BYTE-1988-06

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—Dartyl Rubin, AI Expert, on Turbo Probg

"Most powerful

version of Basic ever"

—Ethan Winer, PC Magazine, on Turbo Basic

And able to leap

onto "new ground in the price/performance arena"

—John H. Mayer, Computer Design, on Turbo C

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See the technological excellence of Turbo C, Turbo Pascal and Turbo Basic!

Meet Turbo Prolog 2.0: Artificial Intelligence like you've never seen it!

The Critics Agree: Borland^

"Turbo C ... will stun you with in-RAM compilations that operate at warp speed."

Turbo C's® sleek compiler is so fast and powerful, we used it to write our equation solver, Eureka.™ Even better, all that muscle is wrapped in a smooth, integrated environment with everything you need to make writing, editing and compiling your programs a snap:

• Compiles 10,000 lines per minute*

• Online, context-sensitive help

• ANSI compatible

• Six memory models—tiny to huge

• 450 library functions

• Utilities: Librarian, Make, GREP

• Source code for MicroCalc spreadsheet

• Command-line version of the compiler

• Inline assembly that lets you mix C and assembler

System Requirements For the IBM PS/2™ and the IBM* family ul personal computers and all 100% compatibles. PC-DOS (MS-DOS) 2 0 or later, 384K RAM.

—Richard Hale Shaw, PC Magazine

• Professional-quality graphics library supporting VGA, CGA, EGA, Hercules, and IBM 8514

• Interfaces with Turbo Pascal 4.0 and Turbo Prolog

Just $99.95

H A lightning fast, fully featured C compiler suitable for almost everything ... Borland's Turbo C compiler is flexible, fast and friendly.

—Peter Feldman, PC Week JJ

Heap Sort

Turbo C 1.5

Microsoft C 5.0

Compile time

4.7 sec.

16.3 sec.

Compile & link time

7.4 sec.

19.5 sec.

Execute time

10.5 sec.

15.5 sec.

Object code size

1119

1313

Execution size

6392

7891

Sort benchmark run on an 8 MHz IBM AT using Turbo C version 1.5 and the Turbo Linker version 1.1; Microsoft C version 5,0 and the MS overlay linker version 3,61.

"Turbo Pascal 4.0 flies 4.0 is ballistic!"-romsWOT,

Almost from its introduction, Turbo Pascal® has been the worldwide Pascal standard. It's fast. It's flexible. It's affordable. And it gives you full control.

Compile more than 27,000 lines of code per minute*. And work in a complete, integrated programming environment with pull-down menus and a full-featured editor.

You don't have to swap code in and out to beat the 64K barrier; it's designed for large programs. Break your code into convenient modules and work with them swiftly and separately. If there's an error in one, you can see it and fix it.

System Requirements For the IBM PS/2™ and the IBM® family of personal computers and all 100% compatibles. PC-DOS (MS-DOS) 2.0 or later. 3B4K RAM.

t Customer satisfaction is our main concern: if within 60 days of purchase Ulls product does not perform In accordance with our claims, call our customer service department, and we will arrange a refund.

All Norland products ore trademarks or repi su-red trademarks ol llorlaad Iniernatianal. Inc. Other hrand and prodoct names are trademarks uf their respective holders Copyright otSSfl norland International. Inc. 81 1230

Turbo Languages are Super!

like a rocket...

'987 Programmer's Journal

Powerful features include:

• Producing EXE files

• Separate compilation

• Built-in project management

• Graph unit including support for IBM CGA, EGA, VGA, and 3270, Hercules and ATT 6300

• Online, context-sensitive help *Run on an 8 MHz IBM PC AT.

Add expertise:

The Turbo Pascal Toolboxes

Start with Turbo Pascal Tutor for just $69.95 and add the others as your interests and expertise grow:

• Database Toolbox

• Editor Toolbox

• Graph ix Toolbox

• Numerical Methods Toolbox

• GameWorks

Toolboxes require Turbo Pascal 4.0 Just $99.95 each

U Each new Turbo Pascal 4.0 Toolbox is a virtual treasure of programming methods and tips.

—Giovanni Perrone, PC Week JJ

Circle 40 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 41)

"Turbo Basic compiles faster than anything I have seen." -Ethanwmr.pcu^

Turbo Basic® is the lightning-fast Basic compiler with a total development environment that puts you in full control. Even novices can write professional programs with Turbo Basic's full-screen windowed editor, pull-down menus, and trace debugging system. You also get a long list of innovative Borland features like binary disk files, true recursion, and increased compilation control. Plus the ability to create programs as large as your system's memory can hold—not just a cramped 64K. The choice is basic: Turbo Basic!

zxne

Just $99.95!

ii Turbo Basic, simply put, is an incredibly good product... Not only is this the most advanced BASIC ever, but Borland has lived up to its Turbo tradition.

— William Zachmann, Computerworld JJ

Add another Basic advantage: The Turbo Basic Toolboxes

• The Database Toolbox

• The Editor Toolbox

Toolboxes require Turbo Basic 1.1 Just $99.95 each.

System Requirements for ine IBM PS/2" and lire IBM® family or

personal computers and all 10(1% compatibles. PC-DOS (MS-DOS) 2,0 or later. 38-IK HAM. 640K1O compile toolboxes.

Compare the BASIC differences

Turbo Basic 1.1

QuickBASIC 4.0 Compiler

QuickBASIC 4.0 Interpreter

Compile & Link to stand-alone EXE

3 sec.

7 sec.

Size of .EXE

28387

25980

Execution time w/80287

0.16 sec.

16.5 sec.

21.5 sec.

Execution time w/o 80287

0.16 sec.

286.3 sec.

292.3 sec.

The Klkins Optimization Benchmark program from March 1988 issue of Computer Language was used. The Program was run on an IBM PS/2 Model 60 with 80287. The benchmark tests compiler's ability to optimize loop-invariant code, unused code, expression and conditional evaluation.

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Turbo Prolog 2.0: Powerful Artificial Intelligence for your real-world applications!

New Turbo Prolog8 2.0 lets you harness powerful Al techniques. And you don't have to be an expert programmer or artificial intelligence genius!

You get an all-new Prolog compiler that's been optimized to produce smaller and more efficient programs than ever before. An improved full-screen, completely customizable editor with easy pulldown menus. All-new documentation, including a tutorial rich with examples and instructions to take you all the way from basic programming to advanced techniques. Even online help!

System Requirements For ihe IBM PS/2" and the IBM* family of personal computers and all 100% compatibles. PC-DOS (MS-DOS) 2 0 or later. 384K RAM.

More new features! An external database system for developing large databases. Supports B+ trees and EMS Source code for a fully-featured Prolog interpreter written entirely in Turbo Prolog. Plus step-by-step instructions to adapt it or include it as is in your own applications!

Support for the Borland Graphics Interface, the same professional-quality graphics in Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, and Quattro Improved windowing Powerful exception handling and error trapping features Full compatibility with Turbo C so the two languages can call each other freely Supports multiple internal databases High-resolution video support

Turbo Prolog Toolbox is 6 toolboxes in one!

More than 80 tools and 8,000 lines of source code help you build your own Turbo Prolog applications. Includes toolboxes for menus, screen and report layouts, business graphics, communications, filetransfer capabilities, parser generators, and more!

Toolbox requires Turbo Prolog 2.0

Just $99.95

4£ If I had to pick one single recommendation for people who want to try to keep up with the computer revolution. I'd say, 'Get and learn Turbo Prolog.'

—Jerry Pournelle, Byte 1/88

An affordable, fast, and easy-to-use language.

—Darryl Rubin, Al Expert }}

Just $149.95!

60-Day Money-back Guarantee t

For the dealer nearest you Call (800) 543-7543

Circle 42 on Reader Service Card (Dealers: 43)

BORLAND

INTERNATIONAL

Contents

65 PRODUCTS IN PERSPECTIVE

67 What's New

89

Short Takes

PixelPaintl.O,

color painting for the Mac II

The Norton On Line

Programmer's Guides: OS/2 API,

for OS/2 functions

FreeHand 1.0,

a Mac drawing package

Datacomputer DC 3.0,

a hand-held PC compatible

PopDrop and RAM Lord,

help for managing TSRs

Delta Voyager,

a $99 powerhouse modem

REVIEWS

Product Focus: High-Speed Modems

by John H. Humphrey and Gary S. Smock These modems take transmission rates to a blazing 9600 bps and beyond.

ALR's FlexCache 20386 Catches Compaq

by Mark L. Van Name

With a 20-MHz processor and FlexCache architecture,

the FlexCache 20386 has power to spare.

127 A Tale of Two Laptops

by Wayne Rash Jr.

The NEC MultiSpeed HD and the HP Vectra CS

Model 20 emphasize different aspects of portability.

128F Revitalize Your Old AT

by Don Crabb

Four 80386 replacement motherboards bring

new life to tired ATs.

137 An AT in a Mac II?

by Naor Wallach

AST Research's Mac286, essentially a complete AT motherboard, brings PC processing capability to the Mac II.

102

117

Product Focus/102

145 IBM OS/2 Standard Edition

by Eva M. White

PC-DOS compatibility and a robust environment

for new multitasking applications.

159 Two Mac Databases Go Toe-to-Toe

by Charles Spezzano

Double Helix II and 4th Dimension are two

relational database systems with very different

personalities.

167 Double Threats to Lotus 1-2-3

by Diana Gabaldon

Quattro and Surpass are 1-2-3-compatible

and offer even more features.

173 A Spreadsheet for Unix

by Paul Schauble

Q-Calc Standard promises Lotus 1-2-3 compatibility.

COLUMNS 181 Computing at Chaos Manor: A New Member of the Family

by Jerry Pournelle

Zanna Lee, a Zenith Z-386, joins

the Chaos Manor household.

197 Applications Only: Planning and Publishing

by Ezra Shapiro

Ezra likes InstaPlan but has a few reservations

aboutRagTime2.

205 IN DEPTH: Benchmarks

206 Introduction

207 That "B" Word!

by Bill Nicholls

Designing a good benchmark test is a lot more difficult than it appears. Here's a look at the complications involved.

2 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Cover illustration by Robert Tinney

BYTE

JUNE 1988

VOLUME 13

NUMBER 6

In Depth/205

Features/271

217 Problems and Pitfalls

by Alfred A. AburtoJr.

Casting a critical eye on the current crop

of computer benchmarks.

225 Why MIPS Are Meaningless

by Ron Fox

A typical computer system consists of several component systems; micro benchmarks are designed to measure the performance of these subsystems.

239 Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks

by Richard Grehan, Tom Thompson, Curtis Franklin Jr., and George A. Stewart A suite of low- and high-level tests that gauge total system performance.

271 FEATURES

273 Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar:

Computers on the Brain, Part 1

by Steve Ciarcia

Steve presents HAL, an EEG device utilizing a cleverly crafted amplifier and A/D converter circuitry.

289 Error-Free Fractions

by Peter Wayner

Computers can store rational numbers exactly

by using factorial-base format.

303 A Personal Transputer

by Dick Pountain

Atari is developing a small system around

the Transputer, with a new operating system to match.

313 Dynamic Memory Management in C

by David L. Fox

Use C and its built-in memory functions to produce

better programs, plus some debugging code

to help use them.

DEPARTMENTS

6

Editorial: Our New Benchmarks

11

Microbytes

22

Letters

33

Chaos Manor Mail

38

Ask BYTE

51

Book Reviews

363

Coming Up in BYTE

Section art by John Craig © 1988

READER SERVICE

362 Editorial Index by Company 365 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers 367 Index to Advertisers by Product Category Inquiry Reply Cards: after 368

PROGRAM LISTINGS

From BIX: see 310

From BYTEnet: call (617) 861-9764

On disk or in print: see card after 224

BYTE GSSN 0360-5280) is published monthly with an additional issue in October by McGraw-Hill Inc. Founder: James H. McGraw (1860-1948). Executive, editorial, circulaiion, and advertising offices: One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, phone (603) 924-9281. Office hours: Monday through Thursday 8:30 AM-4:30 PM, Friday 8:30 AM-1:00 PM. Eastern Time. Address subscriptions to BYTE Subscriptions, P.O. Box 7643. Teaneck, NJ 076669866. Postmaster: Send address changes, USPS Form 3579, undeliverable copies, and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions, P.O. Box 7643, Teaneck, NJ 07666-9866. Second-class postage paid at Peterborough, NH 03458 and additional mailing offices. Postage paid at Winnipeg, Manitoba. Registration number 9321. Subscriptions are $22.95 for one year, $39.95 for two years, and $55.95 for three years in the U.S. and its possessions. In Canada and Mexico, $25.95 for one year, S45.95 for two years, S64.95 for three years. $75 for one-year air delivery to Europe. $161 for one-year air delivery to Japan, $45 for one-year surface delivery to Japan, $40 surface delivery elsewhere. Air delivery to selected areas at additional rates upon request. Single copy price is $3.50 in the U.S. and its possessions, $3.95 in Canada, S4.50 in Europe, and $5 elsewhere. Foreign subscriptions and sales should be remitted in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. Please allow six to eight weeks for delivery of first issue. Printed in the United States of America.

Address editorial correspondence to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough. NH 03458. Unacceptable manuscripts will be returned if accompanied by sufficient postage. Not responsible for lost manuscripts or photos. Opinions expressed by the authors art not necessarily those of BYTE.

Copyright © 1988 by McGraw-Hill Inc. All rights reserved. Trademark registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Where necessary, permission is granted by the copyright owner for libraries and others registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to photocopy any article herein for the flat fee of S1.50 per copy of the article or any pan thereof. Correspondence and payment should be sent directly to the CCC, 29 Congress St., Salem, MA 01970. Specify ISSN 0360-5280/83, $1.50. Copying done for other than personal or internal reference use without the permission of McGraw-Hill Inc. is prohibited. Requests for special permission or bulk orders should be addressed to the publisher. BYTE is available in microform from University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Rd., Dept. PR, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 or 18 Bedford Row, Dept. PR, London WC1R4EJ, England.

Subscription questions or problems should be addressed to: BYTE Subscriber Service, P.O. Box 7643 Teaneck NJ 07666-9866.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 3

EVTE

THE SMALL SYSTEMS JOURNAL

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Frederic S. Langa

PUBLISHER/GROUP VICE PRESIDENT

J. Burt Totaro

OPERATIONS

Glenn Hartwig /Associate Managing Editor

REVIEWS (Hardware, Software, Product Focus) Cathryn Baskin Associate Managing Editor, Dennis Allen Senior Technical Editor, Software, Curtis Franklin Jr. Senior Testing Editor, BYTE Lab, Stephen Apiki Testing Editor, BYTE Lab, Stanford Diehl Testing Editor, BYTE Lab

NEWS AND TECHNOLOGY (Mlcrobytes, What's New, Short Takes)

Rich Malloy Associate Managing Editor, D. Barker Senior

Editor, News and Technology, Anne Fischer Lent Senior

Editor, New Products

Peterborough: Roger Adams Associate News Editor, Martha

Hicks Associate News Editor, Jeff Merron Associate News

Editor

West Coast: Gene Smarte Bureau Chief, Costa Mesa,

Nicholas Baran Technical Editor, San Francisco, Jeffrey

Bertolucci Editorial Assistant, San Francisco

SENIOR TECHNICAL EDITORS

Ken Sheldon Features, Richard Grehan At Large, Jane Morrill Tazelaar At Large, Tom Thompson At Large

TECHNICAL EDITORS

Janet J. Barron, Eva M. White, Stanley Wszola

ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITOR

Robert Mitchell

CONSULTING EDITORS

Steve Ciarcia, Jerry Pournelle, Ezra Shapiro

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jonathan Amsterdam Programming Projects, Mark Dahmke Wdeo, Operating Systems, Mark Haas At Large, Rik Jadrnicek CAD, Graphics, Spreadsheets, Robert T. Kurosaka Mathematical Recreations, Alastair J. W. Mayer Software, Stan Miastkowski New Technology, Alan R. Miller Languages and Engineering, Dick Pountain Algorithms, Roger Powell Computers and Music, Phillip Robinson Semiconductors, Jon Shiell High-Performance Systems, Ernest Tello Anificial Intelligence

COPY EDITORS

Lauren Stickler Chief, Susan Colwell, Judy ConnorsTenney, Jeff Edmonds, Nancy Hayes, Cathy Kingery, Margaret A. Richard, Warren Williamson

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

Peggy Dunham Office Manager, Linda C. Ryan, June N. Sheldon, Lynn Susan Valley

ART

Nancy Rice Director, Joseph A. Gallagher Assistant Director, Jan Muller Assistant, Alan Easton Technical Artist

PRODUCTION

David R. Anderson Director, Virginia Reardon Senior Editorial Production Coordinator, Denise Chartrand Editorial Production Coordinator, Michael J. Lonsky Editorial Production Coordinator

TYPOGRAPHY

Sherry Fiske Systems Manager, Donna Sweeney Applications Manager, Selinda Chiquoine

ADVERTISING/PRODUCTION (603) 924-6448

Lisa Wbzmak Director, Lyda Clark Senior Account Coordinator, Karen Cilley, Linda Fluhr, Jeanne Gatcombe, Brian Higgins, Rod Holden, Wai Chiu Li Quality Control Manager, Julie Murphree Advertising/Production Coordinator

ADMINISTRATION

Beverly Goss Publisher's Assistant

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Horace T. Howland Director, Pamela Petrakos-Wilson Promotion Manager, Wilbur S. Watson Marketing Services Manager, Dawn Matthews Marketing Events Coordinator, Lisa Jo Steiner Marketing Assistant, Stephanie Warnesky Marketing Art Director, Sharon Price Associate Art Director, Julie Perron Market Research Analyst

PLANNING AND RESEARCH

Michele Perron Director

Faith Kluntz Copyrights Coordinator, Cynthia Damato

Sands Reader Service Coordinator

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Philip L. Penny Director of Finance and Services, Kenneth A. King Business Manager, Christine Monkton Assistant, Marilyn Haigh, Diane Henry, JoAnn Walter, Jaime Huber

CIRCULATION

Dan McLaughlin Director

James Bingham Newsstand Sates Manager, Vicki Weston Assistant Manager, Karen Desroches Distribution Coordinator, Louise Menegus Back Issues

PERSONNEL

Patricia Burke Personnel Coordinator, Donna Healy Receptionist

BUILDING SERVICES

Tony Bennett Manager, Cliff Monkton, Mark Monkton, Agnes Perry

EIX

BYTE INFORMATION EXCHANGE

ACTING DIRECTOR

Edward A. Reno Jr.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

George Bond

SENIOR EDITOR

David Betz

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Tony Lockwood, Donna Osgood San Francisco

MICROBYTES DAILY

D. Barker Coordinator, Peterborough, Rich Malloy New York, Gene Smarte Bureau Chief, Costa Mesa, Nicholas Baran San Francisco, Rick Cook Phoenix, Jonathan Erickson San Francisco, Martha Hicks Peterborough, Anne Fischer Lent Peterborough, Larry Loeb Wallingford, CT, Brock N. Meeks La Mesa, CA, Jeff Merron Peterborough, Stan Miastkowski Peterborough, Wayne Rash Jr. Washington, DC, David Reed Lexington, KY

GROUP MODERATORS

David Allen Applications. Frank Boosman Artificial Intelligence, Leroy Casterline Other, Marc Greenfield Programming Languages, Jim Howard Graphics, Gary Kendall Operating Systems, Steve Krenek Computers, Brock N. Meeks Telecommunications, Barry Nance New Technology, Donald Osgood Computers, Sue Rosenberg Ofner, Jon Swanson Chips

BUSINESS AND MARKETING

Doug Webster Director (603) 924-9027, Patricia Bausum Secretary, Denise A. Greene Customer Service, Brian Warnock Customer Service, Tammy Burgess Customer Credit and Billing

TECHNOLOGY

Clayton Lisle Director, Business Systems Technology. MHIS, Bill Garrison Sen/or Business Systems Analyst, Jack Reilly Senior Business Systems Analyst, Bob Dorobis Business Systems Analyst, Fred Strauss Senior Business Systems Analyst

ADVERTISING SALES

Dennis J. Riley Director, (603) 924-9281 Sandra Foster Administrative Assistant

NEW ENGLAND

ME, NH, VT, MA, Rl, ONTARIO, CANADA & EASTERN CANADA JohnC. Moon (617)262-1160

ATLANTIC

NY, NYC, CT, NJ (NORTH) Leah G. Rabinowitz (212) 512-2096 Dick McGurk (203) 968-7111

EAST

PA, KY, OH, NJ (SOUTH), MD, VA, W.VA,

DE, DC

Daniel Ferro (215) 496-3833

SOUTHEAST

NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, TN

Carolyn F. Lovett (404) 252-0626

MIDWEST

IL, MO, KS, IA, ND, SD, MN, Wl, NE, IN, Ml, MS

Bob Denmead (312) 751-3740

SOUTHWEST, ROCKY MOUNTAIN CO, WY, OK, TX, AR, LA Karl Heinrich (713) 462-0757

SOUTH PACIFIC

SOUTHERN CA, AZ, NM, LAS VEGAS

Jack Anderson (714) 557-6292

Tom Harvey (213) 480-5243

NORTH PACIFIC

HI, WA, OR, ID, MT, NORTHERN CA, NV (except LAS VEGAS), UT, WESTERN CANADA Mike Kisseberth (415) 362-4600

Bill McAfee (415) 349-4100 TELEMARKETING

L. Bradley Browne Director Susan Boyd Administrative Assistant

BYTE BITS (2x3)

Dan Harper (603) 924-6830

THE BUYER'S MART (1x2)

Mark Stone (603) 924-3754

REGIONAL ADVERTISING SECTIONS MID-ATLANTIC, METRO NY & NEW ENGLAND, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, SOUTHEAST Elisa Lister (603) 924-8830

MIDWEST, PACIFIC NORTHWEST, SOUTHWEST, METRO NY & NEW ENGLAND Scott Gagnon (603) 924-9281

BYTE DECK MAILINGS

National

Ed Ware (603) 924-6166

A/E/C COMPUTING DECK COMPUTING FOR ENGINEERS DECK

Mary Ann Goulding (603) 924-9281

INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING SALES STAFF

See listing on page 365.

EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICE:

One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, (603) 924-9281.

Weat Coast Branch Ofiicea: 425 Battery St., San Francisco, CA 94111, (415) 954-9718; 3001 Red Hill Ave., Building #1, Suite 222, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, (714) 557-6292.

New York Branch Editorial Office: 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, (212) 512-3175.

BYTEnet: (617) 861-9764 (set modem at 8-1-N or 7-1-E; 300 or 1200 baud). Fax: (603) 924-7507. Telex: (603) 924-7861.

SUBSCRIPTION CUSTOMER SERVICE: Non-U.S. (201)837-1315; inside U.S. (outside NJ) 1-800-423-8272; (inside NJ) 1-800-367-0218.

"it

■:nn

Officers of McGraw-Hill Information Systems Company: President: Richard B. Miller. Executive Vice Presidents: Frederick P. Jannott, Construction Information Group; Russell C. White, Computers and Communications Information Group: J. Thomas Ryan, Marketing and International. Senior Vice Presidents-Publishers: Laurence Airman, Electronics; David J. McGrath, Engineering News-Record. Group Vice Presidents: J. Burt Totaro, BYTE; Frank A. Shinal, Dodge; Peter B. McCuen, Communications Information. Vice Presidents; Robert D. Daleo, Controller; Fred O. Jensen, Planning and Development; Michael J. Koeller, Human Resources; Julia Lenard, Systems Planning and Technology.

Officers of McGraw-Hill Inc.: Harold W. McGraw Jr., Chairman; Joseph L. Dionne, President and Chief Executive Officer; Robert N. Landes, Executive vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary; Walter D. Serwatka, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Shel F. Asen, Senior Vice President, Manufacturing; Robert J. Bahash, Senior Vice President, Finance and Manufacturing; Frank D. Penglase, Senior Vice President, Treasury Operations; Ralph R. Schulz, Senior Vice President. Editorial.

BYTE, BVTI , and The Small Systems Journal are registered trademarks of McGraw-Hill Inc.

4 BYTE* JUNE 1988

srrvlRTWORK Kee Getting Smarter

Smarter Artwork

Three years ago, Wintek engineers createa smARTWORK to reauce the time and tedium of laying out their own printed-circuit boards. Thousands of engineers have since discovered the ease of use and sophistication that makes smARTWORK the most popular PCB CAD software available. And thanks to them, smARTWORK keeps getting better.

New smARTWORK Features

□ Silkscreen layer for component placement and identification

D Text capabilities for all three layers

□ Selectable trace widths and pad shapes and sizes

□ User-definable library

□ Ground planes created with a single command

□ Solder-mask and padmaster plots generated automatically

□ Quick printer 2X checkplots

□ Additional drivers for printers and plotters

D Optional drill-tape and Gerber photoplotter utilities D AutoCAD® .DXF file output □ Completely updated manual

D 800 number for free technical assistance

smARTWORK transforms your IBM PC into a PCB CAD system

Interactive routing, continual design-rule checking, pad shaving, and production-quality 2X artwork have always been a part of smARTWORK. And now that many customer suggestions have become a part of the software, smARTWORK is an even better value. That's why we offer it with a thirtyday money-back no-nonsense guarantee.

2" by 4" section of a 10" by 16" doublesided board with silkscreen layer

Using an Epson or IBM dot-matrix printer, you can create 2X artwork and 1X or 2X checkplots in a fraction of the time hand-taping requires

Current Versions

HiWIRE V1.1r1

smARTWORK V1.3r5

Camera-ready 2Xartwork from an HI or HP pen plotter

The Smart Buy. Guaranteed.

Still priced at $895, smARTWORK is proven, convenient, and fast. Our money-back guarantee lets you try smARTWORK for 30 days at absolutely no risk. Call toll free (800) 742-6809 today and put smARTWORK to work for you tomorrow. Thaf s smart work.

System Requirements

D IBM PC, PC XT, or PC AT with 384K RAM, and DOS V2.0 or later

□ IBM Color/Graphics Adapter with RGB color or B&W monitor

□ IBM Graphics Printer or Epson FX/MX/RX-series printer, and/or

D Houston Instrument DMP-40,41,42, 51,52, or Hewlett-Packard 7470, 7475, 7550, 7580, 7585, 7586 pen plotter

□ Optional Microsoft Mouse

Wintek Corporation 1801 South St. Lafayette, IN 47904 Telephone: (800] 742-6809 In Indiana: (317) 742-8428 Telex: 70-9079 WINTEK CORP UD

"sinA31WC3K". Wm'e<". and the Wintek logo are registered trademarks of Wintek Corporation. ■AutoCAD" is a registered trademark of Autodesk. Inc

Europe: fiWA Terminals Ud.. England, Phonei 04862-71001, Telex: 859502/ Australia: Entertainment Audio Pry. Ltd., Phone: [08) 363-0454 or (008) 88 841*/Brazil: Comlcro Intormatlca E Tecnotogia Ltda., Phone: (0*1) 224-5616

Circle 289 on Reader Service Card JUNE 1988 • B Y T E 5

EDITORIAL

Our New Benchmarks

Here they are: BYTE's new system

benchmarks.

Our goals in developing these new benchmarks were very high: We set out to create a new suite of benchmarks that would give you the most comprehensive, accurate, and useful information on microcomputer performance that is available today; benchmarks that were appropriate for the current generation of hardware and software and that would not go out of date at any time in the foreseeable future.

It was a tall order, but based on our experience, research, and consultation with numerous industry experts, we believe we've succeeded. Once you've seen the benchmarks, we're confident that you will agree.

The new suite comprises high-level tests, which examine a machine's realworld performance, and low-level tests, which amplify and illuminate the highlevel tests by providing a detailed, specialized examination of each machine's constituent subsystems.

The new benchmarks provide an impressive level of detail—but not merely numbers for numbers' sake. For example, when a machine turns in an unusually good or bad performance, our benchmarks show you exactly where the machine excels or falls short and which kinds of applications are affected. Just as important, they can reveal hidden strengths or weaknesses in machines that turn in otherwise seemingly average overall performance.

The wealth of information provided by our combination of high- and low-level benchmarks means that you're not locked into some narrow, preconceived or subjective interpretation of the results. Rather, you can easily use our benchmarks to estimate how any given machine will perform for your unique mix of applications. (If you've ever wasted time trying to guess how an arbitrary and artificial benchmark like the infamous NOP—no operation—test relates to realworld throughput, you'll appreciate the realism and immediate usefulness of our new benchmarks.)

Also, there's our objectivity: BYTE, alone among the leading computer publications, is not allied with a particular family of machines. We have no ax to

grind about any particular product, no reason—intentional or otherwise—to stack the benchmark deck one way or another. Our system tests are deliberately not optimized to favor any particular brand, chip family, or architecture. This means we have a way to address the thorny issue of accurately and objectively comparing the relative performance of systems with different processors and designs.

We've—in effect—constructed a "level playing field" on which any machine can be put to the test with a minimum amount of tweaking. This also means we'll be able to adapt our benchmarks to handle brand-new chips and architectures in a remarkably short time.

But you don't have to take my word for any of this, because our benchmarks aren't of the "black box" variety—you know, the kind that spits out a result but doesn't tell you how the number was generated or what it really means. The "hows and whys" of our new benchmarks are explained in detail in this month's In Depth section, and the complete source code for all our low-level benchmarks is available via BYTEnet (free, except for the cost of your phone call), on BIX, in print in our Quarterly Listings Supplement, and on disk (see page 3). We invite your close inspection.

In the Reviews section, you'll see the new system benchmarks in action, with the results presented in easy-to-use, informative tables and graphs that should satisfy any level of curiosity about the reviewed systems.

At the top of each page of benchmark results you'll find an overall number, or index. This represents the cumulative performance of the machine on our applications-level benchmarks compared to several "standard" machines, such as the venerable 8-MHz IBM PC AT and the newer Compaqs and PS/2s. (Our new Macintosh benchmarks follow the same pattern; there are no new Macs to review at this time, so the new Mac system benchmarks do not appear in this issue's reviews. However, the Mac benchmarks are discussed in the In Depth section.)

Our high-level benchmarks measure the performance of each machine while running a wide variety of real-world commercial software packages, such as word processors, compilers, databases, CAD

packages, desktop publishing packages, spreadsheets, and so on. These tests are designed to realistically exercise each machine's major subsystems—disk I/O, video, CPU, floating-point unit, and memory—in a variety of ways.

The overall index can serve to give you a "quick fix" on a particular machine, but you should be aware that—like all generalizations—this overall number does not in itself provide high precision. That's why the index is visually joined to a graph that breaks down the overall performance into application-by-application results. Here, you can begin to see strengths and weaknesses emerge, and you can begin to use that information to see how a given machine meets (or fails to meet) your own specialized needs.

The numbers to the left of the graph provide the detailed results of the application tests, for even greater refinement and accuracy.

The lower portion of the page contains the low-level test results. On the right, a graph clearly illustrates relative performance on a subsystem-by-subsystem basis; on the left are the detailed, test-bytest results.

You can use the low-level results to examine, in as much detail as you wish, why a machine performed as it did in the highlevel tests. They also let you compare machines at the most fundamental level, and to tailor our benchmark results to unusual applications not included in our highlevel tests: Just examine the subsystem(s) your application will exercise most, and you can get a good idea of how the reviewed system will handle the task.

The Future

These new system benchmarks are the foundation for an entire new set of benchmarks. Over the next few months, you'll see additional refinements and improvements, including a new suite of software benchmarks.

BYTE was the first magazine to use objective benchmarks in evaluating personal computers. We're proud to continue that tradition with these—the first "second-generation" microcomputer benchmarks in the industry.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions.

—FredLanga Editor in Chief

6 BYTE" JUNE 1988

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Even Compaq's DeskPro 386/20 eats the dust made by the ALR FlexCache 20386 as it screams down the DOS highway..."

PC Magazine, March 15,1988

At Advanced Logic Research (ALR) the philosophy of getting more for your money has become a tradition. A tradition recognized by a long line of excellent reviews from all the major trade journals. FlexCache 386 Series is based on the ALR 386/220, PC Magazine's choice as "The Best of 1987". Now the fastest PCs available, the FlexCache Series approach minicomputer performance and offer you the most for your money.

FlexCache dual bus architecture separates the standard 8MHz peripheral bus from the highspeed memory bus. This permits access at the 16MHz or 20MHz CPU clock rate. By keeping frequently used data close at hand, the cache memory controller eliminates wait states 95% of the time. Since 90% of all data transfers relate to the data bus, long delays in computations disappear.

Faster Than IBM or Compaq

This innovative design allows for up to 60% faster CPU/memory data through-put than the IBM PS/2 model 80-071 with the much touted microchannel. And the FlexCache 20MHz CPU "...consistently lays down a coating of dust on Compaq's IBM-basher." -Compaq DeskPro 386/20.

Balanced System/ Fast Disk

Full track data transferring (1:1 interleave) plus ESDI look-ahead buffering, allow FlexCache 386 systems to turn what used to be a data bottleneck into a super highspeed corridor. Compaq wants you to pay $7490 for their DeskPro 386/20 model 60 with a 60MB hard disk. But for the same price you can get ALR's FlexCache 20386 model 150 with a 150MB hard disk and 200% faster transfer rate.

Room to Grow

The minicomputer-style chassis of the FlexCache 20386 offers space for five internal devices, allowing more data storage than any other PC available.

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FlexCache 16386 and FlexCache 20386 are trademarks of Advanced Logic Research, Inc. Compaq DeskPro 386 & 386/20 are trademarks of Compaq Computer Corp. IBM PS/2 is a trademark of International Business Machines, Inc. Prices and configurations are subject to change without notice.

8 BYTE* JUNE 1988

Can you cope with fame?

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Circle 10 on Reader Service Card (Dealers: 11)

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 9

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Circle 36 on Reader Service Card

MICROBYTES

Staff-written highlights of developments in technology and the microcomputer industry

Device Could Break the Chains Between Portables and Batteries

A new device that converts RF energy into DC is capable of powering small electronic devices, such as laptop computers, and could free portables from "battery bondage." "Using this device, you'll never need batteries for your laptop again," Sonic Electric Energy Corp. president Ray Weilage told Microbytes. He said the company has been snowing a "prototype RF-powered computer" at its headquarters in Atlanta.

According to Rick English, technical analyst for Prudential-Bache, "Sonic's patent for the RF conversion device has been approved. They have a lock on the technology."

Weilage said Sonic has successfully shown the device is capable of powering small color TV sets and other little units, such as portable radios. "However, the expansion of the technology into computers and television sets opens a new field for making these units portable and power-source self-sufficient," he said.

"We have a cell that converts radio frequency to direct current under 66

MHz. That's on the other end of the spectrum from NASA's experiments with microwaves to power an airplane type of thing. We're on the other end of the spectrum working with the longer wavelengths," Weilage said.

The actual device is "very similar to the photoelectric cells that convert light to energy. It's the same thing, except that we're converting radio frequency to energy," Weilage said.

To power a laptop computer would take a box about the size of a pack of cigarettes. Weilage said the unit would add virtually no weight to a laptop and would cost a manufacturer "about $20."

The Sonic device draws the RF frequency from an antenna based on the Tesla coil theory. The efficiency of the device, Weilage claimed, stems from having reduced the Tesla coil to a microchip. "Bell Labs was the first to implement the Tesla coil technology on a microchip," said English, "but they were using it for a 'what if we could do this' type of experiment."

"DRAM Scam": Atari Chief Slams Shortage

America's computer industry is starved for computer chips, Japanese semiconductor firms are raking in the profits, and Atari CEO Jack Tramiel thinks it's all a scam—"the DRAM Scam," he calls it.

Tramiel used a press conference at the CeBIT '88 computer exhibition in West Germany to assail the "shortsighted and underhanded" trade policy of the U.S. and to denounce the "socalled DRAM shortage." He claimed there is plenty of chip manufacturing capacity in the world; however, because of trade agreements between Japan and the U.S., the supply can't match the demand.

"This is a case of calculated shortage," said Tramiel; the trade policy has foisted a classic manifestation of the Law of Unintended Consequences on the computer industry. A trade sanction against Japanese chip makers, intended

to stop the "dumping" of low-cost chips on the American market while allowing the survival of the U.S. chip industry, has backfired, he said. As a result, there's a shortage of dynamic RAM chips and a dramatic increase in their price, which in turn has meant higher prices for computers.

Nine months ago, DRAMs sold for $1.50. "Today on the spot market, those same chips cost $6," Tramiel said. "That's not profit. That's robbery." The current world demand for DRAMs runs around 100 million per month, according to Tramiel; the total U.S. output is only 10 million. "It didn't take the Japanese long to figure out that they could get a higher price for selling fewer chips. They don't mind profiting from America's stupidity."

Tramiel wasn't totally negative. "I don't see this chip shortage lasting more

continued

Nanobytes

• The hottest thing our traveling news hand saw at the massive Hannover Fair in West Germany—or at least it was treated as if it was the hottest thing—was a Macintosh 512K-byte clone. Representatives of a Taiwanese manufacturer had brought the illicit box to show to a select few. The fact that it used illegal copies of the Mac ROMs made the reps a little secretive. "We are not certain that Apple can maintain its grip on the technology," one of them said. "We feel it is a possible violation of U.S. antitrust laws." Asked what such a clone might sell for, the spokesperson said, "We would like to see the computer sell for around $795."

• Although some expect the shortage of memory chips to lighten up soon, computer makers are wrangling to get memory wherever they can. We've heard that certain Japanese semiconductor companies have been quietly distributing 4-megabit dynamic RAM chips to select customers. The DRAM shipments are invoiced "test samples" or "research samples," which could indicate that the chips are being offered in advance of actual production quantities. Japanese firms are increasing their outputs of dynamic RAMs; analysts say the few U.S. companies that supply DRAMs had better do the same.

• MIPS Computer Systems (Sunnyvale, CA) claims "sustained performance" of 20 VAX MIPS with its new RISC processor, the R3000, which is about three times the claimed processing power of Sun's SPARC chip.

The 25-MHz chip will be supplied by Integrated Device Technology, LSI Logic, and Performance Semiconductor. Perhaps as important as MIPS's new chip is its agreement with AT&T to de

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 11

MICROBYTES

velop an application binary interface (ABI) that will allow binary compatibility of Unix applications across all systems using MIPS processors. MIPS spokespersons claimed the AT&T deal sets them on equal status with Sun's SPARC architecture in relation to Unix. However, Sun will jointly develop Release V of Unix System V with AT&T.

• Tandy (Fort Worth, TX) is now licensing its easy-to-comprehend DeskMate interface to developers. DeskMate is a pictorial interface that works on 8088, 8086, and 80286 computers. It takes up only 384K bytes of memory. Some of the software publishers saying they'll write for the environment include Symantec, Electronic Arts, Broderbund, Intuit, Sierra Online, Software Publishing Corp., and Activision. Tandy marketing director Ed Juge said that because DeskMate is so easy to use, it will help sell "a ton of computers."

• Epson America (Torrance, CA) cut the suggested price of its Equity III+ computer with a hard disk drive by $196 to $3299 and the floppy disk drive version by $96 to $2199. The bad news is that the price of the LQ line of 24-pin printers went up (except for the LQ-2500): the LS-500 went up $30 to $529, the LQ-850 up $50 to $849, and the LQ-1050

up $100 to $1199.

• G-2 Inc. (Milpitas, CA) has gotten into the growing IBM-compatible business with three new products: a chipset compatible with IBM's PC XT and PS/2 Model 30 and supporting clock speeds up to 10 MHz, a VGA chip, and a trio of chips that G-2 says "replaces most of the ICs" used to build AT compatibles and systems based on the 80386. Samples are ready now.

• U.S. companies will spend $20 billion on software and related services this year, a new report claims. Based on interviews with 137 Fortune 500 companies, Newton-Evans Research (Ellicot City, MD) says packaged software will account for about $12.5 billion of that sum. The researchers say that 350,000 Americans are working in software-development jobs.

continued

than 6 or 9 months," he said. He also announced that Atari hopes to either buy or build its own semiconductor plant within the next 12 months.

Atari will hold the line on the prices of its systems, Tramiel said. (Atari is reportedly currently buying chips, under contract, from Japanese manufacturers for $2.50 each.) "So maybe we only make $55 million next year instead of $57 million," he told an applauding European audience. Europe receives the largest share of Atari's computer output.

Regardless of its causes, the current shortage of DRAM chips is preventing Atari from manufacturing enough Mega STs to supply the U.S. market, company marketing director Neil Harris said.

Because of Atari's popularity in Europe, most machines, which are manufactured in Taiwan, are being delivered to European customers. Atari has held back advertising and marketing of the

Mega ST on this side of the Atlantic, Harris said.

The shortage of Mega STs in the U.S. has also put a damper on Atari's laser printer, which depends on the large memory capacity of the Mega ST for effective performance. Unlike most other laser printers, the Atari unit has no internal memory of its own but uses part of the Mega ST's 4 megabytes of RAM, which is actually a more efficient and cost-effective use of memory capacity, according to Harris.

Atari continues to delay production of its MS-DOS computer, announced more than a year ago. "It came down to a choice between manufacturing STs or MS-DOS machines," said Harris. "The MS-DOS machine is ready to go but won't go into production until the RAM shortage goes away." Harris said that Atari expects the DRAM shortage to start easing by the third quarter of this year and still has plans to aggressively market the Mega ST in the U. S.

Motorola Pushing 88000

Motorola has established its 68000 as one of the powerhouse processors in the microcomputer market. Now the company's Microprocessor Products Group (Austin, TX) is aiming for similar success with the 88000, its 32-bit reducedinstruction-set computer (RISC) processor. The 88000 is based on a Harvard-style computer architecture, with separate address and data lines for a program's code and data. These dual "paths" allow code and data operations to operate in parallel, which improves throughput.

The 88000 is composed of three chips: the MC88000 central processor and two MC88200 cache/memory management units (CMMUs) that supervise the code and the data paths. The MC88000 has a register file of thirtytwo 32-bit registers, built-in integer and floating-point math units, an extensible instruction set, and an extensible architecture. The extensible architecture is made up of eight special function units (one is the floating-point math unit) with 256 reserved op codes that allow a vendor to expand the MC88000's capabilities. Such expansions might include transcendental function support or a serial driver. The MC88200 CMMU has a built-in 16Kbyte memory cache and performs bus snooping to maintain cache coherence.

A scoreboarding function in the MC88000 maintains validity of the register file contents. For example, if a multiply operation uses two register

as Chip of the Nineties

values, and the contents of one of the registers is invalid (perhaps the fetch instruction loading the target register is still in progress), the scoreboard will stop the multiply operation until the fetch operation is completed. Scoreboarding lets software designers write RISC software without becoming mired in the details of moving data through the processor. It also allows certain code optimizations to be performed. Programs written for the 88000 are typically 10 percent larger or smaller than equivalent programs written in MC68020 code, according to Motorola officials.

From the beginning, both the MC88000 and the MC88200 were designed to support tightly coupled multiprocessing. You can use up to four MC88000s in parallel to boost processing power, or, if your application demands it, you can combine up to four MC88200s on a path to expand the path's memory cache to 64K bytes (128K bytes total). A single 20-MHz 88000 processor runs at about 15 to 17 million instructions per second and 34,000 Dhrystones. Motorola offers boards with combinations of one, two, and four 88000 processors.

In what's shaping up as a trend, companies are bringing out support tools with their new chips rather than just saying, "Here's the silicon, baby; you're on your own." For the 88000, there's an optimizing C compiler from Green

continued

12 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 13

MICROBYTES

• C + + is now available for workstations from Apollo Computer (Chelmsford, MA). Apollo's version of the objectoriented programming language, called Domain/C + +, is based on AT&T's C+ + translator. The company intends to integrate the language with its Distributed Debugging Environment later this year.

• Since many IBM-compatible computers have high-resolution EGA or VGA monitors, the company known for bringing graphics to monochrome PCs, Hercules Computer Technology (Berkeley, CA), has had to turn

to other areas of the graphics market. Hercules is working on several products for enhancing the performance of VGA-based machines such as the IBM PS/2. The firm is also developing similar products for the Macintosh II.

The VGA package will coexist with an existing VGA board, connected via the VGA card's feature connector. It will allow you to use Hercules' RamFonts on a VGA system and will also "improve the performance of current bit-mapped graphics applications," according to Hercules CEO Jim Harris. Hercules hopes to show the VGA board at Fall COMDEX, with a Macintosh version following close behind.

• Saba Technologies (Beaverton, OR) has retooled its Page Reader scanner to handle draft type from dot-matrix printers and to be a little fester at reading pages (about one per minute, the company says). The $1299 Page Reader 2.0 also now supports the Tag Image File Format, which means the graphics can be used in PageMaker and other programs that accept TIFF files.

• The Computer Security Institute will demonstrate viruses and virus detectors at its conference for users of IBM and DEC systems. The program will emphasize network security, with sessions covering Ethernet and Mac VAX networks. The event happens this month (June 13-15) in Arlington, VA. For more information, phone Irene at (617) 393-2600.

• The market for used microcomputers has reached $1.2 bil

continued

hill, with FORTRAN, Pascal, Lisp, and Prolog languages available in mid1988, and COBOL and Ada languages available in the second half of 1988. Tektronix has its DAS 9200 logic analyzer with a MC88000 probe for hardware prototyping and testing. Phoenix Technologies and Insignia Solutions announced programs to allow MS-DOS applications to run on the 88000.

Anticipated uses for the 88000 include large-scale parallel processing projects, big banking systems, AI workstations that use three-dimensional graphics, CAD systems manipulating three-dimensional objects, and jobs (such as in aerospace) that demand fault-tolerant computing. Tektronix has said it will incorporate the 88000 in color graphics workstations.

U.S. Firms Show Workstations Overseas

Although Atari and Commodore are known in the U.S. primarily for their low-cost home computers, both companies continue to work at highperformance machines. At the recent Hannover Fair in West Germany, they talked about their Transputer-based systems and Unix boxes that are in the works.

Atari demonstrated prototypes of its system based on the INMOS Transputer, the Abaq, at COMDEX in November. The company will ship "about 100 Transputers to developers in the next month," president Sam Tramiel told us at Hannover.

Commodore also announced its own Transputer-driven system. The company claims a processing rate about 10 times faster than an IBM PC AT. Each chip has four high-speed serial connections in addition to a normal bus. Four additional Transputers can be connected to the main processor.

Commodore is developing its system with a large-scale research institution, Gesellschaft fur Biotechnologische (the Society for Biotechnology Research). Commodore plans to develop a high-performance workstation around the Transputer for use primarily in lab

oratories and industries. This project is based on the Amiga 2000, which, when equipped with the Transputer system, offers a greatly enhanced graphics capability for such applications as modeling molecular structures.

Atari showed us a prototype of a Unix workstation. The system, when available, would be shipped with Unix System V version 3.1, according to Shiraz Shivji, Atari's head of research and development. However, the working unit that we saw demonstrated was a wire-wrapped prototype. Shivji said the actual boards are now being manufactured and that Atari will begin shipping systems to developers in "two or three months."

The workstation will have at least 4 megabytes of RAM, use a VME bus, and support Sun's Network File Structure. The system is based on the 68030 chip. It will use the International Standards Organization model for networking, have a SCSI port, and use X-Windows, Shivji said.

Commodore is also developing a Unix workstation. The Commodore model is based on the 68020 chip and will first appear as an add-on board for the Amiga 2000.

Mac the Mouth Shows How We Speak

You speak into a microphone. On the screen of a Mac II, you see a crosssectional animated diagram of a person's head. As you speak, you see the lips, the teeth, and the tongue move in sync with your voice. You think to yourself, "Gee, I didn't know my tongue moved so much."

What makes this animation possible is a program under development by a small San Diego firm called Emerson & Stern. The primary purpose of the program, informally called Mac the Mouth, is to help people who have speech difficulties.

According to Jan Zimmerman, the CEO of the company, the program will help speech pathologists to correct

speech problems that may be caused by hearing impairments, stroke, or head injury. It may also help people who want to lose their accent or develop a different one.

Mac the Mouth works by digitizing the sounds that a person makes when he or she says a word and breaking them down into a series of frequencies, similar to a standard spectrogram. The program then translates these sounds into an animated diagram of a person's mouth. The effect is almost that of being able to look into someone's mouth and watch his or her tongue move.

The program will allow people with speech impairments to have visual feed

continued

14 BYTE • JUNE 1988

$299 For 3-D CAD you can't be by spendin thousands more.

You can spend thousands of dollars

for three dimensional CAD software

and still not get the power and

capability that DesignCAD 3-D

offers for a remarkable $299! DesignCAD 3-D is

proof positive that you don't have to spend a fortune

for quality.

DESIGN&4D 3D

The compatibility that DesignCAD 3-D offers you means that it can be used with almost any PC compatible system. It supports more than 200 dot matrix printers, more than 80 plotters and most digitizers and graphic adapters. DesignCAD 3-D can read drawings from most other CAD systems.

DesignCAD 3-D allows you to develop and advance

any design in 3 dimensional space, while providing you

with features such as shading, hidden line removal,

printer and plotter support. DesignCAD 3-D's extensive

file transfer utilities allow you to: transfer documents

to and from IGES, DXF HPGL, transfer to GEM and

Post Script and to read ASCII text files and X, Y, Z

coordinate files. It allows up to 4 simultaneous views

(any angle or perspective) on the screen. Complex

extrusions, extensive 3-D text capabilities, auto

dimensioning and a host of other

features are all included with PC Res0urce Magazine

DesignCAD 3-D, all at no extra

charge. as one 0f ^e sjx

new computer products worth watching in 1988.

Circle 19 on Reader Service Card

The best reason to buy DesignCAD 3-D is not the low price, the performance or the compatibility. The best reason is the amazing ease of use. DesignCAD 3-D's powerful commands mean that you can produce professional 3-D drawings in less time than you thought possible. In fact, we think you'll agree that DesignCAD 3-D is easier to learn and easier to use than any 3-D CAD system for IBM PC, at any price!

See your local computer dealer for DesignCAD 3-D, or contact:

•»A

inerican

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327 S. Mill St., Pryor, OK 74361

(918)825-4844 FAX 918-825-6359

Telex 9102400302

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 15

MICROBYTES

lion, according to the National Association of Computer Dealers (Houston). Despite specialty stores and "computer brokers," most used computers are sold in traditional ways: friend to friend or via classified ads, an NACD spokesperson said. • Okay, he's rich and famous. But is he happy? "I'm frustrated," said Apple vice president Jean-Louis Gassee. "I see the power of computing, but we're not doing it," he told an audience at the University of California at Berkeley. "We're not building networks or systems that can be used by normal people." Gassee warned that the "techno-clergy" must not become isolated from the rest of society. "The idea of 10,000 remote databases means absolutely nothing to most people," he said.

back on the sounds they are producing and the way they are producing them. In normal operation, a person will watch the diagrams that are produced when a speech pathologist says a word and then try to duplicate those same patterns.

According to Zimmerman, the software has already helped one of the company's programmers. The programmer, who emigrated from Thailand, had trouble pronouncing the "1" sound in words such as "really." By using the program, she was able to see where her tongue should be correctly placed and was able to produce the correct sound.

Zimmerman hopes to have Mac the Mouth ready in about 6 months. It will be available only for OEMs. No pricing data was available.

The significance of Mac the Mouth may extend beyond speech pathology. Emerson & Stern's Zimmerman says the company is exploring the possibility of combining Mac the Mouth with a grammar parser to develop a system for speech recognition. Such a system, Zimmerman says, would be speaker-independent, since we all use the same patterns of mouth movement to produce a particular sound.

Laser Printers Getting Higher Resolutions

You might not notice it, but higherresolution laser printing is on the way. Several companies, including Fujitsu, Agfa-Gevaert, and Itek, demonstrated at the recent Hannover Fair in West Germany a new breed of laser printer based on a Canon engine and capable of producing output with a resolution of 400 dots per inch. And at least three companies introduced printers with resolutions of 500 dpi or better. These higher-resolution models represent a

coming trend for the desktop publishing market as the gap between typesetting and desktop publishing narrows, according to analyst Tim Bajarin, vice president at the market research firm Creative Strategies.

Although the higher-resolution laser printers (500 dpi and beyond) sound impressive, their effectiveness is lost on the lower-grade paper used in most offices. At 400 dpi, the ink sufficiently

continued

With Maplnfo, More Ways Than Ever To Map Your Data

Pin Map. Automatically use your existing database (from dBASE III or others) with street maps that we can supply. Maps from over 300 U.S. cities and towns contain all addresses, accurate to the correct block and side of the street. Type any address and Maplnfo will find it for you. Call to the screen your complete record.

Thematic. Use our boundaries (state or county) or draw your own (sales regions, election districts, etc.). Create a database for the region (population, average income, etc.) Color code boundaries or entire regions based on parameters you define.

Presentation. Use powerful graphics commands to add your own titles, legends and text. Create arrows, windows or callouts. Turn on or off labels of points, streets, bridges, regions, etc.

Visual Database. Draw anything from a floor plan to aircraft design. Store data on any point or region. Create multiple layers to add flexibility to your display.

Map

16 BYTE- JUNE 1988

And that's just a sample. If you need to map your data, Maplnfo can do it for as little as $750. IBM PC or 100% compatibles, with 640K memory, a hard disk drive, and graphics capability.

To order, call 1-800-FASTMAR In New York State, call 1-518-274-8673 (Telex 371-5584). Maplnfo Corp., 200 Broadway, Troy, NY 12180

dBASE III is a trademark of Ashton-Tate. IBM and IBM PC are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp.

Circle 166 on Reader Service Card

Write.

Right.

If you've got better things to do than debug pages and pages of code, you need ASYST™ It's the programming environment developed specifically for scientific and engineering applications.

ASYST simplifies data analysis and graphic display, and integrates them with data acquisition. Using ASYST, you can replace pages of low-level code with a few specialized commands. And it's easy to tailor to your changing applications. ASYST's simple configuration menus and our technical support will get you up and running quickly—and keep you there.

Call and discuss your application with one of our technical specialists. Or request more information.

Just make the next line of code you enter 1-800-348-0033. It'11 put you on-line with ASYST, the scientific way to program.

Features:

■ Analog-to-Digital, Digital-to-Analog, and Digital I/O Support

■ GPIB/IEEE-488 Interface

■ RS-232 Interface

■ Sophisticated Analysis and Graphics

System requires IBM PC, XT, AT, or 100 % compatible.

SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES. INC.

100 Corporate Woods Rochester, NY 14623 1-800-348-0033 (or 716-272-0070)

System Developers: Ask about our new ASYST Run-time License.

ASYST is a trademark of Asyst Software Technologies, Inc.

IBM, IBM PC, IBM PC/XTand IBM PC/AT are registered trademarks

of International Business Machines Corporation.

Circle 23 on Reader Service Card

MICROBYTES

"bleeds" to fill in the "step effect" that is typical of desktop publishing fonts. Anything above 400 dpi is wasted because of this bleeding, many desktop publishing experts say. And most eyes

can't differentiate between 400-dpi and 600-dpi output.

However, several software houses, including Aldus (of PageMaker fame), say they'd upgrade their page-makeup

programs to support 400-dpi printers.

Toshiba and Kentek showed new printers using Phoenix's PostScript clone. Kodak had a four-color laser printer producing 17 pages a minute.

Nashville Cats Plugging into MIDI

Would "Your Cheatin' Heart" sound any different if Hank Williams recorded it today? Nashville, known as America's country music capital, is home to hundreds of musicians who've plugged into computers as a tool for composing and recording.

"This is a pretty computer-based city," said Tom Gerber, a MIDI studio technician and editor of a Nashville MIDI newsletter. "People are surprised when they come here and see what is going on. A lot of people are using Macintoshes for various parts of music publishing." Despite Apple's relatively late

arrival on the electronic music scene with its MIDI adapter for the Mac and IIGS, the Macintosh is one of the favorite electronic axes of Nashville musicians.

Gerber noted that already five major recording studios are using Macintoshes in one way or another. "Some of them even started as MIDI studios," Gerber said. "West Park Studios uses three Macs for sequencing, mixing control, and sound editing. DBS Studios uses a number of Macs, and Masterfonics, one of the top CD recording and mastering studios, uses them with MIDI."

"Right now, most of the work is done on Mac Pluses and SEs," Gerber explained. "There are software compatibility problems with the Macintosh II due to copy-protection schemes right now, but that is supposed to change in the next few weeks, and we'll see more Mac Us involved in MIDI here in Nashville."

"Nashville is more than just country music," Gerber noted. "I've done some 'space' music with the Mac for some performances. And many publishing houses use the Macs and MIDI for their lead sheets."

TECHNOLOGY NEWS WANTED. The news staff at BYTE is always interested in hearing about new technological and scientific developments that might have an impact on microcomputers and the people who use them. We also want to keep track of innovative uses of that technology. If you know of advances or projects that involve research relevant to microcomputing and want to share that information, please contact us. Call the Microbytes staff at (603) 924-9281, send mail on BIX to Microbytes, or write to us at One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458.

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BYTE- JUNE 1988

RATION &RMT0N

81 Great Oaks Blvd., San Jose, CA 95119 1-800-525-0082, Outside California 408-629-5376, California/International 'plus shipping. In California add tax.

Excellence in charting the flow of ideas

Circle 213 on Reader Service Card

N

R

J1^^!

"-:

The Graphics Toolkit for Contemporary Software Developers

Already the fastest and most powerful graphics toolkit on the market, the new HALO® delivers subroutines and device support for exciting, contemporary applications in publishing, office automation, vision, and image processing.

HALO '88 is a device independent library of 190 graphics subroutines. It is compatible with 18 programming languages, and over 140 hardware devices such as image scanners; graphics, vision, and imaging boards; printers and plotters; and mice. HALO '88 is designed for the complete IBM compatible microcomputer line including the PS/2 and VGA.

Today's Tools for

Tomorrow's

Applications

HALO '88 has new subroutines which control scanners and scanned images — even images which are larger than screen resolution and available memory. Extended character set support enables software developers to address IBM's

full 255 characters in graphics and to design foreign language fonts. Among contemporary HALO '88 applications are CAD, ComputerBased Training, Presentation Graphics, Graphic Arts, Mapping, Machine Vision, Silicon Wafer Manufacturing, Sound System Design, Vehicle Scheduling and Routing, and Real Estate.

Join the HALO Family

HALO has an installed base of 60,000+ end-users, hundreds of site-licensed corporations, government agencies, universities, and national laboratories and most importantly, over 220 Independent Software Developers (ISVs) who market applications written with HALO.

HALO '88 provides the software designer with the richest environment of graphics functions; the programmer with reliable and

"Halo

infinite possibilities in graphics and imaging

Circle 171 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 172)

well-documented tools, and DP managers with continuity of user interface and database format.

Reach for the Future

If you need high performance graphics development software that provides a migration path to OS/2 and other future technology, follow the industry leaders — call (800) 992HALO (4256).

HALO '88 is just $325 and includes all device drivers, 20 fonts, your choice of one compiler binding, completely new documentation, an interactive tutorial and free 800# technical support. Update from HALO for $150.

Ask about the new HALO Programmers' Workbook which provides C program examples for HALO '88 applications developers.

media cybernetics

8484 Georgia Ave.

Silver Spring, MD 20910

(301) 495-3305, (800) 992-HALO

HALO is a registered trademark of Media Cybernetics, inc. IBM PS/2, VGA and OS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corp.

The newDIconix300 Desktop and 300wWkie~Carriage

mistake them for Diconix 150 s. Before you

plain paper printers. So quiet, so small, so last, you could

lecide on a PC printer, reflect on these*

*,

<~

i

A Kodak Company

3100 Research Boulevard Dayton, Ohio 45420 1-800-DICONIX

• Semi-automatic paper handling

• 308 characters per second

• IBM & Epson emulation Circle 84 on Reader Service Card

LETTERS

Shuddering, Blurring Solved

In his review of multiscan color monitors (February), George A. Stewart found two problems with our Flexscan 8060S when it was connected to the Macintosh II. We have fixed both problems.

The shuddering that occurred during disk access was caused by a special cable for the Mac II, whose proper pin assignment was not available when Mr. Stewart did his evaluation. We now sell the proper cable for the Mac II.

The blurring was not caused by the side of the monitor but generated because of a 0.1-volt difference in signal levels. The Macintosh II's signal level is 0.6 V; the VGA signal level is 0.7 V. As we refined the hardware level for matching both signals, the blurring problem improved.

Ted Fukada

Applications Engineer

Nanao USA Corp.

Torrance, CA

Digivision on Monitors

Having read "Multiscan Color Monitors," I think you may be interested in Digivision's range of multifrequency monitors. Compared to corporate giants Sony and NEC, Digivision is a relatively small company, though it's technically advanced in many areas of display unit development. In July 1987, Digivision successfully launched the world's first 12-inch autosync monitor, which was closely followed by a 10-inch unit in November 1987. At present, we are about to seek UL listing for these products with an eye toward entering the U.S. market.

The article was extremely interesting and technically informative—the best I or any of my colleagues have read on the subject so far. Previous articles have contained minimal technical information and descriptions, so your article was a refreshing change.

Leonora Walker

Marketing Executive

Digivision Ltd.

Leicester, U.K.

Monitor Misconvergence

I recently finished your excellent article on multiscan color monitors. Yours is the first article I've seen that presented an objective instead of a subjective review of monitors.

I 'd like to point out, however, a possible problem with some of the measurements. Doing the misconvergence and voltage regulation at a specific brightness level for each monitor is accurate only if each CRT has the same light transmission. The faceplate of the CRT can be made to give off different percentages of the display's light output by using lighter or darker glass. The darker the glass, the less light output there will be from the tube for the same amount of CRT drive. However, the darker glass gives a better contrast ratio, so less light output is necessary. For example, if you had a CRT with a 90 percent transmission and a brightness of 50 footlamberts (ft-L), a darker CRT of 45 percent transmission would require only 25 ft-L for the same contrast ratio. Therefore, it is possible that your tests were unfair if a monitor had dark glass.

Misconvergence is a very important aspect of a monitor to consider. However, judging a series of monitors from looking at only one could be misleading. The CRT specs for misconvergence are typically 0 to 0.6 millimeter. Therefore, it is possible to see one monitor that is near perfect and another that is only good.

For your information, "voltage regulation" is referred to as "high-voltage regulation." The anode voltage of a color CRT is typically 24 kilovolts. If there is no regulation of this voltage, it will decrease as the screen gets brighter, which causes the display size to increase.

Jim Samuels

Chief Engineer

Princeton Graphic Systems

Princeton, NJ

Smart EGA Plus Resolution

In the Product Focus on enhanced EGA and VGA boards (March) by Curtis Franklin Jr., several errors appeared in the chart on page 104. NSI Logic's Smart EGA Plus board has a maximum resolution of 800 by 800 by 16 colors, and it supports VGA modes 11H and 12H, as the article states on page 106. The price of the board is $199.

Also, in 640 by 640 mode, I have not seen a flicker problem on NSI or other boards that are operating normally, so I have to assume that you were operating in 800 by 600 mode. You will see some

flicker on all current high-resolution 800 by 600 boards running on the NEC MultiSync. This can usually be adjusted so it is not troublesome to the user. The degree of flicker is a function of the manufacturer of the monitor, the speed of the EGA chip/board, and, in some cases, the applications software.

Robert Gallagher

Director of Sales

NSI Logic Inc.

Marlborough, MA

How About "Ubiquitous Electronic Device"?

"It's All in the Symbols" by Merrill Cornish (March) punctures the lid of what may eventually be the computer industry's biggest can of worms. The household name of these ubiquitous electronic devices signifies a major stumbling block—as if we were to call automobiles "corner turners," ignoring their many other capabilities.

Mr. Cornish admirably points out the difficulties in parsing English language text (other languages have other difficulties), while also mentioning those associated with programming languages. But most people have a problem envisioning all those nonnumeric symbols he talks about—for starters, the 52 characters of the Roman alphabet that the standard keyboard can produce in dozens of fonts and in a variety of enhancements, such as underline, reverse, bold, italics, and so on, not to mention the combinations. This brings us to tens of thousands of possibilities before we start combining these letters into words and then into sentences and then adding symbols and punctuation.

Surely C. L. Sholes (of QWERTY fame) would say something like *Jf}rrf>"+%$@ if he could see how his

continued

LETTERS POLICY: When submitting a letter for publication, double-space it on one side of the paper and include your name and address. Express your comments and ideas as clearly and concisely as possible. We can print listings and tables along with a letter if they are short and legible.

Because we receive hundreds of letters each month, we cannot publish all of them. We cannot return letters \o authors. Generally, it takes four months from the time we receive a letter until we publish it.

22 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Upgrade Your Technology

We're Programmer's Connection, the leading independent dealer of quality programmer's development tools for IBM personal computers and compatibles. We can help you upgrade your programming technology with some of the best software tools available. Comprehensive Buyer's Guide. The CONNECTION, our new Buyers Guide, contains prices and up-to-date descriptions of over 700 programmer's development tools by over 250 manufacturers. Each description covers major product features as well as special requirements, version numbers, diskette sizes, and guarantees.

How to Get Your FREE Copy: 1) Use the reader service card provided by this journal; 2) Mail us a card or letter with your name and address; or 3) Call one of our convenient toll free telephone numbers.

If you haven't yet received your copy of the Programmer's Connection Buyer's Guide, act now. Upgrading your programming technology could be one of the wisest and most profitable decisions you'll ever make.

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Prices, Terms and Conditions are subject to change.

Copyright 1988 Programmer's Connection Incorporated

Established 1984

386 products List 0urs

386 ASM/386 UNHbyRiarbspSoftwam 495 389

386 DEBUGGER by Phar Lap Software 195 129

NDP C-mbyMooWay 595 529

NDPForTran-386oyMcraWay 595 529

PC-MOS/3BS Single-User by The Software Link 195 179

PC-KOS/3S65-User by The SoltwareUnk 595 539

PC-MOS/2SS25-User by The Software Unk 995 869

blaise products

ASYNCHMANAGERSped/yCorfasra/ 175 135

C TOOLS PLUS/5.0 129 99

PASCAL TOOLS/TOOLS 2 175 135

Turbo ASYNCH PLUS/4.0 129 99

Turbo CT00LS 129 99

Turbo POWER SCREEN New 129 99

Turbo POWER TOOLS PLUS/4.0 129 99

VIEWMANAGERSpeo/yCorfasca/ 275 219

borland products

EUREKA Equation Solver 167 115

Paradox 1.1 by AnsalBoriand 495 359

Paradox 2.0 by Ansa/Borland 725 525

Paradox 386 by AnsalBoriand New 895 639

Paradox Network Park by AnsalBoriand 995 725

Quattro: The Professional Spreadsheet 247 179

Sidekick Plus New 200 125

Turbo Basic Compiler 100 68

Turbo Basic Support Products All Varieties 100 68

Turbo C Compiler 100 68

Turbo Pascal Compiler 100 68

Turbo Pascal Database Toolbox 100 68

Turbo Pascal Developer's Toolkit 395 285

Turbo Pascal Editor Toolbox 100 68

Turbo Pascal Gameworks Toolbox 100 68

Turbo Pascal Graphix Toolbox 100 68

Turbo Pascal Numerical Methods Toolbox 100 68

Turbo Pascal Tutor 70 49

Turbo Prolog Compiler 100 68

Turbo Prolog Toolbox 100 68

Other Borland products CALL CALL

c language

CJalkbyCNS 150 129

Eco-C88 Modeling Compiler byEcosolt 100 69

Lattice C Compiler from Lattice NewVersion 450 289

Mark Williams Let's CwitbFREEcsd 75 54

Uniware 68000 C Cross Compiler by SDS 995 899

UniwareZ-80C Cross CompilerbySDS 995 899

WATCOMC6.0 oyWOTCOM Group New 295 269

database management

Clipper by Nantucket 695 379

dBASE III Plus byAshton-Tate 695 389

dBFasttfa4S£///PteCompoyoBfas[ 69 59

FoxBASE+by Fox Software 395 249

FoxBASE+/386cyftKSoflware 595 399

Circle 229 on Reader Service Card

Geniferoybyre/ 395 249

Tom Rettig's Library by Tom Rettigi Assoc 100 89

digitalk products

Smalltalk/V 100 84

EGA/VGA Color Oplion 50 45

Goodies Diskette #1 50 45

Goodies Diskette #2 50 45

Goodies Diskette #3 50 45

Smalltalk/Comm 50 45

Smalltalk/V 286 200 175

golden bow products

Vcache 60 55

Vleature Hard Disk Utility 80 74

Vteature Deluxe Hard Disk utility 120 111

VopttfardDisk Optimization Utility 60 55

komputerwerk products

Finally BASIC routines 99 85

Finally Modules 99 85

Finalry XGraf 99 85

lahey computer products

F77L-EM/16 New 695 639

F77L-EM/32 New 895 799

F77L-FORTRAN Compiler New 477 429

Lahey Personal Fortran 77 New 95 85

withToolkit New 119 99

logitecii products

LOGIMOUSE/Wlfcn'ef/es CALL CALL

LOGITECH Modula-2 Development System 249 199

Modula-2 Compiler Pack 99 75

Modula-2 Toolkit 169 139

microcompatibles products

GRAFMATIC 135 119

GRAFMATIC With PLOTMATIC 240 219

PLOTMATIC 135 119

microport products

DOSMerge286Specrfy2-(AersorlMro//eo' 149 129

DOSMerge386 2-Users 395 345

DOSMerge386 Unlimited Users 495 429

System V/386 Complete Package 799 669

System V/AT Complete Package 549 465

microsoft products

Microsoft C Compiler 5 w/CodeView NewVersion 450 299

Microsoft COBOL Compiler with COBOL Tools 700 465

Microsoft FORTRAN Optimizing Comp NewVersion 450 299

Microsoft Macro Assembler NewVersion 150 105

Microsoft MouseAllVarieties call CALL

Microsoft OS/2 Programmer's Toolkit New 350 239

Microsoft Pascal Compiler NewVersion 300 199

Microsoft QuickBASIC 4 99 69

Microsoft QuickC 99 69

Microsoft Windows 99 69

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Microsoft Windows 386 195 129

Microsoft Windows Development Kit 500 329

Other Microsoft products CALL CALL

peter norton products

Advanced Norton Utilities 150 89

Norton Commander 75 55

Norton Editor 75 59

Norton Guides Specify tanguage 100 65

For OSS New 150 109

Norton Utilities 100 59

sco products

FoxBASE+/t//fanef/es CALL CALL

XENIX System V ESDI Versions CALL CALL

XENIX System V tor PS/2 CALL CALL

XENIX System V 286 1295 979

XENIX System V 386 1595 1179

soft warehouse products

muLISP-87 Interpreter 300 219

muLISP-87 Interpreter & Compiler 400 299

muMATH-83 300 219

other products

Actor by The Whitewater Group 495 439

Brief by Solution Systems 195 CALL

Dan Bricklin's Demo II by Soltv/are Garden 195 179

Desqview Irom Quarterdeck 130 115

Disk Technician by Prime Solutions 100 89

DiskTechnician+oyPnmeSo/utos 130 119

Flow Charting \\+byPalton& Patton 229 189

HALO 88 oyMetf/aCytonefcs NewVersion 325 289

Instant Replay III by Nostradamus 150 129

MaceUtilitiesbyfau/MaceSoftrarE 99 85

MathCAD byMathSott 349 319

Opt-Tech Sort oyOpMecri Data Proc 149 99

Peabody by Copia Inll, Specify Language 100 89

PMI Products AllVarieties CALL CALL

Qm'nn-Curtis Products Ail Vaneties CALL CALL

STATGRAPHICSoySTSC 895 699

TLIB Version Control by Button Systems Software 100 89

Turbo Professional 4.0byTurboPower 99 89

Turbo Programmer by ASCII 289 239

Ventura Desktop Publisher byXEROX 895 499

CALL for Products Not Listed Here

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 23

HARMONY COMPUTERS

LETTERS

,NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE FOR CREDIT CARDS

IBM PS II MODEL 30 (20 Meg)

J1679.00

EPSON LQ500

$334.00

PANASONIC 1091 i

$109.00

TOSHIBA T-1000

$709.00

Apple Image Writer tl

Cilizen 120D

Olzen 180D

Citizen MSP 10

Citizen MSP 15

Cilizen MSP 40

Cilizen MSP 45

Cilizen Preiser 35

Diconix InkJet 150

Epson LXB00

LX BO and 86 Cutsheet Feed

Epson LQ500

Epson LQ 850

Epson LQ 1050

Epson FX B6E

Epson FX 286E

Epson EX800

Epson EX 1000

Amdek 300 A

Amdek 310A

Amdek 410A 139

Princeton Max 12E 129

Princeton Ultra Sync 509

NEC Multisync G.S. 189

I NEC Multisync II 574~|

NEC Mumsync Plus 859

Gold Star TTL Amber 84

Gold Star RGB Color 269 Magnavox (RGB, Composite) CM515 259

•PR NTER SPECIALS"

Hewlett Packard Usarjet II Hewlett Packard Deskjet

IBM Proprinter II IBM Proprinter 24 IBM Proprinter XL24 NEC 3550 NEC B850 NEC 2300 NEC P6 NEC P7 NEC Color P6 NEC Color P7 Okidata 182 Plus

Aldus Pagemaker Lotus 123

Power Mate I w NEC 20 Meg Hard Drive 1549 Ponermaie II w NEC 40 Meg. Harddrive 2159 Powermate NEC 40 meg. 386 3349

Amiga 500 with 1084 Monitc Amig3 1084 Color Monitor Amiga 500 Compuler Amiga 512 RAM Upgrade

(lor Amiga 500) Amiga 2000 1 Meg ram.

3'^r Disk Drive

Hayes 1200

Hayes 1200B w'Smarlcom 2 Hayes 2400

Hayes 2400B w'Smarlcom 2 Hayes Smartcom II Micomodem 2E Everex Internal 1200B Everex 2400 Internal Everex 2400 External Everex Mac 2400 External Zuckerboard 1200 External Promelhius 2400 Internal

Lotus Symphoney 2 0 D Base 3+ Plus Framework 2 Ver 1.1

Microsoft Word 4.0

Microsoft Excel (IBM)

Microsoll Windows 2 03

Word Perfect 4 2

Word Perfecl Library

Q & A 3.0

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keyboard has been contorted, augmented, and Mickey-Moused around just to accommodate a tiny number of the possibilities that are available on present-day computers.

Many languages use a variety of alphabets, and some, using pictographs, ideographs, and hieroglyphs, don't even use alphabets at all. And then there are symbols—verbal, graphic, or iconic?—that are used to represent concepts in music, science, religion, finance, road signs, and programming conventions, to name a few. For example, a red circle with a diagonal line drawn in it can represent three words, but a cross may represent several pages of words.

Relational databases, hypertext, expert systems, and so on represent the first step of a thousand-mile journey. It is a paradox that computer cognoscenti who can't abide last year's 16-bit processors wrestle daily with a keyboard that was designed for mechanical typewriters about 115 years ago and ASCII that was designed for teletype machines about 45 years ago. Mr. Cornish's article has given us a hint of the revolutionary changes that will be necessary in software and in hardware before we can begin to realize the potential of these devices after we change the name of the machine. Larry Salmon Comptche, CA

So Much for Symbols

I just read "It's All in the Symbols" by Merrill Cornish. It's true that we use symbols for numbers, but the representation is to represent the process. Generally, in mathematics counting is defined as the concatenation of empty sets (a process) , and from this we attempt to prove addition, subtraction, multiplication, and virtually everything else. There are no 0s and Is inside a computer. What a computer does is complex processing on different levels. There are no symbols inside a machine; there is only a method of processing symbols.

An artificial intelligence unit involved in symbol processing, such as natural language processing, tokenizes the words and parses them according to the specific grammar. Semantic nets are used in conjunction with the cognitive model to attempt to clarify meaning. These semantic nets generally represent a token world or an empirical representation of the organization of human knowledge. A number of simple data structures used in higherlevel languages allow for practical representations of the empirical world.

We are living creatures, and one could say that we understand everything as a set of threshold neural responses. This could

continued

24 BYTE* JUNE 1988

Circle 233 on Reader Service Card

It's A Matter Of Security

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Everex is a trademark and Ever for Excellence is a registered trademark of Everex Systems. Inc. IBM and AT are registered trademarks and PC, XT and PS/2 are trademarks of Internationa! Business Machines Corp. ©1988 Everex Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Circle 103 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 104)

EVER for Excellence®

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 25

Circle 178 on Reader Service Card

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explain why trees have leaves; however, I doubt if it will ever explain trees or leaves. Until computers function on a glandular level, they will never be able to successfully abstract humanly because we are not made of silicon chips. It is true that Godel proved (by the application of the Liar's Paradox) that there are no formal systems that cannot be made inconsistent and that there are no systems made inconsistent that cannot be made consistent. So much for symbols. There are no symbols that cannot be made meaningless and no symbols that are meaningless that cannot be made meaningful. Perhaps this man is just tired of silicon and electricity and is proposing a newer, more progressive, coherent light megabit processor. That may be in the future, but by that time I doubt if the computers will take anything that we say or do very seriously.

Joe Barnette San Francisco, CA

Making Columns Wrap

Dick Pountain's column-wrap program (Focus on Algorithms, "Multicolumn Paged Text," March) is a fine base on which to erect improvements once you get it running. Unfortunately, in its present form it won't run at all. The problem is function spaces, which reads

Spaces :- Copy(Blanks, 1, Num)

where Num is the number of spaces you want. This won't work, because in the Turbo Pascal Copy function the third parameter (Num) says how many characters to copy from the input string. Here the input string, Blanks, is merely 1 character long, so there's no way to copy, say, 38 characters out of it.

The simplest fix is to make the Constant Blanks contain 40 spaces between its two quotes, which is probably what Dick had in mind before a typesetter got at his listing.

There's also a typo in procedure WriteOutPage: The first appearance of the word Spaces should be followed by an end bracket.

Hugh Kenner Baltimore, MD

Reordering the Alphabet

After doing considerable reading on data-retrieval systems, search and sort algorithms, and the like, I have come to think that we may be letting a historical accident impede the efficiency of our procedures. We inherited our alphabet and the ordering of its letters from the Romans, and we have preserved the order, with minor additions, as though it were something ordained and immutable.

However, the order of our alphabet is by no means the most efficient possible, even for human use in sorting through lists, and for computers' use it is almost criminally inefficient. Unfortunately, the ubiquity of ASCII clearly makes it too difficult and expensive to retool our system of encoding text for use with a CPU.

A few moments' thought shows that if our alphabet were arranged in descending order of frequency of occurrence of the letters, any search based on alphabetic order should go much faster, whether done by humans or computers.

Human nature being what it is, the hope of convincing the great mass of humanity to learn a new ordering of the alphabet is totally in vain. It is a different matter with computers. We could, of course, simply reorder the assigned codes, but this would require massive retrofitting.

Fortunately, there is an easier way to go. It makes no difference what order the characters of a text file are in inside the computer, so long as they appear in the expected order on the monitor screen or in hard copy for human consumption. How many people could or would read Robinson Crusoe printed in decimal ASCII code, let alone in binary numbers?

It would be neither particularly difficult nor time-consuming to run text through a filter that would recode the individual characters of the alphabet to match their natural frequency of occurrence. Once converted, data files would, or at least should, be much faster to search or sort. Recoding before printing would be required, but, in general, only selected fragments of data files would be output at any one time.

I believe it would be well worth testing to see whether enough time would be gained by quicker searching to compensate for the encoding and decoding time and leave a net gain in speed. If there proved to be a substantial gain, it would add little to the cost to include the encoding filter in future revisions of existing programs or new software and probably would not be prohibitively expensive to patch into software in the field.

This is just a suggestion—something to think about. If anyone has done any experimenting along these lines, I'd like to hear about it.

Billy R. Pogue Lake Havasu City, AZ

Objects in Continuous Systems

In object-oriented programming, the programmer thinks in terms of objects, which often have a correspondence in the real world (e.g., a dictionary). These objects can respond to messages (e.g.,

continued

26 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Now You're Talking

Communicate with anyone anywhere in the world. Whether you use E-Mail or bulletin boards, information services like The Source and CompuServe,® or data file transfer, Everex modems meet all your communications needs.

Working at your desk or on the road, Everex offers you a complete range of modem solutions. We have 1200 or 2400 bps internal and external modems, modems that send and receive FAX communications, modems with MNP error correction, and a miniature modem that fits in your shirt pocket.

EVER for Excellence is it registered trademark and EVEREX is a trademark of Everex Systems, Inc. IBM, AT and PS/2 are registered trademarks and PC and XT are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp. Hayes is a registered trademark of Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. BitCom is a trademark of Bit Software, Inc. Apple is a registered trademark and Macintosh is a trademark licensed to Apple Computer, Inc. CompuServe is a registered trademark of CompuServe Information Services. The Source is a trademark of Source Telecomputing Corporation. ©Copyright 1988 Everex Systems. Inc. All rights reserved.

Circle 105 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 106)

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JUNE 1988 'BYTE 27

FROM

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28 BYTE- JUNE 1988

INTRODUCING THE MOTOROLA

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So make sure your future is as rewarding as it can possibly be. Call us for more information at 1-800-441-2447. Or write Motorola Inc., PQ Box 20912, Phoenix, AZ 85036.

Because the greater the RISC, the greater the reward.

M) MOTOROLA

^Reduced Instruction Set Computer

01988, Motorola Inc. HYPERmodule is a trademark of Motorola Inc.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 29

LETTERS

search for a word). The dictionary example seems natural, in that it is inert (shut) until we want it to do something.

But what about continuous systems? Consider the idea of a billiard ball moving toward a cushion (or "rail," as I believe you call it in the U.S.). Clearly, "ball" should be an object—it responds to "hit" messages and knows how to move. But the cushion is not passive—it has elasticity and responds when contact is made. Is the cushion, too, an object? For the sake of argument, assume it is an object. How does it know when contact is

made? Is it constantly on the lookout for approaching balls? This doesn't seem to fit the real world.

Another possibility is the addition of a third party—an overseer who spots where and when collisions occur and reports them to the cushion.

I am well aware that billiards video games exist and also of the existence of planetary simulation systems in which the laws of physics can be changed. Is Smalltalk natural for the implementation of such systems, in that the design of the software bears a close relationship to

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what exists in the real world?

Smalltalk experts, what do you think? Mike Parr Sheffield, U.K.

Take Two Computers and Call Me in the Morning

You might well ask why am I writing to a computer magazine about a medically caused problem. I think I had better start at the beginning.

My wife, my son, and I were going to Reno, Nevada, in early June of 1985. I was to attend a week of schooling put on by the National Council of Juvenile Justice. It was funded by the federal government under a grant. I had decided to take my spouse and 15-year-old son with me and make the trip a working vacation. We drove our car during the day and stopped to eat, swim, and sleep in preselected camping areas at night.

We'd been traveling for several days and were almost to Reno when my wife said to me, "Dick, you're not driving very well, and your speech sounds funny. I think we should go to the hospital and see if they find something wrong with you."

We checked into the motel in Reno. I couldn't write very legibly, and I found it very difficult to keep my signature on the line provided for this. Yet I never felt any pain. Through this time I did not suffer from any physical discomfort.

The doctors at a hospital in Reno, after giving me a thorough physical examination and a CAT scan, all agreed that I had had a massive stroke of the right part of the brain stem. I had not only lost much of my sense of balance, but I had great difficulty in speaking, and I had double vision.

I was kept in the hospital in Reno for several days while I was given a battery of tests. When my blood pressure was no longer considered dangerous, my wife and I took an airplane to my home in South Dakota, while my son and brother drove our car back.

When I got home, my wife took me to the local hospital, where the doctor suggested that I go to the physical, occupational, and speech therapy unit. In therapy I was immediately placed on a computer, first the Visi-Pitch that was part of an Apple computer, where I learned to watch the track my speech therapist's voice made across the screen. I then tried to copy her pattern with my voice. She also encouraged me to turn the computer and Visi-Pitch on. I think this exercise helped my coordination, both physical and mental.

Next I was given the task of playing games on the computer. These games helped me reestablish hand-eye coordina

continued

30 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 167 on Reader Service Card

\\ \ v:\\ \ \ N

PSpice

The Standard for Analog Circuit Simulation Now Available on the Macintosh II

Since its introduction just over four years ago, MicroSim's PSpice has sold more copies than all other commercial Spice programs combined. In addition to running on the IBM PC family, including the new PS/2, the Compaq 386, the Sun 3 workstation and the VAX/VMS family, PSpice is now available on Apple's Macintosh II.

All these features which have made PSpice so popular are available:

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PSpice is a registered trademark of MicroSim Corporation; Macintosh II is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.; Compaq 386 is a trademark of Compaq Computer Corporation; IBM PC, PS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation; Sun is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.; VAX and VMS are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.

Circle 180 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 181)

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 31

LETTERS

tion; they also made me think, and my ability to problem-solve improved daily. When I finally did return to work, one of my staff members had his own personal Apple lie at work, and he encouraged me to make use of it at any time. I did this a great deal, using a word processor until I got my own Tandy 1000.

I do like mechanical things, and the computer is an electrical/mechanical device. Also, my son was heavily oriented to the use of computers, and to keep up with the rest of the world and my own child, I wanted to know more about them.

Both my son and I now have computers at home. I can use both of my hands, and I attribute this digital dexterity to the use I gave to my hands while using the keyboard of my computer. I probably would never have written this letter if I had to rely on a typewriter, or a pen and paper. The desire to become proficient in using a computer was the motivating agent I needed—physical as well as emotional.

My doctor agrees with me. He gave me a prescription for a computer. My tax accountant said I could deduct most of the cost as a medical expense.

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I will admit that I can type only about 12 words a minute, versus the 60 words a minute I could type before I had my stroke. I can no longer touch-type but have to watch my fingers all the time to make sure they go where I want them to. But at least they all still work.

So now you can see why I am writing this letter to a computer magazine. I simply want to say thanks, and I don't know who to say thanks to.

Richard F. Stanford Pierre, SD

Heatsinking 80387s

I would like to commend you on your In Depth section about floating-point processing (March). I particularly liked Mauro Bonomi's article, "Avoiding Coprocessor Bottlenecks." I liked the whole concept of the graphic beach ball.

The Weitek/80387 combination is fantastic, but, based on table 1 in the article, the over one million Whetstone-per-second difference does not warrant the additional cost of $1000 to $1500. I have friends who heatsink their 16-MHz 80387s and run them between 23 and 25 MHz with good success, which brings their efficiency even closer to the Weitek/80387 combination.

Please let me know whether your Float, Calcpi, Savage, Dhrystone, and Whetstone programs are available for us BYTE readers to run in our own hardware through your bulletin board.

Doody R. Ungson San Jose, CA

BYTEnet carries listings for all programs mentioned in BYTE articles. The phone number is (617) 861-9764.—Eds.

Up the Down Mouse

If anyone, for whatever reason, would like to learn opposite movements (i.e., moving your hand up creates an action down and vice versa, and moving your hand left creates an action right and vice versa), the solution is simple. Take your mouse, turn it 180 degrees and go to work. After a little practice, you may become quite good at it.

Bob Hester Toulouse, France

FIXES

In the review of enhanced EGA and VGA graphics boards (March), we stated that Sigma Designs' Sigma VGA board does not work with the IBM 8513 analog color monitor. Sigma Designs says that its board does work with the monitor when equipped with the correct cable. ■

32 BYTE • JUNE 19

Circle 109 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 110)

HowMacintDshll

came to be one of

the safest decisions

in business.

Firsts met

Business computing has recently undergone some fairly radical changes. Consequently so has the idea of "safety"

Because, at present, only one computer offers all the promise for the future, and delivers on it today: the Macintosh n personal computer.

Rest assured, it has the power to meet every standard that serious business demands.

Like breakneck speed. Full expandability A wide choice of sophisticated programs for every business use. And the capacity to store even the most intimidating mountain of information.

It has memory that grows beyond megabytes, all the way to gigabytes. And can display your work in a choice of millions of colors, on monitors that show up to four pages at once.

Its own power aside, Macintosh n is perfectly prepared to meet the standards of other machines as well. Whether they speak MS-DOS, UNIX'or assorted dialects of mainframese, from IBM to DEC.

So it can work with files from-and run-DOS programs like Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect.

Connections are painless via the AppleTalk network system, using a variety of cabling, including Ethernet.

Keep in mind, you can use Macintosh technology no matter what size your thirst for power. There's a whole family of Macintosh computers, all designed to connect to existing equipment.

Macintosh II just happens to make a perfect place to start, because you can add so many options down the road.

Except, of course, the warm feeling of security

That comes standard.

Compatibility. Easily digests datafrom-andeven runsMS-DOS programs.

Display. All sizes and shapes, including color and large-screen.

Applications. A wide choice for every business use.

Connectability. Via AppleTalk, ~ using cabling such as Ethernet.

Expandability. Six expansion slots for future growth.

Raw Power. Math co-processor standard, Vast memory 1MB and up. Internal storage to 80 MB.

. ii it A<V) ili^

Then,we

raised them.

There's more to good business than simply meeting standards. Which is why we've put so much effort into exceeding them.

Macintosh II is, first and foremost, a Macintosh-using the graphics-based interface we pioneered.

Beyond that, it's a new generation of computer, working at full strength with an operating system that exploits every bit of its power.

The latest part of that system, MultiFinder," adds multitasking capabilities.

So you can go about your work even more naturally switching back and forth between jobs as the situation requires. Or doing a number of things at once.

Practically speaking, that means you can print a document while you compose a letter. Or receive E-Mail while you recalculate a spreadsheet.

It means you can use Macintosh to move information effortlessly between programs, merging graphics and text. Even link data dynamically so changes in one document are automatically incorporated in another.

This higher standard adds new value to existing Macintosh software (and to existing Macintosh computers).

But even more intriguing, it creates a world of new possibilities.

For example, now you can use advanced programs for Apple Desktop Publishing-the standard we created over two years back

rioht cilnnasHp vnurViminPss nrnar/ims So it's

Graphical Interface. We pioneered the operating system that others are only now beginning to imitate. Macintosh programs offer consistency with clear graphical options instead of mysterious commands. So training costs are cut drastically.

True WYSIWYG. As in "whatyou see is what you get!'Macintosh is designed for graphics from the ground up. You don't have to guess about what's going to appear on paper

Multitasking. It's a fact, not a promise. Thanks to MultiFinder'you can run multiple programs simultaneously. Move back and forth, or do several things at once.

Integration. Cut and paste information freely between applications, even those made by different software companies. Combine text and graphics as you please.

HyperCard A revolutionary tool that ■ lets you link "stacks" of information by simple association, instead of complex command. Without extensive training, you can create your own powerful programs to manage ideas and information,

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m File Edit Chart Task Layout Dates Search Fo

]I MacPro ject/ENS&L flc jE|

PR campaign

ICING INCOME

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even easier to integrate a number of different efforts into a single document.

And, in the Macintosh tradition, what you see on screen is what you can expect to see on paper.

Like all Macintosh programs that have come before, the new generation offers a consistency that's unique to computing.

Use any one and you quickly gain a feel for the others-something that can translate very quickly into reduced training costs.

The best part is, this technology lets you raise the basic standard of how you get your information.

On your desk, Macintosh II becomes a window to all your computers, be they PC or mainframe. And lets you access and analyze different kinds of information in the same, intuitive Macintosh way

Which means not only higher standards for the people using Macintosh, but higher standards for the equipment you already own.

Now, if you'd like to find out more about raising the quality of your work, it might help if you do a little sight-seeing.

Visit an authorized Apple dealer, and examine Macintosh n in detail, along with the new family of LaserWriter'II printers. (Call 800-446-3000, ext. 333, if you need the address of one nearby)

Then you'll understand why so many business people feel the same way about getting a Macintosh II:

Better safe than sorry

T'

from a new-generation computer: new-generation programs in every area of business use, designed to take full advantage of the power of Macintosh 11. Not next year Today

Transparent Access. Use Macintosh II as your window to the world, and all your information is accessed the same, intuitive way. Whether it's in a Macintosh, PC, or in minis and mainframes from IBM and DEC.

NuBus Technology. Add vast memory run alternative operating systems or tie into networks and mainframes. Unlike other computers, Macintosh II offers 32-bit expansion slots based on a published architecture -so future developmentis

izJ I

© 1988Apple Computet; Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, AppleTalk and LaserWriter are registered trademarks of, and MultiFinder and HyperCard are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. MS-DOS a trademark of WordPerfect Corp. Lotus and1-2-3 "re trademarks of Lotus Development Corp. Ethernet is a registered trademark of Xerox Corp. NuBus is a trademark, of Texas Instruments. Macintosh II t

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a

Macintosh n

$26,007

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s a registered trademark ofMiamqfl Corp. UNIX is a registered tmdemarkoJ\Ar&rm^ns a registered^

mes with a CPU (which isn't shown hire) ami a mouse (which is). For the sake of custom configuration, monitor-and'keyboard'are purchased'separately. As are your desk, chair.trash can and pencil cup.

At this point, we'd hardly stand in the way if you were determined to own a Macintosh.

But may we suggest, in the interest of complete safety that you start with one simple phone call.

In return, you'll get an executive summary of a study that was conducted by Peat, Marwick, Main & Co., examining the effect

of Macintosh computers on business productivity

At the risk of spoiling the ending, we'll tell you this. In the cases studied, it was found that the use of Macintosh raised productivity as much as 25%.

Now then. All those interested in receiving a free copy of this report, please raise your finger.

union.

And use it to punch 800446-3000, ext. 333.

Then you can easily ponder the implications for your own business. And make the safest decision feel even safer.

The power to be your best:

Circle 39 on Reader Service Card

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

Jerry Pournelle answers questions about his column and related computer topics

The Ice Age Cometh

By way of background for the following letter: My talk to a meeting of authors of books in the Yourdon Prentice-Hall series was titled "We 're Eating Your Eggs. " It was built around the theme that much of the MIS community reminds me of dinosaurs having a debate over whether to evolve bigger teeth or longer tails, while the mammals are chowing down on their eggs.... —Jerry

Dear Jerry,

Just a note to you mammals to let you know how things are going here at Dinosaur Central. ...

I just got a call from a fellow who wanted a price on converting 13,000 programs—about 7.8 million lines of code— from one system to another (incompatible) system. I gave him a price—I'm in business to do this sort of thing—but I thought this is really stupid.

I'm being asked to clone a dinosaur. The agency that wants the new dinosaur is willing to consider spending millions of dollars so that it will have a newer version of exactly what it has now. Incredible!

There's a lot of this dinosaur cloning going on these days. Companies are moving their systems from IBM to DEC, or you can pick any other combination you want. If you think there are problems with compatibility between systems in the micro world, you ought to see how the dinosaurs have screwed it up. Even moving from one IBM system to a larger one requires the sort of planning previously reserved for D day.

All this cloning takes up a lot of time and energy. Once the dinosaur keepers have spent the time they need to keep their beasts in order, there really isn't much time left for actual users who want the system to do something new or something old a little better.

Enter the mammals. The sales manager in the West Fencepost office can't afford to wait for the dinosaur keepers to do their thing, so he goes out and gets himself a PC and gets someone to show him how to use Reflex or dBASE. He doesn't care so much about what the dinosaurs are doing, except when they louse up an order for one of his customers.

Eventually, however, this guy is going to move upward in the company. He, or someone like him, is going to become

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president, and he's going to remember how the dinosaurs hurt his efforts and how the mammals helped him. That's when the Ice Age will start. Any vestiges of the dinosaurs that remain will have to earn their keep, either by keeping gigabytes of data accessible or by providing very fast computation in special situations. The mammals are going to call the tune.

John Boddie Newark, BE

It does seem to me that rather than build ever-larger COBOL programs for those giant machines that lurk in climatecontrolled rooms, big companies might think about reverse engineering: Figure out what their programs actually do, and commission someone to write code for micros to accomplish that. Of course, that would decentralize control and give computing power to people who don't work for the MIS, so I suppose it will never happen. —Jerry

Amiga vs. Atari

Dear Jerry,

I'm afraid your biases toward the Atari ST showed again in the November 1987 Computing at Chaos Manor.

Like all software-only emulations, pcditto is unacceptably slow. Unfortunately, the ST cannot make use of the Motorola 68020 microprocessor (as you implied), because the TOS operating system will not support it, as does the Amiga's. Nor will it support more than 4 megabytes of memory, as does the Amiga's.

The Amiga 500 offers far greater performance for a modest price difference. The Amiga 2000 makes true high-performance PC compatibility possible and can use a 15-MHz 68020 add-in card that offers most of the performance of a Macintosh II at about one-third the price.

The same individual who was responsible for one of your favorite computers,

continued

Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psychology and is a science fiction writer who also earns a comfortable living writing about computers present and future. He can be reached c/o BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458.

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CHAOS MANOR MAIL

the Commodore 64, also guided the development of the Atari ST: Mr. Jack Tramiel. Accordingly, the ST was designed and built with but one thing in mindcheapness. This would be apparent to anyone who has lifted the cover off an ST and examined its innards (I have).

Generally, Amiga software is of higher quality than comparably priced ST software. I will admit that there is slightly more ST software available, but is quantity more important than quality? I think not. More Amiga software will appear as programmers become accustomed to the

computer's more sophisticated operating system.

Jeff Joseph MinotAFB.ND

Well, sir, you have one view. I have both machines, and I have another view. True: pc-ditto is quite slow, about 80percent as fast as a PC, while the Amiga 2000 is exactly the speed of a PC; as for the 68020 card for the Amiga side, I haven't seen one yet.

Actually, like most people who 've been around as long as I have, I followed the

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Tramiel odysseffrom its inception; and I've done quite a bit of poking around inside *the Atari ST, including installing extra memory on a 540. I assure you I've had more Guru Meditations (Amiga's system error messages) than cherry bOmbs (Atari's).t

I hope you 're right about the upcoming softvmrefor the Amiga. —Jerry

r - i Medical Spelling Checker? Dear, Jerry,

jMy mother is a physician who has trouble spelling* We have an IBM PC, which she uses for word processing, and a couple of spelling checkers (Word Proof and the one in BC-Write). However, we have been unable to find a medical word list f<5r any IBM PC spelling checker. Do yrjii kno'w of a, spelling checker that comes with a medical dictionary, or a medifcal dictionary that we could add to ofle of our 'current spelling checkers? (Since PC-Write can add words to its list, all vye really need is a file of medical werds on an- IBM PC disk with enough information to detode the file format.)

We tried to contact Oasis Systems, the m^ker of. Word Plus, which you've mentioned favorably .'Our letter was returned. Has the company moved?

I e'njoy reading your column in BYTE, but could you coyer the Amiga more?

Michael Hanson Seattle, WA

r- .

i

I don't know of a medical dictionary. It is relatively easy to make one if you have tile-kind of spelling checker that adds update words easily. The simplest way would be to get one of the medical CDRf)M units, put the text on-screen, aim the spelling checker at it, and add the medical words to the dictionary. A couple oihours of that should build one heck of a dictionary. •

A second method would be to write as you formally do, look up every word the first time it comes up on-screen, be sure it's right, and add it to the dictionary. It won \ take long before you 've built a pretty powerful dictionary. _

Oasis Systems is located at 6160 Lusk Blvd%, Suite C-206; San Diego,' CA 91121, (€19)453-5711.

Incidentally, \he folks at Microlytics are aj-ways looking for new dictionaries tOf incorporate into jheir packages. They've got the*one I built out of these columns in their latest one; it even knows haw to spell Pournelle. —Jerry

•

The Trouble with Turbo Dear*Jerry,

I'noted with interest your discussion of

C compilers in your October 1987 Com

• continued on page 322

34 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 131 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 132)

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Circle 55 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 37

ASK BYTE

Circuit Cellar's Steve Ciarcia answers your questions on microcomputing

Printer Woes

Dear Steve,

My NEC CP6 printer is capable of producing 360- by 360-dot-per-inch graphics, but the results that I have seen are far from this. (I have been using the Epson JX-80 printer definition for the best results, which are still poor.) It seems that the printer produces plenty of dots of resolution on thcx-axis but far too few on the y-axis. This creates images that appear to have bands in them. I notice this fault with every bit-mapped reproduction I make.

Why is this happening? I would think that a simple dot-replication scheme built into the printer definition would create denser, darker graphics by simply replicating the solid lines.

Also, is it possible to use an analog monitor, such as an NEC MultiSync, as a standard color TV if it's hooked up to a tuner?

Chris Durst Laytonsville, MD

I think the bands in your printed output come from irregularities in the paper feed. Take a very careful look at the paper path and see if anything is binding or sticking, or if the paper is snagging on the cables in the back. Then make sure that the paper exits smoothly and doesn 't bunch up or drag on the way out.

The real reason why you aren 't seeing more dots on the page is that the printer driver software in the computer isn't sending them out. The printer commands provide the ability to put a dot nearly anywhere on the page; the software has to translate the screen image into the appropriate dot patterns.

You 'd think that the printer could "fill in the dots " and produce a good-looking image, but it's not quite that simple. The problem boils down to the ratio between the dot's horizontal and vertical sizes, called the aspect ratio (there's also a screen aspect ratio, which is a different matter). Because each display mode has a different dot aspect ratio, there's no one way to translate a bit-mapped image from screen to paper. For example, the aspect ratios that show up in normal use are shown in table 1.

But the aspect ratio of a printer dot depends on the horizontal dot spacing and vertical line spacing. Only the software

Table 1: Dot aspect ratio for various IBM PC screen modes.

Mode

Aspect ratio

320 by 200 CGA 640 by 200 CGA 640 by 350 EGA 640 by 480 VGA

1.12 0.56 1.28 1.00

knows both the screen aspect ratio and the printer aspect and can (presumably) reach a compromise. Given the number °f different screen modes and printers, it's a wonder anything comes out at all.

As a simple example, take a 640 by 200 CGA image with a 1.12 dot aspect ratio. Try to find a way to represent that image on the paper with your NEC's 1.00 aspect ratio dots so that the image comes out about 8 inches wide and 6 inches tall. Be sure to look up the details of the print head dot patterns and restrictions on pinfiring order. You '11 probably have to move the paper in an irregular fashion to get the dots in the right places.

Once you 've done that, repeat the exercise for the EGA display and see what changes. At some point you '11 realize that you need a fraction of a dot to make the answer come out right, and that's where the problem lies.

Also, despite everyone's best efforts, paper just doesn't move reliably in tiny fractions of an inch. The resulting twitches cause painfully obvious glitches in the dot patterns, and nobody's happy. The good news, though, is the last line in table 1. VGA displays have 1-to-l aspect dots, exactly matching laser printer dots. That means it's easy to get good-looking results on screen and paper. All you need is the right hardware.

Unfortunately, the MultiSync won't work with a stock TV tuner. The problem is that the tuner produces standard National Television System Committee (NTSC) composite baseband video on a single output, while the MultiSync expects to see separate RGB and synchronous inputs. —Steve

Expert Nutrition System

Dear Steve,

I am currently developing a set of rules for an expert system that will be used as

an advisor in enteral and parenteral nutrition systems in intensive care unit patients. What is the best way to go about creating such an expert system? Should I learn a language such as Lisp or Prolog to write my own, or should I use some form of expert system shell? If the latter is the best, could you please let me know what is available?

J. D. Harrison Nottingham, U.K.

Although not as extreme, the difference between programming an expert system in Lisp or Prolog and using an expert system shell is much like the difference between programming in assembly language and programming in a highlevel language, such as BASIC. You'd have much finer control over your program if you used Lisp or Prolog, but you would also have the overhead of much of the "housekeeping " (e.g., the user interface, input screens, and file handling).

Since your object is to encode your expert knowledge of nutrition systems, it would be far easier to use a shell. You will have to do some additional homework to find the shell that is best for you. I recommend that you check out KnowledgePro from Knowledge Garden (473A Maiden Bridge Rd., Nassau, NY, 12123). It's very easy to use and would be especially suited to a teaching-type expert system because of its built-in hypertext capabilities. Also contact EXSYS (P.O. Box 75158, Contract Station 14, Albu

continued

IN ASK BYTE, Steve Ciarcia, a computer consultant and electronics engineer, answers questions on any area of microcomputing and his Circuit Cellar projects. The most representative questions will be answered and published. Send your inquiry to

Ask BYTE

c/o Steve Ciarcia

P.O. Box582

Glastonbury, CT 06033 Due to the high volume of inquiries, we cannot guarantee a personal reply. All letters and photographs become the property of Steve Ciarcia and cannot be returned.

The Ask BYTE staff includes manager Harv Weiner and researchers Eric Albert, Tom Cantrell, Bill Curlew, Ken Davidson, Jeannette Dojan, Jon Elson, Frank Kuechmann, Tim McDonough, Edward Nisley, Dick Sawyer, Robert Stek, and Mark Voorhees.

38 BYTE* JUNE 1988

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querque, NM 87194) for information on its EXSYSprogram. —Steve

Dead Drive Blues

Dear Steve,

Last weekend, a drive bearing on my 20-megabyte Hardcard started going bad.

I bought the drive 17 months ago from Logic Array of Costa Mesa, California. Alas, the company is apparently no longer in business, so I can't get the drive replaced or repaired under my 2-year warranty.

Is there a company that sells 3'/2-inch 20-megabyte hard disk drives without a controller? The dead drive is an NEC D3126, part number 134-200420-001.

David G. McDonald Ames, I A

If you 've got a genuine Hardcard from Plus Development, you should be able to get factory service. If, on the other hand, you 've got one of the clones, you 're sunk.

Although I hate to say this, I think the cheapest way out for you is to buy another card. While it's possible to pick up just the drive, you '11 have to worry about connectors, cabling, mechanical hardware, and all that.

"But, " I hear you say, "isn 't all that stuff standardized?" The answer, regrettably, is "not quite. " The only way to find out whether a new drive will fit is to buy it and see. You can accumulate quite a pile of parts while you're thrashing around.

Given the price competition in harddisk drive cards, I suspect you can replace that thing for about half of what you paid for it originally. —Steve

Help with Heath

Dear Steve,

I teach a course in which we use Heath trainers (5-MHz 8088 microprocessor, 64K bytes of RAM). These machines have an editor, an assembler, a debugging program built into ROM, and all the 8088 control signals (minimum mode) available for building circuits on breadboards. They're nice machines, but they lack disk drives and sufficient memory, so we can't use them to teach anything about the use of a disk-based operating system, a higher-level language, or disk files.

Heath also sells an upgraded version of the basic machine that you can fit with two 360K-byte floppy disk drives and 196K bytes of RAM. Except for the limited memory, this is what I'd like to use, but it costs twice as much as a goodquality IBM PC AT clone.

There ought to be an expansion board for a standard PC that would bring the microprocessor signals (through buffers

and isolators) out to a breadboard. Do you know of any products of this kind? The only one I've heard about is the eZ Board from Sabadia Export Co., but a friend told me that he had severe problems trying to use it.

Maynard Fuller Montreal, Canada

Given that you can buy an IBM PC clone for about $600 complete with monitor, drives, DOS, and keyboard, you would expect that someone would have a useful breadboard accessory for it. But I haven't seen one anywhere.

Perhaps the best thing to do is to get a cheap computer and a standard IBM PC prototyping card and have your classes roll their own. JDR Microdevices sells PC prototyping cards—check the back of a recent BYTE. The circuitry is simple enough that your students can probably handle the design on their own, and it will be a real learning experience.

One suggestion: If you 're going to use ribbon cables to bring the signals out, make sure you have a ground lead between every signal wire, put the control signals in a separate cable, and keep the length down. Don't try to save wire by running 26 signals in a single cable. Although I haven't heard of the Sabadia board, I bet that's what the company tried to do. Even though we think of the PC as being pretty slow, those signals are still fast and delicate. —Steve

Memory Mayhem

Dear Steve,

I have an Intel 2010 Above Board/AT memory expansion board from Mead Computer. When I placed the order, Mead told me that I wouldn't have to disable the 384K bytes of my 1-megabyte motherboard.

After delivery, I phoned Intel technical support to ask about switch settings, and I was told that I'd have to disable the 384K bytes (above 640K) of my motherboard.

Mead Computer then told me that the 2010 board would work without complication in extended memory if I would start my extended memory location at 1.5 megabytes rather than at the customary 1.0 megabytes.

It will be a while before I actually start running OS/2. Please straighten me out regarding memory configuration.

Americus Mitchell Kilmarnock, VA

If you don't disable the 384K bytes of RAM on the system board, you '11 wind up with a "hole" between the end of the RAM at 1. 384 megabytes and the start of the Above Board at 1.5 megabytes. All

continued

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the programs I know of assume that the RAM is contiguous, so that hole is going to cause some problems. You 've probably found that out, right?

Mead is correct in saying that the board will work, but only custom code that you write can take advantage of the disconnected RAM on the Above Board. All the standard code will fall into the hole and die.

The best solution is to disable the 384K bytes of system board RAM and have everything work. Anything else isn 't going to be worth the effort. You '11 wind up wasting a little chunk of those RAM chips, but so it goes.

As far as OS/2 goes, there's going to be a lot of blood in the streets when people find out that they can't run a "standard" version of OS/2 on clones that were sold as compatible with IBM PC ATs. The reason is that OS/2 can't use the BIOS routines in those clones: It must talk directly to the hardware because the BIOS code won't run in protected mode. And that means the clone vendors must supply modified versions of OS/2 for their machines.

If you 've added oddball displays or other hardware, you won't be able to run the standard OS/2 from the vendor because it won't talk to the display. It's not at all clear how this problem is going to be resolved, but I'm certain that the final answer isn 't going to make everyone happy. —Steve

Designing Chips

Dear Steve,

I've been working on an idea that may have commercial value, and I need to look into having a custom chip designed. Could you give me some insight into what to expect in terms of minimum quantities, design and production time, chip costs for the initial run, and so on? The chip I have in mind shouldn't require a dense mask, such as the 68020, but it does require a very high pin count (68 to 166 or more). All the major functional blocks are in commercially available chips, so a lengthy design phase shouldn't be necessary. Where should I start?

Your article "The BCC180 Multitasking Controller" (January through March) was very interesting, and I'd like to see more in the same vein. It's fairly obvious that the chip you're using is the most suitable one available today for generalpurpose controller work. Way back when you started out with designs based around Zilog or Intel processors, why did you choose these architectures over Motorola's 6802, 6808, and 6811? I'm no expert, but it seems to me that if I have a specific control application, I can usually

use a Motorola processor to accomplish the task and end up with a lower chip count than I can with a Zilog or Intel processor.

Finally, with regard to programming languages, when I do control work, I prefer using Forth. I know most of the arguments in favor of using BASIC. I don't agree with all of them, but I can understand why you've chosen to use BASIC. The fact remains, though, that Forth is the only language available that gives you an operating system and language in 16K bytes or less and that runs on almost every processor available today. Its code is compact, and execution is fast. I'd like to see Forth as an alternative to BASIC in your future articles.

Ken Martinson Ringgold, GA

I assume that the custom chip you are asking about is an application-specific IC (ASIC). ASICs include programmable logic devices (PLDs), gate arrays, standard cells, or handcrafted full-custom ICs. The advantage of an ASIC is a single chip that replaces perhaps 30 or more standard logic parts and the board space that they would normally occupy. The design is more difficult to copy, and you can realize optimum performance because of reduction in pin and circuit board delays.

Designing with PLDs requires only a personal computer equipped with PLD software and a PLD programmer (which costs approximately $10,000). In comparison, setup costs for gate arrays or standard calls include nonrecurring engineering (NRE)fees, and the equipment requirements might include a CAE/CAD workstation, a timesharing computer, or both. The NRE costs for gate arrays range from $5000 to $80,000. For standard cells, this figure runs from about $20,000 to $150,000. Production turnaround for gate arrays and standard cells can run anywhere from 2 months to a year; turnaround for PLDs is perhaps a few minutes.

The choice of a microprocessor is not an easy one. Certainly it would be nice to choose the best chip for every job, but that's not practical. A number of factors—familiarity with the family, programming knowledge, software development equipment, factory support, and parts and sample availability—determine the processor of choice. In most cases, these items weigh more heavily when comparing architecture than does saving a chip or two in a design. Only in designs where constraints are rigidly dictated (such as volume productions and a small physical size) would I trade the things I

continued

42 BYTE* JUNE 1988

HEADS UP JAPAN

Above you see the most ingenious printhead developed in years.

It's a new stored-energy head that uses less energy and delivers more speed than traditional ballistic printheads.

And according to Infoworldf delivers constantly superior print quality, with letter quality comparable to a laser.

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 43

"During the next 10 years, millions of programmers and users will utilize OS/2,.. The best way for them to understand the overall philosophy of the system will be to read this book. "Bill Gates

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mentioned for a lower chip count.

BASIC is an interactive language that is easy to learn and available on virtually every computer. Forth is also interactive, but it's not nearly as popular. The virtues in each have caused many to suggest the need for a single language that combines their best features. I use BASIC because of its popularity, but I will consider using Forth in a future article. —Steve

Optical Scanning

Dear Steve,

My company, Hemisphere Software, does contract programming and sells IBM PCs to small businesses and municipalities. We've been working on a project that is missing one important part. I need a scanner with an automatic feeder to read a continuous form 2.4 inches wide. This scanner will have only one typeface to read. The scanner must meet the following criteria:

• It must read a continuous form of paper 2.4 inches wide. The paper will hold text only, in black or blue ink. The paper has 22 character positions and no special spacing at the top and bottom of each page.

• The text is in code. The code equivalent for one word appears on each line.

• The text consists of 17 letters of the alphabet, numbers 1 through 9, and the asterisk. The letters can appear only in the following sequence, and only in these locations:

STKPWHRAO*ELFRPBLGTSDZ

Consequently, the letter T can appear only in the second or nineteenth position of the line, and so on. Numbers can appear instead of certain letters, as diagrammed below:

STKPWHRAO*ELFRPBLGTSDZ 12 345 6789

For example, line position 1 can be either blank, S, or 1.

• The scanner's output is to be sent to an ASCII file. Each line of input will be one record.

• The scanner's operation (start and stop) will be controlled from an MS-DOS IBM-compatible microcomputer.

To keep the price of the system as low as possible, we're trying to keep the cost of the scanner below $1500. We'll need two scanners as soon as possible, and we'll be purchasing more later. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Stephen A. Gonslaves

Wilmington, NC

continued

44 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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Every now and then I get a letter that reminds me just how weird the real world can get. A scanner to read 2.4-inch continuous paper with everything in 22character codes ? Zounds!

Although you call it a scanner, what you describe is really an OCR (optical character recognition) system in disguise. Mercifully, you 've simplified some of the most vexing parts of the project by using only one typeface and two possible characters per position, so you don't have to solve the general problem.

I first thought that a linear chargecoupled device (CCD) array would make a nice line sensor, with scanning down the paper handled by a gear motor pulling the sheet through the reader. Unfortunately, that puts the mechanical design in the critical path: The motor has to be fairly precise, the optics need to be quite good, and the whole assembly reeks of precision machine shop work. Ugh.

Another way to handle it would be to use a TV camera with a macro lens and an Image Wise (see the May 1987 Circuit Cellar) digitizer to grab an image of the sheet. With a full line extending completely across the screen, there's enough resolution to get about 100 pixels on each character. That should be enough to handle the recognition part of the problem.

The reader might look something like this: a TV camera with macro lens and some lights, peering down at a flatbed section holding the paper. A motor and traction wheels draw the paper lengthwise across the flatbed. The Image Wise digitizer sends the TV picture of the PC over a serial link. The RTS and DTR lines can control the motor and lights, with CTS, DSR, and CD returning some status bits. All the OCR logic is in the PC, which keeps the cost of the scanner down by eliminating a lot of dedicated computing.

You don't mention the throughput you need, but I doubt that the speed will get better than a few tens of seconds per line. That may sound slow, but even simple OCR requires a lot of computations because there are many bits in each line.

I'm not sure there's enough room in your budget for development and manufacturing, even at $1500 per unit. At 25 units a year, you 've got a buy of $37,500. Figuring a parts cost at $750 (even simple optics are expensive), you're allowing about $19,000 for nonrecurring engineering, design, and programming expenses—figuring no profit at all on each unit. Not good.

If you take a look at standard OCR scanners, I think you 11 find they're much more expensive than $1500, even though they're in volume production. Even though you 've simplified the problem, it still isn 't trivial. —Steve ■

46 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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you break into the system any time. You can track down a bug itstantlylfor justj:heck what's going on, without having to reboot or power down and back up. That's really useful when your system hangs! The switch is included with Periscope 1, Periscope II, and Periscope III.

Periscope 1^has a board with 56K of write-protected RAM. The Periscope software resides i« this memory, safe from runaway programs. DOS memory, where debugger software would normally reside, is thus freed up for your program. * ' ' Periscope III has a board with 64lv of write-protected RAM, wbich performs the same function as The Periscope l'prote'c£d memory. AND...

The Periscope III boa§d adds another powerful dimension to your debugging. Its hardware breakpoints aTrfl real-time trace buffer let you track down

bugs that a softwareoriented debugger would take too long to find, or can't find at all!

Periscope III Board

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". . . Periscope III is the perfect answer to the debugging needs of anyone involved in real-time programming for the PC . . . The real time trace feature has saved me many hours of heartache already"

Periscope III user

■ Periscope I includes a half-length board with 56K of write-protected RAM; break-out switch; software and manual for $345.

■ Periscope II includes break-out switch; software and manual for $175.

■ Periscope II-X includes software and manual (no hardware) for $145.

■ Periscope III includes a full-length board with 64K of write-protected RAM, hardware breakpoints and real-time trace buffer; break-out switch; software and manual. Periscope III for machines running up to 8 MHz is $995; for machines running up to 10 MHz, $1095.

REQUIREMENTS: IBM PC, XT, AT, or close compatible (Periscope III requires hardware as well as software compatibility); DOS 2.0 or later; 64K available memory; one disk drive; an 80-column monitor.

Call us with your questions. We'll be happy to send you free information or help you decide on the model that best fits your needs.

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Company, Inc.

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Circle 218 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 47

M

SZiN

THIS IS WHAT HAP LET OUR CUSTOMERS

This is not exactly your typical dot matrix printer. But then, the new ALPS Allegro 24 wasn't built in typical dot matrix printer fashion.

It's the result of a highly sophisticated new design process, never before attempted by any other printer company. We call it "Giving the Customers What They Want'.'

You told us you wanted a

48 BYTE • JUNE 1988

rugged 24-pin printer for under $500. Which the Allegro 24 is. You wanted it to churn out page after page of crisp, letter-quality output. Which it does. And you wanted it with easyto-use front panel controls. Which, of course, it has.

Then you insisted that it be jam-proof. Which explains this printer's uncharacteristic profile. You see, it has no platen. Just a unique flatbed design for a

PENED WHEN WE DESIGN A PRINTER.

paper path that's straight, direct and virtually unjammable.

As if that weren't enough, you asked for— and got—features like "paper parking" for automatic switching from fan-fold to single sheet feed. Four resident type fonts. And Ml compatibility with most all the PCs and software you already have.

For a free demonstration of the printer you've always wanted, see your local ALPS dealer. Or direct your questions, comments

Circle 15 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 16)

and brilliant ideas to us at 800-828-ALPS. In California, 800-257-7872. And help us design our next printer.

ALP

AMERICA

Built by popular demand.

Allegro 24 is a trademark of ALPS Electric Co., Ltd. © 1988, ALPS America.

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 49

COMPUTER DISCOUNT WAREHOUSE

NEC

NEC Mullispeed $1348.64

NEC Mullispeed EL 1499.76

NEC Mullispeed HD w/20 Meg .. .2365.77

NEC Powermate 2, 40 Meg NEW

NEC Powermate 2, 66 Meg LOWER

NEC Powermate 386, 66 Meg NEC

NEC Powermate 386, 130 Mr,.. .PRICES

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1100 Plus $1484.10

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1000 759.41

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VT286 (AT Compatible! 8 MHz, 0 Wait State, 640K 1.2M Floppy, Serial/Parallel, F/H , Controller, Keyboard $1299.36

SAMSUNG SJOO 4/8 MHz, 512K, 6 Slots S/P/C, Monographics board, DOS, Keyboard

S-300, 1 Floppy $749.50

eg S-300, 20 Meg 989.95

S-300, 40 Meg 1117.82

$-500 AT Compatible 8/10 MHz, 8 Slots, S/P/C, Monographics Board, DOS, Keyboard

S-500, 1.2M Floppy $1095.45

S-500, 20 Meg 1469.80

S-500, 40 Meg 1624.45

HARDWARE, SOFTWARE & PERIPHERALS AT DISCOUNT PRICES

COMPUTERS

/ISC

MDL 80 S1570.70 MDL 170 SZ949.36

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WYSE

MDL 2108 . S1082.50 MDL 2214 ... .S1868.30 MDL 2112 1568.20 MDL 3216 2658.05

IBM PS2

MDL 30. 2 dr . .51272.20 MDL 60. 70 Meg $3399.60 MDL 30 20 Meg .1725.17 MDL 80 40 Meg .4497.67 MDL 60. 40 Meg .3340.15 MDL 80. 70 Meg .5677.33

cotrtPM,v

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Portable II. Model 2 1896.10

Portable II. Model 4 2797.00

Portable III. Model 20 3577.85

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PRINTERS

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IBM

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WESTERN DIGITAL 30 Meg 416.30

Mil MM

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PRIAM 40 Meg barrf disk 669.55

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PRIAM 130 Men hard disk 1967.68

SEAGATE 4038 30 Meg hard disk 479.80

SEAGATE 4053 40 Meg hard disk 589.98

SEAGATE 4096 80 Meg hard disk 739.59

360K floppy drive 110.12

CALCOMP

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12x12.

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mam

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HI DMP-42 HI DMP-52 HI DMP-52MP HI DMP-56A HI DMP-61 HI DMP-62

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1/2 height floppy drive 599.00

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SEAGATE 30 Meg 1/2 height w/RLL 309.72

SEAGATE 40 Meg 1/2 height 432.50

GENOA 60 Meg int. tape 734.60

GENOA 60 Meg exl. tape 895.10

GENOA 125 Meg int. tape 995.85

IOMEGA BERNOULLI 10 + 10 1395.25

IOMEGA BERNOULLI 20 + 20 1629.99

IOMEGA 20 Men 1/2 height int 995.55

IOMEGA 20 - 20 Externaf 5V> 1795.73

IRWIN 10 Meg tape backup 259.34

IRWIN 20 M/ 40 M Internal Tape.. .399.10/539.20

MOUNTAIN 4440 int 368.80

MOUNTAIN 4440 ext 547.75

■a-aa

FA CLARA Diskle

SOFTWARE

TERN DIGITAL 3 Western Digital '-level 286 Starte '■level 286 Starte ELL 286 Softwar ELL SFT Netwart ELL SFT Netware ledicaled Netwar.

'Keycard

INTERF NET PC110 LANE NET PC210 LANf ERNET Interface ERNET Plus Boai IT Interface Card TERN DIGITAL E ACCI NET Passive Hut NET Active Hub met Terminators lales People are I 3DW for all your Ni

,'r.].'IH.hll,'bH:IJm.M:I.F

CDW" color card S 99.00

CDW"'' monographics card w/p 99.00

GENOA Spectrum (color monoqraohic w/p)168.75

HERCULES color card w/p ..I 146.16

HERCULES monographics plus w/p 179.84

TAXAN MONOGRAPHIC w/p 99.00

M'.|.1.'|.H:i:M'.l*'.M,'IW.):lT

AT&T Monochrome Monitor 5189.40

AMDEK 310A/410A 119.99/ 149.99

AMDEK 1280 679.78

COMPAQ monochrome monitor 188.46

COMPAQ VGA Mono IN STOCK

IBM PS2 8503 187.90

NEC Multisync GS 184.52

NEC Monograph 1297.25

PGS MAX 12E amber color 139.40

PACKARD BELL Green or Amber 86.95

TAXAN 123 Green/ 124 Amber.. .119.50/ 124.05 ■ ^■lM:lH.MJ;iH.M.|'lb.'.ITTE«i

AMDEK color 600T / 722 S349.24 / 444.49

IBM PS2 8512 Color 428.40

IBM PS2 8513 Enhanced Color 498.20

SAMSUNG RGB Comp 238.60

PGS HX-12 Plus 417.15

TAXAN 650/ 720 469.90/ 299.80

MAGNAVOX 8762 259.05

^»M'l=m.<l=4i','M:IHL'

7M

SANTA CLARA Diskless Workstation ... .5640.40

SOFTWARE & STARTER KITS

WESTERN DIGITAL 3 Node LAN kit w/Western Digital software 5720.34

En.ry-level 286 Starter Kit, 4 Users Entry-level 286 Starter Kit, 8 Users... NOVELL 286 Software w/Keycard

NOVELL SFT Netware Level I

NOVELL SFT Netware Level II V2.1 Nondedicated Netware Software 286

489.90 SAVE 1569.09 2148.66 2757.60

1495.09

S199.27 ...249.50

INTERFACE CARDS

ARCNET PC110 LANBoard

AflCNET PC210 LANBoard

...329.80

ETHERNET Plus Board (for 286) ....

709.74 ...299.52

WESTERN DIGITAL Ethernet Cards...

...269.10

ACCESSORIES

ARCNET Passive Hub

ARCNET Active Hub

S85.00

499.98

.37.50

All Sales People are Novell trained and authorized. Call CDW for all your Networking Hardware & Software.

VGA & EGA PRODUCTS

VGA & EGA MONITORS

COMPAQ VGA monitor $548.68

MAGNAVOX 943EGA 387.40

NEC Multisync II / PLUS 609.76/ 888.10

NEC Multisync XL 19 inch 1974.46

PACKARD BELL VGA Monitor 389.95

PGS Ultrasync ,. „h 515.33

SONY Multiscan 1303/1302 599.45/649.25

TAXAN 770 PLUS 499.40

ZENITH Z-1490 768.31

VGA DISPLAY CARDS

ATI VGA VIP $307.24

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QUADRAM ULTRA VGA 299.80

ORCHID VGA 278.14

VIDEO-7VGA .' 299.15

EGA DISPLAY CARDS

ATI Wonder Card S199.95

GENOA Super EGA Hi-Res 800 x 600 .. .234.40

LOGITECH EGA Card w/mouse 217.18

NEC GB-1 640x480 239.43

PARADISE Auto Switch EGA 480 169.65

QUADRAM Prosync 285.40

VIDEO 7 Vega Deluxe 249.74

■ .'.[■l.H.'^.-U'lii.'.lil.'H^YiTiTrFM

AST 5251-11 Plus $619.04

EVEREX 1200B/ 2400B 109.90/199.50

IRMA 3278/79 695.17

PACKARD BELL 2400 Int/2400 Ext .169.95/199.22

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1200B 269.20 2400B 379.65

nsflouotjcs

1200B $108.45 2400B $199.70

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/ 339.25

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KEYTRONICS 101 104.65

Printer Cable (IBM to Centronics) 6 ft 19.99

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MJEgE3feBJgnEBBri3nai

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4 outlet 44.25

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500 Watt $560.05 1200 Watt ... .$994.75

800 Watt 638.50 6 Outlet Surge.. .27.85

LOGITECH HIRez 599.95

LOGITECH C7/ Bus 89.95/109.06

LOGITECH Logimouse C7 w/publisher ...124.85

MICROSOFT Mouse (Bus Version) 119.34

MICROSOFT Mouse (Serial Version) 131.26

MOUSE SYSTEMS (Serial Version) 99.55

MOUSE SYSTEMS (Bus Version) 108.77

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WITHIN 48 HOURS.

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E618

<er<

5 on Reader Service <

BOOK REVIEWS

PostScript for Programmers

Eliakim Willner

POSTSCRIPT LANGUAGE PROGRAM DESIGN

Glenn C. Reid

Adobe Systems Inc., Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, MA: 1988, 224pages, $22.95

Many programmers find their first experience with PostScript as refreshing and exciting as a badly needed vacation from run-of-the-mill work. It is an elegant and powerful language for putting words and images on the page. Fortunately, it is also very well documented.

Until recently, the primary PostScript resources have been two books from Adobe Systems, published by Addison-Wesley—the Language Tutorial and Cookbook, or "the blue book," and the Language Reference Manual, or "the red book." Glenn C. Reid's PostScript Language Program Design, the newest offering from Adobe, will certainly become known to PostScript aficionados as "the green book," and it will almost certainly become an indispensable companion to its two predecessors.

The blue and red books were written by the designers of PostScript. They are sufficient if you want merely to learn about the language. The new green book was written by a PostScript programmer. It is essential if you want to bridge the gap between theory and practice—to actually use the language.

Read the blue book before you begin using PostScript. It provides a feel for how to work with the language, using short examples to illustrate individual features.

The red book provides the rationale for PostScript and a formal definition of the language. It is a well-written reference. Keep the red book at your side as you code; it's invaluable when you need to know the fine points about a particular keyword.

Absorb the green book. Make its style and programming structure your own. The green book will teach you to think in PostScript.

A basic premise of the green book is that you must understand

how the PostScript interpreter works if you are to use it efficiently. Reid states that the difference in execution speed between a poorly written PostScript program and a wellwritten one can be as great as a factor of 10 or more. He therefore carefully explains what the PostScript interpreter does when it encounters different language constructs, and why.

The many examples Reid uses serve a dual purpose. First, they serve as dissection models; he subjects them to a statement-by-statement analysis, explaining how each piece of code integrates with the rest and, in cases where a variety of means might have been used to reach the same end, detailing why he deemed the particular method selected to be the best.

The examples also serve as paradigms for your own code. In fact, permission is explicitly given for readers to incorporate actual code from the book into their own applications. This license would be hollow if the code were trivial. It isn't. Most of the examples represent substantial programming efforts. Taken as a whole, they embody many hours of

continued

ALSO REVIEWED

Electric Language

Advanced C Programming for Displays

Prolog Programming in Depth

Computer Vision: A First Course

Illustrating Pascal

How to Think About Statistics

Illustration by Kevin Hawkes © 1988

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 51

BOOK REVIEWS

Free Handbook

*3d«Data Translation invites you to receive the premier edition of our 1988 Data Acquisition Handbook Set.

The Book

Our traditional Data Acquisition Catalogfeaturing full product information and numerous documentary stories on acquiring and processing signal data.

The Booklet

Our 1988 Product Summary—a summary on pricing, analog I/O boards, DSP processor boards, and application software.

R.S.V.P. to receive an edition (while they last) by calling: (617) 481-3700

DATA TRANSLATION®

100 Locke Drive, Marlboro, MA 01752-1192 USA

programming that you won't have to do. See, for example, the four-page printer emulator listing. The groundwork has been carefully set, preliminary procedures have been written and analyzed, and a substantial and usable piece of code is wrought.

The green book opens with an overview of PostScript (it's interesting to compare Reid's overview with that of the authors of the red book). Chapter 2 provides a mild peek under the PostScript interpreter hood. This lays a groundwork for many of the rules that the author presents as the book progresses (more about those later). Chapter 3 describes the PostScript imaging model—the controls you'll be using as you "drive" PostScript. The individual chapters that follow deal with different aspects of the language. I recommend that serious users of PostScript read the book from cover to cover, then return to chapters of special interest. The chapters are generally self-contained, with occasional references to code from previous chapters.

I particularly appreciate Reid's down-to-earth approach to programming. Too often, programming texts ignore some of life's less pleasant realities, like the fact that memory isn't an infinite resource, and that programmers spend far more time debugging code than writing it. Reid devotes chapter 13 to memory and file resource management, and it's clear here (as it is throughout the book) that he speaks with the voice of experience. The issue of resource shortage isn't delegated to chapter 13 exclusively; Reid deals with it as it arises in the context of other topics as well.

Chapters 14 ("Error Handling") and 15 ("Debugging Techniques") address the very important concept of what to do when things go wrong. Appendix A contains the listing of a PostScript error handler. Again, Reid doesn't shirk the issue of debugging PostScript code, because it comes up in other chapters.

I spoke earlier of rules laid down by the author. I'm generally uncomfortable with what has been called the "programming proverbs" approach to teaching. Short, arbitrary rules (like "never use goto") have so many exceptions that the rule, unqualified, is misleading or meaningless. But the approach can be effective if used with intelligence, as it is here.

For example, chapter 10 concludes with a brief set of guidelines for properly structuring documents. These fill up a page, not a single line, and are thus both easy to remember and qualified enough to be useful. Again, in section 12.3, the author provides an approach for dealing with printer error messages. These occupy half a page and provide a methodology, not a rote cookbook-style solution. The book does contain a series of italicized notes that contain unqualified rules, where appropriate. Case in point, section 5.2: "Note: Never initialize or replace the existing state of the interpreter... "

One would expect a book on PostScript to be attractively laid out, and the green book doesn't disappoint. The format is clear, with plenty of white space. Listings and examples are clearly set apart. The entire book is set in a new and very attractive Adobe type family called Stone.

This is an excellent book. I would have added a section on Display PostScript and the programming issues it raises and included more detail on using PostScript with color output devices, since these seem just around the corner. But I suspect that we'll see more from Adobe beyond the green book—and I'll be looking forward to those additions. ■

BRIEFLY NOTED

ELECTRIC LANGUAGE: A Philosophical Study of Word Processing by Michael Heim, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT: 1987, 305pages, $19.95. Philosophy teacher and writer Heim argues that word processing changes "the way we think about anything and everything." Word processing encour

continued

52 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 80 on Reader Service Card

FUJITSU'S FAMILY OF PC STORAGE PRODUCTS

How to give your PCs

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The Choice That Pays Off

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Circle 113 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 114)

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JUNE 1988 'BYTE 53

Quaid Analyzer

Instruction 1

isplay

dx

ax

0000

0000

ds: s i

bx

86c4

003e

085d

es:di

ex

86c4

0000

0a9a

ss:sp

bp

86c4

0946

00a2

data

09c2

0008

code

09c2

0419

cs:ip

09c2

0419

..oditsz.a.p.c

flags

0000001001000110

d28c

cc8b

fa

c88c

d08e

0d60bc

0200c481

fb

52

51

53

51

30b4

21cd

0419 041b 041d 041e 0420 0422 0425 0429 042a 042b 042c 042d 042e 0430

>move move cli move move move add sti push push push push move int

dx.ss cx.sp

ax.es ss.ax sp,0d60 sp,0200

dx

ex

bx

ex

ah, 30

DOScall

Part of a Quaid Analyzer display

Quaid Analyzer is a powerful diagnostic tool that shows what is going on inside your computer. The > at the top is the cursor. You can move it with the arrow keys. When you move the cursor off the screen, the instructions scroll like text in an editor. You can move the cursor into a register and change its value, or see the instructions or data it points to. Of course, you can scroll through the data display as well, and type new values into memory. With Quaid Analyzer you never have to type a command.

This example shows the first instructions executed when VDISK.SYS installs itself. You can see that it changes stack pointers, then gets the DOS version number. We got to this point by loading Quaid Analyzer before DOS, then watching the DOS call and disk interrupts until the driver was loaded, then putting a breakpoint on its first instruction. Drivers are installed before DOS gives you the first prompt. What other software tool can show you a device driver install?

Quaid Analyzer comes with a manual, and software on a 3 inch and a 5 inch diskette. If you are not satisfied with Quaid Analyzer, you can return it within 30 days for a refund. Quaid Analyzer is not sold by dealers in the United States or Canada. It is not copy-protected.

To order Quaid Analyzer, call us with your credit card, or send us a check for $200 US funds. We ship within a day at our expense.

Quaid Software Limited

Third Floor Dept B633

45 Charles Street East

Toronto Ontario Canada M4Y 1S2

BOOK REVIEWS

(416)961-8243 Warning! For advanced programmers only.

54 BYTE' JUNE 1988

ages "on-screen thinking," and thinking—especially thinking in print—is bound with "existential commitment"; it "establishes and reflects our identity." Word processing removes anxiety about establishing that identity because a wordprocessed document is so easily revised. This also means word processing "reinstates some of the formlessness of conversation or soliloquy," especially compared with the strict linearity of typewriting. Further, "word processing reveals knowledge to be a flowing process, a process parallel to ideational flow" as opposed to knowledge modeled on dialogue (give and take) or on reading and writing printed pages (argumentation).

Michael Heim considers word processing a mixed blessing: "The thoughtful paging and browsing through tangentially related books, all done at a leisurely pace, will no longer be afforded by computerized writing and reading." (Heim doesn't consider hypertext systems, which promise to restore browsing in a big way.) And while he draws the consequences of the text being presented as a pageless scroll of characters by the current generation of word processors, the new generation presents a full-size image of paper on screen, restoring the sense of borders and divisions.

The arguments range over all of Western phDosophy (and some Eastern as well), from the ancient Greeks to contemporary phenomenology. This is a difficult, thoughtful exposition of primary interest to the philosophical community. But everyone who has used a word processor will find much to think about in Heim's ideas. —David Weinberger

ADVANCED C PROGRAMMING FOR DISPLAYS by Marc J. Rochkind, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1988, 331 pages, $40 (hardcover), $27 (paperback). Despite its title, this is not a book on computer graphics; it is limited to alphanumeric displays. But that's not a fault. If you're at all involved in getting alphanumeric data out of the keyboard and onto the display (and what programmer isn't?) on a Unix- or MS-DOS-based computer, then Marc J. Rochkind's book definitely belongs on your library shelf.

Wisely selecting the C language as his vehicle, the author tackles terminal emulation (for the Z-19; he should have selected the more common VT-100), raw and buffered keyboard I/O, an elaborate window system, and virtual screen handling. Keep in mind that, throughout the book, the author presents plenty of source code for both Unix and MS-DOS systems (he even dips into assembly language code on the 8088 to speed critical functions). You'll find the early chapters particularly helpful in demystifying the Unix termcap database and curses screen management utilities.

The C source code presented is compatible with Microsoft and Lattice compilers on the MS-DOS side, and Unix System III, Xenix (based on Unix version 7), and 4.2 BSD and 4.3 BSD on the Unix side. The source code is available on floppy disk at extra cost. —Richard Grehan

PROLOG PROGRAMMING IN DEPTH by Michael A. Covington, Donald Nute, and Andre Vellino, New York: Scott, Foresman and Co., 1988, 506pages, $24.95. Aimed at readers somewhat familiar with computer programming (but not necessarily artificial intelligence (AI) techniques or languages), this book starts with the basics and delivers on its title, covering Prolog in depth. Intermediate and advanced Prolog users will also find the book's comprehensive coverage of algorithms and techniques a useful reference.

The book has been classroom-tested, and the polish shows: The text is uniformly good. Discussions on expressing procedural algorithms in Prolog and on Prolog as its own metalanguage are outstanding. A chapter titled "Additional Tech

continued

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In the U.S.A. and in Canada

Call toll-free: 1-800-233-8950

Outside the U.S.A. call 717-327-9575, Fax 717-327-1217 Educational, Governmental and Corporate Organizations call toll-free 1-800-221-4283 CMO, 101 Reighard Ave., Dept. A1, Williamsport, PA 17701

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POLICY: Add 3% (minimum $7.00) shipping and handling. Larger shipments may require additional charges. Personal and company checks require 3 weeks to clear. For taster delivery, use your credit card or send cashier's check or bank money order. Credit cards are not charged until we ship. Pennsylvania residents add 6% sales tax. All prices are U.S.A. prices and are subject to change, and all items are subject to availability. Defective software will be replaced with the same item only. Hardware will be replaced or repaired at our discretion within the terms and limits of the manufacturer's warranty. We cannot guarantee compatibility. All sales are final and returned shipments are subject to a restocking fee. We are not responsible for typographic or photographic errors.

Circle 67 on Reader Service Card . _ „

A106

Circle 56 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 57)

C programmers are talking about Ctalk™

The easy way to add the POWER of

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BOOK REVIEWS

Ctalk extends your C compiler to a real Object-Oriented Language (OOL). It is not a new language; it simply adds Smalltalk-like features to C:

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>

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Ctalk consists of an application development environment with:

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MATHPAK87

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MATHPAK 87 is a set of over 130 assembler coded numerical routines for use with 80x87 math coprocessors. These routines are highly optimized and run up to 20 times faster than equivalent high-level language routines. A detailed and easy-to-read manual (180 pages) gets you started using MATHPAK 87 in minutes. MATHPAK 87 routines are fast, convenient and reliable.

MA THPAK 87 Timings

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MATHPAK87 routines are the fastest available! On an IBM XT, a lKcomplex FFT takes 1.85s (real 1.0s); dot product (length 10,000) takes 0.638s.

$99 US for Turbo Pascal 4.0 version. $119 US for MS Fortran, IBM Pro Fortran, Lahey F77L, MS C, Lattice C, Logitech Modula-2 or ITC Modula-2 versions. Please specify version. Add $5 shipping/handling.

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niques" contains genuine nuggets about trees, sorting, and object-oriented programming.

The second half of the book (on AI applications) is mostly expert-system-oriented; other chapters are devoted to discussions of natural language processing and Prolog's logical basis. Noteworthy among the expert-system topics are representation of uncertainty and extension of the Prolog inference engine.

The programming examples are written in Edinburgh Prolog, and they're practical, plentiful (80K bytes overall of source code), and available by mail or network. Turbo Prolog users will benefit from reading this book, too, even though not all the code can be translated into the Turbo dialect.

Appendixes describe the features of Arity and Turbo Prolog and how to use the Prolog debugger. —Alex Lane

COMPUTER VISION: A FIRST COURSE by R.D. Boyle and R.C. Thomas, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, England: 1988, 210pages, $29.25. This textbook is aimed at advanced undergraduate computer science students, though anyone who doesn't mind a lot of math in the text could profit from it. The material is not strictly state-of-the-art or detailed, but it provides a solid background in established theory.

The authors distinguish three levels of vision tasks—low, medium, and high—and examine each in turn. Particularly good chapters cover low-level processing and segmentation. The material on knowledge representation concentrates heavily on semantic nets and frames, while the material on rule-based systems considers only production systems. R. D. Boyle and R. C. Thomas touch on neural networks briefly, more as an example of what can be done without using the ideas in the rest of the book.

The appendixes augment sections of the text instead of merely bulking up the book. They consist of C source code for histogram equalization and hierarchical edge detection, a brief introduction to Fourier theory, a table of three-dimensional interpretations of two-dimensional junctions, and a discussion of Goad's algorithm. The remaining end material includes an appendix of solutions to chapter exercises, a list of references, a separate bibliography, and separate author and subject indexes.

As a brief, technical introduction to computer vision, this tome deserves a place on your shelf. —Alex Lane

ILLUSTRATING PASCAL by Donald Alcock, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England: 1987, 184 pages, $12.95. Like its forerunner, Illustrating BASIC, this introductory programming text combines a visual emphasis and a totally hand-lettered format. The method can be very fast once you've adjusted. For instance, why use many words warning the reader never to write constant for const, when you can just display the word constant surrounded by little black bugs?

I'm not sure that the "Utter Beginner" Alcock presupposes will find the early pages transparent. Though each statement is clear, the tax on memory is great. Also, his examples often employ terms (e.g., trunc) that he hasn't yet gotten around to defining formally.

But as things get more complex, and the diagrams that generally go with exposition become the exposition, the method pays off. By about midjourney, even experienced Pascalers may want to jump aboard. If there's a clearer exposition of Quicksort than Alcock manages on one page, I don't know it. As for pointers, stacks, queues, rings, binary trees, and even hashing: Alcock's drawings and pithy comments are of unparalleled clarity, and his sample programs are fun. He claims to be covering the whole of the language as defined by ISO 7185. Though I haven't checked that claim in detail, I'm inclined to believe it. I recommend the book. —Hugh Kenner

continued

58 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 224 on Reader Service Card

9t&mt

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. Model 2112 1MB RAM Standard

• Phoenix Bios 1.2 MB Floppy Drive

. MS-DOS 3.3 GW-BASIC

• Small Footprint

• 1 Serial & Parallel Port

• 102-Key Enhanced PC-Style Keyboard

• WYSE Window System Status Display

. 20MB 28ms HARD DISK DRIVE

Model 2108 Model 2112

Model 3216

EGA COLOR SYSTEM

• Hi Res 640 x 350 EGA Color

. CGA, MDA & HGC Compatible

• 752 x 410 Drivers Included

• Autoswitching with CGA emulation . WY-640 EGA Color Monitor

Model 2108 System $2,295 Model 2112 System $2,745 Model 3216 System $3,940

MONOCHROME SYSTEM

• Hercules Graphics Compatable

• 1 extra Parallel Port

. 720 x 350 Resolution

• 132 Column by 25 or 44 Line Mode

• WY-530 14 inch Hi Res Monitor

Model 2108 System $1,795 Model 2112 System $2,245 Model 3216 System $3,440

SYSTEM UPGRADES

• 2108 Math Co-Processor

$185

• 2112 Math Co-Processor

$350

• 3216 80387 Co-Processor

$500

• 360k 5.25 Floppy Drive

$99

. 720k 3.5 Floppy Drive

$155

• 1.44 3.5 Floppy Drive

$179

. 1.2 MB 5.25 Floppy Drive

$155

• 41MB ST 251 Hard Disk Drive

$210

. 71MB Hard Disk Drive

$660

. 80MB 4096 Hard Disk Drive

$660

• 130MB Priam Hard Disk Drive

$1780

. WY-60 Terminal

$455

. NEC MULTISYNC II

$150

. NEC MULTISYNC gs

$99

. 1200 Baud Modem & Software $ 99

. 2400 Baud Modem & Software $199

. PC MOS/386 5 User OS

$495

. SCO XENIX 286

$499

. SCO XENIX 386

$599

NEW VGA COLOR SYSTEM

. Hi Res 1280 x 600

• 256 Colors from Palette of 256,000

• Implements all 17 VGA mo

des

. 640 x 400 & 512 x 480

. NEC MULTISYNC II Monitor

Model 2108 System

$2,545

Model 2112 System

$2,995

Model 3216 System

$4,190

TV// Ct&AHCI, rft4C.

qaitiuMAuAf, Md. 20779

Circle 33 on Reader Service Card

1-800-638-9628 Fax # (301) 258-2753 For information call (301) 963-5800

Trademarks WYSE • trademark o' WYSE Technology • MS-DOS , OS/2 & XENIX trademark of Microsoft Corporation • Hercules - Irademark of Hercules Computer Technology NEC - trodemark of NEC Corporation • PC-MOS/386 • trademark of Software Link. Specifications, configurations, and prices are subject to change without notice Copyright 1988 B&W Systems, inc.

Circle 68 on Reader Service Card

SERIOUS ABOUT

-, SPORTS?

X. 1 1

GET IT ALL WITH

COMPUTER SPORTS WORLD

America's oldest and largest sports and horseracing database with over 4200 files of computerized information.

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!

24 HOURS — UP TO THE MINUTE

Scores In Progress • Weather • Transactions

Injuries • Team Logs

• Fantasy Stats •

Call now and speak to a representative for your demonstration account number and password.

800-321-5562 CIW,

COMPUTER SPORTS WORLD

A service of The Chronicle Publishing Company, San Fransisco.

BOOK REVIEWS

Finally! A Keyboard Protector That:

• PROTECTS CONTINUOUSLY - 24 HOURS A DAY

Against computer downtime due to liquid spills, dust, ashes, staples, paper clips and other environmental hazards.

• REMAINS IN PLACE during the operation of your keyboard. SafeSkin is precision molded to fit each key - like a "second skin."

• EXCELLENT FEEL - The unique design eliminates any interference between adjacent keys, allowing smooth natural operation of your keyboard.

• SafeSkin IS VIRTUALLY TRANSPARENT - Keytops and side markings are clearly visible. In fact, SafeSkin is so clear, sometimes you may not know it's there!

• DURABLE - LONG LASTING - SafeSkin is not a "throwaway" item. Many of our protectors have lasted over 3 years under continuous daily use, without failure.

SafeSkin is available for most popular PC's and portables including: IBM, APPLE, AT&T, COMPAQ, DEC, EPSON, KEYTRONICS, NEC, TANDY, TOSHIBA, WANG, WYSE, ZENITH. Specify computer make and model. Send $29.95, Check or M.O., VISA & MC include exp. date. Dealer inquiries invited. Free brochure available.

Merrill Computer Products, Inc.

4561 S. Westmoreland / Dallas, Texas 75237 / 214/339-0753

HOW TO THINK ABOUT STATISTICS by John L. Phillips Jr., W.H. Freeman and Co., New York: 1988, 198 pages, $17.95 (hardcover), $9.95 (paperback). Tools for doing statistical calculation are becoming commonplace in personal computer software—from spreadsheets to high-level languages to specialized math programs. Dedicated statistical packages are bringing the most sophisticated tools to personal computer users. With all that power, however, comes the potential for a great deal of confusion and misinformation: Statistical measures are easily misused.

This book's admirable goal is not to teach you how to do statistics, but to teach you how to understand the statistics that others (or personal computers) do.

The front cover of the book claims that it "will help you understand statistical concepts vital to your education, your business, or your profession; evaluate the news, polls, and trends that affect you as a consumer and citizen; and make better sense of the social statistics, advertising claims, economic forecasts, and political issues you encounter every day." How to Think About Statistics might actually deliver on 80 percent of that claim—if you're willing to work at it.

This well-written book is really an introductory undergraduate text focusing on applications of statistics to education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology. The textbookish outlook shows from the first sentence in the introduction, "You may be planning to study statistics not because you want to but because you have to." The author overcomes the reluctance of a coerced undergraduate audience through the use of sample applications that follow each chapter.

The sample applications take the place of exercises found in most textbooks. They present a seemingly real-world problem (e.g., measuring the incidence of coups in Latin America) and then ask the reader, "How would you approach this problem?" The author warns that to get the most out of this book, it will probably be necessary to engage in a lot of page flipping. He even suggests that the reader keep two bookmarks handy for just that purpose. He's right. The author's solutions list the appropriate statistical approach and are followed by possible ways the resulting statistic could be misinterpreted. Unfortunately, the solutions buried in the back of the book contain some of the best parts of this book.

Phillips makes no assumptions on the mathematical capabilities of his audience, placing essential calculations inside boxes where they can be studied by those who have the background or interest, otherwise ignored or simply glanced at. The book leads the reader from understanding the purpose of a simple mean to contrasting means using analysis of variance, pausing along the way to explain standardization, correlation, causation, and contingency tables. Throughout, the emphasis is on understanding the purpose and shortcomings of the individual statistics rather than on the nitty-gritty of calculation.

People who have wondered what statistics are about (or who plan on using statistical software) will find this book a useful beginning. —William Gould

CONTRIBUTORS

LEAD REVIEW: Eliakim Willner is vice president for research and development at Pecan Software Systems Inc. and coauthor of Advanced UCSD Pascal Programming Techniques (Prentice Hall, 1985). BRIEFLY NOTED: David Weinberger (Brookline, MA) is a writer for Interleaf. Richard Grehan is a senior technical editor at large for BYTE. Alex Lane is a knowledge engineer for Technology Applications Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida. Critic and author Hugh Kenner lives in Baltimore. William Gould is president of the Computing Resource Center (Los Angeles, CA) and a manufacturer of statistical software.

60 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 176 on Reader Service Card

OUR MOVE

DTACK:= DTACK

FAULT5:. iDTACK i'AUI.T-1 BGACK&BG& DTACK\

Trigger program to detect 1 of 5 possible faults in the DMA cycle of a MC68000. This example uses only a fraction of the capabilities of the Pc/La.

Destroy all circuit bugs!

©1988 V5 Corporation

In the mid to late 70's, when engineers designed with SSI and MSI, the demands that they made on logic analyzers reflected the technology that they worked with - low density, low complexity, and low performance.

Along came the 80's and with it PALs, GALs, PLAs, LCAs, ASICs, faster CISCs, and RISC machines. Technology leaped ahead... same old logic analyzers.

Finally, a machine tuned to the times. The Pc/La provides you with competitive sample speed and channel count, but more importantly, its superior trigger capabilities enable you to track down system bugs quickly and efficiently. No fumbling around the edges or shooting in the dark, you are right where you need to be.

There is no need to translate your problem into someone else's idea of logic definition. This instrument uses state syntax directly.

The Pc/La is packaged as a single add-in card for an IBM Pc/XT/AT or compatible. This means that you already own 50% of an efficient, high-performance hardware and software troubleshooting instrument. The other half is yours for less than $2000.00.

The Pc/La - the only logic analyzer to earn the right to use the word analyze in its name.

Take it from here, now it's

YOUR MOVE

(416) 266-5511

285 Raleigh Avenue.Toronto, Canada. M1K 1A5

PAL is a trademark of Monolithic Memories Inc., GAL is a trademark ot Lattice Semiconductor Corp., LCA is a trademark of Xilinx l.B.M. is a trademark of international Business Machines Corp. Mc66000 is a trademark ol Motorola Semiconductor.

Circle 283 on Reader Service Card JUNE 1988 • BYTE 61

The most affordable way

to build a skyscraper.

ii

MultiSync Plus For superior business graphics, desktop pub/isliing and CAD.

Or construct a bridge. Or design a circuit. Or even create a pie chart. With the MultiSync® Plus, high resolution graphics are well within reach. When used with the graphics board that was designed for it—the MVA 1024 from NEC—it may well be the ultimate value for all your CAD and business graphics applications.

MultiSync Plus has a 15" diagonal flattened CRT and a tilt-swivel base to make you more comfortable. It works with boards for a variety of systems, from PC/XT/AT/386 (or 100% compatibles) to MAC II and PS/2. It automatically adjusts its scanning frequency from EGA to VGA, and on up to even higher standards with our MVA 1024 in AT/386 based systems.

Whether your plans are as big as a skyscraper or as small as a memory chip, MultiSync Plus makes the world of high resolution graphics more accessible. For literature or a dealer call

1-800-447-4700. For technical details call NEC Home Electronics

•pij.sie'eil !iac1emjrhs ot Apple Cor

(USA) Inc. 1-800-NEC-SOFT.

NEC is a rogrslered trademark ol NEC Corporation

NEC

Computers ana Commijnicalions ^* ^ .^■■m^M ^^^^

Circle 200 on Reader Service Card JUNE 1988 -BYTE 63

Introducing OmniLab 9240. Totally Integrated Scope-Analyzer-Stimulus.

■ Combine a 100 MHz digital oscilloscope with a time-aligned, 200 MS/s 48-channel logic analyzer. Next add synchronized analog and digital stimulus generators. Then a remarkable new triggering system. What you have is the 9240 — a whole new class of instrumentation. Expressly designed to speed challenging analog and digital analysis. And get you from concept to product faster.

■ The 9240 is based on an innovative new instrument architecture that merges high-speed universal hardware and seamlesslyintegrated software to create high-performance capabilities not available in separate instruments. Analog and digital traces are always time-correlated in a unique, single screen display. SELECT™ triggering bridges scope and analyzer techniques. And OmniLab's stimulus generators can playback captured or edited signals.

■ At the heart of the 9240 is SELECT triggering, the most straightforward and complete solution ever to triggering dilemmas. It's one system, operating with synchronized analog and digital views of your data. By combining conventional oscilloscope and analyzer triggering with powerful RAM truth tables — plus min/max time qualification as needed—SELECT triggering helps you analyze hardware, debug software, and integrate systems more easily.

■ OmniLab™ is a generation ahead of conventional digital scopes that often hide rarely occurring faults because they only show you a few cycles out of millions. With its continuous monitoring, you can use SELECT triggering to quickly catch every occurrence

OmniLab display demonstrates capture of an imbedded analog glitch (in top trace) with time-aligned presentation of the waveform's digitized bit values (center) and numeric states.

of rare events like metastable states, bus contentions, missing pulses, and buried noise glitches.

■ The 9240 is like having a complete bench top of instruments integrated with your PC/AT or compatible. Which you can easily customize for digital development, analog development, or a combination of both.

NO-COMPROMISE 9240 SPECIFICATIONS

DIGITAL OSCILLOSCOPE

LOGIC ANALYZER

Digitizers: Two, 8 bit

Inputs:

48, timing and state

Bandwidth: 100 MHz

Asynchronous Clocking:

34 MS/s on 48 inputs:

Single-Shot Digitizing: 34S/sto204MS/s

204 MS/s on 8 inputs

Repetitive Sampling: 680 MS/s

Repetitive Sampling:

680 MS/s on 48 inputs

Scale Factor: 5 mV/divto IDV/div

Synchronous Clocking:

0 to 34 MS/s

in 1-2-5 sequence

Acquisition Memory:

4K samples 11 BK.64K optional)

Record Length: 4K(16K,64K optional)

Disassembly Options:

Over 150 microprocessors

ANALOG STIMULUS

DIGITAL STIMULUS

Output: 8m V to 8 V peak-to-peak, 8 bit

Outputs:

24.74F tri-state drivers

Cycle Length: 4 to 4K samples (16K optional)

Cycle Length:

4to4Ksamples(16K optional)

Clocking: 34 S/s to 34 MS/s

Timing:

34S/sto34MS/s

Functions: Record, edit and playback

Functions:

Record, edit and playback

■ With OmniLab, your productivity will soar. Because you achieve results with fewer instruments. And in fewer steps than ever before. By no means least, the 9240 delivers the best price/performance you'll find anywhere, costing just $8900 fully outfitted. And most importantly, without compromising a single high-performance spec. Not a one.

■ For more information, call toll free

800/245-8500. In CA: 415/361-8883. Or write for complete literature.

INSTRUMENTS

64 BYTE- JUNE 1988

702 Marshall Street, Redwood City, CA 94063 TELEX: 530942 FAX: 415/361-8970

Computer Integrated Instrumentation

'OmniLab, and SELECT are trademarks of Orion Instruments, Inc.

Circle 208 on Reader Service Card

BUTE

■;;

Products in Perspective

67 What's New

89 Short Takes

PixelPaintl.O

The Norton On Line

Programmer's

Guides: OS/2 API FreeHand 1.0 Datacomputer DC 3.0 PopDrop and RAM Lord Delta Voyager

Reviews

102 High-Speed Modems 117 ALR's FlexCache 20386

Catches Compaq 127 The NEC MultiSpeed HD

and the HP Vectra

CS Model 20 128F Fortran 386, Micronics 386,

Tumpoint 386, and Whole Earth

Electronics (Mylex) 386 137 AST Research's Mac286 145 IBM OS/2 Standard Edition 159 Double Helix II

and 4th Dimension 167 Quattro and Surpass 173 Q-Calc Standard

181 Computing at Chaos Manor

by Jerry Pournelle

197 Applications Only

by Ezra Shapiro

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 65

IT'S TIME TO DO SOME SERIOUS 386 BUGBUSTING!

PROBE'S menu bar and pulldown menus set a new standard for debugger interfaces.

PROBE has

source-level debugging to let you "C" your program.

POP registers up and down with a single key.

This is an out-of-range memory-overwrite bug. Since it is interrupt related, it only appears in real time.

Welcome to your nightmare. Your company has bet the farm on your product. Your demonstration wowed the operating committee, and beta shipments were out on time. Then wham!

All your beta customers seemed to call on the same day. "Your software is doing some really bizarre things','they say. Your credibility is at stake. Your profits are at stake. Your sanity is at stake.

THIS BUG'S FOR YOU

You rack your brain, trying to figure something out. Is it a random memory overwrite? Or worse, an overwrite to a stackbased local variable? Is it sequence dependent? Or worse, randomly caused by interrupts? Overwritten code? Undocumented "features" in the software you're linking to? And to top it off, your program is too big. The software debugger, your program and it's symbol table can't fit into memory at the same time. Opening a bicycle shop suddenly isn't such a bad idea.

THIS DEBUGGER'S FOR YOU

Announcing the 386 PROBE™ Bugbuster,*from Atron. Nine of the top-ten software developers sleep better at night because of Atron hardware-assisted debuggers. Because they can set real-time breakpoints which instantly detect memory reads and writes.

Now, with the 386 PROBE, you have the capability to set a qualified breakpoint, so the breakpoint triggers only if the events are coming from the wrong procedures. So you don't have to be halted by breakpoints from legitimate areas. You can even detect obscure, sequence-dependent problems by stopping a breakpoint only after a specific chain of events has occurred in a specific order.

"Versions for COMPAQ. PS/2-80s anil compatibles. Copyright © 1987 by Alron. 386 PROBE is a

Circle 25 on

Then, so you can look at the cause of the problem, the 386 PROBE automatically stores the last 2K cycles of program execution. Although other debuggers may try to do the same thing, Atron is the only company in the world to dequeue the pipelined trace data so you can easily understand it.

Finally, 386 PROBE's megabyte of hidden, write-protected memory stores your symbol table and debugger. So your bug can't roach the debugger. And so you have room enough to debug a really big program.

NIGHT'S SLEEP PUT YOU IN THE TOP TEN?

Look at it this way. Nine of the top-ten software products in any given category were created by Atron customers. Maybe their edge is — a good night's sleep.

Call and get your free, 56-page bugbusting bible today. And if you're in the middle f of a nightmare right now,

give us a purchase order

■J£ number. We'll FEDEX

you a sweet dream.

, .»•,# ■'"* ■**■'*'

BUGBUSTERS

A division of Northwest Instrument Systems, Inc. Saratoga Office Center • 12950 Saratoga Avenue Saratoga, CA 95070 • Call 408/253-5933 today.

trademark of Alron. Call 44-2 855-888 in the UK and 49-8-985-8020 in West Germany. TRBA

Reader Service Card

WHAT'S NEW

SYSTEMS

Stacked Planes for the Little Board

Thanks to a new expansion adapter, you can now use standard IBM PC-style expansion cards with Ampro's Little Board/PC single-board computer. The StackPlane/PC adapter lets you install plugin cards in parallel to the computer board. Ampro says this means no more card cages and backplanes in embedded applications where space is tight.

The Little Board itself, measuring 5 lh by 8 inches, is a PC-compatible CMOS module with an 8-MHz 8088-compatible processor. It can be configured with 256K bytes to 768K bytes of dynamic RAM, 32K to 288K bytes of EPROM, a floppy disk controller, a keyboard interface, a speaker interface, two serial ports, a parallel port, a PC expansion bus, and a SCSI bus. It needs about 4 watts of power from a 5-volt DC power supply, and it comes in eight versions.

Price: Little Board/PC, starting at $393; StackPlane/PC, $43.

Contact: Ampro Computers Inc., 1130 Mountain View-Alviso Rd., Sunnyvale, CA 94089, (408)734-2800. Inquiry 751.

A Rugged 386

Do you need powerful computing capabilities under adverse conditions? KMS Advanced Products says you can take its new ruggedized computer "to the field or behind the lines"; in other words, just about anywhere.

The RMC-3000 is an 80386-based system in a case that looks like a Kaypro transportable except for the

The Ampro Little Board/PC uses standard expansion cards.

heavy metal housing and rows of rivets; there's also a rackmount model available for your tank or air transport vehicle.

The system is fully compatible with the PC XT and PC AT, KMS says. The company will assemble just about any configuration you can come up with. The basic machine has 10 slots (one 16-bit and the rest 32-bit) and one serial and one parallel port, and it weighs about 45 pounds. You can mix storage options; KMS offers both 5 '/4-inch and 3 '/2-inch floppy disk drives, hard disk drives, and tape drives.

Price: Starting at $13,900. Contact: KMS Advanced

Products Inc., 3850 Research Park Dr., P.O. Box 1868, Ann Arbor, MI 48106, (800) 521-1524; in Michigan, (313) 769-1780. Inquiry 752.

A Powerful Crayon for Graphics Applications

This Crayon isn't for kids, and it's probably not for people who just want to put a little more speed into their dayto-day applications. This species of Crayon is an 80386based rack-mounted system for folks who work in advanced graphics, CAD/CAM, animation, video, and other areas that require sophisticated im

SEND US YOUR NEW PRODUCT RELEASE We 'd like to consider your product for publication. Send us full information, including its price, ship date, and an address and telephone number where readers can get further information. Send to New Products Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Information contained in these items is based on manufacturers' written statements and/or telephone interviews with BYTE reporters. BYTE has not formally reviewed each product mentioned.

aging capabilities.

Inside the box is a motherboard holding an 80386 processor (20 MHz, no wait states), 1 megabyte of memory (expandable to 16 megabytes using single in-line memory modules), and a socket for an 80387 or Weitek 1167 math coprocessor. The Crayon 386 SP motherboard also supports "shadow RAM," which lets the Award BIOS run in highspeed RAM for increased performance. You can set the bus speed to 8 or 12 MHz, and there are two serial, one parallel, one SCSI, and one game port.

For storage, the basic system comes with one 1.2-megabyte 5 Vt -inch and one 720Kbyte 3 'A-inch floppy disk drive, but the case has room for a total of six half-height drives. The proprietary multidrive controller can handle two floppy disk drives, two hard disk drives, and seven SCSI devices. For hooking up the sorts of equipment that graphics types will need (e.g., digitizers, pointing devices, and high-resolution cards), the system has six 16bit and two 8-bit expansion slots. The Crayon has three fans to keep things cool.

Its maker says the Crayon 386 SP is fully compatible with the IBM PC AT and will run MS-DOS (3.3 comes with the basic box), OS/2, or Unix and supports EMS 4.0. For looking good in those contemporary art and video houses, the system is housed in a black case. Price: $7495 for the basic system.

Contact: Video Graphic Systems, 4163 St. Clair Ave., Studio City, CA 91604, (818) 509-5738. Inquiry 753.

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 67

WHAT'S NEW

PERIPHERALS

The Write-Top is a computer without a keyboard.

Look Ma, No Keyboard

Now there's an IBM PCcompatible laptop system that neither needs nor comes with a keyboard. Of course, a keyboard is available as an option, but you can simply input data into the system using your own handwriting.

The Linus Write-Top, from Linus Technologies, combines a laptop computer with a transparent digitizer tablet and a handwriting-recognition algorithm. The tablet is situated right above the computer's flat panel display. The computer uses an 8- by 5-inch backlit supertwist LCD display with a resolution of 640 by 200 pixels. When you draw on the tablet, the display underneath responds as if you were actually drawing on paper. The company also claims that the computer can be taught to recognize any handwritten character and convert it to a standard character entered via a keyboard.

The Linus Write-Top features 640K bytes of CMOS static memory, an 8088-compatible processor, an internal

modem, and a 3 '/2-inch floppy disk drive. The computer weighs 9 pounds and is the size of your typical small laptop. The display/digitizer, which can be detached from the rest of the system, is about 11 by 11 inches and less than an inch thick. Options include a keyboard and a software package called CodeWrite that allows developers to adapt existing applications to receive handwritten input. Another package, Just-Write, is a word processor designed for handwritten input. Price: $2995.

Contact: Linus Technologies Inc., 1889 Preston White Dr., Reston, VA 22091, (703) 476-1500. Inquiry 754.

Output to Your Heart's Delight

Do you need lots of printouts every day? Are you sick of waiting for your printer to tap, tap, tap along at its snail-like pace? If 600

lines per minute (1pm) of draftquality text is fast enough, you might consider Output Technology's OTC 2161. This dot-matrix printer gets its speed by using a three-headed print mechanism that prints two lines of text with each pass. And if you need higherquality output, it prints 325 lpm in correspondence mode and 90 lpm in near-letterquality mode.

The 2161 features a control panel with 16 switches and an expandable 8K-byte buffer. A parallel interface is standard, but you can also get RS232C, RS-422, twinaxial, coaxial, or PrintNet interfaces. The printer emulates the Dataproducts LB600, Printronix P6080, and Epson FX-286e.

In addition to standard ASCII, the OTC 2161 comes with 12 international character sets, IBM Character Sets #1 and #2, and the IBM Code Page #437 and #850 sets. Options include extra font cartridges, additional emulations, additional character sets, a paper stacker, and a quietized pedestal. The 2161 weighs 80 pounds and includes free installation in addition to 6month on-site service. Price: $6450.

Contact: Output Technology Corp., East 9922 Montgomery, Suite 6, Spokane, WA 99206, (800) 468-8788; in Washington, (509) 926-3855. Inquiry 755.

A Security Guard for Your Modem

Gateway U prevents unauthorized folks from stealthily sucking data from your computer. Installed between a serial port and your modem, the stand-alone Gateway II prompts a caller to enter a name and password before permitting system access. If the correct information isn't entered within a userdesignated period, Gateway II rudely hangs up.

Every call is logged in Gateway IPs memory. You can even pick up that report from a distant system by using a modem.

Two models are available. Gateway II can store up to 100 passwords and telephone numbers (250 optional). For extra peace of mind, Gateway II DB (dial back) provides the additional security of logging the user into the Gateway II system and then calling back to a predetermined telephone number. It requires an external Hayes-compatible auto-dial modem.

Both Gateway II devices operate at from 300 to 19,200 bits per second (bps). Price: $395 for Gateway II; $495 for Gateway II DB. Contact: Adalogic Inc., 7844 McClellan Rd., Cupertino, CA 95014, (408) 257-1352. Inquiry 756.

continued

OTC's latest model prints 600 lines per minute.

68 BYTE- JUNE 1988

For problems involving engineering calculations or scientific analysis,

the answer is MathCAD.0

Transporting an iceberg to Southern California is a formidable task. Calculating the variables is just as demanding. How many tugboats would be needed to tow the ice mass? At what cost? How much fresh water would be lost?

Innovative solutions require extraordinary tools. For problems involving calculations or what-if analysis, the answer is MathCAD.

MathCAD is the only PC-based software package specifically designed to give technical professionals the freedom to follow their own scientific intuition.

Requires IBM® PC or compatible.

You decide how to solve the problem MathCAD does the "grunt work."

□ Ends programming and debugging, a Recalculates as variables change.

□ Generates quick plots.

Easy to learn and use, MathCAD operates interactively in standard math notation. And its built-in functions provide all the power you need to solve real-world problems. MathCAD handles matrix operations, solves simultaneous equations, works with real and complex numbers, does automatic unit conversion, displays Greek characters and

HOW

other math symbols, performs FFTs and much more.

There's never been a better way to get fast, accurate solutions to analytical problems. That's why 20,000 engineers and researchers are using MathCAD daily in applications as diverse as fluid mechanics, signal processing and molecular modeling.

To find out what MathCAD can do for you, call us today for a free demo disk: 1-800-MathCAD (in MA, 617-577-1017). Or write to MathSoft, Inc., One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139.

Math Soft

2-t-V- = X/-=-S

Software Tools for Calculating Minds

MANY GLASSES OF WATER

IBM® International Business Machines Corporation, MathCAD® MathSoft, Inc. © Copyright MathSoft, Inc. 1988.

CAN THIS

ICEBERG SUPPLY

TOLA.?

Circle 169 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 69

WHAT'S NEW

PERIPHERALS

A Clean Sweep for Data

It may not have the power of your fairy godmother's magic wand, but DataSweep 1 is a hand-held character reader that lets you enter typed or printed information into your IBM PC by sweeping the reader across text.

According to Soricon Corp., the reader can scan 120 words per minute, with an accuracy of 99.3 percent. It can read from 8- to 14-point type and scan up to 8 inches of characters in one stroke. The twobutton wand lets you activate reading with the front button and program the rear button to keyboard functions such as Return, Tab, and Indent. A multi-font feature automatically recognizes most popular font styles, including proportionally spaced text and some typeset text. You can use the reader with most word-processing, spreadsheet, database, and desktop publishing programs.

DataSweep 1 comes with the hand-held character reader, an interface board, and software. It requires an IBM PC, XT, AT, or compatible running under DOS 2.1 or higher with at least 256K bytes of RAM and a full-size expansion slot. To get the most from DataSweep, you should also have a hard disk drive. Price: $1250. Contact: Soricon Corp., 4725 Walnut St., Boulder, CO 80301, (800) 541-7226; in Colorado, (303) 440-2800. Inquiry 757.

Data Sweep 1 scans up to 120 words per minute.

See It All

on Your Mac SE

If your eyes are complaining about the Mac SE's paltry 9-inch display, help is on the way in the guise of the VScreen monitor from New Image Technology. Based on Princeton Graphic Systems' LM-300 high-resolution monitor, the V-Screen lets you view a whole page of text and graphics on its 15-inch screen. An 8'A- by 11-inch page appears "life-size" with a resolution of 72 dots per inch and a 1-to-l aspect ratio.

The V-Screen uses paperwhite (P-138) phosphors and has a hardware mechanism that lets the 600-pixel screen pan left to right across a full 1024-pixel virtual screen.

The monitor comes on a tilt-and-swivel base and includes a controller card, software, and all connecting

cables.

Price: $1150. Contact: New Image Technology Inc., 9701 Philadelphia Court, Lanham, MD 20706, (301)731-2000. Inquiry 759.

...And Also on Your PS/2

If you're using your PS/2 for those same desktop publishing and CAD applications as the Mac above, you too can get eyestrain relief with the king-size Ventek PS 2000, an ultra-high-resolution monochrome text and graphics display for PS/2s equipped with the Micro Channel.

The PS 2000 has a truly Promethean 20-inch diagonal screen. It is VGA-compatible and has a maximum resolution of 1280 by 1024 pixels. It comes with an IBM PS/2

GIVE YOUR LAPTOP A 5V4-INCH COMPANION

Laptop computers and their 3'/2-inch high-capacity floppy disks are great. But for better or worse, most of the world still runs on old-standard 5!4-inch floppy disks. There's no need to fear The Great Incompatibility: You can transfer and share data between disk sizes using the

W525 Subsystem, an external 5 14-inch 360K-byte floppy disk drive that plugs right into your Toshiba, Tandy, Zenith, Sharp, Datavue, or NEC laptop computer.

The W525 Subsystem attaches to the external floppy disk drive port and comes with a power supply and

cable for your specific model of laptop computer. It measures 2{h by 10 by 6V2 inches. Price: $249.

Contact: Weltec Digital Inc., 17981 Sky Park Circle, Suite M, Irvine, CA 92714, (800) 333-5155; in California, (714)250-1959. Inquiry 758.

Micro Channel card and all the necessary cables. On the software side, the PS 2000 includes drivers for most popular desktop publishing and CAD packages. Price: $2495. Contact: Ventek Corp., 31336 Via Colinas, Suite 102, Westlake Village, CA 91362, (818)991-3868. Inquiry 760.

123-Key Keyboard Remembers Macros

EECO, the company that manufactures the popular DataDesk keyboard, is coming out with a new keyboard that offers more features. The Maxi-Switch Memory Pro for the IBM PC and AT includes a whopping 123 keys and can remember its own macros.

The keyboard includes nonvolatile EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable ROM) to allow it to record keyboard macros. According to the company, you can reprogram any of the keys from the keyboard or by running a utility program on the system. Having the macros stored inside the keyboard avoids compatibility problems that can be caused by garden-variety RAM-resident keyboard macro programs.

The Memory Pro includes many more keys than the familiar 84-key or 101-key keyboards of the IBM PC and AT. For example, two sets of function keys are provided: the traditional 10 keys to the left of the typewriter keypad, and a horizontal row of function keys above the typewriter keypad. These latter keys have removable transparent tops to accommodate legends describing their function. The keyboard also has separate numeric and cursor keypads. Price: About $150. Contact: EECO Inc., 1601 East Chestnut Ave., P.O. Box 659, Santa Ana, CA 92702, (714) 835-6000. Inquiry 761.

continued

70 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Why Paradox 2.0 makes your network run like clockwork

:■

Paradox® runs smoothly, intelligently and so transparently that multiple users can access the same data at the same time—without being aware of each other or getting in each other's way.

With Paradox news travels fast and it's always accurate

Paradox automatically updates itself with a screen-refresh that ensures that all the data is up to date and accurate all the time. Record-locking, Paradoxstyle, safeguards data integrity by preventing for example, two different users from making changes to the same record at the same time.

How to make your multiuser network work

To run Paradox 2.0 or the Paradox Network Pack on a network, you need:

■ Novell with Novell Advanced Netware version 2.0A or higher

■ 3Com 3Plus with 3Com 3+ operating system version 1.0,1.1 or higher

■ IBM Token Ring or PC Network with IBM PC Local Area Network Program version 1.12 or higher

■ Toms Tapestry version 1.45 or higher

■ AT&T Starlan version 1.1 or higher

■ Banyan VINES version 2.10

■ Other network configurations that are 100% compatible with DOS 3.1 and one ol the listed networks

System Requirements lor the Network Workstation

■ DOS 3.1 or higher

■ 640K RAM

■ Any combination ol hard, floppy, or no disk drives

■ Compatible monochrome, color, or EGA monitor with

"Customer satisfaction is our maio concern: it within 60 days ot purchase this product does not perform in accordance with our claims, call our customer service department, and we will arrange a refund.

Paradox is a registered trademark ot Ansa Software. Ansa is a Borland International Company Other brand and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks ol their respective holders Copyright «19M Borland International. Bt 1243

Circle 44 on Reader Service Card (Dealers: 45)

• • When 1 saw the record-locking and autorefresh in action, I couldn't believe it. Here was a true network application, a program that can actually take advantage of a network to provide more features and functions, things that can't be done with a standalone PC.

Aaron Brenner, LAN Magazine

With Version 2.0, Paradox becomes a sophisticated multiuser product that boasts an impressive selection of dataproduction features and passwordsecurity levels.

Rusel DeMaria, PC Week J J

Paradox responds instantly to "Query-by-Example"

The method you use to ask questions is called Query-by-Example. Instead of spending time figuring out how to do the query, you simply give Paradox an example of the results you're looking for. Paradox picks up the example and automatically seeks the fastest way of getting the answer.

Queries are flexible and interactive. And in Paradox, unlike in other databases, it's just as simple to query more than one table as it is to query one.

it The program elegantly handles all the chores of a multiuser database system with little or no effort by network users.

Mark Cook and Steve King,

Data Based Advisor J J

(£ Paradox ... has quickly become the state-of-the-art product among PC database managers ... Paradox still reigns supreme as the thinking user's DBMS.

Jim Seymour, PC Magazine J J

You don't have to be a genius to use Paradox

Even if you're a beginner, Paradox is the only relational database manager that you can take out of the box and begin using right away.

Because Paradox is driven by the very latest in artificial intelligence technology, it does almost everything for you—except take itself out of the box. (If you've ever used 1-2-3® or dBASE,® you already know how to use Paradox. It has Lotus-like menus, and Paradox documentation includes "A Quick Guide to Paradox for Lotus Users" and "A Quick Guide to Paradox for dBASE users.") Paradox, it makes your network work.

60-Day Money-back Guarantee*

For a brochure or the dealer nearest you Call (800) 543-7543

BORLAND

INTERNA I I 0 N A L

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 71

WHAT'S NEW

A D D - I N S

Konan 's Ten Time transfers data at 4 megabytes per second.

Konan the Controller

It's a claim and a name: Konan's Ten Time disk controller accesses data 10 times faster than most controllers, the company reports. Using an on-board RAM cache, the controller features a caching algorithm that results in a transfer rate of 4 megabytes per second for most data requests.

Both disk reads and writes are cached. When you write to the disk, it goes to the cache and is then written to the disk in the background. A 4-year battery protects your data if your computer goes down. If you request data that isn't waiting in the cache, a zerolatency read capability hastens disk access by reading and transferring data immediately, regardless of which sector the head lands on.

Ten Time features a 1 -to-1 interleave and can control up to two hard disk drives and two floppy disk drives. It's compatible with DOS, Unix, Xenix, and Novell and 3Com networks, and requires an IBM PC AT or compatible. Price: $595 for the hard disk

controller; $695 for the hard and floppy disk controller. Contact: Konan Corp., 4720 South Ash Ave., Tempe, AZ 85282, (602) 345-1300. Inquiry 785.

Capture that Image!

FreezFrame lets you mix standard video and computer graphics. It's a full-slot board that provides a window into your VCR, video camera, laser disk player, or other standard NTSC video source. The board lets you capture images in real time, with up to 32,768 colors, and then superimpose text and graphics on top of the image.

FreezFrame has five display modes: EGA-Passthrough displays EGA images on the monitor; Real-Time lets you view video input directly on your screen; Freeze lets you display a still image captured during Real-Time mode; and EGA/CGA Low-Resolution Overlay lets you overlay text or graphics on a full-screen captured image.

FreezFrame gives you a maximum image resolution of

512 by 256 pixels. It captures images in 1/60 second and comes with 256K bytes of video RAM. The system runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles running DOS 3.0 or higher and requires a multifrequency analog monitor, and an EGA or CGA card for overlay capabilities. Price: $1749. Contact: VuTek Systems Inc., 10855 Sorrento Valley Rd., San Diego, CA 92121, (619) 587-2800. Inquiry 786.

Hard Power for Your PS/2 Model 25 or 30

If you've been putting off adding a hard disk drive to your IBM PS/2 Model 25 or 30 for lack of a controller, your wait is over. Data Technology's 5150CR2 and 5160CR2 each occupy a half slot and support both hard cards and 5M- and 3 !/2-inch hard disk drives.

The 5150CR2 uses modified frequency modulation (MFM) and supports drives with up to 16 heads and 1024 cylinders. The 5160CR2 uses run-length-limited (RLL) technology to increase storage capacity by 50 percent and reduce the data transfer rate. It supports drives with up to 16 heads and 2048 cylinders.

Software is included that assists you in installing the controllers. You can choose from among the drives of 15 manufacturers and add other drive models to the menu. You can also split your drive into partitions and enter media defect

tables.

Price: 5150CR2, about $80; 5160CR2, about $95. Contact: Data Technology Corp., 2551 Walsh Ave., Santa Clara, CA 95051,(408) 727-8899. Inquiry 787.

NuVista Delivers Ultimate Mac II Video

Truevision's NuVista is a 32-bit video-capture and display board that occupies one NuBus slot in your Mac II.

The board is based on Texas Instruments' powerful 34010 graphics processor and features a custom video crosspoint chip. It supplies up to 16.7 million colors and provides a resolution of 1024 by 1024 pixels in 32-bit mode, though the resolution can be as high as 2048 by 2048 pixels in 8-bit mode. You can also capture a video signal in real time, and generate an analog video output signal. The board functions as the Mac IPs standard graphics controller.

NuVista comes with either 2 or 4 megabytes of dualported CMOS video RAM. It also includes input and output lookup tables, four channels of A/D and D/A conversion, and a programmable pixel clock.

Price: $4250 with 2 megabytes of RAM; $5995 with 4 megabytes.

Contact: Truevision Inc., 7351 Shadeland Station, Suite 100, Indianapolis, IN 46256, (800) 858-8783; in Indiana, (317)841-0332. Inquiry 788. continued

SKY SCANNER IN A SLOT

After you've scanned through the 200 channels received by your backyard satellite dish, then what? Norsat's Micro-Sat is a satellite dish receiver that plugs into a full slot in an IBM PC or compatible. It lets you receive audio, video, and data signals at up

to 9600 bps. Jacks on the board's rear-edge connector output the audio, video, and base band. You can send data directly to your RS232C serial port and view video input directly on your computer monitor.

You tune Micro-Sat using EPROM, binary-coded dec

imal switches, or through the data bus. It captures signals at a frequency between 950 and 1450 MHz. You can reset frequencies while running AUTOEXEC.BAT, and you can also select video invert and audio bandwidths via DIP switches or directly from your computer. The

board is compatible with the VC II, B-Mac, and Oak descrambling systems and the C and Ku satellite bands. Price: $1000.

Contact: Norsat International Inc., 302-12886 78th Ave., Surrey, BC, Canada V3W8E7, (604) 597-6200. Inquiry 789.

72 BYTE* JUNE 1988

the most f agile mouse evemb set foot

ona

'■ IV

ilffifi

The LOGITECH HiREZ Mousethe only mouse expressly designed for high-resolution screens.

With a resolution of 320 dots-perinch (as compared with 200 dpi or less for ordinary mice), it covers the same area on your high-res screen, but needs less of your desk to do it. More than 50% less. Saving you valuable desk space, and effort: mouse maneuvers that used to require a sweep of the hand are now reduced to a flick of the wrist.

The LOGITECH HiREZ mouse needs 50% less desk space to cover the same amount of screen area as a 200 dpi mouse.

J

Which makes this new mouse a hand's best friend. And a more reliable, long-lasting companion—fully compatible with all popular software, and equipped with a Lifetime Guarantee.

Equipped, too, with other advantages exclusive to all Logitech mice: A unique lightweight ergonomic design. Lowangled buttons for maximum comfort and minimum fatigue. An exclusive technology that guarantees a much greater life span. An exceptionally smooth-moving, dirt-resistant roller ball. And natural compatibility with all PCs, look-a-likes, and virtually any software.

So if you've got your eyes on a high-res screen, get your hands on the one mouse that's agile enough to keep up with it.

The LOGITECH HiREZ Mouse.

For the dealer nearest you, call 800231-7717 (800-552-8885 in California), or write Logitech, Inc., 6505 Kaiser Drive, Fremont, CA 94555. In Europe, call or write: Logitech Switzerland, European Headquarters, CH-1111 Romanel/Morges, Switzerland (++41-21-869-9656).

ffl LOGITECH

Circle 159 on Reader Service Card (Dealers: 160)

How to pick th

mmgagmmggmgm/m/gag^Hmmmmams

Though most mice out there look pretty much alike, they're not all equal in performance. It pays to be just a little choosy to make sure you end up with the right mouse for your needs.

Starting with software. If you want full compatibility with all of your software, all you have to do is look for a mouse with the Logitech name. There are four in all, each one designed for different hardware needs.

THE HiREZ MOUSE

If you've got your eyes on a high-resolution screen, the mouse to get your hand on is the new LOGITECH HiREZ Mouse.

With a resolution of 320 dots-per-inch (as compared with 200 dpi or less for ordinary mice), it covers the same area on your high-res screen but needs less of your desk to do it. More than 50% less. Saving you valuable desk space, and

74 BYTE • JUNE 1988

The LOGITECH HiREZ Mouse needs 50% less desk space to cover the same amount of screen area as a 200 dpi mouse.

Good instincts run in this family (left to right): the new LOGITECH HiREZ Mouse ($179), the only mouse designed expressly for Ingh-res screens; the LOGITECH Series 2 Mouse for the IBM PS/2 ($99, plugs right into mouse port); and the LOGITECH Mouse for standard screens ($119, in bus and serial versions).

All come with Logitech's own Phu Software, which assures ease of use with virtually any software, mouse-based or nol.

effort: mouse maneuvers that used to require sweeps of the hand are now reduced to a flick of the wrist.

Which makes this new mouse a hand's best friend. And a more reliable, long-lasting companion. And, like all Logitech mice, it's fully compatible with all popular software, and equipped with a Lifetime Guarantee.

THE SERIES 2 MOUSE

For those who've chosen the Personal System/2,™ the most logical choice is the LOGITECH Series 2 Mouse. It's 100% compatible with PS/2, and plugs right into the mouse port, leaving the serial port free to accommodate other peripherals.

e right mouse

Iloocadd

THE ALL-PURPOSE MOUSE: SERIAL OR BUS

Most people find our standard mouse is still the best choice for their systems. It's available in both bus and serial versions, one of which is sure to fit perfectly with your hardware. And with all your favorite software—whether mouse-based or not.

It's hardly an accident that only Logitech offers you such a complete selection—we're the only mouse company to design and manufacture our own products. We make more mice, in fact, than anyone else. Including custom-designed models for OEMs like AT&T, DEC, and Hewlett-Packard.

The three mice pictured to the left come with all this expertise built right in. Which explains an interesting paradox: while you may pay less for a Logitech mouse, you'll surely get more in performance.

A Logitech mouse plus Logitech application software equals a complete solution (all prices include mouse, Plus Software, and application): LOG1CADD... $189. PUBLISHER PACKAGE Turns your PC into ...$179. PUBLISHER

a full-featured CADD software lets beginners and workstation. Every- experts alike produce pro

thing you need for fessional, high-impact

dimensioned line documents. Design templates

drawing and CADD. make page layout easy.

LOGIPAINT SET...

$149. Eleven type fonts and a 16-color palette. Creates files that move easily into both LOGIC ADD and PUBLISHER documents.

(800-552-8885 in California). Or fill out and mail the coupon below to: Logitech, Inc., 6505 Kaiser Drive, Fremont, CA 94555. In Europe, call or write: Logitech Switzerland, European Headquarters, CH-1111 Romanel/Morges, Switzerland (++41-21-869-9656).

And in comfort. With a unique lightweight ergonomic design. Low-angled buttons for maximum comfort and minimum fatigue. An exclusive technology that guarantees a much greater life span. An exceptionally smooth-moving, dirtresistant roller ball. And natural compatibility with all PCs, look-a-likes, and virtually any software.

All of which leads to an inescapable conclusion: if you want to end up with the right mouse, start with the right mouse company.

Logitech. We've got a mouse for whatever the task at hand.

For the dealer nearest you, call 800-231-7717

Circle 161 on Reader Service Card (Dealers: 162)

n

~l

Logitech, Inc., 6505 Kaiser Drive, Fremont, CA 94555. Logitech Switzerland, European Headquarters, CH-1111 Romanel/Morges, Switzerland.

Yes! Please send me the name of the nearest Logitech dealer.

Name

Company /Title

Address Phone

HTQGIIECHj

Personal System/2 is a trademark of International Business Machines, Corporation.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 75

WHAT'S NEW

HARDWARE • OTHER

Let the Computer Design that Servo

With the SDK-400, your computer designs, connects, and tests motion-control systems. Included in the servo design kit is a PC-compatible motion controller, a servo motor with encoder, and a power driver. It also comes with a power supply, connectors, and design software.

The motion controller plugs into the PC bus and accepts over 40 ASCII commands and motion profiles. The controller accepts ASCII commands from the keyboard.

Assembling the hardware is simplified by step-by-step graphic explanations included with the software. Diagnostic routines make sure you've connected everything properly, and then the software tunes the system for optimum performance. The software also includes modeling and analysis programs that let you evaluate system performance and teach you about the theoretical aspects of servo design.

The SDK-400 servo design kit requires an IBM PC, XT, AT, or compatible with DOS 2.0 or higher, at least 512K bytes of RAM, and a Hercules or EGA board. Price: System 1, with motor encoder size 5-500, $1145; System 2, with motor encoder size 50-1000, $1175. Contact: Galil Motion Control Inc., 1054 Elwell Court, Palo Alto, CA 94303, (415) 964-6494. Inquiry 767.

Design and test motion-control systems with the SDK-400.

Mr. Mox Powers up Your PC

Do you ever need to power up your PC to access files from a remote location? Mr. Mox, an AC power switch that you control with an external modem, may be the solution.

Mr. Mox features four grounded outlets, two of which are always hot; you control the other two with the Carrier Detect signal in your modem. You plug your PC into the outlets and attach the DB-25 cable to the modem outlet on Mr. Mox and to the external modem.

Mr. Mox also includes a manual-override switch, a 100-second power-off delay, built-in surge protection, a

PURE PC POWER PROTECTION

When lightning's crashing down, your hard disk drives and modems are safe with the DSDLP surge protector—at least from a surge of up to 6000 volts, according to Dynatech.

The DSDLP has sensors that detect undervoltages and power-line losses on up to four AC outlets and two telephone receptacles. It

also filters RFI (radio-frequency interference) and EMI (electromagnetic interference) noise. Price: $139.95; includes a 10-year warranty. Contact: Dynatech Computer Power Inc., 5800 Butler Lane, Scotts Valley, CA 95066, (800) 638-9098; in California, (408) 438-5760. Inquiry 768.

125-volt 15-amp circuit breaker, and a DB-25 cable. Price: $99.95.

Contact: Kenmore Computer Technologies, 30 Suncrest Dr., Rochester, NY 14609, (716) 654-7356. Inquiry 769.

ASCII on the Wall

What is the hexadecimal ASCII code for a check mark? Which color codes will give your screen yellow letters on a blue background? What are the keyboard scan codes for your function keys? You can answer these questions with a quick glance at Topspot's computer reference wall chart. The chart features an ASCII table with all 256 symbols; keyboard scan codes; codes for the 16 basic colors and gray scales; tables of hexadecimal, decimal, and binary numbers; box-drawing codes; and a musical-note frequency chart.

The wall chart measures 24 by 36 inches and has a metal edge and hook for easy hanging. Price: $15.

Contact: Topspot, P.O. Box 881, Marion, IA 52302, (319) 377-0207. Inquiry 770.

A PC-Based Digital Scope

Rapid Systems says its PC-based R1200 digital scope is ideal for transient, vibration, modal, audio, and physiological waveform analysis. It features sampling rates selectable from 1 Hz to 1 MHz, a 64K-byte data buffer, 12-bit A/D converters on each channel, and antialiasing filters on each channel.

The R1200 is capable of zooming in vertically on waveforms to see increased 12-bit resolution. An autosave feature stores the sweeps mode to disk, and the scope offers optional real-time fast Fourier transform spectrum analysis. Price: $2995.

Contact: Rapid Systems Inc., 433 North 34th St., Seattle, WA 98103, (206)547-8311. Inquiry 771.

Extend Your SCSI

The SCSI 50-pin parallel protocol normally operates to only 19.6 feet, or, with the differential version, it can be extended to 82 feet. But Paralan reports that with the Paraline SCSI enhancement products, you can operate at distances of up to 1000 feet, or up to 2 miles with fiber optic models.

The Paraline SCSI bus extenders are freestanding units that operate from wall-mount power supplies. The single extenders have one parallel interface and one serial connection. You mate the serial interface with coaxial or fiber optic cables (depending on the model). Hub models are also available, and they have one parallel and four serial connections.

Price: $305 for the coaxial version; $820 for fiber optic; $1195 for Parahub-4; $2625 for Parahub-4 fiber optic. Contact: Paralan Group, C.D.R. Systems Inc., 7171 Ronson Rd., San Diego, CA 92111,(619)560-1272. Inquiry 796.

continued

76 BYTE' JUNE 1988

Feature:

dBASE

ORACLE

SQL

Promises, no dates

IBM DB2 Compatible

Mainframes

No Way

1BMMVS & VM/CMS

Minis

Nope

DEC, HP, Sun, etc.

PCs

All,

PC Jr. too

286 & 386 PCs

MS/DOS

<640K programs

>640K programs

OS/2

Still waiting

Shipping

Multiuser

Primitive

Mainframe quality

Networking PC Nets only

PC, mini & mainframe

Fault Tolerant

You must be kidding

CPU & Disk Recovery

THE LAST DBMS

ONLY $199 CALI1-800-ORACLE1

racle Corporation, the world's fastest growing software company,' has just climbed past Ashton-Tate to become the world's largest supplier of database management software and services.2

Why?

• Because ORACLE® runs on PCs, plus mainframes and minicomputers from IBM, DEC, DG, HP, Prime, Wang, Apollo, Sun, etc. — virtually every computer you have now or ever will have. AshtonTate's dBASE runs only on PCs.

• Because ORACLE is a true distributed DBMS that connects all your computers — PCs, minicomputers and mainframes — into a single, unified computing and information resource. dBASE supports only primitive PC networking.

• Because Oracle has supported the industry standard SQL language since 1979. Ashton-Tate promises to put SQL into dBASE sometime in the indefinite future.

• Because ORACLE takes advantage of modern 286/386 PCs by letting you build larger-than-640K PC applications on MS/DOS that run unchanged on OS/2. dBASE treats today's 286/386 PCs and PS/2s like the now obsolete, original PC.

Don't go down in flames. Bail out from dBASE. Call 1-800-ORACLE1 and order your S199-PC copy of ORACLE3 today. Or just ask and we'll send you information on ORACLE, the number one selling DBMS on minicomputers and mainframes.

ORACLG*

COMPATIBILITY • PORTABILITY • CONNECTABILITY

Call 1-800-0RACLE1, ext. 149 today.

h

Dear Oracle,

PC ORDER PROCESSING

Oracle Corporation

20 Davis Drive • Belmont, CA 94002

I want ORACLE to be THE LAST DBMS for my 286/386 PC. Enclosed is my □ Check or □ VISA DMCD AMEX credit card authorization for $199 (California residents add 7% sales tax). I understand this copy is for PC development only. Offer valid only in the US and Canada.

Company

Street IPO. Box numbers not acceptable)

Zip

Credit Card Number

Card Expiration Date

1 Revenue doubled in 9 of Oracle's 10 years. ? Sales rale over 5200 million In current fiscal year. ' For PC development use only. Requires a 286/386 PC plus 1-MByte extended memory. Offer ■ valid only In OS & Canada. © 1988 by Oracle Corp. ORACLE* Is a reg. trademark of Oracle Corp. dBASE Is a reg. trademark of Ashton-Tate. Microsoft & IBM own numerous reg. trademarks. TR8A I

Signature BYTE

I am a value-added reseller (VAR): D YES □ NO

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 77

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE

PROGRAMMING

MOVING FORTH WITH OS/2

FloPro 2.2 runs at 5 milliseconds per logic serve.

Real-Time Machine Control on a PC

FloPro 2.2, a CAM program for industrial applications, emulates the programmable controller processes of updating I/O and solving user logic. Using flowcharts as its programming language, the program can run at 5 milliseconds per logic serve, according to Universal Automation.

You can run FloPro in a simulator mode that allows the flowcharts to execute without the I/O attached to the PC.

The FloPro debugger lets you view flowcharts; modify current status of the I/O, flags, timers, counters, and registers; display real-time status while executing; trace flowchart blocks and set breakpoints; cross-reference flowcharts; and terminate or resume execution.

FloPro also works in a multitasking environment.

The program includes 512 (each) inputs, outputs, flags, timers, 16-bit binary counters, and 4-digit binarycoded-decimal registers. A graphics editor lets you put up to a 15-character label on each mnemonic.

FloPro runs on the IBM PC and compatibles with DOS 3.0 or higher, 512K bytes of RAM, an EGA card, and a 132-column printer. Price: $895 for the develop

ment system; $295 for the runtime module.

Contact: Universal Automation Inc., 9G Rebel Rd., Hudson, NH 03051, (603) 8806553. Inquiry 772.

Compile any Microsoft BASIC Program on Your Apple IIGS

Based on the Microsoft BASIC compiler, AC/BASIC is a native 16-bit compiler optimized for the IIGS's 65816 processor. The compiler produces stand-alone applications by translating BASIC programs directly into machine language. It does not require a linker, but does require the run-time libraries included with the program. Absoft reports that you can take programs written in Microsoft BASIC for the Mac, IBM PC, or Amiga, and run and compile them on the IIGS through AC/BASIC. In addition, AC/BASIC supports the IIGS sound and color capabilities. To run the compiler, you need at least 512K bytes of RAM on a IIGS and one 3'/2-inch floppy disk drive. Price: $125.

Contact: Absoft, 2781 Bond St., Auburn Hills, MI 48057, (313)853-0050. Inquiry 797.

continued

LMI UR/FORTH for Microsoft OS/2 is a Forth programming environment for 80286- and 80386-based machines running OS/2.

UR/FORTH runs in protected mode and lets you take advantage of OS/2's support for multitasking, interprocess communications, and virtual memory management.

UR/FORTH offers a direct threaded-code implementation, a segmented memory model, a hashed dictionary for fast compilation, use of dynamic memory allocation functions, and a uniform file interface. It includes a battery of string-handling operators, such as search, extract, compare, and concatenate, and a dynamic string-storage manager. A table-driven full-screen editor lets you edit as many as six files simultaneously.

You can invoke OS/2 system functions interactively from the UR/FORTH interpreter by typing the function's parameters, followed by the function's name. When you leave the OS/2 operating system, the status of the operation is left on the Forth stack, and other results are placed in the Forth

data segment at addresses specified in the original call. You can also call OS/2 functions from within compiled Forth programs.

UR/FORTH supports text and graphics display modes of the CGA and EGA. It contains graphic drawing routines for reading or setting individual pixels, line drawings, arcs, ellipses, and circles; region filling with patterns or solid color; bitblock moves; and positioning of graphics at arbitrary graphics coordinates.

Software floating-point, 80287-assisted floatingpoint, and 80387-assisted floating-point function libraries are supplied. Laboratory Microsystems reports that you can use the software floating-point library on any 286- or 386based machine.

To run UR/FORTH for OS/2 you need version 1.0 or higher of OS/2, a 286- or 386-based system, at least 2 megabytes of RAM, and a CGA, VGA, EGA, or monochrome display adapter. Price: $350.

Contact: Laboratory Microsystems Inc., 3007 Washington Blvd., Suite 230, Marina del Rey, CA 90292, (213) 306-7412. Inquiry 773.

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78 BYTE • JUNE 15

Take a peek at Genoa's new PC graphics

You've known Genoa as a developer of high performance graphics chips, and a leading manufacturer of graphics boards and tape backup. Soon you'll be able to depend on us for all your PC graphics add-on hardware.

Over the next year, we'll be unwrapping a series of graphics products. Each is designed to give you the most reliable, yet innovative engineering features. And above all, the highest performance possible.

Our SuperVGA HiRes family, featured here, is the first in our new product series. SuperVGA HiRes offers breathtaking color and resolution. From 16 colors in 1024x768. Up to 256 colors in 800x600. You'll see more of your spreadsheets at once with SuperVGA HiRes. 132 columns and 60 rows.You'll do Windows or OS/2. In fact, every SuperVGA HiRes feature is designed to turn your IBM PC/XT/AT and PS/2 models 25 and 30 into real graphics engines.

Genoa

SYSTEMS CORPORATION

Delivering SuperVGA HiRes now'

100% IBM VGA compatible Advanced features -1024x768 in

16 colors and

800x600 in

256 colors/Model 5200 -512x512 in

256 colors/Model 5100 132 columns text For both analog and TTL displays

If you're looking for PC graphics add-ons, take a look at Genoa first. Our new line of products is starting delivery now!

For the Genoa dealer nearest you or to add your name to our mailing list contact: Genoa Systems Corporation, 73 E.Trimble Road, San Jose, CA 95131. Fax: 408/434-0997 Telex: 172319. Or phone: 408/432-9090. In the UK, contact Genoa Systems Limited, phone: 01-225-3247 In the Far East, contact Genoa/Taiwan, phone: 2-776-3933.

Circle 118 on Reader Service Card

E 1988 Genoa Systems Corporation. SuperVGA HiRes is a trademark ol Genoa Systems Corporation.Windows is a trademark ot Microsoft, Inc. IBM PC/XT/AT, PS/2, and OS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines.

¥>u carit buy a faster 286 computer for the price*

In fact, you can't buy a faster 286 computer at any price*

BYTE 'JUNE 1988

JUNE 1988 • B Y T E 80-A

1

1 Jit

lL/-4?Jjfe

Because.

The handsome piece of hightech wizardry you've just been admiring (on the previous two pages) is the new Dell System 220 The first 286 computer running at 20 MHz. You read it correctly. 20 MHz. Which means it's as fast as most 386 computers, running MS+OS/2 and MS-DOS at blistering speed. All from a tiny little corner of your desk.

Yet this engineering marvel costs less than half of what most other 386 computers sell for.

Which might lead you, quite reasonably, to wonder:

How can the people at Dell offer you so much for so little? The short answer is that you buy direct from us, the manufacturer.

Eliminating the computer stores and their salespeople-who can add thousands of dollars to the cost of every computer.

"Speed is a good thing. Safe, reliable, no hassles speed is better still!' -Al Poor, Editor's Choice, PC Magazine

But while we eliminate the things you don't need, we also make certain we never eliminate

anything you actually do need.

The very first thing you need from any computer company, obviously, is terrific computers.

80-B B YTE • JUNE IS

Well, we design and build our computers right here at our headquarters in Austin, Texas.

Putting a premium on speed, compatibility, and reliability.

Because we're flexible, we often get new technologies to the marketplace faster than any other computer company.

In fact, we're already shipping our version ofMSOS/2,soyou can run MS OS/2 applications, now as well as in the future.

'.'..includes a year's on-site support...in the price of the computer. This is the sweetest support deal offered by any computer vendor in the business!'

-Eric Knorr, PC World

As for quality control, around here it's an obsession. Each and

every computer goes through a battery of diagnostic checks, including a comprehensive burnin before we ship it to you.

Every single Dell computer also comes equipped with one other remarkable feature.

A level of service most retail computer stores can only envy.

Starting with expert technical advice before you even buy a computer. To help you decide which system best suits your needs.

Followed by a thirty-day money-back guarantee. To make sure you're completely satisfied.

And all systems come with a one-year limited warranty.

Then, we give you free technical support over the phone. With technicians who know the inside of our computers the way you know the back of your hand.

If on-site service should ever be required by you or your business, we'll send a Honeywell Bull service engineer to your office by the next business day?

Our attitude towards service is perhaps best summed up by a phrase we hear around here, delivered in a no-nonsense tone by our Chairman, Michael Dell:

"Fix itj' he says. "Or give them their money back!'

"The combination of technical know' how and service is impressive... it's a

good bet the computer world will be earing a lot more about Michael Dell in the years ahead!'

-Stanley W. Angrist, Forbes

In four years, we've become one of the largest personal computer manufacturers in the U.S. We've more than doubled our sales each year we've been in business; last year, our sales grew from $69 million to $159 million.

It shouldn't be any surprise. After all, we've been offering better computers, with better service-at better prices.

All you do is call us and place an order, and we ship it direct to you. Which makes buying a computer as simple as it can be.

Now, if you'd like the rest of the details on our hyper-fast 286 computer, and information on the rest of our line, there's only one more thing you have to do.

Turn the page.

JUNE 1988 • BYTE 80-C

The Dell Computer

Store*

Welcome to our store. To buy or lease a Dell computer, call (800) 426-5150. We'll help you select the right system.

For service and technical support, call our highly trained technicians at (800) 624-9896. In almost all cases, any problem can be solved over the phone.

These technicians are also supported by Honeywell Bull service engineers who can be dispatched to your office by the next business day, should on-site service be required. This optional service contract is available in over 95% of the United States, with over 1,000 engineers in 198 service locations*

We are so confident in our quality products that we also provide a Total Satisfaction Guarantee, which says that any system bought from us may be returned within thirty days from the date it was shipped to you for a complete refund of your purchase price.

We also offer a One Year Limited Warranty, which warrants each system we manufacture to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for one full year. During the one year period we will repair or replace any defective products properly returned to our factory.

CaE or write for the complete terms of our Guarantee Warranty, and the Honeywell Bull Service Contract. Dell Computer Corporation, 9505 Arboretum Blvd., Austin, Texas 78759-7299.

Dell products are available on GSA contract #GS00K87AGS6127 Call us to get GSA pricing.

THE NEW SYSTEM

310.

The top of the line. It's the highest performance 80386 computer available, faster than the IBMt PS/2t Model 80 and the Compaqt 386/20. It runs at 20 MHz, with the latest 32bit architecture for complete MSt OS/2 compatibility and maximum performance. Since it also has Intel'st Advanced 82385 Cache Memory Controller, and high performance disk drives, the System 310 is ideal for intensive database management, complex research and development, CAD/ CAM, and desktop publishing. As a network file server the system offers an unbeatable combination of price and performance.

Standard Features:

Intelt 80386 microprocessor running at

20 MHz. 1 MB of 80 ns 32-bit RAM expandable

to 16 MI3 without using an expansion

slot. Advanced Intel 82385 Cache Memory

Controllet with 32 KB of high speed

static RAM. Socket for 20 MHz 80387 coprocessor 5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette

drive. Dual diskette and hard disk drive

controller. Enhanced 101-key keyboard. I parallel and 2 serial ports. 200-watt power supply. Real-time clock. 8 expansion slots (6 available with hard

disk drive controller and video

adapter installed). Dell System Analyzer. MS-DOS and MS OS/2 compatible. Security lock with locking chassis. 12 month on-site service contract

(Available on complete systems). Options:

1 MB RAM upgrade kit.

20 MHz Intel 80387 math coprocessor.

2 MB or 8 MB memory expansion

boards.

SYSTEM 310

With Monitor and Adapter

Hard Disk Drives

VGA Mono

VGA Color

VGA Color Plus

40 MB-28 ms

$3,799

$3,999

$4,099

90MB-I8ms ESDI

J4.599

$4,799

$4,899

I50MB-I8ms ESDI

15.099

$5,299

$5,399

322 MB-1S ms ESDI

$7,099

$7,299

$7,399

THE NEW SYSTEM

220.

As fast as most 386 computers, at less than half the price-more power for the money than any other system. An 80286 system that runs at 20 MHz, with less than one wait state. Completely compatible for both MS-DOS and MS OS/2 applications (it runs OS/2 faster than IBM PS/2 Model 80), and with a remarkably small footprint, the System 220 is the ideal executive workstation for database management, business, or sophisticated connectivity applications. The system uses page-mode interleaved memory; the page-mode RAM operates at less than one wait state, and inter-leaving results in a performance increase of about 15 percent.

Standard Features:

80286 microprocessor running

at 20 MHz. 1 MB of RAM expandable to

16 MB (8 MB on system

board). Integrated diskette and VGA

video controller on system board. One 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. Integrated high performance hard

disk interface on system board. Enhanced 101-key keyboard. 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. L1M 4.0 support for memory

over 1 MB. Real-time clock. Three full-sized ATt compatible

expansion slots. Socket for 80287 coprocessor. Dell System Analyzer. MS-DOS and MS OS/2

compatible. Security lock with locking chassis. 12 month on-site service contract (Available on complete

systems). Options:

3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. Intel 80287 coprocessor. 1 MB RAM upgrade kits.

SYSTEM 220

With Monitoi

VGA Mono

VGA

Color

VGA

Color Plus

One Diskette Drive

$1,799

$1,999

$2,099

40MB-29ms

Hard Disk

$2,499

$2,699

$2,799

100 MB-29 ins Hani Disk

$3,399

$3,599

$3,699

80-D BYTE- JUNE 1988

THE NEW SYSTEM

200.

A great value in a full-featured AT compatible. An 80286 computer running at 12.5 MHz, this system is completely MS OS/2 compatible. It's ideal for general business applications, as well as software development, local area networks, CAD/CAM, and desktop publishing. The System 200 offers high speed drive options, industry standard compatible BIOS, and on-site service. At these low prices, the System 200 is the best value in the 80286 marketplace. As Executive Computing said of this computer's predecessor, "If faster processing speed and low cost are two key issues affecting your purchase decision, this machine might be the ideal choice for your office."

Standard Features:

Intel 80286 microprocessor running at

12.5 MHz. 640 KB of RAM, expandable to 16 MB

(4.6 MB on system board.) 5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette

drive. Dual diskette and hard disk drive

controller. Enhanced 101-key keyboard. 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. 200-watt power supply. Real-time clock. 6 expansion slots. (4 available with

hard disk drive controller and video

adapter installed). Socket for 8 MHz 80287 coprocessor. Dell System Analyzer. MS-DOS & MS OS/2 compatible. Security lock with locking chassis. 12-month on-site service contract

(Available on complete systems).

Options:

512 KB RAM upgrade kit.

8 MHz Intel 80287 coprocessor.

SYSTEM 200

With Monitor and Adapter

Hard Disk Drives

Mono

VGA Mono

VGA Color

VGA Color I'Ilis

20 Mil

$1,799

$1,999

$2,199

$2,299

40MB-40rr,5

$1,999

$2,199

$2,399

$2,499

40 MIS-28 ms

$2,199

$2399

$2,599

$2,699

SOMIMSms ESDI

$2,999

$3,199

$3,399

$3,499

150 MB 18 ms ESDI

$3,499

$3,699

$3,899

$3,999

322 MIS 18 ms ESDI

$5,499

£5,699

$5,899

$5,999

THE SYSTEM

100.

A full-featured, yet economical one-piece computer for office, school, or home. This system is fast, easy to use, and ready to run with Dell Enhanced MSDOS 3.3, Microsoft!- DOS Manager, and Microsoft Works software-more than a $400 value, included at no extra charge. Complete MS-DOS compatibility means you can run thousands of programs for business, personal finance, education, and entertainment. And the System 100 can grow, with the high quality options listed below. A price leader in 8088 technology, the System 100 boasts an innovative design that allows for more power, speed and convenience than most of its competitors.

Standard Features:

Intel 8088 microprocessor running at 9.54 MHz selectable to 4.77.

640 KB of RAM.

3.5" 720 KB diskette drive.

Diskette drive controller integrated on system board.

Integrated high-quality 84-key keyboard.

1 serial and 1 parallel port.

Two full-sized expansion slots available when video adapter is installed.

One half-sized expansion slot used for video adapter.

Socket for 8 MHz 8087 coprocessor.

Internal speaker with earphone jack and volume control.

Security Tie-Down bracket.

Dell Enhanced MS-DOS 3.3 Microsoft DOS Manager, Microsoft Works.

Options:

3.5"720 KB diskette drive.

8 MHz Intel 8087.

SYSTEM 100

W

rh Monitc

rand Adapter

Monoehrome

CGA Color

VGA Mono

VGA Color

720 KB Diskette Drive

$799

$899

S999

$1,199

Two 720 KB Diskette Drives

$949

$1,049

$1,149

$1,349

20 MB Hard Disk

$1299

$1,399

$1,499

$1,699

PRINTERS. We now offer a full line of PC-compatible dot matrix and laser printers. Our dot matrix printers range from inexpensive near-letter quality printers to the highest resolution printers available. Our laser printers include some of the fastest, most reliable printers ever made. All are 300 dots per inch, and all support serial and parallel interfaces. And all printers come with our 30-day moneyback guarantee and a one year warranty.

LASER PRINTERS

Laser System 150 $5,995

15 pages per minute, text and graphics

1.5 MB standard memory, expandable

to 2.0 MB Dual 250-sheet input trays

Laser System 80 $3,195 8 pages per minute text and graphics 1.5 MB standard memory, expandable to 2.0 MB

Laser System 60 $2,195 6 pages per minute, text and graphics 1,5 MB standard memory, expandable to 2.0 MB

DOT MATRIX PRINTERS Printer System 800 $699.95 Highest resolution text and graphics from a 24-\vire dot matrix printer Draft quality at 200 cps

Correspondence quality at 132 cps Lettet quality at 66 cps Standard parallel and serial interfaces Wide carriage

Printer System 600 $499.95

9-wire dot matrix

Draft quality at 240 cps

Near-letter quality at 60 cps

Standard parallel interface

12.6 KB Buffer (expandable to 28.6 KB)

Wide carriage

Printer System 300 $199.95 9-wire dot matrix Draft quality at 144 cps Near-letter quality at 36 cps Four standard fonts Paper parking 4 KB buffer Standard Parallel interface

PERIPHERALS. With our unique manufacturing capabilities, we can build a system to your exact specifications. We offer monitors, modems, graphics boards, tape backups, hard drives, diskette drives, expanded memory boards, a serial mouse, and more. Call for details.

Operating System Software

Dell Enhanced MS-DOS 3.3 with disk cache and other

utilities $119.95. Dell MS OS/2 Standard Edition 1.0 $324.95

SOFTWARE. Complete your system with software: accounting, communications, desktop publishing, graphics, home, spreadsheet, training, word processing, and integrated packages. Call for more information.

DELL

TO ORDER, CALL

800426-5150

AH prices and specifications are subject to change without notice. Please inquire for current details. Del) cannot be irsponsible for errors in typography or photography. In Canada, leasing is not currently available, and configurations and pricing may vary. *Available on System 100 at extra charge. fSignihVs registered or unregistered trademarks owned by enrities other than Dell Computer Corporation. ©1988 DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION. 11EF8

Circle 317 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 • BYTE 81

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE

SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING

Anvil Forges Designs on Your 386

Anvil-5000pc integrates drafting, wire-frame, surface modeling, section analysis, and numerical control using the same data structure and interactive interfaces for all functions.

Its drafting capabilities include notes, labels, dimensions, cross-hatching, arrow on curve, balloon, text edit, surface finish, and true-position tolerancing. Its geometric features offer points, lines, arcs and circles, splines, conies, strings, and polylines.

The program has an integrated database, a warm reboot, and an open architecture. It can handle drawings of parts that have more than 340,000 entities.

The program supports VGA, PGA, and EGA. It comes in six software modules, beginning with 3-D Design and Drafting, which is the core module of the system and is available immediately. Other modules will be released throughout 1988. Price: 3-D Design and Drafting module, $3995; other modules will range from $495 to $1995.

Contact: Manufacturing and Consulting Services Inc., 9500 Toledo Way, Irvine, CA 92718,(714)951-8858. Inquiry 774.

Astronomical Space Birds

Space Birds is an astronomical program that predicts the visibility of artificial earth satellites. It requires that you obtain information on orbital elements from NASA on forms provided in the package. You enter the elements, your latitude, longitude, and height above sea level, and the time period for which you want visibility predictions. The program runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compat

AnvilSOOOpc does all kinds of 3-D design and drafting.

ibles with DOS 2.0 or higher. Price: $40 for PC and XT version; $45 for PC AT version.

Contact: Astronomical Data Service, P.O. Box 26180, Colorado Springs, CO 80936, (719) 597-4068. Inquiry 775.

New Mathtool Module

Statistics I is the first module in Gulfs numerical analysis library, Mathtool. Statistics I calculates means, variance, moments, moving averages, frequency distributions, and cumulative frequency distributions. It also performs data smoothing, tests of hypotheses and significance, and confidence interval estimates.

The modules in the Mathtool series offer on-line editing of data, mathematical routines, and graphics output to the screen or printer. You can input your own data, ASCII files, or Lotus 1-2-3 files. Other Mathtool modules will include Matrix Analysis, Regression and Correlation, Probability, Differential Equations, Fourier Series, Bessel Functions, Numerical Integration, Analytic Geometry,

Mathematical Functions, and Numerical Differentiation. Statistics I operates as a stand-alone program or will work with other Mathtool units. They all run on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles with 256K bytes of RAM. A monochrome or color graphics card is recommended. Price: $95.

Contact: Gulf Publishing Co., Book Division, Dept. R8, P.O. Box 2608, Houston, TX 77252,(713)529-4301. Inquiry 776.

Passage into Two Dimensions

World Precision Instruments has designed Passage for two-dimensional plotting and numerical analysis on a Mac. The program lets you enter data from other programs. It will scale and plot multiple sets of the data, including asymmetrical error values. Passage also analyzes and manipulates the data, using routines to calculate integrals, fast Fourier transforms, and polynomial fits.

Passage runs on the Mac Plus, SE, and II. Price: $495.

Contact: World Precision Instruments, 375 Quinnipiac Ave., New Haven, CT 06513, (203)469-8281. Inquiry 777.

SEGS Plots Engineering Graphics

SEGS is a scientific engineering graphics system that can plot over 5000 data points for each of 10 curves with up to four independent y axes. It features a Lotus 1-2-3-style interface and lets you produce presentation-quality graphics on many plotters and printers, including Hewlett-Packard pen plotters and LaserJets, and IBM graphicscompatible dot-matrix printers.

An internal numeric spreadsheet lets you enter, transform, and manipulate data mathematically to produce plots. You can enter data with the numeric spreadsheet, or you can import data from spreadsheet print files or ASCII data files.

To run SEGS, you need an IBM PC, XT, AT, or compatible with 256K bytes of RAM and DOS 2.0 or higher. It also runs on PS/2s and supports CGA, EGA, VGA, and Hercules Graphics cards. Price: $195.

Contact: Edmond Software Inc.,3817WindoverDr., Edmond, OK 73013, (800) 992-3425; in Oklahoma, (405) 340-0697. Inquiry 778.

PCB Design on the Mac II

EDS-l is an electronic design program that combines modules for producing printed circuit board designs. Modules include schematic entry, PCB layout, routing, and a Gerber translator.

Vamp also offers EDS-II, which is essentially the same package as EDS-l, but includes a digital simulator. Price: EDS-l, $1495. Contact: Vamp Inc., 6753 Selma Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028,(213)466-5533. Inquiry 779.

continued

82 BYTE- JUNE 1988

THE COMPILER THAT MAKES THE FASTEST

CODE FOR SIEVE IS JPITOPSPEED MODULA-2.

The successor of Pascal: JPI TopSpeed Modula-2 produces better code than Microsoft C, Turbo C, Logitech Modula, and Turbo Pascal 4.0. The figures speak for themselves:

Measured by British Standards Institution (BSI) (25 iterations of Sieve on 8MHz AT)

In England and Europe contact:

Jensen & Partners UK Ltd., 63 Clerkenwell Rd., London EC1M 5NP, Phone: (01) 253-4333. In England call Toll Free 0800 444-143, 24 Hours. Compiler Kit £59.95, TechKit £29.95 (introductory offer only valid in the US).

Jensen & pjj Partners

International

TopSpeed is a trademark of Jensen &. Partners International. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Circle 146 on Reader Service Card

JPI TopSpeed Modula-2 is a professional Modula-2 development system with full support of memory models, multi-tasking, long data types, structured constants, long and short pointers, 80 x 87 inline code and emulator, separate compilation, direct BIOS/DOS calls etc. The comprehensive library includes CGA. EGA and VGA graphics support, math functions, sorting, file handling, window management and more. Here is what our users say:

"JPI Modula-2 is the Modula-2 we have all been waiting for. JPI Modula-2 will do for Modula-2 what Turbo Pascal did for Pascal."

-KNKing

Author of Modula-2: A Complete Guide

"JPI Modula-2 is a landmark product. The environment is better than anything on offer from Borland or Microsoft."

—Huw Collingbourne Computer Shopper

The Compiler Kit includes: High-speed optimizing compiler, integrated menu-driven environment with multi-window/multi-file editor, automatic make, fast smart linker. All Modula-2 sources to libraries included. Bonus: Complete high-speed window management module included with source.

The TechKit includes: Assembler start-up source code for system, JPI TopSpeed Assembler, TSR module, communications drivers, PROM locator and technical information.

Systems requirements: IBM PC or compatible, 384K available RAM and two floppy drives (hard disk is recommended).

To become part of the excitement, make use of our limited-time introductory price of $59.95 (after July 4,1988: $99.95). 30 days unconditional moneyback guarantee. •

To Order:

Call 1-800-443-0100 Ext 255, 24 Hours. Or mail in the coupon or a letter.

/

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WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE • SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING

Camstat Analyzes Manufacturing Data

With this set of statistical functions, you can monitor, detect, correct, and improve quality control in manufacturing processes.

You can enter data into Camstat through its editing environment or from files generated by other applications. You can also create a series of prompts that you can use to enter data directly into the system, making it available on the manufacturing floor.

Camstat handles parametric, attribute, date, and character variables. You can split data into subsets, change values, transform values, and filter out subsets of data. Charting features include X-R, trend, and p-charts. Its graphics capabilities include histograms, cumulative sum plots, x,y plots, capability analysis, SPC control charts, and Pareto charts.

Camstat runs on the IBM PC AT or compatibles with at least 640K bytes of RAM, a 1.2-megabyte floppy disk drive, and an EGA or Hercules monochrome adapter. A math coprocessor is recommended. Price: $649.

Contact: Cameo Systems Inc., 2880 San Tomas Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95051, (408) 986-9200. Inquiry 780.

Generate Spif fy Scientific Presentations

You can use Ventura or GEM Desktop Publisher to create text for publication, then use Specific Fonts 4 (SF4) to create the scientific and mathematical formulas, expressions, and diagrams to insert into your document.

SF4 provides you with symbol and monospace fonts for GEM users, a set of math and Greek picture fonts in the form of Draw objects, and an art library of numbers and letters for special decorative features.

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664.5

flcaii!

683.9

Std Deviation: $n0 1

13.97 69.84

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3.888

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66.57

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96.13

to, Observations: Capability:

697 .7168

^paUlito Index: CU:

2.312

,5788E«B3

.685UEIU3 .6188E-83

ChiSq: 2.914

Lower

Units

Uppc

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Plot: 579.8

Points

Bol

.0*1:

8

Plot

! 648.8

Points Akws: 8

UCntrl: 598.8

Points

I'.l

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115

UCntrl

: 628.8

Points Above: 92

BCntrl: 573.8

Points Be!

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BCntrl

: 639.8

Points Above: 8

1-tono 2-Print 3-Char>se

U*l

Is

4-Climg

b H-Slgn* 5-Boset Control Units

Putting Camstat to use on the manufacturing floor.

You can edit SF4 with FontEdit, a GEM-based editor from Specific Solutions.

The program requires GEM or Ventura and runs on the IBM PC and compatibles with at least 512K bytes of RAM. Price: $75.

Contact: Specific Solutions, 1898 Anthony Court, Mountain View, CA 94040, (415) 941-3941. Inquiry 781.

Thermal Analyzes

Semiconductor

Temperatures

Thermal is a three-dimensional thermal-analysis program that assists you in redesigning semiconductor circuits. It calculates a grid of temperatures, up to 30 by 30, on as many as five power sources for a given substrate. A list of 20 substrates is included, or you can define new ones.

The program runs under Microsoft Windows and makes use of Windows' Clipboard, allowing you to integrate any of its display modes into other Windows applications. You can also create text files to use with other non-Windows programs.

You can view your output in graphic or text form. When viewing graphically, you can toggle isothermal and grid lines on and off. In text mode, you can display the cell and substrate input data as well as any calculated output data. You can also page through the data with the keyboard or mouse.

Thermal runs on the IBM PC and compatibles with at least 640K bytes of RAM, a math coprocessor, and Windows 1.03 or higher. A Windows-compatible mouse is recommended. Price: $449.95. Contact: Solutions Firmware, 6915 Rendina St., Long Beach, CA 90815, (213) 5961900. Inquiry 782.

Analyzing Time Series or Random Data

Micro-Mac/Ran is a microcomputer version of the time-series and spectral-analysis system Mac/Ran, originally designed for mainframes.

The program performs spectral analysis, data correlation, generation and complex arithmetic manipulation of signals, and digital filtering. It comes in modules that can run as stand-alones, interactively, or in batch mode. The modules

include shock spectra, multiple-input linear systems analysis, probability function estimation, tracking filters, third-octave processing, and more.

University Software reports that the program was designed so that you need only an elementary knowledge of time-series analysis characteristics.

Micro-Mac/Ran runs on the IBM PC and compatibles with at least 512K bytes of RAM, a math coprocessor, and a hard disk drive. It supports graphics boards and HewlettPackard plotters. Price: Four microcomputer versions range in price from $599 to $2495.

Contact: University Software Systems, 250 North Nash St., El Segundo, CA 90245, (213) 640-7616. Inquiry 783.

Fit and Plot Your Curves

Curve-fitting routines performed by F-Curve include cubic spline, divided difference, polynomial and multiple linear regression with least squares, and nonlinear fits using the simplex technique. You can use Savitzky-Golay filters to smooth the data. The program also lets you calculate the value of y for any value of x on the smoothed curve, the value of the integral of the smoothed curve for any x interval, and the value of the derivative of the curve for any value of x.

Plotting capabilities let you plot data points with or without the fitted curve. You can plot data points with error bars or symbols or both.

F-Curve runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles. Price: $59.95. Contact: LEDS Publishing Co. Inc., P.O. Box 12847, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, (919) 477-3690. Inquiry 784.

continued

84 BYTE- JUNE 1988

"There's No Reason To Look Beyond

PC TOOLS

))

-PC Magazine, Editor's Choice Award, Two-Time Winner

Data Recovery * Fast Hard Disk Backup * Disk Management

Now we've given you even more reason-PC Tools™ Deluxe.

PC Tools Deluxe gives you all the best features of Fastback™ Norton," XTREE," Mace1; Sidekickf Lightning™ and Disk Optimizer-a $700 value-for just $79.

Other utilities may claim they "do it all" but only PC Tools Deluxe delivers:

♦ A DOS shell so complete 80 Micro called it their "overwhelming choice based on versatility, ease of use, and cost:' -The best UNDELETE available-instead of merely "guessing" it recovers all data even on fragmented files.

♦ HARD DISK BACKUP as fast and every bit as reliable as Fastback. ♦ The leading UNFORMAT for hard disks and floppy disks, enabling you to recover from many disk disasters.

♦ PCFORMAT for safe formatting of floppy and hard disks.

♦ A quick, reliable DISK CACHING utility for speeding up disk access.

♦ A fast COMPRESS feature that like Disk Optimizer dramatically improves hard disk performance. ♦ And a better resident mini WORD PROCESSOR than Sidekick, including word wrap, search/replace, formatted page printing and more.

Before you buy any of these other utilities, take a look at PC Tools Deluxe. Like PC Magazine, you'll find there's no reason to look any further. For the dealer nearest you, or to order direct, call (503) 244-6036, M-F, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (West Coast time). Questions? Call us at (503) 244-5782.

CentralPoint Software

J INCORPORATED

9700 S.W. Capitol Hwy.

Portland, OR 97219

Circle 54 on Reader Service Card

PC Tools is a trademark of Central Point Software. All other product names are trademarks of their manufacturers.

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE • BUSINESS

Manage Your Money on Your Mac

The Macintosh version of Managing Your Money includes the same capabilities as the IBM version and also allows you to integrate the financial "chapters" to come up with a budget, manage savings, calculate income, and more.

The program performs basic budget and checkbook management, tax planning, portfolio management, and retirement planning.

Managing Your Money for the Mac is not copy-protected and runs on the Mac 512Ke, Plus, SE, and II. You must have two disk drives, one of which must have at least 800K bytes of RAM. Price: $219.98. Contact: Meca Ventures Inc., 355 Riverside Ave., Westport, CT 06880, (203) 226-2400. Inquiry 762.

Low-Cost TurboCharged Accounting

Everything you need to perform basic accounting tasks is integrated in InfoTeam Turbo Accounting from Info Designs. The program includes modules for general ledger, accounts receivable, invoicing, accounts payable, and check writing. The modules are integrated so that every time you enter or change information, each transaction is time-stamped, and the general-ledger module is updated. On-line help is included in each module.

InfoTeam Turbo Accounting is available on 3 Vi- and 5 W-inch disks. It runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles. Price: $99.

Contact: Info Designs Inc., 445 Enterprise Court, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48013, (313) 334-9790. Inquiry 763.

Financial analysis at your fingertips.

Scoring Big

with Mutual Funds

Mutual Fund Scoreboard disks are issued quarterly by BusinessWeek and cover equity and fixed-income funds listed in the NASDAQ system. The current version of the Scoreboard includes the critical fourth quarter of 1987 and covers approximately 728 equity funds and 536 fixedincome funds.

The Scoreboard disks offer more than 25 fields of information, including a rating by BusinessWeek, which measures a fund's performance adjusted for risk and sales charges. You can retrieve information from the fields in a variety of ways; for instance, you may want to know which no-load funds emphasize growth, or which outperformed Standard & Poor's 500-stock index in the past 5 years.

You can convert the data to Lotus 1-2-3 or ASCII format. The Scoreboard runs on the IBM PC and compatibles with at least 256K bytes of RAM and DOS 2.1 or higher. A data management program is included on each disk, so you can access and print the information. Price: $49.95 per disk; $149.95 for annual subscription to either Equity or Fixed Income disks; $239.95 for annual subscription to both Equity and Fixed Income disks.

Contact: BusinessWeek, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, (800) 553-3575; in Illinois, (312) 250-9292. Inquiry 764.

Developing Business Programs

Concept 1.0 from Archimedes lets you prepare documents, design forms, write programs, generate spreadsheets, and organize a database. The word-processing, report-processing, and database management functions are integrated with a programming language. Archimedes says you can add macros, templates, and data libraries.

Concept comes with software for word processing and mailing-list management, a pop-up calculator, a calendar, and an accounts receivable module.

The program runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles with 512K bytes of RAM and DOS 2.0 or higher. It also runs on PS/2s. Price: $195.

Contact: Archimedes Inc., O'Hare Lake Office Plaza, 2350 East Devon Ave., Suite 242, Des Plaines, IL 60018, (312)635-0715. Inquiry 765.

A Micro-Based Management Information System

EMIS II (executive management information system) keeps databases of phone calls, letters, prices, invoices, delivery dates, when to call back, and buying cycles. It can offer you figures on sales, call activity, time spent on the phone, internal memos, averages, and summaries.

The Dossier is the program's central file. Stored in the Dossier are names, addresses, phone numbers, ZIP codes, titles, and greetings, along with information fields that you can designate. You can display past activity of the account with the files and include forms, memos, call dates, buying patterns, and other information.

EMIS II has three levels of security. The first requires that you have an operator code. The second limits certain data segments to only those users who have optional passwords. The third level lets managers limit access of certain functions.

The program uses the Btrieve Record Manager, which sorts by midpoints, moving you closer to the desired files than alphabetical sorting, according to the company. You can separate databases into data segments, and transfer files between data segments. You can also import and export ASCII information. The program also has a forms- and report-producing capability.

EMIS II runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles with 512K bytes of RAM. It also runs on PS/2s, and there is a multiuser network version. Price: $1495 for single-user version; $2495 for three-user version; $1995 for every three users added. Contact: EMIS Software Inc., 901 Northeast Loop 410, Suite 526, San Antonio, TX 78209,(512)822-8499. Inquiry 766.

continued

86 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Some Datacomm

Standards Should Be

Carved in Stone

15] Universal Data Systems

®>

RS CS OM CD

*@BF

iA TALK/OAT*

RO TD

V.32

■ '

NC*

In the matter of full-duplex data communication at 9600 bps, a number of approaches have been discussed. There's the CCITT-approved V.32. There are even some "pseudo V.32s" around. Some suggest that, because of their somewhat lower cost, non-standard modems may be the answer.

At Universal Data Systems, our position is carved in stone: for full end-to-end compatibility, regardless of equipment source, standardization on true V.32 is the only workable solution.

That's why the fully featured UDS V.32 is the acknowledged price/performance leader.

Our exclusive near-end/ far-end echo cancellation techniques, combined

with trellis coding, result in -17dBm signalto-noise ratio; that's plenty of horsepower for voice-grade lines.

As back-up for your dedicated four- or twowire system, or for a 9600 bps upgrade of your present dial-up communications, check out the UDS V.32. It's the standard!

Universal Data Systems, 5000 Bradford Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805. Telephone 205/721-8000; Telex 752602 UDS HTV

$159500

Quantity One

TELEPHONE 800/451-2369

u

Universal Data Systems

(M) MOTOROLA INC.

Circle 280 on Reader Service Card

Created by Dayner/Hall, Inc., Winter Park, Florida

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE • OTHER

SCORPIO ON THE DESKTOP

The Scorpio desktop publishing system features WYSIWYG editing, up to 4096 pages per document, up to 40 columns per page, automatic text flow, and both automatic and manual kerning. It comes with nine fonts, which include two font families plus a utility font. Other features include automatic text-overflow handling, automatic

page numbering, and headers and footers.

Text-formatting capabilities include style-sheet definition and recall, superscript and subscript, and type sizes of up to 72 points in 1-point increments. You can enter text directly on the screen or import ASCII files or files from WordStar or PC Write.

The program supports a variety of scanners, graphics

monitors, and mice. It runs on the IBM PC XT, PC AT, or compatible 386 systems. Minimum configuration is 640K bytes of RAM, a graphics monitor, a mouse, and a printer. Price: $595.

Contact: Via-PC, 1571 West Katella Ave., Suite E, Anaheim, CA 92802, (714) 491-8871. Inquiry 790.

Take a Closer Look

Zoom in on your text with ZoomText, a RAM-resident character-magnification program. It magnifies text from 2 to 8 times its normal size, and three fonts let you vary the thickness and spacing between characters. When you use it with a monochrome monitor, ZoomText supports all character attributes including reverse video, high intensity, blinking, and underline. With a color monitor, ZoomText supports all foreground and background colors as well.

ZoomText doesn't require any special hardware, according to Algorithmic Implementations. It runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles with DOS 2.0 or higher. It uses 50K bytes of RAM and requires an EGA card and compatible monitor. Price: $495.

Contact: Algorithmic Implementations Inc., 1463 Hearst Dr., Atlanta, GA 30319, (404) 233-7065. Inquiry 791.

Turn Your DeskJet into a Plotter

You can turn your Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printer into a plotter to print engineering drawings, business graphics, and other documents with Insight's DeskPlotter utility. Insight claims the software is completely transparent to your plotter applications. A control panel lets you

set print characteristics according to your needs, including the plotting resolution, the width of each pen, and the shade of gray. If you need to plot multiple graphs, you can queue as many plot files as you like.

DeskPlotter will run any program that outputs HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language). It runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles and emulates the HP 7470A, 7475A, and ColorPro. Price: $129.

Contact: Insight Development Corp., 1024 Country Club Dr., Suite 140, Moraga, CA 94556, (415)376-9451. Inquiry 792.

Multitasking Word Processor

Jandi Technologies calls EPEC the first word processor in a multitasking windowing environment. EPEC stands for "editor for productivity, enjoyment, and creativity."

The windowing system supports overlayed windows and concurrent multitasking. The word-processing features include underline, boldface, text reformat, word wrap, pagination, and multiple undo and redos. You can also edit across windows, moving text be

tween documents, or you can edit the same document in separate windows, so you don't have to scroll to edit.

Other editing features include editing an area as if it were a subdocument, so you can reformat or reshape it if you need to accommodate graphics. You can also generate cross-references by listing lines and line numbers that contain a specific text string. You can assign up to eight function keys as macros.

The program runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles with 256K bytes of RAM and DOS 2.0 or higher. Price: $99.

Contact: Jandi Technologies Inc., 155-U New Boston St., Woburn, MA 01801, (617) 932-0629. Inquiry 793.

Bridging CP/M and DOS

DosDisk lets you use DOS disks on your CP/M system, according to Plu*Perfect Systems. You can log into the PC disk and read, write, rename, create, delete, and change the attributes of MSDOS files. You cannot, however, format DOS disks or run MS-DOS programs. DosDisk will read ASCII, dBASE II, WordStar, and other formats, and it maintains the date and time stamps of DOS files.

The program supports standard 360K-byte disks. A resident system extension ver

sion uses about 4.75K bytes of RAM, plus 2K bytes for the command processor. The program runs on many CP/M systems. If it doesn't run on your system and you have experience in Z80 programming, you can purchase a kit version and configure it to your system. Price: $30; kit version, $45. Contact: Plu*Perfect Systems, 410 23rd St., Santa Monica, CA 90402, (213) 395-4984. Inquiry 794.

Stay in Tune with the Weather

A ecu-Weather Forecaster translates National Weather Service codes and lets you display them in maps and graphs.

To use Accu-Weather Forecaster, you need to set up an account with Accu-Weather. Metacomet reports that an average forecasting session will cost $2 in connect-time charges with Accu-Weather.

The forecasting program lets you preselect what data you want from the database; it goes on-line and retrieves it, saves the data to disk, and logs off. You can specify temperature, barometric pressure, precipitation, and other variables for the entire country, or you can zoom in on individual regions or cities.

Accu-Weather Forecaster runs on the IBM PC with 256K bytes of RAM, DOS 2.0 or higher, two floppy disk drives, a color or monochrome monitor, and a CGA card or compatible. A version is available for the Mac 512, Plus, and SE. A Hayes-compatible modem is required. Price: $89.95 for either the IBM or Mac version. Contact: Metacomet Software, P.O. Box 31337, Hartford, CT 06103, (203) 223-5911. Inquiry 795.

88 BYTE- JUNE 1988

The 35" Migration.

As though by the force of nature, computer users are flocking to the new 3.5" standard.

A Clear Flight; A top-quality 3.5" drive allows direct access between older and newer systems, between IBM PC/XT/AT, compatibles and PS/2 systems, and between home office desktops and laptops in the field. And most experts agree that it's better to upgrade an older system with a 3.5" floppy drive than to downgrade a new system with an old-technology drive.

A Third First: Manzana introduced the industry's first 3.5" upgrade in 1985, and the first 1.44MB drive in 1987. Today, Manzana introduces the 3rd Internal™ drive, for those with room for more than two.

Manzana

^ g g -4 uoieta, v.

drives it home.

Maximum Versatility: Manzana offers several drive configurations, including an internal, a hostpowered external, and a self-powered external. All systems come with Manzana's own 3Five® software, which runs with MS-DOS version 2.0 or higher, to read, write and format disks at 1.44MB, 720K, and non-standard MS-DOS formats, including HP 150 and 110.

Flying to PC Expo? See us in

Booth #2520. Or call 805/968-1387, FAX 805/968-5449, TELEX4932215 or write for the whole story on The 3.5" Migration, and literature on the full line of Manzana drives: Manzana MicroSystems, Inc., P.O. Box 2117, Goleta, CA 93118.

Soon you'll be heading in the right direction from instinct alone.

Circle 484 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 485)

Trademarks: 3Five and 3rd Internal — Manzana MicroSystems, Inc.; IBM and PS/2 —International Business Machines Corporation; MS-DOS — Microsoft, Inc.; HP —Hewlett Packard Corporation; ©1988, Manzana MicroSystems, Inc.

WHAT'S NEW

REGIONAL SECTION

METRO NEW YORK • NEW ENGLAND

LaserSpool lets three IBM PCs share a LaserJet II.

Share the Jet

LaserSpool is a board that plugs into the HewlettPackard LaserJet II I/O slot, allowing three IBM PCs or compatibles to share the printer.

It includes software that

enables you to select resident printer fonts and use copy and control functions. The board also includes a 250K-byte print buffer and utilizes DB-25 or RJ-45 connectors for the three serial inputs. Price: $395. Contact: PrintManager, 108

Water St., Watertown, MA 02172, (800) 642-5019 or (617) 924-3952. Inquiry 840.

"Mark Well "Gets Better

Nota Bene is Latin for "mark well," and with about a dozen major features added to version 3.0 of the word-processing program, it will help you "mark" even better. Based on Xy Write and long a favorite in the academic world, the program now offers a 100,000-word spelling checker, a thesaurus, and redlining capabilities.

Text-retrieval capabilities are also added in the new version. You can search for words, phrases, and combinations of phrases using Bool

ean operators. You can display or print matches and insert them into the document you're working on.

Nota Bene 3.0 supports IBM's DCA (Document Content Architecture) file format. You can automatically print envelopes, selecting from a menu of nine styles. The textsorting capability has been expanded, allowing you to sort based on values found in any column of text.

The program provides a menu that lets you select printer fonts by name, and another menu that lets you download portrait or landscape fonts on Hewlett-Packard and compatible laser printers. This menu indicates memory requirements for each font and the remaining memory available in the printer. You

continued

h —

■ ■

Your electric service can affect the way your computer system operates.

You've invested a lot of time and money choosing the right computer system.

And, normally, it's designed to run perfectly well using your available power. But each manufacturer specifies certain limits under which their products should be operated for maximum performance.

Even as you read this, the electric service to your computer or other sensitive electronic equipment is being hit with a variety of powerline disturbances: spikes, sags, surges, and blackouts. We can put an end to all that. Emerson refined power will increase your system's performance and throughput to a level you never thought possible.

Emerson Uninterruptible Power Supplies produce refined, clean power, steady voltage, transient suppression, ride

through during interruptions, steady frequency and total harmonic distortion within specified limits.

Emerson products run the gamut. From large Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) for computer mainframes to surge suppressors for small electrical phone systems. We also offer a full line of power conditioning distribution systems.

Don't wait for the day something happens. Protect your valuable investment. Give us a call now!

EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR:

LOWELL CORPORATION

RO. Box 158, Worcester, MA 01613 (617) 756-5103

I—IEMIER5DN ■■ Computer Power

DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED...

■ ■ BBS —■...

| .■-'•'J 1

i

*

* - *31, ^ fir

, •■:! life-'

88NE-2 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 483 on Reader Service Card

ADVERTISEMENT

HIGH SPEED PC TO PC COMMUNICATIONS

Breaking the Baud Barrier

Here's how your 2400 baud modem

can send data as fast as a 9600 baud modem

for less than $90.00

Leigh Tracy

w.

hen you got your first modem—that neat little 300 or 1200 baud job—you really thought you had it made, all the power, speed and convenience you'd ever need to move data from PC to PC. Right?

Now, of course, if you've got lots of data to move, you've recently bought or are considering switching over to 2400 baud speed. And, in reality, if your company is a power user it would make a lot of sense in saved time and telephone bills to be running at 9600 baud, if it were not for the initial overwhelmingly high modem hardware costs.

Enter TurboCom high performance PC to PC modem software by Datran, the clever Southern California based state-of-the-art data compression specialists that brought you the great dCompressor short card that triples the dBASE storage capacity of any hard disk.

Modems Run 4 Times Faster

TurboCom turbocharges your Hayes compatible modem to send data files (letters, documents, reports, data bases, spreadsheets, binary files, programs) up to four times faster with your existing 300, 1200 or 2400 baud modems. And it sells for only $89.00 to connect two PCs.

When the good people at Datran sent me TurboCom 3.0 for a test run, I was amazed at how simple and well thought out it was for the ordinary person (like me) to use.

Transfer data files PC to PC up to four times faster.

TurboCom Facts:

Version 3.0 Each package has software for use with two PCs. $89.00

Datran Corp. Order direct: 1-800-332-0456

Requirements: IBM PC/XT/AT, 386 or compatible. Minimum 384K RAM, PC-DOS, MS-DOS 2.0 or greater. Internal or external Hayes compatible modem. TurboCom at both sending and receiving PCs.

Leigli Tracy is a consultant and freelance writer whose columns have appeared in many microcomputer magazines.

Easy to Send and Receive

TurboCom is the easiest to learn and use modern software that I've ever tried. No menus are required. It's as simple to use as the COPY command! To send data with TurboCom, all you do is type:

C>SEND FILENAME PHONE NUMBER

To program for delayed transmission you type:

C>SEND FILENAME PHONE NUMBER AT TIME

That's all you do. Then, the continuing status of the transmission automatically appears on the screen until file transmission is completed. Receiving transmitted TurboCom messages is automatic and unattended. Simply type C>RCV and TurboCom does the rest.

Any businessman, insurance broker, accountant, office manager, secretary or salesman on the road that can use a PC can simply operate TurboCom. It's that simple.

Unattended Electronic Mailbox

TurboCom is ideal as a fast, low cost mailing system between offices or companies. The sending PC is aware

of how much disk space is available at the receiving end. If a file is transmitted with the same name and extension, TurboCom will assign it a unique extension, i.e., !-l, !-2, !-3. If the receiving PC does not have sufficient disk space for the file you are sending, TurboCom terminates the phone connection, saving time and wasted money.

Increased modem speed allows you to save up to 75% on your telephone time and costs. Because TurboCom can be programmed for delayed unattended transmission for automatic sending, you can transmit data when telephone rates are lowest. PC to PC data is transferred perfectly because TurboCom was designed with an advanced error-free high speed protocol.

Because oiTurboCom's high speed, cost savings, flawless operation and sensational low $89.00 price to connect two PCs, I give this product my highest recommendation.

Turbo Your Laptop

Each TurboCom package comes with both 5-1/4" and 3-1/2" diskettes, which makes it ideal to run with laptops, too. It is not copy protected.

To order direct from Datran, you can call toll free at 1-800-332-0456. They accept MasterCard and Visa and will ship within 24 hours with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

ORDER TODAY TOLL FREE:

1-800-332-0456

$89.00 S

Plus $5.00 Shipping/Handling

turboCorri

4 DATRAN

Leadership in Data Compression Technology

Datran Corporation 2505 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta, CA 91214

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 88NE-3

WHAT'S NEW

METRO NEW YORK • NEW ENGLAND

can view lines of more than 80 columns without having to scroll horizontally, and you can merge graphics output files from other programs with text when printing.

Nota Bene 3.0 runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, and compatibles with DOS 2.0 or higher and 384K bytes of RAM. Price: $495.

Contact: Dragonfly Software, 285 West Broadway, Suite 600, New York, NY 10013,(212)334-0445. Inquiry 835.

Lotus Crams More into Less

Has Lotus perfected the art of packing everything into a small suitcase? You would think so, looking at what the company has done with this new version of Metro, its desktop-management program.

The TSR (terminate-andstay-resident) package of desk accessories now requires about half the space of version 1.0, taking up as little as 64K bytes of RAM. It accomplishes this through The Swapper, which is the kernel of the program and is permanently in memory. The Swapper accesses additional memory only when you call on one of Metro's accessories. You can view and change memory allocations and enable or disable The Swapper.

Metro 1.1 includes the same accessories as version 1.0: a macro generator, a list manager, a phone book, an appointment book, a calculator, a DOS file manager, a text editor, a clipboard, a notepad, an activities timer, and a list of special characters.

The program runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles with DOS 2.1 or higher. If you're running the

program without The Swapper, it requires two 5 W-inch floppy disk drives or one 3 '/2-inch floppy disk drive; a hard disk drive is required when running The Swapper. It takes up 64K bytes of RAM with The Swapper, and 125K bytes without it. It is not copy-protected and comes on both 5 '4- and 3'/2-inch floppy disks. Price: $85.

Contact: Lotus Development Corp., 55 Cambridge Pkwy., Cambridge, MA 02142, (617) 577-8500. Inquiry 836.

Sound Design on the Amiga

SpeakerSim is a CAD program that assists you in designing loudspeaker systems. You can analyze loudspeakers and enclosures in accordance with the Thiele

Small Vented model.

The program comes with data files containing parameters for over 100 loudspeakers, and you can add new loudspeakers to the data files. You can also produce graphs of small signal response, maximum acoustic output, and excursion or thermally limited output.

The program enables you to produce three-dimensional graphs, calculate enclosure vent dimensions, and save screens in IFF format. It supports screen resolutions of 640 by 200 and 640 by 400 pixels with 16 colors from a palette of 4096.

SpeakerSim runs on the Amiga 500, 1000, and 2000. A color monitor is recommended. Price: $112. Contact: dissidents, 730 Dawes Ave., Utica, NY 13502, (315)797-0343. Inquiry 839.

Youll Flip When You See Our Prices!

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88NE-4 BYTE* JUNE 1988

Circle 478 on Reader Service Card

We Are Moving to a New Facility to Better Serve our Customers

• IN PORTABILITY*

SYSTEM INCLUDES:

• 3.5" 720KB DRIVE

• 5.25" 1.2MB DRIVE

• 20MB HARD DISK

• 1200/300 INTERNAL MODEM

• PARALLEL/SERIAL/GAME PORT

• REAL TIME CLOCK/CALENDAR

• 9" EGA OR DUAL SYNC MONITOR

• MODIFIED 84 KEY AT-STYLE KEYBOARD

• RESET AND TURBO SWITCH

• KEYLOCK/DRIVE LED/POWER LED

80286-12 CPU

Multi-Speed

Runs at 6/8/10/12 MHz

640K Main Memory

80287 Math

Co-Processor Socket

7 Full Expansion /

Slots

OS/2 Compatible

• WE PROVIDE COMPLETE SYSTEMS - NOT BARE BONES • SYSTEMS ARE READY TO GO - JUST PLUG IT IN.

Choose From a Full Line of Systems...

TRIDATA TURBO 8088 SYSTEMS

• 4.77/10 MHz 8088-1 CPU, keyboard or hardware selectable, math coprocessor socket

• 512K RAM on main board

• 8 Expansion slots

■ AT style case with keylock, power on LED,

turbo switch and LED - 150W power supply (110/220 V)

• Enhanced AT style keyboard

• Multi I/O card includes 1 parallel port, 1 serial port (2nd serial port optional), 1 game port, 1 real time clock, calendar, battery backup, 2 floppy drive controller

• 2 hard drive controller

• 360KB DS/DD floppy drive

> 20 MB hard drive

> Monochrome Graphics Adapter (compatible with Hercules Graphics Adapter) with parallel port

> High resolution monochrome monitor

• Full IBM PC/XT compatibility

• 2.1 times faster than PC, XT

PRICE: $1095.00

TRIDATA TURBO 286 SYSTEMS

< 6/10 MHz 80286-10 CPU, 0/1 wait state, keyboard or hardware selectable, math coprocessor socket, real time clock, calendar, battery backup

■ 640K RAM on main board

> 8 Expansion slots, 6 16-bit, 2 8-bit slots

• AT style case with keylock, power on LED, turbo LED, reset button

• 200W power supply (110/220 V)

> Enhanced AT style keyboard

• Multi I/O card includes 1 parallel port, 1 serial port (2nd serial port optional), 1 game port

■ 2 hard & 2 (loppy drive controller

• 1.2 MB Hi-density floppy drive can format both 1.2MB & 360 KB floppies

■ 40 MB Hi-speed hard drive

> Monochrome Graphics Adapter (compatible with Hercules Graphics Adapter) with parallel port

• 14" Flat Screen monochrome monitor

• Full IBM AT compatibility

> 7 times faster than PC.XT

• OS/2 Compatible when OS becomes available

PRICE: $1890.00

TRIDATA 386 TURBO SYSTEMS

• 6/16 MHz 80386 CPU (20 MHz optional) keyboard or hardware selectable, 1 Wait State (0 wait optional), 80287 & 80387 math coprocessor socket, real time clock, calendar, battery backup, 2 serial, 1 parallel ports on main board, 16 interrupts, 7 DMA channels, support up to 16 MB with 32-bit wide memory bus

• 2 MB RAM memory board

• 8 Expansion slots, 2 32-bit, 4 16-bit, 2 8-bit slots

• AT style case with keylock, power on LED, turbo LED. reset button

• 200W power supply (110/220 V)

• Enhanced AT style keyboard

• 2 hard & 2 floppy drive controller

• 1.2 MB Hi-density floppy drive can format both 1.2MB & 360 KB floppies

• 40 MB Hi-speed hard drive

• Monochrome Graphics Adapter (compatible with Hercules Graphics Adapter) with parallel port

• 14" Flat Screen monochrome monitor

• Full IBM AT compatibility

• 9 times faster than PC, XT

• OS/2 Compatible when OS becomes available

PRICE: $3295.00

386 PRICESV m

FREE $70.00 Nylon Carrying Case with Purchase

SYSTEM OPTIONS

• 14" Color Monitor w/card 250.00

• EGA Monitor w/card 450.00

• Multisync EGA w/ATI card 650.00

• 1200/300 Internal w/software 85.00

• 2400/300 Internal w/software 165.00

• AT 80286-12MHZ System 65.00

• 386-12MHZ 0 Wait State CALL

• YOUR ORDER SHIPPED WITHIN 24 HRS •

• ONE YEAR WARRANTY AND 24 HRS REPAIR SERVICE •

• MONEY BACK GUARANTEE* •

FOR YOUR

ORDER

CALL NOW

(617) 655-3434

PC/XT & AT are registered trademarks of International Business Machines. OS/2 is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Circle 480 on Reader Service Card JUNE 1988 • BYTE 88NE-S

Prices quoted are for cash. We accept MIC and WS4 'Notice must be filed with us within 21 days of receipt

Prices, terms and conditions are subject to change w/o notice Not responsible for typographical errors

DIGICOM

TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

307 W. Central St., Nstick, MA 01760 • (617) 820-1102

i -■ J ip

jiiiii

ILZH_LJk_L1^3!

INDEPENDENT STORE IN NYC DEDICATED TO IBM PC SOFTWARE AND PERIPHERALS ONLY

If We Don't Have It, Its Probably Not Worth Having.

STORE HOURS: 9:00 A.M.-5:30 P.M. E.S.T. MON.-FRI.

SATURDAYS: CLOSED JUNE-JULY-AUGUST. Terms, Conditions and Prices May Differ In Our Store. CORPORATE ACCOUNTS WELCOMED. PC LINK, CORP. 29 WEST 38TH STREET. 2ND FL, NEW YORK, NY 10018

call TOLL FREE 1-800-221-0343

FOR ORDERS ONLY

All prices listed in this ad are effective June. 1 -30, 1988. All Brands are Registered Trademarks. IBM Is a Registered Trademark of IBM Corp.

innewyorkCALL 1-212-730-8036

FOR ORDERS & INQUIRIES

THIS MONTH'S SPECIALS—JUNE 1st through 30th.

BITSTEARM. MERIDIAN. DIGITAL REASERCH. jm

FONTWARE SOFT FONTS 159.00 CARBON COPY PLUS 129.00 GEM DRAW PLUS 175.00

CONSENTRIC DATA.

RaRREPORTWRITER 109.00

BUSINESSSOFTWARE

ANSA PARADOX V 2.0 399.00

ASHTON-TATE

dBASE III PLUS I.I CALL

MULTIMATE ADVANTAGE II CALL

BORLAND INT.

EUREKA 99.00

PROLOG I.I 69.00

SIDEKICK PLUS 149.00

TURBO BASIC 69.00

TURBO C 69.00

TURBO PASCAL 4.0 79.00

QUATTRO 159.00

CHIPSOFTTURBOTAX PERSONAL 55.00

CLEAR SOFT. CLEAR (CHART dBASE CODE) CALL

CONSENTRIC DATA

R&R REPORT WRITERFOR DBASE III+ 109.00

CROSSTALKCOMMUNICATIONS

CROSSTALK MK.4 129.00

CROSSTALK XVI 3.6 85.00

REMOTE 1.3 85.00

FOX SOFTWARE

FOX BASE PLUS V 2.0 229.00

FOX BASE+ MULTIUSER 379.00

GREAT PLAINS ACCOUNTING PACKAGES CALL

JAVELIN SOFT. JAVELIN 75.00

KORTEKFREEWAY ADVANCED 109.00

LIFETREESOFT.VOLKSWRITER3 129.00

LOTUS DEV. CORP

LOTUS l-2-3(SOLD IN OUR STORE) CALL

SYMPHONY (SOLD IN OUR STORE) CALL

MECA MANAGING YOUR MONEY 4.0 139.00

MERIDIAN CARBON COPY PLUS 129.00

MICRO PRO

WORDSTAR 2000+ REL.3 249.00

WORDSTAR 2000+ REL3LEGALVERSION CALL

WORDSTAR PROFESSIONAL REL.4 249.00

MICROSOFT

CHART V 3.0 295.00

C COMPILER 309.00

FORTRAN COMPILER 309.00

MACROASSEMBLER 119.00

EXCEL 339.00

PROJECT 349.00

QUICK BASIC 69.00

QUICK C 69.00

WINDOWS 69.00

WINDOWS 386 145.00

WORD VERSION 4.0 239.00

WORKS 139.00

MIGENT

ABILITY 55.00

ENRICH 109.00

MONOGRAM DOLLARS & SENSE 99.00

NANTUCKET CLIPPER 399.00

OWL INT.GUIDE 89.00

QUARTERDECK DESQ VIEW 89.00

QUARTERDECK MEMORY MANAGER ... 49.00 SBT ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE (SOLD IN STORE) CALL

SSCSOFTWARE BRIDGE 129.00

STSC

APL'PLUS V7.0 649.00

STATGRAPHICS 649.00

SOPHCO

PROTEC (HARD DISK PROTECTION) 185.00

SOFTWAREGROUP ENABLE V 2.0 399.00

SOFTWARE PUBLISHING

HARVARD TOTAL PROJECT MANAGERII 369.00

P.F.S. GRAPH/PLAN ea. 89.00

FIRST CHOICE 75.00

PROFESSIONAL FILE/PLAN ea. 159.00

PROFESSIONAL WRITE 139.00

WALLSOFT

THE Ul PROGRAMMER 199.00

THE DOCUMENTOR 199.00

WORDPERFECT CORP

WORDPERFECT V 5.0 CALL

WORDPERFECT V 4.2 209.00

WORDTECHSYSTEMS

DBXL 99.00

QUICK SILVER DIAMOND 369.00

XYQUESTXY WRITE III + 399.00

GRAPHIC & DESKTOP PUBLISHING

ALDUS PAGE MAKER CALL

ASHTONTATE

CHART/DIAGRAM/SIGN MASTER CALL

DIGITAL GEM DRAW PLUS 175.00

LOTUS DEV. FREE LANCE+(SOLD IN STORE) CALL

MKROGRAFX WINDOWS DRAW 229.00

SOFTWARE PUBLISHING

HARVARD PRESENTATION GRAPHICS... 295.00

XEROXVENTURA DESKTOP PUBLISHER CALL

ZSOFT. PC PAINTBRUSH + 99.00

ZSOFT. PUBLISHER PAINTBRUSH 179.00

UTILITIES

CORE INT.CORE FAST 119.00

EXECUSYSTEMSXTREE PRO 79.00

FIFTH GENERATION FAST BACK+ 129.00

FUNK SOFT. SIDEWAYS 3.2 59.00

MICROSOFT LEARNING DOS 39.00

NORTON UTILITIES V 4.0 59.00

NORTON UTILITIES ADVANCED 4.0 99.00

REVOLUTION CRUISE CONTROL 29.00

SOFT CRAFT FANCY FONT 149.00

SOFT CRAFT USER FONT 149.00

TRAVELING SOFT. LAP-LINK 89.00

WHrTE CRANE BROOKLYN BRIDGE 89.00

GRAPHICTABLETS,KEYBOARDS,MICE

DATA DESKTURBO KEYBOARD 139.00

LOGrTECHHiREZMOUSE (BUS VERSION) 129.00

LOGITECH C7MOUSE+PC PAINTBRUSH 99.00

LOGrTECHC7 MOUSE+PAINT+CAD 149.00

LOGrTECHC7 PUBLISHERS MOUSE 119.00

MICROSOFT SERIAL OR BUS MOUSE .... 105.00

MICROSOFTMOUSE WITH WINDOWS.,. 145.00

PRINTERS

BROTHERTWINRITER 5 CALL

BROTHER M-I709240 CPS PAR/SER CALL

BROTHER HR-20 20CPS DAISY 359.00

BROTHER HR40 DAISY 589.00

EPSON FX-86/FX-286E CALL

HEWLET-PACKARDLASERJETII CALL

HEWLET-PACKARDDESKJET CALL

OKIDATA 32 519.00

OKIDATA 293 699.00

OUTPUTTECH OT-850XL 850 CPS CALL

TOSHIBA P35I MODEL SX 1095.00

TOSHIBA P32ISL 549.00

HP LASER ACCESORIES

BnrSTREAM FONTWARE (SOFT FONTS). 159.00 HEWLETT-PACKARD

FONT CARTRIDGES

(A,C,D,E,G,H,) EA 129.00

(B,F,J,K,L,M,N,P,Q,T,U,V,W,X.Y) EA 219.00

(R,Z)EA 295.00

SOFT FONTS EA 169.00

MEMORY FOR LASERJET II ONLY

IMB/2MB/4MB MEMORY BOARDS CALL

IMAGEN PC Publisher Kit adds DDL, HP-GL a PostScript to HP Laserjet printers. Emulates 15 HP Cartridges, HP 7470/7475 pen plotters. Diablo 630, Epson MX-80/FX-80, & more. Comes with 30 (1 to 254 point) Fonts, 2Mb Ram

PC Publisher Kit tor HP Laserjet II 1995.00

MONITORS

AMDEKI280 MONITOR 739.00

AMDEK410A MONITOR 189.00

PGS MAX-I2 (MONO MONITOR) 189.00

PGS ULTRASYNCH EGA MONITOR 589.00

NEC MULTISYNC II EGA 689.00

SONYCPD-I302/CPD-1303MULTISCANEGA CALL

WYSE700 I280X800 HI RES. MONITOR ... 789.00

MODEMS

HAYES SMARTMODEM 2400

HAYES SMARTMODEM I200

HAYES I200B+SMARTCOM II

HAYES2400B+SMARTCOM II.... MIGENT I200 POCKET MODEM .

499.00 299.00 299.00 499.00 139.00

D1SKDRIVES

IOMEGA20MBBETAIIINT. DRIVE

MINISCRIBE 70MB HARD DISK FOR AT . MINISCR1BE 40MB HARD DISK FOR AT .

SEAGATE ST-225 20MB WITH W/D

SEAGATE ST-251-1 40MB FOR AT

SYSGENQIC FILE 60 EXT.BACKUP

SYSGENBRIDGE FILE

TOSH1BA3 1/2" I/2 HT. 720KB

TOSHIBA3 1/2" I/2 HT. 1.44MB

TOSHIBA ND-04D I/2 HT. 360KB

TOSHIBA ND-04DE-G 360KB FOR AT

TOSHIBA ND-08DE-G I.2MB FOR AT

EXPANSION BOARDS

64K I50NS RAM CHIPS

256K I50NS RAM CHIPS

AST SIXPAK PREMIUM 256 C/S/P

DCA IRMA BOARD II

HERCULES MONO GRAPHICS PLUS .

INTELABOVEBOARDPS/2865I2K

TALL TREE JRAM-3 OK (TO 2MB)

VIDEO 7 VEGA DELUX

VIDEO 7 VEGA VGA

DISKETTES DYSAN HIGH DENSITY FOR PC/AT .

DYSANDS/DD DISKETTES

3 M HIGH DENSITY FOR PC/AT

3 M 3 I/2" DS/DS I35 TPI

XIDEXDS/DD DISKETTES

ACCESORIES

CURTIS SYSTEM STAND

CURTIS MONO CABLE

CURTIS KEYBOARD CABLE

CURTIS DISPLAY PEDESTAL

CURTIS RUBY SURGE PROTECTOR

DYSAN ANTI-GLARE SCREEN

KALMAR TEAKWOODI00 DISK FILER ...

KENSINGTON MASTER PIECE

MICROCOMPUTERKEYBOARD DRAWER PC COOLING TURBO COOL FOR PC/XT

SMA PC DOCUMATE TEMPLETS

TRI MAG I35 WATTS POWER PC/XT

TRI MAG I50 WATTS POWER PC/XT

TRIPP LITE BCI000I000W UPS

959.00 859.00 629.00 289.00 595.00 859.00 395.00 149.00 199.00 149.00 159.00 199.00

CALL CALL 259.00 799.00 199.00 439.00 179.00 199.00 295.00

55.00 29.00 39.00 29.00 12.00

21.00 35.00 30.00 30.00 65.00 35.00 45.00 99.00 75.00 65.00 12.00 99.00 119.00 1079.00

NETWORKING SERVERTECHNOLOGY

EASYLAN STARTER KIT FOR2 PC'S 179.00

EASYLAN EXPANSION KIT FOR I PC'S.... 99.00

SCANNERS & FACSIMILE

BROTHER PERSONAL FAX-100 975.00

DEST PC SCANNERS CALL

COMPUTERS TOSHIBA

T1000 512KB ONE 3 1/2" D/D4.77MHZ CALL

T1100+ 640KB TWO 3 I/2" D/D CALL

T1200 IMBKB 20MB HD. ONE 3 i/2" D/D ... CALL

T3100/20 640KB ONE 3 I/2", 20MB HD CALL

T5100 2MB RAM ONE 3 I/2", 40MB HD .... CALL

WYSE

2112 I.2MB D/D 1MB RAM 8/12 MHz CPU,

I0I-KEY KEYBOARD MS DOS 3.I CALL

PC 386 (16MHz) ZERO WAIT-STATES 1MB RAM.I.2MB D/D.KEYBOARD.MS DOS 3.2 (8MHz) MODE.SERIAL/PARALLELPORT... CALL HAUPPAUGE COMPUTER WORKS. 80386-16MHz REPLACES IBM/XT MOTHER BOARD. 1MB RAM, FIVE 8-BIT (2 SHORT), 2-16 BIT, 1-32 BIT SLOTS a SOCKET FOR 80387. WORKS WITH MOST PRESENT HARDWARE INCLUDING HARD/FLOPPY DISKS DRIVES a KEYBOARD. OS/2,1-2-3 (V2.01), dBASE, AUTOCAD.VENTURA, WINDOWS aOTHER MAJOR SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE 1395.00

THIS AD WAS PREPARED USING HPLJ II VENTURA & IMAGEN PC PUBLISHER'S KIT

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

We reserve the right to repair, replace or return to manufacturer for repair, all goods acknowledged faulty or damaged on receipt by customer. Customer Must Call For Return Authorization Number Before Returning Any Goods. Prompt attention will be given to all damaged and faulty returned goods. Any goods returned for credit are subject to 20% restocking charge, plus shipping charge. No Returns For Credit On Any Software. Customer must deal directly with the manufacturer It the customer finds any false claims made by the manufacturer. All goods are shipped VIA U.P.S. ONLY. Shipping charges are 2% of the total purchase price or $3.00, whichever is greater. Please call for shipping charges on Printers a Accesories. C.O.D. are shipped for Cash or Cashier's Check Only. Max $1500.00. Please allow 7 to 10 working days for personal or corporate checks to clear. To expedite shipping send money order or cashier's check, or charge to your VISA OR MASTERCARD. WE DO NOT Add a Service Charge For Credit Card Usage. PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS.

88NE-6 BYTE • JUNE 1988

INTRODUCING THE PC LINK 386

Why deal with MICROCHANELand find out that present adapters, memory expansion boards & other peripherals are not compatible.

When with PC LINK 386 you can be fully compatible with current and future hardware and software without spending a bundle in the process.

!

The PC LINK 386 is a powerful 80386 16 MHz, zero wait state computer based upon the highly rated Hauppauge 386 Mother Board.

Standard Features

• Memory: 1 Mb. of high speed 100ns RAM on the motherboard. This memory is configured in four banks and the banks are interleaved so that most memory accesses zero wait states.

• I/O: One 32 bit, two 16 bit and 5 eight bit expansion slots,

• Floppy Disks: One 5-1/4" 1.2MB or a 3-1/2" 1.4MB

• Disk Controller: Supports two floppy drives and up to two hard disk drives.

• Serial & Parallel Port: One serial and one parallel port

• Keyboard: Datadesk International Turbo 101 Enhanced keyboard.

• Key Lock: A physical lock and two keys are provided.

• Power Supply: The standard power supply for the PC LINK 386 is 200 watts.

• Clock: A battery backed real time clock.

• Software: Microsoft Windows/386 and public domain utility software included.

• Warranty: Warranty covers parts and labor for the first three months after purchase. A one year warranty from the date of purchase is provided for parts.

• Approval: PC LINK 386 is FCC class A approved.

Software & Hardware Compatibility:

The PC LINK 386 is fully compatible with IBM PC/AT expansion cards. This includes items such as CGA, EGA, and VGA monitor board, internal modems, network cards (including Novell and 3Comm Ethernet), and the Bernoulli Box board or using it as a dedicated or non dedicated File Server.

The PC LINK 386 is fully compatible with IBM PC-DOS 3.0 or higher, PC-OS/2, Unix, Zenix, PC-MOS/386, Novell Netware 286, Lotus 1-2-3 V2.01, dBase III+, Ventura, Pagemaker, Word, Multimate, Wordperfect and more. (We have not found any business software that does not work except the some older versions of copy protected slower speed dependent business software).

Module I (Basic Unit)

$2295.00

Module II (Basic Unit + 40MB 28MS Hard Disk)

Module I

$2795.00

(40MB H/D, Vega Delux & EGA* monitor)

$3795.00

* Choice of Sony CPD 1302 Muftiscan or NEC Multisync II

PC LINK 386A & 386B can accomodate upto five 1/2 height devices (three are accesable). 386B has One 32 bit, four 16 bit and 3 eight bit expansion slots. Model & Prices shown above can accomodate upto fourdevices.

See what some of our customers have to say about PC LINK 386.

The PC LINK 386 represents the amalgamation of the best of all worlds. Most of us, with long-time PC experience, have asked, at one time or another, why one particuler manufacturer cannot have some of the benifits of another, resulting in a combination that would supposedly be greatly superior. PC LINK'S 386 has accomplished the integration of the best of the best. Coupled with support provided by the PC Link organization, and constant updating and testing of new products, we have not only purchased a "state of the art" computer but It will be the "state of the art" tommorrow and thereafter.

Sincerely,

Richard D. Hausman, Chairman

BELDINC HEMINWAY COMPANY, INC.

I am quite pleased with the 386

based machines that you have provided for us. Their speed is quite impressive and we've yet to discover a compatibility problem. It's a great way to purchase a very powerful PC but protect a substantial investment in software and add-ons. I certainly Intend to purchase additional units as my budget permits.

Sincerely,

Mike Wittman, Controller

1010 WINS RADIO

These machines have extended the life of one application that was just running too slow on AT's. DOS applications run so much faster that we don't have to pass up features to get performance when selecting software. When enough software is available we will be able to upgrade to OS/2 and continue to get good performance. Finally, my partners

and I are delighted that we can afford to equip our staff and ourselves with such high-performance, highcapability machines. We are looking forward to completing the conversion of all PCs, XTs and ATs to the new motherboard and to standardizing on the PC Link 386 for our new purchases.

Sincerely

Denis C. During. Vice President

OCEAN CAPITAL CORPORATION

I had to tell you how pleased I am with your PC Link 386. This network we are setting up is going to use one of these machines as file server, and this will be the third PC Link 386 we've purchased. So far. every program I've tried has run on these machines. Windows386, Foxbase/386, Excel, Lotus, and Word 4.0 all work flawlessly. The only

problem I have Is that when I have to help someone else in the office, their AT class machines seem to crawl.

Sincerely,

Henry Citenstein Sr. VP

Riverside Shirt & Underwear Corp.

The PC LINK 386 is not only fast, but so software and hardware compatible its incredible! It keeps taking everything I have thrown at it and comes back for more-OS/2, IBM's PC DOS. Compilers, off the shelf software, Graphics, Network Boards, Modems, Bernoulli Box, 5 1/4" & 3 1/2" disks each in both formats and more. I am reccomendlng PC LINK 386 to all my clients.

Sincerely,

Pat Adams, President

DB UNLIMITED

CALL TOLL FREE

1-800-221-0343

FOR ORDERS ONLY

IN NEW YORK CALL

1-212-730-8036

FOR ORDERS & INQUIRIES

«]„

ILIIL.-JI

Ill Li I I LI

Circle 487 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 • BYTE 88NE-7

You'll Like Our Prices Even Better When You See What You Get

At No Charge:

Monday

Ship First, Bill Later, Some companies will charge f your credit card weeks before : the system is shipped. We never do.

March 19

30 DAY

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

The system or components you purchase from; First Micro wilf meet advertised specifications, and deliver ^superior performance for: a 8fetfn^ofserwcbi-:: ■: if for any reason vou are unhappy *wtft your; - '-- u*> t rsr inirty

03ys, >mi m.jy rcnum me svsiem orcornm;r;$nt :o First Micro ^><u.; refund

Plenty of companies offer you low prices on computer systems.

But sometimes you get a few things you didn't bargain for. Like defective equipment. "No Returns" policies. Hidden charges. Or charges for unshipped merchandise.

We're out to change all that.

We're First Micro. We believe

No Hidden Charges.

Other companies charge you extra for using your credit card. And there's never any sales tax when you buy from First Micro.

it's possible to sell really good PC's, at a really good price.

But more important, we believe in satisfying customers. Because we think a happy customer will come back again. Hopefully with a friend.

And that's why we offer this guarantee: If for any reason you

Total Quality Assurance.

Your First Micro xT or aT will be everything it's cracked up to be—or we give you your money back, no questions asked.

decide to return your First Micro xT or aT within thirty days of receipt, we'll give you your money back, no questions asked.

So when you need a good, fast system and you need it good and fast—make your first call, your First call.

20 MB TAirbo xT

4.77/8 MHz • 512K RAM • Eight Slots • 360K DS/DD Half-Height Floppy • 20MB HalfHeight Hard Disk • Hi-Res Amber Monitor w/ Tilt-Swivel Base • Mono Text/Graphics Card • Parallel Port • AT-style Keyboard • 150W Power Supply • LEDs for Power/Turbo/Fixed Disk

• Keyboard Lock

40 MB TAirbo aT

6/10 MHz • 512K RAM • Eight Slots • 1.2M > DS/DD Half-Height Floppy • 40MB HalfHeight Hard Disk • Hi-Res Amber Monitor w/Tilt-Swivel Base • Mono Text/Graphics Card • Parallel Port

• AT-style Keyboard • 200W Power Supply • LEDs for Power/Turbo/ Fixed Disk • Keyboard Lock

VISA MasterCard accepted lODjy money back guarantee on all sales Sales hours <M EST Oiher

$895

>arallel Port • AT-style ■ver/Turbo/Fixed Disk

*1595

Belgian

fijponents available System specific

FIRST MICRO

CORP.

47A Route 28 Windham. NH 03087

800-634-5872

In NH: 603-898-3430

sub|ua to change without nonce

88NE-8 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 482 on Reader Service Card

What Is A Relational Spreadsheet, And Who Should Own One.

,

Breakthroughs in perception #/. The first circular particle accelerator, circa 1930. TMI1 "The Relational Spreadsheet" a breakthrough in Spreadsheet perception.

On June 1,1984 TM/1 separated spreadsheet data from formulas forever. Thus creating the first relational spreadsheet.

A Good Thing Gone Bad

hen the spreadsheet was invented, data and formulas were inseparable. They appeared together so often that no one could imagine any other arrangement.

Soon end-users found themselves orchestrating large and complex spreadsheets. They were forced to become masters of the intricate macro.

To this day "improvements" to the spreadsheet such as 3-D schemes and various hot link connections are simply patched on to the original design.

Separate But Relational

By separating the data from the spreadsheet, but keeping both relationally concurrent, only TM/1 turns "what if' into "why not".

Once you have more than one set of data you have no data at all. TM/1 's relational technology eliminates data duplication and helps prevent errors common with traditional spreadsheet design.

Don't Be Afraid To Call Your Data Names

TM/1 lets you attach meaningful names to your data while allowing you to store it independently of your spreadsheets.

Then, when data is needed in any spreadsheet it is retrieved using the assigned names.

TM/1 lets you populate the data files either manually, by importing existing spreadsheets, or downloading from mainframes. Consolidations for products, regions, line items, etc. are generated automatically.

If you later need to add or delete a data element, such as a branch office, simply update the data-file. Permanent changes to the data are stored in the file for future use. No changes are required in the spreadsheet model.

Modifications that take hours on conventional spreadsheets take minutes with TM/1. TM/1 accommodates the changes in your business environment without reprogramming.

Seeing Is Believing

The truth of the situation is this: The only way to know if you should own TM/1 is to try it, hands on.

"Sinper Corp.'s TM/1 (Table Manager 1) delivers much more than what most of us have learned to expect from spreadsheets...TM/1 is the most powerful and versatile of the multidimensional analysis tools...Sinper seems to have overlooked nothing in developing TM/1." Oct. 27th 1987

We have an evaluation package that contains the full documentation, a tutorial, demo and a full function version of the product. The only limitation is the size of files that may be saved to disk. The evaluation package is $49.95, which can be applied against the price of the full version, $795.

To order call:

1 800-822-1596

In N.J. Call: (201) 662-7999

.,. , SINPER

lVrI/1 CORPORATION

L

8901 Tonnelle Ave. North Bergen. NJ 07047

30 DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE

TM/1 is ;i trademark of Sinper Corp.

Circle 489 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 88NE-9

J^ScW CorrzmxiTzicoLtiorzs

F&W WORKSTATIONS -THE ADVANCED USES INTERFACE

THE COMPLETE GRAPHIC ARTIST

We have the lowest prices in the world on 19-inch color monitors!

Hitachi CM3719 1024X800 $990.00

State of the art 1280X1024 Moniterm 19" color

with 2048X2048 virtual display $1600.00

Mitsubishi 3919 with analog RGB inputs for TV,

and TTL inputs for EGA and CGA $999.00

Philips 19" monochrome for publishing $400.00

True VGA (IBM 8514 emulation) 19" color Hitachi monitor. i

Fantastic! $1099.00

Ikegami 14" 16-color monitor for VGA. Rugged and super

bright for mobile operation. Without case $249.00

Many used 19" color monitors; from $499.00 r »*%•»:,

F&W has all the equipment and software you need for truly professional publishing, TV editing, and drafting. We offer substantial discounts on all brands of equipment. The workstation at left shows:

Houston Instrument DMP 62 plotter: size to 36" X 48" CALL

The monitor is a 19" Hitachi at $990.00

The digitizer is a Summagraphics 12" X 18" at $650.00

The console monitor is a Maganvox Multiscan at $540.00

The computer is a Wyse 386-based system at CALL

The furniture is the French-built UNIC workstation at CALL

Many other options are available:

CPU's with hard disks $999.00

Sweet-P plotter (HP 7475A compatible 6-pen) $749.00

Digitizers from $340.00

Microtek MSF-300G Flatbed Scanner. 300dpi resolution;

256 shade grayscale reproduction $2750.00

Blaser 2: full range graphics laser printer; excellent blacks .. $1650.00 Mural Flatbed Plotter; D-size plots at minimum cost .... $2195.00

Shown at right is our most exciting new product, the

Vision Systems "Vision 16" frame grabber. This hardware and software system captures TV images from a camera, VCR, or camcorder. Because of its 512X480 pixel display, with 16 bits per pixel, extraordinary color rendition and clarity can be achieved. Conversion programs are available for VGA, CGA, and EGA. The "Vision 16" system lists

for $1795 CALL

State-Of-The-Art CRT controller cards from F&W ensure system compatibility:

Video 7 VGA, 640X480, 256 color $249.00

QDP 1000/16,16 color, 1024X1024 .... $649.00

QDP 256 color $1249.00

Imagraph 1280X1024 with 1 Meg Videoram,

16 color $1200.00

ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED

FARADAY & WHEATSTONE COMMUNICATIONS

CAD, GRAPHICS & ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING

194 MAIN STREET, MARLBOROUGH MA 01752 USA (617) 485-1144

88NE-10 BYTE* JUNE 1988

Circle 481 on Reader Service Card

AUTHORIZEDEgl^K^BUSINESS / REPAIR CENTER

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$1575

IKI HEWLETT

mLEM PACKARD

The original LaserJet printer is now better than ever! Introducing LaserJet Series II.

LaserJet Series II, the second generation of the worlds most popular laser printer, is waiting for you at your local Hewlett-Packard dealer.

Exciting new features make LaserJet Series II the best value in desktop laser printing today.

If you're thinking about stepping up to laser printing, you definitely need to see the remarkable LaserJet Series II printer from HP.

Hyundai Super-286C

The Power Hitter.

Hyundai's new Super-286C packs the punch of a PC AT, without socking it to your wallet. The Super-286C handles today's biggest applications: database management, desktop publishing, computer-aided design. And it packs this power into a remarkably compact unit —ideally suited for even the tightest quarters.

Like the rest of Hyundai's new PC line, the Super-286C comes with an 18month warranty, plus service and support from a hand-picked nationwide dealer network. And they're backed by one of the world's largest manufacturing organizations: $14 billion Hyundai corporation.

►■ 80286 microprocessor switchable to 8 or 10MHz—for the right combination of speed and compatibility,

► High-capacity 1.2MB, 5.2S" floppy disk drives.

► Built-in 512KB RAM is expandable to 1MB, to support larger application programs.

► 6 expansion slots allow yon to enhance the system tor graphics or extended memory.

► Add your choice of hard disk drives: 30MB, 40MB and 70MB.

► Two serial ports and one parallel port for modems, printers, and other input/ output devices.

► Full 101-key keyboard gives you complete control and ease of data entry.

ALSO AVAILABLE HYUNDAI SUPER 286

Ahyundai

COMPUTERS

CALL& ORDER NOW

Board Level Service Facility

1-800-447-1176

(NATIONAL WATTSl

1-800-553-1176

Applifd • Progressive • Electronics • Inc.

200 Soulhwesi CuiOfl. Route 20. Noritidoro, MA 01532

(617)393-7220 • 1-800-553-1176 imassi 1-800-447-11 76 inati • (61 7) 393-31 24 (fax

prices subject to change without notice

CALL& ORDER NOW

$1575

(List $2595)

IN STOCK DESKJET $725

Lay Away Available

OriariRi iRfirattlii: We ship anywhere in the continental United States via UPS. Prices are subject to change without notice. We accept VISA, MasterCard. Dersonal and company checks and money orders.

All returns must have prior authorization from our customer service department within 7 days of receipt. All returns must be in like-new condition, complete and in original packaging. Incomplete merchandise will not be accepted for return. Returned products are subject to a 20% restocking fee (S80 maximum). Defective products will be repaired or replaced at APE's discretion. We do not guarantee compatibility. Not responsible for typographical errors.

$1149

WHILE STOCK LASTS

SAME INCREDIBLY LOW PRICING ON ALL PRODUCTS

Circle 476 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 88NE-11

Compare Computers Inc

Call Toll Free

In Minnesota

1-800-888-2983

1-612-881-9197

Mailing Address: 9801 Dupont Ave. So., Suite 175 Blooomington, MN 55431

ORDER DESK & TECHNICAL SUPPORT OPEN: M-F 9a.rn.-5p.rn. CST

EVEREX

Model 3000A

16MZ-386

•64 K Static RAM cache •1 MB-100NS Dram •1.2 MB Floppy •Hard drive floppy controller

$1695.00

EVEREX

Model 1700C

12MHZ-286

•1 MB 100NS Dram •1.2 MB Floppy •Hard drive floppy controller

$1295.00

EVEREX

Model 1800

10MHZ-286

•512 K RAM •1.2 MB Floppy •Hard drive floppy controller

$949.00

LAPTOPS

Toshiba

T-1000 789.00

T-1200 2349.00

T-3200 3795.00

T-5100 4995.00

NEC Multispeed

EL 1559.00

HD 2395.00

HARD DRIVES

MAXTOR

1140 140MB 1995.00

2190 190MB 2095.00

4380 380MB 2595.00

MICROPOUS

1333A44MB 599.00

1335A72MB 699.00

SEAGATE

ST-225 w/Controller, 20MB 279.00

ST-238 w/Controller, 30MB 299.00

ST-251 40MB 399.00

ST-4096 80MB 699.00

PRINTERS

Citizen Call

NEC LC-890 Laser 3299.00

Okidata 393 989.00

Panasonic Call

Toshiba Call

MEMORY EXPANSION

Everex RAM 3000 3MB EMS w/OK 89.00

MATH COPROCESSORS

Intel

Call

MODEMS

Everex 1200B 75.00

Everex 2400 Bd 179.00

Okidata Okitel Call

25-60% Off Retail

TAPE BACKUPS

Everex 60MB Internal 679.00

Everex 60MB External 759.00

Mountain 40MB 379.00

POWER BACKUPS

Stedi Watt 450VA 499.00

Stedi Watt 750VA 659.00

MONITORS

Mitsubishi.

Sony

NEC

.Call Call Call

VIDEO CARDS

ATI Call

Everex EGA 139.00

Paradise 480 159.00

WE WELCOME EDUCATION AND CORPORATE ACCOUNTS

88NE-12 BYTE- JUNE 1988

QUALITY & SERVICE!!

ONE YEAR WARRANTY!!! 24 HOUR SHIPPING!!!*

10 MHz XT 12 MHz AT

$499

4.77 -10 MHZ DUAL SPEED

(SWITCHABLE BY TURBO BUTTON)

AT TYPE CASE

RESET BUTTON

TURBO BUTTON

KEYBOARD LOCK

POWER LED

640K RAM

1-360K DISK DRIVE - FUJITSU

AT STYLE KEYBOARD

150 WATT POWER SUPPLY

8088-1 CPU w/8087 OPTION

FLOPPY CONTROLLER CARD

MS-DOS 3.1 USER'S GUIDE

$995

• MOST ITEMS

ADD $85 FOR

6/8/10/12 MHz HARDWARE/SOFTWARE SWITCHABLE VLSI TECHNOLOGY 80286 CPU w/80287 OPTION 200 WATT POWER SUPPLY 640K RAM, 1.0 MB EXP FLOPPY DRIVE - FUJITSU 1.2 MB HARD /FLOPPY CONTROLLER CARD

WESTERN DIGITAL, WA2 AT STYLE KEYBOARD CLOCK/CALENDAR MS-DOS 3.1 USER'S GUIDE ADDITIONAL 360K FLOPPY DRIVE

XT/AT SYSTEMS

MONO SYSTEM:

Complete with HERCULES

compatible card w/printer

port & Samsung TTL monitor

XT AT

$649 $1149

COLOR SYSTEM:

Complete with color graphic

card w/printer port &

Samsung 14" RGB color

monitor

XT AT

$829S1329

EGA SYSTEM

Complete with EGA graphic

card w/printer port & Samsung 14" EGA monitor

XT AT

$1049$1549

®Seagate HARD DRIVES. 20 MB KIT ST-225

$289

30MB KIT ST-238

$329

40 MB KIT F°R ST-251

$429

20 MB

HARD CARD

$329

30 MB

HARD CARD

$429

40 MB

HARD CARD

$499

ALL XT DRIVES COME WITH CONTROLLER CARD, CABLES & MOUNTING INSTRUCTIONS. ALL DRIVES ARE FORMATTED. ALL DRIVES ARE INTERNAL. HARD CARDS ARE MANUFACTURED BY CMS.

dS Samsung MONITORS:

^%M Electron Devices

" MONOCHROME, TTL 1'

$85 $279 $389

12" MONOCHROME, TTL 14" COLOR RGB 14" EGA COLOR

W/SWIVEL BASE

W/SWIVEL BASE

W/SWIVEL BASE W/ EGA CARD $539

MATH PROCESSORS:

8087-3 5 Mhz $109

8087-2 8 MHz $159

80287-6 6 MHz $169

80287-8 8 MHz $259

80287-10 10-MHz $299

SmartLink MODEMS:

1200 BAUD 1200 BAUD 2400 BAUD 2400 BAUD

$89 $99 $179 $199

INTERNAL EXTERNAL INTERNAL EXTERNAL

ALL MODEMS COME WITH COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE & USER'S GUIDE

MOUSES:

GENIUS GM6+

ffl LOGITECH

$79 $89

W/GENIUS PAINT W/PLUS SOFTWARE

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ORDER NOW!

HOURS: M-F: 8:30 A.M.-5:30 P.M.

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ComputerAge, Inc.

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55 Fishfty Street Hartford, CT 06120 FAX: (203) 724-3565 TLX: 5106008830 (C0MPR AGE UQ) Into &Tech Support:(203) 724-5100

- NO SURCHARGE FOR MASTERCARD. VISA

•NO ORDERS CHARGED UNTIL SHIPPED

• ALLOW 15 DAYS FOR PERSONAL CHECK ORDERS

• DEFECTIVE MERCHANDISE MAY BE RETURNED FOR REPAIR OR EXCHANGE ONLY

• WE 00 NOT GUARANTEE COMPATIBILITY

• ANY GOODS RETURNED FOR CREDIT ARE SUBJECT TO A 10% RESTICKIfJG FEE

•ALL PRICIES AND POLICIES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE

• NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TYPO-GRAPHICAL ERRORS

Circle 479 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 88NE-13

Computers For The Blind

Talking computers give blind and visually impaired people access to electronic information. The question is how and how much?

The answers can be found in "The Second Beginner's Guide to Personal Computers for the Blind and Visually Impaired" published by the National Braille Press. This comprehensive book contains a Buyer's Guide to talking microcomputers and large print display processors. More importantly it includes reviews, written by blind users, of software that works with speech.

This invaluable resource book offers details on training programs in computer applications for the blind, and other useful information on how to buy and use special equipment.

Send orders to:

National Braille Press Inc.

88 St. Stephen Street

Boston, MA 02115

(617) 266-6160

$22.95 for braille or cassette, $14-95 for print. ($3 extra for UPS shipping)

NBP is a nonprofit braille printing and publishing house.

NeuralWare's Introduction to

Neural Computing

FREI

For your free booklet, "Teaching Computers to Learn: Applications for Neural Computing" and for information on our neural computing products, send in this coupon.

Name

Company. Address _

City

Phone

. State.

.Zip.

s

EURAL

3S

AREINC

Teach your PC to learn with neural computing. Expert system generation, forecasting, noise filtering and process control are just a few of the many exciting and innovative applications for neural computing in industry.

Now you can learn more about neural computing, its history and its applications from the author of the 1987 Annotated Bibliography of Neuro-Computing and the founder of the industry's largest selling neural computing software company, Casimir C. "Casey" Klimasauskas.

103 Buckskin Court Sewickley, PA 15143 (412) 741-5959

88NE-14 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 486 on Reader Service Card

DHCOVER WHAT A

SHOULD

Austin Computer Systems, along with Western Digital Corporation, are pleased to announce the new Austin 286 Computer.

COMPUTER:

EGA MONITOR INCLUDED: Our system price includes an EGA Monitor. If you prefer monochrome, or other brands, we're happy to accommodate.

40 MEG HIGH SPEED HARDDISK INCLUDED: We use Seagate fast access drives as standard equipment. Other sizes and brands are available upon request.

ONE 1.2 or 360K FLOPPY INCLUDED: We give you the choice. Of course if you prefer more drives, or other sizes, we have them available.

101 KEYBOARD INCLUDED: This keyboard has an excellent tactile feel along with the layout you desire.

HEAVY DUTY POWER SUPPLY INCLUDED: Quiet Operation, and clean power.

A GREAT CHASSIS AND CASE INCLUDED: This SMALL FOOTPRINT AT CHASSIS has THREE fully exposed Vz height drive bays available.

WARRANTY:

You get one full year parts and labor, and you get a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. Call or write for full details.

WESTERN DIGITAL MOTHERBOARD:

Our 6 LAYER MOTHERBOARD, using SURFACE MOUNT TECHNOLOGY, allows us to produce a higher quality American made computer, for less money than the Far East imports.

640K RAM INCLUDED ON OUR MOTHERBOARD: Up to FOUR MEG can be installed directly on the motherboard.

EEGA 640* 480 GRAPHICS, Autoswitching to CGA also supporting Plantronics MGA, and Hercules Monochrome. All built-in.

INPUT/OUTPUT has TWO SERIAL ports, ONE PARALLEL port, ONE PS/2 Compatible MOUSE PORT, and a 20 YEAR RATED BATTERY/BACKED CLOCK.

Our built-in WESTERN DIGITAL HARDDISK CONTROLLER supports 1 to 1 INTERLEAVING, allowing for tremendously fast harddisk drives.

Up to TWO 1.4, 1.2, 720k and 360k Floppy Drives are supported by our built-in WESTERN DIGITAL FLOPPY CONTROLLER.

INCREDIBLE PERFORMANCE is achieved using our 12.5 MHZ 80286 PROCESSOR.

_COMPARE

Compu-Add 286-12 2341.00 Dell PC-200 2699.00

Club 286-12 2298.00

Austin 286-12 1995.00

■Prices attained 4-19-1988

COMPLETE SYSTEM

$1995

Free Shipping and Handling!

WE ACCEPT C.O.D'S, CORPORATE P.O's, AND VISA OR MASTERCARD.

ORDER TOLL FREE 1-800-752-1577

Mon-Sat 10 to 6 Central Time

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

7801 N. Lamar, Suite C-65 Austin, Texas 78752

Other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

PS/2 is a trademark of IBM Corporation. Western Digital logo is a trademark of the Western Digital Corporation. Shipping is U.RS. ground/insured.

Prices subject to change without notice, call for current prices.

Circle 477 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 88NE-15

New 4.0 Version!

m

mow uiittstiy

JCm"' Master your mailings in minutes

files.

"Susan—Send our sates letter to all buyers of apples and cherries in Washington and oranges or bananas in Florida, in time for

today's 5:00pm pick-up.-Mr. Wermer.f*

H:i Mail! lists sorted.

r

^-tSS Lists merged and purged.

!«t in

Setup

in tuii

Hiq LiClls

Intir ttt'Ctrml

^h Our new LettcrMaster ma software is a lifesaver. It sorts any list according to any criteria in its own internal database and our dBASE*m files.

~y> LettcrMaster merges lists and purges duplications in a matter of seconds. It's incredible! I can create instant custom mailing lists with a few keystrokes!

4:38 Personalized sales letters printed.

4:41 Labels printed.

IKtit ttlt Siltum lean i.'* BtrtMlf ssari

|vilm :*?PLES ]|

J

Q With LetterMaster, all I do is name the list, name the letter, activate the printer, and "go do." It's that simple!

LetterMaster prints off any list onto leading brand address labels. It prints Rolodex cards and file folder labels, too.

4:45 Mailing complete and ready for pick-up.

5:00 66Susan-Good work on thaLmailing.

Iiriiiw IM ■ Brutir thin w Esuii

Circle 488 on Reader Service Card

Have an apple.—Bob

ft

□ Enclosed is my chuck/money order/purchase order. Charge to my D Visa □ MasterCard □ American Express D Send C.O.D.

Credit Card #_ Signature

Expir. Date-._

Outside USA add J 10.00 per program and make payment by credit card or my bank draft, payable in US, dollars drawn on a U.S. bank.

Address_ City

Phone #_

Zip_

Mail to: Research Development Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 110216, Arlington, Texas 76007 Dealer inquiries invited.

LetterMaster operates with all the popular word processing programs. About the only thing it doesn't do is lick the envelopes!

System requirements for Single User: DOS 11 or higher. IBM PC or your IBM PS2, or 100% compatible. SI2K RAM. System requirements for Network Wnk Station; DOS M or higher. frlOK RAM, any combination of hard, floppy, or no disk drives. Trademark/Owners: tetlerMnter/Dilg Properties, Inc.; dBase UJ/Ashton-Tate Corp.; IBM PC & IBM PS2'International Business Machines Corp.; DOS/International Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

Client Management/MailMerge System

Only $149

Multi-user systems: 8349.00

LIMITED OFFER CALL FOR OUR FREE DEMO DISK

Research Development Systems, Inc.

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69

30 Day Money Back Guarantee

SHORT TAKES

BYTE editors offer hands-on views of new products

A Color Paint Application for the Mac II

SuperMac Software's PixelPaint does for color graphics on the Mac II what MacPaint did for the original 128Kbyte Mac in black and white: It lets you draw in color using a simple user interface. The lasso, marquee, grabber, bucket, spray can, brush, pencil, and eraser tools that you used in MacPaint are included. You still have the ability to enter any style of text and draw lines of any thickness or direction, as well as rectangles, ovals, polygons, and freehand shapes.

However, these tools come with new capabilities, thanks to color. You can pick 256 colors out of a palette of 16 million for the bucket, spray can, brush, and pencil to use. You can draw the shapes in any color or have them filled with color as you draw them. PixelPaint also has two new tools: the eyedropper (click it on a particular color to use the same hue in a new spot—a lot simpler than trying to remember the color's RGB values) and the arc tool (handy for drawing arcs or Bezier curves).

PixelPaint's real power lies in this: Click on the box labeled Normal Tools and it becomes Special Effects, and these tools take a quantum leap in color capabilities. Now the bucket tool can do color blends, with the blend effect (e.g., top-to-bottom, left-to-right, sunburst, and Venetian blinds) determined by selections in the option menu.

Spray can and brush operations cycle through the entire spectrum of colors as they work, or within a user-selected range of colors. With the brush, you can also perform shadow, charcoal, wash, smooth, shade, and smear effects. Lines can be drawn as fractals, radials, and neon (a line with colored edges that resembles a neon tube), as well as the cycle effects just described. Properly handled, these Special Effects yield color images whose appearance can only be described as breathtaking.

PixelPaint prints to PostScript devices like Apple's LaserWriter and the Linotronic 100 and 300.1 successfully printed a color image to a networked LaserWriter and got the expected gray-scale image. Printing to the Imagewriter II is not supported because PixelPaint images can have up to 256

> 1

The Facts:

PixelPaint 1.0 $495

SuperMac Software 295 North Bernardo Mountain View, CA 94043 (415) 964-9694 Inquiry 853.

Requirements: Macintosh II with 256-color video board and 1 megabyte of RAM; color monitor and 2 megabytes of RAM recommended.

colors, which is beyond the ability of the Imagewriter II to reproduce accurately. PixelPaint can open MacPaint, PICT, and encapsulated PostScript files, letting you import graphics from Mac applications like MacDraw, Adobe Illustrator, and Cricket Draw.

At a price of $495, you'd expect copy protection on such a product. But in a bold move on SuperMac's part, PixelPaint was introduced without copy protection. The diligent user can produce publication-quality color graphics of great sophistication with PixelPaint. If you bought a Mac II to do professional graphics, you'll do well to make PixelPaint your first software purchase.

—Tom Thompson

Don't Be Intimidated by OS/2

The Norton On Line Programmer's Guides: OS/2 API ease the task of learning and using OS/2 functions. The database of information is organized alphabetically and logically. While the alphabetic listing is valuable for experienced OS/2 programmers, the logical organization of the information is great for those of us who are trying to figure out what's going on with this new operating system. One of the most valuable features is a cross-referencing line that points you to information related to what's currentiy on the screen.

The program is menu-driven, and you can choose to start with an introduction to OS/2. It gives a brief summary of what

OS/2 and DOS have in common and what's different, lists which OS/2 function calls correspond to which DOS interrupts, and includes a section discussing 15 areas of OS/2 (e.g., multitasking and semaphores). The related function calls are grouped for each of the 15 areas.

From the menu, you can choose system, file, mouse, and video calls. The first level in each group is an alphabetic list of the function calls, followed by a short description. The second level gives you a detailed discussion of the function, including what parameters it requires, what it returns, what include files it needs, and whether it works in DOS mode.

continued

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 89

SHORT TAKES

This is followed by an actual example of using the call, both from C and assembly language.

Other useful information you can find under the reference menu includes a complete list of the IOCTL functions (functions for sending device-specific commands to a device driver), a discussion of OS/2 device drivers and related functions, and the error and return codes for DOS 2.x, DOS 3.x, and OS/2. There is also a menu item for the ANSI escape sequences, the CONFIG.SYS commands, and the OS/2 structures, which are the predefined C structures that OS/2 function calls use to pass data to and from functions.

The package includes a version of the program for OS/2 mode and for DOS mode.

In OS/2 mode, you can install the Norton Guides as a popup program that is available to all OS/2 screen groups or as a stand-alone application in one OS/2 screen group. When you run the Guides as a pop-up program, you activate them with a hot key (Shift-Fl), and while the Guides are activated, the OS/2 hot keys for switching to another screen group are disabled until you leave the program.

The disabling of the screen group hot keys is a function of the OS/2 pop-up call; tasks continue to run in the background. If you want to be able to switch screen groups while the Guides are on the screen, you can install them as an application. The two methods of running the Guides let you have two databases open on the screen at the same time.

In DOS mode, you can have the Guides as a terminate

and-stay-resident (TSR) program that takes up about 65K bytes of RAM; you can easily remove it from memory if you need the space.

Other features include a compiler and a linker that let you create custom databases. There is a full-screen and a halfscreen mode, and you can search for all or part of a keyword. An auto-lookup feature looks up the word under the cursor when you activate the Guides.

I highly recommend this program. Using it is an order of magnitude easier than thumbing through the OS/2 manual to get the information you need. The interface is intuitive, and the information is presented in a clear and even conversational

The Facts:

The Norton On Line Programmer's Guides: OS/2 API

$150 with Instant Access Engine; $100 without engine

Peter Norton Computing Inc. 2210 WilshireBlvd., Suite 186 Santa Monica, CA 90403 (213)453-2361 Inquiry 852.

Requirements:

IBM PC or compatible with

DOS 2.0 or higher, or OS/2.

Drawing on the Mac

The Facts:

FreeHandl.O $495

Aldus Corp. 411 First Ave. S Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 622-5500 Inquiry 851.

Requirements: Macintosh Plus or 512Ke with at least 1 megabyte of RAM, two 800K-byte floppy disk drives, or a hard disk drive; Mac SE with two 800K-byte drives or a hard disk drive; or Mac II with two 800K-byte drives or a hard disk drive.

FreeHand. Sounds like a light, fun sort of drawing program, right? Well, don't let the name fool you. We're talking serious drawing here. This is a Macintosh package for people who need to produce clean art and copy that are ready to go to the print shop.

The folks at Aldus may not like this comparison, but FreeHand is similar to Adobe Illustrator in that it uses a connect-the-dots approach. This is great for working up a polished version of a rough sketch. You scan the sketch, bring it into FreeHand, and then trace it. The program is like a multidimensional tracing pad.

The tricky part is doing the tracing. You can put down points (dots) on the object you're tracing and then connect the points using various tools, or you can use the freehand tool that lets you draw by dragging the mouse. I found both methods to be awkward, but it's not Aldus's fault that the mouse is like drawing, as someone said, with a brick.

The FreeHand toolbox is geared toward building drawings using straight lines, curved lines, angles, diagonals, and shapes (squares, ellipses, and boxes with rounded corners). Transformation tools let you rotate, stretch or compress, slant, and reflect images. A text tool lets you add type to a drawing; it's a basic Mac-style editor that lets you change fonts, specs, and even colors.

The program's color capabilities make it a serious program for pre-press work. A print shop handles color in two ways: spots of one color here and there on an illustration, or process color, which basically breaks an image into tiny dots and colors them with a mix of four pigments that tricks the eye into thinking it's looking at one color. FreeHand will let you set up a drawing to use spot or process color. (Adobe Illustrator 88 is supposed to have some of these same capabilities that make FreeHand shine, but we're still waiting for it.)

There's no room here to describe how the program does

continued

90 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Complete, anxb Zaty. , . avulonLj/ $16!

.And***8

Here it is. You won't find software that's easier to use:

• Requires no accounting knowledge

• Completely menu-driven with on-line help

• 93-page fully indexed tutorial manual (on disk)

A Proven Track Record. Hard to believe the $16 price? Don't worry. MoneyCounts® has been marketed for three years and is continually receiving rave reviews. There's no catch. This is a fully functional system that compares with products selling for $99 and more.

Same-Day Shipping. Order today and own MoneyCounts® for only $16! Add $3 shipping and handling (outside North America add $7). Iowa residents please add 4% sales tax. Send check or money order payable to Parsons Technology. VISA and MasterCard orders welcome.

VISA, MasterCard & COD orders call:

1-800-223-6925

(In Canada 319/395-7300)

MONEY COUNTS

$16 + S3 Shipping

tSW^Wh^W.

Depl. B

373 Collins Road NE

Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

MoneyCounts"' requires IBM, incompatible computer with two disk drives (or a hard disk drive), 192k or more memory, DOS 2.0 or later and printer.

Name:

Address: ,

City/State/Zip:

Phone:

Check Money Order __ VISA .

Card #

_ MasterCard. Exp, Date

Circle 212 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 91

Get some of the smartest keyboards from

Catalogic

SHORT TAKES

When you buy a personal computer you find yourself with a keyboard that may not be exactly what you want We can give you some smart alternatives. Every one comes with easy-to-use software that allows you to allocate a wide variety of functions, strings or what-you-will to each and every key - and in each mode. What's more you can change these according to the application you're running. Keyport 60™ Handy keyboard add-on touch tablet that gives you 60 "soft keys" in addition to all your normal keyboard functions. Stores text, formulae, extra functions etc - uses IBM games port

Electrone Dashboard™ A full function "enhanced" board to fit the AMSTRAD PC port that comes with some smart software that allows you to configure any key for virtually any application.

Keyport 300™ Desk pad equivalent of the Keyport 60 with 300 "soft keys" Ideal for point-of-sale, order entry, databases, financial applications etc. Electrone Dashboard Plus™ Similar to above but has Standard IBM plug, "standard" function panel as well as a double row of 22 extra programmable function keys.

Electrone DIN-124™ A full professional layout with separate cursor and function pad as well as numeric pad. A row of 25 separate function keys for real flexibility. Drop-on function guide supplied.

Products may vary slightly from those illustrated Dashboard is a trademark of Electrone Ltd Keyport is a trademark of Polytel Inc.

Catalogic

PO Box 300249 1700 Lincoln Denver CO 80203

this, but it lets you mix basic colors on your screen to get the shades you want. (On a black-and-white screen, you get black, white, and gray instead of red, green, cyan, turquoise, or whatever.) The program comes with a chart that shows you how to mix basic colors to get not-so-basic colors. The folks who wrote the FreeHand manual do a good job of explaining this whole process, but if you're not familiar with how color printing works, you should talk with someone who is before you take your copy down to the print shop.

FreeHand can send output to a PostScript device or to QuickDraw printers like the Imagewriter. You can adjust the resolution so that a printer can make plates with the copy you provide. Setting up a drawing for printing is relatively easy.

As a way of converting a sketch into camera-ready copy, FreeHand is great. One of the things that's supposed to distinguish this package from, say, Adobe Illustrator, is its set of freehand drawing tools. In other words, you can use this software to draw (rather than just trace), edit, and enhance pieces of art done outside the program.

As far as drawing and painting ability goes, I think there are better stand-alone programs with these capabilities than FreeHand. In software heaven, you'd have both: a good graphics package—like MacPaint, SuperPaint, or Graphic Works—to create your original art, and FreeHand to get the art ready for the printer. However, the real world is not software heaven, and we mortals must pay for programs.

If I needed a package for drawing and painting and didn't need to worry about sending multilayered illustrations to a print shop, I'd go with something else. But for serious stuff that's bound for the printing press, things like technical diagrams or ad copy, FreeHand wins hands down. If I needed both, I'd buy FreeHand and hope that Aldus adds some better freehand drawing tools next time around.

—D. Barker

A Hand-Held PC Compatible

The Datacomputer is a portable computer designed for data collection and portable processing. It uses the same CPU as an IBM PC, so you can develop programs on the PC and download them to the Datacomputer. Its small size and ergonomic design make it a true hand-held computer.

Transferring programs to the Datacomputer is simple. I connected my AT to the Datacomputer with an RS-232C cable. Then I ran the data transfer program on the AT. Next I selected the Load Program function from the Datacomputer's on-screen menu. The NDCDL program can automatically download a program to the Datacomputer at 9600 bits per second (the default setting) using the XMODEM protocol. NDCDL also has an optional mode for interactive commands to change the COM port used, path names and filenames, and the data transfer rate. I could also connect one Datacomputer to another for a program transfer.

The computer uses an 80C88 microprocessor and a CMOS version of the 8088, and it has 128K bytes of RAM, expandable to 960K bytes with optional memory modules. The screen is a backlit 26-character by 8- or 10-line liquid crystal display. The keyboard includes a full-size numeric keypad and a small QWERTY keyboard. The unit measures 10 by 5 by 1 lA inches and weighs 35 ounces. It is powered by either four or eight A A alkaline or nickel-cadmium batteries.

External connections to the computer include an 8-pin DIN serial printer port, a DB-25 RS-232C serial port, a DB-9 bar code scanner port, an optional RJ-11 modem jack, and a

continued

92 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 93 on Reader Service Card

1

r

1

1

I

■ ■

Coming from Lotus:

dBFast

SHORT TAKES

-vsClipper

1J_ _a _^,t dBFast" compiles and delivers a typical .EXE file in under 5 seconds, while M. nS ICT' Clipper is still plodding through a 4 minute compile/linking routine And check out our blistering execution speed We blow away the competition! "Why wait?"

Cfm| l|f*f*f wi"i Clipper's lumbering "overhead," the smallest possible execute file is O'lIIil'AlV'l • 120KB ... and it mushrooms from there! dBFast s ultra-efficient "runtime engine" results in amazingly compact code, as small as 1KB!

Cfy|S|-grf-pftf dBFast delivers very high dBase Ul compatibility. It supports dBase .NDX &UMMM. IVJ. • jies m(j is LAN-capable right out of the box. It's many features include AUTOLOCK, SOFTSEEK, APPEND, BROWSE, CHANGE, EDIT, and dBFast supports external PROCEDURE FILES.

Cheaper!

At a fraction of the cost of the competition, dBFast sets the new industry standard for Price-To-Performance For developers, distribution

rights are Royalty-Free. And, as an added bonus, dBFast now includes dBEdit, a professional-grade text

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dBFast is a trademark of dBFast Inc.

dBase III Plus and Clipper are registered trademarks of Ashton Tate Corp.

and Nanlucket Corp. Respectively © dBFast Inc.

BPfflOQ]

1420 Gilman Blvd.

Suite 2857

Issaquah, WA 98027-5399

coaxial connector for an external power supply. All the connectors are located behind a flip-down access cover that has a neoprene gasket to seal out the elements.

The standard system includes a utility software disk for the IBM PC, with programs for downloading and uploading files, memory-resident file management, an interactive data manager, and data space management. The computer can store and run .EXE files created in BASIC, C, Pascal, assembly language, or other programming languages.

The Datacomputer is also available as part of a Developer's Kit, which includes a software developer's manual, two 5 V4-inch floppy disks containing communications software for downloading programs to the Datacomputer, software routines for data compression, screen and keyboard interfaces, peripheral drivers, and bar code decoding software. The kit also includes a PC-to-Datacomputer RS-232C cable and a nylon case for the computer.

The Datacomputer's small size, rugged construction (it can survive a drop to a concrete floor), and the gaskets that seal the access and battery compartment covers make this computer ideal for use in harsh environments like factories and warehouses. A variety of bar code scanners can be directly connected to the computer. Because it's programmable, the Datacomputer can be used for a variety of applications in locations where you wouldn't want to risk an ordinary computer.

—Stanley J. Wszola

The Facts:

Datacomputer DC 3.0 128K bytes of RAM, $1995; 384K bytes, $2245; 640K bytes, $2495; 960K bytes, $2795; Developer's Kit, $2245

National Datacomputer Inc. Middlesex Technology Center 900 Middlesex Tnpk. Building 5

Billerica, MA 01821 (617) 663-7677 Inquiry 856.

Options:

10 AA battery pack, $39; printer cable, $39; 300-/ 1200-bps internal modem, $199; bar code readers: pencil wand, $159; noncontact four-LED scanner, $429; fixed-beam infrared laser, $439; moving-beam laser scanner, $869.

continued

94 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 81 on Reader Service Card

Coming from Lotus.

Circle 60 on Reader Service Card

Compact Disk Products, Inc.

CD ROM/WORM

^L ALL PRODUCTS, LOWEST PRICES, EXPERT ADVICE

/A/rfiODucrofir offers

Hitachi 15D3S or 3500S CD-ROM Drive with your choice of:

- McGraw Hill Science and Technical Reference Set $895

- Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia $B95

- Microsoft Bookshelf $895

- PC-SIG Library [Disks #1 through #817) $B95

- Geovision U.S. Atlas and Mapmaker $1395

- The Bible Library $1195

CD ROM SOFTWARE

Groler or McGraw Hil or Bookshelf or PG5G $269

| The Bble Lhrary $395

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Cherrical Technology $945

Registry of Mass Spectral Data $2655

Geovision U.S. Atlas and Mapmaker $795

SHORT TAKES

TOLL FREE ORDER LINE ■ 800-MEGABYTe (634-2298)

CD-ROM ancf WORM DR/VES

Hitachi 15D3S External CD-ROM Drive with Audio $729

15D3S with Digital Audio Output $929

Hitachi 3500S Internal 1/2 Height CD-RDM Drive w/Audio . . $729

Maxtor BDO MB WORM Drive $37gg

Optotech Laserbank 400 MB WORM Drive $2799

Amdek Laserdrive Call

Partable 2BB with CD-RDM Drive $3795

CD-Play [$95) Pop-up utity that permits user to p&y afl audb CDs on Htachi

ard cotrpatbte drives. Output to headphones or ampjfer. CD-Play-iSampler ($B5) Same featu-esas CD-Play pbs the abity to rare two nn A ,. _.. Points on an ajdio CD and bop between them

LU-AUQ Or lis ($195) Automatcaily creates database records of a] yoir audio CDs. 1HI \ Y~\ Alows you to store a preferredI play seajence for each disk.

217

Automatic recogritbn of CDs

E. B5th St. I Suite 216

I New York, NY 10028 I Tel. 212-996-6999 I Fax 212-439-9109 I CompuServe 75530,214

Creates DBase compatible records

I

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INTERNATIONAL ORDERS A SPECIALTY

Australian Agent KEWTEL 145 Cotliam fld. Kew, Vetera 3D1

—IBM PC® COMPATIBLESINGLE BOARD COMPUTER

Quark PC +

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From

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• Low Power — Less than 3 Watts

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• Ideal for any PC compatible OEM

product which is not a personal computer

Includes: 1. Powerful V40® CPU (Faster than a PC) 2. Math Co-Processor Socket 3.5 Volt Only Operation (3 watts) 4. Speaker Port 5. Keyboard Port 6. Parallel Printer Port 7. PC Bus 8. PC Compatible BIOS ROM 9.1 Serial Port

On board Options Include: 1.5 Mode video

Controller Option (Monochrome, Hercules® Graphics, CGA, High Res CGA, LCD Driver) 2. Floppy Disk Controller (3.5'75.25", 360K/720K/1.2 MB) 3. SCSI Bus Interface (Hard Disk etc) 4. Up to 768K RAM 5. BatteryBacked-up Real-Time-Clock 6.2 Additional RS232C Serial Ports

To order or enquire call us today.

Megatel Computer Corporation

(416)745-7214 FAX (416) 745-8792

174 Turbine Drive, Weston, Ontario M9L 2S2

U.S. Address: 1051 Clinton St., Buffalo, NY. 14206

Distributors:

Europe: V&C Computers-Germany (06071) 25666

N.CS. Computers - Italy (0331) 256-524

UK: Densitron (0959) 71011 or (0959) 71015

Australia: Asp Microcomputers (02) 500-0628

Quark is a registered trademark of Megatel Computer Corp. Hercules Is a registered trademark of Hercules Corporation, V40 is a registered trademark of NEC Corp IBM PC is a registered frddemark of IBM Corporation.

megatel.

Two TSRs to Help You Manage the RAM Traffic Jam

The Facts:

PopDrop3.1

RAM Lord

$49.95

$99.95

InfoStructures Inc.

Waterworks Software Inc.

P.O. Box 32617

913 Electric Ave.

Tucson, AZ 85751

Seal Beach, CA 90740

(602) 299-5962

(213) 594-4768

Inquiry 854.

Inquiry 855.

Requirements:

IBM PC, XT, AT, or

compatible, or IBM PS/2;

DOS 2.0 or higher.

Managing the gaggle of memory-resident programs that resides in a typical IBM PC's RAM is about as much fun as keeping tabs on a room full of kindergarten kids. TSR programs are often a badly behaved lot when you force them to work together. They stomp on each other's electronic toes, greedily grab for identical interrupts and precious memory space, and even throw tantrums by completely locking up your system.

OS/2 is supposed to eliminate all this so-called RAM cram. But in the meantime, you either have to live with it or take action. If you opt for action, remedies can come in the guise of two programs (themselves memory-resident) designed to deal with TSR discipline.

InfoStructures' PopDrop has been around for a few years, and version 3.1 is a completely new incarnation. It has developed into an effective and useful program with an elegantly simple user interface. Each time you run PopDrop, it generates a record of your system's RAM status (taking up about 600 bytes of RAM space the first time it's used; about 200 bytes thereafter). Then you load one or more of your resident programs "on top" of it. You can create layers of TSRs in your system RAM by simply rerunning PopDrop at any point. All the TSRs you've loaded between invoking the program become a layer.

But no matter how clever TSR programs like PopDrop are, the programs are still stymied by the way that MS-DOS was designed. If you need RAM space for other programs, you must unload the programs in the reverse order of how you loaded them in. Not unlike an onion, PopDrop lets you peel off the layers of TSRs that you built, in the event that you need to free up the RAM for other use. You can also tell PopDrop to deactivate TSRs without freeing the memory. And with a bit of planning, you can use PopDrop in batch files to load and unload TSRs with applications without making your RAM a completely scrambled mess of holes and unused code.

In contrast to PopDrop, RAM Lord from Waterworks Software takes a different and unique approach to managing TSRs. It lets you have access to up to 20 RAM-resident programs while taking up only the RAM space that the largest single TSR requires (plus 26K bytes for itself). For example, let's say you use a dozen TSRs regularly, and the largest takes up 50K bytes of memory. In this case, RAM Lord would keep a 76K-byte kernel in RAM. You use your TSRs just as you always have, but instead of their all being crammed into the RAM, RAM Lord keeps copies of the actual programs in a swap area on your disk.

RAM Lord works quietly and well. Its major disadvantage is speed. Because it's storing your RAM-resident programs on

continued

96 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 174 on Reader Service Card

© IIIKS[jillBl)TO'ln|i[iii'ill(ol'l»>l'alk»lJ.nlusis;ir('Sisli'ri'dlraliTOiirk"fl.'«usl)i'\i'lo|iiiiriill'iir!iui';ilii

Coming from Lotus.

Circle 89 on Reader Service Card

12 MHz—NO WAITING!

DP12/0™

High

Performance

100% AT

Compatible

Motherboard.

$399

without memory

True Zero Wait-State design increases throughput up to 30% over competing products.

The DP12/0 design is optimized for demanding engineering and scientific applications, e.g. AutoCAD. Fortran.

• 8/12 MHzZero Wait-State 80286-12 CPU - Fastest '286 performance available.

• 1 Mbyte CMOS Zero Wait-State RAM.

• 80287 Math Co-Processor socket with independent clock allows full 10 MHz 80287-10 operation.

• ZyMOS POACH/AT CMOS chip set reduces chip count for improved reliability and reduced power consumption.

• 8 expansion slots (6-16, 2-8 bit) with 8 MHz I/O clock to ensure reliable expansion board operation.

• AWARD BIOS with built-in setup utlility.

• Quiet, fully socketed, multi-layer board design. 16 MHz ready.

• CMOS Clock Calendar/Configuration File.

•Keyboard Controller. •One Year Warranty. •

Trademarks IBM PC-AT. International Business Machines Corp.. AutoCAD. Autodesk, Inc.; Poach/AT, ZyMOS Corporalion. DP12/0, Disks Plus. Inc.

DISKS PLUS

Microcomputers & Perrpherals

DISKS PLUS, INC. 356 Lexington Drive Buffalo Grove, IL 60089

Telex: 650 249 2139 MCI UW Fax:(312)537-8331 Technical and more info: (312) 537-7888

SHORT TAKES

Keep Your Mouse Operating Like New!

Clean It Regularly With Mouse Cleaner 360°"!

With regular use, the Mouse Input Device attracts dust, dirt, and other unwanted residue to its tracking rollers. This causes the cursor to jump and jerk across the screen frustrating the operator and reducing productivity.

Mouse Cleaner 360° uses a revolutionary method to scrub the grime off the rollers quickly and easily. Simply insert the patented Scrubber Ball into the Mouse cavity. With a few circular motions on the Scrubber Board, your Mouse is clean. Contact your local Computer I>ealer, Distributor (including Micro D, Bonsu, & Ingram) or call:

3450 Yankee Drive

Eagan, MN 55121

612/452-8135 • 800/888-8458

disk, there's a perceptible delay when you press a hot key. On a fast AT the delay isn't objectionable, but on my diskbased laptop it was uncomfortably slow. That disadvantage essentially disappears if you have extended or expanded memory available. Then RAM Lord keeps its swap area there, with no perceptible delay.

If you regularly use more than a few RAM-resident programs, you need one of these programs. At $49.95, PopDrop is reasonably priced, but it requires regular interaction. Although RAM Lord costs twice as much, it is well worth the extra bucks. Once you've installed it, you can forget about it as it quietly and firmly manages your RAM space.

—Stan Miastkowski

Delta's Mini Modem: A $99 Powerhouse

hen I first looked in the Delta Voyager's box, I didn't intend to review the tiny modem that sat inside. But after hooking it up to a Toshiba Tl 100 Plus, I knew this was a product I had to write about. The little powerhouse costs only $99, recently reduced from $149. It's about the size of a cigarette pack (2% by 1 by 3'/3 inches) and runs on a 9-volt battery, off a car's cigarette lighter, or off an AC adapter. It weighs about half a pound.

Delta Voyager is a Hayes-compatible 300-/1200-bps modem that has 28 characters of nonvolatile configurable memory, remote ring, tone sensing, a low-battery light, and dial-tone monitoring. Also, it's compatible with Bell 103 and 212 and CCITT V.21 and V.22 standards. It operates in fullor half-duplex mode.

To install the modem, you hook it directly into the RS232C port, with modular RJ-11 telephone cable connecting to the phone line. It's a little awkward, sticking straight off the back of the computer, and it seems like it might be too heavy to stay attached to the RS-232C port. At just 8 ounces, however, it stayed attached, and I had to allow just about 4 inches between my computer and the wall.

Delta reports that you can operate under battery power for up to 10 hours. I didn't try any marathon sessions, but I used it on a daily basis for 2 weeks with no trouble whatsoever. A shrink-wrapped 9-V alkaline battery is included, along with telephone cable and a DB-25-to-DB-9 adapter. Delta also offers an external 9-V AC adapter as an option, although you can use any standard adapter with an external plug (I used the one that came with the Toshiba). Procomm 2.4.2 also comes with the modem.

Used with a battery-powered portable computer, the Delta Voyager gives you complete flexibility in telecommunications. The only feature the Voyager lacked that I missed having was a speaker. But at $99, this modem is hard to beat.

—Anne Fischer Lent

The Facts:

Delta Voyager (DM-1200) $99

Delta Computer Corp. 260 Forbes Blvd. Mansfield, MA 02048 (617) 339-5575 (800) 255-3358 Inquiry 857.

Options:

AC adapter, $4.95

98 BYTE • JUNE IS

Circle 98 on Reader Service Card

Introducing our new Macintosh™ Comm-Pack": 2400bps modem, Microphone™ software, cable, and a price that makes it all worthwhile.

This one's just for the Macintosh. Even the color is Mac-compatible. And you'll look a long time for a more complete value...a value that begins with our Practical standalone 2400 modem. Feature for feature the PM2400SA is way out in front of anything comparable. Hayes'™ compatibility is 100%. Even the Macintosh version of Hayes' Smartcom™ can't tell the difference. But there's more to the PM2400SA than that...

• 2400,1200, or 0-300bps operation

• Automatic adaptive equalization for error-free operation over common phone lines.

• LED displays for all functions.

• Full or half-duplex operation.

• Pulse or touch-tone dialing.

with all modems!

ELECTRONIC EDITION

CompuServe

• User modifiable, non-volatile, RAM stores modem configurations.

• Automatic answer mode.

• Complies with Bell 212A, 103, FCC Part 68, etc.

We've made a great deal greater! By itself the PM2400SA is a great value. But, along with the modem, our Mac CommPack includes both the cable you need and MICROPHONE™., the communications program

that goes beyond any program available for the Mac...FREE. The complete package is an absolutely irresistible $299!

Improved technology. Performance. Value. And the best guarantee in the business...a performance guarantee that's 5 full years long. Hardware, software, a rock solid guarantee, and superior value...we'll say it again, "macnificent!"

PRACTICAL

31245 La Baya Drive, Westlake Village, CA 91362 1-818-991-8200 FAX: 1-818-7 06-247 4

~ f^^^^^MJ^MJ^^^^ A M ^J All products and names trademarked are properties of their respective manufacturers.

- m^^^Htt^H^mlHmM M—i^^r„- 1988 Practical Peripherals, Inc All rights reserved

MODEMS • BUFFERS

t® IBM & APPLE ENHANCEMENTS

INTERFACES

Circle 223 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 99

Introducing

NEW

TheLAN

With 6 Major Advantages.

The new DSC NEXOS™ Local Area Network introduces 6 important advances in high-performance networking — beginning with flexibility no other LAN can equal. DSC NEXOS can be configured for Token Ring, ARCnet™ or Ethernet. So you can choose the most cost-effective configuration. You can use any IBM*-compatible PC (8088/86, 286, 386, PS/2) as workstations. Use any IBM-compatible 386 as a dedicated network server.

DSC NEXOS meets or exceeds the performance of today's fastest LANs on all types of application packages, due to the speed of the 20 MHz 386-based NEX/ Server™ and high-performance NEX/Link™ interface cards. Network response stays lightning-quick, even during peak demand periods. The NEX/OS™ operating system also contains a powerful performance bonus: a

Or install a NEX/Server™ network server with up to 600 Mb of hard disk storage per server and built-in print spooling. By simply adding NEX/servers, your DSC NEXOS LAN can grow to an unlimited number of workstations with up to 400 gigabytes of hard disk storage. In any configuration, your IBM-compatible DOS-based applications will run on DSC NEXOS flawlessly. .. with an OS/2 migration path guaranteed.

"database engine" which can process data at the server. Only the needed data is transmitted, not the whole file. This cuts network traffic, unlocks files in milliseconds instead of minutes, and speeds processing up to 600% on databases which utilize this facility. (Current listing of databases which utilize the DSC NEXOS database engine available on request.)

100 BYTE • JUNE 1988

DSC NEXOS connects your people and systems to each other.. .and to a whole world of resources. DSC NEXOS offers asynchronous communication servers that provide emulation of DEC VT-220, 102 and 52'" terminals. SNA/SDLC gateways to IBM

DSC NEXOS features the most effective and convenient protection for your valuable data: automatic on-line tape backup. Changes to files (all files or only the types you select) are instantly copied to tape. In a

Install DSC NEXOS with the IBM cabling system, telephone system twisted-pair, thin Ethernet or standard coax cable. Then DSC NEXOS' familiar DOS commands,

DSC Communications has a decade of experience in providing large-scale LAN installations and support to major U.S. corporations. DSC is also a leading supplier of telecommunications systems to the major public and private networks in the US, UK, Europe and Japan. By combining LAN and WAN technologies, DSC now delivers end-to-end connectivity

System 3X, 5250 and 3270 environments. TCP/ IP gateways between MS-DOS* and UNIX environments. X.25 gateways to public data networks. All implemented in the most seamless and cost-effective ways.

EASE OF W J INSTALLATION L

\

worst-case disaster, your disk can be reloaded, updated and back in service in as little as half an hour... software fault tolerance that no other network can provide.

on-line help and simple menus reduce the time and effort of software installation, user training and system management.

in one package —a capability other companies have only promised. DSC has worldwide support. And a global perspective. DSC NEXOS is the first Third Generation LAN — a "network engine" that empowers PCs to achieve new levels of productivity. Call now for a free DSC NEXOS information package, or to discuss your networking needs with a DSC sales engineer.

m

DSC Communications Corporation

Business Network Systems Group

3101 Scott Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95054

Call 800-832-7274 For More Information In the ILK. dial 100 and ask for FREEFONE NESTAR

The New LAN

NEXOS'

DSC NEXOS, NEX/Server, NEX/Link and N EX/OS are trademarks of DSC Communications Corporation. ARCnet is a trademark of I)aiajM)int J nc. IBM is a registereil trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. DEC VT-220,102, and 52 are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.

Circle 202 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 101

PRODUCT FOCUS

High-Speed Modems

John H. Humphrey and Gary S. Smock

take

We fly to Paris in 4 hours, seal deals by facsimile in minutes, and can't stand to wait more than 24 hours to get important mail. It's not surprising that high-speed modems, able to accurately send 3 megabytes across the country in less than an hour, are the fastest growing segment of personal computer communications.

The advantages of high-speed modems are clear: substantial savings in communications charges and in time. Until recently, these high-speed units have commanded premium prices, but prices have fallen sharply during the past year. The 13 modems we review here send data at a rate of at least 9600 bits per second and range in price from about $900 to over $2000.

But as in any field of rapid growth, standards and uniformity among highspeed modems have lagged behind in the rush to provide the most impressive performance for the most palatable price. Unlike the highly standardized 1200- and 2400-bps modems we're used to, most high-speed modems work at top speed only when communicating with another such modem. The incompatibility is due to the push for greater performance at a given price and to the use of several competing—and confusing—standards for high-speed data communications.

A Good but Shortsighted Start

The central force for standardization in the communications industry is the CCITT, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1976, the CCITT drafted the first standard for 9600-bps modems. This recommendation (V.29) was designed to speak specifically to modems operating at 9600 bps over 4-wire, leased-line facilities with synchronous data.

In 1984, the CCITT adopted another standard (V.32), which provides for a 9600-bps modem to be used on dial links. V.32 includes avant-garde communications technology known as echo cancellation to achieve full-duplex operation over

A new crop of modems transmission rates to a blazing 9600 bps and beyond

2-wire facilities.

Echo cancellation makes extensive use of high-speed digital signal processors (DSPs). Both sending and receiving modems transmit simultaneously at identical carrier frequencies, and the inbound and outbound data signals clash and overlap, interfering with one another.

The modem knows what signals it just transmitted, transmitted 100 milliseconds ago, transmitted 2 seconds ago, and so on. It creates scaled and inverted copies of the waveforms that it transmitted and adds these into the received data stream to cancel the interference from its transmitter, leaving only the incoming signal for its receiver to process. This is an incredibly complicated task that typically requires the service of DSPs with performance in the range of 25 to 50 million instructions per second.

As published today, V.32 does not provide rules regarding the use of asynchronous data, which was left for "further study." Basically, the CCITT did not foresee the rapid buildup in end-user demand for a moderately priced, asynchronous, 9600-bps, dial-up modem. At the time V.32 was adopted, high-speed modems were predominantly the realm of corporate users, where physical size, price, and power consumption were of secondary importance to solid analog performance, consistent reliability, and growth flexibility.

But user demand for 9600-bps communication has been growing faster than the ink was drying on V.32. Modem manufacturers, struggling with the technical impact of designing reliable echocanceling circuits, have chosen to offer stopgap alternatives to feed user demand during the interim period required to design and cast echo-canceling circuits into

inexpensive silicon building blocks.

Today, V.32 modems are beginning to ship in increasing numbers. They are still bulky, power-consumptive, and expensive. Most manufacturers have jumped the gun, designing in isochronous (i.e., synchronous/asynchronous) converters to allow the modem to use asynchronous data. A number of smaller, lower-cost 9600-bps modems are also available, the product of stopgap design efforts.

Competing Modem Techniques

To achieve high-speed dial-up communications for personal computers, there are three core requirements: an asynchronous interface, full-duplex operation, and a reliable and inexpensive modem engine capable of working under dial-up line conditions.

V.32 achieves the first two objectives but falls down in the third area. To get around the R&D investment required to develop a true V.32 modem, many manufacturers have elected to produce highspeed modems that are not compatible with V.32 but that do provide 9600-bps operation. These manufacturers use one of four modulation approaches that provide alternatives to the V.32 standard. (For more information on the theory and technology of the competing techniques, see the text box "High-Speed Modem Modulation" on page 106.)

V.29 and V.32 Revisited

The first—and most popular—modulation approach involves changes to V.29 core engines, which are available in chip sets from several sources. V.29 chips were originally tooled to serve modem manufacturers' needs for conventional 4wire, leased-line, synchronous modems and for fax machines.

Two techniques, ping pong and statistical duplexing, are used to build V.29based 9600-bps microcomputer modems.

continued

102 BYTE • JUNE 1988

layes V-Series Smartmodem 9600

Fastcomm Turbo 2496

Case4696/VS

Ven-TelEC18K-34

Microcom AX/9624C

USRobotics Courier HST

Racal-Vadic 9600VP

Data Race Race BMX-VM

Telcor Accelerator 2496MA

Data Race Race VM I

Telebit TrailBlazer Plus

Telenetics 9600E/V.32

Photography by Paul Avis © 1988

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 103

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

Table 1: The modems reviewed use a from a low of $895 to a high of $2295

Case 4696/VS

variety of techniques to achieve high-speed data transfer. Prices vary

Concord Data Race Data Race Fastcomm 296 Trellis Race BMX-VM RaceVMI Turbo 2496

as well,

Hayes V-Series Smartmodem 9600

Chip set

Maximum input speed (bps)

Error correction

Data compression

Duplexing technology

Compatibility Price

Rockwell sets

19,200

Yes (MNP class 6)

Yes

Statistical

V.29 and V.27 with

statistical

duplexing,

V.22bis, V.22, 212A,

and 103

Custom TMS32010

19,200

Yes

Optional

Echo cancellation

V.32

Rockwell sets

19,200

Yes

Yes

V.29 ping pong

Data Race BMX

units, V.29

(V.22bis, V.22,

212A, and 103

optional)

Rockwell sets

19,200

Yes

Yes

V.27 asymmetric

Rockwell sets

19,200

Custom TMS32010

19,200

Yes

No Dynamic

Yes

Yes

V.32 HDX ping pong

Data Race Race

units, V.29

(V.22bis, V.22,

212A, and 103

optional)

$1195; $1345 w/options

Fastcomm units

(speeds above

2400 bps), V.22bis,

V.22, 212A, 103,

and V.29

$1099

Hayes V-Series

Smartmodem 9600,

V.22bis, V.22,

212A, and 103

$1299

$1395 $1795;$1995

w/data compression

$995; $1245 w/options

Both start with a core V.29 engine and build an isochronous converter onto it. V.29 is intrinsically half-duplex, however, and a method to simulate fullduplex operation is needed. This is where the two V.29 approaches differ.

In the ping pong approach, data you send to the modem is buffered. The two modems automatically switch their carriers on and off rapidly, exchanging data each time they have the link for transmission. A form of ready/busy flow control is used between the modem and your computer to prevent you from losing data.

Statistical duplexing uses a low-speed reverse channel, which is added at frequencies above or below the V.29 engine's pass band. The reverse channel is intended to handle data at up to 300 bps and is there to service data at keyboard rates. Should a conversation change dynamically (i.e., you were inputting and receiving file data, but now your partner is inputting and receiving file data), the modems sense this change by watching the relative queue length of their I/O buffers. The modems exchange control information to swap the assignment of their high-/low-speed channels.

A second approach used by a few firms makes use of the technically easier to design portions of V.32's modulation. The key technical problem with V.32 is echo

cancellation, which is required for fullduplex operation. One modification uses V.32 without echo cancellation and employs the ping pong approach to simulate full-duplex operation. The other method grafts a low-speed reverse channel onto the core V.32 high-speed center channel to handle keyboard input.

Please Squeeze the Data

The third approach involves data compression. Although a number of the modems we tested offer some form of data compression, what if we can get a really big "squish"? Data compressors find clever ways to shrink 10-bit ASCII data to, say, 4 or 5 bits for transmission, then convert back to 10 bits at the other end. They look for repeated strings in the data, convert them into unique control characters, and explode them back to the original string when received.

If the compression algorithm is efficient enough to absolutely guarantee a four-to-one advantage, modem makers don't have to use fancy high-speed modem engines at all. With a guaranteed 4-to-l compression, they can get by with low-cost V.22bis (standard 2400-bps) technology that now exists. The drawback to this is that you need a similar modem at the other end of the link to achieve 9600-bps speeds. An unexpected benefit is built-in compatibility with

existing 2400-bps modems operating without compression.

Multicarrier Technology

The fourth approach borrows from spread spectrum communications technology used by the military in secure communications systems. This technology breaks the data into discrete pieces and spreads them across the available bandwidth on separate carrier frequencies, keyed at different time intervals. This requires the enemy to know which spreading algorithm is being used to recover the individual pieces of the communique. Without the correct algorithm, the transmission looks like random noise.

Modems using multicarrier technology spread the telephone bandwidth with hundreds of individual carrier tones, each of which is modulated quite slowly. Digital data is fed to the modem and buffered. Individual bits are fed to the multiple carriers and data is passed over the link in n-length, bit-parallel fashion.

The advantage of this approach is its ability to "map around" bad spots in telephone lines. If discrete portions of the telephone line are of poor quality, the modems recognize this and simply do not place carrier tones in those areas. In theory, this lets the modems operate at full speed under good line conditions and slowly fall back under poorer line condi

104 BYTE • JUNE 1988

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

Microcom

Racal-Vadic

Telcor

Telebit

Telenetics

USRobotics

Ven-Tel

AX/9624c

9600VP

Accelerator 2496MA

TrailBlazer Plus

9600E/V.32

Courier HST

EC18K-34

Rockwell

Rockwell

Rockwell

Custom

Custom

Custom

Custom

sets

sets

sets

TMS32010

TMS32010and TMS32025

TMS32020

TMS32010

19,200

9600

9600

19,200

9600

19,200

19,200

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

PEP (19,200 to 2400)

(MNP classes 1-6)

Yes

(MNP classes 4&5) (MNP classes 1-3) Yes Yes

(MNP classes 1-5)

MNP below 2400 Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Statistical

Dynamic

V.22bis with compression

PEP

Echo cancellation

Asymmetric TCM QAM

PEP

V.29 with statis

V.29 with dynamic

Telcor Accelerator,

PEP modems,

V.32

USRobotics HST,

PEP modems,

tical duplexing

duplex (Vadic),

V.22bis, V.22,

V.22bis, V.22,

V.22bis, V.22,

V.22bis, V.22, 212A,

V.22bis, V.22,

212A, 103, and

212A, and 103

212A, and 103

212A, and 103

and 103

212A, 103, V.27,

V.29 (synchronous

and V.29FT (syn

half-duplex)

chronous only)

$995

$895

$1345

$1399

$2295

$995

$1399

tions. The modems automatically seek and find the maximum operating speed achievable under constantly changing line conditions.

A Fast Field of Contenders

The 13 modems we tested for this review all use at least one of the modulation approaches discussed above. When you look at the features for each modem in table 1 and the results of the tests we ran, remember that high-speed data communications must be tailored to individual situations. Before you purchase a highspeed modem (or a set of modems), take a careful look at precisely how the features and performance of a system will match your needs. That said, let's look at the modems.

Case 4696/VS: The Case 4696/VS is a full- or half-duplex V.29 modem with statistical duplexing that operates at speeds of 300, 1200, 2400, and 9600 bps. Data compression and error correction are provided through the six classes of MNP (Microcom Networking Protocol) that this product supports. This unit provides the Microcom SX and the AT command sets, and it is compatible with Microcom's AX/9624c and other conventional V.22bis, V.22, Bell 212A, and Bell 103 modems.

Concord 296 Trellis: This is a true full-duplex V.32 product with MNP

class 4. It features an AT command set, a Concord command set, and operates either asynchronously or synchronously at 4800 or 9600 bps. It supports 2-wire dial or leased-line operation.

Data Race Race BMX-VM: The BMXVM operates in half-duplex V.29 mode and uses a high-speed line-turnaround technique to simulate full-duplex operation. The modem has an AT command set, a BMX command set, error detection/correction, data compression, and flow control. It supports V.29 and V.27, and an option adds V.22bis, V.22, Bell 212A, and Bell 103 compatibility.

Data Race Race VMI: The Race VM I employs error detection/correction, data compression, and flow control to offer full-duplex asynchronous communication. It features an AT command set, a Race command set, and supports connection to either dial or leased 2-wire lines. An option is available for V.22bis, V.22, Bell 212A, and Bell 103 compatibility. Half-duplex synchronous operation is possible when the modem is operating in its V.29 mode at 4800, 7200, and 9600 bps.

Fastcomm Turbo 2496: The Turbo 2496 uses a design based upon the V.29 recommendation and simulates a fullduplex asynchronous channel by using a proprietary modem-to-modem protocol with error detection and correction when

operating at speeds greater than 2400 bps. The unit features an AT command set with some additional extensions, flow control, and compatibility with other modems at 0 to 300,1200, and 2400 bps.

Hayes V-Series Smartmodem 9600: This Hayes modem uses a modified V.32 design that provides full-duplex transmission at 0 to 300, 1200, and 2400 bps, plus half-duplex transmission at 4800 and 9600 bps. At the higher speeds, a ping pong protocol is used to simulate fullduplex operation. This product is compatible with all earlier Hayes products and with modems that support the V.22bis, V.22, Bell 212A, and Bell 103 modulation. In addition to having true Hayes AT commands, the modem features error control, flow control, and adaptive data compression.

Microcom AX/9624c: The Microcom AX/9624c supports the V.22bis, V.22, Bell 212A, Bell 103, V.27, and V.29FT (fast train) modulation standards and provides its own SX command set, as well as an AT command set. Fast train is a technique within the V.29 standard that provides for an abbreviated handshaking between sending and receiving modems. This modem supports MNP classes 1 through 6 and provides data compression and error correction. The AX/9624c is compatible with the Case 4696/VS.

continued

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 105

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

High-Speed Modem Modulation

How high-speed modems work is a complete mystery to many people. The electrical fundamentals are straightforward. The real tricks involved lie in consistently and reliably demodulating the signal over a broad range of receiver conditions caused by telephone line conditions that can vary in real time on a given call.

Envision a sinusoid of fixed frequency whose phase is changed at discrete time intervals (the baud rate). If we are careful to sample the waveform at these periodic and discrete baud intervals, we can measure the phase changes that represent the data.

Figure A shows a sinusoidal signal that has been phase-modulated to produce +90, +180, and +270 degree relative phase shifts over three successive baud intervals. If we preassign digital meanings to the relative phase changes (0 = 0,0; +90 = 0,1; +180 = 1,1; and +270 = 1,0), we have encoded digital information and are sending data faster than the fundamental data transfer rate. Here, 2 bits of information (a dibit) is exchanged on each baud interval.

If we increase the encoding density (tribits and quadbits), we can send even more information per baud interval. The baud rate is restricted by the fixed bandwidth of the telephone line; the rate of information exchange is not. The price we pay for higher encoding densities is the complexity of the modem's hardware—being able to differentiate between smaller discrete signal differences.

In the example shown, the modem need only differentiate between 90-degree shifts. If we carried the example one step further (tribit encoding), the modem would have to slice the phase domain into eight pieces (23 = 8). Such a modem would need to be able to distinguish between 45-degree phase differences.

Modems don't actually shift a single sinusoid. They make use of vector algebra by summing quadrature components. Suppose we have two signals (A and B) of identical frequency that are 90 degrees out of phase with each other (a sine wave and a cosine wave). We say these signals are orthogonal or in quadrature to each other.

Vector algebra (remember physics?) tells us that the sum of the two (signal C)

A A= + 90°

A= + 180° A=+270°

0° +90° +270° +180°

AJ A j\ A A I r

\,

J \J \J

Baud interval 1

Interval 2

\J W

Interval 3

\j

B (1)

j sine wt

(2) (3)

jsmewt jsmewt

• •

•

•

A

y\

r—-r

! +1 / • .

•

•

cos

COS

B

cos

A + B = C

B W

i -1 ! _1

+ 1*iwt m m

; A

i

wt

•

— _i

* * i *

•

Figure A: A phase-modulated sinusoid. Figure B: (1) The sum of two vectors. (2) The sum of integer orthogonal components. (3) Amplitude scaling of orthogonal components.

is another sinusoid of the same frequency at 45 degrees (see figure Bl). Also note that if we scale the two orthogonal signals with discrete multipliers (+1 or — 1) before summing the two, we can place the resultant vector at any one of four discrete positions, each of which differs from the other by even 90-degree multiples (see figure B2).

Hence, we have taken a complicated modulation problem (changing the phase of a single sinusoid) and reduced it to electrical functions that are e'asy to perform (inverting a signal and summing two signals). Figure B2 represents precisely what takes place inside the familiar Bell 212A 1200-bps modemdifferential phase shift keying (DPSK).

Although higher-speed modems operate similarly, the encoding density is greater. In the DPSK example shown, we restricted the amplitude values placed upon our orthogonal components to integer values ( + 1 and —1). If we allow the quadrature components to be scaled by fractional values before summing the two signals, we can combine amplitude modulation with phase modulation and achieve an even greater encoding density.

Another form of DPSK modulation that is used commonly offers 4800-bps communication. There are two popular (and similar) schemes. One used in the U.S. is called the Bell 208 discipline; its counterpart in Europe is the CCITT V.27 discipline.

Instead of a simple 4-point constellation like that shown in figure B2, the V.27 discipline offers an 8-point constellation, where the individual points of the constellation form a circle about the origin separated by 45-degree angles. V.27 is a half-duplex technique using a single-carrier frequency centered at 1800 Hz that is modulated at 1600 baud using tribit encoding. Thus, we get 4800-bps communication in one direction at a time (1600 baud X3bits/baud).

Figure B3 shows the constellation pattern associated with newer 2400-bps dial-up modems that utilize quadratureamplitude-modulation (QAM) technology to achieve full-duplex communication according to the CCITT V.22bis recommendation. This is a 16-point constellation, which implies that the modems exchange quadbits (24 = 16) of information at each baud interval.

V.22bis technology is full-duplex.

106 BYTE* JUNE 1988

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

Each modem transmits its own carrier, and they are separated in frequency by prearrangement. The originating modem transmits at 1200 Hz; the answering modem transmits at 2400 Hz. The carriers are modulated at 600 baud using the 16-point constellation shown and provide 2400-bps (600 baud x 4 bits/baud) information interchange.

To achieve 9600-bps communication rates, several techniques are in use today. The oldest one stems from the CCITT V.29 recommendation. V.29 was originally written to provide 9600bps communications over 4-wire leased lines using a synchronous data format. There is no reason why the core technology cannot be used in asynchronous dial-up environments, and a number of manufacturers have elected to do so.

V.29 uses the same generic 16-point QAM constellation shown for V.22bis in figure B3. However, the carrier assignment is changed. Instead of using two discrete carrier frequencies, V.29 places a single carrier frequency in the center of the voice band at 1700 Hz. The modulation rate is increased from 600 baud to 2400 baud, which causes the modem to take up virtually all the available bandwidth the telephone line has to offer. This means that only one of the two modems can send data at a given time, but they operate much faster— 9600 bps (2400 baud x 4 bits/baud).

The newest modulation technique (V.32) is quite similar to V.29 in many respects. It uses a single carrier frequency at 1800 Hz instead of 1700 Hz, a 2400-baud modulation rate, and a core 16-point constellation. V.32 differs from V.29 by offering an optional 32point constellation (quintbit encoding), which is trellis-encoded.

The fifth bit is a logical derivative of the other four. It represents an integrity check similar to the ninth bit that is used in IBM PC and PC XT machines for memory-parity purposes or hammingcode techniques used in more advanced error-correction-coding memory storage systems. Trellis encoding gives the modem superior signal-to-noise performance. V.32 is true full-duplex 2-wire modem technology. Echo cancellation is used to separate the transmitted and received data streams of analog waveforms that are propagating simultaneously through the 2-wire link.

Racal-Vadic 9600VP: The 9600VP offers full-duplex asynchronous operation at 300, 1200, and 9600 bps. Its modified V.29 design offers error control, selective retransmission, and data compression, and it adjusts its speed dynamically to optimize to current line conditions. The unit provides an AT-compatible command set, nonvolatile telephone number storage, and compatibility with the standard communication protocols when operating in the Bell 212A or Bell 103 modes. Speed conversion and five types of flow control are available.

This modem offers true full-duplex data transmission during interactive sessions that have relatively low datathroughput requirements and a halfduplex link while transferring large amounts of data in one direction. The dynamic duplex technology will automatically select the appropriate duplexing method based on data traffic patterns.

Telcor Accelerator 2496MA: The Accelerator uses a proprietary data-compression and error-detection technique with its V.22bis design to increase data throughput. It supports full-duplex interface speeds of 1200, 2400, 4800, and 9600 bps, along with several interface and flow-control protocols. The unit is configured by an AT command set with some unique extensions. When not communicating with another Accelerator, this modem will communicate with V.22bis, V.22, Bell 212A, and Bell 103 modems.

Telebit TrailBlazer Plus: The TrailBlazer Plus features compatibility with modems that support the V.22bis, V.22, Bell 212A, and Bell 103 standards, plus its own Packetized Ensemble Protocol (PEP). Supported interface speeds are 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, and 19,200 bps. This unit features automatic error detection and correction, flow control, an AT command set, and support of MNP classes 1 through 3.

Telenetics 9600E/V.32: This is a V.32 modem with an AT command set and error control. It offers full-duplex asynchronous or synchronous operation at 4800 and 9600 bps. An option switch lets you enable/disable its trellis-encoded modulation at 9600 bps. The modem can monitor call progress electronically with terse or verbose responses or via a builtin speaker. Front-panel controls provide the ability to manually answer, originate, and disconnect calls, as well as force 4800-bps operation and select error control. The unit also provides nonvolatile storage for ten 40-character telephone numbers.

USRobotics Courier HST: The Courier HST is compatible with V.22bis, V.22, Bell 212A, and Bell 103 modems, plus

those that support the USRobotics highspeed technology (HST). When operating at interface speeds of 4800 bps to 19,200 bps, the Courier HST operates in the HST mode with error control and will either fall back or spring forward as line conditions permit. The unit supports MNP classes 1 through 5, data compression, flow control, and has an AT command set with extensions.

Ven-Tel EC18K-34: This modem is also known as the Pathfinder 18K and features a high-speed mode that supports interface speeds to 19,200 bps. The unit uses PEP at the higher speeds^making it compatible with the TrailBlazer Plus and other PEP modems. It is also compatible with modems that support the V.22bis, V.22, Bell212A, and Bell 103 standards. In the high-speed mode, the modem uses data compression, error detection, and error correction, and it adjusts its operating characteristics to compensate for line changes. An AT command set with extensions is supported, as is MNP at speeds of 2400 bps and below.

[Editor's note: Cermetek, NEC, and Universal Data Systems also make 9600bps modems. Although none could supply us with units in time for this review, we will evaluate them in an upcoming issue. ]

Measuring Modem Performance

We used Telequality Associates' SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) Map technology to measure the performance of the modems. (For more information on SNR Map technology, see the text box "How Testing Was Conducted" on page 108.) The performance parameter we collected was throughput efficiency as a percentage of the data rate driving the modem. For purposes of comparison, our test setup drove all modems at 9600 bps, although many of the units tested offer higher nominal I/O speeds.

Figures la and lb provide raw test data in graphical form for two modems. We annotated the graphs to show the peak or maximum throughput efficiency measured, the mean or average efficiency recorded, the range, and the standard deviation of the test data.

Ideally, we like to see performance where both the peak and average efficiencies are high and close to one another. We also desire a value approaching 40 for the range, indicative of a low headroom demand. {Headroom is a term used in conventional modem engine testing that describes the margin between signal strength and line noise required to operate properly.) Last, we like to see small values of standard deviation, indicating a very consistent modem.

Let's look at figure la, which shows

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 107

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

How Testing Was Conducted

Figure A provides a simplified block diagram of our test system. Modem #1 and modem #2 represent the target modems under test. In each case, the target modems were a pair of identical models from one manufacturer.

The central office (CO) simulator provides operating loop current to simulate the DC conditions of a typical connection to the telephone network. The CO simulator also provides conventional ringing voltage to trigger the modem's automatic answer function.

Additionally, the CO simulator is connected to a hybrid (2-/4-wire converter) that separates the transmitted signal from the received signal, as telephone lines do. The isolated transmit signal is then impaired by the telephone channel simulator, which has programmable frequency response, group delay, and gain characteristics that can simulate varying telephone line conditions.

A programmable amount of noise is then summed with the signal to establish

the desired SNR. The hybrid and CO simulator deliver this signal (i.e., scaled signal summed with the appropriate level of noise) to the other modem.

The RS-232C ports of the modems are connected to data-pattern generators and checkers. Serial data is given to, say, modem #1 for transmission, and the 8-bit binary data stream output from modem #2 is checked. The tester is capable of both one-way data flow or twoway simultaneous data flow.

Some of the modems evaluated were true full-duplex devices; others merely simulated full-duplex operation. We decided to test the modems by sending data in only one direction for the simulated full-duplex modems and in both directions for the true full-duplex units.

Testing in one direction corresponds only to the conditions of a file transfer where one modem has nothing to transmit while it receives a large amount of data. We noted that the throughput of the simulated full-duplex modems suffered

Central

office

simulator

Telephone

channel

simulation

L

Modem #1

Noise source

Hybrid

Telephone

channel

simulation

Central

office

simulator

IT

Modem #2

Transmitted data

Received data

Serial data generator

Received data error checking

Serial data generator

Received data error checking

Transmitted data

Received data

Test system controller

Figure A: This simplified block diagram shows the setup for testing each pair of modems.

dramatically if asked to traffic two-way 9600-bps full-duplex data.

We tested the modems under two different operating environments. One provided — 26-dBm received signal strength over a C2 line simulator, providing typical phone line conditions. The other presented 40-dBm signal strength over a 3002 simulator, providing poor phone line conditions.

At each signal level, we decreased the SNR by adding noise to the received signal until the modem's throughput efficiency dropped to less than 10 percent of the tester's nominal 9600-bps feed rate.

At each point in SNR space, the modems exchanged a minimum of 81,920 bytes. We used proprietary methods to ensure that the resulting data was within a 4 percent accuracy band with a 90 percent confidence level. We determined throughput efficiency by measuring the total time required to transmit and receive data. Time used by the modems to correct errors was included in the elapsed time for that particular block.

Since we knew the number of data bits received and the total time required to receive the error-free data, we calculated and expressed the number of bits per second as a percentage of the nominal rate. We constructed a special precision timer for the test to ensure the accuracy of data clocking to within 1millisecond increments.

We configured the modems with factory default options and then programmed them for testing with as few changes as possible. Since binary data was being transmitted, we disabled XON/XOFF flow control in favor of hardware flow control. We fixed the interface speed of the test system at 9600 bps, the minimum common denominator between all the modems tested.

Due to variations in data-compression techniques used in the modems, we followed the manufacturers' recommendations regarding the transfer of 8-bit binary data. Some modems actually had lower throughput when data compression was used to transfer our pseudorandom data than without compression.

If the manufacturer failed to make recommendations for handling pseudorandom data, we ran a pilot test to determine the optimum setting for the compression feature. All modems employed some form of error correction.

108 BYTE- JUNE 1988

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

40

100

9080

1 *H en 60

1 50-|

£40-1

I 30 H

20 10

0

40

40

100.

9080b 70» 60-I 1 50-| 5 40

£ 30 H

20

10

0

40

35

_1_

30

I

Telenetics 9600E/V.32

25 20 15 iO

20 _L_

15

I

35

30

25

Maximum efficiency 96.7 percent Average efficiency 84.2 percent

Headroom (24 dB)

Standard deviation 11.4 percent

Range: 19 observations

20

15

—r

10

Signal-to-noise ratio (dB)

35

30

I

Ven-TelEC18K-34

25 20 15

_l I L_

10

I

Maximum efficiency 73.6 percent

\j

35

30

25

20

- Average efficiency

56.4 percent

Standard deviation

17.5 percent

► Range: 28 observations

15

10

Signal-to-noise ratio (dB) Both modems were operating at 9600 bps with a signal level of - 26 dBm.

the resulting test data taken from the Telenetics 9600E/V.32 modem (a true V.32 unit) operating under typical line conditions (simulated C2 channel with a received signal level of -26 decibels below 1 milliwatt [dBm]). The modem was almost 100 percent efficient in transferring data at 9600 bps as long as the SNR accompanying the received signal was above the modem's native headroom needs of 24 dB.

In this example, the 9600E/V.32 needed operating conditions where the received signal level was 24 dB greater than channel noise. As long as these conditions were met, the modem's receiver operated flawlessly. Once the modem's headroom needs were violated, its receiver performance fell dramatically.

If you operate a conventional modem below its native headroom needs, data errors result. Modems that have error correction don't make data errors. Their throughput degrades, due to the extra time they spend in retransmission to correct the flawed data.

From the shape of the curve, you can see that error correction is not a panacea, since modems exhibit extremely sharp roll-off characteristics. By forcing the modems to operate just a few decibels below their headroom needs, they make a fast transition from perfect throughput to no throughput at all.

Figure lb shows test data for the VenTel EC18K-34 modem, which employs multicarrier modulation technology. The Ven-Tel modem is also operating under

100 90 80 70 60 •50 40 30 20 10 0

100

90 80

H 70 60

h 50 40 30 20

h10 0

Figure la: The SNR Maps here and in figure lb show that the Telenetics modem ran with greater efficiency than the Ven-Tel modem under typical line conditions. The Telenetics modem, though, showed a much narrower range of operation. Shown here are the raw test results for the Telenetics 9600E/V.32, a true V. 32 modem. (In ideal performance, maximum and average efficiencies are high and close to one another, the standard deviation is a small value, and the range is a large value.)

Figure lb: The raw test results for the Ven-Tel EC18K-34 modem, a multicarrier unit, show that it operated with less efficiency but over a broader range than the Telenetics modem.

typical line conditions. There are a number of differences between the operating characteristics of these two modems. First, both the peak and average throughput efficiencies measured for the Ven-Tel modem are lower than for the Telenetics modem. With a maximum efficiency of 73.6 percent, the Ven-Tel modem delivered a peak communications speed of 7066 bps under 9600-bps feed-rate conditions.

The Ven-Tel modem showed a much broader range of operation than the Telenetics modem, meaning that its headroom needs are smaller. This confirms the advertised benefits of multicarrier modulation. The modem can brown out instead of black out under poor line

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 109

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

Table 2: When fed data at a rate of 9600 bps, the true full-duplex modems from Concord, Telcor, and Telenetics consistently showed better throughput than the pseudo-duplex models. With the exception of the Telenetics modem, the true full-duplex modems operated at about the same rate over typical and poor phone lines. This table shows only throughput, not efficiency, and some of the modems can accept data at higher speeds (up to 19,200 bps).

Typical line throughput (bps) Poor line throughput (bps) (C2,-26dBm) (3002,-40dBm)

Maximum Average Maximum Average

Case 4696/VS

Concord 296 Trellis

Data Race Race BMX-VM

Data Race Race VM I

Fastcomm Turbo 2496

Hayes V-Series

Smartmodem

9600

Microcom AX/9624c

Racal-Vadic 9600VP

Telcor

Accelerator

2496MA

Telebit TrailBlazer Plus

Telenetics

9600E/V.32

USRobotics Courier HST

Ven-Tel EC18K-34

8429 8842 4963 5520 3475

5002 8304 6442

9091 7152 9283 8678 7066

6422

4925

3274

8448

8861

8237

4704

4829

4339

5136

0

0

2486

3341

2102

4742

4973

4435

6115

3926

2592

5798

6461

5002

8256

9082

8362

5568

7229

5078

8995

0

0

8083

0

0

5414

7190

4704

conditions.

The other modems we tested performed similarly. These V.29- and V.32based modems employed conventional fallback techniques to contend with deteriorated line conditions. Although the digital feed rate to and from the modem was fixed at 9600 bps, the modem saw line conditions degrading and ordered its engine to initiate speed fallback from 9600 bps to 7200 bps to 4800 bps.

Figure lb also shows that the Ven-Tel modem recorded a larger standard deviation. This indicates that its throughput efficiency varied more than the Telenetics modem. You can see the effects of this in the shape of the curve trace. A number of dips are found in the modem's efficiency curve.

These dips represent decision points where the modem elected to change the

configuration of its multicarrier assignment to deal with signal quality degradation. A trade-off was executed. Ven-Tel purchased a greater operating range at the expense of consistency in throughput.

Comparing Efficiencies

Now that we have a handle on how the data was analyzed, we can proceed to a side-by-side comparison of the modems. Table 2 shows performance in terms of raw bps numbers. To consolidate the data in a meaningful fashion, we used statistics to represent key aspects of performance. Figure 2 shows the group's performance on typical lines and poor lines by graphing the differences in their efficiencies. We think that figure 2 offers a more complete basis than the raw bps rates for comparing the modems.

All the true full-duplex machines

(Concord, Telcor, and Telenetics) had consistently better throughput than their pseudo-duplex cousins. Among the latter, the USRobotics, Microcom, and Case modems turned in performances approaching those of the true full-duplex modems.

With the exception of the Telenetics modem, which refused to operate over our poor line conditions, the true fullduplex modems showed virtually no operating distinction between running over good or bad lines. The Race BMX-VM, Fastcomm, Hayes, Racal-Vadic, Telebit, and Ven-Tel modems were resistant to channel differences, however, they were still not as efficient as the full-duplex units.

The Case and Microcom modems both ran over our poor line but exhibited a significant loss of throughput efficiency. The Race VM I, Telenetics, and USRobotics modems simply failed to exchange data under our poor line conditions. These are, indeed, grueling operating conditions rarely encountered in dial-up America. However, other modems tested were able to handle the poor line conditions successfully.

The surprise among the lot was Telcor's Accelerator 2496MA. This modem used conventional 2400-bps V.22bis engine technology and was robust and efficient in handling our 9600-bps stream of pseudorandom data. While a number of other modems tested offered data-compression technology, the Telcor modem showed outstanding consistency in crunching 10-bit ASCII data.

Some Caveats

Overall, these modems are complicated. They have extensive hardware and software options that can have a serious impact on performance. To achieve top performance, you must carefully control the following three parameters: error correction, data compression, and raw data transfer rate.

Almost all these modems offer built-in error correction. If you work with a terminal emulator that employs data blocking and error correction, you can choke one of these modems to death by setting the size of your feed blocks too small and starving the modem's built-in buffer.

We sent pseudorandom data, which is hard to compress. Some of the modems offered options to engage or disengage the compression function so they wouldn't choke when fed incompressible data. One modem (Hayes) used data compression that was not user-defeatable. Perhaps, had we sent spreadsheet or text files, we would have observed significantly better throughput with the Hayes

continued

110 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Ill' *"■ -'

MNP@Class5Data Compression Modems from Multi-Tech Systems:

When it has to be as fast as it is good

• In the dial-up modem world, Class 3 MNP is the hands-down choice for hardware-based error correction. With its 100% error-free transmission, the MNP protocol is used in dozens of manufacturers' 1200 & 2400 bps modems, and our MultiModem224E modems have been recognized as the best of their kind (see box).

• Well, the best just got better. Multi-Tech modems now offer MNP Class 5 data compression along with error-correction. Class 5s 2-to-1 compression and serial port speed conversion means that you can buy a 2400 bps modem from Multi-Tech and run it at speeds of up to 4800 bps*. Error free!

• Multi-Tech Class 5 modems will communicate automatically with MNP Class 4 and Class 3

modems, as well as non-MNP modems. And if you wish, you can even upgrade your present Multi-Tech Class 3 & 4 modems to Class 5 (call us for details).

EDITOR'S CHOICE

In the May 12,1987 edition of PC Magazine where 87 modems were reviewed, only three were awarded Editors Choice: "For a high-performing 2,400-bps modem with a slew of extras, check out Multi-Tech Systems' MultiModem224E... with [its] high immunity to line noise and the extra advantage of MNP error correction, [this modem] should do a fine job of managing fast, error-free data communications."

• Our Class 5 modems incorporate all of the features of our Class 3 versions. Features like phone number & configuration memory, auto-repeat dial and "AT" command compatibility. And Multi-Tech's seventeen years of modem manufacturing experience.

• Please call us toll-free at 1-800-328-9717, for additional information... get a modem that's as fast as it is good!

The compression throughput of MNP Class 5 is, like all compression schemes, dependent on the type of data being sent. The more "compressible" the data, the greater the throughput. For example, a typical text file transfer at 2400 bps should yield a throughput of between 4400 and 4900 bps. And the MultiModem224E's speed conversion and flow control features let you set your modem's RS232C port at 4800 or even 9600 bps, to take full advantage of the Class 5 compression

Trademarks: MultiTech, MultiModem-Multi-Tech Systems, Inc.; PC MagazineZiff Davis Publishing; MNP-Microcom Network Protocol licensed from Microcom, Inc.

Circle 194 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 195)

MultiTech

Systems

The right answer every time.

Multi-Tech Systems, Inc. ■ 82 Second Avenue S.E. ■ New Brighton, Minnesota 55112 U.S.A. 1-800-328-9717 • 1-612-631-3550 • FAX 612-631-3575 • TWX 910-563-3610 (U.S.A.) • Telex 4998372 MLTTC (International)

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

Figure 2: Again, the full-duplex modems showed greater efficiency than the half-duplex modems. Among the latter, the USRobotics, Microcom, and Case modems turned in performances approaching those of the full-duplex units. (In ideal performance, maximum and average efficiencies are high and close to one another, the standard deviation is a small value, and the range is a large value.)

modem. However, the Telcor unit provided an intelligent compression algorithm that simply ate up our data.

Many of the modems allow data I/O rates in excess of the 9600-bps speed we used for our comparison. For those of you who can crank up the feed rate (not all computers and/or communications packages will support faster data rates), you can expect higher gross throughput. But for this review we wanted to measure both throughput and efficiency.

What the Future Holds

The outlook for the future seems clear. The utility of error detection/correction features is quite apparent, and the CCITT is working on a new recommendation in this area (V.42). As currently drafted, this provides a smooth transition from the past to the future.

V.42's main impetus revolves around a new protocol, LAP M, which is similar to the byte-independent, bit-oriented, packet-switching protocols used in X.25

Typical line (C2, - 26 dBm)

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Company Information

Case Communications Inc.

7200 Riverwood Dr. Columbia, MD 21046 (301) 290-7710 Inquiry 891.

Concord Data Systems

45 Bartlett St. Marlborough, MA 01752 (617) 460-0808 Inquiry 892.

Data Race Inc.

12758 Cimarron Path

Suite 108

San Antonio, TX 78249

(512)692-3909

Inquiry 893.

Fastcomm Data Corp.

12347-E Sunrise Valley Dr. Reston, VA 22091 (703) 620-3900 Inquiry 894.

Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc.

P.O. Box 105203 Atlanta, GA 30348 (404) 449-8791 Inquiry 895.

Microcom Inc.

1400A Providence Hwy. Norwood, MA 02062 (617)762-9310 Inquiry 896.

112 BYTE* JUNE 1988

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

LJ Maximum LJ Average

Poor line (3002, -40dBm)

100 80 +

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Racal-Vadic

1525 McCarthy Blvd. Milpitas, CA 95035 (408) 432-8008 Inquiry 897.

Telcor Systems Corp.

12 Michigan Dr. Natick, MA 01760 (617)653-3995 Inquiry 898.

Telebit Corp.

1345 Shorebird Way Mountain View, CA 94043 (415) 969-3800 Inquiry 899.

Telenetics Corp.

895 East Yorba Linda Blvd. Placentia, CA 92670 (714)524-5770 Inquiry 900.

USRobotics Inc.

8100 North McCormick Blvd. Skokie, IL 60076 (312)982-5001 Inquiry 901.

Ven-Tel Inc.

2121ZankerRd. San Jose, CA 95131 (408) 436-7400 Inquiry 902.

and ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) communications links. V.42 doesn't neglect current modems, however; during initial handshaking, a V.42 device will query the other modem and use LAP M only if it is appropriate to do so.

If one of the modems is not equipped with LAP M but has MNP capability, both modems will begin to exchange data under MNP. Therefore, current users of modems equipped with MNP can take comfort in the knowledge that their hardware is not likely to become obsolete.

It's also clear that intelligent datacompression algorithms will be increasingly important in data communications. If a lowly 2400-bps V.22bis modem can be souped up to consistently pass data at 9600 bps, combining data-compression technology with a good V.32 engine offers the possibility of reliable and costeffective dial-up communication at effective rates of 38,400 bps.

The wild card in the data communications picture is ISDN. There are those in the telecommunications and data communications industries who predict that the increased bandwidth and line quality of ISDN will provide their own solutions to the data rate problem. These experts tell us that ISDN is an inevitable part of our communications future and that any present plans should be built around the features offered by ISDN.

ISDN holds a tremendous promise for corporate users shuttling mixed voice and data signals between plant sites. But ISDN is not the only logical alternative, and it won't be implemented overnight. It took 100 years to wire America with copper, put a telephone in virtually every household, and train us to say "Hello" in response to a ringing bell. In the 1960s we started to replace rotary dialing with tone dialing, and as we enter the 1990s, manufacturers are still churning out equipment with pulse-dial fallback.

While we look to V.42, ISDN, and beyond, V.32 and other modems are here, and their price and availability can only get better. Semiconductor manufacturer Rockwell International has announced a CMOS chip set for V.32. Others in the industry (TRT from France and Atlantic Network Systems from England) are shipping highly integrated V.32 modems with proprietary chips. The 9600-bps and faster modems reviewed here are just the beginning of the push to make dial-up modems even faster and better. ■

John H. Humphrey and Gary S. Smock are general partners of Telequality Associates in Golden, Colorado, providing engineering consultation and design and product testing in telecommunications.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 113

One Language For V

Specifications:

Ease-of-use—BBX is the fastest, mosl powerful development tool available for business oriented program creation. Programmers can write code in minutes. Execution time—&B*'s partially compiled format provides enhanced execution speed. Easy Maintenance—BBX is an interactive programming language, with a trace facility and a full screen editor which makes program maintenance a snap. Portability—-SB* runs under UNIX and other operating systems without recompilation.

Compatibility—SB* is an enhancement of the Business BASIC language, an industry standard, giving you access to thousands of applications.

Supportability—Program maintenance ulilities and compleie documentation save considerable time and money. It lets you build and support applications easily. Utilities—A complete set of BB* utilities are provided for program and file management. Conversion—A complete set of conversion utilities are provided with every BBX package.

Features

Math Functions

• 14 place precision and compulational accuracy

• Floating point conversion

• Task specified rounding precision

• Binary to decimal conversion

• Long function names

■ Dynamic arrays String Functions

■ Numeric to string conversion

■ String manipulation

■ No string length restriction I/O Functions ' Windowing

• I/O mnemonics

• Device independent verbs

• X,Y cursor addressing

■ Masking

■ Soft key loads

■ No record length restrictions

■ BB* file sizes are limited only to the size of the available media

File Structures

• INDEX utilities

■ KEYED

114 BYTE • JUNE 1988

• MKEYED

■ SERIAL

■ SORT

■ PROGRAM

■ STRING System Structure

• Multi-tasking - which provides record and file level locking

■ Program overlay

■ Public programming which provides:

- Local variables

- Dynamically called subprograms

- Argument passing

- Automatic public program drop from memory at exit

- Public program in memory lock option

Language Structure

■ Interactive program development

■ Online syntax checking

• Compound statements

■ User defined functions

■ Unlimited nesting

■ Remote I/O lists

■ Program self modification

■ Case insensitive console mode

■ Various debugging tools BBX Utility Set

• File Browse

• Create Data Bundle

• Calculator

■ Clear Workspace

• Program Compare

■ Copy File

■ Define/Redefine File

■ Directory Listing

■ Erase File

■ Generafe Filelist

• Program List/Cross Reference

■ Move File

■ Program Renumbered

■ Rename File

■ File Resizer

■ Execute O/S Shell Command

■ Search and Replace Program

■ Color &FUNC Key Setup

■ Time/Date Examine/Set

■ Utility Menu

■ Visual Utility Interface

■ BXSND/BXRCV conversion

Its portability crosses all operating environments, and now its performance is crossing all oceans.

Around the world, the industry's best and brightest programmers are discovering the astonishing power that BBX brings to Business BASIC. Write your program once, and have complete movement to MS/PC-DOS, OS/2, UNIX/XENIX, AIX, 1X370 and VMS.

This year, over 50,000 copies of BBX are performing throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and South America.

Commitment to innovation, development within industry standards and technological leadership have grown BBX around the globe.

In 1988, aggressive marketing and uncompromising customer support will continue to compliment our success, and expand the BBX standard among many of the world's most respected companies.

Get in touch with one of our world distributors, and feel the pulse of the power of BBX!

Die Portabilitat schlagt samtliche, bisher bekannte und unbekannte, EDV-Emgebungen. Die Leistung iiberzeugt inzwischen die gesamte EDV-Industrie.

Weltweit entdecken die besten Software-Entwickler die erstaunliche Leistung von BBX, mit der Business BASIC bereichert wird. Die Anwendungen werden nur einmal entwickelt und laufen ohne Anderungen oder Anpassungen auf MS/PC-DOS, OS/2, UNIX/XENIX, AIX, 1X370 oder VMS.

Mehr als 50.000 BBX-Lizenzen stellen die Leistung in den USA, Canada, Europa, Asien und Sud-Amerika unter Beweis.

Zur Innovation nach IndustrieStandard Spezifikationen verpflichtet, und mit dem Ziel nach technologischer Fiihrung, wachst BBX um die Welt.

Mit aggressivem Marketing ohne Kompromisse im Bereich Kundenservice, wird der Erfolg von BBX in 1988 fortgesetzt. Es steht auf samtlichen Systemen namhafter Computerhersteller zur Verfugung und stellt seine Akzeptanz bei den anspruchvollsten Anwendern unter Beweis.

Kontaktieren Sie unsere Vertretungen in aller Welt. Entdecken Sie die Schlagkraft vonBBx!

BBX PROGRESSION/2® is available for Intel Based Computers, Altos, Arete, AT&T, PCS Cadmus, Computer Consoles, Convergent Technologies, Counterpoint/MultiTech, Cubix, Data General, Digital Equipment, Fortune, Honeywell, Hewlett Packard, ICL, Motorola, Nixdorf, Prime, Pyramid, Rexon, Sanyo, Sequent, Siemens, Texas Instruments, Unisys, and the IBM family of products. BASIS is continually adding new systems.

brld Class Business.

Portable, il franchit tous les cadres d'operation, et sa performance traverse, maintenant, tous les oceans.

Dans le monde, les meilleurs et les plus brilliants programmeurs de l'industrie decouvrent l'etonnante puissance que BBX amene au BASIC des affaires. Ecrivez votre programme une seule fois, et accedez totalement a MS/PC-DOS, OS/2, UNIX/XENIX, AIX, 1X370 et a VMS.

Cette annee, plus de 50 000 copies de BBX fonctionnent aux Etats-Unis, au Canada, en Europe, en Asie et en Amerique du Sud.

Un esprit constant d'innovation, un developpement conforme aux normes de l'industrie, et une position de leader dans le domaine technologique, tels sont les atouts qui ont contribue a la croissance de BBX dans le monde entier.

En 1988, un marketing dynamique et un appui inconditionnel a notre clientele continueront a couronner notre reussite, et a etendre le standard BBX a de nombreuses societes parmi les plus respectees au monde.

Contactez 1'un de nos disrributeurs mondiaux et decouvrez la puissance de BBX!

BB* PROGRESSION/2*, BB* and BASIS Incorporated are trademarks and/or service marks of BASIS Incorporated, Albuquerque, New Mexico. All references to computer systems and software products contained within this advertisement recognize the trade and/or service marks of the corresponding manufacturer and holder of the trade and/or service mark.

Circle 34 on Reader Service Card

Su portabilidad traspasa todos los medios de operation y ahora su funcionamiento esta cruzando todos los oceanos.

Los mejores y mas brillantes programadores del mundo, estan descubriendo la asombrosa potencia que BBX ofrece al negocio BASIC. Escriba su programa una vez y tenga movimiento completo a MS/PC-DOS, OS/2, UNIX/XENIX, AIX, 1X370 y VMS.

Este ano, mas de 50,000 copias de BBX estan funcionando en Estados Unidos, Canada, Europa, Asia y America del Sur.

Empeno de inovacion, desarrollo en los estandards de la industria y superioridad tecnologica han hecho crecer a BBX en todo el mundo.

En 1988, mercadotecnia agresiva y apoyo constante a nuestros clientes seguiran complementando el exito y desarrollo de BBX entre las compamas mas respetadas del mundo.

Comuniquese con uno de nuestros distribuidores mundiales y sienta la potencia de BBX!

WorU Distributors:

Edlas Hans Kirchhotf & Co. KG

Pfingstbornslr. 25, 6200 Wiesbaden

TEL: (06122)2016

FAX: (06122)16505

TLX: 418-2563 ediad

Multisys

Torgeir Vraas Plass 5A

3044 Drammen Norway

TEL: (03) 83.86.05

FAX: (03) 89.02.53

J. P. Brown and Associates

780 Gordon Baker Road Willowdale, Ontario M2H 3B4 TEL: (416) 494-0472

PI InJormatlque

8. rue Benjamin Constant 75019 Paris, France TEL: (01) 40.05.10.65 TLX: 214.583 FAX: (01) 40.05.99.63

Softech Pty. Limited

10 Eileen Road, Blairgowrie Randburg 2194, South Africa TEL: (011)787-8839 FAX: (011)886-3890 TLX: 422669 S.A.

West Germany. The Netherlands Austria, Switzerland Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium England, Italy

Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland. Iceland

France, Spain, Portugal

RisegoldPty. Ltd.

678 Paramatta Road

Croydon, N.S.W. 2132

Australia

TEL: (02) 799-6622

FAX: (02) 799-9090

Tempo Computadoras

Av. Americas #670 Guadalajara 44680 Jalisco, Mexico TELS: 30-28-45

30-28-46

30-28-86

Risegold Pty. Ltd.

86 Havelock Street West Perth

Western Australia 6005 TEL: (09) 481-0607 FAX: (09) 481-3162

Infotel, S.A., de, C.V.

Laguna de Mayran No. 258 3 piso Col. Anahuac C.P. 11320 Mexico, D.F. TELS: 05 45 6730 ai 05 45 6734

In the United States: BASIS Incorporated

P.O. Box 20400

Albuquerque, New Mexico 87154 TEL: (505) 821-4407 FAX: (505) 821-1625

BASIS

INCORPORATED

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WINDOWS FOR DATA

Invoices: Create Bevieu Print Exit

IHUOICE Invoice No.:

Date: 12/83/81

line: 1&:43:H

Search for customer record? (MO: N

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Uilliam Jones Innovative Software 351 Bulletin Avenue Needham, HA 02194

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DESCRIPTION

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UD1.A Windows for Data Lattice

UDTC Windows far- Data Turbo C

WBXE Windows for Data XENIX

Windows for Data - XENIX Windows for Data - 3B2 Unix Windows for Data - Sun Unix Windows for Data - MicroVax Windows for Data - Wax 780

NTITV PRICE

AMOUNT

18 295.00

'2950.00

5 295.80

1475.80

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I

f you program in C, take a few moments to learn how Windows for Data can help you build a state-of-theart user interface.

M Create and manage menus, data-entry forms, contextsensitive help, and text displays — all within windows.

Sf Develop window-based OS/2 programs right now, without the headaches of learning OS/2 screen management. Run the same source code in PCDOS and OS/2 protected mode.

Sf Build a better front end for any DBMS that has a Clanguage interface (most popular ones do).

FROM END TO BEGINNING Windows for Data begins where other screen packages end, with special features like nested pop-up forms and menus, field entry from lists of choices, scrollable regions for the entry of variable numbers of line items, and an exclusive built-in debugging system.

NO WALLS

If you've been frustrated by the limitations of other screen utilities, don't be discouraged. You won't run into walls with Windows for Data. Our customers repeatedly tell us how they've used our system in ways we never imagined — but which we anticipated by designing Windows for Data for unprecedented adapatability. You will be amazed at what you can do with Windows for Data.

YOU ARE ALWAYS IN CHARGE

Control functions that you write and attach to fields anctbr keys can read, compare, validate, and change the data values in all fields of the form. Upon entry or exit from any field, control functions can call up subsidiary forms and menus, change the active field, exit or abort the form, perform almost any task you can imagine

OUR WINDOWS WILL OPEN DOORS

Our windows will open doors to new markets for your software. High-performance, source-codecompatible versions of Windows for Data are now available for PCDOS, OS/2, XENIX, UNIX, and VMS. PCDOS

versions are fully compatible with Microsoft Windows.

No royalties.

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

You owe it to yourself and your programs to try Windows for Data. If not satisfied, you can return it for a full refund.

Prices: PCDOS $295, Source $295. OS/2 $495. XENIX $795. UNIX, VMS, please call.

Call: (802) 848-7731

Telex: 510-601-4160 VCSOFT

Vermont Creative Software

ext. 51

FAX 802-848-3502

21 Elm Ave. Richford, VT 05476

SYSTEM REVIEW

ALR's FlexCache 20386 Catches Compaq

Mark L. Van Name

In the race for the world's fastest 80386-based personal computer, the list of top contenders is growing. If the standard BYTE benchmarks are any indication, Advanced Logic Research's FlexCache 20386 is in a dead heat with the reigning speed champion, the Compaq Deskpro 386/20.

The 20386 achieves its speed by using a FlexCache architecture that is much like Compaq's Flex architecture. It uses two concurrent buses, an Intel 82385 cache controller, and a cache of 32K bytes of very highspeed (35-nanosecond) static RAM (SRAM). It is in the over-five-digit cost class, although it is still considerably cheaper than the Compaq Deskpro 386/20.

There are four basic 20386 systems: the Model 60 ($5990), the Model 100 ($6490), the Model 150 ($7490), and the Model 300 ($9990). All four include a 20-MHz 80386 processor, 1 megabyte of 80-ns dynamic RAM (DRAM), 32K bytes of cache memory, a socket for a 20-MHz Intel 80387 math coprocessor, a 1.2megabyte 514-inch floppy disk drive, an enhanced-small-device-interface (ESDI) based hard disk drive (in Models 150 and 300) or a run-length-limited (RLL) based hard disk drive (in Models 60 and 100), one RS-232C communications port, one parallel port, and a keyboard that follows the style of the IBM Enhanced AT keyboard. ALR also throws in a Setup Utilities disk and Phoenix Technologies' Control/386 software. The units differ only in the size (60, 100, 150, or 300 megabytes, respectively) and speed of their hard disk drives. Any machine this powerful could function well as a multiuser system or a network file server.

The system also needs a monitor, a video card, and operating system soft

The 20386's dual buses

and cache controller make it

the Compaq 386/20's peer

ware. ALR's EGA-compatible monitor costs $699, while its EGA card adds $399. MS-DOS/GWBASIC 3.3 tacks on another $149. My evaluation unit also came with a second megabyte of DRAM ($899), an 80387 ($1195), and a 1.44megabyte 3 Vi -inch floppy disk drive ($349). This package, which includes what many Model 150 users are likely to want, totals $11,180. For those whose pockets are not quite so deep, ALR also has a 16-MHz 80386-based system, the FlexCache 16386: The Model 60 sells for $4690, and the Model 100 costs $5690.

Tying the Performance Race

Because the Compaq Deskpro 386/20 was the previous performance leader, I compared the 203 86's test results to that machine's times. (The performance table compares it to several other systems as

well.) Using the new BYTE benchmarks, the 20386 beat the Deskpro 386/20 in the CPU tests by a small margin. Clearly, there is not much of a difference between the computational power of the two systems, but the 20386 holds a slight advantage. Since both machines use the same CPU and cache controller chips, and both have the same size and speed cache, the performance differences probably stem from the 80-ns DRAM memory of the 20386, as opposed to the Deskpro 386/20'sl00-nsDRAM.

Many of the newer 80386based machines include a diskcaching utility that can often improve performance. The 20386 does not include a diskcache utility with its version of MS-DOS, but there is one in the Control/386 program that is bundled with the system. However, because Control/386 puts the 80386 in virtual 8086 mode, you cannot run any protected-mode programs while using it—and BYTE's C benchmarks run in protected mode. I did run the BASIC and Spreadsheet tests with Control/3 86's disk cache enabled, but it made no measurable difference.

The 20386 lost the FPU benchmark tests. The 80387 coprocessor in my machine was a 16-MHz chip, not the advertised 20-MHz version. This chip was supported by a special 32-MHz oscillator that ALR attached to the motherboard as an obvious patch. An ALR spokesperson said that the company had to use the slower 80387 and the slower oscillator because it could not get a 20-MHz 80387 from Intel. The spokesperson said that later versions of the 20386 will use a 20MHz 80387 and will not include the slower oscillator. The hard disk drive benchmarks also

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 117

ALR'S FLEXCACHE 20386 CATCHES COMPAQ

FlexCache 20386

Company

Advanced Logic Research Inc. 10 Chrysler Ave. Irvine, CA 92718 (714)581-6770

Components

Processor: 20-MHz 32-bit Intel 80386; socket for 16-MHz Intel 80387 coprocessor

Memory: 1 megabyte of 32-bit 80-ns DRAM on motherboard, expandable on motherboard to 2 megabytes and expandable on a two-card memory card set to 10 megabytes; 32K bytes of 35-ns static RAM for the cache; 128K bytes of BIOS ROM

Mass storage: 1.2-megabyte 5Vi-inch floppy disk drive; optional 1.44-megabyte 31/2-inch floppy disk drive; 100-, 150-, or 300-megabyte hard disk drive Display: Optional Casper TE 5154 EGA monitor; optional ALR EGA board Keyboard: 101 keys in IBM Enhanced keyboard layout

I/O interfaces: One RS-232C serial port with DB-9 connector; one DB-25 parallel port; one RGB-intensity monitor port with DB-9 connector; two 32-bit slots for memory-expansion cards; two 8-bit and four 16-bit expansion slots

Size

7Vz by 17 by 26 inches; 75 pounds (100 pounds maximum)

Software

Setup Utilities disk with diagnostics tests and system setup; Control/386

Options

1-megabyte upgrade: $799 1-megabyte memory card set: $899 4-megabyte RAMpack set: $2100 1.2-megabyte 51A-inch floppy disk

drive: $179 1.44-megabyte 31/2-inch floppy disk

drive: $349 20-MHz 80387 coprocessor: $1195 150-megabyte hard disk drive: $2999 300-megabyte hard disk drive: $4595 ALR EGA card: $399 EGA monitor: $699 MS-DOS/GWBASIC 3.3: $149

Documentation

Quick Installation Reference Guide FlexCache 16386/20386 Series; FlexCache 16386/20386 User's Manual; Operating Manual—HighResolution Color Display Monitors; User Guide—Control/386 Version 1.1

Price

Model 60: $5990

Model 100: $6490

Model 150: $7490

Model 300: $9990

System as reviewed: $11,180

Inquiry 883.

reflect the even match between the two machines. Both hard disk systems had comparable performances, with the 20386 winning the Full Platter and 1megabyte Write tests. An older test, the Coretest (version 2.7), rates the 20386's hard disk as marginally faster on seeks but slightly slower on data transfers than the Deskpro 386/20's hard disk.

The ALR EGA card was substantially slower than the Compaq EGA card. The speed difference was apparent in the textmode tests, where the Deskpro offered a 2- to 3-second advantage. That advantage was less in the graphics-mode tests, where the results were more evenly divided.

The Livermore Loops, LINPACK, and Dhrystone tests went decisively to the 20386, but not by a substantial margin.

Finally, the Applications benchmarks were a split decision. The computers traded wins in the Word Processing tests, although the FlexCache came out slightly ahead. The Spreadsheet tests gave similar results, but the Compaq took a slim lead here. The Database tests went to the Deskpro, but, again, not by much. The Scientific and Engineering tests gave a slight edge to the FlexCache, and the Compiler test showed once more that the computers were evenly matched.

Neither computer scored a knockout in any of the test categories. Like two evenly matched prizefighters, the FlexCache 20386 and the Deskpro 386/20 stand bloodied but unbowed.

Of course, the 20386's great performance would be useless if it could not run AT-compatible software or use standard hardware options. Fortunately, everything that I tested worked. I ran the following programs: Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.0; Quarterdeck Office Systems' DESQview 2.0, with its Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager 386 version 1.10; Kermit 2.30; The Norton Utilities 3.00; Symantec Q&A 1.1; Borland's Reflex 1.14, SideKick 1.56A, SuperKey 1.16A, Turbo C 1.0, Turbo Pascal 4.0, and Quattro 1.0; Digitalk's Smalltalk /V 1.2; MicroPro's WordStar 3.3 and 4.0; and Microsoft's PC Paintbrush 2.0, Word 4.0, and Windows/386 2.0. I also successfully installed a fully populated Intel Above Board/AT, an Everex Evercom II 2400-bit-per-second internal modem, and a Microsoft Serial Mouse.

In the course of my compatibility tests, I ran into a few minor but annoying problems. First, for 1-2-3's copy-protection scheme to work, I had to set the 20386 to its slower speed while 1-2-3 read the key disk. Once 1-2-3 was done with the key disk, I returned the 20386 to its normal high speed and ran 1-2-3 with no difficulties. Since you can control the system's

speed from the keyboard, this is no real hardship.

A second problem occurred any time a program, such as Setup or the Above Board/AT configuration and test software, rebooted the system. When this happened, I got the error message No timer tick interrupt. The unit ran fine, but the message was disturbing. The company said that this problem occurred because my evaluation unit included an older BIOS version, and that the production 20386s use a newer BIOS that fixes this problem.

I also tried booting up OS/2. The 20386 couldn't load OS/2 while running at 20 MHz, and ALR suggested that I slow the machine to 10 MHz. At that speed, OS/2 did load and run, and then I changed the speed to 20 MHz. The ALR spokesperson said that a new version of the ROM BIOS would eliminate that problem in future versions of the machine.

One Big Box

The very first thing that strikes you about the 20386 is its size. It is over an inch thicker, 1 inch deeper, and about 5 inches longer than a standard IBM PC AT. It is also heavier; my unit weighed in at around 75 pounds, and a fully configured system can approach 100 pounds. ALR designed the unit to stand upright on the floor, supported by a stand that you can attach to its bottom with four screws.

The biggest benefit of the large chassis is the addition of two extra half-height floppy disk drive bays at the top of the unit. The standard 1.2-megabyte floppy disk drive fills one of these new openings. There are two more typical bays below these new areas. With all these drive bays, you can fit up to one fullheight hard disk drive and five halfheight devices in the 20386. To help support these many devices, the power supply has a steady-state rating of 220 watts, with peaks up to 300 watts. You could take full advantage of the 20386's drive capacity by putting two of ALR's 300-megabyte hard disk drives into a Model 300 and placing its tape unit below the standard floppy disk drive; this would give you a system with 600 megabytes of disk storage and a tape drive.

To get a peek inside the unit, you only have to loosen the two thumbscrews on the rear of the unit that attach a side panel to the body, and then remove that panel. Once you are inside, the way ALR arrived at this design becomes obvious (see photo 1). The chassis surrounds an inner, coverless chassis that is the standard AT size and is bolted to the sides of the new container—as if the company took the

continued

118 BYTE • JUNE 1988

ALR FlexCache 20386 Model 150

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCE (In minutes and seconds)

Aldus PageMaker 1.0a

Load document Change/bold Align right Cut 10 pages Place graphic Print to file

:03 :16 :16 :13 :03 1:27

Index:

SPREADSHEET Lotus 1-2-3 2.01

Block copy Recalc

Load Monte Carlo Recalc Monte Carlo Load rlarge3 Recalc rlarge3 Recalc Goal-seek Microsoft Excel 2.0 Fill right Undo fill Recalc Load rlarge3 Recalc rlarge3

4.3

03 01 09 03 02 01 03

04 30 01

17

01

Index:

ENGINEERING/SCIENTIFIC AutoCAD 2.52

Load SoftWest

Regen SoftWest

Load St. Pauls

Regen St. Pauls

Hide/redraw STATA1.5

Graphics

ANOVA MathCAD 2.0

IFS800pts.

FFT/IFFT1024pts.

Index:

COMPILERS Microsoft C 5.0

XLisp compile Turbo Pascal 4.0

Pascals compile

Index:

Index: 3.6

Indexes show relative performance; for all indexes, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT-1.

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE' (in seconds)

CPU Matrix String Move

Byte-wide Word-wide: Odd-bnd. Even-bnd. Sieve Sort

3.1

21.18

28.84 10.60 19.6 20.73

Index:

3.8

FLOATING

POINTS

Math

16.27

Error3

0.0

Sine(x)

5.9

Error

2.0E-9

e»

5.93

Error

1.77E-2

DISK I/O Hard Seek"

Outer track Inner track Half platter Full platter Average

DOS Seek 1-sector 8-sector

File l/0» Seek Read Write

1-megabyte Write Read

VIDEO

Text

3.33

ModeO

3.33

Mode 1

6.65

Mode 2

6.68

Mode 3

5.0

Mode 7

Graphics

1.44

Mode 4

11.02

Mode 5

Mode 6

.27

Mode 13

.007

Mode 14

.012

Mode 16

2.87

Index:

2.89

Index:

2.9

Index:

3.1

' All figures were generated using the 8088/80B6 version of Small-C (16-bit integers). Figures for the 80386 machines shown here do not use 80386specific instructions.

2 The floating-point benchmarks use 8087-compatible instructions only.

3 The errors reported for the floating-point benchmarks indicate the difference between expected and actual values.

4 Times reported by the Hard Seek and DOS Seek are for multiple seek operations (number of seeks performed currently set to 100.)

5 Read and write times for the File I/O benchmarks are in seconds per Kbyte

6 For the Livermore Loops and Dhrystone tests only, higher numbers mean faster performance.

3.2

35 27 07 05 48

:23 :12

:11 :11

5.1

3:01 :03 3.5

5.84 5.83 6.87 6.88 4.87

1.48 1.48 1.65 3.19 3.46 3.23

2.6

CONVENTIONAL BENCHMARKS

LINPACK 170.81

Livermore Loops6

(MFLOPS) .1742

Dhrystone (MS C 5.0)

(Dhry/sec) 6518

For a full description of all the benchmarks, see "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks" on page 239.

ALR FlexCache

WORD PROCESSING

DATABASE

XyWrite III+3.52 Med.

Large

dBASEIII+ 1.1

Load document N/A

12

Copy

46

Word count

02

16

Index

05

Search/replace

04

17

List 1

07

End of document

02

10

Append 1

28

Block move

10

10

Delete

01

Spelling check

06

47

Pack 1

16

Microsoft Word 4.0

Count

03

Cursor move

:14

Sort

49

Forward delete

:1?

19.7

Compaq 386/20 19.7

IBM PS2/80 12

IBM PC AT 5

□

Word Processing

□

Spreadsheet

□

Database

□

Scientific Engineering

□

Compilers

Graphs are based on indexes at left and show relative performance compared to an 8-MHz IBM PC AT.

ALR FlexCache

Compaq 386/20

IBM PS2/80

IBM PC AT

CPU

□

FPU

□

Disk I/O

□

Video

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 119

ALR'S FLEXCACHE 20386 CATCHES COMPAQ

cover off one of its older machines and then dropped it into this newer chassis. The older chassis sits at the bottom of the new one, leaving room at the top for the two additional half-height devices.

This design leaves the power switch in an interesting spot. It is a large red rocker switch on the right side of the inner chassis—but that side is now in a cavity at the top of the taller, floor-standing unit. ALR solved this problem by putting a small (4-inch by 2 % -inch) metal door on the back of the system near the top. To turn on the unit, you loosen the restraining thumbscrew, open the door, and reach in and flip the power switch. The company defended this design by pointing out that, while this procedure is certainly awkward, it makes it difficult for anyone to turn off the unit accidentally.

Both the inner and outer chassis, as well as nearly all of the system, are metal, so I expected an FCC Class B approval. Instead, the 20386 has only FCC Class A certification. An ALR spokesperson said the company could get Class B approval easily but had not filed for it because it expects this system to be used primarily in the office and only rarely in a home.

When you poke around inside a bit more, you find that ALR reused more than just the old chassis: The motherboard appears to be the same one that ALR used in its previous 80386-based systems—the ALR 386/2. It is even labeled "386/2." If you take it out, however, you find that ALR has changed it in several important ways.

The most obvious change is the addition of a 6%-inch by 5%-inch daughterboard that connects to the motherboard by plugging into its 80386 socket. There

are also about a dozen wires on the back of the motherboard that ALR uses to make signal corrections to support the daughterboard.

The daughterboard contains the heart of the 20386: the 80386 CPU, the 80387 math coprocessor, the 82385 cache controller chip, four SRAM modules that provide the cache memory, and 21 support chips. All three of the Intel chips are socketed. The current 80387 socket cannot support a Weitek coprocessor. A spokesperson said that ALR was planning to design a new motherboard that would combine the functions of the current daughterboard and motherboard on one board, and that the new board would support a Weitek board or an 80387.

The daughterboard actually connects to an extender that is plugged into the 80386 socket on the motherboard. It is mounted on three standoffs that are glued to the motherboard to prevent contact with the chips on the motherboard.

The motherboard itself is about 13% inches by 12 inches. It contains all the standard AT circuitry, such as the clock and the AT bus, as well as up to 2 megabytes of 80-ns DRAM. It is a very busy board, however, with almost 120 chips— not counting the DRAM chips. My unit had 72 DRAM chips on the motherboard, giving it 2 megabytes of memory.

The system has eight full-length expansion slots. On the bottom are two special 32-bit slots. Even though they look exactly like standard AT slots, you can use them only for the ALR 32-bit memory card set. These two cards are installed together and hold, in 1-megabyte increments, from 1 to 4 megabytes of 80ns DRAM. ALR also offers a 4-megabyte

Photo 1: The internal view of the 20386 clearly shows the case-within-a-case construction that allows extra space for additional disk drives.

daughtercard that attaches to the memory card set. This gives you 8 megabytes of additional memory on this two-card set, for a maximum configuration of 10 megabytes.

There are also two 8-bit expansion slots and four 16-bit slots. In my evaluation unit, ALR's EGA card occupied one of the 8-bit slots, and the ESDI disk controller card and the serial/parallel/floppy disk controller card filled two of the 16bit slots. Two 16-bit slots and one 8-bit slot were empty.

The FlexCache Architecture

The 20386's FlexCache architecture works much like the Compaq Flex architecture that I described in my review "Compaq Flexes Its Muscles" (February BYTE), but it is a different hardware design. There are two different buses that operate concurrently. One is the standard 16-bit AT bus that the system uses for peripherals. The other is a 32-bit local bus that is connected to the 82385 cache controller and the cache. The 80386 and 80387 use this 32-bit bus to retrieve data from memory.

A cache controller tries to satisfy any CPU memory request with data already in the cache. When it can (a hit), the CPU can keep working without waiting on the slower memory. When the desired data is not in the cache (a miss), the CPU waits while the cache controller gets the data from the slower DRAM system memory. ALR claims a cache hit rate of 95 percent. The 82385 also handles all the cache management chores required to ensure that data in the cache is valid.

The BIOS (Phoenix Technologies version 1.00 04 on my evaluation unit, version 1.10 00IF on future units) is stored in slow ROM chips that sit on the ATcompatible bus. To speed up access to the ROM BIOS, the system copies it to the 128K-byte area just below the 16-megabyte memory line. If the computer contains an ALR EGA card, it also copies the EGA ROM BIOS to that area. The 20386 then protects that memory so no program can write on the BIOS.

Whole Lotta Storage

My unit contained a Toshiba 1.2-megabyte 5 W-inch floppy disk drive and a TEAC 1.44-megabyte 3'/2-inch floppy disk drive. ALR also offers a 360K-byte 5 W-inch floppy disk drive.

My hard disk drive was a 151.2-megabyte Control Data Corp. Model #94166182 drive. It was controlled by a Western Digital ESDI controller that runs with 1 -to-1 interleaving. The Core Disk Performance Test Program indicated that the drive system had a data transfer rate of

continued

120 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Introducing

FRONTRUNNER

New...for dBASE III PLUS Users!

Fast.. .Resident.. .Powerful.

FrontRunner offers all this and morel

• CREATE MEMORY-RESIDENT dBASE III PLUS™ PROGRAMS - FrontRunner'" is the first memory-resident applications development tool to contain a large subset of dBASE III PLUS commands and allows you to distribute RunTime™ applications.

• dBASE III PLUS DATABASE AND INDEX FILE COMPATIBILITY - Allows you to use FrontRunner immediately.

• UNIQUE KEYBOARD FEATURE - Bind commands or entire programs to a single Hotkey for rapid execution from within other applications.

• PASTE COMMAND - This powerful command allows you to extract data from your dBASE III PLUS files and paste it into your spreadsheet or word processing application.

Buy FrontRunner by ]une 30, 1988 and get a FrontRunner version of RunTime and an unlimited RunTime license for royalty-free applications. FrontRunner is not copy-protected and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

The suggested retail price is $195.

See your local Ashton-Tate dealer now. For more information, or the name of the dealer nearest you,

call (800) 437-4329, Ext. 555.*

*ln Colorado, call (303) 799-4900, Ext. 555.

A

ASHTONTATE

Trademarks / owner: dBASE /// PLUS, RunTime, Ashton-Tate I Ashton-Tate Corporation; FrontRunner / Apex Software Corporation.

© 1988 Ashton-Tate Corporation. All rights reserved. Circle 22 on Reader Service Card

ALR'S FLEXCACHE 20386 CATCHES COMPAQ

780.9K bytes per second, an average seek time of 18 milliseconds, and a track-totrack time of 4.8 ms.

The EGA-compatible card in the review unit was made by ALR. It was driving a 13-inch Casper Model TE 5154 enhanced color monitor, which comes with a tilt-and-swivel base.

The keyboard was made by MaxiSwitch. It follows the IBM Enhanced keyboard layout and has two legs that you can tilt. The key action was good and produced a mechanical click. You can use a DIP switch on the back of the keyboard to

swap the functions of the Caps Lock and Control keys.

Documentation and Software

The 20386 came with the ALR 386/2 version 4.0 Setup Utilities disk. The disk contains a Setup program, a program for doing a low-level disk format, an expanded memory manager (QEMM.SYS), a driver for 3 xh -inch floppy disk drives (in case you are not running MS-DOS 3.3), an ESDI driver, system diagnostics, a program to patch the disk-related bugs in MS-DOS 3.2, and the SETSPEED.EXE

MIRRORS

The Closer You Look... The More You Find!

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• Background communications mode (call or answer]

• File transfer protocols including Xmodem (Batch, CRC or Checksum), Crosstalk®, Hayes®, Ymodem and Kermit

• Terminal emulations for DEC VT-100/52, IBM 3101 (character or block mode),Televideo 910 / 920 / 925 (character or block mode), Adds Viewpoint, ADM-3A, Data General D210, ANSI and Honeywell VIP7200

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MIRROR II and SoltKlone ore trademarks of SoftKlane Distributing Corp. / IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Cofp. / WordStar is o registered trademark of MicroPro International / Crosstalk and Crosstalk XVI are registered trademarks of Digital Communications Associates Inc. / Hayes is a registered trademark of Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc.

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MIRROR II is designed for use on IBM and 100% compatlble microcomputer:, [including thfl IBM PS/2 lino) running MS-DOS / PC-DOS 2.0 or higher and is not copy protected

program. With SETSPEED, you can set the system to its normal high speed (20 MHz), or you can have it run at its low speed and emulate a 10-MHz system.

ALR also bundles Control/386 version 1.15 from Phoenix Technologies with the 20386. This package contains many programs that can help you run an 80386based system, including an Enhanced Expanded Memory Specification (EEMS) driver, a disk-cache program, and hard disk utility programs.

Four manuals accompanied my system: a quick installation and reference guide, a user's guide, an operating manual for the high-resolution color display monitor, and a user's guide for the Control/386 programs. The main manual, entitled FlexCache 16386/20386 User's Manual, is reasonably well written and clear. It contains many useful technical charts and explanations.

After the Sale

The 20386 comes with a one-year parts and labor warranty. You have to pay to ship your system to ALR, but the company pays return shipping. This warranty, however, does not cover any options that your dealer installs.

You also get unlimited telephone support with the 20386. The support staff seemed generally knowledgeable and pleasant. They were able to answer all my questions about operating the machine and adding options to it.

You also can extend your service warranty for one, two, or three additional years with the ALR Extended Warranty Program. A one-year extension costs $579 for the Models 100 and 150, and $749 for the Model 300.

Tops in Price and Performance

Because of the 203 86's 20-MHz CPU and FlexCache architecture, currently only the Deskpro 386/20 is in its performance class. On the down side, the 20386 is big, and some of the engineering (at least on my evaluation unit) could be more polished. The Deskpro 386/20, while more crowded and difficult to take apart, is a more finished product. On the other hand, a Deskpro 386/20 Model 130, equipped comparably to my evaluation unit but with 20 megabytes less disk storage, costs $1730 more.

The FlexCache 20386 has power to burn. But you should plan to spend over $10,000 for most ready-to-use configurations. If you can afford it, the FlexCache 20386 is (at least for the moment) tied for tops in PC performance. ■

Mark L. Van Name is a freelance writer and computer consultant living in Durham, North Carolina.

122 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 257 on Reader Service Card

Which would you like to see first?

The world's fastest dBASE compiler or the most

powerful database development language?

Surprise. Now you get both in the same package. New Clipper™ from Nantucket*

Our latest version—Summer '87—is still the bestperforming compiler ever. It lets users run dBASE* applications up to 20 times faster. But there's a lot more to it than raw speed.

Because new Clipper is one of the most powerful, full-featured development languages ever. And gives you more control over your applications than any release of dBASE ever will. Now or in the future.

Instead of designing Clipper as an add-on, we've structured it as an extended database language that uses dBASE as a subset. In addition to emulating the dBASE language, we've added commands for menus, screens, windows and extended functions. As a result, you get dBASE compatibility and an entirely new level of power and versatility.

And with Clipper's open architecture, you can write functions in Clipper, C, Assembler or other languages, and integrate them into one seamless application. Which helps you create more sophisti

© Nantucket Corporation, 1988. Nantucket is a registered trademark and Clipper is a trademark of Nantucket Corporation. dBASE is a registered trademark of Ashton-Tate.

cated applications in less time. And by using our full-featured debugger, you'll be done even faster.

We also give you source code security that keeps users from damaging your application. And sophisticated record and file locking capabilities that make networking applications easier to create. But no matter what you create, you don't have to buy runtime modules or additional software.You don't even have to pay licensing fees.

If you haven't tried Clipper yet, just call (213) 390-7923 today. We'll send you full information and a free demo diskette. Or the complete program, if you'd rather.

But call today. And see how easy it is to find the best dBASE development -^

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JUNE 1988 'BYTE 123

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an Get Smart

* !

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IS 24

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etc

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■ Background data spooling or Electronic Mail*

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00

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ATI is a registered trademark of ATI Technologies Inc. MNP is a trademark of Microcom Corporation. Mirror II is a trademark of Softklone Distribution Corporation. Circle 24 on Reader Service Card

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Tel: (416) 756 0711, Tlx: 06-966640 (ATI TOR)

FaX:(416)7S6-0720

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 125

CLEO

now delivers

3278 coax cards

at '795.0QJ

CLEO is your SNA or BSC Gateway

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SYSTEM REVIEW

A Tale of Two Laptops

Wayne Rash Jr.

Cramming the functionality of a complete desktop computer, including monitor, power supply, and hard disk drive, into a briefcase-size package is no small task. Although we're now seeing laptops with far more power than a year ago, design problems still mean compromises.

That's the case with NEC's and Hewlett-Packard's latest laptops. While the MultiSpeed HD and Vectra CS Model 20 are both MS-DOS machines with hard disk drives and liquid crystal displays (LCDs), they are as unlike each other as two such computers can be. Both have solid strengths, and both have significant weaknesses.

The HP Vectra CS Model 20 ($3595) is designed for long battery life and to function well as a desktop computer. It has a full-size keyboard and a screen that maintains the normal aspect ratio of an 80-column monitor. Typing on the Vectra is easy. In fact, the Vectra may have the best keyboard of any laptop computer available.

However, the long battery life and the large screen and keyboard create problems with size and weight. In addition, because of the emphasis on long battery life, HP has outfitted the machine with a display that is not backlit. In short, the Vectra is large, heavy, and difficult to use as a portable.

NEC, on the other hand, has opted for convenience in the MultiSpeed HD ($3695). The computer is smaller and lighter than the Vectra, and it has one of the best screens I've used. Along with the small, light computer comes a small, light battery that tends to run out of steam pretty quickly: The MultiSpeed runs for only an hour or two on internal power.

Like the Vectra, the MultiSpeed has an excellent keyboard, although it is less like that of a desktop IBM PC. In addition,

NEC's MultiSpeed HD and HP's

Vectra CS Model 20 take very different

approaches to portability

The differences between the MultiSpeed (left) and Vectra (right) go beyond appearance.

the screen does not preserve the aspect ratio of the PC, so your pie charts may look like egg charts.

Hewlett-Packard's Approach

HP seems to have placed its emphasis on building a machine that would do well as an office desktop computer that could occasionally be taken into the field. HP claims that the Vectra has exceptionally long battery life for a hard disk drive computer—up to 10 hours. But this machine is unlikely to gain much favor while traveling: Its 19'/2-pound weight and great size conspire against it. In addition, I was unable to get it to run longer than 6 hours before the battery died.

As a desktop machine, it performs bet

ter than other laptops. The fullsize keyboard with separate numeric keypad is about the same size as keyboards on traditional desktops. It has 12 function keys along the top of the keyboard, and the Control and Alt keys are arranged as they are on the IBM Enhanced keyboard. You do not need to learn those mysterious triple-key combinations that plague other laptops. In the office, you can remove the 7-inch by 9 W-inch, 80-column by 25-row LCD screen and plug in a standard monitor. The video controller lets you use either a CGA or an EGA monitor; a switch beneath the battery lets you select the one you want to use. To get to the switch, you have to remove the battery—a step that also erases the setup information for the computer.

The monitor plugs into a 9pin connector on the rear of the computer, next to the parallel printer port. Also on the rear are covers for expansion slots for Expanded Memory Specification (EMS) memory, serial

ports, and modems. The 3'/2

inch floppy disk drive and the 20-megabyte hard disk drive emerge from the top of the computer. Also on the top is a bar graph, resembling a fuel gauge, that shows the life remaining in the lead-acid battery.

The Vectra laptop uses an 8086-compatible NEC V30 processor running at 7.16 MHz. It has 640K bytes of 120nanosecond (ns) RAM, room for an 8087 math coprocessor, and a high-density 1.44-megabyte 3V4-inch floppy disk drive. The computer supports the use of proprietary-bus expansion cards that let you add memory, I/O ports, or modems; this lets you set up the machine for your specific use more easily than with other laptops. You can add an HP-422 serial

continued

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 127

A TALE OF TWO LAPTOPS

Vectra CS Model 20

MultiSpeed HD

Company

Company

Hewlett-Packard

NEC Home Electronics (U.S.A.) Inc.

Customer Information Center

1255 Michael Dr.

19310PruneridgeAve.

Wood Dale, IL 60191

Cupertino, CA 95014

(800) 447-4700

(800) 367-4772

(415)857-1501

Components

Processor: NEC V30 running at 4.77

Components

MHz and 9.54 MHz

Processor: 7.16-MHz NEC V30; socket

Memory: 640K bytes of RAM (first 126K

for optional 8087 math coprocessor

bytes is CMOS, battery-backed-up for

Memory: 640K bytes, expandable to 4

RAMdisk);512K-byteROM

megabytes of EMS memory

Mass storage: 720K-byte 31/2-inch

Mass storage: 1.44-megabyte 31/2-inch

floppy disk drive; 20-megabyte

floppy disk drive; 20-megabyte hard disk

hard disk drive

drive

Display: CGA on internal backlit LCD

Display: CGA on internal LCD screen;

screen or external monitor

CGA and EGA for external monitor

Keyboard: 85 keys, including separate

Keyboard: 92 keys, including separate

numeric keypad

numeric keypad

I/O interfaces: Bidirectional parallel

I/O interfaces: Parallel printer port; four

printer port; RS-232C (25-pin) serial port;

internal proprietary-bus expansion slots

CGA monitor port; floppy disk drive

controller/expansion port

Size

I6V2 by 14 by 31/2 inches; 19V2 pounds

Size

13% by 121/2 by 31/2 inches; 14 pounds

Software

HP Personal Applications Manager

Software

MS-DOS 3.2; in ROM: Telcom, Outliner,

Options

Filer, Dialer, Notepad, Setup

Dual serial adapter with 0 to 2

megabytes of RAM: $220 to $1415

Options

2400-bps synchronous/asynchronous

300-/1200-bps modem: $399

modem; $695

300-/1200-/2400-bps modem: $499

1200-bps asynchronous modem: $450

Leather carrying case: $249

HP Vectra DOS 3,2: $95

Semi-rigid carrying case: $129

12-inch monochrome monitor: $325

Car DC cable: $20

13-inch enhanced monitor: $845

Battery module: $250

Documentation

Recharger: $155

241-page MultiSpeed HD User's

Soft case: $150

Guide; 120-page Introduction to

Technical Reference Manual: $125

MS-DOS; 280-page Outliner-Filer

Notepad User's Manual; 147-page

Documentation

Telcom-Dialer User's Manual

62-page Setting Up the Portable Vectra

CS; MS-DOS manual; pamphlets for disk

Price

cache program; support guide

$3695

Price

Inquiry 885.

$3595

Inquiry 884.

port for instrumentation, for example, or up to 4 megabytes of EMS 3.2 memory for handling large spreadsheets.

The Vectra is quite compatible with the IBM PC. While I do not have the range of software on 3'/2-inch disks that I do on 5 W-inch disks, I was able to confirm that WordStar 4.0, dBASE TU Plus, Multiplan 2.1, Hyper ACCESS 3.2, and Procomm 2.4.2 all work fine. HP says all businessrelated IBM software runs on the Vectra.

Travel Pains

Clearly, HP did not design the Vectra laptop for air travel. Its weight and size

make it inconvenient to carry onboard an aircraft, but this is insignificant compared to the inconvenience of actually using it on one.

I carried the Vectra on a cross-country flight in a United Airlines DC-10. Even though I was traveling First Class, the Vectra was simply too large to use comfortably; using it in Coach would have been out of the question. The computer's weight even bent the table attached to my seat. (These travel pains were eased somewhat by a roomy and attractive vinyl carrying case that looked like leather and was comfortable to carry.)

To make matters worse, the Vectra's LCD screen was essentially illegible in the well-lit aircraft cabin. It remained hard to read in reasonably well lit hotel rooms. The lack of backlighting was a serious handicap under many of the conditions where a laptop computer would be the logical choice. The brightness and contrast controls varied the display, but they could not raise the screen brightness to readable levels.

Using the Vectra is complicated by the minimal documentation that HP provides with the machine. All you get is a slim setup guide, an MS-DOS manual, and some pamphlets that accompany the software and accessories. Additional manuals are available at extra cost.

NEC's Approach

The NEC MultiSpeed computer has earned praise since the floppy disk version was introduced last year—and it deserves the praise. Like its floppy disk-based sibling, the hard disk drive version of the MultiSpeed is well designed and easy to use. Unlike the Vectra, it is light, relatively small, and convenient to use out of the office.

It is also nearly as convenient to use as a desktop machine as the Vectra is. The backlit LCD screen removes in seconds to allow the MultiSpeed to support a standard CGA monitor. The keyboard is excellent, and, like the Vectra, the MultiSpeed supports a separate numeric keypad, although its location is slightly less convenient—above the keyboard rather than next to it.

The external monitor plugs into a 9-pin connector on the rear of the computer. Also located on the rear are a standard parallel printer port, a 25-pin serial port, and a floppy disk drive expansion connector. The rear panel also has a switch that controls the speed of the processor so you can switch between 4.77 MHz (for compatibility with the original IBM PC) and 9.54 MHz. There is also a reset switch on the rear. The connectors are protected by small plastic covers that look like they would get lost easily.

Included with the MultiSpeed are cables that allow the use of Zenith and Toshiba external 5 V* -inch floppy disk drives, and a cable that lets you connect the machine to an IBM PC so the PC can use the MultiSpeed's disks. This permits considerable flexibility in transferring information to and from the MultiSpeed.

The MultiSpeed's 3'/2-inch floppy disk drive is located on the right side of the machine. This drive supports the standard 720K-byte MS-DOS format for 3'/2-inch drives—the same format that Data General, Zenith, and Toshiba use

continued

128 BYTE • JUNE 1988

NEC MultiSpeed HD HPVectraCSModel20

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCE (In minutes and seconds)

NEC MultiSpeed

3.3

WORD PROCESSING NEC

XyWrlte 111+3.52

Load

Word count

Search/replace

End of document

Block move

Spelling check Microsoft Word 4.0

Cursor move

Forward delete Aldus PageMaker 1.0a

Load

Change/bold

Align right

Cut 10 pages

Place graphic

Print to file

Med. Large

/A

25 N/A

10 1

17

10 1

17 1

10

19 1

05

44

05

33

33

24

31 3

54

34 4

5:41 1:27

N/A' N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

HP

Med. Large 28 19 15 47 24 17

:31 :57

N/A1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

DATABASE

dBASEIIH- 1.1

Copy

Index

List

Append

Delete

Pack

Count

Sort

NEC

3:51 :32

4:27

6:49 :08

4:12 :24

3:06

HP

3:06 :29

3:18

5:31 :06

3:30 :24

2:36

Index:

.58

Index:

SPREADSHEET Lotus 1-2-3 2.01

Block copy Recalc

Load Monte Carlo Recalc Monte Carlo Load rlarge3 Recalc rlarge3 Recalc Goal-seek Microsoft Excel 2.0 Fill right Undo fill Recalc Load rlarge3 Recalc rlarge3

.73

NEC

:15 6:16 <:01 1:25

:05

1.262

HP

:14 :05 :59 :27 :15 :04 :13

:19 6:58 <:01 1:20

:05

ENGINEERING/SCIENTIFIC NEC AutoCAD 2.52

Load SoftWest 9:30

Regen SoftWest 8:01

Load St. Pauls 2:37

Regen St. Pauls 2:07

Hide/redraw 1:41:15

STATA1.5

Graphics 3:21

ANOVA " 2:21

MathCAD 2.0

IFS800pts. 4:22

FFT/IFFT1024pts. 5:14

.69

HP

9:41 9:01 2:40 2:25 1:53:57

3:36 2:30

4:49 5:45

HPVectra

3.8

3.8

3.3

Index:

COMPILERS Microsoft C 5.0

XLisp compile Turbo Pascal 4.0

Pascals compile

.32 NEC

14:03 :19

.29 HP

15.02

:17

Index:

.65

.6

Index:

1.01

.97

1 No mouse.

2 The result for the Word cursor move test gives the Vectra a higher overall index than the IBM PC AT for word processing.

Indexes show relative performances: for all indexes, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT=1; graphs are based on indexes.

IBM PC 1.8

IBM PC AT 5

□

Word Processing

□

Database

□

Spreadsheet

□

Scientific Engineering

□

Compilers

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE' (In seconds)

NEC MultiSpeed

CPU NEC HP DISK I/O NEC HP

VIDEO Text

NEC

HP

Matrix 18.71 21.53 Hard Seek*

HP Vectra

String Move Outertrack 9.18 9.16 Byte-wide 116.54 118.67 Innertrack 9.20 9.22

ModeO Model Mode 2

23.34 23.38 25.54

19.61 19.61 21.09

Word-wide: Half platter 23.10 23.05

Odd-bnd. 116.54 118.69 Full platter 27.68 27.72

Mode 3 Mode 7

25.52 23.45

21.07 18.78

Even-bnd. 58.27 59.38 Average 17.29 17.29

IBM PC AT

Sieve 104.32 113.86 DOS Seek

Graphics

Sort 121.66 132.62 1-sector 16.84 17.33

Mode 4

6.88

7.52

Mode 5

6.88

7.52

Index: .68 .6 File I/O'

Mode 6

7.45

8.13

Seek .49 .37

Mode 13

N/A

N/A

FLOATING Read .060 .058

Mode 14

N/A

N/A

POINT* NEC HP Write .061 .054

Mode 16

N/A

N/A

Math N/A N/A 1-megabyte

Error3 N/A N/A Write 16.79 13.47

Index:

.6

.6

Slne(x) N/A N/A Read 13.97 10.05

e* N/A N/A Index: .5 .58

■

Error N/A N/A

CPU

1 All figures were generated using the 8088/8086 version of Small-C (16-bit

CONVENTIONAL

□

integers).

BENCHMARKS

2 The floating-point benchmarks used 8087-compatible instructions only.

NEC

HP

FPU

3 The errors reported for the floating-point benchmarks indicate the difference

LIN PACK

8846

9739

□

between expected and actual values.

4 Times reported by the Hard Seek and DOS Seek are for multiple seek

Disk I/O

operations (number of seeks performed currently set to 100).

(MFLOPS)

.uu^t

.0022 ,

5 Read and write times for the File I/O benchmarks are in seconds per Kbyte.

Dhrystone (MS c 5 0)

□

6 For the Livermore Loops and Dhrystone tests only, higher numbers mean

(Dhry/sec)

1164

1066

faster performance.

Video

For a full description of the benchmarks, see "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks" on page 239.

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 128A

A TALE OF TWO LAPTOPS

for their laptops. The 20-megabyte hard disk drive is hidden deep in the machine.

The MultiSpeed's computing power comes from NEC's 9.54-MHz V30 microprocessor. There is no provision for an 8087 math coprocessor. The first 126K bytes of the 640K-byte memory is low-power CMOS RAM that stays powered up by the battery and can be used as a nonvolatile RAM disk. The RAM disk software is included with the system.

The 2200-milliampere nickel-cadmium battery that powers the MultiSpeed when it's being used as a portable is beneath an easily removed cover just behind the screen. It is designed for quick replacement, making its short life somewhat less of a problem. Still, you can expect only an hour or two of operation using both the hard disk drive and the screen backlighting.

The MultiSpeed gets its name from its ability to operate at two different speeds. This function is controlled by a DIP switch on the rear panel of the machine. While there was once a need for the slower speed to satisfy some copy-protection schemes, the problem seems to have disappeared; although a few games still operate properly only at the slower

speed, the multiple-speed capability seems to be of questionable value.

Included with the MultiSpeed is a collection of ROM-based applications. The machine's 512K-byte ROM contains Telcom, Outliner, Filer, Dialer, Notepad, and Setup. The machine has sockets for four additional ROMs beyond the two that contain the applications.

A dedicated key, labeled "Pop-up" on the keyboard, invokes these applications. When the key is pressed, a menu appears, and you select the program you want. The machine normally has these applications enabled, along with the RAM disk, but you can clear them out of memory if you need the space. In addition to the ROM software, the MultiSpeed also includes MS-DOS 3.2, and there is a help key that produces ROM-resident help screens for the built-in applications.

On the Road with the MultiSpeed

The MultiSpeed HD is built for the convenience of the person who must use it while traveling. This machine fits well on the tables in First Class on a DC-10, and its weight is within their capabilities. The screen was easily visible under any lighting conditions I encountered while traveling. Unfortunately, the short bat

tery life limits your productivity on a long flight.

The MultiSpeed also works well in hotels and offices. The external power supply can use 50- or 60-Hz power from 100 to 220 volts. In short, you can use it anywhere. Its relatively small size and light weight make it easy to carry while traveling, and its rugged fabric case is well designed.

The machine's use is enhanced by the excellent manuals that have become one of NEC's strong points. The four manuals are clearly written, well illustrated, and very helpful to users who find themselves with questions in places where they can't ask for help.

Similar Performance

A quick look at the benchmarks (see the graphs on page 128A) shows that these two machines perform similarly, despite the difference in CPU speeds. It's clear that the Vectra operates without wait states, negating much of the MultiSpeed's potential speed advantage. Still, the MultiSpeed is slightly faster in all the standard CPU benchmarks. This can be attributed primarily to its slightly higher clock speed.

continued

Travel Companions.

The WorldPort 2400™ and the WorldPort 1200™ modems are the perfect travel companions for your portable computer. They work virtually anywhere in the world, including hotel rooms and phone booths, allowing you to connect in a few million more locations than other modems.

With features superior to internal units, the WorldPort line of modems is the smart choice for all your communication needs. WorldPort modems operate from their own

internal battery, drawing no power from your laptop. Cutting edge technology brings you features such as Bell and CCITT standards, direct connect and acoustic interface (300 and 1200 bps), tiny size and a tiny price. The WorldPort 1200™ can be easily upgraded to 2400 bps and both the WorldPort 2400™ and the upgrade come with Carbon Copy PLUS™ communications software.

Find out more about the travel companions that won't tie down your portable computer.

Call us today for more information about the WorldPort line of modems, or the name of your nearest dealer, at 800-541 -0345. (In New York, 516-261-0423.)

WorldPort 1200 and WorldPort 2400 are trademarks of Touchbase Systems, Inc., Carbon Copy PLUS is a trademark of Meridian Technology Inc.

Touchbase Systems, Inc. 160 Laurel Avenue Northport, NY 11768 (516)261-0423 TELEX: 6502848020 FAX: (516) 754-3491

128B BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 277 on Reader Service Card

The easy to set net.

The only thing easier than installing a PC/NOS™ Network Kit- is using it! What more can you say about a complete four-user network that costs only $1395?

Plenty!

The powerful, full-featured PC/NOS LAN operating system meets all your workgroup or business networking requirements. Yet spares you the difficulties of intricate set-up and operationespecially if you're just getting into networking.

Easy to set. You can install the PC/NOS Network Kit in less than an hour. Just connect your computers and peripherals. Then load the PC/NOS software. It's that easy!

And even easier to operate. PC/NOS' advanced software technology allows you to fully utilize all

the equipment on your network from any network station. And you can control it effortlessly with industry standard PC-DOS™ or MS-DOS™ commands. You can even add the capability to share modems as well as access SNA and X.25 networks.

Get the best net net. Corvus' PC/NOS Network Kit makes more business sense out of fewer business dollars. A complete four-user network for only $1395

Connect with Corvus. The PC/NOS Network Kit is not only easy to set, it's also easy to get. Just contact your local dealer or call 1-800-4 CORVUS. Corvus Systems, Inc., 160 Great Oaks Blvd., San Jose, CA 95119-1347.

1-800-4 C0RVIIS

The Corvus PC/NOS Network Kit functions as a complete starter kit for four users, yet can expand easily up to 64 users without having to upgrade the operating system. Just order additional cards at a cost of $149 each. The $1395 Kit consists of PC/NOS network software, four Omninet/1 interface cards and cable.

Gorvus

The Net Works"

PC/NOS is a trademark of Corvus Systems, Inc.

PC-DOS is a trademark of International Business Machines, Inc.

MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft, Inc.

© Copyright 1988 Corvus Systems, Inc.

Circle 306 on Reader Service Card

A TALE OF TWO LAPTOPS

The two machines split wins in the hard disk tests, with the Vectra coming out slightly ahead in the tests that go through the operating system for disk access. The screen display tests came through with another split, with the MultiSpeed a bit faster in graphics and the Vectra much faster at displaying text.

Although the Vectra turned in a slightly higher overall score in the applications benchmarks, these tests also failed to deliver a strong winner. Some of the applications, such as Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, and AutoCAD, showed the MultiSpeed to be

the faster machine. Others, notably dBASE HI Plus and Word, favored the Vectra. It is important to note that the results of the Vectra running Word show a level of performance not supported by other tests. It looks like the Vectra's keyrepeat rate and graphics display connected perfectly with Word to make the HP computer a real screamer on this application.

While the benchmarks didn't show either computer to be clearly superior to the other, they did show that both computers perform well. Both machines con

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A Winner on Convenience

In terms of convenience, there is a significant difference between the machines. On one hand, there is the massive Vectra with its full-size keyboard and long battery life. On the other hand is the convenience of the MultiSpeed, tempered by its short battery life.

The Vectra's strengths make it a good solution if you need a machine that works well as a desktop computer but must occasionally be taken out of the office. The key word here is "occasionally." The lack of backlighting makes using the Vectra a chore in the field.

The Vectra's size and weight also conspire against its usefulness. The battery is again partly the culprit, but so is the placement of the numeric keypad, which is located in the same place as the keypad on desktop machines. Nice, but I'm not convinced it's worth the cost in space and weight. The MultiSpeed's keypad works quite well located above the letter keys, and it allows for a much more compact machine.

The MultiSpeed performs nearly all the functions that the Vectra does, and it works equally well as a desktop machine, except that it does not support an EGA monitor. In addition, unlike the Vectra, the MultiSpeed is a willing traveler. It can be used conveniently out of the office, although, because of the short battery life, it cannot be used for long.

In spite of the battery-life problem, the MultiSpeed's usability and portability make it one of the best laptops available. Clearly, a great deal of thought went into meeting the needs of laptop users. If I had to make a choice between the MultiSpeed and Vectra, I'd choose the MultiSpeed.

There are other choices, however. If you're willing to live with a couple of extra pounds, the highly regarded Zenith Z-183 provides the best of both worlds. It has a screen the size of the Vectra's that's as easy to read as the MultiSpeed's. Its keyboard is not as good as the Vectra's or the MultiSpeed's, but its battery life is nearly as good as the Vectra's, lasting nearly 5 hours in the latest tests I performed. There's also the T3100/20 from Toshiba, which gives you all the performance of the LBM PC AT, with an 80286 and a fast hard disk drive, but which has no battery. For me, it's a toss-up between the MultiSpeed and the Zenith. ■

Wayne Rash Jr. is a member of the professional staff of American Management Systems, Arlington, Virginia. He consults with the federal government on microcomputers and communications.

128D BYTE* JUNE 1988

Circle 215 on Reader Service Card

When your basic quantum leap is just not enough:

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• 232 routines (226 in Assembly)

• 600 page 3-part manual

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• Full mouse support

Plus 200 essential services from director)' and equipment routines to handy string, date, time, and input routines.

Sick of running out of string space? Store hundreds of K in numeric arrays or megabytes in EMS arrays. Tired of using a kludgy SHELL to DIR to read a directory? Scan subdirectories using wild-cards and store thousands of file names, dates, and times. Wish you could drag a window containing text or a menu around the screen with a mouse? It's easy!

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ProBas gives you a complete set of blazinglyfast file routines. Read or write up to 64k chunks of data at a clip, with file locking and error handling so that you can even use them in subprograms. You'll never want to use BASIC'S file I/O again! No royalty and not copv protected. For all versions of QuickBASIC and BASCOM including BASCOM 6.0 for OS/2. Just $99.00!

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 128E

HARDWARE REVIEWS

Revitalize Your Old AT

Don Crabb

The dream of every computer owner is to take the old machine and make it run faster, give it more versatility, keep it compatible with current software, and do all that for very little money. Most owners, however, just replace the old machine with a newer model. While the price of 80386-based machines has dropped over the last year, you can still expect to pay $3000 and up for the privilege of owning one. And if you've set your sights on the high end of the market (such as the Compaq Deskpro 386/20 or the IBM PS/2 Model 80), you can expect to pay over $10,000. Equip these high-end models with big, fast hard disk drives and lots of memory, and the price reaches the $20,000 range. In addition, you absorb the cost of your old AT, which just languishes in the background once you've bought an 80386 machine.

There is an alternative. You can replace the original motherboard in your computer with a newer 80386 motherboard. With a 32-bit processor and 32-bit data and address paths, an 80386 machine can give you a tremendous perfor

Four 80386 replacement

motherboards significantly improve

your ATs performance

mance advantage over an 80286-based system. These motherboards typically cost about $1500 and up—less than a full 80386 system but more than an 80386 accelerator card. They offer better performance than accelerator cards, however, because combining an accelerator card and an older AT motherboard can create an I/O bottleneck.

Many of the early 80386 boards (such as the Intel iSBC 386 AT) did not take advantage of very-large-scale-integration (VLSI) custom chips; consequently, they were crowded designs whose performance was far below the predicted level. That has all changed in the last several months: A whole slew of 80386 replacement motherboards for PC XT and PC AT chassis has appeared.

For this review, I looked at four 80386 motherboards made for AT-style chassis:

the Fortran 386, the Micronics 386, the Turnpoint 386, and the Whole Earth Electronics (Mylex) 386. These boards are designed to improve the overall performance of your AT by 2 to 4 times by executing instructions on a faster 16- or 20-MHz 80386 chip. They also supply additional fast 32bit RAM that can be used to further increase system performance while maintaining compatibility with DOS 3.x and your applications software.

These boards replace the existing motherboard in your AT. Basically, you must disembowel your AT to install one of the boards. They have the usual complement of slots (32-bit, 16-bit, and 8-bit), plus keyboard connectors, a keylock, LED connectors, jumpers, a batterypowered clock/calendar, coprocessor sockets (for 80387 or 80287 chips), and a power supply connector that you'd expect to find in any AT-style motherboard.

AT Chassis Required

Besides upgrading an AT, you can easily build your own 80386 machine around

128F BYTE • JUNE 1988

one of these boards by adding a power supply (185 watts or greater), a generic AT chassis, an AT-style keyboard and cable, a combination floppy disk drive/ hard disk drive controller, a floppy disk drive, a hard disk drive, a speaker, a keylock, a turbo switch, and status LEDs, plus a monitor and an EGA or VGA video card. All you'd have to add to this mix is DOS 3.1 or higher, and you'd have a fast, inexpensive 80386 machine.

Some of the boards come with 32-bit memory standard on the board itself, while others come with their standard RAM on a 32-bit plug-in card. In any case, each board I tested came with a minimum of 1 megabyte of 32-bit RAM.

But if you're not up to building a new system from scratch, these boards will function nicely in most AT-style computers. As long as your machine's motherboard conforms to the AT's motherboard form factor (roughly 12 inches by 13 inches), you should be able to install any of these boards as an upgrade replacement. Your only other consideration is your keyboard; if it's not AT-compatible, it may not work with the

particular keyboard ROM BIOS installed in the motherboard you buy. Other hardware compatibility issues are minor, since you are giving up your existing AT motherboard in favor of a new system with new ROM BIOS, a new processor, new RAM, and so on.

Not for the Novice

Replacement motherboards are not for the timid or the novice, or even the casual board twiddler, and don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise. While these boards can boost your AT's performance, they can be very tricky to install and configure. I've been building and using computers for 20 years, and I can't imagine anyone thinking that the complete dismantling of an AT and installation of a new motherboard is "simple." The manufacturers of all the boards I tested caution against inexperienced people installing these boards. Indeed, many of the 80386 motherboards now on the market were originally sold only to OEMs because of the difficulty of installing them. Typically, you have to ground the AT's chassis (with a grounded antistatic mat),

yourself (using a wrist grounding strap), and the replacement motherboard (using an alligator clip wired to a separate ground) before you begin. Then you have to dismantle your current AT, noting where all the board connectors are located and how they're connected.

The grounding process also has to be done carefully to avoid a ground loop that would reinforce any static problems. A ground loop is what occurs when you have more than one common ground for any electrical potential. You want only one true ground for any such potential. Ground loops tend to reinforce static effects rather than dissipate them. The best situation is to run one true earth ground to each electrical surface you want to ground; such grounding is called an isolated ground. By definition, isolated grounds cannot result in ground loops.

After dismantling your AT, you have to install the new 80386 motherboard in the chassis. Then you reconnect the power supply, install the disk controller, and reinstall the disk drives, keyboard, keylock, status LEDs, turbo switch and LED

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 128G

REVITALIZE YOUR OLD AT

Fortran 386

Micronics 386

Turnpoint 386

Type

80386 replacement motherboard

80386 replacement motherboard

80386 replacement motherboard

Company

Fortran Corp.

Micronics Computers Inc.

Turnpoint America

2380 Qume Dr., Suite F

935 Benecia Ave.

150 North Center St. .Suite 224

San Jose, CA 95131

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

P.O. Box 41334

(408)432-1191

(408) 732-0940

Reno, NV 89504 (702) 786-4484

Design Topology

Not specified

Not specified

Not specified

Components

Processor: 80386 running at 16

Processor: 80386-20 running at 20

Processor: 80386-16 running at 16

MHz with one wait state; socket for

MHz with zero wait states;

MHz with zero wait states; optional

optional 80387 or 80287 math

compatibility speed operation at

80287-10 math coprocessor

coprocessor

16, 8, 6, and 4.77 MHz; optional

Memory: Optional 2-megabyte 32

Memory: 2 megabytes of RAM

Intel 80287-8, 80287-10, 80387-16,

bit RAM board; AMI 386 ROM

standard on 32-bit plug-in memory

or 80387-20 math coprocessor

BIOS; optional Award or Phoenix

card (no RAM on motherboard);

(test unit included an 80387-20 on

BIOS; AMI keyboard BIOS

optional 2- or 8-megabyte

a special daughterboard that also

Other: Speaker, turbo switch, and

accessory memory card; Award

held the 80386-20)

LED connectors; keylock; AT-style

Software or Phoenix Technologies

Memory: 1 megabyte of RAM on

keyboard jack supplied; standard

386 ROM BIOS and keyboard

motherboard; optional 2-megabyte

AT-style power connectors

BIOS

32-bit memory board; expandable

supplied; system support functions

Slots: Four AT-style 16-bit slots; two

to 10 megabytes with optional 8

include seven-channel DMA, 16

proprietary 32-bit slots for system

megabyte 32-bit memory board;

level interrupt, three programmable

memory; two XT-style 8-bit slots

Phoenix 386 ROM BIOS; Award

timers, and a real-time clock;

Other: Speaker, turbo switch, and

keyboard ROM BIOS; Award ROM

CMOS RAM to maintain system

LED connectors; keylock; AT-style

BIOS and Phoenix keyboard ROM

configuration parameters; battery

keyboard jack supplied; standard

BIOS also available at no extra cost

backup for CMOS configuration

AT-style power connectors

(board has sockets for both ROM

table and real-time clock

supplied; two serial ports and one

BIOS and can be software

Slots: Five AT-style 16-bit slots; two

parallel port; real-time clock/

selectable as desired)

XT-style 8-bit slots; one 32-bit slot

calendar with battery backup for

Slots: Five AT-style 16-bit slots; two

for proprietarty RAM board

system configuration CMOS RAM

XT-style 8-bit slots; one 32-bit slot

Warranty: One year parts and labor

Warranty: One year

for proprietary RAM board Other: Speaker, turbo switch, and LED connectors; keylock; AT-style keyboard jack supplied; standard AT-style power connectors supplied; battery backup for CMOS configuration table and real-time clock Warranty: One year parts and labor

Size

12 by 13 inches; conforms to AT

12 by 13 inches; conforms to AT

12 by 13 inches; conforms to AT

motherboard form factor

motherboard form factor

motherboard form factor

Software

R0MBI0S utility for running ROM in

RAM BIOS and EGA BIOS utilities

None supplied

32-bit RAM

for relocating BIOS into 32-bit RAM; MICEMM (LIM/EMS) software

Options

2-megabyte DRAM memory board:

2-megabyte 32-bit memory board:

2-megabyte 32-bit memory board

$850

$995

with OK bytes of DRAM: $149

8-megabyte DRAM memory board:

8-megabyte 32-bit memory board:

80287-10 coprocessor: $300

$2650

$4995

80287-8 coprocessor: $250

80387 adapter: $99

80287-10 coprocessor: $289

80387-16 coprocessor: $485

Documentation

The Complete Computer

386 System and Memory Board

80386 Motherboard User's Manual

Companion; Motherboard Jumper

User Manual

Settings and Hard Disk Installation

Guide

Price

With 2-megabyte DRAM card: $2250

With 2 megabytes of DRAM: $2950

With OK bytes of DRAM: $1495

Inquiry 886.

Inquiry 887.

Inquiry 888.

128H BYTE • JUNE 1988

REVITALIZE YOUR OLD AT

Whole Earth Electronics (Mylex) 386

80386 replacement motherboard

Whole Earth Electronics 1321 67th St. Emeryville, CA 94608 (415)653-7758 (800) 323-8080

Eight-layer

Processor. 80386-16 running at 6 MHz or 16 MHz with zero wait states; optional Intel 80287-8 math coprocessor, running at 8 MHz or 10 MHz (can be externally clocked to run at 10 MHz) Memory: 1 or 4 megabytes of RAM (must be specified when ordering, since the board RAM is not field-upgradable); 64K bytes of 40-ns 32-bit SRAM cache; AMI 386 ROM BIOS, rev. 09/03/87, with firmware setup and diagnostics, including real-time clock setup; AMI keyboard BIOS, version 6 Slots: Six AT-style 16-bit slots; two XTstyle 8-bit slots

Other: Speaker, turbo switch, and LED connectors; keylock; AT-style keyboard jack supplied; standard AT-style power connectors supplied; system support functions include seven-channel DMA, 16-level interrupt, three programmable timers, and a real-time clock; CMOS RAM to maintain system configuration parameters; battery backup for CMOS configuration table and real-time clock Warranty: 30-day unconditional moneyback guarantee; one year parts and labor; extended warranty available

12 by 13 inches; conforms to AT motherboard form factor

None supplied

80287-10 coprocessor: $309 80387-16 coprocessor (requires daughterboard): $549 80387-20 coprocessor (requires daughterboard): Call for price Daughterboard: $179

Mylex 386 Manual

With 1 megabyte of DRAM: $1595 With 4 megabytes of DRAM: $3095

Inquiry 889.

(if you have a hardware turbo speed switch), speaker, external battery backup, adapter cards, and so on before you can start the configuration process (i.e., setting DIP switches and jumpers, running the ROM BIOS configuration routines, and running any supplied utility programs). Plus, you may have to partition and reformat your hard disk drive and reload your existing software and data from backups, since you may encounter problems when using a hard disk drive formatted by your old system.

Even with all these precautions, and with my experience, the Mylex board sold by Whole Earth Electronics managed to die a static-induced death and had to be replaced for this review.

Minimal Instructions

None of the documentation supplied with these boards will win any awards for information or appearance. The manuals are for competent hardware jockeys who know all about address lines, dynamic versus static RAM (SRAM), and memory interleaving. At that level, they are a minimal success. Still, as a card-carrying member of the Hardware Jockeys of America, I wished for even more technical information in the manuals. All of them could have used complete board schematics instead of the paltry drawings of gross topology that were included.

The best of a mediocre lot was the Turnpoint manual. The worst was the Fortron, since it lacked any visual aids. Still, I'd rate none of the manuals above a minimally satisfactory level. For novices, these manuals represent a disaster waiting to happen: one more reason why inexperienced people should not be turned loose with these boards. A dead AT will likely be the result.

Looking at the Hardware

All the boards are approximately 12 by 13 inches, the AT motherboard form factor, so they all should fit into a standard ATstyle case. Each board is predrilled for mounting according to the AT standard mounting stanchions. Each comes with an 80386 CPU chip, a number of 8- and 16-bit slots, connectors for a keyboard and a speaker, a keylock, an external battery (for the on-board clock/calendar), a power-on LED, and supporting circuitry. All the boards can support a floatingpoint coprocessor (80287 or 80387), but none of the tested boards supports the WeitekWTL 1167 chip.

The Micronics board came with an 80386 running at 20 MHz and included an optional 20-MHz 80387 math coprocessor. The rest used 80386 chips running at 16 MHz. The Fortron board has a socket for an 80287 or 80387. The Mylex

board uses an 8-MHz 80287, while the Turnpoint uses a 10-MHz 80287.

All the boards included at least one 32bit expansion slot, except the Mylex board. Its 32-bit RAM cannot be expanded with external cards, so it is limited to on-board RAM (1 or 4 megabytes)—a significant disadvantage. Each board supported the 8-MHz I/O bus timing common for ATs.

The Mylex memory was composed of 36 256K- by 1-bit dynamic RAM (DRAM) chips (including parity chips), for a total of 1 megabyte of DRAM, using 120-nanosecond (ns) chips. Mylex also includes 64K bytes of 40-ns 32-bit highspeed SRAM that caches the entire 16megabyte memory-address space, with no-wait-state caching, improving performance over an uncached processor. It is implemented with a write-through algorithm. The board comes with the 386 ROM BIOS and keyboard BIOS manufactured by American Megatrends International (AMI). Mylex does not include any software to relocate the BIOS or EGA BIOS to RAM. With 1 megabyte of DRAM, the board lists for $1595.

System support functions of the Mylex board include seven-channel direct memory access (DMA), 16 levels of hardware interrupt, three programmable timers, and a real-time clock. CMOS RAM is used to maintain system configuration parameters. A battery backup for the CMOS configuration table and the realtime clock/calendar is included.

The Fortron board ($2250) includes no RAM on the motherboard, but it has 2 megabytes standard on a proprietary 32bit plug-in memory card. I also received an extra 2 megabytes on a second memory card. Each memory card has 72 120ns 256K- by 1-bit DRAM chips (including parity chips). Each card arranged the chips into 1-megabyte RAM banks, with two-way interleaving between the banks. The Fortron board did not include any SRAM cache, and this lack affected its performance rating: It was the slowest of the boards running the benchmarks.

Fortron equips its 386 motherboard with the Award 386 ROM BIOS and keyboard BIOS. Fortron also includes a ROM BIOS utility that copies the slow system ROM onto the fast 32-bit RAM. The Fortron board comes with a realtime clock /calendar and a battery backup that also powers the system configuration CMOS RAM.

The Micronics board came with 2 megabytes of RAM on the motherboard. In this configuration, the board sells for $2950. The memory is composed of 72 100-ns 256K- by 1-bit static-column DRAM chips (including parity chips).

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 129

REVITALIZE YOUR OLD AT

Table 1: The Micronics 386, with its 20-MHz 80386, was the speed champ, comparing favorably to the Compaq Deskpro 386/20. The Whole Earth (Mylex) 386, Fortron 386, and Turnpoint 386, all with 16-MHz 80386s, had performances comparable to the IBM PS/2 Model 80.

Fortron

Micronics

Turnpoint

Whole Earth

Compaq

IBM PS/2

386

386

386

(Mylex) 386

386/20

Model 80

80287-10

80387-20

80287-10

80287-10

80387-20

80387-16

Dhrystone*

3302

5120

3720

3610

5705

3626

Fibonacci

59.49

41.2

54.5

56.1

38.27

57.26

Float

7.01

1.25

5.3

5.65

1.10

1.62

Savage

24.51

7.05

20.18

22.1

6.53

9.49

Sieve

6.9

3.75

6.0

5.59

3.88

6.45

Sort

6.98

4.85

5.71

5.93

4.89

7.74

Disk access in BASIC

Write

6.4

4.8

5.4

5.5

4.8

7.1

Read

5.9

4.7

4.9

4.9

2.5

4.6

BASIC performance Sieve

30

16

27

28

15

27

Calculations

11

5.1

8.9

9.2

4.6

9.2

Spreadsheet Load

2.2

0.8

1.8

1.8

0.7

1.8

Recalculate

4.5

3.0

4.3

4.3

2.8

4.9

System utilities 40K File Copy

2.2

0.9

1.7

1.8

0.5

0.7

For a description of the C language benchmarks, see "A Closer Look" by Richard Grehan in the September 1987 BYTE. All times are in seconds, except for the Dhrystone, which is in Dhrystones per second. The Disk Access benchmarks write and then read a 64K-byte sequential text file to a hard disk. Sieve runs one iteration of the Sieve of Eratosthenes. Calculations performs 10.000 multiplication and division operations. The Spreadsheet

'For the Dhrystone test only, higher figures denote faster performance.

tests load and recalculate a 100-row by 25-column Multiplan (1.06) spreadsheet. The 40K File Copy benchmark copies a 40K-byte file on the hard disk. The BASIC benchmark programs were run with MS-DOS 3.2 and GWBASIC 3.3 on all the motherboards. The Compaq Deskpro 386/20 ran MS-DOS 3.31 and GWBASIC 3.3. The IBM PS/2 Model 80 ran PC-DOS 3.3 and BASICA 3.3.

Included with the reviewed board was an additional 2 megabytes of 32-bit RAM on a proprietary plug-in card. The maximum memory you can load on the accessory card, using 1-megabit chips, is 8 megabytes, giving the Micronics board a maximum of 10 megabytes of 32-bit RAM. The Micronics board is the only one of the four I tested that uses staticcolumn DRAM, like the Compaq Deskpro 386/20, rather than two-way interleaved DRAM.

Micronics includes a real-time clock and configuration CMOS RAM that are both backed up by a battery. The Micronics board supports operation at five processor speeds: 4.77, 6, 8, 16, and 20 MHz. You can specify either the Phoenix or the Award ROM BIOS and keyboard BIOS when you order this board. For $50 over the list price, Micronics will supply you with two sets of ROM BIOS chips: one from Phoenix, the other from Award. A nice touch.

Micronics also includes both a BIOS and EGA BIOS relocation utility for moving this code from the slower ROM to the faster 32-bit RAM. The Micronics board is also the only one I tested that includes a software assist for supporting the Lotus/ Intel/Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification (LIM/EMS) 2.0 using its 32-bit extended memory. If you are plan

ning to use OS/2, however, be advised that Intel hasn't yet written a driver that will allow the proper operation of LIM/ EMS software under OS/2.

Turnpoint America's 386 motherboard included 2 megabytes of 32-bit DRAM on the board, composed of 72 120-ns 256K- by 1-bit DRAM chips, with a twoway interleave. An additional 8 megabytes of 32-bit RAM can be plugged into the 32-bit expansion slot using proprietary cards. With OK bytes of DRAM, the board sells for $1495; a 2-megabyte memory board with OK bytes is $149.

The Turnpoint board also provides the usual seven-channel DMA, 16 levels of hardware interrupts, three programmable timers, and a real-time clock/calendar. Both the clock and its CMOS configuration RAM come with a battery backup. The Turnpoint board comes with the AMI ROM BIOS and keyboard ROM. Turnpoint does not include any BIOS relocation software.

Other than design discrepancies (including the use of some custom VLSI chips) and the inclusion or absence of onboard RAM, these boards were remarkably similar in appearance, location of connectors, and ease of installation. The Micronics board follows the design and layout of the Compaq 386/20 board (with the exception of Micronics' 387 daugh

terboard), while the Fortron and Turnpoint boards follow the Intel iSBC 386 board layout. The Mylex board conforms to the design of the AMI 386 board.

Although speed differences surfaced during testing, all these boards juice up the performance of a tired PC AT quite nicely. None showed excessive postproduction engineering modifications, although the Mylex board did have a few new traces added after the substrate had been cast. Overall, each board has a solid, quality-built appearance.

Compatibility Testing

I tried every DOS-compatible application I could lay my hands on with these boards. That included all categories of applications: integrated programs such as Framework II version 1.1, Symphony 2.0, SuperCalc 3 version 1, Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.01 A, Smart Software 3.10, Enable 2.0, and Open Access II version 2.05; project management programs like Time Line 1.0, ABT Project Manager 1.0, and Harvard Total Project Manager 1.0; database programs like dBASE m Plus 1.1, Paradox 2.0, Unify 1.1, Informix-SQL 1.1, Revelation 1.0, and DataFlex 2.2; financial programs like Managing Your Money 2.0 and Financial Independence 1.0; the CAD program

continued

130 BYTE- JUNE 1988

The best thing next to an IBM PC. OFany PC.

Model 310/360

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The affordable Models 310 and 410, when equipped with cartridges, offer PC terminal function for all multi-user PCs. That includes the IBM® RT-PC™computer and the IBM PS/2™ family.

What's more, Models 310 and 410 offer many popular emulations. Optional cartridges provide features such as concurrent DEC™ and PC connectivity, and auto dial. Both models come with a 3-year warranty. Add an IBM Maintenance Agreement, and you'll get five years of IBM service for just $54.

The ergonomics of IBM ASCII displays.

They're not only economically attractive, they're easy to look at. Flat 14" screens offer non-glare viewing. Green or amber/gold

short-persistence phosphors produce crisp character resolution. And each model uses the advanced 102-key IBM keyboard.

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w

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IBM is a registered trademark, and PS/2 and RT-PC are trademarks, of IBM Corporation. DEC is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. © IBM 1988.

REVITALIZE YOUR OLD AT

AutoCAD 1.1; word processors, including WordPerfect 4.2, Samna Word IV version 1.0, and MultiMate 1.0; several languages, such as Turbo Pascal 87 version 1.0, Microsoft FORTRAN 1.0, Microsoft C 4.0, and Lattice C 1.0; a statistics package called Systat 1.1; and a number of other programs, including some shareware utilities, games, and communications programs.

Without exception, each board ran these applications at the full rated 80386 speeds of 16 or 20 MHz. AMI, Phoenix, and Award Software's 386 BIOS provide complete compatibility. A few old games and some custom programs, including Flight Simulator 1.0, wouldn't work on these boards at the full rated speeds.

I also briefly tested each board's ability to boot a Microsoft OS/2 system disk (version 1.02). Each booted the disk properly, except the Mylex board (OS/2 needs 2 megabytes to operate, and more to run multiple applications). I also tried a beta version of database software for OS/2 on all but the Mylex board. It crashed frequently on the other boards. Since this beta software also crashed repeatedly on an IBM PS/2 Model 80, it's not a fair test of OS/2 compatibility. Based on my testing and the availability of different ROM BIOS for each board, I'd say that each of these boards, given sufficient memory, will handle OS/2 and multitasking applications properly.

I also had the chance to test each board with Microsoft Windows/386. Each board did the job properly, although I ran out of memory when I tried to open applications on the Mylex board.

Performance Results

All benchmarks (see table 1) were run with the replacement motherboards installed in the chassis of an 8-MHz IBM AT configured with a 30-megabyte hard disk drive (40-millisecond average access time), an IBM EGA card and enhanced color monitor, one 1.2-megabyte floppy disk drive, the combined IBM hard disk drive/floppy disk drive controller, and the standard AT keyboard. I used MSDOS 3.2, GWBASIC 3.3, and Multiplan 1.06 to run the benchmarks.

I took advantage of every hardware and software performance assist available on each board when testing: If a board had an 80287 or 80387 coprocessor, it was installed and used. If a board came with utility software to move ROM and EGA BIOS code out of slow ROM chips onto the fast 32-bit RAM, I used it. In short, I tested these boards under their best possible performance configurations, given the equipment I was supplied. I tested the Fortron board using an 80287-10 math coprocessor, since it did not come sup

plied with one; I used the same 80287-10 in testing the Mylex board, instead of the 80287-8 supplied. Finally, I tested the Turnpoint board with its own 80287-10.

The Micronics board was the fastest of the reviewed boards during benchmark testing. It ran away from the others, which is not too surprising considering its 20-MHz clock speed, 80387-20 chip, and 100-ns static-column DRAM. It also effectively relocated ROM and EGA BIOS into the 32-bit speed RAM, using a special utility, REL0CATE.EXE. The EGA BIOS relocation was effective; it really helped EGA I/O performance. The ROM relocation speedup was not noticeable in my tests.

The Turnpoint board was faster than the Mylex board, although not by a significant percentage, despite the Mylex board's 64K-byte RAM cache. The Fortron board proved to be the slowest of the group, although it still provided a sizable performance jolt to my test AT. The ROMBIOS Fortron utility, for pulling the ROM BIOS into 32-bit RAM, had no effect on my benchmarks. Neither the Turnpoint board nor the Mylex board included a ROM BIOS copying utility aimed at improving performance.

Recommendations

If speed and raw horsepower were the only considerations, the choice would be Micronics. But making a choice purely on speed is a mistake because it ignores other buying concerns, the most important of which is value. If a replacement motherboard costs too much to buy, then all the performance in the world won't benefit you. For me, value is just as important as performance, especially since the four boards I tested all made my tired old AT come to life.

With these biases in mind, I picked the Turnpoint 386 board as my first choice in this group. The Turnpoint has the best manual, as well as the second best benchmark times. It was about equally troublesome to install as the other boards. Turnpoint's technical staff was hard to reach, but knowledgeable the one time I got through. The Turnpoint board combines speed, RAM expandability (up to 10 megabytes), and an attractive price ($1495 with for a board with OK bytes of DRAM). Overall, it was the best buy of the lot, combining solid performance with a good price.

At $2950 with 2 megabytes of DRAM, the Micronics board was the most expensive one I tested, although that $2950 buys a lot: an 80386-20 and an 80387-20, a choice of the Phoenix or Award ROM BIOS, and memory expandability to 10 megabytes. The Micronics board performed much like the Compaq Deskpro

386/20 in my benchmarks, and the technical-support staff was reliable over the phone. The board also supports LIM/ EMS through a software assist—a feature the other boards lack. The Micronics board performed flawlessly during my tests.

Although the Micronics 386 has outstanding performance, it's just too pricey compared to the other boards I tested. If Micronics could get the single-unit price down to. under $2000, it would easily be the pick of this litter. As pricing currently stands, the Micronics board checks into the number two spot on my preference list.

The Whole Earth Electronics (Mylex) board was a decent buy in its 1-megabyte version at $1595, but the 4-megabyte version (the only other choice) was an expensive $3095. The Mylex board was a fine performer, even though it ended up third in my benchmark tests. It comes with a 64K-byte processor cache—a performance plus that didn't shine during testing but might make an important difference in day-to-day software use.

The big advantage of the Mylex board is the company selling it. Whole Earth Electronics is an established company with a good reputation, and you can feel comfortable buying from it. Still, the Mylex 386 suffers from some performance compromises. The most important is the lack of a 32-bit expansion slot. You order the board with either 1 or 4 megabytes of 32-bit RAM. In these days of OS/2 and expanded and extended memory support, 4 megabytes is often not enough. Since I'm a memory junkie even more than I'm a CPU speed freak, I already have some custom applications that can easily use more than 4 megabytes of memory, so the Mylex board is third on my list.

The Fortron board was the second most expensive of the lot ($2250 with 2 megabytes of DRAM), sported the most conservative board design, and afforded the slowest performance in this fast company. Its conservative design will likely reward its purchasers by reliable performance and long life. Fortron also has the best technical support—which you may need, given the poor manual. I'd buy the Fortron board only if I was nervous about the long-term reliability of other boards; it ranked last on my personal preference scale. ■

Don Crabb is the director of instructional laboratories for the computer science department of the University of Chicago and is a lecturer in the department and the college. His articles and reviews have appeared in industry magazines, newspapers, and journals.

132 BYTE- JUNE 1988

© Eastman Kodak Company, 1988

The KODAK SV7500 Still Video Multidisk Recorder. Imagine this: a library of photos, slides, charts, graphs, and other visuals captured and stored on 2-inch magnetic disks; then, committed to a memory that will crossreference them by subject, dates, uses, or other categories. A library instantly available for display on color monitors for meetings, reviews, training, or reference. And imagine transmitting those images over telephone lines—in seconds. Or, printing hard copies just as quickly.

If you're intrigued by such advances in communications, investigate the SV7500 still video multidisk recorder, from the family of Kodak products that capture, store, display, print, and transmit high-quality video images in continuous-tone color. For more information and the name of a dealer who can arrange a demonstration, send the coupon or call 1 800 44KODAK (1 800 445-6325), Ext 110.

Imaging Innovations For The Workplace.

BUSINESS IMAGES COMMITTED TO MEMORY BY KODAK.

The new vision of Kodak

Send me information on the products I have checked.

□ KODAK SV9600 Still Video Transceiver

□ KODAK SV7500 Still Video Multidisk Recorder

□ KODAK SV7400 Still Video Recorder

□ KODAK SV6500 Color Video Printer D KODAK SV5000 Video Transfer Stand D KODAK SV1300 Color Monitor

Eastman Kodak Company Dept 412-1 Rochester, NY 14650

Circle 299 on Reader Service Card

□ Please have a sales representative contact me. Name Title

Organization.

Nature of Business

Address

City

Phone No. i L

State.

.ZIP

BY JUNE 1988 'BYTE 133

NASA FLIES With

To the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, speed, power and reliability are of prime importance.

They picked Proteus computers for their Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

NASA is a regular customer of Proteus. So are Xerox, RCA, GE, Dupont, GM, Revlon, General Dynamics, the U.S. government, the United Nations, MIT, Harvard and Cornell. And the list doesn't stop there either.

Even leading computer manufacturers like Digital Equipment Corporation, Honeywell, ITT and Prime buy regularly from Proteus.

They know Proteus computers have a price/performance ratio that's light years ahead of IBM and the other desk-top computer makers. And the computer magazines agree.

Personal Computing magazine had this to say, "Prices for the different models and peripherals classify Proteus as a low-ball clone, but its speed, expansion capability and service contract put it in a class with the big boys."

Custom Buim

What's more, ever}' Proteus computer

is custom built to exact specifications. Your specifications.

Tell us which drives to use, which EGA adapters to put in. And we'll match your needs. Just as we have for NASA.

Made In America!

Proteus computers are engineered and manufactured right here in the USA.

They have the power and speed needed to get big jobs off the ground. Featuring 8088/80286/80386 models ranging from 6MHz to a whopping 20MHz!

This high speed, plus our timing and IBM standard Bus design, give Proteus machines supreme hardware compatibility and adaptability.

Every Proteus computer is guaranteed IBM compatible or your money back!

Proteus computers are also guaranteed compatible with OS/2, UNIX, XENIX, NOVELL, 3COM, PICK, THEOS and all major operating systems.

All refrj5tered;trademarks recognized. S All rights reserved. All prices and terms subject to change without notice.

Proteus Computers!

Proteus 386a

16MHi/ IQMHi, 0-wah-state

This very fast 80386 based computer utilizes advanced Cache memory and special memory mapping techniques to bnng you the power of a minicomputer.

InfoWorld magazine named the Proteus 386A one of the top 100 products of the year! Calling it, "A 16-MHz, 0-wait-state 80386 hot rod."

The Proteus 386A is perfect for CAD/ CAM, desktop publishing, file serving, data base management or multi-user and LAN operating */

environments.^ J 16MHz

$3190

2595

w

386A 1 standard features:

•80386 CPU, 16/20MHz, 0-wait-state.

• 64K Cache memory.

• 1024K RAM expandable to 4MB of 32-bit RAM on systemboard.

• Clock, calendar and battery backup.

• Dual floppy and hard disk controller.

• 200 watt power supply, 110/220V.

• ROM based setup and diagnostics.

• Socket for coprocessor.

• 2 serial and 1 parallel port.

• 1.2MB floppy drive. Free replacement with 3.5" or 360K drive.

• Optional hard disk. See chart.

• 101-key enhanced keyboard.

• 15-month warranty on parts and labor.

• Free on-your-site maintenance.

• 30 day, money back guarantee.

• Made in U.S.A.

386A monochrome system .... '2842* 386A EGA color system '3229'

'Monochrome systems include: 14

high res. monitor and a 720x348 Here, compatible graphics card with an additional parallel port. "EGA color systems include: res. EGA color monitor and a 420/680x480 EGA adaptor.

Proteus

286GTX

2MHz, 0-wait-state

1750

The 286GTX is perhaps the fastest 12MHz computer around. It provides perfect compatibility with an overall throughput of 16MHz.

InfoWorld said of the Proteus 286GTX, "it is a superb value, scores high in our benchmark tests, and Proteus has the best warranty and technical support."

This high speed 80286 based computer is ideal for networking, CAD/CAM, desktop publishing or business applications. t

12MHz

286GTX standard features:

• 80286 CPU, 12MHz, 0-wait-state.

• 32K Cache memory.

• 1024K RAM.

• Clock, calendar and battery backup.

• Dual floppy and hard disk controller.

• 200-watt power supply, 110/220V.

• ROM based setup and diagnostics.

• Socket for coprocessor.

• 2 serial and 1 parallel port.

• 1.2MB floppy drive. Free replacement with 3.5" or 360K drive.

• Optional hard disk. See chart.

• 101-key enhanced keyboard.

• 15-month warranty on parts and labor.

• Free on-your-site maintenance.

• 30 day, money back guarantee.

• Made in U.S.A.

286GTX monochrome system .. M997 286GTX EGA color system '2374*

Proteus Z86F

10MHz, 0-walt-state

This 80286 based AT compatible is a

)st, zero wait state computer roughly 15% faster than our model 286E.

PC Magazine said, "The 286F is an extremely fast 10MHz machine that does what ft claims to do and backs that up with an aggressive support plan."

The 286F is perfect for network or business applications, t

10MHz

1495

286F standard features:

• 80286 CPU, 10MHz, 0-wait-state.

• 1024K RAM.

• Clock, calendar and battery backup.

• Dual floppy and hard disk controller.

• 200 watt power supply, 110/220V.

• ROM based setup software.

• Reset switch.

• Socket for coprocessor.

• 2 serial and 1 parallel port.

• 1.2MB floppy drive. Free replacement with 3.5" or 360K drive.

• Optional hard disks. See chart.

• 101-key enhanced keyboard.

• 15-month warranty on parts and labor,

• Free on-your-site maintenance.

• 30 day, money back guarantee.

• Made in U.S.A.

286F monochrome system '1742*

286F EGA color system s2129**

THE PROTEUS TOTAL SATISFACTION GUARANTEE

AH of our products are guaranteed to give 100 percent satisfaction

377Rt.l7So„ Airport 17Or., HasbrouckHts., NJ 07604

in every way. Return anything purchased from us at any time during the first 30 days if it proves otherwise. We will replace it, refund your purchase price or credit your credit card, as you wish. In addition, there is a 15-Month warranty on labor and parts. Plus Free on-your-site service. If something goes wrong with your Proteus computer during the first two months, we'E send a qualified technician. There's also a toll-free technical support hotline and a 24-hour electronic support line.

24-HOUR CATALOG

Just dial (201) 288-8577 using your modem set to"

Proteus 286e

IOMHz

Our 286E provides performance and value unbeatable by any other comparably priced machine.

InfoWorld magazine said, "For best machine in power, the Proteus 286E is the clear winner. We recommend ft."

The 286E is ideal for home or office. $1

10MHz

1295

286E standard features:

• 80286 CPU, 10MHz.

• 1024K RAM.

• Clock, calendar and battery backup.

• Dual floppy and hard disk controller.

• 200 watt power supply, 110/220V.

• ROM based setup software.

• Socket for coprocessor.

• 2 serial and 1 parallel port.

• 1.2MB floppy drive. Free replacement with 3.5" or 360K drive.

• Optional hard disk. See chart.

• 101-key enhanced keyboard.

• 15-month warranty on parts and labor.

• Free on-your-site maintenance.

• 30 day, money back guarantee.

• Made in U.S.A.

286E monochrome system !1542*

286E EGA color system M929"

HARD DISKS

Choose a hard disk for the computers and you have a complete turnkey system.

Brand/ type

Vol. MB

Access' time

Price

Seagate

20MB

65ms

$279.00

Seagate

40MB

28ms

$595.00

Miniscribe

44MB

28ms

$665.00

Miniscribe

72MB

28ms

$965.00

Priam RLL

lOOMB

24ms

SOII

Maxtor

140MB

18ms

$Call

Maxtor/ESDI 150/340MB

15ms

$Cali

TO ORDER

Whether you need 1 or 100 systems, call us toll-free at 1-800-782-8387 (WW Reseller volume discounts available).

Your system will be delivered to your door completely assembled and factory tested for 48 hours. All you have to do is power up and blast off into the wild, blue yonder!

Circle 232 on Reader Service Card

IN N|:(201 (288-8629

782-8387

Telex510-601-0960 • FAX201-288-9518

RPSPE.

The Fastest PC's An the Galaxy, at dbwn to Earth Price;

/Slot Power £&

We put the 80286 on a card so you can rade to the 8038B whenever you're

'ready. Most of our corporate accts. prefer this Amer/can-designed, industrial quality machine. Why? 12;

wer supply, 4 drive/ openings & rugnedized construction/ Tower, rack-rr/ounted and mothe*

50MB, mond, system

386 Si6eed, 286 Price/

12MHz,/zero wait states with l/to 1

user

software makes this AT compatible the fastest at any price. Landmark sperfd Test rates this 286 at 15/6MHz! The/ data transfer rate is 4/ times

(r. i\ complete system witn uvid RAM, monitor and 50MB, 33tis hard dnsk is only: /

12MHz 1 wait state, 640K,/50MB, 101 Keyboard, 1.2MB /

New large sjcreen. \

Micro 1 introduces the Passport 2 & 386 portables! that keep pace with the best Compaq has to offer. 12, IB

or 20MHz and dp to 8MB of zero wait state memory gives you more powel than most des :top computers. Both' the 11", 040 x ■ 00 lesoluliuu bucklil supertwist, L( ID screen and gasl plasma screen are far more readable | than typical laptop screens. External I

interleave controllers and 50 to 150MB drives optional. 200 watts, 6 slots standard. I

386-16MP

Hz\Performa

286-12 640K, 2DMB

"Micro 1 's clones are designed

ior mausuiai use. . .none are so well mi rde."

Paul Mull ix. Ford Aerospace, Palo Alto, CA

Ask our customers about our quality, service and prices:

do we do it?\20MHz, zero wait State with 64K of tetatic RAM cache Smd ultra-high sdeed ESDI hard disA

with 1 to 1 interleave buffered contri Hers. Add to tftis our special Powe\ Optimiser software that acceleratesX

1 _ 1 -i.\ 1 nnnn, 1 ,

got the best that money can buy, at % the price! LarMmark, Speed Test rating 30MHz. \

UNIX systems witMDOSMERGE now available. Ask about our Tower!

Complete system with 50MB and monitor. \

Uall tor price on configurations.

American Express

Honeywell

NASA

Anheuser-Busch I

Intel

Pacific Bell

Associated Press 1

Itel

Rockwell Internationa]

Boeing Aerospace 1

ITT

Siemens

Clorox 1

Lockheed Missiles &S ace

Tandem Computers TRW

Dean Witter /

Martin-Marietta

United Airlines

Ernst &Whinney 1

Master-Card

University of Calif.

Federal Communications Com.

McDonnel Douglas

Wells Fargo

Ford Aerospace 1

MCI

Westinghouse

Heath Zenith /

1

MICRO

557 Howard St. San Francisco, CA 94105 \ Tech Support: (415) 974-6991 Fax: (415) 974-6996 \

Summit Com]

Colchester cssex C02 7AT UK

(0206) 761950 FAX: (0206) 761941 Telex: 940 11232

To order call toll free:

In California call

(415) 974-5439

AN AT IN A MAC II?

An AT in a Mac II?

Naor Wallach

It's high noon at the job, and you and a coworker are frantically preparing a crucial report for that big 1:00 meeting. You've been breaking records laying out graphics for the report, thanks to the Macintosh II on your desk, and you can hear your cohort pounding away at the keyboard in the other room, computing spreadsheet numbers. You'll drop these numbers into tables that you've laid out inside the report. Finally, with 10 minutes to spare, in rushes your collaborator with that spreadsheet data—on a 5 V* -inch DOS disk.

Is this simply a high-tech office nightmare? Unfortunately, no. With today's mix of PC and Macintosh computers, there's a growing problem of sharing data between workers who use incompatible microcomputers.

AST Research's solution to this problem is the Mac286, an AT-on-a-board that costs $1599. Equivalent to a complete AT motherboard, the Mac286 shares a Mac IPs hard disk drive, keyboard, and video display. This lets Mac owners not only share data with PC users but actually run MS-DOS programs (say, to correct a minor error in those spreadsheet numbers mentioned earlier). Most AT-compatible software runs unchanged on the Mac286, with the exception of programs that require an EGA board or other PC expansion cards, or programs that need expanded memory beyond MSDOS' s standard 640K bytes.

I reviewed the Mac286 on a Mac II with 5 megabytes of RAM, a 40-megabyte hard disk drive, the Apple Macintosh II Video Card with memory expansion installed, and an AppleColor video monitor. I used Apple's 5 lA-inch PC floppy disk drive with the Mac286. The Mac n ran either MultiFinder 1.0 or System 4.2 and Finder 6.0.

The PC Within the PC

The Mac286 consists of a set of two printed circuit boards (shown above) joined by two short ribbon cables. Each board occupies a slot in the Mac II. The

AST's Mac286 board runs DOS on a Macintosh IIbut not without problems

first board is a processor card with an 8-MHz Intel 80286 CPU and a socket for an 80287 math coprocessor. The second board contains the system's RAM. This RAM consists of four 256K-byte-density single in-line memory modules (SIMMs), providing 1 megabyte of parity-checked RAM. The first 640K bytes of RAM is MS-DOS user memory, and AST uses the remaining 360K bytes to house the PC ROM BIOS routines.

The memory board also contains support electronics, such as the direct-memory-access (DMA) controller, the interrupt controller, timers, and a floppy disk controller. A floppy disk connector is located to the rear of the memory card. You must supply your own 5 W -inch floppy disk drive.

These boards operate as a NuBus slave under the control of a Macintosh application. This application emulates several popular PC displays, manages a file that emulates a hard disk drive for the Mac286, and sets certain AT system configuration parameters.

On the Mac286 card, calls to ROM BIOS routines are either handled by the Mac286's support hardware (e.g., calls to the floppy disk controller), or intercepted and processed by the Mac IPs 68020 (e.g., calls to the hard disk drive, printer, or video display). Process syn

chronization between the two computers is maintained by holding the Mac286's 80286 in a wait state until the request is completed.

Installing the Computer

The Mac286 came packed in a large box that held the two boards, three manuals, and three floppy disks. I was dismayed to find that the boards were sandwiched between three flimsy pieces of white foam and that they weren't wrapped in any nonconductive plastic sleeves. This packaging provides no protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD), which means the chances are good that you could damage the Mac286 before you even install it.

One of the three manuals contains installation procedures that tell you how to open the Mac II, remove the back panels, and mount the two boards in the NuBus slots. You must locate the boards in the NuBus slots farthest away from the Mac II power supply when you install them. If they're placed in any other slots, the weight on the monitor atop the Mac n might push the boards together and short them out. Finally, you connect the PC floppy disk drive, close the hood, and prepare to start the Mac II.

The three floppy disks contain all the software necessary to install and operate the Mac286 system. Two 5 W-inch floppy disks, labeled MS-DOS 3.2 System Disk and MS-DOS 3.2 Supplemental Disk, supply the MS-DOS operating system and software. The MS-DOS system disk contains the standard PC system programs, such as ATTRIB.EXE and FORMAT. COM. The second disk includes GWBASIC, an assortment of drivers, and an installation batch file. Those familiar with MS-DOS will recognize these two disks as the standard disk set that comes with every IBM PC-compatible microcomputer.

One 3% -inch Macintosh disk contains version 1.0 of the Mac286's Macintosh application, which manages communications between the Mac286 system and the

continued

— Circle 177 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 137

AN AT IN A MAC II?

Mac286

Type

IBM PC AT emulator for the Macintosh II

Company

AST Research Inc. 2121 Alton Ave. Irvine, CA 92714 (714)863-9991

Features

8-MHz 80286 processor; socket for optional 80287; 1 megabyte of RAM, of which 640K bytes is user memory; connector to 360K-byte 51/4-inch floppy disk drive; MDA, CGA, and Hercules Monochrome Graphics Adapter emulation; hard disk emulation on host computer's hard disk drive; MS-DOS 3.2, GWBASIC, and utilities (on 360K-byte 51A-inch floppy disks); Mac286 1.0 application (on 31/2-inch floppy disk)

Size

Two boards, each 12.86 by 4 inches

Hardware Needed

Macintosh II with two empty adjacent NuBus slots (preferably slots farthest away from power supply); 51/4-inch external floppy disk drive

Software Needed

System 4.2/Finder 6.0 or higher

Documentation

160-page Mac286 User's Manual; 368page MS-DOS User's Manual; 270-page GWBASIC User's Manual

Price

$1599

Inquiry 890.

Mac II. Unfortunately, the installation document has a number of errors about what files you need to copy for the Mac n. Despite these errors, it doesn't take long for an experienced Mac user to sort it out.

The MultiFinder Size resource indicates that the Mac286 application requires 640K bytes of RAM to operate properly, which means that if you plan to operate the Mac286 under MultiFinder, you'll need a minimum of 2 megabytes of RAM in the Mac n. Otherwise, the standard 1 megabyte of memory will do.

You start the Mac286 by launching the Mac286 version 1.0 application. A new window appears on your screen, titled Mac286 VI.0. You should have the MSDOS system disk in the PC floppy disk drive so the Mac286 can boot from it. After a few seconds, the window is redrawn and the standard MS-DOS mes

sages of memory tests and prompts for time and date flash by. The window's title then changes to describe the current PC video mode in use.

The Mac286 screen display is a draggable window on the Mac II monitor that emulates one of three different PC video display modes. You choose from the monochrome 80-column by 25-row mode, Hercules mode, and CGA mode by selecting the Configuration Options item from the Misc menu and clicking on the appropriate radio button. The Configuration Options dialog box also lets you choose to emulate the PC COM1 or COM2 serial ports and which physical Macintosh port (printer or modem) to assign to the COM port. Again, this is accomplished via radio button choices. You must quit the Mac286 version 1.0 application and relaunch it for these selections to take effect.

Now you're ready to make your DOS C drive. This "drive" is actually a file called x86 Drive C on the Mac II's hard disk, with the Mac286 application managing the DOS file structure. Not surprisingly, you first run FDISK to make a DOS partition in this file. The default disk drive size is 20 megabytes, but if you're short of room on your Mac U's hard disk, the installation procedures supply a table with the proper cylinder numbers to partition for smaller disk sizes. Next, you format the C drive with the system option to copy the boot tracks to the drive. Finally, you select Warm Boot from the Misc menu and let the Mac286 restart.

This hard disk emulation is pretty good: The Mac286 actually boots from this file, and the DOS AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files on this emulation drive execute just as they do on a normal AT computer. You make the appropriate subdirectories and copy your favorite DOS programs from the PC drive into this file.

To print from the Mac286 computer, you can use either an Epson printer emulation through AppleTalk to a LaserWriter, or PostScript if you have a direct serial connection to a PostScript laser printer. You select which print mode to use from the Printer Options item under the File menu.

The three manuals provided are the Mac286 User's Manual, MS-DOS User's Manual, and GWBASIC User's Manual. The MS-DOS manual is a copy of Microsoft's standard MS-DOS manual; the GWBASIC manual is also Microsoft's standard product. The Mac286 User's Manual covers installing the board set, installing the MS-DOS software in your Mac's hard disk, and configuring the different options that make the system useful to you. In general, this manual is very helpful and well written. The only

exceptions are the errors in the installation portion of it.

AST does include an errata sheet that covers certain missing menu selections, operations that are described in the manual but won't operate as advertised if you are using MultiFinder (e.g., Microsoft Mouse emulation and PC sound emulation), a recommendation to operate in two-color mode to enhance screen refresh speeds, how to build a modem cable, and notes on printing to the LaserWriter.

Running DOS on the Mac

As with installing the system, to start the Mac286 you must launch the Mac286 application. Once the DOS-emulation window opens and the Mac286 boots, you can treat your Macintosh like any AT clone. If you're running under MultiFinder, you can instandy transfer to a Macintosh application and return. Even without MultiFinder, you still have access to all your desk accessories. The Mac286 application has an FKey menu with a pull-down keypad emulation where you can use the mouse to select PC-keyboard keys or key combinations, but to use the Mac286 productively you need Apple's Extended keyboard with its built-in PC function keys.

To test PC compatibility, I tried running XyQuest's XyWrite ffl Plus 3.06B on the Mac286, because XyWrite is notorious as an ill-behaved program that makes calls directly to the PC ROM BIOS. Also, the text formatting of a XyWrite file is identical to a Mac Write textonly document: Carriage returns are present at the end of paragraphs rather than at the end of lines. This makes it easy to transfer ASCII text files from one computer to another.

XyWrite ran without a hitch as I used the PC function keys on the Extended keyboard. I could delete lines and select and move blocks of text without problems. The display settings in the B-W.INI file set the Mac286 window to the specified colors when XyWrite started.

However, the screen refresh rate in the Mac286 window is excruciatingly slow. I had initially set the Mac II display mode to 256 colors, and the screen refresh in every one of the three supported Mac286 PC video modes was slower than molasses. In monochrome mode, for example, when you do a DOS DIE command, the screen does not show each line as it passes by, but rather jumps up about 3 to 5 lines at each refresh. This means you miss some filenames if you have more files than can be displayed in one screen on your monitor. In CGA mode, a DIR command will jump over 10 to 12 lines at a time. As mentioned earlier, AST's ad

continued

138 BYTE* JUNE 1988

These are just a fewof the 16,77^216 colors

your PC AT can process using our (HSI) Color i Frame Grabber.

Some color combinations may not grab you. But for the first time ever, our DT2871 (HSI) Color Frame Grabber and Aurora software let you grab, process, analyze, and display color images in real time on the PC AT. You can even import color images using the Tag Image File Format (TIFF).

As if that's not enough of a breakthrough, the DT2871 offers 512 x 512 x 32-bit pixel resolution, text and graphics overlays, and-grab this!-hardware hue, saturation, and intensity (gray level) processing.

Even if we don't have the greatest taste for colors, you have to admit our taste for technology is excellent. Give us a call today.

(617) 481-3700.

4 DT-Connect™ is an open interface specification which permits the direct connection of stand-alone data acquisition and frame grabber boards to processor boards for greatly accelerated signal (DSP) and image processing.

APPLICATIONS

Business, Graphic Arts, and Entertainment

Fred Molinari, President.

Animation

Electronic prepress

Electronic publishing, either true color or gray scale Film colorization Picture databases Slidemaking Training

Scientific

Astronomy

Medical diagnostic imaging

Microscopy

Modeling

Motion analysis

Remote sensing

Surveillance

Industrial

Machine guidance Machine vision inspection

-Agriculture {fruits & vegetables)

-Cosmetics

-Electronic components

-Food

-Textiles Robot guidance

DATA TRANSLATION

World Headquarters: Data Translation, Inc., 100 Locke Drive, Marlboro, MA 01752-1192, (617) 481-3700 Tlx 951646

United Kingdom Headquarters: Data Translation Ltd., The Mulberry Business Park, Wokingham, Berkshire RG11 2QJ, U.K. (0734) 793838 Tlx 94011914

West Germany Headquarters: Data Translation GmbH, Stuttgarter Strasse 66, 7120 Bietigheim-Bissingen, West Germany 07142-54025

International Sales Offices: Australia (2) 662-4255; Belgium (2) 735-2135; Canada (416) 625-1907; Chile (2) 25-3689; China (408) 727-8222, (8) 721-4017; Denmark (2) 274511; Finland (90)

372-144; France U) 69077802; Greece 951-4944, 527-039; Hong Kong (3) 771-8585; India (22) 23-1040; Israel (3) 32-4298; Italy (2) 82470.1; Japan (3) 502-5550, (3) 375-1551, (3) 355-UU;

Korea (82) 756-9954; Netherlands (70) 99-6360; New Zealand (9) 504-759; Norway (02) 55 90 50; Portugal 545313; Singapore 7797621; South Africa (12) 46-9221; Spain (1) 455-8112;

Sweden (8) 761-7820; Switzerland (1) 723-1410; Taiwan (2) 709-1394; United Kingdom (0734) 793838; West Germany 07142-54025.

IBM PC AT is a registered trademark of IBM. Data Translation is a registered trademark of Data Translation, Inc.

Circle 79 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 139

AN AT IN A MAC II?

Table 1: In most of the benchmark tests, the Mac286 outperformed the IBM PC AT. The Disk Write and Read times are good, considering that the Mac286 must interrupt the host 68020 processor to perform hard disk I/O. There is no apparent degradation of the Mac II 's performance with the Mac286idle in the system.

Disk Write

Disk

Calcu

Read

lations

9

15

9.3

20

5

7

6

6.7

Sieve

40K File copy

Spreadsheet Spreadsheet Load Recalculate

8-MHz Mac286 15

8-MHz IBM PC AT 14

Mac II with Mac286 6

Mac II 8

48 61 24 24

8

20 6

6

2

1.2 1 2.4

3

3.0

3

2.7

Note: The Disk benchmarks write and then read a 64K-byte sequential text file to the hard disk. Calculations performs 10.000 multiplication and division operations. Sieve runs one iteration of the Sieve of Eratosthenes. The 40K File Copy benchmark copies a 40K-byte file on the hard disk. The Spreadsheet tests load and recalculate a 25-row by 25-column Multiplan (1.06) spreadsheet. All BASIC benchmark programs were run with MS-DOS 3.20 and GWBASIC 3.20. For the Mac II, Microsoft BASIC 2.1(b) was used for the system benchmarks. Multiplan 1.02 was used for the spreadsheet tests, and a 25- by 25-cell spreadsheet was used. System 4.2 and Finder 6.0 were used.

dendum indicates that you get better performance running the Mac II monitor in the two-color (black-and-white) mode. This helps performance a little, but it causes problems running some programs that expect to have a CGA monitor with more than two colors present.

A serious problem showed up when I issued the XyWrite print command. When the Mac286 application attempted to print to the networked LaserWriter, the system crashed spectacularly, without even the courtesy of a bomb box. I traced this problem to my having supplied XyWrite with the wrong .PRN printer file. When I copied the file 3EPS0NFX.PRN into the XyWrite directory and modified XyWrite's STARTUP.INT file to use this Epson printer file, the printing problem

with XyWrite disappeared.

I also experimented with Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.01, Turbo Pascal 3.0, Multiplan 1.06, and Wizard's Crown, a game sold by Strategic Simulations, and I had no problems beyond the extremely slow screen refresh rate.

One of the major concerns of anyone contemplating buying a PC emulator is performance. To address this concern, I compared the Mac286 to an 8-MHz PC AT. Table 1 compares the Mac286 to the IBM PC AT using BYTE's standard BASIC benchmarks. I also ran the standard system benchmarks on the Mac II to see if the presence of the Mac286 might degrade the Mac II's performance, and these numbers are also given in table 1. As the results show, the Mac286's per

Photo 1: The Mac286 runs under MultiFinder on a Mac II with a 256-color display. The MacWrite document shown was just converted to a text-only file called VID.TXT and was copied to Mac286's drive C using the DOS command COPY D: VID. TXT C:. The document was then opened as it would be with XyWrite.

formance is better than or similar to that of an 8-MHz PC AT.

Getting It from There to Here

There are two ways to transfer text information between the Mac286 and the Mac II. You can select text from a Macintosh word processor, such as MacWrite 5.0, and paste it into a PC word processor—in this case, XyWrite. This works, but only for short pieces of text. I selected and copied 10K bytes of text from a MacWrite document into the Clipboard and then pasted it into XyWrite. The transfer was painful to watch. The text was placed into XyWrite a character at a time, and the transfer took 53 minutes to complete— with the Mac II in the two-color mode. This process doesn't work very well in the other direction: You get all sorts of escape characters from the XyWrite display buffer pasted into MacWrite. You cannot cut and paste graphics from one computer to another.

Fortunately, AST has provided another method for transferring text files between the two computers. At start-up, the AUTOEXEC.BAT file runs three drivers—DSTEP1.SYS, DSTEP2.EXE, and DSTEP3.EXE—that let the Mac286 see the Mac II hard disk drive as a D drive. Folders and filenames that follow MS-DOS conventions appear in a DIR D: command. The only file types that appear in this directory scan are files of type TEXT, crlf (MS-DOS text with carriage return/linefeed combinations at the end of lines), and BINA (an MS-DOS executable file). Transferring a file from the Mac II hard disk to the Mac286 emulated hard disk is simply a matter of issuing the command COPY D: DOCUMENT C: (see photo 1). Unlike the copy-and-paste procedure, this transfer works both ways.

A File Type item under the File menu lets you specify the default file type when you copy a file to D or prompts you for the file type when you do the copy. Files

continued

140 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 300 on Reader Service Card

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AN AT IN A MAC II?

copied this way to the Mac IPs hard disk show up on the Mac Desktop with their own distinctive icons.

To Have or to Have Not

Having a PC-compatible machine reside within your Mac II is a good idea. It solves many problems for people who have to deal with the tons of software developed for the PC but prefer to work on the Mac. The Mac286 provides this capability without robbing you of the desktop space that another computer would require.

However, I have several concerns about the current usability of this product. First, if you simply need to transfer text from MS-DOS to the Mac and back, there are less expensive ways to do this. For example, you can use the Apple PC Drive Card ($129) and the Apple PC 5 !4inch floppy disk drive ($399) to move files from a 360K-byte 5 W-inch floppy disk to your Mac ITs hard disk. Networking solutions are also available. By contrast, the Mac286 costs $1599, and you still have to purchase the external 5'4inch PC floppy disk drive.

The second, and probably the most severe, problem concerns the slowness of the screen refresh. Using the two-color mode on the Mac II helps, but this creates problems for some PC programs and denies you the use of the Mac IPs color capabilities. AST is aware of this problem and promises that version 1.1 of its software will have faster video performance.

The third major area of concern is with ESD protection, or rather the lack of it. These two boards contain a whole host of highly sensitive chips, yet the packaging does nothing to protect the boards from static. I went through three sets of Mac286 boards before I got a set that worked reliably, and I suspect most of my problems were caused by static damage.

If you need PC processing capability beyond simply moving files between incompatible microcomputers, and if you can live with the sluggish video display, the Mac286 works well. The Mac286 application operates under the latest versions of MultiFinder and Finder, and the AT boards run XyWrite and Lotus 1-2-3—two of the most finicky PC programs—without problems. Nevertheless, the lack of ESD protection is alarming, and it's likely to cause grief for the less technically experienced user. I can't recommend the Mac286 until AST improves the video performance and does something about the ESD problem. At least the last problem has an easy fix. ■

Naor Wallach is a senior development engineer at Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, New York. He uses a Macintosh II at work and at home.

142 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 284 on Reader Service Card

Now that the best name in

CAD is this affordable, why

settle for a generic brand?

What's in a name? When it comes to the Autodesk name, a lot. In fact, it's the bestselling, most well-respected name in the CAD business. There simply is not another company with the credentials to make that claim.

That's why you shouldn' t settle for anything less than AutoSketch,® the best way to get started in CAD. AutoSketch is the precision drawing tool from the Autodesk family of products. Not only is AutoSketch priced at just $79.95 * but unlike some entry-level CAD products, you don't have to keep spending more to add the features AutoSketch already has. Standard features like boxes, circles, stretching, mirroring and rotating—to mathematical precision. And advanced CAD capabilities like dynamic PAN and ZOOM and automatic dimensioning and scaling, in up to 10 working layers.

Of course, if you do want to move up from AutoSketch at some point, your files can easily be uploaded into AutoCAD?

AutoSketch runs on IBM®PC/XT7AT®and 100% compatible computers, and supports IBM's PS/2.™

So if you' re ready for CAD, why not go with the name that rates highest among both critics and users? Anything else is, well, second-rate.

To order your AutoSketch directly, call 1-800-223-2521. For the name of your nearest AutoSketch Dealer or for more information, call 1-800-445-5415 or write to AutoSketch, 2320 Marinship Way, Sausalito, CA 94965.

AUTODESK, INC.

"A speed-enhanced version (9 times faster), requiring a math coprocessor, is available for $99.95. Circle 26 on Reader Service Card

AutoSketch and AutoCAD are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Autodesk, Inc. IBM and Personal Computer ATare registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Personal Computer XT and PS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.

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PC 386 16 Mz1 OR $1979

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Logi Tech Mice Call

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Enable 2.0 $352

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TRAINING

MS Flight Simulator $29

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Typing Instructor S27

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LANGUAGES

C Compiler (Microsoft) $259

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SOFTWARE REVIEW

□

IBM OS/2 Standard Edition

Eva M.White

IBM's OS/2 Standard Edition 1.0 is an 80286-based multitasking operating system that and implements virtual memory on a segment basis. When you buy IBM's OS/2 Standard Edition, you get a dual-mode operating system: In DOS mode, you can run only one application, and in OS/2 mode you can run multitasking applications in each of 12 sessions. The system comes on four 1.44-megabyte 3'/4inch floppy disks—one installation disk and three system disks. The documentation consists of a 310-page user's reference in a three-ring binder and a 51 -page spiral-bound user's guide.

IBM OS/2's Standard Edition runs on the IBM PC AT, XT 286, and PS/2 Models 50, 60, and 80. It requires a minimum of 2 megabytes of memory, or, if you give up the DOS compatibility box, you can get by on 1.5 megabytes. I ran OS/2 on a PS/2 Model 50 with 3 megabytes of memory (using the Intel Above Board) and a 20-megabyte hard disk drive. The installed system took up approximately 3.4 megabytes of hard disk storage. OS/2 can support up to 16 megabytes of physical memory. In theory, the Intel 80286 is capable of addressing a gigabyte of virtual memory. OS/2, however, constrained by the 32-megabyte limit on the size of a hard disk drive, provides only a 48-megabyte virtual address space.

OS/2 Standard Edition ($325) does not include the graphical user interface, the Presentation Manager. According to IBM, the Presentation Manager won't be available until the end of the year (see the text box "Future Versions of OS/2" on page 147).

The command interface of OS/2 is very similar to DOS (see table 1). Most commands work in both modes; only a

PC-DOS compatibility a robust environment for new multitasking applications

. —ltd a prtfru, prtu ♦. *, U ** i. tlw. f*iw tow. T* n\«A Vf4«t«. F"« 'W- fl""' ***** Mi*.

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handful are specific to DOS mode or OS/2 mode. This allows users already comfortable with DOS to ease themselves slowly into OS/2 and its advanced features. Upon closer examination, though, it takes a little mental modeswitching to keep straight which commands work in which mode and in what form. Some commands work in both modes identically, but some have features that are specific to only one mode. According to IBM, when the Presentation Manager becomes available, you will have the option of replacing the command prompt with windows and menus.

There are some caveats to be aware of when using DOS programs in the DOScompatibility mode. For example, for those DOS programs that access a serial port directly, you'll need to run a specific program (SetcomAO) that lets the DOS program access the target port addresses. Also, the number of device drivers you have installed at system start-up nibbles away at the memory pool allocated to the DOS mode.

You can install OS/2 over your current DOS system without reformatting your hard disk. There are two factors that allow you to do this. First, OS/2's directory structure is identical to DOS's, allowing both types of programs to share the same hard disk and access the same files. Second, OS/2's hidden system files, IBMBI0.COM and IBMD0S.COM, are smaller than DOS's, allowing these files to overwrite the old ones.

A Familiar Feeling

If you are familiar with DOS, then you will be immediately comfortable with OS/2. Choosing the DOS or OS/2 command prompt puts you in a screen group (a virtual display of the computer screen) with a DOS-like command prompt (C:).

The Standard Edition of OS/2 comes with a full-screen user shell called the Program Selector (as shown in the photo above). The Program Selector is a rudimentary graphical user interface that gives you windows with a start list on the left side of your screen, a switch list on the right side, and a pop-down menu. The start list (left window) shows the applications you can initiate. The switch list (right window) shows currently running applications that you can choose to run specifically or hop between. From the pop-down menu, you can update the start list by adding or deleting programs. All have context-sensitive help along the way.

In OS/2, certain key combinations are special "hot keys." The Alt-Esc combination cycles you through the screen groups; Ctrl-Esc brings you back to the Program Selector. The only way to move between DOS and OS/2 mode is with one of these hot keys. A comforting help line

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 145

IBM'S OS/2

Table 1: Because IBM OS/2 Standard Edition

is a dual-mode operating

system, you have to keep stra

ight which system

utilities, configuration

commands, and batch commands work in which modes. Some commands

work only in <

OS/2 mode and

are mainly concerned with multitasking

issues;

some commands work only ir

DOS mode and are therefor compatibility.

The majority,

however, are dual-mode commands that you can use from either

DOS mode or

OS/2 mode.

OS/2 mode

DOS mode

OS/2 and DOS

only

only

dual mode

Internal

Detach'

Break

Chcp

Chdir2

commands:

Dpath'

CIs

Prompt

Start'

Copy

Date

Dir2

Erase (Del)2

Exit

Label

Mkdir2

Path

Rename

Rmdir2

Sys

Time

Type2

Ver

Verify

Vol2

External

Ansi'

Append

Attrib

More

commands:

Cmd'

Assign

Backup

Patch'

Createdd'

Command

Chkdsk

Print

Fdisk

Graftabl

Comp

Recover

Keyb

Join

Diskcomp

Replace

Spool'

Setcom40'

Diskcopy

Restore

Trace'

Subst

Find

Set

Tracefmt'

Format

Help'

Mode

Sort Tree

Xcopy

CONFIG.SYS

lopl'

Break

Codepage'

commands:

LibPath'

Fcbs

Country'

Maxwait'

Rmsize'

Device

Memman'

Shell

Devinfo1

Priority'

Buffers

Diskcache'

Protshell'

Pauseonerror'

Swappath'

Protectonly'

Threads'

Rem

Timeslice1

Run

Trace'

Tracebuf

Batch

Endlocal1

Call

If

commands:

Extproc'

Echo

Pause

Setlocal'

For Goto

Rem Shift

1 These commands

are new with IBM OS/2 Standard Edition.

2 In OS/2 mode, these commands will accept multiple filenames.

across the top of the screen reminds you of the Program Selector key. With the help command, you can get an explanation of an error message and a recommended action to take by typing Help followed by the error message number. Most error messages are available online, but you can turn to the back of the manual to find those that aren't. You can also use Help to turn the help-line display on and off.

I didn't find OS/2's power readily apparent because its commands look so much like DOS's. The power is there, nonetheless.

OS/2 provides an environment where applications are protected from one another. Because of its multitasking nature, OS/2 has to assume more responsibility for resource management. In OS/2, a process consists of one or more threads (a dispatchable unit of work) and the associated system resources (i.e., memory, disk files, pipes, queues, and so on). A session is a collection of one or more processes associated with a screen group. OS/2's tasking model is a multilevel priority scheme with four priority classes (listed in order of decreasing priority): time critical, foreground, regular, and

idle. The time-critical, regular, and idle priority classes each have 31 priority levels; OS/2 gives the foreground process a boost over other regular class threads when the Priority command in CONFIG.SYS is set to dynamic.

The time-critical class is for threads doing communications or real-time operations. The foreground class is the screen group that is currently using the display. Regular-class threads are those processes operating in screen groups that are not currently using the screen and keyboard. Idle-class threads are noninteractive processes initiated with the Detach or Run commands. OS/2 uses a preemptive time-slicing dispatcher to switch the processor among the threads. This means that all threads get a fixed period of time to use the CPU before OS/2 interrupts their execution and moves on to the next thread.

Flexible System Configuration

At boot time, the CONFIG.SYS file determines whether or not you will have both DOS and OS/2 modes and then sets many of the attributes of each mode. The number of commands that you can put in the CONFIG.SYS file has increased dramatically. Some commands affect only the DOS compatibility box, some affect only the OS/2 box, and some work in both modes. Leaving a command out of the CONFIG.SYS file causes the system to take the default value for that command. For example, if I booted the PS/2 Model 50 without a CONFIG.SYS file, the system would configure itself automatically with a DOS compatibility box.

Thankfully, the package comes with an automated installation program that, in about 10 minutes, creates the desired CONFIG.SYS file and the directories, and copies the files from the supplied disks to their proper places. The directories thus created are C:\, C:\0S2, C:\0S2\INSTALL, C:\0S2\INTR0, and C:\SP00L. The system files go into C: \; system utilities and installable device drivers go into C:\0S2. Temporary files waiting for the printer go to C:\SP00L. C:\0S2\INSTALL and C:\0S2\INTR0 contain the installation programs and a program called "Introduction to OS/2," respectively.

Listing 1 shows the CONFIG.SYS file created for installation on the PS/2 Model 50. PROTSHELL loads the user-interface program (in this case, the Program Selector) and CMD.EXE, the OS/2 command processor. CMD.EXE is equivalent to DOS's C0MMAND.COM. CMD.EXE has a /C switch that is similar to COMMAND.COM's /C option in that you can pass a command to a copy of the command processor. An additional switch, /K, lets you pass a command to a copy of the command proces

146 BYTE • JUNE 1988

IBM'S OS/2

sor, but it does not return to the previous command processor.

When the Presentation Manager becomes available, it will take the place of the Program Selector. It will also take up its own session and have windowed applications. The Program Selector will be one of the applications.

The command PROTECTONLY determines if the DOS compatibility box is present. If it is, RMSIZE sets the upper limit of the real-mode memory (anywhere from 100K bytes to 640K bytes). You can configure the system to run without the DOS-mode box by setting PROTECTONLY to yes. But be careful: If you do this, you wind up with a protectedmode system that won't let you use the DOS-mode editor, EDLIN, to edit CONFIG.SYS to reinstall the DOS-mode box.

On the PS/2 Model 50, Chkdsk showed that there were 644,304 bytes available to the DOS mode, with 492,032 bytes free. Commenting out all device commands in the CONFIG.SYS gave me another 34,976 bytes free for the DOS mode. Chkdsk does not give a figure for memory available or free in OS/2 mode. However, you don't have to worry too much about space constraints in OS/2 mode because of the virtual memory scheme.

You can use some special batch files to further customize the system. Batch files in OS/2 mode must have a. CMD file extension, instead of the .BAT file extension in DOS. For example, STARTUP.CMD is the protected-mode counterpart to AUTOEXEC.BAT. 0S2INIT.CMD is another special batch file that sets the environment for each OS/2 screen group that you start from the Program Selector's OS/2 Command Prompt. AUTOEXEC.BAT executes the first time you select the DOS Command Prompt.

OS/2 requires numerous system files (between 50 and 60), in addition to the two hidden ones (IBMBI0.COM and IBMDOS. COM), and the protected-mode command processor, CMD.EXE. You will need a high-density disk (either 1.44 or 1.2 megabytes) to create a boot disk. The exact number of these files varies, depending on whether you are installing OS/2 on a PS/2 machine or an AT-class machine. These additional files contain system components such as dynamic link libraries (DLLs) and standard default device drivers, message files, code pages, information files, and so forth. Some of the files are required only for PS/2 machines. In general, those files with 01 in the filename are for AT-class machines, and those with 02 in the filename are for PS/2 machines.

Some environment variables are system-wide and must be set in the CONFIG.SYS file; some are specific to each

Future Versions of OS/2

IBM's OS/2 Standard Edition 1.0 is but the first of several versions of OS/2 that will become available in the next year or two.

The next new version, which IBM says will be ready in July, will be IBM's OS/2 Extended Edition 1.0. This version will be similar to the Standard Edition, but will include two built-in applications: a communications manager and a database manager. It will sell at a list price of $795. Whereas several computer manufacturers may offer versions of the Standard Edition of OS/2 for their customers, the Extended Edition will be offered only by IBM.

In October, IBM will reportedly begin shipping 1.1 of the Standard Edition.

This version will include OS/2's graphical user interface called the Presentation Manager. Owners of 1.0 will be able to upgrade to 1.1 for free.

In November, we should see 1.1 of IBM's Extended Edition. Again, this version will include the Presentation Manager, and previous owners will receive a free upgrade.

IBM has said it has plans to offer a 32bit version of OS/2 designed for the 80386 processor sometime in 1989. The company may also offer an enhanced version of the Extended Edition, called Extended Edition Plus. No further details on these versions are available at this time.

—Rich Malloy

Listing 1: The CONFIG. SYS file created for the Model 50 by the installation program.

PROTSHELL=DMPC.EXE SHELL11F.CNF SHELL11F.EXE CMD.EXE /K

OS2INIT.CMD LIBPATH=C : \; C : \OS2; C : \OS2\INSTALL; BUFFERS=30 DISKCACHE=64 MAXWAIT=3 MEMMAN=SWAP, MOVE PRIORITY=DYNAMIC PROTECTONLY=NO SWAPPATH=C:\ THREADS=64

SHELL=CCOMMAND.COM /P BREAK=OFF FCBS=16,8 RMSIZE=640

DEVICE=C:\OS2\POINTDD.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSEB05.SYS RUN=Cr\OS2\SPOOL.EXE /D:LPT1 /0:LPT1 DEVICE=C:\OS2\COM02.SYS DEVINFO=SCR, VGA, C : WIOTBL . DCP DEVICE=C:\OS2\EGA.SYS

screen group. Swappath is a system-wide variable that sets the path for segment swapping to the disk. Memman dictates whether segments will be swapped or moved (i.e., relocated in memory to eliminate memory fragmentation). Libpath is another system-wide variable and sets the path for the system to search for DLLs. A DLL contains reentrant code that all processes share at run time. DLLs are global resources, and you must define the search path globally rather than on a per process basis as Path does. Dpath is an OS/2-mode environment variable that specifies paths to data files for each session.

The Diskcache command is supported only for the IBM PS/2 Models 50,

60, or 80. A number anywhere from 64 to 7200 specifies how many 1024-byte memory blocks the disk cache uses.

Four statements in the CONFIG.SYS file give you some control over the threads in the system. The default number of threads is 64: OS/2 allocates 24 threads, and applications programs allocate 40 threads. To set the minimum and maximum amount of time used for roundrobin scheduling among threads of equal priority, you use Timeslice. Setting Timeslice to a maximum value of 248 milliseconds is good for most programs.

A couple of commands give you some control over how the multitasking scheduler handles regular-class threads. With

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 147

IBM'S OS/2

IBM OS/2 Standard Edition 1.0

Type

Operating System

Company

IBM Corp.

Contact an authorized IBM dealer (800) 447-4700

Format

Four 1.44-megabyte 31/2-inch floppy disks (also available on 51/4-inch highdensity floppy disks)

Language

C and assembly

Hardware Needed

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Documentation

310-page user's reference 51-page user's guide

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the Priority command, you can choose to have the system dynamically vary the priority level of the threads based on the amount of I/O and CPU usage. The system also gives any foreground threads a boost in priority over any background threads. When you choose dynamic priority, Maxwait is the number of seconds that can pass before a thread waiting for the processor gets a boost in priority. With absolute priority, there is no foreground boost, and the system doesn't adjust the priority of the regular-class threads.

Unlike DOS, the asynchronous communication support in OS/2 is an installable device driver: C0M01.SYS for IBM PC ATs and C0M02.SYS for PS/2 machines. COMOx.SYS supports COM1 through COM3 for full-duplex interrupt-driven communication. The functions it provides are transmission and reception queues, automatic control modes for modem control signals, and X0N/X0FF for transmit and receive. COMOx.SYS uses about 9K bytes of DOS-mode memory, so if you don't need its capabilities, you can leave it out of your CONFIG.SYS file. Also, if you do install the communica

tions device driver, some DOS programs require you to execute the Setcom<+0 command before they can find the COM port (more about this later).

According to the company, COMOx.SYS is guaranteed to support 4800-bit-persecond communications on a 6-MHz AT while running a DOS-mode application in the foreground. I didn't have an OS/2 communications program with which to test this, however.

For PC ATs and XT 286s, OS/2 includes mouse drivers for Mouse Systems' PC Mouse, Visi-On's Serial Mouse, and Microsoft's Serial, parallel, and In-Port Mouse. On the PS/2 side, it includes drivers for the first two mice plus the Microsoft Serial and IBM PS/2 in-board Mouse. The P0INTDD.SYS device driver works in conjunction with the mouse driver to provide mouse-pointer drawing support.

In OS/2 mode, the base system contains the ANSI support that lets you redefine keys, manipulate the cursor, and change screen-display colors. In DOS mode, however, you still need to install ANSI.SYS; this device driver has no effect on OS/2 mode. Another device driver used only for DOS mode is EGA.SYS. It provides support for the EGA register interface.

Other device drivers include VDISK.SYS, which installs a virtual disk, and EXTDSKDD.SYS, which lets you access an external disk using a logical drive letter. You should install virtual disks after any external drives so you won't affect their drive-letter assignments. OS/2 takes care of loading the standard default device drivers for the keyboard, display, printer, disk, fixed disk, and clock; don't put them in your CONFIG.SYS file.

Batch Commands and CMD.EXE

Batch commands and the internal commands supported by CMD.EXE are a superset of the DOS-mode commands, necessitating the different batch-file extensions between OS/2 and DOS. SetLocal and EndLocal work together to let you change and restore the drive, directory, and environment setting during batch-file execution. The ExtProc command lets you use your own batch processor instead of CMD.EXE. To use ExtProc, you have to put it on the first line of the OS/2-mode batch file that you want your external batch processor to execute.

In OS/2 mode, if you interrupt a batch file, you don't get the option of continuing. Continuation can't take place in a multitasking environment because it's impossible to predict what state the system will be in when the batch file recommences.

The OS/2-mode command processor,

CMD.EXE, embellishes some of the dualmode internal commands. For example, you can Type or call a directory (Dir) of multiple filenames. You can put multiple commands on the same line by separating them with the & character. Also, you can use the * symbol to precede special characters (such as & and |) and have them considered as text.

OS/2 expands nicely on the redirection capabilities of DOS. CMD.EXE uses the digits 0 through 9 as internal file identification numbers to which you can redirect a program's input or output. Digits 0, 1, and 2 are the file numbers for standard input, output, and error, respectively. In DOS, you could redirect standard input and output, but not standard error. Also, with OS/2 you can use digits 4 through 9 to stand for files of your choosing, to which any output of a process will be written.

OS/2 lets you process commands conditionally. Separating two commands with an && causes the second command to be processed only if the first was successful. If you separate commands with a 11, the second command executes only if the first was not successful.

Pipes in OS/2 mode are true pipes. That is, OS/2 uses a storage buffer to hold the data being piped between processes rather than a temporary file, as in DOS and DOS mode.

System Utilities

Both the DOS mode and the OS/2 mode share many of the system utilities. While some of the dual-mode commands will be familiar to DOS users, some will be new. The Help command mentioned earlier is a new dual-mode command, and so is Patch, which lets you apply IBMsupplied corrections to fix faulty code.

Some of the dual-mode commands act a little differently from their DOS 3.x counterparts. When you specify Forraat/s, for example, the hidden system files IBMBI0.COM and IBMD0S.COM are transferred to the target disk, as you would expect. But Format also uses a text file in the root directory, called FORMATS. TBL, to specify it to the other 50 or so system files required to make a boot disk. One slight problem with creating a bootable disk with the /s option is that Format can't find any files that are outside the root directory (e.g., it can't find an installable device driver in C:\0S2). The FORMAT command tells you which files it cannot copy so that you can copy them manually.

Unlike DOS, you cannot use Chkdsk's /F (fix) parameter on the drive from which you started the system; you must boot up from the floppy to restore any

continued

148 B YTE • JUNE 1988

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 149

IBM'S OS/2

lost clusters on the hard disk. The /F option requires that you cease all activity on the disk you want to fix. However, because of OS/2's virtual memory, there's always the possibility of disk activity if OS/2 needs to move a segment in memory or swap a segment out to disk.

Some dual-mode commands have more functions in OS/2 mode. The Mode command lets you set the operational mode of devices, such as the communications port, the display, the parallel printer, and system-wide disk I/O write verification (as opposed to a per process basis with Verify). You must have COMOx.SYS installed to use Mode to set the communications ports.

While Mode is a dual-mode command, the manual recommends you set the COM port from the OS/2 mode because some parameters are available only in OS/2 mode. You can also query the setting of the COM port from OS/2 mode and use this output as input to another mode command. Mode no longer has an option to send the output from the parallel port to a serial device; the Spool command supplies this function and requires COMOx.SYS to do it.

The more interesting commands are those intended for OS/2 mode only. The Start command lets you start an OS/2 session from another session. Using Start in the autostart batch file gives you another way, in addition to the Program Selector, to configure the system to automatically load whatever applications you normally use. Detach lets you initiate a noninteractive background process. Using a Run command in the CONFIG.SYS file has the same effect as issuing a Detach command from the system prompt.

A print spooler is necessary in a multitasking system where multiple applications share one printer. In OS/2, the print spooler, Spool, is separate from the Print command. Spool is an exclusively OS/2 function that intercepts files sent to the printer from multiple sources. You can start it with a Run command from the CONFIG.SYS file or with a Detach command at the command prompt. Either way, it is a process that runs at idle priority (i.e., when nothing else is going on).

Spool gives the data it receives temporary filenames and keeps them in the subdirectory, C:\SP00L. Spool accepts only parallel devices for input, but it will send its output to either parallel or serial devices. You can have up to three print spoolers active, servicing three printers.

The spooler works fine in conjunction with the Print command, but there is a problem with using DOS editors with the spooler. Because most DOS programs do not contain code to inform the print

spooler when to close and print the file, the output is not printed until you exit the application. You can press Ctrl-Alt-PrtSc to force the spooler to start without leaving the application. This key combination successfully forced output to the printer from XyWritelll Plus. However, it's important to wait until the application has sent the entire file to the queue before forcing the output, or else the spooler will split the output into two files.

The Print command can send output to the printer or cancel the printing of one or more files, but it doesn't have an op

tion for listing the files waiting in the queue as it did in DOS 3.3.

OS/2 has the same 32-megabyte size limit for hard disk drives as DOS 3.3 and, like DOS 3.3, gets around the barrier by letting you partition your hard disk into a primary and extended partition. Fdisk has an option to then create a logical drive in the extended partition.

I found the manual's description of Fdisk awfully vague. When I first saw the second selection on the Fdisk menu, "Change the Active Partition," I thought I could install DOS 3.3 in one partition

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150 BYTE • JUNE 1988

IBM'S OS/2

and OS/2 in another, and use Fdisk to change which operating-system partition was active. This wasn't the case. You can use this option only if you install another operating system (such as Xenix) on the primary partition.

Serviceability Aids

In a multitasking system a lot of things can go wrong, and it can be difficult to track the problem down. In OS/2 mode, however, because programs run in protected mode, certain components of the system continue to run even if the sys

tem is partially disabled. OS/2 has a system trace and memory dump facility. Both of these functions are not for the faint of heart: They're intended for use with aid from an IBM service representative.

You can use the Trace command to turn event tracing on or off, and you can invoke this command either at the OS/2 prompt or at boot time by placing a statement in your CONFIG.SYS file. If you don't want to turn tracing on at boot time, you must place a Tracebuf command in the CONFIG.SYS file to set the size of a cir

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cular trace buffer. Tracefmt takes the contents of the trace buffer, analyzes each record, and sends the output to the standard output device.

To use the memory dump facility, you should have one formatted disk holding the Createdd command file on hand to start the dump. Because Createdd uses the Format command, Format should be accessible from the current directory or from the search path. Createdd dumps all memory beginning at address 0 until the entire memory contents have been placed on the disk. To initiate the dump, you hold down the Control and Alt keys and press the Num Lock key twice. (Don't press this until you're absolutely ready, because the system will cease all current activities without flushing the buffers or other system cleanup operations.) A memory dump can take several disks, but one 1.44-megabyte floppy disk was enough to hold the contents of the 3 megabytes of RAM on my system. You can stop the procedure each time you are prompted to put in another disk.

DOS Compatibility

Most programs run in the DOS compatibility box without problems. The manual warns that programs with copy-protection schemes that depend on timing or the operating system may not work. Those programs that are timing-dependent or hardware-specific, such as device drivers, may give problems. I ran SideKick 1.52A, XyWrite m Plus, HyperACCESS 3.32, Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.01, AutoCAD 2.52, MathCAD 2.0, STATA 1.5, DIAL (Microsoft's bulletin board system), and dBASE LTJ Plus 1.1 in the DOS-mode box, and they operated much as they do in DOS.

There were some differences, though. XyWrite usually caught the hot keys and put one of its own help screens up just before OS/2 switched me to another screen group. Although initially confusing, this was not a functional problem.

Because DOS programs that access a COM port were not written for a multitasking environment, many of them go directly to the port without bothering to see if another application is currently using it. SetcomAO makes the address of the COM port available to a DOS-mode application so it can access the port when the COMOx.SYS device driver is installed. After the DOS-mode program is through, SetcomAO also removes the address so an OS/2 application can use the port. It's important not to issue this command while a running OS/2 application is using the port. I had to turn on Setcom40 before using DIAL from the DOS-mode box, but not before using Hyper ACCESS.

continued

Circle 216 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 217)

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 151

IBM'S OS/2

I ran into a problem with an incompatible device driver. The Sysgen Bridgefile, an external 5 '4 -inch floppy disk drive, would not run in the compatibility box. According to the company, it is working on a new driver. For the time being, I installed the Sysgen driver onto my DOS 3.3 boot disk and rebooted from that whenever I wanted to transfer files from the 5'4-inch format to the PS/2 Model 50.

Some of the old, little-used command options have been weeded out of the DOS mode. Format no longer formats eight

sectors per track, or a single-sided disk. Exe2bin, Ctty, and Graphics are no longer supported. The Label command does not delete a label from a disk. Files is ignored in the CONFIG.SYS file. Print doesn't support the /B, /U, /M, and /Q parameters, which deal with buffer size, scheduling of the print spooler, and the queue size of the spooler. You no longer have to specify the path name for the code page file with Country, change the code page with the Mode command, or load the Nlsf unc command to use Chcp to change code pages.

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Improved Documentation

The OS/2 user's reference is much easier to navigate through than the DOS 3.3 manual. It is smaller and better organized. As with the DOS user reference, the OS/2 user reference lists the system utilities and batch commands alphabetically, with cross-references to other related commands. There is a large section on the CONFIG.SYS file commands. IBM has adopted a command diagram using lines and arrows that is clearer than the command format using brackets, capitals, and small letters.

The manual does a great job of showing which commands work in which modes through the use of a box icon. If the upper three-quarters of the box is filled in with black, it indicates that the command works only in OS/2 mode. If the lower left one-quarter of the box is filled in, the command works only in DOS. However, if the box is absent, it's a dual-mode command. Appendix A lists all commands in a table and indicates the mode each one operates in. The appendix also includes a useful section on DOS compatibility.

Test Results

To get some idea of how the scheduler works, I created a dual-mode version of BYTE's Sieve benchmark program in C and a compute-bound infinite loop and ran them together in various combinations. I used these programs on an IBM PS/2 Model 50 to find out how the CONFIG.SYS commands work together and how the DOS mode fits into the scheme of things. For these tests, I considered only regular- and foreground-class threads. Time-critical and idle-class threads do not have their priority dynamically adjusted by the system.

The way the scheduler works is that any higher-priority thread that is ready to run gets the CPU before any lower-priority thread. A CPU-intensive process at a higher priority could starve out processes at a lower priority. In CONFIG.SYS, if you set the priority to dynamic, the system will adjust the priority of lower-priority threads by boosting the priority of these processes by 1 after the number of seconds specified by Maxwait passes. It will also give any threads running in the foreground a boost over regular-class threads running in the background.

To see how this works, I started a CPU-intensive infinite loop in the foreground and ran 100 iterations of the Sieve in the background. When it was the only process running, the Sieve took 22 seconds; the contents of the foreground loop took approximately 47 seconds running alone. I ran these programs with both

continued

152 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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IBM'S OS/2

Table 2: To show the difference between dynamic and absolute priority, I ran a compute-bound infinite loop in a foreground screen group and 100 iterations of the Sieve of Eratosthenes in a background, OS/2 screen group. Under dynamic priority, the smaller the value of Maxwait, the more often the background process gets to run. Under absolute priority, Maxwait's value has no effect on the scheduling of the foreground and background processes; while the Sieve and foreground process are both running, they appear to be competing equally for the processor. It is interesting to note that in these tests, the performance of the DOS-mode foreground process is comparable to the OS/2 mode foreground process. (Times are in minutes .'seconds.)

Foreground

Background

Priority

Maxwait

OS/2 Mode

46,47,46,...

5:41

Dynamic

0:01

47,47,47,...

17:40

Dynamic

0:03

47,46,47,...

59:50

Dynamic

0:10

70,47,46,...

0:47

Absolute

0:01

70,47,46,...

0:45

Absolute

0:03

69,47,46,...

0:46

Absolute

0:10

DOS Mode

46,47,47,...

5:37

Dynamic

0:01

46,47,47,...

18:30

Dynamic

0:03

46,47,46,...

59:42

Dynamic

0:10

70,46,47,...

0:49

Absolute

0:01

69,47,46,...

0:46

Absolute

0:03

70,46,47,...

0:42

Absolute

0:10

Notes:

Time slice = 32:248.

The ellipses mean that the time for the foreground program continued at the last number.

A DOS-mode process is suspended when it is in the background.

Table 3: Comparing times for applications running DOS 3.3 shows that you get varied results.

Application benchmarks DOS 3.3

under DOS mode and OS/2 DOS mode

XyWrite1 Microsoft Word Lotus 1-2-3 dBASE III + AutoCAD STATA MathCAD

1 Times for large program only.

2:51 0:31 2:48 8:35 16:02 0:52 0:35

2:44 0:33 2:52 6:08 24:40 0:32 0:36

OS/2 and DOS mode in the foreground (see table 2).

When priority was dynamic, the foreground task executed at a fairly constant rate no matter what was going on in the background. When priority was absolute, however, the foreground tasks and the background tasks executed in a roundrobin fashion. In these tests, because I started these processes from the command line, they all had the same priority when I configured priority to be absolute. The programmer can set the priority of a thread; in this situation, a lower-priority thread would not get the processor from a higher-priority compute-bound infinite loop.

Table 2 also shows that when DOS mode is in the foreground, it gets scheduled the same way as an OS/2-mode task running in the foreground. A task running in DOS mode is suspended when it is switched to the background.

Table 3 shows the total time for each program's test in the application benchmark suite. (For a description of the application benchmarks, see the article "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks" on page 239.) In general, DOS mode was slower on the loads from disk. DOS mode was about 4 minutes slower performing the Hide command in AutoCAD than was DOS 3.3. DOS mode had some notable speedups: 5 seconds faster for the

XyWrite block move test, and 20 seconds faster for the STATA graphics test. It also showed a lot of improvement in many of the dBASE IB Plus tests in the Copy, Index, Append, Pack, Count, and Sort tests. In these tests, it was 29,21, 24, 55, 41, and 31 percent faster, respectively.

The only problems I came upon when running the application benchmarks in OS/2 mode were memory problems. I had to remove COMOx.SYS from memory to run the fast Fourier transform test of MathCAD. The memory limitations prevented me from running the Lotus 1-2-3 Monte Carlo tests at all; the Monte Carlo requires over 512K bytes of memory.

Is It Worth It?

At this time, the average end user can't do a whole lot with IBM OS/2 except run DOS applications in the DOS-mode box. I don't currently have any user applications that take advantage of the advanced capabilities of OS/2, and the thrill of running 12 simultaneous disk directories wears off quickly.

So the question is, is it worth the money and effort to convert to OS/2 Standard Edition now? I think it is. The DOS compatibility box seems to be pretty compatible for most applications unless you have a real memory hog of a program or an incompatible device driver. You can easily boot from a DOS floppy and just run under DOS if you don't want to struggle with these issues.

It takes time to absorb the concepts of a system this complex. Even just the stuff you have to know to be an end user takes some mental adjustment. It took me a few weeks just to get used to the concept of screen groups, the fact that OS/2 has over 50 files in the root directory, and to figure out what the CONFIG.SYS commands were good for, just to name a few things.

If you happen to be an applications developer, these are exciting times. Norton Guides has an on-line reference for the OS/2 Application Programmer Interface (API) that makes the approximately 200 OS/2 functions accessible with a keystroke. Laboratory Microsystems has an alternative to the very expensive Microsoft Software Development Kit ($3000) and IBM Toolkit ($795), called UR/ FORTH ($350), which is a great system for becoming familiar with the OS/2 API. Unlike C, Forth lets you simply try out an OS/2 function right at the Forth prompt. You don't have the lengthy edit, compile, link, and run cycle of C I am expecting an avalanche of OS/2 applications any day now. It will be interesting to see how well they all play together. ■

Eva M. White is a technical editor at BYTE.

154 BYTE- JUNE 1988

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APPLICATION REVIEWS

□

Two Mac Databases Go Toe-to-Toe

Charles Spezzano

Double Helix II and 4th Dimension are two of the leading heavyweight contenders in the Macintosh database arena. Both are relational database systems that let you link multiple files of records. With these systems, you can set up customized turnkey database management applications. In fact, you can do almost anything you want in designing customized database applications on the Macintosh.

Despite these similarities, Double Helix II and 4th Dimension have very different personalities. Helix is one of the most visually oriented databases available for the Mac. You don't have to type in instructions for anything; instead, you move icons around. This has been Helix's trademark since its introduction back in the days of the first 128K-byte Macs.

At that time, Helix was a cute but limited program that couldn't even do subtotals. Now it has matured, and it still has an abundance of icons per square inch of computer screen. It also has all the heavyweight features most users need, except for a procedural programming language and a built-in graphics generator.

There is nothing "cute" about 4th Dimension. If you prefer to build your custom applications with a sophisticated Pascal-like programming language, then 4th Dimension is currently the stand-out choice among Macintosh databases. If, however, you don't want to program, then Double Helix II easily and comfortably supplies you

An icon-operated and efficient

Double Helix II differs from a powerful

and sophisticated 4th Dimension

With Double Helix II (top), you use icons to create a database. With 4th Dimension (bottom), you can link two files.

with the capability to create your customized relational application.

Double Helix II40

Odesta Corp. offers Double Helix II version 40 for $595. The program comes on two 3V2-inch floppy disks and runs on a Mac Plus with 1 megabyte of memory and a hard disk drive.

Helix has fans like the Mets have fans. Even when Helix had flash and potential, but little power or real business capability, users still loved it. Now, Double Helix II is an easy-to-operate but versatile program for the serious user who prefers to create databases in a graphics development environment by using a palette of icons rather than traditional programming.

What's called a file of records in other programs is called a relation in Double Helix II. A collection of relations is a multifile database. When you open a new relation, you are provided with a palette of seven icons. These icons represent the tools that you use to create the relation's structure.

Once you open and name a relation, you can create a field by dragging a Field icon out of its icon "well." Double Helix II handles five different types of data fields: text, number, date, flag (true or false), and picture (screen image of any sort). In addition to setting the type of field that you create, Double Helix II also provides a format button that lets you specify the exact output format of a number, date, or continued

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 159

TWO MAC DATABASES GO TOE-TO-TOE

Double Helix II 40

4th Dimension 1.0

Type

Relational database manager and applications developer

Company

Odesta Corp. 4084 Commercial Ave. Northbrook, IL 60062 (312)498-5615 (800) 323-5423

Format

Two 31/2-inch floppy disks

Hardware Required

Macintosh Plus with 1 megabyte of memory and a hard disk drive

Language

Not available

Documentation

425-page User's Guide 367-page Reference Manual

Price

$595

$395 for the Double Helix II multiuser kit

Inquiry 891.

Type

Relational database manager and applications developer

Company

Acius Inc.

20300 Stevens Creek Blvd.

Suite 495

Cupertino, CA 95014

(408) 252-4444

Format

Four 31/2-inch floppy disks

Hardware Needed

Macintosh Plus with 1 megabyte of memory and a hard disk drive

Language

Pascal

Documentation

204-page Tutorial

367-page User's Guide

172-page Programmer's Reference

268-page Command Reference

Utilities and Developer's Notes

Changes and Enhancements booklet

Price

$695

$295 for run-time version with four disks

inquiry 892.

flag, and a validate button that lets you set restrictions on the information entered into this field.

You don't have to specify a length for a field (see table 1). Double Helix II allows up to 32,500 characters per field, but it does not allocate a fixed amount of space. Rather, it allocates only the space you actually use when entering data into that field for any record, even if that space differs from record to record.

Once you create fields, you design a form so that you can enter, view, and manipulate the information they will contain. You build applications on forms by manipulating icons that represent each element or data-management activity, such as a value, a calculation, or a selection process.

With Double Helix II, everything you do with your data requires a form. You will need data-entry forms, report forms, mailing-label forms, and so on. Helix doesn't have separate components, such as a report generator that has different procedures that you must learn for each component. You use Template icons exclusively for form design.

You use View icons to enter and view data. For this process, you simply drag and name a View icon, select the Tem

plate you wish to use, pull down the view menu, and select Show Form. The form you created in the Template icon is now displayed and ready for data entry. When it's time for your first report, you drag and name a new Template. Then, as with the data-entry form, you can custom design a report form, or you can use a Quick command to automatically generate a columnar report.

You can design fields to display and print in a variety of fonts, sizes, and styles. Double Helix II can index the fields to let you view records in a particular order and to help speed up the retrieval of information. To build an index, you use the Index icon. Essentially, you name the index and drag the field to be indexed to the top of a field list. A dialog box shows you that your index is being built, and also how much of the process remains to be completed.

You can join separate fields of information, such as first name and last name, with a calculation. To do this, you use the Abacus icon. In this case, you might name the Abacus icon "Full Name." When you double-click on the Full-Name Abacus icon, a window opens with oblong icons along the left-hand side. These are the famous Helix Calculation Tiles

that let you visually program instead of using a programming language with its syntax protocols. You can also use tiles for complex calculations involving number fields; the procedure is similar and just as simple.

The next icon you might use is the User icon, which lets you create personalized custom menus for other people using your application on a single workstation or a multiuser network. Once you name the User icon and double-click on it, a window appears with the necessary elements for creating custom menus either manually or automatically. The automatic procedure assigns all the View icons to the menu.

To further customize your application, you can assign keyboard command equivalents to your menu choices. To do this, you simply click on and drag a number or letter from an on-screen keyboard at the bottom of the custom menu window and place it on top of the appropriate menu choice. Other icons add further power and flexibility to your use of an application.

Key New Features

Posting is the most eagerly awaited new feature of Double Helix II, especially by users of Helix accounting applications. It has been given its own icon on the Helix palette. Basically, posting refers to a database's ability to automatically change previously stored data in response to information that is being entered.

More specifically, the posting function automates data management in three ways: It provides an automated method for changing the information in stored records; it lets you change data simultaneously in more than one record and more than one relation; and it provides a method by which you can create more than one new record by simply pressing the Enter key.

In day-to-day business use, here's what this means. With posting, you can automate tasks such as maintaining running totals and global replacing or updating of data either in multiple records in the same file or in multiple files. You can also generate audit trails, enter information that you cannot view or access on the entry form, or tag printed or dumped records.

Double Helix II offers increased protection against data loss and unlimited personalized custom menus and forms for each user. Other features include faster printing; page numbers for reports; "inert" (temporary) fields into which you can enter data for calculations without having to store it; nonselectable rectangles that protect against tampering with the values in specified fields; storing

160 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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TWO MAC DATABASES GO TOE-TO-TOE

or printing page set-ups; dump and load parameters; shade defaults; shade invalid fields; and data validation. A new Object Manager makes working with large numbers of icons and other objects more efficient.

You can use a Revert command to discard changes and reopen the original collection. Helix offers icon well labels, a duplicate suppression/previous tile that eliminates repeating identical entries in a list and blanks out subsequent repeating columns, and over 20 new Abacus tiles, including those for date and time manipulation. A new "Why?" menu, which works with the new data validation features, explains why the data you enter does not meet the criteria previously specified.

For small business owners, managers, and professionals, Double Helix II provides a good combination of power and flexibility, plus ease of use and a short learning curve. Even new database users will be able to build custom applications. By contrast, experienced database programmers will probably be distracted by the new visual development environment in which they will find themselves.

4th Dimension 1.0

This new program from Acius comes on four 3'/2-inch floppy disks and runs on a Mac Plus with 1 megabyte of memory and a hard disk drive.

Few Macintosh software packages have been as eagerly awaited or given as much fanfare as 4th Dimension. It has been heralded as the greatest French import since the Statue of Liberty. For the most part, this is one time when all the clamor may be justified.

4th Dimension brings to the Macintosh world the first database that maintains a familiar Macintosh graphics-oriented interface while also offering a combination of multiuser Appletalk support, a traditional Pascal-like programming language for applications development, and a host language interface for creating modules externally in Pascal, C, or 68000 assembly language.

For veteran application developers coming to the Macintosh with programming experience on other systems, these features will eliminate the necessity of learning new methods, such as Helix's icon manipulation. For novice users, such a complex system will present some difficulties.

4th Dimension is divided into three environments: design, user, and custom. The design environment contains five editors: structure, layout, procedure, menu, and password. You can use these editors to develop files; fields within each

Table 1: Although 4th Dimension is a robust program, unlimited capabilities.

Double Helix II has

4th Dimension

Double Helix II

Files per database

99

Unlimited

Fields per file

511

Unlimited

Records per file

16,000,000

Unlimited

Total links

Unlimited

Unlimited

file; relationships between files; input, output, and dialog layouts; procedures (programming); custom menus; and password security. This multiwindow design environment lets you switch quickly between the five available editors.

The user environment comes into play once you've designed a database using the design environment editors—a process in which you can enter data and test the layouts and procedures you have created. You can view and print data through input and output layouts, create standard reports and eight types of graphs, import and export data, set an ASCII map (a character translation table), execute procedures, print mailing labels, and search and sort records.

When I used 4th Dimension's search and sort method, I found that it required fewer steps and was more self-evident than Helix's Query icon method. Helix does offer a simple "quick query," but this method restricts you to three search criteria: "starts with," "contains," and "is found within."

The user environment also contains database functions that let you do the following: enter data without customizing the database; test portions of your application as you develop them; use the generic user-interface for ad hoc queries and database maintenance; and check the design and placement of layouts and dialog boxes.

If you decide to go all the way to a turnkey application, the custom environment lets your application run like a standalone program with its own pull-down menus, password protection, and a runtime version (read-only database) that is available separately for $295 with four disks in the package. The run-time version only implements an application that has been designed with the mil version of the program. It does not let you change the structure of the database.

Five Editors

With this overview of the three major environments in mind, you can now take a closer look at the five editors available

within the design environment. The structure editor lets you create files, assign fields and field types, and create links between files. In the structure window, the entire database is visually represented, with the fields of each file contained in a rectangle.

There are eight types of fields: alphanumeric (2 to 80 characters); text (an editing environment that provides scrolling and word wrap and accepts up to 32,767 characters); real numbers; short (16-bit) integers; long (32-bit) integers; date; pictures; and subfile. A subfile field is actually a file attached to an individual record. Subfiles can have up to 32,767 records, each record having as many as 511 fields. Subfiles nest to five levels.

You may give each field any of six available data- and error-checking attributes: mandatory, display only, can't modify, indexed, unique, and standard choices. The standard choices attribute lets you create a list of prepared entries, from which you can pick when you enter data.

The layout editor is the second of the five design environment editors. Layouts are similar to Helix forms, but 4th Dimension provides more drawing tools to create them.

You can select a standard layout from eight choices or custom design an input or report format. You select fields to be included in each layout as well as create Macintosh interface tools such as check boxes, scrollable areas, buttons, graph areas, and any variable you want to include on the layout. You can include displays of layouts from other files or fields from linked files. You can also display formats for dates, numbers, and variables.

The procedure editor brings you into contact with 4th Dimension's full-featured, Pascal-like programming language. You can use either the flow chart or the listing method for writing procedures. You use the procedure editor to write and modify global procedures for use as menus, commands, and subrou

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 161

TWO MAC DATABASES GO TOE-TO-TOE

Table 2: Except for the "load sample file " test, 4th Dimension was significantly faster than Double Helix II. All times are in minutes: seconds.

4th Dimension

Double Helix II

Load sample file 39:08

13:20

Search for last record 1 45

4:45

Search for nonexistent record 1:20

4:50

Index a field 2:55

6:07

tines, or to create layout procedures that control processing for a specific layout (e.g., input, output, or dialog). You can also use it to create file procedures for controlling files.

You use the menu editor to create custom menu bars and menu command choices. 4th Dimension's menu editor is similar in capability to Helix's custom menu features.

The final editor, password, provides the capability of creating a multiple-level password system that can control access to the design and user environments as well as protect menu bars, titles, and items. There is one drawback, however, to 4th Dimension's password scheme: it's an either/or system. Either users can get into a particular layout or they can't. By contrast, Double Helix H lets you further specify exactly what you can do with a particular layout once you've accessed it. On the plus side, though, 4th Dimension's password system keeps track of how many times you use each password, and the date when you used it last.

In my opinion, this is the premiere Macintosh application development tool for experienced programmers. No other program looks and feels like a graphicsoriented Macintosh package, while at the same time giving veteran programmers the procedural language, host language interface, and multiuser AppleTalk support with which they can create a largescale, completely customized database application. Many users, however, will be in over their heads trying to develop complete turnkey applications with this version of 4th Dimension. The company promises that a future version will provide pop-up menus and similar tools for nonprogrammers.

Linking Files: A Comparison

With both 4th Dimension and Double Helix II, you use the mouse to link files. You link two 4th Dimension files by drawing a line between the linking fields, or from a field in one file to another file of records, which will become a subfile of that field. When you later create the

layout for a file, you can include data from any linked file.

4th Dimension automatically writes a layout procedure program that moves the data between the linked files. You can modify these programs with the procedure editor or use that editor to create your own procedures to work with linked data. You might find managing file links with 4th Dimension difficult, depending on your skills in writing these programs.

Double Helix II links are for looking up data in or posting data to another file. You can create these links by dragging objects into the blank spaces on tiles or by specifying in a dialog box what you want placed into the spaces. A subform link, which provides a means to display a list of data from one file within the form of another file, is created in the file containing the data and is then brought into the form where it will be displayed. This procedure is perhaps the most tedious in Helix and involves approximately 20 separate steps, including creating an Index, a Template, and a View icon.

Lines and arrows show the links between files. These links must be set during the design process—a disadvantage compared to Double Helix's Look Up tiles, which let you, while working in one file, retrieve data from another file without the necessity of a predesigned link. With 4th Dimension, if you realize after the fact that cross-file data retrieval requires a link you had not created, you must go back and modify the design of the database.

Making Comparisons

I ran BYTE's benchmark tests on these two programs on a Macintosh 512E that had been upgraded to 1 megabyte of RAM with a Dove 524S MacSnap memory board and SCSI port upgrade. Attached to the SCSI port was a Nova 30 hard disk drive from Micro Tech.

Except on the initial task of importing a 1660-record file, 4th Dimension was significantiy faster than Double Helix II (see table 2). It performed searches and built an index three to four times faster

than Helix did. These results strongly suggest that, in day-to-day use, 4th Dimension will prove to be a speedier performer than Double Helix II.

The 1660-record ASCII file I imported into both Double Helix II and 4th Dimension consisted of 15 fields per record. Helix took 13 minutes, 20 seconds to complete the importing process while 4th Dimension completed it in 39 minutes, 8 seconds.

I then asked both programs to search an unindexed field for the last record in the file. Helix found and displayed the record in 4 minutes, 45 seconds. 4th Dimension did it in 1 minute, 45 seconds. I conducted a search for a nonexistent record, again on an unindexed field. Helix took 4 minutes, 50 seconds, and 4th Dimension reported back in 1 minute, 20 seconds.

When I indexed the Last Name field in each database, Helix took 6 minutes, 7 seconds, and 4th Dimension took 2 minutes, 55 seconds. Both programs completed searches on the indexed field too fast for me to record on my stopwatch.

And the Winner Is?

These two programs are excellent choices for building custom database applications, because they both make good use of the Mac interface, they have all the features needed to create a turnkey system, and there are so few toe-to-toe competitors currently available for the Mac. Your selection of one or the other may rest largely on whether or not you prefer to build those applications through the visual object-oriented Double Helix II method or with 4th Dimension's traditional programming language.

Other Macintosh database application development programs face stiff competition from these two programs. They both create applications that make good use of the Macintosh interface. They both provide multiuser access. 4th Dimension also steals the high-end programming show from dBASE Mac with smoother search and sort methods, multiuser access, and a host language interface.

In spite of the excitement over the appearance of 4th Dimension in the U.S., I still prefer Double Helix II for my own database needs. That's because I am among the user category of small business owners, managers, and professionals for whom programming is an unwelcome chore. Many full-time programmers, however, will be waiting with open arms for 4th Dimension. ■

Charles Spezzano, of Denver, Colorado, is the author of "Database Managers " in BYTE's Applications Software Today (Summer 1987).

162 BYTE- JUNE 1988

1 B ■ W M Pw_w_l

iJllfe'llI

■I

I

Microsoft. Pascal 40

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The people who co-developed the industry's most powerful personal computer operating system are now proud to announce programming languages to match.

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Microsoft FORTRAN 4.1

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Language

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ontrol 1378 (Affine closure, Round nearest, 64-" ien=B pn-1 un=l on=B zn=B

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DOUBLE THREATS TO LOTUS 1-2-3

Double Threats to Lotus 1 -2-3

Diana Gabaldon

Quattro and Surpass are two spreadsheet programs that, at least in some ways, outshine Lotus 1 -2-3. And they do it by being data-compatible with 1-2-3 worksheets. In fact, you could consider Quattro and Surpass functional supersets of 1-2-3.

But there the similarities end. Each program has its own approach to providing a better spreadsheet. Quattro offers an easy-to-use interface and a very attractive price, while Surpass adds features that let you consolidate several different spreadsheets.

Quattro 1.0

Quattro looks and feels a whole lot like 1-2-3.1 was immediately able to do good things with Quattro without so much as looking at the user's manual. If you're a fluent 1-2-3 user, you'll get the hang of this program in about 30 seconds. If you're not, it might take you a couple of hours. Quattro's creators decided not to stray too far from the de facto 1-2-3 standard. It has all the familiar Lotus features, such as block definitions and moves, range naming, built-in functions, file handling, and many of the familiar keystroke rhythms of 1-2-3. But Quattro's creators have gone out of their way to make some of 1-2-3's functions easier to use.

Borland International's $247.50 package runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, Portable, PS/2s, and compatibles. You need 384K bytes of RAM, but more memory is strongly recommended. Quattro provides both 5 lA- and 3 Vi-inch floppy disks and requires DOS 2.0 or higher.

Instead of residing in a two-line area at the top of the screen a la 1-2-3, Quattro's menu choices are displayed in pop-up windows. You press the slash key, and Quattro's first-level function menu appears as a list of command options in a vertical window. As you use your up ar

Quattro and Surpass are

souped-up 1-2-3 compatibles that build

on the spreadsheet standard

. 1987

■

9,

J27.55 ifo.

$12.5(1 «7.m

tO.OO 117. GO SO.!

K.K «7.M 10.00

Retrieve a Quattro worksheet (top) with four keystrokes Consolidate several worksheets with Surpass (bottom).

row and down arrow keys to highlight your choice, Quattro displays more details of each function on the first line of your screen.

If you're 1-2-3 adept, you already know many of Quattro's capabilities. Block functions (e.g., copy, move, erase, and name ranges) and column, row, erase, file, and print are essentially the same as 1-2-3's similarly named functions. You can also do a search and re

place within a range of cells; this is a very powerful feature that 1-2-3 lacks.

While most popular spreadsheets let you query a database in some fashion, Quattro also lets you assign field names in a query. This means that Quattro names cells in your database, according to labels in the first row of cells. You can then reference these field names instead of cell addresses when specifying the criteria for your query—a more convenient and somewhat faster way of doing things. The program also has useful features such as dependent minimal recalculation, in which only cells affected by spreadsheet changes are refigured.

You can customize Quattro to a very sophisticated level. With this flexibility, you have a range of options: from selecting the most desirable interface to developing your own menu system. You can change either to an interface virtually indistinguishable from Lotus 1-2-3, or to a novice-level menu system.

Quattro's graphics are spectacular. With this program you have the ability to create just about every kind of graph you can think of, with every sort of pattern, legend, marker, grid, and title. About the only thing you can't do is add free-form text to a graph. You can store a graph as an .EPS or .PIC file (the most common graphics file formats) for later desktop publishing purposes, or you can put it in a PostScript file for laser printing.

Quattro's print functions include a Top Heading and Left Heading function; these are the familiar 1-2-3 Border commands. In 1-2-3,1 always had trouble remembering whether it was the Column or the Row border that showed up on the left. You will enjoy Quattro's more descriptive command names, which spell

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 167

DOUBLE THREATS TO LOTUS 1-2-3

Quattro 1.0

Surpass 1.01

Type

Type

Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet

Company

Company

Borland International

Surpass Software Systems Inc.

4585 Scotts Valley Dr.

250 Bel Marin Keys Blvd.

Scotts Valley, CA 95066

Building F, Upper Floor

(408) 438-8400

Novato, CA 94949

(415)382-8840

Format

Four 51/4-inch or two 31/2-inch floppy

Format

disks

8088 version with three 51/4-inch floppy

disks or two 31/2-inch floppy disks;

Language

80286/80386 version with one 51/4-inch

C and assembly

floppy disk and two 31/>-inch floppy disks

Computer

Language

IBM PC, XT, AT, Portable, PS/2s, and

Modula-2

compatibles with 384K bytes of RAM and

DOS 2.0 or higher

Computer

IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or 100 percent

Documentation

compatible with a hard disk drive, 512K

340-page reference guide

bytes of RAM, MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2.0

440-page user's manual

or higher, and a monochrome or

100-page getting started guide

graphics display adapter

Price

Documentation

$247.50

650-page document with quick

reference and quick access guides and

Inquiry 893.

reference manuals

Price

For single-workstation copy: $495

For 10-workstation network version:

$1995

Inquiry 894.

easier, faster spreadsheet formatting.

On the down side, Quattro is a memory hog. I had trouble running spreadsheets with 100 columns or more on an IBM XT with 512K bytes. However, the program will use expanded memory, if available. For a first-time spreadsheet user, Quattro is a fine choice. At a much lower price, it offers all of Lotus 1-2-3's main features plus a few extras, such as the ability to use dBASE files. If you're spreadsheet shopping, Quattro is a good pick.

Surpass 1.01

You can run Surpass Software Systems' spreadsheet on an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or 100 percent compatible with a 5 Va- or 3 '/2-inch floppy or hard disk drive, a minimum of 512K bytes of RAM, MSDOS or PC-DOS 2.0 or higher, and a monochrome or graphics display adapter. According to the company, this $495 package works with all RAM-resident accessory programs. When I tried it with SideKick (version 1.56), I had no problems. The package also comes with a special version of Surpass that uses the addi

tional machine instructions of the 80286/80386 chips for better performance and memory utilization.

Surpass does a good job of matching or outdoing 1-2-3. Their user interfaces and general modes of operation are similar. Not provided by Lotus 1-2-3, however, is Surpass's abilities to use both extended and expanded memory and to load an entire spreadsheet into either.

Surpass's screen appearance is slightly different from that of 1-2-3. This is because Surpass uses windows and pop-up menus. You can have several spreadsheets visible in windows simultaneously, and you can concurrently summon and dismiss menu windows at will.

You can open and view multiple directories and disks with this spreadsheet's Visual File Manager, and you can view and graphically traverse the disk's directory tree. You can sort file lists by name, extension, size, DOS order, or time stamp.

Surpass does not have Quattro's ability to search and replace within a range. However, it does let you search a worksheet for a text string, formula, or

numeric value, and for a specific condition, such as +AK200. This command causes the program to search for cells containing a value of less than 200. There is a separate gReplace function that will let you replace, append to, or delete specified character strings.

There are several nice small features, such as undo, zoom, automatic adjustment of column width to the width of the longest item in the column, macro recording (the program writes a macro by recording your keystrokes), and tracing (single-step execution of a macro so you can see where problems occur). You can keep macros in macro libraries—a feature that lets you use the macros with different spreadsheets rather than only in the spreadsheet where they were created.

You can set recalculation to either manual or automatic. As with Quattro, Surpass also has dependency-based minimal recalculation. This means that only cells dependent on the last data entry are refigured—a process that considerably speeds up the recalculation function in large spreadsheets where changes affect only a few cells. More important, with Surpass, recalculation also runs in background mode so you can continue with data entry or other spreadsheet functions while it takes place. Surpass can use the 8087, 80287, or 80387 math coprocessor (not required), which, if used, increases recalculation speed.

The graphics in this program are certainly adequate for most business uses. There are 21 different types of graphs, among them some interesting three-dimensional bar charts. I particularly liked being able to print a graph without having to exit from Surpass to a separate printing program. Quattro also has this feature, but it does not have Surpass's slide show feature, which lets you set up a programmed sequence of selected graphics screens for later viewing.

Every new software product has one feature that's supposed to really knock your socks off—a feature that everyone mentions when describing the product. Surpass has something it calls a "hot link," a feature that lets you consolidate spreadsheets.

In a way, a hot link is similar to a relation in dBASE m. Just as a Set Relation command effectively joins two separate database files, a hot link joins two or more separate spreadsheets. Once two or more Surpass windows (spreadsheets) are hot-linked, they effectively act as one. And with hot links, you can build graphs that use data from several different spreadsheets. This feature is similar to that in the just-out NexView from ADC & Associates, with its distributed spread

continued

168 BYTE' JUNE 1988

The new Hercules Network Card Plus makes put ting a network into place surprisingly easy and very inexpensive.

But since (remarkably enough) the Network Card Plus is also a graphics card, there's another advantage that may be just as significant.

By offering advanced video capabilities (including Hercules' proprietary RamFont™ technology) on the same single card-the Network Card Plus saves you a slot, at the same time it saves you money.

With the Network Card Plus, you can connect PC's to other PC's, Macintoshes, Unix-based systems, and expensive peripherals like printers.

You can access files from other computers using the same interface you normally work with.* And you can expand your network any time you like (up to 32 nodesmore if networks are linked).

For video purposes, the Network Card Plus provides Hercules monochrome text and graphics, including RamFont mode - which combines the versatility of graphics mode with the speed of text mode. RamFont lets word processors, like WordPerfect 5.0, show actual italics, bold face, and multiple type

styles and sizes. And it lets spreadsheets, such as Lotus 1-2-3, display more information on a screen. All without sacrificing speed.

In short, the Network Card Plus answers two critical, needsnetworking and advanced video. At the affordable price of just one card.

For information-or to learn where you can buy the Network Card Pluscall toll-free 1-800-532-0600 ext.402(U.S.)or 1-800-323-0601 ext. 402 (Canada).

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Circle 125 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 126)

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 169

DOUBLE THREATS TO LOTUS 1-2-3

Table 1: On the IBM XT,

Quattro ran somewhat faster than Surpass in both the Scroll and the Savage tests, while Surpass ran faster in the Recalc test. Quattro, however, did poorly on the Recalc test.

Savage Recalc Scroll

Quattro 21.37 7.13 37.22

Surpass 28.85 3.08 54.21

1-2-3 28.90 2.44 57.67

sheet database system. According to Lotus, its 1-2-3 version 3 will be available this winter with a similar feature.

The hot-link feature lets you copy a range from one spreadsheet to another with virtually the same keystrokes that you use to copy within a single spreadsheet. You can build a formula in one spreadsheet that "pulls" values from several other spreadsheets. If you copy that formula to other cells in the first spreadsheet, Surpass will copy with relative addressing so that each new formula pulls values from "equivalent" sets of cells.

In effect, hot linking creates a threedimensional spreadsheet. Not only can you manipulate cells horizontally along rows and vertically in columns, but you can also work front-to-back through "pages" of spreadsheets.

Unfortunately, Surpass's hot-link feature is not implemented in any of the database commands. The most significant limitation of spreadsheets as far as database functions are concerned is that they limit you strictly to "flat"—as opposed to relational—database structures.

I especially like Surpass's hot-link and background recalculation features. While Surpass's price is comparable to Lotus 1-2-3's and considerably higher than Quattro's, the extra features and performance make it a good choice.

How Do They Compare?

The good news is that neither of these spreadsheets is copy-protected. However, the bad news is that neither Surpass nor Quattro works with the multitude of add-in products that lately have bloomed for Lotus 1-2-3. Lotus's add-in manager allows a wide variety of these accessory database handlers, spreadsheet checkers, optimizers, and so forth to work inside the 1-2-3 menu interface. Surpass, though, has several features, among them its hot links, that the add-ins supply for Lotus (see my review "Database Management via 1-2-3," May BYTE).

Quattro does use SQZ!, an accessory data compression program from Turner Hall Publishing. SQZ! was originally developed to work with Lotus 1-2-3 and other spreadsheet files but is now built into Quattro. With this addition to Quattro, merely saving a file using a special three-character extension compresses not only Quattro-generated files but any 1-2-3 .WKS and .WK1 files you may use with Quattro.

I ran the BYTE benchmark tests on an IBM XT with 512K bytes of RAM (see table 1). I ran the Savage test on a worksheet with 1000 rows consisting of a single cell containing a complex formula. Both the Recalc and Scroll tests used a worksheet made up of 100 columns and 25 rows, where each cell is the product of 1.001 times the cell to its left. All measures for Surpass were very close to those for Lotus.

Quattro was about 26 percent faster than 1-2-3 and Surpass in the Savage test—a test that is a check on time and accuracy—and 32 to 35 percent faster in scrolling. However, Quattro did poorly on the Recalc test, taking about 2 to 3 times longer than 1-2-3 and Surpass to complete.

Quattro comes with a perfect-bound reference guide, a user's manual, and a tutorial book called Getting Started with Quattro. Aside from the general inconvenience of perfect binding—the pages never lie flat—the books are attractively laid out and logically organized. In terms of appearance and organization, the Quattro documentation is better than Surpass's.

Surpass comes with a large binder that includes quick reference and quick access guides and reference sections on the spreadsheet and Visual File Manager. This spreadsheet's manual has a good tutorial section, and the index is adequate. Both programs have very good context-sensitive on-line help.

Quattro is subject to at least two constraints on technical-support access. You must have a disk serial number to obtain this perk, and it is not a toll-free call. Technical support for Quattro is also available through Borland's special interest group on CompuServe. The software package includes a copy of For Quattro, a monthly newsletter-cum-tip-sheet for users. This publication is also available by subscription for $60 per year ($49 for new users).

Surpass Software Systems provides free unlimited phone support (also not toll-free) from 9 to 5 Pacific time, Monday through Friday. Surpass's phone support is currently available to anyone—a registration number is not required. When I tried calling, I got through at once

to a knowledgeable, helpful technician.

For those contemplating a switch from Lotus 1-2-3, the question of compatibility is especially important. Both Quattro and Surpass import and use 1-2-3 files. Surpass also imports and uses 1-2-3 macros. Quattro also has this capability if the 1-2-3 interface is set, and it can read and write dBASE, Paradox, Symphony, and plain old ASCII files.

Surpass is actually keystroke-compatible with 1-2-3, using the same sequence of keys to do similar functions. Quattro is not keystroke-compatible unless you reset its "compatibility defaults" to enable its 1-2-3 user interface.

In the other direction, 1-2-3 cannot read default Surpass files. However, you can save files under different extensions that are readable by 1-2-3. You must save 1-2-3 version 1.0 files under a different file extension than version 2.0 files. Quattro not only reads files from 1-2-3, dBASE, Symphony, and others, but also exports Quattro-made files in any of these formats.

Sum Total

The problem is what to buy. Both Quattro and Surpass offer some distinct advantages over the present version of Lotus 1-2-3. Specifically, Quattro comes in at a much lower price. At $247.50 (compared to $495 for 1-2-3), Quattro, with its customization possibilities, is a good value, though it is no speed demon. Surpass, on the other hand, offers the additional features of background recalculation, spreadsheet consolidation through its hot links, and slightly better graphics—all for the same price as 1-2-3.

Those advantages may disappear, however, when Lotus introduces the enhanced version of 1-2-3. Moreover, neither Surpass nor Quattro works with the large number of add-in products developed for 1-2-3, and if you depend on any of those add-ins, you're also dependent on 1-2-3.

Borland International worked hard to make Quattro "better" than 1-2-3. It may not be better, but it's very good. Surpass Software Systems made its hot-link concept very valuable for users, and it's also very good.

So until the new version of 1-2-3 is ready, I recommend Surpass if you need the ability to consolidate several spreadsheets. If you don't need that feature, you might consider Quattro the better buy. ■

Diana Gabaldon is editor of Science Software, an international journal for scientists who use computers, and an assistant research professor for Arizona State University's Center for Environmental Studies.

170 BYTE* JUNE 1988

How to create high-performance programs without wasting your time or money

Step 1: The $19.95 Power C compiler

Power C is the new ANSI compatible C compiler that runs faster than Microsoft C and has more functions than Turbo C®. Power C combines high-performance software with superb documentation, all for less than the price of most C books alone. It's your fast route to fast programs without the fast bucks. Compare Power C to the competition and see how much time and money you'll save.

Technical Specifications

Power C includes: Power C compiler with integrated Make. Power C Linker, Power C Libraries (450 functions), the Power C book (680 pages), and support for... js_ ANSI standard

• IEEE floating point

• 8087/80287 coprocessor >* auto-sensing of 8087/80287 jg automatic register variables is unlimited program size

is mixed model (near & far pointers) is graphics on CGA, EGA, VGA, & Hercules Optional Products: v Power Ctrace debugger >s Library source code is BCD business math

Performance/Price Chart

(execution times in seconds)

Power C

QuickC"

Turbo C"

1)fib

23.8

53.4

26.4

2) sieve

27.6

43.2

25.5

3) tdbl

3.5

9.0

9.6

4) diskio

13.5

14.4

14.3

5) report

' 0

71.7

60.7

6) drystone

36.6

41.6

31.8

Compile/Link

73.9

113.5

81.4

EXE File Size

25120

32092

27184

Compiler Price

S19.95

$99.00

$99.95

Debugger Price

S19.95

N/C

N/A

Library Source

S10.GTJ

$150.00

$150.00

Total Cost

S49.90

$249.00

$249.95

Step 2: The $19.95 Power Ctrace debugger

rower Ctrace is the new state-of-the-art C debugger that makes Microsoft's Codeview look like old technology. Power Ctrace will reduce the time you spend debugging your C programs by at least a factor of 10. With Power Ctrace, you'll be working smarter instead of harder. Actually, you'll be having so much fun that it won't even feel like work anymore.

nlike other debuggers, Power Ctrace lets you debug graphics programs on a single monitor. You can even debug programs that write directly to video memory. However, the major advantage of Power Ctrace is simple operation. You won't waste any time trying to understand or remember cryptic commands. With Power Ctrace, a single keystroke is all it takes. Help screens show you which key to press and pop-up menus list your options. Invest just 10 minutes with Power Ctrace now and you'll save hours from now on.

ti'rder now by calling our toll free number or mail the coupon to Mix Software, 1132 Commerce Drive, Richardson, TX 75081.

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Runs on IBM PC, XT. AT. PS/2 and compatibles.

60 day money back guarantee

N/C no charge - N/A not available

Benchmarks compiled using Make utility, command-line compiler,

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Circle 191 on Reader Service Card

Name _ Street. City.

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Telephone. Paying by: □ Visa Card # .

Zip

□ Money Order □ MC D AX

□ Check □ Discover

Card Expiration Date. Computer Name

Disk Size

□ 5w a 31/2"

Product(s) (Not Copy Protected)

□ Power C compiler ($19.95) S

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Power C & Power Ctrace are trademarks of Mix Software Inc. Quick C & Codeview are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

Turbo C is a registered trademark of Borland International

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 171

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A SPREADSHEET FOR UNIX

A Spreadsheet for Unix

Paul Schauble

Although Lotus 1-2-3 has spawned a host of imitators, Q-Calc Standard is different: it runs under Unix. Q-Calc Standard is compatible with Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.01, can use .WKS and .WK1 spreadsheets, and has multiuser capabilities inherent in Unixbased systems.

Q-Calc operates under various versions of Unix System V; BSD 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3; Xenix V; and HP-UX. It runs on a wide variety of hardware, including the IBM PC AT and compatibles, many 80386 machines such as the Compaq Deskpro 386, and many 680x0-based systems such as the Macintosh II, Sun workstations, Convergent Technologies workstations, and the NCR Tower. Other Unix systems include the IBM RT PC, Honeywell Level/6, DEC VAX, and IBM 30xx mainframes, to name a few.

For graphics output, Q-Calc supports Tektronix 4014, HDS 220, and Visual 550 terminals. It also supports some bitmapped workstations, such as those from Sun. Q-Calc produces hard-copy graphics on PostScript-based printers, the HP LaserJet, IMAGEN Impress printers, the IBM Proprinter, and an assortment of pen plotters.

My review package came with a single 1.2-megabyte 5 W-inch floppy disk and a manual in an 8!/2- by 11-inch three-ring binder. The clearly written and wellorganized manual includes installation instructions, a tutorial, and a reference section. The tutorial is a good introduction to Q-Calc, but it does not have enough examples on how to use Q-Calc commands to introduce a novice to spreadsheets. The reference section has a fairly complete index. The features and command set are close enough to 1-2-3 that an experienced user might not need the manual.

The version of Q-Calc I used was optimized for Xenix running on an IBM PC AT-compatible 80386-based system and required 250K bytes of RAM and 500K bytes of hard disk space. This package costs $450; versions for other systems sell for up to $4000. For this review,

Q-Calc Standard

promises Lotus 1-2-3 compatibility

with Unix adaptability

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1.49596 1.49746 1.49896 1.58845 1.58195

1.65328 1.65485 1.65651 1.65816 1.65982

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2.46572 2.46818 2.47865 2.47312 2.47568

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3.61129 3.(1438 3.81732 3.82(33 3.82335

3.32788 3.33113 3.33446 3.33779 3.34113

3.67758 3.68126 3.68494 3.68862 3.6923J

4.86412 4.86818 4.67225 4.87632 4.

4.49129 4.49578 4.58(28 4.5(478 4.

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5.48585 5.49853 5.496(2 5.58152 5.587(2

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Q-Calc was run under SCO Xenix 2.2.1 on an Everex 3000, a 16-MHz 80386 system with 4 megabytes of RAM, and a CGA card.

Installation Problems

Unix software is more difficult to install than MS-DOS software. The IBM PC AT and MS-DOS standard covers not only the software but also most of the details of the hardware. An MS-DOS program running on the IBM PC AT knows exactly what type of hardware it's using. In contrast, because Unix runs on a very large variety of hardware, a Unix program must be explicitly configured for the type of hardware it will run on.

The installation proved to be the most difficult part of this review. The installation section of the Q-Calc manual gives specific instructions for installing the program on a Xenix V system. When I followed these instructions, the system displayed an error message, tar: 0 files extracted, from one of the Unix utilities. There were no other installation instructions packaged with the disk, nor any manual update. I probed the distribution disk for a half hour, with the Xenix utilities dd, tar, and Is showing me how the disk is organized, and I was then able to complete the installation. The instructions in the manual were apparently for

another version of Xenix.

Q-Calc was designed and written by Quality Software Products and is published, distributed, and supported by UniPress Software. The software had been repackaged by UniPress for various operating systems, and the manual had not been updated.

After installation, you must configure Q-Calc for the specific terminal hardware that each user runs. This process identifies the functions available on the screen and keyboard. Each user has his or her own profile, which describes the keyboard and screen in use and sets Q-Calc options. For example, the profile may specify that a Control-Z is equivalent to the slash (/) graph view command. The profile also determines printer setup, query before delete, and many other Q-Calc options.

The defaults provided work well with many common terminals. The ANSI terminal model, used by Xenix for the CGA, and the VT-100 terminal model were usable without specific customization. Other terminals may require building a user profile. This task is comparable in difficulty to making a Unix terminf o entry. It is a job for an experienced Unix user or system administrator.

Spreadsheet in Action

The organization of Q-Calc and its commands and functions are almost identical to those of Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.01. Macros work in the same way, although you must invoke them by a different key sequence than Alt-keystroke. Several of my macros did not work correctly because a Q-Calc feature interrupted the macro and asked for confirmation when I attempted to delete rows or columns, or when I erased region commands. However, I could disable the confirmation feature through the user profile.

Also, Q-Calc provides a feature that is unique to Unix systems. The Lotus file import and export features have been extended to work with Unix pipes. This lets you process part of a worksheet through

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 173

Circle 115 on Reader Service Card

A SPREADSHEET FOR UNIX

■ Up to 16 modems on one single-slot plug-in card

• Up to 64-user capability simultaneous & interactive

• Runs on any PC compatible under MS-DOS V3.X

• User-modifiable C source code included

• Menu-oriented operation

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■ Extensive SYSOP displays

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■ Full one year warranty on hardware

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Combine our single-slot card with our sophisticated BREAKTHROUGH software and you have a BBS that performs like a mainframe on a 286/386 machine... with only one cable coming out the back! Completely self-contained, with no external hardware necessary, the system is extremely reliable, flexible and fast.

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The only way to experience our BREAKTHROUGH is by trying it yourself. For $59.00 we'll rash you a copy of The Major BBS (our multi-user Bulletin Board System), the C source, and a 175 page book explaining the system. This includes everything except the singleslot modem card and the low-level "device driver" object library package. Single slot modem cards are available separately in a variety of configurations and with any number of modems (up to 16) that you may require.

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Q-Calc Standard

Type

Lotus 1-2-3-compatible spreadsheet program for Unix systems

Company

UniPress Software Inc.

2025 Lincoln Highway, Suite 209

Edison, N J 08817

(201)985-8000

(800) 222-0550

Format

One 1.2-megabyte 5Winch floppy disk for the IBM PC AT version; four 360K-byte 51/4-inch floppy disks for the AT&T Unix PC 7300

Language

C

Hardware Needed

IBM PC AT or compatible running a version of Unix with 640K bytes of RAM, a CGA, and a hard disk drive; AT&T Unix PC 7300 with 1 megabyte of RAM and a hard disk drive. Packaged for most versions of Unix or Xenix systems.

Documentation

428-page installation, tutorial, and reference manual

Price

For an IBM PC AT-class machine; $450 (additional $150 for graphics) For an AT&T Unix PC 7300: $750 (additional $245 for graphics) Contact vendor for larger machine pricing.

Inquiry 895.

any filter program, or read from any file or database through a filter. A filter can read a database file and convert it into a worksheet format. Most filters are written in C. Writing a filter is not difficult for a programmer, although the average spreadsheet user will probably not want to tackle it.

Q-Calc uses the same file format as 1-2-3 version 2.01 to store its own worksheets. If you move a 1-2-3 file to Unix, Q-Calc can use it directly and then transfer it back to DOS and 1-2-3.

I used the standard set of BYTE spreadsheets for the timing tests. The Savage spreadsheet consists of 100 rows by 10 columns filled with the formula:

@tan(@atan(@exp(@ln(@sqrt

where x is the previous cell in the sequence. The final value in the sequence should be 1000. The Columns spreadsheet is 25 rows by 100 columns filled with the formula x x .1001, where x is the previous cell in the sequence. The Scroll Right test used the Columns worksheet and measured the time needed to scroll right from column 1 to column 100 by repeated use of the right arrow key. In addition, I used spreadsheets from my previous projects to test compatibility: Cook's and Cook's Consolidation are ordering worksheets that test macros and the ability to consolidate individual worksheets onto a master; Reanal does a rate of return analysis for a real estate property. I transferred the spreadsheet files from DOS to Xenix via the doscp Xenix utility.

The BYTE spreadsheet files executed successfully, but my other spreadsheets did not. I could load them correctly, but they would fail to execute on the first recalculation. I tracked down the cause to a problem with the SCO Xenix floatingpoint arithmetic routines. When I installed an 80287 math coprocessor chip into my computer, the spreadsheet files recalculated correctly.

In working with all the spreadsheets, Q-Calc had a different feel than 1-2-3. Running under DOS, 1-2-3 provides nearly instantaneous response. Q-Calc was much slower, even with the 80287 (see table 1). Compared to 1-2-3 running under MS-DOS on the same machine, QCalc took from 1 to 7 times longer to perform most operations. If the Unix system serves more than a single user, Q-Calc's performance will be reduced even further.

Screen control was more limited than with 1-2-3. Although my computer had a color monitor, the worksheet appeared in white on a black background, with only inverse video to show highlighted areas. Q-Calc does not support color choice or use of other colors to specify highlighted or protected areas. Highlighting was inconsistent. At times, I would have highlighted areas when I used the down arrow key but not when I used PageDown, or vice versa. The current cell cursor is also shown in inverse video. I found that operations with cell protection enabled were confusing; it was difficult to quickly locate the inverse video cursor among the inverse video unprotected areas.

The standard Q-Calc keyboard assignments follow the 1-2-3 keyboard as closely as possible. The cursor keys, PageUp, PageDown, and most of the function keys have the same use in QCalc and 1-2-3. Some of the 1-2-3 keys, such as Escape and Control-right, cannot

continued

174 BYTE' JUNE 1988

&iitt&&k^t&i£*^

VM/386. The Fast Track To Multitasking.

Run smart. Run efficient. Run VM/386 on your 386-based PC and start multitasking now! No detours, no waiting, no runaround.

Each VW is protected from the others. A malfunction in one VM won't affect the others, but all VMs can share the same disk and other peripherals.

Recalculate a spreadsheet, sort a database file, and receive your E-mail—all at the same time. You can even work with two AutoCAD™ programs concurrently. EGA applications run perfectly too—background and foreground.

Protect your investment in softwore. No need to buy anything new. VM/386 runs existing DOS programs, unmodified. No PIF files required.

Eliminate the hidden costs of retraining. VM/386 is easy to install, easy to learn, and easy to use. There's no new operating system, interface, or application to learn.

Get on the fast track to multitasking. Call (408) 986-8373 for more information or to order VM/386. Everything else is just the runaround.

True multitasking. VM/386 uses the virtual 8086 mode of the 80386 processor to create many Virtual Machines (VMs) in one computer.

You can load a different application into each VM. Each VM has up to 640K RAM, plus its own DOS, CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT and memory-resident programs along with its applications. Tailor each VM to your needs. You have complete control.

Circle 137 on Reader Service Card

System Requirements

80386-based computer such

as IBM® PS/2™ Model 80 or

COMPAQ® DESKPRO 386? or

80286-based computer with

Intel8 Inboard™ 386/AT.

One 1.2 Mb (5 'A") or one 3 Vi "

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DOS 30 or later.

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Circle 199 on Reader Service Card

A SPREADSHEET FOR UNIX

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Table 1: Benchmark results clearly show that Q-Calc 1-2-3 even with an 80287 math coprocessor chip. (All

runs slower than Lotus times are in seconds.)

Worksheet

Environment

Xenix Q-Calc with 80287

Xenix Q-Calc without 80287

DOS 1-2-3 without 80287

Savage

33

150

14

Columns

7

16

1

Scroll Right

66

239

16

be duplicated on the Xenix keyboard. All the commands are also available by entering a Control-X followed by a letter for the specific command. Some users prefer this form for commands because it is the same on all terminals, while the function keys may be in different locations or missing completely. An apparent bug prevented me from marking a region by starting at the lower left corner and moving up. Another bug resulted in several aborts with core dumps when I pressed PageUp. I saw this both with worksheets imported from 1-2-3 and with worksheets constructed with Q-Calc. This problem occurred only when operating on a color video card and appears to be a bug in SCO Xenix. Q-Calc operated correctly with a monochrome video card.

[Editor's note: To verify that Q-Calc does operate correctly in a Unix environment, BYTE obtained another copy ofQCalc and installed it on an AT&T Unix PC Model 7300 running Unix System V. The Unix version of Q-Calc had the correct installation instructions. On the AT&T 7300 system, Q-Calc ran all the test spreadsheets with no problems. ]

Graphics

The Q-Calc Standard/Graphics package is priced separately from Q-Calc. Its operation is very similar to PrintGraph. You use Q-Calc to prepare and preview the graph and to make a graph file. This file is then made into hard copy using one of the supplied graphics drivers. All the 1-23 graphics types (e.g., line, bar, and pie charts) are supported. In addition, QCalc adds a commodity chart that plots high, low, and closing price information from a stock market chart.

The supported set of graphics display devices in Q-Calc is very limited. In particular, the IBM CGA and EGA video cards are not supported in graphics mode. Q-Calc can draw crude graphs using ASCII or the IBM line-drawing character set. This is barely adequate for debugging and proofing graphs and is essentially worthless for presentations.

UniPress is aware of this limitation but has no specific plans to remove it. Instead, the company invites you to write your own device driver—not something the average spreadsheet user wants to undertake—and provides interface specifications.

Growing Pains

This product shows a lot of potential, but the current version is lacking in polish. In comparison with the best PC-DOS spreadsheets, Q-Calc is slow, limited in display versatility, and awkward to use. This package isn't going to make anyone rush out and buy a Unix system just to do spreadsheets.

Almost all these limitations are the result of Unix software standing at arms' length from the hardware. Where MSDOS applications have been optimized for performance on PCs, Unix applications are optimized for portability. If you must use Unix, it is difficult to conceive of a spreadsheet program that works in this environment that would remove all these limitations.

Still, Q-Calc has some problems. The lack of automatic installation procedures is usual for Unix software, but having to inspect a hex dump of the distribution disk is not. UniPress needs to improve its documentation in this area.

The utility of Q-Calc depends on the environment it will be operating in. It is best used where other considerations dictate using both DOS and Unix and require spreadsheet use on both systems. In this case, Q-Calc's similarity to 1-2-3 and its ability to use .WKS and .WK1 files are major advantages that might outweigh its other problems. Q-Calc could be an excellent product for this niche. If this interchangeability is not a requirement, then you should examine other alternatives. ■

Paul Schauble is an independent program developer in Glendale, Arizona, who has been working with Unix-based systems for over 10 years.

176 BYTE • JUNE 1988

TURN-POINT AMERICA

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d) Super Multi I/O - FD controller for 1.44Mb thru 360k, 2 serial, 1 parallel, 1 game port.

* Refer to the 80386 review in this issue of BYTE. Please call our toll free line for distributor pricing. All of Turn-Point America's products carry a one year parts and labor warranty. Visa, MasterCard and COD accepted.

Circle 278 on Reader Service Card

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JUNE 1988 'BYTE 179

Train Your PC to Read...

...the Same Things You Read!

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SPOT,* our trainable OCR program, allows you to compile information from books,, magazines, typewritten records, genealogical data, directories, catalogs, and public documents, including foreignlanguage material. The data captured by SPOT can be used by database, word processing, desktop publishing and typesetting applications.

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Circle 107 on Reader Service Card (Dealers: 108)

COMPUTING AT CHAOS MANOR

A New Member of the Family

Jerry Pournelle

Someday this place is going to vanish under a vast sea of paper, software, and cables. Looking at the view from my chair, you'd probably say it could happen in the next few hours: there is literally no flat surface, including the couch and the top of the fish tank, that isn't covered with something. It's just like the day after Christmas—and I certainly enjoy having all this to play with—but I'm afraid it's getting out of hand.

Still, my desk was actually down to bare wood last night, and there's nothing on it now that isn't relevant to this column; I've got some new volunteers to help sort through the software; and my motto—"Every day throw something away"—has cleared out enough of the storeroom that much of this clutter can be put away when I get a free moment.

On the other hand, my column is due tomorrow, Prince of Mercenaries is almost completed but long overdue, Wrath of God is due all too quickly, and I'm going to Memphis in 3 days, then to a meeting of the advisory board of the Lowell Observatory, during which time more will come in. Sigh.

Zanna Lee

One reason for the clutter crisis is that I've spent the last 2 days setting up Zanna Lee, the Zenith Z-386. It took longer than I thought it would, but then everything does, and I suppose it's not surprising that changing to a new main machine would be complex.

One reason for the change is disk capacity. Zanna Lee has an 80-megabyte hard disk drive made by the Magnetic Peripherals Division of Control Data. I've heard good things about them, but I confess some partiality to Priam hard disk drives. I've had one of those in the Golem, my CompuPro Z80/286 Dual Processor, since about 1983, and there's been no hint of a problem; ditto for the 40-megabyte hard disk drive in Fast Kat the Kay pro 386.

Zanna Lee is her name,

and she just happens to be

a Zenith Z-386

I first saw Priam hard disk drives at the first Atlanta COMDEX; they were showing the then-new system of mechanical head lifters that click in on power loss. Now just about everyone uses that concept, and a good thing, too.

Anyway, I invited my son Alex over to help set up the Z-386. Our first job was to configure Zanna Lee's hard disk drive. Actually, the machine did come preconfigured, but in my rush to transfer data from Fast Kat to Zanna Lee, I copied a whole bunch of files off Fast Kat's root directory. Some were system utilities, and one was, I think, C0MMAND.COM; anyway, shortly after that we got version conflicts with CHKDSK and other utilities, sometimes even on start-up depending on the CONFIG.SYS file, and then Zanna Lee stopped talking to most of the partitions on the hard disk drive.

This was annoying enough that I decided it was time to see that the exact same version of DOS was running on every machine in the house. I suppose strictly speaking that's not legal; but in my defense I have an original DOS for every machine, so all I'm actually doing is updating.

Updating DOS is easy but tedious, and you do have to pay attention. First, you copy all the DOS system utilities from your floppy disk copy (surely you aren't working with the original disk!) to the appropriate hard disk drive subdirectories. That turned out to be a problem, since many of my machines came preconfigured. Those system utilities reside in the \UTIL subdirectory on one system, \BIN on two others, \286i on a third, and so forth. I still haven't decided what to standardize on.

Anyway, eventually I got it done, after which I went around using the SYS com

mand on everything in sight. The whole DOS update procedure is described in great detail in Chris DeVoney's Using PC DOS (Que, 2d edition)—a book I can't get along without. Once we had DOS updated, we still had to configure the hard disk drive. The Z-386 came with Zenith software to accomplish that, but after about 4 hours of working with it (and discovering that it likes a version of DOS different from the one we had just installed everywhere, sigh), we gave up and got out SpeedStor. I don't seem to have the latest version of SpeedStor, but the one I do have worked fine. SpeedStor is menu-driven and quite well documented: the manual actually explains what's going on. Most of its text about hardware applies to IBM PC XTs, PC ATs, and very close clones, and there's little about backplane systems like the Z-386, but there's enough to get the job done. Recommended.

SpeedStor offers the alternative of formatting Zanna Lee's hard disk drive as one great big drive, but there are drawbacks to doing that. After thinking about the situation, we partitioned the drive into three more or less equal chunks, meaning that Zanna Lee now has drives C, D, and E. Once that was done, I made a floppy disk copy of the new C:\ partition to save the system and setup files, then used Fastback Plus to bring over everything from the Kaypro onto the Z386's C and D drives, and finally copied over the Kaypro stuff with the systems and setups I'd just saved.

After that, it was time to purge the Kaypro of files I don't have permission to keep on more than one machine; the tool of choice there is PC Sweep, a shareware program that is invaluable for chores like this.

Zenith sent a Z-515 memory board for the Z-386. That's 4 megabytes of 32-bit memory, which is a lot. The Z-515 can be set up to dedicate part of that memory

continued

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 181

CHAOS MANOR

to the Expanded Memory Specification (EMS), as well as automatically filling out the main system memory to 640K bytes. The EMS option looked like a good idea at first, and in my first installation I reserved some memory for EMS; but on reflection this seemed pointless.

The real advantage of having a 386 is the ability to use DESQview or VM/386 so you can keep lots of different programs and utilities in memory; and if you have those, you don't really need expanded memory. If you do reserve memory for EMS, you'll find that as far as the com

puter is concerned, that memory has just plain vanished: it's not shown as either system or extended memory on boot-up. It's also simple to disable EMS.

Mice and Memory

The next step was to install a mouse. The Kaypro has been using the Logitech Bus Mouse, which is a good one, but that takes up a slot. On the other hand, I sure didn't want to use Zanna Lee's only serial port for the mouse. I was going to have to put some kind of board in there. Why not make it do double duty?

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The easiest solution would have been Logitech's EGA&Mouse board. That works fine, especially with Logitech's excellent Autosync monitor; I used both in Zanna Lee's setup exercises. If you want a good EGA system, I think there's no better value for the money than the EGA&Mouse board.

Autosync is a fine monitor, but I'm in love with the 14-inch Zenith ZCM-1490 Flat Technology Monitor; you can't believe how nice that is, even in a sunny room with windows behind you. It's good enough, in fact, that I'm going to try it as the main screen in place of the Electrohome 19-inch monitor.

I'm a bit concerned about the screen size, but after all, I used a 14-inch Hitachi monochrome monitor for years; and perhaps because the ZCM-1490 is truly flat, text displayed on it seems easier to read than on traditional monitors. One fair warning: the ZCM-1490 has an internal fan. It's not loud enough to bother me, but you can hear it.

The ZCM-1490 is driven by the Zenith 31-kHz video card. Video cards used to come with serial ports, but Zenith's doesn't. I wish it did; I could simply address that to COM2 and plug the mouse in. For that matter, I wish computer designers would recognize that mice are essential and slots are in short supply: a single serial port isn't enough. Machines should come with at least two serial ports.

Since I'd have to use a slot anyway, the simplest solution was to install a Cheetah Combo card. This takes an AT slot and comes with a megabyte of 16-bit memory, a serial port, and a parallel port. I can't use a second parallel port—who can?—but the serial port can be addressed as either COM1 or COM2. Cheetah cards come with an installation program that's absurdly simple to use: you just tell the program what you need, and it shows you a pictorial diagram of how to set the DIP switches on the Cheetah card.

I addressed the Combo card to just above the address of the Z-515, giving Zanna Lee 640K bytes of system memory and 4608K bytes of expanded memory. The top megabyte of that is 16-bit memory, and thus considerably slower than the rest, but it's not likely I'll use it much either; I'll probably turn it into a RAM disk when I get time to figure out how to do that.

CD-ROMs

The next step was to install the Amdek Laserdek. This comes with a controller card. By now, the Z-386 was getting a bit full. Only three slots were left: one short

continued

182 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 76 on Reader Service Card

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PC (8-bit) slot, one AT (16-bit) slot, and one full-size 32-bit Zenith slot.

Like most clones, the Zenith's PC and AT slots and bus are fully IBM compatible. Again like all 386s, the 32-bit slot and bus are not standard; each manufacturer has a particular bus design, which is why if you want 32-bit memory, you have to buy it from the manufacturer of your 386 machine. Someday, I hope, that will change.

The controller requires only a short (PC) slot, so that's where I put it. It took about 5 minutes to install the Amdek CDROM hardware. There are two cable connectors on the back of the reader. Neither one is labeled, which bothered me until I read the instructions: they're interchangeable. Either can connect to either the computer or another drive.

The Laserdek is external, and fairly awkward in size, being 14 inches wide, 13 inches deep, and 3 inches high. There are ventilating holes on top. I got to wondering why the thing is so large, so I opened it; there's no real reason for it to be so large. The Laserdek mechanism is about the size of a disk drive, and the rest of the box contains very loosely arrayed electronics.

On the other hand, I learned that it's

very sturdily made, and so long as the monitor is not so heavy that it actually distorts the case shape, and you don't completely block off the holes on the side behind the Laserdek, there's no reason you can't put it on top of your computer and the monitor on top of it.

Software installation comes in two parts: installing the DOS extensions so your computer can find the Laserdek, and installing software so you can read the actual contents of the laser disk.

The first part is pretty simple. The instructions and software come with the Laserdek, and a Setup program does most of the work. The instructions are not too informative, but if you follow them, you'll soon have the computer listening to the Laserdek. The important thing is to put the proper statements into CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and copy a program called MSCDEX.EXE into a place where the system can find it.

One option is to put a good part of the access software into expanded memory. The command processor extensions take about 40K bytes of system memory, and some of that—I confess I haven't tried the experiment—apparently can go into EMS if you like.

Another option is the letter designation

of your CD-ROM. By default, it's the "next" device; in my case, since Zanna Lee has logical hard disk drives C, D, and E, the CD-ROM becomes F. You can, however, explicitly name the letter if you like.

Once installed, the CD-ROM drive acts like a write-protected hard disk drive. You can read its directory, change directories within it, copy files from it, and do anything you could do with a truly enormous disk that you can't write to.

One caution. If you have a CD-ROM disk in the drive, it spins continually. I don't know if this does any harm or not; after all, 8-inch floppy disk drives spin constantly, as do hard disk drives. On the other hand, it's one more thing to worry about. I noticed when I opened the Laserdek that if there is no disk the motor shuts down, so I left the drive empty during my overnight heat test.

It's my practice when I fill a system with boards to let it run all night and test it the next afternoon, when it's as hot as it's likely to be. I did that with the Z-386, and, sure enough, the machine hung during the boot-up process.

This was annoying. "Heat problems," I muttered. "Too much memory, plus the

continued

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CD-ROM controller, plus the WORM (write once, read many) drive controller, plus all the other stuff. Overloading the bus, maybe. Too much heat."

I took the cover off the machine to cool things off. It didn't seem particularly warm in there. Could I be doing something wrong?

As a matter of fact, yes. It wasn't Zanna Lee's fault at all. If you have the CD-ROM drive turned on, but there's no disk in there, when MSCDEX.EXE runs, there is a 30-second interval during which it tries to access the Laserdek but can't do it. Eventually it times out and continues with the start-up process.

If, on the other hand, you have the Laserdek turned off (whether there's a disk in the drive or not), the delay is about 1 second. In neither case is there an error message. The solution to this might be to switch the Laserdek off when it isn't in use, but, alas, the on/off switch is on the back where it's not easy to get at.

Other than that, the installation of the Laserdek went smoothly and simply. I tested it against about a dozen CD-ROM disks, and it was able to read files from all of them. So far, so good.

Bookshelf

Once you get the Microsoft DOS extensions installed so that DOS can find the CD-ROM drive, you'll still need software to make use of the information in the CD-ROM. There are exceptions to this— for example, the public domain software CD-ROMs distributed by user's groups. I have one published by Aide Publishing. This thing contains about a million programs, including utilities, games, languages, source code, and a partridge in a pear tree, all accessible as soon as you've runMSCDEX.EXE.

However, while you can cram hundreds of megabytes of ordinary files onto a CD-ROM—and get at them without anything special—most of the other neat things you can do with CD-ROMs are more complicated.

Case in point: Microsoft Bookshelf. Bookshelf combines The Chicago Manual of Style, Roget's Thesaurus, The American Heritage Dictionary, Bartlett 's Familiar Quotations, the National Five Digit ZIP Code & Post Office Directory, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, and probably something I've forgotten, along with elaborate indexes and software for looking through all those books. As I've said before, every professional writer has those books, but not many of us actually use them because it's too much trouble to go get the book and look things up.

Microsoft Bookshelf makes that a lot easier. It's not perfect. The worst glitch is

the "coarseness" of the scroll bars. If you're browsing through, say, The World Almanac, you can use the on-screen scroll bars (maybe Apple will sue Microsoft for "look and feel"?) to jump through the text, but the smallest possible movement of the scroll-bar bullet corresponds to over 50 screens of text, which you have to page through one at a time if what you want is right in the middle of that 50-page clump. This defect is pretty serious, since the whole point of having Bookshelf is quick access to the included documents.

Bookshelf doesn't support all word processors. In particular, it won't quite work with Symantec's Q&A Write. I can access and use Bookshelf from within Q&A Write; Bookshelf can even look up misspelled words and find synonyms. What I can't do is paste the results into the text. When I try, the program tells me that the write function has been disabled. I presume that Bookshelf does this when it doesn't quite understand the word processor that you're using, but so far I've been unable to get anyone at either Microsoft or Symantec to admit knowing anything about it.

Bookshelf is a valuable addition to any writer's tool kit; as I've said before, I'm willing to bet that within a couple of years Bookshelf or something like it will be as ubiquitous among writers as word processors are now. It's valuable enough, in fact, that I'm seriously thinking of switching over to a word processor that can make good use of Bookshelf.

If I do switch, it will probably be to XyWrite III Plus. The Bookshelf manual says that it works fine with XyWrite III Plus, while every week I find that more of my colleagues have fallen in love with XyWrite. This word processor is rapidly becoming the default text editor on Slew York's Publishers Row, partly because it integrates with Atex so well, and partly because it's almost infinitely customizable.

Installing Bookshelf is theoretically simple: you log onto the CD-ROM drive and run Setup; everything you need is right there on the CD-ROM itself. In practice, it wasn't quite that easy. Setup ran all right, and it went in to modify my CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files; but when I then rebooted the system to invoke Bookshelf itself, I got the disturbing error message Out Of Environment Space. Looking up "environment" in Chris DeVoney's Using PC DOS produced words but not much enlightenment.

Environment, as it happens, is memory that DOS reserves to store things it needs to know; in particular, the path, the

continued

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Color Card 145

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Above PC 64K 225

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ATI Ega Wonders $195

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Paradise Auto 480 155

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Vega VGA 299

EGA Monitors

AMDEK 722 $455

Casper 410

Mitsubishi Diamond Scan .486

NEC

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Hard Cards

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Hard Drives

Seagate 20 MB S265

Seagate 30 MB 295

Seagate 30 MB AT Low Price

Seagate ST-125 w/cont 329

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Modems

AZ 300/1200 .... Everex 300/1200 Hayes 1200 Hayes1200B Hayes 2400 U.S. Robotics 2400

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Logitech Low Price

Microsoft Bus w/Paintbrush 92

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Optimouse w/Dr Halo 89

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Monitors

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410 Amber

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138

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460

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TTL Amber w/tilt

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TERMS: Shipping on most software is $5.00. AZ orders +6.7ri. sales tax. Personal check/company check-allow fourteen (14) clays to clear. We accept purchase oicfers from authorized institutions for 3.5% more than cash price. All returns are subject lo our approval. There will be a 20"n restock fee. Minimum phone order S50. All prices are subject to change. Due to enpyriph! laws we cannot take back any open software.

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Circle 286 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 187

This Software Wforft Run*

Without This*

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188 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 242 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 243)

CHAOS MANOR

names of various devices, and other strings it needs to look at fairly often. The default environment is 160 bytes; you can increase it (in 16-byte increments) by using the SHELL command. However, Using PC DOS also warns you that careless or improper use of SHELL can lock up your computer something awful, to the point where you may have to boot with the original system floppy disk.

Since I didn't really understand environment to begin with, and I sure didn't have time to recover from a locked-up system, I called Microsoft technical support. It took a few minutes to get the right people, but after that there was no problem. Microsoft really does understand DOS.

The line

SHELL = \C0MMAND.C0M/E:512/P

inserted into your CONFIG.SYS will increase environment space to 512 bytes. If you do invoke SHELL, do not omit the /P; if you do leave it out, have an unmodified floppy boot disk handy, because your machine is going to be dead in the water, and resetting won't do you a bit of good. Believe me.

Lost in Space

Once I got the CD-ROM drive properly installed and Microsoft Bookshelf running, it was time to look at other CDROM disks. In particular, I wanted a good look at the two disks of space data I got from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of these disks features a number of images from the Voyager Uranus encounter; the other is a sampler of data and images from all over the solar system.

The software needed to display these disks is called IMDISP, and it's more ambitious than good. The documentation that comes with it is simultaneously tedious and dense. It took me an hour to figure out what was going on, and I still don't understand all the commands. Some of them seem to hang the machine.

Attempting to access many images gives the comment Attempt to read past end of file. Others tell me Input file does not have a proper label and ask me to specify the number of lines; in the example they give 370, but nowhere does it explain where that number came from or how you might figure out how many lines there are on each of the many images on the disk.

Even so, there's a lot to see on these disks. The images of the Jupiter Galilean moon Io are easily accessed and startlingly good. I make no doubt that careful reading of IMDISP's operations manual will eventually let me access nearly all the images on both disks. It will take

work, but it should be worth the effort.

It's probably not worth buying a Laserdek just for the JPL disks; on the other hand, it's one more reason to have a Laserdek. Besides, it's pretty certain that there will be many other disks of scientific data.

One oddity: since EGA video doesn't have square pixels, the images are somewhat egg-shaped.

Pournelle's Insight

Last month, as I was listening to Dr. Joseph Dionne, chairman of McGraw

Hill, speak at the CD-ROM conference in Seattle, I was suddenly hit with some inspiration.

Dionne was speaking about CD-ROMs from a publisher's view. In the course of his speech, it became obvious that there's a far larger CD-ROM market than I ever thought of. McGraw-Hill makes and sells a lot of them and is about to market more. All are hideously expensive and generally sell to a rather narrow vertical business market; most contain topical information that's updated fairly often. The

continued

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Circle 314 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 189

CHAOS MANOR

nearest thing to a horizontal market is the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, which includes some 7300 articles plus the dictionaries of physical and life sciences.

Dionne wasn't the only speaker to make the point that, yes, there's a CDROM market out there, but at the moment it's vertical. Of course I knew that; I was reminded of the MicroMedix CDROM medical encyclopedia running on Mrs. Pournelle's system. (It came with its own CD-ROM reader, but it also runs fine on the Laserdek.)

What's happening with CD-ROMs is almost the reverse of what happened with microcomputers. In the early days of microcomputers, the market was dominated by hobbyists and small businesspeople; big business wanted nothing to do with little computers. Most of the early development was done by small start-up companies. The big boys didn't jump in until later.

The CD-ROM field is just the opposite. Big outfits like Phillips, Microsoft, and Amdek are developing the interface, while the CD-ROM disks tend to be published by giants like McGraw-Hill; and while most early microcomputer software was developed by BYTE readers

who tried to appeal to a broad spectrum of users, most CD-ROM systems are being custom-designed for specialized users and priced accordingly.

After Dr. Dionne's speech I got to wondering why this should be, and I offer the following: microcomputers were and are a threat to centralized control of computing. MIS managers and directors of central computing are scared to death of them. CD-ROM technology, on the other hand, lends itself nicely to centralized control.

If I'm right, this time big business will pay to develop our toys. It will probably take a bit longer for that technology to spread widely, especially since the MIS types don't want it spread around, but the CD-ROM is just too useful to stay bottled up in central computing. The Library of the Month Club isn't here yet, but it's coming.

WORMs

The last thing I added to Zanna Lee was Information Storage's WORM drive with WORM-TOS. WORM disk cartridges are somewhat larger than CD-ROM disks and hold 200+ megabytes; each one costs about $60 just now, but I expect that price to fall dramatically.

The drive comes with its own controller. As an experiment I tried it in the short PC, the medium AT, and the long 32-bit slots; it worked in all of them. What I wanted, of course, was to be able to use the SCSI interface so that I could daisy chain the WORM drive to the Laserdek—I'm running out of slots in there!—but that won't work. Oh, well.

Hooking up the WORM drive is simple enough: drop the controller board into the machine; run a cable to the WORM drive, which is a heavy box about the size of a shoe box; and plug the drive in. Then you add stuff to your CONFIG.SYS file and reboot. It's all explained pretty well in the manuals.

If you're trying to run both the WORM drive and the Laserdek at the same time, you may have a problem. When I first booted up the whole system I kept getting errors, probably caused by conflicts in the port addresses. You can change the ports—the WORM controller needs eight in sequence—with DIP switches on the controller board. What I did was fool around with the switches until everything worked; I think I set the system so that the first port address is 200 hexadecimal, but I'm not sure. Whatever it is, it works fine now.

Pick.

Choosing a laser printer?

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And see how being picky actually increases your choices.

Illustrator. Display PostScript a

I Adobe Systems Incorporated

190 BYTE • JUNE 1988

CHAOS MANOR

After you get the computer to acknowledge the WORM drive, you need to decide whether to partition your WORM disk cartridge into large sections—up to 128 megabytes—or to stay within the DOS 32-megabyte limits. It's simplest to use short segments, and being lazy, that's what I did. The decision isn't irrevocable; that is, it is not possible to change the 32-megabyte segment I already formatted, but according to the documents I can, if I like, install the proper software and set the next partition to be 100 megabytes. I suppose I'll have to try that sometime.

So far, all I've done with the WORM is test it. It certainly works. You use it just like any other drive, except that you want to be careful since you can't erase anything written. If you write two different files with the same name to the disk area, WORM-TOS keeps track of that, and there's software that lets you step back through the various versions of files with that name until you find the exact one you like; then you can read it or copy it. The default, of course, is the latest one.

I intend to get a lot of good out of my WORM: I have a lot of work on old CP/M 8-inch disks. The Golem can read those disks, and I can use CompuPro's ARC

NET PC system to transfer them over. I haven't yet tested the WORM drive's ability to work with the network, but I'm prepared for it not to; all I really need is to get those files onto Zanna Lee's hard disk drive. Then I'll move them to a WORM cartridge.

WORMs are great for archiving. I don't know how long WORM cartridges last, but they could be nearly eternal. To the best of my knowledge, none of them have gone bad from age alone. Of course, they haven't been around all that long, but they're certainly more durable than any floppies I've ever seen.

They're also great for backups. I'd rather have a WORM than a tape drive.

Now What Do I Do?

The major point of setting up Zanna Lee was to compare new 386 control software, particularly IGC's VM/386, with DESQview.

DESQview, as most of you probably know, is a control program that lets you keep a whole bunch of programs in memory and jump around among them. There are ways to let programs run simultaneously, although, except for communications programs, I don't find that nearly so useful as being able to go quickly from

one program to another. I've used DESQview for about a year now, and I'd really hate to try getting along without it—unless, of course, I can find something better.

VM/386, on the other hand, is a program that lets you set up several virtual machines and jump back and forth among them. Each virtual machine thinks it is a single 640K-byte computer. Each can have a different CONFIG.SYS, and each can run a different AUTOEXEC.BAT on start-up. Each can be reset (with CtrlAlt-Del) independendy of the others.

Each of these programs has strengths and weaknesses. VM/386, for instance, really creates independent virtual machines—and since your computer has only a limited number of peripheral devices, you'll have to assign and reassign them as you change from one virtual machine to the next. There's no housekeeping program to track that for you.

DESQview, on the other hand, lets you load certain things into memory prior to invoking DESQview, then use them in any window you have open. The system mouse, for instance, is recognized at all levels; in VM/386, the mouse is another device that has to be switched among

continued

And choose

Qume Corporation ScriptTEN"

Linotype Company Texas Instruments

Linotronic'" 100, 300, 500 OmniLaser'" 2106

Texas Instruments The Laser Connection

OmniLaser'" 2108, 2115 PS Jet/PS Jet+'"

Digital Equipment Corp. PrintServer 40'," ScriptPrinter'"

General Computer Business LaserPrinter Plus"1

Wang LCS15'"

NEC Information Systems SilentWriter" LC-890

Apollo Computer Inc. Domain/Laser 26'"

Dataproducts Corp. LZFT 2665

QMS-PS" 2400. QMS'-'JetScripf

Circle 9 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 191

CHAOS MANOR

Items Discussed

DESQview2.0

$129.95

Public Domain Software

Quarterdeck Office Systems

CD-ROM

$99

150 Pico Blvd.

Aide Publishing

Santa Monica, CA 90405

P.O. Box 35326

(213)392-9851

Minneapolis, MN 55435

Inquiry 934.

(612) 835-5240 Inquiry 942.

EGA&Mouse

$399

Logitech Inc.

Snoop II Price not available

6505 Kaiser Dr.

TriDOS Software Publishers

Fremont, CA 94555

4004 Barbur Blvd.

(415) 795-8500

Portland, OR 97201

Inquiry 935.

Inquiry 943.

Expert 87

$495

SpeedStor

$99

Magic7 Software

Storage Dimensions

101 First St.

981 University Ave.

Suite 237

Los Gatos, CA 95030

Los Altos, CA 94022

(408) 395-2688

(415)941-2616

Inquiry 944.

Inquiry 936.

The Documentor

$295

Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubber

WallSoft Systems Inc.

Men of Jupiter

$12

233 Broadway

Infocom

Suite 869

90 Sherman St.

New York, NY 10279

Cambridge, MA 02140

(212) 406-7026

(617) 876-4433

Inquiry 945.

(800) 342-0236

Inquiry 937.

VM/386

IGC

$245

Laserdek

$995

4800 Great America Pkwy.

Amdek

Suite 200

1901 Zanker Rd.

Santa Clara, CA 95054

San Jose, CA 95112

(408) 986-8373

(408) 436-8570

Inquiry 946.

Inquiry 938.

WORM drive

Math Aquarium

$89.95

internal mount

$1888

Seven Seas Software

external mount

$2088

P.O. Box 411

Information Storage Inc.

Port Townsend, WA 98368

2768 Janitell Rd.

(206)385-1956

Colorado Springs, CO 80906

Inquiry 939.

(303) 579-0460 Inquiry 947.

Microsoft Bookshelf

$295

Microsoft Corp.

XyWrite III Plus

$445

16011 Northeast 36th Way

XyQuest Inc.

P.O. Box 97017

44 Manning Rd.

Redmond, WA 98073

Billerica, MA 01821

(203) 882-8080

(617)671-0888

(800) 426-9400

Inquiry 948.

Inquiry 940.

Z-386

Planetary Data System Space

Model 40

$6499

Science Sampler

Model 80

$7499

NASA JPL

ZCM-1490

$999

4800 Oak Grove Dr.

Zenith Data Systems

Pasadena, CA 91109

1000 Milwaukee Ave.

(818) 354-6347

Glenview, IL 60025

Inquiry 941.

(800) 842-9000, extension 1 Inquiry 949.

windows, as well as set up in each.

VM/386 won't let you set up the WORM drive to be available to every window; if you want the WORM, it has to be installed in each virtual machine. This is also true for the CD-ROM device drivers. My preliminary experiments show that this works; that is, I can have Microsoft Bookshelf available in several virtual machines, but only if it's loaded into each on start-up.

VM/386 uses less system memory than DESQview; each virtual machine can be a true 640K-byte system. DESQview has enough system overhead that it's between hard and impossible to make a window leave more than 512K bytes available.

DESQview, on the other hand, has system utilities like MARK and TRANSFER (cut and paste; it doesn't always work, though). VM/386—at least the current version—has no such thing. If you want to transfer something from one place to another, you first have to grab it with a memory-resident program like SideKick, store it on disk, then change virtual machines and retrieve it. This is awkward.

DESQview has some odd glitches. For example, sometimes I'll hit the Alt key to bring up the DESQview command window, tell it to open a file, select Crosstalk, and tell it to open Crosstalk. The machine trundles for a second, the Crosstalk logo appears on the screen—and then everything closes down so that I'm at the point where I was before I opened the DESQview command window in the first place!

The first few times this happened I was so upset that I quit DESQview and reset the computer, but it happened often enough that eventually I just did everything again exactly as before: invoke DESQview, tell it to open a file, select Crosstalk, open that. This time it worked fine, and examining the other windows showed that apparently none of them were harmed. This may be a harmless bug, but it's annoying. Maybe VM/386 won't do things like that, although it probably will.

I'd hoped to know a lot more about VM/386 by now, but it took longer to set up Zanna Lee than I'd thought; and once I was caught by deadlines, I had no choice but to go back to DESQview to get this written. With any luck, by next month I'll know more not only about VM/386, but also about Microsoft Windows/386.

I also have OS/2, but I don't think I want to do anything with it. OS/2 1.1 with Presentation Manager (i.e., OS/2 plus a bug-free Windows) may be interesting, but I think I can safely ignore the current version, at least until there's a lot

continued

192 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Use Premium Fuel Only

Ditto.

Take xk gallon of gasoline formulated for high-performance motor cars.

Add a clod of dirt, a quart of kerosene, a tablespoon of sugar, and a dollop of axle grease. Sprinkle with rust particles and dog hairs. Stir.

You'd be crazy to put that in your Ferrari, right?

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Such a simple solution to all the harm spikes, sags, and blackouts can do.

Unrefined Electricity Does

Crude Things To Computers.

Unlike bandsaws, washing machines and tv's, computer circuits are hypersensitive to the slightest power variations. Data can be scrambled or vaporized in a few milliseconds. Programs can crash unceremoniously.

Circle 95 on Reader Service Card

Fact is, many problems blamed on hardware or software are, in reality, the fault of raw electricity. Industry statistics show that half the downtime, lost employee and machine productivity, and maintenance costs are the direct result of bad electricity.

A typical computer site experiences about 7 blackouts, over 500 sags and more than 2,000 spikes and surges per year. Plus there's almost continuous line noise at even the best locations.

Power surges alone are credited by one insurance company with $35 million in pc losses just last year.

Any way you look at it, making sure your computer gets premium fuel is up to you. Fortunately, it's easy and affordable.

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I""I=MI=R5DN m Computer Power

Computers Won't Run Right On The Wrong Fuel.

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 193

CHAOS MANOR

more software out there that can take advantage of it.

Comic Books?

I like Infocom games—I really do—so when I got the latest release from Infocom I was ready to try it despite the title: "Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubber Men of Jupiter."

What I had, I soon discovered, isn't a game at all. It's a kind of comic book with primitive animation. It is not an interactive story; there's only one action line, one ending, and nothing you can do will change the story at all. The gimmick is that you can read the comic book from the viewpoint of the hero, the villain, and subsidiary characters. The idea is to read along until you come to one of the (obvious) choice points, where you can jump off the track and follow some other character. You can also run the "projector" backward to a choice point and shift again.

From time to time, the action is interrupted to let you witness a comic book dialogue between two critics who have supposedly been watching this mess on a movie screen. For reasons best known to the designers, these rather unattractive male cartoon figures aren't wearing any

clothes. They say a few meaningless things about the action so far, and the story continues. The breaks are clearly intended to make you go to the main character's story line from time to time, and they're needed, since hero Lane Mastodon is so dumb that only a twit would want to watch things from his point of view.

The artwork is pretty grim; it's certainly so compared to what real comic artists are doing now in Marvel Comics and the Watchman series. The story line might amuse cretin dwarves, though I doubt it; not only is the story implausible, but it knows that you know that. The notion is to invite you to share the joke. If you can do that, feel free; you might even enjoy this mess.

I watched this thing through to the end because I was interested in the technique, but you'd have to pay me money to get me to do it again. In my judgment, Infocom has come up with the answer to software piracy: a story so dumb that no one in their right mind would want to steal it.

Take It Apart

Disassembly of a program is the art of taking a finished program and turning it into source code that can be reassembled

into the original. It's a black art even with good disassembler programs.

When I first got started with microcomputers, my mad friend Dan MacLean introduced me to a computer maniac we called "The Mad Disassembler." This chap worried excessively that somewhere out there was a program to which he didn't have source code. He worked in the computer department of a large aerospace company, and thus had some pretty powerful machinery at his disposal; and whenever he saw a new program, he'd take it apart with the company's mainframe. So far as I know, he never did anything with the source codes he generated. He just liked to have them.

If the original programmer had taken steps to make disassembly difficult, that merely added spice. One example is Michael Shrayer's Electric Pencil, which was a disassembler's nightmare. Shrayer had encrypted all the ASCII messages. He wrote meaningless code sequences and jumped around them. In places where a careful programmer had error traps, Shrayer had time bombs. And so forth. None of that mattered: within a week, "The Mad Disassembler" had a complete source code to Electric Pencil.

Back in those days, a lot of disas

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Check out the new Smalltalk/V286 at your dealer. If he doesn't have it, order toll free, 1-800-922-8255. Or write to: Digitalk,Inc., 9841 Airport Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045. And let us put __

p™.41* Smalltalk/V286

194 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 85 on Reader Service Card

CHAOS MANOR

sembler programs were distributed on bulletin boards.

I haven't noticed many disassemblers lately, so when I received Snoop II from TriDOS, it was like a voice from the past. Just for amusement I aimed Snoop II at a popular word-processing program. I was amazed at the results. Disassembly is still as much art as science, but Snoop II takes a lot of the sting out of it. Recommended for the insatiably curious.

Documentor

There are probably more people programming in dBASE II than in any other language. Every one of them needs The Documentor.

This program takes dBASE code and creates documentation for it. It generates a concordance and a cross-reference list. It comments code. It sets it up for pretty printing. The result is impressive. If you do any dBASE programming, you need this program. Highly recommended.

Winding Down

Once again I'm out of space, and I haven't got started good. One thing I simply have to talk about next time is the Amiga 2000, which can be a highly frustrating machine. The disk access is slow.

It bombs far more often than it ought to. The PC part of it is plain vanilla, and because of the way Commodore chose to let the Amiga half-communicate with the PC, very few add-on PC boards will work. For all that, the Amiga 2000 has a prominent place here, because it's just plain fun (if frustrating).

If you do have an Amiga, be sure to get Math Aquarium, one of the most unusual programs I've ever seen: it turns equations into visual treats, providing both colorful and informal results. It isn't quite worth buying an Amiga just for this.

I also want to talk about Expert 87, which, despite its name, isn't an expertsystem program at all, but rather a program to help make your preferences explicit and identify conflicts. It can also be used to generate consensus opinions from a group of experts. Used properly, this could be an extremely valuable program in both home and business.

The book of the month is by Archer Jones, The Art of War in the Western World (University of Illinois Press). This is a comprehensive military history with strong theoretical analyses, and quite the best work of its kind since Lynn Montross's War Through the Ages.

The computer book of the month is

Peter Norton's DOS Guide (Brady). Norton's book isn't as encyclopedic as DeVoney's Using PC DOS, but for that very reason it's easier to read. Norton is very good at highlighting obscure but useful DOS features. Get DeVoney's book for reference, but read Norton's book to understand what's going on.

The game of the month remains Empire (from Interstel) for the Atari ST. I can't believe how much time I've spent on that game.

I'm writing this at tax time. I was going to use TurboTax on the IBM PC, but the new MacInTax package came yesterday, and I may as well get some use out of the Mac Plus, assuming that there is life after tax reform. Wish me luck. ■

Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psychology and is a science fiction writer who also earns a comfortable living writing about computers present and future. Jerry welcomes readers' comments and opinions. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Jerry Pournelle, do BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Please put your address on the letter as well as on the envelope. Due to the high volume of letters, Jerry cannot guarantee a personal reply.

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APPLICATIONS ONLY

o

Planning and Publishing

Ezra Shapiro

There seems to be a lot of virus programs kicking around these days, nasty little scraps of code that know how to attach themselves to other programs and then reproduce like crazy. Last week, my Macintosh became infected with one of them. I still haven't figured out how it happened, but at this point it's immaterial. The little fellow seemed relatively benign; all it did was copy itself into my system file—and every application I used thereafter.

Fortunately, someone on BIX quickly posted a description of the virus and a cogent treatise on removing it. I followed the instructions to the letter and had a clean system within several hours, but the narrowness of my escape left me shaken.

A couple of years ago, I inadvertently launched a program that left a time bomb implanted in my MS-DOS computer. It slowly and imperceptibly chewed away at my file allocation table, eventually trashing the directory for 30 megabytes' worth of hard disk. In contrast, this Mac virus was sweetness and light; at least it didn't do anything destructive. It had a silly "look what I can do" bravado about it, rather than the sheer hostility of the earlier IBM PC program.

My first reaction was a deep sense of relief at getting away from the virus unscathed. After a few minutes, though, the relief gave way to anger and outrage. My hard disk is a very personal place; my privacy had been violated.

Sad to say, I believe there's going to be a lot more of this kind of thing. As computer ownership spreads in our society, the population of computer users is going to become more and more like the general population of which it's a subset. What this means, unhappily, is that we can expect to see all the ills of our civilization reflected in events in the microcomputer world.

Our one faint hope in this dark time is that the act of launching a destructive virus program will turn out to be a rare event rather than a commonplace one. If

InstaPlan lowers the cost

of project management; RagTime 2

falls short of greatness

it goes the other way—and launching a virus becomes the equivalent of scrawling graffiti on a wall —it's going to be tough out there.

I'm already being very careful about which electronic bulletin boards and online services I use as a source of software downloads; I won't touch a program that hasn't been thoroughly checked by a competent sysop. I've "inoculated" both my Tandon IBM PC AT clone and Mac SE with antiviral software, though experience suggests that these viruses will quickly mutate to overcome these feeble countermeasures. Right now, I'm hoping that widespread paranoia about viruses won't kill off alternate distribution schemes, or we'll witness the death of shareware.

What can be done about this plague? Not a whole lot, at least not directly. We can try to broadcast the notion that writing and distributing infectious or destructive programs is simply not cool and thereby discourage the casual prankster. But we won't be able to control vandalism in software until we can control it on the streets.

Prodigious Planner

It's time to haul out the superlatives for InstaPlan (InstaPlan, $99), the first MSDOS project management package I've seen that I might actually consider using. It's well designed, complete, fast, powerful, and inexpensive. What more could you want?

I ought to interrupt this flow of praise to point out that I usually find project management software to be the most irritating stuff that crosses my desk. I've got a number of reasons. First, the discipline of project management itself is grounded in obscure jargon; most of the software

follows that lead and is incomprehensible to anyone without an advanced degree in obfuscation. Second, the accompanying manuals (like most computer documentation) provide good information on how to use the software but little advice on why or when; unless you know what to do beforehand, you're lost.

Third, I can't shake the suspicion that most managers have little use for Gantt charts, PERT, and critical path analysis; scribbled notes and flowcharts seem adequate for all but the most enormous projects. It's one of those cases where computerizing the task often takes more time than simply doing it. And finally, this is an expensive category; project management packages start at $300 or so and continue up the scale to between $1000 and $2000. That's quite a bit higher than most other software aimed at the average businessperson.

For me, the most important point in InstaPlan's favor is its price. At $99, it's the lowest-priced full-featured product in its category. The price is reasonable enough to let you buy it on a whim, to see if you like or need project tracking software in your daily routines. Since project management is an arcane art, nearly impossible to learn quickly without a good software package, it makes a lot more sense to start out with InstaPlan than with one of its competitors at quintuple the price.

If you discover that project management is over your head and something you'll never need, you can throw InstaPlan out the window without feeling too much guilt. On the other hand, InstaPlan has so much going for it that it might inspire you to adopt its approach to planning and implementing all sorts of projects, from medium-size to gigantic.

But price isn't the only consideration. InstaPlan offers great flexibility and an initial planning approach that beats anything else I've seen. Like all project man

continued

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 197

Circle 197 on Reader Service

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Since 1984

CAD

SOFTWARE & PRINTERS

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PRINTERS • LASERS • SCANNERS

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Items Discussed

InstaPlan

InstaPlan Corp.

655 Redwood Hwy.

Suite 311R

Mill Valley, CA 94941

(415) 389-1414

(800) 852-7526 for orders

Inquiry 950.

.$99

RagTime2

Orange Micro Inc. 1400 North Lakeview Ave. Anaheim, CA 92807 (714)779-2772 Inquiry 951.

.$295

:*tlcomt jnoCOO 5

agement packages, InstaPlan lets you track tasks over the course of time, allocate both human and material resources, keep a running total of costs, and prepare elaborate breakdowns and reports.

To get you started, though, InstaPlan lets you type in your notes as if you were using an outline processor. In operation, it's similar to jotting down a quick list with Ready! or ThinkTank. You enter tasks and subtasks in an indented outline, and you can reorganize them by selecting and moving them around with the cursor keys. The program also lets you enter time estimates at this point.

Once you're done, you can hit a keystroke or two and open up an expanded view of your project—a Gantt chart (bar graphs over time), a PERT view (linked boxes that help you visualize interdependencies), a spreadsheet view (for determining resource costs and manipulating data), and so on. You can jump between views to do your patching, pruning, and refining where it makes the most sense.

You can use InstaPlan to track up to 600 activities, and you can revise your plan during the course of your project if factors change. Data can be exported and imported in both Lotus 1-2-3 and dBASE formats, so you can perform industrialstrength analyses of cost data.

The developers of InstaPlan point out that the program is particularly effective for the early stages of project planning, when you're meeting with others and playing what-if with the variables. However, from what I've seen of competing software, InstaPlan's tracking ability and report generation rank right up there with the best, from the beginning all the way through to the successful conclusion of any project.

Documentation is thorough and clearly written, which I demand for any subject as convoluted as project management. Within a few minutes, I'd mastered the difference between Gantt and PERT and was arriving at an understanding of InstaPlan's Gantt Variance View. It was all falling into place rapidly. Hats off to the author.

InstaPlan is an excellent piece of software, quite capable of holding its own against all but the most expensive project management products. I'm hesitant to compare it directly to the over-$1000 members of this fraternity, which are aimed at serious managers with big problems, but I'd bet that it could be used in many situations as a low-price substitute without any loss of functionality.

InstaPlan is a good deal for anyone who merely wants to experiment, but it also has the strengths to satisfy those with professional requirements.

Highly recommended.

RagTime Repeat

About a year and a half ago, I wrote about a Macintosh desktop publishing package called RagTime. It was an odd blend of layout program, word processor, and spreadsheet. Though I found it easy to use, I was annoyed at the lack of business graphics, which struck me as essential in a product aimed at this market niche. I also found both the word-processing and layout elements of the program to be inferior to stand-alone products.

But there was still something charming about RagTime; it was appealing, though I wasn't quite sure why. So I railed about its shortcomings, hoping my diatribes would reach the ears of RagTime's manufacturers.

Time has passed, and I'm now poking at RagTime 2 (Orange Micro, $295), the latest version of the package. Unfortunately, it still falls just short of greatness; it's an attractive product that doesn't quite have the horsepower to take it to the top of the heap. I find this even more frustrating than a program that's simply rotten; I want to grab the programmers and shake them until they make this program live up to its potential.

Since that isn't going to happen, I suspect RagTime will quietly vanish sometime down the road when the inevitable desktop publishing shakeout occurs. In the meantime, though, if the product's unique collection of features speaks to you, I recommend it. RagTime is an acceptable desktop publishing tool for anyone who needs to manipulate both text and small spreadsheet grids.

The basic look of the program is somewhat reminiscent of Ready-Set-Go. You

continued

Big power

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Little Board/286 is the newest member of our family of MS-DOS compatible Single Board Systems. It gives you the power of an AT in the cubic inches of a half height 5 1/4" disk drive. It requires no backplane. It's a complete AT-compatible system that's functionally equivalent to the 5-board system above. But, in less than 6% of the volume. It runs all AT software. And its low-power requirement means high reliability and great performance in harsh environments.

Ideal for embedded & dedicated applications. The low power and tiny form factor of Little Board/286 are perfect for embedded microcomputer applications: data acquisition, controllers, portable instruments, telecommunications, diskless workstations, POS terminals ... virtually anywhere that small size and complete AT hardware and software compatibility are an advantage.

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Little Board/286 is not only a smaller answer, it's a better answer... offering the packaging flexibility, reliability, low power consumption and I/O capabilities OEMs need... at a very attractive price. And like all Ampro Little Board products, Little Board/286 is available through representatives nationwide, and worldwide. For more information and the name of your nearest Rep, call us today at the number below. Or, write for Ampro Little Board/286 product literature.

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 199

ADVERTISEMENT

Reprinted from the DURHAM SUN

DEVELOPER OF GAS SAVER AWARDED $22,000

BOSTON - With the oil glut worse than ever and OPEC ringing its hands, the Federal Courts have awarded a fee of $22,747 to National Fuelsaver Corporation of Boston, developers of the Platinum Gasaver.

The Gasaver, which takes only 10 minutes to install, releases microscopic quantities of platinum into the air-fuel mixture entering the engine.

Platinum has the unique ability of making unburnt fuel burn. With platinum in the flame zone, you increase the percentage of fuel burning in the engine from 68% to 90%.

Normally, that 22% of the fuel would only burn if it came in contact with the platinum coated surfaces of a catalytic converter. Unfortunately, this converter process takes place outside of the engine, where the energy produced is lost.

With the Gasaver dispensing platinum into the combustion chambers, 22% more of each gallon burns inside the engine so that 22% fewer gallons are required to drive the same distance.

The process works on both leaded

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In concluding the government's fiveyear administrative procedure studying the Gasaver, the Federal Court stated: "National Fuelsaver Corp. and various independent parties have used a variety of methodologies to test the value of Gasaver. These independent parties often make stronger claims for the Gasaver than does its developer, National Fuelsaver Corp."

The government had already confirmed in 1984 that the Gasaver raises the octane of gasoline, eliminating the need for premium fuel.

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APPLICATIONS ONLY

work with "frames" that you draw on your page as you need them. Frames can hold text, pictures, or spreadsheet data. You can link text frames with "pipelines." Changes flow between frames, so editing is a smooth process. Each frame has a unique identifying number that can be displayed or hidden at your discretion; the number is most useful with spreadsheet frames, which can reference each other.

Here's a brief list of some of the features you get in RagTime 2: user-selected or defined colors (which is irrelevant if you don't have a color output device); algorithmic hyphenation of text in any of 11 languages; kerning of text; import of paint, PICT, encapsulated PostScript, FOTO, and Tag Image File Format (TIFF) graphics; import of SYLK worksheets; multicolumn or split-frame options; object-oriented group and shuffle functions; a forms mode that lets you zero out values or text and save a layout as a blank form; search-and-replace on typefaces and type attributes so you can change from one look to another; 253row by 253-column spreadsheet frames that can reference cells in other frames up to the limits of memory; ability to have 15 documents open at once; and so on.

Now here's what you don't get: a spelling checker, dictionary-based hyphenation, business graphics based on the spreadsheets you've built in RagTime, adjustable guidelines, and style sheets.

RagTime has a pretty solid list of features, even allowing for the few omissions, and the program works well. If you're interested in self-calculating forms, RagTime is not as spectacular as Trapeze, the forthcoming Wingz, or the upcoming revision of Excel, but it gets simple jobs done with less hassle than any of the flashier products.

However, desktop publishing software from other manufacturers is not standing still; it's getting better faster than RagTime is. This year will see new versions of PageMaker, Ready-Set-Go, and Quark XPress, all of which will probably outfeature RagTime. They won't have the built-in spreadsheet, of course, and they'll be more expensive, but RagTime will not look great in comparison.

But I have to say that I do like the product. I just don't want you to go out and buy it, then accuse me of glossing over its deficiencies. Take that as a midlevel recommendation with a grain of salt. ■

Ezra Shapiro is a consulting editor for BYTE. You can contact him do BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Because of the volume of mail he receives, Ezra, regretfully, cannot respond to each inquiry.

200 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 52 on Reader Service Card

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DESQview API Reference Manual

This is the primary source of information about the DESQview API. It contains all you need to know to write Assembly Language programs that take full advantage of DESQview's capabilities. The Reference manual comes with an 'include' file containing symbols and macros to aid you in 'development. AVAILABLE NOW!

DESQview API C Library

The DESQview API C Library provides C Language interfaces for the entire set of API functions. It supports the Lattice C, Metaware C, Microsoft C, and Turbo C compilers for all memory models. Included with the C Library package is a copy of the API Reference Manual and source code for the library. AVAILABLE NOW!

DESQview API Debugger

The DESQview API Debugger is an interactive tool that enables the API programmer to trace and single step through API calls from several concurrently running DESQview-specihc programs. Trace information is reported symbolically along with the program counter, registers, and stack at the time of the call. Trace conditions can be specified so that only those calls of interest are reported. AVAILABLE JUNE 88!

DESQview API Panel Designer

The DESQview API Panel Designer is an interactive tool to aid you in designing windows, menus, help screens, error messages, and forms. It includes an editor that lets you construct an image of your panel using simple commands to enter, edit, copy, and move text, as well as draw lines and

202 BYTE • JUNE 1988

boxes. You can then define the characteristics of the window that will contain the panel, such as its position, size, and title. Finally, you can specify the locations and types of fields in the panel. The Panel Designer automatically generates all the DESQview API data streams necessary to display and take input from your panel. These data streams may be grouped together into panel libraries and stored on disk or as part of your program. AVAILABLE JUNE 88!

DESQview API Pulldown Menu Manager

The DESQview API Pulldown Menu Manager is an interactive tool to aid you in designing pulldown menus. This DESQview API tool assists you in giving your DOS program an OS/2-like look and feel. AVAILABLE JULY 88!

API

Conference

August 16, 17, 18 Marina Del Rey, California

Call for registraUon information (213) 392-9851

Quarterdeck Office Systems

150 Pico Boulevard

Santa Monica CA 90405

(213) 392-9851

MS-DOS and IBM PC-DOS are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation and IBM Corporation respectively.

Circle 238 on Header Service Card (DEALERS: 239)

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 203

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The new Courier HST" modem.

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204 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 281 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 282)

IN DEPTH

Benchmarks

207 That "B" Word!

by Bill Nicholls

217 Problems and Pitfalls

by Alfred A. Aburto Jr.

225 Why MIPS Are Meaningless

by Ron Fox

239 Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks

by Richard Grehan,

Tom Thompson, Curtis Franklin Jr.,

and George A. Stewart

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 205

Introduction

Benchmarks

For the past six months, the lights at BYTE have been blazing at all hours—weekdays, weekends, and holidays alike. What generated this flurry of activity? The short answer is "benchmarks."

No, not running them. We've been designing, coding, and testing an entirely new suite of BYTE benchmarks. Along the way, we've overhauled the Small-C language to work with today's state-of-the-art microprocessors. We're making both our benchmark code and the new versions of Small-C freely available on disk, via BYTEnet and BIX, and in print.

Why did we do all this? Because we'd realized for some time that our old benchmarks—like most benchmarks currently in use—were tired, worn, and in need of replacement. Some were originally developed for old-style, narrow-bandwidth machines. Others, including some established standards, really didn't do a very good job of testing what they purported to test. In one way or another, almost all had aspects we believed we could improve—that we had to improve—if we were to continue our tradition of providing the kind of reliable, meaningful results that you demand and deserve.

In this issue, we present the first of our new tests in "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks," written by the BYTE editors who have come to know the subject so intimately: Richard Grehan, Tom Thompson, Curtis Franklin Jr., and George A. Stewart. In coming months, we'll be expanding on the foundation established here. We welcome your comments, compliments, and constructive criticism.

Also in this month's In Depth section, we look at the whole subject of benchmarking. We begin with an overview of what benchmarks are and what they should be in "That 'B' Word!" by Bill Nicholls. This article deals with such questions as why we write benchmarks, what they're for, and what they tell us—and don't tell us. It also discusses some of the more familiar benchmarks in our industry.

In "Problems and Pitfalls," Alfred A. Aburto Jr. discusses what's wrong with many benchmarks, what kinds of mistakes we're apt to make in writing them, and how we tend

to misinterpret—or overinterpret—benchmark results. His article also details some of the problems found in many of today's popular benchmarks.

Finally, Ron Fox presents "Why MIPS Are Meaningless," an article that discusses micro benchmarks—those that test the various parts of a system rather than the system as a whole. Ron also presents a series of his own micro benchmarks that you can use to test some of the components in your own system.

Benchmarks—you can't live with them, and you can't live without them. They are infinitely tedious to design and code, because there seems to be an infinite number of variables within them. But they are also the best method we have so far for comparing one system—or component or software package—to another. Well-designed benchmarks provide an objective evaluation of competitive products and thus give us the information with which to make informed choices.

—Jane Morrill Tazelaar

206 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Illustration by Robert Tinney © 1988

BENCHMARKS

That "B" Word!

What it is, where it's going, and why we subject ourselves to it

Bill Nicholls

BENCHMARKS. SAY THAT word in some circles and you might be swearing. It drags up memories of nights spent writing benchmark programs, modifying them, testing them, and testing them some more, only to find that you're not testing what you thought you were, the compiler has optimized your code out of existence, or you're comparing the proverbial apples and oranges.

A benchmark is simply a standard for judging the performance of various computers. But what gives the "B" word emphasis is that there's no official standard for benchmarks, and, to make matters worse, computer technology isn't exactly holding still.

Given that the task is difficult and everchanging, why do we try to do it? First, without benchmarks, we have no basis for preferring one computer over another except price. And second, given any architecture, benchmarks provide feedback on how well it performs, thus providing information for those designing new architectures.

Benchmarks measure performance, a complex issue, and yet they supply only a simple number as a result. Unless a benchmark clearly identifies what it's testing (i.e., a single component or the whole system), these simple numbers can be the seeds of misinformation.

One such seed is MIPS, or millions of instructions per second. With no standard set of instructions and no standard MIPS benchmark, you can't compare MIPS across different CPU architectures with any hope of accuracy; sometimes, you can't even compare them accurately

within a single line of machines. MIPS has become "meaningless information on performance for salesmen."

Regardless of the difficulties, however, we need benchmarks—both general-purpose and specific—that don't become worthless as technology changes.

What Makes a Good Benchmark?

A good benchmark has four general requirements. First, it must be meaningful. The benchmark must test a factor that is relevant to the user. Second, the benchmark must be accurate. Results should contain a measure of the accuracy achieved, and that measure should be reported as part of the results. Third, the test should be repeatable. The variance in results (called noise) should also be reported. Fourth, the benchmark should be able to discriminate between systems that are really different and report similar results for similar systems.

A meaningful benchmark is a test that measures something relevant to our purposes. The trick, of course, is to ask the right questions. Given the output from a good benchmark (e.g., a table of benchmark data based on running the same program with the same level of compiler optimization), you can do a valid comparison of the results between systems.

You can divide benchmarks into two categories: microscopic, looking at the components of a system in detail, and macroscopic, looking at the system as a whole. You must be careful, however, not to interpret the results of microscopic tests as having meaning at the macroscopic level.

Micro benchmarks are useful for finding the maximum capability of a component within a system. They are helpful in system design and in estimating maximum performance possible for an application under development. Hardware comparisons made with the same executable code can be quite valid for the test performed. And since different compilers for the same language, or even different languages, can compile the same test for a given machine, we can develop tables of software comparisons as well. For a further discussion of micro benchmarks, see "Why MIPS Are Meaningless" by Ron Fox on page 225.

Real applications are valuable as system benchmarks, as long as the work you choose is representative of what you're trying to test. Recently, it has become possible to find applications that are supported across a wide range of configurations and, in a few cases, across systems; these benchmarks are becoming more and more meaningful as the end user performs more complex work.

Designing a benchmark test is a lot more difficult than it appears. Most people start by running benchmarks, then decide what they want to accomplish. The correct approach is to decide what you need to establish, choose appropriate benchmarks, run them, look at the significance of the results, and, finally, decide whether the differences are significant.

Choosing the appropriate benchmark requires some understanding of each benchmark process and its relative accuracy. You need to separate those bench

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 207

THAT "B" WORD!

marks that test components from those that test systems, and try not to compare the results of those two different categories of tests. And you need run only those tests that reflect the environment and work you intend to perform. If you add benchmarks beyond this, you increase work and confuse the issue by adding results not relevant to your objective.

Having run a suite of benchmarks, how do you determine what they mean? There is no simple answer to this because it depends on your objectives. If you are evaluating processors for pure performance and use an appropriate benchmark, a significant difference between results makes a decision fairly easy.

What makes a difference significant is the issue of repeatability. If you run the same test 10 times, are all the answers within 1 percent of each other? Within 10 percent? If you know that noise number, you can conclude that differences between systems less than the noise amount are insignificant; a benchmark that shows differences between systems less than the noise amount can't be used to differentiate between them.

Studying the Classics

Several benchmarks have been around long enough to be considered classics. Whetstone, one of the oldest, was designed to be representative of typical scientific programs. It was based on the analysis of 949 ALGOL 60 programs. Whetstone was originally considered quite good, but recent analysis has shown that it's vulnerable to modern optimizing compilers.

The best general-purpose test developed thus far is Dhrystone (named as a pun on Whetstone). Despite sensitivity to some kinds of optimization, it's a good effort and a useful performance test. Revisions are under development to address known weaknesses; the current version (1.1) has some flaws that are being addressed in version 2.0.

The Sieve, another classic, generates a small set of primes using an algorithm that does a minimal amount of calculation. In addition, the run is quite small, and some modern compilers recognize the algorithm and perform special optimizations on it. While it purports to test computational performance, it primarily tests integer operation and indexing. This and other familiar benchmark tests are discussed in "Problems and Pitfalls" by Alfred A. Aburto Jr. on page 217.

The SI (Norton's System Indicator) is an example of a benchmark built without remaining independent of architectural differences within a single family of chips. Originally intended to point out the differences between various 8088

speeds, the SI gives misleading results when used to compare different generations, such as 8088 versus 80286.

Why We Need New Ones

In the past, BYTE's benchmarks have been flawed, as in their continued use of unrealistic I/O tests like Format and Copy. The standard tests didn't cover a wide enough range, and some of the tests had very little discriminatory power. A second problem was the limited set of comparisons in any one article. A full set of comparisons over a range of benchmarks would have been helpful. The new set of benchmarks described in "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks" on page 239 resolves many previous problems and shortcomings.

PC Labs' benchmarks also contain basic weaknesses. Some of the tests lack discrimination. The test results for different products are so close that any significant differences are lost in the noise. Another problem is the use of subjective quality judgments without providing a scale for the basis of judging. Printerquality output is a prime example of this problem. A third problem is the use of multiple testing personnel, adding another subjective element to the results.

PC Tech Journal has compiled detailed component benchmarks and pseudo-realworld tests. While accuracy in the component tests has been a prime concern, some of the tests have minimal discriminatory power, and the results are often difficult to read. However, the basic data is good. The real-world tests typically are limited in value because of the small size of the environments tested, making extrapolation to larger environments with different structures risky. One example of this is the database benchmark series.

The Software Digest benchmarks are a different class of tests than most of the others. Most of them are subjective, but a major effort has been made to limit this subjectivity by averaging test results over a number of cases to smooth any single observation. The overall score generally reflects the product's measurement. However, the basic tests are judgmental in nature, and the standards used may not reflect what you consider important. This remains a problem despite the detailed reporting of the component results.

The Art of Benchmarking

Benchmarking is not just science or engineering; it is an art. While parts of the process have been reduced to engineering techniques, the task as a whole remains very much an application of the human art of judgment. "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." This homily is the key to

progress in benchmarking. Until you've had hands-on experience benchmarking a number of systems, the results of your effort are liable to be unpredictable.

The earliest benchmarks, such as the Sieve, tested the CPU and memory. It appeared to be easy to test the CPU, and that was central to an understanding of performance. But both the Sieve and our understanding of performance have undergone substantial evolution since then. Further problems have arisen as tests for one generation of equipment were rerun on a later generation; for example, some tests designed for the IBM PC were later used for an 80386 system.

To date, benchmark testing of I/O has been limited, and much of what we've done is too simple. The typical I/O benchmark failed to test random access and such items as repeated access to directories and file access tables. One exception to this is the Coretest hard disk benchmark for the IBM PC AT and compatibles, which tests both random access and transfer rates.

Graphics is another area of limited testing. With the exception of component tests of the EGA by PC Tech Journal and some performance tests by BYTE, little has been done. The main problem in benchmarking graphics and video is the extreme sensitivity of the results to hardware configuration and the quality of the code. Another whole class of problems arises when you try to figure out what to test (see references 1 and 2).

Although benchmarking components (i.e., micro benchmarks) may be the most popular test, how the system runs when you use it for practical work is the most important. Except for the Whetstone, this important fact did not get much attention until recendy. Using popular applications as benchmarks is bringing some interesting facts to light, such as the sensitivity of an AT or 80386 system, especially a multiuser system, to the performance of the disk subsystem. In many cases, this performance is more important than CPU performance and has led to a demand for faster disk subsystems.

An effort is under way at the IEEE to develop benchmarking standards. It has been delayed by the lack of anyone to head the volunteer effort. When a set of IEEE standards can be developed, they will be of great value in reducing the current chaos in the area of benchmarking.

On the Hard Side

Identifying the problems involved in benchmarking is an ongoing process. The more we learn, the more problems we find. The basic dilemma is the number of variables. Even in simple cases,

continued

208 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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component values, and run worst-case scenarios—all interactively. And a 500-type* library of standard parts is at your fingertips for added flexiblity.

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MICRO-CAP II is a registered trademark

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and Ls being used with express permission of its owner

Hercules is a registered trademark

of Hercules Computer Technology

IBM is a registered trademark

of Internationa] Business Machines, Inc.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 209

THAT "B" WORD!

you have the processor, the auxiliary processors, the memory speed and interface, the I/O bus, and all the I/O devices and their interactions. Worse, it's not at all clear which variables are important or how they interact. In addition, many are not under your control, or not easily changed if they are.

Small hardware differences often cause problems. For example, the IBM PC AT has a slow interface to the 80287 chip. Note that the 80287 runs at a slower clock speed, but its interface to the 80286 was chosen for simplicity, which also limits its performance (see reference 3). In this case, many of the clone makers have built a faster interface without losing compatibility.

Cache is another variable that affects the benchmarking task. Currently, there are software caches to improve the effective speed of the hard disks and hardware caches to speed up or eliminate memory access for instructions and data. Adding cache to the benchmarking environment complicates the testing because of various cache algorithms, different cache sizes, and nonlinear cache effects. Thus, a cache adds two or more dimensions to an already complex benchmarking process. Current benchmarks simply avoid cache

testing where possible.

Hardware cache comes in two main varieties: external and on-chip. External cache sits between the main memory and the CPU and comes in a variety of sizes and implementations. Its purpose is to reduce the delay between the memory request and the time data available at the processor. Its performance depends on the programs running, the operating system, the workload, and the specific size and implementation of the cache itself.

On-chip cache, as in the Motorola 68020, is a newer element. It is for instructions only and is very small, but it totally eliminates memory-access delays for small loops and can generate large performance differences.

On the Soft Side

Along with the hardware complications are a few from the software side as well. One is compiler optimization. In the early days, compilers simply generated object code for a given source, and you were happy if it worked. Compilers are now "smarter," so the code will run faster. This has been a real disaster for the early benchmarks, as many of them were trivial tests done numerous times. The smart compilers simply eliminate

meaningless operations, reducing some benchmarks to almost no operations and rendering the results meaningless.

Another problem arises when benchmarks use different compilers without reporting that fact and thus introduce varying amounts of error into the results. When this occurs, the results cannot be validly compared with other systems.

The software disk cache is another problem area. It can be disabled in most operating systems except Unix. Since the cache is not usually built in, eliminating it at start-up is easy for the purpose of benchmarking. However, Unix (and probably future systems) will have builtin cache, and since systems typically run faster with it than without it, they'll have to be tested with software disk cache.

Multitasking software adds another level of complexity that minicomputers and mainframes have faced for years. Measuring the performance of one task while others are running becomes a statistical exercise at best, a waste of time at worst. This area will get more attention as microcomputer multitasking becomes more common. New benchmarks in this area will need a wider set of environmental settings for comparison purposes.

continued

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210 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 211

Circle 256 on Reader Service Card

THAT "B" WORD!

Subscription Problems?

We want to help!

// you have a problem with your BYTE subscription, write us

with the details. We'll do our best to set it right. But we must

have the name, address, and zip of the subscription (new and

old address, if it's a change of address). If the problem

involves a payment, be sure to include copies of the credit

card statement, or front and back of cancelled checks.

Include a "business hours" phone number if possible.

Subscriber Service, P.O. Box 7643, Teaneck, NJ 07666-9866 SiM

Even without multitasking, changing operating systems can change your results. The differences can be caused by overhead variations between the operating systems or by different facilities and compilers. Typically, changing the operating system per se doesn't produce a major effect, but the variation in facilities, compilers, and concurrent tasks complicates the measurements.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow

We can now see the directions of tomorrow's benchmarks: improving the current ones and using both synthetic and real applications. Third-generation development has begun already with Dhrystone 2.0, Calcpi, search, and memory-access routines.

At this time, there still are fixed system benchmarks. That is, the benchmark designer fixes the steps and operations involved, and the user isn't allowed to change them. In the future, we'll see synthetic benchmarks, or benchmark shells, that contain a large number of basic operations typical of applications code. Users can then develop scripts that reflect their current or future applications and run those scripts on several machines.

The future will also bring more real applications used as benchmark tests. This is perfect if you are using that specific application, and also useful if you are using that category of application. The reason for this change is simple. As systems become more complex, the work involved in generating and validating a new system benchmark increases. At some point, the work involved in creating the new benchmark exceeds the value that you can get out of it, and real applications test the system sufficiently.

The years ahead will see significant improvement in benchmarking capability as these trends bear fruit. The limiting factor, as it has always been, is the understanding and care of the person using the benchmarking process. ■

Editor's note: For BIX references and selected readings, see graphic.disp/bibliography on BIX.

REFERENCES

1. Nicholls, Bill. "Inside the 82786 Graphics Chip." BYTE, August 1987.

2. Killebrew, Carrell R., Jr. "The TMS34010 Graphics System Processor." BYTE, December 1986.

3. Fried, Stephen S. "The 8087/80287 Performance Curve." BYTE, Inside the IBM PCs, Fall 1985.

Bill Nicholls is an author and a computer consultant with BGW Systems Inc. in Puyallup, Washington.

212 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Can anyone outperform the dazzling mr 6386 WorkGroup System?

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Compare the AT&T 6386 WorkGroup System to alternative PCs; you'll find it unleashes the full power of the 80386 chip,

In fact, it's one of die most powerful personal computers on the market today

Its true 32-bit architecture lets you perform real multi-tasking and it supports multiple users with simultaneous data access.

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The 6386 WGS is part of a family of AT&T computers that share an open architecture and interface called the AT&T Application Operating Environment.

It's a simple, powerful idea. The AOE embraces AT&T's approach to industry-standard operating systems, languages, database management, graphics, networking, and more.

Through AOE, AT&T is committed to openness and true connectivity. So, no matter what exciting new opportunities the software industry provides, the AT&T 6386 WGS is ready for them.

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Rapid changes in today's software world mean your computer must be ready for anything that comes along.

Aid it must be able to run all of your existing DOS software: word processing, spreadsheets, databases, forecasting packages, and so on.

The powerful 80386 chip in the AT&T 6386 WorkGroup System works with Windows/386 so you can multitask DOS applications si multaneously -the number of applications is limited only by your expandable RAM capacity

As OS/2 applications emerge, your 6386 WGS will be ready to run them.

Plus you get the power of UNDC System V; make the 80386 chip fly as you run powerful multi-tasking UNIX System applications, while Simul-Task 386 lets you concurrently run your DOS applications in their own windows.

Aid your 6386 WGS can serve up to 32 connected terminals in a multiuser environment.

Take advantage of PC enhancements when opportunities arise.

Running out of expansion slots in your computer is a major headache.

Aid since the industry promises even more exciting and powerful plug-in boards tomorrow, the problem is just going to get worse.

214 BYTE- JUNE 1988

So, in addition to providing for more memory, the 32-bit path lets you plan ahead now for high-performance boards in die future.

The 6386E WGS has an unprecedented 10 expansion slots: four 32-bit paths, four 16-bit slots, and two 8-bit slots. (8 and 16-bit boards can be used in the 32-bit slots.)

The 6386 WGS offers seven slots: three 32-bit, two 16-bit, and two 8-bit.

No other 386 computer series gives you more expandability

Add up to 5 magnetic peripherals inside the machine.

The AT&T 6386 WGS lets you add up to five mass-storage peripherals including tape drive - right in the machine. Why clutter up your desk with outboard units?

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Run at up to 20-megahertz clock speed.

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The 6386 WGS series supports virtually every graphics display device on the market.

Get total compatibility with existing XT and AT computers.

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40, 60 OR 125MB

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EXPANSION SLOTS

7

10

More RAM lets you run multi-tasking and multi-user applications much more quickly You avoid wasting time in unnecessary disk access, because the 6386 WGS lets you expand RAM as your needs increase.

Plan for the future by entering the AT&T Application Operating Environment.

If you're running PC applications today and find that you need to enlarge your workgroup sometime in the future, you won't have to build an applications library from scratch.

The AT&T AOE lets you port your UNIX System V software essentially unchanged to departmental size minis (including AT&T's 3B computer family & RISC based machines) and mainframes, so you can start running powerful 386-based applications now, without fear for tomorrow.

At the same time you can build a fully networked PC workgroup.

The 6386 WGS is compatible with a wide range of peripherals, including AT&T's laser, letter-quality dotmatrix, and line printers; plotters; and high-performance display terminals.

A single AT&T STARLAN Network can link from 2 to over 100 PCs, which means individuals in your workgroup can share printers, access the same data, and send messages.

AT&T's modular architecture and twisted-pair wiring make it easy for you to add stations as needed.

How to protect your freedom of choice.

To avoid buying the wrong machine, take a close look at the AT&T 6386 WorkGroup System. For more information on the 6386 WGS, the AT&T STARLAN Network, AT&T printers and terminals, and the Applications Operating Environment, call your AT&T Account Executive, Authorized AT&T Reseller, or dial 1 800 247-1212. AT&T can arrange for you to examine the 6386 WorkGroup System, the STARLAN Network, and other components you'll need to build a productive workgroup. Either at a facility near you or by special arrangement at your business location.

From equipment to networking, from computers to communication, AT&T is the right choice.

•MS is 3 trademark of Microsoii Corpora lion. "IBM is 3 registered trademark ol'International Business Machines Corporation.

Lcius is a rci;i>iiTt-i I !r;uk-ii)jrt (iflj nii^ritvt'hipmeni Corporation ©1988ATKT

AT&T

The right choice.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 215

UNLEASH YOUR 80386!

Your80386-based PC should run two to three times as fast as your old AT. This speed-up is primarily due to the doubling of the clock speed from 8 to 16 MHz. The new MicroWay products discussed below take advantage of the real power of your 80386, which is actually 4 to 16 times that of the old AT! These new products take advantage of the 32 bit registers and data bus of the 80386 and the Weitek 1167 numeric coprocessor chip set. They include a family of MicroWay

80386 compilers that run in protected mode and numeric coprocessor cards that utilize the Weitek technology.

The benefits of our new technologies include:

• An increase in addressable memory from 640K to 4 gigabytes using MSDOS or Unix.

• A12 fold increase in the speed of 32 bit integer arithmetic.

• A 4 to 16 fold increase in floating point

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speed over the 80387/80287 numeric coprocessors.

Equally important, whichever MicroWay product you choose, you can be assured of the same excellent pre- and post-sales support that has made MicroWay the world leader in PC numerics and high performance PC upgrades. For more information, please call the Technical Support Department at 617-746-7341

After July 1988 call 508-746-7341

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MicroWay 80386 Support

MicroWay 80386 Compilers

NDP Fortran-386 and NDP C-386 are globally optimizing 80386 native code compilers that support a number ot Numeric Data Processors, including the 80287,80387 and mW1167. They generate mainframe quality optimized code and are syntactically and operationally compatible to the Berkeley 4.2 Unix f 77 and PCC compilers. MS-DOS specific extensions have been added where necessary to make it easy to port programs written with Microsoft C or Fortran and R/M Fortran.

The compilers are presently available in two formats: Microport Unix 5.3 or MS-DOS as extended by the Phar Lap Tools. MicroWay will port them to other 80386 operating systems such as OS/2 as the need arises and as 80386 versions become available.

The key to addressing more than 640 kbytes is the use of 32-bit integers to address arrays. NDP Fortran-386 generates 32-bit code which executes 3 to 8 times faster than the current generation of 16-bit compilers. There are three elements each of which contributes a factor of 2 to this speed increase: very efficient use of 80386 registers to store 32-bit entities, the use of inline 32-bit arithmetic instead of library calls, and a doubling in the effective utilization of the system data bus.

An example of the benefit of excellent code is a 32-bit matrix multiply. In this benchmark an NDP Fortran-386 program is run against the same program compiled with a 16-bit Fortran. Both programs were run on the same 80386 system. However, the 32-bit code ran 7.5 times faster than the 16-bit code, and 58.5 times faster than the 16-bit code executing on an IBM PC.

NDP FORTRAN-386™ $595

NDP C-386™ $595

Micro May

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The mW1167™ is a MicroWay designed high speed numeric coprocessor that works with the 80386. It plugs into a 121 pin "Weitek" socket that is actually asuper set of the 80387. This socket is available on a number of motherboards and accelerators including the AT&T 6386, Tandy 4000, Compaq 386/20, Hewlett Packard RS/20 and MicroWay Number Smasher 386. It combines the 64-bit Weitek 1163/64 floating point multiplier/adder with a Weitek/lntel designed "glue chip". The mW1167™ runs at 3.6 MegaWhetstones (compiled with NDP Fortran386) which is a factor of 16 faster than an AT and 2 to 4 times faster than an 80387.

mW1167 16MHz $1495

mW1167 20 MHz $1995

Monoputer™ - The INMOS T800-20 Transputer is a 32-bit computer on a chip that features a built-in floating point coprocessor. The T800 can be used to build arbitrarily large parallel processing machines. The Monoputer comes with either the 20 MHz T800 or the T414 (a T800 without the NDP) and includes 2 megabytes of processor memory. Transputer language support from MicroWay includes Occam, C, Fortran, Pascal and Prolog.

Monoputer T414-20 with 2 meg1 ... $1495 Monoputer T80O-20 with 2 meg1 .. .$1995

Quadputer™ can be purchased with 2, 3 or 4 transputers each of which has 1 or 4 megabytes of memory. Quadputers can be cabled together to build arbitrarily fast parallel processing systems that are as fast or faster than today's mainframes. A single T800 is as fast as an 80386/mW1167 combination! Biputer™T800/T414with2meg1... .$3495 Quadputer 4 T414-20 with 4 meg1 .. .$6000 11ncludes Occam

80386 Multi-User Solutions

AT8™ - This intelligent serial controller series is designed to handle 4 to 16 users in a Xenix or Unix environment with as little as 3% degradation in speed. It has been tested and approved by Compaq, Intel, NCR, Zenith, and the Department of Defense for use in high performance 80286 and 80386 Xenix or Unix based multi-user systems.

AT4 - 4 users $795

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Phar Lap™ created the first tools that make it possible to develop 80386 applications which run under MS-DOS yet take advantage of the full power of the 80386. These include an 80386 monitor/loader that runs the 80386 in protected linear address mode, an assembler, linker and debugger. These tools are required for the MSDOS version of the MicroWay NDP Compilers. Phar Lap Tools $495

PC/AT ACCELERATORS

287Turbo-10 10 MHz $450

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MATH COPROCESSORS

80387-20 20 MHz $795

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8087 5 MHz $99

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216 BYTE • JUNE 1988

BENCHMARKS

Problems and Pitfalls

What's wrong with the old benchmark programs?

Alfred A. Aburto Jr.

FROM TIME TO TIME, even benchmarks need a checkup. It's time to review the state of their health when the mere mention of benchmarks sparks debate and controversy. And it's time for treatment when we find anomalies in the data or contradictory results between one independent series of tests and another.

The trouble with benchmark results doesn't always lie in the programs; it often lies in the test methods and procedures used or with how the results are reported. And often it appears that the tests haven't taken into account all the variables that can significantly affect performance.

It's easy to make errors in conducting benchmark tests and unknowingly report erroneous, misleading, or contradictory results. Despite the problems and the controversy, however, developers and evaluators of computer hardware, software, and systems continue to use benchmark programs to demonstrate product improvements. And the rest of us run them, or read them, to help us decide which products to buy.

Getting All Your Ducks in a Row

The lack of controlled and appropriate test methods and procedures causes many of the problems with benchmarks. For example, if we wish to compare the performances of processor A and processor B using C language compilers, then we must ensure that the C compilers used generate the best code for each CPU. If we fail to account for all the differences in code-generating efficiency between C compilers, our results may be controver

sial and unreliable, relative to our original objective. Poor-quality software can easily mask the native processing power of an otherwise capable CPU.

Another example: We know that diskbuffer size can greatly affect the performance of disk I/O, but we rarely see the buffer size taken into account, analyzed, or even mentioned in many of the typical disk I/O or spreadsheet tests. We simply can't leave unknown or hidden variables floating around in our tests.

Rick Richardson's excellent summaries of Dhrystone 1.1 results (Usenet, comp.arch, September 20, 1987) contain many examples that illustrate the variations in benchmark performance on the same CPU at similar clock speeds. For example, the 80386 results at 16 MHz and 20 MHz showed performance results ranging from 1724 to 9436 Dhrystones per second. Certainly, this variation of 5.5 in performance isn't due to the CPU type, which was an 80386 in each case, or to the clock speed, which changed by only a factor of 1.25. Therefore, it must be due to other factors, such as the type of C compiler, compiler and linker options, global code optimizer, cache memory, number of memory wait states, and so on.

These results illustrate how important it is to keep track of all the variables that might significantly affect the outcome of a benchmark test. If you don't, then you can't expect to make "apples-to-apples" comparisons of system performance.

Optimized or Obliterated?

Optimizing compilers can significantly affect a poorly designed benchmark pro

gram. They can eliminate subroutine-call overhead delays by in-line-coding the subroutines, remove loop-invariant code, automatically assign register variables, eliminate common subexpressions, and perform other operations that destroy the intent and usefulness of the benchmark. The trouble isn't that compilers optimize code; it's that many benchmarks are highly susceptible to optimization.

Dhrystone 1.1, Whetstone, Float, Loops, Quicksort, and Savage can all be optimized to varying degrees. For example, a compiler can significantly improve the Whetstone's performance by in-linecoding its three tiny subroutines, but that ruins one of the Whetstone's primary features: measuring procedure-call efficiency. Also, if the subroutines are inline-coded, the Whetstones-per-second performance output becomes misleading and invalid. The performance isn't improved because the system executed floating-point operations any faster, but because the optimizing compiler removed hundreds, or even thousands, of processor instructions from the code.

In addition, some versions of the FORTRAN and C Whetstone programs contain loop-invariant code, which an optimizing compiler may completely remove. It may also delete floating-point instructions—perhaps millions of them, depending on the loop count—resulting in an invalid and misleading Whetstoneper-second output. Other benchmarks suffer a similar fate.

In Dhrystone 1.1 in C, optimizing compilers can remove useless code and

continued

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 217

PROBLEMS AND PITFALLS

in-line-code and optimize the string-copy and compare routines, improving performance by as much as factor of 2. It's wonderful that optimizing compilers can improve performance in these ways; however, the results of the Dhrystone are no longer valid.

In the Float program, an optimizing compiler can remove all floating-point instructions, resulting in an empty shell. It can also obliterate the Loops program, resulting in a meaningless benchmark that takes no time at all to run. The compiler can in-line-code the Quicksort subroutine and automatically place its variables in registers, resulting in ambiguous performance comparisons. It can reduce Savage to a simple loop, a = a + 1.0, producing a trivial program that no longer computes the transcendental and trigonometric functions originally intended.

The benchmarks that are susceptible to these compiler problems need to be redesigned to prevent optimizers from invalidating their measures of performance or distorting and confusing performance comparisons. Dhrystone 2.0 is intended to achieve this goal. However, there doesn't seem to be much hope for the Whetstone, Float, or Loops programs. Such benchmarks as the Sieve, Fibonacci, and Fbench seem to be mostly— but not totally—immune from high degrees of optimization.

Sifting through the Sieve

lim Gilbreath originally proposed the Sieve of Eratosthenes as a benchmark for computer systems in 1981 (see reference 1). It has since become a classic, frequently quoted in the literature and used by developers to demonstrate compiler and system improvements. Results exist for hundreds of different computers and numerous flavors and versions of compilers. It is unfortunate, however, that no single database of results has been maintained to provide a historical perspective on Sieve performance, although Gilbreath's early work (see references 1 and

2) did contain hundreds of results.

The Sieve won wide acceptance primarily because it was simple; it was easily coded in many different computer languages, and it computed something useful that was recognizable and verifiable: prime numbers. These are strong points in favor of the Sieve, because, in general, those benchmark programs that do nothing useful or verifiable are the ones most susceptible to compiler optimization (e.g., Loops, Float, and Dhrystone 1.1). The Sieve speed at generating prime numbers tells us something about the efficiency of the total system—compiler plus hardware. Performance improvements reflected in the Sieve will also be reflected in other applications that do similar types of operations.

The Sieve was intended to measure system efficiency, or capability, with respect to memory references, simple structured control statements, and integer operations. Gilbreath stated that the Sieve was not the only criterion by which to judge a language or a compiler. Other tests or considerations are necessary for a more complete picture of system performance. Exactly what additional tests you should conduct is an open question. Exactly how you combine and "weight" the different test results is also open to discussion.

Problems and anomalies can arise in comparing the Sieve performances of different systems. One problem with the C version of the Sieve program (see reference 3) is that an optimizing compiler could eliminate the outer Iter loop because it performs no useful computational task. You can remove it without altering any computations or outputs except the run time. The intent of the outer loop is to increase the run time to make the time measurement easier and more accurate, but optimizing compilers work to make programs more efficient, or faster, by removing such unnecessary or wasted code.

Another problem with the C Sieve is

Table 1: Sieve performance variations for an Amiga with a 14.32-MHz 68020 and 32-bit memory (100 iterations). Note the difference the variable type makes on the run time.

C compiler

Variable type

Run time (seconds)

C library

Aztec C3.4B Aztec C 3.4B Aztec C3.4B Aztec C3.4B

int (16-bit) short (16-bit) long (32-bit) long (32-bit)

12.3 12.3 17.0 12.6

16-bit 16-bit 16-bit 32-bit

Lattice C 4.0 Lattice C 4.0 Lattice C 4.0

int (32-bit) short (16-bit) long (32-bit)

14.7 12.0 14.7

32-bit 32-bit 32-bit

the Int definition of the variables. Some compilers define int variables as 16-bit signed numbers, while others set them up as 32-bit signed numbers. Because of this ambiguity, it would have been more appropriate to specifically define these variables as short, unsigned short, long, or ulong, as the type of variable used can make a difference in the Sieve results.

Table 1 contains some examples of this confusion. The Manx Aztec C compiler defines int variables as 16-bit (short), whereas the Lattice C compiler defines int variables as 32-bit (long). Using the int definition, Aztec C runs the Sieve faster than Lattice C. However, if you change Sieve's int definition to short so that they both use the same size numbers, then Lattice C runs the Sieve slightly faster.

In other words, if you compare the two compilers on an equal footing with respect to 16-bit variables, then there's only a slight difference in performance. However, if you change the int definition to long, then Aztec C may or may not run the Sieve faster, depending on whether it is linked with 16-bit or 32-bit standard C libraries.

To make a fair and equal comparison, you should run the Sieve with either the short (16-bit) or the long (32-bit) and avoid the more ambiguous int type. Usually short will be 16 bits and long 32 bits, but even these definitions are machine-specific.

More Chaff for the Sieve

Another problem came to light with the Sieve benchmark results published in the September 1987 BYTE (see reference 4). Table 2 contains those Sieve results and some others. All the systems ran the same Sieve source code, all used C compilers, and all contained 68020 CPUs with 32bit memory at very similar clock speeds, yet there was a factor of 3.4 maximum variation in performance. The outstanding performer was Definicon Systems' DSI-780 with the Silicon Valley Software (SVS)C 2.0 compiler.

Trevor Marshall, then of Definicon, explained that these results were due to SVS C's automatic use of register variables (variables whose "home" is a designated CPU or FPU register instead of RAM). That is, while the source code says int, the SVS C compiler actually generates register int variables. This is a form of code optimization. The Sun Microsystems C compiler also generates register int variables, but only when you set the -0 optimize flag during compilation. Other compilers, such as Amiga Lattice C and Aztec C, can also work with register int, but the variables

continued

218 BYTE • JUNE 1988

How to look good from start...

/(jUMt

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Print samples were created using Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Aldus PageMaker

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 219

PROBLEMS AND PITFALLS

must be defined as such within the source code.

In contrast, some compilers, such as those available with some Unix systems, ignore a request for register int variables; since register variables have no specific memory address, they can cause problems with subroutine calls and pointers. Other compilers generate extremely poor code with register variables; for example, some force a register variable to have an address for a subroutine call by unnecessarily pushing it onto the stack and then pulling it from the stack back into its home register. All these features of register variables can greatly affect the Sieve performance and confound the performance comparison of system A with system B if we aren't careful to understand both the system's and the compiler's operation.

We can avoid these problems by deliberately coding the Sieve to run efficiently with and without register variables defined. When the Turbo-Amiga Aztec C compiler was run with register variables defined, the run time decreased to 6.3 seconds. We could make further improvements if we redefined the Sieve's global variable, size, as a register variable, too. In this case, the Sieve run time decreased to 5.8 seconds, much more in

line, in view of the clock-speed differences, with the DSI-780's SVS C result of 4.9 seconds.

As stated by Gilbreath, the Sieve was designed partly to examine memory efficiency, but it fails to do this because the array size is fixed and relatively small. Actually, it's very small, since modern CPUs can address vast memory spaces, and typical microcomputer systems might have 1 or more megabytes of RAM.

Table 3 shows the memory-efficiency problems that can occur with some systems as you increase the Sieve's array size. Notice the great penalty paid in performance by the IBM PC XT and the IBM PC AT as the array size passes the 32K-byte boundary. The efficiency loss appears to be related to inefficiencies in the address calculations with signed long instead of signed short integers.

The problem might have been avoided, at least temporarily, if the array-index variables had been defined as unsigned short instead of int. However, for arrays larger than 64K bytes, the variable type, in this case, must be long or ulong.

In any case, varying the array size has taught us something about the relation between Sieve performance and memory efficiency; that is, the relative ranking of

Table 2: Sieve benchmark results on a variety of 68020 machines (100

iterations). Again, notice that the main ingredient of the speed differences

seems to be the variable type

System

C compiler

Time (seconds)

Variable type

DefiniconDSI-780(16MHz)

SVS C 2.0

4.9

int ( = register int)

Turbo-Amiga (14.32 MHz)

Lattice C 4.0

12.0

short

Turbo-Amiga (14.32 MHz)

Aztec C3.4B

12.3

int (=short)

Turbo-Amiga(14.32MHz)

Aztec C3.4B

12.6

long

Turbo-Amiga(14.32MHz)

Lattice C 4.0

14.7

int (=long)

MacSE/Prodigy(16MHz)

ConsulairC5.04

14.8

int (=long)

MacSE/HyperCharger(16 MHz)

ConsulairC5.04

14.9

int (=long)

Mac II (15.67 MHz)

ConsulairC5.04

16.7

int (= long)

Table 3: Sieve performance as the

array size increases (10

iterations)

Notice

the severe degradation as

the AT and XT pass the 32K-byte boundary,

while

the execution time for the other machines grows at a predictable rate.

Array size

8191

10,000

20,000 40,000

80,000

160,000

(bytes)

System

Time (seconds)

VAX 8600

0.38

0.53

1.19 2.64

5.57

11.88

Turbo-Amiga

0.44

0.56

1.14 2.32

4.68

9.46

VAX-11/780

1.09

3.04 6.38

13.34

Amiga

2.26

2.82

5.68 11.50

23.30

47.06

VAX-11/750

2.41

6.11 13.13

29.65

IBM PC AT

3.71

8.13 99.71

IBM PC XT

11.60

35.30 351.50

Sieve performance depends on the array size (see table 3). Thus, it's not always correct to deduce a relative ranking of Sieve performance based on a fixed array size; you can obtain a more accurate picture of performance by varying the array size.

A revised Sieve program, designed to handle these problems and ambiguities, is available in the BIX supermicros conference.

Floating Away

The original Float program in C (see reference 3) is perhaps one of the worst examples of a benchmark program. (Reference 4 corrects the worst of the errors.) A number of optimizing compilers, such as those available for the Sun and VAX systems, can logically reduce the code to a simple c=a. The result is an invalid Float program that does no floating-point operations and runs in almost no time at all.

A compiler can optimize the Float to such a great extent because it's a contrived program that performs no useful task and provides no outputs. Compilers such as Microsoft C 5.0 can optimize the Float so that the resulting code bears little resemblance to the original source code.

The Float is intended to perform double-precision floating-point multiplication and division, but it provides no useful output and doesn't check floatingpoint accuracy. Some sort of computational accuracy check and output would be desirable, since accuracy is important in floating-point processing. Also, a definite relationship exists between speed and accuracy in floating-point processing. A floating-point benchmark program should provide estimates of both.

Another failing of the Float is that the program provides no register double option. Without this option, the program can report misleading comparison results, since some types of compilers automatically generate register double variables (even if the source code says double only). Other compilers do so only when the register double option is put in the source code or when the -0 optimize flag is set during compilation.

Running the Float with register double variables instead of double variables can, in some cases, result in a change in performance of a factor of 3. For example, an Amiga with a 68020 at 14.32 MHz and Manx Aztec C 3.4B (a nonoptimizing compiler) takes 2.98 seconds to run the Float with double variables, but it takes only 1.04 seconds with register double variables.

If the -0 flag is set, the results become confused, with timings of a fraction of a second or 0. If these various factors

continued

220 BYTE- JUNE 1988

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 221

Circle 37 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 38)

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aren't accounted for in the benchmark testing, the comparison results will be confused and not very meaningful.

The Float program is a good example of how to optimize do-nothing code to nothing. It should be laid to rest and a new floating-point scalar-arithmetic benchmark constructed. My suggestions for its specifications, based on my experience with the Float, are as follows!

• The program should do something useful, recognizable, and verifiable.

• It should exercise single- and doubleprecision floating-point operations.

• It should provide accuracy-check output.

• It should provide register double and register float options.

• It should exercise scalar-arithmetic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (-I-, -, *, and/) operations.

• It should apply weighting factors so that the outputs reflect typical usage of the floating-point addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division operations. This is important because otherwise the divide operation, which takes the most time to execute, may unfairly bias the results. Also, it's just not used as frequently as the others. For example, the Weitek 1167 FPUs take about 0.6 microseconds for a double-precision add, but about 3.8 ^is for the divide.

• While the standard output based on typical instruction usage is provided in thousands, or even millions, of floatingpoint operations per second, I would prefer KFLOPS.

• The program should provide _a peak KFLOPS estimate based on the addition operation. This would shed some light on the range of performance you can expect.

• The code must be optimized from the beginning as much as possible to prevent optimizing compilers from doing dastardly things to the performance results.

Some progress has been made toward achieving these requirements in the FLOPS.C program, which is available in the BIX supermicros conference under the long.msg topic.

To Soothe a Savage Beast

The Savage benchmark is named for Bill Savage, who published the original BASIC version (see reference 5). A listing of the C version of the program is available in reference 3. Savage exercises some of the standard math functions (tan, atan, exp, log, and sqrt). It is one of the few old BYTE or C benchmarks that provide an error check; it has some problems, however.

The Savage error result is dominated by the atan(x) function, so the accuracy

obtained does not reflect the much greater accuracy available from the other functions. The error in atan(x), when x is greater than 500 or so, is generally so large that you can't run Savage reasonably in single-precision. In general, the only way to keep the error under control is to run with double-precision only. The function atan(x) requires many digits of precision to maintain reasonable accuracy when the argument* is large.

Savage in C also doesn't account for register double variables. This isn't a significant problem; only about a 10 percent variation in performance has been observed when running Savage with and without register double variables.

Although it hasn't happened to my knowledge, Savage could be optimized to a trivial loop of a=a+1.0, resulting in a Savage test where no math functions are tested at all.

Finally, Savage doesn't account for the typical usage frequency of the standard math functions. The sin(), cos(), and sincos() type of functions are frequently used in graphics and many other applications, yet Savage doesn't test them.

We need a new benchmark program for the standard math functions. It should test all the functions, provide accuracy checks, and weight the performance outputs in accordance with typical usage.

Fib Is a Little White Lie

The Fibonacci program in C (see reference 3) has problems similar to those found with the other benchmarks. The question of whether int equals 16 bits or 32 bits is not addressed in this program. The outer loop contains one loop-invariant call to the f ib() function. You can completely separate the loop and the function call without affecting any calculations except the timing. Due to this loop-invariant code, the outer loop is subject to deletion by a smart compiler.

The program doesn't provide a register int option. When I assigned some of the variables to registers, the performance didn't improve; it degraded by approximately 30 percent. This illustrates how under certain conditions compilers have troubles handling register variables efficiently.

Fib uses a recursive function call to calculate the twenty-fourth Fibonacci number starting from a value of 1 for the first and second numbers. You could simplify the logic in the function call somewhat, because the function's input parameter x is always greater than 2 (it is fixed at 24). Fibonacci seems to be an attempt to test recursive function-call efficiency, but the trouble is that no compari

continued

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son reference point is provided.

I wonder how useful Fibonacci is as a benchmark. A test of recursive functioncall efficiency is an interesting point, and Fibonacci is an extremely simple benchmark, but it seems to take forever to run on most systems. For a performance comparison, I coded a nonrecursive form of Fibonacci into the original benchmark and made a timing comparison. The results were unbelievable at first, but each program was calculating exactly the same sequence of Fibonacci numbers. These were the results, in seconds, for an Amiga with a 68020 and 32-bit memory at 14.32 MHz (for 100 iterations):

recursive run time = 55.10 nonrecursive run time = 0.0118

The Fibonacci appears to be a good test of procedure-call, or function-call, efficiency. The performance differs by a factor of over 4500. Apparently, recursive function calls are highly inefficient. This leads me to believe that Fibonacci could be turned into a useful benchmark test providing insight into the comparative efficiency of recursive function calls.

Sorting Things Out

Quicksort in C (see reference 3) has problems similar to those encountered in the other benchmarks. It doesn't define int variables as 16-bit or 32-bit. It should use variable types, long and short, so that the results are uniformly comparable in most cases.

The program doesn't account for significant variations in performance that can occur when some compilers automatically generate register int or register long variables. Options for register int and register long should be part of the program. The function random ( ) is simple and could be in-linecoded to eliminate the function-call overhead delay. Some compilers can optimize this program considerably.

To qualify as a meaningful benchmark, Quicksort needs a specific purpose. It's not clear exactly what the program is supposed to be testing.

Dry Stones?

The Ada Dhrystone benchmark was created by Rheinhold P. Weicker. Reference 6 contains documentation and a listing of it. The C version of the Dhrystone is by Rick Richardson, who maintains a database of results.

The Dhrystone is a good benchmark that attempts to measure system performance based on an analysis of real program usage. It measures CPU performance plus compiler efficiency based on a statistical analysis of typical programs.

It does no floating-point operations whatsoever, because they weren't found to be typical overall. Dhrystone is a general program not intended to describe systemperformance expectations for numerous specific applications.

Dhrystone 1.1 has problems similar to those found in the other benchmarks. It provides no useful output that you can use to verify correct operation. It appears to be dominated by string-handling procedures, which some compilers can optimize to various degrees. The new Dhrystone program, version 2.0, is designed to prevent optimizing compilers from distorting its measure of performance, Dhrystones per second.

The Dhrystone doesn't address the int ambiguity (16 or 32 bits, short or long). You can improve the performance of those compilers where int is 32 bits by changing int to short. The benchmark has an option to handle register variables.

Overall, the Dhrystone is one of the more outstanding benchmark programs currently available, but it can't be used in isolation to describe specific system performance on different applications.

Out with the Old

What's wrong with the old benchmarks? lust about everything. But benchmarks can be improved. We need to provide more uniform and unambiguous measures of performance. We need to be sure that our benchmarks have specific purposes and that they perform those purposes under carefully controlled conditions. Some tests can be modified, and others must be rethought, redesigned, and rewritten. This process has been started; the new BYTE benchmarks are introduced on page 239. ■

REFERENCES

1. Gilbreath, Jim. "A High-Level Language Benchmark." BYTE, September 1981, p. 180.

2. Gilbreath, Jim, and Gary Gilbreath. "Eratosthenes Revisited: Once More Through the Sieve." BYTE, January 1983, p. 283.

3. BYTE editorial staff. "High-Tech Horsepower." BYTE, July 1987, p. 101.

4. Grehan, Richard. "A Closer Look." BYTE, September 1987, p. 110.

5. Duncan, Ray. "Sixteen-bit Software Toolbox." Dr. Dobb 's Journal, September 1983, p. 120.

6. Weicker, Rheinhold P. "Dhrystone: A Synthetic Systems Programming Benchmark." Communications of the ACM, vol. 27, no. 10, October 1984, p. 1013.

Alfred A. AburtoJr. is a systems engineer at the Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, California.

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BENCHMARKS

Why MIPS Are Meaningless

Component benchmarks tell you about subsystems, not about the system as a whole

SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING tends to weight floating-point and memory performances highly, while word processing tends to weight integer computations more heavily. In theory, if you know the application mix, and you measure the performance of each subsystem in isolation, you should be able to calculate the system's performance as a whole—when it's running those applications.

A typical computer system consists of several subsystems. A typical set of subsystems might be an integer and logical ALU, the processor, memory, I/O interface, and a floating-point unit (FPU). The overall performance of a computer system is some weighted sum of the performances of these subsystems. The weights vary, depending on the application mix.

One way to determine the performance of each subsystem is to time the execution of programs that isolate the subsystem. These programs are called micro benchmarks, because they look at performance in microscopic detail, whereas application-level benchmarks look at performance from a macroscopic view, as a whole.

Some problems crop up in each of the subsystems when you try to produce micro benchmarks for them; problems also crop up when you try to compare the performance of two systems at the microscopic level.

Under the Microscope

The first step in building an accurate micro benchmark is to isolate the particular computer subsystem you want to test.

Ron Fox

Practically speaking, this is an almost impossible task.

Consider the Savage benchmark, which is primarily intended to test the accuracy and speed of transcendental functions. Careful analysis shows that the program uses the ALU to control the loop, and that it accesses memory for program fetches and data. The effect of these contributions is small for CPUs without an FPU capable of performing transcendental s; however, as FPUs with direct transcendental support (via rough lookup tables and series corrections) become common, you can no longer ignore the contributions of the rest of the program to execution time.

Thus, we have the basic principle of micro benchmarking: It is not possible to build a program that totally isolates the performance of a single subsystem. The best we can hope to do is to correct for the contributions of the subsystems we aren't benchmarking.

To make these corrections, we rely on incremental timing. This involves taking time estimates on two different sections of Savage. [Editor's note: The author has created a series of benchmark programs that are discussed in this article. They are available on BIX and in other formats. See page 3 for details. ]

The first section of SAVAGERF.C estimates the time required for the overhead calculations; the second section times the complete benchmark. (See the text box "Time on the Bench" on page 230.) The difference between these two is the incremental time required to perform the transcendental calculations; that's the

part we really wanted to time in the first place.

Isolating the ALU

A commonly used measure of performance for the ALU subsystem of instructions is MIPS, or millions of instructions per second. It would be more descriptive to call them meaningless instructions per second. As you can see from the two 8088 assembly language code fragments in figure 1, depending on your choice of instructions, MIPS can vary by an enormous amount. We need a more stable set of measurements than that.

You can usually divide the instruction set of an ALU into several instruction groups: data movement, simple arithmetic, multiplication and division, bit operations, and flow control. Typically, the instructions within each group have similar timings.

In addition, if you expand the number of instructions used into reasonably sized classes, you can create benchmarks that make the processor do some semblance of real work. Throughout the process, however, you must remember that you want to write benchmarks that isolate the time contributions of the class of instructions you're interested in from the time used by other, overhead instructions and from the effects of finite memory speed.

The data-movement class of instructions is responsible for moving data from memory to processor, processor to memory, and memory to memory on processors capable of memory-to-memory op

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 225

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WHY MIPS ARE MEANINGLESS

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The first step in building an accurate micro benchmark is to isolate the subsystem you want to test. Practically speaking, this is an almost impossible task.

erations. The program M0VESRF.C is a benchmark that times register-to-memory moves, constant-to-memory moves, and memory-to-memory moves. It also times its overhead incrementally, timing the differences between loops with one or two randomizer calls—included to prevent optimization—and looking at the differences to produce a time for the execution of the loop construct alone.

Even in this case, however, the timing is not necessarily for the moves alone. Some CPUs might need additional instructions to compute the effective address of the source or destination operands before they can actually do the moves. On the MC680O 8-bit micro, for example, the single indirection-andindex register would require quite a bit of register shuffling to do the memory-tomemory move.

In addition, CPUs without autoincrementing address modes must do some additions between loop passes. Since these computations are necessary for typical data-movement operations, whatever the context, it is fair to include them in the timing for the data-movement group. This overhead is functional, unlike that associated with the benchmark itself. Note that I haven't eliminated additions to

the timing due to memory speed from this benchmark.

We can create benchmarks for simple arithmetic, multiplication, division, and bit-manipulation operations by modifying MOVESRF.C. If we use the data-movement timings as a base for the incremental timings, we can get purer timing numbers for these operations. The benchmark 0PSRF.C estimates times for these instructions.

The flow-control instruction group includes all instructions that break up the linear flow of control from one instruction to the next. These include conditional branches, procedure calls, and unconditional branches. Since a conditional branch without a prior condition test is useless, this class of instructions often includes condition-code-setting instructions, such as tests and compares, despite the fact that such operations usually fall more in the range of simple arithmetic.

The benchmark program FL0WRF.C estimates the time for subroutine calls and conditional branches. The overhead-timing routine for the conditional branch tries to separate the condition test from the actual branch. How successful this attempt is depends on the CPU. Incremental timing between the conditional branch and the procedure call lets us pinpoint the amount of time used by the call/return pair quite accurately. In high-level languages, you can't separate the call and return, as they are naturally paired in the language constructs.

If you wanted to, you could refine the FL0WRF.C benchmark further. As it stands, the call/return pairs are not pure; that is, returning a result takes some time. In addition, since most computers don't care if the conditional branch is part of an IF. . .THEN. . .ELSE, WHILE, or FOR construct in a high-level language,

continued

The nop program loop

LOOP: NOP

;3 clocks

JHP LOOP

;15 clocks

J

Total

: 18 clocks = about 0.5 MIPS (at 4. 77 MHz)

The IDIV program loop

LOOP: IDIV BX

; 165 to 184 clocks

JMP LOOP

; 15 clocks

} ')

Total

: 180 to 199 clocks = about 0.05 MIPS (at4.77MHz)

Figure 1: Why MIPS are meaningless. You could use either of these two code fragments to estimate MIPS on a machine, but their execution times differ significantly.

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WHY MIPS ARE MEANINGLESS

Asynchronous FPUs provide higher throughput on programs with a mix of floating-point and integer computations.

it is sufficient to time a single conditional-branch construct. The IF is convenient, since it is easy to create an incremental-timing benchmark.

Examining the FPU

It is of secondary importance whether an FPU is intrinsic to the processor (as it is on the Micro VAX and the IBM 3090), a tightly bound coprocessor (such as the 80387 and the 68882), or a loosely bound peripheral (such as the various Weitek floating-point chip sets). What is most important is the degree of asynchronism with which the FPU can operate relative to both the ALU and earlier floatingpoint operations.

The simplest FPUs are synchronous; the ALU can't continue fetching and executing instructions until the FPU becomes idle. Asynchronous units, on the other hand, can run independently of the ALU. A program can start a floatingpoint operation, go away and do some integer operations, and then at some later time synchronize with the FPU, either transparently in hardware (as on the FPU option boards in the DEC PDP-11/45) or programmatically (as in the 8087 family of coprocessors).

Asynchronous units can provide higher throughput on programs with a good mix of floating-point and integer computations. If the program can schedule code well between the ALU and the FPU, it can keep both units active and reduce the total time required for execution.

Some asynchronous units provide internal asynchronism for independent floating-point operations. The simplest way of doing this is with multiple functional units. For example, the FPS-164 attached minisupercomputer contains independent floating-point adders and floating-point multiplication and division units. They let the FPU add and multiply completely independently.

A slightly more complex form of asyn

chronism is pipelining, in which you break a time-consuming operation into several substages. The computation moves from stage to stage, and the FPU can accept a new computation each time the entry stage becomes idle.

While the first computation on an nstage pipeline requires n units of time to complete, the second will complete one unit of time later. Thus, if a program can keep the pipeline full, the FPU can crank out computations with a throughput of one per unit of time; if the pipeline empties out, the FPU requires n time units for one computation or for the first of a series all over again, and the throughput time increases significantly. The FPS-164 pipelines the multiplication and division units to further improve potential throughput.

Parallels and Pipelines

Microscopic benchmarks for FPUs should explore the various possible opportunities for parallelism. They should try to determine how well you can schedule code to take advantage of any potential for parallelism, as well as test for its presence. The program FOPSRF.C tests for parallelism and measures the speed at

continued

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WHY MIPS ARE MEANINGLESS

Time on the Bench

When doing the precise timings required of micro benchmarks, using a stopwatch is not good enough. The errors in start and stop times with a stopwatch are on the order of milliseconds, while you want benchmark timings for micro benchmarks to be accurate to microseconds if possible.

The best way to time a micro benchmark is to have the program use the system-timing functions to start and stop its own "stopwatch." When you need very precise timing, you must also estimate the time required to call the stopwatch functions. The incremental timing approach takes this time into account.

With the exception of the memorythrash benchmark, all the programs dis

cussed in this article used a set of timer routines that should be relatively easy to port to any machine with timing functions: The routine initimer() initializes the timing system and determines the time required to actually get the time, and gettimer() returns the time as a double-precision floating-point number representing the time used since the call to initimer() in seconds.

Listing A is a Microsoft C-compatible module containing these functions. If you wish to port these routines to other systems, the clock() function returns the time used by the process. The time given is a clock_t type, which is really an integer with CLK_TCK ticks per second.

Listing A:

The timer routines used in

the benchmarks in this article.

#include

<stdlib.h>

#include

<time.h>

#include

<stdio.h>

static c'.

ock t calltime, cumca

1;

double ge

ttimer ()

{

clock

t t ime;

long c

lock();

time =

clock () ;

time =

- time-cumcal;

cumcal

+= calltime;

return (double)time/(double)CLK TCK; 1

void init

imer ()

double

timel, time2;

/* Cal

ibrate the clock *

/

calltime = 0;

cumcal

= 0;

t ime1 =

= gettimer () ;

time2 =

= gettimer () ;

calltime = (clock t) ( (time2

-timel) *CLK

TCK) ;

cumcal

)

= time2;

which basic floating-point operations can be performed. It's basically a modification of OPSRF.C.

To explore possible parallelism between the FPU and the ALU, we would need to introduce integer computations between the floating-point computations. If the total benchmark timings remain relatively constant or don't increase by the previously measured time required to

perform the inserted integer operations, then parallelism exists. We can explore it by successively increasing the number of integer operations added between the floating-point operations until the benchmark time begins to increase significantly.

If we want to explore pipelined parallelism, we must string several floatingpoint operations together within a single

loop. Without pipelining, the time should go up linearly with the number of operations in the loop. With pipelining, the incremental time required for each additional operation should be quite small relative to that required for a single operation.

An additional micro benchmark would be to estimate the time required to perform transcendental functions and to test the accuracy with which they are performed. Many older FPUs can't directly compute transcendental functions, such as logarithms and tangents, while newer ones, such as the MC68881/2 and the Intel 80x87, can.

When you test the transcendental functions, it is important to both time them and test their accuracy. SAVAGERF.C does this and is also a relatively simple program. It uses functional inverses to perform the accuracy tests. TRANSRF.C is a more systematic test that times the basic transcendental functions and tests for their accuracy.

Between Memory and CPU

None of the subsystems discussed so far are as tightly bound as the CPU and its memory. The CPU fetches instructions from the memory subsystem, the instructions get their operands from the memory, and the CPU deposits the results of an instruction in the memory after the instruction is completed. As CPUs become faster, eventually it will cease to be costeffective to build an entire memory system fast enough to keep up with the processor. There are two possible ways to deal with this: Allow the memory to bottleneck performance, or incorporate a hierarchical-memory system.

Hierarchical-memory systems contain small amounts of high-speed memory capable of running at processor speed, larger amounts of memory that are somewhat slower, and so on, in an increasingly slower hierarchy of memory subsystems. The most common multilevel memory hierarchies are three-level virtual memory systems. Typically, the fastest level is an associative cache from which the CPU references instructions and perhaps some data as well. The second level is the main memory; in most systems, this level is simply dynamic RAMs. If you use a cache for your instructions, you can use relatively inexpensive, slower RAMs for the main memory.

In a virtual memory system, main memory is segmented, typically into fixed-size units known as pages. A memory map makes a correspondence between the virtual addresses that a program sees and the physical addresses that main memory sees. Some virtual pages

232 BYTE' JUNE 1988

WHY MIPS ARE MEANINGLESS

may not have corresponding physical pages; the nonresident pages are kept on a "backing store," which is often a disk drive.

Hierarchical-memory systems work well because typical programs obey the principle of "referential locality"; that is, memory references tend to be clustered about a relatively small set of addresses for a relatively long period of time. We can explore the effectiveness of this organization by running nontypical programs. For example, THRASH.C, a benchmark written by Hank Vaccaro, randomly references elements of a large array. It is interesting to plot the speed per reference against the array size. A modified Thrash program, THRASHRF.C, gathers the data forjustsuchaplot.

The graph in figure 2 shows the timings for THRASHRF.C when run on a Micro VAX II under VMS (virtual memory operating system). Although this machine doesn't have a cache to speak of—it

does have an instruction-prefetch queue, but the timing of the benchmark should be dominated by data references—the program address space is nevertheless accessible in a distinct three-level hierarchy.

Under VMS, each program has a "working set" of directly addressable pages. For the run shown in figure 2, this working set was 3000 512-byte pages, or 1.5 megabytes. As long as you confine your references to this working set, the program should execute quite rapidly. Once the program gets outside the 1.5megabyte range, however, it begins page faulting; that is, it references memory locations that the program can't directly address. When THRASHRF.C needs a new page of memory, VMS places a page from the working set on a list—this will be the free list if the page hasn't been modified, or the modified list if it has. The needed page then becomes part of the working set.

Memory references tend to cluster around a small set of addresses for a long period of time.

When VMS puts a page on the free or modified list, it doesn't immediately break the actual binding between page and process virtual address. Eventually, VMS writes modified list pages to disk and then puts them on the free list, still bound to the processes from which they came. Only when VMS needs the page for another process or for another virtual address within the original process is this binding broken.

continued

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I J

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Hard faulting ^

10s

.

seconds

q

—

c o

£

103

~- Soft faulting

A

—

r

^

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No faulting

A

a

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a

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10' 102 103 10' 10s

10" 10'

Array size in megabytes

Note: Oscillations in soft-fault regime are due to beating against modified list writes.

Figure 2: When a program tries to address memory outside the working set of directly addressable pages, execution time increases: slightly on a soft fault (memory found on the free list), and significantly on a hard fault (disk I/O required).

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 233

WHY MIPS ARE MEANINGLESS

Listing 1: (a) shows the code generated by the Ecosoft-C88 C compiler for

the FOR loop shown, while (b) shows the code I was trying to benchmark.

; for( i= 0; i < ASIZE; 1++)

dest[i] = 0;

Code generated by ECO-C88

(a)

(b)

mov word ptr [bp] [-20002],0

MOV CX,ASIZE

L?9f label near

MOV BX,[BP][dest]

cmp word ptr [bp][-20002],5000

L?9F LABEL NEAR

jge L?9e

MOV WORD PTR [BX], 0

mov ax,word ptr [bp][-20002]

ADD BX,2

shl ax,1

LOOP L?9F

lea bx,word ptr [bp][-10000]

add bx,ax

mov word ptr [bx], 0

L?a0 label near

inc word ptr [bp] [-20002]

jmp short L?9f

L?9e label near

Thus, if a page is removed from the working set and is then requested before it is bound to another process, the freeand modified-page lists act as a cache, preventing the costly disk I/O that you would otherwise need to obtain the page. A page fault satisfied from either the free or the modified list is called a soft fault. A page fault that can be satisfied only by a disk I/O is called a hard fault. These provide the two additional levels of the memory hierarchy.

Figure 2, therefore, shows three distinct speeds. The fastest timings occur when the memory references all lie within the 1.5-megabyte working set of pages. Next is a plateau that involves a large number of soft faults, but few or no hard faults; that is, the memory references fit within the free physical memory of the Micro VAX II but are too big to fit in the process's working set. The Micro VAX II has "only" 9 megabytes of physical memory; once the referenced program address space no longer lies within the free physical memory, a significant number of hard faults begins to occur. This accounts for the third timing plateau, where hard faults begin to dominate program execution time.

Stumbling Blocks

In trying to produce a set of reasonably portable high-level-language benchmark programs, I have ignored the actual generated code. My approach results in two problems. First, using high-level languages makes the exact sequence of the instructions being timed imprecise; and second, optimizing compilers can reduce the program until some timing loops are doing nothing.

The first point is fairly easy to see. Let's look at the generated code from one instruction in the M0VESRF.C benchmark. The compiler is Ecosoft's C88, which is deliberately not a highly optimizing compiler. Listing la is the generated machine code for the clear-memory loop of the memory-access timings, but listing lb shows what we had really wanted to benchmark.

This kind of code expansion makes it difficult to claim that a C benchmark actually tests memory-movement timing. The most we can say is that it tests the timing of typical memory references within high-level-language programs.

In writing micro benchmarks, you effectively have two choices: You can build portable benchmarks and put up with the associated imprecision, but be able to compare performances between different architectures (e.g., Intel 80x86 vs. MC680xO vs. AT&T320OO); or you can build benchmarks in assembly language, allowing complete control over the instruction sequences you are timing, but requiring extensive rewrites to compare different architectures. This allows comprehensive comparisons within an architecture (e.g., Intel 80386 vs. 80286 vs. 80186 vs. 8086 vs. 8088, or MC68008 vs. 68000 vs. 68010 vs. 68020 vs. 68030).

On the other hand, with a highly optimizing compiler, you must deal with code deletion. The optimizer can decide to remove large pieces of the code that you wanted to time. One example of this is the original FLOAT.C benchmark, which, for nonoptimizing compilers, measures the speed of the multiplication and division family of floating-point in

structions. For an optimizing compiler, however, the benchmark effectively disappears.

Reasonably good optimizing compilers can determine that the computations are loop-invariant and that they are all done with constants and thus can be computed at compile time. Once this is done, the compiler deletes all but one of the pairs of multiplications and divisions in the loop, pulls the computations outside the loop, evaluates them at compile time, notices that the loop is null, and deletes the loop, leaving a program that executes instantaneously.

One technique you can use to prevent your benchmarks from being annihilated is to write all computational results based on a certain condition. This condition could be determined by user input or hardwired into a separately compiled function, thus hiding from the compiler's optimizer. If you avoid loop-invariant computations and compile-time constants, you can prevent most loop and expression optimizations.

No Substitute for Understanding

There is really no substitute for understanding the architecture you are studying. If you don't understand how the subsystems interact to form a system, even the results of a good micro benchmark are useless. For example, a micro benchmark might demonstrate that an ALU can give 5 million additions per second. If, however, the system is I/O-bound, these results are misleading.

No micro benchmark is completely portable, due to the wide variations in the ways computer systems are designed. For example, a memory-reference benchmark does not have much meaning on a vector processor. High-level-language micro benchmarks have their own set of problems: for example, the trade-off between portability and instruction-stream precision, and the battle against everimproving compiler optimizers.

Micro benchmarks measure in detail the performance of selected subsystems of a computer system. If your system will be used in a well-defined set of applications, micro benchmarks can give you an idea of its performance. ■

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS / would like to thank Trevor Marshall, Al Aburto, and Hank Vaccaro. Their active participation in the supermicros/benchmark topic on BIX sparked my interest in performance measurements.

Ron Fox develops data acquisition programs for the National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

234 BYTE- JUNE 1988

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If Northgate pricing seems higher, don't be deceived by Bare Bones Prices you see in others' ads. Northgate's System is complete —IT'S THE 286 SYSTEM YOU WON'T OUTGROW! We encourage you—Shop Around, Call all the Others and Compare.

ALL THIS PLUS..The Computer Industry's Most Meaningful Service and Warranty Policy..

30-Day Compatibility Warranty:

Northgate guarantees its systems will operate any standard, commercialy available DOS programs written for use on IBM Compatible Computers. If. on consultation with Northgate, a program cannot be made to operate satisfactorily, owner may return the system, complete and unaltered for a prompt and full refund including all freight costs.

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Northgate Computer Systems warrants that all systems sold by Northgate will be free of defects in workmanship and materials for one year from date of shipment.

• In the event of failure of a part that disables the system Northgate will ship, the same day if notified by 12 Noon Central Time, a new replacement part. Customer must phone Northgate Customer Service for diagnosis of the failure.

» Shipment of the replacement part will be by overnightexpress service-AT NORTHGATE'S EXPENSE-for next day delivery depending on the carrier's ability to provide such service in owner's geographic area.

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» Northgate's Customer Service department will provide full

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Circle 203 on Reader Service Card JUNE 1988 • B Y T E 237

NorthgateVOT'-The New Keyboard Champion!

The Resounding Favorite of Critics, Corporations and % People Like You Who Know and Demand the Best—For the Least!

"Northgate's excellent tactile response approximates the 'clicky' feel that IBM keyboards are known for. Typing on the C/T is smoother and more comfortable than on any of the replacement or clone keyboards I've tried."

Jonathan Matzkin, PC Magazine

10-Day Money-Back Satisfaction Guaranteed!

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Keith Ferrell, COMPVTBls PC, March, 1988

J. ^^^^^*~*-Nay, 1988

Enhanced 101-Key Model C/T 101

Separate cursor pad and numeric keypad; Enlarged L-shaped Enter Key, DoubleWide Backspace, Shift and CapsLock Keys; Lights for CapsLock, Numlock, ScrollLock. Full AT and XT Compatible. Heavy, metal base so keyboard won't slip around on desk.

$9900

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Here's Why The Experts Rave

Northgate is giving the world what it has always wanted—The touch, the sound, the feel of a selectric typewriter. No more of the mushy, spongy feel, the dull thunk that lets you know you have fingertips— but not that you have typed in a character. Finally you can get IBM-like keyboard feel at a sensational price.

Other companies give you keyboards with a rubber-like membrane below the keys. No click, no sound, no feel. But cheap to make. OURS AREN'T! Northgate uses Alps Keyswitches, the most expensive, highest quality switches available for keyboards! And Northgate quality assures you years of service.

Phone Orders Tbll Free Answered 24 Hours

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1 M

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$7900

Standard 84-Key Model

This model features the function keys on the left as in the original IBM design. Has the same Click/Tactile feel as the 101-key model. Features L

CapsLock and 3 LED Lights.

Typists Love The Touch, Pros Love The Productivity

Plug the Northgate "C/T" into your system. Press a key. WOW! At first touch you know this is it. The key passes detent at center position with a slightly audible "click." Sound and change in tension (ell your fingers you've made an entry. As the key bottoms, a more positive click confirms the entry and signals the finger to release and hit another key. Touch typists love it.

In actual typing tests, speed increased by up to 28 percent with a 16 to 20 percent reduction in errors. Besides making typing enjoyable again, the increases in production you get with the "C/T" should be enough reason to replace all your keyboards.

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IBM. PS and AT are registered trademarks or IBM Corp. Copyright 1988 Northgate Computer Systems.

238 BYTE- JUNE 1988

ALPS KEYSWITCHES

New sculptured profile design

Some day all keyboards will use the same keyswitches and quality components Northgate incorporates in its 84-key and 101-key keyboards. But for now, Northgate leads the way. Order yours today. If you arc not 100% satisfied in every way. return it within 10 days for a full refund.

Northgate Computer Systems 13895 Industrial Park Blvd.. Suite 110 Plymouth, Minnesota 55441

I Ship:

. (Quantity) "C/T" 101 @ $99.00 . (Quantity) "C/T" 84 @ $79.00 . For IBM PS Models add $30.00

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Compatible wild most cuirem model XT and AT iy|K- systems with standard 5-]tixt din connector. Sonu' computers lire not compatible with standard IBM connectors— these may include some models of Zenith, Tandy, and AT&T.

Circle 204 on Reader Service Card

BENCHMARKS

Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks

A set of staff-written programs that gauges total system performance

Richard Grehan, Tom Thompson, Curtis Franklin Jr., and George A. Stewart

THE GOAL OF benchmarking is a noble one. You run a program on a computer, and a number pops out to tell you whether or not the computer is worth its salt.

But benchmarking is like playing the Oriental game of GO. Rules that at first appear simple blossom into complexity as you begin applying them. So, what starts out sounding like the simple job of devising programs to test the relative performance of microcomputer systems runs you headlong into the problems of different CPUs, different FPUs, different operating systems, and before you know it you're just a pair of eyes peering through the turns of a Gordian knot. The trick is to design some sort of common ground, a model that acts as a guiding force to keep things real and reasonable.

To date, no benchmarks have openly, clearly, and reliably tested both within and across brands and architectures. Oh, there are plenty of "black box" benchmarks: Plug in a disk, spin it up, and get a number. But what does the number mean? How does it relate to the real world? What actually was tested? And how? You might as well read tea leaves.

There are also all kinds of machinespecific benchmarks. For example, you can grind away at any one of the many PC benchmarks until your system smokes, and you still won't have any idea how your machine stacks up against, say, a Mac II or SE.

Our new benchmarks are a major first step toward remedying these and other flaws. The benchmarks include a set of low-level tests and a set of applicationlevel tests. (Tables 1 and 2 show test re

sults for PC-DOS/MS-DOS machines and Macintosh machines, respectively.) For the low-level tests, we started by going back to the Small-C compiler, first devised for the CP/M world, and building from there (see the text box "BYTE Small-C" on page 256). We devised tests, chose algorithms, coded, debugged, and debugged again.

No black box, these: BYTE's benchmarks have always been open, and our newest ones follow in that tradition. We will freely distribute the source code of both the benchmarks themselves and the custom versions of Small-C. You can read the source code; you can see exactly what our benchmarks test, and how.

Why Small-C?

Low-level benchmarking presented us with a number of dilemmas. If we wanted laser-beam accuracy, we'd have to handcode in assembly language whatever algorithms we picked for every processor out there, and someone would always be popping up with a coding trick that would shave 2 bytes and 20 clock cycles off the code. (Notice we said "algorithms"; we wanted benchmarks that at once were low-level and had some connection to the real world. We didn't want to just code up a big pile of NOP or MOVE.L D1,D1 instructions and time them.) And assuming we did take that tack, we'd end up arguing over what the "best" implementation of a given algorithm would be for a given processor. Would it be the smallest version? The fastest? Not necessarily the same thing.

We chose to modify the Small-C com

piler for the 80xx8 and 68xxx machines so that it would give us the spyglass into assembly language that we wanted and, at the same time, provide us with a vehicle that was as close as possible to being common across different processors. To put it another way, Small-C defined a model, and we would ask each processor to take its best shot at executing that model. Naturally, where one processor would have an instruction that might give it an advantage in one area of the model, another processor would have an advantage in a different area.

Small-C lets us create benchmarks based on algorithms that bear a resemblance to real-world applications. We can then port those benchmarks more easily from machine to machine than if we had hand-coded them, and—thanks to the fact that Small-C emits assembly language source code—we can understand why one processor performs better than another for a given algorithm. Additionally, Small-C's #asm directive lets us dip into pure assembly code. This is especially handy in those cases where we "step outside" the bounds of Small-C to test some system feature it doesn't support.

And last but not least, Small-C is in the public domain, so we can freely share our source code with you. It opens the doors for discussions on optimization techniques, improvements to the run-time library, language design, and more.

CPU Benchmarks

• Sieve. You may think that we're just keeping the Sieve of Eratosthenes around

continued

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 239

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

because we've become so attached to it. There's some truth in that, but within that truth lie other, more compelling facts that we can't ignore: Language and system designers the world over have used the Sieve as a basic performance test. The Sieve makes use of arrays (indirect addressing), comparison operations, and simple math. We thought it worthwhile to keep the old firehorse around.

For comparison, listing 1 contains the complete source code file for the new BYTE Sieve of Eratosthenes.

• Sort. The new Sort benchmark now uses three sorting algorithms: a Quicksort, a Shell sort, and a heapsort. All three sorting techniques make heavy use of indirect addressing, comparison operations, and basic integer math operations. But there are differences that allow the new benchmark to exercise more aspects of the machine than the old Sort did. Specifically, Quicksort is a recursive sorting procedure, while Shell sort uses a repeating-loop algorithm, and the heap sort uses a repetitive call to a subroutine. (Currently, the time reported for the Sort benchmark is the aggregate for all three algorithms. However, if you're interested in determining which algorithm works fastest, you can modify the source code to report on the individual times.)

Listing 2 contains the source code for the Sort algorithms' major subroutines.

• Matrix. The job of the Matrix benchmark is to exercise the kind of operations that must take place to manipulate matrices—in this case, two-dimensional arrays. Primarily, this involves indirect addressing, but the Matrix benchmark also tests integer math operations. Note that some integer math must occur as a program calculates the offset of an array element. Most high-level compilers that support multidimensional arrays handle this math for you automatically, but since BYTE Small-C allows only one-dimensional arrays, such math is necessarily explicit.

The Matrix benchmark times three common matrix operations: Add two square matrices, multiply two square matrices, and perform a transposition on a square matrix. The benchmark calculates the total time for all these operations and prints the results. You'll find the source code for the major routines of the Matrix benchmark in listing 3.

• String Move. The String Move benchmark's operation is easy to state: It moves lots of bytes from one place to another. Here, however, is a program whose portability becomes tricky. Consequently, the String Move benchmark makes heavy use of assembly language routines, and these routines are coded differently for each processor. There is another detail

Table 1: BYTE benchmarks

for PC-DOS/MS-DOS machines.

IBM PC

IBM

IBM PS/21

Compaq1

Low-level Test

PC AT

Model 80

386/20

CPU

Matrix

66.51

11.69

4.75

3.06

String Move

Byte-wide

378.18

80.41

39.31

26.11

Word-wide:

Odd-bnd

275.1

80.41

39.09

31.01

Even-bnd

275.1

40.26

19.66

13.07

Sieve

298.46

73.65

29.11

23.18

Sort

330.30

84.39

33.11

26.89

FLOATING POINTS

Math

70.80

46.46

10.77

7.01

Error3

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

Sine(x)

26.92

20.05

4.61

3.30

Error

2.0E-9

2.0E-9

2.0E-9

2.0E-9

e*

23.39

17.20

4.50

3.06

Error

1.0E-9

1.0E-9

1.77E-2

1.77E-2

DISK I/O

Hard Seek"

Outer track

6.47

3.28

3.34

3.34

Inner track

6.54

3.30

3.35

3.31

Half platter

23.34

11.30

10.00

6.66

Full platter

39.89

16.59

14.17

9.98

Average

19.06

8.62

7.71

5.82

DOS Seek

1 -sector read

16.26

11.66

9.98

2.07

8-sector read

59.34

24.33

20.54

10.89

File I/O9

Seek

.92

.22

.12

.13

Read

.06

.021

.017

.007

Write

.069

.022

.016

.012

1-megabyte

Write

1:06.70

8.92

5.14

3.48

Read

16.91

8.16

5.67

2.88

VIDEO

Text

ModeO

50.47

11.55

4.73

3.76

Mode 1

50.64

11.53

4.73

3.77

Mode 2

50.97

13.15

5.00

3.88

Mode 3

51.30

13.13

4.96

3.85

Mode 7

11.73*

4.98

3.51*

'No display, but timed

Graphics

Mode 4

18.62

4.69

1.98

1.33

Mode 5

18.62

4.69

1.96

1.38

Mode 6

19.99

5.11

2.27

1.49

Mode 13

3.68

3.35

Mode 14

4.41

3.57

Mode 16

3.85

3.48

UNPACK

(single precision)

1646.72

1010.22

246.40

171.15

Livermore Loops

(MFLOPS)

.0169

.0237

.1150

.1735

Dhrystone (Microsoft C 5.0)6

(Dhrystones/sec)

391

1721

3977

6321

1 All figures were generated using the 8088/8086 version

of Small-C (16-bit

ntegers).

Figures for the 80386 machines shown here do not use

80386-specific instructions.

2 The floating-point benchmarks used 8087-compatible coprocessor instructions only.

3 The errors reported for the floating-point benchmarks indicate the difference between expected and actual

values, correct to 10 digits or rounded to two decimal p

aces.

4 Times reported by the Hard Seek and DOS Seek are fo

multiple seek operations (number of seeks performed

currently set to 100).

5 Read and write times for the File I/O benchmarks are in

seconds per Kbyte. All others are in minutes:seconds.fractions.

6 For the Livermore Loops and Dhrystone

tests only, high

er numbers mean

faster performance.

240 BYTE • JUNE 1988

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

BMPC

IBM IBM PS/2 Compaq

Application Test

PC AT Model 80 386/20

WORD PROCESSING

XyWrite III Plus 3.52

Load (large only)

:57

:22

:17

:14

Word count (med./large)

23/3:03

07/:55

03/:25

02/: 16

Search/replace

43/2:44

12/:56

06/:27

05/: 19

End of document

11/1:48

04/:37

02/: 16

02/: 11

Block move

50/:49

23/:23

10/:10

10A10

Spelling check 1

18/10:06

22/2:52

10/1:16

06/:47

Microsoft Word 4.0

Cursor move

4:22

3:34

:15

:11

Forward delete

2:54

:59

:16

:11

Aldus PageMaker 1.0a

Load document

1:12

27

13

06

Change/bold

4:00

1

02

31

19

Align right

3:33

56

25

14

Cut 10 pages

2:40

43

22

12

Place graphic

:38

12

05

03

Print to file

22:29

7

15

3

12

1

41

SPREADSHEET

Lotus 1-2-3 2.01

Block copy

:34

:08

04

03

Recalc

:12

:04

02

01

Load Monte Carlo Insufficient Insufficient

18

09

Recalc Monte Carlo

vlemory

Vlemory

06

04

Load rlarge3

:28

10

05

03

Recalc rlarge3

:07

02

01

01

Recalc Goal-seek

:32

12

04

02

Microsoft Excel 2.0

Fill right

:48

12

05

04

Undo fill

16:45

5

11

1

52

1

28

Recalc

:17

03

02

01

Load rlarge3

4:18

1

12

28

17

Recalc rlarge3

:20

05

01

01

DATABASE

dBASE III Plus 1.1

Copy

3:33

2:30

1:12

39

Index

:51

:23

:19

05

List

5:29

2:23

1:34

54

Append

6:59

3:17

2:01

1

22

Delete

:08

:03

:02

01

Pack

5:16

2:05

1:42

1

04

Count

:38

:19

:17

03

Sort

3:22

1:44

1:28

52

ENGINEERING/SCIENTIFIC

AutoCAD 2.52

Load SoftWest

10:30

2:45

54

:35

Regen SoftWest

6:15

2:21

41

:28

Load St. Pauls

2:15

:35

13

:08

Regen St. Pauls

:59

:21

07

:05

Hide/redraw

2:18:30

1:44:45

14

07

9:01

STATA1.5

Graphics

2:39

:49

:36

:19

ANOVA

1:48

:37

:16

:11

MathCAD 2.0

IFS 800 pts.

2:32

1:00

:17

:12

FFT/IFFT1024pts.

2:57

:52

:18

:12

COMPILERS

Microsoft C 5.0

XLisp compile

31:49

9:45

4:48

3:00

Turbo Pascal 4.0

Pascal S compile

:41

:11

:06

:03

GENERAL SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

1. The PC system includes a 4.77-MHz 8087, 512K-byte system memory, a CGA card, and a 20-megabyte external hard drive.

2. The PC AT includes an 8-MHz 80287, 512Kbyte system memory, a CGA card, and a 30megabyte hard drive.

3. The IBM PS/2 Model 80 includes a 16-MHz 80387, 6-megabyte system memory, a VGA graphics adapter, and a 40megabyte hard drive.

4. The Compaq Deskpro 386/20 system includes a 20-MHz 80387, 6-megabyte system memory, an EGA graphics adapter, a 300-megabyte hard drive, and a 20-MHz 82385 cache controller.

All disk tests refer to a single DOS partition on the hard drive except for Hard Seek, which refers to the entire disk.

with the String Move benchmark that makes its port across processors, shall we say, "uneven." We can best illustrate this by describing how the benchmark runs for the different processors.

8088/8086/80286—The benchmark moves bytes a byte at a time and a word at a time. For the word-at-a-time moves, the benchmark actually runs its test twice, first for odd-byte alignment and then for even-byte alignment.

68000/68020—The benchmark moves bytes a byte at a time, a word at a time, and a doubleword at a time. Since the 68000 must access words and doublewords on even-byte boundaries, there is no odd-byte-boundary test.

80386—This version of the benchmark will be a kind of hybrid of the first two. Bytes will be moved a byte at a time, a word at a time, and a doubleword at a time. For the word- and doublewordwidth moves, the benchmark will test even- and odd-byte alignments.

The following is pseudocode for the new BYTE String Move benchmark:

begin main

count = 10000 allocate_memory(source_buffer)

allocate_memory(dest_buffer)

begin timer transfer_bytes(source_buffer, dest_buffer, count)

end timer

report(elapsed_time)

begin timer

source_buff_pointer = odd

dest_buff_pointer = odd

transfer_word(source_buffer, dest_buffer, count)

end timer

report(elapsed_time)

source_buff_pointer = even

dest_buff_pointer = even

transfer_word(source_buffer, dest_buffer, count)

end timer

report(elapsed_time) release_memory(source_buffer) release_memory(dest_buffer) end main

One further note: For the 80xx8 ver

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 241

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

sions, the String Move benchmark uses the REP MOVSx instructions. Since these instructions use DS as the source segment and ES as the destination segment, this has the effect of testing moves from one segment to another.

FPU Benchmarks

Most of the work for the floating-point coprocessor benchmarks went into crafting a floating-point coprocessor library that we could attach to BYTE Small-C (see the text box "Small-C Support Functions" on page 261). Small-C does not support a floating-point data type. This means that BYTE Small-C has to manipulate floating-point numbers as arrays of bytes, and perform floating-point operations by making calls into the floatingpoint library. For example, to add two floating-point numbers in BYTE SmallC, the instruction would look like this:

f2add(ptrl,ptr2,ptr3);

where ptrl and ptr2 are pointers to the arrays holding the floating-point numbers, and ptr3 points to the array holding the destination. Consequently, the code to implement a floating-point algorithm looks like a series of function calls rather than a traditional assignment statement.

This also means that BYTE Small-C will not have a floating-point emulator library. We decided that such a library would involve too much work for too little return; emulating floating-point operations involves integer math and logical operations, and our other benchmarks already give an indication of the processor's performance in such areas.

We did, however, code the coprocessor library so that calls into it are similar across processors, and the source for the floating-point benchmark program is almost identical for the 80xx8 and 68xxx processors. The library also includes functions for converting from integer to floating-point and back, as well as an output routine that can print floatingpoint numbers in scientific notation.

BYTE's new floating-point coprocessor benchmark is in two parts, packaged in a single program. The first part is a large loop that simply tests the four basic math operations: add, subtract, multiply, and divide. The second half gives the transcendental functions a workout; it executes a numerical integration algorithm known as the trapezoidal rule for two functions—sine(x) and e1— over a fixed interval. Both the basic math and transcendental tests return results as well as execution times, so we'll be able to test accuracy as well as speed.

Listing 4 contains the source code for the floating-point benchmark.

Table 2: BYTE Macintosh benchmarks.

Low-level Test

Mac Plus

MacSE

Mac IP

CPU

Matrix

79.3

67.1

21.2

68020 version

N/A

N/A

10.2

String Move

Byte-wide

431.6

374.5

93.9

Word-wide

215.9

186.7

45.6

Long word-wide

147.0

92.4

22.9

Sieve

200.1

170.2

40.2

Sort

179.7

154.2

44.2

FLOATING POINT*

Math

N/A

N/A

175.3

Error

0.0

Sine(x)

N/A

N/A

84.8

Error

1.05E-9

e«

N/A

N/A

112.5

Error

1.05E-9

DISK I/O

Sub-Finder Seek

Sony:

Sector read3

66.6

61.9

62.7

40K-byte read3

137.0

137.1

136.1

Sector read4

63.0*

40K-byte read

136.8*

SCSI:

Sector read:

46.7*

41.1

14.6

40K-byte read

65.5*

52.8

19.4

File 1/0=

Seek

.7

.5

.2

Read

.116

.052

.023

Write

.092

.039

.014

1-megabyte

Write

13.9

14.8

5.2

Read

7.5

8.1

1.8

VIDEO

Text

Textedit

17.3

15.1

5.6

Drawstring

4.3

3.8

1.8

Graphics6

Slow test

96.6

84.4

46.2

QuickDraw

1.1

1.1

0.3

LIN PACK

Single precision

2685

2319

364**

Double precision

4894

4229

348**

Dhrystone (MPW C version 2.0)7

(Dhrystones/sec)

675

805

2861

1 All figures were generated using the 68000 version

5 Read and write times for the File I/O benchmark are

of Small-C. Figures reported for the Mac II do not

in seconds per Kbyte. All others are in

use 68020-specific instructions, except where noted.

minutes:seconds. fractions.

2 The floating-point benchmarks used the SANE library.

6 The Slow test uses codes written If

Small-C to per

3 These times are for the floppy disk drives

form the circle draw and fill. The QuickDraw version

* These times are for the Mac20 hard disk drive.

uses QuickDraw commands to draw and fill the circle.

7 For the Dhrystone test only, higher

numbers mean

faster performance.

External drives

■• 68020 version

242 BYTE' JUNE 1988

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

Application Test Mac Plus

MacSE

Mac II

WORD PROCESSING

MacWrite 5.0 (small/large)

Load

08/: 16

:06/:14

04/:05

Search/replace 1

32/10:39

1:20/9:40

78/3:09

Find last page

03/1:07

:03/:06

02/:03

Mergesmall.txt

13/:16

:12/:17

06/:07

Spelling check 3:22/***

2:47/21:43 1

08/7:40

Store document

15/1:13

: 14/1:07

12/:27

MultiWord (small/large)

Word count

11/1:13

: 10/1:07

06/:35

Microsoft Word 3.01

Cursor down 640 lines

2:27

2:2

1:21

Search/replace

1:15

1:07

:22

Store document

:48

:46

:16

Aldus PageMaker 2.0a

Load document

(20,586 words)

:17

:17

:11

Change/bold

1:32

1:31

:29

Align right

1:25

1:10

:29

Cut and refill

first 10 pages

:50

:44

:19

Place 80K-byte

graphics file

:26

:21

:10

Print document to

PostScript file

2:59

2:26

:52

SPREADSHEET

Microsoft Excel 1.0

Full right B1...AY50

32

:25

:10

Undo fill

21

13

17:20

5:22

Recalc

01

:01

:01

Load rlarg3.x12

50

:41

:15

Recalc rlarg3.x12

06

:06

:02

DATABASE (1200 RECORDS)

McMax 87.2

Copy

31

28

:10

Index

20

19

:07

List

2

14

2

11

2:04

Append 832 records

34

32

:11

Delete

02

02

:01

Pack

12

11

:04

Count

07

07

:03

Sort

1

08

54

:19

ENGINEERING/SCIENTIFIC

Minicad 3.15

Load

:25

23

:06

Redraw

13:40

11

37

2:54

Hide and shade

16:19

14

55

3:59

Data Desk 1.12

Regression analysis

5:13

5:13

1:01

Correlation analysis

5:59

5:59

1:17

COMPILERS

LightspeedC2.11

XLISP compile

2:51

2:25

1:02

Turbo Pascal 1.0

Pascal S compile

17

14

:07

Insufficient memory to spell-check BYTE benchmark large document

Disk I/O Benchmarks

As storage subsystems become responsible for more and more of the time you spend at the computer, it becomes more important to get an accurate picture of how a particular disk will affect total system performance. If hardware and software vendors could agree on a single way to access disks, the job of benchmarking would be easy. Unfortunately for those of us who have to write and run the benchmarks, there are almost as many schemes for getting at storage as there are storage devices.

In addition to the number of access methods and interfaces available, the number of components involved with any storage access makes accurate performance testing of any one component very difficult. In general, the storage device itself, the device controller, and the computer's operating system are involved with any transaction. In some interface systems, such as small-computer-systeminterface (SCSI) systems, a device driver is involved as well.

In most situations, it's impossible and nonsensical to divorce the performance of the disk from the performance of its controller or driver. Our benchmarks don't attempt to force this separation, concentrating instead on factoring various degrees of operating-system overhead out of the performance equation. Since different programmers and hardware designers view the facilities of operating systems with varying degrees of contempt, we varied the tests based on how heavily they rely on each operating system's file system.

The first test in the suite is the BIOSlevel benchmark. On an IBM PC or compatible running MS-DOS, this benchmark "goes around" the operating system, manipulating the disk with direct calls to the machine BIOS. This test is designed to gauge the speed of the disk/controller combination, with as much of the operating system overhead as possible factored out of the results.

The program begins by getting information from the disk and then proceeds to test the disk in four stages, with each stage repeated 100 times. The program first seeks between the two outermost tracks, reading one sector on each. It then seeks between the two innermost tracks, the outermost and middle tracks, and the outermost and innermost tracks, reading a sector on each track. The times from all these seeks are collected, and an "average seek time" is calculated.

The following is pseudocode for the BIOS-level benchmark:

begin main get_disk_info

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 243

We gave this card a built-in IC memory.

THE MITSUBISHI PLASTICS IC MEMORY

BEE CARD SYSTEM

If you need to carry information but don't want to carry a computer, the Mitsubishi Plastics IC Memory "Bee Card" System is for you.

The Bee Card is a plastic card that contains from one to four ICs. Offering unprecedented convenience, versatility, reliability and economy, it makes slow-access cassette tapes and floppy disks obsolete.

It's also exceptionally sturdy and durable. With

a thickness of only 1.8mm(0.07in), it's compact enough to carry in your wallet. Yet offers a memory of from 64K to 1M bits.

Best of all, the Bee Card frees you from online systems. Which makes it perfect for use in the field. In almost any field.

Cards come in four types and a variety of memory capacities. Mask-ROM cards are designed for readout

* MITSUBISHI

Jm m PLASTICS INDUSTRIES LTD.

244 BYTE- JUNE 1988

And we're giving you a lot of ways to use it

Plays up to 100 melodies with electronic musical instrument.

J

Offers new freedom of font choice.

Insert into laptop PC for input and readout.

only. OTP ROM cards, for one-time programming. EEP ROM cards can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. And S-RAM cards, with replaceable lithium cell, are erasable and programmable at high speed.

You'll be hearing a lot about these cards in the not-too-distant future. And seeing a lot of them, too. In computerized navigation systems for automobiles. At hospitals, recording and storing patient charts. In industrial stock inventory control. And even at music stores, playing your favorite tunes electronically.

When you carry the Mitsubishi Plastics Bee Card, the future of information handling is right where you want it.

In the palm of your hand.

Circle 190 on Reader Service Card

Mask-Programmed ROM Card

64K bits 128K bits 256K bits 1M bits (2M bits) (4M bits)

EEP ROM Reprogrammable Card

64K bits (byte mode)

128K bits (byte mode) 2-chip type

64K bits (page mode)

128K bits (page mode) 2-chip type

OTP ROM One-Time Programmable Card

64K bits 256K bits

512K bits

*(1M bits)

^Available in the neat future

S-RAM Card

64K bits 128K bits 512K. bits 1M bits

256K bits

For further information

MITSUBISHI CORPORATION

Semiconductor Dept.

2-3-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-86 Japan

Tel.-(03)210-3792 Fax. (03)210-3353 Telex:MCTOK A J 33333

MITSUBISHI INTERNATIONAL GmbH

Heinrich-Heine-Allee 1, 4000 Du'sseldorf 1 Federal Republic of Germany Tel: (0211) 8385-396 Fax:(0211)8385-397 Telex:85830-20 MIG D

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 245

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

disk_identifier number_of_heads number_of_cylinders sectors_per_track outer_track_seek

first = outermost_track second = next_t o_oute rmo st_track doseek (first, second) display (accumulated_time) inner_track_seek

first = next_to_innermost_track

second = innermost_track doseek (first, second) display (accumulated_time) half_platter_seek

first = outermost_track second = (total_tracks)/2 doseek (first, second) display (accumulated_time) full_platter_seek

first = outermost_track second = innermost_track doseek (first, second) display (accumulated_time) end .main

begin doseek (first, second) accumulated_time = 0 begin repeat (100 times) begin_timing

seek to (first), sector 1 read 1 sector

seek to (second), sector 1 read 1 sector stop timing (calculate

elapsed_time) accumulated_time =

accumulated_time + elapsed_time end repeat end doseek

We have confidence in the results we get from this test, but it does have a couple of shortcomings. First, since it deals with the hardware in a most intimate fashion, the program is quite hardwaredependent. It will have to be significantly rewritten for new systems that might come out. The second will become more apparent as more of the world moves to the SCSI interface for hard disks. SCSI is a black-box design that effectively hides the geometry of the device from programmers. It is so effective at this hiding that our BIOS-level test will simply not translate to the SCSI environment.

The next benchmark is not nearly so subversive as the BIOS-level test. In the second BYTE disk-subsystem benchmark, the operating system is used, but at a level of explicit device calls instead of relying on its file system. The testing methodology is relatively straightforward in an MS-DOS system. The main portion of the program is run twice. In the first iteration, the device is told to step through its sectors in 10 even steps, reading one sector at each step. In the second itera

tion, the same 10 steps are used, but eight sectors are read at each stop. The time for each of these iterations is reported. This test is designed to be portable across a variety of system types, though we realize that some degree of reprogramming will be required for each new system. Pseudocode for OS Level—Explicit:

begin main

test_device = drive to be tested get_disk_info (test_device) disk_identifier number_of_heads number_of_cylinders sectors_per_track total_sectors accumulated_time = 0 sector = 0

begin repeat (50 times) track_seek (0,1) begin repeat (10 times) sector = sector +

(total_sectors/10) begin_timing track_seek (sector,1) end_timing; calculate elapsed time accumulated_time =

accumulated time+elapsed time end repeat

report (accumulated_time) end repeat

begin repeat (50 times) accumulated_time = 0 sector = 0 track_seek (0,1) begin repeat (10 times) sector = sector +

(total_sectors/10) begin_timing track_seek (sector,8) end_timing; calculate

elapsed time accumulated_time = accumulated time+elapsed time end repeat

report (accumulated_time) end repeat end main

begin track_seek

(sector_position, #_sectors_to_read) move to sector at

(sector_position) read (#_sectors_to_read) end track_seek

A case in point is the way this benchmark was ported to SCSI drives under the Macintosh operating system. After several conversations with the folks at Jasmine Technologies, who produce SCSI drives, we decided that going beneath the Finder to make calls direcdy to the device driver provided by the disk drive manufacturer results in the functional equivalent of the MS-DOS version. This is

probably the test that will require the most effort to port to new interfaces and operating systems.

The third test owes a great debt to our old file I/O C-language benchmark. The program is designed to measure the interaction of the disk/controller and the operating system's file system. In the normal course of working with a storage device, three basic operations exist: creating files, appending files, and reading files. The benchmark creates 10 files of varying sizes. Each is then appended by a chosen amount. The test then uses an arbitrarily chosen number (actually a constant pseudorandom number) to determine the location and size of the reads and writes that follow. Reading and writing in the last portion are performed at a ratio of three reads for every write, since this approximates the usage pattern of disk users we observed. The accumulated times for reading, writing, and seeking are returned, along with the total number of bytes written and read.

This program translated readily to the Macintosh. The only significant change was to allow for the difference in the way the 80x86 and 680x0 processors deal with pointers to disk addresses. The 80x86 processor requires two integers for the pointer, and so two "random" numbers must be generated for the read and write addresses. The 680x0 uses a single 32-bit integer and requires only one "random" number.

Pseudocode for OS-Level File:

begin main

count = 120

write_time = 0

write_bytes = 0

read_time = 0

read_bytes = 0

seek_time = 0

total_seeks = 0

begin repeat (10 times) create_file

end repeat

begin repeat (10 times) extend_file

end repeat

random_read_and_write

report end main

begin create

file

fileO size

=

4000

filel size

=

10000

file2 size

=

500

file3 size

=

2800

file4 size

=

25000

file5 size

=

14000

file6 size

=

8000

file7 size

=

8800

file8 size

=

300

file9 size

=

21111

for each fi

.1.

2 begin

open fil

ex

continued

246 BYTE' JUNE 1988

ADOBE

DESTINY

S i a. St

It's no secret, in the laser printer world, you select either PostScript or HP LaserJet compatibility You buy your printer from HP, your board from QMS and your software from Adobe.

Destiny pulls it all together.

Thanks to our LaserAct IF' laser printer, our PageStyler (PostScript language compatible) software and PageStyler board. We go beyond HP LaserJet Series II compatibility by offering complete PostScript compatibility with our own PageStyler software embedded in our ASIC processors for the IBM PC"'add-on board. The boards, printers and software offer full compatibility for the

PostScript standard on our LaserAct II printer which is already fully compatible to the LaserJet Series II.

The LaserAct II offers 512K memory, upgradable to 4.5MB, 50% faster throughput than HP LaserJet Series II, and can become a full HPGL plotter with vector graphics features. Four months on-site service from TRW is standard.

Destiny's PageStyler software technology also extends to upgrade HP LaserJet Series, Canon LBP Series, and Acer LP Series laser printer users for PostScript compatibility at a much more affordable cost.

Adobe and PostScript arc trademarks ui" Adobe Systems Inc.!-IP and LaserJet art trademarks ufHewk'U-fackard. LtserAaund Pnf>eSiylerare trademarks ofrtesiiny Technology QMS is trademark of QMS. Inc. LP is a trademark of Acer TechiuilosieUJlPis:i trademark of Canon Inc.

DESTINY

Destiny Technology Corporation

930 Thompson Place

Sunnyvale, California 94086

(408)733-3171

Circle 315 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 247

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

write_bytes = write_bytes +

filex_size begin timer write to file end timer; calculate

elapsed_time write_time = write_time +

elapsed_time close filex end end create_file

begin extend_file fileO_append = 12000 filel_append = 20300 file2_append = 31111 file3_append = 3400 file4_append = 9099 file5_append = 20755 file6_append = 7000 file7_append = 400 file8_append = 22000 file9_append = 27000 for each file begin

open filex for appending write_bytes = write_bytes +

filex_append begin timer append file end timer; calculate

elapsed_time write_time = write_time +

elapsed_time close filex end end extend_file

begin random_read_and_write begin repeat (COUNT times)/*see main for value of COUNT*/ begin repeat (3 times) select random file select i random sectors into file open file begin timer

seek i sectors into file end timer; calculate

elapsed_tlme seek_time = seek_time +

elapsed_time total_seeks = total_seeks

+ 1 select n random bytes to

read begin timer read n bytes end timer; calculate

elapsed_time_read read_time = read_time +

elapsed_time_read read_bytes = read_bytes +

n close file end repeat select random file select i random sectors into

file open file begin timer

seek i sectors into file end timer; calculate

elapsed_time seek time = seek time +

elapsed_time total_seeks = total_seeks +

1 select n random bytes to write begin timer write n bytes end timer; calculate

elapsed_time_write write_time = read_time +

elapsed_time_write write_bytes = write_bytes +

n close file end repeat end random read and write

The final test in our suite is simplicity itself. It uses all the help the operating system can offer to first write and then read a 1-megabyte file. Here is pseudocode for Large File Read and Write:

begin write

allocate 10000 byte buffer

fill buffer with character 'A'

open file 'bigfile.dat1

begin timer

begin repeat (100 times) write buffer to file

end repeat

end timer

close file

report end write

begin read

allocate 10000 byte buffer

open file 'bigfile.dat'

begin timer

begin repeat (100 times) read file to buffer

end repeat

end timer

close file

report end read

In all, we've tried to create a suite of tests that will give all users an idea of how a disk subsystem will perform in a variety of circumstances, and will also give users with special requirements an indication of how the device will perform with the level of control they require.

BYTE Video Benchmarks

One of the most fundamental operations a microcomputer performs frequently is writing to its display. Like the process of printing a document, this type of task can become "bound" by the rate at which the display hardware can update the screen. Naturally, faster display hardware permits these video operations to finish sooner, freeing the processor to handle other tasks. Our tests measure this aspect of a microcomputer's performance.

Deciding how best to measure this particular microcomputer subsystem posed a bit of a problem. A test of any sophistication became dependent on the algorithms

used to implement the test program. This is clearly undesirable: The first requirement for the tests is that the effect of the software should be minimized. This means that the benchmarks should be coded in assembly language to minimize this effect and to execute as fast as possible.

However, another requirement of the benchmarks, at odds with the first, is that the benchmark programs have to run on a wide variety of machines, meaning that the test programs have to be portable as well. Fine-tuned assembly language procedures garner the best possible speeds for a given microcomputer but would be useless on another machine, and might not even work on the same machine with a new operating system or a new version of the old operating system.

The problem was resolved by devising a set of simple low-level video benchmark tests that would test certain basic graphics operations. The bulk of the benchmark programs would be written in Small-C, and, where it became necessary, assembly language would be used to operate the display hardware.

An important point must be made here. These programs were primarily designed to be portable. The best possible implementation for a given test was not used, nor were the tests designed to provide the fastest possible speed. The benchmarks provide a nominal measurement of basic graphics operations that could be compared across machines.

Having said that, what did we decide to measure? For IBM PCs, PC compatibles, and PS/2 systems, there are several basic video operations: writing characters (text), positioning the cursor, and manipulating pixels. For the Macintosh, everything drawn on the screen is a collection of pixels: Theoretically, there is no distinction between text and graphics. Nevertheless, the Macintosh is used often as a word processor where text is manipulated on the screen, so we believe that, in reality, the distinction between text and graphics still applies.

Video Specifics

Measuring text throughput is simply a matter of writing a certain number of characters on the screen and measuring the time it takes to do this. Since cursor positioning is often used in word-processing applications, we decided that its effects would also be measured as a part of text operations. First, 80,000 characters of text are written to the display. Then the cursor is repositioned, and 80,000 characters are written again.

Pseudocode for the new BYTE Text Throughput benchmark:

continued

248 BYTE* JUNE 1988

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

Listing 1: Source for BYTE's new Sieve benchmark. If you 're a regular reader, you '11 find it's practically identical to the source we 've used before. The only additions are the timing functions gtime () and calctim().

/*

** BYTE Sieve Benchmark Version 1 for 8088/8086/80286/80386

** Feb. 17, 1988 Written in BYTE Small-C

** Based on Small-C by J.E. Hendrix

** This program executes the infamous Eratosthenes Sieve Prime

** Number Program from BYTE, Jan. 1983.

**

** Operation:

** 1. Turn on stopwatch

** 2. Execute SIEVE for LOOP iterations

** 3. Turn off stopwatch

** 4. Report time and number of primes found

** 5. Exit

*/

♦include stdio.h

#define size 8190

Sdefine LOOP 100

#define TRUE YES

#define FALSE NO

int tblock [4]; /* Timer holding array */ char flags [size + 1];

main ()

{

int i, prime, k, count, iter;

/* Announce yourself */

printf("BYTE Sieve Benchmark\n");

printf("%d iterations\n",LOOP);

/* Start timer and execute loop */ gtime(tblock);

for (iter = 1; iter <= LOOP; iter++) {

count =0; /* prime counter */

for (i = 0; i <= size; i++) /* set all flags true */

flags [i] = TRUE; for (i = 0; i <= size; i++) {

if (flags [i]) /* found a prime */ {

prime = i + i + 3; /* twice index + 3 */ /* printf ("\n%d", prime); */

for (k = i + prime; k <= size; k+= prime) flags [k] = FALSE;

/* kill all multiple */ count++; /* primes found */ } } } calctim(tblock);

/* Report results */

printf("Results: (HH:MM:SS:l/100ths)\n") ; printf("Elapsed time: %d:%d:%d:%d\n\n",tblock[0] , tblock[1],tblock[2],tblock[3]);

printf ("%d primes.\n\n", count);

/* primes found on 100th pass */

/* Exit */

printf("Press RETURN to exit:"); fgetc (stdin); exit(0); )

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 249

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

Listing 2: Source for the major routines of the Sort benchmark.

(a) The Quicksort algorithm.

(c) The heapsort routine.

qsort (aray,bot,top)

hsort(aray,bot,top)

int aray[],bot,top;

r

int aray[],bot,top; f

int i,j,temp;

int i,temp;

while (bot<top) {

/* First...make a heap */

/* Set ranges and choose

for (i= (top/2) ;l>l;—i)

partitioning element */

sift(aray,i,top);

i=bot;

/* Extract maximum */

j=top;

for(i=top;i>l;—i) {

temp=aray[bot];

sift (aray, 0, i) ;

/* Partition array */

temp=aray[0] ;

while(i<j) {

aray[0]=aray[i];

while(aray[j]>temp) j-=l;

aray[i]=temp;

aray[i]=aray[j];

}

while((i<j)SS(aray[i]<=temp))

}

i+=l;

aray[j]=aray[i] ;

sift(aray,i,j)

}

int aray[],i,j;

aray[i]=temp;

{

/* Call qsort recursively */

int k,temp;

qsort(aray,bot,i-1);

while ((2*i)<=j) {

bot=i+l;

k=2*i;

}

if(k<j)

}

if(aray[k]<aray[k+1]) ++k;

if(aray[i]<aray[k]) (

temp=aray [k];

(b) The Shell sort routine.

aray[k]=aray[i];

aray[i]=temp;

shsort(aray,bot,top)

i=k;

int aray[],bot,top;

}

{

else i=j+l;

int i,gap,nex,temp;

}

/* Set gap width */

return;

gap=(top-bot)12;

}

do {

do {

nex=l; /* No exchanges yet */

for (i=0;i<=top-gap;++i )

( if(aray[i]>aray[i+gap])

( temp=aray[i] ;

aray[i]=aray[i+gap];

aray [i+gap]=temp;

nex=0; /* Exchange happened }

*/

} ) while(nex==0);

gap=gap/2;

} while(gap!=0); }

begin main

count = 80000 get_current_mode(old_mode)

;get current

; video mode prompt_user_for_mode(video_mode)

;see what user

; wants length = determine_length(video_mode)

;type of

; mode determines

; number of chars per

; line string =

build_string(length) lines = count / length

row = column = 1 row_counter =

column_counter = 1 begin timer

switch_video_mode(video_mode) begin repeat (lines)

;write string

; to display display_string(string,

length) end repeat begin repeat (count)

move_cursor(row, column) ;position ; cursor . . .

display_char (char, 1) ; ...and write

; character if (row = 25) row_counter

-1 if (row = 0) row_counter

= 1 if (column = length) column_counter = -1 if (column = 0)

column_counter = 1 row = row + 1 column = column + 1 if ( (char + 1) > 'Z') char = 'A' end repeat end timer compute time

switch_video_mode(old_mode) ;restore original ; mode

report(accumulated_time) begin timer

;time loop overhead begin repeat (lines) end repeat

begin repeat (count) end repeat end timer compute time report(accumulated_time) end main

Although graphics operations are simply a matter of manipulating pixels, pixel throughput requires more than simply blasting pixels to the display. Pixels are used to represent objects. As these objects are drawn, the state of certain pixels must be read to permit certain graphics operations, such as clipping, to be performed on the object. Finally, drawing these objects can require that certain areas of the screen be flooded or filled with colors. Since the color must fill only the object, this again requires that the state of pixels be read. Since objects on the screen are typically drawn and then filled, the object drawn for the Pixel Throughput test is flooded with color using a seed fill.

For the Pixel Throughput test, the object drawn is a circle. We chose a circle for the target object because, interestingly enough, the algorithm for drawing a circle was much simpler than algorithms to draw lines; thus, it minimized the code overhead for the test. The circle is drawn eight times around a common origin, with the radius of each successive circle increasing by a fixed amount. Once each circle is drawn, it is filled with a color using a seed-fill algorithm, and then the next circle is drawn. The seed-fill algorithm may not be the fastest possible for this test, but the seed fill demands that the state of many pixels be read and written, which is the point of the measurement.

Pseudocode for the new BYTE Pixel Throughput benchmark:

continued

250 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 276 on Reader Service Card

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IBM OS/2 mil bring superb graphic and multi-tasking

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years ahead and at the same time.

*1

%

Every business person worth his or her salt knows you have to prepare for the future. They also know the only way to get to the future is by getting a grip on business now.

That is precisely the point of the IBM* Personal System/2® family.

In fact, the real beauty of the PS/2®design is that it has enabled us to satisfy many of your immediate needs, while still focusing on the bigger picture.

For improving performance, there's no time like the present.

The PS/2 was designed to bring advanced technology to your desk now.

It runs DOS applications you're running now, like Lotus®l-2-3® spreadsheet and Display Write™ 4 word processing program.

And it runs them faster—from 117% to more than 850% faster, in tested applications * depending on the model you choose.

The PS/2 family also gives you more standard features than other systems.

In fact, graphics, along with communication, printer, and pointing device ports, are built right in. That can save you money later on. And it gives you the convenience you'll need in the future. Right now.

All of those features were designed to satisfy your present need for power and graphics. And they do. Which is why the Personal System/2 family is selling faster than any computers in history

But satisfying your current needs was only part of the plan.

The PS/2 was also intended to

11

to

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•Based on performance test results published in the April, 1987 and January. 1988 issues of PC Digest, comparing the PS/2 Models 30, 50, 60 and 80 to the IBM PC XT running Lotus 1-2-3 and DisolayWrite4 tThis simulated screen shown was developed using the IBM Storyboard Plus program. IBM, Personal System/2 and PS/2 are registered trademarks; PC XT, Operating System/2 OS/2 MicroChannel and DisplayWrite are trademarks of IBM Corporation. Lotus and 1-2-3 are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. © IBM 1988.

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 253

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

Listing 3: The major components of the Matrix benchmark:

(a) adds two square matrices, (b) multiplies two square matrices, and

(c) performs the transposition of a matrix. Note that Small-C supports only

one-dimensional arrays, so we have to simulate square matrices.

(a)

(b)

maddiarayl, aray2, aray3, trows, tcols) int arayl[], aray2[],aray3[]; int trows,tcols; {

int i,j;

for (i=0;i<trows;++i) for(j=0;j<tcols;++j) aray3[i*tcols+j]=arayl[i*tcols+j]+ aray2[i*tcols+j]; return; }

mmult(arayl,aray2,aray3,rowl,coll,row2,col2) int arayl [], aray2 [] ,aray3 []; int rowl,coll,row2,col2; (

int i,j,k; for(i=0;i<rowl;++i) for(j=0;j<col2;++j) ( aray3[i*coll+j]=0; for (k=0;k<coll;++k) aray3[i*coll+j]+=arayl[i*coll+k]* aray2[k*col2+j]; }

return; }

(c) mtrans (arayl, aray2, row, col) int arayl (], aray2 [ ] ; int row,col; {

int i,j; for(i=0;i<col;++i) for(j=0;j<row;++j) aray2[i*col+j]=arayl[j*row+i] return; }

begin main

number_of_circles = 7 get current_mode(old_mode) ;get current video ; mode

prompt user_for_mode(video_mode) ;see what user ;wants switch video_mode(video_mode)

.•change mode set_size(video_mode, ex, cy) ;get x-y limits for . ;this mode begin timer radius = 20

;starting size draw_circle(ex, cy, radius,

color) begin repeat

(number_of_circles) radius = radius + 10 draw_circle(ex, cy, radius, color)

;draw new ; circle flood_circle(cx+radius-5, cy, color) ;flood the

; circle end repeat end timer compute time

switch_video_mode(old_mode) ;restore original ; mode report(accumulated_time) end main

The benchmark programs work reliably across the IBM PC family, from the first PC to the PS/2 Model 80. This is because the video buffer's address has remained stable over time, although the size of the video buffer has grown. A menagerie of video modes has been introduced since then, each with its own idiosyncrasies.

Nevertheless, the PC video benchmark programs support MDA, CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA, and Hercules graphics modes. The test prompts the user for the desired video mode, and the output is modified as necessary to support the mode requested. The timings for the tests

are measured by the computer under test. For the Macintosh, a window of fixed size is opened. This window fits within the smallest Mac display: the 9-inch diagonal built-in monitor on the Mac Plus and Mac SE. The active port is set to this window, and the graphics operations are run. QuickDraw is used to draw text or pixels in the window. Again, the computer itself times the operations to minimize error.

Down the Pike

As graphics boards with coprocessors become available, the benchmarks will be modified to work with them. If necessary, more sophisticated tests will be devised to thoroughly test the new capabilities provided by these coprocessors.

Applications-Level Benchmarks

BYTE's new applications-level benchmarks are designed to measure system performance in five areas of interest: science/engineering, database management, word processing, software development using compilers, and spreadsheet calculation. Each application area places a different balance of demands on a system's resources, and, as a result, a group of systems may achieve different rankings in the various tests.

The key variables that determine performance in these tests are CPU, effective presence of an FPU, effective presence of a GPU, operating system, speed of memory, and disk. (We say "effective" because not all applications are written in such a way as to take advantage of numeric and graphics coprocessors, relying instead on the CPU.) The terms FPU and GPU refer not necessarily to chips but also, in some cases, to floatingpoint or graphics processor boards.

Why test applications, given the abundance of numbers emanating from our low-level and mid-level tests? Primarily as a reality check. Most users will not have firsthand experience with our lowerlevel benchmarks, but they will almost certainly have some experience with one or more of the application areas we're testing. Perform a global replace on 1000 occurrences of the word first—anyone can relate to that. Our applications benchmarks will give you an easy-tograsp handle on system performance.

Applications benchmarks also offer some corroboration of the results from lower-level tests. A system that does extremely well on the FPU benchmarks should excel in certain areas of our engineering/scientific benchmarks as well. In cases where our applications results are at odds with our lower-level measurements, deeper probing is called for. This brings up a third use for applications

continued

254 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 255

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

Small-C has a history that stretches back to 1980 when Ron Cain first presented it in the May Dr. Dobb 's Journal of Computer Calesthenics and Orthodontia. Originally written for 8080based CP/M machines (there were lots around back then), Small-C's attraction was its ability to compile itself. Compiling a program with Small-C yielded assembly language source that you fed to M80 and L80 (Microsoft's CP/M assembler and linker) to create an executable file. Though Small-C handled only a subset of the features of a full-blown C compiler (e.g., it supported only char and int data types), it was powerful enough to handle applications that were quite robust. For proof, check the references at the end of this text box. L. E. Payne and J. E. Hendrix took this version of Small-C, added substantially to its syntax, and presented a hefty system library for the language. Again, this version of Small-C ran on 8080-based CP/M machines.

BYTE Small-C is a modified version of Hendrix and Payne's Small-C with all the necessary enhancements added to bring it to processors and operating systems in widest use today. As of this writing, BYTE Small-C is running on the 8088/8086 (and 80286) under PC-DOS, on the 68000 and 68020 of the Macintosh family, and on the 80386 using Phar Lap's RUN386 environment. As with the original Small-C, BYTE's version emits source code that you hand to the appropriate assembler and linker. I've tried to keep the language as consistent across ports as possible; I've also

BYTE Small-C

Richard Grehan

tried to keep the library routines as similar to Payne and Hendrix's in operation and call structure as I could. There are some differences—some good, some bad.

Here's a potpourri of major features BYTE Small-C enjoys (or doesn't enjoy) over its predecessors:

• The original Small-C handled many of its logical, math, and comparison operations by calling a math/logic library. When you consider that Small-C was running on an 8080 processor, the reasons for this are obvious—a 16-bit subtraction operation could consume many bytes of code. BYTE Small-C encodes such operations "in-line," and it can do this thanks to the improved instruction sets of today's processors. The result is faster code, since the program doesn't have to do a CALL instruction just to perform an add or subtract. For some operations, this also generates more code (since some comparison operations require several instructions), but given the amount of memory most machines have today, I decided that the speed-to-size trade-off was worth it.

• The 8088/8086/80286 version of BYTE Small-C defines integers as being 16 bits big. The 80386, 68000, and 68020 versions, however, use 32-bit integers. Pointer variables follow the same pattern (which means, of course, that the data area for an 8088/8086/80286 program is restricted to 64K bytes).

• The 8088/8086/80286 version generates code that is MASM-compatible. The 68000 and 68020 version emits

MDS assembler/linker-compatible code. Finally, the 80386 version produces code for Phar Lap's 386|ASM/ LINK package. I've recoded the library for the PC-DOS machines to make use of the DOS functions added with DOS 2.0 and higher (i.e., the Unix-style file I/O calls). The Macintosh version uses a run-time library adapted from code first presented by Steve Williams (see references).

Finally, I would like to personally thank the people who have gone before me, and whose work made all this possible—namely, Ron Cain, J. E. Hendrix, L. E. Payne, and Steve Williams. They have all put staggering amounts of time into work that they have graciously shared with us, and they have permitted us to share it with you. BYTE Small-C will be released into the public domain in source-code form (see page 3 for details). Use it, modify it, learn from it, and all we ask is that if you create something with it, give conspicuous credit to those whose efforts brought it to you.

REFERENCES

1. Hendrix, J. E. The Small-C Handbook. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Company, 1984.

2. Dr. Dobb's Toolbook of C. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall, 1986.

3. Williams, Steve. Programming the Macintosh in Assembly Language. Berkeley, CA: Sybex, 1986.

Richard Grehan is a BYTE senior technical editor at large.

benchmarks—as a way of measuring total system performance.

In most applications, we have selected more than one program to use. We picked programs that have a significant user base and fit nicely with our testing needs (e.g., having macro languages and the ability to execute batch files). Where possible, we picked programs that are available on both the Macintosh and the PC.

Avoid the natural temptation to see these tests as software benchmarks. For instance, in the word-processing area, we are not testing the performance of Word versus XyWrite on MS-DOS computers; the tests weren't set up to make that kind of comparison at all. We use more than one program in each category as a way of

better covering the application, and to gain extra assurance that our overall rankings are independent of the particular program we used to test the application performance. For instance, it might be that XyWrite and Word would produce a different ranking on a given set of computer systems. That's important, because it tells you that there may be no clear winner in that application area.

Science/Engineering

Scientific and engineering applications place heaviest emphasis on graphics and numeric processing. We divide this area into CAD, statistics, and numeric analysis/plotting of functions. All our applications programs will use the 80x87 (68881

for the Mac) FPU if one is installed.

For the CAD test, we use a 208,172byte .DWG file called S0FTWEST.DWG that produces a multilayer printed circuit board layout. The file is from The Great Softwestern Company and was specifically designed to exercise CAD functions. We also use AutoCAD's St. Paul's Cathedral file, STPAULS.DWG; the drawing includes thousands of vectors and is a good test of raw graphics speed. Timed tests are:

SE1. Load and display S0FTWEST.DWG. Disk and computation time dominate. SE2. Regenerate the screen image. For such a large file, disk and computation

continued

256 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

Small-C Support Functions

To aid in the crafting of the low-level benchmarks, we created quite a number of support functions to interface with our Small-C programs. This is particularly true of the floating-point coprocessor benchmark. So that you'll find the source and pseudocode in this article more readable, here is a brief catalog of the more important functions and what they do.

Floating-Point Functions

Small-C has no floating-point type, so the library functions operate on blocks of 8 bytes (you can use a four-element integer array). This means that numbers are manipulated in the IEEE long-realnumber format (i.e., 1 bit for the sign, 11 bits for the exponent, and 52 bits for the mantissa). Nearly all these floatingpoint functions operate on their arguments via pointers.

•finitQ — Initialize the floating-point coprocessor.

•fint2float(ptr)— Converts the 2's complement integer (stored as a quadword) pointed to by ptr into floatingpoint format.

•ffloat2int(ptr)— Converts the floating-point number at ptr to a 2's complement integer (quadword). •f2add(facl,fac2,dest) — Adds the floating-point number at facl to the floating-point number at fac2 and places the result at dest. •f2sub(facl,fao2,dest) —Subtracts the floating-point number at fac2 from the floating-point number at facl, placing the result at dest. •f2mult(facl,fac2,dest) — Multiplies the floating-point number at facl by the floating-point number at fac2, placing the result at dest. •f2mult(facl,fac2Jdest) —Divides the floating-point number at facl by the floating-point number at fac2, placing the result at dest.

•fload(ptr)—Loads the floatingpoint number onto the top of the coprocessor's internal stack, •f store .(ptr)— Stores the top number on the coprocessor's internal stack at ptr.

•fadd(ptr), fsub(ptr), fmult(ptr), fdlv(ptr)—These functions operate like their f2xx counterparts mentioned

above, except that facl is the top number on the coprocessor's stack, fac2 is given by ptr, and the result is left on the coprocessor's stack. •fabs()—The top number on the coprocessor's stack is set to its absolute value.

•fconst(n)—Loads the top of coprocessor stack with the constant given by n. For n=0,l,2, the constants loaded areO, 1, and tt, respectively. •fcorapz(ptr)—The floating-point number at ptr is compared with 0. This function returns a -1 if less, 0 if equal, and +1 if greater.

•fcorap(ptrl,ptr2)—This function returns -1 if ptr<ptr2, 0 if ptrl=ptr2, and +1 if ptrl>ptr2. •fsin(ptr,dest)— Calculates the sine of the floating-point number at ptr and returns the result in dest. •fex(ptr;dest)— Calculatese*, where x is given by the number at ptr. Stores the result at dest.

•fTtprint(n,ptr)— Prints the floating-point number at ptr in scientific notation (i.e., +/ —x.xxxxxE + / —yyy). The integer n selects the number of digits (up to 19) to print.

Timing Functions

•gtime(tblock)—This function returns the current system time in the fourelement integer array tblock[], so that tblook[0] holds hours, tblock[l] holds minutes, tblock[2] holds seconds, and tblock[3] holds hundredths of a second for MS-DOS machines, or sixtieths of a second for Macs. •calctlme(tblock)—This function calculates the difference between the current time and the time held in the tblock[]. The resulting elapsed time is returned in the tblock[] array and has the same format as described in the gtime() function.

time still dominate.

SE3. Load and display STPAULS.DWG.

SE4. Calculate the hidden lines and

display. Computation time and memory

handling dominate this item.

SE5. Regenerate the STPAULS.DWG.

Graphics speed dominates this number.

We use AutoCAD for MS-DOS com

puters and Minicad for the Macintosh. Tests SE1, SE2, and SE3 are primarily dependent on disk access and computational speed; SE5 is the most direct indicator of graphics throughput, since the calculations have been completed already and display lists generated. Test SE4 is again computation- and memory-han

continued

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Switzerland: 01/9455432 0531/347

United Kingdom: 01/6567333 Germany: 02983/8337;

0731/26932;

0821/85737;

04106/3998;

0531/347121

A. + L. Meier-Vogt

Im Spaten 23

CH-8906 Bonstetten/ZH

Switzerland

Tel. (41)(1)700 30 37

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 261

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

dling-dependent, since it requires generation of a 10,000-plus list of hidden lines.

For statistical work, we use STATA 1.5 (MS-DOS) and Data Desk Professional (Macintosh). In the MS-DOS case, we execute two do-files; one (SE6) performs a series of ANOVA operations, and the other constructs and displays 27 data graphics. In the Macintosh case, we do a regression analysis and a correlation analysis on a set of 10 1000-observation variables.

As an additional check on computation speed, we ran a couple of models written for the MS-DOS-based MathCAD program. One model (reported as SE7) performs an iterative floating-point operation to generate 800 x,y points in a list, and then plots the points; another computes the fast Fourier transform (FFT) and inverse FFT on a 1024-point data set. The time to execute the entire FFT is reported as SE8.

Database Management

We use dBASE III Plus (MS-DOS) and dBASE McMax (Macintosh) as typical DBMS tools. Both packages run a do-file that performs eight timed tests using a 1200-record, 490K-byte mailing list.

DB1. Copy 1200 records to another file. DB2. Create an index file on a randomly sorted field.

DB3. Using the indexed file, list last name, first name, country to the screen. DB4. Using the indexed file, append 832 records to the database. DB5. Using the indexed file, seek and delete the appended records. DB6. Pack the (unindexed) database. DB7. Count records with a specified country field.

DB8. Sort the database to another file, two sort keys.

Word Processing

The word-processing tests use XyQuest's XyWrite III Plus, Microsoft Word 4.0, and Aldus PageMaker 1.0a for MS-DOS computers; and Mac Write 5.0, Microsoft Word 3.01, and Aldus PageMaker 2.0a for Macintosh computers. Two ASCII documents are used: small.txt (6072 words) and large.txt (24,108 words). For the PageMaker test, we fill in Aldus's blank Business Templates with our own text and graphics files to create a 35-page handbook document.

Using a XyWrite macro program, we time each of the following operations for small.txt and large.txt:

WP1. Load document (large.txt only). WP2. Count words.

WP3. Global search and replace, then

continued

Listing 4: BYTE's new floating-point benchmark.

/*

** BYTE Small-C Floating-Point Benchmark

** Version 1 for 8088/8086/80286

** March, 1988

** Written in BYTE Small-C

** Based on Small-C by J.E. Hendrix

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Operation:

1. Initialize the coprocessor.

2. Execute fourbangO, which:

a. Generates space for temporaries and constants.

b. Turns on stopwatch.

c. Executes loop FCOUNT times. Loop consists of: 8 each of floating add, subtract, multiply, divide.

d. Turns off stopwatch.

e. Calculates time for an empty loop.

f. Reports time and result of operations.

3. Executes fintegO, which:

a. Generates space for temporaries and constants.

b. Turns on stopwatch.

c. Executes a trapezoidal integration method for sin(x) from 0 to pi/2.

d. Turns off stopwatch.

e. Calculates time for an empty loop.

f. Reports time and result of operation.

g. Turns on stopwatch. h. Executes a trapezoidal integration method for eA(x)

from 0 to 1.

i. Turns off stopwatch.

j. Calculates time for an empty loop. ** k. Reports time and result of operation. ** 4. Exits. **

** NOTE:

** Since Small-C does not support floating-point, we simply ** manipulate floating-point numbers as 4-element integer ** arrays. The floating-point library functions handle the ** actual calls to the coprocessor, including the routine ** to print out a floating-point number.

** Expected results:

** For first test: 1.000000000E1 (10.0)

** For trapezoidal of sine (x) : 1.000000000E0 (1.0)

** For trapezoidal of e"x: 1.718281828E0 (e-1)

V

#include stdio.h

#deflne FCOUNT 20000 /* Number of times the four-banger test */

/* is repeated. */

#define ICOUNT 32000 /* Stepsize for the integration test */

/* Timer holding variables */

int tblock[4];

int mtblock[4]; /* For empty loop timing */

main () (

/* Announce yourself */

printf("BYTE Small-C Floating-Point Coprocessor Benchmark\n\n"),

/* Initialize the math coprocessor */ finit ();

/* Do four-banger test */ fourbangO ;

/* Do integration */ fintegO ;

262 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 4 on Reader Service Card

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

/* Go home */ finit ();

printf("Press RETURN to exit:") fgetc(stdin);

exit(O) ;

/*

** fourbangO

** Executes a loop of floating-point additions,

** multiplications, and divisions.

*/

fourbang()

{

int ten[4];

int one[4]J

int temp[4]

int i ;

subtractions.

/* Holder for 10 */ /* Holder for one */ /* Temporary storage */

/* Announce yourself */

printf ("Basic Math Test (+,-,*,/) \n")

/* First set up constants */

ten[0]=10;

ten[l]=ten[2]=ten[3]=0;

fint2float(ten);

fconst (1);

fstore(one);

/* Initialize temp location */ fload(ten); fstore(temp);

gtime(tblock);

/* Do the operation */

for(i=0;i<FCOUNT;++i)

{

f2add (temp,one,temp);

f2sub(temp,one,temp);

f2mult(temp,ten,temp);

f2div(temp,ten,temp);

f2sub(temp,one,temp);

f2mult(temp,ten,temp);

f2add(temp,ten,temp);

f2div(temp,ten,temp);

f2add(temp,one,temp);

f2sub(temp,one,temp);

f 2mult (temp, ten, temp) ;

f2div (temp, ten, temp) ;

f2sub(temp,one,temp);

f2mult(temp,ten,temp);

f2add (temp, ten, temp) ;

f2div(temp,ten,temp);

f2add (temp, one, temp) ,

f2sub(temp,one,temp);

f2mult (temp, ten, temp) ;

f2div (temp, ten, temp) ;

f2sub(temp,one,temp);

f2mult(temp,ten,temp);

f2add (temp,ten,temp);

f2div(temp,ten,temp);

f2add(temp,one,temp);

f2sub(temp,one,temp);

f2mult(temp,ten,temp);

f2div (temp, ten, temp) ;

f2sub(temp,one,temp);

f2mult (temp, ten, temp) ;

f2add (temp, ten, temp) ;

f2div (temp, ten, temp) ; } calctim(tblock);

continued

A new concept in managing

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Have you ever spent hours

- searching for a letter which you know exists, but can't seem to find?

- looking for an address which you can only remember half of?

- tracking down a variable which was initialised somewhere in your programs, and which is now causing them to crash?

- rummaging through your ultra-modern database, simply because you omitted to define a simple key field when setting it up?

- searching'your literature index for an urgently needed article?

-looking and looking, but without success?

Then we can help! IX-BoX will instantly find all your correspondence, addresses, programs, entries, summaries - in fact, anything and everything stored on your computer. IX-BoX delivers the document you require in seconds, and you can carry out any necessary changes to it using the built-in editor. What more could you possibly need?

IX-BoX is much more than a simple information retrieval system, yet it only costs $ 275

Demo disk costs $ 10

* IX-BoX is a trade mark of Snark AG, Zurich.

Farsight

Once you've used the Farsight integrated software package, you'll know the fun of working with and exploiting Megabytes of memory.

Window manager, word processor and spreadsheet together cost only $ gg

Graphics $ 29

residents add 8% sales tax. International id$20sh«jo ,

The Modula-2 people:

INTERFACE TECHNOLOGIES

3336 Richmond, Suite 323

Houston, TX 77098-9990 (713) 523 8422

Dealer inquiries welcome

International

Austria: 0222/4545010 United Kingdom: 01/6567333

Belgium: 071/366133 Germany: 02983/8337;

France: 20822662 '. 0731/26932;

Italy: 02/405174 0821/85737;

Scandinavia: +45/3/512014 04106/3998;

Switzerland: 01/9455432 0531/347121

A. + L. Meier-Vogt

Im Spaten 23

CH-8906 Bonstetten/ZH

Switzerland

Tel. (41)(1)700 30 37

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 263

Capital

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

Time and again, you've heard it said, "To make money, you have to have money."

The truth is, you have to know how to save money before you can think about making more.

That's why more and more people are joining the Payroll Savings Plan to buy U.S. Savings Bonds. That way, a little is taken out of each paycheck automatically.

In no time, you'll have enough Bonds for a new car, your child's education, even a dream vacation.

Whatever you save for, Bonds are the safest, surest way to gain capital.

. stockV**^ in^meriea.

When you put part of your savings

into U.S. Savings Bonds you're helping to build a brighter future for your country and for yourself.

II^M A public service ol this publication J*^ and The Advertising Council.

264 BYTE- JUNE 1988

f*

Now calculate an empty

loop */

gt

ime(mtblock) ;

fo

r(i=0;i<FCOUNT;++i) ;

ca

lctim(mtblock);

/*

Report results */

printf("***Results: (All

times are HH:MM:SS:

l/100ths\n");

printf("Total time: %d:%c

:%d:%d\n",tblock[0]

,tblock(1),

tblock[2],tblock[3]);

printf("Empty loop time:

%d:%d:%d:%d\n",mtbl

ock[0],mtblock[l].

mtblock(2],mtblock(3]

;

printf ("Value :") ;

fltprint(10,temp);

printf("\n\n");

return; )

/*

**

f integO

**

Do integration.

*/

fintegO {

int two[4]; /*

Holder for two */

int pitwo[4]; /*

Holder for pi/2 */

int temp[4]; /*

Temp location */

int sinex[4]; /*

Sine value */

int ex[4]; /*

e"x value */

int accum[4]; /*

Accumulator */

int x[4]; /* Holder for x */

int i ;

/* Announce yourself

*/

printf("Trapezoidal

rule for sin(x) 0-»

->pi/2 \n");

/* Generate 2 */

two[0]=2;

two[l]=two[2]=two[3] =

=0;

fint2float(two);

/* Generate pi/2 */

fgetpi2(); /*

Get pi over two */

fstore(pitwo);

/* Store pi over two */

/* Generate stepsize

*/

temp[0]=ICOUNT;

temp[1]=temp[2]=temp

[3]=0;

fint2float(temp);

f2div(pitwo,temp,temp); /* Stepsize in

temp */

/* Clear accumulator

*/

fconst (0),•

fstore(accum);

/* Store x(0) */

fconst(0);

fstore (x) ,

/*

Do trapezoidal rule fo gtime(tblock) ;

r sine(x) */

for(i=0;i<ICOUNT+l;++i) (

continued

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

Circle 140 on Reader Service Card

fsin(x,sinex); /* Get sinex */

f2add(accum,sinex,accum);

if ((i!=0)&£ (i!=ICOUNT)) f2add(accum,sinex,accum);

f2add(x,temp,x); /* Increment by step */ )

f2rnult (accum, temp, accum).; /* Times stepsize */

f2div (accum, two, accum) ; /* Divided by 2 */

/* Calculate time */ calctim (tblock) ;

/* Get time for an empty loop */ gtime (mtblock) ; for(i=0;i<ICOUNT+l;++i) ; calctim(mtblock);

/* Report results */

printf("**** Results: (All times are HH:^:SS: l/100ths) \n") ;

printf("Total time: %d:%d: %d:%d\n",tblock[0], tblock[1],

tblock[2],tblock[3]); printf("Empty loop time: %d:%d:%d:%d\n",mtblock[0],mtblock[1],

mtblock[2],mtblock[3]);

printf ("Value:") ; f ltprint (10, accum) ; printf("\n\n");

/* Now do trapezoidal rule for eAx */

printf ("Trapezoidal rule for e~x 0->x->l\n") ;

/* Generate stepsize */

temp[0]=ICOUNT;

temp [1]-temp [2]-temp [3]-?0;

fint2float(temp);

fconst(1);

fdiv (temp) ;

fstore(temp); /* Stepsize in temp */

/* Clear accumulator */

fconst (0);

fstore(accum);

/* Store x(0) */ fconst (0); fstore(x);

/* Do trapezoidal rule */

gtime(tblock);

for(i=0;i<ICOUNT+l;++i)

{

fex(x,ex); /* Get sinex */

f 2add (accum, ex, accum) ;

if((i!-0)tt(i!=ICOUNT)) f2add(accum,ex,accum);

f2add(x,temp,x); /* Increment by step */ )

f2mult (accum, temp, accum) ; /* Times stepsize */ f2div (accum, two, accum) ; /* Divided by 2 */

/* Calculate time */ calctim (tblock) ;

/* Get time for an empty loop */ gtime(mtblock); for('i=0;i<ICO0NT+l;++i) ,calctim(mtblock);

continued

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 265

NEW BYTE BENCHMARKS

/* Report results */

printf("**** Results: (All times are HH:MM:SS:l/100ths) \n");

printf ("Total tiros: %d:%d:%d:%d\n",tblock[0],tblock(l],

tblock[2], tblock[3]) ; printf("Empty loop time: %d:%d:%d:%d\n",mtblock[0] ,mtblock[l],

mtblock[2],mtblock[3]);

printf("Value:"); fltprint(10, accum); printf("\n\n");

/* Go home */ return; }

/*

** fgetpi2()

** Puts the value pi/2 on top of the floating-point stack.

*/

fgetpi2()

{

int two[4];

/* Holder for 2 */

two[0]=2;

two[l]=two[2]=two[3]=0; fint2float(two) ;

fconst (2); fdiv(two) ; retu rn;

/* Get pi on top of stack */

/* pi/2 now on floating point stack top */

search and replace the original text

(sraall.txt = (6072 - 4898) X 2 =

2348 instances, large.txt = (24,108

20,477) X 2 = 7262 instances).

WP4. Find the last page of the paginated

document.

WP5. Perform 12 block moves.

WP6. Spell-check.

With Word, we time the following:

WP7. Move cursor down 640 lines. WP8. Delete forward, 1552 characters.

Mac Write doesn't do word counts (WP2), so we use a desk accessory, MultiWord Counter. Microsoft Word does tests WP3, WP7, and the store.

PageMaker provides us with an opportunity to manipulate both text and graphics in a desktop publishing test. We take a large document and then time these operations:

WP9. Load text document (20,586 words of text).

WP10. Convert all text from normal to bold.

WP11. Realign all text from the left to right column guide.

WP12. Cut the first 10 text pages and refill the document.

WP13. Place a large graphic. WP14. Output the document to a PostScript printer file.

The tests are the same for MS-DOS and Mac machines, except for the graphic placed in WP12. For MS-DOS we use a 70K-byte AutoCAD PLT file, and for the Mac we use an 80K-byte scanned encapsulated PostScript format image.

Spreadsheet

Our spreadsheet tests use Lotus 1-2-3 on MS-DOS computers and Microsoft Excel on both MS-DOS and the Macintosh; these are leading packages for the respective machines. We time the following tests for Lotus 1-2-3:

SP1. Given a 75 by 2 spreadsheet (tl) of

the form:

1 (a75*1.001)

(al*1.001) (bl*1.001) (a2*1.001) (b2*1.001)

(a75*1.001) (b75*1.001) perform an overlapping block copy as follows: from (bl. .bw75) to (el. .bx75), resulting in an extension of the above matrix to 75 by 75. SP2. Recalculate. SP3. Load a sparse-matrix spreadsheet

RLARGE300.WKS (81,440 bytes). SP4. Recalculate.

SP5. Load a 330K-byte Monte Carlo simulation spreadsheet. SP6. Recalculate.

SP7. Run a 1-2-3 binary search macro program to seek a result to a tolerance of

io-10.

For Excel, we use a 45 by 45 matrix and do a block fill, the equivalent to an overlapping block copy. We also add an undo fill command to further test the machine's number-crunching capability:

SP8. Fill right.

SP9. Undo fill right.

SP10. Recalculate 45 by 45 matrix.

SP11. Load RLARGE300.WKS.

SP12. Recalculate.

SP1 is a good test of the basic spreadsheet function for relative addressing and block copies with relative addressing, indicating CPU speed and memory-access time. The presence of an FPU would be a major factor in SP2.

SP3 is a test of disk-access time and general computation time. The sparse matrix (i.e., a large, widely distributed percentage of cells are empty) places demands on a spreadsheet's memory-handling functions.

Compilers

Two compiler tests round out our applications benchmarks. For MS-DOS systems, we chose two widely used compilers, Microsoft C 5.0 and Turbo Pascal 4.0. For Macintosh systems, we selected Lightspeed C 2.11 and Turbo Pascal 1.0. The C test is a compilation of XLisp source files. The source consists of 25 files containing 225K bytes of code. For Pascal, we compile the Pascal S source code, which consists of three files containing 44K bytes of code.

The Fundamental Things Apply

There you have them—the new BYTE microcomputer benchmarks. As you've seen, each is the result of a good deal of consultation, introspection, and analysis. The process is open-ended, too. Some of these benchmarks are going to be modified as new equipment appears—but then again, that's the beauty of what we've done. We've now got benchmarks that can remain consistent and valid in spite of updates. It's probably not entirely appropriate to tell people to enjoy themselves by exploring the intricacies of something as picayune as benchmarks, but at least we're confident that you can run these tests with the assurance of accuracy and the understanding that you'll be gaining important, objective information. ■

266 BYTE- JUNE 1988

■ .-,

■'

2

&

X

At 9,600 bps

At 19.200 bps

A MODEM THAT IS TWICE AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS.

It says 9,600 bps. But for this modem, transmitting data at 9,600 bps over dial-up lines isn't the half of it.

Its built-in data compression can boost throughput to 19,200 bps. While error-control prevents loss of data.

With no effort on your part —no selecting

protocols, no compressing files.

AV-series Smartmodem 9600™ can even take the place of two modems. Because it communicates in either synchronous or asynchronous mode.

All of which makes our 9600 at least twice as good as it seems. Or, looking at it the other way, more than double your money's worth.

For your nearest Hayes dealer, call 800-635-1225. Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc.. EO. Box 105203. Atlanta. GA 30348.

Hayes.

Circle 124 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 267

£''

™B»' ' ' ' ' W

If you want the best

there's only

\l \/hether you want the best portable or desktop, V ¥ the best 80286- or 80386-based personal computer, there is only one choice: Compaq. Because COMPAQpersonal computers are consistently rated the best in each class by both industry experts and sophisticated users.

For instance, the COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20 and the COMPAQ PORTABLE 386 are the most powerful personal computers in the world. Both are based on the 32-bit Intel' 80386 microprocessor, running at a blazing 20 MHz. Both offer the most storage and memory in their classes. And both feature performance enhancements such as concurrent bus architecture, disk caching, and high-speed coprocessor options. All of these features work together to deliver system performance that rivals minicomputers'.

The groundwork for these innovations was laid by the industry's first 80386-based personal computer, the 16-MHz COMPAQ DESKPRO 386. Still outperforming most 80386 machines, it offers high-performance capabilities to users moving up to this class.

In the arena of 80286-based personal computers, the 12-MHz COMPAQ DESKPRO 286 runs your software up to 20% faster than most of its 10-MHz competitors.

No one even comes close to Compaq in portable computing. Because no one but Compaq builds portables with all the features sophisticated users need. The 20-lb. COMPAQ PORTABLE IH is the smallest full-function 80286-based computer that truly gives you the power of a desktop. And the COMPAQ PORTABLE II still offers more internal expansion capabilities than any other portable.

•Based on an independent survey of major brands. tBased on an independent survey of 209 FORTUNE ]000 companies.

268 BYTE- JUNE 1988

'

-Jit.

iwwv

personal computer, one choice.

Computer users at every level will find that COMPAQ computers represent the best solutions. We've consistently expanded the limits of personal computer technology with advanced features that optimize overall system performance. All while preserving your investment in industry-standard hardware and the world's largest library of business software. Compaq also works to engineer each computer to meet exacting quality and reliability standards, so it's ready to withstand the rigors of the real world.

These are all reasons why Compaq earns the highest quality ratings from computer experts. And unsurpassed satisfaction ratings from computer users? It's also why, this year, more FORTUNE 1000 corporations plan to add Compaq to their approved vendor lists than any other brand.f

If you want the best personal computer, you have only one choice. Call 1-800-231-0900, Operator 50. In Canada, 1-800-263-5868, Operator 50. We'll give you a free brochure or the location of the Authorized COMPAQ Computer Dealer nearest you.

COMPAQ? COMPAQ PORTABLE II? COMPAQ DESKPRO 286® and COMPAQ DESKPRO 386® are registered trademarks of Compaq Computer Corporation. ^Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. COMPAQ PORTABLE III™ COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20™ and COMPAQ PORTABLE 386™are trademarks of Compaq Computer Corporation, Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. ©1988 Compaq Computer Corporation. All rights reserved.

comma

It simply works better.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 269

>'"

VGA Paint

Actual unretouched screen display - Sony CPD-1302

The graphics tool for all seasons!

Announcing "ColoRIX" VGA Paint, the graphics editor for all EGA and VGA modes with the same easy to learn, iconfree interface you all know and love! RIX (creators of EGA Paint) have something we've been working on for almost three years that we think will knock your socks off!! Introducing, RIX SoftWorks "ColoRIX" VGA Paint program! This is the one you've all been waiting for! With features programs costing over four times as much don't have! "ColoRIX" is designed for the new VGA standard and special "ZGA" high resolution (640x480x256, etc.) as well as all the popular EGA resolutions up to 800 x 600 x 16 colors. "ColoRIX" has features like our exclusive Grad command (Automatic ColorGradation Fill) which lets you select colors, press a button and you get a precisely computed color-graduated fill up to fullscreen size instantly! A special Auto-Palette Organizer to help you quickly sort and manipulate your 256 color palette out of the 256,000 that are now available for use in VGA modes! You'll love our VGA Smoother too. with up to four levels of automatic anti-aliasing to smooth up those awful "jaggies". "ColoRIX" has all the features contained in our superlative EGA Paint 2005 Final Version and more! 2005 Final Version is the first "final version" of any software program ever, runs a mere $129. (+shipping) and is available now! The Final Version can create either GEM.IMG or PC Paintbrush.PCX files for use in your desktop publisher and makes banners over 60" long! Another major bargain from RIX! We will be shipping "ColoRIX" VGA Paint on or before Independence Day' 88! Get the one and only EGA or VGA specific graphics programs in the industry from those wild and crazy folks in Irvine, CA!

ColoRIX VGA Paint - Just $ 199.00

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TARGA'" is a Trademark of Truevision, Inc.

RIX SoftWorks, Inc.

18552 MacArthur Bl. * Suite 375 * Irvine, Calif. 92715

Circle 245 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 246)

BUTE

Features

273 Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar:

Computers on the Brain, Part 1

by Steve Garcia

289 Error-Free Fractions

by Peter Wayner

303 A Personal Transputer

by Dick Pountain

313 Dynamic Memory Management in C

by David L. Fox

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 271

mmmmmmmmwmwmmmmMmmmfam

vuttei^imicU ■rilHrtl—'Hm,

QNX: Bend it, shape it, any way you want it.

ARCHITECTURE If the micro world were not so varied, QNX would not be so successful. After all, it is the operating system which enhances or limits the potential capabilities of applications. QNX owes its success (over 55,000 systems sold since 1982) to the tremendous power and flexibility provided by its modular architecture.,

Based on message-passing, QNX is radically more innovative than UNIX or OS/2. Written by a small team of dedicated designers, it provides a fully integrated multi-user, multi-tasking, networked operating system in a lean 148K. By comparison, both OS/2 and UNIX, written by many hands, are huge and cumbersome. Both are examples of a monolithic operating system design fashionable over 20 years ago.

MULTI-USER OS/2 is multi-tasking but NOT multi-user. For OS/2, this inherent deficiency is a serious handicap for ter

minal and remote access. QNX is both multi-tasking AND multi-user, allowing up to 32 terminals and modems to connect; to any computer.

INTEGRATED NETWORKING Neither UNIX nor OS/2 can provide integrated networking. With truly distributed processing and resource sharing, QNX:makes ail resources (processors, disks, printers and modems anywhere on the network) available to any user. Systems may be single computers, or, by simply adding micros without changes to user software, they can grow to large transparent multiprocessor environments. QNX is the mainframe you build micro by micro.

PC's, AT's and PS/2's OS/2 and UNIX severely restrict hardware that can be used: you must replace all your PC's with AT's. In contrast, QNX runs superbly on PC's and literally soars on AT's and PS/2's. You can

run your unmodified QNX applications on any mix of machines, either standalone or in a QNX local area network, in real mode on PC's or in protected mode on AT's. Only QNX lets you run multi-user/multitasking with networking on all classes of machines.

REAL TIME QNX real-time performance leaves both OS/2 and UNIX wallowing at the gate, in fact, QNX is in use at thousands of real-time sites, right now.

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Circle 237 on Reader Service Card

CIARCIA'S CIRCUIT CELLAR

Parti

Steve Ciarcia

Computers on the Brain

Clever signal amplifiers, noise rejection, andA/D conversion are all part of the HAL EEG

A lot has been written recently about artificial intelligence (AI). Some writers declare that we are on the threshold of the most important advances in computing since Boole and Babbage began fooling around with two-valued logic and the difference engine. Others decry the hype and note that the majority of recent software releases are now touting some form of AI influence in their design or execution, weakening the meaning of the term in order to sell products.

Even after 100 years of study, not all psychologists are in complete agreement as to what constitutes intelligent behavior (look around you—how much have you seen lately?). Intelligence has generally been defined as the global ability to solve problems, to adapt to new situations, to form concepts, and to profit from experience.

However, it is obvious that there are many different types of behavior—many different ways of responding to the same problem—that can be called intelligent. Within the last 20 years, experts have paid much attention to the basic types of intelligence and how they are mediated by the biological substrate of the human brain.

Experts have long supposed that human beings use two major modes of thought: the way of reason and the way of emotion. A commonsense view is that these two ways of thought occasionally conflict. Some writers conceptualize the differences as analytic versus synthetic, successive versus simultaneous, or even digital versus analogical.

Paralleling the conceptualization of two modes of thought have been the results of research on the two hemispheres of the brain. Psychobiologist Roger Sperry of the California Institute of Technology won the 1981 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for his studies on the functions of the two hemispheres of the brain.

Essentially, Sperry and his colleagues studied individuals who had undergone a commissurotomy, an operation that severs the main bundle of nerve fibers that support the bulk of neural communication between the left and right hemispheres. They found that each hemisphere seems somewhat specialized for different tasks. For approximately 95 percent of the population (right-handed individuals and two-thirds of left-handed individuals), it appears that the left hemisphere of the brain is better organized for executing tasks characterized as:

• Verbal: language skills, speech, reading and writing, recalling names and dates, and spelling.

• Analytical: logical and rational evaluation of factual material.

• Literal: literal interpretation of words.

• Linear: sequential information processing.

• Mathematical: numeric and symbolic processing.

• Contralateral movement: controlling movement on the right side of the body.

The right hemisphere is better organized for tasks characterized as:

• Nonverbal: using imagery rather than words.

• Holistic: processing information simultaneously, in parallel.

• Visuospatial: functions involving perceptions of location and spatial relationships.

• Emotional: experiencing feelings.

• Dreaming: imaginative and metaphoric visual image-making.

• Contralateral movement: controlling movement on the left side of the body.

Hemispheric Activation Level Detector

This month's Circuit Cellar project is a brain-wave-monitoring biofeedback device that provides real-time information about predominant hemisphere activation. That is, this Hemispheric Activation Level Detector (HAL, for short) graphically displays the relative amounts of brain-wave activity in each brain hemisphere (see photo 1).

HAL can distinguish among grossly different conscious states, such as between concentrated mental activity and pleasant daydreaming. For example, if you are debugging a program, HAL should show a predominance of left-hemispheric activity. If you are listening to some light music and daydreaming, it should show a predominance of right-hemispheric activity.

HAL is a relatively sophisticated, low-cost, stand-alone, fully isolated four-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) brainwave monitor. It gathers analog brain-wave voltages from four sets of scalp contacts, filters them, converts them to digital values, and transmits them via an RS-232C port (making HAL compatible with any computer) for recording or analysis.

HAL includes a two-channel fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis-and-display routine for an IBM PC. (HAL's PC software is intended only as a graphics display demonstration—and there are limitations in processing power when using a straight 4.77-MHz PC—so it displays only two channels, even though HAL sends data on four channels.) If you have a more powerful machine, you should be able to expand the software to display more channels.

When running this special analysis-and-display package, the PC separates out various amplitudes and frequencies of alpha, beta, and theta waves, as well as phase differences between the hemispheres. The result is a graphical representation of what is going on in your brain in real time.

continued

Copyright © 1988 Steven A. Ciarcia. All rights reserved.

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 273

CIRCUIT CELLAR

Warning

HAL is presented as an engineering example of the design techniques used in acquiring brain-wave signals. It is not a medically approved device, no medical claims are made for it, and it should not be used for any medical diagnostic purposes. Furthermore, the safe use of HAL requires that the electrical power and communications isolation described in its design not be circumvented. HAL is designed to be battery-operated only. Do not substitute plug-in power supplies.

Analyzing HAL's circuitry illustrates practical design techniques, including differential amplifiers for low-level signal detection in a high-background-noise-level environment, a lowfrequency band-pass filtering-rectifying-integrating detector, optoisolation for safety, and A/D conversion.

I'm presenting HAL as a two-part project. This month, I'll look at the problems involved in picking up microvolt-level signals, amplifying and digitizing them, and sending them to your computer.

Science and the Brain

As I investigated this area, I found that a great deal of serious research has been going on regarding what we know about how our brain works. Much of this thinking is finding its way into computer science; even the Macintosh and the IBM PC now have neural-network hardware and software available for the experimenter.

In his book Megabrain, Michael Hutchison quotes National Institute of Mental Health neurochemist Candace Pert (discoverer of the opiate receptor in the brain and researcher on endorphins—the brain's own painkillers):

There's a revolution going on. There used to be two systems of knowledge: hard science—chemistry, physics, biophysics— on one hand, and on the other, a system of knowledge that included ethology, psychology, and psychiatry. And now it's as if a lightning bolt had connected the two. It's all one system—neuroscience.... The present era in neuroscience is comparable to the time when Louis Pasteur first found out that germs cause disease.

Photo 1: HAL's output shows energy level by frequency of brain-wave signals for both sides of the brain.

Hutchison further quotes neuroanatomist Floyd Bloom of the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California:

A neuroscientist used to be like a man in a Goodyear blimp floating over a bowl game: He could hear the crowd roar, and that was about it. But now we are down in the stands. It's not too long before we'll be able to tell why one man gets a hot dog and one man gets a beer.

Much of the activity in this area has centered around the electrical characteristics of the brain. Advances in semiconductor technology have made available inexpensive ICs that let you design physiological monitoring equipment with laboratory quality at experimenter prices. When interest in alpha-wave biofeedback peaked about 15 years ago, a good-quality EEG feedback unit (which provided less information than HAL) cost $1000 for just one channel. Now, you can build four channels for under $200.

Digging into the Waves

The brain is a source of many electrical signals. An EEG is a recording (usually a strip chart) of the electrical potential differences between pairs of electrodes fastened to the scalp.

Silver-silver chloride electrodes pick up the signals. You must take some care to clean the area of the scalp with alcohol and perhaps use a mildly abrasive conducting cream to ensure good electrical contact. Ideally, there will be less than 10 kilohms impedance between any two electrodes, but anything under 25 kohms works (I'll describe placement of the electrodes next month).

It takes a trained eye to determine specific information about a person from an EEG. At present, we can only generalize as to what these recordings mean, and we are unable to correlate specific waveforms with intelligence. The observable electrical activity, however, does offer some clues.

According to medical and psychological research, by monitoring this activity, you could, in a gross way, investigate how the brain functions in a variety of circumstances. For example, if you monitor the two hemispheres while a person is solving problems, the type of problem could be indicated by the relative preponderance of one hemisphere's activity as compared to the other's. Sometimes you can even determine the activity (sleep versus reading; relaxed versus agitated).

The electrical signals we are currently able to monitor and identify from the brain are categorized as follows:

Alpha: Research has already indicated that in an awake person, the presence of alpha waves indicates a relaxed person with an absence of problem-oriented brain activity. (Alpha-wave activity describes electrical activity in the range of 8 to 12 Hz, a nearly sinusoidal signal at a voltage level of between 5 and 150 microvolts [^V]—typically 20 to 50 ftV.) Beta: When a person is thinking or attending to some stimulus, alpha-wave activity is replaced by beta-wave activity (14 to 25 Hz, activity of a lower amplitude).

Theta: Theta-wave activity (4 to 8 Hz, 20 /iV and higher) usually appears during sleep, but it has been associated with deep reverie, mental imagery, creativity, dreaming, and enhanced learning ability.

Delta: Delta-wave activity (from 0.5 to 4 Hz) is seen in the deepest stages of sleep.

In addition, you must remember that I am describing an attempt to correlate cerebral electrical activity with subjectively observed events (types of cognitive tasks). While brain waves may be varying tens of times per second, our subjective experi

continued

274 BYTE- JUNE 1988

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Circle 288 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 275

CIRCUIT CELLAR

To eliminate unwanted noise, HAL incorporates a band-pass filter that rejects frequencies under 4 Hz and over 20 Hz. While this compromises delta-wave acquisition, it does filter out most of the undesired signals.

ence varies more slowly. It may take a second or two to change concentration and to focus on a new task. Hence, you need to integrate the readings over a short period of time. Previous research in this area suggests that lA second to Vi second is reasonable.

A Noisy Environment

It's possible for HAL to "hear" more than we want. HAL is sensitive enough to detect artifactual signals: muscle activity from the forehead, eye and head movements, heart-rate activity, brain-wave "spikes" or irregular slow-wave activity, and—if you're not careful—60-cycle power-line hum. To eliminate this

Photo 2: HAL in the prototype stage. The input jacks are arranged along the top; HAL's battery is near the bottom.

Photo 3: HAL's optoisolated RS-232C circuitry.

noise, HAL incorporates a band-pass filter that rejects frequencies under 4 Hz and over 20 Hz. While this compromises deltawave acquisition, the benefit is that it filters out most of the undesired signals.

Detecting 4- to 20-Hz signals with a minimum amplitude of 5 fiV from a source with approximately 10- to 20-kohm impedance is not an insignificant task. Ideally, the band-pass filter section should have a flat (± 1-decibel [dB]) response across the passband; it should provide at least —18 dB per octave attenuation of signals outside the passband. The frequency response of the amplifier should be at least 50 to 60 dB down at 60 Hz. An equivalent input noise level of 0.5 ^V or less would be good. Finally, input DC current should be less than 50 nanoamperes.

HAL's Circuitry

HAL's hardware circuitry is divided into two sections: preamplifier/filter and digitizer/control (see photo 2). The preamplifiers and filters acquire and boost the microvolt-level analog signals to useful levels. The digitizer section does the signal conditioning and A/D conversion and sends the data through an optocoupler to the host computer for analysis (see photo 3).

Several factors contributed to the evolution of the analog section of the circuitry. Initially, I planned to use narrow passband hardware filters to detect and measure only the alpha waves for each channel. Such an approach would discard a significant amount of information coming from the brain, essentially making the monitor capable of only simple "digital" discrimination—the presence or absence of alpha waves. This hardly seemed an achievement, since it merely duplicated the simple alpha biofeedback units available for the last 15 years.

Discussions with hardware and software experts eventually led to the conception of a more sophisticated system, one in which I considered the slowness of the EEG waveforms, the speed of the A/D conversion, and the analyzing power of an IBM PC. Ultimately, I decided that the HAL EEG monitor would function as a raw data accumulator and transmitter. The host computer would perform all signal analysis and display the results. (HAL's data output is RS-232C serial and can be analyzed and displayed on any computer. I chose to use an IBM PC here only for convenience.)

I expanded the bandwidth to allow the possibility of analyzing beta and theta waves. Even though these amplitudes are much lower than alpha waves, they are associated with some interesting phenomena.

To accomplish this task, I had to develop a special preamplifier/filter that would amplify only the specific EEG signals picked up from the scalp of the subject and amplify them to a level that is high enough for A/D conversion. Each HAL preamplifier/filter channel takes six operational amplifiers (op amps). Four of them provide amplification and impedance matching, and two others provide 60-Hz rejection filtering.

I designed the amplifiers and active filters in figure la around the TL-084 quad op amp and used as many common values as possible. The TL-084 provides junction-field-effect-transistor inputs with picoampere bias currents, low power consumption, and adequate input noise level. (If you are building this project, you should not substitute another type of op amp.) The bandwidth of the analog section is about 16 Hz (—3 dB at 20 Hz).

You can calculate the equivalent input noise by integrating the noise voltage as a function of frequency over the bandwidth. This 180-nanovolt equivalent noise, combined with the noise from the differential input stage multiplied by the system gain, yields a calculated output noise level of approximately 2.5 millivolts (mV).

Actual measurements of the noise output of the four-channel prototype were 3.5 mV root mean square, with a source imped

continued

276 BYTE- JUNE 1988

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Circle 153 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 277

CIRCUIT CELLAR

ance of 13-kohm impedance per input. I decided this was acceptable for the system with a 10-mV per bit A/D sensitivity.

I used three sections of IC1A to make a differential input instrumentation preamplifier. (Note that all six op amps associated with channel A are labeled IC1A and IC2A. Channel B's op amps are labeled IC1B and IC2B, respectively, and so forth.) An ideal difference amplifier will amplify only the voltage difference between the two inputs. Voltages that appear on both inputs when referenced to the ground lead are called common mode voltages.

For example, if the voltage on one input is +50 /tV and the other input is +15 /tV, the difference signal would be 35 /iV and the common mode signal would be 15 /tV. HAL measures the difference signal between the two electrode positions. The difference amplifier measures this difference by applying one signal to the inverting input of the op amp and the other signal to the noninverting input.

The ability of the op amp to amplify only the difference is specified as the common mode rejection ratio. In HAL, I mea

sured this experimentally by shorting the inputs, applying an input signal between the shorted inputs and ground, and comparing the output with that obtained by applying the same signal across the two inputs. The common mode output was 43 dB down below the differential output. (You would correctly suspect that the major component of common mode voltages in HAL will be induced by the 60-Hz power line. I'll discuss how HAL rejects the 60-Hz signals later.)

I set the voltage gain of the preamplifier to 5800 and incorporated AC coupling between the stages to eliminate DC offset voltages and provide some low-frequency roll-off. Feedback capacitor C3 provides high-frequency roll-off, with the gain down 9 dB at 60 Hz. The third-order active filter stage has a -3-dB frequency of 22 Hz and is 30 dB down at 60 Hz. You'll find the same third-order filter at the input of each final amplifier to the A/D converter (ADC), thus providing another 30 dB, for a total of 69 dB attenuation at 60 Hz.

The interstage coupling capacitors set the low-frequency passband of the amplifiers. The low-frequency roll-off is 24 dB

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278 BYTE' JUNE 1988

CIRCUIT CELLAR

per octave, with the -3-dB point at 6 Hz. This is well above muscle activity and other noise.

A 2.5-volt reference diode sets the analog references to the ADC at 1.75 V and 3.25 V, or ±1.25 V of half the power supply. The last amplifier stage is DC offset to one half the power supply voltage, with the AC signals having a permissible peak value of 1.25 V. I set the overall gain of the amplifier stage to 12,500 so that a 100-/iV signal would be the maximum input. This amounts to about 0.8 ^V per bit sensitivity.

Since the ADC0808 is generally thought of as a DC converter and HAL measures AC signals, offsetting the reference to the ADC lets it measure signals that swing above and below some point designated as "zero" (offset binary converter). When you apply 0 V to the ADC, its output will be 80 hexadecimal.

A voltage gain of 12,500 corresponds to 82 dB (20 xlog Av). The 60-Hz rejection of 69 dB results in a 60-Hz gain of 13 dB (82 dB - 69 dB). The common mode rejection of 43 dB reduces the 60-Hz gain to a loss of -30 dB (13 dB - 43 dB). This all means that a 60-Hz common mode signal at the inputs is re

duced by a factor of 0.03 in getting to the ADC.

To show up as a ± 1-bit ripple on the data, the common mode input signal would have to have an amplitude of 300 mV peak to peak. This 300 mV would be reduced by a factor of 0.03 to become 10 mV at the ADC. When I connected a 1-inch unshielded lead to HAL's input, it picked up about 100 mV peak to peak of noise. This seems adequate, but all the same, don't use HAL while standing directly beneath a neon sign transformer!

The Digitizer and Control Section

The signals from the four preamplifier/filter channels go to four of the eight analog inputs of the ADC0808. An 80C31 CPU performs channel selection and transmission to the host CPU. (While it is possible to duplicate the preamplifier/filter section to ultimately produce an eight-channel version of HAL, the current level of software for the 80C31 is designed for only four channels.)

Figure lc shows the microcontroller part of the headset cir

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JUNE 1988 'BYTE 279

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Microsoft. Ihe Microsoft logo. MS. MS-DOS. and CodeView are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 281

CIRCUIT CELLAR

cuitry. The 80C31's port 1 connects to the ADC0808's data outputs, with all the control and status bits handled by port 3. Bits from port 1 also drive the serial output line and the two event marker switch inputs. Because port 2 is dedicated to the upper half of the program address and port 0 is the EPROM data

bus, no port bits are left for anything else.

The timing requirements are so simple that the code doesn't even need interrupts. It samples the two switches, reads the left and right hemisphere voltages from the ADC0808, and sends the results out serially. Each data sample consists of a 5-byte

EVENT MARKER SWITCH INPUTS

CPU AND EPROM

Figure lc: HAL'sA/D converter, on-board CPU, andRS-232Cport.

282 BYTE- JUNE 1988

CIRCUIT CELLAR

transmission. The data sequence is first byte, two switch position codes with 6 bits of leading zeros, followed by 4 bytes of sequentially sampled A/D channels.

HAL is battery-powered. Four alkaline C cells provide +6 V, and 4 AA cells provide -6 V for the op amps. The CMOS

digital circuitry runs from the 6-V supply. Current drain with all CMOS components is 225 milliamperes (mA) at 6 V and 50 mA at -6 V. (OK, I know that most chips like 5 V, but CMOS digital chips will work fine in this application at 6 V.) An addi

continued

"\

2

IC9 27C64 Vpp

PGM

A12

All

AlO

A9

A8

A7

A6

A5

A4

A3

A2

Al

AO

OE

CE

07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00

k A12

19 A07

IC8

74HC373 80 80 7D 70 60 60 5D 50 4D 40 3D 30 2D 20 ID 10

EN OE

18 AD6

17 AD5

ADO 18

19

. All

23

16 AD4

AD3 17

16

AlO

21

15 AD3

AD5 14

15

A9

24

13 A02

AD6 13

12

. A8

25

12 AD1

AD7 8

9

3

11 ADO

AD4 7

6

4

AD2 4

5

5

AD1 3

2

6

7

8

1. Il

9

fh

10

22

20

■ OPTOISOLATED RS-232C 1 PORT

"I

IC6 MAX232

C1+ C2+ CI- C2CV + CV

4

Jl

1

5

1+

3

1

C22

6

47^,F

| .

8

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1 C29 U

9

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1

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7

. l|7

BLK , RED | GRN 1 YEL |

—

10

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.

12

\yc

13

o

14

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IC1

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GND

11

MODULAR PHONE JACK Jl PINS1 + 4 CONNECTED THROUGH IBM PC GND

• 1

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R26 2.2K

16

15

-C28 0.1MF

-C2 0.1,

t

9V BATTERY-:

* RED " BLACK

_J

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 283

CIRCUIT CELLAR

Listing 1: Source code for HAL's main loop.

30C31

main loop

ADCdata EQU PI

data inputs

ADCctls EQU P3

control I/O

start

EQU 2

+ to start conversion

ready

EQU 3

+ on end of conversion

switches EQU 81H

switch bit locations

ADCO

EQU 10H

low order address bit

ADCaddr EQU 7OH

address bit location

sync

EQU P3.0

sync out of switch input!

;» setup

code omittec

1

;wait

for

Timer 0 to run out, then reload it

again

EQU

$

JNB

TFO,again

; loop until timer tick

CLR

sync

; blip scope sync down

NOP

SETB

sync

; ... and back up again

CLR

TRO

MOV

TH0,#HIGH

-TOperiod ; reload

MOV

TL0,#LOW

-TOperiod

CLR

TFO

; clear end flag

SETB

TRO

; restart counter

read

the channel

5 in a great rush

CALL

getADC

read

the switche

s and send them out

MOV

A,ADCctls

; grab input bits

ANL

A,#switch

es ; strip switches

RL

A

; move to bits 1-0

Lsw

JNB

TI,Lsw

; will set every time!

MOV

SBUF,A

; send byte

CLR

TI

; reset ready flag

send

analog data

LO

JNB

TI,L0

; wait for trans ready

MOV

SBUF,R0

; drop in the value

CLR

TI

; reset trans ready

LI

JNB

TI,L1

; repeat for channel 1

MOV

SBUF,R0

CLR

TI

JMP

again

tional 9-V battery (10 mA) provides power for the serial communication.

The two-push-button switch inputs (J6) allow operator signaling to the host computer. Serial data output drives the TIL111 optocoupler by means of a BS-170 field effect transistor. A MAX232 (IC6) converts the optocoupler's output to RS-232C levels compatible with the serial input of the IBM PC host computer. The MAX232 is powered by the separate 9-V battery to maintain isolation between HAL and the PC when the serial port is connected. (Do not try to use the 6-V C cells that power the main HAL circuit to power IC6.)

The Control Program

HAL's firmware control program (the main loop is shown in listing 1), contained in a 2764 EPROM (IC9), is called BI031. Nearly all BI031's time is spent in line waiting for timer flag 0 (TFO) to become a logic 1. Whenever that happens, the code reloads timer 0 to produce the next 1/64-second delay and clears the flag again.

While the 5 bytes in each sample take only 6.25 milliseconds to transmit at 4800 bits per second and there's lots of idle time on the link (the PC code needs 64 samples per second; we don't send it faster because the PC analysis program would choke), the FFT software in the PC presumes that all the data points are sampled at the same instant in time. As a requirement, then,

Listing

2: The code HAL uses to read its AID

converter.

; Get

channels from the ADC input

; Values are stashed in registers

getADC

PROC

MOV A,ADCctls ; reset address

ANL A,#NOT ADCaddr

SETB ACC.ready ; ensure this bit is a 1

MOV ADCctls, A

; grab channels

SETB ADCctls.start ; blip start line

CLR ADCctls.start ; with 1 us pulse

; Wait

for EOC to go away

LwOr

JB ADCctls.ready, LwOr

; Now

wait for EOC active

LwOe

JNB ADCctls.ready, LwOe

MOV R0,ADCdata ; save data in reg

ADD A,#ADC0 ; tick channel number

MOV ADCctls, A

SETB ADCctls.start ; repeat for chan. 1

CLR ADCctls.start

Lwlr

JB ADCctls.ready,Lwlr

Lwle

JNB ADCctls.ready,Lwle

MOV Rl,ADCdata

RET

getADC

ENDPROC

END

BI031 runs the ADC as fast as possible between samples. I used in-line code to eliminate the overhead of subroutine calls and returns, although I'll be the first to admit that the few microseconds probably don't make any difference at all. Listing 2 shows what's needed to grab channels 0 and 1 from the ADC0808.

Throughout the conversions, the accumulator holds a copy of port 3, so changing the ADC channel address is simply a matter of adding 1 to the proper accumulator bit and reloading port 3. The code sets the ADC ready bit to a 1 to make sure that the bit is always an input; writing a zero to that bit would turn it into an output.

Toggling the ADC' s start bit using a pair of CLR/SETB instructions provides a 1-microsecond pulse on that output. One of the nice things about the 8031 is that you can tell exactly how long each instruction will take, so generating precise time intervals is quite simple.

The ADC0808 takes a few microseconds to drop the line that signals the end of conversion before starting the next one, so the code includes a loop to wait for that bit to go away before continuing. This is one of those cases where the computer can outrun the peripheral!

Next Month

I'll examine the software components of HAL, including an 8088 machine language discrete FFT callable from BASIC. I'll provide BASIC source code so you can design your own software and reconfigure HAL into a sophisticated brain-wave biofeedback monitor or a continuously recording EEG, or so you can add additional channels. ■

Special thanks for help provided on this article to Dr. Robert Stek, David Schulze, Rob Schenck, Jeff Bachiochi, and Ed

Nisley.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hutchison, Michael. Megabrain: New Tools and Techniques for Brain Growth and Mind Expansion. New York: Morrow, 1986.

284 BYTE- JUNE 1988

CIRCUIT CELLAR

This book contains the results and speculations of some pioneers

of brain-machine technology. Meikson, Z. H., and Philip C. Thackray. Electronic Design with

Off-the-Shelf Integrated Circuits, 2nd. ed. Englewood Cliffs,

NJ: Prentice Hall, 1984. 1983-84 Opto-electronics Data Book. Texas Instruments.

Editor's Note: Steve often refers to previous Circuit Cellar articles. Most of these past articles are available in book form from BYTE Books, McGraw-Hill Book Co., P.O. Box 400, Hightstown, NJ 08250. Garcia's Circuit Cellar, Volume I covers articles in BYTE from September 1977 through November 1978. Volume II covers December 1978 through June 1980. Volume III covers July 1980 through December 1981. Volume IV covers January 1982 through June 1983. Volume V covers July 1983 through December 1984. Volume VI covers January 1985 through June 1986.

It's virtually impossible to provide all the pertinent details of a project or cover all the designs I'd like to in the pages of BYTE. For that reason, I have started a bimonthly supplemental publication called Circuit Cellar Ink, which presents additional information on projects published in BYTE, new projects, and supplemental applications-oriented materials. For a one-year subscription (6 issues), send $14.95 to Circuit Cellar Ink, P.O. Box 3378, Wallingford, CT 06494. Credit card orders can call (203) 875-2199.

The following item is available from

CCI

P.O. Box 428

Tolland, CT 06084

(203)875-2751

Inquiry 952.

Circuit Cellar Hemispheric Activation Level Detector (HAL) complete printed circuit board kit. Comes with printed circuit board and all chips and board-mounted components, including 80C31, IC sockets, 27C64 EPROM, user's manual, and IBM PC demonstration display on PC format disk. Does not include battery holders, batteries, scalp electrodes,

or connecting cables. HAL-4-KIT $179;

add $19 if you want an IBM PC cable.

The Circuit Cellar HAL design is available for licensing to qualified manufacturers. Call for information.

All payments should be made in U.S. dollars by check, money order, MasterCard, or Visa. Surface delivery (U.S. and Canada only): add $5 for U.S., $8 for Canada. For delivery to Europe via U.S. airmail, add $14. Three-day air freight delivery: add $7 for U.S. (second-day Federal Express), $15 for Canada (DHL), $22 for Europe (DHL), or $30 for Asia and elsewhere in the world (DHL).

There is a multiline Circuit Cellar bulletin board system (running TBBS 2.0M) that supports past and present projects in BYTE and Ink. You are invited to call and exchange ideas and comments with other Circuit Cellar supporters. The 300-/1200-/2400-bps BBS is on-line 24 hours a day at (203) 871-1988.

To receive information about the Circuit Cellar Ink publication for hardware designers and developers, please circle 100 on the Reader Service inquiry card at the back of the magazine.

Steve Garcia (pronounced "see-ARE-see-ah") is an electronics engineer and computer consultant with experience in process control, digital design, nuclear instrumentation, and product development. The author of several books on electronics, he can be reached at P. O. Box 582, Glastonbury, CT 06033.

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Circle 269 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 "BYTE 285

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 287

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Error-Free Fractions

Computers can store

rational numbers exactly with the

use of factorial-base format

ost computer users know their machines can't represent all fractions exactly. Many programmers even know why. Something about finite memory and infinitely repeating decimals.. .. However, if you're willing to depart from conventional (exponential-base) representation formats, you can store fractions exactly. You can even do exact calculations without fear of dreaded roundoff errors. A Pascal listing presented in this article demonstrates the technique (see listing 1). Unfortunately, rational-number math written in Pascal cannot keep up with highly optimized floating-point code: The computations done in the demonstration program aren't so fast as those done in floating point. But they are exact.

The mathematics involved aren't really new; nineteenth-century German mathematician Georg Cantor (see reference 1) presented the scheme and proved that it allows any rational number to be represented exactly in a finite series—no repeating decimals (see the text box "A Mathematical Proof on page 290). Before explaining why factorial base gives exact fractions and conventional exponential base does not, I'll show how similar they are.

A Question of Place Values

Both systems use place values to represent infinitely many different numbers with a finite set of digits. For instance, in base 10, the sequence of digits 104.32 corresponds to the series

1 x 102 + 0 x 101 + 4 x 10° + 3/101 + 2/102.

The place values are 10\ 10\ 10°, 1/101, and 1/102.

Before proceeding, a word about notation. Every base-2 number in this article is identified by a subscripted 2, as in 10.12; every factorial-base number is identified by a subscripted F, as in 12.1F. I'll often spell it out as well.

The base-2 systems indigenous to silicon worlds are the same as base 10, except that they use 2 as the radix instead of 10 and have only two distinct symbols or digits, as in 10.0112, which really means:

1 x 21 + 0 X 2° + 0/21 + 1/22 + 1/23,

with place values 2*, 2°, l/2\ 1/22, and 1/23.

Factorial bases are almost the same, except that the place values are factorials rather than exponential values: 301.102F corresponds to the series

3 X3! +0x2! + 1 X 1! + 1/2! +0/3! +2/4! = 197/12.

Recall that the notation 3! (3 factorial) means 3 x'2 x 1, and in general, n! meansn x (n —1) X (n—2) x • • • x 1. So the place values are 3!, 2!, 1!, 1/2!, 1/3!, and 1/4!. As a convenience, figure 1 gives the ten factorial place values around the decimal point.

One major difference between exponential base and factorial base concerns the use of digits: In factorial-base notation, the largest allowable digit depends on which place you're looking at: in a„a„-r ■ a^a-iO-i- ■ a.n, you must have 0 < a, < \i\. For instance, in 321. 123F, each digit is at its maximum value for the position it's in.

Computing with Factorial-Base Numbers

Analogies between the factorial-base and base-10 computation make the new system especially attractive. Numbers that contain the maximum value in each digit, like 321F (which is equal to 23 base 10) are 1 less than the value of a 1 in the next significant position (1000F = 24), just as 9999 = 10,000-1. Fractions that contain the maximum value in each position are close to 1 in both cases (. 123456F and . 999999).

The whole process of adding two factorial-base numbers is exactly the same as adding two base-10 numbers if you remember that the maximum value allowed in each position changes from one place to another, so that you know when to carry.

For instance, adding %4 (.001F in factorial base) to n/u (.023F) looks like this:

1

1

carry

.0

0

1F

addend

.0

2

3F

addend

.1

0

oF

sum

Note that two carries are needed because the maximum value is 3 in the right column and 2 in the center column. The process of carrying digits extends similarly to the integer portion.

The algorithms for the other functions are also analogous to ordinary arithmetic. Division is the most difficult operation, just as it is in regular arithmetic, requiring an estimation process to calculate the digits.

The Root of the Problem

The best introduction to factorial-base arithmetic comes from learning exactly where the base-10 and base-2 representations fail. Both handle all integers exactly, but only some rational fractions exactiy. For instance, l/2 is exactly .5 in base 10 and exactly . 12 in base 2. But % is nonterminating and hence inexact

continued

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 289

ERROR-FREE FRACTIONS

A Mathematical Proof

The proof that any rational number has an exact factorialbase representation has two parts. First, that any integer p can be expressed as a sum of n products involving factorials:

P=l

ati\

;=l

with a, <i. The exact, finite factorial representation is just the sequence of coefficients a„a„-ia„_2 ■ ■•al.

Choose n such that n\ < p < (n +1)! and set a„ to the integer part of p divided by n\. Notice that this a„ cannot exceed the maximum value for this position, n, because/? is less than (n + 1) Xn! =(n + 1)!.

Repeat this process with p set equal to the remainder of the previous division, and it will return the value for a,.,. This continues until all the digits are computed. The process must terminate exactly (i.e., give a 0 remainder) at ax because the remainder stays less than i + 1 at each step, and, at au the only nonnegative integers less than (' + 1 = 2 are 0 and 1. Both of these leave no remainder after division by 1.

Furthermore, the representation a„- ■ o, is unique because the largest value that can be represented with n — 1 digits is strictly less than the multiplier of the nth digit («!), so the i\ terms are linearly independent with respect to multipliers that lie between 0 and i.

The second part of the proof establishes that every p/q, p<q, can be represented as a sum of n quotients involving factorials:

■f-E

i=i

(/ + !)!

with a-, < i. The exact, finite factorial representation is just the sequence of coefficients a-xa-2a.-3- • a.„.

The proof begins by pointing out that if (i + 1) p > q then p/q > 1 / (i + 1). Compute o^ as the result of integer division of (1 + \)p by q, which in this case is 1 if p/q is greater than Y2 and 0 if it isn't.

Set p equal to the remainder of this division and repeat this step to calculate a-2 as the result of integer division (2 + \)plq. The value a.2 is between 0 and 2.

Take the remainder asp and repeat for a.3, a_4, and so forth. You will find a 0 remainder at the smallest i such that q divides i!, because the remainder after each step is p x i\ mod q. Eventually, i will be large enough so q will evenly divide i!.

Once you have the 0 remainder, you have an exact representation of p/q. The program in listing 1 uses this algorithm to convert the quotient into a factorial-base representation.

Beyond Rational Numbers

The preceding proof does not show exactly what happens with irrational numbers, but it does intimate that they would appear as infinite strings just as they do in a fixed exponential-base representation. Any irrational number x can be bounded by two rational numbers pjq, < x < p2lq2\ these two rationals can be converted into factorial base. As the two rational numbers get closer and closer together, the terms of the factorial-base representation also come closer together. In this fashion, you arrive at a factorial-base approximation of the irrational number. This ability to easily approximate irrational numbers is one of the advantages of the system.

One particularly interesting instance of this capability is the value of e that you can calculate from the familiar series:

00

j=0 '•

Converting this to the factorial-base system yields a very simpleto-remember constant, 10.111111F—.

By a similar reference to series expansions for sine and cosine, you find some surprising patterns:

sin(l) = .120056009 10 OO--,

and

cos(l) = .1004500890

Clearly, factorial-base numbers present some unique opportunities in any computer-mathematical application involving factorial terms.

in finite space (.333333- • in base 10 and .010101012- • • in base 2).

The difference between exact and inexact fractions lies in the denominator's relation to the base number. For instance, 2 divides both 10 and 2; hence, l/2 is exact in bases 10 and 2. The number 3 divides neither 2 nor 10 and thus % has no exact representation in either base.

In general, the base-n representation of a fraction p/q terminates only when there exists an integer m such that p/q = m/n' for some integer ;'. For example, in base 10, the number %0 has an exact decimal representation because %0 = 15/102 = .15.

In this respect, base 10 has a slight advantage over base 2: It can represent all fractions of the foTmp/2'5J, while base 2 can handle only those in the form/7/2'. Base 30 would be better still because 30 = 2 X 3 X 5, and it's not difficult to realize that base 210 (2 x 3 X 5 X 7) could handle an even larger part of the rational numbers.

Continuing along these lines, the base would eventually grow

so big that it would be difficult to use, and it would still leave out a portion of the rational numbers—the ones with factors that are relatively prime to every prime factor in the base.

Factorial-base numbers are an elegant alternative. They provide a base system that can handle any p/q without much extra effort. For example, % in factorial base is .02F because % = %+%. The fraction % is . 103F, and 23 becomes 321F. The text box above gives some of the math theory.

Putting Theory into Practice

The Pascal program in listing 1 provides a routine that converts a rational number in the form p/q to factorial base, as well as other routines that do addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, absolute value, and negation. The routines are based on the work of Patrick Staley at Southwestern University (see reference 2). The numbers themselves are stored in an array. The integer

continued

290 BYTE* JUNE 1988

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JUNE 1988 'BYTE 291

ERROR-FREE FRACTIONS

120

24

6

2

1

•

Vi

%

Vu

Vl20

1/720

Figure 1: The ten factorial place values around the decimal point.

Listing 1: A Pascal program demonstrating the use of factorial-based numbers for exact fractions.

PROGRAM fact; CONST

maxarraysize = 12; TYPE number=ARRAY[1..maxarraysize] OF longint; {The coefficients of a factorial-base} {number. Slot i contains a(2-i).} {Slot 1 is used to carry the integer} {part of the number.} VAR

i, j, m: integer;{Counters}

a, b, c: number;{Factorial-Base}

{numbers for calculations.} k: longint;(A temporary register.} zero, one: number;{Two global variables} {containing zero and one.} float: real;{A floating-point variable} {with regular arithmetic.} PROCEDURE convert (VAR result: number;

p, q: longint); {A routine that takes a p and q and} {converts into a factorial-base number.} VAR

i: integer; BEGIN

result[1] := p DIV q;

IF (p<0) AND (p MOD q <> 0) THEN

result [1] := result[1] - 1; p := p MOD q;

FOR i := 2 TO maxarraysize DO BEGIN P := P * i; result [i] := p DIV q; p := p MOD q; END; END;{Convert}

FUNCTION lessequal (x, y: number): boolean; {Tests 2 numbers and returns true if x<=y}

VAR

i: integer;{A counter} BEGIN

i := 1;

WHILE (x[i]=y[i]) AND (Kmaxarraysize) DO i := i + 1;

lessequal := (x[i]<=y[i]); END;{lessequal}

FUNCTION notequal (x, y: number): boolean; {Tests two numbers and returns} {true if x<>y}

VAR

i: integer;{A counter} BEGIN

i := 1;

WHILE (x[i]=y[i]) AND (Kmaxarraysize) DO i := i + 1;

notequal := (x[i] <> y[i]); END;{notequal}

continued

part of the number is kept as an integer in the first array element because the arithmetic for integers is already exact. The a, digits to the right of the decimal, beginning with a.u are stored together in the (1 -i)th component.

Only the integer part can hold negative values, so the fractional part of a negative number is handled in much the same way as such values are stored in two's complement arithmetic. In this method, - >/3 is represented as -1 + %. This method of storage lets you take advantage of the speed of regular integer arithmetic.

The algorithms themselves are not much different from the steps that everyone learns by rote in grade school. Addition and subtraction are carried out term by term, and a third routine called smooth handles carrying the overflow and borrowing from the previous term. Two short routines handle multiplication and division term by term, calling smooth to handle borrows and carries. Higher-level functions use these routines to perform multiplication and division of complete factorial-base numbers.

The procedures for addition and subtraction are very stable and will overflow only if the results grow larger than the size of the largest integer the machine can represent. The multiplication routine can overflow sooner; for instance, when a number is multiplied by a large integer, it is possible to overflow the individual term's array component. If the division routine is operating upon two numbers of similar size, the results will not overflow the machine, but if a larger number is divided by a number close to 0, an overflow error can occur. (The estimation algorithm could be improved to help avoid this problem.)

Some Experimental Results

I've used mathematical reasoning to show the benefits of factorial-base numbers, but how do these numbers work in practice in a computer? To find out, I executed the following code using factorial-base and standard floating-point (an extension of the exponential-base) number formats:

x:=l/n;

fori:=lto30do x:=(n+l)*x-l;

Mathematically, the function/^) = (« + l)x — 1 is invariant at the point* = 1/rc; that is,f(x) = x for* = \ln. On paper, then, you would expect the Pascal variable x to remain unchanged after 30 iterations of the loop. This was the case when I used factorial-base numbers. But the standard floating-point system failed badly and returned 286,331,161.6 instead of .33333 when n was set to 3.

From previous discussions, you might expect the floatingpoint software to find the correct answer at least for n = 10 because yl0 = .1 exactly in base 10. This was quite far from the truth: x should have equaled .1 but turned into 2.36378547759 e21 after 30 loops. All the calculations are, of course, done in binary. The floating-point software finds the correct answer only when n is 2.

The only negative aspect of the factorial-base system is the slowness of the calculations. My Pascal program could not compete with the optimized floating-point code. The algorithms aren't that different from the regular arithmetic, but they must deal with the shifting base, which adds a lot of overhead. The factorial-base arithmetic could be recoded into assembly code for better speed. Even better, it could be converted into silicon by designing a special chip.

Until such a time, the code should be saved for problems where speed can be sacrificed for accuracy. These problems may range from mathematical analysis (as in the last example) to

continued

292 BYTE- JUNE 1988

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ERROR-FREE FRACTIONS

FUNCTION smooth (VAR x: number): number; {Takes a number and does all the carrying} {and the borrowing.} VAR

i: integer;{A counter} BEGIN FOR i := maxarraysize DOWNTO 2 DO BEGIN x[i - 1] := x[i - 1] + x[i] DIV 1; IF (x[i]<0) AND (x[i] MOD i <> 0) THEN

x[i - 1] := x[i - 1] - 1; x[i] := x[i] MOD i END; smooth := x; END;

FUNCTION add (x, y: number): number; {Adds two factorial numbers} VAR

i: integer; temp: number; BEGIN FOR i := 1 TO maxarraysize DO

temp[i] := x[i] + y[i] ; add := smooth(temp); END;{add}

FUNCTION subtract (x, y: number): number; {Subtracts two factorial numbers} VAR

i: integer; temp: number; BEGIN FOR i := 1 TO maxarraysize DO

temp[i] := x[i] - y [i] ; subtract := smooth(temp); END;{subtract}

FUNCTION absolute (x: number): number; {Returns the absolute value of x.} {This is trickier than flipping a bit} {because the sign bit is attached to x[l].} {So if x[l]<0 then compute -x[l] subtract) {the rest of the terms x[2..n]} VAR

i: integer;{a counter}

y: number;{A temporary register if x<0} BEGIN

IF x[l]<0 THEN BEGIN

y[l] := -x[l];

FOR i := 2 TO maxarraysize DO

y[i] := 0;{Zero rest of the array.} x[l] := 0;

x := subtract (y, x) ; END; absolute := x; END;

FUNCTION negative (x: number): number; {Converts a positive x to negative form.} VAR

i: integer;{counter}

temp: integer;{A temporary register.} y: number;{Temporary, for subtraction.} BEGIN

temp := -1 - x[1];

x[l] := 0;{Save the first value and}

{let x=fraction(x).} FOR i := 2 TO maxarraysize DO y[i] := 0;{Zero the array.} y[l] := l;{But let it equal one.} x := subtract(y, x); x[l] := temp; negative := x; END;

FUNCTION multbyint (x: number;

int: longint): number; {Multiplies x by an integer int.} VAR

i: integer; temp: number; BEGIN FOR i := 1 TO maxarraysize DO

temp[i] := x[i] * int; multbyint := smooth(temp); END;{multbyint} FUNCTION divbyint (x: number;

int: longint): number; {Divides x by the integer int.} VAR

i: integer;{A counter} carry, part: longint;

{Two registers to carry on digits.} temp: number;{Temporary result} negativeflag: boolean;

{Set to true if a negative number.} BEGIN negativeflag := (x[l]<0); IF negativeflag THEN

x := absolute(x); carry := 0;

FOR i := 1 TO maxarraysize DO BEGIN

part := x[i] + carry * i; carry := part MOD int; temp[i] := part DIV int; END; temp := smooth(temp); IF negativeflag THEN

temp := negative(temp); divbyint := temp; END;

FUNCTION multiply (x, y: number): number; {Multiplies x and y in factorial base.) VAR

i: integer;{A counter.} partial, temp: number; {The partial sum of the multiplication) {and a register} BEGIN partial := zero;{Zero the array.) FOR i := 1 TO maxarraysize DO BEGIN

y := divbyint(y, i);

{Shift y over one decimal place.} temp := multbyint(y, x[i]);

{Now temp contains y* (x[i]/i!).) partial := add(partial, temp); {Add it in and continue.) END; multiply := partial; END;{Multiply}

FUNCTION divide (x, y: number): number; {Divides x by y in factorial-number} {representation. Begins by scaling the} {numbers to find an easy, accurate way of} {computing the first value. After that it} {proceeds to use long division.) VAR

i, j: integer; negativeflag: boolean;

{A marker to preserve sign.} temp, partial: number;

{A temporary number: partial result.} denom: integer;

continued

296 BYTE- JUNE 1988

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ERROR-FREE FRACTIONS

{The p part of an approximation of} {the denominator.} denomfact: longint; {A factorial counter,} {q part of the denominator,} {approx: p/q.} posit: integer;

{Marks the position being calculated.} estimate: longint;

{An estimate of this value.} BEGIN negativeflag := ((x[l]<0) AND (y[l]>0)) OR

((x[l]>0) AND

(y[i]<0)); {Take care of negative s positive numbers.} x := absolute(x); y := absolute(y); i := 1;

denomfact := 1; denom := y[1] ;

WHILE (denom<100) AND (i<7) DO {Get approximately 3 significant figures} BEGIN

i := i + 1;

denom := denom * i + y[i]; denomfact := denomfact * i; END; posit := 1;

partial := zero; {Zero the answer} WHILE (notequal(x, zero)) AND

(posit<=maxarraysize) DO BEGIN

estimate := (x[l] * denomfact) DIV

denom; REPEAT

temp := multbyint(y, estimate); estimate := estimate - 1; UNTIL lessequal(temp, x); x := subtract(x, temp);

{Calculate the remainder} partial[posit] := estimate + 1;

{Record the result.} posit := posit + 1;

{Move over one notch.} x := multbyint(x, posit);

{Shift the numerator over one notch.} END;

{ Do loop until x=0 for best accuracy.} partial := smooth(partial); IF negativeflag THEN

any real-world calculations requiring exact representation of rational numbers.

Other Exact Formats

There are several other ways to represent rational numbers exactly, but all have major disadvantages. The simplest approach is to store the numbers/7 and q in two registers. This is quite easy to handle mathematically, but it introduces some new problems. For instance, it's hard to tell if 50Mo24 is greater or less than 52C%456 without calculating the quotient, whereas 1.023F is obviously greater than 1.022F.

The limits of the computer's integer representation also hobble the two-register system faster than they do with factorialbase numbers. For any n, the fraction \ln\ requires just n - 1 Os and a 1 in factorial base; that same value will overflow 32-bit integers for n as low as 14. Other systems involving residue arithmetic and p-adic numbers (see references 3 and 4) are be

partial := negative(partial); divide := partial; END;

PROCEDURE print (x: number); {Prints out a number.} VAR

i: integer;{a counter} y: number;

{A temporary register if x<0.} BEGIN

IF x[l]<0 THEN {The numbers are stored in the form} {sum x[i]/i! so convert to an} {equivalent positive number by} {subtracting the x[2..max] terms} {from -x[l], the integer part of} {the number.) BEGIN

y[l] := -x[l];

FOR i := 2 TO maxarraysize DO y[i] := 0;

{Zero the rest of the array.} x[l] := 0;

x := subtract(y, x); write ('-');

END; write (x[l] : 3, ' .' ) ; FOR i := 2 TO maxarraysize DO

write(x[i]: 3); writeln (' '); END;{Print.} BEGIN {Main Program} FOR i := 1 TO maxarraysize DO

zero[i] := 0;{Zero the array.} one := zero; one[l] := 1;

{Set 1 equal to zero plus one.) float := 1 / 3; a := one;

a := divbyint(one, 3);{Set a equal to 1/3) FOR i := 1 TO 30 DO BEGIN

float := 4 * float - 1; a := multbyint(a, 4); a := subtract(a, one); END; print (a) ;

writeln('Using floating point:', float:

20) ; END. {Program FACT}

yond the scope of this article; while they can be more efficient, they are quite unintuitive—the numbers must be reconverted into fixed base before they can be recognized and compared, for instance. ■

REFERENCES

1. Cantor, Georg. "Uber Die Einfachen Zahlensysteme." ZeitschriftfiirMathmatik undPhysik, Vol. 14, 1869, pp. 121-28.

2. Staley, Patrick. "Computation with the Factorial Number System." Submitted to Communications of the ACM.

3. Knuth, Donald E. The Art of Computer Programming. Seminumerical Algorithms, Vol. 2. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969, pp. 175, 179-80, 493, 515.

4. Herstein, I. N. Topics in Algebra. 2d ed. New York: John Wiley &Sons, 1975.

Peter Wayner studies computer science at Cornell University.

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Since its launch in 1984, the most common application for the Transputer has been in the "personal supercomputer," an array of Transputers acting as a powerful calculating engine, with a conventional computer acting as a frontend and supplying disk and display services through a conventional operating system such as Unix or PC-DOS. For this type of work, and in embedded control applications, Transputer programs (usually written in the Occam language) run on the bare hardware, with no intervening operating system to provide standardized services.

Beyond the personal supercomputer arena, the lack of a standard operating system that runs on the Transputer itself has become an obstacle to its wider adoption. The Transputer has a totally new architecture and instruction set: on-chip static RAM in place of registers, a hardware stack for expression evaluation and a 4-gigabyte linear address space with no memory management. (See "The DSI Transputer Development System" by John Poplett and Rob Kurver in the February BYTE.) Because of these new features, industry-standard operating systems would need to be completely rewritten for the Transputer. More importantly though, no existing operating systems have the characteristics to make full use of the Transputer's power.

Existing multitasking/multiuser operating systems (e.g., Unix and its relatives) were originally developed on minicomputers and expect to see a single CPU that runs multiple tasks by time-slicing in a shared memory space. The Transputer was designed with an altogether different model of computing—one in which different processes run on different processors with separate memory spaces.

This model is more like a local-area network of machines, in which different tasks can be distributed to different workstations. Extensive efforts are being made to produce versions of Unix in which the kernel can be distributed over many processors, but no such version is in widespread use yet.

The job of providing a new sort of operating system for the Transputer is now approaching completion, spurred on by Atari's announcement of the Abaq at the Fall 1987 COMDEX. The new operating system is called Helios and is being written by Perihelion Software Ltd. of Cambridge, England. Perihelion Software is run by Tim King, late of Metacomco, developer of

AmigaDOS for the Commodore Amiga. Helios is a generalpurpose operating system for Transputer systems, and although Atari is an important customer for Helios, there are several others, including the graphics supercomputer firm, Meiko.

Transputer-Powered Graphics Workstation

"Abaq" is a Hebrew word meaning "from the sands" (suggesting silicon), and the root from which "abacus" is derived. The Atari Abaq was developed by Perihelion Ltd. (sister to Perihelion Software) and is due to be launched in September. [Editor's note: Because a Belgian firm has prior rights to the name Abaq, it is likely that Atari will have to find a new name before the September release.] It is a Transputer-powered graphics workstation that, at least in its first iteration, uses an Atari Mega ST as an I/O processor. At the time of this writing, it exists only as a board-level prototype. The basic machine will be powered by a single T800-20 floating-point Transputer, but more Transputers can be added in groups of four by inserting cards into expansion slots (three on the prototypes, but probably four in the final design).

At present, two versions of the Abaq are being planned. One is an add-on for an existing Atari Mega ST; the other is a standalone computer containing an ST motherboard. Both share the same technical specifications.

Because Atari doesn't provide the necessary expansion slots, the add-on unit will require the ST to be dismantled to gain access to the expansion bus on its motherboard, resulting in twin boxes and twin power supplies. The stand-alone machine will be housed in a single box with a footprint similar to the Mega ST's,

continued

m %

'Charity " blitter chip assists graphics creation.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 303

A PERSONAL TRANSPUTER

but deeper. An ST motherboard installs underneath a similarly sized board containing the 20-MHz Transputer and its 4 megabytes of dynamic RAM; the Abaq video circuitry and blitter with 1 megabyte of dual-ported video RAM; a SCSI port for the 40-megabyte hard disk drive, and the expansion slots.

The Abaq offers fast, high-resolution graphics assisted by a custom blitter chip, code-named Charity. Charity is an entirely new design; it is not the Atari device used in previous Mega STs. It is being implemented using an 8500-gate, 2-micron, CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) uncommitted logic array. Fifty working samples of the first revision have so far been made for development work. Charity performs block moves on two-dimensional rasters of color pixels. It employs 32-bit-wide data paths and shares the bus with the Transputer CPU; it can copy rasters to and from the full address range, not just within video RAM.

The chip normally reads and writes one address location at a time and can simultaneously handle 4 or 8 pixels, depending on the video mode. The blitter allows all the normal Boolean masking operations between source and destination for overlaying and transparency effects. It also permits tests on pixel values within a given range so that the programmer can distinguish absolute colors on the screen despite the possibly discontinuous mappings of the lookup table. Charity should perform general color blits at around 10 million pixels per second.

Charity also has a special pixel block mode (PBM) that can be used only when the destination raster lies entirely in video RAM. PBM permits 32 pixels to be written in one or two cycles—a process that gives an area-fill or line-drawing capability of from 64 to 128 million pixels per second (equivalent to about 100 full screens per second). PBM also puts single-color font data onto the screen extremely rapidly, enabling quick screen updating for desktop publishing applications.

The Abaq's video system has four display modes. Mode 0 furnishes a 1280- by 960-pixel display with 4 bits per pixel; mode 1, a 1024- by 768-pixel display with 8 bits per pixel; mode 2, a 640- by 480-pixel display with 8 bits per pixel, double buffered (i.e., two separate screens for animation effects); and mode 3, 512 by 480 pixels with 32 bits per pixel.

A 24-bit hardware color lookup table maps 8-bit inputs into 24-bit outputs. Full 8-bit digital-to-analog converters (DACs) are employed to provide the analog video signals to drive the color monitor's RGB guns.

In modes 1 and 2, you can choose the 256 displayed colors from a palette of 16 million. In mode 3, the color lookup table is bypassed and 8 video bits are sent directly to each DAC, giving a fixed palette of 16 million colors—the remaining 8 bits are used as overlay and tag bits. Overlay bits are decoded in hardware and can be used to support a number of hardware-encoded cursors, while the tag bits can be used by suitably written applications programs to mark separate screen areas for efficient object-oriented graphics and sprite effects.

Atari will be offering only one high-resolution monochrome monitor with a 146-MHz vertical scan rate for mode 0 operation in 16 shades of gray—features aimed at desktop publishing and CAD/CAM users. For other modes, off-the-shelf monitors such as the NEC MultiSync Plus or XL will suffice. Still under review is the question of color operation in mode 0—but the quality of monitor required would be very expensive.

So far, Abaq's developers have designed two kinds of Abaq expansion cards. The Transputer farm board contains four T800 Transputers with 1 megabyte of dynamic RAM each, while the memory expansion board contains 20 megabytes of DRAM. A four-slot Abaq could contain 17 Transputers or 84 megabytes of RAM, or combinations in between—for example, 13 Transputers and 24 megabytes of memory (three Transputer boards plus one memory board). No industry-standard bus has been

adopted for these cards that can simply receive the Transputer memory bus signals. The Transputer links are not brought to the edge connector, but you can join them independently with point-to-point wiring to set up different configurations.

In the prototype machines I saw, the Abaq/ST interface was rudimentary, but in the finished machine, you will be able to use GEM (the Digital Research Inc. standard operating system software supplied with the Atari ST) on the Abaq screen, and access the Abaq hard disk and other SCSI peripherals from the Atari ST.

The Helios Operating System

The Abaq is a powerful enough graphics workstation, but it is the Helios operating system that will make this workstation extraordinary. The goal of Helios is to allow Abaqs to be networked together in such a way that all the processors in all the machines are potentially available to all users.

Because typical workstation users are happy with Unix, Helios is deliberately being designed to look as much like Unix as possible. The Helios shell looks exactly like the Unix C Shell and supports all the normal Unix commands. Internally, however, it works very differently from Unix in several respects: Helios has a distributed kernel versus Unix's centralized kernel; it does not need to spawn new processes in software because the hardware handles this procedure; and it names every system object, whereas Unix names only files and directories.

However, Perihelion has emulated Unix version 7 calls to the point where much of the software—especially the development tools—can be ported by littie more than a recompilation. I have seen the MicroEMACS editor, running on an Abaq, ported using public domain C source code.

Thus, Perihelion is writing much of Helios in C rather than Occam; the rest is in Transputer assembly language. The in-house-produced C compiler is based on the excellent Norcroft portable compiler.

The Nucleus of Helios

Helios is a fully distributed operating system that works by message-passing. At a minimum, every Transputer in a Helios network must run a system program called the "nucleus," which consists of about 30K bytes of code. With its various workspaces, the nucleus needs about 100K bytes. The program is subdivided into four modules: the kernel, the processor manager, the loader, and the system library.

The kernel is responsible for managing all the Transputer's hardware resources; it implements the message-passing mechanism and allocates RAM to tasks from both the Transputer's onchip RAM and the external DRAM. The kernel also provides a service called the name server (described in more detail later), which contains list-processing and semaphore services.

The processor manager creates new tasks, controls them while they run, and then terminates them and releases their resources. In Helios, a task is not the same as a Transputer process. It is built out of one or more concurrent Transputer processes and will contain other resources like open files, static data areas, and dynamic storage such as a stack and a heap.

Helios doesn't need to support processes as such, because on the Transputer they are provided and scheduled by the hardware. Spawning a new process requires just a couple of Transputer instructions. Thus, Helios needs no equivalent of the Unix fork procedure.

The loader is responsible for loading objects into the processor and unloading them when they are no longer needed. It translates program images and puts them into memory, loads resident modules for code sharing, and handles data objects such as fonts and other bit-mapped images.

continued

304 BYTE- JUNE 1988

An inside look at

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JUNE 1988 'BYTE 305

A PERSONAL TRANSPUTER

The system library is a resident code module that supports the equivalent of the system calls in an ordinary operating system. All applications programs must talk to the machine through this library. Many tasks can share resident Helios modules, resulting in great code economy. The Helios Is command, for example, occupies 663 bytes compared to 1 IK bytes under Unix.

The system library also keeps track of the resources allocated to running tasks; a table of pointers to the task's resources is the first parameter passed in any Helios system call. A second library provides Unix-compatible system calls, thus localizing and isolating any Unix compatibility problems.

Server Tasks Are Transparent

The network hardware is uncomplicated and is based on buffered Transputer serial links that operate at up to 20 megabits per second. In the worst case, you will always have at least one Transputer in your own workstation. But when other users log off, you will be able to use the Transputers in the other workstations to accelerate your own software. Or there might be a large box of Transputers on the network, such as a Meiko Computing Surface, shared by all users—just as laser printers are currently shared by network users. First there were file and print servers. Now, Helios introduces us to the notion of a "compute server."

Helios tasks may communicate only through message-passing. By contrast, the individual processes within a task can communicate by any means a programmer may wish to devise. The overall Helios design is based on a client/server model with some similarities to that of AmigaDOS—no surprise, given that both designs are descended from the Cambridge Distributed Operating System. Applications tasks request services from system server tasks by sending them messages.

In Helios, server tasks can be running anywhere on the network and are totally transparent to the user and to applications programs. This transparency is achieved by the ability of the kernel's name-server task, which can search the network to locate other servers. Like files in an ordinary operating system, servers in Helios are called objects. When you type the Is command, you will see servers listed as well as files.

Running Is again on one of these server names will list its contents. If it is a disk server, you will get a directory of files. For another kind of server, you might get a list of running tasks. If you have the necessary access permissions, you could type Is followed by the path name of a disk belonging to another workstation in the network and it would be duly listed. From then on, the name of that disk drive would appear in the directory list for your own workstation, because the name server now knows its location.

Helios servers are written to be "stateless"; that is, the success of a request for a service never depends on the success of a previous request. Achieving statelessness involves some repetition of information; for example, every file read or write request must supply the name of the file and its position pointer. But the trade-off is that the system is inherently fault-tolerant; any request can be repeated until it succeeds.

The Message-Passing Mechanism

Helios' message-passing mechanism must be able to pass messages between tasks on different processors, as well as between tasks on the same processor. Helios handles this operation by sending messages to message "ports." These ports are software data structures that relate to the Transputer's hardware links in much the same way that tasks relate to processes. A message port located on a remote processor is represented in the sender processor by a surrogate port to which the message is sent.

This surrogate port contains a physical link address and passes the message to a port on a next-door-neighbor processor, which may itself be a surrogate port. The message is thus passed

hand to hand until it is eventually :• eeived by a real message port. The message leaves a trail of port descriptors in each processor through which it passes, pointing back to its source. By default, the surrogate ports along the trail will be deleted to avoid wasting memory, but you can set a flag in the message header to preserve the ports and hence keep the route open for use by further messages.

If for some reason (e.g., a hardware or software failure) a message cannot be delivered to its destination, an exception is raised and returned to the sender for another try. If the exception itself fails to arrive, a timeout will occur on one of the ports. There are no routine acknowledgments of messages; they are assumed to have arrived safely if no exception is returned. Theoretically, it would be safer to have the receiver acknowledge every message, but such a process would double the time it takes to send a message. This trade-off can be justified by the high reliability of Transputer links compared to a conventional LAN.

You can build further error recovery into applications programs at a higher level. For example, the program could lock out dead links or processors (as it would bad disk sectors) and reroute messages through the good parts of the system.

While the Helios messaging system is simple and speedy, the link speed of 20 megabits per second is not fast compared to the speed with which a 10-MIPS Transputer accesses memory. Thus, message-sending is still a relatively slow operation. Tasks that need to have a predictable real-time response must either poll the reply port using a short timeout—so they are not suspended waiting for the reply—or else spawn a child process to watch the port for them.

Distributing Programs

Since there is no hardware memory protection available, Helios provides a software protection scheme based on capabilities. A capability is a 64-bit data structure that contains a checksum encrypted with an access mask.

This scheme operates all the way from the level of protecting data objects from the unwanted attentions of rogue tasks, to restricting human access to files. Whenever a task creates a new object, the system gives the object a unique encryption key with which it encrypts its creator's access mask and then returns the capability. A task can only access that object if it owns a valid capability containing the necessary access permission.

All client requests to servers must be accompanied by a valid capability—this process is rather like presenting a credit card, Helios allows only whole programs, rather than their component processes, to be assigned to separate processors. In this respect, Helios represents a regression from the highly parallel approach taken by Occam.

A native Occam program running on the bare hardware can have many component processes executed concurrently on different Transputers, enabling the implementation of highly parallel algorithms such as pipelines. The Helios approach, however, still allows three lesser levels of parallelism.

The first level is Unix-like; pipes connect small single-function programs such as file filters, or editors and compilers. A HeliOs routine called the task-force manager assigns each such program to a separate processor, if enough are available, and implements the pipes using real Transputer links. The processors can either come from the user's own cluster of private workstation processors, or be allocated from a shared pool just for the duration of the execution.

You can place frequently used programs, such as compilers, on a particular shared processor permanently and direct all invocations of the program to that processor. If a program is well behaved—if it doesn't corrupt memory belonging to other programs—this processor may be shared by several users. Other

continued

306 BYTE* JUNE 1988

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wise, Helios never allows tasks from different users to be assigned to the same processor.

The second level of parallelism involves large programs that you can divide into modules and allocate to different processors. This division is often easy to perform, since many large programs are already written as a number of overlays. The process involves creating a blueprint file that holds a description of the application components with their memory requirements, relative placements, connections to other modules and so on. The task-force manager uses this file to place the components and execute the application.

It would be much better to have a task-force manager that could simply look at a program and decide how best to distribute it over the processors. Although this goal is the object of many current research projects, it lies well beyond the present state of the art.

The final level, with the finest granularity and highest degree of parallelism, is the Occam compatibility level. Helios can execute Occam programs by taking the components of an Occam PLACED PAR construct (a group of concurrent processes) and building a blueprint file for them, then allocating each component to a processor. Each component is made into a whole program by wrapping it in a cocoon of processes that interface to Helios system services and translating raw Occam channel communications into Helios messages.

Helios Development Tools

In addition to the C compiler already mentioned, Perihelion offers a Transputer assembler and linker and is working on a debugger that will allow one Transputer to monitor the activity of another, offering features that are normally found only in hardware debuggers. Other firms are preparing Transputer Pascal, FORTRAN, Lisp, and BCPL compilers, as well as a Helioshosted Occam compiler.

Perihelion will supply graphics support for the programmer by porting Xwindows VI1, the public domain Unix window manager that is fast becoming a standard; it has been adopted by large manufacturers such as Apollo and Hewlett-Packard. Perihelion hopes to have beta-test versions available by July. Helios will perform all graphics operations by sending messages to an Xwindows graphics server that drives the blitter. As an alternative to the C Shell, Xwindows will also be used to implement a windows/icons/mouse/pull-down-menus (WIMP) user interface.

Perihelion has written a number of disk servers. Several servers can be installed in the same system using different disk formats. Floppy servers for the IBM PC, Atari ST, and BBC Micro already exist, while the hard disk server uses a Unix 4.2 format, extended to include the Helios protection scheme.

The Future According to Transputers

The Abaq/Helios project promises to liberate the Transputer from its present confinement in the supercomputer laboratory to, at the very least, the engineering office and teaching lab. Although prices have not yet been fixed, at the time of the Abaq's announcement, Atari spokesmen said that the company hoped to keep the price below $5000.

Clearly, the Abaq is not yet the Transputer machine for the rest of us. But such a price would be relatively inexpensive for a workstation network that should provide at least as much power as the newest offerings from Sun and Apollo. And Helios could become the basis for even less expensive machines that will finally truly bring the Transputer into the personal computer arena. ■

Dick Fountain is a BYTE contributing editor, a technical author, and a software consultant living in London, England.

308 BYTE • JUNE 1988

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It's indispensable.

by David L. Fox

Dynamic Memory Management in C

Here's how to use C's built-in memory functions to produce better programs, plus some debugging code to make using them easier

emory management is the process by which programs keep track of where the data they need is stored in the computer's memory. When the correspondence between data and physical memory locations changes during the execution

of a program, its memory management is said to be dynamic. Some pitfalls are waiting for you when you use C's memory

management tools, but there are techniques for avoiding them.

C Memory Management and Memory Functions

Much of the memory management done by C is transparent to the programmer. For example, the declaration int i; reserves one word of memory to store the value of the variable i. If this declaration occurs outside a function, then other functions can access i; in this case, i is an external, or global, variable. If the declaration occurs inside a function, the word used to store i is allocated on the stack. Here, the allocated memory is available inside the function, but discarded when the function returns, making it available for use by another function. This sophisticated memory management scheme requires no effort on your part: You simply declare a variable, and it is available wherever the declaration is in effect. In addition to the built-in memory management through global and local declarations, the standard C library contains several functions that give the programmer access to the heap. These functions are listed in table 1.

The malloc () function returns a pointer to a region of at least size contiguous bytes of memory that can be used in any way you see fit. Free () returns a block of memory to the heap that was obtained by malloc (). Malloc () and free() are the same as new() and dlspose() in Pascal. Realloc() changes the size of a block of memory reserved by malloc (). The memory block requested can be larger or smaller in size. It is important to note that realloc () may modify the pointer to the memory block. If this happens, the contents of the original block (up to the smaller of either the old or the new block size) are copied to the new location. Finally, calloc() provides an alternative to malloc () when requesting a block. It differs from malloc () in two ways: It uses two arguments to specify the block size, and it zeros the contents of the allocated memory block.

Advantages of the Memory Functions

Why would anyone use these functions when C has built-in memory management for variables? One answer is that a C

Illustration by TomCentola © 1988

compiler can allocate only fixed amounts of memory for a program when it is compiled. For example, suppose you have written a program for sorting a list of numbers. Before the numbers are sorted, they are read into an array in memory that's declared as double numbers [1000];.

This array works fine until you need to sort a list of 1001 numbers. To fix the problem, you can change the declaration to double numbers [5000]; and recompile the program. This solves the immediate problem of sorting the larger list, but it introduces a new problem: The rest of the memory reserved for the array goes to waste. Worse, the program won't load unless it has enough memory to allocate the entire array, whether or not all of the array is used. If the array is large enough, the program won't run at all on many microcomputers. Only those with lots of memory will work. You can avoid both problems by using malloc () or calloc () to dynamically allocate memory for the array, making it as large as possible on a given machine at run time. This would fail only when the data set is too large for the machine—a limitation that everyone must live with.

Unnecessary limits caused by fixed array sizes are all too common. For example, in MS-DOS, try setting the Path environment variable to a string of more than 127 characters. As in the previous example, using fixed-size arrays to store the command lines is wasteful, since you must make the array size large enough to hold the longest possible line. Listing 1 shows a routine called getline() that reads a line of any length. This routine avoids the wastefulness of fixed-size blocks by adjusting the

continued

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 313

DYNAMIC MEMORY MANAGEMENT

Table 1: The common C language functions that access the heap.

#include<stdlib.h>

Purpose: ANSI standard header containing declarations of memory management functions.

size_t

Purpose: The integral type (defined in <stddef.h>) of the result of the sizeof operator.

void size_t

*malloc(size) size;

Purpose: Dynamically allocates memory. The size of the memory requested, in bytes, is passed to malloc(). A pointer to the block is returned if the operation is successful; otherwise, NULL is returned.

void char

free(pointer) xpointer;

Purpose: Releases memory blocks allocated by oalloc(), realloc (), or malloc (). The pointer to the block is passed tofree().

void

*realloc(oldptr, newsize

void

*oldptr;

size_t

newsize;

Purpose: Modifies the size of an allocated memory block while preserving its contents. A pointer to the old block is passed to realloc (). A pointer to the new block is returned if the operation is successful; otherwise, NULL is returned. The pointer returned can be different from the one passed to realloc():

void *calloc(nitem, itemsize)

size_t nitem;

size_t itemsize;

Purpose: Similar in function to malloc (), except that the contents of the block are zeroed. The size of the allocated block (in bytes) is nitem*itemsize. A pointer to a block whose size can hold the items requested is returned if the operation is successful; otherwise, NULL is returned.

size of every block to the line it contains. It reads characters and stores them in an array created by malloc () until a new line character is read. If the array fills up, it is expanded by calling realloc().

When blocks of memory are needed at different times, malloc ( ) and free() allow the program to reuse memory. For example, the code fragment below can use the same memory (at different times) for an array of integers and an array of pointers. This can often reduce the total amount of memory required to run a program, or it can allow larger amounts of data to be processed in a given amount of memory.

char **s;

int *p;

/* Allocate space for an

array of 1000 integers. */ p = (int *)malloc(1000*sizeof(int));

/* Finished with integers. */ free(p);

/* Allocate space for an

array of 1000 pointers. */ s = (char **)malloc(1000*sizeof(char *)) ,

/* Finished with pointers. */

The examples given so far have all dealt with simple arrays. The benefits of using malloc () and free() to perform dynamic memory management are multiplied when they're used with more complex data structures, such as linked lists and trees. While it is possible to store a tree in an array of node structures, you must keep track of which array elements contain active nodes and which are unused and available as new nodes. Malloc () does all the bookkeeping for you. To create an empty node structure, you simply execute

nodeptr = (struct node *)malloc(sizeof (struct node));

When the node is no longer needed, you use free(nodeptr); to get rid of it.

Disadvantages

Like most things of value, the benefits of dynamic memory management are not without cost. The first drawback that comes to mind is increased overhead. This overhead turns out to be quite small. The memory allocated by malloc () is as efficient as any pointer in C. The extra work is required only when a block is created or released. The additional memory used by malloc () for bookkeeping is significant only if many very small blocks are being used.

Dynamic memory management's second cost is that debugging is more difficult. Exceeding the size of an allocated memory block is one of the toughest programming errors to find and correct. Adjacent areas of memory are written into as a result of this error, and you won't detect the damage until you attempt to use the contents of the overwritten memory. These modified values generate all sorts of strange bugs that don't point to the real problem. In the case of an array allocated at compile time, the variables assigned to memory adjacent to the offending array are determined by the declarations in the source code. Since related variables are often declared together, there is a good chance that the problem will be localized.

The location of objects in memory is not under your direct control when you use malloc (), and there is a good chance that completely unrelated data will be stored adjacent to one another in memory. Even worse, most implementations of malloc() store the data needed to maintain the free list adjacent to the allocated block. Overrunning the end of a block won't destroy data visible to you, but it corrupts the free list. As before, this causes problems when you attempt to allocate a new block of memory using the damaged portion of the free list, and the program may crash as a result—even while executing code that is far from the actual cause of the problem. This kind of bug is very difficult to locate.

The free list can also be damaged by calling free () with a pointer that wasn't obtained from malloc (). This error is easy to make when a program is allocating memory for many data structures. The seriousness of this error depends on the implementation of free (). Consistent with the lean and mean philosophy of C, most versions of f re e () do only minimal checking.

continued

314 BYTE' JUNE 1988

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DYNAMIC MEMORY MANAGEMENT

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BYTE W

Listing 1: The source code for getline.c, a routine that reads a line and adjusts storage to hold the line, regardless of its length.

/* getline.c -- Read a line. */ #include <stdio.h> ♦include <stdlib.h> ♦include <stddef.h>

/* getline -- Read one line from file */ /* infile into a string allocated by */ /* malloc. Return NULL on error, */ /* otherwise a pointer to the string. */

♦define MEMINCR 256 /* Increment in

size of memory block. */

char *getline(infile)

FILE *infile;

{

char *r;

size_t n,m;

int c;

n = 0; /* # of bytes read. */

m = MEMINCR; /* Available space. */ r = malloc(m+1); /* Allow room for \0 */ do {

if (— m == 0) {

if ((r = reallocfr, n+MEMINCR+1)) == NULL) {

return NULL; )

m = MEMINCR; ) if ((c = getc(infile)) == EOF) {

return NULL; }

r[n++] = c; ) while (c != '\n') ;

r[n] » '\0'; /* Terminate the string. */ if ((r = realloc(r, n+1)) == NULL) {

return NULL; } return r;

This minimizes the overhead of calling free() but transfers the responsibility of writing correct code to the programmer.

Avoiding Bugs

Since programs using malloc () to manage memory are susceptible to some nasty bugs, the best course is to write correct code in the first place. By far the most effective way to minimize the number of bugs in your code is to think before you write. The extra time spent on careful design of the program and its data structures will be more than repaid when debugging the code.

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continued

316 BYTE' JUNE 1988

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 317

DYNAMIC MEMORY MANAGEMENT

Listing 2: A function to handle error-checking for calls to malloc(). If the request fails, the program is stopped after printing an error message; otherwise, the pointer returned by malloc () is passed to the program.

I* mmalloc — Allocate nbytes of memory using mallocO. Exit if malloc() fails. */

♦include <stdlib.h> char * mmalloc(nbytes) unsigned nbytes; { register char *s;

if ((s = malloc(nbytes)) == NULL) { fprintf(stderr, "Out of memory!\n\ Request for %u bytes failed.\n", nbytes); exit (1) ;

/* ExitO could be replaced with a call to a garbage collection or compaction routine and the malloc retried. */

}

return s; /* Return only if s points to a valid block of memory. */

program does not work correctly. The choice between a program that produces the wrong answer quickly and one that gives correct results more slowly is obvious.

Now consider some ways to make the use of malloc () more reliable. Always check the value returned by malloc () to verify that memory was actually allocated. It's a nuisance to have to write if (malloc (...)== NULL) error (...); every time you need to allocate some memory, especially when you're certain there is enough memory. You can avoid this inconvenience by using the function supplied in listing 2.

The idea of encapsulating the error-checking in a separate routine is a simple example of the general principle of information hiding. Malloc () itself provides another example. The details of how malloc () keeps track of the size and location of available memory blocks are hidden from the program calling malloc (). This has several advantages: Keeping the interface to the rest of the program simple minimizes the chance of making an error. The methods and data structures hidden inside a library routine can be thoroughly tested and verified, independentiy of any application.

A Debugging Tool

No matter how carefully you design and write your programs, sooner or later you will be bitten by one of the nasty bugs dynamic memory management makes possible. There is a debugging tool that will help you find the source of the problem.

The basic idea is this: Before every call to a memory management function, insert code that will make a copy of the sizes and locations of blocks allocated by malloc (). This copy is compared with the information maintained by malloc (). Any discrepancy is reported immediately. This lets you locate the source of the error at once instead of waiting for the delayed and often disastrous results of overwriting adjacent memory.

The debugging code is in the form of three routines (tmalloc(), trealloc(), and tfree()) that are called instead of the corresponding library functions. These routines are located in memmchk.c. The comments in memmchk.c tell you how to make these functions available to your program, and address implementation details.

To implement such a tool, you need to know how malloc() works. This violation of information-hiding results in a severe portability problem, since there are many ways to write a mem

ory allocator. You would need a different version for every C compiler. I've used Kernighan and Ritchie's implementation of malloc, as published in their book, The C Programming Language (Prentice Hall, 1978, page 173), to guide the implementation of the debugging routines presented here. Since this book should be in every C programmer's library, you can use it to assist you in porting the debugging routines to a new compiler. As described by K & R, the basic data structure used by malloc () is the free list, which is a linked list of available memory blocks. Each block in the list has an associated header structure containing the size of the block and a pointer to the next block in the list. Blocks that have been allocated and that the program is using are not included in this linked list, but they still have a header containing the size of the block. A call to malloc () results in a search of the free list to find a block large enough to satisfy the request. This block, or a portion of it, is then removed from the free list, and a pointer to it is returned to the caller. Free () inserts the block pointed to into the free list at the correct location and updates the link pointers in the header structures to maintain the free list. To prevent memory fragmentation, adjacent free blocks are merged. Only the structure of the header is important to the debugging tool. This structure is

struct header ( struct header *ptr;

/* Link to next block. */ unsigned int size;

/* Size of block. */ };

Although the details differ, all the versions of malloc () I have seen use a variation of this algorithm. I've used the debug functions in memmchk.c successfully with Ecosoftlnc.'s C88 C compiler 4.05. I've also used Manx Software Systems' Aztec C86 C compiler 4.10, although I had to add K & R's version of malloc to use memmchk. c with it. If you have the source code for your library, you might want to tailor the malloc() checker in memmchk.c to your compiler.

In addition to checking the block size and location on every call to free () or realloc (), another check is performed: The number of blocks in the free list is counted every time a memory management routine is called. Since only one block at a time is added to or removed from the free list, any substantial change in the length of the free list between memory calls indicates that pointers connecting the linked list are corrupted.

Finally, there is a routine called memlst() to list all the currently allocated memory blocks. This can be useful if called at the end of your program. If all the allocated blocks are freed, it should not produce any output. If some blocks are still allocated, it indicates that you do not have memory management under complete control. The uncertainty about which blocks are in use and which are not can be a source of serious errors.

Using C's dynamic memory management functions results in programs that are portable and that adapt to the amount of memory available on the host computer. The disadvantages can be controlled by careful program design and the coding techniques I've described. Attention to program design and good programming style, especially important with dynamic memory management, will improve the reliability of any program. ■

Editor's note: The C source code for the debugging tools is available in a variety of formats. See page 3 for details. To use the tools, you '11 need a C compiler.

David L. Fox of Golden, Colorado, is the chief scientist at Minimum Instruction Set Computer Inc. He has spent the last 4 years developing programmers' tools and expert systems.

318 BYTE" JUNE 1988

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JUNE 1988 'BYTE 319

The Best Education

For the sixth straight year, the best Seminar Series anywhere in the computer industry is free to all Volume Buyers — corporate and reseller — attending PC EXPO on June 21-23 in New York. In an industry where information and education command a high price, no other computer trade event can match the value that PC EXPO provides volume buyers like you.

No one else matches PC EXPO's quality either In fact, most experts rank it #1 in the industry; What's even more important is the response our Seminar Series gets from you. When assessing PC EXPO sessions in terms of applicability to their jobs, overall content and level of information presented, over 92 percent of all Volume Buyers rated them as very good or excellent.

Tuesday, June 2 I PC EXPO KEYNOTE 9:00 a.m. Ned C. Lautenbach, IBM Vice President, and President, National Distribution Division, kicks off the industry's best Seminar Series.

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CHAOS MANOR MAIL

continued from page 34

puting at Chaos Manor. I agree that C compilers are getting better and more competitive. I have only three, but I find that they vary considerably in completeness and technical support.

My venture into the world of C has been as a self-taught hobbyist rather than as a professional. I am therefore more sensitive to and irritated by systems and documentation that assume all users are computer science graduates who write their own functions in assembly language to fill in the missing gaps in the product.

My sad experience with Borland's Turbo C is an example, even though you generously suggested it as a "clear choice for beginners and dilettantes." I am somewhere between these extremes, but I find this package one of the most deficient of the lot. Can you imagine a system that comes with two nice volumes of instructions and functions, yet doesn't contain one C function for even clearing the screen? In fact, the IBM PC version contains practically no screen functions whatsoever. You cannot locate cursor position, read the cursor column or line, or even scroll.

On the bright side of this competition, C Ware's excellent DeSmet C compiler and debugger provide no less than 17 screen-level functions to simplify the interface between the C program and the IBM PC and its clones. You can fold them into the standard function library with a simple routine.

When I wrote to Borland asking for help or information on the Turbo C deficiency, the company took more than 3 months to answer and then simply told me that no screen functions were provided because they were "not standard." To my amazement, Borland recommended that I buy these functions from another company. So much for Borland's support for what might otherwise be a useful compiler. I am now back and

happy with my C Ware DeSmet C compiler, while Borland's inadequate product is gathering dust on my bookshelf. Let the nondilettante buyer beware.

Walter K. Mac Adam Hanover, NH

Thanks. As I said in my column, I have to base what I say about C compilers on what I'm told by people I farm them out to; I don't program in C, and I have little right to an opinion of my own. Perhaps the people I used to test Turbo C were too advanced to notice the problem ?—Jerry

Does BYTE Slight Amiga?

Dear Jerry,

I'm somewhat surprised that your February column devoted so much space to the Atari Mega ST. I am the former owner of an Amiga 1000 and now the happy owner of an Amiga 2000.

I'm not anti-Atari. I just don't believe that you or the other writers who contribute articles to BYTE are giving the Amiga its due. I can understand how you might have trouble dealing with Commodore. I certainly have. I think, however, that the company seems to be getting its act together and appears to be more responsive to its customers. I wouldn't have bought another Amiga if I didn't think the company was on the right track. There were times I wished I'd purchased a Macintosh or any other computer, but I don't feel that way now.

Quite a few new third-party hardware products are now on the market or being developed for the Amiga. Significant software is showing up. I don't see any mention of it in BYTE. The last article of consequence was the Commodore A2000 product preview in March 1987. A lot has changed between then and now.

In the low-cost home market, Commodore offers the 500, a computer that stacks up quite well against the Ataris and in many respects offers a better, more ex

pandable value. The 2000 has given the Amiga owner a machine whose expandability and flexibility are far-reaching: 68020 and 68030 cards, MS-DOS and possible OS/2 compatibility, possible Macintosh compatibility, 704- by 470pixel resolution, a multiscan board, and rumored new Denise and Agnes upgrades, just to name some of the advantages.

I'd appreciate it if you'd see what could be done to bring the developments in this line of computers to the attention of BYTE readers. If you and any other writers for BYTE have serious objections or reservations concerning the Amiga, I wish you'd address them in the magazine. I'd hate to think that you would just ignore it.

John H. Harvey Jr. Minneapolis, MN

I think you have two misconceptions. First, I rely on the BYTE people in Peterborough for support and information, but my column is an independent operation.

Second, I live in Hollywood, amidst huge stacks of hardware and software, and there's only me to deal with it all. I try to keep up with what's going on, but so much comes in that I'm hard-pressed to look at it all. The fact is that Atari takes the trouble to see that I get most of the interesting third-party hardware and software for its machines, and Commodore doesn 't.

I recently got an Amiga 2000 and had a couple of Amiga experts over to help set it up; I'll have a report pretty soon. However, I can write only about what's here, and the Commodore machines I have are pure vanilla. On the Amiga 2000, the IBM PC half has exactly the same speed as the earliest PC, while the Amiga half is built around a 68000. No 68020 on the Amiga, and no way to run OS/2 on the PC. I wish I did have something with all the goodies you describe. Does anyone?—Jerry ■

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Advertise in the new BYTE magazine and let the people other people come to for advice help spread your message. We have a total of 420,000 paid readers who are powerful because they're knowledgeable. Each one is a leader in personal computer decisionmaking at his company. And each one believes that ads in BYTE are a valuable source of information.

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JOB PROTECTION

If your job depends on your computer, you should have our FREE catalog. Call (800) 356-5794 Ext. 8995 for a FREE catalog from the world's largest manufacturer of single phase uninterruptible power supplies. Call or write today!

BEST POWER TECHNOLOGY, INC.

RO. Box 280, Necedah, Wl 54646 In Wis. (60S) 565-7200 Ext. 8995 (800) 356-5794 Ext. 8995

Inquiry 578.

muLISP™ 87 for MS-DOS

Fast, compact, efficient LISP programming environment. muLISP programs run 2 to 3 times faster & take V2 to V3 the space of other LISPs. 450 Common LISP functions, multi-window editing & debugging, flavors, graphics primitives, lessons & help, demo programs, comprehensive manual.

Soft Warehouse, Inc.

3615 Harding Ave., Suiie 505, Honolulu, HI 96816

(808) 734-5801

BAR CODE MADE EASY

PERCON® E-Z-READER'" keyboard interlaces and multiuser RS-232 models make it easy to add bar code to virtually any computer/terminal WITHOUT SOFTWARE MODIFICATION. Immediate shipping Two year warranty. Bar code printing soltware available. Call for details on last, accurate, easy data entry. Substantial reseller discounls.

PERCON®

2190 W. 11th St., Eugene, OR 97402 (503) 344-1189

Inquiry 583.

Inquiry 585.

BAR CODE

RE-INK FABRIC RIBBONS

Cut ribbon cost by using Borg Ribbon Inkers. Do all cartridge ribbons with just one inker. Choose from 3 models. Manual E-Zee Inker — $39.50 Electric E-Zee Inker — $89.50 Ink Master (Electric) — $159.00 1000's of satisfied users in 5 years. Moneyback guarantee.

BORG INDUSTRIES

525 MAIN ST., JANESVILLE, IA 50647 1-800-553-2404

BAR CODE READERS

For PC/XT/AT, and ALL PS/2 models—attaches as 2nd keyboard, reads as keyed data. External mounting via velcro to side of monitor, OR in short slot of PC, XT, AT. PC—$385. PS/2, Kimtrom, & RS-232 models—$399. UPC/EAN, 2 of 5, Code 39. MagStripe +$100. Badge Readers—Lasers too! 30 day $ back.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls St.. Santa Cruz. CA 95060 (800) 345-4220 In CA: (408) 458-9938

READ & PRINT BAR CODES

Fast, reliable data entry into your programs as if from your keyboard. Internal unit for PC, XT, AT PS/2-M30. RS-232 unit for DOS & Non-DOS systems (incl. all PS/2). Stainless steel wand and LASER interfaces. Powerful Bar Code and Text printing software.

Seagull Scientific Systems

601 University Ave., Suite 150, Sacramento, CA 95825 (916) 386-1776

Inquiry 579.

SELF-INKING PRINTER RIBBON

Awarded United States Patent #4701062 Lasts 10-15 times longer than the conventional ribbon For printers using W width open spool ribbon: Okidala-82A-83A-84-92-93 Dec LA 180/120 Teletype-33, 35 Dec LA 30/IBM 1443

Star Gemini 10X Teletype-Model 40

Extel Tl 800/810, 820, 880

Contact us by mail, phone or [elex and we will forward you a brochure.

CONTROLLED PRINTOUT DEVICES, INC.

POB 869, Baldwin Rd., Arden, NC 28704 (704) 684-9044 • TELEX: (FILMON-AREN) 577454

Inquiry 580.

PRINT BAR CODES/BIG TEXT FROM YOUR PROGRAM

Add bar codes and big graphics text to your program. Print from inside of dBASE, BASIC, C, etc. Bar codes UPC, EAN, 2 J 5, Code 39. Epson/Oki/IBM dot matrix text up to V2". LaserJet fonts up to 2" (156 pts). tall. $159-$239. 30 day $$ back guarantee.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingafis St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (800) 345-4220 In CA: (408) 458-9938

BAR CODE READERS

Among the industries best and most widely used barcode reader, reads all major barcode formats (code 39, 2 of 5, UPC/EAN, codabar), connects between keyboard & system, advanced CMOS uses keyboard power supply, connects to all IBM compatibles and DIN terminals, completely OS independent, software independent. Same day ship, 1 year warranty, 30 day satisfaction guarantee. CALL for prices too low to advertise.

Solutions Engineering Sales

8653 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910

800-635-6533

Inquiry 587.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 327

The Buyer's Mart

BAR CODE

COMPUTER BOOKS

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

DATA INPUT DEVICES

Bar Code & Magnetic Stripe Readers for microcomputers & terminals, including IBM PS/2 & others, DEC, AT&T, CT, Wyse, Wang. All readers connect on the keyboard cable & are transparent to all software. Low cost bar code print programs & magnetic encoders are also available. GSA contract #GS00K87AGS5346.

TPS Electronics

4047 Transport, Palo Alto, CA 94303 415-856-6833 Telex 371-9097 TPS PLA

Inquiry 588.

Books! Books! Books!

If it's published and about IBM or compatible computers, we probably have it. Books about applications, programming, operating systems, utilities, hardware and much more. Call today for a free catalogue.

Book Express

Dept. 100, 851 Weidner Ct. South, Buffalo Grove. IL 60089 1.800.234-2620

Inquiry 594.

COMPUTER INSURANCE

Professional Series

Pseudocode releases its PseudoSam Professional Series of cross assemblers. All popular processors. Macros, Conditional Assembly, and Include Files. Virtually unlimited size. For IBM PC's, MS-DOS 2.0 or greater. With manual for $35.00. Each additional $20.00. (Ml res. 4% tax). Visa/MC. (Dealer Inquiries Welcome.) Order from distributor: Micro Kit

6910 Patterson. Caledonia, Ml 49316, 616-791-9333.

Inquiry 600.

BAR CODE SCANNER/READER

For PC/XT/AT and compatibles, and APPLE II. Keyboard

emulating model with wand for only $249. Reads 2 of 5.

UPC/EAN/JAN/UPC E. Code 39, CODABAR with 1 yr.

warranty.

Also RS-232C and CENTRONICS models with choice of

wands, hand-held, and auto scanners.

Call or write for free catalog.

TRADE MATRIX of Silicon Valley

3639 Satinwood Dr., San Jose, CA 95148 (800) 222-4229 Ext. 39, (408) 238-1784

Inquiry 589.

BANKRUPTCY/SURPLUS

INSURES YOUR COMPUTER

SAFEWARE provides full replacement of hardware, media and purchased software. As little as $39 a year provides comprehensive coverage. Blanket coverage; no list of equipment needed. One call does it all. Call 8 am-10 pm ET. (Sat. 9 to 5)

TOLL FREE 1-800-848-3469

(Local 614-262-0559)

SAFEWARE, The Insurance Agency Inc.

Inquiry 595.

680X0 Cross Assemblers

Now, inexpensive quality 608X0 Cross Assemblers that use your IBM PC or compatible. All versions include extensive listing facilities, up to 32 char labels, sorted symbol tables, INCLUDE files, PATH names, ORG, DC, OS. EOU. many other directives (except MACROS), printed manuals. Bask: versions create Srecords. Linking versions create either S-records or relocatable modules, and include a linker which creates S-records or binary output files. Not copy protected. Minimum requirements are 320K. DOS 2.XX. & 1-5'A" DSDD. Basic 68000V680!0-$49S5 Linking 63000/68010—$8995

Basic 68020/68881—S149S5 Chads, WS4. MC accepted. MN residents +6% sales lax. No PO's or CODS

{**s* RAVEN computer Systems

Box 12116, St. Paul, MN 55112 (612) 636-0365

Inquiry 601.

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

IBM • Apple • DEC • HP • Wang • Tektronix • NEC

The bridge between you and bankruptcies & auctions:

The Bankruptcy Newsletter

A member of your team but. . . no retainer, no staffing,

no employee benefits, no. .. But we do offer:

Service. We attend sales looking for items for our

subscribers within their price range.

Newsletter. We publish 30+ pages weekly listing

auctions of computers & inventories plus much more.

Call for details: 209/296-3626

FASTER TMS32020/C25

Macro Assembler only $49.95

Ariel Corporation 212-925-4155

110 Greene Street, Suite 404, New York, New York 10012 DSP BBS: 212-925-4131

300. 1200/2400 MNP-5, 9600 UST B bits, no parity, 1 stop bil

ASSEMBLERS & TRANSLATORS

Over 20 high quality, full function, fast relocatable and absolute macro assemblers are available immediately Source language translators help you change microcomputers. Call for info about MS/DOS. CPM80, ISIS versions.

HELMS"

P.O. Box 6719

San Jose, California 95150

(408) 356-1210

TWX 910-379-0014

Inquiry 590.

Inquiry 596.

Inquiry 602.

CAD/CAM

True 3-D CAD/CAM on a PC!

CADKEY 3 Reg $3,195. . .$2,695

CADExpert Reg $395...S325

CADKEY 1 Reg $495. . .$425

Solid Synthesis Reg $495...S425

CADJET Templates for CADKEY 3 CALL

VISA/MC/Company PDs Accepted

— 703-977-6520 —

HLB Technology

PO Box 527, Blue Ridge, VA 24064

Inquiry 591.

COMMUNICATIONS

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

Universal Linker, Librarian Targets for 36 Microprocessors

Hosts: PC/MS DOS, micro VAX, VAX 8000 Developed and supported at:

ENERTEC, INC.

BOX 1312, Lansdale, PA 19446 215-362-0966 MC/VISA

Inquiry 597.

Z80/HD64180

SLR Systems cross assemblers run on PC and are compatible with Microsoft M80/L80. $195.00 for assembler and linker. We have CP/M emulator cards for PC. Up to 125 mhz Z80 clock speed, starting at $249.95! Also Z80/HD64180 C compilers.

Z-World

1772 Picasso Ave.. Davis, CA 95616 (916) 753-3722

Inquiry 603.

DATA CONVERSION

MULTI-USER BBS (FOR IBM PC AT)

TEAMate — a mainframe quality BBS. A mini CompuServe. Full screen cursor-controlled interface, topic outline structure, public and private topics, audit trails, xmodem, integrated mail, content retrieval and more. MS-DOS, XENIX and UNIX versions.

MMB Development Corporation

1021 No Sepulveda Blvd.. Suite K, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 1-800-832-6022, In CA (213) 545-1455

Inquiry 592.

8051 SIMULATOR

Superb full function debugger simulator supports

all 8051 modes of interrupt, just like the real thing!

Full disassembler and many unique features,

ONLY $150.00

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

For Z80, 8080/8085, 8048, 8051, and 8096

still $75.00 eachl

LEAR COM COMPANY

2440 Kipling St.. Suite 206, Lakewood, CO 80215

(303) 232-2226

Inquiry 598.

MEDIA CONVERSION/DATA TRANSLATION

More than just a straight dump or ASCII transfer! Word Processing, DBMS, and Spreadsheet data on Disks or Tapes transferred directly into applications running an Mainframes, Minis, Micros, Dedicated Word Processors, Typesetters, and Electronic Publishing systems. IBM PS/2 & Macintosh supported #1 in the translation industry!

CompuData Translators, Inc.

3325 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1202, Los Angeles, CA 90010 (213) 387-4477 1-800-825-8251

Inquiry 604.

DATA/DISK CONVERSIONS

FAX MACHINES/PC SYSTEMS

MURATA FAX 1200/1600 $795/925

SHARP FAX FO300/FO500 $1195/1495

TOSHIBA FAX 30100/3300 S1088/1240

AT&T 3500/3510/3520 $1395/1595/1695

RICOH FAX 10/20 $1220/1550

CANNON FAX 20 $1279

PC/XT Receive/Transmit FAX + Scanner $1595

PC/XT Telephone Answer & Voicemail $1195

HP LASER JET II $1625

TOSHIBA Laptops 1000/1100/3100 $769/1395/2225

Prepay prices Visa/MC 2% cod2% restock 20% TELEPHONE PRODUCTS CENTER 23591 #213 El Toro Rd„ El Toro, CA 92630 714/739-9555

Inquiry 593. 328 BYTE' JUNE 1988

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

8 BIT DEBUG/SIMULATORS

DISASSEMBLERS

EPROM, 8748, PLD Programmers All run in PC/XT/AT Full featured

MICROCOMPUTER TOOLS

Phone (800) 443-0779 In CA (415) 825-4200

912 Hastings Dr., Concord, CA 94518

Inquiry 599.

Get the Expertise You Need!

Disk/Disk • Tape/Disk • OCR

Over 1,000 formatsl 3V2, 51/i. or 8 inch disks; 9 track mag tape; 10 MB Bernoulli cartridge. Data base and word processor translation. Specialists in Government Security Data. Call for free consultation.

Computer Conversions, Inc.

9580 Black Mtn. Rd„ Ste J, San Diego, CA 92126 (619) 693-1697

Inquiry 605.

The Buyer's Mart

DATA/DISK CONVERSIONS

DATABASE MGMT. SYSTEMS

DUPLICATION SERVICES

DISK CONVERSIONS

Media transfer to or from: IBM, Xerox, DEC, Wang, Lanier, CRT, Micom, NBI, CT, also WP, WS, MS/WRD, DW3, MM, Samna, DEC DX, MAS 11, Xerox-Writer, ASCII.

FREE TEST CONVERSION

CONVERSION SPECIALISTS

531 Main St., Ste. 835, El Segundo, CA 90245 (213) 545-6551 (213) 322-6319

Inquiry 606.

dBASE III WORKALIKE $39

It's true!!! '1 on 1 = 3111' a stand alone emulation ot dBASE III PLUS and more. Includes: dBASE programming with extras, taster dot prompt command mode than dBASE, faster assist mode with more features, tutorial, on line help. MS-DOS 512k intra $39 + $4 s/h chk/mo. COD + $2. dBASE III PLUS is a trademark of AshtonTate.

I on I Computer Solutions, Inc.

26 Finchwood Dr., Trumbull, CT 06611 203-375-0914

Inquiry 612.

DATA PROTECTION

SOFTWARE DUPLICATION

• One Slop Shopping • Technical Support

• Custom Packaging • Drop Shipping

• Copy Protection • Fast Turnaround

• Competitive Pricing

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

800-222-0490 NJ 201-462-7628

MEGASoft

PO. Bo< 710, Freehold, NJ 07728

Sss our ad on page 340.

Inquiry 617.

DISK & TAPE CONVERSIONS

AUTOMATICALLY

SAVE TIME AND MONEY

Over 1000 formats from Mini, Micro Mainframe. Word Processors, & Typesetters,

TAPE Conversions as low as $23-00 MB

DISK Conversions as low as $15.00 per Disk

Call or write TODAY for a cost saving quotation.

CREATIVE DATA SERVICES

1210 W. Latimer Ave., Campbell, CA 95006 (408) 866-6080

Inquiry 607.

Guard your files with VACCINE"'

Checks your system during boot up, warns of malicious changes before it's too late! Simple, positive fix. This is the one you've seen on TV & in the papers. It works! Only $39.50. VISA/MC.

Corbin Software

600 Industrial Circle, White City, OR 97503 503-826-6737

Inquiry 613.

dBASE III COMPILERS

SOFTWARE PRODUCTION

• Disk duplication • Warehousing

• All formats • Drop shipping

• EVERLOCK copy • Fulfillment protection • 48-hour delivery

• Label/sleeve printing • Consultation &

• Full packaging guidance services Star.Byte> ,nc

713 W. Main St., Lansdale, PA 19446 215-368-1200 800-243-1515

Inquiry 618.

ELECTRONIC PROJECTS

DISK INTERCHANGE SERVICE COMPANY

DISC specializes in transferring files between incompatible disk formats, and between disk and 9-track tape.

• Dedicated Word Processors

• Mini, Micro & Mainframe Computers

• 9-Track Tape (800. 1600 and 6250 BPI)

• MSDOS, CP/M, UNIX, DOS, PRODOS, TSX+, RT-11

2 Park Drive • Westford, MA 01886 (617) 692-0050

Inquiry 608.

FREE dBASE III +

COMPILER DEMO DISK

Don't buy Clipper'" until you see our FREE dBASE Compiler Evaluation Kit Includes DEMO DISK with 8 PRG's and results ol compiling with Clipper. Quicksilver & FoxBASE + Also 15 benchmark tests, complete magazine reviews, and detailed brochures about all 3 compilers. FREE. No obligation. Call 24 hours. 7 days.

dataBASE Specialties (415) 652-2790

P.O. Box 2975, Oakland, CA 94618

DEMOS/TUTORIALS

BUILD TALKING ROBOT!

- Build B.E.R.T.S the Basic Educational Robot Trainer

- Featured in BYTE April & May / 87

- Even a child can program this talking Robot, built from off-the-shelf components

- Minimum Kit S43.00 U.S.

- Complete Kit $165.00 US.

- For further information send $1.00 for postage & handling to:

GoCo Dist.

Suite 806, 1146 Harwood St. Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6E 3V1

Inquiry 619.

FLOW CHARTS

QUALITY CONVERSIONS

• Disk „ • Tape

• Scanning K

•TYPEWRITTEN $.33 per page to ASCII

•TYPESET 6-24 point Low Rates

(*WP Formats available)

IMAGES Logos/Line Art/Glossies

1st Run Computer Services Inc.

1261 Broadway, Suite 50B, New York, NY 10001 (212) 779-0800

Inquiry 609.

INSTANT REPLAY III

Build Demos, Tutorials, Prototypes, Presentations. Music, Timed Keyboard Macros, and Menu Systems, Includes Screen Maker, Keystroke/Time Editor, Program Memorizes and Animator Reed Great Reviews! Simply the BEST Not copy protected. No royalties 60 day satisfaction money back guar. IBM and Compatb. $14995 US.Chk/Cr, Crd, Demo Diskette $5,00

NOSTRADAMUS, INC.

3191 South Valley Street (ste 252) Salt Lake City, Utah 84109 (801) 487-9662

Inquiry 614.

FLOW CHARTING 11+ HELPS YOU!

Precise flowcharting is fast and simple with Flow Charting It +. Draw, edit and print perfect charts: bold and normal fonts. 24 shapes — 95 sizes: fast entry of arrows, bypasses & connectors; Fast Insert Line; shrink screen displays 200-column chart; 40 column edit screen for detail work, much more!

PATTON & PATTON

81 Great Oaks Blvd., San Jose, CA 95119 1-800/672-3470, ext. 897 (CA residents) 1-800/538-8157, ext. 897 (Outside CA)

408/629-5044 (Outside the U.S.A.)

Inquiry 620.

DESKTOP PUBLISHING

IBM PC *to* HP

FILE COPY

IBM PC to HP File Copy allows IBM PCs, PS/2, compatibles to read, write files written by Hewlett Packard Series 70, 80, 200, 300,1000, 9000's. We offer custom work using our file copy utilities and program translators. Call for estimate, catalog, data sheet.

Oswego Software 312/554-3567

507 North Adams St. Fax 312/554-3573

Oswego, Illinois 60543 Telex 858-757

Inquiry 610.

CONVERSION SERVICES

Convert any 9 track magnetic tape to or from over 1000 formats including 3V2", 5V4", 8" disk formats & word processors. Disk to disk conversions also available. Call for more info. Introducing OCR Scanning Services.

Pivar Computing Services, Inc.

165 Arlington Hgts. Rd, Dept. #B Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 (312) 459-6010

Inquiry 611.

New! Award Maker Plus

Macintosh® , IBM® .Tandy® , & MS-DOS® compatibles. Print professional quality awards, certificates, coupons, diplomas and more. Hundreds of predesigned styles for all occasions, just enter text, select border, color and print. Includes special offer for Pin-feed parchment paper.

BAUDVILLE • 616-698-0888 • $49.95

5380 52nd Street SE. Grand Rapids, Ml 49508

Inquiry 615.

DISK DRIVES

PS/2 DRIVES FOR PC's AT's

CompatiKit/PC $329

CompatiKit/AT $309

Built-in floppy controllers—no problem. Supports multiple drives and formats. Lets your computer use IBM PS/2 1.4M diskettes plus more! Call for further information or to place an order.

VISA/MC/COD/CHECK.

Micro Solutions Computer Products

132 W Lincoln Hwy, DeKalb, IL 60115 815/756-3411

Inquiry 616.

STRUCTURED FLOW CHART

NSChart creates Nassi-Shneiderman (structured) flowcharts from a simple PDL. Keywords define structures & text strings appear in the chart. Easy to create, even easier to revise! Automatic chart sizing, text centering. Translators from many languages available. For Mac and IBM PC.

SILTRONIX, INC.

P.O. Box 82544, San Diego, CA 92138 1-800-637-4888

Inquiry 621.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

ON THE IBM PC & PS/2

Use Arabic, Cyrillic, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Scientific Notations, etc.. - in popular software: Wordperfect, Wordstar, Volkswriter, PC-Write, Dbase, Spreadsheet, Basic, Prolog, Desktop Publishing. Dot matrix and laser printers option. EGA $75, VGA & MCGA $85 CGA, MDA Hercules $95 one language. NLQ add $50.00

VN Labs

4320 Campus Dr., Suite 114. Newport Beach, CA 92660 (714) 474-696B

Inquiry 622.

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 329

The Buyer's Mart

HARDWARE

HARDWARE/COPROCESSOR

LAPTOP COMPUTERS

DISCOUNT CLONES

• XT Turbo - $435.

• AT 8/10 MHz - $995.

• Seagate ST225 20MB hard drive wilh controller — $300.

• 386 25MHz - $2,650.

• Hayes compatible 1200 baud modem — $99.

• Everrexx EGA — $150.

• Seagate 40MB hard drive — $375. Automated Business Solutions

516-379-3995

30 day money back guarantee * 1 yr parts & labor warrantee Dealer Inquiries Invited Please call for compleie price list

DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR

DSP products tor the IBM PC/XT/AT based on the Tl TMS32010 and TMS320C25. Designed for applications in communications, instrumentation, speech, and numeric processing. Offered with 12 bit 80 KHz A7D and D/A and continuous data acquisition & playback option. $650 and up.

DALANCO SPRY

Suite 241, 2900 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington DC 20008

(202) 232-7999

LAPTOP SPECIALS

Toshiba • Zenith • NEC • DATAVUE • SHARP

• AFFORDABLE 5Vt" or3V2" DRIVE UNITS for LAPTOPS & DESKTOPS Including Tandy 1400 IX. • DICONIX PRINTERS • 768 card for T1000 • 2400 BAUD MODEMS for Laptops

• Laptop software • Hard drives • Fast reliable and friendly service. For Low Pricing call

COMPUTER OPTIONS UNLIMITED

201-469-7678 (7 Days, 9 am-10 pm Eastern time)

Inquiry 623.

Inquiry 629.

Inquiry 635.

New XT Tiirbo

640KRAM. Mono/Graphics ' Multi I/O w/clock-cal Sal

backup • 2 Parallel, 2 Serial & 1 Game ports *

• Monochrome Monitor & XT/AT keyboard •

1 360K Floppy Drive and

1 20 Meg Seagate Hard Drive

One Year Factory Warranty—$1225.00 DOS inc.

Texas residents add 6% sales tax • Plus S35.00 s>h

Phone 214 449 3523

Ferris Computers

RO. Box 22. Ferris, TX 75125 Chk. ■ M.O. « Cashier's Chk.

Inquiry 624.

PC MINI-SUPERCOMPUTER

Up to 40 MIPS In Your PCI

Fill your PC/XT/AT with 1 to 6 PC4OO0 boards for a high speed PC-RISC system. The PC4000 uses the NC4016 RISC Engine which executes high level Forth in silicon. Each PC4000 is a general purpose parallel coprocessor that delivers speeds in the 5 to 7 MIPS range.. .over a 100 times faster than a PC, uses Forth, C or Assembler. From $1295.

SILICON COMPOSERS (415) 322-8763

210 California Ave., Suite K, Palo Alto, CA 94306

Inquiry 630.

INFORMATION

l_ A P - L I N K

The ultimate solution (or linking laptop computer with any IBM compatible desktop PC, 115, 200 baud transfer rate—faster than any other product available. No installation necessary, easy to use split screen design. Includes incredible "universal cable" that connects any two computers. Transfer entire disks faster than a DOS copy command! Only $129.95 including universal cable and both 3Vj" and SW" disks. "Bridge" owners can trade in for only $89.95 w/o cable.

Traveling Software, Inc.

19310 North Creek Parkway, Bothell WA 98011 1-800-343-8080 (206) 483-8088

Inquiry 636.

LEGAL

LOCK YOUR PC!

Replaces one expansion slot plate with a sturdy steel mount for your padlock/cable/chain. With your lock, Locklt/PC can't easily be removed on most units even if the case is opened. Check/MO $8.95 plus $2 S/H, CA add 7%. (No anti-theft guarantee implied).

Locklt/PC

Suite 314-B, 3790 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. CA 94306

Inquiry 625.

The Tables of ERP

The "Economic Report of the President" has

concise tables of the major economic indicators (GNP, Employment, Inflation, Population and much more.) The Tables of the 1988 Report are now available on disk in (CAL, WKS, CSV, or TXT) formats for (PC or MAC or most CP/M)—$49.95

FAIRFACTS

Box 536. San Ratael, CA 94915 Tel. 415-485-1781

Inquiry 631.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

LEGAL DOCUMENT MAKER

All pleadings and documents. Any word processor software.

Free Brochure.

New! Supra II™.

TSC

The Software Company

P.O. Box 872687, Wasilla, AK 99687 (907) 745-6267

Inquiry 637.

LITERARY LINGUISTICS

87C51 PROG. $125.00

The UPA 87C51 Programming Adapter lets you use your general purpose programmer to program the 87C51, 8751H, AMD8753H. 87C252, and 8752BH, Also lets you program the 87C51/8751H security bits and the 87C51 encryption array. It's very simple and VERY cost effective.

LOGICAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION

6184 Teall Station, Syracuse NY 13217 (315) 478-0722 Telex 6715617 LOGS

Inquiry 626.

STOCK-MASTER 4.0

Commercial grade Inventory management software at micro prices.

• Supports all 12 • Stock Status Reporting transaction types • Activity History Analysis

• Trend Analysis • Bill of Materials

• Quality Control • Purchase Order Writing

• Multiple Locations • Order Entry

• Purchase Order Tracking * Material Requirements

• Open Order Reporting • On Line Inquiry

• Serial/Lot # Tracking

Applied Micro Business Systems, Inc.

177-F Riverside Ave.. Newport Beach, CA 92663 714-759-0582

Inquiry 632.

LABORATORY INTERFACE

TEXT PROCESSING SOFTWARE

The CONSTAT suite of programs for the IBM or Macintosh PC will produce concordances, lexical statistics, cluster analyses and vocabulary overlaps to help solve problems of authorship and sequence of composition of literary texts. Send for technical data and list of machine-readable texts.

Louis Ule

27 Mustang Rd., Rolling Hills, CA 90274

(213) 377-3080

Inquiry 638.

MEMORY CHIPS

NorthStar

Sales and service. NorthTech Specializes in Horizon and Advantage hardware/software/support. Largest full service distributor of NorthStar products in United States. We buysell-trade NorthStar products and peripherals. • complete repair facilities • tech support and training • all hardware and software in stock • same day service available • ten years of customer satisfaction

NorthTech Support Services, Inc.

Oberlin, Ohio / Arlington, Virginia 1-800-426-7898 216-77S-052S

Inquiry 627.

INTERACTIVE LAB SOFTWARE IN A COMPILED LANGUACE INTERFACED TO BASIC

$75 "Assembly Language Speed for* $75

Data acquisition'Signal averaging'graphics Experiment control'Background operation' Data analysis'Expanding BASIC'S data space Runs TECMAR labmaster interface board Described in BYTE June86 p147 July87 p303

SALT II

5801 S. Dorchester -12A, Chicago, IL 60637

(312) 702-1491

Inquiry 633.

MEMORY CHIPS

41256-15-12-10

Call 51000(1 Meg) Call

4164-15

Call 51258 lor Compaq 386.6.43

4164-12

Call 8087-3-2 96/143

41126 Piggy Back for AT.

2.63 802876.8-10 . 155/233/293

41464-12 (64Kx4)

3.27 803B7 Call

414256 (256K.X4)

Call NEC-V-20-8 Call

2764,27128,27256,27512..

Call Mouse $49

Prices subject to change

ESSKAY

1-800-327-3237 718-3S3-3353

Inquiry 639.

PROGRAMMER'S TOOLS

NEW/USED APPLES & STUFF

MACINTOSH — Call

Apple Parts — Call

Mac accessories—hard drives Call

We buy, sell & horsetrade — Apple, IBM.

SHREVE SYSTEMS

2421 Malcom St., Shreveport, LA 71108 318-865-6743 4-9 p.m. • FAX-318-865-2006

International inquiries welcome C.STr-vlSA/MC

Inquiry 628. 330 BYTE- JUNE 1988

LANL.INE-1

with SAFFR0N-1 NET-WARE 115,200 BAUD XFR RATE

Link Four PC Computers To Any PC Computer Via RS232 Ports, Link PC XT's. AT's, Desktops, or Laptops. MENU Driven: Read Directory, Remove Dir, Copy Files, Delete Files, and Print To Any Printer Connected. 3Va and 5Va disks . You Will Love It

reg $139.95 SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY $79.95

DEALER INQUIRIES INVITIED 1-800-654-7222

TAMPA BAY DIGITAL

1750 DREW ST., CLEARWATER, FL 34615 813-443-7049

Inquiry 634.

CLIPPER™ DEVELOPMENT TOOLBOX

Alternative Business Training, Inc. introduces BOATSWAIN'S MATE©, a set of over 150 (unctions, procedures, and DOS Utilities for dBase™' programmers who use clipper as a compiler. Thousands of development hours have gone into this software in order to save you hours of programming time. Whether you are a novice or a serious clipper developer, the BOATSWAIN'S MATE& is for you. Free list oi library functions available. Call 1-800-328-7677 In N.H. 1-357-8665

ALTERNATIVE BUSINESS TRAINING, INC.

206 Washington St., Keene, NH 03431

Inquiry 640.

1 INTRODUCTORY OFFER

Enjoy BYTE magazine's in-depth information on the latest in personal computing each month at special introductory rate!

Subscribe now and save $19 off the newsstand price —12 issues for $22.95 instead of $42.00. You'll also receive our special IBM PC issue as part of your subscription.

□ Canada $25.95 U.S. for 1 year □ This is a renewal order.

□ USA $22.95 for 1 year D Bill me

□ Payment enclosed

□ Charge to my

□ MasterCard [J VISA

Account #

Expires

Signature

Name .

(Please Print)

Company Address _ City/State . Country _

. Code

For direct ordering, call toll free 1 800 423-8272 weekdays :00 PM EST. In New Jersey, call 1 800 367-0218. w 6-8 weeks for processing your subscription.

BUTE

486DSU-5

en

%

o

en

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 684 TEANECK, NJ

POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

BVTE

Subscription Dept. P.O. Box 7640 Teaneck, NJ 07666-9866

NO POSTAGE

NECESSARY

IF MAILED

IN THE

UNITED STATES

II1m,I.mI,II,,,II,,.II,.I.I..I..ImII...II.,.IImI

The Buyer's Mart

PROGRAMMER'S TOOLS

ASCII WILL PAY YOU $40

for your old screen or application generator when you buy Turbo Programmer (formerly TGhostWriter) for Turbo Pascal 4.0 or Turbo C. Complete data base T-Pascal or C source code in under

5 minutes from screens you draw. B-Tree indexes

6 file manager included. Unlimited technical support that our customers brag on.

$289 ($249 after rebate).

ASCII 800 227-7681

Inquiry 641,

PROGRAMMER'S TOOLS

Modula-2

Repertoire/Btrieve Toolkit integrates Repertoire's powerful screen system with Novell's Btrieve file manager. Includes all Repertoire object code, full R/BT source, and sample application. Over 600 routines. Cafl for free copy of 400p manual. Only $149. For JPI, Logitech, Stony Brook, FST, etc. From the creators of Graphix, EmsStorage, DynaMatrix, ModBase, NetMod. and Macro2. MC/VISA/AMEX/PO/COD.

4536 SE 50th, Portland, OR 97206 (503) 777-8844; TLX: 6502691013

PMI

Inquiry 647.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

FREE CATALOGUE

PUBLIC DOMAIN/SHAREWARE

• 400 IBM PC & compatibles disks • 200 Amiga disks • 125 Atari ST disks PC disks as low as S1.25 each, Amiga & ST as low as S1.60 each! Rent or buy. Free shipping! Call toll free, write or circle reader service for FREE BIG CATALOGUE with full descriptions Please specify computer—48 hr. turnaround!

Computer Solutions

RO Box 354—Depl. B. Mason. Michigan 48854 1-800-874-9375 (M-F 10-6 EST) 1-517-628-2943

Inquiry 653.

Affordable CASE

A new concept in Computer Aided Engineering for developing PC/DOS applications! C Dispatcher generates fast, efficient C code for command and menu driven applications. Develop, document, and change easily. Many features. For many compilers.

Amaryllis Inc.

563 Waitaquadoc Rd., Bolton. MA 01740 (617) 365-5456

Inquiry 642.

FREE BUYER'S GUIDE

See Page 23

Programmer's Connection is an independent dealer representing more than 250 manufacturers with over 700 software products for IBM personal computers. Call lo receive our FREE comprehensive Buyer's Guide or refer to page 23 of this issue to see a partial list of our software products.

Programmer's Connection 800-336-1166 216-494-3781

Inquiry 648.

FREE SOFTWARE

The PUBLIC DOMAIN USERS GROUP provides public domain software for IBM, CP/M, C64 & C-128 computers. PDUG is one of the oldest (est. 1982) & largest (over 10.000 members worldwide) users groups.

SPECIAL OFFER—Send S10 and receive not only our 1 year membership but also our new member disk free (contains 21 great programs). Or for more info., send a SASE (specify computer) to:

PUBLIC DOMAIN USERS GROUP

P.O. Box 1442-BM. Orangepark, FL 32067 904-264-3512 (ORDER LINE)

Inquiry 654.

FINITE STATE PROGRAM COMPILERS

Develop complex software programs in minutes instead ol hours! The COMPEDITOR forms source Finite State programs in: ADA, BASIC. C. FORTRAN and PASCAL.

IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 175K RAM Dos 2.0 +

Price: S175.00 per compiler (With Primer) Sampler $30

AYEC0 5025 Nassau Circle, Orlando

INCORPORATED FL 32808 (407) 295-0930

Inquiry 643.

Disassemble MPU OBJECT CODE on your PC

Relocatable, symbolic disassemblers are now available for the Motorola. Intel. RCA. Tl. Rockwell. & Zilog micros! Automatic label generation, assembly capability and much more Call and ask for what you need.

RELMS™

P.O. Box 6719

San Jose, California 95150

(408) 356-1210

TWX 910-379-0014 (800) 448-4880

Inquiry 649.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

SECURITY

BIT-LOCK® SECURITY

Piracy SURVIVAL 5 YEARS proves effectiveness of powerful multilayered security. Rapid decryption algorithms. Reliable/small port transparent security device. PARALLEL or SERIAL port. Countdown and timeout options also available. KEY-LOK'" security at about 1/2 BIT-LOCK cost. MICROCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS 7805 S. Windemere Circle, Littleton, CO 80120 (303) 922-6410 or 798-7683

Inquiry 655.

TLIB™ 4.0 Version Control

The best gets better! They loved TLIB 3.0: "packed with features. . .[does deltas} amazingly fast-- .excellent"—PC Tech Journal Sept 87. "has my highest recommendation"— R, Richardson, Computer Shopper Aug 87. Now TLIB 4.0 has: branching, more keywords, wildcards & file lists, revision merge, LAN and WORM drive support, more. MS/PC-DOS 2.x & 3.x S99.95 + $3 s&h. Visa/MC.

BURTON SYSTEMS SOFTWARE

PO. Box 4156, Cary, NC 27519 (919) 469-3068

Inquiry 644.

$3.00 SOFTWARE FOR IBM PC

Hundreds to choose from, wordprocessors, databases, spreadsheets, games, x-rated, lotto, communications, business, music, bible, art, education, language and useful utilities for making your computer easier (o learn. Most programs have documentation on the disk.

Write for your FREE catalog today! BEST BITS & BYTES

PO Box 8245, Dept-B, Van Nuys. CA 91409 (818) 781-9975

Inquiry 650.

COPY PROTECTION

The world's leading software manufacturers depend on Softguard copy protection systems. Your FREE DISKETTE introduces you to SuperLock'"—invisible copy protection for IBM-PC (and compatibles) and Macintosh.

• Hard disk support • No source code changes

• Customized versions • LAN support

• New upgrades available

(408) 773-9680

SOFTGUARD SYSTEMS, INC.

710 Lakeway. Suite 200, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 FAX (408) 773-1405

Inquiry 656.

SOFTWARE/ACCOUNTING

XACT-16C PROGRAMMER

Complete RAM-Resident emulation of the HewlettPackard 16C Programmer's Calculator. Binary, hex, decimal, octal and float modes. AND, OR, XOR, shift, mask and more. See BYTE "What's New", Jan. '88 pp. 88 for details. $39.95. PC/XT/AT. 30 day money back guarantee. VISA/MC.

CALCTECH, INC.

13629 Bellevue-Redmond Rd. #202, Bellevue, WA 98005 (206) 643-1682

Inquiry 645.

RENT SOFTWARE $1/DISK

Rent Public Domain and User Supported Software for $1 per diskfull or we'll copy. IBM (3V2" also), Apple, C-64, Sanyo 550 and Mac. Sampler S3. VISA/MC. 24 hr. info/order line. (619) 941-3244 or send #10 SASE (specify computer) Money Back Guarantee!

FutureSystems

Box 3040 (T), Vista, CA 92083 office: 10-6 PST Mori:Sat, (619) 941-9761

Inquiry 651.

dBASE BUSINESS TOOLS

* General Ledger

* Purch Ord/lnvntory

* Accounts Recvbl.

' Accounts Payable

* Order Entry

* Job Costing

* Sales Analysis

" Job Estimating

$99 EA. + s&h w/dBASE 2

3 or 3+ SOURCE CODE

dATAMAR SYSTEMS

Cr. Crd/Chk/COD

4876-B Santa Monica Ave.

San Diego, CA 92107

(619) 223-3344

Inquiry 657.

TURBO PLUS $99.95

Programming tools for Turbo Pascal 4.0 Screen Painter. Code Generator, I/O Fields. Dynamic Menus, Programming Unit Libraries. Sample Programs. 280 Page Illustrated Manual. 60 Day Satisfaction Guarantee! Brochures & Demo Diskettes avail. Highly Favorable Reviews! IBM & Compatibles.

Nostradamus Inc.

3191 South Valley SI. (Suite 252) Salt Lake City. UT 81109 (B01) 487-9662

Inquiry 646.

QUALITY SOFTWARE IBM/COMPATIBLES

Get a Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Database,

Money Manager and 5 arcade games plus our

10,000 program catalog for ONLY $10.00 (+s/h)

800-992-1992 (National)

800-992-1993 (Ca only)

619-942-9998 (Foreign)

VISA, MC, AMEX Accepted. (COD + 1.90)

The International Software Library

511-104 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas. CA 92024

Inquiry 652.

FINANCE MANAGER II

Easy to learn, fully integrated, menu-driven bookkeeping system for small business and personal use. General Ledger, IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or cornpat. Try before you buy! Fully functional 11 month General Ledger evaluation copy for only $10!

CALL TODAY! (719) 528-8989 HOOPER INTERNATIONAL: PO Box 62219, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80962

Inquiry 658.

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 331

The Buyer's Mart

SOFTWARE/AI

SOFTWARE/BUSINESS

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

Learn Al Fast

If/then™ is a book and a disk of Lotus spreadsheets.

"A marvelous little Al training package...

you'll find it an excellent tutorial.. .

this product is a must"

Ezra Shapiro,

BYTE, Aug, '87, p.263

If/then Is only $69.95

If/then Solutions

PO, Box 52097 Palo Alio, CA 94303 415-322-3430

Lotus 1-2-3 rel 2 required, S3 for shipping N A , $8 elsewhere

Inquiry 659.

SOFTWARE/ARCHITECTURE

dFELLER Inventory

Business inventory programs written in modifiable dSASE source code.

dFELLER Inventory $150.00

Requires dBASE II or III, PC-DOS/CPM

dFELLER Plus $200.00

with History and Purchase Orders

Requires dBASE III or dBASE III Plus (For Stockrooms)

Feller Associates

550 CR PPA, Route 3, Ishpeming, Ml 49849

(906) 406-8024

Inquiry 664.

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

MICROSAFE: Inexpensive, easy to learn and use Finite Element Analysis for IBM PCs and compatibles. Up to 400 nodes, 600 beams, 500 plates, Graphics. 2-D: $75,3-D: $120, Both: $160. Overseas add $20. Evaluation copies. NOT COPYPROTECTED. Ask for brochure.

MICROSTRESS Corp. (Dep. BM1)

10950 Forest Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98178-3205 (206) 772-0508

Inquiry 670.

SOFTWARE/CHURCH

MOVING 3-D NAVIGATOR

■ Rapid moving natural views of wire-frame objects you create: fly about or through the models in any arbitrary path by easy fingertip control. $449.95 + $4.00 S&H. (Inquire for foreign rate.)

♦ Require IBM PC or compatible (256K up). 5Va" demo-disk $7.00 + $1.00 S&H.

bp-Codin<

(YOSHINO ENTERPRISES U.S.A., INC.)

2445 University Heights Ave., Boulder, CO 80302

telephone (303) 449-3640 • facsimile (303) 442-1967

ig Systems

RPRISES U.S.A., INC.)

PowerChurch Plus®

Fast, friendly, reliable church administration system. Full fund accounting, mailing lists, membership, contributions, attendance, word processing, accts. payable, payroll, multi-user support, and much more - all for $695 complete. FREE demo version.

F1 SOFTWARE

P.O. Box 3096, Beverly Hills, CA 90212

(213) 854-0865

SIMULATION WITH GPSS/PC"

GPSS/PC'" is an IBM personal computer implementation of the popular mainframe simulation language GPSS. Graphics, animation and an extremely interactive environment allow a totally new view of your simulations. Simulate complex real-world systems with the most interactive and visual yet economical simulation software.

MINUTEMAN Software

PO Box 171/Y, Slow, Massachusetts, USA (617) 897-5662 ext. 540 (800) 223-1430 ext. 540

Inquiry 660.

Inquiry 665.

Inquiry 671.

SOFTWARE/BASIC

XGRAF DRAWS IN BASIC!

FINALLY! XGRAF replaces QuickBASIC's poor drawing commands with assembly language calls that work on Hercules, EGA, VGA, CGA and EEGA screens. Only $99.00 + $4.00 S&H. Call us at 1-800-423-3400 (9:00 AM to 8:00 PM EST)

KOMPUTERWERK, INC.

851 Parkview Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15215 For info., call (412) 782-0384

ROMAR CHURCH SYSTEMS™

Membership-61 fields plus alternate addresses; labels, letters, reports any lield(s), Offering-256 funds; optional pledge; statements; post to 255x/yr. Finance-gen, ledger w/budget; up to 500 subtotals & 99 depts., month & YTD reports anytime for any month Attendance—8 service limes, 250 events per service; 60 consecutive weeks Available for floppy, 3V2 & hard disk. Ad too short! Write for free 48-page guide.

Romar Church Systems, Attn: BJB

PO, Box 4211, Elkhart, IN 46514

(219) 262-2188

Circuit Analysis — SPICE

Non-linear DC & Transient; Linear AC.

* Version 3B1 with BSIM, GaAs, JFET, MOSFET, BJT, diode, etc. models, screen graphics, improved speed and convergence.

* PC Version 2G6 available at $95.

Call, write, or check inquiry tf for more info.

Northern Valley Software

28327 Rothrock Dr., Rancho Palos Verdes. CA 90274

(213) 541-3677

Inquiry 661.

Inquiry 666.

Inquiry 672.

SOFTWARE/BASIC TOOLS

SOFTWARE/EDUCATION

QuickWindows

As seen In the Microsoft Value-Pack Catalog!

Create windows, pop-up and pull-down menus, data-entry screens, and multiple-input dialog boxes quickly and easily. Full support of Microsoft mouse. Join the many Fortune 500 companies using QuickWindows and order your copy today. QuickWindows $79. Advanced $139. For Microsoft QuickBASIC or BASCOM.

Software Interphase, Inc.

5 Bradley St., Suite 106 • Providence, Rl 02908 (401) 274-5465

WE CAN MAKE IT TALK!

Talking educational programs from Datallo Computer Sep vices for IBM® /compat, & Apple® II's support most speech cards or run w/o speech. 3 SPELLING programs share 2000-word files! Create words/files, adjust pronunciation! Spanish versions, too! 2 early MATH programs; MEMORY program; Access speech from compiled BASIC with SONCOM™.All Unprotected! Contact:

U.S.A. DIRECT

Dept. B, HC 32-Box 1, Enfield, NH 03748 (603) 448-2693

FREE ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

Personal Engineering is a monthly magazine sent free of charge (USA only) to scientists/engineers who use PCs for technical applications. Topics each month include Instrumentation • Data Acq/Control • Design Automation. To receive a free sample issue and qualification form either circle below or send request on letterhead to:

Personal Engineering Communications

Box 1821. Brookline. MA 02146

Inquiry 662.

Inquiry 667.

Inquiry 673.

SOFTWARE/BUSINESS

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

DATA ENTRY SYSTEM

Heads-down data entry with two-pass verification for the PC/XT/AT & compatibles. Loaded with features like: Auto dup & skip, verify bypass, range checks, & table lookups. Fully menu driven only $395, Call (or free 30 day trial period.

COMPUTER KEYES

21929 Makah Rd.. Woodway, WA 98020 (206) 776-6443 1-800-356-0203

Affordable Engineering Software

FREE APPLICATION GUIDE & CATALOG Circuit Analysis • Root Locus • Thermal Analysis • Plotter Drivers • Engineering Graphics • Signal Processing • Active/Passive Filter Design • Transfer Function/FFT Analysis • Logic Simulation • Microstrip Design • PC/MSDOS • Macintosh • VISA/MC Accepted.

BV Engineering • (714) 781-0252

2023 Chicago Ave.. Unit B-13. Riverside. CA 92507

EC-Ace ANALOG CIRCUIT ANALYSIS

You can afford to get started with EC-Ace, a subset of the powerful ECA-2 circuit simulator. Includes all the basics and built-in graphics.

• AC, DC, Temperature, Transient

• A full 525 pg. ECA-2 manual,

• Interactive, twice as fast as SPICE.

EC-Ace 2.31 IBM PC or Mac $145. Call 313-663-8610 for FREE DEMO

Tatum Labs, Inc.

1478 Mark Twain Ct., Ann Arbor, Ml 48103

Inquiry 668.

Inquiry 674.

SOFTWARE/FINANCIAL

MILP88-MIXED INTEGER LP

A general-purpose system for solving mixed integer linear

programs with up to 65 integers. 255 constraints 1255

variables. Solves problems by applying the branch and

bound method. Menu-driven with many useful features

similar to LP88. Req. IBM PC. 192K, $149 wilh 8087

support, user's guide. VISA/MC.

EASTERN SOFTWARE PRODUCTS, INC.

POB 15328, Alexandria, VA 22309

(703) 549-5469

Inquiry 663. 332 BYTE- JUNE 1988

PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS FOR PCs and MS-DOS

DEFLECTION OF BEAMS OF UNIFORM OR VARIABLE CROSS SECTION (not an FE-program): Statically determinate problems & continuous beams SIMPLE OR MULTIPLE SHRINK-FITS: Shrinkage pressures, stresses, torsional holding ability etc. HERTZ: Pressure between bodies

MICROMIN — Software

Dan Sleurer, P.O. Box 344, Mannford, OK 74044 Recorded Message: (BOO) 336-2072. exl. 5776

Inquiry 669.

THE FINANCIAL PLANNER AS EASY AS "ATM"

Your Bank's Auto. Teller Machine & THE FINANCIAL PLANNER have a lot in common. NEW Menu driven program w/ easy to use Manual. • Balance Checkbook, Prepare Budget, Financial Statement, Loan Amortization Schedule & more • $99.95 —OUR PRICE—$59.95 + $2 S/H. PA 6% TX. Apple lie, lie, tigs, IBM PC or Compatible. CK/MCA/ISA SOFTECH IND., INC 717-584-5191

Box 117A, Dept. B456. Hughesville. PA 17737

Inquiry 675.

The Buyer's Mart

SOFTWARE/FORECAST

SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS

SOFTWARE/INVESTMENT

FORECAST PRO

An excellent forecasting package that uses artificial intelligence to help both the beginner and the experienced forecaster achieve top-notch results. Time series analysis techniques include exponential smoothing, Box-Jenkins, & dynamic regression.

CALL NOW FOR A FREE DEMO DISK!

Business Forecast Systems, Inc.

68 Leonard Street, Belmont, MA 02178 (617) 484-5050 TELEX #710-3201382

Inquiry 676.

TurboGeometry Library (Source & Manual)

Turbo Pascal. C, Mac, & Microsoft C. Over 150 2 & 3 dimensional routines including: Intersections, Transformations, Equations, Hidden Lines, Perspective, Curves, Areas, Volumes, Clipping, Planes, Matrices, Vectors. Distance, PolyDecomp. IBM PC (Comp,), MAC. VISA/MC $99.95.

Disk Software, Inc.

2116 E. Arapaho #487, Richardson, TX 75081 (214) 423-7288

Inquiry 682.

The new Business Week TOP 1000 and Mutual Fund Scoreboard

Diskettes use the enormous power of your IBM or compatible PC

to select, rate, and compare every equity and fixed income mutual

fund on the market (Mutual Fund Scoreboard), and virtually every

Business Week 1000 company (TOP 1000}—At the touch of a key.

Mutual Fund Scoreboard Diskettes:

$49.95 each or $239.90 for subscriptions to both.

TOP 1000 & TOP 1000 ELITE Diskettes:

$199 tor the TOP 1000 & $299 tor the ELITE version

which offers names & addresses of the top officers too!

Order now or receive more information by calling 1-B00-553-3575

(In Illinois, call 1-312-250-9292).

or write to; Business Week Diskettes

RO. Box 621, Elk Grove. IL 60009

SOFTWARE/FORTRAN

Inquiry 688.

SOFTWARE/LANGUAGES

FORTRAN 77 Extension

EXTEND subroutines for MS, RM, IBM Pro compilers to control keyboard, monitor, text & graphics, DOS file & directory operations, parallel & serial I/O. Plus user graphics for CGA, EGA, VGA, HP7475A, TEK 4010, AutoCAD DXF & db save files. Both 8087 & non 8087 libraries pkgd for $149. Royalty free. VISA/MC/PO/CHK.

Design Decisions, Inc.

P.O. Box 12884, Pittsburgh, PA 15241 (412) 941-4525

Inquiry 677.

FPLOT PEN PLOTTER EMULATOR

Use your dot matrix or laser printer as an HP pen plotter. Fast hi-res output. Vary line width. Includes VPLOT virtual plotter utility to capture plotting commands. Supports NEC P5/P6, IBM Proprinter, Epson LQ/MX/FX, HP Laserjet. Uses Hercules, CGA, EGA or VGA for screen preview. $64 check or m.o.

HORIZON SOFTWARE

Suite 605, 24-16 Steinway St., Astoria, NY 11103 212-418-8469

Inquiry 683.

INCREASED EFFICIENCY WITH DRUMA F0RTH-83? YES!

Strict 'S3 STANDARD. Ideal lor teachers/learners. 1MB+ memory, 64K speed & compactness to 320K. Instant on-line doc/glossary. ASCII & SCR files. Editor, Assembler, FULL file/DOS interfaces. Developers' ideal.

• IBM PC/XT/AT & ALL COMPATIBLES

• BEST VALUE: $79, SSH $2, VISA/MC

• 15 day money back. CALL OR WRITE today

DRUMA INC.

6448 Hwy. 290E, Suite E-103, Austin, TX 78723 Orders: 512-323-0403 BBoard: 512-323-2402

Inquiry 689.

SOFTWARE/GENERAL

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW?

Your I.Q.? Memory Level? Response Time? Coordination? Visual Perception?

Expand your mind with MENTOR™—software that lets you explore your hidden talents. 58 psychometric exercises, incl. 25 I.Q. tests. IBM PC/Compatibles • 256K • CGA/EGA/VGA • S49.95 • VISA/MC No shipping charge to anywhere in the world

Heuristic Research, Inc.

3112-A West Cuthbert Ave.. Midland, TX 79701 800-443-7380 (In TX, collect 915-694-5936)

Inquiry 678.

GRAPHICS PRINTER SUPPORT

AT LAST! Use the PrtSc key to make quality scaled B&W or color reproductions of your display on any dot matrix, Inkjet or laser printer. GRAFPLUS supports all versions of PC or MS-DOS with IBM (incl. EGA. VGA). Tecmar and Hercules graphics boards $49.95.

Jewell Technologies, Inc.

4740 44th Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116

800-628-2828 x 527 (206) 937-1081

Inquiry 684.

MULTI-USER DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM

Gain the 80386 edge for your applications with THEOS C, an advanced compiler for the new THEOS 386 multi-user, multitasking operating system. Meets ANSI C standard, plus offers the power of 250 additional functions for VDI graphics, real-time processing and file access. Provides UNIX and DOS source code compatibility. Breaks 64K limitation. Two-volume manual set. BASIC Language package also available. For complete multi-user solutions, call us today.

THEOS Software Corp.

1777 Bothelho Dr., Suite 360, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

(415) 935-1118

FAX (415) 935-1177

Inquiry 690.

SOFTWARE/LASER FONTS

US$5...INCLUDING DISK

Over 2,000+ software titles for IBM-PC Apple ] [, + ,e,c.GS, Macintosh, C64/128, Amiga. Latest titles and versions. Lots of hi-quality manuals. Best services.

1200 bps Pocket-size Modem .$159

256K Auto Hi-Res EGA card $179

16 MHz AT/286 Motherboard/4 Mb $649

Lots of bargains, ram chips, etc. . . . Specify your computer

type. FREE catalog sent to you by air-mail. Write:

IBRAHIM BIN ABU BAKAR, Dept. BYTE

Raffles City P.O. Box 1029, Singapore 9117

REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

Inquiry 679.

SOFTWARE/GEOLOGICAL

FORTRAN PROGRAMMER?

Now you can call 2-D and 3-D graphics routines within your FORTRAN program.

GRAFMATIC: screen routines $135.

PLOTMATIC: plotter driver 135.

PRINTMATIC: printer driver 135.

For the IBM PC, XT, AT & compatibles. We support a variety of compilers, graphics bds., plotters and printers.

MICROCOMPATIBLES

301 Prelude Dr., Dept. 8, Silver Spring, MD 20901 USA (301) 593-0683

Inquiry 685.

LaserJet Fonts

EZfont downloads 4 times faster! MS/DOS program to select fonts by title and orientation. Download immediately or in groups by application, Any soft fonts work. EZfont—$79. Also, BIGfont—8 fonts in sizes from 10pts to 158 pts (2 inches)—print from any word processor—easy commands. 30 day money back guarantee.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls St.. Santa Cruz, CA 95060 800-345-4220 In CA (408) 458-9938

SOFTWARE/LOTTERY

GEOLOGICAL CATALOG

Geological software for log plotting, gridding/contouring, hydrology, digitizing, 3-D solid modelling, synthetic seismogram, fracture analysis, image processing, scout ticket manager, over 50 programs in catalog. Macintosh too! Catalog $3.00

RockWare, Inc.

4251 Kipling St., Suite 595, Wheat Ridge, CO

80033 USA

(303) 423-5645

Inquiry 680.

SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS

CGA->Hercules™ Graphics

Mode-MGA1" allows you to use business graphics, games, BASICA graphics and other CGA specific software with your Hercules™ Monochrome Graphics adaptor and monochrome monitor. Works with all CGA programs. $79.95 (+ $5 s&h) for the 3k-TSR version. 30-day money back guarantee. Call or write:

T.B.S.P. Inc.

2265 Westwood Blvd., Suite 793, Los Angeles, CA 90064 (213) 312-0154

Inquiry 686.

WIN LOTTO

GAIL HOWARD'S systems have won $27 million for 9 Lotto jackpot winners! Now available on IBM PC 51A" diskettes the complete authentic Gail Howard Wheeling Systems (Smart Luck Computer WheeF" $29.95 + $2 s/h); also Gail Howard's Smart Luck Computer Advantage" $39.95 + $2 s/h (specify Lotto game). Smart Luck Computer Systems, Dept. B-1

1271 West Dundee Rd., Suite 16-A, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 312-934-33004 lis! of Gail Howard's Lotto books is also available.

Inquiry 691.

SOFTWARE/HEALTH

PC TECHNICAL GRAPHICS

TEKMAR is a graphics library for the EGA or Tecmar Graphics Master. Similar to PLOT-10, includes WINDOW, VIEWPORT, AXIS. Support for HP, HI plotters. Curve fitting, complete plotting program. Log, semi-log, multiaxis, 3-D, contours. Jerry Pournelle (Aug 86 Byte): "As good as any I have ever seen..." Demo disks, literature available.

Advanced Systems Consultants

21115 Devonshire St. #329, Chatsworth, CA 91311 (818) 407-1059

Inquiry 681.

FamilyCare™ Software

This comprehensive medical diagnostic expert system spares expensive, unnecessary trips to a physician by guiding you quickly through possible symptoms and giving you specific directions for medical care, home treatment, and medications. Includes hundreds of symptoms, injuries, and diseases of newborns through teenagers. FamilyCare" Software Lundin Laboratories, Inc. 29451 Greenfield Rd., Suite #216. Southfield. Ml 48076 800/426-8426 or 313/559-4561

Inquiry 687

THE ULTIMATE LOTTERY PROGRAM

"LOTOSYSTEMS" BY USA-LOTO Rel 3.1 Easy to use, menu driven complete statistical analysis program for any Lotto or Keno Game. Over 100 frequency and selection reports displayed or printed by ball #, pairs, triplets, families, mates, most frequent, and past due in sorted or numeric order. Includes Proven Wheeling Systems. Data for any game also available. IBM PC/XT/AT/LAPTOPS. 256K RAM, DOS 2.0, 5.25" & 3.5" disks. $49.95 + $4.00 Shipping. VISA/MC

WESTERN EN-COMM, INC.

4909 Stockdale Hwy, #649 Bakersfield. CA 93309

(S00) 872-5686 or (805) 831-1633 FAX: 1-805-B31-5622

Inquiry 692.

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 333

The Buyer's Mart

SOFTWARE/PACKAGING

SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC

SOFTWARE/TAX PREP.

SAVE SAVE SAVE SAVE

LET'S TALK LABELS

We do disk labels (5V*" & 3Vz)

• Belter • Faster • Cheaper •

Because we specialize in disk labels. . .Let's Talk

We also have Tyvek Sleeves Mailers • Binders • Vinyl Pages

We are a complete software packaging service. Hice & Associates

9303 Cincinnati-Columbus Rd.. West Chester, OH 45069 513-777-0133

FOR PROFESSIONALS

Expert system development tool which infers rules: EXPERT 4 for IBM PC. Numeric database program with statistics plus graphics: TADPOLE for IBM PC. Bibliographic programs for IBM PC (REFSYS) and Apple Mac (AUTOBIBLIO). Science and education programs AND MUCH MORE. Send or call for FREE

ataofl BIOSOFT

RO. Box 580, Milltown, NJ 08850 201 613 9013

W-2 (COPY A) ON FLOPPY

The W-2 MAG program makes an IRS/SSA FORMAT floppy from a data entry screen or imported ASCII file. Includes manual and application forms.

• Used nation wide • Menus, user friendly

• Step-by-step data entry • Prints W-2 forms

• Free phone support • PC compatible

Illinois Business Machines Inc.

Department PC

1403 Box 310 Troy Rd., Edwardsville, IL 62025

PH. # (618) 692-6060

Inquiry 693.

Inquiry 699.

Inquiry 705.

SOFTWARE/PRINTER

STATISTICS

PRINTER GENIUS

Powerful memory resident printer management —Control printer features from menus or within documents

— Print spool to disk files — Background print — Directory & file browse — Edit small text — Redirect output

— User friendly pop-up screens — 92 page manual — Preset for all printers — Completely flexible — PC MSDOS — $69 + $4 S/H — VISA/MC

Nor Software Inc.

527 3rd Ave., Suite 150, New York, NY 10016 (212) 213-9118

Do You Need to do This on Your PC?

Lascaux1000, "The Intelligent Calculator". (For IBM PC's) Verify logic of calculations. Reduce steps by 50%. Extensive table of physical constants. Easily customized. Much more! $59.95 Demo disk $1.

Lascaux Graphics 3220 steuben Ave

Bronx, NY 10467 (212) 654-7429

Inquiry 694.

Inquiry 700.

STATA

Statistics and graphics join to make STATA the most powerful package for the PC. No comparable program is as fast, friendly, and accurate. $20 Demo. Quantity discount available. Call toll-free for more information. AX/VISA/MC.

1-800-STATAPC

Computing Resource Center

10801 National Boulevard. Los Angeles, CA 90064 (213) 470-4341

Inquiry 706.

SOFTWARE/SALES & MRKTG

Lead Management System

The next generation in sales management. Follow up. to-do lists, telemarketing, product lists, appointments, mail-merge, word processor, and spreadsheet. Tracks expenses to show cost of sales. Uses your sales cycle and generates top ten lists. Industry specific versions available. IBM PC/XT/AT, compatibles, and laptops. $99.95 VISA/MC/COD. Demo Disk $5.00

Powerhouse Systems Inc.

1022 West First St. Suite 104, Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (800) 525-5774 or (919) 721-0241

SCI-GRAF and SCI-DATA

SCI-GRAF produces huge hi-res graphs !hru easy menus or linkable C libraries. Supports log scales, error bars, screen and printer output.

SCI-DATA performs least squares and normal curve fits, scaling and polar coordinate transformalions

Prices start at $59.95. Microcomputer Systems Consultants

Box 747, Santa Barbara, CA 93102

(805) 963-3412

THE SURVEY SYSTEM

An easy-to-use package designed specifically for questionnaire data. Produces banner format, cross tabs & related tables, statistics (incl. regression) & bar charts. Codes and reports answers to open-end questions. All reports are camera-ready for professional presentations. CRT interviewing option. CREATIVE RESEARCH SYSTEMS

15 bane Oak Ctr., Dept. B, Petaluma. CA 94952 707-765-1001

Inquiry 695.

Inquiry 701.

Inquiry 707.

FOLLOW-UP

SOFTWARE FOR SALESPEOPLE

Manage & control all of your sales activities on your desktop or laptop.

$179.95

XYCAD GROUP

1577 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland, OH 44114 (800) 428-8457 (216) 589-5788 in Ohio

ORDINARY/PARTIAL

DIFFERENTIAL EQN

SOLVER

FOR THE IBM PC & COMPATIBLES

MICROCOMPATIBLES INC.

301 Prelude Dr., Silver Spring, MD 20901 (301) 593-0683

SAMPLE SIZE?

A I expert system estimates sample size for regression, ANOVA, comparisons of means, props.. . .for surveys, experiments.... Computes maximum size, adjusts for response rates, multiple groups.... Help, change/rerun, references, ASCII file report. EXSAMPLE IBM-compatible, $195+s/h (50% educ. disc). VISA/MC/PO, 30-day guarantee.

The Idea Works, Inc.

100 West Briarwood, Columbia, MO 65203 (314) 445-4554

Inquiry 696.

Inquiry 702.

Inquiry 708.

SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC

Data Acquisition & Analysis on PC's

* FOURIER PERSPECTIVE II Advanced Digital Signal Analysts.

* PRIME FACTOR FFT subroutine library. Call from Turbo Pascal, C, Fortran, Basic. Up to 65520 data points. 2D interface available. Rectangular FFT's now possible in a multitude of dimensions.

* 2 & 3D Scientific Graphic pacteges with plotter support from Golden Software.

* Dala Acquisition S Control Boards form MetraByte. Anatog Devices, Burr-Brown, Strawberry Tree, National Instruments, Coniee, & Tecmar.

* Dala Acquisition & Analysis Software—Lantech Notebook, Asysl, UnhelScope, Lotus Measure with 5-2-3/Sympbony, & Quinn-Curtis.

Call for FREE Application Assistance & Technical Literature LOW PRICES-Satislaction GUARANTEED

Alligator Technologies — (714) 850-9984

P.O. Box 9706, Fountain Valley. CA 92708

Scientific/Engineering/Graphics Libraries Turbo & Lightspeed Pascal, Modula-2, C

Send for FREE catalogue of software tools for Scientists and Engineers. Includes: Scientific subroutine libraries, device independent graphics libraries (including EGA, HP plotter and Laserjet support), scientific charting libraries, 3-D plotting library, data acquisition libraries, menu-driven process control software. Versions available for a variety of popular languages.

Quinn-Curtis

1191 Chestnut St., Unit 2-5, Newton, MA 02164

NUMBER CRUNCHER STAT SYS

Menu-driven. Multiple & stepwise regression, ANOVA, time series, discriminant cluster and factor analysis, principal components, scatter plots, histograms, t-tests, contingency tables, nonparametrics. Import export data. Spreadsheet, sort, join, merge. $99. MS-DOS. Graphics program, $59.

NCSS-B

865 East 400 North, Kaysville, UT 84037 801-546-0445

Inquiry 697.

Inquiry 703.

Inquiry 709.

SOFTWARE/SORT

ADVERTISE YOUR COMPUTER PRODUCTS HERE

for as little as $375 in

THE BUYER'S MART

For more information call

Mark Stone at BYTE

603-924-3754

Inquiry 698. 334 BYTE- JUNE 1988

OPT-TECH SORT/MERGE

Extremely fast Sort/Merge/Select utility. Run as an MSDOS command or CALL as a subroutine. Supports most languages and filetypes including Btrieve and dBASE. Unlimited filesizes, multiple keys and much more! MS-DOS $149. XENIX S249.

(702) 588-3737 Opt-Tech Data Processing

P.O. Box 678 - Zephyr Cove, NV 89448

Inquiry 704.

STATISTIX™ II

Comprehensive, powerful and incredibly easy-to-use. Full screen editor, transformations, linear models (ANOVA, regression, logit, PCA, etc), ARIMA, most standard stat procedures. Clear, well organized documentation. Satisfaction guaranteed. $169 PC DOS, $99 Apple II.

NH Analytical Software

P.O. Box 13204, Roseville. MN 55113 (612) 631-2852

Inquiry 710.

The Buyer's Mart

STATISTICS

StatPac Gold™

Voted World's Best Statistical & Forecasting Package in 1987 by PC World Magazine readers. Six times more votes than the next closest competitor More comprehensive & easier to use than all others. Get the facts. Call now for your FREE brochure. 1-800-328-4907

Walonick Associates, Inc.

6500 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis., MN 55423 (612) 866-9022

Inquiry 711.

UTILITIES

CleanUp

the File Management System FEATURES: global file search, wild card & Attribute file marking, source & target space info, file copy to multiple disks when full, pop up windows, prompted file deleting and many more. Price: S49SS

1-800-553-0846 Acme Software Works

1380 156th Ave. N.E. Suite 147. Bellevue, WA. 98007

UTILITIES

WORD PROCESSING

COPY AT TO PC

The 1.2mB drive has long been known to READ but NOT reliably WHITE on 360kB floppies. With "CPYAT2PC"'" 1.2mB drives CAN reliably WRITE 360kB floppies saving a slot for a second hard disk or backup tape. "CPYAT2PC" (Not Copy Protected) offers 'the preferable SOFTWARE SOLUTION.' ONLY S79+S4 S/H VISA/MC/COD UPS B/R

MICROBRIDGE COMPUTERS

655 Skyway, San Carlos, CA 94070

Order toll free 1-800-523-8777

415-593-8777 (CA) 212-334-1858 (NY)

TELEX EZLNK 62873069 FAX 415-593-7675

Inquiry 715.

Recover deleted files fast!

Disk Explorer now includes automatic file recovery. You type in the deleted files name, Disk Explorer finds and restores it. Disk Explorer also shows what's really on disk; view, change or create formats, change a file's status, change data in any sector. MS-DOS $75 U.S. Check/Credit card welcome.

QUAID SOFTWARE LIMITED

45 Charles St. E. 3rd Fl.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1S2

(416) 961-8243

FARSI / GREEK / ARABIC / RUSSIAN

Hebrew, ail European, Scandinavian, plus either Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Thai, Korean, Viet, or IPA. Fullfeatured multi-language word processor supports on-screen foreign characters and NLQ printing with no hardware modifications. Includes Font Editor. $355 dot matrix; $150 add'l for laser; $19 demo. S/H in U.S. incl'd. Fteq. PC, 640K, graphics. 30 day Guarantee. MC/VISA/AMEX

GAMMA PRODUCTIONS, INC.

710 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 609, Santa Monica, CA 90401

213/394-8622 Tlx; 5106008273 Gamma Pro SNM

Inquiry 718.

CompareRite™

CompareRite saves editing time by comparing two documents and generating a third that shows the differences in an average of two seconds per page. CompareRite highlights changes the way you want to see them. Works with all major word processing programs. Price — $129.95 + shipping/handling

JURISoft, Inc.

763 Massachusetts Ave.. Dept 11. Cambridge, MA 02139

1-800-262-5656 ext. 11

In MA — 617-864-6151 ext. 11

Inquiry 712.

Inquiry 719.

Enhanced DOS Commands

Get directory listings of all files that don't match a template. Search all directories for files matching a template. New commands and new versions of existing commands, all with lots of variable options. Plus all commands accept special codes to reduce repetitive entries. Get the most from DOS with these time-saving routines. For MS-DOS/PGDOS 2.0 and higher. $29.95

Driscoll Graphics

135 E. Church, P.O. Box 625 Clinton, Ml 49236

HANDS OFF THE PROGRAM®

- Locks Hard Disk. - Restricts Floppy Use.

- Protects Subdirectories.

- Normal Use of DOS Commands and Application Software.

- IBM PC, XT, AT and True Compatibles.

■ DOS V2.0 and Higher. Hard Disk System.

- Keep Other People's HANDS OFF Your System

- $89.95 VISA/MC

SYSTEM CONSULTING, INC.

314 Canterbury Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15238 (412) 963-1624

DuangJan

Bilingual word processor for English and: Armenian, Bengali Euro/Latin, Greek, Hindi, Khmer, Lao, Punjabi, Russian, Sinhalese, Tamil, Thai, Viet.. . $109+$5 s/h (foreign + $12s/h). Font editor included. For IBM with dot-matrix & LaserJet printer. Demo $6 + $1 s/h.

MegaChomp Company

3524 Cottman Ave.. Philadelphia. PA 19149-1606 (215) 331-2748

Inquiry 713.

Inquiry 716.

Inquiry 720.

MATCH PRINTERS TO PC

Malch-A-Pnnter adapts most printers to PC/PS2 and compatibles With this resident driver, get Ihe lull extended IBM ASCII character set on most printers French, Spanish. German, Italian, Swedish, Greek, etc, and logic symbols. Works great with Apple imagewriter and D.M.P. Epson and most daisy-wheel pnnters Solve character compatibility now. great lor academic and engineering application Introductory Price S59.95 & S2 S&H. California residents add 6Y2% sales tax MO/Checks

MATCH SOFTWARE

6426 Coldwater Canyon, North Hollywood, CA 91606-1113 Toll free » 1 (800) FLOPPYO

$59.95!!

Buy the RED Utilities now! Programs include: Disk cache to speed hard disk. Printer spooler. Batch file compiler. Path command for data files. Wild card exceptions. Protect hard disk from accidental formatting. Sort directories. Over 10 more programs. IBM PC. Visa/MC. The Wenham Software Company 5 Buriey St., Wenham, MA. 01984 (617) 774-7036

PC-Write" Shareware Ver. 2.71

Fast, full featured word processor/text editor for IBM PC. With spell check, screen clip, mailmerge, split screen, ASCII files, macros. Easy to use. Supports 400 printers - LaserJet* and PostScript. Software, User Guide, and Tutorial on 2 disks for $16. Try it, then register with us for only $89 and get User Manual, 1 year tele-support, newsletter and 2 upgrades. 90-day guarantee. VISA/MC.

QuickSOft 1-800-888-8088 CALL TODAY! 219 First N., #224-BYTC, Seattle, WA 98109

Inquiry 714.

Inquiry 717.

Inquiry 721.

Advertise your computer products in THE BUYER'S MART.

It's easy to get your sales message into print. Just send us

typewritten copy or phone in your ad.

And as a unique feature, every BUYER'S MART ad

is assigned a reader service number which will

provide your company with valuable inquiries.

Call Mark Stone for more information at 603-924-3754

BYTE/McGraw-Hill

One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458

JUNE 1988 •BYTE 335

Mail Order Electronics-Worldwide

ELECTRONICS

XL

415-592-8097

415-592-8121

NEC V2Q & V3Q CHIPS

Replace the 8086 or 8088 in Your IBM-PC end Part No. Increase lis Speed by up to 40%! pTice

UPD70108-5 (5MHz) V20 Chip $ 7.49

UPD70108-8 (8MHz) V20 Chip $ 8.95

UPD70108-10 (10MHz) V20Chip $21.95

UPD70116-8 (8MHz) V30 Chip $11.95

UPD70116-10 (10MHz) V30 Chip $24.95

74QO

Part No.

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MC14490P

MICROPROCESSOR COMPONENTS

MISCELLANEOUS CHIPS Part No. Price

D765AC 4+35 3.95

WD9216 6.95

95H90 9+35 5.95

Z80, ZOOfl, Z80B SERIES

Z80 *#5 .99

ZBO-CTC +r?9 .99

Z80-DART 4.95

Z80-PI0 +7?9 .99

Z80A 1.69

Z80A-CTC 1.79

Z80A-DART 4.95

Z80A-PI0 1.69

Z80A-SI0/0 5.75

Z80B 3.49

Z80B-CTC 3.95

Z80B-PI0 4&9 3.95

0500/6800/68000 SER.

6502 2.65

65C02 (CMOS) &9S 7.75

6520 1.95

6522 3.95

6532 &49 5.49

6551 +49 2.95

65C802 (CMOS)... 17.95

6800 1.95

6802 3.95

6810 1.25

6821 1.75

6840 395

6500/6800/68000 Cont. Part No. Price

6845 &95 2.95

6850 1.95

6852 1.49

MC68O00L8 11.95

MC68000L10 13.95

MC68010L10 49.95

MC68020RC12B 169.95 MC68881RC12A 149.95

8031. fl°00SEmES. 3.95

80C31 9.95

8035 1.95

8073 9.95

8080A &95 2.49

8085A 2.49

8086 5.95

8086-2 6.95

8087 (5MHz) 129.95

8087-1 (10MHz). 229.95 8087-2(8MHz)...159.95

8088 64+3 5.75

8088-2 835 7.75

8116 4.95

8155 2.49

8155-2 3.49

8156 3.95

8202 5.95

8203 9.95

8212 2.29

8224

2 25

8000 SERIES Cont.

Part No. Price

8237-5 4r95 4.49

8243 ££5 1.75

8250A.

8250B (For IBM)..

.6.95

8251A

. 1.89

8253-5

8254

.4.95

8255A-5

8257-5

. 1.95

8259-5

8272 435 3.95

8279-5

.2.95

8741

.9.95

8742 g*95

22.95

8748 (25V)

8748H (HMOS) (21V).

. 7.95

-9.95

8749

8751

OUTS ACQUISITION

ADC0804LCN. Sr+9 2.79

ADC0808CCN...

. 5.95

ADC0809CCN 9+353.69

ADC0816CCN...

11.95

ADC1205CCJ-1-.

19.95

DAC0808LCN. . .

. 1.95

DAC1008LCN. . .

AY-3-1015D

.4.95

MICROPROCESSOR SALE!

8052AHBASIC CPU w/BASIC Interpreter.

MC68008L8 MC68701

. $ 29.95

32-Bit MPU (8-Bit Data Bus) 4&S5 $ 16.95

MC68701 8-Bit EPROM Microcomputer $ 14.95

MC68705P3S 8-Bit EPROM Microcomputer $ 14.95

MC68705U3S 8-Bit EPROM Microcomputer $ 10.95

80286-10 16-Bit Hi Performance MPU $ 99.95

80287-8 Math Co-processor (8MHz) $245.95

80287-10 Math Co-processor (10MHz) $309.95

80387-16 Math Co-processor (16MHz) array $494.95

Math Co-processor (20MHz) ,£88. $795.95

Part No.

-DYNAMIC RAMS

Price

'4116-16

4128-20 •4164-100 ■4164-120 '4164-150 •4164-200

16.384 x 1 131,072 x 1 65,536 x 1 65,536 x 1 65,536 x 1 65,536 x

•TMS4416-12 16,384x4 '41256-80 262,144

'41256-100 •41256-120 "41256-150 •50464-15

262,144 x 1 262,144 x 1 262,144 x 1 65,536)

(150ns) 1.09

(200ns) (Piggyback) 355 2.75

(100ns) 3.95

(120ns) 3.25

(150ns) 2.95

(200ns) 1.95

(120ns) 7.49

(80ns) 13.95

(100ns) 12.95

(120ns) 11.95

(150ns) 10.95

(150ns) (4464) 9.95

"511000P-10 1,048,576x1 (100ns) 1 Meg... . 4995 •514256P-10 262,144x4 (100ns) 1 Meg 89.95

STATIC RAMS

•2016-12

2018-45

2102

2114N

2114N-2L

21C14

5101 '6116P-3 •6116LP-3 '6264LP-12 '6264 P-15 •6264LP-15

6514 '43256-1 5L

2048 x 8 (120ns) 3.95

2048 X 8 (45ns) 6:95 5.49

1024x1 (350ns) 89

1024x4 (450ns) 99

1024 x 4 (200ns) Low Power 1.49

1024 x 4 (200ns) (CMOS) 49

256x4 (450ns) CMOS 1.95

2048x8 (150ns) CMOS 3.95

2048 x 8 (150ns) LP CMOS 4.49

8192x8 (120ns) LP CMOS 6.89

8192x8 (150ns) CMOS 5.89

8192x8 (150ns) LP CMOS 6.39

1024 x 4 (350ns) CMOS 3.49

32,768 x 8 (150ns) Low Power 12.95

EPROMS

TMS2516 2048 x 8 (450ns) 25V 6.95

TMS2532 4096x8 (450ns) 25V 695

TMS2532A 4096 x 8 (450ns) 21V 5.95

TMS2564 8192 x 8 (450ns) 25V 9.95

TTV1S2716 2048 x 8 (450ns) 3 Voltage ... 9r95 6.95

1702A 256x8 (1Ms) &95 4.95

2708 1024 x 8 (450ns) 4.95

2716 2048 x 8 (450ns) 25V 3.75

2716-1 2048 x 8 (350ns) 25V 4.25

27C16 2048 x 8 (450ns) 25V (CMOS) .. . 5.49

2732 4096 x 8 (450ns) 25V 3.95

2732A-20 4096 x 8 (200ns) 21V 4.25

2732A-25 4096 x 8 (250ns) 21V 3.95

27C32 4096 x 8 (450ns) 25V (CMOS) ... 5.95

2764-20 8192 x 8 (200ns) 21V 4.25

2764-25 8192x8 (250ns) 21V 3.75

2764A-25 8192x8 (250ns) 12.5V 3.95

2764-45 8192x8 (450ns) 21V 2.95

27C64-15 8192 x 8 (150ns) 21V (CMOS) ... 6.49

27128-20 16,384x8 (200ns) 21V 6.95

27128-25 16.384x8 (250ns) 21V 5.95

27128A-25 16,384 x 8 (250ns) 12.5V 5.25

27C128-25 16,384 x 8 (250ns) 21V (CMOS) . . 6.95

27256-20 32.768 x 8 (200ns) 12.5V 6.95

27256-25 32.768 x 8 (250ns) 12.5V 5.95

27C256-25 32,768 x 8 (250ns) 12.5V (CMOS) . 7.95

27512-20 65,536x8 (200ns) 12.5V 13.49

27512-25 65,536 x 8 (250ns) 12.5V 11.95

68764 8192 x 8 (450ns) 25V 13.95

EEPROMS

2816A 2048 x 8 (350ns) 5V Read/Wite.... 5.95 2817A 2048 x 8 (350ns) 5V Read/Write.... 7.95 2865A 8192 x 8 (250ns) 5V Read/Wite.... 9.95 52B13{21V) 2048x8 (350ns) 5V Read Only 1.49

COMMODORE CHIPS

LAG570 . .

4ftSS 9.95

WD1770. .

.... 11 95

SI3052P. .

.... 2.49

6502

.... 2.65

6504A. .. .

.... 1.95

6507

.... 4.39

6510

.... 9.95

6520

.... 1.95

6522

.... 3.95

6525. . . .

4r9S 3.49

6526. . . .

44^512.95

6529

.... 2.95

6532

&49 5.49

6545-1 . . .

. 4:95 3.25

6551

4r49 2.95

6560

. . . . 10.95

6567

. . . . 14.95

6569

.... 24.95

6572

.... 8.95

6581 (12V)

. . . . 14.95

6582 (9V) .

4435 9.95

8360

. . . . 14.95

8501

. . . . 10.95

8502

.... 7.95

8563

. . .. 15.95

8564

.... 9.95

8566

. . . . 24.95

8701

.... 9.95

8721

. . . . 14.95

8722

.... 9.95

■251104-04

.. . . 10.95

310654-05.

. . . . 9.95

318018-03.

.... 10.95

318019-03.

. . . . 10.95

318020-04.

. . . . 10.95

325302-01.

.... 10.95

325572-01.

. . . . 14.95

•82S100PLA

•...15.95

901225-01.

. ... 11.95

901226-01.

. ... 11.95

901227-03.

. ... 11.95

901229-05.

. ... 11.95

'No specs, available

"Nole:82S100PLA =

U17(C-64)

SPECIALS!

SMP81FY Prec. Sample 8. Hold Amp.... 7.95

MAX232CPE Dual RS232 Rec./Trans 5.19

LM306P Dual Comparator 79

6116P-1 16KCMOSSRAM(100ns)... 5.49

27128-45 128K EPROM (450ns) 21V... 4.95

74LS612 Memory Mapper, Tri-Stale ... 11.95

74HC HI SPEED CMOS

Part No.

Price

Part No.

Price

74HCO0.

■S5 «5

.19 .19

74HC02. . . .

74HC221....

. . trie .89

74HC04

39

.19

74HC240... .

... ^9 .69

74HC08

39

.19

74HC244.. . .

... iSS .69

74HC10

ee

.19

74HC245.. . .

... ^99 .79

74HC14

t4€

.PS

74HC253.. . .

.. . SB .49

74HC30

39

.19

74HC259

... ^9 .49

74HC32

....tee

.?5

74HC273.. . .

...■as .69

74HC74

:99

29

74HC373.. . .

... iSS .65

74HC75

:99

:-::,

74HC374... .

... ee .65

74HC76

....t45

.3b

74HC595....

. -he91.09

74HCS5

,...r79

55

74HC688.. . .

... 59 .79

74HC86

....39

.35

74HC943....

8.95

74HC132...

*e

39

74HC138....

f«e

an

74HC154....

. *H*91.19

74HC4514...

.■ tr791.09

74HC163...

,...«S

39

74HC174

... .*e

49

74HC4543...

. . +rr9 .89

74HCT — CMOS TTL

74HCT00

-29 -S9

33

17 .17 17

74HCT02

74HCT157.

74HCT04

74HCT174. .

*9

35

74HCT08

-es

39

.1/

.17

74HCT10

74HCT240. .

. ..-m

m

74HCT32. . . .

....39

.?1

74HCT244. . .

....-m

59

74HCT74

....t-te

75

74HCT245. . .

.. .+r»

79

74HCTB6. . . .

t49

?9

74HCT373. . .

.. -M9

55

74HCT138 . .

.. .-69

3b

74HCT374. . .

..-F+9

,49

74C

CMOS

74C00. .

29

74C174

. . . .79

74C02. .

29

29

74C04. .

74C221

.. 1.79

74C08. . .

35

74C240

. . 1.79

74C14. .

59

74C373

. . 1.95

74C32. .

35

74C374

.. 1.95

74C74, . .

59

74C912

-. 8.95

74C85. ..

1.49

74C915

.. 1.39

74C86. . .

35

74C920

. . 6.95

74C89. . .

5.49

74C921

. . 6.95

74C90. ..

99

74C922

. . 3.95

74C925

LINEAR

DS0026CN

1.95

1.19

... .99

TL074CN

TL084CN

DS14C88N(CMOS)

1.19

AF100-1CN

8.95 ... .45

LM307N

DS14C89N (CMOS)

1 19

LM309K

1.25

3.49

LM317T

LM318N

LM323K

. . . 3.95

ULN2003A

.79

LM324N

... .39

XR2206

3.95

LM338K

. 4.95 ... .39

LM339N

XR2243

195

LF347N

... 1.79

26LS29

LM348N

... .69

26LS31

1.19

LM350T

. . . 2.95

26LS32

1.19

LF351N

... .39

26LS33

LF353N

... .49

LM2901N 39 .25

LF355N

... .79

LM2907N

1.29

LF356N

... .89

LM2917N(8pin)...

1.95

LF357N

. . . 1.09

MC3419CL

6.95

LM358N

... .49

MC3446N

1.69

LM360N

. . .2.19

MC3450P.

1.95

1.95

LM380N-8

.99

4.79 1.69

LM387N

... .99

MC3486P.

LM393N

... .39

MC3487P

1.69

LM399H

. . . 2.95

LM3900N

.49

LM3905N

LM3909N

TL497ACN

... 1.49

99

NE540H (C54CH) NE555V

.... 2.29 .29

NE5532

.69

.69

. .89

.99

.79

... .89

1.29

LM565N

LM567V

NE592N

7812K{LM340K-12)

1.29

7B15K(LM340K-15)

1.29

7B05T (LM340T-5).

.49

7812T(LM340T-12) 7815T(LM340T-15)

.49 .49

7905K (LM320K-5).

1.35

7905T (LM320T-5). 75472

.59

.59

.89

2.49

MC145106P... 8*5 MC145406P.

■#»

cm

«ITETe

Low Profile 8LP.

.11 .12 .13 .25 .27 .29

Wire Wrap (Gold) Level «3 8WW 59

24LP

28LP.

40LP.

24WW 1.19

28WW 1.39

40WW 1.89

Soldertall Standard (Goltl & Tin) & Header Plug Sockets Also Available

PARTIAL LISTING • OVER 4000 COMPONENTS AND ACCESSORIES IN STOCK! • CALL FOR QUANTITY DISCOUNTS

ORAM'S SUBJECT TO FREQUENT PRICE CHANGES

336 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 143 on Reader Service Card

Worldwide • Since 1974

* QUALITY COMPONENTS • COMPETITIVE PRICING

DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION

PROTOTYPING PRODUCTS

Jameco Solderless Breadboard Sockets

JE23 Part No.

Contact Points

Binding Posts

JE20 JE21 JE22 JE23 JE24 JE25 JE26 JE27

6»X %

3V« x 2'/s 6'Ax 1% 614 x 2'/u

m x 3'4

6» x 4'i 6% x 5*1 7'/4 x 7*

200

400

630

830

1,360

1,660

2,390

3,220

$ 2.29 $ 4.49 $ 5.95 $ 7.49 $14.95 $22.95 $27.95 $37.95

Jameco's

IBM PC/XT/AT

Compatible

Motherboards

• Award BIOS ROMs included

JE1001

JE1001 4.77/8MHZ (PC/XT) $ 99.95

JE1002 4.77/10MHz (PC/XT) . . . $119.95 JE1007 6/8/10/12MHz (AT) $349.95

2&3MB

Memory

Expansion

Cards for

IBM AT and Compatibles

JE1082

2MB of expanded or exlended

JE1081 memory (zero-K on-board) (AT) ... $129.95 3MB o( expanded or extended memory, parallel printer port, serial port and

JE1082 game port (zero-K on-board) (AT).. $169.95

Jameco Computer Power Protection jehm

JE1190 Power Base $29.95

JE1191 6-Outlet Power Strip .... $11.95

IBM PC/XT/ATCompatible Keyboards

yuifb' <u JE1016

^^i^..^-™ ..— —-■ Pictured

• Tactile touch keyswitches • Switch selectable between PC/XT or AT ■ Illuminated Caps Lock. Num Lock and Scroll Lock

JE1015 $59.95

■ Enhanced keyboard layout - Illuminated Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock ■ Automatically switches between PC/XT or AT

JE1016 $79.95

DATA BOOKS

400041 NSC Linear Data Book-Vol.l (87) $14.95

400042 NSC Linear Data Book-Vol. II (87). ... S 9.95

400043 NSC Linear Data Book-Vol. Ill (87).... S 9.95

210830 Intel Memory Handbook (87) $17.95

230843 Intel Microsystem Hndbk. Set (87) $24.95

Jameco's New and Improved AT Compatible KHI

FREE! Word Processing Software! / Wow with I/O Board!

IBM AT Compatible Kit ^fifo Mini-286 6/8/10/12MHz Kit 3G&S

JE1007 JE1015 JE1017 JE1022 JE1032

JE1043 JE1065

Baby AT Motherboard (Zero-K HAM - includes

XT/AT Style Keyboard

.$ 59.95

Baby AT Flip-Top Case. . .

. $ 69.95

$Y»" Hi-Density Disk Drive

.$109.95

200 Watt Power Supply. ..

. $ 89.95

360K/720K/1.2M Floppy Controller Card

. $ 49.95

. . $59.95

Regular List $789.65 SAVE $99.70 i

JE1059S519.95 (EGAMonitorand Card not included)

JE2009* IBM AT Compatible Kit. . . JE286M JE2009 Technical Manual.

. $689.95

$29.95

•RAM not included - Minimum BAM contiguration S12K (18 Chips 41256-120, see left)

IBM COMPATIBLE DISPLAY MONITORS

12" Amber Monochrome —

TTL Input, High Resolution (PC/XT/AT) AMBER $109.95 $99.95

14" RGB Color — CGA Compatible Amber/Green/Color Swilchable, 640 x TTX1410 200 Resolution (PC/XT/AT)

TTX1410 $279.95 ^-~-~w^»m-,~

14" EGA Color - EGA/CGACompat, 720 x 350 (max.) resolution (PC/XT/AT)

TE5154 $399.95

IBM PC/XT/AT COMPATIBLE CARPS

Graphic

Display

Cards

JE10S0

JE1 050 Mono Graphics Card w/Printer Fort (PC/XT/AT).

$59.95

JE1052 Color Graphics Card w/Printer Port (PC/XT/AT) $49.95

JE1055 EGA Card with 256K Video RAM (PC/XT/AT) $169.95

Multi I/O with Drive Controller »,.,..- „,.

JE1071 and Mono Graphics (PC/XT) $119.95

Multifunction, I/O and Expansion Cards

I/O Card with Serial, Game, Parallel Printer JE1 060 Port and Real Time Clock (PC/XT) $59.95

JE1061 RS232 Serial Half Card (PC/XT/AT) $29.95

I/O Card with Serial, Game and JE1065 Parallel Printer Port (AT)

$59.95

Expand to 384K (zero-K on-board) Multifuno. w/Serial, JE1078 Game, Parallel Printer Port 8. Real Time Clock (PC/XT) ■ ■ $79.95

Floppy and Hard Disk Controller Cards

JE1040 360KB Floppy Disk Drive Controller Card (PC/XT). . . . $29.95

JE1041 20/40MB Hard Disk Controller Card (PC/XT) $79.95

JE1042 30/60MB RLL Hard Disk Controller (PC/XT) $99.95

JE1043 360K/720K/1.2MB Floppy Disk Cont. Card (PC/XT/AT) $49.95

360K/720K/1.2MB Floppy/Hard Disk JE1 045 Controller Card (AT)

$159.95

Additional Add-Ons Available!

COMPUTER PERIPHERALS

Seagate 20,30

40 and 60MB

Half Height

Hard Disk

Drives

ST225K (Pictured)

ST225 20MB Drive only (PC/XT/AT) $224.95

ST225K 20MB w/ControlIer (PC/XT) $269.95

ST238 30MB Drive only (PC/XT/AT) $249.95

ST238K 30MB w/Controller (PC/XT) $299.95

ST238AT 30MB w/Controller (AT) $389.95

ST251 40MB Drive only (PC/XT/AT) $429.95

ST251XT 40MB w/Cont. Card (PC/XT) $469.95

ST251 AT 40MB w/Controller Card (AT) $539.95

ST277 60MB Drive only (PC/XT/AT) $499.95

ST277K 60MB yy/Controller Card (AT) $639.95

Jameco 5.25" PC/XT

& AT Compatible

Disk Drives

JE1022 (Pictured)

JE1020 360K Black Bzl. (PC/XT/AT)... $ 89.95 JE1021 360K Beige Bzl. (PC/XT/AT)... $ 89.95 JE1022 1.2MB Beige Bzl. (PC/XT/AT) . $109.95

Toshiba 3.5" PC/XT/AT Compatible Disk Drive

■JCOiril 3.5'720KB (Bezels and Instal- 352KU lation Kitinct) (PC/XT/AT) . ■ . »1 /iiz.aD

2400/1200/300 Modems Datatronics

• Hayes command compatible -Bell 103/212A compatible ■ Aulo-dial/auloanswer - FCC approved 1-year warranty -Includes MaxiMite Communication Software

1200H 1200/300 Baud Internal Modem. ... $ 69.95 2400S 2400/1200/300 Internal Modem. . . . $139.95

1200C 1200/300 Baud External Modem $119.95

2400E 2400/1200/300 External Modem $219.95

Jameco Extended 80-Column Card for Apple lie

• 80 Col./64K RAM ■ Doubles amount of data your Apple lie can display as well as its memory capacity ■ Ideal for word processing - Complete with instructions

JE864 $39.95

ADD12

(Disk Drive II, II-'-. He)

$99.95

TEST EQUIPMENT

Digital Multimeters

Kingdom KD302:

■ Pocket Size in handy carry case

• 3% Digil LCD

■ Auto or manual ranging

• Audible continuity tester

■ Tests: AC/DC Voltage. Resistance and Continuity

■ One Year Warranty -Size:4VLx 2"W x VH

KD302.. $27.95

Metex M4650:

• Handheld,high accuracy

• 4ft Digit LCD

• Manual ranging with Overload Protection

• Audible continuity tester

• Tests: AC/DC Voltage. Resistance, Continuity Capacitance, Frequency

■ One Year Warranty •Size:7"Lx3V'Wx 1'i"H

M4650..$89.95

$20 Minimum Order

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines

U.S. Funds Only

Shipping: Add 5% plus $1.50 Insurance

(May vary according to weight)

California Residents: Add 6%, 61/2% or 7%

Sales Tax FAX 415-592-2503 6/88 1355 SHOREWAY RD., BELMONT, CA 94002 • FOR ORDERS ONLY415-592-8097 • ALL OTHER INQUIRIES 415-592-8121

Data Sheets - 50C each Prices Subject to Change

Send $1.00 Postage for a FREE 1988 CATALOG

Telex: 176043

©1988 Jameco Electronics

Grcle 143 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 • BYTE 337

Circle 63 on Reader Service Card

$ompu$ave

Call Toll Free: 1-800-624-8949

BOARDS

Above Board 286 329 Artist 1 799

ATlEGAWonder 172 ATIV.I.P. 258

AlloySlave 16N 579 VMIIM1024 2345

Hercules Network + ..229 BOCA RAM AT 142

AST5251-11E 549 STB VGA EM 299

Orchid Designer 268 NEC MVA1024 789

Orchid Tiny Turbo 259 Metheus 1104 965

Paradise VGA Pro 352 Paradise 480 148

Tecmar EGA Master ...105 Paradise VGA+- ....238

SigmaVGAH 255 HerculesVGA 245

Video7VegaVGA 252 Vega Deluxe 182

ADC''Arictocad/Everex/Number9Talltree CALL

Computone/Quadram/Verticom/lntel CALL

MONITORS

Goldstar RGB 239 Amdek410A 138

Mitsubishi 1371A 489 Amdek 1280 649

NEC Multisynch GS .. 179 PGS LM-300 539

NEC Multisync II 572 Hitachi SAVE

NEC Multisync + 889 Taxan770+ 515

NEC Multisync XL... 1999 PGS Ultra 528

NEC Monograph .... 1295 Zenith 1490 605

Verticom 2 Page 1795 Taxan Crystal 1499

Sigma Laser 19" 1729 Wyse 700 678

SCANNERS

Dalacopy Model 730 1095

PGS LS-300 W/PC Paintbrush S OCR 965

Panasonic FX-RS 505 965

ASTHewlett-Packard/Taxan/Others SAVE

COMPUTERS

NECMullispeed .... 1299 AST286Model... SAVE NEC Mullispeed EL. 1565 AST 386 Model... SAVE

NEC Mullispeed HD. 2265 Sharp 450I 618

Toshiba T-1000 739 Sharp 4502 1165

Toshiba T-1100 + ... 1365 Sharp 4521 1975

Toshiba T-1200 2245 Sharp PC7000A ...1165

Toshiba T-3100/20 .3045 Sharp PC-7100 ...1745

Toshiba T-3200 3895 Samsung Laptop SAVE

Toshiba T-5100 4979 Zenith Laptop , . SAVE

Samsung S-500-AT: 10MHZ/40M HD 1565

Acer 80386:16MHz/0 Wait/40M Drive 3029

Acer 80386:16MHz/0 Wait/SOM Drive 3545

TandonPAC 286:1 MOT! HD 1795

Televideo 386:16 MHZ/2M/1.2M Drive 2495

Sperry PC/IT: 512K/44M HD/Keyhoard 2795

Wyse2108:8MHz/512K/1.2MDrive 1129

Wyse2112:12.5MHz/1M/1.2M Drive 1545

Wyse 2214:12.5 MHz/0 Wait/1.2M Drive 1945

Wyse 386:16 MHz/1 M/1.2M Drive 2575

AIIOS'ITT/Mitsubtshi/NEC/ATST CALL

TERMINALS

IBM3151 385 AltosV 489

Falco5500 419 Wyse30 289

KimtronKT70PC 359 Wyse50 359

Televideo965 SAVE Wyse60 395

Televideo905 295 W/se85G 429

Televideo955 369 Wyse99GT 472

Visual'LinleCIE/Adds/Ampex/Qume CALL

PLOTTERS

Calcomp 1044-GT.. 10245 HP 7475-A 1395

Calcomp 1043-GT... 6275 HP7570-A 3795

Calcomp1023 3745 HP7595 7695

Houston 41/42 2095 Mine 3700 3099

Houslon52 2795 Ioline4000 4065

Houston 56-A 3795 Enter SP-1000 .... 2665

Kouslon 61 3275 Roland 880 929

Houston 62 4495 Roland 980 1195

Numonics'Taxan VersatecOther Models

DIGITIZERS

Calcomp36x48 SAVE Calcomp 12x12

Calcomp44x60 SAVE GTC024x36...

KurtaIS8.5x11 259 GTC036x48...

Kurta IS 12x12 322 Summa 24x36

Kurta IS 12x17 545 Summa 42x60

Kurta IS3 SAVE Summa12x12

Hitachi 11x11 445 Summa12x18

CALL

.378 .. 1995 .2395

3095 .4195 .358 .598

MODEMS

Multitech224EH 388

Multitech 224EC 329

Practical 2400-SA 175

Practical 1200-1 65

Prometheus 2400 B'2.119 Prometheus 2400G .152 Racal-Vadic2400VP. .399

USR Courier 2400 299

USRCourier2400E ...359 Ven-Tel2400MNP ....455

Anchor2400-E . 145

AST9600 789

Migent Pocket 125

Hayes1200 279

Hayes 1200-B 252

Hayes 2400 415

Zoom2400-HC 142

Novation Parrot 89

USR HST 9600 649

Ven-Tel 18000 939

Avatex/Case/Everex/UDS/Others .

CALL

PRINTERS

Citizen 120-D 142 Alps 224 465

Citizen 180-D 158 Fujitsu DL3400 515

Citizen MSP 40 285 NECP-2200 328

Citizen MSP45 408 NECP-660 418

DiconixD150 299 NECP-760 592

Okidata393 949 NECP-5XL 815

Okidata 193 Plus 439 NEC P-9XL 1018

Panasonic 1080iM2... 175 Epson LO-500 349

Panasonic 1091 iM2.. .202 Epson EX-1000 499

Panasonic1524 549 Toshiba 321SL 489

Panasonic1595 449 Toshiba341SL 645

Star NX1000 SAVE Toshiba 351SX 959

DataSoulh/CIE/Fujitsu/OTC/Brolher/TI CALL

C. Itoh/Diablo'Data Products/Genicom SAVE

LOW PRICES FOR LASER PRINTERS

General P.S.Mac.... 1545 AST Turbo PS . SAVE

HPLaserJetll SAVE Canon8-ll 1545

Oki.Laserline6 1395 NEC 890 3145

Taxan Crystal Jet ... 2445 Panasonic 4450.. 1665

Toshiba Page 12 .... 2495 QumeScript 10 ... 4295

DISK DRIVES

Miniscribe 6053 565 Toshiba 3.5" 94

Miniscribe30M Card. .385 Miniscribe 40M .... 318

Miniscribe 6085 785 Plus Card 20M 525

Miniscribe30MKit .285 PlusCard40M 665

Seagate 2DM Kit 265 Seagate 40M 382

Seagate60MMac 755 Seagate4096 795

ASTAIIoy/Everex/Genoa/Maynard'Maxtor CALL

Atchive/Mountain/Tallgrass/CDCTecmar CALL

HOURS: MON-FRI 7AM-6PM/SAT 9AM-2PM IN ARIZONA CALL (602) 437-4855

CompuSave: 4207 S. 37th St., Phoenix, AZ 85040 Prices Reflect Cash Discounts And Are Subject To Change Without Notice. Major Credit Cards And Selected PO's Are Accepted. We Cannot Guarantee Compatibility. CompuSave Is A Division Of Adlanko Corppration.

MICROCOM"

9600+

MICROCOM

NETWORK PROTOCOL (MNP)

LEVEL 6 ERROR CORR.

NOW $CQQ

ONLYvW5#5J

Full warranty. Special quantity and term commitment arrangements available.

Robotics

MODEMS

• Hayes compatible

• 300, 1200, 2400 Baud

• Auto dial/answer

• US made, 2 yr. warr.

2400 BAUD

NOW ONLY

$139

FAX

ON-A-CARD

Fully automated FAX now to any Group III FAX machine. Unattended background operation. Send scanned, ASCII, or word processed files. Use any laser or dot matrix printer for output. PC EDITOR'S CHOICE

$289

Hand Scanners Available

MULTI-LINE

INTEGRATED VOICE MAIL TELEPHONE RESPONSE CARD

IDEALLY SUITED FOR:

lOOS * lnformation & Order Taking

• Voice Mail Answering System f\C • Mail Forwarding & Pager Alert

vl • In & Outbound Telemarketing

IICCC * Fu"y Menu Driven by Calling UOCO Party. Fits in PC card slot.

FROM '

THE PROFESSIONAL only

UU &IUL.

$239

BEST PRICES ANYWHERE!

30 MB

SYSTEM

286 AT

• Intel 80286 Processor

• 80287 Co-Processor Slot

• 30 MB Seagate H/D

• VGA/EGA Graphics Card

• Novell, IBM, & OS/2 Compatible System

NOW ONLY

Your Choice of Optional Monitors

HUNDREDS OF SALE ITEMS EVERY DAY!

TOSHIBA 130 MB/28 MS HD $999.

TOSHIBA 2 MB 31/2 IN. FD 129.

TOSHIBA 1.2 MB 51/> IN. FD 99.

MINISCRIBE 43 MB HD SYST. 369.

SEAGATE 30 MB HD SYSTEM 299.

VIDEO-7 VEGA VGA CARD $289. ORCHID VGA (1024x768) 319.

ORCHID 286 UPGRADE CARD 389. QUADRAM 386/XT 699.

GENOA EGA PLUS & GEM 199.

VISIT OUR 24 HR BBS (805) 650-0193 (8/1/N) FOR COMPLETE CATALOG & PRODUCT LISTINGS

BRAND NAMES FOR MUCH LESS!

(805)650-0188

THIS SUPERCEDES PRIOR ADS • SUBJECT TO SUPPLY ON HAND

Ask About BBS Software

338 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 206 on Reader Service Card

IN NEW YORK & OUTSIDE USA CALL

(718)692-0071

FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

CALL MON-FRI/9:30AM-5PM

(718)965-8686

| EPSON EQUITY 1 +

IBM PC/XT

COMPATIBLE

PACKAGE

• 640K RAM w/Clock Calendar • 360K Drive • Keyboard • Serial/Parallel Ports • Box of 10 Diskettes • 12" High Resolution Monitor

$769

Same Pkg. w/One Floppy $H OOQ & 20 MB Hard Drive I U^»

ISame Pkg. w/Two 360K $O^Q iFloppy Drives C+J?

SEC POWERMATE I

PACKAGE

IBM PC/XT/AT COMPATIBLE

• 800286 10 MHz Processor • 640K

RAM • 1.2 MB Floppy • 12" Monitor

$1299

w/NEC 20 MB Hard Drive 551529

POWERMATE II with monitor

$1799

commodore PC10-1

IBM PC/XT

COMPATIBLE

PACKAGE

PC10-1 Computer •512KExpandible

to 640K •360K Disk Drive ■Enhanced Keyboard •Serial& Parallel Ports .12" Monitor o, Adapters -Package of 10 Diskettes •All Hook-up Cables

*529

Same Package with *^ O O 20MB Hard Drive * / O"

WAREHOUSE ADDRESS: 33 34th ST. BROOKLYN, NY, 11232

FOR ORDERS & INFORMATION CALL TOLL FREE

1-800-345-7058

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK FOR ORDERS:

MONDAY-FRIDAY 9:30AM-8PM/SATURDAY

& SUNDAY 9:30 AM-6 PM EDT

XT

HARD DRIVE PACKAGE

• IBM XT Computer • IBM Keyboard 256K RAM Expandable to 640K ■ 360K Disk Drive

• 20MB Hard Drive • Package of 10 Diskettes (Monitor Optional)

*1499

IBM XT Package with 5 2 360K Floppy Drives

1279

PERSONAL SYSTEM 2

MODEL 50

W/720K Floppy Drive & 20ME IBM Hard Drive

$2599

HARD DRIVES

HARD DRIVES & CARDS

SEAGATE

20MB 1 /2 HI. w/Conlroller S269

30MB 1 /2 Ht. w/Controller S319

40MB1/2Hl.w/Controller $439

MINISCRIBE

40MB1/2Ht.w/Controller $369

CMS20MBCard $339

CMS 30MB Card $379

SANYO I Usenet

PR-3000 LifJflJL

Whee|apnnter / tfil IVdv *nr\ Hh / I MB EXPANDER

$89.50 / *349

Personal System II Model 25 S1049

PS II Model 2b w/Color Monitor S1299

PS II Model 60 W/44MB Hard Drive &

1 720kFloppv Drive $3299

PS II Model 60 wHQ MB

& 720K Drive $3799

JBM Personal System II Monitors

8503 Mono $209

8512 Color S459

8513 Color: 5519

PRINTERS

OR WRITE TO:

MONTGOMERY GRANT

MAIL ORDER DEPT.

P.O. BOX 58

BROOKLYN, N.Y., 11230

FAX NO. 2125641497 TELEX NO. 422132HMOLLER

==^^^' PERSONAL 4^^"i= SYSTEM 2

$1599

EPSON

FX-86E $2g9.95

FX-286E....$44g.95

FX-800 $429.95

LQ-800 $349.95

LQ-850 $489.95

LQ-500 $315.95

LQ-1050.... $659.95

EX-B00 $419.95

EX-1000.... $459.95

LX-800 $199.95

PANASONIC

10801-11 $159.95

1092i $289.95

10911-11 $189.95

KX-P 1524..$499.95 TOSHIBA

321 -SL $479.95

341-SL $649.95

351-11 $799.95

STAR

NX 1000 RAINBOW.. $219.95

NX-1000 $169.95

NX-15 $289.95

NB-2410.... $409.95

NB-2415 $559.95

IBM Proprinter II $369.95

OKIDATA

OKI-120 $189.95

OKIMATE20.$139.95 OKIDATA180, $219.95 OKIDATA183.$289.95

NEC

P-2200 $339.95

P-6 $419.95

MODEL 30 PACKAGE

• IBM Computer ■ Two 720K Drives

• 640K RAM • Built-in Graphics

• Serial/Parallel Ports • Optional 12" Monitor

$1199

PS/2 Model 30 w/720k Floppy Drive & 20MB IBM Hard Drive

LEADING EDGE

MODEL D PACKAGE

• 512K RAM Computer •Keyboard «360K Floppy Drive* 4.7-7.16

MHz «12" Monitor

• 8088-2 Processor

$729

Same Pkg. W/20MB Hard Drive $989

BLUE CHIP

IBM PC/XT COMPAT. PKG.

W/MONITOR

512KRAM Expandable tol

640K-360K Floppy Disk I

Drive ■ 12" Monitor • Box I

of 10 Diskettes - Game|

Disk $4QQ

W/20 MB HARD DRIVE....$7S9 |

VENDEX

HEADSTART

PC/XT COMPATIBLE

-1.7 MHz. -Dual Floppy Drives- 7 Expansion Slots-512KExpandableto768K • Parallel & Serial Ports ■ Mouse - Available in Color or MonochromeSystemi OverS1000 Worthof Software-NO CHARGE!

Mono System Color System

5849

s999

AMSTRAD

IBM PC/XT

COMPATIBLE

PACKAGE

'(INCLUDES MOUSE & I FREE SOFTWARE I

512K • One 360K Drive ■ Clock Calendar - MonoGrapMics Card • Serial and Parallel Ports • Mono Monitor . Monitor Stand

$569

Same Pkg. with $QOQ

20 MB Hard Drive OOJ7

LAPTOPS - MONITORS - AMIGA

4pp<*i

PACKAGES

. Apple IIC or HE Keyboard • 5.25" Disk Drive . 12" Monitor .All Hook-up • Cables and Adaptors • Package of 10 Diskettes

APPLE IIC APPLE HE

'579 *779

Apple IIC Computer '3.5" Disk

Drive ■ Apple RGB Color Moni- h a^a|

tor • Pkg. of 10 Diskettes * AIL * | O / *71

Cables & Adapters Software

• Apple

TOSHIBA

TOSHIBA 1000 1720K Floppy Drive I-512K RAM ■ 4.7 I MHz • SuperTwi I LCD Screen

$749 1

NEC MULTISPEED HD 521791

NEC MULTISPEE0 EL 51369 I

NEC MULTISPfcEO $1099 I

NEC MULT'SYNC !l Mi,-.no.' $579 I

TOSHIBA 1200 52199 I

TOSHIBA 3100/20 52929 I

TOSHIBA 3200 53695 I

TOSHIBA 5100 54895 I

ZENITH 181 514491

ZENITH 183 tir"

SPARK BY DATAVUE

640K WITH 1WO 720K DRIVES 5989 1

SPARK EL 51149 I

MAGNAVOX RGB COLOR MONITOR....5199 I

THOMSON 14" CGA

Monitor $289

THOMSON ULTRA SCAN.. $419 MAGNAVOX EGA

Monitor $339

with EGA Card $459

I commodore

\12S PACKAGE Commodore 128 Computer

a nor

Commodore 1571 Disk Commodore 1515 80 Column Printer 0«?y

commodore

64/c PACKAGE [■Commodore 64/C Computer - Commodore 1541 ] Disk Drive ■Computer Printer • 12" sOQQ I Computer Monitor Q%7%7

O Commodore

AMIGA

■'• ■

IN STOCKCALL FOR LOW PRICE!

MAC PLUS Computer Package $1399

IMAGEWRITER II Printer $449

MACSEComputerw/Dual Drive....$1949 MAC SE Computer w/20MB

APPLE Hard Drive $2599

APPLE MAC II CALL

AMIGA 2000 IN STOCK

ALL PERIPHERALS IN STOCK

A-501 512K EXPANSION • A-1010 3.5" FLOPPY I DPJVE-A-1020T 5.25- DISK DRIVE WITH TRANSFORMER- A-20680 BRIDGE CARD- A-1084 RGB COLOR MONmOR • A-1680 MODEM ■ A-1080 SIDECAR • A-2080 HARD DRIVE CONTROLLER FOR A-2000 ■ A-2010 3.5-INTERNAL DISK DRIVE FORA-2O00-A-20522M8EXPANSIONFORA-200O

AMIGA

500w/1084 AMIGA 500W/1084/1010

$779

$979

VISA

NO ADDITIONAL SURCHARGE FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS

Certified Checks, Bank Checks, Money Orders, Mastercard, Visa, Amex, Diners Club, Carte Blanche, Discover

FPO addresses add 10% for shipping & handling. All APO'FPO are shipped 1st class priority air. N.Y. residents add applicable sates tax. Prices and availability subject tro change without notice. Not responsible for typographical errors. Return of defective merchandise must have prior return authorization number, or returns wiTI not be accepted. IBM PC/XT are registered trademarks of International Business Machine Corp. All orders can be shipped Air Express, call for details. For your protection we check credit card theft.

Circle 193 on Reader Service Card

SERIAL/PARALLEL

Communications Board

• Two Parallel Printer Ports

• Two 8-Bit Digital I/O Ports

• Two Serial Ports, RS-232, RS-422 or RS-485

• Address Selectable

• Selectable & Shareable Interrupts

1-800-553-1170

QUA TECH

478 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44304

TEL: (216) 434-3154 FAX: (216) 434-1409

TLX: 5101012726

100% CERTIFIED 5VV BULK DISKS

51/4 DS/DD 59c 51/4" DS/HD 1,59 3V2 DS/DD 1.09

Price based on quantity of 300 includes sleeves, labels and tabs.

800-222-0490

In NJ 201-462-7628

• 24 Hour Shipment •

MEGASofr

P.O. Box 710, Freehold, NJ 07728

2400 Baud Performance Incredible $149 Price!.'

• 2400,1200, 300 Baud Async Modem

• Hayes "AT" Command Set

•CCnr V.22 bis, V.22 & Bell 212A/103 Compatible

• Aulo Answer/Auto Dial

• Compact Size

• Programmable non-volMe phone number memory, user conliguration & speaker volume

• One year warranty q^ ^

Toll Free

USA:800-533-8049 CA:8O0-624-5628

MCA/ISA/AMEX Accepted (805)524-4169

CBNmAL

330 Central Avenue Fillmore, CA 93015

Circle 234 on Reader Service Card

Circle 173 on Reader Service Card

Serving Computer Users Since 1982

Circle S3 on Reader Service Card

► SAVE

► ON

9 TRACK TAPE SYSTEM

^m FOR IBM PC/XT/AT

• Mainframe to PC Data Transfer

• Highspeed Backup

• Ail Software, Complete System"

• Service and Support, easy Installation

call (818) 343-6505 or write to: Contech Computer Corp.

P.O. Box 153 Tarzana, Calif. 91356

CONTECH

FOR PS/2

MODELS 50, 60, 80

Two Channel Transfers to 256 K baud Address Selectable Interrupt Selectable 1-800-553-1170

QUA TECH

478 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44304

TEL: (216) 434-3154 FAX: (216) 434-1409

TLX: 5101012726

Dealers!

Network-OS LAN Systems - Includes Boards, Cabling, Terminators and Software. Two-user hardware and software for under $1,000 list!

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Context Sensitive Help for Dataplex, RM/ COBOL, Clipper and dBase III - Puts your application's documentation "on line."

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Dump/Restore-XT - Seven utilities for the MS/ PC-DOS user.

Call or write today for our catalog and pricing!

COGITATE, INCORPORATED

"A Higher Form of Software"

24000 Telegraph Road

Southfield, Ml 48034

(313) 352-2345/Telex: 386581

Visa/MasterCard Accepted

Circle 309 on Reader Service Card

Circle 235 on Reader Service Card

Circle 58 on Reader Service Card

EPROM PROGRAMMER

$ 3 4 9

THE EP-1'S A GREAT VALUE AND HEBE'S WHY:

• READS PROGRAMS. COPIES OVER 350 EPROM AND EEPROMS FROM 30 MFG'S INCLUDING 2716-27513.2934-28256.27011

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• MENU-DRIVEN CHIP SELECTION BY MFG S P/N.NO MODULES

• FAST SLOW. QUICK PULSE PROGRAMMING ALGORITHMS

• SPLITS FILES BY BASE ADDRESS AND ODD/EVEN (16 & 32 BIT)

• ALL INTELLIGENCE IN UNIT; 280 MICROPROCESSOR BASED

• 5 12 5, 21 25 V PROGRAMMING FOR CMOS & -A SUFFIX PARTS

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• ONE YEAR WARRANTY

• SAME DAY SHIPMENT

• UV ERASERS FROM S34.95

CALL TODAY FOR MORE INFORMATION 800/225-2102

BPr"

MICROSYSTEMS 10681 HADDINGTON #190, HOUSTON, TX 77043 713/461-9430 TLX: 1561477 FAX: 713/461-7413

UNIVERSAL LOGIC PROGRAMMER

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• MENU DRIVEN OPERATION IS EASY TO LEARN AND QUICK TO OPERATE

• CONNECTS TO ANY IBM COMPATIBLE COMPUTER VIA PARALLEL PRINTER PORT

• EDITS FUSE DATA & TEST VECTORS WITH FULL SCREEN EDITOR

• TESTS WITH VECTORS 8 SECURES AFTER PROGRAMMING

• SUPPORTS ALL POPULAR PLD DEVELOPEMENT SOFTWARE

• GOLD TEXTOOL ZIF IC SOCKET • ONLINE HELP FUNCTION

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CALL FOR FREE DEMO DISK 800/225-2102

BP*

MICROSYSTEMS 10681 HADDINGTON #190 HOUSTON, TX 77043 713/461-9430 TLX: 1561477 FAX: 713/461-7413

IMtVV Fall Winter s ~ -*^W

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Save Time and Money Over 1000 Hard-io-lind Hardware and Software Items ot Special Interest to Technical PC Users: .

■ RS 232/IEEE 488 Networks

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1 Laboratory Automation

' 1 MHZA-D

i Digital Scopes to 200 MHZ

i High Speed Bus Adapters

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> PC Bus Expansion Chassis

i And Much More

A How-lo-Handbook lhal enables you to configure the BEST products from the world's leading PC hardware and software vendors into risk free turn-key system solutions that meet your needs.

Toll Free Hotline for application assistance and convenient one stop shopping at competitive prices. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.

fcUj" lOD-Ol Olioi PO Box 9565, New Haven, CT 06536 (9:00 AM lo 5:00 PM E.ST) Fax 203-786-5023 Telei: 9102501037

Circle 46 on Reader Service Card

Circle 46 on Reader Service Card

Circle 78 on Reader Service Card

The Amazing A-BUS\&

An A-BUS system with two Motherboards

A-8US adapter (IBM) In foreground

Plug into the future

With the A-BUS you can plug your PC (IBM, Apple, TRS-80) into a future of exciting new applications in the fields of control, monitoring, automation, sensing, robotics, etc.

Alpha's modular A-BUS offers a proven method to build your "custom" system today. Tomorrow, when you are ready to take another step, you will be able to add more functions. This is ideal for first time experimenting and teaching.

A-BUS control can be entirely done in simple BASIC or Pascal, and no knowledge of electronics is required!

An A-BUS system consists of the A-BUS adapter plugged into your computer and a cable to connect the Adapter to 1 or 2 A-BUS cards. The same cable will also fit an A-BUS Motherboard for expansion up to 25 cards in any combination.

The A-BUS is backed by Alpha's continuing support (our 11th year, 50000 customers in over 60 countries).

The complete set of A-BUS User's Manuals is available for $10.

About the A-BUS:

• All the A-BUS cards are very easy to use with any language that can read or write to a Port or Memory. In BASIC, use INPand OUT (or PEEK and POKE with Apples and Tandy Color Computers)

• They are all compatible with each other. You can mix and match up to 25 cards to fit your application. Card addresses are easily set with jumpers.

• A-BUS cards are shipped with power supplies (except PD-123) and detailed manuals (including schematics and programming examples).

Relay Card re-i40:$129

Includes eight industrial relays. (3 amp contacts. SPST) individually controlled and latched. 8 LED's show status Easy to use (OUTor POKE in BASIC) Card address is jumper selectable.

Reed Relay Card re-i56:$99

Same features as above, but uses 8 Reed Relays to switch low level signals (20mA max). Use as a channel selector, solid state relay driver, etc.

Analog Input Card ad-i42:$i29

Eight analog inputs. 0 to +5V range can be expanded to 100V by adding a resistor. 8 bit resolution (20mV). Conversion time 120us. Perfect to measure voltage, temperature, light levels, pressure, etc. Very easy to use.

12 Bit A/D Converter an-i 46: si 39

This analog to digital converter is accurate to .025%. Input range is —4Vto +4V, Resolution: 1 millivolt. The on board amplifier boosts signals up to 50 times to read microvolts. Conversion time is 130ms. Ideal for thermocouple, strain gauge, etc. 1 channel. (Expand to 8 channels using the RE-156 card).

Digital Input Card in-i41:$59

The eight inputs are optically isolated, so it's safe and easy to connect any "on/off" devices, such as switches, thermostats, alarm loops, etc. to your computer. To read the eight inputs, simply use BASIC INP (or PEEK).

24 Line TTL I/O dg-148:$65

Connect 24 input or output signals (switches or any TTL device) to your computer The card can be set for: input, latched output, strobed output, strobed input, and/or bidirectional strobed I/O. Uses the 8255A chip.

Clock with Alarm cl-144:$89

Powerful clock/calendar with: battery backup for Time, Date and Alarm setting (time and date): built in alarm relay, led and buzzer: timing to 1 /100 second. Easy to use decimal format. Lithium battery included.

Touch Tone® Decoder ph-i45:$79

Each tone is converted into a number which is stored on the board. Simply read the number with INP or POKE Use tor remote control projects, etc,

A-BUS Prototyping Card pr-i52:$is

3'A by 4'/2 in. with power and ground bus. Fits up to 10 I.C.s

ST-143

CI.-144

RE-140

IN-141

AD-142

Smart Stepper Controller sc-i49:$299

World's finest stepper controller On board microorocessor controls 4 motors simultaneously. Incredibly, it accepts plain English commands like "Move arm 10.2 inches left". Many complex sequences can be defined as "macros" and stored in the on board memory. For each axis, you can control: coordinate (relative or absolute), ramping, speed, step type (half. full. wave), scale factor, units, holding power, etc. Many inputs: 8 limit & "wait until" switches, panic button, etc. On the fly reporting of position, speed, etc. On board drivers (350mA) for small steppers (MO-103) Send for SC-149 flyer. Remote Control Keypad Option RC-1 21: $49

To control the 4 motors directly, and "teach" sequences of motions. Power Driver Board Option PD-123: $89

Boost controller drive to 5 amps per phase. For two motors (eight drivers). Breakout Board Option BB-122:$19

For easy connection of 2 motors. 3 ft. cable ends with screw terminal board.

Stepper Motor Driver st-i43:$79

Stepper motors are the ultimate in motion control. The special package (below) includes everything you need to get familiar with them. Each card drives two stepper motors (12V, bidirectional. 4 phase. 350mA per phase). Special Package: 2 motors (MO-103) + ST-143: PA-181: $99

Stepper Motors M0-103:$15or4for$39

Pancake type, 2'k" dia, 'A" shaft, 7.57step, 4 phase bidirectional. 300 step/sec. 12V, 36 ohm. bipolar. 5 oz-in torque, same as Airpax K82701-P2.

Current Developments

Intelligent Voice Synthesizer. 14 Bit Analog to Digital converter, 4 Channel Digital to Analog converter. Counter Timer, Voice Recognition.

A-BUS Adapters for:

IBM PC, XT, AT and compatibles. Uses one short slot. AR-133 ..$69

Tandy 1000,1000 EX & SX, 1200,3000. Usesone short slot. AR-133...$69

Apple II. II+, He. Uses any slot. AR-134...S49

TRS-80 Model 102, 200 Plugs into 40 pin "system bus" AR-136...$69

Model 100. Uses40 pin socket (Socket is duplicated on adapter) AR-135...$69

TRS-80 Mod 3,4,4 D. Fits 50 pin bus. (With barddisk. use Y-cable) AR-132...$49

TRS-80 Model 4 P. Includes extra cable. (50 pin bus is recessed). AR-137 ..$62

TRS-80 Model I. Plugs into 40 pin I/O bus on KB or E/l. AR-131 ...$39

Color Computers (Tandy).Fits ROM slot. Muitioak. or Y-cable AR-138...$49

A-BUS Cable (3 ft, 50 cond.) ca-i63: $24

Connects the A-BUS adapter to one A-BUS card or to first Motherboard. Special cable for two A-BUS cards: CA-1 62: $34

A-BUS Motherboard MB-120:$99

Each Motherboard holds live A-BUS cards. A sixth connector allows a second Motherboard to be added to the first (with connecting cable CA161: $12). Up to five Motherboards can be joined this way to a single ABUS adapter. Sturdy aluminum frame and card guides included.

Add S3.00 per order for shipping. Visa, MC, checks, M.O. welcome. CT & NY residents add sales tax. C.O.D. add S3.00 extra. Canada: shipping is $5 Overseas add 10%

Jffifr ALPHA mr&MMMi

a Stgma Industries Company

242-B West Avenue, Darien, CT 06820

Technical info: (203) 656-1806

SW 800 221-0916

Connecticut orders: (203) 348-9436

All lines open weekdays 9 to 5 Eastern time

Circle 14 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 341

$109 2400 Baud

MODEM

2400+ 1200 + 300 IBM INTERNAL AT-HAYES COMPATIBLE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY 30 DAYS MONEY BACK 2 YEAR WARRANTY MADE IN USA

Compu Com Corporation

(800) 228-6648 (408) 732-4500 (CA)

The $595 Solution to 8051 Product Development

The PDK51 is a powerful and economical choice for the development of 8051-based systems. The PDK51 is used with an IBM-PC or equivalent and includes:

• SIBEC-II 8052 Basic Microcontroller

• SXA51 Cross Assembler

• ROM-Based Monitor/Debugger

• PROM Programmer

• Power Supplies

• Documentation, Tutorial and More

Call Now! (603) 469-3232 rTRI Binary Technology, Inc.

L^HMain St., P.O. Box 67. Meriden, NH 03770

Need Ports?

No Slots? Add a Bus!

BUSport™

The RAMport™ and CPUport™ allow expansion of micros via the existing memory or CPU sockets, bringing out a ribbon cable bus to a family of I/O Modules including parallel, serial, and other interfaces.

HiTech Equipment Corp

9560 Black Mountain Road

San Diego, CA 92126

(619) 566-1892

Circle 62 on Reader Service Card

Circle 130 on Reader Service Card

RS232C IBM PC Compatible Paper Tape Transmitter/Model 612

Stops and starts on character at all speeds, uses manual control or X-on, X-off 90-260 volt, 50-60 Hz power. 50-9600 baud, up to 150 char/sec synchronous or asynchronous; gated internal or external clock, RS 232C, current loop or parallel output, reads 5-8 level tape, 7-11 frames per character, even or odd parity. Desk fop or rack mount. Addmaster Corporation, 2000 S. Myrtle Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016, (818) 358-2395, Telex 674770 Addmaster SGAB

Dear Retailer,

Great News!!!

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Circle 8 on Reader Service Card

Circle 72 on Reader Service Card

Circle 73 on Reader Service Card

DUMP YOUR MANUAL

DUMP your manual and start using MENU DRIVEN utility program DOS MANAGER for your system's operation. Press a key—Zap! and your command is executed immediately.

• DOS Tutorial

• Format

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• Mode settings

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• Transmit files

AND many more. All at a Press of

a key!!

For IBM PC, XT, AT. . .

Only $39.95 + $3.50 shipping.

send order to:

SOFTWORLD

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LOCAL AND REMOTE I/O THE EASY WAY. . .

• 8 analog inputs

' 8 contact (status) inputs ' 8 relay driver outputs

• 6 optional pulse accumulators ' Base Price ^95.00

The MOJAVE LMX I/O processor communicates with any computer or terminal in ASCII over RS-232 or over built in Bell 103 or Bell 202 modems. Operates over virtually any distance over dial up or over multi-drop radio or cable. A small battery can power the LMX for up to 4 years. Larger capacity I/O processors are available.

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DATA ACQUISITION PROCESSOR™

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• analog and digital I/O to

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• 80186 coprocessor —

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• onboard software, incl. FFT

■ run applications without

programming

• direct access to Lotus 1-2-3

• manual with tutorial and

sample applications — $20

• digital I/O from $995

• analog I/O from $1695

Mich

L<

\horatorii:s

(206) 881-4286

2863 152 Ave. N.E. Redmond, WA 98052 Telex 510 601 3473

Circle 261 on Reader Service Card

Circle 192 on Reader Service Card

Circle 186 on Reader Service Card

SAME-DAY SHIPMENT! MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE!

"RS-232C TO CURRENT LOOP BI-DIRECTIONAL CONVERTER" Model 232CL2

only vuoiou

Interface your RS-232 port to existing current loop system. Model 232CL2 couples and isolates Transmit and Receive Data through high speed optical isolators. Powered from pins 4. 5.6.8 and 20 on the RS-232 side; one pin must be high, one must be low.

No power required it current loop port is active. Model 232PS-12V DC Power Supply required it current Iodp port i s passive; only $14 95

Order direct from manufacturer TODAY and SAVE!' Bequest your FREE copy olB&B ELECTRONICS'^ Catalog which lists ahostot interlace and \^fe4 monitoring equipment lor RS-232 ports.

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|&Q electronics

1502F Boyce Memorial Drive • RQ Bex 1040 • Ottawa, IL 61350

Phone: 815-434-0846

Circle 28 on Reader Service Card

merican Semiconductor

XT, AT-386

Complete units

as low as

$35./month

5 year warranty available

Call for Details

Not a lease—You own it!

1-800-825-SAVE

Circle 17 on Reader Service Card

HD64180 Single Board

Protyping / Control Computer Get your 64180 project going quickly!

The SBC !00 is a complete computer powered by a wall transformer. Available C compiler, assembler, linker and debugger run on a PC. Has baltery-backed RAM, battery-backed clock, power fail interrupt, SBX bus connectors, serial and parallel I/O, prototype area for up to 20 IC's. Only $295 including serial cable, power upply, 32k of battery backed RAM and schematics.

Z-World

1772A Picasso Avenue

Davis. CA 95616 (916) 753-3722 "Z80 Family Specialists" In Germany: iSystem 08131/1687

Circle 296 on Reader Service Card

IEEE-Z

Easiest IEEE 488(GPIB/HPIB) Interfaces for your PC, PS/2, Macintosh, HP and more!

• Controllers

• Converters •Extenders •Buffers

• Boards

Please see our ad

on page 265. Call Or Send

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Circle 141 on Reader Service Card

jp3£merican

Semiconductor

MATHC0-PR0C:

EPR0MS: SIMMS:

8087 $107.00

27126 $3.90 1 MB CHIPS

8087-2 15100

27256 CALL 1 MB x 9

80287 169.00

2764 2.90 1 MB x 8

802878 239.00

27512 CALL 256 x 9

8028710 30500

80387-16 460.00

STATIC COL. RAM $7.00

DRAMS:

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Circle 18 on Reader Service Card

RW

Intel

ISIS

Very Fast

12.5 MHZ Clock Speed!

HUM | III Illllllllllll

minium

PC Co-Processor

Our co-processor card plugs into your PC or PC/AT. With the included software you can run your ISIS-II development tools, such asASM80, PLM51, etc. Serial communications program for PC-Intel file transfer included. $495 gets you a complete 6 mhz system. Clock speeds of 10 and 12,5 mhz also available. We have the best and fastest products in this area.

Z-World

2065 Martin Ave #110 Santa Clara, CA 95050 (408) 980-1678 In Germany: iSystem Tel: 08131/1687

Circle 297 on Reader Service Card

circle a/ on Keaaer service cara

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DISKCO TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

213 Cottage Avenue

P.O. Box 1339 Sandy, Utah 84091

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 343

MICROMINT'S Gold Standard in Single Board

n^f Computers & Controllers

BCC180 - $395.00

MULTITASKING CONTROLLER

ImageWise™

Serial Digital Imaging Svsten

The BCC180. only 4.5" x 8.5" uses the same 64180 CMOS Z-80 instruction compatible processor asMicromintsSBisoandSBisaFX single board computers Conligured primarily (or process control wftMK oi memory. 6 parallel I/O pom. console serial port. RS232/422/485 selectable auxiliary serial port, and an Interrupt driven ROMresident multitasking BASIC-ISO compiler, the BCCI80 uses the same 44-pin I/O expansion bus as Mlcrominfs BCC52 controller board. PROCESSOR

• CMOS HDWIBO.9.316MHz B-biC CPU. M pin PLCC package MEMOMY

• Up lo 584K bjtes total memory un-board

• Hart of either :lwc RAM w.>;h <a LPWOM ['272561

• 256K dynamic RAM SI.MM

• hull function BK ROM moniior Included INPUTOU7PUT

• Console BS-sjj sera] pert iiih auio txiud ma sdecl id 19.200 baud

■ Peripheral serial port. ISO-IM. SOD turn), selectable PS-252. RSJiw or PS-4B5

• « bits bi-directional parallel IK)

" mK lO available thrausii the BCC bus edct connector DIMENSIONS and CONNECTIONS

■ Dual B2-pln (o.tss") cdije connccto:

• Compaiible with ail Micrornlnt BCC-serles I/O expansion boards

• Two 2&pln headers lot six bidirectional parallel pons " S5 pin DB-B35 lor RS2J2 console IK)

• 20 pin header for P5-23S auxiliary serial port

• * screw terminals lor RS-422/4S5 c<

9MHz assembled and fully socketed BCC1 so Computer/ Controller with 32K bytes of static RAM. ROM Monitor. fiASIC-iso development software and user's manual 5393.00 For additional 256K DRAM add SiOO.OO 100 Quanlily w/saK RAM. w/o Monitor ROM S209.00

SB180FX $409.00

Single Board Computer

ssimr ncHMCAL spsancxnofe

PCOCESSOB

• Hitachi il! sm mo. «| * en CPU m s M pin PLCC package

• Superset oi : so Insrrucilan xi. Induumfl hardware multiply

• Integrated Memocy Monagemeni Unit wiiti 51SK byiii address space

• Dynamic BAM refresh

• Kbit slate peneratof •OocbedsotatlOpon

• s charmd Dliecl Memory Access CcntroOer

• s channel Asynchronous Serial Communication Interlace

•achannel irs-tHi Programmable Reload Timer

• is Interrupt!

< Dual bus Interlace (o 6Wx iind scuur

support chips •0lMMH1.9ai6MH1.and 12 9M

MHi sysiem operation

• S12K byres dynamic RAM on board

• Memory ex lernaUy expandable lo i Mbyte RAM

• Enher an aK 2CM. I6K !7 iss. or 3IK STSS4 EPROM usable

• Full lunciion aK ROM reslden!

INPurOuTPUT

• Constie R5432 serial port Willi aurobaud rale seleci ■□ M.400 baud

• r*npheral RS-SJS serial port, lull hand shaking, 1 50- M.400 baud

• Line primer paraBd LO pod

■ at bus bKbrecuonaJ paraael IO

• 19-tHl address decodmrj. IO pert decodmfl. and dual bus Interlace broughi our lo expansion bus conneciix

•Can bedlrecuy airached loGtisowox «oo coin graphics adapter

• Fully implemenied SCSI haiddrsk and cummunlcalions bus Interlace

FLOPCYrllAfiO DISK INTERFACE

• Uses Standard Microsystems VHA disk controller

•Compaiible with NEC 765A con 1 roller

• Onchfp dlgllal data separator "CanconirolS'd-. S'ii-.andfl- lloppj

dak dmrs-up to * In any combination

• Handles Both FM encoded (single den sltyland MFM encoded (double density!

"NCR QCSQ5CS bus controller lor hard

disk or nerwoib ccmmunlcaucm SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY.

• CWM. ZDDOS ICPRs Compaiible

SB1S0RC-I-3Q

SBisoTX 0.1-14 Mil; computer board populated stf

BS6K bytes RAM. BK byte ROM monitor without SCSI chip

Addssooolor9MHz.

SBibOFX-i computer board asdesenbed

above with Z-Sysiem soliwaie including ZP[)OS. ZCPR_V

editor, utilities ZAS assembler and ZUM debugger. BIOS

and ROM monitor sources, and BIOS iur SCSI hard disb

Supplied on Itw

TTteGTI60hasboihTTL RGB (red-green-blue intensity! and analog RGB outputs, is totally compaiible with mrtually all standard and multiscan CRT monitors, and has a connector lor an IBM PC keyboard

The OT1S0 offers these features

• Advanced graphics comroller provides intelligent hnb between computer and user

• Only 3.75- x 8\ piiwy-bacbs on either an SB18O ot SB18OFX computer •High resolution at a low cost: 640 x 480 with its ut 40* colors

• Hardware drawing commands LINE. RECTANGLE. POLYLINE. POLYGON C1R CLE. ELLIPSE. ARC. TILLED RECTANGLE. PAINT PATTERN. WINDOW, and COPY to name but a few

• Automatic translation of logical X-Y coordinates 10 physical Irame buHer addresses

• Fasi drawing, speed of 2 million pixels pei second

• Provides lull? programmable horizontal spin screens and window screen

• Fully supported by QT180 Graphlx Toolbox written in Modula-2

GT180-1 GT1SO-2

Graphic Display Expansion Board Cm RGB only)

Graphic Display Expansion Board tTTL RGB and Analog RGB}

S39S.0O S449.0O

MICROMINT INTROI1UCES A STAND-ALONE SERIAL DIGITAL IMAGING SYSTEM'Trie MICROMINT ImatjeWlsse- Serial EHtjUaJ ImasTlns System is ihe most cost erlective and versatile high |x.'rtormaitcc grayscale video digitizing sysiem on the marbet today The ImageWise sysiem has been designed to function as a standalone digitizer or as an integral component ol a complete lele-imaging system ImatjeWUe"'s serially bit mapped digitized pictures give it almost uniwisal comixitibiliry with any computer capable of attaching 10 a modem or terminal II is ideally suited lor CAD/CAM. Desktop Publishing, automatic inspection, and secuniy applications, Critical Sysiem tunciions such as image resolution and picture update can be controlled and commanded remotely Images ate transmuted and recefred serially, either compressed or uncompressed, and can be displayed, transmitted, stored, edited, or processed lor use in a variety of industry standard apphcaiion soltware

IMAGEWISE SYSTEM SPEC1FICATIONS

" NOT bus dependent - can lunciion standalone

' Tlue Irame grabber - uses a Yiicjh speed Hash AIO convener and MK

bytes ol sialic RAM 10 captutc an image in iftOUl second ' Accepts any llfW 01 color NTSC oileo signal

• Stores pictures .t. LM-l lines of S5fi pixel', "i 11.1ft.'Is (jrayscale

• Resolution ol iMiisiniiiu.i inug-.: 1-. miIIumi,' m.-Ii-c t.ible. all images are tepresented in v* levels ol grjy scale

Selectable Resolutions High aiuxswxft Med laaxiaaxe

» Video Input 1 soil [leak to peak. I » Video Output fa Ohm. 1 5 V peake

• S-TIjI tui'Lil/Ourpul RS-SW-Bbll.r

S7 6Kbps selectable data r. " able daiacompressjontoniotit

• Modem compaiible Easily tunctu: video images anywhere

• Viitii) prmeiMrig ili-t- ii;)lo.nl'il.w:ili-»)d. .ind di:.pkiy inilmes provided

lot PC-DOS and MS-DOS machines

)i color rsohmie

o peak NTSC composite video me slop bit. no panly J00 bps - Xon I Xolt MandshaLiiig Switch seleci

a video telephone 10 send

.***!

Xp^c^ OEM-286—$620.00

v OV* complete PC/AT-CPU

MICROMINT s OEM-286 is a complete PC/AT CPU and more The OEM-286 is the first low power, 100% AT compatible which has been spetilically designed for OEM use within the industrial and business sectors The OEM-286 features the Zymos CMOS POACH sei and 100% compatible Award BIOS The development of the POACH chip sei has allowed Ihe 1Q9 ICs on a standard AT in be reduced to 20 IC's and two SIMMS What this means lot you is.

1) The overall size oi a standard AttCPU has been condensed into the expansion card form factor. (I3'V x S'A>")

2) Power requirements are less ihen 1 A @ 5 volts

i) OEM-286 plugs Into a passive backplane lor easy connection to other expansion pen p he rais The OEM-286 is available in both a and 10 Mhz versions and comes with the Award BIOS

OEM-286 FEATURES

• itxrte AT compaiible

• scjdg Mictoprocessor. a or 10MI1:

• Bono? Co-Processor opnonal

• 6-1 Kbytes ol BOM. can accommodate i-.'s Kliyies

• Si'.1 Kliyies ol RAM

• Keyboard Controller

• Expansion card size lacior

• Standard interface to Hie Sysiem Expansion BUS

• r>iliery tsacbed real time clocW

• Award BIOS included

100 QUANTTTY PRICE

BCC52

BASIC 52 Computer/Controller

The MICROMINT BCC52 Computer/ Controller is a si and-a lone single board microcomputer which needs only a power supply and terminal to become a complete system programmable in BASIC or machine language. The BCC52 uses the Intel 8052AHBASIC microprocessor which contains a ROM resident 8K byte floating point BASIC interpreter It contains sockets lor up to 48K bytes of RAM/EPROM. an ■intelligent" 2764<i2B EPROM pro grammer. 3 parallel ports, a serial terminal port with auto baud rate selection, a serial printer port.

BCC52"

Basic-52 Computer/Controller

Si 99.00

OEM 100 QUjWTTTY PRICE

5149.00

BCC53

Multi Function Expansion Board w^OK

adds 6 pons and 62 K bytes Si60.00

•MOW AHULABie IN 1NDUSTB1AL TEJtPEOATUBE RANGC-CALL FOB INPOBMATION

BCC11

Basic Controller

$139.00

• Uses Za single chip microcomputer

• On board tiny basic interpreter

• 2 on board parallel pons 4 serial port

• 6 Intemipts (* external)

• Just connect a CRT and write control programs In Basic

• 6K Bytes ol RAM or EPROM memory on board

• Baud rates 110-9600 bps

• Data and address bus available (or 56K memory and I/O expansion.

• Consumes only 1 5 watts at +5. +12 & -I2V

BCClt*

BASIC System Controller

OEM 100 QUANTTTY PRICE S89.00

■ NOW AVAILABLE IN I (VDUSTBLAL TEMPERATURE RANGE - CALL FOR INFORMATION

BCC22 $249.00

Term-Mite Smart Terminal

Why pay S5O0 or more ior a smart terminal? The TERM-MITE ST offers you all of Ibe following on a single board lor less than 'h the price

• Dimensions: 4' x b'ir

• 128 displayable characters

• 24 lines x so characters

• Separate transmit & recerw rates(iio-i9.200bps)

• CRT refresh at 50 ■ 60 Hz

• Supports scanned and encoded beyboards

• 11 Graphic characters

• 25th line reverse video status display •21 escape functions

baud • 14 control functions

• Directly drives composite ndeo ot 5eparaied sync monitor

" All functions are firmware controlled Source code available EDITING FEATURE5 typeover.clear to screen to space or null, erase to end oi

pace, erase to end ol line, absolute cursor addressing. VIDEO ATTRIBUTES reverse video, half intensity, double height, double width.

underlined, blinking and blanb characters. BU5 CONFIGURATION: MICROMINT BCC compatible or no bus connection neccessary tor stand-alone operation with parallel beyboard

BCC22 TERM-MITE Smart Terminal Board S249.00

BCC22K PARALLEL Encoded ASCII KEYBOARD S 79.00

plugs directly into TERM-MTTE

European Distributor:

J.B. Designs

Cirencester, Glos. England GL7 2PB

Tel: 0285-68122

Manufacturer Representatives:

Access Technolooy Placentia, CA 92670 Tel: (714) 996-3917

Microfuture Fremont. CA 94538 Tel: (415)657-0264

To order call

1-800-635-3355

for technical information H2031-871-6170

TELEX: 643331 FAX (203) 872-2204

Micromint, Inc

4 Park Street Vernon, CT 06066

344 BYTE • JUNE 1988

PAL/EPROM PROGRAMMER CARD

For PC/XT/AT Systems

NEW -- VERSION 2 OF SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE

-Programs 20 and 24 PinMMI.NS.TI.AMD. ALTERA, CYPRESS, RICOH, and PANATEC PALS. Supports EPLD, polarity, RA, and shared product term types.

-Functions Include: Read. Write, Verify, Protect, Edil, Print, and File load and save of program.

■JEDEC supported.

■Software Included

$475

100MHZ LOGIC ANALYZER CARD

For PC/XT/AT Systems

■24 Channels at 25Khz-25Mhz ■6 Channels at 100 Mhz -Internal Clock up to 100 Mhz -External Clock up to 25 Mhz -Threshold Voltage TTL, ECL. or variable from -10 to +10v -Can Stack Multiple Boards -All Software Included

CALL NOW FOR ORDERS AND TECHNICAL INFO (201) 994-6669

Link Computer Graphics, Inc. 4 Sparrow Dr.,

Livingston. NJ 07039. TLX: 9102409305 LINK COMPUTER

Circle 154 on Reader Service Card

^sF Sure Ws insured?

SAFEWARE® Insurance provides full replacement of hardware, media and

purchased software. As little as $39/yr. covers: • Fire • Theft • Power Surges

• Earthquake • Water Damage • Auto Accident

For information or immediate coverage call:

1-800-848-3469

In Ohio call 1-614-262-0559

SAFEWARE, The Insurance Agency Inc.

Circle 249 on Reader Service Card

UNIVERSAL E(E)PROM PROGRAMMER KITS FROM $95

• No personality modules; Menu-driven device selection.

• On board power supply (110/220V AC).

• Direct technical support; Full I year warranty.

• User friendly software; Complete help menu.

• Quick pulse algorithm (27256 under 60 sec).

• Programs 27xx to 1 Mbit; 25xx, 68xx, CMOS; EEPROMS.

• Micros: 8741, 8742, 8748,8748H, 8749, 8749H & more.

• IBM-PC, Apple, CPM or Unix driver; Autobaud RS232.

• Offset/split Hex, Binary, Intel & Motorola 8,16,32 bit.

• Manual with complete schematics.

VISA MC AMEX Call today for datasheets '.!

B&C MICROSYSTEMS

| 355 WEST OLIVE AVE. SUNNYVALE, CA 94086 PH: (408) 730-5511 FAX: (408) 730-5521 TELEX: 984185

Circle 30 on Reader Service Card

KADAK's

engineers bring

years of practical real-time

experience to this mature

MULTI-TASKING SYSTEM

(version 2.0) for the IBM- PC, PC/XT and PC/AT

■ No royalties

■ IBM PC DOS' 5iippor!

■ C language support m Preemptive scheduler

■ Time slicing available

■ Source code of the C interlace and device drivers is included

AMX86- operate! ■

■ Intertask message passing

m Dynamic operations

- task create/delete

- task priorities

- memory allocation

■ Event Manager

■ Semaphore Manager

any 8086/88. 80186/80, 80288 Syltem

Demo p.ickat) AMXB6sySIBf

S25us KADAK Products Ltd.

ITS US 206-1847 W Broailway

12195 US VancouuerBC Canada

■"■» _- V6JIY5

55 Telephone 1604) 734-2796 ■o iBO saooti If Tele. 04-55670

Circle 150 on Reader Service Card

9-TRACK MAG. TAPE SUBSYSTEM* FOR THE IBM PC/XT/AT AND...

For inlormalion inleicli.tnge. backup and archival storage, AK Syslems offnrs a 9-track. IBM lormal-compatible '/>" magnetic tape subsystem for the IBM PC, featuring:

■ IBM format 1600/3200 and 800 cpi.

■ Software for PC-DOS, MS-DOS. XENIX.

AKSystems

trntttytBEXUamsttemfr 20741 Marltta S!

Chaisworth,CA 91311

Circle 12 on Reader Service Card

bigmMuth

REAL VOICE Digital Recording i for your PC. XT. AT or Compatible

f

♦VOICE MAIL SYSTEM

♦TELEMARKETING

" - Inbound & Outbound

♦ SMARTEST ANSWERING MACHINE

♦AUTODIALER—DATABASE

♦ VOICEPAD"

- Voice (or your Programs

♦PROGRAMMER'S TOOLKIT

i -(optional :79°°)

'/s card, software, cables, and speaker

s $269°° + s s* m

(415) 652-9600

i Talking Technology, Inc.

4383 Piedmont Ave. Suite B Oakland, CA 94611

Circle 272 on Reader Service Card

Circle 88 on Reader Service Card

"WITH

TYVEK

SLEEVES'

29i

BULK 5*T DISKS

Double Side-Double Den.

100% Tested & Certified Error Free, at "Minimum 55% Clipping Level or Higher:'"Lifetime Warranty'.' With Tyvek Sleeves & Write on Labels

100 200 600

.38* .35* .32*

each each each

DEALERS WELCOME

Telex *4933362i Fax*405-495-4598

Shipping Charges Vary With Quantity Call

Di

• o

, Oklahoma 1-800-654-4058

Minimum Order 2:>09-Visa,MasleiCard accepted, COD add 309 UPS delivery. US Mail forAPO.FPO AK.HLor PR add 5% additional for PAL.

B8S 95-0 85-0 79-5

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Authorized Distributor Magnetic Media Division

3M

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-*r miw » ■YTT7, »._ 4.0AA cm.o

Connection"

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, U*sKtCjnl kw-HmI CO D trtws *U JIM Urttct Stiwis; m 3Sw5.Z5'«*dS3DO|i*r lOOdwks. VtU $4.00 *r 100 *sti. UPS fclittiy wlj Hi Mil for KrO, FP0. M.HI or PS *M *i Mr\*»di^tw Ml Prictt i*6j«1 teduiaft aithotil wtiw1

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S-Sideic40 S-Side 1795 DSide ?fl95 crian 13- n.rion 11 _ runon*"

SDen.

D-Den

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_. ..ji 1-800-451-1849

PQBOX 10247, WILMINGTON, DE. (9850

fll-Al. . Oklahoma 1-800-654-4058

Diskette-nL'

Connection'

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1100 ■ Soritct StiMicj

' ■ (Hlj.Ui.KiN

Telex#4933362-Fax#405-4954598

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 345

640K 8 tUIz 10 MHz Optional

650

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10 MHz "j"Wait 12 MHz/16 MHz Optional

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Cnnfurdrrd Same «■ Bl'S 88 w/Two 360K

W:-.:-m «.'20MBSr«BairST-225.6.iMS. Onr 360K IIISII

f * % BIS 286 lV>r(itblt-, 1650

<'.unJlRtircd Samra. BUS 286 «/Onr 1.2MB

»/20MBSragalrST-225.6SMS.OnrF|Upp» IfltMl

hM3MB Srag.tr ST-25I.3'JMS. Onr KI.»pP; 2200

BIS 386 Poriableit 3100

C.infipturrd Sam* an BUS 386 w/Dne 1.2MB

. LfMHSragalr5T-251-l.28M5.Onr 1.2MB 3700

H/72MBMini.cribr6085.28MS. Onr 1.2MB |()00

Price subject lo change without notice '"" A"ll,-rM""i,"rS>"""-',ri" «>"'>»

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: l'h»rni*3a6or \»,r.UH" BIO" - ^n.ip^.fLgrr I 11...- UK I'arilvtlhrrkrri Slant f.-lumn R AM ..f Ku

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HI S 318 w/IO.imt. Prlan 10-100. I6MS :| HID

OiTII^AI.KKVTl HK>

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K4,MK\|Mii<ii>nB I..f 2MB. IMH.HMB

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\ti \i;ac

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>Kand3# l.UMHK 2T 1:1 ItHrrlrawHard-DtikCmiroll 211 KSIIIlKi.lia.m-il Small Synrmlw 2<l Tallar,...2ll/tl)/WIMHT.|«-Ba.ki 111. Hu..-...rSmarl I2ll(l..r 241111 Ban, II. K|Min.T»ahiba.Ciiin-n.NKC.an 12 I1.1,1 HO IHT M„ll, ( .,-i'r...-.-"..r

mini venter not included

Circle 47 on Reader Service Card

• No personality modules; Menu-driven device selection.

• Built-in Eraser/Timer option ($50); Foam pad.

• User friendly software; Complete help menu.

• Direct technical support; Full I year warranty.

• Quick pulse algorithm (27256 under 60 sec).

• Programs 27xx lo 1 Mbit; 25xx, 68xx ; CMOS; tEPKOMS.

• Micros: 874], -2, -8, -9 OR 87(C)51, 87(C)52, 8753,9761

• IBM-PC, Apple, CPM or Unix driven Autobaud BS232.

• Offset/split Hex, Binary, Intel & Motorola 8,16,32 bit.

• Manual with complete schematics.

VISA MC AMEX Call today for datasheets.'.'

B&C MICROSYSTEMS

355 WEST OLIVE AVE. SUNNYVALE, CA 94086 PH: (408) 730-5511 FAX: (408) 730-5521 TELEX: 984185

Circle 32 on Reader Service Card

Okidata ML 82A and ML 83A Printers:

IBM EMULATION "PLUS"

Epson Compatability/Leuer Quahtv

PC-WRITER"

ONLY

$99.00

plus shipping & sales lax ICalil addresses! Money back guarantee

• FULL EMULATION OF THE IBM PC GRAPHICS PRINTER

• LETTER QUALITY PRINTING

• ELITE CHARACTER PITCH

• SUBSCRIPTS/SUPERSCRIPTS

• DOT ADDRESSABLE GRAPHICS

•FRONTPANEL FEATURE SELECTION

To Order: (714) 261-0228

o

Dealer Information Available

RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES. INC

18011-A Mitchell So., Irvine, CA 92714 (714) 261-0228 Telex: 386078

Circle 241 on Reader Service Card

Advertise your

computer products

through

BYTE BITS

(2" x 3" ads)

For more information

call Dan Harper at

603-924-6830

BYTE

70 Main St.

Peterborough, NH 03458

BUILD YOUR iTTTnnC:

NETWORK liiSglg

WITH 5

EASYUSE LAN COMPONENTS |

* Network Software (per user) $99

* Server Cards {4 users) $349

* Workstation Cards $199 and

Easyuse Ready to Run Servers.

They start at 40 megs and 4 users

for only $1,995

or

Your 286/386 AT with our Server Card(s)

£m T'1:' J!\ ■

N, si 'l 1

Reseller 617-H63-%17

Stan at 40% 450 Bedford St.. ,' 'r.....,'

Askforour Lexington, ■ ..,.. , .

Demo Disk. MA. 02173. ! " ''^L

|

Circle 310 on Reader Service Card

the

LOGIC

LAB is a complete logic development system

* Complete System Including Programmer, Sample GAL Devices, Software and all Cabling.

* Programs GAL Devices Including 16V8, 16Z8, 20V8,&39V18.

* Allows Prototyping of 42 different standard PLD's.

* Includes Updated Equation Assembler Software.

* Accepts Al! Standard JEDEC Download Files.

* Software Updatable.

* 30 Day Money Back Guarantee.

* Visa and Master Card Accepted *

CALL FOR FREE DEMO DISK

Programmable Logic Technologies, inc.

P.O. Box 1567

Longmont, CO 80501 GAL;, a ,Cgis,ero() „ademork of

Ph. 1303} 772-9059 Lottka Sam [conductor Corpora-ion

Circle 90 on Reader Service Card

Circle 228 on Reader Service Card

AD500

REAL WORLD I/O

For PC/XT/Ms

AD200 • 4 channel

12-bit AD board

10 kHz sampling

rate

Instrumentation

amp Iron!

end S239

ADA300 • 8 channel. 8-bit A;D; single D/A; 24

programmable digital I/O lines. S239

AD500 ■ 8 channel. 12-bit A/D board. Software

programmable gains ol 1.10. and 100. Highly

accurate integrating converter

7 digital I/O lines High-Z inputs. S239

AD100 • Single channel version of AD500 10 digital

I/O lines Same accuracy and programmable

gams.

DA600 ■ Fast settling 12-bit dual D<A converter.

DG24 • Digital I/O board with 24 TTL lines

configurable in software.

XB40 • Easy connect extender/prototype

board with terminal strips.

OEM discounts available

Real Time Devices. Inc.

S149 S169

S95

S49

i/tM^

■ARK FORtST AVENUE BOX 906 ■ OuECE PENNSYLVANIA u,eo-t

(814) 234-8087

100% certified and tested. Error free life time warranty. All disks include generic white box, Tyvek sleeves, labels, write protect tabs, shrink wrapped.

5.25 Black Disks, DS/DD 36 ea.

5.25 Color Disks, 8 Colors

Available, DS/dd 46 ea.

5.25 Black Disks, DS/HD 86 ea.

5.25 color Disks, 8 Colors

Available, DS/HD 94 ea.

3.5 Blue or Cray Disks,

DS/DD 1.12 ea.

3.5 color Disks, 7 colors

Available, DS/dd 1.28 ea.

3.5 High Density, Black only ... 3.80 ea.

Circle 244 on Reader Service Card

BULK MEDIA AVAILABLE

5.25 DS/DD .32 ea.

5.25 DS/DD colors 42 ea.

5.25 DS/HD -82 ea.

5.25 DS/HD colors 90 ea.

3.5 DS/DD Blue or Cray i.07ea.

3.5 DS/DD colors 1.23 ea.

5.25 Tyvek Sleeves 03 ea.

5.25 Paper Sleeves 02 ea.

5.25 Label Sheet 08 ea.

3.5 Label Sheet 20 ea.

5.25 White box 15 ea.

3.5 White box 14 ea.

CONTINUOUS FORM LABELS

size

2V«x7/16

Across

1 across 4 across 1 across

3 across 1 across 1 across

4 across 4 across

1 across

2 across

3 across

4 across 1 across 3 across 1 across 3 across

prices quoted for full boxes only.

1040 Broadway westvlile, NJ 08093

609-456-6996

FAX# 609-456-7172

All orders F.O.B. Westvlile, NJ.

COD orders add $2.20. Visa & MC accepted

All orders shipped same day.

2V«X7/16 2V2X 15/16 2V2X 15/16 2V« X 2% 2%X1- 7/16 3X15/16 3.3X15/16 3VjX 15/16 3% X 15/16 3V4X 15/16 3Y2X 15/16 4X15/16 4X15/16 4X1-7/16 4X1-7/16

BOX

Qty.

10,000 20,000

5,000 15,000 2,500

5,000 20,000 20,000

5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000

5,000 15,000

5,000 15,000

Price Per/1000

$1.95 $1.95 $2.18 $1.98 $12.00 $3.00 $2.00 $2.05 $1.90 $1.90 $1.90 $1.90 $3.21 $3.21 $3.25 $3.25

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 347

Circle 144 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 145)

FCC APPROVED!

Sub-Mini AT! The Space Saver 3-DR. Capability 8-Expansion Slots!

Basic System:

• 8/lOMHz Speed, 8 Wait

• 3-LEDs, Reset & Turbo Switch

• 0-1MB on Board With 8K

• 200-Watt Power Supply

• AT Style Keyboard

• 1ea 1.2M Floppy Disk Drive

• 1ea Floppy/H.D. Controller

• 1ea Mono Graphics Card W/Printer

• 1ea 12" TTL Amber Monitor W/Swivel Base _ • Assembled & Tested $963.00

10MHz XT Turbo Basic System:

| Baby AT Case W/Keylock

• 4.77/10MHz Hardware Selectable

• 8 Expansion Slots

• 0-64OK on Board With OK

• 150-Watt Power Supply

• XT Style Keyboard

• 1ea 360K Floppy Disk Drive

$493.00

■ 1ea Floppy Disk Controller

• tea Mono Graphics Card W/Printer

• tea 12" TTL Amber Monitor W/Swivel Base

• Assembled & Tested

10MHz or 12MHz AT-286 Basic System:

k

• 6/10 or 6/12 MHz Speed, OWait

• 8 Expansion Slots

• 0-1MB on Board With 0K

• Regular AT Slide Case or Digital Display Case

• 200-Watt Power Supply

• AT Style Keyboard

Regular Case Digital Case

1ea 1.2MB Floppy Disk Drive

• 1ea Floppy & H.D. Controller

• 1ea Mono Graphcis Card W/Printer

• 1ea 12" TTL Amber Monitor W/Swivel Base

• Assembled & Tested 10MHz 12MHz

938,00 1001.00 959.00 1022.00

1. Floppy Disk Controller With Cable S22.50

2. Hard Disk Controller With Cable S72.20

3. 0-384K Multifunction Card. OK $86.30

4. Monochrome Graphics Printer Card $43.80

5. Color Graphics Card $46.30

6. Color Graphics Printer Card $50.00

7. Enhanced Graphics Adaptor (EGA) $131.10

8. Color/Monochrome Display Card $61.30

9. Parallel Printer Card $18.80

10. Dual Game I/O Card $18.80

11. Serial I/O Card $25.00

12. Dual Serial I/O Card $43.80 13.

14

15

16.

17

18.

19. 20 21 22. 23. 24.

Mouse For AT/XT W/Driver Software $61.30

Multi I/O W/Controller $68.80

Multi I/O $56.30

No-Slot-Clock $28.80

576K RAM Card, OK $35.00

4.77/8MHz XT Turbo Motherboard $93.80

4.77/IOMHz XT Turbo Motherboard $100.00

XT Slide Case $35.30

XT Flip Top Case $32.90

Baby AT Case, XT $47.10

150-Watt Power Supply $48.80

150-Watt Power Supply (UL) $68.80

For AT

25. Floppy/H.D. Controller W/Cables $156.30

26. 128K RAM Card, OK $68.80

27. 2MB EMS RAM Card, OK $123.80

28. Serial/Parallel Card $46.30

29. 6/IOMHz AT Motherboard, 0 Wait $331.30

30. 6/12MHZ AT Motherboard, 0 Wait $393.80

31. 8/10MHZ Mini AT Motherboard, 0 Wait $362.50

32. AT Slide Case $64.70

33. AT SLide Case W/Digital Display 85.90

34. Mini AT Slide Case 61.20

35. 200-Watt Power Supply 81.30

36. 200-Watt Power Supply (UL) 95.00

37. 200-Watt Power Supply For Mini AT 78.80

ORDER HOT LINE 1-800-543-5107 Technical Information (714) 990-2097

Hours: Mon. - Fri. 9:00 am - 6:00 pm PST Please write for our complete price list.

JAWIN COMPUTER PRODUCTS

565 W. Lambert Rd., #C Brea, CA 92621

Terms." Please add 5% (or $2.00. whichever is higher) plus 25' for each S100.00 CA residents please add 6% sales lax We accept VISA/MC/Cash. Personal checks please allow 2 weeks to clear All merchandise is warranted lor 1 year unless otherwise staled.

348 BYTE • JUNE 1988

IT'S NOT 29' PLUS THIS AND THAT, IT'S

290

2 for 1 replacement guarantee on bulk 5W

it found initially defective within six months

With sleeves, tabs, labels

EACH

SWDSDD (Mill 100) »<

DS;DD (Mm. 50) 39t

Color S'A" DSJDD (Mm. 50) 49(

6'A" IBM-AT HD (Min. 50) 79*

Box of 10 5%" DSiDD (Min. 10). $4.29

BoxohOColoi5WDS/DD

Free Plastic Case (Min. 5) SS.99

3WSS1DD (Min. 25] 99(

•D5VD0 (Min. 25) $1.09

Data 205p 40 MB Mini Cartridge

3m/0EI Compatible (Min. 5).... $15.90 600'120 MB Data Cartridge

(Min. 5) $19.20

Immediate shipping—Guaranteed salislaclion

Call tor greater discounts on larger orders 'Subject to availability

100% lifetime Warranty

Shipping: $3.50 per min. orderr$1.50 each addll. lol MC/VISA accepted

1-800-537-1600 i i»

Operator No. 227 MWubS

Oepl. No 1523 P.O. Box 61000. San Francisco, CA 94161

Circle 175 on Reader Service Card

„.~ SPEECH THING

For all PCa, compatibles, laptops

%

^32jfe*

CLEAR, CLEAN, DIGITIZED SPEECH & MUSIC, UNLIMITED TEXTTOSPEECH Attaches outside the computer.

Now get popular speech technologies in ONE pfo ductl Speech Thing is a lull-featured 8 bit D/A sound converter. Easily attaches outside the computer-no slots required. Software includes prerecorded speech vocabularies, synthetic text to speech (speaks any ASCII text), demo programs, and complete editing features. Price only $69.95. Also available: Voice Master PC plug in board for digital recording, editing, and VOICE RECOGNITION. (Requires Speech Thing lor sound output.) Only S79.95. Patented price/performance breakthroughsl TO ORDER BY MAIL include $4 shipping & handling ($6 Canada, $12 overseas) per order. Visa, MasterCard phone orders accepted. 30 day money back guarantee, one year warranty. Other voice I/O systems available for Apple, Commodore, and Atari computers.

Call or write today lor FREE Product Catalog

COVOX JNC (503)342-1271

675 Conger St., Eugene, Oregon 97402

Circle 75 on Reader Service Card

liJ] VT240 Smart Terminal Emulator and Communications Program

for the IBM XT, AT, PS/2 and compatibles

•Comprehensive VT240 / VT24] emulaiion ai 2-4 limes ihe speed. Complete VT240 ANSI emulaiion including true ciouble-hitih/doublewkk eharaciers, irtie smooth scrolling, naiiomil/imiliinaiioiial support, ^aa ^m j, and downloadable fonts. ^L. ^r%l"^ *Ai leas! columns displayable

<U#fc»^%-| in 132-column mode on ihc CGA,

EGA, VGA, and Hercules adapters, full Tektronix 4010/4014, si\el and ReGIS graphics support. •KERM1T and XMODEM iransfcrs. •UngLTinann Bass Net/One and VMS Services lor MS-DOS support.

Also available VT220, VT100, D400, 4014 emulators and the PmverStatian™ VT200 style keyboard.

KEA SYSTEMS LTD.

Suite 412. 2150 West Btmfway. Vancouver. BC. Canada V6K4L9 Telephone (604) 732-7411 Telex: 04-352848 VCR Fax- (604) 732-0715 Older Toll Free 800-663-8702 30 day money back guarantee. AMEX/MC/VISA

VT241

"plus your PC or compatible

Everex AT 1800 Basic System $899 (MADE IN U.S.A. with quality)

SCPu

m IBM AT

• Firtyeo

• ma MHi selectable. S slot

• 512K on 1M mother Board

• 195 wan power supply 1101220

• OocWCalen.. Evarm HtWO corn.

• FCC class "B" aptwovM

• 4fl Hou' lattery tugh temi dynamic burn-in

- UMEGToacDr.Ma), switch AT Keyboard

• Runs Autotad. Lotus. Xen Novell, all prop Software

• 200pageso(documentation (written in USA.)

• B02S7 CO-Ptocessor s

Mono System (Basic Sys . Monog rap hies card w/prt port, Hi-Ros monilpr wfetand)S 989 Upgrade Ophons (Call tor options nof listed)

aOMHOMflgMeg Harddtsk S26(WS475«8*0 a 8/lDMHi

System 800 XT $595

S789

W/20M

> Fully IBM XT Compatible ' 80B8 4.77/8 MHZ, 360K Dr.

• 640K on Motherboard

• Maxi-Switch Keyboard

• Hi-Res Mon w/Sland

i Hbtc Compel. Graphics Card w/pp

Schwab AT iomuz. 0' wall

$995 complete system

< 80286-10 10/8

' AMI BIOS. 512K. 1.2 meg Teae

■ 200 w PIS, Maxi-swiich KB

■ Hi-Res Mon., Graphics card w/pp 8 slois. clock, calendar

Free set-up utility, support 1.44 meg dr.

Schwab Computer Center

"The Everex Store" - Authorised Everex Dealer

3282 El Camino Raal. Santa Clara. CA 95051

408-241-1210

M-F 10-7; SAT 11-4

Dealer/Consultant Inquiries Welcome

Circle 251 on Reader Service Card

ATTENTION p»cad USERS

Now you can increase the productivity of your software by using the new...

RAPICAD buffer/decoder.

Two buffers in one unit with parallel and serial in/out. Up to 1 Meg total memory.

NO EXTERNAL DECODER

needed any more. . . because RAPICAD is fully pcad box compatible and software transparent, allowing the use of p-cad and any other software with any printer, plotter, laser etc Price's as'low as $995.00

INTECTRA Inc. 2629 Terminal Blvd. Mtn. View, CA 94043 (415) 964-5018

jHJ*j&&&gt|U^flP

6805/6305 SINGLE CHIP

MICROCOMPUTER DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS

Two systems allow the IBM PC/XT/AT to be used as a complete development system for the MOTOROLA 6805 series single chip microcomputers. Model MCPM-1 supports the MC68705P3, P5, U3, U5, R3, & R5 chips. Model MCPM-2 supports the MC1468705F2 & G2 cmos versions. Both systems are priced at $495 and include a cross assembler program, a Simulator/Debugger program and a programming circuit board with driver software. A system is also avail, for the HITACHI 63705 ZTAT micro.

THE ENGINEERS COLLABORATIVE

P.O. Box 53, West Glover, VT 05875 (802) 525-3458

Circle 152 on Reader Service Card

Circle 97 on Reader Service Card

LETTER QUALITY PRINTER

Why pay $1149 for a C.ltoh DAISYWHEEL PRINTER MANUFACTURED BY C.ITOH

STARWRITEFTF-10

When our 40 cps letter quality daisywheel printer from the same manufacturer is only

$2990(L

These printers were originally priced to sell at over $1100. Through a special arrangement MEAD has purchased these units from a major computer manufacturer and is offering these printers at a fraction of their original cost.

LIMITED QUANTITY ONLY 665 LEFT! \-**~~~~~ 3 MONTH WARRANT

HHBSSsSSS'? HlililiiijM Bl.1^1,'hf:l;l'liJ:>|i|;l^illl HllA

• 6 ft. Serial Cable $ 19°° • 40 CPS • Accepts Paper to 15 inches

• AT or XT RS232/Serial Interface 39™ • Form Length and Pitch Set from Conrol Panel

• Bidirectional Tractor 14900 • Industry compatible ribbon, printwheels and control commands

• Cut Sheet Feeder 199™ • RS232 Serial Interface

CAT'SMHZ

BASE SYSTEM

• 256K (Opt. 640K) • 150 Watt Power

Supply • AT Style Keyboard JS^T^

• 4.77 or 8 MHZ Keyboard Selectable *

• FDC Controls Drives • 8087 Socket • 350K Floppy Drive

*#

COMPLETE SYSTEM CALL FOR PRICE 1 Year Warranty

$39900

m

m

CAT™ 286-10

BASE SYSTEM

• 512K (120 NS) • 200 Watt Power

Supply • AT Style Keyboard

• Western Digital Controller • 1.2 Meg

Floppy • Legal Bios w/manuals • Systems

Documentation • 1 yr war. • Clock/Calc

$92goo

COMPLETE SYSTEM CALL FOR PRICE 11.3 Mortons SI

&r

Ci

OPTION A

12" Mono Amber Monitor Graphics Card w/par port

$51 goo

OPTION B 640 x 200 Color Monitor Graphics Card w/par port

s75goo

OPTION C

12" Mono Amber Monitor

Graphics Card w/par port

20 Meg Hard Drive

OPTION A AT

12" Mono Amber Monitor Graphics Card w/par port

s-|099D°

OPTION B AT

640 x 200 Color Monitor Graphics Card w/par port

S1299<>°

OPTION C AT

12" Mono Amber Monitor

Graphics Card w/par port

20 Meg Hard Drive

S139900

150 WATT POWER SUPPLY

• Direct PC Replacement

$5900

EPSON 3Vz DISK DRIVE

• In 5Va Mounting • 720K

$ggoo

itf

MEMORY CARDS

EV138 0-576K For XT 89M

EV171 0-2MB AT EMS/EXT 109™

EV173 Par/Ser/Clock 0-1 Meg XT 109™

EV173A Par/Ser 0-1 Meg AT 109™

TAPE BACKUPS BY EVEREX

40 Meg XT or AT works off FDC 349™

60 Meg w/Qic-02 Interface 599™

RAM CHIPS

4164 150 NS, 64 x 1 3™

4164 120 NS, 64x1 3"

41256 150 NS, 256K X 1 11"

41256 120 NS, 256K x 1 11"

41256 100 NS, 256K x 1 12"

4464 150 NS, 64K x 4 11"

1Meg 100 NS, 1048 X 1 49"

HARD DRIVES

$& Seagate

MODEMS

COMPLETE KITS

ST225 20Meg w/cont. & Cables 279™

ST238 30Meg w/cont. & Cables 299™

ST251 40Meg Vi HT 40 Mil w/software 429™

ST251-1 40Meg, 2 8 Mil Sec 489™

ST4026 20Meg Full HT 40 Mil 279™

ST4096 80Meg Full HT w/software 799™

50-90% OFF LIST All New - Not Used

TANDON

360K FLOPPY DRIVE

TM100-2A Full Height • The Originial Drive used by IBM

Llsi 249™ Mead 89™

EV-920 EverCom 12 300/1200 bps 84™

EV-940 Internal 300/1200/2400 179™

EV-945 External 300/1200/2400 239™

COMPLUS

1200 Baud w/Bitcom 5 yr. Warranty 69™

1200 Baud External, 5 yr. Warranty 119™

2400 Baud Internal, 5 yr. Warranty 149™

LIQUIDATION SALE

SEAGATE

10 MEG HARD DRIVE

• ST212 1/2 Height • 65 Mil Sec.

List 299" Mead 129™ Add 70™ wfcontroller

COPROCESSORS

Intel 8087 5Mhz 102™

Intel 8087 8Mhz 149™

Intel 80287 6Mhz .<sft«* 179™

Intel 80287 8Mhz osS-W* 239™

Intel 80287 10Mhz •^W. 289™

Intel 80387 16Mhz 498™

Intel 80387 20Mhz 799™

SIMM RAM UPGRADES

256Kx9 120 NS .139™

REQUIREMENTS

1 Meg x9 120 NS ..649™

All Have 90 Day or More Warranty

EPSON

LQ1500 TRACTORS

1 Discontinued By Epson • Mead has last 450 Units

List 94™ Mead 49™

NEC

COMPOSITE MONITOR

• 12" Green Screen • JB 1201 New 90 Day Warranty

List 199™ Mead 59™

3M COMPATIBLE

DATA CARTRIDGE

• DC 300 XLP

• 45 Meg or Less

• Individually Wrapped

•> *%

List 39™

Mead 14™

SPECIAL'S While They Last!"

Real HERCULES Color Graphics Card 59™

MS DOS 3.2 w/GW Basic 79™

1.2 Meg MITSUBISHI Floppy Drive 79™

360K TEAC55 BV Floppy Drive 79™

Printer Stand Manufactured by EPSON 9™

Printer Stand Manufactured by IBM 14™

HP LASER Jet II w/Toner Cartridge 1699"

EGA 13" Monitor, 640 x 350 369™

CGA 13" Monitor 640 x 240 SAMSUNG 249™

12" Amber Monochrome HYUNDAI 79™

CMI OR ATASI

30 MEG HARD DRIVE

• Full Height • 40 Mil Sec

List 699™ Mead 299™ 20 Men. V4 HT 169™

SS&.

TANDON

160K FLOPPY DRIVE

• TM 100-1A

• 160K

IBM Packaging & Instructions

List 199™

Mead 39°°

800-654-7762

SALES: 7 a.m.-6 p.m. PST

702-294-0204

CUSTOMER SERVICE / ORDER STATUS: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. PST

FAX 702-294-1168

trademarks are Registered with men respective Co.'s Prices Sub/eel to Change

w

IK

U

COMPUTER ,,

o

COUP. J^£

! ^

NO SURCHARGE FOR MC/VISA

TERMS:

MC • VISA • COD • CASH

Purchase Orders from Qualified Firms Personal Checks • AE add 4%

1000 Nevada Hwy. • Unit 101 • Boulder City, NV 89005

SHIPPING: (mln, 6") UPS • Fed Express

Circle 170 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 349

Circle 86 on Reader Service Card

Disk

The Ultimate Diskette Value.

Discover the difference...

Diffe

2FOR 1 LIFETIME WARRANTY *U*"""~|5f|| OD

/ Pkg'd in 6 different colors, bulk or boxed

/ 100% tested and certified

/ Made to exceed A.N.S.I, specs by 62.5% with a

guaranteed clipping level of 65% or above / Includes tyvek envelopes (not paper), write protect

tabs and user labels / Brand-name quality at affordable prices

5-1/4"- 48 TPI DS-DD

.49 .59

DS-HD 96 TPI IBM-AT Compatible

BULK

COLOR

OR GRAY

BOXED COLOR

.99 .99

America's

irCENTECh@Pren""m 9"aMty Color Diskettes

• TIMELESS WARRANTY

/75%+ clipping level guaranteed

/ Performance exceeds A.N.S.I, spec, by 88%

/ Each disk 100% tested and certified

/ 17 COLORS for data organization

/ Pkgs. includes tyvek sleeves, w/p tabs, & ID labels 5-1/4" - 48 TPI DS-HD 96 TPI

DS-DD IBM-AT Compatible

.84 .63

3-1/2"-135 TPI DS-DD COLOR

1.75

PLASTIC STORAGE BOX COLOR

BULK COLOR

PLASTIC STORAGE BOX

1.39 1.15

3-1/2"-135 TPI BLACK DS-HD

4.99

Call for best prices on BASF diskettes & Pelikan ribbons

5-1/4"-48 TPI DS-DD

.79

o

DS-HD 96 TPI IBM-AT Compatible

1.S0

WithFflEE Platen Cleaner

Nashua

5-1/4" - 48 TPI

.59

DS-HD 96 TPI IBM-AT Compatible

*i nn*

BOXED

1.99

BULK

320

5-1/4" DS/DD 48 TPI Exceeds ANSI specifications + 60 FOR TYVEK

ORDERING INFORMATION

TERMS: P.O. orders accepted, government and schools on net 30. SHIPPING: U.S. orders add $3-00 per 100 diskettes or fraction thereof, add $3.00 for COD orders. PRICE PROMISE: We will better any lower delivered price on the same products and quantities advertised nationally.

Mo,t*rCort

Toll Free Order Line:

Information Line:

1-8002332477 18015610092

I9/SC INTERNATIONAL

SUPPLY COMPANY

1376 W. 8040 S. / WEST JORDAN, UT 84088

HRS: 8 AM TO 5 PM (MTN. TIME)

350 BYTE • JUNE 1988

MICRO CHANNEL

ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT SUPPLIES

INTRODUCING: The PS/2 Burn-In Board!

For Design and Manufacturing Engineers

1. First Passive Backplane for PS/2 Micro Channel

2. Tesi adapters without power cycling computers

3. Test adapters without damaging computer

4. Optional module and software provides single step bus emulation

CALL now for your FREE Catalog. Quality PS/2 compatible products available.

ONTARGFT ON TARGET Associates

TA Df^PT 1034 w' Mau^ Avc- " 602

{.™)^EI Sunnyvale, CA 94086

IAI<<C7bl (408) 9K0-71 IS

PS/2, and Micro Channel are trademarks ul IBM Cutp.

Circle 207 on Reader Service Card

HARD DISK CONTROLLERS

ADAPTEC

PC-XT Controller ST506/412 $45

2072 PC/XT RLL $98

3530 SCSI 10 Tape QIC 36 $78

4000 SCSI to ST506/415 $89

4070 SCSI to ST506/412 RLL $98

4520 SCSI to ESDI $98

5500 SCSI to ST506/412 $125

5580 SCSI to SMD $175

XEBEC

S1410 SASI Controller $109

S1420 SASI lo 5'/4" Floppy & Hard Disk Controller $99

Apple II, II+, HE Host Adapter $29

Toshiba PC to SASI/SCSI Host Adapter $29

9205 Multibus Hard Disk Controller $199

9305D IEEE 488 (HPIB) to ST506/412 Controller $89

1490 SASI lo SMD Controller $149

OTHERS

OMTI 20C, L SASI Controller $99

DTC 510A SASI Controller $99

Shugart 1610-1,3 or 4 SASI/SCSI Controller $79

WD 1002-SHD Xebec Compatible SASI Controller $109

• Call lor cable prices, • Controller manuals $8 each.

Computer Surplus Store "WE

p Phone 408-434-1060 BUY

pfW^*X FAX 408-434-0931 AND

*<p Telex 1561447 SELL"

MC/VISA/Discover/COD's

Circle 69 on Reader Service Card

Find out how our whole family of

EMU-TEK graphics terminal emulation

software makes good sense tor the work you do.

Call today for more Information,

FTC

DATA SYSTEMS

(714)995-3900

(800) 962-3900 (800) 972-3900 (Calif.)

10801 Dale St., Suite M-2

Stanton, CA 90680

Circle 112 on Reader Service Card

IBM/PC DOCUMENT CONVERSIONS

WORDFORWORD

The Industry Standard in document conversion.

■ Two way conversions p^.™™^™—

• Preserves all formatting 13149 00 I

• Fast and menu-driven I—-_—_—!

• Special "Smart" ASCII retains page formatting

Supports conversions between: WordStar WordPerfect MultiMate

PFS; First Choice PFS: Pro Write IBM Writing Asst. Microsoft Word DCA/RFT ASCII

EBCDIC "Smart" ASCII

PFS: WRITE OfficeWriter Volkswriter XyWrite

DisplayWrite

| LAN Version $299 I

Call (800) 624-6107, Dept. B

MASTERSOFT, INC. 4621 N. 16th ST. PHOENIX, AZ 85016 (602) 277-0900

Circle 168 on Reader Service Card

UNIVERSAL E(E)PROM PROGRAMMER $495 (Kits from $165)

• No personality modules; Menu driven device selection.

• Built-in Eraser/Timer option (S50); Conductive foam pad.

• Direct technical support; Full 1 year warranty.

• Stand alone duplication & verify (27XX parts).

• Quick pulse algorithm (27256 under 60 sec).

• 27xx lo I Mbil; 25xx; 68xx; CMOS; EEPROMS.

• 8741,-2,-4,-8,-8H,-9,-9H,-5I,-C5I,-52,-55,9761 & more.

• IBM-PC, Apple, CPM or Unix driver; Autobaud RS232.

• Offset/split Hex, Binary, Intel & Motorola 8,16,32 bit.

• Manual with complete schematics.

VISA MC AMEX Call today for datasheets .'!

B&C MICROSYSTEMS

355 WEST OLIVE AVE. SUNNYVALE, CA 94086 PH: (408) 730-5511 FAX: (408) 730-5521 TELEX: 984185

Circle 31 on Reader Service Card

! not only a printer buffer !

THIS IS THE MOST SOPHISTICATED

PRINTER BUFFER - MULTIPLEXOR - SWITCH

WITH TWO SEPARATE INPUTS [SERIAL AND PARALLEL) AND TWO SEPARATE OUTPUTS (SERIAL AND PARALLBL) CAN BE USED LIKB STANDARD BUFFER WITH ANY INPUT TO ANY

OUTPUT BUT ALSO YOU CAN CONNECT 2 COMPUTERS TO I PRINTER OR I COMPUTER TO 7 PRINTERS, OR 1 COMPUTERS AND 2 PRINTERS AND MORE = 1 COMPUTER TO 3 PRINTERS OR 3 COMPUTERS TO I PRINTER

HIOH CAPACITY - 64 KB TO 266 KB AND - 266 KB TO I MB |MODKLS A AND B) PAUSE COPY AND RESET FUNCTIONS

SERIAL PORTS WITH T OR B BITS WORD LENGTH, I OR 2 STOP BIT, PARITY. XON/XOFP. DTR. RTS

DCB-A-64K % IQtj DCB-B-2&6K ( 955 '*'

Is] Pov*r lupplj and pn.lUI cabUi in included

ALSO, WE HAVE THE MOST COMPLETE DATA CONVERTER UNIT CONVERTS RS232 SERIAL TO CENTRONICS PARALLEL OR VICE VERSA. IUST BY MOVING JUMPERS BAUD RATE AND PROTOCOL FULLY PROORAMABLE FROM !KO TO 19200 BAUDS INCLUDES DTR. RTS, XON/XOFF. PARITY, «lc

DCU

' 80 i"i

.upplj ind mMh NOTincludi

serialOparallel DCU bi-directional converter

B

INTECTRA lnc.-Dtpt.J32

(415) 967-8818 TX 345545

mum

mm^M

Standard Features

• 4.77/8MHz Turbo Processor Speed

• 640 Kbyte of RAM memory standard

• Builr-in serial communications port

• Builr-in parallel port

• 4 slots for system enhancements

• Hercules compatible display adaptor

• High resolution green TTL monitor

• Clock calendar with battery back-up

• MS-DOS/GW Basic software version 3.2.1

• Integrated productivity software

• One year warranty

Our new computer deal is so good rhar we can't tell you the manufacturer's name. This is a quality computer manufactured by one of the biggest names in the business. A 14 billion dollar giant who builds the computers from the chips on up! However, because of the low price we're selling rhem at, the manufacturer won'r let us print their name.

These PC s come wirh 640 K memory standard. Most compatibles sold today have only 256K At today's high RAM prices, the extra memory you need to run most programs adds another $200 onto the other guy's price—don't be fooled by a lower price on a system that needs expensive upgrades. Our system comes complete.

Complete System with

1 Floppy, Hi-res Monitor

and Software

Add $200 for RGB Color System

Complete System with

1 Floppy, 20Mb Hard Disk,

Monitor & Software

AILABLE J T PIE RETAIL STORES—

$699

$999

1 each

$359

2-4 ea.

$349

QUANTUM

Q540 Hard Drive

• 42.7 Mbytes capacity

• 45 ms avg. access rime

• 30 day warranty

5-9 ea.

$339

10+ ea.

$329

PRIORITY

ELECTRONICS

MasterCard

800-423-5922

21622 Rummer Street

Charsworrh, CA91311

FAX; 818-709-4362

• Some Doy Shipping before 2pm FT

• No surcharge on credir card orders

• Prices ore subjecr ro change wirhour norice

• Shipping charges added ro order

• Rerail prices may vary

• Limired ro srock

Circle 226 on Reader Service Card

A HIGH QUALITY RS232-RS422 BIDIRECTIONAL CONVERTER AT A LOW PRICE

Changes RS232 Data Streams into RS422 Compatible Data Streams

Model AA1709

Converts RS232 links to long distance RS422 standards on cable

lengths to 4,000 feet, while having high noise immunity tor use in industrial environments. This module makes it possible (or RS232 equipped devices, such as an IBM personal computer, to interface with an RS422 equipped device. Included in the many uses of this converter is the ability to communicate with Anaheim Automation's own step motor motion controls. The unit includes a power supply. Call or write for brochure.

Anaheim Automation

910 E. Orangefair Lane. Anaheim, CA 92801 (714)992-6990 Telex: 2978217 MCI FAX: 714-992-0471

DYNAMIC RAMS

1MBIT 100ns

51258 100ns

41464 150ns 41256 100ns 41256 120ns

|> 41256 isons 41264 150ns

J>4164 150ns

* For high-speed, Zip, PIcc, Si

$39.00

$ 9.50

8.25

9.95

9.50

$12.50

$ $ $

Circle 20 on Reader Service Card

Circle 136 on Reader Service Card

Circle 253 on Reader Service Card

• Multi-user Database!

• Powerful!

• Multiple Operating System Compatibility!

• Attractive Dealer Pricing!

• Full Dealer Support!

Dataflex is a trademark of Data Access

Dealer Inquiries Invited

24000 Telegraph Road

Sourhfield, Michigan 48034 USA

1313) 352-2345

MIDI Starter System Plus™

for your IBM PC or compatible

PC standard MIDI Co-Processor MelodEase Piano Roll Composer

Easy-8 Multi-track Recorder Synth Sound Manager Software

$219 with MIDI cables

ask about our MIDI Programmer's ToolKit

Q^u

Music Quest, Inc.

1700 Alma Dr., Suite 260

Piano, TX 75075 (214) 881-7408

IBMPC/VT220

EM220 $169

VT220, VT102 emulation

File Transfer

132 Column modes

Color Support

Hot Key

BBSS TEK 4105

EM4105 $349

Tektronix 4105 emulation

Tektronix 4010 emulation

VT220. VTI02 emulation

Piclurefiles

High resolution hardcopy

VGA and EGA support

Z\ Diversified Computer Systems, Inc.

3775 Iris Are.. Suite IB Boulder, CO 80301 (303) 447-9251

DEC; IBM PC. XT - IBM Cum

mdemarks: P7702, YT21Q Tekmmix - Tekmnics Inc.

Circle 59 on Reader Service Card

Circle 196 on Reader Service Card

Circle 82 on Reader Service Card

Motion Control & Data Acquisition

4'T

A card in your PC creates the fast LAB 40 bus

which supports up to 8 modules.

*No Programming Packages for PC/XT/AT.

• Intelligent DC Servo: Joystick, numeric control, motion record/playback, C calls. Up to 16 axes. Two axis package w/motors $1550 (USA).

• 4-Axis Stepper w/source code & motor $316.

• Scope/FFT 650KH2 A/D 4 ch. w/source $525. •Modules: 8 & 12 bit A/D, Relay, Stepper, Clock, Servo & Amps, Prog Controller (Forth, A/D, EEPROM, 68HC11, RS-232/422/485, LAB 40). 'Adapter for RS-232 for Mac and others. "Free immediate technical support & literature. Call (415) 755-1978 or our BBS (415) 755-1524.

75 Southgate.

Daly City. CA 94015

Computer fonttnuum

(415)755-1978

Telex: 3727438

iynamic Electronics

J Commerce Center Dr. ■ Suite L I Laguna Hills I CA 92653

Stocking Distributor of Semiconductors

8087 • 5 • 8 • 10

80287 • 6«8«10MEG

80387

16 • 20 MEG

256K • 64k • 128k • V20 • V30 Fast* Reliable • Everytime

I Phone: Fax:

714-855-0411 714-855-8504

No refund - exchange only - Exchange good for 30 days unless manufacturer warranties merchandise longer

Get the whole

story on graphics

terminal emulation.

To find out more about software that lets your PC emulate TEKTRONIX™ 4105/6/7/9 and DEC VT100™ terminals, call or write:

<§ GRAFPoirrr

4340 Stevens Creeks Blvd., Suite 280, San lose, CA 95129 (408) 249-7951

Circle 91 on Reader Service Card

Circle 120 on Reader Service Card

TIMELINE INC.

Continental U.S.A.

(800) 872-8878

ORDER DESK ONLY

YO!

.. .check it out!

Inside California

(800) 223-9977

L.A. & Technical Info

(213)217-8912

OEM INQUIRIES WELCOME

• BLOWOUT SALE •

TAPE BACKUP CARTRIDGES

BRAND NEW • FAMOUS NAME BRANDS S1 Q ,„ . 10,000 ftpi ea. $19.95 *** 60 Mb (DC600 style) 3-9 17 95 ea. 10+ $15.00 ea.

30 Mb (DC300 style)

1,600 bpi

ea.

3-9

10 +

$15.95 S14.95 ea. $15.00 ea.

45 Mb

6,400 bpi

ea.

2-9 10 +

$17.95 $14.95 ea. $13.00 ea.

GRAHAM MAGNETICS DYSAN X1DEX INMAC MEM0REX, ETC....

TAPES.

DC 1000 DC2000

$10 each

(minimum 3 tapes)

AST ADVANTAGE! $7Q

Ml II Tin ikiPTinn r>«nn ~ ^^

MULTIFUNCTION CARD FOR YOUR IBM PC/AT

(0-K MEMORY)

AN INCREDIBLE DEAL! You get one serial port and one parallel port. Can be expanded to 1.5 Mb. This card has EXTENDED MEMORY. (This is not EMS or EEMS.) We bought these from an OEM — BULK PACK. So, no AST™ box or manual. We supply our own manual. 1 Year Warranty.

(Game Port, Option for 2nd Serial Port and Piggyback available separately. Memory expandable to 3.0 Mb with Piggyback.) Card available with 0-K memory only.

Power Supply Heaven! *—_ Your Choice: *z5

Astec — 65 Watt supply. Closed

frame.

Output: + 5V @ 6A, + 12V @

1.5A, +12V@2.1A,

- 12V @ .25A

Compower 130 Watt supply. Unit is open framed.

Output:+5V@5A,+12V@5A,-12V@.5A Dimensions: 8ViL x 4UW x ZViH

Power Systems—180 Watt supply.

Unit is open framed with 2 four pin power connectors built onto the unit.

Output: +5V @ 20A, +12V @ 4A,

-12V @5A Dimensions: 9%L x 4%"/ x 2ViH

KEPCO/TDK Switching Power Supply.

(Only 80 pieces available) Model EFX100T-3 100 watts+5V @ 8A, -5V @ 1.5A, +12V @ 2.0A, -12V @ 2.0A. Input voltage: 100 to 130V a-c or 200 to 260V a-c • 47-440 Hz single phase • brownout voltage 90V a-c/180V a-c • fused input/ output protected against short circuit. . Dim: mi x 4-15/16W x 21/aH.

188 Watt Switching Power Supply.

What a DEAL at $25.00! On/off switch in the front. Built in filter for easy power cord plug-in. Open frame, L-bracket type. Two 4-pin power plugs for floppy and/or hard disk drives. Output: + 5.05V @ 22A, + 12.02V

@ 4A, -12V @ .54 +72.59 Reg.

@ 1.5A D.C.

Dimensions: 13VzL X5PbWX2V4H

INCREDIBLE!!

VGA Monitor and Graphics Card Package

$649.00

This monitor and card package give you incredible resolution and color capabilities. Please call to find out more information about this fantastic deal. The units are fully compatible with all IBM XT, AT and PS/2 systems and compatibles, and you run CG A, EG A, PGA and VGA. WOWII This package will run all of the following modes:

800 x 560 x 256 colors

640 x 480 x 256 colors

800x560x16 colors

320 X 200 x 256 colors

640x350x16 colors

640 x 200 x 16 colors

640 x 200 black and white

320 x 200 x 4 colors

40 and 80 column character mode

Hercules Graphics

Call

for

quantity

discounts

THE RETURN OF THE SPY IN THE SKY NEC UPD791D — (CHARGE COUPLED DEVICE) 4096 ELEMENT — LINEAR IMAGE SENSOR

The charge coupled device is soldered to a pre-amplifier board. (We sold out of the A/D board that accompanied the unit... They went fast!) Since this is an analog device, the circuitry to provide timing signals and convert analog outputs to digital MUST BE SUPPLIED BY THE PURCHASER to interface to a microprocessor based system. Timing requirements could be determined from a NEC manual on the 791D or from the schematic on the A/D board. PLEASE NOTE: We have the A/D board schematic, but unfortunately, we do NOT have the NEC

59.95 (While they last!)

^^ Helium-Neon Laser Tube ~9

with Power Supply.

(10 milliwatt maximum output)

Laser tube is non-polarized with mode TEM00. It is random polarization. We only have limited quantities of these units so we suggest you call right away. They'll be gone fast!!

ADAPTEC 3530A

Streaming Tape Controller SCSI to QIC-36 $79

Interfaces directly with the tape's native QIC-36 interface, eliminating the need for a separate QIC-02 to QIC-36 tape formatter.

FLOPPY DRIVES

$89

1.2 MB

HALF HEIGHT FLOPPY FOR AT 1.2MB . DS/DD . 96 tpi

BASF Floppy Drive $65

</a HT. 360 K

DS/DD 48 tpi

1/2 HT. 720K FLOPPY

96tpi S>IA

Tandon TM 65-4 *49

AMLYN1860A High Capacity Drive

51/." DS/HIGH DENSITY

3.2 mByte unformatted $7Q

2.3 formatted ■ » Takes 8" controller to operate

(We also have KODAK 3.3 FLOPPY)

REMEX RFD480

Floppy Disk Drive 2/3 ht. 360K DS/DD

$35

FULCRUM TRACK BALL

• Stationary Mouse «*>#»

• PC Magazine Editors S9 First Choice for CAD Use

CONRAC MONITOR $2295

Model 7211 15-31 KHz

1490 W. ARTESIA BLVD, GARDENA, CA 90247

Continental U.S.A.

(800) 872-8878

Inside California BM^M .^b^fe L *'Area 4 T8cnnical ln,°

(800) 223-9977 ir, ■! (213) 217-8912

15% Restocking fee for returned orders.

Miminum Order $25.00. Shipping & handling charges via UPS Ground: $.50/lb. UPS Air: $1.00/lb. Minimum Charge: $4.00. We accept cashiers checks, MC or VISA. No personal check COD's. California residents add 6'/2% sales tax. We are not responsible for typographical errors. All merchandise subject to prior sale. Phone orders welcome. Foreign Orders require special handling. Prices subject to change without notice.

Circle 275 on Reader Service Card

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 353

Fix common problems fast!

You don't need to be an expert to diagnose and correct problems involving PC setup. All you need is HELPME™ software! More than 300 tests. On-screen help for understanding and correcting identified problems. Quick identification of system configuration and compatibility. $99 plus shipping and handling. MC and VISA accepted. California Software Products, Inc., 525 N. Cabrillo Park Drive, Santa Ana, CA 92701 (714) 973-0440.

Circle 50 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 51)

PC488

$145

LOW COST PC/XT/AT INTERFACE FOR IEEE-488 (GPIB/HPIB)

• INCLUDES INSTALLABLE DOS DEVICE DRIVERS

• 1 OF 6 INTERRUPT LEVELS . 1 OF 2 DMA CHANNELS

• UP TO 4 BOARDS PER COMPUTER

• CONTROLLER / TALKER /LISTENER

• CUSTOM SOFTWARE SUPPORT AVAILABLE

• COMPATIBLE WITH MOST 1EEE488 SOFTWARE PACKAGES FOR THE IBM PC

• QUANTITY DISCOUNTS

VISA MC AMEX Call today for datasheet!!

B&C MICROSYSTEMS

355 West Olive Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94086

PH: (408)730-5511 FAX: (408)730-5521 TELEX: 984185

Circle 29 on Reader Service Card

... at your command

Master Switch is sophisticated yet flexible. Several

computers can access one another or share printers and modems. Use serial or parallel interfaces, up to nine ports. The buffer is expandable up to one megabyte. Access a job conlrol menu from each computer to view the queue or cancel, hold, and release jobs. Many other features. MasterNet software allows computer networking and electronic mail capabilities for PCs.

Other solutions from ROSE

• Printer Sharing • Multiplexers

• Protocol Conversion • Modems

• Buffering • Manual Switches

• Micro to mainframe • Cables

rod.—,

x fftamntcca to work.

Dealer und OEM inquiries lire welcome.

AROSE

V*^ ELECTRONICS ca;

P.O. BOX 742571 HOUSTON, TX 77274

for catalog 713 933 7673

the

HUSKYT

PC based PROGRAMMER $599.00'

■modules not included.

From A Name You Can Trust

LOGICAL DEVICES, INC.

1201 N.W. 65th Place, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309

-800-331-7766 (305)974-0967 Telex 383142 Fax (305) 974-8531

Circle 155 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 156)

FAX/Scanner/OCR

For IBM XT / AT / 386 & Compatibles!

Three Powerful

Computer Products in One.

. All the features of CCITT Group III Fascimile Machine + the ability to send direct from ASCII files & 9600 bps data modem w/CRC checking.

• Sends mulitiple FAX'S to multiple destinations instantly, or when you choose + receives while you use your computer for other programs.

• Scanner reads line art, photos and FAX & OCR documents up to 300 dpi w/32 dither shades + editing.

. OCR translates to ASCII files typewritten, letter-quality, & dot matrix print + proportional spacing.

Complete System Price $2495.

(Including all Interfaces & Softwaie)

Call (408) 748-8611

Spectron Systems - Mastercard & Visa Accepted 2405 De La Cruz Blvd. Santa Clara, CA 95050

Circle 263 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 264)

IC

PROMPT DELIVERY!!!

S SAME DAY SHIPPING (USUALLY)

* QUANTITY ONE PRICES SHOWN for APRIL 12, 1988

OUTSIDE OKLAHOMA: NO SALES TAX

DYNAMIC RAM

SIMM

1048Kx8 100 ns

$450.001

1Mbit

1048KX1 100 ns

36.50

51258

* 256KX1 100 ns

10.50

41256

256KX1 60 ns

10.95

41256

256Kxl 80 ns

10.85

41256

256KX1 100 ns

10.75

41256

256Kx1 120 ns

10.50

41256

256Kx1 150 ns

9.25

41264

+ 64Kx4 120 ns EPROM

13.50

27C1000 12BKX8 200 :1

$37.50

27C512

64Kx8 200 ns

14.95

27256

32Kx8 250 ns

7.50

27128

i6Kx8 250 ns STATIC RAM

6.95

43256L-12 32Kx8 120 ns

$11.95

L5864LP-12 8Kx8 120 ns

6.95J

OPEN 6Y» DAYS. 7.30 am.10 pm: SHIP VIA FED-EX ON SAT.

WE EXPORT ONLY TO CANADA. GUAM. PUERTO RICO & VIRGIN ISLANDS

SAT DELIVERY INCLUDED ON FED-EX ORDERS RECOVED BY: Th: Stri Mr J8/3 Hi Ft P-1 J10.25 1 Si

MasterCard/VISA or UPS CASH COD

Factory New, Prime Parts jjPoo

MICROPROCESSORS UNLIMITED, INC.

VSStSSSr (918) 267-4&61

No minimum order. Pioaso nolo ihai prices aia subioct 10

urance extra, A up 10 SI lor packing materials 0<d*f» received by red the nexl morning, via Federal Eiprei* Standard day Priority One (.1 110.251

Circle 247on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 248)

Circle 179 on Reader Service Card

EPROM

UV ERASERS

ERASES EPROMS AS FAST AS 4 MINUTES

From A Name You Can Trust

LOGICAL DEVICES INC.

1201 N.W. 65th Place Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309

Circle 157 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 158)

EPROM/PAL Programmer

• PAL MODULE $295

• Programs 20 & 24 pin MMI (A.B), NS Tl PALS

• Read JEDEC file format

• Security. DIR, LOAD, SAVE, EDIT, READ, WRITE, VERIFY,

• User friendly menu driven S/W.

EPROM MODULE (1, 4, 8 socket) $145

16K to 1024K EPROM, CMOS EEPROM. Read Intel, Motorola, TEK HEX file -Very fast (Quick pulse), reliable, easy to use

BIPOLAR ROM MODULE $295

MMI. NS. Tl & Signetics parts

8741/42/48/49/50 Module S195

, 4, 8 socket module available ■8748 Disassembler included

8751/52/252/44 Module $245

Normal, Intelligent programming algorithm ■ TTL & MEMORY IC TESTER MODULE $195

■Test almost TTL, CMOS, Dynamic, Static IC's -Auto search for unknown IC part No.

INTERFACE CARD & CABLE $50

■This card is common to all above modules Fits in any PC/XT/AT or compatibles

UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER $545

Programming Capability for E(E)PROM. BIPOLAR. PAL. 8748, 8751, IC/RAM TESTER in one box Includes interface card, cable and software.

473 Sapena Ct„ #24 XELTEK

Santa Clara. CA 95054 l^^fcl CA residents (408) 727-6995 '■ ■•* SB add 6.5% tax FAX (408) 727-6996 ^^ Add $8 tor S)H

Circle 291 on Reader Service Card

MOTION CONTROL DREAM

$75

per axis

4 AXIS VERY SMART STEPPER CONTROLLER

D 49 high level commands in plain English.

□ Macros. Battery backup for memory.

D Learn mode with optional "Teach Pendant" D 4 axis simultaneous control. You select the

ramps units, speeds, drive types,... D Input for Limit Switches, Panic button, etc.

□ On board multitasking compiler.

□ Works with any computer with a Centronics port or with the Alpha Products A-BUS system See page 341 for details of the SC-149

jm ALPHA

b

Circle 13 on Reader Service Card

Low Prices, Fast Service.

Satisfaction

Guaranteed!

Since 1975

Turbo-XT

$398

• 4.77 & 8 MHz

• 640K Motherboard with 256K

• Disk controller • 8 slots

• 360K disk drive • 8087 socket

• 150W power supply

Turbo-AT

*798

• 1 MB Motherboard with 640K

• 200 watt power supply

• AT-style keyboard

• One year warranty

• Clock/calendar

Option A

• High resolution amber monitor

• Hi-res graphics card add

• Parallel printer port ?148

Option B

• Hi-res RGB color monitor

• Hi-res graphics card add

• Parallel printer port .$298

Option C

• Hard disk drive

• Dual hard disk controller

30 MB for XT 40 MB For PC/XT/AT

add $298 add $498

irrt^T Math Coprocessors

8087-2 s138

80287-6 s178

80287-10 s268

80387-20 $728

8087 J98 8087-1 s198 80287-8 s228 80387-16 $438

PC Mouse

Mechanical Mouse w/software s58

Mouse Systems serial s98

Mouse Systems Buss s98

Fastrap Trackball s98

1200 Baud Deluxe Modem

$68

• Including free software

• Hayes compatible Vt slot card

• On-board speaker

1200 baud external s98

2400 baud V? card internal .. .s148 2400 baud external s168

30 MB Hard Disk

Complete kit with controller

$298

20 MB PC/XT Kit s248

20 MB Card «328

40 MB for AT s398

40 Mb PC/XT Kit s498

60 MB for AT s898

80 MB for AT s998

120 MB for AT s2298

Mountain 40 MB Tape s698

360K Disk Drive

Half height, IBM compatible

Tandon TM100-2 full height

for IBM PC or XT s118

1.2 MB for AT s98

5]A" drive for PS/2 s268

31/2" Disk Drive

for your PC/XT/AT *98

Mounting kit for above s19

EGA Package $498

Hi-res EGA card 640x480 ... .s128

EGA monitor 640x350 $378

NEC MultiSync II 640x560 .. .s648 RGB color monitor 640x240 .$258 Thomson Ultra Scan monitor 800x560 s448

EPSON 24 Pin

$369

LQ-500 List Price s529 Letter Quality Printers

EPSON LQ-850 Call

EPSON LQ-1050 Call

EPSON LQ-2500 Call

EPSON 9 Pin

$198

LX-800 Near Letter Quality Printers

EPSON FX-86e Call

EPSON FX-286e Call

EPSON EX-800 Call

HP LaserJet II

$1798

Call

List Price s2595

HEWLETT PACKARD

PDP 4 MB RAM card w/OK . .s198

PDP 1 MB RAM card s348

PDP 2 MB RAM card s648

PDP 4 MB RAM card s1148

Extra Toner Cartridge 598

Laser Printer

$998

"Interface required

• 300 x 300 DPI

• 8 pages per minute

• HP compatible*

• Standard or legal size

HP LaserJet+interface* s198

1.5 MB RAM card $198

Toner cartridge s58

Special package price s1298

No Slot Clock

MICROSOFT.

MS-DOS 3.21 $98

Place orders toll free!

Continental U.S.A. 1-800-421-5500

Inside California 1-800-262-1710

Fax machine 1-213-675-2522 All others 1-213-973-7707

Prices at our eight store locations will be

higher on some items.

California

Torrance. Santa Ana, Woodland Hills

Kearny Mesa, Sunnyvale

Texas

Addison. Houston

Georgia

Smyrna

Circle 142 on Reader Service Card

JADE COMPUTER

We accept checks, credit cards or purchase orders from qualified firms and institutions. No surcharge on credit card orders. CA.. TX. & GA. residents add sales tax. Prices & availability subject to change without notice. Shipping & handling charges via UPS ground 50C/lb. UPS air M.OO/lb. Minimum charge s3.00.

4901 W.Rosecrans Ave Box 5046 Hawthorne California 90251-5046

m

JUNE 1988 • BYTE 355

STATIC RAMS

| 2112 2114 2114L-2 TMM2016-100 HM6116-4 HM6116-3 HM6116LP 4 HM6116LP-3 HM6116LP-2 HM6264LP 15 HM6264LP-12 HM43256LP 15 HM43256LP 12 HM43256LP 10

256x4 1024x4 1024x4 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048=8 2048x8 2048x8 8192x8 8192x8 32768x8 32768x8 32768x8

(450ns)

(450ns)

(200ns)<LOW POWER)

(100ns)

(200ns)(CMOS)

(150ns|(CMOS)

(200ns)(CMOS)(LP)

(150ns)(CMOS)(LP)

(120nsKCM0SKLP)

|150ns|(CMOS)(LP)

(120ns)(CMOSW-P)

(150ns)(CIVIOS)(LP)

(120ns)(CMOSHLP)

(100ns)|CMOS)(LP)

DYNAMIC RAMS

4116-250

4116-200

4116-150

4116-120

MK4332

4164-150

4164-120

MCM6665 J TMS4164

4164-REFRESH ] TMS4416

41128-150

TMS4464 15

41256-150

41256-120

41256-100

HM51258-100

1 MB 120 1

1 MB-100 1

2708

2716

2716 1

TMS2532

2732

2732A

2732A2

27C64

2764

2764-250

2764-200

MCM68766

27128

27C256

27256

27512

27C512

16384x1

16384x1

16384x1

16384x1

32768x1

65536x1

65536x1

65536x1

65536x1

65536x1

16384x4

131072x1

65536x4

262144x1

262144x1

262144x1

262144x1

048576x1

048576x1

(250ns)

(200ns)

(150ns)

(120ns)

(200ns)

(150ns)

(120ns)

(200ns)

|150ns(

(150ns)(PIN 1 REF

(150ns)

(150ns)

(150ns)

(150ns)

(120ns)

(100ns)

(lOOnsl(CMOS)

(120ns)

(100ns)

2.99 .99 1.49 1.95 1.79 1.85 1.85 1.90 2.45 3.95 4.49 12.95 14.95 19.95

49

KiGH-T* SPCTSLICHT

I MB EPROMS

m 128K x 8 ORGANIZATION »200NS S2g£S£6S8S5£S5! ■ CMOS DESIGN BBBBBHiiaEEBEIElBBB, FOR LOW POWER I

H ARRANGEMENT

89

99

1.49

695

1.79

1.99

1.95

1.95 t

RESH12.9S !

375

5.95

4.95

395

4.95

5 49

6.95

31.95

34 95

HSIEnHSnEHHHBHnBSIIIflSr

O 0 O O Q Q|> Ol > > > > > Z 3|<

aaao

$34.95

BStOO

8031

3.95

■ 8203

14.95

8255-5

1.59

8035

1.49

■ 8205

3 29

8259

1 95

8039

1.95

■ 8212

1 49

8259 5

2.29

8052AH

BASIC 34.95

■ 8216

1 49

8257

2.25

8080

2.49

■ 8224

2.25

8272

4.39

8085

1.95

■ 8228

2.25

8274

4.95

8086

6.49

■ 8237

3 95

8275

16.95

8088

5.99

■ 8237-5

4.75

8279

2-49

8088-2

7.95

■ 8243

1 95

8279-5

2.95

8155

2-49

■ 8250

6.95

8282

3.95

8155-2

3.95

■ 8251

1.29

8283

3.95

8741

9.95

■ 8251A

1 69

8284

2.25

8748

7.95

■ 8253

1 59

B286

3.95

8749

9.95

■ 8253 5

1 95

8287

3.95

8755

14.95 j

M8255

1.49

8288

4.95

EPROMS

1024x8

2048x8

2048x8

4096x8

4096x8

4096x8

4096x8

8192x8

8192x8

8192x8

8192x8

8192x8

16384x8

32768x8

32768x8

65536x8

65536x8

■xViProgr

G500

(450ns)(25V| (450ns)(25V) (350ns)(25V) (450ns)(25V| (450ns)(25V) (250ns)(21V) (200ns)(21V| <250ns)(12.5VCMOS) (450ns)(12.5V) (250ns)(12.5V) (200ns)(12.5V) (350ns)(21V)(24 PIN) (250ns)(12.5V| (250ns)(12.5VCMOS) .250ns)(12.5V) (250ns)(12.5V) (250ns)(12.5VCMOS) im Voltage

Z-8D

4.95 3.49 3 95 5.95 3.95 I 3 95 4.25 4.95 3 49 3.69 4.25 15.95 4.25 7.95 5-95 11.95 12.95

MATH COPROCESSORS

8087

5 MHz

S99.95

8087-2

8 MHz

$159.95

8087-1

10 MHz

$229.95

80287

6 MHz

$179.95

80287-8

8 MHz

$249.95

80287-10

10 MHz

$309.95

80387 16

16 MHz

$499.95

80387-20

20 MHz

$799.95

ini

1.0 MHz

0.5 MHz

6502

2.25 f

Z80 CPU

65C02 6520

(CMOS) 7.95 U 1.65 1

4.0 MHz

6522

2.95 ■

Z80A CPU

6526

13.95 H

ZS0A CTC

6532

5.95 ■

Z80A-DART

6545

2.95 ■

Z80A DMA

6551

2.95 ■

Z80A PIO

B.HMHz

Z80A-S1O 0 Z80A-SIO 1

6502A

2 69 ■

Z80A SIO 2

6520A 6522A

2.95 ■ 5.95 ■

6.0 MHz

6532A

11.95 ■

Z80B CPU

6545A

3.95 ■

Z80B-CTC

6551A

6.95 ■

Z80B-P1O

3.0 MHz

Z80B DART Z80B-SIO 0 1

,650 2 B

4.25^^

Z80B-SIO 2 1 Z8671 ZILOG

r

1.25

1.29

1.69

5.95

5.95

1.89

5.95

5.95

5.95

2.75

4.25

4.25

6.95

12.95

12.95

9.95 j

DISK

CONTROLLERS

TV BO SERIES

PALS

1771

1791

1793

1795

1797

2791

2793

2797

8272

UPD765

MB8876

MB8877

1691

2143

9216

4.95 9 95 9.95 12 95 12 95 19.95 19 95 29 95 4 39 4.39 12.95 12 95 6.95 695 6.29

V20' 5 MHi

I V20* 8 MHi

V20- 10 MHz

| V30 BMHi

■Replaces 80

speed up PC 10-40'

8-95 10.95 12.95 13.95

to

16L8

16R8

16R6

[16R4

S2.95 S2.95 S2.95 S2.95

CRYSTALS

95 295

2.95

I 32.768 KHz 1.0 MHz 1.8432

UARTS

6800

l.OMHz

6800

1.95

6802

2.95

6803

3.95

6809

2.95

6809E

2.95

6810

1.95

6820

2.95

6821

1-25

6840

3.95

6843

4.95

6844

695

6845

275

6847

4.75

6850

1.95

6883

22.95

g.OMHz

68B00

2.95

68B02

3.95

68B09E

5.49

68B09

5.99

68B21

1.85

68B45

4 95

68B50

1.75

68000

9.95

CLOCK CIRCUITS

MM58167 9.95

MM58174 9.95

LMSM5832 2.95

BIT RATE

[GENERATORS I

AY5 1013 AY3 1015 TR1602

| 2651 IM6402

i IM6403 INS8250

LNS16450

MC14411 I BR1941

4702 LCOM8116

9.95 4.95 9 95 8.95

INTERSIL

ICL7106 ICL7107 ICL7660 ICL8038 ICM7207A JCM7208

9.95 10.95 1.99 3.85 5.95 15.95 ,

r MISC.

ADC0804

2.99

ADC0809

3.85

DAC0800

3.29

DAC0808

1.95

DAC1022

595

MC1408L8

1 95

8T28

1.29

8T97

.59

DP8304

2.29

9334

1.75

9368

2.85

9602

.69

ULN2003

79

MAX232

7.95

MC3470

1.95

MC3487

2.95

LAV5-3600 PRO 11.95

2.0

2.4576

3.579545

4.0

5-0

5.0688

6.0

6.144

8.0 10.0

10.738635 12 0

14.31818 16.0 18.0 18.432 20.0 22.1184 24.0 32.0

1.95 1 95 1.95 1 95 1 95 1 95 1 95 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 1 95 1.95 1.95 1.95 1 95 1 95 1.95

JSCILLATORS

1.0MHz

1.8432

2.0

2.4576

2.5

4.0

5.0688

6.0

6.144 j 8.0

10.0

12.0

16.0

18.432 | 20.0

24.0

5.95 5.95 5.95 5.95 5.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 4.95

74F/74S

7 7

I

74F00

74F02

74F04

74F08

74F10

74F32

74F64

74F74

74F86

74F138

74F139

74F253

74F157

74F240

74S00

74S02

74S04

74S08

74S10

74S32

74S74

74S86

74S112

74S124

74S138

74S153

74S157

74S158

74S163

74S175

74S195

74S240

74S241

74S244

74S280

74S287

74S288

74S299

74S373

74S374

74S471

74S571

149 1.49 1.49 1.49 1.95 1.69 1.69 2.95 1.69 1.69 4.95 2.95 A

74LSOG

74LS00

16

74LS112

29

74LS241

69

74LS01

18

74LS122

4 5

74LS242

69

74LS02

.17

74LS123

.49

74LS243

.69

74LS03

18

74LS124

2.75

74LS244

69

74LS04

16

74LS125

39

/4LS245

79

74LS05

18

74LS126

39

74LS251

49

74LS08

18

74LS132

39

74LS253

49

I74LS09

18

74LS133

49

74LS257

39

74LS10

16

74LS13G

39

74LS258

49

74LS11

22

74LS138

39

74LS259

1.29

74LS12

22

74LS139

39

74LS260

.48

74LS13

.26

74LS145

99

74LS266

39

74LS14

39

74LS147

99

74LS273

79

74LS15

26

74LS148

99

74LS279

39

74LS20

17

74LS151

39

74LS280

1.98

74LS21

.22

74LS153

39

74LS283

.59

74LS22

.22

74LS154

1 4 9

74LS290

89

74LS27

23

74LS155

.59

74LS293

89

74LS28

26

74LS156

49

74LS299

1.49

74LS30

1 7

74LS157

35

74LS322

3.95

74LS32

18

74LS158

29

74LS323

2.49

74LS33

.28

74LS160

29

74L3365

.39

74LS37

.26

74LS161

39

74LS367

39

74LS38

.26

74LS162

49

74LS368

.39

74LS42

39

74LS163

39

74LS373

79

74LS47

.75

74LS164

49

74LS374

79

1 74LS48

.85

74LS165

65

74LS375

95

74LS51

.17

74LS166

95

74LS377

.79

1 74LS73

29

74LS169

95

74LS390

1.19

74LS74

.24

74LS173

49

74LS393

79

1 74LS75

.29

74LS174

.39

74LS541

1.49

74LS76

.29

74LS175

39

74LS624

1.95

74LS83

49

74LS191

49

74LS640

99

74LS85

.49

74LS192

G9

74LS645

99

74LS86

.22

74LS193

69

74LS670

89

74LS90

.39

74LSI94

69

74LS682

3.20

74LS92

.49

74LS195

69

74LS688

2.40

74LS93

.39

74LS196

.59

74LS783

22-95

74LS95

.49

74LS197

59

25LS2521

2.80

74LS107

34

74LS221

59

26LS31

1.95

L74LS109

36

74LS240

69

26LS32

1.95

74QQ

LINEAR

7400

19

TL071

69

LM567

.79

7402

19

TL072

1 09

NE570

2.95

7404

19

TL074

1 95

NE592

98

7406

29

TL082

99

LM723

49

7407

29

TL084

1.49

LM733

.98

7408

24

LM301

34

LM741

29

7410

19

LM309K

1 25

LM747

69

7411

.25

LM311

59

MC1330

1.69

7414

.49

LM311H

89

MCI 350

1.19

7416

2b

LM317K

349

LM1458

.35

7417

25

LM317T

.69

LM1488

49

7420

19

LM318

1 49

LM1489

49

7430

19

LM319

1 25

LM1496

85

7432

29

LM320 see7900

ULN2003

.79

7438

29

LM323K

3.49

XR2206

3.95

7442

49

LM324

.34

XR2211

2.95

7445

69

LM331

3.95

LM2917

1.95

7447

.89

LM334

119

CA3046

89

7473

.34

LM335

1.79

CA3146

1.29

7474

33

LM336

1 75

MC3373

1 29

7475

45

LM338K

4.49

MC3470

1.95

7476

35

LM339

.59

MC3480

895

7483

.50

LM340 see7800

MC3487

2.95

7485

59

LF353

.59

LM3900

49

7486

.35

LF356

99

LM3911

2.25

7489

2 15

LF357

99

LM3909

.98

7490

39

LM358

59

LM3914

1.89

7493

35

LM380

89

MC4024

3.49

74121

.29

LM383

1 95

MC4044

3.99

74123

49

LM386

89

RC4136

1.25

74125

.45

LM393

45

RC4558

.69

74150

1 35

LM394H

5.95

LM13600

1 49

74151

.55

TL494

4.20

75107

1.49

74153

55

TL497

3.25

75110

1.95

74154

1.49

NE555

29

75150

1.95

74157

.55

NE556

49

75154

1.95

74159

1.65

NE558

79

75188

1.25

74161

.69

NE564

1-95

75189

1 25

74164

85

LM565

95

75451

.39

74166

1.00

LM566

1.49

75452

39

74175

.89

NE590

2.50

75477

1.29

74367

.65

H-TO-5 CAN, K

TO-3. T TO 220

CMOS/HI EH SPEED CMOS

4001

19

4066

29

74HC154

4011

19

4069

19

74HC157

4012

25

4070

29

74HC244

4013

.35

4081

.22

74HC245

4015

.29

4093

49

74HC273

4016

29

14411

995

74HC373

4017

49

14433 14.95

74HC374

4018

69

14497

6.95

74HCT00

4020

.59

4503

49

74HCT02

4021

69

4511

69

74HCT04

4023

.25

4518

.85

74HCT08

4024

.49

4528

79

74HCT32

4025

25

4538

95

74HCT74

4027

.39

4702

9 95

74HCT138

4028

65

74HC00

.21

74HCT139

4040

69

74HC02

.21

74HCT161

4042

.59

74HC04

.25

74HCT240

4044

69

74HC08

.25

74HCT244

4046

69

74HC10

25

74HCT245

4047

69

74HC14

35

74HCT273

4049

29

74HC32

.35

74HCT373

4050

.29

74HC74

.35

74HCT374

4051

.69

74HC86

45

74HCT393

4052

.69

74HC138

.45

74HCT4017

4053

69

74HC139

.45

74HCT4040

4060

.69

74HC151

59

74HCT4060

JDR Microdevices and the JDR Microdevices logo are registered trademarks of JDR Microdevices. IBM, AT, PS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines.

356 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Circle 148 on Reader Service Card

CAPACITORS

TANTALUM

1.0,/t

15V

12

10(/l 35V

45

6.8

15V

42

2.2 35V

19

10

15V

4b

4.7 35V

39

22

15V

.yy

10 35V

69

DISC

10:

50V

05

001,/f 50V

05

22

50V

.05

005 50V

05

33

50V

Ob

01 50V

.07

47

50V

05

.05 50V

100

50V

Ob

1 12V

.10

220

50V

05

1 50V

12

MONOLITHIC

OVi

50V

14

047//I 50V

15

47,/t 50V

25

ELECTROLYTIC

RADIAL

AXIAL

1 V

25V

14

ly/l 50V

14

4.7

50V

.11

10 50V

16

10

50V

11

22 16V

14

47

35V

.13

47 50V

19

100

16V

.15

100 35V

19

220

35V

zu

470 50V

.29

470

25V

.30

1000 16V

29

2200

16V

.70

2200 16V

.70

k4700

25V 1

.45

4700 16V 1

.25 a

r VOLTAGE

REGULATORS

7805T 49

7812K 1.39

7808T .49

7905K 1.69

7812T .49

7912K 1.49

7815T .49

78L05 .49

7905T .59

78L12 .49

7908T .59

79L05 .69

7912T .59

79L12 1.49

7915T .59

LM323K 4.79

7805K 1.59

LM338K 6.95

SOLDER 5TATIOX

UL APPROVED

■ ADJUSTABLE HEAT SETTING WITH TIP TEMPERATURE READOUT

■ REPLACEMENT TIPS AVAILABLE S2.95

DISCRETE

1N751

.15

4N28

fi9

1N414825

*1°°

4N33

89

1N400410

M00

4N37

1 19

1N5402

??>

MCT-2

b9

KBP02

.55

MCT-6

1 ?9

2N2222

.25

TIL-111

99

PN2222

.10

2N3906

m

2N2907

.25

2N4401

?H

2N3055

.79

2N4402

,75

2 N 3904

.10

2N4403

7B

4N26

69

2N6045

1 75

4N27

.69

TIP31

.49

WIREWRAP PROTOTYPE CARDS

I EPOXY GLASS LAMINATE WITH GOLD PLATED EDGE-CARD FINGERS SILK SCREENED LEGENDS, MOUNTING BRACKETS INCLUDED

BYPASS CAPACITORS

.01 ,ii CERAMIC DISC 100 S5 00 .01 i/1 MONOLITHIC 100 S10.00 .1 (/(CERAMIC DISC 100 S6 50 -1 irf MONOLITHIC 100 S12.50

"5IVAPABLE"

HEADERS

CAN BE SNAPPED APART TO

MAKE ANY SIZE HEADER,

ALL WITH .1" CENTERS

1x40 STRAIGHT LEAD .99

1x40 RIGHT ANGLE LEAD ..49

2x40 2 STRAIGHT LEADS 2.49

! 2x40 2 RIGHT ANGLE LEADS 2.99

i! m

t M

ti

t rM

\RESISTOR NETWORKS)

SIP 10 PIN 9 RESISTOR ,69 SIP 8 PIN 7 RESISTOR 59 DIP 16 PIN S RESISTOR 1.09 DIP 16 PIN 15 RESISTOR 109 DIP 14 PIN 7 RESISTOR 99 ^DIP 14 PIN 13 RESISTOR 99 J

■ inn/ Turn

FOR PS/2

JDR-PR32

32 BIT PROTOTYPE CARD

JDR-PR16

16 BIT CARD WITH I/O DECODING LAYOUT

JDR-PR16PK

PARTS KIT FOR JDR-PR16 ABOVE

JDR-PR16V

16 BIT CARD FOR VIDEO APPLICATIONS

FOR AT

39.95

JDR-PR10

16 BIT CARD WITH I/O DECODING LAYOUT

34.95

JDR-PR10PK

PARTS KIT FOR JDR-PR10 ABOVE

FOR XT

12.95

IBM-PR1

WITH +5V AND GROUND PLANE

27.95

IBM-PR2

AS ABOVE WITH I/O DECODING LAYOUT

29.95

SHORTING; BLOCKS U

siti.oa [W

WHY THOUSANDS CHOOSE JOR

DUALITY MERCHANDISE COMPETITIVE PRICES

* MOST ORDERS SHIPPED IN B4 HOURS

* FRIENDLY, KNOWLEDGEABLE STAFF

* 3D-DA Y MONEY BACK BUARANTEE

* TOLL FREE TECHNICAL SUPPORT ' EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE

CALL FOR VOLUME QUOTES

EXTENDER CARDS

FOR PROTOTYPE DEBUGGING AND TROUBLESHOOTING

EXT-8088 FOR XT SYSTEM 29.95

EXT-B0286 FOR AT SYSTEM 39.95

EXT-16 MICROCHANNEL 16-BIT 69.95

EXT-32 MICROCHANNEL 32-BIT 99.95

' SOLDERLESS BREADBOARDS

WBU-D 100TIEPTS. 2.95

WBU-T 630 TIE PTS. 6.95

WBU-204-3 1360 TIE PTS. 17.95

WBU-204 1660 TIE PTS. 24.95 1 WBU-206 2390 TIE PTS. 29.951 WBU-208 3220 TIE PTS. 39.951

nnnn

IDC CONNECTORS/RIBBON CABLE

DESCRIPTION

ORDER BY

CONTACTS

10

20

26

34

40

50

SOLDER HEADER

IDHxxS

.82

1.29

1.68

220

2.58

3.24

RIGHT ANGLE SOLDER HEADER

IDHxxSR

.85

1 35

1.76

231

2.72

3 39

WIREWRAP HEADER

IDHxxW

1.86

2.98

3.84

4.50

5.28

6.63

RIGHT ANGLE WIREWRAP HEADER

IDHxxWR

2.05

328

4.22

4.45

4.80

7.30

RIBBON HEADER SOCKET

IDSxx

.63

.89

.95

1.29

1.49

1.69

RIBBON HEADER

IDMxx

5.50

6.25

7,00

750

8.50

RIBBON EDGE CARD

IDExx

.85

1.25

1.35

1.75

2.05

2.45

10' GREY RIBBON CABLE

RCxx

1.60

3.20

4.10

5 40

6.40

7.50

FOR UHUtHING INSTRUCTIONS. SEE D-SUBMINIATURE CONNECTORS BEL

OW

3 VOLT LITHIUM BATTERY

$1.95 HOLDER $1.49

SPECTRONICS CORPORATION EPROM ERASERS

Model

Timer

Chip Capacity

Intensity (uW Cm*)

Unit Cost

PE-140

NO

9

8.000

S89

PE-140T

YES

9

8.000

si 39

PE-240T

YES

12

9.600

S189

D-SUBMINIATURE CONNECTORS

DESCRIPTION

ORDER BY

CONTACTS

9

15

19

25

37

50

SOLDER CUP

MALE

DBxxP

.45

.59

.69

.69

1.35

1.85

FEMALE

DBxxS

49

.69

.75

.75

1.39

2.29

RIGHT ANGLE PC SOLDER

MALE

DBxxPR

.49

.69

.79

2.27

FEMALE

DBxxSR

.55

.75

.85

2.49

WIREWRAP

MALE

DBxxPWW

1.69

2.56

3.89

5.60

FEMALE

DBxxSWW

2.76

4.27

6.84

9.95

IDC RIBBON CABLE

MALE

IDBxxP

1.39

1.99

2.25

4.25

FEMALE

IDBxxS

1.45

2.05

2.35

4.49

HOODS

METAL

MHOODxx

1.05

1.15

1.25

1.25

GREY

HOODxx

.39

.39

.39

.69

.75

RS-B3E BREAKOUT BOX

FOR TROUBLESHOOTING SERIAL COMMUNICATIONS

I OPEN/CLOSE INDIVIDUAL CIRCUITS |

120 JUMPERS CROSS-CONNECT ANY TWO CIRCUITS

' 10 LEDS SHOW CIRCUIT ACTIVITY

GENDER-BO I

OATARASE

• ERASES 2 EPROMS IN 10 MINUTES

• VERY COMPACT, NO DRAWER

- THIN METAL SHUTTER PREVENTS UV LIGHT FROM ESCAPING

INSERT THE NUMBER OF CONTACTS IN THE POSITION MARKED •*»' OF THE ORDER BY PART , IERLISTED EXAMPLE A 15 PIN RIGHT ANGLE MALE PC SOLDER WOULD BE DBI5PR

MOUNTING HARDWARE S9t

IC SOCKETS/DIP CONNECTORS

SOLDERTAIL SOCKETS

DESCRIPTION

WIREWRAP SOCKETS

ZIF SOCKETS

TOOLED SOCKETS

TOOLED VWV SOCKETS'

COMPONENT CARRIERS

DIP PLUGS (IDC)

AUGATxxWW

495 .79

JL09 2.40

1 29

GENDER CHANGERS

FOR 25 PIN D-SUBMINIATURE CONNECTORS

GENDER-FF FEMALE-MALE 7.95 I GENDER-MM MALE-MALE 7.95

GENDER-MF MALE-FEMALE 7.95 GENDER-NM NULL MODEM 8.95 GENDER-JB JUMPER BOX 8.95

GENDER-MT MINITESTER 14.95

FOR ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS SEE D-SUBMINIATURE CONNECTORS ABOVE

^3 JOB MICROOEVICES. 110 KNOWLES DRIVE. LOS GATOS, CA 95030 rTl LOCAL (408) 866-6200 FAX (408) 378-8927 TELEX 171-110

JOYSTICK

I « SET X-Y AXIS FOR AUTO

CENTER OR

FREE MOVEMENT | ■ FIRE BUTTON FOR USE

WITH GAME SOFTWARE 'ADAPTOR CABLE FOR

IBM, APPLE II

*£)\

I fo £y» JHHLzzHL

0*4

RETAIL STORE: 1256 SOUTH BASCOM AVE., SAN JOSE, CA (408) 947-8881 >gh..oim,< , HOURS: M-F10-7 SAT. 9-5 SUN. 12-4 «w °'our ,efms"

im order $10 00. For shipping and handling include $2 50 lor UPS ground and $3 50

ges—please e sales tax Prices aphical errors We reserve l subiect to prior sale A lull ■■■> ..,-Jrepresenlalive

mORDER TOLL FREE 800-538-5000

COPYRIGHT 1988 JDB MICRODEVICES

Circle 148 on Reader Service Card

CONTINENTAL U.S. ANO CANADA

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 357

quality merchandise.-.providing the best values in leading edge technology.

■flSsl

IT S TIME TO TRADE UP NOW THAT JDR BREAKS THE PRICE BARRIER ON 2400 BAUD MODEMS

■ AUTO DIAL ANSWER

■ SELF TEST ON POWER-UP

m TOUCHTONE OR PULSE DIALING

■ HAYES 5 BELL SYSTEMS COMPATIBLE

■ FULL OR HALF DUPLEX

■ MIRROR II COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE INCLUDED

MCT-241

MCT-121 1200 BAUD 1 .'2 CARD $69.95

EXTERNAL MODEMS

MCT-12E 1200 BAUD MCT-24E 2400 BAUD

COMPUTER

$ 99.95 $169.95

ATTRACTIVE. STURDY STEEL CASES FIT THE POPULAR SIZED MOTHERBOARDS AND INCLUDE SPEAKERS, FACEPLATES, EXPANSION SLOTS. FRONT PANEL KEYLOCKS. LED INDICATORS AND ALL NECESSARY HARDWARE.

XT STYLE FLIP-TOP

$34.95

XT STYLE SLIDE-TOP

$39.95

AT STYLE SLIDE-TOP

$89.95

JR. AT STYLE FLIP-TOP

$149.95

m INCLUDES 150 WATT POWER SUPPLY

POWER

FOR IBM XT COMPATIBLE $59.95 ■ UL APR. 135 WATTS a +5V.15A. + 12V 4 2A

- 5V 5A, - 12V 5A PS-135 PS-150 150W MODEL $69.95

FOR IBM AT COMPATIBLE

m 200 WATTS ■ 4 5V 22A, ^ 12V 8A 5V ,5A. 12V 5A PS-200

W.""1''' ij!

\ i',^Hj

HP-^-^^--^g^--^^-—-—

£ BIT \

DIABLO PRINTER

I*

« LETTER QUALITY AT 20 CPS, 132 COLS

■ 10. 12. 15 PITCH & PROPORTIONAL SPACING

• SERIAL & PARALLEL INTERFACE

r AUTO PAPER LOAD. FRICTION FEED

r FULL XEROX WARRANTY

CENTRONICS

LASER

PRINTER

NEAR TYPESET QUALITY AFFORDABLE A T LAST

■ 6 PAGES PER MINUTE ■ 300 DPI RESOLUTION!

« 1 YEAR WARRANTY ■ CHOICE OF EMULATION BOARDS

MULTI-PRINTER EMULATION BOARD:

EPSON FX-80 EMULATION- NOTHING ELSE REQUIRED

IBM PC GRAPHICS, PROPRINTER & DIABLO 630

EMULATION REQUIRES ADDITIONAL FONT CARD

HP LJ+ EMULATION BOARD:

HP LASERJET EMULATION-3 RESIDENT FONTS &

2 PITCHES ADDITIONAL FONT CARD AVAILABLE

1.5MB RAM CARD

$139.95

EXTRA FONT CARDS

$199.95

TONER CARTRIDGES

$59.95

PFS FIRST PUBLISHER

$99.95

a rrrr nxn cud ljzo i ■ i FH i'I.ii n t~\i

IBM

COMPATIBLE

KEYBOARDS

FULL ONE YEAR WARRANTY

IBM ENHANCED STYLE LAYOUT $79.95

■ AUTOSENSE FOR XT OR AT COMPATIBLES

• LED INDICATORS • AUTO REPEAT FEATURE

• SEPARATE CURSOR PAD MCT-5339

IBM AT STYLE LAYOUT $59.95

• SOFTWARE AUTOSENSE FOR XT OR AT COMPATIBLES m LED INDICATORS a AUTO REPEAT FEATURE MCT-5060

MAXI-SWITCH KEYBOARDS

ENHANCED STYLE LAYOUT $84.95

■ STANDARD ENHANCED KEYBOARD LAYOUT

■ TACTILE FEEDBACK

• LIGHTED NUM. CAPS. AND SCROLL LOCK

■ NUMERIC & CURSOR KEYPADS. 12 "F" KEYS MAX-5339 MAX-5060 MAXI-SWITCH, AT STYLE $64.95 _

VGA

COMPATIBLE

PACKAGE

MONITOR

&CARD

TOGETHER

m800 X 560 MAXIMUM RESOLUTION

■ 640X480

IN 16 COLORS

■ 320X200

IN 256 COLORS * IBM STYLE. ANALOG MONITOR

■ FULLY VGA. EGA. CGA.HERCULES& MONOCHROME COMPATIBLE

NEC MUL TISYNC $599.95

m ORIGINAL CGA EGA PGA COMPATIBLE MONITOR

■ AUTO FREQUENCY ADJUSTMENT

■ RESOLUTION AS HIGH AS 800 X 560

CASPER EGA 9399.95

m 15 75 21 85 KHz SCANNING FREQUENCIES

■ 640 X 200 350 RESOLUTION ■ 31 MM DOT PITCH

■ 14 BLACK MATRIX SCREEN ■ 16 COLORS

CASPER RGB $B79.95

■ COLOR GREEN AMBER SWITCH ■ 39MM DOT PITCH

■ 640 X 240 RESOLUTION ■ 14" NON-GLARE SCREEN m RGB IBM COMPATIBLE ■ CABLE INCLUDED

$69.95

SAKATA MONOCHROME

m IBM COMPATIBLE TTL INPUT

■ 12" NON-GLARE SCREEN

■ CABLE FOR IBM PC INCLUDED

SAMSUNG MONOCHROME MONITOR 5129.95

$12.95

MONITOR STANDS

MODEL MS-100

■ TILTS AND SWIVELS

m STURDY PLASTIC CONSTRUCTION

MODEL MS-200 $39.95

■ TILTS AND SWIVELS ■ BUILT-IN SURGE SUPRESSOR INDEPENDENTLY CONTROLS UP TO 5 AC OUTLETS

LOGITECH MOUSE

$-wrmas

PC MAGAZINES EDITORS CHOICE \^^

ALL MODELS HAVE SERIAL SUPPORT {COM1 COM2), 200

DPI RESOLUTION. LOTUS 1-2-3 SHELL. SELF-INSTALLING

SOFTWARE AND "POINT EDITOR"

SERIAL MOUSE W/PC PAINTBRUSH $99.95

BUS MOUSE W/PC PAINTBRUSH $99.95

BUS MOUSE W/PC PAINTBRUSH/CAD $149.95

\3.5" FLOPPY I DISK DRIVE

«g£ *** » w^S"

i IBM COMPATIBLE DRIVE ■ AT AND XT VERSIONS I AVAILABLE ■ FORMATS TO 720K. DS'QD UNDER DOS 3.2 | ■ MEDIA COMPATIBLE WITH PS 2 S LAPTOP MACHINES INCLUDES HARDWARE FOR MOUNTING IN 5V4" SLOT I ■ QUIET OPERATION

FDD-3.5X(FORXT)

FDD-3.5A (FOR AT)

358 BYTE • JUNE 1988

Circle 149 on Reader Service Card

<SP Seagate

60 MB

WAS S649 AN INCREDIBLE PRICE REDUCTION1 SAVE $150 AND GET MORE MEGABYTES PER DOLLAR THAN EVER BEFORE THE ST-277 IS AN RLL DRIVE WITH A FAST 40 MS ACCESS TIME' ST-277

IIS HEIGHT DRIVES

SO MB, BS MS, ST-BB5 0BB5.OO

WITH MCT-HDC CONTROLLER $269.00

WITH MCT-ATFH CONTROLLER $339.00

3D MB RLL, BS MS, ST-B3B SB4a.UO

WITH MCT-RLL CONTROLLER $299.00

WITH MCT-ATFH-RLL CONTROLLER $389.00

40 MB, 4D MS. ST-BSI 04B3.OD

WITH MCT-HDC CONTROLLER $469.00

WITH MCT-ATFH CONTROLLER $539.00

FULL HEIGHT DRIVES

WITH MCT-RLL CONTROLLER WITH MCT-AT/FH CONTROLLER

$549.00 $639.00

30 MB, 40 MS, ST-403B 80 MB, 28 MS, ST-4096

$559.00 $895.00

INTERFACE CARDS FROM MODULAR CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY

DISPLAY ADAPTORS

MONOCHROME GRAPHICS CARD $53.35

TRUE HERCULES COMPATIBILITY SUPPORTS LOTUS 123 ■ PARALLEL PRINTER PORT CONFIGURES AS CPT1 OR LPT2 « USES VLSI CHIPS TO ENSURE RELIABILITY MCT-MGP

ENHANCED BRAPHICS ADAPTOR 0143.35

100% IBM COMPATIBLE. PASSES IBM EGA DIAGNOSTICS

■ 256K OF VIDEO RAM ALLOWS 640 X 350 IN 16 OF 64 COLORS ■ COMPATIBLE WITH COLOR AND MONOCHROME ADAPTORS

MCT-EGA

COLOR BRAPHICS ADAPTOR 043.95

COMPATIBLE WITH IBM GRAPHICS STANDARDS

■ SUPPORTS RGB. COLOR & COMPOSITE MONOCHROME

■ 640 320 X 200 RESOLUTION LIGHT PEN INTERFACE MCT-CG

AT MULTI I/O CARD 053.35

USE WITH MCT-ATFH FOR MINIMUM OF SLOTS USED

■ SERIAL PARALLEL AND GAME PORTS ■ USES 16450 SERIAL SUPPORT CHIPS FOR HIGH SPEED OPS MCT-ATI0

ATIO-SERIAL—2ND SERIAL PORT $24.95

MEMORYCARDS

57SK RAM CARD 053.35

A CONTIGUOUS MEMORY SOLUTION IN A SHORT SLOT • USER SELECTABLE CONFIGURATION UP TO 576K

■ USES 64K 8 256K RAM CHIPS (ZERO K INSTALLEDI MCT-RAM

EXPANDED MEMORY CARD 0IB9.95

2 MB OF LOTUS INTEL MICROSOFT COMPATIBLE MEMORY

FOR AN XT ■ CONFORMS TO LOTUS INTEL EMS ■ USER

EXPANDABLE TO 2 MB « CAN BE USED AS EXPANDED OR

CONVENTIONAL MEMORY RAMDISK AND SPOOLER

MCT-EMS

MCT-ATEMS AT COMPATIBLE VERSION $139.95

MUL TlFUNCTION CARDS DRIVE CONTROLLERS

MONOBRAPHICS MUL Tl I/O sua. 75

TOTAL SYSTEM CONTROL FROM A SINGLE SLOT'

■ CTRL 2 FLOPPY'S. SERIAL PARALLEL. GAME PORT.

CLOCK CAL » RUN COLOR GRAPHICS SOFTWARE ON A

MONOCHROME MONITOR

MCT-MGMI0

FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLER 0B9.9S

QUALITY DESIGN FOR SINGLE SLOT CONTROL OF 4 FLOPPY'S • INTERFACES UP TO 4 FDD'S TO AN IBM PC OR COMPATIBLE « SUPPORTS BOTH DS DD AND DS QD WITH DOS 3 2 MCT-FDC

DISK. - £> DRIVES ^-\

:v

1.44 MB 3Vb DRIVE <§j|jL- "S

m ULTRA HIGH DENSITY "^^^T** ■(■

mpr

■ ALSO WORKS WITH 720K DISKS ^*

FDD-1.44X BLACK FACEPLATE

$149.95

FDD-1.44A BEIGE FACEPLATE

$149.95

Vm HEIEHT FLOPPY DISK DRIVES

5W TEAC FD 55B DS/DD 360K

$99.95

5W TEAC FD 55G DS/HD 1.2M

$129.95

5V4" FUJITSU M2551A DS/DD 360K

$89.95

5V<" FUJITSU M2553K DS/HD 1.2M

$119.95

5'/4" DS/DD 360K

$69.95

5'/4' DS/HD-I.2M

$109.95

^ 3V2 MITSUBISHI DS/DD (AT OR XT)

$129.95,

ARCHIVE XL TAPE BACK-UP

BACK UP 40 MB IN 40 MINUTES » EASY-TO-USE MENU DRIVEN

SOFTWARE » USES STANDARD

QIC DATA FORMAT « FULLS INCREMENTAL

BACK-UP V

« PARTIAL S FULL RESTORE " AR 5240 XT -FOR XT S& ATS AR 5540 AT -ATS ONLY 2X FASTER TAPE NOT INCLUDED ..TAPE CARTRIDGE—40 MB $24.95

BOMB HARD DISK DM A CARD

a SAVES SPACE AND REDUCES POWER CONSUMPTION ■ IDEAL FOR PC'S WITH FULL HEIGHT FLOPPIES m LEAVES ROOM FOR A HALF LENGTH CARD IN ADJACENT SLOT

.■:;, w 58i .'

1 Als

i us! ■'

MULTI IIO FLOPPY CONTROLLER 073.35

A PERFECT COMPANION FOR OUR MOTHERBOARDS

■ SUPPORTS UP TO 2 360K FLOPPIES 720K WITH DOS 3 2

■ SERIAL. PARALLEL, GAME PORT. CLOCK CALENDAR MCT-MIO

MIO-SERIAL—2ND SERIAL PORT $15.95

MUL Tl I/O CARD 053.35

USE WITH MCT-FH FOR A MINIMUM OF SLOTS USED

■ SERIAL PORT CLOCK CALENDAR WITH BATTERY BACKUP » PARALLEL PRINTER PORT ADDRESSABLE AS LPT1 OR LPT2

MCT-IO

AT MULTIFUNCTION CARD 0133.35

ADDS UP TO 3 MB OF RAM TO YOUR AT

■ USER EXPANDABLE TO 1 5 MB, OR 3 MB WITH OPTIONAL PIGGYBACK BOARD (0 K INSTALLEDI ■ INCLUDES SERIAL AND PARALLEL PORT

MCT-ATMF-MC PIGGYBACK BOARD $29 95

ATMF SERIAL-2ND SERIAL PORT $24.95

1.B MB FLOPPY CONTROLLER 0B3.35

ADD VERSATILITY AND CAPACITY TO YOUR XT

■ SUPPORTS 2 DRIVES. BOTH MAY BE 360K OR 1 2 MB

« ALLOWS DATA TO FLOW FREELY FROM XT S TO AT S

MCT-FDC-1.2

FLOPPY/HARD CONTROLLER 0133.95

XT SYSTEM STARVED FOR SLOTS' THIS CARD FREES ONE UP » INTERFACES UP TO 2 FDD'S 8 2 HDD'S. CABLING FOR 2 FDD/1 HDD « SUPPORTS BOTH DS DD 5 DC QD WITH DOS 3 2 MCT-FH

AT/FH CONTROLLER 0143.35

FLOPPY HARD DISK CONTROL IN A TRUE AT DESIGN • SUPPORTS UP TO 2 360K 720K 1 2MB FDD'S AS WELL AS 2 HDD'S USING STANDARD CONTROL TABLES MCT-ATFH

RLL DISK CONTROLLER 0133.35

IMPROVE SPEED AND STORAGE OF YOUR AT COMPATIBLE ■ SUPPORTS UP TO 2 RLL HARD DISCS AND 2 FLOPPY DRIVES « SUPPORTS 360 720 1 2 MB FLOPPIES IN 5 25' 8 3 5" MCT-ATFH-RLL

INBOARD 3BBIPC $895.00

UPGRADE YOUR XT TO A 386 FOR LESS THAN $1000

■ 16 MHZ PROCESSOR REPLACES 8088 • 1 MB INSTALLED ■ EXPAND TO 3MB WITH PIGGYBACK CARD

■ 5 YR WARRANTY

INBOARD 386/AT ABOVE BOARD PS 286 ABOVE BOARD 286

$1199.95 $399.95 $369.95

JUST A NOTE TO LET VOU KNOW THAT MY SALESPERSON, HELEN MORSE, AT YOUR COMPANY HAS BEEN VERY HELPFUL AND COURTEOUS. THIS IS A PLEASANT CHANGE FROM MOST TELEPHONE SALESPEOPLE I DEAL WITH. PLEASE PASS MY THANKS TO HELEN. I PLAN ON DOING FREQUENT BUSINESS WITH JDR AS MY NEW COMPANY, ODEM INC. GETS GOING, AND HELEN'S ATTITUDE AND HELPFULNESS ARE A MAJOR REASON WHY I LIKE DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU.

R.C.K. BENSALEM,PA

■«L

sCORNER

■ "^ „„maF

r<fis.^

Lpl*1

. flcuggn

o*#3SSS^tf

,es*e«

901

OPl°-'

$

A3*r^

spfc^a

JDR MICR0DEVICES. 110 KN0WLES DRIVE, LOS GAT0S, CA 95030 LOCAL (408) 866-6200 FAX (408) 378-8927 TELEX 171-110

ORDER TOLL FREE 800-538-5000

COPYRIGHT 1988 JDR MICRODEVICES

Circle 149 on Reader Service Card

CONTINENTAL U.S. AND CANADA

JUNE 1988 -BYTE 359

BUILD YOUR OWN SYSTEM

k

over aa.oaa jor systems

HAVE ALREADY BEEN BUILT. EASY TO ASSEMBLE IN JUST B HOURS WITH A SCREWDRIVER. SAVE MONEY AND LEARN ABOUT YOUR COMPUTER AT THE SAME TIME.

IB MHZ AT COMPATIBLE

W MHZ XT COMPATIBLE

$cc9»oo

*

BO

W34

I 12 MHZ BABY AT MOTHERBOARD

' 256K RAM MEMORY

i MINI-AT CASE W POWER SUPPLY

i AT STYLE KEYBOARD

' 1 2 MB FLOPPY DRIVE

I FLOPPY HARD DRIVE CONTROLLER

' MONOCHROME MONITOR

i GRAPHICS ADAPTOR

I I I ! 1

' fc=3RTf!

J I ! 1. 1 b_ \\

$

INCLUDES SERIAL PORT, 2 PARALLEL PORTS. CLOCK CALENDAR AND GAME ADAPTOR RUNS COLOR GRAPHICS ON A MONOCHROME MONITOR

■ MOTHERBOARD

■ 256K RAM MEMORY

* 135 WATT POWER SUPPLY

■ FLIP-TOP CASE

■ AT STYLE KEYBOARD

■ 360K FLOPPY DRIVE

■ MONOGRAPHICS 1:0 CARD

■ MONOCHROME MONITOR

IE MHZ I MB 38B

GB

m MYLEX 386 MOTHERBOARD m 1 MB RAMON BOARD

■ 200 WATT POWER SUPPLY

■ AT STYLE CASE

■ ENHANCED AT STYLE KEYBOARD

■ 1 2 MB FLOPPY DRIVE

• AT FLOPPY HARD CONTROLLER

* MONOCHROME MONITOR

■ MONOGRAPHICS CARD

TURBO 4.77IB MHZ

033.35 IB MHZ MINI BOEBE $333.35

■ 4 77 OR 8 MHZ OPERATION WITH 8088-2 8 OPTIONAL

8087-2 CO-PROCESSOR • FRONT PANEL LED SPEED INDICATOR AND RESET

SWITCH SET SUPPORTED « CHOICE OF NORMAL TURBO MODE OR SOFTWARE

SELECT PROCESSOR SPEED MCT-TURBO MCT-XTMB STANDARD MOTHERBOARD $87.95

■ 6 MHz, 10 MHz (0.1 WAIT STATE). 12 MHz (1 WAIT STATE) « USES ZYMOS ASIC'S FOR LESS CHIPS, GREATER

RELIABILITY

• SUPPORTS 256K-1024K MEMORY

■ RE-CHARGEABLE HIGH CAPACITY NI-CAD BATTERY

• 6 16-BIT SLOTS. 2 8-BIT SLOTS

• MOUNTS IN STANDARD XT CASE MCT-BATMB-12

MCT-BATMB 6/10 MHZ MINI 80286 BOARD S389.95

BOEBE EIB MHZ

$373.35

$IB43.00

■ 8 SLOT (2 EIGHT BIT. 6 SIXTEEN BIT) AT MOTHERBOARD • HARDWARE SELECTION OF 6 OR 8 MHZ

■ I WAIT STATE

■ KEYLOCK SUPPORTED RESET SWITCH, FRONT PANEL LED INDICATOR

■ SOCKETS FOR I MB OF RAM AND 80287

■ BATTERY BACKED CLOCK MCT-ATMB

IE MHz MYLEX 3BE

m I MB RAM ON BOARD

• 8 SLOTS. 2 8-BIT. 6 16-BIT

• SUPPORTS 80287 MATH CO-PROCESSOR

• SUPPORTS 80387 W ADAPTOR

■ 64 KB CACHE FOR NEAR 0 WAIT STATE

■ USES AMI BIOS MCT-386 MB

MCT-386 MB-4 4 MB MEMORY INSTALLED $2649.00 MCT-386 MB-MCB MATH CO-PROCESSOR ADAPTOR BOARD $149.00

W MHz SINGLE CHIP

$

35

■ SINGLE CHIP USES LESS POWER. IMPROVES RELIABILITY

■ KEY SELECTABLE SPEED. 4 77 MHz OR 10 MHz • 2.3 TIMES FASTER THAN A STANDARD

■ RESET SWITCH. KEYLOCK AND SPEED POWER INDICATORS SUPPORTED

MCT-TURBO-10

DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

EPROM PROGRAMMER

&*zMrm95

PROGRAMS 27XX S 27XXX EPROMS UP TO 27512 o SUPPORTS VARIOUS PROGRAMMING FORMATS AND VOLTAGES

• SPLIT OR COMBINE CONTENTS OF SEVERAL EPROMS OF DIFFERENT SIZES

■ READ WRITE, COPY. ERASE CHECK AND VERIFY

• SOFTWARE FOR HEX AND INTEL HEX FORMATS MCT-EPROM

MCT-EPROM-4 4 GANG PROGRAMMER $189.00 MCT-EPROM-10 10 GANG PROGRAMMER $299.95 MCT-PAL PAL PROGRAMMER $269.95

MCT-MP PROCESSOR PROG. $199.95

1 YEAR

WARRANTY ON MET PRODUCTS 3D DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE TOLL-FREE TECHNICAL SUPPORT NEXT DAY AIR SHIP AVAILABLE

2KJDR Microdevices

j|2 JDR MICRODEVICES. 110 KN0WLES DRIVE. LOS GATOS, CA 95030 LOCAL (408) 866-6200 FAX (408) 378-8927 TELEX 171-110

/ ;/ j.jr/f J*-:, JJ- / /

Btfa

COPYRIGHT 1988 JDR MICRODEVICES

360 BYTE" MAY 1988

Circle 149 on Reader Service Card

D" SIZE PLOTTER

$229500

RETAIL

s1695°°

INTRODUCTORY OFFER

Model PC 3600 Repeatability .001" Speed at 7" Per Second Vacuum Paper Hold Down

High Resolution Circles: Suitable for PCB Artwork

(415)490-8380 ZEFticoN

STEVENSON BUSINESS PARK BOX 1669, FREMONT, CA 94538

■nana

EPROM & SRAM Disk and Drive Emulators for IBM PC, XT, AT

and Compatibles

FEATURES

■ Disk ana arlve emulators up Co 12 MB - standard and cassette version

■ Programming utilities provided for romdisk

■ AutoDootlng and file modes - operate up to four units per computer

■ Fast EPROM programming - approximately 180KB/min.

APPLICATIONS

■ Industrial cdntrdl. Instrumentation and manufacturing test systems in environments hostile to disks

■ unattended remote site installations

■ Diskless PC systems and workstations requiring autoboot capability, reliability and nigh perfdrmance

■ Military equipment reaulrlng ruggedlzatlon and operational reliability

List prices from Sd95 (PCE-180K1 to S129S (PCE 1.2MB)

^^CURTIS, INC. • 612/084-5064

BB 10 Anem°™ are,« e^t

I ' St. Paul, MN 55127 [ ■__

•IBM is a registered trademark of IBM corporation

6800/6809

Micro Modules

:1#*S|8

Circle 294 on Reader Service Card

Circle 77 on Reader Service Card

OEM 6800/6809 MICROCOMPUTER MODULES for dedicated control and monitoring. Interfaces for sensors, transducers, analog signals, solenoids, relays, lamps, pumps, motors, keyboards, displays, IEEE-488, serial I/O, floppy disks.

IVIX'F I? V I 18CH Sou,h s,,eel 11 IW ■ El Ik I Lafayette, IN 47904

'317-742-M28

Circle 290 on Reader Service Card

HARD DISK ACCELERATOR

• Caching eliminates repetitive

disk accesses

• Use up to 15 Mb of extended/ expanded or 500 Kb of standard memory

DISKETTE ACCELERATOR SCREEN ACCELERATOR

FAST - FRIENDLY - SAFE

VCACHE GOLDEN DOW SYSTEMS

•*;,'

$59.95

Add S3 for shipping/handling California residents add 6% sales tax

2870 Fifth Avenue

Suite 201

San Diego. CA 92103

800/284-3269

SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER PC/XT HARDWARE COMPATIBLE

• SK*DOS* OPERATING SYSTEM WITH EDITOR, ASSEMBLER, UTILITIES

• HUMBUG* DEBUG MONITOR

• 1 MB ZERO WAIT STATE DRAM

• FDC, 4 X RS-232, PRINTER PORTS

• PC/XT I/O SLOTS & KEYBOARD

PERIPHERAL TECHNOLOGY

1480 TERRELL MILL RD. STE. 870 MARIETTA, GA 30067 • 404/984-0742

Circle 119 on Reader Service Card

Circle 219 on Reader Service Card

for the IBM PC/XT/AT and Compatibles

VOYETRA

TECHNOLOGIES

333 FIFTH AVE, Dept. B, X~\~j PELHAM, NY 10803 \V

(914)738-4500 \/

Circle 285 on Reader Service Card

9-Track Tape Subsystem

for the IBM PC/XT/AT

Now you can exchange data files between your IBM PC and any mainframe or minicomputer using IBM compatible 1600 BPI 9-Track tape. Unit can also be used for disk backup. Transfer rate is up to 4 megabytes per minute on PCs and compatibles. Subsystems include 7' or 10 Vz" streaming tape drive, tape coupler card and DOS or XENIX compatible software. Prices start at $2,995.

/JUfJLSTRRt

9621 Irondale Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311 Telephone: (818) 882-5822

Add-Ons for the Blind

What you add on to your computer, if you're a blind operator, is almost more important than the computer itself.

Scanners, modems, braille printers, speech synthesizers, braille output devices and a host of other peripherals are described in "Add-Ons: The Ultimate Guide to Peripherals for the Blind Computer User."

The product reviews contained in this book are written by those who know them best—blind computer users.

$16.95 for braille or cassette $19.95 for print. Send orders to:

National Braille Press Inc.

88 St. Stephen Street, Boston, MA 02 U 5

(617) 266-6160

NBP is b nonprofit braille printing and publishm£ house

IMAGING CARD

DV-01

GRAYSCALE FRAME GRABBER

Composite video in/out

256 x 240 resolution

Digitize/display at frame speed 256 gray levels in

16 Meg, color palette out

PC/XT/AT compatible

$849 00 Complete with software

Control Vision A

P.O. Box 596, Pittsburg, KS 66762 (316)231-6647

Circle 236 on Reader Service Card

Circle 74 on Reader Service Card

EDITORIAL INDEX BY COMPANY

Index of companies covered in articles, columns, or news stories in this issue Each reference is to the first page of the article or section in which the company name appears

INQUIRY #

COMPANY

PAGE INQUIRY §

COMPANY

PAGE INQUIRY #

COMPANY

PAGE

797 ABSOFT 67

892 ACIUS 159

756 ADALOGIC 67

ADDISON-WESLEY 51

ADOBE SYSTEMS 51

883 ADVANCED LOGIC RESEARCH ..117

AGFA-GEVAERT 11

942 ALDE PUBLISHING 181

851 ALDUS 89

791 ALGORITHMIC

IMPLEMENTATIONS 67

938 AMDEK 181

751 AMPRO COMPUTERS 67

APOLLO COMPUTER 11

APPLE COMPUTER 11, 139, 159

765 ARCHIMEDES 67

890 AST RESEARCH 139

775 ASTRONOMICAL DATA SERVICE. 67

AT&T 11,225

ATARI 11,303

BLACKWELL SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS 51

893 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 159

764 BUSINESSWEEK 67

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

PRESS 51

780 CAMEO SYSTEMS 67

891 CASE COMMUNICATIONS 102

952 CCI 273

COMMODORE COMPUTER 11

COMPAQ COMPUTER 130, 159

COMPUTER SECURITY INSTITUTE 11

892 CONCORD DATA SYSTEMS 102

CONTROL DATA 117

CONVERGENT

TECHNOLOGIES 159

DATA GENERAL 125

893 DATARACE 102

787 DATA TECHNOLOGY 67

DEFINICON SYSTEMS 217

DIGITAL EQUIPMENT 225

768 DYNATECH COMPUTER POWER. 67

ECOSOFT 313

778 EDMOND SOFTWARE 67

761 EECO 67

EMERSON & STERN 11

766 EMIS SOFTWARE 67

EPSON AMERICA 11

894 FASTCOMMDATA 102

886 FORTRON 130

FUJITSU 11

G-2 11

767 GALIL MOTION CONTROL 67

776 GULF PUBLISHING 67

895 HAYES MICROCOMPUTER

PRODUCTS 102

884 HEWLETT-PACKARD 125

896 IBM 130, 139, 145, 159, 225

946 IGC 181

763 INFO DESIGNS 67

937 INFOCOM 181

947 INFORMATION STORAGE 181

854 INFOSTRUCTURES 89

INMOS INTERNATIONAL 303

792 INSIGHT DEVELOPMENT 67

950 INSTAPLAN 197

INTEGRATED DEVICE

TECHNOLOGY 11

INTEL 117, 130,225

ITEK 11

793 JANDI TECHNOLOGIES 67

769 KENMORE COMPUTER

TECHNOLOGIES 67

752 KMS ADVANCED PRODUCTS 67

785 KONAN 67

773 LABORATORY

MICROSYSTEMS 67, 145

784 LEDS PUBLISHING 67

754 LINUS TECHNOLOGIES 67

935 LOGITECH 181

LOTUS DEVELOPMENT 159

LSI LOGIC 11

936 MAGIC7 SOFTWARE 181

774 MANUFACTURING AND

CONSULTING SERVICES 67

MANX SOFTWARE 313

MAXISWITCH 117

MCGRAW-HILL BOOKS 273

762 MECA VENTURES 67

795 METACOMET SOFTWARE 67

MICROTECH 159

896 MICROCOM 102

887 MICRONICS COMPUTERS 130

940 MICROSOFT 130, 134, 181,225

MIPS COMPUTER SYSTEMS 11

MOTOROLA 11,225

MOUSE SYSTEMS 145

941 NASAJPL 181

856 NATIONAL DATACOMPUTER 89

885 NEC HOME ELECTRONICS

(U.S.A.) 125

759 NEW IMAGE TECHNOLOGY 67

NEWTON-EVANS RESEARCH 11

789 NORSAT INTERNATIONAL 67

891 ODESTA 159

951 ORANGEMICRO 197

755 OUTPUT TECHNOLOGY 67

796 PARALAN GROUP 67

PERFORMANCE

SEMICONDUCTOR 11

PERIHELION SOFTWARE 303

852 PETER NORTON COMPUTING 89

PHOENIX TECHNOLOGIES 117

794 PLU*PERFECT SYSTEMS 67

PRENTICE-HALL 51

934 QUARTERDECK OFFICE

SYSTEMS 181

897 RACAL-VADIC 102

771 RAPID SYSTEMS 67

SABA TECHNOLOGIES 11

SCOTT, FORESMAN 51

939 SEVEN SEAS SOFTWARE 181

SILICON VALLEY SOFTWARE.... 217

782 SOLUTIONS FIRMWARE 67

SONIC ELECTRIC ENERGY 11

757 SORICON 67

781 SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS 67

944 STORAGE DIMENSIONS 181

SUN MICROSYSTEMS 11, 159

853 SUPERMAC SOFTWARE 89

894 SURPASS SOFTWARE SYSTEMS.. 159 SYSGEN 145

TANDY 11

TEKTROMX 11

898 TELCOR SYSTEMS 102

899 TELEBIT 102

900 TELENETICS 102

770 TOPSPOT 67

TOSHIBA 117, 125

943 TRIDOS SOFTWARE

PUBLISHERS 181

788 TRUEVISION 67

TURNER HALL PUBLISHING 159

888 TURNPOINT AMERICA 130

895 UNIPRESS SOFTWARE 159

772 UNIVERSAL AUTOMATION 67

783 UNIVERSITY SOFTWARE

SYSTEMS 67

901 USROBOTICS 102

779 VAMP 67

902 VEN-TEL 102

760 VENTEK 67

790 VIA-PC 67

753 VIDEO GRAPHIC SYSTEMS 67

VISI-ON 145

786 VUTEKSYSTEMS 67

W. H. FREEMAN 51

945 WALLSOFT SYSTEMS 181

WEITEK 117,225

758 WELTEC DIGITAL 67

WEST PARK STUDIOS 11

WESTERN DIGITAL 117

889 WHOLE EARTH ELECTRONICS.. 130 777 WORLD PRECISION

INSTRUMENTS 67

948 XYQUEST 139, 181

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 51

949 ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS ....125,181

362 BYTE- JUNE 1988

COMING UP IN BYTE

PRODUCTS IN PERSPECTIVE:

Just as the need for more memory has been growing, the demand for more disk-storage capacity is also growing. Our Product Focus for July will feature 40-megabyte hard disk drives that offer an access speed of 30 milliseconds or faster. We'll also look at several 40-megabyte hard disk cards that offer an alternative for upgrading disk storage.

A system review compares five IBM PC AT-compatible computers, all of which run faster than the standard 8-MHz IBM PC AT and come in at lower prices.

Hardware reviews: Orchid Technology's ColorVue SE board brings color to the Macintosh SE. The only board of its kind so far, it's designed to let Mac SE owners hook up color monitors, run their applications in color, and print color hard copy.

Most owners of IBM PC AT-compatible and 80386 computers should have no problem running OS/2 when they decide to switch. IBM PC owners, though, don't have this option with their standard system, since OS/2 does not run on the PC's processor. Two new boards, though, promise to bring OS/2 compatibility to PC compatibles. Microsoft's Mach 20 board and Sota Technology's MotherCard 5.0 both add an 80286 processor to a PC.

Multitasking alternatives on 80386 systems are covered in software reviews. We will review three noteworthy packages: Concurrent DOS 386 from Digital Research, VM/386 from IGC, and ProBas from Hammerly.

Application reviews are MicroGraphic's Designer for MS-DOS systems, a powerful graphics-oriented program, and Newspace, a file-compression utility for the IBM PC.

Products found in Short Takes for July will include Soft PC, UR/Forth, Condor: Build Your Own, Ogivar 286 Portable, GrandView, Easy Talk, and Choice Words.

IN DEPTH:

FEATURES:

We will spotlight multitasking on 80386-based computers. Using the power of these machines to perform simple tasks like word processing or database management is a little like cracking walnuts with a sledgehammer. So much of the computer's "brainpower" is sitting idle that, if machines could get bored, these units would be in tears most of the time. What can you do, though? An elegant solution is to have your machine do lots of things at the same time. The problem with that answer has heretofore been that, when you pile lots of tasks onto the same processor, it slows way down. There are ways of getting around that, and we'll tell you about them.

Features will include a piece on Integrated Services Digital Network, or ISDN, a rapidly advancing communications technology that allows digital data, voice, and sometimes even video to be carried directly over the switched telephone network. Dick Pountain will report on the newest Transputer processor innovation—a chip called Viper—to come out of the British Isles. It promises to seriously challenge the traditional structures of computer design. Additionally, in the Circuit Cellar, Steve Ciarcia will present the second part of his brain-wavemonitor construction project.

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JUNE 1988 -BYTE 363

READER SERVICE

To get further information on the products advertised in BYTE, fill out the reader service card by circling the numbers on the card that correspond to the inquiry number listed with the advertiser. This index is provided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

* Correspond directly with company

Alphabetical Index to Advertisers

Inquiry No.

Page No.

3 A + L MEIER VOGT 261

4 A+LMEIERVOGT 263

6 AAAI 46

7 AD LIB, INC 45

8 ADDMASTER 342

9 ADOBE 190,191

10 ADVANCED LOGIC RESEARCH 8,9

11 ADVANCED LOGIC RESEARCH 8,9

12 AKSYSTEMS 345

13 ALPHA PRODUCTS 354

14 ALPHA PRODUCTS CO 341

15 ALPS AMERICA 48,49

16 ALPS AMERICA 48,49

17 AMERICAN SEMICONDUCTOR 343

18 AMERICAN SEMICONDUCTOR 343

19 AMER. SMALL BUS. COMP. ...15

• AMPRO COMPUTERS INC. ... 199

20 ANAHEIM AUTOMATION 352

• APPLE COMPUTER INC 32A-H

22 ASHTON-TATE 121

• AST RESEARCH 257

23 ASYST SOFTWARE TECH 17

• AT&T INFO. SYSTEMS 213

• AT&T INFO. SYSTEMS . . . 214,215

24 ATI TECHNOLOGIES INC. 124,125

25 ATRON 66

26 AUTODESK 143

27 AVOCET SYSTEMS INC 229

28 B&B ELECTRONICS 343

29 B&C MICRO SYSTEMS 354

30 B&C MICRO SYSTEMS 345

31 B&C MICRO SYSTEMS 350

32 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 347

33 B&W SYSTEMS INC 59

34 BASIS, INC 114,115

35 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC 255

• BESTWESTERN 46

37 BINARY ENGINEERING S/W . . 222

38 BINARY ENGINEERING S/W . . 222

• BINARY TECH 342

450 BIX 310,311

39 BLAISE COMPUTING INC 33

40 BORLAND INT'L CM

41 BORLAND INTL Cll

42 BORLAND INT'L 1

43 BORLAND INT'L 1

44 BORLAND INT'L 71

45 BORLAND INT'L 71

46 BP MICROSYSTEMS 340

46 BP MICROSYSTEMS 340

47 BUS COMP. SYSTEMS INC. ..346 ' BUYERS MART 327-335

• BYTE BACK ISSUES 323

• BYTE BITS 347

• BYTE CIRCULATION 312

• BYTE MARKETING 326

• BYTE SUB. MESSAGE 308

• BYTE SUB. SERVICE 212

• BYTE SUB. SERVICE 363

48 CADAM 260

49 CADAM 260

50 CALIF. SOFTWARE PROD. ... 354

51 CALIF. SOFTWARE PROD. ... 354

52 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT 200

53 CENTRAL COMP. PROD 340

54 CENTRAL POINT SOFTWARE . . 85

• CLEO SOFTWARE 126

302 CLONE COMP. DIST. OF AM. .258,259

55 CLUB AMERICAN TECH. . . . 36,37

56 CNS, INC 58

57 CNS, INC 58

58 COGITATE 340

59 COGITATE 352

60 COMPACT DISK PRODS. INC. . . 96

• COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP. . 268,269

62 COMPU COM CORP 342

63 COMPUSAVE 338

64 COMPUSERVE 291

• COMPUTER CONTINUUM .... 352

65 COMP. DISC. WAREHOUSE ... 50

66 COMPUTER EXPO 55

67 COMPUTER MAIL ORDER.. 56,57

68 COMPUTER SPORTS WORLD .60

69 COMPUTER SURPLUS STORE 350

Inquiry No.

Page No.

70 COMPUTER WAREHOUSE ...144

71 COMPUTER WAREHOUSE ... 144 309 CONTECH 340

74 CONTROL VISION 361

306 CORVUS 128C

75 COVOX, INC 348

76 CPTCORP 182

77 CURTIS INC 361

78 CYBER RESEARCH 340

314 DATAPRO 189

79 DATA TRANSLATION 139

80 DATA TRANSLATION 52

81 DB FAST 94

82 DCS (DIVERSIFIED COMP) ...352

83 DELL COMP. (INT'L) 80-81

317 DELL COMP. (N.AMERICA) 80-81

315 DESTINY TECH CORP 247

84 DICONIX 20,21

85 DIGITALKINC 194,195

86 DISC INTERNATIONAL 350

87 DISKCOTECH 343

88 DISKETTE CONNECTION ....345

89 DISKS PLUS 98

90 DISKS TO GO 347

91 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS .... 352

299 EASTMAN KODAK 133

92 ECOSOFT 185

93 ELECTRONE 92

95 EMERSON ELECTRIC 193

97 ENGINEERS COLLABORATIVE 348

98 ERGOTRON 98

103 EVEREX SYSTEMS 25

104 EVEREX SYSTEMS 25

105 EVEREX SYSTEMS 27

106 EVEREX SYSTEMS 27

107 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING ..180

108 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING ..180

109 FORTRON CORPORATION .... 32

110 FORTRON CORPORATION .... 32

111 FOX SOFTWARE 13

112 FTG DATA SYS 350

113 FUJITSU AMERICA 53

114 FUJITSU AMERICA 53

115 GALACTICOMM INC 174

300 GATEWAY 2000 141

118 GENOA SYSTEMS CORP 79

119 GOLDEN BOW 361

120 GRAFFPOINT 352

121 GTEK, INC 184

122 GTEK, INC 184

123 HAMMERLY COMP. SERV. INC. ..128E

• HARMONY COMPUTERS 24

124 HAYES MICRO PROD 267

125 HERCULES COMPUTER 169

126 HERCULES COMPUTER 169

127 HEWLETT-PACKARD 219

128 HEWLETT-PACKARD 221

129 HEWLETT-PACKARD 223

130 HITECH EQUIP. CORP 342

131 HOLMES MICRO SYSTEMS INC. 34

132 HOLMES MICRO SYSTEMS INC. 34

133 HONEYWELL KEYBOARD DIV. 196

134 HOOLEON COMPANY 186

135 HOOLEON COMPANY 186

• IBM CORP 131

• IBM CORP 252,253

136 IC EXPRESS 352

137 IGC 175

• INTECTRA 348

• INTECTRA 350

138 INTEGRAND RES. CORP 224

139 INTEL CORPORATION. .. 300,301

140 IOTECH 265

141 IOTECH 343

142 JADE COMPUTER PRODUCTS 355

143 JAMECO ELECTRONICS . 336,337

144 JAWIN COMPUTER PRODS. . . 348

145 JAWIN COMPUTER PRODS. ..348

146 JENSEN & PARTNERS INT'L ... 83

148 J.D.R. MICRODEVICES . 356,357

149 J.D.R. MICRODEVICES .. 358,359

149 J.D.R. MICRODEVICES 360

150 KADAK PRODUCTS LTD 345

151 KEA SYSTEMS 142

Inquiry No.

Page No.

152 KEASYSTEMS 348

153 KNOWLEDGE GARDEN INC. .277

154 LINK COMP. GRAPHICS 345

155 LOGICAL DEVICES 354

156 LOGICAL DEVICES 354

157 LOGICAL DEVICES 354

158 LOGICAL DEVICES 354

159 LOGITECH INC 73

160 LOGITECH INC 73

161 LOGITECH INC 74,75

162 LOGITECH INC 74,75

• LOTUS DEVELOP. CORP. . . 39,40

• LOTUS DEVELOP. CORP. 93,95,97

163 MANNESMANN TALLY 43

164 MANNESMANN TALLY 43

165 MANX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS . . 41

166 MAP INFO. SYS 16

167 MARK WILLIAMS 30

168 MASTERSOFT 350

169 MATHSOFT 69

• MAXELL DATA PRODUCTS 7

• MCGRAW-HILL NEWS 319

170 MEAD COMPUTER 349

171 MEDIA CYBERNETICS 19

172 MEDIA CYBERNETICS 19

173 MEGASOFT 340

174 MEGATEL 96

175 MEP (MICRO ELEC. PROD.) . . 348

176 MERRITT COMPUTERS 60

177 MICRO 1 136

178 MICROCOM SYSTEMS 26

• MICROMINT 344

179 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD. 354

180 MICROSIM 31

181 MICROSIM 31

• MICROSOFT CORP 163-165

• MICROSOFT CORP 166

• MICROSOFT CORP.. 280,281,293

184 MICROSOFT PRESS 44

185 MICROSOFT PRESS 44

186 MICROSTAR LABS 342

• MICROWAY 216

187 MICROWAY 158

190 MITSUBISHI PLASTIC LTD. 244,245

191 MIX SOFTWARE 171

192 MOJAVE SCADA 342

193 MONTGOMERY GRANT 339

• MOTOROLA INC 28,29

194 MULTI-TECH SYSTEMS 111

195 MULTI-TECH SYSTEMS 111

196 MUSIC QUEST 352

197 M.H.I 198

198 NANTUCKET 123

• NATIONAL FUELSAVER CORP 200

199 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS ...176 305 NATURAL MICROSYSTEMS . . 322

200 NEC HOME ELEC. DIV 62,63

201 NEC INFO. SYSTEMS CHI

202 NESTAR 100,101

316 NORMEREL 230,231

203 NORTHGATECOMP. SYS. 236,237

204 NORTHGATE COMP. SYS 238

205 ON-LINE ACCESS 324,325

206 ON-LINE STORE 338

207 ON-TARGET 350

• ORACLE CORP 77

208 ORION INSTRUMENTS 64

303 ORION INSTRUMENTS 302

209 OSBORNE/MCGRAW-HILL ... 309

210 OSBORNE/MCGRAW-HILL ... 316

311 PACIFIC COMPUTER 323

312 PACIFIC COMPUTER 323

211 PARA SYSTEMS 211

212 PARSONS TECHNOLOGY 91

213 PATTON & PATTON 18

298 PAUL MACE 42

304 PC DESIGNS 305

214 PC EXPO 320,321

215 PC PLUS 128D

216 PCPI 150,151

217 PCPI 150,151

218 PERISCOPE COMPANY 47

219 PERIPHERAL TECH 361

220 PERSONAL TEX 152

Inquiry No.

Page No.

223 PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS ... 99

224 PRECISION PLUS SOFTWARE . 58

225 PRINCETON GRAPHIC SYS. . . 286,287

226 PRIORITY ONE 351

228 PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC .... 347

229 PROGRAMMER'S CONNECTION.... 23

230 PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE . 156,157

231 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP 183

232 PROTEUS TECH. CORP. . 134,135

233 QUA TECH 24

234 QUA TECH 340

235 QUA TECH 340

• QUAID SOFTWARE 54

236 QUALSTAR 361

237 QUANTUM 272

238 QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYS.. 202,203

239 QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYS.. 202,203

240 RADIO SHACK CIV

• RAIMA CORP 35

241 RAINBOWTECH 347

242 RAINBOW TECHNOLOGY .... 188

243 RAINBOW TECHNOLOGY .... 188

244 REALTIME DEVICES 347

245 RIX SOFTWARE 270

246 RIX SOFTWARE 270

247 ROSE ELECTRONICS 354

248 ROSE ELECTRONICS 354

249 SAFEWARE 345

250 SANTA CRUZ OPERATIONS .299

251 SCHWAB CORP 348

252 SCIENCE & ENGIN. S/W 307

253 SEALEVEL 352

254 SILICON SPECIALTIES 227

255 SILICON SPECIALTIES 227

256 SN'W ELECTRONICS 212

36 SOFTDISK 10

257 SOFTKLONE DISTRIBUTING .122

258 SOFTWARE DEVELOP. SYS.. .210

259 SOFTWARE LINK 153

260 SOFTWARE LINK 153

261 SOFTWORLD 342

262 SOLUTION SYSTEMS 183

263 SPECTRON SYSTEMS 354

264 SPECTRON SYSTEMS 354

265 SPECTRUM 209

266 STSC, INC 297

267 SUNCOAST SYSTEMS 308

268 SUNCOAST SYSTEMS 308

269 SUPERSOFT 285

270 SWFTE 201

• SYSGEN, INC 172

307 SYSTAT 155

308 SYSTAT 155

272 TALKING TECH 345

273 TANDON 178,179

274 TANDON 178,179

313 TELEVIDEO 315

310 THORMUDTECH 347

275 TIMELINE 353

276 TOKIN CORPORATION 251

• TOSHIBA COMPUTERS . . 294,295

277 TOUCHBASE SYSTEMS INC. 128B

278 TURNPOINT AMERICA 177

280 UNIVERSAL DATA SYS 87

281 USROBOTICS 204

282 USROBOTICS 204

283 V3CORP 61

• VERMONT CREATIVE S/W ...116

284 VICTORY ENTERPRISES 142

285 VOYETRA TECH 361

286 WAREHOUSE DATA PROD 187

287 WIESEMANN&THEISGMBH .226

288 WESTERN DATACOM 275

289 WINTEKCORP 5

290 WINTEK CORP 361

72 WORLDWIDE SERVICES 342

73 WORLDWIDE SERVICES 342

291 XELTEK 354

292 ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS 149

293 ZEOS INT'L 288

294 ZERICON 361

295 ZORTECH 235

296 Z-WORLD 343

297 Z-WORLD 343

364 BYTE* JUNE 1988

READER SERVICE

Advertising Supplement included with this issue: Advanced Computer Products (U.S. Subscribers)

* Correspond directly with company.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

INTERNATIONAL SECTION 88A1-40

No domestic inquiries please.

376 AL DOWNLOADING 88A-30

377 ANALYTICAL ENGINES . . . 88A-34

378 BIX 88A-37

379 BLUE CHIP TECHNOLOGY 88A-32

380 BLYTH 88A-22

• BYTE BACK ISSUES 88A-26

381 BYTE BITS 88A-34

• BYTE CIRCULATION 88A-36

• BYTE SUB MESSAGE .... 88A-14

• BYTE SUB MESSAGE .... 88A-28

• CALEND 88A-13

382 CAS COMPUTER POINT . . 88A-30

383 CLARION S/W 88A-15

384 COMPUADD 88A-21

385 CUBIX 88A-17

386 DATAMAN 88A-31

387 DATATRONICS 88A-33

388 EMERALD SYSTEMS 88A-1

389 EMERALD SYSTEMS 88A-1

390 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS . . 88A-11

391 GREY MATTER 88A-23

392 HOPE CIRCUIT 88A-32

393 MAYFAIR MICROS 88A-10

394 MICRO TECHNOLOGY. . . . 88A-29

395 NEURALWARE 88A-14

396 NOKIA INFORMATION SYSTEMS 88A-19

397 NOVELL 88A-25

408 OLIVETTI 88A 38-40

399 SEMI-TECH MICROELECTRONICS 88 A-5

■ SOFTLINE CORP 88A-27

Inquiry No.

Page No.

400 S-100 88A-9

401 S-100 88A-9

402 TRIANGLE DIGITAL 88A-32

403 TVM 88A-35

404 USA SOFTWARE 88A-7

405 VCN INTL 88A-2

406 WARREN POINT INT'N'L 88A-34

407 W0RKVISI0NSCIENTEKC0RP. 88A-30

REGIONAL SECTIONS

Northeast

88 NE 1-16

476 APPLIED PROG. ELECT. .88NE-11

477 AUSTIN COMPUTER ... 88NE-15

478 CHAS MICRO 88NE-4

• COMPARE COMPUTERS. 88NE-12

479 COMPUTERAGE 88NE-13

• COMPUTERS FOR THE BLIND 88NE-14

• DATRAN CORP 88NE-3

480 DIGICOM TECH 88NE-5

481 F&W COMMUNICATIONS 88NE-10

482 FIRST MICRO CORP 88NE-8

483 LOWELL CORP 88NE-2

484 MANZANA 88NE-1

485 MANZANA 88NE-1

486 NEURALWARE INC 88NE-14

487 PC LINK CORP 88NE-6.7

488 RESEARCH DEVELOP. SYS.. . 88NE-16

489 SINPER CORP 88NE-9

Inquiry No.

Pacific Coast

Page No.

88 PC 1-16

492 ALTEC TECHNOLOGY . . . 88PC-10

493 ATL. RESEARCH CORP. . . 88PC-1

494 B&B ELECTRONICS 88PC-2

495 COMPUTER LANE 88PC-7

' COMPUTERS FOR THE BLIND 88PC-10

496 COMPUTOWN 88PC-12

• DATRAN CORP 88PC-3

497 D-DATA 88PC-14

498 EMERALD SYSTEMS .... 88PC-16

499 EMERALD SYSTEMS 88PC-16

500 EXECUTEK PRODS. INC. . 88PC-6

501 INMAR 88PC-4

502 RESEARCH DEVELOP. SYS. . . . 88PC-5

• ROBT. TINNEY GRAPHICS 88PC-8

503 SF MICRO 88PC-9

504 STONEY BROOK S/W ...88PC-13

505 SURAH INC 88PC-15

506 TATUNG SCI. & TECH. . . 88PC-11

Midwest

88MW1-8

509 ALTEX ELEC 88MW-7

• BYTE TIPS 88MW-6

• COMPARE COMPUTERS . 88MW-5

• COMPUTERS FOR THE BLIND. 88MW-4

510 INTERBUSINESSCOMP.. 88MW-6

511 NANAO 88MW-8

512 NANAO 88MW-8

515 RESEARCH DEVELOP. SYS.. . 88MW-1

516 SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS 88MW-3

517 SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS . 88MW-3

inquiry No.

Page No.

518 Y.E.S. MULTINATIONAL . . 88MW-2 Southeast 88SE1-8

• COMPUTERS FOR THE BLIND . 88SE-2

521 HARD DRIVES INT'L 88SE-3

522 HARD DRIVES INT'L 88SE-3

523 KNAPCO 88SE-5

• MCGRAW-HILL BOOKS . . . 88SE-7

524 MERLIN PUBLISHING GRP.88SE-4

• MICROMINT 88SE-6

526 RESEARCH DEVELOP. SYS.. . . 88SE-1

• ROBT. TINNEY GRAPHICS 88SE-8

Mid-Atlantic

88M/AT1-8

• BYTE TIPS 88M/AT-4

• MICROMINT 88M/AT-8

529 OWL COMPUTER 88M/AT-5

• ROBT. TINNEY GRAPHICS 88M/AT-6,7

530 SF MICRO 88M/AT-1

531 SURAH INC 88M/AT-3

Southwest 88SW1-8

536 ALTEX ELEC 88SW-1

• BYTE TIPS 88SW-4

• COMPUTERS FOR THE BLIND 88SW-8

• DALLAS SOFTSTORE . . . 88SW-8

537 KEITHLEY DAC 88SW-2

' MCGRAW-HILL BOOKS .. 88SW-5

• MICROMINT 88SW-3

• ROBT. TINNEY GRAPHICS . . 88SW-6.7

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JUNE 1988 'BYTE 365

READER SERVICE

To get further information on the products advertised in BYTE, fill out the reader service card by circling the numbers on the card that correspond to the inquiry number listed with the advertiser. This index is provided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

* Correspond directly with company

Index to Advertisers by Product Category

Inquiry No.

Page No.

HARDWARE

409 ADD INS

13 ALPHA PRODUCTS 354

14 ALPHA PRODUCTS CO 341

25 ATRON 66

29 B&C MICRO SYSTEMS 354

• BINARY TECH 342

379 BLUE CHIP TECHNOLOGY 88A-32

52 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT 200

74 CONTROL VISION 361

385 CUBIX 88A-17

79 DATA TRANSLATION 139

118 GENOA SYSTEMS CORP 79

121 GTEK, INC 184

122 GTEK, INC 184

125 HERCULES COMPUTER 169

126 HERCULES COMPUTER 169

130 HITECH EQUIP. CORP 342

139 INTEL CORPORATION... 300,301

140 IOTECH 265

141 IOTECH 343

537 KEITHLEY DAC 88SW-2

187 MICROWAY 158

• MICROWAY 216

• MOTOROLA INC 28,29

199 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS ...176

218 PERISCOPE COMPANY 47

233 QUA TECH 24

234 QUA TECH 340

235 QUA TECH 340

516 SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS . 88MW-3

517 SCIENTIFIC SOLUTIONS . 88MW-3 253 SEALEVEL 352

272 TALKING TECH 345

283 V3 CORP 61

296 Z-WORLD 343

410 DRIVES

484 MANZANA 88NE-1

485 MANZANA 88NE-1

273 TANDON 178,179

274 TANDON 178,179

411 HARDWARE PROGRAMMERS

30 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 345

32 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 347

31 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 350

46 BP MICROSYSTEMS 340

46 BP MICROSYSTEMS 340

386 DATAMAN 88A-31

121 GTEK, INC 184

122 GTEK, INC 184

154 LINKCOMP. GRAPHICS 345

155 LOGICAL DEVICES 354

156 LOGICAL DEVICES 354

157 LOGICAL DEVICES 354

158 LOGICAL DEVICES 354

207 ON-TARGET 350

303 ORION INSTRUMENTS 302

228 PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC .... 347

402 TRIANGLE DIGITAL 88A-32

291 XELTEK 354

412 INSTRUMENTATION

• COMPUTER CONTINUM 352

186 MICROSTAR LABS 342

Inquiry No. Page No.

192 MOJAVE SCADA 342

208 ORION INSTRUMENTS 64

303 ORION INSTRUMENTS 302

244 REAL TIME DEVICES 347

283 V3CORP 61

413 KEYBOARDS/MICE

93 ELECTRONE 92

133 HONEYWELL KEYBOARD DIV. 196

134 HOOLEON COMPANY 186

135 HOOLEON COMPANY 186

501 INMAR 88PC-4

159 LOGITECH INC 73

160 LOGITECH INC 73

161 LOGITECH INC 74,75

162 LOGITECH INC 74,75

414 MASS STORAGE

12 AK SYSTEMS 345

309 CONTECH 340

299 EASTMAN KODAK 133

388 EMERALD SYSTEMS B8A-1

389 EMERALD SYSTEMS 88A-1

498 EMERALD SYSTEMS ..,. 88PC-16

499 EMERALD SYSTEMS .... 88PC-16

103 EVEREX SYSTEMS 25

104 EVEREX SYSTEMS 25

113 FUJITSU AMERICA 53

114 FUJITSU AMERICA 53

• MAXELL DATA PRODUCTS 7

190 MITSUBISHI PLASTIC LTD. 244,245

408 OLIVETTI 88A 38-40

236 QUALSTAR 361

• SYSGEN, INC 172

273 TANDON 178,179

274 TANDON 178,179

276 TOKIN CORPORATION 251

MISCELLANEOUS

7 AD LIB, INC 45

8 ADDMASTER 342

20 ANAHEIM AUTOMATION 352

28 B&B ELECTRONICS 343

35 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC 255

95 EMERSON ELECTRIC 193

• INTECTRA 350

138 INTEGRAND RESEARCH CORP. ... 224

483 LOWELL CORP 88NE-2

176 MERRITT COMPUTERS 60

196 MUSIC QUEST 352

• NATIONAL FUELSAVER CORP. 200

211 PARASYSTEMS 211

269 SUPERSOFT 285

415 MODEMS/MULTIPLEXORS

24 ATI TECHNOLOGIES INC. 124,125

53 CENTRAL COMP. PROD 340

• CLEOSOFTWARE 126

62 COMPU COM CORP 342

387 DATATRONICS 88A-33

105 EVEREX SYSTEMS 27

106 EVEREX SYSTEMS 27

124 HAYES MICRO PROD 267

131 HOLMES MICRO SYSTEMS INC. 34

132 HOLMES MICRO SYSTEMS INC. 34 510 INTERBUSINESSCOMP.... 88A-6

194 MULTI-TECH SYSTEMS 111

195 MULTI-TECH SYSTEMS 111

396 NOKIA INFO. SYSTEMS. . 88A-19

Inquiry No. Page No.

223 PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS .... 99 277 TOUCHBASE SYSTEMS INC. 128B

280 UNIVERSAL DATA SYS 87

281 USROBOTICS 204

282 USROBOTICS 204

288 WESTERN DATACOM 275

416 MONITORS

511 NANAO 88MW-8

512 NANAO 88MW-8

200 NEC HOME ELEC. DIV 62,63

225 PRINCETON GRAPHIC SYS. . . 286,287

506 TATUNGSCI. &TECH. . . .88PC-11

403 TVM 88A-35

417 NETWORK HARDWARE

58 COGITATE 340

306 CORVUS 128C

115 GALACTICOMM INC 174

125 HERCULES COMPUTER 169

126 HERCULES COMPUTER 169

• MICROWAY 216

305 NATURAL MICROSYSTEMS . . 322

234 QUA TECH 340

235 QUA TECH 340

247 ROSE ELECTRONICS 354

248 ROSE ELECTRONICS 354

267 SUNCOAST SYSTEMS 308

268 SUNCOAST SYSTEMS 308

310 THORMUDTECH 347

287 WIESEMANN&THEISGMBH .226

418 PRINTERS/PLOTTERS

15 ALPS AMERICA 48,49

16 ALPS AMERICA 48,49

315 DESTINY TECH CORP 247

84 DICONIX 20,21

127 HEWLETT-PACKARD 219

128 HEWLETT-PACKARD 221

129 HEWLETT-PACKARD 223

• INTECTRA 348

163 MANNESMANN TALLY 43

164 MANNESMANN TALLY 43

216 PCPI 150,151

217 PCPI 150,151

241 RAINBOW TECH 347

247 ROSE ELECTRONICS 354

248 ROSE ELECTRONICS 354

292 ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS 149

294 ZERICON 361

419

SCANNERS/DIGITIZERS

481 F&W COMMUNICATIONS 88NE-10

107 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING ..180

108 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING ..180

263 SPECTRON SYSTEMS 354

264 SPECTRON SYSTEMS 354

420 SOFTWARE SECURITY

493 ATL. RESEARCH CORP. . . 88PC-1 75 COVOX, INC 348

242 RAINBOW TECHNOLOGY .... 188

243 RAINBOW TECHNOLOGY .... 188

421

SYSTEMS

10 ADVANCED LOGIC RESEARCH 8,9

11 ADVANCED LOGIC RESEARCH 8,9

Inquiry No. Page No.

492 ALTEC TECHNOLOGY . . . 88PC-10

• AMPRO COMPUTERS INC. ... 199

• APPLE COMPUTER INC 32A-H

• AST RESEARCH 257

• AT&T INFO SYSTEMS 213

• AT&T INFO SYSTEMS ... 214,215 47 BUS COMPUTER SYS. INC.... 346

302 CLONE COMP. DIST. OF AM . . 258,259

55 CLUB AMERICAN TECH. ... 36,37

■ COMPAQ COMP. CORP. . 268,269

83 DELL COMP. (INT'L) 80-81

317 DELL COMP. (N.AMERICA). 80-81

89 DISKS PLUS 98

97 ENGINEERS COLLABORATIVE 348

481 F&W COMMUNICATIONS 88NE-10

482 FIRST MICRO CORP 88NE-8

109 FORTRON CORPORATION .... 32

110 FORTRON CORPORATION .... 32 300 GATEWAY 2000 141

• IBM CORP 131

• IBM CORP 252,253

393 MAYFAIR MICROS 88A-10

174 MEGATEL 96

177 MICRO 1 136

201 NEC INFO. SYSTEMS CHI

316 NORMEREL 230,231

408 OLIVETTI 88A 38-40

304 PC DESIGNS 305

219 PERIPHERAL TECH 361

240 RADIO SHACK CIV

399 SEMI-TECH MICROELECT. . 88A-5

313 TELEVIDEO 315

• TOSHIBA COMPUTERS.. 294,295

278 TURNPOINT AMERICA 177

407 W0RKVISI0NSCIENTEKC0RP. 88A-30

293 ZEOS INT'L 288

297 Z-WORLD 343

422 TERMINALS

151 KEASYSTEMS 142

SOFTWARE

423 APPLE2/MAC LANGUAGES 258 SOFTWARE DEVELOP. SYS. ..210

424 IBM/MS-DOS APPLICATIONS

Business/Office

22 ASHTON-TATE 121

34 BASIS, INC 114,115

44 BORLAND INT'L 71

45 BORLAND INT'L 71

59 COGITATE 352

81 DB FAST 94

111 FOXSOFTWARE 13

112 FTG DATA SYS 350

390 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS . . 88A-11

• LOTUS DEVELOP. CORP. . . 39,40 ■ LOTUS DEVELOP. CORP. 93,95,97

198 NANTUCKET 123

• ORACLE CORP 77

212 PARSONS TECHNOLOGY 91

213 PATTON & PATTON 18

• RAIMA CORP 35

515 RESEARCH DEVELOP. SYS... B8MW-1

488 RESEARCH DEVELOP. SYS.. . 88NE-16

366 BYTE- JUNE 1988

READER SERVICE

Advertising Supplement included with this issue: Advanced Computer Products (U.S. Subscribers)

Inquiry No.

Page No.

502 RESEARCH DEVELOP. SYS.. . . 88PC-5 526 RESEARCH DEVELOP. SYS.. . . 88SE-1

489 SINPER CORP 88NE-9

405 VCN INT'L 88A-2

425 IBM/MS-DOS APPLICATIONS

Scientific/Technical

23 ASYST SOFTWARE TECH 17

37 BINARY ENGINEERING S/W . . 222

38 BINARY ENGINEERING S/W . . 222 169 MATHSOFT 69

180 MICROSIM 31

181 MICROSIM 31

• MICROWAY 216

224 PRECISION PLUS SOFTWARE . 58

265 SPECTRUM 209

266 STSC, INC 297

307 SYSTAT 155

308 SYSTAT 155

426 IBM/MS-DOS APPLICATIONS

Miscellaneous

92 ECOSOFT 185

500 EXECUTEK PRODS. INC. . 88PC-6

123 HAMMERLY COMP. SERV. INC. ..128E

392 HOPE CIRCUIT 88A-32

166 MAP INFO. SYS 16

168 MASTERSOFT 350

427 IBM/MS-DOS—CAD

19 AMER. SMALL BUS. COMP. ...15

26 AUTODESK 143

289 WINTEKCORP 5

290 WINTEKCORP 361

428 IBM/MS-DOS—LAN

48 CADAM 260

49 CADAM 260

202 NESTAR 100,101

247 ROSE ELECTRONICS 354

248 ROSE ELECTRONICS 354

259 SOFTWARE LINK 153

260 SOFTWARE LINK 153

429 IBM/MS-DOS—GRAPHICS

166 MAP INFO. SYS 16

171 MEDIA CYBERNETICS 19

172 MEDIA CYBERNETICS 19

245 RIX SOFTWARE 270

246 RIX SOFTWARE 270

430 IBM/MS-DOS—LANGUAGES

3 A+L MEIER VOGT 261

377 ANALYTICAL ENGINES . . . 88A-34

27 AVOCET SYSTEMS INC 229

39 BLAISE COMPUTING INC 33

40 BORLAND INT'L Cll

41 BORLAND INT'L Cll

42 BORLAND INT'L 1

43 BORLAND INT'L 1

85 DIGITALKINC 194,195

92 ECOSOFT 185

146 JENSEN & PARTNERS INT'I 83

165 MANX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS . . 41

167 MARK WILLIAMS 30

• MICROSOFT CORP 163-165

• MICROSOFT CORP 166

• MICROSOFT CORP 280,281

• MICROSOFT CORP 293

191 MIX SOFTWARE 171

Inquiry No.

Page No.

397 NOVELL 88A-25

504 STONEY BROOK S/W .... 88C-13 406 WARREN POINT INT'I 88A-34

431

IBM/MS-DOS—UTILITIES

4 A+LMEIERVOGT 263

377 ANALYTICAL ENGINES . . . 88A-34 25 ATRON 66

* CALEND 88A-13

50 CALIFORNIA S/W PROD 354

51 CALIFORNIA S/W PROD 354

54 CENTRAL POINT S/W 85

383 CLARION SOFTWARE .... 8BA-15

56 CNS, INC 58

57 CNS, INC 58

77 CURTIS INC 361

119 GOLDEN BOW 361

120 GRAFFPOINT 352

395 NEURALWARE 88A-14

486 NEURALWARE INC 88NE-14

210 OSBORNE/MCGRAW-HILL ... 316

298 PAUL MACE 42

218 PERISCOPE COMPANY 47

* QUAID SOFTWARE 54

238 QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYS.. 202,203

239 QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYS.. 202,203 261 SOFTWORLD 342

* VERMONT CREATIVE S/W ...116 295 20RTECH 235

432 IBM/MS-DOS—COMMUNICATIONS

* DATRAN CORP 88NE-3

* DATRAN CORP 88PC-3

82 DCS (DIVERSIFIED COMP) ...352

152 KEASYSTEMS 348

257 SOFTKLONE DISTRIBUTING .122

433

OTHER APPLICATIONS Miscellaneous

285 VOYETRA TECH 361

434

MAIL ORDER/ RETAIL

509 ALTEX ELEC 88MW-7

536 ALTEX ELEC 88SW-1

17 AMERICAN SEMICONDUCTOR 343

18 AMERICAN SEMICONDUCTOR 343

476 APPLIED PROG. ELECT. . 88NE-11

477 AUSTIN COMPUTER .... 88NE-15

494 B&B ELECTRONICS 88PC-2

33 B&W SYSTEMS INC 59

• BYTE BACK ISSUES 323

382 CAS COMPUTER POINT . . 88A-30

478 CHAS MICRO 88NE-4

60 COMPACT DISK PRODS. INC... 96

• COMPARE COMPUTERS. 88MW-5

• COMPARE COMPUTERS . 88NE-12 384 COMPUADD 88A-21

63 COMPUSAVE 338

479 COMPUTER AGE 88NE-13

65 COMP. DISC. WAREHOUSE .50

66 COMPUTER EXPO 55

495 COMPUTER LANE 88PC-7

67 COMPUTER MAILORDER.. 56,57

69 COMPUTER SURPLUS STORE 350

70 COMPUTER WAREHOUSE ... 144

71 COMPUTER WAREHOUSE ... 144

496 COMPUTOWN 88PC-12

• DALLAS SOFTSTORE . . . 88SW-8

Inquiry No.

Page No.

480 DIGICOM TECH 88NE-5

86 DISC INTERNATIONAL 350

87 DISKCOTECH 343

88 DISKETTE CONNECTION ....345

90 DISKS TO GO 347

91 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS .... 352

497 D-DATA 88PC-14

391 GREY MATTER 8BA-23

521 HARD DRIVES INT'L 88SE-3

522 HARD DRIVES INT'L 88SE-3

• HARMONY COMPUTERS 24

136 IC EXPRESS 352

142 JADE COMPUTER PRODUCTS 355

143 JAMECO ELECTRONICS . 336,337

144 JAWIN COMPUTER PRODS. ..348

145 JAWIN COMPUTER PRODS. . . 348

148 J.D.R. MICRODEVICES .. 356,357

149 J.D.R. MICRODEVICES . . 358,359 149 J.D.R. MICRODEVICES 360

523 KNAPCO 88SE-5

170 MEADCOMPUTER 349

173 MEGASOFT 340

175 MEP (MICRO ELEC. PROD.) .348

178 MICROCOM SYSTEMS 26

• MICROMINT 344

• MICROMINT 88M/AT-8

• MICROMINT 88SE-6

• MICROMINT 88SW-3

179 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD. 354

193 MONTGOMERY GRANT 339

197 M.H.I 198

203 NORTHGATE COMP. SYS. 236,237

204 NORTHGATE COMP. SYS 238

206 ON-LINE STORE 338

529 OWL COMPUTER 88M/AT-5

311 PACIFIC COMPUTER 323

312 PACIFIC COMPUTER 323

487 PC LINK CORP 88NE-6.7

215 PC PLUS 128D

226 PRIORITY ONE 351

229 PROGRAMMER'S CONNECTION. ... 23

230 PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE . 156,157

231 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP 183

232 PROTEUS TECH. CORP 134,135

251 SCHWAB CORP 348

252 SCIENCE &ENGIN. S/W 307

530 SF MICRO 88M/AT-1

503 SF MICRO 88PC-9

254 SILICON SPECIALTIES 227

255 SILICON SPECIALTIES 227

256 SN'W ELECTRONICS 212

• SOFTLINE CORP 88A-27

262 SOLUTION SYSTEMS 183

531 SURAH INC 88M/AT-3

505 SURAH INC 88PC-15

400 S-100 88A-9

401 S-100 88A-9

275 TIMELINE 353

404 USA SOFTWARE 88A-7

286 WAREHOUSE DATA PROD. ... 187 518 Y.E.S. MULTINATIONAL.. 88MW-2

435 EDUCATIONAL/ INSTRUCTIONAL

6 AAAI 46

380 BLYTH 88A-22

• BUYERS MART 327-335

• BYTE BACK ISSUES 88A-26

• BYTE BITS 347

381 BYTE BITS 88A-34

• BYTE CIRCULATION 312

" BYTE MARKETING 326

Inquiry No.

Page No.

• BYTE CIRCULATION 88A-36

• BYTE SUB. MESSAGE .... B8A-14

• BYTE SUB. MESSAGE ... 88A-28

• BYTE SUB. SERVICE 212

■ BYTE SUB. MESSAGE . . . 308,363

78 CYBER RESEARCH 340

80 DATA TRANSLATION 52

314 DATAPRO 189

153 KNOWLEDGE GARDEN INC. ..277

• MCGRAW-HILL BOOKS ... 88SE-7

• MCGRAW-HILL BOOKS .. 88SW-5

184 MICROSOFT PRESS 44

185 MICROSOFT PRESS 44

209 OSBORNE/MCGRAW-HILL ... 309

214 PC EXPO 320,321

36 SOFTDISK 10

436 DESKTOP PUBLISHING

9 ADOBE 190,191

76 CPTCORP 182

524 MERLIN PUBLISHING GRP.88SE-4

220 PERSONAL TEX 152

270 SWFTE 201

MISCELLANEOUS

376 AL DOWNLOADING 88A-30

• BEST WESTERN 46

• BYTE TIPS 88MW-6

• BYTETIPS 88M/AT-4

• BYTE TIPS 88SW-4

98 ERGOTRON 98

• ROBT.TINNEY GRAPHICS 88M/AT-6.7

• ROBT.TINNEY GRAPHICS.... 88PC-8

• ROBT.TINNEY GRAPHICS.... 88SE-8

• ROBT.TINNEY GRAPHICS . . 88SW-6.7

249 SAFEWARE 345

284 VICTORY ENTERPRISES 142

437 OPERATING SYSTEMS

306 CORVUS 128C

137 IGC 175

150 KADAK PRODUCTS LTD 345

202 NESTAR 100,101

237 QUANTUM 272

250 SANTA CRUZ OPERATIONS ..299

438 ON-LINE SERVICES

450 BIX 310,311

378 BIX 88A-37

64 COMPUSERVE 291

68 COMPUTER SPORTS WORLD .60

* MCGRAW-HILL NEWS 319

394 MICRO TECHNOLOGY. ... 88A-29

205 ON-LINE ACCESS 324,325

72 WORLDWIDE SERVICES 342

73 WORLDWIDE SERVICES 342

■ Correspond directly with company.

JUNE 1988 'BYTE 367

Computers For The Blind

Talking computers give blind and visually impaired people access to electronic information. The question is how and how much?

The answers can be found in "The Second Beginner's Guide to Personal Computers for the Blind and Visually Impaired" published by the National Braille Press. This comprehensive book contains a Buyer's Guide to talking microcomputers and large print display processors. More importantly it includes reviews, written by blind users, of software that works with speech.

This invaluable resource book offers details on training programs in computer applications for the blind, and other useful information on how to buy and use special equipment.

Send orders to:

National Braille Press Inc.

88 St. Stephen Street

Boston, MA 02115

(617) 266-6160

$12.95 for braille or cassette, $14.95 for print. ($3 extra for UPS shipping)

NBP is a nonprofit braille printing and publishing house.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY!*

Use BYTE's Telephone Inquiry Processing System

Using TIPS can bring product information as much as 10 days earlier.

SEND FOR YOUR 1) If you are a new subscriber or have lost your I.D. card, circle #1 on the Reader Service

SUBSCRIBER I.D. CARD Card; attach mailer label. We will immediately send your personal TIPS subscriber card.

GET PREPARED

2) Write your Subscriber Number, as printed on your Subscriber I.D. Card, in boxes in Step 5 below. (Do not add 0's to fill in blank boxes)

3) Write numbers for information desired in boxes in Step 7b below. (Do not add 0's to fill in blank boxes.)

CALL TIPS

4) Now, on a Touch-Tone telephone dial: (413) 442-2668 and wait for voice commands

ENTER YOUR SUBSCRIBER AND

ISSUE NUMBERS

5) When TIPS says: "Enter Subscriber Number"

(Enter by pushing the numbers and symbols [# or * enclosed in the boxes] on telephone pad

ignoring blank boxes)

Enter DDDDDDDDSlffl

6) When TIPS says "Enter magazine code & issue code" Enter CD II 00 IS I! ffl

ENTER YOUR INQUIRIES

7a) When TIPS says "Enter (next) Inquiry Number"

Enter one inquiry selection from below (ignore blank boxes)

b) Repeat 7a as needed (maximum 17 inquiry numbers)

l.DDD 2.DDD 3.DDD 4. □ □ □

5.DDD

6.DDD1I 10. □ □ □ I

7. □□□am 1LDDD1 8.□□□ma] i2.□□□!

9. □□□HOB 13. □□□!

14. □ □ □

15. □ □ □

16. □ □ □

17. □ □ □

END SESSION 8) End session by entering S H El DD II ffl

9) Hang up after hearing final message

If you are a subscriber and need assistance, call (603) 924-9281.

If you are not a subscriber fill out the subscription card found in this issue or, call BYTE Circulation 800-423-8912. •Domestic and Canadian Subscribers Only!

368 BYTE- JUNE 1988

Information Retrieval Service

To assist you in making your evaluations, purchasing decisions, or recommendations, you can request further information directly from the manufacturer or service company on products and services advertised in this issue. There is no charge, no obligation. Just complete and mail the attached post-paid, self-addressed reply card, and we'll do the rest.

Circle numbers on reply card which correspond to numbers assigned to items of interest to you.

Check all the appropriate answers to questions "A" through "F".

Print your name and i address and mail.

Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT. Requests cannot be honored unless the zip code is included. This card is valid for 6 months from cover date.

A. What is your primary job function? (Check one only)

1 □ Business Owner, General

Management, Administrative

2 □ MIS/DP, Programming

3 D Engineering/Scientific, R&D

4 □ Professional (iaw, medicine,

accounting)

5 □ Other

B. How many people does your company employ?

1 □ 25 or fewer

2 D 26-99

3 D 100-499

4 □ 500-999

5 D 1000 or more

C Reason for request: (Check all that apply).

i D Business use for yourself

2 □ Business use for your

company

3 □ Personal use

Name

Title

Company _ Address _

City

Zip

D. Your next step after information is received:

1 □ Purchase order

2 □ Evaluation

3 D Specification/Recommendation

E. Please indicate the product categories for which you influence the selection or purchase at your (or your client's) company or organization. (Check all that apply).

1 □ Microcomputers

2 □ Peripherals

3 □ Software

4 D Accessories and supplies

F. For how many microcomputers do you influence the purchase of products at your (or your client's) company or organization?

i □ 1 3 D 5-9

2 D 2-4 4 D 10 or more

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State_

Telephone

622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648

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838 839 640 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864

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946 947 948 949 950 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 %5 966 967 968 969 970 971 972

973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 964 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999

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USA

Information Retrieval Service

To assist you in making your evaluations, purchasing decisions, or recommendations, you can request further information directly from the manufacturer or service company on products and services advertised in this issue. There is no charge, no obligation. Just complete and mail the attached post-paid, self-addressed reply card, and we'll do the rest.

Circle numbers on reply card which correspond to numbers assigned to items of interest to you.

J

Check all the appropriate answers to questions "A" through "F".

Print your name and address and mail.

~l

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IN THE

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BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 176 DALTON, MA

POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

READER SERVICE PO Box 298 Dalton, MA 01227-0298 USA

Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT. Requests cannot be honored unless the zip code is included. This card is valid for 6 months from cover date.

A. What is your primary job function? (Check one only)

1 □ Business Owner, General

Management, Administrative

2 □ MIS/DP, Programming

3 □ Engineering/Scientific, R&D

4 □ Professional (law, medicine,

accounting)

5 □ Other

B. How many people does your company employ?

1 □ 25 or fewer

2 □ 26-99

3 D 100-499

4 D 500-999

5 □ 1000 or more

C Reason for request: (Check all that apply).

i □ Business use for yourself

2 □ Business use for your

company

3 □ Personal use

Name

Title

Company _ Address _

City

Zip

D. Your next step after information is received:

i D Purchase order

2 □ Evaluation

3 D Specification/Recommendation

E. Please indicate the product categories for which you influence the selection or purchase at your (or your client's) company or organization. (Check all that apply).

1 D Microcomputers

2 □ Peripherals

3 □ Software

4 D Accessories and supplies

F. For how many microcomputers do you influence the purchase of products at your (or your client's) company or organization?

i □ 1 3 D 5-9

2 D 2-4 4 D 10 or more

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THE DESKTOP COMPUTER FOR PEOPLE

WHOSE MHOS ARE AT WORK

EVEN WHEN THER BODIES AREN'T.

Presenting the PowerMate Portable. Desktop power to goT

If you happen to be one of those rare individuals whose minds don't punch out at five o'clock, we have some good news for you.

It's called the PowerMate Portable. And thanks to some workaholic engineers at NEC, this nifty little dynamo is everything a desktop computer is.

Plus it's portable. Which means you can use it anywhere. At work. At home. Or on the road. It boggles the mind.

And speaking of mind boggling, check out what's under the hood: Intel 80286" technology, full-size internal AT-compatible expansion slots, an optional internal modem, 20 or 40 MB hard disk and EGA resolution on a backlit LCD display. Call 1-800-343-4418 and find out more about PowerMate Portable from NEC. The quick pick-me-up for the "Thank Goodness it's Monday" crowd.

rrr-'r-

NEC

For the name of the dealer nearest you, call 1-800-343-4418. In Canada, call 1-800-387-4313. NEC Information Systems, Dept. 1610,1414 Massachusetts Ave., Boxborough, MA 01719.

CaC

Circle 201 on Reader Service Card

Tandy Computers: Because there is no better value.

The New Tandy 5000 MC

■■ "■"' ■ '-^MiWjiM^jS^Mailihwgta

■■HM HH ■-'■- ■'

ESSl ©

H9

^^

±5=5

20 MHz Intel® 80386 microprocessor

2MB RAM, expandable to 16MB

Intel 82385 Memory Cache controller

Built'in VGA graphics, as well as MCGA, CGA, and EGA

Displays 256 colors, 64 shades of gray

Five IBM Micro Channel™ expansion slots, plus two dedicated memory slots

Built-in 1.44MB 3 lIz" disk drive plus three front-panel device slots

High-speed/high-capacity disk options

80387 co-processor socket

Supports MS-DOS®, MS® OS/2 and multiuser SCO® XENIX® operating systems

Our most powerful 80386 based computer .. ♦ made in America.

The new Tandy 5000 MC Professional System is strictly business, from the look of its 256,000-color VGA graphics to the tactile feel of its keyboard.

Inside is pure performance, from the 80386 processor operating at 20 MHz to the fast memory with cache that provides RAM-fast access to your data.

The 5000 MC comes with a built-in 1.44MB 3]h" floppy drive. There's room inside for a second 31/z" drive (or hard drive) and two 5lU" floppy, hard or tape drives. Choose from ST-506 or ESDI— and SCSI support is coming.

Add a 20-MHz 80387 math coprocessor. Expand the memory to 16MB using two dedicated expansion slots, and you can still add up to five IBM® Micro Channel compatible expansion adapters.

And with its high-speed performance, the 5000 MC is a natural as the hub of a multiuser system or as a file server in a 3Com® office workgroup.

A Tandy 5000 MC with an 84MB hard disk drive is only $6999. Check out the new alternative in personal computing.

Send me a Tandy 5000 MC brochure

ii i i

Mail to: Radio Shack, Dept. 88-A-880 300 One Tandy Center, fort Worth. TX 76102

Name _

L

Company.

Address

City

ZIP

. State.

Radio /hack

Price applies at Radio Shack Computer Centers and participating stores and dealers. Monitor sold separately. Intel/Reg. TM Intel Corp. IBM/Reg. TM and Micro Channel/TM IBM Corp, MS, MS-DOS and XENIX/ Reg. TM Microsoft Corp. SCO/Reg. TM The Santa Cruz Operation 3Com/Reg. TM 3Com Corp.

COMPUTER CENTERS

A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION

Circle 240 on Reader Service Card