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┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ C A R R I E R D E T E C T │ │ │ │ The PC Communications Journal For Every Modem User! │ │ │ │ Issue #7, August 1992 │ │ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Table of Contents: Welcome ............................................ 2 Product Evaluations ................................ 3 Crosstalk Communicator v2.00 ................... 3 Laplink Professional v4.00 ..................... 6 Writer's Roundup ................................... 9 Reflections 5 .................................. 9 Reflections 6 .................................. 11 ByteLine ........................................... 13 Feedback ........................................... 19 Distribution Sites ................................. 19 Product Information .............................. 19 Advertisements ..................................... 20 Carrier Detect is published by Michael W. Crosson. Contents may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. All brand and product names mentioned in this publication are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. (c) 1992 Michael W. Crosson. All rights reserved. W E L C O M E Hello Friends, and welcome to another issue of Carrier Detect! The big news is that I am easier to reach again with a new BBS online. The BBS has been renamed to Prospector BBS and the new phone number is (916) 921-9949. Those of you in FidoNet can find me at 1:203/49. The BBS is available twenty-four hours a day and baud rates up to 14.4K are supported (v.32bis). I have added a new logon matrix that will allow you to download the latest issue without registering on my BBS. This works out well for those of you that just want to grab the latest issue and run! Of course, everyone is still welcome to call the BBS and sign up as a regular user too. Carrier Detect files are always available on the first call without download limits. In other Journal news, I've decided to rename the archives in a consecutive number sequence. That is, the archives will be known as CD001.ZIP, CD002.ZIP, etc rather than CD01NOV.ZIP, CD02JAN.ZIP etc. The content of the archives has not changed except to update my BBS and address. CD01MAY.ZIP => CD001.ZIP CD01JULY.ZIP => CD002.ZIP CD01SEPT.ZIP => CD003.ZIP CD01NOV.ZIP => CD004.ZIP CD02JAN.ZIP => CD005.ZIP CD02MAY.ZIP => CD006.ZIP As described in the last issue, I have moved to Sacramento, California and will be starting law school soon. I will not have much time for Carrier Detect when school is in session so reader submissions are more desirable than ever. If you have an idea for an article or want to review something, don't hesitate to contact me! I will work on the Journal as I have time, but can't promise a dependable release schedule. Of course, if a flood of articles come my way, the Journal's will continue to be published as frequently as possible. I hope your remainder of your summer will be a good to you. Try to enjoy the outdoors as often as possible, but don't forget the sun screen! Until next time, Michael Crosson Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 2 P R O D U C T E V A L U A T I O N S Each month Carrier Detect contains several product evaluations. Most of these will be software reviews but from time to time hardware will be discussed as well. The opinions expressed in Carrier Detect are solely my own or the respective author of the article. Carrier Detect strives to be as objective as possible when evaluating software. Judgments to suitability are made with the typical modem enthusiast in mind and are not geared toward the complete novice nor the power user. Exceptions to this are noted as such in the article. * Crosstalk Communicator, Version 2.00 Reviewed by Michael Crosson Pros: Small size makes it good for laptops Easy, well designed install process Custom settings possible for all systems Cons: Seemed prone to lock ups Uses unconventional terminology throughout Uses strange, awkward interface Very basic scripting capabilities Late last year I purchased an Intel 14.4EX modem and like most modems, it came bundled with communications software. Typically the software that comes bundled with your modem is not very good. In the past I've gotten archaic copies of Bitcom, PC-Talk and a few oddball titles I've never seen again. The Intel though was by far the best modem I've ever purchased and in fact, was their top of the line at that time. Intel ships the 14.4EX with Crosstalk Communicator, a commercial program published by DCA. I expected a lot from Communicator but as it turns out, I was very disappointed. Things started out well enough but little did I know the installation of the program would prove to be on its highlights! Crosstalk Communicator is shipped on one 360K floppy and to install the program, one only needs to insert the diskette and type 'install.' The rest of the process is nearly automatic and a nice bar graph tracks your progress. At one point the program asks what type of modem you have and you are shown a picklist with a choice of 66 modems. This takes the guesswork out of using the program with your particular modem. The only other information you really need to know is what COM port your modem is hooked up to. Once The Communicator knows this information you are ready to begin. More programs should install as easily as this one! Once installed, the program took up about 700K of disk space, making it Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 3 suitable for laptop use. From here on it was all downhill. The first screen you are presented with in Crosstalk Communicator is the dialing directory. The look is rather basic, and not particularly informative or well layed out. The top two-thirds of the screen consists of custom named systems to call and a verbose description. You also can see the last time you called the system and the number of times you have called there. Interesting, you cannot see the phone number and area code. If you call a mix of local and long distance systems, this might pose a problem. The bottom third displays a few menu choices including: ENTER (dial current system), ALT-E (edit text files), ALT-M (enter utilities), ALT-Y (system and port setup), ALT-Q (quit to DOS), ESCAPE (offline options), INSERT (manually add system), and DELETE (Delete system). Communicator comes preconfigured to dial a number of popular commercial systems. These include Compuserve, Dow Jones, and Online Air Guide. DCA also includes some other interesting choices: Direct (for connect computer connections), PC Board (the only BBS software supported directly however), the Crosstalk Support BBS, and something called Easycall. As it is, EasyCall isn't a system at all, but an abbreviated way of entering new systems in the directory. I didn't feel this area of the program was well designed either. New entries can be entered by pressing the Insert Key or by the above mentioned 'EasyCall' method. If you take the manual entry route, you are bombarded with items to configure several layers deep. Crosstalk allows custom settings for every system in your dialing directory, an important feature for some who have very diverse calling needs. Unfortunately, the correct settings are not immediately obvious even to experienced users. A user could easily get lost here. The problem is compounded in Communicator because throughout the program, DCA uses strange terminology such as 'patience', 'check entry setup', and 'word format.' If you choose Easycall, the process is simpler but still awkward. For example, the first screen after choosing Easycall asks what type of system you wish to configure and you are presented with all those predefined systems described above (Compuserve, OAG etc.). I'm not sure how you use your communications software, but I usually just have one entry for each system I call. If you choose to add a BBS type system, you then are asked whether you want to add the 'Crosstalk BBS' or other system. Again, why would someone want to keep adding the Crosstalk Support BBS to their dialing directory? Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 4 Let's move ahead to actually getting online with Crosstalk Communicator. After a system is selected, Communicator displays some attractive, overlapping dialing progress screens. If you wish, you can view a modem dialogue box that displays the host and remote dialogue in different colors (sort of like a BBS chat function for modems). Watching these screens was the single most interesting thing about Communicator for me. They contrast dramatically with the drab dialing directory itself. On the downside dialing is relatively slow, partly because the software initializes the modem before every single call. Most of the time Communicator dialed and connected to systems without trouble. Note that the dialing directory lacks a major feature, the multiple system dialing queue. The ability to flag many systems to dial is essential if you frequently call busy BBS systems. Once connected, the user sees a blank screen or one with a status bar on the bottom. My testing was limited to local BBS systems for this program so I was using ANSI emulation (Avatar is not supported in case you are wondering). Right away I noticed some problems with higher ASCII characters. Lines were displayed as numbers instead of lines. Since the BBS I was on made use of pull down style menus, this was a major distraction. It also made games doors rather hard to use. To its credit, the arrow keys did work, so the program was compatible with full screen message editors. Another harmless but unprofessional quirk had to do with the status bar. Sometimes hitting an Alt-Command while online would write characters right through the status line. More serious, the program seemed prone to lock ups while online. More than once I was forced to do a warm boot while online ending my connection and possible losing important data in the process. Several of these random lock ups occurred during file transfers. Communicator comes with several useful protocols including Xmodem, Ymodem, Kermit, Compuserve B and Zmodem. For my tests, I concentrated on Zmodem, the fastest and most reliable choice overall. During the transfer of a file, a graph along with relevant statistics is displayed. By this time I was beginning to notice a pattern. Although I didn't like the 'look and feel' of Crosstalk Communicator the majority of the time, at least it looked prettier during progress and status displays. Like most of the action oriented status displays, this one was also easy to understand. The only missing information was elapsed time (only time remaining is shown). Speed was acceptable, but not outstanding. I obtained an average speed of 1615cps downloading a 250K file at 14.4K. One serious caveat to watch for. Error handling proved less than graceful when an invalid path or filename was entered. At best the transfer is immediately canceled Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 5 with no explanation. At worst, the software locked and I had to drop carrier and reset my system. There are other features of Crosstalk, but by this point the program frustrated me enough I only gave them a cursory glance. These include a DOS services menu, Host Mode, Learn function, and the robust CASL script writing language. As you might expect by now, there were problems with these features too. The DOS services menu is a feature I normally like and make extensive use of. Unfortunately, the one included here was weak in terms of power and buried in an inconvenient location for online use. Advanced users are not going to be pleased with the script writing tools at hand either. CASL is a powerful tool for creating your own login scripts, but the manual in Communicator only describes 13 of it's functions! If you want to write more complex scripts, the manual suggests you purchase their Mk.4 product at four to six times the cost! To wrap this up, let's just say that I think you could do better than purchase Crosstalk Communicator. It suffers from a poorly designed interface, lacks important features and worst of all, locks up randomly. As far as bundled software goes, it isn't bad, but don't think it is adding much value to your modem package. This program is an excellent example of shareware far surpassing a more well known commercial product. The best use I can think of for Communicator is to call a local BBS system and use it to download one of its shareware competitors. * Laplink Professional, Version 4.00 Reviewed by Peter S. Ireland Pros: Ease of use Intuitive pull-down menus Can be used as a inexpensive network Comes with necessary cable hardware Cons: Steep price if you don't need the cables Might require some modem 'tweaking' I am biased. I liked Laplink before it was upgraded to "PRO". It is one of those wonderful and uncommon software programs that can be used without reading the manual. The instruction manual itself is excellent but you only need it to discover additional features. What Does It Do? In its most simple form, Laplink Pro connects a laptop to a desktop PC with a supplied cable, and transfer files Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 6 from one to the other. Usually this is done manually with floppies, but this becomes almost impossible when the number of files get large. There are numerous other tasks that Laplink Pro can perform for you that make computing easier. Have you ever tried to load up a new hard drive by installing programs one at a time? If so, you know that it can be a good day's work. With Laplink Pro you can transfer an exact image of an existing machine to a newly purchased machine in minutes. Then it is much easier to just delete the files you do not want and modify the programs you need. Remember that most installation routines now decompress the program files which can take forever. With Laplink Pro you eliminate that reinstallation. Laplink Pro will also allow you to call a remote computer and access all the files and programs on most machines. This will appeal to anyone that does computing in two places such as an office and home. Of course it will take some tweaking of the modem settings at both ends of Laplink Pro must be running on both machines. The instructions warn that using a password to log into a remote machine is prudent. What is Included? When you open the Laplink Pro software box you find not only the Laplink Pro software and documentation but two high quality and colorful computer cables. One cable is an eight foot serial cable with twin heads for nine pin and twenty-five pin ports. The other cable is a standard twenty-five pin parallel cable. Laplink Pro also provides a small traveling pouch to transport your cables. These cables contribute to the Laplink purchase price of about $89.00 which is a good value. Unique Features Connecting a computer to a network usually requires expensive hardware for each machine. With Laplink Pro you can gain access to a network without extra hardware. If you are at home and have a modem available, you can tie into your office network. This is what you might call a no-cost gateway. Remote Install I thought it would be difficult to perform a remote install. Somewhere I had read that it was complicated. It was not, although it does take a lot longer to read Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 7 about it than to do it. Using the pull-down menus was much faster than reading about it in the manual. It took about fifteen seconds to understand and start a connection. Older computer hackers will be surprised to see their old friend, "TYPE CON > COM1 ATZ" This is what Laplink tells the remote user to type in order to reset and then setup the modem. It makes sense to use this DOS tool since it is common to all versions. I wonder if anyone still uses the console redirect commands in creating batch files? Highlights Of special interest to those interested in speed is Laplink Pro's technical specification of three megabytes per minute through the cables. One feature that I enjoy the heck out of is that it automatically senses which of your ports have been connected. This is one area which shows off Laplink Pro's intelligent design. A surprise occurred when my phone rang and Laplink Pro tried to transfer data from my best friend's voice. Instead of reading the manual, I discovered what had happened by accessing the pull-down menus. What I discovered was that the program defaults to a setting of auto-answer if a modem is on a serial port. As you would expect, the pull-down menus are very clear and easy to manipulate either with a mouse or by the keyboard. Recommendations I like horses with proven track records and Laplink Pro is a program that has been around a long time. I give it a big A+, because of its intuitive feel and ease of use. The programmers of Laplink Pro have been very supportive to the needs of the computer user. It is a superb product which anyone in the computing world will thank themselves for having. --- Editor's Note: This article was originally printed in the June 1992 issue of The Journal of the Tucson Computer Society. (c) 1992. Reprinted with permission. Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 8 W R I T E R 'S R O U N D U P Writer's Roundup is a department that features creative writing submissions from readers. Essays, fictional stories, and poems are examples of the kind of reading that you might find here. However, each will share a common theme of computers and communications. REFLECTIONS 5 (C) 1986-87 by Steve Schneider (reprinted with permission) Dateline : The RainForest BBS Time : Saturday evening Do bells and whistles on a BBS program make sounds if few, or no, users uses them? I run the RainForest BBS on a highly modified version of GBBS Pro and I have added so darned many bells and whistles that I even amaze myself when I log on ('course my threshold of amazement is low... maybe... nah). You can forward scan, reverse scan, go by number, browse for a 'string', quickscan (either all or configured just for the subboards that interest the user), backscan by title when you read a message reply that is short and doesn't make sense, ooopps scan which is go back one message if you hit the next message command too quickly, auto reply either instantly which sets all defaults to the norm or auto reply and change the title and to whom it's addressed and whether it's anonymous or not. And then there's the Editor where you can insert, delete, edit, do line changes piecemeal or full and so forth. Many, many mods for the user to use when writing messages. The BBS averages 75-100 new messages a day. And the main system segment where you have many options from changing one's name and password to changing the number of new messages when there are too many to read and even several rather unique options that range from being able to lockout messages from up to three different users to scanning a subboard for messages only from a certain user. And guess what? Few people ever use the bells and whistles... very few. So my question is why bother putting in stuff that no one will ever use? And whatever =IS= put in is rarely appreciated by users in general as few have the slightest inkling of the contortions a sysop must sometimes go through to enable a requested modification to work and also coexist with the program already running. Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 9 Me? With the exception of one mod (searching back for previous messages with same title) which a few users 'busted my chops' about for months until I finally put it in. all the modifications on the system have been to please me, more or less. I =LIKE= technological improvements and I use them all the time. It makes me happy to log on to a BBS such as mine and see all the options I have available to do what I need to do. And by putting in the modifications I gained some satisfaction in feeling that I must not be such a stupid programmer after all if I can do these neat little things (even though some took days and weeks to finally get them working right). I try not to model my BBS after any other BBS (or it's mods) but there are certainly times where another sysop has had the bright idea of doing something either totally unique and new or jazzing up something old that when I see it I try to figure out a way to add something similar to my BBS. User lockout (it skip messages from users that are locked out by the reading user) and Backscan (by title) are two of those. I also pass along some of my mods on the national support BBS and I download some to be modified to my liking or to be used as a shell for something else I might have in mind. There used to be a lot of give and take among sysops but now there is little... new day coming, I guess. The biggest disappointment to me is not the fact that the not-so-bright or not-so-literate don't use the mods. It's the intelligent users that are too lazy to drop back and edit a message or take the time to change a title or do any of the hundreds of things available to them. I mean, a person has to know that a word is misspelled before they are liable for correcting it, (hmmm... that was a =GOOD= one... I think I'll make that Schneider's Law # 492 or so.... have to know to be liable... yeah, that's the ticket!). Maybe a few of you are even wondering who the heck this 'Steve Schneider' guy is who keeps writing all this junk and why does he do it. I'm trying to give a future sysop an idea of what to really expect if, and when, he (or she) takes the plunge and put up a BBS. And I also write for some of the older sysops that can't put their feelings into written word and for some sysops that never considered that a user might be interested in the other side of the monitor. Well, to answer the question I asked earlier... Ain't no fun running a 'stock' program...there's a lack of 'personality' to the BBS. So by all means write and install mods that please you or your users whether anyone ever uses the darned thing or not. Anything you do (be it good or bad) will add to the 'individuality' of your BBS Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 10 and (don't hold your breath, mind you) =SOMEDAY= a user might even leave you Feedback (or even a public Thank you). REFLECTIONS 6 (C) 1986-87 by Steve Schneider (reprinted with permission) Dateline : The RainForest BBS Time : High Noon on a Sunday Hey you! Yeah =YOU=!!! Interested in building that body up ehh? Looking for something easier than running or jogging or weights or whatever else the fad is this month? Want to get that cardiovascular action going without all the physical strain and pain? Heheheheh. have I got a deal for you? It's called being a sysop of something called a Bulletin Board System... involves computers, people (of whom most you would not allow to physically set foot in your house; much less date your daughter or say hello to your wife) who will visit you electronically at all hours of the day and night and run =YOUR= computer to their heart's content and probably never ever say 'Thank You' for the privilege. These same people will download public domain files you keep on your system, (I've heard in a galaxy far away that some users actually <gasp> =UPLOAD= new files to a BBS but I believe that may be an unsubstantiated rumor started by a school teacher in Wyoming), write messages (sometimes) to you or others on your system that will range from bordering on the edge of genius to those that border on the edge of stupidity and ignorance, but will mostly run to mediocrity and even mental drivel, send E-mail to you called feedback that ask questions of you whose answers are oft found in your help files or in a menu or in common sense and some may even attack you and your generosity with vile retorts and language that you haven't heard since that night you got trapped by Sarah's father while you had your hand under her sweater in the 11th grade in the VW behind the gym.... So?? 'Sounds interesting', you say, but where's the exercise?? Ahh, the exercise, you ask? Well, I guarantee your heart will feel pangs as you have never felt before when for some odd reason you wake up at 3:48 in the AM and see your hard drive spinning madly in a never ending loop while your bbs is sitting there in a state of disarray due to a programming error... or perhaps another kind(?) soul has just uploaded 5 megabytes of trash to your hard drive trying to crash the system.... or then again, you will scan your new user logon file and find the likes of hell unabashed when you read some of the information left by Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 11 soon to be users of your system... some will even ask you to do things that are either physically impossible or socially unacceptable with either members of your family or various classes of animals or fowl... Price a new hard drive for your system or an uninterruptible power supply (for those moments when your power company could care less about you staying on-line 24 hours a day) or even the second (you'll never see a voice call again much less hear one if you plan on running a bbs on your current phone line) phone line cost that is inevitable for a first class bbs... then think of the time you have to spend maintaining your files and reading the messages (and replying) on your system, (a sysop should always know all that is happening on his or her system), as well as finding new uploads and general files for your users and answering the never ending stream of electronic mail from those that love or hate you or just want to know where they can find 'other K00l dudes or the newest in warezzzzzzzzzzz'... if your heart is not now pounding near it's maximum rate then lets try to run a few of the programs that some user has kindly uploaded to your system... <huh?>. That new file just took over your hard drive and wiped out all the files and directories? Imagine that!? Or perhaps you receive a summons from the lawyer of a user that you finally had to kick off your system due to his constant abuse of this or that and who now wants damages, for his lack of access as guaranteed in the Constitution.. Spend sleepless nights programming, refining and debugging the code that the bbs runs on to make it even easier for the unappreciative to enjoy... see what type of heart palpitations come your way after three weeks of no sleep. And then when you get a good night's sleep and wake up to see that your modem died about ten minutes after you dropped off to sleep and the bbs has been down for ten hours... then answer hundreds of pieces of mail later wanting to know why the phone just rang and ran all night long even though you have posted an explanation on the General subboard or perhaps in the system news of your bbs that, of course, no one ever has the time to read but those same folk just know that you aren't doing anything and have all the time in the world to make personal replies to their questions. 'Sure', you say, there's the heart work but what about the rest? Well, trying carrying cases of printer paper to your computer location and then shlepping all of your computer program printouts to and fro as well as bending down, looking in and around, searching for the piece of paper with invaluable information on it that you misplaced, carting the boxes of floppies to and from a safe area that contain the backups of your current bbs as Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 12 well as files and other information. And then there's the garbage; you didn't think your wife was going to let you forget that too, did ya? Too tough you say? Nawh... we older sysops just make it seem that way so as to prevent others from having all the fun and pleasure of running a public bbs. We want it all to ourselves... that way only we can get rich from all the money that's to be made... yeah... 'wanna buy some Florida swampland?' --- Steve Schneider is the System Operator of RainForest BBS in Cooper City, Florida. He can be reached at his BBS, (305)-434-4927. B Y T E L I N E Fast facts, tips, comments and rumors on all kinds of computer related topics. * BYTELINE By Michael Crosson and Tom Garcia IT TAKES 2:12 for my computer to boot, set up three CAROUSEL work areas, load TEXTRA (2 seconds!), load QUATTRO PRO, and go back to work area #1 and the DOS prompt (below NORTON COMMANDER). I had been using 386CACHE (64K UMB) because I liked its neat pop-up "measures" window via <L-Shift> <R-Shift>. As an experiment I checked loading all my stuff without the cache program. The new time was 2:20. Well, 8 seconds is eight seconds. Then I tried the PC-Tools cache. Time to load dropped to 1:37. Both caches use 10K conventional memory plus 64K somewhere up above the 640k boundary. I found out about another problem was 386CACHE: Every time I booted STACKER had to update the allocation table, which takes some time. Don't know why. Only happens with 386CACHE and not with the PC-Tools cache. ANN ARBOR SOFTWARE tells me TEXTRA 7.0 will be out "hopefully, by the end of the summer." In Ann Arbor talk that means by the end of 1993. Ver. 7 will have CUI menus, mouse support, utilization of expanded and extended memory, table of contents & indexing, to name the major improvements. FOR SOME people changing word processors is almost as traumatic as changing religions. Not for me. I change at the drop of a hat. Yes, I really did try to learn to love WordPerfect so I could be "one of the guys" using what Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 13 most of my friends use. Used it for about a year, through two versions and many "interim upgrade" (bug fix) disks purchased from the company. The spell checker finally did me in. It just crashed (hung) once too often on me. Microsoft WORD? I just got tired of it. It hung my laptop but not on my desktop. How strange. So, I went back to TEXTRA. When I first received TEXTRA's latest (files are dated 1 AUG 1990) I tried it for not much more than 24 hours and dumped it. Can't remember what it was that I didn't like. Now that I have gone back to it the sensation is like trading in a 16 MHz computer for a 33 MHz model 'cause TEXTRA is so fast. And, it reads/writes (a bit slower) WordPerfect and WORD files on demand so none of my pre-existing files had to be changed/converted. DID YOU GET the offer from TigerSoft to "upgrade" to the latest PFS WRITE word processor? Cost is $49.95 plus $6.95 shipping. The latest PFS WRITE is a WYSIWYG program. Putting a GUI face on a DOS program. I'll report on it next month. A problem [for you] would probably be its lack of file conversion capability. Unlike TEXTRA, SIGNATURE, etc., there is no way to import/export files from/to other popular word processors except for PFS FIRST CHOICE. From Gottfried Lopez: Tom, you mentioned seeing a TI-99 computer for sale for $8 at a thrift shop. You didn't say which version it was. You might be interested in this info, for old times sake... The TI-99/4 came out quite a few years ago priced at $950. It was one of the first ready to go out of the box home computers aimed at non-hacker "Mr. & Mrs. Public" users. And, it came from a company people had heard of, Texas Instruments, not some unknown company that was just a bunch of initials or a techno-speak acronym. Later the TI-99/4A was introduced at $649.94. It had a "real" keyboard. Of course, to really do much with it you had to buy accessories which pushed the price up, way up. At a minimum you needed a cassette recorder which cost $74.95 if you bought it from TI. The competition at the time consisted of the Atari 400 (16k) at $630, the Sinclair 4K at $99.95 but it was a kit. Also, the VIC-20 (5K) at $299.95 and it had a real keyboard too. Later the Color Computer came along. It had a "Chiclet" keyboard. I worked for TI back then and they cleaned out the TI-99/4 inventory by selling them to the employees for $299 which was below the cost of manufacturing them. CRASH CITY (continued). . I wonder how I would be spending my spare time if I didn't have computers to fix, upgrade, reorganize, etc. Oh, here is a way to save 256 bytes of low RAM. If I fool around with it for 5 or 6 hours I can get it installed in the proper place in CONFIG.SYS (or is it AUTOEXEC.BAT?). If it takes me 6 hours that's 42 bytes Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 14 an hour saved. So I work on it, rebooting 144 times. Success! But, I'm beginning to wonder if there is a mental illness involved here? Maybe I need a vacation. While putting CAROUSEL on my laptop I accidentally rebooted at a very bad time (reboot during a reboot). STACKER died. My entire hard drive was now READ ONLY. I did what I had done before when that happened. What the manual sez to do. No dice. Tried some other stuff. STACKER told me to delete CAROSEL.TMP as it was "bad." But, it couldn't be deleted from a READ ONLY drive, even with my Norton & PC-Tools utility kits. While working with PCTOOLS I ended up with a zero data hard drive. Not even a valid boot sector. If I can't fix the problem, thinks I, I'll reformat and reinstall just the things I really need. QUATTRO, QUICKEN and a word processor. One more fix to try: UNDELETE which will look for MIRROR or IMAGE data on the hard drive's last track. I boot from a floppy and run UNDELETE. Viola! It works! (Be patient. It takes about 45 minutes. A year ago I ran UNDELETE and thought, in error, it was hung up. Actually, it was working or maybe just "thinking" and I rebooted, losing everything permanently. This time everything came back but still write protected. At least I could copy to floppy any vital (un-backed-up) files. I played with the STACKER utilities plus NORTON and PCTOOLS and suddenly all was totally well. No more write protection on the hard drive. I don't know what I did.... Moral: Use a shutdown batch file to run MIRROR or IMAGE on all your hard drives every day. The manuals suggest putting it in AUTOEXEC.BAT and maybe that's a good idea too. But I like to do it at shutdown so that all my day's work is in the IMAGE. SOFTWARE CAROUSEL from SoftLogic, Ver 5.0 ($35 upgrade). Well worth it to me as it's the best way to use my two megs of LIM 4.0 expanded memory.... I have always wondered how SoftLogic manages to copy protect a 3.5 inch disk. Every time I buy (or upgrade) their products I experiment with trying to make a working copy of the master disk and give up after 20 minutes 'cause I'm anxious to try out the new version of whatever program it is. This time I tried COPY2PC which appeared to read the 720K master disk and create a 720K 5 1/4 disk in my 1.2 meg drive. Looked good. INSTALL worked from the new 5 1/4 disk. The installed program crashed when run though. I copied the master files directly from the 3.5 inch disk to the hard drive. No dice. Then I ran DISKCOPY from DR-DOS which copies to the hard drive from the 3.5 inch drive then the "image" from the HD to a new 3.5 inch disk. Success.... Does MS-DOS DISKCOPY work that way? I have never once in my life used MS-DOS DISKCOPY and I know I could look it up in the manual but as I'll probably never use it why bother? Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 15 AFTER MY hardware print buffer died I started using a software buffer. It has worked very well, using a small amount of conventional memory and 196K (that's how much I allotted it) of expanded memory. I tried the SOFTWARE CAROUSEL print buffer, called PRINT 'N RUN and found that it works well 'though I miss the instant popup control and status menu that I had with the previous software. An advantage with PRINT 'N RUN is that it uses NO memory above and beyond what CAROUSEL is already using. This is because it is a built-in feature, always available whether you elect to use it or not use it. Files printing are saved to disk or pulled off the DOC file itself a piece at a time or something. I haven't figured it out. SPEAKING OF memory: CAROUSEL Ver. 5.0 needs about 3K less memory overhead than Ver. 4.0 although it's possible that I set 5.0 up with a better group of install options than I assigned to the previous version. I TRIED CAROUSEL on my laptop using disk storage. It works just like the expanded memory setup but quite a bit slower when you hot-key from partition to partition (CAROUSEL calls them "work areas.") It worked but was too slow. SoftLogic ships a virtual memory manager with CAROUSEL called Memory Miser 386. I haven't tried it yet but will let you know next month how well it works or IF it works. I get the impression (from the manual) that it has a sophisticated install program that leads you step by step thru the various options for management of memory "holes", upper memory blocks, etc. NO MOUSE will ever touch the pristine surface of my mouse pad. It's worth too much money! People who work at Disney Studios are the recipients of some nice goodies. This often is in connection with seminars and training meetings. They get stuff that isn't available to the legions of Disney collectors. Special stuff for "insiders" only. That's where my mouse pad came from. The Disney logo and a special "Micky" in multi-color. The only place my Disney mousepad is going to go is into a custom frame for display. TEXTRA 7, beta 1 is being tested. Came on six 360K disks. A complete installation takes 2.5 megs. Not everything that will be in the final version is included. For example, there is no tutorial for Ver. 7 yet... TEXTRA finally has pull down-menus instead of its old "looks like it's left over from CPM" system with a 40, count 'em, 40, function key command menu system. But, just incase you WANT the old menu system it's an install option. Undelete now lets you undelete your last 9 deletions instead of just the most recent one. Fonts: 31 Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 16 per document instead of 15. Hot links to spreadsheets are available should you insert all or part of a spreadsheet into your document. (Probably just WK1 format thought I haven't tried it yet.) (I tried it - That's true)... The main TEXTRA .EXE has grown from 190K to 450K in length. I don't think there are THAT MANY new features??? !!! PsL NEWS arrived. It's more fun than CompuServe and costs less. They, ie., Nelson Ford & Company, are getting into CD-ROM software in a big way. Sure to be the wave of the future, or maybe even the present... Also WINDOWS software with plenty of it being offered... Feature article on Backup Software. Interesting stuff and varied design ideas. Ford comments (concerning Backup Software that compresses as it backs up, "A mixed blessing since it makes backups go slower and disks are cheaper than time for most computer users." Right on... An interesting program described is BkBat. It's freeware. You can get it from PsL or maybe find it on a BBS somewhere. BkBat is a batch file that uses PKZip to do compressed incremental backups. Gee, that's what I do but I don't have a snazzy batch file to help me out. Ford knows of only one shareware program that is written for WINDOWS. PsL has it. It's called SECOND COPY and sounds like a really nice program. It backs up files in the background while you work. Somehow it watches what you are doing by monitoring hard drive activity and then periodically backs up to another drive or to a network... You can get a free copy of PsL NEWS by calling 1-800-2424-PSL. Highly recommended. FREE STUFF: CA [Computer Associates] TEXTOR, a Windows word processor. Demo disk, 1-800-CALL CAI. Lotus cc:Mail Demo Disk (Windows or DOS available) Call 1-800-448-2500. Act Plus Ver. 8.2 (accounting software) from Cougar Mountain Software - Demo Disk- Call 1-800-388-3038. CalScan calendar scheduling program from RBC, Inc., demo disk. Call 1-703-243-9550. The Memory Optimization software that came with Software Carousel Ver. 6.0... I tried for an hour or so and never got it to work. Maybe that's why it's free? At least I can recycle the disk. When buying a laptop or notebook computer check on the availability (a reasonable prices) of add-on memory. I found out the hard way that Tandon laptop memory is available ONLY from Tandon, at outrageous prices. Now my battery is dead. So, add that accessory to your list of items to check out in advance. LOTUS jumps ahead. Got my upgrade notice for AMI PRO 3.0 Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 17 in late July. WORD is only up to Ver. 2.0 and WordPerfect is even further behind if numbers mean anything to people browsing the shelves of software emporiums. List $495, owner's special price is $79 plus shipping. Improvements are promised in mail merge, envelope printing, stylesheet viewing, grammar checking, etc. My favorite option, a "clean screen," is there too. COMING TO A computer near you in 1993 - [code name] "Cairo" from MicroSoft. Mix 'n match your favorite word processor kernel, spell checker, thesaurus, graphics program kernel, display screen, etc. Authorware Professional (DTP) demo for Windows from Macromedia. Call 1-800-288-0568, ext. TRY. Harvard Graphics for Windows demo disk. Call 1-800-336-8360, Operator 840. SYMANTEC's Timeline for Windows (Project Management Software) demo, call 1-800-228-4122, Ext. 328-O. Milestones for Windows (Project Scheduling) free trial version. call 1-800-765-0167. THIS IS MY last NOTES for a while. You have no doubt heard people say, "If you don't like it here you can always move to Russia. "Well, I do like it here but I'm going to move to Russia anyhow. CLEANING OUT some old disks when I ran across PC-TOOLS Ver 1. Nice program. Just one .EXE file, 83K in length. Still works great, too. It will go on my single 360K disk that I'm taking to Russia, in case I find any working computers in the school where I will be teaching. That and NORTON COMMANDER should do me. --- Editor's Note: Since its first appearance here nearly a year ago, Tom Garcia has been the principle author of Byteline. Although I have scattered my own thoughts throughout, he was responsible the majority of this popular area of Carrier Detect. In a few weeks, Tom is leaving the states to take a teaching position in the former Soviet Union. Because of this, he will no longer be able to contribute material to this Journal. If anyone is interested in taking over this 'off the cuff' area of Carrier Detect, please contact me. Tom - Thanks for all the great material you have provided us here. Best of luck in your new teaching job! Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 18 F E E D B A C K I am interested in getting as much feedback as possible regarding Carrier Detect and welcome suggestions or any other comments you may have. If you are a software publisher or shareware author and want to submit your program for possible inclusion in future issues you are welcome to do so. Finally, if you are interested in writing an article or review, please let me know! Prospector BBS - The Home of Carrier Detect (916) 921-9949, 24 hours, 2400 to 14.4K (v.32bis) First call access to Carrier Detect Related Files and shareware programs reviewed in the current issue. Home Mailing Address: 811 San Juan Road #199, Sacramento, CA 95834 D I S T R I B U T I O N S I T E S Carrier Detect Distribution Sites are BBSes that make all issues of Carrier Detect, the Carrier Detect Reader, and the Carrier Detect Reader Door available for download. If you are having trouble finding a BBS carries the journal, try one of these sites! I am looking for a additional distribution sites. If you enjoy the journal please consider becoming a site. BBS Name Sysop Phone Number Baud Prospector BBS Michael Crosson (916) 921-9949 14.4 Hour Glass BBS Lyn Borchert (602) 326-2999 14.4 P R O D U C T I N F O R M A T I O N Following is product information for the products reviewed in this issue of Carrier Detect. If you are interested in purchasing or evaluating any of the products please note the publisher's address listed below. In addition, all current shareware programs featured in Carrier Detect will be made available to first time callers on the Carrier Detect Support BBS. CROSSTALK COMMUNICATOR distributed as a commercial product version 2.00 Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 19 street price - $29-$49 published by - Digital Communications Associates 1000 Alderman Drive Alpharetta, GA 30202-4199 Customer Service - (404)442-4095 Technical Support - (404)442-3210 LAPLINK PROFESSIONAL distributed as a commercial product version 4.00 price - $89 published by - Traveling Software Inc. 18702 N. Creek Parkway Bothell, Washington 98011 Sales/Support - (206)483-8088 A D V E R T I S M E N T S Advertisements cost $15 dollars for a each issue (3 months). If you are interested in placing an advertisement, please contact me through the US Mail or my BBS system. CHANNEL ONE BBS SYSTEM ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 80 Lines * 2000 Conferences * 8.0 Gigabytes * 60,000+ Archives │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ▀▀▀▀▀█ █ █ █▀▀▀▀█ ▀▀▀█ █ ▀▀▀█ █ ▀▀▀▀▀ █ ▀█ (R) █ █▄▄▄▄█ █▄▄▄▄█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █▄▄▄▄ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀▀▀ ▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Channel 1 Communications (R) * Cambridge, MA * 617-354-8873 │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 617-354-7077 2400 617-354-3137 HST 617-354-3230 V.32bis Carrier Detect - Issue 7 - page 20