BYTE Vol 18 08 1993 07 Pentium PCs

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II II II

i I If 1 i

Joth The Gateway Herd For 4861

Need a reason to celebrate? We're makingthis tlie best summer ever to buy a GatewayPC! During our 486 Fest, you'll find better-than-ever buys on all the fabulous systems inour product line. You'll think you died andwent to hog heaven! Buy some fiesta goodies,invite a few party animals over andcall us. We'll give you lots ofreasons to party!

Party Reason — Gateway's Pentium Technolog}' Guarantee!

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In today's market a 486 machine is the way to go, especiallynow that all our desktop ISA systems are guaranteed to beupgradeable to Pentium technology.

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For a truly celebrated value, the choiceis black-and-white: Gateway's 4DX-3S.

^ Gateway 2000's Party List

4SX-25

25MHz 486SX IntePProcessor

4MB RAM

3.5" Diskette Drive

170MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive

Local Bus IDE Interface

Intel Pentium™ Technology Ready

Windows Accelerated Video w/lMB DRAM

14" Color CrystalScan®1024NII Mini Desktop CaseI 5 16-Bit ISA SlotsI 124-Key AnyKey® KeyboardI MS-D0S'*6,Diags, Windows™ & MouseI MS Works for Windows™ 2.0

4SX-33

33MHz 486SX Intel Processor4MB RAM

5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives

212MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive

Local Bus IDE Interface

Intel Pentium Technology ReadyI Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB DRAMI 14" Color CrystalScanl024NI! Mini Desktop CaseI 5 16-Bit ISA SlotsI 124-Key AnyKey KeyboardI MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & MouseI MS Works for Windows 2.0

4DX-33

■ 33MHz 486DX Intel Processor

■ 8MB RAM, 64K Cache

■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives

■ 212MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive

■ Local Bus IDE Interface

■ Intel Pentium Technology Ready

■ Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB DRAM

■ 14" Color CrystalScanl024NI

■ Mini Desktop Case

■ 5 16-Bit ISA Slots ^

■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard

■ MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & Mouse

■ MS Works for Windows 2.0

$1295

$1495

$1895

4DX2-50V

■ 50MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor

■ 8MB RAM, 64K Cache

■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives

■ 340MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive

■ Local Bus IDE Interface

I Intel Pentium Technology Ready

■ ATI™ Ultra Pro Video w/lMB VRAMon VL-Bus™

■ 15" Color CrystalScanl572FS

■ Desktop Case (Tower Upgrade)

■ 7 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 on VL-Bus

■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard

■ MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & MouseI Choice of Application Software

4DX2-66 BEST BUY

$2395

4DX2-66E

66MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor

8MB RAM, 256K Cache

5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives

500MB Urns SCSI Hard Drive

32-Bit EISA SCSI Controller

Windows Accelerated Video w/ 1MB DRAM

14" Color CrystalScan 1024NII Tower CaseI 8 32-Bit EISA SlotsI 124-Key AnyKey KeyboardI MS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & MouseI Choice of Application Software

$3495

a®5AL

"EiLEAF"

■ 66MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor

■ 8MB RAM, 64K Cache

■ 3.5" Diskette Drive

■ CD-ROM Drive

■ 340MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive

■ Local Bus IDE Interface

■ Intel Pentium Technology Ready

■ Wmdows Accelerator w/1 MB DRAMon VL-Bus

■ 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI

■ Desktop Case (Tower Upgrade)

■ 7 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 on VL-Bus

■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard

I MS-DOS 6, Diags, Wmdows & Mouse

■ MS Multimedia Works, CD-ROM Edition

$2495

NOMAD 425SXL

25MHz 486SX Intel Processor

4MB RAM

3.5" Diskette Drive

120MB IDE Hard Drive

Backlit 10" VGA Screen, 64 Gray Scale

Simultaneous Video with 1MBI Size 8.5" X 11" X 1.8," 5.6 Lbs.

6-Hr. NiCad Battery & AC Pack

1 Parallel/I Serial Port

79-Key Keyboard & FieldMouse™

MS-DOS and WindowsI MS Works for Windows

$1995

4DX2-66V

66MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor16MB RAM, 256K Cache3.5" Diskette DriveCD-ROM Drive340MB 13ms IDE Hard DriveLocal Bus IDE InterfaceIntel Pentium Technology ReadyATI Ultra Pro Video w/1 MB VRAMon VL-Bus

15" Color CrystalScan 1572FSDesktop Case (Tower Upgrade)7 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 on VL-Bus124-Key AnyKey KeyboardMS-DOS 6, Diags, Windows & MouseChoice of Application Software

mmm

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

8 0 0 - 8 4 6 - 2 0 5 8

EVTE

$2995

NOMAD 450DXL

50MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor3.5" Diskette Drive

Backlit 10" VGA Screen, 64 Gray Scale

Simultaneous Video with 1MB

Size 8.5" xll"x 1.8," 5.6 Lbs.

6-Hr. NiCad Battery & AC Pack

1 Parallel /1 Serial PortI 79-Key Keyboard & MS BallpointI MS-DOS, Windows & Works for Windows

♦

$2495

(With 4MB RAM and 120MB Hard Drive)

$2795

(With 8MB RAM and 200MB Hard Drive)

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

610 Gateway Drive • P.O.Box 2000 • North Sioux City, SD 57049-2000 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023Sales Hours: 7am-10pm Weekdays, 9am-4pm Saturdays (CI)

€S993 Gateway 2000. Inc. AnyKey. CryslalScan. black-and-white spot design, "G" logo and "You've got a friend in the business" slogan are registered irademarks, and Gateway 2000 and TelePalh are trademarks of Gateway 2000. Inc.The Intel Inside Logo. Intel. Pentium and OverDrive are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Prices and configurations are subject to change without notice. Prices do not include shipping.

Presenting Interactive Unix 4.0

'VC^hen the INTERACTIVE™ UNIX® System for personal computers was introduced in 1987, it quickly becamea classic. Suddenly operations from video stores to Bridgestone/Firestone® production lines had a reliable, sta-ble operating system ready for mission-critical applications. It's still among the most cost-effective multiuser operating systems available and a dream to install and administer Infact Open Systems Today called it "...a masterpiece of good design". Today over 500,000users enjoy its benefits. But time marches on, and even an industry-tested classic

FOR A LIMITED TIME* ALL MULTIUSER INTERACTIVE UNIX 4.0 ORDERS WILL INCLUDE A FREE COPY OF FASTBACK PLUS™ (A I

© / 993 Sun Microsystems. Inc. SunSoft the SunSoft and Sunburst /ogos ore trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems. Inc. INTERACTIVE is a trademark of INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation. UNIX is a registered 1

X

2

CTIVE

<

INT

Cover Story

DVIE

JULY 1993

VOL. 18, NO. S

News & Views

WordPerfect Office 4.0 22

BY BARRY NANCE The latest versionof WordPerfect's groupware productsupports multiple operating systems.

QMS Strikes with Color

Laser Printer 24

BY TOM THOMPSONColorScript Laser 1000 brings colorlaser printing into a more affordableprice range.

RAID Down to the Desktop 28

BY DAVE ANDREWS This storagetechnology is moving from mainframesand minicomputers to the desktop.

Ruling Won't Mean Lower Pricesfor 486 Chips 28

BY TOM R. HALFHILL Despite AMD'swinning the latest round in its legalbattle with Intel, don't expect a big pricedrop in 486 systems.

HP's Superior Subnotebook 32

BY PATRICK WAURZYNIAK Hewlett-Packard packsa lot, includingWindows andapplications inROM, into its 3-pound OmniBook.

Toshiba Gets Aggressive

with Passive Color 32

BY GENE SMARTE Toshiba's

T1900C could change the way you look

at passive-matrix color displays.

Encryption Chip Draws Fire 36

BY PETER WAYNER A new encryptionchip promises to protect your electronicmessages, but there's a catch: A trap-door lets the government eavesdrop.

A Quicker Quicken 40

BY CHRIS KOFER A new Macversion of Intuit's personal-financesoftware.

Report from Jordan 48

BY KHALDOON TABAZALocalizing software in Arabia.

What's New 226

The latest Tektronix dye-sublimationprinter, Smartcom for Windows fromHayes, Alps Electric's wireless LANadapter, and more.

Reviews

80

NEW SYSTEMS

Pentium Changes the PC

BY ANDY REINHARDT The Intel Pentium CPU demandssubsystems and I/O that can keep pace and that call fora fundamental rethinking of how to build everything fromthe expansion bus to memory architecture.

New Memory Architectures to Boost Performance—86Revisiting the Lowly I/O Ports—90

Pentium PCs: Power to Bum 94

BY RAYMOND GA COTE AND BARRY NANCE Fast and readyto roll, the first Pentium systems are now available.

DOS, Unix, and Windows Benchmarks-NetWare Benchmarks—100

-98

Features

NETWORKING

Cluster PCs for Power

BY MICHAEL J. GUTMANN A look at network high-end PCsable to run applications that were once too big for your server.

REAL WORLD

57

69

Data from the Depths

BY BEN SMITH Engineers at the Woods Hole OceanographicInstitution deploy inexpensive, autonomous data loggers on smallunderwater vessels. BYTE Lab editors study the Woods Hole solutionand the latest trend in data acquisition.

State of the Art

ENHANCING KNOWLEDGE

OVERVIEW

New Knowledge Tools 106

BY SARA HEDBERG Combining knowledge systems with othertechnologies can improve your cost/performance figures.

Help Is on the Way—110

Roll Your Own Hybrids

BY JAY LIEBOWITZEmerging technologies—such asneural networks and geneticalgorithms—can addrobustness to knowledge-basedsystems. Stand-alone expertsystems could go the same routeas the dinosaurs.

113

■* BYTE JULY 1993

COVER IMAGE: ROBERT TINNEY©1993

A GREAT IDEA. YOU EVOLVE

deserves a superior upgrade. Hence, INTERACTIVE UNIX 4.0 — with new power features that improve sys-tem functionality and peripheral support, making it perform better than even It still runs over 2,000 applicationsincluding RealWorld Accounting Software®, Informix® and WordPerfect.® And now it runs more SCO applica-tions because it's iBCS2 compliant. What's more, INTERACTIVE UNIX 4.0 is backed by SunSoft, the leadingsupplier of 32-bit UNIX operating systems. Fact is, INTERACTIVE UNIX 4.0 is even better at doing what theindustry classic has always done so well: improving the performance of your com-puting system at a lower cost per seat. Nothing revolutionary Simply evolutionary

$399 VALUE). IT'S THE INDUSTRY'S FASTEST UNIX BACKUP SOFTWARE. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL I -800-227-9227.

trademark of UNIX System Laboratories. Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Open Systems Today quote April 13. 1992. 'Must purchase by December 31.1993.

Circle 165 on Inquiry Card.

Opinions

PEN SOFT-WARE

Applying the Power of the Pen 132

BY HOWARD EGLOWSTEIN The promise of pencomputers has been dulled by a lack of innovative,pen-centric, general-purpose applications. Hereare nine software packages for Go's PenPoint andMicrosoft's Windows for Pen Computing thatchallenge the notion that pen systems are only goodfor vertical markets.

NetWare Goes Global

141

BY JON UDELL NetWare 4.0 has arrived, claimingsupport for serious enterprise networking. NetWareDirectory Service brings NetWare beyond the LAN,and 4.0 adds other features like file compression,CD-ROM sharing, and data migration.

ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING

Dynamic Documents 145

BY ROBERT SCHMIDT Folio Views 3.0 comes toWindows and brings with it some exciting newfeatures, including an open client/server architecture,concurrent multiuser editing, embedded graphics,and multimedia support.

INTEGRATED SOFTWARE

ClarisWorks 2.0 for Macintosh 151

BY TOM R. HALFHILL ClarisWorks is alreadyestablished as the leading integrated package for theMacintosh, but it's not resting on its existingmodules. Version 2.0 adds new features andapplications to this seamlessly integrated software.

DESKTOP PUBLISHING

PageMaker 5.0 vs. Quark 3.1 157

BY G. ARMOUR VAN HORN Recent releases ofthese two popular page-layout packages duke it outboth on the Mac and under Windows. Van Horndetermines which of these aggressive competitorscurrently has the upper hand.

GROUPWARE

One Thumb Up, One Thumb Down 161

BY JON UDELL Release 3 of Lotus Notes deliverslong-awaited features, including Macintosh supportand full-text indexing, but it lacks development toolsneeded to build effective groupware. Our reviewerfinds some significant improvements and somesignificant disappointments.

HANDS-ON TESTING

BYTE Lab Report

V.32 or Better: 69 Modems

172

BY JIM HURD

We run line-impairment and data-throughputtests to measure the efficiency of 9600-bps andfaster modems. Results reveal the best for high-speed communications, portability, data-onlyapplications, and all-around communications.

How We Tested—176

Speed Limits—180

10 Tips for Buying Modems—184

1

Hands On

119

See, Hear, Learn

BY SARA HEDBERGWith smart multimedia and virtualreality, you can create virtualCheshire cats to answer yourquestions. Projects at NorthwesternUniversity and AndersenConsulting are putting thistechnology to use.

TECHNOLOGY

Under the Hood:

Inside MS-DOS 6 197

BY BENJAMIN W. SLIVKA,ERIC STRAUB, AND RICHARDFREEDMAN

MS-DOS 6"s designers examinethe inner workings of MemMakerand DoubleSpace.

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Beyond DOS: Confessions ofa DDK Developer 203

BY STEVE MASTRIANNI

IBM's OS/2 DDK is a good start.

PROGRAMMING

Some Assembly Required:The Mac Extended 205

BY ERIC SHAPIRO AND TOMTHOMPSON Savvy programmerscan write their own MacExtensions.

Poumelle:

The DOS 6 Question 209

BY JERRY POURNELLE Ourcolumnist finds DOS 6 is the leastexpensive route to diskcompression and memoryoptimization.

Reviews: Books & CD-ROMsQuest for the Silicon Grail.... 49

BY HUGH KENNER, STANFORDDIEHL, RAYMOND GA COTE,MICHAEL NADEAU, ANDRICK GREHAN Tales of AI,hackers, the green PC, art on CD,and other subjects.

Commentary:

A Conspiracy of Silence 27S

BY PAUL SAFFO The dangersof electromagnetic-fieldradiation are evident. So why isn'tthe industry doing anything?

.10

Editorial:

The Real Multimedia.

BY DENNIS ALLEN

Letters 19

Fighting fatware, MS-DOS 6, theCommodore Amiga, and othertopics.

READER SERVICE

Editorial Index by Company 276Alphabetical Index to Advertisers 272Index to Advertisersby Product Category 274Inquiry Reply Cards 272A

BUYER'S GUIDE 239

Mail Order

Hardware/Software ShowcaseBuyer's Mart

PROGRAM LISTINGS

From BIX: Join "listings/frombyte93"and select the appropriate subarea (i.e.,•■jul93").

From the UUNET: ftp to ftp.uu.net, log

on as "anonymous," and enter your userID as your password. Type"cd/publishedA>yte" and type "DIR."Files appear in subdirectories arrangedby month.

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

BYTE (ISSN 0360-5280) is publtetied monthly with an-ditlonal issues in April and October by McGraw-Hill,Inc. U S sutDscritjer rate $29 95 per year. In Car^da andMexico, $34,95 per year. European surface mail sub-scriptions $60, airmail $80, Non-European subscrip-tions, $60 surface mail or $85 ainnail. All foreign sutj-scriptlons are payable in U,S, funds that can be drawnon a U,S, bank. Single copies $3,50 in the US. $4.50in Canada, Executive, Editorial, Circulation, and Ad-vertising Offices: One Phoenix Mill Lane, Pelertxjrough,NH 03458, Second-Class postage paid at Peteitjorough,NH, and additional mailing offices. Postage paKl at Win-nipeg. Manitoba Registration number 9321, Regis-tered for GST as McGraw-Hill, Inc. GST #12X75673,Printed in the United States of America, Postmaster:Send address ctianges and fulfillment questions toBYTE Subscriptions. P.O. Box 552, Hightstown. NJ08520,

JUl-Y 1993 BYTE S

Contents by Platform

This page presents the articles inthis issue according to computingplatform.

DOS and Windows

WordPerfect Office 4.0 22

With ihe latest version, this maturegroupware product now works on multi-ple platforms.

Low-Power RISC from

Mips 28

Mips Technologies is readying a versionof its R4(K)0 RISC chip that could showup in laptops running Windows NT.

HP's Superior Subnotebook ..32

The new OmniBook 300 weighs about 3pounds; comes with Windows, Word,and Excel in ROM; and has a keyboardsuitable for typing.

Pentium Changes the PC 80

Intel's new chip will mean machinesthat run your applications much, muchfaster—but not with this first batch ofPentium PCs.

Applying the Power of the

Pen 132

This roundup reviews pen software forWindows and PenPoint.

NetWare Goes Global 141

Version 4.0's file compression consis-tently oulcompresses MSrDOS 6's Dou-bleSpace. DOS clients also get NetBIOSand named-pipe drivers.

Dynamic Documents 145

The newest Folio Views brings its elec-tronic-publishing tools to Windows.

PageMaker 5.0 vs.

Quark 3.1 157

Compare the latest Windows editions ofthese desktop publishing programs.

Under the Hood: InsideMS-DOS 6 197

Members of the Microsoft developmentteam explain DoubleSpace and Mem-Maker.

Pournelle: The DOS 6Question ...209

Our columnist tries out the new operat-ing system and offers some good alter-natives to its compression and memorymanagement features.

OS/2 Without MicrosoftWindows? 44

The agreement that gives IBM access toMicrosoft Windows source code expires

soon. "Source code is a real nice thing tohave," an IBM representative says, "butremaining compatible is not rocket sci-ence."

Pentium Changes the PC..... 8 0

OS/2 users are among the people whostand to gain the most benefit from Pen-tium systems.

NetWare Goes Global 141

Version 4.0 brings several bonuses, in-cluding a new OS/2 requester.

One Thumb Up, One ThumbDown 161

The newest version of Lotus Notes isgreatly improved, but the groupwareproduct still lacks a 32-bit OS/2 server.

Beyond DOS: Confessions

of a DDK Developer 203

The Device Driver Development Kit hasmany of the things OS/2 developershave been yearning for, including morevideo drivers.

Macintosh

WordPerfect Office 4.0 22

Mac clients can now be part of the Of-fice.

QMS Strikes with Color LaserPrinter 24

The new ColorScript Laser 1000 bringsthe technology into a lower price range.

Apple's ColorSync: WYSIWYGColor 25

The Macintosh now offers a color-matching solution for users.

A Quicker Quicken 40

A first look at Intuit's newest versionfinds it faster and more convenient.

ClarisWorks 2.0 forMacintosh 151

Claris improves its integrated softwarewith three new modules.

PageMaker 5.0 vs.

Quark 3.1 157

Here's a comparative review of the lead-ers in Macintosh desktop publishing.

The Mac Extended 205

Thanks to the Mac OS's design, sharpprogrammers can patch in new features.

WordPerfect Office 4.0 22

If you've got DOS, Windows, and MaccHents mixed in with your Unix envi-ronment, this workgroup program mightbe right for you.

Low-Power RISC fromMips

.28

Mips Technologies is readying a 3-Vversion of its R4000 RISC processoraimed at laptops.

Unix Does Windows 44

Insignia Solutions is working with Mi-crosoft to develop high-performanceWindows emulation for Unix; mean-while, SunSelect continues work on itsWABI technology for running Windowsapplications on Unix machines.

Pentium PCs: Power to

Burn 94

How fast are the first systems when run-ning Unix?

Networks

WonlPerfect Office 4.0 22

The program provides E-mail, a groupscheduler, a notepad, and other applica-tions that work across a LAN.

Cluster PCs for Power 57

If your LAN just isn't up to the task,consider the relatively inexpensive net-work design approach known as a PCcluster.

Pentium Changes the PC..... 8 0

Pentium systems will find homes asservers, but in some cases, they could beoverkill.

Pentium PCs: Power to

Burn 94

Most of the first Pentium machines arebeing billed as servers. Our initial testswill give you an idea of what to expect,but the real performance gains are yet tocome.

NetWare Goes Global 141

With version 4.0, Novell adds X.500-style directory service, providing a cred-ible framework for serious enterprise.

Client/Server

Pentium Changes the PC 80

"The Pentium is going to mean a lotmore to my customers running SQLServer and Notes and Oracle on OS/2than to my customers running Net-Ware," says one vice president.

One Thumb Up, One ThumbDown 161

No other product offers Lotus Notes'blend of E-mail, conferencing, andclient/server database technology. Thenewest version shows some nice en-hancements, but our reviewer findssome significant things lacking.

Al

Books.

49

49

.80, 90 205

Case-based reasoning 106,

113. 119

CD-ROM 49, 50, 209. 230

Client/server 80. 161

Color displays 3 2

Color printing 24. 25.

226. 227

Compression 50. 141. 197,

209

Data acquisition 69. 76. 78

Desktop publishing 15 7

DOS 22, 197. 209

□ectromagnetic fields 27 8

Electronic publishing 145

E-Mail 22, 161

Encryption 36, 161

Groupware 22. 23, 161

Knowledge-based

systems 106, 113. 119

Laser printers 24

Macintosh 22, 24, 25, 40.

15 1. 157. 205

Memoiy architectures 86

Memory management ..197, 209

Mobile computing 23

Modems 172, 226

Multimedia 10, 119

Multiprocessing 80, 94

Networking 57. 80, 94.

141. 161, 209

Neural networks 106, 113

Notebooks 32, 228, 230

OS/2 44, 80, 141,

161, 203

PC clusters 5 7

PCMCIA 32. 226

Pen applications 132

PostScript 24

Printers 24. 25. 226

Programming 52. 69. 197.

203, 205

Systems 80, 94, 228

Unix 22, 44, 94

Videoconferencing 10

Virtual reality 119

Windows 22, 28, 44, 48,

94, 132, 141, 145,

157, 161, 209, 232

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TO DESIGN OURNEW MOUSE, WE

STARTED RYREADING PALMS.

In relentless detail, we studiedhands of all dimensions.

We consulted professors of kine-siology, engineers, ergonomistsand computer users. We used digi-tal fiber optics to analyze the hu-man hand. We followed it in motion.

The result is a new Microsoft"Mouse that is, well, anatomically cor-rect. Uncommonly comfortable.

The palm is perfectly supported.Left or right handed, the grip iscomfortable. Fmgertips fall namrallyinto place. A click feels just right.

This mouse even looks good.Intriguingly asymmetrical.\et itsomehow reminds you of the gendecurves of a human form.

Did we mention that it also hassome innovative new softwarefeatures? They allow you to custom-ize the mouse, so it works theway you like to work.

Try the new Microsoft Mouse.If you're not comfortable, we'llrefund your money. Guaranteed.Details are on the box, whichyou can quickly get your hands onat a computer store near you.

IVBcmsolt

Making it easier

© 199J Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Microsoft is a registeted trademark of Microsoft Corpora

Editorial

Dennis Allen

The Real Multimedia

Videoconferencingwill exploit video,sound, and networktechnologies in away that makessense

I'm tired of all the multimedia dazzle and hype. Sure,the graphics can be spectacular, but I don't want to turnmy desktop computer into a Sega game machine. It'sneat to be able to play stereo CDs in my CD-ROM drive,but I have a whole stereo system for that. And while it'sclever to have a TV picture next to my spreadsheet, I'drather not be distracted by reruns of The Brady Bunch.

Unfortunately, multimedia has become synonymouswith computer trash. Almost anything with graphics orsound placed on a CD-ROM qualifies—to some folks, atleast—as multimedia.

Let's face it: What useful business application haveyou seen for multimedia? OK, there is video productionfor the Hollywood types, which is an impressive appli-cation, but it's also a very narrow and vertical field. Be-yond that, searching for a useful multimedia applicationtoday leaves you with nothing more than a pile of games,a little educational software, and a dash of technomarvelproducts that don't really do anything.

What a crying shame that all this video and soundtechnology is being largely wasted, because we all knowinstinctively that those technologies can be put to realuse. It's just been difficult to figure out what that useshould be.

Maybe that's all going to change, because the firstreal multimedia application is materializing, although itwon't be called multimedia. Instead, this new applicationwill be called desktop videoconferencing, and it will ex-ploit video, sound, and even network technologies in away that makes sense.

That's right, desktop videoconferencing makes sense,and before you say that this all sounds like anotherWorld's Fair videophone, please hear me out. Thinkabout this: Would you rather write a memo to explain aquestionable number in your spreadsheet or just attachvoice mail to it? I'd prefer the latter. What's more, com-pared to a 30-word written memo, voice mail using thesame word-for-word message conveys more informa-tion. Vocal emphasis on key words and phrases impartsmore meaning. Or look at it this way: In lieu of a 30-word voice-mail message, you might have to write a

150-word memo to get your point across.

Similarly, adding video that captures gestures and fa-cial expressions conveys even more information. Imag-ine the great loss if Groucho Marx had been only in radioand not in film—would his lines have been as good ifyou couldn't see his eyebrows go up and down? I don'tthink so.

Computer E-mail and conferencing have forced usinto becoming extensions of machines instead of the oth-er way around. It's time to change that. When I send aspreadsheet to someone across a network, let me send amessage with it that's really from me—one that cap-tures all my intonations and my eyebrows dancing upand down so that the recipient really gets the message.The technology is mostly here. Small cameras are notexpensive. Sound boards are downright cheap. And withthe right compression algorithms, existing LANs cancarry all that information.

Some relatively small companies are already offeringkludged attempts at solving the problem. Unfortunately,they don't work well, they cost too much, or both. Video-conferencing is really waiting for one or several systemsmanufacturers to build complete personal computers withvideoconferencing built in, and that, my friends, is goingto happen sooner rather than later.

Frankly, I can hardly wait, because I have a lot morethan explaining spreadsheets in mind for videoconfer-encing. I'd like to cut down on the time spent draftingE-mail and conferencing messages. I'd also like to seecommunications go back to a more traditional—and suc-cessful—human standard without losing the high-techconvenience of delayed conferencing, all of which can bedone right away.

But don't stop me now, because I want it all, includingpractical WAN (wide-area network) support. I wantphone calls with BYTE's bureau offices to include real-time desktop videoconferencing, and that just isn't readyyet. The problem has more to do with deciding who cancarry that information. Yes, we're talking informationhighway, and for that to become reality, it's going totake either an act of Congress to get something done or adecision by Congress to get out of the way.

Ah, but that's a story for another issue.

Dennis Allen, Editor in Chief

lO BYXE JULY 1993

Visual Reality

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Circle 65 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 66).

Buy The WrongRisk Losing More

Using the latest processors, COMPAQ^ProSignia and SYSTEM PRO/XL deliverindustry-leading performance basedon industry-standard benchmarks.

fhen it comes to finding the bestserver, you not only need greatperformance at a great price, youneed the most reliable, easy-to-managesystem you can find.

After all, a single server nightmarecan turn what looked like a goodinvestment into a costly mistake.

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Because not merely areour servers leading theindustry in price andperformance, they'realso the only serverswith complete manage-ment capabilities built in

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The COMPAQ INSIGHT Manager takesthat information and alerts you to fluctua-tions, so you can avoid downtime. You caneven program COMPAQ Servers to rebootautomatically, or to contact you off-site so you can diagnose and rebootfrom your location.

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EDITOff IN CHIEF

Dennis Allen

EXECUTIVE EDITORS

New York: Rich MalloyPeterborough: Rich Friedman

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NEWS

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How to Contact the Editors

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, SanMateo, 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, LondonSW19 3RU, England, -h44 81 543 1234.ELECTRONIC MAIL: On BIX, Send to "editors."All BYTE editors and columnists also haveindividual mailboxes on BIX for easy access.MCI: 250-0135 BYTE Magazine. Manyeditors also have individual MCIaddresses in their own name.OTHERS: Many editors also are reachablethrough uunet, AppleLink, CompuServe,and numerous other services.U.S. fax: Editorial: (603) 924-2550

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JjfjJI Copyright © 1993 by McGraw-Hill.Jj-jj Inc. All rights reserved. BYTE and■ ■nil Bvi^ are registered trademarks ofMcGraw-Hill, Inc. Trademark registered inthe United States Patent and TrademarkOffice.

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BIX, owned and operated by General Videotex Corporation, is a woridwide, low-cost, on-line information service featuring industry news, downloadable software, powerfulelectronic mail, previews of upcoming BYTE articles, the full text of published issues ofBYTE, and source and/or executable code for BYTE benchmarks and noncommercialsoftware mentioned in feature articles. BIX also offers unmatched "conferences" onvirtually every computer-related topic imaginable, where you can share information withthousands of other computer pros. To subscribe via modem, set your communicationssoftware to full duplex, 7 bits, even parity, 1 slop bit, and then call (800) 695-4882 or(617) 491-5410, or make a data call to our Tymnet address: 310690157800. Then hit theEnter/Return key and enter "BIX" when asked to log in; then enter "BIX.VILLE" whenasked 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.

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OFFKERS OF MCGRAW4IILL, INC.: Founder: Jamos 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, PublicationSen/ices: Norbert Schumacher; Vice President/Group Publisher, Computer Magazines: Fritz Landmann.

BYTE JULY 1993

Worldwide DeveloperAssistance Program

It's fast relief from those annoy-ing technical nits that can driveyou buggy. It's answers to ques-tions. Solutions to problems.It's help when you need it.

From developmentthrough generating market demandfor your OS/2® software products,the Worldwide Developer AssistanceProgram (DAP) is there for you.

It's technical support and a database of common OS/2 questions and answersavailable throughCompuServe® andother worldwide onlinesystems. \i\ IBM OS/2Developer, a magazinefeaturing technical and"how-to" articles onexploiting the rich fea-tures of OS/2. It's dis-counts on IBM PS/2®

even

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hardware, software and publications. It's an electronicrepository of OS/2 software development tools anddemos available at no cost. And it's more.

Early Code Programs let you test new OS/2versions with your product. Migration Workshopsprovide software and technical assistance to portapplications to OS/2. But the Developer Assis-tance Program doesn't end with the completionof your software program.

Membership entitles you tofree listings on our OS/2 CD-ROMApplication Demonstration Systemand application directory. Takeadvantage of direct marketing offer-ings at reduced prices through theOS/2 Direct Marketing Center. Andthere are many more offerings, including businessshows, targeted mailings, in-package promotions andinstructional videos.

To find out more about the DAP and how toqualify for specific programs, enter "GO 0S2DAP" onCompuServe, or call 1 407 982-6408. You'll see we'vedeveloped a powerful program to help develop yours.

Our CD-ROM Professional Developers' Kit provides beta-levelcode for operating system and tools and includes online tech-nical reference libraries.

IBM, OS/2 and PS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Mactiines Corporation. CompuServe is a regis-tered trademark of CompuServe, Inc. All ottier products are trademarks or registered trademarks of ttieir respectivecompanies. © 1993 IBM Corp.

Circle 94 on Inquiry Card.

Introducing WordPerfecf Office 4.0.

Large or small, local or global, companies operate onmeetings. Memos. Deadlines. And paperwork, paper-work, paperwork.

If you've ever had to make ten calls to getfour people in the same room, or wait threedays for a purchase order from the eighth floor,you know how well the system usually works.

But now there's a new system — asingle, cross-platform workgroup applicationthat can handle all your internal business operationsand communications electronically. It's WordPerfect®Office™ 4.0, the first "operating system" for companies.

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E-mail isn't enougli anymore.

Organizations still driven by the telephone and themail cart may see e-mail as the next step.

But WordPerfect Office advances the tech-nology of e-mail by "mail enabling" not just mes-sages, but all the basic, relentless stuff of businesslike meetings, appointments, tasks and paperwork. Ineffect, it automates the flow of work and informationthrough (and throughout) your company.

WordPerfect Office is the first com-prehensive calendaring, scheduling and taskmanagement program to be integrated with

a best-of-breed e-mail engine. There's nothing elselike it available today, and perhaps surprisingly, it'savailable for the cost of e-mail alone.

You mdkB tlie ruies.

WordPerfect Office lets you control how informationreaches you, where it's filed, where it's routedafter it leaves your desk. You can accept,reject, or even delegate meeting requests. Youor your proxy can check for conflicts on anynumber of personal calendars across any num-ber of networks — even across dissimiliar computeroperating systems — with a single keystroke.

Incoming mail can be automatically sortedand forwarded to others when you're out of town, oryou can handle it yourself from your laptop. Andwith the industry's only electronic Out Box, you cancheck the status of any message or project ata glance (as well as retract and rethinkany unopenedmessages).

Even forms can be routed electronically.

WordPerfect InFormsr an electronic forms packageincluded with WordPerfect Office; can take most ofthe work — and all of the paper — out of routineoffice paperwork. Now, you can sign off ontimesheets, invoices and other forms elec-tronically and instantly distribute them any-

make configuring, monitoring and maintaining yoursystem easier. And perhaps most importantly, supportfor full directory services to greatly simplify thesharing of names between systems.

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he first new idea in business communications since e-mail

THE FIRST CORPORATEOPERATING SYSTEM.

Simplified administration across platforms.

WordPerfect Office was developed for LANs of asfew as five users and WANs of as many as 100,000.And as you'd expect from WordPerfect, it's a highly-capable cross-platform package, supporting commu-nications on Windows, DOS, Macintosh, UNIX,OS/2 and WAX/VMS.

WordPerfect Office offers a long Ust of gateways.Diagnostic and management services to

management and workflow management into a sin-gle, powerful workgroup application, WordPerfectOffice can greatly increase productivity with littleadditional training.

See what the first corporate operatingsystem can do. To arrange for a demonstration orfree evaluation of WordPerfect Office 4.0, call us at(800) 526-2615.

WORDPERFECT IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK AND WORDPERFECT OFFICE IS A TRADEMARK OF WORDPERFECT CORPORATION WITH-IN THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES. ALL OTHER BRAND AND PRODUCT NAMES ARE TRADEMARKS OR REGISTEREDTRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES ©WORDPERFECT CORPORATION 1993 " FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY.

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Circle 177 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 178).

Letters

Rghting Fatware

Your attack on fatware ("Fighting Fat-ware," April) should have been morescathing. Some of today's applications are100 times bigger than their 1985 counter-parts. Are they 100 times better? Not onyour life!

They are not just bigger,they are badly engineered.Bloated applications resemblethe gas-guzzling cars of the1960s—they're wasteful andunreliable. We trade them inevery few years in the hopethat the next version will fi-nally run right. Major bugs incommercial word processors,for example, are now a way oflife.

Amid all these Edsels, we need a Volks-wagen. Developers should throw awaypast years' accumulation of unreliablecode, write programs small enough thatthe authors can understand them, and dis-cover the power that comes from combin-ing just a few features in the right ways. Ifthey really want to take the market bystorm, they should offer a warranty ratherthan an "as-is" disclaimer.

Michael A. CovingtonAthens, GA

"Work expands so as to fill the time avail-able for its completion."

—Parkinson's Law, 1957

SET WORK = PROGRAMSET TIME = MEMORYSET 1957 = 1993

David G. Williams

Chevy Chase. MD

It was appropriate that you put "FightingFatware" just before "Putting Fuzzy Log-ic into Focus." The first article was an ex-ample of the second, I think.

The two figures found on page 100 tellthe story. The size of Lotus 1-2-3 has mul-tiplied by a factor of about seven; the typ-ical PC has expanded by a factor of al-most 300, both in disk space and RAM.This much bigger machine is also muchfaster and cheaper, and the bigger Lotus1-2-3 does much more than release 1.0ever did.

The typical system can handle many ap-plications that are the size of Lotus 1-2-3,whereas in 1983 we could run only fromfloppy disks—one slow and limited ap-plication at a time. So just where is the

fatware problem? I see no sign of it what-soever.

Bobby R. TreatAlexandria, VA

I recently read "Fighting Fatware" and wasvery disappointed. Figure 3 sug-gests that [operating-system-spe-cific versions of] WordPerfectare being run on each operatingsystem. But the article's textsuggests that you ran either aDOS or Windows version onOS/2. If this is true, the percent-age of usage for OS/2 also in-cludes DOS and Windows over-head that is not required if yourun a pure OS/2 application.

WiLu 's HOT, What's Not

!

The authors incorrectly referred to theWindows shell as an operatingsystem and suggested that theshell helped reduce the size ofPowerPoint by including True-Type fonts. They neglected tomention that OS/2 2.x providesthe same savings in code using

Adobe Type Manager. The au- i.

thors went on to rave about iOLE, but not once did they men-tion the major innovation thatOS/2's SOM (System ObjectModel) represents in the eventual reductionof code.

The new Lotus 1-2-3 and Freelancepackages for OS/2 2.0 use disk space effi-ciently by sharing common resources (e.g.,graphing and checking the spelling). Theymake effective use of OS/2's SOM andactually share system resources, furtherdecreasing the amount of redundant code.Your First Impression of these products(March, page 46) even states ".. .you savemore than 4 MB on your hard disk thanksto code shared between the two applica-tions; you also save RAM...."

A. P. Kennedy Sr.Greensboro, NC

If you look closely at figure 3, you 'II findthat WordPerfect was not part of theOS/2 configuration. The reason ? AnOS/2 version of WordPerfect was notshipping when this story was written.Thanks for your comments.—Eds.

MS-DOS 6 Beyond Compare

I was disappointed with the article "EasyDoes It with MS-DOS 6.0" (April). The

question on the cover (Do you need MS-DOS 6.0?) was not addressed, nor did theauthor provide the information that wouldenable me to answer it on my own.

I also missed how MS-DOS 6 compareswith products already available. It appearsto me that Microsoft is only catching up.

Martin RommelCambridge, MA

An Amiga First

In the April User's Column, Jerry Pour-nelle says that the Amiga is becomingcompetitive with the Mac and PC and isnearly ideal as a second computer. I be-lieve the Amiga makes a good first com-puter for professional video, audio, mu-sic, graphics, 3-D modeling, animation,interactive presentations, viewgraphs, or writing of any kind.

As a home computer, theAmiga can perform almost anytask one would desire with aneasy-to-use, intuitive graphicalinterface. In terms of worksta-tion capabilities, the Amiga is68060-compatible. It has high-speed 2000- by 20G0-pixelgraphics boards running at upto 160 MFLOPS, runs Unix,and has a RISC processor in its future. Ina world of pickup trucks (clones) andCadillacs (Macs), maybe there's room foran elegant Mustang as a first computer.

Charles KirchnerHuntsville, AL

BBC Correction

Some information in "CorrespondenceThat Looks Good Globally" (February) isincorrect. The BBC World Service is notusing the Multi-Lingual Scholar word pro-cessing package. Together with a numberof other alternatives that can run under theWindows and Macintosh GUIs, it is be-ing considered as a word processor forsome foreign-language work. ■

Gordon HaroldChief Engineer, World ServiceLondon. U.K.

We want to hear from you. Address corre-spondence to Letters Editor, BYTE, OnePhoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458:send BIX mail c/o "editors ": or send InternetMail to letters@bytepb.byte.com. Letters maybe edited.

JULY 1993 BYXE X»

Wake up and smell

the future

WHAT "ppij^^:PEOPl£ j^l^Mp

\fm. ,

The new HP DeskJet 1200C.

1,699:

Welcome to the dawning of a new erain office printing. Hewlett-Packardpresents the HP DeskJet I200C. Theworld's first affordable, networkable,plain-paper, 300-dpi black and colorprinter.

The HP DeskJet 1200C printer haseverything your users could want. HP'snext generation of inlqet technology,for sharp 600 x300-dpi black and stun-ning 300-dpi color on plain paper.LaserJet PCL 5 compatibility, so it runsany existing LaserJet printer file orfont. And network upgradability, giv-ing everyone equal access to high-quality color.

Besides offering compatibility andgreat prmt quality, the DeskJet 1200Cis fast. Six pages per nunute for black& white. And only one to two minutesper page for color graphics. It comeswith 45 scalable fonts, .same as the newHP LaserJet 4, and lets you easily addPostScript.™

The future of office printing is here.To see for yourself, caJl 1-800-552-8500,Ext. 7398 for the name of the HP dealernearest you.t

DeskJet PrintersMake it happen.

HEWLETTPACKARD

News&Views

WORKGROUP COMPUTING

WordPerfect Office4.0

The group-scheduling soft-ware, for example, worksacross a LAN to help makelight work of setting up meet-ings and allocating resources,such as audiovisual equipment.WP Office 4.0 scans each per-son's appointment book to findacceptable meeting times.Members of the group receiveautomatically generated E-mailrequests to attend; each personcan accept or decline with theclick of a mouse.

If you're familiar with theusual WordPerfect function-key layout (e.g., F3 for help.

WordPerfect Office 4.0 lets userswork together regardless oflocation, lAH, or type of system

BARRY NANCE

WotdPerfectOffice 4.0's FileManager offersa hierarcliicalview of tiledirectorystructure.

I

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n a market beset with new-comers, WordPerfect Office rep-resents a maturing workgroupproduct. WP Office's all-in-oneapproach to E-mail and groupscheduling has been popular forseveral years. In fact, version3.01 won a BYTE Readers'Choice Award in 1991. Version 4.0 adds support for mul-tiple platforms, mouse support in DOS text mode, and avariety of improvements that make it easier to use.

If you have only a few Intel-based computers on yournetwork, you probably don't need the power and fea-tures of WP Office 4.0. However, if your network in-cludes a mixture of DOS, Windows, and Mac clients(WordPerfect plans to release a Unix client running Mo-tif this fall)—and perhaps a Data General, Unix, orVAX/VMS host system—your company is a prime can-didate for WP Office 4.0. If you have more than 25workstations, even if they all run the same operatingsystem, you should at least look at the product for itsefficient scheduling and E-mail services. If you havemore than 100 workstations, WP Office 4.0 deservesserious consideration.WP Office 4.0 works on a variety of networks, in-

(DIR)28S289292313292235292

3/26/93 12:

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Hie E-mail component of

WordPerfect Office 4.0(Windows version shown here)lets you send messages toindividuals or groups.

. Depending onhow you like toorganize yourwork, you canemphasizeagenda, calendar,and other viewsof WordPerfectOffice 4.0.

Program Manager

file (Options Window Help

OFFICE 4.0

WPV:ewEdilor WPNotiiy

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File Options Help

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eluding Novell NetWare,Banyan Vines, and IBM LANServer. 1 used LAN Server andNetWare to put a prerelease ver-sion of WP Office 4.0 through itspaces.

Connecting Your Operation

WP Office 4.0 provides E-mail,a calendar, a calculator, an ap-pointment book, a task list, ashared notepad, a shell menu, anotebook with an auto-dial fea-ture, a file manager, a macroeditor, and a text editor. WPOffice 4.0 integrates thesefunctions across a LAN in away that lets coworkers coor-dinate work and activitiessmoothly even if they're usingdifferent kinds of computers.

F5 to list, and F7 to exit), you'llfeel at home in WP Office 4.0.If you don't use WordPerfect'sword processor, you'll find themenus easy to use. The Win-dows and Mac modules, ofcourse, let you point and clickwhen you want to send notesor update your task list. Nowyou can use a mouse the sameway under DOS.

For the most part, enteringpersonal appointments and ar-ranging group meetings is asimple fill-in-the-form process.WP Office 4.0 automates thejob of searching for commonfree times when you want tohold a meeting. Personal ap-pointments can be meetings,task-list items you want to set

22 15 V I i; JULY 1993

aside time for, or other allocat-ed blocks of time.

Installation: AnInvestment In Time

While using WP Office 4.0 is abreeze, installing and config-uring the software is not. Net-work administrators will spenda significant amount of timegetting it ready for users. Ispent 8 hours installing thesoftware for a workgroup ofabout 50 people. Much of thattime was spent reading themanual and analyzing the wayWP Office 4.0 tailors a LANto accommodate how the usersget their work done. It's timewell spent, however. The ca-pability of sharing E-mail andappointment books among dif-ferent types of computers cre-ates a level playing field out ofwhat is usually a mess.

The WP Office 4.0 shell isa DOS menuing system thatyou can configure to manageall your applications, not justthe suite of WP Office 4.0modules. If you find you spendmore time in one part of WPOffice than in others, you canselect a different view to giveon-screen emphasis to thatpart—E-mail, the calendar, orperhaps the task list.

The E-mail gateway soft-ware that comes with WP Of-fice 4.0 supports wide-areaconnections between WP Of-fice LANs, MHS (MessageHandling Service), SMTP(Simple Mail Transfer Proto-col), and X.400; you also getremote modem-based access toWP Office 4.0 when you'reaway from the office. If youwrite E-mail notes on a planeor in a hotel room, WP Office4.0 will send the notes for youautomatically when you returnto the office and connect to theLAN.

In a bid to strengthen WPOffice 4.0's ties to other mailpackages, WordPerfect willprovide a gateway betweenWordPerfect Office 4.0 andLotus Notes' groupware data-base. In addition, WordPerfectInForms software, which al-lows the electronic design anddistribution of forms, will alsohave direct database formatsupport for Notes.

Both Office and InFormssupport the VIM (Vendor In-dependent Messaging) stan-dard, which allows users to ex-change mail across multipleapplications. Although Word-Perfect has not finalized pricingof the gateway to Notes, DavidClare, WP's senior director,workgroup applications, notedthat the company is essentially"giving the technology away"to E-mail customers with thepricing of $30 to $40 per seatin large quantities.

A Mixed-Systems Blessing

WP Office 4.0 adds useful fea-tures—and support for moreplatforms—to an already-proven product. If groupwareis in your plans but you haveto contend with DOS, Win-dows, Mac, and Unix systems,put WP Office 4.0 near the topof your list of possibilities.

WordPerfect Corp.

1555 North Technology Way

Orem, UT 84057

(800) 321-4566. (801)225-

5000. fax: (801)222-4477

Sen'er Pack: $295; ClientPack: $495for five users

GROUPWARE'S BIG THREE

Over the last five years, groupware has grown up. The earlyDOS-only pioneers didn't always have intuitive interfaces andtypically worked with only a limited number of network operat-ing systems. While the situation has improved drastically, noclear overall best choice has emerged. However, three prod-ucts—each of which excels in different areas—are leading thegroupware charge.

THE BEST INTERFACE

H you've seen Windows for Workgroups in action, you know thatMicrosoft's Mail and Schedule-i- modules are easy to use andhighly visual. The Workgroup Connection companion product toWindows for Workgroups (for DOS users) includes E-mail but noscheduling module. If you want to use Schedule-*-, you needWindows. Mail and Schedule-t- are also LAN-traffic-intensive; ifyou have more than 20 workstations running the E-mail soft-ware at the same time, the network can bog down.

THE MOST NETWORKS AND COMPUTERS

With its comprehensive coverage of popular networks and di-verse computers, WordPerfect Office 4.0 is a universal transla-tor for large, mixed-environment LANs. The programs may loadslowly, and you'll need to adjust to the function-key layout, butWP Office 4.0 is a groupware workhorse.

THE BIGGEST

Lotus Notes, literally speaking, covers more ground than othergroupware products. Notes is particularly effective for geograph-ically dispersed users. Also, it lets a group share more than E-mail and scheduling information. If you have a database of salesinformation and prices, for instance. Notes will automaticallymake sure that eveiyone has the latest version of the data.

COMMUNICATIONS

Beep Beep: Your E-Mail Is In

w„,

'ordPerfect Office, Lotus Notes, and oth-er programs that offer remote-access capabilitiessolve many problems for mobile workers whoneed to stay in touch with the home office. How-ever, what if you're usually in the building butoften away from your desk and can't afford tomiss an urgent E-mail message or fax?

To help mobile, on-site workers. Motorola'sCustomer Owned Paging Group (BoyntonBeach, FL) has introduced a family of productsthat can notify you within seconds via alphanu-meric pagers of an important phone call. E-mailmessage, or critical situation in a manufacturingenvironment. One of the initial modules of thefamily, called Site Message, will transmit ur-gent information that arrives in your computer asan E-mail message, a LAN management mes-sage, or a groupware calendar update.

Site Message, expected to ship in 1993, willuse paging engine software created for Motorolaby several independent developers, includingNew York City-based Ex Machina. Site Mes-

sage-enabled programs will automatically for-ward time-critical messages to a Motorola al-phanumeric Site Pager without the sender know-ing the receiver's pager phone number. To filterout unimportant messages from critical ones,end users will be able to use their program'srules engines to forward only those messageswith key words like Urgent. Motorola expectshundreds of programs to become Site Mes-sage-enabled in the next 12 months.

Site Message is just one example of new tech-nologies that aspire to overcome the obstacles ofreaching mobile workers. Motorola's Pagingand Wireless Data Group plans to start beta test-ing later this year of its MONET (for MobileNetworks Integration) software that will linkwireless networks from RAM Mobile Data,MTel, General Magic, and Ardis. Novell andMicrosoft have announced plans with AT&Tand Intel, respectively, to strengthen their op-erating systems' links to the telephone.

—Dave Andrews

JULY 1993 BYTE 23

HP SA»S MO (foil MOW)

News & Views

PRINTER TECHNOLOGY

QMS Strikes with Color Laser Printer

olor laser printers aren'tnew, but until now you couldexpect to pay up to $50,000 fora splash of laser color. QMS'sColorScript Laser 1000 bringsthe technology into a muchlower price range. Pricing wasnot firm at press time, but thecompany says it will fall be-tween $10,000 and $15,000.

The ColorScript Laser 1000uses electrophotographic re-cording to produce 300-dot-per-inch color output. Whatmakes this printer even moreattractive is a unique print-en-gine design that lets it serve asboth a black-and-white and a

color printer. The print engineaccomplishes this feat usingdry toner and a special OPC(organic photoconductor) belt.

The belt revolves at a con-tinuous rate of eight times perminute. When you print a col-or image, four belt rotations—one for each toner color—andnumerous swipes of the laserbeam assemble a complete col-or image on the belt. A chargedtransfer drum and transferroller extract this image off thebelt and onto the medium,which can be plain paper, la-bels, or transparencies. Becausethe belt travels at a fixed speed.

the ColorScript Laser 1000 iscapable of printing 2 colorpages per minute. If you print ablack-and-white document,only one belt rotation and theblack toner are required to pro-duce a page, and the printeroutput approaches 8 ppm.

On the inside, the printeruses a 25-MHz 80960CF RISCcontroller. Standard memory is12 MB of RAM, expandableto 32 MB using 4- and 8-MBSIMMs. The ColorScript Laser1000 provides emulation ofPostScript Level 2, Hewlett-Packard PCL (Printer ControlLanguage) 5, and HPGL(Hewlett-Packard GraphicsLanguage) PDLs (page-de-scription languages). A 40-MBinternal hard drive stores vari-ous programs, PDL emulations,and fonts. Upgrading the print-er software or adding anotherPDL emulation becomes a mat-ter of copying new files to thehard drive. The hard drive alsofunctions as virtual memory forlarge print jobs.

A SCSI connection lets youadd external hard drives to ex-pand the printer's capacity forfonts or virtual memory. Stan-dard interfaces include Lo-calTalk, serial, and parallelprinter ports. An optional Eth-ernet interface supports AppleEtherTalk, TCP/IP, DECnet,and NetWare protocols. Spe-cial ESP (Emulation SensingProcessor) logic scans all theinterfaces and detects incom-ing data. This ESP logic thenanalyzes the data stream andselects the PDL that will pro-cess the job. QMS's Crownmultitasking operating systemmanages the printer's func-tions, and it can handle two dif-ferent print jobs—each com-ing in on a different port andusing a different PDL—simul-taneously.

Unlike a thermal-wax print-

While Hewlett-Packard holds a command-ing lead in the laser-printer market, thecompany has not yet announced plans tofollow QMS into the color laser-printermarket. Regarding speculation ahout Itsplans, HP spokesman Bill Homung wouldsay only that the company is studying col-or laser printers and would enter the s^-ment only when it is feasible from a costand quality standpoint

HP's cautious approach stems fromconcern over the reliahillty of color laserprinting and cost factors. "There are twoIssues: One is the reliability, and another,the pricing. And in our mind, we have tohave both," said Homung. "Over history,we're pretty methodical about It We'vehad to make sure that we could sell a lotof [printers] but also that they were ofhigh quality and reliable. Without that wewould shoot ourselves in the foot"

Since HP's color Ink-jet printers havedone well, Hornung noted, there is not agreat demand for color laser printers."Customers are really satisfied with colorInk-jets, and many don't see the need atthis time for color laser."

—Patrick Waurzyniak

er that consumes a fixedamount of all four dye materi-als whether you use one coloror black and white, the Col-orScript Laser lOOO's engineconsumes only those toners re-quired to make the page. Thissmart use of consumables low-ers the cost per color page fromabout 50 to about 45 cents, sothe printer can inexpensivelymass-produce documents that,for example, use a companylogo or highlight important in-formation with spot colors.

Using the black toner alone,the cost is 3 to 3.5 cents perpage. That's low enough thatthe ColorScript Laser 1000 canserve as both a black-and-whiteand a color printer. This makesit ideal for businesses that oc-casionally need to producelarge volumes of color output.

—Tom Thompson

QMS, Inc., P.O. Box 81250,Mobile, AL 36689, (205) 633-4300; fax (205) 633-0013

INSIDE THE QMS COLORSCRIPT LASER 1000

Toner/developers

O A prechai^er unit inside tlie OPC l)eK lays a citarge evenly across the beH.

@ The printer controller steps through one color plane of image data. Thisdata controls the intensity of a laser beam as it sweeps a line across theOPC belt. When the beam is on, a corresponding spot on the belt is dis-charged. As the belt moves, a latent image composed of discharged areasis built line by line.

@ The portion of the belt storing the latent image passes under four toner/de-veloper units. The toner unit that corresponds to the color plane just ap-plied to the belt opens. Toner sticlts to the discharged areas and is re-pelled from the charged areas. In the figure, magenta toner is being addedto the image on the belt. For color images, this operation occurs severaltimes as the belt rotates and all four process colors are applied. A com-plete color image exists on the belt after four belt rotations.

O The transfer drum is charged and peels the image off the belt.

@ A bias voltage between the transfer drum and transfer roller pulls the colorimage off the transfer drum and onto the medium.

® The fuser unit uses heat and pressure to adhere the image to the medium.

24- BYTE JUI^Y 1993

QoIq/.

INK-JET PRINTERS

Testing the Colorful

DeskJet 1200C

lewlett-Packard's Desk-Jet 1200C (see "HP Takes Col-or Mainstream," June News &Views) takes a different ap-proach to color printing thandoes QMS's ColorScript Laser1000. The 120GC is also aimedat businesses looking for col-or output, but its speed and costper page make it more suitedfor generating presentationsand small quantities of high-

quality color documents.

While the DeskJet 1200Cisn't designed for high-volumejobs, it also doesn't cost much:$ 1699. It uses the PCL (PrinterControl Language) 5 PDL(page-description language) anda Centronics parallel port. TheDeskJet 1200C/PS costs $2399;it adds Adobe PostScript Level2 support and a LocalTalk in-terface.

These 300-dpi col-or ink-jet printersare equipped withHP's Resolution EnhancementTechnology. The controller canswitch between interfaces andPDLs automatically. An MIO(modular I/O) slot lets you addan Ethernet or Token Ring in-terface to either printer. Theprinters can turn out 6 pagesper minute for text; it takes 2

COLOR MATCHING

Apple's ColorSync: WYSIWYG Color

olor desktop publishing has a problem—color fidelity, or color matching. Simply put,color WYSIWYG is difficult at best. Printingcosts can skyrocket because of the numerousattempts to obtain a reasonable color match be-tween the scanned images or artwork that wentinto the document and the printed pages.

Some calibrators and color-matching soft-ware address this problem, but they usually tieyou to a specific printer or set of applications.Apple's ColorSync is a color-matching solutionimplemented in the Mac OS. As part of the MacOS, color-matching algorithms can be appliedautomatically to all color devices (i.e., the scan-ner, printer, and monitor) connected to the Mac.

ColorSync consists of a Control Panel anddevice profile files. Each profile contains a de-scription of the device's color characteristics,and ColorSync uses this information to applythe color corrections. ColorSync features anopen architecture, so vendors such as Kodakand EFI can supply their own color-matchingsoftware modules, which transparently replaceColorSync's default color-matching algorithms.

I used a Mac Centris 650, an Apple ColorOneScanner, and two color printers to exploreColorSync's capabilities. The first printer wasApple's Color Printer, an ink-jet printer, andthe second was the Tektronix Phaser II SD, a

dye-sublimation printer. The Color Printer camewith a profile, while none was available for thePhaser II SD.

I used Light Source's Ofoto 2.0 software toscan in a variety of color images. Output on theApple printer was good, although I've seen bet-ter color dithering patterns from a Canon print-er. However, the color fidelity between inputand output was excellent, and I had just pickedthe printer name from a pop-up menu in Ofoto.

For the Phaser II SD, Ofoto has a clevermechanism for producing calibrated output: Youprint a color test pattern on the target printer,place this output on the scanner, and scan in theimage. Ofoto generates color-correction datathat is available from the pop-up menu the nexttime you print. The colors on Phaser II SD out-put, while not perfect, were close to the original.

In its current form, ColorSync is not a panacea.It will take time for vendors to create profiles.Applications that make heavy use of color willhave to be modified to use some of ColorSync'sservices. Finally, how does ColorSync deal withcolor matching for an image that was made withone color-matching method, while the host com-puter uses a different one? Still, based on the Ap-ple Color Printer output, ColorSync is a big steptoward making color WYSIWYG a reality.

—^Tom Thompson

The DeskJet 1200C produces impressivecolor, especially when you use HP'sglossy paper.

minutes per page for color.

The DeskJet 1200C comeswith drivers for Windows 3.1,Mac System 6.0.x, and System7. I used Adobe's PSPrint, aPostScript Level 2 print driver,and a Mac Centris 650 to con-duct my tests in the BYTE Lab.I printed a small scanned im-age out of Adobe Photoshop2.5 successfully, but imageslarger than 2 MB generated aPostScript error. I added 8 MBof RAM, which brought the to-tal to 12 MB. With the extraRAM, I printed images as largeas 11 MB with no problems.

I also unplugged the Local-Talk card from the MIO slotand replaced it with an HP Jet-Direct card that provideslOBase-T and lOBase-2 Eth-ernet support. The interfacechange took 3 minutes. It tookanother minute to connect athin-wire Ethernet cable to theJetDirect's BNC connector.

With the ample memory anda high-speed network interface(cost of the unit as tested:$3456), the DeskJet handledeverything I threw at it. Theoutput looks fine on plain paperand great on HP's specialglossy paper. The cost pier pagecan range from 8 cents to$ 1.61, depending on the medi-um and the amount of ink used.

—^Tom Thompson

Hewlett-Packard Co.. SantaClara, CA 95051, (708) 752-0900

JULY 1993 15 V I I

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UPGRADE TO NEW MICROSOFT WORD6.0 FOR MS-OOS FOR $99.

ANDRECOMEAMASTER OF MANIPULATION.

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Making it easier

© 1993 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. TrueType is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.'Plus 7.50 freight and applicable sales tax if ordered directly from Microsoft. "Frei^t charges are not refundable. Reseller prices may vary. You must currently be a licensed user of any version of Microsoft Word to qualify for diisspeciaj upgrade offer. To qualify for this offer at your reseller, you must bring proof of purchase with you; 1) the original disk from your program, 2) the title page of the manual, or 3) a copy of the sales receipt. Offer good only in the50 United States. Offer good until 9/30/93. Inside the 50 United States, call (800) 468-8899, Dept JC3. For information only: in Canada, call (800) 563-9048; outside the United States and Canada, call (206) 936-8661.

News & Views

STORAGE

RAID Down to the Desktop

RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks)technology has been the province of main-frame computers and networks that requireuninterrupted access to important data, evenin the case of a drive failure. Although theword inexpensive is used, a RAID systemfor NetWare LANs that provided 1.3 GB ofstorage cost as much as $24,000 ($18.46 permegabyte) in 1992.

Now, thanks to the combination of de-clining hard drive prices and new productsfrom companies like Corel Systems (Ottawa,Ontario, Canada) and Micropolis (Chatsworth,CA), low-cost RAID solutions are availableto LAN managers and stand-alone worksta-tion users. Daniel Levesque, president ofProengineering (Ottawa. On-tario, Canada) and developerof CorelRAID, said the bene-fit of the $995 program is thatyou can implement RAID lev-el 5 using a standard SCSIcontroller and three SCSI harddrives for as little as $3500.

Micropolis, which sells alow-cost RAID system forNetWare, just reduced theprice of its new modular Raid-ion LT array system for OS/2and LAN Server. Prices forthe system start at $6225.Taroon Kamdar, executivevice president and generalmanager of Micropolis's stor-

RAID ON THE SERVER

Predicted worldwide RAIDmarket value of shipmentsfor PC servers

Value of shipments

(in millions of dollars)

1993 1994 1995 1996

Source: Intcfnationat Data Corp.{Framingham, MA)

age systems division, said Raidion LT will beused by engineers, programmers, and any-one else whose work is time sensitive.

"Users are being led on that RAID is avery complex technology, and it's not," saidMaury Loomis, director of sales and mar-keting at Pacific Micro Data (Tustin, CA).Loomis said that too often RAID is sold as aproprietary solution, where a user buys asubsystem, software, and storage mediumfrom the same company at a premium price.Loomis said that the support for RAID inoperating systems like NetWare and Win-dows NT will increase awareness of the tech-nology among desktop users. The result, hesaid, is that solutions where customers canpick and choose componentswill become the norm.

Bob Katzive, vice presidentof the consulting and mar-ket-research firm Disctrend(Mountain View, CA), agreesthat the price of RAID is drop-ping but notes that while pro-prietary RAID solutions aregenerally more expensive thannonproprietary solutions, theycan also be easier to installand maintain. Katzive warnsthat "there's always room fora surprise" when you're in-stalling a so-called openRAID solution.

—Dave Andrews

LOW-POWER RISC FROM MIPS

Promising "Pentium performance in a notebook,"Mips Technologies (Mountain View, CA) has an-nounced the first power-saving chip in its R4000microprocessor family, an important step towardmoving RISC chips from workstations to main-stream PCs. The R4200 is intended primarily forlaptops that can run Windows NT.

Sample silicon wasn't available at press time, soall performance specificatians are preliminary. Ac-cording to Mips, the 3-V chip will use only 1.5 W atits top internal clock speed of 80 MHz (the exter-nal bus runs at 40 MHz). A reduced-power moderequires only 0.4 W, and a power-down mode turnsoff the chip altogether. Mips says the R4200 can bepowered down and reactivated so quickly that asystem could force the chip Into power-down modebetween keystrokes when you're typing.

Mips estimates the R4200 will deliver 55 SPEC-marks for integer operations (SPECint92) and 30SPECmarks for floating-point operations($PECfp92). By contrast, Intel's Pentium delivers64.5 SPECInt92 and 56 SPECfp92, respectively. TheR4200 lacks the parallel pipelines found in the Pen-tium, but it does have separate hardware units forinteger and floating-point instnictions.

Based on 0.6-micron process technology, theR4200 squeezes 1.3 million transistors onto a smalldie of 9.2 by 8.8 millimeters. It has a 16-KB instnic-tion cache and an 8-KB data cache. The caches,MMU (memory management unit), and system in-terface can be removed from the chip, so the logiccore can be used in embedded applications.

Mips says the R4200 will be available in quantitylate this year. Versions will be manufactured byMips, NEC Electronics, and possibly other partners.No pricing was announced, but Mips says the goalis to sell the chip for $55, or $1 per SPECinL

—TomR.HaKhill

MICROPROCESSORS

Ruling Won't Mean Lower Prices for 486 Chips

^^^on't expect the prices of486 microprocessors to plungejust because Advanced MicroDevices (Sunnyvale, CA) wonthe latest round in federal courtand is finally competing againstIntel for the lucrative 486 mar-ket. Although the surprise rul-ing cleared the way for it to be-gin selling 486 chips, evenAMD admits it won't be ableto make enough chips this yearto dent Intel's market share orspark a price war.

AMD expects to sell a fewhundred thousand 486 chipsthis year. AMD and industryanalysts estimate the world-wide 486 market at 25 millionchips this year. TTiey also esti-mate that Intel sold 5.5 millionchips in the first quarter alone.In 1994, demand is expectedto grow to 35 million chips,and AMD predicts it will win a10 percent to 20 percent share.

Still, AMD's 486 micro-processors give system vendors

an alternative source of supplyand allow AMD to tap Intel'ssingle largest revenue stream.Until now, the only other com-mercial source for 486 chipswas Cyrix (Austin, TX).

On April 15, a judge ruledthat Intel did not submit docu-ments that could have affectedthe jury's decision. He grant-ed AMD's motion for a newtrial, opening the door forAMD to sell 486 chips basedon Intel microcode.

AMD is completing work onclean-room versions of the 486that don't use Intel microcode.Those chips, which are sched-uled to be announced on July 4,will eventually supersede theIntel-microcoded chips thatAMD began shipping in lateApril. Although the clean-roomversions are almost finished,AMD says it wants to beginselling 486 chips as soon aspossible.

—Tom R. Halfhill

28 BYTE JULY 1993

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A C++ compiler designed to deliver on thepromise of object-oriented programming

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415 Phillip Street, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3X2 Telephone: (519) 886-3700. Fax: (519) 747-4971"Price in US dollars. Does not include freight and taxes where applicable. Authorized dealers may sell for less.WATCOM C and the Lightning Device are trademarks of WATCOM International Corp. D0S/4G and D0S/16Mare trademarks of Rational Systems Inc. Other trademarks are the properties of their respective ovmers.Copyright 1993 WATCOM International Corp.

Circle 157 on Inquiry Card.

*Prices valid in US, only. Some products and promotions notavaiiabk in Canada. ^Source: Dataquest, Inc.. 1992. 'Retum'to-faccory service. "Leasing arranged by Leasing Group, Inc. The Intel Inside logo is are^stered trademark and i386 is a trademark of Intel Corporatim^. FORTUNE 500 is a registered trademark of The Time inc. Magazine Company. MS-DOS and Microso/t are registered vrademarks of MicrosoftCorporation. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. ©I99i Dell Computer Corporation. Aii rights reserved.

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News & Views

MOBILE COMPUTING

HP's Superior Subnotebook

I ewlett-Packard has tak-en its mobile-computing am-bitions a notch higher with theintroduction of the HP Omni-Book 300, a 386-based sub-notebook. It weighs less than3 pounds and runs ROM-basedWindows as well as ROM ver-

Hie OmniBook's "pop-up"mouse literally pops out ofthe subnotebook's case atthe push of a button. Themouse remains attachedto the system by a type ofslide-bar tether.

sions of Word for Windowsand Excel 4.0.

The OmniBook boasts sev-eral cutting-edge features. Inaddition to running its appli-cations, Windows 3.1, andDOS 5.0 in ROM, it uses Ad-vanced Micro Devices' 3.3-V,20-MHz 386SXLV chip setand a rechargeable nickel-metal-hydride battery pack forlong battery life. It also of-fers mass storage through ei-ther a PCMCIA-based 42-MBhard drive or

10-MB flash-memory disksin PCMCIAslots.

After testinga preproductionOmniBook, Ifound its full-key-spacingkeyboard suit-able for touch-typing, a sharp

contrast to the tiny keyboardoffered on the 95LX andlOOLX. It lacks the colorgraphics found on many high-end notebooks, but its screen—a 9-inch, VGA-compatibleFTN-reflective (Film Super-twist Nematic) LCD with 16levels of gray—isacceptable.

One of the mostunusual features ofthe OmniBook isits pop-up mouse,which pops up to fityour hand in an er-gonomically correctway. It takes somegetting used to, butI find it preferable tomost trackballs.

Although it hasno floppy drive, youcan pass data or ap-plications betweenthe OmniBook andother machines byway of PCMCIAcards, the OmniBook's stan-dard infrared port, or serial-portconnections using TravelingSoftware's LapLink Remote,which is provided with theOmniBook. The subnotebookis available with either twoPCMCIA Type II slots for usewith flash-memory disks or oneslot for the PCMCIA-basedhard drive option.

With sophisticated memorymanagement and the exe-cute-in-place, ROM-basedMicrosoft ap-

OMNIBOOK'S KEY FEATURES

• weighs less than 3 pounds

• ROM-based Windows

• Word for Windows and Excel 4.0 in ROM

• pop-up mouse

• superior keyboard•PCMCIA 42-MB hard drive

• 10-MB flash-memory disks

• infrared port

plications, HPclaims that anOmniBookequipped withflash-memorycards can runfor up to 10hours while us-ing only fourAA batteries.Battery life withthe recharge-

able nickel-metal-hydride bat-teries figures to be about 5hours.

The OmniBook base systemwithout flash-memory cards ora hard drive is priced at $1515.With an optional 42-MB harddrive, the system lists for$1995, and models with Sun-Disk's 10-MB flash disk,which uses built-in Stacker datacompression, will cost $2375.

—Patrick Waurzyniak

Hewlett-Packard Co., SantaClara, CA 95051, (708) 752-0900

SHARP COLOR DISPLAY

It seems too good to be true: apassive-matrix display that rivalsthe quality of active-matrix but re-quires less battery power and costsless—partly because it avoids theactive-matrix display tariff.

Sharp Electronics (Camas, WA)recently Introduced such a displayhoused in an overhead projectionpanel, and Its MicroelectronicsComponents Division says it will of-fer this dual-scan display for use Innotebooks. Dual-scan displaysscan two horizontal halves of thescreen simultaneously, resulting ina quicker refresh, better contrastwith little or no ghosting, and moreuniformity of color.

Sharp, according to Dataquest'sJack Roberts, already claims a ma-jority of the market share for note-book displays.

—Ed Perratore

Qlor

NOTEBOOK DISPLAYS

Toshiba Gets Aggressive

486SX passive-matrixcolor notebook that sells forabout $2500 may not sound likebig news. But it might look likeit, if you've been disappointedwith the quality of passive-ma-trix color displays but don't want

to spring for the price of an ac- , . .ti.-i.ij-.f b f A companson of Toshiba s display

tive-matnx color notebook. technologies: traditional passive colorThe Toshiba T1900C uses an deft) versus Toshiba's new Dynamic

impressive display technology '"^^J"'*

, , photographed under the same lighting

called Dynamic STN-Color conditions. The differences are

LCD. The colors are unusually apparent. The Dynamic<olor display is

saturated and intense for a pas- ' ^p™**™*"* pve^» pass^e-

, ... rri ■ , color display, but It still offers about the

sive-color display. The improved battery life.

display is primarily the result of

new high-density bonding techniques used for the 9;^-inch display.The screen is split horizontally. The top half of each vertical pix-el column is driven from above, and the bottom half is drivenfrom below, essentially creating two screens in one package.Thus, each pixel is updated twice as often as formerly. With a cus-tom video-controller chip and brighter side lighting, the resultis a noticeable improvement over typical passive color.

Although prices were not set at press time, you can expect theT1900C to sell for about $2500, according to Toshiba (Irvine,CA). A monochrome version will be available for less than $2000.Those prices include 4 MB of RAM and an 80-MB hard drive.

—Gene Smarte

32 BYTE JULY 199.1

Read

First came the best-selling 32-bit operatingsystem IBM OS/2,® with over 2,000,000 copiessold since March 1992.

Now comes the best-selling "How lb" book forOS/2, Client/Server Programming with OS/22.0.

With over 45,000 copies sold, programmersare obviously recognizing the advantages ofdeveloping client/server applications on OS/2.

Authors Bob Orfali and Dan Harky providea comprehensive description of how to createand utilize OS/2 client/server applications,LAN communications, the DataBase Manager,presentation services, transaction servers and the new 32-bitC Set/2 compiler.

You'll also be able to read about other client/server products,such as DDCS/2™, TCP/IP, CPI-C, NetWare® and Systems ObjectModel (SOM).

Will Zachman writes that thisbook is "crammed full of excellentinformation on OS/2... [it's] averitable encyclopedia of stuff one

4

this

see

needs to know these days.

For an authorized IBM dealer near you, or toorder OS/2 2.0, call1 800 3-IBM-OS2.

Client/ServerProgramming withOS/2 2.0 is availablein bookstores. Youcan also order it from

what

either Van Nostrand Reinhold at 1800 842-3636 (ISBN Order #0442-01219-5), or from IBM at 1800 879-2755 (Order #G325-0650).

It's just one more example of how reading can help make you abetter writer.

Operate at a higher level!'

Jo'ert OrfaliO'" Harkey

Client/Server

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BM at 1800 879-2755 (Order #G325-0650). ^-r^f^A^^^^^T ^=rrB

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listered trademarks. DDCS/2 is a trademark, and "Operate at a higher level" is a ser\/ice mark of — ■ — —

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IBM, NetWare and OS/2 are registered trademarks. DDGS/2 is a trademark, and "Operate at a higher level" is a ser\/ice mark ofInternational Business Machines Coiporation. NetWare is a registered trademark of Novell Inc. ©1993 IBM Corp.

Circle 95 on Inquiry Card.

Mtel's videobrings the same easy

inde^

INTEL VIDEO TtCHNOlOCY

Introducing Indeo™technology and the SmartVideo Recorder from Intel.

When it comes to puttingvideo technology on your PC,hitel knows exactly whichbuttons to push.

Intel's new Lideo™ /gtechnology is the first

video compression technology that lets you captureand compress video in one single step. (Now that'seasy.) And the Smart Video Recorder is the first

©1993 Intel Corporation. The Indeo logo is a trademark of Intel Corporation. *Third party trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

video capture board that takes advantage of hideotechnology. Which means adding the impact ofmotion video to your business presentations isfaster and simpler than you ever imagined.

Recording with the SmartVideo Recorder is as simple aspushing a button. And it's fast. Itonly takes one minute to captureand compress a one-minute videoclip. (Other products take up to 15 minutes.) One-step recording also cuts the Smart Video Recorder'sdisk space requirements—other systems can require

I

technology

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A key component of Indeo tech-nology, scalable performance adjustsplayback quality based on yoursystem's processing power. And youVideo for Windows* j^ccd spcclal hardwaTC for

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To learn more about hideo technology andthe Smart Video Recorder, call 1-800-538-3373,ext. 1150. Or to receive information immediately,call Intel's automated FaxBACK® service at1-800-525-3019 and ask for document 9871.Because with Intel, PC video is all fast forward.

Intel

Circle 98 on Inquiry Card.

News & Views

DATA SECURITY

Clipped Wings?

Encryption Chip Draws Fire

■ art of the Clinton admin-istration's vision for a digitalAmerica is a fast encryptionchip to help companies and in-dividuals protect their secretsfrom prying eyes as voice anddata messages are sent overcommunications wires. Thecatch is that this encryptionchip includes a trapdoor thatwill let law-enforcement agen-cies listen in. The White Housebelieves that the hardware willprotect all Americans' right toprivacy while also protectingthem from those who break thelaw.

The chip is named Clipper(because Intergraph in Hunts-ville, Alabama, manufacturesa processor with the samename, the Clipper moniker willlikely be changed). It is a 12-Mbps encryption coprocessordesigned by Mykotronx (Tor-rance, CA) and manufacturedby VLSI (San Jose. CA). Thechip is built in a tamper-resis-tant package to prevent reverse-engineering efforts to revealthe classified algorithm usedinside.

Along with privacy concernsthat the government couldabuse its ability to tap digitalwires, another impediment towidespread acceptance of Clip-per will be its cost. Ben Stoltz,a member of the technical staffat Sun Microsystems (Moun-tain View, CA), says, "Our ruleof thumb is that a part that costsn dollars adds 3/? to 4n dollarsto the final price [of a comput-er]." Raymond Kammer. act-ing head of the National In-stitute of Standards and Tech-nology (Gaithersburg, MD), re-cently told a U.S. congression-al committee that he hopes theMykotronx chips will eventu-

ally cost $26 each if purchasedin large quantities. That meansa potential $75 to $100 addi-tion to the price of each com-puter that uses the chip.

Critics of the Clipper chipnote that less expensive chipsthat provide DBS encryptionhave not received widespreadacceptance because softwareencryption, although usuallyslower than hardware, is lessexpensive. Jim Bidzos, presi-dent of RSA Data Securities(Redwood City, CA), says,"This is just another arrowaimed at preventing peoplefrom using RSA." RSA's cryp-tographic routines will be in-cluded in new releases of sys-tem software written by Appleand Novell and are alreadyused in Lotus Notes.

The government will un-doubtedly provide a large mar-ket for the Clipper chip initial-

Under the Clipper scenario, the police get legal permission to eavesdrop and usetheir special key to unlock the "lockbox" containing the serial number of the chipthat produced the message. The government theoretically obtains legal authorization(e.g., a court order) and presents documentation to the two agencies safeguardingthe keys. Then the government decodes the message using the two keys.

ly. President Clinton has al-ready directed the U.S. Attor-ney General Janet Reno to pur-chase several thousand unitsfor use in computers and se-

cure phones. The impact of thechip on the rest of the world,though, will be governed byeconomics.

—Peter Wayner

LONDON —

IS09000: A Quality Opportunity

^^ompanies wishing to do business in theEuropean Community are finding it increasing-ly necessary to register for ISO9000 quality cer-tification. This evolving standard ensures thatan organization has the necessary procedures inplace to deliver consistent products. Certificationrequires controlled documentation and man-agement of all processes leading to a product'sdelivery—a task that is ideally suited for soft-ware automation if only the right tools wereavailable.

The size of the potential market for such com-puter-aided quality management tools is large. Inthe U.K. alone, more than 20,000 companiesare registered for ISO9000, and the remaining200,000 will have to do so by the 1996 dead-line. One company that offers software for

ISO9000 record keeping is Rede Products(Swindon, U.K.). Its Quality Records Manage-ment System is a modular package for the PCthat covers most aspects of the standard. Also,according to Micrografx (Richardson, TX), con-ventional flowcharting software is finding re-newed interest among U.S. companies seekingto document and disseminate their internal pro-cedures. Gordon Sellers, product manager forMicrografx's ABC Flowcharter, said the pro-gram is the leading revenue generator for thecompany. Companies wishing to do business inEurope should be learning about ISO9000 com-pliance. Sellers said. "American companies andJapanese companies that aren't headed in that di-rection are going to be sorry they aren't."

—Osman Kent

36 15 V I 1; JULY 1993

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1993 Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. The Intel Inside logo is a trademark of Intel Corporation. All product indicated by trademark symbols are trademarked and/or registered by their respective companies.

Circle 150 on Inquiry Card.

News & Views

FINANCES

The Bottom Line:

A Quicker Quicken

old favorite has justgotten better. Intuit's Quicken4 for the Mac has reached newlevels of speed and conve-nience by enhancing the data-entry aspects of its reliablecheckbook-based bookkeepingprogram. Its price is $69.95.

Primarily a personal-financeprogram, Quicken 4 for theMac can also serve as a cash-based bookkeeping system fora small business. Its advantagesare that it is organized as a tra-ditional checkbook, and it letsyou build a bookkeeping sys-tem one account at a time.However, Quicken 4 has to be"fooled" to accommodatebookkeeping issues such asearly-payment discounts for ac-counts payable and accountsreceivable.

PERSONALFINANCETAKESOFF

Consumer-oriented finance softwareexperienced exceptional growth in1992, according to the Software Pub-lishers Association (Washington,DC). Sales in this category, largelypersonal-finance and tax programs,were up 34 percent from 199L

btimated North American home-finance software sates(measured at retail in millions of dollars)

Intuit offers a more completebookkeeping program calledQuickBooks for small busi-nesses with DOS-based PCs,but this program is not avail-able for Windows or the Mac.Sources say the company willlikely release the Windowsversion this year and the Macversion in 1994.

Intuit has added a rich hand-ful of features to Quicken 4.One is QuickFill, which worksas a "clairvoyant." As youmake entries into the register.Quicken 4 rapidly searches forprevious transactions that startwith the same letters. With thisnew feature, the entry of reg-ular transactions takes abouthalf as much time as it did inQuicken 3. You can also pro-gram repeated transactions(e.g., a mortgage payment) toenter themselves automatically.

Intuit has added more sub-tle improvements to nearly all

its Quicken 4windows for thesake of savingkeystrokes andmouse-clicks. Creating reports(e.g., profit and loss and networth) is simplified through areport-creation dialog box thatis much clearer than that foundin the previous version. Youcan access report transactiondetail with the new Quick-Zoom feature. Once a report isdisplayed, you can move themouse pointer to any transac-tion and double-click for moreinformation.

Quicken 4 tracks loans, of-fers its own credit card (credit-card statements are availableon-line, on disk, or in printedform), and manages invest-ments such as mutual funds orforeign currency. You can paybills electronically with Check-Free, with computer-printedchecks, or with handwritten

A welcome addition to Quicken 4 for tlieMac's menu bar is grapliing, whiclioffers a handy way to view budgets, networth, and investments.

checks. New financial planningcalculators help you refinancea mortgage, budget for college,and plan for retirement.

Quicken 4 is a welcome up-grade to an already excellentprogram. The program has notmoved toward becoming amore complete business ac-counting system, but it shouldserve the needs of many smallbusinesses. Useful additions forbusinesses would be integrat-ed invoicing, more sophisticat-ed accounts payable manage-ment, and payroll calculation.

—Chris Kofer

Intuit, Menlo Park, CA, (415)322-0573; fax (415) 329-3689

HOME OFFICE

Computer Associates Heads for Home

^^omputer Associates' PCgroup has decided to enter thesmall/home office market. Itis taking on mighty Intuit,whose flagship finance prod-uct Quicken even Microsofthas failed to topple.

The product, Kiplinger'sCA-Simply Money, relies onCA's association with finan-cial publisher Kiplinger to provide advice onshort- and long-term topics like home equityloans. CA-SM ($69.99 retail) relies on drag-and-drop features to simplify many of its oper-ations and uses larger-than-normal programicons (see the screen) that are clearly labeled.

r-

-4

You can access CA-SM's re-financing, interest, and loanfinancial calculators from any-where in the program.

CA has established a linkwith BillPay USA, a serviceaccessible to Prodigy usersthat lets you pay bills elec-tronically. CA-SM also in-cludes communications func-tions that let you download up-to-the-minutestock updates from CompuServe and from CA'sown 900 number. —Ed Perratore

Computer Associates, Inc., Islandia. NY,(516) 342-5224: fax (516) 342-5734

40 BYTE JULY 1993

Introducing the HP LaserJet 4M.

Now everyone can tap thepower and performance of anHP LaserJet printer The HPLaserJet 4M. A printer madewith everything your PC andMac users expect: built-ingenuine PostScript™ Level 2from Adobe7 6 MB of standardmemory, standard Locallklk,optional EtherTalk, built-inWindows TrueType fonts, and

the best 600-dpi print qualityavailable.

Greater flexibility formixed environments.

Because it's designed to beshared simultaneously, theLaserJet 4M gives you greaterflexibility for mixed environ-ments without compromise toeither Automatic languageswitching betweenPCL 5 and PostScript,3 hot I/O ports, andnew RISC processormake sure no one willhave to wait aroundfor this printer.

The finest printquality in its class.

With HP's microfinetoner, ResolutionEnhancement tech-nology, and 600 X600-dpi engine, thenew LaserJet 4M

printer alsodelivers thefinest 600-dpiprint qualityavailable.

Four times ihe dots fobetter resolution.

Its wide range of typefaces, twointegrated paper trays, and theoptions of a 500-sheet trayand a power envelope feederset a new standard inversatility.

HP quality and reliability.

Of course, with the LaserJet4M printer, you'll enjoy HP'srenowned quality and relia-bility All for only $2,399.*So call 1-800-LASERJET(1-800-527-3753), Ext. 7341**for a free print sample.^ Orvisit your nearest authorizedHP dealer

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

HEWLETTPACKARD

© 1993 Hewlett-Packard Company PE1235S 'Snggested U.S. list price. "In Canada call 1-800-387-3867, Ext. 7341. Adobe and PostScript aretrademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. which may be registered In certain jorisdictions, tlb have a LaserJet 4M printer data sheet sent Immediatelyvia fax machine, call 1-B0O-964-I667 from your toach-tone phone.

"So there I was, playing withmy Nintendo® and Dad was allspazzed out No one at his officethought they could handle one ofthose storage things. You know,the disks and tape deals. Well,Dad said these guys at Connertold him it's so simple a Md coulddo it. So I did Dad got a raise,I got a suit, and TU be home late.

QK Mom?"

85 MB. 120 MB. 170 MB. 250 MBInternal Disk Drives

Available in 3.5" x 1" form factors to fit the latest,most advanced PCs. All are up and running with asimple DOS command.

250 MB minicartridgeInternal T^pe System

Uses the PC's existingfloppy controller andfeatures easy-to-use,Simply Safe backupsoftware.

250 MB minicaitridgeParallel Port/Portable'lap*' SystemIncludes a parallelinterface for fastsystem connectionand daisy chainpnnting.

9

J) '

2 GB or 4 GB DATInternal Tape SystemInclude Conner Backup Execsoftware for DOS, Windowsand NetWare.

250 MB, 525 MB or 1.3 GBcartridge

Internal l^pe System

Provide greater capacity andspeed and include ConnerBackup Ebtec™ Software.

Conner Backup Software

Backup software forConner and other tapesystems running underDOS/Wmdovre andNetWare.

The Storage Answer

Call 1-800-755-0535 for the Conner dealer nearest you.

All trademarks or registered trademarks are of their respective owners. © 1993 Conner Peripherals, Inc.

Circle 113 on Inquiry Cord (RESELLERS: 114).

News & Views

ENERGY STAR

Big Blue's Green PC

^^ong before President Clinton's decree inApril that the federal government should buyonly computer equipment that's compliant withthe specifications of the EPA's Energy Star pro-gram, IBM, AST Research, and other vendorshad been preparing energy-efficient models.

In developing its family of energy-conservingPS/2s. IBM borrowed power management andother features from its high-end notebook, theThinkPad 700C. The most obvious appropriationis the 10.4-inch, color, TFT (thin-film transistor)flat-panel monitor developed with Toshiba. Thisdisplay, which is expected to sell for less than$2000, draws just 21 W when active and a mere3 W in sleep mode. A power-managed CRT willalso be available as an option for about $750.

The system itself, expected to sell for about$3000 ($2000 for diskless systems), redefmes theterm small footprint with its 12- by 12- by 2'A-inch size, or about the size of a large 3-ringbinder. A 3.6-V, 25-/50-MHz 486SLC2 proces-sor powers the system, which comes with a me-

dia-sensing 1.44-MB floppy drive, an ISApassive backplane with integrated serialand parallel ports, support for XGA-2(Extended Graphics Array) graphics(1024 by 768 pixels with 256 colors), andPS/2 mouse and keyboard ports. The sys-tem ships standard with 8 MB of RAM,which you can upgrade to 16 MB.

Three of the five systems in IBM's new PS/2family will come with a PCMCIA interface cardthat installs atop the system's passive backplane.The card has two controllers, each of which canrun either two PCMCIA Type I or 2 cards orone of the thicker Type 3 cards. Thanks in partto their use of PCMCIA, the systems typicallydraw just 24 W in normal use and only 16 Win sleep mode. By the time you read this, IBMexpects to have PCMCIA Ethernet, Token Ring,and 3270 cards available. Plans call for PCMCIAfax modems, solid-state memory cards, and evena 105-MB hard drive in 1993.

—Ed Perratore

OPERATING SYSTEMS

OS/2 Without Microsoft Windows?

chief marketing andtechnical strength of OS/2 2.xhas been its capability to run16-bit Windows and DOS ap-plications concurrently with na-tive OS/2 applications. In re-leases following OS/2 2.1,however, the version of Win-dows that IBM includes inOS/2 probably won't be iden-tical to the Windows from Mi-crosoft.

This dichotomy is due to theexpiration in September ofIBM and Microsoft's JDA(Joint Development Agree-ment), which permitted IBMto use Microsoft's Windowssource code. It also gave Mi-crosoft free use of OS/2 code.But unless the two companiesrenew the JDA—and sourcesat IBM say the company will

indeed let the JDA expire—theversion of Windows in OS/2won't contain any new Mi-crosoft Windows code at all.

"Source code is a real nicething to have, but remainingcompatible is not rocket sci-ence," said IBM mediaspokesman Rob Crawley. Hesaid that although the sourcecode tap will be shut off thisSeptember, IBM retains therights to the API "forever."In theory, this would permitIBM to create its own versionof Windows, although Craw-ley would not comment on thisoption. Neither would he con-firm the rumored possibility ofa version of OS/2 without Win-dows that might coexist with asystem already equipped withDOS and Windows. Sources

also said IBM is consideringadding support for Microsoft'sWin32s API.

Another avenue for IBM toadd Windows compatibility toOS/2 could come from InsigniaSolutions (Mountain View,CA), developer of the SoftPCline of products. Insignia offi-cials said that the company'sagreement with Microsoft doesnot preclude it from develop-ing a SoftPC for OS/2.

Meanwhile, sources say thatunits of IBM at Boca Raton,Yorktown Heights, and else-where are quietly developingsoftware products for WindowsNT in addition to OS/2, AIX,and lower-end platforms. Newsof an NT version of DB2 hasalready leaked out.

—Ed Perratore

UNIX DOES WINDOWS

Microsoft recently announced that itwill provide Insignia Solutions witheariy access to Windows source codeand API directions. Insignia will beable to improve the performance ofnative Windows applications as theynin on top of Unix. Insignia alreadyprovides the technology to Microsoftthat gives the non-Intel versions ofWindows NT their backward compati-bility with Windows applications.

"The Windows APIs are movingon," said Nick Samuel, CEO of In-signia. He said that the Microsoft-In-signia agreement will let his companybe better prepared to provide high-performance Windows-emulation so-lutions for Unix as Microsoft addsvideo, object-oriented technology,mail, and sound to Windows. "Weneed to stay current It is extremelydifficult.. .to stay current if you'rehaving to do it after the [operatingsystem] is released."

Meanwhile, SunSelect (Chelms-ford, MA) continues to work on itsWA6I (Windows Application BinaryInterface) technology for runningpopular Windows applications onUnix "at full performance" and with-out the need for DOS or Windows it-self. (For more information on WABI,see "SunSelect Intrigues with WABIfor Unix," February BYTE, page 36).SunSelect plans to release the initialversion of WABI sometime this sum-mer. Unix System Laboratories saysit will integrate versions of its oper-ating system with WABI so that Win-dows and Unix applications will runon System V release 4.2 desktops.

—Dave Andrews

"•4 BYTE .lULY 1993

Not just a new Sound Blaster:A new 16-bit audio standard

Introducing the Sound Blastef" 16Digital Audio Platform. A new conceptin sound cards. And a new standardfor 16-bit PC audio.

You Won't Believe Your Ears.

PC audio never sounded so good-genuine CD-quality audio with fully12% more dynamicresponse and 15%Hands-free W better signal-to-voke control. noise ratio than

any competing 16-bit sound board. Plussoftware data compression that delivers16-bit fidelity while maximizing disk storage capacityBut there's more. Included in the Sound Blaster 16package is the biggest advancement in PC control sincethe invention of the mouse: our exclusive VoiceAssist "software. It's a sophisticated speech recognition interfacethat uses a 32,000-command library to control Windowsapplications hands-free!

The Only Sound Card that Grows With You.

Unlike other 16-bit cards, Sound Blaster 16 comes withbuilt-in interfaces for CD-ROM, MPU-401 MIDI and

joystick control. And the uniquemodular, scalable architecturelets you add more advancedfeatures and technolo-gies as you need them.

Like our AdvancedSignal Processingchip that delivers 4:1real-time hardwaredata compressionwhile reducing CPU time up to65%. Or professional-qualitysampled wave synthesis with our

Tlw new Ib-bil PC midio standnrd: liii:ludci piogmminabic mixer, iiiiLrophunc,VoiceAssist speech recognition software, plus more than $1000 in software applications.

plug-in Wave Blaster'" daughter board.

And-unlike other cards-theSound Blaster 16 is 100% compatible withevery game and application ever writtenfor the Sound Blaster.. .which is to sayvirhaally every game and application available for sound.

i pgrdding is as■wnple as pluggingin a daughter board.

FEATURES

State^f-the-Ait PC Sound with16-bit Codec digital audio chip.

164it Data Compression

saves disk space without lossof signal cpiality.

Upgradable, Modular Platform

makes it easy to add new tech-nologies like Advanced SignalProcessing and Wave Blaster.

100% CompatlbllHy with allSound Blaster applications,plus aoss platform support forWindows 3.1, DOS or OS/1.

I pgnule loAdranred Sig-nal Processingwith one chip.

Nobody Packs in More Value Thanthe industry leader.

And as if that weren't enough, we've completed the packagewith more than $1000 wortfi of leading software-not tooshabby considering the entire package retails for just $249.*

So let's face it. When it comes to audio quality fea-hires, and bottom-line value, we've got it all right here. Withthe Sound Blaster 16-the new 16-bit PC audio standard.

For more information about Creative Labs productsand the name of your nearest Sound Blaster Dealer,call 1-800-998-5227.

CREATIVE

BLASTER

CREATIVE LABS,INC

\T^T\ *BaseSRP.

•[j^l I © Copyright 1993 Creative Technology Ltd. Sound Blaster, VoiceAssist, Wave Blaster and the Sound Blaster and Creative Labs logos are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd.vvtntoJvI™ other trademarks are owned by their respective companies. Creative Labs 1-408428-6600.C(*ffl\TmE International inquiries: Creative Technology Ltd., Singapore. TEL 65-773-0233 FAX 65-773-0353.

Circle 164 on Inquiry Card.

E

6 6 6 6 6 6 6

ven a free memory manager may not be a bargain—especially if itcan't give you all the memory you need.

Introducing QEMM 7me Memory Manager Worth l^'ng For

The newest version of the Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager(QEMM), version 7, once again is extremely innovative in using thecritical area between 640K and 1024K. It finds space for more TSRs anddrivers in this area than anyone thought possible. It optimizes this area,taking into account the many drivers that need more memory at start-up than when running; instantly calculating millions of possiblememory configurations to find still more memory for your programs touse. And it treats the rest of memory as a giant pool to instantly hilfiUthe needs of all of your programs—whether they use extended orexpanded memory Whether your PC has 1 megabyte or 16, you canbenefit from new QEMM 7.

Instant Riches

what does more memory mean in a practical sense? It means that yourDOS and MS Windows programs run faster,smoother and more reliably It means you cancontinue to add valuable utilities, drivers,TSRs and new capabilities to your PC.Whether it's workhorse drivers like LAN util-ities and fax drivers; productivity-enhancerslike disk caches and disk compressors; or fun andexciting capabilities like sound boards, CD ROM drivers, graphicstablets, etc. The better your memory is managed, the more versatilityand flexibility your PC has. QEMM 7 lets you have it all without fear of'out of memory' messages or crashes.

How to Looka Gift Horsein ttie Mouth

We tested DOS 6 with and without MemMaker and with QEMM6 and our new QEMM7runs away trow all of them. See details of test conditions listed below.

D0S6Giveth;D0S6TakethAway

The best feature of new DOS 6 is the stable of utilities it includes.Trouble is^ they all eat up memory. DoubleSpace file compression needs43K, Vsafe anti-virus needs 7-45K, Smartdrv disk cache needs 28K andeven Undelete takes 10-14K as a resident program. UsingMicrosoft's free memory utility MemMakei; you couldeasily end up with a net loss of available 'conventional'memory in DOS 6.

New QEMM 7 takes the best of the new DOS 6features into account finding ways to give you morefree memory for your program while taking full advan-tage of DOS 6. One new QEMM 7 feature, DOS-Upmoves the DOS 6 kernel, its data and resources tomemory above 640K (this feature also works with DOS3-5), freeing 7-70K. Another new QEMM 7 feature.Stealth DoubleSpace, frees 40K of the memoryaddresses used by DoubleSpace and makes them avail-able for other drivers and TSRs. Both features ensurethat the all-important memory below 640K is free foryour programs. And QEMM 7's seemingly small featureof supporting DOS 6's multiple configurations gives you the flexibilityand ease of setup that you expect. (MemMaker doesn't work well withthis important DOS 6 feature.) That's why it makes more sense thanever to put your money on the best memory manager—QEMM.

Pdge Frame: the Key to Your Future

There's been a lot of talk about our patent-pending Stealth technologyJealous talk, mostly Because nobody else can touch its performance.Our Stealth ROM feature, pioneered in QEMM 6, frees 48-I15K of ROMaddresses for use by TSRs and drivers. Our Stealth DoubleSpacefeature, described above, frees another 40K. And as you might imagine,there's more to come.

ANALYST'S CHOICE

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WINNER

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BVTEBVTEBVTE

KSSSHI IdrilliWIdlldM EI^iSsl^H

El^^^^^H iiMdsMiinMTMa ezs^^^h

There's lots more to QEMM 7:

• Tuned for MS Windows

• New ability to use Vidram insideMS Windows

• DPMI Host

• Pentium Support

• Laptop suspend/resume support

• PS/2 micro channel adapters

• Compaq support

• Fine tuning tools for power users

• 32-bit architecture for speed

• Enhanced compatibility in responseto hardware needs of our milhonsof users:

Detects adapter RAM and ROMand bus-mastering hard drivecontrollers

Monitors DMA access intomemory

Supports Shadow RAM

Prior versions of QEMM won just aboutevery competition in sight, as well asremaining the itl best-selling memorymanager 5years straight.

The key to Stealth is its use of a64K reserved area above 640K calledthe page frame. Besides being used byStealth, the page frame is used byLotus 1-2-3 r2.x for larger spread-sheets and WordPerfect 5.x for largerdocuments, DESQview for multitask-ing, Novell Netware, IBM LAN Serverand DECnet for reducing the networkdriver memory footprint plus gameslike Wing Commandei; Car and Driver,Ultima Underworld II, Wolfenstein andothers for fast action. You sacrifice allthis when you turn off the page frame(which other memorymanagers do to maxi-mize available

memory above 640K). It's this use of the page frame byStealth that lets you set up your PC with a mouse, CDROM, sound board, a network such as NovellNetWare, reserve 8-24K of extra memory for optimalMS Windows performance, use all of DOS 6'smemory-hungry utilities and still have more than630K available for your programs. (Compared to DOS6's 527K available in the same configuration, afterusing MemMaker).

Easier to use for Novices,More Power for Experts;More Memory for Everyone

Our seventh-generation thoroughbred QEMM has improved ease-of-use, with Express Install and Help features. And for power users.Advanced Install and editable parameters and troubleshooting hints.

And QEMM 7 comes with Manifest the award-winning memoryanalyzer—enhanced for more flexibility—from Pentium testing to lap-top battery reporting; network analysis to editable configuration files.

The new and ever more exciting capabilities coming to your PCwill all compete for memory with your favorite application^ TSRs anddrivers. And that makes QEMM 7 the front runner in your efforts to getget the best performance out of your PC today—and tomorrow.

Quarterdeck Office System^ 150 Pico Boulevard Santa Monica, CA 90405 (310) 392-9851 Fax (310) 3144219

Quarterdeck International Ltd, B.I.M. House, Crofton Terrace, Dun Laoghaire Co. Dublin, Ireland Tel. (353) (1) 284-1444 Fax: (353) (1) 2844380

QEMM Users: upgrades are available from dealers.You can also buy direct from Quarterdeck. Call (800)354-3222ext 1D7and ask about our special Game Pack offer witii your upg^de!

How ws gilt the dutimmberi CPU—186/33 ALR Power/business VE15A machine equipped with 16 megs of RAM and ninningMS-D0S6. Companions were done asing the following memory managers; QEMM 7, QEMM 6.02, MS-DCS 6 MemMaker. Inaddihon to the driver (or drivers)requiredby each memory manager, the following drivers, DOS resouros and programs were loaded for all compansons; in the CONHCSYS file: SETVER.EXE, D0S=H1GH, F1LES.20, BUFFERS=10, STACKS^.O, MVSOUNDSYS, SNDBK12.SYS, SLCD.SyS, DOS SHELL^fatement, in theAUTOEXECBAT file: VSAfE MSCDEX, UNDELETE, LSL.COM, NE2(»0.COM, IPX0D1.COM, NETX OR EMSNEH, M0USE.COM, SMARTDRV.COM, PRTSCCAP.COM.©1993 (Jiarterdeck Office Systems. Trademarks are property of theirrespective owners.

Circle 135 on Inquiry Card.

tSSBI Jordan

KHALDOON TABAZA

Windowson Arabia

A

Lrabs take great pride intheir language. It remains themost important cultural factorbringing together more than215 million Arabs living acrossthe Middle East. Its flexibilityand variety make it a source ofbeauty and creativity in Arabliterature and art. But for manyyears, the technology enablingthe use of Arabic in comput-ing lagged. Now, thanks to Mi-crosoft and a host of MiddleEastern software companies,Arabic is catching up fast.

Arabic differs from Latinlanguages in many aspects, themost important being that it iswritten from right to left. Also,Some Arabic characters areconnected to each other, andthe shape of a character usual-ly differs according to its loca-tion in a word. Some charac-ters have up to four differentshapes. Another important as-pect of Arabic is its use of dia-critics over certain characters.The pronunciation of the char-acter—and the meaning of theword containing that charac-ter—differ according to the di-acritic imposed over it.

Early attempts at "Arabiz-ing" software involved writingpure Arabic applications fromscratch using English pro-gramming languages and op-erating systems. ProducingArabic characters on a com-puter screen required addingabout 65 new characters to theusual Latin ASCII code. Writ-ing programs from scratch,however, proved to be a te-dious and financially unre-warding job.

§

pr Editor

CoWo! Psmei Ptri Manager Cfipboard MS-DOS WindowsViewer Prompt Setup

I

Arabization reallytook off with theconcept of "transpar-ent Arabization": producing asoftware layer that ran over theexisting version of DOS andlet the user write in Arabic us-ing existing Latin applications.Because of widespread piracy,the first transparent solutionsincluded pieces of hardwarethat converted Latin charactersin the original application intoArabic characters.

Many companies in the Mid-dle East established their ownArabization layers. They usedcheaper and easier-to-installsoftware solutions to run overDOS. A program called Na-fiatha from 01 Systems inBahrain is the most popular.Another successful Arabiza-tion shell, from a Cairo-basedcompany called al-Alamiah,was unique in offering the firstArabic spelling checker. Mi-crosoft also recently releasedan Arabic support disk that willaccompany DOS 5.0 and DOS6. These different methods forArabization have caused in-compatibility problems forusers and deprived developersof a solid platform to developArabic applications.

On the GUI side, Macintoshusers had a strong version ofthe operating system developedby Apple in 1986. PC users,however, had to wait until 1992for Microsoft to provide Win-dows 3.1 with Arabic Lan-guage Support.

Windows 3.1 with ArabicLanguage Support has Latinmenus and messages but pro-vides a degree of transparent

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Arabization that lets users useArabic in most Latin applica-tions. It also provides compat-ibility with existing Arabiza-tion systems and an Arabicversion of Windows Write.Most important, it provides asolid platform on which devel-opers can write purely Arabicor Arabic-aware applications.

Microsoft Windows 3.1 withArabic Language Sup-port is just an enhancedversion of the originalEnglish release, butMicrosoft promisesmore direct support forArabic. The first ver-sion of MultilingualWindows, which wasslated to be availablein June, will be a ful-ly localized ArabicWindows.

This release will giveArab users an earlytaste of the technologyplanned for the forthcomingversions in other languages. Itwill let users with only onecopy of Windows install anduse as many languages as theywish. Users can purchase vari-ous Language Kits and switchto different languages on thefly. Arab users, for example,will get a basic English-Ara-bic version of Windows. Lat-er they can buy additional kitsfor languages such as Frenchor Japanese. ■

Khaldoon Tabaza is an Amman-based computer writer. He can bereached on BIX c/o "editors."

The Middle East is oneof the fastest growingcomputer markets. So it'snot surprising that thefirst version of Microsoft'sMultilingual Windows(above) is an Arabicversion that includeslocalized menus anderror messages.

BYTE JULY 1993

SEE UPGRADABILITYIN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT.

Intel's OverDrive' Processor technologyrepresents a new upgrade philoso-phy. Based on a single chip formfactor—not boards, or modules. Itlets you add future processor tech-nology to your current PC.

This second Technology Briefingwill explain how our OverDriveProcessor technology works.

Single chipprocessor

UPGRADE.

Intel has designed itsnew microprocessorfamilies to be upgrad-able with OverDriveProcessors. To do this,OverDrive Processorsare actually based onand designed intandem withour latestmicroproces-sors. To makeOverDriveProcessorscompatible withthe previousIntel microprocessors, they have beendesigned with a specialexternal interface. Thisenables OverDriveProcessors to plugdirectly into existingsystems equipped withOverDrive Processorsockets. Once installed,they will increase application performance by40 to 70%.

The UPGRADE PATH.

The first OverDriveProcessor is based onan Intel486™ DX2 CPUcore. It upgrades yourIntel486 SX or DX CPU-based system to nearIntel486 DX2perfomiance. Pentium™OverDrive

Processors areunder devel-opment forIntel486 sys-tems and next-generationOverDriveProcessorsare alreadybeing designedfor Pentium proces-sor-based systems.

The ENABLINGTECHNOLOGY.

The core of everyOverDrive Processor isa microprocessor,enhanced with newtechnology such as theDX2's "speed doubling"technology or the

Pentium processor"s"superscalar" technology.

This enhanced micro-processor core allowsfaster instruction execu-tion without having tomodify the externalsystem clock speed ormemory sub-system.

The cache

IS KEY.

Simplyputting a fasterprocessor coreinto a PCdoesn't helpmuch unlessthe system can supplyenough data to keep itbusy. That's why everyOverDrive Processoralso contains a large on-chip cache. The cachefrees the OverDriveProcessor to work inde-pendently of the memorysubsystem. In fact, 90%of the time the cachecontains the necessaryinstructions and data.

BlU CONNECTINGTHE PIECES.

The final componentof an OverDriveProcessor is the BusInterface Unit (BIU). Itsjob is to transfer databetween the OverDriveProcessor and the exter-nal system in a way thatis completely compati-ble with the originalmicroprocessor. Inaddition, each BIU isdesigned to maximizesystem performance,based on the bus band-width of the originalsystem and core micro-processor technology.

^^EDDOUBLEH^

SYSTEM BUS

Software power.

The new "speed dou-bling" core of theIntel486 DX2 OverDriveProcessor roughly dou-bles your original CPUperformance. Overall,this translates into anapplication performancegain of 40 to 70% (seechart on the back page).Naturally, system bottle-necks such as disk driveaccesses, bus bandwidthand graphics speedkeep the i486'" DX2OverDrive Processorfrom fully doublingsystem performance.

OVERDRIVE

Intel486 DX2 OverDrive ProcessorFOR Intel486 SX or DX systems.Today's i486 DX2 OverDrive Processor combines

i486 TECHNOLOGY (AN INTEGER UNIT, A FLOATING-POINTUNIT AND AN 8K CACHE ON ONE CHIP), WITH SPEEDDOUBLING TECHNOLOGY. FOR EXAMPLE, THE OVERDRIVEPROCESSOR DOUBLES THE INTERNAL OPERATING SPEED

OF A 33-MHz Intel486 DX CPU-based system to 66MHz. And while the CPU is operating twice as fastinternally, it keeps its original external speed tomaintain system compatibility.

Pentium OverDrive Processor architecture for lntel>186 systems.The next generation Pentium OverDriveProcessor will use Pentium processorsuperscalar technology that exe-cutes two instructions simultaneously,a 16 KB on-chip cache memory, aredesigned floating-point unit capable ofone instruction per clock cycle, with abus interface unit optimized for a32-BIT i486 CPU BUS.

Intel486 DX2OverDrive processorspeeds up applications.

This chart represents theincrease in performancewith some popular softwareapplications.

Source: Intel OverDrive Processor Performance Brief.

The Intel iCOMP™ Rating Index*

ICOMP rating for base system.

iCOMP rating after adding an OverDrive Processor.

i486 DX-33

i486 SX-33

i486 DX-25

i486 SX-25

i486 SX-20

0

50

100 150 200

250 300

"The iCOfyIP index is an Intel microprocessor "horsepower" rating It is a composite of selected performance measurements from SPEC 92, ZD Bench,and Whetstone. Source: ICOMP'" : A Simplified Measure of Relative Intel Microprocessor Performance, Intel Corp.. 1992.

How DO I GET THIS TECHNOLOGY?

Almost all Intel486 SXsystems and mostIntel486 DX systems canbe upgraded with anIntel486 DX2 OverDriveProcessor. For moreinformation onhow to upgradeyour system, seeyour authorizedIntel dealer. You'llfind they have aready supply ofOverDriveProcessors, as

well as answers. Just lookfor the box below. Andgive your PC a mid-lifekicker with an IntelOverDrive Processor.

For more informationon upgradability,CALL 1-800-955-5599.

We're ready to supply you with all theadditional information you need on OverDrive

Processors: a performance brief a systemcompatibility guide, a demo disk, and even aspecsheet. Ask for literature package #68.Plus, we 'II also be happy to send our firstTechnology Briefing on the Pentium processor.Remember, the information is free.So is the call.

©1993 Intel Corporalion. *AI1 products mentioned aretrademarks of their respective companies.

Reviews

Books & CD-ROMs

Quest for the Silicon Grail

HUGH KENNER

Daniel Crevier's AI: The Tumultuous History ofthe Search for Artificial Intelligence comesfrom a writer whose reputation doesn't ride on AI'ssuccess or lack of it. Not that he'll conceal his ferventbelief in its future; but he doesn't believe either thatthe Weizenbaums and Dreyfuses need sweeping underthe rug.

Crevier, a Canadian professor of electrical engi-neering, is founder of a firm "that uses artificial in-telligence to let computers see through TV cameras."That suggests an expert system, and nobody, not even Hubert Dreyfus, denies thatthey can do useful things right now. Whether or not their lookup-table facilityequates with intelligence remains a different question.

Crevier is also qualified enough in Techspeak to interview a Minsky, a Simon,or a Moravec and understand what's being said, and his narrative that starts in theage of von Neumann proceeds with easy clarity through the bold visions of thesixties, through the setbacks of the seventies, and all the way to three possible fu-tures for The Computer.

(Those scenarios? 1. Wholly bad: Machines will take charge altogether, like2007's HAL, and in the scariest version they'll take charge of our weaponry. 2.Still ungood: They'll take charge of those of us who aheady get shortchanged andeavesdropped on, thus making present imbalances still worse. 3. Music, please!:They'll open the heavenly gates.)

True, heavenly gates seem at present out of reach. As of now, "The worldchess champion is still a human being," and "A hundred-thousand-dollar prize forthe discovery of a new mathematical theory by a computer remains unclaimed."So two 1957 forecasts of Herbert Simon's are still unfulfilled.

No denying that progress has been slow by those long-ago standards. Crevieris right to dwell on the slow and tight hardware of three decades ago: the punch-card access to a torpid CPU and a few kilobytes of RAM. He's right too in con-ceding to the Dreyfuses that conceptual difficulties were always underrated.(Can a lifetime's experience, acquired in many contexts, really be simulated bydumping encyclopedias down a funnel in the genie's head?) He's still optimistic.

Quick Bits

Enough already, you're saying, of books about the hacker underworld. Yes, Iknow; but here's a really fresh one: Approaching Zero by Paul Mungo and BryanClough. You may want to save their case histories till next winter's crackling fires."The Bulgarian Threat" is an especially fine chapter."The Illuminati Conspiracy" is another.

And from page after fervent page of The GreenPC, we may glean that 9.3 million trees are cut downannually to feed computer printers, or that there aremore floppy disks in the world than people. There'salso much advice, such as how to refill ink-jet print-er cartridges cheaply. You get a hypodermic syringeand find "the tiny pinhole at the top of the cartridge"and inject "fresh ink from a bottle of standard Shaef-fer or Scripto." I've no idea whether this is soundadvice or not. You might ask Al Gore. ■

Hugh Kenner is Franklin and Callaway Professor of Eng-lish at the University of Georgia. You can contact him onBIX as "hkenner."

Al: THE HJMULTUOUS HISTORYOF THE SEARCH FOR ARTIFICiAlINTELIIGENCE

Daniel Crevier, Basic Books,ISBN 0-465-02997-3,$27.50

APPROACHING ZEROPaul Mungo and Biyan Clough,Random House,ISBN 679-409-386,S22

THE GREEN PC: MAKING CHOICESTHAT MAKE A DIFFERENCESteven Anzovin,Windcrest/IVIcGraw-Hill,ISBN 0-8306-4311-7,$9.95

ARTISTIC INFLUENCE

Electronic Library of Art

Ebook, Inc., 32970 Alvarado-Niles Rd., SuHe 704,Union City, CA 94587, (5101 429-1331,fax (510) 429-1394, $99.95 per volume

ith its Electronic Library of Art se-ries. Ebook envisions an impres-sive set of CDs covering "the history of art,from primitive cave paintings to the most in-fluential works of the twentieth century." Thefirst five installments of the library for Win-dows. Mac, and VIS (Video Information Sys-tem) platforms, and a sixth CD scheduled forrelease later this year, represent a solid foun-dation for this panoramic goal.

The latest release in the series. Impres-sionism and Its Sources, covers the Impres-sionism movement of the late nineteenth cen-tury. It shares the same simple Windowsinterface as earlier entries in the series. Ascrollable window displays a thumbnail ofeach work. Double-clicking on an image en-larges it and enables more options, such asreading the author's biography or—in somecases—viewing the image in greater detail.You can search by artist, title, medium, date,school, or object type (e.g., painting or sculp-ture). For added atmosphere, you can perusethe paintings while listening to classical mu-sic of the era.

An introductory essay relates the spirit ofrebeUion shared by the seminal Impressionistswho banded together and defied the art es-tablishment of the day. Short biographies cov-er the major artists' life and work. But theimages themselves best tell the story. Thepaintings reflect the revolutionary style of theImpressionists as they used light and color innew ways and imbued common f)eople with aromantic aura formerly reserved for sacredimages. The important artists are well repre-sented in over 1000 images.

Ebook has done a masterful job compilingthis series. The next CD will include art de-picting Greek and Roman mythology. TheElectronic Library of Art is an excellent refer-ence work and a great way to spend an evening.

—Stanford Diehl

JULY 1993 BYTE 49

Circle 172 on Inquiry Card.

PROTECT YOURSOFTWARE

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At Dallas Semiconductor, we design and manufacture ourown microchips. And we're the only ones in the softwareprotection business who do. Sixty intricate process stepsand a 64-bit unique registration number lasered into eachchip prevent duplication.

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Reviews

Books & CD-ROMs

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING IMAGE

FRACTAL IMAGE COMPRESSION by Michael Barnsley

and Lyman Hurd AK Peters, ISBN 1-56881-000-8, $49.9S

Occasionally a technology appears that's so new, differ-ent, and conceptually odd that it is difficult to grasp theidea. For me, fractal image compression is one current example.At one level, I understand that the basic idea of naturally repeat-ing fractals lends itself to data compression. At the same time,however, I admit to having no idea how this idea is reduced topractice.

Fractal Image Compression by Michael Barnsley and LymanHurd provides more information about this technology than thecasually interested will care to know. This is no light overview,but a serious discussion of the mathematical foundations beneathfractal compression.

You'll spend a long time working through the mathematicsin this book, but not all the discussion is left for the mathemati-cians. Barnsley and Hurd reduce each algorithm to strictly func-tional examples written in C. All the expository code is quitesmall (typically a page or two). I'd like to see an accompanyingcode disk, but the examples are not too large to be entered man-ually.

Other compression methodologies, such as Huffman and arith-metic encoding, are also presented as mathematical discussionswith expository C code. So too is a detailed investigation of trans-formations: scaling, rotating, moving, and stretching in two andthree dimensions.

Fractal Image Compression is an excellent treatise on theleading edge of compression technology by the people who cre-ated it. There's one catch: The actual fractal-compression algo-rithm included in the book is protected by a patent. If you'regoing to do more than play with it, you'll need a license fromIterated Systems.

—Raymond GA Cote

DO-IT-YOURSELF CD-ROM

PUBLISH YOURSELF ON CD-ROM (WINDOWS, MAC, OR UNIX)by Fabrizio Caffarelli and Deirdre Straughan Random House Electronic

Publishing, ISBN 0-679-74297-2, $50

Publish Yourself on CD-ROM is based on the assumptionthat inexpensive and easy-to-use CD-recordable technol-ogy will free the repressed publisher in all of us. Apparently,Caffarelli and Straughan run with a richer, smarter crowd thanmost of us. CD-recordable technology has certainly made rollingyour own CD-ROMs easier and more affordable, but the entry feeI can easily run over $8000, and the task requires■ more knowledge of file formats, device drivers,and publishing principles than the typical novicepossesses.

The authors' missionary zeal, however, doesnot diminish what is actually a good introductoryguide to self-publishing on CD-ROM. To help you get started, iteven includes image-formatting software, called EasyCD, for

so BYTE JUL,Y 1993

We Deliver

Computiiis Know How

PC Intern

A literal encyclopedia of DOS knowledge. This book is acompletely revised edition of our bestselling PC SystemProgramming book which has been read by over 225,000programmers worldwide. Whether you want to program inAssembly Language, C, Pascal or BASIC, you'll finddozens of practical working examples in each of theselanguages.

#B145. ISBN 1-55755-145-6.$59.95 with companion disk.

Upgrading &Maintaining Your PC

Turn your PC into a high performance screamer!Whether you're adding memory or a harddrive, a CD-ROM or a sound board or upgradingan XT to a 386 or 486, this book shows youhow. Includes companion diskette of utilitiesand System Sleuth™ diagnostic software thathelps you analyze your systems performance.#B167. ISBN 1-55755-167-7.$34.95 with companion disk.

DOS 6.0 Complete • Special Edition

This is the practical user's guide to DOS 6.0. Over 1100pages of helpful hints covering everything from installationtolDOS 6.0's new utilities - MernMaker. DoubleSpace,Anti-Virus and Defrag. Also includes a companion diskwith Tempest - a graphic shell for DOS 6.0 that lets youclick, drag and drop!.#B182. ISBN 1-55755-182-0.$39.95 with companion disk.

EXCEL for Science & Technology Sound Blaster Book The 486 Book Multimedia Mania

This book/disk combination focuseson the users of Excel beyond the normalbusiness uses of this powerful software;Physics, Chemistry, Technology,Ecology, Statistics, Social Sciences &Mathematics.#B196. ISBN 1-55755-196-0.$34.95 with companion disk.

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Explains the features that make thisprocessor so advantageous- thememory capabilities, the mathcoprocessor, the specialized softwarethat maximizes the CPU's performanceand more. Find out why the 486 isreplacing the earlier processors. PCINFO program and System Sleuth™diagnostic software included the oncompanion diskette.#B183. ISBN 1-55755-183-9.$34.95 with companion disk.

Learn the basics from adding CD-ROMs and sound boards to making aMPC system. Includes CD-ROM withover 400 megabytes of sounds,graphics, animations, samples andtechniques. Experiment with severalcommercial multimedia demon-strations . Valuable coupons from majorsoftware publi shers worth over $600.00inside. Register your book and get afree jewel case.#B166. ISBN 1-55755-166-9.$49.95 with companion CD-ROM.

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Circle 81 on Inquiry Card.

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Reviews

Books &CD-ROM$

Windows, DOS, Mac, and Unix on CD-ROM. This bundled soft-ware explains the book's relatively high price. EasyCD is nomatch for professional premastering software such as DatawareTechnologies' CD Prepare, but it serves well as a beginner'stool.

The authors cover all the basics of standards, hardware, and me-dia in a complete, easy-to-understand manner. The book goesan extra mile with its advice on setting up your application,complete with multimedia files, for publication. It explains howto assemble the tools and possible licenses you need, and how toestimate production costs. A hypertext version is on the bundledCD-ROM.

The book has two weaknesses, if you ignore its early hyf)erbole.First, it provides almost no examples. Caffarelli and Straughancould have created a sample application to produce on CD-ROMand used it throughout the book. Second, after exhorting theirreaders to dive right into the world of CD publishing, the au-thors shrug off what is arguably the most vital information theycould have provided: how to sell your completed product. In-stead, they sagely tell you that you need help in this area and listfour distributors.

If CD-recordable technology has stirred the publisher in you.Publish Yourself on CD-ROM, with the EasyCD software, is a rel-atively painless way to experiment. If you decide to take the nextstep, however, you will need to find better sources of informationon selling and promoting your products.

—Michael Nadeau

PARADOX BY EXAMPLE

PARADOX FOR WINDOWS DEVELOPER'S GUIDE by Lee Atkinson,Tom Hovis, and Randy Magruder Sams, isbn o-672-30105-9, $44.9S

Great beginnings are not the strong suit of Paradox for Win-dows Developer's Guide. There's a great deal of fat here—in both its wide-margin layout and its content. The authors wastespace explaining that they're about to explain something, andthe book would have been just finewithout their gushing over Borland'sdatabase strategies. Several appen-dixes are equally worthless. Nonethe-less, the authors put plenty of beefinto the examples that form the coreof the book. And examples are whatanyone tackling Paradox for Windowswill be looking for.

An enclosed disk contains over 6.3MB of compressed sample databas-es, programs, scripts, bit maps, andother miscellanea. You'll even findC programs that illuminate the fine art of attaching DLL sup-port routines to ObjectPAL programs. Working through the ex-amples reveals the real worth of the book. Having the live screenson your computer's display is essential, because some of thescreen shots don't reproduce well in the book.

As a developer's reference, this book falls short of the mark. Asa cookbook of programming examples, however, it's worth pe-rusing. ■

—Rick Grehan

aradox')r Windows

evelopgr's Guide.

52 BYTE JULY 1993

Circle 86 on Inquiry Card.

A Couple of GigsThat'll Play in Peoria*

Introducing PowerTape Series 2400 fromColorado Memory Systems. With up to2.4 Gigabytes of capacity using datacompression, and a native capacity of 1.2 GB,PowerTape 2400 is perfect for backing up a lotof data, even networks, onto one tape aboutthe size of your hand.

At only $1,295 including SCSI controller,software and more, PowerTape 2400 is thebest act in the house. And if you're lookingfor a powerful performance, PowerTape

transfers data at up to 18 MB per minute.

PowerTape plays to virtually any crowd.It supports workstation backup from mostnetwork operating systems including NovellNetWare*, NetWare Lite", LANtastic'',3COM* and IBM* PC-NET. PowerTape isalso available in 4 GB models as well as NLMand VAP editions.

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CircU 69 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 70).

Now's

You wanted the power to choose from a world of dif-ferent appUcations. DOS appHcations. Windows™appHcations. OS/2® appHcations. OS/2 2.0gave you the power. And the response wasimpressive, to say the least. Over two millioncopies shipped in less than one year. More than1,200 OS/2 applications already available? But nowyou want more. More features. More functions. Moreapplications to choose from. That's why we're intro-ducing OS/2 2.1.

The new OS/2 2.1 lets you run the latestWindows 3.1 applications, in addition to theDOS, Windows and OS/2 applications you canalready run. We've also added TrueType fonts, selectWindows applets. File Manager and support forWindows 3.1 printer and display drivers, including32-bit seamless SVGA support. And now you canstart DOS and OS/2 applications from a WIN-OS/2session, too.

Portable users will be glad to know thatOS/2 2.1 provides industry-standard Advanced Power

^ With OS/2 2.1 at the heart of your PC, you can run a world of DOS, Windows and OS/2 applications.

your

There's no need to buy DOS and Windows to run DOSand Windows applications.

Management (APM) support, to help extendbattery life. We've made the cursor larger so it'seasier to find your place on the screen. AndOS/2 2.1 continues to exploitthe very latest in technology.You'll find improved support formulti-media applications andpen-based capabilities, alongwith built-in CD-ROM supportand AS/400® terminalemulation.

Of course, OS/2 2.1 stillgives you true pre-emptivemultitasking,superior OS/2Crash Protection™and the easy-to-useobject-oriented WorkplaceShell™ interface. All thefeatures that made Version 2.0an award-winner. But now,you also get a whole new worldof possibilities.

IntroducingVersion 2.1

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chance

OS/2 2.1 is now also available onCD-ROM. It comes with excitingmultimedia samplers, full-motion videodemos and more.

Demand OS/2 2.1preloaded on yournext PC.

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powerful features OS/2 2.1 has tooffer. For your copy, to find outmore about OS/2 2.1, or to order,a,«yor^o..yr.e call 1 800 3-IBM-OS2.demo diskette. In Canada, call 1 800 465-7999.

Operate at a higher level!

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OS/2 2.1 Advantages

Improves productivity

• Now runs OS/2, DOSand new Windows 3.1applications.

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• Advanced PowerManagement (APM)support extends batterylife for portables.

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Easy to use

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Circle 96 on Inquiry Card.

"Raima Database Server's performanceis rouglily equivalent to hitting the

afterburner. - John Michelsen, Millennium Software

John Michelsen knew what he wanted in a database.After doing his homework, John chose Raima DatabaseServer as the client-server DBMS for his exciting newDominion™ Accounting Series.

Raima Database Server is the cUent-server database ofchoice for applications with demanding perfomiancerequirements. It has everything you look for in a client-server DBMS: ANSI-standard SQL, support for MicrosoftODBC and SAG client APIs, declarative referentialintegrity, and extension modules that allow you to executeuser functions on the server via Raima's embedded remoteprocedure call mechanism.

And ultimately, performance. Raima Database Serverdelivers consistently high throughput and fast responsetimes. We support all the major server platforms, including

Seattle • Los Angeles • Chicago • New York • Australia • Belgium • Brazil • Costa Rica • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • ItalyJapan • Mexico • The Netherlands • Norway • Russia • Sweden • Switzerland • Taiwan • Turkey • United Kingdom

© 199,1 Raima Corporation. Raima Databa.(£ Ser\'er is a irademarlc and Raima is a rcyiMered trademark of Raima Corporation. Otiier computer and software natnes arc trademarks or registeredtrademarks of their respective holders. Raima Corporation. 1605 NW Sammamish Rd. Suite 20t). Issaquah. W.^ 98027 USA. Millennium Software. Inc.. 4223 Cenlcrgate. San Antonio. TX 78217

NetWare 386, OS/2, UNIX, and Windows NT. And RaimaDatabase Server gives you all this with prices that blast thecompetition—for example, our unlimited user NLM is $8995.

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Feature

Cluster PCs for Power

MICHAEL J. GUTMANN

very day, more and moreMIS managers are down-sizing their mainframe andminicomputer applicationsto client/server arciiitecture. However,big-iron applications sometimes requiremore processing power than your serv-er can deliver. And applications suchas image processing and full-motionvideo require more network bandwidththan Ethernet or token-ring networkscan currently provide. To overcome thebarriers to using such applications, youcan try a relatively inexpensive networkdesign approach called a PC cluster.

A PC cluster uses a small, high-band-width network to group together high-end computers or workstations to serveas a high-capacity extension of your ex-isting network. While an Ethernet or to-ken-ring network typically provides youwith file- and resource-sharing capabil-ities, a PC cluster is used for problem-solving applications, making it more ofa distributed system than a computernetwork.

Physically, a PC cluster resembles astandard network, but instead of 10-Mbps Ethernet or token-ring topolo-gies, you use a 100-Mbps network toloosely couple your high-end worksta-tions. The combined processing powerof the clustered computers and the high-bandwidth interconnection creates alarge server capable of processing ap-plications that were once beyond thescope of your server and network. Thenovelty of a PC cluster is that it lets youexploit intermachine connections for special-purpose, multi-processor, and network-intensive applications, such as imageprocessing and full-motion video.

Since you build a PC cluster around the computers that you al-ready have, your existing software runs on it without modifica-tion, and your program development team has a familiar plat-form with which to write new applications. It also saves you

Do you need moreprocessing power?How about morenetwork bandwidth?You can turn yourexisting network intoa PC cluster.

money. For example, rather than re-placing your low-bandwidth network,you can continue to use it for client sys-tems and such operations as databaseprocessing and E-mail. The PC clusterconnects to the low-bandwidth clientnetwork through standard network in-terfaces on cluster machines, allowingthe systems on the client network to ob-tain access to cluster data.

Three key components are neces-sary for building a PC cluster. The firstis any type of network that is capableof a sustained 100-Mbps data transferrate, such as a fiber-optic network. Second, you need a computerthat has sufficient bus bandwidth to handle distributed CPUprocessing and to drive the network. Finally, you must havesoftware to control network and PC-cluster data transfers. A33-MHz 486-based computer augmented with an IEEE 1296bus would satisfy the computer criterion, but the PC-clusterconcept is applicable to a variety of microcomputer platforms

JULY r993 BYXE

S7

Feature

WHAT'S A PC CLUSTER?

A PC CLUSTER IS anetwork design thatcreates a large serverby linking work-stations through ahigh-bandwidthnetwor1(.

A PC CLUSTER IS away for you todownsize complexapplications that wereonce too huge foryour serverto handle.

A PC CLUSTER IS builtwith the computersyou already have,giving you a familiardevelopment platformtiiat runs your existingsoftware.

A PC CLUSTER IS

a developmentplatform formultiprocessorapplications Uiat takeadvantage of high-speed networking.

A PC CLUSTER IS ahigh-powered, high-speed extension ofyour existing networkthat specializesin problem-solvingapplications.

operating in the client-server environ-ment.

Bus Bursts Data

The IEEE 1296 bus, also called the Multi-bus II, is well suited for building a PCcluster. The Multibus II is a 32-bit syn-chronous bus with parity and designedwith stringent electrical and mechanicalspecifications, making it highly reliable.Because it is so reliable, you can load itwith processors and peripheral controllersand not have to be concerned with un-wanted interactions resulting from elec-trical interference.

The Multibus II features backplane mes-sage passing, which, due to its efficiency,lets you build a high-speed, compact net-

work. Configuring asystem around theMultibus II is simple,because the message-passing interface de-couples CPUs fromdata transfer over-head, resulting in a320-Mbps data trans-fer rate without anyintervention by thecentral processingunit. As a result, itsoverall speed is suffi-cient to drive the PCcluster's high-band-width interconnectionas close as possibleto its physical limitswhile also avoidingexcessive CPU over-head, which wouldslow down system performance.

The Multibus II backplane can supportup to 21 processor cards, so you can tailorit for specific applications. Because of thedecoupled, packet-switching nature of itsmessage-passing protocol, concurrent I/Otransfers at the local cards" maximumbandwidth are possible. This makes for anattractive I/O environment. You could, forexample, load up the Multibus II with se-rial communications cards and build anenormous modem server at a cost of about$200 per communications port.

A computer built in compliance withthe IEEE 1296 format enables you to con-struct compact PC clusters. For example,you can fit 16 such computers into an en-closure no larger in volume than one ortwo tower computer cases. Further, if you

Transport Protocols

FEATURE

BENEFFF

Transfers small control and

Keeps intermachine communications

interrupt messages

efficient by sending status signals rapidly

Transfers data messages as small

Moves data at high speeds without

as 20 bytes and as large as

software overhead or CPU

16MB

fragmentation, preventing network-

performance slowdowns

Connectionless mode and low-

Makes it easy to write apphcations and

overhead transaction management;

disk drivers; applications can be

supports out-of-order responses

partitioned over cluster CPUs

Asynchronous interfaces with

Grees you a NetBIOS-like interface and

nonspecific and specific buffer

flexible buffering; eliminates copying

preposting

data blocks

incorporate a workstation computer intothe backplane chassis, you can use it as afront end to other chassis cards, such asthe CPU and I/O modules, without addi-tional external cabling and packaging.

Communication Controls

To ensure that the computers in your PCcluster are able to use their high-speed in-terconnection effectively, your PC-clus-ter intermachine software must use a datatransfer protocol based on the bus back-plane message passing. Such a protocol issaid to be "lightweight," meaning it's notCPU-intensive or laden down with transfermanagement functions.

The transfer protocol will let you trans-fer both small-block (i.e., blocks as big as20 bytes) and large-block (i.e., blocks as

A 486-Based PC Augmented with Multibus II

V

Workstation ISA bus

interface

">|r Clusteri

interface

Multibus II

r

PC-cluster interface software O decouples the CPU from transfer overhead and uses abackplane message-passing protocol, enabling concurrent I/O data transfers at maximumbandwidths. @ A workstation's ISA bus doesn't have sufficient bandwidth to push data fast enoughfor I/O-intensive operations. But under applications-software control, a 320-Mbps Multibus II buscan assume I/O-intensive operations. Routine system tasks are left to the ISA bus.

S8 BYTE JULY 1993

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The Phaser 200 is compatible with virtually any businesssoftware and can print two colorful pages per minute. No,not two minutes per page—two pages per minute. Andeven at a speed like that, it still manages to print eye-catch-ing color on common laser paper or transparencies using aseparate input tray for each. You select the medium youwant at your computer keyboard. And it switches automat-ically 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 AdobePostScript™ Level 2, networkability Pantone® colors, speedand price. (Did you notice it's only $3695, slightly belowunheard of?) And when you add to that extremely highmaterials capacity and sparkling TekColor™ output—not justany color, but the indisputably best color in the business—you've got something even better than our previous best.Which is quite a feat.

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Tektronix

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

CircU 148 on Inquiry Card.

Feature

big as 16 MB) data messages directly toor from the transport-application buffers. Itmust do so without CPU intervention and atthe 320-Mbps Multibus II backplane datatransfer rate. Its transaction mechanismmust support out-of-order responses and

asynchronous interfaces with nonspecific(i.e., a pool of buffers) and specific (i.e., adesignated buffer) preposting capability.

When designed in this manner, thetransport protocol lets you build applica-tions that are partitioned over your cluster

CPUs. This means that you can use thetransport protocol for those parts of an ap-plication that require high-bandwidth com-munications, leaving routine network op-erations to be handled by NetBIOS.

For example, you can design an OCRscanning application in which only thelarge-block images are transmitted overthe PC cluster and the rest of the data issent via Ethernet. A typical Ethernet net-work fragments data into small blocks be-fore shipping them across the network.The larger the OCR application's image,the more data Ethernet has to chop intoblocks, and the more blocks it has to ship.These operations degrade performance,because they monopolize your CPU andchoke your network bandwidth. But a PCcluster can send the OCR application'simages in one large block over the high-speed connection, freeing the CPUs andEthernet for other jobs.

Using a PC-cluster design, you couldbuild the OCR image-processing systemusing as few as nine 486-based PCs toprocess, compress, and store scanned im-ages, and you could use one PC to act as afile server (assuming that an uncompressed600-KB image requires approximately 3seconds to compress on a 486-based com-puter and that three images must beprocessed every second to keep up withthe scanned image input). The large-blocktransfers to the file server's SCSI disk ar-ray and across the PC-cluster intercon-nection would free up enough bandwidthso that the file server could feed the sys-tems executing the compression algorithmsat a pace that would satisfy the applica-tion's requirements.

Furthermore, you could build a networkvideo server capable of serving eight cli-ents simultaneously. Your base would bea 486 computer equipped with up to fourSCSI connections, multimedia technolo-gy (e.g., DVI) to decompress video files,and up to 60 GB of storage for a 1000-clipvideo database (1 MB gives you 5 secondsof playback). Exploiting the cluster's large-block transfers, uninterrupted 200-Kbps(which is the minimum for high quality)video streams are possible.

A scalable video server can be builtwith a cluster of individual computerswith one or more Ethernet and SCSI con-trollers. The 100-Mbps interconnectionwould satisfy client requests to the videodatabase. The maximum bandwidth of theSCSI or cluster interconnection determinesthe number of simultaneous clients (anexpected situation in, say, educational ap-plications). The cluster lets your videoserver scale at both the client and video-storage interfaces. Adding a PC to the

PC-Cluster Connectivity

In addition to aspecial-purposeapplication, PC-cluster computersrun NetBIOS and ~network drivers forboth the PC clusterand Ethernet.

Cluster transportdriver

Cluster PC

100-Mbps PC-cluster interconnect

Ethernet

A PC cluster creates alarge server by combiningthe processing power ofseveral high-end PCslinked by a high-bandwidth, 100-Mbpsnetwork. A standardnetwork interfaceconnects the PC cluster toa low-bandwidth Ethernetnetwork, allowing theEthernet client PCs toaccess cluster data.

With NetBIOS runningon client PCs and PC-cluster computers,applications can be builtthat transparentlyaccess resources anddata located on aclustered PC or on anEthernet network.

Client PCs usethe low-bandwidthEthernet forE-mail anddatabaseoperations.

A NetBIOS interface permits applications to transparently access a computer in the PC cluster ora computer residing on an external network.

eO BYTE JULY 1993

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© I99J Compaq Computer Corporation. All Rights Reserved. COMPAQ registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Product names mentioned herein may be trade-marks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. The Intel Inside logo is a registered trademark of the Intel Corporation. *A11 monitors shown are cov-ered by a one-year warranty. For Further details on our limited warranty, conUct the Compaq Customer Support Center. ••This service is provided by Contracted ServiceProviders and may not be available in certain geographic locations. Certain restrictions and exclusions apply.

Circle 71 on Inquiry Card.

I

Feature

Four Multibus II Cards and Shared Peripherals

DOS, Windows GUIs,applications, andcluster-transport driversrun on a computerconnected to a high-bandwidth PC cluster.

A second, application-specific computer hidesPC-cluster control andinterrupt messages fromthe DOS environment.

Fast large-blocit transfers to thefile server's SCSI disk array andacross the 100-Mbpsinterconnection enable rapid-firedata feeds from the file server tothe clustered computers runningan application.

\

PC-clusterfile server

iiiiiiiiiiiiiim iiiiiiiiiiiinHr

100-Mbps PC-cluster interconnection

A PC-cluster computer with anEthernet controller links thelow-bandwidth Ethernet networkand the high-bandwidth PC-cluster interconnection so thatcomputers on either netwoilican share peripherals andaccess data.

■

On a PC cluster. PCs can share bus peripherals. Cluster NetBIOS support redirects hard disk accesses to the cluster PC that runs the file server.

cluster gives you more Ethernet segments Standard Network Support work must interface with the PC cluster

or disk capacity. As mentioned earlier, your existing net- without modification. Thus, your PC-

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Circle 153 on Inquiry Card.

The New

Generation

Monitors

ViewSonic's New Generation is everything highperformance monitors should be... and more.

The ViewSonic 15,17,20 and 21 produceremarkably crisp, sharp screen images witlienhanced vibrant colors. Some advancedinnovations include ergonomically designeddrop-down digital control panels, specialscreen coatings, the ViewMatch"' color controlsystem, and resolutions up to 1600 x 1280non-interlaced.

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■

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Circle 155 on Inquiry Cord (RESELLERS: 156).

Feature

cluster DOS software needs a NetBIOSinterface to ensure that your applicationscan communicate across the PC-clusterbackplane just as they do over a standardPC network. A NetBIOS interface alsopermits applications to transparently ac-cess another computer in the PC clusteror one residing on an external network.

Intel offers OEMs PC-cluster DOS soft-ware with a control-block interface that'ssimilar to the NetBIOS NCB (networkcontrol block). Its MPCB (message-pass-ing control block) is passed via a softwareinterrupt to the message-passing driver,and the MPCB uses the NCB's asynchro-nous notification-routine technique to re-turn completion status and to deliver new-ly received messages. If you're familiarwith the NCB interface, you'll be able towork with the MPCB interface easily.

A Windows/NetBIOS interface allowsyou to use Windows DDE protocols be-tween computers in the PC cluster. Youcan extend the Windows environment witha Windows process to field DDE messagesand route them over the network as need-ed. Because the DDE router is a NetBIOSapplication, it runs across any network thatsupports the NetBIOS interface.

A PC-cluster NetBIOS interface also

allows DDE-capable Windows applica-tions to run across a PC cluster. This ap-plication environment lets one or morecomputers in the PC cluster perform anapplication-specific function and pass user-interface data to another system that exe-cutes the GUI. If the front-end computer ispart of the PC cluster, you can create em-bedded applications that do not require ex-ternal cabling or packaging of the opera-tor's system.

Sharing Cluster Resources

A PC cluster can share a single keyboard,monitor, and drive, a plus in terms of costand ease of use. Cluster PCs can also sharea single backplane Ethernet controller or aserial communications controller. A disk-less DOS-boot capability lets you boot updiskless PCs across the backplane.

Your PC-cluster software should sup-port the sharing of Multibus II disk andLAN controllers and bus peripherals. UseNetBIOS support to redirect hard disk ac-cesses to the computer in the PC clusterthat functions as the file server.

A keyboard and monitor redirector canalso be included in the cluster software.The redirector would use the PC-clustertransport to carry out its operations.

Future Applications

Cunently, Intel's PC-cluster software sup-ports DOS text-mode graphics programs.But given the bandwidth of the PC-clus-ter interconnection, it should be possibleto support bit-mapped graphics across thebackplane as well. This could change yourconcept of console monitoring and con-trol. Bit-mapped graphics would let youobserve activities on other Windows-based systems linked to your backplane.Further, you could manipulate those ma-chines through Windows on your ma-chine. Thus, instead of Windows-basedvirtual machine multitasking, you wouldhave true multimachine multitasking ca-pabilities.

Since the PC cluster's design is baseddirectly on exisdng CPU cores, you'll beable to adapt your PC-cluster hardwareand software to evolving industry trends.Additionally, the size and scope of the ap-plications that you can develop for usewith your PC cluster will also follow thosetrends. ■

Michael J. Gutmann is a software engineer withIntel Corp. (Hillsboro, OR). You can contacthim on the Internet at Mike_Gutmann@ccm.hf.intel.com.

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Feature

Data from the Depths

BEN SMITH

ata acquisition in a con-trolled environment is achallenge all its own,but when the sensors are400 meters below the surface of theocean and towed by a research ship offthe Azores, a new set of challengesarises. Even though the data acquisi-tion methods used by WHOI (WoodsHole Oceanographic Institution) aredistinctive, they are applicable to sev-eral other data acquisition problemsand reflect a new trend in data acqui-sition systems. A number of sites arerelying on small, programmable dataacquisition systems that operate inde-pendently of computers.

Ocean Currents

This case study covers a small part ofthe large and complex Subduction Ex-periment sponsored by the Office ofNaval Research. As the Gulf Streamcrosses the Atlantic, it bends clock-wise—a phenomenon caused by theCoriolis force (i.e., the whirl in fluidsresulting from the earth's rotation)—and generates strong oceanic currents.The Subduction Experiment, a three-year study of these currents and theireffect on the weather, covers bothoceanographic and meteorologicaldata collection in an area coveringmore than 1 million square kilome-ters. It involves a number of other research institutions be-sides WHOI.

Subduction is the process of one earth plate sliding beneathanother. In much the same way, one ocean current layer can slidebeneath other layers. By understanding where and how subduc-tion occurs in ocean currents, researchers can develop a better un-derstanding of the currents and the weather in general.

The Subduction Experiment incorporates three studies. Thefirst study is of the large-scale structure of wind and thermalforces, as well as the upper ocean responses to these. The sec-ond study is of the mesoscale structure of the velocities and

Acquiring data from tiieocean reveals a trend:programmable devices thatoperate independently ofpersonal computers

directions of mixing currentsand the currents' vortices. Thethird study is of the currentsand thermal front that occur offthe Azores.

There are three primary in-struments to the Subduction Ex-periment. The third is the focusof this case study:

• Moored instrument buoys—these record meteorological and sur-face conditions and collect information from the water that flowspast them at different depths.

• Free-moving buoys—some record their position as they driftwith the current at a depth of 300 m; others float near the surface,and a satellite tracks them; and some regularly come to the sur-face to transmit data to a satellite and then dive to various depthsto collect more data.

• The Seasoar (manufactured by Chelsea Instruments, Surrey,U.K.)—this towed vessel has on-board sensors that collect a ver-tical cross section of CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth)

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Feature

data and the data of the Seasoar itself. Forits sensors to collect data in this way, theSeasoar oscillates between a depth of 400m and the surface as it is pulled behind a170-foot research ship at 8 knots. Becausethe movement of the currents at a thermalfront includes a vertical component as wellas a horizontal component, the Seasoar isnecessary to gather data for the study ofthis complex, 3-D activity. Without a con-tinuously collecting vessel like the Sea-soar, a ship would have to make frequentstops and lower a sensor to collect the dataat different points and depths along the

Inside the Seasoar

grid. The data collected with the Seasoar,combined with the data from an AcousticDoppler Current Profiler (on-board theship) and from monitoring the diffusionof a short-lived tracer (radon-222), pro-vides a clear, multisensory picture of whatthe currents are doing in the complex re-gion of the Azorean front.

Rough Seas

The Seasoar consists of a hydrodynamiccase, roughly 0.4 m in diameter by 1 min length. Its overall length is approxi-mately 2.5 m. It includes a towing bridle

Impellersensor

Pitchsensor

UART = universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter

at the bow, an impeller and stabilizer finsat the stem, and wings on either side ofthe instrument case. Its sensors and elec-tronics are in pres-

PAUL "LUIGI" FUCILE

handled the details ofdevising a dataacquisition module forthe Seasoar. Hedesigned the solutionaround an off-the-shelf,self-powered, data-logging board, theTattleye4A.

The Seasoar contains a control module and two data acquisition components: the scientificpackage for logging CTD data and the engineering package for determining the Seasoar's status.

sure-tight tubes in-side the instrumentcase.

Fortunately, theCTD data acquisi-tion system in theSeasoar uses stan-dardized oceano-graphic sensors. Un-fortunately, there isa problem obtainingthe operations andengineering dataused for monitoringthe operation of theSeasoar itself anddetermining its ex-act location at alltimes.

The Seasoar de-termines its depth byadjusting the angleof attack of its wings.An impeller-drivenpump at the back ofthe unit hydraulical-ly powers the wingrotation. An elec-tronic valve (i.e., the Moog servo valve),which is part of an on-board analog-depth-sensor feedback loop, controls the hy-draulics. A panel on the deck of the shipcontrols the depth and frequency of theSeasoar's dives.

TTie exact orientation of the Seasoar isactually unknown. At times, the Seasoarhad problems in performance when it wasnear the surface and at the bottom of itsdive. Only two weeks before the Seasoarwas due to leave port, the WHOI projectteam decided to add a second data acqui-sition system to the Seasoar, to better con-trol its performance. This was a problemfor the design team.

The Design Team

The success of a project depends on theplanning that goes into it. WHOI excelsat planning and engineering. It has sup-port engineers as well as oceanographicscientists, and all specialize in oceanog-raphy. The support engineers must alsoperform tasks that relate to fields rangingfrom fluid dynamics to computer design. Ittakes a seaworthy party of scientists to runan oceanographic cruise, and a multidis-ciplinary team to solve problems beforethe cruise.

The first member of the design team isJerry Dean, a research specialist and a

JULY 1993 BYTE 7X

Announcing the first network printer

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HEWLETT'HM PACKARD

Circle 93 on Inquiry Card.

Feature

WHOI engineer on the Seasoar project.He focuses his work on oceanic and ma-rine meteorological sensors for mooringsand buoys and on the free-drifting,acoustically tracked ocean-current metersthat are part of the Subduction Experi-ment. Dean knew that with specific in-formation on the Seasoar's roll and pitch,wing angle, and depth pressure, and therotation rate of its impeller-driven pump,he could determine the Seasoar's exactposition. In addition, the information coulddetermine the cause of the performanceproblems.

Constraints were formidable. Electron-ics and a power source had to fit in thesmall, pressure-tight instrument tube in-side the Seasoar. The budget for collectingdata for Seasoar control was small. Thedesign team had to find an inexpensive so-lution quickly. The problem of working

Shipside

out the details was handed to Paul "Luigi"Fucile, Dean's circuits expert. Fucile's so-lution was simple and inexpensive, and itfit in the Seasoar's constrained space. Deancalled this new data acquisition system"the engineering package."

p-eng p-ctd roll pi

rots tensn y,i]

Calmer Waters

The engineering package was designedaround an off-the-shelf, self-powered data-logging board (see "Small, Portable DataAcquisition Systems"). This design ap-proach represents a trend in data acquisi-tion: taking the data-collection componentoff large computersystems and placingit directly on a mea-suring device. In thiscase, Fucile used aTattletale 4A fromOnset Computer. TheTattletale offers eight12-bit A/D channels.

Cable-tensionsensor-

ADC

PC running

a QuickBasic program

DAC

Control current

Moog valve current

Seasoar analog control

Command voltage

CTD pressure data

Scientific data logger

Tattletale•-communications

Seasoarcommunications

CTD

communications

Sea cable

A personal computer on-board the research ship takes the ASCII daia coming into the serial

port and plots it as five separate curves representing the five elements of data. In addition, theprogram sends pressure data out through an A/D converter to the shipside Seasoar controller,thereby eliminating the need for the Seasoar depth sensor.

18 programmabledigital I/O ports, anda three-wire asyn-chronous serial portfor communicationsand control. It mea-sures 5.7 by 9.46centimeters and con-sumes 2 to 15 milli-amperes at 5 V in ac-tive mode, and only30 microamperes insleep mode. The Tat-tletale's data acquisi-tion and control func-tions are programmedin TTBASIC (Tattle-tale BASIC) througha serial port with aterminal or a serial-communications pro-gram. It also has 32KB of RAM, backedby a lithium battery.TTBASIC resides in16 KB of ROM.Fucile used only four A/D ports and onedigital I/O port for his data channels. Hebuilt the signal-conditioning electronicsusing wire-wrapped components on aboard (supplied by Onset) that plugs di-rectly into the Tattletale's piggyback con-nectors.

The pitch and roll sensors are elec-trolytic fluid inclinometers. The pressure ismeasured with a load cell that incorpo-rates its own amplifier. The wing angle ismeasured with a linear potentiometer andvoltage divider. A magnetodiode sensordetermines rotation speed by tracking tinymagnets that are cemented to the impellerblades. The data coming from the sensor isa digital signal; therefore, it doesn't needan A/D channel.

The BASIC program on the Tattletalecontrols the power to the sensors, mea-sures and keeps a running average of the

A QuickBasicprogram on the

shipside personalcomputer displays theengineering data as itis sent up from theTattletale 4A insidethe Seasoar. Some ofthe data comes fromthe shipside Seasoarcontrol, and somemay come from thescientific sensors.Note the delaybetween the voltagesent to the SeasoarMoog valve (CMD)and the actual depthas shoivn by pressure(p-ctd or p-eng).

74 BYTE JULY 1993

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Circle 125 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 126).

Feature

Small, Portable Data Acquisition Systems

HOWARDEGLOWSTEIN

One trouble with data isthat the interesting stuffnever seems to be near a labo-ratory bench. Your network ishaving difficulty with packetcollisions from time to time;what's the network load as col-lisions reach their worst? Or sayyou raise dairy cattle and wantto monitor each animal by tag-ging it with coded markers andweighing it as it passes througha gate.

You could design special-ized hardware for these tasks,or you could run power to the remotesite and use a standard personal com-puter. A better option might be a low-power dedicated controller or data log-ger. These critters are inexpensive andcome ready to run with data acquisi-tion and control hardware built in. Youcan put them anywhere, program themto do just about anything, and then con-nect them to a standard personal com-puter to extract the logged data foranalysis. The following text describesmy experience with two of them—BlueEarth Research's Micro 440 and OnsetComputer's Tattletale 5LCD.

Blue Earth Research's Micro 440 (lefti features a 12-MHz processor, eight 8-bit Michannels, two serial ports, 32 KB of battery-backed RAM, a real-time clock, and 14digital status and control lines. A customized version of BASIC runs the show.The Tattletale 5LCD runs off a Hitachi 6303 processor and comes with a serial port,digital I/O lines, EEP1H)M for storing program configurations, and a customizedBASIC interpreter. As with the Micro 440, you connect the Tattletale to your personalcomputer and write your control program in BASIC or assembly language.

Micro 440

Blue Earth Research's Micro 440 issmaller than a radar detector and weighsonly a few ounces. Under the hood,you'll find a 12-MHz processor, eight8-bit A/D channels, two serial ports, 32KB of battery-backed RAM (good for10 years), an RTC (real-time clock), and14 status and control lines. A version ofBASIC runs the system.

The Micro 440 runs from a singlepower supply of 7 to 16 V at 75 milli-amperes. Connectors at either end of thecase provide connections for power, se-rial lines, data lines, and external mem-

ory or other peripherals. Forsimple analog data acquisitionsolutions, you merely providethe Micro 440 with power andyour signal. For control appli-cations, you'll need to add ap-propriate interface hardwareto the TTL-compatible dataoutputs.

The processor in the Micro440 is an Intel 83C51B, an en-hanced 8051. Blue Earth's BA-SIC is an unusual dialect ofBASIC, with extensions for theMicro 440's hardware and easyaccess to assembly language.

The Micro 440 connects toyour development environ-ment through one of its twoserial ports. You run the BA-SIC interpreter and enter your programdirectly into Micro 440 RAM. For as-sembly language programming, the res-ident monitor/debugger provides an as-sembler and debugger. Talking to theRTC, ADC (A/D converter), or I/O hard-ware requires memory-mapped I/O.

Our Micro 440 came with the Appli-cation Module (with a speaker, a poten-tiometer attached to one A/D channel,and a seven-segment display) and theST-I/O module (with all analog and dig-ital ports brought out to convenientscrew connectors). I used the ST-I/Omodule and the Micro 440's built-in

frequency of pulses coming from the mag-netodiode sensor, converts all the data toASCn character strings, and sends the dataup to the ship through the Tattletale's RS-232 port. Serial communication with theship uses just three conductors on the cablerunning from the Seasoar to the ship.

On the receiving end, a personal com-puter running a QuickBasic program (writ-ten by Jim Luyten, the head of the PhysicalOceanography department) takes the ASCIIdata coming in through the serial port andplots it as five separate curves representingthe five elements of data. The program alsosends raw data to a disk file and sends thepressure data out through an ADC (A/Dconverter) to the shipside Seasoar con-troller, thereby eliminating the need for apreexisting Seasoar depth sensor.

All that's needed to test or modify theTattletale's program is a personal com-puter with a simple communications pro-gram, such as Procomm Plus. Modifica-tions of the program can take place whilethe Seasoar is 400 m below the ship.

The Tattletale uses far less power thando the sensors connected to it. It can storethe data in its battery-backed RAM ratherthan send it back to the ship; however,since scientists use the data to monitor andcontrol the activity of the Seasoar (andhence must collect it in real time), the Tat-tletale hasn't needed to use its on-boarddata storage.

Design Evaluation

Although the design used only a small sub-set of the features of the Tattletale 4A, its

simplicity and flexibility and the speed of itsdevelopment far outweighed the parts-costsaving of not having to build a 6805/ROM-based system (an architecture with whichFucile has substantial experience).

Several data acquisition engineers maywonder why certain elements turned outthe way they did. For example, Fucile andDean could have beefed up the RS-232communications by using higher outputcircuits than those on the Tattletale or usingthe RS-485 instead of the RS-232, but thisapproach would have required more hard-ware. Instead, they opted to use parts onhand, including parts salvaged from earli-er projects. In many places, they could haveused a more suitable part, but they chosenot to order a new part if they had some-thing on the shelf that could do the job.

■76 BYTE JULY 1993

PHOTOGRAPHY: SCOTT PARKER/AVIS PHOTOGRAPHY © 1993

Feature

PWM (pulse-width modulated) com-mand to try a simple feedback/controlsolution.

I started with a one-tenth-scale radio-controlled electric car, an AssociatedRCIO. The servos commonly used inthese cars require a pulse train to positionthe motor. A single pulse of varyingwidth sets the motor position; this pulserepeats every 16 milliseconds. I discon-nected the steering servo from the car'sradio and connected it through a bufferto a single output pin from the Micro440. The Micro 440's BASIC commandPWM provides easy, precise controlover the pulse output while the ONTIMEstatement provides accurate interrupt-driven time control from within BASIC.Three or four BASIC statements wereenough to generate a stable pulse train asa background process. To this, I added acontrol loop.

Three photocells mounted to the frontof the car watched the ground. I put onein the center of the car and the other twoby each of the front wheels. Each of theseconnected through a voltage divider toone of the Micro 440's A/D channels.

I placed the car over a white stripepainted on the ground. A BASIC pro-gram monitored the relative brightness ofthe stripe and the surrounding pavementand adjusted the pulse width to keep thecar centered over the stripe as it moved.The whole project took just a few hours.

thanks to the excellent documentationand easy access to the I/O ports.

Tattletale 5LCD

The Tattletale 5LCD from Onset Com-puter is one of a family of data-loggingcomputers. The Tattletale 5LCD runs offa Hitachi 6303 processor and comes witha serial port, eight digital I/O lines, eight12-bit analog input lines, EEPROM forstoring programs and configurations, anda customized BASIC interpreter. As withthe Micro 440, you connect the Tattletale5LCD to your personal computer andwrite your control program in BASIC orassembly language, or both. When you'reready to go to the field, you store theprogram in the Tattletale 5LCD's per-manent program storage (i.e., EEPROMon the Tattletale 5LCD;hard drive versions are alsoavailable).

The Tattletale 5LCD Ireviewed included eight 12-bit A/D channels, 512 KBof data storage, an LCD,and three front-panel but-tons. Unlike the Micro 440and the Tattletale 4A thatthe Woods Hole Oceano-graphic Institution uses, theTattletale 5LCD doesn'thave a lithium battery fordata retention, although youcan load your program into

COMPANY INFORMATION

Blue Earth Research

(Micro 440)165 West Lind CourtMankato, MN 56001(507) 387-4001fax: (507) 387-4008Circle 981 on Inquiry Card,

Onset Computer Corp.

(Tattletale 5LCD)P.O. Box 3450Pocasset, MA 02559(508) 563-9000fax: (508) 563-9477Circle 982 on Inquiry Card.

the EEPROM. Onset targets the Tattle-tale 5LCD for unattended data-loggingapplications. The Tattletale SLCD's A/Dchannels have better resolution than theMicro 440's and more RAM to store thelogged data. The Tattletale 5LCD needsonly 20 mA to run and a mere 3.5 mA toretain its memory in sleep mode.

Onset's BASIC in the Tattletale 5LCDcomes in two flavors. The first (TTBA-SIC) is a conventional integer BASICwith limited variable naming, no arrays,and a requirement for line numbers. Ifound TTBASIC to be adequate for sim-ple tasks but tedious for developinglonger programs. If you're using an IBMPC or a Mac for development, the tok-enized version (TXBASIC) uses yourdesktop PC to pretokenize the programbefore downloading it to theTattletale 5LCD. With moreresources free to handle yourcode, TXBASIC gives youarrays, floating-point, andfree-form structure using la-bels instead of line numbers.In addition, you get a primi-tive multitasking capabilityfor background processing.

Howard Eglowstein is a testingeditor for the BYTE Lab. Hedesigned BYTE's automatedequipment for testing portablecomputers. You can reach himon BIX as "heglowstein."

"These designs are intentionally sim-ple," notes Dean. WHOI is more interestedin whether a design works in the field thanif it is using the most modem technology.The simpler the design, the more likely it isto work in the field. The fewer parts, themore reliable the device. The less complexthe software, the more likely there will besomeone on-board who can fix or modify itin an emergency. Dean puts it this way: "Ifit works for us, we stop."

WHOI originally built Seasoar's engi-neering data acquisition package as a "one-time-use" instrument—to try to answersome questions about the Seasoar's per-formance problems. But, as is so often thecase, WHOI liked having all the data andwanted to use the package all the time.Now it hopes to incorporate an entire con-

trol system into the shipside personal com-puter, making the computer responsive toinformation from the engineering package.

Dean and Fucile's design cost them lessthan $500 (not including sensor hardware).It took just a few hours to sketch out andrequired less than a week to build and pro-gram.

Tattletale Applications

The fixed buoy used in the Subduction Ex-periment is another Tattletale-based sys-tem. Tattletales reside in several of the testand calibration systems used in free-mov-ing buoys. In fact, of the 14 major micro-processor-based projects that Fucile hasworked on in the last seven years, eightinvolved Tattletales, including the fol-lowing:

• Antarctic Lake ice ablation sensor—asensor that sits in an 8-inch-diameter holein the ice and measures the change in icethickness. It is capable of running off itsown batteries to record data for two yearswithout maintenance.

• Low-power RS-485-based network—amultidrop/multipoint communicationsstandard used in data acquisition and in-strument-control networks. It was used tointerface many existing oceanographic in-struments without requiring any new (i.e.,expensive) electronics.

• Buoy dynamics recorder—an instrumentthat uses a high-end Tattletale with a harddrive that spins up when needed.

• Automatic geocompass—a device at-tached to the deep-diving submarine Alvin(the submarine used to explore the wreck

JULY 1993 BYTE 77

Feature

Data Acquisition in the Mainstream

The factory and processing plant, the re-search environment, and the hospital alluse instruments to detect and record tem-perature, pressure, conductivity, pH, flow,pollutants, and many different variablesand values of the physical world. Today,thb data collection is done automatically byelectronic circuits and computers in placeof direct observation and record keeping,thermographs, barographs, seismographs,and other mechanical graphs. Data acqui-sition is the element of electronics andcomputing that deals with this automatedprocess.

Subjects related to data acquisition in-clude data analysis, data visualization, andcontrol. At times, the three fields are soclosely integrated that they exist in a singleappliance. Consider an electronic digitalthermostat for your home. It has a sensor(a thermistor), an ADC (A/D converter), adigital clock, and some buttons for you toset the temperature range and associatedtimes. In addition, the thermostat has thecircuitry for taking all this data and de-ciding whether your furnace or air condi-tioner should be on or off. The data acqui-sition part of the electronic thermostat

of the Titanic). When the arm touches aface of the underwater geological forma-tion, the geocompass records the strike(i.e., the geographical orientation) and dip(i.e., the angle) of the feature.

Designs vary according to application;in some, the data is sent out the serial port,while in others, it's stored on the system.Most of WHOI's exotic instruments areplaced in hostile environments, where it'simpractical to have a full-size computerprocessing the data. In these situations,the data is stored in the instrument, at leastuntil it is beamed up to a satellite. Some-times the data-storage requirements are onthe order of tens of megabytes; for thesesituations, the designs use Tattletalesequipped with hard drives or optical drivesthat only spin up for a data dump frommemory.

Oceanographic instruments are certain-ly not the only application for autonomousdata loggers. By using inexpensive remote

consists only of the sensor and the A/D cir-cuits.

In data acquisition systems, the sensorsare specific to the application. Often, thesensors are also the most expensive ele-ment of the system. You can get a simplethermistor at Radio Shack for less than adollar, but a high-preciskin electronk strainsensor can cost hundreds or even thousandsof dollars.

Sensors are categorized as either actwe(i.e., they produce a current or voltage) orpassive (i.e., they change in resistance orcapacitance). Signal-conditioning circuitryconverts any device's output to a voltagethat is within the range of sensitreity of theADC (usually between 0 and 5 V). Con-ditioning circuits often use voltage dMdersor operational amplifiers to do their work.Some A/D boards have adjustable gain am-plifiers built in.

The resolution of a data acquisition sys-tem is determined by the number of bitsthat its ADC provides. For example, an 8-bitADC can give you only the nearest degreeof temperature ranging from +128 to -127,but a 12-bii ADC can give better than thenearest tenth of a degree.

data acquisition systems that can commu-nicate with the host computer via a simpleasynchronous serial link, you have tremen-dous flexibility in where you place the dataacquisition equipment. You can easily de-ploy large-area data collection by puttingthe inexpensive data acquisi-tion systems in a box with amodem and telephone line. Acentral computer can thenpoll each data acquisitionnode once a day or less, up-load the data, and reset thenode's memory. These littleboards have been tucked intothe engine compartment ofrace cars, built into patients'wheelchairs, and used exten-sively on farms and in pro-duction plants. The CIA haseven purchased thousands ofthe devices—although forreasons known only to itself.

COMPANY INFORMATION

Chelsea Instruments,Ltd.

(Seasoar)2/3 Central Ave.East Molesey, SurreyKT8 OQXU.K.

+44 81 941 0044Circle 983 on Inquiry Card

Endless Possibilities

Because WHOI gathers most of its researchaway from land, power consumption is amajor design criterion for its research in-struments. Fucile has looked at two othersingle-board data-logging and acquisitionsystems, but the power requirements of theothers made them less desirable. Fucile'ssummary: "When it came to designing adata-logging engine, Lon Hocker [of Onset]knew exactly what was required: low pow-er, simple I/O, and an operating system thatis easy to understand."

The idea of an autonomous intelligentdata-logging computer is not new, but itis a growing trend now that these systemsare inexpensive. Dozens of manufactur-ers produce a wide spectrum of data log-gers. The price of some of the more elab-orate systems can be in the tens ofthousands of dollars, but the low-end de-vices will suffice for most mainstream ap-plications.

Many data acquisition applications arefar more complex than the Seasoar. For in-stance, your application may require high-er data-sampling rates and dozens of chan-nels. For the next step up from the Tattletale,Fucile says he would go to a low-powersingle-chip personal computer. One of manybases for this design is a single-chip per-sonal computer and a PC-104 bus. PC-104cards measure 9.65 by 9.14 cm and run at 5or 10 V. Gespac's (Mesa, AZ) PC Light, atypical CPU board, consumes 1 W—com-pared to an AT's 15 W or more. Still, 1 Wis 10 times the power consumption of aTattletale. With PC-104, additional boards(e.g., a modem) stack above the baseboard,one on top of another, to maintain the 9.65-by 9.14-cm form factor. Six boards stackonly 10.16 cm high. At least a dozen dataacquisition boards are available for PC-104. But the added functionality of a gen-eral-purpose PC-on-a-chip demands fargreater complexity and cost, as well as agreater source of power.

No matter what your needsare, the goal for data acqui-sition has always been thesame: Make it accurate. Withautonomous data loggers, youcan also make it convenient,simple to build and modify,durable, and inexpensive. ■

WHOI

News & Information Office93 Water St.Woods Hole, MA 02543(508) 457-2000Cirele 984 on Inquiry Card.

Ben Smith is a testing editor forthe BYTE Lab. He is also theauthor of two books: UNIX Step-by-Step (Sams. 1990) and UNIXE-Mail and Usenet News (Sams,forthcoming). You can contacthim on BIX as "bensmith " or onthe Internet at ben@bytepb.byte.com.

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Cover story

Cover story

CHANGES

X H E

ANDY REINHARDT

The first Pentiumsystems are here, butyou might not want tobuy one yet. None arefully optimized forIntel's new chip. Thisscenario is likely tochange with the next-generation Pentium

PCs as more vendorsmake use of high-speed buses, enhancedbidirectional I/O ports,and fast SCSI-baseddisk subsystems.

Dropping a 66-MHz superscalarprocessor into an architectureoriginally designed around the8086/8088 chip and an 8-bit I/Obus is like putting a Ferrari engineinto a Model-T chassis; The ma-chine moves forward, but it doesn't exact-ly purr. "Pentium raises the ante for all sub-systems," says Larry Shintaku, an R&Dproject manager for Hewlett-Packard inSunnyvale, California. To complicate matters, the software environment ispoised for change: A half-dozen 32-bit operating systems are set to com-pete on Intel-based systems, and downsizing from host systems is pushingmicrocomputers into new and more demanding roles. By borrowing designconcepts from mainframes, minicomputers, and workstations—and bypioneering some entirely new ones—vendors are devising next-genera-tion PC compatibles that are significantly advancing the state of the artof microcomputers.

Nowhere is this more evident than in servers. The Pentium is so power-ful that it outruns some mainframes in raw compute speed, yet if it's strappedinto a conventional PC design, the resulting system won't provide the per-formance or robusmess needed for it to be the center of an enterprise network.To boost critical I/O speed, engineers are using new bus designs and stor-age subsystems. Equally important, they are harnessing techniques suchas redundancy, error correction, and predictive diagnostics to give 80x86 sys-tems the reliability and manageability typical of hosts.

The first Pentium systems don't take full advantage of the new CPU. Aswith the transition from 386 to 486 systems, old designs are being adapted foruse with the faster processor. But in the next year, a growing number of"true" Pentium systems will appear.

The New High End

Initial Pentium systems will be richly configured because vendors assumethat the first, most eager buyers are less cost sensitive. According to TonyTong, product marketing manager for motherboard producer Elitegroupi Computer Systems (Fremont, CA), Intel's reference design for Pentium ma-

® chines "uses higher-performance, higher-cost components and reinforces

><

=)

S JULY 1993 BYTE 81

Cover Story

What Makes a Real Pentium System?

Server and Desktop:H%h-speedserial portls)

Server and Desktop:EPP or ECPparallel port(s)

Desktop:

Graphics acceleratoron local bus

Server and Desktop:Built-in SCSI-2

ServerEISA or MicroChannel slots

Desktop:

ISA, EISA, or MicroChannel slots

Server:PCI slots

Desktop:PCI orVL-Bus slots

Server:

Parity-checkingor ECC memorywith 64-bitinterface

Desktop:Parity-checkingmemory with32-or 64-bitinterface

Desktop:

Sound chip or DSP

an attitude that these will be sexy, no-holds-barred systems."

For example, Pentium systems may of-fer VRAM-based (video RAM) graphicsaccelerators, built-in SCSI-2 connectors,CD-ROM drives, or multimedia supportvia DSPs (digital signal processors) or ded-icated audio/video chips. In fact, the ar-rival of Pentium systems could herald anew baseline for how the market views a"standard" PC, because vendors will packthe systems with fancy features.

Whether these deluxe capabilities willmigrate down to the mass market as Pen-

tium systems becomemore common is opento question. NealMargulis of videochip manufacturer S3(Santa Clara, CA)says that by puttingsuch features into sys-tems now, vendorspush up volumes andmake the features lessexpensive. "Not muchof this stuff will getstripped out once itappears to be standardin Pentium systems,"he says. "Customerswill no longer want tobuy systems withoutit." Others argue thatgiven the price sensi-tivity of commodityPCs today, stripped-down Pentium ma-chines are bound to bemarketed in the fu-ture.

It is commonly as-sumed that the Pen-tium will find itsstrongest initial accep-tance as a server plat-form, but this maybe only partly true."In servers, the Pen-tium will be overkillfor some time," saysMark Carver, vicepresident of corporatestrategy at TricordSystems (Plymouth,MN), which never-theless plans to usethe Pentium in itsES5000 PowerFrameserver. Carver saysthat Pentium serverswill boost networkthroughput only ifthere are matchingimprovements in I/O performance.

On the other hand, database and otherapplication servers used in client/serverenvironments can benefit now from a fasterCPU and memory subsystem. "The Pen-tium is going to mean a lot more to mycustomers running SQL Server and Notesand Oracle on OS/2 than to my customersrunning NetWare," says Davis Fields, vicepresident of marketing for Parallan Com-puter (Mountain View, CA). Parallan,which is partly owned by IBM, designedthe superservers that are sold as the PS/2Models 195 and 295.

Most of the initial Pentium systems arebased on upgradable designs in which theprocessor/memory complex may be opti-mized for the Pentium, but the balance ofthe system is generic to 386 or 486 imple-mentations. 'The first generation of 486systems were patched solutions—a 486CPU slapped into a box optimized for the386," says Jim Mathios, an R&D projectmanager for HP. "The same thing will hap-pen with the Pentium: Right now, every-body is gluing together less-than-optimalsystems based on 486 designs." By theend of 1993 or early 1994, however, cus-tomers will start to see what Mathios calls"proper" Pentium systems—machines de-signed from the ground up around the Pen-tium.

Real Pentium Systems

How to define a "real" Pentium system isfar from obvious. One criterion might be acompletely 64-bit design, but this is im-plausible for technical and economic rea-sons; for example, there's no rationale fora 64-bit version of the ISA/EISA bus. Whyadd the complexity and cost if some com-mon add-in devices—modems, for in-stance—can't take advantage of it?

Instead, the Pentium standard will like-ly combine multiple buses, fast interfaces,and a higher degree of integration on themotherboard than 486 systems. Desktopsystems will include accelerated graphics,stereo audio, and other multimedia fea-tures. Servers will likely offer high-relia-bility features, diagnostics, and systemmanagement.

One element that may set Pentium sys-tems apart from their predecessors is theirmemory subsystem. The chip's 64-bitmemory interface now operates at 60 and66 MHz. At these speeds, today's DRAMsrequire an external cache to keep theprocessor fed with code and data. Mostsystems will use caches of 256 KB or larg-er—probably built from synchronousSRAM (static RAM) chips—to ensure hitrates above 90 percent (see "New MemoryArchitectures to Boost Performance" onpage 86).

With a cache hit rate this high, the pathfrom cache to main memory may not needto be wider than 32 bits; HP estimates thatthe incremental performance from using64-bit DRAM could be as little as 5 per-cent, because the wider bus will help onlywhen there is a cache miss. Given that 64-bit memory can be configured and ex-panded only in multiples of 8 MB, a 5 per-cent performance gain may not justify thereduction in RAM flexibility.

But Tom Benoit, business developmentmanager for motherboard maker Micronics

82

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Cover story

8 bits -

(Fremont, CA), takes a different view.■'Anything with a 32-bit memory interfaceisn't a real Pentium system," he says. Mi-cronics has implemented 64-bit memoryon its Pentium motherboards because itadds no incremental cost, Benoit says,adding that even a 5 percent performancedelta can make a big difference to high-end users.

As for emerging RAM architectures,vendors are taking a wait-and-see attitude.For now, traditional hierarchical cache de-signs can bridge the processor/memorybandwidth gap and cost less to implement.But systems will eventually need fasterDRAM to accommodate cache misses.

Hierarchical Buses

Another defining element of realPentium systems will be the useof a local or mezzanine bus. Alocal bus is a direct extension ofthe processor's lines and oper-ates on the same clock, like theVESA (Video Electronics Stan-dards Association) local buswith the 486. A mezzanine busis conceptually between a localbus and an I/O bus: Its lines arebuffered from the processor's,and its clock can be proportion-al to the CPU's (i.e., one-half orone-third the speed). "A fasterbus is implicit in any systemsold today, 486 or above," saysElitegroup's Tong. "The bene-fits are obvious: For almost noincremental cost, you get muchbetter performance."

Intel is pushing vendors toadopt its PCI (Peripheral Com-ponent Interconnect) specifica-tion and chip set for a mezza-nine bus in Pentium systems,and most vendors believe thetwo will become tightly linked.PCI is now specified at 32 bitsand operates at half the speed ofthe Pentium's external clock.The new PCI 2.0 revision addssupport for 64-bit addressingand 3.3-V implementations, aswell as the first definition of aPCI connector slot for add-incards. Use of PCI among sys-tem makers will get a boost latethis year when VLSI Technol-ogy becomes a second sourcefor a Pentium-PCI chip set.

However, unless PCI also be-comes a factor in the 486 mar-ket, it could become, as one wagput it, "the next EISA: a serverarchitecture with limited pene-

tration." In other words, if PCI is too close-ly associated with the Pentium, and if Pen-tium volumes stay small compared to the486's, the market for PCI add-ins won'tbe large enough to attract third-party de-velopers. Vendors say that another sup-plier besides Intel needs to deliver PCIsupport for the 486, but none has yet com-mitted.

The alternative to PCI is VESA's VL-Bus, which has gained wide use in the 486world. Opti (Santa Clara, CA) has a chipset that supports the Pentium and VL-Bus,and it may prove to be a lower-cost solu-tion than PCI because of the large num-ber of inexpensive VL-Bus controllers al-ready available.

Like PCI, VL-Bus is currently speci-

The PC, circa 1986

CPU

k ,

1

Memory 1

32 bits

ISA bus (16 bits)

Serial/parallel | I Video | | IDE | Expansion slots

(modems, NICs,SCSI)

Hie PC, circa 1993

Memory

>

32 bitsor 64 bits

CPU 1

32 bitsor 64 bits

Local bus

8 bits -

Graphics I ! IDEaccelerator I or SCSI

16-blt ISA or 32-bit EISA/IVICA

T

T

Serial/parallel

Expansion slots(modems, NICs,multimedia cards)

The trend in PC design is to move functions off the general-purpose ISA busand onto wider, specialized buses tied to the speed of the CPU. ISA's 8-bitinterface and 8-MHz clock create a bottleneck for all peripheral functions.By contrast, today's systems have 32- or 64-bit paths from CPU tomemory and 32- or 64-bit local buses for speedy subsystems such as videoand storage. Today's systems also use ISA for slower I/O and to maintainbackward compatibility.

fied at 32 bits, but the pending 1.1 speci-fication will provide support for 64 bits.Waqas Khan, senior product marketingmanager for Opti, says that the companystarted with VL-Bus support for Pentium"because there are controllers available,so people could get machines right now."By comparison, he says, there is an "ex-treme shortage" of controllers and add-insfor PCI, although many are scheduled forintroduction in upcoming months.

The major criticism of VL-Bus is that itis not as robust as PCI and may run out ofgas above 50 MHz because its timing wasdesigned for 40 MHz or below. "PCI hasdone a better job of addressing what a lo-cal bus needs to be," says a senior designengineer at a leading system maker. SinceVL-Bus is so closely tied to the486, glue logic is needed to im-plement it as a mezzanine bus forthe Pentium.

Only two of the systems thatwere tested by the BYTE Labuse the VL-Bus. Some use a pro-prietary local bus for video andnone use PCI. Some, includingCompaq and NCR, say they arecommitted to eventually imple-menting PCI.

However, for low-speed func-tions, such as serial I/O with miceand modems, you don't needanything more than the low-costISA bus. Ahmet Houssein, di-rector of engineering for the net-works and servers product groupat Zenith Data Systems (BuffaloGrove, IL), notes that ISA offersa larger choice of option cardsthan newer buses. On the otherhand, designers might be able toeliminate an ISA bus entirely byusing only VL-Bus or PCI andattaching one of the emergingserial I/O schemes to it for usewith slower devices. The PCI 2.0specification also includes ashared slot that allows you to in-stall either an ISA or a PCI card.

EISA is a different story. Mi-cronics' Benoit believes that Pen-tium servers will typically in-clude EISA slots. "Servers needeight or more slots, and you can'tput that many on VL or PCI," hesays, adding that while customershave balked at the price of EISAin the past, it's relatively lessexpensive in a Pentium system.

Others are less sure. Carl Am-dahl, chairman and chief techni-cal officer for superserver makerNetFrame Systems (Milpitas,

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Cover story

New Memory Architectures to Boost Performance

TOM R. HALFHILL

One of the system bottlenecks ex-posed by high-speed processorslike the Pentium is the interface to mainmemory. This interface is the most cru-cial pathway in the entire computer, be-cause it's responsible for carrying a con-stant flow of program instructions anddata between memory chips and theCPU. If memory or the pathway failsto keep pace with the CPU's insistentrequests, the CPU stalls in a wait stateand valuable processing time is lost.

Today's DRAM chips—variouslyknown as asynchronous, page-mode, orgeneric DRAMs—are constrained byboth their internal architecture and theirinterface to the CPU's memory bus.DRAM architecture hasn't changed sig-nificantly since 1974; neither has thememory interface in desktop PCs, ex-cept that memory buses have grownwider—from 8 bits on the 8088 to 64bits on the Pentium. Although widerbuses have increased the available rawbandwidth, throughput still lags behindthe spiraling demands of faster micro-processors.

More and more PCs now bridge thegap by using high-speed SRAM (staticRAM) chips to cache traffic betweenthe CPU and DRAMs. A typical 486 orPentium system might have 256 KB ofSRAM cache. But SRAM is much cost-lier than DRAM, and boosting cachebeyond 256 KB yields a diminishingrate of return.

To get around these limitations, sev-eral new technologies have been devel-oped. Most of these technologies re-quire new types of DRAMs, but two ofthem attack the memory interface prob-lem. It's not clear at this point whichwill become the new DRAM standard.All of them cost about 15 percent morethan generic DRAM, but even so, they

can reduce the overall cost of a systemby eliminating the SRAM cache and as-sociated controller chips. This can alsoresult in a smaller motherboard that con-sumes less power. These are importantconsiderations for portable systems.

Enhanced DRAM. EDRAM, thebrainchild of Ramtron (ColoradoSprings, CO), is the only new DRAMthat is now shipping in volume. It takesan evolutionary approach by integrat-ing a small SRAM cache with a fastcore of otherwise generic DRAM. EachEDRAM chip has 2 Kb of 15-nanosec-ond SRAM and 4 Mb of 35-ns DRAM.

Ramtron's benchmarks show anEDRAM-equipped machine outper-forming a comparable system withgeneric DRAM and an SRAM cache,unless the application program fits com-pletely inside the cache. In that case,EDRAM delivers about the same per-formance as the other system. Ramtronsays it already has 44 EDRAM cus-tomers and that EDRAMs are going intoeverything from desktop PCs and work-stations to laser printers and copiers.However, none of the first Pentium sys-tems use EDRAM.

Rivals criticize EDRAM for beingsingle-sourced. Ramtron says it is seek-ing second sources. Without the pricecompetition and redundant supply fos-tered by multiple sources, some ven-dors are reluctant to adopt EDRAM.

Cache DRAM. CORAM, invented byMitsubishi, is similar to EDRAM. It in-tegrates an SRAM cache with either 4Mb or 16 Mb of DRAM. AlthoughCDRAM's on-board cache is larger (16Kb versus 2 Kb), the DRAM is slower(70 ns versus 35 ns). But CDRAM'son-board SRAM can be used as either acache or a buffer, depending on whetherthe application requires serial or ran-dom access to the data.

When retrieving data serially—forexample, to refresh a bit-mappedscreen—CDRAM can prefetch the data

from its DRAM core into the SRAMbuffer and thus improve performance. Infact, Mitsubishi claims that CDRAM,which is single-ported, is faster for suchapplications than dual-ported VRAM(video RAM) is. The company says aCDRAM-based PC will run as fast asa comparable machine with DRAM anda 256-KB secondary SRAM cache.

Mitsubishi is the sole source forCDRAM, which is now being rampedup to volume production. However, Mit-subishi says chips will also be availablefrom NEC and perhaps another company.

Synchronous DRAM. SDRAM is an-other evolutionary alternative, and it isattracting the widest support amongsemiconductor manufacturers. SDRAMchips are coming later this year or in1994 from Mitsubishi, NEC, Samsung,Texas Instruments, and nearly everyother major DRAM player. To ensurethat SDRAM chips are interchangeable,a standard is being developed by theJEDEC (Joint Electronic Device Engi-neering Council).

Unlike today's asynchronousDRAMs, SDRAMs exchange data withthe CPU in sync to an external clocksignal and are designed to run at the fullspeed of the CPU/memory bus withoutimposing wait states. For instance, TI's16-Mb SDRAM, which the companywill be sampling late this year, is ratedfor speeds of up to 100 MHz. That'sfast enough for the 66-MHz Pentium,with enough headroom to accommo-date even faster processors.

SDRAM performs best when trans-ferring data serially. TI says it's idealfor applications like word processing,spreadsheets, and multimedia. But forprograms that depend heavily on ran-dom access (e.g., databases), a cache-type memory like CDRAM or EDRAMwill probably outperform SDRAM.

Rambus DRAM. RDRAM, developedby Rambus (Mountain View, CA), takesa more revolutionary approach to the

CA), says EISA is "not appropriate" formission-critical servers, citing its lack ofboth scalability and support for paritychecking. By contrast, he says, NetFramecan use an unlimited number of its pari-

ty-checking, 25-MBps MPSA (Multi-processor Parallel Server Architecture)buses in a single system.

Tricord Systems shares Amdahl's cri-tique, using its own bus design to optimize

performance and reliability: CPU, mem-ory, and disks are on a separate high-speedinterconnection, while off-the-shelf cardssuch as network interfaces plug into EISAslots. Similarly, Parallan uses a high-speed

se BVXE JULY 1993

Cover Stoiy

DRAM-Microprocessor Performance Gap

160

140120100806040200

•

CPU

DRAM

8080,

8086

75 76 77 78 79 '80 'SI '82 '83 '84 '85 '86 '87

'90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98

Comparing the relative speeds of microprocessors and memory chips necessarily requires someapples-and-oranges compromises, but no matter how these cim'es are plotted, the results aresimilar: CPU performance is rapidly outstripping DRAM perf ormance. While the CPU curveclimbs steeply, the DRAM cun'e remains almost flat.

memory-bandwidth problem. In additionto introducing a new type of memorychip, Rambus has reinvented the inter-face to the CPU.

RDRAM chips are vertically packaged,with all pins on one side. They exchangedata with the CPU over 28 wires that areno more than 12 centimeters long. Thebus can address up to 320 RDRAM chipsand is rated at 500 MBps, although 400 to450 MBps is more realistic. That com-pares to about 33 MBps for asynchro-nous DRAM.

RDRAM chips have no on-boardSRAM, but pages are cached by readingthe sense amplifiers. The controller em-ploys a new type of I/O cell, and the busrequires no extra glue logic. The chipscan be manufactured in the same plantsthat make generic DRAMs.

Rambus is now sampling 4-MbRDRAMs to major system vendors and isplanning for volume production this fall.A 16-Mb RDRAM is also in the works.Rambus has licensed its technology toFujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, and Toshiba.

RatnLink. This technology is the mostrevolutionary of all, but it is destined for

use further in the future than the others. Itconcentrates on the CPU/memory inter-face rather than the internal architecture ofthe memory chips. RamLink originatesfrom the IEEE, but many firms are in-volved in its development, including Ap-ple, Hewlett-Packard. TI, and all the ma-jor DRAM makers.

The technology is an offshoot of a re-cently adopted IEEE standard known asSCI (Scalable Coherent Interface), whichdefines a system architecture that en-compasses anywhere from one to 64,000microprocessors. RamLink is a memoryinterface with point-to-point connectionsarranged in a ring, like a network. Trafficon the ring is managed by a memory con-troller that sends messages to the DRAMchips, which act as nodes. Other nodescan be ROM chips, flash ROMs, drives,or even additional RamLink rings.

Hans Wiggers of HP Labs, who ischairman of the IEEE RamLink commit-tee, says that RamLink could run as fastas 500 MHz or even 1 GHz. But Ram-Link is .still years from reality. "Every-body says, 'Oh, this is very interesting,'but nobody has committed any designs

to it yet," Wiggers says.

Even if you disregard RamLink andfocus on the near-term contenders, it'sunclear whether EDRAM, CDRAM,SDRAM, or RDRAM will become thenew memory standard. "I wouldn't eventouch predicting which of these will bethe long-term winner," says Sherry Gar-ber, an analyst at In-Stat (Scottsdale, AZ)."These things just haven't been out longenough. It takes a lot of momentum toreplace a known product."

System makers are reluctant to adoptany of these alternatives until an obviousleader emerges. Nobody wants to builda computer with RAM that's not in wideproduction and that users can't readilyfind when they want to expand memory."It's really hard for a clone maker to goout on a limb," notes Steven Przybylski,a consultant in San Jose, California, whospecializes in system architectures.

Przybylski says that although the newDRAMs all command about the same 15percent premium over existing DRAMs,prices could swing radically as produc-tion ramps up. "Volume is everything," hesays. "What makes them so expensive isthat no one is buying them."

The new DRAMs may filter slowlyinto the market by filling niches. Theyoffer clear advantages for certain em-bedded applications and may replaceVRAM on video cards. As volumes riseand prices fall, they could move graduallyinto main memory.

Another possibility is that an evolu-tionary design such as SDRAM will fillnear-term needs for faster memory in Pen-tium-class systems. Later in the decade, asprocessor speeds approach 1 GHz, a rev-olutionary approach such as RDRAM orRamLink might rescue users from yet an-other memory bottleneck.

It's also possible that no single solu-tion will prevail. In-Stat's Garber notesthat the worldwide DRAM market wasworth $8.5 billion last year. "That's bigenough to support more than one DRAMarchitecture," she says.

Tom R. Halfliill is a BYTE senior news editor.You can reach him on BIX as "thatfhill."

internal bus for CPU, memory, and SCSI-attached disks and offers dual Micro Chan-nel slots for network interfaces, WAN(wide-area network) connections, faxmodems, and tape drives.

Motherboard Integration

Pentium systems will have an even high-er level of motherboard integration than486 machines now have. "The more inte-gration, the lower the price and the higher

the reliability," says Tom Mays, seniorvice president of NCR's general-purposeproduct group in Dayton, Ohio.

Mays projects that within about 12 to18 months, users will see single-board

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Cover Story

Revisiting the Lowly I/O Ports

T our system has a sizzling processor and anarchitecture enhanced to match lis horse-power. But when you print a document, thedata is saueezed through a parallel port at ameasly 150 KBps. Clearly, something is wrongwith this picture.

With the arrival of the Pentium, system mak-ers are taking a hard look at serial and paral-lel I/O. These ports are now seeing increaseduse—for attaching not only printers but alsodevices ranging from tape drives to networkinterfaces—and are quickly becoming a per-formance bottleneck.

Many vendors are now adopting port tech-nok^es that dramatically boost I/O port speed.The new ports are also smarter, opening upnew avenues of capability and easing the bur-den of configuration. Some of these ports willb^n appearing in systems this year.

Faster Parallel

Improvements to the standard parallel portbegan a few years ago when Xircom, a makerof parallel-port network interfaces, helped In-tel define a faster specification. The EnhancedParallel Port, or EPP, was supported in Intel's386SL chip set and became common in note-book computers. It raised throughput from150 KBpsto2MBps.

Hewlett-Packard was also interested in rais-ing parallel-port speed to boost LaserJet per-formance, and it devised a technology calledZippy that runs between 2 and 5 MBps. Zippyis bidirectional, which means the printer cantalk back to the PC to report job status or er-

ror conditions. After Microsoft joined forceswith HP, the technology was renamed Extend-ed Capabilities Port, or ECP. Now an IEEE com-mittee considering parallel-port enhancementshas decided to roll EPP and ECP together intoa standard called 1284.

Support for IEEE 1284 parallel ports is forth-coming from chip-set and BIOS vendors, aswell as from HP and other printer and scannermakers. The impact on system cost is expect-ed to be negligible. Microsoft will add supportfor bidirectionality in the next version of Win-dows; for example, improved Print Managerdialog boxes might inform you that a printer isout of paper or low on toner.

Serial Upside

Engineers see even more opportunity in serialI/O than in parallel I/O: It uses less physicalspace; presents fewer electrical problems,such as cross talk; and scales up more easilyto optical media. Two technologies may gainwide use in the next few years: Access.busfrom Philips Semiconductor and Serial Busfrom the IEEE.

Access.bus is like AD6 (Apple Desktop Bus),"only much better," says Denis Pavillard, anengineer at LogKech. K's faster than ADB andsupports more devices. The technology, origi-nally developed by Signetics, lets you connectmore than 100 serial devices, such as key-boards, mice, trackballs, and digitizers, to asingle 100-Kbps port, eliminating the need formultiple connectors on the back of the sys-tem. Devices identify themselves and can be

"hot-plugged" (i.e., connected while the systemis running). DEC is already using Access.bus inits Maxine workstation, and Logitech has de-livered a compliant mouse.

Higher up on the performance scale is Ser-ial Bus, also known as IEEE P1394. Serial Busis rated now for 100 Mbps, but someday itmight scale up to 400 Mbps; with speeds likethat, it's cleariy intended to be more than amouse port. In fact. Serial Bus is meant to bea general-purpose interface that can replace arange of I/O types, including ADB, RS-232, RS-422, parallel, and SCSI. According to MichaelTeener, a plumbing architect for Apple andformer chairman of the P1394 committee, "Itwill be the standard I/O interconnect of thefuture, beyond Apple and even beyond com-puters."

Like Access.bus, Serial Bus will require onlya single inexpensive connector on the back ofa system; attached devKes need no DIP switch-es or jumpers, and they will identify and con-figure themselves dynamically. Unlike wHhSCSI, a chain of Serial Bus devices won't needaddresses or terminators, yet the performanceis high enough to match that of SCSI-2.

Members of the IEEE P1394 group includeApple, IBM, and NCR; Apple has reportedly al-ready developed Serial Bus controller chipsthat it will license to other companies. Teenerconfirms that hardware and software proto-types are now up and running and promisesthat "real" hardware will ship in 1994. Pentiumand PowerPC systems are ideal candidates fora Serial Bus port.

computers based on either the 486 or thePentium with SCSI-2, DSPs, video codecs,and LAN interfaces on-board. Some ofthese components will show up even soon-er in early Pentium systems.

SCSI is a given. "It's clear that SCSI-2has completely won for any kind of high-performance systems," says Amdahl. "Thenotion of using IDE just isn't right in these[systems]." IDE is closely tied to the ISAbus and suited for a small number of localdevices, whereas SCSI supports more de-vices at greater distances and with moreflexibility. In servers, and perhaps even insome desktops, single- and dual-SCSI con-

trollers will be tied to the local bus for thehighest possible throughput. Slower de-vices, such as tape drives and CD-ROMs,might be hung off yet another SCSI port onthe EISA bus or Micro Channel.

Networking is less certain, because stan-dards are in flux. Zenith's Houssein be-lieves that integrating a network interfacemakes sense in a desktop or portable sys-tem but not in a server; since the vendordoesn't know how the server will be net-worked, open slots are provided instead.But even on-board Ethernet, which hassteadily gained in popularity, may becometoo limiting as new networking schemes.

such as Fast Ethernet and FDDI over cop-per, come on-line.

One of the best opportunities for inte-gration in high-priced Pentium systems ismultimedia. Intel is actively promoting theincorporation into Pentium systems of anAnalog Devices AD 1848 sound chip, thesame device used in Compaq's BusinessAudio and Microsoft's Sound System. TheAD 1848 offers a basic interface betweenreal-world analog signals and the com-puter's digital format (i.e., 16-bit A/D andD/A conversion at rates of up to CD-qual-ity 44.1 kHz). However, user functionssuch as voice annotation of documents or

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Cover story

spoken attachments to E-mail messagesmust be provided through software, andadding music functions requires addition-al hardware—either a dedicated synthe-sizer chip or a programmable DSP.

Micronics' Benoit isn't ready to takethe plunge into multimedia. "We are re-luctant to put anything on the motherboardthat will be obsolete within a year," hesays. "Sound and video are still goingthrough too many changes right now tointegrate on the motherboard." While ba-sic parts such as the AD 1848 won't bemade obsolete, the functions wrappedaround them are indeed in evolution. Forexample, dissatisfaction with the qualityof synthesis music is leading quicklyto the adoption of wave-table audio, andvideo-compression standards are in flux. Inthe long run, these functions will likely beprovided by a DSP coupled with softwaretailored to specific multimedia tasks, andmakers of commodity systems don't yetsee a strong-enough market demand towarrant the added cost of a DSP.

Graphics accelerators are also likely tobe integrated, but only in desktop systemswhere imaging, desktop publishing, CAD,and other graphics-intensive applicationsneed the extra horsepower. Intelligent

graphics controllers (e.g., bit blitters) arelikely to be attached to the local bus, asthey are now in many 486s. S3's Margulissays that because early Pentium adopters"won't be price-sensitive," he expects atypical graphics subsystem to include 2 to4 MB of high-performance VRAM, notless expensive DRAM. With 4 MB of dis-play memory, a system can achieve 1024by 768 resolution in 24-bit full color.

The Next Big Thing

Held back for years by a lack of standardsand software support, SMP (symmetricmultiprocessing) is one of those technolo-gies that are often described as the NextBig Thing. With the arrival of the Pen-tium, Microsoft Windows NT, and Sun-Soft's Solaris 2.0, the era of SMP mayhave finally dawned.

George White, president of Corollary(Irvine, CA) and a longtime promoter ofmultiprocessing, says that the Pentium willcause "RISC bigots" to take a fresh look atIntel. "We expect multiprocessing to get abig boost from people looking for higherperformance and losing their bias againstIntel," he says. Siemens Nixdorf has com-mitted to using Corollary's C-Bus II, a400-MBps backplane that can support up

to 10 Pentium CPUs. Four or five compa-nies are expected to demonstrate C-Bus IIsystems at Fall Comdex this year.

Some people consider Corollary's ap-proach too proprietary, arguing that SMPwon't become commonplace until it's sup-ported by major chip-set vendors. Yet themultiprocessing architectures used by su-perservers, from the Compaq Systempro tosystems from Parallan and Tricord, arealso homegrown and, in many cases, notreally symmetrical. Corollary's licensabledesigns, C-Bus II chips, and support forthem in Windows NT could expand theuse of SMP into a broader market.

However, Intel has also complicated thepicture with its rumored P54C, a kind of"overdrive" Pentium that, instead of dis-abling the existing chip (as does the 486OverDrive), would work alongside it in amultiprocessing fashion. Intel will posi-tion this solution as a quick and easy wayto boost performance on the desktop, ratherthan as a scalable multiprocessing archi-tecture.

"The concern among MP people is thatthis could give multiprocessing with IntelCPUs a bad name," says White. While theP54C requires system makers to simplyadd a socket, it won't boost performance

NOONENOTICEDTHEGUAfiAMOLEONHISTIL

Cover Stoiy

except for multithreaded programs in en-vironments such as NT or OS/2. It isn't areal SMP solution, because the chips sharethe same bus and external cache.

Another kind of multiprocessing maybe redundant designs for improved faulttolerance. Says Opti's Khan: "People haveunderstood this technology for years, butwith the extreme price competition, theyhaven't implemented it in PCs. The Pen-tium will be the platform of choice for do-ing things like dual-processor multipro-cessing for reliability."

Brian Croxon, vice president of Zenith'snetwork and server products group, pre-dicts that Pentium systems will be designedto absorb host functions previously un-known in PCs. "You are going to see theability to do remote diagnostics, automat-ic dial-out, and system-level network man-agement capability," he says.

HP's Mathios agrees. "Customers arelooking for high availability. This leads tothings like redundancy, ECC [error check-ing and correction] memory, disk arrays,and predictive diagnostics," he says. "Andthese things start driving the system ar-chitecture."

Leading the charge in this arena are thesuperserver companies. For instance, Par-

allan now delivers ECC memory and par-ity on all buses, and it offers a sophisti-cated monitoring and diagnostics capabil-ity. "Our system maintenance is actuallybetter than what's available for main-frames, because it uses a GUI front end,"says Parallan's Fields. The next release ofthe system management software will sup-port the SNMP protocol, which will allowParallan servers to operate in heterogene-ous network management systems. Tri-cord and NetFrame servers provide similarlevels of data integrity and diagnostics.

The Pentium itself will also help in thisregard, because it incorporates several newdiagnostic capabilities. On-chip perfor-mance-monitoring registers maintain sta-tistical information on cache hits, bus trans-actions, and average processor waits. Incompliance with the Joint Testability andAutomation Group standard, internal Pen-tium registers can be read directly, whichshould help in debugging and testing sys-tems. And the Pentium's FRC (functionalredundancy-checking) mode lets two chipsrun side-by-side and compare their resultsin real time. Unfortunately, FRC modedoesn't indicate a resolution in case of anerror, so it serves to flag—but not solve—data integrity failures.

Investing in Pentium

The first generation of Pentium PCs doesnot yet take full advantage of the newCPU. If you must buy a Pentium-basedsystem today, protect your investment byseeking out one with a PCI or VL-Bus forvideo or disk I/O. A 64-bit memory inter-face and a 32-bit I/O bus are nice bonuses.

However, it's probably worth waitinguntil the rest of the architecture catchesup with the chip and until the operatingsystems that take full advantage of thePentium are available and robust. And ifyou're not sure of your needs but are plan-ning to buy a 486 system anyway, consid-er one with a P24T socket on-board (toaccommodate Intel's unannounced Pen-tium "overdrive" processor), with the un-derstanding that when the chip that plugsinto it is delivered, it won't give you thesame performance levels as a native 64-bit Pentium system. ■

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

BYTE executive editor Rich Malloy. senior newseditors Gene Srnarte and Tom R. Halfhill. andnews editors Ed Perralore. Dave Andrews, andPat Waurzyniak also contributed to this article.

Andy Reinhardt is BYTE's West Coast bureauchief. You can reach him on BIX as "areinhardt."

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Pentium PCs! Power to Burn

RAYMOND GA COTEAND BARRY NANCE

The first afternoon I spent with aroomful of new Pentium sys-tems took me back 10 to 15years—roaring fans, specialcooling hardware, and sturdy tank-likecases that must be kept closed or theelectronics inside will surely melt. It isdifficult to view the first round of Pen-tium-based systems as microcomput-ers. They blur the already indistinct linebetween microcomputers, supermicro-computers, and minicomputers.

BYTE ran preliminary tests on nineservers and two desktop systems. Mostof the units were based on existing de-signs. All the vendors had been privyto the Pentium specifications for sometime. This allowed them to build flex-ibility into their latest 486 designs toaccommodate the Pentium. To movetheir systems up to the Pentium, ven-dors employed either a daughtercardor a processor card approach. The de-signs of these cards vary; they can con-tain the processor, cache, DMA, andmemory with a 64-bit interface, or theycan provide simply the processor andsome support circuitry with a 32-bitinterface.

The ALR Evolution V-Q was theonly machine we looked at that imple-ments the Pentium on the motherboard.It and the NCR System 3360 are theonly two machines that feature com-pletely new system designs to supportthe Pentium.

All these machines are hot, in a veryreal physical sense. A 66-MHz Pentium requires about 15 Wjust to keep itself running—never mind the high-speed support-ing electronics immediately surrounding it. The Pentium maynot be the first chip to have its own private fan mounted direct-ly to it, but it is the first such chip to reach the mass market.All the Pentium systems BYTE examined use at least a heat

The first

Pentium systemsoffer significantperformancegains over the486, but theycould do better

Zenith offerings, use both a heat sink and a fanmounted directly to the IC. Newly designed sys-tems such as the multiprocessor NCR System 3360incorporate separate air channels and pathwaysthat guarantee processor cooling. Between thesetwo extremes are systems such as the Acer Acer-Frame 3000MP, which uses a large conductivecooling plate, and the IBM Model 95 66-MHzPentium Server, which has a row of squirrel-cagefans mounted near the processor.

As processor speed and complexity increase, sotoo does the need for raw electrical power. Pentiumsystems tend to have large power suppUes—400 Wor more is not uncommon. The power supply itselfproduces its own heat problems, but most vendors have alreadydealt with this problem in their fastest 486 designs by separatingthe power supply and its cooling fan from the rest of the system.

All the systems we looked at adequately isolate the powersupply's cooling airflow. However, heat is likely to become moreof a problem as the Pentium becomes readily available and clone

sink, as Intel recommends. Some, including the Compaq and manufacturers place this year's electronics in last year's cases.

34. BYTE JULY 1993

Cover story

Hewlett-Packard

Zenith Z-Server LT466XE Model

Acer AcerFrame 3000MP

Look for designs thatallow adequate air-flow through the sys-tem; Intel recom-mends a minimum of400 feet per minute.

On the Server Side

We ran the Novellfile I/O server bench-marks under variousnetwork loads. Al-though there are sig-nificant differencesamong the systemsin the group, mostof their results werewithin shouting dis-tance of one anoth-er. Cost becomesan obvious determi-nant when evaluatingthese machines. Based on pi icing avail-able at press time, expect to pay at least$8500 for a base-model Pentium server.

iDeskprsS

We ran the random and sequential fileI/O tests five times for each server. Thebenchmark activity was the only LANtraffic during eachtest. The networkconnections consist-ed of two Thomas-Conrad 4045 token-ring cards, each con-taining 128 KB ofon-board memory.The IBM Model 9566-MHz PentiumServer used two Mi-cro Channel token-ring cards and wasthe only server thatdidn't use Thomas-Conrad adapters.

The token-ringspeed was 16 Mbps.The LAN was split

v.?

. Unisys PW^ Advantage Plus S606

into two ring segments, each with 50 work-stations. For the tests involving an oddnumber of workstations (25 and 75), onering segment had one more workstationactive than the other. One of the more te-dious aspects of the test was assigningworkstations. We had to ensure that eachring participating in the test had an equalnumber of clients. The actual tests consistof sequential and random workstation I/O.Each file I/O test is run on 10 2-MB files,reading and writing 512 bytes at a time.

What is most interesting about thesetests is what they reveal about the need tobalance total system performance with thePentium processor. The BYTE bench-marks allow you to configure a "processorload," which attempts to keep the server'sprocessor busy while the clients performthe timing tests. Run-ning the benchmarkson each server withand without proces-sor loading producednegligible changesin the throughputresults. This indicatesthat our tests wereexercising the harddrive subsystem morethan the actual Pen-tium chip. That's noreal surprise, but it'sa point to be remem-bered when deter-mining if you need aPentium system.

Even more tellingwere the results ofthe Pentium-basedsystems compared tothose of the Zenith Z-Server LT 466XE Model 500 with a 50-MHz 486. (The Zenith Pentium modulewas delivered too late to be included inthe network tests.) The 486-based Zenithoutperi'ormed the DECpc 560ST and IBMModel 95, and it didn't do that poorlyagainst the other systems, either. Again,this points out that overall performance ismuch more important than simply the per-formance of a single component.

These systems would have undoubtedlyexhibited completely different rankings ifthey had been tested with a more compute-intensive environment such as SQL Serv-er under OS/2. However, for a strict fileserver, our numbers indicate you can dojust as well without a Pentium as you canwith one.

Desktop Power

Two of the first Pentium systems we eval-uated—the Unisys and the Compaq—are

JULY 1993 BYTE »S

Cover Sto

System memory with 128-bit interface

256-KB secondary cache

Pentium processor with heat sinic and fan

being marketed as desktop machines, sowe tested them with the BYTE low-levelDOS and Windows benchmarks. The DOSCPU benchmarks show the Pentium sys-tems running at speeds of up to 13 timesthe throughput of a Compaq Deskpro386/33. However, overall system config-uration will drastically affect the perfor-mance of an actual application. The UnisysPW2 Advantage Plus 5606 system per-formed exceptionally well on the file I/Otests, but it was outclassed by the Com-paq Deskpro 5/66M system in raw CPUthroughput and video.

The Windows benchmarks show evenmore confusing results. The Unisys, whichuses a special pixel-caching video adapter,outstrips the Compaq for drawing indi-vidual pixels, and it maintains this advan-tage for bit-block transfers. However,drawing real-world items such as lines, el-lipses, and polygons is nowhere near asspeedy. Likewise, the Unisys system is 63percent quicker than the Compaq at se-quential file I/O tasks but nearly 31 percentslower at the random test.

Many of the discrepancies that thesetests show arise due to the number of dif-ferent caches throughout the system. First,the CPU and FPU tests show the speed ofthe system only while it's operating fromwithin the processor cache on the systemprocessor board. All the current BYTE

Isolated

power

supply

The ALR Evolution V-Qwas the only systemamong the 11 that BYTEexamined that had thePentium mounted onthe motherboard.

Acer took a uniqueapproach to dissipatingthe heat generated by thePentium in theAcerFrame 3000MP.A metal plate acts as aheat sink; it's thinenough to allow normalspacing of the expansionslots.

Compaq's TriFlexarchitecture allows itsexisting Deskpro systemdesign to accept thisPentium processor card.It places all the timing-critical components,such as cache and DMA,on the card.

Processorboard slots

The NCR System 3360 was designed as a multiprocessing Pentium system. The processor cards andmemory reside in their own compartment, at one end of which is a large fan that generates enoughairflow to keep the two processors cool.

96 BYTE JULY 1993

Why some software sellsmore than others.

Success. All softwaredevelopers strivefor it. Now, DonGall was on top ofthe world. Softwareprotection madeall the difference.Especially inEurope and Asia.Sales were four timesbetter than before. He isthe founding father ofSentinel — the guru ofsoftware success.

StrugglingSoftware Sales

One day, trekking throughthe coffee fields of Java,Don ran into his old collegebuddy Simon Seagull. "Don,my sales are well belowexpectations." Simonexplained his plight, "Mysoftware should sell likeyours, Don!" Yet despitecritical acclaim Simon'scompany, SimonSaysSoftware, teetered on afinancial tightrope. "What'syour seaet, Don?"

They spent hoursanalyzing potential problemsThey looked at everything.

TlK Key to the ProidemFinally, Don leaned backand asked the assumptivequestion, "What aboutprotection - are you usingSentinel?"

e IS wnai.'!

Nervously, Simon sippedhis coffee. His hands shakingas his eyes darted the room,"No. I didn't think Ineeded to."

Don's chair slidout from underhim and he crashedto the floor. Amazedin disbelief, Don cried, "YouWhat?!" Grabbing his tatteredscrapbook, Donpulled out photos, of his travels. "Ever

I ^fl^Q I ^^^^ Seoul?

l^Tlk " Prague? Anywhere?Ten bucks will buyyou anything, evenbootlegged copies of software."

Don^ Road to Success

Thumbing through thescrapbook, Don shared hisexperiences. "Back in the'80s, I was in your shoes -beaten, batteredand bruised."Simon listened."Then, after \a heart breaking ^trip around the irworld, I called the SoftwarePublishers Association (SPA).'

"I could hardly believeit. They told me developerslose billions of dollars eachyear Why? Illegally copiedsoftware, hi some countriesthere are nine pirated copiesfor each legal copy sold."

Simon was disgusted, "ft's justnot fair."

"That's why I committedmyself to solving thepiracy problem,"explained Don.Simon's eyes litup. "The dongle!"he shouted. Doncorrected him, "Not just anydongle — the dongle thatpaved the road to successfor over 10,000 developersworldwide — Sentinel."

Successful DevelopersUse Sentinel

Don pulled a stack of lettersout of his gunny sack. "AUof these people tell the samestory." Don read about asuccessful developer fromCalifornia who swears shewouldn't be in businesswithout Sentinel. Anothercompany says protection costsless than litigation, plusthey don't have tospend time andmoney supportingillegal users.

Others confessedthey wouldn't marketproducts internationallywithout protection.

The hours flew by, storyafter story, Simon learnedDon Gall's secret. To succeedis to protect. To protect is tosecure with Sentinel.

Most Advanced and WidelyUsed Dongles in the World

Backed by the world leaderin software protection.Rainbow Technologies, theSentinel Family of hardwarekeys is the most diverse andcomprehensive selectionavailable. For DOS, Wmdows,OS/2, Macintosh, LAN, UOTXand others. They're simple toinstall, and are the mostreliable and compatibleavailable.

Rainbow offers just-in-time delivery and the largesttechnical support andengineering staff in thesoftware protection industry.

Call Don Gall today fora free copy of "The SentinelGuide to SecuringSoftware." Or betteryet, ask him for a lowcost Sentinel EvaluationKit—complete mth aworking dongle!

CALL

800/852-8569

FOR YOUR FREE GUIDETO SECURING SOFTWARE

SEIUinEL

Securing the future of software

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

T E C H II 0 L 0 G I E S

9292 JERONIMO ROAD. IRVINE, C/\LIFORNIA 92718 . 714/ 454-2100 ■ fax 714/ 454-8557International offices are located in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

MKHJSOFTWINDOHS

© 1993 Rainbow Technologies, Inc. All produa names are rrademarks of their respective owners.

Circle 137 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 138).

Cover Story

DOS Benchmarks

Compaq Deskpro 5/66MUnisys PW2

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0

10 15 20 25 30 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

All results are Indexed, and higher numbers indicate better pertormance. For each index in the DOS tests, a Compaq Deskpro 386/33L running Compaq DOS 5.0 = 1.

The overall index is the average index of the individual tests. The BYTE low-level twnchmark suite identifies relative performance at the hardware level, breaking downperformance by system component. The results of these tests can help you to identify the relative performance of a given subsystem and to determine where performancebottlenecks may tie. For a complete description of these tests, see "BYTE's New Benchmarks: New Looks, New Numt)ers," August 1990 BYTE. The BYTE low-levelbenchmarks, version 2.4, are available in the byte.bmarks conference on BIX, or you can contact BYTE directly.

Unix Benchmarks

Compaq Deskpro 5/66MNCR 3360Unisys PW^Zenith Z-Server LT

Dhrystones

Exec!

01 23456789 10

Pipe Context Switch

Shell Scripts

Unix Overall

Compaq Deskpro 5/66MNCR 3360Unisys PW^Zenith Z-Server LT

All results are Indexed, and higher numbers indicate better performance. For each index in the Unix tests, a Sun Sparcstation IPC = 1. Theoverall index is the average index of the individual tests.

Our Unix tests show relative performance for double-precision arithmetic, the Dhrystone 2 benchmark, spawning a process (execl()), pipe-basedcontext switching, and running a shell script with eight concurrent scripts running. Unix benchmarks are available on Usenet, in the listings areaon BIX, or on disk.

Metaware compilerI SCO binary

Windows Benchmarks

Graphics

Memory

File I/O

Windows Overall

Compaq Deskpro 5/66MUnisys PW^

0 2 4 6 a 10 12 14 16 18 0

8 10 12 0

8

12 16 20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

All results are indexed, and higher numbers indicate better perfomiance. For each index in the Windows tests, a Compaq Deskpro 386/33L running Compaq DOS 5.0 andWindows 3.1 = 1. The overall index is the average index of the individual tests.

BYTE's Windows test suite measures system performance running Windows. It is divided into three categories: Graphics, which includes calls to GDI drawing routines: li^emoty,which measures the speed of memory access under Windows; and File I/O, which measures performance of the file system on disk.

98 BYTE JULY 1993

You've been waiting for a powerful opticalstorage drive that slides easily into any

standard half-height computerbay. And Pioneer engineers didit. Presenting the world's first5W half-height multifunction(rewritable/WORM) drive. The DE-UH7Wh

This feature packedoptical drive gives youeverything. Half-heightform factor, 53 msecaverage seek time, dust protection, SCSIinterface, and removable media with654 MBytes on a single 5Vi" optical disk.The multifunction capability allows use asan erasable, rewritable work-horse drive. And as aWORM (write onceread many) archiverfor mass storage.

Along with great features. Pioneercontinues to build reliability into everydrive. By improving existing technologyand reducing the number of parts weachieved an astounding 32,000 hoursmean-time between failures.

The DE-UH7W1 is availablein internal or external units.

Call Pioneer at 1-800-LASER-ON

for full power at half the size.

Pioneer New Media Technologies, Inc.

OPTICAL MEMORY SYSTEMS DIVISION,2265 E. 220th Street Long Beach, CA 90810

Circle 255 on Inquiry Card.

Cover Story

NetWare Benchmarks

KBps

7000

Random I/O

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

KBps

18000

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

12 25 50

Number of stations

75

100

AcerFrame 3000MP

IBM Model 95

DECpcSeOST

ALR ProVeisa V

ALR Evolution V-Q

Siemens Nixdorf PCE-5S

HP NetServer 5/60 LM

Z-Server LT*

Sequential I/O

■

1

i

1

■

1

1

■

1

i

1

H

1

1

■

1

if

1

■

1

1

12

25

50

Number of stations

75

100

• Zenith server tests run on 486/50 CPU.

On ttie networlt file I/O tests, worltstations open. read, and write files ontfie server using either sequential or random-access patterns. The fileI/O tests measure true server throughput; disk I/O speed is the mostimportant factor, but processing speed and network I/O performancealso contribute.

All servers are tested under NetWare 3.11. The figure shows theaggregate throughput for each server for each test. Note that the figureshows fo/a/throughput on the network—that is, the sum of the throughputseen by each client on the network.

benchmarks don't require hits in mainmemory. Conversely, the file I/O testshighlight differences in approaches to on-board disk caches as well as to the inter-face.

Tlie More, the Merrier

Beyond the promise of simply more speedlies the ability to gang Pentium processorsinto multiprocessing systems. We receivedtwo such systems for review: The AcerAcerFrame 3000MP and the NCR System3360. We were unable to pit these two sys-tems against each other, since the Acer-

Frame arrived with only one processorboard.

The NCR 3360 we received had twoPentium processor boards. NCR claims itwill deliver systems that support up to 16processors. This is a ground-up redesignthat NCR configures for either desktop orserver use. It includes custom memorymanagement chips, a custom local bus forvideo access, and the ability to providemultiple processor access to shared videomemory. This means that the video is nottied to a particular processor—whicheverprocessor board is free can update the dis-

play. This also leads to the potential, withstill unrealized software, of allowing dif-ferent processors to write to specific win-dows on the display.

NCR's use of a nonstandard local-busdefinition for the video means you'll belimited in your choice of video cards forthis machine. For server use, this is notmuch of a concern, and NCR claims it isseriously considering PCI (PeripheralComponent Interconnect) 2.0 for future it-erations of the 3360.

The 3360 points out the difference thata good compiler can make to performance.

continued

iOO BYTE JULY 1993

Crossplatfoniiseasily

New Timbuktu is tlie easiest way to networl( Macintosii and Windowscomputers, so you can share printers, files and screens.

Call today for a freedemonstration video:

1-800-998-7760 ext. 4.

I J

H MacUser ltl|^

PC Week labs Overall Score 4.2Macworld '^^'^"kLAN Times 5 Nodes

Moving information between Macin-tosh" and Windows™ computers used tobe quite a feat of skill. Let alone nerves.

But now there's Farallon's newTimbuktu" for Macintosh and Windows.

Timbuktu is the easiest way to createa peer-to-peer network. So, whetheryou're on a PC or Mac, you can shareexpensive peripherals like printers. Andexchange files quickly and easily.

You also get aunique benefit-remote control.Timbuktu can senda real-time, full-color

MICROSOFT®WINDOVS..COMmm£

It rure withNetWare

Power to the network:

picture of your screen over thenetwork so you can control andview it from another Mac orWindows PC. This lets you useyour network for new things likecollaboration and user support.

Of course, Timbuktu is easyto use and install. You don't need a dedi-cated gateway or server. And it workswith what you've got. Even other networkson NetWare or TCP/IR

For a free Timbuktuproduct demo video,just call. It's that easy.1-800-998-7760 ext.4!

*Call i-800^78*5075 for upgrades from Timbuktu and PtioneNET PC (previously AppleShare PC and PlioneNET Talk). Upgrades also available for SitkaTOPS and CartMHi 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 Online'^ or AppleLink* ID: Farallon. CompuServe* ID: 75410. 2702. imernet ID: Farallon@farallon.com.

Circle 87 on Inquiry Card.

Cover Story

PENTIUM SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS

These are the most important differences among the first Pentium systems. Pricing will be critical, with early models expected to costfrom $5000 to $20,000. Ail these systems will eventually ship in 66-MHz versions. (P=parity; EDAC=error detection and correction;MC=Micro Channel; N/A=not available.)

SYSTEMTESTED

PROCESSOR

SPEED

(MHZ)

PROCESSOR-TO-MEMORYBANDWIDTH

MEMORYTYPE

CACHE(AS TESTED)

EXPANSION-BUS TYPE

SCSI-2

CONFIGURATIONAS TESTED (RAM,STORAGE, VIDEO, MONITOR)

PRICEAS TESTED

AcerFrame 3000MP

60

32-bit

EGG

256KB

EISA, ISA

None

16MB, 5 520-MB

bCbl, 640x480,no monitor^

$23,995'

ALR ProVeisa V

60

32-bit

P

512 KB

EISA, ISA

None

32 MB, 4 540-MB SCSIarray, 1024x768,14"

$12,989

ALR Evolution V-Q

60

128-bit

P

512KB

EISA, VL

None

32 MB, 4 540-MB SCSIarray, 1024x768,14"

$13,320

Compaq Deskpro 5/66M

66

128-bit

P

256 KB

EISA

None

^c KJID c^^ niD ir»cId Mti, o1U-Md lUh,

1280x1024, 20"

$9399

DECpc 560ST

60

32-bit

P

256KB

EISA

Option card'

16MB, 1-GBSCSI,1024x768, 14"

$8500^

Hewlett-Packard NetServer 5/60 LM

60

32-bit

P

256KB

EISA

Integrated'

16MB, 4- GBSCSI,640x480,14"

$12,899

IBM Model 95 66-MHz Pentium Server

66

64-bit

ECO

256 KB

MC

Option card'

16MB, 2 540-MB SCSI,1024x768, 14"

N/A

NCR System 3360

60

128-bit

EDACorP

256 KB

MC

Integrated

64 MB, 1-GB SCSI,1280x1024,19"

$19,000'

Siemens Nixdorf PCE-5S

60

64-bit

EDAC

256 KB

EISA, ISA,VL

Integrated'

16MB, 510-MB SCSI,1024x768, no monitor

N/A

Unisys PW Advantage Plus 5606

60

32-bit

P

256 KB

EISA

Integrated

16MB, 1.2-GB SCSI,1024x768,14"

$10,000

Z-Server LT 466XE Model 500

66

64-bit

P

256 KB

EISA

Integrated'

16MB, 3 500-MB SCSI,1024x768, 17"

$8915

' Fast SCSI.

' Includes 525-MB QIC tape drive.

' Estimated price.

The BYTE Unix benchmarks are compiledusing the standard SCO Unix compiler.We ran these standard binaries and a ver-sion of the benchmcirk compiled with thenative NCR Metaware C compiler.

In some cases, the Metaware compilershows a 2.5 percent increase over thestandard SCO speeds. It was interesting tosee that some tests, such as spawning oth-er tasks, were actually quicker when theSCO compiler was used. With theMetaware compiler, the 3360 ranks be-tween the Silicon Graphics Indigo andthe IBM RS/6000 in speed. This speedincrease is seen without using a Pentium-specific compiler.

The AcerFrame has been around sincelate last year in 486 form. It supports up tofour Pentium processors. Memory isshared and accessible by all CPUs andEISA-based subsystems. The processor-to-memory interface, which Acer calls theFrameBus, boasts a claimed bandwidth of264 MBps.

Best is Yet to Come

We expect few Pentium systems to landon desktops in the immediate future. The486 is still more than adequate for the av-erage user. It's likely that most Pentiumsystems will be sold for use with serverapplications, such as database and multi-user Unix environments, where the pro-cessing power can make a difference.

Our early tests of Pentium systems arehardly the last word. Most of the unitswe've seen are not yet finished, particu-larly in terms of software drivers and BIOScode. All the systems discussed in this ar-ticle will eventually ship with 66-MHzprocessors, too, although many arrived atBYTE with 60-MHz parts. Furthermore,we've yet to see what these systems can re-ally do with applications written usingcompilers designed specifically for the

Pentium architecture.

For now, these systems are merely good,fast implementations of 486-class ma-chines. We won't know what their full po-tential is until Pentium-specific applica-tions appear. ■

Raymond GA Cote is a BYTE consulting editor.You can reach him on BIX as "rgacote." BarryNance is a contributing editor for BYTE. You canreach him on BIX as "harryn."

Company Information

Acer America Corp.

Hewlett-Packard Co.

Siemens Nixdorf

San Jose. OA

Palo Alto, CA

Information Systems, Inc.

(800) 733-2237

fax: (800) 752-0900

Burlington, MA

fax; (408) 456-0471

Circle 1064 on Inquiry Card.

(800) 226-1484 ext. 3396

Circle 1060 on Inquiry Card.

(617) 273-0480 ext. 3396

IBM PC Co.

fax: (617) 221-0201

Advanced Logic

Somers. NY

Circle 1067 on Inquiry Card.

Research, Inc.

(800) 722-2227

Irvine, OA

fax: (800) 426-4329

Unisys Corp.

(800) 444-4257

Circle 1065 on Inquiry Card.

Blue Bell, PA

fax: (714) 581-9240

(800) 448-1424

Circle 1061 on Inquiry Card.

NCR Corp.

(215) 986-4011

Dayton, OH

fax: (215) 986-6850

Compaq Computer Corp.

(800) 637-2600

Circle 1068 on Inquiry Card.

Houston, TX

(513) 443-5000

(800) 345-1518

Circle 1066 on Inquiry Card.

Zenith Data Systems

Circle 1062 on Inquiry Card.

Buffalo Grove, IL(800) 553-0331

Digital Equipment Corp.

(708) 808-5000

Maynard, MA

fax: (800) 472-7211

(800) 722-9332

fax: (708) 808-4434

(800) 524-5694

Circle 1069 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 1063 on Inquiry Card.

3.02

IS V I I; JULY 1993

June 14,1963.Cindy Smith plays witli color.

Thirty years later her businessdepends on it.

Introducing theQMS ColorScript Laser 1000.

Now your business hastotal freedom of expressioa

For Cindy, communicating da:ision-criticalinformation quickly flawlessly and inbrilliant color is now her livelihood. That'swhy she depends on the QMS ColorScript*Laser 1000 Print System. It frees her toprint entire forms and letterhead with colorlogos, images and high quality text withoutchanging paper It saves her the cost ofstocking special fonns, letterhead andmultiple sets of supplies and uses standardp^^r and transparencies. It improves hermessage by highlighting key data withcolor in multipage presentations anddocuments. Add direct connection to avariety of networks and anyone can realizeboth greater productivity and a per usercost that rivals personal printers. Plus, oureasy software loadable upgrades virtuallyeliminate obsolescence.

Save money Save time. Free yourself fromlimitations. Discover the advant^es of theQMS* ColorScript Laser 1000 Print System.

• Laser color and monochrome printing

• Compatibility with PostScript" Level 2 andLevel 1, HP PCL"5C and HP-Cr • TmeTypefont scaling • Automatic collation • Allfour ports accept data simultaneously

• Automatically inteiprets incomingdata and selects correct language fromthose available • 65 resident type fonts,all with multilingual character sets

• EfiColor"" and Colorimetric colordictionaries and Apple ColorSynch"device profile • Supports DOS, Window^Macintosh* and Unix* applications

• Software loadable system upgrades

• QMS Crown™ multitasking technology.

QMS

Expression is a serious business.Call QMS today at 800 841-0760 or 205 633-4300 for more infomiation.

QMS,QMSO)kKScri|*aiidlheQMSlogoarelra(kniarteorregtstefedtr^^ Inc. FtelScript is a trademark of Adobe S>stEmi™»qK)raledw^

cHtain jurisdioions. All other product aixl ctKipany names mentioned are

Circle 109 on Inquiry Cord (RESELLERS: 110).

state of the Art

New Knowledge T0015

Combining knowledge-based systems with neural networks, genetic algorithms, case-based reasoning,and other emerging technologies produces new types of tools. They'll help you come to grips with tasksthat will dominate the workplace in the coming years.

SARA HEDBERG

Anew generation of applications ishelping companies work smarterby letting them take advantage of their col-lective experience. The applications, calledKBSes (knowledge-based systems), arealso playing a growing role in rightsizingcompanies by reducing costs and improv-ing workers' performance.

KBSes capture a company's intellectu-al capital—its expertise and experience—and distribute it throughout the enterpriseover a network. For example, AmericanExpress (New York, NY) placed corpo-rate policies and procedures in its KBS toassist its credit authorizers to rapidly han-dle transactions.

New intelligent systems combine KBSeswith other emerging technologies, such asneural networks, CBR (case-based rea-soning), genetic algorithms, virtual reality,and multimedia (see the glossary). Poten-tial new applications of these hybrid tech-nologies include coordinating all the func-tions and departments of a corporation,improving customer service at reducedcost, and developing better software morequickly.

Smarter Tools

KBS technology evolved from expert sys-tems, which were designed to encode anexpert's knowledge into a computer pro-gram in the form of IF.. .THEN rules. Theexpert systems of the early 1980s proved tobe difficult to build because of the chal-lenge of capturing all of an expert's knowl-edge. They were also difficult to maintain,because their large rule bases had little or-ganization. Most expert systems werestand-alone applications on dedicatedworkstations.

In the mid-1980s, researchers marriedrule-based expert systems with powerful,frame-based, object-oriented representa-tion. This combination helped representcomplex data structures, their constraints.

and their relationships. The pairing pro-duced a new generation of software de-velopment tools and applications, calledKBSes.

With their ability to represent, manage,and analyze complex knowledge andprocesses, KBS software developmenttools offer powerful advanced program-ming techniques that are highly produc-tive. "KBS technology is really a super-set of object technology," says DennisYablonsky, president of theCarnegie Group (Pittsburgh,PA), a consulting firm spe-cializing in intelligent-soft-ware technologies for man-ufacturing.

A KBS QUICK PRIMER

The Next Generation

Researchers and softwaredevelopers are combiningKBS tools with other emerg-ing software technologies.Although the hybrid systemsare still largely experimen-tal, preliminary results indi-cate that such coupling canenable more complex prob-lem-solving techniques thanhave been available to pro-grammers in the past.

For example, if you com-bine multimedia and virtualreality with KBS technol-ogy, you create a powerfuluser interface for the KBS.Programmers can use KBS

technology to manage andretrieve multimedia data sources and tocreate intelligent agents and objects in vir-tual reality. As a result, computer inter-faces come alive (see "See, Hear, Learn"on page 119).

When a system combines a KBS andCBR, it can intelligently process a widervariety of information than could be han-

A KBS (knowledge-basedsystem) is an applicationthat can store, retrieve, andanalyze vast stores ofknowledge and data. KBSesare extensions of the old Alnotion of an expert in a box.As a new generation of whatused to be called expertsystems, KBSes came intobeing about 8 years ago.Today, they are used toaccomplish such tasks asdiagnosing equipmentproblems, forecastingstock trends, schedulingproduction, and designingnew products.

died by either of the technologies it com-prises. Because it can access, organize,and analyze unstructured information thatcannot be captured in databases (e.g., free-text data), CBR allows the hybrid systemto handle people's experiences, or cases. Italso enables the system to perform broad,shallow reasoning across these cases bymatching new cases with existing ones inthe case base (see "Roll Your Own Hy-brids" on page 113).

Customer service is onearea where companies areimplementing systems thatcombine KBS and CBRtechnology. For instance,Compaq Computer (Hous-ton, TX) is using this ap-proach to automate suchcustomer service functionsas answering questions andtroubleshooting (see the textbox "Help Is on the Way").

Coordinated Engineering

Hybrid systems composedof KBS and CBR technolo-gy are also proving fruitfulin managing product lifecycles (i.e., coordinatingthe design, marketing, andparts inventory of a prod-uct). With its rich represent-ation capabilities, a KBSallows a company to storeand intelligently retrieveproduct decisions andtrade-offs that can guide fu-ture decision-making. DEC, Boeing, andGeneral Motors are a few of the compa-nies that use KBSes to coordinate suchtasks.

One of the most prominent research ef-forts in product-engineering coordinationgoing on today is ARPA's DICE (DefenseInitiative for Concurrent Engineering).

conlinued

New Knowledge Tools

Knowledge-based systems let youmake the most of your business'sintellectual capital 106

Roll Your Own Hybrids

Sometimes, your knowledge system needs the servicesof other technologies, such as neural networksor case-based reasoning U.3

See, Hear, Learn

Combining knowledge systems withmultimedia and virtual reality yieldsIntriguing results U9

H fTi

ILLUSTRATIONS: DOLORES FAIRMAN S> 1993

JULY 1993 BYTE 107

state of the Art!

New Knowledge Tools

Glossary

CBR (case-based reasoning) Programmingby example in which knowledge is stored in theform of experiences, or cases.

expert system Technology designed toencode an expert's knowledge into acomputer program in the form of IF...THENmies.

frame-based representation A techniqueenabling more elaborate data definition of thefacets of an object (e.g., constraints andmultiple inheritance) than can be achievedwith pure object-oriented technology.

genetic aigoritlim A technique based onnatural selection. Generations of bit stringsare created, combined, and evaluated usinggenetic-like operations to find near-optimalsolutions.

KBS (Icnowiedge-based system) An

application for representing knowledge thatoffers the ability to analyze this knowledgeusing IF...THEN rules.

muitimedia The presentation of informationon a computer using audio, video, text,animation, and graphics.

neural network A system that emulates thehuman nervous system and brain to processinformation. Neural networks are used forsuch things as sensor and signal processingand pattern recognition.

procedure-based system An object-oriented programming technique that enablesthe attachment of behavior to objects in thefonti of code. When a message is received bythe code, the behavior is executed.

rule A technique for representing humanproblem-solving and heuristic reasoning usingan IF...THEN form.

rule-based systems An approachpopularized with expert systems that usesIF...THEN mies and frames to encodeexpertise in a knowledge base. An inferenceengine controls how the rules are used duringthe problem-solving process.

virtual reality A process that usescomputers to simulate realistic 3-D audio,visual, and tactile worlds.

Under the leadership of the ConcurrentEngineering Research Center of West Vir-ginia University (Morgantown, WV), theresearch focuses on integrating intelligentsoftware tools—including KBS andCBR—to support the coordination of en-gineering activities.

Another innovative group in this arenais the Knowledge Assisted Design Lab atCarnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh,PA), under the direction of D. Navin Chan-dra. The lab is mixing KBSes, CBR, and

KBSes vs. Hybrid Systems

KBS

User interface

Inference engine Knowledge base

^ Reasoning ,

Rules and facts

mechanism

Explanation

Database

facility \^

i Problem

Problem

1 trace

description

Hybrid system

Front end

(chooses subsystemto solve problem)

—( Neural network 1—Rule-based system 1 —/I— Neural network 2 —Rule-based system 2—1 Neural network 3 —I

Back end

(formats andconsiders answer)

A generic KBS (knowledge-based system) relies on its own database, knowledge base,explanation facility, and inference engine, but a hybrid system can select a subsystem to handle eachproblem through the front end while the hack end formats and consolidates partial answers fromeach subsystem. (Data courtesy of Silverman, Barry. Expert Systems, Addison-Wesley. 1987:Eherhart. Russell C, and Roy W. Dobbins. Neural Network PC Tools; A Practical Guide,Academy Press, 1990)

natural-language-query techniques to cre-ate a system that captures and makes avail-able to users all the design decisions ofthe corporation. With this information,employees can avoid repeating mistakesmade by others, says Navin chandra.

New Hybrids

Some hybrid systems are commerciallyavailable today. For example, Art*Enter-prise from Inference (El Segundo, CA)represents a new generation of KBS toolspackaged for the complex tasks of coordi-nating the functions of a corporation.Art*Enterprise com-bines the usual KBStechnologies (i.e., rules,frames, object-orient-ed programming, andGUIs) with CBR, cor-porate databases, andmultimedia. "The re-sult is a scalable de-velopment tool thatenables a range of ap-plications in one envi-ronment," says ChuckWilliams, Inference's

vice president of marketing.

Using the same environment. Art* En-terprise allows you to build a conventionalquery-and-update application merely bypointing and clicking on the program's in-terface. You also have the option of build-ing custom, complex applications that blendKBS and CBR technology. Other general-purpose KBS software development toolsfrom such vendors as IntelliCorp (Moun-tain View, CA) and Trinzic (Palo Alto, CA)provide many of the same features asArt*Enterprise, but they do not have built-in CBR or multimedia capabilities.

Some KBS Development Tool Components

a rich knowledge-representation languagecombining frame-based and object-orientedrepresentation schemesmessage passingreasoning through rulesa GUI

the ability to integrate with such systems asdatabases, sensors, and news feeds

lOS BYTE JULY 1993

state of the Art

New Knowledge Tools

For years, KBStechnology has beenintegrated into pro-cess-control systems,monitoring and con-trolling the workingsof such facilities asplastics factories andnuclear power plants.The KBS analyzes allinformation providedby the control devicesand initiates correc-tive actions. This ap-proach is faster andmore cost-effectivethan traditional math-ematical methods.Some large process-control vendors, suchas Bailey Controls(Wickliffe, OH), nowoffer or are currentlydeveloping productsthat combine KBSand controller tech-nologies.

The dominant KBSplayer in this marketniche is Gensym (Cambridge, MA), whichintroduced a new product, called NeurOn-Line, that layers neural-network technol-

Hybrid Knowledge-Based System Trade-offs

Combine a KBS with:

PROS

CONS

Neural networks

The system learns/trains itself and provides h^-response accuracy.

It often requires prolonged training and offers noexplanations for its results.

Case-based reasoning

The system is able to store, analyze, and processprevious experiences/decisions. Inductive systemsexplain themselves.

There is no standard underlying the adaptivealgorithms. The system has difficultyprioritizing cases.

Genetic algorithms

The system can search an entire domain for a solution,and it breeds on established success paths.

It is developmefltally difficult and computationallyexpensive.

Multimedia

The system integrates graphics, text sound, and video.It's simple to use and consists of increasinglycommonplace technology.

It accesses stored knoiwledge unintelligently.The system is resource intensive and expensive.

Virtual reality The system can immerse a user in a 3-D environmentand remotely simulate movements and situations.

* Data courtesy of Cognitive Systems (Stamford, CT) and Symbologic (Redmond. WA)

Its applications are mainly used for entertainmentor military purposes.Tlie system requiressophisticated equipment

ogy onto G2 Real-Time Expert System,Gensym's general-purpose KBS/process-control tool. NeurOn-Line's algorithms

allow it to learn while it's monitoring aprocess. "Now we can have nonUnear adap-tive models," explains Gensym's president

Hybrid KBS Applications

Neural network

• pattern recognition

• foreign language translation

• process control

• financial/credit analysis

Virtual reality

• training

• remote operation

• process control

Multimedia

• training

• maintenance/documentation

• entertainment

CBR

• customer support

• classification/prediction system

• policy compliance

Genetic algorithm

• financial/credit scoring

• biotechnical/medical analysis

• selection/profile generation

Combined witll a base KBS (knowledge-based system), such technologies as CBR (case-based reasoning), neural networks, and virtual reality

help create applications suitable for a wide range of tasks.

JULY 1993 It V I I: X09

state of the Art

New Knowledge Tools

Help Is on the Way

STEVEN L. SPERRY

How Resolve Works

Product support has beencalled the computer indus-try's battleground of the 1990s. Tohelp support staffs solve customerproblems faster and more accurate-ly, companies are seeking efficienttechniques that combine provenknowledge-engineering and infor-mation-retrieval technologies withan open, component-based archi-tecture.

No single technology or retrievalalgorithm can yield the optimal wayof creating a powerful product-sup-port system. But the Customer Sup-port Consortium, an alliance of 20computer-industry leaders—whichincludes Banyan Systems, Com-puterLand, Intel, IBM, NCR, DEC,Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics,Legent, 3M, and Sybase—has comeup with a hybrid product called Re-solve that might do the trick. De-veloped by Symbologic, a softwaredevelopment firm in Seattle, Wash-ington, Resolve combines CBR (case-based reasoning), text retrieval, a rela-tional database, and an expert systemand provides a C++, object-orientedfront end.

Solving product-support problems isa complex and dynamic task. A firm'sknowledge base is constantly shiftingand evolving. And with ever-accelerat-ing product releases and shortening lifecycles, product knowledge may becomeobsolete soon after it's acquired, or itmay be valid for years.

Problem resolution is further com-

Customersupport

y

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Caller

Knowledgeserver

Externalinformation source

ExternalInformation source

Resolve aids support personnel in answering customers' questions. A supportperson enters problem information into Resolve. Because it's a client/serversystem, Resolve resides on both the desktop component and the knowledgeserver. Resolve generates queries on the infonnation and submits them to theknowledge server. If the answer isn't there. Resolve sends the query toinformation servers, which could be databases in other parts of the company.Resolve then filters and returns the results of the queries to the support person.

ject-oriented DBMSfrom Object Design(Burlington, MA).

The application isdesigned to acquireknowledge dynami-cally while the sup-port person resolvesthe caller's problem.Support staff can useany available infor-mation resources toreach a solution, suchas databases. E-mailmessages, on-linedocuments, and CBRsystems. Each in-formation server, orretrieval tool, access-es on-line informa-tion resources, whichcan be located any-where within the en-terprise.

plicated by its multifaceted nature: Aperson providing support must investi-gate, analyze, and document each trans-action. The person must synthesize allthese elements to fully understand theproblem.

Resolve is based on a client/servermodel with a distributed, object-orient-ed architecture. The system's compo-nents can reside on either the client orthe server. And the data-storage tech-nology is a persistent, shared-objectspace that will be provided by an ob-

Smarts Beget Smarts

The main compo-nents of the Resolvesystem are the userinterface, problem-resolution facility, knowledge server,object database, and information server.The user interface is the support per-son's visual workspace, where infor-mation returned from searches is ren-dered as graphical objects. The interfacecan be embedded in and accessedthrough a call-tracking system, a com-bination of telephone and database tech-nology that can handle thousands of callsa day.

The problem-resolution facility trans-lates the support person's understanding

Bob Moore. "Processes are nonlinear. So,this is a breakthrough to allow true opti-mization of advanced control not previ-ously possible with mathematical models.The neural network's ability to learn al-lows adaptation."

Some of the latest work in combiningKBSes with other technologies has been

pioneered by the Carnegie Group, whoseproducts are available through its consult-ing services. The company recently inte-grated Testbench, its KBS tool for equip-ment troubleshooting, with hypertext, neuralnetworks, and CBR.

According to the Carnegie Group'sYablonsky, Testbench detects symptoms.

analyzes failures, and recommends repairs.Text and graphics technology have beenadded so that equipment and trouble-shooting documentation can be stored inhypertext. Integrated neural-network capa-bilities enable the system to learn and adaptin nonlinear situations. Finally, the Car-negie Group included CBR in the system so

llO BYTE JULY 1993

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State of the Art

New Knowledge Tools

of the problem into queries against theexternal information sources. As part ofthe system's response to the search, thefacility evaluates and ranks the rele-vance of the results.

The knowledge server manages theobject model of the support domainand queries against the knowledge base,where dynamically acquired problein/solution information is stored. The ob-ject database provides the persistent,shared-object space for the system. Thiscomponent manages and synchronizesdistributed object storage and access.Information servers generate queriesagainst external information sources(e.g., document and bug databases) andpackage the query results as objectsthat can be evaluated by the problem-resolution facility and rendered by theuser interface.

Resolve's component-based archi-tecture makes it possible for third-par-ty retrieval products to be incorporatedinto the support staff's set of tools.When new products and new versionsof products become available, a com-pany can quickly augment, change, ormerge the elements of its knowledge-base model.

Because customer-support applica-tions are so knowledge intensive, thecompanies that most efficiently acquireand distribute knowledge will eventu-ally achieve the high ground. Hybridsystems that combine many informa-tion technologies provide the meansfor firms to win the battle of customersupport.

Steven L. Sperry is president of Symbologic.He is also executive director of the Cus-tomer Support Consortium. You can reachhim on BIX c/o "editors."

that unstructured information in cases couldbe available as another knowledge source toTestbench.

Software Integration

Some of the greatest challenges arisingwhen combining KBSes with other tech-nologies are software integration prob-

lems, says Michael DeBellis, a scientistat Andersen Consulting. DeBellis has beenstruggling with this problem for the pastfew years in the course of his work on aKBS/CASE research project. In the easi-est scenario, both the tools used in the hy-brid system are written in C, so commu-nication is straightforward. However,when one tool is written in an object-ori-ented language (e.g., Smalltalk) and theother is written in a different language(e.g., C), communications become moredifficult unless the tools support the samecommunications protocols.

Another way of integrating different ar-chitectures is by working through a centralobject-oriented programming representa-tion that glues diverse architectures to-gether, says DeBellis. Much of the workinvolved in combining KBSes with otherintelligent technologies uses a hybrid ob-ject-oriented frame architecture for thispurpose.

However, even using KBS/object-ori-ented techniques to blend different archi-tectures doesn't solve all the integrationproblems, because standards are just be-ginning to emerge in the object-orientedworld. Thus, if you are combining twoobject-based systems, you'll probably stillencounter differences between the twothat will complicate the conversion of ob-jects.

Making the Right Choice

The new combinations of KBSes and othertechnologies are giving computers the in-telligence to adapt to work environments,access and use vast data banks, and assistin performing tasks intelUgently. The chal-lenges lie in appropriately applying thesetools to the most pressing business prob-lems.

"What you need to do is examine eachproblem you want to solve," says Joe Car-ter, a partner at Andersen Consulting re-sponsible for emerging computing tech-nologies. "Given the nature of the problemthat you're confronted with, which of themany techniques available to you is bestsuited to do the job? Don't try to shoehorn[it] all into one technique. You have a va-riety of tools now. You can choose theright set of tools and techniques for eachapplication." ■

Sara Hedberg is president of Emergent (Issaquah,WA), a marketing-services firm specializing inemerging software technologies. You can reachher on BIX c/o "editors " oron the Internet at hed-berg® halcyon.com.

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JULY 1993 BYTE iia.

Applications"

OBJECT

SHORTENED TIME TOMARKET FOR CAMCORDERS

NEXPERT is the core of Sony'ssimulation system for speeding upthe design and testing of highly-specialized chips used in videocameras. The system, called XAS,reduced design time by two thirds.XAS runs in a local area network ofSony NEWS workstations, using XWindows, with more than 500 com-plex simulation rules distributedacross 15 NEXPERT knowledge bases..

RISK MANAGEMENT

Chemical Bank uses NEXPERT fordaily review of over a billion dollarsin worldwide foreign exchangetransactions. The Digital VAX-basedapplication called Inspector, ties toOracle databases, C programs, and acommunications network spanning23 countries. Given the dollaramounts involved in transactions,once Inspector identified even onefraudulent trade, it paid for itselfmany times over.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

BCTel, Canada's second largesttelephone company, uses NEXPERTto streamline business practices andhelp generate, recover, and protectrevenue. NEXPERT is at the heartof several multiplatform applicationsranging from network overloadmanagement to customer servicesand billing monitoring. The systemsrun on Sun and Digital UNIX work-stations. Digital VAXA'MS systemsand PCs.

BUILT ON STANDARDS

NEXPERT OBJECT is an expert system written in C, that supportsmost windowing and networking standards and runs on more than 35platforms from PCs and Macs to UNIX and VAX workstations, toIBM mainframes. Additionally, NEXPERT extends beyond other ex-pert systems with its unique graphical interface, knowledge acquisi-tion tools and forms system, for delivery on character-based terminals.

With over 16,000 systems in use worldwide and an extensivenetwork of solution providers and systems integrators, NEXPERThas emerged as the standard for Expert Systems and a proven wayof enhancing your applications.

Call us today at 1-800-876-4900 ext. 657 to register for ourfree seminars or to receive additional documentation.

Cl-ianging t:lie Economics ofApplication □evelopment'"

IMEUROIM DATA

Circle 120 on Inquiry Card.

state of the Art

RollYour Own Hybrids

Linking knowledge-based systems with otiier technologies, such as neural networks, can enhanceperformance, fault tolerance, and reliability. A hybrid system often gets the job done when a singletechnology can't. The trick is to come up with the right mix of features for the task you're working on.

JAY LIEBOWITZ

Stand-alone expert systems are be-coming dinosaurs. They are last-generation technology. Approaches usingmore reliable KBSes (knowledge-basedsystems) in combination with CBR (case-based reasoning), neural networks, or ge-netic algorithms have become this gener-ation's solution to critical problems in thework enviroment.

Hybrid systems take advantage of eachtechnology's best features. For example,CBR's case-based foundation and powerfulsearch capabilities allow you to prototypesoftware rapidly and to create new appli-cations, such as text-retrieval and product-support systems. CBR technology supple-ments the ability of an intelligent system(i.e., a system with embedded knowledgefrom human experts or past experience) tostore and analyze data. A neural networkadds accuracy and fault tolerance to a KBS,and a KBS can explain why a neural net-work behaves as it does. KBSes gain bettersearch-and-development capabilities whenmerged with genetic algorithms. And mul-timedia and virtual reality add sound, ani-mation, and 3-D graphics to intelligent sys-tems.

Linking several technologies creates aknowledge base that can be used to analyzeproblems in a commonsense manner—much as people do. For example, DougLenat, a principal scientist at Microelec-tronics and Computer Technology (Austin,TX), developed Cyc (an encyclopedicknowledge base), which combines spe-cialized KBS processes (e.g., inferencingprocedures and a natural language inter-face). Cyc leverages knowledge across do-mains, so knowledge in one field can beapplied to decision making in another.

Nowadays many people in the AI worldbelieve that it's critical to integrate intel-ligent systems with such techniques as

JULY 1993 BYTE 113

state of the Art

Roll Your Own Hybrids

By the mid-1990s, it's highlylikely that object-orientedlanguages, development tools,knowledge-system shells, andcurrent CASE tools will mer^einto a single product

simulation and opti-mization, interactivemultimedia, neuralnetworks, and genet-ic algorithms. Exp)er-iments have shownthat ase of these com-binations can keepfirms competitive byenabling them tobring products tomarket rapidly andcost-effectively. Also,many hybrid sys-tems allow you to re-duce the time it takes toperform routine business operations.

Brainy Networks

Used alone, KBSes are powerful, yet theyhave limitations. They can't always handlelarge applications. Their reasoning isn'tadaptive. And their performance doesn'tincrease with experience. In addition, theyrequire too much human input and long,expensive development. But for some ap-plications, these hurdles can be overcomeby coupling KBSes with complementaryapproaches, such as neural networks andgenetic algorithms.

Neural networks consist of parallel net-works, or groups, of simple, highly inter-connected processing units. They are wellsuited for pattern recognition, foreign lan-guage translation, process control, and par-allel implementations of routine processingtasks.

But neural-network technology is evolv-ing, and there are still shortcomings. Forinstance, neural networks require the in-put of large numbers of test cases to obtainaccurate results, and even then, the resultsare difficult to explain. Some of the tech-nology continues to demand that a net-work undergo extensive training. And thenumber of neurons in a neural networklimits the network's storage capacity.

Even so, the logical, cognitive, and me-chanical nature of a KBS complementsthe numeric, associative, self-learning, andbiological nature of neural networks. LarryMedsker, a professor of computer scienceat American University (Washington, DC),says that combining neural networks andKBSes provides system improvements inmany areas, including graceful systemdegradation, generalization, explicit andimplicit reasoning, incremental learning,reliability, and flexibility.

To gain the advantages that these hybridapproaches offer, you need an integration

—Kevin IHurphyJames Martin & Company(Reston, VA)

Hierarchy of Hybtid Systems

ES

architecture. One sucharchitecture, called theloose-coupling model,uses an expert systemand a neural network asstand-alone modulesthat communicate viadata files.

Scientists at Com-puter Sciences (Belts-ville, MD), a firm thatprovides computer pro-grams to NASA, haveused this architectureat the Goddard Spacenight Center (Greenbelt, MD). The processuses neural networks to filter out poor-quality data transmitted from satellites.The resultant data is then sent to a KBSfor classification.

Another architecture is the tight-cou-pling model. In this approach, an expertsystem and a neural network are also sep-arate, independent modules, but they com-municate via para-meter or data passing.

Using the tight-coupling architec-ture at Loral Aero-space (Houston, TX),Matthew Hanson,manager of softwareengineering and de-velopment, and Rob-ert Brekke, managerof integration, verifi-cation, and testing,developed WMES(workload manage-ment expert system).The system uses aneural network to de-termine staffing needsbased on such factorsas staff availability,workers' skill, andproject start dates. Anexpert system inter-acts with the neuralnetwork to estimatewhat resources willbe required.

A third architec-ture is the fully inte-grated model, whichuses a shared datastructure and knowledge representation(i.e., a neural-network node can representpart of a rule). Connectionist systems, orparallel distributed-processing systems, canuse this architecture.

NN

Fully integrated

ES

Tight coupling

ES

ES

Loose couplingNN I ES

At the bottom of the hierarchy, the stand-alone and transformational models are separatemodules of a hybrid system, with nocommunication passing between them. Higherin the hierarchy, as communication via datafiles and parameter passing is added, a hybridsystem becomes more complex and easier todevelop into a more useful system. In the loose-coupling architecture, the ellipse representsfiles being transferred between the two elementsof the system; the straight line indicates directcommunication. The fully integrated model isso unified that the distinction between themodules is blurred.

Coupling neural networks with KBSeshas limitations, though. Their develop-ment complexity and maintenance requirean experienced staff and established guide-lines. And even though the market offersgood hybrid tools, such as Nuex Shell fromCharles River Analytics (Cambridge, MA),there just aren't enough of them. Finally,you need a multiprocessor system to achieveacceptable run-time performance.

CBR to the Rescue

CBR enables a system to store past expe-riences or situations as cases, analyze andprocess the data, and suggest ways of re-sponding to a problem. A CBR system hastwo primary components: a case base anda problem solver.

A case base contains descriptions of pre-viously solved and unsolved problems. Aproblem solver consists of a case retrieverand a case reasoner. The case retriever iden-tifies data (either by using a nearest-neigh-bor search or by using indexes or other tech-niques) in the casebase that most appro-priately fits the situa-tion and presents it tothe case reasoner. Thecase reasoner exam-ines the cases and,with the aid of do-main knowledge, per-forms adaptation, syn-thesis, or prediction.

Organizations likeDEC (Maynaid, MA),Compaq Computer(Houston, TX), andCanada's TorontoStock Exchange areusing CBR and intel-ligent systems to-gether. The applica-tions take the form offield service, softwarereuse, project costing,product/order config-uration, text retrieval,and database mining.

One reason for theincreasing interest indeveloping CBR ap-plications is the in-creasing availabilityof CBR tools, saysRalph Barletta, vice president of softwaretechnology at Cognitive Systems (Boston,MA), a software development company.One such package is Archie, a CBR tooldeveloped by Janet Kolodner, Ashok Goel,

NN

NN

NN

Stand-alone Transformational

ES = expert system NN = neural nefwori<

114 BYXE JULY 1993

state of the Alt

Roll Your Own Hybrids

Courthouse #2 — First Floor

System

Eric Domeshek, and their colleaguesat the Georgia Institute of Technol-ogy (Atlanta) to help architects han-dle conceptual design problems. Re-Mind from Cognitive Systems, CBR g| SExpress from Inference (El Segundo, ~CA), and Esteem from Esteem Soft-ware (Indianapolis, IN) are a fewother packages that are now avail-able.

CBR and rule-based reasoningcomplement one another, says SteveMott, president of Cognitive Sys-tems. Rules handle big chunks ofproblem domains well, but they areless useful or cost effective in theboundary areas where subtle con-texts tend to exist. Cases, on the oth-er hand, can model entire domainsif you assemble enough cases to cov-er every problem area in the domain.

Why build an expansive case baseif much of the domain can be cov-ered by rules? A good approach forsolving problems is to "model the do-main with rules as far as you can, then ap-ply CBR to handle the boundary region ex-ceptions," Barletta says.

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Attorneys, salennen, and other people often have to reachJudges or others in the stalT area. However, theseparation of the private circulation from publiccirculation makes this difTicult. No formal reception areaor public entry to the staff area Is provided, and as aresult visitors either find their way tttrougb unlockedcourtrooms, breaching security, or bother clerical staff tolet them in through staff entrances.

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The public should be able lo visit the judge's privateofllce only by pdsslne through « security checkpsini andthen enteilne the private corridor.

The judEe's private oflice should be adjacent to hissecretary's office. The secretary is resFonsiUe forscreeEuns visitors, so there should be a waiting aiea forthose persons wishing to see the Judge. An adjoiningreception/pubUc waiting area of approximately 40-60 sg. ft.should be directly located outside the judge's office. Itshould seat 2-4 visitors and be fiirnished with coirfcrtable

Archie is a tool consisting ofKBS and CBR technology that provides architectural design support.Here, the system is responding to a request for previous cases pertaining to secure ways of placingpeople in a courtroom. The floor plan provides two options: a rule is displayed on the bottom right.

Survival of the Fittest

Another enabling and emerging AI tech-nology is genetic algorithms. These areadaptive, general-purpose search tech-niques that are based on the principles ofpopulation genetics. A genetic algorithmmaintains a list of fxjssible solutions to theproblem at hand. Basedon whether or not theprevious solutions weresuccessful, the fittestsolutions not only sur-vive but also exchangeinformation with othercandidates to form newsolutions.

The U.S. Navy's Sys-tem Integration TestStation laboratory atPoint Mugu Naval Air-base (Point Mugu, CA)has implemented genet-ic algorithms in sched-uling applications. Youcan also use genetic al-gorithms to train a neur-al network. The NavyCenter for Applied Re-search in Artificial In-telligence at the NavalResearch Laboratory(Washington, DC) has

been using genetic algorithms to help ro-bots develop leaming and adaptation capa-bilities.

You can integrate genetic algorithmswith rule-based methods to develop sys-tems that generate new rules. Genetic al-gorithms are useful for inductive leaming,conflict resolution, and classification.

Hybrids Enhance Performance

Pattern recognitionand analysis

Neural networks provide pattem-recognitioiifunctionality, and KBSes perform analysis.

Interface issues

User-machine interactions are improvedwhen the KBS can explain to users howa neural network arrived at a solutionto a problem.

Training neural networks

KBSes can help train neural networksby providing intelligence to create thetraining sets and test sets.

Knowledge acquisitionand engineering

Neural networks develop implicK knowledgethat supplements KBSes' explicH rule-basedknowledge.

Objectively Speaking

OOP (object-orientedprogramming) can alsoplay an important rolein hybrid systems. Ob-jects are data structuresthat contain both dataand procedures. Youcan use objects to rep-resent knowledge withclass hierarchies, slots,methods, and instances.Objects can also beused to create inter-faces and GUIs withwindows, icons, im-ages, and dynamic im-ages (e.g., graphics ormouse-sensitive areas).

Pattern-matchingrules emanate from thecombination of objectprocessing and infer-encing. These rules are

more efficient and easier to read when thesystem is processing large amounts of data,says Jan Aikins, vice president of tech-nology at Trinzic (Palo Alto, CA), a firmthat provides advanced applications de-velopment tools for business automation.

The benefits of combining object pro-cessing and inferencing were demonstrat-ed by Aion's Extruder system. This appli-cation schedules work orders for producingplastic tubing on machines called extrud-ers. Using an OOP/rule-based hybrid ap-proach, Aion reduces the time required toschedule orders from 11.8 seconds to 3.6seconds.

What lies ahead for hybrid KBSes? Inthe next three to five years, knowledge-representation technology will increas-ingly use rules, objects, cases, geneticalgorithms, and neural networks. The in-tegration of two or more of these ap-proaches will be important in a number ofenvironments, such as simulation andprocess control, where knowledge cannotbe fully portrayed by a single representa-tion scheme. ■

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My thanks to Larry Medsker for his help withthis article.

Jay Liebowitz is a professor of management sci-ence at George Washington University. You canreach him on BIX do "editors."

JULY 1993 It V 1 1<; lis

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state of the Art

See, Hear, Learn

Combining the audiovisual environments of multimedia and virtual realHy with knowledge-based systemswill create fascinating applications. This technology could change the way you deal with information.

SARA HEDBERG

ultimedia and virtual reality areexciting technologies by them-selves, but by adding intelligence to them,researchers are creating some intriguingpossibilities. These new hybrid KBSes(knowledge-based systems) are still in theexperimental stage—most are at least ayear away from commercial use—but theywill provide the tools that will change theworkplace in the years to come.

To multimedia, KBSes bring intelli-gent storage, indexing, retrieval, and dis-tribution. In the world of virtual reality,a KBS provides the technology to createintelligent agents—virtual Cheshire catsto answer your questions and direct youto shortcuts.

Intelligent Navigation

Imagine the day when you have access tovast libraries of video clips on almost anytopic and intelligent assistants that helpyou retrieve information and explore areasof interest. This is exactly the kind of ex-perimental work under way at Northwest-em University's ILS (Institute of the Learn-ing Sciences, Evanston, IL), led by RogerSchank.

Schank's group has developed a "smart"object-oriented/CBR (case-based reason-ing)/multimedia navigation tool. CalledAsk, it intelligently indexes and retrievesshort video clips (i.e., 1 to 2 minutes) andtext. Ask creates knowledge bases aboutthe clips and indexes them by content. Theuser can navigate through the stored videosand retrieve footage interactively throughconversational-style queries regarding thecontext of the clips.

For example, if you want to leam aboutthe mythology of Bali, you can ask thesystem questions, and it will provide youwith video clips and text on the relevantsubjects. If you become interested in, say,the location of an incident in mythology,you can quickly get a map of Bali followed

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Andersen Consulting's TIM uses CBR to analyze previous situations that are similar to the loanrequest being considered. Inference's Art*Enterprise, a knowledge-based development package,provides the case-based analysis.

by a video clip of the crater or beach ofinterest. And if you're lured by the beautyof the beach, you can branch off and learnabout travel to Bali.

Schank's group worked with the trans-portation command of Operation DesertStorm to film the experts who managedthe monumental task of moving the equip-ment, troops, and materiel to Saudi Arabia.The expertise gained from the experienceis now indexed and available through theAsk system.

The concepts that ILS is pioneering caneasily be transferred to other areas of ourlives. For the business world, Schank'sgroup has built applications using Ask thatrange from trust bank consulting and taxaccounting services to corporate manage-ment.

ILS is also working in a Hispanic areaof Chicago on a project called Commu-nity Ask, which is intended to enable cit-izens to ask questions of local officialsand professionals via TV. The project pres-ages better things to come. With the estab-lishment of a high-speed, fiber-optic data

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state of the Art

See, Hear, Learn

highway, very much like the one beingdiscussed by the CHnton administration,Schank envisions being able to deliver in-telligent multimedia applications right intoyour home.

Another ILS system, called Creanimate,teaches students biology by allowing themto create their own animals. Creanimateuses intelligently linked videos to teachabout the relationship between survival inthe wild and the physical attributes of an-imals.

Experiments applying KBSes to multi-media are springing up elsewhere. For ex-ample, a major U.S. manufacturer is in-vestigating KBS-multimedia systems as aform of technical memory and advice. Us-ing such a system, a design engineer couldsimultaneously bring up an analysis of acompetitor's product and the design-for-manufacturability requirements. The com-pany has developed prototypes in this areausing industry standards (e.g., personalcomputer platforms and video peripher-als). Such systems might someday be ac-cessed across distributed networks, bring-

ing KBS-multimedia tools to the problemsof enterprise coordination.

Metaphor Interfaces

Andersen Consulting (Chicago, IL) haslong been an innovator in applying KBStechnologies, and it's currently workingon a support system thatwill help commercial loanofficers make calls, struc-ture deals, and maintainclient relationships. Theapplication, called TIM(Total Information Man-agement), is the focal pointfor a number of emergingtechnologies, integratingKBS, CBR, multimedia,and voice synthesis.

At the heart of this hy-brid KBS sits Art*Enter-prise from Inference (ElSegundo, CA). The ob-ject-oriented Art*Enterprise makes theintegration of KBS and multimedia tech-

tung, a manager in Andersen Consulting'shypermedia group.

"We bury muhimedia in an object," ex-plams Orttung. "For example, the object isa story from another lender. The attributesof that object would include the features ofthe story, when the story is relevant, plus apointer to the actual video."When a message is sent tothe video attribute, the filmis called and played throughMCI (media control inter-face) control strings, thestandard to control multi-media within MicrosoftWindows.

TIM's video componentresides on a 66-MHz 486with two special boards:Speech Commander forvoice recognition, which isavailable from Verbex VoiceSystems (Edison, NJ), andActionMedia II for video acceleration andcompression, which is sold by both Intelnologies natural and easy, says Mark Ort- (Santa Clara, CA) and IBM (Armonk,

Applications in the Works

video-library navigationtrainingeducation

community servicesliome slioppingsimulationbankingtroubleshootingtax accountingmanagement adviceproduct design

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state of the Art

See, Hear, Learn

NY). The TIM video is filmed with a cam-era, digitally captured, and stored directly ona hard disk. Andersen Consulting uses aspecial tool from Protocomm (Trevose,PA), called Videocomm, to store video ona server and play it on a client.

The KBS component of TIM storesknowledge, automates decision making,and filters news feeds. Various types ofadvice are available through KBS rules.For example, if a banker must deal withan overdraft, he or she asks TTM to suggesta course of action. Behind the scenes, theKBS is invoked, and TIM presents thebanker with three possible solutions, a rec-ommendation on the one most likely tosucceed, and an explanation of why itmade the recommendation. In addition,instead of taking a rule-based approach,TIM can provide anecdotal informationthrough muhimedia.

TIM also uses the CBR techniques in-tegrated into Art*Enterprise. For instance,TIM can compare a customer's needs tothe products that are currently availableon the market, because these are match-

We can make a computer looklike a magazine, a classroom,a shopping mall, a cockpit—virtually any familiar metaphor.This turns the computer intoa chameleon.

— Joe CarterAndersen Consulting

(Chicago, ID

ing problems well suited to CBR.

"The problem with an application likethis," says Joe Carter, Andersen Consult-

ing's partner responsible for emergingtechnologies, "is that the amount of capa-bility and functionality is so enormous thatit's easy to get lost. You almost need acollege degree to navigate through it."

According to Carter, the solution is toorganize such systems around a metaphor."Using such an organizing metaphor cutsdown on the training requirements to usethe system, because people are already fa-miliar with the interface."

In the case of TIM, the interface that acommercial lender sees on his or her com-puter looks much like a desk with files,notepads, and calendars. All the underlyingcomputing is transparent, whether it's acall across a network to a video server fora piece of film or the use of rules to solvea problem.

TIM integrates a number of off-the-shelfproducts, such as Microsoft Mail, Excel,and Word. The API of each is wrapped inan object in TIM to integrate the applica-tions. "Each type of application is differentto wrap in an object," says Orttung. "AnExcel spreadsheet, for example, is easier.

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state of the Art

See, Hear, Learn

because it is structured indiscrete pieces, as op-posed to a Word docu-ment, which is one bigchunk."

TIM's client machineenables a commerciallender to view informa-tion at a high level, suchas a summary of allloans. It also enables theuser to scan relevantnews or dive into the de-tails of a specific loan.The entire complex ap-plication is glued togeth-er with the KBS's object-oriented representationcapabilities, as embodiedin Art*Enterprise.

Welcome to YourPersonal Menu Planner and Shopper

Virtual Knowledge

Andersen Consulting isworking on a virtual reality-like systemusing hypermedia to design an electronicshopping mall. You "walk" through the

This electronic shopping mall application uses virtual reality techniques to create ametaphor interface. Each person on the screen is an agent with a knowledge base fromwhich the agent formulates answers to your queries.

Stores in 3-D space using a mouse or joy-stick. Intelligent agents advise you on, say,buying a business suit. One agent might

tell you about the latestfashion trends. Anoth-er might act as a tailor.And another might be aconfidante, frankly tell-ing you how you lookin an outfit.

The equipment need-ed to create the maU willbe set up in your home,and it will include a per-sonal computer, a con-verter that sits atop yourTV, a CD-ROM multi-player, and a port con-nected to your telephoneor cable box. The sys-tem will be tested nextyear.

The biggest obstacleis bandwidth: The high-est rate at which stan-dard copper phone linestransmit data is 19.2 Mbps. This rate sim-ply isn't adequate for the data traffic ofthe system. It will require fiber-optic lines

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A NASA Ames researcher uses a Boom to

look at data on computational fluid dynamics.Simulation software created on a Craysupercomputer by NASA processes the math.You can explore the data produced by the Crayby running Fakespace 's interaclive-virtual-environment application on a Silicon Graphicsworkstation.

that are capable of transmitting up to 40Mbps, which many telephone and cablecompanies are now installing at a rapidpace.

John Laird, an associate professor ofelectrical engineering and computer sci-ence at the University of Michigan (AnnArbor), is exploring the nascent area of in-tegrating KBSes and virtual reality. Thework is part of an initiative funded by theU.S. Department of Defense to use virtualreality in the training of tank personnel.Laird is developing intelligent agents whoserve as enemies that seem real but fireonly virtual ammunition.

At Fakespace (Menlo Park, CA), clientsare using KBS-virtual reality technologywith robots. Cameras mounted on a robotlook at the real world. A KBS captures thedata relayed by the robot and checks itagainst its model. If there are discrepan-cies, the KBS determines the cause. For ex-ample, if radioactive material has been re-leased in the atmosphere and there is mist inthe air, a computer can diagnose the causeand recommend or initiate action.

Even though the integration of KBSeswith multimedia and virtual reality tech-nology is experimental today, the impli-cations of adding intelligent storage, ac-cess, analysis, and problem solving to suchsystems are tremendous. You may feel likeyou're stepping into your favorite sciencefiction book. Perhaps you are. ■

Sara Hedberg is president of Emergent (Issaquah.WA), a marketing-services firm specializing inemerging .software technologies. You can reachher on BIX c/o "editors " or on the Internet at hed-berg@ halcyon.com.

128 BVXE JULY 1993

Circle 75 on Inquiry Card.

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Reviews

Roundup

Applying the Power of the Pen

Nine pen-centric applications, f^rom spreadsKeets to note-takers,cliallen^e tlie notion that pens are just for vertical markets

HOWARD EGLOWSTEIN

espite the hype, pen-based com-I puters are nothing new—it'sbeen over 25 years since a CRTand a light pen first made interaction be-tween system and stylus possible. Butthough we've cleared many technical hur-dles since those early days, pen computingremains an exotic niche. What's recentlykept pen systems relegated to such a smallchunk of the personal computer marketcan be summed up in one word: software.Well, actually in two words: no software.

With the advent of lightweight, tablet-like machines and sophisticated digitiz-ers, pen hardware has clearly improved.And pen-based operating systems like GoCorp.'s PenPoint and Microsoft's Win-dows for Pen Computing have laid thegroundwork for general-purpose applica-tions that can make pen computers main-stream.

Traditionally, the developers of pen ap-plications targeted vertical markets thathad the greatest requirement for pen in-put, such as delivery services, insuranceagencies, hospitals, and police depart-ments. However, pens potentially providea more natural working environment fora broader audience using more general-purpose tools, such as spreadsheets, wordprocessors, and PIMs (personal informa-tion managers).

In this article, I'll review nine of thesegeneral-purpose applications. I'll try togive an idea of what it's like to use eachpackage and point out some of the uniquefeatures that a pen interface can provide.

Schedulers and PIMs

Pen-based PIMs look remarkably liketheir paper counterparts, consistingprimarily of day/month calendars and ad-dress books. You'll usually spend moretime looking through your schedule thanentering items or revising them. A pen isideal for flipping through pages and se-lecting items. Working with a pen to con-trol your scheduling software uses the pento its best advantage: navigating quicklythrough existing information.

Pensofl's Perspective

is a set of PenPointapplications foriiribrmation organization—including day andmonth planners, addressbook, to-do list, and note-taker—also bundledimder a Day-Timerinterface. Perspective canconvert ink entries to text.

Slate's Day-Timer Pen Scheduler (PenPoint versionshown, although it runs on both platforms) presentsan interface based on the familiar paper Day-Timer.The scheduler works with ink only and doesn'tprovkle a searchable database.

PenWare's PenCell—is a spreadsheet forWindows for PenComputing. Itpresents a familiarspreadsheet gridwith pen

enhancements likegestures and inkcapture for note-taking, plusunlimited undo.

' Perspectii^ Day Planner ► Advanced FhkJ

30

Rnd: ► Appointmeni

where: ► Description

> coinains

Restit: Shiwing ' of 1 in flocumerri,

I File EiiH Sketch Dimcitsion Constram View

jCoiisistently Dimensioned]

Saltire's

SketchRight, adrawing packagefor Windows forPen Computing,tunis roughsketches intofinished, properlydimensioneddrawings.SketchRight uses ageometry engine toconvertapproximateshapes intogeometric objectsand calculatemeasurementsbased on thoseobjects.

Slate's At-Hand, a PenPoint spreadsheet that countsDan Bricklin among its designers, has a stronggesture orientation and more bells and whistles (like15 chart types) than PenCell.

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^l^aier&piBss Hasten Pei^peclive Paspecbve Tuional Numco Stsbonwy Noiefaook

e Seflifigs Conntcfcons StaKnery AooeiSores Keyboard Irtas OulbcK ^

132 BVTE: JULY 1993

Y !f*Ware NoleT«t:er < S >

Documenl Edil Options Tools,

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youTtext looks like »

lanSoM

Slate Corp.'s Day-Timer Pen Scheduler

PenPoint I*^,^ H^'^^'r"""

Scheduler looks exactlylike the standard Day-Timer notebook from which it is licensed.You can view schedules by day (brokendown to the nearest half hour), by month.

- Ink Devetopment's InkWare's NoteTaker is anelectronic scratchpad for PenPoint, more akin to apaint program than to a word processor. It lets youtake notes using a variety of pen styles and convertsink fragments to text as you go along.

■ Slate's GridPen Essentia Iscould be all youneed in your penPC lineup, if youhave a GridConvertible. Thisbundle ofapplications (forWindows for PenComputing)includes a Day-Timer PenScheduler, a note-taking applicationcalled LooseLeaf,a fHe reader, andOelrina's WinFax.

y-r- PenMagic's

LetterExpress is anapplication forcranking out businesscorrespondence. ThisPenPoint programships with 72 standardtemplates for businesstetters; as you providethe specifics,LetterExpress builds a! formatted letter.

• SunSelect'sPenCentral is acommunicationsutility thai :Mconnects your "PenPoint systemto a desktop-boond iiest (andits networkresources).PenCentralprovides desktopswith the ability tohost PenTOPSclients, whichinclude allPenPoint systems.

PenMa^c calls Numero a "Financial WorkProcessor," but this PenPoint applicationresembles a spreadsheet more than It does anyother traditional application. Its free-formorganization and gestures bring Numero close torealizing the pen-centric goal of "smart paper."

or by year. Tapping on a month or daybrings up an enlarged view, where you canread, write, and edit your entries. Tappingon arrows lets you scroll from one day ormonth to another. Day-Timer also keepstrack of your to-do lists and addresses.

Anything you write on the schedulepage or in a to-do list is stored as a graph-ical image ("ink" in pen jargon). The to-dolist appears as a series of rectangular imageblocks. When you finish with an item, youdelete it by writing an X in its deletionbox. Because the items are stored as im-ages, you can't search your to-do lists. Theaddress book functions similarly, althoughyou can search through address entries,since Day-Timer converts these to text.An alphabetic index at the bottom of thescreen lets you move directly to any ad-dress book entry.

Pensoft's Perspective

PenPoint Perspective is a PIMsim-

liar to Day-Timer but

with additional features.Its interface also mimics a standard paperschedule. One fundamental difference be-tween Pensoft's and Slate's implementa-tions is that Perspective can convert mostof your input to text, although you choosewhether to leave your entries as ink or con-vert them. Converting them allows you tosearch for specific events. If, for example,you only vaguely remember an appoint-ment with your accountant, you can findthe entry quickly by tapping on Find andwriting in accountant.

Switching from a day view to a monthview is more difficult in Perspective thanin Pen Scheduler. This is because Per-spective uses separate applications to han-dle the different views. However, Pensoftdoes a better job of capitalizing on Pen-Point, letting you use Perspective's ad-dress book as the underlying contact data-base for all your PenPoint applications.Perspective also includes a note-takingmodule.

Of the two, Day-Timer is more practical.The integration of daily, monthly, and an-nual views is a definite plus, and I don'tfind much call for search capability on anappointment schedule.

Spreadsheets

If you've ever used Excel on an airplane,you've probably found yourself strug-gling to use a mouse in close quarters, evenjust to review information. Spreadsheetsdesigned for a pen interface can make

JULY 1993 BYTE X33

Reviews

Applying the Power of the Pen

manipulating data easier. In addition, thepen's character recognition lets you makelimited data entry and perform simple cal-culations. However, I generally found thespreadsheet applications frustrating. Therecognition errors made entering infor-mation tedious, especially in Windows,where I spent more time correcting my en-tries than entering data. You might findthese useful for reviewing your spread-sheets on the plane, but certainly not fordata entry. For the moment, pen-basedspreadsheets just aren't as powerful as theirkeyboard counterparts.

PenWare's PenCell Spreadsheet

^ff As spreadsheets go, PenCellt;jMMB is simple and has relatively••^^^^V few features. It's well suited^NH^aq for quick calculations, but it^ doesn't have all the bells and

whistles you might expect. For example,you can select a range of values and dis-play charts, but you're limited to bar, line,and pie charts. I would not recommendPenCell for creating graphical presenta-tions, although you might find it handy

for checking data while traveling, to savein Excel or Lotus format for further polishlater.

Here's an example of where PenCellcomes in handiest: Say you've put togethera proposal for a new building. While enroute, you think of a way to save cost onsome part of the design. PenCell can whipup some quick graphs of overall cost, letyou change a few figures, and then graph-ically show you what you've saved. Later,you can use that information as a basis fora more refined presentation you develop inLotus 1-2-3 or Excel.

Slate's At-Hand

l'\iILt''oillt •^^"^^'^ "^^^ ^ standardX-Y grid of cells you fill"""^^^^^^ with numbers and labels.Like PenCell, it's a basic spreadsheet withvery few frills. However, At-Hand's setof chart types is substantially richer thanPenCell's; it includes a variety of 3-Dcharts and a basic set of 2-D types.

There are some nice pen-centric inno-vations: To add a range of cells, you high-light the range and write a "+" in the result

cell. There are a number of other smallimprovements delivered by At-Hand's pendesign. However, the shortcut gestures formoving around require some mighty fancypen motions. The worst of these is thequadruple flick, a motion with four quickswipes across the screen. If done correct-ly, this scrolls any column or row to theedge of the screen, but it takes practice.

PenMagic's Numero

Feill'omt Numero is a unique

. spreadsheet. Rather than

launching you into ablank cell grid, it starts you in a blank page.To create cells and thereby design the page,you select areas and write in them. Alter-natively, you can choose from among ahalf dozen or so predesigned paper types,such as checks, timesheets, or expense re-ports.

Gestures form a key element in Nu-mero's design. If you draw a line undera column, it totals the column. To con-vert your writing to text, you double-tapon a cell. Unfortunately, Numero is veryfinicky with its gesture recognition. I had

Windows for Pen Computing vs. PenPoint

One thing I learned when designing pen-input hardware seven years ago: For a pen application to be effective, it has to treat the screenlike an intelligent piece of paper. It's the application's responsibility to figure out what the user wants; the user should not have to tellthe computer what the pen input means.

Windows falls short of the mark (and casts a shadow over all the Windows applications) by requiring users to move the pen to themenu bar to make selections (thus saying, "Computer, treat this input as a menu choice"). Windows is just not the way to use a pen.

PenPoint does a better job, but you still have to tell the operating system what application to use when creating a new page or chang-ing input modes in some of the applications. Ideally, when you create a page, the operating system should see what you enter and thenlaunch the appropriate application.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS FOR PEN COMPUTING

Windows for Pen Computing is an MS-DOS environment based on Windows 3i with a se-ries of pen extensions. Hie pen is enabled as the Windows pointing device; installed li-braries provide gesture and handwriting recognition as an alternative to keyboard input,or you can add sections of pen input as objects into any standard Windows program.Windows has an advantage over other pen environments in that thousands of applica-tions already exist that can use a pen. Run any Windows application under Windows forPen Computing and the pen supports it

However, a pen application should take special advantage of pens. Windows applica-tions typically don't. Moving the cursor to the upper left of a window to grab the menu iscumbersome with a mouse; It's downright annoying with a pen. On top of that, the hand-writing and gesture recognition that ships with Windows is less than 95 percent accu-rate. For every 100 characters or gestures I drew, I had to correct five.

A Windows for Pen Computing application comes to bat with h«o strikes against it:poor recognition and poor control mechanism. Recognition will improve over time andthrough third-party recognizers; hopehilly, control mechanisms will as well.

GO CORP.'S PENPOINT

Go's PenPoint Is built from the ground up for pen computing. It's based on a notebookmetaphor; a collection of files becomes a group of pages in a notebook. The directorybecomes a tabbed index at the front of the notebook. To go to a specific document,you simply touch the page in the index. PenPoint switches to that page and opens theappropriate application for you.

tike Windows for Pen Computing, PenPoint comes equipped with gesture andhandwriting recognition. The recognition engine In PenPoint Is more accurate than theone in the Windows version. Input is also more efficient. In Windows for Pen Comput-ing, since the pen replaces the mouse, many operations still require a three-step op-eration (highlight, tap, and press a key). In PenPoint, you simply write over a word orsection of text to manipulate it. This pen orientation, combined with the more accu-rate recognition engine, gives PenPoint the edge over Windows for Pen Computing. Al-though you won't find a great quantity or assortment of shrink-wrapped PenPoint ap-plications, PenPoint provides a more productive platfomi for all the applicationsreviewed here.

134 BYTE JULY 1993

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Reviews

Applying the Power of tlie Pen

Pen Hardware

Grid Convertible

CPU: Intel 2S-MHZ386SIRAM: 4 MBHard drive: 125 MBModem: internal 2400-bps faxOperating system: Microsoft Windows for PenComputii^

We^6lbs.,lL5DZ.Removable external floppy driveAttached keyboardPrice: $2799 as tested

Toshiba TIOOX Dynapad

CPU: AMD 25-MHz 3$6$XLRAM: S MBHard drive: 40 MBModem: 2400-bps Data/Fax PCMCIAOperating system: PenPoint and Microsoft Windowsfor Pen ComputingWeight 4 lbs., 7 oz.Removable external floppy drivePort for attaching external keyboardPrice: $4397 as tested

To test these pen applications, we used a Grid Convertible tmiag Microsoft Windows for Pen Computii^ and a ToshibanOOX Dynapad running PenPoint These configurations reflect tiie systems as tested. We measured "ta-avellng"we^—witii power supplies but wttiiout tiie external floppy drives.

The TlOOX's pen uses 13M batteries, commonly used In hearing aids and available in pharmacies. The Grid Convert-ible has a pop-up screen exposii^ a notebook-size keyboard undemeatti tiie tablet Its pen uses standard 393 alkalinebatteries. Botii systems are expandable to 20 MB of RAM.

no trouble using the demonstration spread-sheets and some of the standard layouts,but because of the difficulty in workingwith gestures, I never got very far into cus-tomization. Eventually, I just put Numeroaway in frustration.

Despite the nice concept and a completeand thorough manual, I never got the hangof making this product work well. I simplycouldn't get Numero to recognize my com-mands in a usable way. The limitations ofthe digitizer (on the Toshiba TIOOX) andPenPoint's recognition made this productdifficult to manage.

Word Processing

The word processing applications I re-viewed represent two types. The firstis a simple ink-capture program for scrib-bling quick notes to yourself. The secondis a combination word processor/form let-ter application. Word processing seemsthe most natural application for pen com-puters; after all, a pen is first and foremosta tool for writing.

However, while a pen interface gives aword processor a real advantage for editing(with gestures), it severely detracts fromthe software's ability to handle bulk textentry. Unfortunately, the hand-printingrecognition offered by today's operatingsystems makes writing entire paragraphs

(or even sentences) impractical.

These two applications put a new spinon word processing by eliminating the re-quirement for heavy text entry. LetterEx-press provides letter templates, while Note-Taker deals mostly with unconverted ink.

The advantage of ink capture over textrecognition is that it's fast and accurate.Everything you do with the pen is cap-tured as ink; it's up to you to figure outwhat it means later. If the application ap-plies recognition to your input, you may beable to search and edit it later.

Ink Development's InkWare Notelaker

PfenPoijlt ^^^^^^^ NoteTaker is asimple ink-capture appli-cation that captures what-ever you do with the pen and saves it on apage. It's more like a paint program than aword processor. In fact, if you were usingWindows instead of PenPoint, you couldachieve most of the same effects usingWindows Paint.

In NoteTaker, you have at your pentopthe following tools: a pen, a fat pen, a high-lighter, text, an eraser, and scissors. Thepens and highlighter are specific instancesof custom pens. Any pen can have a num-ber of attributes, such as size, color, andtransparency. If you create a custom pen,you can name it anything you like.

The text tool is where recognition comesin—it converts your input to text and

stores it on the page as a text object. Youcan select and move the text, but if youstop writing for more than a second, Note-Taker converts what you have written sofar and starts a new object. The end resultis a collection of fragmented text objectsthat bear no relation to each other. What'sworse, the original input is not stored as inkbut thrown away. If you're writing quick-ly, you'll probably have recognition er-rors, and without the original input for ref-erence, you may lose valuable information.

PenMagic's LetterExpress

PfenPoillt '-^'^^''^xpress is a fill-in-

the-blank application that

lets you produce businessdocuments quickly, without a lot of writ-ing. The bulk of your letter is already writ-ten; LetterExpress ships with 72 standardbusiness letters. All you do is select a tem-plate and answer the questions. The endresult is a formatted business letter readyfor printing.

Highlighting and pen tools let you circleimportant parts, scribble notes in the mar-gin, add keywords for searching, or markup the document in just about any wayyou like.

The LetterExpress address book storesaddress and contact information you canInclude in your letters. Like Pensoft's Per-spective, it also supports standard Pen-Point address books, so you can incorpo-rate addresses from other applications.

LetterExpress helps solve one of pencomputing's fundamental problems. Peninput is the slowest way to construct a let-ter from scratch. LetterExpress does mostof the work—you just personalize the let-ter and fill in the details. All in all, it's agood compromise that takes advantage ofthe pen computer's portability while min-imizing slow, imprecise text input.

Other Applications

The following products represent anassortment of CAD, networking, andintegrated "works" applications. Now thatpen computing is growing up, you can findmost types of applications in pen form.

CAD lends itself well to pen input. Weare accustomed to drawing with a pen, soCAD is a natural application. Networkingand communications are of course criticalfor all systems, and pen computers are noexception. Finally, an integrated packagecan make transitions between applications(both pen-centric and non-pen-centric) alot easier. continued

136

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Professional developers canpurchase Phar Lap's full-feahired 286IDOS-ExtenderSDK for $495. With the286IDOS-Extender SDK, youcan access up to 16 MB ofmemory — with the standardMicrosoft or Borland toolsyou already use! The newVersion 3.0 of286IDOSExtender now supportsVisual C++ as well asMicrosoft C/C++, Borland®C++ and Microsoft Fortran.You can even use Microsoft'sCodeView® or Borland'sTurbo Debugger* to debugyour Extended-DOSprograms. 286IDOS-Extender

LANGUAGE

programs will run on any DOS-based80286,386,486 or Pentium PC. There'sno special programming required to usea Phar Lap DOS extender; your programcan access extended memory just as if itwere conventional (below 640K)memory.

2861DOS-Extender is one of the mostwidely used 16-bit DOS extendersavailable. If you'd like to know why, takea look at what our customers and otherindustry experts have to say about the286IDOS-Extender SDK. Then find outfor yourself by trying the free 286IDOS-Extender Lite — or get started rightaway on your multi-megabyte DOSapplications with the professional286IDOS-Extender SDK!

What the experts sayabout Phar Lap's286ID0S-Extender SDK:

"Great tools for Visual C++programmers who needmore memory"

- Denis Gilbert, Microsoft Corp.

"A no-compromise solutionfor Borland C++ developers"

- Paul Gross, Borland International

"An excellent producttechnically"

- Glenn Axworthy, Brederbund Software

"Gives our customers thememory they need"

- Bert Love, Galacticomm, Inc.

"A superb way of utilizing allavailable memory"

- Dave Jewell, Program NOW, August 1991

New virtual memorysupport.

In addition to VisualC++ support,286IDOS-Extender,Version 3.0 nowincludes Phar Lap's286IVMM virtualmemory manager.,286IVMM is

completely integrated into286IDOS-Extender (you invoke286IVMM with a command-line switch)and enables you to transparently accessmore memory than is physically availablein your computer. 286IVMM can improvethe performance of applications thatpreviously relied on loading andunloading dynamic link libraries (DLLs).And it's fully DPMI-compatible, soprograms running under Windowsautomatically use the virtual memoryprovided by Windows.

3861 DOS-Extender-Your 32-bit DOSdevelopment solution.

If you want 32-bit speed and power, aswell as megabytes of memory for yourDOS applications, Phar Lap's award-winning 386IDOS-Extender™ is yoursolution. With 386IDOS-Extender, yourprograms can access all availablememory and run in a workstation-like,unsegmented 32-bit address space.386IDOS-Extender programs will runon any DOS-based 80386, 486 orPentium PC. 386IDOS-Extendersupports a wide range of 32-bitcompilers, including Microsoft's 32-bitWindows NT" C/C++ compiler. It runsthe NT compiler under DOS (no NTsystem required) to build 32-bitExtended-DOS programs — the only32-bit Microsoft DOS developmentsolution available.

Phar Lap Software, Inc.

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

286IDOS-Extender and 386IDOS-Extender are trademarks and Phar Lap is a registered trademark of Phar Lap Software. Inc. Borland and Turbo Debugger are regislered trademarks of Borland InlemationaL Visual C-H-.Windowsand Windows NT are trademarks and CodeView and Microsoft are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Circle 128 on Inquiry Card.

Reviews

Applying the Power of the Pen

Saltire'sSketchRight

Saltire designed Sketch-Right for people who need:iS^^W^ geometric measurementsfrom field data. It takes yourpen sketches and turns theminto precision drawings. Saltire's geome-try engine underlies the interface, allowingSketchRight to calculate unknown mea-surements given sufficient information.SketchRight connects lines and adjusts ob-ject sizes to reflect the newly computeddimensions. It's not really CAD, it's not apaint package, it's something else—likean artist or engineer looking over yourshoulder.

The dimensioning is all-or-nothing;SketchRight puts dimensions on every-thing it considers critical. If you leave straymarks on the drawing or leave an objectdrawn incorrectly on-screen, SketchRightinsists on filling the screen with meaning-less and confusing dimensions. Remov-ing these or correcting the errors takes a lotof practice. Personally, I'd prefer havingcontrol over which objects were criticaland which were dependent. I was also

unimpressed with the selection mecha-nism. A short up-down flick gesture is thecommand to add an object to a selectedgroup, but it doesn't work consistently.Since I was using a Grid Convertible (witha keyboard), I finally resorted to using theShift key to select objects.

SketchRight is an interesting applica-tion. I didn't master it after several weeks'use, but it uses the pen well—letting yousketch a quick graphic and make simplemodifications. If you need finer control,you can export the file to your CAD pack-age for finishing.

SunSelect's PenCentral

JrfelxPoillt P^'iC^f"''^' epitomizesSunSelect's effort to sup-ply networking to andfrom all computers, regardless of config-uration or platform. A version of the pop-ular TOPS networking environment (thePenTOPS client) comes bundled withevery PenPoint operating system. All youneed to connect your PenPoint machineto a network is a TOPS server.

That's what PenCentral provides.

through your desktop computer. PenCen-tral is different from the other applicationshere in that it doesn't actually run on apen-based system: PenCentral is a DOSapplication.

To connect a PenPoint machine to aPC, Novell, or LAN Manager network,you simply install the DOS PenCentralserver software and connect the pen sys-tem to the server via a serial or parallelcable. A few seconds later, the desktopsystem recognizes the pen computer andestablishes the link. From that point on,the floppy drives, hard drives, networkdrives, and printers available to your desk-top machine are also available to your pensystem.

To use PenTOPS through PenCentral,you simply tap on the Connections iconon the PenPoint screen and then select Net-work View and the drive or printer youneed to access. PenCentral takes care ofeverything else. To set up a remote con-nection for copying files to or from youroffice later, you simply set the PenCen-tral server to provide a modem connec-tion and put the modem on auto-answer.

continued

Your Choice of Keyboard Mon itor Switches

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

Simple pushbutton operation for quicl< selectionFour, eight, or twelve ports per unitDaisy-chaining connects unlimited number of CPUsCompatible with EGA, VGA, Macintosh, Sun, and othersOptional keyboard booting for 286,386, and 486Optional RS232 or PS/2 mouse interfacePCB construction for high reliability and low crosstalkRack mount, matrix, and customized units available

Manually controlled unit

Switch by keystroke, from front panel, or RS232portTwo or four ports per unitCascade units to support up to 255 CPUsSupports monochrome, EGA, and VGAIncludes keyboard booting for 286,386, and 486Includes RS232 and PS/2 mouse interfaceLEDs display selected CPU and CPU power-onScan function switches among CPUs automatically

Keyboard controlled unit

Call toll-free nowfor your copy of ourSwitching and SharingSolutions catalog.

other Rose products: Print servers, printer stiaring units,print butlers, Ireyboarij monitor extenders, video splitters.Alt Hose products are US-made and have at -year warranty.

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ELECTRONICS

1-800-333-9343

X3S 15 V I !•: JULY 1993

Circle 139 on Inquiry Card.

Availabilityand Low Prices

GuaranteedTop Quality

Products tested &backed by 30-daymoney-backguarantee.

A roweriui vomDinano

Fujitau Keybeanis

lOUkey enhanced keyboardPart no.: 7B17128Product no.: FKB4700$79.95

Jameco Adapters

DE9 female to DB25male serial adapterPart no.: 7B10305Product no.: AD925

$4.95

Memory

Part no.: 7B41769Product no.: 421000A9B-80SIMM ModuleFunction: 1MB 80ns

$47.95

Supplies

150 watt 8088Part no.; 7B19465Product no.:JE1030

$69.95

Jameco ItesktopSlide Case with 200Watt Power Supply

Part no.: 7B20503Product no.: IE2020

$149.95

Tesliiba FloppyDisk Drives

1.44MB 3.5" InrernalFloppy Disk DrivePart no.: 7B40774Product no.: 356KU

$99.95

Metex DigitalMultimeters

4.5 digit w/frequency &capacitance & data hold switchPart no.: 7B27158Product.: M4650$99.95

1355 Shoreway Road, Belmont, CA 94002Sales: 1.800.831-4242FAX: 1.800-237'6948International Sales: 1'415'592-S0')"International FAX: MI5-592.2503

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Reviews

Applying the Power of the Pen

SunSelect's PenCentral works well andcouldn't be easier to use.

Slate's Grid PenEssentials

Specifically for the GridConvertible (and now bun-dled with the computer whenyou buy it), Grid PenEssen-tials is a bundle of four Slateapplications: the Day-Timer Pen Sched-uler, the LooseLeaf NoteTaker, the Pen-Book Electronic Book, and Dehina's Win-Fax Pen software. In addition, you receivea custom nylon carrying case for the com-puter and a spare pen.

The Day-Timer application is the sameas the PenPoint version reviewed above.LooseLeaf is an ink-capturing note appli-cation similar to Ink Ware NoteTaker (butwithout the text conversion). As ink-cap-ture applications go, LooseLeaf is per-fectly adequate. It doesn't have all the bellsand whistles of NoteTaker, but then itdoesn't really need them.

PenBook is an application that displaysfiles stored in Slate's BookFile format,created in PenBook Author. The last pieceof software is the pen version of Delrina'sWinFax. WinFax lets you create an out-put document and transmit it through theGrid's internal modem. Once you createyour fax with text and graphical elements,WinFax takes care of dialing through thefax modem and establishing your connec-tion. It works much like WinFax does un-der Windows.

As a group of applications, the Grid

PenEssentials collection is fairly effective.It isn't an integrated package in the con-ventional sense; the packages don't worktogether under a single shell. What holdsthem together is a single philosophy ofpresentation and style. Sometimes it makessense to use a group of simple, related ap-plications rather than a single monolithicone. That's espe- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

true apen-computingenvironment,where you don'tusually have theluxury of a key-board or a sec-ond mouse but-ton for control.

If you con-sider the price($349), PenEs-sentials is worth

handwriting recognition, pens are not yetefficient for entering data or taking notes.They are better at selection, thumbingthrough documents, highlighting, or oth-erwise annotating text. These current prob-lems don't dampen my enthusiasm forpens; hand-held PDAs (Personal DigitalAssistants) with the capabilities of these machines will be

The PenEssentialscollection is not anintegrated package inthe conventional sense.

it even if you only use one or two of theapplications. Slate now offers similar bun-dles for PenPoint and for pen-based sys-tems from other manufacturers.

As Good as Paper?

Are pen applications strong enough tomake pen computing as mainstream asother types of portable computing? Notyet. Unfortunately, the technology justisn't there: All the applications are just tooslow on the processors in the machines Iused, and handwriting recognition just isn'tin acceptable shape.

Largely because of the problems in

welcome sys-tems.

Nonetheless,the state of thetechnology putsa restriction onmost of these ap-plications. Of thepen applicationshere, the sched-ulers are current-ly the most use-ful. However,scheduling is obviously not pen comput-ing's "killer app," and it doesn't providethe incentive for buying a $3000 comput-er. Although many of these applicationspresent innovative interfaces, they are stillrunning on top of a foundation—bothhardware and operating system—that'sjust too shaky to support critical, general-purpose applications. ■

Howard Eglowstein is a BYTE Lab testing edi-tor. Prior to joining BYTE, he was the vice pres-ident and cofounder of Hindsight, a design firmthat specialized in pen-based workstations forteaching learning-disabled students. You can reachhim on BIX as "heglowstein."

Items Discussed

Grid Convertible $2799

LetterExpcess

$199

SketchRigM

$249

PenCentral $149

(as tested)

Numero

$399

Saltire Software, Inc.

SunSelect

Grid Systems Corp.

PenMagic Software, Inc.

P.O. Box 1565

2060 Challenger Dr.

7 Village Cir.

310-260 West Esplanade

Beaverton, OR 97075

Alameda. CA 94501

Westlake, TX 76262

North Vancouver, B.C.,

(800) 659-1874

(800) 677-6265

(800) 934-4743

Canada V7M 3G7

fax: (503) 526-0934

fax: (510) 769-8771

Circle 1225 on InquiiY Card.

(604) 988-9982

Circle 1230 on Inquiiy Card.

Circle 1232 on Inquiry Card.

fax: (604) 988-0035

InkWare NoteTalcer $145

Circle 1227 on Inquiir Card.

At-Hand

$295

Toshiba TIOOX Dynapad ....$4397

Ink Development Corp.

Day-Timer Pen Scheduler.

..$195

(as tested)

1300 South El Camino Real,

Perspective

$299

Grid PenEssentials

$349

Toshiba America Information

Suite 201

Pensoft Corp.

Slate Corp.

Systems, Inc.

San Mateo, CA 94402

275 Shoreline Dr., Suite 535

15035 North 73rd St.

9740 Irvine Blvd.

(415) 573-6565

Redwood City, CA 94065

Scottsdale, AZ 85260

Irvine, CA 92718

fax: (415) 573-5167

(415) 802-6925

(602) 443-7322

(800) 334-3445

Circle 1226 on Inquiry Card.

fax: (415) 802-6942

fax: (602) 443-7325

fax: (714) 587-6171

Circle 1228 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 1231 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 1233 on Inquiiy Card.

PenCell Spreadsheet

$295

PenWare, Inc.

845 Page Mil! Rd.

Palo Alto, CA 94304

(415) 858-4920

fax: (415) 858-4929

Circle 1229 on Inquiiy Card.

14.0 BYXE JULY 1993

Reyiews

i\mim Software

NetWare Goes Global

Version 4.0 scales up for serious enterprise networicing, but its newdirectory service doesn't accommodate NetWare 2.x and 3.x servers

JON UDELL

At BYTE, like everywhere else,networks grow like weeds. Lasttime I checked, we had four in-dependent NetWare LANs serving fourdifferent departments. Of course, BYTEis part of a much larger company, Mc-Graw-Hill, and in that context our Peter-borough, New Hampshire, operation is justa drop in the corporate bucket. How canPC networks scale up to meet the needsof multidepartment divisions like BYTEand multidivision companies like Mc-Graw-Hill? NetWare 4.0 supplies the cru-cial ingredient.

The X.500-style NDS (NetWare Direc-tory Service), a treelike database of users,data, software services, and equipment,can span all the NetWare 4.0 servers on acompany's LAN or WAN (wide-area net-work). Administrators who tend these treeswill shape them so that the logical viewof a network superimposes precisely onthe organization chart that is the logical

view of the company served by that net-work. Users, as a result, will be able to in-teract with the network at appropriate or-ganizational levels.

As a BYTE editor, my workaday con-text would be something like Editorial.BYTE.McGraw_Hill. But to send a mes-sage to David Cohen in BYTE's produc-tion department, I'd cross departmentboundaries and address the message todcohen.Pr oduction.BYTE.Mc-Graw_Hill. And to communicate withNeil Canavan, a Datapro telemarketer, 1might cross divisional lines and address amessage to ncanavan.Sales.Data-pro .McGr aw_H ill.

Among the features new to NetWare4.0, NDS rightly gets top billing. A cred-ible Novell framework for serious enter-prise networking is clearly a landmarkevent. Vines users who have long enjoyedglobal directory services may view it withunderstandable skepticism. In fact, No-vell's NDS outdoes Banyan's StreetTalk inthree ways: It's replicated, it can represent

complex hierarchy, and it supports user-defined object types. On the other hand,NDS is today little more than a frame-work. NetWare 2.x and 3.x servers don'tsupport NDS. Neither does UnixWare, orNovell's own E-mail and network man-agement products, never mind all the third-party VAP (value-added process) andNLM (NetWare loadable module) appli-cations.

So while NetWare users wait for theworld to catch up with the new directoryservice, what other 4.0 features deliver im-mediate value today? Notable ones are filecompression, CD-ROM sharing, NLMprotection, read-ahead caching and blocksuballocation, smarter memory manage-ment and thread scheduling, burst-modepacket delivery, large Internet packets, im-proved security and auditing, target ser-vice agents for workstation backup, datamigration to optical jukebox, NDIS pro-tocol support, a true DOS requester, and ahost of new and improved server and clientutilities. File compression alone could tip

NetWare

Object View Ofitldns Tools

I-

Editorial

&JON_U

- 1 THORNTON_SYS

- ^ Redesign Task Force

- 1 OURTOWN

- 1 THORNTON

- ^ ThorntonPrintServer

- ^ Thornton Printer

- ^ ThorntonQueue

- S Swan 00-AF32

- 1^ Office Manager

- ThorntonSys

- "1 Production

- iSk Admin£p ThorntonSys

NetWare Directory Service Objects

rypE

PURPOSE

Organization A top-level container for servers, users, organizational units, and other objects.

Organizational unit A subsidiaiy container for servers, users, and other network objects.

User A single networkwide store of information about a user, including name, password,

rights, log-in script, and many other attributes.

Group A list of users. Note that users sharing a given container implicitly form a group, so

explicit groups are needed less often in 4.0 than in 2.x and 3.x.

Stores basic information about the server, such as its network address.

Can be used to view and modify printer assignments, operators, and users.

Can be used to view and modify configuration, queue assignments, and notification.

Can be used to view and modify operators and users.

Can be used to track owner, serial number, and location. Network managementsoftware that tracks assets can extend this object by adding other attributes.

Organizational role Logical name for a user who is the "occupant" of the role. Useful for indirection,

since it can be referenced in rights assignments instead of a hard-coded user name.

Directory map Logical name for a path specification. Useful for indirection, since it can be

referenced in log-in scripts instead of a hard-coded path.

JULY 1993 BYTE 141

Reviews

NetWare Goes Global

the scales in 4.0's favor. In NetWare4.0, compression runs as a low-pri-ority bacicground thread, in 32-bitmode (like all NetWare tasks), withplenty of linear memory to work with.The result is that 4.0 really does morethan double your disk (see the figure"NetWare 4.0 vs. DOS 6: Compres-sion Ratios").

NetWare 4.0 vs. DOS 6: Compression Ratios

i Worse NetWare 4.0 Better ►

Smooth Start, Rough Acceleration

I installed NetWare 4.0 on a Gateway66-MHz 486DX2 EISA machine with16 MB of RAM, an NE3200 networkcard, and an UltraStor Ultra 24F SCSIcontroller cabled to a 525-MB Sea-gate ST3600N SCSI drive and aToshiba XM-34G1 CD-ROM drive.CD-ROM is the default mode of in-stallation for 4.0. If you need floppydisks, you'll have to make them your-self from the supplied CD-ROM ororder them separately. (The same pol-icy applies to printed documentation.)What if you don't have a SCSI CD-ROM drive that NetWare supports?Not to worry. Installation pulls filesfrom a DOS-mounted CD-ROM, sowhile you may or may not succeedin sharing discs as read-only NetWarevolumes, as long as DOS can see yourdrive you'll be able to install NetWare.

The installer scans the network for anexisting directory services tree, and if (asin my case) that search fails, it will createa new one. It prompts for the new serv-er's location in the tree—an organizationand (optionally) an organizational unit.After installing the server, you can cut in-stallation floppy disks from the CD-ROMfor DOSAVindows and OS/2 workstations.After installing the DOS/Windows clientsoftware on my Swan 386/25,1 rebootedand tried to log in. I was stumped for awhile. The privileged user in 4.0 is AD-MIN, not SUPERVISOR, but the com-mand LOGIN ADMIN, which should havegranted access to the directory service,kept failing, as did the more explicit LOG-IN ADMIN.Editorial.BYTE. Eventual-ly I figured out why.

User object ADMIN lived in a top-lev-el container (organization BYTE), butserver object THORNTON lived one lev-el down (organizational unit Editorial).Attaching to THORNTON, I acquired itscontext. Because the search for an objectlooks downward in the tree, not upward,user ADMIN wasn't found. One solutionwas to use the command CX 0=BYTE,which set the context appropriately for thecommand LOGIN ADMIN. (Note that AD-

Bit map

256color.bmp

leaves.bmp

Text

drwatson.logmodems.iniSummary

1 i Worse

DOS 6

Better ►

Bit map

256color.bmpleaves.bmpText

drwatson.logmodems.iniSummary

0 1 2 3 4 5 6Compression ratio

NetWare 4.0 consistently outcompresses DOS 6 on some file types. Resultsare mixed for bit maps and text files, but on the whole NetWare 4.0 really isa disk doubler. The summary figure represents the composite compressionratio for all files in the Windows directory.

MIN can then manage not only the re-sources of the Editorial unit but those ofother units belonging to BYTE.) Anotherwas simply to name the correct context(i.e., LOGIN ADMIN.BYTE).

Things were simpler for the new useraccounts I then created as ADMIN, sinceI put those objects in the same part of thetree as the server itself. But for adminis-trators, mastery of the nuances of NDSwill require a major conceptual shift. It'sworth the trouble. For example, I reflex-ively created a group EVERYONE andbegan putting new users into that group.Then I discovered that 4.0 obsoletes thatold habit. Users in a "container" objectinherit rights and log-in scripts from thecontainer, so they are implicitly membersof a group. The object orientation of NDSis powerful, once you learn to let it workfor you.

You manage the tree with a pair ofgraphical tools (or their textual equiva-lents). The NetWare Administrator navi-gates the tree and creates, renames, moves,and edits NDS objects. Creators of newobject classes can extend this tool by writ-ing "Snap-in Object DLLs." The PartitionManager subdivides the single directory-services database created during installa-tion into smaller pieces and can replicatethose pieces to local or remote servers.

You replicate in order to safe-guard directory information andensure speedy access to that infor-mation in a WAN environment. Ifyou install two servers into a sin-gle container, this replication hap-pens automatically. You probablywon't need to replicate manuallyunless you're operating a WAN.In that case, since replicas syn-chronize continually as changesoccur, you will have to plan care-fully how much directory infor-mation to distribute. You cannotyet gauge whether the usage of agiven replica justifies the com-munications cost of maintainingit, but Novell recognizes the needfor such a capability and says thehooks are in to provide it.

New DOS and OS/2 Requesters

I installed the client software ona handful of machines runningDOS/Windows and one runningthe OS/2 2.1 beta. The DOS clienthas changed dramatically. Afterloading the ODI (Open Data-LinkInterface) .software that talks to thenetwork adapter, you run a loadercalled VLM.EXE that pulls in an assort-ment of "virtual loadable modules" intoconventional, expanded, or extended mem-ory. Each VLM performs one function—DOS redirection, printing, encryption, di-rectory services, and so on.

The redirector reforms NetWare's oldhabit of hooking INT21, although "dirty"NetWare applications that rely on thathook can still have it. Another modulebinds IPX to the NCP and signals Novell'sreadiness to let NetWare ride on othertransports. In fact, the NetWare client isprepared to run NCP over IP today, andonce the server can do the same (Novellis not saying when), administrators ofmixed networks who want to standardizeon a single wire protocol will finally beable to do so.

DOS and OS/2 clients now get bothNetBIOS and named-pipes drivers and,importantly, an NDIS-over-ODI driverthat enables users to multiplex LAN Man-ager (and other NDIS-oriented clients)with NetWare over a single adapter. Un-fortunately, I found no obvious way tosubstitute the NetWare 4.0 client for theNetWare support included with Windowsfor Workgroups.

The OS/2 requester can virtualize net-work support to multiple DOS boxes intwo ways. One enables a VDM (virtual

142 15 V I K JULY 1993

mm

STATISTICA/W'" (for Windows) Complete SlatisUcal Sys-tem with thousands of on-screen customizable, presentation-qualitygraphs fully integrated with all procedures ■ Complete Windows 31support, DDE, OLE, TT-fonts, multiple toolbars, right mouse buttonsupport ■ UnUmited numbers of data-, results-, and graph-windows■ Inter-window integration: data, results, and graphs can be treatedas objects and converted into one another in a number of ways ■The lai^est selection of statistics and graphs in a single system;comprehensive implementations of: Exploratory techniques; multi-way tables with banners (presentation-quaUty reports); nonpara-metrics; distribution fitting; multiple regression; general nonlinearestimation; stepwise logit/probit; general ANCOVA/MANCOVA; step-wise discriminant analysis; log-hnear analysis; factor analysis; clus-ter analysis; multidimensional scaling; canonical correlation; itemanalysis/reliabihty; survival analysis; time series modeling; forecast-ing; lags analysis; quahty conti-ol; process analysis; experimental de-sign (with Taguchi); and much more ■ Manuals with comprehen-sive introductions to each procedure and examples ■ Hypertext-based Stats Advisor expert system ■ Extensive data management fa-cihties (spreadsheet with long formulas, block operations, ad-vanced Clipboard support, DDE hot Unks, relational merge, dataverification, powerful programming language) ■ Batch commandlanguage and macros also supported, "turn-key system" options ■All output displayed in ScroUsheets™ (dynamic, customizable, pres-entation-quahty tables with toolbars, pop-up windows, and instant2D, 3D and multiple graphs) ■ Extt'emely large analysis designs(e.g., correlation matrices up to 32,000x32,000, unhmited ANOVAdesigns) ■ Megafile Manager with up to 32,000 variables (8 Mb)per record ■ Unlimited size of files; extended ("quadruple") preci-sion; unmatched speed ■ Exchanges data and graphs witii other ap-pUcations via DDE or an extensive selection of file import/export h-cihties ■ Hundreds of types of graphs, including categorized multi-ple 2D and 3D graphs, mauix plots, icons, and unique multivariate(e.g., 4D) graphs ■ FaciUties to custom design new graphs and addtiiem permanendy to menu ■ On-screen graph customization withadvanced drawing tools, interactive stretching and resizing of com-plex objects, interactive embedding of graphs and artwork, specialeffects, icons, maps, multi-graphics management, p^e layout con-trol for shdes and printouts; unmatched speed of graph redraw ■Interactive rotation, perspective and cross-sections of all 3D and 40graphs ■ Extensive selection of tools for graphical exploration ofdata: fitting, smootiiing, overlaying, spectral planes, projections, lay-ered compressions, marked subsets ■ Price $995.

Quick STATISTICA/WT" (for Windows) A comprehen-sive selection of basic statistics and the full graphics capabifities ofSTATISTICA/w ■ Price $495.

STATISTICA/DOS"' (for DOS) A STATISTICA/w-compat-ible data analysis system ■ Price $795.

Quick STATISTICA/DOS™ (for DOS) A subset of STA-nsnCA/DOS statistics and graphics ■ Price $295.

Domestic sh/h $10 per product; 14-day money back guarantee.Circle 144 on Inquiry Card.

StatSoft

2325 E. 13th St. • Tulsa, OK 74104 • (918) 583^149Fax: (918) 583-4376

Overseas Offices: Statsoft of Europe (Hamburg. FRG), ph: 040/4200347, fax: 040/4911310; StatSoft UK (London, UK), ph: 0462/482822,fax: 0462/482855: StatSoft Pacific (fulelbourne, Australia), pti: (03) 663

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Reviews

NetWare Goes Global

DOS machine) to share the original (pub-lic) OS/2 log-in. The other grants a VDMits own private log-in. Coupled with asyn-chronous host software (e.g., pcAnywhere)running in the VDM, this technique canmake an OS/2 2.x machine into a poorman's NetWare Access Server.

New Server Tricks

When NetWare 3.0 made its debut, thefact that NLMs ran fast and naked at ring0 raised a lot of eyebrows. How couldNovell permit a failing application to takeout the kernel? That complaint turned outto be slightly off target. Software that runswith NetWare by definition provides amission-critical service, and it just can'tafford to fail. The real question shouldhave been: How can developers makeheadway in a hair-trigger environment?

NetWare 4.0's answer is DOMAIN.NLM, a tool that can isolate unprovenNLMs from the kernel. There's an associ-ated cost, of course. BYTE's NLM bench-mark ran 5 percent slower in the OS_PRO-TECTED domain (ring 3) than in the OSdomain (ring 0). Real applications that ex-ercise user code more than kernel codewill degrade even more. But NLM pro-tection doesn't really try to make NetWarea protected operating system. It's just away to help get reliable NLMs built quick-ly, and developers tell me they're mightygrateful for it.

CDROM.NLM mounts a CD-ROM as aread-only NetWare volume. To get it towork, you first need to load a driver thatenables CD-ROM.NLM to speak ASPI(advanced SCSI programming interface)to your drive. The Adaptec version of thatdriver wasn't happy with the UltraStorcontroller's flavor of ASPI, but the Merid-ian Data implementation enabled me tomount and share the Toshiba CD-ROMdrive. Other new server utilities includeSERVMAN, which you can u.se to observeand twiddle various system settings, andDSREPAIR, which fixes damaged direc-tory-services partitions.

About the Product

storage Managementstill Evolving

NetWare 4.0 provides a trioof server-based TSAs (targetservice agents) that ship datato backup engines that sup-port the SMS protocol. Theserver TSAs handle NetWare3.11 and 4.0 file systems, aswell as the 4.0 directory-ser-vices database. I also testedthe TSAs that SMS engines

NetWare 4.0

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can use to pull data from OS/2 and DOSworkstations. However, though I estab-lished TSA-to-server communication inall five cases, I couldn't convince SBACK-UP's support driver, TAPEDAI.NLM, touse the UltraStor's ASPI driver and socouldn't move any data to either my Tec-mar or my Archive DAT drives.

What troubled me more, though, wasthe realization that 4.0's data-migrationfeature has almost nothing to do with SMS.For data migration, 4.0 introduces theHCSS (high-capacity storage system), partof a joint effort with Kodak to enable Net-Ware for image processing.

To u.se HCSS, you buy an MO (mag-neto-optical) jukebox (only HP's 10- and20-GB models are currently supported)and then load the HCSS NLM and point itat portions of a NetWare volume. It auto-matically migrates files between primarymagnetic storage and secondary MO stor-age according to demand. What's wrongwith this picture? I thought I'd be able touse disk-grooming SMS backup softwareand tape auto-changers this way, but themigration hooks that Cheyenne and Palin-drome would need aren't in SMS, they'rein HCSS. Novell is painfully aware thattiered storage was the raison d'etre of SMSand admits that its unification with HCSSis imperative.

Difficult Choices

NetWare 3.0's quantum leap in perfor-mance and ease of use made the decision toupgrade almost a no-brainer for many 2.xusers. While 4.0 advances the state of Net-Ware in an equally profound way, the im-mediate gains are harder to quantify. Thefailure of NDS to accommodate 2.x and3.x servers rankles. If Banyan can putStreetTalk on those platforms (in the formof Vines Enterprise Network Services)why can't Novell manage the same trickwith NDS? NetWare servers have an an-noying habit of refusing to die, and I worryabout the drag they'll exert on deployment

of NDS-aware software.

Despite these concerns,NetWare 4.0 is obviouslyheaded in the right direction.Its early adopters may suffersome growing pains, butthey'll never look back. ■

Novell, Inc.

122 East 1700 SouthProvo, UT 84606(801) 429-7000Circle 1224 on Inquiiy Card.

Jon Udell is a BYTE senior tech-nical editor at large. He maintainsBYTE s PC network. You canreach him on BIX as "judell" oron the Internet at judell@bytepb.bvte.com.

Reviews

Software

Dynamic Documents

Folio Views lets you manage and distribute large quantities oftext, numbers, and graphics. Version 3.0 brings Folio's electronicpublishing tools to Windows.

ROBERT SCHMIDT

lectronic publishing has longbeen touted as a revolutionary re-placement for paper as a meansof delivering information. Unfortunately,this type of publishing has been the ex-clusive province of large publishing, data-base, and multimedia companies. Onlythey could support the laborious productionof books, CDs, and on-line databases. Withthe release of Folio Views 3.0, Folio Corp.hopes to make electronic publishing avail-able to a mass market.

New to the Windows platform, FolioViews 3.0 ($495) lets you produce, man-age, and distribute large bodies of infor-mation. It brings editing, publishing, andretrieval tools together to automate the in-formation life cycle. Its primary market isorganizations that regularly publish mass-es of information on paper. For depart-ments and workgroups, the bundling ofreal-time editing and retrieval functionswill be irresistible: no more corralling anundisciplined agglomeration of data in in-compatible formats.

The Folio Infobase

Folio pioneered the concept of an infobase,a dynamic repository of free-format datathat can hold text, numbers, graphics, andsound. Examples include technical docu-ments, legal proceedings, parts catalogs,and the complete works of Shakespeare.Views combines properties of word pro-cessing, desktop publishing, database andtext management, groupware, and multi-media. It contains a wealth of functional-ity, much of it new to version 3.0.

New features include an open client/server architecture, concurrent multiuserediting with automatic record locking,graphics placed directly into an infobase,robust filters for WordPerfect and Micro-soft Word, and embedded multimedia ob-jects such as sound and video files. Oneimportant element still missing from Viewsis cross-platform support. An infobasecreated in the Windows version can beloaded into the DOS version of Views, but3.0 includes neither a DOS nor a Mac-

I File View Search Window Help

15 ♦ 1604 THE TRAGEDY

intosh viewer. TheDOS viewer shouldbe available by thetime you read this;the Mac viewer isscheduled for laterthis year.

Although the cur-rent release of Viewsdoesn't support mul-tiple platforms, theopen client/serverarchitecture portendsa smooth migrationpath. The Views en-gine, which is writ-ten in C++, is anindependent execut-able handling low-level file calls. Thecode can be portedby recompiling for different platforms. Inthe near future. Folio plans a Views en-gine for Unix and Windows NT servers,which you could access from Windows orMacintosh clients. The client workstationswill send out queries to the server, allow-ing the server hardware to handle resource-intensive tasks, such as searches, updates,and builds against the central infobase.

Unlike file managers such as XTree orMagellan, Views doesn't organize direc-tories of files. Instead, it manages all in-formation under one infobase umbrella.Infobases, limited to 2 GB in the previousversion, may be up to 16 TB in size in 3.0.Although Views permits standard and user-definable fields, its retrieval capabilitiesare most comparable to those of such full-text databases as askSam and Zylndex(for a synopsis of products that help orga-nize and retrieve documents and files, see"Info-Management Tools" on page 148).Views indexes every word as it's entered,but because of compression, the resultinginfobase and index combined is oftensmaller than the source file.

Concurrent Editing and Dynamic Links

All of Views' viewing and editing featuresare available in a multiuser environment(see "Dynamics of an Infobase" on page

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Hie Table of Contents view reveals the structure of an infobase, the number of queiyhits per level, and the results of a wild-card search in context. Levels expand andcontract when the plus icon is selected.

146). Up to 125 users can post notes, high-Ught text, or add information simultane-ously, and an unlimited number can haveread-only access (a scaled-down versionof Views, Folio Annotator, costs $195 andprovides tools for viewing, searching, andmaking personal annotations). Securityoptions let you control not only who may ac-cess the infobase but what levels or kindsof information they can see or alter. Withthe addition of User Groups, 3.0 lets youset identical access rights for every mem-ber of a defined group.

Shadow files are also new to FolioViews. You can make shadow copies ofthe infobase for your personal use. Theshadow copy is an exact replica of the filethat can reside on your local disk. You canuse the shadow file for reference purposes,adding personal notes and your own an-notations that will not affect the originalversion.

Folio Views now supports a number ofdifferent types of links, including the fol-lowing:

• Popup Links for generating electronic"sticky" notes. A Popup may includetext or graphics.

• Jump Links for moving from one pointin the infobase to any other point. You

JULY 1993 BYTE 145

Reviews

Dynamic Documents

Dynamics of an Infobase

Unlimitedread-only

The current version of Folio Views ships with a Windows viewer;DOS and Mac viewers have been announced

browsing and viewing afile. You can click onany line (level) of theTable of Contents andjump to the correspond-ing point in the text. Youcan collapse or expandthe outline by clickingon the pluses and mi-nuses (see the screen onpage 145) or display itto a certain depth withnumerical indicators justbelow the menu bar.

Folio Views creates dynamic, editable electronic documents for shared access on a network. With complete multiuser record locking, Viewssupports up to 125 concurrent users with read/write privileges. An administrator controls access rights.

can also jump to a different infobase.

• Object Links for calling graphics,sound, or video objects.

• Program Links for invoking an exter-nal application from within Views.

• Query Links for performing queries.

Each type of link can have an associat-ed style (e.g., green italicized Times Ro-man). Clicking on this styled text initiatesthe appropriate action. Object Links giveyou the beginnings of true multimedia bylinking to other applications through Mi-crosoft's OLE. Views acts only as an OLEclient and includes no native tools for call-ing or editing video and sound. But an ob-ject dialog box, displaying a list of sup-ported OLE objects and offering optionsfor previewing objects, makes it easy towork with external applications and to em-bed multimedia sources.

Infobase Hierarchy

I reviewed Folio Views on a 33-MHzCompudyne 486 with 4 MB of RAM,

DOS 5.0. and Windows 3.1. Installationwas straightforward and took about 15minutes. The program occupies 13.7 MBof disk space, but most of that is sample in-fobases and tutorials that you can erase.Without the sample programs but with allfunctions enabled. Views requires a littleover 2 MB.

A Views infobase has several structur-al levels. Records are the basic structuralelement of an infobase. A record may be aline, a paragraph, or another natural unitof information.

Levels provide a hierarchical structurefor the infobase, just as an outline or tableof contents does. In a documentation set,for example, the levels might be Book,Section, and Chapter. While levels imposea structure from the top down, fields ag-gregate related bits of information fromthe bottom up. You can tag all dates, wher-ever they appear, and include them in aDate field, or place all personal names in aName field.

The Table of Contents offers a way of

Complex Queries

Folio Views has strongsearching capabilities.You can search an entireinfobase or define a sjje-cific scope. The indexedwords in that scope ap-pear in the Word box.You can click on a wordor type an entry in theQuery box. This is an in-telligent query: As youtype. Views attempts tofinish the term for you.You can access previoussearches with the scrollbar and apply themacross multiple info-bases. The Results Mapgives you a running tal-ly of the number of hits.In the Table of Contentsview, you can show the outline headingswith search hits, reveal or hide the searchresults in context, and omit or display thenumber of hits.

As with most search programs, you canhunt for phrases (in quotes) or multiplewords linked with AND, OR, and NOT.You can do wild-card and proximitysearches, stem searches (e.g., eat% for eat,ate, and eating), and even thesaurus search-es (e.g., fly$ for soar, glide, flee, and soon). Combination searches are possible,although they occasionally produce un-fathomable results. Also, the Results Mapdoes not give a hit count on a complexquery, and you can't do either case-sensi-tive searches or searches that include punc-tuation (no sue vs. Sue or us vs. U.S.).

Building an Infobase

You can build an infobase from scratchwith Views' editing tools. But it's morelikely that you'll develop a document ina word processor or other program andbring it into Views. Views has filters for

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Dynamic Documents

INFO-MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Software supporting electronic information taltes many forms, from simpleindexers to complex authoring software. The table displays some of thevarious approaches, but the designations are as dynamic as the software:Some software packages span categories; others defy them altogether.

File indexers Zylndex Index a group of files on a network or

Magellan local drive. Excellent tools for finding andISYS retrieving data but not for creating on-line

electronic documents.

Document PC Docs Maintain live documents or images of docu-

managers SoftSolutions ments. Tools for version tracking.

KeyFile Best for tracking document work flow

within an organization.

Hypertext word^^Jll processors

Ami Pro Provide simple tools for bookmarks and

WordPerfect links. Support OLE for embedded soundMS Word and video. No stand-alone viewers;

can't track large groups of documents.

Digital paper Acrobat Produce an electronic copy of any document

solutions Common through print driver. Anyone can read with

Ground stand-alone viewer. Styles and formats main-tained, but electronic copy is not editable.

Authoring tools Authorware Produce interactive multimedia applications.

OWL Guide Sophisticated and powerful programming

MS Viewer environment.

BFree-format Folio Views Pull free-fonn data into a targe repository for

multiuser Lotus Notes multiuser viewing and editing,

databases askSam

Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, and ASCIIthat preserve much of the source's for-matting.

When you convert a text file into an in-fobase, planning is critical. You'll wantto consider the background and educationlevel of the intended audience, how oftenthe infobase will be revised or updated,how it will be distributed, and so forth.Then you can decide the number of lev-els and fields and their styles, the formatsof paragraph and character styles, the high-lighters and linkages that you wish to in-clude, and the placement ofobjects, bookmarks, and otherfeatures.

You can import raw textinto Views and apply thefunctionality there, but you'llfind that many things are eas-ier to add in WordPerfect orMicrosoft Word. Views cantake a WordPerfect table ofcontents and build levels and

About the Product

Folio Views 3.0

Folio Corp.

2155 North Freedom BlvdSuite 150Provo, Utah 84604(801) 375 3700fax: (801) 374-5753Circle 1234 on Inquiry Card.

a dynamic table of contents for an infobase.Footnotes and Endnotes in WordPerfectbecome Note Links in Views. WordPer-fect's cross-reference feature creates JumpLinks.

A Word document has paragraph marksat the end of every line, which makes eachline a record. To create levels and a dy-namic table of contents, you apply Word'sheading styles at the proper places. WordFrames are not supported in Views, so youhave to place all information in-line. Youcan add two kinds of links in Word. Viewswill derive the first. PopupLinks, from existing foot-notes. For Jump Links, youmust put a GOTO BUTTONcommand at the launchingpoint and a bookmark at thedestinafion. You can importembedded OLE objects fromWord, but links to the serverapplication will be lost.You add fields to the in-

..$495

fobase after you've created it from a doc-ument. You can tag records and place themin a field if you want to include entirerecords. However, you can't use Views'search-and-replace utility to apply fieldsor styles—a lamentable shortcoming. Yourbest bet in automating field and style des-ignations may be to import the file asASCII, because Folio provides coding thatyou can add to a Flat File.

A Folio Flat File consists of ASCII textwith embedded codes for generating acomplex infobase. Although Views doesnot support SGML (Standard GeneralizedMarkup Language) or any other standardmarkup language, you can use the search-and-replace utility to change any embed-ded markup codes to the Folio equivalents.Views can then use the resulting Flat Fileto automatically build the infobase. Directsupport of SGML would be a nice addi-tion, but the current conversion process isextremely flexible, handling a wide varietyof generic markup techniques.

Who Needs Folio Views?

Users of previous versions of Folio Viewswill find the new program improved al-most beyond recognidon. Views' queryoptions let you locate items in a multitudeof ways. Searches may grow unwieldy asthey increase in complexity, but only themost challenging queries will cause trou-ble. Browsing the results is easy, espe-cially with the Table of Contents.

Views sparkles with its variety of textformatting, methods of organization, andlinks to external objects. For freewheel-ing group efforts, its collaborative bene-fits are impressive. For more structuredprojects, adding traits throughout an in-fobase is a problem. The authoring toolsare not yet fully developed.

If all you want is to index static files onyour hard drive, either a structured textmanagement system (such as Zylndex) ora free-form one (such as askSam) will suf-fice. The extra work of adding levels,fields, and so forth will not improve yourupdate and retrieval ability substantially.But if you want tools for a workgroup,document control, links, and other benefitsof electronic publishing. Folio Views maybe the answer. ■

Robert Schmidt is a freelance writer and consultantspecializing in information management and toolsfor writers. As system manager for the LA TimesEditorial Library, he maintained a system forcreating, manipulating, and storing the full textof the LA Times on an electronic database. Youcan contact him on BIX c/o "editors. "

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Reviews

Software

ClarisWorks 2.0 for Macintosh

The latest version gives you fewer reasons to spend thousands -for asuite of Mac applications or dedicate dozens of megabytes of storage

TOM R. HALFHILL

ince its debut in 1991, Claris-. Works has become the domi-nant integrated software pack-age for the Macintosh, toppling thelongtime leader Microsoft Works and over-taking two other contenders (WordPerfectWorks, formerly known as BeagleWorks,and Symantec's GreatWorks). With therecent release of version 2.0, Claris's lead-ership position is now even stronger.

It's not hard to see why. ClarisWorksis the most smoothly integrated productin its class and is a good match for Ap-ple's growing line of hot-selling, affordableMacs. The most popular Macs are street-priced between $800 and $1400, and Ap-ple now offers more than half a dozenmodels in that range. The people who arebuying those machines tend to want soft-ware that's priced proportionally, and Clar-isWorks offers almost everything theyneed for less than $300. In fact, some buy-ers (particularly those who choose Perfor-mas, Apple's consumer-oriented Macs)will find that ClarisWorks is includedwhen they buy their computers—a strate-gy that has significantly boosted Claris'smarket share.

Hundreds of Enhancements

ClarisWorks 2.0 offers more than 300 en-hancements over version 1.0, includingthree completely new modules. In addi-tion to the word processor, spreadsheet,flat-file database manager, drawing pro-gram, and telecommunications module.

« File Edit Format Arrange Options Uieiu

Charts created with the spreadsheet module can bepasted into the draw or paint modules for additionalmanipulation. Only in the drawing environment,however, does the chart remain linked to the worksheet.

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ClarisWorks' spreadsheet/charting module lets youturn ordinary bar charts into pictograms by repeatinga graphical element. The chart remains linked to thespreadsheet and mirrors any changes.

there's now an outliner, a 256-color paintprogram, and a slide-show module thatlets you chain ClarisWorks screens to-gether for business presentations. Everymodule has been upgraded, and a new"shortcuts" feature lets you click on a float-ing palette of miniature icons to access themost commonly used functions.

In the word processor, you can now de-fine custom text styles, set up multiplecolumns with a single click, and flow textaround graphics. Text wrapping is sup-ported within spreadsheet cells, too, andthe charting features are greatly improved.You can easily generate pictograms, likethe ones popularized by USA Today, withstacks of graphical objects instead of plainbar charts. The database filer in Claris-Works 2.0 can automatically vaUdate fieldsand contains more than 50 predefined for-mats for Avery mailing labels. The draw-ing module now has 32 black-and-whiteand color gradient fills, plus two new poly-gon tools.

Even more impressive, ClarisWorks 2.0delivers all these features (and hundreds

No Quadra jRequired Wk

To judge how well ClarisWorks performson low-end Macs, I tested it on two sys-tems: a Mac LCII with 4 MB of RAM, an80-MB hard drive, and System 7.0.1; anda Mac SE wWi 1 MB of RAM, a 20-MB harddrive, and System 6.0.5. The six-year-oldSE, a 68000-based machine, is close tothe minimum configuration that will runCtarisWorits. Performance was annoyinglysluggish, especially in the word processor,which failed to keep pace with my typing.

The 68030-based LCII fared much bet-ter, though it still lagged at times, partic-ularly when redrawing complex screens.The LCII represents the minimum config-uration being sold today, delreering aboutthe same performance as the Classic II,the Color Classic, the Performa 200, andthe Performa 400. M

JULY 1993 BYTE 151

i

Reviews

ClarisWorks 2.0 for Macintosh

ClarisWorks 2.0 lets you transform text in 12 differentways, including these perspective effects.

more) while bucking the trend toward fat-ware. At 601 KB, it's hardly larger thanversion 1.0 and still runs comfortably inas little as 1 MB of RAM. Full installa-tion—including folders filled with sam-ple files, tutorials, file translators, spellingdictionaries, and a thesaurus—requiresless than 5 MB of hard disk space, andyou can get by with much less.

A Spreadsheet in Your Word Processor

Something else that hasn't changed in 2.0is its seamless integration, the salient fea-ture of ClarisWorks. Instead of simplybundling a collection of mini-applicationsthat can share files, Claris takes a moreflexible, frame-based approach to softwareintegration. For example, if you want toadd a table or a chart to a business letter,you can simply click on the spreadsheettool, open a spreadsheet frame anywhere inthe word processingdocument, and eitherstart entering num-bers manually orpaste a range of cellsfrom an existingworksheet. When youclick outside thespreadsheet frame,you're back in wordprocessor mode. If itweren't for the con-text-sensitive menusand tool palettes,you'd never knowyou were switchingfrom one applicationto another. Claris-Works is like a glimpse of the interopera-ble future promised by Apple and Mi-crosoft; if operating system and applicationvendors live up to their promises, we'll beable to work like this with all applications.

Of the three new modules in Claris-Works 2.0, the paint module plugs themost obvious gap. Version 1.0 had a draw-

WHAT'S NEW IN CLARISWORKS 2.0

ing module, but it's often handier to workwith pixel-based graphics rather than vec-tor graphics. Version 2.0 gives you thechoice of using either, and the frame-basedintegrafion lets you combine both kindsof graphics in a single document. The onlydrawback to combining the two is that vec-tor frames cease to behave independentlyonce you click them into paint graphics.In other words, the frame is no longer anapplicafion module; it is converted into apixel-based image, just like the rest of thepaint document.

This brings up a small but importantpoint: The integration in Claris-Works is often so seamless that itleads to momentary confusion.Even after extensive experiencewith ClarisWorks, I sometimessfill click on a muUiframe docu-ment and lose track of whichmodule I've activated. Oftenyour only clues are subtlechanges in the tool palette andmenu bar.

The new outliner in Claris-Works is integrated with theword processor and offers sev-eral different formats. In addi-tion to the common numericand diamond outlines, you canchoose from Harvard and legalformats and bulleted or checkmarkedlists, or you can design your own customformat. Subtopics can be expanded, col-lapsed, and shuffled within the 16-levelhierarchy. You can

a phone directory, Kermit file transfers,and unlimited scroll-backs through cap-tured text, but there's still no scripting lan-guage for automating on-line sessions, andthe macro recorder is no substitute.

For instance, I spent 3 hours trying torecord a macro that would simply log on toCompuServe, with both ID and password.Finally, I gave up and telephoned Claris'stechnical support. I was courteously in-formed that a ClarisWorks macro can re-spond to only one string of incomingtext—something not mentioned in themanual. That means you have to record a

The new slide-show module lets you display ClaiisWorlis documents ina predetermined sequence for group presentations.

separate macro for each prompt (UserID:, Password:, and so on) and thenrecord yet another macro to link all theother macros together.

256-color paint moduleoutliner integrated with word processorslide shows for presentationsfloating "shortcuts" palettetext wraps around irregular shapesimproved spelling checkercustom text stylesmultiple columns of textmore flexible chart customizationpolygon and Bezier drawing tools

define custom stylesfor headings and oth-er text, just as youcan in the word pro-cessor.

The new slide-show module is agreat addition, espe-cially for PowerBookusers. ClarisWorksis already an idealPowerBook compan-ion, and now, with-out buying any extrasoftware, you canturn your documentsinto slides for pre-sentations. You can even create slides thatplay QuickTime movies.

Failure to Communicate

Some things in ClarisWorks could standmore improvement. The communicationsmodule, a weak link in 1.0, still suffersfrom major deficiencies. Claris has added

A Logical Decision

Despite a few shortcomings, ClarisWorks2.0 is a remarkably versatile packagewhose modules compare favorably to somestand-alone applications. For home, school,and small-business users who are new tothe Mac, ClarisWorks is the most logicalfirst software purchase.

For many people, ClarisWorks may alsobe the last major application they'll everhave to buy. ■

Tom R. Halfliill is a BYTE senior news editor anda longtime Mac user. You can reach him on BIXas "thalfhill."

About the Product

ClarisWorks 2.0

Claris Corp.

5201 Patrick Henry Dr.

Santa Clara, CA 95054

(408) 987-7000

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Taylor's Technical Books

PH: 214-239-TECH

Denton, TXUniversity Bookstore

PH: 817-565-2592

Houston, TXBrown Book Shop

PH: 713-652-3937FAX: 713-652-1914

Major's Scientific Books

PH: 800-221-9697713-522-1361FAX: 713-524-5860

Sam Houston Book Shop

PH: 713-626-1243

VIRGINIA

Blacksburg, VAVirginia Tech CampusBookstore

PH: 703-231-5991FAX: 703-231-7786

Charlottesville, VAAnderson Brothers Bookstore

PH: 804-293-8161

Fairfax, VAMicro Center

PH: 703-204-8400

Richmond, VABook Gallery

PH: 804-673-9613

WASHINGTON

Bellevue, WAUniversity Bookstore

PH: 206-646-3300

Seattle, WATower Books

PH: 206-283-6333

WEST VIRGINIA

Charleston, WV

Village Green Bookstore

1954 West Ridge Rd.PH: 716-723-1600FAX: 716-723-1669

World Wide News

PH: 716-546-7140FAX: 716-254-7176

Syracuse, NYVillage Green Bookstore

PH: 315-487-3700FAX: 315-487-3550

Little Professor Book Center

1657 W. Lane Ave.PH: 614-486-9674

Little Professor Book Center

Worthington SquarePH: 614-846-4319

Longs Bookstore

PH: 614-294-4674

Micro Center

PH: 614-481-4403

OREGON

Portland, ORPowell's Technical Books

PH: 503-228-3906800-225-6911

PENNSYLVANIA

Altoona, PAThe Bookstore

PH: 814-943-1984

Knoxville, TNCampus Bookstore

PH: 615-525-7336

Memphis, TNMemphis St. UniversityBookstore

PH: 901-678-2011

Nashville, TNTower Books

PH: 615-327-8085

Computers Plus, Inc.

PH: 304-342-4848

WISCONSIN

Madison, WlThe University Bookstore

PH: 608-257-3784

Milwaukee, WlHarry W. Schwartz Bookshop

PH: 415-274-6406800-236-7323FAX:414-274-6408

Reviews

Software

PageMaker 5.0 vs. Quark 3.1

Both compete on Windows and on the IVIac. Both have dedicatedfoiiowings. But in this round, at least, Ra^eMaker has the upper hand.

G. ARMOUR VAN HORN

The competition between Page-Maker and QuarkXPress lias al-ways seemed a religious issue or,to some, a holy war. With the release ofPageMaker 5.0, Aldus has gone on a cru-sade to retain its historical market with anew level of intensity. Publishers adoptreverent feelings toward their page-com-position programs because it's where theyUve. For subsidiary tasks (e.g., text editing,illustration, or image editing), the artist orauthor can choose from a changing set ofprograms—but everything needs to gothrough the layout program.

In the past, QuarkXPress adherentscrowed about functions that were strongerin their program, stipulating that Page-Maker was probably more intuitive forless demanding tasks. Times change.Where Quark once had measurably finertypographic and dimensional control, thedifferences are now

smaller than thefinest printable uniton a high-resolutionimagesetter. But nowthat PageMaker hascontrols to matchQuark's, it also hasthe complexity. (Itscommand to keeptext locked to thebaseline grid is fivedialog boxes deep inthe Styles menu!)

In the final analy-sis, little can be donewith one programthat cannot be donewith the other. Butthere are differencesin implementation:Some functions aresupported directly,some require plug-inmodules (i.e.. QuarkXTensions or Aldus Additions), and somedepend on other software. Aldus claims—and for my requirements I concur—thatequipping QuarkXPress to match Page-Maker's features significantly increasesits cost. For comparison purposes, I will

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PageMaker 5.0 (above)and QuarkXPress 3.1share a similar Windoivsinterface. Both supporta toolbox, rulers, grids,palettes, and adimensions window. NotePageMaker's convenientpage icons at the bottomleft comer of the screen.Both programs couldskew the images, butQuarkXPress could notskew the text box, ashortcoming addressedin the announcedQuarkXPress 3.2upgrade.

arze Inziages

limit my evaluation to features includedin the basic packages.

In preparing this review, I looked atQuarkXPress 3.1 and a beta version ofPageMaker 5.0 on Macintosh and Win-dows platforms. I'll comp^lre each package

in three broad categories: text handling,graphics, and display and print support.

From Text to DTP

Both programs can import straight ASCIItext (with and without style tags), RTF,

JULY 1993 BYTE 1S7

Reviews

PageMaker 5.0 vs. Quark 3.1

Text Features

PageMaker

QuarkXPress

•

Supports more formats

• Automatically generates

for import/export

and updates "continued

•

Spelling checker shows

on" and "continued

words in context

from" tags

•

Faster editing in Story

• More powerful and

Editor

flexible support for drop

•

Inexpensive multilingual

caps

support

• Styles can control a

•

Generates tables of

single character

contents and indexes

• Stronger support forembedded tags

and documents saved by Microsoft Wordfor Windows, WordPerfect, WindowsWrite, Ami Pro, and XyWrite on the Win-dows platform. PageMaicer can also im-port text from DEC WPS, Microsoft Wordfor DOS, MultiMate, PC-Write, Samna,Wang, WordStar, Ventura Publisher, andexisting PageMaker documents. Each pro-gram can export text from a publicationfor use by most of the same programs thatit can import from. PageMaker can importspreadsheet data from Lotus 1-2-3 and Ex-cel, as well as dBase databases.

Both programs can automatically placetext on successive columns and pages, aswell as let you manually extend a chainof text from one place to another. Quarkhas chain commands for connecting man-ually created text boxes, while PageMak-er lets you pick up overflowing text fromone block and immediately place that textin a new block by clicking in an emptycolumn or dragging out a marquee in an-other location. Quark generates automatic"continued on..." and "continued from...'"tags that are updated when pages are in-serted or removed between the two blocks.

Elaborate initial caps have been part ofpublishing since medieval days, but manypublishers simply embed a larger letter(called a drop cap) at the beginning ofsome paragraphs. Both programs supportthis capability, but Quark performs thetask more gracefully. PageMaker includesan Addition that increases the size of thefirst letter and styles it as a subscript, sep-arating the balance of the paragraph fromthe drop cap by inserting soft returns andtabs. This operation cannot be undone andtakes time to dismantle. With Quark, youcan control the number of lines the dropcap extends and apply the treatment to thefirst several characters. The drop cap isapplied to the paragraph style and can beundone with a few mouse-clicks.

Named styles are important in both pro-grams, but PageMaker has some signifi-cant limitations. PageMaker styles applyonly to paragraphs, while Quark styles can

control a single character. Bothprograms can read style tags fromimported text, but PageMaker can-not adopt complex paragraph for-matting from imported tags. Forexample, take a fairly complexstyle: Say the first paragraph in aselection requires a drop cap withno indent, three words in boldsmall caps, and the balance of textin the default font; subsequentparagraphs then revert to a stan-dard style with a 2-pica indent.Tags embedded in the imported story cancontrol this specification completely inQuark. In PageMaker, you could tag theopening paragraph to turn off the para-graph indent and to set all subsequentparagraphs normally, but you would haveto set the drop cap and small cap attri-butes manually.

Text Tools

Both programs include spelling checkersand allow search-and-replace for both textand formatting attributes. Quark performsthese functions with the document open(its only mode). PageMaker performs thesefunctions from the Story Editor, a sepa-rate window that comes up in front of thedocument view. Both programs can work ona single word, a single story, or the entiredocument, although Quark can't searchboth the master pages and the balance ofthe document at the same time.

PageMaker's spelling checker is verysimilar to a word processor's, steppingthrough the story showing each unknownword in context and proposing a list of re-placements. Quark also shows replace-ments, but it does not show the word incontext. Theer may be flagged, but there isno hint from Quark whether three or therewas the author's intent.

Both programs allow typing and edit-ing of any visible text in the document,but PageMaker's Story Editor enablesmuch faster editing, since it displays afixed font and shows only standard, italic,and bold typefaces.

Non-English-language publishers canadapt either product, but at dramaticallydifferent prices. Aldus sells a pack-age of 20 dictionaries, includinglegal and medical dictionaries forU.S. or U.K. English and 11 Eu-ropean languages with hyphen-ation, for $99. Quark offers a ded-icated multilingual version calledQuarkXPress Passport for $2495that handles English and nine Eu-ropean languages.

PageMaker has long had the ability togenerate tables of contents based on styledefmitions or user tags, and it can generateelaborate indexes from user-inserted tags.Quark offers neither of these features.

A Place for Pictures

With either program, you can create sim-ple graphical elements, including lines,boxes, and ovals. Both allow you to drawlines in the document and to position thelines from the control palette. PageMakerlets you draw rectangles (with square orround comers) and ovals directly on thepasteboard: Quark allows you to applylines and fills to picture boxes, includingpolygon boxes that have no equivalent inPageMaker.

Most publications include some of thesedrawn elements, but a good page-layoutprogram must incorporate images from di-vergent sources, primarily scanned pho-tographs and illustrations in EPS (Encap-sulated PostScript). With PageMaker, youcan import or place these graphics direct-ly on the document, while Quark requirespicture boxes to hold the images.

Each approach has advantages. To dis-play all of a picture in a Quark picture box,you must size the box to match the image.PageMaker displays the entire image im-mediately. On the other hand. Quark letsyou easily apply borders and fills to pictureboxes, while PageMaker users must care-fully align a new box with the underlyingimage. Unlike earlier versions of Page-Maker, version 5.0 can group the imageand the border into a single element sothat they remain aligned when moved orcopied. Quark picture boxes crop whatev-er image is placed inside them. With Page-Maker, you must select the cropping tool tocrop an image or to move the image with-in the cropping borders.

PageMaker has much better cross-plat-form file support. It automatically con-verts Macintosh PICT files to Windowsmetafiles when they are opened on the PC,and it accepts compressed TIFF files.PageMaker files are compatible across theplatforms, so documents can be easilymoved from a Mac to a PC (and back

Graphics Features

PageMaker

QuarkXPress

• Much stronger cross-

• Easier to apply image

platform (Mac/Windows)

borders and fills

support

• Automatic cropping

• Supports compressed

within a picture box

TIFF files

• Can apply color to line

• Direct placement of

art and gray-scale

images on the page

pictures

158 BYTE JULY 1993

Opeiciting Syst|msConie in Many Flavors

But QNX Can Take the Heat.

Decfsions...Decisions...

When you choose an OS for your realtime applications,you're looking for solid performance at run time. A richdevelopment environment. Responsive technical support.And to top it off, you need stability.

For over ten years, QNX has proven itself again and again inthe real world. Thousands of VARs and OEMs rely on QNXfor a wide range of mission-critical realtime solutions -in r^S, factory automation, medicalinstrumentation, telecommunications.

i

POSIX Plus Perfonnance

QNX follows the latest IEEE POSIX 1003.1 and1003.2 Open Systems standards, so you get thesame API and utility set found in many UNIX®systems. But with its innovative microkernelarchitecture, QNX out-performs any standardvanilla OS.

We Work in Real Time.™

A Recipe to Save Time

QNX saves you time up front, because your developmentsystem and target system are one and the same. Which meansno cross-compiling or debugging on a separate test platform.You get one integrated environment, with transparent fault-tolerant networking and distributed processing already built in.

Yes, We Do Windows

Our own high-performance windowing packagegives you an OPEN LOOK® GUI.And Rundosr our DOS emulator, lets you runMicrosoft® Windows™ 3 in standard mode, soyour favorite graphics programs will haveenough memory to feel right at home.

We Don't Scrimp on Support

During the last ten years, we've earned areputation for outstanding technical support.Since we offer everything from 24-hour onlineconferencing to onsite consulting,you can easily reach the people who makeup the QNX development team.

1-800-363-9001

The Right Ingredients for Real Time '^"^ '°"

QNX delivers the speed of a fast, realtime executive(16 |isec per context switch on a 33 MHz 80486).And its priority-driven, preemptive scheduling will help you build So if you're looking for an operating system that gives you

responsive solutions that won't melt under real realtime conditions. more than the standard fare, try QNX. You're in for a real treat.

Circle 134 on inquiry Card.

Quantum Software Systems Ltd. 175 Terrence Matthews Crescent, Kanata, Ontario K2M 1W8 Canada Tel: 613-591-0931 Fax:613-591-3579

© Quantum Software Systems Ltd. 1992 QNX is a registered trademarlt and llurrdos is a trademati< of Quantum Software Systems Ltd.LJNIX and OPEN LOOK are registered trademarks of UNIX System Lalaoratories. Inc. fWlicrosoft is a registered trademarit and Windows is a trademarit of /Microsoft Corporation.

Circle 84 on Inquiry Card.

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Reviews

PageMaker 5.0 vs. Quark 3.1

again) easily. Quark won't sup-port bidirectional transfers untilthe next release, but the Windowsversion can open Mac files now.

Quark picture boxes normallyrepel text at the same point thatthey crop the underlying image.Graphics placed in PageMaker canhave either rectangular or com-plex polygonal text-wrap bordersthat can be completely independent of thegraphic. The steps involved are different,but you can accomplish similar results ineither package.

When color EPS files are placed inPageMaker, the colors are added to thecolor palette and can be used for other el-ements, assuring that extra spot-color sep-arations won't be created. Quark doesn'thave this capability. Both programs usePantone, TruMatch, and FocalTone colorsystems and can print separations ofCMYK files included in documents.

Display and Print

Each program supports a toolbox, rulers,guides, and a range of palettes including amaster control palette. PageMaker's con-trol palette includes a small "proxy" nearthe left end, so you can select anchor pointsfor the selected item. Clicking the pointat the center of the proxy forces any sizechange or rotation to occur relative to thecenter; if the upper left comer is selected,new size information would force the rightor bottom edges (or both) to move. Basicarithmetic is allowed in the numericalfields, such as -I-IO after a percentage valueor 12 after a type size.

PageMaker includes page icons at thebottom left of the screen for quickly mov-ing to any spread. Quark requires a Go ToPage command from the menu or key-board, or you can navigate through thethumbnail box or with thescroll bars.

Both programs use masterpages as templates, allowingrunning heads, page numbers,borders, or guides to auto-matically become part ofevery new page. PageMakerallows only one master pageper document, while Quarkallows up to 127 differentmaster pages in a single doc-ument. With PageMaker, youcan break documents intochapter files that are strungtogether via the Book option,effectively allowing one mas-ter per chapter.

Display and Print Features

PageMaker

QuarkXPress

• Easier page navigation

• Tliumbnail and user-

with icons

definable views

• Interruptible screen

• Multiple master pages

redraw

• Traps colors to prevent

• Prints discontinuous

printer misregistration

page ranges

• Suppresses printout of

• Saves common settings

selected items

About the Products

PageMaker 5.0 forWindows and Macintosh

$895

Aldus Corp.411 First Ave. SSeattle, WA 98104(206) 622-5500Circle 1222 on Inquiiy Card.

QuarlOCPress 3.1 forWindows and Macintosh

$895

Quark, Inc.1800 Grant St.Denver, CO 80203(303) 894-8888fax: (303) 894-3399Circle 1223 on Inquiiy Card.

Unlike Quark, PageMaker has neitheruser-definable views nor thumbnail views,but it supports one magnification (800 per-cent) beyond Quark's maximum of 400percent. PageMaker's screen redraw isnow completely interruptible, so menusor keyboard commands can be activatedwithout waiting, making the program feelmore responsive.

PageMaker and Quark support all Win-dows output devices. PageMaker uses thesame Adobe-specified PPD (PostScriptPrinter Description) files that are used byIllustrator, FreeHand, and other programs.Quark handles these applications with itsown printer drivers, but any professionalservice bureau will have appropriate filesfor its output devices.

PageMaker now prints discontinuousranges of pages, a big time-saver whenyou're proofreading a story that jumpsfrom the opening section of a publicationto the back. PageMaker's rewritten print-ing routines for version 5.0 are generallyquicker than those of either Quark or pre-vious versions of PageMaker and can in-clude a PostScript error handler for trou-bleshooting and cropping images.

When the Dust Settles

In many ways, PageMaker has moved pastQuarkXPress with version 5.0. It's a com-plete product, highly capable of publishingdocuments of all kinds. Quark is obvious-ly aware of the feature list ofthe latest PageMaker, andeven though version 3.1 is noslouch, 3.2 will add manyfeatures that respond to Page-Maker's challenge. For now,the price/performance ratiohas tipf)ed in PageMaker's fa-vor, but both companies havebecome much more aggres-sive competitors. This holywar could become a boon forus innocent bystanders. ■

G. Armour Van Horn is a writerand a graphics consultant in Free-land, Washington. He can be con-tacted on BIX as "vanhorn."

160 BY I K JULY 1993

Reviews

Software

One Thumb Up, One Thumb Down

Lotus Notes release 3 is the Cadillac of cross-plat'Form E-mail andconferencing, but for work-flow automation, it's still a Model T

JON UDELL

0 other product offers Notes'unique blend of E-mail, confer-encing, and client/server data-base technology. Amazingly, release 3comes to market facing no serious head-to-head competitor. The windmills at whichit tilts are entirely of Lotus's own making.The $495-per-seat price makes it a toughsell. The difficulty of defining just whatproblems Notes solves, and ex-actly how it solves them, makesthings even tougher.

In a recent speech, Lotus pres-ident Jim Manzi suggested thatNotes, as a refiner of informa-tion and an organizer of work,can have "infinite" value to acompany. Since my duties in-clude evaluating and imple-menting BYTE's own E-mail,conferencing, and database ser-vices, I was highly motivated tolearn how release 3 redraws theboundary between Notes mythand Notes reality.

Release 3 broadens the Notesclient base with Macintosh sup-port. It also adds features thatwill appeal to users (e.g., full-text indexing and backgroundreplication) and developers (e.g.,new macro functions and designtemplates). Regrettably, Notesstill has some significant prob-lems. Chief among these are itsByzantine security administra-tion and a programming modelthat's inadequate for the kinds of group-ware applications Lotus wants developersto create for Notes.

Peeling the Security Onion

Release 3 introduces a Windows 3.1 serv-er to complement the familiar OS/2 1.xversion. I tested the OS/2 server only. Ibegan installing it on the 16-MB IBM PS/2Model 90 I'm using to test the beta of OS/22.1. Because the PS/2 connects to BYTE'sLAN by way of the NetWare requester forOS/2, that configuration would have ex-ercised Notes' new ability to use IPX/SPX,as well as its traditional NetBIOS and

(right) provides neariy allthe features of the Windowsclient. The most noticeableomission is local full-textindexing. However, theNotes Mac client (underSystem 7) has its ownunique strengths, such asthe ability to make Mac-published edttion filesvisible to Windows and PMNotes clients.

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asynchronous protocols.

I shortly discovered, however, diat usingOS/2 2.1 would have prevented me fromtesting another new protocol, AppleTalk.At least initially, release 3's Mac supportwill require an OS/2 1.x server. So Iswitched horses and installed OS/2 1.3 onan 8-MB Advanced Logic Research Flyer(a 66-MHz 486DX2) and then, lacking the1.3 NetWare requester, opted for a Net-BIOS setup after all: LAN Manager 2.2for the Notes server and Presentation Man-ager client, and Windows for Workgroupsfor the Windows client. Dropping back toOS/2 1.3 was not the hardship it might

seem, though, since in release 3the Notes server remains a 16-bit OS/2 application.

Notes' security, which em-ploys both passwords and phys-ical tokens called ID files, makesinstallation an elaborate ritual.First, you create a master ID filecalled the certifier ID. Then youuse the certifier ID to stamp acertificate on each ID that youcreate on behalf of a server or auser. Veteran Notes administra-tors will like the fact that release3 can register users in batches.

A user (or server) can com-municate with another serveronly when both hold a commoncertificate. Release 3 adds a newwrinkle: hierarchical certifica-tion. This X.500-inspired tech-nique, which is optional, permits you tocreate and manage a tree-like namespacethat reflects your company's organiza-tional structure. It simplifies the exchangeof Notes' data within and between orga-nizations. However, it does not eliminateone disadvantage of Notes' reliance onphysical IDs: You can't grant temporaryaccess, or set up a one-time data transfer,with just a phone call. An exchange of IDsmust precede any exchange of data.

Notes release 3 uses public-key en-cryption technology to authenticate usersand to affix digital signatures to mail mes-sages. Notes' application builders can also

JULY 1993 BYTE 161

Reviews

Lotus Notes 3

create and distribute ad hoc keys that aug-ment the server-, database-, document-,and section-level access controls with field-level encryption. It's a formidable securi-ty system, but one that's massively com-plex and difficult to apply. To protect asection of a document (i.e., a cluster offields), you manipulate an access controllist just as you would to protect a wholedocument or database. But to hide an in-dividual field, you designate it encrypt-able, create a key, and then mail that key tothe users you trust to access the field. They,in turn, must incorporate the key into theiruser IDs. Still another procedure governsregulation of access by roles, which areper-database groups of users that overridepublic groups on an ad hoc basis.

This abundance of procedures may re-main the Achilles' heel of Notes' security.Experience with Notes 2.1 demonstrateshow even vigilant administrators can get

tangled in the web of Notes' security man-agement. One Notes administrator told methat when he moved from company A tocompany B, he found A's databases listedin B's catalog. The database catalog kepton each Notes server does not store docu-ments belonging to databases it lists butdoes store metadata, including the policydocument that describes the contents andintended use of each database. My sourcewas shocked to discover A's policy docu-ments—which themselves contained sen-sitive information—on B's server. He sus-pects that A and B accidentally replicatedcatalogs through contact with a server atcompany C. How could this happen?

A Lotus representafive explained thatprior to release 3, a newly installed server'scatalog defaulted to a universal replica-fion ID, so that catalogs would replicatefreely among servers within a company.However, if you planned to let your servers

ENHANCEMENTS

• New Client and Server Platforms

Windows, Macintosh, and dial-in users get power-ful, and remarkably similar, client interfaces. Re-lease 3 adds a Windows 3.1 server.

• Hierarchical Certification

This administrative enhancement lets you man-age a hierarchical tree that represents your orga-nizational structure.

• Background Replication

Workstations can run replication as a backgroundtask, allowing you to synchronize databases evenwhile sending and receiving mail.

• Verity Text Engine

The integration of the Verity text engine adds im-pressive search capabilities to indexed Notesdatabases.

> Column Picklists

Notes' new SDccolumn function delivers relation-al capabilities with the ability to generate pick-lists for forms from data in table columns.

• Mail Automation

The @Mailsend function gives programmatic con-trol over Notes' mail functions, includingattachments and links.

DEFICIENCIES

•32-bit OS/2 Server

Release 3's server is a 16-bit OS/2 application.

• Manageable Security

Security features have been enhanced, but theprocedures required to maintain security remainso complex that it's easy to overlook significantleaks.

> Character-Based Client

There is no character-mode client for existing low-end PCs and laptops not equipped to run Windows.

• Database Import Features

There is no .DBF or comma-delimited ASCII im-port. Even when data is in acceptable format,Notes' import is slow.

• Intelligent Lookups

Table lookups return an entire result set to theclient instead of buffering parts of the query re-sults on the server.

> Interactive Design Tools

There are no Immediate windows for testing macrosunder development and no debugging facilities.

• High-level Application Builder

The programming model for Notes still relies onmacros, which (lacking even callable functions)are inadequate for work-flow applications.

talk to another company's servers, you hadto throw away the default catalog and cre-ate a new one from the supplied templateso its replication ID would be uniquelyyours. Although security-conscious, com-panies A, B, and C apparently failed tonotice and follow that procedure.

Does release 3 plug this hole? Yes, butgetting that question answered took twoLotus support technicians more than aweek and left me with serious concernsabout the administrative burden of Notes'security.

Cross-Platform Client/Server Made Easy

I set up the Notes server to run three pro-tocols: NetBIOS, AppleTalk, and Lotus'own dial-up protocol, XPC. (Other optionsnow include IPX/SPX and, at extra cost,TCP/IP and X.25.) Then I installed theclient software on a handful of Windowsand Mac machines and used them to accessthe server locally through BYTE'sEthernet LAN as well as remotelyby dialing the server's SupraFaxmodem.

The reliable sameness of Notesin all these configurations is astunning technical achievement.Offsetting the few features notsupported in the Mac version, suchas local full-text indexing, is theremarkable capability for a Sys-tem 7 Mac client to subscribe fromwithin a shared Notes database toan edition published by a System 7Mac. This arrangement, I discov-ered, makes the Mac-based edi-tion visible not only to other MacNotes clients, but to Windows andPM Notes clients as well.

Dial-up connections workedflawlessly. A 9600-bps link isclearly preferable, but you can ac-comphsh useful work even at 2400bps. The client/server architectureof Notes has always accommo-dated remote access nicely, andrelease 3 further improves mattersby enabling workstations to runreplication as a background task.Most E-mail and conferencing sys-tems require special logic to sup-port off-line reading and compo-sition. Notes handles that scenarioeffortlessly. Mail and conferencemessages live in databases thatreplicate just like all other Notesdatabases. If I replicate an order-entry database from a server to mylaptop and then hit the road andadd some orders to the replicant, I

162 BYTE JULY 1993

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Circle 79 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 80).

Reviews

Lotus Notes 3

can synchronize it with the master data-base the next time I dial the server (even asI'm simultaneously sending and receivingmail).

What about multiple updates? Release 3supports two flavors of version control,and the database designer can opt to recorda complete change history for each docu-ment. One method makes the update sub-ordinate to the original document; the otherdoes the reverse. You can also now repli-cate selectively, regulating the bidirec-tional exchange with the same kind of for-mula you use to select the contents of aview. That's a boon, although in practice itmay be difficult or impossible to write aformula that says, "Get the documents Imight need while I'm off-line."

Finding the Needle in the Haystacl(

The integration of the Verity text enginewith Notes is superbly done. If you have anunindexed database, the Find commandleads to an ordinary text-search dialog box.On an indexed database. Find attaches apanoply of full-text search paraphernalia tothe window in which you view the data-base. You can create and execute complex

queries that use wild cards. Boolean andproximity operators, and value-based ex-pressions like Severity >= 5; save thesequeries for later use; and schedule themfor automatic execution. You can ordersearch results by relevance or by date, ordistribute the hits throughout the currentdatabase view as disjoint selections.

The same forms through which you en-ter data into the views of a database servedouble duty as query-by-example tem-plates. You can also use these forms tospecify updates to the result set. If yousearch across multiple Notes databases,however, you'll probably want to revertto the generic query builder, since onedatabase's forms likely won't mean any-thing in the context of another database.

Indexing is impressively simple, andvery fast. The 486DX2/66-equipped ALRFlyer built a 1.2-MB index from a 6-MBdatabase in under 3 minutes. Workstationsindex local databases in the foreground.Any user with appropriate access can alsoinitiate indexing of a server-resident data-base, and this occurs in the backgroundon the OS/2 server. You update local in-dexes manually. Shared databases support

incremental reindexing that you can sched-ule to occur immediately upon change, orat hourly, daily, or other intervals.

Building Notes Applications

Release 3 instantly establishes Notes asthe premier cross-platform E-mail/con-ferencing system for Windows, PM, andMacintosh clients. (Lotus is also develop-ing a Motif client for Unix, but not, sadly,a character-based version for the hordesof low-end PCs and laptops that couldprofitably use it.) Conferencing is the cru-cial ingredient. Too many otherwise-wor-thy E-mail programs support it feebly ornot at all. People who wax ecstatic overthe benefits of electronic conferencing arenot exaggerating. There is no more effec-tive medium for day-to-day corporate com-munication, and a Notes discussion data-base—with full-text search, expandablecategories, ordered views, rich text, tables,attachments, and links—represents theCadillac of conferencing technology.

Notes will not remain unchallenged onthe E-mail/conferencing front, however.SoftArc's FirstClass and Grapevine by Of-fice Express are two strong contenders that

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Circle 101 on Inquiry Card.

Reviews

Lotus Notes 3

already support Windows and the Mac,and a Windows version of Pacer's Mac-based PacerForum is forthcoming. Lotus'sambitions for Notes, though, are grander.The company wants to position it as a gen-eral-purpose platform for applications thatcollect, organize, and distribute "semi-structured" information, route documents,and manage work flow. In support of thatgoal, release 3 gives database designersnew tools to process data and messages.

For my first experiment, I converted acontact manager that I'd written in Fox-Pro into a Notes application. Why? FoxProtoday delivers neither the cross-platformsupport nor the remote-access capabilitythat I'm keen to provide. Moreover, Notesencourages an appealing model in whichfree-form discussion can decorate a trellisof structured data. Notes' forte admittedlyis not structured data, but I thought 5000company and contact records would be areasonable load, and I was willing to tradespeed for other benefits.

You build a Notes application—whichis to say a heavily customized Notes data-base—around a set of forms and views.A form defines the fields that make up a

document (i.e., a record) in a Notes data-base, and it handles data entry and queries.A view presents a selected subset of thedocuments in that database, typically sort-ed and often grouped by expandable cate-gories. Although the documentation doesnot explain how, you can easily achieverelational effects by treating several viewsas tables related by a common key.

Once I realized this, 1 built the formsand views needed to relate companies tocontacts and imported my FoxPro data.Unfortunately, that was easier said thandone. Notes offers a weak list of importformats. There's no .DBF format, nevermind the nearly universal comma-delim-ited ASCII, so I had to write a FoxPro re-port to render my data as files of field-name:value pairs that Notes could importas structured text. It did so, but slowly—8minutes for one 3000-record import fileon the 486DX2/66 server, and a half-hourfor the same file on a 386/25 workstation.

Picklists and Menus

Next, I explored the new ODbColumnfunction, which enhances Notes' relation-al capabilities by picklisting a field using

the contents of one column of a view. MyFoxPro application uses this technique toenforce relational integrity, and ©DbCol-umn at first looked like the right solutionfor the Notes implementation. However,a 5-second delay on first use of the picklistmade me suspect that @DbColumn was,disastrously, reading the whole list intoworkstation memory. My suspicion wasconfirmed when, as I dialed into the serv-er from home, the 5-second delay became10 minutes. Clearly, that's an unworkablesolution for all but the most trivial lookups.When Lotus adds foreign database sup-port to SDbColumn, an intelligent schemefor buffering the returned data will be-come even more imperative.

Searching for a way to work around@DbColumn, I tried exploiting a form'sability to inherit field values from the ac-tive view. If a user has the Contacts viewopen and has selected a Lotus contact, theCompose Contact form can inherit thecompany name without requiring picklistselection. That worked, but only when theuser's current view was one that couldsupply a company name. Unfortunately,you can't programmatically disable the

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Reviews

Lotus Notes 3

Compose Contact menu item, so I couldn'tguarantee that the Compose Contact formwould always present a valid companyname. With DBMS software, you can tai-lor menus to meet this requirement; withNotes, you can't.

Tackling Work-Flow Programming

With some release 3 experience under mybelt, I moved on to build a new applicationto route manuscripts through BYTE's ed-itorial pipeline. The key enabling feature,new to release 3, is the @MailSend func-tion, which automates use of the Notesmail system. Of special importance isiMailSend's ability not only to attachcopies of documents to messages but alsoto include doclinks that point to shareddocuments. In the approval cycle for amanuscript, for example, you might wanta technical editor, then a copy editor, andthen the managing editor to review the livemanuscript (not a copy!), each in turn.Notes release 3 makes it possible to buildsuch an application. But it doesn't makethe job easy.

One obstacle is the development envi-ronment itself. Notes needs a BASIC-style

immediate window in which to try outuser-written macros. Lacking that, you endup drilling down through several layers ofdialog boxes to get to the place where youcan write a snippet of code, then backingout to test it, and then drilling down againwhen you find you've botched the syntax.Better up-front syntax-checking would alsohelp, as would a rudimentary debugger.

A larger problem is that functions likeOMailSend are, in effect, just the assem-bly language of work-flow programming.To route a document through an approvalcycle requires sophisticated state transi-tion and tracking logic, notjust the ability to pipe datafrom one user to another.The Notes macro language,which does not even permityou to write callable func-tions, is a clumsy way toexpress that logic. Andwhile the templates sup-plied with release 3 illus-trate the basic techniquesyou'll need, they're notreusable in any meaningfulway.

Lotus Notes release 3

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Companies serious about creating busi-ness-process applications in Notes willneed better tools. Lotus and Action Tech-nologies are. in fact, working on an appli-cation builder that will let you describework flow abstractly and will then gener-ate the code to implement it. It won't beavailable until the year's end, and it isn'tscheduled to become a standard feature ofNotes. I hope Lotus rethinks that plan. Re-lease 3 delivers all the raw materials tocreate work-flow systems. But if those sys-tems are to succeed in the real world, you'llneed faster, easier, and more productiveways to build them.

My recommendation?U.se Notes for its deluxe E-mail and conferencing, ifyou can afford to. But don'tplan to use it to reengineeryour business. ■

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Lotus Development Corp.55 Cambridge Pkwy.Cambridge, MA 02142(617) 577-8500Circle 1235 on Inquiry Card.

Jon Udell is a BYTE seniortechnical editor who managesBYTE's PC network. You cancontact him on BIX as "jiidelt"or on the Internet as judelt@bytepb.byle.com.

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HANDS-ON TESTING

V.32 OR BETTER:

Line-impairment and data tinroughput tests measure

the efficiency of 9600-bps and faster modems

JIM HURD

First, the good news: We subjected 69 modems to some of the most sophisticated tests ever conductedby a magazine's testing lab and found that modems are faster, more reliable, less expensive, andsmaller than ever. The bad news is that you won't find all of these improvements in any onepackage.If you want to push the envelope on transmission speed, you'll have to pay: The fastest modemin our test, the Motorola Codex 3260 Fast, costs an eye-popping $1395. Nevertheless, it ran our datathroughput tests at an impressive 53.4 Kbps, 29 Kbps faster than today's mainstream V.32bis modems.You'll also have to trade off low cost to get the ultimate in portability, because most of the portable modemswe tested cost a few hundred dollars more than their desktop-bound equivalents.

If you have less exotic requirements and are simply searching for an all-around desktop modem, you'll findplenty of choices nearer the middle of the speed curve. V.32bis modems reign as the best price/performancebuys today and remain the fastest modems that support a standard modulation scheme. Of the 49 V.32bismodems we tested, 21 had list prices of under $400, putting them squarely in competition with the last gen-eration of V.32 (9600-bps) modems.

We ran the 69 modems, each capable of at least 9600-bps transmission, through speed and impaired-linetests. Our line-impairment tests create 25 telephone-line conditions that simulate everythmg from satellite trans-missions to poor connections to telephone-company switching stations. These conditions, generated by a TAS(Telecom Analysis Systems) line simulator and representing most conditions of the U.S. telephone network,showed that the modems were remarkably robust: We found 13 modems that could run at their top speeds acrossall the impaired lines. See "How We Tested" on page 176 for details of our tests and test methodology.

How to use this guide

To find the right modem for your application, choose thecategory that most closely matches your requirements fromamong the four main topics (Ail-Around Communications,Portables, High Speed, and Data Only). In each category, weselect one modem as Best Overall; this is the modem we

recommend for most jobs related to that category. If you havemore specialized requirements, look to the other selections;for example, if your communications require full-duplexoperation, consider modems listed under "Two-WayCommunications."

l-WAY THROUGHPUT (KBPS)The maximum throughput for eachmodem during one-way (half-duplex)communication, as determined by labtesting. It represents the maximum rateat which the modem was able to receivedata from a computer.

'J d :M 1 ■ Boca Research 14.4 BocaModem

IS topnolch: II

Fw general-c>iii|i06e communiCdlion5 to txjlleun boanSs _____|_ana laiing. you can l Oo Miter Wan Ute BocaMoclem. ^H^^^^^

IS oneway Wiougtiput lied lot first place arnong ^BStSSSBmodems m Itiis caiegcuy, arxl its impaired lin« Kore H»u^^Hwas tt>e riignest possible. The BocaModem's la> support ^^^^^^H

aHeis Class I arx) Class 2 compliance, as well as V.I7 ^H^HHmlation was excellent, and the modem's complete set ol slalus lignts made

11 very easy W U9e.

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2-WAY THROUGHPUT {KBPS)The maximum throughput for full-duplex communication, as "measured in our lab. This is more important than the 1-WayThroughput rating only if you use full-duplex protocols.

DTE RATE (KBPS)

The DTE (data terminal equipment) rate isthe maximum rate at which the modem canreceive data from a computer.

- DCE RATE (KBPS)The DCE (data communications equipment)rate is the maximum modem-to-modem speedthat the modem can reach. It's dependent onthe modulation standard (e.g.. V.32, V.32bis).

IMPAIRED-LINE TEST (% OF THROUGHPUT)

A composite score, based on testing 25 separate line conditions, which representsthe percentage of normal throughput the modem attained over telephone lines thatsimulate difficult communication conditions (e.g., satellite delay).

172

BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

PHOTOGRAPHY: STEVE BELKOWITZ © 1993

BVTE

69 MODEMS

BEST

Critical Communication Components

SERIAL PORT

The fastest modems accept data at115.2 Kbps (DTE speed). Be sureydur modem can accept data atrates at least four times faster thanits line rate (DCE speed): 57.6 Kbpsfor a V;32bis modem and 38.4 Kbpsfor a modem.

CPU

Pocket modems generally useslower CPUs to processcommands ahd compress data;this can hurt their overallperformance, especially whentransferring data in bothdirections. Slow contniandprocessing can alsooccasionally causecompatibility problems withsoftware. The CPU has muchless to do when faxing,because the host computergenerally handles faxcompression anddecompression.

DATA PUIHP

The data pump converts between digital information andanalog transmissions, and it determines how well themodem can handle impaired lines. Traditional designs usespecially designed chips, but designs based on general-purpose DSPs [digital signal processors) have come onstrong. A DSP-based modem, such as the AT&T ParadyneComsphere 3830, can offer the flexibility of addingmodulation schemes through software upgrades.

EPROM

The modem software is stored inEPROM. Generally, you only need toworry about the EPROM when bugfixes are required, but some vendors,such as Zyxel, routinely offer modemupgrades via EPROM replacement.AT&T Paradyne uses an EEPROM inthe Comsphere; we were able toaccelerate our Comsphere from 14.4Kbps to 19.2 Kbps by downloadingsome new software.

RAM

RAM can be moreimportant than CPUspeed to overall datathroughput. Theamount of RAM is alimiting factor in theamount of

compression that themodem can reach.Modems typically useeHher 2 KB or 4 KBfor data dictionaries.RAM size is notgenerally aperformance factorwhen faxing, but abuffer that is toosmall can causeheadaches for faxsoftware.

ALL-AROUNDCOMMUNICATIONS

Boca Research 14.4KExternal BocaModem

Whether you're sending E-mail,communicating by fax. orhooking into bulletin boards,the BocaModem is an out-standing choice. Most notablewas its perfect score on ourimpaired-line performancetests. Besides excellent speedand reliability for datacommunications, theBocaModem offers Class 1and Class 2 fax compliance.PAGE 174.

PORTABLES

Practical PeripheralsPM14400FXPKT

Not much bigger than a deckof cards, the PM14400FX PKTpacks a lot of modem into asmall package. It supportsV.32bis (14.4-Kbps) datatransmission speed and 14.4-Kbps (V.17) fax. Despite itssize, it doesn't skip usabilityfeatures, such as a goodspeaker and status display.PAGE 180.

i

HIGH SPEED

Motorola Codex 3260 Fast

This is the fastest modem onthe market today. Itsnonstandard modulationallows it to reach 24 Kbpswhen communicating withother Codex Fast modems. Ourtests confirmed this speed:The modem simply blew awayall other contenders on ourone-way transmission tests.The 3260 Fast also handledimpaired lines well, although itrarely managed to hit peakperformance under less-than-perfect conditions. PAGE 186.

DATA ONLY

AT&T ParadyneComsphere 3830

If you don't need fax supportbut want fast datacommunication with standardprotocols, choose theComsphere 3830. Its ability tohandle DTE rates of up to115.2 Kbps gives it aperformance edge over otherhigh-speed V.32bis modems.This DSP-based modem is alsoeasy to upgrade. PAGE 189.

ILLUSTRATION: BRUCE SANDERS ©1993

JULY 1993 BYXE/NSTL LAB REPORT 173

IVIODEIVIS FOR

ALL-AROUND COMMUNICATIONS

COMMUNICATIONSOFTWARE

PC SPEED

PC SERIAL PORT

For all-around communication tasks,the best choice today is a 14.4-Kbps,V.32bis desktop modem with goodfax capabilities. Whether you're set-ting up E-mail links, connecting to bulletinboards, or performing almost any generalcommunications task, V.32bis modems aredata communications workhorses.

Performance and price are the biggestadvantages of 14.4-Kbps modems. Theycost only slightly more (as little as $50 insome cases) than 9600-bps devices, whichrun at only two-thirds the speed. SomeV.32bis modems, like the Practical Periph-erals PM14400FXMT, list for less than$300.

In fact, when all the testing was done andprices and features compared, not a singleV.32 modem made it onto the Best Overalllist, or even onto the list of low-costmodems we recommend. The performancedifference simply outweighs the minor costdifferential, even when price is a major fac-tor.

Our Best Overall selections highlight thefastest modems for one-way communica-tions. These are most suitable for users whoconnect to bulletin boards, send E-mail, logonto electronic services like CompuServe,and send data files with communicationssoftware (e.g., Procomm Plus) that supportsZMODEM, XMODEM, and YMODEMprotocols. We also considered fax to be es-sential for a general-purpose modem andmade that one of our selection criteria.

Because two-way communications canbe essential for users of RELAY andBLAST communications packages, we alsoidentified the leading modems for this ap-plication. RELAY and BLAST use soft-ware protocols that handle full-duplex communication, al-though most communication software does not.

We judged the best modems based on their throughputspeeds for one-way and two-way communication, as appro-priate. Throughput speed represents two-thirds of each mo-dem's total score.

Our second most important criterion was the modem's per-formance in our impaired-line tests, which measured howwell each modem maintained its top speeds when faced withnoisy telephone-line transmissions. The score is based on theaverage performance on impaired lines, measured as a per-centage of maximum performance. A modem scored 100 per-cent if it ran at top speed over all 25 of our simulated lines.Most modems dropped back on the line that simulated satel-lite transmission with long delays. Scores below 95 percent onthis test indicate potential problems when making long-dis-

SQUEEZE MORE SPEED FROM YOUR MODEM

CABU

Communication software must be fast enough to keep up with the modemand smart enough to use file transfer protocols that can tolerate the latencyof error-correcting modems. Of the popular protocols, ZMODEM Is the bestchoice, followed by sliding-window Kermit and YMODEM-G. Proprietaf)protocols like BLAST can squeeze more performance out of many modems bytransferring data in both directions simultaneously.

A PC UART (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter) can buffer only oneto 16 characters; the PC must be able to read the UART constantly to preventIt from overflowing. Graphical operating systems like the Mac and, especially,protected-mode Windows can slow the computer to the point where It can'tread the UART fast enough to prevent overflow. You may need a serialcoprocessor card to achieve maximum speed with high-end modems in theseenvironments.

Fast modems need buffered UARTs In the computer for maximumeffectiveness. A16550 UART buffers up to 16 characters—enough to provide reliable operation at 115.2 Kbps.But some 16550s have bugs (fixed In the 16550A) thatprevent their reliable use above 57.6 Kbps. Ail Macs have a UART with athree-character buffer—plenty for reliable 57.6-Kbps communication.

The main consideration for a modem cable is that It wire the hardwarehandshaking lines (pins 4 and 5), carrier detect (pin 8), and DTR (DataTerminal Ready; pin 20), in addition to the required data lines (pins 2,3, and7). For best results, keep the cable length down to 6 feet or less. Don'tassume that your modem will come with the cable you need; most do, butsome don't

tance connections, especially internationally.

Finally, because these modems are called upon to performa variety of tasks for people who aren't necessarily commu-nications experts, we evaluated them for features and ease ofuse, considering the quality of their documentation, whetherstatus lights or LCD panels were infomiative, and the ease withwhich we could change default settings.

We found price to be only a small differentiator: Althoughsome good modems in this category sell for as much as $989(the Zyxel U-1496Plus), the top five modems in this class allsell for between $300 and $600.

All the modems listed under Best Overall support the V. 17standard for fax speeds up to 14.4 Kbps. In general, avoidfax modems that don't fax at this rate, or you'll waste a lot oftime faxing documents as V.17-compliant fax machines andfax modems proliferate. V.17 support doesn't cost extra: Even

1T4 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

the least expensive modemshave it.

At $699 and $799, the twoMulti-Tech modems thatranked in our Best Overallclass are pricey compared tothe $395 BocaModem, butUnix users can consider eitherMulti-Tech as a reasonable re-placement for a $949 TelebitT3000. Like the T3000, theMulti-Tech MT1432BA sup-ports spoofing, which makes itan excellent choice if you useUUCP's g-protocol. (See"Spoofing: Serious Speed Ben-efits" on page 186).

The three Zyxel modems wetested scored a three-way tiefor best two-way communica-tions modems. The $469 Zyx-el U-1496E is a real bargain—it performs just as well as thehigher-priced Zyxels whenused at V.32bis speeds, and itoffers an attractive array of fea-tures, including caller ID, dis-tinctive ringing, and voicerecognition. In addition, the U-1496E achieves 16.8-Kbpscommunication speeds whenused with other Zyxel modems.(For this application, we con-sidered test results at 14.4Kbps; see "High-Speed Com-munications" on page 186 forthe Zyxels' high-speed scores.)Unfortunately, the Zyxel mo-dems don't support Class 1 fax,the current standard.

Many of the low-cost mo-dems, especially the PracticalPeripherals PM14400FXMTand USRobotics Sportster, per-formed admirably in our speedand reliability tests, and we canrecommend them withoutreservation. These modems areespecially attractive if youdon't need high-speed bidirec-tional throughput. For exam-ple, if you dial into bulletinboards and download informa-tion, a PM14400FXMT willperform at nearly the level ofthe Zyxel modems for a muchlower price. The PM14400-FXMT has an excellent featureset, including Class 1, Class 2,and V.17 fax. Pick the PM-14400FXMT for one-way ap-plications. If you use BLASTor RELAY, choose the Sport-ster; it's the best two-way com-municator among low-costmodems.

BYTE BEST

ALL-AROUND COMMUNICATIONS

Need speed and -flexibili'ty?

BEST OVERALL

Boca Research 14.4K External BocaModem

For general-purpose communications to bulletin boards and faxing,you can't do better than the BocaModem. Its one-way throughputtied for first place among modems in this category, and its^^^p^ impaired-line score was the highest possible. The BocaModem's

fax support is top-notch: It offers Class 1 and Class 2 compliance, as well as V.17 speed.Documentation was excellent, and the modem's complete set of status lights made it very easy to use.

PRICE

1-WAVTHROUGHPUT

2-WAY THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-LINE TEST

DTE RATE

DOE RAH

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

(7. OF THROUGHPUT)

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

BEST

Boca Research 14,4K External BocaModem

$395

32.0

26.0

100

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Practical Peripherals PM14400FXMT

$299

31.3

20.1

95

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Zoom Telephonies VFXV32bis

$349

31.7

22.0

97

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT

$499

31.3

20.3

95

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Practical Peripherals PM14400FXSA

$549

31.4

24.1

95

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Multi-Tech UT1432MU

$699

31.4

21.4

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Multi-Tech UT1432BA

$799

31.4

21.4

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496PIUS

$989

32.0

31.3

99

76.8

19.2'

Do you use RELAY or BLAST?

TWO WAY

Zyxel U-1496E

The Zyxel U-1496E's performance in two-way communication was top-notch: Themodem tied for first place on speed and scored an impressive 99 percent onthe line-impairment tests. What's more, the U-1496E's feature list is among themost comprehensive for general use: The modem supports fax, voice, DTMFdecoding, caller ID, distinctive dialing, and fax/voice switching. Zyxel activelyupgrades modems in the field by sending new EPROMs to users as additional features become available. Zyxeldoes not license the Hayes guard-band patent or use TIES (Time Independent Escape Sequence), but we had noproblem with false escapes.

PRICE

1-WAV THROUGHPUT

2-WAY THROUGHPUT

IMPAIRED-UNETIST

DTIRATE

DCERATE

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

(% OF THROUGHPUT)

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

BEST

Zyxel U-1496E

$469

31.8

31.2

99

76.8

16.8'

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496EPIUS

$649

31.8

31.2

99

76.8

19.2'

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496PIUS

$989

32.0

31.3

99

76.8

19.2'

RUNNER-UP

AMT Star 14421

$399

31.7

30.5

100

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

GVC FM144/144V

$399

31.7

30.6

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

The Complete PC Tuito Modem Plus

$399

31.7

30.6

99

57.6

14.4

Looking for low cost?

LOW COST

Practical Peripherals PM14400FXIV1T

The 14400FXMT's one-way throughput score was just a hair behind that ofthe fastest performer, the BocaModem. Its one shortcoming was itsimpaired-line score of 95 percent, resulting from its failure on the twosimulated satellite lines. If your communications don't travel throughsatellite links, the PM14400FXMT is comparable to the BocaModem andsells for nearly $100 less. The PM14400FXMT also doesn't compromise onfeatures or ease of use: It offers Class 1 and Class 2 fax support, and its documentation is clear and informative.It's also one of the few modems that supports caller ID.

PRICE

l-WAV THROUGHPUT

2-WAyTHROUGHPUT

IMPAIRED-LINE TEST

DTE RAH

DCERATI

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

(%OF THROUGHPUT)

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

BEST

Practical Peripherals PM14400FXMT

$299

31.3

20.1

95

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Cambridge Telecom 1414XE

$269

29.4

16.4

97

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

USRobotics Sportslerl 4400 Fax

$299

30.3

25.5

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Zoltrix 144/144e

$239

31.7

22.1

85

57.6

14.4

' Maximum DCE rate; test scores reflect modem's performance at 14.4 Kbps.

JULY 1993 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 175

HowWe Tested

Our modem performance testssubjected the modems to 25telephone-line conditions andeight kinds of data transfertasks using as many as four differentmodulation types. We used DOS, Win-dows, and Macintosh platforms to drivethe data through the modems.

Ours are among the first publishedtests using line-impairment conditionsspecifically designed to mirror real-world conditions. The impairment com-binations we used are based on theworking papers of the EIA/TIA's (Elec-tronic Industries Association/Telecom-munications Industry Association) TR-30.3 committee, which was consultedfor the tests. Our test conditions cover amajor subset of the lines discussed inTR-30.3's PN-3064 draft recommenda-tion for network simulation for modemtesting.

These test lines are based on a com-prehensive survey of the U.S. Althoughthey are therefore reflective of the stateof the telephone network in the U.S.only, they include impairments (e.g.,satellite delays) that are also found innon-U.S. locales.

THROUGHPUT TESTS

Our unimpaired-line throughput testsare also unique. Many modem tests fo-cus on the ability to transmit data in onedirection, but modems are often calledon to perform two-way transmissions.The tests we ran show how wellmodems can simultaneously transmitand receive files.

Our throughput tests rate a modem'sability to send data as quickly as possi-ble over an unimpaired line using stan-dard data-compression and error-cor-rection techniques. Throughput testsmeasure the performance of the data-compression and error-correction en-gines in each modem. All the testedmodems support V.42 error correctionand V.42bis data compression.

We connected like pairs of modemsvia a PBX and ran the throughput testsfrom a Mac. We used four different files:a compressed file, a graphics file, a textfile, and a database file. These files havepotential V.42bis compression ratios of1 to 1, 2 to 1, 3 to 1, and 4 to 1. Datafiles were developed at NSTL.

For testing modems with a 57.6-Kbps

DTE rate, we used CreativeSolutions' coprocessed Hur-dler boards in a Quadra 950.By using coprocessors foreach serial card (and a pow-erful computer), we ensuredthat modems would be sentdata as fast as they couldhandle it. For modems ratedat 115.2-Kbps DTE speed,we tested using a programcalled HowFast by Softart.HowFast requires dual16550 UARTs and a 486computer: We used a HayesESP board in a Compaq486/33.

We ran each modem pairusing factory default set-tings, with the following ex-cepfions: Modems were con-figured to receive data from thecomputer at the fastest rates they sup-ported (up to 115.2 Kbps); modemswere configured to use V.42bis datacompression and V.42 error correction,even if the default settings specifiedMNP protocols; and all modems wereconfigured to use RTS/CTS (hardware)flow control instead of XON/XOFF.

For data-compression and error-cor-rection parameters, we chose defaultsfor dictionary and window sizes. Wechose default sizes even if a modem sup-ported larger-than-default dictionarysizes for unidirectional transmissions(we assumed that users are unlikely toreconfigure the modem each time theyconduct bidirectional transmissions).

Once we got them configured, we setthe modems to transfer the four typesof files, ranging from 32 KB to 48 KB inlength, at the fastest possible rates. Wemeasured throughput for one-way andtwo-way transmissions. With a one-waytest, modem A transmits each type offile four or more times to modem B;there is no transmission from modem Bto modem A. For two-way tests, mo-dem A transmits each type of file four ormore times to modem B, while modemB simultaneously transmits a differenttype of file to modem A.

LI N E-l IVIP AIRM ENT

TESTS

The heart of our line-impairment testingwas a TAS Series II modem tester. This

Hie TAS (Telecom Analysis Systems) Seiies II modem tester enabled us toreKieate 25 telephone-line inpaainents; this heliied us ju^^modem worlted under real-worid conditions.

advanced telephone-line simulator canre-create almost any line condition thatyou may encounter anywhere in theworld, even if you're sending data oversatellite networks. This latest genera-tion of TAS equipment is more sophis-ticated than ever: It allowed us to ex-actly simulate the standard local-loopimpairments in addition to usual centraloffice impairments. Our 25 test linessimulate combinations of a variety ofimpairments: long satellite delays, phaseroll, and noise, to name a few.

The line-impairment conditions weredeveloped by the EIA/TIA TR-30.3committee, which also developed theTSB (Technical Systems Bullefin) 37line conditions for testing V.32 modems.The 25 line conditions are not part ofan official standard, but were developedto test modems that conform to theemerging CCITT V.Fast specificafionfor high-speed modems. According tothe developers, the 25 line-impairmentconditions conform closely to the actu-al telephone network in the U.S.

For our line-impairment tests, we con-nected like pairs of modems to the TASsystem, which simulated a trunk lineand local loops at both ends of the con-nection. We configured the modems tofactory defaults, with the exceptions not-ed previously. Each modem transmit-ted a 32-KBps compressed file over agiven simulated line at least four fimes.

a.T6 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

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HowWe Tested

[continued)

We recorded throughput times and av-eraged the results. We measuredthroughput rather than performing aBERT (bit-error rate test) because mostusers will take advantage of error cor-rection.

Line-impairment scores are given asa percentage of best-case throughput(determined by the throughput tests),and we present an average across all im-paired lines. There is a 1 percent marginof error on these scores (i.e., consider ascore of 99 percent to be statisticallyequivalent to 100 percent).

Approximately one third of themodems negotiated all the lines with-out any problem. Of the rest, most ranaground on the satellite Unes, but severalmodems had difficulty with long localloops. Satellite delays of the magnitudewe tested are virtually nonexistent with-in the U.S. network, but they can be en-countered in other locations. Long lo-

cal loops do exist withinthe U.S. network, and ifyou have one, you havefew options short of mov-ing. (The local loop is theconnection from yourphone to the local phonecompany's switch). All themodems handled the mostcommon lines well; it isthe difficult Unes that showdifferences in the modemarchitectures.

High-speed modemscan "drop back" and pick aslower-than-maximumdata speed when they encounter an im-paired line. The faster the modem, themore likely it is to need to drop back.While most 9600-bps modems were ableto use their top speed on all impairedlines, the Motorola Codex 3260 Fastkept maximum performance only on

SIMULATING REAL-WORLD IMPERFECTIONS

Our impaimient tests were created by combining the following four different tnink-linetypes and seven different local loops.

TRUNK LINES

Digital lines have few impairments, but the typical PCM (pulse-coded modulation) that con-

verts the analog signal generated by a modem to digital can cause quantization distortion. IhisIs a particular problem for those who use their modems for long-distance calls, because mostloi^-distance circuits today are digital. (R^nal telephone companies are in the process ofdigitizing their networks, but some are not as far along as long-distance canierj).

D^l with Simulates the "worst case" scenario wHh digital bies: The d^ transmission passes throughmultiple a region with analog switches. This means that modems can be "hit" three times wKh PCM con-convenions version, and the associated difficulties.

Anah^ Anah« ines typicaly present more impasments than digital faies. Even the best analog finespresent some impainnents to modems. Callers in the U.S. typically encounter an analog line ona can that goes through a r^nal netwoii that hasn't completed the tiansfonnation to digital.

Satellite Important for those making transcontinental calls. Problems occur when a delayed echo inter-feres with the transmitted signal. Echoes occur during the conversion between four-wire andtwo-wire transmission at the far end of the connections; sateffite delays arise during the time ittakes the signal to travel to the satelite and back. Some modems can "cancel" the echo usingDSP (digita signal processing) techniques. Those that can't do so won't be able to connectThis was one of the most common faihires for modems that received a score of 95 percent orless in our tests. Our tests simulated a delay of 700 milliseconds, which was severe enough tostress-test today's modems, but also representative of what can occur in the real world.

LOCAL LOOPS

Our seven local-loop shmdations raided from a short, 2000-foot loop to 7000- 15,000-footloops with and without bridge taps, to 30,000-foot loops with four or five kiading cods (whichmodify the frequency response of loops).

Testing tem (dodmise from left): Alan lodi, Helefl HoUuw, Siva Ifajmar,anUiiiHird.

mildly impaired lines. Modems like theCodex 3260 Fast are designed to takemaximum advantage of every connec-tion, whereas previous generations ofmodems were more conservatively de-signed to deliver full speed even on theworst lines. Since most connections onthe U.S. network are virtually unim-paired, the Codex approach makes a lotof sense. Even averaging 90 percent ofits top speed, as it did on our tests, theCodex 3260 Fast is still the fastest mo-dem on the market.

Modems don't only drop back; theyalso "fall forward"—that is, they canincrease speed as the quality of connec-tion improves. Picking the right rate istricky, and modem vendors employ dif-ferent strategies. The trick is to maxi-mize throughput by balancing higherspeeds against increased risk of errors.We solicited input from all the vendorsregarding the best configuration for eachcompany's modem.

Contributors

Helen Holzbaur, Consultant/NSTL. worked as anetwork manager and systems administrator forTemple University for JO years.

Jim Hunt, Vice President of Research andDevelopment/NSTL, has tested scores of modems,as well as applications software and operatingsystems, during the last 10 years at NSTL

Alan Joch, Senior Editor/BYTE, coordinates thecombined testing between the BYTE Lab andNSTL.

Siva Kumar, Technical Analyst/NSTL, specializesin hardware and network-operating-systemtesting.

The Lab Report is an ongoing collaborative projectbetween BYTE Magazine and National Software TestingLaboratories (NSTL). BYTE Magajne ami NSTL are bothoperating units of McGraw-Hill, Inc.

178 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORX JULY 1993

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Circle 77 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 78).

n/IODEMS FOR

PORTABILIIY

DATA

Portable modems are essential if youneed to access company data, run ap-plications remotely, or fax from theroad. They can also do double dutyby serving your desktop computer whenyou're back at the office. If you go that route,however, you'll have to accept a slight per-formance penalty. Our tests showed that, onaverage, desktop modems outperformedportables by a margin of about 300 bps. Porta-bility also adds to cost: The portable modemswe tested cost an average of 40 percent morethan their desktop counterparts.

Pocket modems can run on either AC orbattery power. The smallest modems, likethe Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKTand the Hayes Optima 144 Pocket, use ex-ternal batteries. Slightly larger modems, likethe USRobotics WorldPort 14400 Fax, theMulti-Tech MT1432MU, and the MegahertzP2I44, incorporate batteries inside the mo-dem case. The E-Tech modems and the Twin-com Voyager are almost as large as desktopmodems, but they weigh less and include abattery.

We chose our Best Overall modem basedon its one-way data throughput score, its per-formance on difficult lines, the range of itsfeatures, and its ease of use. We selected two-way communications winners by ranking per-formance on two-way throughput tests. Be-cause portable modems might be called onto handle a more diverse range of line con-ditions than their desktop counterparts, weweighted the line-impairment scores secondto throughput; the higher the percentages, themore likely the modem can handle whatevertypes of lines you encounter on the road.

Overall, the performance scores of portablemodems were closely matched, and we foundfeatures and ease of use to be the real differ-entiators between the winners and the run-ners-up. A clear, easily understandable statusdisplay, like the Practical PeripheralsPM14400FX PKT's, is essential and canavoid frustration when you're trying to trou-bleshoot a modem in your hotel room.

The cream of the portable modem crop arethe Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKTand the Multi-Tech MT1432MU. The set ofindicator lights on each is easy to read, and both modemsperformed well in our speed tests. The PM14400FX PKTgets our vote for Best Overall based on its fast one-way

SPEED LIMITS

Don't assume that the fastest modem is always the best:You can never communicate faster than the slower mo-dem in any connection. For example, if all you use a modemfor is to connect to CompuServe, the fastest data speedyou'll achieve is 9600 bps. If you pay $800 to $1400 for one of the high-speed modems, such as the AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 or the Mo-torola Codex 3260 Fast, your data transfer speed won't be any fasterthan if you use a $249 Practical Peripherals PM9600FXMT, a 9600-bpsmodem.

CompuServe isn't unique. Most public on-line services offer 9600-bpsaccess. Bulletin boards generally offer 14.4-Kbps V.32bis, and a goodnumber of them offer 16.8-Kbps USRobotics HST. Public-access Unixhosts generally offer V.32bis, and many offer PEP and Turbo PEP atspeeds of up to 23 Kbps. AT&T Mail supports 19.2-Kbps V.32terbo.

K you control the modem on both sides of your communications link,you have many more options. You can take advantage of speeds above14.4 Kbps. Telebit offers excellent unkiirectional throughput with TurboPEP. Bidirectional throughput with PEP is limited because PEP is asym-metric; it is optimized for data flowing primarily in one direction. US-Robotics HST is also asymmetric, but HST is not as fast or as flexible asPEP. PEP uses a multicarrier approach that alkws it to balance the speedof the two channels, as well as to fall back in very small increments inthe face of line impaimients. HST uses two fixed-speed channels and sim-ply changes directions as necessary.

Both of these asymmetric modulations are generally outperformed byAT&Ts V.32tertx) and Zyxel's proprietary 19.2-Kbps modulation, and Mo-torola Codex's 24-Kbps modulation.

FAX

Most fax communication follows the V.29 standard, whichspecifies a maximum speed of 9600 bps. V.17-compliantmodems (half of those in this review) can send faxes atspeeds of up to 14.4 Kbps. V.17 includes other perfor-mance optimizations, including more fall-back speeds and optionalfast connections. Sixty of the 69 modems tested support V.29; 37 sup-port V.17.

V.17 support aside, fax modems have little effect on fax speed, be-cause most of the fax processing is done in the computer. Fax p%e datais typically not error corrected, and the computer must compress thedata before sending it to the modem. Since eirors are not corrected, datatransmission errors show up as errors in the final document. Modemsthat score well on the BYTE line-impairment tests will give you betteroverall fax quality.

throughput and because it supports both Class 1 and Class 2fax. Practical Peripherals' portable modem is also $200 cheap-er than Multi-Tech's.

ISO BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

However, the Practical Pe-ripherals pocket modem failsto connect in error-correctionmode on the two lines simulat-ing long satellite delays. That isnot to say that it can't be usedon satellite connections—ourdelay of 700 ms is longer thanmost you'll encounter.

The Multi-Tech MT1432-MU also supports spoofing ofthe most popular file transferprotocols. If you are forced touse a nonwindowing protocollike XMODEM or UUCP, apair of Multi-Tech modemscan put your old software intohigh gear. Although severalother pocket modems werefaster for full-duplex transmis-sion, none had the features ofthe PM14400FX PKT or theMT1432MU.

The Megahertz P2144 is analternative to the Practical Pe-ripherals modem, and it has thesame price. The P2144 was thefastest pocket modem for one-way transfers, and it supportsClass 1 and Class 2 fax. How-ever, it's not an easy modemto use: It holds the distinctionof being the only modem wetested that had no status dis-play whatsoever.

The Hayes Optima 144Pocket is a good-looking newaddition to the pocket market-place, but it is slower than thetop two modems. It also has aproblem with long satellite de-lays.

E-Tech's UFOMate P1414-MX and USRobotics' World-Port 14,400 Fax are the fastestpocket modems for two-waydata transfer. The E-Tech mo-dem takes the top spot on thebasis of its lower price.

The two modems have dif-ferent strengths. The P1414MXhas a slightly better perfor-mance and has features that areunique among the pocket mo-dems we tested—caller ID anddistinctive ringing. But the off-the-shelf WorldPort performedour tests flawlessly, while theP1414MX, the lower-rated E-Tech UFOMate P1496MX,and their Twincom Voyagertwin required patches to theirEPROMs in order to completeour tests. The WorldPort alsodid better on the impaired-linetests.

BYTE BESX

PORTABLE MODEMS

Need desk-top performance -for -the road?

BEST OVERALL

Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT

^jjjpm^j^ Practical Peripherals' pocket modem is nearly as fast asCHU^^l the fastest pocket modem on half-duplex tests, and it's at^Sjj^Sft pocket modem without compromises: It has an excellent^^^^^ status display, which can help you quickly configure themodem when you're on the road. Other important ease-of-use features are a small form factor, a good-quality speaker, andexcellent documentation and support. Class 1, Class 2, and V.17 faxalso adds up to top-notch fax support.

PMCE

l-WAyTHMIUGNPUT

2-WAV THROUGHPUT

IMPAIRED-LINE TEST

DTE RATI

DCERATE

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

(% OF THROUGHPUT)

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

BESt

Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT

$499

31.3

20.3

95

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Mulli-TechMT1432MU

$699

31.4

21.4

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Megahertz P2144

$499

32.0

26.1

97

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Hayes Optima 144 Pocket

$599

31.2

18.3

95

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

E-Tecli UFOMate P1414MX

$429

30.8

29.0

95

115.2

14.4

RUNNER-UP

USRolxjtics WoridPort14,40O Fax

$649

30.1

28.0

98

57.6

14.4

le fastest in -full-duplex?

TWO WAY

E-Tech UFOMate P1414IVIX

With a leading score of 29 Kbps in the two-way throughput test, theE-Tech UFOMate P1414MX packed the most power for demanding two-way applications. In addition, its one-way throughput and impaired-linescores were competitive with the other contenders in this category. TheP1414MX's rich feature set helped it to pull ahead of the pack to be-come the best two-way choice; it is the only pocket modem with callerID and support for distinctive ringing. Unlike its lower-ratedlookalike.the E-Tech UFOMate P1496MX, the P1414MX supports V.17fax speeds. Negatives include uninformative status lights and the lackof Class 1 fax support. The Megahertz P2144 is a strong contenderhere, but it suffers from its lack of a status-light display.

PRKE

1-WAYTHROUGHPUT

2-WAV THROUGHPUT

IMPAIRED-UNETtST

DTI RATE

DC! RATI

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

(% OF THROUGHPUT)

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

BEST

E-Tech UFOMate P1414MX

$429

30.8

29.0

95

115.2

14.4

RUNNER-UP

USRobotics WondPort14,400 Fax

$649

30.1

28.0

98

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Megahertz P2144

$499

32.0

26.1

97

57.6

14.4

Cost-conscious?

E-Tech UFOMate P1414MX

The P1414MX supports 14.4-Kbps data and 14.4-Kbps fax, and it was thesecond fastest portable modem on two-way data transmission. But its mostoutstanding feature is its price: At $429, its price is $160 lower than theaverage price of the pocket modems given consideration for Best Overall.There are trade-offs, of course: The P1414MX is almost as big as a desktopmodem (though lighter), and we had some initial data-loss problems (whichwere solved by an upgrade from E-Tech). Beware if you must communicatevia satellite: The E-Tech modems were unable to connect over lines with longsatellite delays.

PRICE 1-WAV THROUGHPUT 2-WAV THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-UNETEST DIE RATE DCERATE

(KBPS) (KBPS) (%OFTHROUGHPtfT) (KBPS) (KBPS)

BEST E-Tech UFOMate P1414MX $429 30.8 29.0 95 115.2 14.4

RUNNER-UP E-Tech UFOMate P1496MX $379 30.8 29.1 95 57.6 14.4

JULY 199.S BVTE/NSTL LAB REPORX 181

How Modems Connect

Pitfalls, Near ana Far

SATELLITE CONNECTIONSatellite connections are essentially athing of the past in the U£. telephonesystem, but they are still very much apart of the international network.Satellite calls are notable for theirlong delays, often accompanied by anaudible echo effect.

MODULATION STANDARDS

VJ2 (9600 bps). Largely made obsolete by V.32bis tech-nology, V.32 modems can still offer inexpensive accessto on-line services like CompuServe and Prodigy. Moston-line services do not yet offer V.32bis speeds, so forthis application exclusively, paying more for the extraspeed of V.32bis may not make sense.

VJ2Ihs (14.4 Kbps). The current standard for corporate dial-up modems. Most bulletin boards and public-access Unix systems offer this speed. The typical 50percent speed boost over V.32 modems comes at onlyan incremental price premium.

VJast {28iKbps). V.Fast modems should hit the marketlate this year or early next year. These modems willprobably command a high price premium over V.32bismodems, so expect both to coexist for a long time. Thestandard is stilt changing, so regard claims of "V.Fastupgradable" with caution.

V32teflM {]B2 Kbps). A new "standard" offered by a coali-tion of modem vendors including AT&T, Penril, and DataRace. V.32terbo modems exist today and often costonly a little more than V.32bis modems. V.32tert)olooks like a good bet to supplant V.32bis, but manymodem vendors are resisting it.

DATA SPEEDS DEFINED

PROPRIETARY PROTOOOl_S

H$T{16.8 Kbps). A proprietary speed offered by USRobotics.The company's Courier modems with HST are popular withPC bulletin board operators. If you make a lot of long-distance connections to a variety of bulletin boards, HSTcan mean cost savings on your phone bills. HST is asym-metric; it is effective only for one-way data transfer.

Zyxd (16.8 Kbps). The Zyxel modems offer a proprietary 16.8-Kbps symmetric mode (i.e., in both directions simultane-ously). This capability gives Zyxel's low-cost modems anedge over V.32bis modems while providing its high-endmodems with a good fall-back speed.

Zyxd (197 Kbps). Zyxel modems running at proprietary 19.2-Kbps speeds produced some of the fastest times of themodems we tested, especially for bidirectional transfer.One drawback was that the Zyxel high-speed handshakeconfused some V.32bis modems, so they couldn't link upwith the Zyxel modems at V.32bis speeds. (The work-around is simply to set the Zyxel modem to do a standardhandshake.)

PEP/TurtoPtP(23Kbps). PEP is a popular high-speed modula-tion that predates the V.32bis standard. It is mainly foundin Unix environments; Telebit modems have become thestandard Unix modem on the strength of PEP and their in-novation in areas such as UUCP spoofing. PEP never

caught on with other modem vendors. Turbo PEP is thenew update of PEP, with speeds up to 23 Kbps. LikePEP, Turbo PEP is based on multiple can-iers, giving itthe ability to adjust to line conditions in incrementsmuch smaller than those of other modulation schemes.And like PEP, Turtx) PEP is asymmetric—bidirectionalthroughput suffers.

Codex V.Fast (24 Kbps). Motorola Codex raised the ire ofmany modem vendors when it adopted the name"V.Fast" for its top-of-the-line dial-up modems. MotorolaCodex claims modems supporting its proprietary 24-Kbps modulation will be upgradable to V.Fast, but noone will know until the standard is complete. While thecompany's scheme may not be V.Fast. it certainly isvery fast—the Codex modem was clearly the fastest forone-way transfers.

FAX SPEEDS

V.27ter (4800 bps). Offers fax speeds of up to 4800 bps.

Vi9 (9600 bps). Offers fax speeds of up to 9600 bps. All60 modems that supported fax supported this speed.

VJ7 (14.4 Kbps). Much of the world fax "network" is still9600 bps or slower, but V.17 speeds are gaining popu-larity as prices tumble. V.17 also supports more incre-mental fall-back speeds and short retraining sequences.

182 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

Links you anywtiere, anytime

AT&T's new PCMCIA KeepInTouch™ modem

No more missed opportunities! AT&T's newKeepInTouch modem lets you transfer data and faxes-directly from your PCMCIA portable computer-via thecellular or standard telephone networks.

So even on the golf course, you can link to infor-mation services, download files, receive sales inquiries,and send proposals.

And only the high-speed 14.4 Kbps KeepInTouchCard has AT&T's new Enhanced Throughput Cellular(ETC) Protocol* to ensure superior cellular perfor-mance. You get the job done quickly and successfully

while reducing transmission costs. Plus AT&T'saward-winning, software-defined technology lets youeasily download newmodem enhancements toprotect your investment.

So why tie yourself toa desk? With AT&T's newKeepInTouch Card, you'realways in the right place atthe right time!

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Circle 170 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 171).

10 Tips for Buying Modems

Buy a modem with a DTE speed at leastfour times greater than the DCE rate:for example, 38.4 Kbps for a 9600-bpsmodem and 57.6 Kbps for a 14.4-Kbpsmodem. Lower DTE speeds can leaveyour modem starving for data as the datapump and compression engine run fasterthan the incoming data.

Don't pay a premium to get 115.2-KbpsDTE speed on a V.32bis modem. If yourenvironment is Macintosh orWindows, you probably won't beable to use that speed anyway.Without a serial coprocessor, fewsystems are fast enough to main-tain 115.2 Kbps under the over-head of a multitasking operatingsystem.

Don't buy a pocket modem to bea desktop modem. The pocketmodems are considerably moreexpensive (and somewhat slower)than their desktop counterparts.

Be wary of software bundles.Many offer excellent values, butothers are simply collections ofobsolete software that are notworth your time and energy tolearn. For example, most of theMacintosh bundles include Mi-crophone 1.7. Ironically, this old-er version of Microphone doesnot support high-speed protocols;it supports only XMODEM andYMODEM.

Be wary of compression claims.Use the modulation names suchas V.32, V.32bis, and V.32terboto guide you.

Get a modem that will supportV.17 (14.4 Kbps) fax speeds.V.17 fax is proliferating, and youcan save yourself time and mon-ey by using the higher speed.Don't assume that your 14.4-Kbps data modem can fax at thatspeed: Many V.32bis modems(13, including the Telebit T3000)do not support V.17 and will faxonly at 9600 bps.

Get a modem that supports theClass 1 fax command set. Class 1is an established standard that

practically all fax software supports.Class 2 is not yet a standard, and themodems we tested all support an older(now incompatible) draft of the proposedstandard.

The exception to Tip 7 comes if youever plan to write your own software tosend faxes. Writing software to supportClass 1 modems is painstaking and dif-ficult; Class 2 support is trivial.

For bidirectional applications like net-work bridges, get a symmetric modem.If you have an asymmetric modem, con-figure it for V.32bis.

Find out what recourse you'll have forbugs. We encountered bugs in modemsranging from inexpensive E-Techs toexpensive UDS FasTalks. Vendors canusually fix bugs with new EPROMs, butask how your dealer would handle them.

ESCAPE SEQUENCES

An escape sequence is the way a computer signals the modem to switch from trans-mission mode to command mode, it signals that the next segment of data comingdown the data stream is to be interpreted as a command rather than transmitted.The simplest and safest way to put the modem into command mode is to configure themodem to enter command mode when the computer drops the RS-232-defined DTR (DataTerminal Ready) signal. Because this happens on a wire thaf s never transmittingdata, the modem ahways knows that DTR transitions are signals. This is called out-of-band signaling.

Since not every RS-232 connection has a line readily available to use to signal com-mand mode {e.g., those in Macs), modem vendors have developed different methodsof in-band signaling. The problem in in-band si£pialing is distinguishing modem com-mands from normal data.Fax protocols use the ASCII code DLE for this purpose. But a OLE can appear in a realdata stream. The computer then must do "byte stuffing" as it sends

DLE DLE

data to the modem: It has to replace each DUE with the sequence DLE DLE,to keep subsequent data from being interpreted as commands.Hayes introduced a different method of in-band signaling using guard bands. Hayesmodems time-stamp characters as they arrive and use this time stamp as an additionaldata channel. A Hayes escape sequence is a pause fblhiwed bythree escape characters folknved by another pause. (The defouH

[pause] + + + [pause]

escape character is ahways "+," aHhough the length of thepause and the escape character are user definable). The pause prevents the modemfrom mistaking escape characters found in a data stream for a command signal.

Hayes ignited the fury of the rest of the modem industry when it received a patentfor guard-band signaling and began to extract royalties for its use.

Vendors not wanting to pay royalties have had to substitute other methods. A coali-tion of modem vendors, including Multi-Tech, TwinCom, Digicom, and others, adoptedthe TIES (Time Independent Escape Sequence) approach. TIES modems check to seeif data after the escape sequence represents a valid AT command folhiwed by a return.Hayes responded with advertisements that portrayed the TIES approach as a bomb wait-ing to explode (taking your data with it). That led to lawsuits, and an out-of-court set-tiement between Multi-Tech and Hayes.

Multi-Tech has recently proposed a new sequence, TIES out-of-band, which uses abreak signal as the command character (a break is a distinguishable signal that can-not be mistaken for any character). The problem with this sequence is that rt is in-compatible with the Hayes sequence, so Multi-Tech will have to convince softwarevendors to support it Multi-Tech will continue to support TIES for Hayes-

+ + + ATH

compatible software.Zyxel has its own algonthm, for which it claims compatibility withexisting code. Since the Zyxel algorithm is proprietary, we can't comment on itsstrength or weakness. However, it caused no problem in our testing.

184 BYTE/NSXL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

The SimpleConnection BehindComputers AndBackpack Tape Drives

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Backpack can store up to 250MB on a tape usingdata compression, is completely QIC80 compatible,and reads QIC40 tapes. With its compact size

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MODEMS FOR

HIGH-SPEED COMMUNICATIONS

Think 14.4 Kbps from V.32bis modems is fast?Take a look at the proprietary speeds of to-day's fastest modems: 24 Kbps (Motorola 3260Codex Fast), 23 Kbps (Telebit WorldBlazer),19.2 Kbps (AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 and Zyx-el U-1496EP1US and U-1496Plus), and 16.8 Kbps (US-Robotics Courier Dual Standard, Zyxel U-1496E). Ifyou use long-distance telephone lines to set up net-work bridges, remotely control PCs, access leased lines,or create SLIP links, these modems could save youtheir cost and more in long-distance charges.

But you can reap these benefits only if you controlboth ends of the line. For this category, we consideredonly the handful of modems now on the market thatachieve data throughput speeds higher than 14.4 Kbps.Although CCITT's V.Fast will define faster standardcommunications, no such standard currently exists.Therefore, each of these high-speed modems uses itsown modulation schemes, and each can communicateat its highest speeds only with another modem of itsown kind.

The exceptions to the both-ends-of the-line rule areTelebit's PEP and Turbo PEP, which can be found ona variety of public Unix hosts, including UUNET;Courier HST modems, which can be found on many PCbulletin boards; and Comspheres, which you can usewith AT&T Mail (no surprise since AT&T manufac-tures these modems).

Performance is, of course, the key criterion for thisclass of modems. We picked wirmers for both one-way andtwo-way communications. High-speed links for transmittinggraphics files are excellent one-way applications, and asyn-chronous network bridges are prime examples of two-wayapplications. All the high-speed modems we tested can berun in either mode, but as the results show, many of themodems have an advantage in one mode over the other.

The Motorola Codex 3260 Fast blew everything else awayon the one-way throughput tests: It ran 23 percent faster thanthe second-place AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830. TheCodex 3260 Fast also maintains its performance reasonablywell on impaired lines, the second most important perfor-mance indicator in our evaluations. Impaired-Une reliabilityshows which modems can handle telephone-line impairmentswithout dropping back to slower speeds, and although it hit 100percent on just four of the 25 line tests, the Codex 3260 Fastmaintained good throughput regardless of impairment type.

The AT&T Paradyne Comsphere, the Zyxel U-1496Plus,and the Telebit WorldBlazer held their high speeds better onimpaired lines than did the other high-speed modems. TheComsphere was within 5 percent of its maximum through-put on all but five of the 25 impaired lines, so you can expectto achieve 19.2-Kbps transmissions on most calls. The World-Blazer dropped more than 5 percent on 13 of the 25 lines;however, it falls back in lesser increments than do othermodems, so chances of maintaining higher-speed coimec-tions are better. The Zyxel U-1496Plus performed within 5

Spoofing: Serious Speed Benefits

Spoofing allows older software, using older protocols, to run effi-ciently at high speeds. XMODEM, for example, chokes high-speed modems that don't spoof, because XMODEM sends only128 characters and then sits and waits for a response. Consequent-ly, the modem sits idle much of the time.

Modems that spoof, such as those from Telebit, accelerateXMODEM and other so-called stop-and-go protocols by return-ing a false acknowledgment as soon as a packet is sent from theDTE to the modem. The spoofing modem then continues to re-ceive data from the DTE and continues to send to the remote site.Later, the modem "swallows" any actual acknowledgment fromthe other computer. This allows the modem to receive succeedingpackets from the computer while it continues sending.

percent of maximum on all but seven lines.

The Comsphere's strong showing on impaired lines seemsto contradict V.32terbo naysayers. Rockwell and Hayes,among others, have suggested that V.32terbo is a stopgapmodulation scheme that's too weak for real network conditions(i.e., impaired lines). Based on our tests, V.32terbo looks likea good intermediate step between V.32bis and V.Fast if AT&Tand other V.32terbo proponents can muster enough support.

The Comsphere, the Codex 3260 Fast, and the high-endZyxel U-1496Plus all have LCDs, which makes using themeasy. Their menus make it easy to change defaults and areparticularly useful for vertical applications like kiosks andautomatic teller machines or for mainirame applications wherea PC is not readily available. All the modems can be config-ured remotely; the Comsphere can even have its firmwarereplaced remotely.

The Codex 3260 Fast and AT&T Paradyne Comspherecommand a high price for their excellent performance. Youcan expect to pay as much as four times more than for aV.32bis modem; in return, you'll get a 50 percent boost inperformance. Of course, you may save money on your phonebill and through increased productivity.

We were disappointed with the Codex 3260 Fast's inex-plicably slow performance in our two-way throughput tests.We expected the 24-Kbps modem to outpace the slower Com-sphere and Zyxels, but the Codex 3260 Fast came in fourth. Atpress time. Motorola Codex was looking into the problem.

186 BYTE/IVSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

The Comsphere 3830 wasthe top modem for sending datain both directions simultane-ously. The Zyxel modems arealso very fast at bidirectionaltransfers, but they top out at aDTE speed of 76.8 Kbps. Wetested the Zyxels at a DTE rateof 57.6 Kbps, because most en-vironments do not support theunusual 76.8-Kbps speed. Witha 57.6-Kbps DTE connection,the Zyxel modems begin tostarve for data on files thatcompress at better than 3 to 1,as the compression engine anddata pump outrun the serialconnection. But all the Zyxelmodems are faster than theComsphere at sending files thatcompress at less than 3 to 1.

Zyxel's unusual handshakesequence uses a number oftones that confuse someV.32bis modems (e.g., theHayes Optima 144 Pocket).Zyxel uses these tones to iden-tify other Zyxel modems sohigher-speed Zyxel proprietarymodulations can proceed. TheZyxel U-1496E connected tothe Optima Pocket at only 2400bps until we explicitly shut offthe high-speed negotiation se-quence. With the U-1496E setto negotiate only to V.32bis,connection went smoothly.

The Telebit WorldBlazer isstill the only high-speed mo-dem to support spoofing, so us-ing older protocols like XMO-DEM and UUCP with it willachieve far better performancethan with other high-speedmodems. Get this modem ifyou can't or don't want to messwith changing old protocols.The WorldBlazer is well de-signed for this work: Its excel-lent one-way throughput is allthat is necessary for spoofingapplications, because very littledata must traverse the reversechannel.

HST from USRobotics isshowing its age. The oldest ofthese proprietary modulations,HST has become a popularway to link to bulletin boardsfrom long distance. The Couri-er Dual Standard was by far theslowest of the high-speed mo-dems we tested. It was, how-ever, still faster than V.32bismodems for one-way transfersof compressed files.

BYTE BEST

HIGH-SPEED MODEMS

Need the -fastest modenn on the market?

BEST OVERALL

Motorola Codex 3260 Fast

^ At 24 Kbps, the Codex 3260 Fast is the fastest modem(jS^SSE. on the market today. Our tests also showed it to be^yif^^i reasonably reliable, although line-impairment tests show^^^SS f^^t it averages only 90 percent throughput over bad lines.

It managed peak performance on only four lines, but 90percent of 24 Kbps is still pretty impressive. However, there aredrawbacks: Ease of use is only average; automatic baud detect iscapped at 38.4 Kbps; the AT command set is unique to Codex, sothere's a good chance your communications package won't support the Codex modem without custom configura-tion; and finally, the defaults often needed some tweaking for compression and flow control. The modem lacksspoofing, so be sure that your data transfer protocols won't leave this fast modem idling.

PRICE 1-WAV THROUGHPUT(KBPS)

BEST

Motorola Codex 3260 Fast

$1395

53.4

RUNNER-UP

AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830

$795

43.4

RUNNER-UP

Telebil WorldBlazer

$1099

38.5

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496PIIJS

$989

40.6

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496EPIUS

$649

40.6

2-WAVTNROUGHPtlT IMPAIRED-tlNETKT DTE RATE DCERATE

(KBPS) (% OF THROUGHPUT) (KBPS) (KBPS)

38.4 90 115.2 24

40.3 98 115.2 19.2

23.1 97 115.2 23

39.2 97 76.8 19.239.2 94 76.8 19.2

Looking -for full-duplex speed leader?

TWO WAY

AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830

The AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830 combines top-notch two-waycommunication performance with excellent usability. Its ability to handleDTE rates of 115.2 Kbps gives it the performance edge over the second-and third-place Zyxel modems. It also handled impaired lines well, asshown by its score of 98 percent. The Comsphere autobauds all the wayto its top speed of 115.2 Kbps, and its menus are easy to configure. TheComsphere is designed to be easy to upgrade; we upgraded it from a V.32bis modem to a V.32terbo modem witha phone call.

PRICE 1-WAYTHROUGHPUT 2-WAV THROUGHPUT IMPAIRED-UNE TEST DTIRATE DCERATE

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

(% OF THROUGHPUT)

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

BEST

AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830

$795

43.4

40.3

98

115.2

19.2

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496PIUS

$989

40.6

39.2

97

76.8

19.2

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496EPIUS

$649

40.6

39.2

94

76.8

19.2

RUNNER-UP

Motorola Codex 3260 Fast

$1395

53.4

38.4

90

115.2

24

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496E

$469

36.6

33.3

95

76.8

16.8

Balancing high speed and low cost?

LOW COST

Zyxel U-1496EPIUS

At $649, the Zyxel U-1496EPIus is less expensive than many of theV.32bis modems (all of which it outperforms handily). It has the best-caseperformance of the more expensive U-1496Plus and all of its featuresexcept leased-line support. We experienced poorer performance onimpaired lines with the U-1496EPIus than with the U-1496Plus, butperformance was still very good. (Zyxel was puzzled that the impaired-line performance differed from the U-1496Plus's, but the issue was unresolved at the time of writing this report.)

BEST Zyxel U-1496EPIUSRUNNER-UP Zyxel U-t496E

PRICE 1-WAV THROUGHPUT

r (KBPS)

$649 40.6

$469 36.6

2-WAVTHROUGHPUT(KBPS)

39.233.3

IMPAIRED-UNE TEST(% OF THROUGHPUT)

9495

DTE RATE DCERATE

(KBPS) (KBPS)

76.8 19.2

76.8 16.8

JULY 1993 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT i8'7

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DATA-ONIY APPLICATIONS

Want the fastest in V.32bis?

BEST OVERALL

AT&T Paradyne Comsphere 3830

The Comsphere combines top-notch performance withexcellent usability. Its ability to handle DTE rates of115.2 Kbps gives it the performance edge over theZyxel modems. Usability is excellent. The Comsphereautobauds all the way to its top speed of 115.2 Kbps.Its menus make configuration easy, but you will probably do fine withthe defaults. The Comsphere is designed to be easy to upgrade; we upgraded it from a V.32bis modem to aV.32terbo modem by downloading software over the phone. Its impaired-line performance was a perfect 100 per-cent, and its best-case throughput was near the top.

PRICE

1-WAV THROUGHPUT

2-WAVTNROUGHPtlT

IMPAIRED-UNETISr

DTE RATI

DOE RAH

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

(% OF THROUGHPUT)

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

BEST

ATST Paradyne Comsphere 3830

$795

31.3

30.7

100

115.2

19.2'

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496PIUS

$989

32.0

31.3

99

76.8

19.2'

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496E

$469

31.8

31.2

99

76.8

16.8'

RUNNER-UP

Zyxel U-1496EPI1JS

$649

31.8

31.2

99

76.8

19.2'

RUNNER-UP

Motorola Codex 3260

$1095

29.3

30.5

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

GVC FM144/144V

$399

31.7

30.6

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

The Complete PC Turbo Modem Plus

$399

31.7

30.6

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

Motorola Codex 3260 Fast

$1395

29.7

28.6

99

115.2

24'

Need top V.32bis speed at a low price?

LOW COST

GVC FM144/144V

The GVC FM144/144V is a low-cost alternative to the Comsphere. Its khakipaint job won't win any design awards, but its blazing two-way throughput might.While most under-$400 V.32bis modems are underpowered for two-way applica-tions, the GVC modem clearly has enough horsepower for the job; it has nearlythe speed of the Comsphere and the top Zyxels for V.32bis communication. It islight on backbone features, however (e.g., it has leased-line but not automatic

dial backup). It provides fast fax with V.17 speeds and Class 1 support.

PRICE

1-WAVTHROUGHPUT

2-WAVTHROUGHPIIT

IMPAIRED-LINE TEST

DTE RATE

DCERA1E

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

(% OF THROUGHPUT)

(KBPS)

(KBPS)

BEST

GVCFM144/144V

$399

31.7

30.6

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

The Complete PC Turbo Modem Plus

$399

31.7

30.6

100

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

USRobotics Sportster 14,400 Fax

$299

30.3

25.5

99

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

E-Tech UFOMateP1414MX

$429

30.8

29.0

95

115.2

14.4

RUNNER-UP

E-TechUFOMateP1496MX

$379

30.8

29.1

95

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

CMS Enhancements XI4400 Ext. Fax

$399

31.6

30.6

85

57.6

14.4

RUNNER-UP

CXRTelcom Action Fax 1445-FXD

$435

31.0

24,5

95

115.2

14.4

' Maximum DCE rate; test scores reflect modem's performance at 14.4 Kbps.

BYTE

B E S X

When you need to communi-cate with an installed base of net-work modems or use a modemfor terminal emulation with amainframe, data throughput andspeed standards are your mainconcerns. Often, an installed baseof corporate modems limits youto less than cutting-edge speeds.The modems in this category arethe fastest devices supportingstandard modulations, and wedidn't factor in fax support.

When choosing modems forthese applications, dispense withthe fax and go all out for speedand performance. Modems with-out fax now tend to cost morethan modems with fax. This mayseem anomalous, but modemswithout fax capabilities are de-signed for mission-critical data-only applications. In this market,features like leased-line supportand the ability to handle everyprobable kind of telephone-lineimpairment matter more than faxcapabilities, which would sim-ply go unused. This is not to saythat modems that include faxcan't compete here: In fact, ourlow-cost pick includes solid fax-modem capabilities. However,fax support is more of a nicebonus than a selection maker.

For these applications, wejudged modems only on theirdata capabilities and limited ourtests to modems running atV.32bis speeds. Throughput isimportant for network bridgesand terminal-emulation applica-tions. We averaged two-way andone-way speeds. We then fac-tored in results from the im-paired-line tests.

We found that most V.32bismodems can maintain highthroughput in one direction, butrelatively few can maintain highthroughput in two directions si-multaneously. Most file transferprotocols transfer in only one di-rection at a time, so you may not

care if your modem can handlemore than that. You should care,however, if you want to use themodem as a network bridge.

We counted remote configu-ration abilities highly. For ex-ample, if you're attempting tosend sales results from a cashregister to the corporate network,you won't have access to a PCto configure the modems for op-

timum transmissions. Modemsthat let you change speeds, flowcontrol, or other options easilyfrom their display panels are amust for these installations. Like-wise, a modem's ability to auto-baud at its highest rate is essen-tial for network communications.Other important features are timewindows, so you can determinewhen to do your backups; leased-

line support; and dial backup, incase the leased line fails.

The AT&T Comsphere is ourpick for best data-only modem.Its DSP-based design makes itextremely flexible. The unit wetested was a V.32bis modem up-graded to V.32terbo. The Com-sphere achieves top performanceand a perfect score on impaired-line tests.

JULY 1993 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 189

honoMlementions

AT&T Paradyne'sComsphere 3830

is designed around aDSP, and its softwareresides in flash ROM.This gives it the dis-tinction of being theonly modem we testedthat allows instant remote upgrades. If you need to upgrade, youjust download new firmware directly off the data line. Othermodems, like the Dove Fax Pro, the Multi-Tech modems, and theIntel Satisfaxtion/400e, let you upgrade using software, but youcan't do anything as radical as tum a V.32bis modem into one thatsupports V.32terbo. For most modems, even bug fixes requirepuUing the modem apart and replacing an EPROM.

Dubious Achievements

Telebit's WorldBlazer

combines excellent one-way throughput with unparalleledspoofing support. Its pioneering innovation in the area ofspoofing has already made it a standard in Unix shops, itssupport for heterogeneous environments is top-notch; you canpick your computing environment from one of more than adozen sets of factory defaults.

Our tests operate the modem in error-correction, data-compression mode, which is how most users willrun them. So why do so many modems set the default to uncompressed, unreliable links? The Octocom Xpres-so 8396A gets the prize for longest AT command string required to reach a regular configuration:

AT&F&C1&I2&K2E1*E1%G3&D2

ass-"-" / 3

V-U9i

E-Tech proclaims that its UFOMate P1496MX modem supports 9600-bpsfax/9600-bps data transmissions. Closer inspection reveals that this is a 2400-bps modem that achieves 9600-bps speeds in the unlikely event of constant4-to-l V.42bis compression.

A few manufacturers actually portrayed some modems as less thanthey are. Manuals for the Zyxel modems (U-1496E, U-1496EPlus, and U-1496Plus) failed to mention the proprietary high-speed modes of 16.8 Kbps and19.2 Kbps. The Multi-Tech MT1432MU pocket modem's box mentions 9600-<1 bps fax capabilities; in fact, it can support 14.4-Kbps fax.

Don't ti7 to share a phone line with a Zoltrix 144/144e modem—it can cause problems with othermodems on the same line even when it's turned off. The Zoltrix modem also creates an annoying clicking on thephone line after being used with communication packages that fail to reset it (e.g., anythingthat uses the Macintosh Communication Toolbox).

Many pocket modems have little in the way ofinformative call-progress indicators. The MegahertzP2144 dispenses with lights altogether, however,delivering the inconvenience of an internal mo-<I dem in an external package.

What's wrong with this picture? Acmally, the picture is correct: You must plug the line cord into the jack labeled "phone" and thephone into the jack labeled "Une" to get the Best Data Products Smart One1442 to work. >

130 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

so ADVANCED

IT EVEN TURNS ITSELF OFE

N

anao, the technical leader in monitors has doneit agaia In addition to being the top choice oftoday's graphics professionals and Windowsusers, Nanao's award-winning FlexScanF-Series monitors now have a remarkableenergy-saving system—Power Save.

Built into Nanao's new 17-inch FlexScan¥550tW and 21-inch F760fW, Power Save hasbeen designed to work with all screen saversoftware, including Wndows 3.1 and After Dark. PowerSave activates when the blank screen of the screen saverappears, cutting operating power to less than 8% of totalconsumptioa It can also automatically power the monitordown to a stand-by mode when the computer is turned oftThese irmovations add up to energy savings and longer

monitor life, and have placed Nanao at the forefront of theEnvironmental Protection Agency's Enei^Star Program.

Both the F550!'W and F760/W exhibit their super-iority in many other ways, as welL Each Invar ShadowMask CRT has a new anti-reflective coatingthat eliminates reflection of ambient illumina-tion, without sacrificing the focus level andbrighmess. Ultra-high resolutions with largeSCTeens plus other features make them ideal forCAD/CAM, DTP and Windows applications. On top ofthat, they can power down. So when you're not working,neither are they.

Nanao FlexScan monitors. Intelligently designed.Incredibly useful. And now, built to help protea ourenvironment by reducing energy consumption.

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Superior In Every Detail

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Circle 118 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 119).

ROLL CALL OF MODEMS XESXED

THROUGHPUT TEST RESULTS'

MAX SPEEDS'

MANUFACTURER

MODEM

PRICE

1-WAY

2-WAY

IMPAIRED LINES'

DOE

DTE

ESCAPES

AMT International Industries

Star 14421

$399

31.7

30.5

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Archtek America

SmartUnk9614AV

$399

29.1

16.0

97

14.4

57.6

Hayes

AT&T Paradyne

Dataport 14.4 Data Fax

$339

29.6

17.7

97

14.4

57.6

Hayes

ATI Technologies

9600ETC/E

$389

20.3

11.5

100

9.6

57.6

TIES

Best Data Products

Smart One 1442FX

$319

31.7

22.0

95

14.4

57.6

Hayes

J Boca Research

14.4K ExternalBocaModem

S395

32.0

26.0

100

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Cambridge Telecom

Datasystem 1414XE

$269

29.4

I6r4

97

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Cambridge Telecom

Datasystem 1414XP

$349

22.7

12.1

97

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Cambridge Telecom

Discovery 9632AX

$495

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Cardinal Technologies

14400V32bis

$399

31.7

22.1

92

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Cardinal Technologies

96C)0V42

$349

22.1

21.1

100

9.6

38.4

Hayes

CMS Enhancements

XI4400 Ext. Fax

$399

31.6

30.6

85

14.4

57.6

TIES

CXR Telcom

Action Fax 1445-FXD

$435

31.0

24.5

95

14.4

115.2

Hayes

Digicom Systems

Scout Plus

$289

30.0

24.2

85

14.4

57.6

TIES

Dove Computer Corp,

Dove Fax Pro

$449

31.7

22.1

97

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Global Village Communications

Teleport Gold

$499

29.5

16.8

97

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Global Village Communications

Teleport Silver

$499

29.5

16.8

97

9.6

38.4

Hayes

GVC Technologies, Inc.

FM144/144V

$399

31.7

30.6

99

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Hayes Microcomputer Products

Accura 144/Fax 144

$339

31.2

18.3

95

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Hayes Microcomputer Products

Optima 144

$499

31.2

18.3

95

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Hayes Microcomputer Products

Optima 96 + Fax 96

$479

19.8

19.1

95

9.6

38.4

Hayes

Hayes Microcomputer Products

Ultra 144

$999

26.7

13.9

97

14.4

38.4

Hayes

Hayes Microcomputer Products

Ultra 96

$899

20.4

13.7

99

9.6

38.4

Hayes

Intel Corp.

Satisfaxtion/400e

$499

31.4

24.6

92

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Microcom

DeskPorte

$499

31.3

19.5

95

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Microcom

■ai "7

99

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Microcom

OX/4232bis+

$899

32.4

20.4

84 '

9.6

57.6

Hayes

Motorola Codex

otitiU rlus

$795

29.6

16.7

100

14.4

38.4

Hayes

Motorola Codex

3260

$1095

29.3

30.5

99

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Motorola UDS

FasTalk Fax32bx

$845

32.2

29.5

100

9.6

57.6

Hayes

Multi-Tech Systems

MT1432BA

$799

31.4

21.4

99

14.4

57.6

TIES

Multi-Tech Systems

MT932BA

$749

21.2

16.7

100

9.6

38.4

TIES

NEC

N9635E Plus

$1199

29.7

27.4

84

14.4

38.4

Hayes

Octocom Systems

Xpresso 8396A

$1095

27.3

14.5

100

14.4

38.4

Hayes

Penril DataCom Networks

DX144

$595

31.0

26.3

100

14.4

115.2

Hayes

Practical Peripherals

PM14400FXMT

$299

31.3

20.1

95

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Practical Peripherals

PM14400FXSA

$549

31.4

24.1

95

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Practical Peripherals

PM9600FXMT

$249

21.6

20.1

95

9.6

38.4

Hayes

Results of tests are measured in Kbps.Maximum transfer rate In Kbps.Percentage of throughput.

^ Unable to run our tests; problem was unresolved at press time.- BYTE Best.

X92 BYXE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

FAX SUPPORT

SOFTWARE

(DOS; WINDOWS; MAC)

WARRANTY

(YEARS)

CLASS 1

CLASS 2

V.17

PHONE

TOLL-FREE NO.

INQUIRY NO.

Yes

No

Yes

QuickLink Fax; QuickLink Fax; QuickLink II

5

(714)375-0306

None

1113

Yes

No

Yes

BitFax, ArchCom; ArchFax Plus, ArchCom;QuickLink II

2

(818)912-9800

(800) 368-5465

1114

■

Yes

No

No

QuickLink II; QuickLink II; QuickLink II

Lifetime

(813) 530-2000

(800) 484-3333

1115

Yes

No

No

None; none; none

5

(416) 756-0718

None

1116

^^^^

Yes

Yes

Yes

QuickLink II; WinFax; Microphone, STF

2

(818)773-9600

(800) 632-2378

1117

Yes

Yes

Yes

Relay/PCLE, FaxWorks; Relay/PCLE,FaxWorks; QuickLink II, STF Fax

5

(407) 997-6227

None

1118

Yes

Yes

Yes

BitCom/BltFax; BitCom/BitFax; none

5

(408) 980-0885

None

1119

Yes

No

Yes

BitCom/BitFax; BitCom/BitFax; none

5

(408) 980-0885

None

1120

Yes

Yes

No

ABC Fax; BitCom/BitFax; none

5

(408) 980-0885

None

1121

Yes

Yes

Yes

QuickLink II Fax; QuickLink II Fax;QuickLink II

Limitedlifetime

(717)293-3000

None

1122

No

No

No

QuickLink II; QuickLink II;QuickLink II

Limitedlifetime

(717)293-3000

None

1123

No

Yes

No

QuickLink II; none; QuickLink 11

1

(714) 222-6000

None

1124

" Yes

Yes

Yes

FaxMaker, Comit; FaxMaker, Connit; none

5

(408) 435-8520

None

1125

Yes

No

No

DOSFax Lite; WinFax Lite; Microphone LC,STF Fax

5

(408) 262-1277

(800) 833-8900

1126

Yes

No

No

None; none; AppleTalk remote switchingsoftware, SFT Fax, Dove PhoneWare Lite

3

(919) 343-5600

(800) 849-3297

1127

Yes

No

Yes

None; none; Global Fax with OCR

5

(415) 390-8200

(800) 736-4821

1128

Yes

No

No

None; none; Global Fax

5

(415) 390-8200

(800) 736-4821

1129 .

No

Yes

Yes

QuickLink II; WinFax Lite; Microphone, STF

5

(201)579-3630

(800) 289-4821

1130

Yes

No

Yes

Smartmm F7 F7 Fay nnnp' Smartpnm Fpk

2

f4041 840-9200

None

1346

Yes

No

Yes

Smartcom EZ, EZ Fax; none; Smartcom, Fax

2

(404) 840-9200

None

1349

Yes

No

Yes

^mprtpnm F7 F7 Pay" nnnp' ^martpnm Fav

2

None

1350

No

No

No

Smartcom EZ, EZ Fax; none; Smartcom, Fax

2

(404) 840-9200

None

1347

No

No

No

^mflrtpnm F-7 I--7 Pay nnnp* ^martrrim Fjiv

2

1348

Yes

No

Yes

CrossTalk, Satisfaxtion, Faxability Plus;CrossTalk, Satisfaxtion, Faxability Plus; none

3

(503) 696-8080

(800) 538-3373

1351

Yes

No

No

None; WinFax Lite; none

t

(617)551-1000

(800) 822-8224

1354

No

No

No

None; none; none

1

(617) 551-1000

(800) 822-8224

1352

No

No

No

None; none; none ' S^^H^^B

1

(617)551-1000

(800) 822-8224

1353

No

No

No

None; none; none

2

(508) 261-4000

(800) 446-6336

1356

No

No

No

None; none; none

2

(508)261-4000

(800) 446-6336

1355

Yes

No

Yes

None; none; none

2

(205) 430-8000

(800) 451-2369

1370

No

Yes

Yes

MultiExpress, MultiExpress-Fax; none;QuickLink II

5

(612)785-3500

(800)328-9717

1357

No

Yes

No

MultiExpress, MultiExpress-Fax; none;QuickLink II

5

(612) 785-3500

(800) 328-9717

1358

No

No

No

None; none; none

1

(214)518-5000

(800) 222-4632

1359

No

No

No

None; none; none

2

(508)441-2181

(800) 989-8888

1360

Yes

Yes

Yes

None; none; none

2

(301)921-8600

(800) 473-6745

1361

Yes

Yes

Yes

QuickLink II Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink IIFax Win/DOS; QuickLink II Fax

Lifetime

(805) 497-4774

(800) 442-4774

1363

Yes

Yes

Yes

QuickLink II Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink II FaxWin/DOS; QuickLink II Fax

Lifetime

(805) 497-4774

(800) 442-4774

1362

Yes

Yes

No

QuickLink II Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink II

Lifetime

(805) 497-4774

(800) 442-4774

1364

Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink II Fax

JULY 1993 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 193

ROLL

GALL OF

MODEMS

XESXED

Ui

THROUGHPUT TEST RESULTS'

MAX SPEEDS'

0

MANUFACTURER

MODEM

PRICE

1-WAY

2-WAY

IMPAIRED LINES'

DCE

DTE

ESCAPES

0

w

Supra Corp.

Supra Fax Modem v.32

$380

22.1

21.0

100

9.6

57.6

Hayes

(A

Supra Corp.

Supra Fax Modem v.32 bis $380

31.7

21.8

92

14.4

57.6

Hayes

IQ

Telebit Corp.

T3000

$949

31.1

23.1

93

14.4

57.6

TIES

N«

The Complete PC

Turbo Modem Plus

$399

31.7

30.6

100

14.4

57.6

Hayes

1

>

Twincom ^^^^HHHR

14.4/DF

$399

31.7

22.1

14.4

^Hayes " '

0

US Robotics

Courier V.32bis Fax

$795

30.2

25.6

99

14.4

57.6

TIES

z<

USRobotics

$299

30.3

25.5

99

14.4

N«

1

USRobotics

Sportster 9600 Fax

$249

20.9

20.4

100

9.6

38.4

TIES

Ven-Tel

\_/ 1 '-i'-t t CIA

$599

31.7

21.8

95

14.4

57.6

Hayes

i

>

Western Datacom

WorldCom V.32bis

$695

14.4

115.2

Hayes

Xycomm Technologies

QuickComm Spirit II

$249

30.2

24.2

SToo

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Zoom Telephonies

VFXV32

$269

22.1

21.0

100

9.6

38.4

Hayes

Zoom Telephonies

VFXV32bis

$349

31.7

22.0

97

14.4

57.6

Hayes

E-Tech Research

UFOMate P1414MX

$429

30.8

29.0

95

14.4

115.2

TIES

(A

E-Tech Research

UFOMafe P14t)6MX

$379

30.8

29.1

95

14.4

57.6

TIES

Hayes MicrocomputerProducts

Optima 144 Pocket

$599

31.2

18.3

95

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Megahertz

P2144

$499

32.0

26.1

97

14.4

57.6

Hayes

Microcom

MicroPorte 4232bis Fax

$699

31.9

19.7

86

14.4

57.6

Hayes

IVI4

Multi-Tech Systems

MT1432MU

$699

31.4

21.4

99

14.4

57.6

TIES

u

^ Practical Peripherals

PM14400FX PKT

$499

31.3

20.3

95

14.4

57.6

Hayes

J

<

Twincom

Voyager

$499

30.8

29.1

ifO

14.4

57.6

TIES

1

1

USRobotics

WorldPortI 4,400 Fax

$649

30.1

28.0

HO

14.4

57.6

TIES

K

USRobotics -^^^Hl

HB/VorldPort 9696 Fax/Data

$549

20.1

19.7

99

9.6

57.6

TIES

0

Zoltrix

144/144e

$239

31.7

22.1

85

14.4

57.6

Hayes

^AT&T ParadyneMotorola Codex

Comsphere 38303260 Fast

$795$1395

43.453.4

40.338.4

98

90

19.224

115.2115.2

HayesHayes

III s

Telebit Corp. ,^.__«Mi8»<w-- WorldBlazer

$1099

38.5

23.1

97

23

115.2

TIES

111 E

USRobotics

Courier Dual Standard

$1295

32.1

25.6

92

16.8

57.6

TIES

U-1496E

$469

36.6

33.3

95

16.8

57.6

Proprietary

. 0IS

Zyxel

U-1496EPIUS

$649

40.6

39.2

94

19.2

76.8

Proprietary

U-1496PIUS

$989

40.6

39.2

97

19.2

76.8

Proprietary

HIG

' Results of tests are measured in Kbps.^ Maximum transfer rate in Kbps.^ Percentage of throughput.

' Unable to run our tests; problem was unresolved at press time.= BYTE Best

a.94. BYXE/NSTL LAB REPORT JULY 1993

SOFTWARE

(DOS; WINDOWS; MAC)

WARRANTY

(YEARS) PHONE

TOLL-FREE NO.

INQUIRY NO.

Comit DOS/Windows, FaxTalk; WinFax Lite;STF Fax, Microptione

5

(503) 967-2400

(800) 727-8772

1366

Comit DOSAA/indows, FaxTall<; WinFax Lite;STF Fax, Microphone

5

(503) 967-2400

(800) 727-8772

1365

None; none; none ~™

2

(408) 734-4333

(800) 835-3248

1367

CrossTalk, RapidFax; RapidFax; BitFax,Microplione

7

(408) 434-0145

(800) 229-1753

1368

QuickLink II; QuIckLink II with OCR; QuickLink IIor QuickLink Data and STF Fax

2

(919) 395-6100

(800) 666-2496

1369

Blast Fax; WinFax Lite; Apple Talk scriptson BBS

2

(708) 982-5010

(800) 342-5877

1371

Blast Fax; WinFax Lite; AppleTalk scriptson BBS

5

(708) 982-5010

(800) 342-5877

1372

Blast Fax; WinFax Lite; AppleTalk scriptson BBS

5

(708)982-5010

(800) 342-5877

1373

QuickLink 11 Fax; none; QuickLink II Fax

5

(408) 436-7400

(800) 538-5121

1374

QuickLink II Fax; QuickLink II; none

1

(216) 835-1510

(800) 262-3311

1375

QModem Lite, DOS Fax Lite; WinFax Lite;none

Lifetime

(214) 732-0255

(800) 551-6166

1376

MTez with ExpressFax Protocols & Emulations;WinFax Lite; STF Fax, Microphone LT Data

7

(617) 423-1072

(800) 666-6191

1378

MTez with ExpressFax Protocols & Emulations;

7

(617) 423-1072

(800) 666-6191

1377

WinFax Lite; STF Fax, Microphone LT Data

QuickLink II; QuickLink 11; QuickLink II

2

(408) 730-1388

(800) 328-5538

1379

QuickLink II; QuickLink II; QuickLink II

2

(408) 730-1388

(800) 328-5538

1381

Smartcom EZ, EZ Fax; none;Smartcom, Fax

2

(404) 840-9200

None

1382

Eclipse Fax; WordPerfect MTEZ; none

5

(801)272-6000

(800) 527-8677

1383

DOSFax Lite; WinFax Lite; none

1

(617) 551-1000

(800) 822-8224

1380

MultiExpress, MultiExpress-Fax; none;QuickLink II

5

(612) 785-3500

(800)328-9717

1384

QuickLink II Fax Win/DOS; QuickLink IIFax Win/DOS; QuickLink II Fax

Lifetime

(805) 497-4774

(800) 442-4774

1385

QuickLink 11; QuickLink II with OCR;QuickLink II or QuickLink Data and STF Fax

2

(919) 395-6100

(800) 666-2496

1386

Blast Fax; WinFax Lite; AppleTalk scriptson BBS

2

(708) 982-5010

(800) 342-5877

1387

Blast Fax; WinFax Lite; AppleTalk scriptson BBS

2

(708) 982-5010

(800) 342-5877

1388

BitFax for DOS, BitCom for DOS; BitFax forWindows, BitCom for DOS; none

5

(510)657-1188

None

1389

None; none; none

2

(813) 530-2000

(800) 484-3333

1105

None; none; none

2

(508) 261-4000

(800) 446-6336

1106

None; none; none '~ '|

(408) 734-4333

(800) 835-3248

1108

Blast Fax; WinFax Lite; AppleTalk scriptson BBS

2

(708) 982-5010

(800) 342-5877

1109

ZVoice/Fax; ZVoice/Fax; ZVoice/Fax

(714)693-0808

(800)255-4101 :

1110

ZVolce/Fax; ZVoice/Fax; ZVoice/Fax

5

(714) 693-0808

(800)255-4101

1111

ZVoice/Fax; ZVoice/Fax; ZVoice/Fax

5

(714) 693-0808

(800)255-4101

1112

JULY 1993 BYTE/NSTL LAB REPORT 19S

From parallel 860s, to coprocessors and workstations-

NDP" Fortran DrivesThem All!

Microway's industry-leading32-bit Fortran produces thehighest quahty numeric code andsupports all x86 operating systems,processors and numeric devices.NDP Fortran was used to portindustry standards like SRAC'sCOSMOS/M to die 486 and isrequired to use AspenTech's ASPENPLUS, IBM's OSL, and Fluid Dynamics'FIDAP. The compiler uses advanced numeric optimizationsand instruction scheduling which favor fast numerics andRISC devices.

QuadPuter -860 . .. 200 Megaflops

The 200 megaflops of Microway's QuadPuter-SSO are optimallyharnessed using NDP Fortran-860, libraries from IMSL, NAGand KUCK, and the PSR Vectorizer.

and our new Fortran 90

for the 386, 486,Pentium, and 860 rununder either ExtendedDOS, OS/2, NT, UNIXV.3/4, SOLARIS, orCOHERENT.

NDPC-aeo'

Micro

NDP FortranSeo"

my

Micro

my

The extended DOScompilers feature GREX, Microway's proprietaiy device-independent graphics library. To run large applications onDOS, our VCPI-based, demand paged virtual memory issuperior to all alternatives. We also offer DPMI support forthe OS/2 and the Windows DOS Prompt Box. The OS/2compilers include support for OS/2's 32-bit graphics engine.

Microway's NDP Fortran 90 is a fiiU implementation of theANSI Fortran 90, which includes the entire array syntaxnotation, dynamic memory allocation, module definitions,and a complete library of intrinsics. Call for your free demodisk and white paper.

If you plan to use a 386,486, 860 or Pentium and requireportability across operating systems, numeric speed,precision and superior technical support, then NDP Fortran,C I C++ or Pascal is the only solution.

Microway

GIGABOX™

Microway can buildyou a customized onegigaflop NFS compu-tational server usingfive QuadPuters®running in one of ourindustrial grade Towersfor under $50K. Wealso configure lessexpensiiie 486 work-stations. All featureirukistrialgrade Ameri-can power suppliesbased on Todd coresand flow-throughfiltered cooling.

To learn why more government research labs, universitiesand engineers worldwide specify "Microway" call ourTechnical Support Department at 508-746-7341 or any ofthe international representatives below.

Technology You Can Count On

Corporate Headquarters, Research Park, Box 79, Kingston, MA 02364 USA • TEL 508-746-7341 * FAX 508-746-4678U.K. 081-541-5466 • Germany 069-752023 • Greece 01-291-5672 • India 11 681 0645 • Israel 3-751-2929Italy 2-749-0749 • Japan 079 822 5855 • Poland 22-414115 • Portugal/Spain 1-60 4049 • Russia 095 155 030

Hands On

Under the Hood

Inside MS-DOS 6

The developers of MS-DOS 6 describe the operating system'smemory optimization and disk-compression technology

BENJAMIN W. SUVKA, ERIC STRAUB,AND RICHARD FREEDMAN

The two most interesting features of the newlyreleased MS-DOS 6 Upgrade are Microsoft'snew MemMaker memory optimization andDoubleSpace on-the-fly disk-compressiontechnology.

MemMaker automatically scans all device drivers andTSR programs in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CON-FIG.SYS files, scans the upper-memory area, and deter-mines the most efficient way to load these files into avail-able UMBs (upper-memory blocks). A new EMM386allows MemMaker to recover up to 100 KB of addition-al UMB space.

DoubleSpace effectively doubles your available diskspace by compressing the contents of your hard disk.DoubleSpace works in the background, decompressingfiles as applications request them and thencompressing the files when they are savedto disk.

Both technologies mark an advance inMS-DOS by integrating memory manage-ment and file compression tightly into thecore operating system.

MemMaker

We designed MemMaker with three goalsin mind: safety (i.e., reliability), ease ofuse, and optimum use of memory resources.When we had to make trade-offs, we gavesafety and ease of use higher priority thanoptimization.

During memory optimization, Mem-Maker reboots the system twice. The firstpass is for detecting the size of all devicedrivers and programs in CONFIG.SYS andAUTOEXEC.BAT (it does this by addingthe SIZER command to each line contain-ing a device driver or program). The secondpass is for loading these drivers and pro-grams in the optimal upper-memory con-figuration. Our primary goal was safety,yet we think it's impossible to design a memory opti-mizer that will never hang, since certain device driversand programs do not function properly when loaded intoupper memory. Our solution was to implement a statemodel that tracks the optimization process and lets Mem-Maker recover gracefully should the system hang duringthe optimization process.

If MemMaker incorrectly maps over a critical piece ofmemory used by adapter ROM, the system may hang

while restarting. MemMaker's state model automatical-ly detects this situation when the system restarts, and it letsyou undo all changes or try a more conservative map-ping algorithm that creates less upper memory but mayavoid the conflict. MemMaker recovers in a similar wayif a device driver or program hangs when loaded intoupper memory (or if it hangs as a result of another driv-er's or program's attempt to load into upper memory).

Each time it runs, MemMaker creates a MEMMAK-ER.STS file to hold the information it gathers during op-timization, such as driver size information. The STATE=line in MEMMAKER.STS tracks the current state of theoptimization process. MemMaker modifies this line manytimes during optimization as it passes certain milestones,such as completing the first reboot pass.

Before each reboot, MemMaker inserts the statementDEVICE=C:\DOS\CHKSTATE.SYS /S:STATEARGas the first line in CONFIG.SYS. STATEARG defines the

state that appears in MEMMAKER.STS when CHK-STATE.SYS loads and all is well. If CHKSTATE.SYSdetects a mismatch between STATEARG and the state inMEMMAKER.STS when loading, MemMaker halts op-timization and takes action. Since CHKSTATE.SYS is thefirst driver loaded in CONFIG.SYS, it can load and takeappropriate action when you reboot after a system hang.MemMaker removes the CHKSTATE.SYS line fromCONFIG.SYS after it completes the optimization.

continued

JULY 1993 15 V I I: 3.97

Hands M

Under the Hood

Optimum Balance

MemMaker's optimization process does not automatically con-figure the 32-KB upper-memory area from B000-B7FF for tworeasons: Super VGA boards use this space, and MemMaker can'talways detect the presence of a SuperVGA board.

We also did not implement the Flex-Frame/Stealth feature that some othermemory managers offer. This featureenables a 386 memory manager to loada device driver or TSR into a UMB thatwould otherwise not be large enough tohold the device driver. This feature takesadvantage of the fact that the initial sizeof most device drivers and TSRs is larg-er than the final size.

The difference between these two

Benjamin W. Slivka

sizes is usually due to initialization code that can be discarded af-ter the driver or TSR has been initialized. The trick is to detect aregion of ROM or device adapter RAM adjacent to a target UMBthat is not used while the particular device driver is loading. If thememory manager can find such an adjacent region, it maps thisregion with RAM temporarily, loads the device driver, and ini-tializes it. Once the driver or TSR shrinks down to a size thatcan fit in the UMB space, the memory manager restores the orig-inal ROM or adapter RAM mapping.

The drawback here is that you may later add a driver, TSR, orboard to the computer that invalidates the adjacent memory regionselected. Unless you reoptimized at that point, the system wouldprobably hang, and the problem would be difficult to diagnose.

DoubleSpace

DoubleSpace uses an on-the-fly LZ (Lempel-Ziv) compression al-gorithm that doubles—or nearly doubles—available disk spaceon a typical hard drive. DoubleSpace provides this increaseddisk capacity in a manner that is as compatible, easy to use, andsafe as possible. Since disk compressionis a file-system technology, we focusedon integrating DoubleSpace into the MS-DOS file system.

LZ compression lies at the heart ofDoubleSpace. Lempel and Ziv wrote alandmark paper, LZ77, on lossless datacompression (see "A Universal Algo-rithm for Sequential Data Compression"in IEEE Transactions on InformationTheory, vol. IT-23, no. 3, May 1977)and proved that you can achieve nearlyoptimal compression without any knowl-edge of the type of data being handled. Quite simply, if a repeti-tion is found, it is represented by referring back to any early oc-currence in the data block of the same data.For example, consider the following string.

1234567 8901234567 8901234567 8901234567 8901234The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.

According to LZ77, you can represent this in a compressedform by writing out a combination of explicit bytes and matchesthat refer back to a previous portion of the input. For this exam-ple, you would produce the following:

Eric Straub

"Safety and easeof use werethe top priorities inMemMaker's design."

—Richard Freedman

The rain <3,3>Sp<9,4>falls m<l l,3>ly ont<34,3>pl<15,3>.

Here, <offset,length> indicates that you should move backoffset bytes in the input string and copy length bytes. As anoth-er example, given the compressed data 0<1,200>1<1,100>2<1,50>, the uncompressed data would be 0.. .01. ..12. ..2 (i.e.,201 O's, followed by 101 I's, followed by 51 2's).

To create an LZ77 scheme suitable for DoubleSpace, we con-structed an algorithm that found good matches quickly and usedvery little data space. Since DoubleSpace is a part of every diskread and write on a compressed drive, it must be fast. And sinceit's resident in memory at all ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^times, it must be small. Wealso needed to choose an en-coding scheme that producedgood compression but waseasy to both encode and de-code.

The final result is a goodcompromise. The performanceimpact of DoubleSpace is, onaverage, in the range of 5 per-cent to 15 percent slower thanthe performance of an uncom-pressed drive. But few usersnotice any change in perfor-mance. DoubleSpace requires43 KB of memory and can beloaded high. The compressionratio ranges from about 1.4 to1 for executable files, to 2 to1 for spreadsheet and word processing files, to more than 3 to 1 forbit maps and other redundant files.

The CVF Approach

Like many commercial third-party on-the-fly data-compressionprograms, DoubleSpace stores all compressed data in a singlefile—what we call a CVF (compressed volume file)—that ap-pears to be a separate logical drive. A normal FAT (file allocationtable) drive can be converted into a DoubleSpace drive, and theconversion process occurs in place without any disk reformattingor repartitioning. A system can have up to 255 CVFs; a CVFcan hold up to 512 MB of data (that's the uncompressed value).

A CVF implementation has several advantages over automat-ic file-by-file compression. Since it stores compressed data atthe cluster level, MS-DOS doesn't have to decompress the entirefile to randomly read or write to it. The CVF approach also dou-bles the reported size of the hard disk while reporting the un-compressed sizes of individual files. The file-by-file approach, bycontrast, reports the same total disk size as before, while report-ing the compressed size of individual files.

Since files, unlike hard disks, travel between systems, changesin their reported sizes as they are decompressed and copied to an-other location can create knotty compatibility problems. Andsince DoubleSpace effectively simulates a standard FAT drivestructure, existing disk tools work with a DoubleSpace drive.Finally, since DoubleSpace stores clusters on a sector basis, theCVF approach solves the problem of cluster slack: Small files,even if they are not compressible, are stored in as few 512-bytesectors as possible, rather than taking a full cluster as they would

198 BYTE JULY 1993

PHOTOGRAPHY: MATTHEW MCVAY©1993

Hands Oni

Under the Hood

DoubleSpace Data Structures

Uncompressed(drive H)

Boot sector

(1 sector)

FAT(size varies)

Root directory(size varies)

File space

CVF

on a normal FAT drive.

Some users worry that a CVF mightbe less safe than the normal FAT file sys-tem, because it puts everything in onefile. Actually, a CVF is no more suscep-tible to damage than a normal FAT drive.Both contain a FAT, a root directory, sub-directories, and sectors that store actualfile data; the CVF also has an additionaldata structure (called the MDFAT) thatallows for optimal space allocation.

As with a FAT drive, one bad sectorin a CVF means that you lose just the file(or a portion of it) that contains the badsector. A damaged FAT, root directory, orsubdirectory sector is a more serious prob-lem, but these risks exist for both FATdrives and DoubleSpace drives.

Inside the CVF

A DoubleSpace CVF uses the namingconvention DBLSPACE.nnw, where nnnis a number between 000 and 254 thatrepresents the CVF's sequence number.DoubleSpace uses sequence number 000when the CVF is created by compress-ing the contents of an existing drive (asopposed to creating an empty CVF fromfree space). When DoubleSpace mountsa DBLSPACE.OOO CVF, it refers to the CVF using the drive let-ter of the host drive—which is most often C—and refers to thehost drive using a new drive letter (the default is H).

The CVF's internal data structures include the MDBPB (Mi-crosoft DoubleSpace BIOS parameter block), the BitFAT, MD-FAT, boot sector, FAT, root directory, and sector heap (see the fig-

DoubleSpace(drive C)

MDBPB

(1 sector)

BitFAT(size varies)

MDFAT(size varies)

Boot sector(1 sector)

FAT(size varies)

Root directory(32 sectors)

Sector heap(compressedfile space)

DoubleSpace uses the same data structures as anuncompressed hard drive but adds several newstructures that allow data to be stored at the sectorlevel, rather than by cluster.

ure "DoubleSpace Data Structures"). TheMDBPB contains an MS-DOS BPB aswell as fields that describe the rest of theCVF.

The BitFAT indicates which sectorsin the sector heap are in use (1) or free(0). Its size depends on the maximumCVF size (which is stored in the MDBPBand chosen at the time the CVF is creat-ed). MS-DOS 6 rebuilds the BitFAT eachtime it mounts the CVF (including whenthe system restarts) by scanning the MD-FAT. This process verifies the integrityof both the MDFAT and the BitFAT.

The MDFAT is a table of 4-byte en-tries that map each FAT cluster to sectorsin the sector heap. Each entry points tothe location in the sector heap that con-tains the data for the cluster, the com-pressed and uncompressed length of thecluster, whether the data is compressed,and whether the cluster is in use. IfDoubleSpace can't compress a cluster,it stores the data uncompressed to avoidwasting space and to improve read speed.

The boot sector in the CVF is presentfor compatibility only; MS-DOS 6 doesnot use it to boot the system. However,this sector is returned when MS-DOSreads sector 0 from the compressed volume.

DoubleSpace uses a standard MS-DOS root directory (512entries of 32 bytes each) and replaces the usual cluster file-spacearea of a normal FAT drive with a sector heap. Unlike a normalFAT drive, where file space is allocated in units of a cluster,DoubleSpace allocates sector-heap space in units of a sector.

continued

How DoubleSpace Stores Data

Root directory

FAT

MDFAT

Sector heap

Name

Size (KB) Cluster

MY^DIR

dir

37

READMETXT

12

42

•

•

•

IMY_DIR directory

Name

Size (KB) Cluster

BRICK.ZIP

24

65

•

•

•

37

<eof>

•

•

•

42

43

43

<eof>

•

•

•

65

66

66

67

67

<eof>

f = Flag uncompressed (u) or compressed (c)us = Uncompressed sector countcs = Compressed sector countsec = Sector number

If

us

cs

sec

u

16

16

1002

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

«

•

c

16

7

200

c

16

6

207

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

u

16

16

612

16

16

u

628

u

16

16

644

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

200-*■ 207213

612628644660

10021018

Cluster 42

Cluster 43

Cluster 65

Cluster 66

Cluster 67

Cluster 77

On a DoubleSpace Ame, files arui subdirectories map through the FAT and MDFAT to the sector heap. DoubleSpace stores files by sector rather thanby cluster, and the MDFAT provides the link between the uncompressed logical clusters in the FAT and the compressed data in the sector heap'sphysical sectors. README. TXT uses two clusters that compress from 32 to 13 sectors in the sector heap. BRICK.ZIP can't be compressed; it's flaggedas uncompressed in the MDFA T and uses a full 16 sectors per cluster.

JULY 1993 BYTE 199

Hands On;

Under the Hood

Contents of a Compressed Drive

Compressedvolume

(drive C)

The DBLSPACE.BIN kernel file executes from the boot drive immediately after lO.SYSand MSDOS.SYS. Drive C then becomes the CVF, and the boot volume becomes drive H.The latter contains DoubleSpace's hidden files. Note that lO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS areduplicated on the CVF for application program compatibility.

When DoubleSpace re-quires disk space, it allo-cates one or more free sec-tors from the sector heapand sets the correspond-ing bits in the BitFAT toindicate that the sectorsare in use.

FAT-Compatible

A DoubleSpace drive ap-pears to the MS-DOS filesystem as a normal FATdrive and has similar on-disk structures. The keydifference is how Double-Space stores subdirectorydata and data clusters (seethe figure "How Double-Space Stores Data"). Ona FAT drive, MS-DOSuses a simple multiplica-tion formula to translate aFAT cluster number to alogical sector number onthe drive containing thecluster's data. Using a DoubleSpace drive, MS-DOS 6 finds clus-ter data by looking at the MDFAT entry that corresponds to therequested FAT cluster.

Suppose an appUcation calls MS-DOS to read file data. MS-DOS finds the FAT cluster containing the desired data—call itcluster X—and then calls DoubleSpace to read this cluster. Dou-bleSpace examines the MDFAT entry for cluster X, finds thesector heap location for cluster X's sectors, reads those sectors intoan internal buffer, decompresses them (if necessary), and returnscontrol to MS-DOS.

The cluster size varies on uncompressed hard drives, but aDoubleSpace drive always has 8-KB clusters. Therefore, thenumber of sectors read from the sector heap can range from one(if the cluster was compressed to a ratio of 16 to 1) to 16 (if thecluster was not compressed).

Operations such as creating a file, deleting a file, and search-ing the disk for a particular file work exactly the same way on aDoubleSpace drive as they would on a FAT drive. The only dif-ference is that reading a subdirectory or data cluster requiresa lookup in the MDFAT table, and probably decompressionas well.

Disk utihties are another matter. Any program that uses normalMS-DOS INT 21h file I/O operations or BNT 25h/26h direct-sector read and write operations will see a DoubleSpace driveas a normal FAT drive. However, the data for a contiguous rangeof clusters on a DoubleSpace disk is most likely not stored con-tiguously in the sector heap. That means that disk defragmentersthat haven't been updated to support MS-DOS 6 will work safe-ly but won't produce physically contiguous files. (Many suchproducts have already been upgraded to support DoubleSpace.)

DoubleSpace's own disk utihties, CHKDSK and DEFRAG, op-erate in two phases when applied to a DoubleSpace drive. Theyfirst perform the same operations they would perform on a nor-mal FAT drive—working with the root directory, the FAT, sub-directories, and data clusters—before operating on the CVF's

Uncompressedboot volume

(drive H)

/

unique internal structures(the MDBPB, BitFAT,MDFAT, and sector heap).

The Boot Process

We integrated Double-Space into MS-DOS bymaking the compressionsystem, DBLSPACE.BIN,a kernel file. BecauseDoubleSpace doesn't loadas a device driver fromCONFIG.SYS, you don'tneed to have two copies ofCONFIG.SYS and AU-TOEXEC.BAT (one onthe CVF and one on theuncompressed disk). Youalso don't need to main-tain duphcate copies of allfiles that are referenced inCONFIG.SYS and AU-TOEXEC.BAT (which arecalled boot files), syn-chronize changes to thesefiles, or swap drive letters

partway through processing CONFIG.SYS.

On a system without DoubleSpace, the boot process beginswhen the CPU executes the ROM BIOS and loads the MBR(master boot record). The MBR searches the partition table for theactive partition and loads that partition's boot sector. The bootsector then loads lO.SYS and initializes MSDOS.SYS. Finally,CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT execute.

In a DoubleSpace system, DBLSPACE.BIN loads right afterMSDOS.SYS initializes. DBLSPACE.BIN then reads the ini-tialization parameters from DBLSPACE.INI and mounts theCVFs indicated in the ActivateDrive=X, Yn line. At thispoint, the uncompressed drive C becomes drive H, and Cbecomes the CVF (see the figure "Contents of a CompressedDrive"). DBLSPACE.BIN looks for DBLSPACE.INI first onthe boot drive and then on the CVF. If it doesn't find the file,DBLSPACE.BIN unloads itself from memory.

Since DBLSPACE.BIN does not load when DoubleSpacedrives are absent, you can put DBLSPACE.BIN on every boot-able MS-DOS 6 drive without fear of wasting valuable memoryspace. And since the configuration information remains in DBL-SPACE.INI on the hard drive, you can boot an MS-DOS 6 sys-tem that uses DoubleSpace from a boot floppy disk that containsDBLSPACE.BIN, and the DoubleSpace drives will mount cor-rectly.

The next step is to load DoubleSpace into a UMB. The kernelapproach created its own problems here: DBLSPACE.BIN loadsbefore the system's 386 memory manager loads in CONFIG.SYS,so no UMBs are available at load time. We solved this problemby writing a short program, DBLSPACE.SYS, and by addingcode to DBLSPACE.BIN so that DoubleSpace can relocate itselfinto upper memory. DBLSPACE.SYS loads from CONHG.SYSafter EMM386.EXE and HIMEM.SYS and contains the line DE-VICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DBLSPACE.SYS /MOVE. This line sig-nals DBLSPACE.BIN to move itself from conventional memoryto upper memory. continued

200 BYXE JULY 1993

" DISK COMPRESSION ISINHERENTLY MORE FRAGILE...USERS OF COMPRESSION

SHOULD HAVE A COPYOF NORTON UTILITIES 7.0."

PC Week-May 10,1993

The new compression teciinology canput you in a squeeze. You wanted ttieefficiency, but now you're worried aboutlosing data.

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data recovery software. Ot NortOU Utilities 7.0.

It's the only utility specifically designed to recover datafrom DOS 6.0 DoubleSpace, Stacker and SuperStor com-pressed drives. Only vnth our Speed Disk® feature can youtruly defragment the drives, making your recovery a fast,painless process.

You also get the Norton Disk Doctor,® with its nine auto-mated repair functions specific to compressed drives. Plusthe new Norton Diagnostics, which analyzes and tests all vitalsystem components, including memory, video, CPU, systemboards, communication ports, keyboard, mouse and more.

You can't put a price on peace of mind. But we'll try. Takeadvantage of theoffer below and dis-cover the ultimatesecurity of NortonUtilities 7.0. It justmight get you outof a tight spot.

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*Offer good with proof of purchase for new and existing DOS 6.0 owners. Suggested retail price in U.S. dollars plus shipping and applicable taxes. Actual price may vary. Offer good while supplies last.

VaUd in the U.S. and Canada only. For more information in Europe, call 31-71 353111. In Australia, call 61-2-879-6577. In Canada, call 1-800-465-2266. Everywhere else outside U.S., call408-262-3570. The Norton Utilities, Norton Disk Doctor and Speed Disk are registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation. Quote reprinted from PC Week May 10,1993. ©1993 Ziff CommunicationsCompany. Other names are trademarks of their respective holders. Compatible with Windows 3.0 and 3.1, DOS 3.3 and higher. ©1993 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved.

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FROM TIME TO TIME WE MAKE THE BYTE SUBSCRIBERlist available to other companies who wish tosend our subscribers material about theirproducts. We take great care to screen thesecompanies, choosing only those who are reputable,and whose products, services or information we feelwould be of interest to you. Direct mail is anefficient medium for presenting the latest personalcomputer goods and services to our subscribers.

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m

Hands On

Under the Hood

Safety First

DoubleSpace operations can be classified as either restartable orrobust. Restartable operations, such as compressing a FAT driveor resizing a DoubleSpace drive, must complete. If such an op-eration terminates before completion, the data on the hard drivewill be in an inconsistent state, and the computer will become in-operable. A robust operation such as CHKDSK or DEFRAG,on the other hand, is designed so that it can be interrupted with-out consequence; it does not have to complete. For either type ofoperation, we engineered DoubleSpace so that the computer canbe restarted at any time without losing data.

When DoubleSpace starts an operation that must be com-pleted, it modifies AUTOEXEC.BAT so that it automaticallyregains control after an interruption. Also, DoubleSpace per-forms all operations on the hard drive in a careful order to ensurethat at least one copy of all user data is on the drive at all times andthat DoubleSpace knows at all times what operation is being per-formed. In this way, DoubleSpace can pick up where it left offafter an interruption with no data loss. Robust operations likeCHKDSK and DEFRAG move data around on the DoubleSpacedrive in a specific order so that no data loss occurs if the systemreboots unexpectedly.

Extending DoubleSpace

Disk-tool vendors can take advantage of the DoubleSpace systemAPI and the CVF specification to write DoubleSpace-aware diskdefragmenter and repair utilities. And software and hardwaredevelopers can take advantage of the MRCI (Microsoft Real-Time Compression Interface), a client/server software interfacethat allows a compression client (be it DoubleSpace, a backupprogram, or a network protocol transport) to use compressionwithout depending on the particular compression-server imple-mentation. This approach requires only a single copy of the com-pression server (a boon in the RAM-starved arena of MS-DOS)and allows compression-server improvements to occur without re-quiring corresponding revisions to the clients.

The most obvious improvement would be to implement anMRCI server in hardware. This would have several benefits. TheRAM occupied by the software server would no longer be need-ed and would be available to other programs (the present MRCIserver occupies 14 KB). A hardware server is faster and canachieve better compression by performing more exhaustivesearching for matches. And in a multitasking environment, thehardware server can free the CPU for other functions.

MRCI-compliant hardware will have the greatest speed if itis implemented on a local-bus architecture. In the future, MRCIcompression could even be built into CPUs. By contrast, an ISA-bus compression card would be at a distinct disadvantage, sincethe 8-MHz speed of the bus limits the amount of data that can betransmitted to and from the card. MRCI is currently limited to real-mode operation but will soon support enhanced-mode Windows.

We focused on safety and ease of use in our design of Mem-Maker and DoubleSpace in the hope that a much broader audiencewill reap the benefits of increased conventional memory anddisk space. Up to now, these benefits have been limited to amuch smaller group of advanced users. ■

Benjamin W. Slivka is development manager, Eric Straub is lead programinanager, and Richard Freedman is lead product manager for MS-DOS 6at Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, WA). You can contact them on BIX c/o"editors "or on the Internet at editors@bix.com.

202 BYTE JULY 1993

Hands On

Beyond DOS

Confessions of a DDK Developer

The OS/2 Device Driver Development Kit fails sliort,but it's a start

STEVE MASTRIANNI

One cold February afternoon, after along wait, I received a letter from IBMannouncing the beta OS/2 2.0 DeviceDriver Development Kit. I eagerlysigned and returned the form with a check for $15, andless than one week later, I finally had the elusive OS/2DDK. I'd been hearing rumors about it for severalmonths. IBM kept promising to deliver it, but delaysdragged the process out, and IBM had to repeatedly askdevelopers to have patience. Sources close to IBM saythat the problem was not the availability of the drivercode. Instead, no one was given the responsibility togather the code and produce the DDK. Rumors of legalproblems with Microsoft also circulated. At last, theproblems were resolved.

A Dubious Beginning

The DDK came on one CD-ROM, and theWin-OS2 drivers came on two floppy disks.I was eager to find out what took up all thespace, so I began to install it immediately ona machine that was running the December2.1 beta code. The installation process askedfor 50 MB of disk space. I had 52 MB free,so I figured I'd just make it.I was wrong.

About 95 percent of the way through theinstallation, I got a general protection faultand that feared message "the system isstopped." Judging by the address of thefault, it appeared to be in a device driver,and my worst fears were realized when Ifound that the first several tracks of mydisk were rewritten with data. The disk wasno longer bootable. The FAT (file allocationtable) was gone, as was all my data. Fortu-nately, this was a spare system that didn'tcontain any critical information. (I laterfound out that this was a known bug withthe 2.1 beta code. The device-driver code, I later dis-covered, requires 54 MB of disk space.)

I reformatted the hard disk and reinstalled DOS and the2.1 beta code. I reinstalled much of my previous soft-ware, but I left approximately 100 MB free. This time theinstallation went perfectly, duly placing a gob of driversource code on my disk. All the drivers were installed:printer, SCSI, display, virtual, and physical. The instal-lation program lets you select only the drivers you want.

That helps conserve disk space, but locating a particulardriver is a tedious job.

Wliat You Get

The DDK includes the previously unreleased MicrosoftCL386, a 32-bit C compiler that was used internally tocreate the 32-bit code for OS/2 2.0. IBM also used CL386to build all the VDDs (virtual device drivers) for OS/2 2.x.Also included is a copy of MASM (Microsoft MacroAssembler) 5.1, although some examples require MASM6.0.1 was annoyed by this. Why couldn't the examples alluse the same tools?

A better question yet: Why does IBM develop OS/2with different compilers and assemblers? This requires de-vice-driver developers to install Microsoft C 5.1, Mi-crosoft C 6.0, CL386, IBM's C Set/2, MASM 5.1, and

MASM 6.0. In its defense, IBM says that it is working tocorrect this problem in a subsequent release of the DDK.Also, some simple tools are included with the DDK, suchas a program that lets you quickly change a file's ex-tended attributes, a hardware palette-display program, adisplay test tool, a printer test tool, TOUCH, SED, MAP-SYM, LIB, and the resource compiler, RCPP.

As for drivers, the DDK includes dozens. In the cate-gory of video-display drivers, the DDK includes a 16-bit

JULY 1993 BYTE

203

Hands Oil

Beyond DOS

VGA driver, a 16-bit 8514/A driver, a 32-bit VGA driver, a 32-bit Super VGA driver, and a 32-bit device-independent driver. Thevirtual video counterparts are also included. Base video handlersfor VGA, 8514/A, CGA, XGA (Extended Graphics Array), andEGA top off the list of video drivers. The two floppy disks con-tain the source code for two seamless video drivers based on aWindows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 VGA driver.

In the printer category, IBM suppUes only two drivers: a Post-Script driver and a plotter driver, which appear to be OS/2 1.3source code. This makes sense, because IBM still supports thesedrivers on OS/2 1.3. You must compile the PostScript driverwith CL386. For disk drives, the DDK includes the source codefor the floppy driver, ASPI (advanced SCSI programming inter-face) driver, IDE driver, PS/2 SCSI driver, PS/2 floppy driver, andPS/2 DASD (Direct Access Storage Device) driver. For CD-ROM drives, the DDK includes the source code for the Hitachi,Toshiba, NEC, and Sony SCSI CD-ROM drives, as well as CD-ROM Device Manager. Drivers for the Mouse Systems mouse, PCMouse/Logitech mouse, and VisiOn mouse are also included,although a virtual mouse driver is missing.

Hunting Around

The first place I looked was the PDD (physical device driver)section, since these are my favorite OS/2 device drivers. I'velong been an advocate of writing PDDs in C. I supply a C-callablelibrary that allows a PDD written in C to call the register-basedOS/2 device helpers, and I was curious to see what IBM offered.

IBM included a library with source code and make files, but ab-solutely no documentation. If you're a good MASM programmer,you can probably figure out the more-complex-than-necessary as-sembly language code and macros, and the way to call the func-tions by reading the assembly language include file—if you havethe time.

Also, the library contained several undocumented device-helper function calls. The library needs to be fully documented,and the documentation file placed on the CD-ROM for refer-ence. If the function calls are unsupported, IBM should makenote of these so that developers won't use them in productioncode. But they should be documented nonetheless. I was pleasedto see much of the driver code written in C. Since most driver op-erations are quick, it makes almost no sense to write them in as-sembly language. Drivers written in C can be written in half thetime it takes to write one using MASM, and they're easier to de-bug and support.

I didn't find the PDD reference, which is the PDD writer'sbible. Nor did I find the presentation driver and VDD references.What's confusing about these omissions is that IBM has alreadyreleased these in the Professional Developer's Kit. Not all driverwriters, however, have need for the PDK, so they're left withvirtually no documentation. IBM says it intends to supply thesedocuments on future releases of the DDK.

Trying to make sense of the DDK by wading through over 50MB of code is extremely tedious. The DDK CD-ROM should in-clude the necessary navigational information in INF format. I'dalso like to see the Control Program Reference manual on theDDK CD-ROM, since most of the calls to the device driver areperformed with these APIs. When testing my drivers, I alwayshave to refer to Control Program Reference because I find it im-possible to remember all the parameters and their ordering.

Also noticeably absent from the DDK is an example of a file-system driver. The information about OS/2's IFS (installable

file system) is sketchy at best, and it can be obtained only withspecial permission. Although a small skeleton IFS is download-able via CompuServe, IBM needs to do a better job in the IFS areaby providing sample code and IFS documentation as a standardpart of the DDK CD-ROM. There's just no excuse for not pro-viding the code.

Other Improvements Needed

The DDK is a good start, but it's extremely difficult to use with-out good documentation. Because IBM has committed to regularreleases of the DDK, it should take the time to make the productbetter. Many of the source code examples contain hundreds oflines of code with no documentation whatsoever, and some nevereven state what the function does. IBM must provide more docu-mentation to let developers understand exactly what is on theCD and how to find it. Nobody has the time to fumble around theCD looking for something that may or may not be there.

A debugger such as ASDT32 should be provided on the CD.The DDK is also lacking in examples of character drivers, suchas a serial or parallel driver, a data acquisition driver, or a simplememory-mapped driver. These "other" drivers make up overhalf of the devices that will require OS/2 device drivers. TheDDK should also include a tutorial for building device drivers withsample code. All these documents, including the device-driver ref-erences, should be supplied in several formats (e.g., INF, Read/2,ASCII, and PostScript).

IBM must do a better job of supporting device-driver writers,especially since this has traditionally been OS/2's Achilles' heel.Currently, IBM operates a small BBS where device-driver writ-ers can ask questions and download sample code. However, theBBS is a single-user system and lacks the benefit of ongoingmessage threads, like you find on CompuServe or BIX. Period-ically, the questions and answers are merged into a file that canbe downloaded, but this is not as helpful as a continuing messagethread on CompuServe. IBM has announced that CompuServe isthe official public support forum for OS/2 2.x. Therefore, IBMshould support device drivers in the device-driver forum there,where a much wider audience of developers can benefit fromthe message traffic.

Waking Up?

IBM may finally be getting the message. A special group withinthe company has been formed to promote OS/2 device drivers—both pubUcly and internally. The DDK has become a product, andit now has a product manager assigned to it. IBM plans quarter-ly releases of the DDK, and each release should get better and bet-ter. Future releases will include drivers and tools for the follow-ing areas: pen computing, multimedia, XGA, 8514/A, SCSI,mice, keyboards, IFS, serial and parallel ports, touchscreens, andPCMCIA, as well as a large selection of tools and on-line docu-mentation.

IBM has scheduled a three-day OS/2 DDK conference thismonth. The OS/2 2.x device-driver developers from the BocaRaton labs will attend to give talks and meet with developers.Perhaps the release of the DDK and the conference signal a turn-ing point for OS/2 device-driver developers. Stay tuned. ■

Steve Mastrianni is president of Personal Systems Software in Canton, Con-necticut. He specializes in device drivers, operating systems, and real-time ap-plications for OS/2 and Windows NT. You can reach him on BIX as "smas-trianni, " on the Internet at smastrianni@bix.com, or on CompuServe at71501,1652.

204 BYTE JULY 1993

Hands Oil

Some Assembly Required

The Mac Extended

The Mac operating system's modular design lets savvyprogrammers add new -features

ERIC SHAPIRO ANOTOM THOMPSON

uch of the Apple Macintosh's identitycomes from its Toolbox code. Believeit or not, despite the fact that these rou-tines are frozen in the Mac ROMs, youcan still change the Mac's identity. Apple does it all thetime. MultiFinder retroactively added cooperative mul-titasking to all existing Macs; QuickTime added time-based data manipulation to the Mac's repertoire. Thiswas possible because the Mac OS's low-level structurewas designed to be easily extensible. Such extensionstake the form of code patches that alter a program's threadof execution out of the ROM and into new code locatedin RAM. It's this new code that adds extra features.

Easy Extensions

You can patch the Mac OS in various ways.For example, some word processors patchthe Mac's text-handling routines so it canwork with huge chunks of text. (Thesepatches apply only to the application's en-vironment, not to other running applica-tions). The application applies these patch-es when it launches and removes them justbefore it quits. The exception is MultiFinderunder System 6.0.x. This System applica-tion applies specific patches and runs inthe background for as long as the Mac re-mains switched on.

You might, however, want to add a spe-cial feature that's present constantly, notjust when a certain application runs. TheQuickTime Extension, for example, sup-ports all applications, and Steve Chris-tensen's SuperClock Control Panel adds apermanent time display to the Mac's menubar. The trick is to do what experts do to ap-ply a permanent feature: patch the operatingsystem at boot time. Fortunately, the MacOS gives you a hand here. A special ini-tialization mechanism scans the Control Panel, Exten-sion, and System folders at boot time for files of typeINIT, cdev, and RDEV. These file types signal the soft-ware to open the file, load initiahzation resources of typeINIT into memory, and execute their code. This codeapphes the patches to the Mac OS.

These INITs are called Extensions in System 7 par-lance, although INIT code can be found in Control Pan-els. They are powerful tools, but they're more compUcated

to write than applications. Apple doesn't officially ap-prove of patching the Mac OS because it can create com-patibiUty problems. Nevertheless, it has supplied some in-formation. Tech Note number 256 discusses these issues,with a heavy bias toward using the MPW developmenttools. To add balance, we provide information on writingExtensions using Symantec's Think C compiler. Sincewe're tinkering with the Mac OS at a low level, a brief ex-planation of how the Mac OS operates is in order. Onceyou understand how it works, you'll know how and whereto apply a patch safely.

The Trap Mechanism

The Mac OS gains its extensibility by leveraging off the680x0 processor's exception handUng. An exception is anerror condition that the processor detects as it runs a pro-gram. Such errors include attempting to access a memory

address outside of physical RAM, trying to use a privi-leged instruction, executing an unimplemented instruction,and other abnormal conditions.

When the processor detects an exception, it switches tosupervisor mode, calculates an exception vector (which isan address that contains a pointer to a handler routine), andsaves its registers on the stack. The processor then loadsthe address stored in the exception vector and jumps to it.The handler code at this address deals (presumably) with

JULY 1993 BYTE 20S

Hands On

Some Assembly Required

Trap Word Formats

Toolbox trap word format

15 14 13

12 11

10 9 8 7 6

5

4 3

2

1 0

1 1 0 1 1

1 I

i

J

J

Unimplementedinstruction code

Flags

Trap number

SpecifiesToolboxformat

Operating-system trap word format

15

14

13

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5

4

3

2

1 0

1

0

1

0^0. ■ 1 ,

V

J

Unimplementedinstruction code

Flags

Trap number

Specifiesoperating-systemfomnat

Format of the opcode used to call Toolbox routines. Bit 11 is used to selectthe type of service requested.

the error condition and returns execution to the program. As mostMac users know, the Error Manager fields some of these excep-tions, displaying the much-beloved bomb box.

So far, this sounds no different from the way other processorshandle exceptions. However, you can use a special unimple-mented instruction to expand the features of the 680x0 processor.This unimplemented instruction word is called the A-line op-code, because bits 15 through 12 equal the bit pattern for thehexadecimal "A." Exception handling is the same when theprocessor encounters this instruction, but the system jumps tohandler code that emulates new functions. The A-line trap there-fore allows new operations to be added to the processor's in-struction set.

Apple uses the A-line trap mechanism to implement its Tool-box and Mac OS routines. The figure above shows the format ofthis instruction word (commonly called a trap word or trap).Notice that bit 11 of the word (the 'Toolbox bit") signifies whetherthe trap is a Toolbox routine or a Mac OS routine. Originally,Toolbox routines were stack-based (i.e., they took arguments offthe stack), and the Mac OS routines were register-based (with afew exceptions).

Apple adds another level to this trap mechanism (see "Anato-my of a Trap" on page 207). When the processor hits an A-linetrap during the execution of a Mac application, it jumps to a han-dler known as the Trap Dispatcher. The Trap Dispatcher firstexamines the trap word's Toolbox bit to determine the type of rou-tine being called. Then it uses the 8 or 9 remaining bits in the trapword as an index into a dispatch table. The entries in this tablecontain pointers to routines, so the processor jumps to a routinethat provides the services that the trap requests. Finally, theprocessor returns to the Mac application.

The Mac ROM contains a list of entries that get loaded whenthe Mac boots, and this is where the initial addresses in the dis-patch table come from. The Trap Dispatcher must determinewhether the trap is a Toolbox call or a Mac OS call, because itmaintains a separate dispatch table for these two trap types.

While the Trap Dispatcher scheme adds some complexity totrap handling, it also provides great flexibihty. Since every call tothe Toolbox or Mac OS is controlled by the dispatch tables.

changing an entry in the table changes which routine services atrap. To add a new routine to the Toolbox (perhaps a QuickDrawGX trap), Apple loads the new trap code into RAM at boot time,locks it (so it can't move around in memory), and then plugs thecode's start address into an empty slot in the dispatch table.

Once you understand the workings of the Trap Dispatcher,you can patch a trap to add custom features to the Mac OS bymodifying a dispatch table entry to point to your code. Instead ofreplacing a particular trap's routine, use the Trap Dispatcher to callyour code to perform a task, and then call the original trap routine.

This sounds simple, but it's a bit tricky. Remember, you'reperforming surgery as the Mac starts up, and your code can'trely on many of the resources made available to an application.Since it's on its own to access global variables or allocate mem-ory, such code is called stand-alone code.

Global Issues

When you launch an application, the Process Manager creates amemory partition, loads the application code into it, and sets upits heap, stack, and A5 world. The A5 world uses the A5 registerto point to the application's global variables, QuickDraw globals,and jump table. The application code starts running once theProcess Manager sets up this environment.

With a few exceptions, extension code runs in another appli-cation's heap. Because the Process Manager didn't launch theapplication, the value in register A5 is meaningless. And youcan't change A5 to correct the problem because the applicationalready uses it for its own global variables. Fortunately, whenThink C builds a code resource, the generated code uses registerA4 as its globals pointer. This solves the problem of interferingwith an application, but you still need a valid address in A4.

Think C stores the program's globals inside the code segmentitself, just past the actual machine code. References to these glob-als are just offsets from the start of the code, so you can make A4point to the first byte of the code segment. A supplied Think Cmacro, RememberAO(), saves a copy of register AO (which pointsto the code segment) within the code itself, where another macrocan find it. This macro, SetupA4 (), loads the stored AO value intoregister A4. A RestoreA4 () macro restores the previous valueof A4.

RemeniberAO() smacks of self-modifying code, and whileprograms we've written using these macros have worked reli-ably on even 68040-based Macs, we consider this techniquetacky. Instead, we select the Custom headers option when build-ing the code segment. We then use Think C's built-in assemblylanguage feature to write a macro that copies the segment's startaddress into A4. When our code finishes, another macro restoresA4's original value. (See GET_GLOBALS () in the useful-macroslisting on page 207.)

We also needed to initialize QuickDraw because we use it toshow our Extension icon on-screen when the code loads at boottime. In addition, your Extension might use QuickDraw traps atsome point. In a Mac application, you do this by calling Init-Graf (&qd.thePort) to initialize QuickDraw. In fact, qd.the-Port is the last field in a 206-byte structure allocated for us byour development systems. When the Process Manager sets upthe A5 world, it loads the QuickDraw globals into this structure.Since Think C places its globals within code resources, we just al-locate an identical data structure in our global space and passthe last field's address, thePort, to InitGraf (). Be sure to usethe fields in this structure instead of the globals qd.thePort,

206 BYTE JULY 1993

Hands On

Some Assembly Required

screenBits, black, and so on. This scheme works well aslong as the combination of code and data doesn't exceed 32 KB.Think C has the ability to build multisegmented code resources(larger than 32K), but we haven't tried these techniques in sucha situation.

Peimanent Residence

Most of a Mac's memory is a temporary heap region that theProcess Manager slices and dices as it partitions and then loadsor unloads applications. You don't want your code hangingaround here. The safest place for it in the Mac OS is the systemheap. The system heap is built at boot time and is off-limits to ap-plications. This haven is where drivers, system code resources,patches, and extension code hang out, and this is where we placeour home-brew Extension.

There are several ways to place code in the system heap. Youcan allocate a block of nonrelocatable and nonpurgeable memoryin the system heap using NewSysPtr{) and then use Block-Move ( ) to copy the code from the file into this block. Think C hasa feature that lets you set a code resource's attribute bits when youbuild it. By setting the System and Locked bits on the code seg-ment, you can coerce the Resource Manager into loading it as anonpurgeable block in the system heap. But when the Mac OS

closes your INIT file,the Resource Managerreleases the code re-source, thinking thatyou are finished withit. To avoid this prob-lem, call Detach-Resource()on theblock immediately inyour setup routine sothe Resource Manag-er "forgets" about itwhen the file closes.The macro LOCK__SELF () in the useful-macros listing showshow this is done.

Patching Traps

Once you have stowedthe code segment safe-ly away in memory andhave your global vari-ables set up, you mustmake the Mac awareof it by modifying adispatch table entry.Begin by seeing if thedesired trap exists. Re-member that your neathack might be runningon all sorts of Macs,some of which maynot have QuickTime,QuickDraw GX, orother nifty features.Also, since Extensionfiles load in alphabeti-

AnatomyofaTrap

When an exception occurs O, program flow jumps to the Trap Dispatcher @,which uses the Toolbox bit in the trap word to select a dispatch tableaddress. This address is used to locate and execute a routine in ROM orRAM @. The thread of execution then returns to the next instruction in theMac program ©.

cal order, it's possible that your QuickTime-patching Extensionmight load before the QuickTime Extension does.

The Apple-approved way is to call the Gestalt Manager to ob-tain this information. However, the Gestalt Manager might beabsent (definitely the case if the Mac is running an operatingsystem lower than System 7). Or the Gestalt Manager might notbe aware of the really new Mac OS features you want to patch.

The functions listing on page 208 shows how to check for a de-sired trap's existence. You start by passing the target trap word tothe IsTrapAvailable() function, and if the word exists, theprogram returns TRUE.

Now you're ready to change the dispatch table entry. Appleprovides two traps, NGetTrapAddress () and NSetTrapAd-dress (), that facilitate this operation. The first function, given atrap number, provides the address of its handler from the dispatchtable. The second function, given a trap number and the address ofour own handler, plugs this address into the dispatch table.

Even at this level, most of the low-level workings of the Macremain hidden. All that's required is a trap number and the addressof your routine. This setup also lets you add patches on top ofpatches. As long as everyone writes well-behaved code, a singletrap might invoke several custom handlers before calling the ac-tual trap code.

Patcli witli Caution

You'll want your code to be robust and reliable. Since the codemight be called from anywhere, you'll want to save the current en-vironment carefully and restore it when you're done. The macrosPATCH_SETUP () and PATCH_CLEANUP in the useful-macroslisting help here. Since the Toolbox calls use Pascal calling con-ventions rather than C, you must set up your patch routines as Pas-cal routines. You do this in Think C by adding the pascal pre-fix to your routine declaration.

If the routine returns a result, its value must be the correctsize or it will corrupt the stack. Similarly, examine how the trapaccepts arguments. Some traps take values that are pushed ontothe stack, while others require that one or more arguments be

Useful macros for writing MacExtensions.

/* Note: MainO must be the veryfirst function in thefile for this to work. */#define LOCK_SELF()asm { \lea main, AO \dew _RecoverHandle \move.l AO, -(SP) \dew _HLock: \dew _DetachResource \

)

♦define GET_GLOBALS()asm { \move.l A4, -(SP) \lea main, A4 \

}

#define UNGET_GLOBALS ()asm { \move.l (SP)+, A4 \

}

#define PATCH_SETUP()asm { \movem.l a0-a5/d0-d7, -(SP)lea main, A4 \)

/* Note: Save any global resultinto local variablebefore calling thismacro. Then use localvariable to returnresult. */#define PATCH_CLEANUP ()asm { \movem.l (SP)+, a0-a5/d0-d7)

JULY 1993 BYXE 207

Hands On

Some Assembly Required

Functions that test for and patch a trap.

/* Global f.OT oiriginal routine addiress. */

TrapType tType;

Stat ic void *g01dKeyTirap;

/* OujT custom iroutine^ which gets substituted. */

/ * T r>f~iV ^f- ^-y^o Ti~inl l-if~iv V-\-i +- * /

exteirn void OuirKey (void) /

Liype — (urapiNum tt uxuouu> r looxirap i Uoirap;

return( tType );

Boolean ChangeTirap (void){

\ /* (=nH f^^Tl-?lnT\m^=' M * // / ci 1"^. vTt; 1—L J_ cl_^ X y \ ) /

Boolean patchFlag;

/* This function is based on Inside Mac VI 3-8. */

#define kMenuKeyTrap 0xA93E

J.oXJ_ a^^rt V dX Xd-L/J-C ^olltJXl- LX ct^l*J Lllli}

patchFlag = FALSE; /* Assume the worst. */

S\

if (IsTrapAvailable(kMenuKeyTrap))

TrapType tType;

{ /* Trap exists; patch it. */

short numToolboxTraps;

gOldKeyTrap = PatchTrap( kMenuKeyTrap, OurKey );

#define kinitGrafTrap 0xA86E

patchFlag = TRUE; /* Flip flag to OK state. */

strict f •{ rte> VTTn i nrnl omonf-oHTfar-i flvZiRQirtrLit; X XI icT JvUllXiU^Xt^llLcl i U± X L/ArtO

} /* end if */

return patchFlag;

tType = (trapNum & 0x0800) ? ToolTrap : OSTrap;

} /* end ChangeTrap() */

if (tType == ToolTrap)I

/* PatchTrap ; Modifies the dispatch table. */

I

uxd^iNLun ct— ujvu ten g / Xicix^c::oL' 1t ox uxdpo

/* StripAddress () reguired because an app can */

possible. f

switch to 32—bit mode and call a patched trap. */

/ XC3 XllX UijXclX cl U aU.O.Xt;tit) UJ. UJCtiflOxj : /

XX \ iVVjt: 1^ ± X a._|JrtLJ.LJ,X o o \ j'LX 11X UoX dX J. X op ^ -LtJOXXXdUJ

void *PatchTrap(short trapNum, void *codeAddress)

NGetTrapAddress(0xAA6E, ToolTrap))

{

numToolboxTraps — 0x0200; /* Yes */

void *oldAddress;

else /* No^ table is larger. */

TrapType tType;

numToolboxTraps = 0x0400;

if (trapNum > numToolboxTraps)

tType = GetTrapType(trapNum);

/ Valid trap #? */

oldAddress — (void *)NGetTrapAddress(trapNum, tType);

return(FALSE); /* Trap # larger than table. */

NSetTrapAddress((long)StripAddress(codeAddress),

) /* end if */

trapNum, tType );

return((void *)StripAddress(oldAddress));

/* Return trap address if != unimplemented trap. */

} /* end PatchTrap0 */

return( NGetTrapAddress(trapNum, tType)

NGetTrapAddress(kUnimplementedTrap, ToolTrap)

/* Determine if trap is Toolbox or Mac OS trap. */

);

TrapType GetTrapType( short trapNum ){

) /* end IsTrapAvailable0 */

placed into certain registers. For the latter traps, you'll have towrite some in-line assembly language code to process the ar-guments. Note that some Managers (such as the Hierarchal FileSystem Manager and the Slot Manager) use one trap word as anentry point. A value in register DO acts as a selector that deter-mines the routine actually called when the trap fires.

Examine the Toolbox descriptions in the Inside Macintosh se-ries (Addison-Wesley) to see what size arguments the trap usesand how it's set up. Or write a small routine that calls the trap, anduse Think C's Disassemble menu command to create an assem-bly language code dump. Finally, check to see if the routinemoves or purges memory. If the original routine didn't movememory, neither should your patch code.

Patches fall into two categories. A head patch performs somepreprocessing before calling the original trap code. Put anotherway, when your trap gets called, it first performs some prelimi-nary operations and then calls the actual trap routine. An exam-ple of this is when a keyboard event calls your code. You mightscan for a certain combination of keys (perhaps cin option key helddown) to determine whether or not to process the character. Wecreated KeyTest.sea to demonstrate a head patch. (This programpatches the Mac OS so that the system beeps when you holddown the Shift key.)

In a tail patch, your code does postprocessing; it hands offexecution to the trap first and then acts on the results that thetrap passes back. You might call MenuSelect () to see whichmenu and which menu item were chosen. Eric Shapiro has created

an Oscar the Grouch Extension that works this way. (In this ex-tension, the Sesame Street character pops out of the Trashcanwhen you pick Empty Trash from the Finder's Special menu.)BellTest.sea demonstrates a tail patch. It patches the "About"item in the Apple menu so that the Mac beeps when you select it.

Apple deems tail patches a bad thing because they c£in interactwith the System Software patches that Apple uses to fix Toolboxbugs. These patches often rely on the return address on the stackto determine what trap called them, and a tail patch can defeatthese checks. But obtaining menu choices or other situationsmake tail patches unavoidable. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Code with Honor

With a good understanding of the Mac's trap mechanism, it'spossible to add permanent features to the Mac OS. Just remem-ber that Extension code operates outside the benign environmentthat the Process Manager sets up for an application, so you havelittle margin for error. ■

Editor's note: The complete listings for programs mentioned in thisarticle are available electronically. See page 5 for details.

Eric Shapiro is a Macintosh software author and president of Rock Ridge En-terprises, a Mac consulting firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. You can reachhim on BIX do "editors." Tom Thompson is a senior technical editor atlarge for BYTE. You can reach him on BIX as "tomthompson" or the Internetat tomt@bytepb.byte.com.

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Pournelle

JERRY POURNELLE

The DOS 6 Question

A

bout the time you read this, they should be do-ing flight tests on the DC/X out at White Sands. DC/X, whichstands for Delta Clipper X, is a flying scale model of the SSXspaceship that General Graham, Max Hunter, and I have beeninvolved with. The goal is to have a ship that will fly into orbitwithout dropping off stages (and thus will be able to take offfrom any location, not just rocket ranges), return, refuel, and flyinto orbit again without refurbishing. It should also have the ca-pability of surviving an engine failure on takeoff. DC/X won'tdo that—it has only four engines, and you need at least eight—and it won't make orbit, but it does test many of the conceptsneeded for a proper spaceship.

We went down to the rollout at the McDonnell Douglas plantin Huntington Beach, and it was a pretty impressive thing to see a space-ship—even a model—rolled out like we used to roll out airplanes. We won'thave access to space for the rest of us until we have spacecraft that operate likeairplanes, and DC/X gets us one step closer to that.

At the rollout, DC/X program manager PaulKlevatt said that this was the first project he'dever seen in which the software developmentwasn't the long pole in the tent. DC/X is con-trolled entirely by computers—they're using a32-bit, 4.5-MIPS computer with off-the-shelfflight-control hardware such as the F-15 inertialnavigation system—and the programs, beingpart of a Department of Defense project, arewritten in Ada.

Originally there were plans for them to de-velop software from scratch, but there wasn'tenough money for that; which, I suspect, mayhave been a blessing in disguise, because it ledthem to off-the-shelf CASE tools. One of thosewas Matrix X from Integrated Systems. Thisstarts with a graphical representation and de-velops actual Ada code. According to Klevatt,"Our coding error rates are much lower than onprevious projects, and debugging times havebeen much shorter."

Anyway, she's a beautiful ship, and I'll surebe glad to see her flying.

Everyone runs out of disk space, and

it doesn't matter how much you have. Ezekial,my original Z80 system, had twin 64-KB flop-py disks to hold both programs and data, and Ican recall thinking how luxurious double-density8-inch floppy disks would be. Now, even withtwin 330-MB hard drives, plus network accessto the Pioneer read/write optical drive, I some-times find I have to stop and shift things aroundto install a new program. I can imagine what itmust be like for people who don't have the hard-ware assets I do.

One answer to the disk-space problem is com-pression systems, and the latest of these is DOS6, which includes both file compression andmemory management. While Microsoft's specialintroductory offer will be over before you readthis, I suspect DOS 6 will still be far and awaythe lowest-cost way to get those goodies.

DOS 6 works, or at least I had no great prob-lems with it; but for some reason, I don't get awarm feeling about it. I'm not sure why, sincemost of the reports I get are positive. I think it

I'm sure DOS 6will eventuallycatch on. But untilI have someapplications thatneed it, I'll useDOS 5.0, QEMM,and cachingcontrollers.

ILLUSTRATIONS: DIANE BIGDAei993

JULY 1993 BYTE 209

Pournelle

may be a case of "be not the first by whomthe new is tried."

There's also some confusion about justwhat kind of compression system Mi-crosoft put into DOS 6. Microsoft has alot of experience with DOS, but I'm not sosure they have all that much in integrat-ing file-compression programs.

If you're a big fan of DOS 6,1

won't fight with you. But if you have anIDE hard drive—as nearly all the Gate-way 2000 systems do—I think there's abetter way to get file compression: Per-ceptive Solutions' WinStore caching con-troller.

It works only with IDE drives (notSCSI), but WinStore incorporates theStacker file-compression chip right on thecontroller. The controller has its ownprocessor and memory. Thus, you get bothfile compression and disk caching with-out using up system memory. That's agreat advantage, because memory is like-ly to be in shorter supply than disk space.

Do note that while WinStore has thefile-compression chip on the controllercard, it isn't really integrated into the op-erating system. Your increased disk space

looks to the outside world as if it were anew hard drive, but in fact it's an enor-mous hidden file. That means there's asmall but real chance that a glitch in thecompressed file system will make it im-possible to access any of that data. Ofcourse, that can happen with DOS 6, too.

The Stacker system for file compres-sion and management has been in use longenough to be trustworthy, and certainlyPerceptive Solutions makes reliable cach-ing controllers: two of my major systemsuse them. (Another system uses a Distrib-uted Processing Technology controller.)

All major compression systems main-tain special FATs (file allocation tables)that are supposed to make it impossiblefor you to lose all the compressed data.However, I have enough disaster reportsfrom readers that I'm very pleased thatNorton Utilities 7.0 understands DOS 6compressed files and file systems. What-ever compression system you decide touse, get and learn Norton Utilities 7.0 be-fore you embark on it.

The DOS 6 MemMaker memory opti-mizer and revised EMM386 are a hands-down improvement over DOS 5.0's EMM-386.S YS, and for many these will probably

be good enough. However, MemMaker isnot as efficient as Quarterdeck's QEMM-386 6.0. When I replaced a DOS 5.0/QEMM system with DOS 6 and usedMemMaker, I found I had 28 KB less DOSmemory, largely because MemMaker isn'tas aggressive about allocating unusedmemory. It also doesn't seem to be asgood as QEMM in working with fullyreentrant programs that understand howto use memory in small noncontiguouschunks.

MemMaker isn't as simple to use asQEMM's Optimize. On the other hand, ifyou really need to play around to cadgememory, you'll have to go to QEMM'sanalysis tools. That takes some hard study,but it's also the most efficient memory re-covery system I know of.

In general, QEMM works well withDOS 6. There are some load-high switch-es in DOS 6 that Optimize currentlydoesn't understand, but that just meansyou have to do some things manually.QEMM/DOS 6 is a good combination;but then so is QEMM/DOS 5.0.

We're all running out of UMBs (uppermemory blocks), especially those of uswho use networks. I'm already having

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memory trouble. Thus my recommenda-tion: where money is a primary factor,DOS 6 may be the right choice. In myjudgment, however, it's worth the extracost to use QEMM for memory manage-ment and, if you have an IDE drive, Win-Store for file caching and compression.Obviously WinStore will cost more thanDOS 6, but given a choice between hard-ware and software solutions, I'll take hard-ware just about every time.

I'm sure DOS 6 will eventually catchon. But until I have applications that need

it, I'll stay with DOS 5.0, QEMM, andcaching controllers.

I keep promising to change my

network over to NetWare, and when I do,I'll install a Procomp Pro-Val networkcontroller in the server. Procomp makesnetwork-aware controllers tested and ap-proved by Novell, and it will be interestingto compare the Pro-Val with the Distrib-uted Processing Technology controllerthat's in the Cheetah 386 now. For the mo-ment, though, I'm still wringing out Win-

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dows for Workgroups.

That's partly a matter of time—I havenever had so many things to do—but it'salso a matter of "good enough." W4WGcan't do all the things a full-featured net-work operating system can, but it suremakes it easy to share files and gives meaccess to assets like the Pioneer CD-ROMdrive and read/write optical drive. W4WGalso works well with Traveling Software'sLapLink V. I can attach a parallel cableto any system on the network, plug theother end into a laptop, and run LapLink V,and I have access to every network drive.That is useful enough that I don't need anyfancier way to service my portables.

Indeed, LapLink V has so many won-derful features—such as synchronizingdirectories so that both have all and onlythe latest files—that I'd be hard pressedto do without it. I only wish W4WG itselfhad some of the features.

I've had astonishingly few problemswith W4WG, but there have been someglitches. It is the easiest network softwareto install that I've ever worked with, soit's surprising that one of my worst panicscame when I tried to install the Gateway4DX2-66V with local-bus video. Previ-ously, all I'd done with the Gateway4DX2-50V was to put in the Intel Ether-Express 16 card, cormect it to the network,and do an upgrade installation of W4WGover the Windows 3.1 that the machinecame with. When it came time to add the4DX2-66V, I expected no difficulties.

At first all went well. I selected the Ex-press installation and let things run. WhenI got to the third floppy disk, it all cameapart. Up popped "ATI Flexdesk Win-dows Driver Error. The ATI FlexdeskWindows driver requires Windows to berun in 386 enhanced mode. Select the8514/A driver to use your ATI 68800video board with a 286-based processorto use Windows standard mode." Then theinstallation aborted.

To make it worse, I'd foolishly donethis without making a full backup. There'sno real excuse for that, but in my defense,I'll say that I'd installed W4WG in theother Gateway without problems; and ifthe system isn't on the network, backupsaren't so easy to do. Indeed, that was onereason I wanted to add it to the network.Anyway, Setup had gone far enough thatI couldn't get into Windows 3.1 either.Worse than that, attempts to install Win-dows 3.1 from the original Gateway disksran into other problems, with various errormessages about not being able to findneeded device files I'd never heard of. Iwas dead in the water.

I sent out panic messages and got a call

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from Lex in Microsoft technical supportwithin an hour; a result that you probablycan't get, but after you read this, you maynot need to. Fixing things was relativelyeasy, if tedious.

First, 1 was told to editSYSTEM.INI and removethe line that says Setup-state = l. This line tellsSetup that there was a failedattempt to install and getsin the way of things. Sec-ond, I logged on to C:\WIN-DOWS and ran Setup to se-lect VGA 3.0 (standardVGA) as the video mode. This is necessarybecause Setup launches Windows in stan-dard mode, and standard mode doesn't un-derstand ATI's Flexdesk. Setup asked forseveral floppy disks and eventually an-nounced that it was finished.

Now to install W4WG again, i

put in the first floppy disk, fired it up —and the system hung up fairly early in theprocedure, well before I got to the thirddisk. OK, turn the machine off—it washung good—and start over, this time witha bare-bones CONFIG.SYS and AUTO-EXEC.BAT. Same resuh.

OK, maybe it's the floppy disks. I'dbeen using S'A-inch; change to 3'/2-inch.

Same result. The machine hung to hard-ware reset quite early in the process. Bynow I was ready to panic, but Lex wasn't.Apparently this happens more often thanyou'd think, and there's a trick that willget you around it.

Here it is. Reboot the machine and cre-ate a directory called C:\FOO (or whatev-er strikes your fancy). Copy the first threeW4WG installation disks into that direc-tory, log on to it, and launch Setup fromwithin it. When Setup asks what kind of in-stallation you want, say Custom rather thanExpress. Now follow instructions. After awhile, it will run out of stuff from the harddisk and ask where to find the rest. Tell itwhich floppy drive, put the disk it wants inthere, and Bob's your uncle.

When Setup is done, it restarts Win-dows, this time in 386 enhanced mode,and configures your network, includingyour network card. When it asks whichIRQ (interrupt request) you want to use,the default is 3, which probably isn't whatyou want; 5 is usually free, and that's theone I chose. The EtherExpress card is con-figured in software: no jumpers to set, justdrop in the card. You'll also be asked toname your machine: since Gateway ma-chines come in cow-spotted boxes, the4DX2-66V became SuperCow.

I had one more glitch, but it was my

fault. My network is called JERRY ONE,but I forgot and told the new machine to beon JERRYONE; so it couldn't find anyother machines on the network. Howev-er, when I told it to go lookfor LITTLE CAT C (myname for the C drive on theCheetah 386/25), it in-formed me that I could findthat machine on JERRYONE, so I didn't even haveto retype to get logged on.

No one seems to knowwhy Setup sometimes hasproblems with floppy drives.It's a bit like the Sound Blaster Pro prob-lem I sometimes have. I launch a programthat needs the Sound Blaster Pro card, thesystem informs me it can't do that becausesomething else is using the card, and iticonizes the program. I double-click onthat icon, the program launches, and there'ssound. This, it turns out, is a known bug.Creative Labs may have a new driver ontheir BBS by the time you read this. But Ido notice that as these machines get fasterand their programs get more complex, wefind more odd things that we just have tolive with. Oh, well.

I've been fighting to install NortonSpeedcache-I- on my network server. Thisprogram works very well with DOS andWindows. It speeds up CD-ROM opera-tions something wonderful and appears towork well with the Pioneer CD-ROMdrive and read/write optical drive. It likesWindows 3.1 just fine and speeds up nor-mal disk operations at least as much asSmartdrive. Of course, it doesn't havemuch effect if you have a good cachingcontroller. When it comes to speeding upa system, hardware generally beats soft-ware every time. ITie controllers from Per-ceptive Solutions and Distributed Pro-cessing Technology have cache memoryon the controller card, and thus don't useup your main system memory.

My major systems now use controllersfrom those two companies, and I've yetto see the software that will improve theirperformance. The Gateway 4DX2-66Vdoesn't come with a caching controller,so I installed Speedcache+ on that. It in-stalls just fine without the manual. Onceyou have it going, there are some opti-mizations you can try, but the default in-stallation is painless. On the Gateway ma-chine, it works fine in both DOS andW4WG, but more on that in a minute. Thebottom line is that Speedcache-h worksvery well indeed on vanilla systems.

How it works isn't so easy to figure out.Speedcache-I- comes with a Disk Process-ing Test program that you can run under

214 15 V I I JULY 1993

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Windows, but there's no printed docu-mentation except for a reference to the on-line help system, and the help for the testhas no instructions for use. I'm sure thatgiven time I could figure it out, but Iwasn't willing to put that much time into it;and since there were no examples, I soongot discouraged. Symantec says that Speed-cache+ will work better than Smartdrive,and I'm willing to believe that.

Where I really need Speedcache+ is onmy network server, because I don't have acaching controller for the Pioneer CD-

ROM and read/write optical drives, andthose are the very things that need cachingmost. I got it installed on the server, andthe performance im-provement of my opti-cal drive was startling.It really has to be seento be appreciated.

Fair warning: if youuse caching systems,get a UPS (uninterrupt- "ible power supply). When I copy files tothe optical drive through Speedcache+, it

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all happens at blinding speed; but the op-tical drive's disk activity light shows thatit may be half a minute before those filesare written onto

the glass disk. If Ihad a power fail-ure before the fileswere completelywritten, the conse-quences would besevere. I recom-mend that anyone whose work is valuableget a UPS, but it's particularly important ifyou use caching systems.

Anyway, Speedcache-I- works fine withWindows and CD-ROMs, and withW4WG with a single CD-ROM; what Ihaven't been able to do so far is get it towork with my W4WG file server, whichhas the two Pioneer drives. On that ma-chine, when I load Speedcache+ and thenrun Net Start (which you have to get goingbefore you launch W4WG), the systemgoes out to the land of lost bits. I'm work-ing with Symantec's technical-support peo-ple on finding out why, and I have nodoubt the problem will be solved, probablywell before you read this.

Until then, Speedcache+ installs easilyand intuitively, seems to work just finewith Windows and the various CD-ROMand optical drives we've got here at ChaosManor, and gives noticeable speed im-provements for every drive we've tried itwith (except, as noted, those that havecaching controllers). If you use Smart-drive, you will love Speedcache+. Rec-ommended, but do be careful if you've gotcomplex systems.

There are some problems Sta-

bilant 22 won't solve, but I'm as-tonished at how many it does take care of.The Pioneer CD-ROM drive resides backin the cable room (a horrible place infest-ed with monsters), where it runs off theCheetah 386/25 we use as the server forthe W4WG network. When I had prob-lems installing Speedcache-l-, I found Ineeded to get a telephone back into thatroom, which meant stringing togetherphone lines using those wonderful littleRadio Shack connector gizmos that let youdo that. You expect that if you have sevendifferent telephone wires connected endto end you'll get a noisy line, and indeedthat happened, so I used Stabilant 22 oneach connection. The result was blessedsilence. I periodically use Stabilant 22 onall my phone connections, including mo-dem phone lines.

In case you don't know about Stabilant22, it's a contact enhancer. It comes in a lit-tle bottle that isn't cheap, but don't worry

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Pournelle

about that. A little goes a long way.

It helps eliminate noise in telephonelines, but for me the most important useof this stuff is inside my computers. I havea lot of fairly old equipment. My main ma-chine is a Cheetah 486/33 with an IntelOverDrive CPU, which makes it in effecta 486/66. You may recall that the Cheetah486 won my 1990 User's Choice Award asthe most useful machine of the year. Theprevious year's winner was the Cheetah386, which is useful as a network server.

Problems never come singly: when myattempts to install Speedcache+ crashedthe Cheetah 386, recovery was compli-cated because the Cheetah 486 began toact flaky at reboot time. Sometimes itwouldn't boot at all—even from the "pan-ic" boot floppy disk, and if you have notmade yourself one for every machine youhave, go do that now—sometimes it wouldtell me the hard drive wasn't properly for-matted, and then it began telling me therewere no hard drives at all.

"Don't panic," I kept telling myself, asI thought about all the deadlines I'm fac-ing. I had everything backed up on DAT(digital audiotape) using the Palindromebackup system, so if worst came to worst.

I could install Palindrome in a Gateway486 and let it transfer over my whole work-ing environment. It would cost a coupleof hours, but it would beno disaster.

I didn't want to do thatbecause I like this bigCheetah. It's not quite asfast as the Gateway4DX2-66V because thelatter has local-bus video,but unless I'm doing verycomplex video images, Ican't tell the difference.That Cheetah has workedfine for years.

I don't like opening up com-puters without need, but it was clear I'dhave to get inside this one, so I did. It wasdusty in there, and cables were bunchedup in a way that might have been blockingairflow. I moved the cables. I also rein-stalled the CD-ROM drive. It's the onethat comes with Creative Labs' Multime-dia Upgrade Kit; a fast, reliable CD-ROMdrive, highly recommended. Alas, when Ifirst installed it, I hadn't any proper railsfor the hard disk cage, and I used a lash-up

with gaffer's tape. This time I found somerails and did it right. Then I vacuumedthings out and got a fan blowing into theopen case while I testedthings.

This time it bootedfrom a floppy disk allright, and once bootedthat way, it could findthe hard drives. But itwouldn't boot from thehard drive.

OK, that's progress, Ithought; so let's see whatelse I can do. The ma-chine was filthy in there, so I took all theboards out. Some of the boards—includingthe caching controller—had discolorationson the contacts. I got out the Stabilant 22and used that to polish up every board con-tact; then for good measure I used it on allthe cable contacts as well. This time whenI fired up, everything worked fine. I con-fess that before I actually put the coverback on, I used the reset switch severaltimes and powered the system on and off afew times. My lack of faith wasn't justi-fied. It worked every time.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it; but next

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Pournelle

time you tiave to do any troubleshooting,use Stabilant 22. If it doesn't fix things,you will at least know that the problemisn't dirty contacts, and that's always worthknowing. Highly recommended.

Of course, Stabilant 22 can't fix someproblems. Once I had all my machinesrunning again, I'd still get messages thatsome of the shared resources on theW4WG network weren't available. Natu-rally that caused another panic, but itshouldn't have, since there were plenty ofclues as to what was wrong. The networkwas intact, but my big Cheetah 486/33wasn't on it. That should have told meeverything, but I wasn't thinking properly.

Whenever I have mysterious failures inmy system, I suspect all kinds of things, in-cluding a virus. The latest version of Dr.Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit had justcome in, and this seemed a good time touse it. When I check for viruses, I like todo it right: I booted up the machine with afloppy disk that has remained write-pro-tected since I first formatted it. Then I ranDr. Solomon's from its write-protectedfloppy disk.

As it was running, I figured out whatwas the real problem. I learned early on

that if you have a problem with a comput-er, chances are good that it's a cable. That'seven more true of networks. If your net-work stops working, cables are a morelikely culprit than a virus. I thought aboutthat, looked behind the Cheetah 486, andlo!, the T connector for the Ethernet hadcome loose. It took about a second to con-nect it back, after which the networkworked fine. Meanwhile, Dr. Solomon'stold me there were no viruses in my sys-tem, which I'd known all along, but it'sgood for one's peace of mind to be sure.

Indeed, peace of mind is the major val-ue of a good virus detector. Really goodprotection like Dr. Solomon's (which in-cludes 24-hour telephone advice if needed)isn't cheap; but a not-so-good virus de-tector that gives false alarms can induceyou to do something stupid, like needless-ly reformatting your hard disk in panic.Don't laugh: I know at least three peoplewho have done it.

Reader Oscar Weingart reports that hehas W4WG working with a 286 system.The 286 is a client only—it can get stuffoff the network and send stuff to it, butothers can't access it. At least one CPU inthe system has to be a 386, and it can act as

a network server. He reports that the net-worked Hearts game that comes withW4WG works fine. I've always thoughtthat game was an insidious plot sneakedinto W4WG by competitors.

He also finds he can use Radio Shackcable and the Radio Shack "push on"connectors (about $1.50 each). I've beentempted to try that because some of myEthernet cables are just too darned long,but so far I haven't done it.

The CD-ROM scene continuesto be complicated, with some cd-

ROMs able to work across the networkwhile others have to be installed on mylocal machine. Some companies are para-noid about letting their CD-ROMs be usedon a network. One such company used tobe World Library, whose Library of theFuture won a User's Choice Award a fewyears ago. With 950 classical-literature ti-tles on one disc, it's still a bargain. Thegood news is that they're updating it, andthe next one will work on networks.

Meanwhile, I get a dozen CD-ROMs every month, some silly, somewonderful. I have Grolier's and Compton

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Pournelle

New Media encyclopedias, both excellent.There are CD-ROMs about animals andbirds. There are the Timetables of History,which are extremely interesting.

The CD-ROM of the Month is the His-tory of the World from the Bureau of Elec-tronic Publishing. This is the kind of thing1 envisioned CD-ROM publishing wouldproduce.

The original team who started the Bu-reau of Electronic Publishing has partedcompany, and Barry Cinnamon, one of itsfounders, has a new idea: books on diskfor Windows users.

Allegro New Media has published awhole raft of TurboBooks. They comecompressed on disk. Installation is pain-less enough, and when you're done, youread the book with the Windows Viewerprogram. It reads fine. The books are or-ganized in chapters, so you can jump toany one of them. You can also search thetext.

Books published by Allegro in this for-mat include Fallen Angels by Larry Nivenand Jerry Pournelle; that one also incor-porates two Falkenberg novels: Go Tellthe Spartans and my latest. Prince of Spar-ta, both coauthored by Steve Stirling. Otherbooks include two Anne McCaffrey col-laborations. The City Who Fought and TheShip Who Fought.

I'd generally rather read novels on pa-per, but if you're carrying a laptop any-way, they sure take up less room in yourluggage this way. There are also tides likeJim Seymour's On the Road: The PortableComputing Bible, a complete on-line man-ual to Windows 3.1, a career guide, andother technical books, where it makessense to have search capabilities.

This is a new experiment in publishing,and one well worth watching.

We have a whole line of Mustek

scanners, ranging from hand-held to abig flatbed. I'll have more on those whenI do a major essay on image processing,but they install easily enough and work asadvertised. We had no trouble setting thescanner to use IRQ 12, and QEMM's Op-timize loads the software high. If you're inthe market for a scanner, take a look atthese.

I'm pleased to report that Micrografx'sPicture Publisher 4.0 supports Photo CD,which is a Kodak standard. You take yourfilm to be developed, and in addition toslides or prints, you get a CD. Of course,one roll of film won't fill that CD, butthat's all right: Kodak can put more pic-tures on it.

That means you need a Photo CD—ca-pable CD-ROM drive that is smart enough

to look past the symbols that mark the endof each batch of pictures you've put onthere. Many new CD-ROM drives supportPhoto CD. Some of those that don't maybe expandable by inserting new ROMs.Others won't be.

In my judgment, it makes sense to get aCD-ROM drive that can handle the PhotoCD standard, particularly if you have anyprofessional use for graphic art. For ex-ample, suppose you use publicity or prod-uct photos. If you have your pictures de-livered on a Photo CD, they'll be digitizedbetter than you'll manage with any scan-ner. You can send digital copies over anetwork, paste them into desktop docu-ments, and so forth.

Thus, even if Photo CD doesn't catchon as a consumer product—and I think itwill, although that may take a bit of time—it's going to be professionally useful.

Meanwhile, for systems installation peo-ple, the Trantor T358 MiniSCSI EPP pock-et SCSI and a portable CD-ROM drivehave become essential equipment. It's sureeasier to install CorelDraw from a CD thanto spend half a day swapping floppy disks!Trantor has turned your parallel port intothe world's new bus standard.

I have three, count them, three

SCSI controller boards in my Cheetah486. This seems like wretched excess.There's the Perceptive Solutions controller,the Palindrome Future Domain SCSI cardto run the Palindrome DAT backup sys-tem, and the sort-of-SCSI built into theCreative Labs Sound Blaster Pro card. Thatlatter runs the CD-ROM drive.

Macs have always been SCSI, and that'sprobably the way the world will go; thePC world went through MEM, RLL, ESDI,IDE/AT, and then to SCSI. IDE is cheap,but you can have only two devices, andthey can be only disk drives, not CD-ROMor tape. SCSI lets you daisy chain up toseven devices, but the controller costsmore. Meanwhile, what we have now is azillion SCSI devices, each one slightly dif-ferent. I sure wish people would get theiracts together and put it all on one card.

The book of the month is by

Charles J. Sykes, A Nation of Victims (St.Martin's Press, 1992). It's a readable butscholarly diatribe about the decline of in-dividual responsibility, and it paints a fair-ly frightening picture. The computer bookof the month is by Ralph Roberts, A-TrainRailroading (Compute Books, 1993). Ifyou have much interest in the Maxis gameA-Train, then you definitely need thisbook.

There are two games of the month. The

222 BYTE JULY 1993

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first, unsurprisingly, is A-Train. This issort of a cross between Railroad Tycoonand SimCity. The train schedule and rout-ing control are a bit odd, but it can be alot of fun anyway. The other game of themonth is Capitalist Pig, which is both funand a serious business simulator. Mr. Hein-lein once said that top management waslike sex—until you'd done it you didn'tknow what it was—and while that's trueenough, this game will give you some se-rious hints. If you know people who as-pire to run a company, point them at thisgame.

Another CD-ROM of the month is De-Lorme's Global Explorer, which adver-tises itself as "The most detailed world at-

A-Train is a cross between Railroad Tycoonand SimCity. The train-schedule and routing-control simulation game is available inversions for DOS, the Mac, and the Amigafor $69.95.

Maxis, 2 Theatre Sq., Suite 230, Orinda, CA94563, (510) 254-9700.Circle 1146 on inquiiy Card.

Capitalist Pig is both fun and a seriousbusiness simulator. The DOS-only versionhas a list price of $59.95.Pluma Software, 1116 East Greenway, Suite200, Mesa, AZ 85203, (602) 969-9441.Circle 1147.

Dr. Solomon's Anti-VirusToolllit can find, identify,and remove a wide variety of viruses.Regular updates are available for both theWindows version 6.04 ($195.95) and theDOS version ($149.95).Ontrack Computer Systems, 6321 Buiv Dr.,Suite 15-19, Eden Prairie, MN S5346, (6121937-1107. In Europe, contact S&SInternational, Ltd., Berkley Court, Mill St,Beridiamsted, Hertfordsliire HP4 2HB, U.K.,+44 442 877877.Circle 1148.

Global Explorer is a detailed world atlas onCD-ROIVl. It includes geographical maps,cultural details, and street maps for mostmajor cities in the world. If you like maps,you'll love this; for DOS, $169.DeLorme Mapping, Lower Main St., P.O. Box298, Fi«epoit, ME 04032, (207) 865-1234.Circle 1149.

The History of Die World CD-ROIVI is acompilation of books covering history fromthe dawn of civilization to the present. Listprice is $795, and annual updates are$125.

Bureau of Electronic Publishing, 141 New Rd.,Parsippany, NJ 07054, (800) 828-4766 or(201) 808-2700.Circle 1150.

las ever" and pretty well lives up to that.I'm to be guest of honor at a convention inStockholm this August, and I sure appre-ciated being able to look at a street map.Ever wonder about the street layout ofBeijing? It's in there. Also geographicaland cultural features, and a partridge in apear tree. If you like maps, you'll love thisthing.

Several readers have suggested

that NetWare Lite is preferable to W4WG,particularly if you already have NetWarerunning. DR DOS 7 is supposed to includeNetWare Lite. There have been major im-provements to Artisoft's LANtastic. I'maccumulating both hardware and software

For More Information

Mustek produces a variety of hand-held anddesktop scanners. Models range from the black-and-white, hand-held ImageArtist to the Color Artist IIflatbed scanner. List prices are from $149 to$1295.

Mustek, Inc., 15225 Alton Pkwy., Irvine, CA 92718,(800) 366-4620 or (714) 833-7740.Circle 1151.

Traveling Software's latest file transfer program,LapLink V ($99.95), now features peer-to-peer filetransfer across NetWare networks and automatedfile transfers. It operates in the background underWindows.

Traveling Software, 18702 North Creek Pkwy., Bothell,WA 98011, (206) 483-8088.Cirele 1152.

Library of tlie Future, 2nd Edition contains the completetext of over 2000 classical literary works fromover 950 titles. The DOS-based CD-ROM, listingfor $299, is an entire home library on one disc.Worid Libiaiy, Inc., 12914 Master St., Garden Grove,CA 92640, (800) 443-0238 or (714) 748-7197.Circle 1153.

The latest operating system for PCs, MS-DOS 6,incorporates on-the-fly data compression, animproved memory manager, and antivirussoftware. The suggested list price is $129.Microsoft Corp., 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA98052, (800) 426-9400 or (206) 882-8080.Circle 1154.

Norton Speedcaclie+ is a caching program that workson CD-ROM drives and removable-medium drives,as well as on your hard drive. The list price is$99. Norton Utilities 7.0 ($179) is the latestincarnation of this famous package. Version 7.0works with MS-DOS 6 and can recover files from acompressed drive.

Symantec Corp., 10201 Torre Ave., Cupertino, CA95014, (408) 253-9600.Circle 1155.

Micrografx's Picture l^blislier 4.0 ($595) image-editing package for Windows features ObjectLayers technology that gives you complete controlover the placement, transparency, size, rotation,and order of bit-map objects.Micrografx, 1303 Arapaho, Rk:hardson, TX 75081,1800) 733-3729 or (214) 234-1769.Circle 1156.

for major network investigations, and I'llbe looking at as many of those as I can getto. Meanwhile, despite major cleanups,there's a traffic jam of new software atChaos Manor; stay tuned. ■

Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psychologyand is a science fiction writer who also earns acomfortable living writing about computerspresent and future. Jerry welcomes readers'comments and opinions. Send a self-addressed,stamped envelope to Jerry Pournelle, do BYTE,One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH03458. Please put your address on the letter aswell as on the envelope. Due to the high volumeof letters, Jerry cannot guarantee a personalreply. You can also contact him on BIX as"jerryp."

The Pro-Val intelligent SCSI controller ($199) workswith any SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 storage device,including optical, CD-ROM, and WORM drives.Procomp USA, Inc., 6777 Engle Rd., Cleveland, OH44130, (216) 234-6387.Circle 1157.

When applied to electromechanical contacts,Stabilant22 acts as a contact enhancer and ^provides the connection reliability of a soldered 'Mjoint. It is available in either diluted or iSjconcentrated form; $36 to $551 for 15- to 100-milliliter bottles.

D. W. Electrochemicals, Ltd., 97 Newkirk Rd. N, Unit3, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada L4C 3G4, (416)889-1522.Circle 1158.

With data transfer rates as high as 1 MBps, the ,TrantorlBSS MiniSCSI EPP is a high-performance *parallel-port-to-SCSI adapter ($269). Parallelprinter signals pass through the SCSI adapter, soyou can use both your SCSI devices and printer.Trantor Systems, Ltd., 5415 Randall Place, Fremont,CA 94538, (510) 770-1400.

Circle 1159. f

TurboBooks are books on floppy disks that can beread via Windows. Titles include several works offiction and nonflction, such as Prince of Sparta($29.95) by Pournelle and Stiding and Winn LRoscti Hardware Bible ($35.95).Allegro New Media, 387 Passaic Ave., Fairfield, NJ07004, (201) 808-1992.Circle 1160.

The WinStore IDE caching controller ($499) Jincorporates the Stacker file-compression chip ^right on-board. The controller has its own *processor and memory. You get both filecompression and disk caching without using upsystem memory.

Perceptive Solutions, Inc., 2700 Flora St, Dallas, TX75201, (214) 954-1774.Circle 1161.

224 It V I I JULY 1993

You could hire National Software TestingLaboratories to help you make the right LAN

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Unlike single-user systems and applications,a poor network choice hurts everyone onthe network.

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Circle 67 on Inquiry Card.

What's New

Hardware

A SCANNER FORTHE MAC ►

The AVR 8800/CLX (from $1700)24-bit flatbed scan-ner scans in colorand gray scales. TheTWAIN-compati-ble device fromAVR Technolog>(San Jose, CA) canreach a vertical res-olution of 800 dpiand an optical res-olution of up to 1600 dpi.Phone: (800) 544-6243 or(408)434-1115.

Circle 3.303 on Inquiry Card.

DEC'S QUIET DOT-MATRIXPRINTER

Able to automatically switch be-tween its resident Epson LQ 570and IBM Proprinter X24e emu-lations, the DECwriter 95 ($319)

is a 24-wire narrow-carriage PCprinter. The 360-dpi printer fromDEC (Maynard, MA) prints atspeeds of up to 300 cps at a noiselevel of only 43 dBa. It includestwo resident scalable fonts, aWindows 3.1 printer driver, anda two-year warranty. The printerhandles fanfold or cut-sheet pa-per, labels, envelopes, and up tofour-part forms. An optionaluser-installed color kit ($55) lets

Photographic-Quality Color Printing

Tektronix says itsnewest dye-sublima-tion printer processescolor images in justover 3 minutes. Thenew Phaser IISDX($9995) also sup-ports Adobe Post-Script Level 2. Thenetworkable printeruses proprietary Tek-Color color-matchingalgorithms suitablefor color proofing ingraphic arts applica-tions and scientificand engineering print-ing. A Phaser Printplug-in device forAdobe Photoshop in-creases the speed ofprinting Photoshopfiles by bypassing theMac printer driver,Tektronix says. Adriver for Windows 3.1 compresses scanned images such asphotographs that are in Windows documents.Contact: Tektronix. Inc., Wilsonville, OR, (800) 835-6100 or(503) 682-7377.

Circle 3.299 on Inquiry Card.

you print in seven colors on eachmedium.

Phone: (800) 344-4825 or(508) 493-7161.

Circle X307 on Inquiry Card.

PCMCIA TO SCSI

SlimSCSI ($349) from TrantorSystems (Fremont, CA) is a 16-bit PCMCIA-to-SCSI host adapt-er that features Trantor's propri-etary ASIC controller and con-figurable I/O-mapped addresssettings. The adapter's two-piecedesign lets you remove the ex-ternal connector and cable, leav-ing the card in place when car-rying your portable computer.Phone: (510) 770-1400.

Circle 1304 on Inquiry Card.

MICRO CHANNEL EXPANSION

Arco-Electronics' (Hollywood,FL) AC-1079MC Slim DriveAdapter ($395) expands storageon Micro Channel-based com-puters. The adapter, which letsyou mount one or two 2'/2-inchhard drives on it, supports drivesfrom Seagate, Maxtor, and Con-nor. The Arco BIOS on the cardallows disk mirroring via hard-ware. The redundant write modeprotects data by writing it to theprimary and secondary drives; ifa drive fails, Arco provides a re-covery routine that allows datato be remirrored.Phone: (305) 925-2688.

Circle 1306 on Inquiry Card.

PORTABLE DATA FAX MODEMS

PCMCIA Type 2-compatible,the RediCard V.32bis data faxmodems ($595) from Data Race(San Antonio, TX) include MNPlevel 4 and V.42 error protectionas well as MNP level 5 andV.42bis data compression. Theysupport Group 3 fax protocolsand have EIA-578/Class 1 faxcommands. The RediCard mo-dems ship with Windows-basedfax software.Phone: (210) 558-1900.

Circle 1305 on Inquiry Card.

DAT DRIVE RUNS FAST T

Cristie Electronics (Gloucester-shire, U.K.) claims that itsTS5450 DAT drive ($3108;£1999) reaches operationalspeeds of more than 14 KB perminute over standard PC parallelprinter ports. Without data com-pression, the drive has a capaci-ty of 2 GB; with data compres-

sion, the drive can achievecapacities of up to 8 GB. TheTS5450 is available with a SCSIconnection in lieu of the paral-lel port and comes with softwarefor DOS, Windows, OS/2, Unix,Xenix, and NetWare.Phone: +44 453 823611.

Circle 1309 on Inquiry Card.

PALMTOP PERIPHERALS

The S2P-95LX converter ($125)lets you connect the HP 95LXpalmtop PC to any printer with aparallel port. From Imaging Sup-plies Express (Torrance, CA),the 5-ounce converter connectsdirectly to the palmtop's four-pin serial connector and the print-er's 36-pin connector.Phone: (800) 462-4309 or(310) 370-6882.

Circle 3.323 on Inquiry Card.

The Flashdrive (from $599) Vh-pound battery-powered externalhard drive provides additionalstorage for your palmtop. FromBSE (Flagstaff, AZ), the 17-inch-tall drive interfaces to anyparallel printer port, letting youaccess your stored data from avariety of PCs. The internal bat-teries are rechargeable.Phone: (602) 527-8843.

Circle 1324 on Inquiry Card.

226 BYTE JULY 1993

Hardware

Wireless LAN Adapter

Designed for peer-to-peer orclient/server communications,tlie RadioPort/Parallei WirelessLAN Adapter ($599) lets youquicldy set up, add, remove, orrelocate workstations withoutdisrupting the rest of the net-work. Able to communicate atdistances as far as 800 feet,the adapter plugs into yourcomputer's parallel port; it sup-ports LANtastic and NetWare.Contact: Alps Electric (USA),Inc., San Jose, CA, (800) 825-2577 or (408)432-6000.

Circle 1300 on inquiry Card-

SCSI STORAGE

An intelligent multitasking SCSIbus-to-ISA bus host adapter,SCSI Cache ($315; £199) fromWestern Systems (Ruislip, Mid-dlesex, U.K.) supports as manyas four adapters that in turn eachsupport up to seven SCSI de-vices. With 2 MB of RAM, SCSICache also provides hardwaredisk mirroring for all operatingsystems.

Phone: +44 81 845 8383.

Circle 1315 on Inquiry Card.

VOLTAGE REGULATION

From Upsonic (Tustin, CA), theVR Series of UPS systems (from$279) includes voltage regula-tion to protect LANs, host com-puters, and file servers frombrownouts. In addition, theseUPSes provide surge protectionand up to 10 minutes of batterybackup power.Phone: (800) 877-6642 or(714) 258-0808.

Circle 1320 on Inquiry Card.

REMOVABLE CARTRIDGE DRIVES

The Puma 105 ($1119) externalS'/i-inch cartridge drive provides105 MB of removable storage forDOS- or Windows-based PCs.The SyDOS (Boca Raton, FL)drive has an average seek time of14.5 ms and a 64-KB buffer. Aparallel-port adapter that comeswith the drive includes a printerpass-through that lets you simul-taneously use the drive and yourprinter. An optional battery packprovides up to 5 hours of contin-uous use.

Phone: (407) 998-5400.

Cirele 1.326 on Inquiry Canl.

From Mirror Technologies (Rose-ville, MN), the Mirror 105MBSyquest Removable Drive ($699)for the Mac offers an averageseek time of 14.5 ms and a sus-tained data transfer rate of 1.7MBps. The drive includes an em-bedded SCSI-2 controller.Phone:(612)633-4450.

Circle 1327 on Inquiry Card.

NOTEBOOK VIDEOENHANCEMENT

Designed for Toshiba notebooks.Phoenix Graphics' (San Diego,CA) VideoPak-1024 ($649) high-resolution accelerated videoadapter enhances video capabili-ties in such areas as CAD, spread-sheets, and word processing. Res-olution-switcher software for

Windows automatically config-ures Windows drivers for LCDand high-resolution modes. APS/2-compatible keyboard portlets you connect a full-size key-board.

Phone: (619) 283-9375.

Circle 1308 on Inquiry Card.

FLOPTICAL STORAGE

Adambyte's (Mountain View,CA) Powerbox mobile storagesystem is now available in twofloptical versions. As is the orig-inal Powerbox, the 200-f ($1449)and 500-f ($2399) are completesystems for use with the Power-Book. Features include a 200- or500-MB on-line hard drive andan additional PowerBook battery.Phone: (415) 988-1415.

Circle 1312 on Inquiry Card.

PS/2 UPGRADE

Designed to interface with indus-try-standard IDE hard drives, theMC70 Upgrade Kit ($394; £249)lets you add storage to the IBMPS/2. It plugs into the IBM harddrive adapter slot, replacing theadapter. From CDL (Woking,Surrey, U.K.), the MC70 supportsup to two hard drives, which canbe installed in the B drive bay.Phone: +44 483 756813.Circle 1.31.4 on Inquiry Card.

POWERBOOK CABLE ADAPTER

A palm-size 25- to 30-pin SCSIadapter, SCSI Boy ($29) fromAPS Technologies (Kansas City,MO) turns a standard 25- to 50-pin SCSI cable into a Power-Book-compatible cable. Thelightweight cable's shell is madeof anodized aircraft aluminum.Phone: (800) 235-2753 or(816) 373-5800.

Circle 131.8 on Inquiry Card.

CROSS-PLATFORM COLORPRINTING

The CrayonFX Color Printer($1495) is a thermal-wax-trans-fer printer that prints from MacQuickDraw and Windows appU-cations. From LaserMaster (EdenPrairie, MN), the 203-dpi printerincludes Apple's ColorSynctechnology for color matchingand 50 TrueType fonts that au-tomatically scale on-screen andin the printer. You can use theLocalTalk and parallel-port in-terfaces simultaneously and con-nect to a network via AppleTalkand Windows for Workgroups.Phone: (800) 477-7714 or(612) 944-9330.

Circle 1310 on Inquiry Card.

SEEING IS COMMUNICATING

From Datapoint (San Antonio,TX) comes the Minx Link Point-to-Point System ($16,500), adesktop video workstation withintegrated camera, monitor,speaker, and microphone thatprovides two people with directvideo communication. Expan-sion capabilities let you build avideo network for multiple users.The system includes a codec andMinx control software.Phone: (800) 334-9968 or(210) 593-7910.

Circle 1313 on Inquiry Card.

T ERGONOMICSON A KEYBOARD

An ergonomic PC keyboard, theMiniErgo ($179) from Mar-quardt Switches (Cazenovia,NY) is designed for people whouse their computers for exten-sive word processing or data-en-try work. Developed in Germanyby Marquardt's parent company,the MiniErgo features a slopingV-shaped configuration with alarge resting area for hand andpalm. Sculptured key caps are inthe standard QWERTY pattern.Numerical keys are embeddedand are also available as an op-tional number pad.Phone: (800) 282-3746 or(315) 655-8050

Circle 1311 on InquiryCard.

JULY 1993 BYXE 22T

What's New

Hardware

KEYBOARD KIT FOR VISUALLYIMPAIRED

Adhesive labels ($21.95) that ad-here directly to the top of yourkeyboard's keys feature the key-top legends of a 101-style key-board in a combination of raisedbraille characters and high-con-trast large print. The size, spac-ing, and height of the braille dotscomply with ADA specifications.From Hooleon (Cottonwood,AZ).

Phone: (800) 937-1337 or (602)634-4503.

Circle 1317 on Inquiry Card.

PORTABLE ETHERNET ADAPTER

Featuring lOBase-2 and lOBase-T interfaces, the Dual InterfacePocket Ethernet Adapter ($295)from Kingston Technology(Fountain Valley,CA) connects toany portable ordesktop PC viathe parallel port.The adapter sup-ports the enhancedparallel port and is the latest inKingston's EtheRx line of Ether-net LAN products.Phone: (714)435-2600.

Circle 1333 on Inquiry Card.

SINGLE-BOARD VOICECOMPUTER

The MA590 ($240; $A333) sin-gle-height Eurocard intelligentvoice-output card has on-boardmemory sockets for several min-utes of tape recorder-quality

recording and playback at 10-kHzaudio bandwidth. The Microcon-trol (Pymble, Australia) card in-cludes multitasking voice-pro-cessing monitor firmware.Phone: +61 2 449 1546.

Circle 1316 on Inquiry Card.

PANASONIC'S COLORFULNOTEBOOK

An active-matrix TFT color dis-play and a 120-MB hard drive aremajor features of the CF-580C($4499) 486 notebook from Pana-sonic (Secaucus, NJ). The 25-MHz computer includes a built-innumeric coprocessor, 8 KB of in-ternal cache memory, 3.3-V nick-el-metal-hydride batteries, Su-perStor disk-compression soft-ware, and a minitrackball.Phone: (800) 742-8086 or (817)685-1210.

Circle 1321 on Inquiry Card.

SCANNER DIGITIZES COLOR T

The Pro Imager 7650C colorflatbed scanner ($11,495) fromPixelCraft (Oakland, CA) digi-tizes color and gray-scale reflec-tive images in sizes of up to IIby 17 inches. The scanner hasvariable resolutions of up to 1200dpi and ships with QuickScan andColorAccess software. The scan-ner/software combination is de-signed to offer a desktop color-separation solution that rivalsmore expensive systems.Phone: (800) 933-0330 or (510)562-2480

Circle 1319 on Inquiry Card.

Super Server

Tatung's Super COMPserver 10 Series (from $15,990) desk-top servers are compatible with Sun IVIicrosystems' Sparc-station 10. The entry-level model 10/30 features 32 MB ofRAM, a 36-MHz SuperSparc chip, a 1-GB hard drive, built-inISDN capabilities, graphics accelerator cards, and CD-quali-ty 16-bit audio. Configurable with up to 10 storage devices,the unit includes Open Windows 3 and the Solaris 1.1 or 2.1operating environment.

Contact: Tatung Science & Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA,(408) 435-0140.

Circle 1301 on Inquiry Card.

REMOVABLE STORAGE

The IncreMeg 6000 ($19,500)hard disk storage subsystem fromMountainGate Data Systems (Or-ange, CA) provides up to 7.2 GBof formatted on-line capacity viaup to six 3'/2-inch removabledrives. Designed for secure stor-age, exchange, and transport ofdata for applications such asvideo/audio editing, missionplanning, simulation, and dataacquisition, the IncreMeg 6000supports DOS, OS/2, Unix, Mac,and Sun platforms.Phone: (800) 556-0222 or(714) 998-6900.

Circle 1322 on Inquiry Card.

TURN YOUR PC INTO ANOSCILLOSCOPE

A 12-bit, PC-based oscilloscopecard from Gage Applied Sci-ences (Montreal, Quebec, Cana-da), the CompuScope 1012 (US$4995) provides a 10-mega-sam-ple-per-second sampling rateon two simultaneous channels.

Other features include a 65-dBdynamic range, 384 KB of mem-ory depth per channel, program-mable input gain, internal or ex-ternal trigger capability, andprogrammable input coupling.GageScope software ships withthe card, so you don't have towrite any programming code.Phone: (514)337-6893.

Circle 1328 on Inquiry Card.

DOUBLE THE VIEWING

The Nth Double Edge ($1295)graphics board from Nth Graphics(Austin, TX) lets you run two col-or-graphics screens at once ontwo side-by-side monitors. Youcan see a large overview of a sin-gle application or view two full-screen applications and switch be-tween them. The board includes 2MB of VRAM and lets you pan,scroll, drag, and redraw screens.Phone: (800) 624-7552 or (512)832-1944.

Circle 1329 on inquiry Card.

228

It V I I- JULY 1993

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Decider, decider, decider.

Down-sizing, upgrading, multi-platform envi-ronments. Today's computer hardware issues aremore numerous, more difficult, more critical thanever. So how do companies make decisions?

According to a new IntelliQuest study, theyturn to the only person qualified to decide. Some-one like Bob Barrett. A person with 18 years incomputers. Who oversees a technical staff of 75.And whose buying decisions and approvals affectnearly 3,000 users worldwide.

In other words, they turn to the BYTE reader.A full 92% of whom control the products andbrands their companies buy.

If you want to reach an audience as influentialas this, then yours is an easy decision—advertisein BYTE.

BYTE reader Robert N. Barrett, Vice President ManagementInformation Systems, M/A-COM, Inc.

It doesn't g

) 1992 BYTE, a McGraw-Hill publication. For a presentation of the Ma

Quest study,

What's New

Hardware

MAKE VIDEOTAPESON YOUR MAC ►

Designed for making high-quality presentations andvideotapes on your Mac, theL-TV Pro LC ($449) and L-TV Pro NuBus ($499) sup-port NTSC and PAL videostandards. The interface cardssupport up to 16-bit video,which is optimized for Quick-time movies and photographic-quality pictures. From LapisTechnologies (Alameda, CA),the cards' four modes of opera-tion are video recording, presen-tation, dual display, and TV only.Composite video and S-Videoconnections are standard.Phone: (800) 435-2747 or(510) 748-1600

Circle 1335 on Inquiry Card.

VIEW COMPUTER IMAGES ON TV

The pocket-size Presenter Plus2 ($429) from Consumer Tech-nology Northwest (Beaverton,OR) lets you present images gen-erated in DOS or Windows ap-plications on your TV screen.The device connects a comput-er's VGA port to a TV's videoinput port. Output is in NTSC,S-Video, and VGA formats.Phone: (800) 356-3983 or(503) 643-1662.

Circle 1337 on Inquiry Card.

PRINT MULTIPART FORMS

From the Facit division ofAheam and Soper (Manchester,NH), the D4000 ($2299) 80-col-umn multipart forms and labelprinter handles up to six-partforms and pressure-sensitive la-bels. A straight paper path, front-mounted heavy-duty tractors, andthe capability to print on paperfrom 3'A to 9'A inches wide arefeatures of the 300-dpi printer.Facit's FormStore software letsyou store up to six forms settingsin the printer's memory. Serialand parallel interfaces and a key-pad panel are built in.Phone: (603) 647-2700.

Circle 1336 on Inquiry Card.

MULTIPLE-RESOLUTIONSCANNER

A floor-standing scanner with asmall footprint, the VisionscanVS-1250 ($9428; £5990) scansat speeds of up to 36 A4 portraitpages per minute at 200 dpi. Youcan also select resolutions of 240,300, and 400 dpi. From AdvancedRecognition (Windsor, Berkshire,U.K.), the scanner has a built-in100-sheet page feeder and a man-ual paper-thickness adjustment.Phone: +44 753 855442.

Circle 1332 on Inquiry Card.

STACKABLEHUB

Standard Microsystems Corp.(SMC, Hauppauge, NY) lets youstack up to eight of its Elite

3812TP ($995) IGBase-T hubs toform a 112-port logical repeater.When you add field-upgradableNetwork Management Modules($1695 each), the hub allows in-band and out-of-band manage-ment and is compatible with anySNMP manager.Phone: (800) 762-4968 or (516)435-6255.

Circle 1334 on Inquiry Card.

NOTEBOOK HAS LONGBAHERYLIFE

With power management basedon PicoPower Technology'sEvergreen chip set, the Compu-Add 425TX notebook ($1895)runs on battery power for up to5 hours under normal operationand 3 hours under heavy opera-tion, the vendor says. The Com-puAdd (Austin, TX) machinefeatures 4 MB of RAM (ex-pandable to 8 MB), a PCMCIAslot, a 120-MB hard drive, an in-ternal fax modem slot, and abuilt-in trackball. Simulscancapability allows simultaneousdisplay on the monochrome

LCD and on an optional exter-nal color Super VGA monitor.Phone: (800) 627-1967 or(512) 250-1489.

Circle 1330 on Inquiry Card.

VERSATILE IDE HARD DRIVE

The palmDrive 210i ($999) IromProTege (Laguna Hills, CA), anexternal IDE drive, interfaceswith your PC through the com-pany's Stealth controller and de-vice management software. Thedrive has access times of 12 ms,data transfer rates of 2.25 MBps,and drive buffer-to-host transferspeeds of 10 MBps. It coexistswith IDE, SCSI, ESDI, RLE,and MFM controllers withoutchanges to the PC BIOS.Phone: (800) 995-4453 or(714) 586-8004.

Circle 1331 on Inquiry Card.

LIGHTWEIGHT NOTEBOOK

Epson America's (Torrance, CA)ActionNote 4SLC/25 notebook(from $1399) weighs 5'A poundsand has built-in power manage-ment features. The basic config-uration includes 4 MB of RAM,an 80-MB hard drive, a backlitmonochrome LCD, a dual dis-play with an external monitor,and system and video BIOSRAM.

Phone: (800) 289-3776 or(305) 265-0092.

Circle 1338 on Inquiry Card.

MAKE THE CD-ROMCONNECTION

Future Domain's (Irvine, CA)SCSI CD-ROM kit ($69) letsyou easily connect a CD-ROMdrive to your PC. The kit in-cludes a SCSI controller card,PowerSCSI universal applica-tion interface software, and NLMsoftware for NetWare 3.11,3.12,and 4.0 that lets file servers use aCD-ROM as a read-only volume.With PowerSCSI you can accessseveral different SCSI periph-erals, each connected through adifferent interface, simultane-ously under Windows.Phone: (714) 253-0400.

Circle 1325 on Inquiry Card.

Local-Bus Multimedia

The Mega M46D2LM ($3895) local-bus muttimedia systemhas 8 MB of RAM, 256 KB of cache RAM, 2 MB of VRAM, and1 MB of DRAM. The MPC-compliant system includes a ProAudio Spectrum 16 sound card, speakers, a microphone, andheadphones. The medium-tower system can read multises-sion Photo CDs and includes Windows NT driver support.Contact: Megamedia Computer Corp., San Jose, CA, (800)634-2334 or (408) 428-9920.

Circle 1302 on Inquiry Card.

230 BYTE JULY 1993

O Your Direct

BYTE introducesYour Direct Link - Anenlianced service for BYTE readers tfiatgives you free information on products -faster and easier!

In the NEW Direct Linksection, here's whatyou'll find:

Alphabetical Indexto AdvertisersIncluding PhoneNumbers

Now dial companiesdirectly.

Product CategoryIndex toAdvertisers

Order information onindividual products orcomplete productcategories.

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Free information fromcompanies covered inarticles, columns, ornews stories.

New EnhancedDirect Link Card

Receive free informationquickly by filling out andmailing or faxing Your DirectLink Card today!

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Buy ItThtough BYTE!

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I

I

(A

m

What's New

Software

STATISTICAL SOFTWARE ▲

QI Analyst ($395 until Septem-ber 30; $695 thereafter) SPC(statistical process control) soft-ware for quality improvementruns under Windows 3.1. FromSPSS (Chicago, IL), QI Analystis designed to help businessesimprove processes, cut waste,and reduce nonconformance toquality improvement require-ments. The package provides 23SPC charts, capability statistics,Shewhart control tests, and re-ports.

Phone: (800) 543-2185 or(312)329-2400.

Circle X283 on Inquiry Card.

NO MORE MEMORY LEAKS

Bounds-Checker for Windows($199) from Nu-Mega Tech-nologies (Nashua, NH) can trapcommon bugs such as memoryand heap-related corruption prob-lems; library routine overruns ofstrings, arrays, and structures; re-sources that were not freed; anderrant parameters that werepassed to API routines.Phone: (603) 889-2386.Circle 11.35 on Inquiry Card.

DATABASE MANAGEMENTMADE EASY

SQL Manager for SQL Base(US$795) from Nakiska Systems(Calgary, Alberta, Canada) com-bines database management,monitoring, and reporting for

Windows users. Features includean intuitive interface, point-and-click commands, databasemaintenance, database trendinformation, server activity mon-itoring, and system catalog re-porting.

Phone: (403) 945-7087.

Circle 1137 on Inquiry Card.

MODELING AND SIMULATIONSOLUTION

A data analysis and numericssoftware package from Micro-Math Scientific Software (SaltLake City, UT), Scientist ($495)transparently processes standardand differential equations. Thegraphics editor supports annota-tion, editing, and grouping.Phone: (800) 942-6284 or(801)943-0290.

Circle 1136 on Inquiry Card.

TALK, DON'T TYPE

A speech-recognition command-and-control tool that works inWindows, IBM VoiceType 2($2195) lets you vocally entertext and control applications intoprograms such as WordPerfect,1-2-3, and dBase. With a basevocabulary of 7000 words, theprogram accepts replacementwords that you define or drawfrom a backup list. The Dragon

Systems' (Newton, MA) pro-gram adapts to individual voicepatterns.

Phone: (617) 965-5200.

Circle 1273 on Inquiry Card.

VIRTUAL REALITY DESIGN TOOL

Continuous, DSP-based (digitalsignal processor) operation inReal-Time Convolver ($1895)lets you design a virtual realitysystem in real time. The programsupports impulse responses upto 25,000 points and samplingrates up to 100 kHz for mono orbinaural real-time audible simu-lation. This Signalogic (Dallas,TX) software is compatible withthe company's Hypersignal-Acoustic audio signal analysisenvironment.Phone: (214) 343-0069.

Circle 1138 on Inquiry Card.

COLOR YOUR BUSINESSGRAPHICS

The Palette Chooser and the Ex-plorer components of ColorUp($99.95), an intuitive color soft-ware utility from Pantone (Carl-stadt, NJ), provide professional-ly designed color palettes and anencyclopedia of color informa-tion and experiments. Colors areoptimized for specific output me-dia, and palettes are easily ex-ported.

Phone: (201)935-5500.

Circle 1140 on Inquiry Card.

CREATE INTERACTIVEPRESENTATIONS

AniMage ($395) from DigitalChoreoGraphics (Costa Mesa,CA) lets you create interactiveannotated animated graphicalpresentations. You can mergetext, graphics, and animation intoa single presentation and inter-act with it via the pan, zoom, re-play, skip, and scroll options.You can then distribute the pre-sentation and a presentation play-er on a floppy disk.Phone: (714) 548-1969.

Circle 1142 on Inquiry Card.

Develop and Maintain Unix Software

Sextant for C ($2500), an integrated hypertext environmentfor developing and maintaining Unix-based C applications,provides navigation and visualization capabilities that letprogrammers manage large and complex projects. Thesoftware assists in code reuse and reengineering and allowsmultiple views to be dynamically linked. You can configurethe language-sensitive editor and fully integrate it into theenvironment. Features include color coding, filtering, andsynchronization among specifications, code, anddocuments.

Contact: Sextant, Inc., Ann Arbor, Ml, (313) 973-8888.

232 BYXE JU1.Y 1993

Smart Communicating

Communications software for Windows 3.0 and 3.1,Smartcom for Windows 1.0 ($49 througli July; $149tliereafter) combines tlie GUI of a Windows application witlitlie features and performance of a DOS program, accordingto Hayes. Smart Buttons let you access common commandsand frequently used scripts with the click of a button, andthe SCOPE scripting language allows you to automate tasksand to create interface-driven scripts for transparentoperations. Hie Communications Editor includes ANSI.SYSfunctionality so that you can add color and graphics to textmessages.

Contact: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., Norcross, GA,(404)441-1617.

Circle 13.32 on Inquiry Card.

SAFE FILE TRANSFER

FileRunner ($99.95) for the Maclets you network among yourdesktop computers and Power-Books. The MBS Technologies(McMurray, PA) program syn-chronizes any number of Macsvia its Tru-Sync feature, whichautomatically identifies andtransfers updated and new filesand folders. Overwrite Safeguardprotects your data and wams youif the same file is changed onmore than one computer. File-Runner creates a log of all trans-fers and compensates for changesin time zones.Phone: (800) 860-8700 or(412) 941-9076.

Circle 1278 on Inquiry Card.

WINDOWS SOFTWARE FORFINANCIAL ANAUrSTST

Leading Market Technologies(Cambridge, MA) has movedExpo to Windows 3.1 ($2995).Expo graphically monitors andanalyzes market data, providingpredefined analytics and lettingyou create custom analytics. Aworksheet can contain up to 100graphics windows; you can relateeach window to others, spread-sheet-style, by for-mulas you define.Graphics, analyses,and decision rulesfrom financial mar-kets are automati-cally updated asyou enter new data.Phone: (617)494-4747.

Circle ±2S2 onInquiry Card.

SPEED UP WINDOWS WORK

When you power up your PC,Fantastic Recall ($49.95 untilSeptember 1; $79.95 thereafter)lets you start where you left offin Windows. With no specialhardware required, this packagefrom Binar Graphics (San Ra-fael, CA) automatically restoresthe application you were workingin via a single keystroke.Phone: (800) 228-0666 or(415) 491-1565.

Circle 1281 on Inquiry Card.

WINDOWS PAINTING

Color Wheel ($395), an image-processing program from Pacif-ic Gold Coast (Glen Cove, NY),lets you quickly create designsusing object-oriented proceduresthat let you change the shape,size, color scheme, and attribut-es of new or prefabricated ob-jects. Major components of thesoftware are object and overlaymanipulation, color and palettemanagement, special effects andediting, and OLE.Phone: (516) 759-3011.

Circle 1271 on Inquiry Card.

NEURAL WINDOWS

DataSculptor ($495) shortens thetime needed to solve data-analy-sis and manipulation problems.The NeuralWare (Pittsburgh,PA) data-translation, analysis,and transformation tools work inan object-oriented environment.You select tools and functionsas you would building blocks;you connect the blocks to createreusable solutions to data-pro-cessing problems.Phone: (412) 787-8222.

Circle 1272 on Inquiry Card-

Software Update

WinMaster 1.5 ($129.95), PC-Kwik (Beaverton, OR), addsnew module KwikFind andenhancements to Toolbox,Kwiklnfo, PowerScope, andKwikVault.

Phone: (800) 759-5945 or

(503)644-5644.

Circle 1285 on Inquiry Card.

LANDesk Manager 1.5 ($995 perserver), Intel (Santa Clara,CA), adds alert log, scripting,event manager, and QuickWindows screen control; en-hances control panel withNetwork Device Table.Phone: (800) 538-3373,(503) 629-7354, or +44 793431 155.

Circle 1286 on inquiry Card.

HiJaait Pro 2.0 ($169), InsetSystems (Brookfield, CT),adds improved user interface,new graphics formats, andsupport of the Aldus Graph-ics Import Filter specifica-tion, the WordPerfect forWindows API, and TWAIN.Phone: (203) 740-2400.Circle 1287 on Inquiry Card.

Linkage 3.1 (developer's kit,$20,000), Cimlinc (Itasca,IL), adds enhancements incomputer graphics, data inte-gration, floating licenses, andtext handling.Phone: (708) 250-0090.Circle 1289 on Inquiry Card.

Golden Retriever 2.0b ($99),Above Software (Irvine, CA),adds File Save and File Opencommands, version-controlfield in File Record, Uninstalloption, and enhancements toDesk, File Manager, andASCII file viewer.Phone: (800) 344-0116 or(714) 851-2283.Circle 1293 on Inquiiy Card.

JULY 1993 IS V I I 233

What's New

Software

TECHNICAL GRAPHING INWINDOWS ►

EasyPlot for Windows($399) technical graphingsoftware lets you quick-ly analyze, manipulate,and plot large amounts ofdata. The Turbologic fea-ture virtually eliminatesdelays normally associat-ed with Windows screenrewrites by anticipatingscreen updates and storing keyaccelerator information, accord-ing to Spiral Software (Brook-Une, MA). Other features includethe Text Toolbar, Clipboard Plot-ting, and the Data Editor.Phone: (617) 739-1511.

Circle 1.279 on Inquiry Card.

GUI DESIGN TOOL

XVT-Design++ 1.0 for PCs($1395) and workstations($3095) provides a GUI tool forcreating C++ applications. FromXVT Software (Boulder, CO),this interactive design tool for

EX Supply Pressue (pa^

user interfaces incorporates aC++ code fragment editor and aC++ application framework thatincludes GUI objects.Phone: (303) 443-4223.

Circle 3.144 on Inquiry Card.

BASIC PROGRAMMINGON THE MAC

A visual interactive program-ming environment for BASIC onthe Mac, VIP-BASIC ($295)provides precoded Procedures,integrated Resource Editors, andthe Dispatcher for building ap-plications in BASIC. FromMainstay (Agoura Hills, CA),

Mac and Windows Conferencing

Eile EdR hjeiBiBc £iinferei>ce Jew fidmln Behug Wn<ion

Hew Uaer Into

'ii' CcrtetP¥M 4 Fits 0 VeUtrt:

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coieSei) a nunfcer ol these (ocatied versions of the FkstClssoOienl ana ore makiighem nv«iUM Iw gmeiii aowntoad (torn SollAre Or**, on jwiport BBS n TottirW,

VMt tni IlKse mnarrt versiDrei In the Firsiaass Satlvmre amlaavx in our ii»wnferanc* Wm INs Is o OntNel ndworted cortererce, these Cterts eiisl h aoc^ toUw tM Is l«3T Mhg ecrnsd around Ihs vvorW. ThoM t)s^^~ SoAArc Oi*ie(»act al (41G] E0S-22S0.

FirstClass Client for Windows (US$295), a front end forSoftArc's FirstClass E-mail conferencing system, lets clientsuse a Mac or Windows to access the same nondedicatedFirstClass server without need of additional hardware. Allconnections are over the same Ethernet cable via log-insover IPX, AppleTallt, and modems. The software accepts upto 250 users simultaneously, allowing Mac and Windows PCusers to tallt in real time.

Contact: SoftArc, Inc., Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, (416)299-4723.

circle 1133 on Inquiry Card.

VIP-BASIC lets you programfrom the bottom up.Phone: (818) 991-6540.

Circle 1145 on Inquiry Card.

POINT-AND-CLICK BACKUP

Backup Exec for Windows($149) introduces Connor Peri-pherals' (Lake Mary, FL) line ofretail backup products. Con-forming to Windows File Man-ager, the software lets you backup and restore your data bypointing and clicking on iconsfor drives, file servers, tapes, andlogs. The software supports moststandard SCSI tape devices thatrun under Windows.Phone: (800) 541-2220 or(407) 262-8000.

Circle 1284 on Inquiry Card.

CONTROL ANIMATIONS

SoftVTR ($999), a software-based controller for use on PCsand Unix workstations, providescontrol of commercial and broad-cast-quality VTRs (videotaperecorders) and laser discs. FromMoonlight Computer Products(San Diego, CA), the softwareputs the VTR control panel onyour computer screen and letsyou control in interactive orbackground modes. Features in-clude frame-grabbing and roto-scoping.

Phone: (619) 625-0300.

Circle 1276 on Inquiry Card.

PC DIAGNOSTICS

Checkit Pro: Tests & Tools($149.95), a troubleshooting di-agnostic utility, tests PC hard-ware with explicit interpretationof results to identify faulty com-ponents. You can use the customtest applets to build a variety ofdiagnostic suites and run themas part of your own custom batchfile or menu. An advanced virus-scanning module can catch morethan 2000 viruses, according todeveloper Touchstone Software(Huntington Beach, CA).Phone: (800) 531-0450 or(714) 969-7746.

Circle 1143 on Inquiry Card.

Software Update

chemExhibit for Windows 2.0

($595), Molecular Arts (Ana-heim, CA), enables an un-limited number of diagramtemplates; adds Windows

commondialogboxes andhot keys,arrow toolpalette indrawingtools, object stacking andgrouping capabilities in ob-ject controls, additional queryand identification capabilitiesin Select-3D, and additionalmolecule shading options inVisage-3D.

Phone: (714) 634-8100.Circle 1288 on Inquiry Card.

PowerTools 1.1 ($895), Xionics(Peabody, MA), adds supportfor TWAIN and Xionics'Lightning cards, drivers forthe Hewlett-Packard LaserJet4 printer and Fujitsu M3097scanner, document separa-tors, new printing features,faster image panning, andmultipage TIFF.Phone: (508) 531-6666.Circle 1291 on Inquiry Card.

Mathematica 2.2 (from $595),Wolfram Research (Cham-paign, IL), adds improved nu-meric functions and equation-solving capabilities, newinterval arithmetic capabili-ties, more sophisticated sym-bolic capabilities, and en-hanced solutions of symbolicdifferential equations.Phone: (800) 441-6284 or(217)398-0700.Circle 1292 on Inquiry Card.

TapeWare 4.1 (from $299),Emeritus Technologies (Fres-no, CA), adds file systemagent for OS/2 and Unix;NetWare 3.x name space sup-port for Mac, OS/2, and Unixfiles; NetWare user-levelstratification; and enhancedfile tracking.Phone: (209) 292-8888.Circle 1294 on Inquiry Card.

234 BYTE JULY 1993

HEADS, ITS REAL,TALS, ITS NKE.

It's your choice. A little more than50 percent of all business soft-ware in use today is pirated.

You might save a few bucks onit—^but when phony softwaredoesn't work, forget calling forproduct support. When it infectsyour computer with a deadlyvirus, it'll be your work that getslost. The documentation isnonexistent or inadequate, sothat won't help. And, of course,there will never be any productupgrades.

Selling or copying softwarewithout authorization is againstthe law, with severe criminal andcivil penalties including impris-onment of up to five years, finesof up to $250,000, or both. Ifyou suspect the sale or use ofpirated software, call the BSAAnti-Piracy hodine:

Pl(800) 688-BSA1 (2721)

Business Software Alliance

What's New

Software

DATA-COMPRESSION HELP

A data-compression utility forDOS 6 DoubleSpace and Win-dows, SpaceManager ($89.95)from Vertisoft Systems (SanFrancisco, CA) augments Dou-bleSpace. Major features are Se-lectCompress, which providesadditional compression; Super-Mount, which negates the needfor mount commands; Super-Monitor, which provides agraphical report of data com-pression; SuperExchange, whichsupports easy exchange of Dou-bleSpace-compressed disks; andFortuneTeller, which predicts theamount of remaining disk spaceavailable.

Phone: (800) 466-5875 or(803) 269-5311.

Circle 11.39 on Inquiry Card.

ADD SERIAL I/O TOPC APPLICATIONS

The Software Wedgefor Windows Profes-sional Edition ($395)from T.A.L. Enter-prises (Philadelphia,PA) lets you create so-phisticated serial I/Ointerfaces between adevice with a serialport and a Windows orOS/2 application. Thesoftware supports advanced dataparsing and filtering capabilities,data formatting functions, andhexadecimal- or octal-to-deci-mal conversions. This edition letsyou turn a spreadsheet cell into aserial input or output buffer andlog data directly to a disk file inthe background.

MoRPH Migrates TO Windows

Morph ($169) now works on PCs running Windows and letstliem perform morphing, a 2-D special effect thattransforms one still image into another. Able to usegraphics generated from Windows-compatible painting ordrawing programs or scanned images, Morph lets you placetwo images side by side on the computer screen. Aftermatching key points on each image, you specify the numberof intervening frames you want; Morph calculates theappearance of each frame and transforms one image intothe other as an animation. You can save the resultingmorph as a Video for Windows movie or as an animation onvideo tape or film. Single still images can be saved in fileformats such as TIFF, GIF, and Targa.Contact: Gryphon Software Corp., San Diego, CA, (619)536-8815.

Circle 2.134 on Inquiry Card.

Phone: (800) 722-6004 or(215) 763-2620.

Circle 1275 on Inquiry Card.

DESIGN A BBS DATABASE

ModemBase Pro ($149) from In-tegrated Solutions (Riverside,CA) lets BBS system operatorscreate custom-designed databas-es and incorporate them into theon-line services available on theirBBSes. BBS callers can workwith the database as they wouldwith any other BBS conference.Phone: (800) 633-6636 or(909) 780-8860.

Circle 1.277 on Inquiry Card.

MORE THAN A DISK JACKETMAKER

The DirJacket System ($25)from The Flight House (LakeForest, CA) lists the volumename and all files and directo-ries, including hidden files, on afloppy disk, CD-ROM, tape, orfixed disk. MailJacket lets youprint a disk mailer once you'veentered the addressee and the re-turn address into your computer.Phone: (800) 795-4834 or(714) 768-3035.

Circle 1274 on Inquiry Card-

FAX FROM A PC IN WINDOWS

Any document you can printfrom a Windows application, youcan fax from your PC withOpen/image Fax for Windows($995). From Wang Laborato-ries (Lowell, MA), the softwareincludes APIs that let you fax animage window, screen, file, ordocument.

Phone: (508) 459-5000.

Circle 1280 on Inquiry Card-

Software Update

Zylndex 4.0 for DOS (singleuser, $395; network, from$995), ZyLab (BuffaloGrove, IL), adds basic re-trieval enhancements, unlim-ited index and file sizes, andnew search capabilities.Phone: (800) 544-6339 or(708) 459-8000.Circle 1295 on Inquiry Card.

InterLend 2.0 ($495), TKMSoftware (Brandon, Manito-ba, Canada), has enhancedfunctionality, especially in re-port generation.Phone: (800) 565-6272 or(204) 727-3873.Circle 1296 on Inquiry Card.

Windows Personal Librarian 3.0

($995), Personal LibrarySoftware (Rockville, MD),adds native-mode documentarchitecture, fuzzy-logicsearching, PL-Admin in Win-dows, concurrent updatingwith transaction integrity, andsimultaneous multiple data-base searches. PC or Mac.Phone: (301)990-1155.Circle 1297 on inquiry Card.

The Debt Analyzer 1.20 ($20),Insight Software Solutions(Bountiful, UT). adds theability to select nine new debtpriority payoff methods, printa summary report, view thesum of all debts and pay-ments on-screen at all times,and use an effective-interestrate calculator.Phone: (801)295-1890.Circle 1298 on Inquiry Card.

HiQ 2.0 ($995), Bimillennium(Los Gatos, CA), adds a bet-ter GUI, new features in theFunction Library, improvedloop opti-mization, aswell as easi-er dataanalysis andmanipula-tion.

Phone: (800) 488-8662 or

(408)354-7511.

Circle 1290 on Inquiry Card.

236 |{ V 1 i ; 1993

Everyonemakes claims. We make sure.

When the industry wantsproduct testing taken to the nthdegree, they take it to NSTL.

In every field, one name sets thestandard. In microcomputer testing,the name is NSTL, the leadingindependent testing lab.

The NSTL compatibility certificationseal on a product says that it withstoodthe toughest lab in the industry — andit's ready for your business.

The seal saves you a lot of comparisonand guesswork. It says you'll find theproduct compatible with a wide rangeof business applications and hardware.It helps you make the right choice.

Real-world testing for real-world use.

Beyond compatibility testing, weaccess nearly every conceivable

problem — from engineering-levelhardware bugs to the everyday usabilityof business software.

And we test with the end-user inmind, in a real-world environment, justthe way your staff uses equipment.Except our trials are more punishing.

Our publications, and othersthat publish our work.

In a separate facility we also docomparison testing for our ownRatings Reports: Software Digesf^, PCDigest® and LAN Reporter®. They'reread by people who purchase anaverage of more than $500,000 inmicrocomputer hardware andsoftware annually.

And because of the respect we'veearned, some of the industry's leadingpublications, like Data Communications,

IAN Times, Unix World and DataproResearch Group publish our test results.

Look for the NSTL seal andbe sure.

Experts rely on the NSTL name:now you can, too. The final test of aproduct is its compatibility in abusiness environment The NSTL marktells you it's already met that test. Lookfor 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 121 on Inquiry Card.

Quatech, your communication source for

RS-232, 422 and 485 adapters.

^^uatech manufactures a com-plete line of communication adapt-ers for PC/XT/AT®, Micro Channel®and compatible buses to meet asyn-chronous and synchronous, serialand parallel communication require-ments with protocols such as RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, Current Loopand IEEE488.

VjoftwaresupportforSCO Unix®,Windows* Xenix*, OS/2*and DOS.

D,

ata Acquisition and Indus-trial I/O products manufactured byQuatech are also available. Call fora free Data Acquisition and Com-munication Handbook today.

23« H V I 1 JULY 1993

' ommunication adapters fea-turing: selectable/shareable inter-rupts, 16550 availability (baud ratesup to 256K on standard asynchro-nous adapters) and addressconfigurable as any COM port.Multiport adapters feature 2,4, and8 ports with independent serial in-terfaces. Most adapters provide ATinterrupts (IRQ 2-7, 10-12, 14, 15).

Te

eclinical support for our prod-ucts are available free of charge.

800-553-1170

FAX: 216-434-1409BBS: 216-434-2481

G3I QUATECH

662 Wolf Ledges Parkway, Akron, Ohio 44311U.S.A. (216)434-3154. International: Austra-lia/lnterworid Electronics 03-563-5011,Canada (Western)/lntenworld VCR 604-984-4171 (Toronto office416-513-7027), England/Diamond Point International 634-722-390, Fin-land/Lab HitechOY 358-0-804-2522, France/Elexo 33-1 -69302880, Germany/Jupiter Elec-tronic Systems 06181/75041 , Israel/RCM Ltd.972-03-5447885, Italy/N.C.S. Computer Italia0331/770-016, Netherlands/ACAL Auriema040-502602, Korea/Sam Boo Enterprise Co.82-2-538-4001, Spain SANTA Barbara SA343-4188116, Singapore Bliss Services PteLtd (65) 338-1300, South Africa Eagle Elec-tronics 2721 234943, Switzerland Amiro Tech.Engin. 37-2311-18. IBM PC-XT/AT,OS/2andMicro Channel are registeredtrademarksoflBMCorp.AII W^^"^^*^®othertrademarksareoftheir | inrespective companies. \ U.S.A.

Circle 136 on Inquiry Card.

BUY IT THROUGH BVTE

Mail Order Hardware/Software Showcase

The latest offerings fromvendors supplyingproducts of all leadingmanufacturers at extremelycompetitive prices.

240

This categorized four-color displaysection makes it easy to findHardware and Software products froma wide variety of manufacturersand suppliers.

259

Buyer's Mart

From Accessories to Laptopsto Word Processors, you caneasily find the dealers you arelooking for in this directory ofproducts and services.

267

ILLUSTFMTION: SUSAN KINGSBURY

H6Hm u HEHOKy a Heno^y

ACER 486SX - 16MB SIMM (4m x 36)

32MB SIMM(8MX36)AMI EZ-FLEX - 64MB KIT (4 simms)AMIGA 2000 - 16MB SIMMAST BRAVO 486LC - 16MB SIMMCOMPAQ SysfemPiO - 32MB MODULEDELL 486'S - 16MB KIT (2 simms)32MB KIT (2 SIMMS)MAC llfx - 16MB SIMMMAC QUADRA 950 - 16MB SIMMMAC llclJlcx,llsi,QUADRA 900 - 16MB SIMMMAC QUADRA 700 & SE/30 - 16MB SIMMNeXT TURBO - 16MB SIMMSUN IPKELC - 16MB SIMM

$m sPAm smvm - sssmb kit

$ 599.00$ 1,399.00$ 2,699.00

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IBM

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PS/1 - 2MB

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DP 386/20,20E,25 - 1MB

$

66

Vectro QS-16 - 2MB KIT

$ 129

AST EXEC. NB - 4MB

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S 149

4MB

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159

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$ 229

COMPAQ LTE386 - 4MB

$

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M30 - 2MB

S 79

DP 386S/16 - 1MB

$

66

Vectro 486 - 2MB

$ 79

SLT386 - 4Me

$

168

M50Z,55sx.65sx.70 - 1MB

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DELL 316,320 LT - 2MB

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DP 286N,386N.S/20 - 4MB

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5 269

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S

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$ I3S

MSYSTEMS - 2MB

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X-Statlon 700 Ser. - 2MB

S 89

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135

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MAC POWERBOOK - 2MB

704

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96

9000/400t425t - 8MB KIT

$ 495

P.S. 386 - 8MB

$

429

8MB

$ 269

SystemPro - 8MB

$

269

16MB KIT

$ 999

P.S. SX/20 - 4MB

S

200

M8CH)41 - 1MB

$ 65

OK Bap BrdDP 386S/16 1MB Btp Brd

S

335

32MB KIT

$1869

PANASONIC CF170 - 1MB

S

55

M80-111.121,311 - 2MB

$ 99

$

105

9000/425e - 8MB KIT

$ 428

Tl. TRVL-MT 3000 - 2MB

S

80

M80-A21A31 - 4MB

$ 180

DP 386/20,20E,25,25E

16MB KIT

$ 828

TOSHIBA 1000 - 2MB

$

108

16-BIT OK Exp Board

$ 128

1MB Exp. Board

$

105

APPLE

2000SXE - 8MB

$

388

32-BIT OK Exp Board

$ 128

3200SXC - 4MB

S

160

AST

DELL

II5E5E/30 - 1MB

$ 32

5200 - 8MB

$

315

325D,P;333D,P - 1MB

$

41

Classic - 1MB Exp. Board

$ 54

PRINTERS

PREM. 386/20C - 1MB KIT

$ 65

4MB

S

135

SE/30,llcl,llcx,llsl,LC &

PREM. 386/25 - 1MB

S 46

420425/433 - 2MB KIT

S

82

Quad. 700,900 - 4MB

$ 115

EPSON 6000 - 4MB

S

229

PREM. 486/25 - 1MB

$ 45

4MB KIT

s

158

Quad. 700,900 - 32MB KIT

$1120

HP IIP.III.IIID,P - 2MB

$

708

PREM. II 486 - 1MB

$ 41

8MB KIT

$

270

llfx - 16MB KIT

$ 499

lllsl - 4MB

$

735

4MB

$ 139

450DE450SE - 2MB KIT

s

82

llfx - 32MB KIT

$1156

IBM 40194029e - 3.5MB

$

129

8MB KIT

$ 278

4MB KIT

s

158

Quadra 256K V-RAM

$ 27

4029 - 4MB

$

135

PREM. II 1MB Exp Board

S 469

8MB KIT

s

270

LC 512K V-RAM

$ 44

OKIDATA 400 - 2MB

s

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.

CAU ©m commm CAmmm

TERMS: C.O.D. CASH, VISA OR MASTERCARD.

COMPANY AND UNIVERSITY P.O.'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.

AIL PRODUCT NAMES, TCADEMARKS AND REGISTERED TRADEMARKS ARE THE PROPERTY Of THEIR REPSECTIVE COMPANIES.

THE SAME

USED BY NASA.

AND ITS UNDERA MILLION

$695.00

When NASA went shopping for a printerbuffer, they were looking for a flexible,high-powered buffer that was reliable. Anddon't think they weren't checking pricetags, too.

Our top-of-the-line, Buffalo SL wastheir performance choice. It also justhappens to be the best value onthe market.

And although the SL is loadedwith state-of-the-art features, ^including full Windowscompatibility, you don'thave to be a rocket scientistto use or install it.Now, does that meanit's better because it's easier?Or It's easier because it's better?

"To

^0-345*

Fax: 503-585-4505Response Code: 73SL3

uffalo is a registered trademark of MELCO, Inc. Other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respectiv

Circle 187 on Inquiry Card.

CONTROL UP TO 96 PCFILE SERVERS WITH 1 KEYBOARDAND MONITOR USING...

COMMANDER

TM

• Select via Keyboard

• Dual access up to 250 feetaway (optional)

• NO external power

• Mix PC, PC/XT, PC/AT

and PS/2

• "AutoBoot™"Featureboots attachedcomputers withoutoperator intervention

• Able to Broadcast to allattached computers

VTy 777TP77///////////Z7777

• PS/2 and Serial Mousesupport available

• Each unit accommodatesfrom 2 to 8 PCs

• up to 12 units canbe cascaded

• Mounting kit availablefor 19" and 24" rackinstallation

J^CyBEX

2800-H Bob Wallace Ave.Huntsvllle, Alabama 55805

(205) 530-0011- Fax (205) 534-0010 —

Dealer Program Available

PC, PC/XT, PC/AT and PS/2 are trademarks ofinternational Business Macnines Corp.

242 BYTE JULY 1993

Circle 189 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 190).

The FeatherWeightChampion

The New 386SL Sub-Notebook

BICOM SL

- Weight 2.2 lbs (Bicom & battery)

- Dimension 9.00" x 6.36" x 1.22"

- Intel 386SL/25MHZ processor

- Support 387SX co-processor

- 2Mb Ram

- 80 Mb Hard Disk

- 5AA size NiMH Batteries

(3 hours operation with PM enabled)

- High Resolution (640X400) LCD screen

- 1 parallel (bi-direction), 1 serial port

- External 1.44 Mb FDD (optional)

- Multi-function port for externalkeyboard and extra serial port

- DR DOS 6.0. File Transfer software& serial Download cable

- Universal AC/DC adaptor

Option: External Floppy Drive, Mini-Track ball Multi function port cable, extra batteries.

30 day money back guarentee. Life-time technical support

^lic 1-800-336-2280

BICOM SL $ 995

Ask also B280£ $ 795

U.S. Office: ABC Computer (U.S.A.) Corp.

2531,237th Street, Suite 122,Torrance, California 90505, U.S.A.Tel: 310-3264005 Fax: 310-3256369

Heailquarters: ABC Computer Co. Ltd.

28/F Wyler Centre Phase II, 200 Tai Lin Pai Road.Kwai Chung, N.I, Hong Kong. Tei: 852-4816118Fax: 852-4815836 Telex: 52178 ABGTC HX

Tfie Intel Inside Logo is a tradeniar1< of Intel CorporationAll brand names are registered trademarft of ttieir respective owners.

Circle 181 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 182).

W^ile to MultiMetlia atACP Superstore!

Your complete <

170Mb IDE, drive adaptor, mount hdwe,instructs, preloaded Microsoft soflwore,.,

• Windows 3.1 •MS-DOS 5,0 ACP Price

• Works for Windows 2.0 a n g^ ^^fir

• Publisher • Money 9^0W'^

• Centrol Point Anti-Virus mm WWmore Connei... limited OfferCP3000 42Mb 3.5- 28ms IDE....CallCP30084 84Mb 3.5' 19ms IDE ....CallCP30104 120Mb 3.5- 19ms IDE ....CallCP30204 212Mb 3.5- 12ms IDE ....CallCP30254 250Mb 3.5" 12ms IDE....CallCP30174E 170Mb 3.5' 12ms IDE....Call

Western Digital

High performance "Caviar" series with 1"height. Cache Flow™ and 32K buffer,AC2120120Mb V 3,5- 13ms IDE„„CallACl 190 170Mb 1- 3,5" 13ms IDE,,,, CallAC2200212Mb 1" 3,6" 13ms IDE,,,, CallAC2250250Mb 1" 3,5" 13ms IDE CallAC2340340Mb 1" 3.5" 13ms IDE....Call

Hard Drive Specials

Seagate ST3283 249Mb IDE 499.95

Samsung 100Mb IDE 249.95

Call for Quantum, Mlcropolis, Seagate.Controllers from Ultrostor, Always, WD etc.

Backups

Colorado

DJ10 120Mb Tape Drive internal,. 149DJ20 250Mb Tape Drive internal ,.229

Trakker 120/250 Tape Backup 349/419

PowerTape 2Gb/4Gb 999/1599

SyqueSt (with cartridge)

44Mb kit SQ555, SQ400, sSoKlbbif) .419

44Mb external 499

88Mb kit SQ5110,SQ800, SQ01(16bit) 52988Mb external 629

GrassRoots Floptical

Floptical 21 Mb int/ext Call

Floppy Disk Drives

Toshiba

ND04DG 350K 5,25" HH PC/XT 59

ND08DEG 1,2Mb 5,25" HH PC/AT,,,, 72

ND3561GR1.44Mb 3,5" HH w/ATKit„72

ACP

1,2 Mb 5,25", 66 2,88Mb 3.5- 89

1.44Mb 3.5" ....67 All in One 3.5/5.25 149

Input Devices

Advanced Logitech

3-button Mouse 15 Mouseman 75

101 Keyboard ..58 Mouse (OEM) ....35

Mouse4-Windows88 Cordless Mouse .88

Microsoft Trackman 78

Serial Mouse 69 Trackman Port. .. 94

Ballpoint 98 Scanman 32 ... 128

Ballpt-i-Windows 148 Scanman 256 .. 258

MIcrospeed CH Products

PCTrac 78 FlightStick 49

PCTracbusvers 88 Joystick Mochiii call

IBU Compatible Canls

Advanced

Monochrome ...38

Color Card 48

EGA Card 48

Windows

1 MbAccelerator 149Interface

Parallel Card ....29

Serial Card 35

Multi I/O 59

IDE 16-bit 19

IDE Multi I/O 69

VGA

512K, 800x600 ...53512K, 1024x768 .681Mb, 1024x768 .88Modems

2400bps internal. 392400bps extemal.69Memory

AT0-8Mb(simm) 99XTfr8Mb<IC's) ...99Call for yourspecial needs...

Canon

Authonzed

BJ10ex/BJ20ex Portables Call

BJ 200 InkJet Coll

LBP-4SX/LBP-8SX Laser Printers ... Call

BJ330 Printer (B/W) Call

BJC800/BJCB20(Color) Call

BJ 300 BubbleJet(B/W) Call

AZTECH

SoundGalaxy

NXPRO 16

The only 16-br b^erec cord that supportsthe 5 sound srondards, plus interface forMitsumi 8c Ponasonic. Includes softwarebundle,..HSC interactive, Monologue forWindows, WINDATT"OLE, Audio Station,Juikebox,For Windows, Soundscript DOS,Voice Annototor, CD Player, CD-Player.Sound frocks. Utilities, Windows drivers,

Sound Goidxy NX 16 Pro 189.95

Sound Goloxy NX II (for 8-blt)... 99.95

Chips ana SIMM's

dRAM Qtvl 25 SIMMs Qtvl 12256x1-100 .. 1.49 ., 1,35 lMbx9-80 „ 35 ,.,,34256x1-100 .. 1.59 ., 1,46 lMbx9-70 ., 36 ,.,,35

256x4-80 4.79 ..4.59 lMbx8-80 ,. 32 ....31

lMbxl-100..4.05 . 3,96 4Mbx8-70 129„126lMbxl-80„„4,49 , 439 4Mbx9-70 139„135Call for VIDEO RAMS & CACHE RAMSOver 20,000,000 IC's in-stock includingWe Specialize in Memory Modules

Math Coprocessors

Intel Cyrix

387SL Mobile 78 387SXC16-26) 73

80387DX (all) 85 387DX(20-33) 88

80387SX (oil) 78 387DX/40 108

RopidCAD 248 80287(011) 78

8087 29 Intel Overdrive

80287-10 89 486DX-33 649

80287-20 89 486SX-26 489

Memory upgrades

Notebooks/Laptops

Toshiba

T4400/16Mb

5799

ApplePowerbook

140/170-6Mb

*249

IBMThinkPod2Mb..'1588Mb..*449

ASTPomerExec 4Mb .'178AST PowerExec 16Mb. 1326Compaq Conlura 4Mb... 169Compaq Contura 8Mb...369Compaq Lite4/25C 4Mb... 239Compaq Lite4/25C 8Mb... 399HP96LX Palmtop 2Mb ..call

n TravelMate3(K)0 2Mb 87

TITravelMate4000 4Mb.. 218ToshibaT4400/6400 4Mb ... 187Toshiba T4400/6400 8Mb . .388Zenith Z-Note 2Mb... 168Call for all Notebook f^emory Upgrades!Laser Printers CalllorVKBoardsCanon LBP-4,4Lile,4Plus 1Mb. 118 2Mb 168Canon LBP-8III, 8111 Plus 2Mb . 169 3Mb 199Compaq PAGEMARQ15/20 8/16Mb..299/599Epson ActionLaser II 2Mb 138

HPU llisi, 4, 4M, XL300 4Mb. 148 8Mb 298HP LaserJet IIP.III.IIIP.IIID 2Mb. .98 4Mb 158HP LaserJet II, IID 2Mb. .98 4Mb 158

Panasonic4410/4430 2Mb. 118 4Mb 188Panasonic4420/44501 2Mb, 118 4Mb 188OkiLaser400 1Mb ...78 2Mb ..98

Tl MicroLaser Turbo, XL 1Mb ...69 4Mb 269

Computer IVIemory 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 168/578

IBM PS/2 Model 90, 95 2Mb 88

Call for all Computer Memory Upgradesl

MIcronics®

Motherboards

486DX/33ISA ...Call 486DX2/50 VL.. Coil486DX2/60 ISA . Call 4000LB Video .. Coil486DX2/66 ISA. Call 486DX/33 EISA . Coil486DX2/66VL..Call 486DX2/50 EISA Coll

802B6/12MHZ ..Coil 486DX/33MHZ .Call386SX/25MHZ ..Coil 486DX/50MHZ .Call386DX/40MHZ . Call 486DX2/50MHZ Call486SX/25MHZ ..Call 486DX2/65MHz Coll

286/12MI1Z Special!PC Special *269

call ACP forNotebook Deals!

comPAa

J"

ProLinea 3s/25 w/84Mb Coil

ProLinea 4/25s w/240Mb Call

Contura 3/25 w/84Mb Call

Contura 3/25 w/12DMb Call

Contura 3/25c w/84Mb Call

Contura 3/25c w/120Mb Call

Compaq LTE Lite/25c w/64Mb Call

Compaq LTE Ute/25c w/120Mb Call

TOSHIBA'

T1850 Satellite 80/120Mb Call

T1850C Satelllte w/120Mb Color Call

T4400SX LCD/Plasma 120Mb Call

T4400C Color 120Mb Call

T4500 80/120Mb Call

T4500C Color 120Mb Call

T6400DXC Color 200Mb Call

486 High Performance CPU's • Plus MultlMedia Upgrades

486 SuperVGA Systei

Includes:

• 486DX/33w/266k Cache •

• 4Mb RAM

• 1Mb SVGA Cord ••120Mb HardDrive

1.2Mb 5.26" Floppy1.44Mb 3.6" FloppyIDE Controller101 Keyboard14" SuperVGA ,28Color Monitor and morel

M399

jrel M M.

Local Bus (add $75.), and 486DX27S0, 4160X2/66 and 4S6DX/S0

MUiti'Mi

J.j,|||.'i-.i..iJJJii

SOUND BLASTER™

Discovery CD-IS upgrade Kit

Creative Labs-New lor '93! Lotest 16-bittechnology includes: SoundBlaster 16, StereoSpeakers, Hi-Performance CR-ROM Drive (Int.) MPCand Photo CD compatible, 390 ms, ACP's SolePlus Software Toolworks, IVIultlMedia ^ jmEncyclopedia, San Diego Zoo ^^A^v k%Animals and Lemmings %m

HEDIfl {^VISION

Fusion CD-16 Upgrade Kits

■ i W^,"

FUSION CD 16-E

ACP's Sale • NEC DRV 25J(ext) 660m5/15DKD• Audio Spectrum 16-SCSIVS^^J^J • LAB TECH Speakers

y ^ ' Software-Free CD Titles includedphoto may vary ...where in the World is CarmenSan Diego, Civilization and Mantis by Microprose,Compton's Family Encyc, BattleChess by Interplay

Call torLocal Bus

FUSION CD 16-1 Sony 3lA(int) 490ms/150KD,ProSpectrum 16-bit SLCD-IDE, LAB TECH Speakers, Great Software(same as above), see line listings for more MediaVision products...

TE^EI— "DouHie-Speed" cd-roim Kit

Call

For Maximum Performance! ,, experience thedifference with a Double Speed Drive. Includes:DM3024 drive (int), 265ms, Double Data Transfer for300KB/sec, MediaVision Spectrum 16, interface kit,Microptione, Compton's MPC ACP's Sale

Encyclopedia, Carmen San Diego,Notlonai Parl<s, PC Library, NautiiusMag, GamePal<, Music CD, MPCWizard. Mediociips, King's Quest V,etc.

CD ROM Drives • CD Bundles

CD Bundle #1, Ret. Val. $804.

Software Toolworks Mavis Beacon■v^^^ , . Teaches Typing, World Atlas Multimedia Ed.,

l, US Atlas w/Automap, Reference Lib. Microsoft

I * Works for Windows-Multimedia Edition

CDBundle#2, Ret. Vol. $1013. $000Reference Library, Family Doctor,US History, Animals, Software Du Jour,Grolier's Illustrated EncyclopediaCD Bundle #3, Ret. Val. $519. $1 "f QLoom, CD Game Pock II, Secret of M M wMonkey Island, Sherlock Holmes Cons.Detective, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe,Wing Connmander w/ Ultima VI

Our BestSeller!

MITSUMICD-ROM Drive

350ms, MPC Interface Crd, MS Ext,SW, BONUS OFFER w/Drive Purchase

• Compton's Family Encyc, WorldAtlas, Webster's Die, $39.96

• Family Choice's 16 Ed. $29.95

• Lucas Gomes "Loom" $19.95

$399

ADS

PC PrimeTime

122 channel cable^eady TV-Tunerwith scalable windows and completesofhA'are kit, 4watt stereo 399

ADS Video Clipper

Capture motion from hard disk.... 359

ADS VGA TV Elite

Converts VGA to Big Screen TV ... 349

Video Graphics Cams

ATI

Graphics Ultra Pro 2Mb 495

Graphics Plus 2Mb 315

Graphics Vantage 1Mb 286

Diamond-A/ew for '93

SpeedSTAR24X 1Mb 154

Stedlth 1Mb 210

Stedlth 24 ISA/VESA 165/169

Stealth Pro lMb/2Mb 239/349

Stealth Pro VESA 2Mb 335

Viper VESA Local Bus 2Mb 389

Sigma Designs

Windstorm MM Oisplay Card 336

Orchid Fahrenheit 1280w/lMb ...1B9

More MultlMeaia...

Creative Labs

New for '93 -Upgrade Kits

Edutoinment Kit fupgrade kit) Call

Discovery Kit (upgrade kit) Call

Sound Blaster Deluxe/Pro 88/149

Video Blaster 338

Sound Blaster 16 ASP Call

Video Spigot/Windows 399

iVIedicVision

Pro 16 MultiMedia System 899

Fusion CD 16 int/ext 499/649

CDPCXL Subsystem 1169

Pro Movie Spectrum 289

NEC -New Multispin!

CDR84-1 Cint)74-1 CexOT. 635/595

MultiMedia Gallery w/Multispin 869

CDR 38 Portable CD 469

Turtle Beacli

Multi-Sound Upgrade Kit 1289

Texcel

MultiMedia Bundle 16-bif with

10 Software Titles int/ext 996/1095

Home Bundle Double Speed 665/765

DM3024 DoubleSpeed CD int/ext 399/4998-bit Kit w/Transfer I/O int/ext 485/675

Sigma Designs

Windstorm CD-ROM Kit 24 bit 1039

Toshiba

XM43018 Double Speed (int) 486

Gravis Ultra-Sound-New,' 169

Advanced Computer Products, ■nc.^.P^

1310 E. Edinger, Santa Ana, CA 92705 • FAX 714-558-8849 • Toil-Free 1 -800-FOI\iE 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 free return guaranteel If you are not 100% satisfied just return insured within 15 days cdmplete withII materials in new resaleable condition with 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 Card.

Take Note:The World's Best SCSI AdapterJust Got Better <^

^^/m ^^^^

^^^^

SCSI Sloraae Manager

BiR P'tnl Arrays C'>mnia'Tcalions_bolp _^gg^i^^tt^^j^jO^^^sj J Analysis i euenl Log j~ Rerroia

SmartCache in

is the total, growable SCSI solution!

- _ ! ID.

The world's best SCSI adapter is now the world's greatest bargain—priced lowerthan any major competitor. An unprecedented value, SmartCache III offers topperformance and universal connectivity with all major SCSI-1, SCSI-2 and FastSCSI devices, including hard drives, tape, CD-ROM and WORM.

It also comes with built-in support from all major operating systems, includingDOS, Windows, OS/2, NetWare, Windows NT, NextStep and all versions of Unix.

And only SmartCache III gives you a growth path. Optional plug-on moduleslet you migrate easily to caching (with up to 64Mb cache), as well as full RAIDcapability Storage Manager, our GUI utility, makes installation quick, easy andautomatic. Plus, it gives you on-line and remote control over subsystem man-agement, diagnostics, performance monitoring, and disk array configurationand control.

Distributed Processing Technology, Inc.140 Candace Dr Maitland, FL 32751 USA

IIDPT

Call DPT, today!

800-322-4DPTFAX 407-260-5366

■List price for ISA model PM2021 /90 SCSI Adapter Board

Circle 191 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 192).

Notebook

ThinkPad 700 4/120 2699

ThinkPad 700 Color 4/120 3995

ThinkPad 720 Color 4/160 4395

IBM ValuePoint (VESA LOCAL BUS)

486SX/25 4/120 MDLF30 1199

486SX/33 4/120 MDLK30 1399

486DX/33 4/120 MDL M30 1699

486DX/33 4/340 MDL 84M70 2109

486DX2/66 4/245 MDL W50 2359

486DX2/66 4/340 MDL W70 2545

486DX2/66 4/527 MDL W90 2995

Monitor Extra

BRAND NAMP''

LOWPRICt^LEADER

We export to Europe, Asia

Modems

Z00IVI14.4 EXT.S/RFax

299

ZOOM 14.4 INT.S/R Fax

249

INTEL Satisfaxtion 400

439

INTEL Satisfaxtion 400E

479

TOSHIBA NOTEBOOKS

Toshiba 4400c, 120/200 meg 3425/3995

Toshiba 6400MM, 200 meg CALL

Toshiba4500C, 120meg 3795

Call for pricing on other brand name models

Apple

Mac PowerBook

160, 40/80/120 MB $2,230/2,540/2,860

Duo 210, 4/80 MB $2150

180, 4/120 MB $4,160

Mac Centrls 650,6/230 MB $3080

Quadra 950, 8/0 MB $4390

14" Mac Color Monitor $499

Extended Keyboard $159

LaserWriter III, 4 MB 1,795

comPAa

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 Wln+ 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 Wln+ 1675

Contura Notebook 4/25 4/120 Win 1995

Contura Notebook 4/25 color, 4/120 Win 2695

Contura Notebook 4/25GX 4/120 Win 3325

LTE Lite 3/250,4/120 MB Win 3725

LTE Lite 4/25C, 4/209 MB Win 4299

Portable 486DX2/66C, 4/210 MB Win 6745

Portable 486DX2/66, 4/525 MB Win 7755

Win+ MS-DOS 6, MS-Windows 3.1, Compaq MouseWin+, Win plus PES; WorksflVindows, 5.25" FDD, Modem"Please call for updated prices*

CD ROM/Multi Media

Toshiba TXMSSOl w/controller 520

NEC CD ROM 74 w/o controller ....605Sound Blaster 16 ASP 245

AST

Power Exec 386SL/25,120 meg 2395

Power Exec 386St725C, 120 meg 3575

Power Exec 486SL25, 25C, 200 MB 4250

Call for all AST, Bravo and Premium products

H N 0 V E L L SPECIALS

Authorized DealerNetware 386V.3.11

5 users 625 10 users 1395

20 users 1895 100 users 3795

NEW Netware 4.0

5 users 925 10 users 2125

25 users 3075 50 users CALL

SoftwareFrom:

AdobeAldusBorland

Central PointCorelIBM

IntuitLotusMathematica

MicroProseMicosoftQuarterdecl(

SpinnalcorSymantecWorkPerfect

FontsFrom:

AdobeIQ EngineeringMicroLogic

Made in USA

Computers

486DX2/66, 4MB RAM, 200 meg HD 2195

486/50, 4MB, 200 meg HD .Y^.?^ 1960

486/33, 4MB RAM, 120 meg HD 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

159

Jumbo 250 Int

215

Trakker120 Ext

359

Trakker 250 Ext

419

Syquesl

88 meg kit Int

425

88 mfin Ext

625

PRINTERS

Epson DFX 8000

2255

Epson LQ870

459

Epson LQ1170

629

Epson LQ570

249

Epson LQ1070

369

EpsonAP325

199

Call for prices on Okidata,

HP DeskJets

Video Boards

ATI Graphics

Ultra+, 1MB

295

Ultra Pro, IMB

435

Ultra Pro, 2IV1B

515

Ultra Pro, 2MB EISA.

.575

Diamond

Stealth 24,1MB

175

Orchid Fahrenheit

VESA Local Bus $235

Hard DisksConner

CP30104H, 120meg 269

CP3204,212 meg 349

Quantum (ELS/LPS)

ProDrive170meg 275

ProDrive 240 meg 395

ProDrive 525 meg 995

IVIaxtor

LXT 340 meg 619

LXT535 meg 919

iVIicropolis (SCSI)

1624 670 meg 1195

1598 1GB SCSI2 1475

Fugica, Micronet, SeagateGALL FOR ALL MODELS

SVGA Monitors

NEC 3FGE 635

NEC 4FG 735

ViewSonic 6E, 14" 340

ViewSonic 20, 20"....1885ViewSonic 6FS 525

LASER PRINTERS

HP LaserJet 4SI

2995

OKI OL840 P.S

1720

HP LaserJet IV

1375

Panasonic 4450 ,

1295

HP LaserJet 4M

1925

NEC Model 95

1385

HP Laser 4L

810

NEC Mnrifil 97

CALL

OKI OL 400, 800

CALL

Compaq Pagemarq 20...4295

WE STOCK: CALCOMP CREATIVE LABS EPSON MOUNTAIN

ADAPTEC CITIZEN HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS HAYES KINGSTON

BOCA INTEL TEXAS INSTRUMENTS MAYNARD LOGITECH

Computerlane

inc.

Corporate AccountsVolume DiscountsAnd

Consultant OrdersWelcome

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

TALLGRASSUS ROBOTICSMEGAHERTZ

Compaq is a RegistereiJ Trademark of

Compaq. IBM is a RegistreredTrademark of International BusinessMachines.ALL QUOTED PRICES REFLECT A5% CASH DISCOUNTVisa, MasterCard and American Express

also acceptedPrices subject to change without notice.

246 BYXE JULY 1993

Circle 188 on Inquiry Card.

CAD or Multimedia

THE TEXAN

THE ALAMO

M&M PRO

Function of Five Boards mOne PC/AT Slot'

mi a

V!3

^»- '

Optional SVGA

iitiitttiKtimtii lyiiiimimmiiiniiiUHSL

Optional JPEG Compression& VGA to TV Output

we Have The Solution!

Ultra High ResolutionGraphics Display Controllersfrom the World's firstTMS34020 Manufacturer

Our PC/AT boards provide programmabledisplay resolutions up to 1600 x 1280, andprovide 72Hz or higher refresh rate for 1280X 1024 and lower resolutions. 40 MHzTMS34020 Graphics Processor, VGA pass-through and RGB cable set are included.Software drivers are provided for TIGA, MS-Windows, and AutoCAD®. Drivers for the XWindow System for Interactive and SCOUNIX are optional.

THE ALAMO $2,99524-BIT TRUE-COLOR at 1600 x 12006 MByte VRAM + 1 MByte DRAM

THE TEXAN 1600 $1,450

256 Colors at 1600 x 1280, 60 Hz2 MBytes VRAM + 1 MByte DRAM

THE TEXAN 1280 $1,250

256 Colors at 1280 x 1024, 72 Hz2 MBytes VRAM + 1 MByte DRAM

THE TEXAN 1024 $995

256 Colors at 1024 x 768, 72 Hz1 MByte VRAM + 1 MByte DRAM

Multimedia Graphics:Everything you need to getvideo into or out of the PC

M&M PRO $995 +

24-bit TRUE-COLOR NTSC/PAL/SECAM video window frame grabber.Optional 12-bit per channel digital stereoaudio, hardware JPEG compression, on-board 1024 X 768 SVGA, composite andS-Video NTSC/PAL output with fUcker filters.

M&M Basic (composite video) $500(composite & S-Video) $600

NTSC/PAL frame grabber displays live videowindow on VGA screen.

ViVA HC (NTSC or PAL) $700

HI-COLOR ET4000 VGA with composite andS-Video output with flicker filters. Cor\figur-able for multi-channel display.

ViVA (NTSC) $550

(PAL) $630

Video, VGA and Audio mixer outputs VGAto video as an overlay on an input videosignal.

ViVA Basic (ntsc or pal) $300

Internal or External VGA to Video converteroutputs VGA to composite and S-Video withflicker filters. No TSR required for 640 x 480modes.

Omnicomp has been providing graphics hardware solutions for Systems Integrators, OEMs,and Resellers in domestic and international markets for over 10 years.

Our products cover a wide range of popular computer platforms and operating systems including PC/AT,VME, Micro Channel* DOS, Windows, UNIX and others.

Omnicomp, THE TEXAN, THE ALAMO, M&M PRO, M&M Basic, ViVA, ViVA Basic and ViVA HC are trademarks ofOmnicomp Graphics Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.Specifications subject to change without notice.

MICROSOFTWINDOWS

AUTODESK

Windows drivers provide 1600 x1200, 24-bit TRUE COLOR on theALAMO, 1600 x 1280, 256 coloron THE TEXAN, and HI-COLORon the ViVA HC.Video for Windows compatibleMCI/AVI Multimedia Windowsdrivers for the M&M PRO andM&M Basic.

DL-Xpress (included) and SoftEngine (optional) from VibrantGraphics allow 24-bit TRUE-COLOR display on THEALAMO and 256 color display onTHE TEXAN for AutoCAD®, 3DStudio™, etc.

Monitors . . . IDEK 21" flat screen multiscanmonitors 30-80 KHz . . . others available.MF 5421A 1600 x 1280, .26 Dot Pitch $2,525MF 5321A 1280 x 1024, .31 Dot Pitch $2,125

Phone 713-464-2990

Fax

713-827-7540

For more information, call or fax our SystemsEngineering Department, M-F, 8:30-5:30 CST.

We accept VISA, MASTERCARDand AMERICAN EXPRESS

Direct fromManufacturer12-MonthWarrantyF.O.B. Houston

Omnicomii

GraphicsCorporatioii

. . . The Texas Graphics Company1734 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N.Houston, Texas 77043

Circle 196 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 197).

WIRELESS NETWORKING BY MOTOROLA

Users roam the nation and stay in the loop

Portability doesn't have to mean isolation fromimportant, timely information, thanksto EMBARC wireless networking.In over 200 cities in the U. S. andCanada, you're connected—to E-mailfrom the office and news and weatherbriefs from USA TODAY, as wellas optional services such as sports,key market and financial developments, andHeadsUp™ targeted industry news briefs fromINDIVIDUAL, Inc. You can even have your important data-bases routinely updated—automatically!All you need is EMBARC's compact, powerful NewsStream receiver (itplugs directly into most laptop, palmtop and notebook computers) and thesimple software package that drives it. Pay as little as $395, install it in min-utes and you're ready to go—without wires, faxes or phones.

Equip your whole team to receive memos, documentsand file updates for pennies per recipient.,You'll find EMBARC so cost effectiveyou'll communicate more.

Our corporate trial program lets youtry it virtually risk-free. Sign up rightnow by phoning 1-800-EMBARC4,Ext. 350. Give your team the home-field advantage... even when they're

on the road. EMBARC service is available

for DOS-based laptops andnotebooks, HP 95LX palmtopsar)d Macintosh Powerbooks.

^^r-^ Motorola and NewsStream are trademarks(rK) of Motorola, Inc. EMBARC is a servicemarkof Motorola. Inc. © Motorola, Inc. 1992

Circle 206 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 207).

Rack Mount Computers - Motherboard or Passive Backplane

r ■

Use external monitorUp to 6 drives

Mono or color monitorUp to 5 drives

14" color monitorUp to 3 drives

1

0^3 1;'

^ : ^^^^^ 1

8.75" high

8.75" high

12.25" high

Rack Mount Monitors

10" mono or colormonitor

8.75" high

14" mono or colormonitor

12.25" high

Enclosure for mostdesk top monitors

14.0" high

Rack Mount Keyboards

Drawer mountedkeyboard

'■miij

1.75" high

Drawer for desk topkeyboards

Vertical-mount, sealedmembrane keyboard

5.25" high

Rack Mount Printer

Dot matrix printer withindustrial rating

12.25" high

Call for our other Rack Mount computerand "enclosure only" product offerings.

RECORTEC, INC.

1290 Lawrence Station Road, Sunnyvale CA 94089Tel. [408] 734-1290 Fax: [408] 734-2140

1-800-729-7654

Circle 198 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 199).

JULY 1993 BYTE 249

PORTABLEPOWER

486 DX2-66 MHz

• 450 MB HLD.

Some companies try to sell you on price alone. Others rely on name recognition. OnlyMicro-International can sell you POWER, SPEED, CAPACITY and PROVENRELIABILITY in an affordable notebook computer. Have you ever dreamed ofhaving a lightweight (6.51b) computer that packs in your briefcase and provideslightening-fast speed (66Mhz), enormous storage capacity (450MB) and enoughsystem memory (16MB) for virtually any application?

Give us a call. Micro-International will provide you with a POWERFUL andAFFORDABLE solution for both your desktop and mobile computing needs.

MICRO-INTERNATIONAL, INC. 10850 Seaboard Loop, Houston, Texas 77099National Sale: 800-967-5667 Local Sale: 495-9096 Fax: 713-495-7791

Circle 202 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 203).

HP Connectivity

More Affordable, Faster Performance

Printer Sharing 8 Serial Ports$695.00

Network Print ServersFor HP LaserJet MIO

Bay Tech has combined performanceand affordability in the new Ethernetprint server card. The LaserShare® PS-MIO easily installs into the MIO slot ofyour HP LaserJet Series 4, IllSi and 4Silaser printers.

The three key advantages LaserSharePS-MIO has over standard networkprinting are: speed, printer location, andcongestion reduction. The fast through-put speeds allow downloading of largetext and graphic fdes at the speed ofyour network. It increases file serverefficiency by assuming the printingfunctions of the file server. You canlocate your laser printer anywhere onthe Novell Netware® 3.x compatiblenetwork by using either 10BASE2 orlOBASE-T connections.

For only $395.00 it is the best lowcost, high performance print serveravailable.

8 Can Share Your LaserJet

Bay Tech is pleased to offer a morediverse LaserShare product line with theinclusion of MIO expansion cards.

Circle 185 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 186).

Printer Sharing 4 Serial Ports$549.00

Printer Sharing 4 Parallel Ports$549.00

$50.°° Rebate on LaserShare® MIO

Purchase a LaserShare before August 31, 1993 and receive a $50.00 rebate.

LaserShare allows up to 8 users toconnect simultaneously to the MIOexpansion slot of your HP LaserJet laserprinter. LaserShare models are availablewith 4 parallel ports, and 4 or 8 serialports. Lasers hare's standard 1MBbuffer is user expandable to 4MB. TheLaserShare 4A-MI0 is the only 4parallel port card available for HPLaserJet MIO products.

Parallel input speeds of 70Kcps arethe fastest in the industry. UseBay Tech's Tran-x® for parallel printing,with serial port models, for distancesmore than 1,000 feet and speedsto 46Kcps.

Experience & Reliability

For 17 years, Bay Tech has been aleader in the design and manufacture of

data communication products including:Network Print Servers, Printer SharingSolutions, Statistical Multiplexers andData Acquisition Controllers. Call toU-free today to learn more about Bay Techconnectivity products.

All product or company names are trademarks of theirrespective holders.

E>ecause Resources Should Be Shared

Data Communications Products Division200 N. 2nd St, PO Box 387, Bay St Louis, MS 39520Fax: 601-467-4551 Phone; 601-467-8231or toll-free

800-523-2702

JULY 1993 IS V 1 I' 251

, V PERSONAL COMPUTER MEMORY

IBM ^

PS/1 286, 3S6SX

im 92F9935 S7» 4MB 92F96M S149

PS/1 Consultant, Essential, Expert models x43, x44,PS/Voiuepoint oil models except Cxx series

4MB 96F9290 S1S9 16MB 96F9291 SS79

PS/1 Consultant, Essential, Expert models x76

16MB Kit 96F9291 S579

PS/2 25/286, 30/286, memory adopter 1497259

2MBKil 3I1F5360 S79

PS/2 35SX; IS, 40SX, SOZ, 55SX; IS, 65SX; IS, 70, XSlntion

1MB 6450603 S49 JMB 6450604 S7S

PS/2 70-A21; A6I; B21; B61, PS/1 Consaltnnl, Essential,Expert models x11, x13, x14, PS/Valuepoint Cxx series

2MB 6450608 S75

PS/2 35SX; LS, 40SX, 55SX; IS, 65SX; IS, XSIolion, PS/Vatuepoint Cxx series, adapter board 34F3011 or 34F3077

4MB 34F2933 or B7F9977 SI 49

PS/2 35SX; LS, 40SX, PS/Valuepoint Cxx series

BMB 6450129 S299

PS/2 90 XP, 95 XP, P7S (pairs), 56, 57 (all), P5/1 Pre l«2123

2MB 645090! S89

PS/2 90 XP, 95 XP, P7S (poirs), 56, S7 (oil),PS/1 Consultant, Essential, Expert models x11, xl3, x14,PS/1 ProM2123

4MB 645012B S149 BMB 6450130 S299

Expansion boards far 50, SOZ, S5SX, 60,6SSX

2-8MBw/2MB 1497259 $269

Expansion boards (or all models 70,80

4-16MB»/4MB 34F3011 S409

Dell

Power Desktop 325D; P, 333D, 333P, 433P, 486P, 486D

1MB 310-2505 S59 4MB 310-2507 S149

Powerline Workstation 420; 425; 433; 450; 450DE/2, 466DE

2MB 310-2466 S99 BMB 310-2468 S319

r Powerline Workstation 420; 425; 433; 450; 450SE/2, 466SE

ijj^ 32MB Kit 310-2630 S1199

Per^ormnnce T, I, & M series

4MB 310-3325 S159 16MB 310-3327 S579

PerFormnnce ME series4MB 310-3334 SI 59 BMB 310-3335 $329

Zenith

Z-300/400 Series Z-420/SX, Z-425/SX, Z-433/DX, Z-433/SX

4MB ME-100 S159 16MB ME-90 S599

Z-Server 425SE, 433DE, 450DE

4MB ME-432 $179 8MB ME-102 S319

Z-Station325Sh;Sn,420SEh;Sb;Sn,42SSh,433Deh;Dh,4S0XEn

1MB ME-70 S49 4MB ME-100 $149

Zenith Z-386/20; 25; 33,33E

1MB ZJ3B00MF S49 4MB Zi3B00HK S149

Zenith Z-386SX/20, 2861P+, Z-LS

2MBBI Z-605-1 S89

Zenith 486/33EI; 25E

4MB Z44200M2 S1B9 i6MB ZJ4200M8 S619

AST

Premmia

, 4MB 501159-001 ...S199 8MB 501159-00! S379

Manhattan SMP

16MB 501143-001 S879

Bravo 3/2Ss

!MB 500710-004 $99 BMB 500B24-002 S319

Advantagel 386SX/20; 25, Advanloge! Pro SX/25, Bravo 3/33s

2MB 500962-001 $75 BMB 500962-002 S339

Advontaael Pre 486DX/33; SX/25, Brovo LC 4/25s; 33; 33s;sod; 4/S6d

2MB 5009B7-001 $89 4MB 500987-002 $139

Premium 386/25; 33; 33T, Premium 11 3865X/16; 20; 25

1MB 500780-003:00! $59

Advontogel 486/25; 33; 33p; SX20, Bravo 4/33; 486/25;Premium 4/25; 33TE, Server SE 4/33

2MB 50071B-004; 780-005 SIH

Advontogel 486/25; 33; 33p; 5X20, Power Premium 3/33,4/33; 33s; 50d; 66d, Premium 386/33IE, 486/25; E; 25TE;33; 33E; 33TE, Premium 11 386/25; 33, 486/33,4865X/20Premium Server SE 4/33

4MB 500780-004 ...SI59 BMB 500780-001 S!89

Compaq

ProLlnea 3/25s; 3/2Sis

2MB 14173B-001 S89 BMB 141742-001 S289

ProLlnea 4/25s, 4/33,4/50

1MB 141182-001 $59 2MB 141683-001 $89

4MB 141684-001 ...S159 BMB 141685-001 $309

DeskPro 386-20, 20e, 25

4MB 113132-001 ...5169 4MB 113645-001 $219

DeskPro 386s/16

4MB 112534-001 ...SI69 4MB 113634-001 $229

DeskPro 3/251; 331,4/2515; 331; 661, 286N; 386N; 3865X/20;20N, SystemPro LT Series, Portable 486c, M Series

1MB 11868B-001 S49 2MB 118689-001 S79

4MB 118690-001 ...SI49 BMB 112B77-001 S309

ProSignia PC Server 486/33; DX2/66

16MB 149320-00! ...S999 32MB 149147-001 ...S2439DeskPro 386-33, 486-33, SystemPro

2MB 115144-001 $99 BMB 116561-001 $289

Hewlett-Paikord

Vectro QS/165; 20PC RS/20; 20C; 25, 25C

4MBKil DlS42«rl6424 $169

Vectro 386/I6N, 386/20N, 386/2SN PC

2MB D2406A S99 BMB D2404J S319

Vectro 486PC; 25T; 33T; 486s/20; 4/2SN; 33N; SON; i6H

2MB D2381A SB9 BMB D2152A $309

Vectro 386/25; 486/25U; 486/33U; 486/50U; 486/66U

2MB 023B1A $B9 8M8 D21524 S309

Veitrn 486/25H; 486/33N; 486/50N; 486/66N

16MB 02676* $579

Vectro 386/33N; 33NI

2MB D27I4* $129 BMB 02715* $399

NEC

PowerWate 286/12; SX/16, SX/20

2MB Kit OP-410-B103 S99

PowerMote SX/20

2M8 (PU Upgrade OP-410-B101 SI 89

2M8!xp.8oorJ Of-410-B102+8103 S209

PowerMate 386/331; Express Te, e series

4MB OP-410-6205 ..S179 16MB 0P410-6206 .... S649

LAPTOP & NOTEBOOK MEMORY

ASI

PowerExec 3/25S1, 3/25SL-C EL 4MB S179

16H8 SI 299

Powerixec 4/25SL 4MB S209

Premium Exec 286,386SX/20; 25; 25C 4MB $129

Compaq

Contura 3/20, 3/25,3/25c 4MB SI 69

BMB S319

Contura 4/25 series 4MB S229

BMB $399

ITE 286 2MB S99

ITE 3865/20 4MB S199

ITE Lite 20; 25; 2Si, 25e 4MB S229

16MB S999

LTE Ute 4/25c 4MB S239

BMB S429

SLI286 4H8 S279

SLT3S6S/20 4MB SI 99

NEC

UltroUte t Cellular Workstation 286F 4M8 $369

UllroLite 8, Cellular Workstotian SX/20 2MB $179

BMB S599

UltroUte III, SL/25C 2MB $119

4MB $199 ■

UltroUte SL/20, SI/20P 2118 $119

6MB $289

Texas Instruments

TravelMate 3000 (oil models) 2MB $79

TravelMate 4000 (all models) 4MB SI 99

TravelMate V»inSLC/25 2MB $79

Toshiba

TIOOOSE/IE/XE; 2000, 2000SX; SXe,

2MB

S85

T2200SX, T1800 Satellite Series

4MB

....SI 59

BMB

.... S299

T1200XE, 1600,3I00E

2MB

S89

T3100SX,3200SX,SXC

2ME

S89

4MB

....SI 49

T3200

3ME

....SI 49

T3300SL

4MB

....SI 79

16MI

S835

T4400, T6400 (all models)

4MB

....SI 79

16MI

.... $875

T4500

BMB

....$619

16MI

.... S999

T5IO0, T5200,15200C, T5400, T8500

2MBBMB

$92....$279

IBM

ThinkPad 300

2MB

....SI 59

BMB

.... S429

PS/2 CL57SX, ThinkPad 700, 700C

4MB

.... S219

BMB

.... S369

NS1 Hoteliaak(All)

2MB

....SI 79

4M8

.... S249

L40SX N33SX, PS/Note 182

4MB

....SI 35

L40SX, PS/Note 182

BMB

.... 5285

Zenith

Z-Note 3201, 320Lb, 3251, 3251c

2MBBMB

....SI 69.... S369

Z-Sport 420S, 425S

4MB

....$189

Z-Sport 32SS

2-6MB ....4M8

....SI 39.... S249

MostersPort 386SI. SLC, SLe

2M8

$9)

MostersPort 386SX

2M8

$109

PS/Note N45SI

2M8

....$136

LASER MEMORY

g CPU UPCRADES

R*lXm.TECHNOLClfeY COflPOflATION

Upgrade your system to 386 or 486 powerl

Use Windows in enhanced mode, get true multitasking and bockgroundoperation for Window 3.1, OS/2, and other 386 specific software.Improve your system's performance by up to 350%.

Oon'l rsplote your sytlem, upgrade!

SX/Now! m CPU Upgrod«

25MHz(SX} SI99 33MHz(SX) S219

•^SLC/Nowl 486 CPU Upgrwk

!OMHz(SLC) S129 33MHz(SLC) S219

50MHz(SLa S399

486/Nowl 4S6 m Upsrnde25MHi(SX) S429 33MHz|DX) S639

MCMasier m cpu upgrad«

25MHz(SX) S829 Witb'IMBndd S149

33MHz[DX) S1299 With BMB odd S289

FAX MOPEMS

For Apple, AST, Compaci, IBM, Sharp, Tl, Toshiba, Zenith,uud many other Laptop aud Notebook Systems.PCMCIA 2.0 Internal FAX/Modems

14,4fl0bp5FAX/Modeni S495

24/9600bps F/a/Modem S29S

Internal FAX/Modems w/MMP-5 & V.42/V.42bls

14,400bp5FAX/Modeni

24/9600bps FAX/Hoden

.S549,S229

External Packet Modems (or any RS-232 SerM Port

14,400bps FAX/Modem S379

24/9600bpsF4X/MoJ» SI 89

(1omputerI^ripherais.inc:

ViVo Internal Modems

14,400hps V.32A.42 modem, send & receive FAX SZ] 9

24/9600bp5 with send/reteive FAX SB9

ViVa External Modems

14,400bps V.32/V.42 modem, send S receive FAX S279

24/9600hps with send/receive FAX S95

PS/1 DATACARD

PKingvStoii

^■•iXlTECHNOLdBV CORF=ORATION

DalaCaril Miao Channel Storage and IMemory Upgrade is

available with 85, 127 or 209MG of bootoble 16 millisecond accessslorageplusrourSIMMsDcketsthotoccomodaleupto 64MB of system RAM.

t 16-bit or 32-bit DotaCord

85MB DoloCordwithOKIAM S42S

127MB DaloCarJwilh OK RAM S550

209MB DatoCaiil with OK RAM $709

Diamond Computer

Sleollb Pro 1 MB S249 Sleollb Pro 2MB S359

Sleobh 241MB S169 Viper 9182 S409

ATI Toihnologies

Grnpbio Ultra Plus 2HB S339

Crapbio Ultra fra 2MB S499

SIMMS

Industry Standard 30-pln SIMMs

1MB X 9-70 or 80ns, Fost Page Mode

4MB X 9 70 or BOns, Fast Page Mode..

36-eit, 72-Pin SIMMs

512Ki35-70ora0ni (2MBI

IHB X 36-70 or 80»s (4MB)

2M8 X 36-70 or BOns (BMBl

S3S

...SI 29

S79

... S149...$2B9

' 100% compatible in form, lit, & function'

* All products user Installoble *

' Instollotion instructions included *

* Toll-free technical support *

* Manufacturer's warranties'

* Corporate PO's, APO/FPO's welcome '* Government ond Educational pricing ** Special volume pricing ** 24-hour fox line '* International orders welcome ** Same day shipping '

* Overnight delivery available *

* No surcharge on credit cards *

' We'll meet or beat any advertised price '

I

ESC

TOLL FREE FROM THE UNITED STATES AKD CANADA

714/588-983

Business hours:Mondoy - Friday, Som-Spm, P.S.T.Saturday, 9am-3pm, Orifers Only

HP LaserJet lllsi, 4,4M, 4Si, 4SiMX, XL300, InkJet 600

Ponnsoair 4410 & 4430

4MB C20t5A SI 49 BMB

(:2066A

5299

2MB KX-P441 SI 19 4MB

N/A

5179

HP LaserJet IIP, 111, HIP, HID

Panasonic 44501 & 4420

2MB 33475B $99 4MB

334778

SI 59

2MB KX-P441 $119 4MB

N/A

Si 89

HP LaserJet lU IID

OkiLoser 400

2MB 334448 S99 4MB

33445B

$159

1MB 70014701 $79 2M8

OKI N/A

S99

IBM Loser 4029 all models

Texas Instruments Microlaser and XL

2Me 11B3334 S99 4MB

1183335

SI 59

1MB 2555739-0001 . S49 4MB

2560052-0002

..S99

Canon L6P-4, 4Lite, 4Plus

Epson EPL 6000

1MB 563-2230 $119 2MB

N/A

$169

2MB IBS401 S99 4MB

N/A

SI 69

Canon LBP-lll i Bill Plus

Epson AitionLoser 11, EPL-8000

2MB 563 2350 S249 3M8

S63-2360

5299

2MB N/A 5169 4MB

N/A

S259

SOUND CARPS

Computer Peripherals Inc.

ViVa Maestro Pro (includes speakers)

ViVaHoestrol6(li-bill

ViVa Maestro 16VR (with voice recognition) ..

Mail or fax orders to:First Source International, Inc.7 JourneyAliso Viejo, CA 92656

Circle 193 on Inquiry Cord (RESELLERS: 194)

• Toll Free Sales & Technical Service

• 100% Compatability Guarantee

• 5 Year Warrantee On Ail Memory

• No Surcharges

• International Orders Accepted

• Purchase Orders Accepted

HARD DRIVE

SALE

eUARANnED LOWEST PRICES

(^Seagate

MODB SIZE SKED TYPE PUCE

Sr225 20MB 65MS MFM 5-25" $169

Sf4096 BOMB 28MB MFM Full HT $389

Sr251 1 42MB 28MS MFM 5-25" $249

ST351A |1 • tiigh).... 42MB 28M5 IDE 3.5" $129

ST3]20A(l"high) 105MB 18MS IDE 3.5" $209

ST3l44A(l'high) 130MB 16MS IDE 3.5' $229

ST32i3 213MB 15M5 IDE3.5" $299

ST3550A 452MB 12MS 1OE 3-5' $599

■naUA(l-) 940MB 19MS IM 3.S- t3B9

Sr4766N 660MB 15MS SCSI/FH $899

Sr41200N 1037MB 15MS SCSI/FH $1049

MODEL SIZE SPEED TYPE PUCE

CP30084E 80MB 17MS IDE $238

CP301D4|rhflh) 120MB 19MS IDE $259

CP30174A(rhigh) 17CWB 17MS IDE $258

CP3025411 ■ high) 209MB 12MS IDE $379

CP3364 36CWB 12MS IDE $798

CP3544A S25MB 15MS IDE $899

CP3540 540Mfl 12MS SCSI $999

Mom. SIZE spra> type prke

25128(2'A "DM 125MB 17MS IDE $298

7120A(fhigh| 130MB 15MS IDE $228

raiu|i-U|h) ai3iiu i9iu im t»9

72I3S(rhigh} 213AW 15MS SCSI $341

7245A (1 ■ high) 245MB 15MS IDE $328

7345A 345MB 15MS IDE $499

LXr535A(HH) 535MB 13MS IDE $999

PANIHER(FH1 1000MB 13M5 SCSI $1389

PANIHEH(FH) 1500MB 13MS SCSI $1648

FUjrrSU' 5 YEAR WAMUUITY

MOOa SIZE SPm TYPE COST

2622A/5(3.5-) 330Mfl 12MS SCSI/IDE $799

2623A/SI3.5") 420M8 12MS SCSI/IDE $768

2624A/S(3.5") 520MB 12MS SCSI/IDE $788

2266S(FH1 1080MB 15MS SCSI $1228

2652S(fHl 1750MB I IMS SCSI $2499

2654SH 2000MB IIMS SCSI $2489

AAOOPOLB

2105I3.5-) 560MB lOMS SCSI/IDE $999

1624(HH) 660MB 15MS SCSI $1199

2112(3.5") 1050MB lOMS SCSI/IDE $1298

1528-15(FH) 135CW6 14MS SCSI $1749

15481FH) 1748MB 14A.^S SCSI $2049

1924(FH| 2100MB 1 IMS SCSI $2895

K WESTERN DIGITAL

22O0(rhigh) 212MB 12MS 3.5" IDE $279

2250(1 "high) 256MB 12MS 3-5" IDE $328

2340(rhigh) 340MB 12MS 3.5" IDE $448

3 YEAR WARRANTY

360K

5.25"

$29

720K

3.5'

'AHT

$34

1.2MB

5.25"

$58

1.44ME

3.5"

'AHT

$58

5-25"

MOUNT

$5

Floppy Drives

8 Bit

8 Bit

8 Bit

MBit

16 Bit

SCSI

32BH

SCSI

ESDI

IDE

IDE

Cobles

Cables

DriveControllers

4 Floppy High Density

2 Hard Drives MFM

2 Hard Drivw RLL

Hord Drive only

Fiord and Fkppy 1.1 InteHeove —

DTC-3280 (Supporh 7 drive*)

Adaplecl742A

Adaptec 1542 Bus Mastering

DTC6282-24

Hard and Floppy

Hard and Floppy w/KD

Fiord Drive

Fiord and Floppy

,., $24$34

.-$139$429$219

..$149

SOFTWARE LIQUIDATION

WORDSEVR. "^tUTzT"*

This is not o misprint! Theseore the exactsome or>es selling lor over $300.00from oor competitors. We hove thou-sands in slock ro sole bekw dealer costiRetail boxed and Fodory sealed.

REDUCED PRICE

».J $59

(100 FOR $55) EACH

WE BUY EXCESSINVENTORY

For U.S. and CanadianOrders Call Toll Free:800-982-2925

HOIIISt M-r 6UII-6nill / MT ie*M-3PM KT

TKHNICAL & CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL(702) 294-0304 FAX ORDERS, INQUIRIES, PC's &INTERNATIONAL ORDERS TO: FAX (702) 294-1 l«S

NEW MEMORY

INTRODUaORYPRKXS

Toihlba 4500 4MB/8MB $198/388

m Uh 4/2M 4MB/8MB S239/398

Coll (or 16MB Availability

FAX MODEMLIQUIDATION

9600 BPS Group til Facsimile, 2400 BPS Hayes Compofible Modem,True Background Send ar>d Receive, Menu Driven, Comnrand Line,Normal and Fine Modes, Half Card, One Year Womanty

IBM $49

Pocket PC or MAC $99

Laptop Toshiba or Compaq as low as $ 148

9600 Baud Fax only cards $39

386 & 486Processor Upgrades

h4ow you can use Windows in enhanced nvxie, get true multitasking& background openalion fof Windows 3-1, OS/2, & other 386specific software. Processor upgrodes offer dramatically increasedsystem performance & eosy installation & improves your systemsperformance by up to 350%. Available for rrrast mochlnes,

SX Nowl Supports BM AT iMd oliwn into a 386

25MHZ $309 33MHZ $349

SIC Nowl Supporb 286 PS/2 Into o 486 20MHZ $1S9

25MHZ $235 50MHZ $43S

486 Nowl Supports PS/2 70, 80 & Compaq into 486

DX33MHZ $699 SX25MHZ $449

MicroMojter supports oil MCA PS/2 into a 486 (0-16MB memo^)

486DX33 91399 486SX25 $349

AT Master Supports 386SX systems from IBM & Compaq (0-16MB)486DX33 $ 1399 486SX25 $939

COPROCESSORS

sonuaiMUKic nmumiuawB:

80e7-3SMHr -,W 80387- 1 Mb U9

8087-2 a»t $68 B0387-2(WHi iS)

8087-1 lOMHz U8 B0387-25MHi J69

tmimutate^ m7-mb jt?

80287 ■4MH7 J29 M«7-OU(5l

80287-8Mfc (39 80387-3(20 J89

80287-lOMHi U9 8038751 J99

802B7-XI Vi f

K!2B7-xii jw v^rnx.

COftOOUOU ft CN'l5yKTM]tninly.

Flug conipatibie wilti Hd, and bsMfl

B3087-33Mhi

B3D87-40Mh2

83S87-SX25MKi/SX33...CPU UPGRADE FOR 3M'S8a<86DLC-258(Me6DlC-3380486DIC-40

., SI04

,C-25

... Si 18... $179... J239... SI28

Intel

CPU's

386DX

80386 DX/20 $39

80386 DX/25 574

80386 D)(/33 S89

AMD DX40 J99

484DX/SX

80486 D)(/25 S299

80486 DX/33 $369

80486 DX/50 $498

80486 DX-2/50 ..,,$47880486 DX-2/66 $599

80486 SX/25 $179

80486 SX/20 $149

80486 SX/33 $249

We try to beat prices. Call for current pricing

IBM PS/2 Memory

MOOEL# MEMORY PART* PftKE

PS/1 and 386/SX (2121) 2MB 92F9935 $88

4MB 92F9694 S!59

PS/2 30/286;25/286;AdplBrd 1497259

PS/235SX,IS,40SX,70-E61;061;121 512K 30F5348 $35

2MB 30F5360 S84

Adpt Brd 6450609; 34F3011; 34f3077

XStoHon 120&130 1MB 6450603 $49

2MB 6450604 $79

P52 50, 50Z, 55SX, 60, 65SX 2-8MB 1497259 $259

2-16MB 6450609 $308PS/250&60, 2MB$99, 4MB$1S9, 8MB $289PS/1 Consultant, Essentials & Expertmodels x43, x44 & PS/Voluepoinl all models

except Cxx series 4MB N/A $159

16MB N/A $699

PS?2 70-A21; A61; B21; 861; PS/1Consultant, Essential & Expert models x11,

xl3&xU,PS/VduepointCxxserie5 2MB 6450608 $79

PS/2 35SX,- LS, 40SX, 55SX; LS, 65SX;LS, XStafion, PS/Voluapoint Cxx series &

odopter boonJ 34F3001 or34F3007 4MB 34F2933 $168

87F9977

PS/2 90 XP, 95 XP. P75 (Pairs), 56 57 (all)

PS/lPn32123 2MB 6450902 $88

PS2 90, 95 XP, P75 (Pairs) 56,57, {all)P5/1 Cooiuhoni, Esientiol. Expertxll,xl3

&xl4,PS/l Pro2123,RS/6000 4MB 6450128 $158

8MB 6450130 $318

PS2/2 35SX; 15; 40SX 8MB 6450129 5298

P52 70's and 80's 2-8^^ 6450605 $249

32 BIT BOARDS 2-14Mfl 34F3077 $288

32BITBOARDS 4-16MB 34F3011 $348

PS/280-A21;A31;A61 im 6451060 $198

PS/2 80-041 1MB 6450373 $88

PS/280-1I1;311;121;321;081;161 2MB 6450379 $98

BOCARAM/a PLUS

For PS/2 16 Bit Memory lor all IBM MCA Systems, DOS and OS2 UMEMS 4.0 Support. 2-8MB (Uses 1 MB Simms)2MB-$179 4MB-$245 8MB-$372

PS/2 MD CL57SX Color, Notebook,Tliinlcpad 700, 700C

PS/Note N45S1.

PS/2 Model N51, Notebook SLC, SX

Laptop N335X,L40SX&N82..,L40SX

,, 2MB 07G1419 $168

4MB 07G1420 $239

8MB 07G142t $389

2MB 92F8857 $98

2MB 92P8804 $98

2MB 07G1826 $88

4MB 07G1827 $158

8MB 07G1828 $308

,, 2MB 79F0999 $88

4MB 79fl000 $168

,, 8MB 79F1001 $388

S199

TOSHIBA laptop & Notebook Memory

PART* PRICE

PA8311U $84

PA8312U $84

PA8314U $168

PA8315U $308

PA8306U $92

PA8302U $85

PA2000U $89

PA2001U $168

PA2002U S328PA7135EPA8341UPA8308U

PA83t0U $158PA8307UPA8309UPA8318U

PA8319U $158

PA7137U $158

PA2006U $128

PA2007U $188

PA2008U $288

PA2009U $795

PA2003U $125

PA2004U $198

PA2005U $348

PA2010U $799PA8301UPA8304U

MODEL

T2000SX

TIOOOSE/LE/XE

T2OOO5X/T100OLE

T1200XE

T1600

T2000SXEA22O0SXA1800,,

T3100

T3100E

T3100SX

T3200 5X

T3200SXC ..

T4400 SX, SXC, T6400 SXC, DXC

T5200A5200CA8500..,

MEMORY

„ 2MB CARD.,2MB CARD,4MB CARD8MB CARD, 2MB BOARD2M6 BOARD2MB CARD4MB CARD8MBCARD2MB MOD2MB MOD2MB BOARD4MB BOARD2MB MOD4MB MOD2MB MOD4MB MOD3r^ BOARD2MB CARD4MB CARD6MB CARD16MfiCARD„, 2MB CARD4MB CARD8MB CARD16MB CARD„2Mfl BOARD... 2MB MOD8MB MOD

PA8313U $348

PCMCIA SRAM MEMORY

AST POWEREXEC, DEC PAIMTOP, DEli320SU, GRID GRIDPAD. HP95LX, IBM PC RADIO, MOMENTA PESfTOP, NCR 3125 NOTEPAD.POQET, SHARP PC3000/3100, SHARP PC-6700/6741/6781/6785, SHARP PC-6800/6841 /6881 /6891, ZEOS POCKET PC.SI3K $119.00 IMI $169.00 $399.00

comma

MODEL ^^-^^

Deskpro 386/16 1-2MB

2MB4-8Mfi

Deskpro 286E; 386-20; 20£; 25; 25E 1 MB

4MB

Deskpro 3865 4MB Board

4MB Module

Deskpro 386-20E;25E 4MB

Deskpro 386/33; 386/331; 486/25;

33L;50L;5yslempro 2MB

8MB32MB

Con^wq "M" 2-64MB

Deskpro 286N; 386N; 386SX/20; 20N,Portable 486c, Deskpro M , Systempro LTSeries 129160-001, Compaq Pro Signia,,, 1M62MB4MB8MB

Prolina 3/25 &25Z 2MB

8MB

Prolina 4/25si, 4/33,4/50 2MB Module

4MB Module8MB Module

Compoq Pro Signia 16M8

32MB

Systempro; Deskpro 6 SKT EXP BRD W/2MB

Memory

MEMORY PART# PRKE

108069- 001 $248108069W71 $348

108070- 001 $398

113131- 001 $59

113132- 001 $178113634-001 $229112534-001 $179113645-001 $239

115144-001 $102116561-001 $369116568-001 $1478129160-001 $348

Compaq Laptop A

Centura 320,325 2MB

4MB8MB

5LT/286 1 MEG MOD

SLT386 IMEGMOD

2MEGMOD4MEGMOD

Ue286 IMEGBRD

2MEGBRD4MEGBRD

Ue386S/20 I MEG BRD

4MEG BRD

He Ute/20,25, 25C 2MEG BRD

4MEG BRD8MEG BRD16MEGBRD

LTE Ute/20 &

Ule/25;25C 16MflCard

Compoq Ute 486/25C 4MB Card

BMflCard16MB Card

118688- 001 $49

118689- 001 $85

118690- 001 $158128877-001 $318141738-001 $89141742-001 $299

141683- 001 $98

141684- 001 $168

141685- 001 $318149320-001 $995149147-00152395116569-001 $299

Memory

139497- 001

139498- 001

139499- 001110235-001110237-001

118303- 001

118304- 001

118305- 001117081-001117081-002117081-003121125-00!121125-002129769-001129769-002129769-003

$318$79

$218$79

$108

$199

$218

$179$138$238$398$1395

N/A $1045

142337-002 $229

142337-003 S378

142337-004 $1198

Simm Modules

Prices change up and down call. Sippmodules, odd $3.00 each

DESOtlPnON

I 256X9

■ IMEGX3

■ 1MEGX9I 4MEGX9

■ 16MEGX9

■ 256X361 MEG (72 Pin)I 512X36 2MEG (72 Pin)I lX36 4MEG(72Pln)Z 2X36 8MEG (72 Pin)

■ 4X3616MEG(72Pin)

OONS

SONS

70NS

60NS

S3NS

$9

$11

513

$18

$36

$37

$42

$31

$39

540

$44

549

$144

$154$699

$179

$50

$85

$95

$149

$159

$189

$299

5318

$379

$649

$699

$749

$88$158$88

D-Ram Chips

DESOUPnON

150NS

120NS

lOONS

SONS

70NS

AONS

64X4

$1,95

52,25

$2.45

$2,95

256X1 STATIC

$1,95

52,25

256X1

51,05

51,45

$1.90

$2,00

$2,05

$2-20

256 X4

$4.45

$4,95

$5,45

$5.95

IMEGX 1

$3.95

$4,75

55,45

$5.75

IMEGXl STATIC

$4,95

55,25

1MEGX4

$17,00

$20.00

524.00

Laser Printer Memory

IMEG 2MEG 3MEG4MEG SMEGSMEG

6rottierHL-8,8E,8D,8V $99.$149 $249

Canon LBP4, 4 Lite&-(- $118. $164

Compoq Pogemork 15 8,20 $319 $638

Epson Adion Loser II, 8000 .. $95 $163 $229

Epson-f 6000 ond mony more $98 $168

Fujitso 7100 & 7200 $ 199 . $279

HP Dedqet 500,500C and 550C $59 (256K)

HP2,2D, $89 $146

3,3D,3P,2P, 2P-h $103 $159

HPIII SI $50 $148

HPLiiserJet4, lllSi,XL300 $148 $289

IBM Loser 4019,4019E (3.5MB) $169

IBM Loser 4029 $139

NEC90,290 $118 \

NEC95 $128 I

OKI400 $99 I

Pockord Bell PB9500 $125 5178 i

Ponasonic4410/4430 $119 $188

Panasonic 4420/44501 589. $108 5178 I

Ponosonic 4450 $105 |

Ponosonic 4455 $139 i

QMS4iO $129.$179 $249

StarLS04 $129.$179 $269 I

StarScript4 $128.$178 $258 I

Tosibo Page Laser 6 $119 $178 ,

T1XI/PS17/PS35 548

Moior Laptop & Notebook Memory |

MOOa MEMORY PARTf PRKIE i

AT8.T Safari 2MB 37650 $128

4MB 3765) $238 I

&ondwellB-310 1MB 23O5OW100 5128 [

Dec pc 320 Notebook 2MB Mod FR-POM BA $149 i

4MflMod FR-POM-BB $298

SMflMod FR-PCIM-BD $345 i

DellLc^top212,320N;320NT IMflMod 310-3203 3

2MflMod 310-3204 $109 j

Dell 325N;NC; Notebook P.C-2MB Mod 310-3210 $148 '

Ddl NL20 & N125 NTBK 2MBMod 310-3213 $148 I

^son NB-3 Notebook 4MB A808501 $198 |

EpsonNB-SL/20;25 2MBMod A808771 $138 i

25C hWxjok 4MB Mod Ae08781 $228 '

EvBfBx Tanpo IX, LX20 2MB 00160 J

Everex Carrier 2MB 00263-00 J

Grid 1500 4MB 52587 $198 |

Grid 1450SX 2MB 6200203 $148

Goldstar GS520,3865X16 1MB N/A $98

4MB N/A $298 I

f^^CR 3120 Notebook 4MBMod 3120-K104 $299

NCR3170 Notebook 4MBMod 3123-KI04 $399 I

Packard Bell, Mognavox, Milsuba .... 1MB N/A 3

4Mfi N/A $198 I

Ponosonic CFl 70/270/370 1MB CF-BA165 3

Samsung Notemaster 386S 2M8 SNM002 $195 I

4M& SNM004 5395 |

Sanyo 17NB; 18NB & ZEOS 2MB MBC-NBMEM2 3

Sharp 6220 IMfl CE-621B 3

Sharp 6640 2Mfl N/A 5198 I

Sharp4700MZ-200 IMfl CE-471 5198 |

Sharp 8501 Colsfstar 2Mfl N/A 5398 |

Tl Trovelmate 2000 IMfl 2568034-0011 $88

TlTfnvelmate3000SX;WlNSX 2Mfl 2566996-0001 $98

Tl Trovelmate 4000,

WINDX/25SX/16,SX25 4MB 2581265-001 $218

ZENITH MEMORYt CALL FOR ALL MODELS

fl(^ Memory

MODQ# CBHFUiEii MEMORY PART* PUCE i

h«TEBOOK28i/l2;386SX/20 4MBMOD 500814-003 $168

NOIEBOCX EXEC SX/25; SX/25C 4MBMOD 500814-004 $168 I

POWER EXEC 3/25SL, 3/25SL< m& MOD 500984-001 $168 |

16MBMOD $1298 |

AST POWER EXECL EL 2MB MOD 500984-004

4MB MOO 500984-001 $169 I

8MB MOO 500984-002 $399 I

16MBMOD 500984-003 51245 ,

POWER PREMIUM 486/50D 8MBEXPKrT 500780-001 $348 I

4/33;3/33,4/660,PREMIUMH i6MeEXPiaT $598 I

386/25,33.486/33; 5X20 ...,4-32 MB EXP BRD 500818-001 $348 I

ASTPREMIUM386C/386-16 4MB KIT 500510^»e $179 ,

AST PREMIUM 386 4MB KIT 500510-004 $198'

AST PREMIUM II, 386SX/16;

386SX/20,486 37&33T 4MB MOD 500780-004 $191

BRAVO LC 4255,4/33S,

4/50D, 4/66D 2MB KIT 500987-001 $98 I

4MB MOD 500987-002 $168 |

8MB KIT 500987-003 $348 I

16MB $649

■ JL I 32MB $1200 j

"'^G' MEMORY BOARD

For 286 and 386 sytems, ASO design ghies EMS suppori in hardwifBWupto 90X peihrmance cn«r solhvare EMS. UptoSMBusingIMBSWMS. Wodts in bolh 8 if 16 bit expansion skrts0KMEG$88 2MEG$148 4MEG$208 8MEG $338

TfWWSl SHIPPING: UPS |Min. $8.25) Shipping charges eaNDmONS:20%RestocklngFeeonrehjndswil(iln30

orenon refundable. NET 10 on approval. Purchase orders days. No retundsor exchanges after 30 days-WARRANTY

from Universities, Fortune 2000 & Government Agencies, REPLACEMENT ONLY. AliPRlCESFINAL. PRICESSUBJEa

COD add $5.00 (Cashiers check) rfg~\ ''O CHANGE. Mfg. port #'s for convenience only.

^^aHB ^^^r" IiiumI Trademarks are registered witfi their respective Co.'s. 386,

" " DHL 387, 287, SX, are trademarks of Intel Corp.

Circle 195 on Inquiry Card.

S»l SUPER SOURC

CALL FOR LATEST SIMM PRK

HARDDRIVES

SIMM-SIPP MODULES

Quantum

FUJITSU

TOSHIBA

MICROPOLIS

^Seagate

HEWLETTPACKARD

WESTERN DIGITAL

S087 5MHZ IMELBOB7-2 8MHZ INTEL3087-1 10MHZ INTELB0?87-6 SMHZ INTELB02e7-8 SMHZ INTEL803B7-10 10MHZ INTELB0287XL lOMHZ INTEL802e7XLT 12MHZ INTEL80387S)t-16 16MHZ INTEL80387SX-20 M HZ INTELB03e7OX-1B16MHZ INTEL80387DX-20 20MHZ INTELe0387OX-25 Z5MHZ INTELe0387OX-33 33MHZ INTELe(M87SX-35 IMTELOVERDRIVE SXCX33OVERDRIVE SXDX25OVERDRIVE SX/DX20RAPID CAD

75.0075.0085.00BS.OD89.0089.0089.0089.00479,00749.00599.00499.00239.00

830a7DX-16l6MHZ CYRIX(-20 20MHZ CYRIX(-25 25MHZ CYRIX3DB7QX-33 33MHZ CYRIX(-40 40MHZ CYRIXa3S8?SX15 16MHZ CYRIXB3Sa7SX20 20MHZ CYRIX83SB7SX25 25MHZ CYRIX82S87XL CYRIX

WEITEK

3167-20MHZ WEITEK3167-25MHZ WEITEK3167-33MHZ WEITEK

mnmi weitek

4167-33MHZ WEITEK

H-0084.0094.0074.0074.0074-0074.00

295-00395.00495.00445.00695.00

2CB7-B SMHZ III2CB7-10 10MHZ IIT2C87-I2 12MHZ IIT2CB7-20 20MHZ IIT3C87-1fi 16MHZ IIT3C87-20 20MHZ IIT3Ce7-25 25MHZ IIT3C87-33 33MHZ IIT3C87-40 40MHZ IIT3Se7SX-1616MHZ IIT3SB7SX-2D 20MHZ IIT3SB7SX-25 25MHZ IIT3SB7SX-33 33MHZ in

Am X 9-"IMB X 9-"IMB X 9-1MB X 9-1MB X 9-1M6 X 9-1MB X 9-1MB X 9-1MBX 9-1M8 X 9-1M8 X 9-

80NS SIMM-PC70NS SIMMGONS SIMM100NS 9 CHIP SIMM■SONS 3 CHIP SIMM80NS 9 CHIP SIMM70NS 3 CHIP SIMM70NS 9 CHIP SIMM60NS 3 CHIP SIMM60NS 9 CHIP SIMM■53NS 3 CHIP SIMM■53NS 9 CHIP SIMM)-70NS SIMM

135 256K256K

165

33 ^56K32 256K35 1MB

X 9-100NS SIMMX 9-80NS SIMMX 9-70fJS SIMMX 9-60NS SIMMX 8-aONS SIMMX e-70NS SIMMX 8-80NS SIMMX 8-70NS SIMMX 9-100NS SIPPX 9-80NS SIPP

10 1MB X 9-70fJS StPP12 1MB X 9-60fJS SIPP

12 256K X S-100NS SIPP

13 256K X 9-80NS SiPP256K X 9-70NS SIPP256K X 9-60NS SIPP256 X 36 - 1MB512X36- 2M61 X 36 - 4MB

CALL 3 X 36 - 8MBCALL 4 X 36 - 16MB

CALLCALLCALLCALL

CALLCALLCALLCALLCALLCALL

AIR USINESS VEISA

9W0 433S

POP TABLE 4HC

32 SIT EXPAXSIDN CARD FOR

TRAVELMATE 2000

2568034001 S 99TRAVELMATE 3000THAVEIMATI300SWINSI

2MB KIT 2566776001 99IHAVELMATl 4«(nVI>ISI

4Ma MOO 25813550001 225MKROIAIER PLUS, nHICflOlASER PLUS TURID'MB MOD 355739001 613MeKITNA inIMB KIT N A 2405M6 KIT U I 490

•Apple

ALU WUNESS VEIU ARHAr

1MB KII MWim 15616UB KIT l!91H)00 (2S

0-37UB E C i;ia74B0 ii;

ALR BUSINESS STATION

9000 4256

4MB KIT W2'J)A 275BMB -n 12201A 4S016Mfl MT i2f02A BSO

SEC

:MB MOS iiS69C«' 1493Ma MOO i2iE7iOCi 299

2M8 <I1 14 79

TWO CARDS PER MACHINE

Q-32Mfl E-C 1(91MB MDD 64^803 422MB MOD 6450604 75

1 PRINTER1 MEMORY

1 LAPTOP & 11 NOTEBOOK 1

POwEReaotiDs ih i<j i7o

7HJ MOO W103311-* S 99JMB Wao M1C3JLL-* 199

POWERBaOI 1U. 190

ZMB MDO N A 130im MOD H A ZXSMB MOD H A ;9SBMNUDDNA 31010MB MOD N A m

powtRMKiK m. no

Mm-. IWHt *RE THREE rtPtSOFMODULElFOAMDaSJIda» -UPGRUULE- -US£-MH-EonEimoML- BESURE TO PUnCtUSE THECORRECT ONE FRR >DUH

CONVEIITIDIUL 1 STANDARD)

AIRPOWDIPRD

UR POWei PRB ARRAY

UR POWER PflOiHC

UR powfH Fia afER. mt

m IT 12904000 15t

UR POWER CACHE VS-itSlALR HICROFLn UOO

IMS KIT I29O4000 15iJ2M6 KIT NA liMALU RTER mCI 37m SOU

UIB I29018W lis16MB 129M81E MS

RANSR KmsslUB MOO 1292M10 HOBMB MOO 1792801E HI16MB MOON A 1H9

ranUM NOIBDOK 11 (20

1BMB KII A19;9A BJ532MBN KII J2512A 1B25

13MB KIT Ai9B7fl 1595

9000705, m

BMB KIT A271BA 395

32hlB KIT A2315A 1195X-STATION TOOHI

2NBN MOO C232I6 904MB MOO C3323A 163

DESKJErsODC. 500 PLUS. 5S0C256KB MOO H32707fl 64

LASERJET 11. Ua2-4 E-C K334 44B 1024MB E-c K33115B lU

LASER AT np. Ul.

ULTRALITE 2B6F

1MB 00 PC2321 I 96

ULTRUITE SI ID2M6 MOD PC1J31 157BMB MOD PC1432 430

ULTRAUn SL20. SL20P6MB MOO PC492I 299

uiTAun in. SU5C

4MB MOD PC4722 299BMB MOD PC47,'3 52S

PRaSPE{D2K1MB MOD PC2i3i 913MB MOD 'C2136 ISO4MB MOO PC3I33 32S

PROSPEED SU2MB MDO PC3131 150BMB MOD PC3132 429

OESIPRO 3HE

2MB Kl. NA 79j-16MBECNJ 129OESIPRO 396-16

1MB KII IQSO^IOJI 120IMB t'l :jS.JOai'jr 2092MN E-C i0S0S9-;i-00i 341

BMB E-c i0B073.r3-D0i 69BOESUflD 30U

IMB E-.: '13634OT1 250iME MOD ii364S!>li 75;UE M 2DESIIPR036620E 25E ^

^HB MOD 11^31001 ^OESIPRQ 3U 33

32aN. 21211. 3200PLUS

1MB MDD 3T33203 I 902MH Mllil 3103201 130

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61MB KIT <'6i( 3600SPARCSFBVfR 630MP 670MP690

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IMS MDD 6450603 423MB MDD 6450S04 751M8 MOD B7E9977 149BMS MOD B150129 299

1MB KII 9H8623002 175BMB .1 9148633003 295■.6MB kit 9148623B04 700

LBP-8llj. -IPLUSI-3MB E C 3632310 1453-3MB E C S63235D 2613MB f-C S633360 377

3MB E-C N A in1MB E C N A 225OL130.140

;mb e : 7001^1 iis

3.4Ma EC NA lUIMB E-c N A 199■0(-Pt4S5

LOCAL BUS MOTHER BOARDS

386/48G

ONE BOARD SOLUTION

386/486-64K Cache no CPU S2Qfl386/486-256K Cache no CPU $250

3B6DX-33-64K CACHE W/CPU ..386DX-33-256K CACHE W/CPU386DX-40-64K CACHE W/CPU3B6DX-40-256K CACHE W/CPUJ8SSX-25-64K CACHE W/CPU4860X-33-64K CACHE W'CPU486DX-33-256K CACHE W'CPU■186DX-50-256K CACHE W'CPU

KAMpAT! " ».

iniQing. no swildics oi mttmtiiKjiymoilts

RAMpATI-P/Bs"

ISA eipgn^cKi sbts-Hjidiiaiory-Sell insialmg soltmie

lusEWViinie SHI.II ilH 4 0 DpaiKM

$106

AST Rampage Plus/2MB $169

DYNAMIC RAMSi

1MB X MOONS1M8 X 1-SONS1MB X 1-70NS1MB X 1-60NS256K X 1-150NS256K X 1-120NS256K X MOONS

3,954.204.254.701.5Q1,55

256X1-B0rjS .256K X 1-70NS25BK X 1-60 NS25BK X 4-100NS .256K X 4-80NS256K X 4-70NS256K X 4-60NS .

21.QD

2.204.354.454.504.75

64K X '1-120NSS4K X 4-lOONSe-IK X J-80NSe-lK X M50NS64K X 1-120NS64K X MOONS

CACHE

(. CREDIT CARDS ARE VERIFIED FOR FRAUDULANT USE

FRAUDULANT USE

FOR MEMORY PRODUCTS NOT LISTED, CALL FOR PRICES AND AVAILABILITY

PURCHASE ORDERS FROM GOVERNMENT AGENCIES - UNIVERSITIES - FORTUNE 2000 FIRMS - CALL 1-215-922-4650

NEVER A SURCHARGE ON CREDIT CARDS OPEN SATURDAY 10-6 ' "ed.^^^^^

TECHNICALSUPPORT ORDERS ONLY TOLL FREE FAX

1 -215-922-4640 1 -800-457-6937 1 -215-922-0116

ALL CREDIT CARDS ARE VERIFIED FOR FRAUOUUNT USE.ORDER TOLL-FREE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE USA OR CANADA. CALL FOR CURRENT PRICES AND VOLUME DISCOUNTS. PRICES AND AVAILABILITY SUBJECT TO CHANGE ORDER LINES OPEN 6 DAYS

MINIMUM ORDER 50 00«USA SHIPPING & HANDLING: AIR S12 00-AIR OVERNIGHT $18 00-COD ADO S4,00»PA RESIDENTS ADD 7% SALES TAX»PREPAIO ORDERS CALL FOR CONFIRMATtON*ALL RETURNS REQUIRE RMA# AND ORIGINAL INVOICECANCELLED ORDERS AND RETURNS FOR CREDIT SUBJECT TO 257= RESTOCKING CHARGE«RETURNED MERCHANDISE MUST BE IN NEW CONDITION AND RECEIVED WITHIN 14 DAYS FROM INVOICE DATE SORRY NO REFUNDS AFTER 14 DAYSSHIPPING AND HANDLING CHARGES NOT REFUNDABLE-INTERNATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME~APO-FPO ORDERS WELCOME PO 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 1007a GUARANTEED AND COME WITH LIFETIME WARRANTY EXCEPT

30 DAY WARRANTY ON CPU CHIPS AND 1 YEAR WARRANTY ON MOTHER BOARDS i

WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGIES

437 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106Customer Service 215-922-4640

254 BYTE JULY 1993

Circle 200 on Inquiry Card.

CUSTOM COMPUT^^OLESALERS

INTERNATIONAL

r ^—

Free Shipping

1-800-203-2612

2 Year Warranty

Free MS-DOS 6.0 and Windows

WITH EACH COMPUTER ORDER

386 DX-40 M HZ

Computer

" Medium Tower Case■128K Cache

• 4 MEG RAM Memory

• 1.2 Floppy Drive

• 1.44 Floppy Drive

• 80 MEG IDE Hard Drive

• 1 MEG Graphics Card

• 101 Keyboard•14" SVGA Monitor

• Mouse

■ 200 W Power Supply

386 SX-33 M HZComputer

• Desktop Case

• 1 MEG RAM Memeiy

• 1.2 Floppy Drive or1.44 Floppy Drive

• 80 MEG IDE Hard Drive

■ Graphics Card

■ 101 Keyboard■14" SVGA Monitor' Mouse

■ 200 W Power Supply

486 DX-33 Mhz

Computer

• Medium Tower Case•128K Cache

• 4 MEG RAM Memory

• 1.2 Floppy Drive

• 1.44 Floppy Drive

• 80 MEG IDE Hard Drive

• 1 MEG Graphics Card

• 101 Keyboard•14" SVGA Monitor

• Mouse

• 200 W Power Supply

486 DX2-50 m hz

Computer

• Full Tower Case■128K Cache

• 4 MEG RAM Memory

■ 1.2 Floppy Drive

• 1.44 Floppy Drive

■ 80 MEG IDE Hard Drive

• 1 MEG Graphics Card

• 101 Keyboard•14" SVGA Monitor

• Mouse

• 230 W Power Supply

CallforcustomconHgumtons

'✓ i Call for hardware andsoflwareprices

Free shipping in thecontinental United States

Open 7 days a week from7:30 AM. -11:30 P.M. EST

Fax # (813)255-163718440 Paulson Drive, Building 0Murdock, FL 33954

486 DX2-66 m hz

Vesa Computer

Medium Tower Case256K Cache4 MEG RAM Memory1.2 Floppy Drive1.44 Floppy Drive80 MEG IDE Hard Drive32 Bit VGA Graphics Card101 Keyboard14" SVGA MonitorMouse

230 W Power Supply

IF IT HAS TO DO WITH COMPUTERS - WE HAVE IT FOR LESS

Circle 257 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 258).

The Perfect Computer Defined

1^ No matter how you define the perfect computer,ESP is the only name you need to know.

ready for whatever tomorrowmay bring.

The perfect computer.We designed it; we defined it;your ESP retailer has it.

STARTING AT

486sx25-$999°-°

rerrect qu£

Ki,

your machirmillion conis ready tokeep runPerf«No prolWe offsite se

a24h

supp

For more informantioncall 1-800-933-4282

© CTC 1993

The Intel Inside Logo is a

registered trademark of Intel Corporation.

Circle 530 on Inquiry Card.

JDR Microdevices

2233 Samaritan Drive, San Jose, CA 95124

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR!

• 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

• 1 YEAR WARRANTY K^^^l

• TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT ih^^l

MOTHERBOARDS

I VESA LOCALBUS 486DX$599

' 33MHz 80486DX HBIBBBBuite

128Kb cache expandable to 256Kb■ Uses 256K, IM or 4M x 9 80ns SIMMs (0K installed)• Two VL Bus/l6-bit slots and six l6-bit slots' Advanced AMI BIOS with shadow RAM

I MCT-486VI-33 33MHz VESA Local Bus $599.00

MCT-486Vl-6i 66MHz VESA Local Bus $899.00

MCT-M486-50E 50MHz EISA w/coche $999.00

MCT-M486-50 50MHz cache 486 $799.00

MCT-M486-33 33MHz cache 486 $549.00

MCT-M486SX-25 25MHz cache 486SX $399.95

MCT-C386-40 40MHz cache 386 $299.95

MCT-C386-33 33MHz cache 386 $249.95

LmCT-M386SX-33 33MHz 386SX $129.95

486 COOLING FAN

Make your CPU run cooler!Easy snap-in installation.

486-FAN $29.95

^ 486-FAN-R Above fan w/electronic refrigeration ..$49.95

POST CODE DISPLAY CARD

8-bit 286/386/486 PC compatible card ^^^^KDisplays power on self-test code ^^^^^^HWotks when softwate won't even boot ^^Ml^^^"Supports AMI, Award, Phoenix and IBM AT BIOSPCODE $49.95

ILOGICLAB EXPLORER

Transforms your PC into acomplete environment for testing I& simulating digital logic circuits ILibrary includes most common74LS and CMOS ICsLogic analyzer includes 16 logic probesI LOGICUB $49.95

I WIRE-WRAP PROTOTYPE CARDS

JDH-PH2 8-bit with I/O decode layout $29.95

JDR-PR10 16-bit witli I/O decode layout $34.95

SOLDERLESS PROTOTYPE CARDS

PDS-60I 8-bit breadboord-on-a-card w/IO decade . $79.95 II PDS-611 16-bit breadboard-on-a-card w/IO decode$89.95 I

EPROM PROGRAMMER

Programs devices up to 512K bits,plus 27C100, 27C101, 27C301,27C1000, 27C1001, 27C2001,27C4001 and moreIncludes dedicated 8-bit 8088and 286/386/486 PC compatible card

MOD-MEP-IA

M0D-MEP-4A As above with 4 ZIP sockets

$199.95$269.95

UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMING SYSTEM

Programs EPROMS and CMOS• Tests TTL & CMOS devices. Static & Dynamic RAMMOD-EMUP $699.00

EPROM ERASER $39'^

Quickly and simultaneously erasesup ro 4 standard EPROMsk DATARASE II $39.95

I

FAX/MODEM/PHONE SWITCH

• Save phone line charges! -

• Supports fax, modem, phone and . /answering machine from 1 phone line ■"•"-^-.^ r.:^/

FAXM-SWITCH $89.95

FAX-SWITCH Without modem connection $59.95

2400 BAUD MODEM $49^^

• Internal data modem

• Hayes AT command-set compatible

• Configure as COM 1-COM2MCT-241 $49.95

14,400 BPS INTERNAL FAX/MODEM

• 14,400/9600/4800/2400/300

• Hayes AT command set, V.42bis/V.42/V.32, Group III fax compatible j

• Uses high-speed 16550 UART

MCM44IF+ $199.95

VIVA-144EF 14,400 baud external version $299.95

' LOW-COST WINDOWS ACCELERATOR

286/386/486 PC compatible $149^^1280 X 1024 in 16 colors f^^' f

1024x768 in 256 colors1Mb DRAM installedAutomatic video modeswitching16-bit bus

MCT-VGA-5000 Windows Accelerator $ 149.95

MCT-VGA-1000 800x600, 256Kb DRAM $49.95

MCT-VGA-3000 1024x768, 512Kb DRAM $89.95

I MCT-VGA-4000 1024x768, 1 Mb DRAM $ 129.95

3-BUnON MOUSE

95

^$14

Accuracy 290-1450 DPI

Opto-mechanical design

Windows 3.1 compatible

JDR-MOUSE-3 $14.95

MOUSE-PAD $4.95

MCT-GAME Dual port game port $29.95

JSTK-300 Joystick $9.95

JSTK-500 Pilot-style joystick $19.95

250MB TAPE DRIVE

250Mb with DC2120 tape(using data compression)Transfers up to 6.7Mb/minute8088 and 286/386/486 compat5-1/4" internal half-height 'jjgigfgjgg,DJ-20 ™"

DJ-10 1 20Mb capacity tape drive

DC2120 Extra tape cartridge

$199.95$179.95..$19.95

SOUNDMACHINE

8088 and 286/386/486

compatible card

2 shielded speakers & joystick• 3.5mm microphone

Built-in 4W amplifierSOUNDMACHINE $119.95

INTERNAL CD-ROM DRIVE $ 199'^

350ms access time

MPC and PhotoCD compatible

150Kb-175Kb/second transfer

With 286/386/486 compatible card

CDROM-I $199.95

ACCESS Kodak Photo CD driver for CDROM-I $29.95

OVER 70 CD TITLES IN STOCK FROM $19.95!

CALL FOR YOUR FREEJDR CATALOG TODAY!CALL 800-538-5000

DYNAMIC RAM

PART*

SIZE

SPEED

TYPE

PRICE

412S6-80

256K X I

80ns

DIP

1.95

4142S6-S0

2S6K X 4

80ns

DIP

5.49

1MB-80

IMx 1

80ns

DIP

4.99

1MB-60

IMx 1

60ns

DIP

5.49

41256A9B-80

256K X 9

80ns

SIMM

14.95

4l256A9t-60

256Kx9

60ns

SIMM

16.95

421000A9B-80

1Mx9

80ns

SIMM

39.95

421000A9B-60

lMx9

60ns

SIMM

45.95

424000A9B-8a

4Mx9

80ns

SIMM

149.95

424000A9B-60

4Mx9

60ns

SIMM

159.95

MATH CO-PROCESSORS

PART f SPEED PRICE

PART # SPEED PRICE

8087-2 8MHi 129.958087 SMHi 89.9580287-XL 12MHz 74.95

80387-SXP ^SMHz 74.9580387-DXP ^3MHz 79.9580487-SX ^SMHz 369.95

OVERDRIVE CO-PROCESSORS 'ri^

0DP486-SX20 $329.95

For 20MHz 486SX OverDrive socket0DP486-SX25 $459.95For 25MHz 486SX OverDrive socket0DP486R-DX25 $459.95Replace 25MHz 486DX with 50MHz DX2

0DP486R.DX33 $589.00

Replace 33MHz 486DX with 66MHz DX2

0DP486-DX33 $589.00

66MHz 486DX for OverDrive socket

MULTI I/O CARD WITH IDEFLOPPY/HARD CONTROL

• 16-bit 286/386/486 compatible

• Supports 2 IDE hard drives &2 floppy drives (360Kb-1.44Mb)

• 448bps max baud rateMCT-iDE10+ With 16550-com. serial I/O ports.... $99.95

MCT-IDEIO With 16450-com. serial I/O ports $69.95

MCT-CIDEIO Cache IDE and I/O controller $199.95

MCT-IDEFH IDE Floppv/Hard Controller $29.95

MCT-AIG Serial/parallel/gome port card $49.95

MCT-AIO+ Two NSl 6550 serial/par/game port. $89.95SOUNDBLAST-PD SoundBlaster Pro Deluxe $139.95

I MCI-SOUHD 8-bit sound cord $49.95

TEAC COMBO DRIVE

5-1/4" and 3-1/2" half height

supports 360Kb-1.44Mb diskettes.

FD-505 Beige .TT.... $149.95

FDD-1.44A 1.44Mb, 3.5", Beige $79.95

FDD-1.44X 1.44Mb, 3.5", Black $79.95

FDD-1.2 1.2Mb, 5.25", Beige $89.95

FDD-360 360Kb, 5.25", Block $89.95

FDD-2.88A 2.88Mb 3.5" drive. Beige $99.95

131MB DRIVE KIT

• ST-3144A 131Mb, 16ms IDE hard

drive w/32Kb cache, l6-bit f/h

controller, cables and insrrucrionsHDKiM30 $249.95

IDE HARD DRIVES

^Seagate

M

PART f BRAND CAP. SPEED

TYPE

PRICE

CP-30084 Conner 84Mb

ST-3096A Sengote 88Mb

CP-30174 Conner 170Mb

ST-3I44A Seogote l3IMb

CP-30254 Conner 250Mb

19ms 3-1/2" IDE $199.95

16ms 3-1/2" IDE $199.95

17ms 3-1/2" IDE $249.95

16ms 3-1/2" IDE $229.95

14ms 3-1/2" IDE $339.95

— S 800-538-5000 ''"totl-B-Uir' 'i

TERMS: For shipping & handling indude S5.00 for ground & S7,50 for air. Orders over 1 lb. and foreign orders moy require additional shipping charges—contact our Sales Dept. for the

amount. CA residents must include applicable sales fax. Prices subject to chonge wifliout notice. We ore not responsible for typographical errors. We reserve the right to limit quonfities

and to substitute manufacturer. All merchandise subject to prior sales, A full copy of our terms is avoilable upon request. Hems pictured may only be representative, JDR, the JDR logo,

JDR Microdevices, ond the MCT logo are registered trademarks of JDR Microdevices, Inc, Modular Circuit Technology is a trademark of JDR Microdevices, inc. Copyright 1993 JDR MICRODEVICES,

Toll-Free Fax Ordering800-S38-S00S

Lotal 408 559 1200BBS 408-5590253

JULY 1993 BYXE 2ST

Circle 204 on Inquiry Card.

You Can Rdy on Ralin For all Your PC System Upgrades!

]^ODEM UPGRADES

Zoom Telephonies

All Zoom modems are backedby a 7-year warranty andare made in the USA.

2400 bps w/ v.42bis and MNP 2-5

(AMC)(AMX)

internalexternal

$ 45.00$ 63.00

2400 bps modem with 9600/4800 faxIncludes v.42 bis and MNP 2-5

(AFC)(AFX)

internalexternal

$ 49.95$ 69.95

9600 bps modem w/ v.32, v.42bis, MNP2-5

(VP-V32)(VX-V32)

internalexternal

$ 185.00$ 199.00

14.41< bps Fax/Modem w/ v.32bis, v.32,v.42bis and MNP 2-5

(VFP-V32bis*)(VFX-V32bls*)

internalexternal

$ 189.95$213.00

2400 bps modem w/.42 bis and MNP 2-5,9600 bps send and 4800 bps receive Fax

PKT Pocket/Fax Modem

$ 89.95

'WlNrAX Lite software option available for S12 if purchased Willi Vl-l'-V:i2bis or Vl-X-V:t2bis iiiodeni-

Call a corporate sales expert today and find out how Ralin canmaximize your purchasing dollars by upgrading your existing computerequipment. Ralin stocks: • Motherboards • SIMM Memory • Controllers

• Printers • Monitors Hard Drives • MFC Products • Computer Cases

• Keyboards and much more

CALL 1-800-752-9512

EPSON'

Equity 4

Personal Computers

486 series ofprice/performingdesktop computers

SPECinCATlONS:

• 4 Meg RAM

• 1.44M 3.5" floppy drive

• IDE interface

• Mouse

• DOS 6.0

• Windows 3.1

486SX-25 MHz $799486DX-33MHZ $1199486DX-2/50 MHz $1445

Ralin Policies

• Prices and availability subjectto change.

• Purchase orders are accepted,subject to approval.

• We do not charge your carduntil order is processed.

incomplete returns aresubject to a service charge.All returns other thanexchanged items incur a lO'Mire-stocking fee.

To insure your shipment arrives when you needit, Ralin uses only the most reputable modes oftransportation available:

M

PC UPGRADES

Philips CM205

■ 680 Meg MPC CD-ROM

■ Kodak "Photo Cl^" compatible.CD-ROM XA upgradable.

■ Made in the USA

CD Bundle

Compton's Family Choice • Toolworks F^ncyclopedia • MammalsInternal External

CD-ROM w/controUer cardWith CD Bundle

~265'325

>375'449

PhilipsCDD-462 RS

$445.00

External MPC CD-ROM and CD Audio playerKodak Photo CD compatible680 Meg

H

mmm

WHOLESALERS, INC.

P.O. Box 450, Orchard Park, NY 14127Hours: 8:00 am to 6:00 pm Mon-FriCustomer Service: 716-674-6267Fax: 716-674-2108

Printer Sharing & Memory

I/O = input/outputQ = serial□ = parallel

LCX-IOOO(IMb) $495

8 ports; 4 serial I/O; 57,600 bps2 parallel in, 2 parallel out

LC-256 (256Kb) S375LC-512(512Kb) $425

8 ports; 4 serial I/O; 19,200 bps2 parallel in, 2 parallel out

UFR-ETC $49

Windows & OS/2 File Transfer4 user license, for LC or LCX

PB-42PP-256Kb $199PB-42PP-1Mb $249

6 parallel ports; 4 in / 2 outUpgradable to 4Mb; 25,000 cps

LC-41PAS $69

5 parallel ports; 4 in /1 outSmart-switch; 25,000 cps

LC Jr.-256 (256Kb) $199LCJr.-512 (512Kb) $249

5 ports; 4 serial in, 1 parallel out

Up to 115,200 bps

SPPS $49

9600 bps to 115,200 bpsSerial / Parallel Converter

PB-IIPP-IMb

2 parallel ports; 1 in /1 outUpgradable to KMb; 75,000 cps

800-238-9415

PCMCIA 2.0 SRAM Cards:

512Kb-$120, 1Mb-$175, 2Mb-$295

Toshiba:

WOOXBSE/LE, 1800, 1850,

2000,2000SX/SXE, 2200SX2Mb-$90, 4(i*b-$150, 8Mb-$275

3300SL4Mb-$150, 6Mb-$225

4400SX4Mb-$150, 8Mb-$275

Powerbook & MAC:

100/140/145/170/160/165/1806Mb-$250,8Mt)-$310, 10Mb-$390

DUO 210/230:6Mb - $260, 8Mb - $320,10Mb - $410

Cent.610/650, QuadSOO, LCIII4MB-$145. 8Mb-$260

MAC SIMMs (70ns.):

x8-$32, 4x8-$124, 16Mb-$495

Logical Connection^ 4m Portland Road NE #108 Salem, or 97305-I658 Tech.: (503) 390-9375 FAX: (503) 390-9372

2S8 H V r I; JULY 1993

Circle 205 on Inquiry Card.

WINDOWS™ ACCELERATORHIGH SPEED, BATTERY BACKED RAM DISK

Ideal for disk intensive applicationsuch as Windows, CAD and Imaging

• Replaces a hard disk in PC/AT^"

• Expandable Memory2MB-96MB DRAM SIMMs

Memory mapped to I/O space,not memory space

RAM Disk access time<2 microseconds (170 ns)

Autoboot option available

TURBODISCComputer Modules, Inc.2350A Walsh Ave.Santa Clara, OA 95051Tel: (408) 496-1881Fax: (408) 496-1886

Circle 212 on Inquiry Card.

SCSI IDE FLOPPY

HOST BUS ADAPTER/CONTROLLER

STANDARD FEATURES

• Drivers for Fixed, Opticaland Removable Drives

• Internal and ExternalSCSI Connectors

• SCSI and IDE Cables

• On-Board Diagnostics

• Complete Documentation. Lifetime Warranty

. 30 Day Return Policy

• Made in tlie USA

$150.00

il6-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 & 4tli Floppy Driver

$175.00

(16-81t HBA/CntI w/Option Pkg.)

CONTROL CONCEPTS INC.(703) 876-6444 • (703) 876-6416 Fax

Government,Educational and Corporate Discounts AvailableDealer Inquiries Welcome

Circle 243 on Inquiry Card.

mmmm

It's VoiceIt's Fax-on-(demanIt's an Applications

Generator.It's $495 for board

and software.It's PhoneOffice.

teOffice application window running|idow.s 3.1. Configure for Auto-Attendant,ssa^e Center. Fax-on-demand. Messagevvarding/Pagtng/Scheduiing, 1-ax-scdni

gDENS

Call our demo line 309-862-1804to get more information by fax-on-demand.

Tel: (309)862-1704 Fax: (309)862-1804309 W. Beaufort, Suite 8, Normal, IL 61761

Dealers, call us about our specially discounted promotional units.

Circle 241 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 242).

Communications/Networking

PC

aprocessor

GMM Sync4/CCPT'''

• High Performance 16 MHZ 16 bit CPU.

• 80X86 code compafibie.

• 4 Sync/Async Ports(2 Serial Ports with Full Duplex DMA).

• Uses Zilog 85C30, 85230 SCC chip.

• 512K Dual Porfed Ram (STD)(1,2, or 4 MEG Duol Port Rom - optional).

• 8k, 16k, 32k, 64k Window Size (Programmable), gmm Products Are All Mode in USA.

• 8 Software Selectable and Shareable ^

Interrupts PC/AT Dual Pon Com. Coprocessor

• RS232/RS422/RS485

• Source Code Debugger Kit Available.

also (waihbleGMM Sync2/CCP"

Gllll^

GMM Research Corporation

Other PC/AT & PS/2 8530 based products avoiiabbExtremely competitive pricing.

(714)752-9447 Fax (714)752-7335

18092 Sky Park South - Unit E, Irvine CA 92714

Circle 217 on Inquiry Cord.

REAL r/ME INFORMATION!

24 Trucks L OflOED iHllIji

QCIflLlTM

J

RECORD TIMEINCREASES PRODUCTIVITY AHD DECREACOSTS

• INDOOR AND OUTDOOR LE.D. DISPLAYSFOR MORE INFORMATION CALL (800) 723-9402^j-JW WE DESIGN TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS!

n I jl I I 5028 113th Avenue North Clearwater, FL 34620iffl.'l&HM.'ili.nil/.ffJ fax 813/572-0144

Circle 256 on Inquiry Card.

V

oiceResponse/CallerlD forWindows

Would you like to deveiope multi-tasking multi-line non-blockingInteractive Voice ffesponseappiications lor Windows?PIKA oilers tlie developer tlie high quality, leature rich AVA-BSeries 1,2 & 4 line voice cards with hardware voicecompression.

Also, the new PiKA IdFi 1, 2 & 4 line Ca/ter Wcards are the'^i; answer to many new and exciting Windows server applications.All PIKA cards are available (at ailordahle prices) with WindowsDLL & DDE developer toolkits,inquire about developer toolkits for NT, DOS, UNIX & QNX.

156 Terence Matthews Cres. Kanota, Ontoiio K2M 2A8, Conada .Tel: 1-613-691-1565 Rix: 1-613-591-1488

Circle 246 on Inquiry Card.

LET YOUR COMPUTER DO THE TALKING!

IntegratedVoice/Fax Mail

integrates major voice/fax applications plusprogram control into one full-featured highperformance software. PC-AT/386/486 based.Menu driven. Easy to use. Full support forRhetorex, New Voice, Dialogic, TTI and Intelvoice and fax hardware. Supports up to 24voice lines and up to 8 fax lines.Hardware + Software Kits ^ ^ ^ O2 voice lines kit starts at V " 17 "24 hours free info: 818-368-4566 or 818-368-8848

SigmaTech Software

Tel: (818) 368-6132 Fax: (818) 368-7859

10801 Bismarck Ave., Northridge, CA 91326 USA(Resellers/Dealers/OEMs/Private labels are welcome)

I Auto-AttendantB Unlimited AudlotexI Voice MailI Call Processing

■ TelemarketingI Fax Mail

I Fax-on-DemandI Fax Broadcasting

■ Party/Chat lines

I Talking Yellow pages

Circle 238 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 239).

JULY 1993 BYXE 259

Communications/Networking • Computer Systems • Data Acquisition

Multi-Line Voice Mail Plus.

VAX ONDEMAND/

FAX ON DEMAND • VOICE MAILCALL 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 ttiem - NOW!

Complete Pacl(age witti Hardware and FAX Software. 2 year warranty.

Requires PC/AT/386/486. ^ „ , ^, , ,. ^ „

^ For Sales and Information Call:

V/S PLUS only $699 -f -800-685-4884

MULTI-LINE HARDWARE from $299 510-S22-3e00-FAX:510-522-5556

TALKING TECHNOLOGY, INC."^;

1125AtlanlicAve.,Alameda,CA94501 ///, |

Circle 229 on Inquiry Card.

(Develper/OEM package specials}(VISA-MC-AMEX-COD)

AT Syste

□ Single Board Computers \

□ Run DOS code from ROM

□ PC Code compatible

□ Large Memory space

□ Backplane systems

□ Develop code on a PC. Run on our

CPU cards with DOS and code in ROM, Useoff-the-sfielf expansion cards.

□ KS6: NEC V53 CPU (286eq), 5 serial, 2 Par, Clock, AT bus.Max 4M Ram, 2M Rom, 512K NV Sram. $299 (ql-oem ver).

□ KS3: V40 CPU, 3 Serial, 2 Par, Clock, Flop, Kbd. $224 (q1).

303-444-7737 Fax 303-786-9983

655 Hav4hiorn Ave., Boulder CO 80304 U.S.A.

KILA

PC-based Solutions forIndustrial Automation

• Industrial PCs & Workstations

• Enclosures and Card Cages

• 486/386/286 CPU Cards

• RAM/ROM Disks

• Industrial I/O Cards

• RS-232/422/485

1-800-800-6889

1-408-245-6678 in CAFax: 408-245-8268

Circle 221 on Inquiry Card.

- • '"'■"riON GUIDE

Circle 208 on Inquiry Card.

Data Acquisition • Disk & Optical Drives

FREE, 288 PAGE

1993 DATA ACQUISITION CATALOGAND REFERENCE GUIDE

IBM PC/XT/AT, PS2, MICROCHANNELCOMPUTERS AND COMPATIBLES

'A/D Boards

•Signal Conditioning•Communication•PC Instruments•Scientific Software

KEITH LEY

METRABYTE

I T I O N

SEND TODAY FOR YOUR FREECATALOG OR CALL 1-800-348-0033,FAX: 508-880-0179

Circle 224 on Inquiry Card.

The Intelligent Solution For Data Acquisition

"a

.-".i«'lfr*i hill

DAP 2400e™ Data Acquisition Processor^ANALOG I/ODIGITAL I/O

•Inputs to 312K samples per second• Outputs to 312K samples per second•Simultaneous fast input/outputCPU: il86 or i486

FFTandFIR-fflteringatieMIPS "20 MHz CPU with DRAM to 1024K32 MHz DSP with SRAM to 96KDAPL™ Operating System•100+standard commands MiCROSTAR• Custom commands in C ^^^\^^^^^^^^^^r

Laboratories X

, ^ 2265 116th Avenue NE

Send for FREE catalog and demo diskette. Bellevue, WA 98004

Or call us at (206) 453-2345. FAX (206) 453-3199

Higher reKability for lower price

Finally discover the difference total dedication toreliability and cost can make. Unlike most harddisk manufacturers, we manufacture higherreliabiUty but lower cost drive to sell.DX-3120A and 3060A are new version of hard diskdrive that was developed, tested and proven by ateam of engineers with sophisticated experience inthe hard disk drive industries.If you are ready to take these new products for yoursystem, please call us.

Key Features

■ 35" Winchester disl( drive

■ 120MB/60MB Capacity

■ 1 inch Height

■ AT/IDE Interface

■ 64KB/32KB Buffer

■ 1,7 RLL Code

■ 19 msec Avg, access time

■ 100,000 hours MTBF

/g)* DAEYOUNG

ELECTRONICS IND. CO., LTD.

Korea H.Q. 352, Dangjeong-dong, Gunpo-si, Kyoungki-do 43S030, Korea Tel: (02) 864-1661 Fax: (02) 8644479Sales Di». 185-4 Seobinggo-dong, Yongsan-ku, Seoul 140-240 Korea Tel: (02) 790-6873 Fax: (02) 790-6878In the U.S.A. and Canada, address your inquiries to Mark Westec Corp.780 Montague Expressway #104 San Jose, CA 95131, U.S.A. Tel: (408) 456-2660 Fax: (408) 466-0828

DaqBook/100

Data Acquisition

for Notebook PCs

High-speed, PC parallel-port connection

2-chD/A&16-ch,100-kHzA/D

32 digital I/O

16 high-speed digital inputs

5 counter/timer channels

AC or battery operable

MS Windows graphical software s

Dtech .,„.„„.,

iipproodi lo imiiumentatfon -

lOtech, Inc. 25971Cannon Rd Cleveland, OH 44146

(216)439-4091 Fax (216) 439-4093

Circle 220 on Inquiry Card.

260 BYTE JULY 1993

Circle 248 on Inquiry Cord.

Disk & Optical Drives

Disl( & Optical Drives • Diskettes/Duplicators

PS/2 50 50z 55sx 60 70 80 P70

IMTBHNAL DRIVES - May be used as a high performance replacement or to co-exist with originalIBM drive. Compatible with DOS3.3, 4.01, 5.0, OS/2 2.0 and Novell. Includes IDE or SCSI-2microchannel controller, hard drive, mounting kit, ribbon & power cable, manual, and hardware.85mb, 15ms, Internal Seagate IDE Drive Kit S415125mb, 15ms, Internal Maxtor IDE / SCSI Drive Kit $460/$472200mb, 15ms, Internal Seagate IDE/Maxtor SCSI Drive Kit $560/$585340mb, 13ms, Internal WD IDE/Maxtor SCSI Drive Kit $723/$899512mb, 12ms, Internal Fujitsu IDE / SCSI Drive Kit $1,239/51249l.ggb, 12ms, Internal Toshiba SCSI Drive Kit $1,794

PS/2 Model 25, 30, 30-286

42mb/85mb Hard Drive Kit $243/$Z89125mb/200mb Hand Drive Kit 5334/S434

Extems! SCSI drives available Iroin 125 mb to 1.75 gb- IncludesSCSI-2 controller, external case with drive installed and conligured.6' SCSI cable. Free drivers for CD-Rom drives or Novell 286 S 386

38 S'"T™ K Man-fri

1 800-487-2538

Tel: 1516) 981 9473 3| «wnor a.. OpniFax: (516) 98N5038 S'"Tl,7, B

MiniSCSI;p^»*-^

High-Performance Parallel-to-SCSI Adapter

Circle 240 on Inquiry Card.

THE TOTAL BACKUP SOLUTION.

PSS portable tape backup system, plugs Into any standardparallel port. Combined backup S verify at true 11MB/min.

I 100% Printer PassthroughI Weighs Just 7.2 OuncesI Fully Compatible WithBidirectional andUnidirectional ParallelPorts

I Powered By The SCSI BusI Only $229.00

^ Transform YourJ Parallel Port

Connect up to 7 SCSIdevices to your parallel portand still use your printer!

Up to twice as fast as our originalMiniSCSI, the MiniSCSf Plus

lets you run a CD-ROM, tape backup,SyQuest, Bernoulli or other SCSI devicefrom almost any parallel port. For mostnotebook users, it's the only way to useSCSI devices. Plus, an integrated cablemakes it a snap to share SCSI deviceswith 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

© 1993 Trantor Systems Ud. MiniSCSI and MiniSCSI Plus aretrademarks anil Trantor is a registered Irademari of Trantor Systems UdAll other product names are trademarks of their respectirv companies.

EPP Version Available!

"This product... is domed near perfect."-Jeny Poumelle, Byte Magazine March 1993

"This year, the company outdid itself...The MiniSCSI Plus is even more elegant thanits predecessor and almost twice as fast."-Jim Seymour. PC Magazine December 1992

S50MB-2GB capacities in native mode. QIC Industry standardformat. Supports MS DOS, Windows, OS/2, Novell, SCO UNIX andSCO XENIX. Complete with powerful solution-minded software series:

BUSS (Back Up Supervisor Software) — The ultimate inbackup prompting and or enforcement.

SM (Script Manager) — Creates files (scripts) specifyingm I data and files to backup, verify and compare.

SOB (SCSI Disc Backup) — Selective backup and restorationof files (hidden and security included) from all desktop,portable and network computers, including fileservers.

INFO AND ORDERS: 1-800-998-7839

WSS PA FIA L LEL-^BB S TOR A GE

mmm solutions

The Pacesetter in Parellel to SCSI Technology

116 South Central Avenue • Elmsford, NY 10523 • FAX [914] 347^646

S 1993. Parallel Storage Solutions. Inc. All Flights Reserved. All other n-ademarks are property of their respective companies.

Circle 235 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 250 on Inquiry Cord (RESELLERS: 251).

Let your "true colors shinethrough" when you advertise yourcomputer products in BYTE's

E4RDWARE/S0FTWARE SHOWCASE

our newest, affordable, 4 coloradvertising section!

Call for more details:603) 924-2695 or (603) 924-2598

STAND ALONE

DISKETTEDUPLICATOR

OVER 300 DISKS PER HOUR

5.25" and 3.50" Models

/MNTC

SIMPLE AND FAST FROM $1799 US

iXiOA1»7IC

TEL: (416) 602-9270FAX: (416) 602-9279

Circle 209 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 210).

JULY 1993 BYXE 261

Diskettes/Duplicators • Keyboards • Memory/Chips/Upgrades

Laptops & Notebooks • Monitors & Terminals

IT DUPLICATESEVERYTHING

E)CCEPTYOUREFFDI

Announcing the most effortless wayto copy diskettes. Tlie Tracer/ST—tfieaffordable desktop system ttiat formats,duplicates, and verifies fiundreds ofdiskettes per hour. Automatically.Better yet, the Tracer/ST family grows with you.Expansion options can double output, support a network,or simplify storage with an internal hard disk.

So call 800-872-2318 for the duplicationsystem that can't be duplicated anywhere.

©1993 Trace. A]] trademarks are property of their respectiveitolders. Fax us at C8^1-3399or writeto Trace. Dept. B..lOtO E. Bnrkaw Road, San Jose, CA, 95131,

Trace

Circle 230 on Inquiry Card.

Money Back Guarantee & 1 Yr. Warranty

PopularSpace-SaverKeyboard$98.00

Saves 60% desk space. Foot-print 27.3 x 15.2 cm. 100 full-travel tactilly responsive keys. Standard left-right spacing for easy touchtyping. IBM XT/AT PS 2 compatible. Many language versions available.

Call Toll Free To Order: 1 -800-DATALUX

155 Aviation Dr.'Winchester, VA 22602Tel l-703-662-1500«FAX 1-703-662-1682Auto-FAXed Specs FAX 1-703-662-1675

- VISA, MC, AmX -

Circle 215 on Inquiry Card.

Portable

Serial to Parallel Interface

For Printers, Palmtops,Notebooks. Easy to use, self-powered, no batteries, nohassles. Only 2" x 2" x 1/2"and less than loz! Works greatwith HP, Canon, all portableprimers. Also for HP 95/100and all palmtops and notebooks.

The BSE Company 602-527-8843 FAX 602-527-1540

TO COMPUTER

Boost data entry speed, accuracy and conveniencewith Genovation's Micropad,™ the innovativenumeric keypadfor portable computers.

Is the unhandy numeric section of yourportable computer's keyboard dragging youdown?....Give your productivity a boost byusing our Micropad. The ergonomicallydesigned Micropad is ideal for spreadsheetand accounting applications that require fastand accurate entry of numeric data.

The Micropad attaches to the parallel portof any MS-DOS computer while providing aclean pass through connection to the printer.Power usage is negligible. Lightweight andcompact, the Micropad is fully programmableand is also available with connectors to fitkeyboard and serial ports.

T

TO PRINTER

(800) 822-4333

17741 Mitchell, NortliIrvine, CA 92714 USATEL (714) 833-3355FAX (714) 833-0322

GENOVATION

Circle 216 on Inquiry Card.

STAND-ALONE LCD MONITORNew Touch Screen Option Available

I This 10" black on white monitor is easy-to-read, yet# 9 w I compact. Resolution is 640x480 for sharp, flicker-freeimage. Fast response, high refresh rate twisted nematic technologywith backlighting provides a bright low radiation screen with a wideviewing angle. The adjustable monitor base is only 29x14 cm. It letsyou mount the LCD monitor on verdcal surfaces or fold for trans-port. Comes with 1.5 m cable and controller card. No externalpower required. IBM AT compatible.

K I |m\A/ I Touch Screen Version. Capacitive technologyI 'I ■ " I 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 CaU ToU-Free: l^DATALUX

155 Aviation Drive • Winchester, VA 22602

Tel: 1-703-662-1500FAX: 1-703-662-1682AutoFAXed Specs:1-703-662-1675

Circle 236 on Inquiry Card.

262 BYXE JULY 1993

Circle 214 on Inquiry Card.

With VGA^TV Eliteany color TV can be yourcomputer monitor!

Supporting 640 x 480 resolution in 32,768 colors, the VGA^TVElite provides Flicker free high quality video conversion. Rock solidand easy to use, the portable VGA^TV Elite is a true savior to the

Presentation professional. Con-vert your computer presentationor Animation to show on TV orrecord to your VCR. Even playcomputer games on big screenTV! Supports RCA andS-Video In-puts toT.V.sand VCRs.

VGA-»TV»^lil

comer, yomVSA-MpM 10 u,.'

m9.

VGA -»-TVELITE

m

raasmmsmm TigerSoftware (CDwi

Call 800-888-5244

(8 am - 6 pm, Mon.-Fri. Pacific Time)

lillk^ (310)865-1432 • (310) 809-6144 FaxAdvanced Digital Systems • 20204 State Road, Cerritos, CA 90701

Circle 249 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 247 on Inquiry Cord.

Mulfimedia • Printers/Plotters

Desktop Video

Motion Capture VGA-TV Converter

■ Real-time & motion videocapture

• 8, 16, 24-bit color

■ DOS & Windows support

■ S-VHS & Composite input' Free development kit

' Sound Blaster compatibleUS$ 299

■ Sharp & Flicker-free

TV S Monitor display simultaneously

■ S-VHS & Composite outputWindows supportMRVP/NTSC also for Mac

' Hor. Over/Under-scan switchUSS149 (MRVV Plus)USS 349 (MR VP)

DISPLAY RESEARCH LABORATORY

Capital Automation Inc.

Tel.: 1-800-CAPITALFax: 704-596-9595

International inquiry:

Int'lTel.: (852) 420 1165Int'lFax: (852)415 2739

Circle 244 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 245).

EXPANDABLE and affordable

PERIPHERAL SHARING/NETWORK

~H I mmr macic-^

HP LASERJET

PRINTMAGIC PM-8

■ 6, 8 Port Units

m Share/Network Computers, Printers,

Modems, Etc.m High Speed Data Transferm Installation Simple and Neat

PRINT MAGIC PM-4

4 Port Unit Plugs into PC Expansion(ISA/EISA) Slot

Expandable up to 256 PortsComes Complete with Software forNetworking and Print SpoolersLow Cost!

LIFETIME WARRANTY!

Circle 218 on Inquiry Card.

■ Increased Throughput, Up to 500%m Uses Standard Parallel Port to 500Kbytes/second

on'card' ORDER TOLL-FREE! 1-800-282-4835

Available forHPLaserjet-lll, IlISi, IVDramatically reduces printing timePlugs into HP Optional 110 Slot

"■^■■i^ Developmenl Hardware & SoR\Mare • P 0. Box 2310 • Bay St. Lous, MS 39521 U S.A

TP ^ °. Mississippi S Technicaf Support (601) fle7-8048 • FAX (601) 467^)935

C , II". OEM and Dft-i/or Inquiries Welcomedl

EVTE

Breaks the 4-Color Price Barrierwith the Hardware/Software Showcase

See how affordable it is to advertise to BYTE's500,000 computer professionals in this section!■

Call for more advertising information:(603) 924-2695 or (603) 924-2598

[

JULY 1993 BYTE 283

Printers/Plotters • Programmable Hardware

Programmable Hardware • Tape Drives ]

PRINTER BUFFER

for automatic sharing of printer(s) by several computers.

Nobody waits!

• Simultaneous input on all ports

• 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

1 MB 6-Port Parallel$1 9995

9-Port Parallel $259,95

15-Port Parallel $379.95

4-Serial + 5-Parallel $269.95

16-Serial + 3-Parallel $399.95

Other Models also available - Call!

Single User Parallel

'99

95

512 KBytes - unit isexpandable to 4 MB

Serial or Convertingbuffers available

Extra Memory: $50 per Megabyte

Y S T E S

513-644-2230 • FAX 644-2232 Made in USA

'204 EAST FOURTH STREET, MARYSVILLE, QHIO 43040

Receive FAX Info On-Demand: (805) 650-3299 - Item # 700

UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMERS & EMULATORS

FLEX-700 $995 (connects via printer port)TUP-400 $745 TUP-300 $575

■ Program PLD (PAL, GAL, EPLD, PEEL, MAPL, MAX, MACH...), E(E)PROM,(up to 16Mbit), BPROM, SEiaEL PROM, FLASH, MPU (87XX, 68XXX, 68HCXXX,PIC16/17XX, TMS320XXX, Z8, PSD3XX,Hitachi, NEC...). Support over 3,000 ICs.

■ 40 pin DIP socket standard. Flexiblesupport for PLCC, (T)SOP, SOIC, QFP,PGA, SIMM/SIP ...with up to 256 pins.

■ Tests rTL74, CMOS 40/45, DRAM andSRAM.

■ Optional EPROM EMULATION capability.

■ Free software updates via BBS or mail.

AH products are backed with a 1 year warranty and30 day money back guarantee.

Tribal Microsystems Inc. TEL (510) 623-8859

44388 S GRIMIVIFR BLVD FREMONT, CA 94538 FAX (510) 623-9925

lTH*all

Circle 231 on Inquiry Card.

SUPCRPRO® $549SUPCRPRO/EM $399

Universal Programmers

• Programs E(E)PROMs, Flash EPROMs to8 Mbit & Bipolar Proms.

• Microcontrciiersfrom INTEL, MOT, NSC,PIC, SIG, MICROCHIP, etc.

• PLD, GAL, MACH, MAX (not included in

SUPERPRO/EM)

• Tests TTUCMOS and Memory,

• New parts added upon customer requestand free updates on BBS. (24 hrs)

• Online technical support and hardwarewarranty for 1 year.

ROM MASTER $129

• Universal E(E)PROM programmer to 4-Mbit

ROM MASTER/4 $199

• Universal E(E)PROIvl programmer 4 Gang Version

(408)524-1929

(408) 245-7084 FAX • (408) 245-7082 BBS

757 N. Pastoria Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086

264 15 V I JULY 1993

Circle 233 on Inquiry Card.

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) 753-514124 hr. Information Service: (916) 753-0618. Call from your fax and request data sheet #24.

Circle 234 on Inquiry Cord.

9 Track/3480 Tape Subsystems1/4" DAT 8mm Optical

New Windows Software Available

• Best Quality

• Lowest Prices

800/1600/3200/6250 BPI

CALL 1-800-938-TAPE

Laguna Data Systems

7340 Smoke Ranch Road, Suite C, Las Vegas, NV 89128Tel: (702) 254-2648 • Fax:(702)254-0910

Circle 222 on Inquiry Cord.

9-Tpackfor PCs

Mainframe to PC data interchange

Rock solid solutions, rock bottom prices.

Direct from the manuf|:turer. 1600 & 6250 bpi.

Subsystems indue* drives and software.

/ 800-729-8725

oi^ERLmD Dfim.

Since 1980

Tel: 619-571-6566 • FAX: 619-571-0982Europe: Tel: (+49) 6172-36027 • FAX: (+49) 6172-35028

Ask about 3480 tape drives too

Circle 227 on Inquiry Cord.

Desktop 9-Track Tape Subsystem

i1-selling 9-track system on desktop.

Qualstar's low cost 1/2-inch 9-track Streamingtape systems bring full ANSI data interctiange toIBM AT, PS/2 or IVlacintosh, giving your micro thefreedom to exchange data files with nearly anymainframe or minicomputer in the world.

Systems include DOS or Xenix compatiblesoftware, coupler card and cables. High reliability1600 or 6250 BPI capability may be used for diskbackup as well as data interchange.

Call us today! For details andto order: Fax (818) 882-4081Phone (818) 882-5822

Chatsworth CA 91311

9621 Irondale Ave.

©1989Qualstar Corp.

All product and company names and trademarks are ttie exclusive property of tfieir respective ov^ners.

Circle 228 on Inquiry Card.

CAD/CAM • Data Acquisition

Database • Engineering/Scientific

PCB DesignThe Easy Way

EAGLE 2.6

Schematic Capture, Layout Editor, 100% Autorouter, DRC, ERC: All In One Program

There are many powerful programs out there, butwhat good is it if they are too complicated to use.They are wasting your time, your money, and your

nerves.

With EAGLE you will be productive from day one,and you will save time again and again, becauseEAGLE is easy to ieam and easy to use.EAGLE is a very powerful tool. You will discoverfeatures which even many high-priced programscould only dream of.

However, the best thing is still to come: Our pricesare simply unbelievable. Even with the Layout Edi-tor alone, you get all of the drivers and libraries; noextra charges for anything. What you see below, isall you can spend.

"Thumbs up. Overall, I was impressed,.. EAGLE 2.6 iseasy to learn and easy to use... EAGLE 2.6 has the capa-biliiies and performance that most designers would ex-pect in a higher priced package."Off the ShaH Review, PRINTED CIRCUtT DESIGNmagazine, March, 1983,

AS SEEN ON...

BUSINESSTODAY

EAGLE has l>een introduced onthe CNBC Television series "Stateof the Art of Technology Design".The producers have seleaedEAGLE as one of the best andmost interesting PC Board DesignPackages on the US market.

Call 1-800-858-8355

EAGLE Layout EditorSchematic ModuleRi'pup Autorouter ModuleDEMO with Original Manual

S 399S 399S 12

(S

CadSoft Computer, Inc.801 South Federal HighwayDelray Beach, FL 33483Hotline: (407) 274-8355Fax; (407)274-8218

Circle 237 on Inquiry Card.

Introducing a new approach toscientific data analysis

Analysis Advisor is a free interactive analysis software tutorialthat includes demonstrations of graphical and traditionalprogramming methodologies for analysis. Using thisinteractive tutorial, you can investigate Digital signalprocessing, Digital filtering, Windowing, Curve fitting. Signalaveraging. Simulation, Interpolation, and Descriptive statistics.Requires Windows 3.1 and 8 MB of memory.

National instruments

6504 Bridge Point Parkway, Austin, TX 78730(512) 794-0100(800) 433-3488 (U.S. and Canada)Fax (512) 794-8411

dBASE Data Entry

The TransTerm 5 is a work station data entry/display terminalfor on-line shop floor data collection into PC/AT/PS-2 systems.The unit is one of a family of such terminals which feature LCdisplays for operator prompting and data entry via sealed touchkeys or an optional barcode scanner or badge reader(Code39,UPC+). A multi-terminal network controller (up to 250stations) and a dBASE IV compatible software package are alsoavailable. System costs start below $300 per station. Optionsinclude display backlighting, barcode scanning, counter inputs,control output.

computerwise:

302 N. Winchester • Olathe, KS 66062913-829-0600 • 800-255-3739 • FAX 913-829-0810

Circle 213 on Inquiry Card.

FINALLY, SERIOUSPC HARDWARE

30 Day Money-BackGuarantee

If you've beendisappointed with traditionaldiagnostics and "Passive PostCards," or are looking for analternative to high cost ATESystems - Put V-ATE plus tothe test! We're certainyou'll find V-ATE the bestinvestment you've madein years.

• Find Failures in 100%DE^D Systems

• Find Intermittent Faults

• Test for PC Compatibilityand reject Sub-standard orFaulty hardware

• US prices from $995

Call (800) 875-8459 Today!VISTA MICROSYSTEMS, Inc.

6 Whipple St., No. Attleboro, MA 02760

Circle 226 on Inquiry Card.

Circle 232 on Inquiry Card.

JULY 1993 BYTE 265

Graphics

Programming Languages/Tools

Software Developers...

Ask Corel, AT&T,EXXON, Sharp,Inset Systems, anda thousandothers...

why they pickedLEADTOOLS fortheir imageapplication.

Original 39 MB compressedThey'll say from '° 2^9; /.

document to true color

imaging, LEAD Technologies is innovative. LEADpioneered image compression technology that achievescompression ratios of over 200 to 1, constructed toolsfor quick integration of images into any application,and built a toolkit with a reputation for speed! Call for afree evaluation diskette to see for yourself.

LEAD Technologies, Inc.1-800-637-4699 • Fax 704-548-8161

BASIC Compiler 8051/52 & DerivativesBXC 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/OBXC51 $295

Call now! 508-369-9556 or FAX 508-369-9549

[1

Binary Technology, Inc.

P.O. Box 541 • Carlisle, MA 01741 S BB

Circle 211 on Inquiry Card.

P Complete APL system $60.

JKen'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

Write for product catalog and price list.

Iverson Software Inc.

33 Major St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2K9Phone (416) 925-6096 Fax (416) 488-7559

Circle 252 on Inquiry Cord.

AMT International

(COMPUTERS & PERIPHERALS)

3074 LANDESS AVENUE ■ SAN JOSE, OA 95132

TEL: (408) 942-9695 ■ FAX: (408) 942-5509

VISA

LOWEST PRICESSAME DAY SHIPPING

'Prices subject to ctiange

DeskPro286-E, 396-20/2CIE/25

1MB 113131-001 S7500

4WB 113132-001 $169.00

DeskPio 2B6N, 3e6N and 3e6SX

2MB 11B689.001 $135.00

4MB 118690-001 $230.00

DcskPro 3B6S

1MB 113646-001 $99 00

4MB 112534-001 $19500

DeskPro 386-33, 486-33 & SystemPro2MB 115144-001 $185 00

Bravo-286, Workstation

512K Kit5OO51O-010 $59.00

2MB Kit500510-002... $150.00

Premium 386-16/20C

1MB KJ 500510-003 $75.00

4MB Kit500510-004 $185.00

Premium 386-20

1MB Kit 500510-003 .$75.004MB Kit500510-004. .S185.00

Bravo-386SX

4MB Kit 500510-008 . 5220 00

Premium 386-SXy2S/33 S 48$-2S

1MB 500718-002 $60.00

4M 8 500-780 $195.00

J!IJII]li.lJ.|Jil:l,^

Vectra aS/16S

1MB $65.00

4MB $185.00

Vectra QS/20PC, RS/25PC and 20C

1MB Dl&tOA S65.00

4MB D1642A 3170.00

Vedra 486PC

1MB D2150A S75.00

4MB D2151A $165.00

Models 30-286, Expi Board 1497269

512KKit 30F534S $54 00

2MB Kit 30F5360 $95 00

Models 70-E61/121, 55SX, 66SX

1MB6450603 $59.00

Models 70-E6i;i21,' 50Z, 55$X, 65SX

2MB6450604 $99 00

Models 55SX, 65SX. 34F3077 & 34F3011

4MB34F2933 S149.00

Models 70-A21

2MB6450608 $99.00

Models 80-141

1MB6450375 S7500

Models 80-111/311

2MB6450379 S9900

Aii Models 70 and 80

2.14MBVI/2M34F3077 $290 00

4-16MBw/4M34f3011 5350 00Models 60. 60Z, 66SX & 60

2-8MB 1497259 S290 00

nmm

mimm\m

Hewlett-Packard L^r Jet IIP, lit & HID

1MB334748 570.00

2MB33475B $99.00

4MB33477B $185.00

Hewlett-Packard ijser Jet iiP & iiO

1MB33443B $75 00

2MB33444B 5110.00

4MB33445B 5175 00

i8MLaser4019and4019e

1MB 1039137 $95.00

3.5MB 1038675 5195 00

Canson LBP-811, 811R. 811T

2MBS63-1880 $129 00

2MB Model 5100 S99.00

2MB Model T5200,T8500 ... 5110 008MB Model T5200,T8500 $299.00

ZENITH MEMORY1MB SuperSport286 S286E$135 002MB SuperSpoit286S 286E5140.002MB SuperSpoil SX/Aiplia $140.002MB SuperSport SX/Beta $140 00COMPAQ MEMORY

1MB Portable LTE 286 $125.00

2MB Portable LTE 286 5150.00

1MB SLT-286 $140.00

4MB SLT.286 5350.00

NEC MEMORY

1MB Prospced2B6 5170.00

2MB ProspeedSee $240.00

Zenltli Z-,386/20/25/33 S 33E

1MB ZA36n800ME $9000

2MB ZA3600MG $140.00

4MB ZASeOOMK 5205.00

Zenith Z.386 $X

2MB Z-605-1 $125.00

d,iJ.lJ!lj,IJ:l,IJUII:ia

TOSHIBA MEMORY

1MB Model 1000SE/XE $110.00

2MB Model lOOOSE/XE $99.00

2MB Model T1200XE $99 00

2MB ModelTlOOO $99.00

2MB ModeiT3100E $99.00

2MB ModeiT3100SX $99.00

4MB ModeiT3100SX $195.00

2MB Model T3200SX $99.00

4MB ModelT3200SX $195.00

Overdrive Matiico

CALL

INTEL

8087-5 MHz

$50.00

8087-2 8MHi

$60.00

8087-1 10MH!

$99.00

80287-6 6MHI

$50.00

80287-8 8MHz

$5500

e0287XL8/10MHz

$59.00

80287XL & SLT

$aoo

80287-10 lOMHz

$59.00

80C287-1212MHz

$69.00

80387SX-16

$85.00

80387SX-20

$85.00

80387OX-20

$69,00

80387DX-25

$89.00

80387DX-33

$89.00

80487SX-20

$435.00

WEITEK

3167.20 20MHz

$80.00

3167.25 25MHz

$135.00

3167-33 33MHz

$240.00

4167-25MHZ $350.00

4167.33MHz $585.00

CYRIX

82S87XL $59.00

83087-16 $59.00

83D87-20 $75.00

83D87-25 $75.00

83D87-33 $75.00

83087-40 $89.00

83S87-16 low S^S.'IO

83S87-20 ISX 565 00

83887-25 J 565 00

IIT

2C87.8 $4100

2087-10 559.00

2087.12 $59.00

2087-20 S59.00

3C87-20 $69.00

3087-25 $69 00

3087-33 $79.00

3087-40 $89.00

3S87-16 lOV S65.')0

3S87-20 [OA S69.00

3887-25 J $69.00

ULSI

118835878X25/33 $59.00

USD8387-33-40 $79.00

l|IJI|.|,|l|

IBM TYPEADD 12.00 FOB SIPPS

4Mx9-80 $138.00

4Mk9.70 $140.00

4MX9-60 $143.00

1Mx9-10 $30.00

1Mx9-80 $35.00

1MX9-70 $36.00

256x9-70 $10.00

256x9-10 $9.00

256x9-80 $10.00

256x9-60 $12.00

APPLE-MAC

lMxe.70 532.00

1Mx8.10 $30.00

1Mx8-80 $32.00

4Mx8-80 $118.00

DRAMIMGXI

1 MGX1-120NS

$300

1 MGXl-lOONX

$3.50

1 MGX1-80NX

$3.60

1 MGXI.70NX

$3.65

1 MGXI-60NX

$3,75

DRAM 64X1

4164-150

$0.85

4164-120

$0,95

4164.100

$1,50

4164.80

$2,00

DRAM 64X4

4464-15

,, $3.99

4464-12

$4.50

4464-10

$4.75

DRAM 256X1

256Xi-150NS

$1.25

256Xi-120NS

$1.50

256XI-100NS

$1.60

256XI-80N8

$1.75

256XI-70N8

$1.75

256Xi-60NS

$1.85

DRAM 2S6X4

256X4-100NS

,. S3.99

256X4-80NS

... K50

256X4.70/60NS

$4.75

256XI.STATIC COL

5125eP-10

... $1.50

AAA 2800-08

... $1.75

AAA 2800-07

... S1.85

AAA 2800-60

.. $1.95

1X4-80 ZIPP

516.00

lX4.80SnZIPP

$18.00

1X4.70STTZIPP

$19.00

486 DX.33W/64k cache

• 4MB RAM '1.2 SI.44 • 130MB HO

• 8VGA Montor • 101 Key Board

• Mini.Tower Oase • DOS 5.0

• IDE With I/O

$1369.00

VGA 0.41 14' $215.00

8VGA 0.2814- $259.00

SVGA N-1 0.2814' 310.00

VIEWSONIC CALL

NEC CALL

486 DX-50 w/256k cache ....$600.00486DX-33 v</128k cache ....$450.00386/486 DX-40 AMD

(upgradable) $230.00

486 SX-25/20 $279.00

386 DX-40/64k cache $169.00

386SX-33 $125.00

386 8X-25 $110.00

486VL-50/33/256k cache . ..SI 95.00

IDE with I/O $22.00

Trident w/lMB $69.00

Orchid ProliSw/lMB $139.00

Diamond Stealth w/llVIB $235.00

NESA IDE Controller $80.00

Rampat AT $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 MCASystem

CP3000 44 MB $15800

CP3000 89MB $215,00

CP3000 130MB $247,00

CP3000 210MB $360.00

CP3000 340MB $595.00

CP3000 520MB $890.00

Modem 2400 Bps $40.00

96/24 Bps Int $60.00

96/144V.32 Bps/v.42 Bps ....$220.00

266 BYTE JULY 1993

Circle 184 on Inquiry Card.

THE BUYER'S MART

A DIRECTORY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

THE BUYER'S MART is a unique classified sectionorganized by product category to help readers locatesuppliers. Each ad has Inquiry numbers to aid readersrequesting information from advertisers.AD FORMAT: Each ad will be designed and typeset byBYTE. Do NOT send logos or camera-ready artwork.Advertisers should furnish typewritten copy. 2"x1'/e" adscan include headline (23 characters maximum), de-scriptive text (300 characters is the maximumrecommended) plus company name, address, tele-

phone and fax number. 2"x2%" ad has more space fordescriptive text (850 characters is the maximum recom-mended).

DEADLINE: Ad copy is due approximately 2 monthsprior to issue date. For example: November issuecloses on September 8. Send your copy and paymentto: THE BUYER'S MART, BYTE Magazine, 1 PhoenixMill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. For more infor-mation call: Margot Gnade at 603-924-2656.FAX: 603-924-2683.

RATES (Jan. 1993)

3-5 6-11 12issues issues issues

2"xiy."

1 ad

2 ads/issue

3 ads/issue

2"x2>A"

1 ad

2 ads/issue

3 ads/issue

$663 $636

$557530504

13issues

$1,326 $1,272 $1,114

- 1,060

- 1,008

$530504477

$1,0601,008954

ACCESSORIES

RADIOACTIVE?

Plot il on your PC with The RM-60 RADIATION MONITORSerial 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 • FoodsCallMrite for PC MAGAZINE review. • TSR • GM TubeVISA/MC/EURO Phone orders. Not satisfied? Full refund,

800-729-5397 or Tel/Fax: (302) 655-3800Aware Electronics Corp.

P.O.Box 4299, Wilmington, DE 19807 $149.50

PROGRAMMABLE FUNCTION KEYPAD

The Function Keypad 35 features a 7 by 5matrix of relegendable keys, programmableunder both DOS and Windows 3.1. Define upto 11 macros per single or double key. Pass-through connection to parallel port allowsconcurrent use of standard keyboard. $160GENOVATION, Inc.17741 Mitchell North, limine, CA 92714(800)822-4333 (714)833-3355 FAX (714) 833-0322

Inquiry 651.

BAR CODE

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 Date/Time Stamps

★ 2 Bullt-ln 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, Appenzeii Switzerland 408-458-9938

071 8761 17FAX „„„ „ , ,„„„

071 87 51 15 Ptione 800-345-4220

Labeling Software

On EPSON, IBti^, OKI, or LaserJet. EasyWYSIWYG design. Any format/size. Up to 120fields per label. 18 text sizes to 3" -readable at100', AIAG, KMart, Sears, MIL-STD, Pennys, 2of5,128, UPC/EAN, Code 39. File input & ScannedPCX graphics - $279. Other programs from $129.

Worthington Data Solutions

(408) 458-9938 800-345-4220

BAR CODE

Bar Code Readers

For PC, XT, AT, PS/2, Macintoshand 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

★ 100-1-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 Cnjz. CA 95060

CH 9050, Appenzeii Switzerland 408-458-9938071 8751 17FAX

071 87 51 15 Phone 800-345-4220

Thermal Printer Package

Allegro Thermal Transfer Printer-2" per secspeed. Up to 4" label width-Only 20 lbs. weight-Prints UPC/EAN, 2of5, UCC-128, Code 39,128-Prints scalable text and PCX graphics withbar codes-Packaged with LabeiRIGHT 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

>■ 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

BAR CODE READERS

For PC, XT, AT, PS/2, & Serial Terminals

>- Emulates Keyboard: Works With Any Software>■ Data Appears as Keyboard Input>■ Uses Enhanced Decoding Aigorithms>■ Accepts Wand, Siot/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 - $395

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS

2190 Regal Parkway, Euless, TX 76040(800)648-4452 (817)571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232

Bar Code Printing SoftwareLabelWorks 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 PopularLabel 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 CompatiblePrinters (PostScript, Laser, & Dot Matrix)

>- 30-day Money-Back Guarantee, $295

***CALL FOR FREE DEMO SOFTWARE"*

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS

2190 Regal Parkway, Euless, TX 75040

(800)648-4452 (817)571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232

CREATE BAR CODE SYSTEMS

Data Harvester Developer's Version can put hand-held portable bar code data collection in yourapplication. Generate system to scan, validate entries{lengths, types, etc.) and communicate data to PC.Format data for your software. Easy to use. Noprogramming. Supports many portable terminals. DOS& UNIX.

AccuScan, Inc.

PO Box 80037, Conyers, GA 30208(404) 922-1220

Inquiry 652

JULY 1993 BYTE 267

THE BUYER'S MART

BAR CODE

BEST BAR CODE VALUES

• PC/MAC/FIS232 Wedges w/wand & print, utility $249-)-

• Portables w/wand (64K+) $750-1-

• Mag Stripe Encoder/Reader (1, 2 or 3 tracks) $1200-1-

• Mag Stripe Readers (TTL, wedge, RS232) $89+

" Bar Code Printing/Reading Software w/HP $149-1-

• Lasers/CCDs/Badge Slot/POS Products* 1-5 YR WARRANTY

• Dist/Dealer Discounts * SPANISH Dept. avail.

BARCODE INmNATIONAL SYSTEMS (BIS)

9190 Palm Canyon Drive, Corona. CA 91719(800) 653-4252 * (909) 277-1917 - FAX (909) 277-1005

Inquiry 653.

CAD

TERMINATOR --Superhigh density router—

(Complete with schematic & PCB Editor)This totally integrated CAD sottware offers superior functionality atcompetitive prices, DC/CAD packages include:•Rip up and retry router w/via minimization "No copy protection available•ASCII file w/automatic procedure recording •Autoplacer •WINDOWS Dostask •Gerber and DXF •Optional Automatic Copper plane w/cross hatcfiing•Optional simulation & enhanced mode for 386 users

Price from $1 95 *Call for current offer

"EXPEDITED PCB LAYOUT SERVICE AT LOW COST*

Design Computation, inc. 1771 Highway 34. Farmingdaie, nj 07727

Phone: (908) 681-7700 Fax: (908) 681-8733DC/CAD- The performance value leader tor the demanding entrepreneur

Inquiry 658.

CD-ROM

CD-ROM CONVERSIONS

Create your own CD-ROM by convertingarchival or bacl<-up data to CD-ROM.Customized CD-ROM production availablefrom virtually any archival data, disk or tapeformat. Search/Retrieval Engine developmentoffered. Call for info.

Pivar Computing Services, Inc.

165 Arlington Hts. Rd. #B, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089(800) CONVERT (708) 459-6010

NEED A ONE STOP SOURCEFOR YOUR BAR CODE SOLUTIONS?

NO PROBLEMI WE OFFER Quality • Pertormance ' Value

A full line of READERS • PRINTERS • PORTABLES • BARCODE READERS FOR NOTEBOOKS • HEWLETT-PACK-ARD SCANNERS • MAGNETIC STRIPE READERS. Our

readers plug and play wUh your existing system without add-itional software. 30 DAY GUARANTEE • LIFETIME TECH-NICAL SUPPORT • NEXT DAY DELIVERY • VARIETY OFPAYMENT OPTIONS • OEM/VAR DISCOUNTS. CALL US.

INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES & SYSTEMS

Eastern USA (800) 826-1688 Western USA (8001 228-9487

Inquiry 654.

PC BAR CODE SPECIALISTS

Bar code readers designed for fast, reliable, cost-effective data entry. They emulate your keyboard, sodata looks just like it was typed in! Choose fromstainless steel wand, laser gun, CCD, and magneticstripe scanners. Also, powerful label printingsoftware. Great warranty. Generous resellerdiscounts. 30-DAY f^ONEY-BACK GUARANTEE.

Seagull Scientific Systems

15127 N.E. 24th, Suite 333, Redmond, WA 98052

1 -800-758-2001 206-451 -8966

ELECTRONICS CAD

Schematic Capture & PCB CADAnalogue 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 659.

CAD/CAM

CONTOURING MOTION CONTROL

FROM A PRINTER PORT! .__,_,_, Indexer LPT™ software $249NcW 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.

• GAD-CAM interface available.

A I- • I 'x f\ M. Corporation, 1422 Arnold Ave.

Ability ovstems Rosiyn, pa i9ooi (215)657-4338

' ' FAX: (215) 657-7815

Inquiry 660.

CD-ROM

CICA MS Windows Shareware, 640 IVIeg,thousands of new programs, BBS ready,made April 93 $24,95

Simtel MSDOS Sliareware CDROM,640 IVIeg, BBS ready, huge selectionof software, made April 93 $24.95

Hobbes OS/2 Shareware CDROM,550 Meg, Nov. 92 $24.95

Source Code CDROM. Full source, mostly C,over 15,000 programs. Over 600 Meg ....$39.95

X11/GNU CDROM. Full source to X11and all the GNU programs. ANSI C/C++compiler, ghostscript, etc $39.95

C Users Group Library CD-ROM.Up through vol. 364 $49.95

CDROM Caddies $4.95

Full Money-Back Guarantee

WALNUT CREEK CDROM

4041 Pike Lane, Suite E, Concord, CA 94520

(800) 786 9907(510) 674 0783 Fax: (510) 674 0821

Inquiry 664.

COMMUNICATIONS

DATA INPUT DEVICES

Bar Code, Magnetic Stripe Readers for microcomputers& terminals, including IBM PS/2 & others, DEC,Macintosh, AT&T, CT, Wyse, Wang. All readers connecton the keyboard cable & are transparent to all software.UPC & 39 print programs, magnetic encoders, &ponable readers are also available.

TPS Electronics

4047 Transport, Palo Alto, CA 94303415-856-6833 AppleLink: BARCODE

1 -800-526-5920 FAX: 415-856-3843

Inquiry 655.

FREE CD-ROM

DISCOUNT CATALOG!

Hundreds of discounted CD-ROIVI

titles, from $8 up.Call or write for your free catalog.

Ellis Enterprises, inc.

4205 McAuley #385, Oklahoma City, OK 73120

1-800-729-9500

Inquiry 661.

X.25, HDLC, SDLC, BSC

SDLA card and saftware provides 'plug-in' synchronous linksupport 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

♦ GCITT 1988 X.25, many variations of SDLC andHDLC and V.25 bis. dial supported

♦ Full function SNA emulation packages also available

Sangoma Technologies Inc.

Tel. (416) 474-1990 1 -800-388-2475FAX (416) 474-9223

Inquiry 665.

COMPUTER BOOKS

VARIANT MICROSYSTEMSBAR CODE READERS DELIVER

WAND/LASER/MAGNETIC CARD CONNECTIVITY

• Keyboard wedges {Intemal/Extemal) 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/Freemont, CA 94538/(510) 440-2870800-666-4BAR FAX: (510) 440-2873

Inquiry 656.

ACADEMIC COMPUTING

CD-Link^-DOS/Windows CD-ROM Driver

Completely replaces MSCDEX and uses space onyour hard disk as a very large cache to dramat-ically improve CD-ROM performance, whilereducing RAM requirements. $79.95 introductoryspecial! Includes reporting of usage statistics.Download a free demo version from our BBS!OEM & dealer pricing available.

Intellectual Products Corporation

Voice: (404) 992-5327 BBS: (404) 640-5017

Inquiry 662.

COMPUTER BOOKS at a discount

We specialize in ADVANCED books for developers,programmers, computer professionais, and academics.15% discount. Latest bool<s from over 50 publisfiers.Free catalog. UPS & international shipping. Personalservice. MCA/ISA/AlulEX. CompuServe' 70007,1333.GO CBK Windows, C++, 0/S 2 2.0, UNIX, Ivlac, OOP

CompuBooks

Rt. 1, Box 271 -D 512-321 -9652

Cedar Creek, TX 78612 Fax 512-321 -4525

800-880-6818

Inquiry 666.

COMPUTER INSURANCE

LEARN PARALLEL PROCESSING

Transputer Education Kit$396

Kit includes ready-to-use PC add-in board with T400transputer, 1MB of RAM, and PC interface. Complete withOccam2 and C compilers, assembler, source-level debug-gers, example programs and 1500 pages of documentation(incl. schematics). Expandable!

Computer System Architects

100 Library Plaza, 15 North 100 East, Provo UT 84606-3100(800) 753-4CSA (801) 374-2300 FAX (801) 374-2306

Improve CD-ROM workstation performance!Only $89!

OPTl-CDcflcfee™ takes advantage of Extended Memory (XMS) tocache CD-ROM data. Retrieve data from a higti speed cacheinstead of directly from the CD-ROM drive and significantlyimprove your CD-ROM workstation performance!Ask for our free catalog of exciting CD-ROM products Includingthe market-leading OPTI-NET' CD-ROM networking software!

ONLINE COMPUTER SYSTEMS, INC.

A member of the Reed Elsevier group.800-922-9204 or 301-428-3700 FAX us at 301-428-3700.

INSURES YOUR COMPUTER

SAFEWARE Computerowner's coverage providesreplacement of hardware, media and purchasedsoftware. 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 43202Now available in Ontario, Canada

Inquiry 657.

268 BYXE JULY 1993

Inquiry 663.

Inquiry 667.

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

DATA/DISK CONVERSION

FINANCIAL SOFTWARE

LOW-LOW-LOW

Computer SystemsNotebooks • Network Solutions

IBM-Apple-Corn paq-AST-ALR-Everex-&others

SURAH 386/486 ISA/EISAAMI/Mylex Motherboards

• CD ROMS

• Tape Backup

• Pocket FAX Moderr LAN Cards

• Hard Drives/Floppy Drives

• Memory/upgrades

• DRAMS, SIMM Modules

• Laser Printers/Scanners

• Plotters & Digitizers

• Software

44912 Osgood Road,Fremont CA 94539 USAPhone: (510) 651-5101Fax: (510)651-5241

1-800-543-1001 Nationwide Orders

SURAH inc.

Inquiry 668.

CONVERSION SPECIALISTS

Thousands of disk/tape cartridge conversions, rapiddisk/tape duplication, CD-ROM development,text/graphic scanning, key entry, document productionfor Interleaf and other DTP systems, bar codeconversion, and programming.

Free Tests & QuotationsMEDIA CONVERSION CORP.

800 Roosevelt Rd.. D-106, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137(800) 860-1033 FAX (708) 469-1277

Inquiry 673.

CONVERSION SERVICES

Convert any 9-track magnetic tape to or from over5000 formats including 3J^", 5'A", 8" disk formats &word processors. Disk-to-disk conversions alsoavailable. Introducing CD-ROM conversions. Callfor more info.

Pivar Computing Services, Inc.

165 Arlington Hgts. Rd., Dept. #BBuffalo Grove, IL 60089 (800) Convert

BrainMaker:

"The most fascinating computer soft-ware I've ever seen...learn about thisstuff." John Dvorak, PC Mag. Predicts stocks,bonds, sales, inventories. Comprehensivemanual. Menus. 15,000 sold. PC or Mac.Still only $195!

Free Flyer: 800/284-8112,916/478-9040California Scientific Software

Inquiry 677.

FLOW CHARTS

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!

PAnON & PAHON 800-525-0082 ext. 1317

Software Corporation 485 Cochrane Cr„ Morgan Hill, CA 95037See our ad on page 216

Inquiry 678.

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

DATABASE

Cross Assemblers $50Simulators $100Disassemblers $ 100

PseudoCorp

716 Thimble Stioals Blvd. Newport News, VA 23606(804) 873-1947 Fax (804) 873-2154

BBS (804) 873-4838

Inquiry 669.

DATA ANALYSIS

Use C++ Libraries to access your database:

SyPLUS C-i-i- Class Library for Sybase $189.00

OraPLUS C-i-i- Class Library for Grade $189.00

SyPLUS or OraPLUS w/source code $589.00Fax reports from your database directly:

SyFAX C-i-i- Fax Library for Sybase $129.00

OraFAX C++ Fax Library for Oracle $129.00

SyFAX or OraFAX w/source code $529.00

Consulting, On-site training, UNIX and Novellsystem integration available.

Unilnfo <8oo) 793-7491

18 Liberty Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306

Inquiry 674.

DISK duplication;

WINDOWS FLOWCHARTER $129

RFFlow 2.0 is a professional drawing tool forflowcharts & org. charts. Requires Microsoft Win-dows. 100 shapes auto adjust in size. Diagonallines and curves. Auto line routing and re-routing.Click on a shape to bring up a sub-chart. MoveCharts to other apps. via the Clipboard. Call for freetrial disk.

RFF ELECTRONICS

1053 Banyan Court, Loveland, CO 80538Phone: (303) 663-5767 FAX: (303) 669-4889

GRAPHICS data CONVERTER

ADVANCED DATA ANALYSIS...at a click!

CLICK-X™ software, the most user friendly dataanalysis - 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 06906-0548Phone: (203) 977-8161 Fax: (203) 977-8237

Inquiry 670.

DATA RECOVERY

Trace Diskette Duplication Products

Tracer/ST Family of Duplication Systems

• Low-cost, standalone duplicators

• High throughput, networked solutionsFlexible PC-based Disk Duplication Software

• In-line label printing capabilitiesAutomatic Disk Printing and Labeling SolutionsTrace 1040 E. Brokaw San Jose, CA 95131

(800) 872-2318

Inquiry 675.

EDUCATION

OPTICAL GRAPH RECOGNITION(OGR) SOFTWARE

SCAN-X™ software imports, converts andmanipulates data from scanned plots, pictures,graphs on paper, or captured screens into data filesfor comparing/analyzing/plotting/exporting. FREEdemo disk. Service available.

SoloSoft

P.O. Box 2548, Stamford, CT 06906-0548Phone: (203) 977-8161 Fax: (203) 977-8237

Inquiry 679.

HARDWARE

Ontrack

DATA RECOVERY

•Professional service recommended by major harddrive manufacturers • Expertise in virtually everyoperating system & media storage device • 24-hoursupport with weekend, priority, & on-site service

available • For fast, successful results, call:MN:1-800-872-2599 • CA: 1-800-752-7557UK: 44-81-974-5522 • GERMANY: 0130-815-198

Corp. Headquarters: 6321 Bury Drive, Eden Prairie MN 55346

Inquiry 671.

DATA/DISK CONVERSION

B.S. & M.S. In COMPUTER SCIENCE

The American Institute for Computer Sciences offers an in-deptfi home study program to eam your Bactielor of Scienceand Master of Science degrees in Computer Science athome. B.S. subjects covered are: MS/DOS, BASIC, PASCAL,C, File Processing, Data Structures & Operating systems.M.S. program includes subjects in Software Engineering andArtificial intelligence.

AMERICAN INST, for COMPUTER SCIENCES

2101-BY Magnolia Ave. South, Ste. 200, Birmingham. AL 35205800-767-2427 205-323-6191

Let US Meet Your Hardware Needs

•Complete Systems-Starting @ $895w/SVGA monitor

• For 486 DX50 from $895-$1795

• Motherboards, Memory

• Software

Call for information or cataiog. MC S VISA accepted

Kings Computer Technologies

311 North Gray a m-w e e ja eja^M

Killeen, TX 76541 o17-304-5404

Inquiry 680.

EXPERT SYSTEMS

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) 588-87831-800-745-7571

Expert Systems - just $40!

Capture an expert's knowledge into a softwareprogram. fvlS-Windows demo allows creation of up to50 rule expert systems. Package includes:

I Sample Expert Systems I Full GUI ManualI Videotape Step-by-Step Tutorials I Rule Editor

800-676-8356

EXSYS, Inc., 1720 LouisianaBlvd.NE.SIe,312. Albuquerque,NM87110Int'l: (505)256-8356 FAX (505)256-8359

Pre-Owned Electronics, Inc™

THE Independent Provider, serving the Dealer,

Professional, Corporate, Government, and Educational Buyer since 1985

APPLE 11" & MACINTOSH®

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 672.

Inquiry 676.

Inquiry 681.

JULY 1993 BYXE 269

THE BUYER'S MART

HARDWARE

HEWLETT PACKARD

Buy - Sell - Trade

LaserJet ColorProDeskJet DraftProRuggedWriter DraftMasterElectrostatic Plotters

• Monoctirome and ColorHP 9000 Workstations and Vectras also available.T. E. Dasher & Associates

4117 Second Ave., S. Birmingham, AL 35222Phone: (205) 591-4747 Fax: (205) 591-1108 (800) 638-4833

Inquiry 682.

HARDWARE/COMPUTERS

NEV\/! 20MHz 16-bit FORTH Single BoardController with 8ch 10-bit A/D, 3ch 8-bit D/A

TDS2020 FORTH CONTROLLER AND DATA-L0GGER-4"x3" board usesHitachi 16-bit Ha/532 CMOS fiP. Screams along at 3MIPS, but runs on only30ma. On-board high-level easy FORTH language and assembler-no needfor in-circuit emulation! Up to 512K NVRAM, 45K PROM. Attach keyboard,led, 120 peripherals- Interrupts, multi-tasking, watchdog timer, editor, 331/0, 2xRS-232, 6-16v SOO^A data-logging! Free ready-made software sol-utions. Program with PC. Use for machine control, data-looging, inspection,robotics, remote monitoring, etc. $299 (35s). STARTER PACK W99.CALL NOW FOR DETAILS! Sale-or-retum

Saelig Company tei: (716) 425-3753

European Tectinology fax: (716) 425-3835

Inquiry 683.

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-bit Harris RTX 2000™.

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-

S\UCON COMPOSERS INC (4i5) gei-a/ra655 West Evelyn Ave. #7, Mt. View, CA 94041

Inquiry 684.

LANS

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 115l< baud - approx 8500 bytes/sec

• Runs in bacl<ground, totally transparent

• Slnare disks and printers, etc.

• Needs only 15K of RAIVl

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 76202Tech 817-387-3339 Orders 800-628-7992

Hours 1-5 Mon/Wed, 9-5 Tue/Thu/Frl CST

Inquiry 685.

LAPTOP PERIPHERALS

Auto Power Adapters

• 12V battery systems

• Small package with high efficiency

• Plugs between computer and ligfiter receptacle

• $99 to $129

• Designed and made in USA!!

In stock for Apple PowerBook (10-30V input). Canon BJ printer,Compaq Conlura, Everex Tempo LX, IBM, Kodak Diconix printer,Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba, Zeos. Custom adapters designed for OEMs,Serial interface cards for Toshiba and Sanyo.

Empire Engineering

California USA

tel 805/543-2816 fax 805/543-2820

PROGRAMMERS TOOLS

CD-ROM Tools

World's largest, most recent (July '93, Oct. '93) and bestPD/Sfiareware for PC Pros. Database index also lists allcommercial products. Collections on CD or diskettes forASM, G/C+-I-, CAD, Xbase, Netware, ObjVision, OS/2,Paradox, Science, Fonts, TPascal, VBasic, Windows, otfiers.From $25 each.

EMS

4505 Buckhurst Ct., OIney MD 20832-1830301-924-3594 Fax: 301-963-2708eengelmann@worldbank.org

Inquiry 687.

SECURITY

SOFTWARE WANTED

Publish Your Program!

Young, enthusiastic and successful softwarepublisher looking for PC Windows producti-vity add-on and utility software to acquire orpublish. For a confidential review of yoursoftware product, send information toSoftware Publisher, 2210 Wilshire Blvd.,#836, Santa Monica, CA 90403 or circle ournumber on the Direct Link Card in the back ofthis issue. We will contact you promptly.

Inquiry 692.

SOFTWARE/ACCOUNTING

FIGHT PIRACY!

★ EVERLOCK3.0 ★SOFTWARE COPY PROTECTIONNew Option Board Safe-New Remote RegistrationNew 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 688.

dBASE BUSINESS TOOLS

• GENERAL LEDGER

• ORDER ENTRY

• JOB COSTING

• BILL OF MAILS

• PAYROLL

• PURCH ORD/INVNTORY

• ACCOUNTS RECVABLE

■ JOB ESTIMATING

■ SALES ANALYSIS

■ ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

$99/$198ea.+ S&HdATAMAR SYSTEMS Cred Card-Check-COD6969-D Corte Santa Fe, San Diego, CA 92121(619) 452-0044 (800) 223-9963

Inquiry 693.

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

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 prod-ucts 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 209068DD/TRY-ABB1« 8DD/879-2224 « 3D1/871-1094 • FAX:301/460-7545

Inquiry 689.

STOP UNWANTED USERS!

witti Easi-Lock™ Software SecurityAdd Software Security Wittiout Programming • No HardwareAdd-Ons or Cfianges • Block Intrusions and Snooping •Locks Any .EXE or .COM file under DOS • Works witflWindows • Locked Files Work Only Witti "Run" Utility • Testsfor Virus Before Executing Any File • Renders PiratedSoftware Useless • Activity Logging in "Pius" and "Super"versions • Optional (free) Audible Intrusion Alarm

Prices $69 - $169 + s/fi. Visa, Mastercard Accepted

Easi-Logic Software

div. of CDS GROUP inc. P.O. Box 449 Paoli IN 47454800-243-4964 - 812-723-4595

Inquiry 690.

Circuit Simulation

Electrical Engineers!

Now you can run Analog/Mixed SignalSimulations on your PC or Mac with theAffordable and Powerful

ICAP/4 Simulation System

Includes:

• IsSPiceS; Mixed Mode SPICE Simulator

• Integrated Schematic Entry

• Extensive SPICE Model Libraries

• Waveform Graphics and Analysis

Full SPICE progranns starting at $95. Completesystems with schematic, IsSpiceS simulation,models, and waveform graphics only $1575.

Call or Fax for your Free Demo andinformation kit.P.O. Box 710 San Pedro, Ca 90733-0710Tel (310) 833-0710 • fFAX (310) 833-9658 IHtUSOtt

Inquiry 694.

Cop's Copy Lock 11

The professional software protection withTRUE Machine Install. Option Board safe.OS/2, Networks, Windows, and Trace 3020.

LINK Computer

Int'l: + 45 31232350 Fax: + 45 31238448US/CAN: 408-729-8162 FAX: 408-923-7061

4-BAR SYNTHESIS IN A PC

Lear_Links is a true linkages designpackage for 3- and 4-position path andmotion generation with excellent EGA/VGAgraphics and full mechanism animation andi<inematics analysis tools. Get over $3000worth of software for just $395.00!Lear Com Company

(303) 232-2226 FAX (303) 232-8721

Inquiry 695.

KEY-LOK" SECURITY

Piracy survival over 10 years proves effectiveness ofpowerful multilayered security. Algoritfimic response.Programmable memory. Very economical. Devicetransparent to PARALLEL/SERIAL port, Counters/Real-Time-Clock. Multi-product/feature licensing. DOS/UNIX/VMS/etc. Also, access control system and diskette drivelocks.

MICROCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS

3167 E. Otero Circle, Littleton, CO 80122(303) 770-1917

SpiceAge*4W

Windows Analog Circuit Simulator

The following and MORE are included:

•AC, DC, Transient, Fourier, Temperature analysis • Fully

expandable library • Analog & digital components

• Transmission line primitive • Real signal node name

• Grapliical real time • Group delay • Component sweeping

• Concurrent analysis • Plot X-Y loci

Tatum Labs, Inc.

1287 N. Silo Ridge, Ann Arbor, Ml 48108313-663-8810

Inquiry 686.

270 IS V r I: JULY 1993

Inquiry 691.

Inquiry 696.

SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS

SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC

UTILITIES

TIFF, PCX, TARGA, GIF, DIB, BMP, OCX, EPS, WMF, WPG, PICT, JPEG

AccuSoft Image Format Library 3.0

"The most comprehensive raster support library on the marlret"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. Supportsall languages. Format compatlbHity guaranteed! G3, G4, TIFF-F,multi-page images etc. Rotate, scale, color reduction, sharpenetc. 30 day satisfaction guarantee. $495

AccuSoft Corporation

160 E. Main St., P.O. Box 1261, Westboro, MA 01581(800) 525-3577 (508) 898-2770 FAX (508) 898-9662

Inquiry 697.

VTgX Scientific Desktop Publishing

• Equations ■ Tables • Graphics • ScalableFonts • Supports most printers • WYSIWYGpreviewer • Foreign Languages • SpecialSymbols • Font Effects • Indices • Only $299'T^X of Tomorrow"-Notices of AMS, Marcft 1991.Call novir for a FREE DEMO DISK

fAicroPress, Inc.

68-30 Harrow Street, Forest Hills, NYTel (718) 575-1816 Fax (718) 575-8038

Inquiry 703.

FastTrax the best disk optimizer

• Defragments any size DOS disk Incl. >2 Gb

• No limits on directories, files or clusters

• Unique in-cylinder method reduces seeks

• MakeTrax (incl.) for custom file placement

• Batch operation, power failure protection

• $70, or $40 for competitive upgrade, -i- S&H

FastTrax International

880 Ensenada Avenue, Berkeley CA 9470724-hr Sales and Tech support (510) 525-3510

Inquiry 707.

"The Ultimate CAD/CAM/CAE Programming Engine"

Slash your development time, with your CAD programmingcompanion, TG-Professional v.4.0, the most complete G/C++ toolboxof 20 & 3D geometric routines available today! Over 800 routinesincluding NURBS, DXF, Grapiiics, Surfacing, Hidden Line, Transforms,Perspectives, Polygon (Int/Union/Oiff), Clipping, Tangents and more.Routines for drawing using BGI or MSG Graphics. Full source & 30 dayguarantee. USA $500.00. Use MSG, Bortand C/C+t, WATGOM G;386or f/etaware High C/C++. Call t-800-635-7760 or Fax/Phone 214-423-7288 for free 30 page technical paper.

Disk Software inc.

109 S. fylurphy Rd., Piano, TX USA 75094

Inquiry 698.

OVER 350 PROGRAMS!FREE CATALOG!

Geology • Biology • Chemistry• Engineering • Hydrology & more. There isno larger selection...anywhere.

800-775-6745

RockWare 4251 Kipling St., Suite 595Scientific Software Wheal Ridge, GO 80033

(303) 423-5645 • FAX (303) 423-6171

SOFTWAREA/OICE/FAX^

PEN PLOHER EMUI^TOR

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 mostCAD programs. Supports most printers. RequiresDOS 2.1 or higher. $119-i-$3 S&H. VISA/lvlC/Chk/MO.

FPLOT Corporation

24-16 Steinway St., Suite 605, Astoria, NY 11103718-545-3505

Inquiry 708.

SIrlin's CAD ++ ENGINE

• Read and Write AutoCAD DWG and DXF files.

• Object oriented, modular, database-like accessto CAD data.

• View, Print (rasterize). Plot (vectorize), andPick (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 03053Phone: (603) 437-0727 • Fax: (603) 437-0737

Inquiry 699.

SOFTWARE/GUI

MULTI-VOICE"^ TOOLS

Multi-Voice Tools is a complete development Toolkit for Pascal or "C"to access all ttie features lor most speech processing txiards availabletoday, it helps you write MULTI-LINE VOICE APPLICATION systems inminutes. A number of programming examples are provided. Allprograms and libraries are delivered with source code.Dialogic, Rhetorex, Pika, VBX: $599. Watson (Single Line): $99. ALSOAVAILABLE: Fax Programmer's Toolkit ($199). Based on CASspecifications. Visa/MC accepted.

ITI Logiciel

4263 Gristophe-Colomb, Montreal, Quebec, Can. H2J 3G2TEL (514) 597-1692 FAX (514) 526-2362

SOFTWARE/PACKAGING

ICSMENU

The menu for users without Windows

Runs any program or series of up to four DOScommands with a single key stroke. Chain as manymenus as desired. Never fumble again trying toremember 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 709.

VOICE MAIL/FAX/MODEM

GUI TOOLKIT ONLY $249

Full source code included

TEGL Windows Toolkit lets you create DOS based GUI appsthat are completely standalone. Over 500 functions. Menus,mouse & keyboard support, dialogues, and more. IncludesTEGL graphics interface which has drivers for most popularvideo 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 700.

SOFTWARE/MATHEMATICS

FREE SOFTWAREPACKAGING CATALOG

Everything you will need to Package, Distribute, and Sliip YourSoftware!! From manuals and binders to mailers and shippers

LABELS • LABELS • LABELS

For your diskettes, plain or custom printeddot matrix or laser printer... free samples

• ••FREE CATALOG'"

HIce & Associates

8586 Monticello Dr.. West Chester. OH 45069

Phone/Fax: 513-777-8586

inquiry 704.

•k Have a NICETALK" to you -k

MODEM + FAX + VOICE MAIL Series from 2400bps modem to data compression 57600bpsfax/modem and voicemail...over 30 models...morethan meets tiie eye - Amagic Technologies, Inc.17742-8 Mitchell ★ Irvine, CA 92714 ★ USATel: 714-474-3978 Fax: 714-474-3979

Also welcome to request 3D HologramInformation...from mfg to end products

Inquiry 710.

VOICE PROCESSING

OPERATIONS RESEARCH @ $149for your IBM or Compatible

LP88-Linear Programs up to 3000 by 15000.BLPBB-Linear Programs with Bounded Variables.MlLP88-Mixed-Integer Linear Programs.MXLP88-Large Model Mixed-Integer LP.TSA88-Transportation/Transshipment Problems.NLPSS-Nonlinear Objective Programs.Student/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 701.

SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC

STOCK PACKAGING

to tieip youmarket your software

ask for catalog 93QS1

Call 708 390-7744

or fax 708 390-9886PolyQuick Co.

1243 Rand Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016

inquiry 705.

STATISTICS

VOICE/FAX MAIL KITS

BigmOuth single line $189.00Add a Fax-on-demand system for only $199.95AMandA multi-line voice mail features:Guest Mail Boxes, Fax-on-Demand, Audiotext,Unlimited Mail Boxes, Auto Attendant, CallScreening/queuing/transfer, Remote modemaccess, etc. Only $2495.00

COMPU-TEL

86 Marlow Ave,, Toronto, Ontario M4J 3V1(416) 406-0522 Fax (416) 406-0253

Inquiry 711.

WINDOWS

Volume Visualization

VoxelBox is a volume renderer for Windows.Volume rendering is the most direct metliod ofvisualizing 3D data. VoxelBox is fast, powerfuland easy to use. It features raytracing, color/alphamapping, lighting, keyframe animation supportand much more. Price $495

Jaguar Software/ Inc.

573 Main St. Suite 9B, Winchester, MA 01890(617) 729-3659 FAX (617) 729-2750

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, & discriminantanalysis. Nonparamelrics. Cross Tabulation. Graphics:histograms, box, scatter, etc. Reads ASCII/Lotus. Many newadd-on modules.

NCSS

329 North 1000 East, Kaysville, UT 84037

Phone: 801 -546-0445 Fax: 801 -546-3907

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, Chinese, Japanese,Indian, S.E. Asian - all the world's languages inWindows. Full support for mixing Arabic, Persian,Urdu, Hebrew -i- English. Chinese and Japanesetype vertically/horizontally. Easy to use! From$149.95. Call or write the WinLanguage' experts!

Gamma Productions, Inc.Tel 310-394-8622 Fax 310-395-4214

710 Wilshire Blvd, #609, Santa Monica. CA 90401

Inquiry 702.

Inquiry 706.

JULY 1993 BYTE 27X

YOUR DIRECT LINK

ADVERTISER CONTACT INFORMATION

To order products or request FREE information, cail advertisers directly or sendin tine Direct Lini< Card by maii or fax. Let them know you saw it in BYTE.

Inquiry No. Page No.

Phone No.

170-171

A

AT ST PARADYNE (N.A.)

183

800-554-4996ext. 9697

61-62

ABACUS SOFTWARE

51

800-451-4319

181-182

ABC COMPUTER

243

310-325-6369

183

ADVANCED COMPUTER PROD

244

714-658-8813

249

ADVANCED DIGITAL SYS

263

800-888-5244

166-167

ALLMICRO

147

800-653-4933

208

AMERICAN ADVANTECH

260

800-800-6889

63

AMERICAN POWER CONV

120

800-800-4APCDPT./\2

64

AMERICAN SMALL BUSI COMP

68

918-825-4844

184

AMT INTERNATIONAL

266

408-942-9695

527-528

APPRO INTL INC 256PC-1

408-732-6091

209-210

AXIOMATIC

261

416-602-9270

185-186

B

BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC

251

800-623-2702

211

BINARY TECHNOLOGY INC

266

508-369-9556

450

BIX

277

800-696-4775

501-502

BOCA RESEARCH INC (INTL)

61

407-997-6227

65-66

BORLAND INTL

11

800-336-6464ext. 6821

253-254

BORLAND INTL

85

800-336-6464ext. 6103

187

BUFFALO PRODUCTSBYTE SUB MESSAGE

241202

800-345-2356

BYTE/LAN REPORTER

125

800-232-2983

BYTE/LAN REPORTER

224A-B

800-232-2983

67

BYTE / LAN REPORTER

225

800-232-2983

c

C USERS JOURNAL 160IDRC3-4

913-841-1631

237

CADSOFT COMPUTER, INC

265

800-858-8356

247

CALPAC COMPUTER CORP

263

800-800-7222

68

CENTRAL POINT SAW

170-171

800-967-9251

201

CITITRONICS

240

818-855-5688

69-70

COLORADO MEMORY SYS

53

800-451-4523

100

COMDEX '93

220-221

617-449-5554CODE80

72

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP

12-13

800-638-8258ext. 45

71*

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORPCOMPAQ COMPUTER CORPCOMPAQ COMPUTER CORPCOMPAQ COMPUTER CORP

61121123125

800-345-1518

73

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP

127

800-345-1518

503-504

COMPEX INC

79

714-630-7302

505

COMPUSAVE INTL

126

602-437-8208

•

COMPUSERVE

128A-B

800-848-8199

74

COMPUSERVE

129

800-848-8199

75

COMPUTER FRIENDS

128

800-547-3303

212

COMPUTER MODULES

259

408-496-1881

188

COMPUTERLANE UNLTD

246

800-526-3482

213

COMPUTERWISE

265

113-114

CONNOR

42-43

800-755-0535

243

CONTROL CONCEPTS

259

703-876-6444

536-537

CORE INTERNATIONAL (INTL)

229

407-997-6044

76

COREL SOFTWARE

37

800-77-CORELext. 28

77-78

COVOX INC

179

800-432-8970

164

CREATIVE LABS INC

45

800-998-HBS

79-80

CTX INTERNATIONAL INC

163

714-595-6146

81

CURTIS INC

52

612-631-9612

257-258

CUSTOM COMPUTERWHOLESALERS INC

255

813-255-0293

189-190

CYBEX CORP

242

205-634-0010"

506-507

CYBEX CORP (INTL)

CIV

205-534-0010"

C++ REPORT 160IDRC1-2

212-274-0646"

Inquiry No.

Page No. Phone No.

248 DAEYOUNG ELECTRONICS 260

172 DALLAS SEMICONDUCTOR 50

214 DATALUX CORP (INTL) 262

215 DATALUX CORP (INTL) 262

214 DATALUX CORP (N.A.) 262

215 DATALUX CORP (N.A.) 262DELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A.) GillDELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A.) CIVDELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A.) 30-31

82 DIAGSOFTINC 218

83 DIAGSOFTINC 219

84 DIGITAL VISION 160244-245 DISPLAY RESEARCH LAB 263191-192 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH 245175 DSP SOLUTIONS/DIGISPEECH 169

800-258-5061800-DATALUXeOO-DATALUX800-DATALUX800-DATALUX800-626-8260800-626-8260800-626-8260800-DIAGSOFT800-DIAGSOFT800-346-0090+852-877-8810"800-322-4DPT916-621-1787

241-242 EDEN'S TECHNOLOGY CORP86 ELIASHIM MICROCOMPUTERS

ELONEX206-207 EMBARC/MOTOROLA

530

87

ESP/CTC

F

FARALLON

508 FAST ELECTRONIC GMBH

520 FIRST INTL COMPUTER

193-194 FIRST SOURCE INTL

88 FRAME TECHNOLOGY

509-510 FUTURESOFT ENGINEERING

G

GATEWAY 2000

240 GENERAL TECHNICS

216 GENOVATION. INC89-90 GLENCO ENGINEERING

217 GMM RESEARCH CORP512 GREY MATTER LTD218-219 GTEKINC

H

HAUPPAUGE COMP WORKSHEWLETT PACKARDHEWLETT PACKARDHEWLETT PACKARD

HEWLETT PACKARDHI-TECH ELECTRONICS

94 IBM PERSONAL S/W PROD

95 IBM PERSONAL S/W PROD

96 IBM PERSONAL S/W PROD177-178 INFORMATION FOUNDATION

97 INTEGRAND RESEARCH535 INTEGRIX INC

98 INTEL CORP

99 INTEL CORP10 TECHIOMEGA

162-163 ITERATED SYSTEMS

IVERSON SOFTWARE, INC

JAMECO ELECTRONICS

220101

259 309-862-1704

52 +972-4-528613"

12-13+44-81-452-6422"

248 800-EMBARC4ext. 350

256 800-933-4282

101 800-998-7760ext. 4

CIII+49-89-639800-20188+886-2-717-4500"252 714-588-986679 800-U4FRAME713-496-9400

125

011,1261262167259

800-846-2068800-487-2538800-822-4333800-562-2543714-762-9447118+44-0364-53071"263 800-282-4835

215 800-443-628420-2141

72-73 800-LASERJEText. 7299

90-91259

153354-551821412734-3548A-D260165202266

407-982-6408800-879-2755800-3-IBM-OS2303-572-6486209-661-1203805-375-1055800-538-3373800-538-3373216-439-4091800-777-4046800-4FRACTL416-925-6096

139 800-831-4242

Inquiry No. Page No.

PItOtiQ NOm

JDR MICRODEVICES

257

800-538-6000

JNLOFOBJ

ORIENT PROGRAMMING 160IDRC3-4

212-274-0646"

K

103

KEA SYSTEMS LTD

212

800-663-8702

224

KEITHLEYMETRABYTE

260

608-880-3000

221

KILA

260

303-444-7737

104-105

KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY

153

714-435-2600

85

KODAK

92-93

800-344-0006

222

L

LAGUNA DATA SYSTEMS

264

800-938-TAPE

LAHEY COMPUTER SYSTEMS

111

800-548-4778

252

LEAD TECHNOLOGIES

266

800-637-4699

205

LOGICAL CONNECTION

M

258

800-238-9415

513

MAGIC/MSE

31+972-3-751-1901"

MANCHESTER EQUIP CO

256A-B

616-436-1199

524

MANCHESTER EQUIP CO

256NE-1

516^36-1199

112

MATHSOFT INC

213

800-628-4223

514

MEGADATA

121

516-589-6858"

534

MICRO 2000

256NE-2

800-864-8008

529

MICRO 2000

2S6PC-3

800-864-8008

515

MICRO DESIGN INTL (INTL)

183

407-677-8333

115-116

MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP PROD 165

815-756-3411

202-203

MICRO-INTERNATIONAL, INCMICROSOFT CORP

2508-9

800-967-6667206-936-8661

•

MICROSOFT CORP

26-27

800-468-8899ext. JC3

•

MICROSTAR LABORATORIES

260

206-453-2345

MICROWAY

196

508-746-7341

519

MINICOM LTD

123 +972-2-637676"

123

MINUTEMAN

83

800-238-7272

117

MKS/MORTICE KERN SYS

164

519-884-2251

517-518

MOTOROLA UDS (INTL)

191+33-1-4117-4130"

N

118-119

NANAO USA CORP

191

310-325-5202

226

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

265

800-433-3488

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 160IDRC1-2

612-764-0100

NETWORK COMPUTING DEV

118

800-800-9599

120

NEURON DATA

112

800-876-4900ext. 637

195

NEVADA COMPUTER

253

800-664-7762

121

NSTL

0

237

215-941-9600

122

OKIDATA

116-117

800-OKI-TEAMext. 264

196-197

OMNICOMP GRAPHICS CORP

247

713-464-2990

521

*

ON TIME MKT/KARSTEN PETERSEN

OSBORNE MCGRAW-HILL

OSBORNE MCGRAW-HILL

121154-155156

+49-40-437472

227

OVERLAND DATA INCP

264

800-729-8726

532-533

PACIFIC GOLD COAST

256PC-2

516-769-3011

250-251

PARALLEL STORAGE SOLU

261

800-998-7839

124

PATTON & PATTON

216

800-525-0082ext. 112

125-126

PC POWER & COOLING

75

800-722-6655

127

PERSOFT INC

217

800-368-5283

128

PHAR LAP SOFTWARE INC

137

617-661-1510

PHILIPS MONITORS

48ISA-D+31-40-73-39-83"

246

RIKA TECHNOLOGIES

259

613-591-1555

129-130

PINNACLE MICRO

7

714-727-3300

255

PIONEER NEWMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES

99

800-LASER-ON

2T2 BYTE JULY 1993

YOUR DIRECT LINK CARD

For free product information, mail your compieted cardtoday. For quicl<er response, fax to 1-413-637-4343!

1. For FREEproductinformationfrom individualadvertisers,circle thecorrespondinginquiry numberson Your DirectLink Card!

2. Print YourName andAddress

Answer questions "A"through "E" and mailor fax card to1-413-637-4343.

3. Productinformation willbe rushed toyou from theselectedcompanies!

EVTE

forma

th

cts!

Fill out this coupon carefully. Please Print

Name

fitie

CompanyAddress

City

Country

Code

A. What is your primary jobfunction/principal area ofresponsibility? (Check one)

1 J MIS/DIP

2 U Programmsr/Systems Analyst

3 □ Adminstration/Managemenf

4 □ Sales/Marketing

5 □ Engineer/Scientist

6 □ Other

6. What is your level of managementresponsibility?

7 □ Senior-level 9 □ Professional

8 □ Middle-level

C. Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD,Dealer, Consultant)?

10 □ Yes 11 □ No

D. What operating systems are youcurrently using? (Check all that apply)

12 J PC/lw!S-DOS 15 J Unix

13 "J DOS-t-Windows 16 J MacOS

14 J OS/2 17 J VAXA/MS

E. For how many people do youinfluence the purchase of hardwareor software?

18 _1 1-25 20 □ 51-99

19 □ 26-50 21 LI 100 or more

July 1993 \ 92 97 99 \

Valid untit September 30, 1993

Inquiry Numbers 52-238

Inquiry Numbers 239-425

52 53

54

55

56

57 58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

239 240 241 242

243 244 245

246

247

248

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254 255

69 70

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80

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85

256 257 258 259

260 261 262

263

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86 87

88

89

90

91 92

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273 274 275 276

277 278 279

280

281

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288 289

103 104

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108 109

110

111

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113

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119

290 291 292 293

294 295 296

297

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305 306

120 121

122

123

124

125 126

127

128

129

130

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136

307 308 309 310

311 312 313

314

315

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322 323

137 138

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142 143

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324 325 326 327

328 329 330

331

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339 340

154 155

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159 160

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341 342 343 344

345 346 347

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356 357

171 172

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174

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176 177

178

179

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183

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187

358 359 360 361

362 363 364

365

366

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373 374

188 189

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191

192

193 194

195

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197

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201

202

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204

375 376 377 378

379 380 381

382

383

384

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387

388

389

390 391

205 206

207

208

209

210 211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

392 393 394 395

396 397 398

399

400

401

402

403

404

405

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407 408

222 223

224

226

226 227 228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

409 410 411 412

413 414 415

416

417

418

419

420

421

422

423

424 425

Inquiry Numbers 426-612

Inquiry Numbers 613-799

426 427

428

429

430

431 432

433

434

435

436

437

438

439

440

441

442

613 614 615 616

617 618 619

620

621

622

623

624

625

626

627

628 629

443 444

445

446

447

448 449

450

451

452

453

454

455

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459

630 631 632 633

634 635 636

637

638

639

640

641

642

643

644

645 646

460 461

462

463

464

465 466

467

468

469

470

471

472

473

474

475

476

647 648 649 650

651 652 653

654

655

656

657

658

659

660

661

662 663

477 478

479

480

481

482 483

484

485

486

487

488

489

490

491

492

493

664 665 666 667

668 669 670

671

672

673

674

675

676

677

678

679 680

494 495

496

497

498

499 500

501

502

503

504

505

506

507

508

509

510

681 682 683 684

685 686 687

688

689

690

691

692

693

694

695

696 697

511 512

513

514

515

516 517

518

519

520

521

522

523

524

525

526

527

698 699 700 701

702 703 704

705

706

707

708

709

710

711

712

713 714

528 529

530

531

532

533 534

535

536

537

538

539

540

541

542

543

544

715 716 717 718

719 720 721

722

723

724

725

726

727

728

729

730 731

545 546

547

548

549

550 551

552

553

554

555

556

557

558

559

560

561

732 733 734 735

736 737 738

739

740

741

742

743

744

745

746

747 748

562 563

564

565

566

567 568

569

570

571

572

573

574

575

576

577

578

749 750 751 752

753 754 755

756

757

758

759

760

761

762

763

764 765

579 580

581

682

583

584 585

586

587

588

589

590

591

592

593

594

595

766 767 768 769

770 771 772

773

774

775

776

777

778

779

780

781 782

596 597

598

599

600

601 602

603

604

605

606

607

608

609

610

611

612

783 784 785 786

787 788 789

790

791

792

793

794

795

796

797

798 799

Inquiry Numbers 800-986

Inquiry Numbers 987-1151

800 801

802

803

804

805 806

807

808

809

810

811

812

813

814

815

816

987 988 989 £

90 991 992

993

994

995 9<

)97

598

999

1000 1001

817 818

819

820

821

822 823

824

825

826

827

828

829

830

831

832

833

1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007

1008

1009

1010 1011 1012 1013

014

1015 1016

834 835

836

837

838

839 840

841

842

843

844

845

846

847

848

849

850

1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022

1023

1024

1025 1026 1027 1

028 1029

1030 1031

851 852

853

854

855

856 857

858

859

860

861

862

863

864

865

866

867

1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037

1038

1039

1040 1041 1042 1043

044

1045 1046

868 869

870

871

872

873 874

875

876

877

878

879

880

881

882

883

884

1047 1 018 1049 1050 1051 1052

1053

1054

1055 1056 1057 1058

059

1060 1061

885 886

887

888

889

890 891

892

893

894

895

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901

1062 1063 1054 1065 1066 1067

1068

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1070 1071 1072 1073

074

1075 1076

902 903

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909

910

911

912

913

914

915

916

917

918

1077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082

1083

1084 108

5 1086 1087 1

088

089

1090 1091

919 920

921

922

923

924 925

926

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930

931

932

933

934

935

1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097

1098

1099

1100 1101 1102 1103

104

1105 1106

936 937

938

939

940

941 942

943

944

945

946

947

948

949

950

951

952

1107 1108 1109 1110 1111 1112

1113

1114

1115 1116 1117 1118

119

1120 1121

953 954

955

956

957

958 959

960

961

962

963

964

965

966

967

968

969

1122 1123 1124 1125 1126 1127

1128

1129

1130 1131 1132 1133

134

1135 1136

970 971

972

973

974

975 976

977

978

979

980

981

982

983

984

985

986

1137 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142

1143

1144

1145 1146 1147 1148

149

1150 1151

Inquiry Numbers 1152-1316

Inquiry Numbers 1317-1481

1152

1153

1154

1155

1156

1157

1158

1159

1160

1161

1162

1163

1161

1165 1166

1317

1318

1319

1320

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1322

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1328

1329

1330 1331

1167

1168

1169

1170

1171

1172

1173

1174

1175

1176

1177

1178

1179

1180 1181

1332

1333

1334

1335

1336

1337

1338

1339

1340

1341

1342

1343

1344

1345 1346

1182

1183

1184

1185

1186

1187

1188

1189

1190

1191

1192

1193

1194

1195 1196

1347

1348

1349

1350

1351

1352

1353

1354

1355

1356

1357

1358

1359

1360 1361

1197

1198

1199

1200

1201

1202

1203

1204

1205

1206

1207

1208

1209

1210 1211

1362

1363

1364

1365

1366

1367

1368

1369

1370

1371

1372

1373

1374

1375 1376

1212

1213

1214

1215

1216

1217

1218

1219

1220

1221

1222

1223

1224

1225 1226

1377

1378

1379

1380

1381

1382

1383

1384

1385

1386

1387

1388

1389

1390 1391

1227

1228

1229

1230

1231

1232

1233

1234

1235

1236

1237

1238

1239

1240 1241

1392

1393

1394

1395

1396

1397

1398

1399

1400

1401

1402

1403

1404

1405 1406

1242

1243

1244

1245

1246

1247

1248

1249

1250

1251

1252

1253

1254

1255 1256

1407

1408

1409

1410

1411

1412

1413

1414

1415

1416

1417

1418

1419

1420 1421

1257

1258

1259

1260

1261

1262

1263

1264

1265

1266

1267

1268

1269

1270 1271

1422

1423

1424

1425

1426

1427

1428

1429

1430

1431

1432

1433

1434

1435 1436

1272

1273

1274

1275

1276

1277

1278

1279

1280

1281

1282

1283

1284

1285 1286

1437

1438

1439

1440

1441

1442

1443

1444

1445

1446

1447

1448

1449

1450 1451

1287

1288

1289

1290

1291

1292

1293

1294

1295

1296

1297

1298

1299

1300 1301

1452

1453

1454

1455

1456

1457

1458

1459

1460

1461

1462

1463

1464

1465 1466

1302

1303

1304

1305

1306

1307

1308

1309

1310

1311

1312

1313

1314

1315 1316

1467

1468

1489

1470

1471

1472

1473

1474

1475

1476

1477

1478

1479

1480 1481

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 Ihe numbers below for

Fax Boards/Mactilnes

9

Programmable Hardware

21

Entertainment

32

Spreadsheets

44

additional information on the

Graptilcs Tablets/I^lce/

Scanners/OCFVDIgltizers

22

Graphics

33

Unix

45

products you're interested in.

Pen Input

10

Tape Drives

23

Macintosti

34

Utilities

46

Hardware

Keyboards

11

UPS

24

Mall Order

35

Windows

47

Accessories/SuppliesAdd-in Boards

1

l_AN Hardware

12

Software

Mathematical/Statistical

36

Word Processing

48

2

Laptops & Notebooks

13

Business

25

Miscellaneous Software

37

General

Bar Coding

3

Mai\ Order

14

CAD/CAM

26

On-Llne Sen/ices

38

Books/Publications

49

Communications/Networking

4

Memory/Chips/Upgrades

15

Communlcatlons/Networkinq 27

Operating Systems

39

Recruitment

50

Computer Systems

5

Miscellaneous Hardware

16

Data Acquisition

28

Programming Languages/

40

Miscellaneous

51

Data Acquisition

6

Modems/Multlpiexors

17

Database

29

Tools

Monitors & Terminals

18

Security

41

For free product information, mail your completed cardtoday. For quicker response, fax to 1-413-637-4343!

CZ -D 33

^ sf O m

DO O

JL O rn

Q. X 33

SOI cnzl

^ ^ aj

si

o m

COI

01

on

See reverse sidefor card.

1. For FREEproductinformationfrom

individualadvertisers,circle thecorrespondinginquirynumbers onYour DirectLink Card!

2. Print YourName andAddress

Answer questions "A"through "E" and mailor fax card to1-413-637-4343.

3. Productinformationwill be rushedto you fromthe selectedcompanies!

YOUR DIRECT LINK CARD

For free product information, maii your completed cardtoday. For quici^er response, fax to 1-413-637-4343!

1. For FREEproductinformationfrom individualadvertisers,circle thecorrespondinginquiry numberson Your DirectLink Card!

2. Print YourName andAddress

Answer questions "A"through "E" and mailor fax card to1-413-637-4343.

3. Productinformation willbe rushed toyou from theselectedcompanies!

BVTE

FREE

Fill out this coupon carefully. Please Print.

Name

Company

City

Country

Phone

Fax

A. What is your primary jobfunction/principal area ofresponsibility? (Check one)

1 □ MIS/DIP

2 □ Programmer/Systems Analyst

3 □ Adminstration/Management

4 □ Sales/Marketing

5 □ Engineer/Scientist

6 □ Other

B. What Is your level of managementresponsibility?

7 □ Senior-level 9 □ Professional

8 □ Middle-level

C. Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD,Dealer, Consultant)?

10 □ Yes 11 □ No

D. What operating systems are youcurrently using? (Check all that apply)

12 J PC/MS-DOS 15 □ Unix

13 a DOS + Windows 16 □ MacOS

14 □ OS/2 17 □ VAXA/lvIS

E. For how many people do youinfluence the purchase of hardwareor software?

18 □ 1-25 20 □ 51-99

19 J 26-50 21 "J 100 or more

July 1993 \ 92 97 99 1

Valid until September 30, 1993

Inquiry Numbers 52-238

Inquiry Numbers 239-425

62

53

54

55

56

57 58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

239 240 241 242

243 244 245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254 255

69

70

71

72

73

74 75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

256 257 258 259

260 261 262

263

264

265

266

267

268

269

270

271 272

86

87

88

89

90

91 92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

273 274 275 276

277 278 279

280

281

282

283

284

285

286

287

288 289

103

104

105

106

107

108 109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

290 291 292 293

294 295 296

297

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

305 306

120

121

122

123

124

125 126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

307 308 309 310

311 312 313

314

315

316

317

318

319

320

321

322 323

137

138

139

140

141

142 143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

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153

324 325 326 327

328 329 330

331

332

333

334

335

336

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338

339 340

154

155

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157

158

159 160

161

162

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341 342 343 344

345 346 347

348

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356 357

171

172

173

174

175

176 177

178

179

180

181

182

183

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185

186

187

358 359 360 361

362 363 364

365

366

367

368

369

370

371

372

373 374

188

189

190

191

192

193 194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

375 376 377 378

379 380 381

382

383

384

385

386

387

388

389

390 391

205

206

207

208

209

210 211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

392 393 394 395

396 397 398

399

400

401

402

403

404

405

406

407 408

222

223

224

225

226

227 228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

409 410 411 412

413 414 415

416

417

418

419

420

421

422

423

424 425

Inquiry Numbers 426-612

Inquiry Numbers 613-799

426

427

428

429

430

431 432

433

434

435

436

437

438

439

440

441

442

613 614 615 616

617 618 619

620

621

622

623

624

625

626

627

628 629

443

444

445

446

447

448 449

450

451

452

453

454

455

456

457

458

459

630 631 632 633

634 635 636

637

638

639

640

641

642

643

644

645 646

460

461

462

463

464

465 466

467

468

469

470

471

472

473

474

475

476

647 648 649 650

651 652 653

654

655

656

657

658

659

660

661

662 663

477

478

479

480

481

482 483

484

485

486

487

488

489

490

491

492

493

664 665 666 667

668 669 670

671

672

673

674

675

676

677

678

679 680

494

495

496

497

498

499 500

501

502

503

504

505

506

507

508

509

510

681 682 683 684

685 686 687

688

689

690

691

692

693

694

695

696 697

511

512

513

514

515

516 517

518

519

520

521

522

523

524

525

526

527

698 699 700 701

702 703 704

705

706

707

708

709

710

711

712

713 714

528

529

530

531

532

533 534

535

536

537

538

539

540

541

542

543

544

715 716 717 718

719 720 721

722

723

724

725

726

727

728

729

730 731

545

546

547

548

549

550 551

552

553

554

555

556

557

558

559

560

561

732 733 734 735

736 737 738

739

740

741

742

743

744

745

746

747 748

562

563

564

565

566

567 568

569

570

571

572

573

574

575

576

577

578

749 750 751 752

753 754 755

756

757

758

759

760

761

762

763

764 765

579

580

581

582

583

584 585

586

587

588

589

590

591

592

593

594

595

766 767 768 769

770 771 772

773

774

775

776

777

778

779

780

781 782

596

597

598

599

600

601 602

603

604

605

606

607

608

609

610

611

612

783 784 785 786

787 788 789

790

791

792

793

794

795

796

797

798 799

Inquiry Numbers 800-986

Inquiry Numbers 987-1151

800

801

802

803

804

805 806

807

808

809

810

811

812

813

814

815

816

987 988 989 990 991 992

993

994

995 9<

» 997

398

999

1000 1001

817

818

819

820

821

822 823

824

825

826

827

828

829

830

831

832

833

1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007

1008

1009

1010 1011 1012 1013

1014

1015 1016

834

835

836

837

838

839 340

841

842

843

844

845

846

847

848

849

850

1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022

1023

1024

1025 1026 1027 1

028

1029

1030 1031

851

852

853

854

855

856 857

858

859

860

861

862

863

864

865

866

867

1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037

1038

1039

1040 1041 1042 1043

1044

1045 1046

868

869

870

871

872

873 874

875

876

877

878

879

880

881

882

883

884

1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052

1053

1054

1055 1056 1057 1058

1059

1060 1061

885

886

887

888

889

890 891

892

893

894

895

896

897

898

899

900

901

1062 1063 1064 1065 1066 1067

1068

1069

1070 1071 1072 1073

1074

1075 1076

902

903

904

905

906

907 908

909

910

911

912

913

914

915

916

917

918

1077 1078 1079 1

)80 1081 1082

1083

1084

1085 1086 1087 1

088

1089

1090 1091

919

920

921

922

923

924 925

926

927

928

929

930

931

932

933

934

935

1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097

1098

1099

1100 1101 1102 1103

1104

1105 1106

936

937

938

939

940

941 942

943

944

945

946

947

948

949

950

951

952

1107 1108 1109 1110 1111 1112

1113

1114

1115 1116 1

17 1118

1119

1120 1121

953

954

955

956

957

958 959

960

961

962

963

964

965

966

967

968

969

1122 1123 1124 1125 1126 1127

1128

1129

1130 1131 1

32 1

133

1134

1135 1136

970

971

972

973

974

975 976

977

978

979

980

981

982

983

984

985

986

1137 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142

1143

1144

1145 1146 1147 1148

1149

1150 1151

Inquiry Numbers 1152-1316

Inquiry Numbers 1317-1481

1152

1153

1154

1155

1156

1157

1158

1159

1160

1161

1162

1163

1164

1165 1166

1317

1318

1319

1320

1321

1322

1323

1324

1325

1326

1327

1328

1329

1330 1 331

1167

1168

1169

1170

1171

1172

1173

1174

1175

1176

1177

1178

1179

1180 1181

1332

1333

1334

1335

1336

1337

1338

1339

1340

1341

1342

1343

1344

1345 1346

1182

1183

1184

1185

1186

1187

1188

1189

1190

1191

1192

1193

1194

1195 1196

1347

1348

1349

1350

1351

1352

1353

1354

1355

1356

1357

1358

1359

1360 1361

1197

1198

1199

1200

1201

1202

1203

1204

1205

1206

1207

1208

1209

1210 1211

1362

1363

1364

1365

1366

1367

1368

1369

1370

1371

1372

1373

1374

1375 1376

1212

1213

1214

1215

1216

1217

1218

1219

1220

1221

1222

1223

1224

1225 1226

1377

1378

1379

1380

1381

1382

1383

1384

1385

1386

1387

1388

1389

1390 1391

1227

1228

1229

1230

1231

1232

1233

1234

1235

1236

1237

1238

1239

1240 1241

1392

1393

1394

1395

1396

1397

1398

1399

1400

1401

1402

1403

1404

1405 1406

1242

1243

1244

1245

1246

1247

1248

1249

1250

1251

1252

1253

1254

1255 1256

1407

1408

1409

1410

1411

1412

1413

1414

1415

1416

1417

1418

1419

1420 1421

1257

1258

1259

1260

1261

1262

1263

1264

1265

1266

1267

1268

1269

1270 1271

1422

1423

1424

1425

1426

1427

1428

1429

1430

1431

1432

1433

1434

1435 1436

1272

1273

1274

1275

1276

1277

1278

1279

1280

1281

1282

1283

1284

1285 1286

1437

1438

1439

1440

1441

1442

1443

1444

1445

1446

1447

1448

1449 1450 1451

1287

1288

1289

1290

1291

1292

1293

1294

1295

1296

1297

1298

1299

1300 1301

1452

1453

1454

1455

1456

1457

1458

1459

1460

1461

1462

1463

1464

1465 1466

1302

1303

1304

1305

1306

1307

1308

1309

1310

1311

1312

1313

1314

1316 1316

1467

1468

1469

1470

1471

1472

1473

1474

1475

1476

1477

1478

1479

1480 1481

Product Category

Dislts & Optical Dnves

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

additional information on ttie

Graphics Tablets/Mice/

Scanners/OCR/Digitizers

22

Graphics

33

Unix

45

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

Accessories/Supplies

1

LAN Hardware

12

Software

Mathematical/Statistical

36

Word Processing

48

Add-in Boards

2

Laptops & Notebooks

13

Business

25

Miscellaneous Software

37

General

Bar Coding

3

lylail Order

14

CAD/CAM

26

On-Line Sen/ices

38

Books/Publications

49

Communications/Networking

4

Memory/Chips/Upgrades

15

Communications/Networking 27

Operating Systems

39

Recnjitment

50

Computer Systems

5

Miscellaneous Hardware

16

Data Acquisition

28

Programming Languages/

40

Miscellaneous

51

Data Acquisition

6

Modems/Multiplexors

17

Database

29

Tools

Monitors S Terminals

18

Security

41

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ADVERTISER CONTACT INFORMATION

Inquiry No. Page No.

Phone No.

Inquiry No. P

iige No.

Phone No.

Inquiry No. t

'age No.

Phone No.

133

PKWARE INC

64

414-354-8699

141

S'N'W COMP & ELECT

128

800-874-1235

151-152

UNLIMITED SYSTEMS

168

619-277-3300

PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE

65

Qnn 7QQQ

176

SOFTARC

144

416-754-1856"

538

URECA EXPOSITION

256NE-4

800-527-0207

111

PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE

66-67

OUU-44a-/oyy

516

SOFTLINE CORP

223

718-438-2315'*

539

URECA EXPOSITION

256PC-4

800-527-0207

142

SOFTWARE SECURITY INC

Q

143

SPSS INC

135

V

107-108

QMS

150

800-841 -0760

144

STATSOFT

143

Q1fl-'ifi1-414Qy 1 o ooo H1 ty

153

VALITEK INC

62

413-549-2700

109-110

QMS

103-105

800-841 -0760

165

SUNSOFT

2-3

800-227-9227

154

VIDEX, INC

210

503-758-0521

134

QNX SOFTWARE SYS LTD

159

OUU-dDO-yuU 1

161

SYMANTEC

201

800-228-4122

155-156

VIEWSONIC

63

714-869-7976

ext. 101

146-147

SYSTATINC

122

708-864-5670

179-180

VISIONWARE

211

415-325-2113

136

QUA TECH INC

238

800-553-1170

232

VISTA MICROSYSTEMS

265

800-875-8459

228

QUALSTAR CORP

264

818-882-5822

T1

w

135

QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYS

46-47

310-392-9861

260

800-685-4884

TECHNOLOGIC SYSTEMS

264

513-644-2230

157

WATCOM

29

519-886-3700

R

148

TEKTRONIX

59

800-835-6100

WINDOWS DOS/JOURNAL160IDRC1-2

913-841-1631

*

RAIMA CORP

56

800-327-2462

149

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS

91

800-527-3500

>

WORDPERFECT CORP

16-17

800-526-2615

137-138

RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES

97

800-852-8569

236

THE BSE COMPANY

262

602-527-8843

200

WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGIES 254

216-922-0116"

204

RALIN WHOLESALERS

258

716-674-626r*

150

TOSHIBA AMERICA INC

38-39

800-457-7777

198-199

RECORTEC INC

249

800-729-7654

230

TRACE INC

262

408-441-3466

X

139

ROSE ELECTRONICS

138

800-333-9343

235

TRANTOR SYSTEMS LTD

261

800-872-6867

233

XELTEK

264

408-524-1929

231

TRIBAL MICROSYSTEMS

264

510-623-8869

158-159

XVT SOFTWARE INC

124

800-678-7988

522-523

s

SAMTRON

30+82-2-774-6659"

u

z

SAN FRANCISCO DISC S/W160IDRC3-4

415-956-0246"

UNIPRESS

256NE-3

800-222-0560

160

ZEOS INTL

130-131

800-564-6226

173-174

SCEPTRE TECHNOLOGIES

149

800-788-2878

UNIXWORLD

176A-B

800-257-9402ext. 29

234

Z-WORLD ENGINEERING

264

916-757-3737

140

SEQUITER SOFTWARE INC

70

403-437-2410

UNIXWORLD

177

800-257-9402

* Correspond directly with company.

238-239

SIGMA TECH SOFTWARE

259

818-368-6132

ext. 29

" Indicates FAX Number

BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF

David Egan, Associate Publisher, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, Tel. (603) 924-2678, Fax: (603) 924-7620Liz Coyman, Inside Advertising Sales Director, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, Tel. (603) 924-2518

NEW ENSUND

ME, NH, VT, MA, Rl, CT, ONTARIOCANADA S EASTERN CANADADavid Richardson (617) 860-6344McGraw-Hiil Publications24 Harlwell AvenueLexington, MA 02173FAX; (617) 860«S99

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lU MO, KS, lA, NO, SD, MN.Wl. NE, IN, Ml, OHKurt Kelley (312) 616-3328Ed Ware (603) 924-2664McGraw-Hill PublicationsTwo Prudential Plaza180 North Stetson Ave.Chicago, IL 60601FAX: (312) 616-3370

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Peterborough, NH Office: Inside Sales FAX; 603-924-2683 Advertising FAX: 603-924-7507

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

BYTE PublicationsOne Phoenix Mil! LanePeterborough, NH 03458

The Buyer's Mart/Classifieds

Margol Gnade (603) 924-2656BYTE PublicationsOne Phoenix Mill LanePeterborough, NH 03458

BYTE Deck

Brad Dixon (603) 924-2596BYTE PublicationsOne Phoenix Mil! LanePeterbonDugh, NH 03458

EURO-DECK

James Bait (603) 924-2533BYTE PubticalionsOne Phoenix Mili LanePeterborough, NH 03458

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ORANGE COUNTYSAN DtEGO COUNTYBeth Dudas (714) 753-8140Joseph Mabe (603) 924-2662McGraw-Hi!i Publications15635 Alton Pkwy., Suite 290Irvine, CA 92718FAX: (714) 753-8147

Woridwide Advertising Network

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INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING SALES STAFF

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Third Wave Publishing Corp.1123 Serangoon Road, #03-01Singapore 1232Tel: +65 296 6166FAX: +65 298 7551

HONG KONG

Candlce Lo

Third Wave Publishing Corp.Unit 2, 6F Htng Wah Center82-84 To Kwa Wan RoadKowioon, Hong KongTel: +852 764 3830FAX:+852 7643857

MALAYSIA

Servex (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.H.K. Lin

5th Floor, Bona Tower

160, Jalan Ampang

50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: +60 3 2624592

FAX: +60 3 2624591

THAILAND

Pisuth D. Ratanachai

A.R. Information & Publication

Co., Ltd.

27 Charoen Nakorn 14 Rd.,Klongsan, Bangkok 10600,Ttiailand

Tel: +66 2 4394600FAX: +66 2 4394616

TAIWAN

Liwen Lee

Third Wave Publishing Corp.2ndFl., No. 19-1, Lane 231Fu Hslng North RoadTaipei 10445, TaiwanR.O.C.

Tel: +886 2 7136959FAX:+886 2 7151950

INDIA, INDONESIA,PAKISTAN, PHIUPPINE5,OTHER ASIAN ANDPACIHC COUNTRIES

K.T. Wu

Third Wave Publishing Corp.SndFL, No. 19-1, Lane 231Fu Hsing North RoadTaipei 10445, TaiwanR.O.C.

Tel: +886 2 7136959FAX: +886 2 7151950

JULY 1993 BYTE 273

YOUR DIRECT LINK

PRODUCT CATEGORY INDEX

For FREE product information from individual advertisers, circle thecorresponding inquiry numbers on Your Direct Link Card!

Category No.liHfiilry No.

Page No.

HARDWARE

2

ADD-IN BOARDS

1S4

AMT INTERNATIONAL

266

501-502

BOCA RESEARCH INC (INTL)

61

503-504

COMPEX INC

79

212

COMPUTER MODULES

259

243

CONTROL CONCEPTS

259

B1

CURTIS INC

52

191-192

DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH

245

241-242

EDEN'S TECHNOLOGY CORP

259

91-92

HAUPPAUGE COMP WORKS

215

98

INTEL CORP

34-35

102

JAMECO ELECTRONICS

139

136

QUA TECH INC

238

229

TALKING TECHNOLOGY INC

260

3

BAR CODING

154

VIDEX, INC

210

4

COMMUNICATIONS /

fVC f VF vfi AfIVU

185-186

BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC

251

536-537

CORE INTERNATIONAL (INTL)

229

241-242

EDEN'S TECHNOLOGY CORP

259

ELONEX

12-13

206-207

EMBARC / MOTOROLA

248

217

GMM RESEARCH CORP

259

256

HI-TECH ELECTRONICS

259

514

MEGADATA

121

519

MINICOM LTD

123

517-518

MOTOROLA UDS (INT'L)

191

246

PIKA TECHNOLOGIES

259

139

ROSE ELECTRONICS

138

238-239

SIGMA TECH SOFTWARE

259

229

TALKING TECHNOLOGY INC

260

TECHNOLOGIC SYSTEMS

264

151-152

UNLIMITED SYSTEMS

168

5

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

527-528

ADDD/"\ IMTCDMATIOMAI IMr*

ArrnU IIM 1 tnlNA 1 lUINAL

256PC-1

72

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP

12-13

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP

121

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP

123

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP

125

73

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP

127

257-258

CUSTOM COMP WHOLESALERS INC

255

DELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A.)

cm

*

DELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A.)

CIV

DELL COMPUTER CORP (N.A.)

30-31

ELONEX

12-13

530

ESP/CTC

256

GATEWAY 2000

Cll,1

535

INTEGRIX INC

127

99

INTEL CORP

48A-D

221

KILA

260

524

MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT CO

256NE-1

121

NSTL

237

125-126

PC POWER & COOLING

75

198-199

RECORTEC INC

249

160

ZEOS INTERNATIONAL

130-131

6

DATA ACQUISITION

208

AMERICAN ADVANTECH

260

220

10 TECH

260

Category No.Inquiry No.

Page No.

224

KEITHLEY METRABYTE

260

MICROSTAR LABORATORIES

260

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 160IDRC1-2

226

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

265

136

QUA TECH INC

238

7

DISK & OPTICAL DRIVES

900^10 f

CORE INTERNATIONAL (INT'L)

229

81

CURTIS INC

52

248

DAEYOUNG ELECTRONICS

260

240

GENERAL TECHNICS

261

101

IOMEGA

165

515

MICRO DESIGN INTERNATIONAL (INT'L)

183

115-116

MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP PROD

185

250-251

PARALLEL STORAGE SOLUTIONS

261

129-130

PINNACLE MICRO

7

255

PIONEER NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES

99

235

TRANTOR SYSTEMS LTD

261

8

DISKETTES/DUPLICATORS

209-210

AXIOMATIC

261

230

TRACE INC

262

9

FAX BOARDS/MACHINES

517-518

MOTOROLA UDS (INT'L)

191

122

OKI DATA 116-117

151-152

UNLIMITED SYSTEMS

168

84

DIGITAL VISION

160

10

GRAPHICS TABLETS/MICE/

PEN INPUT

'

MICROSOFT CORP

8-9

KEYBOARDS

215

DATALUX CORP (INT'L)

262

215

DATALUX CORP (N.A.)

262

12

LAN HARDWARE

3i3D 30 f

CORE INTERNATIONAL (INTL)

229

CYBEX CORP

CIV

1 nQ-1 Qn

1 1 t>u

CYBEX CORP

242

205

LOGICAL CONNECTION

258

125-126

PC POWER & COOLING

75

13

LAPTOPS & NOTEBOOKS

181-182

ABC COMPUTER

243

520

FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER

188

216

GENOVATION, INC

262

JDR MICRODEVICES

267

202-203

MICRO-INTERNATIONAL, INC

250

149

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS

91

150

TOSHIBA AMERICA INC 38-39

160

ZEOS INTERNATIONAL 130-131

14

MAIL ORDER

184

AMT INTERNATIONAL

266

BYTE/LAN REPORTER

125

BYTE / UN REPORTER 224A-B

67

BYTE/LAN REPORTER

225

201

CITITRONICS

240

188

COMPUTERLANE UNLIMITED

246

102

JAMECO ELECTRONICS

139

195

NEVADA COMPUTER

253

204

RALIN WHOLESALERS

258

Category No.Inquiry No.

Page No.

15

MEMORY/CHIPS/

UPGRADES

183

ADVANCED COMPUTER PRODUCTS

244

184

AMT INTERNATIONAL

266

201

CITITRONICS

240

193-194

FIRST SOURCE INT'L

252

99

INTEL CORP

48A-D

102

JAMECO ELECTRONICS

139

104-105

KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY

153

236

THE BSE COMPANY

262

200

WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGIES

254

16

MISCELLANEOUS

HARDWARE

183

ADVANCED COMPUTER PRODUCTS

244

97

INTEGRAND RESEARCH

214

17

MODEMS/MULTIPLEXORS

170-171

AT&T PARADYNE (N.A.)

183

75

COMPUTER FRIENDS

128

JDR MICRODEVICES

257

517-518

MOTOROU UDS (INT'L)

191

204

RALIN WHOLESALERS

258

18

MONITORS & TERMINALS

79-80

CTX INTERNATIONAL INC

163

214

DATALUX CORP (INT'L)

262

214

DATALUX CORP (N.A.)

262

*

ELONEX

12-13

118-119

NANAO USA CORP

191

PHILIPS MONITORS

48ISA-D

522-523

SAMTRON

30

173-174

SCEPTRE TECHNOLOGIES

149

155-156

VIEWSONIC

63

19

MULTIMEDIA

249

ADVANCED DIGITAL SYSTEMS

263

247

CALPAC COMPUTER CORP

263

77-78

COVOX INC

179

164

CREATIVE LABS INC

45

79-80

CTX INTERNATIONAL INC

163

244-245

DISPLAY RESEARCH LAB

263

175

DSP SOLUTIONS / DIGISPEECH

169

91-92

HAUPPAUGE COMP WORKS

215

98

INTEL CORP

34-35

106

LAHEY COMPUTER SYSTEMS

111

196-197

OMNICOMP GRAPHICS CORP

247

532-533

PACIFIC GOLD COAST

256PC-2

148

TEKTRONIX

59

20

PRINTERS/PLOTTERS

187

BUFFALO PRODUCTS

241

218-219

GTEK INC

263

HEWLETT PACKARD

20-21

HEWLETT PACKARD

41

93

HEWLETT PACKARD

72-73

85

KODAK

92-93

205

LOGICAL CONNECTION

258

524

MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT CO

256NE-1

122

OKIDATA

116-117

109-110

QMS

103-105

107-108

QMS

150

141

S'N'W COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS

128

TECHNOLOGIC SYSTEMS

264

148

TEKTRONIX

59

BYXE JULY 1993

YOUR DIRECT LINK

PRODUCT CATEGORY INDEX

For FREE product information from individual advertisers, circle thecorresponding inquiry numbers on your Direct Link Card!

Category No.

Category No.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

21

PROGRAMMABLE

31

ENGINEERING/SCIENTIFIC

HARDWARE

166-167

ALLMICRO

147

86

ELIASHIM MICROCOMPUTERS

52

162-163

ITERATED SYSTEMS

202

508

FAbT ELECTRONIC CMBH

cm

112

MATHSOFT INC

213

JDR MICRODEVICES

257

521

ON TIME MKT / KARSTEN PETERSEN

121

231

1 MIoAL IvilL/rlL'oio 1 tlVlo

264

232

VISTA MICROSYSTEMS

265

233

XELTEK

264

234

Z-WORLD ENGINEERING

264

33

GRAPHICS

232

VISTA MICROSYSTEMS

265

22

SCANNERS/OCR/

76

COREL SOFTWARE

37

DIGITIZERS

252

LEAD TECHNOLOGIES

266

86

ELIASHIM MICROCOMPUTERS

52

118-119

NANAO USA CORP

191

HEWLETT PACKARD

90-91

532-533

PACIFIC GOLD COAST

256PC-2

122

116-117

148

TEKTRONIX

59

23

TAPE DRIVES

35

MAIL ORDER

69-70

COLORADO MEMORY SYSTEMS

53

505

COMPUSAVE INTERNATIONAL

126

113-114

CONNOR

42-43

*

PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE

65

222

LAGUNA DATA SYSTEMS

264

111

PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE

66-67

115-116

MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP PROD

185

516

SOFTLINE CORP

223

227

OVERLAND DATA INC

264

200

WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGIES

254

228

QUALSTAR CORP

264

153

VALITEK INC

62

3o

MATHEMATICAL/

STATISTICAL

24

UPS

143

SPSS INC

135

63

AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION

120

144

STATSOFT

143

123

MINUTEMAN

83

146-147

SYSTAT INC

122

125-126

PC POWER & COOLING

75

37

MISCELLANEOUS

SOFTWARE

SOFTWARE

521

ON TIME MKT / KARSTEN PETERSEN

121

SAN FRANCISCO DISCOUNT S/W 160IDRC3-4

25

BUSINES

124

PATTON & PATTON

216

ON-LINE SERVICES

UNIPRESS

256NE-3

BIX

277

74

COMPUSERVE

129

26

CAD/CAM

64

AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS COMP

68

39

OPERATING SYSTEMS

237

CADSOFT COMPUTER, INC

265

94

IBM PERSONAL SOFTWARE PROD

15

196-197

OMNICOMP GRAPHICS CORP

247

95

IBM PERSONAL SOFTWARE PROD

33

96

IBM PERSONAL SOFTWARE PROD

54-55

27

COMMUNICATIONS/

*

NETWORK COMPUTING DEVICES

118

NETWORKING

134

QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS LTD

159

135

QUARTERDECK OFFICE SYSTEMS

46-47

87

FARALLON

101

509-510

FUTURESOFT ENGINEERING

125

127

PERSOFT INC

217

40

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES/

176

SOFTARC

144

TOOLS

179-180

VISIONWARE

211

211

BINARY TECHNOLOGY INC

266

WORDPERFECT CORP

16-17

65-66

BORLAND INTERNATIONAL

11

28

DATA ACQUISITION

512

GREY MATTER LTD

118

IVERSON SOFTWARE, INC

266

226

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

265

513

MAGIC/MSE

31

MICROWAY

196

29

DATABASE

117

MKS / MORTICE KERN SYSTEMS

164

253-254

BORLAND INTERNATIONAL

85

521

ON TIME MKT / KARSTEN PETERSEN

121

213

COMPUTERWISE

265

128

PHAR LAP SOFTWARE INC

137

513

MAGIC / MSE

31

140

SEQUITER SOFTWARE INC

70

RAIMA CORP

56

157

WATCOM

29

158-159

XVT SOFTWARE INC

124

30

EDUCATIONAL

61-62

ABACUS SOFTWARE

51

41

SECURITY

100

COMDEX '93

220-221

166-167

ALLMICRO

147

532-533

PACIFIC GOLD COAST

256PC-2

172

DALLAS SEMICONDUCTOR

50

Category No.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

86

ELIASHIM MICROCOMPUTERS

52

508

FAST ELECTRONIC GMBH

cm

89-90

GLENCO ENGINEERING

167

137-138

RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES

97

142

SOFTWARE SECURITY INC

126

•

WORDPERFECT CORP

16-17

SOFTWARE DUPLICATION

209-210

AXIOMATIC

261

45

UNIX

88

FRflMF TFPHMOI OAVrnrtivic 1 LHjniN'_/i_uv3 T

79

177-178

18

117

MKS / MORTICE KERN SYSTEMS

164

NETWORK COMPUTING DEVICES

118

165

SUNSOFT

2-3

UNIPRESS

256NE-3

179-180

VISIONWARE

211

46

UTILITIES

166-167

ALLMICRO

147

82

DIAGSOFT INC

218

83

DIAGSOFT INC

219

87

FARALLON

101

534

MICRO 2000

256NE-2

529

MICRO 2000

256PC-3

133

PKWARE INC

64

161

SYMANTEC

201

47

WINDOWS

61-62

ABACUS SOFTWARE

51

68

CENTRAL POINT SOFTWARE

170-171

512

GREY MATTER LTD

118

103

KEA SYSTEMS LTD

212

118-119

NANAO USA CORP

191

120

NEURON DATA

112

127

PERSOFT INC

217

179-180

VISIONWARE

211

WORDPERFECT CORP

16-17

48

WORD PROCESSING/DTP

88

FRAME TECHNOLOGY

79

MICROSOFT CORP

26-27

GENERAL

49 BOOKS/PUBLICATIONS

61-62 ABACUS SOFTWARE 51

C USERS JOURNAL 160IDRC3-4

C++REPORT 160IDRC1-2JNLOFOBJ

ORIENT PROGRAMMING 160IDRC3-4OSBORNE MCGRAW-HILL 154-155OSBORNE MCGRAW-HILL 156UNIXWORLD 177

WINDOWS / DOS JOURNAL 160IDRC1-2

51

MISCELLANEOUS

BYTE SUB MESSAGE

202

71

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP

61

539

URECA EXPOSITION

256PC-4

538

URECA EXPOSITION

256NE-4

JULY 1993 BYTE 2'75

EDITORIAL INDEX

For more information on any of the companies covered in articles, columns, or news storiesin this issue, circle the appropriate inquiry number on Your Direct Link Card. Each page numberrefers to the first page of the article or section in which the company name appears.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

A

1293

Above Software

232

1060

Acer America

94

1312

Adambyfe

226

Adobe Systems

22

1061

Advanced Logic Researcti

94

Advanced Micro Devices

22

1222

Aldus

157

1160

Allegro New Media

209

American University

113

1113

AMT Intemational Industries 172

Analog Devices

80

Andersen Consulting

119

Apple Computer 22, 80,151, 205

1318

APS Technologies

226

1114

Archtek America

172

MUD

Arco-Electronics

226

Ardis

22

AST Research

22

AT&T

22

1105,

AT&T Paradyne

172

1115

1116

ATI Technologies

172

1303

AVR Technology

226

B

Bailey Controls

106

Banyan Systems

22 106

1117

Best Data Products

172

1290

Bimillennium

232

1281

Binar Graphics

232

981

Blue Earth Research

69

1118

Boca Research

172

Boeing

106

1324

BSE

226

1150

Bureau of Electronic

209

Publishing

c

1119,

Cambridge Telecom

172

1120,1121

Canon

22

1122,

Cardinal Technologies

172

1123

Carnegie Group

106

Camegie Mellon University

106

1314

CDL

226

Charies River Analytics

113

983

Chelsea Instruments

69

1289

Cimlinc

232

1221

Claris

151

1124

CMS Enhancements

172

Cognitive Systems

113

1062

Compaq Computer

80, 94,

106, 113

1368

The Complete PC

172

CompuSen/e

22,157

Computer Associates

22

ComputerLand

106

Computer Sciences

113

1284

Connor Peripherals

232

Corel Systems

22

Corollary

80

1309

Cristie Electronics

226

1125

CXR Telcom

172

Cyrix

22

D

1313

Datapoint

226

Dataquest

22

1305

Data Race

226

Dataware Technologies

49

1063,

DEC 94,106,113,226

1307

1149

DeLomne Mapping

209

Delrina

132

1126

Digicom Systems

172

Inquiry No.

1142 Digital ChoreoGraphics

Disctrend1127 Dove Computer

1273 Dragon Systems1158 D.W. Electrochemicals

E

EFI

Elitegroup ComputerSystems1294 Emeritus1379, E-Tech Research1381

F

Fakespace

1274 The Flight House1234 Folio

Fujitsu

G

General MagicGeneral MotorsGensym

Georgia Institute ofTechnology

Page Ho.

23222172232209

2280

232172

119232145

22106106113

1128, Global Village 172

1129 Communications

Go Corp.1271 Gold Coast1225 Grid Systems1134 Gryphon Software

1130 GVC Technologies

H

1132, Hayes Microcomputer 172,232

1346, Products

1347,1348,

1349,1350,1382

1064 Hewlett-Packard 22,80,94,106

Hitachi 80,157

132232132232172

1065 IBM 22,80,94,106,119,203,278

1323 Imaging Supplies Express 226Inference 113,1191226 Ink Development 1321287 Inset Systems 2321298 Insight Software Solutions 232Insignia Solutions 22In-Stat 801277 Integrated Solutions 2321286, Intel 22,57,80,106,1351 119,172,232IntelliCorp 106Intergraph 22Intuit 22

K

Klplinger 22Kodak 22

1310 LaserMaster 2261282 Leading Market Technologies 232

Legent 106

Light Source 22

Logitech 80

Lorel Aerospace 113

1235 Lotus Development 161

M

1145 Mainstay 232

1311 Marquardt Switches 226

1146 Maxis 2091278 MBS Technologies 232

Inquiry No.

Page No.

McGraw-Hill 1411383 Megahertz 1721352, Microcom 1721353,1354,1380

Microelectronics and 113

Computer TechnologyMicrografx 22,209

MicroMath Scientific Software 232Micronics 80Micropolis 22Microsoft 22,48,80,132,157,197, 209

11561136

1154

1327

128812761106,

Mips TechnologiesMirror TechnologiesMitsubishiMolecular Arts

Moonlight Computer Products

22226

80232232

15722172

20922

Motorola1355,1356,1370

Mouse SystemsMTel

1357, Multi-Tech Systems1358,13841151 MustekMykotronx

N

1137 Nakiska Systems 232National Institute of 22

Standards and TechnologyNaval Research Laboratory 1131066 NCR 80,94,106NEC Electronics 22

1359 NEC Technologies 80,157,172NetFrame Systems 80

1272 NeuralWare 232Northwestem University 1191224 Novell 22,141

1135 Nu-Mega Technologies 232

0

Object Design 106

1360 Octocom Systems 172982 Onset Computer 691148 Ontrack Computer Systems 209

Opti 80

P

Pacific Micro Data1140 Pantone

Parallan Computer1285 PC-Kwik

1227 PenMagic

1361 Penril DataCom Networi<s

1228 Pensoft

1229 Pen Ware1161 Perceptive Solutions1297 Personal Library Software1308 Phoenix Graphics1147 Pluma Software1362, Practical Peripherals1363,1364,13851157 ProcompUSA

ProengineeringProtocomm

Q

QMS1223 Quari<

R

RadiusRambus

RAM Mobile DataRamtron

1138 Real-Time ConvolverRede Products

22232

80232132172132132209232226209172

20922119

22157

2788022

23222

Inquiry No.

Page No.

1230

Saltire Software

132

Samsung

80

'iJl^ intomatinnalOuD IIIlcIFIdUUIIdl

22

1067

80 94

Sigma Designs

Signetics

80

Silicon Graphics

luo

1231

Slate

132

1133

232

Software Publishers

22

Association

Sony

157

1279

Spiral Software

232

1283

SPSS

232

Sun Microsystems

22

1232

SunSelect

22,132

SunSoft

80

1365,

Supra

172

1366

Sybase

106

1326

SyDOS

226

1155

Symantec

209

T

1275

T.A.L. Enterprises

232

1299

Tektronix

22,226

1108,

Telebit

172

1367

Texas Instruments

80

3M

106

1296

TKM Software

232

1233

Toshiba 22,80,132,157

1143

Touchstone Software

232

1159,

Trantor Systems

209,226

1304

1152

Traveling Software

22, 209

Tricord Systems

80

Trinzic

106,113

1369,

Twincom

172

1386

u

1068

Unisys

94

1320

Upsonic

226

1109,

USRobotics

172

1371,1372,

1373,1387,1388

V

1374

Ven-Tel

172

Veibex Voice Systems

119

1139

Vertisoft Systems

232

w

1280

Wang Laboratories

232

1375

Westem Datacom

172

1315

Western Systems

226

1292

Wolfram Research

232

984

Woods Hole Oceanographic 69

Institution

WordPerfect

22

1153

Worid Library

209

X

1291

Xionics

232

1144

XVT Software

232

1376

Xycomm Technologies

172

z

1069

Zenith Data Systems

80,94

1389

Zoltrix

172

1377,

Zoom Telephonies

172

1378

1295

ZyLab

232

1110,

Zyxel

172

1111,1112

276 BYTE JULY 1993

IlDUf listen, Tank, mhen this

300 pound

bug gets in

"""f^ for is ZZ

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only. Unused hours do not accrue lo subsequent months. The $5 charge is a non-refundable flat fee and is charged regardless of use. |T VOU HdCK I

Circle 450 on Inquiry Card.

CommentarY

Paul Saffo

A Conspiracy of Silence

Let's not hide the health risko-f electromagnetic-'fielciradiation any longer

Warning: The information revolutionmay be hazardous to your health.Don't look for this notice to appearon the next computer you buy.even though evidence is mounting that the EMFs (elec-tromagnetic fields) emitted by our new tools have subtlebut real health effects. U.S. government agencies havebarely begun to study the issue, and computer makershave been astonishingly closemouthed about the riskstheir products may pose.

This is not the case in Scandinavia, where EMF riskshave been under investigation for some time. Last De-cember, the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health re-ported on a multiyear study that linked EMFs generatedby VDTs (video display terminals) with increased mis-carriage rates among clerical workers. Specifically, preg-nant women exposed to fields of over 3 milligauss werethree times as likely to miscarry as others exposed toless than 1 mG.

Two Swedish studies linked EMFs of similar strengthwith increased leukemia risk among children and adultmales. These findings were enough for NUTEK, theSwedish body that regulates EMF emissions, to announcethat with regard to future regulations, it would act onthe assumption that there is a connection between expo-sure to power-frequency magnetic fields and cancer. TheSwedes have long maintained voluntary guidelines en-couraging manufacturers to limit EMF emissions fromVDTs to a level of 2.5 mG, measured at half a meterfrom the screen. Now they are lowering the acceptableemission levels—and making them mandatory.

I had long been indifferent to the EMF issue, but thesedevelopments motivated me to assess my personal risks.What little I discovered made me envy Swedish con-sumers. None of the computers I use are labeled to indi-cate EMF emission levels, and their manuals are similarlysilent on the subject. Calls to the manufacturers yieldednothing helpful, so I purchased a gaussmeter and decid-ed to measure my computers for myself I was shocked todiscover that every computer I use would qualify asSwedish scrap. If the readings on my meter are accurate,I am being baked like some virtual TV dinner by emis-sions that are well above the standards the Swedes con-sider to be safe.

Frankly, I feel betrayed by our regulatory agenciesand the companies making the computers I use. Theyhave chosen the path of silence while they conduct furtherstudies, making us unwitting guinea pigs in what mayprove to be a lethal experiment.

At the very least, a notice indicating emission levels

should be affixed to every machine sold, so we knowwhat we are being exposed to. This has been done inSweden for years, and all new VDTs sold there emit farless than 2.5 mG for the simple reason that consumersroutinely purchase the VDT with the lowest emissionlevel. We should also follow the lead of the Swedishgovernment, which is encouraging electromagnetic san-itation in the workplace as a further precaution whileEMF research continues.

But U.S. manufacturers have other ideas when it comesto government guidelines in the workplace. A VDT lawpassed by the city of San Francisco last year was struckdown in a legal cheillenge backed by IBM and other man-ufacturers. IBM explained that it preferred to work ata statewide level, but we haven't seen a rush by IBM oranyone else in the computer industry to catalyze state orfederal legislation in this area.

There are a few bright spots in this otherwise dismallandscape. Several small manufacturers (e.g., Radius andSigma Designs) sell monitors meeting the Swedish guide-lines. Other companies (e.g., No-Rad) offer products de-signed to reduce EMF emissions on existing machines.Perhaps their success is having an impact—it's rumoredthat the major manufacturers are pushing hard to reduceemissions on their new models, even as they try to keeptheir public profile on the subject low.

If the manufacturers had any sense, they would aban-don their shyness regarding the subject of EMF risks andmake consumers full partners in understanding this com-plex and uncertain issue. Researchers may ultimatelyprove that EMF emissions are harmless phantoms, but un-til then, prudence dictates informed and levelheaded cau-tion. It is up to us as users to demand that manufacturersand regulators alike support this goal. ■

Paul Saffo is a research fellow at the Institute for the Future, anonprofit research organization in Menlo Park, California. Youcan contact him on BIX c/o "editors," on the Internet at edi-tors@bix.com, or on MCI Mail as "psaffo."

278

15 V I JULY 1993

YOU

FUTUREWITH

COMMQ PROUNEA 4/25s

25MHz SX -

50MH~ DX2

DELL PERFORMANCE SEMES 425s/L

25\iHz SX -

33MH? SX ■

33MH? DX —

50MH? DX2

66MHz DX2

PENTIUMTECHNOLOGY

At Dell, we anticipatenew technology even beforeit's introduced. Which iswhy all of our PerformanceSeries 486 computers arecurrently upgradeable from25MHz to 66MHz. And tomake suretomorrowdoesn'tpass youby, weput a 238

Pin Pentium OverDrive™socket inside. So not onlywill you have upgradeabilityall the way to Pentium, butyou'll also have a whole lotmore speed.

Two benefits you won'tget with the Compaq budgetbrand. So call Dell anddon't waste your time ormoney on a system that'll beoutdated soon after it's outof the box.

$1,599

DELL 425s/L i486 SX 25MHz SYSTEM

Promotional Price:Offer Expires 7/31/93

BUSINESS LEASE: $59/MO.

• 4MB RAM • 170MB (17ms) HARD DRIVE

• 3 ISA EXPANSION SLOTS

• ACCELERATED LOCAL BUS VIDEO WITH512KB VIDEO RAM • ULTRASCAN™ 14CMONITOR (14; 1024x768, .28mm, Nl|

• DUAL DISKETTE DRIVES (3.5" and 5.25")

• MS.DOS' 6.0/MICROSOFT' WINDOWS

3.1/MOUSE

TO ORDER, CALL

800^3654480

HOURS: MON-FRI 7AM-9PM CT SAT 1OAM-WM CT SJJN 12PM-5PM CT.IN CANADA; CAll 800.663-3021. IN MEXICO CITY,* 228-7811. #1IE99

ING DELL'S!. NO WONDERCOMPMIIG TO SWEAT.

DELL 450/ME

i486 DX2 50MHz SYSTEM

$3,299

SAVE $549

• Business Lease: $122/MO.

• 8MB RAM • 450MB (12ms) Hard Drive

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• One Diskette Drive (3.5" or 5.25")

• MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/Mouse

DELL 466/ME

i486 DX2 66MHz SYSTEM

$3,999

SAVE $250

• Business Lease: $144/MO.

• 8MB RAM • 450MB (12ms) Hard Drive

• 128KB SRAM Cache

• 4 EISA Expansion Slots

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• Upgradeable to Pentium Technology

• 512KB Video RAM

• UltraScan 17FS Monitor(17'; 1280x 1024, .28mm, NI)

• One Diskette Drive (3.5" or 5.25")

• MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/Mouse

DELL 466/T

i486 DX2 66MHz SYSTEM

$2,999

SAVE $519

• Business Lease: $lll/MO.

• 8MB RAM • 450MB (12ms) Hard Drive

• 128KB SRAM Cache

• 8 ISA Expansion Slots

• Upgradeable to Pentium Technology

• 512KB Video RAM

• UltraScan 15FS Monitor(15'; 1024 X 768, .28mm, NI)

• Dual Diskette Drives (3.5" and 5.25")

• MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/Mouse

DELL 466/T

i486 DX2 66MHz SYSTEM

$3,499

SAVE $519

Business Lease: $129/MO.

8MB RAM • 450MB (12ms) Hard Drive

128KB SRAM Cache

8 ISA Expansion Slots

Upgradeable to Pentium Technology

512KB Video RAM

UltraScan 17FS Monitor

(17'; 1280 x 1024, .28mm, NI)

Dual Diskette Drives (3.5" and 5.25")

MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/

Mouse

L.P., 9505 Arboretum Blvd., Austin TK 78759-7299. Attention Quarantees. *No other discounts apply.

fein 17 tnajor mempalitan areas. On-me service may not be available in certain remote ciretis. MS-DOS and Microsoft are registered trtieiemarlo" ofit in the marh and names of others. ©J993 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reseruetl.

Ah, summertime. The season ofsun, baseball and Dell's competitionsweating like maniacs. Not becauseof the weather, though. But becausethey know our sale saves you asmuch as $549 off ouralready incrediblypriced systems. Andthe systems to yourleft are only 1/1000 ofwhat Dell literally has to offer.

But we don't stop at great systemsand great choices at great savings. Wealso give you some of the greatestservice and support in the industry. Ifyou ever need support, you can call us24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ifneeded, we'll send someone the nextbusiness day,'^ guaranteed.' And withDell ReadyWare,™ you can get up to80 different applications pre-loadedfor one small $15 fee. Saving youtime, energy and aggravation. Not tomention money.

So order your Dell systems becausethis offer ends July 31stT And we'llgive you what you need. No sweat.

D^L

TO ORDER, CALL

800-365-1490

HOURS: MON-FRI 7AM-9PM CT SAT 10AM-6PM CT SUN 12PM-5PM CTIN CANADA; CALL 800-668-3021. IN MEXICO CITY,' 228-7811. #11E0l

ANNOUNSUMMER SALE

IBMANii

ARESIARTIi^

DELL 425s/L

i486 SX 25MHz SYSTEM

$1,599

SAVE $119

' Business Lease; $59/MO.

' 4MB RAM • 170MB (17ms) Hard Drive

' 3 ISA Expansion Slots

' Upgradeable to Pentium Technology

• 512KB Video RAM

' UltraScan 14C Monitor

(14','1024 x 768, .28mm, NI)' Dual Diskette Dtives (3.5" and 5.25")' MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/

Mouse

DELL 433s/L

i486 SX 33MHz SYSTEM

$1,849 GREAT VALUE

• Business Lease: $68/MO.

• 4MB RAM • 170MB (17ms) Hard Drive

• 3 ISA Expansion Slots

• Upgradeable to Pentium Technology

• 512KB Video RAM

• UltraScan 14C Monitor(14'; 1024x 768, .28mm, NI)

• One Diskette Drive (3.5" or 5.25")

• MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/Mouse

DELL 433/L

i486 DX 33MHz SYSTEM

$1,999

SAVE $219

Business Lease: $74/MO.' 4MB RAM • 230MB (17ms) Hard Drive' 3 ISA Expansion Slots' Upgradeable to Pentium Technology■ 512KB Video RAM' UltraScan 14C Monitor

(14'; 1024 X 768, .28mm, NI)' Dual Diskette Drives (3.5" and 5.25")' MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/

Mouse

DELL MULTIMEDIA 450/Li486 DX2 50MHz SYSTEM

$2,599

SAVE $178

• Business Lease: $96/MO.

• 4MB RAM • 230MB (I7ms) Hard Drive

• 128KB SRAM Cache

• Upgradeable to Pentium Technology

• 512KB Video RAM

• UltraScan 14C Monitor(14'; 1024 X 768, .28mm, NI)

• One Diskette Drive (3.5" or 5.25")

• MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/Mouse

► Internal CD ROM

► 16-Bit CD-Quality Audio

► Amplified Speakers

DELL 450/M

i486 DX2 50MHz SYSTEM

$2,799

SAVE $250

Business Lease: $ 104/MO.' 8MB RAM • 320MB (17ms) Hard Drive

128KB SRAM Cache' 6 ISA Expansion Slots' Upgradeable to Pentium Technology' 512KB Video RAM' UltraScan 15FS Monitor

(15'; 1024 X 768, .28mm, NI)' One Diskette Drive (3.5" of 5.25")' MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/

Mouse

DELL MULTIMEDIA 466/Mi486 DX2 66MHz SYSTEM

$2,999

SAVE $509

' Business Lease: $111/MO.

' 8MB RAM • 320MB (17ms) Hard Drive

■ 128KB SRAM Cache

' Upgradeable to Pentium Technology

■ 512KB Video RAM

' UltraScan 15FS Monitor

(15'; 1024 X 768, .28mm, NI)' One Diskette Drive (3.5" or 5.25")' MS-DOS 6.0/Microsoft Windows 3.1/

Mouse

Internal CD ROM

• 16-Bit CD-Quality Audio

• Amplified Speakers

*Quarantees avajidble in USA only jtjr registered owners ofDeU Performance Series systems tntrchased after 7/1/92. For a comp]£te c(3py, please call our TechFox"' line at 1-800-950-1329 or write Dell US

'Prices idid mU.S. only. Some products and /Jrrjmoriom not avcdlabk in Canada or Mexico. 'Leasing arranged by Leasing Group, Inc. ^On-site .service provided by SancTec Service Corporation. Optioital 'i-hour service availcMicrosoft Corptfration. The Intel Irtside bgo is a registered tradentark and i486, i960, Pentium and OverOrive are tradertuirks of Intel Ccrrporation. Novell is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. Dell disclams propriety inter

YOU'LL SWEAR YOU'LL SWEAR.

IT RUNS ON JET FUEL.

The fileserver on the right wasrecently tested against the one on theleft for data throughput on a 28-userNovell® network!

While the CompaqProsignia with I DA-2managed a 173 overallscore, the Dell 4066/XEDSA SCSI-2 scored anunbelievable 413.

That's over twice thethroughput. And frankly,we were surprised wedidn't come out evenfaster. Considering thatwe had a rather unfairadvantage.

We call it the DellSCSI Array. The DSA, for short.

It delivers upto 138% moreperformance

THE DELL" 4066/XE DSAi486' DX2 66MHz SYSTEM

$14,805

• Business Lease'; $530/MO.

• 16MB RAM

• Dell SCSI Array Controller(DSA)

•4xlGB SCSI-2 Drives (9.5ms)

• Upgradeable to Pentium'"Tecnnology

• 8 EISA Expansion Slots[6 available)

• VGA 800 Monitor

• One Diskette Drive(3.5" or 5.25")

• Eagle Technology NE3200EISA (available from Dell)Disk Mirroring and Duplexingalso available, not includedin price Featured.Tested system included onadditional 3 Eagle cards foran extra $2,325^

array, thanks to advanced technologyincluding an i960"' RISC processorand two SCSI-2 channels on the

controller. And the moredrives you add, the betterthe throughput.

But the Dell 4066/XEDSA server isn't merelyfast; it has all the storageexpansion capabilities togo with that speed.

You can expand up to8GB on just a single XEchassis. And add externalmedia systems to go allthe way up to 56GB.

The Compaq Prosigniawith its IDA-2 drivearray by comparison, can support upto a paltry 3.06GB. But all this talkabout expansion and speed hardlymatters in the event your server goesdown. That's why Dell guaranteesthat a trained technician will be sent

out by the next business day" to getyou up and running. We even offer an

NUMBER OF USERS ON NETWORK

optional four-hour Rapid Responseservice*. And a Self-MaintenanceProgram for clients who have theirown service organization.

So call us today. And get afileserver that you'll be mad about.Instead of mad at.

D0LL

TO ORDER, CALL

800-3654460

HOURS; MON-FRI 7AM-9PM CT SAT 10AM-6PM CT SUN 12PM-5PM CT

IN Canada; call 800-668-3021. in mexico city,* 228-7811. #11EG3

than Compaq'sIDA-2 drive

'Testing independently audited by Bounds. Chatekin and Pharr. For detailed test results call TechFax^'^ at I'800-950'1329.