleasant “Many of our surprise. It was running DOS applications workstations are well and was a whole new ball game. It still using version allowed you to use programs and appli- 2.11 and we’re cations which you couldn’t before.” only just beginning to put Warp in place. messing up their desktop. Users are We thoroughly test everything before we restricted to their own applications and Network stability install it onto our live network. We’ve Panasonic’s internal email system Panasonic used successive versions of probably got a phobia about anything (Panapios). But users cannot access OS/2 and started to install OS/2 Warp in sneaking onto the network and causing OS/2 prompts to alter things: “OS/2 is late 1994. Miall says one of the best damage.” So Warp is being introduced pretty well protected but you can delete a things about Warp is the network stability on a department-by-department basis, couple of key files and suddenly the it offers: “If an employee says he wants to with the R&D section using it first, whole thing’s screwed up — it’s just a use some unknown application on a net- followed by the customer information measure to save us the pain of putting worked workstation, you normally think, systems department. them right again,” says Miall. Panasonic’s ‘crikey, this could wreck the whole The standard configuration of Pana- R&D section is currently testing Warp’s network.’ With OS/2 Warp you’re pretty sonic’s current workstations is a Pana- internet connectivity and multimedia confident that you can put the application sonic CFV-21P notebook with a 486 or features. in its own standalone virtual machine Pentium processor, 12Mb of RAM (which isolates it from other programs) (although high-power users, such as Pros and cons and the thing flies. And if it does fall over, those in the R&D department, may Miall sees many good things in OS/2: “It’s so what? The network server is still have 20Mb on their machines) and quite capable of running any DOS or Win- standing. A big point in favour of OS/2 350Mb hard disk. “I would not recom- dows application which has been written Warp is that you get a crash-protected mend anyone trying to run Warp on a correctly and it doesn’t use shortcuts to system, and from a corporate point of four-meg machine, despite what IBM direct access parts of the operating sys- view this is very important.” claims,” says Miall. tem. Even some of these can be handled But despite Miall’s enthusiasm for The major applications used are but you need to know how to fine tune

163 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 CASE STUDY: PANASONIC AND OS/2

“Everyone compares Windows 95 with OS/2 but the products are like chalk and cheese. I would be very surprised if many corporates take Windows 95”

OS/2. I can’t stress enough the high-end workstations,” says Miall. graphic front-end, it will be the first serious importance of having somebody who And what about Windows 95? Does contender to OS/2 Warp in the corporate knows and understands Warp on site. If Miall wish he had waited for that? “Win- market. NT is coming of age now and is a you haven’t got that, you’re going to suf- dows 95 is heading in the right direction, well-respected product that is starting to fer headaches from users — you’ve got and it’s very different to how it was first become stable — Windows NT is a future to have someone there who knows what announced. The reason for this is that which I hope won’t go away.” they’re doing. But having said that, OS/2 Warp was there: it forced Microsoft to So would he consider moving over to gives you worry-free computing.” stretch further and further with their prod- NT? “If we found loads of Win-32 apps “Bad points,” he adds, “are the lack of uct, because OS/2 Warp was coming out still appearing for that product, and it was native OS/2 applications — you’re not with these features built-in. When I went stable, we might consider adding NT to going to get as many as with Windows to a Windows 95 presentation I sat there our network. But whether we’d be in our (for obvious reasons), although the thinking: ‘Is this new? I’ve done all of right minds to change over to it, when we majority of commercial applications are these things for over two years’.” have a perfectly good product that’s been available on OS/2. But many applications Miall continues: “Windows 95 is a giant going well for the last two years, is appear on DOS and Windows before step forward for running DOS and Win- unlikely. At the end of the day, if Windows they arrive on OS/2. And if you’re hoping dows, but it wouldn’t be my personal NT was superior in its functionality we to use network services with OS/2, you’re choice, having used OS/2, mainly would consider switching but it would be going to need a machine with at least because OS/2 has been out there for a silly if IBM didn’t keep up with it. I’m confi- 8Mb of memory.” few years and had the bugs ironed out. dent about the future of OS/2, even if at Panasonic is looking to the future, Everyone compares Windows 95 with times IBM haven’t always sounded as if and seriously considering using the OS/2 but the products are like chalk and they were. OS/2 has certainly helped PowerPC version of OS/2, when it finally cheese. I would be very surprised if many keep us ahead.” comes out: “I think the Intel platform will corporates take Windows 95.” PCW Contacts reach its peak at the Pentium 7-series But Miall adds that Microsoft may have and so other chip technology will have to a stronger card to play: “When the Win- IBM Software Enquiries be used. PowerPC could be used for our dows NT workstation comes out with a 01329 242728 ☎

164 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: NETWORK LASER PRINTERS GROUP TEST: NETWORK LASER PRINTERS

Setting up a network printer

gone to the parallel port on your PC and redirects it onto the LAN to be collected by the print server. One print server can look after several printers. In the past, a dedicated PC would have been used with multiple print- ers connected to it in a conventional manner, by a serial or parallel links. Now, most of the network cards available for printers can set themselves up as print servers so that they can log into the network like a conventional user (with a password if necessary) and behave like a print server. Thus, a dedicated PC is no and raster images being fed to the printer, longer necessary. it can print at full engine speed even To achieve this, you must set up the when doing complex graphics. network card in the printer. Most manu- If, however, the information is being facturers provide some management Cloud fed to the printer using a higher-level PDL software to search for their printers on the (Page Description Language), some of network, allowing you to set them up by the speed advantage will be lost because telling them how to log in, what password the printer has to convert the PDL into a to use, and for which queue they have to raster image. PostScript, in particular, can print jobs. This software should be sup- nine be notoriously slow with graphic images. plied with the network card. The basic rule is that if your printer is I/O The print queue is set up by the bound (i.e. waiting all the time for data to A year ago, a laser printer designed for shared network use was a rare be transmitted), a network link can sub- commodity. Now you can’t move for them. Nick Lawrence asks what stantially improve performance. qualities a network machine needs, and chooses nine of the best. How do you connect your Network printers printer to the LAN? Networking your printer can provide Connecting a printer to a LAN involves performance benefits over a simple serial setting up three main structures: a print or parallel printer, in addition to those server, a print queue and a redirector. gained by sharing a printer between The way in which you set these up many PCs. The actual performance gain depends entirely on which network will depend on the type of work you are operating system you are using. PCW Photography by Bruce Mackie doing and the content of your print jobs. • The print server is that part of the sys- This is not only the difference between tem which receives the print job from a text and graphics, but also whether infor- networked PC and directs it to the ast month we tested 11 laser printers falling into two provide a common ground for testing. mation is being sent in PCL, PostScript or appropriate printer queue. price ranges: under £321 and under £751 on the Unfortunately, not all the machines could be fitted with as a raster image. • The printer queue holds all the jobs for a street. Here is the third and final category of our laser exactly 8Mb; some came with 2Mb as standard, with upgrades If most of your printouts are text files particular printer until they can be Lprinter round-up: network machines. in multiples of 4Mb. Consequently, we received machines with and use fonts that are held in the printer serviced. Over the following pages we look at nine laser printers; ideal anything from 6Mb to 12Mb; the HP LaserJet 4MV, for exam- (either in the form of soft fonts or • The redirector runs on the for shared workgroup use over a network. Rather than set a top ple, which comes with 12Mb as standard. Nevertheless, our cartridges) then, surprisingly, the workstation, takes output that would have price, we opted for a specific configuration to tests did not especially favour machines with performance gains over a simple parallel Contents which all models should conform. Network Laser Printers more than 6Mb (especially so, as we were connection will be small. The information All had to have a resolution of 600dpi or using our network of a single workstation). sent to the printer is basically a string of 170 Brother HL1260 higher: the Lexmark Optra was the only one The reviews specify how much memory was ASCII characters and some font 170 Dataproducts T16 to boast 1200dpi. All had to be fitted with a fitted to the models supplied and tested: unless instructions to the printer. A full page of 170 Epson EPL9000 PS thin Ethernet BNC network connection, have 174 Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4MV stated otherwise, it was 8Mb. The prices A4 text is about 3,000 characters, and 8Mb memory, and Adobe PostScript Level 2. 174 Kyocera FS-1600 quoted in the table and reviews are for the con- this can easily be transmitted in the band- When choosing a network printer, all of 174 Lexmark Optra Lxi figurations supplied and tested: notice that in all width available from a parallel link. these features have to be taken into 175 Mannesmann Tally T9008 cases apart from the HP LaserJet, every printer You’ll reap the benefits of a network consideration. Some models may boast all or 175 QMS 1060e had its memory upgraded from standard. printer connection when you print 9175 Xerox 4510 better as standard, while others may offer a Along with our reviews, we’ve provided graphics or use documents with lots of bare machine out of the box, requiring 167 Setting Up A Network Printer information on what setting up a network printer fonts to be downloaded to the printer. A significant upgrades to fit the desired bill. 169 How We Did The Tests involves and what you should look out for. complete A4 page of graphics at 300dpi We chose the above configuration to 176 Editor’s Choice Descriptions of how laser printers work, both takes up just under 1Mb. At 600dpi that represent a useful network machine, and 178 Performance Graphs physically and electronically, can be found in same document will take up about asked all manufacturers to match it so as to 180 Table of Features last month’s round-up. 3.75Mb. With a 10Mb/sec connection,

166 167 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: NETWORK LASER PRINTERS

management software for your network. (Unshielded Twisted Pair) and Thin print server: black boxes that have a Under Novell Netware this is an unneces- Ethernet. The former uses RJ45 connec- network connection and one or more sarily complex process, because queues tions which look very similar to standard serial and parallel connections. The and printers needn’t be assigned on a telephone connections and are used for printer is plugged in to the parallel port in one-to-one basis. This means you can all sorts of networks (including Novell a conventional manner and the box logs have several printer queues all pointing to IPX/SPX, Unix TCP/IP and IBM Token into the network as a print server. the same physical printer, or you can Ring). Thin Ethernet uses a BNC-type have one printer queue that points to connection and looks like coaxial cable. The Future: 100Mb/sec several printers: whichever printer is free This is used mostly for standard Ethernet Ethernet, Switching and ATM at the time, will be used. As the most networks, using either Novell’s IPX/SPX The future of networking is moving common situation is a one-to-one or Unix’s TCP/IP. towards new topologies that will allow you assignment, most other network OS’s Other cable types include Shielded more bandwidth on your network. As queues are assigned on this basis. Twisted Pair (STP) which is used by IBM these move into place, it is important that Most manufacturers produce network for token ring networks, and Thick Ether- network printers don’t get left behind. If cards for their printers,but as they are net that uses a 15-pin D-type connector you move to a 100Mb/sec Ethernet proprietary you should check that your that looks similar to a joystick port. network, you don’t want to have to install printer manufacturer offers the options Although this may sound complicated, 100/10 Ethernet bridges just so that you you need. The closest thing to a standard it is merely a matter of finding out what can connect to your printer. There are interface is that provided on Hewlett- cabling your network is currently using: currently very few manufacturers that Packard printers. Because HP printers it’s likely to be either UTP or Thin Ether- offer 100Mb/sec options. are the de facto standard of the low- and net. And whichever network protocol you Although a 100Mb/sec card for a middle-end printing world, there are many are using, this is likely to be IPX/SPX, printer may not seem an important option third party alternatives to HP’s own Jet- TCP/IP, Token Ring or AppleTalk. You as technology moves forward, you do Direct cards (e.g. those supplied by need to specify your network operating want your printer to be able to connect to Pacific Data products). system when you order the network card: the LAN in the same way as any other Connecting your printer to the LAN will Novell, Unix, Windows NT, LAN Manager device. The fact that the printer is not be a matter of ordering the correct add-on or Apple’s own (but it is possible to capable of handling 100Mb/sec of data is for your printer. The things you need to network Macs using other than Apple’s irrelevant: many of the workstations with check are cabling type, protocol and own networking software). 100Mb/sec cards will not be able to manageability. If your printer doesn’t have an add-in handle 100Mb/sec of data, either. You The cabling type defines the network card (or perhaps one that isn’t suitable for just don’t want to have to use a different connection to the printer, and needs to be your network environment), all is not lost. networking infrastructure for your printer the same as the other devices on your There are a number of third-party devices than for your workstations. LAN. The two main cable types are UTP available that connect to the network as a Simon Head

How we did the tests

We asked for all the printers to be fitted This additionally gave us an opportunity to the Lexmark Optra with PostScript Level 2 and 8Mb memory. test the quality of the installation software which can achieve Many could not be fitted with exactly 8Mb that came with the printers. Remote config- 1200dpi. Text and and instead were delivered with anything urability is all the rage, and hopefully the graphics perfor- from 6Mb to 12Mb. Under normal circum- implementations of SNMP (Simple Network mance are stances this would affect performance and Management Protocol) here will help to make measured make comparison difficult. However, our it the tool which allows network administra- separately, as hardware configuration consisted of a tors to configure many aspects of their users’ most printers single workstation and our tests included computers, without leaving their desks. With should be able to small enough documents not to make any any luck, tortuous front panel menus and the rapidly print out many discernible difference above 6Mb. The dreaded pconsole will soon fall from favour. pages of text, whereas printers also had to have at least 600dpi We used Windows 3.1 as the workstation OS graphics pages generally require more pro- true print resolution (without, or before, for these utilities (although many have cessing by the printer’s internal controllers. enhancement techniques). Finally (and utilities for other operating systems as well). The Text Speed score is derived from a crucially), they had to have Ethernet con- geometric mean of the results of four nectivity through 10Base2 (Thin Ethernet). Speed test analysis different tests, two of which involve runs of Previously, we have connected our test- Overall scores for text and graphics print- ten identical pages. The other two text tests ing PC to the printers through a parallel ing speed are combined using standard are based on a variety of fonts — thus port, but these printers are first and fore- weightings, giving an overall performance exercising the controller’s font-cacheing most network machines. Consequently all result. Windows 3.1 is used as a unifying capabilities. were hooked up to a network running platform which supports printer drivers: a Graphics Speed performance figures are Novell NetWare 3.12 over Thin Ethernet VNU European Labs benchtest tool is based on timings for printing three different 10Base2 cable. Since the only nodes were used to provide accurate timing. graphics metafiles, one of which is actually a the testing PC (a 486 DX33), the NetWare The speed tests were carried out using bitmapped font. The other two are simulated server and the printer, possible network PostScript at 600dpi — this was the half-tone graphics generated by a graphics disruptions were kept to a minimum. maximum resolution of all the printers except package.

169 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: NETWORK LASER PRINTERS

Brother HL1260

a PC is something of a frustrating 10Mb RAM as tested, the speed tests experience, as the Windows version needs showed rather poor performance for the to be installed from a batch file which won’t Brother, as it came in the middle of the pack run from within Windows. in some tests and was the slowest on our The 1260 has some features that set it difficult bitmap test. apart from the other printers: a PCMCIA card slot for a flash SRAM card or a hard disk (though the approved vendor list is small), an unobtrusive full duplexing unit which attaches PCW Details to the back of the printer, and a simple macro Brother HL1260 language built into the PCL driver which Price RRP £2,036 with 10Mb; allows the user to send a file to the printer Street £1,630 with each print job. This combination of Contact Brother 0161 330 6531 ☎ features could be useful in the financial Good Points Lots of features for he HL1260 is one of the smaller services sector, when a standard set of terms corporate bodies; holds 500 sheets as Tprinters here, compacted into a cube and conditions could be stored on a PCMCIA standard; cheap. which can take 500 sheets as standard. It card, called from the printer driver and Bad Points Not the fastest. is Brother’s only workgroup laser. printed onto the back of a sheet of paper. Conclusion A printer for those with Setting up the Brother network utility on Despite all these flashy features and specific requirements.

Dataproducts T16

most of the other printers. have previously obtained by printing out a For a start there is no SNMP utility; which status sheet. The print server name is “T20” sets this Dataproducts printer apart. At first, followed by the last six digits of the Ethernet this would seem to be an oversight, but address. Dataproducts claims that this is countered by Once everything is up and running, you the front panel setup which allows the printer still need to fiddle with the front panel to to behave like 12 virtual printers, each with a change defaults such as the paper size. It different combination of network environment needs an SNMP-type utility. and emulation protocol, and each with a different printer name to feed the file server. PCW Details This would apply where a Unix and Mac Dataproducts T16 network would use TCP/IP, while a group of Price RRP £3,495 with 12Mb standard; PCs would be using NetWare. Street £2,800 Contact Dataproducts 01734 884777 ☎ Unfortunately Dataproducts does not eing something of a huge beast, the make it easy to plug the necessary names Good Points Can be used with several BT16 can hold loads of paper in the into the NOS. To configure it to work with networks simultaneously. three trays in the model supplied, and is NetWare, you have to fire up pconsole and Bad Points No remote configuration utility. designed for higher-end networks than feed it an arcane printer name which you Conclusion For big networks only.

Epson EPL9000 PS form they will take, other than to say that they font downloading test). Nevertheless, the are better specified and lower priced, with ability to output A3 should by not be smaller footprints than the current range. discounted. A smaller footprint would be welcome on This printer would probably serve best in the lumbering EPL 9000 PS, but like the HP a low-usage network needing simple remote LaserJet 4MV its size can be forgiven on configuration and A3 pages. account of its A3 capability. The paper tray can take only 250 sheets, compared with the PCW Details HP’s 350 capacity. The network setup was excellent, Epson EPL9000 PS requiring the sysadmin only to click on an Price RRP £2,608 with 6Mb standard; automatically detected queue and print Street price not available Contact Epson 0800 289622 server to attach the two. ☎ Epson positions this printer as an Good Points A3 capability. Good “affordable A3 model”, and the lightweight network setup. he 8ppm Epson 9000 PS is the top price reflects the 6Mb RAM supplied for Bad Points Not the fastest printer, although more RAM would help. model in its range of five lasers. New testing with accompanying lacklustre T Conclusion Good for low-usage A3 models will be released by the middle of performance under our speed tests (although printing. November, but Epson hasn’t divulged what good font cacheing did help its score in our

170 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: NETWORK LASER PRINTERS GROUP TEST: NETWORK LASER PRINTERS

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4MV Mannesmann Tally T9008

with Intel on the P7) but it is perhaps best the network and performed all the necessary just a re-badged Olivetti. This 8ppm machine T9008 Mannesmann Tally sent us. Perhaps known for the printers with which it has tasks with the minimum of user intervention. is aimed at the small workgroup, with a 350- this would have been easier to set up as well dominated the market for so long. The printer’s standard 12Mb RAM made sheet paper tray and 2Mb RAM as standard — certainly this was the aspect which most The LaserJet 4 series is now stable and a difference when it came to the speed tests (an upgrade to 10Mb, PostScript and an let down an otherwise reasonable printer. mature, with the 4MV placed in the middle of (many of the others had between 6Mb and Ethernet were installed in our model) and the three workgroup lasers. Unlike the other 10Mb). The fast print engine must also have Mannesmann Tally cited the example of a printers here (apart from the Epson) the helped, as the 4MV came top in all our solicitor’s small office, or similar environment 4MV is A3 capable, which accounts for its speed tests. with multiple light users. PCW Details prodigious size and weight. We would recommend the presence of a MT T9008 All HP printers come with JetDirect, a PCW Details Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) while Price RRP £2,256 with 10Mb; Street printing utility which communicates with the installing this machine as it was virtually HP LaserJet 4MV £1,750. printer far better than Print Manager and impossible to install it on NetWare via the Price RRP £2,749 with 12Mb standard; Contact Mannesmann Tally ☎ returns more usable messages for the end- Street £2,129. supplied software. In the end, we left it to be 01734 788711 user. The systems administrator is catered Contact Hewlett-Packard 01344 369222 ☎ arcane and wrestled pconsole into Good Points Cheap. for with JetAdmin, the HP remote his top-of-the-range Mannesmann submission ourselves. Good Points Very fast, A3. Bad Points Network configuration. ewlett-Packard has several configuration utility, which is also included as Tally T9008 printer appears identical to Perhaps the real problem was that the Bad Points Large. T Conclusion Wait until the software is Htechnologies under its belt (including standard with Windows 95. JetAdmin was Conclusion An excellent printer from an the Olivetti PG508, and has a Japanese- T9017, which has a 16ppm engine and is more sophisticated. processor technology that has sparked the certainly one of the better examples of its excellent manufacturer. made printer engine in common. But it more robustly designed, would have been PA-RISC 7000 and a rumoured partnership breed. It was quick to find the printer across differs in its electronics — it’s more than more suitable for this test than the souped-up

Kyocera FS-1600 QMS 1060e

The FS-1600 keeps consumable costs whereby you take a card out of a notebook these printers, and it began well by installing the device. low by separating the toner from the and plug it directly into the printer. with no fuss. Once it has analysed the net- The 1060e’s speed under PCL 5 emula- mechanical parts of the printer, so only the The printer’s combination of good speed, work and autodetected the printer, you can tion wasn’t bad, though it was much faster toner needs to be replaced (not the drum and small housing and an easy setup utility, sets perform functions like changing the printer when producing simpler, text-orientated other mechanics). Kyocera claims 10,000 it apart from the rest. Cheap consumables, name. Doing anything beyond this involves pages than the more complicated bitmap pages from one toner cartridge; more than which could make this printer one of the communicating with the printer by typing and graph tests. any other printer. The EcoLink remote most economical during its lifetime, makes it commands to an interface, structured to mir- configuration utility is one of the easier ones: exceptional. ror the front panel of the printer, and with the PCW Details it installs quickly and lets you get on with user-friendliness of edlin. The saving grace is QMS 1060e configuring the printer for your network. PCW Details that this utility locks out the printer’s buttons Price Street price £2,195 with 8Mb standard; RRP not applicable. The 8Mb RAM was used to good effect in Kyocera FS-1600 so that it doesn’t receive conflicting informa- Contact QMS 01784 442255 ☎ our speed tests, achieving particularly good Price RRP £2,318 with 8Mb; Street tion locally, and remotely. scores in the downloaded fonts test. It was £1,739. We were able to get the CrownAdmin Good Points Lots of disks and manuals; faster coping with simpler, text-based work Contact Kyocera 01734 311500 ☎ MS’ 1060e comes with 8Mb RAM and utility to find the printer across the network reassuring. Bad Points CrownAdmin left something his is the most compact printer of the rather than more complex graphics. More Good Points Cheap to run and Qa huge array of disks and setup and change the printer and print server to be desired. Tgroup, with a tiny footprint that could fit memory, or space for downloading fonts, is easy to use. utilities for almost every network environ- names, but not talk to NetWare. We were Conclusion Good potential, but needs onto almost any desk, and the only printer available via the PCMCIA slot, which could Bad Points Not many. ment found in everyday use. forced to fire up pconsole and enter the more work. here to use LEDs instead of a laser. also be used for “cable-free” printing Conclusion An excellent printer. CrownAdmin is the big selling point of names manually to get NetWare to recognise

Lexmark Optra Lxi Xerox 4510 setup of any printer here. 10baseT is fitted as enable the sysadmin to keep control of Only a corporation such as Xerox could 60ppm. Yet it is reminiscent of IBM in that it standard, but 10base2 Thin Ethernet costs SNMP printers as well as NPAP-based ones. have a setup utility to install the printer setup has excellent hardware and software an extra £340. All models in the Optra range MarkVision provides job statistics too, utility (the catchy XDS/P). It warns you that technology which could achieve so much, are capable of true 1200 x 1200dpi although including which user printed which job and XDS/P requires 8Mb disk space and were it not for the poor finish of its products. this would usually be restricted to imaging or the tray from which the paper originated. (bizarrely) a free serial port to install. You In this case, it is the XDS/P utility’s ridiculous technical drawing rather than everyday use, The configurability of this printer, should have the latest version of CLIB.NLM insistence on TSRs and a certain NLM which so we tested it at 600dpi. combined with 1200dpi and Lexmark’s on your NetWare server: this could be diffi- let down what is otherwise a fine product. The remote configuration utility reputation, is recommendation enough. The cult to get as it’s only available from Novell. PCW Details (MarkVision) is one of the best for a good speed-test results are a bonus. XDS/P itself is distinctly nifty, however. It workgroup, as it uses fewer network packets automatically installs the printer with Xerox 4510 than the SNMP printers here. It achieves this PCW Details NetWare with far less fuss than many of the Price RRP £2,087 with 10Mb; by using the Network Printing Alliance other utilities, although its insistence on Street £1,774. ☎ Lexmark Optra Lxi Contact Xerox 0800 454197 Protocol (NPAP), which has an alert-based Price RRP £3,634 with 12Mb (£3,294 sticking a 21Kb TSR in your autoexec.bat file system (the printer only makes contact with 10BaseT); Street price not available. is something of a pain. Good Points A small and well-built the controller when it needs to send an alert) Contact Lexmark 01628 481500 ☎ Xerox is one of the biggest names in laser printer. he Optra Lxi is top of the range: rather than the polling-based system rom Xerox — the home of the GUI, technology: it supplies the huge 4700 II Bad Points The poor XDS/P setup utility, Good Points 1200dpi, MarkVision. despite the fact that the XDS/P itself is 16ppm, 4Mb as standard (ours came employed by SNMP. In fact, this is an option photocopying, and countless other which created near-photographic quality T Bad Points Not cheap. F good. with 12Mb) and a 500-sheet paper tray. in the Unix version of MarkVision, soon to be bases of our office life — comes one of the output with a built-in PC for our August issue, Conclusion Brilliantly designed Conclusion The software could do with The Lxi has easily the best front-panel implemented in the NetWare version to for corporate bodies. most compact printers tested. as well as lasers which can throw out up to some polish.

174 175 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: NETWORK LASER PRINTERS

Editor’s Choice If you’ve arrived at this point, there’s a Unlike our August colour printers group Brother’s HL-1260 deserves a men- good chance you’ve got two or more PCs test, there were no printers in this test that tion for being the cheapest printer and want to be able to print from them all. were identical but sporting different badges. reviewed here. Despite being the second The solution is not necessarily a network But it was plain that the idea of remote con- slowest overall it’s text score was good, printer. As with any other purchase, sit figurability and SNMP (Simple Network and proves a network printer can be down and have a good think about exactly Management Protocol) had caught on in a purchased for a little over £1,600. what you’re after. Consider how many and big way, and all the printers, except the Kyocera’s FS-1600, although not as what type of machines you want to be able Dataproducts T16, had implemented some quick as our winner, was still above aver- to print from, the volume of work and the form of remote configuration. age in terms of speed, and wins brownie typical size of the files. It was quite a surprise that no manufac- points for its environmentally friendly Think about the quality of output, too: if turer had followed Kyocera’s substantial operation, longest toner life, and cost of you’re just knocking out pages, then lead and brought in lower costs for end- operation. This latter is certainly an accuracy and consistency may not be users by separating out the toner cartridge important issue in a network environment paramount. But if you are proofing for pre- from the other internal mechanics; where the printer is sometimes being press work, then a good PostScript Level used almost non-stop. The FS-1600 2 printer is required. was one of the cheapest printers The prices of the nine printers on test. reviewed here are between £1,500 and Established network printer £3,700 — that’s a lot of money if you manufacturer DataProducts’ have less than five PCs. With good T16 came in third place 300dpi personal GDI lasers avail- for performance, with able for about £300 each, you good overall results. may be able to buy one for In terms of each user. Admittedly performance, there were all the machines test- two clear leaders: Hewlett- ed here are a lot Packard’s LaserJet 4MV, and quicker, higher quality Lexmark’s Optra Lxi. HP beat 600dpi affairs, but even Lexmark on text then, for the same price, performance, but in the area of you’d be able to buy two graphics the Optra was the leader or three personal 600dpi and came out slightly ahead over- machines instead. all. Slight differences here are Once again consider pretty much irrelevant however, your environment: do you since both machines were way ahead already have a suitable physi- of anything else; DataProducts’ T-16 cal network onto which a network came a close third. printer may be installed? Is it client Both printers have one big server, or peer to peer? What network advantage over the other: with Lexmark, operating system is in use: Novell it’s the Optra’s excellent 1200dpi engine NetWare, Windows NT or Windows for perhaps HP’s experiment in this area some capable of producing camera-ready out- Workgroups? years ago had scared others off, even put, especially when good-quality paper An ideal situation for a network printer though the company never followed it is used; HP’s 4MV can boast A3 output, is in our own office at PCW: we have ten through. as well as A4. The big difference, though, PCs mostly running Windows 95, and 15 Some of the most modern features is price: Lexmark’s Optra Lxi costs Apple Macs. A single Hewlett-Packard appear to change the way in which printers £3,634 (RRP) compared to HP’s 4MV at LaserJet 4SiMX was chosen as our office are used. Accountability of usage can be a £2,749 (RRP). Lexmark could not quote a workhorse. It’s a 16ppm A4 PostScript very big issue in a highly networked street price — otherwise, this would 600dpi printer with a huge paper capacity, environment, and it looks as though printers surely have been much lower than the and we hammer it on a daily basis. Along will soon all be able to tell the system RRP. HP has a reputation for very low with an A3 DataProducts LZR-1580 print- administrator which user printed which job, street prices, and at an expected cost of er, it is used not only for printing day-to- from which computer, at what time, and how £2,129 is our winner. day documents, but for page proofing as many pages the job used. However, the forthcoming LaserJet 5 well. The dual platform and proofing In the meantime, there is still some network printers are not too far away. For nature of our workgroup necessitates sense of exploration among the more inter- this reason, despite earning itself Editor’s PostScript machines. Both are connected esting possibilities thrown up by the ever- Choice in this group test, we would rec- to our thin Ethernet 10base2 network, expanding workgroup printer market, with ommend waiting for the new models running Novell NetWare 3.11 on a single PCMCIA slots and other goodies thrown up before plumping for the LaserJet 4MV. server. by R&D departments all over the world. The 4MV is however the least long in the If you’re still reading, then you’re Surprisingly, no manufacturer of our nine tooth: it is the ageing 4si which most definitely in the market for a network printers had chosen to include an infra-red deserves a successor. And a well- laser. So without further ado, here are our interface, but that too can surely be only a deserved Highly Commended for the conclusions. matter of time. excellent Lexmark Optra Lxi.

176 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: NETWORK LASER PRINTERS

Performance Results Text

Manufacturer /Model Totals 04 8 12

Brother HL 1260 8.59

Dataproducts T16 FASTER 9.32

Epson EPL9000 PS 5.55

Hewlett-Packard 4MV 11.87

Kyocera FS-1600 8.37

Lexmark Optra Lxi 10.36

Mannesmann Tally T9008 6.69

QMS 1060e 8.17

Xerox 4510 6.53

Graphics

Manufacturer /Model Totals 01 2 3

Brother HL 1260 0.88

Dataproducts T16 FASTER 1.68

Epson EPL9000 PS 0.99

Hewlett-Packard 4MV 2.17

Kyocera FS-1600 1.35

Lexmark Optra Lxi 2.97

Mannesmann Tally T9008 1.17

QMS 1060e 1.16

Xerox 4510 1.36

Overall

Manufacturer /Model Totals 04 8 12

Brother HL 1260 4.76

Dataproducts T16 FASTER 6.85

Epson EPL9000 PS 4.06

Hewlett-Packard 4MV 8.79

Kyocera FS 1600 5.81

Lexmark Optra Lxi 9.61

Mannesmann Tally T9008 4.85

QMS 1060e 5.17

Xerox 4510 5.34

178 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: NETWORK LASER PRINTERS

NETWORK LASER PRINTERS POWER LEVEL

Manufacturer Brother Dataproducts Epson Hewlett-Packard Kyocera

Model HL1260 T16 EPL9000 PS 4MV FS1600 Laser or LED Laser Laser Laser Laser LED Max resolution 600 600 600 600 600 PostScript ●● ●● optional PCL level 5e 5 5e 5e 5 Engine speed, PPM 12 16 8 16 10 Standard memory 2Mb 12Mb 6Mb 12Mb 2Mb Maximum memory 26Mb 68Mb 64Mb 44Mb 66Mb Memory supplied 10Mb 12Mb 6Mb 12Mb 8Mb Apple LocalTalk ●● ●● optional Ethernet optional optional optional ● optional Maximum sheets in input tray 500 250 250 350 250 Toner life at 5% A4 page coverage 6,000 pages 6,500 pages 6,500 pages 8,100 pages 10,000 pages Size inc. trays (WDH, mm) 371 x 326 x 343 439 x 476 x 290 437 x 473 x 270 459 x 522 x 317 345 x 350 x 245 Weight (kg) 15 21 17 23.2 10 Telephone number 0161 330 6531 01734 884777 0800 289622 01344 369222 01734 311500 Fax number 0161 971 2205 01734 883993 01442 227227 0171 735 5565 01734 311108 RRP as reviewed £2,036 £3,495 £2,608 £2,749 £2,318 Street price as reviewed £1,630 £2,800 n/a £2,129 £1,739

NETWORK LASER PRINTERS POWER LEVEL

Manufacturer Lexmark Mannesmann Tally QMS Xerox

Model Optra Lxi T9008 1060e 4510 Laser or LED Laser Laser Laser Laser Max resolution 1200 600 600 600 PostScript ● optional ● optional PCL level 5e 5e 5 5e Engine speed, PPM 16 8 10 10 Standard memory 4Mb 2Mb 8Mb 2Mb Maximum memory 64Mb 32Mb 64Mb 16Mb Memory supplied 12Mb 10Mb 8Mb 10Mb Apple LocalTalk yes optional optional optional Ethernet yes: 10baseT optional optional optional Maximum sheets in input tray 500 350 650 250 Toner life at 5% A4 page coverage 7000 pages 5000 pages 6000 pages 5000 pages Size inc trays (WDH, mm) 410 x 537 x 436 395 x 370 x 285 411 x 482 x 363 352 x 394 x 254 Weight (kg) 22.8 14 17 14 Telephone number 01628 481500 01734 788711 01784 442255 0800 454197 Fax number 01628 481893 01734 791491 01784 461641 0800 454198 RRP as reviewed £3,634 £2,256 n/a £2,087 Street price as reviewed n/a £1,750 £2,195 £1,774

* All information supplied by manufacturers, except prices which were obtained by PCW. E&OE.

180 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 Twice the RAM to ewes

RAM doublers — a extra shot of RAM can put the joys of Spring back into a tired old system. Tim Nott tests two software packages that claim to make things jump; or are they merely sheep in wolves’ clothing?

oftware and operating systems con- PCW Illustration by Stephen Caplin amount of physical and virtual memory in Stinue to make increasing demands use, the state of the GDI heap, CPU on hardware: bigger disks, faster proces- Windows 95 version will be made avail- activity, swap-file requests and more. sors and more memory. During the past able shortly. A well-behaved installation Eight warning lights indicate potential two years, hard disk prices have dropped routine copies the files from the single problems and conflicts as they arise, from dramatically — a one-gigabyte drive can floppy to their own directory so you don’t the simple but harmless lack of physical now be bought for a quarter of its 1993 get any excess baggage in the Windows memory — the system slows down as the price. Processors and local-bus mother- or System directories. It then updates the swapfile comes into play — to the boards as well, have tumbled by well over SYSTEM.INI file, copies the original to the ominous “Unlocked Memory”, which indi- 50 percent. One commodity that has held Hurricane directory with a “B4” extension, cates that Windows is about to come to its price resolutely, however, is random and is also provided with an uninstaller. an abrupt halt and you should save every- access memory (RAM). And in general, Five new icons are created in Program thing and exit. As the help panel states: it’s a shot of RAM that will make the great- Manager. WinGauge monitors the “Hopefully, you will never see this warning est performance difference to any light”. Windows system. Increasingly, applica- For those with an tions and suites are moving from “four unquenchable megs good, eight megs better”, to double thirst for those figures — an expensive upgrade. Windows knowl- Hence, any software that makes better edge, there’s a use of existing memory has got to be seen lot here: for as a GOOD THING. instance, if you Having reviewed the brand leader, want to monitor RAM Doubler for Windows (October the number of issue), we now put two other similar appli- V86 mode cations through their paces: SoftRAM, and Hurricane. Each works in a different way and each claims to make a significant improvement. Hurricane’s Control Centre Hurricane — not for the The version of Hurricane reviewed was for technically Windows 3.1 but a free upgrade to the faint-hearted

182 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 RAM DOUBLERS: HURRICANE AND SOFTRAM

switches, or Page Faults, that are bottleneck. Unused resources are happening on your PC, you can. XMS acceleration, RAM drive, Print removed from memory and reloaded Next, the Discover icon goes much Cache and Global DOS Manager. Each from the .EXE file on disk when needed. further than the Microsoft Diagnostics or page has a short explanation, but unlike Similarly, memory is made available to System Information utilities in telling you the Discover Utility there is no help file. the cacheing and spooling software when everything you might want to know about Many of the settings and options are applications don’t need it, and grabbed your hardware and software: from the fearsomely technical but the manual back when they do. Hurricane also com- make and model of your hard disk to the does provide further information: fortu- presses memory — not by compressing details of Virtual Device Drivers loaded. nately, it also states that the setup the data itself like a disk doubler, but by The amount of detail available is almost process will “turn on all appropriate utili- freeing unused ranges more like a disk overwhelming and a suite of benchmark ties and set all settings to the best value defragmenter. tests are included. A Print Cache for your system, so you generally need Manager takes over from the standard not use the Control Centre”. If you want SoftRAM Windows Print Manager. The Uninstall to use the RAM drive, you will have to SoftRAM is far less complex. Apart from icon is self-explanatory. read the manual and edit AUTOEXEC. a Readme file, which provides informa- The heart of the matter is the BAT by hand. tion on upgrading to Windows 95, there’s Hurricane Control Centre. This is a Hurricane manages memory by just one icon for the main SoftRAM con- dialogue box with ten tabs to control the swapping areas around and discarding trol panel, with far fewer buttons and settings of Hurricane’s various enhance- regions that are not currently in use, gauges, plus an option to uninstall. There ments which include: the Heap Expander, which includes the 64Kb “resource are three components here: the RAM Virtual Cache, Screen, Mode-Switch and heaps” — that notorious Windows 3.1 compressor, resource extender, and the

183 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 RAM DOUBLERS: HURRICANE AND SOFTRAM

All you ever wanted to know about your PC did better than plain Windows when (and probably a lot you closing applications, but Hurricane was didn’t) from Hurricane’s extremely slow, with a lot of disk activity Discover utility taking place before control returned to the user.

Best of all The best performer of all was (as you might expect) another 8Mb of real mem- ory: switching from a bitmap to Word took a fifth of the time of an undoubled 8Mb. Closing down applications was much faster, too; by between half to one eighth of the time. Leaving the extra memory installed, we also compared the perfor- mance under Windows 95, with and with- SoftRAM’s simple out SoftRAM, using a variety of graphics control panel applications with a total of 17 images loaded. Despite this entailing consider- able disk swapping without SoftRAM, no under-1Mb optimiser; increase in performance was noted with it each addressing the — loading and swapping applications most common was, on average, 12 percent slower. Windows 3.1 memory Overall, neither SoftRAM nor limitations. a level playing field. Hurricane were impressive. It may well The single floppy disk contains both In each test we initially loaded two be, with fine-tuning (and SoftRAM claims Windows 3.1 and 95 versions. With the copies of Paintshop, each with a very to tune itself by “learning” how you work), latter, you don’t get the resource extender large (2.2Mb) bitmap. We next loaded that better results could be obtained, but or under-1Mb optimiser because they’re CorelDraw, Excel, and Word — all with the technicality of Hurricane’s options no longer needed. Under both versions, substantial files. Finally, we loaded File would probably daunt the average user. the default settings create as much Soft- Manager. On the unadorned machine In any case, even the company literature RAM as you have real RAM, although this used all available physical memory, only claims an increase of between 10 you can override these settings. Unlike so we were now reliant on the virtual and 30 percent. SoftRAM’s literature Hurricane it actually compresses data memory — paging data in and out of the claims that it “REALLY doubles RAM” but held in memory, in a similar way to disk- hard-disk swapfile. We had also reached makes no further claims concerning per- doubling software. the Windows resource limit: it wasn’t formance. It must be pointed out that possible to load any more applications or although Hurricane made a considerable Real-world tests documents, even though there was a improvement to Windows 3.1’s resource In an ideal world we would be testing considerable amount of virtual memory limit, so would upgrading to Windows 95. these packages on a variety of machines remaining free. and configurations, using a purpose- designed set of benchmarks. But as this What happened PCW Details technology is still fairly new, we don’t In terms of load times there wasn’t a lot have the benchmarks (unless you count of difference between plain Windows, Hurricane those built into the software, which can’t SoftRAM and Hurricane. SoftRAM didn’t Price £69.95 Contact POW! Distribution 01202 716726 be assumed to be impartial). So instead seem to make any difference to the we devised some “real world” tests, but remaining System Resources: at nine Good Points Makes a remarkable bear in mind that these were conducted percent this was the same as undoubled improvement to Windows 3.1 resource limits. on one PC — other setups may show Windows. Hurricane, however, reported Bad Points Fearsomely complex. Only a slight performance increase noted on the test very different results. an astonishing 46 percent free and we machine. Neither application alters the were able to load two more copies of Conclusion You would probably be better off CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files: Word. But this wasn’t as useful as it upgrading to Windows 95. both are strictly for use with Windows, so seemed because the subsequent paging we first made a back-up of the existing to disk reduced the system to a crawl. SoftRAM 95 initialisation files WIN.INI and With all the applications and data files Price £69 SYSTEM.INI. The system was an 8Mb loaded, results varied. SoftRAM was Contact Roderick Manhattan Group 486DX/50, with an existing 17Mb “swap- about 20 percent quicker than undoubled 0181 875 4444 file” of virtual memory. We then tested Windows when swapping between appli- Good Points Simple to use and configure. the PC with no RAM enhancement, with cations. Hurricane switched between the Bad Points Doesn’t significantly improve Hurricane, with SoftRAM, and finally with two bitmaps almost twice as fast, but Windows 3.1 system resources. Little overall an extra 8Mb of real RAM, restoring the switching from one of these back to performance increase. .INI files between each session to ensure Word was 25 percent slower. SoftRAM Conclusion No substitute for the real thing.

185 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 LANGUAGE LEARNING SOFTWARE

LANGUAGE LEARNING SOFTWARE

The Berlitz approach is to teach by sounds in particular are picked out, caus- absorption: the ing great hilarity as the narrator goes course aims to have through apparent agony while you not only speak- demonstrating how to pronounce the Speaking in ing, but thinking in German “a”. There are sufficient breaks German in the narrative to allow you to repeat the phrases to yourself after the narrator. The nity to hear and, in scene is then in written form and you can the case of the Learn highlight any sections you wish to hear to Speak series, see them again. tongues a native narrator, To practice the spoken and written learning to imitate language, you hear sentences and then their accent. Learn- have to write them. Finally, you have the ing packages are not chance to record your own voice and Computer-based language learning programs have been around for some useless without this, compare it to the voice of the narrator. but if you want to The grammar points are explained at the time, but there are more and more “all inclusive” packages appearing improve your accent end, and there are exercises to reinforce on the market –– vocabulary, grammar and emphasis on this is just about the the spoken language are benefiting from CD-ROM technology. only way to do it using your PC. grips with a language. Most of the packages we looked at To achieve fluency you Adele Dyer looks at the pick of the bunch. were learning and revision aids rather need to think in the lan- than complete courses. Only the Berlitz guage from the start, Think and Talk and Learn to Speak series and you cannot do this if ethods of language grammar point until you have correctly PCW Illustration by Jake Abrams were self-contained packages. Each you are constantly learning have gone completed enough exercises to really this round-up came on CD-ROM. This is have been judged according to their func- translating your through major hammer it home. When learning at home, tough on those without a CD-ROM drive, tion, not their overall teaching potential. thoughts from English. changes in the past it is important to find a method which but the advantages of the medium are This simple approach few years. Of all sub- suits your own individual style of learn- immediately apparent. Unlike disk-based Berlitz Think and Talk German allows you to start learn- Mjects, modern language learning has ing, but also covers all the basic skills: versions, they offer vastly increased The Berlitz philosophy is that language is ing from the CDs imme- probably been prey to more fads and listening, reading, speaking and writing. sound facilities. Not only can you record learnt by absorption. It argues that you diately. There is no fashions than any other school subject. It All but one of the packages included in your own voice, you also get the opportu- don’t need translation or tedious need to go to was once taught in much the same way learning by heart of gram- textbooks, dictionaries as dead languages like Greek and mar points to get to or grammar books for Latin, but now the idea of translation reference. Everything is anathema to language teachers, you need is included on the nine CDs. Learn to Speak Spanish: Like Think and thinking in the language from The course takes you from scratch and Talk, Berlitz Learn to Speak is an day one is in. This has been and leaves you at about GCSE standard, all-inclusive learning package. It is not reinforced by a National Curriculum giving you a good grounding and for absolute beginners, however where the emphasis is on commu- certainly enough for you to survive in the nication and everyday language country concerned. However basic the them if you are still having difficulties. use. method, none of the main skills are left As a complete learning package, this From a rational point of view, out. The course covers listening, speak- was by far the best in the round-up as it different people learn in different ing, reading and writing. was the only one to be fully self-contained, ways. You may feel you cannot The course is divided into scenes. entertaining and capable of stretching fully get to grips with the Each one introduces one idea and drums without over-reaching you. language unless you can trans- it in by repeating it over and over again in late a passage, or you various forms. You are left to work out for PCW Details might not feel yourself exactly what the point is and Conclusion An excellent product for confident with a how it works in the language. Each beginners –– Editor’s Choice. Available scene is subdivided into the separate in French, German, Spanish and Italian. skills to help you, and the further you get Price £139 through the scene, the clearer the gram- Contact Guildsoft 01752 895100 mar becomes. The first part of each scene is lis- tening and piecing together the Learn to Speak Spanish meaning. In the very first scene, The opening sequence to Learn to Speak you are aided by various sounds Spanish features Latin American guitar and “das ist ein...” to music played alarmingly loud, and introduce the vocabulary. swirling picture postcards of Mexico. The In this listening section South American connection had me there is great stress foxed until I twigged it is being aimed at laid on pronuncia- an North American audience. tion. Vowel Despite the catalogue’s assurances to

188 189 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 LANGUAGE LEARNING SOFTWARE LANGUAGE LEARNING SOFTWARE

the contrary, this is not a complete begin- while the narrator gives you an unnerving, disk and to run under DOS. Écoutez-bien ner’s course. You will need to have done cheesy grin. Divided into beginners to GCSE and A Coming from the same people that made some Spanish before as this package The other exercises are less taxing. Level course work, both levels in the Asterix works Asterix, this is a simple practice CD throws you straight in at the deep end There is a listen-and-fill-in-the-blanks French and the German versions follow on the premise intended to be used as a supplement to with complete sentences to understand. round and a few more game-like the same pattern. There are a number of that the best another course. There is no grammar However, you are not required to have a exercises before the game round proper. different exercises, mostly based around way to learn is section and I am not convinced it is huge knowledge. I did O Level over ten These games are something of an anom- multiple-choice answers, designed to test by having fun, meant to teach you any vocabulary. The years ago and was quite able to follow aly. Having been almost sadistic in verbs, vocabulary and grammar points. and it works. CD hones your listening skills, increases the course. approach up to now, the authors now The vocabulary modules follow two The two-CD set your familiarity with the spoken word and Each lesson includes a plethora of offer you hard labour in the form of patterns — find the right answer to a tells a story, allows you to record your own voice to exercises and games, in addition to a games. You are required to concentrate question, or fill in the appropriate missing focusing on the compare it to the narrator’s. textbook which you are advised to work hard, and although they are effective and word. In the GCSE packages this was idioms of the Both CDs in the series have the same through. It is more like the language educational, they are far from light relief. simple, more of a familiarisation exercise; spoken approach. There are ten lessons on dif- learning you experienced in school. Learning Spanish is probably a more but in the A Level version it stretches language ferent subjects. You have to listen care- First up is a huge vocabulary list that thorough way of learning the language your knowledge, including such things as fully to the narrator and then answer you are supposed to learn. To help you than any of the others, but it’s far from workman’s tools, or parts of a car. multiple choice questions based on what there are little videos of the various narra- easy going. It is therefore recommended You learn grammar through having to you have heard. tors saying sentences using the word –– really only for those who are determined sort out jumbled words in sentences. In The lessons cover the basic subjects it is actually easier to understand if you to get ahead in the language but who the beginners’ section this is straightfor- Apprendre le français which most of the other packages in this can see someone’s lips moving. In addi- have to work on their own. ward, but the A Level version points of avec le fils d’Asterix round-up also seem to favour, which are tion, you can choose to see the sentence idiom and structure are effectively taught This is by far the most fun listening, reading and speaking. written in Spanish and/or the translation. PCW Details by this method. product in this round-up. It is The level of French varies over the The vocabulary lists are then used in the The verb section specifies number, aimed at children, but it should two disks, from beginners on the first Conclusion Very thorough if hard work. tense and verb and asks you to find the following exercises, including the next Available in Spanish, French and please anyone. However, this through to intermediate on the second. one, a drill to make sure you have done Japanese. correct answer. Unfortunately, all the does not mean it is lacking in Accordingly, the narrative on the “dix as you were told and learnt the vocabulary. answers remained the same all the way educational value. Working on leçons” consists of single, straightforward Price £139 The exercises use the vocabulary through the conjugation process and the the basis that you learn best sentences, while on “dix autres leçons” Contact Guildsoft 01752 895100 ☎ learnt in context. For each lesson there is number, for example “tu” or “du”, was when you are enjoying your- there are whole stories for you to listen to a story and a conversation, with accom- specified throughout, so possible sensi- self, this CD takes a difficult and understand, followed by several panying video. The videos go slowly, ble choices were limited. However, it is text and teaches through con- questions. You have to listen closely to speaking the sentences at a reasonable Learning French, still a reasonable familiarisation exercise. text. Most language is have basic French, the grammar is not too the text to catch all the clues and the pace but pausing between each sentence Beginners to GCSE The range of tenses covered is greater in absorbed rather than learnt as you soak difficult. The main learning areas are questions are very specific, so just half Learning French, A Level the A Level version. it up through familiarity and repetition. It vocabulary and idiom. The presentation, understanding the text is not enough. course work There are also several modules that concentrates primarily on teaching listen- learning potential and entertainment value Each of the lessons offers you a score Learning German, you can put together yourself and this is ing skills and uses this to introduce read- make this disk highly recommendable. at the end as you go through clocking up Beginners to GCSE where the original purpose as a ing skills, vocabulary building and every right answer. At the end you are Learning German, A Level teacher’s aid becomes evident. There is grammar points. PCW Details given a figure based on the percentage of course work a whole authoring section where you Most of the two-CD set is taken up questions you answered correctly. To the This was the only set of language learn- can add your own exercises, not neces- with a single story. The first approach is Conclusion Brilliant idea, very nicely adult user this may seem a little childish, ing packages in the round-up based sarily a good idea if you do not know to listen to it all the way through simply executed. but it is a confidence builder if you can go around the National Curriculum. In their what you are doing. using the cartoons and the voices to help Available in French and Spanish. back and improve your score the second original form they were sold to schools The dictation package and playback you. You can then step through slowly, Price Disk £242, double pack £65 time around. It also encourages you to and have now been adapted for home facilities only work by recording someone’s taking each frame at a time in a more Contact EuroTalk 0171 371 7711 ☎ repeat the lessons, so letting you learn use by individual students. Interestingly, voice –– the trade-off for not producing a interactive approach to learning. Here more from these were the only ones to come on CD where you can add a narrator’s voice. you can display the French in the speech the narrative. This is a shame, as with a little more balloons and you can choose to see the At the The Learning thought in converting for home use, this translations and/or the help boxes. You end of each French package could have been an excellent package. But can replay the sound as many times as lesson there takes a conser- for two reasons this is still a useful aid. you want, slowly grasping the meaning is a little quiz vative, Firstly, the exercises are tailored to their and familiarising yourself with the words. thorough purpose with reasonable learning potential. True to the idea of immersing the user approach, with Secondly, it is the only one on disk and in French, the quiz is entirely in French extensive many people do not have a CD player. In and the multiple choice questions are all vocabulary, spite of the limitations this imposes, it read aloud by a character from the story. Écoutez- verb and gram- works in the program’s favour. Other sections include a question and bien hones mar testing. answer section between the user, Obelix and tests Unfortunately, and Asterix, and a page where the char- your listen- this is reflected acters introduce themselves. ing skills, in the less than PCW Details The standard of French is high, but the but it’s a appealing inter- Conclusion Instructive, but a naff story is such fun it makes you want to fully little weak face interface. understand it. It also, of course, prolongs the on gram- life of the CD if you keep going back to it. mar and Price £19.99 Contact VCI Software 01923 255558 ☎ Not recommended for beginners, but if you vocabulary

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Editor’s Choice practice their skills. The usual subjects are covered, including food, travel, peo- While many of the packages ple, numbers, home and office, and activ- in this test concentrate on ities. Some of the games can be specific skills, or merely on infuriating and of limited educational brushing up your existing value, but useful for children. knowledge, we felt the Price: £59.99 inc VAT. Editor’s Choice should go to Contact: J&S Software 01225 760743. a package that offered it all. French Your Way and Spanish Your That made it a toss-up Way are new packages from Random between the worthy Learn to House New Media. At the time of going to Speak Spanish and the press we only had a Beta copy, but the Berlitz Think and Talk Ger- premise was easy to see. It includes a man. The Berlitz package series of conversations in various scenes won for two simple reasons: with cartoon visual aids and a certain it is the only one to cover all amount of interaction, as you can choose the skills you need on one options to make the conversation take disk and without recourse to other arduous task and the Berlitz managed slightly different directions. sources, and it was fun. After all, to make the whole process just a little Price: £99. speaking a language should not be an less painful. Contact: Random House New Media 01621 816900. Finally, Vocabulary Builder and Pro- which lets you answer questions with or Best of the rest nunciation Tutor, available in French, without text to help you. There are numerous other language German and Spanish, are both by Hyper- Although I was initially sceptical of learning aids and here is a selection. First Glot and are in the same series as Learn the value of this package, it did prove a up is EZ Language from IMSI. This con- to Speak Spanish. Both deal specifically useful revision and reinforcement tool, as tains quick brush-up exercises for French, with particular areas of language learning well as an excellent confidence booster. German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and which could hold up your progress, and Russian. None are dealt with in detail; both are very thorough. The vocabulary PCW Details they are intended rather as quick builder has a huge dictionary divided into reminders of the basics. There are easily digestible chunks through subject Conclusion Fun quizzes and games, quizzes and the chance to hear your headings. The pronunciation tutor care- good for improving your listening skills. voice spoken. Price: £69.95 (each fully teaches exactly where in the mouth Available in French only. language also sold separately on floppy to pronounce sounds and makes exten- Price Écoutez-bien Dix Leçons or Dix for £39.95 per language. Contact: IMSI sive use of recording the user’s voice. Autres Leçons £42 each, double pack 0181 581 2000. Vocabulary Builder — Price: £44.95. £65 Triple Play Plus from Syracuse Contact: Guildsoft 01752 895100. Contact EuroTalk 0171 371 7711 Language Systems includes a series of Pronunciation Builder — Price: £44.95. games for those with limited French to Contact: Guildsoft 01752 895100.

Translation

Why bother to learn a language at all these days? Why not just get system that can “translate” one language into an intermediary form a piece of software to run on your PC, producing a perfect transla- and, from there, translate it into several other languages. This way, tion of everything you type into it? At the moment, this idea is about the necessary code is significantly reduced, but as yet this method as workable as the Babel fish in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s is still in its early development stages. Guide to the Galaxy. The success of MT depends very much on the complexity of The idea of machine translation (MT) has been around almost the language used and the amount of customisation one is pre- as long as the idea of natural language processing. Many people pared to carry out on the dictionaries and glossaries contained automatically assume all translation is now done by software, and within the software. For these reasons, technical documents it is true that some professional translators do use certain pieces are ideal candidates for MT. They tend to be syntactically sim- of software, especially for technical translation, and some of the ple, repetitive and dependent on a specific, limited dictionary. larger organisations, such as the Commission of the European For other translation needs such as business letters, there Community, use MT for their everyday internal mail. These pro- is a crop of MT software which you can run on your PC at fessional applications do not run on PCs, however, but on Sun home and will cost anything from £399 for Power Translator workstations or IBM mainframes. Professional, to £49 for the Language Assistant series, both At present, all working MT systems work on language pairs: from Globalink. Both use language pairs and neither claims to two languages are paired together and the code is written specifi- be a translation panacea. They are intended to produce rough cally for those two languages. This eases them together through a translations which act as a good grounding, but they will need series of what often turns into make-do-and-mend solutions. The to be post-edited. They are business aids, not mechanical ultimate dream of MT researchers is to produce a translation translators.

192 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 How The Program was made A television programme about computers couldn’t look like The Antiques Roadshow. Malcolm Sutherland, director of Granada’s The Program, takes you through the process of giving TV techs-appeal. Mather Photography by Mark PCW

omputers are under- We looked carefully at two systems AfterEffects 2.0 for animations. We represented on our for editing, both Macintosh-based: Avid bought a Power Mac 8100/80 and added TVC screens. After the car, the PC is the Media’s Composer and Data 72Mb RAM, and an extra 2Gb hard disk. most valuable domestic purchase made Translations’ Media 100. We settled for It worked like a dream. by consumers, but this is a market that Avid, and used two quality levels for the The final challenge was to use a has sprung out of nowhere. As a result, programme: AVR 2 for rough-cutting virtual studio. We filmed the show in a Granada decided to create a computer tape, and AVR 27 for final laydown to small, blue box and used a Silicon consumer show. What to buy, how well it tape. AVR 2 manages 30 minutes of Graphics machine to create and render a worked, what to watch out for. footage per gigabyte and AVR 27 stores backdrop design. I then went into the blue One of the biggest issues surrounding just over three minutes. The Avid box for a rehearsal with cameras and a show like this is the visual expectations machine came with 48Mb of RAM, decided on a provisional set of shots for of a computer-literate audience. How to dedicated sound and video boards and the show. Robotic camera heads were create a programme about computers 27Gb of storage, which was just enough used to ensure that the positions could be that looked as interesting as a computers for one half-hour programme. Thank precisely reproduced. We stuck a large, game show? The answer was to look goodness storage costs have dropped so wooden box in the centre of the space closely at the possibility of going fully much in the last year! to allow the Silicon Graphics experts to digital in the editing and graphics side of We decided to create all the graphics match the shots I had chosen to the 3D the show, using a mixture of dedicated using desktop packages. Photoshop background. systems and desktop PCs. was used for painting and storage, We ended up with a choice of 16

199 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 THE PROGRAM

pre-formatted shots, with 16 backgrounds solutions are Microsoft’s Video for How a TV programme is stored on disk. When we cut from a wide Windows, and Apple’s Quicktime which made shot of the studio (“shot 1”) to a close-up is cross-platform (Mac/PC). of our presenter, Tony Wilson (“shot 2”), The traditional way to make a the background changed from Source material television programme is to shoot on “background 1” to “background 2” at the There are several stages involved in broadcast-quality video (Betacam SP), same time. By the end of the series we producing the highest-quality material. create a rough edit (called an offline) were experimenting with animations The quality of the source is vital. It is and then conform that to broadcast within the backdrop. At the moment it isn’t easy to think you can make do with VHS quality (in an online suite). Tradition- possible to move the camera within the video because your movies are only ally, offline editing has been done using virtual studio, but that’s just a question of going to play in a small window, but this VHS-type quality tapes. In recent time; and when it is possible you will see is not the case. Lack of image quality, years, companies like Avid and some amazing visual effects. and frame-to-frame differences caused Lightworks have brought out offline- Some of the results of the show are by VHS, conspire to thwart the computer based systems, turnkey sys- included on this month’s cover disk. compression algorithms which are look- tems that use basic PC platforms (Mac What you will see is quite distinct from ing for identical areas in an image and or DOS) allied to expensive customised the TV show, but we think it provides a small frame-to frame differences. hardware. Tapes are digitised onto taster. And some of the properties of a The next stage is digitisation of the hard disks and editing is carried out CD-ROM –– the ability to consult a text source. We were lucky with some clips electronically. Their big advantage is note for instance — help some of the which were held in digital format from the that they allow an editor to work in a more informative reports. Ironically, Avid digital video editing system, but the non-linear way. At the end of this elec- although most of the work was created rest had to be captured. We used a tronic offline process, an EDI (edit using Macintosh computers, with Quick- PowerMac and a hardware (JPEG) com- decision list) is created. This is taken time 2.0 the vehicle for video, this CD- pression board to reduce the data suffi- into the online suite where the various ROM is purely for Windows. We hope to ciently to ensure the hard disk could decisions are recreated at higher quali- go dual-platform next time. cope with the flow of information, allow- ty using dedicated equipment. Graphics We would like feedback, both about ing us to easily grab quarter-screen and sound are also integrated. A typical the CD-ROM, and about what you would 25fps video with the minimum of online suite costs £1million. like to see in a computer show on compression. Graphics platforms were digital ten television. You can reach us on our web years ago, and most broadcast work is site http:\\www.u-net.com\program\. Editing centred around Quantel workstations. Once grabbed, the video was ready to Photoshop work is done on a system Producing high-quality digital edit. Special effects were then added called Paintbox; animations are video for CD-ROM and graphic elements overlaid using created using HAL or Harriet. The cost Cimex’s Ian Hayes explains how the alpha channels. (An alpha channel is an of these systems means complicated CD was put together: extra channel of information, over and graphics are expensive to create, which The problems of sound and storage above the Red/Green/Blue which mitigates against low-cost shows. As space have pretty much been solved on contains information on how transparent the power of desktop systems increases, desktop computers, but when personal a graphic element is.) the software effects which used to be computers were conceived they were Before final compression, a smooth- the preserve of high-end digital systems never intended to play digital video. To ing filter was applied to each sequence to are being successfully reproduced on achieve full screen, full frame-rate video minimise artifacts caused by the original Macs and Intel platforms. (as seen on our television sets), a data JPEG compression. These may not be There is no doubt that TV is going to rate of 30Mb/sec is required. Most visible, but reduce the effectiveness of change its reproduction methods graphics cards are unable to cope with the final compression algorithm. If the dramatically over the next two years. this throughput, and standard double- video had to be resized, we ensured that Digital video capabilities are speed CD-ROMs can manage only a high-quality bi-cubic spline interpolation trickling down to consumer machines 300Kb/sec. The solution is to compress. method was used to maintain the very fast. The new Power Mac range is Multimedia developers currently face linearity of the digital images, rather than impressive, and it won’t be more than two main solutions. The first is MPEG-1, nearest-neighbour methods as used by two or three years before there are which achieves near-VHS quality video the majority of low-end digital video post-production suites that cost no but requires an additional board (MPEG editing packages. more than £5,000. Playback board, £300) to be slotted into your PC. MPEG worked well for Final compression minute of video can take around an hour applications Cimex has done for exhibi- The cross-platform Cinepak codec to compress, even on a fast Power PC tions and touch-screen kiosks, but the (compression/decompression algorithm) Macintosh. main drawback is that not many people was chosen for final compression. At this have an MPEG card. The solution for the stage, the data rate and the final 15-per- PCW Contacts program CD-ROM was to use software- second frame rate used for most of the Cimex 0171 609 3050 ☎ only playback of the digital video; this clips is set to ensure satisfactory Compuserve relies solely on the processing power and playback from a double-speed CD-ROM. [email protected] ☎ graphics hardware of the host machine. Digital video codecs are designed to The Program http:\\www.u-net.com\ ☎ The two mainstream software video allow fast decompression, but one program\

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checks all the possible drives testing for the DRIVE_FIXED result with an “if” statement. Other drive types are ignored.

Creating labels and gauges When the application runs, it needs to create a label and a gauge for each relevant drive. There is a gauge control Get started supplied with Delphi, on the Samples tab of the component paletter. But it is no use putting a gauge or two on the form at design time, since there is no way of knowing how many are needed. The answer is to create them at runtime. The technique used is as follows: 1. Start a new project. 2. Click on the unit tab and find the uses clause near the top. Add Gauges and StdCtrls to the list of comma-separated with Delphi units. Delphi would add these automatically if we drew a gauge and drive it is. Delphi’s online help has an API label at design time, but in this case the It’s hands on this month, as the free space section which gives Delphi-specific controls are created at runtime so the application is developed into a truly useful syntax. It shows that GetDriveType takes reference has to be inserted by hand. utility. Subjects tackled include calling the an integer which specifies the drive (0=A, 3. Just below the uses clause, find the 1=B, etc.) and returns one of four values: section that declares the TForm1 class. The form at design-time looks alarmingly blank, since all the Space Monitor Windows API, creating objects at runtime 0: drive does not exist There is space here to add private controls are created at runtime and using the timer control. By Tim Anderson. DRIVE_REMOVABLE, DRIVE_FIXED or declarations, properties and methods that PROGRAMMING FOR WINDOWS DRIVE_REMOTE: shows type of drive. belong to TForm1. In this private section Delphi makes calling API functions add: Fig 1 Code for the FormCreate method (Cont’d over…) particularly easy, since all the necessary Gauges: Array[1..26] of TGauge; ast month’s introduction to Delphi Searching out the drives declarations and constants have been Labels: Array[1..26] of TLabel; procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject); Lshowed how to create a program The simplest way to find out how many done for you (in the WINPROCS.PAS This declares two arrays of 26 elements, var to inspect the free space remaining on drives are on the system is to run through unit). type TGauge and TLabel iCurrDrive: integer; your hard drive. Let’s face it, it was a each possible drive letter, from A to Z, It is unlikely that a user would want to respectively. Because they are declared iDrivesFound: integer; pretty hopeless utility. It did not monitor and to call a Windows API function, monitor space on removable or network here, they will be visible to any of free space, but only reported when you GetDriveType, to discover what type of drives. Therefore, the space monitor TForm1’s functions or procedures. begin clicked a button. And it only worked on 4. Press F12 to redisplay the form, and {create gauges and labels for each available drive} one drive; the C drive. A useful space double-click to open the FormCreate iDrivesFound:= 0; monitor would update regularly and method. This code will execute when the would show space on all your drives, not form first opens, so is ideal for setting up {iterate through all possible drive letters} the form as you want it. Enter code as for iCurrDrive := 0 to 25 do just one. shown in Fig 1. begin This tutorial shows how to enhance This code creates a label and a gauge the utility to do just that, also displaying a control for each local hard drive. Note the If GetDriveType(iCurrDrive) = DRIVE_FIXED then small gauge for each drive to show what three essential stages in creating each {found a local hard drive} percentage of the disk is full. Along the control. First, a variable of that type is begin way many important features of Delphi declared: this was done by declaring inc(iDrivesFound); {inc adds one to a variable} are revealed. The enhanced version is arrays. Second, a control object is substantially different, so it is best to start instantiated (that is, an instance of that {create an instance of the label control} a new Delphi project rather than amend object is created) by calling the create labels[iDrivesFound] := TLabel.create(Form1); the old one. method of the appropriate class. The The application will need to run create method takes one parameter, {note use of with statement to simplify code} through several stages. Here is the indicating the owner of the object, in this with labels[iDrivesFound] do sequence: case Form1. That means the memory for begin 1. Find out how many drives are on the the owned component will be freed when height := 20; system. Form1’s memory is freed. Finally, the top := (25 * iDrivesFound) - 20; 2. Create labels and gauge controls for control’s parent property is set. A left := 5; each drive and then place them on a control’s parent is the container in which parent := Form1; form. the control resides, in this case also end; 3. Size the form appropriately. Form1. Other properties are set as 4. Update the controls at regular Double-clicking a Delphi form opens the FormCreate method; ideal for code which required, but without a parent property {now create an instance of the Gauge control} intervals. sets up controls on the form the control could not be displayed.

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Fig 1 (cont’d) Code for the FormCreate method Once the form is set up, the API func- tion SetWindowPos is called to make the form always on top. The idea is that the gauges[iDrivesFound] := TGauge.create(Form1); disk-space monitor should show when other applications have the focus, for {initialise the control’s properties. Note use of example when the setup program is run- With statement to simplify code} ning. The always-on-top setting ensures with gauges[iDrivesFound] do it is always visible. Finally, the code calls begin UpdateForm to fill the controls with the left := 100; correct details. You have to write that, so Top := (25 * iDrivesFound) - 20; don’t look for it in Delphi’s online help. height := 20; Width := 100; Updating the form MinValue := 0; With the form and controls created, it is MaxValue := 100; easy to write the routine to fill in the ForeColor := clAqua; {or a colour of your choice} details. There are two user-defined parent := Form1; procedures involved. One iterates end; through the available drives, while the end; {end of DRIVE_FIXED if statement} other actually calculates the free space. Both must be declared, in the Private end; {end of for loop} section of the TForm1 class definition: procedure UpdateForm; {Now size form to neatly enclose controls} procedure ShowSpace(iCurrDrive, width := 215; iDrivesFound: integer); height := iDrivesFound * 25 +30; The ShowSpace routine takes two parameters. The first is the number of the {make always on top} drive, as used when calling the SetWindowPos(form1.handle,HWND_TOPMOST,0,0,0,0,SWP_NOSIZE or SWP_NOMOVE); GetDriveType function. The second, iDrivesFound, counts the number of {call updateForm} drives for which we actually want to work UpdateForm; out the free space. Fig 2 is the code for the two procedures, which is entered in end; the Implementation section of the unit. The UpdateForm routine detects the relevant drives in the same way as used Fig 2 Code for GetDrive Type and iDrivesFound in the FormCreate method. It is procedures (Cont’d over…) ShowSpace that does the real work, procedure TForm1.UpdateForm; using a similar routine to that given last month. Note that the drive number, var iCurrDrive, is incremented by one before iCurrDrive: integer; calling the Delphi functions DiskFree and iDrivesFound: integer; DiskSize. This is because the API func- tion, GetDriveType, starts with 0 for drive begin A; while DiskFree starts with 1 for drive A, using 0 to mean the current drive. It’s a iDrivesFound:= 0; typical inconvenience which would not happen in a perfect world, but at least it for iCurrDrive := 0 to 25 do keeps programmers on their toes. begin Delphi’s string formatting functions are not as rich as some other languages, but if GetDriveType(iCurrDrive) = DRIVE_FIXED then one which is used here is particularly begin useful. The misleadingly-named Copy inc(iDrivesFound); function is like Visual Basic’s Mid$ and ShowSpace(iCurrDrive, iDrivesFound); returns a string that is part of another end; string. Therefore, copy(somestring,1,2) end; {end of for loop} returns two characters beginning at the first character in the string. end; {end of procedure} Adding a timer procedure TForm1.ShowSpace(iCurrDrive, iDrivesFound: integer); The last enhancement makes the application monitor disk space at regular intervals. This job is ideally suited for a

204 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DELPHI TUTORIAL PART 2

Fig 2 (cont’d) Code for GetDrive Type and iDrivesFound procedures

var sDrives: string[26]; lFreeSpace: Longint; lDiskSize: Longint; iMegFree: Integer; sSpace: String;

begin

sDrives:= ‘ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ’; The disk space monitor at work; {A convenient way to map drive letters to numbers. revealing yet another hard disk under The first char in the string has index of 0, second 1, etc} pressure {work out free space} timer component, which you will find on lFreeSpace := DiskFree(iCurrDrive+1); the System tab of the component palette. lDiskSize := DiskSize(iCurrDrive+1); The timer is a non-visible component, so although it is placed on a form you will not {update gauge} see it at runtime. It has just four form1.gauges[iDrivesFound].progress := trunc(100*((lDiskSize - properties and one event. Set the interval lFreeSpace)/lDiskSize)); property to specify how often the timer fires, in milliseconds. {format free space and update label} This is a compromise. The more often iMegFree := Trunc(lFreeSpace/1000000); it fires, the more up-to-date the space lFreeSpace := lFreeSpace-(iMegFree*1000000); monitor will be; but if it is too short an sSpace := IntToStr(iMegFree) + ‘.’ interval, the application will grab too + copy(IntToStr(lFreeSpace),1,2) + ‘ MB’; much processor time and the system will form1.labels[iDrivesFound].caption := sDrives[iCurrDrive +1] + ‘: ‘ + feel slow. The default of one second is sSpace; reasonable. end; Finally, the OnTimer event specifies what happens when the timer fires, and in this example all you need do is call the procedure TForm1.Timer1Timer begin UpdateForm function, like this: (Sender: TObject); UpdateForm; end; Recommended reading On my 486 DX2/66 the whole routine takes approximately 0.015 seconds to Teach Yourself Delphi in 21 days execute, so the interval would need to be Authors: Andrew Wozniewwicz & extremely short before there were any Namir Shammas with Tom Campbell noticeable slowdown. Delphi is very fast Publisher: SAMS Publishing indeed. Pages: 944 If you have Windows 95, you will find it Price: £23 interesting to run SpaceMon and watch Contact: Computer Manuals 0121 706 6000 the space change on the drive where you have your temporary files, especially If PCW’s tutorial leaves you thirsting for more, you could do worse than this hefty tome from when running Office 95, Exchange or the SAMS Publishing. It is divided into 21 day-at-a-time sections, although it is hard to believe Microsoft Network. Windows 95 is greedy that anyone would really use the book like this. That does not matter, since it is a for disk space, and will display a well-indexed and thorough guide to Delphi which is rather more advanced than its title misleading “Out of memory” message implies. when it runs out. With the space monitor, It tells you how to create your own Windows message handlers, and covers programming all is revealed. DLLs, DDE and OLE. Summaries, exercises, quizzes and do’s and don’ts are sprinkled liberally through the book. If you have the patience for these, you will find them good and PCW Details thought-provoking learning tools. All the code for the Space Monitor I was glad to see over 100 pages given to explaining object orientation in Delphi, a project, together with an executable subject all but ignored by most other Delphi titles I have seen. This will be particularly useful anyone can run, is included on the PCW for programmers coming from Visual Basic or xBase, to whom most of this is new territory. It cover disk/CD. is well-presented, combining general object theory with strong Delphi-specific and practical Contact Tim Anderson with your content. Unfortunately there are weaknesses as well. There is nothing on how to use comments and queries, at the usual pointers, and the database content is thin. But overall I highly recommend this title, the best PCW address or email introduction to Delphi I have seen. [email protected]

207 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE Germ warfare The result of a virus infecting your Anti-virus software Contents PC can be devastating. Both home and 214 F-PROT (shareware) corporate PCs alike need adequate protection, 214 Microsoft Anti-Virus (MSDOS 6) 218 Dr Solomon’s A-V Toolkit 219 McAfee VirusScan Win95 so Adrian Mars tested eight anti-virus packages to 219 McAfee VirusScan Win/DOS 220 Sophos Sweep help you fight the infection. And because 223 Norton Anti-Virus Win95 & Norton Anti-Virus Win/DOS forewarned is forearmed, he passes on a 212 Protecting servers comprehensive battle plan of virus types, what 223 Editor’s Choice 224 Think you may have a virus? 224 Where do viruses come from? to do if you think you have one, assesses 226 Types of virus Table of features the high risks, and more. 226

f you get a virus you can count parts of Windows executable program on occasions, be appalling. The most Iyourself fairly unlucky. The risk is on files. And some viruses compound the notorious, Michelangelo, is a boot-sector a par with losing a hard disk, but the harm each has done. If a machine virus. On 6th March — Michelangelo’s chance of a virus damaging your data is becomes infected by more than one birthday — it wipes both hard and floppy considerably lower. Viruses do, though, virus, the potential for a bug in the virus- drives as soon as the PC is switched on. pose a special threat. Hard-drive failures writer’s code causing problems becomes only affect one machine at a time, but greater. Another reason for removing Types of scanner having to phone everyone who has viruses is that is difficult to be certain that “Checksum” virus scanners look for floppies that have been in your PC is the strain identified by an anti-virus unexpected changes to executable files. embarrassing enough. When a business package has not been modified. They generate a checksum (or Cyclic is involved it is worse: in the absence of The cost to a business of removing a Redundancy Check) for every executable up-to-date anti-virus software, a virus can virus in terms of lost time and money, program each time the scanner is run. If a spread throughout an organisation before can be considerable. It takes several checksum changes between scans –– it is detected. minutes to check a PC and a minute or because of the extra bytes a file virus Even though well over 96 percent of so to scan each floppy. And every disk adds — the file may be infected. Check- viruses are not designed to damage data, needs to be checked. Since these can summers are unable to identify viruses by they are still a nuisance. Because nearly run into the hundreds or even thousands, name and are prone to false alarms, par- all common viruses install themselves in a supposedly benign virus is much more ticularly when software is upgraded. memory and stay active, they can inter- than an annoyance. Some software, such as LapLink 3, fere with other programs. For example, Some of the most problematic viruses writes its settings to the end of its open the “Jerusalem” virus uses DOS interrupt contain a destructive “payload” set for a executable file, also triggering a false 21h which is also used by Novell’s Net- specific date. The virus merrily spreads alarm. Some viruses such as “Starship” Ware network operating system. It there- its way from PC to PC. Nobody suspects cunningly infect files only when they are fore disables NetWare and brings down a thing, then, wham! — the damage can, copied from hard disk to floppy. When the network servers. Even worse, because of file is copied back to the hard disk, the a bug, it can unintentionally overwrite PCW Photographic Illustration by David Whyte user tells the scanner that this is an

210 211 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

expected new file, when in fact it is bypassed. Some BIOSs such as AMI’s Protecting servers infected — thereby totally foiling CRC or (American Megatrends Inc.) incorporate checksumming. Starship is also capable this method of protection. As a more dra- The only way a of creating a new boot partition on the conian measure, many can also be set to server can be hard disk containing the virus code which boot from hard disk in preference to infected by a boot then runs the real boot sector stored in floppy, thereby preventing a boot sector sector virus is to the original partition. Scanners that check virus being booted in the first place. AMI’s boot it from an for changed files also miss this trick. BIOS has one fault; that the pop-up warn- infected floppy. In Although they have many flaws, ing of a boot-sector write fails to mention any case, a DOS checksum/CRC generators are most it was generated by the BIOS. This can boot sector virus infecting a server likely to detect new breeds of virus lead to potentially confusing virus alarms cannot get access to users’ files missed by the most useful form of scan- that apparently come from nowhere. A stored there. File viruses don’t do ner; those that search for the known char- similar approach is taken by companies anything special on a network. To acteristics of specific viruses. In the early such as McAfee and Trend Micro Devices spread from one machine to another, days when there were few viruses which produces ROMShield. It plugs into an executable file must be copied around, scanners simply stepped through the empty Boot-ROM socket on Ethernet from workstation to workstation and every byte in a file looking for a known cards. Some security products supplied then executed, just as if the infected signature. Now that there are around on AT expansion cards do the same job. executable had come from a floppy 7,000 viruses and variants at large includ- Digipronix Control Systems’ Vigilant Plus disk or via a modem. Corporate ing polymorphic (viruses capable of is just such a card. email systems that are able to changing form) viruses, scanners have to BIOS’s protection of the Boot sector transfer executables files with ease, be more sophisticated. In order to check can be overcome by relatively few increase the risks. files at reasonable speed, they look for viruses that communicate directly with Many companies produce NLMs the tell-tale signs of specific viruses only the disk controller thereby bypassing the (network loadable modules), at an expected number of bytes offset BIOS, though they will not work at all in programs that work with Novell from the end of the file under some machines as PC hardware varies NetWare to either scan all files on examination. To confirm infection by a too much. the server as they are accessed or polymorphic virus, most scanners periodically scan files in the back- execute the virus in a secure area of Other operating systems ground. These are sold as separate memory, thereby using the virus’s own Windows NT is relatively safe from boot packages by many anti-virus manu- decryption routine. Once the virus has sector viruses. Research by Ian Whalley, facturers. Since they use the same decrypted itself, it can be identified. editor of the Virus Bulletin, tested NT with virus data file as their workstation- Scanners that look for specific viruses nine common master boot sector viruses. based products, the reliability of are available both as TSRs (terminate Seven of them prevented Windows NT companies’ standalone products is a and stay resident programs) that check from booting, while two others success- good indicator of the effectiveness of files and disks as they are accessed, or fully infected the boot sector but were their network versions. Since only as DOS or Windows applications that will unable to infect other floppies. File one copy per server is needed, they step through each file and examine the viruses were not tested, but experience offer good value for money when boot sector. suggests they behave normally but need compared to workstation-based “Heuristic” scanners look for unknown a DOS box in order to execute. solutions. viruses by detecting suspicious-looking Windows 95 will, in most cases, han- Nevertheless, workstations code or behaviour. They are not a solu- dle DOS viruses the same way as would should be periodically scanned for tion in themselves. They will always DOS. Most boot sector viruses can suc- viruses. This can be triggered by trigger false alarms, but a heuristic cessfully infect the hard disk and then go network login scripts. Many work- scanner is a useful addition to anti-virus on to infect floppies — though Win95 will station packages include facilities to software. If a virus is suspected but can’t generate a warning if it detects changes schedule scans. Login scripts can be identified, they can provide further to the boot sector. Almost all file viruses also be used to download updated confirmation. are able to replicate in a DOS box, and scanner data files to workstations. Other tools, such as Dissent by Reflex most will do so without one. In some Memory-resident scanners loaded Technology, work in partnership with a cases though, Windows 95 will block by workstations at boot-up provide third party’s anti-virus software. It is them and issue an alert if it detects a low excellent protection, in particular designed to be used in standalone PCs level write. Old DOS and Windows scan- against boot sector viruses stored on which write a “stamp” to floppies to con- ners will pick up most viruses under 95, floppies that are unlikely to be firm that they have been checked. A TSR although using them to repair damage specifically scanned. In network running on desktop PCs rejects all can cause considerably more. environments though, conventional unchecked disks. A few viruses have been written memory is often in short supply. A Useful protection against boot-sector specifically for OS/2 although most of the few viruses have been written viruses is supplied as Firmware on ROM. problem is, unsurprisingly, posed by DOS specifically to steal Novel Many BIOSs (Basic Input Output viruses. Even though many are rendered passwords. They monitor login and Systems) can be set to flag writes to the impotent, others can run successfully write the password to a file in a boot sector. Because they are run before from a DOS box. Anti-virus software known account. a floppy disk is booted, anti-virus TSRs specifically for OS/2 is available, and is loaded from the hard disk cannot be just as necessary as on a DOS machine.

212 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

F-PROT (shareware version)

F-PROT comes from Iceland and called the EICAR (European Institute was created by the respected virus of Computer Anti-virus Research) researcher, Fridrik Skulason. There’s standard anti-virus test file. Many no charge for private use and other anti-virus products will also spot organisations pay only US$1 to it. It is, in fact, a standard text file with register a copy. a .COM extension containing the The online virus data is of excel- following line: lent quality and detail — the Profes- X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR- sional (commercial) version lists STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H* more viruses. Even if this is not your The professional version is updated main anti-virus tool it’s worth down- more frequently, and includes a full loading for the list alone. Windows scanner and Windows vir- Unfortunately, it can’t be searched. tual device driver. There’s also a DOS Information is reached via an alphabeti- The list of DOS file extensions which and Windows checksummer. cal list of viruses but this makes it impos- F-PROT considers executable, can be You get an effective DOS-based virus sible to find a virus if the software vendor edited. By default it searches the boot scanner and a less effective TSR for free. refers to it by a different name. sector, executables and compressed If you’re on a tight budget, F-PROT is a There are two scan options. The files. And it warns you if it finds a good choice. heuristic scan checks for suspicious compressed file form that it can’t handle. virus-like codes. “Secure” is a The usual “scan all files” option is there, PCW Details conventional scanner that looks for too. F-PROT known viruses. This one has a couple of F-PROT includes a DOS TSR Price Shareware version is free to clever tricks up its sleeve: it looks for (terminate and stay resident) called individuals. Organisations must buy the large blocks of data within executables, VirStop. This steps in and aborts an professional version. where viruses often hide, and it addition- attempt to execute infected files or flop- Contact Frisk Software ally uses two different search strings per pies. It doesn’t include a companion pop- 001 354 5617 273 (Iceland) ☎ virus. So it’s more likely to spot unknown up message program within Windows, Command Software 0171 259 5710 ☎ (professional version). FTP: complex.is modifications to a known virus. and in tests it missed several viruses. The If it does find one, F-PROT offers documentation does warn, however, that Good Points It’s free and it works. configurable alternatives of reporting, the TSR will not detect as many viruses Bad Points DOS only and there’s no deleting it or attempting to repair the file. as the scanner. checksummer. The TSR fails to spot many viruses. Sensibly, it also offers the option of A nice facility is the ability to add virus Conclusion A bargain, worth down- renaming infected files .VXE or .VOM so search strings by hand. You can check if loading as a backup even if you have they can’t be executed by mistake. F-PROT works by using a supplied file other A-V software.

Microsoft Anti-Virus (supplied with MSDOS 6)

MSDOS A-V is basically a version virus is already suspected. A of Central Point’s old anti-virus, minor oddity is that it cannot minus its TSR memory-loading scan more than one drive at a options and scan-scheduling ability. time without resorting to com- It’s a perfectly decent package mand line parameters. that was more or less free until The DOS program, sensibly, recently (it was installed on most is as similar to the Windows new PCs). It has only one major version as possible and includes drawback, but it’s a big one: in its optional mouse support. Both supplied state, its 1993 virus data have decent online help. Know- file is hopelessly outdated. Microsoft ing one is as good as knowing provides a single phone number (in both and there’s not much to their DOS manual) for their US bul- learn. letin board but the telephone just Most virus packages have rings and rings. Microsoft UK Customer is the option of switching off the check- become considerably more sophisticated Services can’t help either: so after hav- summer but it cannot be set to either since 1993 although one omission in this ing made several phone calls, it include or exclude specific files. Check- case is the lack of onscreen information transpires that Symantec is now summing will, therefore, inevitably lead on specific viruses — otherwise a feature supporting the product. to false alarms on most machines, of most packages reviewed here. The checksum verifier (which including each time a Windows DLL or The TSR, VSafe, can prevent all disk Microsoft calls an “integrity checker”) and driver is updated by an install. writes and halt low-level formats. It can the scanner’s search for known viruses, Checksumming, in most situations, will also flag accesses to executables are performed in the same scan. There only be of real use if an unidentifiable infected with the limited number of

214 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

viruses about which it knows. A feature VSafe Manager, displays pop-up VSafe PCW Details McAfee VirusScan for Windows 95 1.0 that doesn’t date much is its ability to flag messages and access to Vsafe’s options Microsoft Anti-Virus writes to disk boot sectors. from Windows. Its TSR and Price £49 upgrade to DOS 6.2 (from McAfee anti-virus for Windows 95 be relied on to spot all infected files Hotkeyed menus enable you to checksumming are still better than noth- Microsoft); £59 for 12-monthly virus looks entirely different when com- under Windows 95. The Windows updates (from Symantec); or download change these options at any time. The ing, though anything that’s been around pared with the old Win 3.x version. program that displays a dialogue from CIS by typing GO SYMANTEC (or menus can also be skipped using com- this long can be overcome by some of the Scan 95 should be faster than the box, when Vshield finds a virus, is phone their Dutch bulletin board ☎ mand line switches. Included is the option newer viruses. Without an update to its 00 317 353 169). 16-bit version, but version 1.1 is a still the 3.x version. McAfee says it to remove VSafe from RAM without now obsolete virus data file, the scanner is Contact The Microsoft Connection big improvement. This is because it will soon be shipped with a replace- rebooting. Its Windows companion, almost useless and shouldn’t be relied on. 0345 00 2000; Symantec ☎ creates a separate Windows 95 ment .VXD 32-bit windows device 01638 592222/5923200 thread for each drive being driver (the 16-bit version will Good Points The checksummer and scanned. If you have an EIDE or continue to be included). Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus Toolkit TSR are still of limited use. SCSI drive you should really notice The context-sensitive help is (for Windows and DOS 7.5) Bad Points The virus data file is now the difference because they support sparse and fairly terse but hopelessly outdated. Even with a new simultaneous access to more than fortunately most options are self- data file, its ability to catch the most one drive at a time. explanatory. The help file is no Version 7 adds a heuristic sophisticated viruses is likely to be The uncluttered interface uses more than adequate. The product is virus detector which is very affected by the program’s age. three 95-style tabs to control what is easy to obtain, install and use, but handy if you suspect an Conclusion Don’t buy MSDOS 6.2 for scanned (using a Win95 file explorer it’s marred by the inability of the its anti-virus capability: even with the unidentified virus. Another dialogue), event logging, and what action used with Vshield, the TSR. Hopefully, it scanner to check boot sectors and virus updates it shows it age. improvement to Toolkit is its to take when a virus is found. It always will spot an infected floppy before you partitions. repair feature. Previously, offers the option of attempting to repair accidentally boot from it. Unlike the S&S International provided a the jargon of the virus-makers and virus damage, but alternatively it can be DOS/Windows version, specific files can- range of generic tools capable chasers, too. The remainder documents set to automatically delete infected files. not be included or excluded from scans. PCW Details of rewriting the boot sector, for 420 viruses, with a paragraph or two Sadly, like the 3.x version, there’s no And unlike the Windows 3.x version, McAfee for Windows 95 instance, or chopping a fixed about each. The list isn’t comprehensive option to amend the message that is there’s no onscreen virus information. Price £89 (includes eight updates per number of corrupted bytes but you’ll learn plenty from it. The user displayed. Both the DOS product version You’ll have to turn to the command line annum, by post); £49 for a registered from the ends of files: now it manual is superb and explains everything and the VShield TSR can be customised driven 16-bit DOS version (supplied), copy (download the updates yourself). applies a clean-up that is clearly, with lots of screenshots. There’s in this way. which can be used to detect viruses Free evaluation for up to 30 days. tailored to individual viruses. even more information on virus and anti- The major weakness of the Windows under Win95 but could damage data if Contact IPE Corporation (formerly The relevant button is virus technology. The changes from ver- 95 version 1.0 of VirusScan is that it it’s used to remove them. International Data Security) 0171 436 2244. ☎ displayed whenever a virus is detected. version has the option of attempting to sion 7.0 to 7.5 are detailed in a slim does not scan the boot sectors for Installation provides a quick dose of FTP: ftp.mcafee.com/pub/. Bulletin beat stealth viruses in memory that may viruses — and there’s no warning about Win95-style clouds and checks for To prevent a virus from being loaded companion volume. The online version board: 0171 916 1025 ☎ into memory, both the Windows and try to hide the contents of the disk. has decent written descriptions of most this in the documentation. McAfee says viruses in your system’s boot sector and DOS portions of the toolkit are installed The DOS interface mirrors that of viruses but the virus data update file this has been fixed in version 1.1. root directories. The install routine adds, Good Points Easy to obtain and use. Bad Points Significantly fewer by a DOS program. After all, it’s no good Windows. Both provide the same func- does not update the encyclopedia. S&S If a boot sector virus is executed it if required, a command to autoexec.bat features than the Windows 3.1 version. tionality, and all functions of the toolkit may well detect the virus in memory. that loads a Vshield. It’s the TSR that booting from a clean boot disk and then promises a considerably more verbose Conclusion Not to be relied on, running a potentially infected Windows can be accessed with DOS command version very soon. The software includes Many stealth viruses are able to evade intercepts access to floppies with though future releases are likely to executable; you could load an line parameters, as well. All the a useful and more up-to-date digital ver- this method of detection. It is therefore infected boot sectors or infected files. At resolve the criticisms. undetectable stealth virus into memory. command line programs return DOS sion of the virus information in the particularly important that WinScan95 is present, this is the 16-bit version: it can’t The major components of Dr error numbers and this makes it much encyclopedia. Solomon’s A-V toolkit are typical of most easier to write sophisticated batch files Dr Solomon’s toolkit is an outstanding virus packages. There’s a scanner, to A small DOS program called TKUTIL piece of software: it’s effective, feature McAfee VirusScan for Windows & DOS version 2.2.6 find known viruses, with the useful capa- is included that adds considerable abili- rich, and accompanied by outstanding bility to look for virus signatures that are ties to the humble .BAT: it returns a DOS documentation. A Windows 95 version up to one byte different from those error number for such useful items as should be available by the time you McAfee for DOS and Windows include or exclude specific files, expected. Scans can be scheduled to day of the week, type of CPU and read this. offers more features than its directories, or disks from vali- run unattended and files excluded or whether VirusGuard is running, it can newer Windows 95 stablemate. dation and scanning as included as required. A checksum search for text in a file or append text to PCW Details The DOS scanner is creatively required. You can maintain a integrity checker spots changes made to one, and it has another 21 tricks up its Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus Toolkit named “Scan”, a program that report file of specified length executables and the usual DOS TSR is sleeve. You also get a small (1Kb) Price £125 DOS and Windows version; can be operated using and decide which events are there. But the companion pop-up mes- memory resident program that will run £99 DOS only. Both include four quar- command line switches from the worth recording, such as warn- sage program has been replaced by any DOS program at a specified time if it terly upgrades. Subsequent years’ DOS DOS prompt. ings of corrupted or modified and Windows upgrades: £75 per annum Winguard.vxd, a low level, 32-bit device sees a DOS prompt. Another places The Windows version files. The checksummer DOS/Windows; £50 per annum DOS characters in the keyboard buffer at a driver for Windows 3.1. When Windows only. integrates all functions into a attempts to intelligently differ- is started, it replaces the DOS TSR from chosen time. Contact S&S 01296 318800 ☎ single program. Scan checks by entiate between damaged exe- memory until Windows is exited. S&S A standalone toolbar allows quick default for known viruses. It can cutable code and modified data Good Points Good documentation calls this (rather cornily) “the changing of access to most parts of the Windows optionally check for changes to and the information is then and almost every tool you could wish for, package and enables you to begin scans the guard”. made accessible via an easy-to-use files and McAfee calls this “vali- recorded in the log file. The A DOS and Windows Hex/ASCII disk with a single mouse click. interface and DOS command line. dation”. Cyclic Redundancy online help is hardly voluble — viewer is a useful addition even if you The documentation comes in three Bad Points Online virus encyclopedia Checksums can either be writ- for instance, it doesn’t explain don’t know how to use one. In an emer- parts. The Virus Encyclopedia has a well- does not include all viruses. ten to a data file or appended to the difference between gency, S&S technical support can guide written history of viruses and gives good Conclusion One of the very best A-V the end of examined files. CRC data can It can be set up with four profiles to “corrupted” or “modified” file warnings. you by “remote control”. The DOS advice on virus prevention — it explains packages. be removed easily, too. define exactly what is scanned. You can Another feature is the scheduler.

218 219 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Scans can be configured to scan or in memory checking program files for PCW Details validate as and when required, though viruses as your computer executes but McAfee for Windows and DOS VirusScan for Windows must be loaded. not when it copies them. And it checks Price £89 (including eight updates per The on-screen virus information is floppies when they are accessed. A small annum, by post). £49 for a registered minimal: the virus size and type is shown windows program displays in a dialogue copy (download the updates yourself). Free downloading and evaluation, up to and McAfee tells you if it can zap it. Many box any messages generated by Vshield. 30 days. viruses only list a name, but fear not as The manual, also supplied as a text Contact IPE Corporation (formerly the missing information is available to the file, contains all the information required International Data Security) 0171 436 ☎ scanner. to operate the program but is not 2244. FTP: ftp.mcafee.com/pub/. Vshield can be set to load into EMS, suitable for a novice — there is very little Bulletin board: 0171 916 1025. ☎ XMS or high memory where it takes up hand-holding. Good Points Everything that should 30Kb. If allowed to swap its data file in be there is included. and out of memory as required, only 8Kb Bad Points Confusing for those not is needed. When started up, it checks familiar with anti-virus terminology. Very master boot records, boot sectors, sys- limited onscreen virus information. tem files and itself for viruses. It remains Conclusion Certainly a respectable, if not the best, anti-virus package.

Sophos Sweep

Sweep has changed little over reference guide. It’s an excellent the years and there’s still not a lot guide to the world of viruses — of it. (It has a big user-base in UK who creates them and why. Government circles.) There’s useful stuff like data When installed, the Sophos security law and relevant anti-virus consists of only two DOS organisations. There’s a programs: a command line scan- summary of Internet security ner, SWEEP.EXE; and an interac- issues, and half of the book is tive shell, SW.EXE. There are only dedicated to a technical summary three additional files: a Windows of Sophos products. icon, a .PIF file and the virus data The box sensibly includes a file. dozen prominent virus warning Sweep’s only concession to stickers for infected floppies. Windows 3.x is its setup: a Windows this option can be switched off. Additionally, you get 45 datable stickers version of its DOS install program. It Sweep’s command line arguments for disks that pass the test: if they’re copies the files to a specified directory are based on the shortcut letters used to infected later, the stickers might be the and installs an icon in program manager select menu options within the interactive only clue as to when things went wrong. that starts the DOS shell. It doesn’t shell. It’s not exactly user-friendly but the Online help is pretty basic but the check for the presence of viruses before letters are shown in the manual. Usefully, manual is clear and detailed: many of installation. it can return DOS error numbers so that the program’s features can’t be used Sweep is supplied uncompressed on appropriate action can be taken by a without it. a single floppy. With the aid of an unin- batch file if Sweep finds a virus or com- Sweep is perfectly adequate as a fected boot disk, a virus can be tracked pressed file. It can’t examine the pocket virus detector for technical sup- down before installation. contents of .ZIPs but does know about port staff, or to run on a standalone, Customising the package is rather some other compressed formats. There shared virus-checking PC in an office. unfriendly — to add extra DOS file exten- is an optional parameter to warn when sions to its list of files, it considers exe- ZIPs are encountered. cutables. A text file must be edited or Options include “shredding”, PCW Details command line parameters used. The overwriting and deleting files, or just same applies to the default message deleting them. It offers two types of Sophos Sweep Price £295 (including 12 monthly which Sweep displays when looking for a scanning: “Full Sweep” steps through upgrades) or £145 (including quarterly virus. It can be changed by adding a text every byte in a file, while “Quick Sweep” upgrades). Subsequent years are the file named SW.MSG. (like most anti-virus packages) looks at same price. Virus data upgrades can be Sweep offers the default option of particular points in files where viruses are downloaded free from their bulletin deleting infected files. This is not to be expected. board or FTP site. encouraged, as apart from encouraging Sweep includes basic information on Contact Sophos 01235 559933 ☎ the removal of infected files that could be all the viruses in its data file. There’s no Good Points Good documentation. It repaired with another package, it reduces description of effects but there is does the job it claims to do. the likelihood of a virus being saved for information such as dates that triggers a Bad Points DOS only and it can’t look examination by a virus company. And it virus, methods of infection, and file types inside compressed files. could turn out to be a hitherto unknown affected. Conclusion Why not buy something strain of an existing virus. The police also A useful bonus is the inclusion of else that offers twice as much for the need viruses as evidence. Fortunately, Sophos’ 382-page 1995/6 data security price?

220 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Norton Anti-Virus for Windows 95 and Norton Anti-Virus for Windows and DOS

Both DOS/Windows 3.1 and Win- compressed files within compressed dows 95 versions are very similar. files but they do warn of this. The 95 product is a true 32-bit “Inoculation” by default sensibly pro- application that knows about 32-bit tects only boot records and system files. file access. Things have only Starting up Navboot, the TSR, gener- changed in cases where the stan- ates a warning if system files change. dard Win95 user interface rules Switching between DOS or a Windows affect the style. For instance, option GUI bootup can sometimes trigger a pages are now tabbed which is a false alarm but it is difficult to see how marginal improvement over the Symantec could prevent this without Windows 3.x version. compromising effectiveness. The memory-resident Auto Protect reliable. The Win95 version is marginally There’s no need to sit around watch- program pops up an alert when a file quicker than McAfee’s WinScan 95. ing NAV: both versions include a stand- infected with a known virus is run or The main screen provides four large alone program scheduler. It will run any loaded. It does so irrespective of whether buttons: the first, “options”, leads to a program once a week at a given time of the GUI is loaded. As well as looking for multipage options screen. All parts of the day. For instance, it installs setup to scan known viruses, the Windows 95 TSR also program can be controlled from here for viruses every Friday at 5pm. If you uses what Symantec calls “virus sensor including which buttons are displayed have a copy of the Microsoft Windows 95 technology”. It’s designed to intercept within virus dialogues. There’s also the Plus Pack you could use the system unknown viruses by looking for virus-like (obligatory) ability to insert a “Please call agent for the same purpose. The Win95 behaviour, such as an attempted format your friendly corporate help desk on version minimises to a mini-icon at the of your hard disk or suspicious writes to extension 12345” message and to sound righthand end of the taskbar. program files. It also performs a system an audible alarm. Almost every control Installation is straightforward: it offers area check of any floppies left in the drive you can imagine is here, which makes the usual custom or full install options, when Windows 3.x or 95 is shut down. for more decisions. Fortunately, the and creates a rescue disk if desired. “Virus sensor” can be switched off, but if online help is plentiful and well written. Rescue disks can be created at any time left on it’s unlikely to cause false alarms. The Win95 version supports right mouse using the standalone program. Setup To prevent the TSR loading at startup clicks to call up relevant context-sensitive additionally carries out the usual scan of you can specify a hotkey to be held down help. memory and disks for viruses — if it finds during bootup. Both scanning for specific viruses one, NAV insists that the user boots up All versions of Norton Anti-Virus (NAV) and “inoculation” can be performed in a from an uninfected boot disk. have the usual three lines of defence. single operation. There’s the usual ani- Sensibly, the Windows 95 version The scanner and checksummer (which mated icon (the Win95 version is prettier) doesn’t require a Windows 95 boot disk Symantec calls “inoculation”) are well and both display a handy percentage bar — any old DOS boot disk will do the trick. integrated and the scanner, which to tell you how long you’ve got left to The virus can then be removed using the examines files for known viruses, is make the tea. Neither version scans standard emergency rescue disk supplied, on which there’s a DOS version Editor’s Choice of the full scanner/checksummer as well The perfect anti-virus package should be utilities considerably extend the power of any as repair tools. Despite being a 16-bit able to detect and remove viruses effectively batch files while the slightly larger range of DOS, the Win95 version knows about and include a full range of virus detection DOS error conditions generated provide Win95’s file system. methods. All of its features should be marginally more control. Both programs All flavours of NAV are sophisticated accessible from Windows and DOS, via both return more than sufficiently detailed error products, bristling with options. They a command line (for batch files) and a more numbers, though. might confuse a novice, but the clearly friendly user interface. It should be easy to Dr Solomon’s DOS TSR wins over written manual and plentiful online help use and well documented. Norton’s: while both prevented execution of should enable anyone to figure it out. Both Dr Solomon’s and Norton’s products the test viruses, Doc Solly’s prevented qualify on all these counts. Dr Solomon’s has infected files being copied as well. However, PCW Details the better documentation: almost everything like all packages tested, its TSR will only Norton for Windows95/3.x/DOS you could ever want to know about viruses is spot a stealth virus when you try to Price £149 (either version). £99 for 12 included and it’s more than just a user manu- execute a program already infected with monthly virus updates, or free from al. Nevertheless, Symantec’s Norton one. Symantec’s Dutch bulletin board and documentation is certainly a clear and com- By the time you read this most anti-virus Compuserve. Contact Symantec 01628 592222 ☎ prehensive guide to the software. manufacturers, including S&S, will have Norton wins on the options it offers: such produced a Windows 95 version of their Good Points More options than you as which controls are displayed when a virus software. At present, though, there is little would think possible. Very good at is detected, or its ability to make a copy of choice — Norton Anti-Virus for Windows 95 repairing damage. Good documentation both onscreen and paper. infected files with a .VIR extension before the offers all the benefits of its sibling. The only Bad Points Lots of options could mean virus is removed. noticeable change is that the Windows 95 too many choices for the inexperienced. If batch file automation is important, then user interface style makes the interface Conclusion An excellent product. Dr Solomon’s has the edge. Three useful appear a little less cluttered.

223 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Think you may have a virus?

n any organisation it is important to have memory. They may do this as soon as the tedious step, is to scan every floppy disk that Ia pre-planned strategy rather than man- infected machine is switched on since they could have been in contact with an infected aging each crisis as it arises. This should infect the boot sector or, as in Fish’s case, machine. It’s a good idea to attach a date be part of a greater disaster recovery plan COMMAND.COM. label on all checked and clean floppies, so and include nominated trained staff. 6) Use anti-virus software to identify the that if they are subsequently infected it will be 1) DON’T PANIC. The cost to a business strain you are infected with. If you have more easier to track down the source. of stopping work on a large number of than one product, use them all. They may 10) When you have all the information about machines can be worse than the effects of produce different answers, usually because the virus and know how to remove it, contact the virus. If in doubt, and if the business viruses are given different names by different all at-risk customers and suppliers with the cost is not large, you can keep the software houses. bad news. machine turned off until the virus has been 7) Most packages come with at least some 11) Before cleaning up the infection, take a identified. If it seems to be doing damage information on each virus. If the virus is copy of the virus –– not forgetting to clearly anyway, you may have no alternative but known to carry a destructive payload likely to label the infected floppy. If the strain behaves to shut down. Many viruses appear to wipe trigger off other machines, your first priority differently to how you expected, it can be all the data on a hard disk, but in most must be to get there and stop it, particularly if analysed. If it’s a new strain, it’s obviously cases it can be recovered with minimal it is set to trigger on a certain date. As a tem- important to send a copy to the manufacturer effort. porary measure, taping up the floppy drive of your anti-virus software 2) To prevent the virus spreading, tape and changing the PC’s clock date can allow 12) When the fire-fighting is over, a report over the floppy drive slots of infected the user to keep working. Make sure the complete with a sample of the virus should machines and disconnect them from the clock won’t be changed back to the correct be made to The Computer Crimes Unit at network. date when it is logged on to a network server. New Scotland Yard. Call them on 3) Inform the users of the problem, 8) Some viruses are easier to remove than 0171 230 1212 and ask for form VAF1. because the term virus is so emotive. others, so for organisations it makes sense to This includes detailed evidence-gathering Rumours can spread through a company, maintain a range of software. It will increase instructions including full written notes of causing people at all levels to take inap- the chance of successfully identifying a virus your actions during clean-up. propriate action. Even worse, rumours and cleaning it up. It is sensible to back up If the police are to successfully prosecute spreading outside an organisation can infected files – or indeed the entire hard disk virus writers and distributors, they must have cause serious damage. In rare cases, they if the boot sector is infected. If a virus is hard evidence that the virus has infected a have even affected share prices. to remove using the built in software, an anti- machine without its owner’s permission. 4) Many employers state that bringing virus vendors helpline may be able to talk you Recently 26-year-old Christopher Pile was games to work or downloading software is through low-level editing of damaged data charged, and pleaded guilty under section 3 a “sacking offence”. This attitude is self- using a sector editor. If you lack special soft- of the Computer Misuse Act for the alleged defeating. Few employees will be likely to ware, you can always eliminate boot sector distribution and creation of “Queeg” and come forward with infected disks if they viruses with this technique. First boot from an “Pathogen”. His arrest followed a joint are suspected of being the culprit. uninfected disk that contains FDISK and type operation by the Devon and Cornwall 5) It is vital that an infected machine is FDISK /MBR. Most anti-virus packages can Police in conjunction with the Computer booted from an uninfected floppy. This is do the same. Crimes Unit. He is expected to have because some viruses, such as “Fish”, are 9) Unless the virus has been intercepted the appeared in court for sentencing by the very effective at hiding themselves in moment it has arrived, the next, and rather time you read this.

Where do viruses come from?

t has often been reported that a a virus into the wild, by intentionally uploading modification to an existing strain is often Iparticularly large number of viruses an infected file to a bulletin board or infecting enough. Many virus writers do this just so originate in the former USSR, written by a PC, is against the law. None of these laws they can boast that they have written a virus. unemployed techies hostile to the West. have actually had much impact on the num- Some send them direct to anti-virus Dmitry Gryaznov, S&S International’s bers of viruses written, but they do give police software manufacturers to gain some Russian virus expert, says this is myth. the authority to stop the deliberate distribution recognition of their feat. The virus is never He claims around a quarter of all viruses of viruses. even released into the wild. Manufacturers originate in Eastern Europe; no more than Although there are around 7,000 different nonetheless are forced to waste many hours would be expected, given the number of viruses, the vast majority are relatively minor disassembling them and updating detection PCs. variations on previously created types. This data files. There is, indeed, no single large is because it is considerably easier for a The ultimate answer to almost all source of viruses. Most countries (the UK virus writer to modify a virus they know to be computer risks is backup. As hard disks get and Russia included) have laws that make successful than write one from scratch. Many bigger, a tape drive becomes a must. Own- the deliberate unauthorised alteration of of these strains have never been seen “in the ers with just a floppy drive can only hope to data a criminal offence. The act of writing wild”, so to speak. back data up on a regular basis. The best one and distributing it is not in itself illegal One reason for this is that the type of tape drive is one that can fit the entire if the recipients are told they are receiving underground bulletin boards created to contents of the PC onto a single tape. The a virus. Accidentally infecting a machine is exchange viruses usually require a virus to be job is much less likely to be done regularly if also not illegal. Only deliberately releasing uploaded before access is granted. A minor you have to hang about changing tapes.

224 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 GROUP TEST: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Types of virus Non-TSR file virus infected MBR, the virus goes memory resident and Trojans The is the simplest form of virus to write — and the infects all accessed .EXE files. Trojans are not viruses at all. They are programs least effective, so you are unlikely to be too troubled that hide a malevolent code within a seemingly Companion viruses by them. When an infected program is first run, the innocuous program, but they do not replicate. For Companion viruses create a .COM companion to an virus code carries out its task – checking that an this reason the chances of being caught out acci- .EXE file. Because DOS executes .COM files before executable file is not already infected, then attach- dentally by trojans are low. .EXEs, the virus is run before the .EXE file of the ing a copy to it. It then runs the original program to same name. The virus then runs the original .EXE. Macro viruses which it is attached. In contrast, TSR viruses load Macro viruses have been predicted for a while. The themselves into memory when they are executed Polymorphic viruses first to appear was recently first seen when it was and are able to infect any executable program they These aim to foil anti-virus packages that search for sent out accidentally by Microsoft on a CD-ROM to can reach from that point.. a specific strain by looking for a known sequence of OEMs. They called it a “Prank Macro”. It is the first bytes. No two copies of a true polymorphic virus are Boot sector virus virus that will run on both PCs and Macs. It alike. When polymorphic viruses run they first This is the other major type of virus. Most of the replicates using an auto-executing Word Basic decrypt themselves and then behave like any other boot sector consists of a simple, small program that macro embedded in a document. When the docu- virus. Programs such as the “Nuke Encryption is used to start DOS, or whatever operating system ment is loaded, it copies the macro to Word’s set- Device” (NED) and the “Trident Polymorphic Engine” is installed. Boot sector viruses replace this with tings file NORMAL.DOT. where it cunningly have been written that turn a standard virus into a virus code and typically move the boot sector to replaces the File Save command with a routine that polymorphic virus. Fortunately, once measures have another part of the disk. When the PC boots, the also saves a copy of the macro in each document. been taken by an anti-virus company to defeat each virus code is executed first. Then the virus runs the The only symptom is a dialogue box containing the “engine”, all viruses processed by it are detectable. real boot sector. A very slow boot from an infected letter “i”. It would not be difficult, though, to add a floppy with an excess of floppy disk activity is a Stealth malicious payload. Microsoft have produced a free common symptom of an infected machine. Stealth covers a variety of techniques that viruses program that will scan a disk for infected documents use to disguise their presence –– from anything as and flag auto executing macros. Most anti-virus Multipartite viruses simple as hiding the increase in files size of executa- companies have added the signature to their data These combine both techniques. They can infect bles to full-blown detection of the tools used to files but because Word documents can have any both boot sectors and files. The file version of detect the virus and the taking of appropriate action extension, scanners now have to examine every file, “Tequila”, for example, infects the Master Boot to fool them. not just executables. Record. Once the PC has been booted from an

ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Dr Soloman’s AV Norton AV Norton AV McAfee V.1.0 McAfee Microsoft AV F-Prot Sophos Sweep for DOS/Windows for DOS/Windows for Win95 for Win95 for DOS/Windows (suplied with DOS 6.x) Shareware edition S& S International Symantec Symantec IPE Corp IPE Corp Microsoft Connection Frisk software (Iceland) Sophos Contact 01296 318800 01628 592222 01628 592222 0171 436 2244 0171 436 2244 0345 002000 00 354 5617 273 01235 559933 Detection Technology Checksummer (integrity) checker Y Y Y y y Y N N Scans for known viruses Y Y Y y y Y Y Y DOS TSR Y Y Y Y y Y Y Y Windows TSR dailogue box genererator N/A (1) Y N/A (1) Y y Y N N Windows VXD -Virtual device driver Y N Y N( 3) N N N Heuristic scanner Y - Scanner Y (2) Y(2) N N N Y Y Checks own integrity Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Features Scheduler Y Y Y Y Y N N N Virus removal/repair Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Virus alerts can be customised Y Y Y N( 3) Y N Y - TSR ONLY Y Onscreen virus information Y Y Y N( 3) Y Y Y Y Runs from floppy Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Scanner can check archive files eg .ZIPs Y Y Y Y Y Y N (4) Emergency recovery disk NN N Records copy of FAT Y Y Y Y Y N N N Records copy of boot sector Y Y Y Y Y N N N Records copy of CMOS RAM Y Y Y Y Y N N N Lab results Time to scan for known viruses (Secs) DOS 80 77 N/C N/C 65 165 N/A N/A Windows (5) 100 75 N/C N/C 66 136 80 126 DOS TSR Virus monitor Fish CE E E E E CE E N/A Tequila CE E E E E CE E N/A Smeg (a stealth virus) E E E E E - - N/A Jerusalem CE E E E E CE E N/A Stoned CE E (6) E E E CE N N/A

(1)=VXD used instead . (2)=TSR and SCANNER. (3)=(Included in 1.1). ( 4)=Only dynamically compressed files not zips. C=Stopped a copy. E=Stopped execution (5)=Expect a greater difference between DOS and Windows on machines with lower performance graphics cards under Windows. (6)= also intercepts warm boot. Lab Tests (scanners looking for known viruses) All products tested found 4K (frodo), Anticad 5, Cascade, Form, Green Caterpillar, Joshi, Keypress, Maltese Amoeba, Sampo, Smeg, Spanish Telecom, Stoned, Tenbyte ,except for MS AV which found only 4K (frodo), Cascade, Form, Joshi, Stoned and Tenbyte

226 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 On the CUTTINGCUTTING EDGEEDGE PCW Online PCW Futures elcome to Cutting Edge, 231 Focus — Wendy M Grossman on 249 Innovations — The floppy W products that prevent children disk finds a new lease of life. the section in Personal gaining access to undesirable Tim Frost reports. Computer World that areas of the internet. combines our regular 251 Horizons — Ben Tisdall on 236 net.answers — General the new “wavelets” reviews of games, points and problems about the compression technology. books and CD-ROMs Internet, cleared up by Nigel with features bringing Whitfield. A great place for 252 Bluesky — Nick Beard on you the latest news beginners to start. fault-tolerant software. about computing, and 240 net.news — Netscape reacts 253 Retro Computing — The consumer technologies swiftly to plug a gap in the BBC Micro was “a machine and online services. security of its web browser, and for everyone”. Simon cable phone customers get a Rockman reminisces. We now have the mixed deal. News round-up by most comprehensive Joanne Evans & Clive Akass. coverage of these topics PCW Media available in a general 247 net.newbies — A shortened and simplified explanation of 254 Books — Joanne Evans computing magazine. how to get online. looks at books which take a Stay with us and we’ll slightly different view of the take the pain out of comms — The Comms internet. keeping on the cutting column has moved to a new, regular site in Hands On. 256 CD-ROMs — Our disks edge. have a spaced-out flavour this month, featuring Apollo Kids’Stuff: 13, Space Age Encyclopedia Fun with The Fish and Grolier Science Fiction. Who Could Wish PCW Fun

261 Kids’ Stuff — Paul Begg has an eye on CDs for Christmas, including The Fish Who Could Wish and the excellent Circus!.

266 Competition — A Hi- Grade Notino notebook and CD-ROMs: a Nokia Trinitron monitor are Look! It’s Larry up for grabs this month.

267 Screenplay — Pass some Screenplay: Jungle time with Pitfall - The Mayan Adventure, Fury3, and fever in Pitfall - Pinball Space Cadet The Mayan Adventure 270 Leisure Lines — Puzzles with JJ Clessa.

229 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 Guardian peace ofmind. Wendy MGrossman toomuch. that theirchildren maybelearning worried increasingly are people available ontheInternet, andviolencefreely pornography With A method forhandlingthis campaigners arguethatthebest stories, oronWebsites. in newsgroupslikealt.sex. what kidsmightstumbleacross reasons tobeworriedabout tors. Buttherearelegitimate comic books,orpocketcalcula- its bugaboos,whetherit’sTV, Every generationofparentshas the informationsuperhighway. not safetolettheirkidscross convinced manyparentsthatit’s guns incyberspacehas Many freedomofspeech sex, drugs,andbombs‘n’ ll thetabloidcoverageof them; amuchbettersolution choose whetherornottouse this isthatittheparentswho cyberspace. Thegoodsideof limits onwhatkidscanseein is springinguptotryset assumption. and that’saquestionable not shockedbywhattheysee, that theadultsthemselvesare wider context.Butthatpresumes what theyseeandplaceitina teach themhowtodealwith block offkids’desiretoexplore; Don’t, theargumentgoes,tryto situation isparentalinvolvement. reports on new software designedtogive onnewsoftware parents reports A newgenerationofproducts angels Machines. Allthreeofthesecut Club, UKOnline,orResearch for you:theBBCNetworking cut outobjectionablematerial service providerthatattemptsto ucts istochooseanInternet product cankeepup. cult toseehowasinglesoftware minute byminute,andit’sdiffi- are. TheInternetchanges more effectivethantheyactually assume theseapplicationsare it promises,andparentsmay technology rarelydeliverswhat sorship. Thedownsideisthat than government-mandatedcen- The alternativetotheseprod- PCW PCW Illustration byStephen ● FOCUS: NETNANNIES Caplin IP service,andNetscapeis such aproductforusewithits example, hasalreadyannounced months. Compuserve,for review hereinthecoming products joiningthefourwe adults asmuchthekids. option effectivelyfencesinthe family users.However,this its primarilyeducationaland material itdeemsunsuitablefor blocks Websitesthatcontain additionally, ResearchMachines alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.*; hierarchies likealt.sex.*and their Usenetfeedstoeliminate ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL Expect toseemanymore DECEMBER 1995

231 CUTTING EDGE DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 232 Web browsers. can thenbeusedasafilterfor to playin;thisstandardlabelling label themselvesassafeforkids which isaskingWebsitesto may lieintheSafeSurfInitiative, real hopeforthefuture,though, blocking inafuturerelease.The planning toincludeWebsite- unprotected WinCIM orblocking CompuServe’s completely specific files.Blockingaccessto .ZIP, forexample—oraccessto whole filetypes—.GIF,.JPG,or and aweathermap,youblock between apornographicpicture the computertodistinguish that theybeadded. to thecompanywitharequest although youcansendthesein your owntothedatabase, unfortunately, addentriesof access tothese.Youcan’t, choose toblockormonitor of “bad”sites.Youcanthen button todownloadthedatabase click onthenowenabledFilter name ofyourmailserver,then enter youremailaddressandthe tricky toconfigure:youhave Internet blocking.Thisisalittle homework. games insteadofdoing that showsheorsheisplaying set CYBERsittertoproducealog Manager, Alternatively,youcan child fromfiddlingwiththeFile this meansyoucanstopyour the manualhelpfullypointsout, your ownharddiskaswell.As block accesstofilesstoredon You cansetittomonitoror monitoring inanofficesituation. might besuitableforcovert accessed —withanotethatthis tion aboutwhatmaterialisbeing material orsimplyloginforma- set theprogramtoblock what CYBERsitterdoes.Youcan the basicsofInternetand panying slimA5manualexplains the UKdistributor.Theaccom- the programisavailablefrom quickly; a30-daytrialversionof on onediskandinstallsfairly Solid Oak’sCYBERsittercomes CYBERsitter

Because there’snowayfor The new1.2versionadds CUTTING EDGE PCW ● FOCUS: NETNANNIES how secureisthisfeature? Bottom Top sophisticated user(read:child) from DOS,sinceanymoderately whole thingiseasilydefeated tampered with.However,the program settingscan’tbe require apasswordsothatthe set tohideitsprogramgroupor of it,ismissing.Itcanalsobe saying thefile,orsomeportion dard Windowserrormessage blocked fileyoujustgetastan- its tracks:whenyouaccessa phone numbers. personal detailslikeaddressand stop yourchildfromsendingout can alsobeeasilyconfiguredto but effective.Thenewversion instrument approachisawkward untouched. Thisblunt personal filesremained would alsoensurethatyourown you weren’tlooking,andit couldn’t runuphugebillswhen would meanthatyourchild (which tendtobeverylarge) the downloadofvideofiles CYBERsitter attemptstohide WinWatch recordswhat’sbeendone,andbywhichuser The “supervisor”candisableunsavourysites;but Out ofsite very quick.Attheend,you’re bills tickup,buttheroutinewas software whilefeelingthephone nothing. the promisethatitwillcensor reputation isfoundedinparton for testingpurposesasDemon’s We usedaconnectiontoDemon software’s installationroutine. provider beforeyoucanstartthe connection toyourservice log onandestablishalive Net-orientated: youevenhaveto SurfWatch iscompletely SurfWatch http://www.pow-dist.co.uk Distribution 01202716726or postage andpacking,fromPOW! CYBERsitter: £29.95plusVAT, boot diskapproach. there’s alwaystheemergency block editingofthosefiles, files andreboot.Evenifyou out therelevantlinesinsystem can figureouthowtocomment It’s alittleweirdtoinstall the Websitesforeither there’s noproblemgettinginto tion abouthackingisdangerous: is doesn’tseemtothinkinforma- ing intoallthisstuff.Whoeverit clearly spendsalotoftimelook- links ofbannedmaterial. did blockourfavouritepageof including theleatheroutfits.It “Flirty” fashions,however, fectly happytoletusinlookat searching theWeb.Itwasper- most ofthelinkswefoundby and itwouldn’tletusfollow sex, andconspiracytheories, that featuresmaterialondrugs, our waytoawell-knownUSsite it wassupposedtodo:blocked large holesinit. software quicklystartstohave that withoutupdatesthe stuff iscomingoutallthetime virus scanner:somuchnew SurfWatch is(correctly)likea monthly updates.Inthis, the chancetosubscribe updating procedureyou’regiven would accept.Somewhereinthe serial numbertheprogram yes, butwereunabletofinda Surf Watchdatabase;weclicked asked ifyouwanttoupdatethe groups througha Telnetsession access tooneofthebanned newsreaders, itallowedus newsgroups accessedviapublic successfully blockedusoutof limitations, however.Althoughit saved onyourharddisk. have beendownloadedand with filesorWebpagesthat this. Theprogramgivesnohelp next versionwillallowyoutodo although thecompanysays adding sitesofyourown; you can’tyetconfigureitby through theTaskManager.And can’t, however,removeit clicking onaradiobutton.You by enteringapasswordand SurfWatch.” Youcanturnitoff up themessage“Blockedby log ontoablockedsite,itputs know it’sthere.Whenyoutryto magazines. Phrack Someone atSurfWatch SurfWatch certainlydidwhat The programdoeshaveits SurfWatch wantsyouto — twohacker 2600 or gram anddisable NetNanny Net Nannyadministrationpro- exited andrebooted. the programagainuntilwe’d times, andrefusedtoletusrun written theword“sex”five Word forWindowsafterwe’d irritating: NetNannyshutdown tem down.Anadultwillfindthis surreptitiously, orshutthesys- the programtosimplyloghits screen —andwhetheryouwant banned wordappearsonthe that is,thenumberoftimes specify thenumberofhits— tures don’tdestroyhouses. ually explicitimages,sincepic- making recipesthanaboutsex- more aboutamateurbomb- parents shouldbeworrying may desire—andprobably gives youallthelatitude objectionable material.This words youthinkmighttrigger undesirable contacts,orsimply details, namesofpotentially phone numberandaddress want toblock.Forinstance; dictionary withthewordsyou configure theincluded from theinstallationdiskand Nanny administrationprogram actually useWindows. Windows programifyou hidden files.Youonlyinstallthe your harddisk)thatholdsthree creates ahiddendirectoryon install theDOSversion(which and Windows.Youhaveto versions ononedisk;forDOS package consistsoftwo dent onwordsandphrases.The Net Nannyiscompletelydepen- Net Nanny Machines 01235826868 year’s updates,fromResearch SurfWatch: £59includinga is alwaysgoingtobethere. and/or Windows,thatlimitation putting realsecurityintoDOS Until Microsoftgetsaroundto ple DOSeditofsystemfiles. defeat theprogramfromasim- Once again,it’sfairlyeasyto with aninternalnewsreader. to acommercialonlineservice You canruntheWindows Net Nannyrequiresyouto Either way,youruntheNet atively recentlistofunsavoury saying this,butifyouwantarel- HWA. Theywon’tthankusfor produced byCrawley-based product inthisgroup,andit’s WinWatch isthesoleBritish WinWatch netnanny/ http://www.netnanny.com/ $49.95 from(1)(604)6628522or Net Nanny,fromNannyLtd: dictionary? “format” intheprogram’s many parentswouldthinktoput prompting, forexample,how how toimplement.Without documentation doesn’texplain unauthorised disks—thatthe — likeblockingtheuseof some useful-soundingfeatures it). Thepressmaterialpromises would, unlessyouknewabout defeat suchaprogram(andit “seqs” iftheythoughtitwould change thespellingof“sex”to the sortofpeoplewhowould especially sinceNetusersare approach fortoday’sInternet, it’s notasufficientlyflexible users todownload.Butoverall, tionary ofsitesavailablefor Web sitedoeskeepastarterdic- sites toblock—NetNanny’s own willingnesstoresearch explicit filenames,andonyour be helpfulaboutassigning dent ongeeksbearing.GIFsto or newsgroups.Youaredepen- to blockingaccessWebsites the programisn’tthatwellsuited trigger shutdown.Butevenso, set averylownumberofhitsto block specificWebsitesifyou editing thesystemfiles. can stilldisabletheprogramby and itscopies.Ofcourse,you ling accesstothefloppydisk computer isamatterofcontrol- altogether. Socontrollingthe temporarily orremoveit You couldusethismethodto self —er,yourchildren —into very goodwaytoshameyour- Reading throughthislogisa been doneandbywhichuser. WinWatch recordsthatthishas mand fromtheMailmenu,and Send andReceiveAllMailcom- onto CompuServeusingthe WinCIM, forexample,andlog windows withinWindows:open the company’sWebpage. downloading anewversionfrom You updatethedatabaseby and othertypesofInternetsites. Usenet newsgroup,Webpages, You canaddyourownsites— found onthisserver,andsoon). (internal transfererror,filenot for oneofanumberreasons blocked, they’rejustunavailable approach. Netsitesaren’t has optedforthesubtle it runningforanothertouse. starting thesystemandleaving no protectionagainstonechild currently loggedon,andthere’s Supervisor’s ID)whichuseris the reportmoduleusing at aglance(unlessyouopenup However, there’snowaytotell want your11-year-oldtosee. access tomaterialthatyoudon’t year-old mightbegranted member ofthefamily:your15- permanent settingsforeach since itmeansthatyoucankeep Windows. Thishasitsuses, you tologonwhenstart reviewed here,WinWatchasks as itwassupposedto. separately, theproductworked driver. Oncethatwasinstalled the ODBCMicrosoftAccess system’s refusaltoletitinstall apparently entirelyduetoour WinWatch upandrunning, database. you can’tsimplyexportthe addresses, too.Unfortunately, button, andyoucanreadthe included. Clickonthe“Modify” list ofallthesitesandservices and you’retreatedtoacomplete the packageasSupervisor, this istheonetobuy:loginto Internet sitesandnewsgroups, PCW WinWatch alsomonitorsall Like CYBERsitter,WinWatch Unlike theotherprograms We hadsometroublegetting ● FOCUS: NETNANNIES encrypted. time: thedatabaseitselfis and pastetheaddressesoneata database, expecttohavecopy If you’rejustbuyingitforthe time tolearnyourwayaroundit. Expect tohavetakealittle difficult toconfigureanduse. words andphrases. personal detailsandspecified stop thetransmissionof access tolocalfiles,aswell can beconfiguredtoblock doing somework.Theprogram ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL We foundthisprogramabit co.uk/WinWatch available fromhttp://www.pcnl. 01704 895815.Databaseupdates Crown ComputerProducts WinWatch: £40plusVATfrom A “net-time” withtheirkids. have tospendsomequality parents shouldstillexpectto need someimprovement,and sitter orWinWatch.Butboth would suggesteitherCYBER- computer shutdownonme.”) work (“But,Mum…the why theycan’tdotheirhome- kids agreatnewexcusefor access, andNetNannygives block ormonitorlocalfile dure isflawed,SurfWatchwon’t sites, WinWatch’slogonproce- sitter doesn’tallowyoutoadd entirely satisfactory:CYBER- parents. Sononeofthemis work thembetterthanmost kids willunderstandhowto unfortunately meansthatmost get themupandrunning:which knowledge andcommitmentto certain amountoftechnical unmonitored. leaving theirkids’computeruse single programandwalkaway expect tobeableinstalla means thatparentsshouldnot natural tendencytobreakrules, of security,coupledwithkids’ very quickly.DOS’sbasiclack defeat anyoftheseprograms in schoolwouldbeableto Editor’s Choice ny ofthebrightkidsweknew As wehavetopickone, All theseprogramsrequirea DECEMBER 1995

235 CUTTING EDGE DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 236 connections toand fromsome special programstoscreenout connected totheinternetwith “firewall” —acomputer side can’tgetintoyoursystems. make surethatpeoplefromout- services, thenit’sagoodideato providing anypubliclyaccessible transfer requests.Ifyou’renot mation, suchasincomingfile filter outcertaintypesofinfor- connects youtotheinternetcan the computer,orrouter,that access. control there arerealpasswordsto run aserver,checktomakesure they’re asecurityrisk.Ifyoudo servers onPCsystemsbecause you shouldn’trunanysuch internet. be accessedbyanyoneonthe from yourPC,itcouldpotentially ple inyourofficetogetfiles software thatallowsotherpeo- (File TransferProtocol)server For instance,ifyouhaveFTP what softwarethey’rerunning. computers areconnectedand depends verymuchonhowyour the questionofprotection;it on yoursystem. have somethingworthlookingat will botherunlesstheythinkyou ing isn’tthatcommon:no-one A. them? protect to thesystems.HowcanI about hackersgainingaccess the internetandI’mworried Q. Ourofficeisconnectedto Firstly, rememberthathack- A popularsolutionistousea You shouldalsoseewhether Unless youreallyneedto, There’s nosimpleanswerto CUTTING EDGE net.answers net.answers PCW ● ONLINE to theInternet groups mailsystem Windows forWork- connecting your easiest waysof of thesimplestand ● systems thatare address toalistof It comparesthe they’re comingfrom. fies whichmachine computer andidenti- checks forconnectionstoyour called tcp_wrappers.This to protectitfromattack. can beinstalledonyourserver software ontheinternet,which various typesoffirewall web server,orftpsite.Thereare additional facilitiessuchasa used toprovidemanyother firewall system,whichcanbe computer runningUnixasyour wall? Onesolutionistohavea addresses aswell. you’ll helptoconserveinternet firewall serverinthisway,since computers arehiddenbehinda good ideatomakesureallyour reason notto,it’sprobablya unless youhaveaverygood proxy webserver).Infact, original computer(justlikea results aresentbacktothe passed tothefirewalland requests forinformationare everyone intheoffice.Instead, network toprovideaccess don’t havetoaregistered act asproxysystemssothatyou pass throughthisfirewall. anything goinginorouthasto the restofinternet,sothat diary betweenyournetworkand addresses. Itactsasaninterme- SpikeMail isone through theInternet. Nigel Whitfield One popularpackageis But wheredoyougetafire- Some firewallsadditionally guides you circle.com, sage to: mailing listbysendingames- walls youcanjointhefirewalls which providessimilarfacilities. firewall kit,availablefromTIS, your computer.There’salsoa one attemptingtobreakinto tion youneedtotrackdownany- this couldprovidetheinforma- system toseewhoisusingit— configured toquerytheremote who aren’tlisted.Itcanevenbe and refusesaccesstopeople whether ornotyou’llpickitup) your telephonetodecide the CallerDisplayserviceon allowed access(justlikeusing enables thesystemtotalk Microsoft SMTPgateway,which the internetistobuy your MicrosoftMailsystemto A. Workgroups totheinternet? mail inWindowsfor Q. Howcanweconnectthe /pub/firewalls. ftp.tis.com /pub/security ftp.win.tue.nl tcp_wrappers isavailablefrom line: the TISfirewallkitisat The simplestwaytoconnect For moreinformationonfire- Information about subscribe firewalls. majordomo@great in containing the directory, and in the receive viaSMTP. you, whereasSpikeMailcanonly mail fromaPOPmailboxfor ets aroundit.Itcanalsocollect as longyouputsquarebrack- put theaddressin“To”field, Internet Personalallowsyouto address intheSubjectfield. called “internet”,withthereal have tobesentaspecialuser address book.Allyourmessages won’t beabletouseyour isn’t quiteasintuitive,andyou ple ontheinternet.SpikeMail messages areaddressedtopeo- fer slightlyisinthewaythat your network. world justaseasilyaround send filestopeoplearoundthe works inreversetoo,soyoucan your MSMail.Thesameprocess tem, itwillappearasaniconin using theMIMEencodingsys- on theinternetsendsyouafile attachments, sothatifsomeone Workgroups. They’llevenhandle supplied withWindowsfor ordinary MicrosoftMailprogram and receivemessagesusingthe importantly, theabilitytosend with similarfacilities—most for MSMail. SpikeMail, andInternetPersonal affordable alternatives: internet, buttherearesome to connectyoursystemthe one ofthemostexpensiveways internet mailservers. Where thetwoproductsdif- Both productsprovideyou Unfortunately thisgatewayis PCW ● ONLINE MICROMART CUTTING EDGE CLASSIFIED

● Spike includes an automatic trigger to regu- larly dial up and collect your mail

and read it for a while, to get a feel for it before proposing your own group. Remember, Both programs can be used on a though, that some sites simply don’t take network, with messages delivered to differ- commercially-orientated groups like the biz ent MS Mail users. And your internet ones, so you may find that many people address won’t have to be the same as your cannot take part in discussions. Microsoft Mail name. For instance, you As long as you’re not posting blatantly could have a mail name of “Nigel Whitfield” commercial messages such as “our product but an internet name of “gorgeous”. is better than X”, you should suggest that SpikeMail is probably the easier of the people raise their queries in any of the most two programs to set up, and it’s written in appropriate mainstream newsgroups. But the UK by a company called BiTools. You remember to check the charter of that group can find out more by looking at their web first, before using it as a support forum. page, http://www.bitools.com/, or While a newsgroup may seem like a download the latest version via FTP to good idea, you’ll probably find that a lot of ftp.demon.co.uk. At the time of writing, your customers simply don’t want to bother the current demo version was in with it: according to one internet provider, /pub/ibmpc/winsock/apps/spikemail/sm3 over 80 percent of its customers never 10a.zip, but there’s a new version due out access newsgroups. soon which promises even more features. The best solution for many people is to SpikeMail is shareware, but the shareware set up a mailing list, so that customers can version only allows you to set up internet send a message to a single address and mailboxes for five users. Registration is £60 have it redistributed automatically to others (plus VAT) and allows unlimited users. on the list. As well as being quick, a mailing Internet Personal for MS Mail is list has the advantage that you can create it produced by netApp Systems of Ontario and easily and then decide who can join. costs US$89 for a single user. The multi- If you decide that you want to set up a user version is called Internet Office for MS mailing list for your customers, check with Mail and costs US$89 per user, with your internet provider to see if it’s able to discounts for larger networks. You can find run the list for you — some will, for a out more information by emailing netApp at charge. If not, then you’ll either have to find the address [email protected]. someone who will run it for you, or install a program on your own computer. Q. We’d like a space on the internet for customers to talk about our products. How Q. What’s the difference between SLIP and do we get one? PPP? Will one give me better performance A. Historically, people have frowned on use than the other? of the internet for purely commercial A. SLIP and PPP are methods of connecting purposes, and unless yours is a very large two computers together via a point-to-point company with a well-known product, the link (like a modem connection, or a serial chances of being able to have a newsgroup cable) rather than the network connections created to discuss your product are used within a building. SLIP stands for minimal, especially if you want a group in Serial Line Internet Protocol and PPP for one of the main discussion hierarchies. Point to Point Protocol. If you really want a space where people SLIP is the older of the two and was will talk only about your products and not designed specifically to connect two known the competition’s, then you might be able to systems, providing there was an internet make a case for a newsgroup in the “biz” connection between them — for example, a hierarchy, which was created specifically for dial-up link between your PC and an internet that type of discussion. The best way to go service provider. When you use SLIP, you’ll about it is to join the newsgroup biz.config need to know the internet address at each

237 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 AppleTalk, Novellandvarious informationfor carrying connections. It’scapableof restricted tointernet for this:firstly,PPPisn’t used. Thereareseveralreasons col, butittooisverywidely transfer yourdata. link aspossibleisusedto make surethatasmuchofthe compression optionswhich versions ofSLIPincludebuilt-in before itcanbeused.Modern the linkappropriately configure end oftheconnectionand you like.Forinstance,couldhavemailboxes usually allowyoutohaveasmanymailboxes supplier thatusesSMTPtosendoutmailwill matically. Andithasanimportantadvantage:a cally, butonceit’sallsetupitusuallyworksauto- times foraprice). SMTP only,whileothersletyouchoose(some- front door. rather asifyou’dblockedtheletterboxinyour running, themessageswon’tbedeliveredtoyou, them. Ifyoudon’thaveyourmailprogram to yours,usuallyjustafteryou’veconnected transferred fromtheinternetprovider’scomputer retrieve themessages. you askitto,bysendingasetofcommandsto provider, andyourmailprogrampicksitupwhen storage spaceonamachinerunbyyourinternet office box.Whenmailarrivesforyou,it’sputina Transfer Protocol.POPworksabitlikepost for PostOfficeProtocol.SMTPistheSimpleMail A. PPP isamuchnewerproto- POP3 (sometimesknownjustasPOP)stands SMTP canbealittlemorecomplicatedtechni- Some InternetprovidersoffereitherPOPor With SMTP,messagesareautomatically have SMTP.What’sthedifference? others that theirmailis while POP3 internet providers,andsomesay Q. I’vebeenconsideringdifferent The mailalwaysgetthrough... quality ofthelinksothat PPP toallowitmonitorthe are additionalfeaturesbuiltinto you anaddressinstead.There you callcanautomaticallyassign oftheconnection:server end the internetaddressateither don’t, forexample,needtoknow cally configurethelink.Soyou those thatallowittoautomati- facilitiesprovidedbyPPPare ful though. Someofthemostuse- used byinternetproviders, simultaneously. other networks,viathesamelink That’s notthereasonit’s can accessaselectionofnewsgroupsandsend ties arepresentlyavailablehere.However,you access throughMSNintheUS,notallfacili- A. the iconforMicrosoftNetwork(MSN)? a fullconnectiontotheinternetbyclickingon Q. NowthatWindows95isavailable,canIget asyoulike. mailboxes POP mail,butwillstillletyouhaveasmany from othersuppliers—somecompaniesuse with SMTP;butcheckwhatoptionsareavailable to usetheinternetformail,youmaybebetteroff mail program. anywhere ontheinternet—allyouneedisaPOP should beabletoretrieveyourmailfrom receive yourmessages;andsecondly,you from whichtochooseifyouwantusePOP advantages: firstly,therearelotsmoreprograms internet. Butthereareacoupleofimportant than onepersoninthefamilywantstouse one mailbox,whichwillnotbeasusefulifmore pay extra. “[email protected]”, withouthavingto sample.demon.co.uk”, and for “[email protected]”,“sarah@ beginners toget grips with beginners internet access,butit’sveryeasy for ● the technicalities. to startlearningwithouthavingworryabout whether youwanttogoonline,it’sagreatway if you’reusingitalot.Butnotsure thanonsomeotherservices,especially higher the icononyourWindows95desktop. of all,tosignupallyouhavedoisclickon and receiveinternetmailfromMSN,too.Best In aword;no.Althoughthereisfullinternet If youdohavemorethanonepersonwanting With aPOPsystemyou’llusuallyhaveonly The MicrosoftNetworkdoesn’tprovide full At themoment,costsonMSNare a choice,pickPPP,sinceitwill worry toomuch.Butifyouhave have oneortheother,don’t SLIP andPPP.So,ifyouonly ence inperformancebetween won’t usuallynoticeanydiffer- trol theoptions.Inpractice,you backwards andforwardstocon- more informationhastobesent plex thanSLIPand,intheory, facilities, PPPisalotmorecom- facilities). versions ofPPPprovidethese problem islikelytoarise(most software willknowwhethera Partly becauseoftheextra PCW in ablockofflats. so itgoesthroughthewrongbox wrongly addressedyourletter, ent servicejustasifyou’d refused”, orconnecttoadiffer- messagelike“Connection a you omitit,you’lleitherreceive gram ontheothercomputer.If request reachesthecorrectpro- number sothatyourconnection usually havetogivetheport or aspecialloginprogram,you’ll like aMUD(MultiUserDungeon) Usenet messages. server whereyoucanpickup puter, andport119isthenews to findoutwho’susingacom- “finger” portwhichenablesyou receiving mail,port79isthe instance: port25isusedfor you won’thavetospecifyit.For ber willalwaysbethesameand known services”theportnum- ticular port,butforsome“well- internet havetoconnectapar- computer andanotheronthe the rightbox. must firstputyourmessageinto reach aparticularperson,you the frontofbuilding.To ports areliketheletterboxesat block offlatswithpeopleinside, ine eachcomputertobelikea another computer.Ifyouimag- program youconnecttoon internet tocontrolwhich A. you connect.Whatisthat? net needaportnumberwhen Q. Someservicesontheinter- have comeacross. hassles thatyoumightotherwise solve alotoftheconfiguration ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL Port numbersareusedonthe If you’reaccessingservices All connectionsbetweenone demon.co.uk net.answers@stonewall. send themto tions you’dlikeanswered, co.uk [email protected]. the address welcomes commentsvia internet mailinglists.He maintainer ofseveral freelance writerand Nigel Whitfield ● PCW ONLINE . Ifyouhaveques- DECEMBER 1995 Contacts is a 239 CUTTING EDGE DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 240 N cracked security fixesNetscape versions oftheproductisthoroughlyreviewedbeforerelease. independent securityexpertstoensurethattheinfuture used intheupdatedversion,andNetscapeisplanningtoengage them easiertocrack.Up300bitsofrandominformationwillbe information usedtogeneratethekeyswasmuchshorter,making 40-bit encryptionkeysaregeneratedbytheprogram,random engineering oftheNetscapeNavigator,whichrevealedthatalthough into Navigator2.0,whichisduetobereleasedinBetaformshortly. dors. Thenewsecurityenhancementshavealsobeenincorporated along withapatchfortheCommerceServersoftwareusedbyven- and WindowscanbedownloadedfromtheNetscapehomepage, that businesswouldbeaffected. online winestoreusingNetscapeCommerceServer,didn’tbelieve them fromtheinternet.Sainsbury’s,whichhasjustlaunchedan obtaining creditcarddetailswithouttheeffortinvolvedindecrypting Daviespointedoutthattherearemanyotherwaysof Grahame news. Manyhaveactuallypraisedtheswiftresponse.Easynet’s online shoppingdon’tappeartohavebeenundulytroubledbythe just afewhoursofcalculations. the browser––potentiallyincludingcreditcardinformationwith acknowledged thatitwaspossibletodecryptthemessagessentby tion protectedbytheirsecuritysystemshasbeenstolen,but The problemwasconfirmedbyNetscape’sengineers. cracked someofthesecurityenhancementsprovidedbyNetscape. explaining howthey’d accounts totheinternet sity, California,posted dents fromBerkeleyUniver- In lateSeptember,twostu- of itspopularwebbrowser. to plugagapinthesecurity provide abetterservicetoits claiming themovewillhelpits network toDemonInternet, ship fromtheUnipalm/Pipex provider Cityscapehasjumped Cambridge-based internet The originalsecuritybreachwasdiscoveredbyreverse Updated versionsoftheNetscapeNavigatorforMacintosh,Unix, Companies usingNetscape’ssecuritytechnologytoprovide In astatement,thecompanystressedthatnocustomerinforma- tions hasactedswiftly etscape Communica- CUTTING EDGE PCW Cityscape’s movetoDemonwillimprove services,customersassured ● ONLINE watching superhighway. ontheinformation Nigel Whitfield net.news owned byUnipalm/Pipex. Cityscape thatwaspreviously over the25percentstakein involves DemonInternettaking customers. Thechangeoveralso net.news Reactions fromusershave and Clive Akass ments intheservice,including there shouldbemanyimprove- network. Cityscapebelievesthat becoming partofamuchlarger that they’llexperienceproblems been mixed,withsomefearing Free callscomeandgo C losing freenetaccess. losing However, manyusershavereactedangrilytothepossibilityof the moment,andareunlikelytochangeforforseeablefuture. provider withNynexlinessaidfreecallswerestillinoperationat residential customers.OneBrighton-basedinternetservice calls schemeexplainsthatitcoversonlymadebetweentwo London secondaryschools. promotingbothcabletelevisionandtheinternetin campaign, computers. Thedecisionwillbebackedupbyanawareness which showedthat35,000ofitscustomersownedhome of callsperday. the subscriptioncoststoaninternetproviderforonly30minutes estimates thatthefreeaccessprovidedcouldbeworthasmuch will beabletocontinueusefreecallswiththeirmodems,and domestic customers ter, hasconfirmedthat Eastleigh andWinches- , London aswell covers largepartsof calls innewcontracts. specifically tovoice ing, andreferring appear tobebacktrack- local calls,others internet usingtheirfree users canaccessthe have confirmedthat While someproviders access theinternet. use theirphonelineto mixed dealwhenthey nies looksettogeta Meanwhile, thesmallprintforNynex’sCommUNITYfreelocal The decisionfollowsresearchcommissionedbyVideotron, Videotron, which telephone compa- ustomers ofcable do aspotoftraffic- anywhere intheUK. rate accessforanydestination to providecustomerswithlocal- beingupgradedinorder currently Demon’s dial-upnetwork–– allowing customersaccessto PCW ● ONLINE MICROMART CUTTING EDGE CLASSIFIED

Ceneca and UIT spin new web tools for Windows and Mac

eneca Communications has announced a brand new web authoring tool, initially for Cthe Macintosh, with versions for Unix and Windows to follow. PageMill is claimed to be one of the first design tools aimed at non-technical users, and avoids the need to see any HTML codes. The PageMill editor is designed to be as simple to use as a word processor, automatically converting images that are dragged into the page to .GIF format so that they can be displayed over the web. Existing pages can be imported, and Ceneca claims that the product will even correct errors in the HTML. Other features include an integrated browser, WYSIWYG creation of forms and ordinary text, and a pasteboard that auto- matically updates relative links between doc- uments to ensure that they’re always correct. For more advanced users, SiteMill includes all the features of PageMill as well as management tools designed to keep track of all the information on a large web site, auto- matically checking that referenced pages really do exist. For more information, point your browser at http://www.ceneca.com/. User Interface Technologies has announced the availability of HoTMetaL Pro 2.0, the latest version of the popular web tool, and includes additional features like the ability to import files from a range of word processors, including Microsoft Word and WordPerfect. Support for the HTML 3.0 standard and Netscape’s own extensions to the language are included, as well as preview modes for a range of different web browsers. Improvements to the interface include floating palettes and a new table editor, as well as speed enhancements. HoTMetaL Pro costs £179 per user; more details are available from [email protected]. ● See page 243 for more news of Ceneca Communications.

Compuserve Wallet competes with Netscape Compuserve’s new electronic “Wallet” is set to offer competition for Netscape in the growing online shopping market. Although it’s only just been launched and is supported by a handful of retailers, the Wallet has the backing of both Compuserve and Check Free, which provides electronic payment facilities to a wide range of companies, including MasterCard International. The Compuserve Wallet is built in to the Mosaic for Windows 95 web browser, unveiled by Compuserve in August. It can be used with any internet access provider, and unlike Netscape’s encryption technology it doesn’t pass your credit card details directly to the vendor. With worries about online security on the increase, this is bound to be welcome. Instead, the wallet contains all the information needed to make a purchase, including lists of the cards you hold and the billing address. Clicking on the wallet prompts the user for a password and allows them to select the card they want to pay with, before all the encrypted details are sent to the vendor, signed and passed directly on the CheckFree, where the transaction is processed. Compuserve claims that this increases the security of online shopping, but it remains to be seen whether their experience with the Electronic Mall is enough to persuade vendors to adopt the Wallet. US market researcher Forrester believes that it could take up to 18 months before the internet is safe for commercial transactions. In a recent report, the company claims that VeriFone, which has 75 percent of the US credit card authorisation business, is likely to become one of the most important players in online transactions, following its tie-up with Enterprise Integration Technologies which developed the Secure HTTP protocol. According to Forrester, rather than develop their own transaction systems, people involved in sales over the web should ensure that their systems will be compatible with VeriFone.

241 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 PCW ● ONLINE MICROMART CUTTING EDGE CLASSIFIED

Cyberia in Paris ondon’s Cyberia internet café is set to Lopen up shop in Paris. The new café will be housed in the futuristic Pompidou Centre, and will open around the same time as a French office of Easynet. First des Adobe plans to acquire Ceneca Web TP giant Adobe has signed a letter of site Dintent to acquire Ceneca Communica- tions, creators of the PageMill Web author- ing package. The deal will position Adobe as etEstate claims to be the first company one of the leading players in the world of Nproviding a searchable UK property internet publishing. The company already service on the world wide web. The pages, has agreements with Netscape to include found at http://netestate.dsres.com/, support for the Acrobat PDF (Portable include properties for sale and rent in Document Format) in Navigator. PageMaker London, as well as a guide to the legal 6.0, which the company acquired with its hurdles involved in buying property, and a purchase of Aldus, now includes the ability mortgage calculator. to create both HTML and PDF output. People hunting for somewhere to live can select an area, number of rooms and More Net news price bracket before being presented with a he BBC is to set up what it calls an shortlist of properties. Clicking on an T“interactive news service” operating address displays more information, from a new multimedia centre. Users will including a map with the location marked: if have access to instant news bulletins, as there aren’t any properties in the area that well as to BBC archives. match exactly, details of close matches will “They will be able to download text, be shown instead. radio, television pictures and graphics,” Details of properties have been supplied promised Tony Hall, managing director of by a range of estate agents who pay a one- news and current affairs, at the Live 95 off fee for each property advertised. show. “We are talking at present to some of According to netEstate’s Matteo Berlucchi, the main network providers to try to work details of over 600 properties are available, out how we might do this, starting off though he conceded that at the moment, small-scale but learning and growing.” the bulk of them are in west London. He The BBC is already participating in the told PCW that discussions are currently Cambridge interactive TV trial, which allows under way with some larger chains of users news and current affairs programs at estate agents, which should enable them to a time of their choosing. provide a more comprehensive coverage, Hall gave few details of the multimedia extending to more parts of London, but centre, based at Shepherd’s Bush, London, stressed that he wanted to make sure there except that the plans had recently been was a good range of properties in each area approved by BBC governors. But it is part before including it on the database. of a general move towards digital services which should draw the broadcasting and computing worlds together. The BBC Newsweek launches Virtual City launched its first digital audio broadcasting Newsweek has launched a new magazine service on 27th September. called Virtual City, designed to explain Free, live radio news feeds from all over developments in the online world to man- the world can already be heard on the net agement and professional people who thanks to a service launched in London by aren’t necessarily computer enthusiasts. former BBC World Service staff (see According to the editors, “it’s a guiding light Newsprint, November). The service, to take on your forays into the cluttered financed by participating radio stations, is electronic streets.” Readers in the UK will at http://www.wrn.org. have to make do with an AtoZ, however, The BBC’s Web page is at until an international edition is launched. http://www.bbcnc.org.uk

243 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 N W Demon, whichinturnwillmarket sold with30days’freeuseof browser andInternetSuitewillbe posi to consolidatetheirmarket provider Demonareteamingup –– whichitselfwas300percentlarger thanin1994. the organisersexpectshowto beevenbiggerthanthelastone willbepartoftheOnline/CD-ROMInformation Meeting,and second thesuccessoffirstshowatWembley inMay,the Following between the5thand7thofDecemberatLondon’sOlympia2. The year’ssecondInternetWorldInternationalshowwilltakeplace World International Internet shining. Send us outstanding figurenow.Itcanbeyourselforsomebodyyouknow. ● throughout atypicaldaybytimesegments. 8 intheevening?Weareaskingforpicturesthatshowyourlifestyle ● life inapicturethroughinternet. Please sendusthemostcelebratedandmemorablemomentofyour ● you aflavourofthelanguageandrequirements: links orbysendinginmaterial.Thesethreesuggesteditemsgive They wantpeopleacrosstheworldtoparticipateeitherthroughTV show, calledSimTV3,whichwaslastbroadcaston13thOctober. called SimTVtoactasameetingpointbetweenthenetand growing methodsofmasscommunicationhaven’tlinkedupsooner. of apopularTVshow.It’sonlysurprisingthatthetwomostrapidly put acrosstheideaofnet’sinternationalismthroughmedium Japanese beforeyousnigger),itlookslikeaninterestingattemptto information availableinJapaneseEnglish(tryexplainingyourself programs basedonthenet.Sofaraswecanworkoutfrom DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 244 Moments: Whenwasthemostcommemorativemomentforyou? NetBeauty: Wearelookingforsomebodywhoisthemost A DayInLife:Tellusaboutyourday.Whatdoyouat9amor Quarterdeck’s Mosaic You cancheckSimTVoutforyourselfathttp://www.simtv.nhk.or.jp Producers fromacompanycalledNHKTVhavesetupwebsite terdeck andpioneerservice et softwarepublisherQuar- tion inBritain.

is offeringtoputwebusersontelevisioninaseriesof hile weareonthesubjectofbroadcasting,aTokyoTVstation CUTTING EDGE also apictureofthatpersonwhenhe/sheismostlivelyand PCW ● ONLINE Web TV com andwww.demon.net. for £44.95. the suitewillshiplaterthisyear Mosaic aggressivelyat£199.95; the software. Quarterdeck 01344873445 Demon 01813711234 Web sitesarewww.qdeck. Quarterdeck haspricedits Y W http://www.yearling.com channels availableoncable. lite channelsbutnotallthe includes mostofthemainsatel- and channels youwantlistingsfor, alised soyoucandecidewhich age forCDi.Yearlingisperson- of CD-online,aninternetpack- PC TVsandtheannouncement developments likethemoveto big webattractionwithrecent listings arelikelytobecomea listing availableontheweb.TV allegedly securecredit-cardpay- allowstheordersand System $395 ViaCheckTransaction suite foronlinebusiness.The offering acompletesoftware on thenet.US-basedViacheckis of doingbusinesstransactions secure, reliableandsimpleway waveguide/index.htm http://www.demon.co.uk/ and itshows. produced onashoestring It’s obviouslybeing Die HardwithaVengeance. we lookedatit,areviewof date sportsnewsand,when with someratherout-of- laser printersitsuneasily Advice onhowtobuya from beingtoogeneral. editorial contentsuffers tently puttogether,butthe web. Thepagesarecompe- The searchcontinuesfora prehensive “interactive”TV earling isthefirstUKcom- what typeofprogram.It interest magazineonthe aveguide isageneral net.surf ~c666177/ F acheck.index.htm http://www.theyellowpages/ server. A ments tobetakenbyaWeb home pagesofUSBritpopfans. Suede andbeyond,plusthe and BritishbandsfromBlurto hikers’ pubs,Britishcomedy, British sitesincluding contains linkstoallkindsof now beenrebornasawebsite.It Online bulletinboardandhas ently startedontheAmerica stranded inAmerica.Itappar- site devotedtoBritpopfans /sites/terrymen/movie1.html http://www.rmplc.co.uk./eduweb ject it’swellworthcheckingout: For anyoneinterestedinthesub- amateur moviemakercanenter. tional film/videofestivalsthatthe reviews andlistingsofinterna- cles, hintsandtips,book ers. Itcontainsamixtureofarti- service forvideomoviemak- INEcut isanonlineresource Grand CentralisaUS-based http://www.missouri.edu/ demonstration pageisat T things workismorelikelytobe internet, thespeedatwhich that. Whenyouareusingthe baud tomorethantentimes different speeds,from2400 municate withit.Theycomein puter withamodemandcom- puter todialinanothercom- (although ithelps). machine tolookaround be abletoviewgraphicsonyour modem. Youdon’tevenneedto long asyoucanplugitintoa connected totheinternetas A PCofalmostanyagecanbe What doIneedtogeton? access totheworldwideweb. people aroundtheworldhave of justtext.About15million pictures andmultimediainstead to pagesofinformationwith able free)togiveusersaccess special software(usuallyavail- vice ontheinternetwhichuses It isnottheinternet.aser- web? What istheworldwide doubling eachyear. million andthisappearstobe messages isestimatedtobe30 least exchangeelectronicmail those worldwidewhocanat users isdifficulttomeasure,but a globalnetwork.Thenumberof of computersinterconnectedin The internetconsistsofmillions What istheinternet? make themostofinternet. to thetoolswhichwillhelpyou Here’s aneasy-reference guide ened netters will callyou. novice —or“newbie”,ashard- guide totheinternetfor net.newbies Getting startedonthenet A modemallowsyourcom- be aneasy-to-usereference hese pagesaredesignedto providers andtelephonenum- at thesamerate.Alistof located: youarealwayscharged you areaccessingisphysically matter wheretheinformation connected, though,itdoesn’t long-distance phonerates.Once access, youmayhavetopay your homewhichoffersinternet a localnumber. country soyouonlyhavetodial presence) scatteredacrossthe bers youdial,PoPs(pointsof vice providerswillhavethenum- cable company.Thebiggerser- get freelocalcallsthrougha unless youareluckyenoughto costs ontopofanysubscription, will havetopayyourphone connection youhavesetup, to getonline.Whateverkindof to subscribeoneifyouwant provider” comesin—youhave to dial.Thisiswherea“service mation, ithastohaveanumber For amodemtobringyouinfor- Now what? Okay, I’vegotamodem. your phonebills. back theaddedcostbyreducing modem. Overtimeyou’llget go fora28,800baudV.34 as £100.Ifyouhavethemoney, few yearsandnowcostaslittle plummeted inpriceoverthepast vital. Fortunately,thesehave at least14,400baud“V32.bis”is modem whichrunsataspeedof services ontheInternet,a files, orusethemoreexciting sages, buttosendandreceive to exchangeelectronicmailmes- “V.22bis” modelisfastenough can afford.Anold2400baud computer. Buythefastestyou modem thanbythatofyour limited bythespeedofyour If there’snocompanynearto ter selectionofaccesssoftware. more personalserviceorabet- providers mayclaimtooffera although somehigher-priced offered islargelythesame, market. Thebasicservicebeing big enoughtodominatethe Internet access;noneofthem companies offeringthiskindof month. Therearedozensof between £8.50and£15per phone billcostsmore,currently only bythesizeofyourpotential for anyamountoftime,limited use emailandinternetservices net accesswhichallowsyouto Delphi offersthis.Butfullinter- costs around£5amonthand only provideselectronicmail Guide, net ServiceProvidersBuyers details, havealookatourInter- bers isavailablebelow.Formore Typically, asubscriptionthat a o –it’sprettyfoolproof. pay for–– providers, butyougetwhat expensive thantheotherinternet month. Compuserveismore set numberofhoursinthat you areonlineformorethana month, plusachargeperhourif cost between£6and£10per A monthlysubscriptiontendsto ness orconsumerinformation. libraries anddatabasesofbusi- games, vastindexedsoftware ware byelectronicmail,online support forhardwareandsoft- services includeofficialtechnical subscribers haveaccess.These own towhichonlytheir large numberofservicestheir Internet accessandalsohavea puserve orDelphinowoffer Major onlineserviceslikeCom- they offer? Online services:whatdo PCW Demon Internetisthebest October 95. PCW acquired online,freeofcharge. different, mostofitcanbe if youwanttochoosesomething software whenyousignup,and you withatleastsomeofthis service providershouldprovide written onlinesoftware.Any normally easiertousespecially- to accesstheseservices,itis Terminalcanbeused Windows services. to onlinemagazinesandother children tobrowse,plusaccess “censored” tomakeitsaferfor to theinternet,partially month itoffersunlimitedaccess service. For£8.50to£12.75per internet providerandanonline case, acrossbetweenan special or UKOnline.Onlineisa Pops inLondonandEdinburgh) Easynet (althoughitonlyhas better fortherawnewbieis absolute beginners.Perhaps doesn’t catertoowellfor standard internetoperatorsbut known andmostpopularofthe ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL Although programslike on page12. for thepost)toaddress “snailmail” (internet-speak compuserve.com [email protected]. us know.Contact any suggestions,pleaselet what’s writ If youdon’tunderstand Easynet email: [email protected] UK Online email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Demon email: [email protected] Delphi compuserve.com email:70006.101@csi. Compuserve ● PCW ONLINE DECEMBER 1995 0171 7577080 0181 3711000 0171 2090990 ten here orhave 01749 333333 Contacts 0800 289378 , or 247 ☎ ☎ ☎ ☎ ☎ CUTTING EDGE publishing, nowmeetdesktop disk duplicationplantin-house. panies tohavetheirownfloppy it isnowpossibleforsmallcom- floppy comesfromthefactthat a moresignificantboostforthe more disksperset.Butperhaps ever, withsometaking20or programs arenowbiggerthan diskette businessisthatthese floppy. Theaddedbonusforthe know andlove)aregoingouton those softwarepackageswe new Windows95versionsofall of Windows95(includingallthe is stillrelativelysmall,somuch installed baseofCD-ROMdrives come atatimewhenthe launch ofWindows95.Thishas First andmostvisiblyisthe diskette afreshbloomoflife. Two thingshavegiventhe Blooming marvellous P closing themdown. facturing plantsratherthan opening upnewdiskettemanu- ing KAOandFuji,arebusily diskette manufacturers,includ- encing aboom.Severalmajor PCW machines –thesortthatcreate nies makingdiskettecopying industry. There,thosecompa- where, exceptforthefloppydisk off byCD-ROMaboundevery- broadside in the war against CD-ROM. inthewar against broadside ofin-housediskduplication growth isamajor The again! If you thoughtthat thefloppy was onitsway out—think The diskstrikes back... We’ve beenthroughdesktop disk willimminentlybekilled redictions thatthefloppy cover disks–areexperi- Innovations equipment ratherthanrelyon floppy diskstogooutwiththe want toproducetheirown to controltheirequipment.They pany maywellrelyonsoftware force, andanelectronicscom- updates toitsindependentsales may sendoutweeklyfinancial company. Aninsurancegroup enormously fromcompanyto on floppyratherthanpaper. tomers tostartdistributingdata employees, branchesandcus- enough penetrationamongtheir discov organisations havenow banks, corporates andindustrial not justgamescompaniesbut found thatmanyorganisations, broaden theirhorizons.They these companiesstartedto wall forthediskettebusiness, too. Butwiththewritingon diskette printersandlabellers equipment, butalsoseparate take care,notonlyofduplicating volume duplicator.Thesewould pany todoit,onahighcost/high would gotoaduplicationcom- number ofdiskscopiedyou systems. Ifyouwantedtogeta they concentratedonthebig Trace andCopyPro.Inthepast companies suchasRimage, mostly basedintheStates– equipment manufacturers, handful ofduplication duplicating. Therearejusta The natureofthedatavaries ered thatthePChas Tim Frost format —an“image”ofthedata hour. Thedataisn’tsentasfile can copyupto200disksinan into ahigh-speeddiskdrivethat hundred blankdisks.Thesedrop that cantakeanythinguptoa do. Atoneendyouhaveachute ation ofdesktopduplicatorscan one boxthatwouldfitonadesk. and labellingprocessesallin include theduplicationchecking reliable, andwiththeoptionto systems havetobeeasyuse, systems. Moreimportantly,the high-volume duplicating hundreds ofthousandsfor rather thanthetensofeven at between£1,000and£2,000, level; thesemachinesnowstart down toamoreapproachable selves meantbringingtheprice intodoingitthem- companies impressive show.Totempt disk –morethanenoughforan megabytes canbestoredona techniques, agoodcoupleof “lit and interactivepromotional screen magazines,catalogues disks asasalestoolswithon- ments whoareusingfloppy adventurous marketingdepart- are runninginparallelwith updates. Thesespecialistfields of regular software dispatch so theycanalsocontrolthe someone elsetodoitforthem, erature”. This iswhatthelatestgener- Using compression reports. PCW labelled disks. can benoproblemswithmis- soon asthediskiscopied,there label isprintedandmountedas set withoutstopping.Sincethe projectsoramulti-disk different duplicator tohandleseveral time. Thisallowsthedesktop label informationatthesame disk dataandtheaccompanying aPC,whichcandeliver from mally getallitsinstructions attach itselftothecopieddisk. out thelabelintimeforitto dot-matrix printerhead,printing through aminiatureinkjetor of blanklabelswhicharefed machine. Thisholdsalargereel onto thelabellingpartof tors thenpassthefinisheddisk master image. data onthediskagainst write processthatchecksthe are good,thereisaread-after- order tomakesureallthecopies the diskonabit-by-bitbasis.In stored inmemoryandplacedon as itwillappearonthefloppyis ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL This all-in-onepackagenor- The newerdesktopduplica- ● the desktopeveryday. duplication runswillgooutfrom more smallandnot-so-small in-house atalltimes.Moreand security ofkeepingtheirmasters financial organisations–the work, and—importanttomany and controloverduplication duplication, theadditionalspeed discover theadvantagesinDIY data distributionascompanies ated itsownmini-revolutionin The desktopduplicatorhascre- DIY duplication FUTURES DECEMBER 1995

249 CUTTING EDGE I Pentium PC. Pentium with and thatitcomparesfavourably full-screen atnear back sion ofIndeo play will Intel claimsthatthelatestver- lower dataratesthanbefore. offers betterimagequality,at can beupdatedeasilyandwhich software-only standardwhich technology isthatit’sa The otherappealofthe rithm foranumberofyears.” will allowustogrowthealgo- “They’re new,they’refreshand block andasZaidiexplained, compression technologyonthe Raza Zaidi.Waveletsisthenew to themaximum,”saysIntel’s end ofitslife.“Wehadmilkedit quantisation, wascomingtothe technology,vector compression pure mathematics. tion, fingerprintanalysisand acoustics, earthquakepredic- cations includeastronomy, used commercially.Theirappli- recently thatthey’vebeguntobe ago asthethirties,it’sonly wavelets wascarriedoutaslong research forthedevelopmentof nology calledwavelets. uses anewcompressiontech- supported digitalvideoformat version ofthecompany’swidely latest version ofIndeovideointeractive. prediction. toearthquake astronomy from applications range Wavelets technology whose isacompression Making wavelets video interactive.Thelatest ntel hasannouncedIndeo Intel feltthatitsearlier Although muchofthe MPEG1 whenrunona Horizons VHS quality, Ben Tisdall tion, whilefrequency analysis frequency versionofthefunc- ried outusingacontractedhigh- Temporal (time)analysisiscar- wavelet, ormotherwavelet. function calledananalysing analysis istotakeawavelet contained infinitedomains. contrast, usesfunctions into infinity.Waveletanalysis,by smooth curveswhichstretch by theirverynature,non-local because sinesandcosinesare, choppy signalsorsharpspikes sis isnotgoodatdealingwith treating communicationsignals. equations, andforanalysing solving andanalysingdifferential become astandardmethodfor representing harmonicwaves). cosines (mathematicalfunctions by superimposingsinesand a wayofrepresentingfunctions 19th century.Fourierworkedout by JosephFourierintheearly Fourier transforms,discovered wavelets iscloselyrelatedto The procedureforwavelet Unfortunately, Fourieranaly- Fourier transformshave The mathematicsbehind looks at what itcandofor Intel’s use thistechnique toallowan weather map.Gamesauthors forecaster’s imageoverthereal software superimposesthe of abluescreen.Special waving hisarmsaroundinfront you’ll rememberBillMurray you sawthefilmGroundhogDay used byweatherforecasters.If that market. chroma-key capabilityaimedat optimised 8-bitpaletteand versionofIndeoaddsan latest with thegamesauthors.The the productmadefewinroads Cybernetics andMicrosoft,but like DorlingKindersley,Attica cessful withmultimediatitles versions werereasonablysuc- new featurestoIndeo.Earlier wavelets toaddanumberof for compression. redundancy, andhencebeideal will containrepetitionand below acertainthreshold,data data ortruncatingsomeofit wavelets bestadaptedtoasetof version. Bychoosingthe uses adilated,low-frequency Chroma-key isthetechnique Intel hastakenadvantageof composite to createa128x a wavelettransform and processedwith broken intoblocks 512 ximagewas Wavelets inaction:A PCW sion thanitdidbefore. look muchworseafter lossy, compressedvideowill space andmeanslow-quality, predictable material.Thiswastes important, non-redundant,non- so willtendtointerpretnoiseas repetition andredundancy those usingwavelets,searchfor pression algorithms,including of thesourcevideotape.Com- extremely sensitivetothequality In fact,videocompressionis Window onacomputermonitor. video cliplikelytoendupina quality isunimportantfora dard CDfillsupratherquickly. and atquad-speedratesastan- installed baseisdouble-speed, of 200to240Kb/secbecausethe double-spin CD-ROMdatarates users continuetodesignaround one-minute clip.MostIndeo about 30minutestocompressa tium PC:aPentium90willtake designed toworkbestonaPen- sluggish PC. the topsub-bandevenonafairly no movementwillplaybackat and framescontaininglittleor drops aframeitlooksbetter, Because itnevercompletely the nextone,andsoon. manage thebest,itfallsbackto tries todecodeallfour.Ifitcan’t algorithmstartsrunningit sion) Codec (compression/decompres- four sub-bands.WhentheIndeo Similarly, eachIndeoframehas image, buildingitupbitbybit. ware makesfourpassesatthe graphic usingNetscapethesoft- Web. Whenyouviewalarge Netscape ontheWorldWide similar approachtothatusedby drop inquality. user, thismeantaveryvisible frames inanerraticway.Forthe up, thesoftwarewoulddrop PCs, butifthePCcouldn’tkeep versions workedonarangeof iteration ofIndeo.Earlier scalability, too,withitslatest on arealisticbackground. spaceship, tobemovedaround object, whetherit’samanor ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL You mightthinkthatsource The latestversionofIndeois The latestversionusesa Intel hastakenacloselookat ● FUTURES DECEMBER 1995 compres- 251 CUTTING EDGE DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 252 E computer systemstocontinue tion, validation)techniques. fault removal(testing,verifica- modules andformalmethods)or programming, reusablesoftware avoidance (suchasstructured quality limitontraditionalfault rate probablyrepresentsthe uncommented code.Thiserror two errorsper20,000linesof ware stillcontainsaroundoneor error free.Thebest-qualitysoft- transport. Yetitwillneverbe ance, telecommunications,and tries, suchasoil,banking,insur- petitive successofmanyindus- will becomecentraltothecom- when theygodown.Software ports canbecomequitechaotic functioning ofairlinesthatair- systems aresocentraltothe enough torefusecreditcards). restaurant intownprimitive insisted onmeetingattheonly meeting acolleaguewhohas we getthere(especiallywhen to findit’soutofservicewhen relying onacashmachineonly We arefrustratedwhenwe that itwillbehaveasweexpect. granted thatitwillbethere,and technology, webegintotakefor ware. Aswecometorelyon supervision, supervision, people’s outtasksaffecting lives without to carry on relied increasingly are computers where In aworld tolerant software?” tolerant Making software human Fault toleranceistheabilityof Similarly, airlinereservation life arenowtouchedbysoft- ver moreaspectsofhuman CUTTING EDGE PCW ● Nick Beard FUTURES Bluesky gram modularity,system around elementssuchaspro- and recoveryfeatures,based techniques arefaultdetection single-version world,thekey software environments.Inthe ware andthemultipleversion between thesingleversionsoft- software-fault the back-upbox. tions fromafailedprocessorto software whichswitchesfunc- example wouldbemonitoring implemented functions.An in hardware,viasoftware- toler trol andoperationoffault tolerance other meaning,software and constructionfaults).The faults (mainlysoftwaredesign developed tocopewithsoftware implies systemswhichare first, “software faulttolerance”.The two interpretationsofthephrase less wellestablished.Thereare box” standbysystems. duplicate) systemsand“hot such asredundant(i.e. tolerance iswelldeveloped–– the system.Hardwarefault faults havedevelopedinpartsof expected servicesevenafter provide seamlessdeliveryof A keydistinctionin Software faulttoleranceis ance, usuallyimplemented software-fault asks: “Can we produce fault-asks: “Canwe produce , discusses thecon- tolerance is tolerance, fault- into modules.Eachmoduleor system, thesystemisbroken and self-checkingprogramming. blocks, N-versionprogramming in thisarena,suchasrecovery techniques whichcanbeapplied glitch occurs.Therearemany steps intotakeoverwhenthe the womanwhodrankless, ule, thenModuleB,writtenby him tomissaglitchinhismod- his module(ModuleA),causing binge thenightbeforefinishing the programmershadbeenona ately. Thismeansthatifoneof them failstorespondappropri- between themodulesifoneof switches thecontrolfunction with amonitoringroutinewhich could beimplemented,along lus. Variouscontrolmechanisms response toanexternalstimu- causing ittoliftablockin which controlsaroboticarm, program requiringamodule ent ways.Takeforexamplea functional specificationindiffer- the jobofmeetingsame programmersaregiven different upon designdiversity.Here, –– themainapproachrests mission-critical objectivesexist architectures ––typicallywhere tion handling.Inmoreadvanced decision verificationandexcep- closure, systemsmonitoring, To structureafault-tolerant account. Itcouldsaveyourlife. taining accesstoyourbank just ausefultechniqueformain- reactors ––faulttoleranceisnot flying planes,controllingnuclear monitoring patientsinhospitals, left todothingsunattended–– above areapplied. various techniquesoutlined Within thisbasicframework,the elsewhere forthetimebeing. fulfil theservicerequest that attemptsshouldbemadeto as soonpossible”,suggesting “normal servicewillberesumed sends outamessagestating but notimmediately,sothatit component isabletofixitself tions maybeblurredwherethe between localandfailureexcep- provide services.Thedifference component signalsitsinabilityto failure exceptions,wherethe vice-providing ability.Finally, which shouldreturnittoitsser- amiss andinitiatesroutines ponent detectsthatsomethingis exceptions occurwhereacom- requester. Secondly,local the fingeratservice requests aredetected,pointing tions, whereinvalidservices firstly, thereareinterfaceexcep- three classesofexception: monitoring function.Thereare at theheartofcontroland requestors and“providers”are These “interfaces”between service orreturnsanexception. vice, andeitherprovidesthat nent receivesarequestforser- smaller modules.Eachcompo- module maybesub-dividedinto sive model,sinceclearlyeach overall system.Thisisarecur- seen asacomponentofthe of adesign,whichcanitselfbe component isunderthecontrol With softwareincreasingly series. From Wiley’sTrendsinSoftware becomes evermorepervasive. ingly importanttopicassoftware fault tolerant,whichisanincreas- techniques formakingsoftware An up-to-datesurveyof Michael R.Lyu;Wiley Software FaultTolerance PCW Resource Guide “a machine for everyone”. But even theexcitement thesecouldn’t from detract of experiencedthe teethingproblems bytheBBCMicro. Overheating justafew were problems of andlanguage W take thelidoff If youcan’t standtheheat... rumoured thatthemachine BBC Micro. cost asmuchtheoriginal PC withthesewouldprobably connectors. Toequipamodern the wideselectionofportsand other”. add-on kitsutilisingoneorthe be setuptoproduceandmarket to imagineawholeindustrywill documented, anditispossible one oftheseinterfacesisfully would hold.Forexample:“Every insight intowhatthefuture some amazinglyprofound claims, excitingdiscovery,and optimistic beliefinAcorn’s interesting mixofover- they hadalreadypaidfor. waiting monthsformachines delays whichsawcustomers mainly becauseofthehuge such asthosein partly becauseofreviews certainly eagerlyawaited, produced byAcorn.Itwas that itwastheBBCMicro and SueEisenbachclaimed January 1982ChrisSadler been theIBMPC,butin Worldwide, itmighthave of theeighties? Prior tothelaunchitwas The reviewrightlypraised The originalreviewwasan talked aboutmicro hat wasthemost Retro PCW , but sold alotofratherexpensive was greatforMicrovitec,which lator wasn’tgoodenough.This quality wasthattheUHFmodu- reviewers hadaboutthebuild reviewers andusers. corrupted programsforboth lid off.Theheatproblemsledto most ownersranthemwiththe when maskedROMdidarrive, for averylongtimeandeven duction machineshadEproms machines. Inpractice,thepro- masked ROMfortheproduction tem softwarewasblowninto would disappearwhenthesys- machine (serialnumber10) lems experiencedinthepreview belief thattheoverheatingprob- most naivecommentwasthe predecessor, theAtom.The in withthefamilynameofits would becalledtheProton,totie The onlymajorcomplaintthe Simon Rockman which wasmostimpressive:“If screen editor:“itisn’t”. although itpointedoutofthefull criticism ofthescreeneditor, country. programmers thananyother more andbettermachinecode convinced ledtheUKtohave bler –somethingwhichIam ability tomixBasicandassem- review mentionedtheBBCBasic quite atimeafteritslaunch.The machines remained oneofthefastest excellent. TheBBCMicro compromises itwasfastand but unlikesomany The resultwasacompromise, the BBCwantedMicrosoftBasic. Atom andthearticlehintsthat version oftheBasicusedby would havebeenhappywitha produced elegantcode.Acorn Micro couldmakethemost monitors sothattheBBC But itisthelooktofuture The reviewwasmildinits of itsimpressivegraphics modes, althoughthiswas glossed overinthereview. language tousewas becoming political.Some removed fromreality) educators (beingtoofar wanted Comal,whichhad no commercialvaluebut The debateoverwhich PCW reminisces. PCW had testedfor ● RETRO COMPUTING of excitingmachines. back in1982therewereplenty promise, andmore;butthen, wealthy man. royalty tomakehimavery which Collreceivedenoughofa Acorn valuedat£10,butfor John Coll’smanual–which make upforitonsoftwaresales. machines withoutaprofitandto initially expectedshopstosell shops tomakeamargin–Acorn prices hadrisentoallowthe BBC Microwasavailable,those 32K ModelB,butbythetime ple bought)and£292forthe Model A(themachinefewpeo- ence forareasonablecost”. great dealofhands-onexperi- last viewofit)wouldprovidea ware ismoreextensivethanour current releaseofEconetsoft- an Econet(assumingAcorn’s machines connectedtodisksby room, aclassfulofBBC robust… Turningtotheschool- be happierifthecasewasmore and voicesynthesis,wewould ties includingpaddles,Teletext graphics andexpansioncapabili- a homemachinewithcolour future developmentsgo. depends onthewayAcorn’s can berecommended,though, everyone. Howfarthemachine then thismachinecouldbefor tively hintedatinthemedia, products thathavebeententa- Acorn actuallyproducesallthe ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL The BBCMicroliveduptoits The reviewrightlypraised That costwas£205fora16K “The Systemseemsidealfor DECEMBER 1995

253 CUTTING EDGE PCW ● MEDIA PCW ● MEDIA

web. As long as you’re prepared showing the code to swallow these two on a typical HTML drawbacks, this book looks like page. Although the a fine introduction. book is not BOOKS Ben Tisdall arranged alphabeti- cally, there’s a As the dust starts to settle on the media’s love affair decent index at the with the internet, we look at some books which view The Which? Guide to Computers back and an alpha- Author Richard Wentk betical listing of the net from a different angle. From post-cyber angst Publisher Which? Books HTML code CUTTING EDGE CUTTING EDGE to a new HTML guide, to a handbook for budding Price £10.99 together with page online entrepreneurs. Pages 270 references. All in ISBN 0-85202-596-3 all, pretty Rating ✒✒✒✑✑ indispensable. Silicon Snake Oil –– categorised as a Luddite or even Launching a Second Thoughts on the one of these neo-Luddites. He his one is aimed at novices Business on the Information Highway likes computers. He likes them a T— people who are still at the Web, subtitled: “A Author Clifford Stoll lot –– he’s got five of them. But stage of wondering whether hands-on guide to Publisher Macmillan he is fed up with them too, and they need to buy a computer at successfully bring- ISBN 0-333-64787-4 so the book is riven with what all. It uses small-business case ing your business to a Price £9.99 he himself admits is a deep studies throughout to enable heavily marketed as this Christ- out. There’s not much to say worldwide audience”, is a much Rating ✒✒✒✑✑ ambivalence towards them and you to decide whether or not a mas’s home PC purchase, are about the former. The author more substantial volume. It the internet, hence some highly computer is appropriate. For described as being for says he wrote it because he attempts to tackle the question ince writing The Cuckoo’s conflicting statements. example: “Andrew Kemble runs “advanced high-power applica- couldn’t find a good book on which is currently troubling SEgg, the dramatic story of On the one hand, he refutes an advertising agency and uses tions such as photo-editing, the subject. This is a slim, companies of all sizes –– what how he tracked down an inter- the claim that new a database to keep track of sales CAD and large spreadsheets”. clearly written paperback full of is the point of putting a national spy ring which hacked communications technologies leads.” “We used to use a card The Which? Guide is, for the good general information, from company onto the internet in the into his systems at Berkeley, will fundamentally change style gaming index system and a set of most part, full of useful and browsers to “what is HTML and first place and how to make California, Cliff Stoll hasn’t just society; on the other he but also diaries, and we had problems all practical advice on how to go how does it work on the web”. money from doing so. It had second thoughts about the describes how a universal postal more serious the time... We got someone to about buying PC hardware, soft- The bulk of the book is attempts to be comprehensive. information superhighway. His system in the US produced a business or install a database for all this. ware and peripherals, but the arranged in sets of facing pages There are sections on net com- second book, Silicon Snake “blossoming magazine reader- educational Now we can search for people publishers need to look at the or spreads. Each covers a sin- ponents and terminology, why Oil, contains third thoughts, ship, a new value placed on applications. by their personal details, com- lead time between writing the gle topic. There are a few on the net is good for business, fourth thoughts and fifth. literacy”. He decries the erosion MOOs pany name or any other way...” book and publishing it. In an things like where to find and choosing hardware and He attacks the use and of literacy in the modern world (Muds, The main software industry as volatile as this one, servers, how to structure pages software. There’s even a lengthy unquestioning belief in technol- that he believes is partly caused Object-Ori- categories get a chapter each, six months is just too long. and design tips, but most are appendix on HTML. If you’re ogy in many aspects of nineties by email, but a few pages later ented) are a more flexible varia- followed by a “packages to devoted to HTML coding. Nor- serious about putting your busi- life, getting particularly passion- prints a very moving communi- Interactive tion on the MUD theme with watch out for” box which lists HTML Visual Quick Reference mally there’s a description on ness on the internet, this won’t ate about computers’ increasing cation sent to him electronically Internet –– The Insider’s Guide to extra features. some of the popular ones. The Author Dean Scharf the left-hand page together be the only book you’ll need to and, to his mind, increasingly from a Croatian girl. MUDs, MOOs and IRC This book is, of course, software sections are generally Publisher Que with the syntax and a couple of look at. But it does deserve to damaging infiltration of educa- The great thing about the Author William J Shefski American. If you’re British it’s pretty sound and as up-to-date Price £13.99 screenshots on the right be one of the first. tion and the library system. But book is that he admits to these Publisher Prima Publishing plain depressing to discover that as you can expect from a book ISBN: 0-7897-0411-0 Ben Tisdall his most heartfelt complaint contradictions. This is a very Price £18.49 in the States you can “scope” –– written BW (before Windows Pages 160 seems to be that they waste personal reaction to the ISBN 1-55958-748-2 pay a small monthly fee to have 95). http://www.mcp.com Top Ten Books: December 1995 information superhighway. As your local call area extended to Unfortunately, even a week ✒✒✒✒✑ time and that “sensation has no Pages 202 Rating 1 Windows 95 Resource Kit Microsoft £46.99 with The Cuckoo’s Egg, Stoll ✒✒✒✑✑ adjacent or nearby exchanges. before publication, the hardware substitute”. That is, they have Rating 2 Windows 95 Secrets IDG Books £38.99 himself is very much present in This book does a good job of section was starting to look wasted a lot of Cliff’s time which Launching a Business on the Web 3 Using Windows 95 the book, as are his sister explaining where MUDs began dated and, in places, mislead- he’s suddenly realised he could ith the world wide web and Authors David Cook and Special Edition Que £32.99 Jeannie, some of his friends, and how to use them. Unfortu- ing. For example, the author have spent baking brownies or Wemail getting all the hype, Deborah Sellers 4 Delphi Developer’s Guide Sams £46.95 and many anecdotes about his nately, there are two fundamen- says: “If your computer uses a practising the clarinet. The book it’s unlikely that you’ll have even Publisher Que 5 Delphi Starter Kit IDG Books £43.99 work as an astronomer. And it is tal problems with MUDs. Firstly, 486SX/25 chip, you can remove is not unlike Thomas De heard of MUDs, MOOs or IRC. Price £36.99 6 Using Visual Basic 4 Que £22.99 Confessions of an this sense of humanity rather they have a tendency to be pop- it and replace it with a Quincey’s Most internet books barely give ISBN 0-78970-188-X User Friendly Opium Eater than the arguments themselves ulated by extraordinarily dull 486DX2/66 chip.” While it is : Stoll, like De them a mention. Pages 202 7 Windows 95 for Dummies IDG Books £18.99 that make the book a successful people talking about equally dull possible to make this upgrade, ✒✒✒✒✑ Quincey, was an addict, albeit MUDs (multi-user dungeons, Rating 8 Parker Linux Unleashed Sams £39.50 and readable antidote to the cool topics, and secondly, they’re you would need to have a online rather than opium, who or dimensions) and IRC (Inter- 9 Using HTML Special Que £37.49 cyberbabble of the technocrats firmly routed in the bad old motherboard capable of being has survived cold turkey. After net Relay Chat) channels are the rom the small stack of inter- 10 Delphi Unleashed Sams £35.50 all, just because you are online, who want to drive us down the most interactive resources on character-based Unix interface switched up from 25MHz to Fnet books which arrived this you don’t have to read useless highway without letting us take a the internet and the way people of the internet rather than the 33MHz, and such an upgrade month, HTML Visual Quick List supplied by the PC BookShop, 11 & 12 Sicilian Avenue, Usenet groups. second glance. can use it to communicate in friendly point-and-click graphical involves moving jumpers. Reference and Launching a London WC1A 2HQ. Tel: 0171 831 0022. Fax: 0171 831 0443 The problem is, Stoll can’t be Joanne Evans real time. MUDs offer role-play user interface of the world wide Pentium processors, now being Business on the Web stood

254 255 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 256 I Space AgeEncyclopedia Against Time; Apollo 13–ARace vision documentaries.Addto highly visual,designedliketele- main sequencesontheCDare obvious onApollo13.Thetwo Hollywood version. imminent launchofthe on todevelopApollo13bythe Encyclopedia, andwerespurred they developedtheSpaceAge cations. Asspaceenthusiasts ongraphicsappli- concentrates Corporation whichnormally States byComputerSupport were bothdevelopedinthe Encyclopedia bundledwithit, used tofillthegaps. andanimationhasbeen possible have beenusedwherever instead theoriginalfilmpictures clips fromtheactualmovie,but events. Obviouslythereareno footage usedtorecreatethe amount ofvideoandstills based narrative,thereisahuge on themakingsofthisCD. unlikely, butfortunateinfluence seems tohavehadarather the movieofsametitle.This to coincidewiththereleaseof Apollo 13hasbeenlaunched n asharppieceofmarketing, The graphicsinfluenceis Apollo 13,andtheSpaceAge Instead ofoptingforatext- CUTTING EDGE CD-ROMs the comfort ofherown computer.the comfort Andallfrom bythepros. as practised clip-art anddiscoversCorel, cartoon 13,goestothemoviesApollo with Adele Dyer PCW ● MEDIA gets spacedoutwith passing interestitcanbealittle sive, butforthosewithonlya the factthatit’ssocomprehen- the spaceprogramyouwilllove text based.Ifyouarereallyinto mine ofinformation,itisheavily is alittledifferent.Although sections. scintillating thantheother although informative,isless encyclopedia sectionwhich, complemented byatext-based sion wascontrolled.Theseare an explanationofhowthemis- JamesLowell,and commander, an interviewwiththeflight pictorial accountofthevoyage, astronauts alive. solved theproblemandkept tion isonhowthegroundcrew ism isavoided,andconcentra- shown atitsbest.Sensational- enthusiasts, andthemissionis been puttogetherbyspace this thefactthatCDhas The SpaceAgeencyclopedia The threemainsectionsarea recommended toanyone. comeshighly theless enthusiasts, Apollo13never- space exploration. space centresandthefutureof launch vehicles,spacestations, are othersectionstackling addition tothemissionsthere Shuttle/Mir link-updetailed.In nottofindthe disappointing missions scheduled,butitis does havebriefnoteson entry being2ndMarch1995.It comes rightuptodate,thelast to shuttlemissionsandnearly the spaceprogram,fromrobotic goes rightthroughthehistoryof however, itcannotbefaulted.It on sheerweightofinformation, full picture. move aboutafairdealtogetthe section andyouwillhaveto most ofthemareinaseparate and videoclipstolivenitup,but daunting. Therearephotographs Designed forhardcorespace If youweretorateSpaceAge tent, nomatterwhatthe potentiallyexcitingvisual con- a soundsgood.With such fiction The ideaofaCDonscience Grolier ScienceFiction Dual pack ●●●❍❍ Price Contact Space AgeEncyclopedia ●●●●❍ Price Contact Apollo 13–ARaceAgainstTime £49.95 £24.95 and animation using originalfootage the entirevoyage Apollo 13showsyou DBS 01202722554 DBS 01202722554 £59.95 PCW ● MEDIA

medium, it could have been one and six interviews, which makes of the most fascinating CDs this you wonder what the point is of year. So what went wrong? putting it on CD. Despite the The main contents table inclusion of poster Comprehensive in its list- looks promising. A vaguely reproductions and original book ing of films, the Corel All- gothic yet futuristic design covers, you might be better off Movie Guide has a novel shows the main themes: life just getting hold of a book with a way of rating them forms, time, mind and spirit, good index. about sf, space and science and But once you have got over technology. However, once the initial disappointment, the CUTTING EDGE inside the encyclopedia the pre- actual information contained is dominant feature is text, text excellent. For a non-sci-fi reader and more text. there is a lot to interest you, as Finding your way about the the wider issues of the genre are screeds of prose is not easy. discussed. There are short inter- There is no mapping from one views with sf luminaries, such as area of the CD to another, so William Gibson. The main body you cannot follow a line of of text contains a good summary inquiry except through the of themes and movements, as rather inadequate index. This well as discussing a host of lists all the subject headings authors and the whole range of under the theme you are pursu- sci-fi products. ing, but not related ones, so For a sf fan this CD is proba- clicking here is pointless if you bly extremely useful, but for the are trying to get more informa- non-fanatic it’s just not exciting tion. The hypertext tends to enough. Corel All-Movie Guide direct you to wider issues, Grolier Science Fiction Anticipating the release of rather than to allied subjects, Contact MHM 0181 600 6000 Cinemania 96, Corel has The flags for Mad Max read: and the bright pink capitals do Price £44.99 launched the All-Movie Guide. It “Not for children, medium vio- nothing to keep your eye of the ●●●❍❍ takes more or less the same lence, graphic violence, nudity, main body of text. approach as adult situations, strong sexual The most disappointing ele- Microsoft’s content, acceptable ending, ment is the lack of true multi- product, but explicit language, profanity”. media content. There are only has certain You cannot help but feel it would 12 short videos, six film clips telling have been better to include a differences. more thorough plot synopsis The cover- and perhaps a critique, rather Science fiction becomes an age of movies than these odd labels. art form in this is probably the To compound this there are comprehensive CD selling point of several omissions. There are no this CD. Over film clips or photographs for 90,000 films each film. There are and TV shows photographs of some of the are covered, actors but not all, and some including sev- videos of interviews with various eral foreign titles. All the infor- lesser luminaries. Neither does mation on the films is organised the CD include any critics logically, each entry mentioning entries, as Cinemania does. cast lists, plot, an array of cate- The advantage of this pack- gories and a list of alternative age is its comprehensive list of movies you may enjoy as well. films. As hard as I tried to find Some of this you could do an obscure film not included, I without. The list of alternative could not manage it. As an ency- films is little short of weird – clopedia it is reasonable, but as suggesting Philadelphia Story a film guide it falls well behind and Room with a View as alter- Cinemania. natives to Withnail and I is Corel All-Movie Guide laughable. In addition, the cate- Contact Corel 0800 581028 gories do not really help to pin- Price £49 + Shipping & VAT point the content of the film. ●●●❍❍

257 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 PCW ● MEDIA

Larry — a PCW reader with a wicked sense of humour

mill clip-art CDs. One of the col- lections is entitled Famous Mag- azine Cartoons. While I did not recognise any of the famous names among the artists, the cartoons themselves are very Larry on CD; good. The others include slightly Famous Magazine unusual drawings made espe- Cartoons cially for Click Art, and a general Well known through the pages collection of cartoons. of manyCUTTING EDGE a national newspaper, Click Art itself is sure the Larry has now been drawn into cartoons will not appeal as much the computer age via CD. as its regular clip-art collections, Although Larry reputedly did not but it will be interesting to note know anything about CD-ROM how many people in the long when the project was first term will find amusing cartoons mooted, he quickly became more relevant to their readers involved, drawing specially- criteria. One word of warning though: than clip-art. commissioned computer-related This is how clip-art ought to the cartoons are not entirely Larry on CD cartoons and designing icons. be. At last, someone has seen fit royalty free; they are intended Contact ePublishing Collected here are 325 of to release good cartoons for for use in non-commercial 01865 372111 Larry’s favourites, grouped into your use instead of relying on documents. You might be able Price £15 29 sections under such headings something that is royalty-free to stick them in the gardening ●●●●❍ as jobs, office and home. To find primarily because no-one in club newsletter, but not in your the right image you can either go their right mind would want to latest book. Famous Magazine Cartoons, Fun through all the cartoons in the admit to having drawn it. Need- Click Art has joined the club, 5 Pack Cartoons and Art Parts appropriate section, or do a key- less to say, the quality of the releasing a series of cartoon and Contact Principal Distribution word search. There are 1,200 cartoons here is exceptional and drawing clip-art products which 01706 831831 keywords, so you ought to be the breadth of subjects covered are a little different from the Price £29.99 each able to find something to fit your is impressive. company’s normal run-of-the- ●●●❍❍ Multipacks For a long time many CDs have been It has also just released a range of three CD overpriced for the quality of the products. Now packs entitled Power Packs, each aimed at a spe- distributors are cutting prices dramatically, cific interest group, such as space, cars, or a especially with the current wave of multipacks. “weekend” pack including movie, cookery and These have been around for some time, but astrology guides, typically costing £25. gradually more distributors are getting in on the While none of the CDs included on the packs act and offering packs at knock-down prices. will blow your mind with their brilliance, collec- The cynic may argue they have simply found tively they offer considerable scope for the perfect solution for shifting less popular enjoyment with limited outlay. I will be very sur- titles; but do they in fact offer good value for prised if the likes of Cinemania or any of the money? The second wave of multipacks are Dorling Kindersley titles appear in a multipack in now just starting to find their way into the the immediate future, but this does not mean shops. The first editions were almost entirely they should be written off. Certainly for new entertainment based. The emphasis was on software users it could prove the perfect way to games, games and more games, with the odd expand your general CD collection without dirt-cheap and cheerful DTP package or utility breaking the bank. thrown in. Aztech’s Blue pack includes such One Stop CD Strips Vols 1 and 2 titles as Dune II, Lemmings, Wayne’s World Contact Softkey and Grandmaster Chess. 0181 789 2000 Gradually, more “edutainment” titles are Price Vols 1 and 2 £34.95 being included. Sirius includes Microsoft’s Publisher’s Pack Blue and Publisher’s Pack Multimedia Mozart and Beyond Planet Earth, Green and Aztech is planning to include Hutchinson’s Contact Computer Future 01483 282829 and PC training CDs in its Green Pack. Price Blue £27.95, Green £29.99 Meanwhile, Softkey is honing its multipacks. Softkey still offers the standard Sirius 5ft x 10 Pak long string of ten CDs with quite a few of its Contact One Stop Direct 0181 947 1001 own applications and utilities as well as games. Price £34.03

258 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 merely very good. very merely excellent the from over-the-moon the sorting hasbeen Begg Paul “Scrooge” their software. Make for ‘emwork down themines. chimneys and ‘em upthe Christmas. Send have at presents shouldn’tChildren Bah! Humbug! T sette collectionsofRichmal tapes arethefivedouble-cas- Probably herveryfavourite fall asleeplisteningtoatape. own collection,andalsolikesto oftalkingbooks, hasher love read outontapeoraudioCD. books –youknow,stories camomile teaandtalking sleep. Icombatthiswith comes alongtokeepmefrom office. Somethingalways gotten tothrowoutfrommy old bottleofmilkI’vestillfor- money, theweek-and-a-half- of money,theleakyguttering, thinking aboutwork,thelack seems togointohyperdrive Siobán hasinheritedmy and... well,mybrain light, closemyeyes ing. Iswitchoffthe I havetroublesleep- here aretimeswhen Kids’ for commercials. Dickens) andvoiceovers ticularly accomplishedat talking books(beingpar- hasdone loadsof He youasavoiceactor. to almost certainlyknown televi plished stageand Jarvis isaveryaccom- Jarvis. AlthoughMartin stories readbyMartin Crompton’s William story onCD-ROM Right confused byitall other fishseem wished castle:the Above sion actor,heis A seasonal The fish-

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f PCW DECEMBER 1995 ● FUN 261 CUTTING EDGE DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 262 you canreadalong andfollow each page. lies inhavingtofindtheangelon level ofmysteryandadventure you clickonit.Andafurther isn’t alwaysthesameeachtime quite cleverly,andtheanimation hot-spots arehidden,some to produceananimation.The à laBroderbundTalkingBooks the page–clickingonhot-spots ished speaking,youcanexplore and, whenMartinJarvishasfin- page ofthestoryreadtoyou reading skills. beginning toacquiresomebasic and earlyschool,whoarejust young children,probablypre- next. happens guess thesortofthingthat Bethle find MaryandJosephin the littledonkeyonajourneyto to rideon,Rebeccasetoutwith who JosephhadtakenforMary began topineforitsmother, But whenthebabydonkey neighbours MaryandJoseph. after ababydonkeybyher Rebecca, whowaslefttolook Jarvis, ittellsthestoryof – yes,youguessedMartin visitors ayear!–andnarratedby museum thatreceives50,000 there isaBrianWildsmith pretty popularinJapan,where Brian Wildsmith–whoseems sity Press.Writtenanddrawnby storybook fromOxfordUniver- Christmas Story,aninteractive This said,IwaskeentogetA A ChristmasStory

The textcanbedisplayed,so You canchoosetohaveeach A ChristmasStoryisfor CUTTING EDGE hem. Youcanprobably PCW ● FUN The FishWhoCouldWishhas of thewishesarebizarre: wishes alwayscometrue.Some It’s thestoryofafishwhose same wayasAChristmasStory. Coltrane, itworksinmuchthe narrated byRobbie“Cracker” and illustratorKorkyPaul, University Press.ByJohnBush storybook offeringfromOxford the secondmultimedia with TheFishWhoCouldWish, Seasonal appealisn’taproblem The FishWhoCouldWish these populartitles one exampleofthewit a Grouchoimpression,just Arthur’s Birthday:Mumdoes pricey side. you mightthinkit’salittleonthe seasonal appealIsuspectthat for somethingwithonly produced littlebook. comes withasmallbutnicely mood. Thewholepackage back andgetintoafestive with thechoristers,orjustsit can eithersingalongalone, played onscreenandyourchild music scoreandwordsaredis- Cathedral School,Oxford.The the choristersofChristChurch lection oftwelvecarolssungby spots, however. these optionsdisablesthehot- read toyou.Selectingeitherof you cansimplyhavethestory the spokenwords.Alternatively, Under thesea It snowedforaweek He couldgooutandski Once, whenhewished I likedAChristmasStory,but The discalsocontainsacol- the OldWest Get setforajourneyacross something frivolous. we deservetositbackandenjoy grams, butatthistimeofyear the learningvalueofthesepro- Marc Brown.I’mnotsureabout the book, box alsocontainsafreecopyof enjoy repeatedplayingtoo.The and iswittyenoughforadultsto many withmultipleresponses, customary on-screenhot-spots, nobody’s happyabout. another –anarrangement go toonepartyandtheboys looks asifthegirlsaregoingto anyone tomakeachange,soit ties haveprogressedtoofarfor And arrangementsforbothpar- having apartyonthatdaytoo. party onSaturday,butMuffy’s Arthur’s Birthday. Grandma andMe.Nowthere’s closely followedbyJust Arthur’s TeacherTrouble, my moneythebesttitleswere bund LivingBooksseries.For I mentionedearliertheBroder- Arthur’s Birthday for youngchildren. Toy Awards.Anentertainingdisc Commended” inthe1995Best mas Story,andwona“Highly better animationthanAChrist- will knowthatmydaughter Regular readersofthiscolumn Ride ‘em,cowboy Arthur’s Birthdayhasallthe Arthur’s havingabirthday Arthur’s Birthday , by you coulddrawasix-gun. the CD-ROMdrivefasterthan long. No,thesilverdiscwasin around onmydeskforvery Oregon TrailIIdidn’thang You’ll understand,therefore,that couple ofLouisL’Amourstories. favourite talkingbooksarea paperback andamongmy box. Ialsoenjoyawestern Randolph Scottwesternonthe armchair withaJohnWayneor noon thansettlingintoacomfy better onawetSaturdayafter- Personally Ithinkthere’snothing Siobán isn’tpartialtoWesterns. anything fromatotalgreenhorn you aregoingtobe.Youcanbe den route.Andyouchoosewho unknown orfollowawell-trod- 1860, soyouventureintothe choose theyear,from1840to on yourjourney.Youalso from whereyouwanttoembark To start,youchoosethetown and Mormontrailstoanewlife. crossing theOregon,California at theheadofapioneerfamily cares! thisisChristmas,sowho But you getthroughanyexams. can frontierisn’tlikelytohelp would-be settlersontheAmeri- of thetrialsandtribulations Curriculum, soafullknowledge doesn’t figureintheNational West. Sadly,theOldWest ing thegeographyofOld and aneducationaltool,concern- Oregon TrailIIisbothagame Oregon TrailII With OregonTrailIIyouare DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 264 and vampirebats.There’salso headhunters, poison-dartfrogs fishtoyellowfever, poisonous gers allalongtheway,from been electedtogetit. the rainforest,andyouhave a medicinalplant,hiddendeepin thing thatcansavethevillageis out anIncavillage.Theonly ous diseasethreatenstowipe but inthisadventureamysteri- the sameasTheOregonTrail, Amazon Traildoesprettymuch can journeyuptheAmazon!The you, asitdoesn’ttoSiobán,you If theOldWestdoesn’tappealto The AmazonTrail your familyinthefuture. learn whathappenedtoyouand your destination.Thenyou’ll you’re luckyyou’llmakeitto diary ofyouradventures,andif authentic handbookandrecorda by consultingwhatI’mtoldisan the wintersnowsfall. caught inthemountainswhen around toolongyoucouldget The troubleis,ifyouhang that’s fullofthingstoexplore. done ina3Drenderedtown ing andselling.Andallthisis wagon. Soit’samatterofbarter- had toofewanimalstopullthe all this,onlytodiscoverthatI or rookyourotten.Igotthrough different peoplewhoadviseyou doing thisyoutalktoloadsof food andothersupplies.In such asawagon,draftanimals, the necessariesforyourjourney, out alongtheway. special skillsthatmighthelpyou tor, andyoucanselectsome to aprofessionalsuchasdoc-

It’s nopicnic.Therearedan- En-route youcangetadvice Next youhavetopurchase CUTTING EDGE PCW ● FUN mouse willguideyou Tent andZippythe front oftheShow clicking ontheticketboothin You cantakeaquicktourby makes somethingelsehappen. explored. Clickingonsomething with thekidstoo. It’s guaranteedtobeawinner keep youabsorbedforhours. memory testinggamesthatwill explore, andhassomeskill long time,isgreatfunto colourful CD-ROMI’veseenina Circus! isthebrightestandmost Circus! most importanttheyarefun! and comprehensionskills,but play apartinimprovingreading enhance computerskillsand conquistadors andIncakings. explorers, naturalists,scientists, you backintimetomeetthereal this strangebluemistthatsends action toappreciateit have toseethisin at work.Youreally Circus: Themagician Circus! isdesignedtobe Both discsaregoodfun, about withmake-up. ing theroomsandmessing fun intheclown’strailer,explor- music tent,andyoucanhave you’ve onlyglimpsed. a precisesequenceofcolours to gethimoutbytryingrecall by Rex,themagician.Youhave trapped insideapileofcylinders example, oneoftheclownsis puzzle orgametoplay.For see theiract,there’satesting more. Butnotonlydoyougetto ball, trapezeact,amagician,and elephants, thehumancannon circus favourites:clowns,lions, The showactsincludeallyour the MagicTrunk,andLake. Music Tent,theClown’sTrailer, The Backstageareaincludesthe featuring differentcharacters. made upofeightCircusActs during theprogram.TheShowis one areatotheotheratanypoint Backstage. Youcanmovefrom Circus!, theShowand through theprogram. point foryourjourney The AmazonTrail:thestarting Circus!’s author,Ayshe Backstage yougettovisitthe There aretwomainpartsto sluggishly. might finditrunsatad 8Mb ofRAM,andeventhenyou need a486SX-33orbetterand requirements, though.You’ll time. Circus!isheavyonsystem boredom atbayforquitesome colourful, andwhichwillkeep ing somethingsobrightand is tobecongratuatedforcreat- laRencontredePhilippe.She A award forherinteractivemovie the MITMediaLab,wonan agraduateof Farman-Farmaian, Rating Fax Tel Press Contact Price The FishWhoCouldWish Rating Fax Tel Press Contact Price A ChristmasStory Rating Fax Tel Multimedia Contact Price Circus! Rating Fax Tel Contact Price The AmazonTrail Rating Fax Tel Contact Price Oregon TrailII Rating Fax Tel Contact Price Arthur’s Birthday 01865 267679 01865 267679 0181 6006000 0181 2969454 0181 2969454 0181 2969454 01865 267990 01865 267990 0191 6006060 0181 2969455 0181 2969455 0181 2969455 £29.99 incVAT £29.99 incVAT £39.99 inc £19.95 £19.95 £39.99 inc PCW ★★★★✩ ★★★★★ ★★★★✩ ★★★★✩ ★★★★✩ ★★★★✩ Oxford University Oxford University Matra Hachette Iona Software Iona Software Broderbund Details ☎ ☎ ☎ ☎ ☎ ☎ DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 266 H c) Colombia b) Bolivia a) Brazil Ancohuma? question. WhereisMount controls. red portandbuilt-injoystick including atrackpad,aninfra- a plethoraofgreatextras system. Ontopofthisyouget ROM driveandastereosound scan colourLCDdisplay,aCD- with aPCIbus,an11.3indual high-spec features,itcomes this month,buttosummariseits reviewed in“FirstImpressions” able inlieuofprizes. of thecompetitionandhisdecisionisfinal.Nocashalternativeavail- to arriveby14thDecember1995.TheEditorofPCWisthesolejudge Publications, Hi-Grade,MonitorManandEuroPressSoftware.Entries except foremployees,andtheirfamilies,ofVNUBusiness The competitionisopentoallreadersofPersonalComputerWorld Rules ofentry oio a: c c c b b b a EuroPress: a Monitor Man: Hi-Grade: a Answers (ticka,borc) ...... Daytime Tel ...... Postcode ...... Address ...... Name To enteranyorallofthesecompetitions,fillinthiscoupon: PCW/Hi-Grade Competition Broadwick Street,LondonW1A2HG. PCW Editorial,VNUBusinessPublications, VNUHouse,32-34 To win,answerthiseasy

Send yourcompletedcouponto: December Competition, CUTTING EDGE Notino Win Notino P75Mis tium notebooks.The one oftheirnewPen- i-Grade aregivingaway PCW ● COMPETITION a and 20copiesofMiniOffice,on away 20copiesofFlyingFingers Europress Softwarearegiving Mini Office Win FlyingFingersor c) MichaelSchumacher b) DamonHill a) MikaFalo do istelluswhoheis.Ishe: monitor, allyouhaveto Tyrrell team.Towinthe mula Onedriverfromthe Man sponsorthisFor- driver? Well,Monitor and 76Hz. and willrun1024x758 excellent buildquality, usual Nokiatraditionof The monitorisinthe give awaythismonth. Trinitron monitorto given usa15inNokia Monitor Manhave So whytheracing monitor Trinitron Nokia Win a not language FlyingFingersdoes chart maker. sheet, reportgeneratorand processor, database,spread- help increaseyourspeed. to practice,andplaygames program ittoremindyouwhen German orSpanish.Youcan to practiceinEnglish,French, multilingual, lettingyouchoose either floppyorCD-ROM. c) German b) French a) Italian To win,justtelluswhich Mini Officeincludesaword Flying Fingersis support: K Let 01782 566566 Nintendo: PhoneTHEon M Screenplay in “Screenplay”soon. 98, andlookforafullreview turn toourfeatureonpage whole MortalKombatstory, To findoutmoreaboutthe formats shortlyafterwards. and other console Saturn Sony Playstation,Sega October 1995.Itwillhitthe EdBoonandOliverTobias. programmers, capacity oftoday’smachines.Thisisbackedupbytheoriginal conversion yetthankstohard-diskaccessspeedsandthememory game andrealisticstereosoundeffects.Itissaidtobethebest outstanding animation,allthecharactersfromarcade features world fromtheevilgodShaoKahn. ues thestoryoforientalwarriorLuiKangandhisquesttosave The game,whichshouldbeoutbythetimeyoureadthis,contin- 9Srk omne C)EA Gremlin USGold Virgin Empire Premier Manager3:MultiEd(CD) USGold EA Strike Commander (CD) 20 USGold StarTrek 25thAnniversary(CD) Kixx 19 DayOf TheTentacle(CD) EA 18 Microprose World Cup Year‘94(PC) 17 Ultima Underworld1&2(CD) 16 EA Indycar –WhiteLabel(PC/CD) 15 Lucas UltimateDoom(PC) EA 14 StarTrekTheFinalUnity (CD) EA 13 EA FullThrottle(CD) Virgin 12 MagicCarpet2(CD) 11 CompleteUltima7Classics(CD) Sierra 10 PGATourGolf‘96(CD) 9 Domark DarkForces(PC&CD) 8 Virgin 7thGuest–WhiteLabel(CD) 7 NeedForSpeed(CD) 6 FadeToBlack(CD) 5 ChampionshipManager2(CD) 4 Phantasmagoria (CD) 3 Command &Conquer(CD) 2 1 Charts Mortal KombatIIIwillbepublishedbyGTEInteractiveon13 With full256-colourVGAgraphics,thePCCD-ROMversion series fromWilliams,isallsettomakeitsdebutonthePC. ortal KombatIII,thelatestinstalmentofhitbeat-em-up ommence K ombat NEWS Windows worms Bullfrog ison01483579399andMagic Carpet2willcost£44.99. extra dimensiontothegameplay. adventures, cavernlevelsandmission-based scenariostoaddan their disposal.Otherfeaturesinclude SVGAgraphics,night monsters, andplayershaveaneven greaternumberofspellsat Bullfrog hasuppedthevillaincountwithapositivehordeofnew flight experiencewithfasterresponseandsmoothergraphics. game followsthesameformatasbefore,butboastsanimproved adventure, isallsettoswoopontothescenethisChristmas.The M ridesagain Carpet Magic inherits superhumanpowers Earthworm Jimisawormwho ture withcartoon-likeanimation, and audiofeatures. of Microsoft’senhancedvideo version willtakefulladvantage by ShinyEntertainment,thePC plat Earthworm Jimtothisnew is convertingtheconsolehit The MayanAdventure,Activision of itsWindows95titlePitfall– Following thesuccessfullaunch expected toretailforlessthan$250USdollars. see theUltra64asnextbigthingingames. Each companyhasastringofoutstandingtitlestoitsnameandall Country, Acclaim,VirginInteractive,WilliamsandSierraOnline. developers. TheteamincludesRare,producersofDonkeyKong new machine,Nintendohasputtogethera“dreamteam”ofearly perspective correction. aliasing, real-timetri-linearMIP-mappedInterpolation(TLMMI)and 600,000 texture-mappedpolygonspersecond,withreal-timeanti- Graphics videochip.Togetheritisclaimedtheywilldeliverover complemented byaMIPSMultimediaEngineandtheSilicon Sony’s PlaystationandtheSegaSaturn. technology issaidtodelivergreatergraphicsperformancethan the JapanesegamesgiantsandUS-basedSiliconGraphics, Ultra 64gamesconsolehasbeencompleted.Ajointeffortbetween After 19monthsofintensedevelopment,thechipsetforNintendo’s Ultra unveiled agic Carpet2,thesequeltoBullfrog’sbestselling3Dfantasy In thismadcapactionadven- The Ultra64isdueforreleasethisNovemberinJapan,and To producewhatitcallstruenext-generationsoftwareforthe The Ultra64willbepoweredbya64-bitprocessor, form. Originallydeveloped ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL PCW Activision 01817429400 November. into actiononWindowsthis Sega Megadrive,andwillswing available onSuperNintendoand sounds abitsilly,you’reright. Her Name.Ifyouthinkthisall effort tosavePrincessWhat’s battle avarietyofbaddiesin right towearthesuit,Jimmust lands onhim.Defendinghis ics suitfallsoutoftheskyand when anindestructiblecybernet- Earthworm Jimisalready DECEMBER 1995 ● FUN 267 CUTTING EDGE DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 268 P starting intheouter regionsof split into14differentsections, and atrustysling.Thequestis your wits,father’sjournal your adventurearmedonlywith an unhealthyinterestinhim. and soZakeluadecidedtotake est inancientMayantreasure, Dad hadrecentlytakenaninter- Zakelua: LordofEvil.Itappears by thedreadedwarriorspirit, father, kidnappedinthejungle job istorescuehisfamous to date.InthisgameHarryJr’s its predecessorandbringsitup Adventure takesallofthefun Windows 95,Pitfall–TheMayan vine-swinging hero. play thesonoflegendary of PitfallHarry,andthistimeyou tred ontheexploits Those gamescen- tridge adventures. sic AtariVCScar- David Crane’sclas- awaited updateto ture isthelong Playing thehero,youstart Designed byActivisionfor Mayan Adven- itfall –The The Mayan AdventureThe Pitfall

CUTTING quicksandagainst andwildanimals.Henever stopsmonkeying around. nextThe generation oftheclassic AtariVCS gamePitfall pits EDGE PCW ● FUN be usedtoward off would-be avoid thepitfalls.Yourslingcan careful timingisrequiredto finish isneverastraightlineand around. Thepathfromstartto and generallymonkeying zooming downziplines swinging onvines, you climbingtrees, Mayan Adventurehas currents. and strongriver bling rockfaces quicksand, crum- Zakelua’s army, watch outfor you’ll haveto the onlydanger– animals aren’t way. And hungry inhabitantsalongthe ables andavoidingahordeof Pitfall –The the jungleand ending upat Zakelua’s lair. On eachlevel, the ideaisto find theexitto lecting valu- the next,col- depths soyoudon’t needto mode, butwillworkathigherbit claims torunbestin256-colour scrolling.Thegame parallax colourandsmooth luscious series, withdetaileddesign, from thoseintheoriginal8-bit Mayan Adventureareafarcry return toyou. fell swoop,turnaroundand a wholebatchofbadguysinone boomerang, whichcantakeout best intheearlystagesis be collectedenroute.Byfarthe attackers andotherweaponscan The graphicsinPitfall– way, andambientsoundscanbe window. was happywithadouble-sized full-screenaction,butI prefer using. Mostpeopleseemto and thepowerofPCyouare depending onyourpreference either awindoworfullscreen, restart Windows.Youcanplayin Contact Price SVGA videocard,mouse ROM, VESALocalBusorPCI Windows 95,double-speedCD- 486/33MHz orhigher,8MbRAM, Audio hasalsocomealong £35-£45 Activision 01817429400 appeal. “just onemorego” you goingandthat plenty oflevelstokeep predecessors, with tive asits isjustasaddic- Pitfall bit. Thisversionof play hasn’tchangeda all though,thegame- the sametime.Bestof you can’thavebothat music’s goodtoo,but atmosphere. The create arealadventure played offtheCDto Chris Cain recommendation. my highestpossible way, itcomeswith DOS product.Either it’s nodifferenttoa you playitfullscreen moment, althoughif dows 95cropatthe the bestofWin- This gameisprobably nothing haschanged. been aclassicand System Requirements Pitfall hasalways H Fury fighting continues. Onthe the farreachesofsky terrain. negotiating theever-changing targets ofthemissionaswell the compasstofindmain sides, youalsohavetowatch ble whilebeingattackedonall as manyenemyshipspossi- only doyouhavetoshootdown skill isrequiredbecausenot Sahara. Everylastounceof between theAlpsand that lookslikeacross over a3D-bitmappedterrain seconds lateryou’reflying going. Pressstartand progress throughthegame. can bepickedupasyou increasingly deadlyweapons own ammunition.Other conveniently regeneratesits a high-poweredweaponwhich start withaServoKineticLaser, Bions. Fury, thehomeworldof your wayacrosseightplanetsto Terran andtheideaistomake planets. Theactionstartson coalition amongsevenpeaceful stop theBionsruiningafragile Council ofPeace,it’syourjobto Councillor fortheTerran’s you onyourtoes. 24 demandingmissionstokeep onset, it’sfull-onwarfarewith from Microsoft.Rightthe dows-based 3Dshoot-emup It’s full-onwarfare alltheway. version ofthisfuturisticshowdown. actioninthenewWindows Fury-ous Nicola Kingsley Through thecloudsandinto Shields on,andlet’sget Your shipisequippedatthe The dateis2832andas compared tothisnewWin- ell hathnofuryifitcanbe finds fast and 3 Descent, withanup- scape, climateandhiddenevils. ons withitsownparticularland- completed, thenextplanetbeck- debris. Oncethreemissionsare juicy explosionandlotsofflying enough ofarewardwithhuge targets wait,butakillisalmost ground, evenunderthe Gameplay issimilarinfeelto need Windows95first. of thisbundle,butIthinkI’ll and keepthepeaceforprice shooting intothebargain.I’lltry lots ofchallengingflyingand fast andfuriousexperiencewith hardware, Fury3makesfora £69.99. the bundleisratherhighat under Windows95.Thecostfor seems toworkbest,ifonly pages 56-57)whichincidentally lose thevideoclips.Youwill ble-speed CDdrive,butyouwill have anythinglessthanadou- is especiallyimportantifyou helps speedthingsupabit.This your localharddisk,which can betroublesometosetup. It workswithWindows3.1but as recommendedbyMicrosoft. when usedwithWindows95– speed, andthegamerunsfaster reduced, whichhelpstoincrease 486DX/66. Graphicdetailcanbe recommended minimum that smoothonthe graphic engine. admitted tousingthesame need between55and70Mbof disk spaceforafullinstall, depending onwhetheryouare running Windows95or3.1. on CD-ROMandatthe ESNLCMUE WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL moment comesbundledwith Microsoft’s newjoystick,the Sidewinder 3DPro(seethis month’s Gadgetsspreadon tempo technosoundtrack. Although demandingon Fury3 canbefullyinstalledto Unfortunately, Fury3isn’t The actionfeelsfaster,due to theopenspacedogfights which leavethehorizon cockpit. Somereadersmay spinning aroundoutsidethe be remindedofTerminal Velocity, andMicrosofthas The gameisonlyavailable Price hard diskspace(95),14Mb(3.1) ably Windows95),minimum10Mb speed CD-ROM,Windows(prefer- video card,8MbRAM,double- 486 DX2/66,LocalBusSVGA System Requirements PCW on CD-ROM Contact £69.99 withjoystick,£39.99 DECEMBER 1995 ● Microsoft 01734270001 FUN 269 CUTTING EDGE DECEMBER 1995 WORLD COMPUTER PERSONAL 270 W December 1995 Box 99HarrogateNYorksHG2OXJ toarrivenotlaterthan20th and nofloppydisks–to: the total. total numberofanimals;andthehorsescowscomprise7/16 of cows bythree;thehorsesandhensconstituteonelessthanhalf number ofcows.Thesheepandhensoutumberthehorses than onethirdofthenumberhens,andthreelesshalf geese, sheep,horses,hensandcows.Thenumberofgeeseisless all writeincomplaininghowsimpleitis–Iknowalready. A niceeasyproblemintherunuptoChristmas,thisyear.Sodon’t This Month’sPrizePuzzle What numberistwicetheproductofitsdigits? This Month’sQuickie ofJJClessa. courtesy Brainteasers release. Eachgamebeginswith and rightflipperstheball are limitedtocontrollingtheleft table, andtheplayer’sactions a birds-eyeviewofthepinball layout issimple– admirably. arcade favourites plot ofthese the time-worn pack, adheresto dows 95Plus part oftheWin- Cadet, suppliedas 3D PinballSpace little. Microsoft’s changed very machine have average pinball figurations ofthe around us,theconfinesandcon- Good Luck! Answers onapostcardorbacksofsealedenvelopes–noletters How manyanimalsofeachtypearethere? My friendhasafarminwhichhekeepsfivetypesofanimal– The screen ibl pc Cadet Space Pinball CUTTINGmoney, says chipping away at your pocket thingwithout the funofreal EDGE all find PinballSpaceCadetoffers apubpinballfan,If you’re you’ll changes almosteverything hile technologicaladvance PCW ● PCW FUN Doug Chapman Prize Puzzle–December1995PO suggests, youstartoutasa the nextlevel.Asgame’stitle est score,istocontinuallyreach attraction ofbetteringyourhigh- the thirdball.Theaimof table andendswiththelossof the catapultingofaballinto game, apartfromtheobvious . Leisure Lines it couldbeyourturnnext. have JuliaRobertsinherswimsuitnexttimeplease?). of KevinCostnerinhiswetsuitontheothersidecard(canwe Mr CTHarris,ofPooleinDorset.Healsosentusaverynicepicture David couldhavefittedthebill,soweacceptedeither. that theproblemwasnotexactlydefined.Twoanswers–Aaronor Just over60entriescamein.Ofcourse,itcouldhavebeenthefact might havebeenthatmanyofourregularpuzzlerswereonholiday. Perhaps itwasthewarts,acneanddimplesthatputpeopleoff,or it Not averyexcitingresponsetoourSeptemberlogicproblem. Winner ofSeptember1995PrizePuzzle Meanwhile, toallthelosers,ourusual message—keeptrying, Congratulations MrHarris–your prizewillbewithyoushortly. Anyway, thewinningcard–drawnatrandomcamefroma most state-of-the-artpub soundtrack thataccompanies ing. Thereisnoneofthebrash good, themusicisdisappoint- the soundeffectsarerather istic. Anaidtothisincreasein the gameharderandmorereal- in hand,atthetable.Itmakes you reallyarestanding,flippers 3D, givingyoutheeffectthat change yourviewofthetableto of SpaceCadetistheoptionto reached andyourstatusrises. feature passed,afurtherlevelis mere spacecadetbutwitheach The mostoutstandingfeature ity. However,whereas the impressionofreal- buffers, tomaintain variety oframpsand ball reboundsintoa sound effectsasthe light andcrash-bang are enoughflashesof to theeye,andthere bright andappealing or forthasyouwish. table sidewaysorback enabling youtotiltthe shape ofacheat, difficulty comesinthe The graphicsare undoubtedly worthcheckingout. package fromMicrosoftandis boosts analreadyinteresting coins. Ifnot,thegameadmirably out theneedtocontinuallyfeedit excitement oftherealthingwith- investment, providingallthe Microsoft Plusisaworthy Macintosh. Crystal CaliburnontheApple pared favourablytoTristanor pinball games,andcanbecom- favourably withothercomputer of itshighestlevels.Itcompares hours ofplayingIstillfellshort ing challengeandafterseveral enough tomakeitalong-stand- addictive. Thegameisdifficult lent entertainmentandhighly 3D PinballSpaceCadetisexcel- afterthought. tune thatsoundslikean machines: thisisadrabopening If pinballisyourthingthen Poor musicnotwithstanding, 01734 270001 Contact Windows 95 25Mb freeharddiskspace, 486 PCorhigher,8MbofRAM, System Requirements Microsoft Hands On Contents

OPERATING SYSTEMS Hands On is the place where readers can Windows 95 274 contribute to PCW, and as always we’ll pay for Tabbed dialogue boxes have some new anything we use. Macros, sections of code and properties. Tim Nott has some tips. hints and tips will be rewarded with a £20 book or record token (please say which you’d prefer) Windows 3.1 276 and we’ll pay hard cash for longer, more Back to basics: Tim Nott gets down to DOS again, with Dblspace and Autoexec.bat in involved pieces. Please include relevant focus. screenshots in .GIF format. All submissions should be emailed to the OS/2 282 author of the appropriate section, or In the first a new series of columns, Terence snailmailed to Hands On, Personal Green explains why we should sit up and take Computer World Editorial, VNU House, notice of OS/2. 32-34 Broadwick Street, London W1A 2HG. Questions and short hints and tips can be DOS 284 faxed on 0171 316 9313. Simon Collin shows you how to tune Windows We’re constantly working to improve the con- 95 to get the best from your DOS applications. tents of Hands On. If you have any 32-Bit 286 suggestions, send them to the Editor at the The trials of Tonto, loaded up with Linux and on address above, or email them to: the road with Chris Bidmead. [email protected]

APPLICATIONS Word Processing 291 Microsoft has a venomous new virus, but all is not lost. Tim Phillips shows you how to beat Low Level 328 “Prank Macro”. Low Level has come to the end of its run. In his last Hands On column, Mike Liardet goes Spreadsheets 296 through the Windows, with the help of Visual Stephen Wells on how to achieve a smooth Basic. changeover between DOS and Windows spreadsheets. Numbers Count 335 Wondrous Numbers capture the gaze of Mike Databases 302 Mudge. Your chance to find out why... The last of Codd’s rules for modern RDBMSs explored, and you’re not properly addressed AND THE REST... without your Postcode. With Mark Whitehorn. Networks 338 Brasso works wonders on Windows 95 — the Graphics & DTP 308 CD, that is. Stephen Rodda explains. The luxury of layering can be found in some bitmapped drawing packages; Gordon Laing Comms 342 has been experimenting in Photoshop 3.0. Finding interesting forums, and Windows on the web are just some of the comms problems Multimedia 314 furrowing Stephen Cobb’s brow. Authorware, or Director? Panicos Georghiades and Gabriel Jacobs bring you the pick of the Macintosh 346 packages. Which to choose — a PowerSurge Mac or a Power Computing Mac clone? Chris Cain has Sound 318 arguments for and against both. Steven Helstrip beats a path to the door of Cubase 2.0, and keeps the beat of more Computer Answers 349 percussion tracks. Frank Leonhardt presents his regular forum for your problems, hints & tips and solutions. PROGRAMMING Visual Programming 324 Beginners 351 Data access in Excel 7.0, and why Designer Eleanor Turton-Hill guides you through the Widgets is full of bugs. With Tim Anderson. minefield of PC jargon and confusion. This month, upgrading your hard disk.

273 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● WINDOWS 95

creation date and version information. Another little trick concerns the “Location” information. This only gives the name of the folder containing the object, but hold the pointer over this and a pop-up appears giving the full path.

Fonts, folders and phantoms Hot property One thing I was hoping for in Windows 95 was an improvement to font management. Well, there’s good news and bad news. There’s no shortage of properties in Windows 95. The good news is that you don’t need to In fact they’re everywhere, as Tim Nott, right- separate .FOT and .TTF files cluttering up the system folder anymore. You can also clicking his way around his screen, found out. view and print samples of any font — even He’s been finding out about fonts, too. if it isn’t installed. You can add fonts through the “New font dialog” or by dragging from another folder, much as you could with File Manager and the Control hey used to be called tabbed dialogue Program Manager’s “File/Properties”. Panel Font section under Windows 3.1. If Tboxes and first made their appearance It’s really worth spending some time you use the former method, there is, again in places such as the Word for Windows right-clicking on everything in sight. The as previously, a check box for the option to “Options” command. Now they’re property sheet for “My Computer” for copy the actual file over (you’d probably everywhere and, confusingly, are called instance is a quick way to Control want to do this if installing from disk or “Property Sheets”. I would suggest Panel/System and the Recycle Bin prop- CD), or not (if the font is already on your “Leaflet” or “Book” would more appropriate erties let you set its size for each drive and hard disk, but not in the default Fonts for something with more than one page, do away with the confirmation dialogue. folder). but never mind. Practically every object on Right-click on a drive letter in “My Com- If you use the latter method (which, the screen has “Properties” — right-click puter” and you’ll get a pie-chart display of after all, is what Windows 95 is all about) on an empty part of the desktop, and down free space, and on the second page, you’ll find that unlike dragging an .EXE file at the bottom of the pop-up menu access to the scanning, defragmenting with the left button, you don’t get a “Properties” summons a tabbed dialogue and backup tools. Folder properties shortcut: the whole caboodle is either box for display settings — exactly as if you include, most usefully, the total of nested copied between drives, or moved between had gone via Control Panel. Right-click on folders, files and disk space consumed. folders on the same drive. If you don’t want the Taskbar, and “Properties” leads to var- There are a few tips worth knowing on to copy/move the file, use the right button ious options for the Start Menu and property sheets generally. Anything you and choose “Create shortcut”. Now, in any Taskbar, such as turning the clock off. don’t understand, click first on the ques- normal folder you get a shortcut but in the Properties of a shortcut tell you where it tion mark button, then on the thing. You Fonts folder you don’t. The icon has the resides, where it points to and lets you can also right-click on the thing, then click little shortcut arrow symbol, but the change the icon — a direct descendant of with either button on the “What’s this?” filename and size are that of the source panel that pops up. However, this doesn’t file. Moreover, there’s no shortcut page in Who’s that girl? always work as there is another curious the Properties sheet, and if you delete a feature of property The properties for data files vary very sheets. Move the cursor much with the type of data — Microsoft around, and you’ll notice Office documents such as Excel and Word that in certain places it have two extra pages for summary changes to an I-beam: information and statistics. Media files also not just in the edit boxes, run to three pages, with all sorts of infor- but in the “grey” (or mation including copyright, and a player. whatever colour you Which brings me to the great Windows 95 have) area as well. You FAQ (Frequently Asked Question). Who is can’t edit this informa- the singer on the “Good Times” video clip? tion, but you can select it Well, look in the property sheet of and copy it to the Goodtime.avi and all will be revealed. You clipboard. For example, might also like to check out the authorship examine the properties of “The Microsoft Sound” in your of MSPAINT.EXE and Windows\Media folder. Not one of his more you’ll find you can select interesting works, I feel, but it’s good to see and copy all sorts of another Englishman in the Microsoft charts. data, such as the Regedit tells truths about your fonts, unavailable elsewhere

274 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● WINDOWS 95 MICROMART CLASSIFIED

font shortcut it goes straight to oblivion, Documentary evidence bypassing the Recycle Bin. One thing I like about Windows 95 is the So what on earth is going on here? Are emphasis on documents rather than these shortcuts, the full files, or some applications. I find the “Documents” list on other strange entity? The secret is that the the Start button very handy, and I like the Fonts folder is a “special case” — you way the applets show the file first, then the can’t, for example, create any nested application in the title bar — so you see folders. And if you look at it with File “My Picture - Paint” or “My Letter - Word- Manager (run winfile.exe from the Start Pad” on the Taskbar. So why on earth did Menu “Run” command) the shortcuts don’t the designers of Office 95 revert to the old exist at all. Still, logic is not one of way, with the program first? It doesn’t Windows 95’s strong suits. What can you require tremendous learning effort to say of a system where, to shut down the remember that the “W” icon stands for computer, you click on the “Start” button? Word, and the “X” for Excel. So why the If you’d like a touch of sanity, start the totally redundant “Microsoft Word…” Registry Editor. If you can’t find it in the afterwards, taking up the space where you start menu, type “regedit” from the “Run” want to see the document name? prompt. Start at the section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and click on the plus sign next to it. Keep clicking on the plusses down through Software, Microsoft, Windows, Current Version, Fonts. You should then see, on the right of the screen, a list of font names, files, and if not located in the default font folder, the path. Why you have to go through this rig- marole to find out what’s what on your hard disk is beyond me, but never mind. At last — the Windows 95 gang screen So the upshot is if you want to keep separate sets of fonts (say a limited set for “we proudly present for your viewing word processing and a wider range for pleasure” graphics or DTP applications), it can be Right-click and rename again, including done. Keep your standard fonts in the capitals and exclamation mark, to: C:\Windows\Fonts. Create a new folder “The Microsoft Windows 95 Product (say C:\Windows\More Fonts) for the Team!” fancy stuff, and copy the .TTF files in If you really want to impress there. When you want to install the addi- bystanders, skip all that and just create a tional fonts, select all, right drag to the new folder called Fonts folder, and create shortcuts. To “anything.{869DADA0-42A0-1069-A2E7- uninstall them you’re going to have to pick 08002B30309D}” out each “shortcut” individually and delete The “anything” can be anything you like, it. Not very good, is it? And while I’m in a but the stop, brackets and numbers must Windows-bashing mood, check out the be just right — again, omit the quotes. screen version of the Symbol font — that’s You’re now ready to go: if you’ve got the .FON version with a red “A” icon. sound on your PC, turn it on, open the Notice anything strange compared to the folder and wonder how much disk space MS Serif and MS Sans Serif screen fonts? that lot takes up. Finally, thanks to everyone who has Gang warfare written in with feedback and tips, But now for something far more important. especially Gareth Cooke, Ian Hayhurst Having last month found out how to and Ian Abbott who all came up with the change the start-up and shut-down gang-screen secret. All further tips will be screens, the next question any seeker of gratefully received and usually published truth asks is “Where’s the gang screen?”. and acknowledged in the fullness of time. Are you sitting comfortably? Right, then So if you’ve sent me deep hacks into the right-click on the desktop, create a new registry that haven’t appeared in print yet, folder and name it: be patient. “and now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for” PCW Contacts No, I’m not joking. Omit the quotes, but get the rest exactly as printed. Then Tim Nott can be contacted by post via right-click on the folder once more and PCW or by email at rename it to: [email protected]

275 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● WINDOWS 3.1

Life before Windows

How does DOS affect Windows? Tim Nott Note that first, you can leave out “SET” examines the ins and outs of the Dblspace and and the equals sign, and that each Autoexec.Bat commands, and recommends directory needs to be separated by a Recorder for a change of . semicolon. Other applications may add their own paths, either on the same line or by adding a separate line such as SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\WIZZO icrosoft’s bundled disk compression key assignments — see the DOS help where %PATH% stands in for the existing Msoftware loads DBLSPACE.BIN files on PROMPT and ANSI.SYS for more. path. There may be more system automatically prior to processing CON- You can have a separate prompt for variables defined by using the SET FIG.SYS. DBLSPACE.SYS, usually DOS sessions under Windows — useful if command — examples include SET appearing at the end of CONFIG.SYS with the user needs to be reminded that they MSINPUT, which Microsoft mouse and the /MOVE switch, relocates as much as are in a full-screen DOS session under keyboard drivers need, or SET BLASTER possible into the high memory area, with Windows rather than the real thing. Stick which defines the IRQ, DMA and other the rest at the bottom of conventional in a line, for example: esoteric settings for a SoundBlaster card. memory. SET WINPMT=Type EXIT to return to You don’t need a mouse driver loaded That’s enough about CONFIG.SYS, Windows $P$G. in AUTOEXEC.BAT if you’re only running because as you no doubt realise there’s Which brings me on to the SET com- Windows. If however you want to use the another file, AUTOEXEC.BAT, that needs mand in general. This creates and defines mouse under DOS (or a Windowed DOS to be processed. History has blurred the “environmental variables”. Typical of these session) you’ll either need something like distinction between the two. The are TEMP, showing the directory where MOUSE.EXE or MOUSE.COM in commands in AUTOEXEC.BAT, unlike temporary files (such as printer output) AUTOEXEC.BAT or a MOUSE.SYS CONFIG.SYS, are the sort of thing you should be stored, and PATH. If a program loaded by CONFIG.SYS. The keyboard can enter from the keyboard: a BAT(CH) file is on the PATH (its directory will be command is another option — you don’t file is simply a series of DOS commands listed to the right of the equals sign) then need it in Windows, as the country settings that can be played back from a file, rather you don’t have to change to that directory are all in Control Panel — but if you want than having to type each one in, and the (or specify the full path) to run the AUTOEXEC bit means that your PC will program. At its simplest, you’ll probably All you ever wanted to know about AUTOmatically EXECute it after have something like Smartdrive, from the DOS “Help” CONFIG.SYS has had its say. SET PATH=C:;C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS command The first line you’ll see here is probably @ECHO OFF All this does is to stop the subsequent commands “echoing” (being displayed) on the screen. The @ sign stops the ECHO command itself from appearing. Next, you might typically get: PROMPT=$p$g This defines the appearance of the DOS prompt. By default (i.e. with no PROMPT command) you get just the current drive and a greater-than sign. The “$p” adds the current directory path, which is useful. You can augment this in all sorts of ways — adding time, date, your own text and so on, and if you really want to get your anorak dirty use “Escape” codes to change screen and text colours or even

276 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● WINDOWS 3.1 MICROMART CLASSIFIED

your pound sign to stay put at Shift+3 in Choose a new keyboard layout — and DOS sessions, you ought to have automate switching with Recorder KEYB UK,,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS (or sometimes just KEYB UK). As with CONFIG.SYS there are all for safety rather than speed by disabling sorts of third-party drivers and TSRs (pro- “write behind” cacheing altogether, so that grams that stay in memory) that your par- data gets written to disk immediately. The ticular hardware or programs may need, “/X” switch after SMARTDRV achieves such as a scanner driver, network drivers, this. Order doesn’t generally matter much, third-party disk compression, or support but there are exceptions. If you have a for a file-transfer program such as CD-ROM drive, make sure that the LapLink. command that gives access to the drive SMARTDRV is a process that speeds (usually MSCDEX.EXE) loads before up disk access by keeping recently- SMARTDRV, otherwise you won’t be able accessed data in memory, cutting out to use disk cacheing on the CD. unnecessary disk reads and writes. There Going back to last month, I mentioned are a heap of possible parameters here, that certain lines in CONFIG.SYS were and no room to go into detail, but typing needed to be able to load drivers and “SMARTDRV” at the DOS prompt will other programs “high” — keeping as much show the current settings. Append “ /?” to conventional memory (below 640Kb) free that for a list of what all the options mean as possible. You may also have noticed or “help smartdrv” for the full help text. that some lines in your CONFIG.SYS and The important settings, however, are AUTOEXEC.BAT are rather more the two numbers. The first is the cache complicated than the examples I’ve given, size, in Kilobytes, prior to running with entries starting “DEVICEHIGH” or Windows. The second is that used when “LH” followed by a barrage of numbers Windows is running. If you have 4Mb or and letters before the main command. less on your machines, Microsoft These two things are not unconnected. recommends setting these to 1024/512 — DEVICEHIGH and LOADHIGH (which can over 4Mb but under 6Mb to 2048/1024, be abbreviated to LH) attempt to load and over 6Mb to 2048/2048. But, if you’re whatever follows into upper memory. This running the faster 32-bit file access under isn’t quite as easy as it sounds, as some Windows 3.11 (check in Control Panel/386 drivers and programs need a lot of mem- Enhanced) VCACHE will look after hard- ory to start, then contract to take up less, disk cacheing and you will only need and the order in which things are loaded Smartdrv for floppy disks or CD-ROMs, so can make a tremendous difference. a lower value (usually 128) will free up Fortunately, trial and error isn’t the only memory. Control Panel should change the way to optimise this process. From the Smartdrv settings automatically, but you plain DOS prompt (not a Windows DOS should check. session) type “MEMMAKER” and follow Finally, if your machine, heaven forbid, the prompts. If, as any self-respecting is prone to crashes, you might wish to go dabbler would, you want to use the

277 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 MICROMART HANDS ON ● WINDOWS 3.1 CLASSIFIED Run, run, run

While Windows 95 users are gloating over and whatever command-line switches their “Run” command on the Start Menu and you want to specify or data file you want “Open with...” from the mouse button, bear to load. The counterpart to this is to in mind that something similar is highlight a data file — say it’s one of available in File Manager. With no file select- those annoying .TXT files that are too big ed, choose “Run” from the “File” menu, and for Notepad: choose “File/Run...” again, you can type in the name of any executable press “Home” to get the cursor to the file (even a DOS program) and run it. With a beginning of the line and type “Write”, program file selected, the name will appear plus a space. Hey presto ! The outsize in the box, highlighted. Move the cursor to text file appears in Windows Write. the end with the “End” key, type a space,

● With “File/Run…” you can use associated files in a different application

“Custom” rather than “Express” setup, do Control Panel/International and make the press F1 at the following screen to find out change there — a bit of a nuisance. One what all those settings mean. The curiosity of the keyboard layout settings is “optimise for Windows” option in particular that although they are stored in is a trifle misleading, as this actually SYSTEM.INI, you don’t, as with most increases the memory available for changes to this file, have to restart Windows DOS sessions while decreasing Windows for these to take effect. that available from naked DOS. You’ll For a more streamlined approach to need to restart your PC twice (or rather, changing keyboard layout, try using Memmaker does it for you). If all has gone Recorder. Start by getting the relevant files well, Memmaker will have tried several in place. Go to Control Panel/International hundred combinations of how and where and choose the new keyboard layout in to load each item (that’s what all the the usual way. If this is the first time, you’ll numbers mean), and you should have be prompted for an installation disk. considerably more free conventional Having done this, change it back to memory — experimenting here retrieved British or whatever you normally use. 110Kb. Note that if you add or remove Repeat these steps and you should find drivers and programs in CONFIG.SYS or that instead of being prompted for a disk, AUTOEXEC.BAT you’ll need to run you are asked if you want to use the cur- Memmaker again. rent driver or a new one — click “Current”. And that, for a Windows column, is Making sure you’re in your default layout, quite enough about DOS for now. It does start Recorder from Program Manager. help, however, to have some idea what From the “Options” menu ensure that Windows needs and doesn’t need, and to “Minimize on use” and “Shortcut keys” are realise it’s not just DOS that benefits from ticked. Then from the “Macro” menu as much base memory as possible. We’ll choose “Record”. Give the Macro a name have another look next month at how to pick — say “French keyboard”. Check that and choose between different setups. Playback is to “Same Application”, “Fast”, with the “Shortcut keys enabled” checked, International rescue and “Continuous loop” unchecked. Set the Cosmopolitan Windows 95 users have a “Record mouse” box to “Ignore” and give very neat utility for changing keyboard the macro a shortcut key — such as settings and character sets on the fly. Ctrl+F12. Now you’re ready to start. Click DOS users can just type “keyb” followed on “Record” and Recorder will shrink to an by a two-letter code to instantly change icon, leaving you back in Program Man- the keyboard layout. Windows 3.1 users ager. Ignoring the quotes, type: have the choice of either buying a multi- “Alt+f” then “r” lingual word processor such as Accent, which will bring up the “Run” dialogue box. that can take this in its stride, or go to In this, type

278 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● WINDOWS 3.1 MICROMART CLASSIFIED

“control.exe main.cpl international” Now comes the difficult bit. Using the followed by the return key. This will save same steps, record a second macro to time when the macro is replayed, skipping change everything back. It’s hard, the loading of all the Control Panel bits that because you have to record the macro in you don’t need. The International settings the “foreign” language — to save too much dialogue will appear, so type “Alt+k” to get agony, the full stop on a French layout is to the Keyboard Layout section. Type the shift+comma on a UK board. By the same first letter of the language you want, and token, running the “French” macro when repeat until you see it in the box — you will you’re already using that layout will grind find that French takes two f’s as it comes to a halt, as Windows will be trying to after Finnish. Press return once to close interpret the wrong keystrokes. Similarly, if the dialogue, and again to confirm that the you want to use more than two layouts, current driver should be used. You can then you’ll need a pair of macros for each now pick up the mouse again, click on the in order to touch base with the standard Recorder icon and save the macro — note layout before loading a new one. that you have to save the macro file as well. You should now be typing in tongues: PCW Contacts if you’ve followed the French example, Q Tim Nott can be contacted either by will have been replaced by A, W by Z, M post c/o PCW or by email on shifted up to the row above and the punc- [email protected] tuation will be all over the place. Ten Top Tips for Windows Wallpaper Wallpaper uses up memory. An 800 x 600, 256-colour image takes nearly half a megabyte. Small tiled images are far more economical. Clipboard If you’ve been using the Clipboard to copy large chunks of text or graphics, free up memory by clearing it. Use the Clipboard Viewer’s “Edit/Delete” command or save time by copying a single letter to the clipboard — it will replace the existing contents. Paintbrush When pasting into Paintbrush, first make sure the “Image Attributes” are set large enough to accept the whole picture. If the visible work area is still smaller than the picture, zoom out first — that way you won’t lose any of it. Cardfile If you’ve got a modem attached to your PC you can use the Cardfile utility to dial phone numbers. Go to the “Card” menu and choose “Autodial” — you may need to click on the “Setup” button to set the port and dialling method the first time. If you haven’t highlighted a phone number, the autodialler will pick the first thing it thinks is a phone number on the current card. It doesn’t like spaces, so use hyphens instead. Screenshots If you want to have a “Screenshot” — like the ones in PCW — for inclusion in documents, or just to produce some very confusing wallpaper, remember the PrintScreen key captures the entire screen to the clipboard, but Alt+PrintScreen just captures the current window or dialogue box. Recorder You can’t edit Recorder macros, but you can see the list of keystrokes and mouse movements, which may be useful for debugging. Highlight a macro, then hold down the while you select “Properties...” from the “Macro” menu. System Resources Some applications gobble system resources and don’t give them all back when shut down. If your system slows down as the day goes on, check the “Help/About” box in any Windows component. The only way to retrieve “leaked” resources is to re-start Windows. Icons If icons are turning into black squares, or you get an “Insufficient memory” error when trying to move or create them, then the most likely cause is that your display is set to more than 256 colours. Yes, it’s another Windows bug — the workaround is to keep fewer icons in each program group. Paintbrush Having defined a cut-out with the scissors tool, dragging with the left mouse button makes the cut-out “transparent” — any background colour is left behind. Dragging with the right button copies the background as well… More Paintbrush …and holding down the while dragging copies, rather than moves, the selection.

281 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● OS/2

about, and Windows glosses over, come to the fore when any operating system attempts to resolve them. Sound cards that use the same address for a MIDI port as an Adaptec SCSI card don’t cause problems under DOS/Windows if you never use the MIDI port. But any operating system that plans to be more reliable than DOS/Windows needs to somehow resolve that conflict. So it’s worth remembering that you can A voyage around OS/2 improve the reliability of any operating system by dealing with hardware conflicts. Unfortunately, the best way to do this with In the first of a new series of regular columns a standard PC is to make a list of all the Terence Green outlines OS/2. He explains what IRQs (interrupt request lines), port it is, why it deserves serious consideration, and addresses, and DMA (direct memory access) channels that your peripheral whether you should Warp this way or that. cards use. There’s no middle path between this and buying an entirely Plug & Play system. here’s a lot of confu- provide a viable alterna- Tsion around as to tive choice. By then we’ll What is OS/2? what OS/2 is, and why it all be running 32-bit OS/2 began in the early eighties as a deserves consideration; operating systems on Microsoft replacement for MSDOS. IBM much of it caused by the 150MHz processors got involved as a joint development fact that most PC-based with 32Mb RAM, at a partner and things went pear-shaped for a operating systems are still guess. while until 1990 when OS/2 1.3 appeared. being designed on the fly. However, it has By this time, the idea of OS/2 as a DOS However, the day when a taken nearly 15 years replacement had long ago foundered, but “How do I…” question for the IBM PC to OS/2 1.3 is a remarkably stable base for about some work-related progress from its Microsoft LAN Manager and IBM LAN task (such as transferring insufficiently rigorous Server which, at the time, shared quite a a presentation between initial specification to lot of code. But by this time, Microsoft and PCs in London and Cairo) doesn’t drag the PCI spec, and Plug & Play is in its infancy, IBM’s relationship was on the rocks and operating system into view as well, has yet so for now we are stuck with the Microsoft dropped OS/2 in order to to arrive. haphazard PC. concentrate on bringing out Windows NT To set the scene for my first column in That wasn’t so bad when most of us (which it did in 1993). PCW we’ll take a short trip around OS/2. started with DOS or Windows already Meanwhile, IBM wrestled with the But initially a word about hardware running on our PCs. That’s half the battle successor to OS/2 1.3. Finally, in 1992, because, as so many Windows 95 won. Problems may arise later but the they shipped OS/2 2.0. It supported DOS, upgraders are discovering, all hardware is basic system works. As users upgrade to Windows, and OS/2 applications. The not created equal. Reliable hardware is Windows 95 now, many of us are finding Windows bit was okay provided you didn’t crucial to a reliable operating system (as did those who upgraded earlier to try anything too complicated. Neverthe- function. Inevitably, any large piece of OS/2 or Windows NT) that hardware less, it was quite an achievement when it software has bugs and if the hardware is matters. Issues that DOS doesn’t care worked at all. flaky to start with, you’re asking for trouble. Wot, no apps?

Hardware matters I must answer the question; “Why does OS/2 have no applications…?” Actually, there are Operating systems are tricky customers. lots, but there are two reasons why there aren’t more: one is that most Windows applications Having assessed several versions of run just fine on OS/2 Warp; the other is a developer issue. DOS, Windows, Windows NT and OS/2 Applications which exploit 32-bit operating systems aren’t trivial creations. Both OS/2 and over the years, the main problem has to be Windows NT have suffered from a lack of general applications to match the choice on with getting them to a state where you can Windows 3.1. Microsoft developed Windows 95 in part to drive the development of 32-bit begin to form opinions about their value as applications for Windows NT. For nearly two years now we’ve known that Windows 95 was applications platforms. imminent. Developers had to keep their existing Windows 3.1 products competitive while Having to use IBM PC-compatible developing new Windows 95 applications. OS/2 just didn’t get a look in. hardware doesn’t help. Maybe PCI Now that Windows 95 is available it will be interesting to see how quickly Win95 (peripheral component interconnect) and applications appear that truly exploit the 32-bit sub-system. And if Windows 95 proves less Plug & Play will resolve most of the reliable than OS/2, how soon will those applications be ported over to the other 32-bit hardware issues in due course. Perhaps desktop OS (OS/2 Warp) given that it is easier to port 32-bit applications between platforms the PowerPC, which has a more than to port 16-bit applications to 32-bit? clearly-defined hardware specification, will

282 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● OS/2 MICROMART CLASSIFIED

1

Fig 1 OS/2 Warp Red Pack runs Microsoft Windows

Fig 2 OS/2 Warp Connect Peer Services, in the Windows NT network browser

Warped or unWarped? Current products are known as “Warp 2 with Win-OS/2” and “Warp without Win-OS/2” — which might give you an idea as to why people say IBM marketing is not a patch on Microsoft’s. Within IBM they’re known as Blue Box and Red Box, after the packaging. Blue Box with Win-OS/2 is preferable to the Red Box version, which is an upgrade for Windows users who can install it directly over their existing Windows, or Windows for Workgroups, with a minimum of fuss. The idea is that when these users upgrade, they move to the full-pack Blue Box version with Win-OS/2. The most recent version of OS/2 Warp There were few OS/2 applications but to ship is Warp Connect, mainly intended the DOS multitasking worked rather well. for business users because it includes a OS/2 2.0 was a mix of 16-bit and 32-bit bunch of network connectivity options that code, so IBM gradually reduced the 16-bit enable OS/2 workstations to be clients in components until Warp shipped as a OS/2, Windows, and NetWare networks. complete 32-bit system. All OS/2 Warp versions ship with a Initially, OS/2 shipped with the large set of bundled applications in the Win-OS/2 sub-system, a special version of Bonus Pack. Some, such as the Internet Windows which was compiled to run under Access Kit, are rather good; some are OS/2. IBM can do this because it owns “Lite” versions of nifty, full-featured derivative rights to Windows 3.1 code. software such as Faxworks; and others Later, IBM shipped OS/2 for just have foolish names like IBM Works. Windows which doesn’t include Win-OS/2 because it can run Microsoft Windows 3.1 PCW Contacts (after a little tweaking). The two versions; Terence Green can be contacted either one with, and one without Win-OS/2, were by post c/o PCW, or by email to carried through to Warp (also known as [email protected] OS/2 version 3).

Warp Serrver

At times, it has been hard to decipher IBM’s approach to OS/2 — sometimes it seems as if they’re aiming it at home users, and other times at large corporates. The next Warp variant to ship will be Warp Server which is going to be pitched against Windows NT and Microsoft Back Office. This seems to suggest that corporate users are Warp’s ambition but that’s the wrong way to look at the positioning of Warp. The point of Warp Server is that it is an appli- cations server. This is much the same tack that Microsoft is taking with Office 95 and Back Office; focusing on the applications platform rather than the operating system. So it isn’t important whether Warp is a home user or corporate operating system. What is important is the applications you run on it. If you want reliable Internet access software you can find it in Warp’s Internet Access Kit (IAK). If you want to mount an applications server on a network, you can look to Warp Server. The same operating system is behind both. Warp and the IAK will run on an 8Mb 486 at home, and Warp Server on a dual Pentium SMP box with 32Mb of RAM in the office. Both home and business-critical applications run on Warp.

283 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● DOS

Start it up...

Windows 95 doesn’t just affect Windows — Simon Collin suggests ways in which you can use Windows to get the best results from DOS, too.

indows 95 has overshadowed load COMMAND.COM to deal with them. Wnearly every other computing event To free an extra 8Kb of conventional session is started. this summer. In past months I’ve been memory, look in your CONFIG.SYS and The route to this solution is to modify writing about how Windows 95 will change AUTOEXEC.BAT files to see whether a the Properties of the DOS session. From the way you see and use DOS. Now it’s real-mode driver is needed; if not, you can the Windows Desktop, start an MSDOS arrived, I can show you how to tune it to delete these files and save some memory. session from the Start button. make the most of your DOS applications. Before you do this, make sure you Alternatively, create a shortcut to a DOS One of the confusing aspects of have a working Windows start-up disk session by moving onto the Desktop, Windows 95 is that, although it’s a (that was created during your setup) or clicking on the right-hand mouse button self-contained operating system, it seems create a system floppy disk. Once you and selecting Create Shortcut. to boot up under good old DOS and then have your floppy start-up disk in hand, switch to Windows. Several readers have start by renaming the two files to Shortcut asked whether this is correct and how CONFIG.OLD and AUTOEXEC.OLD and Type in COMMAND.COM as the com- Windows now processes the old restart your PC to see what difference it mand line when prompted. This creates a CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. makes. shortcut icon to start the DOS session that In many cases, Windows 95 completely If your PC starts up as normal, you had you can access directly from the Desktop. eliminates the need for CONFIG.SYS and no real-mode drivers in these files and Highlight the MSDOS shortcut icon and AUTOEXEC.BAT. In fact, it also knocks you’ve saved 8Kb of precious memory. If click on the right-hand mouse button to COMMAND.COM on the head, freeing up you do have problems, insert the startup view its Properties screen. From here, more conventional memory. Windows still disk and reboot, then rename the .OLD click on the Program tag and you’ll see the uses CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to their original CONFIG.SYS and basic details about the MSDOS shell. to load any non-native drivers or AUTOEXEC.BAT titles. Click on the Advanced button. You are applications — typically a real-mode now given the option to define how the driver, such as an old CD-ROM or sound- Multiple configurations MSDOS session is started: it can be card driver. One excellent feature of Windows 95 is its automatically set up by Windows or When you install Windows 95, it will ability to create custom CONFIG.SYS and manually defined by you. Select the third check what’s in the CONFIG and AUTOEXEC.BAT settings for any DOS radio button and you’re given further AUTOEXEC files and will treat the session running under Windows. options to define the AUTOEXEC.BAT commands, in most cases, as if they were For example, if you have a particular and CONFIG.SYS files for this session. native Windows and load them peripheral that needs a special driver, but In the two scroll boxes at the bottom of automatically. For example, it will load you only use it from a DOS application the window are the existing contents of system drivers like HIMEM.SYS and (such as a card to link to a mainframe, a the CONFIG and AUTOEXEC files that IFSHLP.SYS directly from Windows. It’s voice synthesiser or a data acquisition Windows is using as a default. If you want the third-party drivers that might be in your adaptor), or if you need particular PATH to change these to customise the settings CONFIG files that cause Windows to have settings or environment variables for an (for new BUFFER and FILES statements) to switch back to real mode and execute application, you can use Windows to just edit the contents in the scroll box. the COMMAND.COM DOS interpreter. isolate these requirements from every- You’ve now got a totally independent COMMAND.COM is used to parse the thing else in the system. MSDOS session that will only load any lines in the two files and act on their If you want to set up a totally different memory-hungry driver, or statements, instructions. CONFIG.SYS file to provide more when you start it. If your PC doesn’t have extra drivers, BUFFER or FILES statements for a there’s no need for you to keep particular DOS application, the simplest PCW Contacts CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. If way is to create a unique DOS session Write care of PCW or via email to you do have these two files on your PC, with its own CONFIG.SYS file. This will be [email protected] or you’re wasting RAM since Windows has to executed by Windows when the DOS Compuserve 72241,601

284 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● 32-BIT

kernel “How To” document, followed those big footsteps and made a few very simple yes/no decisions en route.

New kernel About an hour later I ended up with a new kernel image called zImage (the “z” is a reminder that it’s compressed). Com- pressed is the standard format for Linux kernels these days — “lilo”, the boot loader, is primed to deal with these automatically. Linux on the hoof Note that zImage is an image of the kernel — unlike the boot images on the Caldera CD, which are images of the Chris Bidmead managed to load Linux onto his whole floppy you use to boot. It’s important trusty portable so he could take it everywhere to be clear about this if you’re substituting with him. Here, he relates his trials, tribulations a home-made kernel of your own. And don’t try using “rawrite” to put zImage onto and triumphs. a floppy in the same way that you initially created the boot floppy. There are a couple of ways of getting your new kernel onto a boot disk. The y mate Marcus said “Get a life” when Ethernet Adaptor — the kind you screw simplest is probably to create a boot floppy MI told him I was taking Linux on onto the parallel port. I now had the of some kind (I used the dud one I had holiday. He can talk: he’s just bought a makings of a network machine. already tried) and substitute your new Gateway 2000 120MHz Pentium machine The preview version of Caldera comes zImage for the file called “vmlinuz” already with 2Gb disk space and a sub-woofer for with a selection of ready-built kernels, and on the floppy. There should be enough making Doom sound more dangerous. there’s a map in the 125-page Getting room on the floppy, so all you have to do is And all he runs on it is Windows 16-bit. I Started booklet that tells you which one to rename “vmlinuz” — Unix thinks of this as ask you; is that a life? use for the combination of network adap- a “move” operation, so the command is I only told him because I was proud to tor, SCSI card and CD-ROM device you’re something like have got Linux onto Tonto, my trusty using. There isn’t a pre-built kernel for mv vmlinuz vmlinuz.old portable. Marcus has Linux, too, but he every combination: each kernel contains — and copy zImage over to the floppy, runs it on an old 386 machine (where, multiple drivers and sniffer software to giving it the new name “vmlinuz”. If you’ve unlike Windows, it gets by just fine). home in on your particular hardware. This mounted your floppy on /mnt/floppy, for A good conversationalist is witty and approach avoids tons of unnecessary the Caldera distribution the appropriate wise; a really good conversationalist drivers being included in your particular command to do this will be brings out the best in others so that they kernel but will still leave some cp /usr/src/linux/arc//boot/ feel witty and wise. In this sense, Linux is redundancy. Linux doesn’t (as yet) offer zImage /mnt/floppy/vmlinuz a brilliant conversationalist because the full support for dynamic driver loading. Linux copes with a whole variety of file exercise of getting it across to Tonto has systems. Its standard file system is called left me feeling very smart indeed, although Recompilation “Ext2” but the Caldera boot floppies use really of course I’m only piggybacking on Alas, the map didn’t mention the old DLink the cheap and cheerful Minix file system. the shoulders of the giants who built (and adaptor. I hoped it might be in there When you boot with this diskette it first who are continuing to build) the thing. anyway but when I tried the pre-cooked invokes lilo (the Linux boot manager) Caldera, the Linux in question, comes kernel in the “Other Brand not listed here” which will still be looking for the old kernel on a CD-ROM. Tonto doesn’t have a category, it wasn’t recognised. There was (it finds it via a disk map, not through the CD-ROM drive, and there isn’t even a nothing for it but to build my own kernel. file system, so the change of name won’t SCSI interface to hang one on. The It’s a condition of the Linux licence (and fool it). You need to re-run lilo to change Caldera manual says you can install the fundamental to its operation as well as its the disk map. Ordinarily, if you’re installing operating system over a network: you philosophy) that distributions come with a new kernel on your base system, all you make a boot diskette and a root diskette in their own source code. To cook up your need to do to fix the map is run /sbin/lilo. the usual way, and then evoke NFS (the own kernel you recompile the source — all But on this occasion we want to fix up lilo Network File System) to get the thing 13Mb of it. on the floppy. across from a CD-ROM installed on If you’re new to Linux this might sound Even if you’re not a Linux fan it’s worth another machine running Caldera. a formidable task. And yes, it is, but not if knowing about lilo because it can boot a The other machine was standing by, you follow the footsteps of those giants. number of other operating systems as but how to connect to it? Although Tonto They’ve made recompilation easy by well, and is more flexible than OS/2’s Boot takes SCSI or network PCMCIA cards I writing scripts that can be read by “make”, Manager and more economical with didn’t have any handy and there were only the utility that controls compilation. No partitions. We’ll be investigating lilo in the a few hours to go before the taxi to the more about “make” now; suffice it to say coming months, but let’s concentrate on airport. I dug out an old DLink Pocket that I simply read the instructions in the this particular problem for now. In theory

286 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● 32-BIT MICROMART CLASSIFIED

we could close everything down, boot from turns out to be astonishingly simple. As the floppy and run lilo from there, but it’s long as the appropriate NFS daemons are much simpler to evoke our hard running on both machines (which by disk-based lilo and ask it to regard the default they are) there are only two things floppy as the root file system on which we to be done. Firstly, “export” the CD-ROM want to work. lilo accepts a parameter from the desktop machine. You do this by -r naming the appropriate directory (in my which allows us to do this, so we can fix up case, /mnt/cdrom) in a file called exports the map with the command that lives in /etc. In the case of a first-time /sbin/lilo -r /mnt/floppy NFS installation you may have to create This new boot disk, in conjunction with this file (any text editor will do). Then you the standard root disk, was all that Tonto simply use the standard mount command needed to get going. Initially, it still didn’t to attach this directory to a mount point recognise the Pocket Ethernet adaptor, you create on the other machine (my but this was easily fixed by reconfiguring Tonto) on the other side of the network. In the parallel port as LPT2. A second minor this case the file type will be -t nfs and the problem (translate this as “a hitch that held source device will include the network me back for the best part of an hour”) was name of the desktop machine; that the giant who wrote the Caldera caldera:/mnt/cdrom. In fact, because this installation script hadn’t taken on board an way of writing the source device name is official change in the name of the Pocket unique to NFS and therefore implies it, you Ethernet Adaptor port; from /dev/dl0 to don’t need the -t parameter under Linux. /dev/eth0. The simplest way around this is Actually it is even simpler because the to lie to the installation script and pretend Caldera install script acknowledges that that you’re using an internal rather than an you might need to do an NFS install, and external adaptor. automates it all for you. I only got to know about the weird science underpinning all Hair today this because of the bug-ettes that needed Hooray! I now had a small Linux system sorting out in this preview version. connected to the network. The next trick was to use NFS to hook it to the CD-ROM Foreign climes running on the desktop Caldera machine. I ran the rest of Caldera’s Express install, Like much of Linux, this is one of those which loads and configures everything you things that sounds impossibly hairy yet need to get going, including the X Window

Fig 1 An alternative way of evoking emacs with the required font is to use Looking Glass’s ability to attach command lines to icons. Unfortunately the dialogue box where you set this up refuses to be a target for cut and paste, so the whole tedious font name must be inserted by hand

Fig 2 The Caldera font server can hand out Speedo, Adobe Type 1 and TrueType fonts — one of the key features of Caldera I didn’t get to play with on my X-less holiday machine

287 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● 32-BIT

PD — Phase Change Dual Drive System. Because Tonto has a double- scan LCD screen I wasn’t surprised that the automated X configuration came Add an extra parameter to the AHA15XX accessing. It would be nice if the operating unstuck and left me with a text screen full device driver so it can handle logical unit system could block access to whichever of error messages instead of the colourful numbers (LUNs) and a new drive happens to be invalid but the generic windowed display. I knew (well, I thought I DEVICE=OPTICAL.SYS line, and the job’s driver isn’t capable of such refinements. The knew) that I now had everything I needed done. other catch is that it only handles FAT (file on board Tonto and could work out the X I was roundly impressed with OS/2’s allocation table) formatting, not HPFS (high configuration later. ability to cope with the new PD drive that performance filing system). Alas, I was wrong. It was only when I turned up for review. The Plasmon PD The PD-2000 also works with a Mac but I got to foreign climes that I discovered that 2000 is a curious hybrid: a standard was more interested in seeing what Linux the X server I’d installed by default was the quad-speed CD-ROM drive that also takes would make of it. Because it’s SCSI I was wrong one, and the one I needed was still 650Mb read/write optical cartridges. I don’t moderately hopeful — the various Linux docs back home on the Caldera CD. An Internet normally rave about hardware, but this is a breezily state: “All SCSI-based drives should connection could have fixed this in a jiffy handy SCSI peripheral that you’ll probably work if the controller is supported.” I guessed but the holiday home didn’t even have a see a lot of during the coming year or so. that Linux would be able to handle the phone. Result: my explorations of Caldera Everybody needs a CD-ROM drive PD-2000 as a SCSI CD-ROM but would be were limited to a character interface. these days and everyone has always baffled by the optical read/write side of The bad news is that it turns out there needed more storage space. The PD-2000 things. But when I swapped out my faithful isn’t really very much to learn about fits the bill on both counts and unlike old NEC CD-38 attached to the Caldera Caldera from this viewpoint because, previous read/write opticals it isn’t machine and installed the PD-2000, this apart from the NetWare client software, frighteningly expensive: street price is assumption turned out to be upside down. the added Caldera features like the around £550 and the cartridges cost about I created a mount point called PD in the Looking Glass desktop (Fig 1), the Font £35 each. /mnt directory, and the command Server (Fig 2), the Icon Editor and the One of the supposed advantages of mount -t msdos /dev/sda /mnt/PD being a computer journalist is the steady gave me 650Mb of instant new read/write A line about Linux parade of manufacturers touting their disk space. It’s somewhat slower than a hard wares in front of you — this may sound disk drive (categorising it as secondary Here’s part of a missive from Mark Jessop good but the crunch comes when you ask: storage) but is actually faster than most of ([email protected]) that came in just “And what operating systems does it work the hard disks among which I spent my early as I was putting the finishing touches to this with?” At which point the product manager computing years, and perfectly usable as a month’s effort: “Dear Chris, may I start by will usually look at you as if you’d accused primary drive if you’re pushed. Don’t mix this saying how good your Hands On section is; him of beating his wife: “Windows,” he up with the older magneto-optical drives that it’s one of the first sections of the magazine says. “And?…” you ask encouragingly. The need a separate turn to erase each track I turn to.” product manager shakes his head — before they can write to it again. Phase- Mark goes on to concur with what I you’re obviously too weird for further change writes a lot faster because it can wrote a couple of months ago about Linux consideration. overlay old data immediately. support: “The way I see it, Linux is all about Not so with the new Plasmon drive. A The reason I haven’t managed to get it having a go yourself and it rather defeats driver for OS/2 is included along with all the working as a CD drive could simply be that I the object to start screaming for support the usual DOS and Windows utilities. Actually might just need to recompile the kernel for a minute something doesn’t quite work as it it’s a generic IBM optical drive driver but it Panasonic/Matsushita device. The problem should, or when you mess it up. You can’t works fine, giving you a pair of drives; one will be more complicated if the SCSI hard really expect vast amounts of free support for the CD-ROM and another for the phase drive doesn’t know how to give way to a on a product that is essentially free.” change optical drive. second logical unit on the same SCSI Mark reckons that: “Most of the fun is in They both use the same tray and laser address. learning, and the satisfaction gained from but OS/2 handles the changes But the joy of Linux is that the source making the thing work. I was under the automatically, as long as you don’t jump in code is all there to be hacked if a problem impression that this was why Linux was and try to access a drive before it has run like this arises. Unfortunately, the joy of created in the first place.” up to speed. A pair of LEDs on the front Bidmead is that he’s a hopeless C program- Of course that’s true of Unix too — it panel helps you to track this: the busy light mer. Or perhaps hopeful C programmer started out as a very humble platform for flashes while the new disk or cartridge is might be more accurate. Anyway, one way or Ken Thompson’s Space Invaders game. settling in, and the PD/CD light shows another I’m fairly optimistic about sorting this But like Unix, Linux has grown up. These orange or green according to the media out and I will report back to you in next days it’s pretty much a professional operat- loaded and hence the drive letter you’ll be month’s column. ing system; witness the Caldera project.

● Complimentary correspondence about Control Panel, are all X-based. But if you this column continues to arrive at a steady don’t know much about Linux (and I’m still PCW Contacts pace, so I must be doing something right — close to being a raw beginner) there’s tons Chris Bidmead is a consultant and at least I’m getting better at responding to be learnt using a simple text screen. As commentator on advanced technology. promptly. Sorry I haven’t the space here to I discovered, Linux, like other modern He can be contacted at thank you all by name. Unixes, looks very pretty but the real [email protected] power is under the hood.

288 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● WORD PROCESSING

It’s a bug that’s going round…

There’s a prank macro virus on the loose which affects some Word 6.0 users. Tim Phillips tells you about it, how to spot it and outlines a few simple safeguards.

s I write, we’ve just emerged from a have macros called AAAZAO, AAAZFS, cutable files and this has been a significant Aprofoundly uncomfortable time for all AutoOpen, PayLoad and FileSaveAs. plank in company security policies. The enthusiastic WP power users. Microsoft’s That’s the virus. Delete these macros if virus affecting Microsoft spreads as part of “prank macro” problem needs addressing. you have them. a data file. In case you missed it, Microsoft This virus is notable for several rea- • Data files are shared more readily than recently admitted that many Word for Win- sons, as follows: executables. In fact, software companies dows 6.0 users had been suffering from • Viruses have so far only spread via exe- have been telling us to share as much what it called a prank macro — a macro contained in a WinWord document, that Changing default file formats changes the Normal template to include itself. The macro simply displays a dia- A couple of months ago I suggested a nasty bit of hackery for changing the default lookup logue box with one option: a button that file in the DOS EDIT program, so that it would look for *.* instead of looking for *.TXT. As you press, with “OK” on it. usual I’ve been out-hacked by a reader; in this case, Guy Simmons, who contacted me via This one’s not destructive and it’s a Compuserve. good job, too, because what Microsoft “I did this a while ago but didn’t use DEBUG, in fact I’ve never used it,” he says. “If I calls the “prank” is really a new type of recall, all I did (after backing up QBASIC.EXE) was to load it into WRITE, not converting it virus. Imagine that instead of a harmless to WRITE format, and did a search and replace operation, substituting [space]*.* for *.TXT. dialogue box, the command the macro The space is important. I’ve similarly modified NOTEPAD and have several versions on my was running was more serious: it could disk. It seems to be a lot easier than using DEBUG .” alter your files without your knowledge. It I’ve tried this, and it works. Remember to always back up your executables before doesn’t have to trash the hard disk — in modifying them. (I’ve carried this forward to Windows 95, just to check, and it doesn’t work fact, it’s more damaging if it doesn’t. for WordPad.) Anyone who opens a document con- Furthermore, Tim Goldingham emailed me with the following query: “Thanks for the edit taining this macro gets the new virus. to QBasic in the October issue Hands On column. I don’t suppose you could manage the Infected documents contain a set of Word- same thing for Works — to stop it looking for *.w*?”Guy’s quick and dirty fix doesn’t do the Basic macros, one of which is autoloaded trick here and I’m sure I don’t know enough about DEBUG to consider helping, so I’ll throw when you load the document. The macros this one open to you readers. Do any of you possess the detailed knowledge to help out? are then copied into the global environ- And, there is help for an Ami Pro user. Ami has always been a little erratic, and here’s a ment and another macro is invoked when problem that has a bug fix file available from tech support. James Mendlin of Southport has the document is saved. This allows the an erratic spell checker: “In AmiPro 3.0, when Ami Pro finds a word and you choose to macros to attach themselves to clean doc- ‘Skip All’, my file occasionally gets corrupted. Is this something to do with the size of my uments. Finally, when you exit Word, the document, or the hardware setup?” macros attach themselves to your global The happy answer is no, it isn’t. This falls into the category of “known behaviour” — environment — it’s immune to detection that is, call tech support and they’ve had this reported before. They’ll send you a file. If you from most traditional virus-checkers. use Compuserve, then you can get the file from there. Actually, that’s where I found the solution, as there were a couple of other users in exactly the same position as you. Of How to check for the virus course, you might want to upgrade to Word Pro, because it’s a big improvement. It’s even You can check to see if you have the virus: quite good at stripping out carriage returns. Aaarrggh! look under Tools/Macro, and see if you

291 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 MICROMART HANDS ON ● WORD PROCESSING CLASSIFIED

“Out, damn Prank Macro”

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1 The telltale signs of the Word for Windows “Prank Macro” — a virus to you and I 2 Use this macro, from Sophos, to disable autoloading of macros. It runs when you start WinWord, and should help to immunise you

data as possible for several years. 1. The simplest way to avoid stray macros • Existing safeguards don’t work. is to load all your documents that might be • The viruses aren’t hard to write… suspicious, in text format. This isn’t practi- • …and now they can be passed on-line, cal on a network though, because you and cross-platform to the Mac. never know whether someone else has introduced the virus and, of course, Safeguards because you’ll keep losing your formatting. So how do we stop the sky falling on our 2. Use a switch to load documents without heads? There are a few simple safe- their associated macros. To do this, you guards: hold down shift while loading Word or

292 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● WORD PROCESSING MICROMART CLASSIFIED

Tim’s macro club Here’s another bumper crop, but in Ctrl+Shift+C to TransposeCharacter and future I will positively discriminate in Ctrl+Shift+W to TransposeWord.” favour of Ami Pro and WordPerfect Sub MAIN macros — you Word Basic program- WordLeft 1 mers are just too prolific. ExtendSelection ● Jonathan Payne has the first good ExtendSelection solution for scrolling two word processor EditCut windows: “This macro will scroll two win- WordLeft 1 dows for Word 6.0 together. This copy EditPaste scrolls down a line and with a simple WordRight 1 change to the ‘vline 1’ it could be made End Sub to scroll up a line, or lots of lines.” “It could also be modified to scroll ● I know I said no more down every few seconds — maybe by stripping macros, but this one’s an Ami using the very useful On Time command Pro macro so it’s an endangered species to call itself (although this would require (joke). Thanks to Chris Wright of the you to write a second macro to issue Bradford Diocesan Computer Group, another OnTime call to stop it!)” he says, who will receive his reward in heaven: “As adding that “To make it usable, it’s prob- soon as you try stripping carriage returns ably best to have a macro for up and a on a biggish document, Ami Pro crashes macro for down assigned to the key- out with a ‘Maximum Paragraph Size board, or on the Toolbar. To arrange Reached’ message. Often a reboot is the the windows, I use the TileVertically only way out. Much angst. My solution is macro from WINWORD\MACROS\ to write a pair of macros as follows:” LAYOUT.DOT.” (Send in your comments, please.) FUNCTION PARAS() Sub MAIN loop: ScreenUpdating 0 TYPE(“[ctrldown]”) For Windows = 1 To CountWindows() c=CurChar$() VLine 1 ‘Change this line TYPE(“[RIGHT]”) NextWindow IF(AtEOF()) Next EXIT FUNCTION End Sub ELSEIF(c=CurChar$()) TYPE(“[DEL]”) ● Lee Curtis from the delightfully-named ENDIF town of Idle, near Bradford, has a fine GOTO loop hint here: END FUNCTION “When using tables, pressing TAB takes you to the next cell. What if you FUNCTION PARAS1() want to put a TAB inside a cell? This loop: macro does it:” (I’d like versions of this TYPE(“[ctrldown]”) for Ami Pro and WordPerfect, please. I c=CurChar$() could do them myself, but that’s not the TYPE(“[RIGHT]”) point, is it?) IF(AtEOF()) Sub MAIN EXIT FUNCTION Insert Chr$(9) ELSEIF(c<>CurChar$()) End Sub TYPE(“[LEFT] [DEL]”) ENDIF ● Another development from Storm GOTO loop Dunlop: “In your October column you END FUNCTION give a macro to reverse letters. I find one to switch words as useful. Here’s PARAS.SMM removes double mine: ‘TransposeWord’. You position returns, while PARAS1.SMM deals with the cursor in the second word, then run. the single ones. I’ve assigned shortcut keys of

when clicking on a document icon. Unfor- to Save Normal.dot”. tunately, I tried this with the macro and it 4. Word’s AutoExecute macros can help didn’t work. The text equivalent is WIN- too. Thanks go to virus protectors, WORD/M as the command line. Sophos, for this macro: 3. A basic precaution is to go to sub MAIN Tools/Options/Save and enable “Prompt DisableAutoMacros

293 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● WORD PROCESSING MICROMART CLASSIFIED

The scrolling macro may be simple but it works. Tile your two files manually first

The upgrade question As we wait with baited breath for 32-bit versions of our fave word processors, a ques- tion arrived, via Compuserve, from Kevin Fox: “I am at present using Windows 3.1 and SmartSuite. I can easily get around in Ami Pro 3 and it does most of the things I want. However, I am considering upgrading to Windows 95 and I like the look of WordPro, which will presumably be part of SmartSuite for Windows 95. However, the thing that concerns me is that as Microsoft Office is out first, is Lotus SmartSuite liable to become the poor relation, with poor take-up and poor support? My experience with Office, and particularly Word 6, is of a slow program that hogs system resources. Will the Win95 situation be the same?” My opinion is yes. Word for Windows has a dominant market share, but this has been a problem for Microsoft in providing support since Windows 95 came out — the volume of calls has overwhelmed the company. WinWord 7.0 is mostly similar to 6.0; so for 6.0 users, don’t upgrade your hardware and operating system because you think you are missing a great deal. Word Pro does have an excellent set of group-working functions, which is great if you work on collaborative documents. Microsoft Office does hog system resources, but as Kevin is one of the Pentium rich with pots of RAM, this may not be an issue. Apart from these considerations, word processors are becoming functionally very similar. If in doubt I’d go for WinWord because then, at least, all the helpful people who deluge me with WordBasic macros can help you out.

MsgBox “AutoMacros off!”, “Safety First”, 64 End Sub Call it AutoExec, and it will trigger when WinWord starts to disable AutoMacro loading. Ami Pro and WordPerfect users shouldn’t be smug — this is a potentially serious problem. Andy Campbell, manag- PCW Contacts ing director of virus specialist Reflex tells And that’s that for this month. Surface me he’s seen another similar virus and is or airmail to PCW, otherwise I’m on taking it seriously. And WordPerfect email at [email protected] admitted its product was vulnerable too. and CompuServe 100436,3616

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coincides with the calendar year, then this All change is a good time to consider making the change. You can’t easily carry forward for- mulae but you can export and import An increasing number of spreadsheet users are labels (your account names) and values (last year’s totals). changing from DOS versions to Windows-based. The file to translate might be called Stephen Wells offers advice and comments on how TOTAL95.CAL. For safety, I’d copy it into to achieve a smooth changeover. a directory like C:\windows\temp. Then, in SuperCalc 5.1 you just enter //Export,DIF,c:\windows\temp\total95, Colwise,All ne of the gratifying things as a result module as well — you can open a new Open Excel. In the search box, select Oof writing this column, is the mail I Works database file and select View, List, Data Interchange Format and c:\win- receive. The hardest part is trying to Edit, Paste. Then you can use the data- dows\temp. Now you can open your file decide whether a reader’s problem is base report building features. and it will be headed TOTAL95.DIF. unique to that reader or common to all. Choose File, Save As, and select the file Lately, there have been more ques- Excel fix type Normal. The extension will change tions about the spreadsheet module of Here’s a question I received via the Internet from DIF to XLS. Now you can save it as a Microsoft Works: probably because at the just signed “Nikos, Greece”: properly-named Excel file. You may now moment it is so frequently packaged with “I use Excel 4.0 and didn’t upgrade to 5.0 wish to choose Options, Display, and new PCs. As Excel and its competitors because I don’t have time to learn its extra uncheck Zero Values. grow bigger, Microsoft too has recognised features, and it would only take more disk When changing accounting software, it Works’ suitability for family and small busi- space. My problem is that when I write is a good idea to run both old and new ver- ness use by making it one of the first appli- something like 2/4 in a cell, Excel automati- sions until you’re utterly confident in the cations revised for Windows 95. cally transforms it into a date. How can I new system. In Windows 95, you can do avoid that?” this by creating an icon for your SuperCalc Print Works One quick way is to precede it with an file and running it (with SuperCalc) in a Dr E. Noy Trouson of Southam, Warwick- “equals” sign if you want a decimal entry; or desktop window. shire, writes: a zero and a space to display your entry as A typical SuperCalc setup might have “I use the spreadsheet in MS Works a fraction. five files: one for each quarter and another simply to maintain a list of stocks and for the year. Each quarterly file has four shares. It updates prices and values in Changing spreadsheets pages: three of them have accounts down successive columns. But Works does not Several readers have asked me to com- the rows, and days across the columns. seem to select an area for printing and the ment on moving from a DOS spreadsheet The fourth page shows monthly totals for print command results in many pages of to another publisher’s Windows-based each category and totals for the quarter. obsolete material.” one. A common application is for a club, The file for the year, which is completely You don’t say which version you have. parish, or home budget, or small business comprised of linked formulae, shows the The earliest one I’ve got is MS Works for book-keeping system. totals for every category for all four quar- Windows 2.0 — in that, you just highlight For many years there was a bias ters, and annual totals. the block you want to print, then choose towards DOS-based accounting systems In Excel this can best be arranged all in File, Set Print Area. To change it later, as many people thought that a graphical one workbook, with one worksheet for choose Select, All, File, Set Print Area. interface was unnecessary and just slowed each month and another for the year’s Alternatively, when you click the Print but- things down. But the times they are a- totals. ton on the Toolbar, you can choose the changin’. They do say that the successor One advantage of Excel is that you can page you want to print after the Number of to Windows 95 (probably to be code- perform a Group Edit. Any changes to the Copies box. named Memphis) may be the last Microsoft January worksheet can (optionally) apply If your version doesn’t offer those operating system which will recognise to every other month’s worksheet, auto- options, you could always highlight the DOS software without special translation. matically. area you want, Copy it to the Clipboard, But let’s concentrate on the present. A And with Excel being Windows-based, open a new file and Paste. The new file typical move would be to go from, say, you can outline levels to be displayed or doesn’t have to be in the spreadsheet SuperCalc to Excel. If your financial year printed. It is on the worksheet of annual

296 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● SPREADSHEETS MICROMART CLASSIFIED

EXCELlent shortcuts and longshots

• SKIP ’EM To make a list of dates which skip the weekends, enter a date in cell D1, then enter this formula in cell D2: =D1+(MOD(D1,7)=6)*2+(MOD(D1,7)=0)+1 Now drag the fill handle down the column. • MARK ’EM Highlight a range with Ctrl+Shift+appropriate . • ADD ’EM Highlight a range as above. Then press Shift+F8. Then highlight a second range. Press Shift+F8. Highlight a third range. And so on. • COLOUR ’EM Highlight as many areas of your worksheet as you like, as above. Then press Alt+T P Tab Alt+Down Arrow Up Arrow to colour of your choice. • HIDE ’EM Hide columns quickly by highlighting them and pressing Ctrl+0. Restore them with Ctrl+Shift+0 when the columns either side are highlighted. Use Ctrl+9 to hide rows. Ctrl+Shift+9 restores them when the rows above and below are highlighted. • EXPLAIN ’EM To switch from displaying values to displaying formulae (and back) press Ctrl+` (the key to the left of the top row numeral 1). totals that this is most useful. You might is a colon in it, Excel displays it as a time. have an account for each car expense like If you add a bunch of times, like Geoff petrol, insurance and maintenance. wants to, you would think the program Expanded, all this detail would be shown. (actually working in the underlying large Collapse the outline and only the subtotal numbers) would get confused. But Excel Car Expenses would appear. doesn’t. So, Geoff, the only formula you Similarly, you can outline across the need in cell B7 is columns: expanded, every month would =SUM(B1:B6) be shown; collapsed, only the quarterly That will immediately display 10 05. But and year’s totals would appear. you’ll get the result you want if you enter the custom format for the cell: Times total d”D” h”H” mm”M” Geoff Dickinson of Wickford, Essex says he wants to total a list of times. These are Financial analysis entered in the range B1:B6 with colons, Going back to the August issue, we ran like this: 4:24, 12:18, 15:23, 1:06, 18:18, out of space so there wasn’t room for any- 6:36. thing on financial analysis — readers who Geoff asks for a formula which will give are entering the template from the listings him a total which reads: 2D 10H 05M. (rather than receiving them on disk) will be All leading spreadsheets convert dates interested in Fig 1 which is carried over and times into a number. It is this number from then. It’s the balance of the defini- which the program stores. What is dis- tions of the Names on the template. played or printed depends on the format- Also intended for that column were the ting you apply. formulae for rows 24, 27, 30, 31 and 32. With Excel, a new worksheet uses the These are now provided at the top of the General number format as the default. But listing in Fig 2. if you enter a number with a “/” in it, Excel The second part of Fig 2 gives the list- initially displays it as a date, as Nikos dis- ing for this month’s subject: rows 53 to 58. covered (see “Excel fix”, opposite). If there These calculate the Activity Ratios which are usually recorded as percentages. Fig 1 Rows 52 and 59 are blank. The same Listing of remaining names in the Names in column B are copied across to service template columns C through F. Column G, as Ave._Accounts_Receivable =$B$32:$G$32 before, is for the company’s industry aver- Billings =$B$21:$G$21 ages if available. The first two ratios are Commission___Fees =$B$22:$G$22 collected for service businesses only. Compensation =$B$23:$G$23 Salaries and staff benefits is the major Income_taxes =$B$27:$G$27 expense for a service company. In the Interest_Expense =$B$26:$G$26 advertising agency example (which we Net_Income =$B$28:$G$28 have been using in this series) it has hov- Net_Worth =$B$31:$G$31 ered between 60 and 65 percent of the Operating_Profit =$B$25:$G$25 company’s income (see Figs 3 and 4). Overhead =$B$24:$G$24 This is about normal for large advertising Working_Capital =$B$30:$G$30 agencies, but because it outweighs any other item of expense it can directly affect

297 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● SPREADSHEETS

Fig 2 Financial analysis template listing

A24 Overhead B24 =Commission___Fees-Compensation-Operating_Profit A27 Income taxes B27 =Operating_Profit-Net_Income-Interest_Expense A30 Working Capital B30 =Current_Assets-Current_Liabilities an agency’s profitability so agency man- Fig 3 Example A31 Net Worth agements watch it very carefully. results for the B31 =Stockholders__Equity Clients want to see the best available activity percent A32 Ave. Accounts Receivable talent working on their accounts, and top ratios on the B32 =(Accounts_Receivable+C4)/2 talent costs money. At the same time, template for some of the most creative advertising service companies A53 ACTIVITY RATIOS (%) agencies often have a slightly lower ratio A54 Compensation/Commission & Fees (compensation/commission and fees) than prefer to lease facili- B54 =Compensation/Commission & Fees*100 other companies in the industry — whose ties and hardware. A55 Overhead/Commission & Fees strength lies in, say, marketing — because To summarise: if B55 =Overhead/Commission & Fees*100 younger creative people will often work for this ratio is higher A56 Fixed Assets to Net Worth less money at an agency which will allow than desirable, a com- B56 =Net_Plant_Equipment/Net Worth*100 them to do their best work. That’s because pany can sometimes A57 Asset Turnover creative people, who get the largest piece work its way out of the B57 =Total_Assets/Commission & Fees*100 of the salary pie, are measured by their situation by speeding A58 Accounts Payable to Billings portfolios and awards. They rise to the top up collections, thus B58 =Accounts_Payable/Billings*100 of their profession by being recognised in generating a higher their trade papers and shows, and by being profit and allowing it to liable for all of its clients’ media bills. able to present proof of their published carry the excess capacity. Naturally, it invoices its clients in advance work at interviews. A declining ratio, or a ratio lower than of the month and pays the media after The next ratio compares overheads comparable businesses, is desirable. the end of the month. If all goes well, with commissions and fees. Service com- More funds are available for working cap- the agency can earn short-term interest panies must also take firm control of their ital. Depreciation charges are reduced, on the money. If their clients are slow other expenses. The days are over when thereby enabling competitive fees and payers then the agency won’t be in a posi- advertising agencies would buy houses higher profits. tion to pay the media and can get a bad adjacent to prospective clients, so that an An Asset Turnover ratio of a higher per- reputation. account executive would become a neigh- centage than the industry, or increasing To summarise: This ratio is simply a bour. But office rents, phone bills, client percentages for the company, suggest restatement of the Payables Turnover. entertainment and travel expenses soon poor sales management so a more That ratio is expressed in days. The mount up. In the example shown in Fig 3, aggressive sales policy is necessary. Accounts Payable to Billings ratio gives it’s running between 20 to 25 percent of Significantly lower percentages than the same result as a percentage. Both real income. That’s why this is a ratio which the industry can indicate over-trading, ratios measure how the company is pay- is carefully monitored by the experienced which can lead to financial difficulties. ing its suppliers in relation to the volume managements in profitable companies. To summarise: ideally, this ratio will transacted. Some industries use one ver- The Fixed Assets to Net Worth ratio stay fairly constant over the years, trend- sion, some use the other. Service compa- measures the extent to which stockholders’ ing neither up nor down, and remaining in nies differ from stock companies here. funds are being used to buy plant and line with the industry. Stock companies compare Accounts equipment. If these investments exceed If the Accounts Payable to Billings ratio Payable with Purchases of stock for their the company owners’ equity, it can restrict is high for the industry, it indicates that the Payables Turnover, and with Net Sales flexibility. That’s why many companies company may be using suppliers to help for the other ratio. finance operations. This might Next month, in the last instalment of be positive for a time but neg- the series, we’ll consider the four most ative for short-term creditors, commonly monitored Profitability ratios. who would be concerned about the company’s potential PCW Contacts problems in paying suppliers. A low ratio indicates that the Stephen Wells welcomes comments on company is in a good position spreadsheets and solutions to be shared. Send them to PCW Editorial at to pay its suppliers. the usual address or to In the case of an advertis- [email protected]. ing agency, the agency is compuserve.com. For the financial analysis Excel templates for service Fig 4 Chart of the results companies and those which carry stock, for the activity percent send a formatted 3.5in disk and a ratios stamped, self-addressed envelope.

298 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● DATABASES

This Codd be the last time crop of RDBMSs, only Access and Para- dox provide editable answer tables and of these Access has the more extensive Mark Whitehorn wraps up the last of the list of implementation. suggested rules for modern, PC-based RDBMSs. Multiple records There’s Postcode, too, in shareware and full 13. It must be possible to alter multiple records with a single command. versions to help you get addressed correctly. And this is essentially Codd’s Rule 7: the “High-level insert, update and delete” rule. Most of today’s PC-based RDBMSs ule 10. The RDBMS must have a Results provide this facility though some of the Rcomprehensive control language (for 12. The results of queries (answer tables) more simple DBMSs don’t. example, SQL). should, whenever possible, be editable. In order to act as a front-end to a data- This is, essentially, as Codd’s Rule 6: Cascade base server, PC-based RDBMSs must “All views that are theoretically updatable 14. The RDBMS must support referential have a control language and SQL is the are also updatable by the system”. A integrity, with cascade update, cascade obvious choice. Yes, I know SQL is flawed “view” is essentially the same as an delete, etc. and that it is incomplete; I know it has answer table. Primary keys help to ensure that the many variations; but at least it is well As discussed in an earlier issue, actu- data within tables is internally consistent. established. ally determining whether each and every By something of the same token, Referen- In addition, an RDBMS which has any view is updatable has been shown to be tial Integrity is a way of ensuring that the pretensions towards use for serious work impossible. However, it is easy to decide logical relationships between tables are needs its own internal control language. about most views and the RDBMS should maintained. While SQL can be squirted to remote data- allow us to update all of those views where Given the two tables in Fig 1, it is clear base servers, the internal language is it is clearly safe to do this. Of the current that the numbers in PATIENTS.[Gp No] used to drive the interface, link forms and performing data validation. Whether this language is based on Basic, Pascal, C or any other reasonably common language doesn’t matter too much as long as it is reasonably comprehensive. Support for macros is not, in my opinion, an accept- able substitute unless the DBMS is going to be used only for very simple databases.

Simple tasks 11. In addition, it must have a GUI inter- face which allows end-users to perform simple tasks like querying, reporting, etc. The underlying language is essential for serious work, but who wants to code the bread and butter work (forms, queries and so on) by hand? GUIs have proved themselves remarkably well-suited to the task. I must admit to a personal liking for systems (like dBase for Windows) which allow you to use a GUI to build a form, say, but can then use your work to generate a code description of the form which you can then hand-tweak. Fig 1 Showing the association between GP.[GP No] and Patients.[Gp No]

302 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● DATABASES MICROMART CLASSIFIED

refer to those in GP.[GP No]. So both Fred You, as the database designer, may Burrige and Tom Jones share Sarah decide that cascade delete is inappropri- Jones (no relation, at least in the kinship ate in this case (which it clearly is) but it sense) as their GP. Considering that the can be really useful in other circum- GP table only contains six GPs, numbered stances: in order/sub-order systems, for one to six, it would be meaningless to instance. RDBMSs should offer it to us as place the number seven in the an option so that we can decide if and PATIENTS.[Gp No] field; unless of course when to apply it. we added another GP with that number to • Cascade Update the GP table. Referential Integrity provides “Standard” Referential Integrity will also this check, and refuses to allow an entry in not allow you to delete or change the value PATIENTS.[Gp No] unless there is a cor- in GP.[GP No] when that value is refer- responding value in GP.[GP No]. Referen- enced by records in PATIENTS. Cascade tial Integrity will also forbid the deletion of Update, like Cascade Delete, is an a GP record if it refers to one or more optional extra which can be added to Ref- PATIENT records which exist. To allow erential Integrity. It will allow you to change this deletion would leave “orphaned” the value in GP.[GP No] and it will then records pointing to a non-existent GP. seek out and update all the values in • Cascade Delete PATIENTS.[Gp No]. This will be entirely So, what of cascade delete? This is an inappropriate for some applications while option for referential integrity, an add-on if for others it will be an essential require- you like, which says that if you do delete ment. On those occasions, you will be an existing GP record, referential integrity pleased that you chose an RDBMS which is maintained by deleting all of the supports it, and so will your employers PATIENT records which refer to that GP when you casually let them know all about record. Typically, if cascade delete had the excellent choice you made. been set for this join, when you tried to delete the GP record the system would Support and sort warn you that Patient records would be 15. The RDBMS must support the main- deleted as well, and offer you the choice to tenance of indices as well as sorting. proceed or abort the process. Human beings like their data to be sorted

Postcode — an interesting new toy

Postcode, from AFD Software, is a system which looks up addresses from postcodes. Suppose that you are developing an application in, say, Delphi. Your client wants to be able to type in a postcode and have the address magically appear on screen (great for telesales operations). As the programmer, you could, over the next three years or so, dutifully type in all of the known addresses and postcodes… or you can simply plug the Delphi version of Postcode into your application. Sample code is already provided for Visual Basic (for DOS or Windows), MS Access, Delphi, Paradox and others. If you want Postcode for other, less well known systems, AFD says it will write sample code for you. The datafile is about 18Mb, which includes the indices which reduce typical search times to less than one second. Nildram Software has been appointed as distributor for the shareware release of Postcode. It ships with a DOS TSR version, a Windows version supporting DDE and direct pasting into applications, plus programming interfaces for the languages described above. Due to licensing restrictions the shareware version of Postcode doesn’t supply addresses down to street-level detail — just towns and counties. Happily, for those intending to down- load it via a modem, this also reduces the size of the data file to about 600Kb. This version can be registered for just £42.50 (plus VAT) with no other licensing costs. If you want the full version which works down to the street level, it is still only a modest £99 (plus VAT) for the software and an annual licence fee of £55. A Unix version of Postcode is currently under joint development between Nildram Software and AFD, and is expected to ship in the early Autumn. Pricing has yet to be announced but should be as competitive as the DOS and Windows version. You can try out Postcode on-line at http://www.nildram.co.uk/nildram/postcode.html. On this Web page you can test out the Unix version of the software while on-line, download a copy of the shareware version, and even register it there and then. For users who only have FTP access, a shareware version of Postcode can be obtained from ftp://ftp.nildram.co.uk/pub/nildram/afdpost.zip. Nildram also runs a BBS where users can download the software for free, on 01442 891109 with your modem for access.

303 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● DATABASES

either numerically or alphabetically. But Fig 2 On the right are two records in a table are rarely entered in tables mimicking the way in alphabetical order so if we look at the table which indices work. The “in the raw” the records are usually not in upper one shows how an the order we want. The answer is to get index based on how [GP Last the RDBMS to order them for us. Name] would look; the lower One way in which the RDBMS can do one represents an index this is to sort the records by physically based on [GP Tel No] moving them around in the table — that is, by changing their position within the file on data actually sorted by last disk. Given a file of any size this process is name. Another “index” is also horribly slow because of the disk I/O shown (bottom right) for Tel. involved. In addition, as soon as more No — if you are feeling dedi- records are added, the entire process has cated you can check to see to be redone. Worse, what happens if you whether it is correct. want to see the data sorted in different the records when they are sorted on a par- Compared to physically moving ways? You might sometimes, for instance, ticular field. For example, in Fig 2 you can records around on disk, indices are much want the data sorted alphabetically by see the GP table in its original state: the easier and faster to generate and main- name, yet at other times by telephone records are in “entry” order. If we gener- tain. In addition, you can have as many number. If this is done by physical sorting ated an index on the [GP Last Name] field, indices as there are fields in your table on the disk, the RDBMS will have to main- it might look like the table on the right without wasting too much disk space. tain two tables, each sorted by a different called Last Name Index. This shows that It is worth stressing that indices are field. Clearly this is wildly inefficient. given the required sort, the last record maintained internally by the RDBMS — In the light of this problem, indexing would be [GP No] = 1, Frank White. To they don’t appear as small tables, as I was born. An index is essentially a list of save you the trouble of verifying this, the have shown here. I constructed these numerical values which gives the order of table shown lower left contains the same small tables by hand simply to illustrate the principle — you won’t find them appearing Tips & Tricks like this if you index a table. Tips and tricks are proving popular, so and Grid X = 64 and Grid Y = 64 for wizard- let’s have some more — I’ll supply the ones generated forms. My copy of 2.0 defaults to Quick queries I find and if you have any good ones, for Grid X = 10, Grid Y = 12 for both, but I Indices are really useful for sorting data for whatever RDBMS, please send them in. haven’t examined this extensively, so “your human consumption but they are also mileage may vary”. invaluable for speeding up processes like Grid tip This take-home tip is excellent. querying. A word of caution however: From Shane Devenshire, Walnut Creek, Whichever version of Access you are using, despite their efficiency, indices do take California: “Access uses a Snap to Grid be aware that you can alter the grid size, some processing power to maintain and feature to help align controls on forms and which in turn affects how controls line up on shouldn’t be used indiscriminately. reports. Unfortunately, it may appear not to the form. So how do you know which fields you have any effect when you first begin to use need to index? The answer to this ques- Access because the default is 64 gridlines Broad search tion comes under a more general heading, per inch. At this resolution Access chooses In the very simple DBMS called Q&A you namely “How do I speed up my data- not to display the grid on screen (even if can use the search facility to find data in base?” Readers have asked me to discuss you have selected “Show Grid” to be on); fields, but the search, by default, is exact. this more general topic, so I will return to and the impact of this very fine grid on the To find, say, all data containing the word the subject of indices in a couple of issues’ positioning controls is negligible. “Penguin” use: time. The spacing of the gridlines are Form ..Penguin.. For the moment, the bottom line is that Properties. You can set the spacing to less which should find entries such as: “The any RDBMS worth its salt must allow you than 64 but you will find that you still can’t Adventures of Penguin Penguinsson”. to mark one or more fields as indexed. see the grid until the Grid X and Grid Y This is usually done during table design, properties are set to less than 18.” and once you have done that, the RDBMS The screenshot alongside shows the should construct and maintain the indices property setting for a form and the relevant transparently. grid settings are visible. It also shows (on the right) the place where you can see and alter the “Show Grid” option. This is a property for the entire database so you set PCW Contacts it by popping down the View menu, select- Mark Whitehorn welcomes readers’ ing Options and highlighting Form & Report correspondence and ideas for the Design. If you don’t want the controls to line Databases column. He’s on up with the grid, set the “Snap to Grid” m.whitehorn@.ac.uk option (found in the Format menu) to Off. Setting the Form Properties in Access so Nildram Software 01442 891331. ☎ In my experience, Access 1.1 defaults that objects snap to grid Fax 01442 890303. to Grid X = 5 Grid Y = 5 for blank forms, Email [email protected]

305 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● GRAPHICS & DTP

Layering it on a bit thick

Gordon Laing looks at what layering can do for paint and photo retouching applications, and finds some funky fonts, too.

his month I’m going to look at a or Quark XPress without the facility to manipulate layers to create the desired Ttechnique that can be used in layout, place pictures over text or vice versa? effect. Most packages also allow you to vector drawing and even some bitmap Many thought that’s where it would end, temporarily “switch off” one or more layers, paint packages. The layering facility is and while layers would be nice on in order to get a clearer view. apparently universal and extremely useful. bitmapped packages they would probably Prior to layers, any modifications made Like many other well-programmed remain a pipe dream. to bitmapped images were permanent and electronic publishing tools, layers are best In the past year or so innovative rarely reversible beyond a few levels of understood and used if you imagine you’re programmers have incorporated layers undo. This could be a real problem when working with conventional art materials. into such bitmapped paint and photo you pasted an element on to the image Each layer acts like a sheet of transparent retouching applications as Fauve Matisse, which, once deselected, became a perma- acetate onto which various items may be which inspired Micrografx and Adobe to nent fixture. If you’d wanted to move it a bit placed. The cunning part is that layers can include the facility in Picture Publisher 5 to the left, you could forget it. You could be reordered (placing certain elements and Photoshop 3.0. Incidentally, Macro- experiment to a certain extent with over or behind others), moved, or even Media (the company which took up the channels, but it wasn’t an ideal situation. deleted altogether without affecting the FreeHand reins following the Adobe/Aldus So that’s the theory; what about the layers above and below — experimenta- merger) has recently acquired Fauve. This practice? With bitmaps still in mind we’ll tion without commitment. expands MacroMedia’s portfolio begin with the ubiquitous Photoshop 3.0, Layers have been a staple part of substantially with two excellent bitmap although as usual any techniques vector drawing and DTP packages like packages, Matisse and, particularly, Xres. discussed will be applicable with little FreeHand, Illustrator and CorelDraw since Layers in bitmap packages work in modification to any other layer-equipped day one. Who could consider PageMaker exactly the same way, allowing you to bitmapped package.

How layers work

Separate Layers Merged Layers

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Layers In Photoshop 3.0 1 2

3 4

5 6

This montage was assembled in Adobe Photoshop 3.0 for Windows running on a P90 with 16Mb. Layers are memory hungry, so I switched to my Mac 8100/80 with 32Mb to 7 take the palette screenshots; this configuration was much faster. When creating a layered document, it’s handy to have elements without backgrounds. The parrot originated on a dark background (1). I removed the background using the magic wand tool, resulting in the cut-out (2). Starting with a textured asphalt background, I added two new layers: orange first, followed by the parrot (3), and palette (4). Above is the orange over the parrot (5) but set with 60 percent opacity; see palette (6). After playing around, merge the layers together; see palette (7).

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Layers in Photoshop 3.0 top right corner of the palette presents all place images on top of each other as a Three options are presented at the bottom layer options. montage you’ll probably opt for, say, 40 of Photoshop 3.0’s new document Adding a new layer prompts for a percent opacity where the layer is clearly dialogue box, referring to the background name, after which a new thumbnail visible but whatever is below shows of that new image. Background colour, not appears above the original background. through. surprisingly, returns the background to the Since there’s nothing on this layer as yet, So you’ll have a whale of a time merrily colour that existed prior to the new the thumbnail is blank. Each new adding new layers for pure document command. White colours the additional layer appears above the one experimentation, until at some point your background white but the really interesting that is currently selected in the palette. system grinds to a halt. The reason is that new option, exclusive to version 3.0 and The layers palette arranges each layer each layer is effectively a new document upwards, is Transparent. from top to bottom — the first thumbnail is at the same resolution and in the same Transparent backgrounds are just that the top layer. You can rearrange the layers mode as the first. If your background is a — they act as sheets of acetate. You can by dragging them around the palette. 4Mb CMYK document, each new layer will draw or place images on these To the left of each layer’s thumbnail is a be 4Mb in size, so four layers would then transparent backgrounds as you would a little eye. When the eye is there, the layer be 16Mb. Layers in bitmap packages may solid coloured background, with the is being displayed. Clicking it hides that be fun, but they’re more than a little advantage that if it’s used as a layer you’ll layer, which can help when things get a demanding on your system. Photoshop be able to see through unoccupied areas. little complicated. 3.0 shows both the size of the layered file Layered documents are often best Double-clicking a layer in the palette and what it would be, post-merge, at the started with a background, which could be brings up a dialogue box including options foot of the screen. a picture, a solid colour, or perhaps a to vary the opacity of that layer. At 100 Layers are also proprietary to that blend. Opening the layers palette shows percent opacity nothing will be visible application. Photoshop 3.0 can only save just one layer, labelled background, with a below the layer, while zero percent its layered documents in .PSD format, thumbnail of your image. The arrow in the renders it invisible. Unless you want to which can only be reopened in Photoshop 3.0. You won’t want to keep them in this format for long however. Once all your work is done and you’ve finished switching layers on and off and moving them around, select the merge command to combine all the layers into one standard bitmap. In our earlier example, the four- layer 16Mb file will be reduced to a 4Mb document, exportable as a bog-standard TIFF. Much more manageable in size and compatibility.

Layers in DTP and drawing packages When working on a layout, you’ll uninten- tionally be adding a new layer for every element you place on the page. Unlike bitmapped packages, multiple layers in DTP applications are a standard way of working and don’t result in huge files. The way to understand them is to consider each new element, be it text or a picture, as being on its own layer. As you place them on the page they sit on top, obscuring everything below: imagine a block of text on one layer, then placing a picture on the top (effectively on another layer). As it stands, the picture would be

Left There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or a layers palette in a drawing package for that matter. Just select the desired element, then send it forward or backward a level, or all the way to the back or front Right CorelDream 3D; the latest module in CorelDraw version 6 for Windows 95. Who knows what’ll be in version 7…?

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obscuring the text below. This may or may Font of the Month not be the effect you would want. Some layouts would place the text on top of the picture, particularly if it’s a large type heading. It’s not uncommon to place white or lightly coloured text over a predominantly dark picture. With text over picture, or picture over text, you are deal- ing with two separate layers. But then there’s the third option of wrapping one element around another; usually text around a picture. In this instance the two layers are merged, with one element repelling the other. There’s usually an option to set the space around applications. Instead you have to click on Just my type the edges of both elements. This is called the desired element, then from an Item or Some of you may have come across the “runaround” and could typically, taking Element menu choose to send that FUSE, FontWorks’ quarterly typographic PCW as an example, be 8mm. selected object one layer forward, one promotional pack. Each costs £30 and Runarounds aren’t just useful for layer back, all the way to the front, or all contains a selection of fonts, posters and visible objects in DTP. Usually text is fitted the way to the back. information. It’s all great fun and highly in square boxes with vertical columns. Sometimes its difficult to select the recommended. So far it’s Macintosh only, Sometimes you want the edges to be element you require if loads are popped but plans are afoot for Windows versions. anything but vertically straight. How about on top, so some applications allow you to FUSE is over 15 issues old, but back a diagonal or a wavy line? These effects cycle through stacked items while mouse issues are available. We recently got hold can be effective. Unless you have the facil- clicking with a key held down. of FUSE 5, which includes Flo Motion by ity to create irregularly-shaped text boxes, It’s very easy to find yourself just doing Peter Saville, Spherize by Lo Breier, you’ll have to force the text to runaround in layout with a DTP package, but some fairly Alphabet by Paul Elliman, and Scratched the direction and manner you desire by sophisticated shapes can be made using Out by Pierre Di Sciullo. plonking a suitable shape in the way. layers and basic tools. Remember that This issue’s font of the month is Peter In most cases you won’t want this almost every package will be able to do Saville’s Flo Motion. After graduating from shape to be visible. All you do is draw the squares, rectangles, circles and lines — the faculty of Art and Design at line or shape you desire, force the text to experiment and you may not need that Polytechnic in 1978, Peter runaround it, then give it the colour of the drawing package after all. Try placing Saville was co-founder of Factory background (or no colour at all). The line rotated white squares over part of a Communications. He worked there as art disappears from view but still forces the filled-in circle and hey presto, you’ve got a director for 14 years, working with New text to flow as desired. cheese, or a Pacman character. Okay — Order, a band on the Factory label. There’s no such thing as a layers not spectacular, but perhaps sufficient for FUSE 5’s theme was virtual reality palette to navigate in DTP or drawing some people’s needs. (VR), and Flo Motion was inspired by the unresolved shapes that may be found in a low-resolution VR scenario. Saville took a traditional serif typeface, put each character through a gaussian blur, then adjusted the contrast to create Flo Motion. In fact, I think I might take an existing face and muck about with it in Photoshop and export the results into FontoGrapher. You never know; you may even see my work on sale one day. But it’s not quite that easy: Saville’s work is excellent and FUSE is an essential purchase for type fanatics. Let’s hope FontWorks sorts out a Win- dows version soon. PCW Contacts Next month it’s our Christmas issue and I’m already polishing my baubles. If you’ve any festive thoughts, write to the usual PCW address or email me as [email protected]. compuserve.com Faces 01276 38888 ☎ FontWorks 0171 490 5390 ☎ Adobe 0181 606 4000 ☎

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scenario, but in this case even more so. Authors, directors and Director is certainly better for creating visual impact and is one of the best prod- ucts on the market for this purpose. It’s fast movers also very strong on animation, so we would suggest using it when power of pre- sentation is an important requirement. Choosing an authoring package can be confusing; With its enhanced hypertext facilities Authorware is very good for reference for instance, should you use Authorware, or applications, especially those that require Director, or both? Panicos Georghiades and interactivity such as education and train- Gabriel Jacobs help you make the right decision. ing. You can design carefully structured courses with more sophisticated logic and branching than in Director, and there are ndy Tinton (

314 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● MULTIMEDIA MICROMART CLASSIFIED

are important for the work you intend to do, ity as M-JPEG at low compression ratios then the other considerations become (up to about 20:1). Additionally, M-JPEG is secondary. an editable video format (it’s what’s used Regarding your second question on the in professional hard disk-based video stu- Fast video capture cards, both models use dios) and you may well need to do some the same Zoran compression chip (the editing work before getting your video clips FPS60 has it built-in, while for the Movie to the finished state, even if you don’t Machine II it comes as an add-on extra), mean commercial distribution when you so really there’s no difference in the qual- talk of giving CD-ROMs to other people. ity of the captured video. The idea is to carry out any editing work at There are differences in the facilities the best available quality, which means offered by the two boards: notably, the keeping as much as possible of the origi- Movie Machine includes a TV tuner and a nal information content (i.e. less so-called video mixer. However, both include an lossy compression, where some of the overlay facility and an add-on to play information is inevitably lost), and com- MPEG-1 video files. pressing down to the levels required for Finally, to the point you make about distribution only at the very end. grabbing “normal” AVI files (for distribu- If your material has already been edited tion) in one go. Firstly, there’s no such using analogue methods (and no further thing as a normal AVI file: even the Motion editing will be done after capturing) you JPEG files captured by the Fast boards could consider boards offering Indeo 3.2, you mention — as well as by many other such as the Creative Labs Video Blaster boards using this type of compression — RT300. These compress in real time using have an AVI extension. AVI is a generic hardware during capture, and the results file extension for Video for Windows can be played using software-only drivers files. freely distributed with Video for Windows. There are many types of compression The quality is pretty good. methods used with Video for Windows. The compression method you choose Some are based on hardware methods, for your final results once again depends a some on software, others on both. They’re great deal on your application. Here we’re listed in the Drivers icon in the Control thinking about such things as transfer rate, Panel (Win 3.x), and in the Multimedia icon frame size, frame rate, whether your of the Control Panel (Win95). material is fast moving (action) or slow What you’re clearly referring to are AVI moving (talking-head type), whether you files using software-only decompression want the best picture quality for the small- methods distributed freely with the runtime est file size or the fastest turnaround. version of Video for Windows (for instance, However, your choice to go for a board MS Video 1, Cinepak, and Indeo). None of these provide such good qual-

Aimtech/IconAuthor news

One of the main advantages applicable to both Authorware and Director is their platform compatibility — you can develop applications that will work on different platforms using the same code (typically, Mac and PC). Another program that does this well is Authorware’s main competitor, IconAuthor (made by Aimtech), which works on Windows, Windows NT, Mac, OS/2 and Unix. In the past few years we’ve heard comparatively little about Unix in the world of the personal computer. But recently, with all the fuss about the Internet where Unix servers are the kings, a number of companies are beginning to add Unix machines to their existing range of platforms. Not long ago we talked to Leo Lucas, Aimtech’s chief technology officer. He told us that as part of a new initiative funded by the US government — the National Information Infra- structure Education and Training project — IconAuthor will be available on the Internet to deliver multimedia training and authoring on demand. A new version of IconAuthor (with Internet access) will be available next year which will include HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language — the programming language used for creat- ing pages on the World Wide Web). The new IconAuthor will, we’re told, enable training- course developers to access Internet resources, and it’s aimed at providing training facilities at remote sites all over the world. And the good news for developers is that there will be transferability of applications from other existing IconAuthor platforms to the Internet, so that programming effort can be saved.

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that uses M-JPEG compression (such as video. We haven’t come across better for It, which uses the same Zoran chip as the the Fast boards) is a good one. It’s flexible, the money. And last month in Hands On FPS60 and the Movie Machine II. and will provide you with good-quality Multimedia, we looked at Spea’s Crunch

ULead Media Studio Pro 2

The “multi” in the word multimedia is what makes applications interesting, but it’s also the cause of the devel- oper’s nightmare. Han- dling more media requires faster and big- ger machines, more development time and effort, and thus higher costs. It also requires more computer hard- ware and programs for editing and prepar- ULead: one of ing the different media — you need at least the few bundles a word processor, a sound capture and of utilities for editor program, a bitmap scanning and capturing and retouching/painting program, a video cap- editing multi- ture and editing program, and an animation media file program. And then there’s the multimedia formats authoring program you need in order to put the stuff together. Some programs may offer a few of the facilities found in dedicat- ed utilities, but there are always limitations. In any event, we’re talking thousands of pounds. Recently we’ve had the opportunity to evaluate one of the very few (and probably the most affordable) bundles of programs you need for capturing and editing all the different types of media you’re likely to use in a multimedia application. This is ULead Systems Media Studio Pro. It includes screen capture, batch-file conversion, and video capture and editing, and a module The batch-file conversion program works on image cataloguing, audio editing, image to carry out morphing effects. video, audio and animation files as well as The video editor is on the lines of Adobe image files, and can handle attribute Premiere and supports changes such as compression formats, 101 video and audio colour depth, size, and data and frame rates. tracks, 2D and 3D mov- Media Studio costs £279. And although ing paths which allow it’s marketed as a video editing package, it images and text to be does provide a complete solution. mapped to spheres and cylinders, anti-aliasing of PCW Contacts fonts, and titling. There Panicos Georghiades and Gabriel are 50 video filters and Jacobs will be glad to answer your over 100 transitions questions. Either write to PCW, or email (more than what you get [email protected] in either Premiere or Authorware (Peritas) 01753 604057 ☎ Asymetrix’ Digital Video Director 4.0 (Computers Unlimited) Producer). An Album 0181 200 8282 ☎ module enables you to Macromedia 01344 761111 ☎ visually catalogue video, Fast Electronic 0171 221 8024 ☎ animation and image Creative Labs 01734 344322 ☎ files, and even audio files Aimtech 0171 702 1575 ☎ (by using thumbnails). ULead Media Studio (BIT) 01420 83811 ☎

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you keep in time. Every sequencer has a metronome with several options allowing you to choose which instrument plays the click (usually a side stick on C sharp 1), how many bars count-in you want, and whether or not you want the sequencer to play a few bars of the arrangement before you start to record – called “pre-roll”. Fig 1 shows a simple four-bar pattern based on last month’s examples. This time round, instead of playing quavers or Keeping Score eighths on a closed hi-hat, quavers are being played on a ride cymbal giving the track a different feel. To add further inter- ...it’s 2.0 to Cubase – Steven Helstrip gives you a est, the ride cymbal is accented on the off sneak preview. Plus more tips for programming beat. Off beat simply means not playing on percussion tracks, and the New York sessions... beats one, two, three and four. A cabassa is also playing on the off beat. Towards the end of the four-bar section Programming Percussion percussion elements including cabassa, (bar four, beat four, second quaver) Tracks (Part 2) ride cymbal, bongos and congas to add there’s a splash cymbal with a kick drum Last month we looked at sequencing more texture and rhythmic interest. underneath. This helps to set up the next rhythm tracks using a standard kit consist- Before programming percussion, or four-bar phrase which has a crash cymbal ing of kick, snare, hi-hats and tambourine. any other sequenced part, it’s worth set- on beat one. This month we’ll be introducing more ting up a metronome, or click track, to help Congas can be used in most styles of The beat goes on

1 2

3 4

Fig 1 A variation on last month’s examples using a basic kit with ride cymbal. Fig 2 A simple conga pattern can add rhythmic interest to a percussion section. Fig 3 The kick drum in this example is playing a different rhythm, and there’s a simple hi-hat pattern. Fig 4 Don’t be afraid to have two snares and two kick drums, so long as they don’t clutter up the track and their levels are mixed well

318 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● SOUND MICROMART CLASSIFIED

Cubase Update

Users of Cubase Score will be chuffed to contains a video tutorial and costs £499. know that version 2.0 is now in a shop Upgrade prices have not yet been set. nearby, or on the end of a telephone line Contact Harman Audio (see “PCW should you have access to a modem. This Details”, page 321) for more information . first major PC upgrade has full- colour interface allowing tracks and parts to be coloured sepa- rately; guitar tablature and 200 new symbols in the score edi- tor; support for Video for Win- dows, and plenty more. Not only does the colour interface look better, it has some serious benefits. Percus- sion tracks can be coloured red, string arrangements maybe in yellow, vocal triggers in a nice purple, making the Arrange window much easier to work with. The transport bar has been revamped and now looks identical to the Mac. If you work with tape, or even tapeless tape (disk-based recorders, etc) the new SMPTE reader will be welcomed as it can be displayed in two sizes, large and extra large. Your PC could be sitting at the opposite side of the studio and you’ll still be able to read the timing references. One area where Cubase has fallen behind is the tempo map, or master track editor. Version 2.0, however, fixes this. The master track now has a graphical interface, enabling changes in tempo to be drawn in the same way as controller information in the piano role editor. Alternatively, arrange- ments can now be recorded without a metronome, allowing you to work out changes in tempo later. That said, it does need a little help – first you have to mark the start of each bar, then the software makes its calculations. Score 2.0 is available on disk and CD-ROM, the latter

Cubase 2.0 is now available for the PC. Seen here running under Windows 95

319 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● SOUND

New York City Drumworks music, from chilled-out jazz tunes through to dance. Fig 2 shows a typical pattern Six of New York’s top session drummers been recorded, there are hi- playing yet another off beat-ish rhythm. A play 146 minutes of inspiring rhythm. Miles, hat loops, loops without the low conga plays on beat one, followed by Sting, Luther Vandross and Manhattan kick drum, and so on. Each a mute conga on beats one and a half, and Transfer are just a few of the credits. There percussion instrument in high congas on the last two semiquavers are over 730 loops (copyright free) each the kit has been sampled of beat two. Although this sounds daunt- played with a New York vibe. Styles seperately, both dry and ing, it’s fairly straightforward: hear how it covered include funk, rock, house, hip-hop, with effects. This way you can sounds by loading the MIDI files on this Latin, Cajun, R&B ... the list goes on. Not loop a four section and add, for month’s cover CD-ROM. The files can be only are all these styles covered, but at example, your own snare pattern. At the end found in hands\sound. every tempo you could wish for and with six of each drummer’s section there are several The ride cymbal is boosted here, as a different drum kits from vintage Ludvig up to tracks of fills, an invaluable production tool. skip, or push, has been introduced just the current Yamaha Recording Series. This is the best live drum CD I have heard after the third beat of the bar. Try different This two-CD set kicks off with Kenwood in a long time, covering every contemporary rhythms on the ride to create different Dennard playing rock, reggae, Brazilian and style. Three of the tracks are on this month’s feels. Quantising to 16 triplets, or a slow African styles. Tempos here range from 72 cover CD as .WAV files in the hands\sound shuffle, will give the part further interest. to 156bpm. Not only have “full kit” loops folder. Try adding a clap to beats two and four, or simply replace the snare drum with a side It’s important to match the instrument patterns, but you can spice it up even stick to slow down the pace. levels to get the best possible balance. In more. In Fig 4 there is a second kick and When placed in context with your a live situation each instrument would snare giving the track a hip hop/acid jazz music, it should become obvious whether have its own input on a mixing desk, with a feel. The levels of the second kick and this pattern works. If it doesn’t, play around fader to enable you to get a decent mix. snare are quite low compared to the origi- with each element until it sounds right. As When sequencing, however, there are no nal idea. Try changing them, as this will I mentioned last month, the kick drum faders for each instrument – just numbers, allow you to create different feels. Also, needs to work with the bassline. Also, if or velocities. have a go at changing individual velocities you quantise the percussion track to a Although it’s important to hear what and try different quantisation grooves. slow shuffle, do this for each other part. each part is playing, no one instrument Fig 3 is a variation on the previous should stand out. If you find that the con- examples. Although the conga pattern is gas and ride are too prominent, reduce the same, the track has a different feel as their velocities; in Cubase, this can be PCW Contacts the kick drum is playing a different rhythm. done in several ways. The quickest is to Readers’ contributions to the Sound A hi-hat track has been introduced that use the drum editor to highlight the column are music to our ears. If you simply plays quavers, and an open hat on notes you need to “turn down” by drag- have any hints or tips, any MIDI-related the second quaver of beat four adds more ging across them with the mouse, then items or general comments, send them interest. In this example, the cabassa is hold down Ctrl H and type “– 10” in the in to the usual PCW address, or to playing the same rhythm as the ride cym- velocity box. Do this again if they’re still too [email protected] bal, only the skip comes after beat one as loud. Time + Space 01442 870 681 ☎ opposed to beat three. The rhythm track now has some good Harman Audio 0181 207 5050 ☎ MICRO MART CLASSIFIED

321 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● VISUAL PROGRAMMING

does so crudely, compared with Excel or Access. The only object made available is Word.Basic, through which you can call WordBasic routines. While we wait for Word to catch up, there’s plenty to do with VBA in Excel. In particular, the new Data Access Objects (DAO) open up the JET database engine for OLE automation, giving Excel excellent database features and, without the use of the old ODBC add-in, XLODBC.XLA. There is a natural synergy between spreadsheets and databases. Spread- Dealing with data sheets are well suited to analysing and modelling temporary data, while databases are ideal for robust, permanent storage. Using DAO you can easily write Tim Anderson explores data access in Excel 7.0, programs that transfer data between Excel why Designer Widgets was released full of bugs, and database tables. For example, an and how to access text properties in VBXs within Excel application could obtain a customer’s order history, feeding the Delphi. Plus, seven tips for visual programming. details into a spreadsheet for charting or sales projections. Here’s how you might go about it. ersion 5.0 of Excel The first step is to insert a Vintroduced Visual Basic for macro module into an Excel 7.0 Applications, the common macro workbook. Then, from the language that is intended to unify Tools menu, choose Refer- the programming of Microsoft ences and check DAO 3.0 applications. VBA’s migration to Object Library. This enables the main Office components is Excel to use all the DAO slow. Access 7.0 now includes it, classes and constants. The but unbelievably Word 7.0 procedure to retrieve order remains stuck with WordBasic. details might look like Fig 1. The WordBasic language is not This simple example returns so bad, although there are The hierarchy of data access object a query result as a snapshot annoying differences; but more seriously classes; essential information for and enters the results into a worksheet. Word is not an OLE automation client. It database programming in Visual Basic The data access code works exactly as it works as an OLE automation server but for Applications would in Visual Basic 4.0. But DAO will do more than just execute queries: using the Seven tips for VB and Delphi data definition language you can create databases with security, encryption and Visual Basic referential integrity. The workspaces col- 1. JET loves SQL. If you can use SQL Select or an Execute method, rather than lection lets you set up simultaneous data navigational database code, performance is almost always better. access sessions, with support for transac- 2. There are experienced VB programmers who do not realise that the code window can be tions. Data can be written as well as read, split: place the mouse just above the thin grey line at the top of the window, and drag down either by opening an editable recordset (a to obtain two separate scrolling sections. table or dynaset) or by executing SQL 3. Avoid variants by declaring all variables. Set Require Variable Declaration to Yes in statements. VBA and DAO, combined with Environment Options to ensure that Option Explicit appears at the top of all modules. a good knowledge of SQL, gives Excel full-blown data management features. All Delphi we need now is VBA in Word to open up 4. Windows 3.x uses co-operative multitasking, which means your application must the same possibilities there. regularly yield control back to Windows to avoid locking the user out of other tasks. In Delphi you can use Application.ProcessMessages to give processing time to other applications. Designer Widgets 5. Re-use your code by developing your own utility functions for frequent tasks. Place these The migration of VBX add-ons to OCX in one Pascal unit, and add it to the Uses clause of any other units that call these functions. components continues with the arrival of 6. Use Inc and Dec to generate tightly optimised code, instead of statements like 32-bit Designer Widgets from Sheridan. iVar := iVar + 1; Version 1.0 of this product is widely used 7. Delphi has no direct equivalent to VB’s useful App.Path. You can obtain the same to add dockable toolbars and tabbed information (the location of the application) by parsing Application.Exename. This returns dialogues to VB applications. Evaluating the application name with its full path. Search the string for the last occurrence of “\” to find this new version, which comes in triplicate the path alone. (VBX, 16-bit OCX, 32-bit OCX), proved

324 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● VISUAL PROGRAMMING

frustrating. This was the release version, more difficult than ever. Windows not a beta. 3.x is dying, and Windows users The Readme informed me that the are moving to some combination of product did not work quite as documented. Windows 95, NT, or OS/2. On top Two major problems were that the tab and of that, the main VBX container notebook VBXs did not work data-bound, environment, Visual Basic itself, and that the FormFX control did not work has just been released in several under Windows 95. Then I tried some of new versions. Until recently, long the controls using a late beta of VB 4.0, delays in Windows 95 and VB 4.0 32-bit version. Using the tab control first, I have made it hard to release new noticed that the property page took an age products. to appear. When it did, I found that altering Finally, companies like one of the properties caused an obscure Sheridan are in the ridiculous error message, followed by a complete Above Using Excel 7.0 and data position of having to support three shutdown of Visual Basic 4.0. Presuming access objects, data can be component standards — VBX, 16-bit OCX this to be a problem with the VB 4.0 beta, I extracted from database tables reverted to VB 3.0 and tried the VBX as easily as in Visual Basic itself controls. Performance was improved; but I Right Designer Widgets 2.0: soon managed to crash VB 3.0 as well. good when it works. The toolbar Guessing something was up, I logged designer is a neat way to on to Sheridan’s forum on Compuserve. assemble your own dockable There I found a host of angry messages toolbar from attempted users of Designer Widgets 2.0, a 1.2Mb patch file in the library, and a incompatibility with projects built further string of messages claiming that using Designer Widgets 1.0. the patched version was little better. The To be a supplier of third-party concerns were mainly to do with stability tools is a difficult and dangerous (as I had discovered), but also game. Just at this moment it is

Fig 1 Procedure to retrieve order details Sub GetOrders() If Not sn.EOF Then Dim db As Database sn.MoveLast Dim snOrders As Recordset iOrderCount = sn.RecordCount Dim sSql As String sn.MoveFirst End If Dim sCustNo As String Dim iOrderCount As Integer ‘ Enter customer name into worksheet Dim iCountVar As Integer If iOrderCount <> 0 Then MsgBox “There are “ & Str$(iOrderCount) & “ orders for Clear sheet this customer” Worksheets(“sheet1”).Cells.ClearContents Worksheets(“sheet1”).Cells(3, 7).Value = “‘“ & sn!Cust- name ‘Get a customer reference number Else sCustNo = InputBox(“Enter customer number”) MsgBox “There are no orders for this customer” End If ‘Construct SQL query sSql = “Select * from customer, orders, products “ ‘ Enter order details into worksheet sSql = sSql & “where customer.cust_no = orders.cust_no For iCountVar = 0 To iOrderCount - 1 “ With Worksheets(“sheet1”) sSql = sSql & “and orders.prod_no = products.prod_no “ .Cells(7 + iCountVar, 1).Value = sSql = sSql & “and customer.cust_no = ‘“ & sCustNo & “‘ DateValue(sn!Date_rcd) “ .Cells(7 + iCountVar, 3).Value = “‘“ & sn!Product sSql = sSql & “order by orders.date_rcd” .Cells(7 + iCountVar, 5).Value = Val(sn!Quantity) .Cells(7 + iCountVar, 6).Value = Val(sn!price) ‘ Open the database .Cells(7 + iCountVar, 8).Value = .Cells(7 + iCount- Set db = Var, 5).Value * .Cells(7 + iCountVar, 6).Value DBEngine.OpenDatabase(“C:\TESTDATA\MAINDB.MDB”) End With

‘Create a snapshot based on the required customer num- sn.MoveNext ber Next Set sn = db.OpenRecordset(sSql, dbOpenSnapshot) ‘ Close database ‘ Check for no results, find record count db.Close

325 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● VISUAL PROGRAMMING

Fig 2 Determining buffer size and 32-bit OCX, and these are meant to work in a variety of different and not procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); completely compatible environments. var Sheridan’s president Bob Wolf had the lpzTextString: PChar; grace to post an apology on Compuserve, lSize: Longint; and pointed out that, “The permutations begin between versions (VBX, 16- and 32-bit lSize := TextControl1.GetTextLen; OCX), host environments (VB 3.0, VB 4.0, {allocate memory allowing for null character} Access, etc.) and operating systems (Win GetMem(lpzTextString, lSize + 1); 3.x, WFWG, NT, Windows 95) turn out to TextControl1.GetTextBuf(lpzTextString,lSize); be 71 separate test environments.” {...do what you want with lpzTextString} Sheridan therefore deserves some sym- FreeMem(lpzTextString, lSize); pathy, although it remains extraordinary end; that a product as unsteady on its feet as Designer Widgets 2.0 should acquire Fig 3 SelText property in TX Text control shrinkwrap status. procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); And what about the product? Presuming Sheridan soon delivers a solid var release, and improves performance, it has ptrText: ^HSZ; {defined in BIVBX as ^char} good potential. There are many small lpzString: pchar; improvements: the index tab control can be data-bound to give an instant card-file begin database; and a new notebook tab control new(ptrText); {initialise the pointer} allows creation of a comforting {then get value of property by name} spiral-bound interface. Its appeal is a little VBXGetPropByName(TextControl1.ctl,’SelText’,ptrText); reduced for users of VB 4.0 and Windows lpzString:= VBXGetCStringPtr(ptrText^); {convert to pchar} 95, since toolbar and tabbed dialogue {... do something with the pchar} controls come as standard, but the dispose(ptrText); {free the pointer} Designer Widgets 2.0 versions offer many extra features. Just make sure you get one end; that works. needed for programmatic access to access to VBX properties. Two of these Delphi, VBXs and strings formatted text. Delphi exposes these are declared in BIVBX.INT, as follows: If you have used VBX controls in Delphi, properties, but helpfully truncates them to function VBXGetPropByName(Ctl: HCTL; you may have come across a problem fit into a Pascal string, rendering them lpszName: PChar; lpValue: Pointer): when trying to use string properties. When useless. Err; you set up Delphi to use a VBX, using the There are solutions. First, note that all function VBXSetPropByName(Ctl: HCTL; Install Components dialogue, it creates a Delphi controls support two methods, lpszName: PChar; lVal: Longint): Pascal wrapper unit in your Windows SetTextBuf and GetTextBuf. These Err; System directory. Among other things this methods work with pchars, solving the These functions enable you to get and wrapper converts VB property types into 256-character limit. Internally they work set properties using pointers. You will Delphi types. In the case of VB strings, with the API messages WM_SETTEXT need to put BIVBX in the Uses clause of properties are converted to Pascal strings and WM_GETTEXT. These are any unit which calls them. For example, to limited to 256 characters in length. For straightforward to use, although before retrieve the SelText property of a TX Text example, the TX Text control, which is calling GetTextBuf you must first control, use the code in Fig 3. supplied by Borland in the Delphi RAD determine the size of buffer required with Be warned that calling functions in pack, has several string properties such as GetTextLen. (Fig 2.) BIVBX is uncharted territory, not Text and SelText. The Pro version of the This works fine if it is simply a text prop- documented by Borland. You should also same control has an RTFSelText property, erty which you need to obtain. But what note that the code will need amending text you set or obtain depends according to the type of property you are entirely on how the control has accessing. implemented the WM_SET- TEXT and WM_GETTEXT mes- sages. If there is more than one text property, as with the TX PCW Contacts Text control, this solution is not Tim Anderson welcomes your Visual enough. There is another way. A Programming comments and tips. He number of functions in the can be contacted via PCW at the usual BIVBX unit give lower-level address, or [email protected] Obtaining the value of the Designer Widgets costs £99 from seltext property in a VBX is not Contemporary Software on straightforward, but it can be 01727 811999. ☎ done

326 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● LOW LEVEL

programming environment. To get a better picture of what to do with these routines, the Visual Basic Pro- grammer’s Guide to Windows API (Daniel Appleman, Ziff-Davis Press) makes for ideal bedtime reading. The Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) CD-ROM is another option. It is packed with hints on useful API calls for the Visual Basic pro- grammer, alongside a lot of other informa- tion on C, Access, FoxPro and other Scratching the surface Microsoft development tools. In an inspired move, Microsoft has extracted the VB-specific material from the MSDN and With a little know-how, Visual Basic can give the made it available directly to VB program- mers by including the material on the VB programmer more control over Windows’ behind- 4.0 CD-ROM. Unfortunately it has been the-scenes operations. Mike Liardet looks at ways excluded from the Standard Edition, but to access DLL files, the backbone of Windows, Professional and Enterprise users get it. through a Visual Basic program called VBAPI. Back to Basics This month we will pick up on some of the hints given on the MSDN/VB 4.0 and show isual Basic shields the programmer DLL routines can then be called from the how they can be applied to a plain and Vfrom many of the complexities of VB program in the usual way. “So what?” simple Visual Basic program, called Windows programming. This is both a I hear you say. The point is that virtually VBAPI. It is worth mentioning that there is strength and a weakness in the language the whole of Windows is implemented on no need to upgrade to VB 4.0 in order to — a strength because it makes Windows the back of a handful of DLLs. Knowing try out these techniques. They will work application development comparatively how to use them opens doors. quite happily with version 3.0. easy, and a weakness because it prevents There lies the catch. Ideally, to make Figs 1 to 3 illustrate VBAPI in action. the programmer from controlling what full use of the DLLs you should have a Fig 1 shows how it can be used to min- happens beneath the surface of the pro- good understanding of the way Windows imise the Program Manager. This is some- gramming environment. Or does it? works beneath the surface, and have thing that might be required just after a access to some good supporting docu- program is loaded, as it gets rid of dis- Anything to Declare? mentation for reference and guidance. tracting background clutter. In a real appli- The VB “Declare” statement is the escape Visual Basic (Professional)’s API (Applica- cation the code to do this would probably clause that allows a program to get to grips tion Programming Interface) Help file con- be put in the Form_Load event handler. with Windows internals. It provides a great tains all the common Declares and Fig 2 shows how another application way to extend Visual Basic’s functionality. provides a valuable tool. There is also a can be terminated under VB control. In a In essence, “Declare” can be used to useful SDK (Software Development Kit) real application this could be a useful trick specify a linkage to the routines in any Help file that gives a description of how for freeing up memory, or for preventing an Dynamic Link Library (DLL) file, so that the the routines can be used from within a C application from running alongside some Fig 1 Minimise/Maximise PM

“Minimise PM” minimises Program Manager to an icon, and “Maximise PM” brings it back to full size. The code behind the “Minimise PM” button would normally be put into an application’s Form_Load

328 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● LOW LEVEL

Fig 2 The “Terminate” button

Now you see it, now you don’t! The “Terminate” button can terminate any application — just give it the window title other incompatible task — such as a the necessary calls. Figs 4 to 6 give the “hWnd”, “int”, “UINT” or “BOOL”, and so Backup application. Fig 3 shows the details of the API calls needed. These on. Visual Basic has to make do with just manipulation of an INI initialisation file. show a few of the possibilities, once you “integer” for all of these types, but in prac- Just about every VB application could get to grips with the Windows API. The tice this does not cause major problems. make good use of an INI facility. Although major Windows DLLs offer around 1,000 There is a similar variety of C types for it could be implemented by using standard others, then there are other supporting “strings” and “longs”, but in all cases the VB file I/O, it is much simpler and more DLLs, DLLs from third-party suppliers, and API call can still be made to work in VB if elegant to use the standard Windows APIs so on — thousands of calls which are just plain old “string” or “long” are used in the instead. a declaration away. declaration, as necessary. Notice that all In pure VB terms there is nothing fancy Unfortunately, information on DLLs is the parameters to API calls must be going on behind the scenes in VBAPI. We usually directed at the C programmer, so declared in VB as “ByVal” — this just just have a number of Declare statements the VB coder needs to read between the makes sure that VB delivers the argu- to provide access to the necessary API lines when figuring out a DLL’s declaration ments in the right form to the underlying C calls, and each command button is imple- and use. C is richer in types than VB, so a routine. mented with a few lines of code making 16-bit quantity in C might be typed as Callbacks Fig 3 Manipulating an INI file Although most of the DLLs are up for grabs, there are one or two API calls that simply cannot be handled by Visual Basic at all. For example, some Windows func- tions do “callbacks”, which means that one of their parameters takes the address of a function. As Visual Basic functions are compiled differently from C, they cannot be called from it. Thus there is no meaningful address that can be given in this case. This means that API calls with callback cannot be used, or at least not used directly (there is a way round the problem but we won’t go into it here). Also, Visual Basic itself suppresses some of Windows’ functionality, and this can render some calls unusable. For example, there are Windows functions to change the shape of the mouse pointer, but the VB environment has its own ideas about mouse display. This means that in general these functions won’t work, and you are likely to be stuck with the dozen or Accessing an INI file. The various command buttons alongside the big text box so shapes that are predefined in VB itself. show how sections, entries and values in the INI file can be added, deleted, For most common Windows functions changed or accessed the only awkward area is the handling of

329 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● LOW LEVEL

Fig 4 Manipulating windows IsWindow Const GW_HWNDFIRST = 0 ‘Returns the first sibling win- C Declaration dow for a child window; otherwise, it returns the first BOOL IsWindow(hWnd) top-level window in the list. HWND hWnd; /* handle of window, */ Const GW_HWNDLAST = 1 ‘Returns the last sibling window for a child window; otherwise, it returns the last top- VB Declaration level window in the list. Declare Function IsWindow Lib “User” (ByVal hWnd As Const GW_HWNDNEXT = 2 ‘Returns the sibling window that Integer) As Integer follows the given window in the list. Const GW_HWNDPREV = 3 ‘Returns the previous sibling Parameters window in the list. hWnd: identifies a window. Const GW_OWNER = 4 ‘Identifies the window’s owner. Returns: non-zero if the window handle is valid, other- wise, returns zero (false). Parameters hWnd: identifies the original window. GetWindow wCmd: specifies the relationship between the original window and the returned window. It can be set to one of C Declaration the constant values given above. HWND GetWindow(hWnd, wCmd) Returns: the handle of the window if the function is HWND hWnd;/* handle of original window*/ successful, otherwise NULL (integer 0 in VB) - indicat- UINT wCmd;/* relationship flag, */ ing either the end of the system’s list or an invalid wCmd parameter. VB Declaration Declare Function GetWindow Lib “User” (ByVal hWnd As An extract from a selection of Windows (with a big “W”) Integer, ByVal wCmd As Integer) As Integer functions for manipulating windows (with a small “w”). With ‘Values for wCmd... the given declarations these can be used from Visual Basic, Const GW_CHILD = 5 ‘Identifies the window’s first child either to manipulate the VB application’s own windows, or the window. windows belonging to another application

routines that return strings. The problem Fig 5 Definitions of Windows profile functions here is that Visual Basic and C handle strings differently. With C, the memory for WritePrivateProfileString the string needs to be allocated before the call, whereas a VB routine can find the C Declaration space dynamically. BOOL WritePrivateProfileString(lpAppName,lpKeyName, lpString, lpFilename) The GetPrivateProfileString routine LPCSTR lpAppName;/* address of section*/ (Fig 9) is a good illustration of this. It LPCSTR lpKeyName;/* address of entry*/ returns a string in its fourth argument. To LPCSTR lpString;/* address of string to add*/ call it from VB, an appropriate-length string LPCSTR lpFilename;/* address of initialization filename*/ must be initialised before the call and passed to the routine in this argument VB Declaration position, with the length given as its next Declare Function GetPrivateProfileString% Lib "Kernel" (ByVal lpAppName As argument. The function itself returns the String, ByVal lpKeyName As Any, Byval lpDefault as Any, ByVal number of characters it placed in the lpReturnBuffer As String, cbReturnBuffer as Integer, ByVal lpFileName As string, and these characters can easily be String) extracted using the VB left$() function. Fig 4 gives a selection of the Windows Parameters functions which are used in the VBAPI All string parameters point to null terminated strings, which are case program by both the commands that min- independent, and so can contain any combination of upper and lower case imise and maximise Program Manager, characters and the command that terminates other lpAppName: specifies the section containing the entry. applications. IsWindow and ShowWindow lpKeyName: specifies the entry whose associated string is to be retrieved. are straightforward. IsWindow determines lpDefault: specifies the default value for the given entry if the entry whether or not the given window handle is cannot be found in the initialization file- must never be NULL. valid, as opposed to being some arbitrary lpReturnBuffer: receives the character string. integer value. ShowWindow sets the given cbReturnBuffer: receives the size, in bytes, of the buffer pointed to by window’s visibility state (maximised or the lpReturnBuffer parameter. minimised). lpFilename: names the initialization file. Returns: the number of bytes copied to the specified buffer, not including Can you handle it? the terminating null character. Unless the windows functions are being Definitions of two of the Windows “profile” functions that can be used to manipulate used to manipulate a VB application’s INI initialisation files

330 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● LOW LEVEL MICROMART CLASSIFIED

Fig 6 PostMessage PostMessage

C Declaration BOOL PostMessage(hWnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam) HWND hWnd; /* handle of the destination window*/ UINT wMsg; /* message to post, */ WPARAM wParam; /* first message parameter*/ LPARAM lParam; /* second message parameter*/

VB Declaration Declare Function PostMessage Lib “User” (ByVal hWnd As Integer, ByVal wMsg As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As Long) As Integer ‘Alterantive value for hWnd Const HWND_BROADCAST = &HFFFF

Parameters hWnd: identifies the window to which the message will be posted wMsg: specifies the message to be posted. wParam: specifies 16 bits of additional message-dependent information. lParam: specifies 32 bits of additional message-dependent information. Returns: nonzero if the function is successful, otherwise, zero (= false).

The PostMessage function, used for communicating with other windows or applica- tions

own windows (where the control’s hWnd between them — WritePrivatePro- property can return a window handle), it is fileString and GetPrivateProfileString first necessary to find the window’s handle. (Fig 5). WritePrivateProfileString copies FindWindow is needed here. It retrieves the a character string into the specified entry handle of a window given either its class of a section of the specified initialisation name (not so useful from VB) or title. file. If the file does not exist, it is created. GetWindowLong retrieves extra informa- If the section does not exist, it is created; tion on a window, as a long value at the and (surprise, surprise) if the entry does specified offset into the extra window mem- not exist in the specified section, then ory. There are many ways of using this, but that too is created. It is also possible to in VBAPI this function is just used to deter- delete information from the INI file using mine whether or not a window is disabled. this function. If the entry parameter is It is often necessary to iterate through all given as 0, the entire section is deleted. the windows to find one with a particular If the string parameter is given as 0, then attribute, or else to process them all in only the entry specified by the lpKey- some way. GetWindow can be used for Name argument is removed. this. It retrieves the handle of a window that has the specified relationship to the given INI file manipulation made easy window, searching the system’s list of top- WritePrivateProfileString can also help level windows, their associated child win- track down the INI file. If the lpFilename dows, the child windows of any child argument does not contain a fully quali- windows, or any siblings of the owner of a fied path and filename for the file, it window. searches the Windows directory for the Windows has several APIs for manipu- file. If the file does not exist, it creates lating INI files, but there are just two main functions that can do almost everything Fig 7 ShowWindow

Sub cmdMinPM_Click () Dim hWnd As Integer, I As Integer hWnd = FindWindow(0&, “Program Manager”) If hWnd <> 0 Then I = ShowWindow(hWnd, SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE) End If End Sub ShowWindow can be used to minimise any application. Here is how it minimises the Program Manager

331 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● LOW LEVEL

Fig 8 The PostMessage API

Sub cmdTerminate_Click () End Select txtTerminee = Trim$(txtTerminee) End Sub Select Case TaskKill(txtTerminee) Case TASK_NOT_FOUND Function TaskKill (ByVal vsTaskTitleOrClass As String) MsgBox txtTerminee & “ is not running” As Integer Case TASK_KILL_FAILED MsgBox txtTerminee & “ is not answering” (Our cover disk has full details of the remainder of this code) Case TASK_WAS_DISABLED MsgBox txtTerminee & “ is disabled” End Function Case TASK_WAS_ME MsgBox txtTerminee & “ is myself” Using the PostMessage API call to terminate another Case TASK_KILLED_OK application MsgBox txtTerminee & “ has been killed”

the file in the Windows directory. If lpFile- not contain a full path, it searches for the available on the cover disk. Fig 7 shows name contains a fully qualified path and file in the Windows directory. how to minimise Program Manager. First, filename and the file does not exist, it cre- Much of the low level communication find the handle for the window whose title is ates the file in that directory as long as the between applications, and even within an “Program Manager”, then use ShowWin- directory exists. Note that it is considered application, is handled by “messages”. dow with the command SW_SHOWMIN- bad practice to create INI files in the Win- Windows message handling is a complex NOACTIVE to minimise it. This code won’t dows directory, as it makes it difficult to topic, but you don’t need to know the ins work if the title of the Program Manager fully de-install an application. and outs in detail to use messages. window is changed, as it is for example GetPrivateProfileString retrieves a PostMessage (Fig 6) is the key routine. It when running under Windows NT, but character string for the specified key from places a message in a window’s message there are ways around this. the specified section in the specified ini- queue and returns without waiting for it to Fig 8 shows how to kill a task. The main tialisation file. It searches the file for an process the message. Messages in a code to do this is in the routineTaskKill, entry that matches the name specified by message queue are retrieved by calls to which kills the window with the given task the lpKeyName parameter under the sec- GetMessage or PeekMessage (neither or class name. Again, FindWindow is used tion heading specified by the lpAppName needed by VBAPI). If the hWnd parameter to find the window. There is some extra parameter. If the entry is found, its corre- is set to HWND_BROADCAST, the mes- complexity in the routine to handle the sponding string is copied to the buffer. If sage is posted to all top-level windows, case when the task being killed is the appli- the entry does not exist, the default char- including disabled or invisible unowned cation itself or if the window is disabled, but acter string specified by the lpDefault windows. The routine should not be used for most cases it posts two messages, parameter is copied. If the key is given as to post a message to a control. WM_CANCELMODE and WM_CLOSE, to 0, all entries in the section specified by the Figs 7 to 9 show how these functions the window, in order to kill it. Note the use lpAppName parameter are copied to the can be put together to implement the vari- of DoEvents: this makes sure that the buffer specified by the lpReturnBuffer ous commands in VBAPI. Only the key recipient window gets a chance to clear its parameter. If the filename parameter does code is shown, but the full program is message queue and process the two new messages, when VBAPI relinquishes the Fig 9 Accessing an INI file value processor. One example of the INI file manipulation Sub cmdGetValue_Click () code is given in Fig 9. The other INI com- Dim FileName As String mands are very similar to this. Notice the Dim lpAppName As String RefreshINI command at the end of the rou- Dim lpKeyName As String tine. This is placed at the end of all the INI Dim lpDefault As String commands. It reads the INI file, using stan- Dim lpString As String dard VB file I/O, into the VBAPI form’s text Dim nBytes As Integer box alongside the command buttons, pro- Dim x As Integer viding instant verification that the com- FileName = app.Path & “\demo.ini” mand is working correctly. lpAppName = “Colours” lpKeyName = “TitleBar” PCW Cover Disk lpDefault = “Not Found!!!” The full code for this month’s Low Level is on lpString = Space$(100) the cover disk given with this issue of nBytes = 100 Personal Computer World. x = GetPrivateProfileString(lpAppName, lpKeyName, lpDefault, lpString, nBytes, FileName) MsgBox “[Colours] TitleBar=” & Left$(lpString, x), 0, “Get Value” PCW Contacts RefreshINI Mike Liardet is a freelance programmer End Sub and writer. He can be contacted via the GetPrivateProfileString can access any value in an INI file, but it’s a little tricky to use PCW Editorial office or on email as from within VB [email protected]

332 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● NUMBERS COUNT

mences with the list 1...25, removes the even members (multiples of 2), then the multiples of 2 and so on upto the multiples of 11: leaving 1,13,17,19 and 23. Thus Wondrous ph(11,25) = n(1,13,17,19,23) = 5. Does any reader have practical experience of this function which is believed (S.J.) to be Numbers of importance in certain aspects of data compression? ... a sight to behold! Steer your gaze towards these Any investigation of Problem W may be sent to Mike Mudge, 22 Gors Fach, Pwll- number nuggets, presented by Mike Mudge. Trap, St. Clears, Carmarthen, Dyfed SA33 4AQ, tel 01994 231121, to arrive by 1st March 1996. All material received will be his topic is believed to have originated earlier references, on account of his judged using suitable subjective criteria, Twith Charles Ashbacher: extensive computer investigation... using and a prize in the form of a £25 book token J. Recreational Mathematics, Vol. 24(1) nine computer programs, one for each of or equivalent overseas voucher will be 12-15, 1992. However, readers beware — the species three through twelve and awarded by Mike Mudge to the “best” this article contains a serious misprint searching to 14000000 for each divisor. solution arriving by the closing date. which has been self-propagating to the No infinite series were found, for divisors 3 present day. to 8 all numbers terminated before 1000 Review, May 1995

WONDROUS numbers are members cycles, for divisor 9 only 13655938 passed Problem CJ1 produced a number of com- of a series of integers (positive?) which the 1000-cycle mark with 1035 cycles, for plete proofs, that of Roger Tirtia of Bel- always converges to 1. This series is given divisor 10 there were exactly 1000 cycles gium including a method for finding all by: for 5646474 and 1037 cycles for solutions even when a cube is not present. If n be even, the next n = n/2: 13667102. Ashbacher challenged readers Roger lists the least numbers that can be If n be odd, the next n = 3n+1 to investigate further... written in exactly k distinct ways as the Hofstadter used the term “Wondrous” as A challenge recently taken up by Bren- sum of two non-zero squares. For k = 29 N these numbers are so simple and awe- dan Woods of Dublin, who has failed to get is greater than 1015 but not difficult to find some and can be produced in a solitaire- termination with (D,N) = (13,70), (14,75), as there are only five candidates! like game. See D.R. Hofstadter, Godel, (58,59), (82,83), (198,199)... Iain M. Davidson of Carlisle examined Escher, Bach: An Eternal Gold Braid, PROBLEM W. Readers are set the task a2 + b2 = cn but additionally posed ques- Basic Books Inc, New York, pp400-402, of investigating these generalised tions about general factorisation of 1979. Now B.C. Wiggin, Journal of Recre- WONDROUS NUMBERS, confirming the An + Bn +... +Zn, ational Mathematics, 20:1, pp52-56, 1988, findings of Ashbacher & Woods, consider- about the solution of Wondrous Numbers a Conjecture about ing further empirical evidence and (hope- X3 + kY3 + k2Z3 - 3kXYZ = 1, the 3n + 1 Family, extended the concept fully) producing a complete theory of the and (possibly more relevant to most Num- as a genus for the numbers 2 through 12. behaviour of these sequences. bers Count readers) also requested infor- For example, he defined the (n/3, 4n+1) mation on algorithms used to carry out WONDROUS NUMBERS as: Feedback from readers multi-length integer arithmetic. HOW Divide n by 3 The M500 Society publishes M500 six DOES UBASIC DO THAT? Anthony Sto- If there is no remainder, the quotient is times a year for Open University students, bart of Cheltenham and Mr. Kennedy of the next n: If the remainder is 2, the next n staff and “friends”, the subscription is £8 Rotherham submitted creditworthy mater-

= 4n - 1: If the remainder is 2, the next n = per year, the membership secretary is Sue ial associated with CJ1... details on 4n + 1. Barrass, 17 Newhall Road, Kirk Sandall, request. This series also converges to 1 and has Doncaster DN3 1QQ. Tel 01302 882476. David Broughton of the Isle of Wight been tested at least upto 100000. Now Harvey Dubner and Harry Nelson generated a superb analysis of the “two

Wiggin extended the concept further to announced c.29th August 1995 that they person game” in CJ2 finishing with a hand- (n/D, (D+1)n + 1) as follows: had found SEVEN CONSECUTIVE held programmable calculator to check his Any integer n greater than or equal to PRIMES in ARITHMETIC PROGRES- manual theory. (D - 1) may be directed through a series of SION. Upto 7 computers, believed to be After suitable soul-searching, the iterations as a function of n congruent to R 486/66s, were used over a two-week prizewinner is Iain M. Davidson of 4 Carliol modulo D: period to obtain the estimated 52 com- Close, Carlisle CA1 2QP. If R = 0 then the next n is the quotient puter days, the common difference of the n/D: if R = 1(1) (D-2) then the next n is n(D A.P. is 210 and the first term has 97 digits. PCW Contribution Welcome + 1) - R (NOT n/(D + 1) - R as in the Ash- Simon Jackson of Hackney has bacher paper), and finally, if R = D - 1 then expressed an interest in the behaviour of Mike Mudge welcomes readers’ correspondence on any subject within the next n is n(D + 1) + 1. This series the function ph(p,x) which essentially the areas of number theory and (more correctly referred to as a sequence counts the number of positive integers computational mathematics, together — M.M.) ultimately converging to n less less than or equal to x which remain when with suggested subject areas and/or than D. the complete set are depleted in turn by specific problems for future Numbers Now, Ashbacher is quoted as originat- the multiples of all primes less than or Count articles. ing this topic (M.M. line one) despite the equal to prime p. Thus ph(11,25) com-

335 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● NETWORKS

Cleaning up the Office

When Office 95 arrived on Stephen Rodda’s Service Pack 1 for NT (a copy is on this month’s PCW CD-ROM) and had also doorstep he polished off a scratch on the CD with added the Windows 95 shell to it. I didn’t Brasso and loaded it under NT. Here, he tells you really want to go back to using the Pro- gram Manager and File Manager if I how and why he did it and passes on a dodge for could help it. Once NT has all the nice bits setting up the NT Service Pack. like built-in fax, complete Novell intercon- nectivity, Microsoft Network and the Adobe Type Manager, I don’t suppose I shall be using Windows 95 that ecently, I almost had difficul- much. But for the moment, it is nec- Rties getting out of the front essary that I do. door without being waylaid. Not by creditors, you understand, but by NT Service Pack hordes of postmen (male and The NT Service Pack didn’t seem to female) bearing CDs of the latest run for me — well, not first time. I Windows 95 releases and their kept getting a help message from associated programs. setup, informing me of the correct I received Office 95 first — well command-line switches for use with you would, wouldn’t you? It can’t the program. Since I had started it run without the release version of from UPGRADE.EXE this message Windows 95, so you’d expect Mr wasn’t very helpful. Murphy’s law to take effect… which I moved the directory in which it of course, it did. Unfortunately, was expanded to the root and Murphy had a couple of other nasty renamed it SP1, mainly to make it surprises up his sleeve for me. The easier to get at from the command first was that Office 95 was on floppy NT Server, looking for all the world like line. I don’t know why but it then installed disks: 24 of the perishing things, to be Windows 95. The new shell is available without problems. I’m inclined to believe precise. both on CIS and the Microsoft Network. the reason for this was that the directory But of all the tricks he played on me, the containing the upgrade had a long name. unkindest of all was when the Windows 95 had been smoothed down with sandpa- If you have trouble installing it, I suggest disk arrived two days later with a large per. Undeterred, I rummaged around you try this dodge. scratch radiating from the centre of the CD under the sink again and produced some You might find my NT setup a little to the outside. Now, remembering that Silvo (a slightly less harsh abrasive). A few weird: the picture of my Windows 95, er, CDs start from the inside and work out- minutes’ further work produced a CD NT setup appears in Fig 1. I’m running the wards, you’ll quickly grasp the upshot — which looked pristine. I dusted the metal new version of the NT shell, available from the dratted thing was totally unreadable. I polish off, popped it back in the CD drive Compuserve and the Microsoft Network. examined the CD once again. The scratch and bingo! Windows offered to install itself At the moment, I’m impressed. I really didn’t look too deep to me, so I went into for me. can’t stand Program Manager any more, the kitchen and raided the cupboard under Of course, by the time Windows 95 now that I’ve been spoilt with the new GUI. the sink for some Brasso. (Does everyone arrived I had installed Office 95 under NT, From now on, I shan’t even bother with keep their Brasso under the sink? Every- and I must admit I was impressed. Less Windows 3.1x. one I know does.) A few minutes later I impressive, however, was Windows 95’s was furiously polishing the CD, wondering handling of Office — NT seemed much DeskWriter 600 whether the Brasso would have been faster in comparison to Windows 95. And Another box turned up on the doorstep this better utilised internally. this was running it on the same machine, week; it contained a Hewlett-Packard Although the original scratch had dis- with three flavours of NT networking sup- DeskWriter 600. This printer (and its DOS appeared, the surface looked as though it port installed simultaneously. I had applied counterpart, from which it scarcely differs)

338 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● NETWORKS MICROMART CLASSIFIED

ArcServe for NT likes to run as engines in the background, but it’s secrecy perhaps doesn’t make for good comms

from Windows — per- haps it’s had the DeskJet compatibility removed.

ArcServe for NT Additionally, I tried out the new version of Arc- Serve for NT. Installa- tion was a real pain in comes with 600dpi black output and 600 x the neck: I’d copied the disks into network 300 colour output. For simplicity’s sake, I directories, one for each disk like you’re asked to be allowed to borrow the Apple supposed to, but installation still bombed version of the printer: I simply hooked it out towards the end. Luckily, I thought that into the LocalTalk wiring (happily bridged I’d got it on a network drive. I eventually by Novell) just beside the DeskWriter C — found out from the software house, the DeskJet 500C type printer which we Cheyenne, that I should have put all the occasionally use. directories (Disk1 to Disk5 and Support) in Of course that was fine for the Macin- a directory off the root, called Install. Talk tosh machines — they saw it instantly. A about being inflexible… little later, having edited ATPS.CFG, and Anyhow, once the program was having unloaded and reloaded ATPS on installed, I tried to get it to back up a Mac- the Novell server, the two Windows 95 intosh, running ArcServe Macintosh. It machines saw the queue. Unfortunately, I wasn’t having any of it. I think it’s only Arc- haven’t got the correct drivers for the Serve for Windows which will see the Mac- DeskJet 600 and although I tried the intosh version. At a time when DeskJet 500 driver, it didn’t even want to manufacturers are trying to integrate all print. Try as I might, I still can’t access it their backup software, Cheyenne seems

Problem Solving

Extended Memory under Infinite loop NetWare 2.2 Stephen, help! At one of our sites we I’ve been asked to run a program which have a NetWare server (v3.11) which requires extended memory on a non- was subject to a couple of unscheduled dedicated Novell server, and I can’t see a powerdowns over the weekend. Now way of limiting the amount of extended when it boots up, after checking binaries memory that the file server program takes up. it prints a message to this effect: “This Please help. server has been shut down — please GJT@cix reboot”. Is there a way out of this infinite loop? I’m sorry, it can’t be done. There is just no JRS@cix way of limiting the high memory that NetWare takes up in non-dedicated mode. If you really Depending on the DOS version you’ve want to use a non-dedicated server, I’d make got, you’ll need to boot the server with- a couple of suggestions. out running the AUTOEXEC.BAT. There You could re-examine your requirements are a few ways to do this, ranging from and buy a new machine so that there’s using a boot disk through continuous another workstation, making the file server control-C, to pressing F8 (if into a dedicated machine. Alternatively, CONFIG.SYS allows it). Whichever way depending upon the size and data throughput you choose, once at the DOS prompt of the network, you could examine the possi- run SERVER -NA, which will prevent the bility of using Windows for Workgroups AUTOEXEC.NCF from running: this (especially as Windows 95) or of NT Server, might solve the problem so that you’ll be both of which allow non-dedicated working able to see the AUTOEXEC.NCF and and supply you with extended (and indeed, edit it. expanded) memory.

339 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● NETWORKS

to be releasing semi-usable versions with- my taste, ArcServe for NT seemed a bit thought it a little unwieldy and, dare I say, out a full set of features — black mark too secretive, preferring to run as back- bloated. It needed 16Mb of memory to there, Cheyenne. ground engines (all well and good under install. Contrasting that with Arcada, which Once running, it seemed okay although NT) but the communication with the front- seemed to be happy with 12Mb (which is I should have liked to have seen the statis- end seemed to be a little shaky. Contrast- what I like to supply a review machine tics on backup showing in the same way ing this with Arcada backup, which I with), I felt it was rather greedy. And slow. as any other backup program does. For reviewed a couple of months ago, I Don’t forget slow.

If this doesn’t solve the problem, then which you want to mirror. Now select the VREPAIR again and this time it flagged you’ll have to reboot and run SERVER - two partitions and start the mirroring off. five errors. NS-NA. This will stop the SYSTEM.NCF It’s probably better to allow the server to When we tried to mount SYS: we running as well. Remember you’ll have to get itself sorted out during a slack time — again got back to the same state as the load a disk driver (such as ISADSK.DSK) perhaps overnight. Even better to make first error message. We ran VREPAIR before you can see the disk. Look at the sure that it’s on a Friday so that if some- once more and then the error message SYSTEM.NCF before you run SERVER, thing does go wrong during the process was displayed again. What should we do? too. Once at the server’s command (unlikely, but possible) you’ve got the next PC@cix prompt, you can then run VREPAIR (either day in which to revert to the original con- from the SYSTEM directory) or from the C: figuration. Oh, and make sure you’re I suspect that either your hard disk or the

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 339 directory, or even from floppy disk if neces- backed up — at least three times. disk controller is on the slippery slope to sary. The disk should then be repaired so death. You have got good, verified, recent that you can reboot and carry on as if Small networks backups of the data, haven’t you? If not, nothing had happened. I’m considering a small network for five or and you can’t get the disk on line long Of course, you really should have had a so users who will want to share resources enough to get them, you’re either going to UPS attached, but that’s another story. occasionally. Which would you be talking to those nice people at Dr recommend? Solomon’s or Ontrack recovery with Mirroring and duplexing RT@cix chequebook and a pen – or, you may just I’ve heard about mirroring and duplexing be able to get around the problem with a server disks. What’s the difference, Anything which works for you. There are copy of NetUtils. This is a lot cleverer than please? If I do decide to duplex or to mirror the normal run-of-the-mill programs like VREPAIR, but I’d suggest you take a disk, is it easy to do on an existing Personal NetWare, Windows for another backup just to be extra safe and setup? Workgroups, Windows 95 or Windows NT, run something which should examine the AP@cix also not quite so mainstream packages thing exhaustively, such as the surface like PowerLAN (from Performance Tech- scan option of install. Then you’ll know There’s not a lot of difference, really. Both nology) and the Little Big Lan to which we whether it was just a glitch or the disk methods keep data totally backed up on gave the Networking award in 1994. subsystem dying. the fly between two hard disks with parti- I’d be inclined to stick to a Microsoft If you’re using both OS/2 and Macin- tions of exactly the same size. It’s how the product, probably Windows 95. If the use tosh name spaces, there could be a prob- hardware is arranged which makes the dif- of the network became much heavier, I’d lem with using some versions of the name ference. In the case of mirroring, you have probably think of using Windows NT space NLMs. Remove the OS/2 name two disks hanging off one controller (noth- instead, on one of the machines, in order from the volume with VREPAIR, and this ing other than SCSI in your NT and to act as a server as it will copy all the net- should alleviate the problem. Failing that, NetWare machines, please) with the oper- working settings from a Windows operat- do a backup and then get a copy of the ating system set to duplicate data between ing system (if you install it in the same latest OS/2 and Macintosh name space them at the time it gets written to disk. directory). Remember, though, that NT NLMs from your NetWare dealer or from Disk duplexing is exactly the same, won’t currently share a fax/modem like your favourite ftp site. apart from the fact that you have each disk Windows 95 whereas Windows for Work- hanging off a different disk controller card, groups will, so there is added expense if which gives an added level of safety, pro- you want to do this. It can range from a Addendum tecting the data and allowing immediate comms-port sharing program called Win- recovery even if a disk controller card Port — which I have reviewed (although Sorry. In my October column, I didn’t list goes down. Remember, if you’re duplexing not the NT incarnation yet) and which is the address of Performance multiple drives, make sure that each mem- available from lansource@cix for about Technology, the manufacturer of Instant ber of each pair of disks is on a different £100 — to a complete fax package, cost- Internet. The company is on 01344 controller. ing thousands of pounds. 382020. Email as [email protected] Once you have a stable networking setup, all you have to do is to add another Error reading volume directory disk which is either exactly the same size We have a Novell NetWare 3.12 server PCW Contacts or larger than the old one (or a disk and a which gives this error. We tried running Stephen Rodda is an independent controller), making sure that the new con- VREPAIR and it completed, telling us that computer consultant specialising in DTP troller is supported by its correct NetWare there were 32 errors. We tried to mount and networking. He may be contacted DSK or NT driver, and create a volume or the disk and got the error: “Mirror copies as [email protected] partition of exactly the same size as that of the directory don’t match”. We ran

341 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● COMMS

CompuServe, which we will get to in a moment. Having spent several fruitless weeks trying to install Windows 95, frus- tration is something I understand. I also Help wanted understand that the frustration factor is amplified by glib remarks from those who have somehow managed whatever Readers have written to Stephen Cobb asking for techno-feat it is that you are banging your head up against. advice on all sorts of comms-related subjects, and In this particular case I am guilty of here he soothes some troubled brows. Plus finding tossing out a remark like “you can find this software in the Windows Audio Visual forums, and help with HTML coding. forum on CompuServe” without providing sufficient clues as to how you would actu- ally do that. In the “old days”, before nswers to your questions make up work in the semiconductor industry. If I graphical user interfaces were invented, Amost of this month’s column, starting can’t get much joy, how do non-technical CompuServe users navigated the system with this from Barry Stanley: “I read your people manage? Of all my friends/col- with text commands, one of which was pages in PCW and you obviously under- leagues I’ve spoken to, none have found “GO” followed by the code name of the stand many people’s frustration trying to any use for the Internet at all (except email forum. For the most part these “GO codes” get anything to work on the Internet or which we use extensively). It seems to be were logical, but like DOS they did not CompuServe, so I thought I’d send you my just for complete PC nerds using a tele- work unless you spelled them correctly. As example from today. You have described phone line that someone else is paying the number of forums climbed from the an interesting Corporate Logo screen- for. Thanks again for your PCW articles, dozens into the hundreds, the GO codes saver which can be found on a Windows however don’t ever underestimate the became more arcane. The GO code allo- Audio Visual Forum. I have just tried to need to explain things in ABC style.” cated for the Windows Audio Visual Forum locate it with no success.” Obviously this letter was written during is GO WINAV. Mr Stanley then provides a list of failed a moment of frustration, but it raises some You can still issue the GO command commands, followed by these remarks: important points, besides the very practi- using WinCIM and MacCIM (the following “As an aside, I have a physics degree and cal question of how you find things on commands are for WinCIM, please check the MacCIM Help for the equivalents). I usually access GO by typing Ctrl+G but you can also select Go from the Services menu, or click on the traffic-light button (graphical user interfaces may be easier to use, but when they offer three different ways of doing the same thing they are def- initely harder to explain). If you use WinCIM to visit a forum and decide it is likely to be a regular stop on your tour of the infobahn, then you can add it to the Favorite (sic) Places list. If you click the Add button in the Favorite Places dialogue box immediately after accessing a forum, the appropriate GO word and forum description are already entered for you and you can simply click OK to add this forum to the list. This allows you to visit the forum by double-clicking on the entry in the Favorite Places list (this can be presented in alpha order or ranked by number of accesses — that is, most pop- ular at the top). If you want to add a forum at some other time you will need to type in You don’t have to go on-line to find the right forums in Compuserve, but you do need to a description and enter the GO word. make sure you have a recent listing

342 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● COMMS MICROMART CLASSIFIED

Finding out enter subject-related words to locate So how do you find interesting forums? forums of interest and their GO codes. Again there are several paths to enlighten- Since new forums are being added on ment, none of them immediately obvious a regular basis it is worth checking the but all fairly effective. The most obvious date of your copy of almanac.hlp. I was path is a suggestion from a friend, or from surprised to find mine was dated back in an article like this (if the writer remembers 1994, even though I upgraded to WinCIM to include the GO word). If you are search- 1.4 earlier this year. I am not sure if all of ing from scratch, the cheapest place to the floppy disk 1.4 upgrades include the start is the CompuServe Directory icon latest version of the file. The CD-ROM that is placed in the CompuServe program upgrades appear to include it but I cannot group when you install WinCIM. This loads find a version of almanac.hlp anywhere on a hypertext directory of CompuServe ser- CompuServe itself. You would think that vices in the form of a Windows Help file the most recent version would be readily (either almanac.hlp or compudir.hlp). You available for downloading (I am also can use the standard Search button and unclear as to why some versions use a

Windows on the Web

Ian Fitzpatrick wrote to say: “I have been rapidly-emerging favourite in this field is reading your very informative columns in Linux, a freeware version of Unix that runs PCW and was interested to see your men- on 386 and 486 machines (as well as tion of WinHTTPD which appears to allow a Acorns). You can download Linux from vari- Windows PC to act as a Web server.” This ous sites (although it is very large and you is true: Windows httpd 1.4 is available free might want to buy it on CD — for sources to non-commercial users and is only $99 for check http://www.linux.uk.org). a commercial licence (however, Windows A CD-ROM containing the full Linux httpd it is not the only path to a PC-based code, plus a compatible version of X Win- Web service). dows (which is a Windows-like graphical Ian continues: “I would be most grateful user interface for Unix systems) may even be available from your local bookstore. There is one included with the Ventana Press Web Server Book by Magid, Matthews and Jones. This very handy book/CD package provides everything you need to set up a Web site, including version 1.1 of NetScape Navigator and both the CERN and the NCSA http Serve software. While the idea of learning a whole new operating sys- tem might seem daunting, there is plenty of documenta- Free Web server software for Windows? tion available and the basic commands will That’s Windows httpd 1.4, on the Web not be too much to handle if you already if you could provide me with some sites or know DOS. What is the point of using Linux addresses where I could get hold of Win- on a PC as opposed to Windows? Speed. HTTPD.” The short answer is Although many Web pages are highly http://www.city.net/win-httpd/. A less direct graphical, you don’t need to be running a route is to head for the home page set up graphics machine to serve up the pages. for the excellent Prima Online book Building Operating in character mode Linux is very a Web Site. This trip is worth taking since it fast, particularly if you can afford 16Mb of provides links to a wide range of Web serv- RAM (it will work as a Web server with 8, er software sites but the more the better). With a good high- (http://www.netgen.com/book). There are speed phone line you should be able to also links to a range of Web server utilities. handle thousands of “hits” per day, achiev- The fact is, you may want to consider ing performance equivalent to lower-end something besides Windows/DOS if you Sun SparcStations, with a box that dual- want to run a Web site with a 486 PC. A boots to DOS and uses all your peripherals.

343 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● COMMS MICROMART CLASSIFIED

version of the file called compudir.hlp — code elements, such as closing brackets perhaps I can get answers by next month). and quotations. This means NetScape will If you cannot find what you want in the present a “faulty” page as though it were directory, try the Find command (on the written correctly. The result can be pages Services menu). This does a simple online that look terrible in Spry Mosaic or other, search for forums and definitely uses an less “intelligent” browsers. up-to-date version of the forum list. The So why not test with Spry Mosaic? I results of your search are presented in a tried this, but it’s a pain because Spry will list alongside current entries in your not read local files if they have the htm Favorite Places list. This allows you to see extension and your link specifies html. You which forums are already in your FP list have to do a lot of search and replace (in (marked with a tick) and add new ones my case, 60 pages worth) to switch directly to the FP list. between the two extensions. In fact, I decided it was easier to go live with the HTML tips pages, browse them with Spry to spot mis- Recently I spent several weeks coding takes, then immediately correct the code. about 60 HTML (hyper-text markup lan- If anybody else has a better method I guage) pages for a new World Wide Web would be happy to hear it. site. In the process I picked up several I did try proofing pages with HoTMetaL tips. While html coding is the focus of an Pro, but that found so many errors (due to article elsewhere in this issue of PCW, I incompatibilities between different ver- think these tips will also help users of Web sions of html) that it was slow going. pages to understand them better. Besides, that approach does not show you For example, most people know that what pages look like under the different Web pages are specially-coded text files browsers. It is quite disappointing to spend that are stored on a computer system hours on an effect, such as centred called a Web server. The operating sys- images, only to see what a mess they look tem on many Web servers is Unix, rather in a browser that does not do centred than DOS/Windows. This means they can images. use the file extension .html which is one One final tip: remember that there are character too long for DOS or Windows still a lot of users who browse the Web 3.11 (both Windows 95 and the Macintosh with Lynx, a non-graphics Unix browser. I OS can handle longer names, as can was reminded of this when I received an OS/2). email feedback from the pages I designed Consequently, if you are coding pages (at www.ncsa.com) politely listing all of the on a DOS/Windows machine you have to code changes needed to optimise the store the files as filename.htm. However, pages for Lynx viewers. on the system that ultimately stores and displays the pages, the Web server, the file extensions may be changed to html. UK Forums This means you need to write the refer- ences in your file links in the filename.html If you haven’t been there lately, there have format, which naturally gives rise to some been some major changes to the UK errors and inconsistencies. For example, forums on CompuServe, specifically: UKIT the person who writes the pages may (GO UKIT) and UKVENA (GO UKVENA). leave some links pointing to filename.htm The UKIT (UK Information Technology) and when the correct reference is UKVENA (UK Vendor A), open as the old filename.html. As a Web user you may UKCOMMS and UKCOMP forums close, to click on a link with your browser and get a allow more space for UK-based vendors in “page not found” message when in fact the UKVENA and increased UK-centric cover- problem is simply a missing “l” in a link. If age of subjects such as the Internet, you enter the location or URL by hand, you comms, mobile phones, and so on (note may be able to overcome this error and that the old GO words UKCOMP and get to the desired page. UKCOMMS will both take you to UKIT, but You might wonder how the person who this only a temporary arrangement and you created the error in the link could have should change your software settings to GO missed it. I mean, don’t these people test UKIT and GO UKVENA). their work? Well, this is easier said than done. For one thing, some browsers make PCW Contacts testing difficult because they are so smart. Recent versions of NetScape actually Stephen Cobb can be reached on overlook the differences between htm and CompuServe as 72662,546 or the Net html. In fact, they even overlook missing as [email protected]

345 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● MACINTOSH

Send in the clones

Which would you buy: one of Apple’s PowerSurge is astounding. Given the choice between them, I can think of no reason to go for the Macs or a Power Computing Mac clone? Chris Cain official Apple model other than one of weighs up the pros and cons, reviews the latest brand loyalty. software updates — including the exciting PCI power Photoshop 3.0.4, and revisits Pfhor. Nevertheless, there are plenty of reasons to buy one of the new PowerSurge Macs instead. Firstly, they have Intel’s ndoubtedly, the biggest news in the level two cache, three NuBus slots, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) UMac world this month is the arrival in 365Mb hard disk and 8Mb of RAM. Ether- architecture, which is definitely the the UK of the Power Computing Mac net and enhanced SCSI are also included expansion bus of the foreseeable future. clones. Top London-based distributor in a PC-style desktop case for a mere All of Apple’s business machines now Computer Warehouse (CW) is the first to £1,299. This compares favourably with an have this as standard — only consumer- bring these to our shores and it will be official Apple 8100/100 which, with 8Mb orientated Performa models still use the interesting to see how they fare against and a 700Mb hard disk, is likely to set you ageing NuBus architecture. Apple’s new range of competitively priced back around £2,300. (Both prices exclude Secondly, all machines from the 7500 PowerSurge Macs. The clones are fully VAT.) upwards are designed to use the next- compliant with Mac OS and come Neither machine comes with a generation PowerPC604 processor. This complete with a large number of bundled keyboard or screen as standard gives a further degree of future proofing — software titles. (something I had hoped the clone makers something very important in the minds of The basic specification on offer from would fix) but even when these are added, today’s users. Nobody wants to spend lots CW is a 100MHz PowerPC601, 256Kb the price difference between the products of money on a machine, only to find that

Power Computing 100: technical specifications

Microprocessor CD-ROM drive. 4x rotational 100MHz PowerPC 601 RISC speed. 600Kb/sec sustained microprocessor with integrated transfer rate. CD XA/PhotoCD, floating-point processor and 32Kb multi-session compatible. on-chip cache. 256Kb Level 2 Networking cache (512Kb and 1Mb also Built-in Ethernet (AAUI port). Two available). high-speed serial ports for Memory LocalTalk, modems or other 8Mb RAM, expandable to 200Mb. devices (both can be used with Graphics Apple’s GeoPort telecom adaptor). RAM-based built-In video supports Audio all Macintosh-compatible and VGA CD quality, 44.1kHz 16-bit sound displays up to 17in (VGA requires input and output capabilities. an adaptor). Optional high- Microphone and headphone jacks. performance video card. Built-in speaker. Floppy Disk Drive Expansion 3.5in 1.44Mb self-ejecting floppy Three NuBus expansion slots. drive which supports Mac OS, Clock/calendar. Custom real-time clock IC with long-life lithium Windows, DOS, OS/2, and ProDOS diskettes. battery. I/O ports. Dual-channel SCSI interfaces for high-speed disk Hard Disk Drive I/O and RAID solutions. ADB ports for keyboard and mouse. Internal 3.5in 356Mb - 4Gb hard disk. Support for one 5.25in Power Supply full-height drive and two 3.5in drives, or four 3.5in drives. Optional 200W. Input: 90v-240v.

346 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● MACINTOSH

MPEG playback company’s Internet support site at http://www.pcworld.com/connectix/ techsupp.html. Updates for both Mac and Windows 3.11 RAM Doubler can be obtained from here, too.

New version QuickTime 2.1 The biggest update, of the three items reviewed here, is to QuickTime 2.1. As usual, this new version of Apple’s multimedia architecture claims to provide smoother video playback with full-screen 30fps video on PowerMacs. I’ll believe that when I see it. A new sprite animation track has been added so that developers can create Sonic the Hedgehog-like interactive characters, and there’s support for the MPEG file format, too. Apple’s Multimedia Tuner extension feature has now been incorporated into Version 2.1. QuickTime comes as three extensions: QuickTime, QuickTime PowerPlug, and QuickTime Musical Instruments. All can be downloaded as one archived file from Apple’s software support Internet sites. Apple has updated its Movie Player application too, and the new version can Sparkle provides MPEG playback in software. The quality depends on the power of be obtained from the same place. Movie your CPU Player 2.1 has a Present Movie option which replaces Print to Video for full- they need to upgrade the whole thing in a users who’ve splashed out on the new screen movies, and support for the new year’s time. By providing the processor on systems will see what this workhorse is features in QuickTime. a daughtercard, Apple has significantly capable of. While on the subject of movies, I’ve extended the lifespan. Among the new features are faster been playing around with MPEG files, Another reason is the price: a 7500/100 Skew, Rotate and Gaussian Blur facilities (having performed a test with accelerated 8/500/CD costs £1,749 (plus VAT) on all PowerMacs, a fat version of Adobe PC graphics cards in last month’s issue). I — slightly more money for much greater Type Manager, support for TWAIN was impressed by a utility for Windows performance. 36/48-bit scanners and on-line registra- called Xing that played back these files In theory, the arrival of products like the tion. There is improved importing of Illus- using the raw power of the processor Power Computing machines should trator files and a scratch-disk efficiency without the need for any specific decoding threaten Apple’s business, but in reality it indicator to let the user know the amount hardware, so off I went in search of a Mac can only help to further establish the Mac of time Photoshop is spending with the equivalent. as the only serious competitor to the scratch disk. WinTel alliance. It also forces the This looks like an essential update and Sparkle company to remain competitive with registered users in Europe will receive it The most promising program I found was regard to specifications and pricing, which free of charge on floppy disk. a small application called Sparkle, is good news for everyone. available from eWorld and currently on US-based Newer Technology has Speed doubler patch version 2.4.2. As with Xing, Sparkle launched a range of products for the 5300 Updated too is a patch for Connectix provides software decompression and series of Powerbooks, including memory Speed Doubler, which was my choice for playback of MPEG files on both 680x0 and upgrades, PC cards for modem, Ethernet the November issue’s “Utility of the PowerMacs. The file is encoded as FAT and fax functions, and an external monitor Month”. The patch, downloaded from binary and will therefore take advantage of adaptor called Colour Palette which gives eWorld, brings your master disk up to ver- whatever hardware is at hand. a 16-bit colour display. sion 1.1 and solves problems with all three The only limitation I’ve found with extensions. It should cure the crashing Sparkle is that sound support is limited to Photoshop update associated with some PowerPC upgrade playing AIFF data. Files in this format can Mac users wanting to keep their systems cards, incompatibilities with Microsoft be associated with MPEG pictures and the in tip-top shape will be interested in three Word 4.0, PrintShare and Virex 5, and two are then played simultaneously. There recent software updates. First up, Adobe desktop rebuild crashes. is no support for playing direct MPEG has released Photoshop 3.0.4 which, The Speed Doubler software updates compressed audio which is normally among other things, adds direct support can be obtained either from a distributor included in a movie file (the author says he for the PowerPC604 processor. At last, such as Computers Unlimited, or via the is working on this). If you have files in

347 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● MACINTOSH

.WAV format, as commonly used with Utility of the Month Windows, you can also use these by run- ning them through a converter such as Here is a little shareware number I Balthazar. pulled down from eWorld, called I found that Sparkle produces reason- TattleTech. No sooner was it down- able results on anything from a PowerMac loaded, it saved the day. 7100/80 upwards, and can provide what TattleTech was originally known looks like full 25fps playback on a as “TattleTale”, a program I first 9500/132. As processors get more power- encountered in my Mac IIsi days. ful, software MPEG could become a real Much improved since then, it is a alternative to buying extra, and often semi-diagnostic program that inves- expensive, hardware. If any Mac users tigates your machine’s configuration know of a better way to replay MPEG files and reports the findings. TattleTech using software alone, let me know. can tell you about general hardware, such as what kind of processor your Mighty machine machine has, what speed it is and Mentioning the 9500/132 was a sneaky how much RAM there is, and also way of boasting that PCW now has access about more complicated issues such to one of these mighty machines. Having as system patches, extension ver- tested an early model when the hardware sion numbers and open files. A was first announced, I can report that the complete list can then be printed for finished product is just as good. It comes your records. with the latest version of Mac OS System TattleTech is ideal for keeping 7.5.2 pre-installed, although not all of the track of what’s in and on your sys- latest native extensions are included in tem, seeing what parts are written in this release. Sound Manager 3.1, Quick- native PowerPC code, and for track- Time 2.1 and Native SCSI Manager have ing down problems with extensions. to be added separately. It costs nothing to try out and could So far I’ve found no major compatibility save you a lot of time if you have a problems, apart from a small problem software conflict. port PCI at the moment, but the author with RAM Doubler which means having to TattleTech currently resides in the claims that this will be addressed as soon reinstall it if, for any reason, I switch it out ZiffNet Hot Downloads section in the as he gets his hands on a PowerSurge Mac with the Extension Manager. Some soft- eWorld Computer Center. It doesn’t sup- [see main text]. ware problems have been reported with the PowerPC603, as used in the Performa This was the original Mac answer to a wide-screen display gives you even 5200, so I’ll be seriously testing the mettle Doom on the PC and has built up a more of what the Americans like to call “in of the PowerPC604. considerable following since its release ya face” action. The sound has also been last year. Marathon 2 is due to be released beefed up with 16-bit stereo panning and Cor! more Pfhor soon and an early demonstration has ambient effects to make you feel as if Visit Apple UK after hours and the found its way onto my hard disk. you’re really exploring an alien world. chances are you’ll find everyone armed to Marathon 2 sees the return of the My demo came from Mac clone the teeth and trying their best to kill each Pfhor, the nasty alien race hell bent on makers, Power Computing (and was other. It’s nothing to do with the water man’s destruction. They didn’t like it too distributed at the Boston Macworld 95 supply or the company’s close proximity to much when you stopped them from taking show), but another demo should be freely Heathrow airport; it’s all down to that over the starship Marathon in the first available on the Internet by the time you wonderfully addictive pastime, a net- game, and now you have to face them read this. worked game of Marathon. again in an all-new conflict. To find out what Marathon’s “Bobs” are PCW Contacts up to now, you’ll have to wait for the full Chris Cain welcomes all comments and review of the game — suggestions from Mac users. He can be but I can reveal that it contacted via the usual PCW address or by email as chris [email protected]. looks and plays better - compuserve.com than the original. The or [email protected] high-resolution texture or [email protected] mapping is superb and Apple 0181 569 1199 ☎ Connectix utilities available The Pfhor are back for Computers Unlimited 0181 200 8282 ☎ more in Marathon II: Power Computing clones from Durandel Computer Warehouse 0171 724 4104 or Newer Technology 001 316 685 4904 ☎ (US) ☎

348 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● COMPUTER ANSWERS

Any questions?

If you’ve got a PC problem or think you could help out other readers, contact Frank Leonhardt.

or anyone who’s just spent six computing terms and its avoidance is to rogue 16-bit program can cause every- Fmonths marooned on a desert island, be desired. Because Windows 95 uses thing running on the machine to crash. the news is that Microsoft has finally more RAM than its predecessor, you will Windows 95 can physically keep the released a new version of Windows find that you can load less applications 32-bit applications apart, so the dreaded called Windows 95. To make sure every- before swapping starts. Microsoft may be system crashes may become a thing of one knew about this earth-shattering right when they say a system with 8Mb of the past. If you really need a reliable event, Microsoft’s publicity machine went RAM will run Windows 95 at the same system, however, Windows NT has been berserk, going as far as buying a certain speed as Windows 3.11, but the question multi-tasking all types of application in a well-respected newspaper and converting you should be asking is whether your robust manner, for a long time. it into an advertising freebie for the day. applications will run faster or slower. In theory, 32-bit applications can run Everyone knew something had hap- If you were happy with the level of faster, too, but I’ll believe it happens in pened, but most were a little unsure as to practice when I’ve seen it for myself. exactly what it was, and most of them Windows 95 can handle resource- have phoned me for clarification (it feels hungry applications far more effectively like it, anyway). than could 3.1. This may be of interest to This has had two immediate effects: Microsoft Office, which eats up system firstly, my answering machine has broken resources as if it were never designed to down for the first time since 1986; and fit on Windows 3.1. Considering the secondly, I have noticed the same lengthy delay in releasing Windows 95, questions constantly arising. this may be the case. Here, then, are my thoughts on the Q. Is there any good reason why I shouldn’t subject. upgrade? Q. Is Windows 95 any good? A. One very good reason for not upgrad- A. What kind of a question is this? Yes, in ing a system is backward compatibility. many ways it is an improvement on 3.11. Microsoft has gone to a lot of trouble to It is faster (in some circumstances) and it make existing DOS and Windows 3.1 promises to be more robust. It could be software work with Windows 95, but they easier for some people to get to grips haven’t accommodated everything. For with, and the low-level redesign allows for performance you got with Windows 3.11 new machines and users this is not a future expansion. What this means to in 8Mb of RAM, you will need an extra problem — simply buy software and you, in practical terms, is probably very 4Mb to stop Windows 95 from swapping. hardware which works with Windows 95. little. If you do stop it swapping, however, it is If, however, you bought your software Q. Should I upgrade to Windows 95? noticeably faster than 3.11. more than a few months ago you’re not A. Changing operating systems almost Q. What advantage will upgrading to going to want to fork out to upgrade always means grief. If you buy a new Windows 95 give me? again. machine it will probably come with Win- A. Apart from performance, an important Q. Can I install Windows 95 along with dows 95 as standard. If, on the other perceived advantage of Windows 95 is its Windows NT or OS/2? hand, you have a perfectly serviceable ease of use. This might make a A. This is generally not a problem. If you computer running Windows 3.1 there is difference to new users, but if ease of have DOS and another operating system no real need to upgrade; at least for now. use had been a priority in your case you installed on your hard disk, Windows 95 Q. Will I need to upgrade my PC’s would have bought an Apple Macintosh can be installed over DOS. Boot memory? in the first place. To take advantage of Manager, NT loader and so on should A. One supposed advantage is improved the new front-end you’ll have to convert keep working. If you want to select performance. This has been realised, but to a different way of thinking about files between DOS and Windows 95 you can the increased RAM requirements and applications, and you may be better simply press F8 at startup to get back to completely negate this on systems with off with the devil you know. a DOS prompt. In my experience, 8Mb or less of RAM. This is caused by In the future, Windows 95 will be absolutely everything which worked the use of virtual memory; the process by supported by new application software. under DOS 6 works from a Windows 95 which hard disk space is used as a This is the most compelling reason most DOS prompt (before Windows 95 proper substitute for real RAM. Once your real people will have for upgrading. Windows is allowed to start), including Windows RAM is full up, Windows will swap areas 95 will handle the so-called 32-bit 3.11. of RAM to and from an area on the disk. applications in a different way from the Q. I want to keep my old version of Swapping is a very slow process in existing 16-bit versions. At present, a Windows after installing 95 — does this

349 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● COMPUTER ANSWERS

mean I need to buy the full version of SIMM conversion device Upgrade options Windows 95? The honour of being the most far-flung A. Not at all. The only difference between In the September issue, I said that there correspondent this month goes to Adb-El- the full and upgrade versions is that the was no way to convert 30-pin SIMMs to Kadir M.M, from Baghdad: upgrade checks to see that you have an work with a 72-pin SIMM motherboard. But “I currently have a 486 DX2/66, with old copy of Windows somewhere before apparently, Tim Nott had mentioned (on an ISA motherboard, using an Xtechnol- it installs. If you no longer have Windows page 290 of that issue) a device called ogy Xgraphic graphics board which I 3.1 or Windows NT on your hard disk, it SIMM Swapper which did just this... Oh need to upgrade. I don’t want to spend will accept the first installation floppy disk well, you can’t win ’em all. Although I money on a new ISA graphics board as proof. haven’t yet seen this new device, there are because the technology is outdated. I Q. Should I install Windows 95 over my a couple of points which worry me. For a want to upgrade my motherboard to old system as the documentation start, high-performance memory systems either VESA or PCI: I’m not sure which is suggests? can be a bit fussy about their SIMMs so this the recommended architecture. A. No — unless your old system is fully may not work for everyone. Additionally, “I’ve seen boards available with and backed up. My recommendation is to most Intel PCI Pentium motherboards are without CPUs — although those without make a boot floppy for your existing set out with the SIMM sockets right under CPUs state that they are ZIF. My current version of DOS (see Computer Answers, the drive bay metalwork; clearance, even board is LIF and I’m not sure if I could October issue) and then install Windows for normal SIMMs, can often be a problem. make use of my current CPU on one of 95 to a new directory. This has the disad- Thank you to everyone who wrote to tell these new boards. I’m considering an vantage that you will have to re-install me about this. upgrade in processor as well, to a DX4 most of your Windows applications, but 100 VESA/PCI board. after a few years’ use most machines “This leads to my next problem: the could do with a fresh start. the Win95 stuff. DX4s seem to be 3.3v, and I’m sure my Make sure you keep backups of your If you didn’t make a DOS boot disk power supply is 5v. Do these 3.3v old AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS before installing Windows 95; don’t say I motherboards have the ability to ‘step files. Your existing DOS and Windows didn’t warn you. down’ the voltage or would my power directories will remain intact during the supply fry a 3.3v CPU? process but you may need to move them All things considered “What do you recommend I do?” elsewhere to make space on your system I’ve only considered practical issues of Gary Mot partition. To avoid having two swap files Windows 95 so far. If you are the type of <[email protected]> on your disk, use the Windows 3.1 person who simply enjoys computers Control Panel 386 Enhanced option to then Windows 95 is a lot of fun. It will PCI has some theoretical advantages set the swap file type to “Temporary” (if it transform your old machine into over VESA but in practice your choice is currently set to “Permanent”). something different; a new toy to play should be dictated by the expansion By not overwriting your existing with. Windows 95 will inevitably displace cards you wish to use. If you want to version of Windows, you will find you can Windows 3.1 in the future but, for now, if upgrade your processor too, I’d suggest switch between old and new by pressing you rely on your computer to make a you forget about the DX4-100 and go F8 when the “Starting Windows 95...” living you’d be mad to fix something straight to a Pentium. The prompt appears at startup and selecting which isn’t broken. price/performance ratio definitely favours the Command Prompt option from the a P60. Personally, I’d prefer a P75 menu which appears. This is very useful P60 gets the boot because it’s a second generation while you are finding out what works with “I have a Dell Pentium computer. Both Pentium running at 3.3v instead of 5v. Windows 95 and what doesn’t. MSD.EXE and INFOPLUS identify the And it’s faster. Q. How can I get my machine back the processor as a 486. I am a little disturbed The 3.3v motherboards have a built in way it was before? by this. At boot, the operating system voltage regulator for their CPU and A. If you haven’t installed Windows 95 in displays P60, so why does both MSD and support chips only. The rest of the board the way I’ve suggested, you will have to INFOPLUS say it is a 486?” must still run at 5v, otherwise all the rely on Microsoft’s uninstall utility. The Joseph M Farrugia expansion cards wouldn’t work. The documentation for this is supplied with power connection is just the same as for the floppy disks and on the CD-ROM in the 5v boards. There may well be \README.TXT. During installation you Programs like these identify processors jumpers on the motherboard to select will have been asked whether you using heuristic methods. They try out a different CPU voltages. wanted to create uninstall files, assuming few things which produce different results you opted to overwrite your original on all the processors which the PCW Contacts system. If you installed to a new directory programmers know about and take a then you wouldn’t have been asked. guess at what they are running on. Frank Leonhardt is an independent To get rid of Windows 95 without using As the Pentium didn’t exist when the computer boffin who can sometimes be contacted on 0181 429 3047 or via ☎ the uninstaller, simply boot from your programs were written, and is backwards email as [email protected] or DOS floppy and transfer the system back compatible with the 486, the heuristic [email protected]. Letters may to drive C: using the command “SYS C:”. tests performed to detect a 486 would be sent to PCW at VNU House, 32-34 Then copy your AUTOEXEC.BAT and have passed. Newer versions of the Broadwick Street, London W1A 2HG, CONFIG.SYS files, together with your old software will try things which only work but individual replies are not normally Windows and DOS directories if on a Pentium (or a P6 ) and thus be able possible. Please do not ask about necessary, back into place and delete all to tell the difference. cover disks or CD-ROMs.

350 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● BEGINNERS

Hard facts

When your old PC needs a Zimmer frame to cope with new software, it’s time for action. Eleanor Turton-Hill helps you along the road to deciding what you should do and explains the issues involved in upgrading your hard disk.

omputer technology flash up on the screen and Cchanges fast: every year, your favourite applications processor speeds increase inexplicably refuse to save and hard drive capacity grows. any more files. Before you know it, there’s a new generation of feature-rich Upgrade or not? software waiting to cripple This is a sad state to get into, your poor, aged PC. Sooner or but once you’ve arrived at later, you’ll have to face up to this point, there are only the fact that your machine is certain options available becoming outmoded and find The first is to clean up some way of dealing with it. your machine, and there are dozens of techniques for Dig your heels in squeezing more life out of One approach is to ignore all your system. The most new technological advances effective, however, is to and carry on using the delete old files (that you no software you’ve got. This is not longer use) from your hard a completely silly idea. Most disk and compress any software “upgrades” do not “archive” files which you transform your current applica- seldom use but would like to tion into a superior product – keep. There are hardware they just add lots of extra and software utilities which features which you don’t will do this. The software necessarily need. Ultimately, variety is generally cheaper; this takes up lots of disk space and Connecting a Caviar 2540 IDE hard disk the hardware type, generally faster. strangles your system. So if your software Second on the list is to buy a new does everything you want it to, that’s a enthusiasts, can’t bear to be this out of machine. Whether or not you decide to do good argument for leaving it alone. touch. But they can’t necessarily afford to this will depend on the state of your current The problem with the “dig your heels in” splash their money around on new hard- machine. If your PC has become truly approach is that eventually your ware either; so what they do is push their medieval, it’s the only sensible solution. hardware and software become obsolete. current systems to the limit. In fact, this is But before you do this you should consider There’s no chance of making any kind of the option which most people unwittingly the third option, which is to upgrade some minor upgrade, let alone running the take. Although you may benefit from some of your machine’s over-worked current generation of software or adding of the new features provided in the con- components. some whizzy new peripheral. One day, stant software upgrades, your system will you’ll pick up a computer magazine and soon let you know that it can’t cope with Hard disk upgrade realise that no-one knows of your PC the continual effort of churning data from Last month we looked at simple upgrades, anymore. memory to disk. The signs are often like adding more memory and improving Most people, especially computer subtle: “Out of memory” messages start to graphics cards. This month we’ll look at

351 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 HANDS ON ● BEGINNERS

some of the issues involved in upgrading may be the ideal solution for you. You can input/output system) in some older your hard disk. use it as a replacement for a dead hard machines do not officially support IDE Although the price of RAM has drive or as a second drive. People with (integrated drive electronics). Ask the remained constant for about two years slimline PCs which generally lack extra dealer if the new drive will work in a and is showing little sign of change, the drive bays may have no “master/slave” configuration with the old price of hard disks has plummeted in the alternative but to use a hard card. The one. And finally, cover yourself by past six months. Giving your machine a drawback with hard cards is that they tend checking that the drive you buy has a “no boost, in the form of a new hard drive, is to have rather low capacity and poor questions asked” return policy. now an option well worth consideration. performance, but they’re just as reliable as The speed of your hard disk has a conventional disks. Which drive interface? major impact on overall machine If you find that you do have a spare There are basically two types of modern performance. Hard drives found in old (or drive bay, the next thing to check is the drive interface: SCSI and IDE (see the really cheap) computers tend to be interface standard used by your machine. panel, below left). Here we’ll concentrate physically large, slow, power-hungry and If your hard disk is of the MFR (Modified on the more common IDE variety. of limited capacity. If your machine is really Frequency Regulation), RLL (Run-Length Unfortunately, adding a second IDE drive ancient, then a modern IDE hard disk Limited) or ESDI (Enhanced Small Device is not always a simple procedure because would greatly improve its performance. Interface) type, then you have several they don’t all work to the same standard. If Before splashing your money around, upgrade options. With a bit of phoning both your drives adhere to the ANSI there are a few basic things you need to around you can still get hold of RLL and standard (ATA) they should happily know about your PC. First, take the lid off MFM drives. The major problem with them co-exist. But if they are incompatible, you it (there’s no way of doing this without a is they tend to be painfully slow (compared could well end up throwing your old one screwdriver) and take a look at the with modern IDE drives) and of low capac- away. arrangement of the components. The first ity. The more sensible choice is to replace IDE drives can control two hard disks and most obvious thing to find out is your old drive with an IDE hard disk, but on the same cable, and in order to make whether you actually have room for make sure you get a matching controller them work together one must be set up as another hard disk. with it. This goes for any type of hard drive. a “slave” and the other as a “master”. This If there’s no spare space, don’t panic. You cannot plug an MFM drive into an is done fairly simply by moving a jumper at You can still add hard disk space using a RLL controller and expect anything other the back of the drive from one position to “hard card”: literally a “plug-in” card with a than smoke. another. When you plug in the drive, make hard disk and controller circuitry attached Check up on the manufacturer of your sure that the cable is plugged in the right to it. Hard disks of all types come on hard hard drive, and the drive’s type (if you’ve way round, otherwise your machine will cards, so if the whole idea of replacing lost your manual look in the machine’s appear dead when you turn it on. Pin 1 is your hard disk or adding one to your sys- setup screen) before you go shopping for usually marked so that you can align the tem brings you out in a rash, a hard card a new hard disk because the BIOS (basic cable correctly. IDE and SCSI: the next generation The hard disk you buy will generally be faster than your current one, so set up the If you’ve leafed through a PCW computer group test, you couldn’t have failed to notice new one as the master and the existing lots of incomprehensible acronyms like those above. These acronyms refer to one as the slave. They’ll work more interface standards which define the way in which the hard drive connects to your PC. efficiently together if you store your The first generation of computers stored the electronics to manage the hard disk, on a applications on the faster disk and data on separate controller card. But technology has moved on since then and the same the slow one. advances in microchips which have led to faster processors and cheaper memory, now Once you’ve physically connected your enable the controller function to be placed on the disk itself. Integrated Drive Electronics new hard drive to the machine, you will (IDE) is currently the most common hard drive interface. It’s also the least expensive. have to configure the PC’s BIOS. The IDE disks are connected to an interface card by a cable which extends the signals from BIOS contains a series of entries such as the bus inside the PC. The cable does not plug directly into the ISA bus (industry standard number of heads, cylinders and sectors architecture), so it either goes into an interface port on the main board or into an interface per track which define the type of hard card. The IDE standard supports two connected disks, the first acting as controller, the drive in the machine. Generally, you can second as a slave, with both disks sharing a single I/O address and interrupt. get into the BIOS setup utility by pressing Enhanced IDE (EIDE) is a much upgraded version of IDE. All computers built since a key combination when you boot up. Here 1994 should have an EIDE hard disk controller, and this provides many advantages over you’ll need to configure the hard drive type IDE. Firstly, EIDE can support four devices (instead of two) and they don’t necessarily number as well as other system have to be hard disks — they can be CD-ROMs or tape drives that are compatible with the configuration details. Make sure you have EIDE standard. Secondly, IDE was always restricted in that it would not support hard all the information you need before you go disks larger than 528Mb. The third improvement was in the massive increase in data anywhere near your BIOS, or you could throughput compared with standard IDE. This massive speed enhancement puts EIDE on spend many frustrating hours (even days) an equal level with SCSI (pronounced “scuzzy”) as a high-end drive interface. trying to put it right. SCSI stands for Small Computer Systems Interface — it is another standard for PCW Contacts connecting hard drives and peripherals to your PC. SCSI hard drives are very fast and very expensive. They act as good interfaces for high-capacity hard drives used as Eleanor Turton-Hill welcomes any network file servers and for very high-powered scientific and engineering applications. For feedback and suggestions from the average user, it’s not really worth spending lots of extra money on a SCSI, especially readers, on [email protected] as EIDE now provides similar performance results.

352 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 BUYER’S CHARTER Buyer’s Charter

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358 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 RE FORM ORDER

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359 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995 to: E Chambers of Congratulations London, JM Rickard of Ashford, EJ Next time an Office 95 Saunders of Romford, Chris Branch user loads up Excel, you of Ilford, Richard Parnham of London might want to make sure and Mr I McIntosh of London. They that they’re really work- all won prizes in our October Live 95 ing. For with the right competition. keystrokes, the applica- tion can be turned into a copy of the best-selling very computer journalist in the world is shoot-em-up game, giving you a hard time because you Doom. Well, almost. haven’t launched Windows 95. Manu- The Excel programmers facturers have just launched a zillion decided to hide a picture new CD-ROM drives, sound cards, of themselves inside, softwareE packages and the rest. What do along with a small 3D you do, and how do you decide which game called Hall of products to test? For senior Microsoft vice Tortured Souls. president, Brad Silverberg, the solution was Obviously the code for the spreadsheet didn’t take up enough to send someone down to Egghead, the hard disk space for a Microsoft product… local PC dealer in Redmond, and order one of everything. The next guy in line appar- ently wasn’t too happy waiting for $15,000 worth of kit to be rung up on the till… ● Communications giant Motorola sent If Operating Systems Were Beers... out a pamphlet called “Prepared for the future”. In the accompanying copyright, ChipChat the company insists that “No part of this DOS Beer publication may be transmitted in any form, Requires you to use your own can opener, and that you read the directions or by any means electronic”, with all the carefully before opening the can. Originally only came in an 8oz can, but now usual American copyright riders on elec- comes in a 16oz can. The can is divided into eight compartments of 2oz each, tronic storage. which have to be accessed separately. Soon to be discontinued, although a lot of This is only to be expected, but the people are going to keep drinking it after it’s no longer available. pamphlet states that the report can also be Mac Beer found on the World Wide Web. A neat trick At first came only in a 16oz can, but now comes in a 32oz can. Considered by if it can’t be transmitted electronically… many to be a “light” beer. All the cans look identical. When you take one from the fridge, it opens itself. The ingredients list is not on the can. If you call to ask about the ingredients, you are told that “you don’t need to know.” A notice on the side reminds you to drag your empties to the trashcan. Windows 3.1 Beer The world’s most popular beer. Comes in a 16oz can that looks a lot like Mac Beer’s. Requires that you already own a DOS Beer. Claims that it allows you to drink several DOS Beers simultaneously, but in reality you can only drink a few of them, very slowly, especially slowly if you are drinking the Windows Beer at the same time. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, a can of Windows Beer will explode when you open it. OS/2 Beer Comes in a 32oz can. Does allow you to drink several DOS Beers simultaneously. Allows you to drink Windows 3.1 Beer simultaneously too, but somewhat slower. Advertises that the cans won’t explode when you open them, even if you shake them up. You never see anyone drinking OS/2 Beer, but the manufacturer (International Beer Manufacturing) claims that 9 million six-packs have been sold. Windows 95 Beer Only just out, Windows 95 Beer looks a lot like Mac Beer but tastes more like Windows 3.1 Beer. It comes in 32oz cans, but when you look inside, the cans only have 16oz of beer in them. Most people will probably keep drinking Windows 3.1 Beer until their friends try Windows 95 Beer and say they like it. The ingredients list, when you look at the small print, has some of the same ingredients that come in DOS beer, even though the manufacturer claims that this is an entirely new brew. Windows NT Beer We all know that the postal service can Comes in 32oz cans, but you can only buy it by the truckload. This causes most be a bit slow, but even we were people to have to go out and buy bigger refrigerators. The can looks just like surprised at the late arrival of a Readers Windows 3.1 Beer’s, but the company promises to change the can to look just like Survey form. Admittedly it had come all Windows 95 Beer’s. Touted as an “industrial strength” beer, and suggested only for the way from Sweden, but seven years use in bars. is a bit much…

679 PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD DECEMBER 1995