BYTE-1993-05

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Who says notebook PCs are only for serious globetrotters? They're also cool for people who only travel from home to office. Or how a" corporate cats who travel from conference room

o confcre

neetings? Or sales people who could dig omputer at their client's location? Really, most

portable, But who can afford both a portable

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Nomad Combo: One Computer System with Portable and Desktop Functionality for One Low Price!

With a Nomad Combo from Gateway, you don't have to buy two PCs. You get a very powerful notebook computer, one of Gateway 2000's top-of-thecharts Nomad models, with a 15-inch CrystalScan highresolution color monitor, our custom 124-key Any Key keyboard and a Microsoft mouse. You can use the ad by itself in portable situations. At just 5.6 ids, with a bright, backlit screen, comfortable ioard, great battery life and 486 performance, it's all you could ever want in a notebook. In your office,

ice PC. It's easy to tie into your company's network, oo, with Ethernet and Token Ring options available iatewav Nomads are powerful, expandable and

omputer.

mbos From Gateway!

HandBook® Combo: Two Computer Systems, in Tune with Each Other, for One Low Price!

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When you buy a HandBook Combo, you get two PCs for less than you could pay for a single system. Our combo offers include the HandBook, the world's most mobile computer, and one of Gateway's highperformance, featurepacked desktop systems. The HandBook is the ideal portable PC for most users because it's marvelously compact-just 6 x 10 inches and 2.75 pounds - yet it does everything most people need to do on a portable PC. With its auto-resume Wure, access to thousands of available DOS

applications is almost instantaneous. You can quickly touch-type a note on its comfortable keyboard, check your schedule on the HandBook's backlit screen, or access 40 megabytes of data instantly, all without waiting to boot-up. When you come back to your office, you can easily connect your

HandBook to your desktop. To transfer \ files back and forth, your HandBook • \ actually functions as a logical drive on your PC. It's a snap! We've included

I everything and set it all up for you, , J even MS Works on both computers. Two computers. Two functions. One low price. Can you dig it? Call

Gateway!

«Xii»if-- " ' *

We've Got The Portable Solution That's In Time With You!

HandBook Combos—The HandBook is regularly $1295. Buy it with a desktop and save! See our other ad for more detailed desktop features.

HANDBOOK &4SX-33

HandBook®

■ 1MB RAM, 40MB Hard Drive

■ Backlit 7.6" 640 x 400 Screen

■ 2.75 Lbs., 5.9" x 9.75" x 1.4"

■ 4.5-Hr. Battery & AC Pack

■ MS-DOSf Interlink, MS Works™ for DOS

And 4SX-33 Mini Desktop*

■ 486SX-33, 4MB RAM, 170MB Hard Drive S3 Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB

■ 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI

■ 124-Key AnyKey® Keyboard, MS Mouse

■ MS-DOS, Windows & MS Works for Windows

$2495

Nomad 486 Notebooks and Combos

NOMAD 425SXL

I 25MHz 486SX Intel* Processor*

! 4MB RAM

I 3.5" Diskette Drive

80MB IDE Hard Drive

Backlit 10" VGA Screen, 64 Grays

Simultaneous Video with 256K

Size 8.5" x 11" x 1.8", 5.6 Lbs. I 6-Hr. NiCad Battery & AC Pack I 1 Parallel/1 Serial Port

79-Key Keyboard & FieldMouse!"

MS-DOS and Windows

MS Works for Windows

$1995

NOMAD 425SXL COMBO

■ Nomad 425SXL

■ 15" Color CrystalScan 1572FS

■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard j Microsoft Mouse

HANDBOOK &4DX-33

HandBook

■ 1MB RAM, 40MB Hard Drive

■ Backlit 7.6" 640 x 400 Screen

■ 2.75 Lbs., 5.9" x 9.75" x 1.4"

■ 4.5-Hr. Battery & AC Pack

■ MS-DOS, Interlink, MS Works for DOS

And 4DX-33 Mini Desktop*

■ 486DX-33, 8MB RAM, 250MB Hard Drive 3 Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB

■ 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI

■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard, MS Mouse

■ MS-DOS, Windows & MS Works for Windows

HANDBOOK & 4DX2 6ol

HandBook

■ 1MB RAM, 40MB Hard Drive

■ Backlit 7.6" 640x400 Screen

■ 2.75 Lbs., 5.9" x 9.75" x 1.4"

■ 4.5-Hr. Battery & AC Pack

■ MS-DOS, Interlink, MS Works for DOS

And 4DX2-66V Desktop*

■ 486DX2-66, 8MB RAM, 340MB Hard Drive

■ ATI Ultra Pro with 1MB VRAM on VL-Bus™

■ 15" Color CrystalScan 1572FS

■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard, MS Mouse

■ MS-DOS, Windows & MS Works for Windows

$2995

$3995

-The performanee'of a desktop in a lightweight, full-featured portable!

NOMAD 425DXL

25MHz 486DX Intel Processor* 4MB RAM, .'■;'•" 3.5" Diskette Drive u 120MB IDE Hard Drive Backlit 10" .VGA Screen, 64 Grays Simultaneous Video with 1MB Size 8.5" xH"xl.8'V5.6 Lbs. oik. NiGad Battery ^Acjpack 1 parallel/1 Serial Port—y 79^Key Keyboard & FieldMouse MS-DOS and Windows MS W&fks for Windows :

NOMAD 450DXL

■ 50MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor*

■ 8MB RAM

■ 3.5" Diskette Drive

■ 200MB IDE Hard Drive

■ Backlit 10" VGA Screen, 64 Grays

■ Simultaneous Video with 1MB

■ Size 8.5" x II" x 1.8", 5.6 Lbs.

■ 6-Hr. NiCad Battery & AC Pack

■ 1 ParalleVl Serial Port

■ W-Key Keyboard & FieldMouse 8 MS-DOS and Windows

M MS Works for Windows

J2395-:

NOMAD 425DXL COMBO

J Noma<T425J)Xr: 3 15" Color CtysSlScaTlTOFS ■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard Z H Microsoft Mouse

$2495

$2895

$2995

NOMAD 450DXL COMBO

J Nomad 450DXL

■ 15" Color CrystalScan 1572FS

■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard 11 Microsoft Mouse

$3495

Every Gateway 2000 system is backed by: ■ 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee ■ One-Year Limited Warranty 11 Lifetime Toil-Free Technical Support H On-Site Service Available to Most Locations (Factory Service Only for Notebooks) ! Lifetime BBS Membership

All hard drive sizes are manufacturer's specified capacities and do not reflect gains from software compression.

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GATEWW2000

^Contains an Intel486" microprocessor

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610 Gateway Drive • P.O.Box 2000 • North Sioux City; SD 57049-2000 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023 Sales Hours.' 7am-10pm -^eekdaySf 9am-4pm Saturdays (CT)

C':J 99.1 Gateway 201)0, Inc. AnyKey. Kandfiook. black-and-white spot design. "G" loea'i and "You've got a friewl intoe brines?' slogan arc registered trademarks, and CrystalScan is a trademark of Gateway 2000. Inc. The Intel Inside Logo is a trademark and I Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Prices and configurations arc subject to change without notice. Prices do not include shipping.

Circle 161 on Inquiry Card.

So Powerful It Can't Be A PC.

Transform Your PC With The INTERACTIVE UNIX System.

Unleash the 32-bit power in your PC with the INTERACTIVE™ UNIX* System from SunSoft. Charge through applications at record speeds. Use real-world multitasking and networking. Get on the path to a distributed computing future.

Just Say No To SCO.

Why? The INTERACTIVE UNIX System is easy to use, simple to administer, all at a great price.

Open Systems Today* says the INTERACTIVE UNIX "system management...is easier to use and more comprehensive" than SCO' and "is simply a masterpiece of good design."

Looking Glass Professional'" desktop manager makes the INTERACTIVE UNIX System easy enough for novices, yet powerful enough for experienced UNIX users. And the award winning Easy Windows makes setting up graphic environments infinitely simpler. You can't afford not to take advantage of the already low cost of the INTERACTIVE UNIX System.

And SCO UNIX/XENIX"' users can save an additional 50% by switching to the INTERACTIVE UNIX System today. That's something to say yes to.

Everything You Like About Your PC-And A Lot More.

INTERACTIVE UNIX System V/386 Release 3.2 supports hundreds of the most popular Intelbased platforms and peripherals. So getting started is fast, easy, and cost-effective.

Thousands of UNIX and XENIX applications are at your command. And our VP/ix package runs virtually all DOS software.

You get Lotus",' WordPerfect*' and Oracle1? You get SCO applications.

You get it all.

See What Develops.

The INTERACTIVE UNIX System is the environment of choice for 80X86 application development. You get access to a full range of development tools including compilers, debuggers and libraries. And for graphical applications, the XI1 INTERACTIVE environment is a revelation.

Partner With Power.

The INTERACTIVE UNIX System is a powerful business partner for companies who know something about power. Companies like BMW, Goodyear, Leica, and Dunlop to name a few. That power can be yours, too. All from SunSoft, the leading supplier of 32-bit UNIX system software.

Call today and save 50% on UNIX power that's so cost-effective, it can't be anything but a PC. 1-800-227-9227.

s issue date: AprU ^ 3.1(>92 © 19lJ2 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, theSun logo, SunSoft, the SunSoft Logo, VP/ix and Easy Windows are lr:i(k:in;iits or rcgislered[rii(iem:irks of .Sim Microsystems, Inc. 1NT1-:RACTIV[-: is a Inulunvark of INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. Looking Class Professional is it trademark of Visix Software, Inc. Ad other trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of their respective holders. The promotional discount is available to SCO UNIX/XENIX users and is subject to certain restrictions. Contact SunSoft for terms and conditions of promotion. SunSoft reserves the right to stop the promotion at any time. SunSoft can be reached at2550 Garcia Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043, (510)460-3267. B-5/93

BYTE

May 1993

Volume 18, Number 6

57

COVER STORY

FEATURE

Intel Launches Rocket in a Socket

PAGE 92

CB^

24 MICROBYTES

Bringing Unix into the NetWare fold presents Novell with a marketing dilemma: what to tell software developers who ask which platform to write applications for.

33 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

AutoCAD Draws on Windows

by Patrick Waurzyniak

Autodesk's best-selling CAD software

goes Windows.

37 A Heavy-Hitting Unix for PCs

by Ben Smith

Solaris for Intel is the most complete

PC Unix.

42 NetWare 4.0, the next step for a growing network

Notejet 486,

Canon's

notebook/printer makes a dynamic package

HP LaserJet 4Si and 4Si MX,

Hewlett-Packard's newest network printers

PagePlus 2.0, a $59.95 desktop publishing package

Compel, multimedia presentation software from Asymetrix

Painter 2.0, a "natural," professional, and fun paint tool

WHAT'S NEW The DTR-1 is a notebook or a pen computer, the SmartLink V32bis FaxModem encrypts your data, LapCAD 5 for the Mac gives you finite modeling, and more.

144

FEATURES

92 Intel Launches Rocket in a Socket

by Tom R. Halflull

Intel's new Pentium CPU doubles the speed of the fastest 486.

Ill Oberon: A Glimpse at the Future by Dick Pountcdn A radically object-oriented design previews future operating systems.

STATE OF THE ART

SEEKING SECURITY

118 Overview: Seeking Security

by Paulina Borsook Mainframe-type security is coming to the client/server environment.

129 Should Encryption Be Regulated?

by Peter Wayner

U.S. law enforcers want to

limit your use of data

encryption.

137 Stealth Virus Attacks by John DeHaven Anonymous attack software targets networked computers.

Resource Guide: Virus Protection for Networks

4 BYTE • MAY 1993

COVER IMAGE: PAUL AVIS © 1993

REVIEWS

OPINIONS

146

176

194

199

201

205

209

LAB REPORT: Hands-On Testing 126 PRINTERS

by Mellaril Fox, Alan .loch, Chandrika Krishnamurthy, Stephen Piatt, and Leonard Presberg Our testing shows which printer is best for your needs.

SOLUTIONS FOCUS Making the MPC Upgrade

by Greg Loveria Some of the best options available for bringing multimedia to the PC.

Personable PIMs

by Nicholas Baran Ten PIMs for Windows, DOS, and the Mac, ranging from simple organizers to full-blown project managers.

Banyan's "StreetTalk for NetWare"

by John Rydberg

Banyan's distributed directory

meets server-based NetWare.

Windows Video Recorders

by Tom Yager

The hardware side of Video

for Windows.

Tape Backup on the Go

by Howard Eglowstein

A review of four parallel-port tape drives

for backup.

75

210

j 46 Dot-Matrix

17 Ink-Jets

282

12

20

Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3.4 for DOS PAGE1M

by Nicholas John Delonas

Lotus' latest high-end DOS spreadsheet is faster, but you still may prefer

the low-end line.

HANDS ON

2S0 27o 27S

2.1.1

213 UNDER THE HOOD

Computing on Wheels

by Dick Pountain This month's column literally goes under the hood to examine a new generation of automotivecontrol computers.

221 SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED The Power of Inheritance

by Allen Holub

How to take advantage

of multiple inheritance in your

C++ class designs.

229 BEYOND DOS

Getting a Handle on NT

by Gen Kiyooka, Windows NT offers outstanding exception-handling tools. Here's why you need them.

USER'S COLUMN

Once More into the Breach

by Jerry Pournelle

User's Choice Awards wrap-up.

BOOK AND CD-ROM

REVIEWS

From the Mind of MIT

by Hugh Kenner, Steve Apiki, and Tom Yager

Windows NT, multimedia. MIT, Compton's on CD-ROM, and more.

STOP BIT

Losing the Human Edge

by Hans Berliner

Computers are about to mount a new

challenge in the chess world.

EDITORIAL

Our New Lab Report: Your New Consultant

by Dennis Allen

LETTERS

Coming to terms with software gluttony; OS/2 hassles; machine translation; and other topics.

READER SERVICE

Editorial Index by Company Alphabetical Index lo Advertisers Index lo Advertisers by Product Category Inquiry Reply Cards: 276A

BUYER'S GUIDE

Mail Order

Hardware/Software Showcase Buyer's Mart

PROGRAM LISTINGS

From BIX: Join "listings/frombyte93"and select the appropriate subarea (i.e., "may93"). From the UUNET: ftp lo ftp.uu.nel, log on as anonymous." and enter your user ID as your password. Type "cd/published/byte" and type "DIR." Files appear in subdirectories arranged by month.

From the BYTE BBS at 1200-9600 bps: Dial (603) 924-9820 and follow the instructions at the prompt.

INSIDE BYTE

BYTE (ISSN 0360-5280} is published monthly wilh additional issues in April and October by McGraw-Hill, Inc. U.S. subscriber rate $29.95 per year. In Canada and Mexico, S34.95 per year. European surface mail subscriptions $60, airmail $80, Non-European subscriptions, S60 surface mail or S85 airmail. All foreign subscriptions are payable in U.S. funds that can be drawn on a U.S. bank. Single copies $3.50 in the U.S.. $4.50 in Canada. Executive, Editorial, Circulation, and Advertising Offices: One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Second-class postage paid at Peterborough, NH, and additional mailing offices. Postage paid at Winnipeg, Manitoba. Registration number 9321. Registered for GST as McGraw-Hill, Inc.. GST #123075673. Printed in the United States of America, Postmaster; Send address changes and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscnptions, P.O. Box 552. Hightstown, NJ 08520.

MAY 1993 -BYTE 5

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>H _—«/" Introducing the Paperless 1, ■HPH^Bf a complete imaging system that ■■H will change the way you store and distribute paper forever. The PI connects directly to any PC or MAC computer

File Fdit Paper Size

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IB iB IB JB

,Genorol ±1

I P I N N A C L

SCANNING/FILING

PI Software for scanning and filing documents

and within minutes your system is ready to use. It's as easy to use as a copy machine. It saves paper. It saves documents. It saves time. It even saves trees...

^ *

You can create a paperless copy and distribute it to

any Novell® or AppleShare™ networked computer. You can file millions of paper documents electronically

and retrieve them with the click of a mouse.

The Paperless 1 brings document imaging to your

desktop personal computer. It's Easy-to-Use, Powerful and Inexpensive.

And with every purchase of a Paperless 1

Keywords:

Documents:

Addendum

Contract

June 15, 199?

Reseller agreement I Revision I ISave a Tree

Paperless 1 Pinnacle Micro Inc.

Letter from Pinnacle Micro Inc. Paperless 1 Solus Forecast pmo-650 Spec Sheet Scanner Spec Sheet

Support '."Hi in;.

| Clear )

Send Paperless flail J

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system you will become a free charter member of the World Wildlife Fund.® To receive a free catalog, on recycled paper, of the Paperless 1 system call:

(800) 553-7070

Pinnacle Micro is proud to support

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With each Paperless I purchase a portion of

the proceeds is received by WWF.

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19 TECHNOLOGY • IRVINE, CA 92718 • U.S.A. • INT'L (714) 727-3300 • FAX (714) 727-1913

Pinnacle Micro, Pi, Paperless,! and Pinnacle Micro Imaging ore trademarks of Pinnacle Micro Inc. All other trademarks and registered marks to their respective owners.

INSIDE ivn

BYTE Topic Index

This index helps you find articles that contain information on each of the listed topics. (The topic list changes each month.)

Combined with the table of contents (page 4) and the Editorial Index by Company (page 280).

you can identify articles by type, subject, title, author, or product discussed or company mentioned.

Al 280

AUTOMOTIVE COMPUTERS 213

AWARDS 75

BOOKS 210

BUSINESS 209

C++ 221

CAD 33

CALENDARS 194

CD-ROM 24,176,210

DESKTOP PUBLISHING 42

ENCRYPTION 129

ENGINEERING 213

ENHANCED CAPABILITIES PORT 24

486 92 GAMES 280 GRAPHICS 42 INK-JET PRINTERS 146 LANGUAGES 111,221 LASER PRINTERS 146 LOCAL BUS 57 MAC CLONE 24 MATH SOFTWARE 75 MICROPROCESSORS 92,213 MULTIMEDIA 42,176 NETWORKS 24,42,75,199 NOTEBOOKS 42 OBERON 111

OOP (OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING) 221,229

OPERATING SYSTEMS 37, 42

OPTICAL COMPUTING 24

OS/2 20

PAINT PROGRAMS 42

PARALLEL PORTS 205

PENTIUM 92

PERIPHERALS 57

PIMS (PERSONAL INFORMATION MANAGERS) 194

PRINTERS 42, 146

PROGRAMMING 221,229

RISC 92,213

SCHEDULING 194 SECURITY 118,129,137,144 SOLARIS 37 SPREADSHEETS 209 SYSTEMS 176 TAPE BACKUP 205 UNIX 24 VIDEO 24,201 VIRUSES 137 VIRUS PROTECTION 144 WINDOWS 24,33,42,229 WINDOWS NT 210,229 WORD PROCESSING 75

Your Choice of Keyboard Monitor Switches

Access multiple computers with a single keyboard and monitor to cut equipment costs, save valuable space, and end clutter

Manually controlled unit

Simple pushbutton operation for quick selection Four, eight, or twelve ports per unit Daisy-chaining connects unlimited number ot CPUs Compatible with EGA, VGA, Macintosh, Sun, and others Optional keyboard booting for 286,386, and 486 Optional RS232 or PS/2 mouse interface PCB construction for high reliability and low crosstalk Rack mount, matrix, and customized units available

Switch by keystroke, from front panel, or RS232 port Two or four ports per unit Cascade units to support up to 255 CPUs Supports monochrome, EGA, and VGA Includes keyboard booting for 286,386, and 486 Includes RS232 and PS/2 mouse interface LEDs display selected CPU and CPU power-on Scan function switches among CPUs automatically

Typical Application

CPUs/Servers

Keyboard controlled unit

Call toll-free now for your copy of our Switching and Sharing Solutions catalog.

Other Rose products: Print servers, printer sharing units, print butlers, keyboard monitor extenders, video splitters. All Rose products are US-made and have a I-year warranty.

Make the Rose Connection ^BSSi

10850 Wilcrest Drive • Houston, Texas 77099 • Phone (713)933-7673 • Fax (713)933-0044

1-800-333-9343

Circle 133 on Inquiry Card.

8 BYTE • MAY 1993

We slash interface

development time across

DOS, UNIX, POSIX, VMS...

(and we can prove it!)

The Designer: Easy

to use form builder, '

creates all objects

interactively without

coding.

Data fields:

Scrollable regions, memo

fields, ticker-tape fields.

Graphic-style fields:

Check boxes, push

buttons, radio buttons.

Shadow borders, exploding windows.

•PANEL

MODIFY

"i"*'*™

COLOR SYSTEM |

Invoice Order Form

No Product Description

Function list <Alt-F2> Main program <CtrI-Fl>

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XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 999 II It tt IIII It lift It tl It tt It It tt tin It B till

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 999 *(t«itittie«it tt*ttttit»ttittteeii

Subtotal tttttttmitttltltPttit Hou Shipped tXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Shipping Itltltptttl

h Additional items " —=nttltttttSS«eltn

.," Z'Al Catalogue (.) Fall/Winter

Method CX] Price list

[ 1 Dealer info

Credi J

Expir Save

Cardh I

( ) Spring/Summer

V

Code Generator: Creates data structures and source code in C for a complete and working prototype.

Scroll Bars: Horizontally, vertically, full mouse support.

0 Number: 9999999999

:\wd\demoZ.wd check DataFm

diting form. Enter text, <fllt> + first character to net to

r:0 c: <F1> for help.

Status Line: Optional lines for helpful information when using the Designer— ' may be disabled for advanced users.

C-Programmers: See for yourself how Vermont Views® can help you create powerful user interfaces—whatever your environment!

If you want to create sophisticated user interfaces—and save tremendous time and effort doing it—Vermont Views is exactly what you need.

Vermont Views isn't just a common interface package.

It's a deep, flexible, menudriven screen designer supported by a C library of over 580 functions. It lets you create the ultimate user interfaces for complex database applications - in a fraction of the time it would take to code it yourself!

With Vermont Views, you create screens interactively. Designing is fast and creative. And changes—both tiny adjustments and huge reworks—are incredibly easy.

Pull down menus, window-based data entry forms with tickertape or memo fields, scrollable regions, choice lists, context sensitive help .... All these interface objects (and more) are immediately accessible. Your

DOS applications can have full mouse control, and work in graphics as well as text modes! And with Vermont Views; even terminal-based applications can have the elegant features usually found only on micros. Create prototypes fast, applications even faster.

With most systems, you have to throw away your prototypes when coding begins. But with Vermont Views, prototypes become the actual application.

Menus, data-entry forms, and all screen features are usable in the final applications without change.

NEW! Vermont Views PLUS

An enhanced version of Vermont Views for DOS. Vermont Views PLUS provides the interface power needed for developing multi-megabyte, graphic-enhanced C applications. Best of all it supports all popular DOS extenders and graphics libraries. VVPLUS also includes full source code for all libraries. It's the universal solution.

Vermont Views operates completely independent of hardware, operating system, and database.

Any interface you create can be ported easily among DOS, UNIX, XENIX, POSIX, QNX, OS/2, and VMS.

You can use Vermont Views with any database that has a C-language interface (including Oracle, Informix, db_Vista, and C-Tree). You can run on PCs, DEC, NCR, HP, AT&T, and other systems. No runtime fees or royalties.

Don't take our word for it—put Vermont Views to the test. Call or fax now for your personal, free demonstration kit. Or order Vermont Views with our 60-day, money back guarantee.

Either way, you'll immediately see how Vermont Views can slash your interface development time.

For MS/rC.'l)()S, Vermont Views is $495. Vermont Views PLUS with MemKx, Graphic* and full source code is $795. For UNIX, I'OSIX, and VMS. prices start at $1,795, depending on machine class.

1 Pinnacle Meadows, Richford. VT 05476 Phone (802J-848-7731 FAX (802)-848-3502 Please Mention "OlTer 391"

Call 1-800-848-1248 for a free demo of the ultimate application interface!

Hie Widest Ana

Fault Tolerant Disk Array Controllers, Subsystems and Servers supporting NetWare, SCO UNIX and OS/2.

Powerful 1,2,3, and S-Channel Disk Array SCSI Controllers

Mylex now offers a range of" disk array controllers, all based on the powerful Intel i960CA™ RISC processor. The controllers feature 4/16/64-Mbytes of cache, an EISA host interface and extensive software support.

RAID levels 0, 1, and 5 are supported, with hot swapping, on-the-fly reconstruction, background rebuild, hot standby, multi-threading, and scatter/gather features.

NetWare 3.11, SCO UNIX 3.2.4 and IBM OS/2 2.0 operating environments are supported. All controllers are offered with user-friendly software utilities.

► DAC960-I/2: Single fast and wide SCSI-II channel, which can be upgraded to two channels. Each channel has both 8-bit and 16-bit SCSI-II connectors.

► DAC960-3: Three fast SCSI-II channels, which can support up to 21 SCSI drives.

► DAC960-5: Five fast and wide SCSI-II channels, with the option to drive 8-bit or 16-bit fast SCSI drives.

NetWare, UNIX, OS/2

All Mylex disk array products support Novell NetWare 3.11, with optional support lor SCO UNIX 3.2.4 and IBM OS/2 2.0.

Disk Array Subsystem

The disk array subsystem (DAS) features a DAC960 fivechannel disk array controller and a flexible enclosure which houses up to five 5.25"or3.5" SCSI drives. Each drive is powered by its own power supply for improved system reliability. Disk drives are offered as an option. Up to four of these enclosures can be powered by a single DAC960-5 controller, allowing up to 20 drives for each controller.

The DAS can be used in conjunction with any EISAbased computer to build a powerful file server. Up to four controllers can be configured into the system to offer virtually unlimited disk capacity.

y of Disk Arrays.

Integrated Disk Array Server: IDAS2000

The Mylex IDAS2000 is a high-performance integrated disk array server, utilizing state-of-the-art disk array technology.

► CPU Subsystem: Intel 486™ DX2-66MHz EISA system with 256-Kbytes of cache, 8-Mbytes of system memory upgradable to 256-Mbytes, six bus master EISA slots, built-in I/O, flash BIOS and future CPU upgrades with the ZIF socket.

► Disk Subsystem: Features a one-channel disk array controller that is upgradable to two channels for increased performance. The controller utilizes the powerful Intel i960CA RISC processor and includes a standard cache of 4-Mbytes that's upgradable

to 64-Mbytes. RAID levels 0, 1, and 5 are supported with fault tolerance, hot replacement, hot sparing and background rebuild capabilities. Both 8- and 16-bit fast and wide SCSI-II drives are supported. Software support for NetWare 3.11 (Novell certified). Optional support for SCO 3.2.4 and IBM OS/2 2.0 operating environments. Extensive user-friendly software utilities included.

► Enclosure: Includes three redundant power supplies, five cooling fans, 10 drive bays for 3.5" SCSI drives, and four additional drive bays lor tape drives, floppy, etc.

The system includes an EISA LAN adapter and super VGA graphics. Disk drives are optional.

We've Benched the Competition

When Mylex conducted benchmark tests to compare our disk array system s performance to our competitors', we outperformed the competition's RAID 3 and 5 systems, as well as duplexed and spanned systems, by a wide margin.

Benchmarks: Disk Array Subsystems

CIPRICO NetArray

RAID 3

CORE IAS

RAID 3

MlCROPOLIS RAIDion

RAID 5

ULTRASTOR U124

RAID 5

MYLEX DAC960

RAID 5

4:25 4:30 10:17

NCOPY all drives enobled

13:19

15:00

13:30

10:06

NCOPY one drive down

14:05

15:00

15:30

10:36

NCOPY

during rebuild

26:32

20:49

18:30

► LAN Technology's performance tests for Ciprico, Core and Micropolis consisted of copying 2400 files—totaling about 80-Mbytes—from one directory to another using NetWare s NCOPY. The Mylex and UltraStor test configuration included a 486 DX2-50MHz CPU-based EISA system using five HP 97556-30 796-Mbyte drives. Times are shown in minutes.

Circle 108 on Inquiry Card.

Flexible Purchase Options

Controllers only, a complete system without disk drives, or a complete system with the drives are offered.

For more information on Mylex disk array systems and controllers, call 1-80077-MYLEXor 1-510-796-6100. Or, fax us at 1-510-745-8016.

© 1995, Mylex Corporation. Specifications subject to change without notice. All trademarks are the property ol'their respective holders. © 1992, M&T Publishing, reprinted with the permission of LAN TECHNOLOGY, August, 1992. Novell certification applies to 5-channel disk array products only. The Intel Inside Logo is a trademark ol Intel Corporation.

nvfiec

DENNIS ALLEN

EDITORIAL

Our New Lab Report: Your New Consultant

Our report provides focused information you can use when buying or recommending products

There's something new inside this issue of BYTE, and there has never been anything like it. Check out the Lab Report on printers, starting on page 146—it's the first of our regular monthly hardware reports. This new feature was months in the making, and it represents several worker-years of planning, testing, analysis, and good old-fashioned hard work by the folks at BYTE, the BYTE Lab, and the National Software Testing Labs.

For this month's report, we tested virtually every printer on the market—126 of them, to be exact—to provide you with information that you can use when buying or recommending a printer. Let me emphasize the word information. After 5600 tests, 28,000 pages of printed output, and thousands of data points, the BYTE and NSTL staffs separated the wheat from the chaff. Rather than turn BYTE into a catalog of product specifications, the two staffs created a report that acts as a highly paid consultant who helps you select the printer that fits your needs.

We've defined the criteria by which a printer should be measured for specific applications. The attributes of a good word processing printer, for example, are not the same as those of a good spreadsheet printer. In fact, we found that printers naturally fall into nine categories of applications, and we analyzed our test data to determine the best printer for each application.

We didn't stop there, though. It's one thing to choose the best overall printer for, say, word processing, but we knew that even in word processing people's needs varied. In these hard economic times, some folks are willing to sacrifice a little print quality or speed for a lower price— provided the printer still meets a certain threshold for word processing. Other folks may have an application in which only the highest quality output will do, regardless of the price. So, we made recommendations for those trade-offs and others—all based on our analysis of hard test data.

Each of our recommendations is built on exhaustive and objective test data. To accomplish the task, we weighted the relevant factors to accurately reflect each of the different application categories. In each case, we tell you up front which printer scored best—just check out the "BYTE Best" on page 147 and the report's easy-to-scan charts. And we tell you which printers came in a close second so that you can make comparisons.

To help us present all this information in the most coherent way. we enlisted the talents of two people. Richard Saul Wurman helped us distill all the data into information. A graphics designer, architect, and cartographer, he is the author of Information Anxiety (Doubleday, 1989) and the expert on delivering information.

The other person who helped us is Ken Silvia, one of the top magazine designers in North America. Silvia has an ability to present text and graphical information in a consistent style that lets you quickly find what you're looking for. Sounds easy, but it ain't. In fact, creating the design for our lab reports was a challenge greater than that of designing some magazines, and it was a challenge Silvia met with colossal success.

Why Did We Do It?

Like most of you, I've been a BYTE reader for many years, and for the last 10 years, I've been an editor with BYTE Publications. I know you expect BYTE to cover leading-edge products that incorporate new technologies—products like Pentium-based systems, expert systems, and 32-bit operating systems. For that, you want the in-depth technical articles for which BYTE is famous.

You have let me know that you would also like to read about certain staple products, too, such as 486 systems, modems, notebooks, and monitors. Most of these products meet certain standards, and the methods for comparing them are generally straightforward.

We think we've found a way to cover both leadingedge technology and staple products. Newly all our pages are still devoted to the fine details of new technology developments and products, while 20 pages each month will contain our lab report on the more staple hardware products. We have invested heavily in our multimilliondollar NSTL facility to bring these lab reports to you, and I hope you will find them useful.

As always, though, you have the final say. Let me know what you think of our new Lab Report series and how you think we could make it better.

—Dennis Allen Editor in Chief

12 BYTE • MAY 1993

W O R L D W I D

STANDARD

New dBASE IV v2.

gets you home for dinner

Get your work done faster

New dBASE IV* version 2.0 is up to ten times faster than version 1.5 and dBASE III PLUS®! Browsing data, executing queries, and generating reports are all faster—even on networks.

But program speed is only part of dBASE's overall performance superiority. dBASE® gets your work done faster because it's more usable. A recent study proves it!* For everyday tasks, dBASE users got their work done 25% faster than FoxPro users.

PREFER TO DO BUSINESS WITH

PLAN TO BUY

INSTALLED IN COMPANY

BEST NEW DATABASE MANAGER

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powerful applications with less code. And now you can generate royalty-free .EXEs using the new, 100% language-compatible dBASE Compiler! Get dBASE today and get

dBASE IV outfoxes the competition

DBASE IV

FoxPro

Industry standard

Yes

No

Designed for users

Yes

No

Designed for programmers

Yes

Yes

Queries optimized for standalone & networked computers

Yes

No

Instantly accessible visual design tools

Yes

No

Full cross-platform compatibility

Yes

No

Transaction processing

Yes

No

Multiuser ready

Yes

No

dBASE makes it easy to do more

Whether you're a database user or application developer, dBASE puts your information to work. Visual design tools let you create database tables, queries, forms, and reports onscreen. Query By Example gives you fast answers to your questions. No wonder NSTL rated dBASE tops in versatility and usability.1'

The #1 choice for application developers

The dBASE language lets you use English-like commands to create

Borland

dBASE IV

Version 2.0 lor BOS

Tlie leading datftoasetmd

.i|>p]ii';iii.ii]iV\d()pnn;nt system

90-day, money-back guarantee!

I See your dealer or call now, | 11-800-336-6464, ext. 5093 |

■ In Canada, call 1-800-461-3327.

Borland

Power made easy

•Usability Sciences Corp. sludy, 1992. ^Software Digest Ratings Report, multiuser database programs, May 1992. Copyright © 1993 Borland International, Inc. All rights reserved. All Borland product names are trademarks of Borland International, Inc. Prices good in the United States and Canada only. All prices are in U.S. dollars. Dealer prices may vary. BI 5349

Circle 67 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 68).

Announcing the first network printer

Operating Systen

Tbpology

Novell Netware

•Etlternet1802.3

Tbken Ring (4116 Mbps)

Microsoft*

•802.3

LAN Manager

Tbken Ring (4116Mbps)

Windows/or

•802.3

Workgroups

Tbken Ring (4118 Mbps)

Windows NT

•802.3

Tliken Ring (4116 Mbps)

IBM LAN Server

•802.3

Tbken Rimj (4116 Mbps)

Applelhlk

•Loealllilk

•Ether'lhlk

HP-UX"

'Ethernet

SunOS"

•Ethernet

Solaris"

•Etlternet

SCO UNIX"

•Etlternet

'SiaiiilanlinthellPl.asor.lot-ISIMXprinler. "Fnroporaiing HP-UX, .SunOS or .Solaris, a one-time purchase of SlOt) in configu ration software is required. Adobeand PostScript are trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. which may lie registered in cortainjurisdictions. Microsoft is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories Inc. in lite U.S.A. ami othereounlries: tin t'anada call l-BIHI-:i87-:)H(>7. F.x!.72!»). i l!l!ttHcwlell-PackardPE1235;i

Multiple environments are no longer worlds apart. Even if you have Novell Netware on one network, HP-UX on another and EtherTalk on a third, the new HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer easily connects across platforms. Automatically.

The HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer comes out-of-the-box preconfigured for multiple environments. There's nothing more to do than plug-and-play. All interfaces are simultaneously hot, making switching so seamless, end-users won't even notice.

What's more, HP's LaserJet 4Si MX printer is ready to handle whatever needs come down the

that adapts to multiple environments.

pike. More operating systems? No problem. As your network system continues to evolve, the capabilities of this printer are no longer just impressive. They're indispensable.

The HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer is loaded with features that define state-of-the-art. HP's enhanced PCL5 and genuine PostScript™ Level 2 software from Adobe™ come standard. Printer environments are saved while switching. Setup is a cinch with network software utilities and drivers included in the box. And, if you need any reassurance about trouble-free operation, you have it in our Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) support.

At 17 ppm, this is the fastest LaserJet ever, with I/Os and RISCbased formatter capabilities matched to support its speed. It delivers impeccable 600 dpi print quality-thanks to HP's microfine toner and Resolution Enhancement technology. Plus, it comes standard with two 500 sheet input trays.

But what if you don't need the full capabilities of the HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer right away? HP offers another printer that's probably a perfect fit. The HP LaserJet 4Si printer delivers the identical 17 ppm performance and superb 600 dpi print quality. It also has room to grow. The two MIO expansion slots let you add

HP JetDirect network interface or third party cards. And you can add on Adobe's genuine PostScript Level 2 software and SIMM memory modules, as you need them.

To find out more about the multiple-network HP LaserJet 4Si MX printer and the upgradable HP LaserJet 4Si printer just call 1-800-LASERJET, Ext. 7299.f Capabilities this advanced make a world of difference—in any environment.

. HEWLETT EM PACKARD

Circle 91 on Inquiry Card.

BVTE

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Dennis Allen

PUBLISHER

Ronald W. Evans

HOW TO CONTACT THE EDITORS

EXECUTIVE EDITORS

New York: Rich Malloy Peterborough: Rich Friedman

MANAGING EDITOR

D. Barker

ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

Lauren Stickler Thompson

NEWS Peterborough:

Senior Editor: Dan Muse

News Editors, What's New: Martha Hicks,

Carol Swartz

Microbytes: David L. Andrews

News Assistant: June Sheldon

San Mateo/West Coast:

Bureau Chief: Andrew Reinhardt Senior Editor: Tom Half hill News Editor: Patrick Waurzyniak Editorial Assistant: Barbara J. Caravello

Los Angeles:

Senior Editor: Gene Smarte New York:

News Editor: Ed Perratore

BYTE LAB

Director: Stephen Apiki

(also: systems, networking)

Technical Director: Rick Grehan

Senior Editor: Alan Joch

Technical Editor:

Stanford Diehl: software, add-ins,

peripherals, multimedia

Testing Editors/Engineers: Howard

Eglowstein, Ben Smith, Stanley Wszota

Lab Assistant: Selinda Chiquoine

STATE OF THE ART/FEATURES

Senior Editor: Michael Nadeau Technical Editors: Janet J. Barron, Anthony J. Lockwood, Robert M. Ryan

SENIOR TECHNICAL EDITORS

At Large: Tom Thompson, Jon Udell Columns: Rob Mitchell

ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITORS

Ellen Bingham, Susan Colwell, Jeff Edmonds, Tom Kevan, Cathy Kingery, Margaret A. Richard, Warren Williamson

SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Jerry Pournelle

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Hugh Kenner, Barry Nance

CONSULTING EDITORS

Jonathan Amsterdam, Nicholas Baran, Raymond GA Cote, Don Crabb, Anne Fischer Lent, Laurence H. Loeb, Trevor Marshall, Stan Miastkowski, Dick Pountain, Roberta Pournelle, Wayne Rash Jr., Kenneth M. Sheldon, Jane Morrill Tazelaar, Ellen Ullman, Peter Wayner

INTERACTIVE ON-LINE SERVICE

PRODUCT MANAGER

Kip Bryan

EXCHANGE EDITORS

Amiga Exchange: Joanne Dow Entertainment and Leisure Exchange: Rich Taylor

IBM Exchange: Barry Nance Programmers Exchange: Bill Nicholls Professionals Exchange: David Reed Tojerry Exchange: Jerry Pournelle WIX Exchange: Karen Kenworthy Writers Exchange: Wayne Rash Jr.

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

Office Manager: Peggy Dunham Assistants: Linda C. Ryan, Janet A. Young

DESIGN

Director: Nancy Rice Associate Director: Joseph A. Gallagher Designers: Jan Muller, Sharon Price Graphics Manager: Roger Goode

PRODUCTION AND FINANCE

Director: Claudia Flowers

PRODUCTION

Director: David M. Cohen

Production Manager: David R. Anderson

Advertising Graphics Manager:

Susan Kingsbury

Editorial Graphics Manager:

Virginia Reardon

Graphics Production Coordinators:

Barbara Busenbark, Christa Patterson,

Donna Sweeney, Lillian J. Wise

Advertising Services Manager: Linda Fluhr

Senior Advertising Services

Representative: Lyda Clark

Advertising Services Representatives:

Dale J. Christensen, Karen Cilley,

Rod Holden

Scheduling Manager: Wai-Chiu Li

Operations Assistant: Lisa Jo Steiner

FINANCE

Senior Financial Analyst: Kenneth A. King Financial Analyst: Kathleen Deguise Data Processing Coordinator: Diane Henry Billings Coordinator: JoAnn Walter Production Assistant/Purchaser: Agnes Perry

MARKETING AND PLANNING

Director: L. Bradley Browne Administrative Assistant: Carol Cochran Marketing Communications Manager: Pamela Petrakos Marketing Art Director: Stephanie Warnesky Market Research Manager: Julie Perron Copyrights Manager: Faith Kluntz Reader Service: Cynthia Sands Marketing Events Coordinator: Carol Sanchioni

CIRCULATION

Director: Glyn Standen Subscriptions Manager: Paul Ruess Assistant Manager: Pam Wilder Subscriptions Assistant: Christine Tourgee Newsstand Manager: Vicki Weston Assistant Manager: Karen Desroches Back Issues: Louise Menegus Direct Accounts Coordinator: Ellen Dunbar

Publisher's Assistant: Donna Nordlund

ADVERTISING SALES

NEW ENGLAND

David Richardson (617) 860-6344 Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654

EAST COAST

Kim Norris (212) 512-2645 Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665

SOUTHEAST

Mary Ann Goulding (404) 843-4782 Barry Echavarria (603) 924-2574

MIDWEST

Kurt Kelley (312) 616-3328

Ed Ware (603) 924-2664 SOUTHWEST, ROCKY MOUNTAIN

Jennifer Walker (214) 701-8496 Larry Levine (603) 924-2637

SOUTH PACIFIC

Beth Dudas (714) 753-8140

Joseph Mabe (603) 924-2662

Alan El Faye (213) 480-5243 Larry Levine (603) 924-2637

NORTH PACIFIC

Bill McAfee (415) 513-6862

Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665

Roy J. KOpS (415) 513-6861 Joseph Mabe (603) 924-2662

Barbara Holmes (415) 513-6945 Barry Echavarria (603) 924-2574

INSIDE ADVERTISING SALES

Director: Liz Coyman (603)924-2518

Assistants: Susan Monkton, Vivian Bernier

THE BUYER'S MART (1 x 2)

Margot Gnade (603) 924-2656

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE SHOWCASE

Ellen Perham (603)924-2598 Mark Stone (603) 924-2695

REGIONAL & BUYER'S GUIDE

Brian Higgins (603) 924-2651

BYTE DECK

Brad Dixon (603) 924-2596

EURO-DECK

James Bail (603) 924-2533

INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING SALES STAFF

See listing on page 275.

PERSONNEL

Human Resources Administrator: Patricia Burke Assistant: Fran Wozniak Receptionist: Beverly Goss

DIRECTOR OF COMPUTER-RELATED SERVICES

Stephen M. Laliberte

MEMBER SERVICES MANAGER

Kevin Plankey

BIX, owned and operated by General Videotex Corporation, is a worldwide, low-cost, online information service featuring industry news, downloadable software, powerful electronic mail, previews of upcoming BYTE articles, the full text of published issues of BYTE, and source and/or executable code for BYTE benchmarks and noncommercial software mentioned in feature articles. BIX also offers unmatched "conferences" on virtually every computer-related topic imaginable, where you can share information with thousands of other computer pros. To subscribe via modem, set your communications software to full duplex, 7 bits, even parity, 1 stop bit, and then call (800) 695-4882 or (617) 491-5410, or make a data call to our Tymnet address: 310690157800. Then hit the Enter/Return key and enter "BIX" when asked to log in; then enter "BIX.VILLE" when asked for a name. For current fees and more information, call (800) 695-4775 or (617) 354-4137 on voice phone; fax: (617) 491-6642; Internet: bix@genvid.com.

We welcome your questions, comments, complaints, kudos, and submissions. main office: One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, (603) 924-9281. san Mateo: 1900 O'Farrell St. #200, San Mateo, CA 94403, (415) 513-6912. Los Angeles: 15635 Alton Pkwy., Suite 290, Irvine, CA 92718, (714) 753-8140. New York: 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, (212)512-3175. u.k./europe: Wimbledon Bridge House, One Hartfield Rd., Wimbledon, London SW19 3RU, England, +44 81 543 1234. electronic mail: On BIX, send to "editors." All BYTE editors and columnists also have individual mailboxes on BIX for easy access. mci: 250-0135 BYTE Magazine. Many editors also have individual MCI addresses in their own name.

others: Many editors also are reachable through uunet, AppleLink, CompuServe, and numerous other services. U.S. fax: Editorial: (603) 924-2550

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For price quotations on customized reprints of BYTE articles, contact Faith Kluntz, Reprints Manager, at (603) 9242525. (Minimum quantity: 500.)

SUBSCRIPTION CUSTOMER SERVICE

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+1 609 426 7676. For a new subscription, (800) 257-9402 U.S. only, or write to BYTE Subscription Dept., P.O. Box 555, Hightstown, NJ 08520. Subscriptions are $29.95 for one year, $54.95 for two years, and $74.95 for three years in the U.S. and its possessions. In Canada and Mexico, $34.95 for one year, $64.95 for two years, $87.95 for three years. In Europe, £42 (U.S. $60) for fast surface delivery, £55 (U.S. $80) for air delivery. Non-European countries U.S. $60 for surface mail, or U.S. $85 for air mail. Single copy price is $3.50 in the U.S. and its possessions, $4.50 in Canada. 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.

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Where necessary, permission is granted by the copyright owner for those registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), 27 Congress St., Salem, MA 01970, to photocopy any article herein for personal or internal reference use only for the flat fee of $1.50 per copy of the article or any part thereof. Correspondence and payment should be sent directly to the CCC, 27 Congress St., Salem, MA 01970. Specify ISSN 0360-5280, $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 Faith Kluntz, Copyrights Manager, (603) 924-2525. BYTE is available in microform from University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Rd., Dept. PR, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 or 18 Bedford Row, Dept. PR, London, WC1R4EJ, U.K.

Copyright © 1993 by McGraw-Hill, Inc. All rights reserved. BYTE and BVTI are registered trademarks of McGraw-Hill, Inc. Trademark registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

&

Member Audit Bureau of Circulation

officers of mcgraw-hill, inc.: Founder: James H. McGraw (1860-1948).

Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer: Joseph L. Dionne; Executive Vice President. General Counsel, and Secretary: Robert N. Landes; Executive Vice President: Harold W. McGraw III; Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: Robert J. Bahash; Senior Vice President, Treasury Operations: Frank D. Penglase; Executive Vice President, Publication Services: Norbert Schumacher; Vice President/Group Publisher, Computer Magazines: Fritz Landmann.

16 BYTE • MAY 1993

SOME

DEVELOPERS

REALLY DO HAVE

INSIDE INFORMATION

ON PROGRAMMING

FOR WINDOWS.

YOU

CAN DE ONE

OF THEM.

Now you can have instant access to complete, up-to-date programming information for the Microsoft® Windows"' and Windows NT'" operating systems. Introducing the Microsoft Developer Network CD. Updated quarterly, this CD-based service is the official channel for new technology specifications. Even if you're not using Microsoft tools, you'll want to get this essential development resource.

The CD contains complete documentation for all Microsoft development products and toolkits, a growing library of over 700 source code examples, and many previously unpublished tools and utilities. Technical articles open up the architecture of Windows, and the Microsoft Knowledge Base makes public developer product bug lists. Charles Petzold's Programming Windows 3.1, Microsoft Systems Journal, and the OLE 2.0 SDK are also included. In short, if Microsoft publishes it and you need it, it will be on this CD.

All this information is harnessed by a powerful, Windows-based

browser that truly exploits the promise of CD-ROM-based publishing.

Subscribers to the Microsoft Developer Network CD will also receive the latest development strategy information from the bimonthly Developer Network News, as well as invitations to developer conferences.

Over 44,000 developers are already using the Developer Network CD and the feedback confirms that it is a revolutionary information product. In the words of Andrew Schulman, coauthor of Undocumented Windows, "The Developer Network CD is a 'must have' for any serious Windows programmer."

Get the inside scoop on Windows. A full-year subscription to the Microsoft Network Developer CD is only $195 (plus tax and freight), and comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee. So make the call.

To subscribe, or for more information, call (800) 759-5474, Dept. 0AAU9.

JjjRft^':-;iO;-t ift^'i^w'

Making it easier

oft Corporation. s a registered rr.n

ights reserved. Primed in U.S.A. Network licenses .ire $40 per additional user license. Offer good only through December 31. 1993. Offer good only in the 50 Unit, k and Windows and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, for information only; In die 50 United States, call (800) "59-5474., Dept. 0AAU9 In Canada, call (800) 563-9048; outside the U.S. mk\ Canada, call (206) 936-866 J.

OurT4500C features an LCD TFT active matrix color screen that can display a kaleidoscope of 256 simultaneous colors from a palette of 185,193. OurT4500 offers a large, bright, easy-to-read 9.5" VGA display with 640x 480 resolution and 17:1 contrast ratio.

A 150-pin expansion port lets you attach a SCSI adapter to the notebook. Or lets you attach the notebook to our Desk Station IV, providing true desktop capabilities in your office.

THE KITCHEN SINK IS

If you're getting the feeling the T4500 series represents a new standard in business notebook computing, you're right.

System control hotkeys save time by allowing you to quickly change your display setting, power management, security status, etc., without having to call up menus.

A generous 4MB RAM standard, expandable to 20MB.

Our award-winning keyboard features standard-sized keys and key spacing.

TheT4500 series' advanced 20MHz i486™SX processor makes any 386 seem like a tortoise. In fact, tests reveal it's up to two and a half times faster than many 386-based notebooks.

The T4500C comes with a 120MB hard drive and ourT4500 comes with a choice of an 80MB or 120MB hard drive.

3.3-voltchip technology decreases power drain by as much as 25%, while adding up to 27% more battery life.

INTRODUCING THE

© 1993 Toshiba America Information Systems, inc.The Intel Inside logo and i486 are trademarks of Intel Corporation. All products indicated by trademark symbol are trademarked and/or registered by their respective

OPTIONAL.

TheT4500C's dimensions: 11.7"Wx 8.3"Dx 2.0"H. TheT4500's dimensions: 11.7"Wx 8.3"D x 1.8"H. Both fit into half of a briefcase.

Windows" 3.1 and DOS8 5.0 with Ultrafonfcome pre-installed.

Auto Resume lets you start where you left off without rebooting and automatically saves your material when you turn the power off.

Our Quick Charge capabilities allow you to charge the battery while you're working.

Featuring AutoResume, AutoSave, Advanced Power Management, and CPU Sleep Mode, our MaxTime~power management system helps you get the maximum out of every battery charge.

Quickread LCD status icons allow you to check a host of functions (including remaining battery time, keyboard status, and power-saving mode) at a glance.

in

I LI

^aFileBHlSOTfflj

An industry-standard PCMCIA 2.0 slot accepts removable hard drives, data/fax modems, network adapters, and other expansion options.

The BallPoint" mouse connects directly to the computer through a unique "one touch" QuickPort'so there's no cord to get in your way.

A front-loading floppy drive provides easy access.

Both theT4500 and theT4500C weigh in at about 6.5 lbs.

TOSHIBA T4500 SERIES

TheT4500 features a

large, easy-to-read 9.5"

monochrome screen.

Tests reveal that the 3.3-volt

20MHzi486~SX processor

is up to two and a half

times faster than many

386-based notebooks.

You can call real-live Toshiba technicians toll-free for complete product support.

In Touch with Tomorrow

TOSHIBA

1-800-457-7777

Circle 142 on Inquiry Card.

LETTERS

Gluttons for Punishment

|MEGfl|j|sTOI'l)lT

Andy Nicholson's Stop Bit "Software Gluttony" (February) hits the nail right on the head. The trend toward GUIs and applications written for them has consumed the larger memories and hard drives of new machines at least as fast as the price of memory and storage has come down. The result is a lot of money spent for an upgrade and no more data storage space than before.

Certainly there are legitimate needs for at least some of the features of recent software packages, but rarely does one user need them all. It would help if companies supplied the information needed to do an ad hoc installation.

What would help more would be to require the programmers of some of this stuff to write for a year for the HP 41CX calculator. It has less than 2.5 KB of RAM for programs and data, and 4.2 KB of extended memory that can be used like a disk drive. My 41CX has outlived several desktop computers. I have a substantial library of programs for it, and you can bet your bottom dollar that each is optimized to conserve memory. Many programs weigh in at less than 100 bytes. No GUIs, of course, but then who really needs GUIs?

Bernard H. Geyer Prescott, AZ

I couldn't agree more with Andy Nicholson. I believe the media is partly to blame for software gluttony. Consider GeoWorks. This program is manyfold superior to Windows, but the company's lack of marketing clout and indifference by the media combine to keep it confined to a niche. Unless the designation of good software includes code optimization, software packages will become behemoths that do everything but cartwheels.

Aslam Hassan Urbana, IL

The New OS/2

Elation erupted as I read that Mark J. Minasi experienced the same condition of "cross-linked extended attributes" using OS/2 2.01 that I did ("A New OS/2," February). I now know that the error did not lie in my particular drive controller. As a simple end user and nonmember of IBM's Developer Assistance Program, I (and my authorized IBM dealer) never reached anyone at IBM who understood the above and other problems.

Thus, I have decided to delete OS/2 from my system. It was a dream to explore but a nightmare to use. OS/2 can return when it operates as promised. Minasi's essay verifies that it does not do so yet.

Michael E. May Nashville, TN

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Address correspondence to Letters Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, send BlXmail c/o "editors," or send Internet Mail to letters@byteph.byle.com. Letters may be edited.

Software Gluttony

Lost in the Translation

T!

he article "Overview: Machine Transation" (January) includes the sentence: "Translating the languages of the world on a desktop computer comes of age." From what I have seen, that age is still aeons away.

I speak five languages fluently and can read another six or seven with varying degrees of comprehension. I have betatested Micro-Tac's German and Spanish translators. Frankly, I have difficulty deciding where to put these programs. There's certainly a use for them, but the translations are poor at best. It would be far better to get a human translator to dictate the text to a stenographer or enter the text into a word processing file.

Translation programs miss the subtle points completely and wrongly translate many tenses and cases. The prepositions are mostly wrong, which makes understanding the "translated" text difficult. I do not know that anyone has yet figured out how the human brain translates one language into another, but it's certainly far more complicated than these translating programs' algorithms.

Paul A. Elias Fountain Hills, AZ

SAS on CD-ROM

We appreciate Jon Udell's mention of SAS Institute in "Start the Presses" (February). However, we are not the developer of SPSS statistical software, as he states. We are the developer of the SAS System, an informationdelivery system.

Udell also writes that we use "the Makedisc software from Young Minds and the Philips drive to build custom CD-ROMs for its Unix clientele." While we do distribute the SAS System on CD-ROM for our Unix customers, we use our own software, Kodak software, and a Kodak CDRecordable drive to automate the process.

Hilary Yeo

SAS Institute

Cary, NC

User's Response

I enjoyed reading Jerry Pournelle's comments on Windows for Workgroups in "The Principle of Pursuit" (January). As a computer programmer and PC networking guru for a large company, I know the type of problems one can run into when setting up LAN software.

Pournelle deleted Windows from his system before installing Windows for Workgroups. That's fine if what you have is a plain-vanilla system, but if you are using high-end hardware like local-bus video, Windows may not start after installation. It's best to upgrade your existing version of Windows to Windows for Workgroups. That way, you preserve all your device drivers and program groups.

William J. Raymond Gardner, MA

20 BYTE • MAY 1993

Veio is For Anyone Who Thinks Drawing is A Drag.

Now you don't have to be a graphic artist or draftsman to create impactful business and technical drawings. Because if you can drag and drop, you can draw. It's easy with Visio"'', Shapewares" new drawing program for Microsoft" Windows™3.1 users. By just clicking your mouse, Visio lets you drag and drop shapes, change their size or color, connect them automatically and type in text. Drag. Drop. Done! It's that easy. Only Visio gives you more than 300 drag and drop SmartShapes"" to help you create virtually any drawing or diagram, like clip art, SmartShapes £ are "intelligent'' They can take on different forms, colors, and proportions and behave the way you expect. And with Visio's simplified tool set, you can easily create your own customized shapes using a single pencil tool.

For easy access, SmartShapes appear right on your screen on job-related "stencils." Each stencil features all the shapes you could possibly need for your specific drawing.

%ii?^gs

There's a Visio stencil for flowcharts. One for space plans. Organizational charts. Business models. Marketing diagrams. Gantt charts. Computer network layouts. Engineering schematics. And direction maps. Visio includes 15 stencils, standard. And you can also get additional stencils for more specific jobs. Test drive Visio with Visio Sampler. Visio Sampler is a usable version of the award-winning program that lets you drag and drop shapes to create your own drawings. As part of Microsoft's "60 Days To Upgrade Your World" campaign, Microsoft will be distributing Upgrade Advisor disks featuring Visio Sampler. To get your hands on one and test drive Visio for yourself, call Shapeware for details at 1-800-446-3335, ext. EE6.

Order Visio by June 30, 1993 for just S219, and you II receive an additional stencil set of your choice when you register your software. To order, or for the names of authorized Visio resellers* near you, call 1-800446-3335, ext. EE6.

Copyright Shapeware ( m •ation, 1993. I .S.A. International customers cot -i Shapeware by phone (303) 743-9533 or fax (303) 695-0555. Shapeware, Visio.

Drag and Drop Drawing for Everyday Graphics and SmartShapes arc trademarks of Shapeware Corporation. Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows

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NEWS

M1CR0BYTES

Novell Walks the Line Between NetWare and Unix

PROVO, Utah—Novell's acquisition of Unix System Laboratories gives the networking giant a powerful asset in the battle over 32-bit desktop and server operating systems. But bringing Unix into the fold presents Novell with a marketing dilemma: what to tell software developers who ask which platform they should write their applications for.

Microsoft's "Windows everywhere" strategy promises developers a consistent (although by no means identical) API for Windows, which will be available in versions for hand-helds and home appliances up to massive servers. On the other hand, Novell embraces many APIs. On the server side, Novell supports NetWare and Unix, and on the client side, it supports DOS, Windows, Windows NT, Unix, OS/2, and Mac OS. Novell's model presumes a world of heterogeneous computing. However, developers aiming to play in Novell's arena will need to master many more tools and environments.

These divergent visions reflect the underlying philosophies of the two firms. Novell is known for its ready partnering, while Microsoft tends to "roll its own" solutions, using its power and influence to turn proprietary products into de facto standards. With Unix in its quiver, Novell can now stake a claim as a key provider of open-systems solutions. The announcement in mid-March that USL, HewlettPackard, IBM, The Santa Cruz Operation, Sun Microsystems, and Univel will deliver in 1994 a common Unix software environment places Unix vendors in stark contrast to Microsoft's single-vendor model.

Since the arrival of NetWare 3.x, Novell has urged developers—with moderate success—to write NLMs (NetWare loadable modules) or applications for the 32-bit operating system. Now the company is changing its tune to accommodate Unix. Says Kanwal Rekhi, executive vice president of the interoperability systems group, "Unix is a very good general-purpose operating system, for an applications server or the desktop. NetWare is the glue that ties together all kinds of desktops and environments with a common set of services. I don't see them fighting for the same space."

Joel Applebaum, president of the Novell/USL Univel joint venture, concedes that each operating system offers different strengths. "Unix doesn't give you [NetWare's] interoperability between all the different clients," he says, but it "adds robustness and richness in options for applications developers."

Rekhi says that the developer's choice between NetWare and Unix will be determined by the needs of the application. "NetWare gives you performance, Unix gives you scalability," he says. "NetWare—access to many shops; Unix—to larger systems. It's a balancing act." Unix, he adds, "is a more traditional environment and people know it better," whereas if you write an NLM, "it's easy to go into a NetWare shop and plop in the application." Rekhi notes that some companies (e.g., Oracle) are hedging their bets by writing for both.

Novell is also working to integrate the environments so that networks of NetWare and Unix servers can easily communicate. In early March, for example, the company introduced the NetWare NFS Gateway, which lets users of NetWare client systems directly access files on a Unix server. Previously, Unix clients could access NetWare services, but NetWare clients had to load Novell's LAN WorkPlace on their systems. In a clear jab at Windows NT, Novell officials assert that they don't believe a single operating system will solve all market needs. There's a political component as well. Says Drew Major, chief scientist at Novell, "Lots of people are championing us as an alternative; they don't want to have a complete lockout."

—Andy Reinhardt

NANO BYTES

A federal judge has denied Unix System Laboratories' request for a preliminary injunction to keep Berkeley Software Design, Inc.

(Falls Church, VA), from distributing BSD/386, a Unix-compatible operating system for PCs that BSDI says is free of AT&T code. BSD/386 is based on the Networking 2 software developed at the University of California-Berkeley. □

"Wireless is not here today in the way that we want it to be," says Marc Porat, president and CEO of Mountain View, Californiabased General Magic. Regarding the current state of wireless communications, Porat says,

"There's a market failure. It's a failure borne not of technology but borne of institutional and regulatory forces." □

Two top executives of Symantec (Cupertino, CA) have been indicted by a California grand jury on felony charges related to the alleged theft of trade secrets from Borland International (Scotts Valley, CA). Gordon Eubanks, Symantec's president and CEO, and Eugene Wang, an executive vice president, were indicted in March, six months after Wang left Borland to head Symantec's languages division. Eubanks's lawyer says the California trade-secrets law covers only technical information, not general business information. Legal experts predict a battle over the admission of Wang's Email as evidence, which some consider an invasion of privacy. □

24 BYTE • MAY 1993

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The Best Value in SQL Database Engines watcom sql

for Windows has a suggested retail price of $795* but for a limited time you can get it at the introductory price of only $395*. Even better, as a registered user of WATCOM SQL you'll be able to get a copy of the 6-user Network Server Edition for only $99* (Suggested retail price: $795*).

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WATCOM, and the Lightning Device are trademarks ol WATCOM International Corporation. Other trademarks are the properties ol their respective owners. Copyright 1993 WATCOM International Corporation.

Circle 149 on Inquiry Card.

m—a—««a

EDITORS' CHOICE

Couple its outstanding | overall performance with a true \ optical resolution of 400 dots per inch, an excellent scanning . software package (DeskScan //"),"] and HP's well-earned reputa-'' tion for solid, reliable products,'; and you have a winning combination.

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Both PC Magazine and Publish called the HP ScanJet lie the Best Color Scanner for 1992. While PC Computing named the black & white/gray-scale HP ScanJet Up the Most Valuable Product of the year.

Speed. Simplicity. And accuracy were all applauded. It's no wonder. HP's singlepass scanning delivers both lightning-fast speed and precise color registration. TWAIN support allows scanning without having to switch between applications. And HP AccuPage technology with 400dpi resolution can tackle the toughest OCR challenges. What's more, capabilities this advanced are now even more affordable. List price on the HP ScanJet lie has just dropped to $1,599. The HP ScanJet Up is just $879.

Impressed? Don't just take our word for it, or even the PC press's. Attend one of our scanning seminars that will be held April through September, 1993. To find out more about the HP ScanJet lie and Up or seminars in your area, call 1-800-SCANJET, Ext. 7365* And judge for yourself.

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NEWS

MICROBYTES

Researchers Build General-Purpose Optical Computer

A University of Colorado (Boulder) research team has built what it believes is the first general-purpose optical computer that stores its machine instructions in optical memory. Rather than relying on program control by a second, electronic computer, the new optical computer stores its own instructions and processes data using light.

The proof-of-principle machine is not a marketable product, but according to a CU-Boulder researcher, its unique design could be applied to applications such as optical switching in telecommunications and eventually to optical computers that run hundreds of times faster than conventional computers. The current machine processes information serially (1 bit at a time). Plans call for the next generation of the machine (currently under development) to process data using planar arrays

that can communicate their entire contents in one cycle. Such a machine could be applied to high-speed computer graphics.

The optical computer was developed under the direction of CU-Boulder electrical- and computer-engineering professors Harry Jordan and Vincent Heuring. Researchers are designing a palm-size version of the machine that could be used to route data over fiber-optic channels. "I would say that within a three- to five-year time frame, something using [a palm-size version of the machine] could be applied in the telecommunications switching area," Jordan notes.

Jordan says that one of the reasons the research team decided to use a serial design instead of a parallel design was the high cost of the 66 optical switches (about $3000 each) used in the machine. Jordan says, "We took the tack that said we'll give up the parallelism, not because we didn't think it was a good idea but in order to investigate the stored program aspect for optical computing." — Dave Andrews

CU-Boulder research associate Robert Feuerstein (left) and graduate student John Feehrer adjust the logic unit of a proof-ofprinciple optical computer. Laser beams encode instructions and data into thousands of light pulses stored in roughly 3 miles of spooled glass fiber.

U.K. Court Protects Innovative U.K. Software

LONDON^A U.K. software house has won a copyright suit that revises the courts handling of look-and-feel issues and gives innovative software developers more confidence to defend their programs. John Richardson Computers, suppliers of software to the pharmaceutical industry, took issue with an ex-JRC programmer who developed a PC package similar to one he had written for the company. .IRC did not claim that the programmer had copied source code or a substantial part of the structure and organization of its product. However, the suit did assert that the ex-programmer had used the "general scheme of the company's first... program, including some unusual routines."

To assess the look-and-feel overlap be

tween the products, the presiding judge borrowed methods from U.S. cases, notably the Computer Associates v. Altai suit that was tried last June. JRC's lawyers cited the CA-Altai case as having "persuasive authority." The High Court of Justice, Chancellery Division, decision decreed that screen elements widespread throughout the industry should be ignored, as should features that represent the obvious or "only real way" of fulfilling a function. Remaining elements were then deemed copyrightable. With the implementation earlier this year of a European Community-wide computer copyright law, the JRC case may be cited in other European courts.

— Louise Cole

NANO BYTES

The Santa Cruz Operation's (Santa Cruz, CA) acquisition of leading GUI management provider IXI (Cambridge, U.K.) will give SCO direct access to future IXI technology and help establish IXI's X.desktop software as an industry standard. Apart from SCO's Open Desktop product, IXI's X.desktop comes installed on Unix systems from vendors such as DEC, IBM, and International Computers. Future joint SCO/IXI products will likely focus on areas like group management of networks and multimedia, office automation, and closer links with other computing environments. D

Leading Taiwanese PC supplier Mitac has established a manufacturing plant in Telford, U.K., to service increasing demand for its products in Europe. The company plans to complete the first phase of the plant this summer. Mitac says 200 new jobs will be created at the site over the next four years. According to Mitac, nearly half of its $300 million in annual revenues comes from sales of PCs and monitors in Europe, which may explain why the company planned to introduce a ranae of multimedia PCs and 66-MHz 486DX2-based PCs at the CeBIT computer show in Hannover, Germany. □

Electronic systems that automate the processing of credit-card payments and other merchant transactions are hampered in some regions of the world by inadequate telecommunications. VeriFone (Redwood City, CA, (415) 591-6500) has introduced Omnihost for banks in South America and Asian Pacific that want to establish transaction-automation systems. When the normal telecommunications link goes down, Omnihost will stand in temporarily so that service is not interrupted. This is an example of a company having to reengineer its products to sell them in other parts of the world. □

28 BYTE • MAY 1993

Advanced Signal Processing

(ASP) delivers 4:1 realtime hardware data compression and saves up to 65% of CPU

processing time.

Enhanced Features include

programmable mixing, mult, pie-source recording, treble and bass controls.

Wave Blaster™ upgrade option for next generation wave table music synthesis.

State-of-the-Art 16-bit Codec with 90 dB signal-to-noise ratio.

High Performance

CD-ROM interface.

Full Compatibility with all Sound Blaster applications ami 2-million-uscr installed base.

Cross Platform Support

ensures all functions are accessible from DOS, OS/2, Windows or MPC.

More Inputs than other 16-bit boards, including MIDI, joystick, and multiple audio sources.

SoundBlasterl6ASE We're not playing games anymore.

Sure, games are great. But with new applications ranging from voice recognition to full-blown integrated multimedia, it's time to get serious about PC audio. With Sound Blaster™ 16 ASP.™

The 16 ASP comes with all the features you'd expect on a professional-quality sound board, plus more than $500 in bundled software.. .all for a suggested retail of just under $350.

But the real secret lies in Creative Labs' exclusive Advanced Signal Processing technology: realtime hardware data compression that delivers full CD-quality stereo at a fraction of the CPU power required by other

16-bit boards. And downloadable algorithms that enable future upgrades like voice recognition, time control and special effects.

So if you thought the original Soimd Blaster set the standard for games, you're right. But the 16-bit PC Soimd Barrier has now been broken. With Sound Blaster 16 ASP: the new Sound Standard for CD-quality PC Audio.

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;:-jjCQ © Copyright 1992 Creative Labs, Inc. All specifications subject to change without notice.

::-:llJJ Sound Blaster, ASP, and Wave Blaster are trademarks of Creative Labs, Inc. All other software and trademarks are owned by their respective companies.

Si" Intemational inquiries: Creative Technology Ltd. Singapore, TEL 65-733-0233. FAX 65-773-0353.

Circle 158 on Inquiry Card.

The New Generation 17" Monitor

Advancing into the future is the powerful, new generation ViewSonic 17... with crispness and clarity unheard of before now. So, if a high-contrast, extremely bright, sharply focused screen is important to you, this is the answer! Plus, this remarkable monitor runs at 76Hz refresh at an astonishingly high 1,280 x 1,024 and beyond, which will give you a flicker-free image.

Our unique ViewMatch1" color control is an easy-to-use system that takes the guess work out of printing by adjusting colore to closely match printer output. Brighten the red. Lighten the blue. No problem; it works. And the ViewSonic 17 even has an economically designed drop-down control panel that's as simple to use as

a typewriter. More great features include digital controls and advanced anti-reflection coating .. .all adding up to make this everything a 17" monitor should be. With its big screen display and edge-to-edge image, this is the monitor of choice for Windows, desktop publishing and CAD/CAM applications.

For safety and vision protection, the monitor meets strict MPR-II and ISO 9241-3 standards.

Call 800-888-8583 for more information on our products, including our new line of 15" through 21" monitors.

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Circle 147 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 148).

NEWS

MICROBYTES

Mac Compatibles: Better Never than Late?

CUPERTINO, Calif.—After four years of intense engineering effort, NuTek USA is delivering samples of its Mac-compatible chip set, motherboard, and operating system to computer vendors. NuTek also announced the Duet, a multiprocessor system that natively runs Mac and MSDOS software simultaneously. (For more information on Nutek, see "NuTek: A Mac Emulator in Progress," June 1992 BYTE, page 25, and "NuTek Claims True Mac Clone; No Mac ROMs Required." March 1991 BYTE, page 28.)

If vendors like what they see, Mac compatibles built from NuTek's $899 motherboard and off-the-shelf components could be in stores this summer. NuTek likens the performance of its 33-MHz, 68030-based motherboard to that of Apple's Mac IIvx, and it estimates the street price of a complete system to be about $ 1600—perhaps $500 to $ 1000 less than a comparable IIvx.

NuTek's four-part chip set requires its own operating system and does not run Apple's System software. Along with a Mac-compatible motherboard, the Duet (about $2995) adds a 33-MHz, 486-based PC clone to a Mac-compatible motherboard. NuTek claims its machines will run "almost all" of the most important Mac software. But currently, the machines won't run Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Excel or Works. The Mac landscape has changed dramatically since NuTek first embarked on its ambitious project in 1989. Back then, Apple sold only a handful of Macs, prices were steep, and most of the best Mac software wasn't available for PCs. Today, you can choose from more than a dozen different Macs. Color Macs sell for under $1000. Major programs such as QuarkXPress and Photoshop arc already migrating to Windows.

— Tom R. Halfhill

Gigabyte CDs Promise Feature-Length Video

LONDON—A British company surprised the multimedia industry during the Midem-93 show (Cannes, France) by demonstrating an otherwise ordinary-looking CD with over 1 GB of storage capacity. The double-density CD, developed by Nimbus Technology (Monmouth, Wales), can store 135 minutes of full-motion color video with stereo sound. A $ 150 adapter using a CL450 MPEG-1 decoder from CCube converts the digital data to PAL/ NTSC signals for direct connection to a TV. Competing formats such as Philips's CD-I (Compact Disc Interactive) offer only 60 minutes of video.

Nimbus achieves the increased density by reducing the pit size, the track pitch.

Plug and Play for ISA

SEATTLE, Wash.—Microsoft and Intel have unveiled a "plug-and-play" mechanism that could take the hassle out of installing new devices in ISA-based PCs. The mechanism lets users add new devices to your system without worrying about jumpers, switches, and other technical esoterica that can prevent a system from working.

At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, Microsoft and Intel demonstrated a set of adapters that a Windowsbased setup utility automatically identified and configured. For less than $5, vendors can add the hardware required for such

and the tracking speed. Until now, double-density CDs were thought to be impossible using today's infrared laser technology. By a happy accident, Nimbus discovered that the optics of some CDROM drives and high-end audio CD players can already discern the smaller pits. However, SCSI controllers for CD-ROM drives will need to be redesigned to handle the higher capacity of the new CD.

Nimbus will license its technology and says two Asian manufacturers will launch commercial audio CD players at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago this June. Integrated players without external adapters should hit the streets within a year.

— Osman Kent

operation to new adapter designs.

The goal of having users automatically configure a PC system is highly desirable but does not represent a breakthrough technology. Micro Channel architecture systems have provided this ability for over five years, and EISA systems have a similar mechanism for newer 32-bit adapters. Unfortunately, neither the EISA setup program nor this new initiative sufficiently addresses the problem that older ISA adapters will not automatically configure themselves. ■

— Matt Trask

NANOBYTES

Microsoft is promoting the IEEE PI284 Extended Capabilities

Port protocol as a way to speed up printing in Windows. This extension to the standard PC printerport architecture adds support for bidirectional DMA-based operation at up to 2 MBps and permits faster printing and reduces the system CPU's workload during printing operations. At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in March, Microsoft said manufacturers that build computers that support ECP will allow multiprocessing operations to achieve greater throughput.

Companies supporting ECP include codeveloper Hewlett-Packard, Adaptec, AMD, Chips & Technologies, Intel, National Semiconductor, OPTi, Standard Microsystems, and Texas Instruments. Microsoft expects the first products supporting ECP to start appealing before the end of the year. □

It's back to the testing grounds for the entrants in the U.S. HDTV standard competition. A committee advising the FCC on the U.S. HDTV standard determined that none of the initial entrants was a clear winner. The four competing groups with digital systems asked the FCC for a chance to improve their designs. A new round of testing was scheduled to begin in April, with each new entrant requiring about a month of testing. The FCC will not likely identify the winner until early 1994. As a result, national-broadcast HDTV service will likely be pushed from 1995 to 1996, according to William Hassinger, system bureau chief of engineering at the FCC's Mass Media bureau. Hassinger says that the four entrants—General Instrument; MIT; a partnership of Zenith Electronics and AT&T; and a consortium of NBC, Thomson Consumer Electronics, North American Philips, and the David Sarnoff Research Center— are discussing a possible merger of the competing systems into one system. ■

32 BYTE • MAY 1993

Gateway Just Went Platinum..

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Gateway

I!

ecause we re Playing Your Song!

If Gateway 2000 was a record, we'd be receiving a platinum award - thanks to all of our wonderful customers. Our one-millionth computer system was shipped in April from our factory in North Sioux City, South Dakota. A million is a number that's hard to fathom. At least it is for us.

We send our deepest appreciation to each and every Gateway customer. Thank you for believing in us. We've tried hard to always offer you the best value in the personal computer industry. We've succeeded in meeting this goal, although we're the first to admit that demand for the value we offer has sometimes overwhelmed us. We thank you for the understanding and patience you've shown during our growth spurts.

We also want to thank our remarkable vendors the companies that supply us with the highest-quality, most technically-advanced components, software and peripherals, and those that provide support services. Gateway 2000 has been a most demanding customer, and they deserve a lot of credit for our success.

Now our goal is to make the next million even better, one computer and one customer at a time!

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^ -^fflf

If Gateway 2000 was a record, what would we sound like? Musk to your ears!

Those Old-Time Country Values

by The Low Overheads

Our album would kick off with some great Country tunes because, after all, we're the original country PC company with the low-overhead prices. We're located

in the heartland of America where our factory is bordered by corn and bean fields. KSUX country radio, the Super Pig, is the number one station in these parts (no fooling). Gateway folks are mostly midwest born and raised, and it shows in our quality workmanship and in the friendly, down-home way we treat our customers. We'll bend over backwards to please you. When you buy from Gateway, you get the best price, quality and service. That's a value nobody can beat.

Gimme the Good Stuff

by Hammer and the Boys

This song is dedicated to everybody who's tired of new technology becoming affordable only after it's upstaged by something better. At Gateway, we offer the latest, newfangled technology at homespun prices.

Baby, Let Me Baby You

by The Support Group

Every Gateway 2000 system comes with excellent after-the-sale support. You get a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don't like your system, send it back within 30 days for a refund. All systems come with a one-year limited warranty and telephone technical support for the life of the system from our award-winning tech department. We received PC World's World Class Award in 1992 for best service and support in the hardware category. And in a February 1993 survey, PC Magazine readers once again gave Gateway an excellent rating for service and reliability. You also get an automated fax service to supply you with detailed documentation on over 150 technical subjects, and a lifetime BBS membership for additional technical support and online forums.

We offer on-site service to most locations in the country (factory service only for notebooks). Replacement parts leave our factory as quickly as possible; we pay overnight shipping. Plus we now have interactive documentation on 486 desktop systems with pictures and text right on your hard drive (in addition to comprehensive hardware and software manuals).

We make it easy for you to buy a Gateway PC, too, with convenient payment options including major credit cards and C.O.D. terms. Net 30-day terms and leasing options are also available to qualified commercial customers. All this and your great-looking Gateway PC comes in our distinctive, country cow-spotted box!

To serve you better,

we Ye hired and

trained over 600 new

people for customer

service, technical

support, sales and

manufacturing in the

past six months,

bringing our total

number of employees

to over 2,000.

A Gateway's 4SX-33 makes a mighty-fme Windows machine!

Our award-winning

4DX2-66V system

now includes a

CD-ROM drive and

a 3.5-inch diskette drive

as standard features.

o o

I G4TEHffl2O00 4DX2

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G47ET^K2000

"You've go! a friend in the business."®

800-846-2058

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We Got the Goods - by The Systematics

Gateway's album would continue with some heartpounding rock 'n roll cuts because our systems are definitely pure rock. They're cool-looking, ^ hot-performing, high-energy machines - at ^^: some sweet prices. There's a model that's ^^ perfect for you.

Megahertz So Good

by Pup and the Cells

Gateway's mini-desktop systems - 3SX-33,4SX-33 and 4DX-33 - are petite but plenty powerful, based on an integrated design that incorporates many subsystems on the motherboard for the best price-performance ratio All mini desktop systems include: 4 to 8MB RAM; a large and fast hard drive, operating on the local bus in 486 models for even faster drive performance; a fast video chipset with 1MB; a brilliant, crisp display from the standard 14-inch CrystalScan non-interlaced color monitor; and more available expansion slots than you find in most small-footprint PCs. The combination of these features makes a cool Windows machine for an unbeatable price.

4 According to PC World. "(Gateway 2000's 4DX2-66V is) by far the fastest machine we're ever tested!"

So You Wanta Fly? - by The Screamin' Vs

Power users, pick up the phone and order a Gateway 2000 VESA® local bus 486 machine right now. You'll never regret it. With our 4DX2-50V or 4DX2-66V models, you get screaming PC performance. We put ATI's Graphics Ultra Pro video card with 1MB VRAM on our VESA local bus for results that are simply awesome! Plus these systems have a hefty 8MB RAM with cache, and hard-rockin' hard drives running on the local bus. An extra VESA local bus expansion slot as well. You get a 15-inch flat, square CrystalScan color monitor and more choices of cool application software than you'll find anywhere else. Our award-winning 4DX2-66V now includes a CD-ROM drive, too!

Big Bandwidth Boogie - by The Gates

If you're looking for the 32-bit power of an EISA system, we offer three models - 4DX-33E, 4DX2-50E and 4DX2-66E. All models include: 8MB RAM with 256K cache; a very large, very fast SCSI hard drive; 32-bit EISA SCSI controller; and a standard tower case. Please call for details and prices on models not listed on our price page.

•

Workin' Up Some New Riffs

by The Harmonics

This one's our theme song. At Gateway, we're always looking for ways to make your PC easier and more fun to use. For example, we now install a Mach 32 video driver icon in your Windows control panel so you can change your video resolution quickly and easily.

We custom-build each

Gateway 2000 computer

to your order. We'll

gladly provide you with

a quote on a special

configuration. Call our

sales department!

All Gateway systems

go through extensive

compatibility testing

to ensure flawless

performance with all

products from major

software developers

and peripherals

manufacturers.

GATEW&2000

imt ve go! a friend in the business." ®

800-846-2058

Jl

I

ja&ai

Windows to the Other Side

by Tommy Gee

Gateway's album would also include jazz favorites because we offer a complete line of software and peripherals to make your system extra cool.

Software Improv - by Good Vibes

All Gateway systems come with some very hip software, all pre-installed and ready to run the moment your PC arrives. With mini desktop, desktop and tower systems that include "choice of application software," you get to pick one of the following applications, all latest versions:

■ Microsoft® Excel for Windows™

■ Microsoft Word for Windows™

■ Microsoft Word and Bookshelf 92® CD

■ Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows'"

■ Microsoft Project for Windows™

■ The MS Entrepreneur Pack (Works,"' Publisher,™ Money,'" and games)

I Borland Paradox® for Windows'"

■ The Windows Programmer Pack (MS Quick C,'" Visual Basic and more)

■ Upgrade to Microsoft Office™ for $175 (CD-ROM Edition also available)

-4 Gateway '$ 4DX-33 V is shown here with Windows Sound System components, the CD-ROM kit and optional speakers. Call for details on this system.

New Sensations - by The Cool Tools

New this month is the introduction of Microsoft MSDOS® 6 plus Enhanced Tools, standard on all Gateway systems. Microsoft says it's "the best version of MSDOS yet." MS-DOS 6 includes features that can increase hard drive capacity, protect your data, free up memory and much more.

Moovin' Up -by The Upgrade Express

For a limited time, Gateway customers can upgrade to MS-DOS 6 for only $48, plus $5 shipping and handling. You get a complete set of disks and a manual for this special price. To order, call our express upgrade number800-846-2037 - or fax us your order at 800-846-2038. We need your customer ID, credit card information, and your choice of 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch disks to place your order. Special price offer ends May 31,1993.

Connectivity - by The Local Area Group

TelePath" Fax/Modem. A 14,400bps modem, V.32bis, with 9,600bps fax capability. Includes WinFax Pro, Crosstalk for Windows, Qmodem. $195

Network Cards. Call for a selection of Ethernet cards and Token Ring adapters, installed and configured. Microsoft Windows" for Workgroups. Networking made easy! Price includes an Ethernet adapter and software. Hardware and software factory-installed. $159

WOW - by Talking Pictures in Motion CD-ROM Kit. Includes CD-ROM, interface card and

everything you need to add MPC-compliant CD-ROM to

your PC. $225

Microsoft Windows Sound System." Package

includes sound board, microphone, headset and

software. $149

Multimedia Accessories. Call for details on other

multimedia hardware and software.

The software and

peripherals listed here

are sold only with the

purchase of a system.

For details on our

complete line of extras

for Gateway customers,

call direct to our

special add-on

components division:

800-846-2080.

X,

We offer many other

system options and

upgrades, including

17" and 20" monitors,

tape backup units,

Texas Instruments

laser printers,

Panasonic dot-matrix

printers, bigger hard

drives, other software

and more. Call today!

Z4

GATEWW2000

"You've got a friend in the business."®

800-846-2058

Gateway 2000's Platinum Hits

Desktop Systems

3SX-33

33MHz 386SX Intel® Processor

4MB RAM

5.25" & 3.5" DisketfeDrives

80MB 17ms ID^Hard Drive

Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB DRAM

14" Color CrystalScan™ 1024NI

Mini Desktop|£ase

5 16-Bit ISA pilots

124-Key Anyjftey® Keyboard

MS-DOS®6, liags, Windows™ & Mouse

MS Works foriWindows1" 2.0

$1295

4SX-33

33MHz 486SX Intel Processor

4MB RAM

5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives

170MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive

Local Bus IDE Interface

Intel OverDrive Socket

Windows Accelerated Video w/1 MB DRAM

14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI

Mini Desktop Case

5 16-Bit ISA Slots

124-Key AnyKey Keyboard

MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse

MS Works for Windows 2.0

4DX-33

■ 33MHz 486DX, Intel Processor

■ 8MB RAM, 64K:Cache

■ 5.25" & 3.5" Disked Drives

■ 250MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive

■ Local Bus IDE Interface

■ Intel OverDrive Socket \

■ Windows Accelerated Vi|eo w/ 1MB DRAM

■ 14" Color CrystalScan 1 Of4NI

■ Mini Desktop Case 15 16-Bit ISA Slots

■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard

■ MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windbws & >

■ MS Works for Windows?2.0

$1495

$1995

4SX-33V

33MHz 486SX Inte|TProcessor

8MB RAM, 64K Cache

5.25" & 3.5" Diskettd Drives

250MB 13ms IDE H,!srd Drive

Local Bus IDE Interjice

Intel OverDrive Socket

ATI Ultra Pro Video w/1 MB VRAM

on VL-Bus™ / | 15" Color CrystalScan 1572FS I Desktop Cas^(Tower Upgrade) | 8 16-Bit m Slots, 2 on VL-Bus | 124-Key^AnyKey Keyboard | MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse | Choipe of Application Software

4DX2-50V

$2195

4DX2-66E

66MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor

8MB RAM, 256K Cache

5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives

500MB 11ms SCSI Hard Drive

32-Bit EISA SCSI Controller

Intel OverDrive Socket

Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB DRAM I 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI

Tower Case

8 32-Bit EISA Slots ! 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard I MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse I Choice of Application Software

$3495

50MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor

8MB RAM, 64K Cache

5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives

250MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive

Local Bus IDE Interface

Intel OverDrive Socket

ATI Ultra Pro Video w/ 1MB VRAM

on VL-Bus™

15" Color CrystalScan 1572FS

Desktop Case (Tower Upgrade)

8 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 on VL-Bus

124-Key AnyKey Keyboard

MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse

Choice of Application Software

$2495

Software Options

With systems that include "choice of application software," pick one from this selection:

■ Microsoft Excel for Windows

■ Microsoft Word for Windows

■ Microsoft Word and Bookshelf 92 CD

■ Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows

■ Microsoft Project for Windows

■ The MS Entrepreneur Pack (Works, Publisher, Money and games)

I Borland Paradox for Windows

■ The Windows Programmer Pack (MS Quick C, Visual Basic and more)

You can also upgrade from MS Works to a choice of software for $ 100, or upgrade from these choices to MS Office for $175.

4DX2-66V

■ 66MHz 486DX2 Irfel Processor

■ 8MB RAM, 256K Cache

■ 3.5" Diskette DrivJAND CD-ROM Drive -4

■ 340MB 13ms IDE lard Drive

■ Local Bus IDE Interface

■ Intel OverDrive Sockk

■ ATI Ultra Pro Video 4jMB VRAM on VL-Bus™

■ 15" Color CrystalScan 157%S

■ Desktop Case (Tower Upgralfe

■ 8 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 on VL-B'%

■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard \

■ MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & 1

■ Choice of Application Software

$2995

Service

Every Gateway 2000 system is backed by:

■ 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

■ One-Year Limited Warranty

■ Lifetime Toll-Free Technical Support

■ On-Site Service Available to Most Locations

■ Lifetime BBS Membership

■ Automated Fax Service

All hard drive sizes are manufacturer's ' specified capacities. Microsoft MS-DOS 6 can increase hard drive capacity through software compression.

®

Primed on recycled x paper with soy inks.

GATE]W2Q00

GLOBAL REiLEAF

—^ "Ion ve gm a friend in the business. ®

800-8 46-2058

10 Gateway Drive • P.O.Box 2000 • North Sioux City, SD 57049-2000 -605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232 Sales Hours: 7am-10pm Weekdays, 9am-4pm Saturdays (CT)

©(993 Gateway 2000, Inc. AnyKey, black-and-white spot design, "Xj"logo and "You've got a friend in The business" slogan are registered trademarks, and CrystalScan and TelePalh are trademarks of Gateway 2000, Inc. The Intel Inside Logo is a trademark and Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. All oiher brands and product nanicTare "trademark s-or registered trademarks of tkir respective companies. Prices and configurations are subject to change without notice. Prices do not include shipping.

NEWS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

AutoCAD Draws on Windows

PATRICK WAURZYNIAK

AutoCAD release 12 gets full Windows treatment and adds speed enhancement

AutoCAD release 12 for DOS was the first version of this venerable software to have GUIlike capabilities. When Autodesk released it last year, developers and users alike were excited by its possibilities. Up until that time, engineers and designers first had to master a fairly steep learning curve on the software, although an Autodesk add-on product called AutoCAD Extension for Windows gave users some semblance of ease of use.

An Enhanced Release for Windows

With AutoCAD release 12 for Windows, Autodesk now has a bona fide entry into the world of graphical PC computing. From an inspection of a prerelease version of this product, it's quickly apparent that this is the easiest-to-use AutoCAD ever. In addition, AutoCAD for Windows has taken the improvements made to the DOS

AutoCAD - N02ZLE3D

File £dit \flew Assist Qraw Construct Modify Settings Bender Mfldel Help

I

Because AutoCAD for Windows is an OLE server, AutoCAD users can now easily paste 3-D models of objects created in AutoCAD's integrated AVE Render facility into any other Windows application, such as Microsoft Word for Windows.

based release 12 a notch higher by bringing the inherent advantages of the Windows GUI (e.g., OLE server support and DDE) to the table.

But Autodesk did not stop at just adding Windows OLE server and DDE support. In fact, AutoCAD for Windows boasts a list of new features that is loo long to mention here. A sampling of these enhancements includes the capability to run multiple AutoCAD sessions (which requires an additional 4.5 MB of RAM beyond the base 8 MB for each multiple session), a rendering window with new MDI (Multiple Document Interface) support, and an Aerial View feature that allows panning and zooming of large CAD drawings in a small window, greatly enhancing the speed of these commonly used CAD operations.

Performance Questions

If you're skeptical of running the notoriously compute-intensive AutoCAD under Microsoft Windows, don't fret. Autodesk says that the program's new display-list driver makes up for much of the speed lacking in AutoCAD Extension for Windows, which was a bolted-on approach to running AutoCAD for DOS under the Windows GUI. Autodesk claims to have sold some 35.000 copies of AutoCAD Extension for Windows. However, because of the software's disappointing performance, it never caught on with users. With AutoCAD for Windows, however, Autodesk claims performance that is comparable to, or in some cases even better than, that of release 12 for DOS.

While I was unable to benchmark the AutoCAD DOS package against the new Windows release, I found the performance of AutoCAD for Windows quite acceptable while running it on what might be termed a base hardware configuration for Windows—a 33-MHz 486DX system with a 256-KB cache. 8 MB of memory, and a 170-MB hard drive. Although Autodesk specifies only a 386 with a math coprocessor and 8 MB of memory as a minimum requirement, you should realistically consider a 33-MHz 486 and between 8 and 16 MB of memory as a good starting point.

Although some functions, particularly the integrated 3-D modeling and rendering features, do not perform as quickly as under the DOS release, the integration under the Windows GUI more than makes up for any drop-off in raw speed. AutoCAD for Windows brings CAD users the

MAY 1993 -BYTE 33

NEWS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

ease of use of Windows (along with a corresponding shorter learning curve for new users), but it also offers the built-in advantages of Windows applications that fully support functions such as OLE and DDE.

In my tests, I was easily able to render a 3-D version of a wireframe drawing of a nozzle into the AutoCAD AVE Render window, copy the rendered image to the Windows Clipboard, and then use AutoCAD's new OLE server support to paste the image into a Microsoft Word for Windows document (see the screen). You can also print rendered images through Windows and save them in either metafile (i.e., .WMF) or bit-map (i.e., .bmp) formats. Such simplicity isn't possible with previous DOS-based AutoCAD releases.

With all these changes, Autodesk kept AutoCAD's list price at $3750. The company's optional but fully integrated solid modeler, Advanced Modeling Extension release 2.1 for Windows, also carries the

same $495 price tag as its DOS predecessor. Autodesk offers upgrades to registered AutoCAD release 12 for DOS users for $75.

Autodesk's Mechanical Move

With the acquisition of Micro Engineering Solutions, Autodesk is realizing its plan to migrate sophisticated mechanical design tools to PCs. Autodesk's DesignExpert and ManufacturingExpert—for solving complex surface modeling and manufacturing problems—are available for Sun Sparcstations, but DOS and Unix versions were expected by late April.

Offered as bundled products that include AutoCAD release 12, DesignExpert retails for $7750, and ManufacturingExpert for $13,750. Each bundle also includes AutoSurf, a CAD/CAM package. ■

Patrick Waurzyniak is a news editor for BYTE in San Mateo, California. You can reach him on BIX as "patrickw."

THE FACTS

AutoCAD release 12 for Windows

$3750; upgrade from DOS, $75

System requirements: A 386 with a math coprocessor (or a 486) with 8 MB of RAM (additional 4.5 MB for each multiple session), 8 MB of free hard disk space (33 MB for full installation), a permanent swap file four times the size of RAM, DOS 3.3 or higher (DOS 5.0 is strongly recommended), a Windows-supported VGA monitor, and a Windows pointing device.

Autodesk, Inc.

2320 Marinship Way

Sausalito, CA 94965

(415) 332-2344

fax:(415)331-8093

Circle 1189 on Inquiry Card.

6 Reasons to Buy DOS 6 from The PC Zone

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DoubleSpace doubles your disk space

MemMaker gives you more memory for MS-DOS-based applications

E-mail and networking

Anti-Virus protects your data

Backup safeguards your data in Windows or in MS-DOS

Undelete recovers deleted files and directories

#12150 MS DOS 6.0 3 Pack $99

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Upgrade Your World Today

and Tomorrow's Upgrade is

FREE

It's easy... just buy $350 worth of Microsoft products between April 1 and May 31, 1993, and get any other upgrade FREE, until 1994.

(up to $129 value, suggested retail price. Product ownership must be registered with Microsoft. Ask for offer coupon and details).

800*258»0260

PLEASE USE THIS CODE WHEN ORDERING #30459

34 BYTE • MAY 1993

Circle 180 on Inquiry Card.

Why some software sells more than others. -/■#

Success. All software developers strive | for it. Now, Don Gall was on top of the world. Software protection made all the difference. Especially in Europe and Asia. Sales were four times better than before. He is the founding father of Sentinel — the guru of software success.

Struggling Software Sales

One day, trekking through the coffee fields of Java, Don ran into his old college buddy Simon Seagull. "Don, my sales are well below expectations." Simon explained his plight, "My software should sell like yours, Don!" Yet despite critical acclaim Simon's company, SimonSays Software, teetered on a financial tightrope. "What's your secret, Don?"

They spent hours analyzing potential problems They looked at everything.

The Key to the Problem

Finally, Don leaned back and asked the assumptive question, "What about protection - are you using Sentinel?"

Nervously, Simon sipped his coffee. His hands shaking as his eyes darted the room. "No. I didn't think I needed to."

Don's chair slid out from under him and he crashed to the floor. Amazed in disbelief, Don cried, "You What?!" Grabbing his tattered scrapbook, Don pulled out photos of his travels. "Ever

I been to Seoul? Prague? Anywhere? Ten bucks will buy you anything, even bootlegged copies of software."

Don's Road to Success

Thumbing through the

scrapbook, Don shared his

experiences. "Back in the

'80s, I was in your shoes

beaten, battered

and bruised."

Simon listened.

"Then, after

a heart breaking

trip around the

world, I called the Software

Publishers Association (SPA)

"I could hardly believe it. They told me developers lose billions of dollars each year. Why? Illegally copied software. In some countries there are nine pirated copies for each legal copy sold."

Simon was disgusted, "It's just not fair."

"That's why I committed myself to solving the piracy problem," explained Don. Simon's eyes lit up. "The dongle!" he shouted. Don corrected him, "Not just any dongle — the dongle that paved the road to success for over 10,000 developers worldwide — Sentinel."

Successful Developers Use Sentinel

Don pulled a stack of letters out of his gunny sack. "All of these people tell the same story." Don read about a successful developer from California who swears she wouldn't be in business without Sentinel. Another company says protection costs less than litigation, plus , they don't have to

spend time and money supporting illegal users.

Others confessed they wouldn't market products internationally without protection.

The hours flew by, story after story, Simon learned Don Gall's secret. To succeed is to protect. To protect is to secure with Sentinel.

•-'■■

Most Advanced and Widely Used Dongles in the World

Backed by the world leader in software protection, Rainbow Technologies, the Sentinel Family of hardware keys is the most diverse and comprehensive selection available. For DOS, Windows, OS/2, Macintosh, LAN, UNIX and others. They're simple to install, and are the most reliable and compatible available.

Rainbow offers just-intime delivery and the largest technical support and engineering staff in the software protection industry.

Call Don Gall today for a free copy of "The Sentinel Guide to Securing Software." Or better yet, ask him for a low cost Sentinel Evaluation Kit—complete with a working dongle!

CALL

800/852-8569

FOR YOUR FREE GUIDE TO SECURING SOFTWARE

5ETI7II1EL

Securing the future of software

m

When you need a dongle, you need Sentinel. The only dongle Don Gall will use.

TECHNOLOGIES

9292 JERONIMO ROAD, IRVINE. CALIFORNIA 92718 ■ 714/ 454-21OO ■ fax 714/ 454-8557 International offices are located in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

© 1993 Rainbow Technologies, Inc. All product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Circle 131 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 132).

MICROSOFT. WINDOWS COMRMIBU;

Design customized arrays with industrystandard products!

CorelRAID implements RAID 4 and 5 in a software solution!

Improves access time of all hard drives in array by spanning data across each drive!

CorelRAID requires IBM compatible 386s, 486s, or PS/2s running Novell NetWare 3.11

COKKf.SCSH APPROVED PRODUCT

The Software Solution for Data Security!

CorelRAID is a revolutionary, cost-effective way to protect your network data. Expensive hardware arrays are no longer necessary because CorelRAID software lets you design customized hard drive arrays. Use any ASPI compatible SCSI controller and three or more SCSI hard drives to build arrays that ensure fault-tolerant network performance with minimum disk space overhead. Now you can "hot-swap" failed hard drives to repair arrays with no down time.

Installs in minutes!

Suggested List Price

Supports any ASPI compatible SCSI

controller and any SCSI hard drive!

Fast and easy installation -install several arrays in minutes!

Console screen alerts

system administrator

of drive failure

-repair arrays with

no down time!

Status of array constantly updated on console screen!

FROMTHE CREATORS OF

CorelDRAW

AN D'~

CorelSCSl"

CUM.

NEWS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A Heavy-Hitting Unix for PCs

BEN SMITH

SunSoft's Solaris 2.1 Solaris 2.1 for Intel is the most complete and

best-looking Unix for PCs. However, the inevitable question remains: Given that you may end up spending as much for a PC to run it (not including your Solaris license or compiler) as but exacts a Steep you would for a decent Sun workstation, why

not just buy a Sun workstation and get everything you need with fewer complications?

Solaris for Intel is not Interactive Unix (SunSoft's operating system based on Unix System V release 3.2) or like any other PC Unix, even those based on System V release 4.0. It is the full-featured SunOS 5 and Solaris 2.1 (see the text box "Solaris 2.1—A More Stable Environment" on page 38). In fact, the only noticeable differences between the SPARC and Intel versions of Solaris 2.1 are in the boot-up procedure, device installation and configuration, and operatingsystem installation. Because of the PC's greater flexibility, Solaris for Intel's dif

for Intel rivals its SPARC-based sibling

price in terms of hardware

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utwnrit Interface

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network Interface

/Physical Network

ysical Network Layer i Physical layer Is the hardware level a -j 3lcal connections between hosts and n irtor packets between machines.

works p*ct» Pro Denies

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■UHfi]

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Is it Solaris 2.1 for Intel or Solaris 2.1 for SPARC? It's tough to tell, as the two versions of SunSoft's new operating system, are virtually identical.

fering procedures are more sophisticated and have more options than the SPARC version.

Power Consumer

Since Sun does not sell the hardware for Solaris for Intel, you can buy your system from whatever PC vendor you choose. But don't think you're going to cut many costs because you are about to buy a PC instead of a Sun workstation. If you want to take advantage of the differences between Solaris and run-of-the-mill PC Unix systems such as Interactive and SCO, you will need some serious hardware.

The minimum Intel-based system that you should consider putting Solaris on should include a reputable 486/50 with a CPU-to-memory cache that SunSoft has certified works with its kernel. For the basics, 16 MB of RAM may be enough, but for any workstation-oriented application, you will want 32 MB. Unless you plan to run your applications from a server, you should invest in a 500-MB hard drive.

I evaluated a beta version of Solaris for Intel on a Dell PowerLine 450SE/2 (a 486DX running at 50 MHz) with 32 MB of RAM and a 500-MB SCSI drive attached through an Adaptec AHA-1740 controller. The system also had a Graphics Ultra 8514/A card from ATI Technologies. The performance was equivalent to Interactive Unix on the same machine. Even though the display's resolution was only 1024 by 768 pixels with 256 colors (not what you might be used to on Sun workstations), it is very usable, even for graphics.

The prerelease version of Solaris for Intel that I tested supports only a dozen video cards and a handful of the most popular devices. But the list does include Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Pro. There is a major effort at SunSoft to expand the device list to include everything that Interactive Unix supports—hundreds of boards, displays, and devices.

If you have installed devices for standard Unix workstations but have never configured a PC-based Unix system before, you are in for a nasty surprise. If you don't have a Micro Channel architecturebased system, you'll need to keep track of IRQ (interrupt request) numbers, I/O memory addresses, and buffer memory addresses. You will be setting jumpers and running DOS-based configuration programs. There just isn't enough built-in intelligence to the devices and bus. Even an EISA configuration doesn't help if there is

MAY 1993 -BYTE 37

NEWS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Solaris 2.1— A More Stable Environment

Few people like change, even when the result might be for the better. The process of change implies pain and inconvenience. Certainly, the change from the old BSD Unix SunOS 4.x to the enhanced Solaris 2.x is going to leave more than a few people gasping and grasping. Solaris 2.0 had the added inconvenience of being bug-ridden and unstable (never upgrade to a dot zero release). With Solaris 2.1, the bugs have been exterminated, and the system appears stable. Developers, vendors, and users can get serious about moving to Solaris 2.1.

Not Just a Pretty Face

The base of Solaris 2.1 is the forwardlooking Unix System V release 4.0, a complete overhaul of Unix Systems Laboratories Unix that incoiporates the best features of BSD Unix and Xenix. It has shared libraries, run-time linkable device drivers, memory-mapped files (i.e., a file can be manipulated with the same functions as memory), filesystem-mapped processes, two flavors of networkwide process communications, and file sharing.

Solaris 2.1 is more than Unix SVR4.

It adds symmetric multiprocessing with lightweight processes (i.e., multithreaded processes), real-time extensions for deterministic control scheduling, and enhanced security (including Kerberos). There is a new version of Network Information Services (informally known as Yellow Pages), the distributed-name service used to facilitate network-based computing and communications.

At the user level, there is Open Windows 3.0, the refined and elegant GUI that sits on top of an X Window System 11 release 4 and PostScript-based News graphics server. OpenWindows 3.0 is significantly more versatile than the threadbare Open Look that you will find on more primitive Unix SVR4 systems. OpenWindows 3.0 includes one of the finest graphical file managers as part of its desktop tool set.

Some system-administration features are new, particularly in the area of network-based operating-system installation and maintenance. Many of the old table-driven administration tools now have graphical front ends so that they fit in with Solaris's graphical interface to system administration, AdminTool.

Other bundled features include fulltext on-line documentation called AnswerBook and more internationalization/localization. Solaris has also added the XGL 2-D and 3-D geometry-based graphics libraries and API to its development tools (which are now sold separately).

No Pain, No Gain

The future lies in wide-open distributed computing. By bringing BSD Unix, Xenix, and USL System V together in Unix SVR4 and giving applications developers the best of networking and distributed-computing hooks and tools, Solaris 2.1 opens up what was once becoming a restricted space for Sun workstations.

The major problem with Solaris 2.1 has been the reluctance of software developers to port to it, and this they must do, because Solaris 2.1 does not run the older SunOS code. SunOS has more products running on it than any other Unix platform. Right now, the weather looks a little gray, but once the move to Solaris 2.1 for SPARC picks up momentum, which it will, SunSoft will again shine brightly.

a single ISA card on the expansion bus.

SunSoft does help by providing an interactive program (devconf ig) for setting the driver parameters for any devices. This program will discover all it can about your hardware, but you need to help it by providing device information on your ISAbus devices.

Unlike SCO and Interactive, you don't rebuild the Solaris kernel on every attempt to add a new device. The drivers are separate, run-time-linked modules. You can even load and unload drivers while the system is running.

An Enigmatic Market

Solaris for Intel is a marketing dilemma for SunSoft. If the product is to create its

own market niche—one that doesn't compete with SunSoft's Interactive Unix for PCs and Solaris for SPARC—it also won't be taking any market share away from other adaptations of PC Unix. SunSoft seems to be aiming at an unclear market for Unix running on expensive PCs. While this product is an impressive achievement, the advantage of Solaris for Intel is not clear. ■

Ben Smith is a testing editor for the BYTE Lab. He is also the author of two books: UNIX Step-by-Step (Sams, 1990) and UNIX E-Mail and Usenet News (Sams, forthcoming). You can contact him on BIX as "bensmith" or on the Internet at bcn@ bytep.byte.com.

THE FACTS

Solaris 2.1 for Intel

(price not available at press time)

Solaris 2.1 for SPARC

$795; $50 upgrade from version 2.0

SunSoft, Inc.

2550 Garcia Ave.

Mountain View, CA 94043

(800) 227-9227

(415) 336-0678

fax: (415) 336-0362

Circle 1190 on Inquiry Card.

38 BYTE • MAY 1993

Introducing the HP LaserJet 4M.

Now everyone can tap the power and performance of an HP LaserJet printer. The HP LaserJet 4M. A printer made with everything your PC and Mac users expect: built-in genuine PostScript™ Level 2 from Adobe™ 6 MB of standard memory standard LocalTalk, optional EtherTalk, built-in Windows TrueType fonts, and

The HP LaserJet 4M Is the one for all. a

Macintosh and PCi;i alike. This new '■ «■ generation provides superior output with. 600 dpi. Resolution f Enhancement technology and m Icroflne loner. 6MB built-in memory

that PostScript fUes

and lull-page graphics print out crisp, clear! and fast.

the best 600-dpi print quality available.

Greater flexibility for mixed environments.

Because it's designed to be shared simultaneously, the LaserJet 4M gives you greater flexibility for mixed environments without compromise to either. Automatic language switching between PCL 5 and PostScript, 3 hot I/O ports, and new RISC processor make sure no one will have to wait around for this printer.

The finest print quality in its class.

With HP's microfine toner, Resolution Enhancement technology, and 600 x 600-dpi engine, the new LaserJet 4M

printer also delivers the finest 600-dpi print quality available.

Faur times the dots for better resolution.

Its wide range of typefaces, two integrated paper trays, and the options of a 500-sheet tray and a power envelope feeder set a new standard in versatility.

HP quality and reliability.

Of course, with the LaserJet 4M printer, you'll enjoy HP's renowned quality and reliability. All for only $2,399* So call 1-800-LASERJET (1-800-527-3753), Ext. 7341** for a free print sampled Or visit your nearest authorized HP dealer.

If it isn't a LaserJet, it's only a laser printer.

WHHM PACKARD

i' l!Ki:i Hewlett-Packard Company PE12355 "Suggested U.S. list price. "In Canada call 1-800-387-3867, Ext. 7341. Adobe and PostScript are trademark* nf Adobe Systems Inc. which may be registered in certain Jurisdictions. TTo have a LaserJet 4M printer data sheet sent Immrdliiiely via fax machine, call 1-800-064-1667 from your touch-tone phone.

$495

KINGSTON PROCESSOR UPGRADES.

Significant Savings,

Equivalent

Performance.

Kingston's SX/Now!, 486/Now!, MCMaster, ATMasterandtbe IBM designed SLC/Now!processor upgrades make existing systems perforin like new 386SX, 486SX or 486DX models. They provide the power needed for today's software, perform comparably to new systems and cost at least 50% less.

Eliminate Peripheral Replacement and Software Reinstallation.

When upgrading with Kingston existing peripherals will remain fully compatible with host systems. Reinstallation of operating system and application software is eliminated.

Upgrade

Before

After

New System

SX/Now!

IBM-AT

With SX/Now! 25

PS/2 Model 57SX-045

Landmark Speed 2.0:

8 MHz

35 MHz

22 MHz

Recount:

5:44 Min.

1:51 Min.

1:54 Min.

Retail Price:

$215

$1,545

SLC/Now!

PS/2 Model 50

With SLC/Now! 25

PS/2 Model 57SX-045

Landmark Speed 2.0:

13 MHz

33 MHz

22 MHz

Recount:

3:34 Min.

1:08 Min.

1:54 Min.

Retail Price:

$245

$1,545

486/Now!

PS/2 Model 70-25MHZ

With 486/Now! SX 25

PS/2 Model 9CK3HK>SX 25

Landmark Speed 2.0:

39 MHz

84 MHz

84 MHz

Recount:

:55 Sec.

:39 Sec.

:38 Sec.

Retail Price:

$495

$3,280

MCMaster

PS/2 Model 55SX

With MCM SX 25

PS/2 Model 90OH9 SX25

Landmark Speed 2.0:

16 MHz

84 MHz

84 MHz

Recount:

2:47 Min.

:36 Sec.

:38 Sec.

Retail Price:

$795

$3,280

ATMaster

PS/2 Model 40

With ATM SX 25

PS-2 Model 90OH9 SX 25

Landmark Speed 2.0:

21 MHz

84 MHz

84 MHz

Recount:

1:48 Min.

:45 Sec.

:38 Sec.

Retail Price;

$875

$3,280

M nslem listed uill) 16.111} iimM e.mpl ABlazliT, iisttil uilh HUB. iiiui Mi Jln.!i>it^tilmibSMttm-lmnlmultiMBimmAberbMTd.Allsyslmpric&aKMSIU'alMtukrdcmfyimlim i'//9>/^<Mmrj;/^TOi'/im'(5(ire,HW(iwj/1i7.9.i k'niiiiiitoi/hnlt'ihin ;il/i /w. tip/ It imhtmimaikhtvlfliwraierffryKinplmi frriwo/ogy.

Systems Supported.

Kingston's SLC/Now! supports IBM's 286-basedsystems while SX/Now!'supports 286-based systemsfiom AST, Compaq, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Zenith. 486/Now! upgrades 386DX systems from IBM and Compaq. MCMaster supports all IBM PS/2 Mien) Channel systems while ATMastersupports 386SX systems from IBM and Compaq.

_ leadership in RZ Processor Upgrades.

~ Kingston is the industry leader in performance and reliability. Byte lagazine's 1992 Award of Merit was presented to MicroMaster, theforem n ner of the MCMaster.

3(

eB^gt

SAVE YOUR SYSTEM AND A BUNDLE.

Compatibility is Assured.

Testing with the original manufacturer's diagnostics guarantees 100% hardware and software compatibility. The National Sqftti we Testing Laboratory certifies thai Kingston's upgrade products are fully compatible.

by The National Software Testing Lnkonmtry Certification for nxenl intwditeltom, ,1/Otav, ATMasterandSlC'Smiispemlme

I

Easy Installation.

MCMaster andATMaster upgrades install in any available expinsion slot. SLC/Now!, SX/Now! and 486/Now!plug directly into the existing processor socket on the mother board. With Kingston's product manuals that detail the simple, step by step installation, it only takes about 10 minutes to complete the process.

Individual Product Testing.

Ever)'product is bench tested in the system for which it was designed. Testing with original equipment manufacturer system ^^PJU^ diagnostics assures absolute compatibility.

j|fi*"i t^w. ^"s mre co,m',menl'" quality control leads to many years of reliable service.

Kingston Reliability.

Processor upgrade users enjoy the same reliability customers have come to expect from Kingston memoiypivdiicts. Eveiypioducl is individually tested prior to shipping supported by five comprehensive technical assistance and backed by ape-year warranty. Thanks to this relentless scrutiny, we have over 5,832,717products hard at work in the world today.

More Information.

To find out which processor upgrade is best for you, contact pur nearby Kingston dealer or give its a call at (800) 835-6575. We'll be happy to answer your questions about processor upgrades or any of our other 625 upgrade products.

yum neuruy Kingston i

[800]

11 Kingston

■"1*1 AlLTECHNOLdfcY CORPORATION

The Inside Name in Upgrades 176QO Newhope Street, Fountain Valley, California 92708 (714) 435-2600 Fax (714) 435-2699

All Trademarks. Registered Trademarks and Logos are oflbeir respective holders. Kingston and Kingston Technology are Registered Trademarks of Kingston Technology Corporation. MCMaster C-ATMaster are Trademarks o/Aox, Inc.

Circle 98 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 99).

NEWS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

NetWare 4.0 Delivers a New Directory Service

If you're a network administrator, you'll notice a number of significant changes to Novell's NetWare 4.0, such as a new NetWare Directory Service (NDS for short) and support for more connections and servers. However, if you're a network user, you might not even notice that your organization has upgraded to NetWare 4.0. Novell has carefully designed NetWare 4.0 to be compatible with versions 2.2 and 3.11.

I tested a prerelease version of NetWare 4.0, but Novell planned (as I write this) to release the core product in March. Novell says it will release NetWare System Fault Tolerance III—a version of NetWare 4.0 incorporating software techniques that ensure fail-safe operation of the LAN—later this year.

The most significant feature of NetWare 4.0 is Novell's new networkwide NDS, a hierarchically organized database that replaces the old bindery, which operated on a server-by-server basis. With earlier versions of NetWare, you purchased the separate NetWare Naming Services to use global names on your LAN. NDS is a completely redesigned naming service for directories, servers, and log-on accounts. The enhanced directory feature is designed to let network administrators control exactly which network resources a user can access.

Many version 3.11-aware network utilities use the Novell API to access the bindery. By default, NetWare 4.0 turns on bindery emulation, so you don't have to throw those utilities away. Version 4.0's new named-directory service will work with software written to the X.500 directory services specification, according to Novell. This named-directory service is the key that lets people log in to groups of local servers in a single operation. You can also easily access servers located in geographically dispersed LANs (i.e., the enterprise).

NetWare 4.0 supports up to 1000 simultaneous connections (3.11 maxed out at 250), and Novell sells licenses in strata of five, 10, 20, 50, 100, 250, 500, and 1000 users. NetWare 4.0 offers up to 54,000 server connections if you use the new shell (3.11 allowed only eight server connections). You can run version 4.0 in nondedicated mode with the Unix and OS/2 ver

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sions, but the core product remains a dedicated server environment. NetWare 4.0 doesn't yet support multiprocessor machines.

In answer to a frequent criticism of version 3.11, NetWare 4.0 distinguishes between ring 0 and ring 3 memory protection. New in this version is a read-ahead cache to help performance, along with two features to help you conserve server disk space: data-block suballocation and data compression. If you're afraid that on-thefly compression will bog the server down, you can configure data compression to occur during off-hours, when most people have left the office. However, when you access a compressed file, NetWare 4.0 has to do the extra work to restore the file to its uncompressed form.

Version 4.0 has the same limits on number of volumes and total disk space as version 3.11—64 and 32 TB, respectively. NetWare 4.0 offers RSA public/private key cryptography for better security, along with NDS and file-system event logging. You also get remote console session security and remote session modem callback. NetWare 4.0 can use a time server to synchronize clocks among multiple servers (even in different time zones). Future enhancements to version 4.0 will include Image Enabled NetWare, based on Kodak technology, and document management services, based on content document architecture technology.

NetWare 4.0 will ship on CD-ROM. On a Toshiba 3301 drive, I was able to quickly and easily create a NetWare 4.0 server. I had to install only a few more megabytes of RAM in the PC to give version 4.0 a happy home. NetWare 4.0 requires at least 6 MB of RAM and from 12 to 60 MB of

disk space (depending on the features you install).

The version 4.0 shell software that enables a DOS client to access a NetWare file server is smaller than version 3.11 (53 KB versus 59 KB for version 3.11), but it otherwise provides the same I/O redirection functions as that shell software. The new client can also attach directly to 3.x servers. Workstations can continue to use the older shell software; you don't have to upgrade all the workstations at once. Novell supplies the NetWare 4.0 DOS client software in modular form as VLMs (Virtual Loadable Modules).

You can log in from within Windows, just as you can from within OS/2's PM (Presentation Manager). People who use the Windows or PM interfaces get new tools for managing their network sessions. NetWare 4.0 has built-in packet-burst support. It provides the ability to back up DOS and OS/2 workstations and offers a smaller RAM footprint for designated remote printers.

NetWare 4.0 is a logical, practical step up from previous versions. If you've outgrown the 250-user or eight-server limits of NetWare 3.11, or if you have some LANs connected in a WAN (wide-area network), you'll find that NetWare 4.0 injects new life into your network.

—Barry Nance

THE FACTS

NetWare 4.0

$1399 for five users (minimum installation)

System requirements: A 386 server, 6 MB of RAM, and 12 to 60 MB of disk space. Supports PC-DOS, DR DOS, Windows, Unix, Macintosh, and OS/2 clients.

Novell, Inc.

122 East 1700 South

Provo, UT 84606

(800)459-1253

(801)429-7000

fax:(801)429-3944

Circle 1191 on Inquiry Card.

42 BYTE • MAY 1993

655" 14**

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like backup, anti-virus and undelete tools for users of both MS-DOS" and Microsoft Windows?

So if you need more space, integrated disk compression in the MS-DOS 6 Upgrade operating system makes it easy to stretch out.

Microsoft

Making it easier

'Compression results may vary depending on system configuration, © 1993 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. For more information: In the 50 United States, call (800) 228-7007, Dept. RX1 Customers in Canada tall (800) 563-9048; outside the 50 United States and Canada, contact your local Microsoft subsidiary or call (206) 936-8661. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

NEWS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Canon's NoteJet 486 Packs a Printer

Portability is the trend of the 1990s. As system vendors continue to integrate more computing functionality into smaller, lighter packages, it should be no surprise that notebook PCs are starting to incorporate printers. Canon Computer Systems recently debuted the first of these combinations, the NoteJet 486.

The 7%-pound NoteJet comprises a 25-MHz TI486SLC processor (Texas Instruments manufactures the nearly identical Cx486SLC CPU for Cyrix), a 9^-inch backlit monochrome VGA LCD, 4 MB of RAM (which is expandable to 12 MB), a 1.44-MB floppy drive, and a 360-dot-per-inch bubblejet printer. The printer most closely resembles a Canon BJ-lOex printer in its design, but at about 25 percent of the size of the original.

Also included in this package are two PCMCIA Level 2 slots (the first two available devices from Canon, both fax modems, will ship concurrently with the NoteJet), a pen-like Canon mouse, a file transfer utility called InterLink, DOS 5.0, and Windows 3.1. Models differ by the hard drive size: I looked at a prerelease version of Model 1 ($2499), which has an 85-MB hard drive. The capacity in the other models goes up to 180 MB.

Canon, which is marketing the notebook as the NoteJet in the U.S. and the BN22 in Europe (the adapter and keyboards will differ with the market), has created some confusion by jointly announcing with IBM a similar notebook/ printer that will sell in Japan and nearby markets. That product, called the ThinkPad 550BJ, differs from the NoteJet in its IBMspecification motherboard, 25-MHz 486SLC processor, drives, and other components. The integrated-printer concept is Canon's own.

The inevitable question that potential users will ask is, How much can the NoteJet 486 print before the battery dies? Here is one case where a vendor underrated a product. Canon claims the NoteJet produces eight pages of 1500 characters each before the system loses power, but I was able to print the entire 27-page Windows readme file from the Write applet plus two additional pages of another text file before the nickel-cadmium battery died. The

10-page automatic sheet feeder sucks the paper in beneath the liftable keyboard, and a page guide lets you feed in letter- (or transparencies), legal- (hand-fed only), and A4-size paper.

Canon estimates a print speed of 116 characters per second, or two pages per minute. No underrating here: 10 pages of the same readme file took 11 'A minutes to print (using the automatic sheet feeder) once Windows composed the document.

If you keep the separate printer and sheet-feeder switches turned off, the battery provides up to 4 hours of use. Canon provides some handy power management assistance. First, there's an LED indicator, displaying the power level by varying colors, that you can view with the case open or closed. There's a deep-discharge utility that you run before charging the system, and Canon includes a power management utility (for setting various components' shutdown levels) in addition to the power management functions built into the Quadtel BIOS, the Western Digital chip set, and the CPU itself. (Although you cannot recharge the battery when using the system, you shouldn't have to wait long. Canon claims the battery requires only 70 minutes to charge.)

The NoteJet 486's upgrade options, in addition to the two PCMCIA fax modems, are a numeric keypad, connected through the trackball jack, and a palm rest ($45),

which screws into the front edge of the notebook beneath the paper-feed slot (the included paper tray fits into the palm rest when you fold up the latter for transport). If you need to install a math coprocessor, you can easily insert Cyrix's Cx83S87 into the system through the same hatch you use to install SIMM banks. Canon itself sells neither SIMMs nor a coprocessor for this system, but the vendor notes you can purchase them through the large retailers and dealerships that carry the NoteJet itself.

A Canon representative discussed the concerns of clients in corporate MIS departments about the NoteJet, which centered on the fact that servicing half of it, say the printer, inevitably takes the whole unit out of commission for the duration of the repair cycle. Had Canon designed the NoteJet to allow you to swap printers, said the representative, the result would have made the notebook bigger and heavier. As it is, the NoteJet may already strain the shoulders of users accustomed to current notebooks.

As for print quality, the NoteJet's output reveals its share of the jaggies, along with some of the stray droplets, called satellites, that are obvious only if you use a magnifying glass to find them. What most greets the naked eye, however, is crisp, easily readable output that does not strain the eyes. The bottom line: You won't find better printing 37,000 feet up.

—Ed Perratore

THE FACTS

NoteJet 486

Model 1 (85-MB hard drive), $2499

Model 2 (130-MB hard drive),

$2799

Model 3 (180-MB hard drive),

$2999

Canon Computer Systems, Inc.

123 East Paulerino Ave.

Costa Mesa, CA 92628

(714)438-3000

(714)438-3099

Circle 1192 on Inquiry Card.

44 BYTE • MAY 1993

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To get information about this fantastic deal, call (800) 228-7007, Dept. RX3. Better yet, pick up the MS-DOS 6 Upgrade at your nearest reseller. Before this opportunity slips through your fingers.

Micwsott

Making it easier

"Offer gaud only in rhc SO United Slates. Reseller prices may wary. "Compression results may wry depending on system configuration. © 1993 Microsoft Corporation. All n^its reserved. Printed In the USA, Tor more information; In the 50 United States, call (800) 228-7007, Dept. RX3. For Information only: Customers in Canada, call (800) 563-9048; outside the ^0 United States and Canada contact yo

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Circle 78 on Inquiry Card.

NEWS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

HP Serves Up Two Winning Network Printers

Building on the success of the recently introduced LaserJet 4 series, HewlettPackard's newest arrivals, the HP LaserJet 4Si and its big sibling, the HP LaserJet 4Si MX, set new standards for network printers. Designed to replace the popular HP LaserJet IlISi. the new LaserJets offer many improvements in the areas of output quality, ease of use, and performance.

On the outside, the new printers appear identical to the IlISi; however, appearances can be deceiving. The $5499 LaserJet 4Si MX comes standard with Adobe PostScript Level 2, a LocalTalk port, and HP's JetDirect Ethernet interface, all of which are optional for the LaserJet 4Si (which is priced at $3749). Both printers include 45 scalable typefaces for use with HP's Enhanced PCL (Printer Control Language) 5; the 4Si MX also includes 35 PostScript typefaces. The 4Si comes standard with 2 MB of RAM. and the 4Si MX comes fitted with 10 MB.

Like the LaserJet 4 series, both units offer true 600-dot-per-inch output, thanks to the new Canon P-174 print engine. Thus, the 4Si MX produces four times as many dots as does 300-dpi output in the same area, which is typical of the LaserJet III printers, for much sharper output quality. Of course, the 4Si MX also uses HP's Resolution Enhancement Technology, which smooths the edges of letters and graphics curves. HP's microfine-toner-particle technology results in smaller dots for crisper lines and edges.

The print engine of the 4Si MX is rated at the same comfortable 17 pages per minute as the IlISi. A manufacturer-stated ppm rating doesn't necessarily translate into speed when dealing with text- and graphics-intensive pages. The 4Si MX, however, generated outstanding output at impressive speed, including many clearly discernible gray scales, clean and legible 4point text, and detailed hairlines. The quality of the 4Si MX's photographic reproductions is comparable to that of a Laser

Jet 4—overall sharp in detail, but a little splotchy and granular.

The monthly duty cycle has been increased from 50.000 pages per month to 75.000 pages. Although the same 17-ppm engine rating as the Illsi does not sound like a vast performance improvement, don't forget that the 4Si MX is printing at 600 dpi. From the looks of my tests, HP surpassed its development goal of providing 600-dpi output faster than its former network champion generated 300-dpi output. As expected, the 4Si MX performs more than twice as fast as the 8-ppm LaserJet 4M. (To see how the 4Si MX stacks up in head-to-head competition with the latest offerings from Compaq, QMS, and other printer manufacturers, see "126 Printers" on page 146.)

Performance enhancements include the use of the Intel 80960CF 25-MHz RISC processor for faster page interpretation, a high-speed Bi-Tronics parallel interface that accepts data quicker than do standard parallel ports (introduced with the LaserJet 4), and Enhanced PCL 5 (which HP claims is optimized to provide faster graphics output).

Unlike a typical PostScript printer, HP's successor to the network throne can render one page in memory while another page is still printing. Usually, a PostScript page

must complete printing before the next one can start printing. The printer can also accept a steady flow of PCL 5 and PostScript print jobs by instantly switching between the two languages. Similarly, the printer will accept data from any of its interface ports that are simultaneously active.

HP has also introduced its next generation of JetDirect network interfaces. The 4Si MX's JetDirect Ethernet card, which provides twisted-pair and coaxial connections, supports automatic network switching between 10 major network protocols.

The paper-handling capabilities of the 4Si MX are impressive. Two 500-sheet paper trays come standard, and an optional 1500-sheet tray ($649) replaces one of the 500-sheet trays, for a total of 2000 sheets. The printer alternates each print job's placement in the output bin, so you won't have to search for the beginning and end of your printout. An arm senses when the output bin nears its 550-sheet capacity and stops the printer to avoid paper jams.

The 4Si's many attributes should be a welcome addition to most networks. And network managers will be hard-pressed to find anything that HP overlooked in the 4Si MX.

—Richard Fox

THE FACTS

HP LaserJet 4Si

$3749

HP LaserJet 4Si MX

$5499

Hewlett-Packard Co.

P.O. Box 58059,

MS 511L-SJ

Santa Clara, CA 92127

(800)752-0900

Circle 1193 on Inquiry Card.

Big-League Desktop Publishing

How can a $59.95 Windows desktop publishing package compete with those in the $800 range? After working with a beta copy of Serifs PagePlus 2.0, I found that this package includes everything you need for basic desktop publishing, plus a few surprises.

PagePlus 2.0 offers some pretty sophisticated tools, including OLE support, TrueType compatibility, full-color (i.e.. 24-bit) images, Panlone palettes, and the ability to generate color-separated output. In addition, with PagePlus 2.0, you get auto-flow text capabilities (both free-flow

and frame), the ability to create libraries of styles, and the ability to rotate all objects. PagePlus 2.0 also comes with a table editor, which not all high-end desktop publishing packages include.

The program is fairly simple to install, although the installation procedure lacks

48 BYTE • MAY 1993

PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK ROCKWOOD © 1993

The VltraLite Autograph is just one of the many innovations NEC has

brought to portable

computing. Others

include the first

active-matrix color

notebook, the first

color laptop and

the first portable

Docking Station7"

«

*J

irc

m

After you see our performance

*

you'll want our Autograph.

Applause and standing ovations. That's how people are reacting to NEC's new UltraLite' Autograph™ The UltraLite Autograph is a tablet computer that's designed to provide uncompromising performance anytime, anywhere. At just 3.9 lbs., and a mere 1.2" thin, this lightweight delivers heavyweight performance. The Autograph is loaded with advanced features like a powerful i486™SL processor. 40 or 80MB* hard disk drive. A full complement of standard ports. Local bus video for dazzling video performance. A high-quality VGA transflective screen display for clear viewing indoors and outdoors. Two PCMCIA slots for easy installation of peripherals like fax modems and local area network cards. And programmable HotZone™ icons that work like function keys to allow quick, easy access to frequently used functions. And there's an optional keyboard that has been customized for portable use. It comes with plenty of battery life, thanks to its 3.3-volt design that gives users significant battery life improvement depending on usage (3-5 hours with a standard NiMH battery and 6-10 hours with a double-capacity battery pack). And the Autograph can run either Windows™ for Pen Computing™ or PenPoint™ software. NEC's UltraLite Autograph. You'll give its performance rave reviews. To find out where you can see the Autograph, call us at 1-800-NEC-INFO (in Canada, 1-800-343-4418) and we'll tell you where you can sign on the bottom line for one.

Because t is the way you want to go.

*80MB available 1st quarter 1993.

; 1993 NEC To=rmoloo«s. I

Circle 112 on Inquiry Card.

NEWS

RST IMPRESSIONS

lUuiBinh-iEjtiffisrigaBilaa't«j [Tia f

:Cim*b» nev uriiied docimert

some of the finesse of the high-end packages. Components you can choose to install or not are a table editor, graphics filters, and text filters. Each item shows the amount of space it will take up on your hard drive, and the software also tells you how much space you have left on your drive.

The PagePlus 2.0 screen looks like a typical Windows application with the menu bar. PagePlus 2.0 also makes use of buttons in its ToolBox and ChangeBar windows. I found the placement of buttons, such as those along the Status Bar at the bottom, hard to get used to. But a HintLine tells you what the buttons do, so you're never completely in the dark. The on-screen help is also remarkably complete.

When you start a new file, you can use a template or you can do the layout yourself. If you want to add a graphic to the page, you select a box tool from the ToolBox. Then, using the pointer tool, you can create a graphical object. Although you can similarly create text on the page, PagePlus 2.0 doesn't have any word processing features. Thus, if you're dealing with complex text, it's better to create the text in your word processor and import it.

To import a graphic, you click on the import picture button, and a little "flyout" appears with three indiscernible buttons on it. I had to refer to the HintLine to discover the identity of these buttons. If you click on art and borders, you can access the clip art that comes with PagePlus 2.0. You can click on the OLE button to import OLE objects. To import text, you go to the File pull-down-menu and click on Import Text.

The ChangeBar is an interesting feature. It lets you change the looks of a selected object by changing its properties. To use it, you select the object, such as a headline, and use the scroll bar or the slider bar in the ChangeBar window to change the size of the text. You can see the change automatically take place on the screen. It's pretty nifty, and better than the usual pull

down menu way of changing the point size.

I found myself comparing PagePlus 2.0 to high-end desktop publishing packages, which is a terrific compliment for Serif's low-cost software. I should be comparing it to desktop publishing software in its own price range. However, with features such as OLE capabilities, color separation, text flow, and more, it appears to me that PagePlus 2.0 has put itself in the league with the big-time players—and at a whole lot less cost to us.

—Anne Fischer Lent

THE FACTS

PagePlus 2.0

$59.95

System requirements: A 286 with 2 MB of RAM, Windows, a mouse, and at least 4 MB of free disk space.

Serif, Inc.

P.O. Box 803

Nashua, NH 03061

(800) 697-3743

(603) 889-8650

fax: (800) 869-8909

Circle 1194 on Inquiry Card.

Compelling Presentations

Compel, a$295 presentation package from Asymetrix, can infuse an otherwise dull presentation with colorful slides and a full range of visual elements and sound. Pulling together a simple presentation using this software takes little time and effort.

You start off in Compel by typing text in a default template. The template determines your presentation's color scheme and font selection, while a slide-style selection controls the location of text, bullets, and graphics for an individual slide in the presentation. If you don't like the look of your slides, you can switch templates onthe-fly without redoing your work. You can preview thumbnail views of slide styles to see how well they blend in with the active template. Templates and slide styles together provide a rich selection of designs and make it easy to apply a consistent look to your presentation.

To help you organize your ideas, you

can build a bulleled outline of your presentation. Compel automatically generates a full set of slides from the outline, generating a slide from each bulleted topic. You can also use bullets as interactive links so that each bullet calls a unique slide. A full selection of slide transitions includes fade, dissolve, blinds, wipe, and zoom.

The Slide Sorter shows a thumbnail view of all the slides in your presentation. You can easily rearrange slides by dragging them around with the mouse and dropping them in place, or you can perform other quick operations on slides such as copy, paste, and delete. To edit a slide from the Slide Sorter, you simply double-click on it. Compel can automatically generate speaker notes and audience handouts, and your presentation can be formatted for output to the computer screen, an overhead projector, 35mm slides, or a printer.

The most attention-getting aspect of the software is its support for multimedia. Compel does not simply rely on OLE to pull in multimedia clips: Full multimedia support is built into the Compel interface. Any object, including text, can be linked to a multimedia event. You simply select the object and activate the Media Links dialoe box. You then designate the

50 BYTE • MAY 1993

Our new color printer not only looks great on . it looks great on paper.

The eye

when it sees black

and white.

The eye when it sees color.

True, the brilliant color produced by the new Tektronix Phaser® 200 is captivating. But the price is equally attractive. And though we've become the award-winning leader in color printers by frequently outdoing the . uh

competition, this time -2^

we've even outdone ourselves. Introducing our newest business work group color printer.

The Phaser 200 is compatible with virtually any business software and can print two colorful pages per minute. No, not two minutes per page—two pages per minute. And even at a speed like that, it still manages to print eye-catching color on common laser paper or transparencies using a separate input tray for each. You select the medium you want at your computer keyboard. And it switches automatically from user to user just as easily, using its parallel, serial, AppleTalk™ or optional EtherTalk™ and Ethernet™ ports.

It has all the advantages of a laser printer. True Adobe PostScript™ Level 2, networkability Pantone® colors, speed and price. (Did you notice it's only $3695, slightly below unheard of?) And when you add to that extremely high materials capacity and sparkling TekColor™ output—not just any color, but the indisputably best color in the business— you've got something even better than our previous best. Which is quite a feat.

So stop by your nearest Tektronix dealer or call us at 800/835-6100, Dept. 28J for a free output sample. For faxed information call 503/682-7450, ask for document § 1223. You won't find another business investment that looks this good on paper.

Tektronix

Phaser is a trademark of Tektronix, Inc. PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companie

Circle 140 on Inquiry Card.

NEWS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

type of event (e.g., video, sound, or animation) and the action that will trigger the event (e.g., when the object is clicked on). You can even specify a portion of the sound or video to be played by setting beginning and end points, as shown in the screen at the bottom of page 50. This linking mechanism is intuitive and very powerful.

Once you've stored all these divergent elements into a presentation, you can use some helpful tools to deliver it. Asymetrix provides a run-time module that lets you play a slide show without loading the full version of Compel, and the packager utility automatically finds all the files—graphics, sound, video—that are associated with the presentation and bundles them in one place.

The beta software I previewed did have some weak points. The animation tools were rudimentary. While you can come

up with some effective charting effects, such as dynamically extending a bar as a bullet points out your company's explosive growth, more complex animation is tricky to pull off or simply not possible. Compel could benefit greatly from true path-based animation. The beta package was also short on clip art, but the final release will include a CD-ROM full of clip art and clip media, Asymetrix says.

The very virtue that makes Compel so appealing—its abundance of features— also makes me a bit wary. When powerful desktop publishing programs such as PageMaker brought desktop publishing to the masses, there was a sudden rash of newsletters and advertising mailings that used six or seven different fonts, superfluous graphics, and unfathomable diagrams. Compel's features should be used sparingly and in good taste. A sudden blaring of trumpets or a needless video clip can

be very distracting. Sensory aids are meant to supplement content; they are not the main attraction. But if you keep your creative impulses in check, Compel can add the riaht touch of pizzazz to seal the deal. —Stanford Diehl

THE FACTS

Compel

$295

Asymetrix Coip.

110 110th Ave. NE, Suite 700

Bellevue, WA 98004

(800) 448-6543

(206)462-0501

fax: (206) 454-0672

Circle 1195 on Inquiry Card.

Painter 2.0 for Windows Brings Digital Canvas to Life

Fiartal Dcslgri Poliitt-r ?M1

Eitc Edit Elieaar" Options Vflrtrlows Bfush Stroke tlelp

Fractal Design's Painter 2.0 for Windows is a powerful addition to a professional graphic artist's arsenal. And for amateur artists, it's a fun way to develop your skills. (After all, software that comes in a paint can should be fun.) While it was originally created for the Macintosh, Fractal Design now has an updated Windowsbased Painter that adds a host of new tools, including one called liquid media.

Painter's strength lies in its "natural media," which give the computer artist an impressive array of canvases and simulated pens, pencils, chalks, charcoal, erasers, and even an airbrush that can approximate the real-world tools. With this latest update of Painter, you gain the ability to liquefy paints with a wet brush, creating more of a diffused look to watercolors on varied textures of papers.

While test-driving a beta version of

Painter 2.0, I used a Wacom 6- by 9-inch pressure-sensitive graphics tablet. Using a pressuresensitive stylus is critical to gaining a true feel for the "canvas," and the Wacom pen worked well. After trying Painter on a Compaq Deskpro 386DX-20 with 6 MB of RAM, I moved it to a 486DX-33 with 8 MB of RAM. The performance improvement was startling.

One of Painter's interesting new features is its capability to play back an entire session that was previously recorded by a professional artist (see the screen). In this update, Fractal Design includes several artist-recorded sessions that can show novice graphic artists like myself the exact, step-by-step process necessary to create an award-winning piece of computer art. Fractal Design also made the program easier to use. It now has brushes and textures that you can tear off from their palettes and preview windows to see examples of how special filters, such as glass distortion, change an image.

Other enhancements include new brushes, with an Impressionist brush and a Cubist "brush look" added to Painter's familiar van Gogh- and Seurat-style brushes. But perhaps the best feature of Painter 2.0 is its new liquid media, which allow artists to use any of the nine new liquid brushes, such as the spatter airbrush, to add a lifelike liquid look to their digital paintings.

Fractal also has added new image-editing features to Painter, letting you scale, rotate, or flip images, which can be scanned from within Painter 2.0 via TWAIN. The program can export with a Photoslyler plug-in module that sends output to film recorders or tape backup systems.

At $399, Painter 2.0, which is available for the Mac at the same price, is a great buy for anyone looking for a sophisticated painting program. But make sure you have the requisite computer horsepower. ■

—Patrick Waurzyniak

THE FACTS

Painter 2.0

$399

System requirements: A 386SX or higher with Super VGA with 256 colors, 4 MB of RAM (6 MB is recommended), and Windows 3.0 or higher. Wacom, Calcomp, and Kurta pressure-sensitive graphics tablets are recommended. A math coprocessor is supported.

Fractal Design Corp.

335 Spreckels Dr., Suite F

Aptos, CA 95003

(408) 688-5300

fax: (408) 688-8836

Circle 1196 on Inquiry Card.

52 BYTE • MAY 1993

P/iM^aw^

®

WATCOM SQL Developer's Edition

by WATCOM

Complete client/server development tool allows you to develop and deploy singleuser standalone applications, and to develop applications for use with the Network Server Edition. Includes: Single-user database server; ACME application development system; Embedded SQL C/C++ preprocessor; SQL libraries for WATCOM C, C/386, MS/C ++ and BC/C++.

List: $395 Ours: $299

FAXcetera# 1683-0010

Distinct TCP/D? for Windows

by Distinct Corp.

INCLUDES WINDOWS SOCKETS. This award winning product is the professional programmer's choice for TCP/IP connectivity in the Windows environment. Windows Sockets, TCP/IP Kernel, RPC/XDR, Telnet, and FTP are the smallest and fastest DLLs available today. Applications developed with TCP/IP can coexist with LAN Manager, Vines. Pathworks and Novell thanks to Distinct's support for Packets, NDIS or ODI drivers.

SDK List: $495 Ours: $459

Applications List: $395 Ours: $359

FAXutem* 2994-0002

BEACHC BEST

OMBER'S BUYS!

386MAX

Baler

Best Choice HI

C++/Views

C-DOC Professional

Cache 86

CASEW:VIP

dBASEIV

Dolphin C Toolkit

Dolphin Encript

Dr. Switch-ASE

ED for Windows

Label Master

Logic Gem

mini Ed Tools

MKS Learning UNIX

MKS Toolkit

MS DOS

$64 MS Fox Pro CALL

$399 MS Visual C++ CALL

$55 MS Windows CALL

$449 Norton Desktop/Win CALL

$269 object-Menu $249

$24 Opt-Tech Sort/Merge $119

$1139 Panel Plus $259

$499 Paradox 4.0 $569

$95 Precursor $45

$125 Scheme in $359

$159 Sitback for Windows $54

$169 SQA: Replay OS/2 $54

$429 SQA: Robot $389

$79 Style $155

CALL Tempra Pro $339

$99 Tempra Show $109

$239 Tree 86 $42

CALL WATCOM FORTRAN 77/386 $719

Microsoft Visual C++

by Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Visual C++ combines the power of reusable, prebuilt code with a seamless, visual environment to shorten the development process. Design user interfaces, build, debug, and

browse using a set of tightly integrated tools, while "wizards" assist you with fundamenlal tasks for maximum productivity. It's the fast, powerful way to program in C++!

Standard Edition (Comp. Upgrade)

Professional Edition (Comp. Upgrade)

FAXatem # 1269-0040

List: $99 List: $199

Ours: $95 Ours: $189

Multimedia Toolbook

by Asymetrix

Complete Multimedia Authoring.

Create your own multimedia applications for MS Windows. Simple Interface and set of readyto-use multimedia objects make it the fastest and easiest way to develop multimedia apps. This award-winning tool provides a complete package versatile enough to develop new applications or put a new face on existing ones, with no runtime fee.

List: $695 Ours: $529

FAXcewra* 2776-0005

Q+E Database Library (QELIB)

by Pioneer Software

Q+E Database Library provides complete database connectivity to Windows and OS/2 applications using Dynamic Link Libraries. QELIB can read, insert, update, create or delete database records for the following formats: Oracle, dBASE, SQLServer, Sybase, DB2, Paradox, INGRES, AS/400 (SgL/400). Btrieve. Excel, INFORMIX, NetWare SQL. and many more. Gateways supported include: IBM DDCS/2. Micro Decisionware, Sybase Net-Gateway, and Gupta SQL Network.

List: $399 Ours: $359

FAXcetera* 2625-0003

MATLABM.O for 386 Windows

by Mathworks

A high-performance, interactive numeric computation and visualization environment that combines hundreds of advanced math & graphics functions with an easy-to-use and flexible high-level language. The open system architecture enables users to view the pre-packaged functions, customize them as needed, or add new functions. MATLAB toolboxes are available to extend the power by providing leading-edge algorithms and functions developed by renowned experts for specific applications.

List: $1695 Ours: CALL

FAXceteraX 1269-0042

MediaDeveloper

by Lenel Systems

Create multimedia-enabled applications

with MediaDeveloper and ObjeclVlsion. It is

THE Multimedia Development Toolkit to

integrate sound, images, animation and

full-motion video into Windows applications. Includes media and

device control for multimedia peripherals including CD-ROMs, VCRs

and laserdisc players: support for major animation, video, audio and

graphics formats; a multimedia database; OLE server; and many DLLs.

List: $595 Ours: $449

w/MS VB Win. 2.0 List: $794 Ours: $569

w/MS VB Win. Pro 2.0 List: $1090 Ours: $739

FAXatem # 1005-0302

Software that

Lahey F77L Fortran Compiler

by Lahey

Version 5.01 includes Fortran 90 features: ALLOCATABLE Arrays, CASE Constructs, Cycle and Exit, Construct Names, and many other new features. Package includes Editor, Make Utility, Profiler, Debugger, SLR Linker, Opus Make, Video Graphics, and Excellent Diagnostics. 386/486 users have the option of generating 32-bit instructions.

List: $295 Ours: $259

FAXcetera # 1476-0001

Sizzles!

ED-The Programmer's Editor for Windows

by Lifeboat Software

A full-featured Windows-based programmer's editor is herel ED is setting the standard with features like background compilation, automatic code indenting and completion, hypertext function/procedure lookups, "smart" language-specific editing, a fast "C" extension language, Windows Toolbar, unlimited undo and redo, keyboard macros and remapping, and emulation of popular DOS editors.

List: $269 Ours: $169

FAXcetera* 0233-0011

WindowsMAKER ^ Professional 5.0

by Blue Sky Software

*fc

'«*

%

Next generation of most powerful C/C++ Code Generator and Prototyper for Windows 3.1, NT& Win32s. The fastest way to create full-featured Windows apps. This product stands out, does everything, even a toolbar can be created widi 1 click. Test run your design/make changes interactively, generate code for multiple platforms - ANSI C, MFC, OWL, etc., widest compiler support in industry. TrueCode technology - user code is 100% preserved. Highly recommended]

List: $995 Ours: $695

FAXcetera* 2602-0003

Microsoft Visua Control Pack

by Microsoft Corporation

Offers 19 proven programming shortcuts for the Windows™ operating system, including quick access to 3D Interfaces, charting, and serial communications. You can even add multimedia or Windows for Pen Computing functionality in a fraction of the time It would take you to create your own support. Just add any of the 19 custom controls to your Visual C++ or Visual Basic Toolbox. Use the sample code and documentation with Visual C++ and create your own custom controls.

List: $150 Ours: $99

FAXcetera # 1269-0044

CA-dBFast Windows 2.0

by Computer Associates

The complete standalone dBASE/Xbase development language for MS Windows. Create fast, powerful, easy-to-use graphical applications. Over 200 extensions to the dBASE III PLUS language and includes an interactive editor, compiler, and linker. Challenge your creativity and imagination! Design multiple windows, pulldown menus, check boxes, list boxes, radio buttons pictures, and more!

List: $550 Ours: $359

FAXcetera* 1004-0003

bit-map

CA-Clipper 5.2 Competitive Upgrade

by Computer Associates

Yes, the newly released CA-Clipper version 5.2 is being offered to Xbase language product owners at the low retail price of $199. This competitive upgrade is available for a short term only! What a great opportunity to get the power of CA-Clipper, at a super price! And now when you buy, get your choice of dBFast, Clipper Tools or dBase Compiler Kit FREE!

List: $199 Ours: $149

FAXcetera* 5400-0001

dGT Unlimited!

by Blackhawk Data Corp.

PAINLESS PICTURES—The Database Graphics Toolkit (dGT Unlimited) turns any database into an image database, in three easy steps: 1) add a field to your database record; 2) add a line to your entry screen; and 3) RUN! Fast, powerful, reliable, flexible and now Royalty-Free up to 1000 copies, dGT Unlimited works with 40 different languages, runs on any VGA or EGA, supports images up to 1024x768, and can retrieve images from memo fields and BLOBs.

List: $595 Ours: $449

FAXcetera* 3051-0004

List: $195 FAXcetera* 3142-0009

OS/2 2.0

by IBM

OS/2 2.0 increases your operating system choices by providing you with DOS. Windows and OS/2 support. Because OS/2 was created for use with 386SX and above processors, it offers full 32-bit addressability and true concurrent multitasking. OS/2 2.0 also features an object-based user interface, enhanced file system, advanced memory technology and the ability to complete many processes within a task simultaneously.

Ours: $126

PhMtymmM Y(MJ&J&<

®

MetaWare High C/C++

by MetaWare, Inc.

H»!Z»t>r 'IX

MetaWare, Inc. announces Its newest product! The 32-bit High C/C++ compiler version 3.0 is a true compiler, not a C to C++ translator. "Incremental Strengths" let you specify the level of C++ compilation, allowing you to migrate from C to C++, one C/C++ block at a time. Included is a C++ tailored source-level debugger and a 32-bit Application

Development Kit for Windows. MetaWare offers a full line of multi-language, multi-platform compilers for professional software developers.

List: $795 Ours: $669

FAXcefera* 1590-0008

VMData

by PocketSoft, Inc.

VMData for Windows is a DLL that manages up to 128 MB of dynamic data. Eliminates annoying slowdowns commonly seen in 386 Enhanced Mode when programs use large amounts of dynamic data, and eliminates outof-memory problems in Standard Mode. Provides superior run-time performance and ensures that your program is a good citizen under the Windows environment.

List: $495 Ours: $359

FAXcetera # 1987-0005

lVKSiKT

VMDoUi

WinGEN

by Buzzwords International

W

Converts ObjectVision .OVD to Source Code! -r—s ~" lEE" — -—™ Make the title bar disappear and run your U^i-JISS? _;-~~" application at compiled speed. WinGEN "S5a ~Z-'S~~~ ..•;::•—; produces code for Windows versions of ~s_„ _—•---r

dBASE, C/C++, and Turbo Pascal. "" m m "•'*** m '

Supported engines include: Paradox

Engine, Sequiter Codebase, POET, Raima, Faircom c-tree, Sybase. Novell Btrieve, Novell Btrieve with SQL/XQL Manager, OLE & DDE/DDEML. and Q & E. For technical information call 314-3346317, for orders call 800-445-7899.

List: $149 Ours: $79

VAXcetera# 1873-0002

BASIC Network Library Network C Library

by Automation Software Consultants, Inc.

The most comprehensive libraries available for NetWare software development, supporting all versions of advanced NetWare including 3.11. Over 450 C functions and 300 BASIC functions. Include any features from the NetWare

command line utilities and menu utilities in your C or BASIC program.

No licensing hassles. C library source code available.

BASIC Library List: $265 Ours: $229

C Library List: $295 Ours: $259

FAXc«era# 1004-9201

WATCOM C/386

WATCOM C/386 9.0

by WATCOM

Develop and debug 32-bit applications for

extended DOS, Windows, and OS/2 2.0 with

the most complete 32-bit C development

package available. Includes the royalty-free

D0S/4GW DOS extender by Rational

Systems, components from MS Windows SDK,

compiler, linker, debugger, profiler, plus numerous development tools.

Supports other industry standard 32-bit DOS extenders. Create ADS

Applications for AutoCAD or embedded systems development.

List: $895 Ours: $599

FAXuum* 1683-0003

Multi-Edit Professional

by American Cybernetics

A richly featured, easy-to-use programmer's text editor. Multi-Edits flexibility and sheer power combine to provide you with unparalleled productivity. Features include: intuitive user interface, mouse support, syntax highlighting, cross directory multiple file search AND replace, color templates, and much more! Finally, a text editor that thinks like a programmer! Free demo disk available.

List: $199 Ours: $139

FAXcefera# 1846-0001

PROTOGEN 3.0

by ProtoView Development

NEW VERS10N1 The industry

standard for code generation and

prototyping Windows applications.

Develop the user interface of your

application using Visual prototyping

methods. ProtoGen generates expert

level, commented code for ANSI C, Microsoft NT Win32. All generators

included! User Code is preserved from one generation to the next. It's

easy and fast.

List: $99 Ours: $89

FAX«fera# 2553-0002

GUARANTEED BEST PRIC (Call for deft

To order call: 800-445-7899

Corporate (CORSOFT): 800 422-6507

FAX: 908 389-9227

International: 908 389-9

Customer Service: 908 389-9

For more information on the

products featured on these pages call

FAXat,™®: 908 389-8173

• All prices are subject to change without notice. Circle 101 on Inquiry Card.

Backup So Simple,

It's Ad

vance

d.

Introducing Jumbo Trakker Printer Port Tape Backup.

Now, backing up your

/'computer is easier than ever. I Simply unpack Trakker and •* |g connect it to your computer's - parallel printer port. That's it. No installation, no switches, no floppy disk shuffle. This is tape backup that's ready to go. And it goes anywhere. Trakker is light and compact, the ideal solution for backing up notebooks and laptops. And it goes fast. Trakker 250 boasts a data transfer

rate of up to 8 Megabytes per minute, easily the fastest in its class. At $448, Trakker 120 is the price leader as well.

Choose either Trakker 120 (120 MB with data compression) or Trakker 250 (250 MB with data compression). Both offer QIC Industry Standard Recording Format, as well as Novell NetWare' and LANtastic' certification.

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Circle 74 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 75).

NEWS

WHAT'S NEW

SYSTEMS

Three-Way Computing Power

A hand-held computer that is a DOS and Windows notebook or a pen computer using Windows for Pen Computing, the Dauphin DTR-1 (for Desktop Replacement) is also a desktop machine when it is hooked to an external Super VGA monitor and PS/2 keyboard. The 2.2-pound computer, which can be hooked to your network via its internal Ethernet adapter, can send faxes as well as send and receive data via its internal fax modem.

The unit features a 25MHz 486SLC processor and a Cyrix math coprocessor. With a 20-MB internal Hewlett-Packard Kittyhawk hard drive and data-compression software, the DTR-1 provides more than 30 MB of on-board storage.

TheDTR-l's2MBof DRAM is expandable to 6 MB. An optional slide-on battery pack extends the life of the internal nickel-cadmium battery for as long as 10 hours. Price: $2500.

Contact: Dauphin Technology, Inc., Lombard, IL, (800) 782-7922 or (708) 971-3400; fax (708) 971-8443. Circle 1131 on Inquiry Card.

Single-System EISA and VL-Bus

One of the newest strategies to add power, speed, and flexibility to computers is to combine EISA and VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) Local Bus (or VL-Bus) on the same system. Two companies that are proponents of this strategy are Tangent Computer and Diamond Technologies.

With the power of a desktop system, the DTR-1 is a handheld pen computer or a notebook with a mini-keyboard.

The first systems in Tangent Computer's Universal Bus line of 486 workstations are the 433U-SX and the 466U-DX2 combination EISA and VL-Bus systems. Both are designed for upgradability to Pentium processors.

The 433U-SX system, with 4 MB of RAM and 64 KB of cache RAM, features three EISA slots, five ISA slots, and two VL-Bus slots. Other standard equipment includes a 170-MB IDE hard drive, an S3/805 VL-Bus graphics accelerator card, a caching EISA IDE hard drive controller with 512 KB of RAM, a 1.44-MB floppy drive, and a 14-inch VGA color monitor.

The 466U-DX2 has a basic configuration of 8 MB of DRAM and 256 KB of cache RAM. A 200-MB SCSI drive and a Weitek 9000-based VL-Bus graphics accelerator, a SCSI caching controller with 512 KB of RAM, eight

EISA slots, one VL-Bus slot, a 1.44-MB floppy drive, and a 14-inch VGA color monitor complete the basic system. The unit is expandable to 256 MB of DRAM and 1 MB of CPU cache memory. Price: 433U-SX, $1895; 466U-DX2, $3295. Contact: Tangent Computer, Inc., Burlingame, CA, (800) 800-6060 or (415) 342-9388; fax (415) 342-9380. Circle 1132 on Inquiry Card.

Diamond Technologies' DT486 ISA/EISA Local Bus tower computer is available as a 486DX machine running at a maximum speed of either 50 or 66 MHz. Each model includes 256 KB of cache memory and a socket for a Weitek 4167 coprocessor. Eight SIMM sockets on the motherboard provide memory options in modules of 256 KB by 9, 1 MB by 9, or 16 MB by 9 DRAM SIMMs, up to a total of 128 MB of memory.

The system has a VL-Bus graphics accelerator card and eight I/O expansion slots, of which three are 32-bit EISA slots, five are 16-bit ISA slots, and two are 32-bit VLBus slots. Hard drives range

from 40-MB IDE to 2-GB SCSI drives. A 14-inch monochrome monitor is standard with the basic system; optional monitors are available.

Price: $1999. Contact: Diamond Technologies, Inc., Irvine, CA, (800) 989-7253 or (714) 2521008. Circle 1133 on Inquiry Card.

Network from Your Notebook

A lightweight, slim-line, 25-MHz 486SLC-based notebook, the New World 4100 lets you connect optional pocket network adapters to its expansion bus. This provides a seamless connection to other computers, including mainframes, PCs, and PCbased file servers.

The New World 4100 has a data transfer rate of 4 MBps, 1200 percent faster than a network connection via the parallel port, according to New World. The unit supports interfaces for Ethernet, token-ring, 3270, 5250, and X.25 networks.

Other features include 4 MB of RAM (expandable to 8 MB via IC memory cards); an 80- or 120-MB hard drive; a 1.44-MB floppy drive; a 10-inch backlit LCD; an external keyboard port; serial, parallel, and mouse ports; an I/O bus for a docking station; and an auto-switching AC adapter. DOS 5.0 is installed. Price: $1695; network adapters, $239 and up. Contact: New World Technologies, Inc., Ashland, MA, (800) 443-8885 or (508) 8814600. Circle 1134 on Inquiry Card.

MAY 1993 -BYTE 57

NEWS

WHAT'S NEW

PERIPHERALS

A Busy Companion

Designed to fit under your monitor or attach to your notebook, the Companion peripheral expansion subsystem lets you add peripherals to your computer without having to add more cards. The unit, which plugs into your system's parallel port, has a pass-through port for your printer as well as a pass-through SCSI connector that lets you add more peripherals.

Two front-accessible 5'/tinch bays accept CD-ROM drives, tape-backup drives, and hard drives, including optical and floptical models. Two internal bays are available for half-height 3'/>-inch drives. The Companion also has a fully integrated surfacemount parallel-port-to-SCSI board, software support for additional SCSI peripherals, and a universal power supply. Price: Without peripherals, $400; with peripherals installed, price depends on configuration.

Contact: Performance Electronic Packaaing Services, Inc., San Marcos. CA. (800) 255-8607 or (619) 471-5383; fax (619) 471-9691. Circle T135 on Inquiry Card.

Scanning in Color

Two color scanners—one for 35mm slides and the other for paper—are now available. Both are priced for the general market.

A color scanner for 35mm film, Coolscan (also known as the LS-10) is available as an internal unit for your PC or as an external unit for Macs and PCs. The scan

Contact: Valitek, Amherst,

MA, (800) 825-4835 or (413)

549-2700; fax (413) 549

2900.

Circle 1138 on Inquiry Card.

Two of the Companion's uses are as a portable docking station and as a CD-ROM reader.

ner is designed for desktop applications and accepts black-and-white negatives and transparencies in addition to color.

Coolscan captures 24 bits per pixel in a single-pass RGB scan with a maximum resolution of 2700 dpi. Nikon's LED-based illumination technology achieves broad-spectrum output, permitting blues to be scanned as effectively as reds and greens. This technology also produces little heat.

The scanner has a footprint of 6 by 13 by 2 inches and is geared for use by medical and industrial publishers and professionals in real estate, education, insurance, and architecture.

Price: Internal model, $2195; external model, $2495. Contact: Nikon Electronic Imaging, Melville, NY, (800) 526-4566 or (516) 547-4355; fax (516) 547-0305. Circle 1T 36 on Inquiry Card.

A desktop sheet-fed scanner for professional-image database and entry-level document management, the Plustek ADF Color 6000 features single-pass scanning in all modes, including color. The RGB scanner can scan a 600-dpi color page in 5 minutes, a 600-dpi 256-grayscale page in 1'/: minutes,

and a 300-dpi black-andwhite page in 7 seconds. In color mode, the unit provides 256 to 16.8 million colors, depending on the color card you're using. The unit measures about 13'/: by 93A by 4 inches and has a 50-page document feeder. Price: $1299.

Contact: Plustek USA, Inc., Santa Clara, CA, (800) 6858088 or (408) 980-5183; fax (408)980-5184. Circle 1137 on Inquiry Card.

Portability with a Handle

The portable PST2-M0128 rewritable MO (magnetooptical) drive connects to the serial, parallel, or SCSI-2 port of your PC. The unit has an average seek time of 45 ms and a data transfer rate of 7 MB in just over a minute. It has a disk capacity of 128 MB and includes the Valitek PST2 board with 256 KB of fast cache. A noncontact read/write head with a digital servo system keeps your data safe for more than 10 years. Price: $2295.

The PST--M0128.

Dot Matrix Goes Quiet

Citizen America's newest entry in its Quiet Color line of dot-matrix printers is the GSX-190. A nine-wire printer, the GSX-190 features the Citizen Acoustic Technology for a claimed sound rating of only 45 dB.

Draft-mode printing speed goes up to 240 cps, and the high-resolution print quality is 240 by 216 pixels. The unit's eight built-in fonts are Roman, Sans Serif, Courier, Prestige, Script, Orator, Draft, and High-Speed Draft.

You select your printing options from the plain-English menu choices displayed on the front panel and save the changes with a push of a button. Paper-handling features include a convertible push/pull tractor feed and paperfeed paths on the top, rear, and bottom for switching among forms, letterhead paper, fanfold paper, envelopes, and labels. You can add color printing to the unit by installing the Color On Command kit option ($59), which lets you print up to 256 colors in text and graphics. Price: $299.

Contact: Citizen America Corp.. Santa Monica, CA, (310)453-0614; fax (310) 453-2814. Circle 1139 on Inquiry Card.

58 BYTE • MAY 1993

ON ONE HAND,

PROJECT

MANAGEMENT

CAN BE A REAL

HEADACHE.

^,

will be. \oJtl

ON THE OTHER

HAND, WHY

SHOULD IT BE?

Anne w"H be. 00*" *Tues-fn.

You work hard enough planning your projects; why not let Microsoft8 Project 3.0 for Windows'" help you make it easier?

With clear graphs, you'll be able to see and communicate your project even better-from the tiny details to the big picture.

Changes? No problem. For every revision you make, Microsoft Project helps you see how it will affect the entire job.

Assigning a new job? Just click the People button. Want to know who's doing what, when? Microsoft Project can help you keep track of everyone.

And if you need to get off to a fast start, use PlanningWizards to guide you step by step. Soon, you'll have great-looking, easy-toread reports that make all your plans perfectly clear.

You can even exchange files between Project on your PC and your Mac? Either way, why not plan on the leading project management software? Microsoft Project 3.0 - it takes the pain out of planning.

Making it easier

For more information inside [he 50 United States, call (800) 426-9400, Dept. JM2. Outside the U.S. and Canada, cal! (2061 936-8661. Customers in Can; Ptinted in the USA. Microsoft is a registered ttademark and Windows and the Windows logo are ttademarks of Microsoft Corporario

all (800) 563-9048. © 1993 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved, sc is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

NEWS

WHAT'S NEW

CONNECTIVITY

V.32bis Fax Modem

The SmartLink V32bis FaxModem combines the latest modem chip-set technology with the Motorola 68302 microprocessor and specially written control software held in two flash EPROMs. The company uses the same technology in the Quad and QuadFax versions.

The modems support V.21, V.22, V.23, V.22bis, and Group 3 fax standards, plus MNP levels 2-4 and V.42 error correction. The top-ofthe-range models add support for the V.32 and V.32bis data standards. MNP level 5 and V.42bis data compression further boost speed and reduce call charges by up to four times. The built-in datacompression speeds approach basic-rate ISDN, providing potentially more cost-effective data transmission for future applications, such as multimedia.

The packages include a power supply, a telephone cable, a double BT adapter, an RS-232 cable, documentation, and a choice of communications software for IBM PC-compatible or Apple computers.

Price: SmartLink V32bis FaxModem, about $1013 (£699); Quad version, about $506 (£349); QuadFax version, about $578 (£399). Contact: SmartLink Communications, Ltd., Reading, Berkshire, U.K., +44 734 587788; fax +44 734 588057. Circle 1140 on Inquiry Card.

Workgroup Faxing

Alow-cost workgroup faxing device, Faximizer puts the power of PC faxing in every office. Faximizer allows up to eight users to send faxes from their PC or Mac without having to install fax modems and phone lines for each PC and without a

For high-security applications, the SmartLink V32bis FaxModem includes data encryption, password access, and dial-hack security.

LAN. For offices that already have a LAN, Faximizer can be a cost-effective alternative to a dedicated fax server and LAN network software.

Faximizer is a complete plug-and-go system. You simply plus the supplied cables onto each PC's RS-232 port, load the supplied Quick Link II send/receive fax software, plug in the telephone lines, and start sending faxes.

In addition to faxing, Faximizer also provides modemto-modem communication while spooling faxes from the other PCs. Then it automatically sends the spooled faxes when the modem is free. Other features include fax scheduling and fax broadcasting from custom directories.

The eight-user Faximizer system comes with 1 MB of SIMM memory (expandable to 4 MB), an internal 9600/2400 V.22bis fax modem (upgradable to a 14,400-bps V.32bis fax modem). Quick Link II faxing software for DOS and Windows, and a cablins kit

for nine- and 25-pin PCs.

Price: $895.

Contact: Western Telematic,

Inc., Irvine, CA, (800) 854

7226 or (714) 586-9950; fax

(714)583-9514.

Circle 1143 on Inquiry Card.

Remote Boot Technology

A remote boot system, BootWarePlus eliminates the need to change remote boot PROMs each time you upgrade your LAN with a new disk or network operating system. BootWarePlus consists of Lanworks' SmarlROM, which enhances a network interface card's ROM socket by allowing read and write access to it, packaged with initialization, configuration, and utility software.

The BootWarePlus utility disks contain software tools such as ROMscan and MapGen. A diagnostic utility, ROMscan finds and reports detailed information on every BIOS option ROM in your workstation. MapGen reads existing DOS image files and writes them to a RAM disk, which emulates a local drive. The utility lets

LAN administrators view and modify DOS image files without having to refer back to the original floppy disks from which the image was generated.

Price: $79 per workstation. Contact: Lanworks Technologies, Inc., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, (416)2385528; fax (416) 238-9407. Circle 1141 on Inquiry Card.

Messages Network

N

ow, instead of filling out a paper " While You Were Out" form, you can fill out a similar message form on your PC screen (or any node on the network), and Software Grove Messages Network automatically delivers the message across the network. The software for Windows and Windows for Workgroups also provides instantaneous visual and audible notification of waiting messages.

Software Grove Messages provides automatic filling of message fields (e.g., date, time, and message taker; and company name and telephone number for repeat callers). The package lets you add notes to messages; send messages to individuals or groups; edit, password-protect, and encrypt messages; and search for back-up copies of messages.

Price: Single-user version, $69.95; five-node package, $249; 10-node package, $399; $599 per server. Contact: Software Grove Corp., Kirkland, WA, (800) 793-0040 or (206) 823-0833; fax (206) 823-1246. Circle 1142 on Inquiry Card.

60 B YTE • MAY 1993

Cross

platforms

easily.

New Timbuktu is the easiest way to network Macintosh and Windows computers, so you can share printers, files and screens.

Call today for a free demonstration video: 1-800-998-7760 ext. 4.

MacUserllii^

PC Week Labs Overall Score 4.2

Macworld **"*■*

LAN Times 5 Nodes

Moving information between Macintosh3 and Windows™ computers used to be quite a feat of skill. Let alone nerves.

But now there's Farallon's new Timbuktu® for Macintosh and Windows.

picture of your screen over the network so you can control and view it from another Mac or Windows PC. This lets you use your network for new things like

m

MICROSOFTWINDOWS.. COMPATIBLE

Timbuktu is the easiest way to create collaboration and user support.

a peer-to-peer network. So, whether you're on a PC or Mac, you can share expensive peripherals like printers. And exchange files quickly and easily.

You also get a unique benefitremote control. Timbuktu can send

■■ Famllon

a real-time, full-color

Ir runs with

Of course, Timbuktu is easy Ne,Ware to use and install. You don't need a dedicated gateway or server. And it works with what you've got. Even other networks on NetWare or TCP/IP.

For a free Timbuktu product demo video, just call. It's that easy.

Power to the network." i-soo-998-7760 ext.4*

"Call 1-800-678-5075 for upgrades from Timbuktu and PhoneNET PC (previously AppleShare PC and PhoneNET Talk). Upgrades also available for SitkaTOPS and Carbon Copy.

A copy of Timbuktu is required on each machine on the network. Single- and multi-packs are available.

All trademarks are property of their owners. ©1992 All rights reserved. For customer service, call (510) 814-5000. Or contact us on America OnlineHor AppleLink- ID: Farallon. CompuServe0 ID: 75410. 2702. Internet ID: Farallon@farallon.com.

Circle 86 on Inquiry Card.

Introducing PC To Just think of it

[1]

Organize and simplify your work.

Our unique MultiDesk desktop manager lets you put related

applications, folders and files into their own separate desktops.

Set up as many desktops as you like, then switch between them

instantly. It all adds up to a less cluttered, more productive

Windows environment that works like you do.

[2]

Improve the speed and efficiency of common tasks.

Our integrated File Manager has advanced drag-and-drop

capabilities that let you quickly locate, view, copy and print files.

With over 75 viewers, you can scan files (including compressed

PKZIP data) without having to open their applications first. Hate

to turn off your PC because you don't want to set everything up

again? Our DeskSaver feature solves that problem too.

CENTRAL POINT

PC TOOLS

Windows® is a great product. And someday, it'll be even better. But why wait?

New PC Tools'" for Windows® is here right now. It saves you time, reduces clutter and gives you easy access to all the functions and files you use most often. In fact, PC Tools for Windows is so innovative that after reviewing it, the editors of

PC/Computing asked, "Who needs Macs?"

For starters, there's our unique MultiDesk"' desktop. MultiDesk is an intuitive desktop manager that lets you organize your work by creating as many desktops as you need for your projects, tasks, or clients. So, if you spend the day switching between many different projects, you won't lose anything in the clutter.

Ever misplaced a file or couldn't remember its

*Our lawyers said we could run this headline if we make the following absolutely clear: Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. PC Tools for Windows is the sole product of Central Point Software, Inc. Microsoft and

Central Point? PC Tools;- MultiDesk;- WinShieul;' Speed Keys,- System Consultant >- and Diskfix* are trademarks of Central Point Software.

ols for Windows: as Windows 4.O.*

m

PC Tools for Windows

Doug's Office

System Consultant

Eile Hardware fiOS Windows NetWare Benchmarks Qpti

System

cS

E#

System Recommendations

Add NoEMMDrivef=On lo SYSTEM.INI File . Increase Value of DMASuffetSize in SYSTEM.INI File

Remove Desktop Wallpaper to Save Memory

Yotif system is using a temporary swap file to provide virtual memory. Switching to a permanent swap file may permit faster operation. This can be done by changing the Virtual Memory settings, which appear in the Control Panel's 386 Enhanced section.

3: Virtual memory is used lo extend the memory address space of a computer by using a

ird disk to supplement its physical memory. You can use virtual memory in Windows by setting

1.31pm

Topic marked for printing; Oetais

PC Tools

Doug** Office

Desktop: PC Tools

WinShield

rojder View Options Help

a

Backup

Creates dupli

DiskFix

Finds probien

I: merger icy Allows you to

I Undelete

I Recovers file

Finds problems on yen.

V^ FAT Interna* OK

_P Dnectoiy SUuctwe Doss-linked Files — ,,. - Lost Clusters

Checking for illegal direcloiy entires, cross links, and lost cfustei chaint

Central Point

^DiskFix

[3]

Enhance your system's performance.

System Consultant'" performs over 400 system checks and provides recommendations for improving your PC's performance. Our Disk Optimizer can automatically defragment your hard disk at prescheduled intervals, or on command.

[4]

Automatically protect your data.

We've included new Windows versions of Backup, Undelete, Anti-Virus and DiskFix? They're all integrated in WinShield'," an automatic data-protection system that results in worry-free computing. Our Emergency Disk builds a bootable recovery disk lo help get a crashed system up and running fast.

name? Our File Manager lets you quickly view files without having to load the program first. Tired of cryptic, abbreviated file names? Now you can attach long file names to your data to keep things clear and simple.

We also created Speed Keys"'so you can take shortcuts through Windows, and System Consultant that gives you specific tips for improving system performance.

PC Tools for Windows is at your nearest dealer.

For more information, a free demo disk, or to upgrade from PC Tools for DOS, call us at 1-800-967-9251. Your purchase is backed by our 60-day guarantee.

Find out for yourself why the editors are already heralding PC Tools for Windows as "The ultimate desktop." It may just be the best thing since, well.. Windows.

Central Point Softwares

Central Paint Software did not collaborate on this product, and this ad is not in any way sponsored by Microsoft. PC Took for Windows does not replace Microsoft Windows or any future version thereof it simply complements it. Names ofother products mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks oftheir respective companies.

Circle 73 on Inquiry Card.

WHAT'S NEW

news

PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE

Visual Application Development

Magic 5.0 is a visual, nonprocedural applications development paradigm that lets you design, prototype, test, and modify applications in one step. In Magic, you program applications by description and logic, eliminating the need for writing code. Magic also provides transparent cross-platform portability and interoperability, so you can create applications on one platform and then immediately run them on other platforms, operating systems, and hardware without any modifications.

Magic's client/server architecture lets you access data across LANs and WANs (wide-area networks). Communication between heterogeneous environments is handled through industrystandard communications networks and protocols, such as LAN Manager, Novell NetWare, DECnet, and TCP/IP.

Price: Stand-alone DOS development license, $800; LAN development license, $1500.

Contact: Magic Software Enterprises, Inc., Irvine, CA, (714) 250-1718; fax (714) 250-7404. Circle 1272 on Inquiry Card.

Error Detection for SPARC

The latest version of Pure Software's run-time errordetection tool for C and C++ Unix developers, Purify 2 includes an incremental linker for rapid turnaround and a mail mode for remote error reporting. Purify also features object-code insertion technology, which parses the object code and adds commands around every memory function to monitor memory usage at run time and report

- Operation ■

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Utilizing 13 nonprocedural operations, Magic 5.0 automates the entire application development life cycle.

illegal memory accesses and memory leaks.

The incremental linker lets you interactively debug the software, making single changes and then observing their effects as the application runs. Purify's mail-mode remote error-reporting feature transparently detects bugs in software as other developers run it. The program then sends E-mail with error diagnostics back to a designated developer.

Price: Floating network license, $4000.

Contact: Pure Software, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, (408) 7201600; fax (408) 720-9200. Circle 1274 on Inquiry Card.

and its binary database file compatibility also accommodates heterogeneous networks. POET provides load, store, and query capabilities, as well as eliminating translation when moving data between object-oriented applications and file-oriented database systems based on the relational model. Applications you write in POET remain object-oriented, so code is reusable, maintainable, and extendable. Price: Development license supporting one to four users, $2700.

Contact: POET Software (formerly BKS Software), Santa Clara, CA, (408) 7483403; fax (408) 748-9060. Circle 1273 on Inquiry Card.

Object-Oriented Database for C++

Bi

i KS Software has added • enhanced capabilities in object locking, transaction support, and event handling to POET 2.0, the latest version of its object-oriented database system for C++ applications development. POET is available as an NLM (NetWare loadable module) for Novell's NetWare 3.x,

Macintosh Programming in C

VIP-C provides a comprehensive environment for programming in ANSI C on the Mac. It lets you write specific algorithms that link automatically generated interface code to specific program functions.

VIP-C contains five levels—a visual C text editor/interpreter/debugger,

prototypes of Mac Toolbox calls, precoded VIP-C Functions, integrated VIP-C Resource Editors, and the VIP-C Dispatcher, which facilitates building applications. You can write code in the text editor using standard ANSI C and Mac Toolbox calls or using the higher-level Functions. You use the VIP-C Resource Editors and Dispatcher to automatically set up an application's main event loop and user interface elements. VIP-C provides a library of standard C functions, which it stores in a customizable palette. Price: $495.

Contact: Mainstay, Agoura Hills, CA, (818)991-6540; fax (818) 991-4587. Circle 1275 on Inquiry Card.

Photo CD Access for Sun/Unix

The Kodak Photo CD Access developer toolkit for Sun/Unix helps you build a flexible user interface to images stored on Photo CD discs. The toolkit consists of a library of the basic C-language functions you need to read images from a Photo CD disc into memory in formats that are compatible with Sun/ Unix. The toolkit also provides the functions you need to export the images as industry-standard file formats.

You can read the images in standard color and gray-scale formats, including 24-bit RGB color. In addition, the toolkit provides basic imagemanipulation capabilities that can expand compressed images and convert them to other formats. Price: $695.

Contact: Eastman Kodak Co.. Rochester, NY, (800) 242-2424 ext. 53 or (716) 724-6404; fax (716) 7249829. Circle 1276 on Inquiry Card.

64 BYTE • MAY 1993

Since when is Raima first in Co

tmmSn.

I : , K

Rapna Database Manager was the database of choice in the First Annual Windows World Open The competition featured in noyative/custamapplications built with Windows development tools. Three of the seven winners, and two of the finalists, used Raima Database Manager to solve their critical application needs.

For professional developers like yourself, Raima products offer:

* H?gfep«fon«flHCe: unmatched application speed.

Listen to what some of our customers say about our products:

"No other products matched Raiina for the price." _. James Lisiak, developer, Chevron

"Raima provided us with speed, flexibility, and royalty-free distribution which allowed us to meet an&exceed our customers'needs.' Dave Cooper, developer; Atlantic" Research Corp,

(subcontractor, Naval Electronic Systems FjtgmeeringActivity) Portability: runs on DOS, Windows, OS/2, UNIX, VMS, QNX. "Database Manager gave us the edge we needed to handle large

• Royalty-free distribution: increase your profits; amounts of data quickly and efficiently withht MiaosoftWindowsJ'

• Source-code availability: total programming flexibility, Kelly Patrick, developed PHDHFantus

• Affordablepricing; starting at just $395. If you're looking for an award-winning application development

• Language support: ANSI C, C++, and Visual Basic. tool, give us a call. And discover the Raima advantage.

Raima Database Manager Thehigh-perfpnnancedbms

Raima Object Manager Ttte;obfc,ct storage class library

RaiW3CATporatioii.iBp5:NV\'SamnianTlshRd; Suite^OO Issaquab, W'A 98ff27 (206)557-0200 Fax:(206)557-5200

"ZEOS couples smart design with excellent software options...easily upgradable, excellent video performance."

—PC Computing, March 1993, BEST VALUE

Everybody is talking price, price, price. Now ZEOS is talking price, price, price and features, features, features! Right now, you get more features at lower prices from ZEOS than from anyone else!

TAKE A REALLY CLOSE LOOK AT WHAT YOU GET:

■ VESA-standard local bus video —the fastest video performance available anywhere. PC Magazine tested

■ "An array of features to make a user's mouth water." —PC Magazine. Such as stronger cases, high-capacity power supplies with built-in surge suppression, floppy drives byTeac, and so much more.

■ Now you can upgrade from any 486 as your needs change. You get more than just an overdrive socket— you get upgradability all the way to Intel's Pentium"

based OverDrive" processor. And your ZIF (Zero Insertion Force socket makes it so easy! ■ PC Magazine Readers' Choice for Service and Reliability—February 9,1993! ZEOS was the only PC vendor to receive the "Excellent" rating

ZEOSYwrBestMilue Is Now Ewn Better!

NOW:

LARGER,

FASTER

LOCAL BUS

HARD

DRIVES!

PC MAGAZINE LABS BENCHMARK TESTS: GRAPHICS WINMARK

Megapixels

per

second.

Nobody beats

ZEOS!

7.06

Compaq Deskpro 66M

Dell 466 DE/2

Gateway 2000 4DX2-66 V

IBM PS/2 Model 77 486DX2

ZEOS486DX2-66 with our optional Viper video card!

ZEOS "blew all competitors away—in some cases performing more than ten times as fast as competitors."

—PC Magazine, 1/26/93

a ZEOS system with our optional Viper video card. Their findings? The ZEOS "shattered our previous record.. .by nearly fourfold" Now the dazzling video performance that rated #1 with PC Magazine can be yours!

■ Local bus IDE hard drives. Now we've made your hard disk drive data throughput over twice as fast with local bus IDE! Dell doesn't have it; few others do either. ZEOS has it and so can you.

■ You get eight expansion slots, including two that support VESA-standard local bus devices m-mamM with bus mastering. Expandability with 4|i^^p£ local bus performance in mind!

for both desktop and laptop systems. Our customers vouch for our excellent standards. We were the first to offer 24 hour support —years ago. Even now, few offer it 'round the clock. But with ZEOS you get it, 365 days a year!

■ "It's hard to imagine a brighter upgrade picture" —PC World. Flash BIOS for future upgrades by disk or modem, 6-bay cases, cache all the way to 256K. Plus onboard SCSI for only $49. Add SCSI I or E devices (such as CD-ROM) now or in the future!

■ Warranties, guarantees and more. If you're not absolutely convinced your new ZEOS PC is everything we say it is and more, you have a full 30 days to return it to us for a complete, no-questions-asked refund. Plus, you're covered by our One Year Limited Warranty our Express Parts Replacement Policy and our now.- Larger Complete Customer Satisfaction Package.

■ You get your choice of a popular Windows application from Lotus 1-2-3, Ami Pro, Freelance Graphics, or new Lotus Improy which has been called the most "revolutionary and

NOBODY GIVES YOU THIS MUCH!

#1 #2 #3 #4

drives, all with highspeed built-in cache. Up to 452MB!

"The ZEOS 486DX-33 is the fastest 33-MHz 486 DX-33 system we tested, and its performance even topped that of two 50-MHz 486DX2s."

—PC World, February 1993, BEST BUY

accessible" spreadsheet ever. That's in addition to DOS, Windows, and the fabulous Lotus Organizer. With all the free software you get with your new ZEOS system, you save hundreds of dollars!

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO VALUE.

Nobody and we mean nobody gives you as much as ZEOS. At any price. And frankly in the history of our company we've never built better PCs than these. That means a lot from a company with nine PC Magazine Editors' Choice awards.

SO GIVE US A CALL!

You can't make a better purchase decision than to buy your own ZEOS system. So why not give us a call right now and talk with your own friendly and knowledgeable ZEOS Systems Consultant. ZEOS is absolutely your best choice. And we don't just say it. We guarantee it!

CALL NOW TOLL FREE

800-554-5226

Fax Orders: 612-633-1325, Government: 800-245-2449, TDD Orders (for the hearing impaired): 800-228-5389, Outside U.S. and Canada: 612-633-6131. MasterCard, VISA, Am Exp, Discover, Z-Cardr COD and Leasing programs. Open 24 Hours a Day. 365 Days a Year!

Purchase orders from Fortune 1000 companies, governments and institutions subject to approval. Leasing programs available. All prices and specifications are subject to change without notice. Please call to confirm pricing, specifications and warranty details. All products and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. ©1993 ZEOS International, Ltd., 1301 Industrial Blvd., Minneapolis, MN 55413 USA. ZEOS is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ symbol: ZEOS). UPGR-BYT-9305

$1395

$1895

$2295

$2595

486SX-25

1495

1995

2395

2695

486SX-33

1595

2095

2495

2795

486DX-33

1695

2195

2595

2895

486DX2-50

1795

2295

2695

2995

486DX2-66

■

■

■

■

Intel 486 CPU

■

■

■

■

ZIF upgrade socket

2

4

8

16

MB of RAM expandable to 64MB on motherboard

107

214

340

452

High-speed IDE hard drive (MB)

32K

32K

128K

256K

Built-in hard drive cache

■

■

■

■

Local bus IDE hard drive interface

16

16

13

12

Seek time (ms)

■

1.2MB Teac floppy drive 1.44MB Teac floppy drive

■

ZEOS 14" high-resolution mono VGA monitor

ZEOS 14" high-resolution 1024x768 non-interlaced SVGA color monitor

.28

.28

.28

.28

Monitor dot pitch (mm)

1MB high-speed VESA local bus card with Windows accelerator

Eight expansion slots including two VESA local bus

Two serial ports, one parallel port

Shadow RAM/EMS support

Socket for optional on-board SCSI

Flash BIOS

High-capacity 200Wpower supply and built-in surge suppression

ZEOS SpaceSaver case with six drive bays

Two cooling fans

ZEOS 101-key tactile/click keyboard

Microsoft DOS

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Mouse

Choice of Lotus Improy 1-2-3, Ami Pro or Freelance

Lotus Organizer

■

24-Hour-A-DayToll-Free Technical Support

■

30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

■

One Year Limited Warranty

Circle 154 on Inquiry Card.

NEWS

WHAT'S NEW • S C I E N C E / E N G I N E E R I N G SOFTWARE

Finite Element Modeling

LapCAD 5 for the Mac simplifies the creation of finite element analysis models. Release 5 adds layering, which lets you split the model into as many as 15,000 layers, modify individual layers, and display stresses on selected interior components. LapCAD can also handle an unlimited amount of loading conditions.

The software provides element mesh generation and replication, and standard geometric shapes that you can use as a starting point for the model. LapCAD lets you perform model editing by copying, mirroring, rotating, translating, expanding, contracting, deleting, snapping, and extruding. It writes the model files in MSC (MacNeal-Schwendler Corp.)/ pal 2 format (for PCs) and MSC/NASTRAN format (for workstations and mainframes) for subsequent stress and vibration analysis. Once the analysis has been performed, LapCAD reads MSC/pal 2 and MSC/NASTRAN results for display (e.g., deformed shape, stress contour plots, and animation). Price: $195 to $595, depending on the number of nodes. Contact: LapCAD Engineering, San Diego, CA, (800) 343-3641, or phone and fax (619)467-1947. Circle 1279 on Inquiry Card.

ii FIIb Edit Toolv Special Opllons Lapels

2-D Chemical Diagrams

A software tool for 2-D chemical-diagram drawing, ChemDiagram 2.0 for Windows helps you create complex-structure diagrams;

Willi LapCAD 5for the Mac, you can zoom in or out and rotate the model as desired (including real-time animation), well as label elements, grid points, loads, and element and material properties.

move, scale, stack, and rotate them; add labels and text; create illustrations of your research documentation; and produce publication-quality output. The package includes 2-D diagraming tools, illustration tools, a text processor, and page-layout tools.

ChemDiagram's diagramdrawing tools include 12 bond tools, 12 ring tools, three atom tools, and 12 orbital tools. The software also features adjustable "snap to" drawing guides for atom positions, bond lengths, bond angles, and labels, and adjustable parameters such as line weights, fonts, colors, and bond stacking. The ChemGRFX feature lets you import and export vector- and raster-based molecular graphics images via graphics files and the Windows Clipboard. Full support for cut-and-paste operations lets you transfer illustrations into other Windows and DOS-compatible applications.

Price: Single-user industrial license, $349. Contact: Molecular Arts Corp., Anaheim, CA, (714) 634-8100; fax (714) 6341999. Circle 1280 on Inquiry Card.

Civil Engineering Software

Stardust is a Windows 3.1 software package for surveying, digital terrain modeling, and road designing. The package comes in three integrated modules: Survey, Terrain, and Road.

The Survey module provides a host of calculation routines, including leastsquare adjustment and road geometry. The Terrain module uses free-form lines and polygons as its modeling tools and also provides a full set of options for volumes and contouring. The sectional-based Road module offers a complete set of graphic-design tools and routines for areas and volume measurement, along with specific on-site control for dayto-day measurement and monitoring.

Stardust can talk to other Windows programs via DDE, so you can import and export

information to and from other Windows applications. Price: About $2320 (£1600). Contact: Softcover International, Ltd., London, U.K., phone and fax+44 71 373 6368. Circle 1281 on Inquiry Card.

Chart Asteroids

Ceres is an astronomy package that calculates data and plots sky paths for more than 5000 asteroids. The database of asteroids includes number and name, orbital elements, magnitude, residuals, perturbations from major planets, mean motion, and publication data. In addition, you can edit, browse through, add to, import, and export the asteroid data.

Ceres lets you generate ephemerides of asteroid position versus time of high accuracy in several formats. The ephemeris can be geometric, astrometric, apparent, or rectangular, and the point of view can be from the planets or the moon, as well as from Earth. Besides using the built-in database of asteroids, you can get ephemerides of other bodies (e.g., comets) by inputting the orbital elements for any other body, or you can input rectangular coordinates and velocities for the program to solve for the body's motion.

You can get variable size and orientation views of up to seven asteroid orbits onscreen at one time, along with the orbits of Earth and Jupiter for reference. You can change the latitude and longitude reference positions and increase, decrease, or pause the rate of orbital motion. Price: $159.95. Contact: Zephyr Services, Pittsburgh, PA, (800) 5336666 or (412) 422-6600; fax (412)422-9930. Circle 1282 on Inquiry Card.

68 BYTE • MAY 1993

Powerful New Tools for OS/2 Programming

The WorkFrame/2 product ... because the best environment for application development is the one you create yourself.

With WorkFrame/2, you can integrate your choice of development tools - including those for DOS and Windows. It's open, configurable and language independent. And it's easy to customize the WorkFrame/2 interface to create your own development environment.

The concept is simple. WorkFrame/2 organizes files into logical units called projects. By associating each project with your personal choice of compiler/debugger/linker/editor you can get the greatest productivity possible from all your development tools.

The C Set/2 product ... because application development should be fast - and simple!

C Set/2 delivers a one-two punch to help you create some of the fastest-performing OS/2-based applications possible.

First, the 32-bit C compiler enables your applications to exploit the speed and power of 386- and 486-based computers. It's the best high-performance code optimizer in the business. With the C Set/2 compiler, unsafe optimizations simply don't exist.

Second, C Set/2 comes with a fully interactive, full-function, source-level 32-bit Presentation Manager debugger. Just point your mouse and shoot, using the graphical PM user interface - or use the keyboard.

Either way it's easy. And you'll get instant feedback on the screen to verify what you're doing. Debugging has never been so simple!

And there's more. The C Set/2 compiler conforms to industry standards - including ANSI C and ISO/IEC - and offers Microsoft C compatibility. With features like a full suite of runtime libraries and 32-16 bit linkage, you can be sure C Set/2 will provide the function and flexibility you need to make application development fast and simple - the way it should be.

OS/2 2.0 Developer's Toolkit ... because it takes the right set of tools to build powerful applications.

OS/2 2.0 Developer's Toolkit is the perfect companion to use with C Set/2. It contains a variety of language-independent application build and productivity tools. For the C Set/2 compiler, Toolkit provides the system linker and system header files. It also contains the import libraries and the NMAKE utility you need to dramatically increase the capabilities of C Set/2 to build powerful applications.

To order or get more information on how IBM application development tools can work in your OS/2 environment,

in the USA call in Canada call

1-800-342-6672 1-800-465-7999

Making good things happen in application development...==£?=

IBM, OS/2, and Presentation Manager are registered trademarks, C Set/2 and Workframe are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporatic

WHAT WMDOWS DOC-IT DOES FOR

NOW YOU CAN SCAN A GRAPHIC INTO A FAX YOU JUST RECEIUED...

DID FOR SOFTWARE HARDWARE.

It's the first desktop document processor. It's part hardware, part software, and part sheer genius. It's going to multiply the power of your work. It's going to

turn document

...EDIT THE

GRAPHIC

ONSCREEN

AND PRINT

IT ODT...

E

processing from a chore into a breeze. ; hj- n it

It's going to make nprijc YOUR you more efficient, WINDOW TO more productive, IIJCRFA3FR more creative. PRODUCTIVITY lb receive your

own on-scree^m demo disk, or the name of a dealer near you, call 1(800)OKIDAIA. And get ready to see your desktop again.

DOC-IT FROM OKIDATA

Circle 285 on Inquiry Card.

—Mini.,. I .J,,.. ■■■""

NEWS

WHAT'S NEW

OTHER SOFTWARE

A GUI

for AutoCAD

A programmable GUI for AutoCAD 286/386 releases 10 to 12, AutoPix features menu panels that support AutoCAD's menu features, including pause and auto-repeat. AutoPix emulates AutoCAD's prompt area, screen menu, status line, and pull-down menus by displaying them in movable panels. The program lets you have any number of panels active simultaneously, and you can open, close, move, resize, scroll, and shrink them into icons and expand them back to full size.

AutoPix includes a complete AutoCAD menu system with more than 50 AutoPix menu panels and 50 AutoLisp programs and their more than 100 support panels. AutoPix can work with existing AutoCAD menus. Price: US$175. Contact: Upper Canada Software, Inc., Stratford, Ontario, Canada, (519) 272-0986. Circle 1284 on Inquiry Card.

English/Metric Conversion

M

etric Calc, an English/ metric, metric/English conversion program for DOS and Windows, helps you write and respond to requests for purchases, specifications, and other government correspondence. The program complies with the International System of Units definitions of seven base units, two supplemental units, and 19 derived units.

The package includes both DOS and Windows versions. You can run the DOS version as a normal application or as a TSR program from within

AutoPix displays AutoCAD's prompt area, screen menu, and pull-down menus in movable panels that you can resize and shrink into icons when not in use.

other applications. Metric Calc covers units such as linear measure, volume, weight, force, energy, pressure, temperature, and moment of inertia. Context-sensitive help is available from anywhere within the program.

Price: $49.95. Contact: MBC Enterprises, Huntington Beach, CA, (714) 647-5534. Circle 1285 on Inquiry Card.

best system or upgrade for the price. Price: $49.

Contact: Landmark Research International Corp., Clearwater, FL, (813) 443-1331; fax (813) 443-6603. Circle 1286 on Inquiry Card.

Measure System Performance

Speed Test for Windows gives you accurate measurements of your system's CPU, FPU, and video performance. You can configure the Speed Test to measure the performance of your system using the same types of programs you would normally use. A data capture feature saves all the test results to an internal database.

The database contains results of tests performed by Landmark Research International's lab, for dozens of popular products. You can compare the results for the different applications tested and quickly determine the

Compress Images

Iterated Systems has added advanced compression technology and OLE server capabilities to Images Incorporated III, the latest version of its Windows-based program for database, presentation, multimedia authoring, and desktop publishing applications. Version III also includes support for Fractal Transform Template files and an Archive mode, which combine to increase compression performance by from 20 percent to 90 percent.

Images Incorporated functions as an OLE server for fractal compression, decompression, and resolution enhancement. Other new features include background compression and support for

Iterated's Fractal Transform

compression boards, which,

the company says, accelerate

compression time by at least

300 percent.

Price: $299.

Contact: Iterated Systems,

Inc., Norcross, GA, (404)

840-0310; fax (404) 840

0806.

Circle 1287 on Inquiry Card.

Disk-Mirroring Software

A software-based disk-mirroring and disk-duplexing system, Immunity 2.0 provides real-time data protection for DOS and Windows 3.0. Immunity is a device driver that provides complete fault-tolerant data protection to stand-alone computer systems and LANs by writing all data, with every save, to two separate hard disks contained in the same PC. In the event of a hard disk failure, the PC will read and write to the disk that is live, saving the system from down time and data loss.

Immunity's Windows interface speeds up the process of choosing mirroring options. The package also offers error logging and a fast seek option. When Immunity detects an eiTor, it automatically logs all the pertinent information to a file on the good hard disk. Since identical data is in two places at all times, Immunity can actually speed hard disk access time by reading from the hard disk whose head is closest to the data.

Price: $249.

Contact: Unitrol Data Protection Systems, Inc., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, (800) 665-2212 or (604) 681-3611; fax (604) 681-3615. Circle 1288 on Inquiry Card.

72 BYTE • MAY 1993

Power Packed Upgrades.

STANDARD UMTS

These UL/CSA approved, fully-tested power supplies are the best basic units available.

STANDARD 200 XT $69

STANDARD 205 SLIM $89

STANDARD 220 BABY $89

STANDARD 220 AT/TOWER $89

ULTRA-QUIET UNITS

Unrattle your nerves with h"15™5""" __ a Silencer power supply, " Ugd recognized since 1986 as

™J — 50% the industry's quietest.

36 J I __i ,m Cooled with efficient, variable-speed fans that

ORDINARY SILENCER

power supply mmwm m virtually inaudible! A must for home office or multimedia applications.

SILENCER 205 SLIM $119

SILENCER 220 AT/TOWER $129

SILENCER 270 AT/TOWER $179

HIGH-PERFORMANCE UNITS

Upgrade your computer with one of our premium Turbo-Cool power supplies—tlie choice of PC professionals. You'll get 50% -100% more power, built-in line conditioning, a dual-stage EM filter, super-tight regulation, ultra-clean DC output, our high-capacity ThermaSense variable-speed fan (300W models), UL/CSA/TUV approvals, and a no-hassle 2-year warranty! Ideal for high-end workstations and network file servers.

TURBO-COOL 200 XT $159

TURBO-COOL 300 SLIM $169

TURBO-COOL 300 BABY $169

TURBO-COOL 300 AT/TOWER $189

TURBO-COOL 450 AT/TOWER $349

REDUNDANT POWER SYSTEM

Eliminate the risk of network downtime or data loss due to power supply failure widi die TwinPower 900 redundant power system. It delivers high-capacity, fault-tolerant power to your entire network server. Consists of two Turbo-Cool 450 power supplies in parallel, utilizing a special power-management interface module. A must for mission critical LANs,

■ Super Server Power. With 900 watts of peak power, die TwinPower 900 effortlessly runs any array of drives- without the need for sequencing.

■ 100 Times More Reliable. Why gamble widi a single

. , „ . _ , PROBABILITY OF A

unit system? IwinPowers ""HSfiSHW"

load-sharing, redundant Zl ^mjj

design lets you take the mi

power system for granted. i« - —^j^

It's the peace-of-mind a „7r T"HT~/L

r Single-Unit TwinPower 900

network manager needs!

■ Hot-Swap Capability. In die unlikely event that one of its 450s should fail, an alarm sounds, and the other 450 sustains the server while the user simply swaps in a new unit. No downtime!

■ Optional Enclosures. We offer "monster" cases diat hold TwinPower's two power supplies and interface. The Commercial Tower (76 lbs.) holds 13 drives, while the all-steel Industrial Tower (102 lbs.) allows dual systemboards and holds up to 16 drives. Now, that's expandability!

TWIN-POWER 900 , $995

W/COMMERCIAL CASE $1695

W/INDUSTRIAL CASE $1995

486 CPU COOLER

It's a fact. 486 chips run hot, often exceeding 185°F! Now, you can reduce the operating temperature of your 80486 processor to a cool, safe 85°- 95°F with our popular CPU-Cool. You'll freom random system errors and add years to the life of your investment. Consists of a quiet mini-fan embedded in a sculptured heat sink that easily mounts on the CPU. Powered by a spare drive connector. Effective, inexpensive insurance! CPU-COOL

CPU1

1

POWER SUPPLY ADVISOR

1. Even before it fails, an inferior power supply can be trouble. Nasty hard-to-track problems such as interference, rebooting, overheating, and hard drive errors are often power supply related.

2. You can't have too much power. A power supply delivers only what the PC needs and actually performs best at 25% -75% of its rated capacity.

3. For greater hard drive reliability, use a power supply widi independent regulation and extra cooling such as the Turbo-Cool 300/450.

4. Buy from a reputable power supply specialist. You'll get real service, not some runaround like: "Here's a number in Taiwan, give them a call".

5. To save money, PC manufacturers put ordinary power supplies— with limited feattires— in their systems. To upgrade, call us direct or ask your PC supplier for one of our units by name.

PC POWER & COOUNB, IMC.

5995 Avenida Encinas, Carlsbad, CA 92008 • (619) 931-5700 • (800) 722-6555 • Fax (619) 931-6988

Most orders shipped same day. We accept Visa, MC, COD, or PO on approved credit. Turbo-Cool and TwinPower models guaranteed for 2 years, All other products guaranteed for 1 year. Hours: 7 a.m. - S p.m. (PT) Alon. - Fri mi PC Power k Cooling, Inc. Silencer, Turbo-Cool, ThermaSense. TwinPower, and CPU-Cool arc trademarks of PC Power & Cooling, Inc. .All other brand names are trademark or registered trademarks of their respective compani

Circle 119 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 120).

New Version 5.0 of Phar Laps 386imfidender™

Now Sifport; 32

n%

Microsoft® C/C++ users: the wait is over!

Now you can finally build multimegabyte 32-bit DOS applications with your familiar Microsoft tools! Version 5.0 of Phar Lap's' 386IDOS-Extenderlets you run Microsoft's 32-bit Windows NT C/C++ compiler under DOS. You get all the advantages of Phar Lap's industry-leading DOS extender technology, while using the most popular C/C++ compiler available. Multimegabyte 32-bit DOS development has never been easier.

Award-winning 32technology.

386IDOS-Extender turns DOS into a 32-bit operating environment with a flat, workstation-like address space. Your programs can access all the memory in the machine — up to 4 gigabytes! — and take advantage of true 32-bit speed and power. No more segmentation or overlay hassles. And in addition to 32-bit Microsoft C/C++, 386IDOS-Extender supports a wide range of 32bit languages, including Fortran, Pascal, Ada, Assembler and other C and C++ compilers. An add-on Run-Time Kit is also available for delivering Extended-DOS applications to customers.

COMttJUR

LANGUAGE

E333jjgiBgl

LANGUAGE

■ ■H.I.Hl.WJIi.

Industry-leading compatibility.

386IDOS-Extender is compatible with more than 60 popular libraries and utilities, making it easy to select the best tools on the market for your 32-bit development. Choose from user interface libraries including C-scape, DataWindows/386, WNDX and Vermont Views Plus; graphics libraries including HALO Professional, HOOPS and MetaWINDOW/PREMIUM; database libraries including AccSys, CodeBase and Raima Data Manager; class libraries including Tools.h++ and Math.h++; and many others. Only 386IDOS-Extender can offer you the universal third-party support you need.

"the highest qualify 32-bit DOS extender available"

-Robert Wenig, Autodesk

See how much faster your 32-bit DOS version could run:

Complete Microsoft support.

386IDOS-Extender, Version 5.0 gives you the full functionality of j the Microsoft runtime libraries, including graphics. You can still make all your 16-bit Microsoft C/C++ calls — but now with 32-bit power!

New source-level debugger.

386IDOS-Extender, Version 5.0 includes Phar Lap's new 386ISRCBug, a powerful 32-bit source code debugger for protected mode 386IDOS-Extender applications.

2861 DOS-Extenderthe easy way to build multi-megabyte 16-bit DOS applications.

If you'd rather use 16-bit Microsoft C/C++, Borland C++ or Microsoft Fortran, then Phar Lap's award-winning 286ID0S-Extender™ is your solution. With 286IDOS-Extender, your program can break the 640K DOS barrier and access up to 16 megabytes of memory on any 80286 or higher DOS-based PC. You can even use CodeView or Turbo Debugger to debug your protected mode program.

Phar Lap Software, Inc.

60 Aberdeen Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 617-661-1510 FAX 617-876-2972

->86!DOS-Exleiuler and 186IDOS-E\Kndcr are trademarks and Phar Lap is a registered trademark of Phar Lap Software. Inc. Borland and Turbo Debugger are registered trademarks of Borland International. Windows NT is a trademark and CodeView and Microsoft are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Oilier product and company names arc trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Circle 122 on Inquiry Card.

USER'S COLUMN

Once More into the Breach

JERRY POURNELLE

I have two front-page newspaper articles on my desk. The first, from the Wall Street Journal, talks about the computer industry. It concludes that there's a lot of healthy competition, U.S. competitiveness is high and growing, and, while some companies like IBM have been big losers, overall the industry is healthy.

The other article is from the Los Angeles Times, entitled "Protectionist Tide Engulfing Trade Issues"; it tells how U.S. industries are pulling CHnton toward a protectionist stance. Steel and telecommunications have already got protectionist rulings, and everything "from automobiles to textiles have lined up behind them to seek protection from overseas competition."

The U.S. steel industry long enjoyed protectionist policies, and as a result fell a long way behind the rest of the world. A protective tariff is like taking dope: once you start, it is very hard to stop. I note that every time the Department of Commerce interferes with the computer industry, prices rise, competition is harmed, and we users are the ones who pay.

I also note that the U.S. recession of 1929 didn't become the Great Depression until the rest of the world's market system collapsed, in large part due to a protectivetariff war. We tried policies of "beggar thy neighbor," and the result was quite horrid. Then I look at those articles again and I shudder.

UPSes

There are two basic kinds of UPSes (uninterruptible power supplies): on-line and switching. On-line systems continuously charge the batteries while running the system from them; switching systems wait until they detect a power failure and quickly switch your system from online filtered power to power supplied from the UPS batteries. Early on, I tried a few switching UPSes, with unsatisfactory results. Then I adopted Clary UPSes, and I've never had any problems, even during the Great Power Spike I reported on in my August 1989 column.

About a year ago, I was asked to try the Network Security Systems' switching UPSes, and since I now have more computers than my wonderful Clary UPSes can handle, I did that. The result is that my network server now runs off an NSS UPS, and we've had no problems. I still have more confidence in on-line UPSes, but if you do use a switching system, I can recommend NSS.

That sounds like grudging praise, but it isn't meant to be. I suspect my preference for on-line systems isn't all that justifiable; meanwhile, while the NSS hardware may be just another switching UPS, it comes with some real

ILLUSTRATION: STEVE TURK©)993

Jerry wraps up the User's Choice Awards and looks at math and writing programs

ly nifty network power management software, LANSafe II. You can set up a model of your network, showing which systems are protected by a UPS and which are not. You simulate a power failure and observe what happens: how much of your system comes back up when the power comes on, and what kinds of data losses you may expect. If you have a large and complex network with bridges, you may be surprised at the results.

There's also general network power management software that lets you set times and dates for testing your UPSes, discharging them (UPSes need to be run off the batteries at intervals), and so forth. You can set up an orderly shutdown of NetWare file servers, keep logs of power events, and all the rest. NSS has taken a rather vanilla hardware product and genuinely improved it with their management software.

I'm not really competent to evaluate the NSS hardware, but people who are tell me it's a high-quality switching system; and certainly mine has worked fine through some heavy thunderstorms with frequent mini power failures. If you're in need of UPSes, and if your time and work are valuable— they are, whether you know it or not—you can trust NSS, and you may decide you like the system because of the software. Having said that, I also have to say that it's storming outside, and the system I'm writing this on is connected to my big Clary UPS.

I've previously given User's Choice Awards to Clary, and they get a renewal. NSS gets a User's Choice Award for their LANSafe II power management software.

Intel OverDrive

I first heard about it from a reader, and then I got an Intel OverDrive chip myself. It really works.

I have two Cheetah systems, a 486/25 and a 486/33. Both of them work splendidly. The 486/33 is my regular

MAY 1993 -BYTE 75

USER'S COLUMN

machine, the one I'm writing this on. When Intel sent me an OverDrive chip, they sent a 33-MHz version, which will change my 486/33 into a 486DX2/66. What that means is that the bus speed remains the same, but the internal speed in the chip is doubled.

Because the Cheetah 486/33 is my main machine, we installed the OverDrive in the 486/25. The chip comes with a small chip puller, but we found that useless: the puller bent before the chip was removed.

Then it was back to the screwdriver and being very careful.

Once the 486/25 was removed, we popped in the OverDrive. Alas, because of the configuration of the Cheetah board, we didn't push it down quite hard enough: you could see a little of the pins. When we turned on the machine, it didn't work; the next time we used a bit of Stabilant 22 contact enhancer and lubricant (great stuff) and seated the chip firmly. This time it worked fine and continues to do so.

WE'VE JUST ADDED A NEW DIMENSION TO VT340 FUNCTIONS—WINDOWS.

KEAterm 340 gives the power of Windows to your host applications.

KEAterm products combine the features of Windows with the features of a VT terminal for true PC-to-host integration. Control your host data just as you control PC applications—with access to the same powerful software and printers. Host data becomes truly useable.

With KEAterm 340, you can use PC graphics tools to expand the use of host graphics. Copy ReGIS, Tektronix and sixel images into desktop publishing or draw packages for further manipulation.

Picture new power for host applications with KEAterm 340 for Windows.

See KEAterm for Windows and Windows NT at Windows World

f> Full VT340/420 Terminal emulation

P- ReGIS, Tektronix & sixel graphics

[T> Multi-sessions

► Multilingual menus

► Copy & paste 8^ DDE

► File transfer

► Network interfaces

► Script language

► On-screen buttons

KEAterm 340

KEA Systems Ltd. Call 1-800-663-8702 Phone: (604)431-0727 Fax: (604)431-0818

KEAS'.:.!-nt,l:.! S/W.HiF.,,:. rWv; I'M O [:iiii'.Jr,..[yj Giu.U VikV.il KEAM. KEtom, ZSTEM PmaSiittn, KEA and tlw raprlNe bps are saterffltsol KEA S/aems Ud Al ate brand and picddd mmei are uaJomiVs« racHSHl rafcmAscJ faf resfalw ttites. CcPiiAtt KEASYSTEMSLTD 1952 Alnajtsreenal

in Atlanta, May 24-27. Booth 6454.

The 486/25 is now faster than the 486/33.1 will now go out and buy an OverDrive 25-MHz chip and put the 33-MHz chip into my 486/33. When I do that, the Cheetah 486/33 will probably be the fastest machine in the house. Its only rival will be the Gateway 2000 4DX2-66V, and my suspicion is that the Cheetah is going to be slightly faster. That Cheetah is one great machine. Alas, the company is out of business.

Note that we made no changes to software or BIOS; we just swapped chips. The results are just wonderful.

The Intel OverDrive chip gets a User's Choice Award. Recommended.

Stealth

Someone once said that Windows is a good way to slow down your computer. That can be true, but it doesn't have to be. While Windows does use up CPU cycles, most machines have those cycles to spare. The problem comes with the video: Windows uses bit maps for everything, including text. Without the proper hardware, you can grow a beard while the screen repaints. The obvious solution to that is to get the proper hardware.

Diamond Computer Systems' Stealth VRAM (video RAM) fast graphics processor is very much the proper hardware. This board is fast, and it produces gorgeous colors; it is simple to install. We're running ours in a Gateway 2000 486/50 at 1024- by 768-pixel resolution, and it works just fine. It comes with fast drivers for Windows and AutoCAD, the WinRix paint program, and a five-year warranty.

I've used a lot of boards this year, and this is the best of the new crop. Diamond Computer Systems' Stealth VRAM gets a User's Choice Award.

Vest-Pocket Hard Drive

Back in the early days of this column. I was sent a Lilith, which was a bit-slice computer designed by Niklaus Wirth to use Modula-2 as its assembly language. It was fast and wonderful, and it had many of the Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) features that would later appear in the Lisa and Mac. It also featured a Honeywell-Bull 10-MB hard drive.

Hard drives were rare in those days. This particular drive was the size of a washing machine, and it made about as much noise. While the Lilith with Modula-2 made for one of the nicest programming environments I have ever experienced—I think I did more and better programming in the months I had it than I have before or since—that noisy, clumsy, wretched hard drive nearly spoiled it.

Now, I have a 130-MB Flashdrive from

76 BYTE • MAY 1993

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BSE (they're available from 20 to 210 MB), and it's complete with batteries good enough to keep it running for 2 hours and more. It's smaller than a cigar box and so quiet I have to put my ear to it to be sure it's running. Even better, it plugs into the parallel port of my laptops.

The Flashdrive is ruggedly reliable, portable, and a real convenience. For instance, in the morning I'm catching an airplane to Boston for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (my favorite convention of the year). Before I go, I'll plug a Flashdrive into the printer port of this machine, peel off a copy of this column and any other work I've been doing, and stuff that into my briefcase.

In fact, if you don't have a network, Flashdrives make great sneaker network systems: they're bigger and faster than floppy disks. If you use them for file transfer, it means you've also made a backup copy.

The Flashdrive installs painlessly and works like a charm. I gave BSE a User's Choice Award last year, and I have no hesitation in handing them another. Highly recommended.

Surprise, Surprise

Back in March, I nominated Trantor for their T348 MiniSCSI Plus, a gizmo that attaches to your printer port and lets you connect SCSI devices, such as a CD-ROM drive for your laptop. I also nominated Knowledge Adventure for their wonderful interactive multimedia science education programs such as Space Adventure and Dinosaur Adventure. I suspect it comes as no surprise that Trantor Systems and Knowledge Adventure get Chaos Manor User's Choice Awards.

Plug-In for Program Manager

I have mixed emotions about shareware. I certainly support the concept, and some of the best programs I've ever had have been shareware. On the other hand, as programs get larger and more complex, it's nearly impossible for one or two people working part-time—a typical shareware production scenario—to compete.

Sometimes, though, shareware really comes through. That's certainly the case with Plug-In for Program Manager. Unlike Norton Desktop for Windows, Plug-In enhances rather than replaces the Windows Program Manager. It adds features

like automatic monitoring of resources, with a warning alarm when resources are getting low. It installs easily. It provides some new and better cursors. It won't let you nest program groups, but it provides neat ways to do group management.

I've been using Plug-In for a couple of months now, and I have nothing but good to say about it. It's invisible, useful, and inexpensive. You can get it from the publisher (Plannet Crafters) or download it from my conference on BIX. Plug-in for Program Manager gets the Chaos Manor User's Choice Award as Shareware of the Year.

Kicking Them When They're Down

I don't know exactly when I concluded that IBM deserved the Onion of the Year, but it was sometime in December. Now we find that IBM has taken the largest corporate loss in the history of U.S. corporations, has lost its chairman, and is downsizing fast.

Longtime readers will recall that I predicted IBM's decline many years ago: I pointed out that as microcomputers became more powerful and more common, one large source of IBM revenue, rental

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of big COBOL programs, would dwindle and vanish. After all, why pay tens of thousands of dollars a year in rental and maintenance for a program that does no more than you can do with a big 486 that costs less than your annual program rental? And with modern CASE tools for PCs, reverseengineering the big COBOL programs thai run your business gets simpler every day.

IBM has powerful marketing capabilities, but they're mostly geared to taking care of IBM's largest corporate accounts, not selling products to consumers. Their press relations range from indifferent to abysmal—I'd hate to tell you how many times I've been promised something only to have it lost in the cracks, and how many times my OS/2 contact has changed in the past year.

However, they've recently changed. I'm getting reports that the OS/2 help people are really efficient, and John Patrick seems to have taken command in that division. There are enough signs that IBM is getting their act together that I decided they really don't deserve my Onion of the Year after all.

Onion of the Year

There are several other candidates. The war between IBM and Microsoft, which hurts users more than either company. Microsoft's database marketing tactics. The Department of Commerce, again, for temporarily sending memory prices through the roof. The FCC, which, as always, acts to make life difficult for start-ups to the benefit of large, established companies. A whole raft of lesser offenders.

The good news, though, is that they're all more annoyances than serious concerns, and none is so egregious as to deserve an Onion of the Year. Amazing, isn't it?

The Math Scene

When I first got involved with little computers, I was introduced to Macsyma, the first symbolic algebra program. Really early readers will remember my BYTE reports on it. Macsyma was far too big to run on Ezekial, my wonderful old CompuPro Z80 who now resides in the Smithsonian, but I was connected through what was then called the ARPANET to the Macsyma Consortium, which was a big minicomputer at MIT, where Macsyma was developed. I had a lot of fun playing with Macsyma, and in my role as intellectual honeybee, I was the first to let some important theoretical physicists know there were computer programs that could take a lot of the work out of solving complex equations.

Since then, a number of symbolic math programs have been developed. Probably

the best known is Mathematica, which was designed for the Mac but has a PC (with Math Chip) version as well. If you like Mathematica. I won't try to talk you out of it. I found it harder to use than I'd hoped, but you can do some powerful programs with it; but this time I want to talk about some of its rivals.

On the low end there's Derive. I say low end because Derive certainly costs the least and takes the least memory and computer resources. It runs nicely on the HP 95LX (there's a PCMCIA version of Derive), so you can take it anywhere you go. It's not the fastest of the math programs, nor does it have as many features as the others; but it's sure good enough for most users. Every high school student ought to have an HP 95LX with Derive on it: it will take the sting out of algebra and geometry homework.

Of course, you'll still have to understand the concepts to make use of it. Knowing how to use real math never hurt anyone; indeed, until I started writing for a living, I made as much money out of knowing math as I did out of any other skill I ever acquired. Having a feel for math and statistics gives you an enormous competitive advantage, and spending odd moments playing with Derive on a vestpocket machine like the HP 95LX will give you that feel.

The next step up is Mathcad from MathSoft. This is a little more intuitive than Derive, and since it incorporates an editor of sorts, it can be very useful for preparing math documents. It's got a bit more power than Derive, and there's a Windows version. The really nifty feature about Mathcad is that you can get it in various handbook and equation packages. You can get Mathcad augmentations ranging from the best of the CRC "rubber handbook" tables of physical and chemical constants; to vectors; to electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering formulas—you name it. This makes it really easy to write math documents, because you can pull in constants and equations without leaving the program.

If I ever write a book on rockets and space travel—and I plan to someday, I hope—I'll likely use Mathcad, since it makes it easy to include lots of examples. Or I might use Macsyma. It calls itself the most stable, reliable, and powerful of the lot, and I think that's probably true. Macsyma does things its way. It's based on Lisp and uses a "Lispish" kind of interface, but there's an amazingly good help system. It will also do just about everything, and there's a new demonstration capability that's just short of magic.

It is not the easiest thing to install, but

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they've improved that since I first got it. When you install it, it puts a device driver in your SYSTEM.INI file; when you actually run Macsyma, it opens a DOS application called Macsyma Server. After you exit Macsyma, that Macsyma Server is still there, and closing it is not simple. You can't even close it by exiting Windows, because Windows won't let you exit with an open DOS application. You have to go into the Macsyma shell and shut it down from there, ignoring a message saying this

is an awful thing to do.

You have to shut it down, because as long as that Macsyma Server is open, Windows (all applications) becomes intolerably slow, and this on my Cheetah 486/33; who knows what it would do on a 386SX. Be warned: if you are going to run Macsyma, don't plan on doing much else.

On the other hand, it has some incredible power. You can look at the inside of a torus, or even of a Klein bottle. It has fast and amazing graphics. While I still would

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not call it user friendly and I am unhappy about the imbecile shutdown procedure, I am much impressed with Macsyma's capability.

No math program will make you an instant mathematician, but any good one will help you learn a lot about the use of math in practical situations. If I were going to do lots of heavy-duty math, I'd probably get Macsyma and invest the time to tame it and learn it; but I confess I'm glad I don't have to do that, because I really don't want to turn my 486 into a dedicated Macsyma machine. They really should work on an easy way to dump Macsyma when you're finished with it.

If you need sheer computational power, get Macsyma. If you're writing papers with lots of mathematical content and need formulas and constants, look into Mathcad. And if you just want to learn more about using math, get Derive. But get one of them. You won't regret it.

Word for Word

Word for Word has a new Windows version that includes some new target formats. Not long ago, Larry Niven, Steve Barnes, and I spent a week down at the beach house working on the sequel to The Legacy ofHeorot, and we wanted to get a printed copy of what we'd done—about 120 pages—off to our editor. We work in Q&A Write, which is a great text-creation program but not very suitable for printing something that long, so I decided to convert the text from Q&A Write to Microsoft Word for Windows (WfW for short). In the past, I have used Word for Word to convert from Q&A Write to Microsoft Word for DOS and then let WfW pick it up from there. The new version of Word for Word has WfW as a target format, so I tried the direct approach.

Alas, the result was that when I went to change the text header and set up to do page numbers, my machine locked up completely; nothing I could do would let me recover, so I had to turn the machine off. Fortunately I didn't lose any text, but I can't say it was a pleasant experience. The WfW format is very complex, and apparently MasterSoft hasn't quite got it right; but then I'm not sure anyone has.

The answer here was to let Word for Word convert from Q&A Write to RTF (Rich Text Format) and let WfW finish the job by reading that in. That worked fine, but RTF strips out any headers or footers. I also discovered that the lockup experience had changed the default header setting to 0 inches, and since a LaserJet III can't print closer than 0.5 inch from any side of the page, my first printout had no page numbers. Once I set the header

82 BYTE • MAY 1993

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USER'S COLUMN

margin to a half-inch again, all was well. This isn't a real complaint against MasterSoft, since Word for Word remains the easiest to use of the conversion programs, and it certainly has the widest selection of both source and target formats. However, if your source text has headers and footers, be careful.

Quotes on Line

There are lots of quotation programs. This DOS character-based askSam application program is better than most, with a good selection of quotations you can find by author, subject, or keyword. It's also useful because it's a good illustration of the kind of thing you can build with the characterbased askSam information management system. I confess it has caused me to take a much harder and kindlier look at askSam, because the program is very fast, and while there's no mouse support, it's pretty easy to use. I suspect character-based data managers will be around for a while yet. A lot of the things we do are still restricted to words, and as soon as you add graphics capabilities, as with Thinx, you can do more, but it's harder to build applications, and they run more slowly.

The quote database (12,000 quotes) isn't bad. I told it to look for the Boolean war AND peace, and it found a couple dozen instances, of which three samples follow:

Sydney J. Harris: "There's no point in

burying a hatchet if you're going to put

up a marker on the site."

Paul Hoffman: "We wage war not to win

war, but to win peace."

Thomas Mann: "War is only a cowardly

escape from the problems of peace."

All told, not bad, and I didn't find a one of those in the Bartlett's CD-ROM. This is a good collection, fast and easy to use. Quotes on Line is useful in its own right, and it's a good introduction to askSam's capabilities as well. Recommended.

Avagio

There are a zillion desktop publishing systems out there, each with a ton of features, and after a while it becomes impossible to decide which one to use. When Roberta was publishing the LA Opera League's newsletter, she used Aldus PageMaker on a Mac, partly because many of the LA Opera people are Mac users. It got the job

done, but there were times when I thought she'd go nuts.

I've done a bit of desktop publishing myself. Also, Jim Baen uses Ventura Publisher to do the actual typesetting for my books—that reminds me, Prince of Sparta from Baen Books is out now—and for a job that complex, Ventura Publisher is probably what he needs.

However, if I were going to do ordinary desktop publishing—publicity fliers, memos, small posters—and particularly if I were going to use color, I suspect I'd use Avagio Publishing System from Unison World Software. Of all the desktop publishing systems I've put up and fooled around with, Avagio seems the simplest for just getting something useful done. It has enough fonts, it handles most graphics file formats, it knows how to put in color, and it doesn't require PostScript. It's pretty intuitive, and it can do more special effects than I'm likely to need.

In a word, Avagio is good enough for just about anything you might want to do; it runs on just about any system you may have, from an AT to a 486; it doesn't need Windows; it doesn't need a lot of memory or a huge hard drive; and while it's not

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USER'S COLUMN

fast, it will get the job done without your having to make a career of learning it. Recommended.

SpreadBase

The Spreadsheet and Database Wars have begun in earnest. Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, or Quattro Pro? Access, FoxBase, dBase, Paradox? Or scrap the lot of them and try Thinx?

Of course, it's unlikely that any single spreadsheet or database can be all things to all people. Some are designed for customization. Some are best for enormous structured spreadsheets or databases. There are probably more practical business programs written in the dBase language than in any other language, and there are probably more dBase programmers than anything else, which is what made room for FoxBase and Clipper.

Meanwhile, Lotus 1-2-3 was one of the major reasons for the quick penetration of desktop computers into the business world, the killer application that did for PCompatibles what VisiCalc had earlier done for Apple. I can still remember the early days, when businesspeople went to computer stores and said "I want VisiCalc," with no idea what computer it ran on. They just knew they needed that spreadsheet capability.

As the Spreadsheet and Database Wars continue in the PC world, the programs grow with features. You can do a great deal more with them—but they're harder to use. Meanwhile, there's SpreadBase for the Mac world.

SpreadBase doesn't have as powerful a programming language as dBase, nor as powerful a macro capability as Excel. What it does have is a built-in ability to designate different cells as belonging to Categories, which you can then deal with collectively. SpreadBase doesn't do anything you can't do in Excel; indeed, I suspect it has definite limits compared to Excel. But it does do some very complex models with simplicity and ease, and for most people that's likely to be more important anyway.

SpreadBase will import data from most popular spreadsheet and database formats, and it lets you build pretty complex linked spreadsheet models with considerable flexibility. If you do a lot of work with rapidly changing spreadsheets, you'll do well to look into this.

Physics

Given the number of simulation programs around, it's astonishing how little good science education software has been published so far. Here are two good programs, both for the Mac, from a company called

86 BYTE • MAY 1993

Circle 79 on Inquiry Card.

SupraFAXModem V.32bis Internal $349.95 DosAVindows

The Best Choice: SupraFAXModem

SupraFAXModem V.32bis External $399.95 Stand Alone $439.95 DosAVindows

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Supra modems are designed for novice and expert communicators alike. Whether you use DOS™, Windows™, or a Macintosh™, we've got a package for you—and our

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CALLER ID

Circle 161 on Inquiry Card.

All trademarks belong to Iheir respective companies. 7101 Supra Drive S.W.. Albany, OR 97321 USA • 503-967-2410 • Fax: 503-967-2401

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Knowledge Revolution. Fun Physics is the simple introductory program, and Interactive Physics II is a more serious teaching tool.

Both programs do a good job of teaching mechanics while making it fun to learn. The more advanced program is by far the more interesting, but that's to be expected. I like these, and I hope there will be many more like them.

Presenter Plus

Ever go somewhere with a laptop expecting to find a good color monitor, only to discover there wasn't one for you to use for your presentation? I have, and I was forced to have everyone crowd around the monochrome screen on my Zenith.

Presenter Plus is designed to remedy that situation. It's a lightweight box about 1 by 4 by 5 inches, with connectors for power (one of those little power converters comes with it), VGA input and output, and NTSC video or S-video composite output. Feed your VGA into the box, connect it to a TV, and you get a passable excuse for a monitor. It won't have the resolution of a real monitor, of course, but it will be better than you expected.

Presenter Plus comes with DOS and Windows software, several fonts, instructions, and cables. I wish it came with a carrying case to hold all that stuff. I put mine in an old shaving-kit bag so that the parts wouldn't get separated.

You can feed Presenter Plus's output into a TV, or, if the TV doesn't have a composite input, you'll need an RF converter. You can also feed the output into a VCR and play that tape on a TV.

Presenter Plus chops out some of the horizontal lines, and you'll get some flicker because of the interlaced output. All told, it's sure not VGA; but it beats heck out of having everyone crowd around a monochrome laptop screen.

Up and Coming

A few years ago, I told you to watch for CD-ROM as the up-and-coming technology. It took a little longer than I thought it would—the critical event was getting the price of CD-ROM drives lower—but serious computer systems now need CDROM drives.

The first CD-ROM drives were pretty slow, but over the years they got faster. Thus, if what you want out of a CD-ROM is text or still pictures, there's no problem. It's different with motion video, though. Not just speed. Bit-map picture images take up space on the disk, a lot of space, enough thai a CD-ROM's 600 MB of data isn't enough to hold much full-motion video and a sound track.

What's needed are ways to compress that data, and that, I think, will be one of the real breakthroughs in the next year or so: really efficient on-the-fly compression and decompression of full-motion video with sound. When that happens, multimedia will come into its own.

The other up-and-coming technology is PCMCIA, the credit-card-size solid-state interface that can be nonvolatile memory, a modem connection, an Ethernet connector, or a connection to a video camera. The PCMCIA slot is really a direct route to your system's bus.

I am collecting PCMCIA stuff, including flash-memory cards from Mitsubishi and Epson and various interface connections. One of these days, I'll do a roundup. Meanwhile, this is another technology to be aware of. I'd bet that in a couple of years every new portable system will have PCMCIA, and not long after that, you'll see it become a standard feature on desktops as well.

Winding Down

It has been flooding in Los Angeles, and although we're well above flood level (and below mud-slide level; Roberta did a great job picking this house), it has been pretty hectic the past couple of weeks. In a few minutes, I catch that airplane to Boston and the AAAS meeting, where I get to rub elbows with top scientists and prepare my annual report on the state of the sciences in America. I say all this by way of apology if the column seems a bit choppy and hurried this month.

I'll be carrying my Gateway 2000 HandBook and the NCR laptops. Roberta has a Gateway 2000 Nomad that she likes because it is lightweight and reliable. Also, the screen is bright enough that she can use it to demonstrate her reading program. Incidentally, I heard shouts of joy from downstairs a couple of hours ago: apparently the Mac version is nearly done.

The book of the month is Thomas Sowell's Inside American Education: The Decline, the Deception, the Dogmas (Free Press, 1992), a devastating analysis of the flaws of the American education system. Ten years ago, Nobel winner Glenn T. Seaborg, chairman of the National Commission on Excellence, concluded that, "If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United Slates, we would rightly consider it an act of war." Things haven't got much better, and Sowell has some powerful suggestions as to what's wrong and what has to be done. Steve Barnes quite literally couldn't stop reading until he'd finished Sowell's book, which was great praise for the book, but he was supposed to be working with Niven

88 BYTE • MAY 1993

The only Windows statistics 12 package you'll ever need.

MICROSOFT

WINDOWS-.

COMBMIBLE

NEW

SYSW® for WINDOWS

#1 for DOS and Windows

Rated "the best general-purpose statistics program" for the PC by Software Digest9, SYSTAT for DOS is now joined by SYSTAT for Windows. This addition to the SYSTAT family takes full advantage of Windows, with pull-down menus, dialog boxes, sizable windows, and the ease of use you expect in a Windows package.

SYSTAT for Windows runs in standard and 386 enhanced modes and can take advantage of Windows advanced memory management. No matter how large or complex your analysis is, you can use SYSTAT

SYSTAT delivers a balance of power and simplicity. It lets you analyze and manipulate data

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with a comprehensive range of advanced statistical procedures, and present your results with stunning graphics.

Just point and click

SYSTAT is a full-fledged Windows application. Just point and click. SYSTAT's QuickStat™ buttons give you simple, single-click shortcuts to common statistical analyses.

More statistics, from the basic to the most sophisticated

A full range of univariate and multivariate statistics-from /tests to multidimensional scaling. With a few clicks you can turn most statistics into graphs and perform:

■ multiway crosstabs with loglinear modeling

■ nonparametric statistics

■ principal components and factor analysis

■ cluster analysis

■ time series

■ nonlinear estimation

■ correlation matrices

■ means, effect, and dummy models

■ post hoc tests

SYSTAT offers die most advanced multivariate general linear model available for Windows.

The most graphics

No other statistical or graphics package can produce all the scientific and technical graphs that SYSTAT can-nor surpass its ease of use. Graphics capabilities include:

■ histograms

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Whichever you choose-SYSTAT for Windows, SYSTAT for DOS or both-you'll enjoy the most powerful statistics and scientific graphics software available for the PC.

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For more information call or write: SYSTAT, Inc., 1800 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60201-3793. Tel:708.864.5670, Fax: 708.492.3567

Australia: Heame Marketing 61.3.8661766, BeNeLux: Oasis 31.3402.66336, Denmark: Agrolab 45.64.406575, France: Deltasoft 33 76 418508 Germany: STATCON 49.55.4272075, Italy: PiSoft 39.587.213640, Japan: HuLinks 81.33.5902311, New Zealand: Hoare & Assoc 64 78 562675' Poland: COMPANION 48.12.360791, Spain: AddLink 34.3.4590722, Switzerland: F & P 41.31.215151, SYSTAT UK: 44.81.4620093

© 1992 SYSTAT®, Inc. Software Digest Ratings Repotl/8.5, May, 199). Software Digesl is a registered trademark of NSTL, Inc.

USER'S COLUMN

and me on our new novel.

The other book of the month is HighTech Ventures: The Guide to Entrepreneurial Success by Gordon Bell and John McNamara (Addison-Wesley, 1992). I can recommend this to anyone in management at any level.

In looking around the office, I see the "ready line" table is still piled high with good stuff I can't get to this month. That

makes me feel better about the protectionist trends 1 mentioned earlier.

Next month, CD-ROMs, more on networks, and, with luck, some new developments in OS/2. Now I'm off to Boston for good science and better lobster. ■

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 Jeny 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, Jeny cannot guarantee a personal reply. You can also contact him on BIX as "jerryp."

FOR MORE INFORMATION

USER'S CHOICE AWARDS

Dinosaur Adventure $49.95

Space Adventure $99.95

Knowledge Adventure, Inc.

4502 Dyer St.

La Crescenta, CA 91214

(800) 542-4240

(818)542-4200

fax:(818)542-4205

Circle 1171 on Inquiry Card.

Flashdrive $299 to $999

The BSE Company, Inc.

2114 North Fourth St.

Flagstaff, AZ 86004

(602)527-8843

fax:(602)527-1540

Circle 1172 on Inquiry Card.

LANSafe II $69 to $249

Switching UPSes $299 to $1875

Network Security Systems, Inc.

9401 WaplesSt.

San Diego, CA 92121

(800) 755-7078

(619)587-7950

fax:(619)552-9162

Circle 1173 on Inquiry Card.

OnGuard PC-2400 $1590

Clary Corp.

1960 South Walker Ave. Monrovia, CA 91016 . (800) 442-5279 (818)359-4486 fax:(818)305-0254 Circle 1174 on Inquiry Card.

OverDrive $449 to $799

Intel Corp.

Personal Computer Enhancement Operation

5200 Northeast Elam Young Pkwy.

Hillsboro, OR 97124

(800)538-3373

Stealth Hi Color $399

Stealth Pro $349

Stealth 24 $249

Diamond Computer Systems

1130 East Arques Ave.

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

(408)736-2000

fax: (408) 730-5750

Circle 1177 on Inquiry Card.

T348 MiniSCSI Plus $229

Trantor Systems, Ltd.

5415 Randall Place

Fremont, CA 94538

(800) 872-6867

(510)770-1400

fax:(510)770-9910

Circle 1178 on Inquiry Card.

ITEMS DISCUSSED

Avagio Publishing System 2.0 $150

Unison World Software, Inc.

675 Almanor Ave.

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

(800)345-9299

(408) 245-3000

fax:(408)245-1412

Circle 1179 on Inquiry Card.

Derive $250 to $375

Soft Warehouse, Inc.

3660 Waialae Ave., Suite 304

Honolulu, HI 96816

(808) 734-5801

fax:(808)735-1105

Circle 1180 on Inquiry Card.

Fun Physics

Interactive Physics II

Knowledge Revolution, Inc.

15 Brush Place

San Francisco, CA 94103

(800)766-6615

(415)553-8153

..$399

Macsyma $349 to $999

Macsyma, Inc.

20 Academy St.

Arlington, MA 02174

(800) 622-7962

(617)646-4550

fax:(617)646-3161

Circle 1183 on Inquiry Card.

Mathcad

Windows or Mac $495

Unix $995

MathSoft, Inc.

201 Broadway

Cambridge, MA 02139

(800) 628-4223

(617)577-1017

fax:(617)577-8829

Circle 1184 on Inquiry Card.

Presenter Plus $429

Consumer Technology Northwest, Inc.

4900 Southwest Griffith Dr., Suite 249

Beaverton, OR 97005

(800)356-3983

(503)643-1662

fax:(503)671-9066

Circle 1185 on Inquiry Card.

Quotes on Line

askSam Systems

P.O. Box 1428

Perry, FL 32347

(800)800-1997

(904)584-6590

fax:(904)584-7481

Circle 1186 on Inquiry Card.

SpreadBase

Objective Software, Inc.

200 Chesapeake Dr.

Redwood City, CA 94063

(415)306-7410

Circle 1187 on Inquiry Card.

..$89

..$695

(503) 696-8080

fax:(415)553-8012

Word for Word Professional 5.2 $149

fax: (503) 629-7576

Circle 1175 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 1181 on Inquiry Card.

Word for Word Windows 5.2 $149

MasterSoft, Inc.

Plannet Crafters, Inc. 2580 Runic Way

HP9SLX !

■$20 Hewlett-Packard Co.

1000 Northeast Circle Blvd. Corvalis, OR 97330

S550 6991 East Camelback Rd., Suite A-320 Scottsdale, AZ 85251 (800)624-6107 (602) 277-0900

Alpharetta, GA 30202

(404) 740-9821

fax:(404)740-1914

Circle 1176 on Inquiry Card.

(800)443-1254 (503)757-2004 Circle 1182 on Inquiry Card.

fax: (602) 970-0706

Circle 1188 on Inquiry Card.

90 BYTE • MAY 1993

EXCEED THE LIMITS OF X TERMINAL EMULATION

Turn your PC into an X station.

WithHCL-eXceed/W PC X server software, Hummingbird allows you to live in two worlds: DOS/MS-Windows and X Windows/UNIX.

Imagine being able to move both text and images between UNIX hosts and your DOS PC. It's as simple as copying and pasting from one window of your PC screen to another.

Discover other innovative capabilities of HCL-eXceed/W.

■ Launch Pad menuing facility

■ Telnet and FTP applications

■ Xll R5: support for scalable fonts, font servers, XDMCP security

■ Xstart — X client program starter

■ Xtrace — protocol tracing facility

■ single window and multiple window mode

■ supports 15 different TCP/IP transports and DECnet

■ supports up to 16 million colors

■ plane mask support

X Development Tools

HCL-eXceed/W now includes the Xlib, Xt intrinsics, Xaw and Xmu libraries. This introduces a whole new dimension to PC X servers. Now you can use your PC as a low-cost workstation to develop and run X applications. You can also give other PCs and workstations access to these applications over the network.

HCL-eXceed/Wfrom Hummingbird. It's far more than X terminal emulation for PCs. And it's one of the family:

HCL-eXceedPlus-A

DOS-based X server with a local window manager that supports EGA, VGA and SuperVGA.

HCL-eXceed Hi Res The

same as "Plus" but it also supports 8514A, XGA and TIGA 2 high resolution graphic standards.

HCL-eXtend - UNIX hostbased X clients for accessing DOS services.

HUMMINGBIRD COMMUNICATIONS LTD.

For the name of your closest reseller, please contact:

2900 John Street, Unit 4, Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 5G3 Telephone: (416) 470-1203, Fax: (416) 470-1207

In Europe: 37-39 rue de Vermont, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Telephone: 41 (22) 733 18 58, Fax: 41 (22) 734 14 79

Circle 92 on Inquiry Card.

COVER STORY

FEATURE

Intel

Launches Rocket

in a Socket

With the Pentium processor, Intel extends the life of the 15-year-old 80x86 architecture, but competing RISC CPUs give users alternative CPU choices

TOM R. HALFHILL

On March 22, Intel unveiled the Pentium—the next generation of the microprocessor architecture that has dominated the PC industry for more than a decade. With this new processor, Intel has begun steering a difficult course between tradition and revolution. On one hand, Intel must prolong the life of the 15-year-old 80x86 architecture, a tried-and-true design that encompasses an installed base of tens of millions of computers and thousands of programs. The corporations and individuals who have spent billions of dollars to buy that hardware and software are as anxious to protect their investment as Intel is.

At the same time, however, Intel must also push the envelope of microprocessor performance to new levels that will satisfy the increasing demands of computing in the 1990s. Multimedia applications with full-motion video and robust new operating systems like Windows NT are pushing the limits of today's fastest desktop computers. To meet these needs, engineers are cramming more and more transistors into their CPU designs. Exotic new architectures that were undreamed of a few years ago are now beginning to appear. To keep pace, Intel must adapt those advances to its 80x86 chips without deviating too radically from the basic architecture that it first committed to silicon in 1978.

The Pentium is not just another new chip but a new 80x86 chip—an event that happens only once every four years (see figure 1). As such, it's a tantalizing combination of inherited limitations and future possibilities. It needs to be judged by two standards: how well it carries on the 80x86 standard and how well it performs.

It's imperative for the chip to be compatible with previous 80x86 chips, and it is. The Pentium is fast, too, though perhaps not as fast as you would like. It's also expensive. With sources estimating an OEM price of about $900 per chip in production quantities (Intel had not released pricing on the Pentium as this went to press), the Pentium is far too costly for today's mass-market, single-user desktop computers. But the same was true of the 486, 386, 286, and 8086 when they hit the market.

Over the course of the next 12 to 24 months, the Pentium will primarily be harnessed to network servers and workstation-class machines priced from $5000 to $10,000, according to system vendors and industry analysts. Systems based on the Pentium will not be announced until May 17. Key vendors expected to make Pentium-related announcements at that time include AST Research, Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard. IBM, NCR, Unisys, and Zenith Data Systems. As prices inevitably fall and performance improves, the Pentium could become the dominant

92 BYTE • MAY 1993

ILLUSTRATIONS: DANIEL PELAVIN M993

MAY 1993 -BYTE 93

INTEL LAUNCHES ROCKET IN A SOCKET

microprocessor of the mid-1990s.

However, Intel faces a challenge it has never before experienced with a new PC-based CPU: competition right out of the starting block. Microsoft's Windows NT is the anticipated operating system of choice for Pentium systems, but Windows NT-ready workstations based on RISC CPUs will beat the first Pentium systems to market. For the first time ever, you don't have to choose Intel for your next-generation PC system architecture.

Coping with RISC

Intel has announced two versions of the Pentium: one clocked at 66 MHz and the other at 60 MHz. The BYTE benchmarks confirm that the faster Pentium barely exceeds Intel's stated design goal of delivering at least twice the performance of today's fastest 486, the clock-doubled 486DX2-66 (see the text box "Testing the Pentium" on page 96). The 66-MHz Pentium is rated at 112

INTEL CPUS OVER TIME

Price at launch/ current price

MIPS at launch/ highest MIPS

8086

June 1978

286

February 1982

MIPS according to the Dhrystone 1.1 benchmark, and the 60MHz Pentium delivers about 100 MIPS. By comparison, a 66MHz 486DX2-66 yields about 54 MIPS.

A twofold increase in speed is enough to command a premium price in today's performance-hungry PC market, especially in the highly specialized niche of network servers. Because the performance of a server affects all the users on a network, any improvement is easier to justify when weighed against the higher costs. In addition, the Pentium marks the first time an 80x86 chip has broken the magical 100-MIPS barrier, which until now has been the exclusive domain of RISC-based microprocessors. "I think [the Pentium] sounds real strong," says Roger Rapp, an information technology manager at John Brown, a worldwide engineering and construction firm. Rapp, who is based in Mount Vernon, Indiana, is responsible for all the hardware and software, including 31 AutoCAD licenses, used at John Brown's offices in Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri. Although Rapp is glad that Intel continues to develop the 80x86 architecture, he has a wait-and-see attitude. "I'm agnostic on the whole shooting match," he says. "I have to do whatever's best for the end user." Thanks to power-hungry users like Rapp, RISC processors pose the greatest threat to the future of the Pentium. Unbound by any requirements to maintain compatibility with old hardware and software, RISC chips are free to embrace radical new architectures and advanced design theories. As a result, they can de

Number of transistors

29,000

134,000

■P |F" J ^j 11-4

275,000

<8€) s

1.2 million

486

August 1989

Discontinued

Estimated

<g =100,000

Figure 1: Intel sticks to a remarkably regular product cycle: Each new generation follows the previous one by about 44 months. The number of transistors on 80x86-series microprocessors has increased exponentially since the debut of the 8086 in 1978. During this period, the minimum feature size has shrunk from 3 microns on the 8086 to 0.8 micron on the Pentium. Future versions of the Pentium will probably use 0.65-micron technology for even higher densities. At 112 MIPS, the 66-MHz Pentium, is nearly 150 times faster than the speediest 8086. Note that these MIPS ratings are for the fastest version of each chip; the Pentium is sure to get faster, too, as new versions are introduced.

liver impressive levels of raw performance that leave most CISC-based chips in the dust (see the box "Pentium vs. RISC"). But they also tend to be expensive, partly because none has achieved the volume that leads to inexpensive mass production—at least not on the scale of Intel's most popular chips.

All that may change, however, with the dawning of Windows NT. This operating system threatens both the Pentium processor and Intel's long reign over the PC market in two different ways. First, Windows NT offers symmetrical multiprocessing, which means Pentium-based computers will be required to compete on price/performance grounds against systems that include two or more 486 chips working together. Second, Windows NT is strategically designed to be independent of the underlying hardware; it's supposed to run equally well on such non-Intel RISC chips as DEC's Alpha series and the Silicon Graphics/ Mips R4000. continued

94 BYTE • MAY 1993

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The Discovery Card™ is the safest, lastest, easiest and most accurate method to detect IRQ/DMA conflicts. There are 18 logic probes built in (11 for all Interrupts and 7 for all DMA channels) to pinpoint all conflicts. A must for anyone who installs networks or add-on cards. End the frustration!

The Network Interface Technical Guide™ just released! The largest reference on network interface cards available. This 850 page book contains over 300 different Network Interface Cards from 40 manufacturers, complete with detailed Diagrams, Jumper Settings, different Network Topologies such as Cable Lengths, Wiring Types Used, Transfer Rates and Maximum Number ol Nodes.

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INTEL LAUNCHES ROCKET IN A SOCKET

Testing the Pentium

RICK GREHAN

Because Intel decided to split the announcement of the Pentium processor—the CPU itself on March 22, systems using the Pentium on May 17—only three vendors permitted BYTE to benchmark their Pentium systems, and then only if we agreed not to mention the products or companies by name. We benchmarked four systems. Although all of them are ultimately slated to use 66MHz versions of the Pentium, the versions we saw were running the 60-MHz version.

We ran our complete suite of lowlevel and application-level benchmarks (sans the Unix tests) on two of the machines. Since the only common factor in all these machines was the Pentium processor (the hard disk and video systems varied), we concentrated on the portions of our benchmarks that illuminate CPU and FPU performance.

If you average the machines' scores on the low-level benchmarks, the results suggest performance for CPU operations alone to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.6 times that of a 66MHz Compaq Deskpro 66M with a 486DX2 (see figure A). The FPU performance boost is better—around 1.9 times that of the Deskpro 66M. The latter good showing is likely due to Intel's redesign of the FPU core (see the text box "Inside the Pentium" on page

102). Our application-level tests showed results that are slightly below what the low-level benchmarks predicted: a CPU performance boost of around 1.4 and an FPU boost of around

PENTIUM PERFORMANCE

Compaq Deskpro 66M

Pentium system

with Intel cache

and memory

hardware

■ CPU low-level □ FPU low-level

Pentium system

with proprietary

cache

and memory

hardware

H Application-level CPU I Application-level FPU

Figure A: Pentium systems can provide nearly twice the performance of a Compaq Deskpro 66M with a 66MHz 486DX2. One Pentium system, which had its own CPU support circuitry, did better than the other systems we tested.

1.6—again, both compared to a Deskpro 66M with a 486DX2-66.

Three of the four machines that we benchmarked used CPU, cache, and memory circuitry designed by Intel. A fourth machine was manufactured by a company that designed its own cache and memory-interface hardware. Although we were able to run only our low-level benchmarks on this system, we saw performance that was significantly better than that of the other three Pentium systems we tested: Both CPU and FPU performance were roughly twice that of the Deskpro 66M. If the correlation between low-level and application-level tests holds true, this translates to application benchmark results in the neighborhood of 1.7 to 1.8 times those of the Compaq.

We believe that these higher numbers are more indicative of the Pentium's true potential. The other three machines are based on existing 486 designs and use the daughtercard-upgrade approach.

There is one caveat here: Our benchmarks use applications that are not optimized for the Pentium. Intel claims that optimization will boost performance by as much as 30 percent.

Rick Grehan is technical director of the BYTE Lab. You can contact him on BIX as "rick e."

In the Pentium's favor is the fact that DOS and Windows 3.x applications will not run natively on an Alpha- or R4000-based NT system. This is because these RISC chips are not binary compatible with the 80x86 instruction set. To run DOS and Windows applications on these systems, NT will transparently emulate the 80x86, using technology developed by Insignia Solutions, a company best known for its SoftPC emulator. As with all software emulation, there's a performance penalty, so apples-lo-apples comparisons between 80x86- and RISC-based systems will be difficult, if not impossible, when running existing applications under Windows NT. But comparisons will be much easier— and tempting—when running new software written for NT.

Until now, the only common ground for comparing the performance of 80x86 and RISC processors was Unix. Although Unix also offers symmetrical multiprocessing and platform independence, the vast majority of PC users have avoided it (see "Is Unix Dead?," September 1992 BYTE). Those users may be more

receptive to the more familiar Windows NT, and NT will pit the Pentium directly against its RISC rivals for the first time.

Intel insists it will not shrink from such comparisons. While the RISC-versus-CISC debate has been raging, Intel has been quietly adapting key elements of the RISC philosophy to its decidedly CISC-based 80x86 architecture (see the photo on page 100). A few hints of this were evident in the 486's FPU and cache, but the Pentium goes much further in this respect. The prime example is the Pentium's superscalar pipeline, a common feature of RISC chips. Under certain circumstances the Pentium is capable of executing two machine instructions simultaneously, because it has not one, but two integer pipelines arranged in parallel. It also has intelligent branch prediction and other advanced RISC features (see the text box "Inside the Pentium" on page 102).

Even though the Pentium's FPU pipeline does not execute in parallel, other improvements in the chip significantly boost its floating-point performance. Preliminary benchmarks indicate

96 BYTE • MAY 1993

CompuServe does Windows.

Introducing a whole new way to look at CompuServe: CompuServe Information Manager for Windows (WinCIMf). It's a fully integrated Windows application, and lets you take advantage of Windows when you're on CompuServe. It'll make your session faster, more efficient, easier, and a lot more fun.

With the help of icons and pull-down menus, you'll find your CompuServe time is almost effortless. Cruise the forums, browse through your messages, download files — it's all about as simple as clicking a mouse button.

'1 jaiitt

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And with WinCIM vou can do more

j

offline, too. That means everything from writing letters to reading the answers to your hardware and software questions can be done much more economically.

So take a look for yourself. If you're already a CompuServe member, just type GO WINCIM. If you aren't, call us for more information at 1 800 848-8199. Either way, you'll soon see why the best view is the one from CompuServe Information Manager for Windows.

VS, CompuServe®

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PROTECT YOUR SOFTWARE

NO BUTTON, NO ACCESS.

Dallas Semiconductor is re-shaping the world of software protection and distribution control with a new family of microchips called Buttons. We put the lid on software piracy by packaging microchips in button-shaped, stainless steel cans. The chips contain missing but critical information to make the software run.

We offer a variety of Authorization Buttons and features so you can select the level of protection and price point that are right for you.

Security Continuum

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Authorization Buttons interface to the installed base of 100+ million PC's via the DS1410 Button Holder. They simply snap in and out. The DS1410 accepts two Buttons concurrently.

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At Dallas Semiconductor, we design and manufacture our own microchips. And we're the only ones in the software protection business who do. Sixty intricate process steps and a 64-bit unique registration number lasered into each chip prevent duplication.

To learn how to button down your software, give us a call.

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INTEL LAUNCHES ROCKET IN A SOCKET

the Pentium's FPU is about twice as fast as the 486's. This, together with the superscalar ALUs, positions the Pentium closely with competing RISC chips.

"For the average Lschmo," the average businessperson doing word processing and spreadsheets, [the Pentium] is not going to be a big deal, and I see no reason for a lot of them to go past a 386," says Nancy Thalblum, a New York consultant and member of the NYPC users group. "But for other kinds of people, you have to have the raw horsepower."

For those people, Intel says that the Pentium's hybrid architecture is just a starting point. Faster versions of the Pentium are on the way. The initial Pentiums are based on 0.8-micron, 5-volt BiCMOS technology, with about 3.1 million transistors. Future versions, which may appear by late this year or in early 1994. are expected to use 0.65-micron, 3.3-V technology and will run at 100 MHz or faster, according to industry analysts.

Intel won't comment, but if it keeps with its marketing strategy of spinning off numerous variations of a basic microprocessor, you can anticipate a wide variety of Pentiums for many purposes: servers, desktops, and portables. Meanwhile, if history repeats itself, the Pentium will benefit from the same performance gains and manufacturing efficiencies that have made other 80x86 microprocessors faster, denser, and less expensive. Sales are projected to ramp up quickly: from 400,000 chips this year to 2.1 million next year, according to Ken Lowe, senior industry analyst at Dataquest (San Jose, CA).

Upgrade Paths

One variation of the Pentium is already known. Code-named the P24T, it's an upgrade Pentium for 486-based computers, sort of a Pentium OverDrive. Some 486 machines that are now available, such as AST's new Premmia 4/66d, have a special socket with an extra row of pins for the P24T. When the P24T is introduced early in 1994, it will pop into this 238-pin socket, preempting a machine's existing CPU.

However, some of these computers won't be quite as fast as systems that are designed especially for the Pentium, because the P24T will access its secondary cache memoiy over a 32-bit bus running at only 33 MHz. True Pentium systems will boast a 64bit bus that accesses the secondary cache at full CPU speed (see the box "Three Ways to Upgrade").

Another type of upgrade will eliminate the P24T's bus bottleneck by isolating the Pentium on a special daughtercard. Systems with this upgrade will unleash the full power of the Pentium by linking the chip to its secondary cache at CPU speed over a 64bit bus. The daughtercard will plug into a special connector on the motherboard. AST's Premmia 4/66d offers this option in addition to the P24T socket. More of these kinds of systems will be announced on May 17, and their designers claim they'll match the performance of computers with Pentium-based motherboards.

Some users are wary of upgrades, however. "The vendors have caught on that if they want to make users' check-off lists, they've got to include that upgradability," says Jonathan Braunhut, director of the information center for the New York City controller's office. "In reality, we see that when you want to take the processor up, the video standard has been advanced. Typically, the local hardware storage requirement has advanced. Ultimately, if you've replaced everything but the $50 metal case, what have you accomplished?"

But other users will take all the MIPS they can get. "At this point, I'd pay about $1200 to upgrade a system |to the Pentium]." says William Zeph Ginsberg, a New York City architect. "I use CorelDraw, and I'm getting into Windows applications, and I'm sure tired of watching that hourglass. Life is too short to spend waiting for your hard disk to access. The big CAD drawings and

98 BYTE • MAY 1993

We Deliver Computing Know How

Abacus Books will Keep You up to Speed

Upgrading & Maintaining Your PC

Turn your PC into n high performance screamer. Whether you're adding memory or a hard drive. CD-ROM or a sound board or upgrading an XT to a 386 or 486. this book shows you how. Includes companion diskette of utilities and System Sleuth™ diagnostic software. 598 pages. #B167. ISBN 1-55755-167-7. $34.95 with companion disk.

DOS 6.0 • Special Edition PC Intern

is ilw practical user's guide to DOS 6.0. This book is loaded wit

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DOS 6.0 Complete includes a companion disk with dozens of

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A literal encyclopedia of DOS knowledge. This book is a completely revised cdilion of our bestselling PC System Programming book which lias been read by over 125.000 programmers worlwide. Whether you program in Assembly Language. C. Pascal or BASIC, you'll find dozens of practical, parallel working examples in each of these languages. Many of our readers say this book is worth its weight in gold. #B145. ISBN 1-55755-145-6. $59.95 with companion disk.

Sound Blaster Book

Newly revised, this book is your guide 10 Sound Blaster, from installation to custom programming. Includes an overview of the different Sound Bluster cards, many specific software products and much more. Also includes simple MIDI system to use with your Sound Blaster. #BI81. ISBN 1-55755-181-2. S34.95 with companion disk.

The 486 Book

Explains the features that make this processor so advantageousthe memory capabilities, the math coprocessor, the specialized software that maximizes the CPU's performance and more. Find out why the 486 is replacing the earlier processors. PC INFO program and System Sleuth™ diagnostic software included the on companion diskette. #BI83. ISBN 1-55755-183-9. $34.95 with companion disk.

Multimedia Mania

This book removes the hype surrounding multimedia. Learn the basics from adding CD-ROMs and sound boards to making a MPCsystem. Includes CD-ROM with over 400 megabytes of sounds, graphics, animations, samples and techniques to get you deep into the world of multimedia. Also includes several commercial multimedia demonstrations. #B166. ISBN 1-55755-166-9. $49.95 with companion CD-ROM

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INTEL LAUNCHES ROCKET IN A SOCKET

the complicated Windows files just need more power."

Pentium vs. RISC

Binary-compatible with 80x86 code?

Upgradable from 486?

Runs Windows NT?

Existing optimized software base?

Fine-Tuning the Software

So much attention gets focused on the hardware aspects of microprocessor design that another factor—software engineering—is easy to overlook. For nearly two years, Intel has been working with tool developers to ensure that specially optimized compilers will be available when the Pentium hits the market.

More than any previous Intel microprocessor, the Pentium needs optimized code to reach its full potential. Although it's fully compatible with code written for earlier 80x86 chips (the instruction set is almost identical to the 486's), significant performance gains can be realized by writing code that exploits its superscalar architecture. This is not surprising, because optimized code is also important in maximizing the performance of the RISC chips that inspired crucial elements of the Pentium.

"As processor architectures become more exotic, with parallelism and so forth, it becomes more important for the software to know what the hardware is trying to do," says Dan Palka, manager of Intel's Compiler Partners Program. "Now there's much more awareness that the software architects and the hardware architects have to work together."

Few applications are carefully hand-coded in assembly language anymore, so optimized high-level compilers are critical to extracting maximum performance from the Pentium. Even small improvements to these compilers have a ripple effect among millions of users, because virtually all of today's commercial applications software (and much of the system software) is

Pentium RISC

m

m

□

G2

/

□

LZ]

The Pentium revealed. One big change from the 486 is in the FPU: On the Pentium, it has additional circuitry dedicated to math functions.

written and compiled in C or C++.

According to Intel and the tool developers interviewed by BYTE, programs optimized for the Pentium will run about 30 percent faster than unoptimized programs. In addition, users can expect gains of about 10 percent when these programs are run on the 486 and perhaps 5 percent when they're run on the 386 (see figure 2).

The optimized code won't run at all on earlier chips, but most 286, 8086, and 8088 systems lack the speed and memory to run today's major applications. If a computer can't comfortably run Windows 3.1, it's not current enough to run the software that is likely to be recompiled For the Pentium.

Don't expect to buy these optimized programs anytime soon, though. For one thing, the first optimized compilers weren't scheduled to be available until this spring. Borland introduced a new version of C++ for OS/2 with Pentium optimizations in February, and Microsoft is planning to include the optimizations in an upcoming version of Visual C++ for Windows NT, which is scheduled to ship within weeks of NT's ship date. But even when such compilers are available, the Pentium market is still far too tiny to make it worthwhile for software vendors to recompile their applications for the sake of the Pentium alone. In addition, the performance gains are probably too small to be noticeable on the other chips. Not until the next major upgrade will most vendors even consider optimizing their code.

In fact, some software publishers are just beginning to confront the issue of optimization. "Intel's statements that applications should be recompiled for the Pentium took us somewhat by surprise," says Darin Richins, public relations manager at WordPerfect. "We don't have a good idea yet of what needs to be done to make our applications run well on the Pentium." Microsoft and Borland, the two leading compiler vendors, say that the first of their applications to be optimized will be 32-bit programs for Windows NT. Autodesk, whose AutoCAD package is a natural candidate for the Pentium, won't even comment.

It'll also be a while before optimized compilers include all the possible optimizations. In general, these optimizations affect the ordering of the instructions generated by the compiler. By replacing complex instructions with simple instructions (i.e., those that don't require microcode) and by arranging them in ways that minimize dependencies (so an instruction doesn't depend on the result of the instruction it immediately follows), these compilers generate code that executes in parallel through the Pentium's twin integer pipes. Keeping both of those pipelines primed will greatly increase the chip's throughput, which means your programs will run faster.

A few optimizations produce code that runs more slowly on the 486 and 386. For that reason, Intel recommends a "blended optimization strategy"—a mix of optimizations that runs very well on the Pentium and either slightly faster or at about the same speed on earlier chips. Future compilers will offer multiple levels of optimization, so programmers can make their own compromises.

System-Design Challenges

Another easily overlooked aspect of Pentium performance is the design of the computer systems that are wrapped around the chip. There's much more to designing a well-rounded Pentium system that just sticking the chip into a socket and adding some memory (see the box "Pentium Design Hurdles"). Indeed, the

100 BYTE- MAY 1993

When protecting your software against piracy and unauthorized use, make sure that your protection system has all the following qualities:

A GOOD HARDWARE KEY

Hardware-based software protection systems are now the standard worldwide. However, not all keys are the same. A good key should have all the following features:

v' Compatibility and transparency. The key should work without any problem on your customers' computers. The user should be able to forget the key after connecting it.

*/ Unbreakable electronics. A customized ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) component should be integrated in the key. This prevents reverse engineering and makes cracking virtually impossible.

s/ A unique and inaccessible software developer's

code burnt into the ASIC. (This code should not be held in the key's memory, where it can be read and altered.)

^ A Read/Write Memory inside the key should be available on demand. The memory should be writable in the field, on any PC, without any special programming equipment.

^ Very low power consumption, enabling the key to work even under the worst power conditions, on PCs and laptops, with or without a printer.

POWERFUL SOFTWARE

•/ A Linkable Protection Module with which calls can be made to the key from any point in the protected program.

V An "Envelope" installation program. Such programs enhance security while making it possible to protect a software even without its source code.

\/ Sophisticated antidebugging and encryption mechanisms.

HASP" - The Professional Software Protection System

HASP® OFFERS YOU ALL THESE FEATURES AND MORE:

HASP was designed by a team of computer experts, professional cryptologists, and electrical engineers. As a result, HASP keys are supported by what is probably the best software in the market, and the HASP system has worked on every computer it has been tried on. In addition to all the features mentioned above, HASP provides:

>/ A Full Authorization System for protecting dozens of programs using only one key.

\/ A Pattern Code Security System (PCS) enabling parallel processing of multiple calls by the Linkable Protection Module.

\/ A Virus Detection option that can be incorporated in the protected program to check whether it has been infected by a virus.

\/ Several HASP keys can be connected(daisychained) one behind the other.

NETHASP- THE ULTIMATE SOFTWARE PROTECTION FOR NETWORKS

»/ Only one NetHASP key is needed to run a protected program from many stations in a network. NetHASP provides full support for protecting DOS and WINDOWS software under network environments, including Novell dedicated & non-dedicated servers, Lan Manager, Lantastic, Banyan, DLink, and NET-BIOS based LANs.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT US:

In all the products we tested, except the HASP, we could see through the encrypting and questioning procedures... and crack them.

CT Magazine (Germany) May '90

MemoHASP: ...of all the protection devices tested is without any doubt, the one which combines the best features.

PCompatible (Spain) Dec. '90

Trying to crack a program... that was protected utilizing all of HASP'S features - is like searching for the Holy Grail.

Micro Systems (France) Dec. '90

PC dongles... come with varying claims as to their transparency. The majority suffer from problems when a printer is connected... the DESkey and HASP-3 are not affected...

Program Now (Britain) May '92

Of all keys tested, HASP is the most ambitious one... the quality of HASP manufacturing seems excellent.

PC Compatible (France) June '92 '

OPERATING ENVIRONMENTS

• PC: DOS, WINDOWS, OS/2, SCO UNIX,

SCO XENIX, INTERACTIVE UNIX, ADC, AUTOCAD, DOS EXTENDERS, LANS

• MAC (ADB perl): System 6.0.5 and up

• NEC (Serial Port): DOS, WINDOWS

AND THE BOTTOM LINE:

We offer some of the most competitive prices in the market. There are no hidden costs! Since 1984, HASP has enabled thousands of software producers in more than 40 countries, including several Fortune 500 companies, to protect their software.

Please call us for our HASP evaluation package.

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SOFTWARE SECURITY INC.

North

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Melville, NY 11747, USA

Tel: 800-223 4277

516-424 5100

Fax:516-424 8300

International

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15 Beit Oved St., Tel-Aviv, Israel RO.Box:11141 Tel-Aviv 61110, Tel: 972-3-5375795 Fax: 972-3-5375796

■ Australia Conlab Pty. Ltd., Tel: 3 8985685 ■ Belgium Akkermans bvba, Tel: 3 2338826 ■ CSFR ATLAS Ltd., Tel+Fax: 2 766085 ■ Chile Micrologica S.A.. Tel: 562 222 1388 ■ Denmark SC Metric a/s, Tel: 42 804200 ■ France Logidala Intl., Tel: 50707375 ■ Germany CSS GmbH, Tel: 201 749860 ■ Greece Unibrain SA, Tel: 1 6856320 ■ Holland Akkermans BV, Tel: 45 241444 ■ Italy Partner Data S.r.l, Tel: 2 33101709 ■ Korea Dae-A Engineering. Tel: 2 848 4481 ■ New Zealand Training , Tel: 4 5666014 ■ Poland Systherm Tel: 06l 45065 ■ Portugal Futurmatica Lda., Tel: 1 4116269 ■ South Africa D Le Roux, Tel: 11 886 4704

■ Spain PC Hardware, Tel: 3 4493193 ■ Switzerland Opag AG, Tel: 61 7112245 ■ Taiwan Teco Ltd., Tel: 2-555 9676 ■ Turkey Mikrobeta Ltd., Tel: 4-4677504

Circle 63 on Inquiry Card.

INTEL LAUNCHES ROCKET IN A SOCKET

Inside the Pentium

BOB RYAN

To understand how the Pentium takes 80x86 performance to new heights, you have to compare it to Intel's fastest 486 chip, the 486DX2-66 (for the rest of this discussion, read "486" as "486DX2-66"). This comparison is especially enlightening because both chips are clocked internally at the same rate. Any difference in performance must therefore be due to implementation differences.

The Pentium is a big chip, cramming 3.1 million transistors into a 2.16-inchsquare, 273-pin PGA (pin-grid array) package. At 66 MHz, the Pentium draws about 13 watts. It is fabricated using a 0.8-micron BiCMOS process and features parity-based internal error detection for both the instruction and data caches, cache tags, and cache TLBs (translation lookaside buffers), as well as for the microcode ROM. It also has circuitry that lets you directly monitor the performance of one Pentium with another.

The Pentium's instruction set is little changed from that of the 486. It features some new instructions that let system programmers implement the MESI (modified, exclusive, shared, invalid) multiprocessing cache-coherency protocol, which the Pentium supports in hardware, as well as an 8-byte compare-and-exchange instruction and a CPU identification instruction. The Pentium has one more control register (CR4) than the 486. It also includes the System Management Mode that Intel first employed on the 386SL.

Using optimizing compilers, Intel gets a 64.5 SPECint92 rating for the Pentium, twice that of the 486. Both processors use the same five-stage in

teger pipeline design, where instruction execution takes place in discrete stages within the processor. In both the 486 and the Pentium, the stages are Prefetch, Decode, Address Generate, Execute, and Writeback. When an instruction finishes one stage, it moves to the next, making room for the next instruction in the program sequence. The difference between the Pentium and the 486 is that the Pentium has rvw parallel integer pipelines.

The Pentium's integer unit fetches and decodes two integer instructions at a time. It then checks to see if it can execute the instructions in parallel. In general, if the instructions are so-called simple instructions, and if the execution of the second does not rely on the results of the first, then the Pentium will issue the two instructions to separate U- and V-pipes, which contain their own ALUs (see figure A). Thus, as long as two instructions meet the proper conditions, the Pentium can execute them simultaneously.

As defined by Intel, simple instructions are those that don't require microcode and, in general, execute in one clock cycle. The exceptions to the latter condition are memory-to-register and register-to-memory instructions, which take two and three cycles, respectively. The Pentium includes sequencing hardware that lets these exceptions operate as simple instructions. When paired with an exception, a oneclock instruction stalls for a cycle or two to keep the two pipes in lockstep.

If an instruction pair doesn't meet the dual-issue conditions, the processor-control unit issues the first instruction to the U-pipe. The second instruc

tion is paired with the next decoded instruction in the program sequence to see if these two can be issued in parallel. If the control unit can't issue these two instructions simultaneously, the one from the original instruction pair is issued; the Pentium does not support out-of-order execution.

Tire U- and V-pipes are not identical. The U-pipe includes a barrel shifter for bit-level manipulations so that it can execute any 80x86 instruction; this pipe is where the first stages of floatingpoint execution take place before the scene shifts to the FPU. (Both pipes, however, can fetch FPU operands.) In addition, it is the U-pipe—or rather the instruction in it—that sets any flags resulting from instruction execution.

Adding a second integer ALU in effect doubles the potential processing bandwidth of the integer unit. It also requires that the processor make twice as many instruction and data accesses as it would to support a single-integer pipe. To keep these accesses from interfering with one another, Intel split the unified 8-KB cache found on the 486 into separate two-way set-associative 8-KB instruction and data caches on the Pentium. It also doubled the size of both the internal and external data buses to 64 bits. Thus, each off-chip access that the Pentium issues brings in twice the number of instructions—or twice the amount of data—as the same access does when made by a 486.

One problem Intel encountered in splitting the instruction and data caches was that the split can break self-modifying code. To keep such code functional, the Pentium includes cache coherency between the instruction

Pentium poses so many challenges that some engineers and analysts suggest it will shake out the PC clone industry.

The main design problem is engineering a reliable motherboard that's fast enough to keep up with the chip. This isn't a Pentium-specific problem; it has already been encountered by engineers designing systems around the 50-MHz 486DX. (The clock-doubled 66-MHz 486DX2 has a bus that runs at only 33 MHz, so it presents less difficulty in that regard.) But it's a particular problem with the Pentium because even the slower version

is clocked at 60 MHz. At that speed, there's no margin for careless design or sloppy manufacturing tolerances.

This could have a big impact on users. If the Pentium's high clock rate—soon to climb to 100 MHz and beyond—deters the low-end, high-volume system makers, the retail prices of Pentium computers won't drop as fast as they did when 386 and 486 computers were new.

"Fifty MHz was painful, and 66 MHz is turning out to be more painful," says Steve Phillips, the manager of advanced

102 B YTE • MAY 1993

INTEL LAUNCHES ROCKET IN A SOCKET

486

486 AND PENTIUM ARCHITECTURES

Pentium

32-bit internal and external pathways

No branch prediction

Separate 8-KB instruction and data caches

Rudimentary FPU

Single

five-stage

integer

pipeline

BIU = bus interface unit l-cache = instruction cache

64-bit internal

and external

data pathways

Branch prediction

Pipelined

FPU with

dedicated

addition,

division, and

multiplication

circuitry

Parallel five-stage nteger pipelines

Figure A: The 486 consists of a single execution pipeline and an integrated cache that serves both the instruction and data pathways. The Pentium adds depth by splitting the data and intruction pathways with separate data and instruction caches. The pathways are also wider to increase bandwidth. Added breadth comes from the two parallel integer pipelines that provide nearly twice the processing bandwidth of the 486. The other major difference between the 486 and the Pentium is the complexity of the FPU. The Pentium has dedicated circuitry for addition, multiplication, and division operations.

cache and the data cache.

Separate instruction and data caches are not the whole story in keeping the integer pipelines filled, however. On both the instruction and data sides of the processor, Intel has added bandwidth-increasing innovations to the basic 486 architecture.

Most integer instructions require at least one operand, which most of the time will be in the data cache. With two parallel ALUs, you often have two

instructions that want to access the data cache at the same time for their operands. To support simultaneous access to the cache, Intel made the TLB and cache tags of the Pentium's data cache dual-ported (i.e., readable by both ALUs simultaneously).

Intel did not take the final step and make the entire cache itself dual-ported. Instead, the cache is interleaved on 4-byte boundaries into eight banks. As long as the separate accesses from the

ALU don't touch the same bank, the cache can provide data for two simultaneous accesses to the same cache line. In addition, the Pentium data cache is a write-back cache, which increases the cache-hit rate over the 486's writethrough cache. (Note: The TLB and cache tags of the data cache are actually triple-ported; that is, the third port is to allow them to be read by the multiprocessing cache-coherency circuitry.) On the instruction side, Intel added

continued

development for the Workstation Products Group at Unisys (Blue Bell, PA). "It's like a barrier. Many of those [clone] manufacturers will be out of business, or else they're going to have to garner experience they haven't demonstrated in the past."

When designing a system to run reliably at high clock speeds, Phillips explains, an engineer has to carefully manage all "boundary conditions": Thermal output, voltage variations, signal losses. RF interference, and TTL signaling all become significant.

Thermal considerations are especially critical. The Pentium

is a hot chip in more ways than one. A single fan for the whole computer may not be enough, and the placement of fans and cooling vents isn't a haphazard affair. Even before sample silicon was available, Intel gave systems designers thermal models so they could begin planning how to keep their computers cool.

"This is where our big-system experience really becomes important," says Phillips. "We're used to dealing with issues such as thermal modeling and high-speed electrical design, whereas many PC manufacturers don't have that experience. It's like PCs

MAY 1993 -BYTE 103

INTEL LAUNCHES ROCKET IN A SOCKET

Inside the Pentium (continued)

branch prediction to the instruction prefetch process. The Pentium has two 32-byte prefetch buffers. At any time, one prefetch buffer processes instruction addresses sequentially until it fetches a branch instruction. At this point, the BTB (branch target buffer), which contains historical information about branches, predicts whether the prefetched branch instruction will result in a branch.

If the BTB predicts that a branch will not be taken, prefetches continue sequentially. If the BTB predicts that a branch will be taken, the second prefetch buffer begins to prefetch instructions based on this prediction. Thus, if the BTB's prediction is correct, a branch will not stall the execution pipeline, because the proper follow-up instruction will always be in the prefetch buffer. If a branch occurs when the BTB predicts it won't, or if it does not occur when the BTB says it will, or if it is correctly predicted but to the wrong target address, the Pentium flushes the pipelines and fetches the correct instruction, incurring a minimum three-clock-cycle delay.

Floating-Point Performance

Floating-point performance has always been the weak spot in the 80x86's architecture. This "benign neglect" on Intel's part is understandable, given that relatively few PC applications require fast floating-point operation. With the increased emphasis on graphics and multimedia applications, however, the need for good floating-point performance is greater today than when the 486 was introduced. Also, it is important from a competitive standpoint that the Pentium's floating-point perfor

mance be at least in the same ballpark as that of popular RISC architectures.

For the most part, floating-point performance is a function of how much silicon you can devote to the job. With the Pentium's 3.1-million-transistor budget, Intel had plenty of silicon to work with, and it used it wisely. The Pentium's 56.9 SPECfp92 rating is 3.5 times that of the 486. The most important advance is that the Pentium FPU contains dedicated addition, multiplication, and division units. The consequences of dedicated circuitry are startling. No matter what the precision, the adder and multiplier units complete their operations in three clock cycles. The divider unit has a much longer latency; it produces 2 bits of quotient per cycle. These cycle times are a great improvement over the performance of the 486's FPU, where an FADD instruction takes 10 cycles and an FMUL instruction can take from 12 to 15 cycles.

Floating-point operations on the Pentium are highly pipelined and are integrated with the integer pipelines. The floating-point pipeline consists of eight individual stages, the first four being the same as the first four stages of the integer pipeline. (You could look at the Pentium as an eight-stage pipeline where integer instructions use only five stages.) A floating-point instruction uses both integer pipelines, allowing it to fetch a 64-bit operand in a single cycle. After the instruction tells the ALU to fetch the operand, floating-point execution takes place in the U-pipe.

One result of FPU pipelining is that, although it has a three-cycle latency, a new addition or multiplication instruction can be issued during each cycle. Thus, if the compiler can keep the

pipeline filled, the Pentium can achieve a throughput of one addition or multiplication operation per cycle after the initial two-cycle latency to fill the pipe is completed.

Because floating-point instructions use both pipelines to fetch an operand, it's impossible to perform two floating-point operations in parallel—with one important exception, the FXCH instruction. In the 80x86 floating-point architecture, the FPU register file is organized as a stack. The FXCH instruction swaps the contents of any FPU register with the top of the stack, which is the accumulator in the 80x86 floating-point architecture. On the Pentium, the FXCH instruction can be issued to the V-pipe in parallel with most other floating-point instructions. The net effect is that you can complete a floating-point instruction and have its result appear immediately in the floating-point accumulator, where it is available to the next instruction. This greatly speeds up floating-point operations.

Architecturally, the Pentium is not a leading-edge design. Most RISC designs are already superscalar, with parallel integer and floating-point pipelines, and some even have a parallel load/store unit. Also, the Pentium's double-integer pipeline is not unique, as both the Sun Microsystems SuperSparc and Motorola's 88110 sport this feature. The importance of the Pentium is that it's at the leading edge of the 80x86 design, which, after all, is the most important computer architecture in the known universe.

Bob Ryan is a BYTE technical editor. You can reach him on BIX as "b.rvan."

are finally growing up."

Although the design challenges aren't insurmountable, they will weed out some of the low-end competition, says Dataquest's Lowe. "I don't think these things will permanently bar the noname companies from participating [in the Pentium market], but it'll take them longer to master the design problems. It's one more barrier that's contributing to a general consolidation of the clone industry," he says.

Engineers must also pay more attention to performance bottlenecks, because a fast CPU often exposes hidden weaknesses in other components. For example, many Windows users have discovered that even a fast 486 gets bogged down without an accelerated video card or local-bus video. Likewise, Pentium-based computers will need to exploit every trick in the book to deliver

the performance users expect. Some systems will double the secondary cache to 5 12 KB, and others will put drive controllers as well as video on the local bus.

Intel claims that today's VL-Bus—a widely adopted localbus standard created by the Video Electronics Standards Association (San lose, CA)—is not fast enough for the Pentium. Intel says Pentium systems should use PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), the local-bus standard invented by Intel.

It's true that today's VL-Bus is only 32 bits wide. But VESA executive director Tom Ryan says VL-Bus was designed for future expansion to 64 bits and will keep pace with the Pentium, as well as with RISC chips such as the Silicon Graphics/Mips R4000. "Obviously, with the 64-bit extension, that's not a problem," says Ryan. "It's something that's in committee at the moment."

104 B YTE ■ MAY 1993

DOCUMENT PUBLISHING

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Circle 87 on Inquiry Card.

INTEL LAUNCHES ROCKET IN A SOCKET

Because the VL-Bus chip set and connectors are much less expensive than PCI's, it's likely that VL-Bus will be the dominant standard on low-end 386 and 486 clones for the next year or two (see "Fast Transit,'" October 1992 BYTE). Pentium systems, which by definition will be considered high-end systems for at least the next year, will probably adopt PCI instead.

Keeping Up with the Joneses

The Pentium presents a challenge of a different sort to Intel's competition. These competitors fall into two groups: those that make 80x86-compalible chips, and those that are promoting entirely different architectures, usually RISC-based ones.

So large is the worldwide market for 80x86 processors thai the first group can survive by undercutting Intel's prices and providing computer manufacturers with an alternative supply source (see "Make the Right CPU Move," December 1992 BYTE). AMD (Sunnyvale, CA) and Cyrix (Richardson, TX) are the primary players in this group.

Although neither of these two companies has a Pentium-class processor ready to ship, neither admits to being overly concerned about it. "As a company, we focus on the volume markets, and the volume markets right now are the 386 and the 486," says AMD spokesman David Frink. "In fact, we expect the 486 to be the volume product through 1994 and into 1995. When you're talking about a market of 35 million to 40 million PCs that will be sold in the next year, and Intel will sell maybe 100,000 Pentiums in that period, then the Pentium is really insignificant—really nowhere."

If AMD and Cyrix truly aren't worried about the Pentium, they should be, because both companies are having trouble cloning the 486. AMD's 486 project suffered a major setback last December when a federal judge ruled against the company in a long-running court battle with Intel. The judge decided that a 1976 licensing agreement between the two companies did not entitle AMD to use Intel's microcode in future microprocessors, including the 486-compatible chip that AMD had planned to ship in January. As a result, AMD was sent back to the breadboards, forced to rewrite its microcode. The introduction of the Am486 was pushed back to June.

Cyrix introduced three "486" processors during 1992: the Cx486SLC, Cx486DLC, and Cx486S2/50. But despite their names, none is considered a true 486-class chip. Although they're compatible with the 486 instruction set, they lack integrated FPUs and have only 1 or 2 KB of internal cache. Intel's 486SX doesn't have an FPU, either, but it has an 8-KB cache and is otherwise identical to the 486DX. Cyrix won't introduce its 486DX clone, code-named the M7, until sometime during the second half of this year.

Cloning the Pentium will prove an even greater challenge, not just because it's faster, but also because it's architecturally more complex. There are two general approaches to the problem: Either copy the architecture as closely as possible or depart from the Pen

Three Ways to Upgrade

. ^ CHIP: By early 1994, Intel will offer the P24T, a single-chip upgrade for 486 systems equipped with the appropriate socket. But because the P24T mates with a 486 system's 32-bit bus, it won't deliver the full performance of 64-bil-bus systems designed especially for the Pentium.

DAUGHTERCARD: This board plugs into a special connector on the motherboard and links the Pentium to a secondary cache at CPU speed over a 64-bit bus.

tium's internal design and use other techniques to make a chip that delivers the same level of performance. Both AMD and Cyrix are taking the second approach.

AMD is working on a new 80x86-compatible core that inherits little from existing designs. It's an ambitious project, because AMD is simultaneously working on a new 0.35micron process technology and wafer-fabrication facility that will allow engineers to cram as many as 10 million transistors onto a single chip. That's enough density to propel AMD into the Pentium class and beyond. The first chips based on the new submicron process are expected in 1995.

To spread out the burden of these enormous development costs, which Dataquest analyst Charles Bouchet estimates to

be $800 million to $1 billion,

AMD has formed an alliance with HP. HP will apply the technology to its next generation of PA-RISC processors, as well as to other chips.

Cyrix, too, is diverging from the Pentium's architecture, and spokesman Mike Bruzzone claims the company's first Pentiumclass chip will be ready this year. "We'll release a competitor— not an equivalent—to the [Pentium] during 1993," he explains. "It's targeted at 100 to 150 MIPS and will calculate three instructions per cycle. It will be optimized for calculating integer instructions and will not need recompiled software. We don't

COMPILED VS. UNCOMPILED SOFTWARE PERFORMANCE

NEW SYSTEM: The only way to go if your current 486 has neither the P24T socket nor a daughtercard connector.

Pentium

Unoptimized 386/486 code

j Optimized for Pentium

Figure 2: Based on Intel's estimates, Pentium-optimized applications will run about 30 percent faster than unoptimized programs on Pentium systems and 5 percent to 10 percent faster on 386/486 systems.

106 BYTE • MAY 1993

NDP" Fortran Drives Them All...

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One reason NDP Fortran is still the 32-bit leader is tools. It runs with native tools on UNIX, OS/2 and NT. For DOS, Microway created 32-bit tools that were tuned to the needs of our customers. These include efficient demand paged virtual memory for our Extender and a linker that could handle a 20-megabyte library without going to sleep. We are the only vendor that provides a variety of numeric runtime libraries that make it possible to tune speed against

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precision and error recovery. The correct choice of a library vs inline intrinsics can result in a factor of three increase in speed for some applications. Then there is the issue of numeric code quality. NDP compilers are not only globally optimized, but take good advantage of the Intel 387/487 stack, use advanced numeric optimizations and schedule instructions - all of which favor fast numeric and RISC devices like the 860 and 586.

Finally, Microway customizes its compilers to the environment. Our DOS 386/486 product includes over 1,000 pages of documentation, 300 of which are devoted to our GREX™ graphics extensions. The 200 megaflops of our QuadPuter-860 are optimally harnessed using NDP Fortran-860, libraries from IMSL, NAG and KAP and the PSR Vectorizer. Microway can build you a gigaflop NFS computational server using five QuadPuters housed in our industrial grade 486-B1 for just $50K - massive power without massive price. If you plan to use a 386, 486, 586 or 860 and require portability, numeric speed, precision and technical support, then NDP Fortran, C I C++ or Pascal is the only solution.

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586 and 860 are trademarks of Intel Corporation.

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INTEL LAUNCHES ROCKET IN A SOCKET

Pentium Design Hurdles

HEAT DISSIPATION: The Pentium runs hot. Intel is providing system vendors with thermal models, but vendors will have to pay close attention to fan and component location.

SPEED: The remainder of the motherboard—memory, video, system bus—must be able to keep up with the speed of the Pentium.

TOLERANCES: With higher speeds, the margin for error diminishes dramatically. Small vendors with little or no experience in building high-speed systems might not be able to master the learning curve.

RF INTERFERENCE: The faster the system, the more RF interference it produces. It will be tougher for vendors to meet the various RF emission standards with the Pentium.

■a ^

design our chips based on what Intel does; we design our chips based on what 80x86 software requires in a CPU. So we think that one of the big advantages of our superscalar chip, our [Pentium] competitor, is that it'll achieve the most robust performance levels without recompiled code."

However, this design philosophy raises questions about compatibility and performance. If future chips from AMD and Cyrix don't exactly duplicate the Pentium's parallel pipelines and other architectural features, they may cause software written with Pentium-optimized compilers to behave differently. The software may run faster, slower, or at the same speed, but there's also the possibility, however remote, that in certain circumstances it may not run as expected.

For example, the Pentium has special logic to detect and handle self-modifying code, which can play havoc with cache coherency. Programmers aren't supposed to write self-modifying code, but they always have and probably always will. If a Pentium-class chip doesn't implement this logic in precisely the same fashion as the Pentium, the results may be unpredictable.

If enough users start worrying about these questions, it's bad news for AMD and Cyrix. But the two companies downplay these possibilities and point out that their chips undergo rigorous compatibility testing throughout their design cycles. But as the 80x86 architecture becomes more exotic, and as 80x86-compatible processors diverge more radically from the Intel chips they're trying to emulate, chances are that internal differences will translate into external idiosyncrasies.

The Intel architecture won't end with the Pentium, of course. Intel is already working on the Pentium's successor, code-named the P6. Sources say the P6 will debut as soon as 18 months from now, will incorporate 10 million transistors, and will run at 200 MIPS. Aside from promising that an upgrade from the Pentium will be available, Intel isn't releasing any details.

New Competing Architectures

While Intel fends off competition from 80x86-compatible microprocessors, completely different breeds of chips are threatening the Pentium from another quarter. This camp comprises rival architectures, usually RISC-based, from such companies as DEC, HP, IBM, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Silicon Graphics/Mips, and others.

At least in the 80x86 arena, Intel is fighting on familiar turf. But the threat from rival architectures is more serious because of the risk that someone will score a stunning price/performance breakthrough that renders the Pentium hopelessly obsolete. Although Intel staunchly defends the 80x86, it's not easy fighting off challengers with a basic architecture that was laid down when Jimmy Carter was president.

The immediate threats to the Pentium are the DEC Alpha series and the Silicon Graphics/Mips R4400, a pair of hot new RISC chip designs. Because both will run Windows NT, direct comparisons with the Pentium are inevitable. Comparisons must be made thoughtfully, however, because it's not just performance but the price/performance ratio that counts. Historically, the prices of Intel microprocessors usually fall further and faster, but those patterns aren't necessarily carved in silicon.

Motorola's 68000 series, a perennial 80x86 rival since the 1970s, appears to have fallen a whole year behind the Pentium. The next-generation chip in that series is the 68060, which isn't due until early 1994—and Motorola says it will debut at only 50 MHz and 77 MIPS.

A more likely contender is the PowerPC, a new line of RISC chips under development by Motorola and IBM in partnership with Apple. Derived from IBM's RISC System/6000 processor, the PowerPC series is intended to drive the next generation of Apple and IBM computers.

The first entry in the four-chip PowerPC line is the 601. It is designed for moderately priced systems and is expected to debut by early 1994. Its performance is expected to be close to that of the Pentium, though perhaps not quite as fast. Later PowerPC chips will offer higher performance and lower power consumption.

Meanwhile, Microsoft hints that it will port Windows NT to additional processors. Other operating systems are also migrating across platforms: Sun Microsystems' Solaris and Next's NextStep are coming to the 80x86; the PowerPC's PowerOpen is an operating system that's designed to be ported to different chips; Taligent, another IBM-Apple partnership, is developing a portable operating system that's due out in 1995; and IBM's OS/2 remains a dark-horse contender.

PC users suddenly.enjoy new alternatives. The relationship that for years has linked these users with the 80x86 architecture, MS-DOS, and Windows is being broken. As the Pentium emerges from the security of that relationship, the 80x86 architecture will face new challenges to its survival in the 1990s. ■

Editor's note: BYTE news editors Patrick Wawzyniak and Ed Perratore, senior news editor Gene Smarte, West Coast bureau chief Andy Reinhardt, and executive editor Rich Malloy also contributed to this article.

Tom R. Half hill is a BYTE senior news editor. You can reach him on BIX as "thalfhill."

108 BYTE • MAY 1993

The Weld's Best Selling UNIX Clone Just Got Better.

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FEATURE

Oberon:

A Glimpse at the Future

A radical object-oriented design by Niklaus Wirth previews many of the features that you'll find in the next generation of operating systems

DICK FOUNTAIN

ZURICH, Switzerland—Whether it's Taligent's Pink. Microsoft's Cairo version of Windows, or Apple's NewtOS for the Newton, there is sure to be an objectoriented operating system in your future. But few people know what such an operating system will look like or how it will alter the computer software concepts that affect the way you work.

Niklaus Wirth. a professor at Zurich's ETH (Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule) and the designer of Pascal and Modula-2, has developed the object-oriented Oberon system. It has moved beyond the research labs of ETH and into public domain versions. These include implementations for Apple's Mac lis, DEC'S DECstations, Intel-based PCs. IBM's RISC System/6000s, and Sun's Sparcstations. You can see for yourself what to expect of an object-oriented operating system by contacting ETH directly (see the editor's note at the end of this article).

Work on the Oberon system began in 1985. Wirth and fellow ETH professor Jurg Gutknecht designed the Oberon language and operating system in parallel with their development of the Ceres, a single-board graphical workstation driven by a National Semiconductor NS32GX32 CPU. The Ceres workstation offers a 1024- by 800-pixel color screen, a three-button mouse, 4 to 8 MB of memory, and a simple RS-485-based serial network interface. The Ceres and Oberon became a test-bed for Wirth's philosophy of achieving reliability through simplicity: he's fond of quoting Albert Einstein's epigram "Make it as simple as possible but not simpler."

Wirth believes that much of today's software is overweight and inefficient because it has grown by the mere addition of layers. The solution, demonstrated in the Oberon system, lies in extensibility: the ability for developers to add modules that reuse built-in data structures without having to

ILLUSTRATION: RAFAEL LOPEZ 19 1993

recompile the entire operating system. For example, it's wasteful to incorporate new text-editing code into every application when all applications could share a centrally provided basic editor and customize it for particular purposes. Oberon also offers you the ability to extend data types so that new data types can inherit features of existing ones.

Under Oberon, the notion of an application program completely disappears; instead, there are groups of small programs called tools, which include Edit, Draw, Paint, Write, System, and Compiler. The operating system understands fundamental data types such as structured texts and pictures, and the "applications" are simply customized viewers for these types that add new functions. The result is a system

MAY 1993 • BYTE 111

OBERON: A GLIMPSE AT THE FUTURE

A Guide to Oberon's Line Dr

N. Wirth, 21.7.30/1.1.92

Introduction

The system called Draw selves to prepare line drawings. They contai are displayed in graphic viewers (more precisely: in menu viewers' g

PaintOpen t Grapes.Pirt Escher.Pict New.Pict

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Paint.Resize

The PC version ofOberon, showing a Paint viewer and a Write viewer on the left and several open tools in the System Track on the right. You can expand any viewer to fill the screen by clicking on its Grow command; clicking on Close shrinks it again. Oberon is designed for a 1024- by 800-pixel screen and would normally display much more text than this 640- by 480-pixel VGA display can.

that provides efficiency and reliability rather than offering inflated size, which dramatically increases the probability of bugs and flaws.

What is most astonishing about Oberon is its smallness. The core operating system—including the Oberon compiler—occupies only 131 KB, which is smaller than most Windows utilities. There are only three assembler modules (Kernel, Display, and Reals); all the other modules are written in the Oberon language, and much of the 12,000 lines of source code for these is supplied with the system.

Working with Oberon

The Oberon system uses a GUI with built-in support for fonts and bit maps, but with tiled rather than overlapping windows. The Oberon screen is split vertically into two tracks, each containing several nonoverlapping panes called viewers stacked one on top of another. The wider, leftmost track is the user track, where the program output appears; the narrower, rightmost system track is used for system messages and commands. You can type text into any viewer after inserting the cursor into it with a mouse-click, and you can expand any viewer to full size with just a couple of mouse-clicks.

Everything in the Oberon system happens in the viewers, so there's no main menu bar at the top of the screen (see the screen). Each viewer has three parts: a main area for text and pictures; a vertical scroll bar; and a reverse-video bar, resembling a horizontal menu, that provides the viewer's title and a list of available commands.

All text that appears on an Oberon screen (e.g., a disk directory, a title-bar command, or a system message) is editable. You can execute any text string that names an Oberon command by pointing at it with the cursor and clicking the middle mouse button. Oberon commands, which are just exported procedure names,

are always of the form module.command (e.g., Edit .Copy). When you compile your own modules, the new procedures immediately become available as commands. The Oberon system has no concept of programs that are comparable to, say, DOS .EXE files.

You work in the Oberon system by setting up small scratch-pad viewers in the system track that hold the commands you are working with. These viewers are, in effect, user-defined menus, and you never have to type any command more than just once.

In fact, you may not even have to type a command at all, because you can load from disk tools that list all the commands exported by a module. The Edit tool provides only the basic editing functions of cutting, copying, and pasting, but the Write tool (which is an extension of Edit) is a full document editor that allows you to select fonts and formats. When you execute a tool's command, the operating system loads the corresponding module into memory— if it's not already there.

Most Oberon commands take their operands from the screen. For example, to copy a block of text, you select it with the mouse and execute the Edit .Copy command. To make the whole viewer the input for a command, you place the cursor in the viewer and press the Mark key. You can apply any tool to any viewer or to the output of any previous command. For example, you might list a directory by using the System.Directory command, then select a filename from the newly opened directory viewer, and finally use Write.Open to edit the file in a new Write viewer.

You can run the compiler on any viewer that contains Oberon source code, compile the object code into memory, and run the new commands. The Oberon system is fast and convenient once you master the daunting mouse-button combinations.

A Model of Interaction

The Oberon system offers a model of user interaction that differs from that of Unix, DOS, or Windows. The system's unit of action is a procedure call, or command, and the unit of compilation is a module that can export several commands. Commands must be parameterless procedures, and they receive their run-time arguments (e.g., screen selections) via a system variable called Oberon.Par.

Commands are indivisible actions that you can interrupt only by pressing the Abort key. Because you can't interact with the commands, you must specify a target before executing them. Consecutive Oberon commands normally swap data via persistent data structures in main memory, whereas under DOS or Unix the output from one program almost always has to be written to disk before it can be loaded into a second program.

The Oberon system loads modules dynamically on demand, as Windows DLLs do, and they remain in memory unless you manually remove them with a <module>.Free command. Machines that possess a hardware MMU (memory management unit), such as the Ceres workstation, use this feature to load modules by raising page faults and to protect modules once they are in memory. The system's kernel contains a garbage collector

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Circle 169 on Inquiry Card.

OBERON: A GLIMPSE AT THE FUTURE

that operates between procedure calls to free space that's not currently in use; therefore, programmers don't have to deal with explicit memory deallocation.

The Oberon compiler has no separate linking phase; linking occurs when a module is loaded. This conserves system resources in three significant ways. First, the binary images of programs on disk are small, because they don't contain linked copies of all the modules they import. This is in contrast to a DOS system, where you can have several applications on your hard disk that each contain a linked copy of the same massive graphics library. Second, less RAM is consumed, because only one copy of a module is ever loaded at one time no matter how many client modules share it. Finally, when you upgrade a module, all its clients are automatically upgraded as well.

The Oberon system can execute only one command at a lime, but you can run multiple tasks by simple task switching; You select a viewer as the target for future commands. Whenever it's not executing a command, the system runs a central polling loop that watches for keyboard, mouse, and network events (see figure 1). To prevent such activity from being lost while the CPU is executing a command, the Oberon system queues these events in

THE OBERON TASK-SWITCHING SYSTEM

Oberon Benefits

• provides you with a lean system that's less likely to contain bugs or flaws

• extends rather than duplicates system capabilities

• replaces the concept of applications with the concept of small "tools"

• is built around an interface that encourages economy of motion in work procedures

• decouples data from the way it's viewed

Viewer 1

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d

Handler

3

Event loop

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Figure 1: A simple polling loop is the only process scheduler in the single-threaded Oberon system. Commands get scheduled when their names are selected in a viewer, and they always run to completion unless interrupted by a press of the Abort key. The Handler procedure, the Oberon equivalent of a method table, interprets messages and executes the appropriate code.

buffers controlled by hardware interrupts. The interrupts are hidden in their respective device drivers and return control to the point of interruption, so they are invisible to user programs.

A programmer can install new code into this polling loop, either to monitor a new event source, such as a modem port, or to run a lengthy command (which must be packaged into small time slices) in the background. As long as commands are executed quickly (which is normally the case, because the commands are noninteractive), this scheme produces the illusion of multitasking.

The tasks run on a single-threaded system and can't interact in unexpected ways, which eliminates huge chunks of protection

code that would otherwise be needed. The

Oberon disk file system is equally simple, using a B-tree directory structure for speedy access.

One important design feature of the Oberon system is the decoupling of data from the way it's viewed. Viewers format and display the contents of abstract documents such as texts, graphs, or pictures. Documents are active objects that contain the commands required to change a document's contents. When such a change occurs, the document broadcasts a message to all viewers so they can update their view of it. The generic viewer object, called aframe, doesn't need to know the type of document that it contains.

This decoupling enables you to extend the Oberon system by adding new document types and their viewers without having to recompile or duplicate any of the code of their parent document types. It also means that adding new commands to an existing document type will not interfere in any manner with the operations of its viewer.

The Oberon system core is a hierarchical, acyclic structure, with hardware dependency confined to the driver layer. According to Wirlh. the system "imports hardware" at the bottom level and "exports commands to the user" at the top level (see figure 2).

Texts and Write Elements

Text, an abstract data type, has a special importance in the Oberon system. It's defined as a sequence of attributed characters whose attributes are ASCII code, font, color, and vertical offset (the last three are collectively called a look). Text is a far more powerful concept than string, the building block of more conventional systems, because it includes the concept of appearance. Texts are divided into runs, or sequences of characters that share the same look. Texts are active objects that can edit themselves—through the basic methods of Delete, Insert, Append, and ChangeLooks—and store themselves to and load themselves from disk.

continued

Viewer 3

| Handler I

Loop calls the viewer's handler upon a mouse or keyboard event in the viewer's window

Network port

114 BYTE- MAY 1993

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Circle 145 on Inquiry Card.

OBERON: A GLIMPSE AT THE FUTURE

OBERON MODULE DEPENDENCIES

Command modules

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tive) objects. Write elements float in the text sequence like any other characters, but the screen display that they produce can be radically different (e.g., a box containing a picture or an interactive application like a CAD drawing editor). Elements are not implemented as frames, but they are free to install a subframe with a new set of commands tailored to their own purpose.

When a viewer encounters an element, it sends it a "prepare" message, and the element tells the viewer how much screen space it needs. Write elements allow the user to edit any kind of data object in situ, using the object's own appropriate editor, merely by clicking with the mouse within the object's frame.

From a portability standpoint, you can process a document containing elements even if the required code module is not available. Such elements appear as just character-size empty boxes that are embedded in the text. When you acquire the necessary code module, the elements then come to life.

The Write editor formats documents by embedding markers, or PARCs (paragraph control elements), in the text. By applying mouse-click combinations to a PARC, you alter the layout and look of the paragraph. Programmers can write new element types to customize the Write editor.

Display

Kernel

Figure 2: In this illustration of module dependencies for the Oberon system's core, the arrows signify one module importing another. Where an indirect path also exists direct imports have been omitted for clarity. This is a hierarchical, acyclic structure with hardware dependency confined to the driver level: The system imports hardware at the bottom level and exports commands to the user at the top level.

A TextFrame clips text to fit the viewing window and renders the characters on the screen using the Oberon system's built-in font engine. TextFrames also track mouse events and interpret editing commands (via its handler procedure), which are passed to texts for execution. TextFrames use an efficient single-pass font-rendering algorithm that assumes the same line spacing throughout a frame, so you can't mix different font sizes in the same frame. But you can mix different styles. However, frames are nestable, so Oberon text editors use embedded subframes to display such things as headlines.

The text editor Write, written by Clemens A. Szyperski, a researcher at ETH, is included with the Oberon system. Write extends the concept of text to a sequence of attributed elements, which can be ordinary characters or extended active (or interac

A Clean Start

When I first wrote about the Oberon language over two years ago (see "Oberon," March 1991 BYTE), I refrained from describing the operating system because it seemed too remote from mainstream commercial computing. But how quickly things change. Now both the IBM-Apple Taligent consortium and Microsoft boast of their adoption of microkernels for future versions of their operating systems, as well as extensibility through deep object orientation.

Operating-system developers can't continue plastering new layers of code over already bloated systems. A return to clean roots is necessary. The big operating-system vendors won't embrace minimalism to the extent that Wirth has, because they have spent years convincing users that they need preemptive multitasking as well as overlapping windows. Nevertheless, the Oberon system provides a beautiful example of how to do more with less and affords a peek at an alternative future. ■

Editor's note: You can get a copy of Oberon by contacting The Secretary, Institut fur Computersysteme, ETH, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland, +411 254 7311; fax +41 I 261 5389. Oberon is also available from the Oberon subdirectory on the Internet at 129 .132.101.33.

Dick Pountain is a BYTE consulting You can reach him on BIX as "dickp.'

editor based in London.

116 BYTE • MAY 1993

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118 BYTE • MAY 1993

ILLUSTRATION: ROB COLVIN ■;'1993

STATE OF THE ART

SEEKING SECURITY

Mainframe techniques define system security. Soon, they'll be adapted to distributed client/server systems.

PAULINA BORSOOK

Jon Ricker, vice president of strategic systems for the overnight delivery giant Federal Express (Nashville, TN), sensed that his colleagues were uneasy about system security. FedEx was downsizing from mainframes to an object-oriented client/server system. Ricker knew that FedEx needed mainframe-type security to safeguard sensitive data, but he also knew that the mainframe security tools he was used to could not be easily adapted to the distributed client/server environment. "Mainframe [security] concepts work," says Ricker. "They just cannot be applied physically to distributed architectures."

But times are changing. What has been learned about security over the years in the world of big iron is about to migrate down to the distributed client/server environment. Unfortunately, not all mainframe security concepts can be applied to distributed computing easily.

Fire and water damage, power glitches, and failure to impose strict backup policies remain the greatest danger to your data. Without massive backups of data, equipment, and network resources, "you're dead," says Robert Watkins of Nova Information Systems (Seattle, WA), a systems integrator.

Yet intentional malice may be the most insidious hazard menacing your data. In order of frequency, the most common human-made threats are programming mistakes, curious interlopers, hostile insiders, and outside attackers, says Tom Patterson, director of information-security programs at Techmatics, a consulting firm in Fairfax, Virginia. Willis Ware, a member of the corporate research staff at the Rand think tank (Santa Monica, CA), considers insider threats to be the most common problem in the business world, as well as the most awkward. With an authorized user, security problems can be difficult to detect, prove, and record, and with any corrective actions, you risk traumatizing the entire organization.

Striking the balance between reasonable security precautions and excessive measures can be your most formidable challenge as you implement a security strategy. "The most secure system is unusable, and the most usable system is insecure," says Don Rife, director of technical services at Towers

Perrin (Philadelphia, PA), an international management consultancy.

You Are Whom You Say You Are

Mainframe security systems are built around one of four general methodologies: identification and authentication, discretionary access control, audit control, and object reuse. Many people familiar with mainframe security also add a fifth component to the list—secure communications (see the text box "Security Bulwarks" on page 120). After all, with more and more corporations relying on public-switched data communications networks, "you have to worry about who else is on AT&T," says David Brewer, a systems integrator at Soltech Solutions (Charleston, SC).

Authentication and identification means guaranteeing you are whom you say you are. "All other security problems—viruses, encryption, privilege levels, audits—are meaningless unless you know that people are who they say they are," says Jim Geary, vice president of marketing and international sales for Security Dynamics (Cambridge, MA), a protection-products manufacturer.

The use of passwords is a time-honored authentication technique, but microcomputer operating systems don't insist on password use. Peter Neumann, the principal scientist at the SRI computer lab (Menlo

Seeking Security

BY PAULINA BORSOOK 118

Should Encryption Be Regulated?

BY PETER WAYNEH 129

Stealth Virus Attacks

BYJOHNDEHAYEN 137

Resource Guide:

VIRUS PROTECTION FOR NETWORKS

144

MAY 1993

YTE 119

SEEKING SECURITY

Park, CA), believes that microcomputer Techmatics' Patterson agrees, saying

and network operating-system vendors have been shortsighted, because they have not built security into their standard operating systems.

that five years ago, when Microsoft was approached about adding security to DOS, the company responded by saying that DOS was meant to be open, and if people

Security Bulwarks

Every day more mission-critical applications and data are bumped from mainframes to distributed client/server networks. But microcomputers evolved without the mainframe world's passion for system security. In response, mainframe protection techniques are being adapted for the distributed computing environment. Here are some techniques soon to be available:

Security Technique Benefits and Tips

Identification/Authentication

Ensures that you know who your system users are. You can link passwords to data known only to the user; force users to change passwords often; encrypt passwords on both the client machine and the server; make sure that passwords are made up of random characters and numbers; and issue smart cards to govern access.

Discretionary Access Control Regulates who has access to applications, files, and servers. You can restrict users to directories of network resources available to them; use permission levels to safeguard applications, directories, and files from unauthorized use and modification; deny users the ability to modify permission levels; and use VMMs (virtual machine monitors) to control actions by users and applications.

Audit Control

Keeps you abreast of all network events. You can use programs that report on who has used or tried to use which applications, what data files have been opened, and what files have been written to; monitor all external and internal accesses, including time of access, directories entered, and point of origin; and inspect audit reports daily.

Object Reuse

Clears sensitive data from RAM and hard disks after they have been used and reallocates resources. You can set times-out that automatically disconnect inactive computers, workstations, and other network connections (external and internal).

■

id

Secure Communications

Protects your network where it meets the outside world. You can lease private data lines to link remote sites; use modem management programs to defend dial-in access; and encrypt data and files before sending them over a public network or LAN, especially a wireless LAN.

cards coupled with unique identification numbers for each user are one way of authenticating system users. (Photo courtesy of Security Dynamics)

want security, they'll go with OS/2. But now DOS is everywhere, and everyone is talking about security. Most DOS security is still a result of products running DOS rather than DOS itself. For example, antivirus protection is the sum total of MSDOS 6 security.

In the enterprise-wide security of the 1990s, the goal is to have users log in once and allow access to all the resources they are entitled to. Passwords should be encrypted by the client, because the pathway between the client and the server can be tapped. "If the passwords are unencrypted on the server," says Soltech's Brewer, "you do not have a chance of maintaining security."

Another authentication technique coming into favor, according to Geoff Goodfellow, chairman of R a d i o M a i 1 (Menlo Park,

CA), a wireless E-mail service, is the use of smart cards, long associated with PINs (personal identification numbers) and often keyed to dates and times of day. An example of a PIN is the number that you use with your bank's automatic teller card. Security Dynamics' smart card, SecurlD Card, uses PINs in combination with constantly changing sequence codes unique to each user (see the photo above). An access-control module located between the incoming line and the server matches your PIN and sequence number before permitting access to the host computer.

But security smart cards are often difficult to administer, because people forget their card. If a security scheme is difficult to administer, it won't be used. It must be automated and easy to use, says Towers Perrin's Rife. Public-key encryption is still another way of providing authentication (see "Should Encryption Be Regulated?" on page 129).

A Question of Access Discretionary access control dictates who has access to files, applications, and servers. As you log on to your system, you are given a personalized directory of network resources available to you. PC/DACS and NET/DACS from Mergent International (Rocky Hill, CT), formerly Pyramid Development, provide workstation and Novell NetWare users with this sort of control.

120 B YTE • MAY 1993

ILLUSTRATIONS: CAROLINE WHITE ©1993

SEEKING SECURITY

Windows NT also provides discretionary access control, and future releases will have mandatory access control (i.e., files must have access permission levels attached to them).

You can also gain access to your system through a separate security server, but your server had better be fault-tolerant. "One personal computer as a gateway for a network is too vulnerable if all 3000 users on a network have to log on through it," says Rife.

A technique known as VMM (virtual machine monitor) uses dedicated hardware and software to give you discretionary access control. VMM, a concept borrowed from the U.S. Department of Defense Orange Book specification on computer security, is installed parallel to your platform's native operating system and acts as a security monitor. ACAssure and NetAssure from Cordant (Reston, VA) are two VMM products that are currently available.

The beauty of VMM, according to Rick Carlson, program manager of the government systems group at Novell (Orem, UT), is that DOS has to talk through the VMM, which controls what the user or application is trying to do (see figure 1). The VMM controls file access, drives, and directories and permits access based on the user's security clearance. If implemented properly, your platform will not work if your VMM is not there. VMM solutions update TSR programs that attempted to do the same thing. But as Carlson says, "Any smart 13-year-old can kick a TSR out."

The Audit Trail

Audit controls track what programs have been used, what files have been opened, how many reads and writes have been ex

VMM GUARDS YOUR RESOURCES

Guarding Networks

• Authenticate all users.

• Define who has access to what files.

• Keep logs of system activity.

• Limit external access.

ecuted, and how many times a client or server has been accessed over a day, a week, or a month. Techmatics' Patterson recommends that you always have a part of your audit control running in the background. You can activate this feature with fine granularity when needed.

Audit trails, however, can generate too much information. Although some vendors give you audit-trail capabilities, they

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drives, directories, and servers. The red line indicates that access has been denied.

The green line indicates that access has been approved.

generally don't give you analytical tools to go with them, making it difficult to spot suspicious use patterns. Techmatics' Patterson suggests that AI tools could be developed to spot patterns, but as Rand's Ware notes, "these tools are only research vehicles now."

Nonetheless, Ware believes that audit control is a good security practice. "Every working day have somebody look at the audit trail, like a security guard making the rounds of a building," says Ware.

Object Reuse

Object reuse is a process that clears your RAM or hard disk of sensitive material after you've used it and before anyone else can access it. For this to work, your operating system must know when a user is finished working before it reallocates resources.

A concept related to object reuse is autolocking, a protocol long established in the mainframe world but often lacking in client-server configurations, according to Robert Kane, a partner at Intrusion Detection (New York), a security consulting firm. An auto-locking program automatically logs out users who have left their workstations unattended for a few min

utes. The program constantly runs in the background.

X Window Systems presents an area of vulnerability, says Kane. A potential intruder searches for a screen that is timed out and then assumes control of the network channel left dangling by the timedout workstation. The intruder creates a false system log-in screen and waits until you come along to log on to the network.

continued

"There's no such thing as meaningful security.

Nothing is at all in any

sense secure."

—Peter Neumann, principal scientist, SRI computer lab

MAY 1993 -BYTE 121

SEEKING SECURITY

Unknowingly, you try to log on to the bogus sign-in screen. After you enter your password, the intruder mimics the normal system password-error message and passes control back to the network, which prompts you to log in. Thinking that you mistyped your password, you try again and get on-line, and that's the end of it as far as you're concerned. However, what has happened is that the first log-in attempt and your password were captured, encrypted, and sent to the intruder, who now knows how to legitimately access your system.

Securing Your Communications

Secure communications were not a problem when two mainframes were linked over a private line or when you had a private, in-house E-mail system without external connections (see the text box "Securing E-Mail" below). But now you have so many LANs, workstations, and modems connected to public telephone networks that securing your communications can be a nightmare. Towers Perrin's Rife recommends modem management packages, such as TelAssure from Cordant and Total Control from USRobotics

(Skokie, IL), to help secure dial-in access. Kane believes that LANs are the weakest link in security. Network monitors, such as Sniffer from Network General (Mountain View, CA), can monitor all LAN traffic. You can even download network-monitoring shareware from BBSes. But LAN protocols make it difficult to determine if data packets have arrived without having been intercepted. What's more, wireless LANs are even more vulnerable to monitoring by intruders, because anyone with a scanner can pluck the radio signals out of the air without being detected. Most

Securing E-Mail

Downsizing and distributed client/ server architectures have placed E-mail into commercial use as never before. As Robert Kane, a security consultant with Intrusion Detection (New York), puts it, "Corporate E-mail [is] becoming an interstate highway." And because E-mail, like Unix, has a history of openness and a lack of privacy, vast efforts are being made to make it trusted enough for workday use.

"Authentication and privacy control are essential if you don't have control of the entire system," says Stephen Crocker, Internet Engineering Task Force area director for security. Before divestiture, the single telephone company was able to exert discipline, and it commanded a high degree of trust. But according to Crocker, that trust has been breaking down since divestiture. "You can either harden the system as a whole—which is not likely—or make end-to-end control more elaborate," says Crocker.

The solution is encryption and authentication of E-mail. One approach is privacy-enhanced E-mail, or PEM as it is called on the Internet. Through cryptography, PEM offers confidentiality, authentication, message integrity, and nonrepudiation of origins between the sender and receiver at or above the user-agent level. This approach imposes no special requirements on message-transfer systems at intermediate relay sites or end points, and it can be incorporated on a site-by-site or user-by-user basis.

PEM is becoming an Internet standard. But it uses RSA encryption-algorithm technology, which was of some concern to Internet users because RSA is patented and controlled by RSA Data Security (Redwood City, CA). Also, as a publicly funded research network, anything used or developed on the Internet is supposed to be in the public domain, and Crocker says that there have been questions about basing Internet standards on material not freely available to everyone. "But Ethernet is a patented technology, too," he says. "You just can't get by with what's in the public domain."

PEM has competition in the form of a semiunderground technology called PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). PGP is "the bottom portion of PEM: encryption for privacy, but without authentication," says Crocker. "It works fine if you feel you can trust the system in a loose way—as in normal communication."

Available in the public domain, PGP is based on published RSA algorithms. As a result, PGP cannot be legally used in the U.S., but its development continues elsewhere, avoiding U.S. patent laws. Further, encryption is considered by the U.S. National Security Agency to be a controlled technology and cannot be exported.

Nevertheless, PGP1, the latest version of PGP, is available through U.S. BBSes. "It's gotten pretty good reviews technically," says Crocker. "But it still

violates patent laws, so nobody with anything to lose will use it."

Similar to PGP, Ripem also uses RSA technology but has a more legitimate relationship with RSA Data Security. Ripem, developed in the Internet community, is available in the public domain, but it cannot be used commercially.

To accompany PEM, the Internet will also be offering a certification process that authenticates that E-mail senders are who they say they are. PCAs (policy-certificate authorities), authorized by the Internet Society, grant the equivalent of notary powers to those charged with issuing E-mail authentication certificates to the end users in their organizations. Both RSA Data Security and Trusted Information Systems (Glenwood, MD) have applied to be Internet PCAs.

PEM has its downside, though. Encryption, a controlled U.S. technology, is going into an Internet standard, but the Internet is more global than ever. U.S. regulations allow you to send encrypted messages abroad, but your colleagues in other countries cannot buy the U.S. PEMcompliant encryption software that you're using. They'll have to buy a version that you can only hope will interoperate with the version you're using. Weaker encryption technologies permitted by the U.S. government for export are not part of the Internet PEM specifications.

122 B YTE • MAY 1993

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analysts recommend encryption if there's a threat of having your data captured electronically.

Securing Unix

Securing a Unix-based system can be a greater challenge than securing a conven

tional microcomputer system, according to Mike Ressler, technical staff member at Bellcore Laboratories (Morristown, NJ), a research facility funded by the regional Bell companies. Ressler sees three problems with Unix security. First, Unix is customarily used in open or semiopen net

New World Orders

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, MD) is developing a new set of computer-security standards to replace the decades-old U.S. Department of Defense Orange Book specifications. Gene Troy, of NTST's computer-security division, oversees the project.

According to Troy, the project came into being because "the world has become too small and interconnected, so people have to be able to trust that interconnectedness and not get killed." With security concerns switching from the political arena to that of industry, business and government recognized a need for a workable commercial computersecurity standard. The Orange Book was really only for the military and did not fit the commercial world of nonclassified data. "We need to quit fooling around and set an international standard that can be safely used around the world," says Troy.

The criteria outlined by NIST, says Troy, "takes conscious note of work done elsewhere in the world. The Europeans and Canadians have quite good ideas, and Canada has evolved even beyond the Europeans." In fact, the principal author of the Canadian Trusted Computer Product Evaluation Criteria was a member of NIST's criteria working group.

To give the new standard flexibility, NIST borrowed an idea from the Europeans: The U.S. criteria separate functional requirements (i.e., what a trusted system is supposed to do) from assurance requirements (i.e., how to determine that it does what it is supposed to do). The European security standard F2/E2, the functional equivalent of the Orange Book C2 security

specification, already separates features and functions from evaluation. "They took apart our C2," says Troy, "and made it better on both axes, particularly the evaluation part."

The basic U.S. security specification describes how an operating system is supposed to work, how to determine if it can be trusted, and what the rationale is for its use (i.e., what environment a level of security is expected to be used in, what threats it's expected to encounter, and what policies should be enacted with it). These clusters of security characteristics are called protection profiles.

Next NIST borrowed the Canadian idea of using security building blocks to specfy gradations of security for different technical areas. This provides standards that new computer products can be evaluated with. Similarly, in the area of assurance, the U.S. security criteria specify degrees of testing and documentation complexity.

Embedded in the U.S. criteria is the MSR (minimum security requirement) for multiuser operating systems, such as Unix. MSR is the basis of the only NIST protection profile defined so far: the commercial security protection profile. Mike Ressler, a member of the technical staff at Bellcore Laboratories, says that while MSR has had a strong influence on Posix, an operating system could still meet Posix standards and not be secure.

MSR has been adopted by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry and by the European Computer Manufacturer's Association. With the federal criteria, Troy says, "We can really have multinational criteria for a trusted system."

worked environments with remote, dialin access capabilities.

Second, there are no Unix standards for access-control lists, applications auditing, or user privilege levels. To help remedy this, the Posix committee is developing audit interfaces that will standardize the way applications fit into audit trails.

Finally, so many people know Unix so well that its weaknesses are easy for the less scrupulous to exploit. Barbara Fraser of the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) lists intruders' ability to exploit known weaknesses of Unix among the top five problems CERT handled in 1992.

One way of making your Unix-based network more secure is by instituting mandatory access control enforced by Unix. You classify information so that every file has a security level and every user has a security clearance. System users can't change their security clearances or a file's security level.

Another way of making Unix more secure is by breaking down the power of the Unix root, a technique mapped out in the MSR (minimum security requirement) for multiuser operating systems being developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (see the text box "New World Orders" on the right). Unix file systems are organized in an inverted tree format: The root directory is at the top. This directory is under the control of the Unix system administrator. A secure version of Unix would restrict access to the 20 or 30 privileges associated with the root. "Not everyone needs all 30 functions," says Ressler. Partial root privileges would be granted to users according to their needs.

Information labels, a concept originating in the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, have also been considered as a means of making multiuser operating systems such as Unix more secure. A label for every file appears at the top of the workstation screen, indicating each file's security status. Such labels are governed directly by Unix and cannot be removed by users.

To improve Unix security now, you can enforce the use of passwords that can't be easily broken and have your system automatically prompt users to change their passwords every few weeks. If you're linked to the Internet, you should adopt such organizational policies as no ftp use, particularly no anonymous ftp use {ftp is a network file transfer program used extensively on the Internet; anonymous ftp lets you access directories on a remote computer and copy files to your computer anonymously). Going one step further, you

124 BYTE- MAY 1993

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SEEKING SECURITY

can give your Unix installation only one connection to the outside world.

Philosophical Quandaries

Once you've overcome the pragmatic, mechanical difficulties of securing your distributed client/server system, you will have to resolve a number of cultural, ethical, and philosophical issues. Your biggest problem can be convincing your workstation users that there is a security problem. "People think, 'Why would anyone bother me?'" says Chuck Cole, computer security manager at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (Livermore, CA). But to an industrial spy, "simply understanding what you're doing and how you're doing it can be valuable information."

Complicating attempts to convince users of the need for strict security is that nobody really knows how much money is lost because of security breaches each year. All that pundits agree on is that a significant amount of money is lost every year. The National Computer Security Association (Carlisle, PA) estimates annual losses at from $80 million to $150 million, and USA Research (Portland, OR) believes the figure for 1991 topped more than $1 billion. When contacted, the FBI refused to make public any specific dollar amounts, confirming only that it has speculative figures.

Introducing mainframe-type security measures into your Unix-based distributed computing environment can cause a cultural clash. "With Unix culture, it's often the case that security comes second, and getting the job done comes first," says Soltech Solutions' Brewer. "Where with the mainframe mind-set, the job gets done as long as security doesn't get compromised."

Personal computer users can present even more headaches. Dain Gary, manager of Carnegie Mellon's CERT, points out that many of these people are not as well trained in security issues as Unix users. Lawrence Livermore's Cole adds that the prevailing philosophy among computer users favors open communications for nonsensitive data.

To convey the necessity of securing your distributed computing system, you must constantly preach the virtues of due care and due diligence. Remind your users of the potential liabilities of lax security. "People have to think about what their data implies," says Towers Perrin's Rife. For example, what would happen if security were compromised at a hospital and confidential information about a patient with AIDS was made public. Not only might the patient sue over the loss of privacy, but the hospital could lose business because people

might be reluctant to use it after such a leak.

You must continually remind your system users of their fiduciary responsibilities, counsels Jon Kaplan, director of security-products development at Fischer International Systems (Naples, FL), a security-products manufacturer.The very essence of your organization is at risk, if data is jeopardized by security lapses, formats are altered, or configurations are changed.

Ethical issues also arise when you establish security policies. You will have to make trade-offs between security and privacy. "Monitoring keyboards is an excellent way of ensuring security," notes Rand's Ware, "but it's also a good way to provoke civil-liberties concerns about privacy."

If you don't want to monitor keyboards, you can install network monitors to inspect traffic down to the character level. Looking at traffic patterns and seeing where things originate, especially beyond their most recent source point, improves security, particularly if you see messages sent from places you've never heard of. Attempting to do this, however, is a judgment call. In the U.S., the legality of such practices has not been established yet.

First Steps Are Critical

Your first steps toward implementing an enterprise-wide security policy are critical. Begin by finding answers to such questions as who can do what on your system? What is the nature of your data? For what purpose is your data used? How much money would your company lose if your data were exposed?

"Look at your data," says Fischer International's Kaplan. "How would it jeopardize your project, organization, or corporation" if that data's confidentiality were breached?

You might find it difficult to classify your information. Further, your company may never have undertaken such an expensive project like this before. "It's hard to rationalize the expense in the corporate world," says Carnegie Mellon's Gary. "The process isn't trivial."

Towers Perrin's Rife says there is a parabola with security. "After a certain point, you can spend 50 percent more money and get 1 percent more security. If you're going to spend that much money to protect [your data], then someone else may find it worthwhile to break in."

Management may not be in favor of security. "It's inconvenient, a hassle to administer, and they think, 'Let's risk it,'" says Rand's Ware.

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• Auto-locking absent

■ Modems poorly managed

1 Outside attacks; eavesdroppers 1 Too many unsecured connections

■ Transmitted files not encrypted

• Indifference to security

• Fear of security costs

• Open-computing mind-set

• Passwords weak and obvious

• Users not validated/verified

• Encryption not used

• New software not inspected

• RAM/disks not cleaned after use

• Shoddy version controls

• Virus onslaughts

• Hostile insiders

• Missing master files

• Programming mistakes

• Software weaknesses exploited

• Unauthorized applications

Flawed data/equipment backups Inadequate file-access controls

■ No audit controls

1 No antivirus procedures

■ Too much power in Unix root

Figure 2: Security weaknesses include connections to the outside world, lack of a security ethic, poor security management, human folly, and shoddy system control.

about security, experts cannot agree on where the greatest threats to your data come from. Most agree that the threat from viruses has been given too much media attention, yet pundits still advise you to use virus-protection programs and caution against downloading files from BBSes (see "Stealth Virus Attacks" on page 137).

RadioMail's Goodfellow advocates that you put 90 percent of your security resources into defending your system's perimeter. In other words, protect your system where it meets the outside world— the equivalent of don't leave your keys in the car and always be sure to use your dead-bolt lock (see figure 2).

Ware disagrees, saying that "the temptation is to think there are going to be jazzy, sophisticated attacks" by foreign secret agents. More likely, in Ware's opinion, one of your clerks will make a mistake entering financial data, realize your system didn't catch it, and figure out a way to turn that mistake into personal gain. M

Paulina Borsook is a freelance writer based in San Francisco, California. She was formerly the West Coast editor for McGraw-Hill's Data Communications magazine. You can contact her on BIX do "editors" or on the Internet at loris@well .sf.ca.us.

128 BYTE- MAY 1993

STATE OF THE ART/SeekingSecurity

SHOULD ENCRYPTION BE REGULATED?

Politics, not technology, may hamstring the use of data encryption in the U.S.

BY PETER WAYNER

The best of today's computerized encryption systems are virtually impossible to break. This is great news if you're worried about the security of your sensitive files. But U.S. law enforcement agencies want to limit or ban the use of encryption, because they claim it hampers their ability to prevent and prosecute crime. The debate on this issue has gone to extremes, with proposals ranging from a total ban on cryptographic systems to the unrestricted use of encryption.

It's premature to say how this controversy will play itself out. But for the first time, political constraints rather than technological barriers may limit the way you use your computer.

Regulate

Law enforcement agencies argue that criminals can hide their business records or communications from authorities by using encryption. If the police cannot decrypt a suspect's secret documents, they may not be able to get enough evidence to convict a dangerous criminal.

For example, the police in Sacramento, California, interrogated a person suspected of involvement in child pornography. The suspect maintained a number of large encrypted files that the police believed contained illegal images. The suspect refused to hand over the decryption key, hampering the police's ability to resolve the case. At the time of this writing, the case was still pending.

Congress took a different tack when it considered the Omnibus Crime Act of 1991. Embedded in the legislation was a clause mandating that all communications systems be designed so that system operators could provide a decoded version of any

ILLUSTRATION: ROB COLVIN ©1993

MAY 1993 -BYTE 129

SHOULD ENCRYPTION BE REGULATED?

Encryption Systems

The best-known and oldest form of encryption are private key systems, which use an encryption key (usually a number) to conceal data with a set of mathematical transformations. The cryptograms in your local newspaper are simple examples of this technique: The keys consist of a pattern for replacing each letter with another.

The most secure private key system is the one-time pad, which consists of an encryption key as long as the message—one key byte is used to encrypt each byte of the file, often using the XOR operation. The system is impossible to break, because any n-byte file can be encrypted into another n-byte file. The technique can be unwieldy, however, because the large keys must be transmitted securely between the parties.

DES (Data Encryption Standard) is one of the more sophisticated modern private key systems. It encrypts data by mixing in key bits and alternating simple, nonlinear permutations. The U.S. government classified the design details of the nonlinear permutations, and cryptographers speculated that the government had hidden a trapdoor in the system. Recent efforts by Eli Biham

and Adi Shamir of Technion, a university in Israel, to prove the existence of a trapdoor were inconclusive. RC-4, a proprietary encryption system produced by RSA Data Security (Redwood City, CA), is similar in design to DES.

One variant of the private key systems is cryptographically secure hash functions—essentially, checksums that cannot be forged. The functions take an arbitrarily long file and reduce it to a number, making it impossible for someone to tamper with the file without changing the number. Hash functions are also able to withstand attempts to recreate a file that might generate the number. The technique effectively guards against viruses and document tampering.

In the late 1970s, public key systems emerged that used two keys. The first key is made public by being published. The second is kept private. Data encrypted using one of the keys can be decrypted only by the other key.

A modern address book would include the public keys in machine-read

able form for all correspondents. You could send mail to them sealed in an unreadable form. When the mail arrived, the recipients would use their private key to decrypt the mail.

The best-known public key system, and one of the few that remains unbroken after intense public scrutiny, is RSA Data Security's RSA. The system's algorithms are well known and described in many textbooks—such as Bruce Schneier's Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C C++ (John Wiley & Sons, forthcoming). However, they are also patented, and RSA charges licensing fees for their use. RSA does offer a version for noncommercial purposes free of charge.

You can use public key systems to create digital signatures by encrypting a block of text with the private key. Anyone can use the public key to decrypt the message, which might be a cryptographically secure hash function of a large file, but no one can create such a file without knowing the private key.

encrypted material to the police whenever necessary. Although this clause was eventually deleted from the bill, its spirit lives in a recent FBI proposal that all new telecommunications systems be designed so that the bureau can tap any conversation in real time.

Another proposal, championed by Dorothy Denning, a computer science professor at Georgetown University (Washington, DC), would require you to register your decryption key with the government. Encryption wouldn't be illegal; you would just need to tell a government agency how to decode your messages. In her proposal, Denning says that "technology has been drifting in a direction that could shift the balance away from effective law enforcement and intelligence gathering toward absolute individual privacy and corporate security. The consequences of doing so would pose a serious threat to society."

Don't Regulate

The arguments against regulation of cryptography are equally compelling. Information is one of the most vital economic commodities, and encryption is the best way to protect it.

For example, the April 10, 1992, issue of New York magazine reported that criminals in New York City scan cordless and cellular telephone traffic looking for people using bank-by-phone services. When you enter your PIN (personal identification number) to authorize a money transfer, the eavesdropping criminals get your account number and authorization code— everything they need to take your money. And last year, the CIA expressed concern over the protection of American industrial secrets. Encryption is a natural solution to prevent both sorts of crime.

A ban on cryptography will only prevent criminals from purchasing commer

cial encryption programs off the shelf. "If encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have encryption," says John Gilmore, a founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (Washington, DC), a citizen group campaigning for free-speech rights for electronic communicators.

Meeting in the Middle

Weak encryption is a middle course that may satisfy both end users and law enforcement officials. It involves a mathematical compromise that uses encryption algorithms assumed to be strong enough to resist attack by the average eavesdropper but weak enough to yield to tough police probes (see the text box "Encryption Systems" above).

For example, the proposed cellular telephone encryption system IS-54b reportedly uses a repeating key of 260 bits that scrambles the digital phone system's bit

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SHOULD ENCRYPTION BE REGULATED?

stream, rendering it meaningless to eavesdroppers. But a voice call encrypted with such an algorithm can be broken by taking adjacent blocks of bits and correlating them with each other. Digitized voice conversations have a strong enough pattern to make attacking them relatively simple, though.

Requiring shorter keys is another technique of weakening encryption software. For instance, RC-4, a proprietary algorithm licensed by RSA Data Security (Redwood City, CA), is regularly exported with keys no longer than 40 bits. The shorter length reduces the number of possible keys to 240, making it feasible to test all of them with a large multiprocessor machine.

But the problem with these approaches is that they are almost invitations to commit crime. If the cellular phone standard or 40-bit RC-4 becomes widely used and trusted to protect people's credit card numbers or other private matters, it could be a tempting target for disciplined criminals to exploit.

Micali's Solution

Silvio Micali, a professor of computer science at MIT (Cambridge, MA), offers an

other compromise, calling for the creation of fair crypto systems. Such systems allow a user to encrypt messages and a government agency to decrypt them if it has the cooperation of several other governmental branches.

Fair crypto systems use algorithms that require you to break your decryption key into a number of parts and to give each part to a different trustee. The key can be reconstructed only if all trustees agree to assemble their parts of the decryption key. The important technical advance of the

Regulate Encryption

• Criminals use encryption.

• Police are stymied by encryption, and criminals avoid prosecution.

Don't Regulate Encryption

• Vital business data is protected by encryption.

• Criminals are stymied by encryption, and crime is prevented.

system is that it allows each trustee to make sure he or she is not being cheated before reconstructing the key.

Micali's system is based on the DiffieHellman key exchange protocol, which was developed by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman in the 1970s. The foundation of this system is the discrete-log trapdoor function, which is easy to compute but difficult to break (see the text box "How the Trapdoor Works" on page 134). The trapdoor function generates the keys for the trustees.

Micali's system provides everyone with secure encryption without shutting out law enforcement officials armed with court orders, but it imposes a lot of record keeping and depends on honest trustees. Although Micali's system is more secure than the weak versions of RC-4, it still offers a plump target for crooks. If everyone uses and trusts this system with monetary transactions, the reward for cracking the discrete-log problem will not be just academic acclaim. Bill Spernow, from Search (Sacramento, CA), a nonprofit company funded by the Department of Justice to help police departments, tackle computer crime, is skeptical of the proposal. "The

Why Our Intelligent Modems Are a Wise Investment

132 BYTE • MAY 1993

SHOULD ENCRYPTION BE REGULATED?

government," he says, "has not historically shown the ability to keep secrets of this magnitude."

Masking Microdots

A ban on encryption will not slop secret communication. There are too many ways to hide bits in the billions of terabytes of data flowing throughout the world.

One trick is to hide information in the least-significant bits of a digitized photograph, movie, or audio signal. For example, the Kodak Photo CD format's maximum resolution is 2048 by 3072 pixels, with each pixel containing 24 bits of RGB information. The least-significant bit of each of the 24 bits representing the red, green, and blue intensity of each pixel can be changed easily without greatly affecting the quality of the image. You can hide a 2.3-MB message in a digital snapshot (see figure 1).

But hidden bits in photographs can be lost if the picture is compressed using a lossy technique (e.g., JPEG, the Joint Photographic Experts Group algorithm), which does not reconstruct the image to its original state. Also, hidden information is detectable, to some extent, by measuring the

Figure 1: You can stash a 2.3-MB message in a digitized photo's least-significant bits without greatly affecting the image's quality. The enlargements show the same group of pixels before and after excerpts from the Magna Charta were hidden in the picture.

amount of compression attained by a lossless compression scheme, such as runlength encoding. A normal digitized photograph can have many adjacent pixels

with the same values, which a run-length compression scheme would reduce to a single value. However, a digitized photograph bearing a secret message has many

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MAY 1993 -BYTE 133

SHOULD ENCRYPTION BE REGULATED?

Encrypted message:

Key#l 5

2 17 12 3 4 7 11 12

3 18 19 4 3

Secret message: P

L U T 0 N I U M

READY

Encrypted message:

Key #2 18 6 23 3

3 6 15 12 20

14 5 15 7 8

Benign message: CHOC

0 L A T E

GREAT

Figure 2: Each number in a one-time encryption key shifts a matching letter in your message by n letters in the alphabet. You can build two different decryption keys: one for friends and one for busybodies.

variations in the least-significant bits, preventing run-length encoding and dictionary schemes from succeeding. For this reason, you'd rather have a photograph of acne-scarred aliens covered with multitextured slime than a photograph of innocent-looking children with starched white clothes to use for embedding your secret message.

Another solution, called mimic functions, works within the domain of words. It uses a precise grammar to describe a type of conversation. The grammar is a rule-based system defining how words, phrases, and sentences are combined. A simple grammar for a sentence might require a noun, verb, and direct object and provide a list of acceptable words for each category. Rules for noun-verb agreement can also be built into the grammar. Adventure games such as Zork require commands to fit into this format so they can be parsed.

Grammars are also popular as poetry generators (e.g., Eliza and Racter). They use a random-number generator to choose between the acceptable uses of nouns and verbs. Secret messages can be hidden by replacing the random-number generator in the poetry generator with the bits of the secret message. Later, the secret information can be recovered by parsing the strings.

A third trick lets you foil any key-registration requirements by using a one-time pad that consists of a key the same length as the message. This technique derives its name from pads of paper: The pages on this pad have random number sequences printed on them. Each page is a key and is used only once.

A simple implementation of this scheme uses each number, n, in the key to shift the matching letter in the message by /; letters of the alphabet. A 3 would convert an A to a D. Thus, you can create two keys: One key converts the encrypted message

into the real message, and the other converts the message into a benign one (see figure 2). Criminals can simply forward the benign key to the authorities and pass the key to the real message to their associates.

Storm's Eye Overhead

The debate has subsided for the time being. No legislation regulating data-encryption

technology is pending in Congress, and no high-profile court cases dealing with the issue are in progress. The FBI continues to campaign quietly for telecommunications systems that can be wiretapped by the government. And organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation continue to watch for government interference with what they perceive as your right to encrypt data.

The biggest danger is that the government will fail to resolve the tension between computer users and law enforcement officials. The Clinton administration is sympathetic to the problems faced by the computer industry as a result of the export restrictions on encryption software. However, any related legislation, such as the proposed nationwide data superhighway, is a target for antiencryption amendments. The only sure thing is that the outcome will not please everyone. ■

Peter Wayner is a BYTE consulting editor based in Baltimore, Maryland. He consults and writes on encryption and security matters. You can contact him on BIX as "pwayner" or on the Internet at pcw@acess .digex.com.

How the Trapdoor Works

M

IT professor Silvio Micali's encryption solution uses a discrete-log trapdoor function to , generate a set of encryption keys that are difficult to break. It works like this: If p is a prime number and g is a special element less than p (a generator, in algebraic parlance), the discrete log of a number n is the value a, such that g" mod p is equal to n.

Say that two users, Bob and Ray, agree on a secret key by separately picking secret numbers, S and S, and exchanging the results of g" mod p and gs- mod p. An eavesdropper cannot determine Bob's and Ray's numbers by overhearing the results of the computations. Bob computes {gs> mod/?)' mod p and Ray finds the result of (g ' mod p)Sy mod p. These are equal, but anyone listening in cannot find the solution because they don't know the secret numbers. The shared secret number can be used as the encryption key with any normal cipher system to send

large blocks of data.

In Micali's fair crypto system, you have five integers, S , s2, sr 54, and s5, less than p. Your private Diffie-Hellman key is the result of S = s,+s,+s,+sA+s, mod p. You register

1-345 ' , °

the five integers with five trustees by sending each trustee one of the five integers. S, the secret key that you use in your communications, can be reconstructed only if all the trustees' integers are added up. The trustees then forward the result of g5' mod p to the central key manager but keep to themselves the value of their own integers. The central key manager computes the product of gs' mo&p, which is equal to gs" mod p, and lists it in an electronic telephone book for people to use when they want to establish a secure link with someone else. You cannot cheat the system and register a fake key, because your listed key is determined solely by the information provided to the five trustees.

134 BYTE • MAY 1993

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STATE OF THE ART/Seeking Security

STEALTH VIRUS ATTACKS

A new breed of computer virus uses stealth to invade your networked computers

JOHN DEHAVEN

I once helped investigate a software time bomb that had been planted in the accounting system of a large corporation. Months before certain employees left the company (and the country), they planted a bomb programmed to produce a fake invoice that was due and payable. The bill had all the authorizations necessary to satisfy the accounts-payable system, and it was for an amount that didn't require authorization. On the appointed day, the firm's computer automatically transferred the money to a bogus vendor's account in a Swiss bank. The perpetrators withdrew the cash from the bank, left Switzerland, and are still at large. In an international case like this, the legal issues are thorny. When did the crime happen? Where did it happen? In what jurisdiction will you prosecute?

Until now, though, media attention has focused on public domain viruses. These almost never have a specific target, even though some of them carry destructive bombs. But public domain viruses are not the most serious security threat to computer systems and data. Networked computers are threatened by a new type of computer virus: self-replicating, autonomous software that quietly cruises through a network and attacks a targeted computer, often for profit.

The new attack software doesn't have to be introduced directly into an organization's machines. The software packing the payload can be handed out in a public forum, perhaps attached to a utility passed out at a users-group meeting. Spreading quietly through the computing community, it eventually reaches its target. This is sometimes referred to as a cruise virus, drawing on the analogy of a cruise missile.

continued

ILLUSTRATION: ROB COLVIN&1993

MAY 1993 -BYTE 137

STEALTH VIRUS ATTACKS

Commonsense Guide to Security

Like its biological namesake, the computer virus has survived numerous attempts to eradicate and prevent it. More than a thousand viruses and variants have been identified, the majority of which are targeted at PCs. However, no computer is completely safe. Here are a number of minimal precautions that you should keep in mind as you develop the security plans for your networked computers.

Do this

Reason

Have a clean write-protected boot disk.

Never keep the only copy of indispensable data in a computer.

Back up data and programs separately.

Make sure only the system administrator installs new software.

Evaluate all software on quarantined machines.

Invaluable for troubleshooting; provides a point of reference for any computer; when troubleshooting a possible virus attack, you know that no virus is active after you reboot with a clean copy of the operating system.

Multiple copies of important data answer the question, "How fast can you get back up and running after a disaster?"

Data changes frequently, but programs change infrequently (except in development environments); control copies minimize the spread of attack software.

The administrator is a trusted employee; promotes version control; eliminates most human variables should something go wrong with the new software.

Lets you check for viruses away from everything else; lets you check for proper behavior before installing new software networkwide.

Viruses provide nearly perfect anonymity to an intruder. The origin of almost all viruses is unknown. For example, if Robert Morris had not admitted his complicity in the infamous Internet worm incident, he might not have been prosecuted successfully.

Using attack software, thieves steal financial records and other valuable information. Disgruntled employees broadcast private correspondences for all to see. And others sabotage systems.

Anatomy of an Attack

Attack software differs from virus programs in that it is an autonomous process, not dependent on other processes for its existence. Like every virus, it infects other programs and carries a destructive pay

load. Attack software comes in various forms. Trojan horses are seemingly benign programs that have destructive instructions (e.g., to reformat the hard disk) hidden within them. Worms are virus-like

The Cruise Virus

• attacks for profit

• exploits a network's weakest link—you

• attacks through the public domain

• waits to reach its target

• reports successful penetration

• delivers payload

programs that can spread throughout a network by exploiting weaknesses in the network software.

Intruders exploit the evolving network environment by targeting its two weakest links—the attached computer and you. In principle, any software can be made to run on a computer attached to a network. To penetrate a system's defenses, an intruder needs only to infect one user's computer (see the text box "Commonsense Guide to Security" above).

Another type of attack software captures user-access passwords or high-level privileges. The intruder substitutes a look-alike log-in screen for the real one, perhaps by emulating the communications software or by gaining control of one of the network's connections. As users log

138 B YTE • MAY 1993

Safety in Numbers

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PC Week

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STEALTH VIRUS ATTACKS

HOW A CRUISE VIRUS WORKS

A cruise virus accesses a vector machine through a user who innocently carries the virus and passes it on to others. The virus spreads across the system until the target is found. The payload can then be delivered.

in, the attack software secretly records everyone's name and password. This information is stored or forwarded to the intruder, who can then enter the system as if he or she were an authorized user. In this scenario, the intruder's grand prize is the system administrator's name and password. With that information, everything— encrypted files, communications, and ac

cess controls—is vulnerable to the intruder's whims.

A system administrator's account information isn't needed to launch a successful attack on encrypted systems, however. Anyone's access information will do. Once inside a system, the intruder unleashes the virus, which lurks there until an authorized individual decrypts material or

enters the access sequence; the virus then attacks the material.

Other attacks use plaintext and trafficanalysis techniques to build lexicons of encrypted traffic from which an intruder can fabricate fraudulent messages and insert them in the communications channel. The messages can have a variety of purposes. For example, an intruder can impersonate a system administrator and fool users into divulging secret file-access information.

Cruise Missile

When most people think of a cruise virus, they envision a virus carrying a sophisticated technological payload heading off on a complex mission. Although this is possible, it requires a lot of work and a high degree of inside knowledge of the targeted system.

Instead, a minimalist attack scenario that maximizes the anonymous nature of the attack is more likely to happen. Such an approach comprises four stages: launch, penetration, report of target acquisition, and delivery.

In the first stage of the attack, an intruder launches a cruise virus into the public domain and wails for it to reach its target (see the figure). The intruder bets that one of the computer users at the target installation will innocently introduce the virus into the system. If that bet fails, nothing is lost.

Penetrations of large systems are almost always a matter of an intruder's impersonating individuals with higher and higher system privileges. In addition, intruders may impersonate trusted computers or message sources to launch an attack.

In many systems, impersonation of a user is just a matter of giving a computer a log-in identification and a password. In a minimalist attack, the virus has only to capture the access sequences for the intruder. Once the intruder has that information, a direct and more complex attack on the mainframe is unnecessary.

Given the access sequences, the intruder enters the system covertly with advanced privileges and proceeds manually with the more sophisticated aspects of the attack, which can be theft, fraud, espionage, sabotage, or discrediting a company or individuals within it.

Report Access

The method a virus uses to report that it has successfully penetrated the target system depends on how much an intruder knows about the system. If it's an inside job, the matter is trivial; the cruise virus can stash the results in any number of places accessible to the intruder. An

140 BYTE • MAY 1993

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Typical DesignCAD 3D drawing. Courtesy Old World Graphics, Philadelphia, PA

DesignCAD Release 6.0 added hundreds of new features and improvements. For this reason, our dealers and distributors fell a price increase was in order. Some complained they made more money selling competing products. It's always been our belief that a computeraided-design (CAD) system shouldn't cost more than a good word processor. In the finest American Tradition we said, "Aw...What the Heck. Let's see the other guys beat our deal! Let's keep the price low, and sell big quantities."

DesignCAD 2D

Ijilll ufrj^ry suggested asking price

DesignCAD 2D Release 6 offers an

amazing amount of CAD power for the low price. Features such as a built-in programming language and an on-line manual are standard. Distance,bearing, and center-of-gravity measurements are just a few of the advanced calculation capabilities available. DesignCAD 2D is not a low performance CAD system. It's only low priced!

Who Uses DesignCAD?

Studies indicate the average DesignCAD purchaser is a Fortune 1000 company with more than 500 employees and 100 million dollars per year in total sales. However, due to the low price, a large number of DesignCADs are sold to "average" computer users for ordinary projects. DesignCAD gives you the power and sophistication to complete any type of project

What Can You Do With DesignCAD?

Anything! Design your own home,

porch, or room addition. Landscape

your home. Create technical drawings,

do cross-stitch

needlework patterns,

stain glass window

designs, model airplane

designs, futuristic

vehicles, or design small

thermonuclear devices

(not a recommended use

Design real-life space

vehicles, such as the

space shuttle. Do all types of space management and facilities designs. DesignCAD eliminates the age-old drafting board.

The uses for DesignCAD 2D are only limited by YOUR imagination!

What about 3D?

We've got it! We offer DesignCAD 3D for only $499. DesignCAD 3D offers power and features not found on systems costing thousands of dollars more.

Which Do I Buv?

In general, DesignCAD 2D is the best choice for all drafting applications. DesignCAD 3D is best used for simulation; to see what something looks like before it's built. If you have questions about which program is best suited to your needs contact our Sales Department.

Do You Offer a Bundle?

Yes, we offer DesignCAD-The Professional Series. This package combines DesignCAD 2D, DesignCAD 3D, ScanPro Raster-to-Vector conversion software, and 6700 symbols all in one complete package. For the name of your nearest dealer or for information and a FREE demo disk, fax or call the numbers below.

American Small Business Computers, Inc One American Way Pryor, OK 74361 USA

In Europe: ) American Small Business Computers, Europe 102 Rue La Fontaine 75016 Paris FRANCE TEL: 331 4520 6540 • FAX: 331 4520 6539

Circle 65 on Inquiry Card

STEALTH VIRUS ATTACKS

outsider has more difficulty, but it's not an insurmountable task.

For an outside intruder, any covert communications channel can be used to send signals, because even seemingly random signal sequences can contain an embedded message to someone who knows how to read them. For example, if there are rules to prevent signals from being transmitted from the system to the outside world, an intruder can use an alternating pattern of violation/no violation of the rules like Morse code to send messages.

An attacker needs only to subvert a network's log-in machinery to erect a reporting mechanism. When built properly, a log-in bomb responds normally to failed log-in attempts but returns whatever activity report is desired when a special log-in name is used. For example, suppose an intruder tries to log in as Joe Bozo. If this fails, the intruder knows that the attack has not yet succeeded. However, if the virus has already reached and infected the target computer, the log-in bomb might respond with a list of legiti

"People would rather spend money on antivirus protection than pay for the cleanup of a virus attack."

ther a prescribed time or a certain number of infections. It would infect no more processes than necessary.

You would be lucky to stumble on this kind of program if one were to invade your system. In fact, because of the target-specific nature of such a program, combined with its low profile, it might never come to your attention.

Cynthia Carlson, vice president, USA Research (Portland, OR)

mate mainframe log-in procedures that it has just captured.

Deliver Payload

Once an intruder has successfully penetrated a computer, the payload is delivered. Unlike the more violent terrorist-type viruses, a minimal attack lays low, disturbing the vector and target systems as little as possible. In a vector machine, which can be any personal computer or a workstation attached to a network, the virus might quietly remove itself after ei

Professional Viruses

The difference between a cruise virus and other viruses is the difference between amateurs and professionals. The public-domain viruses that arouse so much media attention are probably written to serve the virus author's ego.

Virus-augmented attacks such as the cruise virus are professional. These attacks are bottom-line oriented: Accomplish the mission, and to heck with public recognition. In fact, the less of it, the better. ■

John DeHaven works for Bangkok Security Associates in Thailand. You can contact him on BIX c/o "editors."

ROMDISIC

SOLID STATE

Disk and Drive Emulators

• Proven Performance! For OEM/Military, Embedded Systems, Diskless/High Performance PC's, CAD/CAM, Industrial Control, Medical, POS, LAN's, etc.

• High Capacity Models (PCF/PCM)

• Low Cost Models (FERO,E/2-SR/ Special OEM)

• Dual Mode Emulation Models (PCF, PCM/2, PCE/2)

• Autoboot Capabilities, all models

• MS DOS/DR DOS/E-Venix OS Support

• NEW! PCMCIA models (PCM, PCM/2) and accessories

• • • CURTIS, INC.

Industry Leader in Disk and Drive Emulation Products

418 W. County Rd. D • St. Paul, MN 55112

612/631-9512

FAX 612/631-9508

DR DOS is a trademark of Digital Research; MS DOS is a trademark ol Microsoft

FIRMLOC™ uses a combination of hardware and software to provide total system^, security to owners/users of IBM PCs or compatible computers for only $249.95. Get i the same security now in use by major corporations and U. S. government agencies. Features include:

• Installs easily • No password/hotkey req'd

• Hardware auto-verify • No I/O slot needed

• Hardware card disables floppy boot-up

« File/Directory selective • Electronic key

• Network compatible-up to 100 users/system

• Electronic bookmark • User audit trail

• Windows™ compatible • Total security AFFORDABLE, EFFECTIVE, EASY-TO-USE! Dealer inquiries welcomed. Direct all inquiries to:

INTELLIGENT SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC.

P. O. Box 1133 • Addison, Texas 75001-1133

Phone: (214) 315-1254 or FAX: (214) 315-1597

Toll Free: 1-800-237-4774

CALL NOW! Limited Offer! 10% off Version 2.0!

142 BYTE • MAY 1993

Circle 83 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 175 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 176).

Now that you're zipping right along with Windows, you don't need graphics software that will slow you down. Thank the PC gods for Graphics Works™ for Windows, the easyto-learn, shockingly inexpensive yet surprisingly complete package that instandy removes drab from any and all documents.

One minute you're breaking open the box. The next, you're cranking out everything from serious business presentations to eye-popping posters.

If you want a simple bar graph, no sweat. If you want a 3-D bar graph punched up with a photo or maybe a perky little illustration, no sweat. The point is that this package is so simple, you actually enjoy being creative, whether you're doing presentations, invitations, publications, posters, layouts, or logos.

Pie charts, organizational charts, and graphs can be

as straightforward or as wild as you need. Either way,

creating them is fast and simple.

Create your own artwork with simple-to-use drawing tools. Or choose from over 11,000 photo and clip art images, many on CD-ROM, that you can easily

LEARNA

GRAPHICS

PROGRAM

GRAPHIC

LANGUAGE.

customize. You can even retouch photo images right on your screen, or scan in your own. Everything works in the same no-brainer way, with one-click function selection

Over 11,000 photos and clip art images are just

waiting to jump out and be used as is, or easily customized

for whatever purpose you can think of.

and help screens. So you have all the tools you need to complement your Windows word processor, spreadsheets, or presentation programs. And you can start using it the minute you open the box. It's that easy. After all, Graphics Works for Windows is designed to make your documents colorful, not your language.

PIQURE YOURSELF SAVING

BIG MONEY.

For a limited time, any owner of o qualifying Windows word processor or graphics software package can upgrade to Graphics Works for only $129, regularly S295.

Qualifying Packages Include: Microsoft9 Word® for Windows, WordPerfect® for Windows, Lotus® AmiPro®Microsoft® Works® for Windows, Harvard Graphics® Lotus® Freelance Graphics® Aldus® Persuasion®any Micrografx product and other similar packages.

$129

See your local software dealer or call Micrografx today at, 1-800-877-3040.

MICROGRAFX

y*t

Microgram, Inc., 1303 Arapaho, Richardson, TX 75081 (214)2.14-1769. Microgram has offices in Toronto, Paris, London, Munich, Milan, Sydney, Madrid. Coper^agtm^^

Inc. .Ail rights reserved. Micrografx is a registered trademark and Graphics Works is a trademark of Micrografx, Inc. All other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective

Circle 104 on Inquiry Card.

tf&jsp

<*

RESOURCE GUIDE

Virus Protection for Networks

As distributed systems become more prevalent, the need to keep them safe from infection by viruses becomes critical.

The following products can help you secure your Novell NetWare, Banyan Vines, Microsoft LAN Manager,

AppleShare, Unix, or other LAN.

ASET

Network support: NFS

(Solaris)

SunSoft, Inc.

(415)960-3200

fax:(415)390-9578

Circle 1146 on Inquiry Card.

CENTRAL POINT ANTI-VIRUS FOR NETWARE

Network support: NetWare

Central Point Software, Inc.

(800) 445-4208

(503) 690-8090

fax: (503) 690-8083

Circle 1147 on Inquiry Card.

DRIVE-IN ANTIVIRUS

Network support: IBM Token

Ring, LAN Manager,

LANtastic, NetWare, TCP/IP,

3Com, Vines

SafetyNet, Inc.

(800)851-0188

(908)851-0188

fax:(201)467-1611

Circle 1148 on Inquiry Card.

EMPOWER I, EMPOWER II, EMPOWER REMOTE

Network support: AppleShare,

NetWare, TOPS

Magna

(408) 282-0900

fax: (408) 275-9147

Circle 1149 on Inquiry Card.

FORTRESS

Network support: TCP/IP

(Unix)

Los Altos Technologies, Inc.

(800) 999-8649

(415)949-4567

fax:(415)949-4825

Circle 1150 on Inquiry Card.

F-PROT PROFESSIONAL

Network support: LAN

Manager, NetBIOS compatible,

NetWare, Vines

Command Software

Systems, Inc.

(800)423-9147

(407)575-3200

fax: (407) 575-3026

Circle 1151 on Inquiry Card.

FS SCANMASTER

Network support: Vines

NetPro Computing, Inc.

(800) 998-5090

(602) 998-5008

fax: (602) 998-5076

Circle 1152 on Inquiry Card.

LAA AGENT TOOLKIT

Network support: LAN Manager, MS-Nel, NetWare, Vines Saber Software Corp. (800) 338-8754 (214)361-8086 fax:(214)361-1882 Circle 1153 on Inquiry Card.

LANPROTECT

Network support: NetWare

Intel Corp.

(800)874-6835

(503) 696-8080

fax: (503) 696-4633

Circle 1154 on Inquiry Card.

NETSCAN

Network support: AppleShare, AT&T StarLAN, DEC Pathworks, LAN Manager, NetWare, TCP/IP, Vines McAfee Associates

NOV I

Network support: LAN

Manager, NetWare, Vines

Symantec Corp.

(800)441-7234

(408) 253-9600

fax: (408) 446-9750

Circle 1159 on Inquiry Card.

PC/DACS

Network support: NetWare

Mergent International

(203)257-4223

fax: (203) 257-4245

Circle 1160 on Inquiry Card.

PC SCANMASTER

Network support:

NetWare, Vines

NetPro Computing, Inc.

(800) 998-5090

(602) 998-5008

fax: (602) 998-5076

Circle 1161 on Inquiry Card.

QUARANTINE

Network support: LAN Manager, NetWare, Vines New England Research and Design Software (802) 387-2763 (same for fax) Circle 1162 on Inquiry Card.

VIRUS BUSTER

Network support: DEC Pathworks, LAN Manager, LANtastic, NetWare, Vines Leprechaun Software International, Ltd. (800)521-8849 (404)971-8900 fax:(404)971-8828 Circle 1166 on Inquiry Card.

V1RUSNET

Network support: IBM Token

Ring, LAN Manager,

LANtastic, NetWare, TCP/IP,

3Com, Vines

SafetyNet, Inc.

(800)851-0188

(908)851-0188

fax:(201)467-161.1

Circle 1167 on Inquiry Card.

VIRUS PREVENTION PLUS

Network support: LAN

Manager, NetWare, Vines

PC Guardian

(800)288-8126

(415)459-0190

fax:(415)459-1162

Circle 1168 on Inquiry Card.

(408) 988-3832

VI-SPY PROFESSIONAL

fax:(408)970-9727

S1TELOCK

EDITION

Circle 1155 on Inquiry Card.

Network support: NetWare

Network support: LAN

Brightwork

Manager, NetWare, Vines

NETSIIIELD

Development, Inc.

RG Software Systems, Inc.

Network support: NetWare

(800) 552-9876

(602)423-8000

McAfee Associates

(908) 530-0440

fax: (602) 423-8389

(408) 988-3832

fax: (908) 530-0622

Circle 1169 on Inquiry Card.

fax: (408) 970-9727

Circle 1156 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 1163 on Inquiry Card.

Inclusion in the resource guide should

STOPLIGHT

not be taken as a BYTE endorsement

NETSTREAM

Network support: IBM Token

or recommendation. Likewise,

Network support:

Ring, LAN Manager,

omission from the guide should not be

AppleShare, TOPS

LANtastic, NetWare, TCP/IP,

taken negatively. The information

Personal Computer

3Com, Vines

here was believed to be accurate at

Peripherals Corp.

SafetyNet, Inc.

the time of writing, but BYTE cannot

(800) 622-2888

(800)851-0188

be responsible for omissions, errors.

(704) 656-2076 (same for fax)

(908)851-0188

or changes that occur after

Circle 1157 on Inquiry Card.

fax:(201)467-1611

Circle 1164 on Inquiry Card.

compilation.

NORTON ANTIVIRUS

Network support: IBM Token

UNTOUCHABLE

Ring, LAN Manager, NetWare,

NETWORK NLM

OS/2, 3Com

Network support: NetWare

Symantec Corp.

Fifth Generation

(800)441-7234

Systems, Inc.

(408) 253-9600

(800)873-4384

fax: (408) 446-9750

(504)291-7221

Circle 1158 on Inquiry Card.

fax:(504)291-5453

Circle 1165 on Inquiry Card.

144 BYTE • MAY 1993

Now you can run X from virtually any hole in the wall.

There's really only one way to effectively run X from a phone jack-NCD's PC-Xremote Edition of PC-Xview. It's a special version of our X server software for PCs, one that doesn't require LAN support. Just install it on your laptop or home personal computer and you can run X out in the country, out of the country, or better still, in the comfort of your own home. For your very own copy or more information, call NCD at 1-800-793-7638. For just $199, we'll place the power of X right on your desktop. Wherever that may be.

Network Computing Devices, Inc.

NCD

HANDS-ON TESTING

126 Printers

Dot-matrix, laser, ink-jet, and portable printers: Lab tests show which printer best matches your application

RICHARD FOX, ALAN JOCH, CHANDRIKA KRISHNAMURTHY, STEPHEN PLATT, AND LEONARD PRESBERG

One hundred twenty-six printers. 5600 tests. 28,000 pages of output. We knew our goal of testing every printer we could get our hands on was ambitious, but the magnitude of the project seemed to grow day by day. However, what we learned in the end was priceless. We now know how all the leading printers on the market compare with one another in performance, print quality, price, features, and ease of use. But don't look for us to tell you which is the single best printer. We're not keeping secrets; we just don't believe a single recommendation is useful. Instead, this Lab Report will help you choose the best printer for you depending on the kind of printing you do. Just look to the far right, and you'll see the best printers for word processing, listings and forms, presentations, desktop publishing, spreadsheets, graphic arts, workgroups, CAD, and portable use.

Throughout the next 19 pages, we'll give details about these printers, as well as about printers that were outstanding for specialized needs within the nine application categories. Our recommendations are based on our performance and quality test results and assessments that came from our hands-on work with each printer. We determined our winners without bias for or against any technology, so you'll see laser printers ranked along with dot-matrix and ink-jet printers. The exception was a category that included only dot-matrix printers because of their ability to print multipart forms. See "How We Tested" on page 152 for details on our test suite.

How to use this guide

To find the best printers for you, just follow the main headings until you come to the categories for the applications you use the most. In each category, we name one printer "Best Overall." This is the printer we recommend if you need one to perform a variety of jobs important to that application. If you have special needs, look to the other selections within each application group.

For example, if your budget is limited, consider printers included under "Low Cost." Similarly, we'll tell you which printer to buy if you produce newsletters and want superior print quality or if you print spreadsheets and want the fastest printer available. In addition to the leading printer in each category, we list several runners-up— printers that ranked near the top in our evaluations.

The Key to Our Summary Charts

List price for as-tested configurations.

A composite measurement of engine or print-head speed and processor time. Test scores are weighted to emphasize those most important for each application category.

- A composite score from a suite of print-quality tests; 5 represents highest quality.

BEST Epson Stylus 800

PRICE BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM)

HIGH QUALrTY/DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

$499 1.10/1.14/ —

BYTE QUALITY

INDEX

2.5

CLASS

120cps

Dashes indicate tests that could not be run because of a printer's design. For example, the Stylus doesn't support the Mac.

Vendor's rating for engine or print-head speed. Does not include printer processor time.

146 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK ROCKWOOD IB 1993 EPSON STYLUS: PAUL AVIS ©1993

Essential Components

PRINT HEAD

The best designs use a head that pauses to let the ink dry without smearing.

Ink-Jet

Dot- Matrix

PLATEN BAR Look for printers that automatically raise and lower the bar— it helps prevent paper jams.

PRINT HEAD 24-pin heads produce higher-quality output. Nine-pin printers usually cost less but are best suited for draft-quality documents.

ENGINE

600-dpi engines produce better print, but 300-dpi engines are generally faster.

Laser

PAPER PATH

For printing envelopes and heavy stock, find a printer that also provides a straight-through path.

TONER CARTRIDGE The best designs use an integrated toner cartridge and drum, which makes toner replacement easy. Avoid printers that require you to pour toner into the cartridge.

INTERFACES For workgroups, look for printers that automatically switch between serial, parallel, and LocafTalk ports; this allows for easy printer sharing without a network.

PAPER INPUT TRAY Typically holds 250 sheets of letter-size paper. For word processing and other highvolume applications, consider printers with larger trays or additional paper trays sold as options.

PROCESSOR AND MEMORY BOARD Choose a printer based on a 68000 processor if price is more important than speed. RISC processors are best for PostScript and complex graphics. One MB of memory is minimum for full-page graphics; at least 4 MB is best for PostScript applications.

BVTE

BEST

WORD PROCESSING

HP LaserJet 4M

Print quality and flexibility make this a stand-out for text. PAGE 148

LISTINGS AND FORMS

Mannesman!! Tally MT 360

A dot-matrix printer whose speed far outpaces that of others in this category. PAGE 154

PRESENTATIONS

QMS 860

Consistently a print-quality and performance leader. PAGE 156

DESKTOP PUBLISHING

QMS 860

Support for 11- by 17-inch paper rounds out this laser's desktop publishing capabilities. PAGE 160

SPREADSHEETS Epson ActionLaser 1000

Posted the highest spreadsheet-test speed and the lowest price tag in this class. PAGE 162

GRAPHIC ARTS

LaserMaster Unity 1200XL

Produced the best output of the fully evaluated printers. PAGE 164

WORKGROUPS

HP LaserJet 4Si MX

A new entry that raises speed and quality standards for network printing. PAGE 166

CAD

QMS 860

Excels at printing complex drawings. PAGE 168

PORTABLES Lexmark IBM 4070IJ

Compact, light, and fast, with good print quality. PAGE 172

ILLUSTRATION: BRUCE SANDERS ©1993

MAY 1993 • BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 147

PRINTERS FOR

WORD PROCESSING

Letters to customers, memos to your staff, reports to potential investors: These documents remain the lifeblood of communication in today's business world. Depending on your needs, the printer you choose for word processing may only produce simple memos, or it may serve a variety of purposes. You might print a five-page letter in the morning and in the afternoon generate a report using text that elegantly wraps around a series of pie charts. And since this report will be sent to customers, you want the print quality to be as sharp as possible.

To fulfill their missions, printers for word processing should produce text and simple graphics quickly and efficiently. Print quality is equally important. The printer should offer fonts, in a range of sizes, embedded in the printer or in removable font cards. Additionally, since printers for word processing are worked hard, they require large paper trays or efficient paperfeed mechanisms that can easily be restocked. The printer should allow you to easily change ribbons, ink cartridges, or toner, depending on the printing technology. Finally, it should have a standard or alternative paper path that handles envelopes without mangling them.

Besides identifying the best printers for word processing, our testing revealed some important trends. For example, people who need high-quality print output but don't want to pay a premium price can now choose from a new generation of 600-dot-per-inch laser printers, characterized by the Xante Accel-a-Writer 8000 and the HewlettPackard LaserJet 4M. Most business correspondence today is printed on 300-dpiresolution laser printers. The 600-dpi printers can produce four times as many dots in the same space, so edges of letters are sharper, boldface type is blacker, and pie-chart curves are more precise.

But at $2300 and up, these high-resolution lasers aren't the cheapest printers. Some 300-dpi laser printers, such as the Epson ActionLaser 1000, the Sharp JX9600, and the DECLaser 1152, now offer fine print quality for less than $1300— among the lowest prices ever for laser printers.

Because there are now two resolutions available for lasers being sold as generalpurpose printers, comparing speed and print quality can become confusing. For example, our high-quality speed tests used PostScript files, while our draft-quality tests ran PCL (Printer Control Language) documents. Even though the growing number of 600-dpi laser printers can also be run in 300-dpi mode, we decided to evaluate these printers at their highest resolutions. This became an issue when it

Are Built-in Fonts Better?

Unless the fonts you use are built into your printer, the printer will take considerable time to produce your documents.

A built-in font resides in a printer's memory, so the printer can quickly find the font description and can print the text almost as fast as the print mechanism can move. On most dot-matrix and inkjet printers, these fonts are stored as bit maps— graphical representations of letters.

In Windows, built-in fonts are indicated by a small icon of a printer next to the font name in the font dialog box. But a surprising number of the printers we tested did not support built-in printer fonts with their Windows drivers. If printing speed is important, make sure your printer's Windows driver supports built-in fonts.

LASER, DOT-MATRIX, OR INK-JET?

With prices for lasers falling below $1000 in some cases, it's easy to assume that you should buy a laser over a dot-matrix or ink-jet printer because lasers typically offer higher quality. However, the kind of printing you do should ultimately determine your choice.

Dot-Matrix

Ink-Jet

Laser

Inexpensive dot-matrix printers are your only option if you print multipart forms. They're also worth considering if you mostly print draft-quality text.

Ink-jets can be a compromise between dot-matrix and lasers in price, but claims of laser-quality output were generally not borne out in our quality tests. Some ink-jets (e.g., the Apple Color Printer, Canon BJC-800, and HP PaintJet XL3000) recorded print-quality scores higher than some laser printers', but ink-jet quality ratings in general fell between those of laser and dot-matrix printers. Ink-jets were slower than lasers, but slower or faster than dot-matrix, depending on individual models.

Low-end lasers have always been faster than dot-matrix and ink-jets while offering superior print quality, and now their prices are lower than ever. We tested models with list prices from $800 to $3000 and street prices as low as $700 in a basic configuration. If that's within your budget, pick one of these for their performance and quality gains over competing technologies. Two caveats: Dot-matrix and ink-jet printers offer the only economical choices for color printing, and both are low-cost alternatives for printing on 11- by 17-inch and larger paper.

148 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

came time to compare the speeds of these printers with those of 300-dpi lasers, which still make up the bulk of the market. Because 300-dpi printers produce only a fraction of the number of dots, they have a speed advantage over higherresolution models.

After a lengthy debate, we decided to compare printers running at their highest resolutions; we reasoned that someone paying a premium for 600dpi capability will most likely use the printer at that resolution. Thus, in our summary box for the Best Overall word processing printer, we compare the Fujitsu PrintPartner 10W, a 300-dpi-resolution printer, with three 600-dpi printers. This accounts for the PrintPartner's fine performance—it ran the high-quality tests faster than any other printer in this group and was comparable in draftquality speed to the Accel-aWriter 8000.

But our resolution debate didn't stop there. The next discussion centered on the importance of 600-dpi resolution. If you're mainly interested in printing text for correspondence and reports, do you really need resolution of more than 300 dpi?

There's no hard and fast answer to this. Certainly the benefits of 600 dpi for text quality are subtle, and many people will be perfectly happy with the output of a printer like the PrintPartner 10W, which we chose as a Runner-Up in the category of Best Overall word processing printer. But when we forced ourselves to choose between the 600- and 300-dpi printers on the basis of what we would buy for ourselves, we opted for the 600-dpi models. The higher-resolution printers, such as the LaserJet 4M and the QMS 860, give you superior print quality when you need it, and the price they command for this is only marginally above that of their 300-dpi competitors.

KEY

A Laser ■ Ink-jet

• Dot-matrix

BYTE BEST

WORD PROCESSING

Do you want speed and quality?

BEST OVERALL

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4M

This 600-dpi laser's print quality was among the best offered by the tested printers. The 4M also stood out for its flexibility: Standard are PostScript plus PC and Mac interfaces (the LaserJet 4, without PostScript or LocalTalk, costs $1759). And you don't need to manually set the printer for PostScript or PCLjobs: The 4M switches automatically. Its speed, while acceptable, fell in the midrange of this printer group. (To boost performance, the LaserJet can drop down to 300 dpi for print jobs that don't require the higher resolution.)

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM)

HIGH QUALITY/DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

POSTSCRIPT AVAILABLE?

BEST HP LaserJet 4M

▲ i S

$2999

1.87/2.80/1.69

4.6

8 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP QMS 860

▲ B H

$4595

2.18/—' / 1.20

4.7

8 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP Fujitsu PrintPartner 10W

▲ 1 H

$2768

2.48/3.73/2.43

3.2

10 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP Xante Accel-A-Writer 8000

A Q g

$2295

1.63/3.78/1.68

4.3

8 ppm

Yes

On a limited budget

"»

LOW COST

Epson Stylus 800

For $499, this ink-jet printer won't outperform a laser printer. But for most documents, the Stylus's speed and print quality will fulfill your word processing needs. Its print output was clearly legible even down to 4-point text. Thanks to Epson's enhanced printer language, ESC/P2, DOS users have access to nine built-in fonts, two of which can be scaled from 8 to 32 points. But Windows users should note that none of the built-in fonts are available when you're using Windows applications, which can mean performance delays for certain fonts. The paper input tray holds 100 sheets of either letter-size or A4 paper. A manual feeder accepts envelopes.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM)

HIGH QUALITY/DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

POSTSCRIPT

AVAILABLE?

BEST

Epson Stylus 800

■

B

$499

1.10 /1.14/ —

2.5

120cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Canon BJ-200

■

B

$449

0.97 / 1.69/ —

2.1

124 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

HP DeskJet 500

■

[PC]

$599

1.27 / 1.81 / —

1.8

120cps

No

RUNNER-UP

DEC LA95 DECWriter

•

B

$319

0.83/1.19/ —

2.2

240 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Apple StyleWriter II

■

m

$359

— / — / 0.64

2.2

0.5 ppm

No

Sharpest text most important'

PRINT QUALITY

QMS 860

Only a 1200-dpi printer costing twice as much beat this laser printer on the BYTE quality index. The 860 also ranked second in its class for PostScript print speed, so PC and Mac users won't have to sacrifice speed for quality. The trade-off: QMS commands a premium price; compare the 860's $4595 price tag to the prices for other laser printers in this group (most noticeably Lexmark's LaserPrinter 4029-10P, which posted slow speeds but delivered comparable quality for $2000 less).

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM)

HIGH QUALITY/DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

POSTSCRIPT AVAILABLE?

BEST

QMS 860

▲

I

[Mti

$4595

2.18/—'/ 1.20

4.7

8 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP

Lexmark LaserPrinter 4029-1 OP

▲

B

$2499

0.79/5.87/ —

4.5

10 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP

HP LaserJet 4M

▲

i

[M&

$2999

1.87/2.80/1.69

4.6

8 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP

Apple LaserWriter Pro 630

▲

i

n

$2529

1.84/1.61 /2.19

4.7

8 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP

Xante Accel-A-Writer 8000

▲

I

[Hi

$2295

1.63/3.78/1.68

4.3

8 ppm

Yes

1 Failed to complete our draft-quality tests. BYTE/NSTL and QMS couldn't resolve the problem during the test cycle.

MAY 1993 • BYTE/N STL LAB REPORT 149

Compaq Printers Not People Print, IfrEY Chan

When we first introduced our network printers, the experts were at a loss for words. Not because they had little to say. The problem was finding words for printers that thoroughly outperformed all others.

When you add together analysts and experts, the performance, paper- Powerful print engines

etwork Primers; ***«*-™

RISC-based conollers, for example,

%...„ .-,

Steal HP Thunder

Compaq's new low-cost, high' Jf ^ speed PageMarq laser print- f^

to 1500 sheets of paper — more than any other desktop printer.

What's more, both the COMPAQ PAGEMARQ 15 and 20 can accommodate practically every size of paper, up to 11" xl7'.'

In complex network environments, even the

ers should give the HewlettPackard LaserJet Illsi a run for its M produce output faster Compaq S Pagemarq money. The PageMarqs fix the major^ *'Series offers Users just ^ deficiencies of many earlier network* than any other print- u

about anything they could

ers in their class

want in a reasonably priced | And so drat printing lme of network printers.,

quickly doesn't translate -PC Magazine, December 22, 1992

into quickly running out biggest problems are no of paper, the COMPAQ problem for COMPAQ

PAGEMARQ 20 holds up Printers. Our intelligent

received such nf. mfi ^est of all, a fax-modem board -emulation sens

overwhelmingly 4, that turns the printer into a plain- J^ featurej for ] paper fax that can receive faxes even

favorable praise from ■ i 11 ■ • „ _ •„<. • L„ Wexample, auto

v as it handles incoming print jobs.^ '

the industry's leading l^^^;M*"syjgjj^lUdeu that Imatically adjusts from

-PC Week, September 1, 1992

handling and unique net work capabilities of the COMPAQ PAGEMARQ Network Laser Printers it's no wonder they have

— Macworld, January 1993

0X)S

Only Change IfrE W*lY ge IfrE Wvr People Write.

PCl! to PostScript and back on LocalTalk, a serial and again without your having parallel port, and even an

'On a desktop-publishing document optional Internal

that contained mixed text and graph

. ics, the PageMarq 20 was almost 100 § FAX Modem that

,: percent faster than the Laserjet Illsi,

, , , „ ,, i allows vou to send while the PageMarq *

15 ran about 50 per-j and receive pres(_ n

I cent faster tharuhed*

HP printer.^M^^^' ration-quality faxes

directly from

the printer.

V

-PC Week, September 7, 1992

to do a thing. So whether people on your network are using PCs, Macs, or both, COMPAQ Printers can easily and effortlessly take care of what every

You get a free one-year warranty with on-site service, as well as unlimited technical support via our hotline for as long as you own the printer.

For more details on the

In addition* to all that,

ompaq is bringing a printer to the network printer market after listening to its most important resource: its customers. The PAGEMARQ series /■ is a direct result of users'wants

body needs. vVfe've also in

cluded five separate nd According to analysts at BIS: ^ Strategic Decisions in Norwell, \ interfaces to allow for a Mass., the Compaq printer hasf

• scored a bulls-eye. "Its kind of feavariety of network con- \ ^res are state-of-the-art.'

nections. You can simultaneously run Token Ring or Ethernet, AppleTalk

and needs.

our printers are % JfF' -BIS Special Report, August 1992

covered by CompaqCare, COMPAQ PAGEMARQ the most extensive service Printers, call. In the U.S.,

we're at 1-800-345-1518. Or in Canada, you can call us at 1-800-263-5868.

And find out more about the network laser printers that everybody's talking about.

And writing about.

fruiter shoi

. Thfijn

-Computerworld, September 21,1992

and support program in the industry.

According to PC Week, the COMPAQ_ PAGEMARQ^Printers "speedily handle even complex documents"

The envelope please . . . In the Jew months since their introduction, our printers have already won eight prestigious industry awards.

comma

© 1993 Compaq Computer Corporation. All Rights Reserved, COMPAQ Registered U.S. Patent anil Trademark Office. PAGEMARQ and CompaqCare are trademarks of Compaq Computer Corporation. *I'CL is a registered trademark of" Hewlett-Packard Company. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Consult your COMPAQ Quality Statement for more details or call die COMPAQ Customer Support Center. Warranty details can be received via PAQFax.

Circle 279 on Inquiry Card.

How We Tested

Our printer test suite consisted of nine tests for speed and print quality. We ran each of these tests multiple times in each printer's highest-quality and draft-quality modes, and on both PC and Mac platforms, if supported.

Each test was designed for a specific purpose, allowing us to exercise printer attributes appropriate for each application category and subcategory for which we made recommendations. For example, some of our tests helped us differentiate between the printers' ability to draw lines and arcs, which is important to someone producing CAD drawings; others focused on raw text speed, which is more relevant for printing listings.

PERFORMANCE

Our speed tests measured the ability of a printer to print five document elements: dense text, sparse text (for paper-handling evaluations), bit maps, graphics, and fonts. The dense-text test consisted of large and small documents with dense ASCII text; this gave us scores for raw text speed. Our paper-handling test was a page with a small amount of text to simulate printing invoices and forms. This test showed how fast the dot-matrix and ink-jet printers advanced paper.

The bit-map test generated scores applicable to graphics applications. It also showed the speed of the communication link between printer and computer.

Our graphics test was composed of complex line drawings and filled areas. The results were especially important for our spreadsheet, graphic arts, CAD, and presentations analyses. We ran the same test on all printers that supported color.

The font-rendering test consisted of serif and sans-serif typefaces printed in regular and bold at 30 different point sizes. Font rendering is compute intensive, so this test helped us measure the speed of each printer's processor.

We determined the performance index of each printer by weighing and combining the scores of individual tests. For example, to judge a printer's abilities for CAD, we weighed the graphic arts test most heavily, the bit-map test minimally, and other tests in-between. The

performance results in each of the Best charts show scores weighted for the individual application. The scores listed in the Roll Call on pages 174-175 are composite scores that weigh each performance test equally.

PRINT QUALITY

Testers looked at output from all the printers and rated the print quality on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best. We compared the best and worst samples in each technology group to set the scale. The BYTE Print Quality Test is a set of three PostScript files. Two are used in a series of black-and-white printing chores and the third tests a series of color jobs.

One set of tests forces the printer to draw fine lines and circles in white and black; these were important tests for graphicsoriented applications. Another test produced three different typefaces in three sizes, in regular and boldface. This tested how well printers produced characters and how well the characters scaled to different sizes. A third test consisted of a blackand-white photograph and a scale of grays. This showed how well a printer handled images and gray values.

The color page tested the printer's ability to reproduce a range of hues. It also let us test for cross-color smearing and fading (see "The Problem of Color" on page 156).

'imngggj^tuvh. MN6>PQRST%

[8.9.d<

FEATURES AND USABILITY

Usability and features are two sides of the same coin. A printer may feature an envelope feeder or IBM Proprinter emulation; usability measures the ease with which you can use such features. We developed a master list of printer features and asked, "Is this feature present?" "Does it perform as advertised?" and "What problems exist?" No printer matched our master list, but we clearly

Testing team (clockwise from left): Presberg, Piatt, Krishnamurthy, and Fox.

identified printers that were well stocked and those that were bare bones.

OUR TEST CONFIGURATION

The BYTE Printer Benchmarks run under Windows 3.1 and System 7.1. We turned off print servers, spoolers, and buffers. Our time measurements began when the first byte of information was sent to the printer and ended when the last page dropped into the output tray.

PC tests ran on Compaq Deskpro 4/33i computers with 200-MB hard drives and 8 MB of RAM. Macintosh tests used Quadra 700 computers with 400-MB hard drives and 8 MB of RAM.

We requested each manufacturer's standard memory configuration for dotmatrix and ink-jet printers. We tested 4- to 10-ppm lasers with at least 4 MB of RAM and PostScript when available. Over-10-ppm lasers had at least 8 MB of RAM and PostScript if available.

Contri butors

Richard Fox, Senior Test Engineer/NSTL John Gartner, Technical Editor/NSTL

Jim Hurd, Vice President of Research and

Development/NSTL

Alan Joch, Senior Editor, Reviews/BYTE

Chandrika Krishnamurthy, Technical Analyst/NSTL

Steve Piatt, Manager of Unix Development/NSTL

Leonard Presberg, Manager of Performance Testing/NSTL

The Ixib Report is tin ongoing collaborative project between BYTF. Magazine and National Software Testing Laboratories (NSTL). BYTE Magazine and NSTL are bolii operating units of McGraw-Hill, Inc.

152 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

SUPERIOR DISPLAYS ARE PART OF OUR HERITAGE.

EDITORS' CHOICE

June 30, 1992

FlexScan F550i

FlexScan F5501

Three hundred years ago, our ancestors in the Nanao area of Japan created Kutani, one of the classic styles of Japanese porcelain that is meticulously crafted for display. Inspired by their vision to create such colorful, intricate art, we recreate the richest, deepest colors in our innovative computer displays: the distinguished Nanao FlexScan* monitor family.

Inherited with a discerning eye and practiced touch, we finely tune every monitor, bringing you displays with a brilliant palette and clear, sharp images - retaining a tradition that reflects our vibrant history and parallels the technology of today.

From the affordable 15" to the 21" big-screen, our FlexScan family features top-of-the line flat-square CRTs with ergonomic enhancements including easyto-use microprocessor-based controls, flicker-free refresh rates and a healthy work environment that meets the Swedish MPR II and TCO low emission standards. We've also added ecological features such as an energy-saving auto-power ON/OFF switch. And all of our monitors optimize performance for Windows users or CAD/CAM, DTP professionals.

From generations of finely-crafted displays, our renowned monitor family continues a heritage that is uniquely Nanao.

23535 Telo Avenue, Torrance, CA 90505 (310)325-5202

NANAO

Superior in every detail™

®

1-800-800-5202

NANAO U.S.A. CORPORATION Circle 109 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 110).

MVPI

■ ■■■■ai

Finalist

FlexScan F340IW

BYTE

BEST

LISTINGS AND FORMS

If you print multipart inventory reports, invoices, or shipping labels, your printer must fulfill some specific needs. First and foremost, you'll need a dot-matrix printer to imprint multiple copies. And because of the high-volume nature of most listings and forms jobs, your printer must be fast. Quality is not a concern as long as the printout is readable, and font support and graphics quality are usually irrelevant.

In addition to speed, look for an efficient paperfeed mechanism that will avoid paper jams. Your printer will also need a long duty cycle and low-cost consumables.

Be aware that many printers in this category aren't intended to use cut-sheet forms, a point more important for general-purpose dot-matrix printing than for listings and forms. (We didn't test more specialized impact line printers, which can cost more than $5000, or laser printers that support continuous forms.)

Inventory reports and other types of long lists often require printers that can handle oversize paper. In addition to having the best mixes of raw speed and acceptable print quality, the Mannesmann Tally MT 360, Alps America DMX800, and Okidata ML395 and PM 3410 in our Best Overall class had widecarriage versions.

When we began our analysis, we planned on making recommendations for a third subcategory: the fastest printer. Once the performance numbers were in, however, it

Is high speed a must?

KEY

▲ Laser ■ Ink-jet

• Dot-matrix

BEST OVERALL

Mannesmann Tally MT 360

This 24-pin dot-matrix printer was the fastest by far in our listings speed tests. The MT 360 is loud and large, but it balances these drawbacks with an easy-to-use control panel and an LCD that clearly presents status messages. Another nice touch: The MT 360 automatically switches between parallel and serial ports. It can print bar codes, and it can ship with a color option.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BITE QUALITY INDEX

CUSS

WIDE CARRIAGE?

BEST

Mannesmann Tally MT 360

• m

$2695

9.11 / —

1.8

720 cps

Yes

RUNNER-UP

Alps America DMX800

• B

$2195

8.60/ —

1.4

800 cps

Yes

RUNNER-UP

Okidata PM 3410

• s

$1999

7.79/ —

1.3

550 cps

Yes

RUNNER-UP

Okidata ML395

• m

$1499

6.48 / —

1.9

486 cps

Yes

RUNNER-UP

Gcc Writelmpact

• H

$599

— / 0.87

—'

192 cps

No

Is price more

important?

LOW COST

Okidata ML590

This $699 printer ran our listings tests almost as fast as competitors costing twice as much. Unlike other printers in its class, the ML590 doesn't have an LCD, but its simple control panel makes it a pleasure to use. The printer is solidly built, and it comes with an easy-to-use tractor-feed mechanism.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY

INDEX

CLASS

WIDE CARRIAGE?

BEST

Okidata ML590

•

s

$699

5.42/ —

1.7

360 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Decision Data 6520-41

•

i

$460

5.00/ —

1.5

320 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Epson FX-1170

•

@

$499

5.30/ —

1.2

380 cps

Yes

RUNNER-UP

DECLA310MultiPrinter

•

i

$599

5.08/ —

1.3

300 cps

Yes

RUNNER-UP

Okidata ML521

•

I

$799

5.38/ —

1.2

430 cps

Yes

RUNNER-UP

DEC LA95 DECWriter

•

B

$319

3.15/ —

2.1

300 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Gcc Writelmpact

•

§c]

$599

— / 0.87

—'

192 cps

No

1 Failed to complete our quality tests. BYTE/NSTL and vendor could not resolve the problem during the test cycle.

became clear that the models we identified for Best Overall covered speed as well. For example, not only did the Mannesmann Tally MT 360's 9-page-perminute rating outpace that of other dot-matrix printers in our listings tests, but its composite speed score also placed it among the five fastest printers in the entire 126-printer test sample.

Don't expect these printers to be priced like those aimed at the general market just because they are dot-matrix. For example, our Best Overall printer for listings,

the Mannesmann Tally MT 360, sold for $2695, more than many general-purpose lasers. Three of the runners-up had list prices of $1500 or higher.

Although you'll have to dig deep to afford the best dot-matrix printer in this class, we found seven low-cost (less than $800) alternatives that perform well for listings but run roughly a third slower than the expensive models. Happily, speed was about the only trade-off we found when comparing low- and high-cost dot-matrix printers. For exam

ple, the $699 Okidata ML590 posted a quality score comparable to the MT 360' s.

We named the Gcc Writelmpact a runner-up for those who need a dot-matrix printer with Mac support, but this is a qualified recommendation. Mac support is rare for dot-matrix printers, so the choices are few. The Writelmpact was the fastest, but it failed to complete our quality tests. But judging by the output from our speed tests, it fulfills the typically draft-quality needs of listings and forms printing.

154 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

A ^°U

\0

\1> *^

#ve

&:.e «*

•* rf-^VS

tecoguition^C^

%

V^f

tS>

ie Silentwriter® Model 95. Come see what all the noise is about.

Purchase the $1749' Silentwriter Model 95 by April 30, 1993, and get a $250 rebate along with Adobe* PostScript™ Level 2 interpreter, HP'PCL* 5 emulation, PC and Mac* compatibility, 6PPM speed and microfine toner.

Because ^ is the way you want to go.

For information, call 1-800-NEC-INFO (in Canada 1-800-343-4418), or NEC FastFacts™ at 1-800-366-0476, request #SWM95.

Circle 111 on Inquiry Card.

PRINTERS FOR

PRESENTATIONS

Print quality outweighs speed when you're judging printers for presentations. Speed is important, however, especially for those of us who always seem to be printing our speech materials when we should be leaving for the airport. Our tests identified a number of printers, both black-and-white and color, that successfully balanced these two considerations. In few application categories were the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various printing technologies as stratified as in this one. Lasers excelled when a combination of speed and quality was important. When low cost and high-quality color were considered, ink-jets rose to the top. And low-cost color output proved the domain of dot-matrix printers.

For black-and-white high-quality output, you can select HP's LaserJet 4M, the QMS 860, or Xante's Accel-a-Writer 4000. All these lasers received similar scores in our quality test. The new 600-dpi laser printers (including the LaserJet and the 860) produce a wide range of grays, sharp text, and dark solid fills. Prices begin at about $3000 for PostScript models. The lowercost 300-dpi printers also provided fine print quality. Among the better 300-dpi performers in our quality and speed tests were HP's LaserJet HIP, Mannesmann Tally's MT908, and Texas Instruments' MicroLaser XL.

If you only need color to separate bars in charts or to highlight important text, look to high-end ink-jet printers such as the Canon BJC800, HP's PaintJet XL300, or Lexmark's IBM Color JetPrinter PS 4079, all of which can print to paper or transparencies. We found color dot-matrix printers to be acceptable for draft-quality work, but their print quality was too inferior to ink-jets' for us to recommend them for formal presentations. The solid-ink printers like the Dataproducts Jolt PS and the Tektronix Phaser III PXi provide outstanding color quality, but they cost $6695 and $9995, respectively.

The Problem of Color

While testing color printers, we discovered an assortment of problems that adversely affected color-output quality. Most common were color smearing and incorrect colors.

Smearing (see figure at left) occurs in dot-matrix printers when the printer shifts the color ribbon while the ribbon is still in contact with the paper. This frequently happens when printing adjacent filled bars in charts. Careful adjustment of the print-head gap can alleviate (but not always eliminate) smearing.

Ink-jets have their own problems. The color you see on the screen may not match the printed color. The figure on the right shows samples from two printers that printed the color "blue." One sample is a rich royal blue, the other a strong purple. If you must match a screen sample to the printed document, inaccurate representations like these mean you'll spend a great deal of time adjusting onscreen colors to obtain the desired effect.

TRUST YOUR EYE

Our quality testing proved once again that only actual output tells the whole truth about quality. A vendor's claimed resolution for its printer is not always an accurate measurement of print quality. Here's why.

Printers use a theoretical grid, measured in dots per inch, to determine where to place each dot on the page. The tighter the grid, the higher the output quality, because dots placed closer together result in sharper images. Thus, a 360-dpi dot-matrix or ink-jet printer should produce higher-quality output than a 300-dpi laser printer. But other factors make this impossible.

DOT SIZE. Although many printers work within a 360-dpi grid, they cannot produce a dot small enough to fit the grid. For example, the dots pictured here were produced by two 360dpi printers. On the left is a dot from an ink-jet printer, and on the right is a dot produced by a dot-matrix printer. The dot-matrix's larger dot will fall 'i*iv; EDI outside the grid structure and result in lines and edges that look jagged compared to the smaller ink-jet-printed dot. STRAY DOTS. Some printers produce undesired dots during the printing process. Ink-jet printers spray ink, shotgun fashion, at the page. On the left is an ink-jet printout that shows many stray dots along the edges of a "XT *V" letter, resulting in fuzzy text. The laser printout on the ^* ■*' right shows fewer stray dots, but still enough to reduce overall quality. ERRORS. Not all printers can precisely place a dot on the page, and some may produce irregular dot shapes. This blowup (right) shows an error-ridden vertical line with changing dot shapes and poor placement. m&arrwr.

m

156 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

Our evaluations of printers for presentations focused on models that ranked high in output quality but also demonstrated solid performance.

In terms of speed, some of the ink-jet printers fared well even when compared to laser printers. The Epson Stylus 800, for example, ran our speed tests faster than several lasers we tested. In fact, its graphics test score was only an insignificant tenth of a percent behind HP's LaserJet 4M. As a result, if you often find yourself churning out speech handouts and overheads and you're not especially concerned about fine quality, the trade-off you make for a low-cost printer will be small.

If quality is of greater concern, however, ink-jets probably aren't viable options. In the same Stylus-to-LaserJet comparison, we found great differences in print quality. In our graphics test, the LaserJet (at 600 dpi) earned a score that was nearly double the Stylus's.

Our choice for Best Color printer, the Canon BJC-800, recorded a color-quality score below that of Dataproducts' Jolt PS, which earned the highest quality score of any ink-jet printer in our roundup. We rank the Jolt as a runner-up for color, but we think its $6695 price tag makes it a candidate only for those who must have the best in color and can justify the cost.

Don't expect low-cost color dot-matrix printers to provide anything but draft-quality output. Even our recommended DEC LA95 DECWriter produced color output of a quality below that of all the ink-jet printers. Note that none of the color printers we tested supported the Mac and sold for under $1000.

Mac users with a small budget will find that, while models like the Apple Color Printer and the Lexmark JetPrinter PS 4079 aren't especially low cost, their print quality is competitive with the even pricier Jolt.

KEY

▲ Laser ■ Ink-jet

• Dot-matrix

BYTE BEST

PRESENTATIONS

Are speed and quality essential?

BEST OVERALL

QMS 860

As it did in the other categories, the 860 delivered impressive quality and speed ratings in our presentations tests. Its standard 12 MB of memory was among the most generous we saw. The 860 also fares well in workgroups: It accepts simultaneous jobs through its parallel, serial, and LocalTalk interfaces.

PRICE

BEST QMS 860 A B H $4595

RUNNER-DP Xante Accel-A-Writer 8000 ▲ 1 H $2295

RUNNER-UP Fujitsu PrintPartner 10W ▲ 8 H $2768

RDNNER-DP HP LaserJet 4M ▲ E H $2999

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM)

HIGH QUALITY/DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY

INDEX

CLASS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

1.01/ — / 1.44

4.6

8 ppm

600

0.77/2.26/1.07

4.0

8 ppm

600

1.04/2.13/1.32

3.1

10 ppm

300

0.84/1.26/1.37

4.4

8 ppm

600

Looking for a real dear

LOW COST

Epson Stylus 800

With a resolution of 360 dpi, this ink-jet produced gray-scale quality that you'd expect from a printer four times its price. Its speed outpaced a number of laser printers in our high-quality presentation graphics test.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

BEST

Epson Stylus 800

■ m

$499

0.81 /—

2.4

120cps

360

RUNNER-UP

Canon BJ-200

■ s

$449

0.74/ —

2.0

124 cps

360

RUNNER-UP

HP DeskJet 500

■ N

$599

0.86/ —

1.7

120 cps

300

RUNNER-UP

Apple StyleWriter II

■ H

$359

— / 0.45

2.1

0.5 ppm

360

Need the be

st color?

COLOR

Canon BJC-800

The Canon BJC-800 ranked near the top in print quality even though its list price was the second lowest in this subcategory. Its speed was below average, but its support for ledger-size paper and its intuitive interface counterbalanced this deficiency.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY

INDEX

CLASS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

BEST Canon BJC-800 ■ H

$1999

0.17/ —

3.3

170 cps

360

RUNNER-UP Dataproducts Jolt PS I 11

$6695

0.32/0.52

3.6

2 ppm

300

RUNNER-UP Apple Color Printer ■ H

$2349

— / 0.58

3.2

3.5 mpp

360

RUNNER-UP Lexmark JetPrinter PS 4079 ill

$3495

0.26/0.24

3.5

167 cps

360

Want color at black-and-white

prices?

LOW-COST COLOR

DEC LA95 DECWriter

This $319 printer ranked near the top in its class for speed, and its print quality was the highest among the dot-matrix printers. There were faster printers overall, and ink-jets produced better quality, but the LA95 is the clear choice for color if you can't squeeze $2000 out of your budget.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BEST

DEC LA95 DECWriter

•

i

$319

0.48/ —

RUNNER-UP

Citizen GSX-240

•

S

$599

0.21 / —

RUNNER-UP

Citizen GSX-230

•

i

$399

0.16/ —

RUNNER-UP

Panasonic KX-P2124

•

s

$599.95

0.21 / —

BYTE QUALITY CLASS

RESOLUTION

INDEX

(DPI)

2.3 240 cps

360

2.3 99 cps

360

2.2 90 cps

360

2.0 106 cps

360

MAY I993 • B YTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 157

Windows Printer Drivers

When you've shopped for a printer, you may not have given much thought to drivers, but if you use a variety of fonts or print in color, the availability of drivers may ultimately determine how satisfied you are with your purchase. Printer drivers, such as those for Windows, send the printer control codes that tell the printer when, for example, to switch fonts or how to print graphics. Our printer tests relied heavily on Windows, and our testing experiences revealed a number of driver problems. Here's a summary of driver questions for you to ask before you make your purchase.

1. IS THERE A WINDOWS DRIVER?

Not all the printers we tested came packaged with a Windows driver. If a printer runs its own unique control sequences (without emulation), as do many ink-jets, a Windows driver is necessary to print from Windows applications. Some printers (e.g., any made by Epson) can be used with a printer driver packaged with Windows. However, when we used a standard Windows driver to run our text and graphics tests, we often couldn't take advantage of all of the printer's built-in fonts or color capabilities.

2. WHERE'S THE LATEST VERSION?

Often, we received a printer with no driver, or an outdated driver, so we couldn't get the printer's best output quality or performance. Many drivers were available on MSL (Microsoft's Software Library). To get these drivers, however, you need a modem and access to MSL through CompuServe or a similar service.

Other drivers were available only from the vendor's BBS. On the surface, this distribution scheme seems like it would be the most effective way to update a driver, but it wasn't foolproof. For example, the Lexmark PPS 2380 had drivers available on both Microsoft's and Lexmark's BBSes, but the drivers

were different and only one of them worked correctly. For some printer models, we needed to make repeated calls to technical support to get the proper drivers.

3. IS THE DRIVER ANY GOOD?

We found problems with a variety of drivers. Many of them did not support built-in printer fonts. Many didn't correctly switch from draft- to high-quality modes when printing text. And many didn't support all of a printer's features. One driver from Citizen allowed us to select Burst-mode printing, which was supposed to speed up the printing of graphics files without slowing down other printing operations. But the price we paid for a performance gain from choosing the Burst mode was the inability to use any TrueType fonts.

4. WHICH ONE DO I USE?

If manuals mentioned printer drivers at all, it was often just in a short list of supported drivers. Even armed with such a list, it is often difficult to know which driver to use. For instance, the Epson LQ 870 driver comes in two different flavors, the ESC/P2 version and the scalable fonts version, both of which have a bearing on printer performance.

Many drivers don't support color printing even though the printer is capable of color. The only way for you to know which printer driver you should choose is to try them all. In most cases, you are probably better off just sticking to the first driver that you get to work, even though the downside to this is that you may be sacrificing some performance or quality. Otherwise, you could find yourself making a career of testdriving printer drivers.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

So you think that your printer is unique and was designed by the company on the nameplate. Think again. We saw numerous examples of ink-jet, laser, and dot-matrix printers that shared the same overall design, so that, on the outside, at least, it was hard to tell one printer from another. However, once we opened printers up and took a look under the hood, we sometimes saw processors and other internal components that differentiated similar-looking models. But the pairs listed here differed physically only in their nameplates. Nevertheless, even these printer pairs performed differently, thanks to unique drivers supplied by their respective vendors.

DEC LA95 DECWMTER AND CITIZEN GSX-240 These two were so similar, the LA95 even arrived with a Citizen user's manual. However, our testing showed that DEC's driver got the jump on Citizen's: The I.A95's overall speed rating was a full two points higher than its twin's.

CANON BJC-800 AND APPLE COLOR PRINTER These two printers earned identical scores in our printquality tests. Their difference: The BJC-800 supports only PCs, while the Apple printer supports only the Mac.

158 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

OKIDATA USES 2560 BURSTS OF LIGHT Tf MAKE YOU LOOK BRILLIANT.

If you think all laser printers are mirror images of each other, meet the one that broke the mirror.

Okidata®engineers flatly rejected the complex mechanism of rotating mirrors, focusing lenses and whirring motors that every major brand of laser printer depends on for its operation. Instead, they designed a better way - a unique, solid-state LED printhead that precisely positions each one of 2,560 pinpoints of light, to produce a laser printer's brilliant output without a laser printers built-in complications.

OUR BRILLIANT LED PRINTER Since our solid-stale LED printhead has no

ffimiFn rKhthim "umn" parts' 0kidata guarantees it for five

OKIDATA 0L810 f"" years *~the industry 's lo""esL (After alL

our printers have a reputation of reliability

to uphold.) And we offer a full range of f\ machines that can handle any workload from basic word processing to sophisticated business text and graphics.

To see how Okidata page printers can help make your business look brilliant, call 1(800) OKIDATA for the name of the dealer nearest you. And look brilliant yourself.

WE DON'T JUST DESIGN IT TO WORK. WE DESIGN IT TO WORK WONDERS.

Print samples created using popular software packages and printed on a range of Okidata LED Page Printers. '5 year limited warranty on LED printhead plus 1 year parts/labor on entire printer OKIDATA and the OKI OK! are registered trademarks ol Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. "We don't just design it to work. We design it to work wonders." is a registered trademark of Oki America, Inc.

Circle 116 on Inquiry Card.

OKJQS^

BYTE

BEST

DESKTOP PUBLISHING

Desktop publishing programs have become essential for businesses that create newsletters, marketing brochures, and other corporate literature. Print quality is of prime importance for desktop publishing, whether the output will be distributed as is or will serve as camera-ready output. Along with high print quality, the printer should be able to generate large and complex documents with reasonable speed.

We considered only PostScript printers because of that language's abilities for scaling fonts and producing highquality text. This factor, combined with our considerable emphasis on print quality, resulted in top honors going only to laser printers. Of these, only the Fujitsu PrintPartner 10W did not support the growing trend of high-resolution printing at 600 dpi or greater. In general, we found that the 600-dpi printers produced clearer curves and a greater range of gray levels than the 300-dpi competitors.

The Best Overall printer, the QMS 860, was one of the few printers that could handle 11- by 17-inch paper (the printer prints this size at 4 ppm). Both it and LaserMaster's Unity 1200XL (the winner for Best Print Quality) have unconventional feed mechanisms that allow you to feed in paper that is up to 11 inches wide.

Ink-jet and dot-matrix printers showed their stripes in the low-cost category, where trade-offs in quality and features were evident.

KEY

▲ Laser ■ Ink-jet

• Dot-matrix

Looking for both print quality and speed?

BEST OVERALL

QMS 860

This laser printer's print quality was second only to that of the more expensive 1200-dpi printers. In performance, the QMS 860 ranked among the best. It posted the third-fastest time when running our PC PostScript tests, and it came in second in our Macintosh desktop publishing tests. The QMS was one of the few laser printers that accepted 11- by 17inch paper, and it supports both the PC and the Mac in its standard configuration.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

BEST QMS 860

A 1 B

$4595

1.53/1.65

4.6

8 ppm

600

RUNNER-IP LaserMaster Unity 1200XL

ASH

$9995

2.08/1.14

5.0

8 ppm

1200

RUNNER-UP Fuptsu PrintPartner 10W

A a g

$2768

1.68/1.79

3.2

10 ppm

300

RUNNER-UP HP LaserJet 4M

ill

$2999

1.28/1.36

4.5

8 ppm

600

RUNNER-UP Xante Accel-A-Writer 8000

A 1 B

$2295

1.16/1.30

4.0

8 ppm

600

Is cost most im

portant to you?

LOW COST

Epson Stylus 800

The Epson Stylus 800 excelled in speed and print quality. This $499 ink-jet printer's text performance was surprisingly quick even though its Windows driver did not support built-in fonts. Still, the Stylus completed our font-rendering test (which consisted of TrueType fonts in 30 different font sizes) more quickly than any other ink-jet. What's more, the quality of its text and graphics was the best of any in this group.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

BEST

Epson Stylus 800

■ i

$499

0.94/ —

2.4

120cps

360

RUNNER-UP

Canon BJ-200

■ ®

$449

0.84/ —

1.9

124cps

360

RUNNER-UP

HP DeskJet 500

■ S

$599

1.04/ —

1.6

120 cps

300

RUNNER-UP

DEC LA95 DECWriter

■ i

$319

0.61 / —

2.1

240 cps

360

RUNNER-UP

Okidata ML590

• E

$699

0.96/ —

1.5

120 cps

360

RUNNER-UP

Apple StyleWriter II

m S

$359

— / 0.54

2.0

0.5 ppm

360

Want typeset-quality output?

PRINT QUALITY

LaserMaster Unity 1200XL

At 1200 dpi, this laser printer scored highest among the fully evaluated printers in our quality tests. With a list price of nearly $10,000, it's clearly a printer for typesetting or for producing camera-ready materials. It comes standard with a number of important features for this class, including a 20-MB hard drive, 135 resident fonts, and 21 MB of memory. For your networking needs, the LaserMaster Unity 1200XL also supports Ethernet networks running NetWare, TCP/IP, and AppleTalk.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

BEST

LaserMaster Unity 1200XL

A H H

$9995

2.08/1.14

5.0

8 ppm

1200

RUNNER-UP

QMS 860

a B H

$4595

1.53/1.65

4.6

8 ppm

600

RUNNER-UP

Apple LaserWriter Pro 630

A S B

$2529

1.05/1.75

4.6

8 ppm

600

RUNNER-UP

HP LaserJet 4M

A 1 B

$2999

1.28/1.36

4.5

8 ppm

600

RUNNER-UP

Lexmark LaserPrinter 4029-1 OP

A 1

$2499

0.53 / —

4.3

10 ppm

600

160 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

Operating Systems Come in Many Flavors

il#lri»I^M«^lr»ti>fc—

I

■fc^i^-MA;; ■■,?-,, ri',..,-■ .^,--^,^,.^--■,-,„■ „fiiir,.,,■ .Vn-!^'

But QNX Can lakeiie Heat.

Decisions...Decisions...

When you choose an OS for your realtime applications, you're looking for solid performance at run time. A rich development environment. Responsive technical support. And to top it off, you need stability.

For over ten years, QNX has proven itself again and again in the real world. Thousands of VARs and OEMs rely on QNX for a wide range of mission-critical realtime solutions in POS, factory automation, medical instrumentation, telecommunications.

POSIX Plus Performance

QNX follows the latest IEEE POSIX 1003.1 and 1003.2 Open Systems standards, so you get the same API and utility set found in many UNIX® systems. But with its innovative microkernel architecture, QNX out-performs any standard vanilla OS.

We Work in Real Time."1

The Right Ingredients for Real Time

QNX delivers the speed of a fast, realtime executive

(16 usee per context switch on a 33 MHz 80486).

And its priority-driven, preemptive scheduling will help you build

responsive solutions that won't melt under real realtime conditions

1-800-363-9001

(EXT. 101 )

A Recipe to Save Time

QNX saves you time up front, because your development system and target system are one and the same. Which means no cross-compiling or debugging on a separate test platform. You get one integrated environment, with transparent faulttolerant networking and distributed processing already built in.

Yes, We Do Windows

Our own high-performance windowing package gives you an OPEN LOOK® GUI. And Rundos,'" our DOS emulator, lets you run Microsoft® Windows™ 3 in standard mode, so your favorite graphics programs will have enough memory to feel right at home.

We Don't Scrimp on Support

During the last ten years, we've earned a

reputation for outstanding technical support.

Since we offer everything from 24-hour online

conferencing to onsite consulting,

you can easily reach the people who make

up the QNX development team.

So if you're looking for an operating system that gives you

more than the standard fare, try QNX. You're in for a real treat.

Quantum Software Systems Ltd. 175 Terrence Matthews Crescent, Kanata. Ontario K2M 1W8 Canada Tel: 613-591-0931 Fax:613-591-3579

, IMIY h ™™ , *SUantUnl Softwar<! S"s,m" L,d- l95z QNX ls » registered trademark and Rundos Is a trademark of Quantum Software Systems Ltd

UNIX and OPEN LOOK are registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. Microsoft Is a registered trademark and Windows Is a ttademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Circle 128 on Inquiry Card.

B Y T E

BEST

SPREADSHEETS

From corporate expenses to cash-flow estimates, spreadsheets are the bread and butter of today's financial analysis. Many people simply print budgets or tables consisting solely of columns of numbers. Here, speed and perhaps the ability to handle oversize paper are important criteria. Other times, you may create bar charts and pie charts that detail expenditures or comparative sales figures, accompanied by some descriptive text. The printer for this type of output must produce flattering hard copy that accurately reproduces these figures. Finally, a printer for spreadsheets shouldn't throw your finances into the red.

Through our testing, we became enamored with laser printers for spreadsheets because of their high-quality output and speed. The Epson ActionLaser 1000 ranked as both best overall and fastest printer for spreadsheets and carried an impressive $1125 list price for our test configuration. This price is almost one-third the average price of the lasers we tested.

Several ink-jet and dotmatrix printers made strong showings in the low-cost category, including Canon's $449 BJ-200, an ink-jet that took top low-cost honors.

To judge speed, we considered only draft-quality text tests when we made our evaluations for the leading spreadsheet printers. Laser printers made a strong showing because of their combination of high-quality output and speed.

KEY

▲ Laser ■ Ink-jet

• Dot-matrix

Need speed and simplicity?

BEST OVERALL

Epson ActionLaser 1000

The ActionLaser scored lowest in this group for print quality, but its fast draft-quality speed more than made up for it. This is also a simple printer to use. Its control panel is accessible and easy to read, and you load paper conveniently in the front of the printer. The ActionLaser supports PCL 5; HPGL is an option ($299). It can automatically switch emulations. Our as-tested configuration included PostScript and additional memory, but the base price without these options is $799, the lowest laser list price we saw.

BEST Epson ActionLaser 1000 A H

RUNNER-UP Apple LaserWriter llg ▲ H

RUNNER-UP Xante Accel-A-Writer 8000 A @ S

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

ACCEPTS 11x17 PAPER?

$1125

2.80/ —

2.5

6 ppm

No

$2309

— / 2.11

2.7

8 ppm

No

$2295

2.79 / 1.07

3.9

8 ppm

No

Want something fast but not expensive'

LOW COST

Canon BJ-200

This $449 ink-jet will keep most spreadsheet users satisfied. It performed admirably in our speed tests, posting the fastest score of any ink-jet in this category. Its print quality was the second best, only slightly below that of the leader, the Epson Stylus 800. Unlike some other low-cost contenders, the BJ-200 can print spreadsheets in landscape format. The printer supports Epson LQ-510 and IBM Proprinter emulations. It comes with 49 KB of RAM, which is not expandable.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

ACCEPTS 11x17 PAPER?

BEST

Canon BJ-200

■

i

$449

1.42 / —

2.2

248 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Epson Stylus 800

■

s

$499

0.96 / —

2.6

225 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

HP DeskJet 500

■

§

$599

1.30/—

1.9

360 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Okidata ML590

•

s

$699

1.74/ —

1.7

120 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Apple StyleWriter II

■

g

$359

— / 0.47

2.2

1 ppm

No

Want the fastest?

SPEED

Epson ActionLaser 1000

In addition to all the attributes that made this the best printer overall for spreadsheets, the ActionLaser also was the fastest in this category. And its price was half that of the comparably performing dot-matrix Mannesmann Tally MT 360.

BEST Epson ActionLaser 1000 A S

RUNNER-UP Mannesmann Tally MT 360 • S

RUNNER-UP Apple LaserWriter llg ▲ H

RUNNER-UP Okidata OL 810 A 1

PRICE

$1125 $2695 $2309 $3536

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

2.80 / —

2.33/ —

— / 2.11

2.74/ —

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

2.5

1.8 2.7 2.4

CLASS

6 ppm 720 cps 8 ppm 8 ppm

ACCEPTS 11x17 PAPER?

No

Yes

No No

162 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

They're Both Fcidt, But

One Id Clearly Better.

If 600-dpi laser printers are the "new standard," we're a couple hundred steps ahead of the competition. With a full 800x800 dpi resolution, the TurboPS/880p from NewGen Systems puts out nearly twice the

dots per square inch. And almost twice the number of gray levels. Not to mention our proprietary Image Enhancement Technology for the best text, line art and grayscale printing available. Suddenly, "competitive" products pale in comparison.

But the TurboPS/880p delivers more than great-looking output. You get automatic language and interface switching for easy sharing among Macs and PCs. NewGen's MultiRes™ feature for flexible resolution printing. And a powerful RISC processor to quickly print complex PostScript images and documents. All for a price that's remarkably lower than competitive products. ^^^

See the difference for yourself. For free sample output from the \MMjjll

TurboPS/880p, or for more information, call us today at 1-800-756-0556. ^^^^

NewGen Systems Corporation, 17580 Newhope Street, Fountain Valley. California 92708. Telephone 714-641-8600, Fax 714-641-2800. 61993, NewGen Systems Corporation. All trademarks and registered trademarks are of their respective companies.

Circle 113 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 114).

PRINTERS FOR

GRAPHIC ARTS

A printer can make or break graphic arts jobs. If you use service bureaus for final output, your printer will be producing drafts of illustrations and graphics elements. Sometimes you'll need to generate full-color finished artwork and prepress proofs in-house. Because of this specialization, the printers we considered for this category were among the most sophisticated and expensive in our sample. LaserMaster's Unity 1200XL carried a list price of $9995, but it came with a number of features

that would hardly be considered standard for a printer Also noteworthy was the winner for Best Color, the Dataproducts Jolt PS, a $6695 solid-ink printer. Unlike the liquid inks used by traditional ink-jet printers, the solid Jolt inks are similar to a crayon. During printing, the inks are heated and shot to the page, where they instantly solidify. The resulting colors are vibrant, with impressive dithering and little color bleeding and smearing.

For those whose color needs are less demanding, we found DEC's LA95 DECWriter to be a good low-cost choice. Even though its $319 price was at the opposite end of the price spectrum compared to the Jolt, no other low-cost color printer had better color-output quality than the LA95. Note that none of our low-cost test printers supported both color and the Mac.

Depending on your needs, the printer you choose will need to balance resolution, color capability, and cost. Here are some guidelines:

Rule 1: Ideally, graphic arts printers should include PostScript. Most graphic arts software and outside printer and service houses support PostScript, and having this capability on your printer ensures that any draft accurately

New From XLI: High Res, Low Price

At press time, XLI released the Image Xpert 5000, a laser printer designed for graphic arts and desktop publishing applications. The 8-ppm Xpert prints text and line art at 1200 dpi; gray-scale images print at resolutions equivalent to 2400 dpi. The printer handles 11- by 17-inch paper at a rated engine speed of 4.6 ppm.

The printer didn't arrive in time to consider it in our formal evaluations, but we did run our quality tests. See the Roll Call on pages 174-175 to see how the Xpert compares with other high-end lasers.

At $6995, the Xpert costs less than the $9995 LaserMaster Unity 1200XL, the other 1200-dpi printer we tested. But the Xpert required at least a 33-MHz 486 PC, because it relies heavily on its host for performance. You must install a controller board in your computer and connect the printer via a video interface.

represents the final look of a page or illustration.

Rule 2: You should buy the highest-resolution printer you can afford. Some people can trade quality for speed if the printer is only used to generate drafts, but most users find that a high-resolution printer can support both production art and internal activities. With the emergence of 600- and 1200-dpi printers at affordable prices, users can also generate acceptable presentations and illustrations in-house, saving time and money.

Rule 3: A company that generates large amounts of pages or illustrations that use color can save time and avoid mistakes with a color printer. At the high end, color printers also allow the company to

DOES YOUR PRINTER NEED A HARD DISK?

The alternative to storing fonts on your computer's hard disk is to store them on a hard disk in your printer. The advantage is that the font is already in the printer, so no time is wasted downloading the font.

How much time does this save? Using a LaserMaster Unity 1200XL, a $9995 printer that comes standard with a 20-MB hard disk and 135 fonts, we printed a one-page file using 10 fonts. The page printed in 42.9 seconds when using disk-based fonts, and in 64.6 seconds when using downloaded fonts. This 22-second difference is a one-time gain: Fonts need to be downloaded only once; repeated reference to these 10 fonts in a longer document would not cause an additional performance penalty.

Printer hard disks are often designed to meet the space limitations of their hosts, and prices reflect the custom designs. For example, Compaq's 60-MB drive for the Pagemarq lists for $549. Some printers have a port that can accept an external SCSI disk.

If you make extensive use of a large font library, consider a hard disk. If you do not use nonstandard fonts, or if you use them infrequently, we do not recommend adding a hard disk to your laser printer.

DRIVE TIME

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Seconds

□ Downloaded fonts

□ Disk-based fonts

164 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

generate prepress proofs, avoiding the cost of using outside services. Most users, however, use color output to improve the effectiveness of presentations. Ink-jet color printers provide a relatively low-cost solution for this, but they fail to provide the color accuracy needed for prepress proofs.

Rule 4: Look at the entire cost of operating a printer. Short toner-cartridge life, expensive cartridges, and special paper drive operating costs up. These costs may appear minimal, but they can alter the financial incentives that justify moving a graphic arts application in-house in the first place.

Our Best Overall printer for graphic arts was also one of the most unusual we tested. LaserMaster's Unity 1200XL provides 1200- by 1200-dpi resolution, as well as resolution enhancement, which, like similar technologies offered by HP and others, smoothes edges of text and lines. (In practice, the printer performed up to expectations: It received a quality rating of 4.9 on a scale of 5.0.) The Unity was also the fastest printer in our graphics speed tests.

Along with its graphics and speed capabilities, the Unity comes standard with LocalTalk, parallel, and serial interfaces. Ethernet is an option. The printer can handle simultaneous input from each of the four ports.

As you might expect, there was one more area in which the Unity stood out from all the other printers that we tested. Its $9995 price tag was nearly $3000 higher than the most expensive color printer we reviewed.

For those of us whose printing needs are much more modest than the camera-ready quality offered by the Unity, seeing this printer perform was a treat. It demonstrated to us what laser technology is capable of, if you are willing to pay the price.

KEY

A Laser ■ Ink-jet

• Dot-matrix

BYTE BEST

GRAPHIC ARTS

Po you want spectacular prints?

BEST OVERALL

LaserMaster Unity 1200XL

Photographic images produced by the Unity were spectacular. The 33-MHz RISC processor provided more than adequate processing power for a combination of high quality and good performance. Although expensive, the Unity was the finest high-quality graphics printer we tested.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM)

HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

BEST

LaserMaster Unity 1200XL

A S B

$9995

1.14/0.75

4.9

8 ppm

1200

RUNNER-UP

QMS 860

A I H

$4595

0.70/1.35

4.3

8 ppm

600

RUNNER-UP

Xante Accel-A-Writer 8000

A S M

$2295

0.48/0.71

3.6

8 ppm

600

RUNNER-UP

Apple LaserWriter llg

A H

$2309

— / 1.60

3.1

8 ppm

300

Cost-conscious?

LOW COST

Epson Stylus 800

I The Stylus 800 had the best quality-to-price ratio in this class. It scored especially well on our line and circle quality tests. This printer will not replace the printers in the Best Overall category, but it produces output that's competitive with that of more expensive models.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY

INDEX

CLASS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

BEST

Epson Stylus 800

■ i

$499

0.75/ —

2.3

150 cps

360

RUNNER-UP

DEC LA95 DECWriter

• B

$319

0.40/ —

2.1

240 cps

360

RUNNER-UP

Canon BJ-200

■ B

$449

0.68/ —

1.7

124 cps

360

RUNNER-UP

Apple StyleWriter II

■ H

$359

— / 0.33

2.2

0.5 ppm

360

Need stunning color?

COLOR

Dataproducts Jolt PS

This solid-ink printer produced vibrant colors that few liquid-ink printers can match. Solid ink produces good color blends while reducing bleeding and smearing. However, we found that the ink easily rubbed off of acetate transparencies. And don't expect your output in a hurry: The Jolt took 2 to 5 minutes to print a complex one-page document.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

BEST

Dataproducts Jolt PS

111

$6695

0.21 /0.45

3.8

2 ppm

300

RUNNER-UP

Lexmark JetPrinter PS 4079

■ IS

$3495

0.19/0.27

3.5

167 cps

360

RUNNER-UP

Canon BJC-800

■ B

$1999

0.12/ —

3.2

170 cps

360

RUNNER-UP

Apple Color Printer

■ |MJC|

$2349

— / 0.45

3.1

3.5 ppm

360

Need cost-cutting color?

LOW-COST COLOR

Digital LA95 DECWriter

This dot-matrix printer's color graphics performance was second to the Okidata ML590's, while its quality scores were the highest of any dot-matrix printer. At $319, this printer is hard to pass up if you need color for graphic arts jobs.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CUSS

RESOLUTION (DPI)

BEST

DEC LA95 DECWriter

•

m

$319

0.38/ —

2.3

240 cps

360

RUNNER-UP RUNNER-UP

Okidata ML590 Citizen GSX-230

• •

m

B

$699 $399

0.45/ — 0.12/ —

1.6 2.3

120 cps 90 cps

360 360

RUNNER-UP

Citizen GSX-240

•

i

$599

0.15/ —

2.2

99 cps

360

RUNNER-UP

Panasonic KX-P2124

•

B

$599.95

0.18/ —

1.9

106 cps

360

MAY1993 • BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 165

BYTE

BEST

WORKGROUPS

Network printers make up one of the hottest segments of the laser printer market, thanks to introductions from vendors like Compaq, HP, and QMS. (Any printer can be a "network" printer. For our purposes, we considered laser printers with engine speeds faster than 10 ppm and monthly duty cycles of at least 25,000 pages. In most cases, Ethernet and Token Ring cards were available.) One consideration when you're shopping for a network printer is how easily it can switch emulations—a must for mixed workstation environments. There are three methods of switching modes: Switch the printer setting manually; send the printer special codes before each print job to specify an emulation; or use a printer that's capable of automatic emulation sensing.

Do you need emulationsensing technology? If you work in a small group with standard setups, probably not. If you work in a mixed-platform group with both PCs and Macs, it can be indispensable—if you can trust it. If it fails, you can end up with reams of printed PostScript instructions instead of your monthly report.

Printers vary in how they identify print jobs. Some base their guess on the first couple of hundred characters in a job. If these look like a PostScript header, the printer chooses PostScript; if not, it chooses PCL. But if a printer runs out of paper in the middle of a job, it may try to re

KEY

▲ Laser ■ Ink-jet

• Dot-matrix

Looking for the leader?

BEST OVERALL

HP LaserJet 4Si MX

This new printer was the hands-down winner for workgroups. The 4Si MX ranked above the QMS 1725 and Compaq Pagemarq 15 in overall print quality. It provides automatic emulation switching. The printer offers parallel, LocalTalk, and Ethernet interfaces and supports IPX, TCP/IP, EtherTalk, and NetBIOS protocols. Its paper trays hold 1000 sheets, and a sensor signals when the output bin reaches its 550-sheet capacity.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM)

HIGH QUflLrTV/DHAFT QUALTTY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

EMULATION SWITCHING?

BEST HP LaserJet 4Si MX ▲ S H

$5499

2.32/4.48/4.12

3.6

17 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP QMS 1725 Print System ▲ @ S

$5995

2.17/3.10/2.67

3.4

17 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP Compaq Pagemarq 15 A B 9

$5196

1.67/1.95/2.45

3.4

15 ppm

Yes

RUNNER-UP Tl MicroLaser XL Turbo A S I

$4442

1.46/2.35/2.26

2.4

16 ppm

Yes

Want economical sharing?

LOW COST

Dataproducts LZR 1560

For less than $4000, this laser printer offers RS-232, RS-422, parallel, and LocalTalk interfaces standard. The printer also ships standard with PostScript and PCL 4 emulations. It can't automatically sense emulations, but you can dedicate interfaces to specific emulations; for example, the parallel interface can deal with PCL 4 jobs while the LocalTalk port handles PostScript.

BEST Dataproducts LZR 1560

RUNNER-UP Tl MicroLaser Turbo XL

train from the middle of the document and get confused. Other printers analyze continually.

Network-printer costs are high; our Low Cost choice listed for $3395. But the cost is shared among a group of users, and a 12- to 17-ppm printer can't be beat when a deadline is tight and you need printed output fast. On the other hand, if the printer breaks down, the frustration ripples throughout an entire department or company.

One more point: Many people find that the most annoying part of using a shared printer is having to get up and walk to their output. For smaller workgroups that don't need the speed or paper-handling features of a shared laser, two cheaper lasers may be better than one network model.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM)

HIGH QUALITY/DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CUSS

EMULATION SWITCHING?

ill

$3395

1.22/2.43/1.38

3.1

15 ppm

Yes

▲ I n

$4442

1.46/2.35/2.26

2.4

16 ppm

Yes

How to Connect Your Network Printer

To connect a laser printer to a NetWare network (a popular combination), you have at least five options: Attach the printer to the file server; to a dedicated PC print server; to a nondedicated PC that acts as a workstation and a print server; to a stand-alone box that connects to the printer and to the network wire; or directly to the network.

More and more printers come with standard or optional Ethernet or Token Ring connections. But just hooking a printer directly to your LAN doesn't guarantee smooth network operation. Once you've established the physical connection, you're faced with higher-level protocol matching, configuring your printer to work with IPX (NetWare), TCP/IP (Unix), EtherTalk (Apple), and NetBIOS (LAN Manager).

Printers may soon handle more of the duties currently shared between the printer and the network operating system. The Network Printing Alliance, which includes IBM, Tl, and Canon, is drafting a standard for users to obtain detailed information from the printer, including printer status and configuration. HP has defined its own protocol, called Printer Job Language, which debuted with the LaserJet 4.

166 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

ProTracer. Keep it to yourself.

What's the difference between ProTracer™ and other large format output devices? The difference is time. Because with ProTracer, you won't waste yours waiting for a slow pen plotter, traveling to a remote plotter location, or sitting idle while other users wait for their moment of glory at the company pen plotter.

ProTracer is ready when you are. It sits quietly on your desk top waiting to produce fast A-, B-, or C-size output at a sharp 360 dpi. It flawlessly produces the most complex plots, as well as impressive PostScript® output or everyday text documents.

FEATURES INCLUDE:

► High performance Canon® inkjet engine

► Fast, Intel i960™ processor — drawings that take a half hour on pen plotters take as little as five minutes on ProTracer!

► Customized ADI'and t'ADP drivers for AutoCAD8

► Epson and ProPrinter emulations

$1499

ProTracer with HP-GL emulation

► ProTracer base unit

► HP-GL emulation card

► 5 MB memory

$2249

ProTracer

witti PostScript

emulation

► ProTracer base unit

► PostScript language emulation card

► 8 MB memory

$2897

► Optional accessories including a new, faster HP-GL® language emulation card, PostScript language emulation card, memory expansion boards, and sheet feeders

► Full vellum capabilities ► Unsurpassed customer service — 60-day money back guarantee, one year warranty, and unlimited technical support.

If you'd like to keep a large format output device to yourself, call Pacific Data Products at (619) 625-3619, Fax (619) 552-C

.PACIFIC DATA

^jj PRODUCTS

77= K "w, 'flT.'f'i!^ ,**t™ M" Si",!'T J"19412'- ln,Euml»' »" IM» « OHO- f'«T«« li > M*m* of Pacific Dm rroducls, Inc. All other tairdi and product names art ttadematks ot registered trademarks ol their tractive tnanufactui ~~> Image courtesy nf Autodesk Inc. PttiTiacet uses rccitesPage™. the advanced imaging Operating System from peerless. PhocnisPage Is a registered Itadeinark „l Phncnis Technologies ltd. I 1 Pacific Una Siffi/lnc manulactur

CAD

CAD applications require a wide range of output devices. At the high end, the applications require large plotters to output complex blueprints and renderings. Others need color just to code the drawings. Simpler constructions, illustrations, and drafts require less resolution but more speed.

Each CAD application sets its own requirements. Circuit board design requires output with high accuracy. Architectural designs generally spread across large sheets of paper. Both require plotters and high-end printers with abilities beyond those of most office printers. Still, the 126 tested printers can support many CAD applications.

Paper size can be critical. Many printers support images less than 81/: inches wide. Some page printers, like the QMS 860, support 11- by 17inch images; wide-carriage dot-matrix printers can print unlimited lengths of 11-inchwide paper using fanfold paper. Some software automatically splits images across several sheets of paper, but this creates multiple pages that must be taped together. If your application requires images that exceed printer limits, go with a plotter.

For applications that require color printers, ink-jets provide acceptable color output for most renderings. Applications requiring subtle coloring or dithering effects need higher quality, while applications that just code diagrams in color can use colorcapable dot-matrix printers.

KEY

▲ Laser ■ Ink-jet

• Dot-matrix

Is quality most important?

BEST OVERALL

QMS 860

The 860 scored highest in our CAD print-quality test and ran significantly ahead of the Xante Accel-a-Writer and Lexmark LaserPrinter, which came in second and third in quality. The 860 uses an Intel 25-MHz 960 RISC processor. The printer can hold a maximum of 32 MB of memory (12 MB are standard), and QMS supplies utilities that allow you to configure memory as buffers for each input port or for font caching. The printer can hold up to two SCSI hard drives, and you can program the controller to use the drives for print spooling. Adding its ability to print 11- by 17-inch paper (at a 4-ppm engine speed), the 860 stood out as a multipurpose CAD printer.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED BATING (PPM)

HIGH QUALITY/DRAFT QUALrTY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY

INDEX

CLASS

ACCEPTS 11x17 PAPER?

BEST QMS 860 A 1 H

$4595

0.63/ —/1.55

4.5

8 ppm

Yes

RUNNEB-UP Xante Accel-A-Writer 8000 A @ S

$2295

0.41 /1.78/ 0.64

4.0

8 ppm

No

RUNNER-UP Apple LaserWriter llg ▲ H

$2309

— / — /1.64

2.7

8 ppm

No

RUNNER-UP Lexmark IBM LaserPrinter 4029-10P ▲ @

$2499

0.18/1.54/ —

4.0

10 ppm

No

Money matters?

LOW COST

Epson Stylus 800

The Stylus 800 received the highest ink-jet CAD performance score, in part by completing our graphics test one-third faster than most ink-jet printers. Output quality was slightly above average overall, but its line/circle and text quality output rivaled that of ink-jets costing several thousand dollars. The print quality may be the result of Epson's new print head, which is designed to create more uniform dots and fewer stray dots.

BEST Epson Stylus 800 ■ 1

RUNNER-UP Canon BJ-200 ■ S

RUNNER-UP DEC LA95 DECWriter • 1

RUNNER-UP Apple StyleWriter II ■ H

PRICE BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) BYTE QUALITY CLASS ACCEPTS

HIGH QUALITY/DRAFT QUALrTY/MAC INDEX 11*17 PAPER?

$499 0.76/0.77/— 2.5 120 cps Yes

$449 0.70/1.11/— 2.2 124cps No

$319 0.40/0.68/— 2.1 240 cps No

$359 — / — / 0.30 2.2 0.5 ppm No

Require color?

COLOR

Okidata ML590

If your CAD jobs primarily use color to clearly label diagrams, the ML590 is a fine overall performer. This mid-priced dot-matrix printer was the fastest in this category in our color tests. Its print quality was inferior to that of the Apple Color Printer and the Canon BJC-800, but these printers cost three to four times more than the ML590. Standard emulations are Epson LQ and IBM Proprinter.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM)

HIGH QUALTTY/DRAFT QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

ACCEPTS 11x17 PAPER?

BEST

Okidata ML590

•

i

$699

0.5/0.93/ —

1.7

120 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

DEC LA95 DECWriter

•

m

$319

0.40/0.65/ —

2.2

240 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Canon BJC-800

■

m

$1999

0.11 /0.59/ —

3.2

170 cps

Yes

RUNNER-UP

Star Micronics XB-2425

•

s

$949

0.28/0.69/ —

2.2

125 cps

No

RUNNER-UP

Apple Color Printer

■

[Mc;

$2349

— / — / 0.68

3.1

3.5 mpp

Yes

168 BYTE/NTSL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

If you LISTEN to your computer with one of these...

now you canlMto your computer with THIS!

voice R£(OGnmon JOfTWARt

for Sound Blastefcompatible cards

Operate your computer

at the tpeed of

iofimn

\ $COVOX VOICE

From the developers of the U.S. Air Force's "Bionic Ear" comes VOICE BLASTER, the world's first voice recognition software for popular sound cards.

The DOS and Windows 3.1 voice recognition programs included allow you to add voice commands to popular education, business and entertainment programs such as WordPerfect, F117A, Lotus 123, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, DAC Easy, and hundreds more.

Easy to install and use, you will be up and running at the speed of sound in no time!

Also included are DOS and Windows 3.1 recording, editing and playback programs which represent leading edge PC sound technology.

Voice annotation software included brings your Windows 3.1 word processor to life by adding your own recorded messages to your documents.

The COVOX E/Q module and headset provided with VOICE BLASTER will improve your sound card's recording capability while giving you the best voice recognition possible. VOICE BLASTER will change the way you use your computer!

VOICE BLASTER is available at CompUSA, Electronics Boutique, Software Etc.

and other fine computer retail outlets Call COVOX, INC. (800)733-0420 Dealer inquiries call (818) 446-9932

®

Copyright 1993 COVOX, INC. All products and corporate names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved. COVOX, INC. 675 Conger St. Eugene, OR 97402 (503) 342-1271

Circle 81 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 82).

HONORABLE MENTIONS

W^_

--^^^

Wk^:

fc .

/j*«5

^^"*

"^^i

:':^^^*""!

■^

- ",.

»ik

1 ;

■."I'itf

The HP LaserJet 4IVI is clearly a printer designed with users in mind. A gauge on the input tray tells you the

paper level, so we could tell at a glance if there was enough paper for a large job. You replace toner cartridges through a special door on top of the printer: Downtime to replace a cartridge was as little as 10 seconds. Best of all is the vacuum fluorescent display. It is bright, clear, readable from any angle, and something every printer should include.

Samsung Finale 8000'S manual is a jewel for its logical organization and clear descriptions. The manual is complete and correct, and it is as pleasing to the eye as it is to use. Its Quick Start section gives essential information to those of us too impatient to read any manual. Bold headings and edge bars simplify the process of finding specific information. Warnings, figures, and important data are highlighted in purple.

The plastic shield on the

Okidata ML590\s ribbon guide makes ribbon replacement remarkably simple. The ribbon always falls perfectly into place.

PreSS a button and the paper tray on the Sharp JX-9600PS

pops out, ready for loading. What's more, the spring insert automatically lowers, so you don't have to fumble around inserting paper beneath guides.

The ink Cartridge for the Epson Stylus 800 ink-jet printer

installs in a ZIF (zero insertion force) socket. Just swing a

lever and the old

cartridge pops out. Drop

a new cartridge in,

swing the lever back,

and you're up and

running.

Du.l>ioixs Achievements

V Adding memory to the Panasonic KX-P4430 dot-matrix printer means almost completely disassembling the printer. After testing

126 printers, we've seen many examples of user unfriendliness—but this upgrade, intended to be done by consumers, was in a class by itself.

The Seikosha America

LT 20'S manual includes a description of the error-light flash sequence that only an engineer could love.

170

YTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

FitCentm P.ofiij Jim Watts— from walking "time bomb" *° running inspiration.

Jim Wufls hm been 0 f lor ihe bo '

ld,™„«,„„,„ age,, jd.

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the, 1..T 9 "' W™! '»« Ihon Wolf ,e,,„ln,,l. „,„.,

te'n.Bolb,«,.h. -hecondm'o-'

P""™ h"»" '"'.W Immediately

* MoNmtr

die good nows^'i doc,o«, ihonks m |0L_

!=nprondi„g (tes ,, ,

™dco,d,orase„,o, ™,,m w„ '

ro,o„o^0,,eTh;ie|1|omheoru«'ed K-ings.Hceau^, "e™ (»™o»»nl domooe If „' , l„ l

Tumorals TWoayi.JimWm, ™»- He„d,iup H.d» »="»'ybib„„do,he,co,dloraK"„,"°'

f»CB„,„-^shlch , ""d,""»Vd-yio k,>o(fce^T„ '"'°"ll'»'»=Ml™

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*~»ploVeeifa,,helo„,0^;;'"

NO OTHER PRINTER MEASURES UP.

Introducing the Image Xpert" 5000. Windows" output that's bigger and a whole lot better.

No other laser printer even comes close to matching XLI's Image Xpert 5000 for quality, performance—or price. It delivers superb-PostScript® font quality of 1200 x 1200 dpi, amazingly detailed halftones at 2400 dpi equivalents with 256 gray levels, all in an 11"x 17" format.

That means you can easily produce side-by-side page masters or fullbleed single pages with crop marks, all with incredible resolution produced by XLI's acclaimed SUPER LGA™ technology

The Image Xpert 5000 is ideal for tab newspaper.masters, newsletter spreads, oversized technical/scientific documents—any application requiring detailed text with photos.

Circle 165 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 166).

Call today for the complete picture on how the Image Xpert 5000 can give your big jobs a whole new look.

1-800-433-8040

LI

CORPORATION

XLI Corp., 800 West Cummings Park Suite 6650, Woburn, MA 01801.

Image Xpert, SUPER IGA are trademarks of XLI Corporation. Windows Is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. PostScript Is a registered trademark of Adobe Corporatlo

BYTE

BEST

PORTABLE PRINTERS

Portable printers fill a special need for those who often travel with a notebook computer. The printers may create on-the-fly custom documents, such as personalized insurance tables, revised contracts, proposals, and price schedules. If a deal is at stake, the ability to produce a hard copy for a client puts you ahead of your competitors.

But you will not want to carry a printer if it is cumbersome. The 7- to 8-pound models were too heavy for anything but checked luggage. Since time is money, a portable should produce its output quickly and efficiently, at roughly 1 to 2 minutes per page. And output quality must be impressive enough to help the deal go through.

The final factor to consider is printing method. Dotmatrix printers consistently scored near the bottom of our quality tests and were among the noisiest, largest, and heaviest we tested. The two less well known printing techniques, thermal fusion and thermal transfer, use heat to pass ink to the paper from an ink foil or cartridge. The two thermal-fusion printers (Citizen PN48 Professional and Lexmark IBM Portable) provided slightly improved output quality over dot-matrix but were dead last in speed. The thermal-transfer printer, Mannesmann Tally's MobileWriter, consistently placed in the top three in our speed tests and produced acceptable print quality. Ink-jets outpaced the other technologies in most of our tests.

KEY

▲ Laser ■ Ink-jet

• Dot-matrix

Is print quality important?

BEST OVERALL

Lexmark IBM 4070 IJ

The $499 4070 IJ repeatedly placed among the best in our performance tests. Its quality was second only to the Canon BJ-20. Its design is similar to those of the Canon BJ-20, the Brother HJ-100 i, and the Star Micronics StarJet SJ-48. All were a little larger than a sheet of letter-size paper and roughly 2 inches thick (the 50-sheet feeder adds another 2 inches to the 4070 IJ's thickness). At 4 pounds, it was also among the lightest portables we tested. The 4070 IJ supports Epson LQ 510, IBM Proprinter X24E, IBM Graphics, and Canon BJ-130e emulations. It comes standard with a Centronics parallel port or you can purchase Ethernet and token-ring ports for $695 and $895, respectively.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY

INDEX

CLASS

SIZE & WEIGHT (INCHES; LBS.) (WITHOUT BATTERY)

BEST Lexmark IBM 4070 IJ

■

m

$499

0.71 / —

3.0

83cps

2.1x12.4x8.7; 4

RUNNER-UP HP DeskJet Portable

■

m

$599

1.23/ —

2.3

167 cps

2.5x12x5.7; 4.4

RUNNER-UP Brother HJ-100 i

■

B

$499

0.62 / —

2.8

83cps

8.5x12.25x1.9; 4

RUNNER-UP Canon BJ-20

■

i

$349

0.69/ —

3.3

83 cps

8.5x12.2x2; 4.4

On a limited budget?

LOW COST

Eastman Kodak Diconix 701 P

With a $479 list price, the Eastman Kodak Diconix 701 P was the cheapest portable we saw. Performance and quality were only average, but the Diconix 701 P had other features that made it a standout. Its built-in 30-page sheet feeder and svelte 6-pound weight are strong selling points for portability. A straightforward control panel eliminates confusing DIP switches. The printer ships with Courier, Gothic, and Helvetica fonts (it doesn't include a slot for font cartridges), and it accepts legal and A4 size paper, in addition to standard letter-size sheets. For an additional $79, Mac users can purchase an interface kit that lets the Diconix attach to their machines.

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

SIZE & WEIGHT (INCHES; LBS.) (WiTHOUT BATTERY)

BEST Eastman Kodak Diconix 701 P

•

i

$479

0.53/ —

2.0

120 cps

2.4x7.68x1.7; 5.6

RUNNER-UP Brother HJ-100 i

■

i

$499

0.62 / —

2.8

83 cps

8.5x12.25x1.9; 4

RUNNER-UP Lexmark IBM 4070 IJ

■

i

$499

0.71 / —

3.0

83 cps

2.1x12.4x8.7; 4

RUNNER-UP HP DeskJet Portable

■

s

$599

1.23/ —

2.3

167 cps

2.5x12x5.7; 4.4

Po you just want the smallest?

MOST PORTABLE

Citizen PN48 Professional and Lexmark IBM Portable

If size is your main concern, choose the Citizen PN48 or the Lexmark IBM Portable (they're identical in design and operation). They're 2'/2-pound thermal-fusion printers that stand only 2 inches high and are a mere 3Va inches deep. Thermal-fusion printers pass ink from a cartridge to paper by applying heat. Both of these printers showed slightly better print quality than dot-matrix printers in this group. However, performance was lackluster—a page of text took l'/i minutes to print, and a one-page bit map took 6 to 7 minutes.

Citizen PN48 Professional Lexmark IBM Portable

PRICE

BYTE SPEED RATING (PPM) HIGH QUALITY/MAC

BYTE QUALITY INDEX

CLASS

SIZE & WEIGHT (INCHES; LBS. (WITHOUT BUTTERY)

$549

0.22/ —

1.6

53 cps

2x11.7x3.5; 2

$549

0.22 / —

1.6

53 cps

2x11.7x3.5; 2

172 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

■IE CISIDN

The case for the ultimate in value: L X 1 5 S 4

ased Color Monitor. Flat Square Technology Picture tube with Invar Shadow Mask. d.2Bmm dot Pitch, izan x laz4

Non-interlaced Resolution. Intelligent Mode Switching. Digital Controls. LED Indicators for Mode and Status Information. Vertical Refresh Rate up

1 5-inch Flat Square Technology Color Picture Tube with Invar Shadow Mask. 1 2BD x 1 Q24 Resolution. Ereqndmic Analog Controls.

Automatic Synchronization and Sizing.

Vertical Refresh Rate up to 76 Hz at 1OZ4 x 7SB.

When it comes to advanced technology there's no debate. The MX15F has it all. From its super-sharp image to an onboard processor, ultrahigh resolution, optimal synchronization and sizing, LED status read outs and more...much more.

Ideally suited for high-level engineering, scientific, graphic and business applications, the MX15F is the computer monitor of choice for serious power users.

It's no wonder the MX15F has won so many awards. These include PC Magazitie Editors' Choice-1993 and PC World's Best Buy in both 1991 and 1992.

Clearly, this is the monitor for those who refuse to compromise. It delivers the very highest performance, quality and technology.

MAG INNOVISIDN, INC.

4392 CORPORATE CENTER DRIVE

LQS ALAMITDS, CA 90720

7 14/827-3993 FAX: 7 14/B27-5522

For high performance at an affordable, competitive price, the new LX1564 is the popular choice.

Using the advanced 15-inch flat square picture tube in combination with an economical design, it offers a true melding of high-performance and economy.

And, with features like edge-toedge overscan and 80 MHz video bandwidth, the LX1564 compares well against competitor's higher priced models.

The Chdice is Ygurs

Two great monitors. Two sets of features. Designed to fit the way you work. Designed to fit your budget. The choice is yours - Ultimate Technology or Ultimate Value.

Can't decide? Give us a call at 1-800-827-3998, extension 4304. We'll be glad to help.

ITIZVG4M

I N N O V I S I O N

s'/iiii. All rights mcm-d. irks 11J AlAG luinA'isinii.

Circle 162 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 163).

ROLL CALL OF PRINTERS TESTED

MANUFACTURER

PRINTER MODEL

SPEED (PC/MAC)1

QUALITY2

PRICE3

PHONE

TOLL-FREE NO.

INQUIRY NO.

Advanced Matrix Technology, Inc.

AMTAccel-214 AMT Accel-242 AMT Accel-535 DMX800 M-1324

1.15 / —

1.4

$529

(805) 388-5799

(800) 992-2264

1293

Advanced Matrix Technology, Inc.

0.85/ —

1.8

$529

(805) 388-5799

(800) 992-2264

1294

Advanced Matrix Technology, Inc.

0.57 / —

1.6

$1485

(805) 388-5799

(800) 992-2264

1295

Alps America

1.23 / —

1.3

$2195

(408) 432-6000

(800) 825-2577

1296

Brother International Corp.

0.76 / —

1.6

$399

(908) 356-8880

N/A

1297

Brother International Corp.

M-1824L

0.55 / —

2.1

$749

(908) 356-8880

N/A

1298

C-Tech Electronics, Inc.

ProWriter C-61011

0.64/ —

1.3

$799

(714)833-1165

(800)347-4017

1299

C-Tech Electronics, Inc.

ProWriterC-310P

0.62/ —

1.1

$739

(714)833-1165

(800)347-4017

1300

Citizen America Corp.

GSX-230

0.76/ —

1.9

$399

(310)453-0614

(800) 477-4683

1301

Citizen America Corp.

GSX-240

0.91 / —

2.1

$599

(310)453-0614

(800) 477-4683

1302

Dataproducts Corp.

9044

0.43/ —

1.6

$1132

(818)887-8000

(800)334-3174

1303

DataSouth Computer

XL300DD

0.92 / —

1.1

$1795

(704) 523-8500

(800)476-2120

1304

Decision Data

6520-41

1.40/—

1.4

$460

(215)956-6700

(800) 933-9897

1305

Digital Equipment Corp.

LA95 DECWriter

0.95 / —

2.1

$319

(508) 493-5111

(800) 344-4825

1306

Digital Equipment Corp.

LA75 Plus

0.47 / —

1.4

$549

(508)493-5111

(800) 344-4825

1307

Digital Equipment Corp.

LA310MultiPrinter

1.09/ —

1.3

$599

(508) 493-5111

(800) 344-4825

1308

Digital Equipment Corp.

LA424 MultiPrinter

0.56/ —

1.4

$1349

(508) 493-5111

(800) 344-4825

1309

Epson America, Inc.

Action Printer 3250

0.34/ —

1.9

$269

(310)782-0770

(800) 922-8911

1310

Epson America, Inc.

FX-1170

0.78/ —

1.3

$499

(310)782-0770

(800) 922-8911

1311

Epson America, Inc.

LQ870

0.79/ —

1.9

$629

(310)782-0770

(800)922-8911

1312

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.

DL1200

0.61 / —

1.5

$649

(408) 432-6333

(800) 626-4686

1313

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.

DL5800

Writelmpact

IBM PPS II 2380

IBM PPS II 2390

IBM 4226

MT150/9C

MT150/24/C

MT360

Pinwriter P6200

ML380

ML395/C

ML521

ML590

PM3410

KX-P2123

KX-P2124

KX-P2180

KX-P2624

SL-90 Plus

SL-270

SP2400

NX-2430 Multi-Font

XB-2425 Multi-Font

DMP 204

DMP 302

1.68/ —

1.6

$1995

(408) 432-6333

(800) 626-4686

1314

Gcc Technologies, Inc.

— /0.38

0.0

$599

(617)275-5800

(800) 422-7777

1315

Lexmark International, Inc.

1.04/ —

1.3

$499

(606) 232-2000

N/A

1316

Lexmark International, Inc.

0.44/—

1.9

$499

(606) 232-2000

N/A

1317

Lexmark International, Inc.

0.98/—

1.4

$2295

(606) 232-2000

N/A

1318

Mannesmann Tally Corp. Mannesmann Tally Corp."

0.92/ —

1.1

$799 $999

(206)251-5524 (206)251-5524

(800)843-1347 (800) 843-1347

1319 1320

Mannesmann Tally Corp.

2.35 / —

1.6

$2695

(206) 251-5524

(800)843-1347

1321

NEC Technologies, Inc.

0.74/ —

2.1

$499

(508) 264-8000

N/A

1322

Okidata

0.44/ —

1.3

$349

(609) 235-2600

(800) 654-3282

1323

Okidata

0.88/ —

1.8

$1599

(609) 235-2600

(800) 654-3282

1326

Okidata

0.84/ —

1.1

$799

(609) 235-2600

(800) 654-3282

1325

Okidata

1.65/ —

1.6

$699

(609) 235-2600

(800) 654-3282

1324

Okidata

1.89 / —

1.2

$1999

(609) 235-2600

(800) 654-3282

1327

Panasonic Communications & Systems Co.

0.62 / —

1.9

$419.95

(201)348-7000

(800) 742-8086

1329

Panasonic Communications & Systems Co.

0.74/ —

1.9

$599.95

(201)348-7000

(800) 742-8086

1330

Panasonic Communications & Systems Co.

0.62/ —

1.1

$299.95

(201)348-7000

(800) 742-8086

1328

Panasonic Communications & Systems Co.

0.95/ —

1.6

$649.95

(201)348-7000

(800) 742-8086

1331

Seikosha America, Inc.

0.94/ —

1.4

$499

(201)327-7227

(800) 338-2609

1333

Seikosha America, Inc.

1.09/ —

0.9

$999

(201)327-7227

(800) 338-2609

1334

Seikosha America, Inc.

0.57/ —

1.3

$329

(201)327-7227

(800) 338-2609

1332

Star Micronics America, Inc.

0.72/ —

1.3

$399

(212)986-6770

(800) 447-4700

1335

Star Micronics America, Inc.

1.00/ —

2.1

$949

(212)986-6770

(800) 447-4700

1336

Tandy Corp.

0.58 / —

1.4

$349.95

(817)390-3011

N/A

1337

Tandy Corp.

0.59/ —

1.6

$499.95

(817)390-3011

N/A

1338

Apple Computer, Inc.

StyleWriter II Color Printer

—/0.57

2.0

$359

(408) 974-2042

N/A

1339

Apple Computer, Inc.

—/0.69

2.8

$2349

(408) 974-2042

N/A

1340

Canon Computer Systems, Inc.

BJ-200 BJC-800

1.34 / —

1.9

$449

(714)438-3000

(800)848-4123

1341

Canon Computer Systems, Inc.

0.54/ —

2.8

$1999

(714)438-3000

(800)848-4123

1342

Dataproducts Corp.

Jolt PS

DECMultiJet 2000 Stylus 800 WideWriter 360 DeskJet 500

0.51 /0.69 1.05 / —

3.3

$6695

(818)887-8000

(800)334-3174

1343

Digital Equipment Corp.

1.4

$499

(508) 493-5111

(800) 344-4825

1344

Epson America, Inc.

1.13 / —

2.3

$499

(310)782-0770

(800)922-8911

1345

Gcc Technologies, Inc.

— /1.07

2.4

$1699

(617)275-5800

(800) 422-7777

1346

Hewlett-Packard Co.

1.30 / —

1.6

$599

(619)592-4676

(800) 752-0900

1347

Hewlett-Packard Co.

DeskJet 550C PaintJet XL300 IBM ExecJet4072 IBM JetPrinter ProTracer CJP 450 Coronajet 200j Phaser III PXi lity speeds (ppm) with no

0.88 / —

1.8

$1099

(619)592-4676

(800) 752-0900

1348

Hewlett-Packard Co.

0.27/0.17

2.7

$3495

(619)592-4676

(800) 752-0900

1349

Lexmark International, Inc.

1.401—

2.1

$1099

(606) 232-2000

N/A

1350

Lexmark International, Inc.

0.41 /0.29

3.0

$3495

(606) 232-2000

N/A

1351

Pacific Data Products

0.66 / 0.50

2.3

$1499

(619) 552-0880

N/A

1352

Royal Consumer Business Products

0.87/ —

1.2

$499

(908) 526-8200

(800) 527-2960

1353

Smith Corona Corp.

0.93/ —

1.4

$499

(203)472-1471

N/A

1354

Tektronix, Inc.

0.26/0.40

3.2

$9995

(503) 682-7377

(800)835-6100

1356

+ BYTE BEST ' Average of high- and draft-qua

application weighting. :

B&W score.

3 As tested. ' Drivers not available in time for testing.

174 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT • MAY 1993

MANUFACTURER

PRINTER MODEL

SPEED (PC/MAC)' QUALITY' PRICE1 PHONE

TOLL-FREE NO.

INQUIRY NO.

Apple Computer, Inc.

LaserWriter NT5

— /0.59 —/1.17

— /2.03 —12.23

3.0 3.1 2.8 3.0

$1649 $1649 $1869 $2309

(408) 974-2042 (408) 974-2042 (408) 974-2042

N/A N/A N/A

1357

Apple Computer, Inc.

LaserWriter NTR LaserWriter llf

1358

Apple Computer, Inc.

1359

Apple Computer, Inc.

LaserWriter llg

(408) 974-2042

N/A

1360

Apple Computer, Inc.

LaserWriter Pro 630

1.19/2.01 1.65/ — 1.66 / —

4.4

$2529

(408) 974-2042

N/A

1361

Brother International Corp.

HL-10PS

2.9 3.5 2.8

$2714 $3453

(908) 356-8880

N/A

1362

C-Tech Electronics, Inc.

ProWriter CI-8

(714)833-1165

(800)347-4017

1364

C-Tech Electronics, Inc.

ProWriter CI-8E LBP-4SX

2.60/ —

1.91/ — 1.64/ — 1.74 / 2.29 1.33/2.15 1.74/1.27 1.46/ — 0.50 / 0.84 0.40/ —

$2170

(714)833-1165

(800)347-4017

1363

Canon Computer Systems, Inc.

2.1 2.0

$2094

(714)438-3000

(800)848-4123

1365

Canon Computer Systems, Inc.

LBP-8SX

$2774

(714)438-3000

(800) 848-4123

1366

Compaq Computer Corp.

Pagemarq 15

4.0

$5196

(713)370-0670

(800)345-1518

1367

Dataproducts Corp.

LZR965

2.6 3.8 2.3 3.0 2.9

$2995

(818)887-8000

(800)334-3174

1368

Dataproducts Corp.

LZR1560

$3395 $3995 $1258

(818)887-8000

(800)334-3174

1369

Decision Data

6010 SI

(215)956-6700 (508) 493-5111

(800) 933-9897 (800) 344-4825

1370

Digital Equipment Corp.

DECLaser1152

1371

Digital Equipment Corp.

DECLaser 2200 Plus

$4027 $1125

(508) 493-5111 (310)782-0770

(800) 344-4825 (800) 922-8911

1372

X Epson America, Inc.

ActionLaser 1000

3.21 / —

2.8

1375

Epson America, Inc.

EPL-8000

2.15/ —

2.5

$1976

(310)782-0770

(800)922-8911

1376

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.

PrintPartnerlOW

2.35/1.80

3.0

$2768

(408) 432-6333

(800) 626-4686

1377

Genicom Corp.

Model 7170

1.34/ —

3.4

$5960

(703) 802-9200

(800) 443-6426

1378

Hewlett-Packard Co.

LaserJet HIP

1.06/0.72

3.4 4.1 4.3 2.6

$2814

(619)592-4676

(800) 752-0900

1379

* Hewlett-Packard Co.

LaserJet 4M

1.64/1.59 3.31 / 3.89 2.01 / —

$2999

(619) 592-4676

(800) 752-0900 (800) 752-0900

1380

* Hewlett-Packard Co.

LaserJet 4Si MX

$5499 $3402

(619)592-4676 (908) 560-3400

1381

Kyocera Electronics, Inc.

FS-1500A

(800) 621 -6777

1382

X LaserMaster Corp.

Unity 1200XL

2.01 /1.26

1.22 / — 1.74 / — 1.68 / — 1.20 / 0.84 1.45 / — 3.58/ — 1.41 / —

4.9 3.4 3.9 3.3 3.6 3.5 2.6 2.6 2.9 2.9

$9995 $2188

$2499

(612)944-9330

(606) 232-2000 (606) 232-2000

(800) 950-6868

N/A

N/A

1383

Lexmark International, Inc.

IBM LaserPrinter 4029-6P

1384

Lexmark International, Inc.

IBM LaserPrinter 4029-1 OP

1385

Mannesmann Tally Corp.

MT908

$3074 $1949

(206)251-5524

(800) 843-1347

1386

NEC Technologies, Inc.

Silentwriter Model 95

(508) 264-8000

N/A

1387

NewGen System Corp.

Turbo PS/440ND

$6495

(714)641-8600

(800) 756-0556 (800) 654-3282

1388

Okidata

OL810

$3536

(609) 235-2600

1389

Panasonic Communications & Systems Co.

KX-P4430

$1770

(201)348-7000

(800) 742-8086

1390

Panasonic Communications & Systems Co.

KX-P4455

0.78 / 0.77 0.97/0.94 1.77 /1.4 1.45/1.80 2.58 / 2.58

$3270

(201)348-7000

(800) 742-8086

1391

QMS, Inc.

QMS-PS 410

$2490

(205) 633-4300

(800)631-2692

1392

QMS, Inc.

QMS-PS 815MR

3.6 4.4

4.0 2.1

$3995 $4595

$5995

(205) 633-4300

(800)631-2692

1393

• QMS, Inc.

QMS 860 Print System

(205) 633-4300

(800)631-2692

1394

QMS, Inc.

QMS 1725 Print System

(205) 633-4300

(800)631-2692

1395

Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

Finale 8000

1.94/1.51

$2260

(201)229-4000

(800) 446-0262

1396

Sharp Electronics Corp.

JX-9600

1.59 /1.00

2.5

$1395

(201)529-9593

(800) 237-4277

1373

Sharp Electronics Corp.

JX-9600PS

2.5

3.0

$1974 $1804

(201)529-9593

(800) 237-4277

1374

Star Micronics America, Inc.

LS-5TT

1.37/0.61

(212)986-6770

(800) 447-4700

1397

Tandy Corp.

LP800

1.66/ —

1.08/0.83 1.71 /2.12 1.26/0.83

3.1 2.9 3.0

$2499

(817)390-3011

N/A

1398

Texas Instruments, Inc.

MicroLaser PS35

$1766

(817)774-6001

(800) 527-3500

1399

Texas Instruments, Inc.

MicroLaser PS35 Turbo

$2148

(817) 774-6001

(800) 527-3500

1400

Texas Instruments, Inc.

MicroLaser XL

2.8

$4086

(817)774-6001

(800) 527-3500

1401

Texas Instruments, Inc.

MicroLaser XL Turbo

1.85/2.12 1.52 / —

3.0 3.9

$4442

(817) 774-6001

(800) 527-3500

1402

Toshiba America Information Systems

PageLaser GX200

$3096

(714)583-3000

(800) 468-6744

1403

Toshiba America Information Systems

PageLaser GX400 Accel-a-Writer 4000

1.75/ — 1.50 /1.09 2.17/1.39

3.1 4.3 4.0 2.8 5.0s

0.8 2.8

3.1 1.7

$5966 $1795

(714)583-3000

(800) 468-6744

1404

Xante Corp.

(205)476-8189

(800) 926-8839

1405

Xante Corp.

Accel-a-Writer 8000

$2295

(205)476-8189

(800) 926-8839

1406

Xerox Corp.

4213

1.07/ —

$4795

(310)333-2202

N/A

1407

XLI*

Image Xpert 5000

$6995 $1395

(617)932-9199

(800) 433-8040

1408

(801)466-9797

Axonix Corp.

Milwrite L

0.82 / —

0.65/ — 0.79/ — 0.33/ —

(800) 866-9797

1409

Brother International Corp.

HJ-100 i

$499 $349 $549

(908) 356-8880

N/A

1410

Canon Computer Systems, Inc.

BJ-205

PN48 Professional

(714) 438-3000 (310)453-0614

(800)848-4123

1411

Citizen America Corp.

(800) 477-4683

1412

Eastman Kodak

Kodak Diconix 701 P

0.71 / — 1.32/ — 0.77 / —

0.34/ — 1,08/— 0.47/ —

2.1 2.3 3.0

1.6

$479

(716) 253-0740

(800) 344-0006

1413

Hewlett-Packard Co.

DeskJet Portable

$599 $499

$549

(619)592-4676 (606) 232-2000

(800) 752-0900

1414

■fc Lexmark International, Inc.

IBM 4070 IJ

N/A

1415

Lexmark International, Inc.

IBM Portable

(606) 232-2000

N/A

1416

Mannesmann Tally Corp.

MobileWriter

2.7 1.4

$875 $499

(206)251-5524

(800) 843-1347

1417

Seikosha America, Inc.

LT20

(201)327-7227

(800) 338-2609

1418

Star Micronics America, Inc.

StarJet SJ-48

0.55 / —

2.8

$499

(212)986-6770

(800) 447-4700

1419

= Not available.

MAY 1993 «BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 175

SOLUTIONS FOCUS/Multimedia

MAKING

theMPC

UPGRADE

10 top kits and complete systems for bringing multimedia to the PC

W

GREG LOVERIA

' hen it comes to delivering information, the PC is no longer saddled to a static blend of text and graphics. Sound, dazzling animation, and CD-ROM delivery are becoming essential elements in educational and entertainment software, and these elements are also quickly blending into traditional business applications. Companies realize that an entertaining presentation and powerful visual cues cannot only persuade and influence but can also enhance the retention of information. And, with the introduction of Microsoft's Video for Windows, motion video promises to further ornament the once-drab face of PC information delivery. The promise of exciting mixed-media applications relies on some basic hardware and software components, packaged together as an MPC system.

The MPC Marketing Council's definition of an MPC system includes five basic components: a PC, a CD-ROM drive, an audio adapter, Microsoft Windows with Multimedia Extensions, and a set of speakers or headphones for audio output. In addition, video capture and playback technologies, along with codec advances, are being incorporated into MPC systems as standard fare. A good MPC system blends all these technologies into an interactive educational and business tool. If you're still plugging along with an outdated, non-MPC system, it's time to consider either renovating your current system with an MPC upgrade kit or investing in a totally new MPC system. This month, BYTE examines some of the best MPC options available.

The MPC Component Mix

Several factors determine how well an MPC system's hardware components are suited for any particular MPC task. Perhaps the most critical element of an MPC system is the CD-ROM drive speed. The MPC Marketing Council's current specifications for CD-ROM drives require an average sustained data transfer rate of 150 KBps. A CD-ROM drive must also have a stereo headphone or output jack for playback of stereo CD audio (Redbook Audio) at a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz and at 16-bit resolution. These specifications may not be crucial for some MPC applications, such as simple text search-and-retrieval software, but there are mixed

176 BYTE ■ MAY 1993

PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS© 1993

BYTE

ACTION SUMMARY

B WHAT MPC SYSTEMS AND UPGRADE KITS ARE

Hardware and software components—including a sound board and a CD-ROM drive— that bring multimedia capabilities to the PC platform.

■ LIKES

MPC can add dazzle and depth to almost any educational or business application.

9 DISLIKES

The MPC specification doesn't include provisions for video playback, and the base MPC systems need larger hard drives or data compression to use massive audio and video files.

■ RECOMMENDATIONS

Tandy's Sensation is a strong offering with a good overall mix of features and included titles. For video-based training and educational applications, you should go with the NCR 3331 MLS. Creative Labs' Multimedia Upgrade Kit, with the new Sound Blaster 1 6 ASP audio card option, is the top upgrade choice.

media applications that can bog down slower drives.

For objective testing of each CD-ROM drive, Greg Smith of Profit Press (2956 North Campbell Ave.. Tuscon, AZ 85719, (602) 577-9696) provided a custom benchmark, CD Bench 2, which tests CD-ROM read and seek times. You can find the stock CD Bench utility on the company's MegaDemo CD. All stroke, read, and seek times bypass any CD-ROM caching and are unaffected by system processor speeds. System performance affects the overall index, which rates performance of the drives in each system configuration tested. These tests were not designed to be compared against manufacturer ratings but are offered as a direct drive-against-drive comparison. A key feature for CD-ROM drives is compatibility with Kodak's Photo CD format.

The MPC upgrade kits and systems were gauged subjectively by price-versusperformance comparisons, audio quality, the number and quality of MPC software titles shipped with each unit, ease of installation, and how well each ran a mix of multimedia and CD-ROM-based applications. The complete systems were also evaluated on overall system performance. For an overview of the features available with each bundle, refer to tables 1 and 2.

continued

MAY 1993

YTE 177

MPC SYSTEMS

Table 1: These multimedia systems cover a wide range of configurations, options, and prices. (N/A = not applicable.)

CompuAdd 433DX

Dell 433S/L

IBM Ultimedia M77

Price as tested (with monitor and accessories) Base price (without monitor and accessories)

Options

$4060

$2165

TV/Video adapter, $525

MPC upgrade kit, $575

AM/FM tuner with remote, $200

Test monitor, $150

$3019

Sold only as a bundle

N/A

$9720

$5295

ActionMedia II playback, $1695

ActionMedia II capture, $750

DVI developer's toolkit, $510

Test monitor, $1470

System features

CPU

486DX/33

486SX/33

486DX2/66

RAM as tested/maximum (MB)

8/64

8/64

8/32

BIOS manufacturer

Phoenix/CompuAdd

Phoenix

IBM

Cache memory (external/on-chip)

64 KB/8 KB

128 KB/8 KB

0 KB/8 KB

Number of slots/bus architecture

8/ISA

3/ISA

5/MCA

Power-supply capacity (W)

200

.150

118

Maximum half-height drive bays (ext./int.)

3/3

2/1

3/1

; 4 ext. via SCSI

Floppy drive(s) size

3/finch, 5/i-inch

3'/>-inch, 514-inch

3^-inch

Internal fax modem

No

Yes

No

Analog-to-digital tuner

Yes (uses $525 PC/TV option)

No

Yes (use;

> DVI w/external tuner)

Hard drive

Capacity as tested (MB) Manufacturer and model Vendor speed rating (ms) Type (IDE/SCSI)

170

WD Caviar 2170A

15

IDE

230

Quantum 240 AT

16

IDE

212

Not published

12

SCSI

Monitor

Vertical inches/model

14/Hi-Resolution 51118

15/UltraScan 15FS

17/Model 9517-001

Maximum resolution

1024x768

1024x768

1024x768

Dot-pitch ratio (mm)

0.28

0.28

0.26

Vertical-scanning frequency

50-90 Hz

50-90 Hz

Not published

Horizontal-scanning frequency

30-58 kHz

30-60 kHz

39.5-58 kHz

Maximum bandwidth frequency

75 MHz

80 MHz

75 MHz (VGA), 72 MHz (XGA)

Range of modes

MCGA through Super VGA

CGA through Super VGA

MCGA, SuperVGA, XGA

Display adapter

Manufacturer

Maximum resolution (color support)

Maximum color support (resolution)

Accelerator chip

On-board memory

Maximum memory

VBE-A/XE-compliant

VGA chip set

Normal modes

Western Digital

1024x768 noninterlaced (8-bit)

16-bit (640x480)

WD 90C31

1-MB VRAM

1-MB VRAM

Yes

Paradise

CGA through Super VGA

Dell 1280x1024 interlaced (4-bit)

8-bit (1024x768)

S3 86C805 (on motherboard)

1-MB VRAM

1-MB VRAM

Yes (uses TSR)

S3/Dell

CGA through Super VGA

IBM

1024x768 noninterlaced (8-bit)

16-bit (640x480)

XGA coprocessor

1-MB VRAM

1-MB VRAM

VXE 1.0-compliant (uses TSR)

XGA

CGA, Super VGA, XGA

CD-ROM

Manufacturer/model

Interface card/type

Requires CD caddy

Kodak Photo CD/XA-compatible

Vendor throughput rating

Philips LMS CM-205

SCSI/audio card

No

No

153.6 KBps

Panasonic 521C

SCSI/audio card

Yes

No

150 KBps

Toshiba 3301

SCSI on motherboard

Yes

Yes

150 KBps

Audio board

Model

Maximum playback/record resolution

Stereo

On-board synthesizer

Synthesizer chip

Synthesis technology

Number of voices (in stereo)

MIDI port/cable

On-board SCSI

Direct CD-to-hard disk record

Microphone included

Headphones included

External speakers included

Internal speaker size

External system volume controls

Pro Audio Spectrum 16

44.1 kHz/16-bit

Yes

Yes

Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)

16-bit FMDAC

20

Optional

Yes

Yes

No (add $45 w/speakers)

No

No (add $45 w/microphone)

PC speaker

No

Sound Blaster Pro 16

44.1 kHz/16-bit

Yes

Yes

Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)

16-bit FMDAC

20

Optional

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

PC speaker

No

M-ACPA

88.2 kHz/32-bit

Yes

Yes

Texas Instruments MS-320C25

DSP-digital subtractive

8

No external MIDI port

No

No

Yes

No

Altec (add $300; $400 w/subwoofer)

4-inch

Yes (front panel)

178 B YTE • MAY 1993

NCR 3331 MLS

Packard Bell PB-402

Tandy Sensation

$4394

$2500

$2498

$3805

$2200 (includes speakers)

$1999

Test monitor, $589

DVI capture board, S639

DVI playback board (standard)

PB-TV3, $399

Test monitor, $499

PC/TV card, $400

1-MB VRAM upgrade, $39.95

486DX/33

486SX/25

486SX/25

8/32

8/20

4/32

NCR

Phoenix/Packard Bell

Phoenix/Tandy

256 KB/0 KB

256 KB/8 KB

0 KB/8 KB

4/ISA

4/ISA

3/ISA

175

150

100

3/1

2/1

2/1

3^-inch

3'/2-inch, 514-inch

3'^-inch

No

Yes

Yes

Yes (uses DVI w/external tuner)

Yes (uses $399 PC/TV option)

Yes (uses $400 PC/TV option)

240

170

107

Conner LPS-240

Conner CP30-174E

Seagate ST-3120A

17

17

15

IDE

IDE

IDE

15/Model0271

14/Model PB8548

14/VGM-441

1024x768

1024x768

1024x768

0.28

0.28

0.28

55-110 Hz

50-90 Hz

43.3-70 Hz

30-57 kHz

31.5-48 kHz

31.5-41.5 kHz

75 MHz

65 MHz

44.9 MHz

EGA, VGA, SuperVGA, XGA

CGA through Super VGA

CGA through Super VGA

NCR

Oak Technology

Western Digital

1024x768 noninterlaced (8-bit)

1024x768 (8-bit)

1024x768 (8-bit)

8-bit (1024x768)

16-bit (1024x768)

24-bit (640x480)

NCR 77C22E (on motherboard)

Oak chip set (on motherboard)

WD 90C31 (on motherboard)

1-MB VRAM

1-MB VRAM

0.5-MB VRAM

1-MB VRAM

1-MB VRAM

1-MB VRAM option ($39.95)

Yes

Yes (uses TSR)

Yes (uses TSR)

NCR

Oak Technology

Tandy/Western Digital

VGA through Super VGA

CGA through Super VGA

CGA through Super VGA

Toshiba XM-3301

Panasonic CR-521B

Philips LMS CM-205

SCSI/audio card

SCSI/audio card

LMS chip set on daughterboard

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

150KBps

150KBps

150KBps

Pro Audio Spectrum 16

Sound Blaster Pro 16

Tandy Enhanced Audio adapter

44.1 kHz/16-bit

44.1 kHz/16-bit

44.1 kHz/16-bit

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)

Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)

Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)

16-bit FMDAC

16-bit FMDAC

12-bit FMDAC

20

20

20

Optional

Optional

Optional

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes (NCR)

No

No

No

Yes (Roland)

No

3-inch

Uses external Roland CS-10 unit

4-inch

Yes (front panel)

Yes (Roland)

Yes (front panel)

MULTIMEDIA

MPC Upgrade Kits

Sound Blaster Multimedia Upgrade Kit

Creative Labs, one of the pioneers of PC audio (the MPC sound standard was developed using Sound Blaster specifications), offers a number of MPC upgrade kits. The Sound Blaster Multimedia Upgrade Kit tested comes in two flavors: the external ($899) and the internal ($799) CD-ROM versions. As with most of the system and upgrade kits listed in tables 1 and 2, street prices are considerably lower.

The upgrade kit consisted of a 16-bit Sound Blaster Pro audio card, an external Creative Labs/Panasonic 531 CD-ROM drive, an 8-bit proprietary SCSI card, and Creative Labs' Sequencer Plus Pro (which includes MIDI cabling and Voyetra sequencer software for controlling external keyboard synthesizers and other MIDI instruments). The Sound Blaster bundle includes a rich set of CD-ROM titles and software, as shown in table 3.

The Sound Blaster CD-ROM proved to be one of the swiftest in the group, although it is slower than Media Vision's CD-ROM offering (see the figure). The kit tested does not ship with external speakers, so I used Sony's SRS-58 minispeakers to test digitized audio, CD audio, and FM synthesizer playback quality of the board—all of which sounded good. Creative Labs' $249 WaveBlaster, an add-on synthesizer module, uses sampled Emu sounds, which are excellent.

Late in the review process, Creative Labs shipped me the new $349 Sound Blaster 16 ASP audio board for examination with the test Multimedia Upgrade Kit. (I merely swapped audio boards and installed the new Sound Blaster 16 ASP drivers.) The Sound Blaster 16 ASP audio adapter uses two new Creative Labs proprietary processors, a DSP (digital signal processor) chip and an ASP (advanced signal processor) chip, to reduce CPU overhead when playing or recording digitized audio. The DSP, acting as a soundcommand-processor "traffic cop," controls audio interpretation, processing, and dispatch commands, while the ASP is responsible for processing all digital-audio data. The two chips speed compression and decompression of audio files.

The dynamic range of the Sound Blaster 16 ASP is 90 decibels (96 dB is out of the range of human hearing), and its signalto-noise ratio is a quiet 85 dB, allowing the board to produce quieter, cleaner, and crisper audio, approaching DAT (digital audiotape) or CD quality. continued

MAY 1993 'BYTE 179

MULTIMEDIA

MPC UPGRADE KITS

Table 2: The basic components of an MPC upgrade kit include an audio board and a CD-ROM di of bundled software and CD-ROM titles, see table 3.

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Media Vision Procom Technology Multimedia Upgrade Kit Pro 16 Multimedia System PxCDS

ive. For a listing

Sony Desktop Library

Price

$799 (int.); $899 (ext.)

$1195

$465 (int.); $515 (ext.)

$849.95 (int.); $1069.95 (ext.)

Audio board

Sound Blaster Pro 16

Pro Audio Spectrum 16

Pro Audio Spectrum 16

Pro Audio Spectrum 16

CD-ROM drive

Panasonic 531

NEC-84J

Sony CDU-7305

Sony CDU-7305

External speakers

No

No

Yes

Yes

MIDI

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Kodak Photo CD

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

The Sound Blaster 16 ASP audio board is a truly unique advancement in digital-audio boards. Creative Labs plans to bundle the Sound Blaster 16 ASP board with its other multimedia upgrade kits at prices close to that of the current kit. The Creative Labs' Multimedia Upgrade Kit I tested is a very good value; the pending release of a new MPC kit, coupled with the $349 Sound Blaster 16 ASP option, gets my nod as the overall best MPC upgrade currently available.

Pro 16 Multimedia System

Media Vision, one of the leading manufacturers of MPC audio boards, offers a number of MPC upgrade kits. The Pro 16 Multimedia System upgrade kit ($1195) ships with an internal NEC-84J CD-ROM drive (Media Vision does not offer an external CD-ROM Pro 16 Multimedia System MPC upgrade), Media Vision's Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound card, and a large array of DOS and Windows audio applications.

All Media Vision's Pro Audio Spectrum 16 and Spectrum 16 sound cards use an on-board Yamaha YMF262 chip for FM music synthesis generation and playback of MIDI files. Midisoft's Recording Session for Windows, featuring MIDI sequencing and real-time music notation and transcription, also ships with the kit.

Hardware and audio-software driver installation takes about 30 minutes, mainly due to internal CD-ROMdrive bay preparation and cabling. The Pro 16 Multimedia System does not ship with external speakers. You will need to attach headphones or an amplified set of mini-speakers to the

audio board's rear X-inch stereo mini-plug before hardware configuration and software-driver installation can begin.

Using Media Vision's Pocket Mixer, Pocket Recorder, and Pocket CD Windows applications, you can play audio CDs or record audio .WAV files. The digitalaudio quality of Media Vision's audio products has always been good but not perfect. Even if you record at the highest sampling rate and bit depth, you can still hear some background noise during quiet passages of music.

The NEC-84J CD-ROM drive is Kodak Photo CD-compatible. It consistently outperformed all the other drives. FM MIDI synthesizer operations and the audio playback functions of the Pro 16 Multimedia System performed admirably as well.

Alternative Media Vision MPC upgrade kits include the $1495 CDPC XL system, which contains a dual-speed SCSI CD-ROM drive, a Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound board, and a 100-watt amplifi

Photo 1: All the MPC upgrade kits include a sound board, a CD-ROM drive, and software drivers. Most of the kits, such as Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Multimedia Upgrade Kit (left), also bundle a set of CD-ROM titles; other packages, such as Procom Technology's PxCDS (right), include external speakers.

er/speaker bass-subsystem combination. For the budget-conscious, the company's $699 Fusion CD 16 MPC upgrade kit includes an internal or external CD-ROM drive, a Pro Audio Spectrum 16 board, and external Labtec self-amplified minispeakers.

PxCDS Multimedia CD Station

Procom Technology manufactures a variety of MPC-compatible upgrade kits using Sony CD-ROM drives. The PxCDS Multimedia CD Station I tested retails for $515. It incorporates Procom's external PxCDS caddyless CD-ROM drive, a Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum 16 audio adapter, and two 7-W Labtec SS-100 selfamplified 3-inch stereo speakers (see photo 1). Procom's PiCDS Multimedia CD Station ($465) contains the above components and an internal CD-ROM drive. CDROM drive specifications for both kits are rated at 490-millisecond access speeds and are Kodak Photo CD-compatible. Other than the Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound card's utilities, the only additional software that ships with the kit is an audio CD music sampler.

Installation of the PxCDS external unit I tested was straightforward but unique. The sound card occupies a single 16-bit slot, while a 34-pin ribbon cable connects the audio card to a Sony proprietary 37-pin output connector located on an expansion plate. As with an internally mounted floppy or CDROM drive, the PxCDS external CD-ROM drive uses internal power connections. The extra three pins on the output connector pass current to the CD-ROM drive using a supplied splitter cable, sharing parallel current with an existing floppy drive.

Although the benchmark tests of the PxCDS showed its performance speed to be medium to

180 BYTE • MAY 1993

PICTURE

WINDOWS

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Picture Perfect. With Win/TV's "frame grabber" you capture and save any "still" frame and save it to disk. Using Win/TV and Microsoft® Video for Windows™, you capture FULL MOTION VIDEO, saving synchronized video and audio clips to disk. You can then send those video and audio files across the network. Seamlessly integrate still and full motion video images into productive multimedia applications such as databases or training and marketing presentations... or give your E-mail a powerful new dimension!

Any Windows 3 user can access 122 channel television reception with the built-in tuner, PLUS two additional video sources, (such as VCR, video camera, laser disk, etc.,) all with stereo audio capability! Automatically fit real-time video images into any size Window while running your other Windows 3 programs. Hauppauge Computer Works introduces Win/TV™, the Windows television adapter

Picture Yourself owning your own "Windows on the World"! Maybe you want to work on your spreadsheets but don't want to miss an important news flash or a current stock market report. Win/TV is perfect for you. Keep an eye on current events while keeping control of your inventory... No problem!

Get the new Win/TV and open a window on some fresh, new, and exciting possibilities.

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Resize or reposition your Win/TV Window anywhere on the screen—while running other Windows applications.

Di-.pl.iy i..mlii|ln

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Capture the perfect "still" with "Frame Grabber" feature —great for presentations with impact.

Hauppauge!

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In N.Y: Tel: (516) 434-1600 • Fax (-516) 434-3198 Toll Free: 800-443-6284 • In Europe: (49)-2l6l-17063

Circle 90 on Inquiry Card.

MULTIMEDIA

slow, the drive worked flawlessly. I successfully imported and manipulated large graphics images directly from Kodak Photo CDs.

Procom also offers Multimedia CD Station II upgrade kits, sporting CD-ROM speed ratings of 200 ms. The price for the kit with an external CD-ROM drive is $755; it costs $685 with an internal drive. Judging from the PxCDS Multimedia CD Station's fine documentation and its price/performance levels, I'd rate Procom's products a very good value.

Desktop Library

Sony's Desktop Library ships with a Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound board, Sony's wonderful little SRS-58 selfamplified mini-speakers, a caddyless Sony CDU-7305 CD-ROM drive, and a seventitle CD-ROM software set. Sony's library comes in two internal or external CDROM drive flavors, which cost $850 and $1070, respectively. While Sony's CDROM/audio-board combination is 100 percent MPC Windows-compatible (it comes with all Media Vision's Windows audio applets), the CD-ROM software titles Sony bundles with the package revolve around DOS or the Geo Works GUI.

Hardware installation is relatively easy. It takes about 10 minutes to plug the Pro Audio Spectrum 16 adapter into an empty 16-bit slot and connect internal audio input pass-through and proprietary SCSI cables from the sound card to an external drive adapter that mounts in a case-expansionplate opening.

You'll spend about 20 minutes installing the audio-board configuration software and the complete GeoWorks GUI, and you'll need 12 MB of free hard disk space. If you choose not to install GeoWorks, you can run the Desktop Library's CD-ROM software from DOS or in Windows in a DOS shell. In Windows, the CD-ROM MPC applications worked well. Sony's CDU-7305 CD-ROM drive is Kodak Photo CD/XA-compatible, and I experienced no problems loading Kodak Photo CD images within Windows or with the supplied Tempra Access software from within GeoWorks.

Benchmark tests showed the Sony CD-ROM drive to be relatively slow compared to the other drives tested. Although rated at only 5 W, Sony's miniature SRS-58 speakers had superb clarity with some surprisingly great bass response.

Judging by the performance observed and the unique titles bundled with the system, I would rate Sony's Desktop Library MPC upgrade kit a good buy.

MPC Systems

CompuAdd 433DX

CompuAdd's approach to MPC is to mix and match MPC components as requested by the end user and then assemble them into custom MPC systems. As a base system, CompuAdd's 33MHz 433DX retails for $2165. It costs an additional $575 to get an MPC-compliant system with an internal caddyless Philips LMS CM-205 CD-ROM drive, a Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound card, and bundled audio software. Other basic components included in the test system were a $200 170-MB hard drive, a $200 8MB memory upgrade, a $150 14-inch HiResolution 51118 Super VGA monitor, and CompuAdd's $25 two-button serial mouse. This brought CompuAdd's total basic MPC system cost to $3315.

Also installed was CompuAdd's TV/ Video adapter. This $525 option converts analog TV signals to a digital video-display window. You can directly connect cable TV or an external antenna to the board's video inputs and use its on-board tuner to select channels via pop-up windows. Since the video is digital, you can shrink and stretch the motion window to any shape or aspect ratio. Later in the test process, I received CompuAdd's $200 AM/FM tuner board, complete with a hand-held infrared remote control.

With these two accessories installed,

The CompuAdd Rack controls cdl MPC functions, with the optional TV/Video adapter and AM/FM tuner. (File-to-slide conversion courtesy of Image Center, Roanoke, Virginia.)

I used CompuAdd's Rack, a Windowsbased utility, to control all MPC functions (see the screen). The total system cost, with the tuner and the TV/Video adapter, is $4060. These extra items came in handy. While writing this review, I was able to watch CNN via the video board (with the TV audio muted) and simultaneously listen to a nice classical station tuned in on the FM receiver. When a particular headline story appeared on-screen, I just used the mouse or the remote control to instantly switch from FM audio to TV audio. I also found that by attaching a remote TV camera to the TV/Video adapter, you could, for example, monitor a sales floor while updating a database, or a broker could keep up with the stock quotes while working on a spreadsheet.

The test unit did not ship with external speakers—CompuAdd sells a $45 microphone/stereo-speaker combination—but with the Sony SRS-58 mini-speakers attached to the Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound card, the audio quality was quite good with CD audio, MPC applications, and digitized .WAV files.

During my tests, all MPC applications ran smoothly without any glitches at 1024by 768-pixel resolution and 640- by 480pixel resolution, although the test monitor was not sharp. The CD-ROM benchmarks placed the 433DX with the Philips LMS CM-205 drive at the bottom of the heap, but on many CD-ROM-based applications, the system displayed excellent performance and perfect synchronization of full-frame animation and audio. I attributed the fast display speeds under Windows to CompuAdd's Paradise accelerated display adapter.

Although CompuAdd does not bundle any CD-ROM titles with its MPC units, the MPC configuration—along with the extra accessories—made working with the system enjoyable. But, with all the bells and whistles, you could invest a sizable chunk of change in a CompuAdd MPC unit. My recommendation? Pick up CompuAdd's catalog and put together the best system to fit your application's needs and budget requirements.

Dell 433s/L

Dell Computer's 433s/L, a 33MHz 486SX system, is priced at $3019 and is sold only as a complete bundle. A 486DX system costs an extra $250. The test system included 8 MB of RAM, a 230-MB Quantum hard drive, an accelerated 1-MB

182 B YTE • MAY 1993

The best sound is not in the cards. POFfPABUU^.

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PORT-ABLE Sound Plus from Digispeech. You

know, those real smart people who make simple

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PORT-ABLE Sound Plus is the first portable

external sound peripheral to deliver 16 Bit CD

quality music with audio stereo capabilities.

And, since you just plug into your IBM PC or

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do not need an engineering degree or even a

screwdriver.

When you compare

PORT-ABLE Sound Plus to

any other external sound

peripherals, you will see

why anything else is just

noise. PORT-ABLE Sound

Plus is based on advanced

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compression capability with the highest quality sounds. Here is something else that will be music to your ears. PORT-ABLE Sound Plus comes complete with everything you need including a high fidelity speaker and built-in microphone. There is an "Audio-in" for a CD or tape player and a "Line-out" for external powered stereo speakers. Even a built-in smart parallel port pass through so you can keep printing.

Whether you take your work across the hall or across the country, with PORT-ABLE Sound Plus, you have all the cards you need to play right in your hip pocket. The hinged design lets you flip up the unit if you are short on desk space or lap space. And, the power will always be with your whether you use rechargeable or nonrechargeable AA batteries. PORT-ABLE Sound Plus also comes equipped with an AC/DC power converter.

As a bonus, you will get all the software you need to communicate. Like Lotus Sound™ an OLE server for Windows 3.1. WinReader for Windows 3.1, a handy textto-speech utility. Digispeech's DOSTaikand DOSReader text-to-speech applications. Show & Tell For Kids'" for

THE SOUND SOLUTION

PORT- ABLE Sound Plus is a trademark oi Digispeech. Inc. All other producl names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Circle 174 on Inquiry Card.

Windows - an easy to use MultiMedia Authoring program. It is also Sound Blaster and AdLib compatible.

Why compromise on quality, portability, compatibility or affordability? When all the cards are on the table, PORT-ABLE Sound Plus from Digispeech, Inc. is your ace in the hole. Suggested retail is only $198.95.

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MICROSOFTs WINDOWSCOMmilBLE

SOFTWARE

AND CD-ROM TITLES

Table 3: MPC systems and upgi (N/A = not applicable; • = yes,

ade kits are o = no.)

bundled with

a wide range of software programs

MPC SYSTEMS

and CD-ROM titles.

CompuAdd 433DX

Dell 433S/L

IBM NCR Ultimedia M77 3331 MLS

Packard Bell PB-402

Tandy Sensation

CD-ROM titles

Action 2.0

o

•

O

O

•

O

Authorware Star

o

•

O

O

•

O

Compton's MultiMedia Encyclopedia

o

•

o

o

O

o

Creative Sounds Library

o

•

o

o

•

o

Grolier's Multimedia Encyclopedia

o

O

o

o

o

o

Lotus 1 -2-3 for Windows

o

O

o

o

o

o

Microsoft Bookshelf

o

•

•

o

•

•

Microsoft Money 2.0

o

o

o

o

o

•

Microsoft MPC Works for Windows

o

•

o

o

•

•

Nautilus Intro Magazine

o

o

•

o

o

o

Prosonus Sound Library

o

•

o

o

•

o

SB Mixer, Wave Studio, Mosaic, Scheduler, and JukeBox

o

•

o

o

•

o

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

0

•

o

o

•

o

Tempra Access for Photo CD

o

o

o

o

o

o

Tempra (full version)

o

•

0

o

•

o

Other

N/A

N/A

Illuminated Books; Ultimedia applications

N/A

N/A

America On-line; WinMate (4 CD applications)

Disk-based software

Mixer, Pro Mixer,

Pocket Mixer/Recorder utilities

•

•

O

•

•

o

Prodigy Trial Subscription Pak

O

O

O

O

•

•

Quicken

O

•

o

o

O

o

Video for Windows

o

o

o

•

O

o

Other

MPC Rack

Micrografx

Draw

N/A

NCR/DVl; hDC Windows Express; System Tutorial WinFax Lite

N/A

CD-ROM PERFORMANCE INDEX

CompuAdd 433DX Dell 433s/L IBM Ultimedia M77 NCR 3331 MLS Packard Bell PB-402 Tandy Sensation Creative Labs Upgrade MediaVision Pro 16 Procom PxCDS Sony Desktop Library

MPC systems □ MPC upgrade kits

CD-ROM drive speeds are a key factor in the overall performance of an MPC system. Media Vision 's Pro 16 Multimedia System MPC upgrade kit consistently proved to have the fastest overall CD-ROM drive with the NEC-84J. All MPC upgrade kit tests were performed using an MIS 486/66 system. Performance ratings between MPC systems and upgrade kits should not he compared head-to-head.

VRAM (video RAM) display controller capable of 8-bit color at 1024- by 768-pixel resolution, a 15-inch UltraScan monitor, Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Pro audio card with external Labtec CS-550 self-powered speakers and microphone, and a Panasonic 521C internal CD-ROM drive.

If you double-click on the front-panel reset button, a diagnostic routine embedded in flash memory checks the entire system down to component-level errors. Anyone who has ever experienced a memory parity error knows that isolating the bad RAM chip is time consuming. The Dell system automatically detects and reports these types of errors.

Although Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Pro audio board is capable of quality audio output, Dell's choice of Labtec's external speaker system makes the final sound textures raspy. And, even with higher-quality speakers attached, I could not get a good audio sample from the inexpensive Labtec electret microphone.

With 8-bit color at 1024- by 768-pixel resolution and 640- by 480-pixel resolution, the bundled monitor was shaip and steady, and the S3/Dell LBV Super VGA display chip set was a real barn burner. All the applications I tested simply blazed,

184 B YTE ■ MAY 1993

MPC UPGRADE KITS

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Multimedia Upgrade Kit

Media Vision Pro 16

Procom Technology PxCDS

Sony Desktop Library

•

•

o

•

o

o

o

•

o

•

o

o

o

o

0

o

•

o

•

o

o

o

o

o

•

o

o

o

•

o

•

o

0

•

o

o

•

o

o

o

•

o

•

o

o

• o o o

HSC Authorware; PC Animate Plus

• O O

o

Recording Session; Rooms for Windows

• O O

o

CD Audio Disc

O

o o o • o o o o o o

o o • o

Time Almanac;

Presidents;

Wonders of the World

• O O

o

N/A

even at the higher resolutions.

With a host of bundled software, an excellent display, and outstanding video performance, the Dell 433s/L is an attractive MPC offering. And since the motherboard is socketed to accept future processors as they become available, you can upgrade to a faster system easily. The poor external audio and microphone quality aside, Dell's 433s/L bundle is a system that deserves consideration.

Ultimedia M77

IBM's array of PS/2 Ultimedia systems have a wide range of pricing considerations and options: the M57 SLC ($3355), a 386SLC 20-MHz system with a 160MB SCSI hard drive; the M57 486SLC2 ($4225), a 50-/25-MHz unit; the DV M57 486SLC2 ($5675), with an ActionMedia II/A DVI playback adapter; the M77 486 ($4695), equipped with a 486SX/33 processor; and the Ultimedia M77 486DX2 ($5295) (the review unit I tested), with a 33-/66-MHz 486DX2 processor.

All Ultimedia systems come standard with 8 MB of on-board RAM, and all (except the M57 SLC) ship with 212-MB SCSI hard drives. IBM's Ultimedia systems use IBM's Micro Channel architec

ture bus and ship with internal Kodak Photo CD/XA-compatible CD-ROM drives. Depending on the model, the systems ship with either an XGA (Extended Graphics Architecture) or an XGA-2 display adapter, supporting an 8- or 16-bit color display at resolutions of 640 by 480 pixels or an 8-bit color display at resolutions of 1024 by 768 pixels. IBM's display technology, based around the XGA-coprocessor chip, uses point-to-point vector-graphics fill functions rather than manipulating display memory as one large rasterized bit-map graphic.

IBM's Ultimedia M77 486DX2 test unit arrived preconfigured with DOS 5.0, OS/2 2.01, and Windows 3.1. The audio is surprisingly good corning from the unit's internal 4-inch speaker. IBM's M-ACPA (Multimedia-Audio Capture and Playback Adapter) uses the Texas Instruments MS320C25 DSP chip for playback, recording, and mixing of audio. All MPC applications functioned perfectly; the sound was exceptionally clean. According to IBM's engineers, the M-ACPA uses digital subtractive technology to record and play back digital audio at sampling rates as high as 88.2 kHz at 32 bits, which is twice the sampling rates of current CD audio.

MULTIMEDIA

This technique, called over-sampling or over-scanning, is commonly used in other digital applications like scanning digital photos or rendering 24-bit images at the highest number of dots per inch or resolutions possible.

IBM also markets an Altec Lansing MPC audio subsystem for $400 with subwoofer, but the test unit shipped without an external speaker system. I connected my external stereo system to the audio board's output jack and was pleased with the clean CD and digitally sampled audio.

During the installation of IBM's ActionMedia II DVI playback and capture boards ($1695 and $750, respectively), IRQ (interrupt request) conflict problems arose. After over 60 calls to IBM, during which I'd been put on hold for long periods of time or bounced from department to department, I wasn't hopeful about getting answers.

But I placed a service call late one Friday night, and on Saturday morning, a representative showed up at my door. With the assistance of an IBM Ultimedia specialist in Boca Raton, Florida, we had the ActionMedia II adapters up and running and capturing RTV (real-time video) in no time flat.

One of IBM's main strengths in multimedia and MPC is its reliance on DVI technology. In my opinion, DVI still stands well above Video for Windows' AVI (Audio Video Interleave) in quality of output. DVI's i750 chip set and codec routines operate at NTSC's 30-frame-per-second rate and at 640- by 480-pixel resolution; DVI/RTV captures produce good-looking 4-inch by 5-inch motion-video windows on a 17-inch monitor. For critical multimedia applications, developers should consider DVI PLV (Production-Level Video). While still relatively expensive to produce (motion-video sequences are compressed using mainframe equipment), PLV looks excellent on playback in interactive CDROM applications.

IBM's Ultimedia systems are targeted toward business, educational applications, and courseware developers. If you're a serious developer, corporate end user, or educator, IBM's line of Ultimedia systems deserve your consideration.

NCR 3331 MLS

NCR's modestly priced MPC systems are targeted for corporate training and educational applications. With AT&T's communications muscle behind it, NCR's vision of multimedia includes remote location and tele-distribution of interactive motion-video courseware for institutions with heavy-duty training demands. The NCR 3331 MLS (Multimedia Learning Station), a 33-MHz DX system, retails

MAY 1993 -BYTE 185

Circle 135 on Inquiry Card.

MULTIMEDIA

PRICES HARD TO MEET - SERVICE HARD TO BEAT! World Wide Inquiries Promptly Filled

A Message To Our Subscribers

FROM TIME TO TIME WE MAKE THE BYTE SUBSCRIBER LIST available to other companies who wish to send our subscribers material about their products. We take great care to screen these companies, choosing only those who are reputable, and whose products, services or information we feel would be of interest to you. Direct mail is an efficient medium for presenting the latest personal computer goods and services to our subscribers.

Many BYTE subscribers appreciate this controlled use of our mailing list, and look forward to finding information of interest to them in the mail. Used are our subscribers' names and addresses only (no other information we may have is ever given).

While we believe the distribution of this information is of benefit to our subscribers, we firmly respect the wishes of any subscriber who does not want to receive such promotional literature. Should you wish to restrict the use of your name, simply send your request to the following address.

BYTE

Magazine Attn: Subscriber Service P.O. Box 555, Hightstown, NJ 08520

m

Photo 2: An excellent platform for videobased training applications, the NCR 3331 MLS comes standard with Intel's DVI playback board installed. The bundle also includes headphones and a microphone.

for S3805 (see photo 2). A 50-MHz DX2 model costs an additional $136. NCR's test unit shipped with a 240-MB hard drive, a Toshiba XM-3301 internal CD-ROM (Kodak Photo CD/XA-compatible), Media Vision's Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound card, and 8 MB of RAM. NCR's 25-MHz 486SX system retails for $1995 and ships with a 120-MB hard drive, 4 MB of RAM, and Intel's DVI playback adapter.

As mentioned above, the 3331 MLS is geared toward delivering video- and audio-training information to users at a relatively inexpensive price. To enable this type of application, the 3331 MLS ships preconfigured with Intel's DVI playback adapter installed. All video pass-through cabling between NCR's VGA/Super VGA display chip set and the DVI adapter is preconfigured internally.

The unit ships with both a Sony electret microphone and NCR headphones. NCR's system doesn't ship with external speakers, but the 3-inch internal front-mounted speaker sounds very good. NCR offers two display monitors for its system: a 15-inch model for $589 and a 14-inch model for $428. Both monitors can display 256 colors at 1024- by 768-pixel resolution in noninterlaced mode. The 15-inch monitor used for testing was clear, sharp, and stable.

NCR's~RTV DVI capture board retails for $639, and Intel's DVI Development software and AimTech's Present, a runtime playback module, ship preinstalled

186 BYTE' MAY 1993

Mathematics

The Complete Solution For Technical Computing

■ Numbers

H[sqrt[pi], 250]

1.1124538509055161 145182191549456 7898529112845911 138544665416226; 236152865124422i 181068462031698i 113028950826228: 800114639015351 1852340186

1 Graphics

QSymbolic Programming

loo[x_ y_] := loa[x] + log[y] loa[a b cA2 d]

log[a] + log[b] + logic ] + log[d] log[x_ * n_] := n log[x] log[a b c*2 f]

log[a] * log[b] * 2 logic] * log[f

3HIT

DensityPlot [Sin [Re 3. 1| plotpoints

When it was released in 988, the New York Times wrote that Mathematica "fundamentally alters the mechanics of mathematics." Four and a half years later, with several hundred thousand scientists, engineers, students, financial analysts, medical researchers, and others using the system, Mathematica is firmly established as the standard environment for technical computing.

Starting Out

When you first get started, you can use Mathematica just like a calculator. But it is a calculator that lets you do calculations as large as you want, and that can handle the full range of mathematical functions, matrices, algebraic manipulation, and calculus as well as creating publication-quality 2D and 3D graphics.

Flexible Programming

The easy-to-use language that is built into Mathematica requires no learning

Technical Information:

Numerical computation with unlimited precision integer, real, and complex numbers. Exact symbolic computation. Wide range of mathematical functions, including hypergeometric special functions, number theory functions, statistics. Numerical and symbolic matrix operations. Numerical and symbolic equation solving, root finding, integration, differential equations, optimization. 2D and 3D color graphics, animation, and sound generation. Graphics language for representation of arbitrary structures. Output in standard PostScript. Data importing and exporting. External program linkages. Full built-in symbolic programming language, with procedural, functional, and rule-based capabilities. Notebook front end with hierarchical documents, style sheets, importing and exporting of graphics, sound, animations, and typesetting. Network operation supported. Journal, newsletters, more than 30 books on Mathematics available. Add-on packages; free MathSource" electronic resource. Versions: Microsoft Windows • Macintosh • MS-DOS • NEC PC • SPARC • DEC RISC, VAX • HP • IBM RISC • NeXT • SGI • Convex • and others. Student versions available. Now shipping Version 2.2.

for simple calculations, but has the power to let you create even the most sophisticated programs. And with the Notebook concept pioneered by Mathematica, you can create interactive documents that mix text, graphics, animations, and sounds with live formulas and programs.

A Range of Applications

Whether you design airplanes, solve quantum field theories, analyze medical experiments, or just want to do your algebra homework, Mathematica provides a unique environment for solving your problems.

And you can run your same Mathematica programs without change on everything from Macintosh and PCs (with or without Windows) to Unix workstations and supercomputers.

To get the latest information call:

1-800-441-MATH

Wolfram Research

Wolfram Research, inc.

100 Trade Center Drive, Champaign. IL 61820-7237, USA +1-217-398-0700; fax: +1-217-398-0747; email: irrfoOwri.com

Wolfram Research Europe Ltd.

Evenlode Court, Main Road, Long Hanborough, Oxon 0X8 2LA. UK +44-(0)993-883400; fax: +44-1,0)993-883800; email: info-euro@wri.com

Representatives in over 30 countries; contact main office.

M993 Wolfram Research. Inc Mjihemst-c.i*:. a wi'M^iKl iiadernai). an;] fdii!vJcurce>.i a H.K^r.vy.i: <M VJtliratn Ifeeardi. Inc Mathematics

■.vnh Mathematica Inc. Uathemanca Policy Research. Inc. or MailiTech. Inc. All other product, names mentioned ate trademarks of Their producers.

For Macintosh information circle 151, For IBM/Compatible information circle 152, For UNIX information circle 153 on Inquiry Card.

MULTIMEDIA

on the system as well. The DVI capture board mounts easily on the DVI playback adapter as a daughtercard, and a six-lead pigtail cable connects to the S-Video port of the playback adapter to input NTSC composite video or RGB component video and stereo audio.

The NCR 3331 MLS should appeal to corporate buyers, but it's also a solid choice as a personal MPC system. For either application, I rate NCR's MPC system very high.

Packard Bell PB-402

Packard Bell's MPC PB-402 base system, a 25-MHz 486SX, retails for $2200 without a monitor. The review system shipped with a $300 14-inch Packard Bell 8548 monitor capable of 8-bit color at 1024- by 768-pixel resolution in noninterlaced mode. With a 0.28-millimeter dot-pitch ratio, the display looked clean, sharp, and stable in 8-bit color at 1024- by 768-pixel resolution and 640- by 480-pixel resolution. The PB-402 includes a 170-MB Conner hard drive, 8 MB of RAM, a caddy less Panasonic CR-521B CD-ROM drive, and Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Pro audio card. The unit also ships with a 2400-/

9600-bps fax modem and Roland's powerful little CS-10, an external stereo-speaker and amplifier combination.

Booting the system automatically takes you to hDC Windows Express, where you can either launch applications or, if you're a first-time computer user, take a guided tour of the system and step through Packard Bell's own MPC Windows tutorial. Late one Saturday evening, I had questions concerning the CD-ROM and hard drive. By hypersearching through the above tutorials, I found an 800 number for service and support. Surprisingly, a technician was quick to respond and answered all my questions. Packard Bell's technical-support line is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; all its products carry a one-year, on-site parts-and-labor warranty.

The review system also came with Packard Bell's $399 PB-TV3 adapter, which converts analog video to a digitalvideo window. Because of the PB-TV3's unique on-screen remote and TV-tuner utilities, I preferred Packard Bell's unit over CompuAdd's. The Roland CS-10 audio subsystem, though only rated at 5-W output, really cranked out some clear, crisp audio. The unit combines two front-mount

ed 3-inch mid-to-high-range speakers and a face-down 5-inch subwoofer for added bass response. The CS-10 also has four rear-mounted RCA audio-in jacks to allow automatic mixing of both CD audio from the CD-ROM drive and digitized sound and synthesized MIDI sound from the Sound Blaster Pro 16 adapter.

The system's benchmark tests were disappointing. With a 256-color display at 640- by 480-pixel resolution, the system's display speed is passably fast for all applications, but with a 256-color display at 1024- by 768-pixel resolution, the system slows to a snail's pace (e.g., when you open a window, you can actually see it slowly scrolling from top to bottom down the screen). If you're looking for fast MPC video speeds, you should install an accelerated Super VGA adapter, such as Diamond's Stealth. But first you must disable the PB-402's on-board Oak Technology Super VGA chip set by moving a jumper.

Packard Bell's PB-402 MPC system is a winner when it comes to overall price versus performance. It's an outstanding MPC configuration jam-packed with applications. If you plan to run MPC applications only at resolutions of 640 by 480

DATA COMPRESSION LIBRARIES™

PKWARE's'"1 Data Compression Libraries™ allow software developers to add data compression technology to software applications. The application program controls all the input and output of data allowing data to be compressed or extracted to or from any device or area of memory.

• All Purpose Data Compression Algorithm Compresses Ascii or Binary Data Quickly with similar compression achieved by the popular PKzip software, however the format used by the compression routine is completely generic and not specific to the PKZIP file format.

• Application Controlled I/O and memory allocation for extreme flexibility.

• Adjustable Dictionary Size allows software to be fine tuned for Maximum Size or Speed.

• Approximately 35K memory needed for Compression, 12K memory needed for Extraction.

• Compatible with most popular Languages: C, C+ +. Pascal, Assembly, Basic, Clipper, Etc.

• Works with any 80x86 family CPU in real or protected mode. $295.00

• No runtime royalties.

RUNNING OUT OF EXPENSIVE DISK SPACE? ^B Hi

PKzip can help! PKzip compresses your files to free up disk space and reduce modem transfer time. You can compress a single file or entire directory structures with a single command. Compressed files can be quickly returned to their normal size with PKunzip.

Software developers can reduce the number of diskettes needed to distribute their product by using PKzip . Call for Distribution License information.

I

The included PKzip utility lets you store compressed files as a single self-extracting .EXE files that automatically uncompresses when run. Only $47.00

9025 N. Deerwood Dr.

Brown Deer, Wl 53223

(414)354-8699

Fax (414) 354-8559

BY5S3

188 B YTE • MAY 1993

Circle 125 on Inquiry Card.

ND THRASHING!

In the Main Event, the Challenge of All Challenges, the Sound vs. Sound Battle, 9 out of 10* people preferred ATI STEREO F/X-CD over SoundBlaster Pro! And here's why:

TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION (Lower Number is Better)

I AIISTEREOF/X-CD 1H SOUNDBLASTER

FREQUENCY RESPONSE CURVE

r;

0 63 100 1

HI 7

FREQUENCY (Hz)

0 500 3150 5000 8000* 12500 200(1(1

-10

I'15

uj -20 >

-1 -25

r

3 £-30

O -35

Al

■s BASS

aoosr

\

?

I ATISTEREOF/X-CD ■ SOUND BLASTER PRO

Clobbering the Competition with Quality Sound

Performance tests prove STEREO F/X-CD has low distortion and wide frequency response. Features a powerful amplifier with added Bass Boost.

x~~=^\ Below the Belt Pricing

s|j[ With a price of $199.00' .-<^^P' including high ranked ~~** features and bundled software drivers, STEREO F/X-CD is the true heavyweight champion at lightweight prices.

Industry Standards with Extended Reach

Fully compatible with industry standards to ensure your ul , ih

game and business applications don't

i

take a beating with obsolescence.

MPC

Sound

BLASTER

Heavyweight Stereo Support

All audio ports and sound formats in true stereo including the microphone, CD and Digital audio, PC speaker, line in and 20 voice FM synthesizer. ATI goes the extra round to provide stereo effect to older mono FM applications.

Lightning Speed Joystick Port

"bob and weave" with ATI's built-in joystick port that is 386/486 compatible eliminating jerky, erratic action in the clinches.

Choose the clear winner and catch STEREO F/X-CD in championship form at your local dealer.

Enhanced for CD Support

Giving you the advantage of a built-in CD-ROM interface saving expansion slots. Quiet CD technology filters out the unwanted noise, for crisp, clear audio.

COMMUNICATIONS

Copyright © ATI Technologies Inc.. 1993. STEREO F/X-CD, QUIET CD are registered trademarks of ATI technologies Inc. All other company and/or products n trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Features and specifications are subject to change without notice. Product may not be exactly as shown. *Acc

CD-ROM drive sold separately

V Jk r"l ATI TECHNOLOGIES INC. A. I 3761 Victoria Park Avenue

^MIA. M. M Scarborough, Ontario Canada M1W3S2 Tel: (416)756-0718 Perfecting the PC Fax: (416) 756-0720

TECHNOLOGIES INC.

l accordance with established research procedures. 'Suggested US retail prices, dealers may sell for loss.

Circle 66 on Inquiry Card.

ames are trademarks and/or registered be exactly as shown. 'According to 1993 consumer focus group sampling

See us at Windows World, Booth #W7038

MULTIMEDIA

Photo 3: The Tandy Sensation ships with an audio adapter, an enhanced internal speaker, a CD-ROM drive, an internal fax modem, and a rich bundle of MFC software and CD-ROM titles. A PC/TV board is optional.

pixels in 256 colors, or if you can afford to install an accelerated Super VGA board at resolutions of 1024 by 768 pixels, then I highly recommend this unit.

Sensation

Tandy's Sensation MPC system ($2495 with a monitor included; $1999 without one) is aptly named. The basics of the system include a 25-MHz 486SX, a 107-MB hard drive, a caddyless internal Philips LMS CM-205 CD-ROM drive, Tandy's own MPC-compatible Enhanced Audio adapter (which uses a Yamaha YMF262 synthesis chip), an internal 2400-/4800bps fax modem, and 4 MB of on-board RAM (see photo 3). Tandy uses Western Digital's 90C31 video display accelerator chip set mounted directly on the motherboard for VGA/Super VGA output of up to 256 colors at 1024- by 768-pixel resolution and 16.7 million colors (24-bit) at 640- by 480-pixel resolution. For audio output, you can either hook the system to your stereo or use the internal 3-inch speaker system.

You can use Sensation as a "smart" answering machine to route callers to multiple voice mailboxes. An incoming caller's message is stored digitally in .WAV

format on the hard disk, and you can retrieve it remotely using Touch-Tone passwords. A highly understandable text-tospeech voice synthesizer can also convert any typed text message to synthesized speech for output to voice mail.

Tandy's WinMate software automatically boots as a prelude shell to the Windows Program Manager (you have to run Program Manager from within WinMate). WinMate is, in essence, a Windows desktop manager. WinMate categorizes different functions of Sensation into easily understood groupings: In Touch links you into Sensation's communications area mentioned above; In the Know taps into Microsoft Bookshelf's encyclopedia and dictionaries; In Charge keeps track of "todo" lists, names, addresses, phone lists, and appointment schedules with voice reminders using the speech synthesizer; and so on.

Options include a $400 PC/TV card, which functions much like CompuAdd's board, and a $39 1-MB video-memory upgrade kit to support an 8-bit Super VGA display at 1024- by 768-pixel resolution. Tandy also offers a $799 MPC upgrade kit.

Both the CD-ROM and the display

Coming Soon:

<^ w\ ^\ ^\ ^\ ^^

i^\ ^^ ^^ ^\ ^^ ^^

BYTE Buyer's Guide

^— on Printers —

Available only on the Newsstands

► BYTE Reviews

Dot-Matrix, Laser, Ink-jet, Portable Printers

On Sale Date:

June 8,1993

190 B YTE • MAY 1993

Circle 70 on Inquiry Card.

they'd get more involved i

*Image Quality, that is.

Introducing Proxima®Ovation.™ The fully portable family of LCD projection panels that provides the most vivid color images available today.

Showcase your computer or video images crisply and clearly, utilizing the latest LCD technology and up to 226,981 true colors.

Ovation offers a dynamic range of multimedia capabilities to move and motivate your audience. Project computer presentations, video recordings, computer animation, TV, even live images from camcorders.

Ovation projects whatever you can see on your PC or Macintosh "monitor. Just place the Ovation panel on an overhead projector, connect the panel to your computer, VCR, camcorder, or other output device, and you're ready to impress your next audience. Make your presentation even more interactive with the Proxima Cyclops™ pointer system. It's like a cordless mouse. Point, click, and pull down menus—right from the projection screen.

There's a Proxima product for nearly every presentation and price range—from monochrome data projection to full-color animation and video. For the name of the dealer nearest you, call 1-800-447-7694 today. Ask for our booklet which explains the advantages of using today's LCD projection panels.

Ovation projects to the big screen the same color

and clarity that you see on your computer monitor.

Above right: Actual computer monitor image.

Above: Actual projection screen image from Ovation LCD projection panel.

PROXIMA®

Proxima Corporation 661 0 Nancy Ridge Drive San Diego, CA 92121 (619) 457-5500

in Europe: contact Horstcrwcg 24.619! RX Beet

The Netherlands, +31- (0) 43 65 02 48. Ovation and Cyclops are trademarks of and

Proxima is a registered trademark of Proxima Corporation.

tOther brand and product names arc trademarks of their respective owners.

© 1991, Proxima Corp. All rights reserved.

Circle 159 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 160).

No Doubt

YOU're

Expert!

BYTE READERS are

considered experts in

today's complex computer environment. When you need to make

decisions, BYTE

editorial is there to give

information on current

products and emerging

technologies.

And when you order

products, BYTE

advertisers are ready

to answer your every

need. Use the

convenient toll-free

numbers in this issue,

and remember to say:

▲

You Saw it in

BVTE

MULTIMEDIA

adapter are relatively slow compared to the other units tested. Still, I urge anyone who is looking for a good all-around MPC system to test-drive the Sensation.

Multimedia at Its Best

All the MPC upgrade kits performed admirably. The Creative Labs Multimedia Upgrade Kit, with the Sound Blaster 16 ASP option, gets the overall nod for best MPC sound quality and price-versus-performance ratio. Media Vision's Pro 16 Multimedia System MPC upgrade kit gets a close second, not for sound quality but for the speeds displayed by the bundled

NEC-84J CD-ROM drive with its Kodak Photo CD compatibility.

NCR's 3331 MLS is the clear choice for high-end, low-cost educational and business MPC development and delivery systems. Overall kudos go to Tandy's Sensation; it's a well thought-out execution of what every MPC system manufacturer should strive to emulate. ■

Greg Loveria is a computer graphics, desktop publishing, and MPC consultant; an animator; and a writer based in Binghamton, New York. He can be reached on BIX as "loveria."

COMPANY INFORMATION

CompuAdd Computer Corp.

(CompuAdd433DX)

12303 Technology Blvd.

Austin, TX 78727

(800)627-1967

fax:(512)250-3493

Circle 976 on Inquiry Card.

Creative Labs, Inc.

(Sound Blaster Multimedia

Upgrade Kit)

1901 McCarthy Blvd.

Milpitas, CA 95035

(800) 998-5227

(408) 428-6600

fax:(408)428-6611

Circle 977 on Inquiry Card.

Dell Computer Corp.

(Dell 433s/L)

9505 Arboretum Blvd.

Austin, TX 78759

(800) 289-3355

(512)338-4400

fax: (800) 727-8320

Circle 978 on Inquiry Card.

IBM Corp.

(Ultimedia M77) (Multimedia Division) 411 Northside Pkwy. Atlanta, GA 30327 (800) 426-9402 fax:(404)238-1213 Circle 979 on Inquiry Card.

Media Vision, Inc.

(Pro 16 Multimedia System)

3185 Laurelview Court

Fremont, CA 94538

(800) 845-5870

(510)770-8600

fax:(510)770-9592

Circle 980 on Inquiry Card.

NCR Corp.

(NCR 3331 Multimedia Learning

Station)

(Multimedia Division)

HOOEastWarnvilleRd.

Naperville, IL 60566

(513)445-5000

fax:(513)445-7791

Circle 981 on Inquiry Card.

Packard Bell, Inc.

(PB-402)

9425 Canoga Ave.

Chats worth, C A 91311

(818)886-4600

fax:(818)773-9558

Circle 982 on Inquiry Card.

Procom Technology, Inc.

(PxCDS Multimedia CD Station)

2181 DupontDr.

Irvine, CA 92715

(800) 800-8600

(714)852-1000

fax:(714)852-1221

Circle 983 on Inquiry Card.

Sony Corp. of America

(Desktop Library)

655 River Oaks Pkwy.

San Jose, CA 95134

(800) 352-7669

(408)432-0190

fax: (408) 432-0190

Circle 984 on Inquiry Card.

Tandy Corp.

(Sensation)

1800 One Tandy Center

Fort Worth, TX 76102

(817)390-3011

fax:(817)870-0412

Circle 985 on Inquiry Card.

192 BYTE • MAY 1993

Less Noise Less Hassle Less Money!

OFfBIBfimillM

DataPort 14A/Fax Modem with optical technology

MORE SPEED: Only AT&Ts exclusive Optical Line Interface (OLD, pat. pending, eliminates the noise that other high-speed fax modems add to the data stream. Less noise means you get the highest speeds possible on good or bad phone lines!

• V.32bis (14,400 bps data, 9,600 bps fax)

• V.42bis/MNP 5 (data compression, error correction)

• Effective throughput up to 57,600 bps!

More Compatibility : oli delivers hassie-free

compatibility for more consistent connectivity than other high-speed fax modems.

MORE VALUE'. You get everything you want in the DataPort 14.4/Fax Modem, backed by AT&T with:

• AT&T's lifetime warranty for as long as you own it, plus

• Toll-free technical support.

$299

Reg. price, $555. External for PC/AT/XT

$289

Reg. price, $505. Internal PC AT-bus card

Comes complete with QuickLink II comm/fax software for DOS and Windows, CompuServe bonus ($22.95 value), user's manual, fax modem phone cord. Mac version available, with Mac cable, reg. price, $585 now $299.

Visit these dealers! Or for the name of the dealer nearest you, or to order, call: 1 800 554-4996 ext 9605.

[COMPUTER

Solidly-built, solidly-backed by AT&T.

Offer ends.

W1

Irijs

ELEK-TEK

The Computer Wonderland

Visit the dealer nearest you, today!

Prices under $300 vary by dealer, while supplies last. Hurry!

AT&T

® 1993 ATSI Paradyne DalaPorl is a trademark of ATST. All olhe, products or services mentioned here are lire trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, o, registered service marks ol Iheir respective owners. Lilelime mimly Is limited and applies to original porehase, only.

Circle 280 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 281).

SO FTWAR E

Personable PIMs

NICHOLAS BARAN

As personal computers have grown more mobile, PIMs (personal information managers) have emerged as a major category of software. Dozens of companies have developed various types of PIMs; in this article, I'll look at 10 of the most popular products for Windows, DOS, and Macintosh operating environments.

A PIM does exactly as its name suggests: It manages your personal information. Most PIMs include an appointment scheduler and calendar, an address book with telephone-dialing capability, a note taker, and a few other information management functions. The basic idea is to replace your paper Day-Timer or address book with an electronic one, although the products reviewed here range from simple time schedulers to comprehensive project management programs.

A Good PIM

So what makes a good PIM? For those of us not directly involved in sales or project management, oft-cited PIM features like the ability to track hundreds of contacts or manage complex projects may not be very important. If the objective of a PIM is to replace the paper notepad and address book, it should be as easy to use as its paper equivalent and at least as fast. Few users will make the switch to a PIM that requires hours of laborious tutorials and poring over the user's manual. Fast performance is important. If it takes 30 seconds for the PIM to find a name in its address book and it only takes one flip of the page in the Day-Timer, I wouldn't make the switch.

PIMs should also be able to operate in the background. Let's say you're working on a document in your word processor, the phone rings, and someone wants to make a date for lunch next Thursday. You want to be able to access your PIM immediately. You don't want to have to exit your word processor and launch the PIM

while the person is waiting on the phone. A PIM's ability to exchange data with other sources should be considered. You may want to import data from an existing database or spreadsheet, or perhaps you'll need to exchange information with someone who uses a different PIM or database. To summarize, some of the features that I looked for in reviewing these PIMs include the following:

• Ease of use

• Fast and responsive performance

• Background operation

• Data transfer capabilities

Of course, there are many other features to consider depending on what you plan to do with the PIM. You'll find a summary of basic features and pricing in the table on page 196. Some PIMs are strictly for time management. Others have extensive database capabilities.

The products described below are grouped according to operating environment (Windows, DOS, and Macintosh) and are discussed in alphabetical order. I tested the Windows and DOS products on a Dell 320N (a 20-MHz 386SX) and the Macintosh products on a Mac SE.

DOS/ Windows

ACT for Windows 1.0

ACT is designed for the business person who has hundreds of contacts. It bills itself as the "best-selling contact manager"; if you're in the contact business, this may be the product for you. As I'm not in sales, I found it a bit overwhelming, particularly at $495. ACT includes a full-featured word processor, mail-merge functions, a calendar and appointment scheduler with autodialer and alarm clock, a phone manager utility for tracking call histories, and macro utilities, to name just a few features. The program uses the dBase data for

mat (DBF files) and provides myriad data fields for tracking your contacts. The database is linked to the other functions of the program, so, for example, if you click on the meeting button in the database form, a window for scheduling a meeting opens.

ACT performed well, moving quickly from record to record and module to module, although I wouldn't call it easy to use. It uses icons liberally (see screen 1), but the functions of most of them are not readily obvious. On the other hand, ACT has extensive documentation, which starts off with a tutorial. With patience, you should be able to learn the product thoroughly.

One major disappointment was the difficulty of importing data. I struggled for close to an hour trying to figure out how to import a comma-delimited text file, and when I finally got the file imported, the fields didn't match up. The procedure is poorly explained in the documentation,

194 B YTE • MAY 1993

IMAGE: IMAGESET DESIGN, INC.; MEL LINDSTROM/PHOTOGRAPHY © 1993

BYTE

ACTION SUMMARY

ACT! for Windows

file Edit Schedule Clear Boone ffirite t,oo(tup yjew Window

%m%

Belp

Group lEvayone

Total

Cai Meeting Todo LatfResuK

JD/StMua

Uwil

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Screen 1: A CTfor

Windows is a fast, full-featured package with an emphasis on contact management.

and the program is very unforgiving if you make a mistake in the import process. On the positive side, the import process is pretty straightforward if the data is already in DBF format.

1 Followed i# : Manufacture!

ACT is a big program designed for a big job. It is certainly a great pick if your work involves a lot of contacts. If you have more modest information management requirements, some of the less expensive

WHAT PIMS ARE

They're software packages for managing information; most include appointment scheduling, contact management, and project management.

LIKES

Fast, intuitive, simple interfaces.

DISLIKES

Some are slow, and some throw too many features into the mix.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Lotus Organizer and Prisma Software's YourWay are both simple, useful packages that will suit most users. Those who have special requirements (e.g., maintaining very large contact lists) should check out ACT or Commence.

products reviewed here will probably better fit the bill. One feature that may be of interest is that ACT is also available in versions for MS-DOS, the Macintosh, and the HP 95LX.

Ascend 4.0

Ascend is another full-featured information manager for Windows, although its macro and programming capabilities aren't as sophisticated as ACT's. It has a good interface and an icon bar that I found quite intelligible. It has an appointment scheduler, a calendar, and an address book; a contact management function for tracking phone histories; a note taker; and even a "values and goals" and "favorite quotes" repository so that you can remind yourself of ambitions and pull up inspiring quotes when the going gets tough.

In addition, Ascend provides two separate utilities: a journal and Red Tabs. The journal lets you maintain a free-form text journal. Red Tabs is similar to the journal, but it's intended for storing miscellaneous bits of information; you can file and organize Red Tabs information into categories. You can import text into either the journal or Red Tabs using the Windows Clipboard.

Ascend is really designed for the person who wants to keep track of everything, from his or her business associates and appointments to thoughts and ideas. But I

MAY 1993 -BYTE 195

PERSONABLE PIMS

PERSONAL INFORMATION MANAGERS FEATURES

Basic P1M features. More expensive, high-end packages like ACT and Commence have more sophisticated project and contact management features. (• = yes; o = no.)

PIMS for DOS and Windows

ACT for Windows 1.0

Ascend 4.0 Commence 1.0 GoldMine2.5

Lotus Organizer 1.0

OnTime for Windows 1.2

Price $495 $199 $395

Platforms Windows, DOS, Windows, Mac Windows

Mac, HP 95LX

LAN version o o o

Macros • • •

Word processing features • Notes •

Database features • • •

$295 DOS

$149 Windows

o

o

Notes

$129.95 Windows, DOS

•

O . - ■;

Notes

. O :'

found the program more accessible than either ACT or Commence, although not as easy to use as Lotus Organizer. However, Ascend was another product that made it difficult to import data into the database.

Priced at $199, Ascend is definitely worth looking at if you want to keep track of more than just your contacts and appointments.

Commence 1.0

Commence is an information manager on the same scale as ACT, but it's optimized more for project management than for tracking business contacts. Commence is based on a predecessor called IBM Current, which was marketed by IBM for Windows 2.0. Unlike IBM Current, Commence is optimized for Windows 3.1 and includes a programming facility called Agents, which allows you to program Commence to perform tasks automatically. Using triggers and conditions, you can program Commence to remind you of due dates for specified tasks or to modify data based on certain conditions or time intervals.

The product includes a comprehensive appointment and task scheduler, an address book, a to-do list, a letter writer, and a phone tracking function. Through DDE, you can use external word processors such as Word, Ami Pro, or WordPerfect to create documents within Commence.

Although you could use Commence simply as an appointment scheduler and address book, the program is optimized for more complex project management tasks. It offers a Gantt chart function for tracking tasks on a time line. With the extensive programming capability, you can generate custom reports and charts to track the progress of various tasks.

Like ACT, this product has a substantial learning curve along with substantial capabilities. Once again, importing data is

Screen 2: Lotus Organizer's Smartlcons aren 't always obvious, but overall the package is veiy easy to use.

Lulus Organizer - [ADDRLIST.ORG1

[ pie Edit Section E»ge Too)s pjllpris jjelp

a;fe:£bi^l^!!faIgfei^|a!t'Mi5J»j

not a trivial operation, although with some study of die import procedure you can import virtually any data in ASCII, DBF, or DIP. Commence is a powerful and capable program that takes a focus on project management. But with a price of $395, it's not for everyone.

GoldMine 2.5

GoldMine is strictly an MS-DOS product with a broad range of information management capabilities. GoldMine is in the class of ACT and Commence in that it tries to cover all bases, providing tools for everything from contact management and appointment scheduling to word processing and data analysis. The product also includes a scripting language and a facility for creating call guides for telephone operators to follow when they're conducting sales calls.

But in spite of all its power, GoldMine is limited as a DOS-only product. That means that you can't run it in the background. It gets around this limitation by allowing you to run external programs

from within while it swaps itself out to expanded memory. And GoldMine has the old-fashioned DOS text-field interface, making it seem a bit primitive compared to some of the Windows products.

If you are firmly committed to MS-DOS and need very powerful information and task management capabilities, this product may be for you. It's not cheap ($295), but it has a lot of capabilities.

Lotus Organizer 1.0

Lotus Organizer for Windows is a product that Lotus acquired from a small software firm called Threadz, which began showing the product about two years ago.

Organizer now has features that integrate it with other Lotus products, such as Lotus 1-2-3 and Ami Pro. In particular, Organizer uses the Smartlcons interface that has become standard in Lotus products for the Windows environment. The trick with Smartlcons is remembering what all the various icons stand for (almost as challenging as memorizing commands back in the good old days of DOS). Organizer

196 B YTE • MAY 1993

PERSONABLE PIMS

PIMS for Macintosh

PackRat 4.1

YourWay 3.0

Danny Goodman's Connections 2.1

Now

Up-To-Date 2.0

$395

$99

$199

$99

Windows

Windows

Mac

Mac

•

c

•

•

■■.,■.• ■

•

0

'O

•

Notes

Notes

Notes

•

•

•

0

works with 1-2-3 spreadsheets or Ami Pro documents and provides mail-merge capabilities. You can also send and receive Email if you have cc:Mail or Lotus Notes installed on your machine.

Organizer provides the essentials of a good PIM: an address book, an appointment calendar, a to-do list, and a notepad. It uses a notebook metaphor as its interface (see screen 2) so that you can click on the tabs along the side of the notebook to open various modules of the program. I found the performance to be more than adequate on both the Dell desktop and my 386SX laptop.

You can set alarms for scheduled appointments. The alarm beeps and displays the appointment information at the specified time, regardless of whether you're working in Organizer or in another Windows application. (Organizer must at least be running in the background for the alarm to work.) The product includes an autodialer function so that you can automatically dial numbers as you look them up in the address book.

Of the products reviewed, Organizer was one of the easiest to use. I found myself making appointments having barely opened the manual. In addition, Organizer provides a good data import and export facility. The product did have a few minor bugs: For example, the alphabetical notebook tabs for searching the address book didn't work with my imported data file, although I could still search names using the Search command in the Edit menu. But overall, Organizer is a slick product with a reasonable price of $149. It has a concise and easy-to-use user's manual and the strong technical support of Lotus behind it.

OnTime for Windows 1.2

OnTime for Windows 1.2 is a basic time scheduler. It doesn't have an address book.

You use it to schedule appointments and to maintain to-do lists. You can attach notes to appointments and perform keyword searches. You can set up alarms and reminders for recurring tasks or appointments (e.g., setting an alarm for a monthly staff meeting). You can also print out oversize calendars to mount on the wall and work with daily, weekly, monthly, or annual time intervals.

I found OnTime easy to use and very intuitive. The manual is a concise 50 pages. Priced at $129.95, it's affordable and immediately useful. However, I would have liked it better with an integrated address book.

PackRat 4.1

PackRat is an extremely ambitious information management package, with tools for managing appointments, addresses, project tasks—even the files on your hard disk. It is replete with alert and tickler functions and includes an index-card tool for storing notes and memos, a scratchpad for copying information from other PackRat utilities, a resource utility for managing things like conference rooms and

equipment, a Gantt chart function, and an auto-dialer, among other features.

PackRat uses an elaborate icon interface that you can customize with additional icons. It also includes an Integration Library for developing macros for working with other Windows products. But I found this product to be one of the more difficult to learn. You cannot just plunge in. The best introduction is in the tutorial booklet. I found data import to be virtually impossible in PackRat.

Polaris plans for its next release of PackRat, version 5.0, to be available by the time you read this. The company says that version 5.0 will be an even more comprehensive package that will manage the entire Windows applications environment, integrating with Windows applications.

Priced at $395, PackRat 4.1 is in the expensive league of information managers, and it has a lot of functionality. In my opinion, this product tries to do a little too much and ends up being too difficult to use. Nevertheless, if you're looking at the PIM heavyweights like ACT and Commence, PackRat deserves your consideration.

YourWay 3.0

YourWay is a direct competitor of Lotus Organizer. Considering its capabilities, it's a bargain at $99. YourWay uses a cardfile metaphor for storing address-book entries (see screen 3). One nice feature is that you can create your own card files and use your own field names, providing a high degree of customization. This feature makes data import easier, because you can set up a card file with the same number of fields as the data to be imported.

YourWay has the usual address book, appointment scheduler, calendar, phone tracking function, and note taker, plus a Gantt chart feature. YourWay doesn't have a separate notepad or word processing function, although you can attach notes to

Screen 3: Prisma Software's YourWay uses a card-file metaphor that makes it one of the more accessible PIMs.

YourWay ■ CAYOURWAYICONTACI.YOB

£Ue Edit View Cards Search ghone Utilities Help

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MAY 1993 -BYTE 197

PERSONABLE PIMS

particular address or appointment records. YourWay supports macros through DDE, although you'll need to be an experienced DDE user to take advantage of this feature.

I found YourWay easy to learn and very accessible, although its icons were in the unintelligible category. At such a low price, YourWay is definitely worth a serious look.

Macintosh

Danny Goodman's Connections 2.1

Danny Goodman's Connections is a HyperCard-based PIM with appointment scheduling and calendar functions, a todo list, an auto-dialer, a note taker, and a telephone directory. Since it's based on HyperCard, you can also integrate data from other HyperCard stacks, and an import/export facility is included. It has a group calendar feature for use on a network.

The program has the basic ingredients of a complete information manager. But Connections has one major problem: It's terribly slow on a Mac SE. When you search for a record or make a link between an appointment and a name in Connections' telephone directory, you may as well go for coffee while it completes (that's only a slight exaggeration). To be blunt, the per

c

Connections has one major problem: It's terribly slow on a Mac SE.

formance is unacceptable on a Mac SE or Mac Plus. On a Mac Ilfx the performance is more adequate, but if you're working with a 68020 Mac, you'll find the performance frustrating.

Now Up-To-Date 2.0

Now Up-To-Date is a simple calendar and scheduling program similar to OnTime for Windows. It doesn't have an address book, but it does have a to-do-list function. Its specialty is working with appointments, schedules, and calendars. Now Up-ToDate includes a Control Panel that can remind you of appointments while you're working in other applications.

Now Up-To-Date is easy to use, and the performance is good. One nice feature is the ability to print oversize wall calendars

to post in an office or meeting room. Priced at $99, Now Up-To-Date is a good choice for a basic time scheduler.

Best PIMs

Personal information managers are, of course, personal. And each of these PIMs focuses on different requirements; depending on what you want to do, your preferences may be quite different from mine. If you're looking for an address book or Day-Timer replacement, Lotus Organizer and YourWay are both good choices. Organizer has the advantage of being tightly integrated with other Lotus products. YourWay has more flexible data management functions and costs $50 less.

If you're in the sales business, ACT is a good choice. If you need major project management capabilities, Jensen-Jones's Commence fits the bill. And if you're the more philosophical type and like to keep journals and keep track of ideas, take a look at Ascend. Finally, if you want a basic no-frills time manager, OnTime for Windows or Now Up-To-Date for the Mac would both be good selections. ■

Nicholas Baran is a BYTE consulting editor and coeditor o/Pen-Based Computing, an industry newsletter based in Sandpoint, Idaho. He is also author o/Windows from the Keyboard (John Wiley & Sons, 1993). He can be reached on BIX as "nickbaran."

COMPANY INFORMATION <]

Campbell Services, Inc.

Elan Software Corp.

Jensen-Jones, Inc.

Now Software, Inc.

(OnTime for Windows 1.2)

(GoldMine 2.5)

(Commence 1.0)

(Now Up-To-Date 2.0)

21700 Northwestern Hwy.,

4917 Gerald Ave.

Pkwy. 109 Office Center

319 Southwest Washington St.,

Suite 1070

Encino.CA 91436

328 Newman Springs Rd.

11th Floor

Southfield, MI 48075

(818) 999-9872

Red Bank, NJ 07701

Portland, OR 97204

(800) 345-6747

fax:(818)999-9903

(800)289-1548

(503) 274-2800

(313)559-5955

Circle 1233 on Inquiry Card.

(908) 530-4666

fax: (503) 274-0670

fax:(313)559-1034

fax: (908) 530-9827

Circle 1238 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 1231 on Inquiry Card.

Franklin Quest Co.

Circle 1236 on Inquiry Card.

(Ascend 4.0)

Polaris Software, Inc.

Contact Software

2550 South Decker Lake Blvd.

Lotus Development Corp.

(PackRat4.1)

International, Inc.

Salt Lake City, UT 84119

(Lotus Organizer 1.0)

17150 Via Del Campo,

(ACT for Windows 1.0)

(800)877-1814

55 Cambridge Pkwy.

Suite 307

1840 Hutton Dr., Suite 200

(801) 975-9992

Cambridge, MA 02142

San Diego, CA 92127

Carrollton, TX 75006

fax: (801) 975-9995

(800)343-5414

(619)674-6500

(800) 365-0607

Circle T 234 on Inquiry Card.

(617)577-8500

fax: (619) 674-7315

(214)919-9500

Circle 1237 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 1239 on Inquiry Card.

fax:(214)919-9750

Heizer Software

Circle 1232 on Inquiry Card.

(Danny Goodman's

Prisma Software Corp.

Connections 2.1)

(YourWay 3.0)

P.O. Box 232019

2301 Clay St., Suite 100

Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

Cedar Falls, IA 50613

(510)943-7667

(800) 437-2685

fax:(510)943-6882

(319)266-7141

Circle 1235 on Inquiry Card.

fax:(319)266-2522

Circle 1240 on Inquiry Card.

198 BYTE • MAY 1993

REVIEWS

SOFTWARE

Banyan's "StreetTalk for NetWare"

JOHN RYDBERG

NetWare does a lot of things well, but coordinating access to network resources across multiple servers isn't one of them. Banyan Systems' ENS for NetWare addresses this limitation through StreetTalk, Banyan's global naming service. ENS, which stands for Enterprise Network Services, hardens NetWare's weakest link by applying Banyan's traditional strength: It brings to NetWare a server-independent directory structure that Novell's dominant LAN operating system has always lacked.

ENS for NetWare is a family of products that provides resource and user management networkwide. ENS networks are global and service-based, which means that users can easily access resources such as file volumes, print queues, and mail services by searching the StreetTalk database. Unlike users of plain NetWare (at least until NetWare 4.0), users under ENS for NetWare never need to know exactly on which server a service resides.

StreetTalk Meets NetWare

StreetTalk, a distributed database that contains information about the users and resources on a network, has been the foundation of the Banyan Vines operating system for over nine years. Each StreetTalk object has a three-part name that indicates the item, group, and organization to which an object belongs. For example, the StreetTalk object Laser Printer@Sales@ Connect indicates a laser printer that is a member of the group Sales in the organization Connect. When a user requests access to a resource, StreetTalk decides how to connect the user and the resource. Since users see all resources as part of a single virtual system, they are not required to know about the server to which a resource is attached. Each user needs only a valid service name and sufficient access rights to use a resource.

Novell had not provided global naming services until its recently announced NetWare 4.0 (see page 42). Administrators of multiple NetWare servers are well aware of the administration problems in dealing with network resource management. Each server must have a log-in name for every user that requires access. User-access and security changes must be made manually to each network server that counts the user

ENS for NetWare simplifies administration and use ofmultiserver NetWare networks. From this screen, users can reach printers throughout the network rather than find queues server by server.

among its clients. When there are many users and many servers, this can become a difficult task.

This is where Banyan's ENS can be of help. A single ENS server complements a network of up to eight NetWare servers (this is a limitation inherent in NetWare) by combining all users and resources under a common StreetTalk database. Administrators can then link ENS servers to support additional NetWare servers.

Adding ENS

The ENS system has three primary components: ENS server software, the StreetTalk agent, and client software. The ENS server—where StreetTalk runs—is a dedicated PC that runs the ENS server software. It installs like any Banyan server. You boot the machine and just keep feeding disks as prompted until the system indicates installation is complete. There are a few prompts to answer, but installation is generally straightforward.

The second component, the StreetTalk agent, is used to bring in NetWare servers. It's a collection of NLMs (NetWare loadable modules) or VAPs (value-added processes) that run under NetWare 3.11 or

2.2. You install the agent using the INSTALL program supplied for the NetWare servers. INSTALL copies the required NLMs or VAPs along with new management utilities and client software to each NetWare server.

The third component is a program called BANV, the client software that runs on DOS or Windows workstations. BANV lets users access resources across the network and allows administrators to perform central management of those resources.

The administration utilities of ENS for NetWare are similar to the normal Vines utilities. The MANAGE utility acts as the front end, presenting a menu offering network resources for management and configuration. These resources include services, users, lists, nicknames, groups, and organizations.

Using ENS

Under ENS, the process of creating or deleting network resources is really the registration or deletion of the resources in the StreetTalk database. The StreetTalk agent reads and writes the NetWare bindery during this process, but only to create or delete the object. It's important to point

MAY 1993 -BYTE 199

BANYAN'S "STREETTALK FOR NETWARE"

out that the Vines utilities offer only limited control over the NetWare resources. The configuration and creation of printer and disk resources on a NetWare server still require the use of NetWare utilities. To create a file service on a NetWare server, you use the MSERVICE utility. This registers an existing NetWare volume with StreetTalk, using the name you supply. When you delete the file service, only the StreetTalk information is deleted, not the data. Another utility called STI (StreetTalk Integration) allows the administrator to map or unmap users and groups found in the NetWare bindery files to StreetTalk names. Note that once ENS is set up, you must be very careful if you run any of the NetWare management utilities like SYSCON. Banyan recommends that you not use them at all, because Net

BVTE

ACTION SUMMARY

WHAT ENS FOR NETWARE IS

A distributed directory that allows NetWare users and administrators to work with resources networkwide rather than on a server-by-server basis.

LIKES

Very simple one-point access to all network resources. Options for wide-area connectivity.

DISLIKES

Only eight NetWare servers per ENS server. StreetTalk's fixed, three-tiered naming scheme.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Even in light of NetWare 4.0's Directory Services, ENS for NetWare offers a good solution for enterprise networks running NetWare 3.11 or 2.2. It's ideal for mixed Vines-NetWare LANs.

PRICE

ENS for NetWare 1.0, $3995 (varies by configuration and number of users for which NetWare server is licensed)

I FOR MORE INFORMATION

Banyan Systems, Inc.

120 Flanders Rd.

Westborough, MA01581

(800) 828-2404

(508)898-1000

fax:(508)898-1755

Circle 1222 on Inquiry Card.

Ware won't communicate any bindery changes to StreetTalk.

Once resources and users are mapped to StreetTalk, network clients can begin reaching network services with a common set of commands. This is where ENS simplifies some common procedures in NetWare. For example, to assign print queues to printer ports, you run the ENS SETPRINT command and press the F2 key; you are shown a list of printers available across the ENS system (see the screen on the previous page). You then select the printer you wish to use, and ENS automatically makes the connection. The equivalent function using NetWare requires searching through individual sewers for print queues using the PCONSOLE command, attaching to a different server if necessary, and using the CAPTURE command to make the connection.

Assigning drive volumes under ENS is similarly easy. You run the SETDRIVE command and select an available volume from a list. Performing the same task with NetWare requires that you know server and volume names.

These examples illustrate the primary advantage of ENS. Clients can draw upon the StreetTalk database to see all network resources. If StreetTalk Directory Assistance is loaded, you can even call up the database with a hot key.

ENS for NetWare runs on a variety of platforms: A 386 machine with 8 MB of RAM and an 80-MB hard drive is the minimum requirement. Server software also supports dual-processor platforms. I used a 486 clone with 8 MB of RAM and a 120MB IDE hard drive for my test of the software.

Banyan offers several options with the ENS product line. I recommend two options in particular: MNET and Vines Assistant. These are Vines applications that report on performance, including communication statistics, service information, and disk requests. This type of feedback is useful when troubleshooting network performance problems. Currently, the MNET and Vines Assistant options provide information only on ENS and other Vines servers. While this is limiting, it is still useful information.

Other Banyan software options support server-to-server WAN (wide-area network) and LAN communications transparently over X.25 or SNA (Systems Network Architecture) networks. Options are also available for SNMP, SMTP gateways, Macintosh connectivity, TCP/IP routing, and Token Ring bridging, just to name a few. Further, an Intelligent Messaging option allows the exchange of mail through SMTP mail gateways or many third-party

mail gateways, as well as providing a functional mail service.

The Big Picture

ENS for NetWare is not without drawbacks. First, a single ENS server can connect with only eight NetWare servers, which could be a difficult constraint. Second, the StreetTalk naming service has only three levels in its naming structure, which may not be enough for large organizations. Third, the BANV client program takes 30 KB of base memory, which could push clients with multiple network drivers over the edge. Also note that while ENS vastly simplifies some common network procedures, users and administrators will need training to use the system effectively.

Banyan's software licensing for ENS is a little complicated. In addition to the ENS server software, you have to purchase an authorization code for each NetWare server according to the number of users for which the NetWare server is licensed. This determines the base price; options are extra, ranging in price from $699 to $4495. Standard pricing is $3995 for the ENS server software ($2995 to add to an existing Vines server). The NetWare NLM/VAP software pricing ranges from $295 for a five-user NetWare license to $3495 for a 250-user NetWare license.

ENS plugs a large gap in NetWare. But with NetWare 4.0 and NDS (NetWare Directory Services), Novell will introduce its own solution. NDS works like Banyan's ENS when used with 2.x and 3.x servers. It offers a bindery emulation mode that allows the 4.0 servers to function like 3.x servers. And it adds the ability to register resources on servers running earlier versions of NetWare in the Directory Services database. It also allows an unlimited number of levels in resource names.

So where does ENS for NetWare fit? It has a few advantages over NDS. StreetTalk has over nine years of development behind it, with a proven track record. And ENS is far more than a directory services program: ENS software options greatly expand the WAN capabilities of a NetWare environment. But most critically, a single ENS server brings many benefits of NetWare 4.0 to as many as eight existing NetWare servers—without an expensive upgrade for each. ■

John Rydberg is a senior network engineer with Connect Computer in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He's had over seven years' experience in network technology and specializes in network design, installation, and troubleshooting. You can reach him on BIX c/o "editors. "

200 B YTE • MAY 1993

WIEWS

Windows Video Recorders

TOM YAGER

Video is a vital component of many professional multimedia projects. Microsoft Video for Windows (VFW) adds digital-video playback capabilities to Windows, but that video has to come from somewhere. Almost all digital video starts out as analog video from a videotape, laserdisc, or TV tuner. VFW can turn these analog samples into digital video for you, but you need a video-capture board.

In this review, I'll take a look at five of the first VFW-compatible video-capture boards to hit the market: Creative Labs' VideoSpigot for Windows ($499) and VideoBlaster ($499), AITech's VideoSurge ($995), New Media Graphics' Super VideoWindows ($995), and Matrox Marvel ($995 without integrated VGA, $1495 with 15-bit-color VGA). All but the VideoSpigot are actually video-in-a-window devices. They're built to take video from an external source and display it on your computer's monitor, picture-in-picture style.

The Right Tool

Using a video-in-a-window board for VFW usually means making allowances. First, you must have a vacant block of memory under the 16-MB mark. In general, your system cannot have more than 15 MB of memory. Of the boards tested, the VideoSpigot is the only one that did not have that requirement.

Also, for live real-time video, you have to plug your monitor into a connector on the overlay board and hook the board to a separate VGA adapter through a ribbon cable. The Marvel's on-board Tseng ET4000 VGA controller simplifies things considerably, since the video-in-a-window part of the board is tuned to the Tseng chip and works with most of its VFW-useful video modes. When you're forced to use a separate VGA, there is no such synergy between the VGA and the overlay board. In fact, for my tests, the only Super VGA (Actix GraphicsEngine) mode that worked reliably with all three non-VGA-equipped video-in-a-window cards was Windows' 640- by 480-pixel, 16-color generic VGA setting.

If you only plan to use the board for video capture, you can limit your exposure to VGA mode-mismatch troubles by simply not hooking up the feature connector cable. VFW does not require that

Hardware for pulling video into Windows (from left to right): the Matrox Marvel, VideoBlaster and VideoSpigot from Creative Labs, AITech's VideoSurge, and New Media Graphics' Super VideoWindows.

your board be able to run in video-in-awindow mode, so you can just plug your monitor directly into your display adapter.

Dropping a Few Frames

To test the capture boards, I installed each into an ALR Flyer 32LCT system with 8 MB of memory and a 66-MHz 486DX2 processor. For boards that required a separate VGA card, I used the Actix GraphicsEngine, an S3-based accelerated VGA adapter. The video came from a Sony CVD-1000 computer-controllable Hi-8 VCR. I used video supplied by Firstlight Productions.

The performance tests were simple: I captured 60 seconds of video at three different resolution/color-depth combinations (see the table on page 202). VFW drops frames when it can't maintain the capture rate that's requested (measured in frames per second). The performance statistics reflect the maximum capture rate that resulted in no dropped frames. For all tests, I set audio recording at 8-bit, 11-kHz mono (the VFW default).

Built around the same set of Philips digital-video chips, the Super VideoWindows and the VideoBlaster share a nearly identical set of features and performance attributes. The Super VideoWindows has been a mainstay in the video-in-a-window market, and capture-driver support for the board is included with VFW. The Super VideoWindows handles, by default, three composite video and three stereo audio

channels. As with the other multichannel devices, you can connect multiple video sources and select any one of them in software. The audio connectors are for passthrough audio only; the Super VideoWindows has no audio-digitizing capabilities. The VideoBlaster differs mostly in its handling of audio. While the Super VideoWindows has separate RCA jacks for all its audio channels, the VideoBlaster has only one set of RCA stereo line-input jacks on its fan-out cable. Two other line-level audio inputs are on the board itself in the form of pin connectors for a CD player and another arbitrary audio source. There's also a microphone jack at the board's rear.

Not Ready for Plug-and-Play

I ran into some trouble while installing the Super VideoWindows card. The software makes changing the board's settings easy, but you have to power off and on to apply the changes. For my setup, I had to go through five such cycles before I found a workable combination. Once it started working, Super VideoWindows turned in a respectable 14 fps at the standard 160- by 120-pixel, 8-bit capture setting.

The VideoBlaster wasn't quite so cooperative. The board eventually worked, but not before causing several diverse problems: It made the display go black when I started a capture, it refused to let Windows shut down or reboot, and it made my system's Pro Audio Spectrum sound card stop working with Windows. This

MAY 1993 •BYTE 201

WINDOWS VIDEO RECORDERS

VIDEO CAPTURE FOR WINDOWS

Video for Windows drops frames when it can 7 maintain a requested capture rate. The performance statistics reflect the maximum capture rate (in frames per second) that resulted in no dropped frames. The VideoSpigot aced all the performance tests, beating all the other cards for capture rates while turning in exceptional quality. (• = yes; O = no.)

Capture performance (frames per second)

Capture board

Price Inputs S-video

Daughtercard connectors

Video-ina-Window

160x120/ 8-bit

160x120/ 16-bit

320x240/ 8-bit

AITech VideoSurge

$995

Two

O

•

•

11

8

2

Creative Labs VideoSpigot for Windows

$499

Two (no audio)

•

o

o

18

10 (24-bit YUV)

4

Creative Labs VideoBlaster

$499

Three

o

o

•

14

9

4

Matrox Marvel

$9951 $14952

Two

11 (dithered)

New Media Graphics Super VideoWindows

$995

Three

14

'Without VGA * With 15-bit-color VGA

was also the only card that refused to work with the GraphicsEngine's 15-bit-color mode (with no feature connector attachment). These difficulties appeared even though I painstakingly set all I/O well out

BYTE

ACTION SUMMARY

WHAT VIDEO FOR WINDOWS CAPTURE BOARDS ARE

PC boards that can digitize several frames of external video per second, which VFW stores to your disk as a digital-video file to be played back later.

UKES

Very easy to use once they're installed; video-in-a-window boards support both analog and digital video and multiple video/audio sources.

DISLIKES

Video-in-a-window boards limit system memory to 1 5 MB; there are incompatibilities with nonstandard VGA modes; some boards exhibit unpredictable behavior.

RECOMMENDATIONS

For straight VFW capture, Creative Labs' VideoSpigot for Windows is the best choice; for quality and versatility, the Matrox Marvel wins over other videoin-a-window cards.

of the way of other system components. These same settings worked fine with the other overlay boards. When it worked, the VideoBlaster's performance and video quality matched those of the Super VideoWindows.

AITech's VideoSurge roughly matches the capabilities of the preceding two overlay boards. It handles two incoming composite video channels and three channels of pass-through stereo audio (through '/s-inch stereo jacks). There is an S-video connector on the board that was not enabled in the review unit. The documentation is poor and all the connectors are unlabeled, and the card was as difficult to install as the VideoBlaster. I had to cycle power several times to fix blank screens, bad colors, and other unpredictable behavior. The capture drivers and the standard Windows software are good, and the VideoSurge includes a simple program (Prolmage) that performs image capture, paint, and graphics format conversions. VideoSurge's AVI (Audio Video Interleave) capture performance is acceptable at 11 fps for 160- by 120-pixel, 8-bit video.

Rising to the Top

Two boards in this review rose to the top of the group for decidedly different reasons. In the video-in-a-window class, the Matrox Marvel brings more to the party than any board I've ever seen. Since this article is primarily about VFW capture, I'll open with the most disappointing aspect of the Marvel: It turned in the worst overall capture performance of all tested boards. But in an application where both digital and analog video are used, the Marvel carries the analog side of its double duty better than the other boards.

Either of the Marvel's two video inputs can be turned into an S-video channel by a simple Y cable, and a connector at the rear of the card accommodates a fan-out cable set that puts six feet of cable behind each clearly labeled connector. The quality of the real-time video is astoundingly good, thanks to Matrox ASICs (application-specific ICs). The Marvel filters incoming video to reduce streaks and distortion in the overlay video that are caused when an object in the scene moves quickly or when the camera is panned rapidly. These motion artifacts have long been the most serious drawback of using video-in-a-window devices.

Another unique advantage of the Marvel is its effects processing. Overlay video can be manipulated through the Keyframe Editor to apply effects such as invert, posterize, strobe, mosaic, resize, and position. The effects are fast, smooth, and clean. Wipes, tumbles, fades, tints, and other effects can be combined in a precisely timed animated effects script that you can load and invoke from within any MCI-capable (media control interface) application (including Visual Basic and ToolBook).

When it comes to choosing the overall best VFW capture board, there's no contest: The VideoSpigot for Windows wins easily. This was the first chance I had to see the complete bundle, and I came away extremely impressed. The VideoSpigot includes VFW, Asymetrix Multimedia ToolBook, and a pair of ToolBook-based presentation programs. This is, in one box, everything you need not only to capture great-looking video but to build that video into presentations and programs as well.

The technology behind the VideoSpigot's video quality has one aspect in

202 B YTE • MAY 1993

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And, the double speed SCSI NEC CD-ROM drive delivers twice the throughput (300kB/sec) and has three times faster access (280ms) than other CDROM drives—greatly exceeding MPC specifications.

Here's what PC Magazine says,"Those who want the best sound possible out of their multimedia PC upgrade kits should remember this name: Media Vision."

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MICROSOFT WINDOWS. COMBMIBLE

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Media Vision, 3185 1 .aurelview Court, Fremont, CA 94538. 1-800-845-5870 510-770-8600, FAX: 510-770-9592. D1993, Media Vision, Inc. Media Vision and Pro AudioSpectrum are trademarks of Media Vision, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

Circle 282 on Inquiry Card.

WINDOWS VIDEO RECORDERS

COMPANY

INFORMATION |

AITech International

Matrox Electronics Systems, Ltd.

(VideoSurge)

(Matrox Marvel)

830 Hillview Court, Suite 145

1055 St. Regis Blvd.

Milpitas, CA 95035

Dorval, Quebec,

(408)946-3291

Canada H9P 2T4

fax: (408) 946-3597

(514)685-2630

Circle 1227 on Inquiry Card.

fax:(514)685-2853

Circle 1229 on Inquiry Card.

Creative Labs, Inc.

(VideoBlaster, VideoSpigot)

New Media Graphics

1901 McCarthy Blvd.

(Super VideoWindows)

Milpitas, CA 95035

780 Boston Rd.

(408) 428-6600

Billerica, MA 01821

fax:(408)428-6611

(508) 663-0666

Circle 1228 on Inquiry Card.

fax: (508) 663-6678

Circle 1230 on Inquiry Card.

common with the Marvel: A special digital encoding scheme captures and stores twice as much color information as typical overlay boards. This translates into truer colors and better representation of subtle shading variations. The VideoSpigot is not an overlay board, so it can't display incoming video in real time. It also has no

provision for pass-through audio. What it does have is great capture performance, both composite and S-video connectors, and the most complete capture-driver software of any VFW board on the market.

The VideoSpigot's capture driver supports some uncommon codec formats, including VFW's only software compressed

on-the-fly format (Spigot Compression). The VideoSpigot aced all the performance tests, beating all the other cards for capture rates while turning in exceptional quality.

Windows Video at Its Best

The overall best choice for Video for Windows capture hardware is Creative Labs' VideoSpigot. The standard software bundle, advanced codecs, effortless installation, and S-video input place it head and shoulders above the rest of the pack for VFW capture alone.

In my work, I tend to create applications that call for both analog and digital video. For that combination, I'm strongly inclined toward the Matrox Marvel. Its video quality is unmatched by any overlay board I've seen, the optional on-board VGA makes combining high-color Windows and video-in-a-window a snap, and Marvel's keyframe effects, tastefully applied, can give a multimedia application a little extra polish. ■

Tom Yager is a multimedia consultant, analyst, and producer. You can reach him on BIX as "tyager" and on the Internet at tyager@bytepb.byte.com.

DEVELOPERS & POWER USERS: END PROGRAMMING BOTTLENECKS

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REVIEWS

HARDWARE

Tape Backup on the Go

HOWARD EGLOWSTEIN

We've all made excuses about tape backup: "I have no free drive bays for a tape drive" or "It's too expensive to buy a tape drive for one machine" are common rationalizations around the office. And on the road, there's simply no way to connect a SCSI- or floppy driveinterface tape drive to your laptop.

Parallel-port tape drives solve these problems. They plug into your PC's printer port and allow you to connect your printer through a pass-through port. In the office, you can carry the drive from machine to machine and share the cost of the drive among several users. A small parallel-port tape drive will tuck nicely into your laptop computer bag and save you from data disasters on the road.

This review covers four 250-MB, parallel-port tape drives: the Jumbo Trakker 250 from Colorado Memory Systems, the Tape250 from Iomega, the Backpack tape drive from Micro Solutions, and the Model 250P from Storage Devices, Inc. (SDI). A fifth drive, the Archive SuperHornet, did not ship in time for this evaluation. All these units are QIC (quarter-inch cartridge) 80 format and store 80 MB on a standard DC2000 cartridge, or 120 MB on an extended-length DC2000XL or DC2120 cartridge.

In addition, the software that comes with each drive provides data-compression routines that promise to compress your data at a ratio of about 2 to 1, for a potential tape capacity of 250 MB. In most cases, the compression will fall short of the 2-to-1 ratio because a lot of data on your machine may already be compressed. Many bitmapped image formats include some compression, and files made with ARC or PKZip probably won't compress at all. Expect to get between 180 and 200 MB of data on one of these drives.

To test these tape drives, I connected each one to a 33-MHz 486 EISA machine with a fast SCSI hard drive and an EISA SCSI controller (see the figure for test results). I used a fast machine to ensure that the machine's performance wasn't a significant factor in the transfer rates. The 486's 300-MB drive had 200 MB of mixed data, including a complete Windows installation with a variety of applications, several DOS applications, and lots of text and image files. The mix is typical of what

Portable tape drives connect to your PC through a standard printer port and provide tape backup-and-restore functions. Pass-through connections let you keep your printer connected at the same time. From left to right: Colorado Memory Systems' Jumbo Trakker 250, SDI's Model 250P (top), Iomega's Tape250, and Micro Solutions' Backpack tape drive. All except the Iomega Tape250 use an external power brick (the Trakker's is a bit large for portable use).

you'd find on desktops.

I timed a complete backup/verify cycle of the 200-MB mix and deleted a 10-MB directory from the hard drive. The second test was a timed restore of that 10-MB directory. By comparing the time taken and space used on the tape, I determined the tape drive's transfer rate and the tape software's compression ratio. Our battery lest fixture, Thumper 2, kept the timing fair (and automated). I put a custom activity detector between the computer and the tape drive; any transition of the data lines looked like a transition on Thumper's screen sensor inputs. A second computer used the status messages from Thumper to accurately time transfers.

Colorado Memory Systems' Jumbo Trakker 250

The Jumbo Trakker 250 is the parallelport version of Colorado's internal QIC 80 tape drive. The $548 package I reviewed came with the drive, two preformatted DC2120 tapes, and version 2.58 of Colorado's backup software. This version is being replaced with a much flashier version, 3.04, and I had a chance to look at a prerelease version 3.04 as well.

The Trakker 250's backup software managed the best compression ratio in the group: 1.8 to 1. The other units achieved

rates between 1.5 to 1 and 1.7 to 1. On a fast machine like the 33-MHz 486, speed improves with compression; on slower machines, turning compression off will make backups faster but use more tape. Trakker's TAPE.EXE includes both menus and a command-line interface. You can do anything from the command line that you can do from the menus.

Trakker 250 tapes are fully compatible with the standard Jumbo drives. If your office machine has one of these internal drives, you can share data directly with your laptop.

Only two things prevent the Trakker from being the perfect portable tape drive: The power brick is very large and heavy (with the brick, the Trakker weighs 4.2 pounds), and the software has to be installed on a hard drive before it will run. When recovering from a hard disk crash, I'd appreciate being able to run the restore software from a floppy disk.

Iomega's Tape250

Iomega has a reputation for solid equipment. The $548 Tape250 is easily the beefiest drive in the group, and it looks built to last. To enhance reliability and portability, the Tape250 has no special connection cables or power bricks. You power the drive with a standard AC cord

MAY 1993 -BYTE 205

TAPE BACKUP ON THE GO

TALE OF THE TAPE

Colorado Jumbo Trakker 250

Iomega Tape250

Micro Solutions Backpack

SDI Model 250P

4 Worse Megabytes per minute Better ►

y 200 MB JIB

■ "ra""c 'u'

^^m^^^^^^^^^^^^^m^^m

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5

The graph indicates the kind of performance you can expect when hacking up and restoring a typical mix of data. The Micro Solutions Backpack was the fastest drive. The SDI Model 250P may have posted better restore times, but its software insisted on scanning an entire tape even after recovering the requested files.

BYTE

ACTION SUMMARY

WHAT PARALLEL-PORT TAPE DRIVES ARE

These tape drives hold up to 250 MB of data and connect directly to your PCs parallel port. A pass-through connection lets a printer share the port.

LIKES

They're portable, convenient, and easy to set up and use; an excellent solution for notebook computers.

DISLIKES

The power bricks and cables are a hassle to carry around, and the one unit without a power brick, the Iomega Tape250, makes too much noise.

RECOMMENDATIONS

For backing up notebook computers, the Backpack is the smallest and fastest unit around. In an office environment, the Jumbo Trakker is sturdy and reliable.

I PRICE

Backpack, $539 Jumbo Trakker 250, $548 Model 250P, $549 Tape250, $548

206 B YTE ■ MAY 1993

and hook it up through a standard 36-pin printer cord (one is provided with the drive). A 25-pin connector on the drive accepts your existing printer cable, enabling you to print in pass-through mode. When you're traveling, you could conceivably take just the drive and trust that someone at your destination will have a power cord and printer cable. You don't need to lug around an extra cable and power brick. Still, the drive is no lightweight; it tips the scales at 4.1 pounds.

Unfortunately, the internal AC supply on the Tape250 requires an internal fan. The fan on this drive was louder than the power-supply fan on the full-size 486 to which it was connected. You'll definitely want to turn the drive off between uses to keep from annoying everyone around you; but with the drive turned off, you can't use connect-through printing.

The backup software is Central Point's CPBACKUP, a large, unwieldy backup package with an obscure user interface. It consumes over 2 MB of disk space and requires a hard drive installation before use. It also turned in the slowest performance in the backup/verify test.

Micro Solutions' Backpack Tape Drive

For portable use, it's hard to beat the $539 Backpack tape drive. It's small and lightweight (just 3.2 pounds complete), and it comes with a fairly small power brick. It's also fast, completing both the backup/verify test and the restore test in significantly less time than the rest.

BPBACKUP, the Backpack's utility software, formats tape and handles backup

and restore operations. It's DOS-based and slightly outdated, but it works reliably and is simple enough to use. For a transportable drive, a simple backup application can be a big win. For example, one of the hard drives in your office might go crazy and damage its directory. The first thing you'll want to do is back up any readable data files. The software included with the other drives requires that you install it onto the hard drive first. Do that, and you'll risk damaging the directory and FAT (file allocation table) structures even further. BPBACKUP will run comfortably off a floppy drive and requires no configuration.

BPBACKUP's major drawback is its lack of a command-line interface. Unlike with the Trakker 250's software, you can't control BPBACKUP from a batch file. Instead, you have BPBACKUP create a keyboard macro that records your tape commands and writes out a separate DOS executable file. Later you run the new executable program, which loads BPBACKUP for you and automates backup. It works, but I'd still prefer a command-line interface.

SDI's Model 250P

I was impressed by the small size and weight (2.6 pounds) of the Model 250P drive ($549) and SDI's choice of Gazelle Systems' Back-It 4 as a backup utility. I've used previous versions of Back-It before, and they were quite usable.

SDI provides a custom Back-It tape driver and a standard copy of Back-It 4. After you install Back-It, you specify that all your backups should go to tape and use the SDI driver. My 486/33 had a compatibility problem with Back-It's "compatibility" mode. SDI's technical support was quickly able to diagnose the situation. Everything went fine after I changed a default setting.

Well, sort of. Back-It 4 doesn't appear to keep track of the original DOS directory structure in one place on the tape. As a consequence, when you restore data, BackIt has to search the entire backup to find what you asked for. For the 10-MB restore test, the directory I wanted off tape was early in the backup mix; Back-It found and restored the data in less than 4 minutes. However, it didn't know it had finished and kept reading for the better part of an hour. If I had specified data at the end of the backup, Back-It wouldn't have been smart enough to skip over the first part of the tape.

Back-It also uses a proprietary tape format that makes it impossible to read BackIt tapes on any other drive. The other drives all support standard QIC 40/80 formats and can interchange tapes to some degree.

continued

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As always, Mathcad lets you enter equations anywhere on the worksheet. Graph results in 2-D and 3-D. Change variables and instantly update answers. And print presentation quality documents with text, graphics and equations in real math notation. But now there's even more

Like new Windows features that make Mathcad easier to use. Including the tool bar widi mouse-click execution of file, edit, math and text controls. And full Windows DDE and OLE support that integrates Mathcad with your Windows spreadsheet.

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simplifies equations for faster, more concise results. In addition to more than 200 built-in numeric and symbolic functions, you'll find enhancements like trailing zeros, extra unit and Nth derivative operators. As well as extended graphing capabilities with Polar and Contour plots.

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D PC Windows'" Q PC DOS City

DUNIX- D Macintosh"

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Phone

MathSoft, Inc. 201 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA • Phone: 1-800-628-4223 ■ 617-577-1017- Fax- 617-577-8829 , i^iS??^50JI?' ?«' B°X 58' LivmSston> UK EH54 7AE • Phone: +44.506.460373 • Fax: +44.506.460374

"*9 signify manufacturer's trademark or registered trademark respectively. "Electronic Handbooks require Mathcad 3.1 or higher.

.J

i 1993 MathSoft, Inc. TM and (

Circle 102 on Inquiry Card.

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TAPE BACKUP ON THE GO

Have You Backed Up Lately?

With notebook computers regularly shipping with 200-MB drives, it's difficult to imagine anyone using a new notebook without some sort of backup. These portable tape drives are perfect for drives up to 200 MB—for transient use in the office as well as for portables. But which one? For me, that would depend on the specific application.

For extended traveling, I'd want a tape drive along with my notebook, and that would probably be Micro Solutions' Backpack. It's small and fast, and the software runs easily without being installed onto the hard drive. That can be a lifesaver in the event of a disk crash.

Around the office, weight isn't as much of an issue. Colorado Memory Systems' Jumbo Trakker 250 is a solid drive that should stand up to lots of use. The Trakker software's full command-line interface greatly simplifies automated backups. ■

Howard Eglowstein is a BYTE Lab testing editor who holds an S.B. from MIT. Contact him on BIX as "heglowstein."

COMPANY INFORMATION

Colorado Memory Systems, Inc.

(Jumbo Trakker 250)

800 South Taft Ave.

Loveland, CO 80537

(303) 669-8000

fax: (303) 667-0997

Circle 1223 on Inquiry Card.

Iomega Corp.

(Tape250)

1821 West Iomega Way

Roy, UT 84067

(800)777-6179

(801)778-3000

Circle 1224 on Inquiry Card.

Micro Solutions Computer Products

(Backpack)

132 West Lincoln Hwy.

DeKalb, IL601I5

(815)756-3411

fax:(815)756-2928

Circle 1225 on Inquiry Card.

Storage Devices, Inc.

(Model 250P)

6800 Orangethorpe Ave.

Buena Park, CA 90620

(714)562-5500

fax:(714)562-5505

Circle 1226 on Inquiry Card.

REVIEWS

SOFTWARE

Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3.4 for DOS

NICHOLAS JOHN DELONAS

Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.4 for DOS is a continuation of the "high-end" series of 1-2-3 for DOS. The new release ships with some swell bells and whistles, but the real news is that it runs quite a bit faster than its predecessor, release 3.1+. Is it full-featured enough and, what is more important, fast enough to justify an upgrade from either release 2.4 or release 3.1+?

As you might expect, that depends on what you need. All 3.1+ users and most 2.4 users should be happy with the new product. The one user who will be less enthusiastic is the macro developer now working with 2.4. Despite significant optimization of 3.4, the old-style, "low-end" 2.4 still runs macros much faster than any other major spreadsheet program. Release 2.4 users may also be unhappy with higher RAM requirements (1 MB versus 384 KB) and the lack of a true character mode (3.4 is always in graphical mode, WYSIWYG or not).

Lotus has made some big claims about performance improvements, and benchmarks tend to support its boasting. Release 3.4 is indeed faster than 3.1 + in every way. In every worksheet I tested, 3.4 recalculated at least 12 percent faster than 3.1+, and sometimes as much as 29 percent faster. In my tests, 3.4 consistently recalculated worksheets faster than 2.4 and, more often than not, outperformed 1-23/W1.1.

But 3.4 fell far short of 2.4 in terms of loading and macro processing. Release 2.4 loads much faster, coming up from the command line more than twice as fast as 3.4. And macros ran over 30 percent faster in 2.4 than in 3.4. However, 3.4 easily runs 1-2-3 macros faster than 1-2-3/W, Excel, and both versions of Quattro Pro (although Excel and Quattro Pro generally recalculate worksheets faster than any version of 1-2-3).

More Than Fast

Aside from performance, Lotus worked on improving 3.1+ in other ways. For example, release 3.4 provides updated DataLens drivers, to make better use of external dBase, Paradox, and SQL Server files. Backsolver technology is a bit better, now supporting simultaneous changes to multiple variables. You can now load a work

Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.4 for DOS introduces Smartlcons that let you perform common tasks with a click of the mouse.

sheet directly from the command line.

The most noticeable difference in 3.4 is the column of Smartlcons on the right edge of the display (see the screen). This puts the 3.x line on a par with 2.4, and the two products share many of the same icons. If you like to use the mouse and haven't made the jump to Windows or OS/2, you'll appreciate the convenience of these Smartlcons.

For macro developers, an important bonus in 3.4 is the inclusion of the 2.4style macro-trace facility. This lets you step through macro code and view each command before it executes.

Release 3.4 is definitely an improve

BVTE

ACTION SUMMARY

WHAT LOTUS 1-2-3 RELEASE 3.4 IS

Lotus's latest high-end DOS spreadsheet—the successor to 1-2-3 release 3.1+.

LIKES

Performance is much improved over 1-2-3 release 3.1+. Release 3.4's DataLens is better than Excel's Q+E and Quattro Pro for Windows' Database Desktop.

DISLIKES

No character mode. Macro processing is slow when compared with release 2.4.

ment over 3.1+. It's worth the $150 upgrade price if you need faster recalculations. Macro developers now working with 3.1+ will appreciate the long-overdue macro-trace feature. Power users fond of 2.4 may be less impressed with the new release. Unless you need 3-D or the external data-access features of DataLens, stick with 2.4. ■

Nicholas John Delonas is a consultant based in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also coeditor o/'The Spreadsheet Consultant, a newsletter for spreadsheet power users. You can contact him on BIX as "ndelonas."

RECOMMENDATIONS

Worth the upgrade from release 3.1 + for recalculation speed. Stick with release 2.4 unless you need 3-D spreadsheets or database access.

PRICE

Standard edition, $595 Upgrade or competitive upgrade from Quattro Pro for DOS, $150

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Lotus Development Corp.

55 Cambridge Pkwy.

Cambridge, MA 02142

(617)577-8500

Circle 1221 on Inquiry Card.

MAY 1993 -BYTE 209

BOOK

AND CD-ROM REVIEWS

HUGH KENNER

Probably "the tightest and most elegant piece of cash register code in the entire country" sits in a restaurant in Santa Fe. It materialized after an engineer was told that there was no way to make him a copy of his receipt. He and a friend demanded a look at the program that drove the cash register. Ugh! Spaghetti! "Booby traps cocked and waiting!" They didn't leave till, after several hours, they had recast it from the ground up.

Brighten, you see, the corner where you are; notably, any corner of solution space that comes your way. Fred Hapgood, who says he was present at that Santa Fe dinner, writes comfortably at a level of abstraction from which he can zoom in to anecdotes and out to the aesthetics of disturbing the universe. His Up the Infinite Corridor: MIT and the Technical Imagination disjoins the engineer from the blacksmith (an alter ego for much of two centuries) while managing not to beach the engineer amid the nerds.

"The products of engineering are tools, and the test of a well-made tool, of one that is a credit to its designer, is the speed with which it vanishes into the consciousness of its user. (This is what distinguishes tool-making from sculpture.) When we fly to some city we say that 'we' flew there, not that the jet did." That's lucid, low-pressure prose. The first half of the book— mainly a history of engineering in the U.S. and at MIT—is continuously illuminating. (Why was hydraulic power for so long an American specialty? Hapgood can tell you the answer.)

Though the second half seems much less sure what it's up to, by the last page we've still understood a lot. "What we do is find out what silicon wants to do and get out of its way," an MIT professor is saying three pages from the end, and somehow you're prepared to accept that silicon can, yes,

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nudge mind toward a tighter marriage with nature. Anyone who can make that feel obvious in a mere 50,000-odd words is a gifted writer indeed.

The same week brought me the following book, Dick Oliver's Fractal Vision: Put Fractals to Work for You. I can't be the only user of his Fractal Grafics software—reviewed here in May 1991—to have admired it, doodled a little, and set it aside. Not that it's hard to use; no, you just don't glimpse its range. All along, it's needed a book to give it context. Fortunately, Oliver's English is as deft as his C, and what he's now provided is the best introduction to fractal geometry I know of. It comes with a DOS disk—the full current retail version of Fractal Grafics, plus addenda. So every few pages the writer can break off to coach you through a hands-on demonstration.

Thus, a section called "How Long is the Coast of Maine?" is spiced by a session with the Koch Coastline (16 numbered step-by-step instructions). And when we come to the nonintuitive fractal dimension, rumors of which can send browsers rushing off screaming, we're calmly led through a routine that computes it for a curve we've just drawn.

From "A History of Fractals and Chaos" we're led to "Fractals in the Real World," "The Philosophy of Fractals," "The Art of Fractal Modeling," and "The Math Behind the Magic." There are lots of illustrations, including a color insert. There's a first-rate bibliography. And what nudges the mind all through this big book isn't silicon, it's the uncanny fit between fractal math and the real-world shapes of clouds and trees and chickens. ■

Hugh Kenner is Franklin and Callaway Professor of English at the University of Georgia. His recent books include Mazes and Historical Fictions. You can contact him on BIX as "hkenner."

THE SCOOP ON NT

Inside Windows NT, Helen Custer, Microsoft Press, $24.95, ISBN 1-55615-481-X

Helen Custer's Inside Windows NT is neither technical reference nor design philosophy, although it includes elements of each of these. Custer's book is like Peter Norton's classic work Inside the IBM PC in terms of depth and scope, providing users and developers alike with a thorough tour of Microsoft's highly publicized next-generation operating system.

This is a great overview. Custer proceeds from a top-level description of NT and its design goals to deep inside the NT kernel, always keeping NT's object orientation in the forefront. Along the way, she covers the structure of NT's Win32 subsystem and virtual memory manager, with a stop

for a detailed discussion of NT's multilayered I/O architecture. Objects pervade NT, and Custer skillfully uses the relationships of NT's objects as a unifying thread through each of these diverse subjects.

Inside Windows NT isn't an easy read. There's plenty of meat here, and sometimes I had to slog through the details before I could glimpse the overall picture. If you're an NT developer, slogging through is well worth the effort. Inside Windows NT gives you most of the information that you would have found at a developer's conference, API details aside. But this book isn't just for developers; it's also for curious and technically adept users who want to peek behind the curtain. Like Inside the IBM PC, Custer's book provides you with more details than you can comfortably swallow— but once those details are digested, you'll know NT inside and out.

—Steve Apiki

210 BYTE • MAY 1993

ILLUSTRATION: CHRIS LOCKWOOD © 1993

MULTIMEDIA QUARTET

Multimedia Toolkit, Russell Upton, Random House Electronic Publishing, $45, ISBN 0-679-74084-8 Instant Multimedia for Windows 3.1, Kris Jamsa, John Wiley & Sons, $29.95, ISBN 0-471-58972-1 Multimedia Creations, Philip Shaddock, Waite Group Press, $44.95, ISBN 1-878739-26-3 Multimedia: Making It Work, Toy Vaughan, Osborne McGraw-Hill, $27.95, ISBN 0-07-881869-9

No subject is filling bookshelves and magazine pages faster than multimedia, and four new books give this subject varied treatments. In Multimedia Toolkit, Russell Lipton is clearly influenced by hypertext, as both the focus of his book and its layout. Unfortunately, the "paper-hypertext" layout only clouds the book's content, which is more a collection of the author's opinions than a hands-on guide. Lipton includes the Bell Atlantic DocuSource hypertext document builder on disk.

Kris Jamsa's Instant Multimedia for Windows 3.1 is an introduction to the field. It includes a Windows PC speaker driver, sound files, animations, and a screen saver on disk. The text contains plenty of references to real products, and the book's approach is grounded in off-the-shelf applica

tions and the enclosed sample programs.

If you prefer DOS, pick up Philip Shaddock's Multimedia Creations, which includes a version of Paul Mace Software's Grasp graphical authoring system on disk. Shaddock uses Grasp to describe techniques for building procedural multimedia programs. This version of Grasp has only primitive facilities for using nongraphical media (you can order Grasp Multimedia for $249), but this is a good introduction to procedural multimedia authoring.

Tay Vaughan's Multimedia: Making It Work promises to cover "everything you need to know" about multimedia. If you limit your scope to the PC and Mac, I agree: This book is the most useful of the lot and easily the best multimedia book I've seen. It's filled with useful examples, some built around the included Tempra GIF and Show programs (for DOS). The publisher offers a reasonably priced ($32.95) companion CD-ROM that's piled high with multimedia demonstrations and tools for DOS, Mac, and Windows.

—Tom Yager

Tom Yager is a multimedia consultant, analyst, and developer based in Amherst, New Hampshire. He is the author of The Multimedia Production Handbook for the PC, Macintosh and Amiga (Academic Press, forthcoming). He can be contacted on BIX as "tyager."

COMPTON'S COMES UP SHORT

Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia for Windows 3.1, $395; Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia for Macintosh, $795, Compton's NewMedia, Inc., 2320 Camino Vida Roble, Carlsbad, CA 92009, (619) 929-2500

These two largely identical encyclopedias contain all 9 million words of a printed encyclopedia (32,000 articles, 13,000 visuals), plus 50 minutes of sound, music, and speech. They also include the whole Merriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary ("70,000 definitions of 60,000 words"). They've been put together in unconcealed breathlessness; although the copyright date is 1992, the Moscow article still stages May Day and October parades in Red Square.

Like the Grolier package reviewed here two months ago, Compton's claims a pretty fancy search engine. That's certainly been the weak spot of Gutenberg technology: only one ordering (alphabetic by article title), abetted by an occasional "See also."

Alas, Compton's demonstrates how, even technologized, search strategy can remain a weak spot. The Guided Tour in the Windows version can walk us to a sample topic; let's choose Space Travel. We can get from there to Astronauts, thence to Articles, whereupon a cross-reference to Language offers something tied to Astronauts: "People who work together—astronauts, doctors, gangsters— often share special work words, a sort of shop talk." Yes, yes, the chaining is ingenious, but did anything useful get done? All the search engine has turned up is the nigh-random presence of the word astronauts in a piece about something else.

And the implementation itself seems not quite bug-free. Icons in the left margin of an article promise Video for

Windows enhancements (the Mac version has animations only); but the first time I clicked on a Videos icon from Astronauts, a "Precondition violated" error message about "BorlandCXallinc" kicked me right out of Compton's. (Later tries did fare better.)

Or, out of interest in moviedom, let's try Animation. An Idea Search yields a list of seven articles: Cartoons, France, Motion Pictures, Directing, Jules Feiffer, Compact Disk, and Horse. France and Horse are there because both topics teem with animated critters, Frenchfolk and Steeds, respectively. Feiffer is there because he did animation during a hitch in the Signal Corps. But what's not present? Tire encyclopedia has a fairly long article on Walt Disney that the Idea Search failed to list, and it's surely evident that Disney here deserved precedence over Feiffer, let alone Horse. One way Idea Search spends its time is "computing scores," presumably to select the finalists for display in a box with only seven lines. I'd say the scoring algorithm needs work.

And speaking of Animation, I find little enlightenment in 1-second snippets like "Birds—How They Fly," even aided by the frame-byframe option. Multimedia, yes, hence jazzy. But seldom informative. The bird is hand-drawn, side view, and flaps through eight frames, of which 7 and 8 repeat 1 and 2 in different locations. True, his red beak is nice.

In short, this is a dreary attempt to move a routine 26-volume printed work into the twenty-first century. It corrects the most egregious misjudgments of the same publisher's Multimedia Encyclopedia for Windows, now withdrawn, without beginning to approach the Grolier publisher's intelligence. If you crave interaction, get Grolier; if less breathy, get some books.

—Hugh Kenner

MAY 1993 -BYTE 211

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UNDER THE HOOD

DICK POUNTAIN

Computing on Wheels

If you've purchased a new car in the past five years, chances are that the engine systems are computer controlled. Today's automotive computer systems already control fuel injection and ignition; your next car may incorporate RISC- or CISC-based control systems that communicate over tiny LANs, monitoring everything from your power brakes and suspension system to the on-board navigation system. In fact, these features are already included in some race cars.

Why the push toward automotive computerization? One reason is government regulations. With the successive waves of ever-tougher emissions legislation that are being introduced, it's practically impossible for any engine to meet U.S. government emission standards without the aid of computer control. Many other computer advances are driven by the plummeting costs of microprocessor power and the need of manufacturers to gain an edge in the highly competitive passenger car market. This month's column goes under the hood—literally— to examine how computer systems are changing automobile designs.

Where Computers Work

To understand how computers are revolutionizing automobile designs, you first must understand how an engine works. Most internal combustion engines are based on a piston design. Each piston moves back and forth in its cylinder, driven by the combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel and air mixture, and transmits the power it generates

LANs, parallel processing, and RISC technology are driving a new generation of passenger cars

to a rotating crankshaft.

Engine designs vary, but all share four crucial control variables: the quantity of the mixture of fuel and air that's admitted to the cylinder, the ratio of fuel to air in that mixture, the timing of the mixture's admission relative to the piston position, and the timing of the mixture's ignition. These four variables must all be held within very narrow ranges for the engine to work, and some of them must be varied within equally precise limits to alter the engine's power output to meet different loads.

Unfortunately, there is no neat mathematical function that relates these key variables to engine load. Even with the aid of sophisticated computer simulation, designing a new engine remains a strongly empirical task that involves running prototypes on a dynamometer under different load conditions.

Much of the knowledge acquired on a test rig gets "frozen" into the physical structure of the engine (e.g., its bore-to-stroke ratio and crank throw) and into various peripheral devices that control the variables in production versions of the engine. For example, some of this information resides in the cams that raise and lower the valves in a four-cycle engine and determine the inlet and exhaust timing. The cam profiles are complex curves that "compute" an empirically determined function that

ILLUSTRATION: H. KENTON NELSON ©1993

MAY 1993 -BYTE 213

UNDER THE HOOD

relates valve lift to crank angle.

This simple analog "computer" is reprogrammable, as any racing enthusiast who has installed a "hot" camshaft can testify. Similarly, an old-style carburetor contains information about the correct composition and quantity of the fuel-andair mixture for different engine loads. The information is encoded as the diameters of various fuel jets and air passageways, which a garage mechanic can partially "re

program" by, for example, turning an idle adjustment screw or changing the jets on a race car. The introduction of microprocessors for engine control has not done away with these stores of empirically acquired knowledge, but they now exist as tables of digital data (called maps) stored in ROM rather than as physical attributes of mechanical devices.

When fuel injectors began to displace carburetors in the 1980s (see the text box

Fuel Injection by Computer

Computers began taking control of automobile functions when fuel-injection systems became popular. Unlike a carburetor, which passively draws fuel from a jet by way of a passing airflow, a fuel injector is a pump that squirts a measured quantity of liquid fuel into an automobile's inlet manifold. The key advantage of such a system from a computing perspective is that, unlike carburetors, fuel injectors are actuated electrically by a solenoid, allowing computer control.

It's impractical to measure directly the volume of fuel that is passing through an injector nozzle, so instead the fuel is delivered at a constant pressure and the duration of the injector's squirt is used as a measure of volume. To vary the amount of fuel injected into the engine, the computer alters the pulse width of the train of electrical impulses that start and stop the

injectors (see figure A).

Less expensive fuel-injection systems use a central injection scheme, in which a single fuel injector sprays fuel into a forking inlet manifold that feeds all the cylinders. Sequential injection systems use one injector per cylinder, spraying directly onto the inlet valves just prior to the valve's opening. Sequential injection gives the most precise engine control but consumes more computing power.

Between these two extremes lie banked injection schemes, which provide an injector for each cylinder. With this method, all injectors fire simultaneously; the system uses the frequency and duration of injection to control the fuel supply.

Sequential injection already rules in the racing world for performance reasons. It is now being used more frequently in passenger cars to meet emission standards.

THE FUEL-INJECTION WAVEFORM

1 Increase flow

Increase flow

Open OIdrr

1 2 3

4

5 6 7

Injector cycle

8

Figure A: Fuel injectors work by pulse-width modulation of fuel flow. Computers such as Ford's EEC-FV can easily generate such waveforms to control the fuel-injection process.

"Fuel Injection by Computer" at the left), the door was opened to fully computerized engine management: Integrated electronic control of all the variables became possible. These electronic EMUs (engine management units) have brought with them the benefits of lower fuel consumption, lower exhaust emissions, better coldstarting, smoother power delivery, better cruise control, steadier idling, and faster pickup.

EMUs: A Closer Look

A basic EMU for a gasoline engine has just two inputs: one for the throttle opening and one for the crankshaft position. Such a system would compute just three outputs: injector-pulse start time, pulse width, and spark timing. In the real world, however, things are not so simple. While throttle opening is a reasonable predictor of load for racing engines, which operate flat-out most of the time, passenger cars must cope with a wide variety of partial throttle loads. As a result, many EMUs in passenger cars use either a mass air-flow sensor or a manifold air-pressure sensor to measure the volume of air entering the engine, and they use the throttle opening primarily to detect sudden load changes.

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a typical EMU, containing a single-chip microprocessor, some working RAM, program code and engine maps stored in ROM, multiple digital and analog input channels, and multiple digital outputs. There's also a small amount of rewritable EEPROM, which is used to store maps computed dynamically at run time.

The three main engine maps store the ideal injector pulse start, pulse width, and ignition timings, respectively, for a range of different engine speeds and loads. The load might be represented by throttle valve angle, intake air flow, or air pressure. The manufacturer compiles these tables empirically on the dynamometer bench.

You can think of these engine maps as describing 3-D surfaces in an abstract engine-parameter space. The CPU reads the ideal values from the maps for the current engine speed and load (interpolating between data points if necessary) and then applies corrections calculated from the other inputs. For example, the intake air pressure and intake air temperature inputs can be applied to compensate for the density of the actual mixture entering the engine, which is why a modern EMU-controlled car doesn't pop and sputter when you drive it over a 10,000-foot mountain pass.

The EMU uses the engine-coolant temperature input to detect different running conditions (e.g., cold starting, warming

214 B YTE • MAY 1993

UNDER THE HOOD

up, or cruising), which require adjustments to the optimum fuel-to-air ratio. From the throttle input, for example, the EMU can detect sudden hard acceleration, a situation when it must temporarily richen the fuel mixture for smooth pickup. To improve fuel economy and reduce emissions, the EMU shuts off the fuel supply when the vehicle is decelerating. The EMU can detect deceleration by monitoring the vehicle-speed input from an electronic speedometer.

The fuel pressure supplied to the injectors is not an absolute constant, but rather a constant amount above the air pressure in the intake (which varies with the throttle opening), so an EMU can use the intakepressure input to control fuel pump pressure. Mass-produced fuel injectors can't be made accurate enough to guarantee the perfect mixture that minimizes unburned hydrocarbon emissions—referred to by combustion chemists as the stoichiometric mixture. The injectors' delivered volume varies between samples, and it also changes slowly due to wear and tear during the service life of the engine.

It's not economical to hand-calibrate the injectors in every vehicle, so the EMU uses a UEGO (universal exhaust gas oxygen) sensor to detect any increase in exhaust emissions. The CPU uses this information in a closed feedback loop to compute a table of correction factors, which it stores in EEPROM (or less expensive battery-backed RAM). Exhaust and evaporative emission regulations also dictate the necessity of extra outputs to control exhaust gas recycling, as well as "canister purge" for the subsystem to trap fuel evaporating from the gas tank.

Even controlling the idle speed of an engine is a complex process on a typical American sedan; the pumps and motors that drive the power steering and air-conditioning can cause a variable load on the engine even when the vehicle isn't moving, and the computer needs to compensate for this to maintain a constant idle speed. I've omitted these inputs from figure 1 (along with others, such as battery voltage and ignition switch position) for clarity.

Engine maps are rarely changed after an automobile leaves the factory, but an aftermarket in "hot" ROMs has developed among performance enthusiasts. These chips, which contain more radical but less environmentally friendly maps, are the digital equivalents of the hot-rodder's racing carburetor. In the near future, most EMUs will contain some rewritable map storage so that service engineers armed with diagnostic computers can fine-tune an engine to make it stay within the new, tougher exhaust-emission laws.

A SIMPLE EMU

Crank trigger

Inputs

Outputs

Throttle opening

CPU

Ignition timing

*

Intake air pressure

Idle control

^

Intake air temperature

Fuel pump pressure

*

Engine coolant temperature

Fuel injectors

Exhaust gas

*

Vehicle speed

*

Hi

Figure 1: A typical EMU processes multiple inputs using engine "maps" in RAM, ROM, or EEPROM to control engine fuel injectors and ignition and idle controls. The turning crankshaft serves as the CPU clock.

Computing for Performance

The most taxing aspect of engine management is not computational power; it's I/O. For the most part, computations consist of table lookups, followed by rather simple integer arithmetic to apply correction factors. The real problem comes in sampling all the inputs in the limited amount of time available.

In this respect, an EMU resembles other embedded real-time control systems, although it's not a true real-time system: It actually operates in crankshaft time. Important engine events, such as fuel injection and spark ignition, take place relative to the position of the valves and pistons, and hence the angle of rotation of the crankshaft, so the primary input to the EMU is a master timing interrupt from a sensor (referred to as the crank trigger in figure 1). In practice, the camshaft in a four-cycle engine generates a similar event so the EMU can distinguish intake cycles from exhaust cycles.

In multicylinder engines, the piston strokes are always staggered. In a V-6, for example, a different spark plug might fire after every 60 degrees of crankshaft rotation, and the trigger interrupt would then be generated six times per crank revolution, typically by a magnetic Hall-effect switch. Engine speed can vary between about 1000

rpm at idle to perhaps 9000 rpm (or up to more than 15,000 lpm for a racing engine).

All the inputs must be sampled, and all the necessary computations must be performed, in the interval between successive ignitions. That interval is on the order of 20 milliseconds at idle and 2 to 3 ms at top speed. (For a V-12 Grand Prix racing engine, the interval can be as short as 600 microseconds.) The shortest interval determines the peak computing power needed; at idle the CPU will have spare cycles that might be used to process less time-critical background tasks.

The raw CPU performance required for a passenger car's EMU is at present still within the abilities of 16-bit CISC processors. A low chip count is desirable for both road and race applications because PCB (printed-circuit-board) space is at a premium and cost is a critical factor. This rules out general-purpose PC processors like the Intel 80x86 or Motorola 680x0 families, which would require many peripheral chips to achieve sufficient I/O bandwidth.

Instead, EMU manufacturers like Delco, Nippondenso, Lucas, and Bosch favor embedded microcontrollers (e.g., the Intel 8096 family). Ford has designed its own custom CPU. All these processors tend to feature many on-chip I/O lines, timers,

MAY 1993 -BYTE 215

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UNDER THE HOOD

and A/D converters, as well as ROM and RAM, all of which can reduce chip count enormously.

Most EMU manufacturers are evaluating 32-bit RISC processors, but it's likely that faster I/O will prove more attractive than raw CPU speed for next-generation EMUs. Many manufacturers are moving to dedicated timing-control circuits that service timer tasks such as event capture and comparison and pulse accumulation without interrupting the CPU. This frees the CPU for other duties and increases the timing resolution—microcode is faster than software. The TPU (time processing unit) module of Motorola's 68300 family exemplifies this approach, while Ford's 8016 and Siemens's 80166 have similar functions built into the CPU.

Ford's EEC-IV

Ford refers to its EMUs as EECs (Electronic Engine Controls). Introduced in 1979, the first EEC, called the EEC-I, was a simple ignition-spark controller. In the early 1980s, the EEC-U and EEC-Ill added fuel-injection control and were based on a curious 11-bit chip from Motorola. Then in 1983, Ford teamed up with Intel to develop the 8061, a special CPU for engine control that powers the EEC-IV that's currently used in Ford's passenger cars and in Ford-Benetton racing engines (see photo 1). The 8061 chip itself is proprietary to Ford, but Intel used the experience it gained during the CPU's development to design the 8096 microcontroller family.

The 8061 is a 16-bit microprocessor with 120 registers and extensive on-chip I/O and timing control, including 13 analog inputs (with 10-bit A/D converters) and eight digital inputs. It was designed with low chip and pin counts as primary goals. Clocked at 12 to 18 MHz, the 8061 delivers a modest 1.6 MIPS, but its highspeed custom I/O renders this sufficient to control even a V-12 racing engine using sequential fuel injection at 14,000 rpm.

Events that enter the 8061 are timetagged and placed into a FIFO (firstin/first-out) buffer so that the CPU can deal with them in its own time. Similarly, output events are placed into a circular FIFO buffer called a carousel, leaving the CPU free to proceed. This results in much more efficient CPU throughput than would be achieved in a purely interrupt-driven system. The 8061 contains a proprietary 8-bit multiplexed bus interface (called the M-bus) for which Ford has developed several peripheral chips: the RAM, EPROM, EEPROM, and the communications controller that make up the EEC-IV.

The CART (custom asynchronous receiver/transmitter) chip in the 8061 con

trols a 19.2-kilobaud serial network running over simple twisted-pair cabling that can be run through a car's normal wiring loom. This network uses phase modulation and collision detection to provide a very high degree of fault tolerance and noise resistance.

The EEC-IV uses this CART network to communicate with the instrument cluster; over the next few years Ford plans to extend communications to the other electronic systems available in today's automobiles, such as speed-sensitive power steering, antilock brakes, and electronic suspension control. Ford also plans to replace the CART network with its faster 83-kilobaud SCP (Standard Corporate Protocol) technology in the 1994 model year.

In Ford's racing engines, the EEC-IV periodically broadcasts key parameters such as engine rpm and throttle opening to all systems, and any system can request direct node-to-node conversations. This capability will appear in passenger cars within the next two years.

A recent addition to EEC-IV is an onboard diagnostics system that enables service engineers to check the state of the ignition, fuel injectors, and exhaust emissions by plugging in a hand-held terminal. Such systems will be required by U.S. law beginning in 1994.

The EEC-IV exemplifies the original Henry Ford philosophy that revolutionized mass production: Use relatively lowtech, low-cost components with long product life cycles; use well-defined proprietary interfaces that allow for future expansion: and achieve economies of scale by using the same units across all models. Ford uses the racing EEC-IV units as test-beds and will take their performance in racing cars into account when it refines EECs for passenger cars.

High-Tech Performance

At the opposite end of the spectrum from the EEC-IV lies the no-compromise racing EMUs made by companies such as Tag Electronics (Woking, U.K.). These EMUs can cost up to $35,900 (£25,000) eachmore than the purchase price of many cars. The Tag/McLaren Group owns, among other things, the famous Tag-Heuer Swiss watch brand and the phenomenally successful McLaren formula-1 racing team. The latest Tagtronic 2.12F control unit is a multiprocessor system that contains seven microcontrollers and three DSP (digital signal processor) chips that put out a staggering combined computational power of 106 MIPS (see photo 2). The microcontrollers (which are hidden on the back side of the data acquisition board) are devoted to I/O processing, table lookup, and

MAY 1993 -BYTE 217

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218 B YTE • MAY 1993

UNDER THE HOOD

Photo 1: Ford's EEC-IV uses a proprietary Ford/Intel 16-bit I.6-MIPS CPU to handle 13 analog and eight digital inputs. The chip communicates with RAM, EPROM, and a CART communications controller chip. The latter controls a 19.2kilobaud serial network running over twisted-pair wiring in the car's wiring loom. In the future it will communicate with systems such as the power steering, antilock brakes, and electronic suspension-control systems. The entire circuit board is sealed with a clear epoxy layer to protect it from vibration and dust.

calculations; the DSPs also perform the calculations and handle serial communications. The 2.12F monitors over 40 inputs (the EEC-IV handles only 10), and many of these inputs are duplicated with redundant sensors.

On the output side, the 2.12F can conttol up to 24 sequential injectors (a V-12 engine with two injectors per cylinder for more precise mixture control) and 12 spark plugs. The 2.12F's impressive computing power brings only a relatively small engine performance increase. A 60-fold increase in computing power (compared to the EEC-IV) buys an increase in total power output of only a few percentage points, but those points might decide a world racing championship.

The Tagtronic 2.12F is more than just an EMU. It's also a test-bench and telemetry system that performs sophisticated engine analyses and stores the resulting diagnostic data in 4 MB of internal RAM. A built

in UHF radio receiver allows pit crew engineers to modify the engine maps on the move while a 5-Mbps telemetry system dumps the diagnostic RAM contents to the engineer's workstations each time the car passes the pits.

The Tagtronic 2.12F has inputs for four exhaust gas/oxygen sensors. These are wideband devices that can keep lambda (a measure of mixture strength) at 0.8 to maximize power output, whereas EMUs in road cars are designed to anchor lambda to 1.0, the point of minimum exhaust emissions. Thanks to the 2.12F's on-board DSPs, an engineer can program sophisticated combustion-analysis algorithms (often involving fast Fourier transforms) into the 2.12F that control spark advance via a closed-feedback loop and optimize the engine for various exotic racing fuels. Combustion-knock-sensor inputs allow the 2.12F to avoid engine-destroying detonation. While a passenger car's EMU

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UNDER THE HOOD

Twin-capacitance discharge ignition stage

Combustion-/knockcontrol board (fits below memory board)

Photo 2: The Tagtronic 2.12F multiprocessor racing control system includes seven Siemens 80C166 CPUs and three Analog Devices 2101-21II DSPs (hidden from view) that crank out 106 MIPS. Most processing cycles are spent handling I/O from over 40 inputs. A data acquisition board performs real-time diagnostics that are transmitted to pit crew engineers via a microwave link. The engineers then transmit modified engine data maps to the unit's UHF receiver on the fly.

optimizes the engine for fuel economy, drivability, and cleanliness, the 2.12F enables an engine to run continuously at the very edge of its performance envelope, just this side of self-destruction.

The seven microcontrollers used in the 2.12F are Siemens 80C166s, 16-bit devices with 1 KB of RAM and an eightchannel peripheral event controller that can transfer bytes or words in a single CPU cycle. Also on-chip are two USART (universal synchronous/asynchronous receiver/transmitter) serial interfaces, 10 multiplexed analog inputs with 10-bit A/D conversion, five 16-bit counter/timers, and a CAPCOM (capture/compare) unit that generates timing sequences and waveforms for 16 channels at 400-nanosecond resolution per channel.

That's a great deal of control hardware,

but the 2.12F still needs seven of these devices to get the necessary I/O bandwidth. The three DSP chips are Analog Devices 2101 -2111 s. Together these 10 processors form a shared-memory parallel computer system that is programmed entirely in assembly language and needs no operating system.

Tag uses equally drastic PCB technology to cram the electronics into a 2-kilogram magnesium box that's roughly 20 by 17 by 6 centimeters in size. The 32layer PCBs use blind vias (connections between buried layers) and are completely encrusted on both sides with surfacemount chips. They may well be the most densely packed PCBs made anywhere— the military and the aerospace industry included—and they can tolerate peak vibrations of up to 60 g's.

Next Year's Model

Computers are going beyond the automobile engine and are beginning to control many other automobile systems. You can see a glimpse of the future in today's racing designs. Top formula-1 race cars began using computer-controlled ride height (called active suspension) only a few years ago, but this feature is already beginning to appear in passenger cars. Most new cars now offer computer-controlled ABS braking, and some already offer speed-sensitive power steering.

Other technologies ready for prime time include computerized driver aids like fuelusage computers, navigational and routefinding systems, and radar sensors for automatic collision avoidance. Luxury cars even have "smart" seats that remember your seating preference.

As they become more common, these control systems will need to communicate with one another. For example, an active ride system must know when engine power increases or when the brakes are applied so it can make necessary changes to the suspension system.

Loading all these functions onto a single central computer might seem to be an attractive option. Doing so would minimize the cost of the silicon, but it would almost certainly require adoption of a proper realtime operating system (such as OS-9 or Chorus) in place of the ad hoc hand-crafted software approach that's currently being used.

Instead, new designs are integrating spatially and computationally related systems. For example, engine management goes hand-in-hand with gear-box control and traction control, as do braking and suspension control. In the interim, manufacturers will place in each car a small number of powerful control computers that communicate over highly reliable networks of the type that Ford and Bosch have pioneered. Intel, Bosch, and Philips are promoting their CAN (Controller Area Network) bus system as an industry standard. However, as in the personal computer industry, the emergence of universal standards does not happen easily in such a highly competitive market. ■

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to thank Anthony Purnell of Pi Research, David Wood of Cosworth Racing, Jim Coats of the Ford Electronics Division, and John Mulcahy of Tag Electronics for their help in gathering information for this article.

Dick Pountain is a BYTE consulting editor based in London. You can reach him on BIX as "dickp."

220

YTE • MAY 1993

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

ALLEN HOLUB

The Power of Inheritance

Multiple inheritance means that a class can derive from more than one base class. It's one of the most powerful, controversial, and poorly understood features of C++. In this column, I'll discuss what's right and wrong with multiple inheritance in C++ and give you some tips on how to design a C++ class hierarchy.

Derivatives of a base class satisfy the "is-a" test. An Employee class, for example, might include information such as name and salary. A Manager class, derived from Employee, might add a list of managed employees. Similarly, a Peon class, also derived from Employee, might add other fields appropriate to peons. Both a Manager and a Peon are Employees, so the "is-a" test holds. Because a Manager is an Employee, all functions that can manipulate employees can also manipulate a Manager (or, more accurately, can manipulate the Employee component of the Manager object). In other words, this class design abstracts the fields common to Manager and Peon—name and salary—into a shared base class.

What happens, however, when you want to store Employee objects in a linked list? A typical list implementation uses two class definitions: The member functions of a List class insert, delete, or find objects of the class Listjxode. To use another kind of object in the list, you derive a class from List_node. Since an object of that derived class is a List_node, you can pass it to any function that expects a List_node (i.e., object, pointer, or reference) argument—in particular, to the List member

functions. To list employees, then, you derive the Employee class from List_node, so all Employee objects and their descendants can be part of a list (see figure 1 and listing 1).

Here's how to tap the power of multiple inheritance in your C++ class hierarchy designs

Mix-in Classes

Unfortunately, this solution wastes storage. A List_node contains pointers needed for list manipulation. Since Employee derives from List_node, all Employees have to carry around these pointers, whether or not they're actually being used. Suppose you need to make lists of Peons but never of Managers. Every Manager will unnecessarily include space for a List_node.

Enter the notion of a "mix-in" class (the term comes from Grady Booch's Object-Oriented Design with Applications, Benjamin-Cummings, 1991). In this model, an Employee is not a List_node in the same way that a Manager is an Employee. Rather, one aspect of an Employee is Instability. With multiple inheritance, you can mix listability into Peons without having to make Managers listable, too (see figure 2 and listing 2).

Problems with Multiple Inheritance

One source of difficulty is when you merge class libraries. Say you have two, both organized in a Smalltalk way by deriving everything from a root object. I'll call the two root classes ObjClassA and ObjClassB. One of the

ILLUSTRATION: LINDA BLECK©1993

MAY 1993 • B YTE 221

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

hierarchies supports a set-of-ObjClassA's class, and the other supports basic data structures like a tree-of-ObjClassB's class. Thus, an object of any class that derives from ObjClassA can be added to a set, and an object of any class that derives from ObjClassB can be added to a tree. How do you create an object that can be in either a set or a tree? You can derive a new class from both base classes:

class myCombinedClass : public ObjClassA , public ObjClassB {...};

set s;

tree t;

myCombinedClass *p

= new myCombinedClass;

s.add(p);

t.add(p) ;

Since a derived-class object can always be converted to any of its public base classes, all functions that take pointers to either ObjClassA or ObjClassB arguments can

OBJECT AND LISTS

List_node

1

Employee

Manager

Peon

Figure 1: In this example, all Employee objects and their descendants are stored in one linked list.

MIX-IN CLASSES

Employee

List node

Manager

Peon

Figure 2: Here, Employee is not a Listjwde, but Peon becomes "listable" by way ofhistjiode.

take a pointer to a MyCombinedClass object. For example, the MyCombinedClass object derives from ObjClassA, so it can be put into a set by passing a pointer to the set: : add () function, which expects an ObjClassA pointer argument. Since MyCombinedClass also derives from ObjClassB, a MyCombinedClass object can also be put into a tree.

There are problems, though. For one thing, there's likely to be overlap between the set and the tree operations. That means you'll have to call in two versions of some functions, one from each library. Moreover, each of the root classes is likely to contain fields that the set or tree classes don't need, so the MyCombinedClass object will be larger than it needs to be.

Other combined-library problems are even trickier. Imagine trying to merge two Microsoft Windows class libraries. One has a very nice editable-text-window class, and the other has good dialog-box support, but each uses the Smalltalk technique of deriving all classes from a common Window class.

The dialog-box class, for example, talks to Windows by calling a function that it inherits from its Window base class. The text window does the same, using a similar function from its own, different, Window base class. Odds are that the two Windows interfaces aren't compatible, so this organization makes it impossible to pick and choose from the two class hierarchies.

You can't pluck a class definition from the middle of one hierarchy and plug it into the other. Unless the two interfaces can coexist (unlikely), you'll be able to use only one library. Even if they can, you'll have to put both libraries into your program, swelling it to huge proportions.

Curiouser and Curiouser

There's a further complication. Except for constructors and operator= () overloads, the derived class inherits all public functions of both base classes. All messages handled by objects of either base class can be handled by the derived-class object as well. Things can get tricky, though, when the developers of ObjClassA and ObjClassB use identical names for member functions. For example, both base classes could have a member function called print () . When you send a print () message to the MyCombinedClass object:

myCombinedClass confused; confused.print();

the compiler won't know whether to call

ObjClassA::print () orObjClassB: : print () and will print a hard-error message.

You can solve this problem, to some extent, by introducing an unambiguous print () member function into the derived class:

class myCombinedClass : public ObjClassA , public ObjClassB

{

public: void print(void)

{

ObjClassA::print(); ObjClassB::print();

A call to confused.print () now gets the one from the derived class, which chains to both base-class functions. The class names and :: operator take the ambiguity out of the base-class references.

A "disambiguating" function isn't an ideal solution. A class definition should be a black box. You should be able to derive a class without having to worry about the function names the base class uses.

Pure Interface Classes

Another multiple-inheritance problem shows up when two base classes share a base class. This usually happens when you define a class that defines an interface but nothing else. Suppose you want to create a common interface to several different data structures. You can start with a Node class that defines an interface to objects of the class Data_structure. The Node class might contain virtual functions that handle messages like "print yourself" and "insert yourself into the data structure." These functions must be virtual because there's no way to know how to perform the operation at the Node level.

Together, the Node and Dala_structure classes simply define an interface. Implementation requires that you derive, for example, Tree_node and Tree classes that flesh out the interface with necessary data fields and methods.

The alleged advantages of using classes that do nothing but define an interface are twofold. First, because data structures share a common interface, maintenance is easier; once you learn how to manipulate a tree, you'll also know how to manipulate linked lists, hash tables, or other derivatives of Data_structure. Second, you can write functions that can manipulate data structures without having to know about those data structures. A function, for example, can take a pointer to a Data_structure and add an item to it just by calling its add_item () method.

The disadvantages of having a base class

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Listing 1: Standard multiple inheritance.

class list_node // an element of a list {

list_node *next, *previous;

};

class list

{

public:

insert( list_node *p ) ;

};

class employee : public list_node {

char *name; };

class manager : public employee {

list peons; // managed people

>;

//A peon is an employee, class peon : public employee {

// Peon information goes here. };

list the_list; list_node *p;

// A peon "is-an" employee and list_node. p = new peon; the_list.insert( p ); // Managers work the same way. p = new manager; the list.insert ( p );

Listing 2: Using a mix-in class.

class employee {

string name; };

// A manager is an employee, class manager : public employee f

list peons; // managed people };

// A peon is an employee and listable. class peon : public employee , public list_node { // Peon information goes here.

};

list the list; list_node *p; p = new peon;

//A peon "is-a" list_node. the_list.insert ( p ); p = new manager;

// But managers are not list_nodes. the list.insert ( p );

that just defines an interface show up when multiple inheritance comes into the picture. Say you created a Linked_list that derives from Data_structure (and a List_ node that derives from Node). You then want to create an Employee class, objects of which can be put into either trees or linked lists (or both). You can try to do this with multiple inheritance by adding the following classes:

class linked_list

: public data^structure {} ; class list_node

: public node {} ; class tree

: public data_structure {} ; class tree_node

: public node {} ; class employee

: public tree_node

, public list_node

{

// Information about an // employee goes here.

Ambiguous Inheritance

The resulting diamond-shaped class hierarchy (see figure 3) has a classic problem: There is more than one path from a derived class (Employee) to one of its base

classes (Node). But the actual layout of an Employee object in memory (see figure 4) shows that there are two Node components of an Employee, which is correct if you want an employee to be in a linked list and a tree simultaneously.

There are several difficulties here. First, both List_node and Tree_node inherit public functions from Node. If you try to call one of these functions through an Employee object, the compiler will complain—it won't know which inherited version to call. (More properly, it won't know which Node component of the Employee to send the message to—there are two possible this pointers.) You can solve this problem by introducing a disambiguating function to the Employee class that calls one (or both) of the inherited functions:

employee::f() {

list_node::f() ;

tree_node::f() ; }

but that's a maintenance headache.

What if the Employee will be in either a tree or a list, but never in both at once? In this case, the duplicate Node component of the Employee object wastes memory; one Node will do. What if the common Node

class caused an external side effect (e.g., creating a window) as it was constructed? A single Employee object would incorrectly create two windows when its two Node components were initialized. A partial solution to this is to redefine the class hierarchy to use virtual base classes:

class list_node

: virtual public node { } ; class tree_node

: virtual public node {} ; class employee

: public tree_node

, public list_node {

Now that you've made a base class virtual, only one object of that class will be in the derived-class composite object, even if several of the derived class's base classes themselves derive from the same virtual base class. If there are both virtual and normal instances of the base class in the hierarchy, one object will be created for all the virtual instances, and additional objects will be added for each nonvirtual instance. There will be only one Node, because all Nodes are virtual base classes.

Again, there are difficulties. You must decide to make the Node virtual when you

224 B YTE • MAY 1993

IF LOGIC ALONE DOESN'T

CONVINCE YOU TO USE

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1991 DATAPRI 1992 DATAPRO

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SOFTWARE SYBASE INFORMIX INGRES FOCUS ORACLE

Reliability

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8.7

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9.6

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8.9

9.0

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7.5

PRODUCT SUPPORT

!'

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9.0

8.2

8.6

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6.8

Vendor Training

8.7

7.9

8.0

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8.8

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9.0

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7.5

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6.9

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7.5

6.7

6.9

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8.8

7.6

7.8

7.6

7.0

6.5

OVERALL SATISFACTION

9.3

8.7

8.5

8.3

8.0

7.6

_

Compiled from the latest Datapro reports on DBMS/Computer System Series Software available lor each product listed (for Informix, see Informix/SQL). All results are those ol actual users of the product as surveyed by Datapro.

1991 VARBUSINESS 1992 VARBUSINESS

DBMS REPORT CARD

PROGRESS

SOFTWARE BORLAND INFORMIX

PRODUCT FEATURES

Ease of use

6.87

6.80

6.00

Memory requirement

7.25

6.30

6.14

5.11

Ease of programming

8.87

6.74

6.79

6.37

Ability to manipulate data

8.73

7.24

7.14

7.07

Sorling capabilities

8.59

7.24

7.21

7.58

Provision for software security

6.23

7.00

6.70

Report writing capabilities

7.64

6.54

6.59

6.50

Ease of use of interlace

8.13

6.89

6.85

6.50

Software integration capabilities

8.09

6.92

7.20

6.15

Ease of data retrieval

8.89

7.26

7.65

7,04

Satisfaction with product profitability

7.98

6.61

6.79

5.19

Overall quality of product

'

6.97

735

6.71

PRODUCT FEATURES AVERAGE

8.32

6.82

6.96

6.41

SUPPORT FEATURES

Provision for customer support

8.20

6.73

6.10

5.44

Charges for training time

6.91

5.79

5.56

4.71

Provision tor technical support

7.57

6.14

6.00

5.15

Provision tor marketing support

7.04

5.97

533

4.04

Documentation S product informalion

8.62

7.03

6.57

6.00

Frequency of updates & revisions

7.75

6.26

6.05

5.74

SUPPORT FEATURES AVERAGE

7.68

632

5.93

5.18

OVERALL AVERAGE

S 11

6.65

6.62

6.00

01992 VARBUSINESS Software Report Card reprinted with permission.

For the second consecutive year, Progress ment system that gives you the flexibility to resoundingly swept all 18 categories of the build and implement high performance Varbusiness Report Card. And for the fourth applications independent of platforms and year in a row, Progress came database systems. It even

out on top in the Datapro stir- PROGRESS ktS Y°U dePloy any aPPlicaveys. Once again, users rated SOFTWARE tio" in both mult'-user and Progress superior to com- client/server environments. But

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create the Tree_node and List_node classes. Having done so, you can't put an object in a tree and a list simultaneously, and the only way to know that's true is to examine the entire class hierarchy, looking Tor virtual base classes. The only solution is to derive two classes for each data structure, one with the Node base class declared virtual and one with the virtual omitted—but this, too, presents a maintenance problem.

Avoiding Problems

In general, C++ classes should do something real. They should have state data (i.e., fields) manipulated by the member functions. Don't impose a Smalltalk hierarchy onto C++; they're different languages.

You can argue that if two classes share any functionality, then that functionality should move into a common base class. The reasoning is that a single body of code is simpler to maintain. But remember that inheritance is a form of coupling, so merging functionality into a base class can cause as many problems as it solves. Adding base classes also increases the depth of the class hierarchy and adds complexity to it. In practice, a little duplication of code doesn't hurt anything, provided that the programmer uses identical interfaces to the duplicate functions.

C++ is closer to C than it is to Smalltalk, which posits that the language should force the programmer to use a particular interface. For C++, the C philosophy of a gentleman's agreement is a better approach. For example, there's nothing in the language that forces you to put the destination first when a function takes source and destination arguments; you do it, however, to keep yourself sane. By the same token, there's nothing stopping you from accessing the elements of a FILE structure directly, but you don't do it, because those elements might change with the next compiler release.

Similarly, nothing keeps you from using a common interface to all data-structure-element classes. Your good sense should encourage you to do so. Thus, you can just dispense with the abstract Node base class and define Tree_ node and Listjiode classes that have the same member functions but don't derive from anything. Since all the Node functions are virtual, you can do this by just removing : public node from the existing definitions. In fact, one way to ensure that the interfaces are the same is to use the Node base class initially and then comment it out once the class compiles. Eliminating the Node class eliminates all the multiple-inheritance-related problems that come with it.

What you lose when you eliminate

CLASS AMBIGUITY

Node

Tree_node

List node

1

";;,'TfP«F

:

Employee

Figure 3: The path from Employee to Node class only appears ambiguous (see figure 4).

THE EMPLOYEE OBJECT IN MEMORY

Employee/

Node

V Treejiode

!

V List node

1

Node

Figure 4: The memory layout of the Employee object in figure 3 shows that there are actually two Node components.

Node is the ability to manipulate generic Data_structure and Node objects blindly. But in practice it's almost never the case that you can write a function in complete isolation. A function that traverses all the Node objects in some data structure, for example, is going to have to do something with those nodes, and so will have to know what kind of Node it expects.

It's handy to be able to write a function that manipulates a generic data structure:

some_function( data_structure *p );

but you can use a typedef to get the same effect:

typedef tree

the data structure;

some_function( the_data_ structure *p );

Rules for Multiple Inheritance

There are a few rules you should follow to use multiple inheritance safely. Use multiple inheritance only for mix-in classes that add capabilities to a class. Avoid classes that do nothing more than define an interface. (Typically, these classes have no member data, and all or most of the member functions are pure virtual functions.) Use similar interfaces for mix-in classes that do similar things.

Problems with multiple inheritance often arise because inheritance itself is used inappropriately. Since it is a form of coupling, avoid it unless you're really extending the definition of a base class— customizing it for a particular application. You can check yourself by ensuring that the derived class satisfies the "is-a" test, although this can be tricky. You could argue, for example, that a "pop-up window" is a "window" and derive a Popup class from Window. Similarly, you could argue that a "blue window" is a "window" and derive a Bluewindow class from Window. If you now try to create a blue pop-up window by deriving simultaneously from both Popup and Bluewindow, you'll have the dreaded diamond-shaped inheritance graph discussed earlier.

A better approach treats "color" and "display methodology" as components of a window. That is, a window has (not is) a color, and it has (not is) a display methodology. The window class provides set_ color() and set_display_method() functions that you can use to customize it. You can create your blue pop-up window with single inheritance, deriving directly from the Window class. If you can choose between "has-a" and "is-a" in an implementation, try to go with the former.

Multiple inheritance is a powerful and flexible way to mix capabilities into classes. Used properly, it brings few problems and has many benefits. To use it properly, design your class libraries from the ground up to support multiple inheritance. ■

Editor's note: The complete listings for this article are available in electronic format. See page 5 for details.

Allen Holub teaches C+ + and compiler design for the University of California at Berkeley Extension. His recent books include C+C++: Programming with Objects in C and C++ (McGraw-Hill, 1991) and Compiler Design in C (Prentice-Hall, 1990). You can reach him on BIX do "editors" or on the Internet at holub@ vioIet.berkeley.edu.

226 B YTE • MAY 1993

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BEYOND DOS

GEN KIYOOKA

Getting a Handle on NT

Businesses cannot afford software systems that make informal or implicit assumptions about the conditions in which they execute. By formally including such assumptions, you let the software behave robustly. The operating systems, languages, and tools simply afford varying degrees of convenience for expressing the subtleties of the design.

Windows NT's proposed C-language extensions and structured exception-handling model provide excellent design tools for meeting this goal. Win32 under NT introduces concisely expressed solutions to design problems that have impeded the development of vigorous software programs and plagued Windows 3.x with reliability problems. When used with a good design, these tools produce a software system of unparalleled reliability.

The Object Model

A good exception-handling model does nothing without a good software design. An object-oriented model provides the foundation for your software design because it lets you build reliability and robustness into a set of reusable software components. Because software consists of micro objects (e.g., a single integer variable) within macro objects (e.g., a DLL) within system objects (e.g., applications that interact on the desktop), the object model must apply design considerations that affect system reliability in general. Any component not properly designed should be prevented from having an adverse effect on other parts of the system. An object is merely a packet of data around which you wrap the set of methods used to manipulate the state of the object's data. Any implementation that fails to observe the exclusivity of access to data via an object's methods circumvents the design assumptions and places the reliability of the software in question. For any object in a software system, it can be said that the private data can assume a

ILLUSTRATION: DAVID CHEN ©1993

finite number of states that fall into two categories: valid states and invalid states. An object's methods provide a reliable means of transforming the private data from one valid state to another, ensuring behavior consistent with the design.

A general definition of an exception in an object-oriented system might say that the private data of an arbitrary object has reached a state for which the assumptions of the designer do not hold. My experience suggests that bug reports are merely observations of a software program attempting to apply object methods to private data that has reached some invalid state. The behavior that the designer promised applies only to objects in valid states, and the effect of applying methods to invalid

Windows NT makes

exception handling easier

for applications developers

data is unpredictable, undesirable, and usually downright embarrassing.

In his book Object-Oriented Software Construction (Prentice-Hall, 1988), Bertrand Meyer provides a compelling argument for explicitly including design assumptions in software. He offers a conceptual model of system health in the form of exception detection and the prevention of object transitions into invalid states. Because an object's methods exclusively control the state transitions of its data, the methods form an appropriate place to implement design assumptions.

A method invoked on an object can therefore result in one of two outcomes: successful or unsuccessful. The criteria for determining success come from the preconditions and postconditions of the method, assertions that must hold for an operation to be considered successful. If any precondition or postcondition does not hold, an exception has been detected.

The liberal use of preconditions precludes the need for postconditions and provides an effective debugging tool. A complete set of preconditions ensures that an object will never go into an invalid state and thus fail to carry the operation to completion. I use preprocessor macros to define a PRECONDITION ( expression, returnValue ) to simplify the declaration of these explicit assumptions. I base my precondition macro on the standard assert () macro declared in the ANSI C assert, h.

However, there is a difference between a true precondition, which alters program flow in both debug and production builds, and the assertion macro, which takes a benign role in production code. Murphy's Law explains that any assertion that failed to appear during debugging is certain to occur once the product is released.

Given a robust model, the problem of | reliability can be reduced to these four

problems: exception detection, typing,

cleanup, and handling. You can detect most program exceptions by a complete

MAY 1993 -BYTE 229

HANDS ON/BEYOND DOS

set of preconditions in the program code. In the absence of an intrinsic mechanism, exception conditions can be typed via return values and error codes. Here, the caller acts on the exception, most often by propagating an indication of the operation's failure back to the boundary of the system thai received the event. Usually, an operation foiled by early detection is not a problem. The longer an invalid object state goes undetected and unreported, the greater the chance of data corruption.

Beyond the Model

In the absence of a general conceptual model (e.g., the one proposed by Meyer) and elegant operating-system services (e.g., the ones provided by Windows NT), exceptions are considered infrequent situations for which you use special function calls to save and restore a minimum execution state. Standard C libraries provide set jmp and longjmp, and Windows 3.x includes Catch and Throw. The execution state that these functions save does not include the state of objects that might be acted on by the miscreant code. Therefore, you must limit the use of these functions to prevent the exception handler's negative side effects from occurring undetected later in the program.

Floating-point libraries often provide facilities for hooking the exception handler. Under 16-bit Windows, you can handle memory-protection and divide-by-zero violations by using the ToolHelper DLL, a component designed to help programmers develop debugging tools. ToolHelper merely provides a means for identifying the exception after the fact. You must rely on Catch and Throw to give logical structure to the flow of execution.

This limitation is loosely enforced by the need for set jmp and longjmp to reference a common symbol representing the buffer where the execution state is stored. These services provide handling for exception conditions that can be readily anticipated and identified.

The absence of a robust operating-system design places a burden on applications software developers. Many choose to ignore this, designing software without explicitly expressing underlying assumptions. It would be a mistake for these developers not to apply the Win32 exceptionhandling services. NT's exception-handling services provide a consistent, reliable model for reporting and handling exceptions detected by the hardware, operating-system software, third-party DLLs, subsystems, and programming libraries in use by your software, and those subsystems your own code defines and detects.

Windows NT's structured exception

handling model provides a clean, reliable method of unwinding nested program execution at the advent of an unhandled exception. It supports an elegant method for implementing selective handlers and provides a guaranteed means for releasing system resources allocated during the course of execution that lead up to an exception condition. The NT model conveniently proposes a few simple extensions to the C-language syntax, along with some intrinsic functions that will require standardization to maintain source code portability to other operating systems.

Guarding Your Code

Under Win32 and the Microsoft C implementation of the syntax extensions, you

T

he absence of a robust operatingsystem design places a burden on software developers.

can guard code segments against exception conditions with the try-except statement. The try keyword sets forth a compound statement block that is protected against exception conditions. This protection extends to nested functions called within the protected block of code. Immediately following the closing brace of the guarded code, the except () statement receives an argument capable of selectively filtering exceptions for the handler, the compound statement block occurring immediately after the except () statement.

After identifying an exception condition, the operating system searches backward through the frames of execution history, searching for a handler that's capable of dealing with the exception. Exceptions are typed by a single 32-bit word obtained from a special function, GetExcept ionCode (), whose meaning is of value only inside the exception filter. An arbitrary amount of exception-specific information is also available by way of a call to GetExceptionlnformation().

This system allows for the development of rich, capable user-defined exceptions

(invoked by the RaiseException () function) and complex filtering functions. Yet it maintains a concise declaration for simpler, more common scenarios. Given that exception handlers adeptly handle nested execution by implying that the execution be unwound back to the first capable handler, any critical, shared system resources allocated during the inward course leading up to an exception must be freed as the execution frames are unwound. Again, this provision is expressed by a new language construct, called the tryfinally statement. As with try-except, the try keyword precedes a block of code to be guarded against exceptions. The finally keyword sets forth a block of code that the operating system/compiler implementer has guaranteed will execute, regardless of whether an exception occurred or the whereabouts of the handler.

Applied Knowledge

There's no excuse for not including robust architecture by design. Relying on the types of exceptions that the operating system and processor hardware identify is hardly a starting point for healthy software. By the time an uninitialized pointer gets to the point of generating a memoryprotection violation, it has probably already trashed several of your software's most crucial data structures. Even if the execution is unwound to the satisfaction of a programmer concerned with keeping the software alive, users are likely to go on and destroy their chances for data recovery.

Meyer's model gives a practical means for interrogating object instances to force early exception detection. The arrival of Windows NT makes handling common exceptions more convenient. But the real question is how well you can apply forward-thinking, object-oriented techniques to early detection of exceptions, using the consistency of RaiseException () to unify exception-handling procedures. Such an approach is likely to produce robust code at the expense of concise declaration and execution speed.

The art of identifying circumstances and judicious application, of the different approaches is a matter of good design. It's a good feeling knowing that the best design is relatively easy to implement. The only time I get that feeling is when I'm developing software for Windows NT. ■

Gen Kiyooka is the founder of Electron Image and the inventor of Blue Sky Software's RoboHelp and BugMan programming tools. You can reach him on BIX do "editors" or on CompuServe at 76376,43.

230 BYTE • MAY 1993

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Circle 71 on Inquiry Card.

MakingThe Best Better

Plug-in Printer Sharing

Expandable Printer Sharing

Bay Tech brings a new level of quality, performance and affordability to the printer sharing market. BayTech's new products are designed to give you high speed performance never before seen in printer sharing products.

A Complete Product Line

Bay Tech is the only printer sharing company you will ever need. Our expandable products give you the ability to increase users in an application without completely changing hardware. Our stand-alone products feature 4, 6, 8 and 10 port models with a variety of serial and parallel port combinations. Our plugin products allow you to easily connect multiple computers to your HP printers. And now, our NEW Network Print Server will give you

Stand-Alone Printer Sharing

Take the Bay Tech Challenge

the performance, quality and affordability you expect from Bay Tech products.

Product Highlights

• High speed printing 66,000 cps parallel, 46,000 cps serial

• Long distance printing to 1000 ft. •4 to 24 port units

• Plug-in printer sharing

• Modem sharing

• Network print servers

• Buffers from 256KB to 16MB

• Made in the USA

• Toll-free technical support

All product or company names are trademarks of their respective holders.

BayTech CHALLENGES you to

try our products for 30 days. If you are not completely satisfied we will refund your money 100%, no questions asked.

High Speed Printer Sharing Parallel/Serial Converters

Statistical Multiplexers Data Acquisition Controllers

Network Print Servers

Because Resources Should Be Shared

BayTech

Data Communications Products Division 200 N. 2nd St, PO Box 387, Bay St. Louis, MS 39520 Fax:601-467-4551 Phone:601-467-8231 or toll-free

800-523-2702

238 B YTE • MAY 1993

Circle 186 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 187).

piww

WSMl

m SOURCE II mV AND MUCH MORE.

*(A

Personal computer Memory

ibm tJEIr

PS/1286, 586SX ^7' 2MB 92F9935 .....T. S79 4MB 92F9694 $149

PS/1 Consultant, Essential & Expert models Ml, Ml & jtl^t^ps/valuepolnt all models except cxx series

*i™~ 4MB PN N4 S1S9 16MB FN NA S579

PS/2 25/286, SO/286, & memory adapter 1497259

2MB Kit SOF5S60 S79

PS/2 55SX; IS, 40SX, 502, 55SX; tS, 65SX; tS, 70, i XStation 1MB 6450603 $49 2MB 6450604 $75

PS/2 70-A21; 1161; B21; B61, PS/1 Consultant, Essential & Expert models X11, X1S & x14, Ps/valuepolnt cxx series

2MB 6450608 $75

PS/2 J5SK; LS, 40SX, 55SX; IS, 65SX; IS, XStation, PS/

valuepoint cxx series & adapter board 34F5011 or 34F3077

4MB 34F2933 or B7F9977 $149

PS/2 35SX; IS, 40SX, PS/ValnepoInt cxx series

8MB 6450129 S299

PS/2 90 XP, 95 XP, P75 Ipalrsl, $6, 57 (all), PS/1 Pro M2123 2MB 64S0902 $89

PS/2 90 XP, 95 XP, P75,56,57 (ill), PS/1 consultant, Essential & Expert models X11, X13 & X14, PS/1 pro M2123 BS/6000 POWERstatlon/POWERserver 220 series

4MB 6450128 $149 8MB 6450130 $299

Expansion boards for 50,502, S5SX, 60, 65SX

2-6MB W/2M8 1497259 $269

Expansion boards for all models 70 & 80

2-14MB W/2MB 34F3077 $329

Compaq

Prolines 5/25S; 3/25ZS

2MB 141738-001 .... $89 8MB 141742-001... S289 Frollnea 4/25S, 4/33, 4/50

141682-001 .... $59 2MB 141683-001 .... $89

4MB 141684-001 .. $159 8MB 141685-001 .. $309 DeskPro 386-20, 20e a 25

4MB Module 113132-001 $169

DesxPro 3B6S/16

4MB Module 112534-001 $169

DesllPro i series, 286N; 386N; 386SX/20; 20N

System pro it Series, Proslgnla PC Server 486/33; DX2/66 Portable 486c & M Series expansion boards 4MB 118690-001 .. $149 8MB 112877-001... $309

„ Proslgnla PC Server 486/33; DX2/66

. 16MB 149320-001.. S999 32MB 149147-001. $2439

ryHsystemPro XL 1486-50)

^Sh? 16ra 136816-001 .. S799 32MB 136817-001 . $1599

"'"T DesxPro 386-35,486-33,1 sistempro

2MB 115144-001 .... $99 8MB 116S61-001... S289 DELL

Power Desktop 3250, 325P, 3530, 333P, 433P, 486P & 486D 1MB 310-2505 $59 4MB 310-2507 $149

POWerllne Workstation 420; 25; 35; 50; 450DE/2 & 466DE

2MB 310-2466 $99 4MB 310-2467 $179

8MB 310-2468 $319 16MB 310-2469 $629

m

Zenith

Z-300/400 Series 2-420/SX, 2-425/SX, Z-433/DX, 2-433/SX

4MB ME-100 $159 16MB ME-90 $S99

Z-Server 425SE, 433DE, 450DE

4MB ME-432 $179 8MB ME-102 $319

Z-Statlon 325Sh; Sn, 420SEI1; Sir; Sll; 25Sh; 33Dt-ll; Oh; 50XEn

1MB ME-70 $49 4M8 ME-100 $149

Zenith Z-38E/20; 25; 33 S 33E

1MB ZA3B00ME S49 4MB ZD3B00MK S149

Zenitb Z-386SX/20, 2861P+, 2-LS

2MB Kit Z-605-1 $89

Zenith 48E/33ET; 25E

4MB ZA4200M2 S1S9 16MB ZA4200MB $619

AST Bravo 3/25S

2MB 500710-004.... $99 8MB 500824-002.. $519 Advantage! PUIS 48EDX733; 0X2-50; DX2-66 Jeti 2 4MB 500510008 .. S179 8MB $00824-001 .. $319

W" Advantage! 386SX/20, 25, Pro sx/25; Bravo 3/53S

jfietfe' 2MB 500962-001.... $75 8MB 500962-002.. $339 *fV*Advantage! pro486DX/33; sx/25, Bravo LC4/25S; 33; 35S; SOU; 66d

4MB $00967-002 .. $139 16MB 500987-004 . $499 Premium 386/25; 33; 337, Premium II 3B6SX/16; 20; 25

1MB W/WPB 500780-003; 002 $S9

Advantage! 486/25; 35; 33p; SX20, Bravo 4/33; 25; Premium 4/25; 53TE, Server SE 4/55

£££■ 2MB W/IWB $00718-004; 7B0-OOS $119

Premium 386/33T, 3B6SX/16, premium II 3B6SX/20; 25 4MB W/WPB 500780-004 $1S9

Advantage! 486/25; 33; 35p; SX20, Power Premium 3/33; 33;

33S, 4/50d; 66d, Premium 386/33TE, 486/25; 25E; 25TE; 55; 33E; 33TE, Premium II 386/25; 35, 486/35; SX/20

^Premium server SE 4/33

jSSsjfe BMB W/WPB $00780-001 $289

t*^ Hewlett-Packard

Vectra 0S/16S; 20PC, RS/20; 20C; 25, 25C

4MB Kit D1542 Or 1642A $169

Vettra 386/16N. 386/20N, 386/2SN PC

2MB D2406A S99 8MB D2404A $319

Vectra 486PC; 486/2ST; 486/33T; 486S/20; 486/25N; 486/ 33N; 4B6/50N; 4B6/66N

2MB D2381A $89 8MB D2152A $309

Vectra 386/25; 486/25U; 486/330; 466/500; 486/660

2MB D25S1A $89 8MB D21S2A $309

Vectra 4S6/2SN; 48E/33N; 48G/50N; 4B6/66N

16MB D2676A S579

NEC

PowerMate 286/12; SX/16 & SX/20

2MB Kit 0P-410-B103 $99

PowerMate 386SX/20I; 20Vi; 161; 251; 4B6/50I; 486/331

BMB Kit OP-410-2101 S279

PowerMate 386/33E 8, 486/25E

2MB OP-410-5101 $199

CPU Upgrades

Upgrade your system ! to 386 or 486 power!

Kingston processorupgrarjes Improve theperformance of DOS s.o, windows, OS/2 and other business, graphic, and CAD/CAM programs without purchasing a new system, look to Kingston Technology!

sx/noh!

2SMH! ISX) S199 33MHZ 1SX) $219

SLC/NOW!

rfjSiV 20MH! ISICI $129 55MHz (SICI $219

•Sir* 50MH! (SLCI $399

486/NOW!

25MHIISXI $429 5JHIHZIDXI $659

MicroMASTER

25MH! (SXI $829 33MHz IDX) $1299

With 4MB add $149 With 8MB add $289

Afflnttf

25MHz (SXI S999 53MHZ IDX! $1439

With 4MB add $149 With 8MB add S289

^

m

«

Laptop & Notebook Memory

AST

PowerExec 3/2SSL, 3/25SI-C and EL 4MB S179

8MB $649

16MB $1299

Premium Exec 2B6, 3B6SX/20; 25; 25C 4MB $129

Compaq

Contura 3/20, 3/25,3/25C 4MB $169

BMB $319

LTE 386S/20 4MB $199

LIE Ute 20; 25; 25C, 250 4MB $229

8MB $399

16MB S13S8

4MB $239

BMB $429

4MB $279

4MB $199

Texas Instruments

TravelMate 5000 tail models) 2M8 $79

TravelMate 4000 (all models) i{&tV 4MB $199

TravelMate WlnSLC/25 T^f3" 2MB $79

Toshiba

T1000SE/LE/XE; 2000, 2000SX; SXe, 2MB $8S

T2200SX and T1B00 Satellite series 4MB $159

BMB S299

T120DXE, 1600, and 3100E T3100SX, 5200SX, and SXC

LTE Ute 4/25C

SLT286 SIT 58ES/20

0

IBM

ThinkPad 300

PS/2 C157SX, ThinkPad 700 and 700c

1151 Notebook (AID

L40SX, N33SX and PS/Note 182 L40SX and PS/Note 182 ^PS/Note N45SL

NEC

llltrallte & Cellular Workstation 2B6F Ultratlte & cellular Workstation SX/20

Ultratite III, SL/25C

Ultratlte 51/20, SL/20P

2MB $159

8MB $129

4MB $219

8MB $369

2MB $179

4MB $249

1MB $135

8MB $285

2MB $136

4MB $369

2MB $179

8MB $599

2MB $119

4MB $199

2MB $119

6MB $289

T3200 T3300SL

T4400 and T6400I0II models)

T5100

TS400, T5200; T5200C and T8500

2MB... 2MB... 4MB ... 3MB ... 4MB ... 8MB... 16MB . 4MB ... BMS ... 16MB.. 2MB ... 2MB ....

.... $89 ....$89 .. S149 .. S149 ... $179 .. $499 .. $835 ... $179 .. $349 .. $875 ....$95 .... S92 .. $279

Zenith

Z-NOte 320L, 3201b, 32SL, 32SLC jf^C? 2MB $169

'Vjft? BMB $369

2-Sport 420S, 425S 2-Sport 32SS

4MB.. 2-6MB ..

1MB

2MB

2MB

2MB

4MB

Hewlett Packard LaserJet nisi, 4,1M tt XL500

4MB C2065A $149 8MB C2066A S299

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIP, ill, hip, hid

2MB 3347SB $9S 4M8 334778 $1S9

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II & IID

2MB 33444B $102 4MB 33445B $160

MastersPort 386SL, SLC, SLe MastersPort 386SX supersPort SK; 286e; Sllmsport supersPort 286e; SJImsPort

We also carry a large inventory of memory upgrades for other name brand laptop and notebook systems. Please contact our sales staff for Information on your specific model.

IBM Laser 4029 All Models 4MB 1183335 $129

Canon LBP-4, mite. 4Plus

1MB S63-2230 $119 2MB H/A $169

Canon IBP-III & BUI Plus 2MB S63-2350 S249 5M6 S63-2360 S299

: | □ PC Magazine says, "The Viva's data[jtjl transfer performance was excellent!" |jgH PC mgslm December a. m2

viva Internal Modems 14,400bps U.52/U.42 modem, send & receive FAX.. $22$ 24/9600bps with send/receive FAX $B9

Villa External Modems 14,400bps V.32/V.42 modem, send & receive FAX.. $289 24/9600bps ivitii send/receive FAX $95

Mfe Megahertz

"^CORPORATION

For AST, Compaq, IBM, sharp, Tl, Toshiba, Zenith and

many other Laptop and Notebook Systems. PCMCIA 2.0 Internal FAX/Hodems 14,400hps FAX/Modem, Cellular, Autosync .-i^fV. $559

24/9600UPS FAX/Modem SjSlsIl $319

Internal FAX/IMems w/MMP-5 8, v.!2/v.42bis 14,400bps FAX/Modem, cellular, Autosync $529

24/9600bps FAX/Modem $229

External Pocket Modems for any RS-232 Serial Port

14,400bps FAX/Modem, Cellular, Autosync $379

24/9600bps FAX/Modem $189

video Cards

Diamond Computer

stealth Pro 1MB $219 Stealth Pro 2MB

stealth 241MB $169 Speedstar 24X 1MB.

Viper VLB 1MB S319 Viper VLB 2MB

stealth VLB 1MB S249 Stealh VLB 2MB

We also carry ATI, Number Nine and Metheus cards.

.$359 . S1S9 $409 .$369

-H i,', i ,'■■,'. re mrsi

Industry Standard 30-pin SIMMs

1MB x 9-70 or 80ns, Fast Page Mode.

4MB x 9 70 or 80ns, Fast Page Mode . 56-Bit, 72-Pin SIMMS

S12K136-70 or 80ns I2MBI

1MB X 36-70 or BOns [4MB)

2MB 136-70 or BOns 16MB)

.... S35 .. S129

.... $79 .. $149 .. S289

Sack Guarantee

Buy with confidence!

100% compatible in form, fit, & function All products user Installable Installation instructions included Toll-free technical support Thousands of items in stock Manufacturer's warranties Corporate PO's, APO/FPO's welcome Government and Educational pricing International orders welcome Special volume pricing 24-hour fax line Same day shipping

Overnight delivery available rSBS No surcharge on credit cards

^vVfORANYMf%^

WE STOCK UPGRADES FOR OVER 1700 COMPUTERS AND PRINTERS

TOLL FREE PROM THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA

800/624-9866

INTERNATIONAL

714/588-9866

FACSIMILE

714/588-9872

Business hours:

Monday - Friday, 8am-5pm, P.S.T.

Saturday, 9am-3pm, ORDERS ONLY

f>»/> *

>,.>;-„ »f"

Mail or fax orders to: First Source International, Inc. 36 Argonaut, Suite 140 Aliso ViejO, CA 92656

Terms ind Conditions; Memory products ire third pirn, manufacturer's numbers ire for your convenience. Freight charges are non-refundable. A RMA number Is required for all returns. All non-defective returns, unopened, refused, or cancelled orders, mil be sub|tct to 120% restocking fee. Prices and availablftff ire sufllect to change without notice. Purchase prices at the rime or order are final. First Source international cannot be responsible for errors In typography or photography. We Mil beat any advertised price valid only on Identical brands, offer not good for SIMMs or DRAM. Trademarks and registered trademarks are of their respective companies.

we'll meet or beat any advertised price!

CALL THE UPGRADE EXPERTS TOLL FREE 800/624-9866

Circle 194 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 195).

CONTROL UP TO 96 PC

FILE SERVERS WITH 1 KEYBOARD

AND MONITOR USING...

COMMANDER

• Select via Keyboard

• Dual access up to 250 feet away (optional)

• No external power

• Mix PC, PC/XT, PC/AT and PS/2

• "AutoBoot™" Feature boots attached computers without operator intervention

• Able to Broadcast to all attached computers

'ZZ/

y77T///////-Z//////////}

■pvfljBSBnaHU

>

^//7/////)>//>////;///.

• PS/2 and Serial Mouse support available

• Each unit accommodates from 2 to 8 PCs

• up to 12 units can be cascaded

• Mounting kit available for 19" and 24" rack installation

J|CyBEX

2800-H Bob Wallace Ave. Huntsville, Alabama 35805

(205) 534-0011 - Fax (205) 534-0010

^^^

Dealer Program Available

PC, PC/XT, PC/AT and PS/2 are trademarks of international Business Machines Corp.

Circle 190 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 191).

Rack Mount Computers - Motherboard or Passive Backplane

Use external monitor Up to 6 drives

8.75" high

Mono or color monitor Up to 5 drives

8.75" high

14" color monitor Up to 3 drives

12.25" high

Rack Mount Monitors

10" mono or color monitor

1 E;(

8.75" high

14" mono or color monitor

12.25" high

Enclosure for most desk top monitors

C

14.0" high

V^,,,-,; ;'V^^'-V<r;*'iV .■;■■..

Rack Mount Keyboards

Drawer mounted keyboard

"H\t

W/fiij

1.75" high

Drawer for desk top keyboards

3.5" high

Vertical-mount, sealed membrane keyboard

l .

jisffiffi^ljl

•

5.25" high

Rack Mount Printer

Dot matrix printer with industrial rating

*

12.25" high

Call for our other Rack Mount computer and "enclosure only" product offerings.

RECDRTEC, INC

1290 Lawrence Station Road, Sunnyvale CA 94089 Tel. [408] 734-1290 Fax: [408] 734-2140

1-800-729-7654

Circle 198 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 199).

MAY 1993 -BYTE 241

WIRELESS NETWORKING BY MOTOROLA

EMBARC; from Motorola, delivers information to moving targets

Users roam the nation and stay in the loop

Portability doesn't have to mean isolation from important, timely information, thanks to EMBARC wireless networking.

Anywhere in America's top 200 cities, users stay connected—to E-mail from the office and news and weather briefs from USA TODAY as well as optional services such as sports, key market and financial developments, and targeted industry news briefs from HeadsUp.'M They can even have their important databases routinely updated—automatically! All that's required is EMBARC's compact, powerful NewsStream receiver (it plugs directly into most laptop, palmtop and notebook computers) and the simple software package that drives it. It installs in minutes and is ready to operate—without wires, faxes or phones.

Equip your whole team and send memos, documents and file updates for pennies per recipient. You'll find EMBARC so cost effective you'll communicate more.

Our corporate trial program lets you try it virtually risk-free. Sign up right now by phoning 1-800-EMBARC4, Ext. 350. Give your team the homefield advantage... even when they're on the road.

EMBARC service is available for DOS-based laptops and notebooks, HP 95LX palmtops and Macintosh Powerbooks.

Circle 212 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 213).

S, Motorola and NewsStream are registered trademarks o! Motorola. Inc. All other product and company names are the property of their respective owners. © 1993 Motorola, Inc.

TRAVEL LIGH ARGjBlS

[AVEL NEAT, TRAVEL SMART... 60/

- Weight less than 1 kg

- PCMCIA 2.0 Interface

- 60 Mb Hard Disk

- 2 Mb RAM

- No adapters needed \COMPUTERS®

• Weight 2.2 lbs. (Bicom and Battery)

• Dimension 8.78" x 6.36" x 1.22"

• True 16 bit AMD Lonestar Processor, 386SX Class Performance

• 5 "AA" size NiMH Batteries

• 60 MB Hard Disk Drive

• 2MB RAM expandable to 4MB on board and 16MB with memory card

• PCMCIA 2.0/JEIDA standard port for memory card and I/O card

• 640 x 400 resolution LCD screen supports CGA, AT&T mode and all Windows graphics • 64-key keyboard • 1 parallel (bi-directional)/ 1 serial • External FDD port for optional Floppy Drive • DR-DOS 6.0, File Transfer Software & Serial Download Cable • Built-in Personal Data Manager software

• Built-in Programmable Power Management Software

• Universal AC/DC adaptor

• Carrying Case

Options: External Floppy Drive, SRAM Memory Cards, 9624 IC Card Fax/Modem, Mini-trackball, External Keyboard, extra batteries.

1-800-336-2280

ABC Computer (USA) Corp.

2531 237th Street, Suite 122, Torrance CA 90505

310-325-4005 Fax 310-325-6369

ffl

VIS*

NOW ONLY

30-Day Money Back Guarantee

All brand names are registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Circle 181 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 182).

MAY 1993 -BYTE 243

/ ml I.<..: * If I • > I IJ.!.1J t

^i&':lv"::: • f.feJSe UeJil 1M^

'(nlrrs

Everyone makes claims.

We make sure.

When the industry wants product testing taken to the nth degree, they take it to NSTL.

In every field, one name sets the standard. In microcomputer testing, the name is NSTL, the leading independent testing lab.

The NSTL compatibility certification seal on a product says that it withstood the toughest lab in the industry — and it's ready for your business.

The seal saves you a lot of comparison and guesswork. It says you'll find the product compatible with a wide range of business applications and hardware. It helps you make the right choice.

Real-world testing for realworld use.

Beyond compatibility testing, we access nearly every conceivable

problem — from engineering-level hardware bugs to the everyday usability of business software.

And we test with the end-user in mind, in a real-world environment, just the way your staff uses equipment. Except our trials are more punishing.

Our publications, and others that publish our work.

In a separate facility we also do comparison testing for our own Ratings Reports: Software Digest®, PC Digest® and LAN Reporter®. They're read by people who purchase an average of more than $500,000 in microcomputer hardware and software annually.

And because of the respect we've earned, some of the industry's leading publications, like Data Communications,

LAN Times, Unix World and Datapro Research Group publish our test results.

Look for the NSTL seal and be sure.

Experts rely on the NSTL name: now you can, too. The final test of a product is its compatibility in a business environment. The NSTL mark tells you it's already met that test. Look for it when you compare products.

NSTL

Plymouth Corporate Center

Box 1000, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462

215-941-9600

Micro Channel™ and OS/2™ are trademarks of the IBM Corporation.

Circle 115 on Inquiry Card.

\X ^~ ^^ I I am interested in learning

"™ ^^ * more about the advantages of Hewlett Packard products.

BY0593

ia

HEWLETT PACKARD

Name

Title

Company Address .

Phone.

City

D

D

D □

I am a Manchester Customer; my Salesperson is

I am not yet a Manchester Customer. Have a Salesperson call right away. I am specifically interested in:

State.

-Zip

| | Send more information on your full line of — computer supplies and equipment.

NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 760 SMITHTOWN, N.Y.

Postage will be paid by addressee

MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT CO., INC.

50 MARCUS BOULEVARD HAUPPAUGE, NEW YORK 11788-9909

l...ll...lll,„ll„l,l„l,l,l„l,l„ll,„l,l„l„l,l

HIGH

SCORING

TEAMS

HEWLETT-PACKARD & MANCHESTER

INTRODUCING THE PRINTER

YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR

THE

HEWLETT-PACKARD

LASERJET 4

KKI NI tn

BETTER RESOLUTION

FASTER THROUGHPUT

IMPROVED PAPER HANDLING

MORE FONTS

INCREASED FLEXIBILITY

True 600 x 600 dpi Resolution

Improved Resolution Enhancement Technology

Microfine Toner Engineered Specifically for 600 dpi Printing

Standard 250 Sheet Input Paper Tray, Plus Multi-Purpose Tray

(For 100 Sheets or 10 Envelopes) '250 Sheet Output Tray 1 More Built-in Typefaces: 45 Internal Scalable Typefaces

Fast RISC Processor and I/O for Faster Printing of Complex Graphics

"Hot" l/Os Enabling the Printer to Automatically Switch Between All

Ports, and Send Messages Back to the Host

Improved Printer Drivers

Built-in TrueType for Optimum Performance in Windows Applications 1 2MB Standard, Expandable to 34MB 1 Many Options to Allow Improved Flexibility

SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

NETWORKING ^ CONNECTIVITY

CAD/CAM , -f><? RISC/UNIX

i

^^^H

iifl

l_

!

13

HEWLETT

PACKARD

Authorized Dealer

MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT COMPANY INC.

"The Computer Supply and Equipment Experts" 50 MARCUS BLVD. ■ HAUPPAUGE, NY 11788" (516)435-1199 ■ (212)629-6677

New York City. (212)629-6969 ■ Boca Raton: (407)241-7900 ■ Tampa: (813) 888-8809 ■ Boston: (617)455-8300

Circle 540 on Inquiry Card.

MAY 1993 • BYTE 244NE-1

Buy with

Confidence

In an effort to make your telephone purchasing a more successful and pleasurable activity, The Microcomputer Marketing Council of the Direct Marketing Association, Inc. offers this advice, "A knowledgeable buyer will be a successful buyer." These are specific facts you should know about the prospective seller before placing an order:

Ask These Important Questions

• How long has the company been in business?

• Does the company offer technical assistance?

• Is there a service facility ?

• Are manufacturer's warranties handled through the company?

• Does the seller have formal return and refund policies?

• Is there an additional charge for use of credit cards ?

• Are credit card charges held until time of shipment?

• What are shipping costs for items ordered?

Reputable computer dealers will answer all these questions to your satisfaction. Don't settle for less when buying your computer hardware, software, peripherals and supplies.

Purchasing Guidelines

• State as completely and accurately as you can what merchandise you want including brand name, model number, catalog number.

• Establish that the item is in stock and confirm shipping date.

• Confirm that the price is as advertised.

• Obtain an order number and identification of the sales representative.

• Make a record of your order, noting exact price including shipping, date of order, promised shipping date and order number.

If you ever have a problem, remember to deal first with the seller. If you cannot resolve the problem, write to MAIL ORDER ACTION LINE, c/o DMA, 6 E. 43rd St., New York, NY 10017.

This message is brought to you by:

the MICROCOMPUTER

MARKETING COUNCIL

of the Direct Marketing

Association, Inc.

6 E. 43rd St.,

New York, NY 10017

MMC

MICROCOMPUTER MARKETING COUNCIL

of the Direct Marketing Association, Inc.

© Direct Marketing Association, Inc. 1988

t*t ccr'f*>,cfc

"The CAD RAVE. Now I know

Jim Scalise finds FastCAD®'s speed and ease of use gjves more than an increase in quality production time... "We found other systems difficult to learn, but FastCAD enabled us to get up and running in short order. Architects that need the fastest CAD system have to see this to believe it. FastCAD really lives up to its name. Without FastCAD it would be tough to compete and we wouldn't have time for the extensive . detailed work we consider standard on all construction documents.

(-/ Jim Scalise

Nickels + Scalise Architects

Plus, paper storage would be overwhelming and we'd still have 'draftsman's cramp' in our fingers and graphite on our forearms. After winning two National CAD Drawing Contests and elating our clients with FastCAD, it's as easy for me to endorse as it is to use."

If you want to be more competitive, but find yourself short on time, don't delay! Call Evolution Computing today for a free demo at 1-800-874-4028. Free technical support for registered users.

' 4

ravel into the next decade as PC EXPO embarks on an entirely new era of computing. You'll journey into the future of Windows, pen-based computing, multimedia and open systems. You'll tour the more than one-half million square feet of exhibition space showcasing a universe of the latest programs and services. And you'll explore a galaxy of new products that link today's information services with tomorrow's innovative technologies.

Catch a glimpse of the future at

PC EXPO

JUNE 29, 30 & JULY 1,1993

JACOB K. JAVITS CONVENTION CENTER

11th Avenue at 34th Street New York City

For more information call today!

800-829-3976 ext. 9202

BLENHEIM

PC EXPO IN NEW YORK

Its the one computer trade event

guaranteed to leave you light years

ahead of your competition.

Circle 538 on Inquiry Card.

• • *t m •"..*. PC EXPO in New York is produced and managed by Bruno Blenheim Inc.

•." *. ' Fort Lee Executive Park, One Executive Drive, Fort Lee, NJ 07024 » 800-829-3976 • 201-346-1400 • Fax 201-346-1602

•v. •• • * *J * ;.

pCsour**

Says... Kenosha Computer' Center offers some of the Best Buys in Mail Order!

EPSON

LX810 S169

FX870 $259

Action 3250 ..$189

FX1170 $345

EPL8000 $1059

LQ570 $235

LQ870 $425

LQ1070 $339

LQ1170 $569

LQ2550 $849

Stylus 800 Inkjet CALL

Action 1000 6 PPM, 14 fonts $645

Action 1500 6 PPM, PLC5 $789

DFX 5000/DFX 8000 $1259/$2129

Call For Options

EXPERIENCE THE KENOSHA DIFFERENCE

• Over Six Years of Service

• Thousands of Satisfied Customers

• Terrific Technical Support > Everyday Low Prices

' No Surcharge on Credit Cards

KENOSHA COMPUTER CENTER

YOUR DIRECT SOURCE FOR

VALUE AND SERVICE

CALL US TODAY!

KENOSHA COMPUTER CENTER

SALES LINE OUTSIDE WISCONSIN

1-800-255-2989

Shipping, customer service & technical assistance call

414-697-9595 ■ FfiX 414-697-0620

VISA, MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS & DISCOVER

HEWLETT-PACKARD

LASERJET IV $1399

POSTSCRIPT FOR IV $349

LASERJET HIP $889

LASERJET IIP+ $809

LASERJET lllsi $3249

DESKJET 500/500C $399/$509

DESKJET 550C $709

2 MB/4 MB UPGRADE $99/$149

OPTIONS CALL

OKIDATA

ML320/ML321 5299/5419

ML380/ML590 S219/$419

ML591/ML393 5569/5909

OL 400 Laser/OL 810 S589/S949

OL 820 Laser/OL 830 $1219/51099

Okilaser 400 2MG upgrade S109

Panasonic,

Office Automation/^v^\

1123/1124i S195/S275

2180/2123 S179/S229

1624/1654 S339/S519

2124/2624 S299/S359

4410/4430 S599/S859

4450i/4451 S1059/S1379

2mg. Upgrade for 4420 8i 44501 S125

iny

OVERDRIVE

PROCESSOR UPGRADES

• For any Intel 486 based system

• Improves system performance up to 70%

■ Accelerates all DOS, Windows, OS/2 and Unix applications

• Cost effective upgrade to next generation CPU technology

Overdrive Upgrade SX20/25 S349/S435

Overdrive Upgrade DX25/33 S435/S575

Canon

"BubbleJet" Printers

BJ 10ex S245

BJ20 $359

BJ200 $275*

BJ300 $325

BJ330 $495

BJC800 S1479

CANON INNOVA NOTEBOOK

386SL 25

4MB, 60HD,

FAX MODEM,

DOS,

WINDOWS AND

MICROSOFT

WORKS

$1389

Canon

INNOVA DESKTOP COMPUTERS

386SX 33 $1149 486 DX-33 $1849

2MB, 86MG, .28 SVGA MONITOR, BOTH FLOPPIES, DOS, WINDOWS AND MICROSOFT WORKS

4MB, 210 MG, .28 SVGA MONITOR, BOTH FLOPPIES, DOS, WINDOWS AND MICROSOFT WORKS

ALL INNOVA COMPUTERS INCLUDE 1 YEAR ON SITE SERVICE WARRANTY

MEMORY PRODUCTS

2 MB IBM 30-286 $89

2 MB IBM 55SX $89

1 & 4 MB SIMMS Call

BOCA RAM AT 2 MB $179

4 MB Tl 4000 $199

All Laser Printers Call

Toshiba, Nee, Zenith, AST, IBM, Compac, Other Manufacturers & Products Call

MUSTEK SCANNERS

MFS-6000CWPP FLATBED

600 DPI.24BIT COLOR WITH SOFTWARE

& INTERFACE $879

ColorArtists + FOR WINDOWS $559

HAND HELD SCANNERS Matador 256 GRAY FOR WINDOWS....3119

ColorArtist Pro Windows $369

PrinScan 105

,for Laptops & Notebooks $179

PLOTTERS, SCANNERS & DIGITIZERS

IMAGE MAKER A & B $679

DMP161 A to D 8 PEN $2729

EPSON 600C $789

EPSON 800C $1089

LOGITECH SCANMAN $135

LOGITECH SCANMAN 256 ...$259 SUMMASKETCH III 12x12 ....$279 SUMMASKETCH III 12x18 ....$469

HARD DRIVES & TAPES

SEAGATE, CONNER & MAXTOR

SEAGATE 120MB3144A $249

SEAGATE 245 MB 3283 $389

MAXTOR 120/211 $259/S349

MAXTOR 245/340 $389/5599

MAXTOR 535 MB $899

CONNER 120/170 $259/$285

CONNER 200/250 $359/$389

CONNER 510 $789

MICROSOLUTIONS

100 MB or 200 MB $489/5599

External Parallel port hard drive. Perfect for Laptops, PS It's & XT'S.

QUANTUM

Hard Card 50XL $239

Hard card EZ 127/240 $325/5529

TAPE BACK UP

Colorado Jumbo 120 5159

Colorado Jumbo 250 $219

Colorado Tracker 120 5339

Colorado Tracker 250 5399

Mountain, Maynard, others CALL

MONITORS

Mitsubishi EGA $239

Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 17" $1069

Mitsubishi HL 6955 20" $1779

NEC Multisync III FGX $609

NEC Multisync IV FGX $709

NEC Multisync VFGX 51245

NEC 6FG $2249

ViewSonic 15" $649

ViewSonic 17" 1782M $1225

ViewSonic 20" 2082M 51919

ViewSonic 21" Call

SOFTWARE

Lotus 2.4/3.1 5299/$345

Microsoft Word for Windows 5299

Microsoft Windows 3.1 $79

Microsoft DOS 5.0 $69

DBase IV $419

Word Perfect 5.2 $269

Corel Draw 3.0 $379

Aldus Pagemaker $479

PC Tools 8.0 $119

C.A. Clipper S469

C.A. Cricket Paint 589

C.A. DB Fast 5329

BATTERY BACKUP & UPS

AMERICAN

250/400 $109/S159

450/600 5199/5259

900/1200VX 5375/5729

SMART UPS 400 5309

TRIPPLITE

BC 250 599

BC 400 5159

BC 500 LAN $189

BC 600 LAN $249

BC 900 LAN $349

GRAPHICS CARDS

ATI VGA Wonder XL 24 1MB 5139

ATI Graphics Ultra + 1MB 5269

ATI Graphics Ultra Pro 1MB 5419

Diamond Speedstar 1MB 5169

Diamond Stealth 24 1MB Local Bus..S169

Diamond Stealth 5219

Orchid Fahrenheit1280 1MB 5189

Orchid Prodesigner IIS MC 1MB ..5289 Trident 1280 x 1024 1MB 575

No charge for MasterCard or Visa. We will ship COD on a cash or casher's check oasis only. Shipping & handling

3%-S6 minimum; AK anil HI slightly highsr. 15%

restocking charge on returned iloms. Purchase orders

accepted from Foriooe 1000, Government institutions,

schools and universities. 2% shipping discount available

on orders over S?(l(lii il prepaid hy check.

KENOSHA COMPUTER CENTER

2133 91st Street Kenosha, Wisconsin 53140

Prices and availability subject to change.

MODEMS & FAX MODEMS

PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS

FAX ME for plain paper fax

5169

PRACTICAL PER 9600 INT/EXT

..5199/5229

PRACTICAL PER 14.4 INT/EXT.

..5249/5279

HAYES

HAYES OPTIMA 9600

$329

HAYES OPTIMA 14.4

$359

HAYES OPTIMA 14.4 W/FAX ....

$369

HAYES ACCURA 14.4 W/FAX ...

$309

U.S. ROBOTICS

Sportster 14.4 Int

$239

Sportster 14.4 Ext

S269

5265

Sportster 14.4 Ext. w/fax

S279

Dual Standard 16.8

5709

World Port 96/96 Pocket

S439

Intel Satisfaxtions Below

iny

Satisfaction Fax Modems

200 2400 V.42/9600 Fax $269

300 14.4/9600 Fax $275

400 14.4/14.4 Fax $369

400 ext 14.4/14.4 Fax S375

Faxability Plus 559

80387-SX co-processor $75

80387-DX co-processor $85

All Intel Networking Products Call

MULTIMEDIA & CD ROMS

Media Fusion 16 Kit $499

Pro Audio Spectrum 16 Bit $195

ATI Stereo F/X Card $109

Logitech Soundman $179

Soundblaster Pro 16 Bit $229

Videoblaster $329

Soundblaster Multi Media $539

NEC CD Express $419

Toshiba 3401 INT 200MS Access $489

Toshiba 3401 EXT 200MS Access $589

SCSI Adapter For Above Drives $189

NETWORKING

NETWARE 2.2 5 USER $489

NETWARE 2.2 10 USER $1079

NETWARE 2.2 50 USER $1999

NETWARE 3.11 5 USER $589

NETWARE 3.11 10 USER $1329

NETWARE 3.11 50 USER $2599

NE 2000 $139

LANTASTIC 10MPS STARTER KIT $449

LANTASTIC 10MPS ADAPTER $199

LANTASTIC FOR WINDOWS $165

3 COM ETHERLINK II $185

3 COM ETHERCARD $279

INTEL ETHER 16 $119

INTEL ETHER 16 20 PAK $1779

SMC ETHER + ELITE 16 $145

SMC ETHERNET 8 BIT COAX $95

XIRCOM POCKET ADAP COAX $279

XIRCOM POCKET ADAP 10 BASE T $279

KENOSfHA COMPUTE

/ 1-800-255-2989

Circle 542 on Inquiry Card.

CENTER

MAY 1993 • BYTE 244NE-5

Circle 541 on Inquiry Card.

MAGAZINE

KorroRS"

< lloK 1

ISA-VESA-ISA

A L L

ONE S Y STEM

Poly486-66EV $2750

8 x 32-bit EISA slots with 3 VESA Local Bus Upgradeable to P24T (586SX) 256K Cache, Option: 512K 8MB RAM, Expandable 256MB 213MB High Speed IDE Hard disk 32-bit VESA IDE with 2MB Cache 1.2MB and 1.44MB Floppy Drives VESA Video Accelerator with 2MB

FAST AND EXPANDABLE

Call for other model and configuration!

800-999-1278

TEL 415-583-7222 FAX 415-583-1974

well

'

♦!♦

ADVERTISERS

♦>

Run a full- or half-page 4-color ad

reaching a portion of BYTE's U.S. readers

at unbelievably low rates — right here in this section!

Call today to learn more about BYTE's unique Regional Advertising Section, located in our prominent Buyer's Guide.

♦

(603) 924-2651 or (603) 924-2637

244NE-6 BYTE- MAY 1993

«*

■"' «F

J ■■■■■'

/' /

•

- X

if

•*■ - i_ .

Hipier Be#pance!

K

SmartCache Plus is the SCSI controller that delivers higher performance without a higher price!

Windows, Netware, Unix and other high-end applications need a SCSI controller that delivers top disk I/O performance and a growth path. Only SmartCache Plus delivers both — and costs no more than less advanced controllers!

As the industry's fastest SCSI controller, SmartCache Plus is the easy choice. It's the smart choice, too — because if your system needs a performance boost, you can transform it from a non-caching host adapter into the world's fastest caching controller! Expandability is so simple: plug-on modules add caching, up to a total of 16MB of cache memory, and disk mirroring!

SmartCache Plus is supported by all major operating systems and applications, and provides connectivity to hundreds of SCSI devices. Reliable, scalable and simple to install, SmartCache Plus breaks your system's disk I/O bottleneck without breaking your budget!

Distributed Processing Technology

140 Candace Drive, Maitland, FL 32751 USA

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Circle 192 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 193).

See us at Spring Comdex, Booth #5654

I

[}

I

I

I

[1

1

1

I

Q

This free comprehensive Performance Report details the SmartCache Plus advantage over its leading competitor in nine different benchmarks for DOS 5.0, Netware 3.11 and Unix applications. For your copy, contact DPT Channel Marketing today...

TEL. 1 OAA '

,

%j! \# %J

FAX

1993 SCSI CONFERENCE

■*M«w.Mm.i,i.),;jn-«l

SUPER SOURCE

CALL FOR LATEST SIMM PRICES

HARD

DRIVE

SUPER

PRICES

SCALL

Q

Quantum

FUJITSU Mtggor

^Seagate

MICROPnLIS

WESTERN DIGITAL

i Apple

powerbookidd. ^

S23D. "UPGAMIABLE". ■

UK v:;;- UCtFIl UPGRADE MQDLILE

MAC PORTABLE BACSLIT

-MH Ki" !.'U?7j7 1M CLASSIC :■:'/!! ■■!; V'-KH'.

'Mil mT VOI'lj

■:>,n; k," i,n;;;):

4MB Ktl MOM? t

:mii >.<:-;i '.<g;,ijll7.

FAST

DELIVERY, GREAT SERVICE

AND LOW PRICES

MATH CO-PROCESSORS

SIMM-SIPP MODULES

mi 5MI-IZ INTEL

6087-2 BMHZ INTEL B087-1 10HHZ INTEL B0287-6 6MHZ INTEL 80287-6 8MHZ INTEL B0287-10 10MHZ INTEL 802B7XL 10MHZ INTEL B0287XLT 12MHZ INTEL 30387SX-16 16MHZ INTEL B03B7SX-2O 20 HZ INTEL 8G387DX-16 16MHZ INTEL BC387DX-20 2GMHZ INTEL 80387DX '5 ,c' =-=---=::=-:----=::=:--.-:>> ':'.";■/ ::;:■:;. 80487SX-25 INTEL OVERDRIVE SX/DX33 OVERDRIVE SSDXZS OVERDRIVE SX.TO2Q RAPID CAD

69.00 69.00 09.00 .!■;<.! ii!i 749.00 599.00 499.00 289.00

63O370X-16 1BMHZ CYRIX

89,1*1

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HI IN

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3167-25MHZ WEITEK

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3167-33MHZ WEITEK

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1I67-25MHZ WEITEK

US IN

4167-33MHZ WEITEK

595.00

2C87-8 BMHZ IIT ZC87-10 10MHZ IIT 2C87-12 12MHZ IfT 2C87-20 20MHZ IIT 3C87-16 I6MHZ IIT 3C87-20 20MHZ IIT 3C87-25 25MHZ IIT 3C87-33 33MHZ IIT 3C87-40 40MHZ IIT 3S87SX-16I6MHZ IIT 3S87SX-20 20MHZ IIT 3S87SX-25 25MHZ IIT 35B7SX-33 33MHZ ITT

59.00

59.00 65.00 69.00 B9.00 89 00 89.00 B9.00 99.00 75.00 75 00

4MB X9-80NS SIMM-PC . . .

4MB X9-70NS SIMM

4MB X9-60NS SIMM

1MBX9-100NS9CHIPSIMM 1MBX9-80NS3CHIPSIMM 1M8X9-80NS9CHIPSIMM 1MB X 9-70NS 3 CHIP SIMM 1MBX9-70NS9CHIPSIMM 1MB X9-60NS 3 CHIP SIMM 1MBX9-60NS9CHIPSIMM 1MBX9-53NS3CHIPSIMM 1MBX9-53NS9CHIPSIMM 1GMBX9-70NSSIMM . . . .

FACH

12+

TAIL

CALL

CALL

CALL

CAM

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256K X 9256K X 9. 256K X 9256K X 91MB X B1MB X 84MBX8 4MBX81MBX9 1MB X9

TOONS SIMM BONS SIMM . 70NS SIMM 60NS SIMM . ■SONS SIMM . •70NS SIMM ■SONS SIMM . 70NS SIMM ■ICONS SIPP ■SONS SIPP . .

1MB X9-70NS SIPP. 1MB X9-60NS SIPP. 256K X 9-100NS SIPP

256K X 9-80NS SIPP 25BK X 9-70NS SIPP 256K X 9-60NS SIPP 256X36- 1MB . 512 X36- 2MB

1 X 36 - 4MB ... .

2 X 36- 8MB . . . 4X36-16MB ....

CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL CALL

■;:-n.■;.■■■■■:■; *;iriHL.i y:t-. ■■-.: 13-ilhij 35

PERSONAL LASER WHITER NT

IT MD292LLA 130

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Panasonic

■IMF E-L' NA 199

KX-P445S 2MB E-C KXM4SSJ 197

QMS

0MSB15, 815MR. 115

aV^C

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1MB MOO PC212I

3MB MOO PC3122

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386/486

386/486-64K Cache no CPU S200 386/486-256K Cache no CPU S250

386DX-33386DX-40386DX-4Q486SX-25■186DX-33486DX-334B6DX-50

-256K CACHE W/CPU ■64K CACHE W/CPU .. 25SK CACHE W/CPU -64K CACHE W/CPU . 64K CACHE W/CPU . 256K CACHE W/CPU 256K CACHE W/CPU

LOCAL BUS MOTHER BDS CALL FOR SUPER PRICE & CONFIGURATION

■flmHiii;ii,iM.,.Ei

RAMpAT!

I!" -Uses eplo 16 MBol memoiv -t6-bh ISA (JtAT) bus camtiatiDle -i5«ffuijUling'na5*n:nf;i.:i :i::-!i'. ':■:::■ 'f']:.:!■■■] Si.;:f-:i!:■•:-■■':■:■!ly LIM40 tnirajsd inerrH^rooOSS S108

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AST Rampage Plus/2MB $169

IMBX

1MBX IMBX 1MBX 25SK X 1 256K X 1 256K X 1

. 3.95

4.20 . 4.25

4.70 . 1.50

1.55 . 1.7D

ncm

■100NS

BOMS

-70NS

■60NS

-150NS

-120NS

-100NS

4-80NS DIPP 21

256X1-80NS . 256KX 1-70NS 256KX1-60NS 256K X 4-100NS 25SK X 4-60NS 256K X 4-70NS 256K X 4-60NS

mnm

2.20 4.35 4.45 4.50 4.75

64KX4-120NS 1.75

54KX4-100NS .... 2.10

64K X 4-BONS 2.25

64KX 1-150NS 1.50

64KX 1-120NS .... 1.75 64KX MOONS 1.95

CACHE

„„,„

ma FOR MEMORY PRODUCTS NOT LISTED, CALL FOR PRICES AND AVAILABILITY

g* I PURCHASE ORDERS FROM GOVERNMENT AGENCIES - UNIVERSITIES - FORTUNE 2000 FIRMS - CALL 1-215-922-4650

.™,™„..™-»-.™,™. NEVER A SURCHARGE ON CREDIT CARDS OPEN SATURDAY 10-6 «—»««*

TECHNICAL SUPPORT ORDERS ONLY TOLL FREE FAX

1 -215-922-4640 1 -800-457-6937 1-215-922-0116

ALL CREDIT CARDS ARE VERIFIED FOR FRAUDULENT USE. ORDER TOLL-FREE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE USA DR CANADA. CALL FOR CURRENT PRICES AND VOLUME DISCOUNTS. PRICES AND AVAILABILITY SUBJECT TO CHANGE. OHDER LINES OPEN 6 DAYS.

MINIMUM ORDER 50 O0«USA SHIPPING & HANDLING'AIR S12.0O-AIR OVERNIGHT S18.00-COD ADD S4.00-PA RESIDENTS ADD 7% SALES TAX-PREPAID ORDERS CALL FOR CONFIRMATION-ALL RETURNS REQUIRE RMA# AND ORIGINAL INVOICE CANCELLED ORDERS'AND RETURNS FOR CREDIT SUBJECT TO 25% RESTOCKING CHARGE«RETURNED MERCHANDISE MUST BE IN NEW CONDITION AND RECEIVED WITHIN 14 DAYS FROM INVOICE DATE, SORRY. NO REFUNDS AFTER 14 DAYS, SHIPPING AND HANDLING CHARGES NOT REFUNDABLE«INTERNATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME-APO-FPO ORDERS WELCOME PC'S ACCEPTED FROM GOVERMENT AGENCIES/UNIVERSITIES/FORTUNE 2000 COMPANIES-SUBJECT TO APPROVAL. ALL MEMORY PRODUCTS ARE THIRD PARTY ALL TRADEMARKS ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE RESPECTIVE OWNERS.* ALL WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS ARE 100% GUARANTEED AND COME WITH LIFETIME WARRANTY EXCEPT

30 DAY WARRANTY ON CPU CHIPS AND 1 YEAR WARRANTY ON MOTHER BOARDS •

WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGIES

437 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 Customer Service 215-922-4640

Circle 200 on Inquiry Card.

■Our 17th Year of Superstate Deals!

Hard Drives

Western Digital

High performance

"Caviar" series with

height. Cache Flow1" and 32K buffer.

AC280 80Mb 1" 3.5" 14ms IDE ....Call

AC2120 125Mb 1' 3.5" 14ms IDE....Call

AC2200200Mb 1" 3.5" 14ms IDE ....Call

Maxtor

7060A 80Mb 1" 3.6* 15ms IDE....Call 7120A 120Mb V 3.5" 15ms IDE....Call LXT213A213Mb l- 3.5' 15ms IDE ....Call MX12401.2Gb V 3.5' 15ms IDE....Call Panther 1.2Gb SCall Panther 1.7Gb Call

Conner Peripherals

30104 120Mb 3.5" 19ms IDE....Call 3204 200Mb 3.5- 16ms IDE....Call

Hard Drive Specials

Seagate ST3283 249Mb IDE 499.95

Samsung 100Mb IDE 299.95

Seagate Wren 340Mb ESDI 599.95

Brand Tech 200Mb IDE 379.95

Call for Quantum, Micropenis, Seagate. Controllers from Ultrastor, Always, WD etc.

Backups

Colorado

DJ10 120Mb Tape Drive internal.. 199 DJ20 250Mb Tape Drive internal.. 268

Trakker 120 Tape Backup 358

Trakker 250 Tape Backup 428

Syquest (with cartridge)

44Mb kit SQ555. SQ400, SQ01(16brr) .419

44Mb external 499

88Mb kit SQ5110, SQ800. SQ01(16bit) 529 88Mb external 629

GrassRoots Floptical

Floptical 21 Mb (external) Call

Floptical 21 Mb (internal) Call

Floppy Disk Drives

Toshiba

ND04DG 360K 5.25'HH PC/XT 59

ND08DEG 1.2Mb 5.25- HH PC/AT ....72 ND3561GR 1.44Mb 3.5" HH w/ATKit..72

ACP

1.2 Mb 5.25'. 66 2.88Mb 3.5* Call

1.44Mb 3.5-....67 All in One 3.5/5.25 149

MultiMedia

Creative Labs

Complete all-in-one MPC compatible upgrade kit includes: Panasonic CD Drive, Sound Blaster Pro, five CD's, Microsoft SW

MultiMedia Kit Int/Ext 545/625

SoundBlaster 1.5/Professional 88/187

Wi

Pro Audio Spectrum 16

Absolutely the finest sound board for true MultiMedia MPC applications.

ProAudio Spectrum 16 197

CDPC Subsystem (external) 989

Pro 16 Multimedia System 898

MediaVision Fusion CD (external) 399 CD ROM Sys w/Sound, Speakers, 4 CD's: Cemptons Carmen, Ultima, Wing Comm Fusion CD 16 (Int/Ext) 498/548

Comptons Encyclopedia CD

Standard version with World Atals 49

Interactive version, NEWI 249

CD ROM Drive Special

Mitsumi CD ROM (internal) 350ms 199

MPC Compliant, Kodak Photo CD ready

input Devices

Advanced Logitech

3-button Mouse 15 Mouseman 75

101 Keyboard ..58 Mouse (OEM) ....35

Mouse+Windows 88 Cordless Mouse . 88

Microsoft Trackman 78

Serial Mouse 69 Trackman Port. .,94

Ballpoint 9B Scanman32... 128

Ballpt+Windows 148 Scanman 256 .. 258

Mlcrospeed CH Products

PCTrac 78 FlightStick 49

PC Trac bus vers 88 Joystick Machlll call

IBM Compatible Cards

Advanced Monochrome ...38

Color Card 48

EGA Card 48

VGA

512K. 800x600. ..53

512K. 1024x768.68

1Mb. 1024x768 .88

Windows

1 MbAccelerator 149

Interface

Parallel Card ...,29

Serial Card 35

Multl I/O 59

IDE 16-bit 19

IDE Multl I/O 69

Modems

2400bps internal. 39

2400bps external.69

Memory

AT 0-8Mb(simm) 99

XT0-8Mb(IC's) ...99

Chips ana SIMM's

dRAM Qtyl 25 SIMMs Qtvl 12 256x1-100 .. 1.49 ..1.35 lMbx9-80 .. 35.,,,34 256x1-100 .. 1.59 ..1.45 !Mbx9-70 ., 36 .,..35

256x4-80 4.79 ..4.59 lMbx8-60 ., 32 .,..31

lMbxl-100..4.05 ..3.95 4Mbx8-70 129 ..126 lMbxl-80....4.49 ..4.39 4Mbx9-70 139.135 Call lor VIDEO RAMS & CACHE RAMS Over 20,000,000 IC's in-stock including We Specialize in Memory Modules

Math Coprocessors

Intel Cyrix

387SL Mobile 78 387SX(16-25) 73

80387DX (all) 85 387DXG0-33) 88

80387SX (all) 78 387DX/40 108

RapidCAD 248 60287(all) 78

8087 29 Intel Overdrive

80287-10 89 486DX-33 649

80287-20 89 486SX-25 489

Memory upgrades

Notebooks/Laptops

ASTPowerExec 4Mb .s178 ASTPowerExec 16Mb Compaq Contura 4Mb Compaq Contura 8Mb Compaq Lite4/25C 4Mb Compaq Lite4/25C 8Mb

1325 „ 169 ..369 ..239 ..399

Toshiba

T4400/16Mb

5799

Apple

Powerbook

l40/170-6Mb

$249

IBM

ThinkPad

HP95LX Palmtop 2Mb .

Tl TraveJMate300u 2Mb 87

11 TravelMctte4000 4Mb... 218

ToshibaT4400/6400 4Mb ... 187

ToshibaT4400/6400 8Mb...388

Zenith Z-Note 2Mb... 168 Call tor all Notebook Memory Upgrades!

Laser Printers can tor vk Boards

Canon LBP-4,4Lite,4Plus 1Mb. 118 2Mb 16B Canon LBP-8III, Bill Plus 2Mb . 169 3Mb 199 Compaq PAGEMARQ15/20 8/16Mb..299/599

Epson ActionLaser II

HPU lllsi, 4, 4M, XL300 4Mb. HP LaserJet IIP,III,IIIP,IIID 2Mb

HP LaserJet II, IID 2Mb.

Panasonic 4410/4430 2Mb

Panasonic 4420/4450i 2Mb

OkiLaseMOO 1Mb

Tl MicroLaser Turbo, XL 1Mb

2Mb 138 148 8Mb 298 .98 4Mb 158 .98 4Mb 158 118 4Mb 188 118 4Mb 188 .78 2Mb .98 .69 4Mb 269

Computer Memory Upgrades

AST Bravo 4/33, 486/25 2/8Mb 88/299

Compaq ProLinea 3/25s, 25zs 2/8Mb 88/288

ProLinea 4/25s, 4/33, 4/50 2/8Mb 88/308

IBM ValuePoint except Cxx 4/16Mb 158/578

IBM PS/2 Model 90, 95 2Mb 88

Call for all Computer Memory Upgradesl

Micronics

Motherboards

486DX/33ISA ..'799 486DX2/50 VL ! 1049

486DX2/50ISA..899 4000LBVideo ... 199

486DX2/66ISA 1079 486DX/33 EISA ..999

486DX2/66VL.1399 486DX2/50EISA1299

Advanced

Motherboards

80286/12MHz....!69 486DX/33MHZ .'499 386SX/25MHZ ... 119 486DX/50MHz ..999 386DX/40MHZ ..199 486DX2/50MHZ 699 486SX/25MHZ...229 486DX2/66MHZ 949

Video Graphics Cards

ATI

Graphics Ultra Pro l/2Mb 428/518

Graphics Ultra Pro l/2Mb 288/328

Graphics Ultra 512K/lMb 248/288

Graphics Vantage 512K/ 1Mb 168/218

VGA Wonder XL24 512K/ 1Mb 128/148

VGA Integra 83 VGA Basic 16 65

Stereo F/X Soundboard 109

Diamond

SpeedSTAR Stealth w/1Mb 229

Speedstar 24X 24-Bit Color w/IMb 158

Orchid Fahrenheit 1280w/lMb ...275

Video Seven

WIN VGA Accelerator w/1Mb 149

1024i Plus VGA 512K 79

VRAM II ERGO 1Mb 239

S429

ADS Prime Time TV

122 channel cable-ready TV-Tuner with scalable windows and complete software kit, 4watt stereo 429

ADS VGA TV Elite

Converts VGA to Big Screen TV ... 349

Advanced Computers fa

486 High Performance CPU's • Plus all New! MultiMedia PC r

486 SuperVGA System SZ\

ncludes: ■ l.2Mb 5.25" fiopov a<~dq \'l"Lt\

Includes:

• 486DX/33 w/256k Cache

• 4Mb RAM

• 1Mb SVGA Card •120Mb HardDrive

1.2Mb 5.25" Floppy

1.44Mb 3.5" Floppy

IDE Controller

101 Keyboard

14" SuperVGA .28

Color Monitor and more1

ACP's Sale Price

$1499

ire! rn^W m Mphoio

'S... plus may

Call for MiniTower and Tower configurations... plus

BISA, SCSI, Local Bus, and 486DX2/50, 486DX2/66 and 4B6DX/50

4B6 MultiMedia System

Complete MPC compliant MultiMedia system utilizing the most popular Js* components available In the industry today. Interna! CD-ROM drive and 16-bit SoundBlaster Technology. Plus Free Software preloaded. All completely assembled, tested ready to plug In and playi

Preloaded Software

•Kodak Photo CD, Mammals, Microsoft Bookshelf, Beethoven, Works, Windows 3.1, DOS 5.0, Levingson Power Accounting, 386MAX, Quicken 2.0. Mayo Family Health Book, King's Quest V, HSC Interactive .44Mb 3.5' Floppy Amplified Speakers MultiMedia Authoring Tool & Audio Tracks

2 Serial, parallel- MiniTower Case A —D,

16-bit Sound Card ACP S

1 Year warranty on-site with GE Sale Price

Includes:

486SX/25 w/32k Cache- 4Mb RAM 1 Mb SVGA Card • 120Mb Hard Drive MPC Internal CD-ROM Drive 14" SuperVGA Color Monitor .28

$2599

Call for Toshiba's New

T6aOOM Col

for MultiMedia

comma Toshiba

ProLinea 3s/25 w/84Mb 999

ProLinea 4/25s w/240Mb 1499

Contura 3/20 w/84Mb 1499

Contura 3/25 w/84Mb 1699

Contura 3/25 w/ 120Mb 1899

Contura 3/25c w/84Mb 2299

Contura 3/25cw/120Mb 2499

Compaq LTE Lite/25c w/84Mb 3499

Compaq LTE Lite/25c w/ 120Mb 3699

T1800 Satellite 60Mb 7.7. iurr

T1850 Satellite 80/120Mb 1599/1799 T1850C Satellite w/120Mb Color 2399 T3300SL 80/120Mb 1949/2149

T4400SX LCD/Plasma 120Mb

T4400C Color 120Mb

T4500 80/120Mb

T4500C Color 120Mb

T6400DXC Color 200Mb

2399/2599 3499

2399/2599

3799

6199

$7777

Symantec

»fl Norton Antivirus v2.0

Cure infected systems plus on-going preventative care. Plus 24-hour Virus FAX-Line for new viruses updates.

Symantec Q&A $1TA

Database v4.0 I / w

ACP Special Bundle cngs

Norton Desktop for Windows 59

plus FREE! Z-nix Mouse alt for only

(Quantities Limited)

Windows Accelerator Increases Performance!

!\ Diamond

Computer Systems, Inc.

Speed Star 24X

...make your 386 perform like a 486

SpeedStar24X .... s158 Stealth .. s229

qtt A* Seiko

|31 1 ^FCM1450

New low price! SVGA ,25mm non-interlaced *~ multi-scanning monitor. -^-..^s

CM 1450 14" S439

CM 1760 17" (,25mm) 1099

SHARP

Color NEWI

386SL/20

NoteBook

•Only 4.9 LBS.!

• 2Mb RAM • 80Mb

PC6881C Color Notebook .. 2699

PC6785 LCD Notebook 1699

ACP Special (AAnc

Modem Bundle §3995

2400 Baud, FREE Prodigy Software

Save now while supply lasts!

as OL810

+i LED Printer

\Q Super improved hi-resolution

^«_ LED printer. 5 year guarantee

■ ■ on LED printhead which has no

--™ movingparts.8 ppm! OL810

^^ "See the Difference"

o $1095

^^ OL400 Printer '599

New! OPTIMA- Low Cost Fax

Now get v.42bis data modem plus up to 14.4FAX with Hayes high performance and compatibility. Plus SmartCom EZ and FAX software.

OPTIMA' 24 +FAX 96 s158

OPTIMA- 96 +FAX 96 378

OPTIMA'144 +FAX 144 475

OPTIMA- 24/SCEZ 128

OPTIMA^ 96/SC EZ 348

Pocket Edition'2400 118

Canon® Authorized Reseller

NEW LOW PRICES!

BJlOex Portable $299

BJ20ex Portable 364

BJ200 Inkjet 339

LBP-4SX Laser Printer 899

LBP-8SX Laser Printer 1288

BJ330 Printer (B/W) 599

BJC 800 (Color) 1799

BJC 820 (Color) 1999

BJ 300 BubbleJet(B/W) 399

Advanced Computer Products, inc.Ill

1310 E. Edinger, Santa Ana, CA 92705 • FAX 714-558-8849 • Toll-Free 1-800-FONE ACP • Sales 714-558-8813 MMC

Prices subject to change without notice. No surcharge on credit card. Credit cards not charged until we ship. 100% risk Iree return guarantee! II you are not 100% satisfied just return insured within 15 days complete with all materials in new resaleable condition wilh original invoice. ACP will immediately exchange product or issue ACP credit less shipping for future purchase. No Returns on software Special Purchase

Circle 183 on Inquiry Cord (RESELLERS: 184).

WINDOWS HT THE SPEED OFTHODGHT

PLAIN TALK ABOUT YOUR NEED FOR SPEED

AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ISA, EISA AND VL-BUS

ISA transfers X

data tin to SMSIsecend on an 8 bit wide databas

FASTER:

EISA offers 32MBI >^ second transfer rates on a 16 bit wide databus

FHSTEST: ^V V NAGA's VL-Bus™ ' system is capable of

transferring raw data on a 32 bit wide databas at the. rale of' 132MBIsecond

SVSTEM BOTTLENECKS CRUSE LENGTRV REDRRWS

Redraws take a long time because data displayed on your monitor is bottlenecked.Thedatabas, peripherals and CPUaren't operatingon tbesanw ixtndwuith—the/lumber of bitsableto jxisstlavugh thes\stem's narrowest bottleneck—causing delays.

WINDOWS SOLUTION EXECUTIVE SOLUTION

Vou've looked at a zillion ads. It seems like everyone's selling the same thing. Yon want the fastest 486 or 386 available at the lowest price. And now. everyone's talking ISA, EISA and VL-Bns™. And how mnrh more speed you need.

CflD. IMAGING OR

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS:

WORH SO TIMES FASTER

RND SMARTER

For CAD, imaging or graphic design users. VL-Bus' speed advantages are incredible! Without all the wasted time spent waiting for screen redraws, you'll work up to 50 times faster-and smarter.

VESA® VL-Bus, transparent to operating systems and software, is truly the new standard of performance—which more than 120 manufacturers of systems, chipsets and peripheral hoards have adopted for their most powerful products.

m

MICROSOFTWINDOWS... COMPATIBLE

NRGH'S QUALITY COMMnTIENT TO VQU

2-Year Warranty on ALL

Components

Lifetime 800 Number for Service & Support

FREE! 12-Month On-Site

Service Contract"

Next-Day Replacement Part

Warranty

45-Day Money-Back Satisfaction Guarantee-No Questions Asked

24-Hour BBS Technical Support

486-VL

486-VL

Intel 80486 Processor

■ Intel 80486 Processor

4MB KAM (exp, to 32MB)

- 4MB RAM (exp. to 32MB)

128K RAM Cache (exp.to256K)

- 128K RAM Cache (exp. to 256K)

210MB <15 ms IDE Hard Disk

- 130MB <15 ins IDE Hard Disk

Teac L2 & I'M Floppy Drive

- Teac 1.2 & 1.44 Floppy Drive

32 Bit WIDE I/O

Controller

- 32 Bit VL/IDE I/O

Controller

32 Bit VL-Bus 1MB

- 32 Bit VL-Bus 2MB

15" Flat N/1 SVGA (1280x1024)

- 14" Flat N/I SVGA (1280x1024)

101 Enhanced Keyboard

™ 101 Enhanced Keyboard

Vertical Case with 250V Power & 2nd Fan

- Desktop Case with 200W Power Supply

MS DOS 5.0, Windows, Mouse

- MS DOS 5.0, Windows, Mouse

WINDOWS SOFTWARE BUNDLE

- WINDOWS SOFTWARE BUNDLE

486DX-33MH2 S2.29S 486DX-25MHz $1,795 486DX2-50 MHz $8,395 486DX-33MHz $1,995 486DX2-66 MHz $2,595 486DX2-S0 MIL. $2,095

ORDER TODAY TOLL FREE

1-800-568-6343

Fax orders: 602/820-3153 Direct & international line:

602/820-3294

Hours7ajn.to7pmMon.-Fri,

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat. & Sun, MST

Purchase orders

accepted from Fortune 1,000 Companies

& Universities. Commercial leasing available.

MavjGrdVBMJbnsubnim&pawdGQQ

FREE! OVER A $1,200 WINDOWS SOFTWARE

BUNDLE Willi RNV WINDOWS VL SVSTEM!

NAGA gives you mure value, more capability to start fast. Our WINDOWS VL-Bus systems include:

■ Norton Desktop for Windows'

■ Lotus SmartSuite (includes Lotus 123 with smarlpak. AMI Pro 3.0 word processor package. Freelance Graphics presentation graphics package. Lotus Organizer and cc Mail Remote)

■Qmman&i teaiiBg total on bM aarthoMl optten ptwappRnbktalu !<". f>iuin^ mu awtfobb in certain Hats Uxue program available fir bamumteu ifcin mu mjrculd

t^maau\air^lettmtemafnelbeaeaMileharurhremDlBlBoilioni.lauik

rMces,ooaji§araBmiatd(OrarMer^t*rBlantaijeaioclima^

1-800-568-6242

NA7A

Systems Corporation

Smart Computer.

Smart Solution.

Smart Choice.

1520 West Mineral Road Tempo, AZ 85283

Circle 210 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 211).

MEMORY!! MEMOMU M6M0M1!

ACER 486SX - 16MB SIMM m x 36)

32MB SIMM <8M x 36) AMI EZ-FLEX - 64MB KIT (4 simms) AMIGA 2000 - 16MB SIMM AST BRAVO 486LC - 16MB SIMM COMPAQ SystemPro - 32MB MODULE DELL 486's - 16MB KIT <2 simms) 32MB KIT (2 simms) MAC llfx - 16MB SIMM MAC QUADRA 950 - 16MB SIMM MAC llci,llcx,llsi,QUADRA 900 - 16MB SIMM MAC QUADRA 700 & SE/30 - 16MB SIMM NeXT TURBO - 16MB SIMM SUN IPX,ELC - 16MB SIMM SUIM SPAHC $mvm - 256MB KIT

$ 599.00 $ 1,399.00 $ 2,699.00

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

539.00 539.00

1,199.00 538.00

1,088.00 479.00 479.00 479.00 529.00 529.00 549.00

OTHER MEMORIES AVAIL

IBM

PS/1 - 2MB

$ 68

4MB

$ 149

M30 - 2MB

S 79

M50Z.55sx.65sx.70 - 1MB

$ 45

2MB

$ 79

M55sx.65sx.70 - 4MB

S 135

M70-A21A61.121 - 2MB

$ 79

M40sx,35sx - 8MB

$ 269

M57sx,90,95 - 4MB

S 135

8MB

$ 269

M80-041 - 1MB

S 65

MBO-111,121.311 - 2MB

$ 99

M80-A21.A31 - 4MB

S 180

16-BIT OK Exp Board

$ 128

32-BIT OK Exp Board

$ 128

AST

PREM, PREM. PREM. PREM.

PREM.

386/20C - 1MB KIT

386/25 - 1MB

486/25 - 1MB

II 486 - 1MB 4MB 8MB KIT

II 1MB Exp Board

$ 65 $ 45 $ 45 $ 4! 5 139 $ 278 $ 469

COMPAQ

DP 386/20.20E.25 - 1MB 4MB DP 386S/16 - 1MB 4MB DP 286N,386N,S/20 - 4MB M-SYSTEMS - 2MB 4MB 8MB DP 386/33,486/25 - 2MB SystemPro - 8MB

OK Exp Brd DP 386S/16 1MB Exp Brd DP 386/20,20E,25,25E 1MB Exp. Board

DELL

325D,P;333D,P - 1MB

4MB

420,425,433

450DE.450SE

2MB KIT 4MB KIT 8MB KIT 2MB KIT 4MB KIT 8MB KIT

$ 66 $ 159 $ 66 S 159 $ 135 $ 79 S 135 $ 299 $ 96 $ 269 $ 335 $ 105

S 105

S 41 $ 135 S 82 S 158 $ 270 $ 82 $ 158 S 270

HP

Vectra QS-16 - 2MB KIT $ 129

4MB KIT $ 229

Vectra 486 - 2MB

4MB

8MB

X-Station 700 Sen - 2MB

4MB

8MB

9000/400t,425t - 8MB KIT

16MB KIT

32MB KIT

9000/425e - 8MB KIT

16MB KIT

APPLE

ll,SE,SE/30 - 1MB $

Classic - 1MB Exp. Board $ SE/30,llcl,llcx,llsl,LC &

Quad. 700,900 - 4MB $ 115

Quad. 700,900 - 32MB KIT $1120

llfx - 16MB KIT $ 499

llfx - 32MB KIT SI 156

Quadra 256K V-RAM $ 27

LC 512K V-RAM S 44

79

135

269

89

149

299

495

999

$1869

$ 428

$ 828

32 54

LAPTOPS

AST EXEC. NB - 4MB $ 119

COMPAQ LTE386 - 4MB $ 209

SLT386 - 4MB $ 168

DELL 316,320 LT - 2MB $ 99

EVEREX TEMPO - 2MB $ 78

IBM L40sx - 4MB $ 135

MAC POWERBOOK - 2MB $ 104

NEC P.S, 286,386sx - 4MB $ 200

P.S. 386 - 8MB $ 429

P.S. SX/20 - 4MB $ 200

PANASONIC CF170 - 1MB $ 55

T.I, TRVL-MT 3000 - 2MB $ 80

TOSHIBA 1000 - 2MB $ 108

2000SXE - 8MB $ 388

3200SXC - 4MB $ 160

5200 - 8MB $ 315

PRINTERS

EPSON 6000 - 4MB $ 229

HP IIP.IIUIID.P - 2MB $ 108

lllsi - 4MB $ 135

IBM 4019.4029e - 3.5MB $ 129

4029 - 4MB $ 135

OKIDATA 400 - 2MB $ 129

PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE

OTHER MEMORIES FOR:

ACER, ALTIMA, APPLE, AST, CHAPLET, COMPAQ, DELL, EPSON, EVEREX, HP, LEADING EDGE, IBM, NEC, NCR, OKIDATA, PACKARD-BELL, PANASONIC, PHILIP, SAMPO, SHARP, SILICON GRAPHICS, SUN MICROSYSTEMS, TANDON, Tl, TOSHIBA, TULIP AND ZENITH.

CAii m>i am commm cmaiob

TERMS: COD. CASH, VISA OR MASTERCARD.

COMPANY AND UNIVERSITY PC'S ACCEPTED UPON CREDIT APPROVAL.

414 CLOVERLEAF DR., UNIT B, BALDWIN PARK, CA 91706

TEL (818)855-5688 FAX (818)855-5687

Circle 201 on Inquiry Card.

ALL PRODUCT NAMES, TRADEMARKS AND REGISTERED TRADEMARKS ARE THE PROPERTY OF THEIR REPSECTTVE COMPANIES.

Hay Hard; Hay Safe

T\* J

—while supplies last

$500\rt„

^ Get 3 free games when you buy the special . j -, QEMM-386 Game Bundle

In the Sky

Step back into history and experience the emotion of airborne combat with the men and machines of the Pacific Theater of World War II. Attack carriers, air bases and fight the finest pilots the enemy can throw against you. Super-realistic simulation includes 30 accu- .

rately recreated WWII fight- AceS OT the PaCITK

ers and bombers; legendary "The benchmark of the 90s for enemy (and friendly) aces to flight simulators."

battle, and all the heart- —Simulation Magazine

pounding excitement of carrier landings. Choose from an array of missions or enlist for the entire war. You can even fly for the other side. Magnificent 240page manual is complete with photos and war maps.

On the Gridiron

Front Page Sports: Football

"... remains unchallenged as the most

complete football game ever... for

gridiron fans of all interest levels..."

—Electronic Games

Get into the action with this amazingly realistic simulation. Its 3-D look puts you in the middle of the

action in the most

complete football gaming package ever. Play against an opponent or against the computer. View instant replays from a floating cam era you position. You get a full 47-man roster including injured reserve, up to 28 teams and 1,400 players per league, 200+ stock plays, 300+ stat categories and your choice of exhibition or a full season of play.

Through the Labyrinth

Send in your registration card and get a third great game as your free bonus! Ultima Underworld II incorporates the latest advancements in soimd, three-dimensional graphics and animation. You play Avatar, trapped with the leaders of Britannia by the Guardian in a

So? Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds

will have Registration Bonus Game

to find your way out against seemingly overwhelming odds. But you must—or your country will die!

Play Safe

QEMM-386 gives your games all the memoiy available on your PC. Automatically. No wonder QEMM is specified by more game publishers than all other memory managers put together.

Work Safe

QEMM-386 is the number one memory management program in the world. Not only does it make games rim better, it helps

you when you get back to work—reducing

the chance of crashing while making room EVTEjBVl

for both your favorite TSRs or network utili- SUSS SIS i""S

ties and memory hungry programs like

WordPerfect or MS Windows. Whether you have one megabyte or

eight, QEMM-386 can find more memory for your programs.

Suggested U.S. Retail Price: $99.95

jjffjili

n

./>.

Quarterdeck Office Systems, 150 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405 (310) 392-9851 Fax (310) 314-4219

Quarterdeck International Ltd., B.I.M. House, Crofton Terrace, Dun Laoghaire Co. Dublin, Ireland Tel.(353) (1) 284-1444 Fax: (353) (1) 284-4380

All games are complete, fully-functional versions. However, because of shipping considerations, individual game boxes are not included. ©1993 Quarterdeck Office Systems. All trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Circle 283 on Inquiry Card.

KeyPro...

A Legend in Software Protection

Just as the legendary Chinese warrior god Zhong-Kui had the reputation of a fearsome warrior who easily fended off evil spirits, KeyPro has established its reputation as a dependable means of guarding programs against unauthorized copies. Zhong-Kui enslaved and ate ghosts, but KeyPro employs a much more useful and appealing method to protect your software.

While designing the KeyPro software protection device, our engineers considered not only the need of software developers but also the convenience of users. Software developers enjoy KeyPro's protection capability, while users can forget the key after installing it.

The KeyPro Family

KeyPro II : for PC environments Net-KeyPro: for Netware environments

Outstanding Features

>> Unbreakable Electronics

An ASIC-based hardware and a proprietary encryption algorithm are used to prevent code tracing by the most persistent software pirates.

>> Compatibility

KeyPro is transparent to the computer and other peripherals that are attached to it. It works on every computer it has been tried on without interfering with computer's normal operations.

>> Cascadability

KeyPro can cascade on the printer port with any other KeyPros or the keys manufactured by other companies. Because KeyPro's both sides are transparent, it can sit in any position in the cascade chain.

Runtime Reprogrammability

A buffer with read/write runtime memory inside the hardware allows developers to protect and write into multiple software programs using only one key.

Virus Dectection

KeyPro provides the protected program a virus deiection option to check whether it is infected.

User Limit

KeyPro allows programmers to designate up to 100 workstations using one software in Netware environment.

Driver/External Protections

Two protection methods provide the security for a software with or without its source code.

Regional Distributors Welcome!

KeyPro is a registered trademark of Transcend Information Inc. All other trademarks are registered by their respective owners.

Transcend

Your Supplier, Your Partner, Your Friend.

Transcend Information Inc.

U.S.A.

104 Exchange Place, Pomona, CA 91768 TEL: (909) 598-5500 FAX: (909) 598-5050 (909) 598-6050

Taiwan

3R., No. 465, Chung Hsiao E. Rd., Sec. 6, Taipei, Taiwan TEL: (886) 2-7881000 FAX: (886) 2-7881919 (886) 2-7889191

Germany

Transcend Information Trading GmbH

Lademannbogen 45a,

2000 Hamburg 63

TEL: (49) 40/538 81 37

FAX: (49) 40/538 17 81

Circle 205 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 206).

Speed that Excels

The power, reliability and price of Kaiyo computers make them stand out among other leading computer systems. Thanks to the Local Bus VGA design, Kaiyo offers you the best performance, especially in the CAD and windows environments.

Rated by Chip Magazine of Germany as its January "Tip of the Month", Kaiyo enhances video performance by more than ten-times that of normal VGA display. In utilizing a full 32-bit CPU bus. Kaiyo's local bus design lets VGAs operate at the processor's clock speed. This versatile series includes a comprehensive range of PCs guaranteed to meet the needs of all your customers. It features up to 66 MHz 80486DX2 EISA bus microprocessors so they'll never be at a loss for computer power. Incorporating the most advanced

microprocessor technology, Kaiyo has among the smallest, yet most powerful compact desktop computers in the world.

But don't just take our word for it.

Over the years, our Group has established a strong base of over 190 active customers in 46 countries. We're particularly strong in Western Europe, especially Germany. And our sales in Eastern Europe have increased

by over 74% over the last year.

Team up with us- long-term business partner that support you every step of the way.

fo

The Power in PCs

"The Intel Logo is a trademark of Intel Corporation

(All brand names are registered trademarks of their respeelive owner.)

C>

Ocean Office Automation Ltd.

Head Office: Ocean Office Automation Ltd.

4th & 5th Floor, Kader Industrial Building, 22 Kai Cheung Road, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong,

Tel: (852) 3051800 Telex: 52289 OCCOM HX Fax: (852) 799 2398 (5 lines)

U.S.A. Office: Ocean Information Systems, Inc.

12155 Mora Dr. Suite 6, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670, U.S.A.

Tel: (213) 946 5888 Fax: (213) 946 0929

For US Enquiry-Call Toll Free: I -800-32-KAIYO (52496)

252 B YTE • MAY 1993

Circle 208 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 209).

Notebook

Thinkpad 300 4/80 2229

Thinkpad 300 4/120 2399

Thinkpad 700 4/120 2699

Thinkpad 700 Color 4/120 3995

IBM ValuePoint

486/33 8/120 OS2& Mouse 1550

486/33 8/212 OS2 & Mouse 1695

486/66 8/212 OS2& Mouse 2195

Call for Prices on PS/2 All Models & for Updated Prices

BRAND NAMES

LOW PRICES LEADER

SINCE 1983 We export to Europe, Asia

Modems

ZOOM 14.4 EXT.S/R Fax

299

ZOOM 14.4 INT.S/R Fas

249

INTEL Satisfaxtion 400

439

INTEL Satisfaxtion 400E

479

TOSHIBA NOTEBOOKS

Toshiba 1850, 80 meg 1695

Toshiba 4400c, 120 meg 3625

Toshiba 6400MM, 200 meg CALL

Toshiba 4500,120 meg CALL

Toshiba 4500DXC, 200 meg CALL

Call (or pricing on other brand name models

Apple

Mac PowerBook

150, 40/80/120 MB ...

Duo 210, 4/80 MB

180, 4/120 MB

..$2,230/2,540/2,860

$2150

$4,160

Mac Centrls 650. 6/230 MB $3080

Quadra 950, 8/0 MB $4390

14" Mac Color Monitor..

Extended Keyboard

LaserWriter III, 4 MB....

...$499 ...$159 .1,795

All ProLinea systems are Local Bus

Prolinea 4/25s, 4/120 MB Win+ 1225

ProLinea 4/25S, 4/240 MB Wind+ 1425

Prolinea 4/33, 4/120 MB Win+ 1625

ProLinea 4/25CDS, 4/120 MB Win+ 1665

Prolinea 4/50, 4/240 MB Win+ 2055

Prolinea 4/66, 4/240 MB Win+ 2255

DESKPRO 4/33M, 4/340 MB Win 3125

DESKPRO 4/50M, 8/240 MB Win 3075

DESKPRO 4/66M, 8/240 MB Win 3305

Centura Notebook 3/25, 4/120 Win+ 1875

Contura Notebook 4/25 4/120 Win 1995

Contura Notebook 4/25 color, 4/120 Win 2695

Contura Notebook 4/25CX 4/120 Win 2995

LTE Lite 3/25C, 4/120 MB Win 3549

LTE Lite 4/25C, 4/209 MB Win 4299

Portable 486DX2/66C, 4/210 MB Win CALL

Portable 486DX2/66,4/525 MB Win CALL

Win+ MS-DOS 6, MS-Windows 3.1, Compaq Mouse Win+

Win plus PFS; Works/Windows, 5.25" FDD, Modem

"Please call for updated prices*

CD ROM/Multi Media

Toshiba TXM3301 w/controller 520

NEC CD ROM 74 w/o controller ....605 Sound Blaster 16 ASP 245

AST

Power Exec 386SL/25,120 meg

2555

Power Exec 386SL/25C, 120 meg

3575

Power Exec 486SL25, 25C, 200 MB

CALL

Call for all AST products

^NOVELL SPECIALS

Authorized Dealer Netware 386 V.3.11

5 users 695 10 users 1395

20 users 1895 100 users 3795

Call For Prices on NetWare 4.0

Software From:

Adobe

Aldus

Borland

Central Point Corel IBM

Intuit

Lotus

Mathematica

MicroProse

Micosoft

Quarterdeck

Spinnakor

Symantec

WorkPerfect

Fonts From:

Adobe

IQ Engineering

MicroLogic

Made in USA

,4CSL Computers

486DX2/66, 4MB RAM, 200 meg HD 2195

486/50, 4MB, 200 meg HD *"?* 1960

486/33, 4MB RAM, 120 meg HD L°c.a.! 1620

386/40, 4MB RAM, 120 meg HD ?™ 1390

All Systems Include:

•2 S/1P/1 Game Ports, 101 AT Enhanced Keyboard, Mouse •1.2 (5.25") & 1.44 (3.5") meg TEAC Floppy Drives •SVGA card w/1 meg & SVGA 0.28mm Monitor •MS-DOS 5.0 & MSWindows 3.1 (complete w/manuals) •One year parts and labour limited warranty

Tape Back-Up Drives

Colorado

Jumbo 120 Int....

...145

Jumbo 250 Int....

.195

Trakker 120 Ext...

...355

Trakker 250 Ext ..

.410

Syquest

88 meg kit Int

...425

88 meg Ext

625

Hard Disks Conner

CP30104H, 120 meg

CP3204, 212meg

Quantum (ELS/LPS)

ProDrive 170 meg

ProDrive 240 meg

ProDrive 525 meg

.269 .349

.275 .395 .995

Maxtor

LXT340meg 619

LXT535meg 919

Micropolis (SCSI)

1624 670 meg 1195

1598 1GB SCSI2 1475

Fugica, Micronet, Seagate CALL FOR ALL MODELS

PRINTERS

Panasonic 2180

...289

Panasonic 2624

...390

OKIDATAML320

...315

OKIDATAML390

...460

HP DeskJet 500

...399

HP DeskJet 550c

...699

HP PaintJet

...705

Epson, Citizen

CALL

Video Boards

ATI Graphics

Ultra+, 1MB 295

Ultra Pro, 1MB 435

Ultra Pro, 2MB 515

Ultra Pro, 2MB EISA...575 Diamond

Stealth 24,1MB 175

Orchid Fahrenheit

VESA Local Bus $235

WE STOCK:

ADAPTEC

BOCA

CALCOMP

CITIZEN

INTEL

SVGA Monitors

NEC3FGX, 14"

...645

NEC5FG, 17"

.1375

Viewsonic 4E, 14".

.325

Viewsonic 8,20"...

.1785

Aamazing, 14"

335

CREATIVE

LABS

EPSON

HAYES MAYNARD MOUNTAIN

LASER PRINTERS

HP LaserJet 4SI .

3225 OKI 0L 400, 800

CALL

HP LaserJet IV ....

1395 OKIOL840P.S

1720

HP LaserJet HIP...

CALL Panasonic 4450

1295

HP LaserJet 4P

1188 NEC Model 95

1385

HP Laser 4D

CALL NEC Model 97

...CALL

Compaq Pagemarq 20

4295

KINGSTON

HOUSTON

INSTRUMENTS

LOGITECH

TALLGRASS

US ROBOTICS

TEXAS

INSTRUMENTS

MEGAHERTZ

Corporate Accounts Volume Discounts

And

Consultant Orders

Welcome

Computerlane,nc

Outside California: 1-800-526-3482

Inside California: 818-884-8644 • FAX: 818-884-8253

7500 Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Canoga Park, CA 91303

Hours: Monday - Friday 9 -6, Saturday 10-5

Compaq is a Registered Trademark of

Compaq. IBM is a Registrered

Trademark of International Business

Machines.

ALL QUOTED PRICES REFLECT A

5% CASH DISCOUNT

Visa, MasterCard and American Express

also accepted Prices subject to change without notice.

Circle 189 on Inquiry Card.

MAY 1993 'BYTE 253

he Focused, Full-Text Database With McGraw-Hill Credibility...

licGrom-Hill Publications Online

Business Weeh

Aerospace Daily

Airports

Aviation Daily

Aviation Weeks Space Technology

Biotechnology Newswatch

Byte

Chemical Engineering

Clean-Coal/Synfuels Letter

Coal Week

Data Communications

Electric Utility Heek

Electrical World

Engineering Herns-Record

Federal Technology Report

Hazardous Haste Business

Independent Pouier Report

Industrial Energy Bulletin

Inside Energy/uiith Federal Lands

Inside F.E.R.C.

Inside H.H.C.

Integrated Haste Management

Lan Times

Modern Plastics

Piatt's International Petrochemical Heport Plait's Qilgram Hems Piatt's Oilgram Price Deport The Physician B-Sportsmedicine Postgraduate Medicine S&P'S Emerging & Special Situations SB-P's Aevieur of Banking & Financial Services S&ps Be vieiu of Securities & Commodities Regulation Securities Heek Utility Environment Report The Heekly of Business Aviation irld

It's all there, word for word, an unedited electronic library containing the full-text of articles (except graphics) exactly as they are published in McGrawHill magazines and newsletters. And because it's from McGraw-Hill, the world's leading provider of information services, you also get unparalleled excellence and reliability of content.

Plus, you can search the entire McGraw-Hill database (over 45 leading publications) faster with more user-friendly ease than any other text. There are no cumbersome indexes, no summary words to lookup and learn.. .so you can get right into your hunt for the information you need about companies, people, and products on any topic.

Make the connection to McGraw-Hill Publications Online today. For more information and our latest, complete list of publications, contact Andrea Broadbent at (609) 426-5523 Or fax this coupon to (609) 426-7352. Or send it to the address below.

Available through • Dialog*

• Dow Jones News/ Retrieval®

• F.T. Profile (U.K.)

NewsNet® Lexis/Nexis*

McGrauj-Hill Publications Online

~i

Princeton-Hightstown Road Hightstown, NJ 08520 U.S.A.

Please send me the complete list of your publications online.

L

Title

Company

Company Address

City

State

Zip/Postal Code

Country

Tel.

J

HARD DRIVE

SALE

NEW REDUCED PRICES

^Seagate

MODEL SIZE

ST225 20MB

ST4096 BOMB

ST25H 42MB

ST35JA (1- high).... -12MB 5T3120A(l"high) 105MB ST3144A (I" high) 130MB ST3283A(1") 340MB

ST4766N 660MB

ST41200N 1037MB

SPEED 65MS 28M8 28MS 2BM5 18MS I6MS 12MS 15MS I5MS

TYPE PRICE

MFM 5.25"

MFM Full HT

MFM 5.25"

IDE 3.5"

IDE 3.5"

IDE 3.5"

IDE 3.5" $339

SCSI/FH $899

SCSI/FH $1499

$169 $389 $249 $164 $259 $279

MODEL SIZE SPEED TYPE PRICE

CP3000|l"high) 40MB 19MS IDE $164

CP3O084E 80MB 19M5 IDE $238

CP30l04{l"high| 120MB 19MS IDE $299

CP30174A(1" high) 170MB 17MS IDE $329

CP30204 209MB 15MS IDE $399

CP3544A 525MB I5MS IDE $989

CP3540 540MB 12MS SCSI $999

MODEL SIZE SPEED TYPE PRICE

2585 [2 Vi " Drivel 80MB I7MS IDE $249

7120A[1" high) 130MB 15M5 IDE $273

7213A(1" high) .... 213MB 1SM5 ID! $349

7213S(1" high) 213MB 15MS SCSI $399

7245A 245MB I5MS IDE $399

LXT340A 340MB 15MS IDE $648

LXT340S 340MB 16MS SCSI S698

LXT535A 535MB 15MS IDE $999

PANTHER |FH) 1000MB 13MS SCSI $1489

PANTHER(FH) 1500MB I3MS SCSI $1729

(P

FUJITSU 5 YEAR WARRANTY

MODEL SIZE SPEED TYPE COST

2622A/S (3.5") 330MB 12MS SCSI/IDE $845

2623A/S|3.5") 420MB 12MS SCSI/IDE $899

2624A/S|3.5") 520MB 12MS SCSI/IDE $949

2266S(FH) 1080MB 14MS SCSI $1449

2652SIFH) 1750MB I IMS SCSI $2699

MICROPflLIS

1624 |HH) 660MB 15MS SCSI $1199

2112(3.5") 1050MB 10MS SCSI/IDE $1688

1598IFH) 1050MB I4MS SCSI $1499

1548(FH) I748MB 14MS SCSI $2049

1528I5(FH) 1350M8 I4MS SCSI $1749

1924(FH) 2100MB 11 MS SCSI $2895

SOFTWARE LIQUIDATION

WORDSTAR. Wo£!%25000

Pmmmmmm Kei. j.i

Ti ThisisnolomisprinllThesearerheexad

| some ones telling (or over $300.00

Imi';^!* m from our competitors. We have thou

mZmlm ■ sands in stock ro sole bel

| Retail boxed

L.rTT.j $59,

dealer cosf I factory sealed.

EDUCED PRICE

00 FOR $55) EACH

Floppy Drives

Cobles

Drive Controllers

4 Floppy $9

4 Floppy High Density , , $49

2 Hord Drives MFM ... . $49

2 Hard Drives RU $59

Hard Drive only ... $24

Hard ond Floppy 1.1 hferfoce . . $34

DTC-3280 (Suppom 7 drivw) $139

Adaptec 1542B Bus Mosrering., . S224

DTC6282-24 ... . (149

Hord ond Floppy ,$29

Hard and Floppy w/tO . ...... $39

HardDrive $9

Hord and Floppy $14

■ AST

■ MODEL* EDHfUMR

I NOTEBOOK 286/12,3B65X/20 . NOTEBOOK EXEC SX/25, SX/25C . ■POWEREXEC3/25SL,3/25SL-C ....

Memory

■ A5T POWER EXECL EL..

MEMORY 4MB MOD 4MB MOD 4MB MOD 6MB MOD 2MB MOD 4MB MOD 8MB MOD 16MB MOD

■ POWER PSEMIUM 486/500 8MB EXP KIT

14/33; 3/33,4/66D, PREMIUMII 16MB EXP KIT 384/25.33.486/33;SX20 . 4-32MB EXP BRD

■ AST PREMIUM 386C/386-16 4MB KIT

-ASTPREMIUM 386 4MB KIT '

■AST PREMIUM II, 3B6SX/16;

1386SX/20, 4B6 37 & 33T , JMB MOD

■ BRAVO IC425S.4/33S,

"4/500, 4/66D 2MB KIT

4MB MOD

1 8MB KIT

16MB 32MB

■ For U.S. and Canadian 1 Orders Call Toll Free: J 800-982-2925

j HOURS: M-F 7 AM-6 PM / SAT 10AM-3PM PST

TECHNICAL & CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL: (702) 294-0204 FAX ORDERS, INQUIRIES AND ■ EXCESS INVENTORY TO: FAX (702) 294-11 68

PART*

500814003 500814-004 500984-001

500984-004 500984 001 500984 002 500984 003 500780-001

500818-001 500780004 500510008 500510004

500780-004 $198

500987-001 $98

500987-002 SUB

500987003 $298

$599

$1200

$1298 $99 $169

S599 $1245 $279 3598 $298 $148 $179

NEVADA We will try to beat all prices! Call: 800-982-2925 computer. Quantity Discounts! for your upgrade specialist

"~A fon ft gov» B A I. Welcome1 Nevada's Largest

vwrp. « WW!. r,V. * welcome. Computer Wholesaler

MODEM LIQUIDATION

2400 internal V CadbrIBMK,XT,ATandcompatible*.CCITT V.22bis, V.22 ond Bell 212A Auto diot/Auto oniwer. Supports Comm 1-4/IRQ 2-5, Software included, $39 2400 Ij^mol.scmeos above plus 8 LED stoflislighls, $69

PS/3 1200 Baud IBM Microchanel modem $ 1 9 1200 Baud Internal Modem $19

FAX MODEMS

9600 BPS Group III Facsimile. 2400 BPS Hayes Compatible Modem,

True Background Send and Receive, Menu Driven, Command Lino,

Normal and Fine Modes, Half Cord, One Year Warranty

IBM $49

Pocket PC or MAC $99

Laptop Toshiba or Compaq $ 1 48

9600 Baud Fax only cards $29

iMlE 386 & 486 Processor Upgrades

Now you can use Windows in enhanced mode, get true multitasking & background operation for Windows 3.1, OS/2, & other 386 specific software. Processor upgrades offer dramatically increased system performance & easy installation & improves your systems performance by up to 350%. Available for most machines.

SX Now! Support! IBM AT and other* into a 3B6

20MH2 $209 33MHZ $249

SLCNowl Supports 286 PS/2 into a 486 20MHZ $1S9

25MHZ $233 50MHZ $423

486 Nowl Supports PS/2 70, 80 into 486 & Compaq

DX33MHZ $799 5X25MHZ $499

MicroMaster support* oil MCA PS/2 into a 486 (0-16MB memory!

486DX33 $1295 486SX25 $849

AT Master Supports 386SX systems from IBM & Compaq (0-16MB) 486DX33 $1293 486SX25 $849

COPROCESSORS

WHUSBMAOM5: 1086 USB) MOMS:

S087-3 5MHZ S48 80387 I6MH7 .... S49

83872 Mi 56S B0397-2OMHi $5?

8087-1 ICWfe $88 80387-25Mhj U9

XW,SUHIAU0M5: B0387-33WHI.

B0357-SX16 549 S39 80367-5X20 SB9

...19?

80287-6MH1. 60287-BWt. 802B7- lOMHi.... $49 M3B7SL...

80287X1 S74

B0287XLT S99 tOPIOCUSOK

/*_♦__ AND CW'i

VrifrTIX. 5 veer warranty

Plug compatible with Intel, o.id 'aster1 CYRIX 83D87-33Mr,i

CYRIX

83DB7-40Mr,i

$1(U

CYRIX

a3D87-SX25Wu/SX33..

$88

CYRIX

80484X025 Imode by HI

$128

CYH1X

80486DIO33

SIRS

CYRIX

804B6DLC40

\W

CYRIX

804865LC25

$119

CPU's

386DX

80386 DX/20 $39

80386 DX/25 $74

80386 DX/33 $S9

4S6DX/SX

B0486 DX/25 $339

80486 DX/33 $399

80486 DX/50 $529

80486 DX-2/50... $549 80486 OX-2/66.... S699

80486 SX/25 $199

80486 SX/20 $149

Largest selection of Memory! Call if you don't see it!

lljfl ps/2 Memory

MODEL #

PS/1 and 386/SXI2I21]

MEMORY 2MB 4MB

PS/2 30/286; Adpl Brd 1497259 512K

PS/2 30/286;25/286;AdpiBrd 1497259 ... 2MB PS/2 35SX, LS. 40SX.70-E61; 061, 121 Adpl Brd 6450609, 34F3011; 34F3077

XSlalion 120& 130 1MB

2MB

PS2 50, 50Z, 55SX, 60, 65SX 2-BMB

2-16MB PS/1 Consultant, Essentials & Expert models x43: x&A & PS/Voluepoinl all models

except Cxx series 4MB

16MB PS?2 70-A21;A6I,B21;B61;PS/1 Consultant, Essential & Expert models xl 1,

xl3&xl4, PS/VctuepainlCxx series 2MB

PS/2 35SX; LS, 40SX, 55SX; LS, 65SX, LS, XStalion, PS/Valuepoint Cxx series &

adopter board 34F3001 or 34F3007 4MB

PS/2 90 XP, 95 XP, P75 (Pairs), 56 57 [all)

PS/1 Pro 2123 2MB

PS2 90, ?5 XP, P75 (Pairs) 56, 57, (oil) P5/1 Consultant, Essential, Expert &xl4,PS/l Pro2123, RS/6000

PART* PRICE 92F9935 $78 92F9694 $149 30F534B $35 30F5360 $84

^^ MEMORY PARTff PRICE

6450603 $49

6450604 $79 1497259 $259 6450609 $308

N/A $159 N/A $699

34F2933 $148 87F9977 6450902 $88

Deskpro 2B6E; 386-20; 20E; 25; 25E ,. Deskpro 386S

1MB

4MB ... 4MB Board 4MB Modulo

Deskpro 3B6-20E;25E 4MB

Deskpro 386/33, 386/331; 486/25;

33L;50L; Systempro 2MB

8MB

Laser Printer Memory

1MEG 2MEG 3MEG4MEG 5MEG8MEG

Brother HL-8, BE, 8D.8V $99. $149 $249

Canon LBP4, 4 Lite & + $118. $164

Compaq Pagemark 1 5 & 20 $319 $638

Epson Action Loser II, 8000 $95 $163 $229

EpsoniOOO $98 $168

Fujitsu 7100&7200 $199 $279

1 13634-001 $229 HP Deskjet 500, 500C...$59 [256KI

112534-001 $179 HP2, 2D, 3, 3D, 3P, 2P, 2P* $94 $158

113645-001 $239 HPIII SI $50 $148

HP LaserJet 4, 111 Si, XL300. . . $U8 $289

115144-001 $102 IBMLoser4019,4019E(3.5MB) . $169

IBMLosor4029 $139

108069-001 $248

108069W71 $348

108070-001 $398

113131-001 $59

113132001 $i:

116561-001 $369

32MB 116568-001$1478 NEC90.290...

Compaq "M" 2-64MB 129160001 $298

Deskpro 286N; 386N; 3B6SX/20; 20N, Portable 486c, Deskpro M , Systempro LT Series 129160001,Compaq Pro Signia .. 1MB

2MB

-1MB

8MB Proline 3/25 & 25Z 2MB 141738-001 $89 QMS 410

118688-00! $49

118690-001 $158 128877-001 $318

NEC 95 ..

OKI 400

Packard Bell PB9500 . Panasonic 4410/4430 Panasonic 4420/4^501

Panasonic 4450

Ponoio" c 4455

Proline 4/25si. 4/33,4/50 ..

8MB 141742-001 $279

x13

4MB 6450128 S14B

BMB 6450130 $298

Exp boards for 50, 50Z, 55SX, 60.65SX

2-8MB 2MB 1497259 $258

P52/2 35SX; LS; 40SX 8MB 6450129 $289

PS2 70's and 80's 2-8MB 6450605 $249

2-14MB 34F3077 $309

. 2MBModule 141683-001 $98

4MBModule 141684-001 $166

BMBModulo 141685-001 $318

Compaq Pro Signia 16MB 149320-001$1295

32MB 149147-001$2395

Systempro. Deskpro 6 SKT EXP BRD W/2MB 116569-001 $299

$99

$125..

$119

$89 $108 .. .$105

. $139

$119 $159..

$129 $179..

$128 $178 .. $119.,

. $249 . $269 . $258 . S178

EMg

PS/2 80-A21;A31;A61

PS/2 80-041

PS/2 80-111,-311,121; 321,081; 161

IBM Laptops

PS/2 MD CL57SX Color, Notebook, Thinkpod 700, 700C, 300

4-16MB 34F3011 $388

.... 4MB 6451060 $198

.... 1MB 6450375 $68

2MB 6450379 $B9

PS/2 Model N51, NS2, Notebook SLC, SX

Loplop N335X&L40SX..

2MB 07G1419 $168 4MB 07G1420 $239 8MB 07G1421 $3B9 2MB 92F8S57 $98 2MB 92P8804 $98 2MB 07G1826 $88 4MB 07G1827 $158 8MB 07G1828 $308 2MB 79F0999 $88 4MB 79FI000 $168 BMB 79F1001 $288

Conturo Notebook/Laptop 2MB

4MB 8MB

Compaq SLT/286 1MEGMOD

4MEG MOD

Compaq SLT386 1 MEG MOD

2MEG MOD 4MEGMOD

Compaq Lto 286 IMEGBRD

2MEG BRD 4MEG BRD

Compaq Lie 386/20 1MEGMOD

4MEG MOD

Compaq Lie Lite/20, 25 2MEG MOD

4MEG MOD

MODEL AT&T Sofori

Compaq Loplop AT&TSaiar & Notebook Memory

T1200XE

TI600

T20OOSXE/T220OSX/T1800...

T3100

T3100E ... T3100SX .

TOSHIBA Laptop & Notebook Memory

MODEL, MEMORY PART* PRICE

T2000SX 2MBCARD PA8311U $84

TIOOOSE/iE/XE 2MBCARD PA8312U $84

T2000SXAIOOOLE .... 4MBCARD PAB3I4U $168

8MB CARD PA83I5U $308 2MB BOARD PA8306U $92 2MB BOARD PA8302U $85 . 2MB CARD PA2000U $89

4MBCARD PA2001U $168

8MB CARD PA2002U $328

. 2MBMOD PA7135E SI99

. 2MB MOD PA8341U $8B 2MB BOARD PAB308U $88

4MBBOARD PA8310U $158

T3200SX 2MBMOD PAB307U $B8

4MB MOD PA8309U $158

T3200SXC 2MBMOD PAB318U $88

4MB MOO PA8319U S15B

T320O 3MB BOARD PA7137U $I5B

T330OSL 2M8CARD PA2006U $128

4MBCARD PA2007U $188

6MB CARD PA20O8U $288

16MB CARD PA2009U $795

.2MBCARD PA2003U $125

4MB CARD PA2004U $198

BMB CARD PA2005U $348

16MBCARD PA201OU $799

T5100 2MBBOARD PA8301U $88

T520O/T52O0C/TB5OO 2MB MOD PA8304U $99

8MBMO0 PA83I3U $298

Compaq ITE Lite/20 A

Lte/25;25C

Compaq Lite 486/25C.

8MEG MOD

... 16MBCard

4MB Card

8MB Cord

139497-001 139498-001 139499-001 110235-001 110237-001 118303-001 118304-001 118305-001 117081-001 117081-002 117081-003 121125001 121125-002 129769-001 129769-002 129769-003

N/A N/A N/A

588

$79

S108 $175

StorlS04

StarScr ot 4

Tosiba Page loser 6. TIXL/PS17/PS35

Maior Laptop & Notebook Memory 1

MEMORY PART* PRICE |

2MB 37650 $128 ■

4MB

Bondwi

Dec pc 320 Notebook 2MB Mod

4MB Mod

8MB Mod Dell Laptop 212, 320N; 320NT IMBMod

2MB Mod Dell 325N; NC; Notebook P.C. 2MB Mod

Dell NL20 & NL25 NTBK 2MB Mod

Epson NB-3 Notebook 4MB

Epson NB-SL/20;25 . 2MB Mod

25CNotebook 4M8Mod

Everex Tempo LX, LX20 2MB

Everex Carrier 2MB

Grid 1500 4MB

Grid 1450SX 2MB

GolditarGS520,386SX16 1MB

Goldstar GS520, 3B6SX16 4MB

SI 045 $198

S37S

j Si mm Modules

(Call for current prices)

■ DESCRIPTION

OONS

SONS

70NS

60NS

53NS

| 256X9

$9

$11

$13

JIB

. 1MEGX3 ■ IMEGX9

$32

$33

$38

$31

$37

$39

iM

$64

| 4MEG X 9

$139

$154

$189

■ 16MEGX9 "256X36 1 MEG (72 Pin)

$699

$50

|512X36 2MEG(72Pin)

$85

$95

■ !X36 4MEG(72Pin) 2 2X36 8MEG (72 Pin) 1 4X36 16MEG (72 Pin)

$149

$159

$189

$299

$31B

$379

$599

$699

$749

NCR 3120 Notebook NCR3170Noteboo< Pockord Boll, Mognovox. MirsubPacliord Bell, Mogiovox. MirsubPanasonic CF170/27O/370 Samsung Notemaiter 386S . .

Samsung Nolemaster 386S

Sanyo 17NB; 18NB&7EOS

Shorp6220

Shorp6640

| Sharp 4700MZ-200

■ Sharp 8501 Colors'o.

S Tl Travelmate 2000

I Tl Travelmote 3000SX; WINSX

■ Tl Travelmote 4000,

" WINDX/25SX/16, SX25

.4MB .1MB

..2MB -4MB .2MB

PART* 37650 37651 23050-09100 FR-PCIM-BA FR-PCIM-BB FR-PCIM-BD 310-3203 310-3204 310-3210 310-3213 A8085O1 AB08771 A808781 00160 00263-00 52587 6200203 N/A N/A 3120-K104 3123-K104 N/A N/A

$238 ;

$128 $149 $298 $345

$79 $109 SI-18 $148 $198 $138 $228

$87

$97

CF-B

165

SNM002

SNM004

MBC-NBMEM2

CE-62IB

N/A

CE-J71

N/A

2568034 0011

25669960001

.4MB 2581265-001 $21

■ Z-Nate320L, 320LB 2MB MOO

I 325L, 325LC BMB MOD

■ MASTERPORT386SL;Sli;SLC... 2MBMOD

L" MASTERPORT 386SX 2MB MOD ■ MHHHHHHHHHHHHiHHj SUPERSPORTSX/286E ALPHA 2MB MOD

BETA 2MB MOD

ZENITH MEMORY

T4400 SX, SXC, T6400 SXC, DXC .

DESCRIPTION 64X4

256X1 STATIC 256X1 256X4 1MEGX 1 1MEGX1 STATIC 1MEGX4

D-Ram Chips

150NS I20NS 100NS SONS 70NS 60NS $1.95 $2.25 $2.45 $2.95

$1.05 $1.45 $3.95

$1.90

$4.45 $3.95

$2 25

$2.05 $2.20

$5.45 $5.95

$5.45 $5.75 $5.25

$17.00 $20.00 S2J.00

S1.95 $2.00 $4.95 $4.75 $4.95

16 Bit Memory Boards Below Dealer Cost!

Newer Technology

0-8MB 1 6Blt for 286 ond 386, up to 24Mhz, Limm 4.0 ond Extended. Uses Dip chips. Extended ond Expanded OK 2MB 4MB 8MB

$29 $99 $U9 $299

O-1 6MB Lim/EMS 4.0, Expanded and Extended, True EMS 4.0 for ony 286, 386 and 486 w/ up to 33Mhi CPU speed Uses Simms OK 2MB 4MB 8MB 16MB

U9 $139 $204 $352 $653

Memory Boards

Bota AT Plwi (Brat 90 uses 1MEG Simms) OK-BMEG Board, 4.0 UM compatible, Convenlional, Expanded 8, Extended Memory, Supports DOS OS/2, UM/EMS & EEMSOK-S94,2MEGS159,4MEG-S228, BMEG-S358 Bwcorom/l Plui (or PS/2 16 Bit Memory broil IBM MCA Systems DOS & OS/2 UM EMS 4.0 Support. 2-8M8 (uses 1 MB Simms|. 2MB-S179 4MB-S245 8MB-S372

Z-386/20, Z-386/25,33, 33E „

4MB MOD

Z-386/33B,Z-386SX/20

286LP-t, Z-LS 2MB MOD

Z-486/33ET 4MB KtT

16MB KIT

Z-300/400 SERIES Z-420/SX .. 4MB MOD

Z-425/SX, Z-J33/DX, Zi33/SX 16MB MOD

Z-SERVER 42SSE, 433DE. 450DE 4MB KIT

BMB KIT 16MB KIT 32MB KIT

420SN, 425SH,iJ33DEH

433DH 4MB MOD

450XEN,Z-STATTON325SB,

325N 16MB MOD

ZA-3250-5 $168

ZA-3250-4 $488

N/A $109

Z-360-1 $118

ZA-180-86 $128

ZA-180-87 $138

ZA-380O-ME $48

3B00-MK SI 49

ZA-605-1 $98

ZA-4200-M2 $178

ZA-4200-M8 $5B8

ME-100 $158

ME-90 $599

ME-432 SI68

ME-102 $318

ME-442 $628

ME-92 $1189

MB-100 $148

srera

TERMS: SHIPPING: UPS (Mm. $8.25} Shipping charges CONDITIONS: 20% Reslocking Fee on refunds wirhin 30

are non refundable. NET 30 Accepted. Purchase orders days.Norefundsorexchangesorter30days-WARRANTY

from Universities, Fortune 1000 & Government REPLACEMENTONLY. ALL PRICES FINAL. PRICES SUBJECT

AgenciesPersonalChecks,CODadd$5.00(Cashierscheck TO CHANGE. Mfg. part #'s for convenience only,

required) Trademarks are registered with their respective Co.'s 386

We ship by UPS, DHL, FEDERAL EXPRESS AND PARCEL POST 387, 287, SX, are trademarks of Intel Corp.

MB-90 $64B

1 6 BIT CLOSEOUT

CompiterPeripheraisasc Memory Boards

For 2B6, 16 Bil, 2MB Expandable to 4MB. [Uses 1 MB x 1 Dips) Works with IBM AT, ond compalibles.Extended, INCLUDES BOARD & MEMORY

2MEO $59

NEVADA

COMPUTER ,

684 Wells Road Boulder City, NV

&! | 89005 |U

Circle 196 on Inquiry Card.

...J

MAY 1993 -BYTE 255

Circle 204 on Inquiry Card.

You Can Rely on Ralin For all Your PC System Upgrades!

Modem upgrades pjijla IBSHS MPCUPGRADES

Zoom Telephonies

All Zoom modems are backed by a 7-year warranty and are made in the USA.

2400 bps w/ v.42bis and MNP 2-5

S 45.00 $ 63.00

(1*^HHI^fJ

4^*^^

m$C\pr

^r

r\ 1

i$iH

®

#r

2400 bps w/ v.42bis and MNP 2-5 9600 send is 4800 receive Fax

(AFC) (AFX)

internal external

$ 49.95 $ 69.95

9600 bps modem w/ v.32, v.42bis, MNP2-5

(VP-V32) (VX-V32)

internal external

$185.00 $ 199.00

14,400 bps modem w/ v.32bis, v.32, v.42bis MNP 2-5 and 9600 bps send/receive Fax

(VFP-V32bis*)

(VFX-V32bis*)

internal external

$194.00 $244.00

2400 bps modem W/.42 bis and MNP 2-5, 9600 bps send and 4800 bps receive lax

PKT Pocket/Fax

Modem

$ 89.95

•WINIAX software option available for SIS if

purchased with VF

'-V32b

is or VFX-V32bis modem.

Philips CM205 XBK $315.00

• Internal MPC CD-ROM with less than 375ms

• Kodak "Photo CD" compatible.

CD-ROM XA upgradable

CD-ROM Software Pak $99.95

• Includes: The Animals (MPC), Multimedia^ Encyclopedia (MPC), World Atlas Pak spefA^ and Toolwork Reference Library

m

Call a corporate sales expert today ami find out how Ralin can maximize

your purchasing dollars by upgrading your existing computer equipment.

Ralin stocks: • Motherboards • SIMM Memory • Controllers • Printers • Monitors

Hard Drives • UPC Products • Computer Cases • Keyboards and much more

CALL 1-800-752-9512

Dealer Inquiries Welcome. Purchase Orders Accepted.

Ralin Policies

• Prices and availability subject to change.

• Purchase orders are accepted, subject to approval.

• We do not charge your card until order is processed.

Incomplete returns are subject to a service charge. All returns other than exchanged items incur a 10% re-stocking fee.

To insure your shipment arrives when you need it, Ralin uses only the most reputable modes of transportation available:

JBHL-. lups]

wontowxx express ■

WHOLESALERS, INC.

O. Box 450, Orchard Park, NY 14127 Hour: 8:00 am to 6:00 pm Mon-Fri Customer Service: 716-674-6267 Fax: 716-674-2108

Bold, Dynamic, Accessible — it's BYTE's NEW Look!

Coming this June! Look for.

Modular Design provides pathways through

articles, allowing you to choose the level of information

you want.

New Table of Contents makes it easier to find coverage by subject, application, and product names.

New Topic Index categorizes all articles by platform as well as alphabetically.

Comprehensive BYTE Lab Product Reports based on extensive testing of commodity products every month.

Infocharts and Sidebars present critical buying information in an easyto-scan manner.

Colorful and Lively News & Views

Section provides the latest information on new products and emerging technologies.

BYTE's New Graphic Design makes accessing our in-depth editorial easy for the busy computer decision-maker!

256 B YTE • MAY 1993

1979

2233 Samaritan Drive, San Jose, CA 95124

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR!

- 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE • 1 YEAR WARRANTY

• TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT .

<£&>{

$99

95

UPRIGHT CASE

• Mounts 3 floppy and 4 hard drives

• Accommodates scd. & mini motherboards

• 2 digit LED display

CASE-100A $99.95

CASE-200A Super Deluxe Upright 5349.95

PS-250TW 250W p. supply 5129.95

PS-300TW 300W p. supply 5149.95

CASE-130 Mid-upright cose 599.95

CASE-120 5199.95

L Mini-upright case w/200W power supply ''

POWER SUPPLIES

U/L approved y |gf M

• 110/220VAC, 50/601 Iz ^:fg/40^.]

PS-150 8088 150walt _"" -'569.95

PS-200X 8088 200 watt 589.95

PS-200 286/386/486 200 watt 589.95

, PS-300 286/386/486 300 watt 5149.95

ENHANCED

IYEIBUHKU ttWWVAVv^i|l«!

$4995

JITC-5339 101/102-key enhanced layout $49.95,

NON-INTERLACED 1024x768 MONITOR!

VGA-MON-1024N .28 dot pitch ... $379^95

I VGA-M0N-17N 1024x768 17" Nl, 0.26mm $999.00

VGA-PKG-1024N Non-interlaced Super VGA pkg 5469.95 VGA-PKG-1024+ 1024x768 interlaced VGA pkg 5449.95

^yOA-PKG 640x480 ,39mm dot pitch VGA pkg. .. $299.95„

[2400 BAUD MODEM

Internal data modem Hayes compatible Config. as COM 1-COM | MCT-241 549.95

14,400 BPS INTERNAL FAX/MODEM

• 14,400/12,000/9600/7200/4800/2400/300

• Hayes AT set, V.42bis/V. 42/V.32, Group III fax comp

I VIVA-144IE $229.95 I

VIVA-144EF 14,400 baud external version 5299.95

VIVA-96E 9600 baud external modem only 5269.95 |

FAX/MODEM/PHONE SWITCH

Save phone line charges!

• Supports fax, modem, phone and ""-^>; answering machine from 1 phone line '<■

I FAXM-SWITCH $89.95

[FAX-SWITCH Without modem connection $59.95

PORTABLE IC TESTER ^g^

Tests the following 14 to 20-pin ^B ."•*'-.

devices: 74 series TTL, 40 & 45 series ^H CMOS & 41144 series DRAM up to 1 Mb ^H Bk Identifies unknown pan numbers : 'HPP^

I M0D-HIC $149.95

WIRE-WRAP PROTOTYPE CARDS

JDR-PR2 8-bit with I/O decode layout $29.95

JDR-PRI0 16-bit with I/O decode layout $34.95

S0LDERLESS PROTOTYPE CARDS

PDS-601 8-bit bread board-on-a-card w/IO decode $79.95 \ PDS-611 16-bit version $89.95

MOTHERBOARDS

t MODULAR

33MHZ

386SX

$19995

• 33MHz AMD 80386SX CPU • Expandable to 16Mb on-board • Uses 256K, 1M or 4M x 9 80ns SIMMs (0K installed) • Six 16-bit and two 8-bit slots

MCT-M386SX-33 $199.95

MCT-M486-50E 50MHz EISA w/cache $1195.00

MCT-M486-50 50MHz cache 486 $999.00

MCT-M486-33 33MHz cache 486 $799,00

MCT-M486SX-25 25MHz cache 486SX $399.95

MCT-C386-40 40MHz cache 386 $379.95

MCT-C386-33 33MHz cache 386 $349.95

MCT-M286-16 16MHz286 $149.95

MCT-M286-12 1 2MHz 286 $129.95

16-BIT VGA CARD <JQ95

• 8/16-bit 8088 and ▼ 286/386/486 compatible

• 640x480 in 16 colors 320 x 200 in 256 colors

• 256Kb video RAM MCT-VGA-1000 .... $49.95

MCT-VGA-4000 1024x768, 1Mb DRAM $129.95

MCT-VGA-5000 Windows Accelerator $149.95

SPEEDSTAR-24X 24-bit color, 1280x1024 $169.95

STEALTH-VRAM Windows acceler., 1280x1024 $229.95

3-BUTT0N MOUSE

• Accuracy 290 -1450 DPI

• Opto-mechanical design

• Windows 3.1 compatible

JDR-M0USE-3 $14.95

MOUSE-PAD $4.95

POST CODE DISPLAY CARD

2S6/386/4S6 compatible Displays power on self-test code Works when software won't even boot J J1"" $49.95

EPROM PROGRAMMER $19995

Programs devices up to 512K bits, pIus27C100,27C101.27C301, ' 27C1000, 27C100I, 27C2001 27C4001 and more

• Includes dedicated 8-bit 8088 and 286/386/486 PC compatible card

• ZIF socket accepts 0.6"W DIP IC's to M pins

M0D-MEP-1A $199.95

M0D-MEP-4A As above with 4 ZIF sockets $269.95

MOD-EMUP Universal programmer/tester $699.00

EPROM ERASER $39"

• Quickly and siiruilcaneously erases

up tu A standard EPROMs DATARA5EII $39.95

120Mb DRIVE PACKAG

$299

• CP-30104 120Mb, 19ms IDE hard drive, 16-bit floppy/hard disk controller, cables and instructions

HDKIT-120 $299.00

IDE HARD DRIVES

PART#

BRAND

CAP.

SPD.

TYPE

PRICE

CP-30084

Conner

84Mb

19ms

3.5" IDE

S239

ST-3096A

Seagate

88Mb

16ms

3.5" IDE

S259

CP-30104

Conner

120f.ll)

19ms

3.5" IDE

S279

ST-3144A

Seagate

131Mb

16ms

3.5" IDE

$319

CP-30204

Conner

212Mb

12ms

3.5" IDE

$429

FLOPPY DRIVES

FDD-1.44A 1.44Mb, 3.5", Beige . $79.95 EDD-1.44X 1,44Mb, 3.5", Black . $79.95

FDD-1.2 1.2Mb, 5.25", Beige $89.95

FDD-360 360Kb, 5.25", Black $89.95

FDD-2.88A 2.88Mb 3.5" drive, Beige $149.95

FD-505 5.25" & 3.5" combo drive, Beige $149.95

MULTI I/O CARD WITH IDE $ AQ95 FLOPPY/HARD CONTROL *Wi

• 1 6-bit 286/386/486 compatible

• Supports 2 IDE hard drives & 2 floppy drives (360Kb-1.44Mb)

• 2 serial, I parallel & 1 game port

MCT-IDEIO $69.95

MCT-IDEIOr- As above w/1 6550 compatabiiily $99.95 MCMDEFH 16-bit IDE hard/floppy controller $29.95 MCT-CIDEFH 1 6-bit IDE CACHE controller .... $169.95

MCMDE-8 8-bit IDE controller $79.95

MCT-FDC-HD 1,44Mb floppy controller $49.95

MCT-FDC-HD4 1.44Mb floppy controller (4 drives] $59.95 MCT-FDC-ED 2.88Mb intelligent floppy controller $79.95

MCT-AIO Serial/parallel/game port card $49.95

MCT-AI0+ Two NS1 6550 serial/par/game port $89.95

GATEKEEPER PC security card $49.95

RAMPAT+ 8/16-bit 16Mb RAM card (w/OKb). $139.95 SOUNDBLAST-PB 8-bit stereo sound board $129.95

DYNAMIC RAM

PART#

SIZE

SPEED

TYPE

PRICE

41256-80

256K x 1

80ns

DIP

1.69

414256-80

256K x 4

80ns

DIP

5.49

IMB-80

lMxl

80ns

DIP

4.99

1MB-60

IMxl

60ns

DIP

5.49

412S6A9B-80

256K x 9

80ns

SIMM

14.95

41256A9B-60

256K x 9

60ns

SIMM

16.95

42I000A9B-80

1Mx9

80ns

SIMM

39.95

42I000A9B-6O

1Mx9

60ns

SIMM

45.95

424000A9B-80

4Mx9

80ns

SIMM

149.95

424000A9B-60

4Mx9

60ns

SIMM

159.95

MATH CO-PROCESSORS Intel

PART#

SPEED

PRICE

PART*

SPEED

PRICE

8087-2

8087

80287-XL

8MHz 5MHz 12MHz

129.95 89.95 74.95

80387-SXP 80387-DXP 80487-SX

<25MHz <33MHz <25MHz

74.95

79.95

369.95

CALL ABOUT OUR LINE OF OVERDRIVE PROCESSORS

CALL FOR YOUR FREE JDR CATALOG TODAY!

FOR PC'S, SOFTWARE, MONITORS,

DISK DRIVES, KEYBOARDS, MODEMS, m

CABLES, CONNECTORS, ICS,

COMPONENTS, PROGRAMMERS, ™ * SS

TEST EQUIPMENT, TOOLS & MORE! 33* * =r:"

NOW ORDER

24 HOURS

A BAY!

TERMS; For shipping & handl amount. CA residents must in

?no M-S"^'"U,B m0""h'T.'^' me"*°"<'i» "•Hccl,to Pri,or Mlk A U «W °f °urteTOls available JDK Mrcrodevices, and the Ma logo are registered trademarks of JDR Microdevices, li

800-538-5000 **&&£**•

WB^mKmmm

800-538-5005

our Sales Dept. for the

Lotal 408-559-1200 BBS 408-559-0253

Ml

MICRODEVICES.

Circle 207 on Inquiry Card.

Local Printer Sharing

PARALLEL DEVICE

LCX-1000 1Mb $495

4 serial I/O, 57,600 bps 2 parallel in, 2 parallel out

LC-512Kb $425

4 serial I/O, 19,200 bps 2 parallel in, 2 parallel out Many New Features!

LC Jr.-256Kb $199

Up to 115,200 bps 4 serial in, 1 parallel out

LC-41PAS $69

Smart-switch

4 in /1 out, all parallel

Requires no power supply

SPPS $49

Up to 115,200 bps Serial / Parallel Converter Requires no power supply

PB-42PP-256Kb $199

4 in / 2 out, all parallel Upgradable to 4Mb

Logical Connection, Inc. Customer Support:

4660 Portland Road NE #108 (503) 390-9375 Salem, OR 97305-1697 FAX: (503) 390-9372

800-238-9415

AMT International

(COMPUTERS & PERIPHERALS)

3074 LANDESS AVENUE • SAN JOSE, CA 95132 TEL: (408) 942-9695 ■ FAX: (408) 942-5509

VISA

COMPAQ MEMORY

DeskPto 286-E, 386-20/20E/25

1MB 113131-001 S75.00

4MB 113132-001 $169.00

DeskPro 286N, 386N and 3B5SX

2MB 118689-001 S13500

4MB 118690-001 S230 00

DeskPro 386S

1MB 113646-001 S99.00

4MB 112534-001 S19500

DeskPro 386-33, 486-33 & SystemPro 2MB 115144-001 S1B5.00

AST MEMORY

Bravo-286, Workstation

512K Kit 500510-010. . S59.00 2MB Kit 500510-002 . SI 50 00

Premium 386-16/20C

1MB KJI500510-003 S75.00

4MB Kit500510-004 S185.00

Premium 366-20

1MB KitS0O510-003 ....$75.00 4MB Kit 500510-004.... $185.00

Bravo-386SX

4MB Kit 500510-008 S220 00

Premium 366-SX/25/33 S 486-25

1MB 500718-002 $60.00

4MB 500-780 $195.00

HEWLETT-PACKARD MEMORY

Vectra QS/16S

1MB $6500

4MB S185.00

Vectra QS/20PC, RS/25PC and 20C 1MB D1640A 565.00

4MB D1642A $17000

Veclra 4S6PC

1MB D2150A $75.00

4MB D2151A $165.00

2MB Kit 30F5360 19500

Models 70E61;121. S5SX. 65SX

1MB6450603 $59.00

Models 70-E61/121,' 50Z, 55SX, 65SX

2MB6450604 S99 00

Models 55SX, 65SX.34F3077 S 34F3011

4MB34F2933 Models 70-A21

2MB6450608 Models 80-141

1MB6450375 Models BO-111/311

SI 49 00

IBM PS/2 MEMORY

Models 30-206, Exp. Board 1497259 512KK.I 30F5348 S54.00

2MB6450379

$99.00

All Models 70 and 60

2-14MBW/2M34F3077

S290.00

4-16MBW/4M34F3011

S350 00

Models 50, 50Z. 55SX & 60

2-8MB 1497259

S290 00

LASER PRINTER MEMORYJ

Hewlett-Packard Laser Jet IIP

III & HID

S70.00

2MB33475B

...S99.00

4MB33477B

$185.00

Hewlett-Packard Laser Jet IIP & IID

$75 00

2MB33444B

$110.00

4MB33445B

$175.00

IBM Laser 4019 and 4019c

1MB 1039137

$95.00

3.5MB 1038675

S195 00

Canson LBP-811, S11R, B11T

2MBS63-1860

S129.00

LAPTOP AND PORTABLE ^

MEMORY

J

TOSHIBA MEMORY

1MB Model 1000SE/XE

S110.00

2MB Model 1000SE/XE

S99.00

2MB ModelT1200XE

. .$99.00

2MB Model T1600

S99 00

2MB ModelT3100E

S99.00

2MB ModelT3100SX

.. ..S99 00

4MB Model T3100SX ....

.. S195.00

2MB Model T3200SX

.. .$99.00

4MB Model T32O0SX

S195.O0

2MB Model 5100 $99.00

2MB Model T5200.T8500 S110 00 8MB ModelTS200.T8500 . S29900

ZENITH MEMORY 1MB SuperSporl286 8 286ES135.00 2MB SuperSport286&286E$14O00 2MB SuperSpon SX/Alpha . $140.00 2MB SuperSportSX/Beta $140.00

COMPAQ MEMORY 1MB Portable LTE 286 5125.00

2MB Portable LTE 286 $150.00

1MB SLT-286 S140.00

4MB SLT-286 S350.00

NEC MEMORY

1MB Prospeed286 S17000

2MB Prospeed386 S240.00

ZENITH MEMORY

Zenith Z-366/20/25/33 S 33E

1MB ZA36/3800ME ..$90.00

2MB ZA3600MG S140.00

4MB ZA3800MK $205.00

Zenith Z-386 SX

2MB 2-605-1 S125.00

MATH COPROCESSORS

Overdrive Mathco CALL

INTEL

8087-5 MHz $50.00

8087-2 8MHz S60.00

8087-1 10MHz S99.00

80287-6 6MHz $5000

80287-8 8MHz S55.00

80287XL8/10MHZ S5900

80287XL 1SLT S89.00

80287-10 10MHz S59.00

80C287-1212MHz S69.00

80387SX-16 $85.00

80387SX-20 $8500

80387DX-20 S89 00

80387OX-25 $89.00

803B7DX-33 $89.00

80487SX-20 $435.00

WEITEK

3167-20 20MHz S80.00

3167-25 25MHz $135.00

3167-33 33MHz S240 00

4167-25MHZ 4167-33MHZ

( 62S87XL

83D87-16

83D87-20 83D87-25 83D87-33 ... 83D87-40

83S8783S87

-16)CV

■25 J w

$350.00 . $585.00

. S59.00 . ..$59.00 ... $75.00 575.00 .... $75.00

S89.00

S65.00 $65.00 S6500

. ..S49.00 S59.O0 S59.O0

S59.00

S69 00

.... S69.00 S79.00

2C87-8

2C87-10

2C87-12

2C87-20

3C87-20

3C87-25

3C87-33

3C87-40 S89.O0

3S87-16 lOV S65ai

3S87-20 |C5A S690°

3S87-25 J S69 00

ULSI

US83587SX25/33 $59.00

USD8387-33-40 $79.00

SIMM MODULES

IBM TYPE ADD $2.00 FOR SIPPS

4Mx9-80 $138.00

4Mx9-70 5140.00

4MX9-60 S143.00

1MX9-10 1MX9-80 1MX9-70 256x9-70 256x9-10 256x9-80

S30.00 $35.00 $36.00 S10.00 S9.00 S1000

256x9-60 $1200

APPLE-MAC

1MXB-70 S32.00

IMxS-10 $30.00

1Mx8-80 $32.00

4Mx8-80 $118.00

LOWEST PRICES SAME DAY SHIPPING

'Prices subject to change

flBSI ^

DRAM1MGX1

1MGX1-120NS

. $3.00

1MGX1-100NX

.. S3.50

1 MGX1-80NX

.53.60

1 MGXI-70NX

..$3.65

.. $3.75

DRAM 64X1

4164-150

. $0.85

4164-120

S0.95

4164-100

St .50

4164-80

S2.00

DRAM 64X4

4464-15

... $3.99

DRAM 256X1

256XI-150NS

St .25

$1.50

256XI-1O0NS

.. $1.60

S1.75

S1.75

256XI-60NS

.... S1.85

DRAM 25GX4

.... $4.50

256X4-70/60NS

... S4.75

256XI-STATIC COL

S1.85

AAA 2800-60

S1.95

1X4-80 ZIPP

S16.00

1X4-80STTZIPP

SI8.00

1X4-70STTZIPP

$19.00

<flKZH3kW

486 DX-33 w/ 64k cache

• 4MBRAM«12SI.44« 130MB HD

• SVGA Monitor • 101 Key Board

• Mini-Tower Case • DOS 50

• IDE With I/O

$1369.00

VGA 0.41 14' $215.00

SVGA 0.28 14' S259.00

SVGA N-1 0.28 14- 310.00

VIEWSONIC CALL

NEC CALL

486 DX-50 w/256k cache ....$600.00 486DX-33 w/ 128k cache ....$450.00 386/486 DX-40 AMD

(upgradable) $230.00

486SX-25/20 $279.00

386 DX-40/64k cache S169.00

386SX-33 $125.00

386SX-25 $110.00

486VL-50/33/256k cache ....$195.00 HlTTjl

IDE with I/O $22.00

Trident W/1MB S69.00

Orchid Pro IIS W/1MB $139.00

Diamond Stealth w/IMB S235.00

NESA IDE Controller $80.00

RampatAT $95.00

Rampat Plus XT, AT $119.00

Simmply Ram PS/2-16 $149.00

IBM PS/2 50, 50Z, 55, 60, 65 or

any MCA System Simmply Ram PS/2-32 $169.00

PS/2. 70. 80 & 90 32 Bit MCA

System ^H

CP3000 44MB $158.00

CP3000 89MB $215.00

CP3000 130MB $247.00

CP3000 210MB S360.00

CP3000 340MB $595.00

CP3000 520MB S890.00

Modem 2400 Bps $40.00

96/24 Bps Int $60.00

96/144V.32 Bps/v.42 Bps ....$220.00

258 B YTE • MAY 1993

Circle 185 on Inquiry Card.

Accessories/Supplies • Add-In Boards

Polaroid

Polaroid's Circular Polarizing Filters for computer monitors combine circular polarizer technology with optical quality materials and coatings to provide the ultimate in glare reduction and contrast enhancement technology. Polaroid CP-Filters suppress up to 99% of reflected light and are more effective than any other filter for improving contrast. Also, most CP-Filter models have a transparent electrically conductive coating which reduces up to 98% of the electromagnetic radiation and eliminates static.

Polaroid produces a full range of optical quality anti-glare filters in glass and triacetate to fit most 9"-21" monitors.

Polaroid Corporation, Polarizer Division, N2, 1 Upland Road, Norwood, MA 02062 1 -800-225-2770 Fax 617-446-4600

Circle 236 on Inquiry Card.

SCSI IDE FLOPPY

HOST BUS ADAPTER/CONTROLLER

STANDARD FEATURES

• Drivers for Fixed, Optical and Removable Drives

• Internal and External SCSI Connectors

• SCSI and IDE Cables

• On-Board Diagnostics

• Complete Documentation

• Lifetime Warranty

• 30 Day Return Policy

• Made in the USA

$150.00

U6-Bit HBA/CntI)

SUPPORTS

• Up to 7 SCSI Devices

• Up to 2 IDE Drives

• Up to 4 Floppy Drives

• 7 ROM Addresses

• 2 I/O Addresses

OPTIONS

• CD ROM & UNIX Drivers

• ASPI Manager

• 3rd & 4th Floppy Driver

$175.00

OS-Bit HBA/CntI w/Option Pkg.l

CONTROL CONCEPTS INC. (703) 876-6444* (703) 876-6416 Fax

Avtowvww^*

Government. Educational and Corporate Discounts Available Dealer Inquiries Welcome

Circle 267 on Inquiry Card.

An intelligent GUI Coprocessor is required to maintain high GUI performance in multi-tasking environments like UNIX and OS/2. ' VGA Compatibility for 64KHz Fixed Frequency Monitors

■ 1280 x 1024 r 256 Colors 1*iL ' 100K xStones Performance

■ SCO, USL. AK, SunSoft „„., , . ,

■ ISA, EISA MCA 0EMs cho,€e smce 1984!

800-334-4922 or 503-626-9393 fax: 503-641-9333

9825-Al SW Sunshine Ct. Beaverton, OR 97005

Add-In Boards • Bar Coding

GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES

•1CT/14" VGA Color Induslriol Workstation •17" Rack Mount Monitor Enclosure with

Touch Screen -286/386SX-33/386DX-40/486DX2 Al 1

■in-one Slot Board Computet -Al 1-in-one EiSA bus CPU Card ■Dual Drive RAM/ROM/FUSH Disk •19" Rack-Mount Chassis with 14 Slots •6-Slois heavy-duty Node Chassis

See us nt

COMPUTEX Tnipei'SS June 1-5

m — MITAC Inc.

^MlXAC SSS HTtL^-;.51.sEC J.MINGSHENG E. RD..TAIPEI.TAIWAN.R .0.0.

A

■ TEL886-2-501-5180 FAX:885-2-509-0979

RHINO (U.S.A DISTRIBUTOR) -1-01 .N^-L°v-mvef_enton.mi ^o.u.s-a

/ TELl-800-648-2248 FAX:313-750-1836

Circle 260 on Inquiry Card.

Direct Stepper Drive from PC

• No external DC supply or translators required

• Free 2D/3D interpolation software

• Free HPGL converter SA704

SA703«w I E2fea>^ . v."

SA703 $249

Drives two 1/2 amp motors

SA704 $995

Drives two motors up to 6 amps

iiCall (613)359-1029 FAX (613)359-1147

S3

ft

Portable Bar Code Readers

TimeWand I DuraWand

TimeWand II

Data collection is fast, easy, and extremely accurate when using Videx portable bar code readers. Cordless operation, compact size, and light weight allow you to take the wands wherever the work needs to be done. Call Videx today for your free information kit: 503-758-0521. Prices starting at:

1

idex

TimeWand I $298

DuraWand $495

TimeWand II

See us at COMDEX Spring, booth #M5540

1105 NE Circle Blvd., Corvallis, OR 97330-4285 503-758-0521 • FAX 503-752-5285

TimeWand, DuraWand, and Videx are registered trademarks of Videx, Inc. GC0355

Circle 266 on Inquiry Card. Circle 243 on Inquiry Card.

MAY 1993 -BYTE 259

Communications/Networking

'ows3.1!

It's Voice Mail. It's Fax-on-demand. It's an Applications

Generator. It's $495 for board

and software. It's PhoneOffice.

honeOffice application window running in ■Vindows 3.1. Configure for Aulo-Attcndani, Message Center, Fax-on-demand, Message Forwarding/Paging/Sched tiling, Fax-scanner,

""' ___

i^Jiuntuoul joule SygBB !j<lp

3:

Call our demo line 309-862-1804 to get more information bv fax-on-demand.

Tel: (309)862-1704 Fax: (309)862-1804

BflHEBBBB 309 W. Beaufort. Suite 8, Normal, 1L 61761

Dealers, call us about our specially discounted promotional units.

DDENS

Circle 264 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 265).

PC/AT Four Port Com. Coprocessor

GMM Sync4/CCP™

• High Performance 16 MHZ 16 bit CPU.

• 80X86 code compatible.

• 4 Sync/Async Ports (2 Serial Ports with Full Duplex DMA).

• Uses Zilog 85C30, 85230 SCC chip.

• 512K Dual Ported Ram (STD) (1, 2, or 4 MEG Dual Port Ram - optional).

• 8k, 16k, 32k, 64k Window Size (Programmable). GMM Products Are All Made in USA.

• 8 Software Selectable and Shareable Interrupts.

• RS232/RS422/RS485

• Source Code Debugger Kit Available.

PC/AT Dual Port Com. CoPcoceisor

also available

GMM Sync2/CCP™

GMM Research Corporation

Other PC/AT & PS/2 8530 based products available. Extremely competitive pricing. (714)752-9447 Fax (714)752-7335

18092 Sky Park South - Unit E, Irvine CA 92714

ffl

i

Circle 223 on Inquiry Card.

Light-Speed Serial Communications

PCSS-8FX Intelligent Serial Coprocessor

Better than

lMbyte/second v« ,

transfer rate. §hS^ Wi' ORDER

• No load on Host J",,,,. ,v V>4 ,^P TOLL-FREE Processor! > f |H. %?,y t; ~jm 800-282-4835

• I/O Mapped - No ~"bi!^^'"" t"" * host memory used. ""'"^^UmBiaSf

• NEW - Supports DMA transfer. Faster than Dual Ported Memory! d

• Looks like IBM Uart with Huge QUEUE! ^J "] £ K inc

• 8 ports per card. RS-232,422,485.

GTEK, INC. • DEVELOPMENT HARDWARES SOFTWARE • P.O. Box 2310 Bay SI. Louis. MS 39521-2310 USA • Mississippi 4 Technical Support 601-467-8048 Fax: 601-4S7-0935 • OEM & Dealer Inquiries Welcomed!

Circle 224 on Inquiry Card.

reaks the 4-Color Price Barrier h the Hardware/Software Showcase

how affordable it is to advertise to BYTE's 1.000 computer professionals in this section!

■ Call for more advertising information:

(603) 924-2695 or (603) 924-2598

Communications/Networking • Computer Systems

oiceResponse/CallerlD forWindows

Would you like to develope multi-tasking multi-line non-blocking Interactive Voice Response applications for Windows?

PIKA offers the developer the high quality, feature rich AVA-B Series 1,2 & 4 line voice cards with hardware voice compression.

Also, the new PIKA IrJFl 1,2 & 4 line Caller Id cards are the

answer to many new and exciting Windows server applications.

All PIKA cards are available (at affordable prices) with Windows

DLL & DDE developer toolkits.

Inquire about developer toolkits for NT, DOS, UNIX & QNX.

155 ieience Motthews Ctes. Konota. Ontario K2M 2A8, Canada Tel: 1-613-591-1555 Fox. 1-613-591-1483

m

Circle 276 on Inquiry Card.

LET YOUR COMPUTER DO THE TALKING!

Integrated Voice/Fax Mail |

integrates major voice/fax applications plus program control into one mil-featured high performance software. PC-AT/386/486 based. Menu driven. Easy to use. Full support for Rhetorex, New Voice, Dialogic, TTI and Intel voice and fax hardware. Supports up to 24 voice lines and up to 8 fax lines. Hardware + Software Kits <jj /T C f\

2 voice lines kit starts at V V71? "

24 hours free into: 818-368-4566 or 818-368-8848

SigmaTech Software

Tel: (818) 368-6132 Fax: (818) 368-7859

10801 Bismarck Ave., Northridge, CA 91326 USA (ReseUers/Dealers/OEMs/Ptivate labels are welcome)

I Auto-Attendant

I Unlimited Audiotex

I Voice Mail

I Call Processing

I Telemarketing

I Fax Mail

I Fax-on-Demand

I Fax Broadcasting

I Party/Chat lines

I Talking Yellow pages

Circle 255 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 256).

Multi-Line Voice Mail Plus.

FAXON DEMAND/

FAX ON DEMAND • VOICE MAIL CALL PROCESSING • TELEMARKETING

V/S PLUS gives you professional VOICE MAIL & AUTO TRANSFER while it pounds out Fax'd Hard Copy non-stop 24-hours a day. Give it to them - NOW! Complete Package with Hardware and FAX Software. 2 year warranty. Requires PC/AT/386/486. For Sales and lnlormation call:

v/splus oniy$699 1-800-685-4884

MULTI-LINE HARDWARE from $299 510-522-3800 • FAX: 510-522-5556

TALKING TECHNOLOGY, INC. fl

1125 Atlantic Ave., Alameda, CA 94501 /// ™

(Devalper/OEM package specials) (VISA-MC-AMEX-COD)

Circle 238 on Inquiry Card.

PC-bus CPU Board ^^

All include Model: ^ftt^j,

*1 Ser

SC286-16

*1 Par

SC386SX-25

*FDC

SC386DX-33C

*IDE

5C486DX-33C

*Watch-Dog

Ai04-486SLC

Timer

AC1

Cyrix 486SLC available now

1-800-886-ACI-3 i^^^^^"^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ USA International (Taiwan)

TEL: 617-938-8020 FAX: 617-938-8037 TEL: 886-27690128 FAX: 886-2.7602154

Circle 253 on Inquiry Card.

260 B YTE • MAY 1993

Computer Systems

Data Acquisition

486 Computers

486-33 64K Cache $1649

Intel 486DX 33 MHz Processor 4Mb SIMM Memory 1.2Mb, and 1.44Mb Floppies 120Mb Hard Disk Drive @ 15ms 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 Game Port Tower Case with 230Watt PS S VGA Card - Trident 8900 w/1 Mb 1024 x 768 ,28dp SVGA Monitor Keytronics 101 Keyboard, Mouse

486-50DX2 256K Cache $1749

486-50DX 256K Cache $1899

486SX-33 8K Cache $1379

350 VA Upsonic UPS only S90 w/486 Purchase!

NoteBook Computers

386SX/25 $1259

6()Mb Hdd, 2Mb RAM, 64 Gray VGA 1 ser, 1 par, 1 PS/2 Mouse port 86 Key. 12 Function Kbd. 6 Lbs

486SLC/25 $1599

80Mb Hdd. 4Mb RAM, 64 Gray VGA 1 ser, I par, I PS/2 Mouse port 86 key, 12 function Kbd, Case, Universal Power Stipp,, 6 Lbs.

386 Computers

386DX 40 I28K Cache $1199

Intel 386DX 40Mhz Processor 4Mb SIMM Memory 1.2Mb, and 1.44Mb Floppies 84Mb Hard Disk Drive @ 15ms 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, I Game Port Tower Case with 230Wall PS SVGA Card - Trident 9000 w/512Kb 1024x768 .28dp SVGA Monitor Keytronics 101 Keyboard

386DX-33 128K Cache $1189

386SX-33 $999

Free 3 Button Mouse w/386 Purchase

Components

I Mb SIMMS @ 70ns $33

250 VA Upsonic UPS $99

213 Mb Hdd $395

Internal FAX modem 96/24 $72

250 Mb Colorado Tape Back-up..$259

Internal CD ROM $259

Creative Labs Multi-Media Kit ....$549

3 Button Mouse $21

Monterrey Spill-Proof 101 Kbd $26

FREE, 288 PAGE

DATA ACQUISITION CATALOG AND REFERENCE GUIDE

IBM PC/XT/AT, PS2, MICROCHANNEL COMPUTERS AND COMPATIBLES

•A/D Boards

•Signal Conditioning •Communication •PC Instruments •Scientific Software

KEITH LEY

METRABYTE

DATA

I T I O

Call or Fax for More Great Prices

I ""J COD & Company POs accepted

911 N. Edgefield Dallas TX 75208

International

Ph.(214)948-3155 FAX (214) 942-8360

Member: Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Dallas Better Business Bureau

SEND TODAY FOR YOUR FREE CATALOG OR CALL 1-800-348-0033, FAX: 508-880-0179

Circle 231 on Inquiry Card.

The Intelligent Solution For Data Acquisition

DAP 2400c ANALOG I/O DIGITAL I/O

•Inputs !o 812K samples per second • Outputs to 312K samples per second •Simultaneous fast input/output CPU:il86ori486

Data Acquisition Processor'*

FIT and FIR-filtering at 16 MIPS 20 MHz CPU with DRAM to 1024K 32 MHz DSP with SRAM to 96K DAPL™ Operating Systerr

• 100+ standard command; •Custom commands in C

Send for FREE catalog and demo diskette. Or call us at (206) 453-2345.

MlCROgrAR^^^

Laboratories:/

2265 116th Avenue NE Bellevue, WA 98004 FAX (206) 453-3199

Circle 273 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 232 on Inquiry Card.

AT Systems in ROM

□ Single Board Computers

□ Run DOS code from ROM

□ PC Code compatible

□ Large Memory space

□ Backplane systems

Q Develop code on a PC. Run on our

CPU cards with DOS and code in ROM. Use off-the-shelf expansion cards.

□ KS6: NEC V53 CPU (286eq), 5 serial, 2 Par. Clock, AT bus, Max 4M Ram, 2M Rom, 512K NV Sram. $349 (ql-oem ver)

Q KS3: V40 CPU, 3 Serial, 2 Par, Clock, Flop, Kbd. $249 (ql).

303-444-7737 Fax 303-786-9933

655 Hawthorn Ave., Boulder CO 80304 U.S.A.

Rackmount Solutions

RACKMOUNT COMPONENTS - QTY 25 PRICING Rackmount Chassis 19"x7"x17" $183

Rackmount VGA Monitors $531

Rackmount Monitor Shelf $113

Rackmount Keyboard Shell 588

RACKMOUNT PLATFORMS - Qty 1 Pricing RMS486-33EISAS1799 RMS386-40 $814

RMS486-33 S1443 RMS386SX-25 S693

System Platforms include 7" Rackmount Chassis, 200W Power Supply, Motherboard. 1.0MB Memory IDE, FDC, 2-Ser, Par, 1 2MB or 1,44MB Floppy Disk Drive, 1 Year Warranty

RACKMOUNT CHASSIS - 15 Models up to 20 Board Slots SLOT CPU BOARDS - 486. 386, 386SX RACKMOUNT MONITORS - Super VGA and Monochrome RACKMOUNT CABINET - Modular from 21" lo 96" high

rm \muEY

TECHNOLOGY INC.

2468 Armstrong Street, Livermore CA 94550 (510)447-2030 FAX: (510) 447-4559

Circle 247 on Inquiry Card. Circle 248 on Inquiry Card

MAY 1993 • B YTE 261

Disk & Optical Drives

Disk & Optical Drives • Diskettes/Duplicators • Keyboards

OB

Higher reliability for lower price

13.5" Winchester disk drive 1120MB/60MB Capacity "'- 1 inch Height I AT/IDE Interface : 64KB/32KB Butler 11,7 RLL Code 1119 msec Avg. access time '".100,000 hours MTBF

Finally discover the difference total dedication to fay Features reliability and cost can make. Unlike most hard disk manufacturers, we manufacture higher reliability but lower cost drive to sell. DX-3120A and 3060A are new version of hard disk drive that was developed, tested and proven by a team of engineers with sophisticated experience in the hard disk drive industries. If you are ready to take these new products for your system, please call us.

DAEYOUNG

ELECTRONICS IND.CO..LTD.

Korea HQ 352 Dangjeong-dong, Gunpo-si. Kyoungki-do 435-030, Korea Tel: (02)864-1661 Fax: (02)864-4479

Sales Div 185-4, Seobinggo-dong, Yongsan-ku. Seoul 140-240, Korea Tel. (02) 790-6873 Fax (02) 790-6878

In the USA and Canada, address your inquiries to Mark Westec Corp.

780 Monlague Expressway #104. San Jose, CA 95131. U.S.A. Tel: (408) 456-2660 Fax: (408) 456-0828

Circle 278 on Inquiry Card.

High-Performance Parallel-to-SCSI Adapter

^ Transform Your ,*£ Parallel Port

Connect up to 7 SCSI devices to your parallel port and sJiN use your printer!

Up to twice as fast as our original MiniSCSI,theMiniSCSI Plus

lets you run a CD-ROM, tape backup, SyQuest, Bernoulli or other SCSI device from almost any parallel port. For most notebook users, it's the only way to use SCSI devices. Plus, an integrated cable makes it a snap to share SCSI devices with desktops and other notebooks.

Call Today For Details!

800-872-6867 • 800-TRANTOR

Trantor Systems, Ltd.

5415 Randall Place • Fremont, CA 94538-3151 TEL: (510) 770-1400 • FAX: (510) 770-9910

O m I InmlnrSrslemi I'd MiniSCSl and MiniSCSl Plus art

!,.id,'nt,irku»idTranlnrisnn'l!lilmdlmduniirknJ IninlorM'tnas U Ml,i!l\rp'/nltut name* nr? Iratlennirl;* u/ llvir rt.<l*rli<?<-'i>nluries.

"This product,.. is darned near perfect." -jerry Pournelle, Byte Magazine March 1993

"This year, the company outdid itself...

The MiniSCSl Plus is even more elegant than

its predecessor and almost twice as fast."

-Jim Seymour, PC Magazine December 1992

PS/2 50 50z 55sx 60 70 80 P70

INTERNAL DRIVES - May be used as a high performance replacement or lo co-exist Willi original IBMdrive. Compatible with OOS3.3. 4.01. 5.0. OS/2 2.0 and Novell. Includes IDE or SCSI-2 microchaimel controller, hard drive, mounting kit. ribbon & power cable, manual, and hardware. 85mb, 15ms, Internal Seagate IDE Drive Kit $439

125mb 15ms, Internal Maxtor IDE / SCSI Drive Kit $494/5504 200mb 15ms, Internal Seagate IDE/Maxtor SCSI Drive Kit S62J/S649 340mb 13ms, Internal WD IDE/Maxtor SCSI Drive Kit S837/S933 512mb, 12ms, Internal Fujitsu IDE / SCSI Drive Kit S1.289/SI299 1.2gb, 12ms. Internal Toshiba SCSI Drive Kit {1,794

PS/2 Model 25, 30, 30-286

<12mb Seagate Hmcl Drive: Kit ,§243 :

1 -800-487-2538

hJcfiui .'JOS' J'!',?:- ,n\vi::>j!-? iiom 125 mb lo 1 75gb. Includes S£$i-2 convener. cMern.H use v.-iiiuime msijiii-aj^co^urjier, l}' R'Si r:..;<!e f'e- ::::;e:~ !o: CD-R-v<u!r:\-\'S C-; fcv.1." 2:6 :. j:;:;

ifii'.FS r^'-! F^i E9.

Fcx: (516) 981 5038 W-fffi? ®. ««

Circle 261 on Inquiry Card.

STAND ALONE

DISKETTE DUPLICATOR

OVER 300 DISKS PER HOUR

5.25" and 3.50" Models

SIMPLE AND FAST FROM $1799 US

TEL: (416) 602-9270 FAX: (416) 602-9279

flOOAMlC

Circle 215 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 216).

<;^**K

Money Back Guarantee & 1 Yr. Warranty

Popular

Space-Saver

Keyboard

$98.00

Saves 60% desk space. Footprint 27.3 x 15.2 cm. 100 full travel tactilly responsive keys. Standard left-right spacing for easy touch typing. IBM XT/AT PS 2 compatible. Many language versions available.

Call Toll Free To Order: 1 -800-DATALUX

ffSMmWJS =J= = ^£ 155 Aviation Dr. •Winchester, VA 22602 Tel 1-703-662-1500'FAX 1-703-662-1682 Auto-FAXed Specs FAX 1-703-662-1675

- VISA, MC, AmX

Circle 246 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 220 on Inquiry Card.

262 BYTE • MAY 1993

Laptops & Notebooks • Memory/Chips/Upgrades II Memory/Chips/Upgrades • Monitors & Terminals

Universal Keypad for

Portable Computers

Available in Ivory or Black

TO COMPUTER

▲

Boost data entry speed, accuracy and convenience with Genovation's Micropad,™ the innovative numeric keypad for portable computers.

Is the unhandy numeric section of your portable computer's keyboard dragging you down?....Give your productivity a boost by using our Micropad. The ergonomically designed Micropad is ideal for spreadsheet and accounting applications that require fast and accurate entry of numeric data.

The Micropad attaches to the parallel port of any MS-DOS computer while providing a clean pass through connection to the printer. Power usage is negligible. Lightweight and compact, the Micropad is fully programmable and is also available with connectors to fit keyboard and serial ports.

T TO PRINTER

(800)822-4333

17741 Mitchell. North Irvine. CA 92714 USA TEL (7141 833-3355 FAX (714) 833-0322

GENOVATION:

Circle 222 on Inquiry Card.

Memory Superstore... vow direct source.

...For Hie absolute best prices on laptop, desktop and workstation memory, call now! 800»80tfr7056.

4MB x 9-80/70* ** $110.00

4MB x 9-60 $114.00

256K x 9-80/70 $11.00

1MB x 9-80/70 (9 chip) $34.50

1MB x 9-80/70 (3 chip) $31.00

1MB x 36-70" $136.00

2MBX36-70- $262.00

4MB x 36-70'*** $499.00

Call for best price on a 30-pin 8 72-pin

Modules. 2, 4, 8 8.16MB

'used in PS/2. Compaq, Dell &

other high-end systems (386 & 486)

'4 piece minimum

K!EIjBEEi23!3!5BHBHBi

Canon 1MB SI18.00

LBP 8II/8IIR/8IIT 4MB $190.00

Epson Action Laser 2MB $125.00

Action Laser II 2MB $138.00

HP LaserJet I IP, 11 PPIs. III. II ID, IIIP, II .I ID. 11 Isi

2MB $99.00 4MB $172.00

HP DeskJet 256K $78.00

Specialists in workstation products. Contact I us for current prices & new catalog.

IBM 4029*** Sharp JX9500PS OKI Laser OL400 OL800/820

Panasonic KXP4420,4450I KXP4455 KXP4410

4MB $140.00

1MB $75.00

2MB $116.00

2MB $135.00

4MB $210.00

2MB $135.00

2MB.. 4MB..

...$175.00 ...$215.00

PS/2;35SX/LS.40SX,50Z.55SX/LS,57SX, 65SX/LS,70,70A21 ,B21 ,B61,90,95

2MB S89 4MB $136 8MB $268

DeskPro386/20.E.25,S/16,N,SX20,33M

2MB $89 4MB $136 8MB $268

Sun EPC/IPX. I * 16MB $470

Dell 486 16MB $495

IBM RS6000 16MB $620

HP Apollo 16MB $675

Silicon Graphics 16MB $620

Next 16MB $470

Apple Power Book* 4MB $230

AST Premium Exec. 4MB $160

AT&T Salari 4MB $345

Bondwell B310 1MB $136

Compaq

LTE386S/20 1MB $82 4MB $259 LTELite/20.5 2MB $140 4MB $240

8MB $578 LTE/286 1MB $88 2MB $138

SLT/286 1MB $88 4MB $240

Goldstar GS520 4MB $330

HP 95LX. Poget PC, Grid Pad

SRAM Card 256K $122

512K $149

Flash Memory 1MB $238

2MB $309

Packard Bell, Magnauox, Mitsuba***

2MB $150 4MB $290 Toshiba - T1000SE/LE/XEJ2000SX, T1000LE, T2200-SX, T2000SXE

1MB $80 2MB $109 4MB $230 8MB $430

Toshiba -TI200XE 2MB $88

Toshiba -T4400 SX/SXC, T3300, T6400

2MB S182 4MB $329 6MB $469 8MB*$670 Zenith Masters SL 2MB $122

TOT

Circle 249 on Inquiry Card

^^^^^^^^^^MEi

ROM BIOS UPGRADES

Solve Your Compatability Problems!

8 Years of experience, unmatched in the industry

WE STOCK THE LARGEST VARIETY OF ROM BIOS UPGRADES IN THE WORLD.

FEATURES OF A NEW BIOS

ami ;

PHOENIX Ia MR BIOS I?

AWARD | J,

•Support. 1.2MB, 1.44MB S 2.88MB (loppy drives -Support CO R0M'Fasterl/0 Speed ■ DR DOS Supporl 'Completeselup in ROM • Windows 3.1 support • Novell

support '(I0S 5.0 Support ■ IDE drive support • OS/2 support * Support tor 47 different hard diives, plus 2 user dclined ■ Vims 8 password protection ■ and more!!!

•MEMORY UPGRADES

• MOTHERBOARDS

• BIOS Reference Manuals

• DIAGNOSTIC PRODUCTS

ra1-800-ROM-BIOS TECHNOLOGIES, INC. fax (KB) 371-0012 tel (805) 37i"-oo556 7

• FREE Catalog • FREE Chip puller • FREE Tech support • Volume Discounts • univ.SCorp. POs Welcome • Same Day Shipping • DEALERS WELCOME - Call fa special pricing, tree hies resellers kit • Authorized Micranlcs BIOS Distributor

1 143 TRIUNFO CANYON RD. SUITL 103 ■ WESTLAKE VILLAGE CA 91361

n^wva'a^..iii>i!iiji.vj».^iMii«iiJd^'aj.i>»,i^.Bjijjimgi

Circle 252 on Inquiry Card.

BVTE

Breaks the 4-Color Price Barrier with the Hardware/Software Showcase

See how affordable it is to advertise to BYTE's

500,000 computer professionals in this section!

■

Call for more advertising information:

(603) 924-2695 or (603) 924-2598

STAND-ALONE LCD MONITOR

New Touch Screen Option Available

jt^QC I ^'s'"" blac'c on wbite monitor is easy-to-read, yet

' */w | compact. Resolution is 640x480 for sharp, flicker-free image. Fast response, high refresh rate twisted nematic technology with backlighting provides a bright low radiation screen with a wide viewing angle. The adjustable monitor base is only 29x14 cm. It lets you mount the LCD monitor on vertical surfaces or fold for uansport. Comes with 1.5 m cable and controller card. No external power required. IBM AT compatible.

$ "I OQEJ I New Toucn Screen Version. Capacitive technolo

' 3^ vO | gy from MicroTouch™. Provides high resolution, fast response, all glass scratch proof optically clear touch sensor. Complete with controller and software. DOS, Windows compatible.

To Order Call Toll-Free: 1-80ODATALUX

m JI0JI 0 j»»» Tel: 1-703-4562-1500 A>V1 IJ*iBVJrl FAX: |J703-662-]682

AutoFAXed Specs: 1-703-662-1675

155 Aviation Drive • Winchester, VA 22602

Circle 219 on Inquiry Card.

MAY 1993 -BYTE 263

I

Mailorder • Multimedia

Printers/Plotters • Programmable Hardware

Circle 214 on Inquiry Card.

VGA makes it to the

BIG SCREEN

m^4t7H^

Experience the freedom of viewing

your presentation on a giant TV

in brilliant colors

With a little imagination the applications are endless

froduct upgrade guaranteed for one year

Calpac Computer Corporation

53 Moody Court Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

1 800 800-7222

Circle 277 on Inquiry Card.

DD

3

Desktop Video

Motion Capture VGA-TV Converter

Mfl HamGiaWAT

■ Real-lime 8. motion video

capture ' 8, 16. 24-bit color

• DOS & Windows support

• S-VHS & Composite input

• Free development kit

• Sound Blaster compatible USS 299

W Plus (PA1JNTSC] I

Ft VP <PAL/NTSC)

• Sharp & Flicker-free

• TVS Monitor display simultaneously

• S-VHS & Composite output

• Windows support

• MRVP/NTSC also lor Mac

• Hor. Over/Under-scan switch USS 149 (MR VV Plus) USS 349 {MR VP)

DISPLAY RESEARCH LABORATORY

VISA

Capital Automation Inc. Tel.:1-800-CAPITAL Fax: 704-596-9595

International inquiry:

lnt'ITel.:(852)420 1165 Int'l Fax:(852)415 2739

Circle 268 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 269).

264 B YTE • MAY 1993

PRINTER BUFFER I

for automatic sharing of printer(s) by several computersl

•Simultaneous input on all ports Nobody WSklts!

•Compatible with all printers,

Lasers and CAD plotters •Pop-up Menus

• Free Technical Support

• 30 day money-back guarantee & full-year limited warranty

• Full Windows® Support

STANDARD 1 MB memory • memory sizes thru 8 MB • Fast - data rates to 75 KB/S • multiple copies • multiple outputs

f1 MB 6-Port Parallel

$19995

9-Port Parallel $259.95

15-Port Parallel $379.95

4-Serial + 5-Parallel $269.95

16-Serial + 3-Parahel $399.95

Single User Parallel

$99

95

512 KBytes- unit is expandable to 4 MB

Serial or Converting buffers available

Other Models also available - Call!

Extra Memory: $50 per Megabyte

Technologic _

S Y S T E P\/l S *j |ffi|p5rl

513-644-2230 • FAX 644-2232 Made in USA

»204 EAST FOURTH STREET, MARYSVILLE, OHIO 43040

Receive FAX Info On-Demand: (805) 650-3299 - Item # 700

Circle 239 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 240).

Xk

High speed scan rate at a fraction of the cost"

HARDWARE:

DIGrTAL CONTROLLER ■ 8 optically isolated digital inputs at 12 to 24 VDC • 8 isolated relay outputs,

rated up to 3A continuous at 120 VAC with a! 0 A surge • timers • counters • pulsars • data storage

• seQuencers ■ serial communications optional RS485 or RS232 • up to 1 ms per Kol Boolean logic

• ANALOG CONTROLLER • 8 10 bit analog inputs • 4 analog outputs • 2 digital inputs • 2 relay outputs

• 2 transistor outputs ■ RS485 on board • PID loops - 8K RAM • OPERATOR INTERFACE ■ 24 charade, by 2 line display 4 by 4 keypad • 8K RAM • easy to use keyboard and display functions • RS485 on board. SOFTWARE: • programmable with ISM XT/AT/386/486 compatible and EPR0M programmer

• easy to use ladder logic compiler with text annotation and integrated editor • Software package

DWC liPLC RS485 interface $59.00 DWC liPLC RS232 interlace $59.00 DWC Network Nods $199.00

includes (unctions for all systems. DWC uPlC Oigrtal controller S139J DWC Analog controller $269.00 DWC Operator interface $259.00

DWC Ladder Logic Compiler software $99.00

DWC EEPRGM programmers development adapter$18.D0

Special olfor tor first time buyers software $49.00 with any purchase of above

1-800-668-2707 lei: (519) 850-0637 fax:(519)660-1602

AVISON ■ WORTr

Circle 258 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 259).

COST COMPACT

ra n

ONE OF

THE CHEAPEST

P.LC.'s IN THE WORLD!

HARDWARE: '16 oplo-isolafed digital inputs, '8 relay outputs §125 VAC. 'I/O status indicator LED's. 'Walch-dog and power failure circuits, 'standard RS232 interlace, 'single 5/12/24 VAC/VDC power supply (under 3W). • 24 Kb ballery back-up SRAM, '110x1/0 mm. PROGRAMMABLE with any compatible PC thru RS232 in our powerful remoTER program. 'Real lime variables debua 'C BASIC compilers and assemblers available. SOFTWARE DRIVERS enable your PC applications lo remote control PICOIOG I/O thru RS232. EXTENSION MODULES AVAILABLE.

ladder logic using

\AElskha.

Phone 39 142 451987 ITALY

Fax 39 142 451988 BBS 39 142 453165

Circle 257 on Inquiry Card.

Programmable Hardware

f^ For Your Development Needs!

MODEL 9000 EPROM PROGRAMMER

■ QuickPulse and intelligent algorithms.

■ Programs Eproms (up to 4Mb), EEproms & MPU's.

■ Upto57Kbaud.

■ Ultra Fast!

ORDER TOLL-FREE

800-282-4815

OEM & Dealer Inquiries Welcomed! OUU-404-WJJ ^^■^ DEVELOPMENT HARDWARE & SOFTWARE _ _ — m-> P.O. Box 2310 • Bay St. Louis, MS 39521-2310 U.S.A. M tK, INC. Fax: 601-467-0935 Mississippi & Technical Support 601-467-8048

Circle 225 on Inquiry Card.

IEEE 488/Serial

Converters & Controllers

"1 Connect IEEE 488 (HP-IB/GPIB) and serial (RS-232 or RS-422) j computers, plotters, and instruments

I I the smart approach to instrumentation

lOtech, Inc. • 25971 Cannon Road • Cleveland, Ohio 44146 (216) 439-4091 • Fax (216) 439-4093

Circle 228 on Inquiry Card.

UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER, EMULATOR, & TESTER TUP-400 $745.00 NEW

TUP-300 $575.00

New Improved hardware and software. The most complete PC-based Universal Programmer, Programs PLD (PAL, GAL, FPL, EPLD, PEEL, MAX, MACH...), E(E)PROM, (up to 16Mbit), Flash EPROM, BPROM, Special PROM, MPU (87XX, 68XX, Z8, PSD301, PIC16XX, TMS320EXX, UPD75PXXX, HD637XXX...).

■ Covers DIP, PLCC, QFP, SOP, and PGA with 8 to 84 pins. Gang Progamming adapters available also.

■ EPROM EMULATION capability.

■ Tests digital ICs and DRAMs (SIMM/SIP adapter available).

■ Free software updates and new device added upon request. IIC Manufacturers' approval.

■ 1-year warranty, 30-day money-back guarantee.

CALL TODAY FOR MORE INFORMATION. Distributors are welcome!

FLEX-700 S995.00 UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER SYSTEM NOW AVAILABLE. CONNECTS TO ANY PCXT/AT/386/486/l.AITOI'THKU THE PARALLEL PRINTER PORT

Tribal Microsystems Inc. Tel (510) 623-8859

44388 S. GRIMMER BLVD.. FREMONT, CA 94538 FAX (510) 623-9925

Circle 241 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 242).

SUPCRPRO® $549 SUP€RPRO/em $399

Universal Programmers

• Programs E(E)PROMs, Flash EPROMs to 8 Mbit 8, Bipolar Proms.

• Microcontrollers from INTEL, MOT, NSC. PIC, SIG, MICROCHIP, etc.

• PLD. GAL, MACH. MAX (not included in

SUPERPRO/EM)

• Tests TTL7CMOS and Memory.

• New parts added upon customer request and free updates on BBS. (24 hrs)

• Online technical support and hardware warranty for 1 year.

ROM MASTER $129

• Universal E(E)PROM programmer to 4Mbit

ROM MASTER/4 $199

• Universal E(E)PROM programmer 4 Gang Version

XELTEK

(408)524-1929

(408) 245-7084 FAX • (408) 245-7082 BBS

757 N. Pastoria Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Programmable Hardware * Tape Drives

C-PLC $289!

• New C Programmable Miniature Controller

• Seven 10-bit analog inputs

• Seven digital inputs

• 10-bit DAC: voltage or current output

• Twelve digital/relay driver outputs

• RS-232/RS-485 serial ports

• Enclosure with LCD/Keypad available

• Expansion bus for additional, low cost I/O

• Easy to use Dynamic C™ development software only $195!

Z-World Engineering (916) 757-3737

1724 Picasso Ave., Davis, CA 95616 • Fax: (916) 753-5141 24 hr. Information Service: (916) 753-0618. Call from your fax and request data sheet #24.

Circle 245 on Inquiry Card.

9 Track/3480 Tape Subsystems

1/4" DAT 8mm Optical

New Windows Software Available

• Best Quality

• Lowest Prices

800/1600/3200/6250 BPI

CALL1-800-938-TAPE

I ^4

Laguna Data Systems

7340 Smoke Ranch Road, Suite C, Las Vegas, NV 89128 Tel: (702) 254-2648 • Fax:(702)254-0910

I

S

Circle 230 on Inquiry Card.

9-Track for PCs

Mainframe to PC data interchange

Rock solid solutions, rock bottom prices.

Direct from the manuffcturer. 1600 & 6250 bpi.

Subsystems includj? drives and software.

800-729-8725

OVERLRHD DRTRo

Since 1980

Tel: 619-571-5555 • FAX: 619-571-0982 Europe: Tel: (+49) 6172-35027 • FAX: (+49) 6172-35028

3480 Now with IDRC!

Ask about 3480 tape drives too

Circle 234 on Inquiry Card.

Desktop 9-Track Tape Subsystem

#1-selling 9-track system on desktop.

Qualstar's low cost 1/2-inch 9-track Streaming tape systems bring full ANSI data interchange to IBM AT, PS/2 or Macintosh, giving your micro the freedom to exchange data files with nearly any mainframe or minicomputer in the world.

Systems include DOS or Xenix compatible software, coupler card and cables. High reliability 1600 or 6250 BPI capability may be used for disk backup as well as data interchange.

Call us today! For details and to order: Fax (818) 882-4081 Phone (818) 882-5822

Chatsworth CA 91311

flURLSTRR]

9621 Irondale Ave.

©1989 Quafstar Corp,

All prorjucl and company names and trademarks are the exclusive property of their respective owners.

Circle 244 on Inquiry Card. Circle 237 on Inquiry Card.

MAY 1993 • BYTE 265

s

$

Tape Drives • Business • Mathematical/Statistical II Data Acquisition • Database

9 TRACK

MAGNETIC

TAPE SYSTEM

FOR IBM PC/XT 286/386/486

i Mainframe to PC Data Xfer to 24MB/min

i Complete Software Packages

> Ready to Operate Systems

I Service and Support, Easy Installation

i No. 11n Customer Satisfaction

i SCSI Buss Interface, UNIX Compatible

i 3480, Cartridge, Tape Duplication Systems

i Data Conversion /Duplication Services

i New/Unused, Reconditioned, Used MTUs

call (919) 763-8400 or write to: 4304 Market St., Wilmington, NC 28403

Circle 270 on Inquiry Card.

Program Your Business For Success

Micrc

AUTOMATE YOUR E

COMrVTHKEYOUR

Buanssa WATCH

YOUR PROFITS GROWI

• Increase Control

• Increase Profits & Sales

• Work Smarter, Not Harder

• Bar Code Readers, Cash Drawers and More

• 220 Volt Hardware Available

• Foreign Languages Available

We Provide Hardware/Software That Is: ^^

• Affordable & Functional Ea£i (914) 425-4598

• Easy to use uolbbsi (914)425-5440

• Tested & Stable ^"STS^ESJEE

• Unparalleled In Technical Support Bs^mis^^7%5Z)

■W HIM I ]iiihl I;, I ;Al \HTT^M

Circle 262 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 263).

800-637-8268

Electronic archiving/ retrieval software!

Stores scanned images & existing file: Designed for multiuser networks

• Supports desktop and E-size scanners

• Safe, secure, protected

• Multiple optical drives (either 5.25" or 12*

V.O.I.CJE. outperforms the competition to cost & features!

VO.I.C.E. was designed specifically for monitor. VOICE, archives and retrieves multiuser networks like Novell and scanned Images, drawings, Word Perfect,

Lantastic. Use V.O.I.C.E with any IBM AutoCad, and torus 1-2-3 electronic tiles,

compatible PC with a VGA or EGA and has multiple levels of security.

Indus,

Tools tor the mfcroinfooration age

340 South Oak Street West Salem. Wl 54669 USA

Place an order by calling:

1-800-843-9377

All company nnd product nan

re trademarks of thoir respcctivL' t

Circle 226 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 227).

i

PCTfcX

Typesetting Software

/

XVzdt X-tY

£

y/z3 + y

This complete typesetting system makes

your books, manuals, articles, & math formulas

look their best!

For a FREE CATALOG & DEMO DISK, call 415/388-8853

Personal TrJC, Inc. 12 Madrona Street Mill Valley, CA 94941 Fax: 415/388-8865

266 BYTE • MAY 1993

Circle 235 on Inquiry Card.

Graphical Software for Data Acquisition and Control

The free eight-page LabVIEW brochure features software for Windows-based PCs, Sun SPARCstations, and Macintosh computers. With LabVIEW, engineers and scientists build software modules called virtual instrumentation (Vis) instead of writing text-based programs. The LabVIEW instrument Library has over 150 instrument drivers to simplify device programming. A free demo disk is available.

National Instruments

6504 Bridge Point Parkway, Austin, TX 78730

(512) 794-0100

(800) 433-3488 (U.S. and Canada)

Fax (51 2) 794-8411

Circle 233 on Inquiry Card.

dBASE Data Entry

The TransTerm 5 is a work station data entry/display terminal for on-line shop floor data collection into PC/AT/PS-2 systems. The unit is one of a family of such terminals which feature LC displays for operator prompting and data entry via sealed touch keys or an optional barcode scanner or badge reader (Code39,UPC+). A multi-terminal network controller (up to 250 stations) and a dBASE IV compatible software package are also available. System costs start below $300 per station. Options include display backlighting, barcode scanning, counter inputs, control output.

computerwise:

302 N. Winchester • Olathe, KS 66062 913-829-0600 • 800-255-3739 • FAX 913-829-0810

Circle 218 on Inquiry Card.

Mailorder • Programming Languages/Tools

Let your

"true colors shine

through"

when you advertise your

computer products in

BYTE's

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE SHOWCASE

our newest, affordable, 4-color advertising section!

Call for more details:

(603) 924-2695

or (603) 924-2598

BASIC Compiler 8051/52 & Derivatives BXC Version 4.0 New Release!

• 100% BASIC-52 compatible & in line assembly

• Full floating point, integer, byte and bit variables

• Compatible with any RAM or ROM memory mapping

• Compile BXC program into CALLable subroutine

• Compile program to coexist with BASIC-52 interpreter

• DS/5000 chip support and extensions

• Dynamic length variables and many string functions

• Advanced run-time error trapping & buffered serial I/O BXC51 $295

Call now! 508-369-9556 or FAX 508-369-9549

CI

Binary Technology, Inc.

P.O. Box 541 • Carlisle, MA 01741 B

Circle 217 on Inquiry Card.

APL

Complete APL system $60.

J Ken's new APL for teaching and research. Shareware and documentation $24. Source $90.

NEW! True Windows 3.1 versions. GUI programming for APL and J

Iverson Software Inc.

33 Major St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2K9 Phone (416) 925-6096 Fax (416) 488-7559

Security • Utilities • Windows

HngerCheck fingerprint verifier Includes:

a. Fini(en]lint Reader

b. H/W Interface

• PC AT-Bub . •RS-232 ... c S/VV Application Interface

* Image Capture

• enrollment

* matching

Application Area:

• Computer bcccsb or transaction control.

• Computer database security control.

• Physical access control by connecting FingerCheck fingerprint verifier with control circuitry to activate door locks (stand-aloue system). The Stand-alone system can be connected to a computer network to perform other functions such as event recording and communications for management (network type system).

• Tor law enforcement applications the FingerChcck fingerprint verifier can work with card systems, snch as smart cards and optical cards to perform Identity verification. Il provides social welfare security bv using cards such as II) card, drivers license, passport, credit card and so On.

Distributors, OEM & ODM are welcome!

n

STARTEK ENG, INC.

3F. 54 Park Ave II Soenee-Based Industrial Patk HssncHu, Taiwan 300 R.O.C. Tel 886-35-78538B Fax. 88G-35-787089

Circle 271 on Inquiry Card.

PC Diagnostics and System Information

QAPIUS" Over 3 Million users

□ New Version 4.7 now includes Reachouf Host remote control software and Novi" Scan virus detection software

J Both novices and expert PC users can quickly solve common computer problems

□ Reports hardware configuration, interrupts, performance benchmarks and more

□ Includes LAN features for networked PC support and management

Competitive upgrade and tradeup pricing available too.

Call us now at:

1-800-DIAGSOFT

Also from DiagSoffc QAPlus/WIN for tuning and troubleshooting Windows' and QAPluslFE for power-users and service/support professionals.

Available torn Egghead DiscountSoftware, Comp USA. Biz Mart, Fry's Electronics and other fine resellers.

, DiagSoft, Inc., 5615 Scotts Valley Drive, Suite 140, Scotts Valley

California 95066 ■ 1-408-438-8247- FAX 1-408-438-7113 I Suggested Retail: $159.95

Circle 221 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 254 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 250 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 251).

MAY 1993

BYTE

5; a>

~ en

<D ro

u .»"

a.

si

ra .

EI

55 *

I CD

|.| .

■c

Q?5

™H

•

lm

267

■

THE BUYER'S MART

A DIRECTORY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

THE BUYER'S MART is a unique classified section organized by product category to help readers locate suppliers. Each ad has Inquiry numbers to aid readers requesting information from advertisers. AD FORMAT: Each ad will be designed and typeset by BYTE. Do NOT send logos or camera-ready artwork. Advertisers should furnish typewritten copy. 2"x1'A" ads can include headline (23 characters maximum), descriptive text (300 characters is the maximum recommended) plus company name, address, tele

phone and fax number. 2"x25/a" ad has more space for descriptive text (850 characters is the maximum recommended).

DEADLINE: Ad copy is due approximately 2 months prior to issue date. For example: November issue closes on September 8. Send your copy and payment to: THE BUYER'S MART, BYTE Magazine, 1 Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. For more information call: Margot Gnade at 603-924-2656. FAX: 603-924-2683.

RATES (Jan. 1993)

3-5 6-11

issues issue:

12

Issues

2"x1V."

1 ad

2 ads/issue

3 ads/issue 2"x2s/."

1 ad

2 ads/issue

3 ads/issue

$663 $636

$557 530 504

13 issues

$1,326 $1,272 $1,114

- 1,060

- 1,008

$530 504 477

$1,060

1,008

954

ACCESSORIES

BAR CODE

BAR CODE

RADIOACTIVE?

Plot it on your PC with The RM-60 RADIATION MONITOR Serial or printer port. Detects: ALPHA • BETA • GAMMA ■ X-RAY.

MicroR, 1000 times the resolution of standard geiger counters.

Excellent for tracking RADON GAS. Find sources. New: Version 2.9

+ WINDOWS, Plot: • Background • Cosmic Rays • Clouds • Foods

Call/Write for PC MAGAZINE review. ■ TSR • GM Tube

VISA/MC/EURO Phone orders. Not satisfied? Full refund,

800-729-5397 or Tel/Fax: (302) 655-3800 Aware Electronics Corp.

P.O.Box 4299, Wilmington. DE 19807 $149.50

KEYBOARD, VIDEO, MOUSE, AUDIO

Extend signals from PC with EXTENDER Split signals with COMPANION/PC EXPANDER Switch signals among PCs with COMMANDER

Boosts signals up to 600 feet. Control up to 96 PCs

with one keyboard, monitor and mouse.

CYBEX CORPORATION

2800H Bob Wallace Ave., Huntsville, AL 35805 Phone: 205-534-0011 Fax: 205-534-0010

Inquiry 651.

PROGRAMMABLE FUNCTION KEYPAD

The Function Keypad 35 features a 7 by 5 matrix of relegendable keys, programmable under both DOS and Windows 3.1. Define up to 11 macros per single or double key. Passthrough connection to parallel port allows concurrent use of standard keyboard. $160

GENOVATION, Inc.

17741 Mitchell North, Irvine, CA 92714 (80D) 822-4333 (714) 833-3355 FAX (714) 833-0322

Inquiry 652.

ARCHIVAL UTILITIES

RawCopy

PC

TM

The Best Archival Utility,

Removes all the things

you HATE

to look up & plug in

CALL US TODAY

$79.95

FREE SHIPPING

Micro Systems International™

1-800-944-3410

Inquiry 653. 268 BYTE

Portable Reader

Simple, Powerful, Easy-to-use

* AA Battery Operated, with backup coin battery

* 2 x 16 Supertwist LCD Display

* 32 Raised Rubber Keys

* Real-time Clock Built-in for DateATime Stamps

* 2 Built-in Inventory Programs

* 3 User Defined Programs, & 3 User Data Files

* Wand, CCD, or Laser Scanner Input

* Doubles as Non-Portable Reader

* Serial Interface and Keyboard Interface

* Reads 2of5, UPC/EAN, 128, Code 39, etc.

* Uploads with furnished Programs or Xmodem

* 64K Complete with Steel Wand - $799

Worthington Data Solutions

Swiss Office 3004 Mission Street

Rutistrasse 6 Santa Cruz, CA 95060

CH 9050, Appenzell Switzerland 408-458-9938

071 87 51 17 FAX 071 87 51 15 Phone

800-345-4220

Bar Code Readers

For PC, XT, AT, PS/2, Macintosh and Serial Terminals

* Attaches as 2nd Keyboard or to any ADB port

* Reads 2of5,128, UPC/EAN, Code 39, etc.

* External or internal attachment on PC

* Wand, CCD, Slot Badge, Magstripe or Laser -* Two Scanners per Reader

* 100+Configurable Options

* 2 Year Warranty, 30 Day $ Back Guarantee

* Direct From Manufacturer

* Top Rated by Independent Review

* Complete with Laser Scanner - $1399

* Complete with Stainless Steel Wand - $399

Worthington Data Solutions

Swiss Office 3004 Mission Street

Rutistrasse 6 Santa Cruz, CA 95060

CH 9050, Appenzell Swilzerland 408-458-9938

071 87 51 17 FAX 071 87 51 15 Phone

800-345-4220

Labeling Software

On EPSON, IBM, OKI, or LaserJet. Easy WYSIWYG design. Any format/size. Up to 120 fields per label. 18 text sizes to 3" -readable at 100', AIAG, KMart, Sears, MIL-STD, Pennys, 2of5, 128, UPC/EAN, Code 39. File Input & Scanned PCX graphics - $279. Other programs from $129.

Worthington Data Solutions

(408) 458-9938 800-345-4220

Thermal Printer Package

Allegro Thermal Transfer Printer-2" per sec speed. Up to 4" label width-Only 20 lbs. weightPrints UPC/EAN, 2of5, UCC-128, Code 39, 128—Prints scalable text and PCX graphics with bar codes-Packaged with LabelRIGHT Software, serial cable, ribbon and labels-Complete-$1895

Worthington Data Solutions

(408) 458-9938

(800) 345-4220

Portable Bar Code Reader

>- Use as a PORTABLE, WEDGE, or SERIAL >• 9V Battery Operation with Lithium Backup >- 2x16 Supertwist LCD Display >■ 54 Key Keyboard with Separate Numeric Keys >- Real-time Clock Supports Date & Time Stamps >• Reads all Popular Bar Codes (16 types) >■ Wand, CCD, Laser, or Serial Input Devices

> Built-in Program Generator

>- Create Your Own Custom Programs

> 6 Built-in Inventory Programs

>- Up to 250 Programs Can Reside in Memory

>■ Create up to 250 Data Files per Program

>- Up to 250 Look-Up Files in Memory

>- Built-in Calculator

>- Supports HAYES Compatible Modems

>- 64K Memory with Data Compression

>- 30-day $$ Back Guarantee - 1 Year Warranty

V Complete Unit with WAND Scanner - $795

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS

2190 Regal Parkway, Euless, TX 76040 (800)648-4452 (817)571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232

BAR CODE READERS

For PC, XT, AT, PS/2, & Serial Terminals

>- Emulates Keyboard: Works With Any Software V Data Appears as Keyboard Input >- Uses Enhanced Decoding Algorithms >- Accepts Wand, Slot/Badge, CCD, Laser,

Magnetic Stripe Reader, & RS232 Serial Input >- Reads All Popular Bar Codes (16 types)

► Reads HIGH, MEDIUM, & LOW density codes >• Auto-Discriminates Between Bar Code Types >• Easily Programmed with a Bar Code Menu

>• Over 140 User Configurable Options

>• Daisy Chain Up to 96 Readers

>- Supports NOVELL Networks

>• Supports US & INTERNATIONAL Keyboards

>- Direct From Manufacturer

>- 30-day $$ Back Guarantee, 1 Year Warranty

>• Complete Unit with LASER Scanner-$1095

> Complete Unit with WAND Scanner - S395

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS

2190 Regal Parkway, Euless, TX 76040 (800)648-4452 (817)571-9015 FAX(817)685-6232

MAY 1993

BAR CODE

BAR CODE

CD-ROM

Bar Code Printing Software LabelWorks for Windows

> Prints all Popular Bar Code Types (19 Types)

>• Desktop Publishing Features: WYSIWYG, Scalable Fonts, Rulers, Guides, Lines, Shapes, Page Zooms (25%-400%), Templates

>- Rotates Text, Bar Codes, and Graphics

>■ Supports Windows Compatible Fonts

>■ Choose From Over One Hundred Popular

Label Formats or Design Your Own >• Rich Text Support: Mix Styles, Types, & Sizes >■ Automatically Prints Serial Numbers

>• Imports & Exports Graphic Files:

TIFF, GIFF, BMP, PCX, WPG, WMF, TARGA >■ Supports Virtually all Windows Compatible

Printers (PostScript, Laser, & Dot Matrix)

>- 30-day Money-Back Guarantee, $295 * * * CALL FOR FREE DEMO SOFTWARE * * *

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS

2190 Regal Parkway, Euless, TX 76040 (800)648-4452 (817)571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232

DATA INPUT DEVICES

Bar Code. Magnetic Stripe Readers & SmartCard Encoder/ Reader for microcomputers & terminals, including IBM PS/2 & others. DEC, Macintosh, AT&T, CT, Wyse, Wang. All readers connect on the keyboard cable & are transparent to all software. UPC & 39 print programs, magnetic encoders. & portable readers are also available.

TPS Electronics

4047 Transport, Palo Alto, CA 94303 415-856-6833 Telex 371 -9097 TPS PLA 1-800-526-5920 FAX: 415-856-3843

Inquiry 657.

VARIANT MICROSYSTEMS BAR CODE READERS DELIVER

WAND/LASER/MAGNETIC CARD CONNECTIVITY

• Keyboard wedges {Internal/External) for IBM PC/XT/AT, PS/2, and portables

• RS232 wedges for WYSE. Link, Kimtron terminals

• Bar code and label printing software

• Full two-year warranty

• 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

• Extensive VAR/Dealer Discounts

46560 Freemont Blvd., Suite 206/Freemonl, CA 94538/(510) 440-2870 800-666-4BAR FAX: (510) 440-2873

Inquiry 658.

Simlel MSDOS Shareware CDROM, 640 Meg, Dec. 92 ..S24.95

CICA MS Windows Shareware CDROM, Nov. 92 S24.95

OS/2 Shareware CDROM, Nov. 92 S24.95

Source Code CDROM, 600 Meg, Mar. 92 $39.95

INFO-MAC Macintosh SW, 4000+ files. Aug. 92 S39.95

CDROM Caddies S4.95

WALNUT CREEK CDROM

1547 Palos Verdes Mall, Ste 260, Walnut Creek, CA 94596 (800) 786 9907 (510) 947 5996 FAX: (510) 947 1644

Inquiry 663.

COMMUNICATIONS

X.25, HDLC, SDLC, BSC

SOLA card and software provides 'plug-in' synchronous fink support for PCs which is inexpensive, easy to use and robust.

♦ Up to 180kbps under any PC operating system

♦ Extensive utilities plus third party support under DOS. Unix, OS/2, Windows

♦ CCITT 1988 X.25. many variations of SDLC and HDLC and V.25 bis. dial supported

♦ Full function SNA emulation packages also available

Sangoma Technologies Inc.

Tel. (416) 474-1990 1-800-388-2475

FAX (416) 474-9223

Inquiry 664.

COMPUTER BOOKS

CREATE BAR CODE SYSTEMS

Data Harvester Developer's Version can put handheld portable bar code data collection in your application. Generate system to scan, validate entries (lengths, types, etc.) and communicate data to PC. Format data for your software. Easy to use. No programming. Supports many portable terminals. DOS 8. UNIX.

AccuScan, Inc.

PO Box 80037 Conyers, GA 30208 (404)922-1220

Inquiry 654.

BEST BAR CODE VALUES

• PC/MAC/RS232 Wedges w/wand & print, utility $249+

• Portables w/wand (64K+) $750+

• Mag Stripe Encoder/Reader (1. 2 or 3 tracks) S1200+

• Mag Stripe Readers (TTL, wedge, RS232) $89+

■ Bar Code Printing/Reading Software w/HP $149+

• Lasers/CCDs/Badge Slot/POS Products' 1-5 YR WARRANTY

• Dist/Dealer Discounts * SPANISH Dept. avail.

BARCODE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS (BIS)

9190 Palm Canyon Drive, Corona, CA 91719 (800) 653-4252 • (909) 277-1917 • FAX (909) 277-1005

Inquiry 655.

NEED A ONE STOP SOURCE FOR YOUR BAR CODE SOLUTIONS?

NO PROBLEM! WE OFFER Quality • Performance • Value

A lull line of READERS • PRINTERS • PORTABLES • BAR CODE READERS FOR NOTEBOOKS' HEWLETT-PACKARD SCANNERS • MAGNETIC STRIPE READERS. Our readers plug and play with your existing system without additional software. 30 DAY GUARANTEE • LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT • NEXT DAY DELIVERY • VARIETY OF PAYMENT OPTIONS • OEM/VAR DISCOUNTS. CALL US

INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES & SYSTEMS

Eastern USA (800) 826-1688 Western USA (800) 228-9487

Inquiry 656.

PC BAR CODE SPECIALISTS

Bar code readers designed tor fast, reliable, costeffective data entry. They emulate your keyboard, so data looks just like it was typed in! Choose from stainless steel wand, laser gun, CCD, and magnetic stripe scanners. Also, powerful label printing software. Great warranty. Generous reseller discounts. 30-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE.

Seagull Scientific Systems

15127 N.E. 24lh. Suite 333. Redmond. WA 98052

1-800-758-2001 206-451-8966

TERMINATOR —Super high ttasily router—

(Complete with schematic & PCB Editor) This tola I ly inlegraled CAD software oilers superior functionality at competitive prices. DC/CAD packages include: •Rip up and retry router w/via minimization »No copy pmteclion available •ASCII Ille w/automatu: pmajduie recording. •Autoplacct -WINDOWS Dos task •Gather and DXF •Oplional Automatic Copper plane w/cross hatching •Optional simulation & enhanceO mode lor 386 users

Price from $195 *CalI for current offer

•EXPEDITED PCB LAYOUT SERVICE AT LOW COST

Design Computation, Inc. I77l Highway 34. Farminntlale, NJ07727

Phone: (908) 681-7700 Fax: (908) 681-8733

DC/CAD- The performance value leader lor me demanding entrepreneur

Inquiry 659.

ELECTRONICS CAD

Schematic Capture & PCB CAD

Analogue Simulation, Digital Simulation, etc.

Prices from $195. Credit cards welcome.

For brochure use Inquiry # or contact us at:

NUMBER ONE SYSTEMS

Harding Way, ST. IVES. Cambs, UK, PE17 4WR

Tel: 011-44-480-461778 Fax: 011-44-480-494042

Inquiry 660.

CAD/CAM

CONTOURING MOTION CONTROL

FROM A PRINTER PORT! *_

A11-1/1/ Indexer LPT"-' software $249

NtW VERSION 3 visa/mc

• Controls up to six step motors simultaneously.

• Linear and Circular Interpolation.

• New features to accommodate machine control. Easy-to-use DOS device driver. Super Manual.

Corporation, 1422 Arnold Ave. Roslyn, PA 19001 (215)657-4338 FAX: (215) 657-7815

• CAD-CAM interface available.

Ability Systems

Inquiry 661.

CD-ROM

OVTl-CDcache™

Improve CD-ROM workstation performance!

Only $89! OPTI-(:i)iY(d.if™ laktrsi itdvtimapc of Extended Memory (XMS) to cache CD-ROM data. Retrieve data from a high spt-cd cache insicud of directly from the CD-ROM drive and significantly improve your CD-ROM workstation pcrtbrmancu! Ask for our free catalog of exciting CD-ROM products including the market-leading OPTt-NET" CD-ROM networking software!

ONLINE COMPUTER SYSTEMS, INC.

A member of the Reed l-lM.-viLT j;rmip. 800-922-920--! or 301-428-3700 FAX ns at 301--'i28-3700.

Inquiry 662.

COMPUTER BOOKS at a discount

We specialize in ADVANCED books for developers, programmers, computer professionals, and academics. 15% discount. Latest books from over 50 publishers. Free catalog. UPS & international shipping. Personal service. MC/VISA/AMEX. CompuServe- 70007,1333. GO CBK Windows, C++, O/S 2 2.0, UNIX, Mac, OOP

CompuBooks

Rt 1, Box 271-0 512-321-9652

Cedar Creek, TX 78612 Fax 512-321-4525

800-880-6818

Inquiry 665.

COMPUTER INSURANCE

INSURES YOUR COMPUTER

SAFEWARE Computerowner's coverage provides replacement of hardware, media and purchased software. As little as $49 a year covers accidents, theft, power surges and more. One call does it all.

TOLL FREE 1-800-848-3469

SAFEWARE, The Insurance Agency Inc.

PO Box 02211, 2929 N. High St., Columbus. OH 43202 Now available in Ontario. Canada

Inquiry 666.

COMPUTER REPAIR

COMPUTER REPAIR

Repair or Upgrade your PC. Low service charge. Quick service, 60 day warranty. Selling IDE/SCSI controllers and hard drives. Jasmine Computers

3201 Loma Verde Dr. #133, San Jose, CA (408) 379-6395

Inquiry 667.

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

LOW- LOW- LOW

Computer 5ystems/Notebooks/Network Solutions

IBM-Apple-Compaq-AST-ALR-Everex-Sothers SURAH 386/486 ISA/EISA-AMI/Mylex Motherboards

• CD ROMS • Tape Backup • Pocket FAX Modem LAN Cards • Hard Drives/Floppy Drives • Memory/upgrades

• DRAMS, SIMM Modules • Laser Printers/Scanners

• Plotters & Digitizers ■ Software

QIIDAU inn 44912 Osgood Road. Fremont CA 94539 US4 OUnHn IIIO. Phone:(510)651-5101 Fax: (5101 651-5241

1-800-543-1001 Nationwide Orders

Inquiry 668.

MAY 1993* BYTE 269

THE BUYER'S MART

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

DATA/DISK CONVERSION

DIAGNOSTIC

Cross Assemblers $50

Simulators $ 100

Disassemblers $100

PseudoCorp

716 Thimble Shoals Blvd. Newport News, VA 23606 (804) 873-1947 Fax (804) 873-2154

Inquiry 669.

DATA ANALYSIS

ADVANCED DATA ANALYSIS... at a click!

CLICK-X™ software, the most user friendly data analysis - ever! • Edit Graph/Data • Analyze • Advanced Math / Regression / Engineering / Statistics • Import/Export. FREE demo disk. Custom software available.

SoloSoft

P.O. Box 2548, Stamford, CT 06906-0548 Phone: (203) 977-8161 Fax: (203) 977-8237

Inquiry 670.

DATA RECOVERY

Ontrack

DATA RECOVERY

• Professional service recommended by major

hard drive manufacturers • Expertise in virtually

every operating system & media storage device

• 24-hour support with weekend, priority, & on-site

service available • For fast, successful results, call:

CA: 1-800-752-7557 • MN:1-8Q0-872-2599

2400 Main Street. Suite 200. Irvine CA 92714

6321 Bury Drive, Eden Prairie MN 55346

Inquiry 671.

CONVERSION SERVICES

Convert any 9-track magnetic tape to or from over 5000 formats including 3'/<", 5'/,", 8" disk formats & word processors. Disk-to-disk conversions also available. Introducing CD-ROM conversions. Call for more info.

Pivar Computing Services, Inc.

165 Arlington Hgts. Rd., Dept. #B Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 (800) Convert

DATABASE

Which Windows database is the best?

The best?

We recommend SUPERBASE 2

We build vertical applications with it,

train end-users and developers on it,

and make it available to others

who want the best Windows relational database

Superbase 2 for $189 (list $795)

Superbase 2 Developers Edition $650.

Superbase 2 Developer class,

4 days for $995.

Consulting ant! on-site training available.

^fcRD

%

^ 800-448-NERD *G

Inquiry 675.

FREE NEWSLETTER OFFER

THE PC TROUBLESHOOTER

Learn all the latest PC troubleshooting tips and tricks from the pros. Covers PCs, networks, Windows and more. CALL NOW for a FREE sample issue.

USA: (800) 683-6696

Int'l: (813) 443-1331, FAX: (813) 443-6603

Landmark Research Int'l Corp.

703 Grand Central Street Clearwater, FL34616

Inquiry 678.

FINANCIAL SOFTWARE

BrainMaker:

"The most fascinating computer software I've ever seen.. .learn about this stuff." John Dvorak, PC Mag. Predicts stocks, bonds, sales, inventories. Comprehensive manual. Menus. 15,000 sold. PC or Mac. Still only $195!

Free Flyer: 800/284-8112,916/478-9040 California Scientific Software

Inquiry 679.

FLOW CHARTS

Dr. Solomons Data Recovery Service

NO FIX-NO FEE

Unique Technical Expertise High Success Rate

Free Diagnosis Fast Turnaround

S & S International

Tel +44 (0)442 877877 Fax +44 (0)442 877882

Inquiry 672.

DATA/DISK CONVERSION

THE#1 CHOICE in disk & tape conversion

for many leading corporations, government agencies, law firms, and companies in every industry-world-wide.

Free test • Satisfaction guaranteed

Graphics Unlimited Inc.

3000 Second St. North, Minneapolis, MN 55411

(612) 588-7571 FAX: (612) 588-8783

1-800-745-7571

Inquiry 673.

dBASE, Fox & Clipper from Visual Basic

Get complete database management power and dBASE, FoxPro and Clipper file compatibility from VB Win and VB DOS. Get CodeBasic! Fully multi-user and only $195. Comes with a 90 day money-back guarantee. FREE demo available.

Sequiter Software

#209, 9644-54 Ave., Edmonton, AB, Canada T6E 5V1 Tel (403) 437-2410 Fax (403) 436-2999

Inquiry 676.

DIAGNOSTIC

"..PINPOINT ANY PC FAILURE."

John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine 6/30/92

Top-rated PocketPOST Power On Self-Test card with diagnostic software for ISA/EISA/MicroChannel. 180-page book. Hones your trouble shooting skills. CALL NOW.

DATA DEPOT, Inc.

1710 Drew Street #5, Clearwater, FL 34615

1-800-275-1913

813-446-3402 FAX 813-443-4377

Inquiry 677.

FLOW CHARTING 3

• High resolution print outs... dot matrix or laser

• Multi-page charts.., portrait or landscape

• Import/export capabilities

• 35 shapes, 10 fonts, 4 line styles Call for free demo disk!

PATT0N & PATT0N m*m4me*.nn

Software Corporation 485 Cochrane Cr., Morgan Hill, CA 9503; See our ad on page 82

Inquiry 680.

WINDOWS FLOWCHARTER $129

RFFlow 2.0 is a professional drawing tool for flowcharts & org. charts. Requires Microsoft Windows. 100 shapes auto adjust in size. Diagonal lines and curves. Auto line routing and re-routing. Click on a shape to bring up a sub-chart. Move charts to other apps. via the Clipboard. Call for free trial disk.

RFF ELECTRONICS

1053 Banyan Court, Loveland, CO 80538 Phone: (303) 663-5767 FAX: (303) 669-4889

EDUCATION

GRAPHICS DATA CONVERTER

IBM PC+-TO -fHP FILE COPY

/ New Interface / BDAT2ASCII

Allows IBM PCs, PS/2, compatibles to interchange files with Hewlett-Packard Series 70, 80, 200, 300, 1000, (LIF media). Oswego Software

Box 310 708/554-3567

Oswego, IL 60543 FAX 708/554-3573

CALL FOR A FREE DEMO!

Inquiry 674. 270 BYTE

B.S. & M.S. In COMPUTER SCIENCE

The American Institute lor Computer Sciences otters an indepth correspondence program to earn your Bachelor ol Science and Master of Science degrees in Computer Science at home. B S. subjects covered are: MS/DOS, BASIC PASCAL, C, Data File Processing, Data Structures & Operating systems. M.S. program includes subjects in Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence.

AMERICAN INST, for COMPUTER SCIENCES

2101-BY Magnolia Ave. South, Sle. ZOO, Birmingham, AL 35205 800-767-2427 205-323-6191

OPTICAL GRAPH RECOGNITION (0GR) SOFTWARE

SCAN-X™ software imports, converts and manipulates data from scanned plots, pictures, graphs on paper, or captured screens into data files for comparing/analyzing/piotting/exporting. FREE demo disk. Service available.

SoloSoft

P.O. Box 2548, Stamford, CT 06906-0548 Phone: (203) 977-8161 Fax: (203) 977-8237

Inquiry 681.

MAY 1993

FRAMEWORK/FRED

HARDWARE/COMPUTERS

LAPTOP PERIPHERALS

THE FRAMEWORK MAGAZINE

Framework enhancement programs 12 issues $29.90

Unlimited Framework and FRED support. Access undocumented powers of Framework & FRED.

fBase for Framework $190.90

The fastest disk database access in

existence. dBase file Index

optimization and compression.

Selections & Functions, Inc. (617)826-1553

25 Washington Street, Hanover, MA 02339

SC/FOX™ EMBEDDED COMPUTERS

PC Parallel Coprocessor Plug-In Boards: 15 MIPS avg 50 MIPS burst

using the SC32 32-bit CPU or the 16-bil Harris RTX 2000lu.

VME Master/Slave System Controller SBC: 18 MIPS avg 70 MIPS burst

uses RTX 2000 cpu, SCSI, 2 ser, 1 plr ports, to 640K bytes.

Stand-Alone Single Board Computers: 18 MIPS avg 60 MIPS burst, 3U

or 100x100mm Eurocard-size using either SC32 or RTX 2000.

Ideal for embedded real-time control, data acquisition, robotics, and signal

processing. OEM software development system included.

SILICON COMPOSERS INC m) m^na

655 West Evelyn Ave. #7, Mt. View, CA 94041

Inquiry 686.

INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING

Complete RealTime Operating System For your 386/486 PC only

$995 /

■ POSIX Compliant • Realtime Tasks

■ Full Networking • Development Tools • X Windows • Source Available

RTMX-UniFLEX Call: 1-919-493-1451

800 Eastowne Dr., Ste 111 'Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Inquiry 687.

Auto Power Adapters

• 12V battery systems

• Small package with high efficiency

• Plugs between computer and lighter receptacle

• S99 to S129

• Designed and made in USA!!

!n stock for Apple PowerBook (10-30V input). Canon BJ printer, Compaq Contura, Everex Tempo LX, IBM. Kodak Diconix printer, Sanyo, Sharp. Toshiba, Zees, Custom adapters designed for OEMs. Serial interface cards for Toshiba and Sanyo.

Empire Engineering

California USA tel 805/543-2816 fax 805/543-2820

Inquiry 691.

PC PRODUCTS WANTED

PC Products Wanted

Leading PC Network software vendor is looking for "cutting edge" products to be distributed through its world wide distribution channels. If you have a product or product idea, and need sales or distribution we can help you pave the way to quicker profits. A.C.P. provides national distribution through Tech Data, Merisel, Ingram, and our U.K. and Australian subsidiaries. A.C.P. also offers a well established engineering and marketing force. For more information call A.C.P. at (508) 486-4366, or send inquiries to: A.C.P P.O. Box 1490, Littleton, MA 01460.

HARDWARE

JAPAN MARKET

Inquiry 692.

PROGRAMMERS TOOLS

Let US Meet Your Hardware Needs

•Complete Systems-Starting @ $895 w/SVGA monitor

• For 486 DX50 from $895-$1795 •Motherboards, Memory

• Software

Call for information or catalog. MC & VISA accepted Kings Computer Technologies

311 North Gray * - —

Killeen. TX 76541 817-554-5464

Inquiry 682.

Seek Software Developers

We are looking for companies developing competitive software products for PCs and aggressively wishing to enter Japan market. Enormous Japanese PC software market attracts worldwide attention. Do not worry aboul even though you are unfamiliar witti Japan markel or do not have well organized sales network in Japan. Our technical engineer is pleased to help you by modifications for Japanese PCs. If your company deserves our considering, please feel free to fax us today for details. Product catalogs and company prpfile are highly welcome.

Giken Shoji Co., Ltd.

Fax: 81-052-972-6577 Phone: 81-052-972-6544 6F Soar Bldg. 2-3, 1 -choree, Izumi, Higashi-ku. Nagoya 461, Japan

Inquiry 688.

Boost Your BASIC with ProBas!

•s ProBas5 adds 938 new commands to QB/PDS c& Written in assembly for speed trae Gives your programs a professional look csj Easy to use, money back guarantee, $195 r"' Other add-ons for BASIC, C & Visual Basic avail. FREE DEMO Disk AND BOOKLET

TeraTech (soo) 447-9120 xi 060

Dept 1060. 100 Park Ave., Suite 360, Rockville, MD 20850 Int'l+1(301) 424-3903 Fax (301) 762-8185 BBS (301)762-8184

Inquiry 693.

LANS

Pre-0wned Electronics, lnc™

THE Independent Provider, serving the Dealer,

Professional, Corporate, Government, and

Educational Buyer since 1985

APPLE II & MACINTOSH6

SYSTEMS • PARTS• EXCHANGE REPAIRS

Call for a Catalog...800-274-5343 INT'L: 617-275-4600 • FAX: 617-275-4848

205 BURLINGTON ROAD • BEDFORD, MA 01730

Inquiry 683.

HEWLETT PACKARD

Buy - Sell - Trade

LaserJet ColorPro

DeskJet DraftPro

RuggedWriter DraftMaster

Electrostatic Plotters

• Monochrome and Color

HP 9000 Workstations and Vectras also available.

T. E. Dasher & Associates

4117 Second Ave., S. Birmingham, AL 35222

Phone: (205) 591-4747 Fax: (205) 591-1108

(800) 638-4833

Inquiry 684.

HARDWARE/COMPUTERS

The $25 Network

Try the 1st truly low-cost LAN

' Connect 2 or 3 XTs, ATs,386s, 486s

• Uses serial ports and null modem cable

• Runs at 115K baud - approx 8500 bytes/sec

• Runs in background, totally transparent

• Share disks and printers, etc.

• Needs only 15Kof RAM

Little Big LAN

The most flexible network

• Peer to Peer LAN to 250 nodes

• $75 total software cost, not per node!

• Link via serial, parallel, or Arcnet

• Link via Ethernet or Modems soon

• Mixed mode routing

• Typically only 35K of RAM

Skeptical? We make believers!

Information Modes

P.O. Drawer F, Denton, TX 76202

Tech 817-387-3339 Orders 800-628-7992

Hours 1-5 Mon/Wed, 9-5 Tue/Thu/Fri CST

Inquiry 689.

Structograms

Software Documentation marte quick and easy with PANORAMA

■ Structograms (Nassi-Shneidermann) automatically from the source code in a flash

■ Hierarchie-trees of modules, procedures

■ Headers of modules, procedures

■ Software-Metrics: McCabe complexity, LOC and more Available for: Turbo Pascal, C, Modula-2, Fortran-77, PL/M, dBase PANORAMA Standard (Pascal, C, Modula-2): $495

panorama Lie $295 Wuest Informatik AG

Schuetzenstrasse 11; CH-8245 Feuerthalen; Switzerland Int'l (+41 53) 29 31 32 FAX: (+41 53) 29 31 43

Call or Fax for information and free demo.

Inquiry 694.

PROJECT BILLING

Client Project

A Time and Billing System that accounts for charges to over 100,000 projects (or matters). Regular price $299, limited time discount available; send $10 for demo.

Micro Billing Systems, Inc.

117 W. Harrison, Ste#624M, Chicago IL 60605 Tel: (312) 939-1869 Fax: (312) 939-1351

Inquiry 695.

LAPTOP COMPUTERS

SECURITY

NEIV/ 20MHz 16-bit FORTH Single Board Controller with 8ch 10-bit A/D, 3ch 8-bit D/A

TDS2020 FORTH CONTROLLER AND DATA-LOGGER-™" board uses Hrtachi 16-bil H8/532 CMOS uP. Screams along at 3MIPS, but runs on only 30ma. On-board high-level easy FORTH language and assembler-no need for in-circuil emulation! Og to 512K NVRAM, 45K PROM, Attach keyboard, led, 12C peripherals, Inlerrupls, multi-tasking, watchdog timer, editor. 33 I/O, 2xRS-232, 6-16v 300uA data-logging! Free ready-made software solutions. Program with PC. Use for machine control, data-logging, inspection robotics, remnte monitoring, etc. $299 (25s). STARTER PACK $499. CALL NOW FOR DETAILS! Sale-or-return

Saelig Company tel: (716) 425-3753

European Technology fax: (716) 425-3835

Inquiry 685.

USED COMPUTERS

MAJOR BRANDS - WIDE SELECTION IBM - COMPAQ & OTHERS

Computers from S99 Color Printers 5199

Mono Monitors from S25 CGA Color Monitors S129

IBM 5140 LAPTOP S349

IBM PCjr 8 CONVERTIBLE PARTS S ACCESSORIES

HARD-TO-FIND ITEMS FOR OLDER PCS

FREE CATALOG COMPUTER RESET

P.O. Box 461782, Garland, TX 75046

Phone (214) 276-8072 & FAX BBS (214) 272-7920

Inquiry 690.

FIGHT PIRACY!

• EVERLOCK3.0 * SOFTWARE COPY PROTECTION

New Option Board Safe-New Remote Registration New CPU LOCK-CD ROM LOCK and more

• EVERKEY HARDWARE LOCKS •

Az-Tech Software, Inc.

Call for a 201 East Franklin, Richmond, MO 64085

FREE (816)776-2700

Demo (800) 227-0644 fax (816) 776-8398

Inquiry 696.

MAY 1993- BYTE 271

THE BUYER'S MART

SECURITY

SHAREWARE

SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS

THE ULTIMATE SOFTWARE SECURITY

• STOPCOPY family - UNCOPIABLE copy protection

• STOPVIEW software encryption

• NETLIMIT network license metering

• DOS, Windows, Macintosh, OS/2, support

• No source code changes required - for ANY of our products in ANY environment

• Our products destroy ALL of our competition

• Call for FREE demo disk, or to discuss our products'

MANY options

BBI Computer Systems, Inc.

14105 Heritage Lane, Silver Spring, MD 20906 BOQ/TRY-ABBI • 800/879-2224 • 301/871-1094' FAX:301/450-7545

Inquiry 697.

STOP UNWANTED USERS!

End Piracy of Company Software!

with

Easi-Lock™ Software Security

Add Software Security Without Programming No Hardware Add-Ons or Changes Limit Software to Authorized Users Block Intrusions and Snooping Dual-Trigger Invisible Password Method Locks Any .EXE or .COM file under DOS Works witth Windows and Windows programs Locked Files Work Only With "Run" Utility One User's "Run" Cannot Execute Other Files Tests for Virus Before Executing Any File Company Versions Foil Take-Home Copying Renders Pirated Software Useless Activity Logging in "Plus" and "Super" versions Optional (free) Audible Intrusion Alarm

Prices $69 - $169 + s/h. Visa, Mastercard Accepted

Easi-Logic Software

div. of CDS GROUP Inc.

P.O. Box 449 Paoii IN 47454 800-243-4964 - 812-723-4595

Inquiry 698.

Cop's CopyLock II

The professional software protection with TRUE Machine Install. Option Board safe. OS/2, Networks, Windows, and Trace 3020.

LINK Computer

Int'l: + 45 31232350 Fax: + 45 31238448

US/CAN: 408-729-8162 FAX: 408-923-7061

FREE SOFTWARE FOR IBM/CLONES

Try us! Get 5/5.25" or 3/3.5" disks full of the latest software - FREE! Choose from General Interest, Games, Windows", Kid's, Clip Art or Fonts. Pay only a small service charge of $2.95 per package. Credit Cards only. CALL TODAY!

SOFTWARE OF THE MONTH CLUB (619) 931-8111, EXT. 511

inquiry 701.

SOFTWARE/ACCOUNTING

dBASE BUSINESS TOOLS

•GENERAL LEDGER

• PURCH ORD/INVNTORY

■ORDER ENTRY

• ACCOUNTSRECVABLE

•JOB COSTING

•JOB ESTIMATING

• BILL OF MATLS

•SALES ANALYSIS

• PAYROLL

• ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

$99/$198ea. + S&H

dATAMAR SYSTEMS Cred. Card-Check-COD

6969-D Corte Santa Fe,

San Diego, CA 92121

(619)452-0044

(800) 223-9963

Inquiry 702.

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

Circuit Simulation

Electrical Engineers!

Now you can run Analog/Mixed Signal

SPICE Simulations on your PC or Mac

with the Affordable and Powerful

IsSpice3

Also Available

• Integrated Schematic Entry

• Extensive SPICE Model Libraries

• Waveform Graphics and Analysis

• Filter Synthesis and Design

Full SPICE programs starting at $95. Complete systems with schematic, lsSpice3 simulation, models, and waveform graphics only $1575.

Call or Fax for your Free Demo and

Information Kit.

P.O. Box 710 San Pedro, Ca. 90733-0710

Tel (310)833-0710 . f

FAX (310)833-9658 Ifl tUSOTT

Inquiry 703.

"The Ultimate CAD/CAM/CAE Programming Engine"

Slash your development time, with your CAD programming companion, TG-Professlonal v.4.0, the most complete C/C++ toolbox ol 2D & 3D geometric routines available today! Over 800 routines including NURBS, DXF. Graphics. Surfacing, Hidden Line. Transforms, Perspectives. Polygon (Int/Union/Dill), Clipping. Tangents and more. Routines for drawing using BGI or MSC Graphics. Full source & 30 day guarantee. USA S500.00. Use MSC, Borland C/C++, WATCOM C/386 or Metaware High C/C++. Call 1-800-635-7760 or Fax/Phone 214423-7288 for tree 30 page technical paper.

Disk Software Inc.

109 S. Murphy Rd., Piano, TX USA 75094

Inquiry 706.

Sirlin's CAD ++ ENGINE

■ Read and Write AutoCAD DWG and DXF files.

■ Object oriented, modular, database-like access to CAD data.

< View, Print (rasterize), Plot (vectorize), and

Pick (interact) modules. • Available for C/C++ for DOS, Extended DOS,

Windows, Sun and other Unix systems.

Sirlin Computer Corporation

25 Orchard View Dr., Ste 14, Londonderry, NH 03053 Phone: (603) 437-0727 • Fax: (603) 437-0737

Inquiry 707.

SOFTWARE/GUI

GUI TOOLKIT ONLY $249

Full source code included

TEGL Windows Toolkit lets you create DOS based GUI apps that are completely standalone. Over 500 functions. Menus, mouse & keyboard support, dialogues, and more. Includes TEGL graphics interface which has drivers for most popular video modes. Supports most C and Pascal compilers. Protected mode version is only $499. No royalties.

TEGL Systems Corporation

P.O. Box 580, Stn. A, Vancouver B.C. V6C 2N2 (604) 669-2577 FAX (604) 688-9530

Inquiry 708.

SOFTWARE/MATHEMATICS

OPERATIONS RESEARCH @ $149 for your IBM or Compatible

LPBB-Linear Programs up to 3000 by 15000. BLP88-liriear Programs with Bounded Variables. MlLPB8-Mixed-lnteger Linear Programs. MXLP88-Large Model Mixed-Integer LP. TSA88-Transportation/Transs)iipment Problems. NL.PB8-Nonlin.ear Objective Programs. SIurJent/Demo-Reduced capacity versions for students. Turbo Pascal Units-Object modules for developers.

Eastern Software Products, Inc.

P.O. Box 15328, Alexandria, VA 22309 (703) 360-7600, Fax (703} 360-7654

Inquiry 709.

SOFTWARE/PACKAGING

KEY-LOK SECURITY

Piracy survival over 10 years proves effectiveness of powerful multilayered security. Algorithmic response. Programmable memory. Very economical. Device transparent to PARALLEL/SERIAL port, Counters/RealTime-Clock. Multi-product/feature licensing. DOS/UNIX/ VMS/etc. Also, access control system and diskette drive locks.

MICROCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS

3167 E. Otero Circle. Littleton, CO 80122 (303)770-1917

Inquiry 699.

SHAREWARE

SAUNA: 3D THERMAL ANALYSIS

• Models: PCBs, plates, heatsinks, enclosures, multiboard enclosures. • All heat transfer modes: convection, radiation, conduction • Interactive menudriven • Thermal parameters library • Fast "what if": dimension, mat'l, finish, analyses ■ Easy to learn & use • IBM PC & Macintosh II

Call (or free evaluation program

Tatum Labs, Inc.

1287 N. Silo Ridge Drive, Ann Arbor, Ml 48108 313-663-8810

Inquiry 704.

SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS

FREE SOFTWARE PACKAGING CATALOG

Everything you will need lo Package, Distribute, and Ship Your Software!! From manuals and binders to mailers and shippers

LABELS • LABELS • LABELS

For your diskettes, plain or custom printed dot matrix or laser printer... free samples

•••FREE CATALOG"' Hice & Associates

8586 Monticello Dr., West Chester. OH 45069

Phone/Fax: 513-777-8586

Inquiry 710.

SHAREWARE THE BEST FOR LESS!

• Shareware by floppy as low as S1.69/disk

• By CD ROM as low as S29.95 each

• Special low prices on CD ROM players

• Call or write tor Free Catalog

ROCKET SHAREWARE

PO Box 39326, Edina, MN 55439 612-934-4775

Inquiry 700.

272 BYTE • MAY I993

TIFF. PCX. TARGA, GIF, DIB, BMP, DCX, EPS, WMF, WPG, PICT, JPEG

AccuSoft Image Format Library 3.0

"The most comprehensive raster support library on the market" Import, export, convert, display, and print all above formats! DOS & Windows versions included in one package. No royalties. Includes several sample programs with source code. Supports all languages. Format compatibility guaranteed! G3, G4, TIFF-F, multi-page images etc. Rotate, scale, color reduction, sharpen etc. 30 day satisfaction guarantee. S495

AccuSoft Corporation

160 E. Main St., P.O. Box 1261, Westboro, MA 01581 (800) 525-3577 (508) 898-2770 FAX (508) 898-9662

Inquiry 705.

STOCK PACKAGING

to help you market your software

ask for catalog 92 S

Call 708 390-7744

or fax 708 390-9886 PolyQuick Co.

1243 Rand Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016

Inquiry 711.

SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC

SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC

UTILITIES

Volume Visualization

VoxelBox is a volume Tenderer for Windows. Volume rendering is the most direct method of visualizing 3D data. VoxelBox is fast, powerful and easy to use. It features raytracing, color/alpha mapping, lighting, keyframe animation support and much more. Price $495

Jaguar Software, Inc.

573 Main St. Suite 9B, Winchester, MA 01890 (617) 729-3659 FAX (617) 729-2750

Inquiry 712.

OVER 350 PROGRAMS! FREE CATALOG!

Geology • Biology • Chemistry

• Engineering • Hydrology & more. There is

no larger selection...anywhere.

800-775-6745

RockWare 4251 Kiting st., suite 595

Scientific Software Wheat Ridge, CO 80033

(303) 423-5645 • FAX (303) 423-6171

PEN PLOTTER EMULATOR

FPLOT turns your printer into an HP pen plotter. Fast hi-res, no jagged lines. Vary line width, color. Screen preview - zoom, pan. Works with most CAD programs. Supports most printers. Requires DOS 2.1 or higher. S119+$3 S&H. VISA/MC/Chk/MO.

FPLOT Corporation

24-16 Steinway St., Suite 605, Astoria, NY 11103 71 8-545-3505

Inquiry 716.

SOFTWARE/VOICE/FAX

VTEX Scientific Desktop Publishing

• Equations • Tables • Graphics • Scalable Fonts • Supports most printers • WYSIWYG previewer • Foreign Languages • Special Symbols • Font Effects • Indices • Only $299 Tg-X of Tomorrow'-Notices of AMS, March 1991. Call now for a FREE DEMO DISK

MicroPress, Inc.

68-30 Harrow Street, Forest Hills, NY Tel (718) 575-1816 Fax (718) 575-8038

Inquiry 713.

FREE CATALOG

A great selection of scientific software products for plotting, non-linear curve fitting, chemical equilibrium, simulation, statistics, symbolic algebra, and more. Prices from $150. Call:

1-801-943-0290

MicroMath, Salt Lake City, UT 84121-0550

Inquiry 714.

MULTI-VOICE TOOLS

MuHi-Voice Tools is a complete development Toolki! for Pascal or "C to access all the features for mosl speech processing boards available today. It helps you write MULTI-LINE VOICE APPLICATION systems in minutes. A number of programming examples are provided. All programs and libraries are delivered with source code. Dialogic, Rhetorex, Pika, VBX: 3599, Walson (Single Line): S99. ALSO AVAILABLE: Fax Programmer's Toolkit (S199). Based on CAS specifications. Visa/MC accepted.

ITI Logiciel

4263 Cristophe-Colomb, Montreal, Quebec, Can. H2J 3G2 TEL (514) 597-1692 FAX (514) 526-2362

STATISTICS

NCSS 5.x Series-$125

Easy-to-use menus & spread sheet. Multiple regression. T-tests. ANOVA (up to 10 factors, rep. measures, covariance). Forecasting. Factor, cluster, & discriminant analysis. Nonparametrics. Cross Tabulation. Graphics: histograms, box, scatter, etc. Reads ASCII/Lotus. Many new add-on modules.

NCSS

329 North 1000 East, Kaysville, UT 84037

Phone: 801 -546-0445 Fax: 801 -546-3907

ICSMENU

The menu for users without Windows

Runs any program or series of up to four DOS commands with a single key stroke. Chain as many menus as desired. Never fumble again trying to remember a directory name. Low system overhead. $50.

Integrated Custom Software, Inc.

701 Hebron Ave., Glastonbury, CT 06033 (203) 657-3339 FAX (203) 657-8150 MC/VISA

Inquiry 717,

WINDOWS

HyperPhoto_db-A Hyperlmaj>e /document management system under MS-Windows 3.x

Display and manipulate f>2K siamnviews on main image matrix. Associate text, images, <>r symbols to any pixel inside an image. Navigate image Hyperlinks through successive levels of detail jumping from image in image. Search 500k scanned documents in seconds. Organize images and image daia in a relational database. Use your scanner and HyperPfaoto to create sets of images for training, QA, desktop authoring. Work with PCX, BMP, TIF, GIF, with pan & zoom in true color or color matching. Network version available. Imaging power for $225 !

Friendly Information Systems 552 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 CAIX80055HYPER FAX (6i7) 492-8525

Inquiry 715.

Inquiry 718.

BYTE BACK ISSUES FOR SALE

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Special Issues

1990

1991

1992

1993

IBM

Outlook '92

Windows

Windows '93

Portability

Issues Available

Windows '93 U.S. Delivery $4.00 Foreign $5.00 Windows-Portability '92 U.S. Delivery $3.00 Foreign $4 00 1990-91-92-93 U.S. Delivery $6.00 Foreign $8.00 Canada & Mexico $6.50

The above prices include postage in the US. European customers please refer to Back Issue order form in the International Advertising section of the book

Please indicate which issues you would like by checking(V) the boxes. Send requests with payment to:

BYTE Back Issues, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough. N.H 03458, (603)924-9281

□ Check enclosed

Charge: □ VISA □ MasterCard

Card #

Exp. Date Signature

Name

Address, City

State

.Zip

All orders must be prepaid. Please allow four weeks delivery

MAY 1993- BYTE 273

3 Windows World

Play to win in the "City of Winners"...7jfc^

It's two world-class events happening side by side in Atlanta...and the year's first opportunity to go to the cutting edge in computer and communications technology.

• More than 1,000 exhibiting companies with thousands of exciting new products!

• Plus dedicated Technology Showcases on Network Computing, Multimedia, Mobile Computing, UNIX70pen Systems, OEM Sources, and Office and Imaging Systems!

• 75,000-plus attendees...including over 5,000 international delegates from more than 70 countries!

• The rollout of Windows NT— plus a world of new Windows applications!

• "Featured Country" program highlighting Canada!

• More than 100 separate educational conference sessions on the latest technology, business and distribution issues!

• Keynote addresses from Bill Gates of Microsoft and James Cannavino of IBM...plus "CEO Perspectives" from Robert Palmer of DEC and Jim Manzi of Lotus!

If you play to win in the computer industry, there's only one place to go this spring— COMDEX and WINDOWS WORLD in Atlanta!

YES! I want to see it first at COMDEX and WINDOWS WORLD!

□ Send information on attending, including hotel and travel savings.

□ Send information on exhibiting.

Don't miss the next COMDEX and WINDOWS WORLD!

FAX: (617) 449-2674

Hotels fill up fast—reserve your accommodations today!

\j ^'^«iiiiniii!^iff/Spring,93

The world's #1 computer and communications marketplace for resellers and corporate decision makers.

□ HW[NDOWSM)RLD'93

The official conference and exposition on Windows computing. Produced in cooperation with Microsoft.

May 24-27, 1993 Georgia World Congress Center • Atlanta, Georgia USA

W Name

8LKEA

^T Title

■ Company

1 Address

Cilv

Slate.

1 Zip/Postal Code

Telephone | Fax 617-449-2674 or mail to: The I

i

iterface

Country

Fax Group, 300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02194-2722 USA.

e1993 The Interface Group • 300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02194-2722 USA. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc., a subsidiary of AT&T.

Circle 95 on Inquiry Card.

YOUR DIRECT LINK

ADVERTISER CONTACT INFORMATION

To order products or request FREE information, call advertisers directly or send in the Direct Link Card by mail or fax! Let them know you saw it in BYTE!

Inquiry No. Page No.

Phone No.

Inquiry No. Page No.

Phone No.

Inquiry No. Page No.

Phone No.

A

85

EUASHIM MICROCOMPUTERS

84 +972-4-528613"

103

MATROX VIDEO PROD GROUP

110

514-685-2630

.

ELONEX (INTL)

150-151 +44-81-452-6422"

'

MCGRAW HILL NRI (N.A.)

128A-B

280-281

AT&T PARADYNE (N.A.)

193

800-554-4996

257

ELSIST

264+39 142 451988"

282

MEDIAVISION

203

800-845-5870

ext. 9605

212-213

EMBARC/MOTOROLA

242

800-EMBARC4

515

MEGADATA

208IS-2

516-589-6858"

61-62

ABACUS SOFTWARE

99

800-451-4319

ext. 350

249

MEMORY SUPERSTORE

263

800-800-7056

181-182 ABC COMPUTER

243

310-325-6369

539

EVOLUTION COMPUTING

244NE-3

800-874-4028

516

MICRO DESIGN INTL

128IS-4

407-677-8333

253

ACI/ACQUIRE

260 +886-2-760-2154"

545

EVOLUTION COMPUTING

244PC-1

800-874-4028

106-107

MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP PROD 81

815-756-3411

183-184 ADVANCED COMPUTER PROD

247

714-558-8813

202-203

MICRO-INTERNATIONAL, INC

234

800-967-5667

63

ALADDIN KNOWLEDGE SYS

101

800-223-4277

F

262-263

MICROBIZ

266

800-637-8268

167-168 ALLMICRO

95

800-653-4933

86

FARALLON (N.A.)

61

800-998-7760

266

MICROFIELD GRAPHICS, INC

259

800-334-4922

214

AMERICAN ADVANTECH

264

800-800-6889

exl. 4

104

MICROGRAFX

143

800-877-3040

64

AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION 212

800-800-4APC

DPT.A2

918-825-4844

510

FAST ELECTRONIC GMBH

200IS-3

+49-89-539800-20

MICROPOLISCORP

126

800-395-3748

65

AMERICAN SMALL BUSI COMP

141

525

FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMP

208IS-3 +886-2-717-4500" 1

105

MICROPOLIS CORP

127

800-395-3748

185 546 66

AMT INTERNATIONAL 258 APPRO INTERNATIONAL INC 244PC-3 ATI TECHNOLOGIES INC 189

408-942-9695 408-732-6091 416-756-0718

194-195 FIRST SOURCE INTL

87 FRAME TECHNOLOGY (N.A.)

511-512 FUTURESOFT ENGINEERING

239

105

220IS-2

714-588-9866 800-U4FRAME ] 713-496-9400

«

MICROSOFT CORP MICROSOFT CORP

17 43,45

800-759-5474

exl. OAAU9

800-228-7007

ext. RX3

215-216 AXIOMATIC

262

416-602-9270

G

•

MICROSOFT CORP

59

800-426-9400

ext. JM2

B

179

G2 RESEARCH, INC

231

415-964-2400

232

MICROSTAR LABORATORIES

261

206-453-2345

186-187 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC

238

800-523-2702

*

GATEWAY 2000

CII.1

800-846-2058

*

MICROWAY

107

508-746-7341

217

BINARY TECHNOLOGY INC

267

508-369-9556

*

GATEWAY 2000

32A-J

800-846-2058

'

MICROWAY

218

508-746-7341

450

Riy

236

800-695-4775

261

GENERAL TECHNICS

262

800-487-2538

524

MINICOM LTD

220IS-2 +972-2-637576"

501-502 BOCA RESEARCH INC. (INTL)

61

407-997-6227

222

GENOVATION, INC

263

800-822-4333

517

MINOLTA GMBH (PAN EUROPE)144IS-1

+49-511-77000

67-68

BORLAND INTERNATIONAL

13

800-336-6464

88-89

GLENCO ENGINEERING

123

800-562-2543

117

MINUTEMAN

77

214-446-7363

exl. 5093

223

GMM RESEARCH CORP

260

714-752-9447

260

MITAC

259

886-2-509-0979"

69

BRITISH AIRWAYS

117

513

GREY MATTER LTD

220IS-4

+44-0364-53071"

518

MKS/MORTICE KERN SYS

200IS-4

519-884-2251

188

BUFFALO PRODUCTS

235

800-345-2356

273

GSQUARED COMPUTERS

261

214-948-3155

180

MULTIPLE ZONES INTL

34

800-258-0260

70

BYTE FILLER ADS

190

224

GTEK INC

260

800-282-4835

530

MULTIVENTURE

128IS-2 +886-2-703-1380"

72

BYTE FILLER ADS

236

225

GTEK INC

265

800-282-4835

108

MYLEX CORP

10-11

510-796-6100

71

BYTE FILLER ADS

c

237

H

N

90

HAUPPAUGE COMP WORKS

181

800-443-6284

210-211

NAGA SYSTEMS CORP

248

800-568-6242

277

CALPAC COMPUTER CORP

264

800-800-7222

91

HEWLETT PACKARD

14-15

800-LASERJET

109-110 NANAO USA CORP (N.A.)

153

310-325-5202

73

CENTRAL POINT SOFTWARE

62-63

800-967-9251

ext. 7299

233

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

266

800-433-3488

503

CHERRY MIKROSCHALTER

*

HEWLETT PACKARD

26-27

800-LASERJET

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 144IDRC1-2

512-794-0100

GMBH (INTL)

216-217

+49-964-3180

ext. 7365

111

NEC - PRINTERS

155

800-NEC-INFO

529

CHICONY

220IS-1

886-3-323-5743"

HEWLETT PACKARD

39

800-LASERJET ext. 7341

112

NEC-LAPTOPS

49

800-NEC-INFO

201

74-75

CITITRONICS 249 COLORADO MEMORY SYSTEMS 56

818-855-5688 800-346-9881

92

HUMMINGBIRD COMMUNICATIONS 91

416-470-1207

196

NETWORK COMP DEVICES (N NEVADA COMPUTER

A.) 145 255

800-800-9599 800-654-7762

279

COMPAQ COMP CORP (N.A.)

150-151

800-345-1518

1

113-114 NEWGEN SYSTEMS CORP

163

714-436-5100

504-505 COMPEX INC (INTL)

153

714-630-7302

115

NSTL

244

215-941-9600

506

COMPUSAVE INTL

128IS-3

602-437-8208

93

IBM PERSONAL SOFTWARE PROD 69

800-342-6672

•

COMPUSERVE

96A-B

800-848-8199

226-227 INDUS

266

800-843-9377

0

76

COMPUSERVE

97

800-848-8199

94

INTEGRAND RESEARCH

128

209-651-1203

77

COMPUTER ASSOCIATES

22-23

800-CALL-CAI

175-176 INTELLIGENT SECURITY SYS

142

800-237-4774

208-209 OCEAN OFFICE AUTOMATION LTD 252

+852-305-1800

78

COMPUTER ASSOCIATES

46-47

800-CALL-CAI

95

INTERFACE GROUP

274-275

285

OKIDATA

70-71

800-OKIDATA

79

COMPUTER FRIENDS

86

800-547-3303

228

10 TECH

265

216-439-4091

116

OKI DATA

159

800-OKIDATA

507

COMPUTER QUICK

144IS-3

415-861-8330

527

ITALIAN SOFTWARE AGENCY

144IS-4

+39-323-925208"

526

ONTIMEMKT/

189

COMPUTERLANE UNLTD

253

800-526-3482

156-157 ITERATED SYSTEMS

84

800-4FRACTL

KARSTEN PETERSEN OSBORNE MCGRAW-HILL

206IS-2 227

+49-40-437472

218

COMPUTERWISE

266

800-255-3739

254

IVERSON SOFTWARE, INC

267

416-925-6096

234

OVERLAND DATA INC

265

800-729-8725

267

CONTROL CONCEPTS

259

703-876-6444

80

COREL SOFTWARE

36

800-836-SCSI

J

P

81-82

COVOX INC

169

800-733-0420

96

JAMECO ELECTRONICS

85

800-831-4242

158

CREATIVE LABS INC

29

800-998-LABS

JDR MICRODEVICES

257

800-538-5000

PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS

167

619-625-3619

551

CTC

244SO-3

800-933-4CTC

118

PATTON & PATTON

82

800-525-0082

S3

CURTIS INC

142

612-631-9512

K

ext. 112

190-191 CYBEXCORP

240

205-534-0010"

535

PC EXPO

244MW-2

800-829-3976

508-509 CYBEX CORP (INTL)

CIV

205-534-0010"

97 231

KEA SYSTEMS LTD KEITHLEY METRABYTE

76 261

800-663-8702 508-880-3000

538 544

PC EXPO PC EXPO

244NE-4 244PC-2

800-829-3976 800-829-3976

D

DAEYOUNG ELECTRONICS

536

KENOSHA COMPUTER CTR

244MW-1

800-255-2989

548

PC EXPO

244SO-2

800-829-3976

278

262

542 547

KENOSHA COMPUTER CTR KENOSHA COMPUTER CTR

244NE-5 244PC-4

800-255-2989 800-255-2989

119-120 PC POWER & COOLING 121 PFR.qrtFTIMC

73

135

800-722-6555 800-368-5283

172

220 220 219

DALLAS SEMICONDUCTOR DATALUX CORP (N.A.) DATALUX CORP (INTL) DATALUX CORP (N.A.)

98 262 262 263

800-258-5061

800-DATALUX

+44-306-876718

800-DATALUX

549 229 98-99

KENOSHA COMPUTER CTR

KILA

KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY

244SO-1

261

40-41

800-255-2989 303-444-7737 714-435-2600

235 122

276

PERSONAL TEX

PHAR LAP SOFTWARE INC

PIKA TECHNOLOGIES

266 74 260

415-388-8853 617-661-1510 613-591-1555

219 DATALUX CORP (INTL) 258-259 DAVISON-WORTH CORP

263 264

+44-306-876718 800-668-2707

L

123-124 PINNACLE MICRO 125 PKWAREINC

6-7 188

714-727-3300 414-354-8699

533

DEC

144IS-3

! 230

LAGUNA DATA SYSTEMS

265

800-938-TAPE

236

POLAROID CORPORATION

259

800-225-2770

DELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A. DELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A.

cm

800-626-8260

100

LAHEY COMPUTER SYSTEMS 88

800-548-4778

541

POLYWELL COMPUTERS, INC 244NE-6

800-999-1278

CIV

800-626-8260

I 207

LOGICAL CONNECTION

258

800-238-9415

PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE

53

800-445-7899

221

DIAGSOFT INC

267

800-DIAGSOFT

101

PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE

54-55

800-445-7899

174

DIGISPEECH INC

183

916-621-1787

M

PROGRAMMER'S SHOP (N.A.

204

800-421-8006

552

DIGITAL MEDIA (INTL)

193+392-29401116"

162-163 MAG INNOVISION

173

714-827-3998

126-127 PROGRESS SOFTWARE

225

800-4PROGRESS

84

DIGITAL VISION

80

800-346-0900

514

MAGIC/MSE (INTL)

145

+972-3-751-1901"

159-160 PROXIMA CORP

191

619-457-5500

268-269 DISPLAY RESEARCH LAB

264 +852-877-8810"

540

MANCHESTER EQUIP CO

244NE-1

516-435-1199

Q

192-193 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH 245

407-830-5522

•

MANCHESTER EQUIP CO

244A-B

516-435-1199

528

MANNESMANN TALLY

128IS-1 +44-0628-527782"

128

QNX/QUANTUM SAV SYSTEMS 161

800-363-9001

E

MARK WILLIAMS CO

109

800-627-5967

exl. 101

264-2

5 EDEN'S TECHNOLOGY CORP

260

309-862-1704

! 102

MATHSOFTINC

207

800-628-4223

I 130

QUA TECH INC

232

600-553-1170

276 B YTE • MAY 1993

YOUR DIRECT LINK CARD

For free product information, maii your completed card today. For quicker response, fax to 1-413-637-4343!

fes, I

1. Circle the Numbers on Your Direct Link Card

Circle the numbers which are found on ads and articles in this issue or circle the product category number and receive information on all advertisers listed in that category.

2. Print Your Name and Address

Answer questions "A" through "E" and mail or fax card to 1-413-637-4343.

3. Product information will be rushed to you from the selected companies!

WIEk

warn

ng products!

Fill out this coupon carefully. Please Print

Name

Company

City

2p

Fax

A. What is your primary job function/principal area of responsibility? (Check one)

1 Q MIS/DIP

2 □ Programmer/Systems Analyst

3 Q AdminslraliOfVManagemenl

4 □ Sales/Marlceling

5 Q Engineer/SctenlBl

6 □Other

B. What is your level of management responsibility?

7 □ Senior-level 9 □ Professional

8 G MdcSe-level

C. Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD, Dealer, Consultant)?

10 □ Yes 11 Q No

D. What operating systems are you currently using? (Check all that apply)

12 □ PC/MS-DOS 15 □ Unix

13 Q DOS + Windows 16 □ MacOS

14 □ OS/2 17 □ VAX/VMS

E. For how many people do you influence the purchase of hardware or software?

18 □ 1-25 20 □ 51-99

19 3 25-50 21 □lOOormore

May 1993 86 96 99

Product Category

Disks & Optical Drives

7

Multimedia

19

Educational

30

Shareware

42

Information

Diskettes/Duplicators

8

Printers/Plotters

20

Engineering/Scientific

31

Software Duplication

43

Circle the numbers below for

Fax Boards/Machines

9

Programmable Hardware

21

Entertainment

32

Spreadsheets

44

information on the entire category

Graphics Tablets/Mice/

Scanners/OCR/Digiiizers

22

Graphics

33

Unix

45

of products you're interested in.

Pen Input

10

Tape Drives

23

Macintosh

34

Utilities

46

Hardware

Keyboards

11

UPS

24

Mail Order

35

Windows

47

LAN Hardware

12

Mathematical/Statistical

35

Word Processing

48

Add-in Boards 2

Laptops & Notebooks

13

W

Miscellaneous Software

37

Bar Coding 3

Mail Order

14

CAD/CAM

26

On-Line Services

38

49

Communications/Networking 4

Memory/Chips/Upgrades

15

Communications/Networkinq 27

Operating Systems

39

Recruitment

50

Computer Systems 5

Miscellaneous Hardware

16

Data Acquisition

a

Programming Languages/

Miscellaneous

51

Data Acquisition 6

Modems/Mu lliplexors Monitors & Terminals

17

18

Database

29

Tools Security

4U 41

Inquiry Numbers 52-233

52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103

104 130

105 131

106 132

107 133

108 134

109 135

110 136

111 137

112 138

113 139

114 140

115 141

116 142

117 143

118 144

119 145

120 146

121 147

122 148

123 149

124 150

125 151

126 152

127 153

128 154

156 182 208

157 183 209

158 184 210

159 185 211

160 186 212

161 187 213

162 188 214

163 189 215

164 190 216

165 191 217

166 167 168

171 172

192 218

193 219

194 220

169 195 221

170 196 222

197 223

198 224

173 199 225

174 200 226

175 201 227

176 202 228

177 203 229

178 204 230

179 205 231

180 206 232

181 207 233

Inquiry Numbers 234-498

234 259 284

235 260 285

236 261 286

237 262 287

238 263 288

239 264 289

240 265 290

241 266 291

242 267 292

243 268 293

244 269 294

245 270 295

246 271 296

247 272 297

248 273 298

249 274 299

250 275 300

251 276 301

252 277 302

253 278 303

254 279 304

255 280 305

256 281 306

257 282 307

258 283 308

309 334

310 335

311 336

312 337

313 338

314 339

315 340

316 341

317 342

318 343

319 344

320 345

321 346

322 347

323 348

324 349

325 350

326 351

327 352

328 353

329 354

330 355 380 405

331 356 381 406

359 384

360 385

361 386

362 387

363 388

364 389

365 390

366 391

367 392

368 393

369 394

370 395

371 396

372 397

373 398

374 399

375 400

376 401

377 402

378 403

379 404

332 357

333 358

382 407

383 408

Inquiry Numbers 409-590

409 435

410 436

411 437

412 438

413 439

414 440

415 441

416 442

417 443

418 444

419 445

420 446

421 447

422 448

423 449

424 450

425 451

426 452

427 453

428 454

429 455

432 458

433 459

461 487

462 48B

463 489

464 490

465 491

466 492

467 493

468 494

469 495

470 496

471 497

472 498

473 499

474 500

475 501

476 502

477 503

478 504

479 505

480 506

481 507

482 508

483 509

484 510

485 511 434 460 486 512

513 539 565

514 540 566

515 541 567

516 542 568

517 543 569

518 544 570

519 545 571

520 546 572

521 547 573

522 548 574

523 549 575

524 550 576

525 551 577

526 552 578

527 553 579

528 554 580

529 555 581

530 556 582

531 557 583

532 558 584

533 559 585

534 560 586

535 561 587

536 562 588

537 563 589

538 564 590

Inquiry Numbers 591-765

591 616

592 617

593 618

594 619

595 620

596 621

597 622

598 623

599 624

600 625

601 626

602 627

603 628

604 629

605 630

606 631

607 632

608 633

609 634

610 635

611 636

612 637

613 638

614 639

615 640

641 666

642 667

643 668

644 669

645 670

646 671

647 672

648 673

649 674

650 675

651 676

652 677

653 678

654 679

655 680

656 681

657 682

658 683

659 684

660 685

661 686

662 687

663 688

664 689

665 690

691 716 741

692 717 742

693 718 743

694 719 744

695 720 745

696 721 746

697 722 747

698 723 748

699 724 749

700 725 750

701 726 751

702 727 752

703 728 753

704 729 754

705 730 755

706 731 756

707 732 757

708 733 758

709 734 759

710 735 760

711 736 761

712 737 762

713 738 763

714 739 764

715 740 765

Inquiry Numbers 766-947

766 792 818

767 793 819

768 794 820

769 795 821

770 796 822

771 797 823

772 798 824

773

799 825

774 800 826

775 801 827

776 802 828

777 803 829

778 804 830

779 805 831

780 806 832

781 807 833

782 808 834

783 809 835

784 810 836

785 811 837 863

844 870

845 871

846 872

847 873

848 874

849 875

850 876

851 877

852 878

853 879

854 880

855 881

856 882

857 883

858 884

859 885

860 886

861 887

862 888

864 890

865 891

786 812

787 813

788 814 840

789 815 841

790 816 842

791 817 843

Inquiry Numbers 948-1122

948 973

949 974

950 975

951 976

952 977

953 978

954 979

955 980

956 981

957 982

958 983

959 984

960 985

961 986

962 987

963 988

964 989

965 990

966 991

967 992

968 993

969 994

970 995

971 996

972 997

998 1023 1048

999 1024 1049

1000 1025 1050

1001 1026 1051

1002 1027 1052

1003 1028 1053

1004 1029 1054

1005 1030 1055

1006 1031 1056

1007 1032 1057

1008 1033 1058

1009 1034 1059

1010 1035 1060

1011 1036 1061

1012 1037 1062

1013 1038 1063

1014 1039 1064

1015 1040 1065

1016 1041 1066

1017 1042 1067

1018 1043 1068

1019 1044 1069

1020 1045 1070

1021 1046 1071

1022 1047 1072

896

922

197

923

198

924

899

925

900

926

901

927

902

928

903

929

904

930

905

931

906

932

907

933

908

934

909

935

910

936

911

937

912

938

913

939

914

940

915

941

916

942

917

943

918

944

919

945

920

946

921

947

1073

1098

1074

1099

1075

1100

1076

1101

1077

1102

1078

1103

1079

1104

1080

1105

1081

1106

1082

1107

1083

1108

1084

1109

1085

1110

1086

1111

1087

1112

1088

1113

1089

1114

1090

1115

1091

1116

1092

1117

1093

1118

1094

1119

1095

1120

1096

1121

1097

1122

Inquiry Numbers 1123-1304

1123 1149 1175

1124 1150 1176

1125 1151 1177

1126 1152 1178

1127 1153 1179

1128 1154 1180

1129 1155 1181

1130 1156 1182

1131 1157 1183

1132 1156 1184

1133 1159 1185

1134 1160 1186

1135 1161 1187

1136 1162 1188

1137 1163 1189

1138 1164 1190

1139 1165 1191

1140 1166 1192

1141 1167 1193

1142 1168 1194

1143 1169 1195

1144 1170 1196

1145 1171 1197

1146 1172 1198

1147 1173 1199

1148 1174 1200

1201 1227

1202 1228

1203 1229

1204 1230

1205 1231

1206 1232

1207 1233

1208 1234

1209 1235

1210 1236

1211 1237

1212 1238

1213 1239

1214 1240

1215 1241

1216 1242

1217 1243

1218 1244

1219 1245

1220 1246

1221 1247

1222 1248

1223 1249

1224 1250

1225 1251

1226 1252

1253 1279

1254 1280

1255 1281

1256 1282

1257 1283

1258 1284

1259 1285

1260 1286

1261 1287

1262 1288

1263 1289

1264 1290

1265 1291

1266 1292

1267 1293

1268 1294

1269 1295

1270 1296

1271 1297

1272 1298

1273 1299

1274 1300

1275 1301

1276 1302

1277 1303

1278 1304

Inquiry Numbers 1305-1479

1305 1330

1306 1331

1307 1332

1308 1333

1309 1334

1310 1335

1311 1336

1312 1337

1313 1338

1314 1339

1315 1340

1316 1341

1317 1342

1318 1343

1319 1344

1320 1345

1321 1346

1322 1347

1323 1348

1324 1349

1325 1350

1326 1351

1327 1352

1328 1353

1329 1354

1355 1380

1356 1381

1357 1382

1358 1383

1359 1364

1360 1385

1361 1386

1362 1387

1363 1388

1364 1389

1365 1390

1366 1391

1367 1392

1368 1393

1369 1394

1370 1395

1371 1396

1372 1397

1373 1398

1374 1399

1375 1400

1376 1401

1377 1402

1378 1403

1379 1404

1405 1430 1455

1406 1431 1456

1407 1432 1457

1408 1433 1458

1409 1434 1459

1410 1435 1460

1411 1436 1461

1412 1437 1462

1413 1438 1463

1414 1439 1464

1415 1440 1465

1416 1441 1466

1417 1442 1467

1418 1443 1468

1419 1444 1469

1420 1445 1470

1421 1446 1471

1422 1447 1472

1423 1448 1473

1424 1449 1474

1425 1450 1475

1426 1451 1476

1427 1452 1477

1428 1453 1478

1429 1454 1479

YOUR DIRECT LINK CARD

For free product information, mail your completed card today. For quicker response, fax to 1-413-637-4343!

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1. Circle the Numbers on Your Direct Link Card

Circle the numbers which are found on ads and articles in this issue or circle the product category number and receive information on all advertisers listed in that category.

2. Print Your Name and Address

Answer questions "A" through "E" and mail or fax card to 1-413-637-4343.

3. Product information will be rushed to you from the selected companies!

BYTE

m

YOUR DIRECT LINK

ADVERTISER CONTACT INFORMATION

Inquiry No.

237 QUALSTAR CORP

129 QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYS

283 QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYS

Page No. Phone No.

265 818-882-5822

139 310-392-9851

250 310-392-9851

* RAIMA CORP 65

* RAIMA CORP (INT'L) Clll 131-132 RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES 35 204 RALIN WHOLESALERS 256 196-199 RECORTECINC 241 133 ROSE ELECTRONICS 8

800-327-2462 206-557-0200 800-852-8569 800-752-9512 800-729-7654 800-333-9343

135 S'N'W COMPUTERS & ELECT 186 531-532 SAMTRON 144IS-2 250-251 SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMING 267

520 SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO LTD 208IS-2 134 SEQUITER SOFTWARE INC 223 173 SHAPEWARE 21

255-256 SIGMA TECH SOFTWARE 260 252 SMARTMICRO TECHNOLOGIES 263

521 SOFTLINE CORP (INTL) 105

522 SOFTWARE SECURITY INC 200IS-1

136 SPSS INC 79 271 STARTEK 267

137 STATSOFT 219 * STRADA AUTOTECH, INC 259

800-874-1235

82-2-774-6659"

517-339-9859

+81-6-365-4375"

403-437-2410

800-446-3335

exl. EB1

818-368-6132

800-ROM-BIOS

718-438-6057

203-329-8870

800-543-5835

+886-35-787089"

918-583-4149

613-359-1029

Inquiry No.

164 SUNSOFT 2-3

161 SUPRA CORP 87

138-139 SYSTATINC 89

519 SZKI RECOGNITA CORP 208IS-4

238 TALKING TECHNOLOGY INC 260

239-240 TECHNOLOGIC SYSTEMS 264

140 TEKTRONIX 51 534 TELECOM PARIS (PAN EUROPE) 204

141 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS 83 248 TIEPIE ENGINEERING 261

142 TOSHIBA AMERICA INC 18-19 143-144 TOUCHSTONE SOFTWARE 78 205-206 TRANSCEND INFORMATION INC 251

246 TRANTOR SYSTEMS LTD 262 177-178 TRAQUAIRDATA 86

247 TRI VALLEY TECHNOLOGY INC 261 241-242 TRIBAL MICROSYSTEMS 265 523 TRITON TECHNOLOGIES 208IS-1

u

UNIXWORLD UNIXWORLD

V

VALITEK INC

Pago No. Phone No.

800-227-9227 800-727-8647 708-864-5670 +36-1-2018925

800-685-4884 513-644-2230 800-835-6100

+33-1-45817571 800-527-3500

+31-5106-704" 800-457-7777 714-969-7746 909-598-5500 800-872-6867 607-272-4417 510-447-2030 510-623-8859 908-855-9440

228A-B 800-257-9402 228 800-257-9402

115 800 VALITEK

Inquiry No.

Page No. Phone No.

413-549-2700

169 243

VALITEK INC 144IDRC1-2

VERBATIM CORP 125

VERMONT CREATIVE SOFTWARE 9 802-848-3502"

VIDEO MAKER / VITEC 113 +33-146-29-03-04"

VIDEX, INC 259 503-758-0521

147-148 VIEWSONIC

30-31

w

149 WATCOM PRODUCTS INC 25

270 WILTEC, INC 266

* WINDOWS TECH JOURNAL144IDRC1-2

151-153 WOLFRAM RESEARCH 187

200 WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGIES 246

X

244 XELTEK

165-166 XLICORP

150 XVT SOFTWARE INC

245 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING

154 ZEOS INTERNATIONAL

155 ZYLAB/ DIVISION OF IDI 170-171 ZYXELUSA

265

66-67

131

132-133

714-869-7976

800-265-4555 919-763-8400 503-747-0800 800-441-6284 800-457-6937

265 408-524-1929 171 617-932-9199 136 800-678-7988

916-757-3737 800-554-5226 800-544-6339 714-693-0808

* Correspond directly with company. *' Indicates FAX Number

BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF

Liz Coyman, Inside Advertising Sales Director, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, Tel. (603) 924-2518

NEW ENGLAND

ME, NH. VT, MA, Rl, CT, ONTARIO CANADA S, EASTERN CANADA David Richardson (617) 860-6344 Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654 McGraw-Hill Publications 24 Hartwell Avenue Lexington, MA 02173 FAX: (617) 860-6899

EAST COAST

NY, NYC, NJ, DE, PA

Kim Norris (212) 512-2645

Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665

McGraw-Hill Publications

1221 Avenue of Americas—28th Floor

New York, NY 10020

FAX: (212) 512-2075

SOUTHEAST

NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, TN, MS, AR, LA,

KY, DC, MD, VA, WV

MaryAnn Goulding (404) 843-4782

Barry Echavarria (603) 924-2574

McGraw-Hill Publications

4170 Ashtord-Dunwoody Rd., Suite 520

Atlanta, GA 30319

FAX: (404) 252-4056

MIDWEST

IL, MO, KS, IA, NO, SD, MN, Wl, NE, IN, Ml, OH Kurt Kelley (312) 616-3328 Ed Ware (603) 924-2664 McGraw-Hill Publications Two Prudential Plaza 180 North Stetson Ave. Chicago, IL 60601 FAX: (312) 616-3370

SOUTHWEST,

ROCKY MOUNTAIN

CO, OK, TX

Jennifer Walker (214) 701 -8496

McGraw-Hill Publications

14850 Quorum Dr., Suite 380

Dallas, TX 75240

FAX: (214) 991-6208

SOUTH PACIFIC: Los Angeles, CA

LOS ANGELES COUNTY. AZ, NM, Alan El Faye (213) 480-5243 McGraw-Hill Publications 3333 Wilshire Boulevard #407 Los Angeles, CA 90010 FAX: (213) 480-5249

NORTH PACIFIC

NORTHERN CA. OR, ID, MT, WY, UT Roy J. Kops (415) 513-6861 Joseph Mabe (603) 924-2662 SILICON VALLEY, HI, WA. AK. W. CANADA

Bill McAfee (415) 513-6862 Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665 SILICON VALLEY, NV Barbara Holmes (415) 513-6945 Barry Echavarria (603) 924-2574 McGraw-Hill Publications 1900 O'Farrell Street, #200 San Mateo, CA 94403 FAX: (415) 513-6867

SOUTH PACIFIC: Irvine, CA ORANGE COUNTY SAN DIEGO COUNTY Beth Dudas (714) 753-6140 Joseph Mabe (603) 924-2662 McGraw-Hill Publications 15635 Alton Pkwy., Suite 290 Irvine, CA 92718 FAX: (714) 753-8147

Peterborough, NH Office: Inside Sales FAX: 603-924-2683 Advertising FAX: 603-924-7507

Hardware/Software Showcase

Mark Stone (603) 924-2695 Ellen Perham (603) 924-2598 BYTE Publications One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458

The Buyer's Mart/Classifieds Margot Gnade (603) 924-2656 BYTE Publications One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458

BYTE Deck

Brad Dixon (603) 924-2596 BYTE Publications One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough. NH 03458

EURO-DECK

James Bail (603) 924-2533 BYTE Publications One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458

Regional & Buyer's Guide

Brian Higgins (603) 924-2651 BYTE Publications One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458

BYTE International Direct Response Postcards

Ellen Perham (603) 924-2598 BYTE Publications One Phoenix Mill Lane Peterborough, NH 03458

INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING SALES STAFF

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND, AUSTRIA

Jurgen Heise

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

Liebigstrasse 19

D-6000 Frankfurt

Germany

Tel:+49 69 71407 140

FAX:+49 69 71407147

SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES

Zona Coupe

A-Z International Sales Ltd.

70 Chalk Farm Road

London NW1 SAN

England

Tel:+44 71 2843171

FAX:+44 71 2643174

Subscription Customer Service

U.S. 1-800-232-2983 Outside U.S. +1-609-426-7676

For a New Subscription

U.S. 1-800-257-9402

Outside U.S. +1-609-426-5526

FRANCE, UNITED KINGDOM, BENELUX

Gary Lucas (+44 81 545 6268) McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. Wimbledon Bridge House One Hartfield Road Wimbledon. London SW19 3RU England

FAX: +44 81 5456294 TELEX: 892191

ITALY

Zena Coupe, Amanda Blaskett

A-Z International Sales Ltd.

70 Chalk Farm Road

London NW1 BAN

England

Tel:+44 71 2843171

FAX: +44 71 2843174

ISRAEL

Dan Ehrlich

Ehrlich Communication Intl. P.O. Box 99 Herzliya46101, Israel Tel: +972 52 586245 Tel: +972 52 586246 FAX: +972 52 585665

AUSTRALIA

Rod Tremain Rod Tremain Media Suite 4, 1st Floor, 13-14 Myrtle Street, Crows Nest, NSW Australia 2065 Tel: +61 2 955 3545 FAX: +61 2 955 3646

JAPAN

Masaki Mori Transworid Media Inc. 4th Floor, 1-26-6 Kamimeguro Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153, Japan Tel:+81 3 57210761 FAX: +81 3 57210762

KOREA

Young-Seoh Chinn JES MEDIA INTL. Rm. 704. Nonhyun Bldg. 37-12, Chamwon-Dong, Seocho-Gu Seoul, Korea Tel: +82 2 5458001 Tel: +62 2 5458002 FAX: +82 2 5498861

SINGAPORE

Derek Ng

Stephen Tay

Third Wave Publishing Corp.

1123 Serangoon Road, #03-01

Singapore 1232

Tel: +65 296 6166

FAX: +65 298 7551

HONG KONG

Candice Lo

Third Wave Publishing Corp. Unit 2, 6F Hing Wah Center 82-84 To Kwa Wan Road Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: +852 764 3830 FAX: +852 764 3857

MAYAYSIA

Servex (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.

H.K. Lin

5th Floor, Bena Tower

160, Jalan Ampang

50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: +60 3 2624592

FAX: +60 3 2624591

THAILAND

Jack Hu

Sahaviriya OA Group

28/1 Prapawit Bldg., Surasak

Rd.

Silom, Bangkok 10500

Thailand

Tel: +66 2 2360295

FAX: +66 2 2365960

TAIWAN

Liwen Lee

Third Wave Publishing Corp.

2ndFI., No. 19-1, Lane 231

Fu Hsing North Road

Taipei 10445, Taiwan

R.O.C.

Tel: +886 2 7136959

FAX:+866 2 7151950

INDIA, INDONESIA, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, OTHER ASIAN AND PACIFIC COUNTRIES

K.T.Wu

Third Wave Publishing Corp.

2ndFI.. No. 19-1, Lane 231

Fu Hsing North Road

Taipei 10445, Taiwan

R.O.C.

Tel: +886 2 7136959

FAX:+886 2 7151950

MAY 1993 -BYTE 277

YOUR DIRECT LINK

PRODUCT CATEGORY INDEX

For FREE product information from individual advertisers, circle the corresponding inquiry numbers on Your Direct Link Card!

To receive information for an entire product category, circle the category number on Your Direct Link Card!

Category No. Inquiry No.

Page No.

HARDWARE

ACCESSORIES/SUPPLIES

528 MANNESMANN TALLY

236 POLAROID CORP

248 TIEPIE ENGINEERING

ADD-IN BOARDS

ATI TECHNOLOGIES INC

BOCA RESEARCH INC (INT'L)

COMPEX INC

CONTROL CONCEPTS

CURTIS INC

DEC

DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH

EDEN'S TECHNOLOGY CORP

HAUPPAUGE COMP WORKS

JAMECO ELECTRONICS

MATROX VIDEO PRODUCTS GROUP

MEDIAVISION

MICROFIELD GRAPHICS, INC

MITAC

MYLEX CORP

QUA TECH INC

STRADA AUTOTECH, INC

TALKING TECHNOLOGY INC

TRAQUAIR DATA

BAR CODING

MANNESMANN TALLY VIDEX, INC

COMMUNICATIONS/ NETWORKING

BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC

DEC

EDEN'S TECHNOLOGY CORP

ELONEX (INT'L)

EMBARC/MOTOROLA

GMM RESEARCH CORP

GTEK INC

MEGADATA

MINICOM LTD

PIKA TECHNOLOGIES

ROSE ELECTRONICS

SIGMA TECH SOFTWARE

TALKING TECHNOLOGY INC

TECHNOLOGIC SYSTEMS

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

ACI/ACQUIRE

APPRO INTERNATIONAL INC

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP (N.A.)

CTC

DELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A.)

* DELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A.) ELONEX (INT'L)

• GATEWAY 2000 GATEWAY 2000

273 GSQUARED COMPUTERS

229 KILA

540 MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT CO MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT CO

202-203 MICRO-INTERNATIONAL, INC

210-211 NAGA SYSTEMS CORP

115 NSTL

208-209 OCEAN OFFICE AUTOMATION LTD

119-120 PC POWER & COOLING

198-199 RECORTEC INC

247 TRI VALLEY TECHNOLOGY INC

2

66

501-502

504-505

267

83

533

192-193

264-265

90

96

103

282

266

260

108

130

238 177-178

3

528 243

186-187

533

264-265

212-213

223

224

515

524

276

133

255-256

238

239-240

5

253 546 279

551

128IS-1 259

261

189

61

153

259

142

144IS-3

245

260

181

85

110

203

259

259

10-11

232

259

260

128IS-1 259

238

144IS-3

260

150-151

242

260

260

208IS-2

220IS-2

260

8

260

260

264

260

244PC-3

150-151

244SO-3

CHI

CIV

150-151

011,1

32A-J

261

261

244NE-1

244A-B

234

248

244

252

73

241

261

Category No.

Inquiry No. Page No.

154 ZEOS INTERNATIONAL 66-67

6 DATA ACQUISITION

231 KEITHLEY METRABYTE 261

232 MICROSTAR LABORATORIES 261 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 144IDRC1-2

130 QUA TECH INC 232

248 TIEPIE ENGINEERING 261

7 DISK & OPTICAL DRIVES

CURTIS INC 142

DAEYOUNG ELECTRONICS 262

GENERAL TECHNICS 262

MICRO DESIGN INTERNATIONAL 128IS-4

106-107 MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP PROD 81

* MICROPOLIS CORP 126

105 MICROPOLIS CORP 127

123-124 PINNACLE MICRO 6-7

246 TRANTOR SYSTEMS LTD 262

83 278 261 516

8 DISKETTES/DUPLICATORS

215-216 AXIOMATIC

146 VERBATIM CORP

10

84

GRAPHICS TABLETS/MICE/ PEN INPUT

DIGITAL VISION

262 125

80

11 KEYBOARDS

503 CHERRY MIKROSCHALTER GMBH (INT'L) 216-217

220 DATALUX CORP (INT'L) 262

220 DATALUX CORP (N.A.) 262

12 LAN HARDWARE

186-187 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC

190-191 CYBEXCORP

508-509 CYBEX CORP (INT'L)

533 DEC

207 LOGICAL CONNECTION

524 MINICOM LTD

119-120 PC POWER & COOLING

13

181-182 529

525 222

202-203

530

112

541

135

141

142

154

14

183-184 214

185

71

201

189

96

536

542

547

LAPTOPS & NOTEBOOKS

ABC COMPUTER

CHICONY

FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER

GENOVATION, INC

JDR MICRODEVICES

MICRO-INTERNATIONAL, INC

MULTIVENTURE

NEC - LAPTOPS

POLYWELL COMPUTERS, INC

S'N'W COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS

TOSHIBA AMERICA INC

ZEOS INTERNATIONAL

MAIL ORDER

ADVANCED COMPUTER PRODUCTS AMERICAN ADVANTECH AMT INTERNATIONAL BYTE FILLER ADS BYTE CIRCULATION CITITRONICS COMPUTERLANE UNLTD JAMECO ELECTRONICS KENOSHA COMPUTER CENTER KENOSHA COMPUTER CENTER KENOSHA COMPUTER CENTER

238 240 CIV

144IS-3 258

220IS-2 73

243

220IS-1

208IS-3

263

257

234

I28IS-2

49

244NE-6

186

83

18-19

66-67

247

264

258

186

237

249

253

85

244MW-1

244NE-5

244PC-4

Category No. Inquiry No.

Page No.

549 KENOSHA COMPUTER CENTER 244SO-1

196 NEVADA COMPUTER 255

204 RALIN WHOLESALERS 256

135 S'N'W COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS 186

248 TIEPIE ENGINEERING 261

15 MEMORY/CHIPS/UPGRADES

201

CITITRONICS

194-195 FIRST SOURCE INT'L

96 JAMECO ELECTRONICS

98-99 KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY

249 MEMORY SUPERSTORE

252 SMARTMICRO TECHNOLOGIES

205-206 TRANSCEND INFORMATION INC

200 WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGIES

249 239 85 40-41 263 263 251 246

16 MISCELLANEOUS HARDWARE

94 INTEGRAND RESEARCH 128

159-160 PROXIMACORP 191

520 SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO LTD 208IS-2

17 MODEMS/MULTIPLEXORS

280-281 AT&T PARADYNE (N.A.)

79 COMPUTER FRIENDS JDR MICRODEVICES

204 RALIN WHOLESALERS

161 SUPRA CORP

170-171 ZYXEL USA

18 MONITORS & TERMINALS

219 DATALUX CORP (INT'L)

219 DATALUX CORP (N.A.)

ELONEX (INT'L)

162-163 MAG INNOVISION

109-110 NANAO USA CORP (N.A.)

531-532 SAMTRON

147-148 VIEWSONIC

19 MULTIMEDIA

277 CALPAC COMPUTER CORP

81-82 COVOX INC

158 CREATIVE LABS INC

174 DIGISPEECH INC

552 DIGITAL MEDIA (INT'L)

268-269 DISPLAY RESEARCH LAB

90 HAUPPAUGE COMP WORKS 100 LAHEY COMPUTER SYSTEMS 282 MEDIAVISION

159-160 PROXIMACORP

140 TEKTRONIX

169 VIDEO MAKER /VITEC

20 PRINTERS/PLOTTERS

186-187 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC

188 BUFFALO PRODUCTS

91 HEWLETT PACKARD * HEWLETT PACKARD 207 LOGICAL CONNECTION

540 MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT CO

528 MANNESMANN TALLY

517 MINOLTA GMBH (PAN EUROPE)

111 NEC-PRINTERS

113-114 NEWGEN SYSTEMS CORP

285 OKIDATA

116 OKIDATA

PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS

239-240 TECHNOLOGIC SYSTEMS

140 TEKTRONIX

165-166 XLICORP

193

86 257 256

87 132-133

263 263

150-151 173 153

144IS-2 30-31

264

169

29

183

193

264

181

88

203

191

51

113

238

235

14-15

39

258

244NE-1

128IS-1

144IS-1

155

163

70-71

159

167

264

51

171

278 B YTE • MAY 1993

YOUR DIRECT LINK

PRODUCT CATEGORY INDEX

For FREE product information from individual advertisers, circle the corresponding inquiry numbers on your Direct Link Card!

To receive information for an entire product category, circle the category number on your Direct Link Card!

Category No. Inquiry No.

Page No.

21 PROGRAMMABLE HARDWARE

258-259 DAVISON-WORTH CORP 264

85 ELIASHIM MICROCOMPUTERS 64

257 ELSIST 264

510 FAST ELECTRONIC GMBH 200IS-3

225 GTEK INC 265

228 IO TECH 265

* JDR MICRODEVICES 257

241-242 TRIBAL MICROSYSTEMS 265

244 XELTEK 265

245 2-WORLD ENGINEERING 265

22 SCANNERS/OCR/DIGITIZERS

85 ELIASHIM MICROCOMPUTERS

HEWLETT PACKARD

159-160 PROXIMACORP

23 TAPE DRIVES

74-75 COLORADO MEMORY SYSTEMS

230 LAGUNA DATA SYSTEMS

234 OVERLAND DATA INC

237 QUALSTAR CORP

145 VALITEKINC

* VALITEK INC

270 WILTEC, INC

84

26-27

191

56 265

265 265 115

144IDRC1-2 266

24 UPS

64 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION

117 MINUTEMAN

119-120 PC POWER & COOLING

212 77 73

SOFTWARE

25 BUSINESS

77 COMPUTER ASSOCIATES 22-23

226-227 INDUS 266

527 ITALIAN SOFTWARE AGENCY 144IS-4

262-263 MICROBIZ 266

118 PATTON & PATTON 82

535 PC EXPO 244MW-2

538 PC EXPO 244NE-4

544 PC EXPO 244PC-2 548 PC EXPO 244SO-2 519 SZKI RECOGNITA CORP 208IS-4 519 SZKI RECOGNITA CORP 208IS-4

26 CAD/CAM

65 AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS COMP 141

539 EVOLUTION COMPUTING 244NE-3

545 EVOLUTION COMPUTING 244PC-1

27 COMMUNICATIONS/

NETWORKING

212-213 EMBARC / MOTOROLA

86 FARALLON (N.A.)

511-512 FUTURESOFT ENGINEERING

524 MINICOM LTD

121 PERSOFTINC

523 TRITON TECHNOLOGIES

28 DATA ACQUISITION

233 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

29 DATABASE

67-68 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL

78 COMPUTER ASSOCIATES

218 COMPUTERWISE

527 ITALIAN SOFTWARE AGENCY

242

61

220IS-2

220IS-2

128 129 283

135

&n

208IS-1

217

266

513 254

514

13

•

46-47

518

266

526

144IS-4

122

Category No. Inquiry No.

Page No.

145

cm

65 223

514 MAGIC /MSE(INT'L)

* RAIMA CORP (INTL)

* RAIMA CORP 134 SEQUITER SOFTWARE INC

30 EDUCATIONAL

61-62 ABACUS SOFTWARE 99

95 INTERFACE GROUP 274-275

MCGRAW HILL NRI (N.A.) 128A-B

31 ENGINEERING/SCIENTIFIC

167-168 ALLMICRO

156-157 ITERATED SYSTEMS

102 MATHSOFTINC

526 ON TIME MKT / KARSTEN PETERSEN

235 PERSONAL TEX

250-251 SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMING

151-153 WOLFRAM RESEARCH

95 84 207 208IS-2 266 267 187

33 GRAPHICS

104 MICROGRAFX

109-110 NANAO USA CORP (N.A.)

173 140

35

506 507 513

93

101

SHAPEWARE TEKTRONIX

143 153 21 51

MAIL ORDER

COMPUSAVE INTERNATIONAL 128IS-3

COMPUTER QUICK 144IS-3

GREY MATTER LTD 220IS-4 IBM PERSONAL SOFTWARE PRODUCTS

PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE 53

PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE 54-55

PROGRAMMER'S SHOP (N.A.) 204

SOFTLINE CORP (INT'L) 105

36 MATHEMATICAL/STATISTICAL

235 PERSONAL TEX 266

136 SPSS INC 79

137 STATSOFT 219 138-139 SYSTATINC 89 151-153 WOLFRAM RESEARCH 187

37

526

38

450 76

39

MISCELLANEOUS SOFTWARE

ON TIME MKT / KARSTEN PETERSEN 208IS-2

ONLINE SERVICES

BIX 236

COMPUSERVE 96A-B

COMPUSERVE 97

OPERATING SYSTEMS

MARK WILLIAMS CO 109

MICROSOFT CORP 43,45

MULTIPLE ZONES INTERNATIONAL 34

NETWORK COMPUTING DEVICES (N.A.) 145

QNX/ QUANTUM SOFTWARE SYSTEMS 161

QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYSTEMS 139

QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYSTEMS 250

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/ TOOLS

BINARY TECHNOLOGY INC 267

GREY MATTER LTD 220IS-4

IVERSON SOFTWARE, INC 267

MAGIC/MSE (INT'L) 145

MICROWAY 107

MICROWAY 218

MKS/MORTICE KERN SYSTEMS 200IS-4 ON TIME MKT / KARSTEN PETERSEN 208IS-2

PHAR LAP SOFTWARE INC 74

Category No. Inquiry No.

126-127 PROGRESS SOFTWARE 149 WATCOM PRODUCTS INC

Page No.

225

25

41 SECURITY

63 ALADDIN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS 101

167-168 ALLMICRO 95

503 CHERRY MIKROSCHALTER GMBH (INT'L) 216-217

80

172

85

510

88-89

522 271

COREL SOFTWARE DALLAS SEMICONDUCTOR ELIASHIM MICROCOMPUTERS FAST ELECTRONIC GMBH GLENCO ENGINEERING 175-176 INTELLIGENT SECURITY SYS 131-132 RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES SOFTWARE SECURITY INC STARTEK

36

98

84

200IS-3

123

142

35

200IS-1

267

43 SOFTWARE DUPLICATION

215-216 AXIOMATIC

45 UNIX

87 FRAME TECHNOLOGY (N.A.)

92 HUMMINGBIRD COMMUNICATIONS

MARK WILLIAMS CO

518 MKS / MORTICE KERN SYSTEMS

* NETWORK COMPUTING DEVICES (N.A.)

164 SUNSOFT

151-153 WOLFRAM RESEARCH

46

63

UTILITIES

ALADDIN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS

167-166 ALLMICRO

221 DIAGSOFT INC

125 PKWARE INC

143-144 TOUCHSTONE SOFTWARE

VERMONT CREATIVE SOFTWARE

47 WINDOWS

61-62 ABACUS SOFTWARE

73 CENTRAL POINT SOFTWARE

513 GREY MATTER LTD

92 HUMMINGBIRD COMMUNICATIONS

97 KEA SYSTEMS LTD

* MICROSOFT CORP

* MICROSOFT CORP 109-110 NANAO USA CORP (N.A.) 121 PERSOFT INC

250-251 SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMING

150 XVT SOFTWARE INC

155 ZYLAB/DIVISION OF IDI

48 WORD PROCESSING/DTP

87 FRAME TECHNOLOGY (N.A.)

519 SZKI RECOGNITA CORP

155 ZYLAB/DIVISION OF IDI

105 91 109 200IS-4 145 2-3 187

101

95

267

99

62-63

220IS-4

91

76

17

59

153

135

267

136

131

105

208IS-4

131

GENERAL

49 BOOKS/PUBLICATIONS

61-62 ABACUS SOFTWARE

* OSBORNE MCGRAW-HILL UNIXWORLD

* UNIXWORLD

* WINDOWS TECH JOURNAL

51 MISCELLANEOUS

69 BRITISH AIRWAYS

179 G2 RESEARCH, INC

534 TELECOM PARIS (PAN EUROPE)

99

227

228A-B

228

144IDRC1-2

117 231

204

MAY 1993 -BYTE 279

EDITORIAL INDEX

For more information on any of the companies covered in articles, columns, or news stories in this issue, circle the appropriate inquiry number on Your Direct Link Card. Each page number refers to the first page of the article or section in which the company name appears.

Inquiry No.

A

Adaptec

1293, Advanced Matrix

1294, Technology 1295

1227 AITech International 1296 Alps America

AMD 1339, Apple Computer 1340,1357,1358, 1359,1360,1361 1186 askSam Systems

AST Research

Asymetrix

AT&T

ATI Technologies

Autodesk

Axonix

1195

1189 1409

Page No.

32

146

201

146

32

32, 92,

111,146

75

92

48

32, 118

37

33 146

B

Banyan Systems

Bellcore Laboratories

Berkeley Software Design

Borland International

Bosch

Brightwork Development

Brother International

1298,1362,1410

1172 The BSE Company

1222

1163 1297

1231 Campbell Services

1192, Canon Computer Systems

1341,1342,

1365,1366,1411

Carnegie Mellon University 1147 Central Point Software

Chips & Technologies 1139, Citizen America 1301,1302,1412 1174 Clary

1223 Colorado Memory Systems 1151 Command Software Systems 1367 Compaq Computer

CompuAdd Computer

Consumer Technology Northwest

Contact Software International

Cordant

Creative Labs

976 1185

1232

977, 1228 1299

C-Tech Electronics

199 118 24 24 213 144 146

194 44, 146

118

144

32

58, 146

75

205

144

92, 146

176

75

194

118

176,201

146

Inquiry No.

Page No.

1300,1364,1365

1303, Dataproducts 146 1343,1368,1369

Dataquest 92

1304 DataSouth Computer 146

1131 Dauphin Technology 57

David Sarnoff Research Center 32 1306, DEC 28,92,111, 146 1307,1308,1309, 1344,1371,1372

1305, Decision Data 146 1370

Delco 213 978 Dell Computer 37,176

1177 Diamond Computer Systems 75

1133 Diamond Technologies 57

E

1276,

Eastman Kodak 64,146

1413

1233

Elan Software 194

Electronic Frontier Foundation 129

1310, Epson America

1311,1312,

1345,1376

European Computer Manufacturer's Association

Federal Express 1165 Fifth Generation Systems

Fischer International Systems

Ford 1196 Fractal Design 1234 Franklin Quest 1313, Fujitsu Computer Products

1314, 1377

of America

1315, Gcc Technologies 1346

General Instrument 1378 Genicom

Georgetown University

H

1235 Heizer Software 1182, Hewlett-Packard 1193,1347, 1348, 1379, 1380,1381,1414

146

118

144 118 213 48 194 146

32 146

129

24, 32, 48, 75, 92, 146

979

1154, 1175

1224 1287

I

IBM

Intel

24,28,44,92,111, 176,282

32,37,75,92,111, 144,213

International Computers Intrusion Detection Iomega

Iterated Systems IXI

28 118

205 72

28

Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry 1236 Jensen-Jones

1171 Knowledge Adventure 1181 Knowledge Revolution

Kodak 1382 Kyocera Electronics

1286

1141 1279 1383

1166

1316, 1317, 1351, 1415, 1150, 1221 1237

Landmark Research

International Lanworks Technologies LapCAD Engineering LaserMaster

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Leprechaun Software

International Lexmark International 1318,1350, 1384,1385, 1416 Los Altos Technologies

75 75 42

146

146 118 144

Lotus Development Lucas

194,209 213

M

1183 Macsyma

1272 Magic Software Enterprises

1149 Magna

1275 Mainstay

1319, Mannesmann Tally

1320,1386,1417

1188 MasterSoft

1184 MathSoft

1229 Matrox Electronics Systems

144 64 146

75 75

201

Inquiry No.

1285 MBC Enterprises

1155, McAfee

1156

980

1160

Page No.

72

144

1225

MediaVision 176

Mergent International 118,144

Microsoft 24,32,111,118,210

205

32, 129 28

92,213

981

1322,

1387

1152,

1161

1173 1162

1230 1134 1136

1191 1238

Micro Solutions Computer

Products MIT Mitac

Molecular Arts Motorola

N

The National Computer

Security Association National Institute of 118

Standards and Technology National Semiconductor 32,111

NBC 32

NCR 92,176

NEC Technologies 146

118

NetPro Computing

Network General Network Security Systems New England Research and Design Software New Media Graphics New World Technologies Nikon Electronic Imaging Nimbus Technology Nippondenso North American Philips Nova Information Systems Novell

Now Software NuTek

144

118 75

144

201 57 58 32

213 32

118 24,42,118

194 32

75 146

Inquiry No.

Page No.

1187 Objective Software

1323, Okidata

1324, 1325, 1326,1327,1389

OPTi

1352 Pacific Data Products 146

982 Packard Bell 176

1328, Panasonic Communications 146

1329, & Systems 1330,1331, 1390,1391

1168 PC Guardian 144 1135 Performance Electronic 58

Packaging Services

1157 Personal Computer Peripherals 144

Philips 32,213

1176 Plannet Crafters 75

1137 PlustekUSA 58

1273 POET Software 64

1239 Polaris Software 194

1240 Prisma Software 194

983 Procom Technology 176

1274 Pure Software ' 64

Q

1392, QMS 146

1393, 1394, 1395

R

RadioMail 118

Rand 118

1169 RG Software Systems 144

1353 Royal Consumer Business 146

Products RSA Data Security 118,129

1153 1148, 1164, 1396

1332, 1333, 1194 1373, 1374

1140 1354 1281 1142 1180

1335, 1336, 1226

1146, 1190 1158, 1159

s

Saber Software 144

SafetyNet 144 1167

Samsung Electronics America 146

The Santa Cruz Operation 24, 28

Search 129

Security Dynamics 118

Seikosha 146

1334.1418

Serif 48

Sharp Electronics 146

Silicon Graphics 92

SmartLink Communications 60

Smith Corona 146

Softcover International 68

Software Grove 60

Soft Warehouse 75

Soltech Solutions 118

Sony 176

SRI 118

Standard Microsystems 32

Star Micronics America 146

1397.1419

Storage Devices 205

Sun Microsystems 24, 37

SunSoft 37,144

Symantec 24,144

T

Tag Electronics Tandy

213 146,176

1403, 1404

1178

985.

1337,1338,1398

1132 Tangent Computer 57

Techmatics 118

1356 Tektronix 146

1399, Texas Instruments 32,44,146

1400,1401,1402

Thomson Consumer Electronics

Toshiba America Information Systems

Towers Perrin

Trantor Systems

Trusted Information Systems

u

1179 Unison World Software

Unisys 1288 Unitrol Data Protection Systems

University of Colorado

Unix System Laboratories 1284 Upper Canada Software

USRobotics

V

1138 Valitek VeriFone Video Electronics Standards Association

w

Western Digital 1143 Western Telematic

32

146

118

75 118

75

92 72 28

24 72

118

58 28

44

60

X

1405, Xante 1406

146

1407

Xerox

146

1408

XLI Z

146

Zenith Data Systems

92

Zenith Electronics

32

1282

Zephyr Services

68

280 BYTE • MAY 1993

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Decider, decider, decider.

Down-sizing, upgrading, multi-platform environments. Today's computer hardware issues are more numerous, more difficult, more critical than ever. So how do companies make decisions?

According to a new IntelliQuest study, they turn to the only person qualified to decide. Someone like Bob Barrett. A person with 18 years in computers. Who oversees a technical staff of 75. And whose buying decisions and approvals affect nearly 3,000 users worldwide.

In other words, they turn to the BYTE reader. A full 92% of whom control the products and brands their companies buy.

If you want to reach an audience as influential as this, then yours is an easy decision—advertise in BYTE.

BYTE reader Robert N. Barrett, Vice President Management Information Systems, M/A-COM, Inc.

It doesn't g

© 1992 BYTE, a McGraw-Hill publication. For a presentation of the Ma1

EVTE

\

ft*"™ . IN

HANS BERLINER

STOP BIT

Losing the Human Edge

Computers that think like humans may beat us at our own games

Computers are making significant inroads into our understanding of games. Two important games, Qubic (i.e., 3-D tic-tac-toe) and Connect-Four, have already been solved with the aid of computers. (The computer always wins if it moves first or if its opponent errs.) In most other games, computers are near the forefront or have already surpassed the best humans. In Reversi, for example, the best computers know somewhat less about the game than the best humans, but they are able to calculate more accurately. Human players, sensing the potential for defeat, are refusing all computer challenges. In checkers, a computer is clearly the second best player in the world—it narrowly lost a challenge match for the world title last year. A rematch is expected.

One way computers are advancing on their human opponents is by compiling databases. When few pieces are left on the game board, the computer can calculate the game's outcome, assuming that both players execute their best possible moves. In checkers, a computer can determine the conclusion when there are just eight pieces left. Once three-quarters of the pieces are played in Reversi, the computer can determine the outcome.

Computer programs that learn are also having an effect. One program has learned how to play world-class backgammon by playing hundreds of thousands of games against itself and remembering important details.

When a database can't provide the best move, searching is necessary. In chess, you may have 40 moves from which to choose in any given turn. Of these, a worldclass human considers three, at most. A computer examines all moves except those it can logically eliminate using the alpha-beta (A-B) algorithm. This algorithm operates on the principle that, when a move is played for one side, the other side has to refute it only once. Once it finds a refutation, the computer doesn't have to look at the remaining moves.

Programs that use the A-B algorithm perform better because they do not overlook anything, but they can search to only a certain depth before running out of time. Suppose, for example, that your opponent has captured your queen and your only reasonable action is to recapture it. A human takes 1 second to decide; the computer requires 30 to 180 seconds, depending on the program's sophistication.

To counteract this, programmers have devised methods,

called search extensions, that let the search proceed deeper in branches that have moves involving captures, checks, and certain other attributes, such as whether a move is clearly better than any of its siblings. All these methods reallocate the effort to branches that are likely to contain important data for deciding the best move. These algorithms produce search trees that are far different from those of humans, however. Human players examine, at most, 200 positions in determining what move to make; these algorithms examine millions.

My new B* search algorithm is more humanlike. For every move examined, it computes an optimistic value, which measures threat potential, and a realistic value, which measures the likely short-term outcome. It assumes that the real value of a move lies between these limits and explores the alternatives accordingly. The same is true for the opponent's moves, which it must also consider.

For about a year, I have used this algorithm to drive Carnegie Mellon University's custom Hitech chess machine, which processes 160,000 moves per second and was the best in the world when constructed in 1984. (The current champion is Deep Thought at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center.) The new algorithm is playing on a par with the A-B algorithm and is improving all the time. The B* algorithm usually examines 90 percent of its search nodes only once, indicating that these failed to prove "interesting" for further pursuit. B* usually expands from 100 to 300 nodes in its search tree, but it can stop searching and make its play when it determines that no meaningful alternatives exist.

If you quintuple the time available to decide a move, the A-B algorithm will use it to go one move deeper almost everywhere in tine tree. But the B* algorithm will use this additional time to go even deeper at "interesting" points—three levels or more, on average. The working algorithm should be in competition at the AEGON tournament in Holland this month. Eventually, a new Hitech chess machine that's 20 times faster should provide enough power to play at the world-class level. That should be easy to do on certain parallel machines available today. This machine will learn to play using a human decision style and may expand its chess knowledge to the point where it can compete with the world champion. ■

Hans Berliner is principal research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science. He is a former world champion of correspondence chess and has been researching computer chess since the 1960s.

282 BYTE • MAY 1993

ILLUSTRATION: WANGDON LEE ©1993

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