BYTE Vol 15 12 1990 11 Compaq Dazzling New Laptop

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THE NEW DELL S\'STEM 433TE33 MH: EISA i4S6.'"• Inuel 304S6 microprocessor running ar

55 MH; with 12S KB externa! cache.^^ommercial Lease Plan. Lease foras Imv as S377/m(mth.330 MB Super VGA Color System

(800 x 600) S10,499Price listed includes 4 MB of RAM*80,100,190, 330 and 650 MB hard driveconfigurations av-ailable.

THE NEW DELL ffl'STEM 425TE25 MH: EISA i486.• Intel 804S6 microprocessor njnnina at25 MH:.

Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for asloiv as S278!irwnth.

190 MB Super VGA Color System

(800 x 6CXi) 57,499Price listed includes 4 MB of RAM.*80,100,190,330 and 650 MB hard driveconfigurations available.

THE DELL SYSTEM 433E33 MH: EISA i486.• i486 microprocessor runnins at33 MH:.

Commercioi Lease Plan. Lease for aslotf as S307/month.

100 MB SuperVGA Color System

(800 x 600) 58,499Price listed includes 4 MB of RAM.*80,100,190, 330 and 650 MB hard driveconfigurations available.

THE DELL Si'STEM425E-25 MH: EISA i486.• i486 microprocessor ninning at25 MH:.

Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as

Imv as S235/month.

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(800 x 600) 56,499-Price lisred includes 4 MB of R.AM.*80,100,190, 330 and 650 MB hard driveconfigurations available.

THE NEW DELL S^'STEM 325D25MH:386.'"• Intel 80386 microprocessor running at

25 MH: with 32 KB external cache.ComTnercial Lease Plan. Lease for asIwe as SlWmonth.

40 MB VGA Color Plus System 52,999Price listed includes 1 MB of R.AM.*40,80,100,190,330 and 650 MB harddrive configurations available.

THE DELL SYSTEM 316SX16 MH: 386SX.• Intel 80386SX microprocessor running

at 16 MH:.Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for asIcnv as S79/month,

40 MB VGA Qilor Plus System 52,099

Price listed includes 1 MB of R-AM.*20,40,80, kV and 190 MB hard driveconfigurations a\ailable.

THE DELL S\'STEM 320LX20 MH: 386SX.• Intel 803S6SX micn:>processor runnins

at 20 MH:.Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for asIme as $l04/month.40-MB\'GAColorPlusSystem 52,799Price listed includes 1 MB of RAM.*40,80,100,190, 330 and 650 MB harddrive configurations available.

THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 320LT20 MH: 386SX.• Intel 80386 microprocessor running at20 MH:.

CoTTunercioI Lease Plan. Lease for asImc as Sl4l^month.

40MB,2MBR.AM 53,89920 MB hard drive configurations alsoavailable.

THE DELL SYSTEM 21012.5 MH: 286." Intel® 80286 microprocessor running

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THE DaL SYSTEM 316LT16 MH: 386SX.• Intel 80386SX microprocessor running

at 16 MH:.Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for asloii' as SI12.numlh.20MB,1MBR.AM 52,99940 MB hard drive configurations alsoavailable.

The Deli System 433TE and 425TE are class A devices sold for use rncommertial environments onfy.Ta^omwixeEnlwcett^

ond 433TE] of memoiy a rewned fbr,ae by ln«sydam U eoly]ncepeifo<mance.C^nbe optwui/iisabledon 3330,3250,316SX and 210. AJ sysJems ore c*^^fophed v«*i op:tc«Td ewros. OeH confiC c« respcnsWe errofs fypcocp^iy O'F^'ogfoc^iy "Rrymefit bosed or 36-month, cp«fi.endleose. Leosngorronged tjy LeosingGfOup,lnc.lnConodo,confguro:kjnsood pnces moy vofy. DELL SYSTEM so regfifered rrodefnori, DeJ, 425E ond SmonVu ore rrodemorks d Def Coir^Xrtef CofOrOtton. l^fei fi O regtiefSd TOdeniafk and 386, ^ ond rf95ore tnadefnofl^s of Inid CofxyofOi. Oifief irodenrari^s and trode names ore used to deniry the enfnes cben,ng the moHts ond names ty ihe» pfcduCs Dell Computer CorpofotkyidraclotmsonypfopnstofvintefesttfittodemoHcs ond trodenomesotf^ettfran its own HOn-site serv^remay not be ovoSoWe ffi cenoin remote locof«yis, Shpping, hcndlng ond oppJcoye soles toi not Wuded yitt» pnoe. For ffifonnotwn on ond o copy of C)eJi's30-[)oylc!o)SQtisfocticnGuQfontee. Im,ted ACronY ai%d XefOiS Se'%ice Contract, plecse 'o De: Computer Ccp^-otwn.9505 Artorerum Bouteword. AuStm. feos 78759.7299. ATTN: V^orronty ffil9S0 [3dl Computer Corfworion, AS rights reserved

If all you're looking for is a cheap 386 " system,you won't be disappointed. You'll get a cheap 386system. Probably with marginal service. Froma company that was bom yesterday.

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The clincher is, you'llspend roughly the same fora great Deir"386 PC as acheapo 386 PC.

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of RAM on the system board. Which keeps allsix slots free for expansion cards—enough foreven the most peripheral-happy people.

The new Dell 325D is a fast, reliable machinewith a 32 KB cache, LIM 4.0 hardware support,an integrated 16-bit VGA controller that supports

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TTie Dell 333D is as good as a 386 PC can get.

THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 333D 33 MH: 386 AND THENEW DELL SYSTEM 325D 25 MH: 386-

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Not only is it 33% faster than the Dell 325D,it also has a 64 KB RAM cache for an extra kickin performance.

We design every machine to our specs, thenbuild it to yours. When you call us, we takeyou through all the choices you have in memorysizes, monitors, storage devices, high perform-ance controllers and accessories. We'll help youdecide exactly what you need, then custombuild your computer and do a fully configuredsystem test before we send it out.

Then you get 30 days to use it. If you aren'tcompletely satisfied, send it back. We'll return

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Prices and configurations subject to change without notice. Prices based on U.S. dollars. System shown with optional monitor/graphics adapter and 3.5" floppy. VBISA,BusinessVEISA, and Just Upgrade the CPU! are trademarks and ALR is a registered trademark of Advanced Logic Research. Inc. All other brand and product names aretrademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Shark photo; Ron Taylor/ Tom Stack & Assoc. £1990 by Advanced Logic Research.AST, we saw your mailer. Would you like some of our product literature so you can get your information right next time?

Circle 17 on Reader ServUe Card (RESELLERS: 18)

Contents

November 1990Volume 15, Number 12

COVER STORY

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Compaq NotebookUps the Ante

PAGE 140

46

132

The LTE 386s/20is the high-performancenotebook PC to beat.

NEWS

19 MICROBYTES

"MISC," a new minimalistmicroprocessor architecture, promisesfaster systems that can emulate otherprocessor architectures.

WHAT'S NEW

This month's product selections includeGRiD's Isopoint laptop, entry-levelmultimedia software from MacroMind,a Mac scanner from HSD, and more.

FIRST

IMPRESSIONS

Ventura Publisher, MacintoshEdition 1.0, for a mixed-machineenvironment

ScanMan 256, Logitech's scannerfor Windows 3.0

NewWave 3.0, an updated versionfrom Hewlett-Packard

WinSleuth, Dariana's newdiagnostics package

WordPerfect Rhymer,/or the studentof the sound of language

BYTE (ISSN 0360-5280/90) is published monlhiy with an additional issuein October by McGraw-Hill, Inc. U.S. subscriber rate S29.95 per year InCanada and Mexico, $34.95 per year. Single copies $3.50 in trie U.S.$4.50 in Canada. Executive, Editorial, Circulation, and Advertising Of-fices; One Phoenix Mil! Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Second-dasspostage paid at Peterborough, NH, and additional mailing offices. Post-age paid at Winnipeg, f^nitoba. Registration number 9321. Printed in theUnited States of America. Postmastaf: Send address changes, USPSForm 3579, and fulfillrhent questions to BYTE Subscriptions, P-0 Box551. Hightstown, NJ 08520.

146 The New Macs on the Block

At last, lower prices—and a new design.

156 A New Status Quo for QuattroBorland adds 3-D graphics to itsspreadsheet.

162 TheALRMPS:

Modular Micro Channel

ALR gambles that it can take a bite outof the True Blue market.

165 Fast New Systems from NeXTFaster machines with lower pricesand the long-sought floppy disk drivehave arrived.

REVIEWS

172 PRODUCT FOCUS:Massive Storagefor Multiple Platforms

The BYTE Lab puts 15 high-capacityhard disk drives to the test across fouroperating systems: DOS, Unix, NetWare386, and the Mac OS.

190 High-Performance 486 ATs

The great performance of three33-MHz 486s shows there's still lifein the old AT bus.

194 FPU Face-Off

Not all FPUs are created equal.The BYTE Lab shows performancedifferences among FPUs from AMD,Cyrix, IIT, Intel, and Weitek.

205 New Controller MakesSCSI Palatable to PCs

Distributed Processing Technology'sSmartConnex/ISA hides SCSI'sincompatibility from PCs.

221 Windows Takes On WingZ

Informix's graphical spreadsheet putsWindows 3.0 through its paces.

227 Mac-ish Interfaces for Unix

Looking Glass and X.desktop providepoint-and-click ease of use to Unix.

235 New Bubble-Jet Outpaces PortablePrinters

Canon's new portable printer bubblesover with sharp resolution andflexibility.

239 A Poqet Full of Power

It's small. It's innovative. But is itpractical? Wayne Rash Jr. takes thePoqet PC on the road.

245 One-Size-Fits-All Code with Lattice C

A royalty-free DOS extender is standardwith Lattice's new C compiler.

251 Document Managementon Networked PCs

Imara and Propound offer twoapproaches to keeping trackof documents.

258 Small, Low-Cost UPSes

Small and inexpensive backup powersystems make reliable poweran individual choice.

262 TravelMate 2000 Lives Up to Its Name

Texas Instruments puts AT-class powerin a 4-pound package.

266 Pricey Hard Disk Drive Portability

The Disctec 20 provides floppy diskconvenience with hard disk storagein a very small package.

268 Reviewer's Notebook

A new ALR PowerFlex model, andhard disk confusion at Micro Express.

STATE OF THE ART

272 MAGNETIC VS. OPTICALIntroduction

275 State of the Media

A look at the conflict betweentraditional magnetic mass storagedevices and optical technologies.

283 Crystal Clear Storage

The holostore, a new mass stoi-agedevice with supercomputerperformance, could eliminate the I/Obottleneck.

4 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS © 1990

289 Entering a New Phase

Optical and magnetic are at oppositeends of the spectrum. Can phase-changetechnology bridge the gap?

301 The Once and Future King

Hard disk technology will be yourprimary computer storage mediumfor years to come.

304

311

323

331

338

Side by Side

You can store more data on

a floppy disk if you can get the bits

to stand up straight.

Store Data in a Flash

The flash-memory disk offers a fastand rugged replacement for both hardand floppy disk drives.

DAT's a Solution

Digital-audiotape technology comesof age.

Getting Your Byte's Worth

Hardware-based data compression givesyou more bang for your QIC, DAT, andhard disk buck.

Masses of Storage

A guide to companies that provide massstorage solutions.

FEATURES

342 Chips for the Nineties and Beyond

New chips may make for higher-performance and unconventional waysof computing.

353 Modem Business

Confused by modem standards like212A, V.22, and V.32bis? Here's help.

364 A Knowledge Engineering Toolkit,Part 2

The discussion continues, with a lookat backward and forward chaining.

373 Hot Links to Go

A look at Windows' and OS/2'sDynamic Data Exchange facility.

381 Alternative OperatingSystems, Part 4:Pick: OS or DBMS?

What do you get when you build anoperating system around a database?

385 Modula-3

An introduction to the OOP languagethat grew from Pascal and Modula-2.

EXPERT ADVICE

73

COMPUTINGAT CHAOS MANORMultimedia Video

by Jerry PoumelleJerry looks at multimediavideo boards, a new Modula-2,and assorted gadgets.

89

DOWN TO BUSINESSThe Growth of Groupware

by Wayne Rash Jr.Wayne addresses groupwareand how to determine whatcapabilities your company needs.

Magnetic vs. Optical/272

HANDS ON

395 UNDER THE HOODThe Mouse that Roared

The history, anatomy, and physiologyof the desktop mouse.

403 SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIREDTalking Tasks, Part 2Introducing the most common methodsof interprocess communicationsfor Unix and OS/2.

DEPARTMENTS

97

NETWORKSHard Choices for Network Managers

by Mark L. Van Nameand Bill CatchingsYou can't always wait for theperfect network management solution.

107

MACINATIONSWorking with Windows 3.0 and a Mac

by Don CrabbDon presents the Mac/Windows3.0 user's interoperabilitysurvival guide.

6 Spotlight

Jerry Pournelle: 10 yearswith BYTE and counting

10 Editorial: Laptop Troublesand Triumphs

33 Letters, Ask BYTE, and Fixes

Readers find self-realization.

PERSPECTIVES

465 CHAOS MANOR MAIL

466 PRINT QUEUEStomping the Nasties

Professor Kenner examines a newvolume by computer virus hunterJohn McAfee.

468 STOP BIT

Promises, Promises

A lawyer looks at the warranties-real and implied—that come withcomputer equipment.

119

THE UNIX /binNot Quite Unix

by David FiedlerThe tribulations and treatsof using a SlOO Unix clone.

127

BEYOND DOS:WINDOWS AND OS/2Tales from the Trenches

by Steve MastrianniAn OS/2 device-driver specialisttalks shop.

READER SERVICE

454 Editorial Index by Company456 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers458 Index to Advertisersby Product CategoryInquiry Reply Cards: after 460

PROGRAM LISTINGS

FromBYTEnet: Call (617) 861-9764

NOVEMBER 1990 - BYTE 5

Circle 49 on Reader Service Card

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H

Jerry Pournelle:10 YearsAND Counting

There's a lot more toBYTE's senior contributingeditor than just his column

He's been called "the world'smost popular computer colum-nist," and with justification.Jerry Pournelle's columns ap-pear in dozens of countries, both in En-glish and in a variety of other languages.He has fans from Michigan to Moscow,from Kokomo to Kyoto.

As a BYTE reader, you probably al-ready know why: For the last 10 years,Jerry's blend of hands-on, first-personexperience with every conceivable kindof hardware and software has providedsome of the most entertaining and infor-mative pages in BYTE each month.

But there's a lot more to Jerry than hiscolumn. You've probably either read orheard of a number of Jerry's best-sellingbooks (written alone or in collaborationwith Larry Niven and others), includingThe Legacy ofHeorot, Footfall, Oath ofFealty, Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote inGod's Eye, and many others. Jerry's listof published works would more than fillthe space we have here; over 20 booksare still in print.

A native of Shreveport, Louisiana,Jerry earned a B.S. in psychology and

mathematics, an M.S. in experimentalstatistics and systems engineering, andtwo Ph.Ds: one in psychology, the otherin political science.

With that broad a background, it's eas-ier to understand how Jerry has ended upemployed by agencies as varied as theCity of Los Angeles, Pepperdine Univer-sity, the U.S. Air Force, North Ameri-can Rockwell Corp., and Boeing Aero-space Corp. What's harder to understandis how he did it while still developing aworld-class writing career.

But wait, there's more: Jerry's alsomade time to chair the Citizen's Adviso-ry Council on National Space Policy, andto be a consultant to the trustees of theCalifornia State Universities; a memberof the Board of Visitors, Department ofMathematics, University of Texas; and amember of the advisory board, LowellObservatory, Flagstaff, Arizona.

Jerry was one of the first authors to usea computer for writing both fiction andnonfiction (see "Writing with a Micro-computer," onComputing, Summer1979). His work began appearing inBYTE just one year later.

We're pleased to be able to bring you awriter of Jerry's caliber each month. Ifyou're already a fan, watch for some in-teresting, positive changes in the columnover the next few months, as we usher inJerry's second decade with BYTE. Ifyou're not reading Jerry, do yourself afavor: Check out this month's column. ■

6 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

New FoxPro

Shifting the Balance Of Power in Database Management

There's a new leader in the relational database manage-ment world. Its name is FoxPro.

FoxPro is the first and only microcomputer databasemanagement system that combines astonishing per-formance with a sleek interface of amazing power andbeauty.

■ FoxPro offers all the elegance and accessibility of agraphic-style interface, yet operates at the stunningspeeds possible only with character interfaces.

■ FoxPro is so easy to learn and use. even beginnerscan become productive immediately; yet it's powerfuland sophisticated enough to satisfy the needs of the most demandingdevelopers and power-users.

■ FoxPro gives you choices instead of limits: use a mouse or akeyboard; type commands or use the object-oriented interface; run inone window, or hundreds.

■ FoxPro is so efficient, it runs in a 512K PC-XT. yet it's able to takeadvantage of the speed, expanded memory and extended videomodes of the most advanced machines available. You don't even needa graphics card or special windowing software.

FoxPro

Nothing is Faster

Fox Software products are famous for theirunmatched execution speed. FoxPro extends thattradition.

FoxPro is up to eight times faster than dBASE IV —more than 15 times faster than dBASE III PLUS!

And that blazing speed translates into unprecedentedpower. Now you can efficiently process giganticdatabases with hundreds of thousands —evenmillions—of records.

Protecting Your Investment

With FoxPro, your existing FoxBASE-l- or dBASE III PLUS pro-grams will run perfectly —first time, every time, no excuses. AndFoxPro is language-compatible with dBASE IV. But FoxPro doesn'tstop there. It has over 140 language enhancements not found in anyversion of dBASE. We've outdone oursehes by adding more than200 language extensions you won't find in FoxBASE+.

Best of all. FoxPro opens up whole new worlds for your applicationsby letting you move them onto a variety of different platforms.

The Tradition Continues

Fox Software is committed toexcellence—our products prove it.

We've been producing superb databasemanagement software since 1983. Andour products for both the PC and theMacintosh continue to win awardsworldwide.

We've taken everything we know aboutsoftware engineering, databases andinterface design, and focused it intoone remarkable product—FoxPro.

FREE Demo Disk

Shift the balance of power in your favorby trying FoxPro for yourself.

Call (419) 874-0162 now to get yourfree demo disk. Or ask for the FoxProdealer nearest you. See for yourself:Nothing Runs Like The Fox.

System Requirements: Fti.xPnt operates in5I2K RAM {MOK recommended I Kith MS PC-DOS 2.0 or greater and an H0H6iHOHH. H0286or S03S6 tnicroproees.sor. For optimum per-formance , Fo.\-Pro takes complete advaniuiie ofany availalile EMS (expanded memory) or amatii coprocessor

Trademarks Owner: Fo.\'Pro. Fo.\B.ASE^/Fo.\'Software: dB.ASE III PLCS. dB.ASE IV/.Asliton-Taie.

FOX Software

.\othing Runs Like The Fox.

Fox Soflware. hic. (419) S74-()I62134 W. South Boiindarv f\\; (4|9) s^4-,S67SPerrysburg. Ohio 4.i.^.i'l Telex: 6.^0.3040827 FOX

Circle 141 on Reader Service Card

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infonnolioTt. call (800) 541-1261. Dept. M99. Outside Uu U.S. and Canada, call (206) 882-S661. In CModa. call (416) 673-7638. ^ISSOMierosoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks and Windows and Making it all make sense are Irademarks

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Business practice-not teclinology—is nowthe impediment

Ilove laptops. Given enough funds,I'd go for laptops the way ImeldaMarcos went for shoes.The list of portables I've ownedor used stretches back to the days when(figuratively speaking) computers weremade out of animal bones and plantfiber. In fact, before there were por-tables, I routinely went on the road withan Atari 800, two external floppy diskdrives, an acoustic coupler, a dictionary-size "interface box," and a shopping bagfull of cables and brick-size power sup-plies. I had more than one chat with hotelsecurity when maids panicked at thesight of the wires and boxes covering aroom's spare bed.

A Winner

Things got simpler with the first trueportables and then, some years later,with the first laptop—the Tandy Model100.1 still have my original MlOO, and Iuse it on trips where I am unwilling torisk loss or damage to more recent equip-ment, or where power supplies are aproblem.

Other Contenders

I've had other memorable machines, too.The almost-compatible DataVue, for ex-ample, stands out because it kept me upand running during the power outages ofhurricane Gloria some years back. Butthe DataVue's idiosyncrasies meant thatI couldn't telecommunicate the work I'ddone, thus negating one of the prime rea-sons for having a laptop.

Also-Rans

Way back when, I had a brief flirtationwith the almost-legible DG One, but I

EDITORIAL ■ Fred Langa

LAPTOP TroublesAND Triumphs

decided that I really needed to be ableto see what I was working on. Very re-cently, I tried lugging a 12-pound VGAlaptop, but decided my arms were al-ready long enough. Other machines hadgreat screens but nonstandard micro-floppy disks, or powerful CPUs but pric-ey ROM-card software.

Still other laptops seemed great inoffice settings, but they turned out to beuseless on planes unless the person infront of me sat perfectly upright—if he orshe tilted the seat back, it would fold thecomputer's screen shut. Palmtops wereeither too tiny to type on or too limited inuse to fully replace a "real" computer,even though they may excel at replacingpaper-based pocket diaries, agendabooklets, and to-do lists. (And "excel"they do: A pocket computer such as theSharp Wizard can be a perfect accompa-niment to a full-blown portable.)

No More Compromises

This theme—having to make substantialcompromises when computing outside atraditional office setting—has been con-stant. Until now.

Starting late last year, laptops shedtheir last real technological hurdles.Smaller than ever, lighter than ever,faster than ever, today's laptops (yes, I'mincluding the subclasses of notebook andpalmtop computers) now truly can offerfull-function portable computing withvery few compromises. (Check out thecover story on the Compaq 386s/20 andthis month's review of the Texas Instru-ments TravelMate.)

But there's still one persistent catch. Ifthe new crop of laptops is making youthink of taking the plunge, it's some-thing you should be aware of.

It's human behavior—specifically, of-fice decorum and the etiquette of busi-ness meetings. Take notes on a piece ofpaper, for example, and no one cares;take notes on a laptop, and the novelty ofit can cause a commotion; the mere act ofcomputerized note taking can pull a

meeting off track—your use of a portablecomputer actually decreases productiv-ity instead of increasing it.

If you are making a presentation, thereis a similar problem: Speak from notes,and your audience will listen to yourmessage—but refer to notes on a laptopscreen, and for a few minutes, at leastsome in your audience will pay more at-tention to how you're delivering yourmessage than to the message itself.That's a sure way to torpedo a presen-tation.

While those can be serious problems,there are smaller snags, too: Working ona plane, if you write a memo in longhand,your concentration will be undisturbed.Try typing on a laptop, and you can ex-pect friendly interruptions ("Hey! Whatis that?") from your seatmate and frompeople walking by in the aisle.

Problems Become Moot

Of course, handwritten notes always canbe rekeyed later. A speech given fromnote cards may well be better than onedelivered from a laptop, because you'llbe able to walk around instead of beingtied to a podium. And answering thequestions of curious airline seatmateshelps spread the word about computersand introduces a new set of users to theseamazing machines.

As more laptops move out into theworld, the curiosity factor will diminish,and computers will become as acceptedin boardrooms, on podiums, and in pub-lic transport as they now are on desktops.But for now, the relative novelty meansthere will be some inconvenience, andyou may not immediately get all the timeand productivity gains you hope for.

Personally, I think it's a small price topay for the huge gains that are to be had. Ican't imagine traveling without a lap-top—and once you've tried one of today'sslick new machines, neither will you.

—Fred LangaEditor in Chief(BIXname "flanga")

10 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Limited time offer to owners of IVIicrosoft C

Borland's Turbo C'' Professional"Everything you always wantedin a C compiler and more

Reprinted from PC Magazine, August 1990

- mmunicaiions Company -rrrrtfivMirtirrrinii'iirnfiiiiii'yiMi

Special upgrade offer forMicrosoft^C owners!

Are you ready for an upgrade thatconforms 100% to ANSI C, gives youC+-r, doesn't skimp on documentation,features a fast, reliable programmingenvironment, and provides the com-plete toolset necessary to maximizeyour productivity? Then it's time tomake the move to Borland.

And the time to move is now.We're offering Turbo C++ Professionalto owners of Microsoft C or anyPC-based C or C++ compiler foronly $14995.*

Compare the features.

c

OMPILER

MSC6.0

TC++Pro

c

++

NO

YES

Full ANSI C

NO

YES

Transparent overlaymanager

NO

YES

Complete printeddocumentation

NO

YES

E

Overlapping windows

NO

YES

Mouse support

YES

Ir

t^ated deb

jgging

NO

YES

TOOLS

D

ebu^er

YES

YES

Profiler

NO

YES

Macro assembler

NO

YES

Turbo C++ Professionalbeats Microsoft C 6.0.

125.63

String! ■ 5.33

'■ 5.35

IMoth11 4.34I 3.92

Files

24.0324.03

56.22

ITC++ ProI MSG 6.0

30.5934.0340.8248.69

Source:PClABsBenchmarksAugust, 1990

Performance resulfs:

.EXE size given in idhbyfes, speed given in seconds.

Using a 16Mkz 386. HIMEM driver and KWS 3.3. Hord diil omJ RAMdisk opiimized befween 'esTs: co*i!piied bendimori pfogroms njfi from iiAMdisk. Each compiief was optimized for speed.

"... if you want an excellent ANSIcompiler with integrated environ-ment, overlay linkage, profiler,assembler, and an award-winningdebugger-not to mention C and C++support—look no further: Turbo C++Professional is here."

-PC Magazine, August 1990

Step up now toTurbo C++ Professionalfor only $14995

That's half the suggested retailprice of $29995.

If you're not convinced thatTurbo C+- Professional is the bestupgrade to Microsoft C 5.1, justreturn the product for a full refund.

To orderSEE YOUR DEALER

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or call now1 (800) 331-0877

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a 0 R I A N B

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Makers of Turbo C"-, Turbo Pascal,* Paradox,* Quattro*Pro and Sidekick*

Code: MC13

'Prool ol ownership |an origifial manual page or disk trom any version) is required Ofler expires Decerrte 31.1990 Offer good n U.S. arxl Canada only. Special discounts for registered TufDo^ C owneis are avaiialiie trom Borland. Uai! orders to.Borland inlerrraiionai. inc. P 0. Box 660001, Scotls \ftiiey. CA 95067-0001. Add S5.00 for shipping and handling ResiOenls in CA. CT. GA. IL. MA. Ml. NY, OH. PA TX. VA and WA please add appropriate sales tix. For ordets outside the U.S..call (408) 438-5300 Turtw C++ and Turbo Language are irademarks of Borland Inlefnalional. mc. Copyright ©1990 Borland Inlernational. Ix All rights resen/ed Bl 1382

Circle 53 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 54)

Fly in bigger skies.

The 16" Multisync J,D and 20" oD monitors.Our largest high-resolution color monitors. Digitally controlled, the J,D supports VGA through 10-2J, x 768. the oD, up to 1280 x 102J,.

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Your ideas could use as much of both as they can get. Which is whyyou should consider upgrading to one of our larger MultiSync' moni-tors. Then you can add the best graphics accelerator you can find. TheMultiSync Graphics Engine" Board, to name one prime example.

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Computers and Communications

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The Multisync Graphics Engine Board. Uses 50MHz TMS 31010 graphics processor to accelerate software applications as much as 900%.

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Circle 254 on Reader Service Card

BVTE

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Frederic S. Langa

PUBLISHER

Ronald W. Evans

MANAGING EDITOR

Anne Fischer Lent

NEWS

N«w York: Managing Editor: Rich MalloyAssociate News Editor: Andrew ReinhardtPetert>orough: Sen/or Editor, Microbytes:D. Barker, Senior Editor. New Products:Stan Miastkowski

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Andrews, Martha Hicks

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San Franclaco: News Editor: Owen

Linderholm

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Managing Editor: Michael Nadeaurecrtn/ca/D/recto/-.-Rick GrehanSenia Editor: Dennis AllenTechnical Editors: Man Joch, RobertMitchell, Tom Yager

Testing Editors/Engineers: Stephen Apiki,Stanford DIehl, Howard Eglowstein,Stanley Wszola

STATE OF THE ART

Senior Editor: Jane Morrill TazelaarTechnical Editor: Robert M. Ryan

FEATURES

Senior Editor: Kenneth M. SheldonTechnical Editors: Janet J. Barron,Ben Smith

SENIOR EDITORS, AT LARGE

Tom Thompson, Jon Udell

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Senior Editor: Gene Smarte

SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Jerry Pournelle

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Bill Catchings, Don Crabb, David Fiedler,Hugh Kenner, Mark J. Minasi, WayneRash Jr., Mark L. Van Name

CONSULTING EDITORS

Jonathan Amsterdam, Nick Baran,Laurence H. Loeb, Trevor Marshall, StanMiastkowski, Dick Fountain, FhillipRobinson, PeterWayner ^

COPYEDITING

Chief Copy Editor: Lauren A. SticklerCopy Administrator: Cathy KingeryCopy Editors: Susan Colwell, JeffEdmonds, Judy Grehan, Nancy Hayes,Margaret A. Richard, Warren Williamson

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ART

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>4rMss/sran/, Jan Muller

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Publisher's Assistant: Donna Nordlund

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Director: L. Bradley Browne

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JoSteiner

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Director: Glyn StandenSubscriptions Manager: Paul RuessAssistant Manager, Subscriptions:Margaret Liszka

Sudscr/pf/onsAss/sfanf; Holly ZillingNewsstand Manager: Vicki WestonDistribution Coordinator: Karen DesrochesBacktssues: Louise MenegusDirect Accounts Coordinator: Ellen DunbarDirect Accounts Telephone SalesRepresentative: Karen Carpenter

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BYTE BITS (2x3)

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See listing on page 455.

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Stephen M. Laliberle

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Tony Lockwood

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EXCHANGE EDITORS

Macintosh Exchange: Laurence H. Loeb,IBM Exchange: Barry Nance, User GroupExchange: David Reed, Interactive GameExchange: Richard Taylor, AmigaExchange: Joanne Dow, Writers Exchange:Wayne Rash Jr., Tojerry Exchange: JerryPournelle, Telecommunications Exchange:Stephen Satchell

BUSINESS AND MARKETING

Secretary: Patricia Bausum, MarketingServices Coordinator: Denise A. Greene,Billing Services Coordinators: Tarn myBurgess, Donna Healy, Editorial Assistant:Brian Warnock

TECHNOLOGY

Programmer/Analyst: John Spadafora,Programmer: Peter Mancini, SystemsConsultant: Gary Kendall

EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICE:

One Phoenix Mil! Lane, Peterborough, NH03458, (603)924-9281.West Coast Branch Offices: 425 Battery St.,San Francisco, CA 94111, (415) 954-9718;3001 Red Hill Ave., Building #1, Suite 222,Costa Mesa, CA 92626, (714) 567-6292.New York Blanch Editorial Oftlce: 1221 Avenueof the Americas, New York, NY 10020, (212)512-3175.

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OFFICERS OF MCGRAW-HILL, INC:

Joseph L. Dionne, Chairman, President andChief Executive Officer; Robert N. Landes,Executive Vice President, General Counseland Secretary; Walter D. Serwatka,Executive Vice President; Frank D.Penglase, Senior Vice President, TreasuryOperations; Robert J. Bahash, ExecutiveVice President and Chief Financial Officer;Thomas J. Sullivan, Executive VicePresident, Administration; Mary A. Cooper,Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs,and Executive Assistant to the Chairman;Ralph R. Schuiz, Senior Vice President,Editorial.

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Member

Audit Bureau of Circulation

14 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Introducing the PanaSync C1381 Monitor.

85t^ArcsolutioaVGA pice.

If you want the ultimate VGA graphics standard, and you've resigned yourself to pa\ing a premium of hundreds ofdollars to get it, you'll find our newest monitor pleasant viewing indeed.

The PanaSync C1381 gives you a sharp 1024 x 768 pixels, with 0.28 dot pitch. And virtually infinite color resolution.

It's compatible with the most popular VGA boards, as well as analog RGB, MCGA, SuperVGA and—of course — 8514/Astandards,*

It's comfortable in virtually any IBM-compatible or Mac II environment.**

And it's a masterpiece of ergonomics. 'With fi-ont-mounted controls, tilt/swivel stand, plus a non-glare tinted black-matrix screen.

All this at a suggested retail price comparable to manyof the ordinary VGA monitors on the market right now. Formore information, simply call toll-free 1-800-742-8086.

PanaPro™ Monochrome Desktop Publishing Monitors with Video Adapters.

Peripherals, Computers, Printers,Copiers, '^pewriters and Facsimiles

Panasonic.

Office Automation/^^'^\2i\

\Jr\

PanaSync™ Multiscanning Color Monitors.

C1391 II C1381

(MacSE)

(MacII)

M3-1

(IBM XT/AT & PS/2 Model 30)

Circle 276 on Reader Service Card

' VGA. MCGA and 85M/A are trade-marks of/ntemational BusinessMachines Corp.

• IBM XT .V and PS/2 are registeredtrademarks of International Business.Machines Corp. .Macintosh is a reg-istered trademark of Apple ComputerInc. An optional cable is requiredfor .Macintosh.

Doift look now, but

moving on

Suddenly, IBM Personal System/2®s withMicro Channel™ on desks everywhere are exhibiting some pretty wild andwonderful tendencies. They'recreating incredible on-screenpresentations. Interactive tu-torials with full-motion videoand stereo sound. Graphics,text and animation in har-monious coexistence. Whatmakes it all possible is themultimedia capability of theIBM PS/2®with Micro Channel.

the new IBM CD-ROM that gives you thestorage equivalent of over 400 diskettes on

Micro ChannelMakes It Look Easy

The PS/2 itself isdesigned to put multimediaapplications to their best use.Micro Channel has alwaysgiven the PS/2 extremely fastdata rates and bettermultitasking capabil-ities. But in multimediaapplications, it really getsa chance to shine.The multilane highwaydesign of Micro ChannelArchitecture is perfect forprocessing complex multi-media applications.Most conventionalPCs just don't havethe power or thedata paths to do it atall. Plus, Micro Channelin the PS/2 lets you use

iiiiiiffl!!

iiiiuiiiiiiiiii"'"

there's somethingyour desk.

a single CD, so you can have access to all kindsof data-intensive material like clip art and dig-ital stereo sound.

Do It All. All At Once.

With a PS/2 with Micro Channel, you canstart using some hot products right now. Oneis IBM's Audio Visual ConnectionT It's both asoftware and a hardware tool that allows yourPS/2 to import high-quality audio, dazzlingstill images, even special effects, as well as text,graphics and otherdata. Then, you canedit and present it inany combination youlike right on yourPS/2 screen, share itwith a network or pro-ject it on a wall. It's impressive, but don't takeour word for it—IBM's Audio Visual Connec-tion received PC Magazines TechnicalExcellence Award for 1989.

Another exciting multimedia productis die IBM M-Motion Video Adapter/A:Coupled with the power of Micro Channel, itlets you incorporate full-motion video andhigh-quality sound from sources like videodisks, VCRs and video cameras, digitize them,and display them in an endless array of formats.And for software developers, there areActionMedia™ cards, a collaborativeeffort between IBM and Intel.ActionMedia cards use thelatest DVI™ Technology,which allows full-motion video andanalog sound

IBM. Personal System/2 and PS/2 are registered trademarks and Micro Channel, Audio Visual Conneaion andM-Mdion Video Adapter IA are tracJemarks of International Business Machines Corporation. DVI and ActionMediaare trademarks of Intel Corp. © 1990 IBM Corp.

to be compressed, digitized,stored on a hard or opticaldisk and played back in realtime, with incredibly sharpresolution.

YOU'VE Already Got The Best SeatIn The House.

Best of all, you can do it all today withthe Micro Channel PS/2s you've already got.No special monitors to buv. And you'll beperfectly poised for tomorrow's most excitingmultimedia technology, like interactivetouch displays and much more.

Contact your IBM Authorized Dealeror IBM marketing representative. For afree demonstration videocassette or a dealernear you, call 1800 255-0426, ext. 20.

Your desk will never be the same.

For a free PS/2 Multi.Media demonstrationvideocassette call 1 800 255-0426. ext. 20or send diis completed coupon to: IBM CorporationP.O. Box 92835, Rochester, NY 14692

Name

Title Phone

Company-Address

1 City-

-State-

-Zip-

□ If vou are a software developer, check here.

How re yougoing to do it?

PS/2 it!

Circle 168 on Reader Service Card

T.I

MAGAZINE

The Right Decision

The 486 Champ

..THIS COMPUTER DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION.'

On the September 11,1990, 24 ofthe industry's hottest 486 powerhouseswent head to head for the honor of win-ning PC Magazine's coveted Editor'sChoice Award. Tri-Star delivered l<nock-out punches in speed, price and virtuallyevery other important category.

Once again the choice is clear. If youor your company demands the mostperformance for the money, the highestquality components and unrivaled 486power, Tri-Star is more than the rightdecision - it's ttie only decision.

PC MAGAZINE - September 11,1990

"...probably lias the best mix of support,sen/ice, and customer satisfaction policies ofall the computers in this review."PC MAGAZINE-july, 1990

"Support Policies - Excellent."INFOWORLD - MAY 7, 1990

Flash Cache486/25$5295

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Flash Cache386/25$2995

Complete with Intel's 80386 CPU, 64K RAM Cache,4MB RAM, 1.2MB Floppy, 1.44MB Floppy, 104MBHard Drive, 1024 x 768 SVGA Color Combo,Parallel & Serial Ports, and 101 Keyboard.

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MiCROBYTES

Research news and industry developments shaping the world of desktop computing

Edited by D. Barker

Minimalist Architecture Promises Speed, Chips That Can IVIimic Others

Anew minimalist microprocessorarchitecture being developed byTeraplex (Champaign, IL) could lead tosystems that not only are faster but canemulate other processor architectures aswell. Teraplex"s Minimum InstructionSet Computer design uses, as its nameimplies, the minimum number ofinstructions possible to build a basiccomputer architecture. MISC uses longinstruction words to fetch more than oneoperand at a time, and, according toTeraplex officials, it processes datasignificantly faster than most current

desktop computers.

Perhaps an even greater benefit thanspeed is the MISC chip's ability toimitate other processors by mimickingtheir instructions with combinations ofits own. Because of its high speed, theprocessor can do this quickly enough toattain very good performance, thedesigners say. According to Teraplexstaffers, they've built systems that candirectly execute MS-DOS programs atabout 4'/: times the speed of a 386-based machine running at 33 MHz.

The instructions used in the MISC

system are as basic as possible (e.g.,add, multiply, logic shift, escape, andtrap). MISC handles instructions thatare common on current microproces-sors, such as move, by reading a dataoperand, shifting it by 0, and storing itto the instruction-fetch register. Thedesign also uses a novel approach tofloating-point operations: It fetches thenumbers, unpacks them into exponentand mantissa, ahgns them, passes themthrough the integer unit, and thenrealigns and repacks them. Teraplexpresident Philip McKinney says that this

Put away those 3-D glasses. TexasInstruments has prototyped a laser-based display system for projectingthree-dimensional images that can beviewed from any angle. As in real life,the visual perspective of the imagechanges with the viewing angle. DonWilliams, a development engineer atTI's Computer Systems Laboratory, isshown here with the OmniViewdisplay, described in the company'spatent application as "a real-time,auto-stereoscopic, multiplanar 3-Ddisplay system." The display surfaceis a translucent double-helix diskthat's mounted on a rotating shaft. Asthe disk spins (at 600 rpm), a low-power laser beam passes over it. Thisbeam scans the disk in nvo dimen-sions, but, as TI explains it, the eye ofthe beholder "fuses the discrete pointsof light painted on the disk" into a3-D image. The spinning disk can beadjusted to change the size and shapeof the display space, either short andwide or tall and thin. Resolution of thelaser scanning system is about 750 by750 pi.xels. The prototype as currentlyconfigured can display full-colorimages generated with a Sunworkstation. TI is seeking partners todevelop applications that use the newdisplay technology.

NOVEMBER 1990 • BYTE 19

MICROBYTES

NANOBYTES

This won"t be the year for the debutof the certified 50-MHz i486, as itturns out. Intel officials haveconceded that the top-speed model ofthe i486 processor won't be readyuntil next year. The original targetdate for the 1486/50 was "by the endof 1990." An Intel spokesperson saidit now looks like "sometime in1991." That means announcementsof 50-MHz i486 machines shouldbegin any day now.

So while Intel keeps working on the50-MHz i486, a young Californiacompany is chilling out. VeloxComputer (Santa Clara, CA) claimsthat it can speed up an i486 just byrefrigerating it. Velox says its IceCap module allows i486s to run 50percent faster than their rated speeds.A 33-MHz i486 can run rehably at50 MHz, according to Velox presi-dent Mel Snyder. The Ice Cap is arefrigeration module, about 3 inchestall, that fits on top of the processorin a conventional microcomputer andcools it to 0°C. It uses a solid-statethermonic element to combat theeffects of heat. Active cooling hasbeen used in mainframes for years,but it"s rare in microprocessorapplications. So far, Snyder says, hiscompany has sold modules to about40 firms, including Digital Equip-ment and Everex. Everex isn'tplanning any products that use thecooling tower, but a spokespersonsaid it's playing with it "to see what50 MHz does.""

The techno-legal morass of cloningIntel's 386 CPU has bewitched andbewildered some chip makers. ButIntegrated Information Tech-nology (Santa Clara, CA), whichalready makes its own versions ofIntel's math coprocessors, confirmsthat it is working on a replicantof Intel's top-of-the-line CPUs."We do have an R&D program todo a 386/486-compatible product."IIT president Chi-Shin Wang toldBYTE. It will be a stand-alone CPUthat's code-compatible with Intel's,Wang said. Although Wang wouldnot say when that chip will be ready,sources say that it's likely to appearsometime in 1991. As for potentiallegal problems, Wang said. "In ourdesign, we can get around [Intel's]patents."

technique on the Teraplex 32-bit CMOSdesign is about as fast as on a MIPSR30b0 RISC processor with an FPU.

One advantage to using such basicinstructions is that they can be com-bined easily to form more complexinstructions. As a result, the MISCdesign can emulate other processors.Teraplex officials say they havechecked this with a system running MS-DOS programs and have test systemsthat can run MIPS and SPARC pro-grams. Teraplex is also investigatingrunning Motorola 68000 code.

One of the big advantages of theMISC design is that it doesn't requireinstruction decoding. Unencodedinstruction words directly control thehardware of the chip. The current 32-bitdesign from Teraplex uses a longinstruction word (LIW) technique thatfetches 128 bits at a time. The first 64bits tell the control unit and universalfunctional unit what to do with the other64 bits, which are two operands. Thebenefits of this technique include theelimination of microcode and decodingcircuits, as well as the ability to processlarger amounts of data more quickly.The current design is capable ofoperating at about the equivalent of 60VAX MIPS, according to McKinney.

The MISC approach minimizes theuse of clock cycles, which helps toeliminate waiting periods required tomake sure that all signals are readybefore issuing a clock. The control andfunctional units that handle processingare designed to filter instructionsthrough without rigidly timing them.McKinney describes this design as a"big Pachdnko machine," after the

Japanese arcade machines that filter andbounce hundreds of ball bearingsthrough metal pins.

Teraplex programs its chip usingcompilers and a language calledTeraplex Intermediate LanguageInterface. This is a high-level assembly-like language for an imaginary serialprocessor. It is expanded by the TILIcompiler into direct machine instruc-tions. Higher-level languages like C arefirst compiled into TILI for execution.

Teraplex plans to begin prototypeproduction of chips by the end of theyear and hopes to have commercialworkstations and desktop computersbased on the chip in the fourth quarterof 1991. Company officials say they'redealing with several third parties todesign computer systems around MISC.

Teraplex is not the only companyinvolved in research in this area. Thereare a few VLIW SPARC systems in theworks, and British computing pioneerClive Sinclair is rumored to havedeveloped a similar processor with a96-bit instruction word, a design thatsources say can emulate existing micro-processors.

Some experts have predicted thatarchitectures using long (and very long)instruction words might supersede RISCdesigns. By combining this techniquewith a minimal instruction set, Teraplexis attempting to bring about two designrevolutions: raising speed limits, anddeveloping processors that can imitateother processors. The latter goal ofprocessors that can share binary codecould herald true interoperability amongcomputers of different designs.

— Owen Linderlwlm

Montana Researcher Claims Optical Processor

Aresearcher at the Rocky MountainResearch Center (Missoula, MT)says he has developed the first workingoptical logic device, capable of per-forming the Boolean operations that arebasic to the electronic transistor.According to John Halt, he has designeda hologram—a photographic recordingof a pattern of Ught beams—that canaccept two beams of light as an inputsignal and return a single light beam asan output. This forms the basis for aninverter or amplifier that can performexclusive-OR and OR operations,among others.

Halt told BYTE that "a patent searchhas not turned up" any comparabledevices. Although some researchershave written off the possibility of

performing logic operations entirelywith optics. Halt claims that hisinvention forms the basic building blockfor designing purely optical computers.Halt's "optical transistor" performs thelogic funcdons optically, therebyeliminating the need for expensiveelectronic logic devices such as galliumarsenide substrates, which are neverthe-less slower than the equivalent opticaldevice. Halt says his optical transistorcould form the basis for optical RAMsystems, registers, multiplexers anddemultiplexers, and other standardcomputer components.

Halt says he demonstrated his logichologram in a laboratory at MontanaState University in Bozeman. Accordingto a letter from an MSU physics

20 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

It talss less tD crack C andAssembler thanyouU think.

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Customers inside the 50 United Slates, call (800) 541-1261. Dept. L91. In Canada, call (416) 673-7638. Outside tlie US. and Canada, call (206) 882-8661. © 1990 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft. Hie Microsoft logo and QuickC are regis-tered trademarks and Making it all make sense and QuickAssembler are trademarks ofMicrosofi Corporation.

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MICROBYTES

NANOBYTES

Dell Computer (Austin, TX) hasdeveloped a new disk drive control-ler card that's aimed squarely at asimilar device announced byCompaq last November at itsSystemPro introduction. The DellDrive Array card features the Inteli960 32-bit RISC chip, a 256K-bytestatic RAM cache, and connectorsfor 10 Intelligent Drive Electronicshard disk drives. The card can readand write simultaneously from fivedisk drives, a company executivesaid. Dell officials claim that usingthe controller with four disk driveswill yield a system with not onlyfour times the storage capacity butapproximately three times the per-formance. The company is stillworking on the code for the i960chip, trying to bring the controller upto this level of performance. Whenwe spoke with them, Dell officialshadn't decided on a price yet for theDrive Array, but they estimated thatit could be somewhere around$1200.

Mac upgrade or Mac clone? TexasMacExpress (Austin, TX) hasdesigned an "upsrade" for owners ofthe Mac Plus, SE. and Mac 512KEthat the company claims will givethem the performance of a Mac Ilcifor only $2299—about half the costof the genuine Apple product. TheSystem 30 comes in a box that lookslike an IBM-type PC. '"The AppleROMs that are used in the producthave been bought by the customers,who disable their old machines whenthey are taken out," explained KevinCochran, president of Texas MacEx-press, a subsidiary of Cork Comput-ers. The system is supposed to shipthis month, Cochran said. "We'vehad a team of programmers workingfor the last six months in-house toproduce our own proprietaryoperating system that bypassesColor QuickDraw. It's copyrightedsoftware. That's how a Mac Plususer with ROMs that don't haveColor QuickDraw in them canupgrade to color." Cochran toldBYTE. The System 30 has threeNuBus slots, runs a 68030 at 25MHz, and has a built-in pagedmemory management unit and 8-bitvideo, along with a 1.44-MB FDHDfloppy disk drive that uses the AppleFile Exchange utility.

professor. Halt demonstrated "severaloptical digital devices," including"exclusive-OR, OR, amplification, andinverter."

According to Halt, his hologram canbe manufactured "synthetically" usingsoftware for designing holograms. Haltis looking for a major research lab orcompany to license his technology andto interface the necessary designsoftware to existing hologram programs.Major improvements in hologramdesign software are needed to make hisinvention a viable product, he concedes.

Optical computing devices havemade great progress in storage and

Moving application programs todifferent operating systems, andgetting them all to work together, is oneof the biggest challenges facingsoftware developers today. Now IBMand Metaphor say they're going to try tomake it easier. The two companies haveformed a joint venture, called PatriotPartners (Mountain View. CA). tocreate a new applications software envi-ronment that they hope will offer anobject-oriented development system forbuilding easily portable programs.

The environment will be independentof current operating systems in that itwill ride above the operating-systemkernel, but the resultant applicationswill be able to run on OS/2 and Unixmachines, the companies said. Anapplication written for a particularprocessor architecture will run on thatprocessor, without being modified,regardless of operating system: for otherprocessors, applications will only haveto be recompiled, a Metaphor officialsaid. Initial hardware targets are 386-based machines running OS/2 or Unix

Many printer designs, such as thosein most laser printers, involvethe use of mirrors. But Texas Instru-ments has developed a new type ofprinter technology that is taking thisapproach to something of an extreme.The company's new technology usesmultiple mirrors—hundreds, in fact.What's more amazing is that all thesemirrors fit on a single silicon chip.

TI's novel printer technology is basedon a new type of chip called a deform-able mirror device (DMD). It consists ofan array of several hundred microscopic

connection applications (e.g., fiber-optic connections and optical diskdrives), but they have proved to beinaccurate when used for computation.Therefore, most research in optics hasbeen devoted to the development ofhybrid "electro-optical'' computers,which use optics for storage and datatransfer and employ electronic semicon-ductors for performing logic operations.Researchers at AT&T's Bell Labs,Bridsh Aerospace, Fujitsu, and otherR&D centers have focused on linkingoptics to high-speed gallium arsenidelogic devices.

— Nick Barau

and IBM's RS/6000 running AIX.Current apphcadons and these newapplications are expected to be able toshare informadon through DynamicData Exchange. Although the Macin-tosh isn't currently a target of theproject, a Metaphor spokesperson saidthat it could be in the future.

The planned graphical user interfacefor these new applications will bedifferent than exisdng GUIs but willmost likely resemble, and will incorpo-rate a superset of. Presentation Managerand Motif The Patriot programs willoperate on the major PC networksystems, such as Novell NetWare, andwill possibly have distributed objectcapabilities.

The new venture hopes to release aspecification for its environment nextyear and a toolkit in 1992.

It's an ambitious project, and IBMand Metaphor officials concede that itwill take them two or three years to getit all working. Patriot expects to have itssoftware working sometime in 1993.

— D. Barker

mirrors that can swivel, in seesaw-fashion, on a tiny axle. By varying theelectrical charge around the mirror, TIcan change the orientation of the mirror,moving it to one of thi'ee posidons. Themirror can be completely horizontal ortilted slightly to one side or the other.

TI produces the DMD chip in a newthree-dimensional chip-manufacturingprocess. First a base layer is put down,followed by a layer of aluminum thatfunctions as the mirror. This layer isetched in such a way that the aluminumis arranged in tiny squares, with small

IBM, Metaphor to Build Platform for Portability

TI's New Printer Technology Does It with Mirrors

24 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

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Circle 66 on Reader Service Card

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qk Training Limited, Cecily Hill CastleCirencester. Gloucestershire. GL7 2EF, EnglandPhone: (0285) 5888

That's Intel's. And ournew family of MathCoprocessors is faster—up to 5096 for the 287XL.In fact, working side by side with the Intelmicroprocessor already inside your computer,an Intel Math Coprocessor can increase thespeed of your spreadsheet, graphics, CAD and

database programs by as much as 500%. That'sgood to know.

And the fact that it's made by Intel is alsogood to know.

Because Intel developed the first MathCoprocessor in 1982, and w^e've shippedmillions since then. Each one is manufacturedby Intel in the world's most advanced logic

facility, and then tested and retested against anexacting set of criteria.

And we can guarantee that every IntelMath Coprocessor lives up to the industryhardware standards we helped develop,delivering the same results regardless of whattype of computer you're doing calculations on.

So call Intel at (800) 538-3373. Ask for

Literature Packet #F6 on Intel's new and im-proved Math Coprocessors. And put an IntelMath Coprocessor inside your computer. It's theonly one with the Intel name to live up to.

inter

The Computer Inside:

©1990 Intel Corporation. 386 and 387 are trademarks of Intel Corporation.

Circle 175 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 176)

MICROBYTES

NANOBYTES

Eager to get the software develop-ment ball rolling. Quarterdeck hasprovided "key developers'" withalpha toolkits for Desqview/X,which combines the company's DOSmultitasking system with the XWindow System. The two availablekits support development forDesqview/X using standard X11libraries and OSF Motif libraries.They are "stable enough" for devel-opers to begin application develop-ment cycles. Quarterdeck said. Thecompany plans to soon release a kitfor Xview, based on Sun"s OpenLook. Desqview/X is supposed to becommercially ready in early 1991.

Japanese companies are apparentlyplanning to produce the next twogenerations of DRAM chips on 8-inch silicon wafers. Because biggerwafers yield more parts, this shouldresult in faster production of 4- and16-Mb DRAMs through biggervolumes. An 8-inch wafer of siliconhas nearly twice as much surfacearea as the 6-inch wafers nowcommonly used. According toreports from Japan, Toshiba isexpected to start its 8-inch line for4-Mb DRAMs soon. NEC plans tostart testing this year or early nextyear and expects to have its 8-inchline operational by 1992.

According to figures from the JapanElectronic Industry DevelopmentAssociation, half of the 327,000laptop computers sold in Japan thisspring (April to June) were of thenotebook variety.

Incompatibilities between applica-tions running under various Intel-based versions of Unix should beeliminated by the new edition of theIntel Binary Compatibility Specifi-cation. Intel. AT&T, and The SantaCruz Operation say they'll collabo-rate on a new specification that willenable developers to write but oneversion of an application instead ofone for each Unix variant. Develop-ers working with AT&T UnixSystem 'V/386 release 3.2 or 4.0.SCO Unix System V/386, SCOXenix 386, or Open Desktop will beable to have their applications rununder any 386- or i486-basedoperating system that complies withthe new binary specification.

28 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

axles projecting from two oppositecorners. Then TI uses a combustionprocess to remove the material underthe main body of the mirrors. The resultis that the mirrors are supported only attwo corners and can swivel freely. "TIofficials admit that this manufacturingprocess is complex, but the companyhopes to eventually produce 2-D arrayscontaining thousands of mirrors. Thesecould be used in a new type of videodisplay.

Tl's first application of the technol-ogy will be in a printer. The companyhas created a chip that contains 840mirrors arranged in a linear array. TheDMD chip will be used somewhat likean LCD array in some page printers,selectively letting tiny beams of light hita xerographic print drum. TI says that aDMD printer will have 10 percent fewermoving parts than an equivalent laserprinter. "TI also claims that the DMD

chip will be cheaper to manufacturethan a large LED or LCD array.

Because it can shorten the amount oftime that a mirror is "on" for eachpixel, the DMD chip will enable aprinter to generate variable-size pixels,thus producing true gray scales. Bycontrast, a laser beam must scan acrossan entire row of pixels and conceivablyhas less time on each pixel in which tovary its brightness.

'The first DMD printer will be used inone of Tl's most successful printermarkets: the airline industry. Thedevice will be used to print the newATB (automated ticket/boarding)tickets, which look somewhat likecomputer punch cards. TI claims thatsuch a printer will be able to output 40tickets per minute at a resolution of 240dpi. TI officials say they're not surewhen this new printer will be available.

— Rich Malloy

AMD Accelerates RISC Line with FPU

Advanced Micro Devices says itsnew 32-bit RISC processor, theAm29050, will significantly speed upsuch devices as color laser printers,graphics boards, optical character recog-nition scanners, X Window Systemterminals, and imaging systems. Tocreate the new chip. AMD has essen-tially added a pipelined FPU to its29000 processor, currently embedded inmany graphics-intensive products,including Apple's Macintosh DisplayCard 8*24 GC, in which it acceleratesQuickDraw screen-drawing operations.

Running at its peak of 40 MHz, the29050 can perform arithmetic opera-tions (IEEE-compatible single- anddouble-precision) at a top speed of 80MFLOPS, AMD claims, putting it in thesame MFLOPS league as Intel's i860.

The new chip is code- and pin-com-patible with the 29000, so applicationstailored to that processor will be able torun on the 29050 without any changes,AMD says. In "floating-point-intensivesituations," those applications will befaster "by a factor of four," according to

an AMD spokesperson. The chip has a64-entry memory management unit, a1024-byte instruction cache, support forburst-mode access, and a three-addressinstruction architecture. The processorwill be available in 20-, 25-, 33-, and40-MHz models.

Although Apple hasn't yet committedto using the new AMD chip, a memberof the graphics hardware design depart-ment said that the company would liketo have the floating-point capabilitiesthat such a processor will offer. "Withfloating-point, we could do some of thetransforms for 3-D drawing faster.'" hesaid. "QuickDraw is 100 percent integerright now, but if we wanted to go to 3-Dcoordinates, if we wanted QuickDraw tohave a 3-D architecture, floating-pointwould be necessary." Apple officialshave said one reason they put the 29000on the 8*24 card is its "growth path"; inother words, because they're plug-compatible, future members of the29000 family could easily replace thecurrent chips.

— D. Barker

Intel Designs an SX for Laptop Computers

Intel (Santa Clara, CA) has developeda new version of its 386SX processorthat's built for laptops and otherportable computers. The new 386SLMicroprocessor SuperSet is essentially amicroprocessor with a chip set to back itup. The 386SL includes critical design

changes that extend the 386 architectureto add advanced power managementfeatures at the processor level.

The Superset consists of the 386SLprocessor and the 82360 I/O chip. Thechips operate at 20 MHz only, matchingthe highest speed of the 386SX, which

i

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The Press goes on to mention that becauseDR DOS 5.0 is fully DOS compatible, you can runall your current DOS applications. And because it iseasy to install and requires no hard disk reformat-

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For Laptop and Notebook manufacturers, DR DOS 5.0 is fully executable from either RAM or ROM. And, it's availablewith BatteryMAX,., a battery-saving feature that can increase battery life 2-3 times (dependent upon OEM implementation).

Digilai Research is a registered trademark, and the Digital Research logo. DR DOS,MemoryMAX, ViewMAX, and BatteryMAX are Irademari<s of Digital Research Inc. Copyright © 1990, Digital Research Inc.

Reprinted from PC Week May 14,1990. Copyright © 1990 Ziff Communications Company.Reprinted with permission from The San Francisco Examiner. Copyright © 1990 The San Francisco Examiner.

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Hl-Torqm $hr«dd»f Ce.

Deadline pressure is a thing of the past Designs can be quicklyedited and annotated to producefinal ux)rking drawings.

Any way you look at it CADD is a natural tooljor bringing clarity tocomplex ideas and designs.

BEST INITS CLASS

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SOFTWARE

EJ An Autodesk Company

IT DOESN'T GETANY EASIER.

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Circle 143 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 144)

MICROBYTES

NANOBYTES

National Design, Inc. (Austin, TX),plans to brina out this month aTMS34020-based VGA card withthe lowest price we've seen yet on aboard using Texas Instruments'latest graphics processor. The newVolante board will sell for $995,according to an NDI official. Thecard is designed to work in differentgraphics environments, includingWindows. 8514/A. TIGA, the XWindow System, and CGI. Theboards will also ship with AutoCADdrivers from Panacea.

Share or LAN? The Multiuser DOSFederation is promoting multiuserPCs as an alternative to LANs. OneMDOS member says it's "a myth"that LANs are the only way forgroups of computer users to worktogether. The organization hopes toestablish standards for multiusercomputing. Among the chartermembers are representatives ofDigital Research, Theos Software,SunRiver, DigiBoard, Alloy, andViewport International.

The National Institute of Stan-dards and Technology says itsComputer Security Bulletin Board

is now much easier to access andnavigate. The board is a source ofinformation on computer security,from bibliographies of articles tolistings of seminars. The NIST alsoposts information on incidents suchas virus attacks. To connect with theBBS, dial (301) 948-5717 (at 2400,1200, or 300 bps: 8 data bits; noparity; 1 stop bit). To connect withthe help squad, dial (301) 975-3359.

Paper is still the primary informa-tion storage medium, according toa survey of information managersconducted by Du Pont (Wilmington,DE). Almost half the polled atten-dees at the Association for Informa-tion and Image Managementconference said they use hard copyas their main means of storingdocuments and drawings. About halfthat many said they use microfilmand aperture cards. Only 11 percentuse optical disks, but 40 percent saidthey see rewritable optical disks asthe next big thing in storage. As fortheir biggest management challenge,almost half said it's finding theinformation they're looking for.

32 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

the 386SL closely resembles in per-formance terms. Intel has added ahardware-level interrupt and a newmemory-address space. These arereserved for a new interrupt, called thesystem management interrupt (SMI).Using a system management handler,hardware companies will be able toaccess reserved system managementmemoty and I/O addresses.

The SMI allows suspend and resumeoperations, peripheral standby. CPUspeed control, uninterruptible powersupply capabilities, and programmedextensions by OEMs to cover almostany other imaginable power manage-ment activity. Despite this extra logicthat can remove processor time from theoperating system, Intel claims that the386SL outperforms a 386SX.

The 386SL includes a main-memorysubsystem controller with a 32-MBaddress space, an EMS 4.0 memorycontroller, an AT bus controller, a fullcache controller, and support for the80387SX math coprocessor. Thecompanion device, the 82360SL,

They're called arylated poly (p-phenylene sulfide) (APPS)polymers, and they could change theway microcircuits are made. Research-ers at the University of California atBerkeley say these new materials couldgreatly reduce the time and complexityinvolved in fabricating chips.

Building microchips is a tediousprocess that takes as many as nine steps,including coating sihcon slices withsilicon oxide and a photoresist polymer,masking off the areas that are to becomeelectrically conductive from those thataren't, printing the circuit pattern ontothe silicon, exposing this sandwich tolight {photolyzation), etching away thenonconductive silicon oxide, andstripping off the photresist.

But with these new polymers, thatprocess can be simplified "to two orthree steps," says Berkeley chemistryprofessor Bruce Novak. The newpolymers normally function as insula-tors, but the Berkeley team led by

supports CPU, memory, and peripheralfunctions, as well as providing program-mable features to manage power toprolong battery life. Intel provides a setof low-power support losic chips.

The 386SL and 82360SL are soldseparately and cost SI76 and $45,respectively, in quantities of 1000.

The new SL line signifies that Intel isstarting to attack the chip set market.Several companies currently sell chipsets that offer many of the powermanagement features of the 386SL insupport logic devices designed to beused with the 386SX. However, Intelhas something those companies don't:the ability to tie those features into theprocessor itself Intel says its approachto power management is inherendysafer than that of the chip set manufac-turers because the 386SL isn't having tocontinually fight for control of memory,interrupts, and the CPU with theoperating system and applications. Thenew chip set should lead to laptops withlonger battery lives by late next year.

— Owen Linderholm

Novak discovered that when thematerials are exposed to light, theybecome semiconductors; masked-offareas remain insulators. Thin filmsmade of APPS can be laid over a circuitpattern and turned into microcircuits,with the exposed areas working asconducting wires. The thin filmbasically becomes a microcircuit afterbeing photolyzed, so no addidonalprocessing is necessary, Novak says.Because the photolyzed films arecapable of conducting electricity, chipmakers would no longer have to usesilicon wafers; APPS films could be putdown on different kinds of materials.

APPS films could also end up onyour computer screen. Because thefilms are so thin (0.25 micron) andoptically transparent, they could bepainted directly on the screen. like acoat of microcircuits. Current runningthrough the circuits would generatevisual patterns, Novak says.

— D. Barker

ARE YOU AN INNOVATOR? If you, your company, or your research group isworking on a new technology or developing products that will significantly affectthe world of microcomputing, we'd like to write about it. Phone the BYTE newsdepartment at (603) 924-9281. Or send a fax to (603) 924-2550. Or write to us atOne Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Or send E-mail to "microbytes"on BIX or to "BYTE" on MCI Mail. An electronic version of Microbytes, offering awider variety of computer-related tiews on a daily basis, is available on BIX.

New Material Could Ease Pains of Chip Making

In Redondo Beach,California...

You'll find breathtaking ocean views,sensational surfers and Gateway 2000computers.

Dive 'N Surf, famous for Body Glove®fashions and watersports equipment, is a

Graham Pask, Computer Systems Manager for Dive 'N Surf, andhis GatewiQ 2000 25 MHZ 386 network server.

member of the growmg family of Gateway 2000customers in California. Dive 'N SurfComputer Systems Manager Graham Paskchose a Gateway 25 MHZ 386 machine for hisnetwork server. The system runs point-of-sale,inventory control word processing and desktoppublishing software.

"I decided to buy a Gateway 2000 systembecause they had everything I wanted for agood price." said Graham. "But what reallyimpressed me was the service. I had a problemwith my 3 1/2 inch drive so they sent me a newdrive the very next day."

Graham said he was so happy with hisGateway system at work that he bought aGateway 2000 25 MHZ 386 Cache machine forhis home.

GAimm2ooo

•I n fn-'rd in ihf hmincw

Until well after sunset, surfers ride the big waxes on thePacific Ocean near Redondo Beach. California.

And In Barrow,Alaska...

Over 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle,you'll find polar bears, seals, whales, wahais,lemmings, snowy owls and what appear to be thelargest mosquitoes in existence. On a summerafternoon you'll also see parka-clad touristswalking among localresidents in shorts. Andof course you'll find agood Mexican restaurantand Gateway 2000computers.

Cape Smythe AirService, a regionalcommuter airline servingBan'ow, Kotzebue, Nomeand remote villages inAlaska, has one of severalGateway 2000 computersoperating in Bartow. JeffFrier, Cape Smythe'saccountant, chose aGateway 2000 386SX torun spreadsheet, data base and accountingapplications.

"I was trying to decide between Gateway2000 and a competitor," Jeff commented, "so Italked to a person who owns the competitor'ssystem. He was disgruntled about the servicehe received from them. Then I talked to anotherperson in Barrow who has a Gateway and shewas happy with the product and service. Thechoice was pretty obvious -- when you're doingbusiness in a remote area, the most importantthings a vendor can offer are reliability andgood service."

Jeff said he also appreciated Gateway'sfeatures and price. "When you have to pay S6 agallon for milk, it's nice to find a bargainsomewhere." Jeff plans to buy another Gateway2000 computer in a few months.

Jeff Frier, Cape Smythe Air Service, withhis Gateway 2000 386SX.

On a mid-July day in Barrow, Alaska, fishing boats weavein and out of icebergs on the Chukchi Sea.

In Bradford,Pennsylvania...

You'll find a charming small city nestled inthe Allegheny National Forest. The city's mostprominent local business is the ZippoManufacturing Company, where you'll find 18Gateway 2000 computers in use.

Fred Gronemeyer, Zippo Manufacturing Company, and hisGaUway 2000 20 MUZ 386 system.

Zippo is known around the world for itswindproof lighter made famous during thesecond World War, although today thecompany's product line includes many otherspecialty advertising items. Fred Gronemeyer,Systems Analyst for Zippo, chose Gateway2000 as the company's standard PC.

"We needed to set standards for PC's andsoftware to make the most efficient use of thesetools," Fred remarked. "We started out withPC's from different manufacturers, but once Itried Gateway I was convinced we could get thehighest quaUty, most reliable machines at thebest price from Gateway 2000. I was alsoimpressed by my salesman and the tech supportpeople I've dealt with at Gateway."

Fred said by the end of the year Zippo willbe running every system Gateway 2000 makes,from 286's up to a 486 and everything inbetween.

Main Street, U.SA., is located in Bradford, Pennsylvania.

And In New YorkCity...

You'll find your senses overwhelmed by thecountless sights and sounds of this one-of-a-kind city. And of course you'll find thousandsof Gateway 2000 computers here.

One New York City Gateway 2000 owner is

Jim Rondinelli, independent record producer and engineer, withIds Gateway 2000 386SX.

independent record producer and engineer JimRondinelli. Jim uses his Gateway 2000 386SXwith a sophisticated player piano sequencer tocompose music.

"The software I use is written for the Mac andfor IBM compatibles," Jim said, "but it runsmuch better on IBM compatibles. And it runsbest of all on my Gateway. I travel often andI've used my software on a lot of othermachines. They don't even compare with myGateway 2000."

Jim said he bought his Gateway 2000 becauseit was equipped for the real world with amplehard drive capacity and RAM, both sizes of diskdrives and color VGA graphics.

"It's the fastest file transfer computer I'veever used," continued Jim. "plus it ran right outof the box. One afternoon and I was fullyfunctional on a brand new system."

The streets of Manhattan are a constant blur of activity.

Near Camp Verde,Texas...

You'll find the magnificent Hill Country ofTexas with rattlesnakes, prickly pear cactus andhuge cattle ranches. You'll also find LarryMahan and his Gateway 2000 computer.Larry Mahan is to rodeo what Jack Nicklausis to golf He is SixTimes World ChampionAil-Around Cowboy andis a member of theCowboy Hall of Fame,But Larry also runsa cattle and horse ranchand is involved in awestern apparelmanufacturing companyand a new Southwesternfoods company HisGateway 2000 20 MHZ386 system is an integralpart of his businessoperations. "We runcow and calf software forour Longhom cattle herd," Larry said. "Youcan't really manage a livestock businessefficiently without it. Plus we do accounting,spreadsheets and word processing on ourGateway 2000 computer."

Asked why he chose Gateway 2000, Larrysaid, "They had the best features and price - andthought a computer company that puts picturesof cattle in their ads had to be my kind ofpeople. And 1 was right. The people I've talkedwith at Gateway 2000 are honest-to-goodnessnice folks. It's a pleasure doing business with

Larry Mahan raises registered Texas Longhom cattle.

Across The Country

YOU'LL Find

You'll find so many Gateway 2000 computers in so manyplaces today because people everywhere know a good valuewhen they see one. In all 50 states and in over 70 foreigncountries, thousands of people are comparing prices, qualityand service - and choosing Gateway 2000.

But value alone doesn't explain how a little company inthe Midwest, started just five years ago, managed tooutdistance hundreds of other companies, selling moresystems through the direct market channel today than anyother PC manufacturer in the country.

The explanation is that the company has always main-tained a small company attitude. With Gateway 2000, youstill get the little things you'd expect only from a small firm.

STEMS

SOLD

Little things like a positive technical support depart-ment. When Graham Pask told his Gateway 2000 tech repthat his 3 1/2" drive didn't work, he received a new drive the

very next day.

Little things likethe way Gateway2000 systems arefully loaded with allthe features youwant. JimRondinelli bought aGateway 2000computer because

S Y100.00090,00080,00070,00060,00050.00040.00030,00020,00010,0000

1985-SO-

1986-300-

1987-500-

4.000-

1989-25.000-

1990-100.000-projeaed

And Around The World,Gateway 2000!

they're "equipped for the real world."

Little things like the way Gateway2000 sales people develop excellentbusiness relationships with thek customers.Fred Gronemeyer tried his first Gateway because he wasimpressed by his sales person. Eighteen systems later, Fredis still impressed by his sales person.

And the biggest little thing of all is the feeling you getwhen you deal with the people at Gateway 2000. As LarryMahan said, "they're honest-to-goodness nice folks."

Compare prices, quality and service. Then add up thelittle things you get from small town people running anold-fashioned, high-tech business.

What you get is everything you're looking for. Whetheryou're from Indiana or Switzerland, Georgia or Nova Scotia,you've got a friend in the business at Gateway 2000.

GAmm2(xx)

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

8 0 0 - 5 2 3 - 2 0 0 0

610 Gateway Drive • N. Sioux City, SD 57049 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023

GATEWAY 2000 SYSTEMS

I2MHZ286VGA

t 80286-12 ProcessorH 2 Megs RAM

■ 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive

■ 1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive

■ 40 Meg 28ms IDE Drive

■ 16 Bit VGA with 512K

■ 14" 1024 X 768 Color Monitor

■ 1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports

■ 101 Key Keyboardr MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01

$1695.00

GATEWAY 386SX

1. 64K Cache RAME 4 Megs RAM

■ 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive

■ 1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive

■ 110 Meg ESDI Drive ^=^^

■ ESDI Cache ControllerW 16 Bit VGA with 512K

C 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor

■ 1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports

■ 101 Key KeyboardEMS DOS 3.3 or 4.01W MS WINDOWS 3.0

$3395.00

B 2 Megs RAM

■ 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive

■ 1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive

■ 40 Meg 17ms IDEDrivT

■ 16 Bit VGA with 512K

■ 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor

■ 1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports

■ 101 Key Keyboard

■ MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01

■ MS WINDOWS 3.0

$1995.00

25MHZ 386CACHE^M 33MHZ 386VGA

it 64K Cache RAM

■ 4 Megs RAM [fc=dj

■ 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive '™™

■ 1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive

■ 150 Meg ESDI Drive

■ ESDI Cache Controller

■ 16 Bit VGA with 512K

■ 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor

■ 1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports

■ 101 Key Keyboard

■ MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01

■ MS WINDOWS 3.0

$3695.00

20MHZ 386VGA

4 Megs RAM

1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive ^'i^^1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive 1S8^^80 Meg 17ms IDE Drive16 Bit VGA with 512K14" 1024 X 768 Color Monitor1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports101 Key Keyboard •MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 =^MS WINDOWS 3.0

$2595.00 s

25 MHZ 386 VGA

$2695.00

25MHZ 486VGA

64K Cache RAM

4 Megs RAMi 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive11.44 Meg 3.5" Drive1150 Meg ESDI Drive

I ESDI Cache Controller116 Bit VGA with 512K

114" 1024x768 Color Monitor

II Parallel & 2 Serial Ports1101 Key Keyboard

I MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01' MS WINDOWS 3.0

$5295.00

CACHE SPECIAL

t Same features as our PC MagEditor's Choice 25 MHZ 386Cache system except thismachine has an 80 Meg 17msDrive instead of the 110 MegEDSI Drive.

$2995.00

STANDARD FEATURES AND SERVICES

• Microsoft® WINDOWS™ with all 386 and 486 systems

• 30-day money-back guarantee

• One-year warranty on parts and labor

• New leasing options now available

• Toll-free technical support for the life of the machine

• Free on-site service to most locations in the nation

• Free overnight shipment of replacement parts

• Free bulletin board technical support

If our standard configuraiions don't fit your needs. He'll be happy to custom configure a system just for you.Due to the volatility of the DRAM market, all prices are subject to change.

GArEm¥2ooo

Letters

and Ask BYTE

Computer-Aided Independence

As a disabled computer user, I would liketo thank you for "Opening Doors for theDisabled" by Joseph J. Lazzaro (Au-gust). Lazzaro provides an invaluableservice by making more people—bothdisabled and nondisabled—aware of thefull scope of adaptive technology.

He and I both have a vital interest inthis area, since without adaptive technol-ogy neither of us could function as inde-pendently as we do. I am a quadriplegic,and I work (and play) on a computer 8hours a day using the Magic Wand Key-board, a miniature IBM-style keyboardthat my husband originally designed forme. This keyboard works with a wandand requires no strength or dexterity. Wenow sell the keyboard, and earlier thisyear, our company was awarded a grantfor $30,000 from the New York StateScience and Technology Foundation forprojects relating to the keyboard's use asan educational/vocational tool.

Anyone interested in obtaining infor-mation on adaptive computer technologyshould contact the Trade Center in Madi-son, Wisconsin, at (608) 262-6966, andthe IBM National Support Center forPeople with Disabilities in Atlanta,Georgia, at (800) 426-2133.

More articles like Lazzaro's are need-ed to reveal exactly what is available andhow profoundly computers can affect adisabled person's life. At stake are notspreadsheet performance and network-ing capabilities, but basic needs of self-realization.

Susan CrouchSpring Valley, NY

Wolf in Fly's Clothing

I enjoyed "The Flight of the Bee Wolf"by Ben Smith (June).

I would like to suggest one correction.The bee wolf is not a fly, which would befound under the order Diptera. It is foundin the order Hymenoptera, which con-tains sawflies, parasitic wasps, ants,wasps, and bees.

The bee wolf, taxonomically, is lo-cated under the family Sphecidae, sub-family Philanthinae, tribe Philanthini,which contains 29 species in NorthAmerica. They are also known as bee-killer wasps.

I do not want to take away from yourefforts to produce interesting articles. I

just wanted you to know that entomolo-gists do read BYTE through to the lastpage. I have a great fascination for bothinsects and computers.

Harry L. McMenemyMemphis, TN

IBM Bashing?

Am I the only one who finds Joel S. Mos-kowitz's Stop Bit ("Quest for a Mouse-ball," July) just a wee bit strange?

First, he blackmails IBM into givinghim a brand-new mouse—just because helost the parts of his old one—or else he'llwrite a big expose about the fact that thispart does not have a part number! For thenuisance value and for gracious customerrelations, IBM accedes to his "request."

And then he writes the article anyway.This, from a lawyer? First blackmail,then breach of contract? No wonder theworld delights in telling jokes about the

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Pleasedouble-space your letter on one side of thepage and include your name and address.Letters two pages in length or under have abetter chance of being published in their en-tirety. Address correspondence to LettersEditor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane. Pe-terborough, NH 03458. You can also send let-ters via BlXmail do "editors. "

Your letter will be read, but because of thelarge volume of mail we receive, we cannotguarantee publication. We also reserve theright to edit letters. It takes about four monthsfrom the time we receive a letter until we pub-lish it.

greed and venality of the legal "pro-fession."

Lucien R. GreifChappaqua, NY

Bridge Work

In Jon Udell's review of a program calledBridge ("Windows Shopping: 3.0 Appli-cations Take Shape," July), he states thatthe program "activates the clock,.. .re-sizes it, and moves it to the lower right-hand corner of my screen.. .. There's nostraightforward way to do this on a Macor in any of the Unix graphical userinterfaces."

This, at least with respect to Unix, isfalse. Put the following line in your log-in or profile file:

xclock -display unix:0.0 -geometry50x50-50-50 &

This line will load an xclock, usingUnix-domain sockets, on screen zero ofdisplay zero, with a window size of 50 by50 pixels and the window placed in thelower right-hand corner of the screen. Ifxclock follows the Inter-Client Commu-nications Conventions Manual (and asan X Consortium-distributed demo, itought to), then it will pop up under anycompliant X11R4 window managerwithout your intervention.

Garrett A. WollmanSouth Burlington, VT

What you say is true: An X Window Sys-tem manager can indeed control the ini-tial size and location of an application'swindow. My clock example, in retro-spect, wasn't well chosen. (Even underWindows, there is no need to resize theclock's window, since the clock can up-date its display while running as anicon.) The more interesting capability ofBridge, as I pointed out, is its ability tolaunch and interact with a collection ofgraphical applications under program-matic control. A Bridge program can, forexample, launch a spreadsheet and aword processor and then cut a range ofnumbers from the spreadsheet and pastethem into the word processor. Bridge usesgraphical programs as components ofmeta-applications, just as Unix shellscripts and DOS batch files use com-mand-line programs.

Nothing precludes the invention of such

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 33

LETTERS

a graphical scripting language forX Win-dow, but it's my understanding that ithasn't happened yet. I have no doubt thatresourceful X Window aficionados willsoon bring graphical user interfacescripting to Unix. And, of course, Macusers are an.xiously awaiting the scriptingfeatures promised for System 7.0.

—Jon Udell

ESDI Explanation

I am curious as to how author Roger C.Alford arrived at the conclusion that noone uses hard sectoring ("The Evolutionof ESDI."June).

Where I work, we use large ESDIdrives from Fujitsu and Micropolis, andcontroller cards from SMS Technologiesand PSI Technologies (HyperStore), andeverything we buy is hard-sectored at thefactory. In fact, on the SMS Omti8640and the HyperStore, no option exists forsoft sectoring.

Although soft sectoring is preferable,hard sectoring seems to be the norm.

Dave HarrisonLos Angeles, CA

My statement that hard sectoring is notgenerally used in ESDI implementationsis incorrect. As you point out, hard sec-toring is still common in modern ESDIimplementations. The important thing tonote is that ESDI supports both soft andhard sectoring. I apologize for any confu-sion this may have caused.

—Roger C. Alford

Corvus Responds to Review

BYTE reviewed our ReadyNet in itsProduct Focus "Networks of Peers'"(June). We would like to address thecomplaints of your editors.

In the cabling connections for the 1-megabit-per-second ReadyNet, you opena tap box and insert pretinned wires intoa punch-down block. While this is moredifficult than plugging the cable directlyinto the tap box (as you do with the 4-Mbps version), it is no more difficultthan plugging in a stereo speaker.

In the version that BYTE tested, it istrue that ReadyNet did not support sectorsizes larger than 512 bytes for volumeslarger than 32 megabytes. This has beenchanged in the latest version, whichshipped in June.

If you type in connections from thecommand line, the syntax has one moreparameter than the standard MS-NETsyntax that most other systems use. How-ever, the ReadyNet manual in no way ad-vises users to type in connection stringsfrom the command line. ReadyNet pro-vides a simple menu program called

34 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Quick Connect that eliminates typing incommand-line strings. And since QuickConnect provides the option of automati-cally making the connections after everyreboot, there is no need to generate batchfiles for connection loading. The BYTEeditors seem to have overlooked QuickConnect.

It is false that there is no way to changenode or user names. You can changethem using NetView, another networkmanagement program that the BYTE edi-tors overlooked.

It is incredible that the BYTE editorsdid not notice the print spooler. The printspooler is automatically set up on thefirst server, and it can be set up usingQuick Connect on any other node aswell. The queue manager was left out ofthe original ReadyNet 1-Mbps version,but it has always been available fromCorvus on the technical-support BBS. Itis currently available in the 4-Mbps andthe new 1-Mbps versions.

ReadyNet is designed for use in asmall office environment by people notfamiliar with network operation. I amsure that the BYTE editors try very hardto be fair in their evaluations, but per-haps their technical proficiency led themto overlook some of the features that havebeen included for the novice.

Janel KillhefferMarketing ManagerCorvusSan Jose, CA

We agree that you don't need an electricalengineering degree to install ReadyNet's1-Mbps tap boxes. Still, these were theonly nonmodular connections that we en-countered in the review. We don't under-stand why the entry-level version of a net-work advertised as "self-installing " doesnot supply modular connectors.

We are glad to hear that the latest ver-sion of ReadyNet can work with non-512-byte sectors and volumes larger than 32MB. More and more vendor versions ofMS-DOS have such characteristics; it iscritical to support them.

It is true that Quick Connect automatesconnections, and that you can specifythose connections by way of a menu sys-tem. However, you use that menu systemto piece together connection strings ex-pressed in terms of concepts (i.e., plugs,sockets, and modules) that confused usand that we think will confuse noviceseven more.

We didn't say that ReadyNet won't letyou change the default user names—itwill. We did not find a way to change thenames of workstations and printers. Weraised this question with a Corvus repre-

sentative. He told us that printer namesare indeed fixed and that workstationnames can be modified only by means ofa workaround.

We are glad that the 1-Mbps version ofReadyNet now includes the queue man-ager. It was, as you say, left out of theoriginal 1-Mbps version, and we did notreceive a supplementary copy by presstime. — Jon Udell and Rob Mitchell

The Problem with Toner

We would like to clarify two points aboutthe Kyocera F-IOOOA laser printer re-viewed in your July Product Focus,"Laser Printers Get Personal."

From the article's narrative, it is clearthat the first toner was installed incor-rectly. The toner is never opened andpoured into the hopper as described. Asinstructed on the top of the cartridge, youplace the cartridge in the developer andkeep it there until it is empty. Once thecartridge is locked in place, you pull aMylar strip from the right to release thetoner into the developer.

We strongly believe that by manufac-turing the entire printer, including theengine, we can maintain the highest levelof quality in our products, for whichKyocera has been recognized for over 30years. This quality has also been recog-nized by both Unisys and MannesmannTally, which chose to use our printer en-gines.

Michelle ChristianMarketing Communications ManagerKyocera UnisonAlameda, CA

We did follow the procedure you describe.We locked the toner into place, pulled theMylar strip, and released the toner intothe developer. We were then required toremove the toner receptacle before re-placing the hopper. At that point, wewere exposed to any loose toner left in thereceptacle. That was the difference.Printers using the Canon engine elimi-nated the need to deal with the toner atall. Even among those printers requiringseparate toner, the Kyocera Unison mod-el was the only one that didn't leave thetoner receptacle attached to the tonercartridge. With the other printers, you at-tach the toner and pull the strip, and thedirty work is done.

We can see the advantages of manufac-turing the entire printer. We just thinkthat buyers should make sure that ex-pendables (e.g., toner and drum) and up-grades are readily available. In general,third-party support adds value to anyproduct.

—Stanford Diehl and Stan Wszola

coniimieil

We slash interfacedevelopment time.

(and we can prove it!)

CSMIE mUf LSYOUI INTDIftCE OFIlCiC S-(3IB1

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See for yours elf how

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If you want to start saving a tre-mendous amount of time andeffort, call for your free VermontViews demokit and put usto the test.Vermont Viewsis a powerful,menu - drivenscreen design-er that comeswith a C li-brary of over

550 functions. Which means youcan create user interfaces in justa fraction of the time it takes towrite the code yourself!

Why try to reinvent thewheel when Vermont Views letsyou interactively create pull-downmenus, window-based data-entryforms (with tickertape and memofields), scrollable form regions,choice lists, context sensitivehelp, and a host of other interfaceobjects.

Vermont Views combines theconvenience of a fourth genera-tion language with the power,flexibility, and blinding executionspeed of native C code.

Turn your prototypeinto the application.

Let's face it. With most systems,you have to throw away your proto-type when coding begins. Whichmeans you waste precious time

and effort. With Vermont Views,things are a lot different. In fact,the prototype actually becomesthe application. So menus anddata-entry forms are usable in thefinal application without change.Names of functions for retrieving,processing, and storing datacan all be specified as the proto-type is created. And that's justfor starters.

Here's a trulyuniversal solution.When you create an inter-face with Vermont Views,you can port it amongPC-DOS, OS/2, UNIX,XENIX, and VMS.

Vermont Views can beused with any databasethat has a C-language in-terface (most do), and will createinterfaces for any roman-basedlanguage. Our form-locking ver-sion lets you develop quickly andsafely on networks and multi-user operating systems, too.

If you need DOS graphics inyour applications, we also havethe answer. Vermont Views™GraphEx allows all VermontViews' windows, menus, andforms to work in CGA, EGA, VGA,and Hercules graphics modes.So you can use yourfavorite graphics packageto create charts, graphs,and other images to enhancetext displays.

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We 're so sure youlllove Vermont Views thatwe make this iron-clad,money-back guarantee. Ifyou're ever dissatisfiedwith Vermont Views, forany reason, return it for aprompt, no-questions-asked refund. (All youhave to do is certify thatyou haven't incorporatedour code into any ap-plication.)

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Don't take our word for it. PutVermont Views to the test bycalling for your personal, freedemonstration kit. Or fax us at(802) 848-3502.

VermontCreativeSoftware

Pinnacle Meadows,Rlchford, VT 05476Phone: (802) 848-7731FAX: (802) 848-3502

Copyright 1990Vermont Creative Software

Hiereare

three waystoget

everything

you expect

printer

Printers. Cmnputers, Peripherals,Copiers Typeimiters and Facsimiles

Panasonic.

Office Automation^^vA

When you want corporate-sizefeatures in a desk top package.

Speed, fonts, flexibility. Eventhing youwant in a personal laser printer, ina package that fits comfortably in youroffice or home. The KX-P4420 printsat a fest 8 letter-sized originals perminute—up to twice the speed of somepersonal laser printers. And its standardfeatures include a large-capacit}^ papercassette, 22 internal fonts available in25 symbol sets (including legal), plus512K of memory expandable to a full4.5MB. The 4420 personal laser printerCorporate-size features. Personal price.

Hie PanasonicPersonal Laser

When you have several people inyour department, you need aprinter that can handle them all.

Lots of speed, lots of capacity, lots ofemulations. The KX-P4450i is meant forthe whole department. It has dual-bin,high-capacity paper cassettes. And doesa fiill 11 pages per minute even if everypage is different. Each page will be crispand clear, no matter which of the 28internal fonts you re using. And the 44501emulates LaserJet Series H, as well aspopular dot matrix and daisy wheelprinters.* This is one laser everyone willbe happy to share.

The PanasonicShmed Laser.

What makes the company lookgood makes you look good.

When appearance is all, choose theKX-P4455 with Adobe PostScript. With it,you can dramatically enhance everydocument with multiple fonts, varied typesizes, even images rotated and scaled tofit. At 11 pages per minute, and withsuperb print qualitv^. The features youwant most are standard. From 39 Adobefonts, to dual-bin, high-capacity papercassettes. Plus a wealth of optionaltypefaces. And its interfaces work beauti-fully with MS-DOS, UNIX or Appleenvironments.* With the 4455, you don'tjust print your documents, you publishthem.

The PanasonicPostSaptlaser.

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FOR FURTHER INFORJvIATION, SEE THE PRODUCT SPECIHCATIONS ON THE NEXT PAGE, OR CALL TOLL-FREE 1-800-742-8086.

Three gneat laser pmlers.Desigfied ^ecifically lortheM^people do business.

TheKX-P4455Panasonic PostScript Laser.

Printing Speed: 11 pages per minute* *Compatibility: Adobe PostScript, HP LaserJetSeries II and Diablo 630 emulations*Fonts: 39 Adobe Fonts*Paper Handling: Two 250-Sheet Cassettes.Resolution: 300 Dots Per Inch.RAM: 2MB Standard, expandable to 4MB.Interfaces: RS-232C/422A Serial, CentronicsParallel and Appletalk.*

TheKX-P4420Panasonic Personal Laser.

Printing Speed: 8 pages per minute* *Compatibility: HP LaserJet Series IIemulation*

Fonts: 22 Internal Fonts-ll availablein both portrait and landscape. Twoslots for optional font cards.Paper Handling: 250-Sheet Cassettewith Manual Feed. Face-up andface-down output.Resolution: 300 Dots Per Inch.RAM: 512K Standard, expandableto 4,5MB.

Interfaces: Centronics Parallel;Optional RS-232C Serial.

TheKX-P4450iPanasonic Shared Laser.

Printing Speed: 11 pages per minute*Compatibility: HP LaserJet Series II,Panasonic. Epson, IBM and Diabloemulations*

Fonts: 28 Internal Fonts-14 a\'ailablein both portrait and landscape. Twoslots for optional font cards.Paper Handling: T^vo 250-SheetCassettes with Manual Feed.Resolution: 300 Dots Per Inch.RAM: 512K Standard, expandableto 4.5MB.

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HP and LaserJet Series II, Epson, IBM, Diablo, Adobe and PostScript, MS-DOS, UNK and Appletalk are registered trademarks or trademarks of Hewlett-Packard Co., Seiko Epson Corp.,International Business Machines Inc, Xerox Coip., Adobe Syaems Inc., Microsoft Corp., AT&T, and Apple Computer Inc., respectively. ' 'Letter size, text mode, 5.5% image area, all originals.

[Specifications are subject to change wilJiout notice. ]

LPF-BY

Circle 274 on Reader Service Card

ASK BYTE

ASK BYTE

Like, Squaresville, Man

I am wondering if all present computersystems divide the display into so manysquare pixels. If high resolution is impor-tant, as in animation and CAD, then thesquare tessellation of the display does notseem to be the best choice.

There are only three regular tessella-tions of a planar surface: covering thesurface with squares, with regular trian-gles, or with regular hexagons. In any ofthese cases, circles can be inscribedwithin each of the polygons of a giventessellation. This results in three differ-ent methods of uniformly packing circleson the plane. The sizes of the square, theregular triangle, and the regular hexagoncan be chosen so that the circles are thesame size for all three methods of circlepacking. It is then fairly easy to showthat, for a given area of reasonable size,the hexagonal tessellation leads to thegreatest number of circles of a givenradius.

These circles inscribed within the reg-ular polygons correspond to the beam ofelectrons that activates each pixel of theCRT (when the brightness is adjustedproperly). A circle inscribed in a regularhexagon covers over 90 percent of thearea of the hexagon. The same circle in-scribed within a square will cover lessthan 79 percent. Thus, the hexagonal tes-sellation leads to about 15 percent morepixels for a given area. This should indi-cate a slightly better resolution for graph-ics work. (The method of grouping thepixels for the creation of a character set isanother matter.)

Thank you for any explanation thatyou can give.

Lem ChastainBrooklyn, NY

This is really a question for people whodesign graphics systems, but I will joinyou in supposition.

Perhaps the reason behind the rectilin-ear pixel arrangement has to do with thehistory of the most common display medi-um: the CRT. The beam is sweeping leftto right in horizontal strokes. If the pixelswere shaped as hexagons, the beamwouldn't be able to sweep smoothlyacross the display. Early TV grew fromblack and white to color, and then com-puters began painting pictures on TV dis-plays through graphical display drivers.We have always thought of display coor-dinates as straight Cartesian (x, y) coor-dinates, and making the changeover tohexagons might freak people out. Still,

the increased resolution might be useful.

With display technology changing on adaily basis, it would be relatively easy toimplement your approach in LCD, plas-ma, or electroluminescent display tech-nologies. Electronically, we drive the dis-plays from banks of memory anyway, soit's just a matter of addressing the data tothe right cell. The only real difficultywould be to get programmers to think inhexagons. We would have to rewrite allthe line- and circle-drawing algorithms,get new versions of Microsoft Windowsand Macintosh Toolbox drivers, and soon. Do any display manufacturers havethoughts on this? It's an interesting idea,and I hope that people remember thatthey read it here first. Lem, if we receiveany royalty checks, we 'II be sure to passthem along to you.—H. E.

A Storm in the Port

With IBM XT compatibles, it is a simplematter to switch the turbo mode on or offby reading a port (often at address 62hexadecimal) and resetting 1 or morebits, depending on the type of board.

I recently purchased an AT compatiblewith the Texas Instruments AT chip setand Award 286 Modular BIOS 3.03HD. Iwould like to be able to switch the ma-chine into and out of turbo mode usingthis technique. Unfortunately, I do nothave any information on the speed set-ting. Do you have any ideas on thesubject?

R. D. B. FraserTewantin, Queensland, Australia

Unfortunately, you haven't given meenough information to completely answeryour question. The software control overthe turbo function is often handled by thekeyboard controller/microprocessor on aPC-compatible machine. As you pointedout, it's usually a matter of twiddling abit or two at an I/O port, usually in therange 62h to 6Fh. According to Award,the company has never made a version ofits BIOS for the Texas Instruments ATchip set. Because of that, there's no waythat Award can tell you where the I/Oport is on your machine; that informationwould have to come from the mother-board manufacturer. If you want to sendyour letter anyway, you can reach Awardat 130 Knowles Dr., Los Gatos, CA95030, or by fax at (408) 370-3399.

All is not lost. If your BIOS supportsspeed-changing through the keyboard(often Ctrl-Alt--\- and Ctrl-Alt-- or Ctrl-Alt-1 and Ctrl-Alt-2), you can find theport by tracing through the BIOS in thedebugger. The address of the keyboardhandler (INT09h) is 0000:0024. Get that

address (probably in the FOOO segment)and disassemble the code. If you arelucky, you 'II find an OUT instruction to aport in the 60h-6Fh range. When youfind something interesting, write a shorttest program to twiddle the bits, and seewhat happens.

Finding that I/O port is a good rainy-day activity, one that should keep you en-tertained for hours. Be prepared to rebootoften; it's likely that if you tweak thewrong bit on the keyboard controller,you 'II totally mess up your machine.

-H. E.

Frantically Foraging for Fractint

Would you please let me know how orwhere I can obtain information on a pro-gram named Fractint?

Arthur TrantoloEast Hartford, CT

Fractint is a public domain fractal dis-play program by Bert Tyler and a fewother hotshot programmers. Source codeand executable copies are available onBIX, CompuServe, and many BBSes; itslatest release is version 14.0.

If you have trouble obtaining the pro-gram on-line, contact the author at TylerSoftware (124 Wooded Lane, Villanova,PA 19085).-S. A.

Missing Manuals

In July 1989, I bought a 20-MHz ArchTech 386 Tower Computer from TechCenter in Boulder, Colorado, and thesystem has worked great. My problem isthat not all the manuals were in theboxes. I thought you might be able to giveme some good ideas on how best to ad-dress the problem.

For the last year, I have been trying toget the manuals from the people at TechCenter, but I have had no response fromthem. I guess that's because they know Iam a foreigner, and they think that thereis no marketing benefit in helping me. Ihave thought of addressing Arch Tech di-rectly to purchase the manuals, but I donot want the company to think that I wantthe documentation to duplicate its systemhere. Also, I do not have Arch Tech'saddress.

How should I address this problem?

Francisco Bascijnan NogueraSantiago, Chile

I'm glad to hear that you 're enjoying yournew machine. Unfortunately, withoutmore information, I can't help you trackdown manuals for it. The Boulder phonebook doesn't list any business under thename Tech Center, and I ended up speak-ing with several people who work for

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 39

ASK BYTE

companies with similar-sounding names(thanks to all who helped!). If that's thecorrect and full company name, perhapsit's out of business now.

I'm more concerned about the name onyour computer. No one seems to haveheard of a computer built under the nameArch Tech. Perhaps your machine is fromArche Technologies? In that case, youcan reach Arche at 48881 Kato Rd., Fre-mont, CA 94539. (415) 623-8100. Bespecific with the exact configuration andmodel numbers of your system compo-nents. I'm reasonably convinced thatyour experience was simply the result ofbad communication, not because you'rea foreigner. Companies that do businessthat way simply don't stay around verylong.—H. E.

More on Fractint

A number of years ago, I obtained a diskdisplaying Mandelbrot fractals fromBYTE. Now I have obtained Fractint ver-sion 12.0, but I have a problem.

I have an Olivetti M24 computer that Iunderstand is equivalent to an AT&T6300 computer. Mine is fitted with CGAand a color monitor. The computer hasbeen upgraded using Sota 286i and isalso fitted with an 80287 math copro-cessor.

My problem: Using Fractint, I get onlyfour colors. With WordStar, Turbo Pas-cal, Paradox, Quattro Pro, and GW-BASIC, I can obtain all the colors I desireon the screen.

By the way, I am having the sameproblem using Flight Simulator 3, butnot using the American version of Tetris.I have been a subscriber to BYTE for thelast four years, and I have become awareof your sympathetic approach to readerproblems.

J. YodaikenCape Town, South Africa

Unfortunately, CGA graphics capabilityhits its peak at four colors. The other ap-plications that you mention are text-modeprograms and provide more colors byusing characters to make up the screens.Quattro Pro will also run in graphicsmode, but it will then give you the samefour-color limitation.

I am not familiar with the Tetris pro-gram that you mention, but again, I sus-pect it is a text-mode application. Obvi-ously, text mode is not appropriate fordetail-intensive programs like Fractintand Flight Simulator.

If you spend any time at all runninggraphics software, you may want to lookinto upgrading to a VGA system; the dif-ference will be startling. —S. A.

I Just See Stars

I recently bought a new machine, and Iwas a bit dismayed to find my spread-sheet files full of stars when I tried to usethem. All the labels were there intact, butno numbers. It didn't take too long to fig-ure out the cause; I had to deal with simi-lar problems on my old machine as well.The software thinks the machine has anumeric coprocessor, but it doesn't, soall the numbers are garbage.

Most software packages with the capa-bility to use a coprocessor run a shortroutine at start-up that asks the copro-cessor to store the control word (FSTCW)or the status word (FSTSW) into memory.If this works (i.e., if the value in thememory location is changed or is a validvalue), then the software assumes youhave a coprocessor and uses it thereafterto do numeric operations.

Both the machines that I have ownedwill return values when asked to do oneor other of the above operations, and Iknow several other people who have runinto this type of problem. Where does thefauh lie?

Why do software companies includesuch flimsy and potentially falliblechecks for the 80x87 in their softwareand compilers? I started getting weirdnumbers in my spreadsheets one time be-cause the 80287 was half out of its socketafter I'd been messing around putting ina board. It still passed the check for pres-ence, even though half the pins were notconnected. Why doesn't the routinecheck the results of a division or a multi-plication?

Jon WaterhouseSt. John's, Newfoundland, Canada

If your spreadsheet software (whosename you fail to mention) checks for a co-processor in the way you describe, thenyou 're right to feel dismayed. Most soft-ware will look for a coprocessor via theBIOS equipment check interrupt (11 hex-adecimal). This interrupt returns a wordfull of flags that is set by your machine'spower-on self test routines. How thePOST routine does its job probably variesfrom BIOS to BIOS. Some machines re-quire you to install a jumper wheneveryou install a coprocessor, and in thatcase the BIOS may simply look for thepresence of that jumper. Also, AT-classmachines expect a flag set in the nonvola-tile CMOS RAM indicating the presenceof a coprocessor. Have you checked yourmachine for either of these possibilities ?

Finally, if you want to know how soft-ware can detect and identify an 80x87co-processor, look for BYTE's March 1988issue. Prakash Chandra of Intel shows

assembly language source code in his ar-ticle "Programming the 80387 Copro-cessor. "—R. G.

PostScript Preview

I'm trying to find a PC program that willlet you preview, one page at a time, thecontents of a text file as it would appearwhen printed on a LaserWriter Plus.

This program would be used by stu-dents of the Chisolm Institute of Tech-nology to print their assignments. Atpresent, we have a program that convertsfiles from various word processing pro-grams to PostScript. This transformedfile is then sent to the LaserWriter Plusfor printing.

There is a shortcoming with this ar-rangement. After you've committed thetext file to laser printing, there is no turn-ing back. Consequently, students canlose a lot of money on wasted printing.

Graham BrownDromana, Victoria, Australia

Most word processing programs thesedays will support PostScript. You shouldcall the vendors of the various word pro-cessing programs and ask for a PostScriptdriver. At the same time, ask if the pro-gram has a preview mode. Many wordprocessors will either show you what theprinted output will look like on-screen orwill print the output to a disk file. As longas you have a PostScript driver installed,the preview should look exactly like thefinal printed output. If you can find driv-ers, this would be your best bet.

Another solution is a PostScript inter-preter. The primary purpose of a Post-Script interpreter is to convert PostScriptfiles so that they can be printed on non-PostScript printers. Although you wouldnot need one for this purpose, a Post-Script interpreter might include a previewmode as well, so you could use such aprogram to see how the final printed pagewill appear. LaserGo (9369 Carroll ParkDr., Suite A, San Diego, CA 92121, 800-955-3668) should be able to help you.The company's GoScript program willdisplay PostScript on EGA or VGA moni-tors. It will also display TIF and PCXfiles.—S. D.

FIXES

In "Faster Gets Smaller" (August),Compaq inadvertently provided BYTEwith the wrong FCC rating for the Desk-pro 386/25e. The correct rating is FCCClass B, not Class A. ■

40 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Here's what they sayabout Zortech C+ +

" Zortech is a truly fine compiler...If you'vebeen waiting for a major player to offer aprofessional C++ development system forOS/2 and Windows, as well as DOS,wait no longer... Zortech has it! "

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products I've had the luck to use I can

highly recommend the Zortech 2.0 release."

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"' Zortech has done a commendable jobwith C-I-+ 2.0 and I recommend ithighly...The debugger is impressive...Get theDevelopers version...it's worth the money."

Bruce Eckel, Micro Cornucopia, pp. 8-17, March 1 990

"We have devoted virtually a full issue to evalua-tion of C Compilers.... it's an easy choice. Wepick ZORTECH."

J. D. Hilderbrand, Editor, Computer Longjoge, p. 7, May 1990

AT&T™ C++ V2Specif/cat/on

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y Native code compiler withseparate global optimzery Improved MSC Source

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C+ + interfacey Easy to use TSR functions/ Standard Library SourceCode included withDeveloper's Editiony Seamless LIM/EMSSupport via new handlepointers or directly viaEMS library functions,y Full MS Mouse Libraryy OS/2 Compiler Option/ 99% ANSI C Compatibley Improved code size/speed

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C++ Compiler $199.95C++ Debugger $149.95C++Tools $149.95Library Source $149.95Save $200 - Get theDeveloper's Edition foronly $450 (includes all theabove items).OS/2 Option $149.95C++Video $499.95

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With Zortech's Virtual Code Manager (VCM) you can compile standardMS-DOS applications containing up to 4Mb of code. VCM is a sophisticatedvirtual memory system that dramatically improves performance overconventional overlay methods. Naturally, our debugger understands VCM too!

Rationar" DOS Extender Technology-Version 2. ] incorporates this new technology for compiling and debuggingreally big programs on 286, 386 or 486 based PC's. You can also use V2.1together with Rational Systems DOS Extender (purchased separately) toproduce your own applications which can access memory beyond the 640kDOS limit.

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186SX nuMi-Task Force

Launch and run two, three, four or more programs simultaneously. Blast the 640K memory barrier to cuteven the most massive programs down to size. And, rocket through spreadsheets, word processing,desktop publishing and more with lightning-fast 16MHz, 32-bit speed. With this new BSR 386SX computerand your FREE bonus Microsoft Windows 3.0, you'll infuse your computing with the time- and work-annihilating might of true multi-tasking and 386SX power. PLUS, you get $2,850 worth of FREE NAME-BRAND software. Plus, as an added Super Bonus, you also get $495 Quattro Pro. You 'II be armed and readyto assault any business, learning and creative project, all for DAK's industry-busting price of just $ 1,799.

By Drew Kaplan BSR 16MHz 386SX Computer with 1 full this work-vanquishing, time-saving, pro-

Get ready to unleash breakthrough megabyte of RAM, massive 28 millisecond ductivity-enhancing 386SX computer,computing power. Imagine writing a sales hard drive and .31 dot pitch VGA monitor. ANATOMY OF A 386SX

report with your word processor while simul- It's the most powerful, fully-loaded com-taneously recalculating a spreadsheet. '

Imagine running massive desktop pub-lishing programs with plenty of RAM tospare. And, imagine blazing through allyour computer work with lightning-fast16MHz 32-bit speed all for just $1,799.

Sound like a fantasy? With most com-puters it would be. But, not with this new

puter DAK has ever offered.

Plus, with the included Microsoft Win-dows 3.0 and $2,850 worth of additionalFREE bonus software (including WordStar5.5), you'll be armed to make short work ofany computer project.

Read on and together we'll explore allthe amazing feats you'll accomplish with

At the heart of this new BSR 386SX com-puter is the latest 386SX microprocessor.

Unlike a 286 microprocessor (found inAT computers), which processes informa-tion in 16-bit chunks, a 386SX can processinformation in 32-bit chunks. So, it canhandle more than twice the information astandard 286 can, in less time. Wow!

Plus, you'll be able to run the latest 386 pro-grams and all PC/AT compatible programs.

This 16MHz, 0-wait state speed demoncan calculate spreadsheets, reformat desk-top publishing documents and run any ofthe FREE programs in record time.

But, if you're like me, you use your com-puter mostly for word processing. So youmight not be too concerned with speed. Iwasn't either, until 1 pitted my old 286against the BSR 386SX.

I spell-checked the same 50-page reporton both computers. 1 was astounded to dis-cover that the 386SX spell-checked thedocument over a minute faster.

A single minute may not seem like much,but when you think of how many reports,letters and proposals you spell-check inone week, those minutes add up.

Plus, just wait till you see how quicklythis 386SX boots up, and how fast you'llrun through complex spreadsheets like

■■■

l&SJ 386SX/T6

/ J J J J i_ I I 1 I

r 1^ /' I' i' I" i" r r *:"1/////// I / r

/////// I I I I

r r I I I / r r 1 ^

INCLUDED BONUS SOFTWARE

Retail Price

Microsoft Windows 3.0 $149

Quattro Pro $495

WordStar 5.5 Professional $495

Reflex 2.0 $249

Gem Desktop Publisher $299

Gem Graph $299

Gem Draw Plus $299

Gem WordChart $199

SideKick $ 89

Key FormDesigner $179

KeyMailer $149

Three-Button Mouse $ 99

Grammatik IV $ 99

PC Paintbrush $ 99

PC USA $ 69

Keyboard/Keypad Trainer $ 69

KeyDictionary $ 99

WordFinder $ 59

It's $3,494 worth of BONUS softwareincluded with your BSR 386SX computer!

Quattro Pro. But, speed is just one smallpart of the sheer might of this fantastic 386SX.DOWNTIME DECIMATOR

The true power of this BSR 386SXis its astounding memory handlingcapability. It shatters the 640KRAM barrier which shackles286 computers.No longer will you be limitedto the old DOS standard of640K RAM. Sure, some 286

With your FREE included three-button mouse you'llzoom through databases, desktop publishing andword processing at meteoric speed.

computers have 1 meg or more of RAM.But, most programs don't actually use it.

But, with your 386SX and a memory-managing program like the incredibleMicrosoft Windows 3.0, (yours absolutelyFREE), you'll use all of this computer's 1full meg of RAM (or 2 full megs with op-tional upgrade for just $79'°).

Now you can run high-performance busi-ness spreadsheets, (like your just-releasedQuattro Pro bonus), huge databases (suchas Reflex 2.0) and desktop publishers (likethe included GEM Desktop Publisher, com-plete with Gem Graph, Gem Draw Plusand Gem WordChart) with ease.

And, look at this. With your 386SX andMicrosoft Windows 3.0, you'll be able tomulti-task. That means you can run severalprograms simultaneously and transfer in-formation between most programs.

For example, you can work on a salesreport with the included WordStar 5.5 andthen instantly pull up Quattro Pro to dou-ble check your sales figures without exit-ing WordStar. It's a real time-saver.

You can even 'cut' figures directly fromQuattro Pro and automatically 'paste' theminto your report, on-screen.

And, wait till you discover multi-tasking.With Microsoft Windows 3.0 this 386SXcomputer can do the work of several ordi-nary computers* concurrently.

Forget having your computer tied upwhile it recalculates a spreadsheet or for-mats and prints out a complex desktoppublishing document. Your 386SX obliter-ates downtime forever.

THE COMPUTER OF THE FUTURE

The experts like PC Magazine and Info-world agree that the 386 is the future stan-dard. And, most of the new programsdeveloped over the next few years will becreated for 386-compatible computers.

So, with your BSR 386SX you'll already

by prepared for the future of computingwith full 386 compatibility. Plus, you'llhave complete 286 compatibility too.LOADED WITH COMPUTING POWER

This awesome computer comes fully-armed with an arsenal of work-annihilatingfeatures. With other computer companies,most of these features are optional. But,they're all standard on your 386SX.

14" VGA Monitor (Standard). With itsphenomenal 640 X 480 (.31 dot pitch),slide-like resolution, this easy-on-the-eyes,non-glare 14" color VGA monitor is themost brilliant I've ever seen.

Plus, just wait till you see how the paletteof 256,000 colors can make all your graphs,charts, paintings and even word processingand spreadsheets explode off the screenwith sharp, vivid power.

And, with the included tilt swivel moni-tor base, you can easily adjust the monitorto the perfect viewing angle for you.

40-Megabyte Hard Drive (Standard).The powerbase behind your work-vanquish-ing 386SX is a mammoth super-fast, 28-millisecond, 16-bit, 40-megabyte hard drive.

You'll have the informational storagepower of over 110 traditional floppy disksto save all of your creations and programswith plenty of room to spare.

And, if you're running a company orneed all the storage space you can get, youcan upgrade to a colossal 80-megabyte harddrive for just $199'".

1 Full Megabyte of RAM (Standard).You'll have plenty of power to run even themost massive memory-devouring programswith the included 1 megabyte of high-speedRAM (expandable to up to 8 megabytes onthe motherboard), complete with LIM 4.0emulation capability.

And, you can upgrade to 2 megabytes ofRAM for virtually unlimited multi-taskingpower for just $79'".

Both 51/4" AND 31/2" Floppy Drives (Stan-dard) . You get two floppy drives with yourBSR 386SX computer.

First, there's a 1.2MB, high-density SV4"floppy disk drive. You can store nearly 4times more information on a 1.2MB floppythan you can on a standard 360K floppy.

And, you can still use and exchange 360Kfloppies with less sophisticated computerusers than yourself.

Plus, there's also a 1.44MB high-density3V2" floppy disk drive, so you can easily

switch floppies between your 386SX andthe latest IBM computers and even 1.44MBand 720K laptop computers.

4 Expansion Slots. With its 4 expansionslots (3 available), your 386SX is engineeredto grow with your computing needs.

You'll have plenty of room to add a faxcard, a scanner card or a voice-mail card.

NOTE: This computer's advanced 386motherboard requires only a cool-running145 watt power supply, so you'll have plentyof power for expansion cards.

Serial, Parallel and Mouse Ports (Stan-dard). You'll have two serial ports to usewith serial devices. You get a parallel portfor printer hook-up.

And, there's a mouse port for your included3-button bus mouse (more later).

101-Key Extended Keyboard (Stan-dard). Virtually all interaction with yourcomputer is through the keyboard. That'swhy this breakthrough computer comeswith the newest extended keyboard com-plete with separate arrow/cursor keys.

You'll never have to hunt through thenumber keys to find the cursor keys again.

Plus, the solid feel of the sculptured keysends finger fatigue forever. Whether you'hunt & peck' or type 90 words-per-minute,you'll really appreciate the tactile feedbackof this high-quality keyboard.

MS DOS 3.31 and GW-Basic (Standard).It amazes me how many retailers sell com-puters without DOS and Basic. At DAK, youget everything to have your computer upand running right away.

Special Note: DOS 3.31 breaks the 32meg hard disk size limitation, so you canuse your 40 meg (or optional 80 meg) harddrive without cumbersome partitions.

Clock/Calendar with Battery Back-Upand More. Plus, this extraordinary com-puter has a clock/calendar with battery back-up, a front panel reset switch and 80387math co-processor socket, 8MHz/16MHzswitching and dozens more features.ON-SITE SERVICE

With a lot of companies, once you buy acomputer, you're on your own. If you'relucky, they'll give you a 90-day warranty.

But, your BSR 386SX computer is backedby a 12-month, on-site standard limitedwarranty. You'll receive in-home or in-officeservice anywhere in the continental UnitedStates. You're totally protected.

(Next Page Please ...

HuMi-Tasking Explained

If s called multi-tasking. And, if s revolutionizing the way we work with computers. What 'multi-tasking' means is you can run several pro-grams at the same time. For example, you can have a spreadsheet program like Quattro Pro run calculations while you use a word processor UkeWordStar 5.5 to write a letter or report. Plus, you can 'pull-up' other programs WITHOUT exiting the program you're working in. If s a realtime-saver if you switch programs a lot. Here's just one example of how you can use multi-tasking to blast through your work.

1. Let's say you're the sales managerfor a company or you own your ownbusiness. You're writing a report withWordStar 5.5. As you work, youdecide to double-check some figuresin your Quattro Pro spreadsheet.

2. Without exiting WordStar, youpull up Quattro Pro in another win-dow. Now you can check your spread-sheet and even cut figures fromQuattro Pro and paste them directlyinto your WordStar report.

3. Next, you decide to check the per-formance of your sales people. With-out exiting WordStar or Quattro Pro,you pull up Reflex 2.0 in a third win-dow. Nowyou can easily scroll throughyour sales database.

4. After you've confirmed all yourfigures, (and cut and pasted just theonesyou need into your report), witha click of your mouse, you pull theWordStar window to the front of thescreen and finish writing your report.

... 386SX Multi-Task Continued)Plus, you get DAK's own toll-free soft-ware support lines, manned with fielpful,knowledgeable DAKonians ready to answerall of your software questions.

WHYBSR?DAKonians know about BSR throughtheir audiophile stereo equipment. But,what most people don't know is that BSRwas one of the world's leading manufac-turers of computer power supplies.

And, this new BSR 386SX follows in thatsame industry-leading tradition. Plus, be-cause of DAK's direct-from-the-factory pur-chase, I got a fantastic price.

Now you can command all the comput-ing muscle of a fully-loaded 386SX for lessthan the price of many 286 computers.

And, lef s not forget your Super Bonus$495 Quattro Pro. Plus, Miaosoft Windows3.0 and the $2,850 worth of brand-namecomputer software (including WordStar 5.5,Gem Publisher, Key FormDesigner andmore) you get absolutely FREE.

COMMAND A 386SXMULTI-TASK FORCERISK FREEWait till you experience the blindingspeed of 16Mhz, 32-bit computing. Waittill you cut and paste information betweentwo different programs with ease. And, waittill you work on two, three, four or evenmore programs concurrently.

If you're not completely thrilled simplyreturn it to DAK in its original box within30 days for a courteous refund.

To order Your Work Annihilating 16MHz,32-Bit 386SX Multi-Task Force completewith Massive 40-Megabyte, Super-Fast 28-Millisecond, 16-Bit Hard Drive, 1 Full Megof RAM (upgradable to 8 Megs), 1.2 Mega-byte 51/4" Floppy Drive, 1.44 Megabyte 31/2"Disk Drive, 14" Slide-Like .31 Dot PitchColor VGA Monitor with Tilt Swivel Base,Advanced DOS 3.31 and GW-Basic, PLUSMicrosoft Windows 3.0, PLUS $495 Quat-tro Pro, PLUS $2,850 worth of the NameBrand Software Bonuses AND 12-MonthOn-Site Service Warranty, call toll free orsend your check for DAK's industry-bustingprice of just $1,799 ($69 P&H). Order No.6335. CA res add tax.

Options

RAM BREAKTHROUGH OPTIONTurbo-charge your 386SX with evenmore multi-tasking power by upgrad-ing to a full 2-megabytes RAM for just$79'" ($0 P&H). Order No. 6336. Note:The RAM upgrade must be orderedwith your computer.8(KMEGABYIE HARD DRIVE OPTIONNow you can have an enormous 80megabytes of hard disk space to store allyour work and programs f or j ust $ 199'"($0 P&H). Order No. 6337. Note: Thehard disk upgrade must be orderedwith your computer.

You'll command the power to runtwo, three, four or even more programsconcurrently. And, with the $3,494worth of included name-brand softwareyou'll be armed and ready to vanquishany computing task. E

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8200 Remmet Ave., Canoga Park, CA 91304

Here's a preview of just a fewof the name-brand softwareprograms included with your BSR386SX computer.

Quattro Pro com-bines BIG corpor-ation spreadsheetpower with vividgraphics. You cananalyze, forecastand print out yourdata in numbersand 3-D charts.

Must Look

WordStar 5.5 hasover 300 work-sav-ing enhancements,including easy-to-use Pull-DownMenus that oblit-erate keyboard com-mands.

With Reflex 2.0database, you canorganize, analyzeand even displayyour crucial busi-ness data in 6 dif-ferent ways includ-ing form. List, Graphand Crosstab views

You can easilycreate reports, pro-posals, newslettersand more withcharts, drawings,graphs and multi-ple font styles withthe Gem DesktopPublishing System.

Teaching Kids

Sitfely Training al Schtx)! :^ImpnA Ci Safety ill I !ome

Gem Graph's vivid3-D bar graphs, piecharts, symbolgraphs and linecharts will infuseyour reports, pro-posals and presen-tations with explo-sive visual power.

With the touch ofa hotkey, KeyDic-tionary, with 115,-000 on-line, fulldefinitions, givesyou instant answersto questions aboutword meanings,spelling, usage andhyphenation.

\KeyMailer's fill-in-the-blank format isthe easy way to createextensive mailing-list data bases andthousands of per-sonalized letters com-plete with addresslabels.

It's a cinch to illus-trate any graphicfrom a professionalorganization chartto a Mojave DesertSunset with PCPaintbrush's iconsand pull-downmenus

Lef s take a quick look at the $3,494 worthof name-brand software programs includedwith your BSR 386SX computer.

SUPER BONUS Quattro Pro($495 Value)Now aU of us small businessmen can take ad-vantage of BIG corporation spreadsheet powerwithout needing a degree in accounting.

Top-rated Quattro Pro can effortlesslylay out a financial strategy for you. And,you'll see it in numbers, dollars and 3-Dgraphs on-screen or printed out.

Plus, Quattro Pro's new VROOMM (Vir-tual Realtime Object-Oriented MemoryManager) reads and writes even the largestLotus files without translation.FREE BONUS #1 Microsoft Windows 3.0($149 Value)We've already explored the incrediblememory managing, multi-tasking, and 'cut& paste' abilities of Windows 3.0. But it cando so much more.

It obliterates complex DOS commandswith an easy-to-use icon-based environ-ment. You can launch any installed DOS orWindows-based program merely by dou-ble-clicking your included mouse on anicon. It's a real time-saver.

Plus, you also get a file manager, a printmanager and much more to help you finishall your computer work easier, faster andbetter than ever before possible.

FREE BONUS #2 WordStar 5.5($495 Value)WordStar 5.5 has over 300 new featuresand enhancements to make writing power-ful letters, reports and proposals a breeze.

The instant you fire-up WordStar, youcan type a letter, add bold, italics and under-line. If s easy with the Pull-Down Menus.

With Editing Windows, you can edit twodocuments simultaneously. You can evencopy and move text between them.

Plus, you can view up to 32 pages at oncewith the Advanced Page Preview. So, youcan check page centering, margins andlayout t)e£ore you print.

FREE BONUS #3 Reflex 2.0($249 Value)It's the easiest and most powerful flat-filedatabase I've ever used. Now you can storeand organize all your critical business, clubor personal data quickly and easily.

Plus, top-rated Reflex can also turn yourraw data into attention-grabbing pie, linebar and scatter graphs that instantly giveyou the meanings behind the numbers.

And, you can instantly cut and pasteinformation from Reflex directly into yourword processor or spreadsheet. Reflex is aquick and easy way to compare, summarizeand analyze all your vital data.FREE BONUS #4 Key FormDesigner

($179 Value)Create any type of form from simple per-sonalized appointment book pages to com-plex inventory control forms. Imagineeasily designing purchase orders, employ-ment applications, ledger sheets and more.

With Key FormDesigner, you can custom-tailor forms to your EXACT needs. Inminutes, you can produce new, more effi-cient forms for the whole company, foryour department, or just for you.

And, you can print out your customizedforms on any dot-matrix, ink jet or laserprinter. Best of all, you'll never need to wait

At All You Qet FREE

weeks or pay for custom forms again.FREE BONUS #5 Sidekick($89 Value)

Sidekick is a powerful desktop organizerthat puts 4 essential business tools right atyour fingertips. You get an electronic note-pad so you can take down notes easily.

There's an on-line, pop-up calculator anda perpetual calendar/appointment scheduler,too. Plus, with Sidekick's phone book, youcan store all your frequently called modemnumbers in an on-line directory that dialsthe numbers for you.FREE BONUS #6 Gem Desktop Publisher($299 Value)

Now you can create spectacular brochures,multi-columned newsletters, graphic-packedmanuals, mind-grabbing reports and evenyour own magazines right at your desk.

With just the click of a mouse, you'llinsert maps, diagrams, schematics, artwork,logos and graphs into any document. And,you'll compose eye-catching professionalreports, articles and academic papers.FREE BONUS #7 Gem Graph($299 Value)

Now you can easily create dazzling re-ports, proposals and brochures filled withattention-grabbing 3-D graphs and charts.

Wait till you see all the two and eventhree dimensional bar graphs, pie charts,and comparative line charts that jump offthe page with sit-up-and-take-notice power.

You can choose from a huge selection ofgraph and text styles (including striking 3-D), to add that extra amount of punch toreally drive your point home.

FREE BONUS #8 Gem WordChart($199 Value)

What Gem Graph does with numbers.Gem WordChart does with words. Createextensive fact tables for sales reports.

Make bullet charts to add graphic impactto your presentations and proposals. And,even make eye-grabbing sale fliers for yourbusiness that will have customers streamingin. It's a cinch to create everything fromparty invitations to menus.

FREE BONUS #9 Gem Draw Plus($299 Value)You can effortlessly design anythingfrom simple floor plans to complicated elec-trical schematics. Create graphics for clubnewsletters. And, you can even draw flowcharts and organizational charts with ease.

There's also a full library of pre-drawnclip art that you can insert directly intoyour documents. Plus, Gem Draw Plus isobject-oriented. So, for example, if youoverlay a circle with a square, they mix on thescreen but are kept separate in the memory.

Gem Draw Plus is the easy way to trans-form your ideas into vivid drawings.FREE BONUS #10 PC USA($69 Value)

You'll command a wealth of vivid gra-phics and fact-filled tables packed withcurrent and historical information on allthe 50 states and even Puerto Rico.

You'll have instant access to beautifullydetailed state maps showing elevations,cities and geographical features. You'll easilypinpoint distances between cities.

And, you'll effortlessly access statisticson population and age distribution, health,crime, tourist attractions, climate trends,taxes, state histories and much more—ail

with a touch of a button.

FREE BONUS #11 KeyMailer($ 149 Value)

With KeyMailer's menu-driven, fill-in-the-blank format, anyone can create anextensive mailing-list database.

Now you can print out envelope labels,telephone directories and even merge yourdata with WordStar to effortlessly makeand send 100, 1,000 or even 10,000 per-sonalized letters for your business or club.FREE BONUS #12Keyboard/Keypad Trainer($69 Value)

Here's an easy way to increase your typ-ing speed and finish your work 25%, 50%or even 100% faster.

This amazing breakthrough programuses Artificial Intelligence (Al) to tailorexercises to your learning needs. Plus, you'llhave customized AI lessons for your com-puter's numeric keypad, too.

FREE BONUS #13 Grammatik IV($99 Value)

Grammatik IV uses 42 grammar rules toautomatically check all your reports, essaysand everything you write.

You'll never worry about incompletesentences, punctuation errors or using 'it's'instead of 'its,' 'they're instead of 'their,' or'two' instead of 'too.' Grammatik IV neverchanges your writing. Whether you use itsadvice or not is completely up to you.

FREE BONUS #14 KeyDictionary($99 Value)

With 115,000 full, on-line definitionscomplete with hyphenation and usage rules,this awesome electronic dictionary makeswriting captivating documents a breeze.

You can instantly define words, in or outof word processing, with just the touch of ahot key. Plus, you can even define wordswithin definitions and spell-checker andthesaurus suggestions.

FREE BONUS #15 WordFinder($59 Value)

Infuse (penetrate, instill, inject) the powerof WordFinder's instant-access 220,000-word Thesaurus into your reports, pro-posals and contracts. It's great.

Now everything you write, from 50-pagereports to 1-page memos will be filled withpassionate (enthusiastic, fiery, intense)persuasion to really get your ideas across.

FREE BONUS # 16 PC Paintbrush($99 Value)

With PC Paintbrush, you'll unleash yourcreativity with computer-generated shapes,designs, patterns and drawings.

You'll have 5 different brush shapes, apaint roller, computerized air brush, and apalette of up to 16 colors to create andprint-out everything from breathtakinglandscapes to company logos.FREE BONUS #17 Three-Button Mouse($99 Value)

Obliterate clumsy keyboard commands.From drawing and painting to accessingmenus and windows to controlling thecursor, you'll do it all infinitely easier andfaster with the new BSR 3-button bus mouse.$3,494 Of Softwaie FREE

You get it all, a total of $3,494 worth ofsoftware and hardware (including Micro-soft Windows 3.0, PLUS $495 Quattro Pro),PLUS the BSR 16Mhz 386SX Computer withVGA monitor for just $1,799.

And, here's just a sample ofwhat you can do with all ofyour FREE name-brandsoftware programs.

If

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For Toll free Information, Call 6AM-5F^ Monday-Friday PSTTechnical Information ...1-800-888-9818

Any Other Inquiries 1-800-888-7808

8200 Remmet Ave., Catioga Park, CA 91304

WHAT'S New

The 1550sx is the latest in GRiD's line of laptops. This onefeatures the rolling Isopoint device shown here.

Isopoint DeviceMakes a Casefor GRiD

The GRiDCase 1550sx isthe first PC-compatiblelaptop to use the built-in Iso-point device. Also unique tothe 20-MHz 386SX laptop isa 60-MB hard disk drive withWindows 3.0 installed.

The Isopoint device takesthe place of a mouse and isbuilt into the keyboard belowthe space bar. The Isopointbuttons are accessible to bothright- and left-handed users.

The hard disk drive has anaccess time of 16 ms and a64K-byte memory cache.Also standard on the 12-poundlaptop are 2 MB of RAM anda 3'/4-inch 1.44-MB floppydisk drive. The screen is afilm-twisted-nematic backlitLCD VGA. The internal/external battery has a ratedlife of 2 hours and charges in2'/^ hours, according toGRiD. The system measures111/4 by 15 by 2 V4 inches.Options include a 120-MB

hard disk drive, a 600-MBCD-ROM drive, a 2400-bpsmodem, an 80387SX math co-processor, and an externalrechargeable battery.Price: Base system, $6295.Contact: GRiD SystemsCorp., 47211 Lakeview Blvd.,P.O. Box 5003, Fremont, CA94537, (800) 222-4743 or(415) 656-4700.Inquiry 1290.

Things Are GettingSmall in Texas

The new Tandy 1500 HD,a notebook computer thatweighs 6 pounds, comesstandard with a 1.44-MB flop-py disk drive and a 20-MBhard disk drive for less than$2000.

The 1500 HD, which mea-sures 10 by \2Yi by I'/o inches,has a backlit screen, a 10-MHz NEC V-20 processor,and 640K bytes of RAM (ex-pandable to 1.64 MB). Thesystem also comes with DOS3.3 and Tandy's DeskMategraphical user interface in-stalled on the hard disk drive.

The blue-on-white LCDscreen provides a resolution of640 by 200 pixels (CGA).The removable nickel-cadmi-um battery weighs % poundand recharges in as little as 4hours, according to Tandy.An AC adapter is also included

with the 1500 HD.Price: $1999.

Contact: Tandy Corp., 1800One Tandy Center, FortWorth, TX 76102, (817)390-3011.Inquiry 1291.

The CompuAdd Compan-ion, which measures 8'/4by 11 by 1% inches, has a 12-MHz 286 processor with 1 MBof RAM (expandable to 3MB), a 20-MB hard disk drive,and a backlit VGA screenthat measures 8 by 6 inchesand displays 16 gray scales.

LapLink software is in-stalled in ROM, as well asDOS 4.01 and diagnostics.The system also has an 80287math coprocessor socket. Arechargeable battery pack andan AC adapter are included.Price: $2895.

Contact: CompuAdd Corp.,12303 Technology Blvd., Aus-tin, TX 78727, (800) 627-1967 or (512) 250-1489.Inquiry 1292.

The Peregrine SXHas Landed

The Peregrine 20/32cSXis a 20-MHz 386SX with2 MB of RAM, a 1024-by768-pixel Super VGA display,a choice of floppy diskdrives, a Microsoft Mouse,Windows 3.0, and DOS 4.01.

Hard disk drives are avail-able in 40-, 80-, 105-, or 200-MB configurations, and thesystem will support an80387SX math coprocessor.Price: $1769; with 40-MBhard disk drive, $2159.Contact: Peregrine Com-puters, 110 East Canal St.,Troy, OH 45373, (800) 326-7015, ext. 3119 or (513) 339-3151.

Inquiry 1293.

CompuAdd's notebook-size Companion weighs less than5 pounds and has a VGA screen that displays up to 16 levelsof gray scales.

46 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

HARDWARE • PERIPHERALS

Mannesmann Tally offers low-cost wide- and narrow-carriageprinters.

24-wire SerialPrinters in Wide andNarrow Versions

The MT130/24 andMT131/24 printers costless than $1000 each andwere tested to operate for over7800 hours before failure,which is 30 percent longer thanthe nearest competitor, ac-cording to Mannesmann Tally.

The 24-wire serial printersoperate at 300 cps in draftmode, 150 cps in near-letter-quality mode, 100 cps in let-ter-quality mode, and 12 cpiin all modes.

Paper-handling capabili-ties include single sheets, con-tinuous forms, and four-partforms. The printers also havethe ability to print singlesheets without removal of con-tinuous forms and to printcontinuous forms without re-moval of the optional sheetfeeder.

Price: Narrow-carriageMT130/24, $899; wide-car-riage MT131/24, $999.Contact: Mannesmann TallyCorp., 8301 South 180th St.,Kent, WA 98032, (206)251-5500.Inquiry 1294.

PostScript LaserPrinter CrossesBounds

NEC's Silentwriter2Model 90 is a PostScriptlaser printer that is compat-ible with Macintosh and DOSenvironments and sells forless than $2500.

The 6-page-per-minuteprinter provides 2 MB of RAM(expandable to 4 MB). It has

a Motorola 68000 processorwith a built-in 16.7-MHzAdobe PostScript interpreterthat provides 35 residentscalable typefaces. The printeralso provides 13 residentfonts in Hewlett-PackardLaserJet IIP emulation.

The Silentwriter2 Model90 prints at a resolution of 300by 300 dpi. It weighs 44pounds.

To hook it up to DOS orMac systems, it comes withstandard parallel, serial, andAppleTalk/RS-422 interfaces.It also comes with a softwarekit that shows you what thescreen fonts will look like inprinted documents. The soft-ware runs on Macs or underWindows in DOS environ-ments.

A 250-sheet-capacitypaper tray is included thatholds up to 24-pound letter orlegal-size paper, envelopes, ortransparencies. The tonerand optical photoconductor arein replaceable cartridges saidto last for 6000 pages.Price: $2495.Contact: NEC Technol-ogies, Inc., 1414 Massachu-setts Ave., Boxborough, MA01719, (508) 264-8000.Inquiry 1295.

HSD Now Scanningthe Mac Market

Like Scan-X for the NeXTmachine, Scan-X Profes-sional for the Macintosh fea-tures image-enhancement tech-nology, which HSD Micro-computer calls Gray SpectrumEnhancement, that allowsyou to produce 256 shades ofgray with superior quality,according to the company.

The Macintosh scannersupports resolutions of up to1500 dpi for line art and 300dpi for gray-scale images. Itcomes with Enhance soft-ware from MicroFrontier. TheEnhance software offers 80real-time filters, real-timegray-level manipulation andcolor painting, cropping, scal-ing from 25 percent to 800percent, rotating, brushing,masking, text entry, process-ing, colorization, andghosting.Price: $1995.Contact: HSD Microcom-puter U.S., Inc., 1350 PearAve., Suite C, MountainView, CA 94043, (415)964-1400.Inquiry 1296.

Compact BernoulliDrives

Iomega has announced itsUniversal family of Ber-noulli removable disk subsys-tems. The family includes twoportable Bernoulli subsys-tems: The Transportable is thesmallest, lightest Bernoullisubsystem, according to Io-mega; the Portable is a bat-tery-powered version of theAC-powered Transportable.

All the subsystems in theUniversal family work with theIBM PC, the Macintosh, andin networking environments.They all use the SCSI stan-dard and also have optional in-terface kits available.Price: Transportable, $1399;Portable, $1699.Contact: Iomega Corp.,1821 West 4300 South, Roy,UT 84067, (800) 456-5522or (801) 778-1000.Inquiry 1297.

An lOcomm-CraftedMonitor

IOcomm, maker of theWave keyboard, has intro-duced the CM-4210, a 14-inch Super VGA monitor. Itfeatures a .28 dot pitch andoperates at 45 MHz with a res-olution of 1024 by 768 pixels(interlaced). The monitor has anonglare screen and meetsworldwide safety regulations.

While the CM-4210 is notinexpensive, IOcomm says thatit offers brighter colors,sharper details, and firmerpicture stability than its com-petitors.Price: $549.

Contact: IOcomm, 12700Yukon Ave., Hawthorne, CA90250, (213)644-6100.Inquiry 1298.

SPREAD THE WORD

Your new product is important to us. Please address information toNew Products Editors, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peter-borough, NH 03458. Better yet, use your modem and mail newproduct information to the microbytes.hw or microbytes.swconferences on BIX. Please send the product description, price,ship date, and an address and telephone number where readers canget more information.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 47

WHAT'S NEW

HARDWARE • ADD-INS

16-bit DataAcquisition

The 5508HR is a half-sizeanalog input module forPCs and laptops that includesdetachable screw terminations.The board has eight differen-tial and 16 single-ended analoginputs and a choice of 15- or50-kHz A/D throughputs.

The detachable-screw-ter-mination design allows you towire analog and digital sig-nals directly to the rear of thecomputer, eliminating ca-bling and external screw-ter-minal panels. The boardmeasures 3%o by 6 inches.Price: 15-kHz model, $895;50-kHz model, $1295.Contact: Adac Corp., 70Tower Office Park, Woburn,MA 01801, (800) 648-6589or (617) 935-6668.Inquiry 1299.

Adac's Direct Connect 5508HR data acquisition board.

Rapid Prototypingwith Protosystem AT

Protosystem AT is a wire-wrap prototype card forrapid prototyping of circuitsfor the IBM AT, according toCana Group.The manual wire-wrap

Multimedia for Windows 3.0

VideoWindows digitalvideo board comeswith multimedia softwarethat runs under Windows3.0. The board and softwarecombination lets you posi-tion windows of full-motion,full-color video anywhereon a VGA display, accordingto New Media Graphics. Youcan scale, reposition, crop,and zoom the video in real

time. And image-capture ca-pabilities are also included.

VideoWindows workswith any NTSC or PAL videosource, and you can overlaygraphics on the video.Price: $2390.

Contact: New MediaGraphics Corp., 780 BostonRd., Billerica, MA 01821,(508) 663-0666.Inquiry 1303.

IP"

Program Manjijei

JFile fdil Scale EHcctsyidco Settings Configure Tools

Conboi Panel

e

Hiciotoll WindowtVaiion 3.0Copfiight o I985-I9S0 Mici

Flee Sytlet

Slandaid Mode

card has pins soldered in placeon every signal line, alongwith bypass capacitors onevery power line. Accordingto Cana, it holds more than100 16-pin IC sockets.

For ease of use, the signalpins are never closer togetherthan Ys inch. The signal linesare grouped onto address,data, and control buses. Forquick troubleshooting, eachsignal pin has a label on eachside of the board.Price: $149.95.Contact: Cana Group, Suite402, 100 Walnut St., Peoria,IL 61602, (800) 747-2262 or(309) 674-9009.Inquiry 1300.

Shift Your LaserJetinto High Gear

An expandable memoryboard for LaserJet IIPand III printers, the LaserGoMemory Board lets you add upto 4 MB with one board. Youcan install the board with just ascrewdriver, according toLaserGo, and it automaticallysenses whether it's in aLaserJet IIP or III. The board,which comes with 1 MB, isexpandable to 4 MB and iscompatible with Hewlett-Packard memory boards al-

ready installed.

Price: $295.

Contact: LaserGo, Inc.,

9369 Carroll Park Dr., Suite

A, San Diego, CA 92121,

(800) 955-1132 or (619) 450-

4600.

Inquiry 1301.

Graphics

Controllers Do Unix,DOS, and OS/2

Using a 10-MIPS proces-sor, the Info SGX graph-ics controller is 60 percentfaster than other graphics pro-cessors, according to NisseiSangyo America. You can fur-ther speed up the board withan optional coprocessor withdedicated program memory.

The Info SGX family ofboards supports a range of res-olutions of up to 1600 by1280 pixels, including 8514/A,Super VGA, and VGA. Allmodels support single- anddual-screen modes.

The graphics boards in-stall in a single card slot andcome with drivers for majorDOS applications. Drivers forOS/2 Presentation Managerand the X Window System arealso available.Price: $4295 and up.Contact: Nissei SangyoAmerica, Ltd., 800 South St.,Waltham, MA 02154, (800)441-4832 or (617) 893-5700.Inquiry 1302.

continued

48 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

db VISTA III for Windows 3.0

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guidelines for memory use.Dynamic linked libraries (DLL),multi-tasking, and multi-userenvironments are all supported.For even faster development, usedb_VISTA m with products likeToolBook®, Windowcraft®, orActor®.

No Other DBMS OpensWindows Like db VISTA HI!

• Speed. Benchmarks showdb_VISTA m significantlyoutperforms any DBMS underWindows.

• No Royalties. Increase yourprofits; decrease your overhead.

• C Source Code Available.

For total programming flexibility.

• Portability. db_VISTAmsupports most environments.

Specifications; single & multi-user. Automatic lecovei}'. Automatic referential integrit)'. Relational and networkdata models supported. Relational SQL qutn and leport writer. Complete revision capabilin'. C source code is available.No royalties. Supports: MS Windows, .MS-DOS, OS/2, VMS, UNIX, BSD, Q.NX. SunOS, .Macintosh.

©COmDlH/Fall'90

November 12-16. 1990Las Vegas. Nevada

'"special $195 Developer's Edition

For a limited time only, you can getyour hands on db_VISTA forWindows for only $195. Call todayand ask about our Developer's Editionand experience how db_VISTA IHcan open Windows for you.

Developer license only; not for distribution.l_||i|n[ij_iilJL lJl.1 miiwaMVMi

Call 1-800-db-RAIMA

(1-800-327-2462)

In Washington state call: (206) 747-5570

Full Raima Support Services -Including Training. Developyour applications even faster witliRaima Trainins Classes:

Nov. 19,1990Nov. 26-30.1990Nov, 26-30.1990Nov. 28-29.1990Dec, 10-14.1990Dec, 17-18.1990

Taiwan

The NetherlandsSweden

United KingdomSan Diego, CATaiwan

r|l RAIMA

CORPORATION

Raima Corporation 3245 146th Place S.E., Bellevue, WA 98007 USA (206)747-5570 Telex: 6503018237 MCI UW Fax: (206)747-1991

International Distributors: .\rgentina: 54 1 313 5371 .Australia: 61 2419 7177 Austria: 43 33 43 81861 Brazil: 55 11 829 1687 Central .America: 506 28 07 64 Denmark: 45 42 887249France: 33 1 46092784 Italv: 39 45 584711 Japan: 81 3 865 2140 Mexico: 52 83 49 53 OO The Netherlands: 31 02159 46 814 Norway: 47 244 8855 Sweden: 46 013 124780 Switzerland: 41 64 517475Taiwan: 886 2 552 3277 Turkey: 90 1 152 0516 United Kingdom: 44 0992 500919 Uruguay: 598 2-92 0959 USSR: 01 32 35 99 07; 812 292 19 65; 0142437952 West Germany: 49 7022 34077Copyright ®1990 Raima Corporalion, All rights reser\ed. db_ is registeretj in the US.Patent aitii Trademark Office. Windows 3.0. ToolBook, Windowcraft, and Actor are trademarks of their respective companies.

Circle 298 on Reader Service Card

THE Only Competition For Our New Handhe

Ml

SCANMAN

GRAY SCAIE SCANNER

FOR IBM

^^ew ScanMan^ Model 256 puts professional gray scale scanning with-in everyone's grasp. It does almost everything a big, expensive scannercan do, for a fraction of the price, ^^ew ScanMan Model 256 lets youcapture the subtlest details in your originals, in 256 shades of gray. Specialretouching software tools let you enhance difficult originals and previewthe results. You can dramatically improve the contrast and brightness ofany image. So you always give your monitor and printer the best possibleimage to work with, ^^hat really sets ScanMan Model 256 apart is itsingenious AnseP software (Windows™ 3.0 compatible). Ansel lets you scan

LD Scanner Requires A Much Bigger Hand.

and print 8" x 11" images by effortlessly stitching two 4" x 11" imagestogether You can instantly re-align, resize, flip or rotate images to createspecial effects. he possibilities are endless. You can scan photos, lineart, illustrations or logos and create magazine quality layouts. Withoptional CatchWord™ Intelligent OCR software you can scan text in most anytypeface, ^^ew ScanMan Model 256 comes with Logitech's™ legendaryquality and lifetime warranty. All for only $499 (Micro Channel version,$599). For more information call Logitech Customer Sales: in California(800)552-8885; in Canada (800)283-7717; in Europe -I--1-41-21-869-9656.is/TM: Trademarks of registered owners CircU 206 OH Redder Service Card (RESELLERS: 207)

Outside CA call:800-231-7717 ext. 348

Tools That Power The Desktop.

WHAT'S NEW

HARDWARE • OTHER

Power for the Road

Zirco's PowerTrip letsyou power up a computer,fax machine, or any other ACdevice from an automobile cig-arette lighter.

PowerTrip provides 100 Wof continuous 115-V ACpower. It features a low-bat-tery alarm, a power switch, asafe-power light, and surgesuppression—and it's smallenough to fit in your shirtpocket, according to Zirco.

PowerTrip also comes inan international version, whichconverts power from a vehi-cle cigarette lighter to 100 Wof220-V AC power.Price: $199.95.Contact: Zirco, Inc., 10900West 44th Ave., Wheat Ridge,CO 80033, (303)421-2013.Inquiry 1304.

Brackets for YourHardware Keys

Are your hardware keysforming a key chain be-hind your computer? If so,you might need an adapterbracket.

Software Security has sucha device, which fits into anempty slot in your PC andkeeps your hardware keys outof the way. The companyclaims that the device is diffi-cult to remove, so it addseven more security than thehardware keys alone.Price: $15.

Contact: Software Security,Inc., 1011 High Ridge Rd.,Stamford, CT 06905, (800)333-0407 or (203) 329-8870.Inquiry 1305.

PowerTrip gives you ACpower on the road.

SafeguardingIntellectual Propertywith Hardware Keys

SentinelScribe is an exe-cution control device de-signed to help software de-velopers safeguard applicationprograms from unauthorizeduse.

Rainbow Technologiessays that it is the first field-writable memory-based hard-ware key. The key contains120 bytes of EEPROM,which is enough to protectmore than one software pro-gram, according to Rainbow."Field writable" means thatyour software applicationshave the ability to write to

SentinelScribe's memory.

The key connects to thecomputer's parallel printerport. It operates transparent-ly but must be present for thesoftware to run. It executes apassword system customizedby the software developer.Price: $39.

Contact: Rainbow Technol-ogies, 9292 Jeronimo Rd., Ir-vine, CA 92718, (800) 852-8569 or (714) 454-2100.Inquiry 1306.

Extend Yourselfwith the SCSI Plus

If your SCSI devices are toofar apart, the SCSI Plus BusRepeater will give you an ad-ditional 19 feet of extension, oryou can daisy chain them toany desired length.

Applied Concepts says thatthe SCSI Plus is easy to install.It hooks directly into stan-dard SCSI adapters. It's com-pletely transparent to theuser, according to the manu-facturer, and supports 5-MBps data transfers over a dis-tance of 19 feet.Price: $350.

Contact: Applied Concepts,Inc., 5350-H Eastgate Mall,San Diego, CA 92121, (619)453-0090.Inquiry 1307.

A FriendlyProgrammerfrom Xeltek

The Logic Universal Pro-grammer for programma-ble logic devices works withPLDs from all manufacturers,according to Xeltek. The Pro-grammer offers an interfacethat combines pull-downmenus, windows, and a com-mand line.Price: $395.

Contact: Xeltek, 764 SanAleso Ave., Sunnyvale, CA94086, (800) 541-1975 or(408) 727-6995.Inquiry 1308.

12-V Battery Tester

The Performance Univer-sal 12 Volt Battery Testerdetermines the condition oflead-acid batteries, includingmaintenance-free types suchas sealed, recombination, andgel cells. It subjects the bat-tery to an 80-amp load for 10seconds and indicates wheth-er the battery is good, weak,or bad. Pin jacks on the testeraccommodate an auxiliaryvoltmeter that allows precisemeasurements during testing.The 2'/2-pound tester residesin a thermoplastic case.Price: $239.

Contact: Performance Tech-nological Products, P.O. Box947, Roswell, GA 30077,(404)475-3192.Inquiry 1309.

Software Security's adapter brackets hold a line of hardwaresecurity keys in place.

52 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

The Carry-1 9000 series comes complete with 80386SX/80286-16/80286-12microprocessor iCo-Processor optionai). 1024x768 VGA/MGA & CGA displayinterface, 1/2/4 MB RAM. one 3.5" 1.44 MB FDD or one FDD plus one 40/80MB HDD, one 8 bit expansion SLOT, one parallel and two serial I/O ports,and one 30W auto range switching power adapter, all in the traditional240mmx 185mmx45mm (9.4"x7.3"x 1.8"| casing of Carry-1. Each packageincludes two mini-tower stands and a carry bag. The 82 key mini keyboardand 9 inch color or monochrome VGA monitor are optional.

Other Carry-1 products include the 8000 series XT & AT book-size personalcomputers and the 6000 series XT and AT book-size LANstations, ETHERnetpocket LAN adapter and Carry Mouse.

CRRRV-I

A Refreshing Idea....

A New Standard....Computing Goes Better With CARRY-1

FLYTECH TECHNOLOGY CO.. LTD.HEAD OFFICE:

2FL. NO. 8. LANE 50 SEC 3, NAN-K.-\NG

RD. TAIPEI. TAIWAN R O.C.

TEL# 886-2-7852556 FAX# 886-2-7852371.

WC:

TEL* 49-69-746081 FAX* 49-69-749375

Circle 138 on Reader Service Card

See us atCOMDEX/Fall '90Nov. 12-16, 1990Sands HotelBooth: N4028

■408-7277373,'4-408-7277375

U.SA-TEL*FAX*

H.K.:

TEL* 852-3051268FAX* 852-7968427

DISTRIBUTOR;

• CANADA: BUDGETRON INC. TEL* 416-564-7800 FAX* 416-564-2679 • FRANCE: M3C L INFORMATIQUE DU SUCCES TEL# 1-48271976 FAX* 1-42355916 • ISRAEL: MLL COMPUTERSSYSTEMS LTD TEL* 3-751551 1 FAX* 3-7516615 • ITALY: PRIMA COMPUTER TRADING ITALIA TEL* 522-518599 FAX* 522-518599 • MALAYSIA: COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SDN. BHDTEL* 03-2748888 FAX* 03-2749988 • NETHERLAND: KOPIEERSYSTEMEN NEDERLAND B.V. TEL* 2968-84141 FAX* 2968-97436 • NORWAY: SECUS DATA A.'S TEL* 2-722510 FAX* 2-722515

• SINGAPORE: COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SDN. BHD TEL* 4758408 FAX* 4713803 • SOUTH AFRICA: PC MART COMPUTER GROUP TEL* 1 1-8043355 FAX* 1 1-8024153 • SPAIN: ATELECTRONIC. S.A. TEL* 1-5645434 FAX* 1-41 10869 • SWITZERLAND: ESS SOFTWARE TRADING SA TEL* 022-622020 FAX* 022-615650 • UNITED KINGDOM: CENTERPRISE INTERNATIONALLTD. TEL* 256-463754 FAX* 256-843174 • WEST GERMANY: MACROTRON AG TEL* 89-4208233 FAX* 89-423745 • BELGIUM: CELEM S.A, TEL* 41-676434 FAX* 41-676515

WHAT'S NEW

CONNECTIVITY

iMillillilfllHIil^^

You can remotely control up to four VGA displays from eightsystems with Network Technologies' matrix switch (bottom) andremote-control unit (top).

Remote-ControlVGA Displays

Network Technologies'SM-8X4-15V video ma-trix switch lets you connectup to four VGA displays to upto eight computers and re-motely control the displaysfrom up to 1000 feet awaywith the SM-RMT-8 x4 re-mote unit.

The system comes in twoparts: the matrix switch andthe remote-control unit. Theremote unit has 32 backlit andtouch-activated switches forchoosing which VGA to con-trol. Each VGA source on thecontrol unit can be connectedto one or all four VGAdisplays.

The remote-control unitconnects to the matrix switchvia a 5-pin DIN connector. Itcomes with a 25-foot cable forconnecting to the switch.

The matrix switch comeswith eight 6-foot VGA cablesfor connecting to the eightsystems. It measures %Vi by111/4 by 12 inches.Price: Matrix switch, $2450;remote unit, $525.Contact: Network Technol-ogies, Inc., 19145 ElizabethSt., Aurora, OH 44202,(800) 742-8324 or (216) 543-1646.

Inquiry 1310.

Low-PricedLAN Control

AN Command is LANmanagement software that

combines database manage-ment with low-level networkanalysis. It loads on one cli-

ent workstation, requiring260K bytes of RAM. Fromthat workstation, LAN Com-mand can monitor and con-trol your entire Novell or Net-BIOS-based network.

The relational databasesystem tracks node data (in-cluding user name, location,phone number, address, and

node name) and more than 50additional fields. Portions ofthe database are populatedautomatically by the network-monitoring commands tobuild a traffic history for everynode.

A report generator pro-vides standard and custom re-ports using Boolean opera-tors on any field in the record.For example, the administra-tor might request a custom re-port for every Ethernet nodeon the fourth floor that uses aserver named Accountingand has been rebooted morethan five times in the lastweek.

Other monitoring featuresinclude packet activity, colli-sions, ring faults, bridge fail-ures, router failures, band-width use, traffic errors, anddata loss. And you can monitorsingle stations, sets of sta-tions, or the entire networkacross bridges and routersfrom any single DOS or OS/2workstation.

A TSR program calledSnooper lets you perform re-mote administration of theclient computer.Price: $395.

Contact: Dolphin Software,Inc., 6050 Peachtree Pkwy.,Suite 340-208, Norcross, GA30092, (404) 339-7877.Inquiry 1311.

continued

ISDN Connmunlcations with a PC

The PC SNET Card is anISDN terminal adapterboard that provides ISDNbasic rate access. It allows si-multaneous voice, data, andimage transmission.

One card has an aggregatethroughput of 144,000 bps.This is made up of transpar-ent data transmission at64,000 bps over two B chan-nels and 16,000-bps packetsignaling over the D chan-nel, OST reports. You installthe card in a full-size expan-

sion slot in the PC. It oper-ates under DOS, Unix, orXenix.

The card provides thestandard S-type connectionalong with an audio jack, anRJ-11 modular telephonejack, and a 15-pin serial con-nector. Internal connectionsinclude a parallel connector,a private bus connector, anda bus interrupt connector foruse in installing multiple PCSNET Cards in a single PC.Price: $1695.

Contact: OST, Inc., 14225Sullyfield Cir., Chantilly,VA22021, (703) 817-0400.Inquiry 1312.

54 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

INSTANT Workstation.Just Add Open Desktop.

Take a look at the vast majority of graphical workstationsdeveloped over the past decade and you'll see something,they all have in common:

An integrated UNIX® System environment.

Now take a look at the vast majority of businesses that have putcomputing power directly onto their office desktops over thepast decade, and you'll see something they all have in common:

Industry-standard personal computers.

It doesn't take a computer to forecast the platform that's goingto put graphical workstations on the vast majority of businessand engineering desktops in the next decade:

An integrated UNIX System environment for industry-standardpersonal computers.

And that's what Open Desktop'" is all about.

Open Desktop is the complete graphical operating systemthat's built on the most popular UNIX System platform ofall time—SCO'". And it lets you create your own networked,icon-driven workstation environment using the industry-standard 386 or 486 computers and peripherals of your choice.

I

n a single, easy-to-use, fully supported—and completelyintegrated—package, Open Desktop delivers:

• the full 32-bit, multitasking computing power of SCO UNIXSystem V/386

• compliance with POSIX'" and X/Open® standards

• an OSF/Motif'"-based, Presentation Manager-compatible,graphical user interface

• distributed SQL database management services

• compatibility with existing DOS, XENIX®, and UNIX Systemapplications and data files

• NFS", TCP/IP and LAN Manager networking facilitiesAnd all at an unbelievably affordable price.

Discover the complete graphical operating system thatleading companies worldwide are choosing as their devel-opment platform for the '90s—and using to turn their 386 and486 PCs into instant workstations today.

Open Desktop from SCO.

□111 OPEN

^Udesktor

The Complete Graphical Openiliiig System

COME SEE USAT COMDEX,ROOM B-1!

THE SANTA CRUZ OPERATION

For more information, call SCO today and ask for ext. 8400(800) SCO-UNIX (726-8649) (408) 425-7222 FAX: (408) 458-4227 E-MAIL:... !uunet!sco!info info@sco.COM

SCftlheSCOlKRo. Open Desklop. and ihe Open DeskEitp logo are irademarksofTne Santa Cruz Operaliim. Inc. ['NIXisareRisiered irademarit uf AT&Tin [helSAand(>lherciiuntrie>. POSl.XisairademarkiifThelnstiiuieoftleciricalandtiecirnnicstngineers (IEEE) X/Open isaregisiered trademark of X Open Gimpanv Ud. OSF/Motif is a irademarti iif The Open Sofi»-are Fimndalion, Inc. XENIX is a registered trademark trfMlcrosofi C(HTioraii(Mi NFS is a trademark of Sun Mtcros-yslems. Inc- I0'»9©1989 The Sama Cruz Operation, Inc. .All Rights Reserved. The Santa Cruz Operation. Inc. 400 Encinal Street. P-0, Box (900. Santa Cruz, California 9S06I I'SA The Sanu Cruz Operation. Ud..CroxleyCemre. Haiiers Lane, Watford VDI KYS.Creat Britain, (0)9i.( K16.^4i.

FAX: +HH ^om^ sr-si, telex: wrz scolov g

Circle 307 on Reader Service Card

EghtTop Databa

XXitOndBAS

ADAM GREEN

President, Adam Green Seminars, Lexington, MA:

"It's sigmjicantly faster in somevery important areas, especially inthe fancy, attractive userinterface. .Ma very stableproduct, very reliable. I cansafely recommend it"

PAT ADAMS

President, DB Unlimited, Brooklyn, NY:

"With standardization on thedBASE TV language, we have ourdatabase starmard, which makeslife easier for me, for my clients,and every other dBASE user... It's

a solid, reliable product thatperforms the same way every time."

BOBDAVIES

President, SET, Sausalito, CA:

"Memory utilization is much betterthan either dBASE III PEUS ordBASE TV version 1.0—a verysubstantial improvementThis means we are able torun our products, vMch requirelots of memory and the need

for a network, ina dBASE IV 1.1 environment"

SCOTT ROBERTSON

President, Champion Business Systems, Golden, CO:

"We think that it's solid. We think it'sreliable. We think it's an excellent

foundation for future developmentThe great thing about dBASE TVis that it has a flexible languageand a good user interface. WithdBASE TV version 1.1, end-userscan take the product and tailorit so it fits their exact needs'.'

After running their own extensive tests, these independent experts have cometo some very favorable conclusions on dBASE IV® version 1.1. We think you will, too

. dBASE. dRASE III PLUS, dB.ASE IV, Ashton-Iaie and the Ashton-Tate logo are registered trademarks of Ashton-Tate Corporation- Other company or produci names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective companies-

se Experts SpeakEIV Version 11

TONY LIMA

Author of "Inside dBASE ly President, Pacific SystemsDesign Workshop Inc., San Carlos, CA:

HOMER BRANCH

Programmer Analyst, Chevron CEPS, New Orleans, LA:

"Version 1.1 should dominate themarket Its added features make itthe best development environmentavailable for PC database products... None of the other productshave the power and ease of thedBASE N Control Center."

"I'm using version 1.1 to developapplications right now... ft'smuch easier to use than either

dBASElIIPEUSorlO...Because of the Control Center,version 1.1 allows my users to

do queries and get theirreports widwut calling me"

*•

RICHARD BRENNER

President, Westar Systems, Colorado Springs, CO:

SAM GILL

President, DataWiz International, Foster City CA:

"I'm now taking on some majorconsulting jobs that I wouldn't dobefore dBASE Wand its multiusercapabilities... I'm excited aboutt le way they've gone throu^and enhanced just about everyone of the new features mthinthe program and theprogramming language"

"dBASE IV version 1.1 issignificantly faster... Memorymanagement has really beenimproved. We can now load andrun a system very comfortably in640K bytes... Features like theform, report and applicationgenerators allow us to cut downdevelopment time"

1'

Call 1-800-437-4329, ext. 1403, for more information. Better a a u,j. _ k^T>,+^yet, call 1-800-2ASHTON for an immediate upgrade, .vm ASniOn-13.16

1990 Ashton-Tale Coiporanon- All rights resereed GTSI's GSA Schedule GS00K90AGS5216

Circle 34 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 35)

WHAT'S NEW

CONNECTIVITY

The DR 96 is a wireless, battery-powered modem for portablecommunications.

WirelessCommunications

The DR 96 is an asyn-chronous/ synchronoushalf-duplex modem that of-fers portable and wireless datatransmission. Both the radioand the modem are containedin the same 15'/i-ouncepackage.

The DR 96 uses the radiofrequency band of 470 MHzand has a sensitivity of .35microvolts. The unit also of-fers 10-ms RTS (request tosend) and GTS (clear to send)signaling times.

A rechargeable IV2-W bat-tery pack that comes with themodem can operate it forfrom 4 to 10 hours. A recharg-er is also included that canrecharge the batteries in 3hours, according to UDS.Price: $1295.Contact: UDS, 5000 Brad-ford Dr., Huntsville, AL35805, (205) 430-8000.Inquiry 1313.

Modem

with a Memory

The Visionary 2400XT isa direct-connect 2400-bpsmodem with battery-backedinternal memory and a real-time clock/calendar to con-trol when you send and receivemessages. A blinking mes-sage-waiting light lets youknow when you have mes-sages. You can even send andreceive messages when thehost computer is turned off.All this internal intelligenceis controlled by an 8085microprocessor.

In addition, you can storedozens of phone numbers andmessages for distribution atvarious times. Other featuresinclude redialing on busy or

no answer, auto-answer duringparticular times only, auto-matic log-on, data retrieval,XMODEM file transfer, re-mote access, and password se-curity. The modem also has aprinter port and a nickel-cad-mium battery.

The modem is available inthree versions: 8K-byte, 256K-byte, and 1-MB. It measures5%by 83/oby I'/z inches.Price: 8K-byte unit, $495;256K-byte unit, $595; 1-MBunit, $745.

Contact: Visionary Electron-ics, Inc., 141 Parker Ave., SanFrancisco, CA94118, (415)751-8811.Inquiry 1314.

Notework MovesOut into the Field

Notework recently an-nounced Notework Re-mote, a remote version of its5K-byte Notework E-mail pro-gram. Remote allows laptopusers or branch offices to popup Notework over the phoneline. The software automati-cally makes the connectionand does the uploading ordownloading of mail.

Like the original Noteworkfor Novell NetWare, Remotetakes up only 5K bytes ofRAM, employs the same userinterface, and lets youpop into it without leaving

your application.

Notework alerts you with atone when you receive mail,and you see a flashing sym-bol in the upper-right corner ofthe screen. Other features letyou attach files, print notes,confirm notes, and importand export ASCII files.Notework offers a gateway toMessage Handling Service.

The most recent version ofNotework now supports multi-ple NetWare 386 serverswithout requiring additionalgateways or mail servers.Version 1.1.4 supports up to3500 users on a single inter-network, according to Note-work.

Price: $99; installation kit,$99; two-user authorizationdisk, $99.

Contact: Notework Corp.,72 Kent St., Brookline, MA02146, (800)767-6683 or(617) 738-5295.Inquiry 1315.

Linking Buildingsvia Infrared Light

Building-to-BuildingPhotolink lets you con-nect computers in adjacentbuildings up to 600 feet away,according to Photonics.Two versions of Photolink

are available: AppleTalk/LocalTalk for the Mac, andan interface for systemsequipped with RS-232Cports.

At the end of each connec-tion is a Photolink transceiverthat communicates with itscorresponding unit. Photonicssays that the device can oper-ate through two panes of stan-dard office window glass.

Photolink can connect toexisting cable-based systemsand is compatible withAppleTalk routers and bridges.It transmits at 230,400 bps.The RS-232C version trans-mits up to four channels si-multaneously at 9600 bps.Price: $3390 per connectionfor both versions.Contact: Photonics Corp.,200 East Hacienda Ave.,Campbell, CA 95008, (408)370-3033.Inquiry 1316.

Modem Sharingfor Networks

Modem Assist lets youshare up to 20 modemsconnected to a LAN. It elim-inates the need for a dedicatedcommunications server andthe cost of rerouting all modemphone lines, according toFresh Technology Group.

The software works withmultiport serial cards that sup-port up to 16 modems on asingle workstation. It requiresless than lOK bytes of RAMand runs in the background onany workstation with themodem.

Modem Assist requiresPCs running on NetBIOS orNetWare networks with DOS3.0 or higher.Price: $495 for up to fivemodems; $995 for six to 20modems.

Contact: Fresh TechnologyGroup, 1478 North TechBlvd., Suite 101, Gilbert, AZ85234, (602) 497-4200.Inquiry 1317.

continued

58 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Programmer's Paradise (800)

has the Utilities that you need ! ^^^^^^^

A WINNING COMBINATION!

URBO EMS - Memory Manager

• Supports PC, XT, AT, PS/2, and 386systems

• Ability to relocate TSRs and devicedrivers

• Automatic installation and configura-tion on 386 systems

• Windows 3.0 supportList: $99.95 Ours: $89

joMERRILLOCBRYAN

nfoSpotter - Diagnostic tool

Detailed description about memoryand system configuration

Displays TSRs and device driversloaded between 640KB and 1 MB

Ability to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT,CONHG.SYS and batch files

Special MicroChannel support

VAXazera =22:3^000:

List: $79.95 Ours: $69

HIJAAK RELEASE 2.0

JTl-iJaak 2.0 is a graphicsconversion and capture utilitythat translates more than 36graphics file formats. Hijaakprovides batch conversioncapabiUty from the DOS com-mand line or from the userinterface.

Supported formats: GEM, PICTl&II, GCM, HPGL, PIC, DXF,PCX, MAC, TIF, and supportfor more than 16 group 3 faxdevices. ASK pop-up providescapture function of textscreens, graphics screens, andlaser printer output.

FAXcetera #19:6-0002

List: $199 Ours: $139

Inset Systems

SQUISH PLUS

/ft

Sundog Software Corp.

O' quish Plus can enlarge the capacity of all your disks-hard,floppy, or silicon. By compressing data, it can get up to 240MBon a 120MB hard disk-without any newhardware. Unlike archive programs, it'scompletely automatic and invisible.Squished files stay compacted on diskeven while they're being used, andyou're free to choose which filesto compress. Because it's adevice driver, it's totallycompatible with all yourother software: anydatabase, compiler, backup,cache, etc.

FAXcetera #16?6-0001

List: $100 Ours: $75

SWITCH-IT

WITCH-IT is a task-switching package that allows users toswitch programs (up to 100) to their EMS or hard disk, freeing upRAM space to run large applications. The easiest to use of anyproduct of its kind, SWITCH-IT offers automatic installation,a customizable menu, a cut & paste feature, complete

network compatibiUty and SWITCH-IT only uses 26K of RAM

TAXcetira #2396-0001

List: $100

Ours: $69

Programmer's Paradise

®

•••

LIST OURS

We'll Beatlhe Competition's Advertised Prices

LIST OURS

386 CONTROL PROGRAMS

DESQvievv 386 vv/QEMM 220 169

Microsoft Windows 3.0 150 99

VM/386 245 209

VM/386 Multiuser 895 839

VM/386 Multiuser Starter 393 339

386 DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

386 ASM/LinkLocC-Terp 386

Lahev F77L-EM/32 (w/OS,MetaWare High C 386

Parado>i'386PC-lint 386

Phar Lap 386 ASM/LINKWATCOM C 8.0/386 Prof.

w/Phar Lap 386 ASM/LINKWATCOM C 8.0/386 Standard

ADA

Academic IntegrAdaAda Scope DebuggerAda Training EnvironmentAdagraphicsIntegrAda

Meridian AdaStudentMeridian Ada Developer's Kit

ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE

Advantage DisassemblerASMFlow

Dis Doc ProfessionalMS Macro AssemblerOPTASMRerSource

Sourcer w/ Pre-ProcessorSpontaneousAssemblyTurbo Debugger & ToolsVisible Computer: 80286

BASIC COMPILERS

MS BASIC Prof. Devel. System

Power Basic

QuickBASIC

BASIC LIBS/UTILITIES

GraphPak Professional

P.D.Q.

ProBas

ProBas Toolkit

QBase and Quickscreen

QuickComm

QuickPak Professional

QuickWindows Advanced

C COMPILERS

Lattice C 6.0Microsoft C 6.0w/ Objective-CMS QuickC 2.5

MS QuickC w/ QuickAssemblerTurbo C 2.0

WATCOM C 8.0 ProfessionalWATCOM C 8.0 Standard

C++

1295

1145

239

189

1290

1035

895

849

995

799

895

629

239

179

495

435

1295

1099

1790

1399

895

719

249

225

495

445

895

809

695

629

795

719

50

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1195

1095

295

279

99

89

250

225

150

105

150

129

ISO

129

170

149

395

189

150

105

100

89

495

349

129

89

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69

149

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129

115

159

149

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94

149

125

149

119

169

149

149

119

250

155

495

339

699

539

99

69

199

139

99

69

495

419

395

335

C++/Views

495

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NOP C++

495

479

Rogue Wave Math.h++

200

179

Rogue Wave Tools.h++

200

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Turbo C++

200

139

Turbo C++ Professional

300

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Competitive Upgrade

ISO

139

Zinc Library

200

179

Zortech C++ Debugger

150

129

Zortech C++

200

165

Zortech C++ Developer's Edition 450

399

Bundled w/ C++/Views

945

595

Zortech C++ Tools

130

129

Zortech C++ Video Course

300

449

C-COMMUNICATIONS

Breakout II

249

189

C Asynch Manager 3.0

189

139

Essential Communications

329

259

Creenleaf CommLib

359

287

Greenleaf ViewComm

399

319

SilverComm C Asynch Library

249

209

View-232

189

149

C-FILE MANAGEMENT

AccSys tor dBASE or Paradox

395

349

Btrieve Devei. System

595

449

Codebase IV

295

219

c-tree

395

315

dBC III Plus

500

439

dbJILE Bundle

295

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Essential B-Tree w/ source

198

149

FairCom Toolbox - Prof. Edition

1095

789

FairCom Toolbox - Special

695

509

Paradox Engine

493

349

C-GENERAL LIBRARIES

Blackstar C Function Librarv

99

79

C TOOLS PLUS/6.0

149

109

C Utilitv Library

249

199

Greenleaf Functions

229

179

Greenleaf SuperFunctions

299

239

Turbo C TOOLS/2.0

149

109

C SCREENS

C-VVorthy

399

CALL

Greenleaf DataWindows

395

315

Panel Plus

495

395

QuickWindows Advanced (C)

169

149

Vermont Views

495

395

Viiamin C

225

165

VC Screen

149

125

C-UTILITIES/OTHER

Bar Code Library

389

319

Clear +

200

169

C Shroud

198

149

DIVVY

229

209

Heap Expander

80

70

MKS LEX & VACC

249

197

Objective-C

249

225

PC-lint

139

105

PCYACC Professional

495

459

TimeSlicer

295

279

CASE TOOLS

EasvCASE Plus

295

265

Professional Pack

395

355

Personal CASE

199

179

COBOL LANGUAGE

Micro Focus:

COBOiy2wy Toolset

1800

1499

Personal COBOL

149

129

MS COBOL

900

629

Realia COBOL

995

849

CODE GENERATORS

Logic Gem

99

69

Matrix Lavout 2.0

200

159

PRO-C

399

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DATABASE DEVELOPMENT

Clarion 2.1

CALL

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\— 1 ipper D.u

795

519

299

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dBASE IV

795

489

dBFast/PLUS

345

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dGE

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Flipper

195

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Force 2.1

695

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795

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rUiNLNv LiDrary

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K&K tseport vvnter

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50

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SilverComm C Interface

99

89

SilverComm Library 2.0

249

209

Tom Rettig's Library

199

80

LJI2 Version Two

d9d

479

DEBUGGERS (DOS)

MultiScope

179

135

Periscope 1/512K

595

475

Periscope II w/ switch

225

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Periscope IV/16, 25 MHz

CALL

CALL

Trapper

200

179

w/ optional cable

240

219

Turbo Debugger & Tools

150

105

DOCUMENTING/

FLOWCHARTING

allCLEAR

300

229

Clear+

195

169

C-Clearly

130

115

Flow Charting 3

250

199

Interactive Easyflow

150

125

Paginate

100

79

Source Print

99

74

The Documentor

295

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Tree Diagrammer

99

74

EDITORS

BRIEF 3.0

249

CALL

EDT+

295

269

EMACS

325

265

Epsilon

195

159

KEDIT 4.0

150

125

MKS Vi

149

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PI Editor

195

175

Sage Professional Editor

295

249

SLICK Editor

195

154

SPF/PC

245

199

SYNDIE

493

399

VEDIT PLUS

183

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Link & Locate ++

395

349

Link & Locate ++ Extended

479

395

Paradigm Locate

295

265

FORTRAN LANGUAGE

Grafmatic

135

119

Lahey F77L

595

535

Lahey Personal FORTRAN 77

99

89

MS FORTRAN

450

299

Plotmatic

135

119

RM/FORTRAN

595

499

WATCOM FORTRAN 77/386

1095

CALL

GRAPHICS LIBRARIES

Baby Driver

250

199

Essential Graphics

399

319

Font-Tools

150

119

Graf/Drive Plus Developer's

299

269

Graphic 5.0

395

319

GSS Graphics Devel. Toolkit

595

509

GX Graphics

149

135

HALO

395

279

HALO Professional

595

419

HALO Window Toolkit

595

419

Icon-Tools/Plus

150

119

Menuet

325

279

Meta Window

250

209

MetaWindow Plus

325

289

PCX Effects

99

89

PCX Programmer's Toolkit

195

175

PCX Text

149

135

SilverPaint

129

109

Slate w/graphics

448

415

Turbo Geometry Library

200

179

LINKERS/LIBRARIANS

Overlav Toolkit

393

369

Plink86+

395

335

Plink/LTO

495

419

PolyLibrarian

249

209

.RTLink

295

265

.RTLink/Plus

495

419

OBIECT-ORIENTED TOOLS

Objective-C

249

225

Smalltalk/V

100

85

Smalltalk/V 286

200

169

OS/2 TOOLS

Brief

249

CALL

CASE:PM for C

1493

1420

Epsilon

195

159

MKS LEX & YACC

349

279

MS OS/2 Pres. Manager Toolkit

500

349

MultiScope for OS/2

449

PCYACC

695

625

PI Editor

249

225

Smalltalk/V PM

495

369

Vitamin C (OS/2)

345

279

PASCAL LANGUAGE

Asynch PLUS

149

115

B-tree Filer

123

109

MS QuickPASCAL

99

69

Object Professional

150

109

Power Tools PLUS/5.0

149

109

Topaz

99

89

Topaz Multi-user

149

135

Turbo Analyst

99

89

TurboMAGIC

199

Turbo Pascal 5.5

150

105

Turbo Pascal 5.5 Professional

250

175

Turbo-Plus 5.5

199

159

Turbo Professional 3.0

123

109

SOURCE MAINTENANCE

Codan

393

345

Code Check

493

469

MKS Make

149

119

MKS RCS

189

149

MKS Software Mgmt. Team

299

239

PolyMake

179

149

PVCS Professional

495

419

SMS

495

399

SOURCEDOC

99

89

TLIB

139

109

5 Station LAN

419

339

WINDOWS (MS) TOOLS

Actor 3.0

895

719

Asymetrix Toolbook

395

CALL

Bridge Toolkit

695

659

Case:W

795

759

C-Talk/Views

450

375

dBFast/Windows

395

335

DialogCoder

499

435

Graphics Server SDK

495

419

MS Windows Development Kit

500

349

MultiScope for Windows

379

289

ObjectCraphics

445

365

ProtoView

695

625

WindowsMAKER

595

535

WinTrieve

395

339

WNDX GUI Toolbox

499

449

SPECIAL DEALS!!

Microsoft Buy One, Get One FREB

Buy any MS Quick language or aMicrosoft Mouse, and get one of thefollowing FREE: MS Flight Simulator,PC Tools, or Sign Designer. (Mailincluded coupon directly to Microsoft.)

Zortech C++ Developer's Edition2.1, C++A^iews Bundle

Get the first and only native C+-!-compiler supporting MS Windows, plusover 60 C++ object classes for aspecial low price of $595!

Borland's Turbo C++ ProfessionalCompetitive Upgrade

Ready to switch from your C compilerto Borland's Turbo C++ Professional?It's easy and inexpensive-just S139 atProgrammer's Paradise. Call for details.

Objective-C

For Microsoft C programmers interestedin gaining the benents of object-orientedtechnology without losing the familiarity,efficiency & portability or C. AugmentsC with an object data type, a messageexpression and a class definitionmechanism.

List: S249 Ours: $223

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VAKcetera

Want more product informationon the items in the gold box tothe right? TryFAXcetero!!Just pick up vour FAX phone

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SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

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XENIX/UNIX

BLAST UNIX/XENIX

495

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Epsilon

193

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Interactive Products

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LPI-COBOL

1495

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LPI-FORTRAN

995

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MetaWare High C

895

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Microport Products

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MKS RCS

395

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MKS Trilogy

119

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PI Editor

349

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SCO Products

CALL

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VEDIT PLUS

283

249

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS

APL-PLUS

695

349

Dan Bricklin's Demo II

199

159

dBx/dBPort

600

459

Cuido

249

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Lattice RPC

1600

1285

MKS AWK

99

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Opt-Tech Sort/Merge

149

119

PC Scheme

95

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Personal Rexx

150

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APPLICATION SOFTWARE

COMMUNICATIONS

BLAST II

250

225

Carbon Copy Plus

199

129

Laplink III

150

99

PC Anywhere III

145

99

Procomm Plus

99

63

SideTalk

120

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DESKTOP PUBLISHING

Adobe Products

CALL

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Corel Draw!

593

399

HALO DPE

195

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PageMaker

795

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Ventura Publisher

895

549

MATHEMATICS

Derive

200

179

MathCAD

495

315

Mathematica 386

695

625

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

AutoCAD Release 10

3000

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AutoSketch

150

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ChiWriler

150

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CSS

495

469

DADiSP

895

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Design CAD 3-D

400

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Drafix Windows CAD

695

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EXACT

475

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Generic CADD Level 3

350

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LABTECH Acquire

195

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LABTECH Notebook

995

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MICRO-CAP III

1495

1269

Our Guarantee... ^

Products listed here are backedby the following guarantee':

Should you see one of theseproducts listed at a lowerprice in another ad in thismagazine, CALL US!We'll beat the price, and stiUoffer our same qualityservice and support.Terms of Offer:

• Otter good through November 30, 1990

• Applicable to pricing on current versionsof software listed; Nov. issue prices only.

• Offer does not apply towards obviouserrors in competitors' ads.

• Subject to same terms and conditions.

Oread PCB

1495

CALL

PC-MATLAB

695

625

PC TEX

249

229

SCHEMA III

495

449

Systat w/ Svgraph

895

759

Tango PCB Series II

595

559

TECH-GRAPH-PAD

395

319

T'

595

479

SPREADSHEETS

Lotus 1 -2-3

595

389

Microsoft Excel

495

319

Quattro Professional

495

329

SuperCalcS

495

319

UTILITIES

386MAX5.0

130

99

above DISC

119

64

AboveMEM

80

72

Bootcon

60

55

Cache 86

50

39

FASTBACK Plus

189

109

HeadRoom 2.0

130

109

Hijaak

150

105

Hold Everything

199

159

Inf'oSpotter

80

69

MACE 1990

149

129

Magellan

195

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MKS Toolkit

249

199

MOVE'EM

89

79

Norton Commander

149

99

Norton Utilities 5.0

179

129

PC Tools Deluxe 6.0

149

95

Pizazz Plus

149

79

Precursor

96

79

SitBack

99

90

Software Carousel

90

72

SpinRite II

89

75

Squish Plus

100

75

Switch-It

100

69

Tree 86

90

69

Turbo EMS 5.0

100

89

UpShot

95

89

XTreePro Gold

129

109

ZENO

269

239

WORD PKOCEsslNCj

Ami

199

129

Microsoft Word for Windows

495

349

WordPerfect 5.1

495

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SOFTWARE FOR SUN

WORKSTATIONS

Basmark QuickBASIC

CALL

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C Programmer's Toolbox/ Sun

495

449

Edix

425

339

EMACS for Sun

395

369

Informix

CALL

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Lotus 1-2-3 for Sun

CALL

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Mathematica for Sun

CALL

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MetaWare High C

895

849

NeuralWorks Professional II

4095

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Panel Plus (Sun 3)

1595

1355

WordPerfect for Sun

495

CALL

Programmer's Policies

Phone Orders

Hours 8:30 AM-7 PM EST. We acceptMC.Visa, AMEX. Domestic shipments,please add $5 per item for shipping'handling by UPS ground. For domesticCOD shipments, please add S3. Rushservice available.

Mail or FAX Orders

POs are welcome. Please includephone number.

International Service

Phone number required with order.Call or FAX for additional information.

Dealers and Corporate Accounts

Call for information.

Unbeatable Prices

We'll beat the competition's advertisedprices. Prices subject to changewithout notice.

Return Policy

30 days. Due to copyright laws, wecannot take back software with the diskseal broken unless authorized by themanufacturer. Returned product mustinclude R.A. number.

IMA

;SOfIWARE

Menuet - The GUI Development Toolkit.Menuet is a sophisticated, simple solution for GraphicalUser Interface (GUI) development that provides over 400callable functions and supports most all GUI constructs.

MetaWINDOW, fromMetagraphics SoftwareCorporation, and CSS''CCI,from Graphics SoftwareSystems. Other Ithaca Streetproducts include: UpShot,PiXelPrint, Font-Tools, Icon-Tools, and Baby Driver.

1«

List: $325 Ours: $279

FAX.fKTO #2263-0003

WindowsMAKER

WindowsMAKER is a code generator that buildscomplete Windows 3.0 applications. Prototypethe entire user interface (menus, icons, buttons,controls, etc.) in a WYSIWYG editor, thengenerate Microsoft C code for MS-Windows.Custom code is preserved during regeneration.WindowsMAKER handles message processing,memory management, child windows, debugging,compiler settings, MDI and much more.Generates excellent C code. Port DOSprograms to Windows in record time. A must ifyou are writing applications for Windows in C.30 day money-back guarantee.

List: $595 Ours: $535 r.VXi

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WATCOM C8.0/386

WATCOM C8.0/386 is a 100% ANSI C optimizing compiler and run-timelibrary for the Intel 80386 architecturegenerating applications for 32-bit protectedmode. With C8.0/386, you can go beyond the640K DOS limit. Library and source codecompatibility with Microsoft C simplifies manyporting projects. Significant features include:protected mode version of the compiler; VIDEOfull-screen source-level debugger: Microsoftlibrary and source compatibility; executionprofiler; high-performance linker; graphicslibrary.

Standard List: $895 Ours: $719Professional List: $1295 Ours: $1099

#1683-0001

SpontaneousAssembly

An assembly language library that lets you produce the fastest, tightest

possible programs with the same ease you'dexpect from a high-level language. Itincludes an impressive collection of over700 functions and macros for high-speedtext windowing, heap management, arraysearching and sorting, critical errormanagement, 32/64 bit integer math, andmuch more! Comprehensive 750-f pagemanual. Full source code. No royalties.Easy integration with C."If you program in assembly language,you gotta have SpontaneousAssembly."■ Michael Abrash

DEVELOPMENT Ust: $395 Ours; $189 F.\Xa(.m #2614-0001

basetm

International: 201-389-9228Customer Service: 201-389-9229Fax: 201-389-9227

Corporate: 800-422-6507Canada: 800-445-7899¥AXcetera: 201-389-8173

Call or Write for Latest Free Catalog!

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A Division of Voyager Software Corp

1163 Shrewsbury Ave., Shrewsbury, NJ 07702

Circle 289 on Reader Service Card

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE • PROGRAMMING

Saber-C 3.0 combines an incremental linker, static and run-timeerror detection, source-level debugging, and a multiwindowinterface in one system.

Unix ProgrammingEnvironment HasAll the Tools

Saber Software hasbrought its environmentfor Unix workstations up tospeed to support all phases ofC programming, includingdevelopment, debugging, test-ing, and maintenance. Saber-C 3.0 lets you debug code han-dled by the interpreter,object code produced by thecompiler, or libraries. Youcan use Saber-C to set break-points and to step, trace, anddebug object and source codemodules.

Saber-C includes a multi-window graphical interfacethat you can customize by de-fining commands and new but-tons. Saber-C automaticallydetects more than 250 staticand run-time errors.

Saber-C runs on Sun-3 andSun386i workstations, SPARC-stations, DECstations run-ning Ultrix, and ASCII and XWindow System terminals.Price: $2495.Contact: Saber Software,Inc., 185 Alewife BrookPkwy., Cambridge, MA02138, (617) 876-7636.Inquiry 1271.

Zinc ReleasesClass LibraryforC++

With Zinc's user inter-face class library forBorland's Turbo C-l~l- youcan create a user interface for aDOS application without hav-ing to develop the interfacefrom scratch. The Zinc Inter-face Library 1.0 lets you writeapplications that run in truegraphics and text modes, in-cluding on dual monitors,from one set of source codewithout recompiling or re-

linking, the company says.The library also supports 20input field types with built-incut-and-paste and full Undoand Redo.

By calling the Zinc BBS,you can download additionalcapabilities for Zinc 1.0, in-cluding support for both theMetaWindows Graphics Li-brary and Borland's GraphicalInterface.

Other features on the BBSinclude enhanced scroll-barsupport to provide both verti-cal and horizontal scroll barsin the window object, in ad-dition to vertical scroll-barsupport for text and matrixobjects. Zinc has also added anew List object with full in-sert, delete, and modifycapabilities.

The library exploits C-l-4-features such as virtual func-tions, class inheritance, oper-ator overloading, and multipleinheritance.

Price: $199.95; source code,$200.

Contact: Zinc Software,Inc., 405 South 100 East, Suite201, Pleasant Grove, UT84062, (800) 638-8665 or(801) 785-8900; BBS, (801)785-8997.Inquiry 1272.

High-LevelRoutines for the MacUser Interface

Maclnterface 1.1 auto-matically implementsmany segments of the Macinterface. The library supportsthe Undo and Redo of Editmenu commands without re-quiring coding on your part.It provides automatic supportfor the dragging, growing,and zooming of modal andmodeless dialog boxes.

The program is compatiblewith Lightspeed C and Pascal,MPW C and Pascal, and sev-eral Modula compilers.Price: $295.

Contact: Holder, Egan &Co., Inc., 4148 Spring HillRd., Midland, MI 48640,(800) 782-9976 or (517)636-7373.Inquiry 1273.

Structured DesignAnalysis for Windows

System Architect 2.1, theCASE tool for structureddesign analysis that runsunder Microsoft Windows, letsyou take an entity model sim-ilar to that of the IBM Reposi-tory and expand it graphical-ly to show both key and nonkeydata. It supports supertypeand subtype relationships andprovides for automatic syn-chronization of any two datadictionary types.

System Architect runs onan IBM AT with MicrosoftWindows 3.0. An OS/2 Pre-sentation Manager version isscheduled to ship by year'send.

Price: $1395; Booch ObjectDiagraming option,$495.

Contact: Popkin Software &Systems, Inc., 11 Park Place,19th Floor, New York, NY10007,(212)571-3434. •Inquiry 1274.

continued

New MitemView Supportsthe MaclRMA Family

Version 1.1 of Mitem-View, the HyperCarddevelopment tool that letsyou create graphical user in-terfaces for accessing IBMmainframe applications, sup-ports Digital Communica-tions Associates' MaclRMAproducts, including coaxialand LAN-based System Net-work Architecture gateways.Mitem says 1.1 uses DCA'sMaclRMA application pro-gramming interface to pro-vide connectivity to the host.

MitemView simplifiesthe connection to VAX and

IBM 3278 and 3279 main-frames, providing easieraccess and information re-trieval for local processingwithout requiring modifica-tion of the host code. Mitem-View already supported Tri-Data's Net Way and Avatar'sMacMainFrame products.Price: Developer's toolkit,$995; MaclRMA driver,$495.

Contact: Mitem Corp.,2105 Hamilton Ave., Suite190, San Jose, CA 95125,(408)559-8801.Inquiry 1275.

62 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Times Change.The Need To Protect Doesn't.

o

RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES

9292 Jeronimo Road. Irvine. CA 92718TEL: (714) 454-2100 ■ (800) 852-8569 (Outside CA)FAX: (714) 454-8557 • AppleLink: D3058

Rainbow Technologies. Ltd.. Shirlev Lodae. 470 London RoadSlough. Berkshire SL3 SQY.TEL: 0753-41512 ■ FAX: 0753-43610

hether you're protectingfrontiers and temples inManchuria, or softwareand data on the PC orMac, the Great Wall is a lessonRainbow Technologies has learnedvery well.

Software developers must dealdaily with the consequences ofunauthorizedcopies and millionsof dollars in lostrevenue. At thesame time, bothindividual andcorporate usersmust be able to make and distributecopies within legal guidelines.

Today's information-drivencompanies must secure their datafiles against theft and unauthorizedaccess. No less than protectingpersonal wealth andtangible property,guarding data files isa necessary invest-ment in competitivesurvival.

Protecting"intellectualproperty"is thesecuritychallenge forthe '90s. Whichis why RainbowTechnologies builds alittle of the Great Wall intoevery key it makes.

For developers, the SoftwareSentinel"' family ofkeys protects IBM,PS/2 and compatiblesoftware, while Eve'guards software forthe Mac. Rainbow'sDataSentry" is thesolution for PC dataprotection.

Software and data protection from RainbowTechnologies. Information on how you can have alittle piece of the Great Wall to protect your softwareand data worldwide is as close as a toll-free call.

Copyright ©1990 Rainbow Technologies. Inc.

Circle 300 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 301)

How to make the work go fas

For advanced applications like CAD/CAM, presentation graphics orfinancial modeling, you can't go wrong with the PowerMate® 386'V25S.For far less than comparable 386 systems, you get 25MHz speed, 2MB

CsC

Computers and Communications

ter and the money go slower

of RAM (easily expandable to 16MB via SIM modules) and a 32K memorycache. You also get something you can't get from anyone else at any price:NEC. For more information call 1-800-NEC-INFO.

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WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE . BUSINESS

Ask and you shall receive is one of Muse's concepts. Anotheris to provide only the data that you need.

Occam Says,

Go Ahead, Ask Me

Even with the best graphi-cal user interface, it canstill be difficult to find theright data in an acre-sizespreadsheet and graph itappropriately.

Occam is addressing thisproblem with its new programfor the Mac, called Muse.Muse lets you perform data re-trieval, manipulation, and in-terpretation using English lan-guage through the keyboardor other input device such asthe Voice Navigator. Theprogram also lets you pull onlythe data you need from vastdata sets and graph itimmediately on your com-mand.

Muse can import data inflat files, ASCII, DBF, WKS,and several other formats.The program organizes data indatabooks, which you can setup to reflect company divisionssuch as personnel, manufac-turing, or sales. As you ask ortype questions in English,Muse retrieves the relevantdata and puts it into a work-book with the level of detailyou need. When you want tograph a workbook, you simplytype or say, "Graph that,"and Muse does the rest, auto-matically numbering graphsby titles, legends, axis identifi-cation, and data identifica-tion. Graphs can be 2-D, 3-D,or animations.

Occam is releasing Museto a number of corporate sitesthis fall, with general distri-bution targeted for 1991.Price: $695.

Contact: Occam ResearchCorp., 85 Main St., Water-town, MA 02172, (617)923-3545.Inquiry 1276.

Generate DatabaseApplicationswith PAIVI

PAM (for Program Auto-mated Method) 2.0, therelational DBMS that in-cludes an application generatorand natural user interface,adds new data types, new rela-tional capabilities, matrixtable processing, expandeddatabase capacity, and manyother features, while runningin less than 256K bytes ofRAM on the IBM PC.

For companies seeking tolearn more about how toenter and succeed in theworld marketplace, Gate-Waze has developed x-primeWorld Trader. The pro-gram's four integrated data-base modules let you look atinformation in a variety ofways through the use ofhyperlinking.

The Market Analyst mod-ule provides a set of tools foranalyzing the 50 major trad-ing partners of the U.S.; theWorld Atlas module givesup-to-date information on125 countries; the Info-Deck supplies a directory of

Designed for nonprogram-mers, PAM 2.0 lets you designapplications with built-infield verification. Support fortransaction processing allowsmultiple fields in multipledatabases to be updated in asingle screen. PAM 2.0 alsosupports mathematical oper-ations for multiple fields indatabases from one numericentry, allowing for easyupdate.

Advanced relational capa-bilities link one database tomultiple records in anotherdatabase without the need forcommon fields.

international contacts; andthe Export Reference Guideoffers information on the ex-porting process. Other fea-tures include currency,weight, and measures infor-mation; time-zone calcula-tions; and an internationalglossary.

The program runs on theIBM PC with 512K bytes ofRAM.Price: $289.

Contact: GateWaze, Inc.,66 Summer St., P.O. Box743, Manchester, MA01944, (800) 752-4711 or(508) 526-7406.Inquiry 1279.

Version 2.0 supports Hew-lett-Packard laser printers andmail merge.Price: $145 to $345.Contact: Software Compos-ers, Inc., 4500NewcombeDr., Piano, TX75093, (214)985-8018.Inquiry 1277.

EASI Puts Formsand Databasein One Package

FormType 3.0 provides aforms creator and dBASE-compatible relational data-base in one package, lettingyou use the informationthat's collected in day-to-dayoperations to help you makebusiness decisions.

FormType 3.0 supportsform fill-in and report genera-tion. A LAN version isavailable.

With FormType 3.0, youcan link several different formtypes to the same database.This lets you store common in-formation such as name, ad-dress, or sales history in oneplace, although it is used re-peatedly in various officeforms, Easy Automation Sys-tems says.

You can perform relationaldatabase operations and inte-grate and transfer commoninformation among the forms,saving keystrokes and reduc-ing input errors.

FormType 3.0 runs on theIBM PC with 640K bytes ofRAM. A run-time versionlets valve-added resellers andOEMs insert a company logoand application name intoshrink-wrapped form sets.Price: $229.95; run-timeversion, $99.95; LAN version,$695 per server.Contact: Easy AutomationSystems, Inc., 5555 TrianglePkwy., Suite 440, Norcross,GA 30092, (800) 627-3274 or(404) 840-0474.Inquiry 1278.

continued

Put an International Business Expertin Your PC

66 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

D M P-6

SERIES

Hewlett PockaDraftPro' DXL

in^ly stated,we beat the pantsoff the competition.

O.K., let's settle this perfor- ^^^^^Vmance thing once and for all. ^Ss^^^^S.SPEED. In a recent compori- ^..-^J^j^MI 5^^^^son of throughput for the three BMH^B ^ option ctop selling plotters, the Houston ^^^^H ^'^'^^Instrument DMP-61 DL cameout on top. One-third faster than the CalComp 1023.Over three times faster than the H P DraftPro DXL. In

other words, whatever

Plotter Throughput- I . • L

(Pereent of plot completed in 2:36) 7°" P'°' ""^

100°''°^^^H ^i^" ^ou'^ ^^1^^ you

75o/„_TP|B ^^_«^B all afternoon with them.

J |||| QUALITY. We also

v| fjMjJ} deliver unsurpassed

25%- quality with identical

mechanical resolution

HiDMP- coicompHRDrcftP™ to ColComp ond HP,

. Turn your HI DMP Series plott(' scanner with SCAN-CAD. Thisoption attaches to your plotter toE-size drawings—all at a fractii

HIDMP- CalComp HP DraftPro61 DL 1023 DXL

T A ta™ and superior same pen

J-CAD-Opoon ^pertPbiiHy.

VERSATILITY. Only the

es to your plotter to scan up to Houston Instrument plotters

.ings-dlatafradionofthe ^ff^^ Q^j^l^ g^^le™ ^hg^e■ a stand-alone scanner. . ■ . ■ ■

any size drawing can beeasily scaled and plotted at the current media size,plus the capability to save up to six different userconfigurations in memory—all standard.PRICE. Best of all, the HI DMP-60 DL Series helpsyou beat the pants off your competition all at avery competitive price. For more information on theDMP-60 DL Series plotters call 1-800-444-3425.

HOUSTDN INSTRUMENT.

A Summagraphics Company

*D-size Columbia plot using AutoCAD Release 10 with the HP 7585 driver on a COMPAQ 386 16 MHZ computer with moth coprocessor. Plotters were set to manufacturer'srecommended settings for pen and media combinations used for check plot and final plots. 9 1990 Summagraphics Corporation. Seymour, CT 06483. All rights reserved.For IBM/Compatible information circle 163, For Macintosh information circle 164, For Reseller inquiries circle 165 on Reader Service Card.

'Tie only pdn

^ mWindow

As the people responsible forthe Maiosoff Wmdows^enviiDnraent,we believe we're in a good positionto offer some very sound advice onWindows Computing. And that,

as you've probably guessed by now,is the Microsoft Mouse.

You see, the Mouse allows youto navigate the Windows environmentand applications with untold ease.

For more informatim, call (800) 541-1261, Dept. M29. Outside the U.S. and Canada, call (206) 882.8661 In Canada, call (416) 673-7638. ©1990 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft an

As well as unparalleled accuracy. VisitadealerandcheckitoutfQr

Furthermore, we've made the yourself We think you'll see our point

decision to buy a Mouse even easier. g-

Now itfe available either with software, IwUCfOSOtt

or on its own for the purist.

Making it all make sense

he Microsoft logo are registered trademarks and Windows and Making it all make sense are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Microsoft Mouse design is patented. (Design Patent #302,426.)

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE • SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Visualize ProteinStructureson tlie IBM PC

Amolecular graphics toolcalled the Protein Visual-izer lets you visualize howdifferent chemicals and othersubstances interact with vari-ous molecules. The programlets you create 3-D models ofcomplex protein structures androtate, separate, and other-wise manipulate molecules forfurther study.

With the program, you canoverlay up to four mixed-modemodels at the same time. Theoverlays can show the interac-tion of substrates in an active-site cleft or hormones and theirreceptors, and capture theresults.

Protein Visualizer featureszooming, full-color space fill-ing, and all-atom or main-chain display of up to 5000atoms.

The program requires a286 with VGA capability and640K bytes of RAM. A harddisk drive is recommended.Price: $495.

Contact: Synthetic Genetics,10455 Roselle St., San Diego,CA 92121, (619)587-0320.Inquiry 1280.

The Protein Visualizer lets molecular biologists and immunolo-gists visualize protein structures in 3-D.

Real-Time ProcessModeling with OS/2

With RT-Graphics, youcan create and editgraphical symbols and inte-grate them with sensor moni-toring, simulation, and otherreal-time applications runningunder OS/2 Extended Editionand Presentation Manager.

Animated presentationscan be in the form of histo-grams, dials, fluid levels, orother graphics. You can set upan application so that achange in the graphical displayof a process is reflected in

the related alphanumeric text.This capability lets the pro-gram display numeric repre-sentations of sensor outputvalues with their associatedgraphics symbols.Price: $1100; developer's li-brary, $800.

Contact: Commercial Soft-ware Dept., Farradyne Sys-tems, Inc., 3206 Tower OaksBlvd., Rockville, MD 20852,(800) 828-7863 or (301)468-5568.Inquiry 1281.

In addition to showing how your Mac CAD drawings will work,vPower can revise a drawing with new specifications andparameters, making multiple versions of the same drawing.

What-lf CADAnalysis

Once you've completed amechanical, architectur-al, or other drawing in Versa-CAD, Claris CAD, PICT, orDXF format on the Mac, youcan use vPower to describe themotion and rotation of ob-jects. This what-if tool forCAD lets you see how yourdesign works. A spreadsheetlets you assign up to eightvalue sets to an unlimited num-ber of variables.

vPower runs on the MacPlus with a recommended harddisk drive.Price: $799.

Contact: Vision Software,3160 De La Cruz Blvd., Suite104, Santa Clara, CA 95054,(408) 748-8411.Inquiry 1282.

Digital ElevationModel Dataon CD-ROM

Two companies recently re-leased digital elevation datafrom the U.S. GeologicalSurvey on CD-ROM.

Rocky Mountain's CD-ROM set of 3-arc-secondterrain elevation data has thecontiguous U.S., Hawaii, andPuerto Rico.

Price: Complete set of fiveCD-ROMs, $3000; one CD-ROM, $1000.Contact: Rocky MountainCommunications, Inc., 12844West Iliff Ave., Lakewood,CO 80228, (303) 988-3395.Inquiry 1283.

Micro Map & CAD'sCD-ROMs are availablein two grids: a 3-arc-secondgrid and a 30-arc-second gridfor the entire U.S.Price: Complete set of sixCD-ROMs, $5000; one CD-ROM, $1000.Contact: Micro Map &CAD, P.O. Box 621135, Lit-tleton, CO 80162, (303)973-2768.Inquiry 1284.

Solve Math andThermophysicalProblems

In addition to solving alge-braic and initial-value dif-ferential equations, the Engi-neering Equation Solver (EES)has a physical-property data-base to help you solve prob-lems in the thermal sciences.

EES runs on the Macin-tosh with 1 MB of RAM andsupports a math coprocessorif you have one.Price: $400.

Contact: F-Chart Software,4406 Fox Bluff Rd., Madison,WI53562, (608) 836-8536.Inquiry 1285.

70 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

We'vegot a new 2MB

WQRM.

Now

we're fishing forideas fix)m you.

Introducing the Optical Card, the remarkable newI personal data storage and retrieval medium from■ Canon. An IBM AT-compatible RW-10 ReaderA/Vriteruses a laser to read and write up to two Megabytes ofdigitized text, graphics or sound on the Optical Card(shown here actual size). Data can be added, butnot erased, and isn't susceptible to magnetic orelectrostatic fields.

The Optical Card and RW-10 combine speed,high reliability and convenience that just cry outfor the development of entirely new systemsapplications. And that's where you come in.Don't let this "big one" get away Find out moreabout the Optical Card by calling Bruno Dosso atCanon at 516-488-6700, ext. 4535.

© 1990 Canon U.S.A.. Inc.. One Canon Plaza. Lake Success. NY 11042

Canon

Circle 67 on Reader Service Card

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE • OTHER

Bright

Hue 1^

Soturation

Bl Bl B~

r

Ask•Me Authorin

m

Once you've captured a photo with Ask*Me, you can manipulateimage hue, contrast, and other attributes.

Glue for Multimediaon the Mac andthe IBM PC

Two new programs help youcombine video with sound,graphics, and animation.One runs on the IBM PC, theother on the Mac.

new version ofAsk*Me—a program that

integrates animation, voice,sound, graphics, and imagesinto multimedia presenta-tions—supports PCX imageseparation and manipulationand the ability to pan acrossimages larger than yourscreen.

With Ask*Me 2000 and itsEnglish-like programming lan-guage called Stratos, you cancombine images from Auto-desk Animator, video cap-ture boards, PCX-compatiblepaint programs, and bit-mapped font packages that arein the GEM format withvoice and sound to create inter-active presentations. Theprogram also supports loop-ing, for canned, repetitivepresentations. While the pro-gram includes Stratos, noprogramming experience isneeded to create most appli-cations.

Ask*Me uses its owngraphical user interface andcomes in two versions:Ask*Me 2000, for the casualuser, and Ask*Me Profes-sional. The professional ver-sion includes a multiuser cus-tomizable image database thatcan open up to 256 files atonce and supports full-motionvideo. This version also hasan optional Display programfor distributing run-time pre-sentations. Run-time capabilityis standard with Ask*Me2000.

Ask*Me requires at least a

286 with a 28-ms or faster harddisk drive, 7 MB of free harddisk space, 640K bytes ofRAM, and VGA graphics.Price: $495 for regular ver-sion; $1795 for professionalversion; $195 for profession-al run-time license.Contact: Ask*Me Informa-tion Center, a division of Inno-vative Communication Sys-tems, 2534 26 Ave. S, Fargo,ND 58103, (701)293-1004.Inquiry 1286.

Unlike MacroMind's Di-rector, which is a tool forcreating professional-qualityanimation on the Macintosh,the company's MediaMakeris for nontechnical people whowant to create relatively sim-ple video presentations.

MediaMaker is dividedinto two parts: collections andsequences. Collections aremedia databases, snippets ofvideo, compact-disk audio,Mac audio, graphics, and ani-mations. You play back the

With their complex filestructures and filebuffering mechanisms, Xe-nix and Unix systems aresusceptible to data loss whenpower is removed from thecomputer before it can writethe buffers to disk. A pro-gram called PowerMonmonitors signals from your

media selections by double-clicking on a picon, Macro-Mind's term for a visual cue ofan image.

To create video presenta-tions, you drag picons from thecollection window to the se-quence window, arranging andrearranging the media in de-sired order and editing thelength of each clip. You canalso synchronize other mediasuch as CD audio and graph-ics. To use the program, it'sbest if you can tap into exist-ing video libraries, the com-pany says.

To use MediaMaker, youshould have a Macintosh withsupport for color, a videodiskplayer, CD-ROM audio, a digi-tizing board, and a videotaperecorder. A color Mac is notrequired.Price: $495.

Contact: MacroMind, Inc.,410 Townsend St., Suite 408,San Francisco, CA 94107,(415) 442-0200.Inquiry 1287.

UPS and, when it detects apower loss, issues messagesto users that the system mayhave to shut down if powerisn't restored. If the powerdoes not return within a cer-tain number of minutes,PowerMon flushes every-thing in the system's buffersto disk, preventing data loss.

Hand Recognitionfor Windowsand the Mac

Datacap, developer of thePaper Keyboard hand-writing recognition programfor the Macintosh, now has aversion for Microsoft Win-dows 3.0 that reads handwrit-ten characters on paper formsdirectly from an off-the-shelfscanner. It recognizesnames, addresses, dates, num-bers, and multiple-choicecheck boxes without having toconvert written characters totyped or printed text.

Datacap says that PaperKeyboard encounters, on theaverage, one character out ofevery 20 that it can't identify.When that happens, the cor-rection portion of the programkicks in. With corrections,the program recognizes about20 to 25 characters a second.Paper Keyboard also supportsautomated verification.

Datacap claims 99.9 per-cent accuracy with a targetconfidence of 9 (you canchoose target-confidence levelsfrom a scale of 1 to 10).

On the Mac or IBM PCwith Windows 3.0, the pro-gram requires 2 MB ofRAM, a hard disk drive, and aforms layout package. Youalso need an optical scanner.Price: $895.

Contact: Datacap, Inc., 5West Main St., Elmsford, NY10523, (914) 347-7133.Inquiry 1288.

PowerMon runs on SCOUnix, SCO Xenix, and Unixsystems from Sun, DEC, andIBM.

Price: $149.

Contact: Systems Enhance-ment Corp., 761 Spirit of St.Louis Blvd., Chesterfield,MO 63005, (314) 532-2855.Inquiry 1289.

Protect Your Unix Data from Power Loss

72 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

...The Perfect Gift

Reward the computer enthusiasts on yourgift list with a year's subscription to BYTE —the definitive guide to personal computing.

Each gift will include 12 issues, plusa bonus issue dedicated to IBM PC's.Your first gift will cost only g22.95 withadditional gifts costing even less; only019.95 each - both great money savingrates when you consider that one year ofBYTE piu-chased at the newsstand wouldcost (Canada: first gift Cg33.95,additional gifts C029.95 each.)

Don't get caught in the hoUday rush,send us your gift fist today or call1-800-257-9402 and we'll do the rest.For Canadian orders, call 609-426-5535.

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EXPERT ADVICE

COMPUTING AT CHAOS MANOR ■ Jerry Pournelle

^ Multimedia Video

When Jerry combinescomputers, videocameras, and VCRs,seeing is believing

All of us in the computer busi-ness get used to two kinds ofvideo. On the one hand, thereis the full-motion video yousee on your TV. This is known as NTSC,for reasons that don't matter. What doesmatter is that it is quite low-resolutioncompared to what you see on your com-puter screen. It has to be, because if itwere high-resolution, the full motionwould be a great deal more complicated.Full motion, after all, requires on theorder of 30 frames a second if it's not tolook jerky (some older newsreels, as wellas some of the first pictures taken inspace during the Mercury/Gemini days,use a lower frame rate, which is why theydo look jerky).

A VGA screen has a higher resolution,but that's also why it's tough to do full-motion video out of a PC: the amount ofinformation that would have to flow atthat resolution at 30 frames per secondwould swamp the system.

Genlock, Anyone?

On the other hand, a PCompatible is per-fectly capable of displaying NTSC out-put, if there is some way to get TV videointo the system: which is where genlockboards come in. These boards acceptvideo input, mix it with what comes outof computer programs, and display themixture on-screen. They will also pipethat mixed signal out to a VCR so thatyou can record it. (You can't record thatlive-action video on your hard diskbecause it wouldn't hold more than aminute or so; live-action video record-ings use a lot of megabytes. And yes,there are some tricks involving video

compression, but that's not importanthere.)

This is important to us because Mrs.Pournelle's Reading Program needssome good promotional materials. Wefigured the best way to do that was tomake videotapes; alas, the problem was,how do you videotape the output of acomputer? You sure can't just use a videocamera on the screen, as Roberta found;at least, you can't just use our video cam-era. The results are awful.

We thought of using an Amiga, whichknows how to put out NTSC output, but Iwrote the program in Microsoft Quick-BASIC, and it is not easily ported to theAmiga.

Then I discovered the USVideo TVGAVideo Board at a BYTE Editorial Expo.It looked to be the answer to our prayers:this is a PC board that accepts videocamera or other TV input, mixes thatwith what's on the screen, and puts thecombination out for recording by a VCR.Not only that: you can also mix in theoutput of Autodesk Animator, which is aprogram that, if you have artistic talentor can hire someone who does, will pro-duce results best described as amazing.

Want fairies to dance on your screen?Perhaps a screen background of programoutput, with fairies to illustrate yourpoint? Birds in full color? Really weirdtitles? You can get it all from Animator.In a word, the USVideo board and Ani-mator seemed the perfect combinationfor presenting Roberta's program.

About that time, we discovered Wil-low Peripherals. Willow also makes aGenlock Video Board. Moreover, ourcopy came with Entropy Engineering'sVideo Titler, which will make all sortsand conditions of high-resolution titlesand screen effects that can be mixed inwith other PC output and stored onvideotape. Now we really had everythingwe needed.

Thus, when Larry Aldridge of Ster-ling Microsystems brought over theCheetah Gold 486, we tried to install one

of the genlock boards. There was onlyone problem: we didn't have a monitor ofpoor-enough quality.

That is, the monitors that we had avail-able at the time included my Zenith FlatTechnology Monitor, which I use everyday and which is about the best text-workmonitor I know of; the 19-inch Electro-home monitor, which I have had nearlyforever and which everyone loves; and avery high-resolution 19-inch Hitachimonitor primarily used for CAD. Nonewould work properly: they just don't godown low enough in frequency to displayNTSC output. Sigh.

I have, somewhere around here, a con-verter for the Electrohome monitor thatwill let it eat NTSC output, but it wouldhave been a great deal of trouble to get itout and connect it up, and besides, wewere anxious to get the Cheetah 486 run-ning with a Sota VGA board and look atsome really high-resolution CAD andAnimator work, which looks terrific onthe Hitachi monitor. Thus, I put bothgenlock boards away for another time.

A few weeks later, Alex and his room-mate tried to get things running on aGateway 2000 system, but they had thesame problem: both genlock boards wanta multifrequency monitor, and we didn'thave one. Meanwhile, at Spring ComdexRoberta had been mightily impressed bythe USVideo demonstration and was nowanxious to get started.

Of course, it never rains but it pours.Two days later there arrived two multi-frequency, auto-sync monitors. One wasfrom Princeton Graphic Systems: I'd metPrinceton's president Tom Anderson atSpring Comdex and told him my story,and he'd arranged for an Ultra-14 to besent. I knew those worked, because thatis what came with the Northgate system Ireviewed last year. The other monitorwas a Panasonic PanaSync C1391,which was recommended by Willow as agood one for use with their board.

After that, things were simple: usingthe Gateway 2000 (a good, solid, reliable

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 73

CHAOS MANOR

machine) as the basic engine, we in-stalled both the Willow and the USVideoboards, connecting them to the VCR/TVI keep in the back room up here. Bothboards work with both monitors. Theimages on both monitors are rock solid.Alex and I set up the Willow board withVideo Titler and turned things over toRoberta—and the adventures began.

Both Willow and USVideo advertisetheir products as if reasonably knowl-edgeable people who aren't computer ex-perts can use them. We make no doubt atall that this is true, but it's not simple.It's going to take time. As Roberta says,before you can genlock, you have tounderstand what genlocking is all about;and you only think you know that.

First came the Willow manual: she re-ports that in 12 pages of text, there wasnot one single sentence that she under-stood. Part of it is the terminology, butsome of it is the English: she's not at allsure some of the sentences actually saywhat Willow thinks they say. The US-Video manual wasn't a lot better.

On the other hand, both companieshave very good telephone technical sup-port. "They both put up with my stupid

both

genlock boards, youcannot easily mixmonochrome and color.

questions," is the way Roberta put it. Myguess is that they have no choice, sincethese products are going to find their wayto art departments and account execu-tives, creative people with little com-puter experience, who will desperatelyneed the output—genlock stuff can bespectacular—and they will have less ex-perience than Roberta, who has, afterall, lived in Chaos Manor during the en-tire computer revolution.

Technically, both boards work, exceptthat you cannot easily mix monochromeand color: Roberta describes that as sim-ilar to what happens when you watch oiland water mix, and it seems to be thesame with both boards. Neither one is

easier or harder to use: they're both sim-ple enough to set up once you have theright monitor, and both are equally con-founding when it comes to making thesoftware do what you want it to.

I wish I were more of an expert on thissubject, because it's important; maybe Ican trigger BYTE's expert test crew todo a complete evaluation, because I'mreally not competent to tell you which isthe best product in this line. I can tell youwhy it's important, and that we have twosystems that are state of the art.

And there, alas, matters stand. Ro-berta has done the beginnings of somework. I've seen it, and it's already prettygood. Not spectacular, but she's onlygetting started. I'm sure I'll have more tosay on this next month.

Rogers Specialist

When it came time to hook up a monitorto the Willow board, we needed a gizmoto convert a 9-pin video into a 15-pinvideo. We put on our safari outfits andmade an expedition into the cable room,and there among the monsters we foundthe cable we needed, but there was a gen-der problem, so we searched some more.

■ ^^^^ i^"^ —«

flyers.* *»- -

See us at COMDEX/Fall, Booth m4438

If a portable computer has improved the and capable, built for the rigors of business The WorldPort family of modems. They're

way you do business away from the office, on the road. built for travel, whether it's to e.xtreme envi-

think what a portable modem can do for ^^^^^^^ j^^,)^, ^^^^ ^^^^^ ronments, to exotic locations or just down

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receive data, and even faxes anytime ^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^pl^^ ^all us todav for the dealer nearest you:

you want. In or out of the office. CCITT standards world-wide so you QOO.k A. 1 .f)^4^

The WorldPort family gives you a choice of can connect to other modems (or fax ma- 0\J\J~ Ji^ i v J x j.

four portable modems, including an MNP® chines) almost anywhere. They're powered (In New York, 516-261-0423.)

error-correcting modem and an electronic by a single 9-volt battery or through an AC

fax/data modem. outlet, whichever is more convenient. And, ' ■'!"' i:'";!;"^^* Touchbase Systems, inc.

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in a shirt pocket. They're small but tough among co-workers. 1 Fax (5i6) 754-3491

MNP is a registered trademarl; of Microcom, Inc. WORLDPORT and TOUCHBASE SYSTE.MS are trademarks ofTouchbase Systems. Inc. O 1989 Touchbase Systems, Inc.

74 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 350 on Reader Service Card

EvemhingYfu Ever VJkted In UNIX.

And Less. 1^.95.'

OK. We know it's hard tobelieve. So just consider this.Coherent" is a virtual clone ofUNIX. But it was developedindependently by MarkWilliams Company.Which means wedon't pay hundreds ofdollars per copy inlicensing fees.

What's more,Coherent embodiesthe original tenet ofUNIX: small is beautiful. Thissimple fact leads to a whole host ofboth cost and performance advan-tages for Coherent. So read on,because there's a lot more toCoherent than its price.SMALLER, FASTER.. .BETTER.

Everybody appreciates a gooddeal. But what is it that makes smallso great?

For one thing, Coherent givesyou UNIX capabilities on a machineyou can actually afford. Requiringonly 10 megabytes of disk space,

LESSIS MORE!

Coherent For Santa CmztheBM-POAT Operation'sand compatible XENIX 286,286 or 386 Version 2.3.2based machines.

No. of Manuals

1

8

No. of Disks

4

21

Kernel Size

64K

198K

Install Tune

20-30 min.

3-4 hours

Suggested Disk Space

10 meg

30 meg

Min. Memory Required 640K

1-2 meg

Performance*

38.7 sec

100.3 sec

Price

$99.95

$1495.00

"Byte Execl benchmark, 1000 iterations on 20 MHZ 386.

Hardware requirements: L2 meg 5 V4" or 1.4 meg 3^" floppy, andhard disk. SCSI device driver available soon. Does not run onMicrocliannel machines.

Coherent can reside with DOS. Soyou can keep all your DOS applica-tions and move up to Coherent. Youcan also have it running faster, leam itfaster and get faster overall perform-ance. All because Coherent is small.Sounds beautiful, doesn't it?

But small wouldn't be so great ifit didn't do the job it was meant to do.

EVERYTHING UNIX

WAS MEANT TO DO.

Like the original UNIX,Coherent is a powerful multi-user,multi-tasking development system.With a complete UNIX-compatiblekernel which makes a vast world ofUNIX software available includingover a gigabyte of public domainsoftware.

Coherent also comes with Lexand Yacc, a complete C compiler anda full set of nearly 200 UNIX com-mands including text processing,program development, administrativeand maintenance commands.

And with UUCP, the UNIX to

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CHAOS MANOR

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"Aha," Alex said. "The very thing."

He hauled out a large bag of cableadapters, gender changers, 9-pin to 25-pin converters, and other such stuff. Ittook me a moment to remember whereI'd got it: just as we were leaving the lastWest Coast Computer Faire, I'd stoppedat a booth that sells cables, cable adapt-ers, data switches, general small parts,and other such stuff, and grabbed someof everything in sight on the theory thatthey would come in handy. It came to abit over $100, and I don't regret a nickelof it.

Alex noticed the bill: Rogers Special-ist (27712 Pinehills, Santa Clarita, CA91351, (805) 251-2520). "We orderfrom them all the time," he said. "Theydeliver what they promise, no nonsense.Good outfit." This exhausts my knowl-edge of the firm, but I figure that when Ican identify a good guy, I ought to.

Stony Brook Modula-2

1 was an early enthusiast of Modula-2,even back in CP/M days; indeed, whenModula-2 first came out, I was confidentthat it would be the language of the fu-ture, replacing Pascal, C, and BASIC—truly a language for the rest of us. Ofcourse, things didn't work out that way.

In my defense, one reason I was sopleased with Modula-2 was that I had anearly Lilith, a machine that uses Modula-

2 as its assembly language. Modula-2 inthe Lilith environment was a program-mer's dream: the machine kept track ofversions, and libraries, and what had tobe recompiled, and all the other detailsthat make programming tedious. WithLilith, programming was/M«, especiallycompared with the other machines avail-able then. Alas, the Lilith didn't survive.

There have been many problems withModula-2. Probably the biggest is thatthere haven't been any good, standardrun-time libraries of I/O routines forPCompatibles and other machines. Al-though Logitech developed a really neatdebugger, the Logitech compiler, whilequite adequate, is only that. And theLogitech programming environment hasnever been described as fun. Other com-pilers had some good features, some bad.The Taylor compiler produces small andspeedy code, but it's not easy to use.

Worse, Modula-2 has design flaws.Not just the traditional I/O problems thatany Niklaus Wirth language seems tohave, but some odd quirks, such as rigidenforcement of case sensitivity and oddvariable-name syntax (InOut is not onlylegal, but mandatory, but blg_screenwould not be a legal variable name). Allthese difficulties can be overcome, but

they're obstacles to learning and enjoy-ing a language for which there neverwere any really good tutorial manuals.

I am happy to say that many of thoseproblems are no longer relevant.

The Stony Brook compiler comes witha programming environment that takessome getting used to, but once learned, itcan actually he fun. The editor is morethan adequate, and the environment doesa good job of keeping track of libraries,versions, recompilations needed, andsuchlike. It's not a Lilith, but it's easilythe next best thing I've seen.

The Stony Brook documents includean introduction with lots of examples.They begin, as they should, by tellingyou in exact detail how to set up the envi-ronment, begin your library manage-ment, and then write, compile, and runPROGRAM HELLO. Then they moveon systematically through the differentfeatures of the system.

Moreover, with the Professional pack-age (will anyone ever admit that some-thing might be good for amateurs?), youget not one compiler but two: one that isfast, perhaps as fast as Borland TurboPascal, and which produces darned goodcode; and an optimizing compiler thatproduces really good code—small, fast,tight, and generally neat. Code from thissecond compiler is Microsoft objectcode-compatible, meaning that you canlink it up to compiled BASIC, C, Micro-soft Pascal, or FORTRAN code. Thereare good instructions on how to do this.

The Stony Brook compiler can pro-duce code you can debug with Code-View; Stony Brook also provides a gooddebugger of its own, along with a tutorialon how to use it in the environment.

The Stony Brook package comes withadvertisements and coupons for otherModula-2 products, all compatible, in-cluding sorts, B-tree, and a decent I/O li-brary. I'd like to see more of that sort ofthing: what Modula-2 needs is a body ofcompatible libraries of programs andtoolboxes easily available for all flavorsof PCs, and particularly all keyboardsand video boards. This is a good start.

Realistically, I suppose, Modula-2 haslost out in the language wars, and thelikelihood that it will surge ahead to cap-ture the place held by Pascal or C is low.I think that's a pity: in my judgment,Modula-2 is more powerful than Pascal(even Turbo Pascal) and incomparablyeasier to use than C. Modula-2 reallyshines when you have a large project tobe worked on by a number of program-mers: with Modula-2, you really canhave the programmers get together towrite Definition modules and then work

76 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

always find something in the last placeyou lookUnfortunately the average hard disk

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CHAOS MANOR

apart on their implementation, yet havesome hope that when they get back to-gether, the code will run with no side ef-fects. Of the other languages, only Adacan make that claim with any honesty.

This isn't meant to knock Turbo Pas-cal, which is a realistic choice for manyprograms. Borland provides excellentsupport for Turbo Pascal and continuesto improve it and add features.

Then, too, I still like BASIC, andmodern compiled BASICs have incorpo-rated a number of advanced featuresderived from ALGOL, Pascal, and Mod-ula-2. Given the on-again, off-again na-ture of the programming I do, I'll prob-ably stay with QuickBASIC and thevarious Crescent tool libraries for mostof my work; however, if I ever went morenearly full-time as a programmer, I dobelieve I'd adopt the Stony Brook Mod-ula-2 environment, which has hooks toWindows and OS/2 (you'll still need theWindows and OS/2 development kits,understand).

If Stony Brook Modula-2 had existedin the early days, I think it would havethe place that Turbo Pascal has now, andmore. If you've ever wondered about

1/ StonyBrook Modula-2 hadexisted in the earlydays, I think it wouldhave the place thatTurbo Pascal has now.

Modula-2, or if you tried it and sort ofliked it but gave it up, or if you're lookingfor a language, look at Stony Brook Mod-ula-2. Recommended.

[Editor's note: See "Modula-3" onpage 385.]

Zero Surge

One of the participants in the sciencesconference on BIX told a story of a meet-ing of meditation people at a European

village near a lake. The guru in chargetold the group to concentrate on theweather, which they duly changed tosomething wildly improbable; the nextday, supposedly, they did it again, thistime changing the weather a dozen timesin the course of an afternoon and playingmerry hob with the local tourists. As inall such stories, the guru isn't named,the group isn't named, the lake isn'tnamed, and the date and year aren'tspecified. Moreover, the person tellingthe story wasn't there himself, but heardit from someone who was.

"Great," said I. "Tell you what. Getthat guru to make it rain in Los Angeleson the afternoon of August 7, 1990. Spe-cifically, rain in the Hollywood Hills."

I thought no more about it until on Au-gust 5 came a freak lightning storm andrain. Then more on the 6th, with a reallyspectacular show of lightning and thun-der. Some of the lightning came quiteclose to Chaos Manor, with thunder lessthan a second after the flash. Alas, itdidn't rain on the 7th, although therewere showers on the 8th....

However, the lightning got me think-ing about surge and spike suppressors.

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Check^lt will test your PC's main system board, memory, hard disk drive andfloppy disk drives, video subsystem, communication ports, printer, keyboard,mouse, or joystick. Check^lt will also display kev software and setup data,including your PC's exact equipment configuration, current IRQ assignments,memory allocation, device drivers, and CMOS table.

Take a minute to run Check^lt the next time you have a PC problem. Thenyou'll know the answer to these key questions: Should you back it up, pack it up,and send it out for repair? Should you fix a hardware problem yourself? Or,should you concentrate on tine software and configuration problems that you cancorrect?

The moment you suspect a PC problem, run Check^lt.It's about time!

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NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 79

CHAOS MANOR

Regular readers may remember TheGreat Power Spike that hit Chaos Manorlast year: light bulbs literally exploded,and the Priam MacDisk on the Mac IIsuffered a hit to the power supply, as didthe Mac II itself, although both wereplugged into a commercial surge sup-pressor. We also lost a Tandon computer,a TV and VCR, and some other elec-tronic gear, none plugged into a suppres-sor; and we did not lose Roberta's ma-chine, although its surge suppressor

literally died in its defense.

Since then I have learned that a lotof surge suppressors do not work verywell. The passive metal-oxide varistors(MOVs) may over time lose their capabil-ity, especially if subjected to powerspikes. In addition, since most surgesuppressors divert the power surge toground, and most LAN and modem sys-tems have one side of the signal systemgrounded, there can be power surges inthe resulting "ground loop."

Note that I say "may" and "can be";none of this is inevitable. Unfortunately,many people out there seem determinedto convince you that it is: that if you useordinary surge suppressors, you are play-ing Russian roulette, and you'll probablylose your expensive computer equipment,so you had better replace those now.Even an uninterruptible power supply(UPS) isn't going to save you, because,as one article I have here says, "their in-puts are 'protected' by the very same fif-teen-cent MOVs as the average surgesuppressor!" There is, according to this,only one exception to this. Abacus Con-trols, which licenses their technologyfrom Zero Surge.

And this leaves me with a dilemma.It's certainly true that the Zero Surgeprotection systems are excellent, betterthan the stuff you buy at Radio Shack orat swap meets; it's true that shuntingpower spikes to ground can blow up amodem. It's true that UPS systems oftenrely on MOVs. It's true that MOVs candie and you won't know it, because doinga nondestructive test on an MOV requiresextremely sophisticated (and expensive)test gear.

It's also true that in The Great PowerSpike at Chaos Manor when, due to anautomobile accident, 16,000 volts ACwas shunted into our house wiring, notonly was there no damage to the com-puters connected to our Clary UPS, butthere was absolutely no damage to theUPS—we had it tested. Moreover, of theequipment connected to the off-the-shelfsurge suppressors we use, the only thingkilled was the Mac stuff, which had beenconnected to a different—premium! —brand. Everything else was fine.

So: yes, the Zero Surge suppressorsare qualitatively different, and better,than the usual device. They don't shuntpower spikes to ground, they work faster,and they don't deteriorate. You will cer-tainly be safer with Zero Surge than witha random MOV device. I sincerely doubtthat you'll be safer with Zero Surge thanwith a Clary UPS, or let me put it anotherway, I sure don't want to have to be pro-tected from anything worse than ourGreat Power Spike. However, if you haveLANs and modems and generally inter-connected devices not all connected toUPS systems, you probably do want tolook into Zero Surge.

It's Binary

I love gadgets. I don't usually have achance to write about them, but this isNovember and Christmas is coming up.Perfect time.

The neatest gizmo I've got all year is

continued

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80 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

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CHAOS MANOR

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the Amazon Binary Clock, which is notcheap, but nothing in the house attractsmore attention. It looks like a golden-mean dimensioned rectangular block ofblack plastic about 8 inches tall. Thereare three columns of six lights: left col-umn for hours, middle for minutes, andright for seconds. They give the time inbinary, which is to say: the bottom row is1, row two is 2, row three is 4, up to rowsix for 32; to get a number, add all lightsthat are on. Thus, if 1, 3, and 4 in a col-umn are on, the number would be 13. All18 lights flash once per second and thensettle into the current time.

Time can be displayed in a 12- or 24-hour format. Depending on which settingyou choose, the top one or two rows ofhour lights are superfluous. It will takeeither 50- or 60-cycle current; it comesset to 50-cycle, which gives the wrongtime over here, but it's easy to change.

The instructions are complete andfoolproof, and actually, after a fewweeks, you learn to read it fairly well, orat least I did. This isn't something any-one needs, but if you're into unusualthings for your mantle or coffee table,this will do it. I have it on a living roomdisplay table with my collection of ar-chaeology artifacts: somehow, it seemedin good company with an ancient Roman(obscene) oil lamp. And it keeps goodtime, too.

Go!

I don't keep track of computer go tourna-ments, so I don't recall whether COSMOor Bruce Wilcox's Nemesis-Go masterversion from Toyogo is the current cham-pion, but one of them is, much to the vex-ation of the Japanese go programmers.Go is the Japanese national game; it'splayed on a board of 19 by 19 lines, therules are extremely simple, and the strat-egy is much more complex than chess.

I long ago became fond of Nemesis-Gofor the Mac and PC, so much so that Ihave the PC version on my Zenith Z-386laptop portable, in case I get stuck in anairport lounge with nothing to do. (Fatchance; there's always a deadline, so Iend up writing. Oh, well.) Now, though,there's another way to have go with youwherever you are: Toyogo has a dedi-cated go-playing hand-held machine thatis called Nemesis Igo Dojo.

It plays excellent go—unless I give my-self a handicap, it will usually beat me—and it's well designed, with a good userinterface. The screen is easy to see, andthe controls are easy to use. There arebays to plug in additional modules (notyet available). I had some trouble figur-ing out what the controls do—some of itisn't obvious—but straightening that outonly took reading the manual, maybe 10minutes of work, after which it's quiteintuitive.

Nemesis Igo Dojo plays by both Chi-nese and Japanese rules. In Chineserules, the handicap stones may be placedanywhere; the stronger player passesuntil the weaker has placed handicapstones where he wants them. In Japaneserules, the handicap stones go on fixedpoints. In addition to handicaps, thereare levels of play, although the bookdoesn't recommend that you use theweaker ones; as Wilcox says, you won'tbecome a strong player by watchingweak play. Use the handicap system if themachine continues to beat you.

The only real defect, so far as I cantell, is the size: at 9 by 5 by 1V2 inches, itis considerably larger than a Sharp Wiz-ard, larger even than the Atari Portfolio.You won't carry this in your pocket, oreven in a gentleman's shoulder bag;you'll want a briefcase or small back-pack.

What more can I say? The Nemesis IgoDojo works, works well, and is just thething for a go fanatic or someone whowants to become one. It's made in theU.S., and many are exported to Japan.And, of course, if you just want a stronggo opponent for your computer, there arePC and Mac versions of the program it-self. Recommended.

Scene Generator

This doesn't quite qualify as a gadget,but there are similarities.

Graphics capabilities on the PC havepretty well caught up with the Mac andAmiga, although you'll spend a bit doingit. Even so, every now and then there's aprogram unique to the Amiga. This isone of them: if there's anything like it forthe Mac or PC, I haven't seen it.

Nature loves fractals, curves of infi-nite complexity that have the property ofbeing similar no matter what level of de-tail you go down to. Case in point: coast-lines, seen from orbit, are irregular. Getcloser, and they still are. Get down toresolution in feet, and they still are; andeven down to grains of sand, there arestill these irregularities, similar al-though not identical to what you sawfrom orbit.

Scene Generator uses this property ofnature to generate scenery. Some yearsago, the designers of the game Starf lightused a similar technique to generate thescenery for the thousands of planetaryareas you could explore, but the scenesthey generated weren't nearly as realisticas the ones Scene Generator comes upwith; indeed, some of Scene Generator'sfractally generated random scenes arenearly indistinguishable from scanned-inphotographs taken in the High Sierra,

84 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 69 on Reader Service Card

CHAOS MANOR

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and others would convince you they werefrom the moon.

There are six resolutions. The pro-gram gives you a great deal of controlover what you generate—how muchwater, snow, greenery, clouds, and such-like. I can't think of much practical usefor this program except to generate eyecandy, although you might use it whenbuilding a game; but it's fun to playabout with. If you have an Amiga, this islikely to be interesting.

Disney Animation

As long as we are talking about theAmiga, Walt Disney Software presents apaint and animation program. The Ani-mation Studio, in which Mickey Mouseand Donald Duck teach you how to doanimated drawings; for my money, it'sthe easiest such program I've seen. I wasabout to push the Amiga into anotherroom, but now I have second thoughts:this thing might even make me an artist,and that would take some doing.

I was recently back at Douglas Trum-bull's Berkshire Studios, where we had ameeting about Klaus Heiss's Mars Cup,to be awarded for racing a solar sail vehi-cle from Earth to Mars; there's somehope actually to get that started as part ofthe 500th anniversary of the first voyageof Columbus. One of Klaus's demonstra-tions was a videotape of some solar sailmodels and their deployment; this wasdone by some Georgetown Universitystudents using an Amiga and DegasPaint. It would have been even easier todo with The Animation Studio.

Every time I think the Amiga is aboutfinished, someone comes up with newand unique products for it. As long asAmiga has friends like Disney's pro-grammers, you can't count it out. Thisprogram is good—and it's fun.

Multi-Media Birds

CMC Research continues to refine theirDiscPassage CD-ROM retrieval soft-ware. Now there are help files, and thevideo imaging works with just aboutevery major video card, including thosefrom Tseng Laboratories, Video Seven,and Tecmar. The help routines aren't al-ways as helpful as they think, and there'sa harshness to some of the retrieval inter-face that wasn't there on their first Sher-lock Holmes disk; on the other hand, itdoes the job, and once you're used to theinterface, it works on a whole raft of CD-ROM disks.

CMC's lineup includes a number ofmedical books and journals, and I'd ad-vise any physician to look into them: youmay find that what you want is on a CD-

ROM, meaning that it is nicely orga-nized, with search and retrieval capabili-ties superior to the best paper indexes.

Their latest CD-ROM is Muhi-MediaBirds of America, which consists of thecomplete John James Audubon Birds ofAmerica lithographs. There are also re-cordings of bird calls and the Audubontext.

The bird calls, which are pretty nice,are what justify calling this "multime-dia." There's no animation, the text it-self is pretty dry, and, worse, it was allwritten a long time ago and could usesome modern commentary.

Example: there are families of red-tailed hawks in the hills above our house,and we go up to visit them quite often; sonaturally I looked up red-tailed and hawkin the search pattern, to find that thisbird is not known as a red-tailed hawk,but Harlan's buzzard. There's no entryat all for the peregrine falcon. Now, I'mno expert, and it may well be that the realexperts call a California red-tailed hawk"Harlan's buzzard" and have some eso-teric name for peregrine falcons makingthem impossible to find; but Peterson'sField Guide to Hawks sees it quite differ-ently, as do all the other bird books wehave.

I had similar problems looking up thegoatsucker: from this CD-ROM, youmay or may not be able to find out that

the whippoorwill and the common night-hawk are members of the goatsuckerfamily, but I didn't.

In other words, this is J. J. Audubon'sbook and nothing else; for the practicalbird watcher it's no substitute for the Pe-terson guides, which, alas, have yet to beput onto a CD-ROM. On the other hand,the 500 Audubon paintings are magnifi-cent, they show up beautifully on a VGAscreen, the bird calls are interesting, andthe retrieval software works fine: if theinformation is on the disk, DiscPassagewill find it. You don't buy this for thetext, though.

Grolier Again

It is my practice to send the text of mycolumn to the company or people af-fected, with a notation that I'll correcterrors of fact, I'll listen to argumentsconcerning errors of judgment, and I re-serve the right to determine which iswhich. I did that with the Grolier text lastmonth; alas, they took a very long time torespond, so that by the time they did, thecolumn was set in galley. When an au-thor rewrites in galley, it is very tough onthe composition and layout crew; andafter some thought, I corrected the thingseasily done and let the rest stand.

Herewith, then, not quite a retraction.

First, Grolier is reconsidering their li-cense policy, in part due to my nagging

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 85

CHAOS MANOR

[EMS-DISCUSSEE

Amazon Binary Clock....

Eugene Amazon

13, Rue de la Madelaine

1204 Geneva, Switzerland

022-21-18-96

Inquiry 1146.

Autodesk Animator.

Autodesk, Inc.2320 Marinship WaySausalito, CA 94965(800) 525-2763(415) 332-2344Inquiry 1147.

.$150

.$395

Genlock Video Board

with 512K bytes of RAM andVideo Titler program $895

Willow Peripherals, Inc.

190 Willow Ave.

Bronx, NY 10454

(800) 444-1585

(212) 402-0010

Inquiry 1148.

Grolier Encyclopedia

Americana $399

Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.Sherman Tpk.Danbury, CT 06816(203) 797-3500Inquiry 1149.

Modula-2 Professionalfor DOS and OS/2

Stony Brook Software

187 East Wilbur Rd., Suite 9

Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

(800) 624-7487

(805) 496-5837

Inquiry 1150.

.$295

.$99

..$79.$695

Multi-Media Birds of America.

CMC Research, Inc.

7150 Southwest Hampton St.,

Suite C120

Portland, OR 97223

(800) 262-7668

(503) 639-3395

Inquiry 1151.

Nemesis-Go

Nemesis Igo Dojo

Toyogo, Inc.P.O. Box F, Dept. YKaneohe, HI 96744(800) 869-6469(808) 254-1166Inquiry 1152.

PanaSync C1391 $899

Panasonic Communications &Systems Co.

Office Automation Group2 Panasonic WaySeacaucus, NJ 07094(800) 742-8086(201) 348-7000Inquiry 1153.

Scene Generator...

Natural GraphicsP.O. Box 1963Rocklin, CA 95677(916) 624-1436Inquiry 1154.

. $49.95

Surge Eliminators $149 and $199

Zero Surge, Inc.103 Claremont Rd.Bernardsville, NJ 07924(201) 766-4220Inquiry 1155.

The Animation Studio $179.95

Walt Disney Software500 South Buena Vista St.Burbank, CA 91521(818) 567-5340Inquiry 1156.

TVGA Video Board $799

Genlock Overlay Module $399

USVideo

62 Southfield Ave.One Stamford LandingStamford, CT 06902(203) 964-9000Inquiry 1157.

Ultra-14 $899

Princeton Graphic Systems

1100 Northmeadow Pkwy., Suite 150

P.O. Box 100040

Roswell, GA 30076

(800) 221-1490

(404) 664-1010

Inquiry 1158.

Video Titler EGA and VGA $495

Entropy Engineering

12317 Village Square Terrace,

Suite 202

Rockville, MD 20852(301) 770-6886Inquiry 1159.

them. They were concerned that if theyroutinely released the "network version"of their CD-ROM retrieval software,they would have dozens of people usingone CD-ROM. I asked how many estab-lishments there are in the U.S. wherethat's likely. Or even possible. Couldthere be more than 20?

And of course there are not, meaningthat they're inconveniencing thousandsof users in order to prevent the possibility(hardly a certainty) of being ripped offby a couple of dozen customers at most.That's assuming that Grolier is beingripped off if several people on a networkaccess a single CD-ROM in rapid succes-sion. They can't, after all, access it si-multaneously, because the laser can't bein more than one place at once—and inany event, how is it worse than when sev-

eral people use different volumes of theprinted encyclopedia?

So: as I said, Grolier is reconsideringthat policy. At the moment, though, whatI said is true: if you have a network cardin your machine, even if it is not enabled,you'll have to get the network version ofthe Grolier retrieval software. They saythey are willing to send the network ver-sion free to anyone willing to sign a state-ment that it won't be used by more thanone person at a time.

Second, if you have multiple CD-ROMdrives, you must invoke the Grolier re-trieval software as EE -dO or EE -dl, de-pending on which one of your drives youhave the CD-ROM in. Don't bother look-ing for that in the manual: it's not there.There are apparently further undocu-mented features in the software. In addi-

tion, if you use the Install program on thedistribution floppy disk, it does not copyover all the files, and thus you will be un-able to reconfigure unless you have theoriginal disk; however, you can man-ually do a COPY *.*, which will bringover all the files; the disk isn't reallycopy-protected. That, too, is not in themanual.

Someone in the Grolier hierarchy de-cided that explaining all this stuff wouldconfuse the user. I am told that this pol-icy has now been abandoned and therewill be a new appendix to the manual ex-plaining the switches and other undocu-mented features, to which I can only say,hurrah.

I am becoming increasingly fond ofthe Grolier Encyclopedia Americanaitself, and once you get used to it, the

86 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

CSS/3™ Complete Statistical System with over 1.000 presenia-tion-qualit\- graphs fully integrated with all procedures and on-screengraph customization ■ The largest selection of statistics in a singlesystem; in-depth, comprehensive implementations of: Exploratontechniques: multi-way tables with banners: nonparametrics: dis-tribution fitting: multiple regression: general nonlinear estinui-tion; logitlprobit analysis: general A\COVAiMA\CO\A: stepwisediscriminant amlysis: log-linear analysis: factor analysis: clusteranalysis: multidimensional scaling: canonical correlation: itemanalysis/reliability: suniial analysis: time series modeling: fore-casting: lags amlysis: quality control: process analysis: experi-mental design (uith Taguchi): and much more ■ Manuals withcomprehensive introductions to each procedure and examples ■Integrated Stats Advisor expert system ■ Extensive data managementfacilities (powerful spreadsheet with formulas: relational merge: dataverification: flexible programming language) ■ Optimized (plainEnglish menus/mouse) user interface: even complex analyses requirejust few self-explanatory selections (CSS can be run without manual:Quick Start booklet explains all basic conventions) ■ Macros, batchcommands also supported ■ .-kll output displayed in Scrollsheets' '(dynamic tables with pop-up windows and instant graphs) ■Extremely large analysis designs (e.g.. correlation matrices up to32,000x32,000) ■ Lnlimited size of files: extended precision:unmatched speed (Assembler, C) ■ Exchanges data (and graphics)with many applications (incl.Excel«,Lotus3*.dB.ASEn S.SPSS») ■Highest resolution output on practically all printers (incl. HP.Postscript), plotters, recorders, typesetters ■ IBM compatibles. 6-iOkor more ■ Price: S595.

Quick CSS™ Subset of CSS/3: all basic statistical modules(incl. data management) and the full, presentation-quality graphicscapabilities of CSS/3 ■ Price: S295.

CSS:GRAPHICS " A comprehensive graphics'chart-ing system with data management ■ .All graphics capabilities of CSS/3and, in addition, extended on-screen drawing. 19 scalable fonts,special effects, icons, maps, multi-graphics management ■ Hundredsof types of graphs ■ Interactive rotation and interactive cross-sectionsof 3D graphs ■ Extensive selection of tools for graphical explorationof data: fitting: smoothing; spectral planes; overlanng; layered com-pressions: marked subsets ■ Unique multivariate (e.g.. 4D) graphs ■Facilities to custom-design new graphs and add them permanently tomenu ■ Import/export of graphs and data. 15 formats ■ Optimized(menu/mouse) user interface: even complex graphs require fewkeystrokes; all graphs on this page can be produced from raw data inless than 20 minutes ■ Macros, batch/commands also supported ■Unlimited size of files ■ Highest resolution output on all hardware(see CSS/3) ■ IBM compatibles, 640k or more ■ CSS;GRAPHICS isincluded in CSS:SlAriSTICA (available separately for S495).

Megafile Manager'" comprehensive analytic database management system ■ Unlimited size of files (up to 32.000 fieldsor 8 MB per record) ■ .Megafile Manager is included in CSS'3 andCSS:SIAriSTICA (separately: S295).

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StatSoft

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Quick CSS/Mac™ a subset of STXriSriC^-Mac: all basic siadsticalmodules and the hill, presentation-qualitv' graphics capabilities of SHTlSTItt .Mac ■Price: S245.

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 (Melbourne, Australia),ph: 613-497-4755. fax; 613-499-7410. StatSoft Canada-CCO (Ontario), ph: 416-849-0737. fax: 416-849-0918 Available From: CORPORATE SOFTWARE and other Authorized RepresentativesWorldwide: Holland: Lemax BV 02968-94210; France: Conceptel (1) 45669700: Sweden: AkademiData 018-240035: Spain: ADDLiNK. SRL: ph: 34-3-459-0722

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CHAOS MANOR

retrieval software is easy both to remem-ber and to use. I'm pleased to see that thecompany is reevaluating its licensing pol-icies to make life easier for their custom-ers. I wish more companies would.

Winding Down

Again, my desk is piled high with stuff Iwon't get to. The Sola Publishing Group(Via Nerino, 8-20123 Milan, Italy) sentme a CD-ROM labeled "An unabashedhistory of photographic erotica" thatisn't precisely what the title says: most ofthe pictures would be better described as"raunchy" than erotic. About half thetext is in Italian.

There are two Mannesmann Tallyprinters. One is their MT 906 laserprinter, which uses the Microsoft/Bauerinterpreter and Bitstream fonts to printPostScript files. It also emulates theHewlett-Packard LaserJet II and comeswith the Z print cartridge, niy favoritefor my old LaserJet I, the Printer ThatWill Not Die. We are in the middle of tor-ture-testing the MT 906 with some com-plex PostScript files that I got from DaveMoore and Trevor Marshall; if it printsthose files properly, it should print any-

thing. It's sure fast.

I also have the MT 81, a really neatdot-matrix printer that's small enough tobecome the "throw it in the Bronco"printer for field use. It came in a sturdybox that I have reinforced and practicallywaterproofed with duct tape.

The bribe of the month is a wonderfulVictorian inkwell, from Underware, incelebration of the company being boughtout. The game of the month is still Rail-road Tycoon, although the StrategicStudies Group does have some nifty newscenarios for their World War II simula-tion system—and the first decent Austro-Prussian war game I know of. The latteris a scenario for their Decisive Battles ofthe Civil War.

The books of the month are JacquesBarzun's The Culture We Deserve (Wes-leyan University Press, 1989), typicalBarzun, delicious and informative; andIn Pursuit of Truth: Essays on the Philos-ophy of Karl Popper on the Occasion ofHis 80th Birthday, edited by Paul Levin-son (Humanities Press, 1982). I becamea convert to Karl Popper's theory of "fal-sification" as the only route to truthmany years ago, and I'm ashamed of hav-

ing missed this book on its publication. Itcontains a good introduction to and ap-preciation of Karl Popper's work, al-though anyone seriously interested in thephilosophy of science would do well toread Sir Karl Popper himself: his OpenSociety and Its Enemies (Princeton Uni-versity Press, 1966) is thoroughly read-able, and his other works aren't reallyobscure.

I have the production copy of DR DOS5.0, and next week I am going to a semi-nar on the new Desqview; next month I'llcover those, and, with luck, much, muchmore. ■

Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy-chology and is a science fiction writerwho also earns a comfortable living writ-ing about computers present and future.Jerry welcomes readers' comments andopinions. Send a self-addressed, stampedenvelope to Jerry Pournelle, do BYTE,One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough,NH 03458. Please put your address onthe letter as well as on the envelope. Dueto the high volume of letters, Jerry cannotguarantee a personal reply. You can alsocontact him on BIX as "jerryp."

Assembly Language

TOOLBOX

PROGRAMMERS

Powerful Programming Toolsfor PC Applications

Assembly Language Toolbox £99 a team led by one of the UK's leading PC authorities, Christy Gemmell,

Incorporate sophisticated and efficient assembly language functions and author of the Waite Groups 'QuickBASIC Bible' which is published by

procedures into your own programs quickly and easily! The Assembly- Microsoft Press, the Professional Edition is a unique programming tool

Language Toolkit includes over 100 routines designed to speed up which gives you maximum control over your hardware and software,

program development for both professional and hobbyist programmers Xoolbox - Utility Pack £49

alike. The toolbox allows the use of menus and windowswith full mouse complement the toolbox, the utility pack comprises

support, popup context-sensitive help, full printer support as well as ^^^^^ ^Womng complex screen designs to be built easily, mouse

allowing access to the innermost secrets of the PC. The Assembly- pointers to be created and incorporated into your own programs, customLanguage Toolbox comes complete with sample programs and a

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Toolbox - Professional Edition £299

Coming complete with all the features of the Assembly Language Tool-box , the Professional Edition includes fully documented source code ofall the functions and procedures that make up the toolbox. Written by

printer support and a help screen generator.Toolbox - On Line Documentation £39Comprises on-line documentation for the toolbox and its utilities and issupplied in forms suitable for the Norton Guide engine, the MicrosoftAdvisor and Microsoft Programmers Workbench.Toolbox for Novell - Call for further Information

All Packages are available forthe Microsoft BASIC 6.0 / QuickBASIC 4.x, Microsoft BASIC 7.1/ QBX and Microsoft C 6.0. All text modes of the Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA and MCGAadapters are supported including 30, 43 and 50 line modes togetherwBh supportforthe enhanced (101/102 key) keyboard. Trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

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88 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 32 on Reader Service Card

EXPERTADVICE

DOWN TO BUSINESS ■ Wayne Rash Jr.

The GrowthOF Groupware

Don't buy more—or less—groupwarefunctionality thanyou need

As LANs become more popularin business, the demand thatthey do something to supportgroups of people who work to-gether becomes more important. Thereason for this requirement is clear. Inmost organizations, people work ingroups assigned to accomplish a task.These may be called project teams or de-partments, but either way, they aregroups of people who work together.

Stand-alone software packages en-hance a group's work only to the extentthat they make an individual's workmore productive. So, group productivitysoftware, or groupware, was developed.

Last year I discussed two early group-ware packages, WordPerfect Office andHiggins (see "Groping for Groupware,"April 1989 BYTE). Since that time,groupware has become much more popu-lar, there is a lot more of it, and there is alot of variety in what it does to help agroup be more productive.

The wider selection of groupwarefunctions means that you have to look atwhat your organization needs in groupproductivity software before the com-pany buys it. This variety is important,because, unlike with stand-alone appli-cations, everyone must use groupware,so it must support everyone's needs.

On the other hand, ihere are reasonswhy vendors should not include unneces-sary functions in a groupware package.For exa^r>le, extra functions mean add-ed complexity and more difficulty inlearning how to use the package. Alsobecause of this sophistication, it takesmore to motivate people to use group-ware once they have it available.

What Functions Do You Need?

Every groupware package includes E-mail, and nearly all of them include elec-tronic appointment books and groupscheduling. Beyond these features, thefield is wide open. You will find pack-ages that include everything from wordprocessors and databases to calculators.

The key to determining which func-tions you really need is to look at howyour workgroups work. Is communica-tions their primary need? Do they have toschedule a lot of meetings? Are theyworking on creating reports and docu-ments that have to get passed around alot? Are group members confident com-puter users, or do they need to work fromsome kind of menu shell? Is the networklimited to IBM PCs and clones, or arethere Macs and VAXes in the mix? Be-fore you start looking at groupware, youneed to have answers to these questions,and you need to know a lot about howyour LAN is used and how it's set up.

What's Available?

Of course, before you know whether ornot you need any software, you shouldknow what features and functions it of-fers. For example, you need to knowthat, with some packages, it is possibleto schedule resources such as meetingrooms and slide projectors, along withthe people who need to use them. Youalso might find that your organization ispaying for features that it doesn't needand won't use, and that make the rest ofthe package harder to use.

As I mentioned, all these packages letyou send E-mail messages across the net-work to other users. To use E-mail or benotified of new messages, users must logonto the file server containing the group-ware package.

Likewise, most groupware packagescontain some form of appointment calen-dar that can interface with a group sched-uling package. You can keep your ap-pointments on the computer, and other

ILLUSTRATION: G. BRIAN KARAS © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 89

Circle 108 on Reader Service Card

Good Labor ain'tcheap!

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Optical Character Recognition

Software for your scanner that isfast,accurate and easy to use.Why type when you can just scan?

SX-OCR

SX-OCR Reads Text

• SX-OCR will automatically "re-type"your documents, producing text files thatwork with your word processor

• SX-OCR handles English and foreigntext, footnotes and headlines, typeset andtypewritten material

• SX-OCR will automate the typingprocess- from simple business letters to il-lustrated product catalogs

SX-OCR Can Learn

• SX-OCR can be taught to read neartyeverything through its trainable recogni-tion process

• In addition, SX-OCR automaticallyavoids dirt, boxes, lines, logos andgraphics while converting text images toASCII files

SX-OCR Manages Graphics

• SX-OCR uniquely separates graphicsfrom text in one scan... and remembersboth

• SX-OCR can import and export popularimage formats such as PCX and TIFF

Compatability

• PC-AT with 640K RAM and 2mb availa-ble on hard disk - EMS memory can beused in place of the hard disk space tospeed up the OCR process

• SX-OCR works directly with the follow-ing scanners: Cannon, HP, Microtek,Panasonic, Ricoh, Umax, Chinon, Zsoft,Princeton, Abaton, AST, Mitsubishi andothers; also will work with any scannerthat will make a .PCX file ora bilevel .TIFfile

The heart of OCR is the quaiity ofthe software engine, the algorithmthat converts the graphic imageinto tie actuai text character. SX-OCR is better and faster than anyOCR package on the marl<et today

Suggested Retail Price $395.°°

Call for special, discount prices onSX-OCR and handheld, sheetfeed andflatbed scanners:

1-800-759-4001Desktop Technology Corporation

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MEMS

DISCUSSED

Network ctcneauier.

(zj to izj users)

(eight to 50 users)

cc:Mail, Inc.

L.anQingS JJr., DUllQing 1

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jviouiiiain view, y^\Mj

3-1-Mail Link

$695-$1195

(eight to 50 users)

inquiry mi.

PowerCore, Inc.

P.O. Box 756

INTO $1499-$3899

Manteno, IL 60950

(five to 25 users)

(815) 468-3737

Benchmark Associates, Inc.

Inquiry 1223.

7400 West Detroit St.

Chandler, AZ 85226

Office Works LAN.

..$195-$1995

(602)961-7519

(one to unlimited users)

Inquiry 1222.

Data Access Corp.

14000 Southwest 119th Ave.

Miami, FL 33186

(305) 238-0012

Inquiry 1224.

people can use the network to see ifyou're available for a meeting and, if so,include you in it. Each of the packageshandles calendars and scheduling a bitdifferently. But most give you a place toinsert your appointments, usually in 15-minute blocks. You can also get a pictureof how your calendar looks for the day,week, and month. Some will show six-and nine-month blocks of time.

If you want more than scheduling andmail features, you'll need to check outgroupware packages with more sophisti-cated capabilities. Office Works LANfrom Data Access, for example, includesthe ability to send E-mail to other sys-tems using telex and fax. Its mail systemalso supports specialized phone mes-sages—electronic versions of the littlepink messages that build up on yourdesk—and it can dial the phone for youwhile you're looking at the message.

Office Works includes the ability totrack people and documents as well asmail. You can store names and addressesand use the information to print every-thing from mailing labels to Rolodexcards. This package also contains a con-trol function that lets you track the loca-tion and contents of a document. If thedocument isn't in electronic form, theprocess is very difficult. If it is, the pro-cess is easy. Office Works LAN willstart up the word processor that createdthe document and then load in the docu-ment for you to read.

You Want More?

Some managers want a complete group-ware solution so that everyone will beusing the same software for everythingthey do. To meet this requirement, they

must have either a standard suite of net-work applications along with their group-ware, or a groupware package that sup-ports just about all the features that theyare likely to want. There are packagesthat provide this type of functionality.

One such package is INTO (IntuitiveNetwork Total Office) from BenchmarkAssociates. It attempts to support all thecommon office functions. In addition toE-mail and scheduling, you also get aphone book, a data manager, phone mes-saging, and a note taker (a kind of texteditor with a search capability). Andthere's more.

At the point where other packages runout of features, INTO begins. Along withall the typical groupware capabilities,INTO includes a full-featured word pro-cessor, a spreadsheet, business graphics,and a calculator. Overall, you may findthat this combination of features savesyou money and helps to integrate yourgroupware and applications more tightly.

Do-It-Yourself Groupware

While the massive integration of largegroupware packages might fit the needsof some organizations, many others findthat their requirements don't extend be-yond E-mail and time management.Either their corporate practices don'tlend themselves to the rigid format de-manded by more structured systems, orthe projects involved are too specializedfor most generalized applications. Whatdoesn't change is people's neetTto com-municate, either by mail or in meetings.A groupware package that fills this needis all that many organizations require.

If you have modest needs, it makessense to purchase in a modest fashion.

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Circle 376 on Reader Service Card

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Likewise, if your needs for word pro-cessing are already met by another appli-cation, such as the LAN version of Word-Perfect or WordStar, why pay for wordprocessing in a groupware package? Infact, why buy a package at all? Why notassemble the parts you need yourself?

A modular approach to groupware isstill in its infancy, but the initial partsexist now. Many organizations are find-ing that with a combination of the highlyregarded cc:Mail and Network Schedul-er, you can take advantage of the best oftwo excellent products. The fact that Net-work Scheduler will integrate itself withcc:Mail makes the system even more at-tractive.

Both of these packages were designedto perform a single specific task. For thatreason, cc:Mail is very well designed,runs on a variety of platforms, includingthe Mac and the VAX, and is very rich infunctionality. Likewise, Network Sched-uler is designed simply to schedule timeand does not go overboard providingneedless frills like calculators and ad-dress lists. You get a complete schedulingpackage that's flexible and easy to use.

With a do-it-yourself approach, you

don't have to buy anything until you needit. You can get started with E-mail bybuying cc:Mail and then add NetworkScheduler later as you need it. Both pack-ages are inexpensive ($695 for a 25-userLAN), making them cost-effective aswell as performance favorites. Whileyou may not think price is your highestpriority, consider how much you'd haveto pay for a really large LAN and the feemany vendors charge for each user.

Groping for Groupware

As you can see, if you want to use group-ware, you have a lot of options. Theyrange from a solution you can assembleyourself to one that attempts to combineall the software your workgroup is everlikely to need.

Each of the packages will do what it'ssupposed to do, and each works on mostpopular LANs. The critical factor whenchoosing any groupware package is therequirements that you need to meet. Buy-ing groupware that greatly exceeds yourneeds is probably a waste of money. Buy-ing groupware that doesn't meet yourneeds is wasteful and shortsighted.

How do you find out what your re-

quirements for groupware really are?You talk to the group of people whoseproductivity you're trying to enhance.You analyze what they actually need toaccomplish by asking them what they donow and what they would do if it werepossible. Then you turn those needs intodocumented requirements and match therequirements against the functions thateach groupware package supports. Bythis process, you can obtain software thatactually increases your productivity.

Next month, more on this subject as Ilook at how the heavy hitters can helpyour group be more productive. ■

Wayne Rash Jr. is a contributing editorfor BYTE and technical director of theNetwork Integration Group of AmericanManagement Systems, Inc. (Arlington,VA). He consults with the federal govern-ment on microcomputers and communi-cations. You can contact him on BIX as"waynerash," or in the to. wayne con-ference.

Your questions and comments are wel-come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, OnePhoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH03458.

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Circle 304 on Reader Service Card

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You can customize your keyboard towork the way you want it to work. Save time with anoutstanding disk cache. Change system files in a flash.Undelete files and directories without access to toolsthat can be damaging when used by novices. Havethe answers you need to simplify technical supportcalls. And get instant response to hundreds ofquestions. In fact, Control Room replaces up to 25

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Circle 36 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 37)

1990 Sun Microsystems, Inc. ®Sun Microsystems and the Sun logo are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. OPEX LOOK is a trademark of AlkT. AU other products or sen ices

R INTERFACEPLAyiNG AT AEAR YOU.

The OPEN LOOK " user interface.It's a real hit with independent softwarevendors, in-house developers and endusers. In fact, over 300 applications arein development today. By people likeLotus^ INFORMIX,* Island Graphics^Interleaf J and Frame! And it's the mostpopular front end to UNIX! For anumber of reasons.

First of aU, it makes UNIX easy to use.Because there are no complicated UNIXcommands. It also looks better than anyother interface. From its icons to its 3Delements. And makes users more effi-cient. For example, our drag and dropfeature gives them a simple, intuitiveway to move files around the desktop.Our push-pin icon makes it even easierto use. And OPEN LOOK gives usersthe same interface across multiple plat-forms, so they learn it once. And enjoyaccess to a huge range of networkresources.

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ever And ready-made features. Like ourDeskSet " graphical productivity tools,that you can give users right away.

Of course, the business reasons tochoose OPEN LOOK are just as strong.OPEN LOOK is the standard interfaceof ATi&T's UNIX System V.4, so it'sincluded at no charge. And it wiU run onover 20 platforms, including DECJ HP,®and IBM? Since it's portable acrossmultiple platforms, you only write yourapplication once. Which saves thou-sands of man-hours. Finally, with OPENLOOK, you have the full support ofa company that leads the workstationindustry in worldwide shipments?

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Circle 329 on Reader Service Card

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EXPERT ADVICE

NETWORKS ■ Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings

Most people can'tafford to wait fortomorrow's solutions

Networks are practically un-manageable, and the situationis only getting worse. Unlessvendors rally around a singlenetwork management standard, we'll allpay with more network downtime andmore network problems in general.

The problem isn't that network man-agement products don't exist. Quite theopposite is true; such products abound.The problem is that no single product ad-dresses all the problems facing the man-agers of today's large, heterogeneousnetworks. Users need a single productwith which to manage an entire network;what they have are different managementproducts for every component.

It doesn't have to be that way. We re-cently got a tantalizing glimpse of whatthe future of network management couldbe. An administrator at a large institutionwas managing a network of over a thou-sand devices from a single Sun worksta-tion. On the Sun's screen was a map ofthe network—little white boxes linked byglowing green lines. Each of the boxesrepresented a device, such as a worksta-tion, bridge, router, or gateway. Thelines indicated connections between thedevices. Some of the connections werenetwork media, such as Ethernet orfiber-optic cables, while others were Tland microwave transmissions. When adevice or connection encountered a prob-lem, its on-screen counterpart turnedyellow; when the device went down, itsbox or line glowed red.

You could even zoom in for a closerlook. We double-clicked the mouse on abridge, for example, and up popped sta-tistics on the number of packets thatbridge had received and transmitted, the

HARD ChoicesFOR NetworkManagers

number of errors, and so on.

We instantly knew what else the pro-gram could do. Clicking on a server'sbox would produce statistics on its fileand printer usage. Clicking on an Ether-net cable would give us a closer look atthe PCs hooked to that cable. Everythingwas in one place, accessible from this oneprogram.

We were wrong. The program couldnot do what we wanted because the de-vices on the network didn't all supportthe same network management standard.

Back to the Future

Many of those devices, however, did sup-port the Simple Network ManagementProtocol, and that support made possiblethe features we saw. The SNMP specifi-cation comes from the Internet Engineer-ing Task Force, the folks who brought usTCP/IP, the Unix networking standard.At its core, SNMP just defines how a net-work manager can communicate with

network agents. The manager is a pro-gram that can accept, manipulate, and,generally, display information aboutthe state of the network—such as the pro-gram we saw running on the Sun work-station. An agent is a device on the net-work, and theoretically it can be any-thing from a workstation to a bridge,router, gateway, or server. The only re-quirement an agent must meet is that itmust be able to run some SNMP soft-ware; thus, it needs its own processorand memory.

SNMP is only a protocol, a specifica-tion for how the manager and the agentscan communicate. It does not specify thecontents of all possible exchanges—justhow to make those exchanges. Even theway in which the manager and the agentscommunicate is fairly simple. The man-ager and the agents do not need to stay intouch constantly; instead, the managermerely "yells" to the agents periodical-ly. Nor do the agents have to remember

ILLUSTRATION: TIM CLARK © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 97

-bit Color IS Jost Ooe

NETWORKS

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these conversations; only the managerneeds such records, and then only as amanagement tool.

SNMP is well on its way to becoming astandard. More than 100 vendors havesigned up for it so far, with more comingall the time. Some of the vendors areeven major workstation players, such asIBM and Sun. Most, however, are mak-ers of network connection devices—thevendors behind the bridges, routers, andgateways that worked so well with thesoftware we saw.

Roadblocks

With all this momentum behind it, youmight think that SNMP was unstoppable,maybe even on its way to fulfilling ourearlier visions. But that's not the case.

For one thing, SNMP doesn't coverenough ground to meet all our needs.The base specification details only howthe manager and the agents communi-cate. To make our universal-manage-ment dream come true, we also needstandards for what every possible kind ofagent—including workstations and serv-ers—can say to the manager. Some suchSNMP-based standards exist, but mostlyfor bridges, routers, and gateways—hence the wider adoption of SNMP byvendors of those products than by anyother types of vendors. Server vendors,for example, have largely ignoredSNMP, so SNMP console products typi-cally offer no information about serveractivity. SNMP also has so far been asso-ciated primarily with Ethernet, althoughwork is ongoing to bring it to TokenRing, Fiber Distributed Data Interface,and other types of network connections.

Back to the Future, Part II

The newest and perhaps greatest obstacleto SNMP, however, is a second—and, inmany ways, better—proposed networkmanagement standard: Common Man-agement Information Protocol.

CMIP comes from the InternationalStandards Organization (ISO), the groupbehind both the Open Systems Intercon-nection model and the networking soft-ware of the same name. CMIP definesstandard types of communication forpractically every kind of information youmight want about a network—physicalfaults, security breaches, file opera-tions, configuration data, performance,accounting, and on and on. It's obviouslya much larger and more comprehensivestandard than SNMP. A companionspecification, the Common ManagementInformation Service standard, defines alarge set of functions that a managermust provide. You don't have to look long

«— Circle 160 on Reader Service Card

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Circle 23 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 24)

Circle 174 on Reader Service Card

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at the CMIP and CMIS specs to believethat they cover the vast majority—if notall—of the network management optionsthat you're likely to want.

Of course, you pay for all this size.For one thing, CMIP, unlike SNMP, re-quires a permanent connection betweenthe manager and each agent. Worse, towork fully with a CMIS manager, eachagent needs to implement every layer ofthe CMIP spec, so each agent needs a lot

s

^NMPis well on its way tobecoming a standard.

More than 100vendors have signed upfor it so far.

of memory to run the CMIP software.CMIP and CMIS are new enough that wehave no hard data on the amount of mem-ory that a full commercial implementa-tion would require, but some estimatesrun as high as 1 megabyte, with the mostoptimistic projections in the hundreds ofkilobytes. This memory requirement is aproblem for network devices like bridgesand routers, and it's not likely to sit toowell with most MS-DOS PC users.

IBM and 3Com have teamed up to pro-pose a solution to this memory problem:the Heterogeneous LAN Managementstandard. A subset of CMIP, HLM in-cludes only the lower few layers of thelarger standard. HLM can work withboth Token Ring and Ethernet networksand should cost only 20K bytes to 30Kbytes per PC, so it has the potential tobring network management options rightto your desktop. Both IBM and 3Complan to include HLM in their PC net-working software, and they're encourag-ing other vendors to do so as well. HLMdoes not, however, include any monitor-ing software or specifications, just anapplication programming interface onwhich vendors can build their own man-agement monitors—as both IBM and3Com plan to do.

Picking a Future

Aside from its memory requirement,CMIP sounds great. HLM isn't as good.

but at least it fits on a PC. At first glance,the two seem to offer a great one-twopunch: Do HLM now, and then do CMIPas PC operating environments, such asWindows that can handle large softwareproducts become more commonly avail-able. Together, CMIP and HLM seemlike the death of SNMP.

The thing is, CMIP is the future, andthere are network management problemstoday that can't wait for it to reach themarket. The CMIP ISO standards areonly in draft form, awaiting ratification.IBM and 3Com say that HLM won't beready until sometime in 1991. Whenboth are done, users will still face a longwait while all the networking vendorsimplement these standards and bringtheir products to market.

Meanwhile, SNMP is out in the realworld doing useful work today. That'sthe bottom line. Network managementproblems are too important to wait, soeveryone should adopt SNMP as quicklyas possible. Every network vendor, in-cluding the LAN server companies-Novell, Microsoft, and the rest—shouldembrace this standard. Every server,workstation, and other network deviceshould be able to talk SNMP.

Does this mean we're giving thumbsdown to CMIP? No. In fact, we alsothink that every network vendor shouldjump on the CMIP bandwagon as soon aspossible, so that in four or five yearsCMIP products will be everywhere.

"But wait," we hear the budget-con-scious folks crying, "does this mean thatwe'll end up using SNMP for a few yearsand then moving to CMIP? Does it meanwe'll end up paying twice for many net-work management components? Does itmean we're opting for a relatively short-term, imperfect solution, while an al-most ideal one is only years away?"

Yes, yes, and yes.

Those questions are good ones, butthey beg the most important question ofall: Do you really have any other choice?Our answer is no; network managementis too vital to today's businesses to waitfor a standard that's years away. That'snot an ideal answer, admittedly, butright now it's the best one we've got. ■

Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings areBYTE contributing editors. Both are alsoindependent computer consultants andfreelance writers based in Raleigh, NorthCarolina. You can reach them on BIX as"mvanname " and "wbc3, " respectively.

Your questions and comments are wel-come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, OnePhoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH03458.

100 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

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Circk 303 on Reader Service Card

Can you stomach spending an extra $10,000 for a PCnetwork or UNIX' workgroup server with dubious service?

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or UNIX workgroup. Dell's new systems have more thanenough performance to function as a LAN Server and WANor internetworking gateway. So they're capable of supportingthe most demanding server use—a multi-function network. Of

Tht Dell Syirem and d25TEoi« OauAd«vii:es sold for use ii comrnerdd efTvirorarienh onl>! E^rfoimaficB enhanwmerts; wiltiir ihe firaJ

megobylB of menwy 384 KB s reserved for use by iTie sysJem to enhonce pe*fonTwrKe. All systems ore p^otogropliedprices end speciflcotlons ore subiect 'o chonge wirtiout notice, Dell connot be responsible lor errors in ty^ogrocJiy or photogrophy "Poy-mentbosed on 36.fnonth,open-end lease. LeOSingorronged by Leosing Grotjp, Inc. In Conodo,configurations ond prices moy vory. DELLSYSTEM IS o registered trodeitiork.Dell and SmonVu ore trodemorlrs of Deil Computer Corporotion Dell UNIX System V3.2 is bosed onINTEIWCT1VE Systems Corporotlons386/li('-Intel Isoregisteredtrodemork and I486 and 436 ore troderrtorVs of Intel Corporotip<i.tFromCompoq July 23,1990 press release, UNIX Is a registered trodemork of AT&Tlnttie United Stotesand ottter countries, Otfiertrtjdernorksand trode names ore used to Idenhfy the entrtles claiming the modes and nomet; or their products, Dell Ctxnputer Corpprotlon disclaimsony proprietory interest in trademorlrs ond trode nomes other than Its own,-On-site service moy not be Ovoiloble in certoin remoteloctttions,Shipping, hondling ondopplicoble soles tax not Included in the price. For informotion on ond o copy of Dell's 30-doyTo)olSotisfoction Gucroniee, limited worronty ond Xerox's Service Contract, pleose write to Dell Computer Corporation,9505 ArborehtmBoule-ord, Austin, Texos78759-7299,ATT>J:Wprroiity, 41990 Dell Computer Corporohoo, All rights reserved-

course, they're completely compatible with all major networkoperating systems, including Novell, 3COM and Banyan.

In a UNIX environment, the 425TE and 433TE are perfectfor workgroups supporting either traditional multiuser orhigh-speed client/ser\'er environments.You can buy Dell servers preloaded withUNIX System y making them literallyplug and play. Even more impressive is thefact that UNIX system administration canbe done by Dell, remotely.

Serticing servers is beyond mostCompaq dealers. If a server happens togo down, your whole company can godown with it.

Would you trust some unknowntechnician to bring it back up?We wouldn't.

That's why we have a special advancedsystems hotline so you can call us direct.Dell is an AT&TUNIX source code licenseeand an authorized Novell Network Reseller.

On those rare occasions we can't fixit over the phone, Xerox technicians willcome to your office with the solution orai^r^sm^a— part in hand."^There's a lot more to knoiv before you buy a server.When you call Dell, our experts will give you the help youneed to buy an advanced PC or UNIX server.

Then we'll send it off with a 30-day no questions askedmoney back guarantee, and a one year limited warranty.Call us.

Wdd like to make believers out of you.Above and beymid the call.

DELL

COMPUTER

CORPORATION

Circle 104 on Reader Service Card

THE LAP OF LUXURY.

Talk about good things falling intoyour lap.

Dell's first laptop-the 16 MHz 386" SX—was PC Magazine's Editor's Choice, and wonPC Week's Corporate Satisfaction Poll for386SX laptop computers.

Now we've made a faster 20 MHz model,with a new higher contrast display.And it's only $3,899.Which is a hefty $2,900 less than

Compaq's SLT

TO ORDER, CALL

800'444'1470

HOURS:6AM-9PMCTM-F SAM-4PMCTSATIN CANADA, CALL 8(10-387-5752

386s/20.'

In fact, it even

costs less than most slower 16 MHz laptops.

How those other guys can charge so muchis insane.

(Here's another good one: We're also cutting theprice of our original 16 MHz laptop to $2,999. Thatshould drive our competitors up the padded wall.)

It's a desktop PC trapped in the body of a laptop.

This lightweight laptop acts suspiciously like adesktop system.

With the Intel® 20 MHz 386SX microprocessor, it'sas powerful as most desktops.

It's nearly as expandable, too. You get up to 8 MB

20 MHz 386SX

Lease: $141/mor*

THE NEW DELL SYSTEM' 320LT 20 MHz 386SXAND THE DELL SYSTEM 316LT16 MHz 386SX

• Ince! S0386SX microprocessor running at20 MH: {320LT) or 16 MH: (316LT).

•Standard 1 MB of RAM* optional 2 MB ofRAM expandable to 8 MB (on the s>-stem boardusing I MB SIMMS).

• LIM 4-0 support for memory over 1 MB.

• 640 X 480 VGA Liquid Crystal Display.

• One industry standard half-sise 8-bit expansionslot.

• Dedicated Data/F^x modem sloc-

• Socket for Intel 80387SX math coprocessor.•3.5" 1.44 MB diskette dnve.

• 83-ke>' ke>'board with embedded ruimerk Is^pad.

I ADCODE11E32 |

• 1 parallel, 1 serial, and external VGA monitorport.

• Connector for lOl-kev' keyboard or numerickeypad.

• Connector for external 5.25" 1.2 MBdidcettedrive.

• Two removable and rechargeable N iCad batterypacks utilizing Dell's "Continuous Fbwer BatterySv-stem" (patent pending).

316LT: 20 MB. I MB RAM S2.999320LT: 40 MB. 2 MB R.^M $3,899

•Performonce Enhoncemwils: Within the first megabyte of memory, 128KB is reserved for use by the system to enhonce

performance. DEILSYSTE// a o registered trodemorfcond Delso trodernorko^Del ConiputerCbrporotk^

ord 336 is 0 Iroderriark or Intel Corporal. tSoira: [^jtacFjest inc. (5|^^

feose. -leosing onwged by Le<Ming Group, lot In Conoda configu^^

typogrcph/or phtfogrophy SHippifig. hofiding ond (vpfceab^

kisnhty *<e entifjes diirrm^ the rrixfa ond nornes or iIt^

rrorVs or>d trode ryynes Oiner 4kvi is OSMa-^Orvsie sennoe rnoy rx)! b^

roton. All rights reserved-FcrinfentxSion onond ocopyofDeTsSO-DoyTisidSofefactionGuo^^Ccotroci, pleose lo Del Conipoler CorpofoSon. 9505 Arborefiw Bou^^

THE LAP OF LUNACY.

of RAM, a 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive and a 20 or 40MB hard drive. It also has a dedicated slot for a Dell"Data/Fax modem, and a separate slot for a standardhalf-length expansion card. (On a Compaq, thatexpansion slot would cost you an extra $1,000).

When it's time to stay put, you can connect ourlaptop to an external VGA monitor and keyboard, a5.25"external floppy disk drive, and even to yournetwork or mainframe.

If you can tvork 24 hours a day, ourlaptop can tvork 24 hours a day. Dell'sspecial Continuous Power Battery System letsyou change batteries without losing your data,or your train of thought. The system includestwo lightweight rechargeable battery packs.

The service goes where you go. If you havea question, our toll-free technical hotlinesolves 90% of all problems over the phone. Ifwe can't solve it over the phone, a trainedtechnician from Xerox will be sent to yourlapside the next business day—nearlyanywhere in the contiguous U.S.-

For sale, for lease, for less. When you callus, you talk with a computer expert whosesole mission is to give you exactly what youwant. At a great price. We'll custom configure yourlaptop, give you a 30-day no questions asked moneyback guarantee, and a choice of leasing plans."^

Then we'll do a configured system test, and ship itwherever you want.

Call now for either our 16 MHz or new 20 MHz386SX laptops.

It'd be lunacy not to.Above and beyond the call.

DELL

COMPUTER

CORPORATION

Circle 105 on Reader Service Card

Thefloppy disk icon "D0S-1.44M" is actuallyan MS-DOS^ disk, brought to you by AccessPCV

Shown:Lotus" 1-2-3" release2.2, runningin SoJtPC with EGA/AT Option Module^"

i File fdil Opiions PC Otu'ps

MBtmtosh Hn

QckQck,It'sAMAC. It'sAMiC

AndAPC.

Load SoftPC, click twice, and you've got a window wideopen to the entire MS-DOS world. Everything a Mac can doplus everything a PC con do, in one machine.

Whether you're a Macintosh user who needs accessto PC softwareand data,ore PC userwho wants to goMacintosh without losing PC compatibility, you can have itallwith Insignia's best-selling software solutions.

So/fPCis a software emulation preciseenough to run the toughest PC applications-Norton Utilities, Lotus 1-2-3, Han/ardGraphics, AutoCad, even custom develop-ment programs. You get complete XT or ATcompatibilify forthe SE/30, Macintosh IIfamily and the Macintosh Portable.

Add an EGA/AT Option Module, andget vibrant EGA color compatibility, LIMexpanded memory and math coprocessorsupport.

New4ccessPCIetsyou use PCand PS/2disks just like Mac disks. Now you can move andview PC file and disk icons—even in locked orfulldisks!—format DOS disks, launch Mac applications andmuch more.

For more information and the name of a SoftPC dealernearyou,call Insignia at800-848-7677 (U.S. only) or408-522-7600 (outside U.S.).

Ifisignid

Insignio Solutions.

nc. 254 Son GefDnimoWoy, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. Fox: 408-733-9541. We give a So/fPClretoi! S399) or ,4ccessPC program (retail 5129) doily to ocollerselected at raridom.registered trademark and ^^ccessATiso trademark of Insignia Solutions. Inc. Other product nomes are trademarks or registered trademorksof their respective owners-

Circle 173 on Reader Service Card

EXPERT ADVICEMACINATIONS ■ Don Crabb

WORKING

WITH Windows 3.0AND A Mac

Overall, the Windows

3.0/386 combo

is an 85 percent Mac

As I have written here before,using Windows 3.0 on a good-quality 386 PC is surprisinglysimilar to using a Mac Ilex.It's nowhere near an exact match, but it'sclose enough to force the obvious com-parisons. Overall, I call the Windows3.0/386 combo an 85 percent Mac.

The reality of microcomputing life isthat lots of different graphical user inter-faces (GUIs), stuck on lots of differentoperating systems, are going to be thenorm for the nineties. Mac and Windowsusers must learn to get along, because in-teroperability will be the defining tech-nology. I have had my share of Mac OS/Windows 3.0 attempts at detente, andhere are some early tips based on my ex-perience.

Networking

I do a lot of work over computer net-works, both at home and at the office. Iuse both LocalTalk and Ethernet to in-terconnect Macs, PCs, Sun SPARCsta-tions, and NeXT Computers. For Win-dows 3.0 to be a viable GUI for memeans that I have to make it work withthese existing networks.

Right now, that's a big problem. I useboth AppleShare and TOPS on the PCsand Macs, while Network File Systemhandles the file sharing over the Unixboxes. Thus, I want to run AppleSharePC or TOPS on my Windows-equippedPCs, or even NFS. But that's not yet pos-sible. None of these file-server technol-ogies are Windows 3.0-compatible.

I've tried loading AppleShare PC andTOPS first and then loading Windows3.0 on the PCs, but there's not enoughmemory left in the 640K-byte start-up

segment for Windows to fly. I've alsotried Windows in real mode (where youlose all the multitasking and extendedmemory magic) to shoehorn in the net-working stuff, but that's been a wash.

Novell's NetWare or 3Com's 3 -I-Sharemight be an answer for my cross-plat-form file sharing, since Windows 3.0 hashooks that can support these networkedoperating systems. But the cheapest ver-sion of NetWare that supports all myMacs and PCs as clients would cost me$4600.1 don't see that as much of a solu-tion. Plus, I'd need to establish a PC as adedicated NetWare server, to say nothingof the hassle of Novell network adminis-tration.

NFS isn't an answer either, since thereis no PC version of it that works withWindows. The best I can do is run myPCs under DOS 4.01 and do my filesharing over the networks under that op-erating system. Then, I can kill the net-works and reboot under Windows to run

my applications. Not exactly transparentnetworking, is it? Let's hope that Appleand Sitka (formerly TOPS) can fix thingsat their end, and that Microsoft's prom-ised easy adaptability of Windows 3.0 todifferent networks becomes a reality.

File Exchange

When I've used a Toshiba T3100SX lap-top on the road and want to move its filesover to my Mac, I have always used Trav-eling Software's LapLink Mac III. Itworks well and simply. Luckily, Lap-Link Mac III works fine as a non-Win-dows application, so I can continue to useit that way. Since I'm using MicrosoftWord for Windows on the T3100SX, Ialso don't have to worry about invokingfile-conversion software or file filters.

I've tried other file-exchange solutionson the T3100SX and on both an Out-bound Systems portable Mac and Ap-ple's Mac Portable connected to a To-shiba T5200 running Windows 3.0. I

ILLUSTRATION: TOM SCIACCA © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 - BYTE 107

MACINATIONS

used a direct serial connection on bothMacs to the T5200 and ran Procomm as anon-Windows application on the T5200,while running VersaTerm-Pro on theMacs.

A similar serial connection betweenthe T3 lOOSX and a Mac Ilci also workedfine for file exchanges as long as I madesure to use the correct file translators orfilters first. For the most part, I use theApple File Exchange with the Claris,DataViz (MacLink Plus), and SystemsCompatibility (Software Bridge) transla-tors for this. I've had no trouble gettingPageMaker 4.0, Excel 2.2, PowerPoint2.0, and other files over to Windowsfrom the Mac.

As more DOS and Mac vendors pro-duce Windows 3.0-compatible software,the transparent exchange of files betweenthese two operating systems should be-come much easier.

On-Line Service and BBS AccessOver the past two years, I've become ad-dicted to the ease of use offered by Con-nect's MacNet, CompuServe's Naviga-tor, AppleLink, and America Online.Unfortunately, there is no Windows 3.0

version of AppleLink, and the same istrue for America Online, a service dedi-cated to Mac users with a spiffy GUI.

Thankfully, though, there is a PC ver-sion of Connect (PCNet), and I've gottenby with it in the past. Unfortunately, it'snot expected to appear in a Windows-compatible version anytime soon, and Ican't make it work quite right as a non-Windows application. Although there'sno Windows version of Navigator, Com-puServe does have a new PC package formaking access easier, called the Compu-Serve Information Manager. But it's notWindows 3.0-compatible either, and it'spretty mediocre compared to all the auto-scripting capabilities of Navigator.

For Windows 3.0 to gain the same rep-utation as a high-quality interface foron-line services as the Mac, we needWindows-based on-line software writtenfor it.

Similarities and DifferencesCan Aggravate

If you spend more than 5 minutes usingWindows 3.0, you realize that it looksmore like the Mac Finder/MultiFinderthan it works like it. While Windows 3.0

includes resizable windows, scroll bars,menus, icons, proportional screen fonts,and color, the way they work isn't usu-ally the same as their Mac equivalents.

If you're a Mac person, a number ofannoying omissions (e.g., the lack of aTrashcan and different functional menubars for each Desktop window) can con-fuse you. If you're used to the cleanscreen fonts on the Mac, you'll hate thelousy screen fonts under Windows, al-though Adobe's Type Manager for Win-dows should help. You'll also find thatmany of the Windows icons look a tadmediocre.

There are quite a few Windows capa-bilities that Mac users would love tohave: icons that represent parent anddaughter windows (which keeps theDesktop tidy), standard interapplicationcommunication in the form of DynamicData Exchange that MacFolk have towait for System 7.0 to savor, true pre-emptive multitasking with dynamicmemory allocation (System 7.0 won'thave dynamic memory), and seriouslyenhanced printer control.

Mac users with anything more than apassing familiarity with that machine

i

ii

I

108

AWARD POSTCARD

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• Fits into any 8/16 BIT slot

• Optional digital diagnostic diskettes for floppy disk alignment

• Serial and parallel loop back connectors included

• New Low Price «249.°°

Order Now1-800-800-2467

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BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990 Circle 359 on Reader Service Card

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Circle 378 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 379)

TheQ

You're traveling through another dimension— a dimension of increasing storage demandsand rewritable optical technology.

Submitted for your approval, storage solu-tions from the #1 source of optical storagesystems in the world. Systems designedfor Macintosh, SUN, DEC, HP, IBMand compatibles. Support for ad-vanced applications runningUnix, Xenix, A/UX, NoveU,and more.

Pinnacle Micro, the leaderin this new storage revolution,provides expanded storage formultimedia, digital video, pre-press,desktop publishing, CAD/CAM, and otherdata-intensive applications.

In the Optical Zone, these storage requirementsare met with the latest optical technologyavailable. From the world's first 3.5 inch opticaldrive to the largest selling 5.25 inch opticaldrives and disk changers. On Une,network, backup and archivingstorage solutions from128 Megabytes to 36 Gigabytes.

\^th optical storage,your data's life is pro-longed and protected.Expansion is as easy asinserting another opticaldisc. With Pinnacle'sASCENT™ program, systems can beupgraded from 650 Megabytes to 1 Terabyte.

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Circle 284 on Reader Service Card

MACINATIONS

will peg Windows 3.0 as being different.After a bit more exploration, you'll likelyfind that it's annoyingly different, de-spite some of its obvious pluses. After afew months, you'll find yourself askingwhen Windows 4.0 is coming out to fixall the interface mistakes Microsoft stillmanaged to build into version 3.0.

On the other hand, Windows 3.0 usersshould be able to switch over to a Mac (orswitch back and forth between the twoenvironments) with considerably less

It's true! We can turnyour existing ~™"Series I! or IIIprinter into a _1000 X 1000Turbo Res™

Plain-Paper ^Typesetter! National TeleVAR™(Raster Devices Direct) intro-duces the 1000 Enhancer Kit™for your HP Series II or III printer.

By using a new imagingtechnology calledTurboRes™ on our PC-basedcontroller, we can transformyour 300 dpi printer into astate-of-the-art Plain-PaperTypesetter that gives you printquality previously undreamed of,even on devices costing over$20,000.

Send us your HP Series II or IIIlaser printer and we will dothe rest. We factory install avideo board and connector inyour Series II or III, and supply aPC/XT/AT or MCA 6Mb printercontroller, 135 scaleable fonts,direct driver software for

trouble, since Windows 3.0 is a vast im-provement over version 2.03. And it doeslook a lot like a Mac. Sometimes lookinggood is all that matters, I guess.

Tip of the Month:Subscribe to a Newsletter

This past summer proved to be anothertough time for computer magazines. Anindustry that was already condensed hascompacted further with the failures ofVNU's Personal Computing, IDG's PC

Resource, and CMP's Macintosh News.

Surprisingly, though, as some main-stream computer magazines have failed,computer newsletters have gotten stron-ger. Old standbys like Stewart Alsop'sPC Letter have gotten bigger and better,while McGraw-Hill's BYTEWEEK hasestablished itself as a reliable weekly forup-to-the-minute computing news andanalysis for both PC and Mac users.

Two of my most pleasant surprises,however, come from industry expertsrelatively new to the newsletter game.Denise Caruso, the gifted columnist ofthe San Francisco Examiner and severalon-line venues, has just started a newslet-ter for working multimedia users.

Called Media Letter, this newsletter isexactly what real multimedia peopleneed. If you're using your Mac for multi-media work, or if you expect to in the fu-ture, you should subscribe to Media Let-ter (P.O. Box 142075, Coral Gables, PL33114, (305) 441-1282). It costs from$195 to $395 a year, depending on yourinstitutional affiliation.

My favorite Mac newsletter will soonbe celebrating its first anniversary. TheWeigand Report (P.O. Box 647, GalesFerry, CT 06335, (203) 464-6188) iswritten and published by former MAC-azine and Personal Publishing editorChuck Weigand. This newsletter practi-cally begs to be read, since it's jammedwith useful and specific tips for Macnovices and Mac experts.

Since much of Chuck's expertise is indesktop publishing, that's the focus, butthe newsletter also includes coveragegermane to small-business Mac owners.A recent issue had articles on high-reso-lution plain paper printers, font-transfor-mation software, SCSI-bus screwupscaused by multiple SCSI devices, and thecompression of TIFF images.

Chuck gives you plenty of theoreticaland engineering (he is, after all, a retiredNavy lieutenant commander and nuclearsubmariner) information about the topicshe covers, but he also includes plenty ofpractical tips for solving the problems hereveals. A yearly subscription to the Wei-gand Report (20 issues) costs $128. It'seasily worth thrice the price. ■

Don Crabb is the director of laboratoriesand a senior lecturer for the computerscience department at the University ofChicago. He is also a contributing editorfor BYTE. He can be reached on BIX as"decrabb."

Your questions and comments are wel-come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, OnePhoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH03458.

1000 DPI!

From Your HP LaserJet Series II or III

Windows(such asPageMaker,CorelDRAW!,MicrografxDesigner, WordWindows, etc.),GEM (such as Xerox VenturaPublisher, GEM Artline, etc.) andWord Perfect.

CALL NOW! 1-800-468-1732,Source Code #106 (In MN:612-941-4919) and ask about the1000 Enhancer Kit for yourSeries II or III printer. The 300dpi barrier will fall by the way-side as you experience lOOOx1000 TurboRes. Note that allyour existing PCL functionalityremains unchanged, so yourprinter can live in both worlds—PCL and 1000x1000 TurboRes!

PrePress Systems Specialists

Formerly Raster Devices Direct, inc.

©1990. Raster Devices Direct, Inc., National TeleVAR and 1000 Enhancer Kit are trademarks of Raster DevicesCorporation. TurboRes is a licensed technology and a trademarl< of Laserf^aster Corporation. All other productand brand names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. All prices andspecifications are subject to change without notice. Please call for current pricing and warranty details.

VISA, MASTERCARD AND AMERICAN EXPRESS ACCEPTED

110 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 252 on Reader Service Card

Database UsersRespond To Queries

In a series of recent polls, Oracle'sproducts were ranked number oneby five magazines representing overfour hundred thousand readers.Leading to only one conclusion:Oracle's database and networkingproducts are the best solutions forthe widest variety of PC and Macusers.

The readers of both DATA BASEDADVISOR andDBMS Magazine namedProfessional ORACLE Tools andDatabase the best SQL-based data-base. The readers of VARBUSINESS,

who should know something aboutdeveloping applications, named itthe best applications software. AndGovernment Computer News citedreliability, compatibility and speedas some of the reasons they awardedProfessional ORACLE Tools andDatabase the number one datamanager for local area networks.

ORACLE for Macintosh receivedits share of acclaim from Info Worldreaders, who named it MacintoshProduct of the Year.

Info World readers also

named Oracle's newest desktopproduct, ORACLE Server for OS/2,product of the year. As didsubscribers of DBMS Magazine,who rated ORACLE Server for OS/2the best database server.

Call 1-800-633-0498 Ext. 4905 toorder or sign up for the free OracleClient-Server Forum in your area.And see what kind of softwaregenerates this kind of hardware.

Professional ORACLE Tools ^and Database Version 5.1 C

$1,299

Professional ORACLE ToolsVersion 5.1 0

$799

ORACLE tor Macintosti Version 1.2Database VersionNetworkstation Version(without database)

$699$299

ORACLE Server for OS/2

$3,699

ORACLE for 1-2-3 Version 1.1

$299

To order call 1 -800-633-0498 ext. 490;

Compatibility • Portability • Connectability

a 990 Ora* CocpcraSOT. ORACLE is a registered lrademari< ofIrademark, or legislered Oadema* of »ie respective manufatJurer. Cal 1 -eoOORACLEI lor haidirare dni solfcvare requi-emetils.

Have you heard our

Adobe Systems ... NCP

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□ SVz" format available from us. Specifywhen ordering.

s pacitage Includes both 5V4" and 3V2"disl(s.

B VI2" format available from manufacturerby request. Call us for details.

CP—copy-protected; NCP—not copy-protected.

The four-digit number next to each productIs the product's ITEM NUMBER. Please referto this numl}er when ordering. Thank you.

SOFTWARE

We only carry the latest versions of products.Version numbers In our ads are current atpress time.

Products listed here in red are MicrosoftWindows Applications.

Corel Systems ... NCP

5506 aCorclDRAW! f i-The world's leadingPC illustration software now comes witheven more value: CorelTRACE, over 100typefaces, over 300 clip-art images, a Pantonelicense-all bundled in for free $329.

Adobe Systems ... NCP

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7547 HAdobe Type Manager for Windows 59.7902 □ Adobe Type Manager for Windows and

Microsoft Windows 3.0 149.

6590 aStreamline Windows 1.0 229.

7392 BAdobe PostScript Cartridge.... 249.

(Entire Adobe Type Library, from 1 to 133

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Aldus ... NCP1332 DPageMakerS.OI 499.

Alpha Software ... NCP5104 aAlpha Four 1.1 319.

Application Techniques ... NCP1214 BPizazz Plus 2.0 69.

ASD Software ... NCP7847 HPIanlsoftl.0 145.

Ashton-Tate ... NCP4450 DdBASEIV 1.1 499.

Asymetrix ... NCP7384 BToolbook 1.0 for Windows 309.

ASD Software ... NCP

7847 SPlanisoft f 0-Coordinate agendas,find available time-slots for appointments,keep track of dealines & priorities, distributetasks, optimize resources, share informationbetween PCs & Macs over any LAN. $145.

Avery ... NCP

6006 aLabelProl.0 49.

7336 aLabel Pro I.Ofor Dot Matrix 49.

Bitstream ... NCP7568 BFaceLift 1.0 59.

BCollectlons: Newsletters, Flyers, Books

& Manuals, Reports and Proposals,

Presentations or Spreadsheets each 129.

BFontware eacfi 89.

Borland International ... NCP7357 0TurboC-t--^ 1.0 Professional ... . 159.7356 HTurbo Pascal Professional 2nd Ed. 179.

6242 HQuattro Pro 1,0 325.

1514 aParadox3.0 469.

Broderbund ... NCP1434 DNew Print Shop (NCP) 39.

Button Ware ... NCP6419 aPC-FileS.0 89,

Caere ... NCP6004 BOmnlpage386 2.1 599.

Central Point ... NCP

5039 aPC Tools Deluxe 6.0 89.

5038 □CopyllPC5.0 27.

Checi(free

6360 CheckFree (electronic cfiecl<ingsn/.) $25.

Chipsoft ... NCP1663 aTurboTax 8.0 for 1990 Taxes 45.

CompuServe7546 DOS Membership Kit 23.

Concentric Data Systems ... NCP6575 BR &R Relational Report Writer 38 109.

Corel Systems ... NCP5506 QCorelDRAW! 1.2 329.

Custom Applications ... NCP7474 DFreedom of Press 2.2 255.

Data Storm ... NCP4798 BPROCOMM PLUS 1.1 65.

DCA ... NCP

2908 nCrosstalk XVI 3.71 119.

5611 nCrosstalk for Windows 1.1 129.

Delrina Technology ... NCP7351 BPerFORMPRO 1.0 for Windows. 299.

Fifth Generation Systems ... NCP

7725 BDIrect Access 5.0 59.

2762 DMace Utilities 1990 99.

7795 BDisklockl.0 109,

3950 BFastback Plus 2.1 119.

FNN Data Broadcasting7005 aNewsReal 1.0 99.

FormWorx ... NCP5810 DFormWorx with Fill & File 2.5 ... . 85.7311 BForm Publisher for Windows 1.2. 145.

Fox Software ... NCP6188 0FoxPro1.O2 489.

Franklin Software ... NCP

7071 BLanguage Master 2.0 59.

7416 BLanguage Master 3.0 for Windows 59.

Funi( Software ... NCP

2228 DSidewaysS.S 52.

7380 BRD. Queue 1.0 (printspooler) ... 55.

Generic Software ... NCP2265 BGenerlcCADD Level3 1.1.3... 225.

Great American Software ... NCP4880 nOne Write Plus Acct. Sys. 2.06 . . 179.5825 BMoney Matters 1.0 55.

Harvard Associates ... NCP2324 0PC Logo 3.0 59.

Chipsoft ... NCP

1663 \ilTurhoTax8.0for 1990 Taxes-The best-seUing, easiest-to-use and most completesoftware for preparing individual tax returns.TurboTax provides on-line help, IRS instruc-tions and comprehensive tax assistance $45.

f

latest breakthrough

hDC Computer Corp. ... NCP

7389 HWindows Express 3.0 $55.

7383 [wFirstApps 1.0 55.

Hilgraeve ... NCP2323 H HyperACCESS/5 1.1 (DOS & OS/2) 115.

IBM ... NCP6599 CCurrent1.1 239.

Individual Software ... NCP6222 aResume Maker 1.1 29.

Inset Systems ... NCP

7298 HHijaak2.0 99.

7300 a Inset Plus Hijaak 125.

Intuit ... NCP2426 HQuicken3.0 39.

Isogon ... NCP7478 BFontSpace 2.0 59.

Laser Go ... NCP7635 DGo Script Plus 3.0 189.

LaserTools ... NCP6882 HPrintCache2.3 99.

Loitl Publishing ... NCP5191 HRonstadt's Financials 1.02 75.

Lotus ... NCP

5417 □1-2-3 3.1 call

5653 □1-2-3 2.2 349.

5134 aMagellan2.0 119.

MECA ... NCP4603 HAndrew Tobias'Tax Cut-1990 Taxes 49.

7002 BHome Lawyer 1.0 69.

2798 DManaging Your Money 6.0 135.

Microcom ... NCP

7649 HVirexl.1 79.

6234 DCarbonCopy Plus 5.2 119.

Micrografx ... NCP7683 □Ctnarisma 1.0 349.

Micro Logic ... NCP6787 a Info Select 1.1 55.

Microlytics ... NCP2731 □GOfer2.0 45.

Microsoft ... NCP7882 □Productivity Pack for Windows. . . 45.

7010 □Windows3.0 99.

7388 aProject for Windows 1.0 469.

7387 BPowerPoint for Windows 1.0 329.

FomWorx ... NCP

7311 Hftm Publisher pr Windows f 2-Desktoppublishing designed especially for creatingprofessional-quality forms. Use uniqueobject-oriented design techniques & importgraphics. Over 600 forms included!.. $145.

2904 □Works 2.0 $99.

2901 □Word 5.0 209.

6195 aWord for Windows 1.1 329.

2856 a Excel 2.1 329.

2894 □QuickBASIC 4.5 69.

2853 aC Compiler 6.0 339.

Multisoft ... NCP4925 □PC-Kwik Power Pak 1.5 79.

Nolo Press ... NCP2982 □WillMaker4.0 39.

Norton-Lambert ... NCP

4928 □Close-Up Customer/Terminal 3.0 135.

4929 □Close-Up Support/ACS 3.0 ... . 165.PC Globe ... NCP

5902 DPC Globe 4.0 39.

5900 □PCUSA2.0 39.

Personics ... NCP

4384 aUltravision 2.0 79.

7048 aMonarch 1.0 (Data Mgmt. Tool) . 319.

PowerUp ... NCP

7860 aCalendar Creator Plus 45.

7858 BExpress Publisher 2.0 89.

Funk Software ... NCP

2228 nSideways 3.3-Rotates your spread-sheets 90° as they print $52,

7380 \EP.D. Qmuc 10-Lotus add-in that savestime by spooling Sideways & Allways outputto hard disk & printing in the background 55.

Precision Software ... NCP

6600 sSuperbase 4 for Windows 1.2 .. 469.

Qualitas ... NCP7539 □386MAX5.0 75.

Quarterdeck ... NCP

6422 nQRAM 1.0 49.

3221 DExpanded Memory Mgr. 386 5.1 . 59.

3220 □DESQView2.3 79.

4586 □DESQView386 5.1 129.

Reality Technologies ... NCP6572 aWealthBuilderl.1 145.

Reference Software ... NCP

4396 BGrammatiklVI.0 52.

7483 aGrammatik for Windows 1.0 52.

1-800/776-7777

liljlliyiQ PC Connection 780B.^^—6 Mill Street

Marlow, NH 03456SALES 603/446-7721 FAX 603/446-7791

Bitstream ... NCP

7568 lEfaceLijt f.O-Fast & easy-to-use, scalesscreen & printer fonts to any size. 13 type-faces to give you professional documentsinstandy. Superb laser output & near laser-quality output for dot matrix printers . $59.

Revolution Software ... NCP

4480 aVGA Dimmer 2.01 (Screensaver;. 29.

RightSoft ... NCP4155 BRightWriter4.0 55.

Samna ... NCP5799 aAmi Professional 1.2 309.

Softlogic Solutions ... NCP3542 □Software Carousel 4.0 55.

Software Publishing ... NCP

3499 nPFSiFirst Publisher3.0 99.

3478 GPFSiFirst Choice 3.02 105.

3496 nProfessional Write 2.2 179.

3482 DHarvard Graphics2.3 359.

Spinnaker ... NCP7604 BPIus for Windows 1.0 289.

Symantec ... NCP

3152 aNorton Commander 3.0 105.

6397 aThe Norton Backup 1.1 105.

3146 BThe Norton Utilities 5.0 125.

3425 □Q&A3.0 229.

3431 □Timeline 4.0 469.

Software Publishing ... NCP

3482 nHamrd Graphics 2.3-New version!Built-in drawing tools and other new featuresmake this superior graphics and chartingprogram a top performer Graphically thebest choice $359.

®:

Aa rrEMS subject to availabiuty. prices subject to change without nohce.

Makes unpacking

\

^^■x t iX'Tr ft

Qualitas ... NCP

7539 Oi86MAX^.O-?ovftM newMAXIMIZE feature finds and uses all thememory you paid for Automatic install makesthis industry-standard memory managerindispensable for all level of 386 users. $75.

MicRtioli Pnxiudiviiyli)rW"nx!tM«

Microsoft ... NCP

7882 DProductivity Pack pr Windows-hdudes:Learning Windows-a comprehensive tutorial,Working Smarter-on-line productivity tips,and Quick Troubleshooter-helps solvecommon Windows problems $45.

Systems Compatibility ... NCP

6564

□Software Bridge 4.1

79

TIMESLIPS ... NCP

2987

□Timeslips III 4,0

195

6994

□PercentEdge 1.0

69

Timeworl(S ... NCP

6253

BPublish-lt! 1.1

115

TOPS ... NCP

6675

□TOPS Network Bundle 3.0

159

3720

Flashcard 2.1 (AppleTalk network card;

1 year warranty)

155

Touchstone Software ... NCP

7420

aCheckltS.O

89

Traveling Software ... NCP

5179

aLapLinklllS.O

95

TrueBASiC ... NCP

3561

BTrue BASIC 2.1

52

Vericomp ... NCP

6771

BMemory Master 1.1

45

Voil(Swriter ... NCP

6246

□Volkswriter4 1.02

109

Touchstone Software ... NCP

7420 lECkck It 3.0-Diagnostic software willhelp find and get rid of system problems. Runover 160 tests on all major system components.Results can be logged to disk or printer withsuggestions on fixing simple troubles .. $89.

West Lal<e Data Corp. ... NCP

7577 □PC-FullBak-^ 1.12 $52.

7574 BPathMinder-^ 1.0 79.

7575 ElVaiuePak (includes 4 programs). . 69.WordPerfect Corp. ... NCP

7781 HLetterPerfectl.O 135.

3804 □WordPerfect 5.1 265.

6685 HDrawPerfectl.1 279.

WordStar internationai ... NCP6791 □WordStar Prof. 6.0 279.

Xerox ... NCP7796 BVentura Publisher for Windows 3.0 569.

XTREE ... NCP6161 HXTreePro Gold 1.4 75.

ZSoft ... NCP7016 BPC Paintbrush IV Plus 1.0 119.

7014 BPCPaintbrushPlusforWndows1.12 89.RECREATIONAL/EDUCATIONAL

Broderbund ... CP

5701 □Where/Time Carmen Sandiego? . 32.5851 BSimCity 33.

PCGlobe PCUSA

PC Globe ... NCP

5902 DPC USA 2.0-lnstant profiles on all50 states and Puerto Rico, including maps,

graphics, and data $39.

5900 DPC Globe 4.0-Frovides profiles of 177countries. Exports to many programs .. 39.

Electronic Arts ... NCP

5804 BDeluxe Paint II f£n^anceo'; 89.

HyperGlot ... NCP

7849 □Word Torture-French 29.

7853 □Word Torture-Spanish 29.

Microsoft ... NCP

2858 DFIight Simulator 4.0 39.

Penton Overseas ... NCPBVocabuLearn/ce Levels I & II (French,Italian, German, Spanish, Russian,

Hebrew and Japanese) each 39.

Sierra On-Line ... CP

6023 BLeisure Suit Larry III 39.

6796 aCodename: Iceman 39.

6972 aConquests of Camelot 39.

Software Toolworks ... NCP

6436 IBHunt for Red October 20.

4659 BChessmaster 2100 fCPJ 35,

Stone & Assoc. ... NCP

7564 BYoung Math fages 5 to 8j 22,

3439 B2nd Math fages 7to16) 27,

Toyogo ... NCP

7676 BGo Master Deluxe 89,

True BASIC, Inc. ... NCP

BKemeny/Kurtz Math Series, each 45,

HARDWARE

Manufacturer's standard limitedwarranty period for items shown islisted after each company name.Some products in their line mayhave different warranty periods.

American Power ... 2 years

7108 APC Smart-UPS 400 339,

6811 360SXfsfand-bypowersourcej. , , 219,7107 450AT(sfand-bypowersourcej. . . 279.7106 520ES fsfanc/-by power sourcej. . . 329.

AST Research ... 2 years

1299 SixPakPlus 384k C/S/P 179.

6795 SixPak 286 512k 179.

4107 RAMpage Plus 286 512k 419.

Boca Research ... 5 years7001 BOCARAM/AT PLUS (0-8 Meg)

(LIM 4.0 extended) 125.

7061 BOCARAM/XT OK fO-2 Meg, L/M 4,0) 99,7135 TophAT (16-bit backfill 512K to 640K) 99,

6998 I/O Board for AT 59,

6999 I/O Board for MicroChannel S/S/P , 109,6995 SuperVGA fSOOx 600, 76/8 b/tj,, , 115,7026 ^024VGA (16 bit non-interlaced). . 149,

Bravo Communications7400 2 Pes. Laser Compatible Switch Box 109,

Brother International ... 1 year5787 HL-8e Laser Printer fHP2comp.j. 1399.

Canon ... 1 year7894 BJ-lOe BubbleJet Printer f4.6/5.J. 349.7896 Sheet feeder for BJ-lOe 75,

CH Products ... 1 year7341 Gamecard 111 Plus (for Ivlicrochannel

PS/2S) 49,

7340 Flight Stick f/nc/udes Fa/con F-76;, , 49,7345 Rollermouse (TracW)a/<) sena/ 85, bus 99,

Compucable ... 2 years1604 2-Position switch box 25,

800.2^3-8088

HERE

^^^^

■ mm

YOUOmTHEW

V I (N I) 0 W S

PC Clout.

Diamonds in the rough.

(Or, why you're always safe with us.)

An early fall afternoon. The sky is bluer than theIBM logo and there's enough electricity in the airto light up Yankee Stadium. You could be atCandlestick, Wrigley, or Fenway, munching a frank, andyelling, "It's outta here!" But the players are suspiciouslyfurry and there's a level of play you rarely see anymore,even in the big leagues. Welcome tothe silicon sandlot of Marlow, NH ■'' ^(pop. 563). Where the only gamethat's played is hardball. And wherewe don't take American Express.(Just VISA, MC, and Corporate P.O.s.)

Students of the game know thatwhen it comes to PC mail order we

wrote the book: toll-free tech support, latest versionsonly, and price lists complete with up-to-date stats onwarranties, disk size, and copy protection. Give us acall next time you need to know the score on any PCproduct. We'll never leave you out in left field.Get into the swing of things.We have a reputation for always going to bat for ourcustomers. Well now you can go to bat for yourself

anytime you like with your very own32" "R.G. Johnson" bat, custom-made and hand-crafted in NewEngland from solid ash by R.G.'sgrandson Bob. This cracker-jack offer0^ is free to everyone who places an

order of $1000 or more between nowand November 30.

A4'

Go for the fences with tbe PC Connection Batfeaturing our own heavy-hitting mascots. Offer notavailable to accounts on net terms. One per customer.

©COPYRIGHT PC CONNECnON. INC.. 1990. PC CONNECTION AND TWE FWCCOON CHARACItR^S) ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF PC CONNECTION. INC., MARLOW, NH,

Newsprint is in.

3102 2400 Baud External Modem .... $179.5286 2400 Baud Int. MNP Modem fLeK 5j 175.5285 2400 Baud Ext. MNP Modem (Lw. 5) 209.4542 2400 Baud Internal Modem for PS/2. 229.

Reflection Technology .. 1 year7127 Pmate Eye (virtual display) 499.

SAFE Power Systems ... 2 years

7913 Safe650W 459.

7914 Safe800W 599.

4560 Safe 1200W 739.

Targus ... lifetime

4899 Nylon Laptop carrying case 55.

6037 Premier leather carrying case ... . 199.

TheComplete PC ... 2 years

5140 TfieComplete Page Scanner 549.

5828 TheComplete Communicator... . 449.

Tripp Lite ... 2 years

6199 Isobar 4-6 (4 outlets, 6 ft. cord) 49.

6200 Isobar 6-6 (6 outlets, 6 ft. cord) 59.

Video? ... 7years

5883 ^024\yGA (includes 512k) 219.

4931 VRAM VGA 512k 379.

I

SAFE Power Systems ... 2 years

7913 Safe 6jOW-M\ new space-savingdesign provides easy storage of your batteiybackup. LED status lights, audible alarm,

transient protection, and more $459.

(See SAFE Power listing for more models)

DRIVES

IOMEGA ... lyear

5116 Bernoulli II Single 44 Meg Internal 995.5113 44 Meg CartridgeTripakf5'/<"j. . . 249.

2500 PC2B Controller 229.

7551 Bernoulli II Transportable 44 Meg . 997.

Mountain Computer ... lyear2917 40-60 Meg Internal Tape Drive. . . 299.

5502 83-152M Ext. Tape Drive 799.

5190 DC2000 Pre-formatted Cartridges ea. 35.

Pacific Rim ... 1 year

5009 1.2 Meg External 209.

5010 1.2 Meg External ffor PS/2'sj 215.

6602 1.44 External (for PC/XW; 239.

Plus Development ... 2 years

6425 HardcardlUOMegfjams; 399.

6424 Hardcardll80Meg(79ms; 699.

Seagate ... 1 year2285 20 Meg Int. Hard Drive ST225

(w/controller and cables, 65 ms). . 255.

2286 3-1 Meg Int. Hard Drive ST238R

(w/controller and cables, 65 ms). $269.

4554 40 Meg Int. HD ST251-1 (28 ms). . 329.TEAC ... 1 year

4951 720k Drive (specify XT or AT, 3W) . 75.

4670 1,44 Meg Drive for PC/XT (3V2"). . . 89.

4326 1.44 Meg Drive for AT 109.

The IntelSatisFAXtionBoard

1 atkLs

I iiiid a nKxIetn

110

Intel ... 5 years

7782 SatisFAXtion-Send and receive faxesfrom within most applications using theprint command. Built-in 2400 bps MNPmodem standard. Includes coupons for freePC Tools and Fax-It software $399.

Canon ... lyear

7894 BJ-iOe Bubhkja Printer-light weight,excellent print quality and a great price makethis 4.6 lb. printer a winner. Choice of blackor white. Optional sheet feeder $349.

2789279027922793

32913292329732986659

DISKS

Maxell ... lifetime

SVi" MD2-D360kDisksfO/y 10).. .. 12.5V4" MD2-HD 1.2MbDisksfOfy: 10). . 19.3V2" DS/DD 720k Diskettes (Qty. 10). . 14.3V2" DS/HD 1.44Mb Diskettes fOy 10) 27.Sony ... lifetime

5V4" DS/DD360kDisksfQ(y 10) ... . 10.5V<i" DS/HD 1.2MbDisksCQ/K 10) . . . 19.3V2" DS/DD 720k Diskettes (Qty. 10). . 13.3V2" DS/HD 1.44Mb DiskettesfO/y 10) 22.QD 2000 Tape Cartridge 19.

MEMORY

6556 256kDRAMsfJOOnanosecondJ. . . call

5510 1 Meg X 9 SIMMs fSOnanosecondj call

5746 1 Meg Chips (80 nanosecond).... call

OUR POLICY

• We accept VISA and MASTERCARD only

• No surcharge added for credit card orders,

• Your card is not charged until we ship,

• If we must ship a partial order, we never chargefreight on the shipnnent(s) that complete the order(in the U,S.).

• No sales tax.

• All U.S. shipments insured; no additional charge.

• APO/F^PO orders shipped 1 st Class Ivlail.

• International orders U.S. $250 minimum.

• Upon receipt and approval, personal and companychecks clear the same day for immediate shipmentof your order

• COD max, $1000, Cash, cashier's check, or moneyorder

• 120 day limited warranty on all products. *

• To order call us H/londay through Friday 8:00 AM to1:00 AM. or Saturday 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM. You cancall our business offices at 603/446-3383 Mondaythrough Friday 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM,

MECA ... NCP

4603 @Aruirew Tobias' Tax Cut-Hew powerfor handling your 1990 taxes. Import datafrom Quicken and/or TurboTax, read lastyear's Tax Cut data, and print your return-all with new versatility $49.

SHIPPING

Note: Accounts on net terms pay actual shipping.Continental US:

• For heavy hardware items such as printers, monitors,Bernoulli Boxes, etc. pay actual charges. Call for UPS2nd-Day & Next-Day-Air

• For all other items, add $3 per order to cover UPSShipping. For such items, we automatically useAirborne Express at no extra charge if you are morethan 2 days from us by UPS ground.

Hawaii:

• For monitors, printers, Bernoulli Boxes, computers,hard drives, and power backups, actual UPS Bluecharge will be added. For all other items, add $3 perorder

Alaska and outside Continental US:

• Call 603/446-7721 for information.

© COPYRIGHT PC CONNECTION, INC, 1990, PC CONNECTION. PCTV AND THE RACCOON CHARACTER(S) ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF PC CONNECTION. INC. MARLOW, NH, Aa OTHER TRADEMARKS REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES,

more pleasant to do?

Intel ... 5years

khm BWs-FREE Quarterdeck ORAMand Manifest with any Above Board orpiggyback, now through December 31,1990! see Intel listing for prices.

708358

)901

19061904i18319301917)1841052'775'774

'776

'157

?307'391

37543582

3421a5231195420'880?3461266126733363342t2723396'782'552

'385

Curtis ... lifetime

Ruby-Plus SPF-2 Plus 65.

Command Center 93.

Glass Filter Plus fspec/^s/zej. . ea. 65.Datadesl< ... 3 years

Switchboard 175.

Epson ... 1 year

Wfe are an authorized Epson Seivice Center.FX-850('80co/., 264 cps, 9 pin) . . . callFX--}050 (136col., 264 cps, 9pin). . callLQ-510f80co/., 180 cps, 24 pin). . . callLQ-850 (80 col., 264 cps, 24 pin) . . callLQ-1050 (736 col., 264 cps, 24 pin) callLX-810f80co/., 180cps, 9pin). . . . call

Printer-to-IBIVIcablefefeey 15.

Equity LT-286e Laptop 1995.

Equity LT-386SX Laptop 3069.

Removable Hard Drives for Epson Laptops20 Meg . . 499. 7777 40 Meg . . 699.5th Generation ... 1 yearLogical Connection Plus 512k. . . . 599.IHayes ... 2 years

Smartmodem 2400 349.

Ultra 9600 Modem 899.

I-Iewlett-Pacl(ard ... 1 year

LaserJet III (w/toner) 1699.

LaserJet IIP fw/tonerj 1069.

Intel ... 5 years

2400B MNP Internal Modem .... 199.2400B Internal Modem 2 (for PS/2) 249.

2400 Baud External Modem 179.

2400EX MNP Modem 229.

9600EX Modem 549.

Inboard 386/PCw/l Meg (W/fee/Am/} 519.

Above Board Plus 512k 369.

Above Board Plus I/O 512k 399.

Above Board Plus 8 2 Meg 599.

Above Board Plus 8 I/O 2 Meg . . . 629.

Above Board 2 Plus 512k 469.

Above Board MC 32 Ok 359.

SatisFAXtion 399.

NetPort 489.

MATH COPROCESSORS

80287XL (16 MHz 80286 CPU's). . . 199.

4750 80387SX (16 MHz 80386SX CPU's) $309.

2371 80387 (16 MHz 80386 CPU's) 349.

2372 80387-20 (20 MHz 80386 CPL/'sj 399.Kensington IMicroware ... 1 year

7899 Expert Mouse ser/a/. . 119. bus.. 129.

Keytronic ... 3 years4518 101 Plus Keyboard 99.

Kraft ... 5 years

5800 3 button Thunder Joystick 29.

5802 Trackball 59.

Logitech ... limited lifetime

5464 C9 Mouse for PS/2's 69.

7768 C9 Mouse with Windows 149.

5151 HiREZ Mouse (09; 85.

6029 Trackman (rrac/(ba//j ser/a/ 85. bus 89.4297 ScanMan Plus f/iand scanner) ... 185.

Micron Technology ... 2 years7595 Intensify 2 Meg Expansion for HP

LaserJet IIP or III 175.

7012 Beyond Memory Board for PS/2

Model 70 (2/Wegj 265.

Intel ... 5 years

80Z87XL & 80Z87XLTMath CoProcessors-Kunsup to 50% faster than other 80287 math chips.The 80287XL works in virtually every 80286-based PC, and the 80287XLT is madeespecially for Compaq LTE/286.. each $ 199.

759728972898

6007

59977878

47995085

7512

Microsoft ... lifetime

Microsoft Mouse 89.

Mouse with Paintbrush 109.

Mouse with Windows 3.0 149.

MicroSpeed ... 1 yearPC-TRAC Trackball (includes a free copyofWelltris)serial. ... 75. bus.. .. 85.Mouse Systems ... lifetimeTrackball (7 wrniyj seria/ 75. bus 85.

PC Mouse III 99.

NEC ... 2 years

Multisync 2A (VGA/Won/for) 499.

Multisync 3D Monitor 689.

Orchid Technologies ... 4 years

ProDesigner VGA II (7024 x 768). . 299.

MMC

PC Connection 780B

6 Mill StreetMarlow, NH 03456SALES 603/446-7721 FAX 603/446-7791

Intel ... 5years

7880 9600EXMorlem-?midts ultra-fast datacommunications without sacrificing compat-ibility. Supprts V.32 & V.42 9600 bps opera-tion, as well as MNP LeveI/5 and Hayescompatible 2400/1200/300 bps modes . $549.

PC Power & Cooling ... 1 year

REPLACEMENT POWER SUPPLIES3202 Turbo Cool 150 (25°-40° coo/erj . 129.3200 Silencer 150 (84% no/sereducf/onj 115.

Pacific Data Products ... 1 year6779 25 Cartridges in One! (/or l;//,///?//D) 275.7072 25 Cartridges in One! (for LJ///j 349.

Memory upgrade for LaserJet IIP/Ill7054 7 Meg . . . 149. 7055 2 Meg . . . 199.7758 3 Meg . . . 279. 77594 Meg . . . 339.

Memory upgrade for LaserJet II6839 7 Meg ... 179. 6838 2/Weg . . . 249.7158 Pacific Page (PostScript Cartridge for

LaserJet IIP/Ill) 379.

6834 Pacific Page with free 2 Meg

Memory Board (/or LaserJeN/j . . . 379.7632 Outlines 1. 209. 7631 Outlines II. 209.

Practical Peripherals ... 5 years

3101 1200 Baud Internal Modem 65.

3100 1200 Baud External Modem (mini) . 77.3103 2400 Baud Internal Modem 135.

1-800/776-7777

Intel ... 5 years

2346 Inboard 386/PC with Free Samm Ami-Gives you 80386 processing power, 1 MbRAM, and Samna's powerful Windows-based word processor (regularly at $129).30 Day Money Back Guarantee $519.

•DEFECTIVE SOFTWARE REPLACED IMMEDIATELY. DEFECTIVE HARDWARE REPLACED OR REPAIRED AT OUR DISCRETION.

JUGGLINGACTS...

rARE FOR CLOWNS

• Juggjing files, documentation, people and time isno way to manage a software project. You need toknow who is working on what, which files are beingchanged and why. And your team should be movingahead on development, not stuck in costly collisions.

MKS RCS - Your Project Manager

MKS RCS (Revision Control System) helps keep your pro-ject from becoming a juggling act by maintaining a com-plete history of changes to a file and giving you access toany of the changes. MKS RCS also automatically savescrucial descriptive information about each revision.

An advanced user interface and excellent documenta-tion make MKS RCS extremely easy to use. Or if youprefer, you can operate from the command line. MKS RCScan automate every aspect of your project, handle bothbinary and text files with ease, provide unlimited branch-ing and merging capabilities and compress log files to savevaluable disk space.

The Bigger the Better

The more complex your project, the more you need MKSRCS. In a multi-user environment, eliminate access conflicts

with locking options. Manage and track development todeliver your project on time, on spec and on budget.

For individual projects, MKS RCS handles the headachesof recording and retrieving files. Whether you are on aLAN or an individual PC, MKS RCS will make youmore productive.

Price and Performance Leader

MKS RCS has all the features you will ever needin a revision control system at a price that will fityour budget.

MKS RCS for DOS is just $249; for OS/2, SCO or 386Unix $349. A 5-CPU LAN license for DOS is $995; forOS/2, SCO or 386 Unix $1,395.

Call MKS for LAN pricing for more than 5 CPUs.

MKS Software Management Tfeam

Reduce the juggling act even more with the MKS SoftwareManagement Tfeam (MKS RCS and MKS Make). You setup the rules stating which files must be changed whenother files are altered, and MKS Make automatically keepsthose files in synch.

TO ORDER, CALL:1-800-265-2797 (continental U.S. only)1-519-884-2251 (outside continental U.S.)1-519-884-8861 (FAX)

Full 30 day money back guarantee.

Australia 03-419-030003-555-4544

England 0763 2441140364 53499071 833 1022

Finland 08-5054536

France 01 47 95 01 07

Netherlands 020 14 24 63Sweden 0762 704 60West Germany 0551 -7048000721 886 66406126/595-0

MKS. MKS RCS and MKS Make are trademarks ol Monies Kern Systems Inc. UNIX is a trademark ol AT&T

35 King Street NorthWaterloo, OntarioCanada. N2J 2W9

Circle 234 on Reader Service Card

EXPERT ADVICE

THE UNIX /bin ■ David Fiedler

NOT Quite Unix

Tribulations andtreats of using a$100 Unix clone

Last month I mentioned that I hadreceived a copy of Coherent, anoperating system for 286- and386-based machines that wasdesigned to be very much like Unix.(The Mark Williams Company sells itfor $99.95.) I had hoped to report that itwould make a good base for an inexpen-sive UUCP (Unix-to-Unix copy) connec-tion, as well as a Unix learning base forpeople with DOS machines. Alas, thatdoesn't seem to be the case yet, at leastfor me.

Building My System

Installing Coherent was pretty straight-forward. There are only four high-den-sity floppy disks to work with, and if youhave a free partition of at least 10 mega-bytes on your hard disk, you're ready togo. I didn't have one, so I had to do somelong-overdue partition rearranging onmy 286 clone. Between some DOS repar-titioning software I had around and thetools supplied with Coherent, it wasn'ttoo bad, even though I'm strictly a novicewhen it comes to DOS. I hooked up aspare terminal and can report that Co-herent is indeed multiuser and multitask-ing, with quite decent response.

Coherent comes with some truly re-markable features, considering it's aUnix look-alike. Apart from the usual200 or so basic file-manipulation andsystem-maintenance commands, it alsohas a driver program for Epson printers,trof f (with output to the Hewlett-Pack-ard LaserJet), and software developmentprograms such as lex, yacc, make, sed,and awk.

I was very excited that Coherent camewith a set of UUCP programs. (OK, it's a

bit of a misnomer, but if they called itCoherent-to-Coherent copy program, orCCCP, it would sound like a Soviet spacevehicle!) UUCP is the means by whichall Unix machines can communicatewith each other via phone lines. A func-tioning UUCP package, together with themail program also included in Coherent,would give you access to the worldwideUUCP network.

So, my scheme was to first hook upCoherent via a direct-wired UUCP con-nection (far faster and easier, generally,than attempting to hook up a modem) tomy regular Unix machine and thendownload programs to Coherent and at-tempt to recompile them.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get Co-herent to talk to Unix. It wouldn't dialout at all, whether the port was enabledor not. The dial-in attempts from theUnix machine showed that Coherent wasindeed answering with the expectedprompts. However, once past the pass-

word check. Coherent would respondwith an error message and return a LOG-IN FAILED status message to the Unixconnection.

I called the Mark Williams Com-pany's technical-support line and talkedto someone who went through a numberof likely reasons for the failure. He alsocame up with a few suggestions thatdidn't seem to bear on this situation at all(for instance, removing a UUCP refer-ence in the /etc/domains file). Togeth-er, we eventually concluded that therewas no reason why it shouldn't be work-ing; it just wasn't.

Hard Aport

I then tried porting the xcomm packageto Coherent, in response to a query froma reader about a method of dialing outthat was simpler than using the Kermitutility provided in Coherent. This re-vealed that some signals in Unix SystemV that are needed for compiling xcomm

ILLUSTRATION: UNDA BLECK © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 119

THE UNIX /bin

ITEMS DISCUSSED

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Mark Williams Company60 Revere Dr.Northbrook, IL 60062(800) 627-5967(708) 291-6700Inquiry 1015.

(which is the only communications pro-gram I have that's small enough to fitinto Coherent's 64K-byte space) are notimplemented in Coherent.

Just for testing purposes, I commentedout all references to these signals. Unfor-tunately, Coherent was unable to put theobject modules together. The error mes-sage said that the loader couldn't relocatemodules compiled for separate I/D (in-struction and data) space, yet I hadn'tcompiled or tried to load with that option(nor could I find it in the manual). Usingthe file command showed that all theobject modules had properly compiled asrelocatable code. Very strange.

So how did I get the xcomm sourcefiles onto Coherent? Coherent has an all-

purpose utility called dos, which doeseverything from formatting DOS disks tofile transfer between Coherent and DOS.In fact, my only complaint with that com-mand is that there are too many options,making it too easy to delete files or for-mat a disk when you don't intend to.

I did have a little problem figuring outhow to address the DOS floppy diskdrive, since none of the references listedunder the dos command gives the infor-mation. After searching likely places, Ifinally discovered that the information isunder the entry "fd" in the manual,where I discovered by trial and error thata low-density disk is called /dev/f9a0and a high-density disk is called /dev/fhaO. The default is to access the DOSpartition on the hard disk.

Think Small

A word about the 64K-byte limit is alsoin order. This was a familiar problemback in the early days of Unix, whenUnix was almost always implemented onone of Digital's PDP-11 computers. Allprograms had to fit into just 64K bytes ofmemory, even when there was 256Kbytes on the machine. The improved

PDP-11/70 model, a large minicomput-er, allowed programs to have 64K bytesof executable instruction code and 64Kbytes of static and dynamic data space,which allowed you to write larger pro-grams.

Coherent's compiler, written to workon both the 386 and the smaller 286, islimited to "small model" compilation,and therefore also bound by the 64K-bytelimit for programs. Having studied muchof the 1000-plus-page Coherent manualand all the promotional literature, I couldfind only a single sentence that acknowl-edged this, and that was buried in a noteunder the heading "Data Formats,"rather than in any information about thecompiler or even the loader. Unless, ofcourse, you take the company's "small isbeautiful" motto literally.

Because BYTE has published its Unixbenchmarks with the intention of mak-ing them portable, I then decided to trythem. I was rewarded to see that many ofthe programs compiled cleanly (somewere missing references to time con-stants, though).

Unfortunately, the benchmarks didnot run as delivered, because the shell

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THE UNIX /bin

driver program makes heavy use of theBourne shell's keyword parameters,which apparently are not implemented inCoherent. In that sense, it's a bit mis-leading of the Mark Williams Companyto refer to its shell as a "Bourne shell,"since that implies that its shell is eithercompatible with, or a derivative of, thestandard Unix shell (written by SteveBourne).

By looking around the Mark Williamsconference on BIX (mwc/coherent), I'vefound that I'm having a bit more troublethan some other folks. Several peoplehave gotten their UUCP running and areall ready to set up a Usenet node. Othersare working on ways of compiling csh,vi, and similar popular Unix programs.Clearly, just because I've run into a snagor two doesn't mean it can't be done.

I also learned from BIX that the MarkWilliams Company is planning a virtual-memory capability for the 286 version ofCoherent, plus a full-featured 386 ver-sion, for next year. Both would presum-ably get rid of the 64K-byte limit im-posed by the small-model compiler.

At this point, I'm at a bit of a stand-still. If your intention in buying Coherent

is to use it for creating a UUCP or Usenetnode and downloading public domainprograms for compilation and use, or fordeveloping programs to be used on trueUnix or Xenix systems, then Coherent'scurrent compiler limitations, slightlynonstandard features, and the otherproblems I've experienced might giveyou pause.

On the other hand, if you want a Unix--like development and learning system forless than $100 that supports multipleusers, can be coresident with a DOS in-stallation, and can transfer text files toand from DOS floppy disks and hard diskpartitions, I don't see how you can gowrong with Coherent.

A Personal Note

My offer to send out the list of public-ac-cess Unix systems (see "Free Software!"in the June BYTE) was, to put it mildly,very well received. I had no idea that somany Unix-literate people read BYTE,let alone my column. I have my wife Su-san to thank for most of the envelopestuffing and sealing.

Enough of you wrote with interestabout my new publication, Unix Video

Quarterly, that this is a good time to talkbriefly about it here. I started Unix VideoQuarterly as an alternative to traditionalindustry newsletters, partly because ofmy experience in video and film produc-tion. Certainly, the move toward Unixgraphics software and user interfaceswas a factor; imagine trying to describehow OSF/Motif differs from Open Lookby using text alone! I also realized thatsometimes you have to experience thingsto totally understand them, and videotechnology is the closest thing to actuallybeing on the scene. If you want to knowmore about Unix Video Quarterly, con-tact me at P.O. Box 220, Rescue, CA95672, (800) 843-8649, or on BIX as"fiedler." ■

David Fiedler is executive producer ofUnix Video Quarterly and coauthor ofthe book Unix System Administration.He has helped start several Unix-relatedpublications. You can reach him on BIXas "fiedler. "

Your questions and comments are wel-come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, OnePhoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH03458.

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An OS/2 device-driverspecialist talks shop

EXPERT ADVICE

BEYOND DOS: WINDOWS AND OS/2 ■ Steve Mastrianni

TALES FROM

THE Trenches

In January of 1989, I was giving apresentation on OS/2 to representa-tives of a prospective client. Theyhad a DOS-based system for dataacquisition that lacked the ability to si-multaneously gather and process data.They had done their homework and con-cluded that OS/2 could do the job, butthey weren't convinced that Unix couldnot do the job as well.

It was a perfect application for OS/2.The system had to monitor serial-bustransactions and voltage levels in realtime, and it had to act on certain condi-tions immediately. This quickly ruledout Unix, which lacks a preemptive,time-critical kernel.

I gave an upbeat presentation, andeverything was going well until one ofthe senior engineers asked an obviousquestion: "Of course, we can get devicedrivers for our special hardware, right?"I did some hand-waving and went on toother topics, promising I'd get back tothem regarding the drivers.

When I called the various hardwarevendors, I got the same answer everytime. "Sorry, we only have DOS drivers.We'd like to support OS/2, but we don'thave anyone who knows how to writethem. We understand they are extremelyhard to write, and only a few customershave asked for them anyway." I decidedto find out why. Why should writing adevice driver for OS/2 be so difficult?

I packed my bags and headed out toMicrosoft University for the OS/2 DriverWriting course. The class ran for oneweek, and it was one of the most intense Ihave ever attended.

Device-Driver Basics

When an OS/2 application needs to per-form I/O, it makes an I/O request call to

the kernel. The kernel verifies the re-quest, translates it into a driver requestpacket, and calls the device driver forservice. The driver handles all the hard-ware details: I/O addressing, timing,register setup, interrupt handling, anderror checking. When the device re-sponds, the driver massages the data intoa format recognizable by the application,sends back the data (or a status message),and notifies the kernel that the request iscomplete.

If it can't handle the request rightaway, the driver may either block the re-questing thread or return a "request notdone" to the kernel. Either way, thedriver relinquishes the CPU and letsother threads run. If there's an error, thedriver relays it to the kernel along with a"request complete" status.

What makes OS/2 drivers unique isthe need to operate in both real mode andprotected mode. Addresses computed inreal mode are not valid if the system

switches to protected mode, and viceversa. The driver has to handle suchmode switches on the fly. Understandingthis bimodal operation is the key to writ-ing OS/2 1.x drivers. Several DeviceHelper (DevHlp) routines support bi-modal operation, but learning how to or-ganize them properly can be harrowing.

Jumping into the Deep End

When I got back from Microsoft Univer-sity, I was anxious to plunge into my firstdriver. I ordered the device-driver devel-opment kit (DDK) from Microsoft,which comes with the all-important ker-nel debugger. KDB is a replacement ker-nel that, among other things, has knowl-edge of driver structures. For instance,to display a request packet, you can usethe command .d req es:bx. KDB for-mats the data and displays it in requestpacket form. Don't even think aboutwriting an OS/2 driver without this tool!I began with a simple, do-nothing

ILLUSTRATION: TOM CENTOLA © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 127

BEYOND DOS

driver based on examples given in thecourse. It worked perfectly. Next, I tack-led the real project. My client needed adriver for an eight-channel A/D board.The board used an intelligent interrupt-driven controller and could do DMAtransfers. I fumbled furiously throughmy student documentation for examplesof how to implement such a driver andbroke out in a cold sweat. There were noexamples of interrupt handlers, no exam-ples of DMA operation, and no examplesof user-defined I/O control functions.

Microsoft, when I called for help, re-ferred me to Compaq (I'm using its ver-sion of OS/2). Compaq referred me backto Microsoft. I searched the computerbookstores to no avail. Finally, I justrolled up my sleeves and began to exper-iment.

The driver's job is simple—in princi-ple. It has to manage requests from thekernel and return results to the applica-tion. An OS/2 driver receives two kindsof requests: Some can be completed im-mediately, and some can't. Requestscome in by way of a standard data struc-ture called a request packet. The kernelsends the driver a bimodal pointer to therequest packet. Since the driver must op-erate in real mode or protected mode, thebimodal pointer ensures that the requestpacket will be accessible in either mode.

When a request can't be handled rightaway (e.g., in the case of a disk seek), thedriver (by means of a set of DevHlp rou-tines) places it in a queue. Disk driverscan choose to sort pending requests fordisk seeks in sector order, to minimizeseek time.

OS/2's threaded architecture assignsone extra responsibility to the devicedriver. When a driver can't handle a re-quest right away, it blocks the requestingthread; when it completes the request, itunblocks the thread.

Tools for Driver Development

The DDK comes with a three-ring bindercontaining driver structures, descrip-tions of the DevHlp routines, and in-structions for using the KDB. I foundonly the first 40 or so pages useful. Thebook does describe the DevHlp routinesin detail, but it contains no examples ofworking drivers.

I write all my device drivers, includ-ing interrupt handlers, in Microsoft C6.0 with maximum optimization. Don'twaste your time writing your driver in as-sembly. Writing a device driver in Ctakes about half the time it would take towrite the same driver in assembly, andthe driver will work just as well.

Another useful tool is DDC.LIB,

which is a C-callable device-driver li-brary from PentaSoft (17541 Stone Ave.N, Seattle, WA 98133, (206) 546-0470).Probably the most important function inDDC.LIB is Transfer, which transfersdata between the driver and applicationsand accounts for mode switching duringthe transfer. It handles transfer of datafrom virtual memory to physical mem-ory, physical to virtual, virtual to vir-tual, and physical to physical. If you'reserious about OS/2 driver development,this library is a must.

Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Anyone who has written drivers for othermultitasking operating systems (e.g.,Unix or VMS) will have a good founda-tion for OS/2 driver development. Micro-soft estimates that it takes an experi-enced C programmer who has attendedthe Microsoft University OS/2 DriverWriting course four to six months towrite his or her first OS/2 driver. Subse-quent drivers should take two to fourmonths. Disk drivers are significantlymore complex and may take longer.

My first driver took roughly threemonths to write. The next one took onlytwo months, and I was able to write a fewsimple drivers in a week or so, so it doesget easier with practice.

Although OS/2 device drivers are be-coming more common nowadays, the sit-uation remains fairly grim. Most of themare for specialized hardware and aren'treadily available. What's needed arestandard, general-purpose drivers thatcan be adapted to more generic hard-ware. For instance, I would like to see anOS/2 driver for a CD-ROM drive, faxcard, or tape drive, yet none are avail-able. Why not? There are certainly morecustomers now who need OS/2 drivers.Without them, the operating system ofchoice may not be OS/2.

OS/2 2.0 won't make the task of writ-ing device drivers any easier. True, ver-sion 2.0 will run DOS applications inprotected mode, so the driver won't haveto concern itself with bimodal operation.But the driver architecture for DOS pro-grams will change radically. DOS pro-grams will now call a Virtual DeviceDriver instead of accessing the devicehardware directly. The VDD will mas-sage the request and send it to a PhysicalDevice Driver. The PDD will performthe low-level hardware communicationwith the device and send the data back tothe VDD.

The VDD interface is new, while thePDD is nothing more than an OS/2 1.xbimodal driver with the real-mode sec-tions removed. The VDD will emulate

the BIOS and other interrupt functions,letting a DOS application assume it istalking directly with the device when it isactually communicating with the VDD.Protected-mode applications will con-tinue to call OS/2 drivers, as in version1.x, but can use 0:32 ("flat model")addressing.

In June, Microsoft announced a newdevice-driver architecture for mass stor-age devices called the layered device-driver architecture (LADDR). Microsoftclaims that LADDR can reduce by 90percent the time to develop an OS/2 massstorage device driver. I hope this is true,but based on what I've seen so far, Iwouldn't bet the farm on it.

A new DDK will come with standarddriver code, so the developer need onlyadd the code specific to the device itselfto implement a fully functional driver. Ihaven't seen the new DDK yet, so I can'tverify Microsoft's claims. At the time ofthis writing, Microsoft still had no firmrelease date for the LADDR kit. Non-mass storage drivers will continue to bewritten using conventional methods.

Neither IBM nor Microsoft has doneenough to help the people trying to pro-duce the drivers that OS/2 so desperatelyneeds. The DDK upgrade from version1.1 to 1.2 is way behind schedule, andthe NDDK, used to develop network carddrivers for the Extended Edition, is alsolate. The version 1.1 DDK does not workwith PS/2 machines, so drivers must bedeveloped on Industry Standard Archi-tecture bus systems.

Information is still sketchy and incom-plete. Although more books have ap-peared, none show examples of devicedrivers written in C. Most of the avail-able documentation describes the Dev-Hlp routines and their calling sequences,but not how to organize them into an ac-tual driver.

What is needed is a driver writer'sguide to take the mystery out of OS/2driver writing. The guide should containexamples of actual drivers written in C,not scattered code fragments in assem-bly. It should also contain a list of helpfulfunctions to aid in driver coding and de-bugging. Until such information be-comes available, device drivers will re-main the Achilles' heel of OS/2. ■

Steve Mastrianni is an independent con-sultant in South Windsor, Connecticut,who specializes in OS/2 device drivers.He can be reached on BIXc/o "editors. "

Your questions and comments are wel-come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, OnePhoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH03458.

128 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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Short Takes

BYTE editors' hands-on views of new and developing products

Ventura Publisher,Macintosh Edition 1.0

ScanMan 256NewWave 3.0

WinSleuth

WordPerfect Rhymer

(2a<3

i.ic SE>

Ventura Meets the Mac

If you work in a mixed-machine environment inwhich some people are usingVentura PubHsher on theirPCs, the arrival of VenturaPublisher, Macintosh Edi-tion 1.0, is good news.

Ventura Mac is a straight-forward port of the versionrunning under Windows,which makes jumping be-tween systems easy; if you'velearned one, you've basicallylearned the other, and that'swhat platform hopping is allabout. I was able to take adiverse bunch of Ventura filesthat the BYTE Lab staff hadgenerated on DOS machines,move them to the Mac (usingthe BYTE LAN and LapLinkXand open them up, with theirstyles and formats intact. Thiswas painless. The fact that youcan easily swap Ventura-pub-lished documents between PCsand Macs is one of the great-est advantages of this program.Only Aldus PageMaker 3.0currently provides this capa-bility.

Working in a diverse envi-ronment is a Ventura forte.Besides letting you swap be-tween Macs and PCs, thisprogram will pull in text frommost word processors you'relikely to run across and graph-

ics from most drawing orpainting programs.

Ventura is also good atworking with long documents.You can line up a string of textfiles, and the program will runthem from page to page, al-most automatically, setting upthe extra pages as needed.Ventura is built for this kindof work. With its cross-refer-encing and indexing capabili-ties, it's essentially a book-oriented page composer.

For doing a long butstraightforward publication—no fancy layouts, few graph-ics—Ventura is a good choice.But for documents with a snaz-zier look, a more complexpage structure, and heavy onthe graphics, Ventura is—andhere we walk into the shadowyland of subjectivity—hard towork with. Maybe I've beenusing PageMaker too long, but

I find it far more flexible forpage design. Its approach,descended from the cut-and-paste world of the composingroom, feels right. Ventura ismore geometrical. Like someother popular programs, Ven-tura uses frames. Everythingyou do has to be within a frame(a rectangular area). You canexpand and shrink theseframes, and you can movethem around on the page eas-ily enough, but we're still talk-ing rectangles. I find this con-fining.

While PageMaker is anexcellent tool for designinglayouts, letting you freelymove things around andchange widths, lengths, andshapes of columns, Ventura ismore of a layout fulfillmentprogram. I'd recommendsketching your page design onpaper first.

THE FACTS

Ventura Publisher,

6.0.2, and a hard disk

Macintosh Edition 1.0

drive.

S795

Ventura Software

Requirements:

15175 Innovation Dr.

Mac with 2 MB of RAM,

San Dieao, CA 92128

System 6.0.2, Finder

(619) 673-7524

Inquiry 1160.

Ventura does beat the pantsoff PageMaker in a couple ofthings, particularly workingwith tabular material. Settingup a table with PageMakeralmost hurts. Ventura has awonderful dialog box in whichyou specify how many rowsand columns you want; you hita button, and there it is—a nicegrid that you can jump aroundin, from cell to cell, usingpointer or cursor keys. Theprogram also excels at settingup equations, which can be atypesetter's nightmare.

Another of Ventura Mac'sstrengths is in stylizing the texton the page. The program willlet you assign a style (e.g., typeof font or character size) toever>' paragraph. You can keepthese different styles in a cata-log ot sorts. This collection ofstyle sheets can also includespecifications for the paae it-self.

There's not room here tocover all the capabilities ofVentura. For a better look atthis and other desktop publish-ing packages, see "Is the Type-setter Obsolete?" in the Octo-ber BYTE. And before youbuy, take them all for a testdrive.

Page-layout software, likeany other program that com-bines functionality and aes-thetics, is a highly subjectivematter. What one person findsexcellent is execrable to some-one else. What one user findsintuitive is arcane to another.I know totally reasonablepeople who swear by QuarkXPress, and professionalgraphics designers who con-coct fine-looking materialswith Ventura. Although Iwouldn't want to switch fromPageMaker to Ventura, I can'tsay it's not right for you. Thisis a good program that doeswhat it's designed to do. Thequestion is: Does it do whatyou want to do?

—D. Barker

132 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

Logitech PutsPhoto-Realismin Windows

The ScanMan 256 is a 256-gray-level, scanner thatcan scan at up to 400 dots perinch. It is similar in appearanceto previous Logitech scannersbut has a number of functionalimprovements. The scanneritself is in a head a little over 5inches wide. Below this is thebody of the scanner, which youhold to move it. The body hasa number of switches that youuse to set the various scannermodes. The ScanMan 256 alsohas an indicator light thatshows if a scan is being madeat the right speed.

The ScanMan 256 is de-signed to be used in a Win-dows 3.0 environment. Itcomes with a gray-scale scan-ning and editing packagecalled Ansel, which controlsthe scanner directly fromwithin Windows 3.0 and pro-vides some easy-to-use toolsfor editing. Logitech has pro-vided a simple DOS Scan util-ity that lets you scan, view, andsave images without enteringWindows 3.0 or using Ansel.However, it isn't as flexible oras easy to use as Ansel, and itdoesn't include editing tools.Installing the scanner and

THE FACTS

ScanMan 256

$499

Requirements:

IBM PC or compatible

running Windows 3.0.

software is easy. Logitech hasset the defaults to match themost likely free configura-tions. All I had to do was plugthe scanner board in my sys-tem, plug in the scanner, installthe software using the supplied

Logitech, Inc.6505 Kaiser Dr.Fremont. CA 94555(415) 795-8500Inquiry 1161.

Install program, and start scan-ning. Setting up the scanner inany of its different modes isdone simply by setting theswitches. The controlling soft-ware reads these automaticallyand adjusts accordingly.

Choosing the right settingfor a scan is not a simple mat-ter. With the range of optionsavailable, it becomes impor-tant to make a careful choice.The problem lies in the size ofthe image files created at highresolutions with large numbersof gray scales. A simple 2- by2-inch image takes up almost2 megabytes at 300 dpi with256 gray scales. This taxes thememory of the system consid-erably. Logitech has devisedits own system for paging im-age data to and from disk tocounteract this, but the bottomline is that if you want to scanimages at 300 or 400 dpi with256 gray scales, youTl need alot of memory. What settingyou choose also depends onwhether you want to use lineart, perform optical characterrecognition, or have true gray-scale images.

I scanned a range of actualphotographs and some frommagazines, and the quahty ofthe results was extremely goodat all levels. Overall, I foundthe ScanMan 256 an extremelypowerful and flexible scanner.It is useful for scanning smalldocuments and all kinds ofimages. But I would recom-mend that you make sure thatyour system can deal with thekind of large files that a scan-ner this powerful can create.—Owen Linderholm

Hewlett-Packard's Newest Wave for Windows

One of the most interest-ing—and potentiallymost important—appUcationsto appear for Microsoft Win-dows 3.0 is an updated versionof Hewlett-Packard's New-Wave environment. There aretwo ways of looking at thisprogram: as a set of reasona-bly priced utilities for Win-dows, or as a glimpse of whatmost graphical user interfaces

(GUIs) will be like in the fu-ture.

This latest version ofNewWave introduces anAgent capability, which isessentially a powerful key-board macro facility. To per-form a given task, all you needto do is select that task's iconand drop it on the Agent icon,which looks remarkably likePatrick McGoohan in the

■"Secret Agent" TV show. Oneof the nice things about thismacro facility is its ability todo tasks on a routine basis(e.g.. every hour, day, orweek).

Another important featureof this new version is networksupport, which lets users shareNewWave features.

Perhaps the most importantfeature of NewWave—and the

hardest to describe adequatelyin a simple features list —is itssupport of objects.

NewWave has no data filesas such. There are only objects,which are data files that havebeen linked to a NewWaveapplication. One importanttype of object is a folder,which functions much hke aMacintosh folder. It can con-tain other objects, and you

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 133

SHORT TAKES

organize your desktop, orOffice, as NewWave refers toit.

There are also no applica-tions as such. What look likeapplications are really tools—specialized folders that store,print, or delete the objectsdropped onto them.

Creating a new data file inNewWave involves an un-usual process. For example, inWindows, you start a newspreadsheet data file by firstclicking on the Excel icon andopening a new file. In New-Wave, you instead select themenu command Create a NewObject. A dialog box then asksyou what type of object youwant to create. You could thenselect a Lotus 1-2-3 object andgive it a name. An icon for aLotus object would then bedisplayed on the NewWaveOffice workspace. When youclick on this application,NewWave will automaticallyload 1-2-3 and launch you intothe data file you selected.

The most important capabil-ity of NewWave's objects istheir ability to incorporateother objects. Unfortunately,only those objects that arelinked with a small number oftrue NewWave applicationshave this capability. For ex-ample, NewWave Write, the

THE FACTS

NewWave 3.0

$195

Requirements:IBM AT or compatiblewith a hard disk drive, amouse, and Windows 3.0.

NewWave version of thesimple Windows Write wordprocessor, can incorporate 1-2-3 objects, but 1-2-3 objectscannot incorporate other ob-jects.

Since NewWave Write hasthe capability to incorporate

Hewlett-PackardSanta Clara InformationSystems Division3410 Central Expy.Santa Clara, CA 95051(408) 749-9500Inquiry 1162.

other objects, it is actually afairly impressive word proces-sor. In a NewWave Writedocument, you can inserttables from 1-2-3, graphicsfrom HP"s optional DOS-based graphics programs, andsimple annotations. And as

more object types appear(made possible by new New-Wave applications), New-Wave Write will continue toacquire new capabilities.

tfnfortunately, there's adark side to NewWave. Forone thing, the program is huge.It takes up about 7 megabytesof disk space and requiresquite a long time to install.

NewWave also suffers froma lack of applications. Only ahandful of programs now workwell with it. Some sorelyneeded applications that HPwould do well to add areNewWave versions of Win-dows Paintbrush or Terminal.

In some cases, the programcould be markedly improvedby simple additions. For ex-ample, you can incorporate 1-2-3 tables into NewWaveWrite documents, but you can-not change the font that thetables appear in. If you couldchange the font, NewWavecould function as a nice com-plementary program for 1-2-3.

NewWave is a very interest-ing program, and it's availableat an affordable piice. It isprobably true that someday allGUIs will be hke it. But itneeds a few more applicationsbefore it becomes a requiredday-to-day business tool.

—Rich Malloy

Peeking Through Windows

The original System Sleuthfor DOS was a diagnosticspackage that snooped aroundyour PC and told you all sortsof goodies about its configu-ration, including the micropro-cessor type, how much andwhat kind of memory wasavailable, and the results ofpower-on self tests (POSTs).It also fished out a lot of eso-teric but important data aboutI/O cards, hard disk drive par-titions, device drivers, andTSR programs.

Moving the package to theWindows 3.0 environment,Dariana Technology Groupconfronted an interesting di-lemma: When a PC runs inprotected mode instead of real

mode, a lot of nuts-and-boltsinformation about the com-puter becomes invisible or ir-relevant. So what's left to di-agnose?

Plenty, as it turns out.Dariana" s new WinSIeuth stilldelivers pages of data that canhelp you summarize yoursystem's configuration, re-solve board conflicts, or iden-tify nagging software incom-patibilities. Even without itsdiagnostic capabilities, thepackage might be indispens-able for system administrators,who could print out and file acomplete report about everysystem in their facility.

Gone from WinSIeuth—when it is running in Windows

standard or 386 enhancedmodes—is the low-level dataabout memory allocation, diskdrive partitions, and devicedrivers, since these are handledby Windows. If the package isrun in Windows' real mode,however, more low-level in-formation is provided, al-though some of it isn't relevantto the behavior of the systemin protected mode.

What is gained in Win-Sleuth—aside from an attrac-tive and very simple graphicaluser interface—is specific in-formation about the Windowsenvironment, including how ithas allocated available mem-ory, which drivers it is usingto talk to your peripherals, and

how it is managing tasks. Thenew release also adds a fileviewer for peering into yourhard disk and a new modulefor analyzing network connec-tions.

The rest of the package isorganized similarly to the DOSversion, as a series of modulesaddressing different subsys-tems: microprocessor, POSTs,hard disk drive, video/display,RAM. I/O cards, printer, andDOS.

For example, the GeneralInformation section tells youwhat CPU you are using (al-though not the clock speed), ifyou have a math coprocessor,and how many and what kindof I/O ports and storage

134 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

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SHORT TAKES

peripherals are installed.

The modules affected by thedifference between Windowsmodes include hard disk drive,DOS, and RAM. The hard diskdrive module always tells youhow many sectors and file al-location tables you have, butin real mode you can also seepartition information. In realmode, the DOS module showsyou device drivers and TSRprograms. The RAM module,in 386 enhanced mode, givesyou extensive information onmemory allocation by theDOS Protected Mode Interfacememory manager.

Perhaps the most usefulfeatures of WinSleuth are itshelp system and WindowsTune-Up module. The on-linehelp is like a short course onthe inner workings of PCs and

Files Help Modules

ft

Tune

REM- MODE SESMEHT 4T CtOO—I C000 0000toC3fF:00Cf-INUS£-t:OFrHIGHTPAfiADISEyi^TEM51HC 19871SS AllRlGHTSCflOaOOOO to C7FF:00CF ■ IH USE ■C80&0000 (o C8FF OOCf - AVAIUBLECCOO 000010 CFFFOOOF-AVAILABLE

REAL MODE SEGMENT AI POOOOOOOOOOO10 D3FF0OCf - AVAILABLE0400:000010 D7FF OOOF - AVAILABLED3OO0O0010 DBFECeCP - AVAILABLEDCOO COB 10 DFfF;0O0F-AVAILABLE

REAL MODESEGMENTATEOOOECOa00001oE3FF000F-AVAIIABIE£400000010 E7FF OOOf ■ AVAIIABLEEEDO 000010 EBfF OOOF - IH USE-

ECtOOXOIoEFFFOOCF-IM USE - Ccp/i^ lei 19S51338 Phoefw Teclwtogje: Ltd

REAL MODE SEGMENT AT FCOOF COO COCO to F3FF (iff - AVAIUIBLEF40O0000»F7FF0CI)F -AVAILABLEFSOOOOOO10 FBFF-OOOF - IH USE -

FC0O0000toFFFF00(]F - IH USE -Cowtighl Id 13S5.198&Ftic«fiw Techrwto^e: Ltd

Windows; I recommend work-ing your way through eachtopic. And if you need adviceon getting the best perfor-

mance out of your systemunder Windows, run the Tune-Up for suggestions that rangefrom adding more RAM, to

Could WordPerfect Rhymer Be Finer?

WordPerfect Corp. hascome up with a trulyunique writer's helper inWordPerfect Rhymer, a

93,000-word American En-glish rhyming dictionary.

Rhymer is a tool for thestudent of the sound of lan-guage. A TSR program requir-rng"34K bytes'of RAM,Rhymer searches for a varietyof rhymes and phonetic pat-terns. It works with any DOSword processor.

Being a sucker for a goodrhyme, I loaded Rhymer ontomy hard disk. The programtook up a mere half-megabyteof storage space, which wasgood news. The programworked fine with my wordprocessor and my other TSRdictionary, neither of whichcarries the WordPerfect label.

To see whether Rhymercould determine which wordshave multiple pronunciadons,I requested a triple rhyme forthe word interested. The re-sults were positive. Rhymerasked me to select between thepronunciations "in-tu-rus-ted"and "in-trus-tud" before begin-ning its rhyme search.

Although Rhymer isn'tdesigned for regional U.S.

dialects, it does include a pho-netic finder to help you tailoryour rhyme search to suit yourspeech patterns. This featureincludes a phonetic chart—

THE FACTS

WordPerfect Rhymer

$79

Requirements:

IBM PC or compatible.

similar to a pronunciation keyin the front of a dictionary—that lists a variety of sounds,including vowels, stops, frica-tives, affricates, liquids, and

WordPerfect Corp,1555 NorthTechnology WayOrem, uf 84057(801) 225-5000Inquiry 1164.

Pan's PipesGondolierSilver HaraoniesReturn to the DanubePatternsftutuRn MenoriesParis at HigiitFoUou the LeaderSecrets

Synphony StringsBlack Forest SuiwerPunting on the Hianes

- night Ending fihyne

fl.

downright

B.

duight

C. dynanite

p.

ebonite

E.

electrolyte

F. erenite

G.

erudite

H.

excite

I. expedite

J.

extradite

K.

eyebright

L. eyesight

tl.

fahreiiheit

N.

fanlight

0. favorite

P.

ferrite

Q.

fight

R. finite

S.

firelight

I.

fistfight

U. flashlight

U.

fleabite

U.

flight

X. floodlight

Press Enter for nore uords

Press a letter to select a uord 3B749 Uords Searched 72 Uords Found

THE FACTS

WinSleuth

$149; $60 upgrade forSystem Sleuth owners

Requirements:

IBM PC or compatible

with Windows 3.0.

Dariana Technology

Group, Inc.

6945 Hermosa Cir.

Buena Park, CA 90620

(714)994-7400

Inquiry 1163.

optimizing your hard diskdrive, to removing conflictingextended memory managers.

—Andy Reinhardt

glides. If your pronunciation ofthe word car sounds more like"cah," for example, you caninstruct Rhymer to search forwords with the <aw> vowelsound. And you can control thescope of your rhyme hunt bylimiting the number of syl-lables and letters you want theprogram to search for.

I had just one major com-plaint about Rhymer: Theprogram displays only 24rhymes at once. Once you hitEnter to see additional rhymes,you can't go back to review theprevious list. Since manywords have dozens of rhymes,it would be helpful to be ableto page through an entire list—much as you page through aword processing document.You can configure Rhymer tosave all rhymes in a DOS textfile, however, but you mustfirst exit the program to viewthe list.

No doubt someone willeventually include a rhymingutility with a spelling/grammarchecker program, or perhapswith an on-line dictionary, butuntil then. Rhymer is goodenough for the rhymin" fool inall of us. ■

—Jeff Bertolucci

136 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

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Meiai^rganic diemiitr; bridges the tap besween ca^anic a.nd irxii-gacic It tin lead 10 imponani new products ifor eiacifJe,

tsisnn antideies'. A chelate, sudi as EDTA since leontainlng tarbsn.hydrogen, oaygen and niBogen atonis] can eiu.round ions or melaJs1. fconJiitiitti not pega

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SjprnocdBctsahdveliqBidnjtrogea temperatun wasdiscocered. I

Within days of tbe diseoniT.elcetntics, power transmissian. and i

l..ansptnatianwere)wingredefinedinei^ecyone'simagination. Yet i

stipeKonductinty was tax anew pheaonanion. Ihe effedteas ftrst j

obtcrved in mercury in 191 Land, sir^ theei. more than eOOOele- ,

c^ent^ sila.ctt andcoiopsundshave been foandlosuiKrcandtxt.' - '

^ci»ieini»d net; pcfti '

A device traied may give investigates a glimpse cf what an anlintal- ;

tar world might look like. deince cnola antimatter to a tetspecatnre <

aCew de^eeaahoveahnlutereroand stores itlorseveial daysat i

a time. fecnJinaed natp^gt) i

■ Rumor has it -h-' t—r™ uiuji. .....k—T.;...-..~.™.t......:.j..i.h t

adistiliing^rocesstotowerthecaloiiesoCoHinsrybeeT. Abandoning 1

the research at the onset of wcrid war, researehors then pursited the ;of a sbelfstahle C ration. Don't believe all rtuneea.

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Equally impressive is HP's Reso-lution Enhancement technology.

Pioneered in the LaserJet III,this technology actually variesthe sizes of dots. So curves reallycurve. Lines are never jagged.And you get resolution neverbefore seen in a 300 dpi printer.Output has never looked so good.

Documents can be made evenmore elaborate thariks to our en-

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you'll automatically likethe new HP LaserJet niD.

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EWLETTPACKARD

1990 Hewlett-Packard Company PE12022

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

COVER STOR^

Compaq NotebookUps the Ante

The LTE 386s/20is the first notebook-class

PC that has a 20-MHz386SX CPU and convertsto a desktop system

■

Michael Nadeau

Take a Compaq Deskpro 386/20,give it a faster hard disk drive,and squeeze it into a 7'/2-poundnotebook-size format, and youhave the Compaq LTE 386s/20. Worriedabout expandability? No problem; Com-paq will sell you a Desktop ExpansionBase that provides AT-compatible slotsand mass storage expansion options andallows the LTE 386s/20 to double as yourdesktop system.

The LTE 386s/20 is unique on twocounts: It is the first notebook PC to usethe 20-MHz 386SX CPU, and it is theonly notebook PC that is convertible todesktop use. (At this writing, only ahandful of other vendors have announced

16-MHz 386SX notebook PCs; none areshipping at this time.) In fact, it is theonly notebook PC powerful enough tocompete with the typical desktop systemsthat businesses are buying today (seephoto 1). There is a catch, and that is theLTE 386s/20's price tag: $6499 for thebase system; the Desktop ExpansionBase is another $1499—not including afull-size keyboard or external monitor.(All prices mentioned are not final, butCompaq says prices will not exceed thoselisted here.)

The base system, the Model 30, comesstandard with 2 megabytes of RAM, a4K-byte RAM cache, a 3'/2-inch 1.44-MB floppy disk drive, a 21/2-inch 30-MB

Conner Peripherals hard disk drive, a640- by 480-pixel VGA display, and sys-tem utilities. This version also comeswith a full complement of I/O ports: oneserial, one parallel, and one mouse port;ports for an external monitor, keyboard,and keypad; and an "external optionsinterface."

The Model 60 comes with a 60-MBhard disk drive and lists at $6999. It willbe the first system to use the 2'/2-inchdrives of that capacity. Compaq calledthe unit that I saw an early prototype, al-though it appeared to be of productionquality and seemed fully functional.The LTE 386s/20 should be out by lateOctober.

140 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

LTE-Like in Looks Only

At first glance, the LTE 386s/20 is iden-tical to the original LTE except for color;it is beige instead of gray. On closer in-spection, you can see differences in drivelocation, thickness, port arrangement,screen size, and some cosmetic aspects.

Compaq has a totally new design forthe electronics, which determined theplacement of the drives. For the mother-board, the LTE 386s/20 uses a manufac-turing technique developed for the aero-space industry. If you look inside thecomputer, you'll see what appears to be athree-piece motherboard—two boards,one on top of the other, and a third boardmounted vertically at the rear and

Photo 1: The Compaq LTE 386s/20 is arguablythe world's most powerful 7-pound PC.

The LTE 386s/20 is the fastest notebook-class PC that BYTE hasbenchmarked to date. It seems that Compaq simply shrank its Deskpro 386/20and gave it a faster hard disk drive. The Dell 320LX is a 20-MHz 386SXdesktop system included for comparison.

CPU

Disk

Video

Compaq LTE 386s/20

2.58

2.32

8.00

Compaq Deskpro 386/20

2.58

1.72

8.21

Dell 320LX

2.19

1.86

7.10

Benchmark results are indexed to show relative performance; higher numbers indicate better perfamance. For allindexes, an 8-MHz IBM AT running MS-DOS 3.3 = 1.

PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 141

COVER STORYCOMPAQ LTE 386S/20

Photo 2: On the left is the LTE 386s/20 motherboardbefore it is punched out from its silicon casing.On the right is the motherboard as it is installed in the computer.

holding all the ports. These three com-ponents are manufactured as one sheet,connected by the cabling and thin silicontabs. A machine "punches out" themotherboard along these tabs, and then,after the components are in place, it isfolded by hand into its proper configura-tion (see photo 2). The procedure speedsassembly and helps conserve space in-side the unit.

A major weakness of the original LTEwas its CGA display with its less-than-perfect aspect ratio. Compaq saw thelight and gave the LTE 386s/20 a fullVGA display, although this added asmidgen to the unit's thickness. Thescreen is edge-lit and has good contrastand even light distribution.

All the ports congregate behind a slid-ing door (a nice touch) to accommodatethe Desktop Expansion Base with its ownI/O ports, which are extensions of thoseon the notebook. Unlike with the NEC

THE FACTS

Compaq LTE 386s/20 Model 30

No more than $6499

Compaq Computer Corp.P.O. Box 692000Houston, TX 77269(713) 370-0670Inquiry 1079.

ProSpeed SX/20 (see "The NEC Pro-Speed SX/20: Take It and Leave It,"September BYTE), you must maintainseparate CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEX-EC.BAT files for the portable and desk-top configurations of the LTE 386s/20(this is especially important if the desk-top version is on a LAN), and you mustremember to use the correct combina-tion.

Unfortunately, no prototype of theDesktop Expansion Base was availablefor me to see. Its features include twofull-size 16-bit expansion slots, monitorand keyboard ports, and two 5 '/4 - or 3 Vi-inch drive bays.

What has not changed on the LTE386s/20 is the keyboard. It is the same80-key IBM Enhanced-compatible lay-out. Key travel is somewhat less thanwhat you find on desktop units, but thetactile feedback is adequate. I prefer thefamiliar inverted T arrangement for thecursor movement keys, rather than Com-paq's cumbersome reclined L configura-tion.

Memory expansion makes use of theincreasingly popular RAM cards. TheLTE 386s/20 has two slots into which thecredit-card-size RAM cards slide. Pricesfor the RAM cards, which come in 1-MBand 4-MB configurations, are $549 and$2599, respectively.

Compaq claims a battery life of about3 hours. I didn't have the opportunity toverify that; it is about an hour less than

the rated time for the original LTE. TheLTE 386s/20 has a fast-charge featurebuilt into the system that brings the bat-tery back to full capacity in 1 Vi hours.

Early Assessment

The preliminary BYTE Lab low-levelbenchmark indexes place the LTE 386s/20 on a par with the Compaq Deskpro386/20 in the CPU and video categories,but the notebook's speedier hard diskdrive bests the Deskpro's index of 1.72,with a score of 2.32 (see the table). Noother notebook-class PC even comesclose to this performance. The LTE386s/20 will run any software that youare likely to use, and at an acceptablepace.

The price will scare away casual usersand many cash-conscious businesses, butthe LTE 386s/20 seems to have whatcomputing-dependent businesses need:power and flexibility. Compaq's reputa-tion for high quality and compatibilityfurther enhances the product. (Some ofthe original LTEs did have a problemwith cracking cases; Compaq insists thatit has solved that problem by going with astronger plastic for the case.) But priceaside, Compaq has produced the high-performance notebook PC against whichall others will be compared. ■

Michael Nadeau is the managing editorof the BYTE Lab. You can reach him onBIX as "miken."

142 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

They Left out Features....

We Left out the COMMA!!

The only thing missing...

is the comma in tlie price. If youlool< at the chart on the right youwili see prices charged by our com-petition. Aii but one contain ocomma. DesignCAD 3D seiis for$399.00. Period. No Comma!

in order to draw the compiex pic-tures shown below it is desirable tohove the following 3D features:

0 Interactive design with 3Dcursor

• Blending of surfaces

» Boolean operations such asadd, subtract, andintersection

• Complex extrusions

• Cross sectioning

• Block scaling

• On screen shading

• Shaded outputtoprintersandplotters

All ofthese competitors left out oneor more of these desirable featuresin their standard package. Theydidn't forget the most horrible fea-ture - the comma.

DesignCAD 3D offers ALL the listedfeatures plus many morel

If DesignCAD 3D has the power tocreate the 3D objects shown below,imagine how it could help with yourdesign projecti

DesignCAD 3D sells for $399. We leftoutthecomma. Wedidn'tthinkyouwould mindl

PC MAGAZINE SAYS...

DesignCAD 3D, the latest feature-packed, low-cost CADDpackage fromAmerican Small Business Computers,delivers more bang per buck than anyof Its low-cost competitors and threat-ens programs costing ten times asmuch. For a low-cost, self-contained3D package... DeslgnCAD's range offeatures steals the show."

$399

AutoCAD rel. 10

CADKEY3.12

DataCAD with DC Modeler

a;<jn:i:n':iM AutoCAD AEG $1,000.00 AutoShade $500.00Solids $995.00 IGES translator $1,995.00DataCAD Velocity $2,000.00

DesignCAD 3D ver. 2.0 $ 399.00 tlOexpensive options! IGES Free.

MaxxiCAD1.02Mega ModelMIcroStationPCS.OModelMate Plus 2.8VersaCAD Design 5.4

3,300.00

MegaDraw $195, List $295, MegaShade $395Customer Support Libraries $1,000.00N/A^ N/A

Source: Byte Magazine

BYTE MAGAZINE SAYS...

"At $399, DesignCAD 3D was the leastexpensive package we saw, yet it wasone of the more powerful. ..Don't befooled by the remarkably low price, thisprogram can really perform."

May 1989. page 178

Complete 3-Dimensional design fea-tures make it easy for you to constructrealistic 3-D models. With full solid-object modeling capabilities you cananalyze your drawing to determinethe volume, surface area or evencenter of gravity! DesignCAD 3-D evenpermits you to check for interferencebetween objects! Aeronautical Engi-neers can now find the center of grav-ity for a new airplane design with acouple of keystrokes. The Architectcan determine the surface area of aroof for decking in a matter of minutes.The Civil Engineer can calculate thevolume of a lake or dam in seconds.The Mechanical Engineer will know forsure if certain parts fit together withoutinterference. The uses for DesignCAD3-D are only limited by YOUR imagina-tion!

HOW DO I GET ONE?

DesignCAD 3-D and DesignCAD 2D areavailable from most retail computerstores, or you may order directly fromus. If you have questions about whichprogram to purchase please give us acall. All you need to run DesignCAD3-D is an IBM PC or compatible com-puter with 640 K RAM memory and ahard disk. Both products support mostgraphics cards, printers, plotters anddigitizers. Free Information and a demodisk are available by faxing (918) 825-6359 or telephoning:

1-(918) 825-4844

American Small Business Computers • 327 South Mill Street • Pryor, OK 74361 U.S.A.

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Owen Linderholmand Jeff Bertolucci

The New Macs on the Block

146 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990 PHOTOGRAPHY: MEL LINDSTROM © 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Apple's new systemsfeature lower pricesand a new modular design

Although Apple has long beenfond of calling the Macintosh"the computer for the rest ofus," many potential Mac usershave found the machines too expensivefor their pocketbooks. Apple has longbeen criticized for being too expensiveand for not being competitively pricedagainst IBM PC-compatible computers.This criticism seems especially apt whenyou consider that, except for a brief trialperiod last year, no Mac has ever had alist price below $1000. Since Apple hasno direct competition in its Macintosh

product line, competitive pricing hasnever been its foremost concern.

Apple is hoping to change that imagewith its introduction of three new Macs.First is the long-awaited "Cheap Mac"—the new Mac Classic, which retails for$999 in its simplest configuration. Forusers who need color but can't afford aMac II, Apple will be offering the newMac LC for approximately $3000, in-cluding monitor. Finally, there's a newmember of the Mac II family, the MacIlsi, priced at $4870 including monitor.

Apple is trying to make a point with

these systems. A Mac always comes withenough features to let you get to work im-mediately and productively with a rangeof applications. Features that are optionson IBM PC-compatible systems are builtin on the Mac (e.g., networking, digi-tized sound, and a graphical user envi-ronment). Apple has also tried whereverpossible to make these systems ready forthe future—ready, specifically, for theforthcoming System 7.0 software. Theonly exception to this is the basic Classicconfiguration, which wUl require addi-tional memory.

The Mac Classic

The Mac Classic represents a completeoverhaul of the lowest end of Apple's cur-rent product line. Essentially, it is thehardware soul of the Mac SE at less thanthe price of a Mac Plus. The Classiccomes in two configurations: a low-endmodel that includes 1 megabyte of 120-nanosecond RAM and a SuperDrivefloppy disk drive for $999; and a $1499model with 2 MB of RAM and a fast (21-ms average access time) 40-MB hard diskdrive. The street price of the low-endClassic might go below $700, while thehigh-end model's might dip to $1000.

Externally, the Classic closely resem-bles the SE. There are some minor cos-metic differences, but the familiar up-right chassis with the built-in black-and-white 9-inch monitor remains the same.The system also remains relatively easyto carry around, for a desktop system.The high-end model weighs in at 17pounds, only 1 pound more than a MacPortable.

The Classic uses a single Apple Desk-top Bus (ADB) port and two mini-DIN-8connectors for the serial ports. In con-trast, the Mac Plus used a unique key-board and keyboard connector, and DB-9connectors for the serial ports. Unlike

with previous Macintosh systems, thekeyboard is included in the price of theClassic.

Other I/O ports include a DB-25 SCSIport, an external speaker port, and theexternal floppy disk drive port for 800K-byte or 1.4-MB disks. The Classic's in-ternal hard disk drive is considerablyfaster than the hard disk drives currentlyavailable from Apple for the SE.

The Classic's system board has been

completely redesigned with lower cost inmind. It is only 60 percent of the size ofthe SE's system board. Apple put a greatdeal of effort into integrating as manyfunctions as possible into custom appli-cation-specific ICs and into laying theboard out optimally. One example of theimprovements achieved in this way is asmaller and lighter power supply thatpowers both the Classic's main systemand its monitor. In contrast, the SE uses

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 147

FIRST IMPRESSIONSTHE NEW MACS ON THE BLOCK

New MacLineup

By January 1991, when theMac LC becomes available,Apple's Macintosh lineup willcontain the following systems:

PORTABLE FAMILY

Mac Portable

COMPACT FAMILY

Mac ClassicMac SE/30

"LC" FAMILYMacLC

MODULAR FAMILY

Mac IlsiMac IIxMac IlciMac Ilfx

New PricesforExistingMacs

Mac Ilci

with 4 MB of RAM anda floppy disk drive:$5969

Mac Ilci

with 4 MB of RAM andan 80-MB hard disk drive:$6669

Mac SE/30with 1 MB of RAM anda 40-MB hard disk drive:$3369

Mac SE/30

with 4 MB of RAM andan 80-MB hard disk drive:$4569

two separate supplies: one to power thedigital board, and another to power theanalog circuits that drive the monitor.The Classic's fan mounts at the bottom ofthe unit for cooling efficiency and is ex-tremely quiet.

Like the SE, the Classic uses an 8-MHz 68000. Memory is expandable to amaximum of 4 MB by adding 120-ns sin-gle in-line memory modules. You addthis memory by inserting a small cardthat has 1 MB of RAM on it and twoSIMM sockets.

Like those of its predecessors, theClassic's video buffer is in main RAM.While this simplifies the Classic's de-sign (as it did the Mac Plus and SB's),there's a 25 percent performance penaltyfor bus bandwidth when RAM used forvideo is accessed to refresh the screen.The Classic should be as fast as an SEand 25 percent faster than a Plus.

The Classic has 512K bytes of ROM,twice the size of the SE's ROM. ThisROM incorporates the Hierarchical FileSystem and drivers for SCSI, ADB,AppleTalk, the Toolbox, and Quick-Draw.

Where the Classic more closely resem-bles the Mac Plus than the SE is in its lackof an internal expansion slot. This was acost/design trade-off. Leaving out theslot was a way to save money on the Clas-

sic's design, and Apple's research indi-cated that 90 percent of users wouldn't beinterested in expansion capabilities. Youcould expand the system by way of itsSCSI bus, but it will be hard to add accel-erators or large external monitors.

The Classic will ship with the newestrevision of System software, version6.0.6, although it will work with version6.0.5. The Classic was, however, de-signed with System 7.0 in mind. Thehigh-end model is System 7.0-ready,while the low-end model only requires anadditional megabyte of RAM. Althoughthe Classic cannot make use of it. System6.0.6 includes the new Sound Managerwith its sound input capabilities.

Apple is going to discontinue both theMac Plus and the SE, since it believesthat the Classic is a good replacement forboth. Those in the market for either aPlus or an SE will be better off with aClassic instead. (This includes univer-sity students or anybody who wants a"transportable Mac" for an occasionaljourney.) According to Apple, retainingthe small, all-in-one footprint of theoriginal Mac is important for the low-end market.

The preliminary BYTE benchmark re-sults (see the table) indicate that the Clas-sic is—no surprise here—on a par withthe SE in performance.

■ MAC CLASSIC BENCHMARK RESULTS ■

Preliminary BYTE benchmark results (in seconds) for the new Mac Classic

suggest that it performs at about the same speed as the older Mac SE.

The Classic turned in an appreciably slower time on

two of the tests, but this

could be due to problems with the early prototype we

used. The prototype

system we tested had 2 MB of RAM and a 40-MB hard disk drive.

Test

Mac Classic

MacSE

CPU

Matrix

77.22*

67.10

String move

Byte-wide

374.73

374.50

Word-wide

187.38

186.70

Doubleword-wide

121.73*

92.40

Sort

154.53

154.20

Sieve

170.83

170.20

Disk I/O

1 -megabyte write

6.63

14.80

1 -megabyte read

4.38

8.10

Video Text

Text

TextEdit

16.35

15.10

DrawString

3.85

3.80

Graptiics

Slow test

88.28

84.40

QuickDraw

1.22

1.10

* Possible benchmark error.

148 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

For a full description of the Mac benchmarks, see "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks," June 1988 BYTE.

FIRST IMPRESSIONSTHE NEW MACS ON THE BLOCK

Mac LC:

Low-Cost Color in a New Box

The Mac LC is Apple's "lowest-cost col-or-capable computer"—hence the name.This system is intended to fill the voidbetween the SE/30 and the IIx line. TheLC will be offered for a complete systemprice of $3000, including keyboard (thesame compact keyboard that comes withthe Classic), hard disk drive, and colormonitor.

The LC also represents a new designshape for Apple. It is similar to Sun's"pizza box" workstation, but in a differ-ent, smaller size. The case is a flat boxshape, measuring 12]/^ inches wide by 15inches deep by 3 inches high. It weighsS% pounds. The front of the case, whichis similar in style to the Mac II line, hasa SuperDrive floppy disk drive on theright. On the back are seven ports: a vid-eo port, a printer port, a modem port, aSCSI connector, an ADB connector, asound-out port, and a sound-in port. Thelast two provide the LC with built-incomplete sound-processing capabilities.

With only 24 chips, the LC's logicboard represents a high level of integra-tion that helps reduce costs (see photo 1).The LC uses a 16-MHz 68020 CPU andhas built-in video logic like the Mac Ilci.The system comes standard with 2 MB of100-ns fast paged-mode soldered RAM,expandable to 10 MB in two SIMM sock-ets. There is no FPU, and no socket forone. The 512K-byte ROM includes 32-Bit Color QuickDraw. The system uses a40-MB internal SCSI hard disk drive.

The LC's built-in video supports threemonitors. One is Apple's existing 13-inch 640- by 480-pixel color monitor.Another is a 12-inch 640- by 480-pixelmonochrome monitor, a basic redesignof the existing 12-inch monochromemonitor that makes it cheaper to producewhile improving the picture quality.

Finally, a new color monitor, theMacintosh 12-inch RGB Display, pro-vides a 512- by 384-pixel display. Thisnew monitor was designed because Ap-ple thought that existing color monitorsdidn't provide a sufficiently good picturewith low-resolution 8-bit color and weretoo expensive. Thus, the new monitorhas a smaller screen that displays 8-bitand 16-bit color crisply and clearly.

The LC uses 512K bytes of videoRAM on the main logic board as thevideo frame buffer. With this frame buf-fer, you get 16 colors or gray scales onthe 640- by 480-pixel monitors and 256colors on the 12-inch RGB monitor. Youcan expand the buffer by plugging 512Kbytes of additional VRAM into SIMMsockets. At the maximum frame buffer

size, the LC can get 256 colors or grayscales on the larger displays, 16-bit color(over 32,000 colors) on the new 12-inchRGB monitor, and 256 gray scales on the12-inch monochrome monitor.

The LC also includes one expansionslot, a 68020 Direct Slot. This slot issimilar to the 68030 Direct Slot on theSE/30 and allows direct access to theCPU bus. However, the LC's 68020 Di-rect Slot is not compatible with the SE/30's 68030 Direct Slot. Because the LC

doesn't have a socket for a paged mem-ory management unit, one possible use ofthis Direct Slot might be to add a 68030processor board to make use of the vir-tual memory technology in System 7.0.Apple also plans to introduce an Ethernetboard for under $400 and an Apple Hecompatibility board that will cost lessthan $250. The latter unit would let theLC run Apple He software at full speedand would provide support for Apple Heperipherals. For example, with a He

Photo 1: The Mac LC's logic board has a low component count due to the high levelof logic integration. On the left edge is the 68020 Direct Slot; near the right edge arethe SIMM sockets for RAM and the SIMM-mounted ROM.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 149

FIRST IMPRESSIONSTHE NEW MACS ON THE BLOCK

compatibility board, an LC mouse emu-lates an Apple II mouse.

Why the Apple He compatibility? Ap-ple sees the LC as tapping into the educa-tion markets. With a retail price of $3000for a complete system, the LC might ap-peal to schools that currently use Applelis, especially since Apple is also plan-ning to make single and dual floppy diskdrive versions of this system available ata lower price to the educational marketonly.

Apple says that the LC has the same

computing power as a 16-MHz 386SXsystem and is comparable in price to SXsystems from IBM and Compaq; thecompany admits, though, that PC clonemakers offer complete SX/VGA systemsfor far less than the LC's $3000 retailprice. The LC with 2 MB of RAM and aninternal 40-MB hard disk drive will costapproximately $2400. With the new 12-inch RGB color monitor costing $600,it is possible to get a color Macintoshsystem for $3000. The 12-inch mono-chrome monitor costs $300, so a usable

LC system could actually be purchasedfor as little as $2700. The street price of acolor LC will probably be around $2300to $2400, making it competitive withhigh-end 386SX machines from majormanufacturers.

Unfortunately, the Mac LC will not beavailable until January 1991. It is beingmanufactured at Apple's facilities in Sin-gapore. This delay means that the pricesof reasonably competitive IBM PC-com-patible systems might fall still furtherbefore the LC is released.

THE FACTS

Mac Classic

with keyboard, 1 MB of RAM,floppy disk drive, and built-inmonochrome monitor, $999;with keyboard, 2 MB of RAM, 40-MB hard disk drive, andmonochrome monitor, $1499

MacLC

with keyboard, 2 MB of RAM, and40-MB hard disk drive, $2400(approximate)

Mac Ilsi

with 2 MB of RAM and 40-MBhard disk drive, $3769;with 5 MB of RAM and 80-MBhard disk drive, $4569

Apple Computer, Inc.

20525 Mariani Ave.Cupertino, CA 95014(408) 996-1010Inquiry 1080.

Mac Ilsi:

Lower Cost, More OptionsThe Mac Ilsi is Apple's new low-costMac II. Designed to replace the Ilex(currently Apple's most popular Mac IImodel), the Ilsi has some big shoes tofill. To fully appreciate the new Ilsi, youmust first compare it with the Ilex to seethe differences between the two ma-chines. The 10-pound Mac Ilsi comes ina slimmer, smaller box (although it islarger than the pizza-box-shaped LC). Itsdimensions are 4 inches high by 12'/2wide by 15 inches deep.

The Ilsi's basic configuration includesa 20-MHz 68030 CPU, no FPU, and 2MB of 100-ns, fast paged-mode RAM.One MB of RAM is on the Ilsi's mainlogic board; the other is on a SIMM. Youcan add up to 16 MB by installing moreSIMMs. Apple is introducing 2-MB and8-MB memory-expansion kits for theIlsi and Ilci. These kits consist of four512K-byte-density and four 2-MB-den-sity SIMMs, respectively. (The Mac Ilfxuses nonstandard 64-pin SIMMs, so itcannot use the new expansion kits.)

The Ilsi includes eight built-in ports:

an ADB port, a SCSI port, an externaldisk drive port, two serial ports, a videoport, one stereo sound output port, andthe new sound input port. Interestingly,the Ilsi has a single expansion connectorthat can be set up as either a NuBus slotor a 68030 Direct Slot. This trick is ac-complished by special adapters (soldseparately for $200) that attach to theconnector and provide a slot that's paral-lel to the system board. Through this ma-neuver, a NuBus board can fit inside theIlsi's smaller housing. Both adaptersalso provide a 68882 FPU. Why only oneexpansion slot? Apple claims that mostMac II users have only one board in theirmachines anyway—usually a videoboard. So Apple added built-in video tothe Ilsi system board, leaving the expan-sion slot open for more esoteric options.

Like the new Classic and the LC, theIlsi offers tight logic-board integration(see photo 2). The board is three-quar-ters the size of the Ilex board. Apple isable to offer the Ilsi for $2200 less thanthe Ilex by removing much of the origi-nal system logic from the main logicboard and by limiting expansion capabil-ities and making them an option. Despitethe size reduction, however, the Ilsi of-fers the same performance as the Ilexand includes many features that the Ilexdoesn't have, including built-in 8-bit col-or video and support for 32-Bit ColorQuickDraw in ROM. (The Ilsi can gener-ate 24-bit color video by using a 24-bitvideo board in a NuBus slot adapter.)The Ilsi logic board now includes a ROMSIMM socket to simplify future firm-ware upgrades (the Ilex's ROM chipswere soldered to the main logic board).The machine's 512K bytes of ROM in-cludes 32-bit memory support.

Sound Investment

This brings us to one of the most interest-ing features on both the LC and the Ilsi:built-in sound input. Apple sees sound asa natural extension to the Mac platform.

150 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

There's more to comparingLaserJet memory boardsthan just the name

a;u

5-1

Pacific Data Products

1MB/$1992MB/$2994MB/^499

Lifetime

FullyUpgradeableto 4 MB

Hewlett-Packard

lMB/$4952MB/$7404 MB/Not Available

One Year

NotUpgradeable

See us atly

Booth #W818 November 12-16, 1990Las Vegas, Nevada

Fall '90

Do

'on't settle for less justto buy the HP label. Getmore for less with PacificData Products Pacific 4Memory for HP LaserJet IIPand III prir\ters. With Pacific 4Memory you get 4 MB ofmemory for only four dollarsmore than the price of 1 MBfrom HP. You also get alifetime warranty, andupgradeabihty so you canstart with 1 MB of memory,then simply upgrade whenyou need more. Just use thePacific Data MemoryUpgrade Kit ($99.00). Itcontains 1 MB of thoroughlytested DRAM chips specifi-cally for Pacific 4 Memoryand our 2 Plus 2 memory

To learn how you can getmore for less, call yournearest dealer or contact:Pacific Data Products,9125 Rehco Rd., San Diego,CA 92121, (619) 597-3114Fax (619) 552-0889.

Prices are suggested retail list price. Pacific 4 Memory and 2 Plus 2 are trademarks of Pacific Data Products, inc.All other company and product names are trademarks of the company or manufacturer respectively.© 1990 Pacific Data Products, Inc.

PACIFIC

DATA PRODUCTS

Circle 270 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 271)

FIRST IMPRESSIONSTHE NEW MACS ON THE BLOCK

Photo 2: The Mac Usi board combines on-board video and support for either aNuBus slot or a 68030 Direct Slot via a special adapter. This adapter plugs into theconnector on the board's left edge. By the connector is one socket for SIMM-mountedROM and four SIMM-mounted RAM sockets. At the center are crystal oscillators forthe on-board video and bus clock. The sound I/O jacks are at the upper right.

Both the Ilsi and the LC come bundledwith an Apple electret microphone andphono jack. The microphone is a simple,button-shaped device (roughly the size ofa silver dollar) that offers 8-bit monauralsound. It's a simple, omnidirectional mi-crophone for recording messages; youcan clip it to your clothing or place it ontop of the Mac monitor. The sound inputis via a standard phono adapter jack, soalternative microphones or other audiodevices can be used.

One problem with the new microphoneis that it connects to the back of the Macbox; a keyboard-based port for the mikewould have been far more convenient.The NeXT Computer, for example, has asound input port on its monitor stand.

With these devices and the appropriatesoftware, you could annotate sound mes-sages to documents and spreadsheets, forexample. Apple demonstrated a pre-al-pha version of an Ashton-Tate word pro-cessing program that lets you annotatesound messages to a document. Soundsare sampled at 11 or 22 kHz. The soundis filtered through a custom filter/pream-plifier chip, converted to digital form,and stored in memory or directly on thehard disk. Also included is the Macin-tosh Audio Compression Expansionsound utility, which compresses sounds

at ratios of 3 to 1 or 6 to 1. MACE lets youstore up to 3 hours of sound on a 40-MBhard disk. The new sound capabilities donot include stereo sound.

An application programming interfacefor sound is included with the system,and Apple has attempted as much as pos-sible to keep its sound extensions com-patible with existing sound productsfrom third parties, like Farallon's Mac-Recorder. The Control Panel desk acces-sory now has sound capabilities, includ-ing the ability to record your own alertsounds to replace the standard systemsounds. Apple plans to eventually up-grade the rest of the Mac II family to in-clude the same sound features that comewith the Ilsi and LC.

The Ilsi is also the least expensive Maccapable of running A/UX, Apple's ver-sion of Unix: Apple is introducing a ver-sion of A/UX 2.0 that supports the Ilsi.

In conjunction with Apple's new ag-gressive pricing strategy for hardware,some software vendors have banded to-gether to provide a low-cost software so-lution for Apple users. A bundle consist-ing of WriteNow 2.2, SuperPaint 2.0,Full Impact 1.1, and Record Holder Pluswill retail for $349.

The Ilsi is available now. The standardconfiguration with 2 MB of RAM and a

40-MB hard disk drive is $3769. Add anApple high-resolution monitor and thestandard keyboard, and the price jumpsto $4869. The Ilsi minus monitor andkeyboard and with 5 MB of RAM and an80-MB hard disk drive will be $4569.(As with other Mac lis, the buyer mustchoose between the standard or extra-large keyboard. However, as mentionedearlier, the keyboard comes bundledwith the new Classic and LC systems.)Apple thinks the street price for a bare-bones Ilsi, including monitor and key-board, could drop to around $3600.

Apple Gets Price Wise

Along with introducing the new models,Apple is discontinuing three Macs. TheMac Plus and SE are being replaced bythe Classic, and the Ilex by the Ilsi. Andto prove it's serious about its new com-petitive image, Apple has reduced theprices of existing Ilci and SE/30 config-urations.

Apple's goal with its new Macs andlower prices is to reach more people byincreasing unit sales and market share.Indeed, the pricing of the new Macs iscompetitive, and Apple has a leaner,meaner desktop lineup these days. Thenew Macs offer impressive features fortheir price, and Apple should attract a lotof new customers. However, if viewedfrom a strict price-per-raw-computing-performance perspective, these systemsstill don't match up with the lower-costIBM PC compatibles.

What should not be forgotten in theequation is the ease of use of Apple's sys-tems and the extras that come with them.These are Apple's strengths and also itsAchilles' heel. It is impossibly expensiveto add into an IBM PC compatible all theextras that Apple provides. But do peoplewant these extras or ease of use? Applestill has to persuade buyers that the inte-grated philosophy behind its systems isbest. The new systems and prices justmake this task a lot easier.

Probably the biggest drawback of Ap-ple's new low-price systems is the rela-tive lack of expansion options on thecheaper Macs. Apple based its decisionto leave out expansion options on marketresearch that shows that most users don'twant or need the expansion. But it couldbe a problem farther down the line whenusers eventually want to upgrade. ■

Owen Linderholm is a BYTE news editorin San Francisco. He can be reached onBIX as "owenl." Jeff Bertolucci is aBYTE associate news editor in San Fran-cisco. He can be reached on BIX as"bertolucci."

152 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Take the Oops & Downsout of your next presentation.

I Color Paint Company

Tired of fumbling with slides? Fiddling with transparencies?Losing your audience?

Well, it's time to use an LCD projection panel from In FocusSystems. It lets j^ou project information just as it appears on yourcomputer screen. Even bright, brilliant colors.

So you make stronger presentations. And easily hold any audience.What's more, the 640x480 display works with IBM® compatibles,and the Macintosh® family, too. For more information or the name of

the dealer nearest you, call 1-800-327-7231,today.

Then take the oops and downs out ofj'^our next presentation. And put the audi-ence in the palm of your hand.1-800-327-7231.

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^^oS^'sfMohawk Street, ^alatin Oregon 97062.1-800-327-7231. Oregon, 503-692-4968. FAX, 503-692-4476.

and Macintosh are regiscered trademarks of their respective companies.

htroducing this year^best performance. Sob.

Once again, Compaq unleashes a series of stun-ning performances.

Tfie new COMPAQ DESKPRO 486/33L andCOMPAQ DESKPRO 386/33L Personal Computers aresingle-user PCs that deliver the utmost in power.

And 33-MHz 486 models of the COMPAQSYSTEMPRO Personal Computer System strengthenits position as the network server without equal.

For individuals,

—our powerful new

^^^^^i^j^^^' desktops extract thehighest performance

processors. So you can run the most complex CAD/CAE,scientific and business applications faster than ever. Youcan also take advantage of SCO's UNIX operating systemand Microsoft's Windows. Plus run the thousands ofindustry-standard software products available underMicrosoft's MS-DOS and MS OS/2.

Both machines fulfill your need for speed. They'reoptimized with high-speed cache memory designs, fixeddisk drives and powerful Extended Industry StandardArchitecture (EISA). So nothing slows you down.

Both offer unequaled growth potential with sevenEISA expansion slots plus internal room for up to 100

from Intel's dSMBi^ MB^fRAM and 1.3 GB of mass storage. The COMPAQ

^^<.rm86 micro- DESKPRO 386/33L also offers an upgrade path to

COMPAQ. DESKPRO. SYSTEMPRO, Registered U S Palenl and Trademark Oltice. UNIX is a rejislered trademark ol AT&T.

And this year^best performance. Group.

the power of486 technology.For networks,

the COMPAQ SYSTEMPRO Family now delivers theability to employ one or two 33-MHz 486 or 386 micro-processors. It's power you can put to work in the broad-est range of connected environments, from resourcesharing to departmental database management.

Inside you'll find innovations like a 512-KbyteServerCache design, EISA I/O performance anddrive array technology. Plus the ability to use up to 11expansion slots and store up to 4.28 GB of data.

These innovations are complemented by theCOMPAQ DESKPRO 386N and COMPAQ DESKPRO

286n Personal Computers, PCs designed with specificnetwork features. Put them all together with Novell'sNetWare, Microsoft's LAN Manager, SCO's UNIX orother industry-standard network or multiuser operat-ing systems and you'll get the greatest performance toever hit the networks.

And the one place to see these performances live isyour Authorized COMPAQ Computer Dealer. For the near-est location and more information, call 1-800-231-0900,Operator 131. In Canada, 1-800-263-5868, Operator 131.

comPAa

It simply works better.

Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or roistered trademarks of their respectii'e companies. S' 1990 Compaq Computer Corporation, All rights reseni-ed.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A New Status Quofor Quattro

Andrew Reinhardt

The newest version of

Borland's spreadsheetfeatures 3-D graphicsand a simple solver

Dislodging an entrenched mar-ket leader like Lotus 1-2-3 re-quires rivals to produce soft-ware that is fundamentally abetter deal. With a new version of itspopular Quattro Pro spreadsheet, Bor-land International continues to achievejust that: Quattro Pro 2.0 offers an ex-panded set of features over the previousversion, while maintaining the advan-tages it already enjoyed over 1-2-3.

Quattro Pro provides more featuresand better performance than 1-2-3—andat a lower price—yet it will run on anyDOS machine (e.g., an 8088-based XTwith 512K bytes of RAM). Quattro Prodoes not use the multilayered "three-dimensional" architecture of 1-2-3 re-lease 3.0 (nor can it read Lotus .WK3files), but it does offer a reasonable alter-

File EditStgl

fli; (U2]

:\S0LUES.UQ1=

Princ

$219,088.88

Tern of loan (in nontiis)

248

finnual Interest Rate

12.5-x

(floiithly Interest Rate)

1.84X

Monthly Paynent

Irterest Rste vs Mortgage

aOED 2B> 2*00 MfiO

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:sFILLER.UQl-

HUH

READV

Quattro Pro lets you display multiple, linked worksheetsand live graphics on the screen at the same time.

native: easy spreadsheet linking and theability to have several spreadsheetsstacked or tiled on the screen at once.

The ability to run comfortably in con-ventional DOS memory (by comparison,1-2-3 release 3.0 requires 1 megabyte ofinstalled RAM and uses a built-in DOSextender) is due to Borland's VirtualReal-Time Object-Oriented MemoryManagement architecture, a techniquethat breaks the program code into smallchunks that are swapped in and out ofmemory as needed. VROOMM's effi-cient memory management makes it pos-sible to load larger spreadsheets in con-ventional RAM than is possible under1-2-3 release 2.2. And for very largespreadsheets, Quattro Pro supports up to8 MB of EMS 4.0 memory.

Aside from its speed and small mem-ory needs, the main advantages of Quat-tro Pro are superior graphics and spread-sheet publishing. For example, it comeswith a Graph Annotator. This is a graph-ics program that is as sophisticated as the1-2-3/G Graph Tool and is easier to use.You can also mix data and live charts onthe same worksheet.

These capabilities have been enhancedwith four new 3-D graph types (i.e.,bars, step, area, and ribbon) and fasterLaserJet drivers that support download-able Bitstream fonts. Quattro Pro alsonow offers a 132-column mode (on EGA/VGA cards that support extended charac-ter sets), so you can view 12 months of abudget calculation on one screen.

However, Quattro Pro does have oneimportant drawback compared with re-lease 3.1 of 1-2-3: The Lotus spreadsheetnow has a WYSIWYG mode that showsfonts and other graphical attributes on-screen as they will appear in printed out-put. By contrast, Quattro Pro will showcolors, boxes, shading, and graphs, butnot fonts.

Interactive Slide Shows

One of the most distinctive capabilities ofQuattro Pro is the ProShow presentation

156 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

tool, which lets you create slide showsusing spreadsheet data, graphs, and text.In version 2.0, ProShow presentationscan become interactive and nonlinear:By clicking on "graph buttons" added tothe screen, you can branch to othergraphics or run macros.

Because ProShow is integrated intoQuattro Pro, it can be an easier way tocreate presentations than exportingworksheets and graphics to a slide-showpackage (especially when the data is fre-quently updated), but it's not as graphi-cally rich as Microsoft PowerPoint.

Quattro Pro 2.0 also adds a capabilityunmatched in any DOS-based spread-sheet: a Solve For tool that is similar tothe Backsolver utility that is found in1-2-3/G. Both Solve For and Backsolvercan tweak a single input variable to pro-duce a specified result, sparing you fromtrial-and-error goal seeking. However,Solve For doesn't match the power of thefull 1-2-3/G Solver, which uses separateOS/2 threads to jiggle multiple factorsconstrained by numerous criteria.

Finally, Quattro Pro has added bettersupport for networking, file import/ex-port, and data access. It offers moreprinter drivers and graphics import/ex-port formats, as well as a choice of inter-national character sets with correct sort-ing for non-English text.

Quattro Pro now works better withLotus 1-2-3. Release 2.2 files can beread into Quattro Pro with their cell-linking attributes preserved.

For networked installations, QuattroPro 2.0 permits a single, shared set oflarge font files to reside on the server,saving disk space. The software includesuser license management, which auto-matically monitors the number of simul-taneous users of the program on a LAN.

And for spreadsheet users who want toaccess Structured Query Language data-bases, Borland has strengthened the tiesbetween Quattro Pro, Paradox 3.5, andthe Paradox SQL Link, which talks toSQL Server, IBM OS/2 Extended Edi-tion, and Oracle Server. Now, if youhave at least a 286 machine and 2 MB ofRAM, you can load both Quattro Pro andParadox, toggle between them with a hotkey, and easily load Paradox or SQL datatables into a Quattro Pro spreadsheet foranalysis or graphics.

In the interest of compatibility with in-dustry-standard 1-2-3, you still have achoice of user interfaces: the 1-2-3 menutree or a Common User Access-com-pliant pull-down Quattro menu tree.Having Lotus menus available is a com-fortable fallback for those users bred on1-2-3, but the Quattro menus are actually

more efficient and easier to use. Borlandis now the target of a lawsuit by Lotus forallegedly copying the look and feel of1-2-3, but even without 1-2-3 menus,Quattro Pro would be a snap to learn forany experienced spreadsheet user.

One Size Fits All

Perhaps the most important point inQuattro Pro's favor is that while most ofits features are available in some releaseof 1-2-3 (i.e., release 2.2 with the All-ways add-in, release 3.1 with the Impressadd-in, or 1-2-3/G for OS/2-PresentationManager), no one package has them all.

In fact, the various releases of 1-2-3are starting to get quite confusing forcustomers and technical-support person-nel: The releases aire segmented by hard-ware platform, each offers features theothers lack, and they all use differentcommands and file formats for their pre-sentation and publishing modules.

Quattro Pro, on the other hand, runson any DOS platform with the same set offeatures. If you have a large investment in1-2-3 data files, a lot of older-generationPCs, and a desire to tap into the latestspreadsheet capabilities, Quattro Pro isprobably your best answer. ■

Andrew Reinhardt is BYTE's associatenews editor in New York City. He can bereached on BIX as "areinhardt."

COMPANY INFORMATION

Quattro Pro 2.0

$495

Requirements:IBM XT or compatiblewith a hard disk drive and512K bytes of RAM.

Borland International, Inc.1800 Green Hills Rd.P.O. Box 660001Scotts Valley, CA 95066(408) 438-8400Inquiry 1166.

The new release of Quattro Pro supports 3-D bar charts (above),as well as 3-D ribbons, steps, and area plots.

Summer Sales Period Results

(grouped by product line)

Ma[y June July August SeptProduct

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 157

Professional developers require

TURBO C++ Professional

by Borland InternationalBe objective! Object-OrientedProgramming is programming inttie 90s. Let Borland tal<e youthere witti a native, AT&T 2.0compatible C++ compiler, an ANSIC compiler, the VROOMM overlaymanager, and documentation andtutorials. You also get theProgrammer's Platform with openarchitecture for integrating yourown tools, integrated debuggingwith Turbo Debugger 2.0, TurboAssembler 2.0 with NOP squishingand 486 support, the new TurboProfiler, and much, much more.UST: $300 P8 Price: $259

FastFaxts 777-0*2

386 DEVELOPMENT

Pric*

386 Max 5.0 $109

386|ASM'LINK by Pharlap 495

DESQview386 189

F77-EM32 + Lahey Ergo 1055

FoxBASE+/386 479

Metaware High C 386/486 919

MetaWare Pascal 386/486 839

NDP Fortran w/VM 829

NDP C - 386 829

QEMM 386 95

VM-386 229

WATCOM C8.0 386 Prof. 1155

WATCOM C8.0 386 Stand. 795

Zortech C++ 386 Dev. 865

AI-LANGUAGES

ARITY Combination Package 989

LISPC 269

PC Scheme LISP 85

TransLISP PLUS w/source 99

PDC Prolog Compiler 239

ASSEMBLERS

MS MASM 105

Turbo Debugger & Tools 119

Visible Computer:80286 85

BASIC & ADD-ONS

BAS-C Commercial 439

dB/LIB Professional 179

MS QuickBASIC V4.5 69

QBase 139

QuickPak Prof. V3.16 189

C LANGUAGE COMPILERS

Instant C 769

Lattice C - 6.0 Compiler 189

Microsoft C 6.0 349

Microsoft QuickC 69

WATCOM C8.0/286 Prof. 429

WATCOM C8.0/286 Stand. 359

CASE & PROTOTYPERS

Dan Bricklin Demo II 185

EasyCase Plus 275

EasyCase Plus Prof. Pack 365

EasyFlow 135

Instant Replay III 119

Matrix Layout 179MetaDesign by Meta Software 295Pro-C 2.0w/Wori<bench Combo735

ProtoFinish by Genesis 279

Show Partner F/X 279

Visible Analyst 585COBOL

MS COBOL V3.0 639

Realia COBOL 859

COMMUNICATIONSADD-ONS

C Asynch Manager 3.0 139

Essential COMM by S. Mtn. 259

Greenleaf Comm Library 329

QuickComm 129

DBASE

Clipper 5.0dBASE IVdBFAST/PLUSdBIMN VdBXLFoxPro

FoxBASE + - V2.1Quicksilver

550499315275209495279399

DBMS

Cause Professional 499

CLARION Prof. Dev. V2.1 549

D the data language 359

Magic PC 349

Paradox V3.0 479

R:BASE 3.1 499

DBMS TOOLS &UBRARIES

AdComm for Clipper 279

Artful.LIb 200BALER Spreadsheet Compiler 399

CLEAR + for dBASE 179

dBASE BlackBox 65

dBASE Online 129

BRIEF w/dBRIEF Call

dBX/dBport 549

dGE 4.0 279

dQUERYMU 179

dSalvage Professional 195

FLIPPE R Graphics Library 179

FUNCky.LIB 179

Genifer ■ code generator 269

Net Lib 229

Pro Clip 149

R&R Relational Reportwriter 139

R&R Code Generator 129

Scrimmage 139

SilverComm Library 229

SilverPaint 100

Steve Straley's Toolkit 169

The UnMouse -More Speed in Less Space

by MicroTouch

The UnMouse is a touch-sensitivetablet that gives you faster cursorspeed - - in a fraction of the spacea mouse takes up. Plus you canslip templates under its glass toaccess up to 60 Power KeyPadfunctions or use its stylus to draw,trace or input graphics.

UST: $235 PS Price: $219

FastFaxts 291S-W1

UI2 Touch & Go

by Wallsoft

UI2 Touch S Go is a subset of TheUl Programmer 2, Developer'sRelease for less experienced pro-grammers. It has a screen painterand integrated data dictionary andcomes with the GENS'VS templatesystem, customized applicationaeneration without programming.GENSYS handles almost allapplication development needs,'nghtoutoflhebox'. UI2 Touch &Go generates dBASE 111+ and IV,Clipper, FoxBASE+, FoxPro,Quicksilver and dBXL programs.UST: $395 PS Price: $319

FastFaxts 212-011

RM/FORTRAN

by Ryan McFarland

RM/FORTRAN is a high resolutionANSI 77 FORTRAN compiler forDOS and OS/2. It includes RM/Forte, an advanced programmingenvironment giving you instantaccess to editing, compiling,linking, debugging, and filemanagement utilities at a singlekeystroke. You easily movebetween tasks and the tools youneed, productively developing yoursolutions.

UST; $595 PS Price: $499

FastFaxts 437-009

Dr. Switch-ASE

by Black & White Int'l, Inc.Dr. Switch-ASE turns any sizeDbase application into a RAMresident (TSR) program thatoccupies only 16-20K of RAM;Supports Clipper, dBASE IIIPLUS, dBASE IV, FoxBASE +and FoxPro. Dr. Switch-ASEndudes Cut, Paste, Timer, Alarmand Macro functions. It supportsExpanded and Extended memoryand is fully network compatible.UST: $100 PS Price: $95

FastFaxts 1178-006

Grcle 390 on Reader Service Card

nni mmniMmvAVs shop i-8oo-42i-8oo6

more than just products...

Microsoft Windows SDKby Microsoft Corp.

You're only as good as the toolsyou use, so shouldn't you use thenew Microsoft Windows SoftwareDevelopment Kit? The SDK is aset of tools tailor-made to buildapplicatons for Windows. Itindudes a CodeView debugger forWindows, sophisticated analysistools and resource editors, andextensive hard copy and onlinedocumentation. There's only oneway to build Windows applications,and thaf s with the SDK. Whatelse would you expect from thepeople who brought you Windows?UST: $500 PS Price: $3«SFastFaxts 502-072

3>-

OPEN ACCESS IIIby Software Products Intl.Turn your ideas into market-readyapplications in just weel^s withOpen Access llll Easily edit, run,and debug your programs in theintegrated programmingenvironment. Get data entry andreport forms and support forwindowing, light-bar menus, and3-D graphics to make creating yourapplications a snapl Openarchitecture with a C languageinterface lets you add change oradd features. And Open Accesseven has its own compilerlUST: $695 PS Price: $489FastFaxts 1759-007

WATCOM C 8.0/386 Prof,by WATCOM

WATCOM C 8.0/386 is 100% ANSIC optimizing compiler/runtimelibrary for Intel's 80386 architec-ture, generating applications for32-bit protect mode. Featuresinclude: protected mode version ofthe compiler; VIDEO full-screensource-level debugger; MS library-& source-compatibility; executionprofiler; high performance linker;graphics library; supportsMetaWare High C 386 runtimecalling conventions; SAAcompatible.

UST: $1295 PS Price: $1155FastFaxts 1044-005

EDT+

by Boston Business ComputingEDT+ 5.0, the only completeemulation of DIGITAL'S VAX EDT,is 50% faster than Its predecessorand features multiple windows,interfaces for EVE, EMACS, viand WPS, 132-column mode,status line and ruler, keystrokemacros and much more. 30-day,money-back guarantee and freecustomer support and updates for60 days. For MS-DOS and UNIXsystems.

UST: $295 PS Price: $279

FastFaxts 342-001

Tom Rettig's Libfary

85

UI2 Developer's Release

479

DEBUGGERS/

DISASSEMBLERS

DASM

225

Dis Doc Pro

229

Multiscope for DOS

149

Periscope IV Varies

RE:Source by Genesoft

119

SoftProbe Se/TX

345

Souroer 486 w/BIOS pre-proc. 149

Trapper

189

DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

A Oft lt~l ^*ft#

ASMFLOW

89

C-DOC

139

CLEAR-t- for C

169

Codan

349

Buzzwords dANALYST

269

Xho rv%pi imontnr

245

INSIDEI

119

MKS Lex & Yacc

199

MKS RCS

175

PC-Lint

120

Plink^TO

439

PolyMake

159

PVCS Professional

439

ROM-Link

339

.RTLINK - by Pocket Soft

279

.RTLINK Plus

419

Source Print

97

TLIB

89

Zortech C++ Tools

Call

EDITORS

BRIEF

Call

Cheetah

195

Epsilon

119

KEDIT

139

QEditTSR

89

Sage Professional Editor

249

SPF/PC - V2.1

129

Vedit +

139

EXPERT SYSTEMS

Eclipse 386

560

Exsys Professional

695

Logic Gem by Sterling Castle

89

Personal Consultant Plus

1999

FILE ADD-ONS

Accsys for Paradox w/source 739

CBTREE

179

C-Data Manager

279

CodeBASE 4

279

CQL - w/ source

359

c-tree by Faircom - source

329

C-TRIEVE

229

db_FILE/RETRIEVE - SU

229

Faircom Toolbox Prof.

889

Faircom Toolbox Special

539

WKS Library

149

XOL

649

FORTRAN

FOR C w/source

789

Lahey FORTRAN F77L

549

Lahey Personal FORTRAN

Call

MS Fortran Opt. Compiler

309

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The ALR MPS:Modular Micro Channel

Advanced Logic Researchgambles that it cantake a byte out ofthe True Blue market

■

Stan Miastkowski

162 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

PAUL AVIS © 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Just when you thought you had ahandle on all those computerterms, here's another acronym foryou: MPS. It stands for ModularPersonal System, and it's AdvancedLogic Research's latest PC incarnationon the way to that ever-elusive systemnirvana.

ALR has carved out a solitary andcomfortable nitch for itself with well-built systems notable for their easy-to-upgrade processor cards. It started offlast year with the 286-based PowerFlexand kept the industry hopping earlier thisyear with the PowerVEISA, a 386-basedmachine with the Extended IndustryStandard Architecture (EISA) bus.

With "Logic" in your corporate moni-ker, I guess you make logical businessdecisions. So it's no surprise that the lat-est ALR machine has taken the "logical"step of jumping headfirst into the MicroChannel market. The ALR MPS is es-sentially a nicely built PS/2 clone (seephoto 1) that offers several features thatBig Blue's entries do not, such as trulyeasy upgrade. A basic MPS unit comesequipped with a 33-MHz 386. Wantmore power later? No problem. All youneed to do is pull the 386 CPU board outof its proprietary slot and plug in an i486(either 25 or 33 MHz) (see photo 2).Once you get the case off, the whole pro-cess takes about 30 seconds. And unlikethe processor upgrade schemes that othermanufacturers have opted for, ALR's re-quires no change of software or BIOSROM upgrade. It's truly plug and play.

Riding the Micro Channel

Of course, other ALR systems upgradein the same way. So what's the point ofthe MPS? Mainly, the Micro Channel.While the folks at IBM probably aren'tquaking in their collective wingtips overALR's Micro Channel entry, ALR hasfrosted the competitive cake with lots ofsweet goodies, especially for the steely-eyed bean counters of the bottom line.Stripped MPS systems start at lowball

prices—$1995 with no hard disk drive orgraphics. And there's a well-chosen se-lection of upgrade options. For example,a 33-MHz 386-based MPS with a 16K-byte static RAM cache, an 80-megabytehard disk drive, a Super VGA card, and a14-inch color monitor costs about $4500.That's nearly half the price of a compara-bly equipped IBM PS/2.

ALR's entry is a compact 6 by 15 by17 inches, weighing in at about 35pounds. The motherboard in the prepro-duction MPS that I looked at still hadhand-wired patches, but careful layoutand construction were evident. Packingall this circuitry into a small case isn't atrivial undertaking, and it requires sur-face-mount fabrication techniques. ALRhas used the Intel Micro Channel chip setand has ended up with considerably moreexpansion space than you find in thePS/2s. The MPS has a total of eight ex-pansion slots (versus three in a compara-ble PS/2). Two of these are proprietaryALR slots, but there are four 16-bit andtwo 32-bit Micro Channel slots.

The World Gets Smaller

ALR has also opted for a semimodularcase layout. As with a true PS/2, you popout a few plastic buttons, and the drivebays lift off. But you still need to fiddlewith cable connectors. And speaking ofdrives, ALR has also decided to emulatethe PS/2 approach of eschewing 514-inchdrives. You have a choice: Take 3'/2-inchdrives or leave them. Period. But there'slots of room for them: space for fourhalf-height units on the front panel, androom for two 3!/2-inch hard disk drives(mounted vertically) inside the case.

COMPANY INFORlMllUlsiM

Advanced Logic Research, Inc.

9401 JeronimoIrvine, CA 92718(800) 444-4257(415)581-6770Inquiry 1081.

Despite all the circuitry crammed ontothe MPS's motherboard (including anIntelligent Drive Electronics hard diskdrive interface), there's plenty of roomfor expansion. A basic MPS comes with1 MB of surface-mounted RAM on themotherboard. Add 256K-byte, 1-MB, or4-MB single in-line memory modules tothe four on-board sockets, and you canupgrade to 2, 5, or 17 MB in one fellswoop. Still not enough for you? Add anALR 32-bit RAM card (that takes up to22 MB), and you end up with a total sys-tem capacity of 49 MB.

Adding Processing Power

At press time, the cost of upgrading anMPS machine to a 486/25 was pegged at$1995; moving up to a 486/33 was a wal-let-clearing $3195. But that's likely tochange quickly; 486/25s are becomingmore available, while 486/33s are likelyto be hard to come by for some time.ALR also offers a trade-in rebate for pro-cessor modules. The rebate varies as themarket changes, so check with the com-pany for the latest details.

Those who are truly power (or is thatstatus?) hungry can equip the MPS witha high-end TMS34010-based graphics

PRELIMINARY BYTE LOW-LEVEL BENCHMARK SCORES

We tested the ALR MPS with three different plug-in processor modules.Although its CPU results were on the low side of competing machines (and thevideo results were usually fast), note that the ALR was a prototype and thefinal production versions may (andprobably will) differ.

CPU

FPU

Disk I/O

Video

ALR MPS 386/33

4.83

14.35

1.61

11.77

ALR MPS 486/25

5.07

24.73

2.63

13.52

ALR MPS 486/33

6.82

32,98

2.68

17.13

ALR PowerVEISA 386/33

9.69

37.03

3.48

4.02

Compaq Deskpro 386/33

6.09

15.50

2.90

4.53

AST Premium 486/33

8.21

37.10

N/A

3.40

Cheetah Gold 33 (486/25)

6.52

21.49

9.49

5.57

Note: Benchmark results are indexed to show relative performance; higher numbers indicate t^etler performance.Faallindexes, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT running MS-DOS 3.30=1.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 163

FIRST IMPRESSIONSTHE ALR MPS

Photo 1: The ALR MPS

is highly modular,although not to theextent of the IBM PS/2series, withwhich it directlycompetes. The drive baysdetach with three pop-upplastic buttons, giving youeasy access to themotherboard.

Photo 2: You can upgrade ALR's CPU module (the 486/25 with a Weitek socket isshown here) in about 5 minutes. You don't need to upgrade the software or firmware.

processor that emulates the 8514/A($3300 with a 15-inch monitor; $5300with a 21-inch monitor). And if the MPSis going to see duty as a network fileserver, there's a 330-MB hard disk drivethat will add $2100 to the system price.

Mass Transportation

EISA? Industry Standard Architecture(formerly the AT bus)? Micro Channelarchitecture? Sometimes I feel like aconfused commuter trying to decidewhich bus to take. An ALR spokesper-son told me that ISA is essentially dead.That's an understandable statement onthe company's part, because it wants tosell lots of EISA and Micro Channel ma-chines. But ISA-based systems are farfrom obsolete, especially since the high-bandwidth, multiprocessing promises ofboth EISA and Micro Channel remainlargely a dream. Many more add-inboards are available for the Micro Chan-nel than for the EISA bus, but most aresimple repackages of ISA products thatoffer little (or, more often, nothing) inthe way of increased performance.

That situation will change, of course;and ALR is in a particularly good posi-tion to be a strong contender as the PCmarket eases leisurely toward high-power processors and high-bandwidthbuses—complementary technologies thatare just plain made for each other. Theability to upgrade your PC's processor inthe future remains an intriguing one.(There will be an 1586 one of these days.)

If you're considering going for a busupgrade, the choice between EISA andMicro Channel is a somewhat thornierissue. Except for ever-true, ever-blueIBM users. Micro Channel-bus PCshaven't taken off since their introductionsome 2'/2 years ago. Other non-IBMMicro Channel machines, such as thosemade by NCR, Reply, Tandy, and Wang,have largely been rolled out so that thecompanies can tout their "completelines" to Big Corporate Buyers. I have ahunch that the ALR MPS is very muchthe same.

The MPS is well designed and wellbuilt, and it shows a high degree of engi-neering expertise and sophistication. Butfor the time being, its user base is likelyto be confined to large companies whospecify Micro Channel yet are lookingfor a lower-priced (and upgradable) al-ternative. While EISA and Micro Chan-nel slug it out, ALR can profitably workboth sides of the street. ■

Stan Miastkowski is the BYTE senior edi-tor for new products. He can be reachedon BIX as "stanm."

164 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Fast New Systemsfrom NeXT

In addition to considerable fanfareand praise, the original NeXTComputer received a fair share ofcriticism. It had been faulted for itslack of color options, high price, a per-ceived lack of performance, and—mostoften—its lack of a floppy disk drive.With the new NeXT systems that were in-troduced in September, NeXT has builton its past achievements and addressedthe majority of these weaknesses.

NeXT now has a product line that fea-tures the new 68040 microprocessor run-ning at 25 MHz, an MS-DOS-compatible2.88-megabyte floppy disk drive, a new"slim-case" desktop model that retailsfor the relatively low price of $4995, andcolor options due out early next year.

According to NeXT's numbers, the68040 has a performance rating of ap-proximately 15 million instructions persecond and 2.8 million float-ing-point operations per sec-ond (MFLOPS), about threetimes faster than the 68030used in the original NeXTComputer. The 68040 also in-cludes memory managementand floating-point coproces-sors on the main chip.

When the NeXT Computerwas introduced in 1988, oneof its primary features was anerasable 256-MB optical diskdrive, which Steve Jobs toutedas the floppy disk drive of thenineties, allowing users to"take their whole world intheir backpacks." But the op-tical drive has proved to betoo slow for use as a mainstorage device, and the car-tridges are too expensive foruse as a data-exchange medi-um: No one wants to send afile on a $50 storage medium.In addition, the price of theoptical cartridges jacks up theprice of third-party software.Nevertheless, the optical

The new NeXT systemssport lower price tags,more speed,and a long-soughtfloppy disk drive

Nick Baran andOwen Linderholm

Photo 1:

Unlike the original NeXT Computer, the new NextstationColor features a slim-case, or "pizza-box, " system unit.Inside is a powerful 68040processor and 12 MB of RAM.

drive is excellent as a backup device andwill be offered as an option for thatpurpose.

The floppy disk drive of the nineties isnow the good old 3'/2-inch drive, butwith an increased capacity of 2.88 MBand the capability to read and write filesin 1.44-MB and 720K-byte MS-DOS for-mats. This floppy disk drive is now stan-dard equipment on all NeXT machinesand will be the primary medium for thedistribution of software and data. Thenew NextStep operating-system softwareautomatically mounts the floppy disk anddisplays its files in the system's Direc-tory Browser. In addition, the softwaresupports CD-ROM drives (see the textbox "A New Version of NextStep" onpage 167).

While the new 2.88-MB drive cannotread and write Macintosh-formattedfiles directly, the high-den-sity floppy disk drive (Super-Drive) available on Macin-toshes can convert to MS-DOS format; thus, Macintoshfile compatibility should notbe a big problem.

NeXT's system boards nowinclude a twisted-pair 10-Base-T Ethernet port, as wellas the thin Ethernet port thatis on the current systemboard. Another change is theuse of the 50-pin SCSI-2 stan-dard rather than the older 25-pin SCSI standard. SCSI-2offers greater reliability andfaster transfer rates than doesstandard SCSI. SCSI-2 isbackward compatible so thatexisting SCSI devices can beattached using a cable adapt-er. The new system boardsalso support parity memorychecking, a feature that hasbeen requested by scientificand engineering users.

It should be noted that thenew system board still uses

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF NEXT, INC. © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 165

FIRST IMPRESSIONSFAST NEW SYSTEMS FROM NEXT

the Motorola 56001 digital signal proces-sor, despite speculation that the newmachine would have the 96002 DSP, asuccessor to the 56001 that includesfloating-point capability. NeXT says thatthe 96002 isn't currently fully backwardcompatible with software for the 56001.However, NeXT has added a single in-line memory module socket for up to192K bytes of memory addressable bythe DSP.

The Nextstation Pizza Box

The new Nextstation is clearly NeXT'sanswer to the SPARCstation. Made frommagnesium with a cosmetic plasticshroud, the slim-case, or "pizza-box,"system unit is about 15 inches square and2 inches thick, and it sits under the sys-tem's display. The system board is slight-ly larger than the original NeXT systemboard; the two are not interchangeable.The board includes two serial ports, adisplay port, the SCSI-2 port, and boththin and lOBase-T Ethernet ports. TheNextstation is cooled by a virtually silent"whisper fan" that passes air over heat-dissipating fins built into the bottom ofthe case. These lie directly under thepower supply—a major heat source. Thepower supply is a 120-watt unit that usesa new technology called "parallel reso-nance switching," which allows a muchsmaller form factor than conventionalpower supplies.

THE FACTS

Nextstation

with 8 MB of RAM, 105-MB harddisk drive, 2.88-MB floppy diskdrive, and 17-inch monochromedisplay, $4995

Nextculje

with 8 MB of RAM, 105-MB harddisk drive, 2.88-MB floppy diskdrive, and 17-inch monochromedisplay, $7995

Nextstation Color

with 12 MB of RAM, 105-MB harddisk drive, 2.88-MB floppy diskdrive, and 16-inch color display,$7995

Nextdimension

with 8 MB of RAM, $3995

NeXT, Inc.

900 Chesapeake Dr.Redwood City, CA 94063(415) 366-0900Inquiry 1066.

Nextstation is awelcome addition to theNeXT product line.

The Nextstation comes standard with8 MB of memory (expandable to 32 MB),a 105-MB hard disk drive, and the 2.88-MB floppy disk drive. With the 17-inchblack-and-white MegaPixel display, thissystem costs $4995. A reduced version ofthe operating system is shipped installedon the 105-MB hard disk drive and takesup about 75 MB on the disk, including 16MB of swap space required for virtualmemory mapping by the operating sys-tem. Unless connected to a network fileserver, a system with the 105-MB drivewill require an additional hard disk drivefor storing much third-party softwareand data. An internal 340-MB hard diskdrive is available as an option instead ofthe 105-MB drive, in which case the sys-tem costs $6995, a rather hefty price in-crease for an added 235 MB of storage.

The Nextstation is a welcome additionto the NeXT product line. It is ideal forend users who don't need the storage orexpansion capabilities of the NeXT Com-puter. The Nextstation was supposed tobegin shipping in October.

A New Cube

The other new NeXT system is the Next-cube, the familiar cube but with a floppydisk drive instead of an optical drive, andspace for one half-height and one full-height storage device (either two harddisk drives or a hard disk drive and a CD-ROM or optical drive). The 105-MB and340-MB drives are half-height devices,while the 660-MB and 1.4-gigabyte unitsare full-height devices.

The Nextcube system board has thesame features as the Nextstation systemboard, including parity memory and theSCSI-2 and lOBase-T ports, but memorycan be expanded on-board to 64 MB. An8-MB system with the 2.88-MB floppydisk drive, the 105-MB hard disk drive,and the 17-inch monochrome displaycosts $7995. The 340-MB drive optionboosts the price to $9995. The Nextcubewas scheduled to ship in September.

Color Options

NeXT will offer two "color solutions": alow-end system for business applica-

tions, presentation graphics, and two-di-mensional CAD, and a high-end systemfor scientific imaging, professionalgraphics production, 3-D modeling, andso forth.

At the low end will be a color versionof the Nextstation with 16-bit-per-pixelcolor, allowing 4096 colors on-screensimultaneously (12 bits for color and a4-bit "alpha channel" for specifyingtransparency). At the high end will be anadd-in board with 32-bit color, its owngraphics processor, and a processor forcompressing and decompressing graph-ics images, allowing 16 million colorson-screen simultaneously (24 bits forcolor and an 8-bit alpha channel for spec-ifying transparency).

The Nextstation Color

The Nextstation Color (see photo 1) is thesame slim-case machine as the Nextsta-tion, except that it supports 16-bit color.It comes standard with 12 MB of RAMand 2 MB of video memory. NeXT in-creased the memory bandwidth some-what on this model to improve video per-formance. The Nextstation Color isdesigned for use with NeXT's new colorMegapixel display, which is a 16-inchSony Trinitron display with 1120- by832-pixel resolution (the same resolutionas the black-and-white display). The 12-MB system with the color display, a 105-MB hard disk drive, and the 2.88-MBfloppy disk drive will cost $7995. Aswith the Nextstation, an additional harddisk drive will be necessary unless thesystem has access to a network fileserver.

The Nextstation Color does not re-quire NeXT's color Megapixel display.By purchasing NeXT's ColorConnectadapter, you can connect any size colordisplay that is capable of showing imagesin the correct resolution. The ColorCon-nect adapter provides the sound andspeaker functions that are normally builtinto the MegaPixel display. Pricing forthe ColorConnect adapter was not avail-able at the time of this writing, but aNextstation Color without a monitor willcost $4995. There is no upgrade path be-tween the black-and-white Nextstationmachine and the Nextstation Color. Un-fortunately, the Nextstation Color willnot ship until early 1991.

Upgrading Existing Cubes

As NeXT announced several monthsago, current NeXT users will be able toobtain a 68040 upgrade for their NeXTComputers for $1495. This will involveswapping the 68030 system board for thenew 68040 system board. NeXT has also

166 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONSFAST NEW SYSTEMS FROM NEXT

A New Version of NeXTStep

In conjunction with the newhardware in its productline, NeXT is providing amajor upgrade to its operat-ing-system software. Next-Step 2.0 includes support forthe new hardware compo-nents, such as the 2.88-mega-byte floppy disk drive, CD-ROM drive, color display,and lOBase-T Ethernet, aswell as a host of improve-ments to the interface and de-velopment environment.

To accommodate the com-paratively small 105-MBhard disk drive that is stan-dard on all the Nextstationmodels, NeXT has split Next-Step into two versions: release2.0 and release 2.0 Extended.

The extended version in-cludes all the current develop-er's tools, such as the Appli-cation Kit and the InterfaceBuilder, as well as some newenhancements aimed at appli-cation developers. However,neither version will includeMathematica, Common Lisp,

or the Sybase database man-ager. Release 2.0, a reducedversion of NextStep, does notinclude the Interface Builderor the Application Kit, and ithas a reduced version of Web-ster's Ninth New CollegiateDictionary without the illus-trations or the full text index.The reduced version also hasfewer demonstration pro-grams and does not includethe Shakespeare plays or TheOxford Dictionary of Quota-tions.

NeXT may find that mostcustomers want the extendedversion and opt for a largerhard disk than the 105-MBunit. However, for networkedusers who have access to a fileserver, the reduced versionsimply reduces the local stor-age requirements. In anycase, release 2.0 and release2.0 Extended are functionallyequivalent so that users willbe able to move to the ex-tended version simply by in-stalling a larger disk capacityand copying the missing files.

An Improved Interface

NextStep 2.0 addresses sev-eral major weaknesses of re-lease 1.0. Of particular im-portance, the Workspace isnow multithreaded so that fileoperations such as copyingand moving can be done in the

background, allowing theuser to continue working onother tasks.

The printing interface hasalso been redesigned to oper-ate at a lower priority so thatthe screen doesn't lock duringprint operations. The trade-off is slower printing perfor-mance in exchange for a livescreen. In addition, the print-er interface now includes anoption for sending fax docu-ments. If you have a fax mo-dem, you can fax anythingthat can be printed by simplyclicking on the new Fax op-tion in the Print menu.

The Workspace has re-ceived some cosmetic changesin release 2.0. The DirectoryBrowser has been redesignedand now includes a "shelf atthe top of the browser windowwhere users can place fre-quently used files and folders.The Browser also includes anew window that shows the"icon history," or status, ofapplications and folders thatare in use. Clicking on an iconin the window displays thepath of the file or the foldergraphically in the DirectoryBrowser. The icon historywindow replaces the icon welln the current DirectoryBrowser.

The Mail application hasbeen improved in release 2.0.Mail now includes an archivefacility for storing mail mes-sages. A return receipt func-tion has been added, as wellas support for sending mail torecipients with non-NeXTsystems that require a stan-dard font, wrapped lines, andcarriage returns for 80-col-umn text. Release 2.0 in-

cludes spelling checking andrulers built into the Text Ob-ject, so that these features arenow supported in Mail.

The development environ-ment has been improved in re-lease 2.0 and includes supportfor color. A new object calledthe Color Picker works simi-larly to the font panel andallows you to select and mixcolors. The window serversupports frame buffers of dif-ferent size and depth to ac-commodate the use of third-party color monitors. NeXTplans to support the Render-Man scene-description lan-guage for three-dimensionalrendering in a future releaseof NextStep, due early nextyear.

Release 2.0 supports loada-ble device drivers, allowingdevelopers to create customapplications for peripheralslike video and sound equip-ment and special-purpose dis-play and output devices. Alltext objects now automati-cally include a spellingchecker and rulers.

Other new features includean improved MIDI driver thaisupports arbitrary samplingrates and PostScript compos-ite fonts, a feature of Adobe'sPostScript level 2. Compositefonts allow support for kanjiand other alphabets.

Availability and Upgrades

NeXT was optimistically hop-ing to have release 2.0 readyin September. At press time iiwas still not finished, butNeXT was confident it wouldbe ready in time. In any event,the new machines won't runwithout it, so completion is atop priority.

The system software willbe shipped preinstalled onhard disks, relieving the userof the time-consuming BuildDisk operation. Current usersof release 1.0 will be able toupgrade to 2.0 on an opticaldrive for $195, which in-cludes new manuals.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 167

FIRST IMPRESSIONSFAST NEW SYSTEMS FROM NEXT

Photo 2:

The Nextdimension board providesthe Nextcube with high-performance color graphics. On the board isan Intel i860 RISC processor,4 MB of video RAM, and room forup to 32 MB of memory.

contracted with a third-party supplier toprovide an external 2.88-MB floppy diskdrive for current NeXT Computer own-ers. Pricing and availability of the floppydisk drive have not been announced as ofthis writing, but, according to sources atNeXT, it will be available within the nextcouple of months.

To go along with all this new hard-ware, NeXT is cutting the price of itshigh-resolution 400-dot-per-inch laserprinter almost in half. Originally sellingfor a retail price of $3495, the printer isnow priced at $1795, representing a sub-stantial reduction in the cost of a com-plete NeXT system.

Doing Color Right

NeXT president Steve Jobs promisedfrom the beginning that NeXT wouldeventually support color, but not untilit's "done right." And indeed, NeXT hasdone color right. Using the PostScriptimaging model, color on the NeXT is de-vice independent; in other words, appli-cations written using color PostScriptspecifications can be displayed on anyoutput device that supports PostScript,whether it's a screen or a printer support-ing black and white, gray scale, or vari-ous resolutions of color.

In addition, PostScript offers excellentperformance in color. When you com-pare Color QuickDraw on the Mac Ilfxand color PostScript on a 68030-basedNeXT Computer, you find that screen re-fresh and movement of color images aremuch faster on the NeXT. And, unlikewith Apple's QuickDraw and TrueTypeimage and font models, there is no need

for conversion routines to display Post-Script images on PostScript devices.

High-End Color:The Nextdimension

NeXT's high-end color solution is anadd-in board called the Nextdimension(see photo 2). The board plugs into one ofthe three NextBus slots in the NeXTComputer, and it features Intel's i860microprocessor, which is rated at 80MFLOPS and offers high-speed graph-ics processing. The board has 4 MB ofvideo memory, plus up to 32 MB ofRAM for increasing the display's win-dowing capacity (i.e., the number ofwindows that can be displayed on thescreen simultaneously).

In addition, the board includes the C-Cube Microsystems CL550 image-com-pression processor, which can compressvideo and bit-mapped images in ratios ofup to 30 to 1 using the Joint PhotographicExperts Group image-compression algo-rithm. The board supports NTSC andSVideo (SuperVHS and High 8mm) im-ages for both input and output, as well asRGB color. One 640- by 480-pixel win-dow can display live NTSC or SVideoimages. In conjunction with the C-Cubeimage-compression processor, the livewindow can display 30 frames per sec-ond for true real-time motion video.

Like the Nextstation Color, the Next-dimension supports the new color Mega-Pixel display and, using the ColorCon-nect adapter, third-party color displays.The color display can run simultaneouslywith the black-and-white MegaPixel dis-play, allowing a contiguous work space

consisting of the two screens. Images ortext can be dragged from one screen tothe other as if the two screens made up asingle display. For intense graphicsusers, up to three Nextdimension boardscan be installed in one NeXT Computer,each with a separate monitor.

The Nextdimension will be pricedvery competitively at $3995, which in-cludes 8 MB of RAM. A complete colorsystem (a Nextcube with the color Mega-Pixel display and the Nextdimensionboard) will cost about $15,000, makingthe system very competitive with similarsystems from Sun and Apple. The Next-dimension should ship early in 1991.

High-Speed Color at a Low Cost

These new systems and the updatedNextStep software give NeXT a verypowerful, well-rounded, and extremelycompetitive product line. The Nextsta-tion system may now be the workstationprice/performance leader. A Nextstationwith a laser printer makes a powerfuldesktop publishing setup.

But where NeXT has really taken alead is in the color arena. NeXT's deci-sion to go with Display PostScript is pay-ing off in a big way. The system has oneconsistent model for both displaying andprinting. And, despite rumors to the con-trary, its performance is outstanding.

The new NeXT systems are going to beextremely competitive with high-enddesktop personal computers, especiallyhigh-end Macintoshes. The productswill also compete well in the low-endworkstation market. And since educa-tional establishments and developerscontinue to get a 30 percent discount,these systems will be even more competi-tive in universities.

Perhaps the biggest task left to NeXTis to persuade software vendors to writeprograms for NeXT systems. But that ischanging, as Lotus and Ashton-Tate haveannounced new spreadsheet programs inconjunction with the new systems' intro-duction in September. Lotus's spread-sheet in particular shows why the NeXTsystems are so important. The programis completely innovative in every wayand is pointing the way ahead for the fu-ture of software and hardware—just likethe NeXT machines themselves are. ■

Nick Baran is a consulting editor forBYTE and editor o/Baran's Tech Letter,a newsletter covering the NeXT Com-puter. He can be contacted on BIX as"nickbaran." Owen Linderholm is aBYTE news editor based in San Francis-co. He can be contacted on BIX as"owenl."

168 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

to speed i^^power applications.Tliere's just one m thing

Circle 177 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 178)

modem w

you can pay uif

standard pfi^^'

The price of our new 9600EXmakes the price other 9600bpsmodems look, well, rather inflated.Especially when you consider thequality and features the 9600EX offers.

Features like V42bis, which compressesdata up to 400% and speeds throughput to up to38.4Kbps (It's also downward-compatible withMNP5). And Y42 LAP-M and MNP Level 1-4 errorcontrol that detects when data is being garbled andautomatically retransmits-so you get error-free

communication. Or full-compliance with V32,the industry standard 9600 modem protocol, aswell as downward compatibility' with 4800, 2400,1200 and 300bps modems. The 9600EX also givesyou the option to operate on standard phonelines or two-wire leased lines and offers bothsynchronous and asynchronous transmission.

Fact is, at 1799, the 9600EX rivals the priceof high-end 2400 modems. Yet, it offers 16 timesthe performance. Or in other words, moremodem for the money.

©Intel Corporation 1990.

And that added performance saves youmoney, too. With the increase in throughputspeed, the 9600EX spends less time on thephone so you spend less money on your phonebill. You'll also spend less time waiting for it tofinish transmitting-and if time is money-you'Usave a bundle.

Plus, like our entire family of 2400 modems,the 9600EX comes with a full, five-year warranty.The new 9600EX modem: another example ofIntel's commitment to affordable quality For

more information or dealer near you, call:800-538-3373. To have information faxed directlyto you, call: 800-525-3019 and request Doc.#9989.And don't be swayed by those over-pricedmodems, because with everything the 9600EXoffers for the money, you might say it just bursttheir bubbles.

intel

Cinle 179 on Reader Sen/ice Card (RESELLERS: 180)

PRODUCT FOCUSi

SCSI Drives

Massive Storagefor Multiple Platforms

The BYTE Lab rateshigh-capacityhard disk drives forDOS, Macintosh, NetWare,and Unix applications

Steve Apiki, Stan Wszola,Rick Grehan, and Tom Yager

Devotees of Macintoshes, Net-Ware 386 file servers, single-user DOS systems, and Unixmachines have something incommon; Sooner or later, they all see adisk error message that means "insuffi-cient space."

This month, the BYTE Lab looks at 15high-speed, high-capacity hard diskdrives that offer relief from overcrowdeddata. Along with new levels of perfor-mance, the SCSI connector that thesedrives share also promises easier up-grades when a drive no longer seems asroomy as it did in the showroom.

The SCSI bus protocol defines how pe-ripherals talk to the host and to eachother. SCSI is fast—4 megabytes per sec-ond at the top end—and that is driving itsacceptance across the four major operat-ing systems. But SCSI also lets you chaindrives together, so today's investment ina 300-MB drive can be the foundation ofa larger system years down the road.

The BYTE Lab compared SCSI driveswith capacities of between 300 and 420MB in configurations ranging from bare-bones OEM systems to full plug-and-play packages. We tested each in singledisk drive configurations under MS-DOS, NetWare 386, Unix, and the MacOS (not all drives were compatible with

all operating systems). The text box"How to Measure Drives Across FourOperating Systems" on page 176 ex-plains our benchmarks.

You're not likely to find the OEMunits from Fujitsu, Western Digital, andMicropolis at your corner computerstore, but larger mail-order houses mightstock them. Their performance, how-ever, provides a good point of compari-son for retail products built around them.Western Digital purchases its WD380 SCdrives from IBM, so the WD380 SCshould give a reasonable indication ofIBM's SCSI system performance.

Interface Heritage

SCSI controllers trace their lineage toShugart Technology's ST506 interface,introduced by that company in 1980 tosupport its 5-MB hard disk drive. ESDI,which is more or less a direct descendantof ST506, appeared in 1983 and offereddouble the throughput rate of its ancestor.More recently, the Intelligent DriveElectronics (IDE) interface has grown inpopularity, because it requires less cir-cuitry on the host, allowing engineers todesign smaller-footprint systems.

SCSI drives handle communicationsbetween computer and disk drive at ahigher level. For example, when applica-tions talk to a SCSI drive, they are un-aware of the drive's configuration de-tails, such as the number of cylinders,heads, and sectors. The drive appears asa collection of sequentially numberedblocks. Thus, SCSI moves a substantialamount of intelligence onto the drive.Consequently, SCSI is far more flexiblethan the other interfaces. (See the textbox "The Fuzzy Side of SCSI" on page186.)

This doesn't mean that traditionalmeasures of performance—seek and ac-cess times—are obsolete. The drive stillneeds to physically seek the requestedtracks and wait for the requested sectorto come around. However, SCSI makessome traditional benchmarks obsolete.

Timing track-to-track seeks and attempt-ing to factor in seek latency is no longerpossible from an application perspective.

Since the drive's geometry can be hid-den from the host computer, manufac-turers can optimize controller electronicsfor the drive itself without having to passany resulting customizations on to thehost. This lets a single host adapter talkto a wide variety of drive types. Addi-tionally, drive manufacturers can placecache memory directly on the drive con-troller; any system RAM that you mighthave been using for a disk cache can goback to running programs.

Points for SCSI

SCSI sports a few other features favoredby systems integrators and others whoare faced with rising disk space and per-formance demands. First, SCSI easilyhandles large-capacity drives. As an ex-ample, the SCSI extended read commandaccepts a 32-bit block number. Given ablock size of 512 bytes (the standard withthe drives we tested), a single disk drivecould hold 2 terabytes of data.

Second, multiple drives can be daisychained on the SCSI bus. This is handyfor network administrators, who can eas-ily add drives as network users demandmore storage space. One SCSI bus canaccommodate eight devices: one hostcomputer and seven peripherals. Conse-quently, the maximum number of drivesthat you can hang off a single SCSI porttypically is seven. However, each deviceon a SCSI bus can incorporate eight logi-cal units, which in turn can incorporate256 logical subunits.

Third, SCSI supports multiuser andmultitasking operating systems. Deviceson a SCSI bus are either initiators (i.e.,the host computer) or targets (i.e., thedisk drives). Once the host computerpasses a request to the disk drive, thehost can disconnect from the drive ratherthan wait for the request's completion.The host then can perform other process-ing while the drive services the request.

172 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 173

PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

SCSI DRIVE FEATURES

In addition to performance, other features that can help determine the right high-capacity SCSI drive for you include formatted capacities, failurerates, and warranties. Compare these vendor-supplied average seek times with results obtained in the BYTE Lab, shown in figure 1 (0=yes; 0=no).

Model

Prevail 325

SLAN 310

11226ISA

hammerSOO

ZPF300

Micro/Stack

1684

Venda

CMSEnhancements

CoreInternational

FujitsuAmerica

FWB

La Cie

MicroNetTechnology, Inc.

MicropolisCorp.

Dnv6 manuTactur6r

CMS

Core

Pi 1 iitct 1r uji tou

^Pflnatp Wrpn

^af-ifltp Wrpn

Seagate Wren

Micropolis

Formatted capacity (MB)

340

330

415

300

332

423

340

Price (specific configuration)DOSMac

tjnupll NptWflrp

Bare drive

$4195$4195

$3890$3890$3890$3295

*

$2950

$3395$3495$3595$2995

*

$42903)oryo$4389

$2410•bd** lu$2410$1995

Host adapter manufacturerModel

Adaptec1540

Western DigitalWO7000

*

AlwaysIN2000

*

MicroNetHA-01

Adaptec

A Lj A < c A on

AHA-1542B

Dimensions (inclies)

5x53/4x8

14V2X5y5X43/4

3yioX5y,oX8

2'^x9'^x9%

9%x9%x4'^

3y,ox10x33/,o

13/5x53/4X8

Weight (lbs.)

7

9.89

7.7

7.6

12.2

8.75

5

Power consumption (watts)

33

16

30

16

16

30

15

Mean time between failures (hours)

150,000

150.000

200,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

150,000

Warranty (years)

2

5

5

1

2

1

1

Internal or external installation

Int./ext.

Int./ext.

Int/ext.

lnt./ext.

lnt./ext.

Ext.

Int.

SCSI-1 a SCSI-2 support

SCSI-2

SCSI-1

SCSI-2

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-2

Sync, data transfer rate (MB/sec.)

N/A

4

4.8

4

4.7

N/A

4

Async. data transfer rate (MB/sec.)

1.6

2

2

2.5

N/A

1.5

1.6

Burst or sustained?

Sustained

Sustained

Burst

Sustained

Sustained

Sustained

Sustained

Average seek time (milliseconds)

16.5

18

14.5

14

14

16

14

Average latency (milliseconds)

7.5

8.33

8.3

8.33

8.33

8.3

8.33

Recoveratjie error rates(bits read)

1x10"

1x10'*

1x10"

1x10'»

IxlO'"

1x10"

1x10"

On-board cache (K bytes)

Look-ahead buffer (K bytes)

64

64

64

48

48

64

64

Dedicated or embedded servo

Embedded

Embedded

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Drive-select configuration

Switches

Switches

Jumpers

Switches

Switches

Switches

Jumpers

Automatic head parking

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

NetWare-ready

•

•

0

0

•

0

N/A = Infamation not available.■ = Not applicable.

The two reconnect at a later time to com-plete the transaction.

Optional synchronous data transferscan also improve throughput. Ordinar-ily, SCSI devices perform asynchronousdata transfers that require request/ack-nowledge handshakes for each bytetransferred. Synchronous transfer lets asender transmit bursts of data withoutwaiting for acknowledgment signals be-tween each byte. An agreed-upon num-ber of acknowledge signals are left out-standing, and the receiver catches upwith the sender at the end of the transfer.

Finally, there is the promise of thebackward-compatible SCSI-2, which afew of these drives support partially (seethe features table). SCSI-2 provides foroptional 16- and 32-bit data transfers. Inits 32-bit incarnation, SCSI-2 can howlalong at up to 40 MB per second. (For acomplete discussion of SCSI protocols,see "The SCSI Bus," Parts 1 and 2, inthe February and March BYTE.)

SCSI Enters the DOS World

Photo 1:

MicroNet'sMicro/Stack andthe Micropolis1684 led the fieldin performanceunder DOS.

174 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

SCSI DRIVE

FEATURES

HCS300E

Olskovery325

ED330SC

Cobra 330e

X/StorX8h1-330S1

MacinStorMAC325-S1

DataFrame

WD380SC

Systems, Ix.

OntimaTechnology

PrismSystems

RodlmeSystems, Inc.

StorageDimensions

StaageDimensions

SuperMacTechnology

WesternDigital

^panstp Wrpn

Optims T@chnoloQy(OEM)

Atssi

Micropolisor Maxtor

Seagate Wren

Seagate Wren

Seagate orMicropolis

IBM

299

321

330

330

330

325

320

320

$3995$4195

$4390$4190$4190$3995

$3122

$3714$2714

.

$4160

$3499*

$3299

*

Future DomainTMC-860

AdaptecAHA-1542B

Future DomainTMC-870

*

AdaptecAHA-1542B

*

S'/jXSyaXS

2%x11%x10y5

7yioX4%x13y,o

7x14%x4y,o

1%x5%x8

i4y5x7%x5y,o

5x8x9y2

1%x534x4

7.2

9

13

13

4.2

18

24

2.2

26

20

35

30

16

16

37

11.9

100,000

100,000

50.000

50,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

150,000

1

1or3

1

2

2

2

1

1

Int./ext.

Ext.

Ext.

lnt./ext.

Int./ext.

!nt lavi

Int./ext.

Int

SCSI-1

SCSI-2

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-2

N/A

4.8

4

N/A

5

H.lO

2

4

14.3

2

N/A

14.3

2

N/A

N/A

4

Burst

Burst

Burst

Sustained

Burst

Burst

Sustained

Burst

16.5

14

18

14.5

14

14

17

12.5

8.33

8.33

8.3

8.3

8.33

8.3

8.33

6.95

1x10'«

1x10"

1X10"

IxlO'n

1x109

1X109

1X102'

1x10"

48

48

48

32

32

64

45

64

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Switches/jumpers

Switcfies

Switches

Switcties

Switches/jumpers

Switches/jumpers

Switch/software

Jumpers

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

O

O

•

O

O

Three hundred megabytes may seem likeoverkill for DOS, where the typical sys-tem is called upon to serve only one user,one task at a time. But with the growingpopularity (and practicality, with fastermachines) of large databases, scanneddocuments and other image files, and ex-tensive programming environments,even DOS users occasionally find them-selves hunting around for truly massivestorage.

DOS's relatively simple, single-user,single-tasking nature makes the quickestdrives really stand out. Under DOS, yourrequests for sequential sectors are likelyto actually read sequential regions on thedisk, whereas a multitasking operatingsystem may have background processesthat interfere with this sequential access.

Setting up each of the drives wasstraightforward. A BIOS ROM mountedon the host adapter scans the SCSI bus foractive drives; no device drivers are nec-essary in single-drive DOS configura-

NOVEMBER1990 -BYTE 175

tions. None of the drives had any operat-ing or installation problems.

Each subsystem provides DOS ser-vices via the boot ROM mounted on thehost adapter. At boot time, the optionROM installs itself, supplanting thebuilt-in drive BIOS. The host-adapterROM then processes BIOS requests andconverts them into requests that are ap-propriate for the given drive.

To some extent, the performance ofthese drives depends on the host adapter.Except for the Fujitsu America, Micro-polis, and Western Digital units, whichwere delivered in bare-drive configura-tions, we tested each drive with its ownhost adapter. The bare drives ran with anAdaptec AHA-1542B host adapter, ahigh-performance controller that shouldnot impose any limits on drive per-formance.

Of course, the ultimate performancedeterminant is the drive itself. Severalmanufacturers use sophisticated tech-

niques for improving both seek time andthroughput. Seek time can be improvedthrough the use of a dedicated servo ar-chitecture, where one face of one platteris dedicated to maintaining head-posi-tioning information.

Some drives improve throughput usinga technique known as read-ahead buffer-ing, which speeds sequential disk-readaccess by bringing in more data than yourequested. The disk can sometimes guessthat you'll want to see the sectors that fol-low the one you asked for. Often, thedrive controller will bring in the wholetrack. That's not as wasteful as it sounds.On a 1-to-1-interleave disk, it takes onlya single revolution of the platter to readan entire track. On a freshly formatteddisk (such as those used for these tests),sequential reads and writes almost cer-tainly will fall in contiguous sectors.

A number of drives posted excellentDOS test results, but two stood out. TheMicropolis 1684 combined exemplary

PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

How to Measure DrivesAcross Four Operating Systems

Testing high-capacity hard diskdrives on four diverse operatingenvironments makes constructing rele-vant, accurate tests a unique challenge.Our performance evaluations focus onresponsiveness at the file system level,because that's where users in each envi-ronment directly experience the relativespeed or sluggishness of each drive. Youcan track these test results in figure 1.

The heart of our test suite is the fileI/O benchmark, which consists of fourseparate tests: random and sequentialwrites, and random and sequentialreads. Sequential tests record a drive'sflat-out read and write throughput,while random tests provide a harsherbut more realistic determination of ap-plication performance. Note that ourrandom read and write test results arecombined, using an average,to simplify our graphs.

The file I/O benchmarkfirst creates a large file, al-locating enough space onthe drive for the entire file atits inception. Then the fileI/O benchmark times a re-write of the entire file in asequential fashion. Eachchunk of data is of randomlength (but a multiple of 512bytes to keep the writes sec-tor-aligned) to avoid favor-ing any drive geometry.

Next, the program con-ducts the random read andwrite tests to break up anycached sectors that the drivemay have after completingthe sequential write. Ran-dom reads and writes occurentirely within the largefile, and we made no effortwhatsoever to keep the fileoffsets or length requestssector-aligned. This meth-od causes repeated seeksand might cause additionalread-before-writes to occuron write requests, but wethink it best reflects the wayapplications actually accessdata in files.

Finally, the file I/O test

reads back the entire file sequentially.The tests cover basic writing and read-ing activities, but they do little to mea-sure how drives respond when you im-pose the added burden of updatingdirectories and allocation information.Our second file system test makes thatmeasurement: It's the time it takes tocopy a large directory structure. UnderDOS and for NetWare clients, thismeans XCOPY; on the Macintosh, weaccomplish the tree-copy test via anMPW (Macintosh Programmer's Work-shop) script; and on Unix, we use findcoupled with cpio to complete the task.

Our one low-level test measures seektime, a basic parameter that will affectdrive speed in any application. A Flex-Star 3000s dedicated test system mea-sured seek times (see figure A).

SEEK-TEST RESULTS

in

X

< Better Worse ►

•Western Digital WD380 SCFujitsu M226 ISAMicropolis 1684Optima Diskovery 325La Cie ZPF 300FWB hammerSOOStorage Dimensions X/StorStorage Dimensions MacinStorMicroNet Micro/StackCMS Prevail 325Priam ED 330 SCN/Hance HCS300ESuperMac DataFrameRodime Cobra 330eCore SLAN 310

0 5 10 15 20 25Seek time (milliseconds)

This drive's form factor made real-world tests impossible.

Figure A: Raw seek times measured by the BYTE Labcompare roughly with vendor-specified average seek times,shown in the table. Shorter lines indicate better results.

Unfortunately, we were unable to ob-tain meaningful results for the WesternDigital WD380 SC. We used a cannedseek-test routine, which issues a num-ber of SCSI seeks. The Western Digitaldrive, because of its small form factor,must "rest" between seeks for betterheat dissipation; this occurs only onseeks, not on reads or writes.

We ran DOS 4.01 and NetWare 386tests on 33-MHz 386 systems from ClubAmerican and Arche Technologies. Fordrives shipped without a host adapter,we used an Adaptec AHA-1542B card.Each test setup used the drive under testas its sole hard disk drive.

To test the SCSI drives under Unix,we added the Adaptec controller to anEverex Step 33-MHz 386 system with 4megabytes of memory. The system usedan internal 150-MB harddisk drive, which we loadedwith version 2.2 of Interac-tive Unix System V. Weconfigured Unix to treat theAdaptec as a secondary con-troller. We built a 150-MBfile system on the Unix par-tition of each SCSI drive.

Our Macintosh test setupincluded a Mac SE/30 thatwas equipped with 2 MB ofmemory and running Sys-tem 6.05. We simply con-nected each drive in turn tothe Mac's external SCSI portand formatted them usingvendor-supplied software.

Our benchmarks are rele-vant only for comparison. InUnix, for example, our 4-MB system left little roomfor the all-imjwrtant kernelbuffers, and we made noeffort to tune each systemfor maximum performance.With each operating system,your performance willprobably be better with afully tuned system. The im-portant thing to considerwhen making comparisonsis that each drive should berun on an identical system,as these were.

176 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI Drives

sequential write numbers and killer re-sults on the tree-copy test, to earn firstplace overall. MicroNet's Micro/Stackposted the best sequential read time andperformed very well on the tree-copy test(see figure 1 and figure A).

Micropolis claims that its proprietarycache feature enhances performance.The cache is especially sensitive to di-rectory and file allocation table (FAT)use on the drive, and it attempts to keepthese locations buffered as much as pos-sible. Excellent numbers on the tree-copy

With its massive appetite for storage andperformance, Unix is a good match forSCSI. Its single-rooted file system struc-ture lets you place new devices anywhereyou want them. The multitasking natureof the operating system also maps well toSCSI's asynchronous nature.

Our file I/O tests showed off thestrengths and weaknesses of Unix as re-lated to the other test environments. TheDOS and Macintosh numbers for se-quential read and write, for example,seem positively astonishing compared toUnix. The only other multitasking envi-roimient we tested, NetWare 386, showssome similarity to Unix's numbers. On asingle-tasking machine, it's acceptableto have the system "go away" for up toseveral seconds while disk I/O is beingdone. The amount of data that can bewritten before making the system re-sponsive again is greater, because theuser expects the system to freeze upbriefly.

When you start multitasking, how-

test, which makes the most use of direc-tory entries, confirms this claim. Shortseek times helped performance, as well.

MicroNet's Micro/Stack drive didvery well on the tree-copy test, despite alackluster seek time. However, the out-standing read throughput more thanmade up the difference. The Micro/Stack included a bundled host/adapter/driver combination, which MicroNet op-timized for use with the drive. Micro-Net's solid performance can also beattributed to its low-level format optimi-

Photo 2: Unixsystem honorswent to FWB 'shammerSOO,Optima'sDiskovery 325,and StorageDimensions'X/Stor.

ever, things get more complicated. Re-sponsiveness becomes a priority; youdon't want your keyboard to lock upwhile the disk is active. Under Unix, aswith NetWare, more users (or processes)pound on the disk than under DOS, andthe size of the atomic disk operation ismuch smaller. So, while a DOS systemmight be content to go blind for 5 secondswhile it spews a huge block of data out todisk, Unix demands that a device driverfinish its work in a few milliseconds.

Developers of Interactive Unix grafteddevice drivers and some specific changesonto standard System V Unix to improveperformance. Interactive Unix's FastFile System (FFS) attempts to optimizesequential I/O by dynamically adjustingthe amount of data read from disk in asingle operation. It assigns as much I/Oas possible to clusters of contiguous diskblocks. The more sequential your dataaccess patterns, the more the file systemadds to your I/O block size. As you re-turn to random access, the file system

zations, which remap the drive geometryto one that makes better use of availablehead/cylinder combinations.

Fujitsu, FWB, Optima, and WesternDigital drives made up the middle of thegroup, all with respectable times. Fujitsu'sM226 ISA and Western Digital's WD380SC should provide a solid basis for anOEM system. To its credit, the WesternDigital drive is much smaller and quieterthan the Fujitsu drive. As in our other en-vironments, the Optima and FWB drivesparalleled each other in speed.

quickly scales down, limiting the read-ahead.

The other half of Interactive Unix'soptimization lies in the High Perfor-mance Disk Driver. This unified driverworks from a table that lists the capabili-ties of supported disk controllers. TheHPDD tries to squeeze maximum perfor-mance from each controller. In the caseof the Adaptec AHA-1542B used in ourtests, the HPDD takes advantage of thecontroller's scatter-gather capability. Itoptimizes disk access by collecting dis-joint requests, sorting them in sectororder, and getting them on or off the diskwith a minimum number of seeks.

Scatter-gather also applies well toUnix's buffering scheme. An applicationrarely writes data directly to a disk. In-stead, data resides in one of a number ofkernel buffers. When the number ofavailable buffers gets low, or when a pe-riodic timer expires (whichever comesfirst), the "dirty" buffers are written todisk. Each buffer remains as long as pos-sible until some other process needs towrite to it. The driver tags each bufferwith the disk ID and sector number fromwhich it was loaded. If a read requestcomes in later for that same sector, thebuffer supplies the data without requir-ing a read from the disk. Because eachbuffer is tagged with a sector number,buffers can readily be grouped andsorted. Interactive Unix enhanced thisstandard Unix mechanism by combiningcontiguous buffers into one to increasethe amount of data that can be written inone operation.

Last on the list of technical consider-ations is the concept of asynchronicity.SCSI drives are intelligent, each one pos-sessing its own built-in controller and,optionally, cache, and they can performcertain operations asynchronously. Mostnotably, seeking can take place on sev-eral drives simultaneously. The SCSIhost adapter sends the seek commands tothe drives and doesn't bother to wait forthe drive to say, "I'm there." Instead, it

SCSI Slakes Unix's Thirst for Storage

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 177

MULTIPLATFORM PERFORMANCE

(a) DOS

Micropolis 1684MicroNet Micro/StackOptima Diskovery 325Fujitsu M226 ISAFWB hammerSOOWestern Digital WD380 SCCMS Prevail 325Core SLAN 310N/Hance HCS300EPriam ED 330 SC

< Worse I

500

K bytes/second

1000

1500

Better ►

1 1

2000

Low-level index

< Worse Better ►

2500 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

(b) Unix

FWB hammerSOOOptima Diskovery 325Storage Dimensions X/StorMicroNet Micro/StackMicropolis 1684Fujitsu M226 ISAWestern Digital WD380 SCCore SLAN 310Priam ED 330 SCN/Hance HCS300E

300

600

900

1200

1500 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

(c) NetWare 386

Optima Diskovery 325FWB hammerSOOMicroNet Micro/StackWestern Digital WD380 SCFujitsu M226 ISACMS Prevail 325Micropolis 1684Priam ED 330 SCCore SLAN 310N/Hance HCS300E

etter^-

100

200

300

400

500

600

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

(d) Macintosh

Micropolis 1684Western Digital WD380 SCStorage Dimensions MacinStorFWB hammer300Optima Diskovery325La Cie ZPF300Rodime Cobra 330eMicroNet Micro/StackSuperMac DataFrameFujitsu M226 ISA

M Worse i

K bytes/second

500

1000

1500

Better ►

< Worse Better ►

3ZZ3

I I I I

2000

2500 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Sequential read IHyi Sequential write L J Random read/write I I Tree copy

Figure 1: The tree-copy test measures how well a drive copies a large directory structure; sequential tests gauge flat-out readand write throughput; and random tests exemplify application performance, (a) Under DOS, the Micropolis 1684 and theMicroNet Micro/Stack are notable for their excellent tree-copy and sequential-read throughput, (b) Under Unix, the FWB andOptima drives had superior overall results, (c) Although performance differences under NetWare 386 were less dramatic thanthose under DOS or Unix, drives from FWB, Optima, and MicroNet stood out again, (d) On the Macintosh, drive performanceclustered quite tightly, although drives from Storage Dimensions and Micropolis turned in the best results overall. Longer barsindicate better performance.

178 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

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PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

moves on to the next request. The advan-tages of asynchronicity are not seen insingle-drive configurations, such asthose that appear in these tests. The realgains become apparent when you use ad-vanced configurations such as striping,in which multiple disk drives are treatedas one.

Unix Picks

The preceding information is meant tohelp you draw your own conclusionsfrom the table, but we have our own fa-vorites—some obvious, others less so.

The drives that fell in the "obviouschoice" category surprised us. Theywere the ones that had it all: small size,external case and power supply, andnear-silent operation. We didn't expectthese tiny drives to be the top perform-ers, but FWB's hammerSOO and Opti-ma's Diskovery 325 were clear winnersin overall speed. We were also pleasedwith MicroNet's Micro/Stack, anothersmall, silent drive. You have to pay forthe convenience that reduced sizebrings—these drives are quite expensive

for the storage they offer. The FWBdrive holds a slight edge over the othersmall external drives in both price andperformance, earning the nod for best inits class.

Heading up the big-drive category isthe Storage Dimensions X/Stor system.This is actually up to four drives in a sin-gle case that can place over a gigabyte ofstorage at your system's disposal. Thecompany has managed to construct acase that takes up barely more room thanthe drives themselves, and it is attractiveenough that you won't be ashamed tohave it seen on your desk.

The rest of the pack included a smat-tering of internal and external drives. Ofthese, the Micropolis half-height inter-nal drive seemed to have the best overallshowing. The only factors that wouldbring us to a heavy full-height drivewould be performance and price, and theMicropolis 1684 makes both these argu-ments moot. At a suggested list price of$1995 for the bare drive, it's a goodstarting point for building a system.Western Digital's WD380 SC also per-

formed quite well.

The Fujitsu full-height internal driveis this roundup's enigma: Its perfor-mance pushed it out of the top five, but itstill managed to skunk the others in onlythe tree-copy test. This may be thanks tothe drive's fast seek time, and the tree-copy test does a blessed lot of seeking.The drive's noise level was the worst ofall the drives we tested, producing loudsnaps during seeks and emitting an an-noying whine during normal operation.Unless you plan to drop it in acousticfoam or in another room, save your earsthe torment of the Fujitsu drive.

Another disappointment was the CMSPrevail 325 drive. Prevail it didn't, be-cause, of all the drives in the test, thePrevail was the only one that wouldn'twork with Unix. The very same driveand controller worked perfectly withDOS and NetWare, but when we attempt-ed to install the drive under Unix, eventhe simple reading of the drive's geome-try failed. We notified CMS of the prob-lem, but the company was unable to pro-vide a solution.

NetWare 386 Optimizations Boost Disk Performance

Photo 3: AmongNetWare 386drives, the FWBhammer300.Optima Diskovery325, andMicroNetMicro/Stack404/LAN wereoutstanding.

Only CMS, MicroNet, and Optima wereoffering NetWare 386 drivers for theirdrives by the time we went to press. Wetested the other drives under NetWare386 using the Adaptec Host Adapter andits supplied driver.

Installing these drives was easy, butthat was due more to NetWare 386 itselfthan to any innovation on the part of thedrive vendors. Once we cabled the driveto the host adapter, we just ran Novell'sServer program and loaded the host

adapter's driver, which each manufac-turer supplies as an NLM (NetWareLoadable Module). A few floppy diskswaps are all that is required to installthe remaining NetWare utilities onto thehard disk drive.

We didn't test these drives under Ad-vanced NetWare, but you can expect amuch more involved installation processwith Advanced NetWare than with Net-Ware 386. The most time-consumingpart of a NetWare installation often is

running Novell's COMPSURF utility,which does a very detailed surface analy-sis to mark out defects. Some of thedrives, including the ones from CMS andMicroNet, were "NetWare Ready" anddidn't require COMPSURFing for anyNetWare installation. NetWare Ready, aNovell certification, also indicates thatsome NetWare configuration informa-tion is already present on the disk; Ad-vanced NetWare versions 2.15 and high-er can read drive information directly offthe disk and do not require additionaldrivers.

Each of these drive/host-adapter com-binations supports NetWare's disk-mir-roring capability, which reserves onedisk as a copy of another to guaranteedata integrity.

NetWare 386 and Unix have some sim-ilarities when it comes to managing diskdrives. NetWare 386 keeps caching buf-fers for both files and directories, cach-ing both reads and writes. NetWare andthese host adapters also support SCSIdisconnect, which provides performancegains in muhiple drive configurations byallowing a controller to move on to othertasks while one drive is finding its data.

Some performance features, however,are unique to NetWare 386. The operat-ing system makes a number of dynamicoptimizations to crank up disk perfor-mance. NetWare dynamically allocatesmemory for directory cache buffers totune them to the pattern of actual disk

180 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

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51990 Pentax Technologies

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Circle 290 on Reader Service Card

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PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

usage. It also indexes files with manyFAT entries, to speed random accesses.And NetWare handles elevator seeks, atechnique that queues disk requests sothat sector requests seen by the disk in-volve as few seeks as possible.

All this optimization in the operatingsystem conspires to make performancequite similar from drive to drive. As thefigures show, performance differencesamong drives under NetWare were notnearly as dramatic as those shown underDOS. Optima's Diskovery 325, FWB'shammerSOO, and MicroNet's Micro/Stack finished in a virtual dead heatwhen you consider both tree-copy andfile read/write performance. Both the

Diskovery 325 and hammer300 driveshad shown good speed in our other envi-ronments, so it was no surprise that theydid very well on the tree-copy test.

The Micro/Stack drive's optimiza-tions, which made the drive a leader inthe DOS benchmarks, apparently helpedhere, as well; it finished head and shoul-ders above the rest on sequential reads.MicroNet claims that the optimizationsare specifically designed for better per-formance with the small block sizes usedby NetWare.

The CMS Prevail 325, Western Digi-tal WD380 SC, and Fujitsu M226 ISAscored quite well—only slightly behindthe top three finishers.

Mac and SCSI: A Venerable Relationship

Photo 4: The La

CieZPFSOOshinedfor itseconomy, whilethe Micropolis1684 and the FWBhammerSOOturned in superiorperformanceamong Macintoshdrives.

Utility software played a key role in ourevaluation of Macintosh drives. Al-though disk drives for other environ-ments neither require nor supply util-ities, drives on the Mac thrive on them.Mandatory components of the packageswere disk formatting and disk partition-ing utilities.

Disk formatting readies the hard disksurface for accepting data. Unusable sec-tors are usually located at this stage andmapped out. All the packages we testedeither allowed you to select an interleavefactor or picked one for you, based on thespeed of the host machine.

Disk partitioning divides the physicaldisk surface into one or more logical vol-umes. Many of the manufacturers sug-gest that, for performance's sake, youlimit partitions to around 80 MB. Thisstage also builds the initial directorystructure (directory B-tree and bit maps)

for the partition. Most of the systems welooked at supported A/UX partitions, aswell as Mac OS partitions. A few sup-ported ProDOS.

Before the Macintosh can access a vol-ume (i.e., make it appear on the Desk-top), you must mount the partition asso-ciated with that volume. Partitions on aMacintosh drive can be tagged to mounteither at start-up time, called automount-ing, or in response to an explicit mountrequest. All the utility packages that weexamined handled automounting. Addi-tionally, all the packages allowed us tolock individual partitions; locked parti-tions are read-only, which offers somevirus protection for sensitive applica-tions. Finally, nearly every package pro-vided some level of password protection.

Silverlining, the La Cie ZPF 300's ac-companying driver software, included anautopark feature. It also provided a disk

182 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

BIG IS OUT

SMALL IS IN.

Introducing the Falco Infinity Desktop Computer.The Smallest 386SX Desktop.

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Half the size of a standard PC, die Infinity Desktophas everything you need on-board: Peripheralinterfaces like disk controllers. Memory expansion.Communication ports. And VGA' level graphics upto 1024 X 768 resolution. Plus, two AT-compatible,16-bit expansion slots.

It runs DOS^ 4.0, UNDC 05/2" and Microsoft'

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Circle 132 on Reader Service Card

Windows 3.0.What's more, you can choose fromfour configurations, including a diskless network nodeand a full-featured model with 1.44MB floppy andthe option of 40,100 or 200 MB hard drive.

The only thing we left out is the noise. The InfinityDesktop runs so quiedy you'll hardly know it's on.

Whether you work in close quarters or spacious sur-roundings, the Ealco Infinit)' Desktop covers all yourneeds. Without covering your desk. And that's aboutdie size of it. To get one for your desk, call us today1-800-FALCO4U

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PRODUCT FOCUS

Circle 107 on Reader Service Card

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optimizing (i.e., defragmenting) capa-bility. Unleashing the optimizer on a vol-ume shows you a percentage figure thatindicates that volume's level of fragmen-tation, as well as how many bytes the op-timizer will have to move around on thedrive to clean things up.

The Rodime Cobra 330e's utility soft-ware included FastBack II backup soft-ware (from Fifth Generation Systems).Although you can assign passwords topartitions on the Rodime drive, you can'tpassword-protect a boot partition. Thiswas mildly annoying, but it's critical ifyou don't want anyone to get into yourmachine.

The software with SuperMac's Data-Frame is as extensive. You select the sizeof a disk's partitions using a unique,movable pie chart. Once you've builtyour partitions, not only can you attachindividual passwords, but you can selectpartitions to be automatically encryptedusing the data encryption standard. Theencryption occurs transparently, whichmeans that once you've turned the en-cryption on, you don't have to do any-thing additional—all your software willwork as it normally does. If someoneelse swipes your drive, all he or she willsee are piles of encrypted data. This pro-tection, however, comes at the expense ofspeed. With DES activated on a parti-tion, the file I/O tests that we ran yieldeda sequential read throughput of about28,000 bytes per second and a sequentialwrite throughput of about 27,000 bytesper second. Compare this to the over 1million bytes per second that we ob-tained on reads without DES.

FWB's hammerSOO arrived with animpressive array of software: each pro-gram accompanied by a small manual.Not only can you password-protect andencrypt partitions on the fly, but FWB'sHard Disk Deadbolt software lets youperform after-the-fact encryption usingthe DES algorithm, as well as a fasterproprietary encryption scheme calledQuickbolt. Deadbolt also includes Black-out, a software utility that lets you tem-porarily lock your Mac for short tripsaway from your desk. You activate Black-out and enter a password, and your Macis frozen until someone reenters thatpassword. (And Blackout is intelligentabout how it "freezes" your machine-background tasks can continue to run.)

Optima's software, which is calledDisl^ount, handles the essentials: for-matting, partitioning, and attachingpasswords to partitions. The passwordcontrol can mount access to a partition,and /ou can specify that a partition re-main locked until the proper password is

Contact us to discuss our products and your needs. (800) 548-4778Lahey Computer Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 6091, Incline Village, NV 89450Tel: (702) 831-2500 FAX: (702) 831-8123 Tlx: 9102401256FORTRAN IS OUR FORTE

184 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 199 on Reader Service Card

The Only Way Competitive drivesCan Go Faster Than 9ivis.

With effective access times as low as 9ms, the Plus Impulsef AT® Series, hard disks don't need rocketsto fly They're the perfect match for today's disk-intensive applications.

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Impulse isn't only fast and affordable, it's compatible with all leading 286/386 PCs. And it's availablenow. In 40, 80,105,120,170 and 210 megabytes (330 and 425MB shipping soon). With integratedIDE-AT or SCSI controllers.

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© 1990 Plus Development Corp. Plus Impulse and the Plus logo are registered trademarks of Plus Development Corp. AT is a registered trademark of IBM.

LI IM lU) I

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Circle 285 on Reader Service Card

PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

The Fuzzy Side of SCSI

Communication between the SCSIbus and a disk drive or other devicehas two segments: computer to host-SCSI controller and host-SCSI control-ler to SCSI device.

The SCSI protocol makes the secondstep efficient and relatively painless,because every device speaks the samelanguage, and switching in units fromdifferent vendors (ideally) presents noproblems.

But computer to host-SCSI controllercommunication is a different story.Each host adapter vendor for the PCXT/AT family of machines shows a dif-ferent interface to software running onthe host machine. On SCSI-equippedMacs, the built-in SCSI chip means thatthere is only one way to talk to SCSI de-vices, but the programming method isradically different from anything seenon the PC.

Common Access Method promises tostraighten out this uncivilized side ofSCSI communication, at least for thePC. But the CAM committee hasn't yethammered out a final standard. Thestandard that the CAM committeeadopts may also make it possible fordrivers for more exotic devices such asCD-ROMs, tape drives, and scanners toshare the same host adapters through acommon interface.

The BYTE Lab has been working onSCSI testing software designed for theMacintosh SCSI chip and three popularPC-host adapters: the Western DigitalWD7000-ASC, the Adaptec AHA-1542B, and the Future Domain TMC-885. None of these devices makes writ-ing software a terrible chore. But as faras we're concerned, writing for threeinterfaces is writing for two interfacestoo many, which leaves us hoping for awell-defined CAM in the near future.

Western Digital's family of hostadapters relies on the Standard DeviceLevel Protocol interface developed by

Columbia Data Products. SDLP definescommands for reading, writing, infor-mation gathering, and other tasks.

Under MS-DOS, software has accessto SDLP through a software interrupt,INT 11 hexadecimal, which the adapt-er's ROM steals from the equipment de-termination routine in the machine'sBIOS. To send a SCSI command, thecalling software simply fills registerswith appropriate values and fires off theinterrupt. OS/2 and Unix applicationsaccess similar commands throughioctl calls to the SDLP kernel devicedriver, which in turn talks to the hostadapter hardware through an adapter-specific device driver.

The Advanced SCSI ProgrammingInterface provides Adaptec's hostadapters with a common software inter-face for device drivers and applications.DOS, OS/2, and NetWare applicationstalk to the ASPI driver by pushing theaddress of a command block onto thestack and then issuing a call to thedriver. The process differs between theoperating systems only in the way inwhich the calling software determinesthe ASPI entry point. ASPI supports anumber of information request calls andstandard SCSI I/O commands.

Future Domain provides developerswith an OEM kit to ease the process ofwriting software that supports FutureDomain host adapters. The kit consistsof object modules that developers canlink into their own code. We also foundit relatively easy to write directly to thecard's TMC-950 SCSI controller chip, amemory-mapped device for which Fu-ture Domain provides documentation.

On the Mac, you can take comfort inthere being only one programming in-terface to SCSI: the Mac's SCSI man-ager. Unless you're trying to do somereal low-level SCSI programming, theSCSI manager provides all the functionsthat you need. The SCSI manager sup-

ports bus arbitration, device selection,and message transfer. Apple has evenprovided an extremely simple program-ming language for high-speed buffercopies that you can use to control whatthe SCSI manager does with data sent toor taken from a target device. (For a de-tailed description of programming tothe Mac's SCSI manager, see "ForeignFile Systems," March BYTE.)

If you are really desperate to gostraight to the SCSI hardware, you'llhave to dig up whatever documentationyou have on the NCR 5380, the SCSIcontroller chip used by Macintoshessince the Mac Plus. You'll also want togo spelunking into all your Inside Mac-intosh volumes. There is a variety ofways to effect a transfer on the SCSI bususing the 5380. You've probably heardof "blind" transfers: data exchange onthe SCSI bus in which the system checksonly a handshake bit in association withthe first byte of a packet transfer andthen sends the rest of the bytes at topspeed (i.e., without explicitly checkinghandshaking). You may have also heardof the 5380's "pseudo-DMA" mode, inwhich the transfer of bytes to and fromthe chip triggers the handshaking sig-nals on the SCSI bus.

As compatible as Macs may seem, thesad truth is that even though all Macsuse the 5380 to control the SCSI bus, the5380 is wired differently for differentMacs. For example, in a Mac Plus, thebase address of the 5380 is at 580000h;it's at 5FF000h on a Mac SE and at50F10000h on the Mac II. Further-more, the Mac Plus must use softwarehandshaking in the pseudo-DMAmode, which means that you might runinto invalid data being transferred if youchoose to use blind transfers on thatmachine.

The moral: Unless you're developingyour own custom SCSI hardware, stickwith the SCSI manager.

given. DiskMount's disk verificationperforms a nondestructive read test ofthe hard disk surface. You can specifythat the disk drive's internal error cor-rection be turned off for the duration ofthe test so that "marginal" blocks (i.e.,those likely to fail soonest in the future)are reported. Once you've collected yourlist of questionable blocks, DiskMount

lets you map good blocks in the place ofbad ones. As an extra level of protection,the Optima system keeps duplicates ofthe disk's partition information and de-vice driver. In that way, if either shouldsomehow become corrupted, a utilityprogram called QuickFix can replace theoriginal with the duplicate.The installation software on Storage

Dimensions' MacinStor isn't loaded withfrills, but it has everything you need.You can password-protect partitions,toggle them as read-only, and even flag apartition to use write verification. Wewere also very happy to see that the Mac-inStor disk included a cdev (a ControlPanel device) version of the installationsoftware. This allows you access to the

186 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

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Because Resources Should Be Shared.

Data Communications Products Division200 N. 2nd St., P.O.Box 387 Ba\) St. Louis. MS 39520Fax 601-467-4551 Phone 601-467-8231 or toll-free

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•All product or company names are trademarks of their respective holders.

INTERNATIONALDISTRIBUTORS

AustraliaMelbourne

Shuttle Technologies. Ltd.(03) 587 4920

Melbourne

Goya Tech, Pty.. Ltd-

[03) 747-8455

Belgium

Multiway Data Belgium016-29 22 78

The Netherlands

Multiway Data Netherlands079-424 111

Denmark

Trend Communications53 65 23 45

Finland

Genine Oy Impdata(921)335700

France

Suresenes

Komdex International[1)47 72 63 11

Paris

Gradco France{1)42 94 99 69

Germany

Munich

AMS Computech GmbH(089) 126806-0Dusseldorf

Multiway Data Germany

0211-25 18 75

Italy

Torino

BRM Italiana(Oil) 771.00.10

MilanoLTD.

(02) 749,0749Norway

A/S Kjell Bakke47-6-832000

Singapore

Mark Systems (FE) Pte.. Ltd.65-2261877

Spain

Vidmar Control(93) 2454803

Sweden

Solna

Microcom/Maldata(08)7344100

SollentunaBeon Data08-626 92 26

Switzerland

Sengstag Computers AG0041.1.950.54.44

United Kingdom

Leicester & London

A-Line Dataspeed Devices. Ltd.

0533-778899

BuckinghamshireTrend Datalink, Ltd.(06285)30611

Circle 41 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 42)

PRODUCT FOCUSi

SCSI DRIVES

COMPANY

INFORMATION

Adaptec, Inc.

Future Domain

Micropolls Corp.

Rodime Systems, Inc.

{AHA-1542B)

(TMC-885)

(1684)

(Cobra 330e)

691 South Milpitas Blvd.

1582 Parkway Loop, Suite A

21211 NordhoffSt.

901 Broken Sound Pkwy., NW

Milpitas, CA 95035

Tustin, CA 92680

Chatsworth, CA 91311

Boca Raton, FL 33487

(408) 945-8600

(714)259-0400

(818) 709-3300

(407) 994-5585

Inquiry 1111.

Inquiry 1116.

Inquiry 1120.

Inquiry 1124.

CMS Enhancements

FWB

N/Hance Systems, Inc.

Storage Dimensions

(Prevail 325)

(hammer300)

(HCS300E)

(MacinStor MAC325-S1,

1372 Valencia Ave.

2040 Polk St., Suite 215

908R Providence Hwy.

X/Storxsh1-330S1)

Tustin, CA 92680

San Francisco, CA 94109

Dedham, MA 02026

2145 Hamilton Ave.

(714) 259-9555

(415) 474-8055

(800) 289-9676

San Jose, CA 95125

Inquiry 1112.

Inquiry 1117.

(617)461-1970

(408) 879-0300

Inquiry 1121.

Inquiry 1125.

Core International

LaCie

(SLAN 310)

(ZPF 300)

Optima Technology

SuperMac Technology

6500 East Rogers Cir.

19552 Southwest 90th Court

(Diskovery 325)

(DataFrame)

Boca Raton, FL 33487

Tualatin, OR 97062

17526 Von Karman

485 Potrero Ave.

(305) 997-6033

(800) 999-0143

Irvine, CA 92714

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Inquiry 1113.

(503) 692-0771

(714)476-0515

(408) 245-2202

Inquiry 1118.

Inquiry 1122.

Inquiry 1126.

FlexStar

(3000s)

MicroNet Technology, Inc.

Priam Systems

Western Digital

2040 Fortune Dr.

(Micro/Stack 404/LAN,

(ED 330 SC)

(WD380 SC, WD7000-ASC)

Oal 1 iJUotJ, c?o 1 O 1

1 1 nifiywuuu L/CJurt

cs 1 uo Irvine uenier ur.

(408) 433-0770

20 Mason

San Jose, CA 95131

Irvine, CA 92718

Inquiry 1114.

Irvine, CA 92718

(408) 954-8680

(714)932-5000

(714)837-6033

Inquiry 1123.

Inquiry 1127.

Fujitsu America

Inquiry 1119.

(M226 ISA)

3055 Orchard Dr.

San Jose, CA 95134

(408)432-1300

Inquiry 1115.

most frequently used functions, such asmounting or dismounting a partitionfrom the Control Panel. The MicroNetinstallation software builds A/UX aswell as Macintosh partitions, and it eas-ily initialized drives.

MicroNet drivers supported overlap-ping seeks on multiple disk drive config-urations. Overlapping seeks logicallychain two drives together and divide databetween them. The process makes use ofthe drive's built-in read-ahead cache.For example, if software issues a largeread request on a file (e.g., a multimega-byte image file), the first piece of the filecomes from drive A, the second fromdrive B. MicroNet's engineers point outthat even write accesses benefit fromoverlapped seeks: Since each drive fillsup half as fast as it ordinarily would, seekdistances are reduced.

It's not easy to pick the best Macintoshdrive. In general, a winner in one testturned in a mediocre performance inother tests. Based on performance alone,we chose the Micropolis 1684 as the topdrive because of its write throughputnumbers (see figure 1). It scored thehighest marks in both our sequential-and random-write throughput tests. (Be-

cause this was an OEM drive, we neededcompatible driver software; we used LaCie's Silverlining in our tests.)

However, when we considered morethan just raw speed, we gave top honorsto the FWB hammerSOO. Although not aspeed demon, it ranked in the top half ofmost tests. The amount of support soft-ware that came with the drive swayed ourvote.

Finally, if you're cost-conscious andfind yourself reeling from high prices,consider the La Cie ZPF 300 drive. Itscored near the middle in most tests, andits Silverlining software, while not re-plete with features, is probably all thehard disk drive software you'll everneed. However, the drive stands out inprice: It's $700 to $2500 less than otherMac drives.

And the Winner Is...

Picking an overall high-capacity harddisk drive winner depends, as always, onyour individual application and environ-ment. The FWB and Optima drivesproved to be very solid. Both finished ator near the top for all four operating sys-tems. Although it is slickly packaged andwell documented, the Optima Diskovery

325 is too expensive for our tastes; welike the FWB hammerSOO for both itsprice and performance.

Storage Dimensions' offerings turnedout to be excellent performers, as well.Both the X/Stor and the MacinStorscored very well on their respective Unixand Macintosh platforms, and both carryprices lower than drives of similar per-formance and capacity.

If your platform is DOS or NetWare,we suggest MicroNet's Micro/Stack404/LAN. At 423 MB and with excellentbenchmark numbers, the $4495 Micro/Stack may be worth the little larger up-front investment.

All the OEM drives had acceptablespeed, but the Micropolis 1684 distin-guished itself. Each drive had above-average mean-time-between-failure rat-ings, and the speedy Western DigitalWD380 SC, at 31/2 inches, fits in whereothers can't. ■

Steve Apiki and Stan Wszola are BYTE Labtesting editors/engineers. Rick Grehan isthe BYTE Lab technical director, andTom Yager is a BYTE Lab technical editor.They can be reached on BIX as "apiki,""stan, " "rick_g, " and "tyager. "

188 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

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Circle 363 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 364)

SYSTEM

With all the coverage that the Ex-tended Industry Standard Archi-tecture (EISA) and Micro Chan-nel architecture buses get, it's easy tobelieve that you need one of these newbus architectures to get great perfor-mance. Not necessarily. The three ma-chines in this review—AST's Premium486/33, Club American's Hawk III, andEverex's Step 486/33—combine a 33-MHz i486 with the standard AT bus, andthe result in each case is a screamer.

These three machines also have a lot incommon besides the AT bus and the 33-MHz i486 CPU. All contain a socket fora Weitek WTL4167 math coprocessor,a 5'/4-inch 1.2-megabyte floppy diskdrive, two serial ports, a parallel port, a-101-key keyboard, a 16-bit VGA cardwith 256K bytes of RAM, and a 14-inchcolor monitor. The main differences inthe configurations that we tested werethe size of the hard disk drive and theamount of RAM and external cachememory that each offered.

The Premium 486/33 had a 3V2-inch110-MB Imprimis Intelligent DriveElectronics (IDE) hard disk drive with a16-millisecond average access time, 4MB of system RAM, and no externalCPU cache. The Hawk III had a 5 V4-inch158-MB Maxtor ESDI hard disk drivewith a 16-ms average access time, 8 MBof RAM, and 256K bytes of externalcache memory. The Step 486/33 had thegreatest disk capacity of the group, witha 5'/4-inch, 330-MB, 141^-ms SeagateESDI hard disk drive, as well as 8 MB ofRAM and a 128K-byte external proces-sor cache. The Step 486/33 and the HawkIII also had multifrequency monitors,rather than the standard VGA monitor

Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings

that was included with the Premium486/33.

Because the configurations of thesemachines are so similar, it can be diffi-cult to choose among them. The key is tofocus on three major criteria: price, per-formance, and reliability.

Wide Price Spread

None of these systems is cheap, but youcan't expect bargain-basement prices fortop performers. To make a reasonableprice comparison, we priced each systemwith a color VGA board and monitor, a150-MB hard disk drive (or one as closeto that size as possible), and 4 MB ofRAM. In that configuration, the EverexStep 486/33 with a 160-MB drive is themost expensive of the group, with a listprice of $11,899. A comparable ASTPremium 486/33 with a 110-MB drivecosts $10,619, which is roughly 10 per-cent less.

If price is your only consideration,however, you can read this paragraphand skip the rest of the review. The HawkIII in our comparison configuration costsonly $6989, and that's with a 158-MBdrive. The others just can't compete withthe Hawk Ill's rock-bottom mail-orderprice, even considering typical dealerdiscounts for the Premium 486/33 andStep 486/33.

AST's Premium systems have one un-usual advantage over the others: You canstart with a slower CPU and later up-grade to the 33-MHz i486, or whateverchip is the fastest Intel CPU at the time.Still, the price difference between theAST Premium 486/33 and the ClubAmerican Hawk III is too much to payjust for the upgrade privilege.

Fast, But Not the Fastest

Price comparisons are fair only when thesystems involved perform at about thesame level. As the graph shows, thesethree systems definitely make price com-parisons reasonable, because they pro-duce very similar results on the B"!fTEbenchmarks. On the overall DOS appli-cation index, the fastest machine of thebunch, the AST Premium 486/33, is lessthan 10 percent faster than the slowest,the Hawk III—there's not a dog in thegroup.

Still, none of them even comes close tothe 65.2 application index of the TangentModel 425 EISA bus machine that we re-viewed last month—and the Tangent usesonly a 25-MHz i486 CPU! To resolvethis discrepancy, here's a closer look atthe benchmark results.

On the CPU front, the Step 486/33,with a score of 9.0, is the clear winner.Its score is over 20 percent better than the7.4 of the Hawk III and the 7.2 of thePremium 486/33. The Step 486/33 getsits strong CPU score primarily fromEverex's Advanced Memory Manage-ment Architecture cache controller,which manages the system's external128K-byte, 20-nanosecond static RAM(SRAM) cache.

By forgoing an external cache and re-lying solely on the i486's internal cache,the Premium 486/33 turned in the lowestCPU performance of the group. TheHawk III, like the Everex system, has anexternal cache. In fact, its 256K-bytecache of 20-ns SRAM is twice the size ofthe Step 486/33's. Because the HawkIll's larger cache didn't give it the CPUperformance crown, we can only con-clude that Everex's AMMA cache con-troller must be better than the Hawk Ill'scache manager.

CPU speed isn't the entire story, how-ever, because all three machines beat theTangent's 6.6 CPU score, and yet lost tothe Tangent by a substantial margin inoverall application-level performance.The answer, not surprisingly, lies pri-

REVIEW

High-Performance 486 ATs

190 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

The Everex Step 486/33(top), AST's Premium 485(center), and the ClubAmerican Hawk III (bottom)put i486power on an ATbus.

marily in disk performance.

All three systems have less than spec-tacular disk scores. The slight edge goesto the Step 486/33, with a score of 3.2 onthe low-level disk tests. The Hawk IIIand Premium 486/33 were close behind,at 3.0 and 2.3, respectively.

None, however, has a caching harddisk drive controller, and that's wherethe Tangent machine gets its perfor-mance. The Tangent's BYTE disk indexof 10.1 is due, in large part, to its Mylexcaching disk drive controller, with 4 MBof on-board RAM. The lesson is clear: Ifmaximum performance is your goal, geta caching disk drive controller.

The Unix benchmark suite producedslightly different results. Here the HawkIII came out on top, neck and neck withthe Step 486/33. Lower results in theSystem Loading and Tower of Hanoitests dragged the Premium's cumulativeindex down to third place.

The Ratings

With performance so close, the HawkIll's price advantage looks more and

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 191

REVIEW

HIGH-PERFORMANCE 486 ATS

Premium 486/33 Model 115

Company

AST Research, Inc.16215 Alton Pkwy.Irvine, CA 92713(714)727-4141

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 33-MHz Intel i486; socket for33-MHz Weitek WTL4167 math coprocessorMemory: 4 MB of SIMM-mounted RAMMass storage: 5V4-inch 1.2-MB NEC floppydisk drive; 110-MB Imprimis IDE hard diskdrive

Display: AST-VGA Plus 16-bit card; ASTPremium DisplayA/GA color monitorKeyboard: 101-key IBM Enhanced ATlayout

I/O interfaces: Two serial ports; oneparallel port; one 8-bit and six 16-bit AT-busexpansion slots

Price

$10,619

inquiry 1108.

Hawk iiiCompany

Club American Technologies, Inc.3401 West Warren Ave.Fremont, CA 94539(415) 683-6600

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 33-MHz Intel i486; socket for33-MHz Weitek WTL4167 math coprocessorMemory: 8 MB of SIMM-mounted RAM;256K bytes of cache RAMMass storage: 5y4-inch 1.2-MB Teac floppydisk drive; 158-MB Maxtor ESDI hard diskdrive; Data Tech 16-bit ESDI hard/floppydisk drive controller

Display: Everex Viewpoint 16-bit VGA card;Club multifrequency monitorKeyboard: 101-key IBM Enhanced AT

layout

I/O Interfaces: Two serial ports; oneparallel port; seven 16-bit AT-bus expansionslots

Price

$7674

Inquiry 1109.

Step 486/33

Company

Everex Systems, Inc.48431 Milmont Dr.Fremont, CA 94538(800) 356-4283

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 33-MHz Intel i486; socket for33-MHz Weitek WTL4167 math coprocessorMemory: 8 MB of SIMM-mounted RAM;128K bytes of cache RAMMass storage: 5y4-inch 1.2-MB Teac floppydisk drive; 330-MB Seagate ESDI hard diskdrive; Everex 16-bit ESDI hard/floppy diskdrive controller

Display: Everex Viewpoint 16-bit VGA card;Everex multifrequency monitorKeyboard: 101-key modified IBMEnhanced AT layoutI/O interfaces: Two serial ports; oneparallel port; one 8-bit and six 16-bit AT-busexpansion slots

Price

$13,499

Inquiry 1110.

more important. Still, an inexpensivesystem is almost useless if it's not reli-able, so we took a close look at each ofthe systems to see how well they're likelyto hold up.

All three systems are based on stablearchitectures that their vendors haveused in previous machines. Nonetheless,all three have change wires on the backsof their motherboards, with the Step486/33's nine wires the worst of thebunch. We had no trouble with any of thesystems, but the motherboards clearlycould stand one more cleanup iteration.

All three motherboards also dependheavily on discrete logic rather than ap-plication-specific ICs, which are com-mon in more mature machines. All threeboards have the telltale signs of early de-signs, with over 100 chips on each board(many of which are socketed) and almostno surface mounting. The vendors hadno choice—as we've noted before, theyare ahead of the chip-set makers—but486 systems are likely to become cheaperand more reliable when i486 supportchips become commonly available.

A reliable system not only must stayup, it also must be able to run the pro-grams you expect it to run and work withthe boards you plan to put into it. Thesethree machines did well on the firstfront, running over two dozen test appli-cations without a hitch. Their hardware

results were almost as good. They had notrouble with our test add-in boards, butone problem did surface: None of the ma-chines would work with our XircomPocket Ethernet Adapter. A Xircomspokesperson claimed that 33-MHz 486systems are sometimes too fast for thePocket Ethernet Adapter's control logic.Xircom fans can relax, though; Xircomis preparing a patch that should be avail-able before this review sees print. Still,this problem serves to indicate the un-usual difficulties that sometimes lurk inleading-edge systems.

Another aspect of reliability that youmust consider is what to do when some-thing goes wrong with the system. Allthree vendors offer the same basic solu-tion to this problem: a one-year parts-and-labor warranty that requires you toship the broken system or part to the ven-dor for repair. Service for the Premium486/33 is also typically available fromthe nearest AST dealer.

Everex is the only one of these vendorsthat gives you the choice of on-site ser-vice as well. We've heard some computervendors gripe about the quality of the on-site service from national third-partyservice firms, but we still think that sys-tems as powerful as these three shouldcome with on-site service.

The final reliability concern that anybuyer-but particularly those in large or-

ganizations—must consider is the reli-ability of the vendor itself. The best ser-vice contract in the world is no good ifthe vendor offering it will be gone tomor-row. Fortunately, even Club American,the smallest vendor of the three, has soldover 200,000 systems and has annualsales of over $250 million. No computercompany is ever entirely safe, but thesefirms seem to have the critical mass nec-essary to stay in business long enough tofix any problems that you're likely toencounter.

Extra Points

One kind of problem that can occur evenin perfectly functioning systems is lackof room to grow. You never know whenyou'll need more disk storage space, ex-pansion slots, or memory.

All three systems have reasonable diskexpansion space, but here again, theHawk III is the clear winner. Its floor-standing tower case is cavernous, withone full-height and five half-height 5 U-inch bays in front. If that's not enough,there's room for another full-height 5 '/4-inch drive on an arm that swings out be-hind the other drive bays.

The other two systems, by contrast,are more traditional desktop units. Eachhas five half-height 5!4-inch bays. Withone of those bays dedicated to the floppydisk drive, each system can hold only two

192 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

-4 Worse 1

DOS BENCHMARKS

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCES

Better ►

AST Premium 486/33Everex Step 486/33Club American Hawk III

IBM PC AT

4.6

5.5

4.2

5.5

12.1

11.2 9.4 52.6

5.6

5.3

3.9

5.3

11.8

9.8

8.0

49.7

5.4

5.0

3.9

5.3

12.1

9.8

7.8

49.4

7.0

Word Desktop

Processing

< Worse 1

Publishing

□

Database

□

Compilers

□

CAD

Scientific/Engineering

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

Spreadsheet

Better ►

AST Premium 486/33Everex Step 486/33Club American Hawk IIBM PC AT

7.2

32.8

2.2

14.6

9.0 32.7

3.2 14.4

7.4

33.4

3.0 15.0

□ cPU □ FPU

a Disi<

CONVENTIONAL BENCHMARKS

LINPACK

Dhrystones

(single)

(Dhry./sec.)

(MFLOPS)

AST Premium 486/33 0.8947

25849.4

Everex Step 486/33 0.8959

26912.9

Club Hawk III 0.9263

27472.3

IBM PC AT 0.0210

2317.9

For application and low-level benchmarks, results are indexed and show relative performance; for eachindividual index, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT running MS-DOS 3.30 = 1. For all benchmarks, higher numbersindicate better performance.

The BYTE low-level benchmark suite identifies performance differences between machines at the hardwarelevel; the application benchmarks evaluate real-world performance by running a standard test suite usingcommercially available applications. Application indexes include tests using the following programs; Wordprocessing: WordPerfect 5.0; Desktop Publishing: Aldus PageMaker 3.0; Database: Borland Paradox 3.0 andAshton-Tate dBASE IV; Compilers: Microsoft C 5.1 and Turbo Pascal 5.5; CAD: AutoCAD release 10 andGeneric CADD level 31.1.5: Scientific/Engineering; Stata release 2. MathCAD 2.5. and PC-Matlab 3.5f; andSpreadsheet: Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0 and Microsoft Excel 2.1.

The BYTE Lab introduced version 2.0 of the DOS benchmarks in the August issue (see "BYTE's NewBenchmarks: New Looks. New Numbers"). Benchmark results for machines reviewed under previousversions aren't directly comparable. To obtain a copy of the benchmarks, join the listings area of thebyte.bmarks conference on BIX or contact BYTE directly.

UNIX BENCHMARKS

SUMMARla

AST Premium 486/33Everex Step 486/33Club American Hawk III 0.8

Everex Step 386/33

0.7

2.6

1.6

1.5

0.8

2.6

3

9.8

0.6

2.6 2.1

1.8

0.8

2.6

10.4

0.8

2.7 1.9

1.8

0.8

2.6

10.7

6.0

□

C Compiler

□

DC Arithmetic

□

Tower of Hanoi

□

System Loading

□

□

Dhrystone 2 I I Floating Point

Note: The graph above summarizes the results of the Unix benchmarks (version 2.6). All results are indexed to show relative performance; for each test, an Everex Step 386/33 running Xenix2.3.1 = 1. The cumulative index is formed by summing the indexed performance results for the tests. Comprehensive results are available by contacting BYTE.

Space-SaverKeyboard

Save an amazing 60% of the desk or counter space now taken by a standard keyboardand enjoy improved functionality at tlie same time. Actual size is 10.75" x 6.0"(273 X 152mm). The new MICROTYPE keyboard is rapidly gaining acceptance as a trulyadvanced alternative to the original IBM layout for many applications. Reliability of theMICROTYPE has been amply proven through extensive use in trading areas of the NYSE, TheNew York and Chicago Mercantile Exchanges as well as in many banks, brokerages, stores andat factory work stations.

Space is saved by compressing rows (not columns) and eliminating wide borders.Re-arranging and elevating the auxiliary key clusters also saves space while improving accessi-bility with reduced eyescan and head movement. Keys have full travel with a light factuallyresponsive touch. All standard features such as auto-repeat, caps, num and scroll lock areincluded on the MICROTYPE.

PC XT/AT, PS/2 IBM and clone compatibility. Available in US and most European languageversions. Made in USA with 1 year warranty.

.beautifully sensitive and handles both typists with light touch and those who really bang aw^.

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Order direct from stock with 15 day full return privileges. VISA, MasterCard, Eurocard charges accepted.USA I-800-DATALUX Fax 703-662-1682 S124.50 + 6.00 s/h Extra charges for PS/2 adapters,

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DATALUX CORPORATION 2836 Cessna Drive, Winchester, Virginia 22601

REVIEW

full-height devices.

The three systems are identical when itcomes to expansion slots. Each has sevenAT-bus slots, five of which were open inour test units. All three systems put theserial and parallel port logic on themotherboard. Each used two slots, one ofwhich always held the VGA card. TheStep 486/33 and the Hawk III filled thesecond slot with a floppy/ESDI hard diskdrive controller. The Premium 486/33had its floppy/hard disk drive controllerlogic on the motherboard, but its proces-sor card consumed a slot.

Memory expansion is the one area inwhich the Hawk III comes up a bit short.Its motherboard can hold eight 1-MB sin-gle in-line memory modules (SIMMs),and there is room for eight more on anoptional memory board ($135 with noRAM) that uses a proprietary slot. This16-MB limit is more than enough for al-most any DOS or OS/2 work, but if youplan to make the machine a LAN serveror a multiuser Unix box, you might wishfor a higher memory ceiling.

The Premium 486/33 wins the mem-ory-expansion crown. It uses the sameprocessor and memory arrangement asthe other AST Cupid-32 systems thatBYTE has reviewed. A processor cardholds the i486 CPU and four SIMMs ofeither 1 MB or 4 MB each. The Premium486/33 also can accommodate up to two32-bit memory cards (which cost $500each, including 1 MB of RAM). Eachcard can house 16 1-MB SIMMs, for amaximum possible memory configura-tion of 48 MB.

The Step 486/33 is in the middle of thegroup, with a maximum of 32 MB ofRAM. A single memory board, whichgoes into a proprietary expansion slot,can hold either 16 1-MB SIMMs or eight4-MB SIMMs.

The high performance of these ma-chines supports a claim that we've beenmaking for some time: There's no reasonto go to an EISA system unless you need aspecific EISA card. Put a caching diskdrive controller in any of these systems,and you will have one of the fastest PCsavailable.

Choosing a single winner in a compar-ative review is often difficult, but not thistime. The low price and roomy cabinet ofClub American's Hawk III make it theclear pick of this bunch. ■

MarkL. Van Name and Bill CatMngs areBYTE contributing editors. Both are alsoindependent computer consultants andfreelance writers based in Raleigh, NorthCarolina. You can reach them on BIX as"mvanname " and "wbc3, " respectively.

192B B Y T E • NOVEMBER 1990 Circle 99 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 100)

25 MHz 486 Speed FoYour 286/386 System!

MicroWay manufactures a broad range of products that boostthe speed and capacity of your current PC/AT. They includ386 and 386SX accelerators and 486 replacement mother-boards. We also offer a complete line of Weitek acces-sories and stock all of the Intel, Weitek and Cyrixcoprocessors. We created the PC numerics industry in1982 and have been developing, selling and supportingthe best numeric software and hardware ever since.

^^^^^f This XT/AT motherboard^/^^^ replacement features a 25

/ MHz 80486, 4167 socket and' Y a BURST BUS memory inter-face. The BURST BUS architec-ture is ideal for engineering,scientific and CAD/CAM applica-tions. The NDP Fortran-486 drivennumeric throughput of the 4167 is animpressive 13.0 Megawhetstones, whichis 100 times the throughput of an 80287equipped AT!

Number Smasher® 386/25 ^

This AT accelerator board replaces your 80286 withan 80386 clocked at 20 or 25 MHz. It is socketed for 8Megabytes of 32 bit RAM, an 80387, Cyrix CX83D87, orWeitek 3167 and a 64K SRAM cache. The numeric perfor-mance of the Number Smasher 386/25 is a strong function ofyour application and the coprocessor you choose. The 25MHz NDP Fortran-386 driven Whetstones are 2.1, 3.7 and 5.5MegaWhetstones running on the 80387, CX83D87 and 3167.

Number Smasher 486/25Numeric Performance

486

Megawhetstones 5.9Megawhetscales 4.1

MicroWay and Number Smasher are registered trademarks of MicroWay. inc.. 80386. 80387. 80486are lrademarl<s of Intel Corp.. Cyrix and CX83D87 are trademarlts of Cyrix Corp.. Weitek. 3167 and4167 are trademarks of Weitek Corp.

Coming in August: Number Smasher® i860

mW3167/MCA

Our MCA Weitek card runs in the IBM Model70 and 80. At 20 MHz, its performance is 2to 3 times that of an 80387. „.

NDP Fortran-486 and C-486 iare globally optimized main- ;frame compilers that havebeen fine tuned for the 80486and 4167. NDP Fortran-i860and C-i860 are available inAugust

Microl/^ay~

\Norld Leader in PC Numerics

Corporate Headquarters: RO. Box 79. Kingston. MA 02364 USA I508i 746-734132 High St.. Kmgston-Upon-Thames. U.K.. 81-541-5466 USA FAX (508i 746-4678Germany 069-75-2023 Italy 02-74.90.749 ' Holland 40 836455 Japan 3 222 0544

WE'VE TAKEN THEINDUSTRIAL PCTO EVERY EXTREME.

Companies don't make theFortune 100 list by accident. It takeshard work and the wise investmentof capital. Which is why when theybuy industrial PCs, seven out of everyten Fortune 100 companies investin Texas Microsystems.

UNBEATABLE PERFORMANCEIN ANY ENVIRONMENT.

Most people assume that anindustrial PC will give the reliabilityneeded to run critical applicationsin harsh environments, but the tradeoff can be a lack of performanceand high cost of entry With TexasMicrosystems the reverse is true.

Benchmark studies show that inharsh environments Texas Micro-systems 25/33 MHz 386 & 25MHz486 PCs perform as well as powerfuldesktop PCs do in office environ-ments. Yet the cost of our systemscan be a pleasant surprise.

DESKTOP PERFORMANCEUNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS.

CPU BENCHMARKS

PRODUCT 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 SO 90 100

Landmark \'2.0

BUILT IN RELIABILITYFROM THE BOARD UP.

We build our systems fromscratch, and take nothing for granted.We've been designing with Intelmicroprocessors since 1974. Designand manufacture most of our cards.And by using VLSI and PAL tech-nology reduce component counts by60% and drive MTBF numbers upto 100,000 hours.

Texas Microsystems innovationsinclude passive backplane architec-ture to improve component reliabilityand reduce MTTR to less than 10minutes. Our 16 point shock-

mounting techniques keep diskdrives functioning at up to 25 Gvelocities. And our 48 hour pre-testbum-in at over 130°F guaranteesreliability/'.

NO ONE HAS MOREINDUSTRIAL EXPERIENCE.

We've been in business for 16years. And you'll find Texas Micro-systems operating in harsh environ-ments at 70 of the Fortune 100companies, as well as delivering mis-sion critical solutions to the USGovernment and Armed Services.

MORE SYSTEMSMEAN MORE OPTIONS.

Two of ourmost popular systemsare shown here. They can be con-figured with a vast choice of options

from CPUs, hard disks and drives,CMOS RAM, video cards and dis-plays, and if none of these matchyour requirements we'll customconfigure and test whatever systemyou need.

TO US "INDUSTRIAL" IS MORETHAN A DESIGN PHILOSOPHY.

You can buy cheaper industrialPCs than ours, but they may becamouflaged desktops that do notperform in extreme environments.

At Texas Microsystems, that isn'tthe way we build systems. IndustrialPCs and Mission Critical Micros"are all we make. Repackaging officecomputers is not our business. Wedesign and manufacture all ourproducts from scratch, we don'tadapt the designs of others. And

EXCEPT PMCE.

$3,825

we're always here when you need us.

NATION-WIDE SERVICE,FULL-TIME SUPPORT.

We believe in offering excep-tional support, including consul-tation during system design. Aftersales technical support 12 hours aday via an 800 number On-siteservice from General Electric for afull yeai; including free parts andlabor A 30-day, no-questions-asked,money-back guarantee. And a wayof ordering a Texas Microsystemthat's most convenient and costeffective to you.

Opposite are two Texas Micro-systems that offer an unsurpassedcombination of price/performance.Order them direct or ask for a com-plete literature and information kiton all our systems by calling1-800-627-8700 now.

TWO EXTREMELYUNBEATABLE SYSTEMS.

Here are two of our top sellingsystems for business environmentsthat demand mission critical com-puting, regardless of operating con-ditions. Like all our systems theyenjoy the same engineering pedigreethat ensures a unique combinationof performance, reliability and value,which is, after all, what you shouldexpect from America's leadingindustrial micro systems company.

And to put a little icing on thecake, each will include a one yeai;on-site, warranty.

To order, call the 800 numberbelow and one of our representativeswill discuss your needs with you, giveyou an instant quote on the con-figuration of your choice. Then thesystem will be built to your order,tested, and shipped.

Mission Critical Micros is a trademark of Texas Micros\3tems Inc..all other trademarks mentioned are registered, trademarked orser\-icemarked by their respected manufacturers.

TEXASMICRO

SYSTEMS

Texas Microsystems, Inc.10618 Rockley Rd., Houston,Texas 77099Tel: 713-933-8050. Fax: 713-933-1029

TEXAS MICROSYSTEM 4108

MISSION CRITICAL OFFICE PCFeatures

• Choice of 80286, 80386, 80486 processors.

• Perfect for data acquisition, communicationsand networking applications.

• 8 full length ISA slots for industry' standardcards.

• Up to 16MB of RAM on CPU, three half-height 5.25" bays for floppy hard drives andone 3.5" hard drive.

• Super VGA graphics (1024 x 768 pixels)Also supports CGA, EGA.

• 1 parallel and 2 serial ports.

• 101-key enhanced keyboard with DINconnector on rear panel.

• 220 watt power supply.

• One yeai; on site \s'arranty included.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 6.5"x I7"x 16.5," 30 lbs.

• Power 220 Watt, 110 V

• Operating environment.

Temperature: 0°C to 55°C. [32'¥ to BTF)Altitude: 15,000 feet equivalent

System Prices

CPU

Model

MHz-RAM

Storage

Price

4216

286/16-1

40MB HD,1.2 or 1.44MBfloppv

S2,900

4320

386.20-1

40.VIB HD,1.2 or 1.44MBfloppv

S3,755

4325

386 25-1

104MB HD,1.2 or 1.44MBfloppv

54,530

4333

386 33-2

104MB HD,1.2 or 1.44MBfloppv

S5,135

4425

486/25-4

104MB HD,1.2 or 1.44MBfloppy

S5,995

'From S2,900. Monitor not inciuded.

TEXAS MICROSYSTEM 3014

RUGGEDIZED RACK-MOUNT PCFeatures

■ Choice of 80286, 80386, 80486 processors.

• 18-gauge nickel plated, steel chassis.

• 14 full length ISA slots for industry standardcards.

• Boards bracketed and braced on all four edges.•Two 110 CFMfans.

• Up to 16MB of RAM on CPU, and five half-height storage bays for hard drives, floppyand or tape backup.

• SuperVGA graphics (1024x768 pixels)Also supports CGA, EGA.

' 1 parallel and 2 serial ports.

• Built in speakei; door lock, power and CPUreset switch.

' 101-key enhanced keyboard with DINconnector on front panel.

• 225 \vatt power supply.

• One yeai; on site warranty included.

Specifications

• Dimensions: I9"x 22.18"x 6.96." Wt. 45 lbs.

• Power 95-132 180-264 VAC, 47 to 63Hz.

• Operating environment.

Temperature: 0°C to 55°C. (32^ to 131°?)Humidity: To 95% at 40°C non-condensingAltitude: 15,000 feet equivalentVibration: .25G, 5-lOOHz operating

5G, 5-lOOHz non-operatingShock: LOG operating at 10 Msecduration

System Prices

CPU/

Model

MHz-RAM

Storage

Price

3216

286/16-1

40MB HD,1.2 orL44MBfloppv

S3,825

3320

386/20-1

40MB HD,1.2 or 1.44MBfloppv

S4,650

3325

386/25-1

104MB HD.1.2 or 1.44MBfloppv

S5,430

3333

386 33-2

104MB HD.1.2 or 1.44MBfloppv

S6,040

3425

486 25-4

104MB HD.

56,895

1.2 or 1.44MB

floppy

'From S3,825. Rackmount monitor not included.

EVEN ORDERING IS EXTREMELY EASY. CALL

1-800-627-8700

Circle 340 on Reader Service Card

HARDWARE

Rick Grehan

REVIEW

FPU ftce-Of f

Sometimes there's no way out. Un-less you want to fossilize in frontof your PC waiting for that CADdrawing to complete, a math coprocessoris your only hope. Not long ago, the onlychoice was to buy an Intel coprocessor.No longer. Several coprocessor vendorsnow are trying to fill that empty socketnext to your 286, 386, or i486.

Whether you have a 286-, 386-, ori486-class machine, you've probably gotat least one application—possibly a criti-cal one—that could use the kind of speedboost that only an FPU can give. CADand other scientific and engineering pro-grams, spreadsheets, and, to a lesser ex-tent, some database programs, can bene-fit from an FPU.

I looked at a sampling of coprocessorsfor 286-, 386-, and i486-class machinesthat should fit anybody's needs. The80287-class chips include the 80287XLfrom Intel, the 80C287 from AdvancedMicro Devices (AMD), and the 2C87from Integrated Information Technol-ogy. The 80387-class chips include theIntel 80387DX, the Cyrix FastMath83D87, the IIT 3C87, and the WeitekAbacus 3167. In the i486 arena, I mea-sured the Weitek Abacus 4167 againstthe i486 CPU's built-in FPU. I thenrounded up a group of test machines andput the FPUs through a battery of tests(see the figure). Before reviewing thetest results, though, you'll want to under-stand how these FPUs work and the fea-tures that differentiate each chip from itscompetition.

Intel

Intel hasn't been sitting on its laurels;while other vendors have been introduc-ing 80287 and 80387 clones, Intel hasquietly refined its own FPUs. Its new80287XL and 80387DX chips run sub-stantially faster than the chips the com-pany shipped just six months ago.

Intel's 80287XL, the successor to In-tel's 80287, is an 80387 in 80287 cloth-ing. Though hardware-compatible withthe 80287, the 80287XL incorporates thenumerics core of the 80387 coprocessorfamily. This means that you can accessall the 80387's advanced instructions.However, your applications softwaremust be aware of the 80287XL to take ad-vantage of its added capabilities. Butfrom a developer's standpoint, it's easyto construct a routine that detects thepresence of an 80387-class coprocessor

by carrying out a prescribed set of opera-tions and examining the results. Best ofall, the 80287XL is a CMOS component.It consumes about one-third the currentof a standard 80287 and is 50 percentfaster, according to Intel.

Intel's 80387 needs no introduction:It's at work in more 386 systems than anyother coprocessor. The new 80387DXchip, introduced earlier this year, takesadvantage of an improved chip manufac-turing process that Intel claims provides20 percent faster performance than itspredecessors. The 80387 is a direct de-scendent of Intel's 80287 and 8087 co-processors. However, the 80387 carriesan improved instruction set. Some im-provements are minor, while others arean application builder's dream. In par-ticular, the 80387 beefs up trigonometricfunctions, which are particularly criticalto two-dimensional and 3-D CADapplications.

Intel's 25-MHz i486 processor looksmuch like a 386/80387 combination. Inthe tests I ran, there's a significant per-formance hike between the 386/80387and the i486, thanks to the integration ofthe coprocessor into the CPU. (For moreon the i486, see "The 80486: A Hard-ware Perspective," IBM Special Edition,Fall 1989.)

AMD

At press time, AMD only offered 80287-class coprocessors. Its 80C287 is more orless a faithful reproduction of the Intel80287. Like Intel's 80287XL, it hasCMOS internals, so power consumptionis less than that of a typical 80287: At 10MHz, the AMD 80C287 consumes about100 milliamperes of current, while astock 80287 takes somewhere in theneighborhood of 400 mA.

The AMD 80EC287, which I did nottest for this review, is essentially an

80C28780EC287

Company

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.901 Thompson PlaceP.O. Box 3453Sunnyvale, CA 94088(408) 732-2400

Price

80C287-10: $9980EC287-10:$109

Inquiry 1061.

80C287 with a low-power sleep mode.The 80EC287 enters sleep mode when-ever the coprocessor isn't executing aninstruction. In this mode, the 10-MHzversion draws only about 10 mA. Boththe 80C287 and 80EC287 are likely in-habitants for 286 laptops. The AMDchips require no minimum on their clockspeeds, and since power consumption istied to clock speed, a clever, energy-con-scious design can result in an even loweraverage power usage. The 80EC287 isalso fully static, so you can actually stopits clock, which drops the power drawdown to about 5 mA.

Weitek

Weitek's FPUs operate exclusively on386 and 486 systems. The Abacus 3167and 4167 coprocessors are not Intelclones. Their internal structure is mark-edly different from that of the 80x87-series coprocessors, and they're not pin-compatible with the 80x87, so to usethem your computer must have a Weiteksocket. On the other hand, since the Aba-cus chips don't respond to 80x87 instruc-tions, you can run both an 80387 and a3167 in the same machine.

An x-ray view of Intel's FPUs revealsa set of eight 80-bit data registers. Al-though you can address the registers indi-vidually, you can also treat the entire setas an eight-element stack. The AbacusFPUs have no stack architecture, so youcan only address each of the 31 registersindividually. The registers also have adual nature: Ordinarily, each is 32 bitswide; however, you can pair 30 of theregisters (starting with number 2) into 1564-bit megaregisters for double-precisionmathematics.

The Abacus chips are also memory-mapped. As such, they don't look forIntel coprocessor instructions. Instead,the chips occupy a 64K-byte window in

80287XL80387DXi486

Company

Intel Corp.

1900 Prairie City Rd.

Mail Stop FM2-18

Folsom, CA 95630

(916)351-2747

Price

80287XL-10: $37080387DX-33: $994

1486-25: $722 each in quantities of 1000Inquiry 1062.

194 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

physical memory (starting at addressOCOOOOOOO hexadecimal). The Abacuschips decode locations within that win-dow to trigger specific instructions. Forexample, writing into the memory ad-dress at offset 800h within the windowcauses the Abacus chips to execute a sin-gle-precision multiply instruction.

The advantage to using a memory-mapped architecture is speed. The con-ventional approach—taken by Intel andthe Intel clone vendors—requires bothinstructions and data to pass to the copro-cessor via the data bus. Furthermore, theFPU must decode coprocessor instruc-tions coming down the data bus, whichcreates additional time overhead. Thememory-mapped approach puts the in-struction on the address lines. So, a sin-gle MOV instruction transfers the in-struction and the data to the FPU.

One Abacus feature not highlighted inmy tests is the coprocessors' matrix ca-pabilities. While the coprocessor de-codes addresses in its memory window todetermine which operation to perform,the situation is actually more complex.The Abacus chips perform further de-coding on the address lines to selectsource and target registers. And Weitek'sdesigners have constructed the coproces-sors so that those address lines that selectthe target registers fall on doublewordboundaries. The upshot of all this is thatyou can use fast REP STOSD and REPMOVSD instructions to do rapid vectoroperations. For example, I can quicklyload the eight single-precision registersstarting with register 1 using

LEA ESI.ARRAYSTART

MOV ECX,8

MOV EDI,0C0000404H

REP MOVSD

where I'm assuming the code is execut-

ing in the 386's "flat" addressing mode.Applications software that is aware ofthis feature should realize a performancegain beyond what the benchmark testsreveal.

IIT

IIT offers both 80287- and 80387-classchips. The 2C87 and 3C87 are CMOSparts; as an example of the reducedpower requirements, the 3C87 uses 25percent less current than an 80387. Bothare fully hardware and software compat-ible with their Intel equivalents, althoughIIT claims both have better performancethan Intel coprocessors. Both have low-power sleep modes that make them at-tractive to laptop designers.

But the IIT coprocessors aren't justfaster and cooler (lower power consump-tion means less heat dissipation). WhereIntel coprocessors possess a single set ofeight floating-point registers, the IITchips hold 32 registers, grouped intothree banks of eight registers each.When you power up an IIT chip, its bankpointer sets to bank 0. The coprocessorrecognizes four custom instructions thatlook like 80x87 instructions but aren'tdefined for the 80x87 instruction reper-toire. Three of these custom instructionsset the bank pointer to each of the threeregister banks. It's like having threechips in one, reducing the overhead ofmemory-to-FPU (and back) instructions.

Ordinarily, there's no cross talk be-tween the register banks; the coprocessoris aware of only the currently activebank. The fourth custom instruction,F4X4, however, does operate on morethan one bank. The F4X4 instructionmultiplies two 4x4 matrices in a singleinstruction. (Matrix multiplication iscommon in 3-D graphics applications,such as CAD and animation software.)The elements of the matrices are spread

throughout the register banks. The re-sult—a four-element vector—lands inbankO. This instruction reduces 16 mul-tiplications and 12 additions (using clas-sical matrix multiplication formulas) to asingle instruction.

Cyrix

Cyrix makes only an 80387-class FPU.The differences between the Cyrix Fast-Math 83D87 and an Intel 80387 are sub-tle. The 83D87 uses CMOS circuitry forlower power consumption and automati-cally kicks into low-power mode whenidle (the company claims that this re-duces the chip's overall power draw to 5percent of that of an 80387). The 83D87is also faster than a standard 80387.

However, the engineers at Cyrix areproudest of the 83D87 processor's accu-racy when calculating transcendentalfunctions (i.e., exponentiation, loga-rithm, and trigonometric). The Intel co-processors—and the AMD clones—per-form transcendental operations using avariation of an algorithm known as theCORDIC routine. This algorithm is anapproximation technique that—at leastfor the trigonometric functions—arrivesat its solution via a series of angular rota-tions. Intel publishes the relative errorbound for such approximations at the six-ty-second bit position.

The Cyrix coprocessor evaluates tran-scendental functions using a polynomialapproximation. Ordinarily, this wouldbe prohibitively expensive in terms ofexecution time, since a polynomial eval-uation requires a series of floating-pointmultiplications and additions, while theIntel FPUs' CORDIC algorithm usesonly shifts and adds. However, the Cyrixchip's execution unit is built into the cir-cuitry and is therefore much faster thanthe Intel chips' microcode sequencer.Simply put, where the Intel chips have to

l^stMath 83D87

Company

Cyrix

P.O. Box 850118Richardson, TX 75085(800) 327-6284

Price

83D87-33: $994Inquiry 1063.

2C873C87

Company

Integrated Information Technology, Inc.2445 Mission College Blvd.Santa Clara, CA 95054(408)727-1885

Price

2C87-10:$3193C87-33: $779

Abacus 3167Abacus 4167

Company

Weitek

1060 East Arqes Ave.Sunnyvale, CA 94088(800) 468-3167

Price

3167-33: $9954167-25: $995

Inquiry 1064.

Inquiry 1065.

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 195

REVIEW

FPU Face-Off

FPU BENCHMARK RESULTS

80287-class coprocessors 80387-class coprocessors

i486-class coprocessors

Fmath

(iterations x 10 ^per second)

Fourier

(iterationsper second)

Single UNPACK

(MFLOPS)

Double LINPACK

(MFLOPS)

< Worse

Better ►

J

Better ► ■ -4 Worse

Better ►

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0

1

3 0

1

H IIT2C87-10E3 Intel 80287XL-10□ AMD80C287-10

@ Weitek 3167-33

□ Cyrix 83D87-33

□ I IT 3087-33

□ Intel 80387DX-33

^ Weitek 4167-25CZ! lnteli486-25

In the 80287-class category, the IIT2C87 clearly outperformed both Intel's 80287XL and the AMD 80C287. Surprisingly, the80C287, a CMOS chip, was slower than the 80287XI^the new CMOS version of Intel's 80287FPU. Since the 80287 can'tperform 32-bit moves, the double LINPACK test doesn't apply. The Abacus 3167performed best overall in the 80387-classcategory, but it's not 80387-compatible, so your application has to support it. In the 80387-compatible category, Cyrix'sFastMath 83D87posted strong results across the board. The 3167 has no Fourier results because it doesn't directly supporttrigonometric functions (see the text for details). Weitek's Abacus 4167 outperformed Intel's i486 in the Fmath and singleLINPACK tests but came up short on the double LINPACK. There are no Fourier results for the 4167 because it doesn't directlysupport trigonometric functions (see the text for details).

run itty-bitty programs to perform multi-plications, the Cyrix chip does the multi-plication in hardware.

The advantage of polynomial approxi-mation is that it keeps errors below thesixty-fifth bit. IIT also uses polynomialapproximation and a hardware multiplierbut claims an upper error bound in onlythe sixty-second bit. An error differencebetween the sixty-second and sixty-fifthbit (2*^ and 2*') may seem minor, and formost business applications—which car-ry, at best, 53 bits of precision—it cer-tainly is. If you're heavily into scientificor engineering number crunching, how-ever, you may want to consider the Cyrixchip.

Cyrix also provided me with an earlyversion of its new EMC87 coprocessor,which is best described as an Intel/Wei-tek hybrid. (Since this chip was a proto-type, I didn't include the test results in

the figure.) The EMC87 has all the inter-nals of the 83D87, so you get the benefitof Intel compatibility plus the Cyrixspeed and accuracy. But, as with theAbacus chips, you can also access theEMC87 in memory-mapped mode. I rana preliminary test on the EMC87 in bothIntel-compatible mode and memory-mapped mode and saw a performance in-crease on the order of 20 percent.

The Gauntlet

I used three machines as my testing ar-senal. For the 80287-class coprocessors,I used a 10-MHz Microserve AT clone.A Club American Hawk 33-MHz 386system served as my test machine forthe 80387-class coprocessors. Finally, Iused a Compaq Deskpro 486/25 for gen-erating the i486 and Weitek 4167 tests. Ifyou have a 25-MHz 386 system or an 8-MHz 286 system, don't despair; vendors

offer their FPUs in several speeds, andthe relative performance numbers shouldbe the same within each processor class.

Testing math coprocessors is messywork, for several reasons. It requireswading into DOS extenders and 32-bitprogramming. I lived in constant fearthat a statically charged and misplacedfinger would bring testing to a halt. AndI quickly discovered that coprocessorsockets aren't designed to let you takechips back out. This is especially true ofthe monstrous grid-array sockets thathold the 80387 clones and the Weitekchips. The expression "like pullingteeth" is all too appropriate.

I ran two different groups of bench-marks. First, I ran the FPU componentsof BYTE's low-level benchmarks onthose coprocessors that would readily ac-cept them (see "BYTE's New Bench-marks: New Looks, New Numbers,"

196 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

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REVIEW

FPU Face-Off

August BYTE). The exceptions wereWeitek's Abacus chips and the CyrixEMC87 when it was operating in mem-ory-mapped mode.

The BYTE FPU benchmarks expect80x87 compatibility, so I had to craft aseparate set of benchmarks for thesechips. To do this, I used Phar Lap's386|ASM assembler and Run386 DOSextender, accompanied by some assem-bly language macros from Weitek. Whenyou execute Run386, it senses the pres-ence of an Abacus chip and creates a se-lector that you can use to address the co-processor. Using Weitek's macros, I eas-ily constructed an Abacus equivalent ofthe Fmath benchmark. I didn't build aversion of the Fourier benchmark for theAbacus chips, because they don't direct-ly support trigonometric functions.

If you need transcendental functions,Weitek provides a software library that itclaims is faster than on-chip operations.The Cyrix EMC87 appears in the samememory-mapped region as the Abacuschips, and I discovered that you can forceRun386 to build the selector as though anAbacus chip were present. So, a fewmodifications to the Abacus benchmark

^heFPU

benchmarks producedsome clear leadersin each category.

yielded an EMC87 version of Fmath.

I also ran the LINPACK, a popularfloating-point benchmark written inFORTRAN. I chose Lahey F77L FOR-TRAN as the compiler, since it is avail-able in a 32-bit version bundled withEclipse Systems' OS/386 DOS extender.I ran both single-precision and, for the386 and 486 systems, double-precisionversions of the LINPACK. The double-precision LINPACK is so large that it canonly run in 32-bit mode. Hence, I couldrun only the single-precision version onthe 286 machines. The results of all thetests are shown in the figure.

If your applications consist primarilyof spreadsheets and bookkeeping calcu-

lations, the Fmath results should give youa good picture of the chips' rankings.Fmath tests the fundamental operations:addition, subtraction, multiplication, anddivision. If your work involves scientificor engineering calculations, or if you'rea 3-D CAD user, the Fourier test is agood indicator of coprocessor perfor-mance in the more esoteric areas of tran-scendental calculations. The results ofthe LINPACK test provide an overallmeasurement of the coprocessors' float-ing-point throughput.

FPU Finalists

The FPU benchmarks produced someclear leaders in each category. Weitek'sAbacus 4167 proved an able companionfor the Deskpro 486/25, outperformingthe i486's integrated FPU on all but thedouble LINPACK test. One possible ex-planation: The 4167 must perform twodoubleword moves to load its chip regis-ters with double-precision values. Bycontrast, the i486 requires only a singleinstruction. With a list price of $995, theAbacus 4167 isn't cheap, but it's youronly choice if you need to enhance your486's math performance.

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REVIEW

FPU Face-Off

In the 386/80387 category, Weitekagain came out on top with its Abacus3167. At S995, this is also the most ex-pensive chip in this category. To use thischip, your machine must have a WeitekFPtF socket, and the applications soft-ware you're running must support the3167. (Weitek provides a list of softwarepackages that are compatible with theAbacus coprocessors.)

Also, if accuracy is critical, keep inmind that the Weitek chips can only han-dle single- and double-precision floating-point numbers. They don't support theIEEE 80-bit extended-precision numbersthat some scientific and engineering ap-plications might require. This is not aproblem for the majority of applications,however.

If the Abacus 3167 doesn't fit yourneeds, the next logical choice is Cyrix's$994 83D87. If 3-D transformations areall the floating-point work you ever do,and your software supports IIT's custominstructions, the 3C87 may be a contend-er. But the 83D87 is faster than anythingother than the Abacus 3167, is Intel com-patible, and is priced on a par with Intel's80387DX. Tack the 38D87's improvedtranscendental accuracy on top of that,and you've got a winner.

You may also want to check out theCyrix EMC87, which should be avail-able by the time you read this. It's got allthe advantages of the 83D87, plus amemory-mapped architecture. If thefinal version performs as well as the83D87, it will give the Abacus 3167 arun for its money.

In the 80287 arena, most manufac-turers are aggressively pricing their co-processors, and AMD leads the way withits $99 80C287. Note, however, thatprice is just about the only thing that theAMD coprocessors have going for them;the 80C287 won't set any speed records.Best performance is a toss-up betweenIIT's 2C87 ($319) and Intel's 80287XL($370). The 2C87 is slightly faster andless expensive, but the 80287XL enjoysthe extra 80387-type instructions. No ap-plications yet support IIT's custom in-structions or the 80287XL's 80387 in-structions. But developers are likely tosupport the Intel chip first.

My benchmark results are a goodguide to performance. But as with mostcomputer peripherals, the best bench-mark is to grab your critical software,find a computer store that sells coproces-sors, and go for a test drive. ■

Rick Grehan is the director of the BYTELab. He can be contacted on BIX as"rick_g."

200 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 316 on Reader Service Card

Scalable fonts in a cartridge.No longer just a dream.

L

-magine how your documentswould look if you could substituteordinary printer fonts with typesetstyle fonts. Instead of Times®, youcould use distinctive CG Palacio®. Oradd flair with Letraset® Revue™.Imagine choosing from up to 51 differ-ent fonts, including CG Bodoni®, CGPalacio, Shannon'", Revue and ITCBookman®, that can be scaled to anysize, in quarter point increments from0.25 to 999.75.

You've dreamed about such thingsfor your Hewlett-Packard LaserJet"' EI.Pacific Outlines® make the dream real.

These easy-to-use cartridgeseliminate the need for soft fonts,accelerating your work and saving diskspace. Pacific Outlines offer qualit}'scalable type from Agfa/Compugraphic,and ready-to-use software drivers forseveral major software applications.

Offered at a price that won't causenightmares. To learn more, call orwrite: Pacific Data Products,9125 Rehco Rd., San Diego, CA 92121,(619) 552-0880. FAX: (619) 552-0889.

© 1990 Pacii'ic Data Products, Inc. Macie ir the U.S.A. Paciiic Outhnes is a trademark of Pacific Data Products, Inc. LaserJetis a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company- Scalable type outlines are licensed from Agfa Corporation, AgfaCompugraphtc Division. CG Bodoni and CG Palacio are registered trademarks and Shannon is a trademark of AgfaCorporation. Letraset is a registered trademark and Revue is a traden\ark of Esselte Pendaflex Corporation. UC Bookman isa registered trademark of International Typeface Corporation. All other company and product names are trademarks of thecompany or manufacturer respectively.

PACIFIC

DATA PRODUCTS

See us at Booth #W818

©C©mDffll/Fall'90

November 12-16. 1990Las Vegas, Nevada

Circle 272 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 273)

Buy our IBM-compatible color

printer and get this Mac-compatible

color printer free.

The new Phaser PX Color Printer from Tektronix.

Only $7995

The price is as much of a breakthrough as anythingelse. The Phaser PX offers PostScript-language com-patibility and 300 dpi thermal-wax color that's brighterand bolder than that of pricey competitors. And notonly can you hook it up to an office full of PCs viaserial or parallel, but it will also accommodate any

Macs that might come along. Automatically switch-ing from port to port to keep everybody happy.

Add to that certified PANTONE'* Color that canbe printed on paper or transparencies, and you've gota color printer that will do more for less money thanever before.

So call 1-800-835-6100, Dept. llj to find out howto get your hands on the new Tektronix Phaser PX.Then you can kill two birds with one color printer.

The New TiBktronixPhaserPX'

'Pantone, Inc.s check-standard trademark for color reproduction and color reproduction materials. Copyright © 1990 Tektronix, Inc.

Buy our Mac-compatible color

printer aad get this IBM-compatible

color printer free.

The new Phaser PX Color Printer from Tektronix.

Only $7995

The price is as much of a breakthrough as anythingelse. The Phaser PX offers PostScript-language com-patibility and 300 dpi thermal-wax color that's brighterand bolder than that of pricey competitors. And notonly can you hook it up to an office full of Macs viaAppleTalk, but it will also accommodate the PCs and

workstations that might come along. Automaticallyswitching from port to port to keep everybody happy.

Add to that certified PANTONE'* Color that canbe printed on paper or transparencies, and you've gota color printer that will do more for less money thanever before.

So call 1-800-835-6100, Dept. 11J to find out howto get your hands on the new Tektronix Phaser PX.Then you can kill two birds with one color printer.

The New IMrofiixPhaserPX

All rights reserved. Phaser is a trademark of Tektronix, Inc. .Ml other trademarks mentioned herein belong to other companies.

Circle 393 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 394)

ALTEC TOWABOVE 1HE REST

Now you can have the power and performance of Altec's fully loaded 486 EISATower delivered to your door! Check out these outstanding features:

486E1SATOWER CALL for mere information

Intel 486-25 CPU □ 4 Meg RAM □ 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44 MB 3.5" drive □ 150 MB 18ms ESDI hard drive

0 ESDI controller W/32K cache □ 16-bit VGA card □ 14' VGA monitor (1024 x 768) □ 2 serial. 1 parallel &

1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01 □ Eight 32-bits EISA slots

MAGAZINE

"AltecZip 386s are solid machines featuringbrand-name parts. A good buy,they are clearly affordable"

PC Magazine May 30,1989

"Computer users should find Altec machinean excellent value with good performance."

PC Magazim. July 1990

Altec sets the standard for the highest quality design andmanufacturing of ail our products. We're fast, friendly, andready to help you select the right features for your needs.Take a look at some of our other great systems:

386/33 VGA $3,595

Intel 386-33 CPU □ 32K Cache □ 4 Meg RAM □ 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44MB 3.5" drive O 150 MB 18ms ESDI hard drive □ ESDI controller W/32Kcache □ 16-bit VGA card □ 14' VGA monitor (1024 x 768) D 2 serial, 1parallel & 1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01

(25 Mhz Cache System deduct S400)

$2,795

386/25 VGA

Intel 386-25 CPU o 4 Meg RAM o 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44 MB 3.5" drive□ 105 MB 18ms IDE hard drive □ 16-bit VGA card a 14" VGA monitor(1024 X 768) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports O 101-key Keyboard □Genius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01

$1,895

386/SX VGA

Intel 386SX-16 CPU □ 2 Meg RAM 0 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44 MB 3.5"drive □ 66 MB 25ms hard driven 16-bit VGA card □ 14" VGA monitor(640 X 480) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard OGenius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01(20 Mhz 386/SX version add S150)

$1,795

286/12/66 MB VGA COMBO

1 Meg RAM □ 1.2 MB 5.25" drive □ 1.44 MB 35" drive □ 66 MB hard drive~ 16-bit VGA card □ 14" VGA monitor (640 x 480) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel& 1 game ports Z 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse ~ MS DOS 33 or 4.01c Panasonic 1180 printer w/cable □ Surge Protector

$1,295 NEW

286/12 VGA STAR

□ 1 Meg RAM □ 1.2 M or 1.44 M drive □ 40 MB hard drive □ 16-bit VGAcard 14" VGA monitor (640 x 480, .41 mm) □ 2 serial/1 parallel & 1 gameports □ 101-key Keyboard z MS-DOS 3.3

Various hard drive capacity available.

Altec's Guarantee:

• 30 day money-back guarantee

• 1 year warranty for parts and labor

• Free 4 months on-site service

• Lifetime toll-free technical support

! lifiiflflllfll

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Policy: Same day shipping with standard configurations for orders before 3 PM EST.

Shipping and handling extra. Personal and company checks require 10 days to clear. Pricesare subject to change, and all items are subject to availability. All returns must be shippedprepaid, insured, in original condition and complete with documentation. All returns musthave RMA number. 30-day money back guarantee does not include shipping. No surchargefor Visa & MasterCard, 2% for American Express.

AHec Tfchnology Corporation • 18555 East Gale Avenue • Industry. CA 91748 • 818/912-8688 • FAX: 818/912-8048

Circle 19 on Reader Service Card

HARDWARE

Corey Sandler

REVIEW

New Controller Makes SCSIPalatable to PCs

ForATs withlarge chassis, theSmartConnex/ISAcan take thehassle out of SCSIupgrades.

SmartConnex/ISA

Company

Distributed Processing Technology132 CandaceDr.Maitland, FL 32751(407) 830-5522

Hardware Needed

IBM AT or compatible

Software ^4eeded

MS-DOS, OS/2, NetWare 286 or 386,SCO Xenix or Unix, or Sytos Plus

Price

As tested (with floppy disk drivecontroller): $365

Without floppy disk drive controller:$330

Inquiry 1105.

If you're accustomed to conventionalPC interfaces, SCSI is a strange breed.Neither the original PC architecturenor the current version of DOS was de-signed for SCSI devices. So, before yourPC can capitalize on SCSI's speed andflexibility, you may find yourself mixingand matching specialized software driv-ers, hard disk drive controllers, hard diskdrives, and motherboard ROMs.

Distributed Processing Technology'sSmartConnex/ISA SCSI controller canbridge this gap between IBM ATs andSCSI (DPT also announced a SmartCon-nex for Extended Industry Standard Ar-chitecture that wasn't shipping commer-cially in time for this review). The 16-bitSmartConnex/ISA uses the Western Dig-ital WD1003 disk drive controller inter-face, which makes your computer see thecontroller as a common ST506 AT-com-patible device without your having to in-stall special driver software. The Smart-Connex also works with your other driveinterfaces. An associate and I installed itand an external hard disk drive in a386SX with an internal hard disk drivethat used a motherboard-based Intelli-gent Drive Electronics interface, andboth drives worked fine.

The SmartConnex also includes inter-nal and external interface connectors, soyou can attach SCSI hard disk driveseither through a rear panel or from insidethe computer. And because the boarduses a 10-MHz 68000 CPU, it can out-perform some SCSI controllers in read-

and write-throughput speed.

However, problems with the board'sdesign and documentation mean thatSCSI installation still isn't headache-free. Nevertheless, if you're a PC userwho's interested in adding a SCSI-basedhigh-capacity hard disk drive, the Smart-Connex is worth considering.

Why SCSI?

SCSI's advantages center on speed andflexibility (see "The SCSI Bus," Parts 1and 2, February and March BYTE).SCSI's speed is due to the fact that it is aparallel interface, not a serial interfacelike the ST506. SCSI is flexible becauseit was designed to be more than just ahard disk drive interface. More and moredevices—including tape drives—areshowing up with SCSI compatibility.And while the serial ST506 limits you totwo physical disk drives, SCSI supportsup to eight devices—seven peripheralsand a controller board.

The major problem for PC users is thatMS-DOS doesn't include a generic inter-face that supports all the devices avail-able with a SCSI connection. That meansthat when you install a SCSI connection,you usually must also install a softwaredriver that is compatible with both thedevice you are controlling and the appli-cations you want run. This is still truewith the SmartConnex for everything ex-cept a hard disk drive, although DPT saysthat it is developing device drivers fortape and optical disk drives (release dates

were not available at press time).

If you want more than two disk drives,you have to install a compatible softwaredriver in your MS-DOS CONFIG.SYSfile. The catch is that not only must youdepend on DPT to supply a driver thatsupports your particular hardware, butyou also have to hope the driver workswith the application that you'll be usingwith the hardware. If DPT (or any SCSIcontroller manufacturer) doesn't havedrivers for your hardware and softwarecombination, you'll have to install an-other controller or find another device.

But this problem may diminish as vari-ous groups and manufacturers push forSCSI standards. An ANSI CAM (Com-mon Access Method) committee is work-ing to establish a software interface forSCSI that would be installed in a varietyof operating systems. If such an interfaceis successful, hardware vendors wouldonly have to write their interfaces to thecommon software standard instead of toevery operating system and application.

Tight Squeeze

In addition to having a SCSI connection,the SmartConnex can include an optionalfloppy disk drive interface that is com-patible with 5V*- and 3'/i-inch devices.The SmartConnex's ST506 compatibil-ity is built in, which means that you canplug the board into the PC bus, hook upthe floppy and hard disk drive cablesfrom your standard drives, and go. Actu-ally, a software driver stored on the disk

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 205

REVIEW

New Controller makes SCSI Palatable to PCs

SMARTCONNEX SCSI BENCHMARK RESULTS

< Better

File I/O

Worse ►

Sequential

Read

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 350 400

Seconds

450

< Worse!

Sequential

Read

File I/O throughput

500 550

Better ►

0 20 40 60 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850K bytes per second

H SmartConnex/ISA S Western Digital FASST

Although the SmartConnex/ISA can simplify upgrading to SCSI, its performancewas only marginally better than that of the Western Digital controller that shippedwith the test 300-MB SCSI hard disk drive.

and transparent to the user handles ST-506 emulation. A DPT utility controlsdriver installation and use.

But installing the board can presentproblems. First of all, it's AV2 incheshigh, not including the bus connect pins.That was too tall to fit into our Compu-Add 316s slim-line test machine. The in-ternal connectors and the top of the boardstuck out beyond the edge of the chassis(we installed the board in this box, and itworked fine with the cover off).

The board also was too tall when we

used the internal interface connectors inour private-label 20-MHz 386 clone witha full-size AT case. If no cables are at-tached to the internal connectors, thecase fits—but just barely. However, withthis particular clone, we could not attachthe external connector because of thewidth of the slots in the rear of the case.SCSI uses a large 50-pin, D-shell con-nector, which requires the maximum slotwidth. For comfortable use, you'll needan oversize AT-type case for this board.Yet another problem occurred when

we tried to use the board in an Austin 12-MHz 286 and a CompuAdd 216—small-footprint PCs with internal bus risersthat accept boards sideways. In thesemachines, the cables that connected theSmartCoimex to the floppy disk drivewere too short. We had to disable thefloppy disk drive interface on the boardand use the connectors on the mother-board.

We also found that the SmartConnex'sdocumention and supporting utility soft-ware seemed unfinished. In fact, we hadconsiderable difficulty getting the boardup and running, because the instructionsfor using the utilities were not clear.

To install a hard disk drive with theSmartConnex, you run a simple utilitythat calls a low-level format routine andthen stores the proper ST506 emulationdriver on the last block of the hard diskdrive. Drivers are available for a varietyof operating systems, including OS/2,MS-DOS, Xenix/Unix, and Novell Net-Ware. Once you complete these steps,you simply type FDISK (or the equiva-lent, depending on your operating sys-tem), perform a high-level format, copythe system over, and load your files.

However, when we repeated this pro-cess during testing with a Core Interna-tional Model 310 SCSI hard disk drive,we received numerous drive not readyand no boot device messages. Nothingin the documentation explains theseerrors. As it turns out, the emulationsoftware that is stored in the final driveblock cannot be erased, and the utilitysoftware is not smart enough to knowwhat to do when it discovers that thedriver software already exists. This wasthe source of our numerous error mes-sages, according to DPT technical-sup-port personnel. (DPT sent us a utilitythat will erase the driver software. Thecompany doesn't ship the utility in thebasic package on the theory that once youconduct a low-level format and install thedriver, you don't need to remove it unlessyou change controllers.)

The documentation lacked a "quickstart" section, forcing you to uncover in-stallation instructions obscurely embed-ded in page after page of technical dis-cussion. When we put aside the manualand anonymously called the company,technical support proved to be quitegood. On one call, we received 20 min-utes of support time without complaint.

Aside from poor on-screen instructionand incomplete documention, we likedthe SmartConnex. Although DPT ratesthe SmartConnex's transfers at only 4megabytes per second, we found that itoperated relatively quickly. It rapidly

206 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Smaller Computers.Bigger Applications.

Storage To Match.

The dimensions of computing are ctiang-ing. Today's lower profile, higher-end 286 and386 computers are taking up less desktopspace and taking on much bigger applications.Matching these new computing dimensionswith new dimensions in storage has neverbeen more important. And once again, it is acompany called Storage Dimensions that isdoing that matching.

We call it performance matching, actuallyAnd our new 100,200 and 320 megabyteinternal SpeedStor' subsystems are threesolid examples of how we put you well in frontof today's 286/386 power curve. Becauseyou get smartly engineered half-high storage

matched not only to the new smaller computerenclosures, but to their larger performancedemands. With our proprietary SCSI-basedarchitecture, host bus adaptor and on-boardlook-ahead caching for added speed. Plusan optional floppy port for cost effectiveinstallation and expansion.

Whether you measure your storage needsin square inches, megabytes or milliseconds,you'll find the dimensions you require arethe ones we deliver. The ones that have putour products on more desktops than any otherstorage solution. Gall us at (408) 879-0300.Storage Dimensions, 2145 Hamilton Avenue,San Jose, GA 95125.

See us at Rotunda Booth #4214.

STORAGE DIMENSIONS

/Fall'90

November 12-16, 1990Las Vegas, Nevada

SpeedStor is a regislensd trademarlc of Storage Dimensions © 1990 Storage Dimensions

Call me, I'm interested, circle 324 on Reader Service Card.

B-SS2

Please send literature, circle 325 on Reader Service Card.

AccSys for

■ Set of C libraries for easy accessto Paradox data and index files.

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REVIEW

you get past theinstallation difficulties,

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completed long menus and data-filesearches. BYTE Lab benchmarks of theboard with the Core hard disk driveshowed random-read throughput of about45K bytes per second; random-writethroughput came in at around 54K bytesper second (see the figure). For compar-ison, we ran the same tests using theWestern Digital FASST SCSI controllerthat ships with the drive. We found theWestern Digital controller considerablyslower on reads and nearly identical onwrites: Random-read throughput was ap-proximately 3 IK bytes per second; ran-dom-write throughput was more than53K bytes per second.

Guarded Recommendation

Once you get past the installation diffi-culties, the SmartConnex performs aspromised: It's somewhat faster than theinterface that comes with the drive wetested, and the board's ST506 drive emu-lation makes for what should be an easyinstallation. We also liked the internaland external connections and the option-al built-in floppy disk drive controllerthat lets you replace your existing con-troller, if that's what you need.

However, we are concerned that theboard did not fit easily into four of ourtest machines, and the lack of easy-to-understand documentation and on-screenprompts made the installation muchmore difficult than it should be.

If you want to enhance your PC withSCSI, the SmartConnex can simplify theinstallation. Just make sure your com-puter's case is large enough to hold theboard and that you have DPT's technical-support number in your telephone's auto-dialer. ■

Corey Sandler is president of Word Asso-ciation, a consortium of high-technologywriters and consultants headquartered inNantucket, Massachusetts. He can bereached on BIX do "editors." He workedwith Word Association technical editorTom Badgett in testing the DPT board.

208 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 377 on Reader Service Card

OnlyNortfiMeMaks

Sense Of It AU!

f "\on't be puzzled about com-# Iputing for the 90's... call theX-X company who speaks your lan-guage: Noahgate. We're yourproblem-solving partners. We listen toyour needs, analyze options, thenrecommend solutions.

We use a 'modular systems' approachthat allows us to custom configureyour system to meet your current andfuture needs.

Now, let's shatter a few myths...

Northgate is a true manufacturerof computing systems ... not an

assembler. Our R&D Departmentworks day in and day out, developingnew technologies to keep Northgateon the cutting edge of highperformance computing.

We design and manufacture ourovm motherboards in the U.S.A. Ifyou hear othenvise, hang up ... youdeserve the truth!

A word about price. Northgate isthe performance/price leader insystems for home and office. No,Northgate computers aren't thecheapest. Why.? Because we don'ttake shortcuts in technology to getperformance gains and hold pricesdown. Some companies cut corners

to get speed improvements. ShadowRAM is one such technique.

Shadow RAM sets aside room inRAM for temporary storage of systemand video I/O instructions normallystored in system ROM. By runningthese routines in RAM, instructionscan be executed at the micro-processor's fastest speed.

However, this R^-^M is best used forextended memory needs like diskcaching, RAM disk, and spoolers.When Shadow RAM eats up thisspace, you can experience softwarecompatibility and operating problems.YouH never experience shortcut-related problems with a Northgatesystem. Call toll-free 800-548-1993.

210 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

NorthgateBringsItAllTogetherAndPuts R)wer For Tne 90's In Your Hands!

7\ Torthgate exemplifies power!

/ ^ IBM! Compaq! DeU! All theX others! The unquestioned industryleader is Northgate! Why? Only Northgatesolves the puzzle! Nowhere else can you getthe blistering combination of triple cachingpower... industry's fastest components andperipherals... performance boosting soft-ware ... power services and technicalsupport... all for incredible factory-direct prices!

Tri-Caching technology

breaks performance barriers!

Caching guarantees power computinginto the 90's! Northgate uses three Vfpcs ofcaching technology to extend total systemperformance. Each svstem has a minimumof 64K SRAM memory cache, 32K-64Kcache hard disk controllers and cachingsoftware-all for enhanced performanceand speed.

instead of the disk. Resuk.' Accelerated I/Otransactions!

Caching Software! Nonhgate uses diskcaching software for enhanced performance.Here's how k works. During a session thesoftware "learns" to anticipate what datayoull need next and brings it into the cachefor quick retrieval.

Industry's most powerfulcomponents and peripherals!

System speed is not based on the CPUalone. Hard drives, floppy drives, videocards and other peripherals all play a part inenhancing overall performance. One slowelement slows the whole system down.Northgate solves this problem by using thelatest in AT interface technology tomaximize system performance.

Hard disks made just for Northgate

customers-fastest in theworld! For Northgate (andyou!) only the fastest harddrives will do. Ourcomplete selection of harddrives—featuring ourexclusive Maxtor200Mb-use ATtechnologv' wkh diskcaching controllers for fast,efficient throughput.

THE ANATOMY OfTR! CACHING

SRAM Memory Cache! Nonhgate useshigh-speed 64K-256K static SRAM cache tobuffer frequently requested data from slow'ermemory storage areas. RAM cache reducesthe main processor's idle time (wait stage)while data is transferred to and from mainmemory. Our external 486 SRAM cacheoperates in true burst mode for33Mb/second execution of instructions.Boosts the hit rate for data finding to 99%!

Hard Disk Caching Controllers! Diskcaching improves performance by relievingthe bottle neck caused by hard drives.When reading and writing to hard disk, theinformation passes through a RAM cachebuffer. This buffer retains data after k hasbeen sent to its destination. If the same datais needed again, k is drawn from the cache

Fastest videocombinations on themarket—screens appear almost beforeyou release "Enter"! Nonhgate's 16-bitSuper VGA lets you zip through desktoppublishing, windowing and other bit-mappedgraphics operations. Select from our broadrange of hi^ performance monkors andvideo cards to meet the most demandingdesign and engineering applications!

Now... performancesoftware unleashes thepower of your Northgate!

To make the most of our awesome power,we're including FREE performance softwarewith our Elegance™ 386™ and 486™ PowerUser's systems. This S1139.00 suggestedretail value includes Microsoft® Windows™3.0, Samna® Ami™Professional word

processing and Informix® Wingz™ graphicsspreadsheet.

Microsoft® Windows™3.0!

You've heard about

the point-and-clickease of Applecomputing. NowWindows brings kto the DOS worid!Windows speeds through e\ en the mostdemandmg32-bk software... makesprogram operation and multi-taskinga breeze!

AmiPro™—word processingand desktop publishingin one!

^ You getsophisticatedword processingfeatures including130,000 word

spell check, dictionar\', thesaurus, searchand replace, editable page views, mukiplefonts, integrated graphics and more! Andyou get the look and feel of expensivedesktop publishing packages!

Wingz™—powerftil graphicsspreadsheet and databaseprogram!

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SYSTEMS

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

Circle 259 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 211

New Northgate Elegance 486i™ System...

"Editors' Choice'' said PCMa^azmf

(Adding: "Northgate stops at nothing to please itscustomers...97"^" would buy againf")

InfoWorldhbs scoredit 9.1-top rating everr

Incredible power and unmatchedperformance at a price you'dexpect to pay for a 386™!

00

5895

Delivered to Your Home or Office

XT Thether 80286,386 or|/|/ 486 technology, Northgatef f consistently brings you top ratedsystems. Our value and performance isunexcelled when you look at the experts'opinions. Northgate is a company inwhich you can place your trust—perhapsour most important advantage!

In January, 1988, Northgate won itsfirst Editors' Choice for the 286/12SuperMicro. Northgate leadershipprevailed again when PC Magazinebenched 386 systems. One couldn't dobetter. Three Editors' Choice — one foreach speed in our Elegance line of 20, 25and 33MHz systems. Northgate is theonly company who can make this claim!

PC Magazine then called for 486ISA systems for review. Result:there was no question about it. 'Onlyone machine stands out," they said,"you could pay less for a 486 system,but not get the bonuses that are offeredwith the Elegance."

Along the way, we added another Editors'Choice of our OmniKef keyboard.There you have it...

A record five Editors' ChoiceAwards in one year's time!

About the same time, the toughtesters at Inpmorldwere thoroughly andmethodically examining Elegance 486i.They reported you could buy the nexthighest ranked system (scoring 8.2 vs.our 9.1) but you'd also pay threetimes as muchit

InfoWorld's editors concluded thatNonhgate's 486i 'leads the pack by acomfortable margin. It offers impressiveperformance, exceptional expandabilityand it is tops in support and value.''^

A subsequent issue of InfoWorldGuly30,1990) showed Elegance486i leading the pack again as anenvork file server andstand-alone system as well.

And, as if we had planned it,

PC Magazine came along with itsService and Reliability issue inwhich Nonhgate's dedication to

customer support was well evidenced.'As we learned more about its sen'icepolicies, it became clear that Northgatestops at nothing to please its customers."No wonder "Northgate was thehands-down winner when it came tocustomer loyaln.^""

That's the story. Designed and built toperform. Proven by the industry's mostdemanding testing. Fairly priced. Andbacked by people with a passion to serveyou with a support policy that inspiredone magazine columnistto say:

"What WordPerfect is tosofnvare support, Northgate isto hardware and there are even afew things that WordPerfectcould learn from the folks inMinneapolis. Northgate is fastbecoming the Nordstrom of thecomputer worid."tt

212 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Complete with the Spectecular200MB Maxtor"Power Max" Super-fast hard drive! (Maximizedperformance exclusively for North^te and you!)

rhe secret to Northgate'sstate-of-the-art power! The486 processor combines thecapabilities of an enhanced 386, anadvanced internal cache controller and8K of supporting static cache memory.The chip also incorporates an enhanced387 FPU (Floating Point Unit). You getincreased performance for the mostdemanding math-based applications.

Northgate caching enhancementsgive you greater speed! We've addeda 64K read write-back SRAM cache(expandable to a Northgate exclusive

256K) to further accelerate the executionof instructions. I/O transactions arefaster than ever thanks to a 32K harddrive cache controller. Finally, we armedElegance 486/25 with Smartdrive DOSdisk caching software. Result.'' Processingspeed you must see to believe!

Elegance 486i ISA is the perfect

high performance graphics/sofnvareworkstation or network server. Its multi-stage caching is an excellent match fortough number-crunching operations.

Look at everything you get! Elegance486i comes with 4Mb of RAM, a

Elegance 486i ISA System Features

25MHz Intel® 80486 processor4Mb of 32-bit RAM (expandable to8Mb on motherboard; total systemRAM of 16Mb with optional 32-bitmemory card)

Proprietary, U.S.-made motherboard

200Mb Maxtor hard drive with 15msaccess; 16-bit controller with 1:1interleave; 32K disk read-look-aheadcache buffer

64K SRAM memory cache;read/write-back cachingHigh density 1.2Mb 5.25" and 1.44Mb3.5" floppy drives; also read/write lowdensity disks

Eight expansion slots; one 32-bit slot;six 16-bit and one 8-bit slotWeitek math coprocessor supportOne parallel and two serial portsHigh-resolution monochrome monitorClock/calendar chip rated at 5 years

♦ 200 watt power supply (220 wattpower supply in tower case)

♦ Desktop case with room for 3 exposedand 2 internal half-height devices

♦ Front mounted reset and high/lowspeed controls

♦ Exclusive Northgate OmniKeylULTRA keyboard

♦ MS-DOS 4.01 and GW-BASICsoftware installed

♦ On-line Users Guide to the svstemand MS-DOS 4.01

♦ QA Plus Diagnostic and Utilitysoftware

♦ Microsoft Windows 3.0 and mouse

♦ 1 year warranty on system parts andlabor; 5 years on keyboard

♦ Unlimited 24-hour toll-free technicalsupport

♦ Free on-site service for one year

♦ FCC Class B Certified

Select the options you need...

let Northgate custom build them into your system today!

♦ Hard drives up to 1.2 Gigabytes ♦ Laser quality and dot matrix

♦ Tape back up devices printers

♦ Floppy, CD ROM and optical drives ♦ SVGA color monitors and cards

♦ Modems * Weitek coprocessors

200Mb Maxtor hard disk with 15msaccess, 1.2Mb 5.25" and 1.44Mb 3.5"floppies, desktop case, 14" monochromemonitor, exclusive OmniKey keyboardand Microsoft® Windo\^^™ 3.0.

Or select our Power System withseven bay tower case, 14" SVGA colormonitor with 1024 x 768 resolution, 16-bitSVGA adapter with 512K video memory,and 220 watt power supply. PLUS!Microsoft Windows 3.0, Samna* Ami™Professional word processing softwareand Wingz™ graphics spreadsheetand database software. A S1139.00value software is vours at NOEXTRA CHARGE!

Support power! Your Elegance 486iISA is backed by expert toll-freetechnical support 24 hours a day, sevendays a week. PLUS, free on-site nextday sen'ice to most locations if we can'tsolve your problems over the phoneAND a 1 year parts and labor warranty(5 years on OmniKey keyboard).

Use Elegance 486i ISA RISKFREE for 30 days! If it fails to meetyour expectations, return it for a fullrefund ... no questions asked!

ORDER TODAY! Call toll-free24 hours everv' day.

Complete Elegance 486i System

$1

ONLY =5895"

Power User's System Just ^6495""

Delivei^ to your home or office

EASY FINANCING: Easy payment options. Useyour Northgate Big "N", \"ISA. MasterCard ... or leaseit. Up to five-year terms available.

CALLTOLL-FREE24HOURS EVERYDAY

»54^1993

Fax your order. (612) 943-8338

Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate has

TDD capabilit\-. Dial 800-535-0602.

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

<£Cop\Tigiit Northgate Computer S>-stems, Inc. 1990. All rights rcsened. Northgate, Obiji/A>k and the Nonhgatc'N" logo are registered [fademarks of Northgate Computet Systems. 80j86and80486atc[fadcmatksof Intel..\ll other products and brand namesare trademarks and registered trademarks of theii respectii-c companies. Prices ind specifications subject to change without notice. Northgate reserv es the right to substitute components of equal or greater quality or performance. All items subject (o availability.We support the ethical use of software, lb report software copyright violations, tall the Software Publishers Associations Anii-Pirac^- Hotline at 1-800-388-PIR8.'PCMagasiiu. September 11.1990 ''PC Magaiiiu. September 25.1990Vnfalibrki, July 30. 1990 V^Con^uKr Carrrna. .August. 1990

Circle 260 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 213

Northgate Elegance 386733 System...

"...combines top performance, goodcomponents and aggressive pricing...excellent performer all around."

PCMagazineOctober 31,1989

/I ward winning 386/1 performance! SizzlingIX. Northgate Elegance 386/33and 386/25 systems both wonPC Magazine Editor's Choice awards,been rated #1 and #2 products(respectively) in InfoWorld ANDreceived ComputerShopper^^esx. Buy"recognitions. No other company canmake that claim! Here's how we did it!

Elegance 386's high performancemotherboard is designed andmanufactured by Northgate. With a16Mb 32-bit DRAM capacity, it'sconsistently rated in the top 1% ofperformance — at 25 and 33MHz,Elegance 386 is the fastest in its class!

Tri-caching started here! Elegancewas Northgate's first triple caching

machine. It comes with 64K readwrite-back SRAM cache to acceleratethe execution of instructions. And, asyour needs increase you can expandElegance's SRAM to a Northgateexclusive 256K! A 32K hard drivecache controller accelerates I/Otransactions while Smartdrive DOSdisk caching software increases overallsystem throughput.

214 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Zip through demandingprograms. Multi-stagecaching easily handles even aheavy overhead of video programs,I/O intensive tasks, network servers,large data bases and advanceddesktop publishing programs.

Desktop or tower. . .your choice!

Elegance 386 comes standard inour elegant five bay desktopcase. Our popular seven baytower case is also available.Either way, you get plenty ofroom for all kinds of I/Oboards, and internal/externalperipherals.

Start with our basesystem! Northgate's basesystem includes 1Mb ofRAM, a 40Mb fast accesshard drive, 1.2Mb 5.25"and 1.44Mb3.5"floppy drives, a 14"high resolutionmonochrome monitor and ourexclusive OmtiiKey^I PLUS keyboard.

Tell us what you need. . .we'llbuild your system! Performanceoptions include: hard drive optionsup to 1.2 gigabytes with 15 msaccess; VGA and SVGA color cardsand monitors; Intel and Weitek mathcoprocessors; CD ROM and opticaldrives; tape backups; printers and ahost of others!

Or select our PowerSystem with 4Mb of RAM, a200Mb Maxtor hard drive with15ms access, 1.2Mb 5.25"and 1.44Mb 3.5"floppies, a14" Super VGA color monitorand an OmniKey keyboard.Comes complete withMicrosoft® Windows™3.0, Samna®Ami™ Professionalword processing software,Wingz™ graphics spreadsheetand database software and a mouse.This $1139.00 suggested retailvalue software is vours at NOEXTRA CHARGE!

I Elegance 386 Base System Features:

• 25 or 33MHz InteP 80386DXprocessor

• 1Mb of 32-bit RAM (expandable to8Mb on motherboard; total s\'stemRAM of 16Mb with optional 32-bitmemory card)

• Proprietary, U.S.-made motherboard

• 40Mb fast access hard drive; 16-bitcontroller with 1:1 interleave; 3 2Kdisk read-look-ahead cache bulfer

• 64K SRAM memory cache; read/wTite-back caching

• High density 1.2Mb 5.25"and1.44Mb 3.5"floppy drives; alsoread/write low density disks

• Eight expansion slots; one 32-bit slot;six 16-bit and one 8-bit slot

• Weitek math coprocessor support

• One parallel and two serial ports

• Hercules compatible video adapter

• Clock/calendar chip rated at 5 years

• 200 watt power supply (220 wattpower supply in tower case)

• Optional seven bay upright Towercase; room for three exposed and fourinternal half-height dwices or desktopcase with room for three exposed and2 internal half-height devices

• Front mounted reset and high/lowspeed controls

• Exclusive NorthgateOmniKey IWHLK keyboard

• 14" high resolution monochromemonitor

• MS-DOS 4.01 and GW-BASIC

software installed

• On-line User's Guide to the systemand MS-DOS 4.01

• QA Plus Diagnostic and Utilitysoftware

• 1 year warranty on system parts andlabor; 5 years on l?eyboard

• FCC Class B Certified

Industry's finest 24-hour toll-free technical support! YourElegance 386 is backed by experttechnical support any time you needit. Call toll-free, 7 days a week,24 hours a day. PLUS, free on-sitenext day service to most locations ifwe can't solve your problems overthe phone.

Elegance 386 is backed by a one yearwarranty on parts and labor; fiveyears on the OmniKey keyboard. If apart fails, well ship a replacement toyou overnight at our expense —before you return your part!

Use Elegance 386 25 or 33MHzRISK FREE for 30 days! If it failsto meet your expectations, return it.No questions asked.

ORDER TODAY! Call toll-free24 hours every day.

25MHz Base System Model

$299900

Power User'sSystemS4699'«'

33MHz Base System Model

$349900

Power User's System S5199'"'Delivered to your home or office

EASYFINANCESIG: Easypayment options. Use your NorthgateBig'NT, VISA, MasterCard.. .or leaseit. Up to five-year terms available.

CALL TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS E\ W DAY

800-548-1993

Fax your order. (612) 943-8338

Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate has

TDD capability. Dial 800-535-0602.

NORTHGATECOMPUTERSYSTEMS

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

©Copj-right Northgate Computer S%-stems, Inc. 1990. rights reserved. Northgate, OimiKey zwA the Northgate "N'" logo arc cc^stercd trademarksof Northgate Computer Systems. 80386 and 80486 are trademarks of Intel.

.Ml other products and brand names arc trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. Northgate rcscr\-cs the ci^t to substitute components of equal or greater quality operformance. items subject to a\-ailabilit>'. We support the ethical use of software. To report software copyright violations, call the Software Publishers .Association's .\nti-Piracy Hotline at 1-800-388-PIR8.

Circle 261 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 215

T~^irst time ever! Now you

ri can have Northgate Elegance'X power, speed and performancein our popular space-savingSlimLine case! Elegance 386computers shocked the industrywith a #1 and #2 sweep oi InfoworlcTs1989 best product awards; ANDthree Editors' Choice awards fromPCMagazine.

Cache! Cache! Cache! Like ourpowerful Elegance systems,SlimLine 386 features 64K SRAMcache to zip through the executionof instructions. For even fasterspeed, we've added a hard drive

cache to make quick work of I/Otransactions. To top it off, SlimLine386 comes with SmartdriveDOS disk caching software thatanticipates the information you'llneed next and brings it into thecache for fast access.

Better features across theboard! SlimLines motherboardis highly integrated, allowingmaximum system features in thesmallest possible space. It includesspace for up to 8Mb of 32-bitRAM, one parallel and two serialports, fully integrated floppy diskcontroller and IDE hard drive

controller. Plus an integratedSVGA with 512K Video RAM tospeed up bus throughput —makes the system faster andmore reliable! And there is stillroom for expansion with fiveopen slots.

Three speeds! SlimLine 386comes with your choice of 386DX25 or 33MHz processors. Forfaster math-based applications —budgets, forecasts, spreadsheetsand databases — all models feature80387 coprocessor support toallow you to easily add floatingpoint unit (FPU) performance.

216 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

33 Cache Systems!

M 11 purpose systems!/ 1 SlimLine Cache is theJ. A perfect net\vork workstationor stand-alone unit for businessand home use. It provides excellentsupport for advanced desktoppublishing and graphics.

Base system includes 1Mb of

RAM (expandable to 8Mb on themotherboard), a 40Mb fast accesshard drive, 1.2Mb 5.25" and1.44 3.5" floppy drives, a 12" VGAmonochrome monitor and ourexclusive OmniKey®I PLUSkeyboard.

You name it, we'll build it!

Performance options include harddrives up to our super-fast 15ms200Mb Maxtor hard drive, monitorsand video display cards, mathcoprocessors, tape backups, printersand a host of other choices.

Or select our Power System

with 4Mb of RAM, a 200Mb fastaccess hard drive, 1.2Mb 5.25"and 1.44Mb 3.5"floppies, a 14"Super VGA color monitor andan OmniKey keyboard. Comescomplete with Microsoft® Windows™3.0, Samna® Ami™ Professionalword processing software, Informix®Wingz™ graphics spreadsheet anddatabase software and a mouse tomaximize system performance.This $1139.00 suggested retailvalue software is yours at NOEXTRA CHARGE!

Industry's finest 24-hour toll-free technical support! YourSlimLine 386 Cache is backed byexpert technical support any timeyou need it. Call toll-free, 7 days

a week, 24 hours a day. PLUS,free on-site next day serviceto most locations if we cant solveyour problems over the phone.

Slimline 386 BaseSystem Features:

• 25or33MHzInteP80386DXprocessor

• lMbof32-bitDRAM(expandableto8Mb on motherboard)

• Down-scaled, proprietary', U.S.-mademotherboard

• 40Mb fast access hard drive; AT businterface; 1:1 interleave; 32K or 64Klook ahead disk caching

• 64KSRAM memory cache; read/write-back caching

• Hi_gh density 1.2Mb 5.25"and 1.44Mb3.5"floppy drives; also read/write lowdensity disks

• Five open expansion slots; three fulllength 16-bit and 2 half length 8-bit

• 25or33MHz80387orWeitekcoprocessor support

• One parallel and two serial ports

• Built-in 16-bit SVGA with up to 1024 x768 resolution; 512K video memory

• Clock/ calendar chip rated at 5 years

• 100 watt power supply

• Small footprint SlimLine case withroom for two exposed and 1 internalhalf-height devices

• Front mounted reset and high / low-speed controls

• Exclusive Northgate OmniKey I PLUSkeyboard

• 12" VGA monochrome monitor

• MS-DOS 4.01 andGW-BASICsoftware installed

• On-line User's Guide to the svstemand MS-DOS 4.01

• QA Plus diagnostic and utility software

• Smartdrive caching software

• 1 year warranty on system parts andlabor; 5 years on keyboard

• FCC Class B Certified

More great support! Your newSlimLine 386 Cache comes with aone year warranty on parts andlabor; five years on the OmniKeykeyboard. If a part fails, we'll ship areplacement to you overnight atour expense — before you returnyour part!

Use SlimLine 386 Cache RISKFREE for 30 days! If it fails tomeet your expectations, return it.No questions asked!

ORDER TODAY! Call toll-free24 hours every day.

25MHz Base System Model

$299900

Power User's System S4499»«33MHz Base System Model

$349900

Power User's System H999'«Delivered to your home or office

EASY FINANCING: Easy payment options.Use your Northgate Big X VIS.A. MasterCard...or lease it. Up to five-year terms available.

CALLTOLL-FREE 24 HOURS EVERYDAY

800-548-1993

Fax your order. (612) 943-8338

Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate hasTDD capability. Dial 800-535-0602.

NORTHGATECOMPUTERSYSTEMS

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

©Copyright Notthgiic Computer S>-sicms. Inc. 1990. .^1! rights reserved. Northgate. Orwr/A/i. antJ the Northgate'V logo are registered trademarlcs of Northgate Computer S^tcms, 80386 and 80486 arc ttademarks of Intel.

.another products and brand names are trademarlcs and tegisieted ttademarks of their respective companies. Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. Northgate reserves the right to substitute components of equal or greater qualitv-operformance. Alt items subject to availability. We support the ethical use of software. To report softu.afc copyright violations, call the Softvsare Publishers Associations .Ami-Piracy Hotline at 1-80O-388-PIR8.

Circle 262 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 217

New From Northgate...20 MHz Rjwered Up

yes, we're a bit late to the partywith SX systems. How come?We just couldn't bring ourselvesto market another ho-hum SX.

So we put our research anddevelopment team on it. Boy,did they rise to the challenge! Nowyou can get an SX 16 or 20 MHzmachine with the power to runMicrosoft® Windows™ and other 32-bitsoftware at flashing cache-enhancedspeeds. And, they packaged all thispower and performance into our

exclusive space-saving case—afavorite of Northgate customers!

The secret to SlimLine'sspace-saving design? A fullyintegrated motherboard designed andmanufactured by Northgate! Thisdesign reduces bus load — makesthe system faster and more reliable!

Motherboard features include abuilt-in VGA adapter (with 512KVideo RAM), parallel and two serialports, fully integrated floppy disk

controller and IDE hard drivecontroller. Motherboard integrationalso makes it easier to install modemsor add-in cards.

Triple cache boosts performanceto zero wait state! You get abuilt-in 64K memory SRAM cacheto accelerate the execution ofinstructions; hard drive cachingaccelerates I/O transactions;and disk caching soft\vare speedsthe movement of data to and fromthe CPU.

218 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Slimline 386SX 16 OrWith 64K Cache!

^^limLine 386SX is perfect for^ office environments and liomeuse. It liandies word processing,spreadsiieet, database management andmost grapiiics applications witii ease.

Slimline 386SX base systemincludes 1Mb of RAM (expandableto 8Mb) on the motherboard,a 40Mb fast access hard drive, 1.2Mb5.25" and 1.44Mb 3.5"floppydrives, and a 12" VGA monochromemonitor. Plus, you get Northgate'saward-winning OmniKey'^l 102keyboard.

Or, we'll build your system toyour specs! There's room for threehalf-height devices including floppydrives, hard disk or tape backup.Choose from 80, 100, or our 200Mbhard drive with 15ms access. And,you still have five open expansionslots (3 full-length 16-bit, and2 half-length 8-bit) for all of yourperipherals.

Exceptional support! SlimLine386SX is backed by expert technicalsupport any time you need it. Calltoll-free, 7 days a week, 24 hours

Slimline 386SX System Features:

■ Clock/calendar chip rated at 5 years

16 or 20MHz Intel® 80386SXprocessor

1Mb of 32-bit DRAM (expandable to8Mb on motherboard)

Down-scaled, proprietary, U.S.-mademotherboard

40Mb hard drive; AT bus interface;1:1 interleave; DisCache: 64K lookahead disk caching; 19ms access

64K SRAM memon' cache;read/write-back caching

High density' 1.2Mb 5.25" and 1.44Mb3.5" floppy drives; also read/write lowdensity disks

Five open expansion slots; three fulllength 16-bit and nvo half length 8-bit

16 or 20MHz 80387SX or Weitekcoprocessor support

One parallel and two serial ports

Built-in 16-bit SVGA widi up to 1024 x768 resolution; 512K video memory

100 watt power supply

Small footprint SlimLine case withroom for x\\o exposed and one internalhalf-height devices

Front mounted system reset andhigh/low speed controls

Exclusive Northgate OmniKeyl102 ke\'board

12" VGA monochrome monitor

MS-DOS 4.01 and GW-MSICsoftware installed

On-line User's Guide to the svstem andMS-DOS 4.01

QA Plus diagnostic and utilitysoftware

Smartdrive disk caching software

1 year warranty on system parts andlabor; 5 years on keyboard

FCC Class B Pending

a day. PLUS, free on-site next dayservice to most locations if wecan't solve your problems over thephone. Of course, you get a one yearwarranty on parts and labor; five yearson the OmniKey keyboard. If a partfails, we'll ship a replacement to youovernight at our expense before youreturn your part.

Use a SlimLine 386SX RISKFREE for 30 days! If it fails to meetyour expectations, return it!

Order Today! Call toll-free

24 hours every day. Ask about custom

configurations, leasing and financing

programs.

16 MHzBaseSystemModel

20 MHzBaseSystemModel

1999

2199

GO

00

Delivered to your home or office.

Call for other configurations and pricing.

EASY FIN.\NCING: Easy payment options.Use your Northgate Big'N', VISA, MasterCard ...or lease it. Up to five-year terms available.

CALL TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS EVERY DAY

800-548-1993

Fax your order. (612) 943-8338

Notice to the Hearing Impaired; Northgate has

TDD capability-. Dial 800-535-0602.

N0R7WATECOMPUTERSYSTEMS

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

©Copyright Northgate Computer S«teir.s, Inc. 1990. All rights reser%-e<i. Northgate, OmniKey and the Northgate "N" logo are registered trademarks of Northgate Computer S«iems. 80586 and 80486 are trademarks of Intel. All other ptoduas and brand namesare trademarks and registered trademarks of their respcai\-e companies. Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. Northgate reserves the tight to substitute componcnis of equal or greater quality or performance. All items subject to availability.We support the ethical use of software. To report software copyright violations, call the Software Publishers .Associations .\rti-Piracy Hotline at 1-800-388-PIR8.

Circle 263 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 219

Order ¥)urNorthgate Computer Today,

Make No Payments For 90 days!

Just say "charge it"toyourBigNcredit card!

Get your new Northgate withoutspending a penny this year!

Simply fill in the Big ISP informationform and send it to Northgate. You'llget prompt attention! Once you'reapproved, call our systems consultants,toll-free, to select the Northgateconfiguration that perfectly matchesyour needs!

You'll free your other credit cards!

Big 'N lets you easily increase yourcredit power. Best of all, you'll makeno payments for your new computerfor 90 days after shipment! But, don'tdelay, computers must be orderedby December 31, 1990 to qualifs' fordeferred billing!

Northgate leases systems too!

Choose from flexible terms up to fiveyears in length. It's never been easierto get Northgate computer systemsthan it is now!

Gall Northgate Now!

800-548-1993

HOURS: Monday - Friday 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. CST

JB^ ii NORTHGATE /»-^i^.gf= COMPUTER -Uk^i^f^'if SYSTEMS 1^'^'

IVlh Flying Qoud Drive, Eden Prairie. MN 55344

OPEN YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT BY FILLING OUT THE APPLICATION BELOW.

Please complete all appropriate sections, providing at least two years residence and employnient history. If you are self-employed, please besure to complete section d. THIS IS NOT A CREDIT AGREEMENT! One will be sent to you upon authorization of an account. (This FormMust Be Signed To Process Your Order.l All Financed Purchases Are Subject To Credit Approval. If You Have Any Credit Questions, PleaseCall For Assistance. Thank You!

A married person may apply for individual credit. I am applying for Icheck one box, pleasel:

□ JOINT CREDIT with another person. Complete entire application.

□ INDIVIDUAL CREDIT complete only individual section.

□ INDIVIDUAL CREDIT but rely on income of another. Complete entire application.

*lf you are a married Wisconsin applicant, you must provide your spouse's information as indicated, eventhough your spouse may not be signing the contract.

NOTICE TOWISCOKSIII APPLICAKTS

You must disclose your maritalstatus:

□ married

□ unmarried

□ iegallY separated

9. Persona] Information

NAME

SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.

PRESENT ADDRESS

DATE OF RESIDENCE MO.

PREVIOUS ADDRESS

EMPLOYER

_YR.

CITY _

.BUYO RENTD OTHER □ .

_HOME PHONE (

_DATE OF BIRTH ST.

.ZIP.

DATE OF EMPLOYMENT MO.

.YR.

MONTHLY GROSS SALARY $PREVIOUS EMPLOYER

.BUSINESS PHONE (_

DATES OF EMPLOYMENT.

.TO.

Income from alimony, child support or separate maintenance payments need not be disclosed if you do not wish to have it considered asbasis for repaying the obligation.

ADDITIONAL MONTHLY INCOME $ SOURCE

b. Q-edit Inforraation

PLEASE TELL US IF YOU HAVE:

BANK LOAN (Y/N|

MASTERCARD (YINl

CHECKING ACCOUNT (Y/N).

_ HOW MANY?

.HOW MANY?

.SAVINGS ACCOUNT (Y/N).

VISA (YINl.

.HOW MANY?.

FINANCE COMPANY LOAN (YINl.

DEPT STORE CHARGE CARD (Y/N)

OTHER MAJOR CHARGE CARDS (Y/N).

.HOW MANY?.

CREDIT UNION ACCOUNT (YIN).

.HOW MANY?

HOW MANY?.

.HOW MANY?.

c. Joint Applicant's Personal Information

JOINT APPUCANT'S NAME .SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.ADDRESS

.CITY.

_HOME PHONE (__OATE OF BIRTH

ST

.ZIP.

DATE OF RESIDENCE MO

JOINT APPLICANT'S EMPLOYER .MONTHLY GROSS SALARY $ _

.YR.

, DATE OF EMPLOYMENT MO.

.YR.

.BUSINESS PHONE (_

NAME AND ADDRESS OF NEAREST RELATIVE NOT LIVING WITH YOU .

.RELATIONSHIP

d. Self-Employment Irtformation

BUSINESS NAME

TYPE OF BUSINESS □ Proprietorship □ Partnership □ Corporation

YOUR ANNUAL INCOME FROM BUSINESS Gross $

PERSONAL BANKER'S NAME

.BUSINESS PHONE t

IN BUSINESS SINCE. Net$

.BANKER'S PHONE(

e. Customer .A.uthorization

I authorize Northgate Computer Systems or its assignees to investigate credit records and to report my performance hereunder to creditagencies. I hereby certify that the following information is furnished to you for the purpose of obtaining credit and is true and correct ofthe best of my knowledge and belief. There are costs associated with the use of this credit card. To obtain more information about thesecosts, call us at 1-800-54B 1993 or write to P.O. Box 59080, Minneapolis, MN 55459-0080.

NY-A consumer credit report may be requested in connection with this application or in connection with updates, renewals or extensionsof any credit granted as a result of this application. If I subsequently ask for this information, I will be informed whether or not such areport was requested and, if so, the name and address of the agency that furnished the report.

OH-THE OHIO LAWS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION REQUIRE THAT ALL CREDITORS MAKE CREDIT EQUALLY AVAILABLE TO ALL CREDIT-WORTHY CUSTOMERS AND THAT CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES MAINTAIN SEPARATE CREDIT HISTORIES ON EACH INDIVIDUALUPON REQUEST THE OHIO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION ADMINISTERS CDMPUANCE WITH THIS LAW.

APPUCANT'S SIGNATURE.

JOINT APPUCANT'S SIGNATURE .

.DATE..DATE.

FDR MARRIED WISCONSIN APPLICANTS:

I acknowledge that the obligation described herein is being incurred In the interest of my marriage or family.

BUYER'S SIGNATURE

.DATE.

* \o\i muse request deferred billing when ordering. Payments will be deferred for three billing c\-cles after shipment.

Interest will accrue during the deferred period at a rate of 1.5% per month (18% APR).

This is not an application. A completed application and agreement must be on file prior to approval for credit.

220 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 264 on Reader Service Card

A P P L I C A T

Stanford Diehl

REVIEW

Windows Takes On WingZ

If there is a medium for gauging thegraphical prowess of Windows 3.0,WingZ is it. One look at WingZ on theMacintosh proves just how graphical aspreadsheet can be. But can it do thesame tricks on top of DOS? And, moreimportant, is all this graphical wizardrymore than an aesthetic diversion? Name-ly, will it make your spreadsheet choreseasier or more effective?

The WingZ for Windows 3.0 comesbundled with an OS/2 version (the com-plete package is called WingZ PC).

WingZ PCCompany

Informix Software, Inc.16011 College Blvd.Lenexa, KS66219(913) 492-9922

Hardware Needed

2 MB of RAM (3 MB recommended); 2MB of hard disk space; VGA, EGA, or8514/A monitor

Software Needed

Microsoft Windows 3.0

Price

$499

Inquiry 1226.

When I began working with WingZ forWindows, I was immediately struck byits versatility and ease of use. Presenta-tion features approach desktop publish-ing capabilities, and making graphs isdownright fun. WingZ fits effortlesslyinto the Windows 3.0 enviroimient, in-cluding support of Dynamic Data Ex-change links and importing graphicsmetafiles. In the constrained arena ofspreadsheets, WingZ apparently can leapthrough hoops of fire.

Once I got down to work, though,some annoying limitations sprouted up.WingZ spreadsheets are as big as youwant them to be. You'd use up memorybefore you could use up those billion orso cells. You would think, given this po-tential mass of data, that you could easilychange defaults and reformat an entiresheet. Not so. I selected an entire sheetby clicking on a box in the corner of thesheet. Easy enough. But when I madeformat changes with the whole sheetspecified, WingZ balked. The changeswould affect any data already entered inthe sheet, but newly entered data wouldrevert to the default format. You have tohighlight a range and change formatsmanually each time (or write a macro todo it for you).

Taking Inventory

As a model, I set up three monthly inven-tory worksheets and a quarterly summa-

ry. The summary sheet used results fromthe three monthly sheets. I've found thistype of operation easier to perform on atrue three-dimensional spreadsheet suchas Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0. With true 3-D, all the sheets are combined into onestructure resembling a cube. You can then"cut through" the cube to total the threemonthly sheets. WingZ, on the otherhand, uses external references to link thesheets. To reference a cell in an externalsheet, you specify the filename and thecell reference (external.ref: al).

WingZ linking facilities are disap-pointing for such a full-featured prod-uct. First, there is no way to use themouse to specify links. Other linkingspreadsheets, such as Quattro Pro andthe inexpensive Lucid 3-D, let you pullup the external sheet and click on the cellyou want to reference. WingZ forces youto manually enter the filename (includ-ing extension) as well as the cell refer-ence. This can get tiring when you needto reference a lot of external sheets.

There are a couple more troublesomelimitations when you link sheets. Youcan't, for instance, link to a sheet ondisk. All referenced sheets must be open.And WingZ does not automatically up-date the references. To negotiate the re-calc benchmark for the linked Savageworksheets, I had to write a script thatcalled each sheet and recalculated themone at a time.

Sometimes WingZ seemed surprising-ly intuitive; other times, not at all. WhenI typed in "Feb 90," it understood that asa date and put the data in the default dateformat. Pretty smart. But when I addedtwo cells together, both of them for-matted as currency, it did not format theresult as currency. Sometimes it evenseemed to outsmart itself. When I addeda blank column into the worksheet,WingA adjusted my external cell refer-ences. I then had to go back and changethem so that they referred to the cells inmy external sheets—cells that, of course,did not change location.

The Graphical Advantage

Start churning out graphs, though, andyou may just forget all about WingZ'sshortcomings. You just block off a rangeof data, click on the graph icon, andspecify the area for the graph by simpleclick and drag. WingZ generates a graphon your sheet wherever you want it.There is a full grab bag of graphs tochoose from, including scatter, contour,3-D, and wire-frame graphs, to name afew. Once your graph has been created,you can resize it, move it, or revise itfrom the Graph menu.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 221

REVIEW

Windows Takes On WingZ

DOS PRODUCTS

Mathmix

Sort

Load

Recalc

Recalc linkedor 3D

Short

Long

Savage

r 120

Optimal recalc

Excel

for Windows 2.10

□Lotus 1 -2-3release 3.0

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WingZ

for Windows

WingZ performed admirably on our standard spreadsheet benchmarks. All times are in seconds. Shorter bars indicate fasterexecution.

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REVIEW

As flexible as these graphs are, they,too, suffer from surprising limitations.You must first block off a contiguousrange of data and generate a chart beforeyou can manipulate it. If you want to adda new series outside the selected range,you must first copy an existing series,select the copy, and then specify the newseries. It would be much easier if you hadthe option to specify all your ranges upfront, before the graph is drawn. As longas your data lies in contiguous columnsor rows, you are all right, but once youstart jumping around, things getcomplicated.

In any case, the graphing functionsare flexible enough for you to come upwith just about any presentation that youcould possibly want. You can even selectdifferent objects in the graph (the legend,the title, or the actual graph itself), sepa-rate them from the graph borders, andput them anywhere you want. I drew agraph, removed the legend, and placed itto the left of the row labels. I then placedthe bars to the right of the data.

WingZ really shines when it comes tomanipulating graphical objects like this.You can easily create "buttons" by click-ing on an icon, and then attach scripts tothem for truly automated spreadsheets.You could have sales data on your sheetalong with a button that, when clickedon, would bring up another spreadsheetwith a breakdown of sales by salesper-sons. You can draw ovals, rectangles,and polygons and fill them with a rangeof patterns or attach a drop shadow tothem. Text fields are just as easy tocreate, and you can attach scroll bars tothem. WingZ also boasts tabling, ma-trix, and database operations, as well asan impressive scripting language. A fullset of functions is available, but if youcan think up any functions it doesn'thave, you can define them yourself usingthe scripting language.

In the end, WingZ is a mixed blessing.It can certainly put Windows throughits paces, and for presentation punch,WingZ can't be beaten. The Windows3.0 version is not quite as snappy as theMac version, but it performs admirablywhen compared to other DOS (and evenOS/2) products (see the figure). It falterssomewhat when it's faced with the nitty-gritty work of filling in formulas, link-ing sheets, and simple formatting. If youcan put up with a little more up-frontwork, WingZ can make your final pre-sentations soar. ■

Stanford Diehl is a BYTE Lab testingeditor/engineer and spreadsheet expert.He can be reached on BIX as "sdiehl."

224 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990 Circle 156 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 157)

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REVIEW

Mac-ish Interfaces for Unix

Those of us steeped in the Unix reli-gious experience can't understandwhy everyone doesn't use it. In con-versations with the anti-Unix crowd,they say, "It's too hard to use." Untilnow, there's been no debating that point.

It took someone else to do it, but alayer of simplicity has finally been addedto Unix. Two products, IXI's X.desktop2.0 and Visix Software's Looking Glass1.0, are jockeying for position as thestandard desktop environment manager.Both are being bundled with workstations.

These packages represent more thanjust a pair of pretty faces. Why all the ex-citement? Consider the Macintosh—itowes its success to the simplicity of its in-terface. After working with one Mac ap-plication, you learn the mouse actionsand methods that drive virtually all pro-grams for that environment.

Under the covers, however, the MacOS is teeming with complexity. It's justhidden from the disinterested, and there-in lies the key to a good operating envi-

ronment: Build in enough versatility tohandle any job that comes along, but in-clude a layer for those who "just want torun stuff." And that's just what LookingGlass and X.desktop do.

I installed the software on an ALRPowerVEISA 486/33 with 13 megabytesof memory and a 600-MB hard diskdrive. A combination of Interactive Unix2.2 and Interactive X Window 1.2formed the software base, with the dis-play served up by a combination of a Par-adise 8514/A card with memory expan-sion, a 512K-byte Orchid ProDesignerVGA, and a Seiko CM-1440 high-resolu-tion monitor.

If you're just starting out with Unix,you'll want to get experienced help insetting things up. Just getting the pack-ages installed requires knowing a littleabout Unix. Since new users are the maintarget audience, the software should havebeen easy, even effortless, to install.While it's not all that difficult, I doubtthat the average new user could handle it.

With Looking Glass, the necessary li-cense server is not started automatically.Instead, a system has to be designated asthe server and the vis program run fromthere. The documentation is lame on thispoint, and if you follow the directions forstarting the program that appear in thefront of the manual, they won't work.You'll get a message about a missing li-cense server, but no information abouthow to start it. The section on the licenseserver appears a few pages later.

Turning the Key

Running either package involves the sim-ple entry of a command, Ig or xdt. XWindow needs to be running before youenter these commands, and you can placeeither command in a user's default Xstart-up script for an automatic start.

Under X Window, windows cannot bemanipulated (i.e., resized, moved, oriconified) without a window manager.Both packages conform to the OSF/Motifuser interface specification, so the obvi-ous choice is the Motif window manager(mwm). Interactive, like many Unix ven-dors, doesn't ship this standard with itsX Window package (it is available sepa-rately). X.desktop fills this gap by pro-viding its own window manager, whichyou can enable with the -manager switchfrom the command line. Looking Glasshas no window manager, but it will add aMotif-like border to windows if you'reusing a window manager (like uwm) thatdoesn't add these adornments.

X.desktop opens one window, thedesktop, where all the initial icons sit(see photo 1). The default configurationplaces icons representing the root anduser's home directories, a supplies direc-tory, and a trash can. You can add pro-grams and files to the desktop by drag-ging them there. Files are not movedanywhere, but a file is marked as a"ghost" in its original location to indi-cate that it now lives on the desktop.

Double-clicking on any directory iconopens a new window with a view of thefiles in it. By default, files are represent-ed by icons that convey some limited in-formation. Directories are marked by fa-miliar folder icons, executable files by aconsole display, X Window executablefiles by a big X, read-only files with apair of glasses, and so on.

There are over 90 different icons, but aview of a typical directory is filled withlittle consoles (executable files) and

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 227

REVIEW

Mac-ish Interfaces for Unix

/.desktop 2.0

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stacks of paper (regular files). A screenfull of identical icons is just clutter.Thankfully, directory windows can alsobe set to display filenames. This is fastand useful. Each name has a tiny icon toits left with a symbol that clearly showswhether it is a directory, executable, orregular file.

Directory views can be sorted in anumber of ways. All X.desktop menusappear as pop-ups; you hold down mousebutton 1 in the background area of anyX.desktop window. This can be a bitconfusing—there's no clue that a menulies in wait.

Whether in an iconic or text view, filesare manipulated in the same manner. Asingle click selects a file, and a doubleclick opens (with an editor, for example)or executes it. Dragging an icon to a dif-ferent directory moves it, and draggingwhile pressing mouse button 2 copies it.Clicking on an icon's name brings up awindow that lets you change the name.

Clicking on a file and invoking theView option from the pop-up menu dis-plays that file's characteristics. If youhave the access rights, you can modify afile's permissions with a few clicks. Anannoyance is that the file type is repre-sented as a four-character jumble that al-most requires that you have a crib sheetnearby to decipher it.

The supplies directory, shown as anoffice supply cabinet, is intended to holdutilities for backups, printing, and other

low-level needs. As it is an ordinary di-rectory, any executable can be copied orlinked into the cabinet.

Looking Glass's desktop metaphor isspread across the entire screen (see photo2). It initially opens three windows: acontrol window with pull-down menusthat control Looking Glass and performother functions, a desktop window thatholds frequently used application icons,and a directory view. Unlike X.desktop,Looking Glass uses pull-down menus ex-clusively. The control window and direc-tory views have their own menu panes.

Icon actions are only slightly differentfrom X.desktop; to copy a file, you dragit with mouse button 1 and the Controlkey pressed.

Looking Glass's directory view is itsbest feature. It is a dual-paned window,with a horizontal sash separating the di-rectories from the files. The sash can bemoved to any position, changing the ratioof visible directories and files.

There are hundreds of file icons, allwell drawn and most of them explicit intheir description of the file type. Thelevel of detail is extraordinary—manyicons map to specific named files. Open-ing a directory view on /bin, for in-stance, shows unique icons for the firsttwelve files in that directory. Most com-mon (and some not so common) com-mands have icons bound to them. That isthe first feature that makes LookingGlass a more useful iconic environment:

The default icons mean something.

The directory view can also be ex-panded to a list of names, and here, too,Visix outdid itself. The narrow view sim-ply lists columns of files, similar to theoutput of Is. But selecting Wide from thepull-down menu brings up every piece ofinformation Unix knows about the file,arranged in a useful columnar report.Each column is topped by a small win-dow containing the title. The column ti-tles can be picked up and moved to otherlocations or discarded, creating a totallycustomized viewing format.

One of the informational items shownin the Wide view is something that Look-ing Glass figures out for itself—the filetype. In order to attach a descriptive iconto some files, Looking Glass tries to de-termine the file type. This can involveanything from looking up the filename ina table to opening the file and readingenough of its contents to guess the type(as the Unix file command does).

Opening a large directory for the firsttime can be slow as Looking Glass siftsthrough the files, attaching type data toeach. File types are kept in a separatedata file, .Igdb, to save the trouble of re-generating the types every time a direc-tory is opened.

Looking Glass also has a virtual desk-top window into which you can put com-monly used programs and files. The con-trol window, in addition to holding themain menu, serves another interestingpurpose. Whenever an application islaunched from within Looking Glass, itsicon and associated command appear inthe control window. Clicking on the iconthere and selecting a menu option will letyou kill the application, gracefully orforcefully. This may seem minor, but itmakes Looking Glass a nearly completeenvironment. Killing errant processes isalso one of the most confusing things fornew users to learn; this makes it a snap(or, rather, a click).

Making Them Your Own

A large part of working with any graphi-cal environment is tuning it to your ownpreferences. With Looking Glass, this issimplified somewhat by the set-it-and-forget-it approach: The window place-ments and settings you used during yourlast session are restored in later ones. Butto go deeper than mere cosmetic adjust-ments, both packages give you two op-tions: icon editing and rule files.

If you don't find an icon that expresseswhat you have in mind, you can createone. X.desktop uses the X Window pro-gram bitmap, while Looking Glass in-cludes its own. The advantage to using

228 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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REVIEW

Mac-ish Interfaces for Unix

bitmap is that files are stored in a stan-dard X Window bit-map format and canbe generated and used by other X Win-dow programs. Looking Glass stores itsbit maps in a proprietary-format file.

Looking Glass rule files add recogni-tion for file types that are unsupportedby the base software. Attributes can beattached to file types to set whether theyneed to run in a terminal emulator win-dow, whether a command can acceptmultiple filename arguments, andwhether printing applies to the file andhow it should be handled. These defini-tions are compiled for faster access. Eventhough Looking Glass can be extendedwith specialized file types, its behaviorcan't be changed. There is no way to at-tach a special meaning to mouse button3, or to change the action taken when afile is deleted.

This is where X.desktop really shines.It comes complete with a full-featuredprogramming language, which can beused to change every facet of X.desk-top's behavior. Each icon type has pro-gram code associated with it that deter-mines how mouse-clicks (includingmultiple clicks) and drags affect it, and

how it interacts with other icons.

Using the language, for example, aGateway icon could be created and at-tached to a directory. Dropping files onthat icon might copy them to another sys-tem on the network. Interaction with theuser can be arranged through utilities in-cluded with X.desktop that pop up mes-sage windows and take user input fromthe keyboard.

The language is also extended to shellscripts and to the command line throughthe tellxdt command. Any X.desktopprogramming language command can besent to xdt from the outside this way. Al-though it would take some doing, youcould create entire domains of special-ized icons that are tuned to a particularpurpose. And since the scripts are all inplain text files, they are easily exchangedbetween systems.

Telling Them Apart

In general, I am impressed with bothproducts. Looking Glass is much moreuseful out of the box. With more stan-dard icons, job control, and flexiblemethods for looking at files, it can ap-peal to both new and experienced Unix

users. It doesn't pander, but neither doesit force you to understand anything aboutUnix. Users at any level could live com-fortably under Looking Glass.

X.desktop, on the other hand, is lessimmediately useful but much moreadaptable to specific requirements. Ex-perienced users will delight in tinkeringwith its programming language, wrap-ping themselves in a custom environmentthat is uniquely their own. New users canget by, but will gain little from X.desk-top until a helpful hacker comes alongand adds some new behavior. If I were asystem administrator charged with plac-ing 20 workstations in the hands of newUnix users, I'd spend the time to writecustom X.desktop programs that wouldmake the users' lives easier and cut downon the number of problem calls.

So if you stop me on the street to tellme how Unix isn't for you, you had betterprepare yourself. With X.desktop andLooking Glass out there, you're cleanout of excuses. ■

Tom Yager is a technical editor and Unixexpert for the BYTE Lab. You can reachhim on BIX as "tyager. "

Our Hostess multiuser serial controllers are an Expand up to 16 users with the Ultra 16 high Our Ultra Cluster gives you the flexibility and

excellent choiceforuptoeight occasional users. performance intelligent serial controller. But if power for virtually limitless growth. Starting

The Hostess 550 provides buffering for even your multiuser requirements are more modest a with an Ultra 8 base board, you can expand 16

higher performance. And for truly high perfor- 16 port Hostess 550 controller makes an equally users at a time, while maintaining current levels

mance, choose the Ultra 8. intelligent choice. of performance every step of the way.

230 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

Multiply Your Choices

At Comtrol we pioneered multiusertechnology. And we know that thereare no single

solutions tomultiuser en-vironments.That'swhyweoffer morechoices than anyother company...from text to graph-ics. . .for modest users to over 64 userssupported by a single PC. And we'venotonlymultipliedyourchoices,we'vemultiplied performance, allowingyouto expand without the high cost of adding computers.

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No company offers you more perfor-mance than Comtrol. In fact, our newDT Express driver transforms our UltraSeries into the high-est performing con-trollers availabletoday. DT Express

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when graphics enter the equation, MultiVision enters thepicture. A fully functional multiuser system for up to 16 users,MultiVision speeds images to the screen at a blistering 100megabits per second. As a result, you'll experience nearinstantaneous trans-mission of yourgraphics.

With software thatenhances standardoperating systemgraphics drivers,MultiVision is

■i Performanceremains high asyou add users.

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virtually any jmonitor, keyboard, mouse or VGA controller supported by theoperating system. MultiVision can also run applications de-signed for the "X" environment. But unlike a LAN-based "X"terminal, MultiVision is a multiuser system that transfersdata up to 100 times faster. When you compare thatperformance with the cost of an "X" terminal...MultiVision's advantages really compute.

Multtpued Protection

We back our products with an uncom-promising 30-day satisfaction guarantee,a *5 year warranty, complete technicalsupport, and most importantly...a com-pany that's easy to do business with. Itall adds up to the best protection planavailable. And if you're a VAR, call usabout our Reseller Program that provides you with optionsdesigned exclusively for your needs. yr. Muinvision

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Circle 82 on Reader Service Card

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Get set for smooth sailing. BecauseMicrosoff C Professional Development Sys-tem version 6.0 is not only designed to befast and powerful, but also easy to control.

Thanks in large partto Microsoft's unique Pro-grammer's WorkBench. Itintegrates the debugger,editor and compiler, allow-ing them and all the otherpowerful programmingtools to share data.

Tools like our SourceBrowser, that taps directlyinto the project database.This feature will give youinstant access to the rela-tionships between functions, macros, typesand variables. It'll even give you a full calltree that literally draws you a map.

With our CodeView' Debugger, you'llsave a lot of time. This powerful tool not onlydebugs any size DOS* or OS/2 applicationprogram, on any286 or386'" machine, but alsolets you explore nested structures and arrays.

The Programmer's WorkBench evenhas an open architecture that is supported bymany third party tools.

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You'll find the C Advisor always onlineand ready to help. It's a hy-pertext-based referencesystem complete with sam-ple coding solutions you cancopy and paste directly intoyour program. You'll alsofind the hardcopy documen-tation offers many usefultips and techniques foradvanced C programming.

So whether you'redeveloping applications forthe MS-DOS; MicrosoftWindows™ version 3.0 or MS' OS/2 Presen-tation Manager systems, our Programmer'sWorkBench will allow you to write the fast-est code around in the shortest amount oftime possible.

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Mcrosoft.C

Professional Development Systei^

Compiler Performance

• Based pointers access far data with size andspeed of a 16-bit pointer

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• Optimization pragma lets you control whatoptimizations are in effect from within your code

• Integrated inline assembler

• Dramatically improved local code generationProgrammer's WorkBench

• New Programmer's WorkBench 1.1 is faster thanever before

• Complete integration of edit, make, debug cycle

• Source Browser gives you access to informationon all aspects of your source code

• Microsoft C Advisor provides fingertip accessto the environment, C Language, and C RuntimeLibraries

• Under OS/2, Programmer's WorkBench takesadvantage of OS/2 virtual memory, protection,multitasking, and multiple threads to provideyou the most productive development environ-ment available

CodeView version 3.1

• New version 3.1 is compatible with VCPImanagers—CodeView can take advantage ofextended memory along with VCPI applicationslike SSe-Max""

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• installing and Using; Gets you up and runningwith the professional development system

re^mvd. Microsoft, MS. MS-DOS. the Microsoft logo arid CodeView arc registered trademarks ami Windows and Making it ali make sense arc trademarks of .Microsoft Corporation. 386 is a trademark of Intel Corporation. 386-Max is a trademark ofQualitas. Inc.

i

ILDING BLOCK

The Dynamic Duo. The 4860 is an industry-first Mother-Board that packs the power of the Intel 80486 CPU with theIntel 80860 RISC processor (i486 + i860 = 4860). With it,you can build mainframe power into PC's forapplications including CAD, LAN and desktoppublishing. Equally impressive, our 4860 pumpsup performance in your UNIX workstations.

A PC Revolution. In the PC environment,the 4860 is a 486-based MotherBoard whichruns over 2 times faster than 386 computers.It s fully compatible with DOS, IBM's OS/2,Novell Netware and UNIX. What's more,Hauppauge's 4860 supports up to 64 MBytesof memory without a RAM expansion board!

RISC-YBusiness. Thanks to the 4860'ssymmetrical architecture, both the i486 andthe i860 processors can access the full range of memory I/Osystem, and the 64-bit expansion bus. The result? Unprece-dented dual processor performance.

You'll find that the i860 processor is ideal in graphics appli-cations, performing up to 25 million floating-point operationsper second. That's more than 10 times faster than the i486processor alone! There's even an optional 64-bit frame

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Technical Features: ■ 4 Megabytes of highspeed RAM expandable to 64 MBytes sharedbetween i486 and i860 processors ■ Socket foroptional 128K static RAM cache module forthe i486 • Full size PC/AT form factor ■ EightEISA I/O slots ■ 64 - bit expansion slot ■ 1 parallel," 2 serial ports.

The 4860 MotherBoard. Built with the world'shighest performing microprocessors. So you can build theworld's highest performing PC's and workstations.

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Circle ISS on Reader Service Card

HARDWARE

Alan Joch

REVIEW

New Bubble-Jet OutpacesPortable Printers

The BJ-lOe usesa nonimpactbubble-jet printmechanism thatcan produce 360-by 360-dpiresolution text andgraphics.

\

If a colleague produces an importantdocument with Canon's new BJ-lOeprinter and asks you to check the fineprint, legalese may be the furthest thingfrom his or her mind. Instead, your co-hort may be referring to the crisp, 360-dot-per-inch resolution coming from thisimpressive portable.

The BJ-lOe serves users of PCs (andMacs, through third-party vendors) whoprint more than notes to themselves oncross-country flights or while hunkeringdown in a hotel room. The $499 printercan deliver high-quality letters and re-ports that you'll feel fine about distribut-ing to your business contacts. In return,you'll pay weight and size premiums

BJ-10e

Company

Canon U.S.A., Inc.One Canon PlazaLake Success, NY 11042(516)488-6700

Hardware Needed

PC with parallel interface, or Macintoshwith optional serial-to-parallel cablinginterface

Price

$499

compared to portables like Kodak's Di-conix 150 plus. Yet neither its 4 pounds(versus Diconix's S'/o pounds) nor its\lVi - by 8'/2- by 2-inch dimensions takethe BJ-lOe out of the portable arena. Itssharp, 360-dpi quality, however, doesseparate it from the portable pack. Infact, the BJ-lOe surpasses the quality ofsome full-size, desktop ink-jet printersat four times the price.

Bubble Brigade

The "BJ" in the printer's name standsfor bubble jet, a nonimpact print mecha-nism closely related to ink-jet technol-ogy, except that air bubbles force inkfrom any of 64 nozzles. An electricalcharge produces the bubble, and the re-sulting heat dries the ink almost as it hitsthe paper. Canon claims that the inkwon't smear, but that's not entirely true.Careless fingers will cause smudges ifyou touch a fresh page. Let the ink dryfor a couple of minutes, though, and asingle pass of a highlighting pen won't doany damage. (Multiple passes will mud-dy your prose.)

To prevent ink evaporation, a smallarm caps the print head when the BJ-lOeis idle. I left the printer unused for threeweeks and then reinstated it without anydried-ink problems.

This is Canon's second bubble-jetprinter now on the market. Last year, thecompany began shipping the BJ-130e, a

desktop version capable of 132 charac-ters per second in letter-quality mode.Canon hints that more bubble-jet printersare in the offing, possibly including acolor model sometime in 1991.

Unlike the desktop BJ-130e's printmechanism, which consists of a separateink cartridge and print nozzles, the BJ-lOe uses a cartridge that integrates bothelements. Canon rates BJ-lOe cartridgelife at 700,000 characters, or about 200single-spaced pages, according to mycalculations. The $25 cartridges don'tleak or spill ink, and they snap into placeeasily.

Using DIP switches, you can selecteither BJ-130e or IBM Proprinter X24Eemulations. Currently, you must emulatethe BJ-130e using packages that offer thecorrect software drivers to achieve full360- by 360-dpi graphics resolution.Graphics in Proprinter X24E emulationare limited to 180- by 360-dpi resolution,although Canon says it is working withsoftware vendors to develop drivers forfull graphics resolution in that mode.

Software drivers written for the BJ-130e are compatible with the portableversion, including Windows (Windows3.0 drivers were being developed at presstime), Microsoft Word, WordPerfect5.0, QuattroPro, First Publisher, andthree PostScript interpreters: UltraScriptfrom QMS, TeleTypesetting's TScript,and GDT Softworks' JetLink Express2.0. QMS, GDT Softworks, and Tele-Typesetting also offer software driversand serial-to-parallel interfaces that letyou hook up Macs to the BJ-lOe and printat full resolution.

Clamshell Alliance

The BJ-lOe's self-contained case andcharcoal color resemble the clamshellportable computers on the market. Whilethe BJ-lOe is a natural for the road (a re-chargeable battery pack weighing about 9ounces is a $50 option). Canon markets itas a portable that doesn't have to hiber-nate between business trips. A built-instand and optional ($90) 30-sheet paperfeeder mean you can set it up on yourdesk as a backup printer to dash off shortletters and memos that you don't have totrack down at the networked printer.

You'll sacrifice little in the way ofprint quality. The BJ-lOe prints in eithera so-called economy or a high-qualitymode. Print speed remains the same ineither case, but in the economy mode lessink shoots out to print characters, forlonger cartridge life. Characters sit onthe page clearly defined; put a magnify-ing glass to them and their jaggies show,but the quality isn't too far from a laser

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 235

REVIEW

New Bubble-Jet Outpaces Portable Printers

"Good-by, Grover's

"Good-by, Grover's

"Good-by, Grover's

Corners... Oh,

Corners...Oh,

Corners...Oh,

earth, you're too

earth, you're too

earth, you're too

wonderful for

wonderful for

wonderful for

anybody to realize."

anybody to realize."

anybody to realize."

Figure 1: Text samples from a LaserJet Series III (top), the Canon BJ-lOe (middle), and Epson's EPI-4000 ink-jet printer rankthe BJ-lOe's output closer to laser-printer quality, thanks, in part, to fewer jaggies on the edges of characters.

printer's. In fact, when I pitted the BJ-lOe's output against the Hewlett-PackardLaserJet Series III and a full-size EpsonEPI-4000 ink-jet printer, the BJ-lOecame in a comparatively close second tothe laser printer (see figure 1).

I printed samples on plain xerographicstock and 25 percent bond letterheadwith fine results. The BJ-lOe will notbreak any speed records; mine averagedabout 75 seconds to print a full page oftext in high-quality mode. But the bidi-rectional print (in text mode) doesn'tmake you feel as though you're waitingan inordinate amount of time.

The automatic sheet feeder does awaywith the frustrations of loading paper onepage at a time. It automatically handlesletter-size paper; you can print on A4sheets if you feed the paper in manually.The feeder doesn't accept envelopes, butthe printer handles them easily through arear path. Printing continuous forms isnot part of the printer's capabilities.

The feeder worked without hangingup, even on a series of 10-page text files.However, printed pages tend to gather ina clump after they exit the printer andmay foul exiting sheets.

I printed a line drawing in 360-dpi res-olution and found the tones to be an im-pressive range from solid black to white.

with sharp definition of crosshatches andother patterns (see figure 2). The printerslows down a bit with graphics becauseit switches into a unidirectional printmode, but the clarity and resolution ofthe final image make the wait worth-while.

Another plus is the printer's quiet op-eration. Step into a coworker's cubiclewhile the BJ-lOe is running, and you'remore likely to hear the occasional clankof the paper rollers than the print nozzle.

Bubble Trouble

Nevertheless, this handy peripheral isnot without some unnerving flaws. Theuser's manual is so perfunctory that youwill wish it came with Cliffs Notes tohelp you decipher it. I found myself read-ing some confusingly written sentencesover and over, trying to glean theirmeaning. Don't scour the manual for atechnical-support number, because oneisn't listed. The manual tells you to callyour service representative, but don't bedeterred. Dial (800) 423-2366 and youwill reach Canon's support line. I calledanonymously and received immediateand knowledgeable service. Canon'sfledgling BBS, at (516) 488-6528, postsa few new software drivers.

I also found myself cringing at the

printer's frequent chirping. The printerchirps in lieu of control-panel lights thattell you if you're in draft or letter-qualitymode and whether you're set for pica,elite, or double-high characters. As youpress control buttons, you hear a series ofchirps in a variety of tones to guide youin your selections. The chirps attracteda stream of coworkers into my cubiclewanting to know what new computergame I had found. So hope that anyonesitting next to you on a crowded flight ispatient or plugged into a headset.

Worst of all, I found these audio codesconfusing and frustrating—I was neversure of the setting until the printer actu-ally started producing text. If you'rehearing-impaired, this printer may beimpossible to use conveniently.

Over time, I grew more comfortablewith the control panel, but I would stillprefer a more intuitive visual display.Even so. Canon may have a hit. Laptopowners who want high-quality outputfrom a portable printer that can servedouble-duty on the desktop should con-sider this bubble-jet printer. The pricealone should make you feel, well, posi-tively effervescent. ■

Alan Joch is a BYTE technical editor. Youcan reach him on BIX as "ajoch. "

236 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Expand Your Horizonswith BayTBCh's Line ofStatistical Multiplexers

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SYSTEM

Wayne Rash Jr.

REVIEW

A Poqet Full of Power

The Poqet PCweighs only1 pound, andprograms such asLotus Agenda andAct are availableon ROM cardsmade specificallyfor it.

Poqet PC

Company

Poqet Computer Corp.650 North Mary Ave.Sunnyvale, CA 94086(800) 624-8999, ext. 1590(408) 737-8100

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 7-MHz 80C88Memory: 512K bytes of RAM; 640Kbytes of ROM

Mass storage: 64K-byte RAM card:512K-byte RAM cardDisplay: 7- by 2y8-inch supertwist LCD;MDA mode 25 rows by 80 columns,CGA mode 640 by 200 pixelsKeyboard: 77-key

I/O interfaces: XT bus edge connectorSize

83/4 X 4y,o X 9/io inches; 1 pound

Price

$2345

Inquiry 1082.

Poqet Computer's Poqet PC is a re-markable device. Whether you seethis tiny computer as a workhorseor an executive toy, a 1-pound, IBMPC-compatible computer slightly largerthan a pocket calendar that runs for 100hours on two AA alkaline batteries is in-deed a technical achievement.

The basic Poqet includes 512K bytesof system RAM, 640K bytes of ROM, a64K-byte RAM card, a file transfercable, and a carrying case for $1995. Mytest machine also included a 512K-byteRAM card ($350) and special ROM-cardversions of Act ($395), XyWrite ($495),and Lotus Agenda ($395). Built around a7-MHz 80C88, the machine is slightlyfaster than an IBM XT.

When BYTE first saw the Poqet (see"A PC in Your Pocket," November1989), it was clear that this was not a m_a-chine for everyone. At the time, the com-puter's LCD had clarity problems, andthe miniature keyboard was impracticalfor any task that required more than a fewkeystrokes. The display problem is fixed,and the keyboard is improved, but thekeyboard's small size still limits the ma-chine's usefulness.

The keyboard and screen are just twoof the compromises required to create acomputer the size of the Poqet. Anotheris the machine's 512K-byte system RAMlimit—the Poqet simply doesn't haveenough room inside for more memory.This limitation is less of a problem than it

sounds, however, since programs in thePoqet's 640K bytes of internal ROM(i.e., DOS 3.3, GWBASIC, PoqetTools,and PoqetLink utilities) or on optionalROM cartridges don't have to be loadedinto RAM to execute.

Tiny Typing

The Poqet's keyboard has a 77-keyQWERTY layout with 10 function keysacross the top and a numeric keypad su-perimposed over the letter keys on theright side of the keyboard. You activatethe keypad by holding down the blue Po-qet key next to the space bar. This keyalso activates several other secondaryfunctions on the keyboard.

Some Poqet-key combinations simplyinvoke lesser-used keys on standard key-boards, such as the Fll and F12 keys.But the Poqet key also controls severalspecial functions, including contrast andbrightness controls, power management,the keyboard lock, and the alarm andspeaker controls.

Pressing Poqet-Escape invokes Poqet-Tools, a SideKick-like pop-up menu thatincludes a calculator, a text editor, ascheduler, an address book, and a com-munications program. The menu also in-cludes a setup utility that controls powermanagement and other functions.

The keyboard, which measures just8'/2 inches wide, performs well for itssize, although the '/2-inch-square keycaps are so small and so closely spaced

that you probably won't want to do anytouch-typing. Still, touch-typing is notimpossible, as one of my coworkers (whohas very small hands) demonstrated.

The Poqet never truly shuts off. Press-ing the I/O key, just above the Returnkey, shuts off the display and CPU butcontinues to power memory to protectprograms and data. When you reactivatethe machine, it returns to the state it wasin before you deactivated it. Even duringnormal operation, the CPU goes intosleep mode between keystrokes, and thesystem shuts down the display after sit-ting idle for 2 minutes.

Peering Ahead

The 7- by 2%-inch screen presents a full25 rows by 80 columns in either CGA orMDA mode. The default is MDA. Thecharacters, while small, are crisp andeasy to read: They're about the same sizeas the text on this page.

Although the screen does not havebacklighting, it's still possible to use itunder average lighting conditions. Thescreen folds to any angle, but it will notfold open completely if you have a serialcable or data transfer cable attached tothe machine. Along the bottom of thescreen are indicator blocks that tell,among other things, function-key status,when you're accessing the ROM disk,when the battery is low, and when thepower management software is enabled.

The Poqet is free of external controls

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 239

REVIEW

A PoQET Full of Power

and connectors, except for a single XT-bus edge-card connector at the rear of theunit that accepts a data transfer cable(which is included) or an optional serialor parallel cable, and two memory-cardslots on the underside that hold RAM orROM cards.

RAM cards, used for data storage,come in 64K-byte and 512K-byte sizes; a1-MB card was still in development atpress time. My test unit included a 512K-byte RAM card. Despite a recent price

cut (the 512K-byte card dropped from$595 to $350), the cards are an expensiveway to store data. One alternative is toconfigure the Poqet's 512K bytes of sys-tem RAM as a RAM disk. Another is tobuy Poqet's external 3'/2-inch 1.44-MBfloppy disk drive for $395, but this re-duces portability and cuts battery lifedown to 20 hours. An optional memory-card reader for desktop PCs, which wasunavailable at press time, should makeusing the cards more convenient.

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Moving Bits

The Poqet's file transfer cable attaches tothe serial port of your desktop computer.Using PoqetLink, you can send and re-ceive files at 115,200 bps. If you can findenough room in RAM, standard IBM PCsoftware will work. I was able to use theNorton Utilities and WordStar 4.0 with-out problems. Other packages, includingWordPerfect, wouldn't fit on a 5I2K-byte RAM card.

Poqet has received a great deal of co-operation from software vendors, whohave ported their packages to ROM cardsfor use in the Poqet. ROM and RAMcards slide like tiny drawers into slots inthe bottom of the Poqet's case.

I tested three ROM card applications:Lotus Agenda, Act (a business-contacttracking package), and XyWrite. Otheravailable programs include Lucid 3-D,Lotus 1-2-3, AlphaWorks, and LotusMetro/Express. Each program operatesexactly like its disk-based brethren, andeach costs the same.

Poqet the Difference

Despite the Poqet's technical accom-plishment, I didn't find the machine use-ful. I was unable to make it slide into aninside jacket pocket, so the computer hadto stay in my briefcase, where it wasn't ashandy as a scheduler. It's also too smallfor most people to type on to any extent.A Poqet user, it would seem, has to besatisfied with writing brief memos andworking with small spreadsheets. That'sa fairly limited use for a machine thatcosts about S2000.

Poqet Computer markets the machineto field salespeople and some managers.But even these people are likely to be bet-ter served by a notebook-size computer,such as the Zenith MinisPort or the NECUltraLite. Each of those machines has amore usable keyboard and a disk drive,and each is about twice the size of the Po-qet. Each also costs less in its base con-figuration than the Poqet.

Whether the Poqet is an executive toolor an executive toy is for you to decide,but as powerful as it is for its size, themachine's form factor ultimately limitsits effectiveness. In this case, the sizeseems just a bit too small. ■

Wayne Rash Jr. is a BYTE contributingeditor and avid laptop user. He is alsotechnical director of the Network Integra-tion Group of American ManagementSystems, Inc. (Arlington, VA). He con-sults with the federal government onmicrocomputers and communications.You can contact him on BIX as "wayne-rash, " or in the to. wayne conference.

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SOFTWARE

Barry Nance

REVIEW

One-Size-Fits-All Code with Lattice C

No one can argue this: Software por-tability is now more importantthan ever. The problem for devel-opers, though, is that creating a programthat runs under DOS, extended DOS,and OS/2 is no easy task. Often it meanscollecting a huge library of disjoint pro-gramming tools. And if you also con-sider the increasing importance of Unix,the problem becomes even bigger.

Lattice's newest C compiler package,the 80286 C Development System forDOS and OS/2, addresses much of thisconcern. It enables developers to createprograms that run under DOS, extendedDOS, and OS/2. The kicker is that, withLattice, all three environments can besupported by a single executable file.And Lattice includes over 800 functions,many of which mirror Unix calls.

Other development environmentsexist, of course, that let you use extendedmemory (i.e., separate third-party DOSextender products, OS/2 itself, and the386 enhanced mode of Windows 3.0).But Lattice is the first major compilervendor to include a DOS extender withits compiler that gives DOS programs ac-cess to 286 or 386 extended memory.There are no fees or royalties when youdistribute the Lattice extended DOS fa-cility with your application. And the

Lattice 80286 CDevelopment Systemfor DOS and OS/2

Company

Lattice, Inc.

Subsidiary of SAS Institute, Inc.2500 South Highland Ave.Lombard, IL 60148(800) 444-4309

Hardware Needed

A 286- or 386-based IBM AT, PS/2, orcompatibie, 512K bytes of RAM(2.5 megabytes for OS/2), 5 MB of freespace on a fixed disk, and parallel portfor copy-protect device

Software Needed

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Price

$495

Inquiry 1225.

users of your application do not necessar-ily have to upgrade to OS/2 when yoursoftware starts running out of RAM.

The Shootin' Match

The new Lattice development environ-ment includes all the tools and libraryroutines of the regular compiler product(version 6.0). You get a full-screen sym-bolic debugger, CodeProbe, that runsunder both DOS and OS/2. The LASMassembler is mostly compatible withMASM, although it does not handleMASM-style memory-model directivesand some assembler macros.

For projects with many source codemodules, a make utility (LMK) is sup-plied that is a superset of the Unix make.EXTRACT and BUILD utilities are alsosupplied to help you create your makefiles. Other utilities let you find and op-tionally change all occurrences of aspecified string in your source code filesas well as produce source code statistics.Lattice provides its own linker, bind pro-gram (for constructing family mode ap-plications), and object file librarian.

The standard library is fully ANSIcompliant and incorporates many func-tions you'd find in a Unix environment.Lattice has added several useful func-tions of its own to the standard library:The "build string list" and "sort stringlist" functions are examples of routinesthat tempt you to forgo strict ANSI cod-ing in your programs. In addition to thestandard library of functions. Latticegives you these application libraries:

• Communications Library: supportsXMODEM, YMODEM, andKermit.

• Database Library: creates andmanipulates dBASE Ill-compatiblefiles.

• Graphics Library: has severaldrawing routines, but limited fontsupport.

• Screen Management Library: text-mode routines very much like Unixcurses.

Installing, Tuning, and the Dongle

The installation of the Lattice 80286 Ccompiler and its tools is straightforward.Basically, you choose whether you wantOS/2 support, and you pick the memorymodels you want; the installation pro-gram then puts the files into the correct

directories. It requires about 5 mega-bytes of disk space. To take advantage ofthe features of this compiler, I used myGateway 2000 386/33 computer as a testbed. It has 4 MB of extended memory,and I regularly use it for both OS/2 andDOS development work.

The installation process is noteworthyin two ways. First, you must let the DOSextender software "learn" about yourhardware by running the TUNE utility.TUNE attempts to find the fastest way toenter and leave protected mode on yoursystem, possibly crashing your system inthe process. Users of software you pro-duce with Lattice's extender will have toTUNE it, as well.

Second, Lattice decided to copy-pro-tect this compiler product with a hard-ware device, called a dongle, that at-taches to your parallel port. The donglesits transparently between your printercable and the parallel port. There is nomention on the package about any sort ofcopy protection. Frankly, I was annoyedby the implications of copy-protecting aprofessional software development tool.

Compiling Your Code

To check out the compiler, I created ex-tended DOS versions of the LAN-awareprograms that accompany my book Net-work Programming in C. I also compiledthe Dhrystone benchmark program.Comparing the size of the resulting exe-cutable files with the output of other Ccompilers proved difficult. The boundfamily mode version of any program isnaturally larger than a pure DOS or pureOS/2 version. Being able to create a sin-gle executable file that works correctlyunder DOS, extended DOS, OS/2, andthe DOS compatibility box is an impres-sive feat.

Performance-wise, the Lattice com-piler emits code that is comparable to thatof other C compilers. The Dhrystonebenchmark ran in 5 seconds no matterwhich C compiler I used. The resultswere consistent when I ran the programin DOS mode, in extended DOS mode,and under OS/2.

When you tell the compiler to opti-mize your code, it invokes a separate step(the global optimizer, LGO) just prior tolinking. Because the optimizer gets tosee as much of the emitted object file as itwants, the optimizer can make intelli-gent decisions about what to streamline.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 245

REVIEW

One-Size-Fits-All Code with Lattice C

T

he

Lattice debugger is acommand-line debuggerat heart.

It looks for opportunities to turn func-tions into in-line code, eliminate deadcode assignments, perform peephole op-timizations, eliminate common subex-pressions, and do other things to makeyour code faster (or smaller, dependingon what you specify).

If you have variables marked vola-tile, the optimizer won't eliminate ref-erences to them. Likewise, if you have afunction that calls itself recursively, youcan control the depth to which the opti-

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mizer "unrolls" the code as it transformscalled subroutines into in-line code.

The Lattice Toolbox

The Lattice debugger, CodeProbe, oper-ates in full-screen mode but is a com-mand-line debugger at heart. Interest-ingly, when you choose a CodeProbemenu option, the software emits a line ofdebugger commands to itself. This inter-nal discourse is visible in the debugger'sdialog window. CodeProbe works inDOS, extended DOS, and OS/2 modes.It supports conditional breakpoints, datawatches, slow-motion execution, andother customary debugger facilities.

The text editor that comes with theLattice compiler, LSE, is adequate formost programming purposes. It's quick,has an interface to the Lattice compiler,and allows multiple source code files tobe edited in multiple windows. Severalother tools are provided with the com-piler. The linker, LMB, supports bothcode and data overlays.

The screen management routines thatyou get with the compiler are a close ad-aptation of Unix curses. I was able toeasily move a small Unix program froman IBM RS/6000 AIX machine to myGateway computer and compile it forOS/2. I smiled inwardly to see a typicalcurses user interface appear in an OS/2session when I ran the program.

Lattice does not supply a hypertexton-line reference with its compiler, al-though, of course, each part of the devel-opment environment has an associatedhelp file that you can access. Speaking ofhelp, the on-line support for the Latticecompiler that has been available for yearson BIX has been discontinued by Lat-tice's parent company, SAS.

The Lattice 80286 C DevelopmentSystem for DOS and OS/2 is a well-docu-mented, high-powered environment. AsI put the compiler and tools through theirpaces, I tried to visualize myself as a de-veloper who has a memory-hungry appli-cation. Faced with the decision to shoe-horn my software and stick with DOS orforce my customers to upgrade to OS/2,I'd see the Lattice DOS extender as awelcome alternative. And the curses in-terface might encourage me to port myapplication to run under Unix so I couldtake advantage of that marketplace aswell. But as good as this compiler is. Lat-tice may have tied a millstone around itsneck with the copy protection. ■

Barry Nance is the author of NetworkProgramming in C and is the exchangeeditor for the IBM Exchange on BIX. Hecan be reached on BIX as "barryn."

246 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990 Circle 166 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 167)

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Introducing OmnistorTthe first 5V4" optical diskdrive subsystem to supportboth Write-once(WORM) and EraseableMagneto-Optic (MO)technology in a singlemulti-function unit.Utilizing ANSI/ISOstandard 654 MB,sampled-servo 5V4"media, Omnistorprovides a turnkeysolution for both yourintermediate and permanentarchival data storage require-ments. Omnistor is availablefor a wide varietyof host environments, in bothstandaloneand auto-changersubsystemconfigurations.

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APPLICATION

Doug Dayton

REVIEW

Document Managementon Networked PCs

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As the number of files on a networkincreases, locating files becomesmore difficult, and tracking multi-ple versions of a document becomes vir-tually impossible. Time is often wastedby working with out-of-date documents,and file access becomes harder to con-trol. Perhaps most worrisome, frustratedsystem users may become less disci-plined about file backups and may resortto archiving documents instead of simplydeleting their obsolete files.

Propound, from Wang InformaticsLegal & Professional Systems, and Ima-ra, from Imara Research, take two dif-ferent approaches to the problem. Pro-Found is a character-based DOS applica-tion designed to help manage wordprocessing and other live documents on anetwork; Imara is an OS/2 PresentationManager-based application that managesgraphics and documents that have beenstored as image files.

Both Imara and Propound support dis-tributed (client-server) computing by en-abling files on different file servers to bestored and accessed transparently acrossa network. And both products use themetaphor of a library with a documentcatalog to control access, storage, and ar-chiving of files that have been checkedinto their databases.Imara is aimed at companies moving

toward a paperless office. Imara usersscan or import paper documents intoImara's Structured Query Language(SQL) database as compressed Group 4fax files. Then Imara's image documentsare shared among different workgroupmembers using Imara's built-in E-mailfacility (called I-mail).

Propound provides a more pedestriansolution to document management, rely-ing on the character-based DOS interfaceand working with files created usingword processors, spreadsheets, or otherapplications. ProFound's mainstreamsolution contrasts sharply with Imara'sattempt to redefine how office workersshare information. But while both prod-ucts provide features that can help youmanage your distributed office systems,neither provides a complete solution tothe problem of distributed file man-agement.

ProFound Document Libraries

Propound helps network administratorsmanage their users' file requests anddocument storage requirements by auto-matically copying, distributing, andbacking up their documents across mul-tiple file servers. When you first startProFound, you can go into one of twoareas: the work area or the library.The work area is where documents and

files are created and edited. A catalogcard is automatically created in the workarea as each new document is created,and it is updated when any revisions aremade.

You can configure ProFound to auto-matically start the application you willbe using after you create your catalogcard. After a document is created or re-vised, ProFound checks it into the li-brary. The library contains one or morecatalog files that contain a catalog cardfor each document. Different work-groups can be assigned to one of 26 dif-ferent sections in the library. A work-group can be assigned to its own catalogand section, or many workgroups can beassigned to the same catalog and section.

Each catalog card comprises twoscreens. The first contains identifyinginformation for the document, includingtitle, author, department, operator, cli-ent, matter, comments, and keywords.The second screen contains documentstatistics such as date created, last accessdate, last user, number of revisions kept,,archive interval, chargeback method andstatistics for billing clients (including theactual and charged number of key-strokes), pages printed, and time. Mostof the field descriptions can be custom-ized (see photo 1).

Once a catalog card has been created,ProFound can perform searches on 18different fields, including indexed fieldssuch as author, department, date, client,and matter, and on user-definable key-words. You can use both range and Bool-ean search parameters to find any docu-ments that have been checked into Pro-Found. ProFound also does full-textindexing and searching.

Documents that match your search re-quest can be previewed in the library,copied to a new document in your workarea, or checked out for modification.You can store document templates in Pro-Found, but inexperienced users wouldbenefit from having these set up by theirsystem administrator.

ProFound automatically maintains anaudit trail of activity for each document,and it can maintain up to 99 revisions ofeach document. Most users will main-tain only a few revisions and will savedisk space by archiving their older revi-sions. You can configure ProFound toautomatically back up files to specifieddirectories and to automatically archivefiles after a predetermined number ofdays, if the files have not been checkedout for that period of time.

Access to documents is controlledthrough the use of passwords, which canbe assigned for each operator, author.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 251

"The World's MostAccurate Mouse"

REVIEW

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT ON NETWORKED PCS

PropoundCompany

Wang Informatics Legal &

Professional Systems2111 East Highland, Suite 400Phoenix, AZ 85016(602) 224-0855

Hardware Needed

IBM XT, AT, PS/2, or compatible with 640Kbytes of RAM and a hard disk drive with atleast 2 MB of storage

Software Needed

DOS 3.1 or higher and Novell NetWare 2.15or 386; Banyan VINES 3.1 or higher; or3Com 3Share network operating system

Price

First five users: $995Inquiry 1076.

department, or document. Users can beassigned access or modification rights toany or all documents in the system.

Propound uses a WordPerfect-like in-terface with pull-down menus, pop-upwindows, on-line context-sensitive help,and lots of command keys. Propound iseasy for experienced WordPerfect usersto learn and is relatively easy to set up.

The system administrator guide isclearly organized and uses a step-by-stepapproach. However, the guide does notprovide a top-down view of how the pro-gram's modules interact. It is best to sim-ply read the system administrator guidecover-to-cover before setting up the pro-gram.

As with many database programs, in-terdependent modules eliminate anyhope of shortcuts. Network administra-tors should plan to spend some time de-termining the most efficient way to set upProFound's library and to distributetheir workgroup's documents acrosstheir network's servers. Once Propoundhas been set up, however, its on-screenprompting should enable experiencedword processors to master Propound inan hour or two.

Propound has been integrated withWordPerfect 5.1 and Jurisoft's Com-pareRite. If you are using WordPerfect,the Propound interface takes over whenyou create, load, or save a document.When you save documents, ProFound'sIntegrated Document Card Screen is dis-

•<— Circle 235 on Reader Service Card

ImaraCompany

Imara Research Corp.111 Peter St., Suite 804Toronto, OntarioCanada M5V2H1(416)581-1740

Hardware Needed

Intel 386SX-, 386-, or i486-basedworkstations with 4 MB of RAM and VGA;HP ScanJet; HP LaserJet;GammaLink's GammaFax adapter; 30-MB hard disk drive; network server with8 MB of RAM and 100-MB hard disk driveor optical disk storage

Software Needed

OS/2 1.2; OS/2-compatible networkoperating system; network-based SQLdatabase server

Price

First two users: $2995Inquiry 1077.

played, enabling you to check your docu-ment into Propound without leaving theWordPerfect interface. If Jurisoft'sCompareRite has been installed, past re-visions can be red-lined from inside Pro-Found.

Although Propound is designed towork with any office workgroup, its mostobvious audience is professional officesthat do time or project billing. Propoundautomatically records keystrokes, timespent in each document, and the numberof pages that have been printed. This in-formation is displayed on each docu-ment's catalog card and can be printed ina disbursement report. Charges can beaccrued on a straight time basis or on aper-document basis. After the clientshave been entered into ProFound's clientsection. Propound automatically verifiesthat documents belong to a specific clientand generates a disbursement charge re-port that can be exported into severaltime-billing programs.

Propound requires an IBM XT, AT,PS/2, or compatible with 640K bytes ofRAM and a hard disk drive with at least 2MB of storage. The program runs on DOS3.1 or higher and supports Novell Ad-vanced NetWare 2.15 or higher, NetWare386, or Banyan VINES 3.1 or higher.

Imara Imaging

Imara uses a client-server architecturebuilt on Microsoft's OS/2-based SQLServer. Once you have stored documents

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The following are trademarks of their respectivecompanies: PC Mouse lU, Power Panel.Mouse Systems Corporation; Microsoft,Microsoft Corporation; PS/2, IBM.

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SmartConnex is compatible with all PC ATs and operating sys-tems, and is guaranteed to work with all existing AT applications.So it isn't necessary to buy new programs or make any changesto system software. No matter what operating system or SCSIdisk drive you use, you won't have to worry about controllercompatibility

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Circle 116 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 117)

REVIEW

Document Management on Networked PCs

in Imara as compressed Group 4 faximages, you can share them within a PC-network environment.

Imara uses a five-level hierarchicalcataloging system. Users define theirimage database by creating sets, whichare analogous to file cabinets; catego-ries, which are like file drawers; and filefolders, which contain ^/ocMwienfs. Docu-ments are composed of one or moreimage and text pages. Imara's databasecan store up to 40 million pages. Oncedocuments have been stored in Imara'sdatabase, you can access them throughImara's query-by-forms and keywordsearch facilities.

After categories have been set up, youcan fill in a form template for each docu-ment you wish to check in. These tem-plates are similar to ProFound's catalogcards and enable you to search for docu-ments using structured information,such as owner, topic, action-due-date,and priority, and to perform unstruc-tured searches using keywords that cross-reference information in different files.

Individual pages can be retrieved anddisplayed at the user's workstation andcan be annotated with electronic Memo-

Tabs. MemoTabs are electronic notesthat provide a convenient way to sharecomments about a particular image.They can be either displayed on the.image or hidden to facilitate printing.

Users create their filing system bycreating new sets, categories, and foldersinteractively with Imara, or by usingImara's Execution Language (IXL) tocreate a database script. If you will bemoving many document^ into Imara, it ismuch faster to create a database usingIXL than to create the database as youimport your files.

Imara's script language is straightfor-ward—Imara has done a good job of pro-tecting the user from the SQL Server in-terface. But the documentation assumesthat the system administrator has a thor-ough unaerstanding of SQL Server andof the networking environment.

When you start Imara, you see fouricons: a server, an in box, an out box,and a trash can. The server icon includesall the document and image files thathave been stored in different sets, catego-ries, and file folders. The in box lets youscan or fax graphics files and importASCII text files into the system. The out

box lets you fax, print, export, or I-mailfiles. The trash can lets you delete or re-move files (see photo 2).

When you first click on a page in adocument, two windows appear: a pagetool and a page window. The page win-dow displays a portion of the image filethat you have loaded into the Imara desk-top. The page tool's Panview displays aminiature of the entire page, along with ashaded rectangular area called the lens.The area in the lens indicates the specificportion of the page. By dragging the lensin the page tool with your mouse, you canview different parts of your image file inthe page window. Imara also has a pre-view feature that lets you view an imagewithout loading and decompressing it.

Imara's I-mail lets you distribute doc-uments by copying or linking them toother folders. I-mail is too limited forgeneral office messaging, however; itonly provides a one-line message field.

Much of Imara's power comes from itsability to link documents. Linking docu-ments assigns pointers from a documentto different file folders. This helps con-serve disk storage and allows users work-ing within different file folders to view

Harvard Grapliics^Anrl The HP LaserJet III

Invite You To AVery Exciting Presentation.

REVIEW

Document Management on Networked PCs

or modify multiple copies of a document.

Imara's use of Group 4 file compres-sion enables you to store 8'/2-inch by 11-inch 300-dot-per-inch images, whichnormally require about 3 MB of storage,in several hundred kilobytes. But Group4 compression doesn't work well withcomplex images like photographs; infact, this type of image may be largerafter compression. But the bottom line,according to Imara, is that storage costsusing "jukebox" optical drives havecome down to about 5 cents per page-provided you make the initial investmentin such equipment. This is competitivewith microfilm and paper-based docu-ment storage systems.

I found that 150-dpi scanned or faxedimages are hard to read on a standard 14-inch VGA monitor. Using a 1024- by768-pixel enhanced VGA display or a1280- by 960-pixel 19-inch Monitermdisplay greatly enhances document legi-bility and obviates the need to print out asmany files. Since Imara currently sup-ports only monochrome displays andprinters, most users will opt for a largehigh-resolution monochrome display.

Imara has written its own OS/2 driver

to support the HP ScanJet Plus, and thecompany recommends GammaLink'sGammaFax. (At press time, Gamma-Link was the only fax-modem suppliershipping an OS/2 driver.)

Imara's ScanJet interface works flaw-lessly, but I discovered that Hewlett-Packard's interface card conflicts with16-bit VGA cards. (This can be resolvedby plugging 16-bit VGA cards into an 8-bit slot.) Scanning images requires pa-tience; most users will eventually becompelled to invest in an automaticdocument feeder for their scanner.

All this power takes its toll in the hard-ware department. Imara workstations re-quire at least a 386SX-based PC with 4MB of RAM, a 30-MB hard disk drive, aVGA adapter and monitor, a mouse, anda network adapter running OS/2 1.2 orhigher.

Imara servers require a 386 processorwith at least 8 MB of RAM, a 100-MBhard disk drive, and a network operatingsystem that supports OS/2 1.2 with Mi-crosoft SQL Server 1.1, Oracle Server,or IBM's Database Manager.

Imara recommends using WORM(write once, read many times) optical

disk storage, HP LaserJet printers with atleast 2 MB of memory, GammaLink'sGammaFax, a LaserMaster LXI printercontroller (to enable the LaserJet to printimages at a usable speed), and an HPScanJet Plus.

Management Decisions

Both Imara and Propound solve real-world document management problems.But despite their implementation of ad-vanced client-server technologies, nei-ther product lets users manage both textand image files effectively.

Businesses such as law firms and ac-counting firms that have standardized onparticular DOS applications like Word-Perfect or Lotus 1-2-3 should give Pro-Found careful consideration. Businessessuch as insurance companies managingmany graphics-based documents that in-clude diagrams, hand-written notes, andsignatures will find Imara invaluable. ■

Doug Dayton is the founder of DaytonAssociates, a computer-industry market-ing and consulting firm in Bellevue,Washington. He can be reached on BIXdo "editors."

Harvard Graphics 2.3 from Software Publishing Corporation bringsnew dimensions to presentation graphics. The Hewlett-Packard LaserJet III printer

writes a new chapter in printing history.

Put them together and your presentation becomes amajor event.

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that will dazzle your audience—like a gallery of pre-designed

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With Harvard Graphics and the HP LaserJet III, your next presentation is certain to be

well attended. And well received. „ ^ ^ . ^

Circle 317 on Reader Service Card

CD^SOFTWARE

Harvard Graphics and DrawPartner are trademarks of Software Publishing Corporacion. HP LaserJet III is a product of Hewlett-Packard.© 1990 Software Publishing Corporation, 1901 Landings Drive, Mountain View. CA 94039-7210

The Joneses.

Check out the benchmarks. When itcomes to speed, pure and simple, main-frames are no longer the main attractionIntroducing the Everex STEP 486/33and STEP 486/25. Along with the STEP486w, they give you desktop perform-ance that was previously unheard of

17.857 Dhrystones

There are two reasons. The first, of course, isthe 486™chip.The other is AMMA7 Everex'sproprietary Advanced Memory ManagementArchitecture.

AMMA uses "write-back" cache technologyinstead of the "write-through" technologies usedin most PC's. The write-back cache was developedfor mainframes. Everex was thepioneer in developing it for the PC.And in doing so, opened a whole newdimension in desktop performance.

34.000 Dhrystones (19.4 MfPSI

With AMMA, you can write directly to theSTEP 486's cache in nearly all cases. With write-through techniques, on the other hand, you losemost of the performance benefit of the cache.

•Inquiries from outside the US. caU 415-498-1111. EVER for Excellence is a registered trademark and Everex, STEP, STEP 486;s, AMMA and PDS are uademarks ofEveiex Systems, Inc. 486 is a trademark of Intel Corp.

And howto keep upwith them.

That's because write-through forces you to writeto main memory much more often. And mainmemory is slower than the cache.

This is especially important in 486 computing,where the CPU performs as many as four times thewrite operations as in 386. Which makes AMMA'swrite-back architecture, combined with the 486'sembedded cache, a powerftil combination indeed.

But the STEP 486 machines give you morethan just speed. They come with ProgrammableDrive Select. If your drive isn't listed on the set-

up table, PDS™lets you custom-configure the BIOS.It's good for virtually any hard drive.

What's more, all STEP systems come with a one-year extendable warranty and a one year renewableon-site service contract that also covers all Everexperipherals in the system.

To find out more, caU 1-800-334-4552* for thename of your nearest Authorized Everex Reseller—every one a high performance expert.Then you can let the Joneses try keeping up

for a change.

© 1990 Everex Systems, Inc. For more information on how the above benchmarks were derived, please write the Everex Performance Test Center, 48431 Milmont Drive, Fremont, CA 94538.

Circle 128 on Reader Service Card

HARDWARE

Steve Apiki

REVIEW

Small, Low-Cost UPSes

PC Power's InnerSource 2210 (left) takes a unique approach to backup power byoffering a UPS as a replacement for a standard supply. Upsonic 's PC Might-25(right), a single-user UPS, is the smallest, lightest unit BYTE has seen.

Data residing on a single-user systemis not any less critical than datastowed on a network file server.But until recently, protecting your sin-gle-machine installation from the vaga-ries of your utility company often meantshelling out the cash for a big, noisy un-interruptible power supply (UPS) withmore capacity than you required.

Upsonic and PC Power & Cooling of-fer two solutions to the problem of sup-plying reliable power to a single ma-chine. The Upsonic PC Might-25 is asmall, quiet, and inexpensive UPS that'ssuitable for use on a desktop. PC Power

PC Might-25

Company

Upsonic Corp.One Park Plaza, Suite 600Irvine, CA 92714(714) 833-7162

Hardware Needed

Microcomputer system(drawing 250 VA or less)

Price

$195

Inquiry 1106.

& Cooling's InnerSource Model 2210 isa drop-in replacement for AT power sup-plies with an internal standby system andAC power for the monitor.

Strictly speaking, both the PC Might-25 and the AC side of the InnerSource arestandby power supplies (SPSes). Whenutility power fails or dips below a criticallevel, they switch from providing powerdirectly from the line to providing powerfrom a built-in battery. When there is ad-equate AC power, they use some of theavailable energy to recharge the battery.

While these two models are function-ally similar, their design philosophies

InnerSource Model 2210

Company

PC Power & Cooling, Inc.31510 Mountain WayBonsall, CA 92003(619)723-0075

Hardware Needed

AT or 386 computer with space for

a full-size (8%- x 59/0- x 59/10-inch) power

supply

Price

$495

Inquiry 1107.

are radically different. The PC Might-25, although small and inexpensive, ismore or less a traditional SPS; the Inner-Source, on the other hand, avoids manyof the problems of providing AC backupby supplying DC power directly to thecomputer.

PC Might-25

At $195, the PC Might-25 is easily theleast expensive SPS I have come across.The price is low enough to attract peoplewho may never have considered buyingan SPS in the past. What you get won'tshatter any records for holdup time orprovide the same type of power your sys-tem's power supply is used to, but it willprovide adequate power for conductingan orderly shutdown.

The unit is not much bigger than alarge modem or a small external diskdrive. Installation is simple. The nine-page user's manual is enough to describeuser interaction with the system in suffi-cient detail.

As you might expect from the unit'ssize, holdup time is limited. The PCMight-25 shuts off before the battery iscompletely drained, to lengthen batterylife and shorten recharge time. I mea-sured holdup time with two loads. Thefirst was a small 286 system running ahard disk drive and a monochrome moni-tor; this system drew 0.8 amperes of cur-rent, so the power requirement was about40 percent of the PC Might-25's capac-ity. The second load was a larger 486-with-VGA unit that drew close to twice asmuch power. The results are shown infigure 1.

When the power goes off, the unitsounds a noticeable but unobtrusivealarm. That's its only communication—since it is meant to back up single sys-tems, the unit has no ports for sendingsignals over a network or to the protectedsystem for automated shutdown.

Small capacity offers one small ad-vantage: It takes very little time to re-charge the unit. Upsonic claims that afull recharge can be completed in 2 to 3hours.

I had no problems running systemsduring standby operation. The manufac-turer specifies transfer time (the time toswitch from normal to backup power) at4 milliseconds, which should be quickenough to escape the computer's notice.Cut-in and cut-out points are fixed at 102volts and 108 V, respectively, so if youexperience frequent brownouts, the sys-tem may go on and off more than youwould like.

Backup power has a modified squarewaveform. Engineers argue over whether

258 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

8 Parallel and 2 Serial PortsNow Available With Nezv SL

s from

New Model - SLP has 8 parallel and 2 serial ports: The

original SL™has 4 parallel and 6 serial ports. Both canshare any combination of ten printers or PCs; automaticswitching, queuing, and serial-to-parallel conversion

Improved Data Throughput-True 115,200 bps: use other

vendors' file transfer software with serial connected PCs

Pop-up Menu via Hotkeys: Keyboard selection of printers

Simple Installation: just plug in your cables and run themenu-driven installation software

User Upgradable Memory: From 256KB to 4MB buffer

PC

K.

PC

LASER

1 PRINTER 1

MINI

1 MAC 1 1 LAN 1

1

■ MODEM

HWP

5 Ports from $275 SPPS

Converter $100

Save by Sharing Resources: The SL enables everyone

to share lasers, printers, plotters, and modems. Greateraccess by more users reduces unproductive idle timeand the expense of purchasing additional peripherals.All users can simultaneously send print data andquickly release their PCs to continue working.

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All ports are parallel and userconfigurable as either 3 inputsto 2 outputs with a pop-upmenu, or 4 inputs to 1 outputas a buffered auto-switch;memory is user upgradableft-om 256KB to 16MB buffer

Combination serial-to-parallel,or paraUel-to-serial interfaceconverter in a single unit, nopower supply needed, serialtransfers to 115,200 bps, DIPswitch configurable

AS-41

5 Ports $200

RCJ

Toshiba Memory Module

4 parallel inputs to 1 paralleloutput, automatic switch withno buffer; use the AS-31 for upto 3 inputs to 1 output, $175

Memory expansion modulefor the Toshiba TIOOOSE,TIOOOXE, or J3100SS laptop(notebook) computer,1MB - S299, 2MB - S549

CE

2 Ports from $175 Cables & Adapters

Printer buffer with 1 parallelinput to 1 parallel output, from256KB to 4MB buffer

High quality, 24 gaugeshielded cables, parallel orserial; modular cable adapters

REVIEW'

Small, Low-Cost upses

MEASURED HOLDUP TIMES

InnerSource 2210

PC Might-25

< Worse

Better ►

I I Small load

5 10 15

Time (minutes)

20

Large load

Figure 1: Holdup times for typical small and large loads, in minutes.

AC

HOW THE INNERSOURCE 2210 WORKS

Rectifier

Charger

Battery

Inverter

Transferswitch!

DC-to-DCconversion

DC out

AC out

Figure 2: Block diagram of the InnerSource 2210 power supply. The output of thebattery is wired to the DC-to-DC converter, which means that no DC switching isrequired when power fails.

or not square waves make a good input toswitching power supplies, but the PCMight-25 provides output filtering toeliminate much of the noise associatedwith square-wave outputs.

The InnerSource

A traditional SPS takes in AC power,converts it to DC power, and stores it in abattery. When a blackout occurs, the unittakes DC power from the battery, trans-forms it to AC power, and sends it to thepower supply in the computer, whichtransforms it to DC power for use in thesystem. For those of you keeping score,that's three conversions where only oneis required, and each conversion meansless efficient use of power.

PC Power & Cooling's InnerSourceeliminates most of the extra steps. The

InnerSource looks (and acts, under nor-mal conditions) like a standard, FCCClass B, full-size AT power supply. It re-places the power supply unit in the ma-chine that you intend to protect. Whenthe power fails, the unit supplies DCpower from the battery directly to thesystem board (see figure 2). There is noneed for additional conversion.

In addition to having a clean and effi-cient design, the InnerSource sidestepsdebates over which waveform is best andhow much noise an AC inverter intro-duces. Since the battery and rectifier areconnected to the same transformer, PCPower & Cooling also claims zero trans-fer time between standby and normaloperation.

If you didn't need to power a monitorduring a blackout, this would be the end

of the story. Since you do, the Inner-Source provides a standard battery-in-verter stage for supplying AC power tothe system monitor. This is a typicalstandby system, with a rated transfer timeof 2 ms and a 120-V root mean squaremodified rectangular-wave output.

Holdup times, shown in figure 1, weregood—certainly enough to save work andshut down properly. Like the PC Might-25, the InnerSource sounds an alarm atpower failure and shuts down before thebattery is completely drained. This unitrequires 8 hours for a full recharge, but itrecharges constantly as long as the sys-tem is plugged in.

Classifying the power output of theInnerSource is not as easy as it is withthat of an external SPS. The unit supplies220 watts of DC power to the systemboard and 120 volt-amperes of AC powerto the monitor. With efficiency andpower-factor calculations considered,PC Power & Cooling claims that the In-nerSource is equivalent to a 550-VA ex-ternal UPS; in any case, 220 W is enoughto run a heavily stocked AT or 386 sys-tem with no problems.

The 120-VA (1-amp) AC source, how-ever, is a little underpowered. TypicalVGA monitors require just about all ofthis; an IBM 8513, for example, requires0.95 amp. Big-screen monitors can eas-ily require 1.2 amp and may require 1.6amp; the power draw means you can'tuse the InnerSource with a typical 19- or20-inch monitor.

If you want to run a network server offthe InnerSource, PC Power & Coolingoffers a $49 module that lets the Inner-Source talk to a network.

The InnerSource has a few weakspots, but these have to do with the na-ture of the device. It requires enoughroom inside the case for a full-size sup-ply and, of course, will work only withIBM PC-compatible machines. If apower failure should occur, you'll needto replace the entire unit; with an exter-nal system, you need replace only theUPS or the internal supply. And at S495,replacements aren't cheap. Fortunately,PC Power & Cooling has an excellentreputation for reliability.

Between the PC Might-25 and the In-nerSource, you should be able to findwhat you need to back up a single system.Whether you prefer the traditional exter-nal device or the drop-in replacementconcept, the peace of mind you'll get isworth the small investment. ■

Steve Apiki is a BYTE Lab testing editor/engineer. He can be reached on BIX as"apiki."

260 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

The best got better,

SYSTAT 5.0's new menus make the top-ratedstatistical program even easier to use.

UMFO

/ 1 ^y.^lTll 1 \

EDTTOKSCHOICE

—BCBTIN—

rra CLASS

3-14-S9

V 4.1

(UIJWEEK)

\^

SYSTAT is the on/y packageto receive these three awards

New Features Menus or commands — your choice Rewrittendocumentation includes statistics tutorials Fast, built-in drivers forSYGRAPH Global mapping and many new plots Multi way repeatedmeasures Means model for missing cells designs Post-hoc testsInteractive stepwise regression.

Statistics Basic statistics, frequencies, (-tests, post-hoc tests

Multi way crosstabs with log-linear modeling, associationcoefficients, PRE statistics, Mantel-Haenszel, asymptotic standarderrors Nonparametric statistics (sign, runs, Wilcoxon. Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman two-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Lilliefors, Kendall coefficient of concordance^ Pairwise/listwise deletion of missing values, Pearson correlation, SSCP,covariance. Spearman, Gamma, Kendall Tau. Euclidean distances,binary similarities Linear, polynomial, multiple, stepwise, weightedregression with extended diagnostics Multivariate general linearmodel includes multi way ANOVA. ANCOVA, MANOVA. repeatedmeasures, canonical correlation Principal components, factoranalysis, rotations, components scores Multidimensional scalingMultiple and canonical discriminant analysis, Bayesian classificationCluster analysis [hierarchical, single, average, complete, median,centroid linkage, k-means. cases, variables} Time series Csmoothers,exponential smoothing, seasonal and nonseasonal ARIMA, ACE,PACE, CCF, transformations, Fourier analysis] Nonlinear estimation[nonlinear regression, maximum likelihood estimation, and more].

Graphics Overiay plots Drivers for most graphics devicesTwo-dimensional: £noT bars Scatterplots Line and vector graphsVector, dot, bubble and quantile plots Bar graphs [single, multiple,stacked, range] Box plots [single and grouped] Stem-and-leafdiagrams Linear, quadratic, step, spline, polynomial, LOWESS,exponential smoothing Confidence intervals and ellipses [any alphavalue] Smooth mathematical functions Rectangular or polarcoordinates Log and power scales ANOVA interaction plotsHistograms [regular, cumulative, fuzzy] Stripe and jitter plotsGaussian histogram smoothing Scatterplot matrices Voronoi

tesselations Minimum spanning tree Maps with geographicprojections (U.S. state boundary file included, county and worldboundary files available] Chernoff faces Star plots Fourier plotsPie charts Contour plots on regulariy and irregulariy spaced pointsControl charts and limits Three-dimensional: Data p\ots Smoothfunction plots Vector plots Linear, quadratic, spline, least squaressurface smoothing Typefaces that print in perspective.

Data Management import/export Lotus. dBase, and DIEfiles Full screen data editor Full screen text editor Unlimitedcases Missing data, arrays, character variables Capability toprocess hierarchical, rectangular or triangular files, irregular lengthrecords Character, numeric, and nested sorts Merge and appendlarge files Unlimited numeric and character variable transformationsSubgroup processing with SELECT and BY Value labels and RECODEstatements Macro processor with programming language, screencontrol, file manipulation, applications generation, and report writing.

SYSTAT operates on IBM PC's- and compatibles. MS-DOS?VAX^/Microvax and Macintosh? Site licenses, quantity prices andtraining seminars available. No fees for technical support.

SYSTAT

SYSTAT. Intelligent software.

For more information call or write: SYSTAT, Inc. 1800 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60201-3793 Tel: 708.864.5670 Fax: 708.492.3567For international representatives call: Australia 61.3.4974755. Canada 416.424.1700. Finland 358.0.6923800. France 33.1.40935000,Germany 49.61.265950, Italy 39.587.213640. Japan 81.3.5902311, New Zealand 64.71.562675. Norway 47.3.892240. Sweden 46.8.110620,Switzerland 41.31.416611, The Netherlands 31.3402.66336, UK: Letchwort;h 44.462.482822, London 44.81.6926636. London SE 44.0753.841686

Circle 333 on Reader Service Card

Michael Nadeau

REVIEW

TravelMate 2000 Lives Up to Its Name

The TexasInstrumentsTravelMate 2000packs AT-classperformance intoa 4-poundnotebook PC.

TravelMate 2000

Company

Texas InstrumentsP.O. Box 202230Austin, TX 78720(800) 527-3500

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 12-MH2 80C286; socket for80C287 math coprocessorMemory: 1 MB of RAM; 1 MB of ROMfor MS-DOS 4.01 and utilitiesMass storage: 2y2-inch 23-ms 20-MBConner Peripherals hard disk driveDisplay: 10-inch-diagonal 640- by 480-pixel VGA; backlit triple supertwist LCDKeyboard: 79-key IBM Enhanced styleI/O interfaces: One parallel port; oneserial port; one proprietary externalexpansion bus

Size

11 X 81/2 X 1 % inches; 42/5 pounds{with battery)

Price

$3995

Inquiry 1078.

There's something about the TexasInstruments (TI) TravelMate 2000notebook PC that says, "Take mewith you." Its size (11 by SVi by 1% inch-es) and weight (4% pounds with battery)are big factors in creating that impres-sion. So are its 640- by 480-pixel VGAdisplay, internal 20-megabyte hard diskdrive, and 12-MHz 80C286 CPU. To-gether, these features make for what isarguably the most totable AT-class note-book system available.

The TravelMate 2000 has its flaws.The battery life is sub-par: 2 hours atbest (an optional battery pack adds 3hours to the running time, ly^ inches tothe length, and about 2 pounds to theunit's weight). A floppy disk drive isavailable only as an external option.Some people might find the keyboard un-comfortable to use; the keyboard pre-sents no typing angle to speak of, and it'sset back about an inch from the front ofthe unit. And with a price of $3995, theTravelMate is also expensive.

On the plus side, the TravelMate pro-vides performance, VGA, and conve-nience. These benefits compensate forthe drawbacks if portability is the mainissue.

What You Get

TI sells the standard TravelMate with 1MB of internal RAM (expandable to 3

MB with two 1-MB RAM cards), a 2'A-inch 23-millisecond 20-MB hard diskdrive, one serial and one parallel port,the triple supertwist VGA LCD screenwith 16 gray levels, and an AC adapter.MS-DOS 4.01, LapLink, and the systemutilities reside on 1 MB of ROM. This allfits easily into any briefcase, with roomleft for other essentials.

When you turn on the TravelMate, youare greeted by Laptop Manager, a DOSshell. Laptop Manager comes set up torun the system utilities from a menu;adding applications to the menu is a sim-ple matter of answering a few prompts. Ifyou get stuck, pressing Fl brings up ahelp screen.

The system utilities include TravelingSoftware's ubiquitous LapLink filetransfer program (cables are includedwith the TravelMate) and Battery Watch,which monitors battery drain. Both pro-grams are well-regarded, time-testedutilities.

TI pairs Battery Watch with its Bat-tery Pro power-conservation software.BatteryPro is what TI terms a "powerconservation system." Basically, it mon-itors the notebook's components—harddisk drive, display, and keyboard—andshuts them down when they're not usedfor a specific amount of time. It puts thewhole system in standby mode after a pe-riod of inactivity, and it automatically

selects CPU speed for your applications.(The slower you run the CPU, the lessdrain on the battery.) It also has a RAM-based hard disk cache to minimize ac-cesses. Power utilities of this ilk are be-coming common on many notebook PCs.

Despite BatteryPro's energy-savingfeatures, the TravelMate manages only 2hours of running time on a charge. Thisis undoubtedly because TI shaved sizeand capacity from the battery to reachsize and weight goals.

File Manager, another Laptop Man-ager utility, is exactly what its name im-plies; you can edit, execute, copy, delete,find, and so on. File Manager is simpleand does the job, but it's no Norton Com-mander. For instance, if you want to finda file, you must already be in the direc-tory in which it resides.

Options You Will Need

If you spend $4000 for a 4-pound AT-compatible system, you will probablywant all the benefits of the 12-MHz pro-cessor along with its convenience. Well,you can have them, but at the cost of afew more dollars and a little of that con-venience.

For starters, you need a modem (it'sabout time modems became standardequipment on all notebook PCs) and atleast another megabyte of memory to runthe latest software. Add $499 and $549,

262 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

486 Engineering Workstation

386- 33MHz

$2,995

Super VGA!

80486-25MHZCPU4MB RAM128K Cache1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive1.44MB 3.5' floppy drive150MB ESDI hard drive16-bit VGA card W/512KSuper VGA color monitor(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 gameports

101 Enhanced keyboardMS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01Two year warranty*

$4,595

386/33l\/lHz Corporate Workstation

80386-33MHzCPU4MB RAM64K Cache1.2MB 5.25" drive1.44MB 3.5- drive100MB IDE hard disk drive16-bit VGA cardw/512KSuper VGA color monitor(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 parallel 8c 1 gameports

101 Enhanced keyboardMS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01Two year warranty*

$2,995

386/25l\/lHz Business System

80386-25MHzCPU4MB RAM64K Cache

1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive1.44MB 3.5" floppy drive100MB IDE hard drive16-bit VGA cardw/512KSuper VGA color monitor(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 pjarollel &. 1 gameports

101 Enhonced keyboardMS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01Two year warranty*

$2,795

386/20MHZ Pro-Systerm

80386-20MHZCPU4MB RAM

1,2MB 5.25" floppy drive1.44MB 3.5' floppy drive65MB hard drive16-bit VGA cardw/512KSuper VGA color monitor(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 gameports

101 Enhanced keyboardMS-DOS 3.3 or 4,01Two year warranty*

'If you're looking to buy a computer by moil order but still want acompany that will stand behind what is sells, the ACMA 386/25 isa good bet." "Among PCs reviewed this issue, our favorite is theACMA 386/25." "Choose the ACMA 386/20 for better-than-average construction quality."<i i/28 & 12/26 raw

"The Acma 386SX is highly expandable, performs well,and offers a very complete system for an excellentprice...Acma offers one of the best service policies in themail-order business." "The Acma system not only looksgood, it's a good performer...it performed consistently above average."

(Moy/June 1990)

CDMfUTER

the machine could reliably handle everything I piledonto it.' "The systems from ACMA Computer, Inc. inspire

$2,395

■■—i^l'^l—lr-'-iri confidence.' "Clearly, ACMA intends to be competitivenot only in terms of system bang for the buck, but also in the realm ofintangibles like technical support and product warranty." (Apni & juiy 1990)

386SX Executive System

800-456-8809

80386/SX-16MHZCPU1MB RAM

1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive1.44MB 3.5" floppy drive65MB hard drive16-bit VGA cardw/512KSuper VGA color monitor(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 gameports

101 Enhanced keyboardMS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01Two year warranty*

$ 1,995

Hearing Impaired TDD 800-456-8901

^^COMPUTERS, INCJI^

>1cmcl

»MEBI{»Nl■EKBBE55

Ask Us About On-Site Service!

All computers are covered by a 'two year laborand one year ports worranty and a 45-Dav"Money-Back" guarontee. We accept VISA.Master Card, American Express. Discover Cord,C.O.D., approved POs, and persorxal ctiecks(aBow 7 days to clear). Ail prices and specifica-tkxis ore subject to chortge wtttxxjt rKitice. CoBAcma for current specificofior^. pricing, payment,shipping, wafranly. leosir>g and return policies."45-Day Money-Bock guorantee covers Acnriabrand computers only (shtpplng not rcluded).Software, printers, monitors and shipping ore notrefundable. Non-Acma brand products arecovered by tt>eirmanufocturers worranty. We erenot responsible for errors in typogrophy, photog-raphy, or of omission. Acma reserves ihe fight tosubstitute equivalent ports. Brand rxjmes oreregtetered trademarks of their respective com-panies. 386 and 486 are registered trademarks ofIntel Corporation. Acme Computers Inc.. 117FoiJier Ave.. Frenx>nt, CA 94539 (415) 623-1212Corp.. (415) 623-0818Fax

Our Best Starter Package Ever!

H Printer standH Ten diskettesH Computer paper■ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01H Choice of softwareH User's guideH Surge protector

$ 1,495

286/12 computer1MB RAM1.2MB or 1.44MBfloppy drive40MB hard driveMonochromemonitor

101 key keyboardPanasonic 1180printer & cable

Circle 12 on Reader Service Card

REVIEW

TravelMate 2000 Lives Up to Its Name

< Worse

TravelMate 2000

Compaq Deskpro 386/20IBM PC AT

1.6

DOS BENCHMARKS

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCE !

Better ►

N/A

23.67.0

Word

Processing

j j Desktop

Publishing

□

□

Compilers

I I Scientific/

Engineering Spreadsheet

< Worse

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

Better ►

TravelMate 2000

Compaq Deskpro 386/20IBM PC AT

1.5 2.0

4.6

n CPU n FPU n

CONVENTIONAL BENCHMARKS

LINPACK

Dhrystones

(single)

(Ohry-/sec.)

(MFLOPS)

Tl TravelMate 2000 0.3397

3474.7

Compaq 386/20 0.16970

8449.7

IBM PC AT 0.02105

2317.9

For application and low-level benchmarks, results are indexed and show relative performance; for eachindividual index, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT running MS-DOS 3.30 = 1.

The BYTE low-level benchmark suite identifies performance differences iDetween machines at the hardwarelevel; the application benchmarks evaluate real-world performance by running a standard test suite usingcommercially available applications. Application indexes include tests using the following programs: Wordprocessing: WordPerfect 5.0; Desktop Publishing: Aldus PageMaker 3.0; Database: Borland Paradox 3.0 andAshton-Tate dBASE IV; Compilers: Microsoft C 5.1 and Turbo Pascal 5.5; CAD: AutoCAD release 10 andGeneric CADD level 3 1.1.5: Scientific/Engineering: State release 2, MathCAD 2.5. and PC-Matlab 3.5f; andSpreadsheet: Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0 and Microsoft Excel 2.1.

The BYTE Lab introduced version 2.0 of the DOS benchmarks in the August issue (see "BYTE's NewBenchmarks: New Looks. New Numbers"). Benchmark results for machines reviewed under previousversions aren't directly comparable. To obtain a copy of the benchmarks, join the listings area of thebyte.bmarks conference on BIX or contact BYTE directly.

respectively. If you use Windows or an-other graphical user interface, you willwant the full 3 MB. And you will wantthe second battery pack ($249), or atleast a spare internal battery ($129). Twohours is barely enough under the best cir-cumstances. I got between 1V2 and a littleunder 2 hours.

These options push your capital invest-ment to over $5000. You also end up withabout lYi pounds more than the 5 pounds(with AC adapter) that you were alreadycarrying. With the added paraphernalia,you also might have to make more roomin your briefcase.

Other Observations

Although I complained about it earlier, Ifind the TravelMate's keyboard accept-able in light of what TI is trying to ac-complish. It felt comfortable, and I hadlittle trouble adjusting to it.

Cradling it in your arm, the Travel-Mate has a solid feel. It runs quietly; Idid not experience the high-pitchedwhine some LCDs emit. I did notice

something about the construction thattroubled me: When you open the screen,the tension from the hinge flexes theplastic above the keyboard more than I'mcomfortable with. I don't think this willaffect the electronics, but I do worryabout stress cracks developing in thecase.

On the BYTE benchmarks, the Travel-Mate turned in scores that, while notstartling, were at least respectable—par-ticularly in the disk and video tests. Un-fortunately, the BYTE Lab could not geta cumulative application index, as thenotebook's memory configuration wasinadequate for running some of the soft-ware used in that test suite. My evalua-tion unit was not equipped with a mathcoprocessor.

The black-on-white VGA screen hasgood contrast, and the light seems welldiffused. A switch lets you reverse thevideo to white-on-black, and the contrastand brightness controls have adequaterange. A pop-up utility lets you adjust thegray scaling.

The Verdict

TI has quite an accomplishment in theTravelMate. For many people, it is in-complete in its standard form, but noother computer offers so much in just 4pounds. (The Sharp 6220 is the samecomputer with only cosmetic differencesand no utility software. TI makes it andsimilar notebook PCs under OEM ar-rangements. The TravelMate was actu-ally a joint design project with Sharp.)

The TravelMate is a charmer, wartsnotwithstanding, and that charm is pro-portional to the weight of the portableyou are currently lugging around. Theultimate portable is one that you don'tnotice carrying and that performs com-parably to your desktop system. TheTravelMate is as close as you can get tothat ultimate portable. TI sacrificedsome functionality to get there, but thetrade-offs are reasonable. ■

Michael Nadeau is the managing editorof the BYTE Lab. You can reach him onBIX as "miken."

264 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Our VT240 terminal emulator haschanged the meaning of portability.

I

KEA Systems Ltd

What does VT240 portability mean to you?

• Portable across operating systems! OurZSTEM240software runs under both MS-DOS and Unix 386 System Ymaking your PC look and act hke a VT240/340 terminalon either operating system.

• Portable across machines! ZSTEM 240 runs on IBM PCs, XTs,ATs, PS/2s and compatibles, from AT&Ts to Zeniths!

• Portable across portables! ZSTEM 240 runs on portablePCs, letting you connect to your office systems whenyou're on the road.

• Portable across video adapters! ZSTEM 240 supportsall standard video adapters: VGA, EGA, CGA, MCGA,AT&T, Hercules and many extended adapters. No matterwhat adapter/monitor combination you use, ZSTEM 240displays double-high/double-wide characters, 132 columns.

and VT340 ReGIS, sixel and Tektronix graphics.• Portable across networks! ZSTEM 240 connects to your

favorite networks, including Novell, 3COM, TCP/IP,

Ungermann-Bass, Excelan, Wollongong, FTP, Sun and

DEC'S CTERM and LAT.Of course, ZSTEM doesn't really come with a handle. What itdoes come with is our top-notch technical support anddocumentation, plus a solid warranty so you can be assuredof quality products backed by quality people. Call todayabout our complete line of VT emulation products.

KEA Systems Ltd. Tbll-Free Order Desk

3738 North Fraser Way, Unit 101 1-800-663-8702Bumaby, B.C., Canada V5J 5G1Tblephone: (604) 431-0727FAX: (604) 431-0818

ZSTEM and the KEA and ZSTEM logos are trademarks of KEA Systems Ltd. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

©Copyright KEA Systems Ltd.. 1989. All rights reserved.

Circle 194 on Reader Service Card

HARDWARE

Stan Miastkowski

REVIEW

Pricey Hard Disk Drive Portability

The Disctec 20,shown here withits dockingbracket, measuresjust 3.2 by .81 by5 inches andweighs only 7ounces.

The Disctec 20 shows how far we'vecome from the clunky, noisy, andnotoriously short-lived full-heighthard disk drives that were the only gamein town during the early days of the PCrevolution. The Disctec 20 is a 20-mega-byte removable hard disk drive that'spackaged in a neat little nylon-coveredcase measuring just 3.2 by .81 by 5 inch-es. It weighs a scant 7 ounces.

You might describe the Disctec 20 as athick floppy disk. It's designed to be in-terchanged with a wide variety of PC-compatible computer systems by meansof a "docking bracket" and a controller.The standard docking bracket requires ahalf-height bay in your system. (An ex-ternal docking bracket would be handy,

Disctec 20Company

147 West Lyman Ave., Suite 200P.O. Box 1750Winter Park, FL 32789(407) 645-0001

Hardware Needed

IBM PC, AT, a compatible or Toshiba T1200

Software Needed

MS-DOS or PC-DOS

Price

XT version, $670; AT version, $695;drive-only version, $640; Toshiba T1200version, $680; additional cartridge,$595; additional docking bracket, $50;additional controller, $100

Inquiry 1060.

but it isn't available at this time.) Theunit uses a half-length add-in card thatcontains an Intelligent Drive Electronicsinterface. Cards are available in both 8-and 16-bit versions for PCs and ATs (andcompatibles), respectively. The 8-bitcard supports a single Disctec 20; the 16-bit card supports two. If you have an IDEinterface in your system, you can buy justthe cartridge and the docking bracket.

Disctec also offers a custom combina-tion docking bracket/interface card forthe Toshiba T1200's expansion slot. Ac-cording to the company, more customversions are in the works for other popu-lar laptop systems.

The case is well sealed and houses oneof the new-generation 2V2-inch hard diskdrives. The company claims it will take a150-g jolt without damage.

For Your Eyes Only

The idea of a portable, removable harddisk drive isn't a new one (Tandon did ityears ago), but Disctec is the first com-pany to make it truly handy. The diskcartridge itself is small and light enoughto toss into your briefcase at the end ofthe day and bring home to another com-puter equipped with a docking bracket.Even better is the ability to easily toteyour work along on the road with a Disc-tec 20 in a laptop. And of course, youcan't overlook the security aspect. If youlock up your Disctec cartridge or (evenbetter) take it along, your data is abso-lutely secure from prying eyes. And ifyou use the Disctec 20 as your boot de-vice, your computer's even more secure.

Installing the Disctec 20 isn't compli-cated. I installed mine in a 20-MHz 386system in two different configurations:as the primary (boot) drive and as a sec-ondary hard disk drive. The Disctec con-

troller also has a floppy disk drive inter-face, so it can be the only disk drivecontroller in your system. When I in-stalled it as the secondary controller, Ihad to play with jumpers on the board,disabling the floppy disk drive controllerand setting the memory location for theboard so it wouldn't conflict with the pri-mary controller.

Consistent Performer

The Disctec 20 requires special driversoftware, called from your DOS CON-FIG.SYS file. Unfortunately, that pre-cludes its use with alternative operatingsystems, such as OS/2. The softwarecomes with its own well-designed auto-matic installation utility. That's where Iinitially ran into trouble. After installa-tion, the Disctec 20 was flaky, and disk-performance utilities such as NortonUtilities refused to recognize it. A quickcall to Disctec got me an updated versionof the driver, and I didn't have any addi-tional problems after that.

The installation utility lets you chooseamong several options, including wheth-er you hear a beep when you change car-tridges. And if you're using the Disctec20 in a laptop, you can choose the timebefore the drive goes into a "spin-down"mode to conserve battery power. There'salso a power-save mode where the diskkeeps spinning but the support circuitsare powered off. In spin-down mode, ittakes about 2 seconds for the drive to getback up to speed. In power-save mode,recovery takes a short V,o second. Evenwithout the power-conserving modes,the Disctec 20 pulls just 1 watt of power.

No slouch at performance, the Disctec20 has an average access time of 23 milli-seconds, according to the company. Theunit I tested did better, consistently scor-ing in the 19- to 20-ms range. Data trans-fer is a respectable 500 megabits per sec-ond. There is no performance penalty inusing the Disctec 20. In fact, it was con-siderably faster than my primary drive.

The Disctec 20 is well built and handy.But you'll pay a large premium for conve-nience. The interface, docking bracket,and a cartridge retail for $670 to $695,depending on the system you want to in-stall it in. Additional drive cartridgessell for $595; additional docking brack-ets are $50. For a 20-MB drive, that's ex-pensive. But to be fair, new technologyis always initially exorbitant. If you wantor need true data portability and secur-ity, the Disctec 20 is a logical choice. ■

Stan Miastkowski is a BYTE senior newseditor. He can be contacted on BIX as"stanm."

266 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

\

If ^u*re Driven by Success,*1 Make Svire Ifs a Quality Drive^

To be successful in today's business environment, youneed drive, determination and commitment. You also needthe right products supporting you—keeping things runningsmoothly, on track and on schedule. Products that consistentlymeet operating specifications, and provide the dependabilityyou can rely on. Products such as Mitsubishi disk drives.

Just like you, Mitsubishi Electronics is also driven bysuccess. We manufacture the latest in memory storage technol-ogy, and offer one of the broadest ranges of flexible drives inthe industry today. Whatever your memory requirements,Mitsubishi has the drive you need—from 720 KB and 1.44 MB3.5" models to 360 KB and 1.2 MB 5.25" models, with a vari-ety of mounting and bezel configurations.

As one of the largest suppliers of flexibledisk drives in the world, Mitsubishi®continues to earn its reputation forproduct quality anddesign innovation.

Mitsubishi also manufactures rigid disk drives that havethe same incomparable dependability as the flexible drives.Every 5.25" rigid drive supports the high-density mode of thenewer (RLL) controllers, with up to 65 MB formatted memory,as well as the standard-density mode of the (MFM) controllersused in today's most popular systems, with up to 42 MB for-matted memory.

So when you're looking for reliable, high capacity diskdrives, look to Mitsubishi. We'll make sure you get a qual-ity drive.

For the authorized Mitsubishi reseller nearest you, call1-800-556-1234, ext. 54 in the US. and Canada (in California1-800441-2345, ext. 54).

MITSUBISHIELECTRONICS

See us al

;OffliDIH/Fair90

November 12-16, 1990Las Vegas, NevadaBooth 1216

Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc., Information Systems Division, 991 Knox Street, Torrance, CA 90502.Mitsubishi Electric Sales Canada, Inc., 8885 Woodbine Avenue, Ontario L3R 5GL© 1989 Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc. Mitsubishi is a registered trademark of Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Tokyo. Image courtesy of Software Publishing Corp.

Circle 231 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 232)

REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK

Reviewer's Notebook provides new information—including version updates,new test data, long-term usage reports, and reader feedback—on productspreviously reviewed in BYTE.

ALR Pumps Up PowerFlex

ALR has addedthe PowerFlex20CSX, aWindows-ready20-MHz 386SX PC,to its popularPowerFlex line.

Reviewed in the June issue, the 286-based ALR PowerFlex and its up-gradable architecture provides acost-effective means of keeping yourDOS-based system current with the de-mands of your applications. AdvancedLogic Research recently introduced anew PowerFlex model, the 20CSX,which begins life as a 20-MHz 386SX-based PC and is upgradable to a 25-MHz486. Like the earlier version, the 20CSXis relatively inexpensive and well made.The two systems also share the same 16-bit bus architecture, which forces you topay a performance penalty when usingthe 32-bit i486 CPU.

The 20CSX does not replace the earli-er PowerFlex. It is a midrange model thatALR is aiming at users of graphical in-terfaces such as Windows, and its config-uration reflects that. The Model 110 thatALR sent to BYTE comes standard with3 megabytes of RAM, an 800- by 600-pixel Super VGA card, a 25-millisecond106-MB hard disk drive with an Intelli-gent Drive Electronics controller, and a

two-button mouse. It also sports a 32K-byte static RAM cache. In all other as-pects, the 20CSX is the same machine asthe original PowerFlex (see "Two toGrow On," June BYTE).

Good Performer

The BYTE Lab benchmarked the Power-Flex 20CSX in its 386SX mode. Bench-mark indexes for the 486 version shouldbe similar to those achieved by the origi-nal PowerFlex. As the graph shows, the20CSX performs comparably to theCompaq Deskpro 386s/20 in both thelow-level and application suites; the ma-jor difference is the ALR's significantlybetter CPU index: 2.49 versus the Com-paq's 1.76.

Windows 3.0 is crisp in both its ap-pearance and its performance on the20CSX. The Super VGA video with theALR FlexView 2X Super VGA monitoreliminates the fuzziness sometimes ex-perienced with lesser graphics systems. Iexperienced no compatibility problemswith the ALR system.

PowerFlex 20CSX Model 110Company

Advanced Logic Research, Inc.9401 JeronimoIrvine, CA 92718(714)581-6770

Components (as tested)

Processor: 20-MHz 386SX; 20-MHz80387SX FPU

Memory: 3 MB of 80-ns DRAM,expandable to 5 MB on motherboard andto 16 MB total; 32K-byte static RAMcache

Mass storage: 3y2-inch 1.44-MB Teac

floppy disk drive; 106-MB 25-ms 3y2-inch

Toshiba IDE hard disk drive

Display: ALR 800- by 600-pixel Super

VGA controller with ALR FlexView 2X

Super VGA monitor

Keyboard: 101-key modified IBM

Enhanced AT layout

I/O Interfaces: One serial, one parallel,

and one mouse port; one 8-bit and five

16-bit ISA expansion slots (five open)

Price

$4008

Inquiry 1075.

Like the original FlexCache system,the 20CSX is ruggedly constructed. Thecase fits correctly and is easy to removeand replace, and the motherboard isfirmly mounted. Installing add-in cardsflexes the electronics very little. I foundno last-minute engineering modifica-tions in the system.

One for the Budget-Conscious

Among all the 20-MHz 386SX systemsBYTE has reviewed, the 20CSX is astandout. It is one of the best performers,comes Windows-ready, and provides ameans of increasing the horsepower asneeded. It's also among the lowest pricedat $3349 (without the math coprocessor).

Its biggest drawback is still its 16-bitbus, which prevents the system from tak-ing full advantage of the i486. As the de-mands of your applications increase, youjust might need all of that i486. Nonethe-less, the PowerFlex 20CSX is an attrac-tive starting platform for the businessuser or professional moving to Windows.

—Michael Nadeau

268 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

DOS BENCHMARKS

Woi:..'

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCES

ALR PowerFlex 20CSX

Compaq Deskpro 386/20Compaq Deskpro 386s/20IBM PC AT

2.2

2.6

2.5

2.8

3.9

4.3

3.2

Belter ►

21.5

23.621.47.0

□

Word r~j Desktop | | I |Processing I 1 Publishing | j Database I I Compilers

□

CAD

Scientific/Engineering

Wotse j

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

Spreadsheet

Better ►

ALR PowerFlex 20CSX

Compaq Deskpro 386/20Compaq Deskpro 386s/20IBM PC AT

2.5

6.6

2.5 '

□ cPu □

For application and low-level berchmarks. results are indexed and show relativeperfamance; for each individual index, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT running MS-DOS 3.30 =all benchmarks, higher numbers indicate better performance.

.For

The BYTE low-level benchmark suite identifies performance differences between machinesat the hardware level; the application benchmarks evaluate real-world performance byrunning a standard test suite using commercially available applications. Applicationindexes include tests using the following programs: Word Processing: WordPerfect 5.0;Desktop Publishing: Aldus PageMaker 3.0; Database: Borland Paradox 3.0 and Ashton-

Tate dBASE IV; Compilers: Microsoft C 5.1 and Borland Turbo Pascal 5.5; CAD: AutoCADrelease 10 and Generic CADD level 3 1.1.5: Scientific/Engineering: Stata release 2.MathCAD 2.5. and PC-Matlab 3.5f; and Spreadsheet: Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0 and MicrosoftExcel 2.1.

For more information on all the BYTE benchmarks, see "BYTE's New Benchmarks: NewLooks, New Numbers" on page 158 in the August issue.

Hard Disk Confusion at IVIicro Express

In BYTE's Product Focus on 386SXsystems (see "386SX PCs: Heirs tothe Low End," August), we recom-mended Micro Express's ME 386 SX/SL, based in part on its fast (19 millisec-ond) Quantum ProDrive hard disk drive.Since then, some readers have reportedthat they had received slower hard diskdrives in the systems that they ordered.Readers also reported having problemscontacting Micro Express and receivingtechnical support.

BYTE repeatedly called Micro Ex-press, posing as a customer, and did ex-perience problems getting through toboth sales representatives and technical-support personnel. When we asked whathard disk drive was shipped with the sys-tem, two salespeople cited a 28-ms West-ern Digital hard disk drive; another citeda more comparable 23-ms Conner Pe-ripherals hard disk drive. None of the

salespeople mentioned the Quantum Pro-Drive.

A Micro Express spokesperson saidthat favorable reviews of the ME 386SX/SL had caused a rush of orders thatoverloaded the company's telephone sys-tem and created temporary productshortages and support problems. Headded that the company is working tocorrect these problems.

Micro Express confirmed that it nolonger sells the 40-MB 19-ms QuantumProDrive and claimed that it was offeringa comparably equipped system witheither a 28-ms Western Digital hard diskdrive for $1799 or an 80-MB 19-msQuantum ProDrive for $1899. (The sys-tem that we tested for the Product Focus,with 2 MB of RAM, a 40-MB hard diskdrive, and a color analog monitor, cost$1945.) In subsequent calls. Micro Ex-press salespersons did offer these alter-

natives, but they quoted $1999 for thesystem with the 80-MB Quantum Pro-Drive and incorrectly stated the averageaccess time for the Western Digital harddisk drive as 23 ms.

Most system vendors "second source"major components to ensure an adequatesupply. Usually, these components offerroughly equivalent performance to thecomponents they replace; occasionally,however, they do not. BYTE stronglyurges readers to specify the subsystemcomponents that they want when order-ing a system. (A description of compo-nents in our test systems accompaniesevery BYTE review.) If a part isn't instock, most companies will special-orderit for you.

As for Micro Express, we are con-fused about exactly what the company isoffering.

—Rob Mitchell

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 269

With HP's enhanced OCR capabilities,

chirrupy / chloroquine

246

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to make a series of sharp, sucking sounds with the lips, as in urginga horse on — n. a chirruping sound —ehir'ruply adj.

chi-rur-geon (kl r^r'janj n. Ia!t«red, after L forms < ME cirurgian< OFr cirurgien < ME & OFr cirurgie: see SURGERY | archaic far. ofSURGEON —chi rur'a«fty (-jar 5) n. —chi ruKgi cal (-ji kal) adj.

Chisjel (chiz'a!) n. INormFr (OFr cise/) < VL •ctse(iiim. for L'caesetlum < caesus, pp. of caedere, tocut: see -CideI a hand too! with a sharp,often wedge-shaped, blade for cutting or ' )

shaping wood, stone, etc., specif., such atool that ie driven with a mallet or ham-mer — W., y<. -eled or -elled, -el ing or-el-IIng 1 to cut or shape with a chisel 2[CoUoq.j a) to take advantage of by cheat-ing, sponging, etc, b) to get (something)in this way —chisel In [CoUoq.J to forceoneself upon others without being askedor welcomed —chis'e^er or chis'eMer n.

chis eled or chis elled C-ald) adj. 1 cutor shaped with a chisel 2 finely wrought, chi«ias if shaped by a chisel '

Chis-hclm Trail (chiz'sm) | after JesseCkisholm {c. 1806-68), U.S. frontier scout who establishedtrail from San Antonio. Tex., to ,^bi!ene. KanR.: impor-1865 until 1880's

Chi-square (ki'skwer") n. a statistical method used ■ -the classification of data can be ascribed to chan.underl>ing law

chit'(chit) n. ; ME c.'ii.'tt-, prob. var. ofan immature or childish ^irl

Chit^ (ch.iij n. "_ ' chKty Hindi ckttlh.. :ct:c!, ..m;,.spot: see 0HINT7. ^" 1 (Chiefly Brit.j o short note or ie'-dum 2 a voucher of a small sum owed for drink, fo ■

ChittB (ciiS Ui'j city in SE R.S.F S.R., near th, ' '

pop. 336,006

cnit-Chat (ch>t'chat',> n. J redupl. ofCH^-mai talk; chat; small taik 2 gossip

Chi-tin iki'tin! n. 'Fr chs'.irte ^ Or ch.ihomy polysaccharide. iCsH^sNOs)^, secreicd by tneforming the main bulk of the <iuter covering of insti ■etc. --ohi'tin ous (-as) adj.

Chrt-lins or Chlt llngs tchit'linz) n.pl. d^ai -.--.r , ; .!!: ;•!>;:

Chi'ton_(ki'tsn, -tanO n. _Gt chit6n. garmei!'.. tun:c, >oa! ::iTUNIC i 1 a loose garment of varying length, similar s,worn by both men and women m ancient Greece 2 anv <..:i.Polyplacophora) of mostly small, ovoid marine mollu.sics, i-.v,; :dorsal shell consisting of eight arliculaimg calcareous p!di*s an:^ventral foot

ChMO'San (kit's san') n, a polysaccharide derived frurn chi;

absorbs heavy metals while in solution; it is used in industr ,

purify waste waterChit-ta-gong (chit's gorj', -giir)') seaport m SE Bangladesh ■

Bay of Bengal: pop. 1,392,000chil-ter (chit'sr) W. .fME chiteren: orig. echoic' 1 to uviu.t;

[Brit. Dial.} to shiver with coldchtt'ter-lings (chit'lim; occas. chit'ar litjt') n.pj. ' ME

entrails, -souse: akin to MlxiwCr km ^nft r.»ri» ft

Chtoie or Chloie (klfl'e) jL < Gr Chios, blooming, vertiam/:

feminine name 2 see Daphnis and ChloeChlor- (klor) combining form CHU)RO-: used before a vowelchlor-ac-ne (kldr ak'nf) n. an acnelike skin disorder causedbv't

sure to chlorinated hydrocarbonsOhlo-ral (klor'a!) n. ;Chlor(o)- + al(cohol)| 1 a ■.hi:;. :;.

less liquid. CCljCHO. with a pungent odor, prepared by ;h(

of chlorine on alcohol; used in the manufacture of DDT 2 iw:

CHLORAL HYDRATE

chloral hydrate a colorless, crystalline compound, CCIj-CHlG ;used chiefly as a sedative ;

Chlora-ltllne (kloi^s m6n', klor'a mSn': klor am'fn, -is iifCHi.GR(o)- + A.MINE ' a colorless, pungent liquid, NH:r!, .*i--by the action of ammonia on some hypochlorite

ehloramphenii-col (klor'am fen'i kol', -kel') n. ■ h:am(id! » phe{n)- * .Nl(TR)- + (cly)col5 an ant;:C,,H,;,Cl:.NsOs, prepared synthetically or isolated fron; ;{Streptomyces venezuelae): it is used against a wide vanei;. ;:iiterial and rickettsial diseases and against some viruses

chlo-rate (klor'if, -it) n. a salt of chloric aci'*

chlO'to-slslkfarO'sis) n. First (ModL;abnormal condition of plants in whiccolor or turn yellow as a lack of chldisease, lack of light, etc. 2 a formsometimes affecting"girls at puberty aijreenish color —chlOTOfilc (-rai'ik) aa

cSlOTO'thl^'Zide !kl6r'5 ihia, zid') n. !i s>mhetic drug. C-H.CIN OjS., useiieari failure, or various edemas by reibrough the kidneys

clilo-rous iklor'Mi adj. 1 of or contdesignating or of an unstable acid, HCrtich exists onlv in solution and whosi

chlofplc-rin Ikliir pik'rini n. ghk^'

chlor-promi«-ztns (kldr" '

vaient, negative radical CIO,ohior cy cli zine (klor'si'ki-

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Now you can take a page of this.A paragraph of that. Combinethem with a few images. Andquickly come up with one veryimpressive document. The HPScanJet Plus scanner can readeverything from a magazinearticle to a balance sheet. Then itstays on the job so you can easilyfine-tune, or make major changesto, everything you've scanned.

The affordable, 8-bit ScanJet Plusis supported by a wide variety

of third-party OCR and gi-aphicssoftware packages. HP's optional

it's easy to make chocolate moose.

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text scanning software, AccuScan,simplifies the scanmng processby recognizing the layout of eventhe most complicated material.Including multi-column pagesand numerical tables. AccuScanautomatically separates text fromgraphics, making it easy for youto pick and choose the infor-mation you want. An optionaltwenty-page automatic documentfeeder makes you even moreefficient.

The ScanJet Plus gives you ahead start. With one-button auto-matic text scanning. Live previewfor instant feedback on imagequality. And auto exposure, whichworks like a point and shootcamera. To make things eveneasier, it features on-line help.

HP has added aU these impressivecapabilities to a scanner knownfor its superior image scanning.The ScanJet Plus reads 256 levelsof gray for smooth shading andmore realistic graphics.

At only S2,190* the ScanJet Plusmakes perfect sense for anybusiness interested in being moreproductive. And more profes-sional. For more information andthe name of your nearest autho-rized HP dealer, caU 1-800-752-0900, Ext. 1666. And even if younever make chocolate moose,youH have a recipe for success.

HEWLETTPACKARD

'Suggested U.S. list price without document feeder. © 1990 Hewlett-Packard Company PE12036

STATE OF THE ART

Magnetic

vs.

Optical

275 State of the Media

by David A. Harvey

Playing Catch-Up

by Andrew Reinhardt

283 Crystal Clear Storage

by Tom Parish

289 Entering a New Phase

by Bob Ryan

301 The Once and Future King

by Bob Ryan

Side by Side

by Bill Passavanti

311 Store Data in a Flash

by Walter Lahti andDean McCarron

323 DAT's a Solution

by Karina Lion

331 Getting Your Byte's Worth

by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

338 Masses of Storage

Mass storage is the subject ofone of the hottest debates inthe computer industry. Willoptical media replace mag-netic media? Many people think it's onlya matter of time. But magnetic media arefar from dead. In fact, they outperformoptical media by a significant margin.

Perhaps magnetic will withstand thechallenge it faces from optical. Perhaps itwon't. Or perhaps the two will mergeinto a hybrid form. In "State of theMedia," David A. Harvey looks at theadvantages and disadvantages of eachand explores the possibilities of hybridtechnologies combining the good pointsof both. And in a related text box, "Play-ing Catch-Up," Andrew Reinhardt ex-plores the confusion that is the stan-dards' environment for optical storage.

One of the wildest ideas I've heard in along time is that of storing data in crys-tals with light. This is no hocus-pocus.In "Crystal Clear Storage," Tom Parishexamines holographic data storage, atechnology whose capacity dwarfs eventhat of optical disks, while giving youfaster access to your data.

Another new optical storage technol-ogy, called phase change, uses a wholenew method for storing data on an opticaldisk. In the process, it merges the capac-ity of magneto-optical storage with a per-formance better than that of traditionaloptical storage. It may bridge the gap be-tween magnetic and optical. In "Enter-ing a New Phase," Bob Ryan describeshow phase-change technology works andits potential for the future.

The most popular form of magnetictechnology is the disk, be it a hard disk ora floppy. If magnetic disk technologiesare to remain healthy, they will have tocontinue to evolve, in speed, in capacity,in densities, and in recording means andmaterials. In "The Once and Future

King," Bob Ryan looks at new disk tech-nologies, what they are and how they arelikely to affect future disk drives. In thetext box "Side by Side," Bill Passavantidiscusses perpendicular recording, anew way to put more bits onto a disk.

Another new form of "disk" technol-ogy is solid-state. Flash-memory ICs,contained on credit-card-size devices,are entering the microcomputer arena.Because of their size, they will probablyinvade the laptop market first, and take itby storm. In "Store Data in a Flash,"Walter Lahti and Dean McCarron ex-plain what flash memory is, what it islikely to be used for, and why.

After disks, the next most popularmagnetic medium is tape. You don't tendto think of magnetic tape when you thinkof microcomputers, but as systems be-come larger and more complex, backupsbecome more important. When disk-to-disk backups are no longer practical,tape provides an alternative. In "DAT's aSolution," Karina Lion examines the ad-vantages of digital audiotape and ex-plores quarter-inch cartridge and 8-mmoptions as well.

Whether you use magnetic or opticalmedia, data compression is becoming therule rather than the exception in an effortto cram more data into existing space. In"Getting Your Byte's Worth," Steven J.Vaughan-Nichols examines hardware-based data compression. It is so transpar-ent and automatic, you'll never knowyou're using it.

As data continues to proliferate, theoptical versus magnetic debate will con-tinue, and new and improved technol-ogies will appear on both sides—and inthe middle. So let the opposing factionsfight it out. We'll just watch—and collectthe spoils.

—Jane Morrill TazelaarSenior Editor, State of the Art

272 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 273

0E$K ]\0T BIG E]\0[JGH ?

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PaperTamer is designed toeliminate the need to run tothe file room every time youneed information. PaperTamerprovides immediate access toover a million images, docu-ments, memos and articles.

Flagstaff Engineering offersa complete line of peripheralproducts to provide completeimage storage and retrievalsystems including scanners,optical drives and massstorage devices.

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STATE OF THE ARTMAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

State of the Media

Magnetic vs. optical: Is it the war of the disk drivesor a marriage of convenience?

David A. Harvey

How far the micro-computer indus-try has come in adecade or so. Itwasn't so long ago that alldata was stored on cassettetapes. At that time, the adventof the single-sided floppy diskseemed like a miracle.

Today, with a 150-mega-byte hard disk drive, two CD-ROM units, and a 1-gigabytemagneto-optical drive—not tomention double-sided high-density floppy disk drives-serving for storage, thoughtsof single-sided disks give meacute claustrophobia. How-ever, the more places youhave to put data, the moreconfusing it can become todecide which device to use.

As much as we'd all like tohave the newest and most in-novative technologies on ourdesks, the primary questionis, "Which storage option isreally appropriate to your needs?" If youlisten to all the hype, you're going tohear conflicting reports.

The makers of traditional magneticdrives will tell you that they provide afaster and more tested technology, andthat the capacity of hard disk drives is in-creasing daily. The producers of opticaldrives are prone to elaborate on how thetime has come for optical drives to re-

place all other mass storage devices. Andfloppy disk drives continue to grow big-ger and faster, too.

Ultimately, the industry will probablyevolve toward one standard way of stor-ing information. From here, that futurelooks optical. But for now, the choicesyou make will affect not only your pro-ductivity, but also how you work.

The conflict between traditional mag-

netic mass storage devices andoptical technologies includesquestions of speed, cost, datamigration, archival needs,and the amount of data youneed to store. The most im-portant difference betweenthe two technologies lies inhow they let you manipulatethe data.

Magnetic Racing Stripes

If the data associated withyour primary applications iscontained in executable andtemporary files, in discreteand manageable data files,then you probably want a harddisk drive. The advantages ofhard disk drives include theirspeed, cost, and universality.

No optical device on themarket can even come close tomatching the speed of a ge-neric Intelligent Drive Elec-tronics drive with a softwarecache thrown in. And opticaldrives can't begin to touch an ESDI harddisk drive with 0.5-millisecond accesstime, throughput greater than 1 mega-byte, and a bus-mastered caching con-troller on an Extended Industry StandardArchitecture bus.

If you need your data nearly instanta-neously, if a hard disk can contain it, andif you have a good backup system workedout for that data, then you probably have

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 275

STATE OF THE ARTSTATE OF THE MEDIA

no reason to go optical. Optical devicesare not so slow that they're unusable,however. Some of the newer rewritabledevices, both phase-change and magne-to-optical, are fast approaching hard diskdrive speeds.

Optical drives are slow for a number ofreasons. CD-ROMs and some WORM(write once, read many times) drives useconstant linear velocity (CLV)—data isorganized sequentially in one continuousspiral track, rather than in tracks andsectors (see figure 1). When you want in-formation, the read head must find thetemporal position of the data rather thanmoving to a logical address. The processof finding a specific piece of informationis analogous to scanning a compact diskto find a particular passage of music: Theread head must move along the entiretrack until it gets to the data.

Read-write optical drives employ con-stant angular velocity (CAV)—data is or-ganized into sectors and tracks (see fig-ure 2). The read-write head is heavierthan a conventional hard disk drive's,and thus it takes longer to physicallymove the head to a given location.

Until now, the real degradation in re-

writable optical drive performance wastied to the technology of the magneto-optical drive. On an MO drive, writing abyte of information requires two passes.An erase pass restores the disk to its orig-inal state; then a write pass adjusts the

A

f» traditionalhard disk drive is stillthe best bet for primarymass storage.

magnetization to reflect the bit pattern ofthe data. With the advent of phase-change technology, which can do one-pass writes (see "Entering a New Phase"on page 289), the performance of rewrit-able optical devices will improve tremen-dously.

Even without phase-change technol-

ogy, however, MO drives are relativelyfast. The Storage Dimensions LaserStoron my desk reports an average seek timeof about 40 ms. To put that into perspec-tive, it's about as fast as a Seagate ST251and faster than an ST225.

What all this means is that if you areusing disk-intensive programs—anima-tion packages, spreadsheet and databaseprograms, programs that make frequentuse of temporary files, or anything thatuses the hard disk drive for virtual mem-ory—you're far better off using a tradi-tional hard disk drive to store your in-formation.

The Magnetic Advantage

Physical size and power requirements areanother advantage of hard disk units.Within the last few years, hard diskdrives have become smaller and requiredless power. It's reached the point whereif you look in almost any laptop, you'llfind a 2'/2-inch form-factor drive. Thedisk in this drive holds between 20 MBand 100 MB of data and can run forhours on battery power.

Optical drives, on the other hand, arebulkier and require more power. Withthe exception of CD-ROM drives, whichcome in a 5 U-inch half-height form fac-tor, most optical drives are full-height5U-inch models—too large for laptops.(A slew of full-height 3'/2-inch opticaldrives are expected to hit the market thisyear.) More and more manufacturers aremaking half-height optical drives, buteven these are too big and too heavy for alaptop. You'll see them sooner in AC-only transportables and luggables.

As long as you don't continually runout of available storage space, hard diskdrives are your most economic solution.This means not only that it's going tocost you less to store your data, but alsothat you can upgrade or add new drives asyou need them. With SCSI drives or amultidrive controller, like PSI's hyper-Store, you can easily circumvent DOS'stwo-drive limitation and add as manydrives as you need.

The start-up cost for WORM or re-writable drives is still high. At best,you're going to pay in the neighborhoodof $3500 for an optical drive, a control-ler, and one piece of media. However,additional disks cost only SlOO to $200.In the long run, if you're dealing withmassive quantities of information, an op-tical system may be cheaper.

A traditional magnetic hard disk driveis still the best bet for a primary massstorage system. In this role, an opticaldrive just can't compete with a hard diskdrive's price, performance, and overall

CONSTANT LINEAR VELOCITY

Figure 1: In constant linear velocity (CLV) recording, data is arranged in a singlespiral track with a uniform density of bits. This lets you pack the most informationpossible onto the disk. The speed of the disk varies between the outer and inneredges—the closer the read head gets to the outer edge, the faster the disk spins. Datais located by its temporal position, measured in minutes and seconds. Each secondconsists oflK bytes of data.

276 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ARTSTATE OF THE MEDIA

functionality. For example, the NeXTComputer came initially with only a re-writable optical drive. However, becausethis device proved too slow for its virtualmemory file swapping, NeXT added aconventional hard disk drive to speed upthe operation.

That doesn't mean that there aren'tany uses for optical devices. Quite theopposite, in fact. Document storage andretrieval, graphical image databases,medical diagnostic references, and thestorage of multiple versions of files aresome of the applications best suited to op-tical storage. And when put to good use,an optical storage system can be an essen-tial part of a computer system.

The Optical Advantage

The limitations of hard disk drives be-come apparent when you deal with largevolumes of data that in turn require a lotof space for backup. If you're dealingwith 1 gigabyte of data, you could opt formirrored 1-gigabyte hard disk drives.But when the data enters the multigiga-byte or even terabyte range, hard diskdrive solutions become unmanageable.

Optical drives can store more informa-tion in less space than hard disk drivescan. Since optical drives use easily re-moved and inserted cartridges, you canuse a single drive to manage unlimitedamounts of information. And with juke-box-style changers, in which a roboticarm handles disk changing and selection,you can have terabytes on-line.

The optical storage advantage occursbecause the laser is more precise andrequires less room to write the sameamount of data than the write head of amagnetic hard disk drive does. WithWORM drives, which usually encodebytes of information as pits on the sur-face of the disk, this means both more in-formation in a smaller space, and a moresecure store of data—the pits are a rela-tively permanent form of encryption andare not affected by magnetic fields.

More storage space doesn't just meancramming more onto a disk, however. Itfundamentally changes what you can dowith your personal computer. Instead ofdealing with only part of a set of data,you can have all the data in one place atone time. If you work with large images,an optical drive not only allows you tostore the images in one place, but itmakes them easier to manipulate, com-pare, and analyze.

Optical devices are particularly suitedto storing documents. Using software de-signed for file management, such asN/Hance's TextScan or Lotus's Magel-lan, you can sort and group documents

contextually. The advantage to this isn'tjust speed. It allows you to group docu-ments in ways that were impossible whenthey weren't all accessible for complexword searches.

Another benefit to optical drives isthat you can store both a graphical imageof the original document and a text copyon the disk. This is useful for performingsignature verification or for including di-agrams and photographs. The possibili-ties are endless with this kind of storage.

One real-world example comes fromBill Ford, president of On-Line Com-puter Systems. Using CD-ROM and thecompany's retrieval technology, On-Line devised a troubleshooting disk for atelecommunications switch. Technicalspecifications, the switch's softwarecode, documentation, and diagrams ofthe switch were linked together by the re-trieval engine. Using this tool, it is possi-ble to click on, say, a variable, get its def-inition, and retrieve every module andprocedure that references that particularpiece of code.

People have an associative memoryand a relatively brief duration of reten-tion in short-term memory. The avail-

ability of more information organizedrelative to context rather than to contentmeans that you can draw different con-clusions than if you could only access thedata in bits and pieces.

Wanted: Standards for Optical

Optical drives are akin to giant floppydisk drives. Therefore, data exchange be-tween users is as easy as "sneaker" net.Proprietary installable file systems alsomake data migration between differentoperating systems possible.

By implementing an installable filesystem that runs as a TSR program (usinginterrupt 21 hexadecimal under DOS) oras an IFS driver (for OS/2 and Unix), theonly thing you need is to install the ap-propriate software on each operating sys-tem. This approach has also been appliedto rewritable drives.

Another benefit of the IFSes used forWORMS or virtual WORMs (rewritabledrives using a write-once file system) isarchive tracking. When you save a newcopy of a file to a WORM device, itdoesn't overwrite the old one. Usuallywhen you save a new version of a file,only the changed sectors are written to

CONSTANT ANGULAR VELOCITY

16 0

Tracks

Sectors

Figure 2: Constant angular velocity (CAV) is the organization of data into

sectors and tracks. Because the number of bits per sector remains constant with CAV,

data is packed most tightly in the shorter tracks near the center of the disk.

Although this method cannot pack as much data onto a disk as CLV can,

the sector/track addressing method makes locating data much faster with CAV

than with CLV.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 277

STATE OF THE ARTSTATE OF THE MEDIA

Playing Catch-Up

Andrew Reinhardt

Hoping to avoid the chaos of incom-patibility that has plagued theWORM (write once, read many times)drive market, manufacturers and stan-dards committees tried to get a jump onstandards for 514-inch rewritable mag-neto-optical (MO) drives. For a while,it seemed they had succeeded: Exceptfor the Canon drive used in the NeXTComputer, all the MO drives intro-duced since the fall of 1988 have ad-hered to the draft ANSI and Internation-al Standards Organization (ISO) stan-dards.

But now the situation has grown morecomplicated. At Spring Comdex lastJune, Pioneer Communications andLaser Magnetic Storage (LMS) intro-duced "multifunction" drives that sup-port both WORM and MO media butuse a different format than other rewrit-ables. And in August, Hewlett-Packard,Sony, and 12 other companies an-nounced a specification that wouldallow standard rewritable optical drivesto be used in a write-once mode.

The emergence of alternate technol-ogies, on the eve of the ISO's expectedapproval of a worldwide standard, hasthrown the market into confusion andsparked calls to reopen standards dis-cussions. All this wrangling concernsonly 5 W-inch media using MO technol-ogy; standards for 3'/2-inch disks andphase-change media are years off.

The Near Standard

The ANSI's X3B11 committee is nowconsidering only one standard for 514-inch rewritable optical disks, using MOmedia and a formatting scheme calledcontinuous composite servo, or CCS. InCCS. the disk is etched at the factorywith a spiral of grooves that define thelocation of data tracks. Two trackingheads read the grooves constantly to po-sition and focus the third head preciselyover the data.

In contrast, by the time you read this,the ISO will likely have approved twoversions of the standard for MO drivesthat are identical in all respects exceptfor the servo technique. The standard,called ISO DIS 10089, specifies a For-mat A, which is CCS, and a Format B,which is sampled servo, or SS. The lat-ter does not use grooved tracks or multi-

ple heads; instead, bits that align thesingle head are mixed in with the data.

An SS disk is stamped at the factorywith regions of precisely calibrated pitsthat tell the head where a data track islocated. In the ISO specification, thereare 32 sectors per track and 43 servosegments per sector, so in a single rota-tion of the disk, the head's position iscalibrated almost 1400 times; even so,it has to be much more precise than in aCCS mechanism. Besides telling thetrack location, servo regions are alsoused to focus the head and provide clocksynchronization.

The Battle of the Servos

CCS traces its roots back to analog-video laser disks. As an older and moremature technology, it is considered asafer bet than SS. CCS-formatted mediaare easier, though more time-consum-ing, to manufacture, whereas SS mediarequire more expensive and advancedequipment, but they are faster to makebecause disks can be stamped. In theend, the manufacturing contest betweenthe two is a draw, because current tech-nology makes both equally feasible;any differences in price are due to pro-duction volumes, which favor CCS.

The more germane advantages of SS,according to its proponents, are that itoffers superior speed and accuracy, aswell as the potential for greater disk ca-pacity. SS drives handle data and servoinformation separately and sequential-ly, whereas CCS drives must deal withboth simultaneously. Therefore, CCSdrives need greater processing capacityto achieve equivalent data throughput.More important, CCS drives can expe-rience cross talk between the data andtracking grooves: Because this interfer-ence is absent from SS drives, SS offersa better signal-to-noise ratio.

Since SS drives have only one head,which saves a lot of mass, they can seektracks faster. And because surface areaon the disk is not used up for trackinggrooves, SS disks can have many moretracks, although current standards donot specify that. (Because some of eachtrack is used up for servo information,SS disks hold less data per track. In theISO format, enough additional tracksare added that the net capacity of both

formats is the same.)

Pioneer and LMS developed SS MOdrives because they already sell SSWORM drives and wanted to provide anupgrade path for current users. The ad-vantage is that you only need a singledrive unit to use both WORM and re-writable media. By contrast, the CCSMO drives, marketed by Sony, Ricoh,and others, can't read from or write toany other optical media. Pioneer and itscohorts asked ANSI to consider addinga specification for SS to its 514-inch MOstandard, but the membership votedstrongly against the request in a Maymeeting. So, only the ISO will docu-ment SS.

Magneto-Optical Multifunction

The consortium headed by Hewlett-Packard has responded to the Pioneer-type multifunction drives with a pro-posal to give MO drives an "archival"capability. Such drives would also bemultifunctional, but they would useonly MO media. However, you wouldstill need to stock separate disks for per-manent and temporary storage becauseeach would be coded differently at thefactory.

The Hewlett-Packard specificationwould supplement the current ANSI/ISO specifications, but neither stan-dards organization has plans at this timeto incorporate it into published docu-ments. However, with Hewlett-Pack-ard, Sony, Maxoptix, Olympus/Ricoh,Seiko/Epson, Philips-Du Pont Optical,3M, Fuji, Mitsui, and Asahi backing it,the specification may become a de factostandard even if it is never formallyadopted.

In a nutshell, the Hewlett-Packardscheme takes advantage of fields thatare defined but unused in the currentISO standard. These fields would beused to set flags indicating that the re-writable medium was to be used only forpermanent storage. While bits wouldnot be permanently burned into the me-dium as with WORMS, Hewlett-Pack-ard contends that with proper firmwarethe disks would be as secure as WORMstorage—and perhaps longer-lived.

Opponents of the proposal say that ifyou need write-once storage, you won'twant to use disks that could theoretical-

278 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ARTSTATE OF THE MEDIA

ly be erased. Hewlett-Packard respondsthat somebody bent on destroying datacould also alter a WORM; in any case,its write-once MO proposal offers threelevels of security. The most prevalentmisconception about the method is thatan MO disk written with "permanent"data could be accidentally erased if itwere inserted into an older-generationMO drive; in fact, says Hewlett-Pack-ard's Bill Boles, the drive would rejectthe disk or issue an error message.

The three levels of security are as fol-lows: First, the disk contains two trackswhose contents are coded at the factoryto indicate whether it is a rewritable orwrite-once MO. If the codes indicatethat the disk is rewritable, the drive canstore data; if not, or if the drive can'tread the tracks (as would be the case forolder generation media), then no writ-ing is allowed. The second and thirdlevels of protection involve setting flagson the disk—one is an indication writtenduring formatting that the medium iswrite-only, and the other is a code em-bedded in each sector that indicates it islocked.

What this means, of course, is thatdisks can be either write-once or rewrit-able, but not both. What is the benefit ofthis scheme over Pioneer's if you stillhave to use different media, especiallywhen WORM disks are cheaper? Hew-lett-Packard answers that MO disks willeventually become less expensive thanWORMs because of higher volume.More important, some research now in-dicates that MO disks are more stable inthe long run than WORMs, which aresubject to decay from humidity trappedin the data pits.

A Fly in the Ointment

Yet another variant exists for MOs thatcould further complicate the standardspicture. This subset of the CCS format,called zoned constant angular velocity,or Z-CAV, is concerned not with pitsversus grooves, but only with the ar-rangement of sectors in tracks. Al-though neither the ANSI nor the ISO isconsidering its adoption as a standardright now, a group of vendors, includingMaxoptix, Hewlett-Packard, and sev-eral media makers, is promoting thespeed and capacity benefits of Z-CAV.

All the drives discussed earlier areconstant angular velocity (CAV) de-vices, which means that their motorsspin at a constant speed (see figure 2).(By contrast, audio compact disks andCD-ROMs use constant linear velocity,which means that the motor spins at dif-ferent speeds depending on which trackis being read, so that the data passesunder the laser at a constant rate. Seefigure 1.)

CAV disks look like bicycle wheels,with the sectors arranged regularly be-tween the spokes. Z-CAV, on the otherhand, takes advantage of the fact that theouter tracks of a disk are longer than theinner tracks. The result is a staggeredarrangement of sectors, with an increas-ing number per track the closer they areto the outer edge. The Tahiti drivesfrom Maxtor can support standard CAVand nonstandard Z-CAV media, and theZ-CAV disks hold 1 gigabyte of data in-stead of the normal 650 megabytes. Ac-cess to data in the outer tracks is alsofaster than in the CAV arrangement.

Further in the Future

Two other developments loom on thehorizon for optical storage. The first isphase change (see "Entering a NewPhase" on page 289). The second is 3'/2-inch drives and media, for which stan-dards are still evolving.

The ANSI and ISO have promulgateddraft standards for 3'/2-inch MO mediaand drives, and on that basis, a fewcompanies, including Pinnacle Microand O.C.E.A.N. Microsystems, havealready shipped products based on aNakamichi mechanism. But you may betaking a risk buying these drives, saysKen Hallam, chairperson of the ANSIsubcommittee on 5 W-inch MO stan-dards. Buyers of early Sony and Ricoh5 '4-inch MO drives will be able to meetthe final ISO standard with a fieldPROM upgrade, but changes may yetoccur to the 3'/6-inch specification thatwould render existing products physi-cally incompatible with the final stan-dard.

Hallam says that an agreement on3 V4-inch MO standards is at least a yearaway at the ISO and even further atANSI because there are still a lot of ar-guments between committee members.

The new specification won't be just ascaled-down version of 514-inch stan-dards, because manufacturers want toleapfrog today's drive technology. Onepossible goal—pushed for mainly byIBM—is to allow both rewritable andread-only (stamped) disks to be used inthe same drives. IBM apparently be-lieves 31^-inch media will become animportant means of distributing soft-ware.

Among the most controversial ques-tions still to be decided is whether thewhole disk or only parts of it may beread-only. ANSI is leaning toward al-lowing only a single track to be read-only because this would simplify track-ing and eliminate the need to catalogwhich parts of the disk are rewritableand which are not. But Japanese vendorsand other forces in the ISO want read/write status to be fully interchangeableon a sector-by-sector basis, whichwould complicate tracking and defectmanagement but increase flexibility.

In any case, if 3 Vi-inch drives have toaccommodate read-only media, thespecifications for tracking and reflec-tivity will have to be quite different thanin the 514-inch specification, because,to a laser beam, stamped bits look dif-ferent from MO spots. If that is notenough to worry buyers of 3-inchdrives, as recently as August ANSI ap-proved minor changes to the disk car-tridge specification that could rendercurrent 31/2-inch media incompatiblewith future drives.

A Vicious Cycle

The push and pull between marketforces, standards bodies, and what istechnically feasible has always beencomplex, even in the well-planned opti-cal storage area. The problem facing op-tical drives today is not technology butconfusion over standards.

This is a vicious cycle: Uncertaintydepresses demand, which keeps vol-umes low and prices high, which de-presses demand, and so on. Until theuncertainty is alleviated, optical driveswon't reach their potential.

Andrew Reinhardt is an associate newseditor for BYTE. He can be reached onBlXas "areinhardt."

NOVEMBER 1990 - BYTE 279

STATE OF THE ARTSTATE OF THE MEDIA

disk, and new pointers are ad( i.

Combined with a file syster hat man-ages the pointers, this meth I enablesyou to recover any version of ly file atany time. Such a recovery is j isible be-cause the directory structure c i WORMdrive is not stored in a file llocationtable; it is saved as discre„ addresspointers located after each sector.

Thus, if you need to keep audit trails ofdocuments, you no longer have to keepmultiple floppy disks, directories, orpaper copies. This capability makesWORM technology ideal both for back-ups and, in cases where you always needto have multiple versions available, forprimary document storage.

This sounds great, and it would be ifyou could just install the software, re-gardless of the drive's manufacturer.Alas, you can't. In the first place, a lot ofmanufacturers add specialized functionsto their bus adapters, and their IFSes arewritten to take advantage of unique fea-tures and capabilities.

While having devices from differentmanufacturers is normal in many compa-nies, problems arise when you need a dif-ferent host adapter for each one. Al-

though I've been pleasantly surprised bythe relatively few problems I've had withseveral different bus adapters coexistingin my computer, I've run out of expan-sion slots.

Universal support of SCSI would meanthat any combination of devices could bedaisy chained from one host controller.This would not only solve the slot and I/Oaddress problems generated by multipleadapters, but, in the case of bus-masteredSCSI controllers, would result in signifi-cant performance advantages.

One thing that appears to be happen-ing, however, is that a number of vendorsare moving to support the SCSI-1 and -2standards for their drives. Sony drives,for example, can be run off a standardAdaptec SCSI controller.

WORM drives especially are beset bystandardization problems. Almost everyWORM drive on the market uses a dif-ferent proprietary file system (the sameIFSes that make portability between op-erating systems possible). This meansthat you can't read disks across differentmanufacturers' drives. But the problemdoesn't end with the file system: WORMdrives are so proprietary that for some a

pit is a 0 and for others it's a 1.

For MO drives, the situation is slightlybetter. The International Standards Or-ganization standard was not final whenthe 5 W-inch MO drive came out, whichresulted in some incompatibility betweendifferent manufacturers' drives. But themove is toward firmware upgrades andthe production of new devices that adhereto the standards. For a detailed look atthe standards' situation with all kinds ofoptical disks, see the text box "PlayingCatch-Up" on page 278.

Hopefully, optical drives will moveincreasingly toward standards for deal-ing with data storage and for bus inter-faces. Much of the promise of the tech-nology would be defeated by a scenarioin which drives and disks are manufac-turer-specific. Rather than going theroute of hard disk drives, which, in gen-eral, require you to use the adapter cardwith which they were formatted, opticaldrive makers need to pull together andwork toward common ground.

If you can truly treat optical drives asgiant floppy disk drives, the advantageswill be limitless. However, if they be-come entrenched in proprietary inter-

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STATE OF THE ARTSTATE OF THE MEDIA

faces and ways of dealing with media, Ifear that many of their advantages will belost. The situation is reminiscent of theone users faced trying to use 360K-bytefloppy disks in the early 1.2-MB drives.

Optical drives are also more suited foruse in environments that are not kind toconventional hard disk drives. The re-cording techniques of optical drives andthe durability of the media mean thatheat, vibration, and magnetization areless likely to adversely affect them.

Even though the recording heads onWORM and rewritable drives are stillvery sensitive, using them to read data inadverse circumstances is more success-ful than using conventional storage de-vices. Hard disk drives just weren't builtfor use under extremely stressful condi-tions. With a magnetically and physical-ly sensitive disk rotating just micronsaway from a head, hard disk drives areprone to both magnetic and mechanicaldisruption.

The nature of optical media promises alonger life than that of conventional mag-netic media. In the case of WORMs andCD-ROMs, you have the added securityof data permanence. Conservative esti-

mates are that a WORM or a CD-ROMdisk will last 60 to 100 years and that thedata on an MO disk will remain stable forabout 10 years.

A Marriage of Convenience

Traditional magnetic devices and opticalstorage devices are not mutually exclu-sive. Rather, they use complementarytechnologies. The problems arise whenyou begin to treat them as one and thesame. Admittedly, if you don't reallyneed the speed of a fast hard disk drive,you could certainly do very well with arewritable optical device as your primarystorage unit. For most of us, though,faster hard disk drives are essential togetting optimum performance from ourapplications and our personal computers.

Although data redundancy is a goodthing, you don't want to overdo it. Whenyou reach the point where, without anyreal method or reason, you sometimesuse a hard disk drive and sometimes anoptical drive as your primary storage de-vice, your productivity will drop in pro-portion to the number of files that aresaved on different devices. It is hardenough to find information on a large

hard disk without having to scan over an-other gigabyte or so of WORM and re-writable disk space.

If you take a sober look at optical tech-nologies, you'll probably find one thatwill work for you. Personally, I don'tknow anyone who wouldn't benefit fromCD-ROM. At the same time, don't tossyour hard disk drive in the trash. Opticaldrives bring us the ability to do thingsthat conventional magnetic drives can-not; they don't replace them. Chancesare, you'll be using your hard disk to holdprograms and store your primary datafor some time to come.

"A place for everything, and every-thing in its place" is a good rule of thumbfor managing data. When consideringthe wonders of optical drives, rememberthat the power of any new technology liesnot in what it can do that's already beendone, but in what it can do that has previ-ously been impossible. ■

David A. Harvey lives in Houston, Texas,where he is finishing an MA degree in lit-erature and creative writing at the Uni-versity of Houston. You can reach him onBIX as "daharvey."

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STATE OF THE ARTMAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

Crystal ClearStorage

Holographic data storage promises faster accessto lots more data. This is a new age.

Tom Parish

It's no surprise to eventhe layperson thesedays to hear about tre-mendous advances inprocessor speeds for com-puters. In the 15 years sincethe first personal computerwas introduced, processorshave evolved from 4 bits withCPU speeds in the thousandsof instructions per second to32 bits with speeds of up to 50million instructions per sec-ond.

Processor speeds for super-computers are moving beyondthe billion-instruction-per-second range. With all thisperformance—and the prom-ise for more—we really needways to improve data-accesstimes and data transfer ratesbetween primary and second-ary memory systems (i.e.,RAM and disk).

However, no matter howcreative the system architec-ture is, performance is always limited byhow fast you can store (and retrieve)data. The limitations are the result of theseek and latency times that the mechani-cal nature of all disk drives—magnetic oroptical—causes.

The problem is that disk drives areslow in comparison to present-day CPUs,even those used in personal computers.This situation is well known as the I/O

bottleneck. Over the past 10 years, diskdrive performance has increased byabout a factor of three. In comparison,the CPU performance has increased byabout a factor of 1000.

Computers designed with current pro-cessor technology require that you investin sophisticated hardware and softwaredisk-caching schemes to achieve quickeraccess to large volumes of data. How-

ever, disk caching does notprovide significant speed im-provements when you needrandom access to large datasets.

Another idea that was bor-rowed from the mainframearena is the use of disk arrays.However, parallel access toeight disk drives only adds anorder of magnitude improve-ment in performance.

Despite fantastic advancesin magnetic and optical disktechnologies, physical limita-tions are involved in gettingdata on and off these rotatingdevices. A top-of-the-linedisk drive today can transfer 3to 8 megabytes per second.

Enabling full-motion videoediting and playback, for ex-ample, will require band-widths greater than 20 MBpswith current TV and personalcomputer standards. Further,high-definition TV requiresfour times the resolution of today's videoprograms and double the frame rate (60frames per second instead of the current30 frames per second).

What we need is a memory device thatperforms like RAM and has the capacityand cost of magnetic and optical media.The Optics Lab at Microelectronics andComputer Technology Corp. (MCC) isdeveloping new techniques for storing

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 283

STATE OF THE ARTCRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

REMOVING THE I/O BOTTLENECK

I/O bottleneck

Memory

Disk

Memory

w

Holostore

Figure 1: The holostore is a new mass storage device that stores digital informationas three-dimensional optical holograms. It could eliminate the I/O bottleneck.

HOLOSTORE STORAGE CHARACTERISTICS

Table 1: The characteristics of the holostore, both in the prototype device andin expected achievable targets, provide an overall view of its capabilities.

Characteristics

Prototype targets

Achievable future targets

Page sizePages per stackStacks per moduleStorage moduleSize

CapacityMedia

Average pageread time

Average pagewrite time

Average sustainedtransfer rate

Costs

Packaging

64K bits30 to 50900 to 2500

3 by 3 by 0.5 cm to5 by 5 by 0.5 cm

200 MB to 2 gigabytes

Fixed array of strontiumbarium niobate(3 cm by 0.5 cm)

1 to 10 microseconds

100 microseconds

100 to 800 M B per second

Prototype costs to bedetermined

5V4-inch peripheral

1 megabit

100

10,000

10 by 10 by 0.5 cm

Over 100 gigabytesRemovable module

100 nanoseconds

10 microseconds

Over 1 terabyte per second

Less tlian two times magneticor optical disk cost perbit in 1995

Hybrid module

digital information as three-dimensional(3-D) optical holograms. The holostore,a new mass storage device with super-computer performance, could eliminatethe I/O bottleneck (see figure 1).

Storing and retrieving data as two-dimensional patterns of light, or pages,in a 3-D volume of light-sensitive crystalprovides the basis for the holostore. Or-ganizing the data into pages provides ac-cess speeds orders of magnitude fasterthan the rotating devices of today. Forexample, the fastest magnetic disk cur-rently available takes over 5 hours totransfer what a holostore device couldtransfer in 1 second. Here, finally, is amemory device that can handle the de-

mands of computing with images.

This technology is based on photo-refractive volume holographic storage(PVHS) techniques; it makes possibleextremely fast, nonvolatile, and poten-tially removable media. Holostore mem-ory would be a good choice for systemsthat need to provide fast random accessfor the recording and playback of digitalvideo and high-throughput transaction-processing systems. It could finally en-able a secondary memory device to out-perform the processor.

How It Works

Holostore is a name informally adoptedfor a memory device using holographic

storage techniques that is capable of stor-ing digital information as 3-D hologramsin photorefractive crystals. To providean overall view of the holostore's storagecharacteristics, table 1 shows its proto-type targets and achievable future per-formance targets.

To optimize the device for a particularsystem (i.e., to the size of the blocks ofdata used), you can control page size,pages per crystallite (per stack), stacksper module, and whether modules arefixed or removable. A DOS- or Unix-based operating system would find a 4K-byte or 8K-byte page size easy to handle,since these choices closely map what diskdrives provide today as a cluster. A holo-store device embedded with custom pro-cessors for image processing may workmore optimally with images sized to 512by 512 bits, or 32K bytes. Record-ori-ented processing systems might performbetter with smaller page sizes.

For illustrative purposes, let's assumethe storage medium inside the holostoreis an array of 2500 tiny crystal rods (50by 50) tightly packed into a volume of 5cm by 5 cm by 0.5 cm. This storage me-dium is small enough to need a specialpackage to carry it. Initial prototypes ex-pected in the next few years will be builtto fit in a 514-inch form factor. The holo-store's size will shrink considerably assolid optoelectronic technology matures,making it possible to integrate holostoretechnology directly into the processor.

The crystal storage material is stron-tium barium niobate doped with ceriumto accelerate the photoelectronic activityduring the write process. For details onthe nondestructive read problems beingsolved for photorefractive crystals andthe reason for using an array of crystal-lites instead of a single monolithic cubeof photorefractive material, see the textbox "Making PVHS Work" at right.

It has been demonstrated that eachcrystallite is capable of holding over 30pages, but recent experiments indicatethat 50 or more pages may be possible.One aerospace company demonstrated aprototype with lithium niobate crystalsthat could store 500 pages of informationwithout signal-to-noise problems.

Reading and Writing

The holostore's major components arethe laser source, the page composer orspatial light modulator, the crystallitearray, the page-selector assembly, andthe detector array (see figure 2). Thelaser light is split into separate beamsand steered into the crystallite to write orread a page of data.The holostore's laser source is a

284 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ARTCRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

Making PVHS Work

Photorefractive volume holographicstorage (PVHS) technology hasbeen investigated in the past as a mem-ory-storage mechanism, but with littlesuccess. One reason for its failure wasthe emphasis placed on storage capac-ity. However, the real advantage of thistechnology is its random-access speed,which is fundamental and won't erode.

Another reason for early failures wasthe state of the art of related technol-ogies (e.g., two-dimensional spatiallight modulators as page composers,lasers, beam deflectors, photorefractivematerials, and detector arrays). Only inthe last few years has this technologybeen mature enough to put a prototypetogether at a reasonable cost.

One difficulty with PVHS technol-ogy has been its destructive readout.The reilluminated reference beam (i.e.,the read beam) used to retrieve the re-corded information also excites thedonor electrons and disturbs the equi-

librium of the space-charge field in amanner that gradually erases the re-cording. In other words, when you reada page from the crystal many times,eventually you destroy the information.In the past, this has limited the numberof times you could read a page before thesignal-to-noise ratio became too low.

Previously, bulk photorefractivecrystals were usually used with relative-ly large crystals, usually 1 centimeterby 1 cm in length and 0.5 cm in depth.However, it is difficult to grow high-quality crystals, such as strontium bari-um niobate, in larger sizes, makingscaling to higher capacity difficult. Asa consequence, widespread applicationfor bulk photorefractive technology didnot occur, despite the initial surge of de-velopment in the 1970s.

In 1988, researchers at Microelec-tronics and Computer TechnologyCorp. (MCC) and Stanford Universitypatented a nondestructive read tech-

nique and a manufacturing techniquefor using arrayed crystallites instead ofmonolithic crystals. The technique forthe nondestructive read provides theability for prolonged readout withoutdegrading the stored image data. Testshave shown that the equivalent of onebillion reads can be accomplished with-out signal-to-noise degradation.

Use of an array of crystallites, in-stead of a single monolithic crystal, hasmany advantages for holographic stor-age. Small-diameter crystals are easierto grow, and you can increase storagecapacity by making a larger array. Inaddition, the reference beam is guidedthrough the crystal rod, increasing theinteraction length and thus the dynamicrange. Also, these smaller crystals dra-matically improve the angular selectiv-ity of pages, allowing a larger number ofpages per stack. And finally, they vir-tually eliminate cross talk betweenstacks.

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NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 285

STATE OF THE ARTCRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

BASIC HOLOSTORE STORAGE CONCEPT

Crystallite storage array

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CCD array(page detector)

Spatial light modulator(page composer)

Stack ofpages

Crystallite

Figure 2: The holostoresuperimposes a pattern oflight and dark spots basedon the digital data onto thedata portion of the laserbeam. The data is stored aselectronic-charge patterns,based on the interferencebetween the data andreference beams, whichmodify the opticalproperties of the crystallite.The result is a 3-Dholographic image of the bitpattern carried in the databeam.

HOLOGRAPHIC STORAGE ASSEMBLY

Controlsignal

Data In Data out

Figure 3: The laser source for the holostore prototype is a compact, doubled, diode-pumped YAG laser with 80-milliwattoutput at 532 nanometers. The beam splitter splits the laser into separate data and reference beams and steers them onto thesurface of a crystallite to store (or retrieve) a page of data.

286 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ARTCRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

compact, doubled, diode-pumped YAG(yttrium aluminum garnet) laser with 80-milliwatt output at 532 nanometers (seefigure 3); a 532-nm laser falls within thegreen range on the visible spectrum (seethe photo). Tracing the beam from thelaser, it first encounters the stack-selec-tor assembly, which steers it to an indi-vidual stack of pages. Next, a beam split-ter separates the beam into two parts.The first part is the data beam, and thesecond is the reference beam.

Starting from the beam splitter, theholostore expands the data beam onto thesurface of the page composer, where dig-ital electronic data enters the system.This data is displayed on the surface ofthe page composer and illuminated bythe expanded data beam, creating a bitpattern of light and dark spots. The holo-store superimposes this pattern of spotsbased on the digital data onto the laserbeam, where it represents the bits on thepage to be stored.

After the page composer, the holo-store focuses the data beam through alens system into and through the crystal-lite array. As the two beams, data andreference, enter the crystallite together,the reference beam interferes with thedata beam, writing an interference grat-ing in the photorefractive material. Theholostore converts the grating pattern inthe photorefractive material to a storedelectronic-charge pattern that modifiesthe optical properties of the crystallite.

The result is a 3-D holographic imageof the bit pattern carried in the databeam. (The interference grating allowsthe hologram to be recreated when theholostore reads the data.) This is the en-tire write process.

As an example, a 256- by 256-bit array(8K bytes) should require approximately100 microseconds to transfer, assuminga theoretical transfer rate of 80 MBps.Currently, the frame rate of the pagecomposer limits the I/O rates. To writeanother 64K-bit page in the same stack,the holostore shifts the reference beam'sangle roughly one-fourth of a degree andloads new data on the page composer.

The read cycle is relatively simple.During a read cycle, the data beam isshut off, so only the reference beamshines through. The holostore selects thelocation of the reference beam for thespecific stack of pages to be read, and theangle then determines the address of thespecific page in that stack.

The reference beam illuminates theinterference grating stored at this se-lected angle, resulting in the reconstruct-ed image of the original bit pattern storedthere. The holostore then focuses this

pattern as an image on the system's de-tector array. The detector array is acharge-coupled device that captures thereconstructed light and dark bit patternsof the image and converts them back todigital electronic signals for transfer tothe computer.

An average page-access time of 1 mi-crosecond has been demonstrated withthe prototype now under development atMCC, which provides a potential trans-fer rate of 800 MB per second. In the fu-ture, even higher speeds should be avail-able as computers are reoriented towardhigh-performance memory devices.

Staging the Technology

Getting the holostore into personal com-puters and workstations will come instages. Some possible areas of applica-tion are disk replacement, disk caching,front-end-processor caching, system-businterfacing, and direct cormection to theCPU. These areas are listed in order oftheir complexity to implement, as thiswill have an effect on how soon holostoredevices for these functions will appear.

It's easy to affect computer perfor-mance by installing a holostore device asan interface to existing ESDI, SCSI, orSMD controllers in installed systems.This would require no changes to busstructure or the operating system, al-

though it might be necessary to modifydisk drive controller firmware some-what. To the controller, the holostore de-vice would look exactly like a disk drivewithout seek and latency delays. Whendata is requested, it is available at what-ever transfer rate the existing controllercan support.

Performance improvements of two to30 times for workstations are possiblebecause the holostore would greatly re-duce seek and latency times. (It wouldprovide 1- to 10-microsecond accesstime versus approximately a 10-millisec-ond access time for magnetic or opticaldisk storage.) The holostore would pro-vide a simple way to boost the perfor-mance of installed systems through fieldupgrades. It could also provide freedomfrom the vibration and temperature prob-lems that trouble disk drives.

Where a large investment in minicom-puter and network-based disk systemsexists, you might want to upgrade onlythe disk-caching component. After all,the processors have the performance youwant; it's the disk drives that create thebottleneck.

A new caching disk drive controllerwith a few hundred megabytes of ex-tremely fast nonvolatile holographic stor-age would boost the performance ofexisting drives by holding "hot spots" in

A prototype holostore device. Since the beam falls within the green range

on the visible spectrum, you can trace its progress through the device (see figure 3

for more details).

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 287

STATE OF THE ARTCRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

HOLOSTORE APPLICATIONS

Table 2: Many possible applications for the holostore come to mind becauseof its ability to handle the demands of high bandwidth at a relatively low costwith a nonvolatile memory system.

Memory-hierarchy element

Special virtual memory paging devices

High-speed write-through cache

Context sw/ap space

Plug-compatible disk drive replacement

"Solid-state disk" for "hot spots" in databases

"Bulk-store" swapping device for transaction processing and supercomputingRemovable medium for data backup and high-speed restore

Image-processing element

Diagnostic-medicine image storeTarget-classifier subsystemAirborne sensory-data recorderVehicle data-storage system

Entertainment medium

"Crystal jukebox" for music and videoHigh-definition TV video recorderRead-only movie-playback system

Data-distribution medium

Compact, nonvolatile, random-access replacement for microfiche and CD-ROM

databases, and simplifying recovery andrestart issues for transaction-processingsystems. This same holostore (disk-cach-ing controller) could provide a port for re-movable backup and high-speed restore.

Another possibility for improving thethroughput in transaction-processingsystems is to integrate a multimegabyte,nonvolatile holostore device into a front-end processor or file server. This wouldallow the front-end processor to runmore independently during main-systeminterruptions, and would vastly simplifyrecovery and restart.

A holostore device could also be inte-grated onto the system bus as the primarymemory device, which would give you"instant on" support for playing backaudio, video, and text files.

Finally, the most fascinating designswith holostore devices will be those inte-grated directly into the CPU for image-processing applications. The holostorecan provide quick random access to ex-tremely large files with no bus delays, animportant factor for high-performancegraphics workstations and multimediasystems' controllers.

Interactive Video

One popular vision for the future in-cludes full interactive-video applicationsworking as smoothly and quickly as textapplications do today. To achieve this vi-

sion, you need the ability to record andplay back hours of digital video as well asedit the programs in real time. Instantaccess to video and audio would also de-crease the amount of time that profes-sionals currently have to spend to editand produce video programs.

Current optical and magnetic diskdrives aren't built to achieve these vi-sions. You may recall the problems thatthe budding digital video interactive(DVI) industry has had to overcome topermit CD-ROMs to play back digitalvideo on existing 286/386 systems. So-phisticated compression and decompres-sion algorithms are being designed intospecial ICs to overcome two problems:insufficient data storage and I/O speeds.

NTSC-standard TV supports a screenresolution of 512 by 480 pixels. You needat least 750K bytes of data to display asingle frame. To get the full-motion ef-fect you see on TV, the screen must dis-play 30 frames per second; hence, thebandwidth requirement for playing videois 22.5 MBps. Without precompressingthe video into presentation-level video, aCD-ROM of 648 MB would hold lessthan 30 seconds of video and take morethan an hour to show.

Most scenes don't change dramatical-ly from one frame to another. Thus, DVIdevelopers have devised a compressionalgorithm that digitizes and stores the

first frame of a scene, and then storesonly the changes in the scene from frameto frame.

Playing back a video application ismade possible by moving the compresseddata over the I/O path from the disk driveto special decompression hardware. Asthe CD-ROM can provide 72 minutes offull-motion video, it will undoubtedlybecome a common video playback de-vice, much like the audio CD has.

In the Crystal Ball

Most of the cost in any computer-relatedproduct is the memory component. Thecost of RAM, ROM, and disks domi-nates current products, and with themove to more digital, audio, and videocapabilities and the increases in storagethat they require, these costs will rise.

The holostore could be the next piecein the hierarchy of memory devices be-tween RAM and disk drives to supportthe growing demands of high bandwidth,low cost, and, most important, nonvola-tile memory systems. Table 2 containssome possible holostore applications.

With the growing emphasis on high-resolution video and graphics mergedwith high-fidelity audio, the holostorecould be a major weapon in the arsenal ofhigh-speed I/O devices—one that cansupport the high bandwidth that thesedigital products require. ■

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chen, Allan. "DVI Technology." Micro-computer Solutions, September/October1989.

Futuretech, no. 96, December 26, 1989.

Parish, Tom. "Bobcat Holographic StorageProject Video." TR # ACT-BOB-219-90, June 1990.

Redfield, Steve. Optical Computing Re-search at MCC. Microelectronic andComputer Technology Corp., 1990.

Redfield, Steve, and L. Hesselink. "En-hanced Experiments on HolographicStorage and Retrieval." Optics Letters,October 1988.

Redfield, Steve, and L. Hesselink. "Pho-torefractive Holographic Recording inStrontium Barium Niobate Fibers." Op-tics Letters, October 1988.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Special thanks to Ron Riedesel, SteveRedfield, and Jerry Willenbring from theOptics Lab at MCC, and John Pinkston,chief scientist. MCC holds a patent onholostore devices.

Tom Parish is a senior technical advisorfor MCC (Austin, TX). You can reach himon BIXc/o "editors."

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STATE OF THE ARTMAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

Enteringa New Phase

Phase-change technology combines the capacityof magneto-optical storage with enhanced performance

Bob Ryan

Optical and mag-netic storage rep-resent oppositeends of the spec-trum. Optical storage is vol-ume storage, while magneticmedia offer performance.

With the capacities of indi-vidual, replaceable cartridgesmeasured in hundreds ofmegabytes and gigabytes, op-tical disks let you store amaz-ing amounts of information inmachine-readable form. Onthe other hand, with accesstimes heading below 10 milli-seconds and throughput wellover 10 megabits per second,magnetic media remain theonly choice for applicationswhere superior disk perfor-mance is essential.

Now, by combining the ca-pacity of magneto-optical(MO) storage with enhancedperformance, a new opticalstorage technology—rewrit-able phase change—promises to make thegap between optical and magnetic stor-age seem more like a crack in the side-walk and less like the Grand Canyon.

A New Arrival

Phase-change technology has existedsince the 1960s and is used in many com-mercial WORM (write once, read manytimes) drives. Up to now, however, tech-

ILLUSTRATION: JOE GAST © 1990

nical concerns about media durabilityhave kept rewritable phase-change stor-age devices in the research labs and offyour dealer's shelves. With the introduc-tion of rewritable phase-change drives inthis country and Japan by Matsushita,the technology has made the transitionfrom theory to reality.

Phase-change technology is the firstread/write optical storage technology

that allows for the direct over-writing of old data by new.This gives phase change a bigadvantage over current read/write optical disks, which arebased on MO technology.

Erasable Optical Today

As the name implies, mag-neto-optical disk drives are acombination of magnetic andoptical technologies. Unlikepurely optical technologies,such as CD-ROM, WORM,and rewritable phase change,MO systems depend on bothmagnetism and optics to storeand retrieve data.

MO drives have made theirmark as the first commercial-ly viable erasable optical tech-nology, but limitations in thetechnology may make it littlemore than a transition frompure magnetic systems to pureoptical ones.A successful storage tech-nology must be able to create either an"on" or an "off condition at a particu-lar area—the recording spot—on the re-cording medium and be able to differen-tiate between these two conditions. Inaddition, a read/write technology mustbe able to change a recording spot fromthe "on" condition to the "off," andfrom the "off to the "on." Like magnet-ic media, MO systems fulfill all the

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 289

1

STATE OF THE ARTENTERING A NEW PHASE

requirements of true read/ write systems.The problem comes from how they ful-fill the requirements.

MO disks are built from layers of ma-terials. These layers are built on a glass

or polycarbonate substrate, which car-ries the grooves and other formattingmarks. The active recording layer, con-sisting of a rare-earth, transition-metalalloy, is normally sandwiched between

two other layers that enhance the effectsof the "read" laser beam. The two en-hancement layers also protect the activelayer from contaminants. Capping offthe disk is a transparent surface layer.

The active layer of an MO disk is al-ways magnetized. A magnetic surface af-fects the polarization of any light that re-flects off it by rotating the polarization ofthe light either clockwise or counter-clockwise. This is called the Kerr effect.The direction of this rotation depends onthe magnetic orientation of the reflectivesurface.

A recording spot on an MO disk canhave one of two magnetic states: positiveor negative. These correspond to binaryOs and Is. The optical head determineswhether a spot is a 0 or a 1 by analyzinghow the beam of a low-power "read"laser is polarized when it is reflected offthe spot. Negative Kerr rotation corre-sponds to one state; positive rotation tothe other. Thus, MO drives fulfill thefirst criterion of a useful read/write tech-nology: the ability to determine the "on"or "off state of a particular spot on therecording medium (see figure 1).

The second criterion—changing a spotfrom a 1 to a 0 or from a 0 to a 1—in-volves changing the magnetic orientationof a spot. This, in turn, involves the pre-cise synchronization of optical and mag-netic technologies.

Magnets and Mirrors

To write to an MO disk, you have to beable to change the magnetic orientationof a spot without affecting the nearbyspots. This is the function of the power-ful "write" laser.

This laser has one purpose: to heat aspot on the recording medium to theCurie point—the temperature at which amagnetized substance loses its magneticorientation. Once a spot is heated to theCurie point, a small electromagnet onthe side of the disk opposite the read/write head generates a magnetic fieldthat reflects the new orientation of thespot. As the spot cools past the Curiepoint, it assumes the orientation of thismagnetic field (see figure 2).

When an MO disk is manufactured,every spot on the recording layer has thesame magnetic orientation. This is thedefault condition of the media. Wheneveran MO drive writes to the medium, it as-sumes that whatever area it writes to is inthe default condition. Thus, before writ-ing any data, an MO drive must firsterase the area of the disk it wants to writeto. Erasing a spot brings its magneticstate back to the default condition.

Having to erase an area before writing

READING AN MO DISK

Figure 1: Every recording spot on a magneto-optical disk has a magnetic orientationthat corresponds to either aOoral. To determine the orientation of a spot,the read system bounces a low-power laser off the spot. The direction of thepolarization rotation put on the reflected beam by the spot's magnetic orientationreveals whether the spot is a 0 or a 1.

WRITING TO AN MO DISK

Write beam

Protective layer

Dielectric layer

Recording spot Recording layer

melts past Curie point. ^ '

Dielectric layer

Substrate

magnetic orientation as the

spot cools.

Figure 2: Writing a bit to a magneto-optical disk means setting the magneticorientation of a recording spot. The write laser melts the spot, while the underlyingmagnet produces afield with the new orientation of the spot. As the spot cools,it assumes this new orientation.

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STATE OF THE ARTENTERING A NEW PHASE

to it effectively doubles the write time ofMO drives in relation to other read/writestorage technologies. This performancehandicap makes it unlikely that MOdrives will ever seriously challenge mag-netic media as your primary mass storagetechnology.

Other limitations of MO technologyinvolve the read/write head. Because themagnitude of the Kerr rotation is small—about 1 percent—the head requires rela-tively large and massive optics to detectthe polarization of the reflected "read"beam. A massive head is slower to moveacross the surface of the disk, resulting inslower access times. Therefore, althoughMO disks spin as fast as magnetic media,the performance of the drives is two tofour times slower than magnetic drives inread/write operations, and as much as sixtimes slower in accessing a particularspot on the disk.

Direct Write

Phase-change optical storage systems arepure optical technologies. Unlike MO

systems, where the "write" laser merelyprepares the recording surface for thedata, the "write" laser of a phase-changesystem actually writes the data to the(hsk. The laser itself determines whetherthe spot is a 0 or a 1.

Phase-change technology was first in-vestigated by Energy Conversion De-vices (BCD) in the late 1960s. It takes ad-vantage of the property of a particularcategory of thin films to switch betweentwo stable structural states.

Thin films are a wide-ranging class ofsemimetal materials that can be deposit-ed onto a substrate in very thin layers.During the deposition process, they areintroduced into a vacuum as a vapor.With phase-change thin films, vacuumdeposition results in an active layer from200 to 500 angstroms thick.

The compounds used in phase-changethin films are based on tellurium or sele-nium. These elements have the propertyof exhibiting both an amorphous stateand a crystalline state. You can switch aspot in the recording layer between these

two states by the judicious application ofpower from a laser.

Tliere and Back Again

Initially, phase-change media exist in theamorphous state. Changing a spot to thecrystalline state, and changing a crystal-line spot back to the amorphous state, re-quires the manipulation of two importantparameters of the recording material: theglass-transition temperature and themelting temperature.

The glass-transition temperature is thepoint at which an amorphous spot ischanged to the crystalline state. The thinfilms developed by ECD switch to thecrystalline state when hit with a shortburst of an 8-milliwatt laser.

The melting temperature is, of course,the point at which the recording materialmelts. The melting temperature is higherthan the crystalline temperature and re-quires a more powerful (18-mW) laser.The important feature here is that the re-cording material doesn't recrystallize asit cools from the melting temperature;rather, it cools into the amorphous state.This process, called revitrification,gives the phase-change media the abilityto switch directly from amorphous tocrystalline and back again. Direct an 8-mW laser at a spot, and it turns the spotcrystalline; use an 18-mW laser, and thespot becomes amorphous (see figure 3).

Note that the original condition of thespot is immaterial to the results of thewrite operation. Say you want to write a 1to a particular spot, and that the crystal-line condition corresponds to a 1. If thespot is amorphous when you hit it withthe 8-mW laser, it will change to thecrystalline form. If the spot is alreadycrystalline when you hit it with the 8-mW laser, it will remain crystalline, be-cause the laser isn't powerful enough tomelt it.

Likewise, when you want to write a 0,the higher-powered laser will alwaysmelt the recording material and return itto the amorphous state, regardless ofwhether it was amorphous or crystallineto begin with.

Reading Material

The ability to change directly from onestate to another is critical to a one-stepread/write technology, but equally im-portant is the ability of the system to dis-tinguish between the two states. Luckily,the amorphous and crystalline states dif-fer in a very fundamental optical charac-teristic—they exhibit different reflectivi-ties. The system determines whether aspot is a 0 or a 1 by examining the inten-sity with which the spot reflects a low-

BASICS OF PHASE CHANGE

o o o o

In its original state, a spot in thephase-change recording layer isamorphous.

8-mW laser

o ® o o

o ® o o

8-mW laser transforms the dot to thecrystalline state.

18-mW laser

o © o o

o o o o

18-mW laser melts the spot. It cools to theamorphous state.

Figure 3: The remarkable property of phase-change media to change fromamorphous to crystalline at one energy level and from crystalline to amorphousat a higher level enables the realization of direct optical overwrite.

292 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

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power "read" laser (see figure 4).

Because the differences in reflectivitybetween the amorphous and crystallinestates of phase-change media can beorders of magnitude greater than the 1percent change in Kerr rotation detectedby MO systems, the read/write heads ofphase-change systems don't have to be assophisticated and sensitive as those ofMO drives. Thus, as the technology ma-tures, you should see phase-change read/write heads become less massive thantheir MO counterparts. The resuh willbe faster seek and access times.

The Layered Approach

Like an MO disk, a phase-change diskconsists of more than a substrate and a re-cording layer. Further layers are usuallyadded to enhance the contrast betweenthe reflectivity of the two states and toprotect the active layer from outside con-taminants.

Tellurium, the primary material usedin most phase-change media, crystallizesbelow room temperature in its pure form,making it impossible to use in an every-day office environment. However, the in-troduction of small quantities of othermaterials, such as germanium and anti-

mony, raises the glass-transition tem-perature of the alloy above 100 °C.

Future Phases

After two decades in R&D laboratories,phase-change storage devices are nowavailable from Matsushita in both Japanand the U.S., where they are marketedunder the Panasonic brand name (see thetext box "Phase Change Is Real" on page296). As more manufacturers introducephase-change systems and as researchersmake advances in media and optical-head technologies, you will see a steadyimprovement in media durability anddisk access speeds. Given its inherent ad-vantage over MO technology, phase-change storage may be the premier opti-cal storage technology by the middle ofthe 1990s.

In the future, phase-change technol-ogy may also challenge magnetic mediain all but the most speed-intensive appli-cations. Advances such as very small in-tegrated optical read/write heads willgreatly decrease access times, and moredurable media will silence doubts aboutthe reliability of the technology. Givenits already large advantage in costs per Kbyte of storage, phase change may be the

READING A PHASE-CHANGE DISK

Read beam Reflected to intensity detectors

Read beam

Reflected to intensity detectors

Figure 4: Unlike magneto-optical drives, which must detect small changes in theread beam's polarization, phase-change systems read information by detecting therelatively large differences in the reflectivity of the amorphous and crystalline states.

294 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

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Capacity

Will it handle allyour forms needs?Including complexpolicies and con-tracts, as well as barcode labels? Will ithandle them in thevolume you'll needas your forms appli-cations grow?

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Make sure you getafuU set of flex-ible, easy to use,WYSIWYG designtools tailored toforms design. Afterall, this isn't desk-top publishing.It's informationmanagement.

Call (800) 267-9976 (US only) or (613) 594-3026. Indigo Software Ltd., 560 Rochester Street, Suite 400, Ottawa, Canada KIS dK2© 1990 Indigo Software Ltd. JetForm is a trademark of Indigo Software Ltd. AH company and product names are trademarks or roistered trademarks of their respective owners.

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Circle 373 on Reader Service Card

Don't invest in interfaces!

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PRODOGTS

STATE OF THE ARTENTERING A NEW PHASE

Phase Change Is Real

This spring, Panasonic Communica-tion & Systems Co. introduced theLF-7010, the first phase-change opticalstorage system available in the U.S. TheLF-7010 is a multifunction drive, capa-ble of reading and writing Panasonic'scurrent WORM media as well as its ownphase-change disks.

The LF-7010 uses 5 W-inch media tostore 1 gigabyte of information on a sin-gle phase-change media cartridge. Thedrive can also read and write (once) the5 W-inch medium that Panasonic's LF-5010 WORM drive uses. This mediumstores 940 megabytes on each cartridge.Panasonic plans to install the LF-7010into an automatic cartridge changer—a"jukebox"—that will hold up to 50phase-change and WORM disks for amaximum capacity of 50 gigabytes.

Pluses and Minuses

This phase-change system features adata transfer rate to and from the diskthat can reach 10.3 MB per second. Ituses the SCSI-2 interface, making itcompatible with an ever-widening rangeof computer hardware. Panasonic ratesit with a mean time between failures of20,000 hours and a bit-error rate of lessthan 10"".

To achieve its impressive storage ca-pacity, the LF-7010 varies the amountof data that it stores on each track of thedisk. Longer tracks on the outside of thedisk contain more data than the shortertracks on the inside. This provides moreroom for data on the disk, but the in-creased complexity of the disk organiza-tion slows down access to the data. Withan average seek time of 90 millisec-

onds, the LF-7010 is fast by WORMstandards, but 50 percent slower thansome magneto-optical (MO) drives andnearly 10 times slower than a high-per-formance hard disk drive. Obviously,the LF-7010 isn't ready to become yourprimary mass storage device.

Choosing the appropriate balance be-tween capacity and access speed is a de-cision every optical-drive manufacturermust make. Panasonic intends the LF-7010 for applications, such as docu-ment-image retrieval and archival stor-age, that put a premium on capacity asopposed to speed. Therefore, it madesense to go with a system that varies theamount of data per track to take advan-tage of the longer tracks on the outsideof the disk. There is nothing to preventPanasonic from coming out with a fasterdrive that stores a fixed amount of dataper track, although such a system prob-ably wouldn't be compatible with cur-rent WORM and phase-change media.

Battle Joined

Obviously, the LF-7010 can't competewith magnetic media as a primary stor-age technology. However, MO develop-ers—even those who emphasize accessspeed over capacity—will have to takenote of the LF-7010. Its one-pass writeprocedure may be enough to offset anyadvantage small-capacity MO drivesenjoy in access speed.

As a new technology, the LF-7010 isa fascinating and welcome develop-ment. In the marketplace, though, itwon't be judged on the sophistication ofits innards but on the job it does forusers.

optical technology that finally overtakesmagnetic storage. But don't expect thatto happen in this century. (By then, youmay see electron beams used to writedata instead of laser beams, resulting in asignificant increase in the storage den-sity of the media.)

Perhaps the most important aspect ofphase-change technology is that it usesthe same read method used in CD-ROMand WORM systems. This will make itpossible to build multifunction opticaldrives that can read three of the fourtypes of optical storage media—MO isthe exception—and write to both WORMand phase-change disks. The benefits of

such a drive would be enormous.

By offering the high capacity and re-movability of optical media while elimi-nating the need to erase the media beforewriting, phase change holds a definitetheoretical advantage over MO storage. Itremains to be seen whether Matsushitaand others can translate this advantageinto superior products. However, thenext few years will be a banner time forthe consumers of optical storage devicesas these contending technologies arepushed to their limits, ■

Bob Ryan is a BYTE technical editor. Youcan reach him on BIX as "b. ryan."

296 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

You ALWAYS KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT YOUR THUMB.

^^ou have a lot of power in your thumb. So we designed you command the cursor with exhilarating speed andTrackMan^—the world's most popular stationary mouse— precision, even in the most confining workspace, ^^ndto put that power to work. rackMan's brilliant you get all this for only $139, including Logitech's" life-

ergonomic design includes a lightweight, thumb-driven ball, three buttons at your fingertips androom to rest your hand. It is far more comfortablethan any other stationary mouse. Because thethumb is far more agile and powerful than anyfinger ^^ith TrackMan's adjustable resolution,

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®/TM: trademarks of registered owners

Multitaskiiig

Suited UitiftoifClose Uindou

Aren't you glad Windowsand 05/2" aren't the onlyway to multitask andwindow on the PC.

It's all very well tolook at screen after screenof colorful graphics andnew programs. But thebrutal truth is that theseenvironments requireextensive, expensive hard-ware upgrades for 80% ofPC users. Not to mentionnew or upgraded software.

It all adds up to $1,200 to$2,500 per PC-and that's forthe hardware and software alone. To saynothing about a major investment in thetime it will take to learn new ways ofworking.

If all you want is enhancedproductivity from your PC, that's too higha price to pay

DESQview does it all.For less.

DESQview runs the programs youknow and love in multiple windows,multitasks them and even lets you choosewhether or not to use a mouse. And it doesit all today In fact, DESQ-view's been doing it forover four years now.

People all over theworld are using DESQ-view to manage custom-ized work environments likethose showTi here. They are using it to cutand paste data between programs running

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in multiple windows, running sorts andrecalculations in the background, andthey're operating in text and graphicsmodes in windows side-by-side.

With no drama, no fireworks and nohuge memory or disk space requirements.

In fact, DESQ\dew runs on i486,80386,80286 and even 8086 and 8088 PCs. Itslow memory overhead means you don'thave to buy a faster computer and moreRAM to compensate for the demands of ^a complex, memory-hungry 'graphical'operating system.

And DESQview builds on and extendsDOS—the most robust, stable operatingsystem available for your computer

Plus, you don't give up any flexibilityin choosing programs. DESQview runsvirtuaUy all DOS and DOS-extendedprograms and Windows programs as well.

No wonder major corporations all overthe world have chosen to standardize onDESQview.

New DESQview 2.3gets the most out ofDOS. Even inWindows.

For a lot of users, what'sexciting about Windows isn'tWindows itself, but some of thegreat new programs that use it.Now you can run those programsin DESQview 2.3, and keep onusing the unique DOS multitask-ing windowing capabihties ofDESQv'iew. (On 386 machines,DESQview 386 2.3 runs Windowsprograms side-by-side with 386DOS-extended programs such as IBMInterleaf and AutoCAD 386.)

And of course, new DESQview 2.3gives you all the other great strengths thatmade it the favorite of knowlegeable PCusers. Some of our recently added features:support for mouse menus within mndows;

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flexibility for assigning and reassigningspecial keys within windows, support for3270 and other terminal emulation,support for a wide range of hardware: CD-ROM, scanners, comm ports, etc. and helpin handling troublesome TSRs. DESQ\'iewkeeps up with software and hardwaredevelopments. As new standards develop,you'll find us supporting them.

As long as you're using DOS programs,you need DESQview.

without te

Quarterdeck's family

of products isdesigned to enhancethe way you work.

At Quarterdeck, ourmission has always been toincrease your productivity inlogical, economical steps—notto reinvent a system thatalready works for you.

Our best known product,DESQview, has well over amillion users.

And hundreds of thousands ofpeople use our QEMM, theexpanded memory manager forusers of 80386 PCs and IBM PS/2'" models50 and 60 that makes it easy for yourprograms to break the 640K memorybarrier (Even within Windows, on 386machines!)

Our newest products. QuarterdeckManifest and QRAM help you understandand optimize the critical first megabyte ofyour PC's memory.

Manifest does for memorv what PCTools Deluxe does for disks. It guides you

DESQview Svstem Requirements; IBM Persona! Computer and lOOSccompatibles (with 8086,8088,80286,80386 or i486 processors) with mono-chrome or color display; IBM Personal System/2 • Memory; 640K recom-mended; for DESQ\'iew itself 0-145K Expanded Memory (Optional):expanded memorv boards compatible with the Intel AboveBoard;enhanced expanded memory boanas compatible with the AST R-AMpaj^EMS 4.0 expanded memory' boards • Disk: two diskette drives or onediskette drive and a hard disk • Graphics Card (Optional): Hercules, IBMColor/Graphics (CGA). IBM Enhanced Graphics (EGA), IBM PS/2Advanced Graphics (VGA) • Mouse (Optional); Mouse Svstems,Microsoft and compatibles • Modem for Auto-Dialer (Optional); Havesor compatible • Operating System: PC-DOS 2.0-4.0; MS-DOS 2.0-4.0

• Soft^vaie; Most P(I-DOS and'MS-DOS apphcation programs; programsspecific to Microsoft Windows 1.03-3.0, QtU 1.1-3.0, IBM TopVlew 1.1 ■

• Media; DES(3view is available on either 3-7V' or 3-7:'" floppy diskette.

The vast majority of programs run in DESQview—even Windows 3.0 programs!And some programs take special advantage ofDESQvieiv to enhance their opera-tion. FNN NewsReal and products using Spreadsheet Sobttions' @DV 'Hot Links',for example, use windowing, multitasking and interprogram communications.

'under the hood' of your PC, showing howyour memory is being used; even whichparts of RAM are faster You'll see whereTSRs, utilities, drivers and buffers work,and find all the pockets of idle memory.QRAM is our memory optimizing

utility that ends 'RAM cram.'It lets you move drivers,TSRs and other utilities outof 'lower' memory and intoidle memory locations 'uphigh,' giving your programsas much as 130K more elbowroom. And QRAM makes iteasy to optimize yourmemory—even if you'venever used anything beyond1-2-3 before.

DESQview, QEMM,Manifest and QRAM helpyou get the most out of thesoftware and hardware youown today

To find out more about our family ofproductivity enhancement products, mailin the coupon below wdth the appropriateboxes checked. Or see your authorizedQuarterdeck dealer

Quarterdeck Office S\-stems, 150 Pico Blvd., Santa Momca, CA 90405 (213) 392-9851 Fax: (213) 399-3802

Trademarks are propert)- of their respective holders: IBM, OS/2, PS/2, jInterleaf, Top View, Lotus, 1-2-3, Metro, Freelance, AutoCAD, Ventura 'Professional Publisher, PC Tools Deluxe, Intel, 80B6, i486, Abo\-e Board,AST, RAMpage, Hercules, Mouse Systems, Haves, Miaosoft Windows,Microsoft Word, GEM, H^N NewsReal, Spreadsheet Solutions.

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DESQview 386 v2.3 Multitasking windowing environment □

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DESQview v2.3 Multitasking windowing environment LI

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QEMM-386 version 5.1 □

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QEMM-50/60 version 5.0 □

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ORAM Memorv optimizing utility Q

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Shipping k Handling S5 in USA/varies outside USACalifornia Residents add 6.75%Grand Total

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Call for upgrade information. ©1990 Quartenleck Office Systems

One little ARCStationoffers lots of angleson performance.

Vie ARCStation SX is just6.8cm (H) X 37cm (W) x 38.7cm (D)yet offers more performance anglestitan nmst big boxes.

-An

aiong an otherwise blandassortment of network nodesfrom which to choose, theARCStation SX is unique. It'sthe best mix of an inexpen-sive LAN workstation and apowerful personal computer.

As a LAN workstation it'ssmall, thus ideal for dataentry and production in areaswhere desktop real estate isat a premium.

Despite its size, it's fast.Tl-ieARCStationhas an80386SX CPU running at 16MHz,

0 wait state. So, it aids LANperformance. And, perhapsmost importantly, it's inex-pensive.

The ARCStation's greatestfeature is... its great features.Users that require more thantypical LAN nodes offer canhave it in a platfonn consis-tent with the rest of the net-work.

The ARCStation has en-hanced and standard I/Ointerfaces already in place.Any ARCStation SX can be

decked out with up to 8MBof RAM, an 80387-SX mathcoprocessor, 800X600 VGA,a mouse, and one paralleland two serial peripheraldevices. Then, if you want,add two 3.5" half- height diskdrives. A 16-bit IDE harddisk controller and a floppydisk controller are built-in.

So if you're building a newLAN or maintaining an oldone, you can standardizewdth one workstation plat-form throughout and still

span the range of user needs.From the simple, disklessnode to the all-out perform-ance workstation, ARCSta-tion SX offers lots of angles.Ask your ARC dealer aboutthe ARCStation SX20 andARCStation 286 as well.

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STATE OF THE ARTMAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

The Once andFuture King

Hard disk technology: Reports of its deathhave been greatly exaggerated

Bob Ryan

In Greek mythology,Odysseus had to sail afine line between Cha-rybdis and Scylla. To-day, the same can be saidabout hard disk technology,as it tries to maintain a viableposition between solid-stateand optical technologies. Asafe course depends on thecontinued evolution of materi-als, recording methods, andstorage subsystems.

Solid-state storage has aspeed advantage over harddisk drives, and optical disksare capable of storing moredata. With the continued im-provement in speed, capacity,and price/performance ratio,hard disk drives can still re-main the preferred direct-ac-cess storage devices. Thechallenges, however, are for-midable.

The Contenders

The idea of using memory chips for di-rect-access storage is not a new one.Dedicating a portion of memory to aRAM disk is a well-known way to in-crease system performance for disk-in-tensive activities. In fact, some compa-nies in the early to mid-1980s were quitesuccessful selling RAM disk expansionboards for IBM PCs and Apple lis.These products were not meant to replace

magnetic storage; you always had to copythe data they contained to a magneticdisk before you powered down your com-puter.

Newer forms of semiconductor massstorage are intended to replace disk stor-age. As DRAM densities climb to the 4-megabit and 16-Mb levels and as the costper bit drops, it becomes practical to con-struct mass storage units that are pri-

marily semiconductor-based.Such solid-state storage unitshave been in use in the main-frame world for almost a de-cade, so don't be surprised tosee them migrate to networkservers, workstations, andeven desktop personal com-puters. While they do includea magnetic disk for backup inthe event of power loss, solid-state disks are permanentstorage devices.

Another class of semicon-ductor devices that is beingused for mass storage is theflash EPROM. While not asfast as DRAM, flashEPROMs hold their datawhen you power down (see"Store Data in a Flash" onpage 311). They thus combinesome of the speed of semicon-ductor devices with the per-manence of magnetic media.

The Optical Path

The biggest challenge to magnetic massstorage comes from optical technologiessuch as CD-ROM, WORM (write once,read many times), and erasable opticaldisks. Optical storage is slower thanmagnetic primarily because of the great-er mass of optical read/write heads, but itoffers greater capacity. And because op-tical-media cartridges are removable,you can store far more data than the

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 301

Your Left Brain Needs Clipper.

Organization is everything in business. Theleft side of your brain knows this. It wants order.Economy. Precision. All reasons your left brainappreciates Clipper 5.0, the premier applicationdevelopment system for PCs.

An open architecture programming system,Clipper provides a flexible environment for devel-oping precisely the application you need, not a. messy approximation. Its user-definable commandsand functions let you configure the Clipper languagefor your exact requirements. Its compi er generates.EXE files for rapid execution and cost-free distrib-ution. Its new linker even lets you build and runapplications larger than available memory! And itse egant network support yields high performanceon even the largest systems.

So, if you're charged with coaxing order out of chaosfor your business, put Clipper in your programmingarsenal today. It has exactly the programming poweryou need!

Clipper, 5.0

Nantucket

213/390-7923

Ask For Department-A

' Circle 238 on Reader Service Card

Nantucket Corporation. 12555 West Jefferson Boulevard. Los Angeles. CA 90066. 213/390-7923 FAX: 213/397-5^69 TELEX. 650-2574125. Nantucket, the Nantucketlogo and Clipper are registered trademarte of Nantucket Corporation. Otfier brand and product names are used for identification purposes only and may Ik trademarks orregistered trademarks of their respective holders. Entire contents copyright © 1990 Nantucket Corporation.

STATE OF THE ARTTHE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

capacity of the disk would indicate. Diskchangers even alleviate the need to man-ually swap cartridges.

With semiconductor memory possess-ing a speed advantage and optical storagehaving greater capacity, magnetic diskstorage is being squeezed on both ends.But advances in all aspects of hard disktechnology, from basic materials to disksubsystems, ensure that the newcomerswill be shooting at a moving target.

Magnetic Basics

A hard disk drive stores data by magne-tizing areas on the surface of the disk."On" and "off bits are represented byareas magnetized in opposite directions.The read/write head is an electromagnetthat writes a bit by magnetizing an areawith the proper orientation. The head de-termines whether an area represents a 0or a 1 by the current induced in the headby the magnetized area.

Hard disk drives store bits on concen-tric tracks on a disk that spins at 3600revolutions per minute. To increase thecapacity of a hard disk, you have to in-crease the number of tracks per inch. Toincrease the performance of a drive, youneed to increase the number of bits pertrack, which permits more bits to passunder the head per unit of time. Squeez-ing more tracks into the same area andmore bits into a track requires both ad-vanced recording media and high-perfor-mance read/write heads.

Media Messages

Until a few years ago, the recording sur-face of a hard disk was a plastic bindersprinkled with slivers of gamma ferricoxide (FcaOa with a particular crystal-line structure). Given the monolithic fer-rite heads used at the time, this materialgave very good performance. The prob-lem with ferric oxide is that it is not co-ercive enough to let you pack bits andtracks closely together. Coercivity is ameasure of the field required to reversethe direction of magnetization of a bit onthe magnetic medium. As you pack bitscloser together, you need very high coer-civity materials to ensure that a bit won'tbe demagnetized or have its magnetiza-tion reversed by neighboring bits.

Coating the gamma ferric oxide splin-ters with cobalt doubles their coercivity,but even this isn't good enough to ensurea recording density that can comparewith optical densities. Today, most harddisks are coated with a continuous thinfilm that is sputtered or plated onto analuminum disk. These films consist ofpure magnetic material, resulting in amuch higher coercivity and a reduction

THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

Your Right Brain Wants It!

While your left brain duly notes the benefits ofClipper programming, the right half is wild about howyou get them! Imagine a programming environmentwith no limits! The language can be easily extendedwith your own routines and you can even integratecode from other languages, like C and Assembler.You're always free to configure Clipper to suit yourown programming style.

Hey, let's say you want to read and write data insome format other than the .dbf structure Clipperalready supports. It's no problem since Clipper 5.0sports a replaceable database driver, even a lowingmultiple drivers to be used concurrently in the sameapplication! There's no end to the possibilities you canpursue with Clipper!

Clipper's open architecture system will fire yourimagination with unparalleled freedom. It's spraypaint for a developer's mind. So, if you want yourimagination to inspire your applications, indulgeyourself with Clipper 5.0. It has everything you needand anything you'd want.

Clipper 5.0

The Application Development Standard

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in signal noise over ferric oxide coatings.

The most popular materials for mag-netic thin films are cobalt-nickel alloys.Unlike ferric oxide, these films containno nonmagnetic oxygen. Because the sig-nal a bit induces in the head is propor-tional to the media's magnetization, puremagnetic media will produce better sig-nal-to-noise ratios than media containingnonmagnetic material. This is importantwhen you're packing so many bits to-gether in a small area.

Another advantage to cobalt is that it ishighly anisotropic: It responds muchmore strongly to magnetic fields orientedalong a certain axis. Aligned properly,cobalt bits are thus highly susceptible tomagnetization from the read/write headbut relatively impervious to magnetiza-tion from nearby bits. This is one of thereasons for cobalt's high coercivity.

One problem with thin films is thatthey are susceptible to corrosion. Today,however, hard carbon coatings protectthe recording media from contaminantsand from damage from the read/writehead, which touches the surface of thedisk during starting and stopping.

Metallic thin films are the medium ofchoice for today's high-capacity disksand will remain so for the foreseeable fu-ture. In fact, it is no longer the mediumthat limits the capacity of magnetic stor-age. The limiting factor is the read/writehead.

Closing the Gap

As today's thin-film media let you packmore bits per unit area, the bits them-selves become smaller and, even withpure magnetic materials, produce small-er signals. To read a bit on this scale re-quires a head that has a very small gapbetween the poles of the electromagnet;otherwise, the fields from adjacent bitswould interfere with the signal. It mustalso be sensitive enough to detect theweaker signals from the smaller bits.

Even before thin films were used onrecording media, they were the materialsof choice for read/write heads. Their an-isotropic properties help ensure that thesignal they read is from the target bitonly. The ability of drive manufacturersto construct heads that fly as little as 100nanometers above the disk is also criti-cal, because a closer head also has a bet-ter chance to read the weaker signalsfrom smaller, higher-density bits.

Beyond Induction

Despite the advantages of thin-filmheads over the older ferrite heads, thelimiting factor that keeps the bit densityof magnetic disks below that of optical

Circle 239 on Reader Service Card

NantuckelCorporation. 12555 West Jefterson Boulevard, Los Angeles. CA 90066. 2m9Q*7923 FAX: 213/397-5469 TELEX: 650-2574125 NanluckeMtie Nantucketlogo and Clipper are registered Irademarte of Nantucket Corporation. Ottier brand and product names are used for identification purposes only and may be trademark orregistered trademarks of tfieir respective holders. Entire contents copyrigtit ® 1990 Nantucket Corporation.

STATE OF THE ARTTHE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

disks is the difficulty in reading closelypacked magnetic bits. Heads that read byinduction have a harder time readingsmaller bits, because the intensity of thesignals induced by such bits drops linear-ly with the size of the bits.

Last year, the IBM Magnetic Record-ing Institute (San Jose, CA) demon-strated a noninductive magnetic head ca-pable of reading bit densities as great as1.8 million bits per square millimeter.This is almost triple the data density ofmost popular magneto-optical drives.

The demonstration drive used a mag-neto-resistive head to read the tightlypacked bits. This head uses a thin-filmelement containing a single magneticdomain strung between two electricalleads. The resistance of the elementchanges as the angle of its magnetizationdoes. The angle, in turn, changes as theelement passes over the different bits inthe recording layer. Because differentpolarities in the bits produce differentangles of magnetization, which in turnproduce different resistances across theelement, the head reads the data by moni-toring a current passed through the ele-ment.

Although no production drive usesmagneto-resistive read heads, this dem-onstration proves that magnetic mediahave a lot of life left. The density advan-tages of optical drives may not be as greatin upcoming years.

Other technologies that may affect thedensity of magnetic media in the years tocome include the metal-in-gap heads,first popularized in Sony 8-mm video-tape decks, and perpendicular record-ing, which produces vertically orientedmagnetic domains on the media. See thetext box "Side by Side" for more on per-pendicular recording.

System Advances

While advances in basic technology con-tinue to contribute to the speed and ca-pacity of hard disk drives, advances inother areas of hard disk systems also con-tribute to the vitality of the media.

Perhaps the most common way tospeed up hard disk access is to couple ahard disk drive with a cache of fast semi-conductor memory. Recently, control-lers with caches of 1 MB, 2 MB, andeven 4 MB have become common onworkstations and high-end personalcomputers. These controllers combinemany advantages of semiconductor mem-ory with the safety and permanence ofhard disk storage.

Beyond simple caching, many compa-nies are producing hard disk systems forpersonal computers that rival those in

Side by Side

Bill Passavanti

Recent technology advances havebrought about a new generation ofhigher-capacity floppy disk drives.Among these, perpendicular recording,a technology developed by Toshiba,uses a new material—barium ferrite—on the recording media. Unlike conven-tional oxide media in which particlesare magnetized horizontally, or parallelto the recording surface of the disk, bar-ium ferrite particles are magnetizedvertically, or perpendicular to the re-cording surface (see figure A).

With the particles in the recordingmedia arranged more closely together,you can store more bits in the same lin-ear space, thus increasing data capacity.Data particles take less room when youline them up side by side instead of endto end. Bit density increases from the17,434 bits per inch you get on a con-ventional 2-megabyte floppy disk to34,768 bpi, resulting in a 4-MB storagecapacity and a fast 1-megabit-per-sec-ond data transfer rate.

In addition to increasing data storagecapacity, perpendicular recording alsoimproves data integrity. Since the parti-cles are magnetized vertically, there is asharp magnetic transition between theparticles. Even high densities maintainthis transition to clearly define eachdata bit. This orientation minimizespeak shift and reduces coercivity (seefigure B). With conventional floppydisk recording, increasing the bit den-sity crowds the particles, thereby reduc-ing the magnetic-transition space, blur-ring bit transitions, and increasing peakshift.

The barium ferrite that is used in per-pendicular recording also improves dataintegrity. Since barium ferrite particlesare flat platelets, they provide a relative-ly flat data surface. Consequently, astrong, continuous read signal is in-duced in the read/write head when youread the data (see figure C). Converse-ly, conventional floppy disks exhibit aread signal that fluctuates betweenstrong and weak because of the magne-tization and shape characteristics of themedia particles.

To accommodate perpendicular re-cording, the drive is engineered usingsome conventional drive components

combined with new and modified ele-ments. Changes to the perpendicular-recording drive include a narrower gapon an otherwise conventional ferrite-ring read/write head; modified read/write electronics to accommodate thehigher data rate; and a full-track-widtherase head that provides the full, deeperasure required in a perpendicular-recording system.

While offering both performance andstorage capacity improvements overconventional floppy disk technology,perpendicular recording promises tocontinue the tradition of cost-effectivestorage that has made present-day flop-py disk drive technology so popular.The use of conventional and readilyavailable drive components, combinedwith the ability to manufacture the bari-um ferrite media in high quantities withthe use of existing coating facilities, haskept the cost of perpendicular recordinglow compared to other new floppy disktechnologies.

Another element that makes perpen-dicular recording cost-effective isdownward compatibility. Perpendicu-lar-recording floppy disk drives willallow you to read and write data usingdisks formatted by conventional 1-MBand 2-MB drives. Therefore, you canupgrade your system without renderingyour existing floppy disks obsolete:Your data remains accessible while yougain in performance and storage ca-pacity.

Future changes in servo technologythat will allow for more precise posi-tioning of the read/write head will bringabout capacity increases in perpendicu-lar-recording systems of up to 32 MB inthe next couple of years. Ultimately,barium ferrite technology will store asmuch as 64 MB of data on a single flop-py disk, providing higher storage capac-ity along with the cost-effective, vol-ume-manufacturing characteristics thatare required of floppy disk drives.

Bill Passavanti is vice president of mar-keting for floppy disk drives with theDisk Products Division of ToshibaAmerica Information Systems (Irvine,CA). He can be reached on BIX do"editors."

304 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ARTTHE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

Figure A: In the barium ferritemedium (left), particles aremagnetized vertically—perpendicularto the recording surface. In theconventional oxide medium (right),particles are magnetizedhorizontally, which takes more room.

DIFFERENCE IN MAGNETIC LAYER

Easy axis Easy axis

Barium-ferrite medium

Conventional medium

Figure B: Since the barium ferriteparticles (top) are magnetizedvertically, there is a sharp magnetictransition between the particles, evenat high densities. This is in contrastto the conventional oxide particles(bottom).

COMPARISON OF RECORDING METHODS

Magneticlayer —»•

Magneticlayer —»

Flux

N

S

N

s

N

t

t

\

t

S

N

S

N

Perpendicular recording

Longitudinal recording

Magnetization

Magnetization

Figure C: Barium ferrite particlesare flat platelets and provide arelatively flat data surface and astrong, continuous read signal (left).However, the media particles ofconventional floppy disks exhibitdifferent magnetization and shapecharacteristics and a fluctuatingread signal (right).

OUTPUT ENVELOPE

Perpendicularorientation

In-plane(Jz:;) orientation(coatingdirection)

\ (\ A n j\ (\ r Modulation

I V/ w \! \j

Barium-ferrite floppy disk

Conventional floppy disk

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 305

STATE OF THE ARTTHE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

STORAGE HIERARCHY

Figure 1: The relationship between access speed and capacity: The fastesttechnologies have the smallest capacity; the slowest technologies have the largestcapacity. The pyramid makes a rough correlation between the height of each blockand the percentage of each type of storage present in a typical system.

mainframe systems for complexity andstorage. Earlier this year, Zenith intro-duced a new hard disk drive controllerwith its Z-386/33E. This controller is de-signed to minimize the amount of timespent waiting for a read/write head toseek the proper track and sector.

The Zenith controller can detect thecurrent location of a read/write head anddetermine the distance between the headand the data it has to access. In a single-drive system, this isn't very helpful, butin a multiple-drive system, the controllercan determine which head is closest to itsdestination. The controller can then initi-ate data transfer from that head first.

The Zenith controller is designed toincrease the performance of multidrivesystems. Another advanced controller,the Intelligent Disk Array found in theCompaq Systempro, is designed withfault tolerance in mind. The Systemprosupports up to four pairs of hard diskdrives. Each drive has its own controlcable, and each pair shares a data cable.The controller is thus able to read data

from all four disk pairs at once. The IDAmaximizes the benefits of this arrange-ment by using sector striping.

In sector striping, sequential data sec-tors are not arranged contiguously on adisk. Instead, the sectors are spreadacross the eight disks in the system. Thisis a big plus because the system can readmultiple disks at one time. Thus, it canread different parts of a file from differ-ent disks at the same time.

Of course, sector striping can be acurse if one of the drives on the systemgoes down. Suddenly, every file on yoursystem is missing some sectors. The IDAprovides two solutions: mirroring anddata guarding.

With mirroring, the system keeps amirror image of each disk on a seconddisk. When one drive goes down, thebackup kicks in. This is effective, but iteats up half of your storage capacity.

Data guarding is more complex buttakes up less space. It takes 25 percent ofyour disk space to store a combinedimage of the disks in the system. Every

time you write a byte to a disk, the corre-sponding byte on the other disks is read.The system combines the bytes with anexclusive-OR and writes them to a spe-cial area. If a drive fails, you simply readthe bytes from the other disks and per-form an XOR on them to recover themissing data. The IDA can perform thisdata recovery in the background.

The Storage Hierarchy

Advances in recording materials, heads,and controller subsystems will ensurethat magnetic-disk storage keeps up withits solid-state and optical cousins. How-ever, these alternative technologies willfind a place on an increasing number ofdesktops, not as replacements for mag-netic disk storage, but as adjuncts.

The different types of direct-accesscomputer storage, from main memory toWORM drives, fall into a pyramidal hi-erarchy (see figure 1). At the top arememory caches and main memory. Asyou go down the pyramid, you encounterstorage technologies that offer increasedcapacities but slower access times.

Until recently, hard disk technologywas unchallenged in the field of perma-nent direct-access storage. For most peo-ple, it continues to be their only formof permanent storage (other than floppydisks). However, as personal computersystems increase in size and complexity,optical and solid-state storage will seetheir share of the pyramid increase.Rather than being the only show in town,magnetic media will share storage dutieswith other technologies better suited tocertain applications.

One of those applications is archivalstorage. Hard disk drives are simply tooexpensive to waste on archival storage.Why should you pay for sub-lO-millisec-ond access to data you retrieve once amonth, if that often? Archival storage de-mands capacity, not speed, so it is anideal domain for erasable optical disks,WORM disks, and magnetic tape.

The Main Squeeze

The future of magnetic media is not indoubt; it will remain your most impor-tant form of permanent storage. But youwill increasingly see it augmented byother forms of storage (e.g., solid-statefor very fast storage, and optical forhigh-capacity archival storage).

Magnetic media will be squeezed onboth ends by these alternate technol-ogies, but it's doubtful that it will ever besqueezed out of the storage pyramid. ■

Bob Ryan is a BYTE technical editor. Youcan reach him on BIX as "b.ryan."

306 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

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Oakland Group, Inc. 675 Massachusetts .\ve., Cambridge, MA 021:39 ISA. FAX: 617-868-4440. Oakland Group, GmbH. Alt Moabit 91-B, D-1000 Berlin 21, F.R.G.(0:30) :391 .504.5, FAX: (0.30) 39:3 4398. Oakland International Technical Network (training, support, consulting): Australia Noble Systems (02) 564-1200: Benelux TMData (02159) 46814: Denmark Ravenholm (042) 887249: Austria-Germany-Switzerland ESM 07127/5244: Norway Ravenholm (02) 448855: Sweden Linsoft (01:3) 111588;U.K. Systemstar (0992) 500919. Photo by .Jessica A. Boyatt: Karyi by K^i Aso. Picture shows a C-scape program combining data entry with \ideo images loaded from PCXfdes, C-scape and Lool( & Feel are trademarks of Oal<land Group, Inc.; other trademarks belong to their respective companies. Copyright © 1990, by Oakland Group, Inc.Features, prices, and terms subject to change.

Circle 267 on Reader Service Card

STATE OF THE ARTMAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

Store Datain a Flash

Flash-memory ICs offer new optionsfor personal computer storage

Walter Lahti and Dean McCarron

Normally, you'dthink of a flashflood as a naturaldisaster, some-thing that could pick you upand carry you away. But theflood of flash memory that isabout to reach the personalcomputer world will be a pos-itive event. It will carry thepower to expand the reachesof personal computing.

Flash memory is a nonvola-tile memory IC. Born of theblending of EPROM andEEPROM, the flash IC isfunctionally and technologi-cally the offspring of theseparents (see the text box "DoYou Remember?" on page312). It is reportedly namedfor the speed with which itcan be reprogrammed.

While flash and EPROMmemory cells usually containa single transistor, a DRAMcell typically contains a tran-sistor and a capacitor, an EEPROM celltwo transistors, and a static RAM(SRAM) cell four or six transistors. Ob-viously, the more cells, the more real es-tate (silicon) a memory requires. Andreal estate is always expensive.

Advantages of Flash

Flash's two significant attributes, non-volatility and DRAM-like speed, are

ideal for solid-state "disk" drives. Flash-based disks are very fast compared tomost available disk drives (see figure 1).In 120 nanoseconds, you can access datastored in flash memory, while it takes 15to 30 milliseconds to access data storedon today's typical hard disk. In some im-plementations, such as in portable com-puters, the speed advantage of flash overdisk drives is even greater.

Today, a personal com-puter's hard disk drive is oneof its most power-hungrycomponents. When you use adesktop machine, you maynot notice this power con-sumption. But the power abattery-operated portable cansupply is limited—and harddisk drives use up that powerquickly. Most portables todayrequire fairly sophisticatedpower management facilitiesto extend the amount of timethe machine can be used.

A portable's power man-agement facility often turnsoff the hard disk drive if itisn't being used. While this isgreat for extending a porta-ble's limited battery life, it isterrible for performance.When the power comes backon, the disk drive's motor cantake several seconds to bringit up to speed before disk I/Ocan begin. A flash-based diskneeds no warm-up. When you turn on thepower, the data is immediately available.With no waiting, you experience no lossin performance.

In addition to achieving power savingsfrom an "instant-on" flash disk, you alsorealize savings from not having to oper-ate power-hungry motors and servos. A1-megabyte flash disk requires a maxi-mum of only 1.2 watts while operating.

ILLUSTRATION: JOE GAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 311

STATE OF THE ARTSTORE DATA IN A FLASH

Do You Remember?

There are two kinds of memory: vol-atile and nonvolatile. Memory suchas DRAM is called volatile if it forgetswhat it had stored when you turn offyour computer's power. Memory suchas ROM is called nonvolatile if it retainsits data whether or not your computer'spower is on. As all users who have everturned off their computers before savingfiles to disk can tell you, the DRAMused in your personal computer to storeprograms and data cannot retain infor-mation without power.

DRAM, however, is reprogram-mable; the information it contains canbe changed. When you load a new file,the new information replaces the old.ROM, though, is not reprogrammable—the programs and data in ROM are per-manent, and you can't change them.

In the early 1970s, the only semicon-ductor memory available was DRAM,its cousin static RAM—which is alsovolatile—and ROM. The choices opento computer designers were using mem-ory that was reprogrammable but lostinformation without power, and usingmemory that always retained informa-tion but could never be changed. Whatdesigners really needed was memorythat could be reprogrammed in the sys-tem and that also retained its contentswhen the power was off.

A few years after DRAM becameavailable, a new kind of memory knownas electrically programmable read-onlymemory, or EPROM, was introduced.EPROM is reprogrammable and non-volatile. But it has one drawback. Inorder to reprogram EPROM chips, youhave to remove them, expose them tohigh-intensity ultraviolet light for aslong as 20 minutes, reprogram them,and then replace them in your computer.Thus, EPROM fell short of being theideal memory. Today, because vendorsfind them easier to program, EPROMchips are largely used as replacementsfor your personal computer's ROM.

Electrically erasable programmableread-only memory, or EEPROM, wasintroduced in the late 1970s. EEPROM

The lowest-power hard disk drives todayrequire about 3 W.

The fact that flash-based disks have nomoving parts carries with it yet anotheradvantage—reliability. While hard disk

Psion uses four Intel 1-Mbflash-memory ICs in its credit-card-size solid-state disk.

(like EPROM) is reprogrammable andnonvolatile, and it can also be easily re-programmed within the computer.

Still, there are drawbacks. EEPROMis slow and expensive and doesn't holdvery much data. Today, you can store 1megabit of data in an ordinary DRAMchip. You can access the data in 80nanoseconds, and it costs $5. In con-trast, it takes 150 ns to access a 1-MbEEPROM, which costs S265.

In the mid-1980s, Toshiba Semicon-ductor invented flash memory. Aboutthe same time, Intel and Seeq Semicon-ductor were also working on flash mem-ory. While each manufacturer built itsflash memory differently, they operatesimilarly.

Like both EPROMs and EEPROMs,flash memory is nonvolatile and repro-grammable. But it has none of the faultsof these other types of memory. UnlikeEEPROM, it is inexpensive: Today, a1-Mb flash memory costs about $15.Unlike EPROM, flash memory can bereprogrammed electrically while it isembedded in the system—either by youor via system software.

Still, one drawback remains. WithDRAM, you can change a single bit at atime, but with flash memory, you canchange only a sector (consisting of mul-

drives have become remarkably tough,on occasion they still do crash.

Flash-based storage is very reliable be-cause a flash disk is as tough as the rest ofthe electronic hardware in a personal

tiple bytes) at a time. While constraintsof sector-level reprogrammability pre-vent it from replacing your computer'sDRAM, flash memory is well suited toother applications.

The type of storage that hard andfloppy disk drives provide resemblesthat of flash memory. Disks are non-volatile—they hold onto data with orwithout power. And disks are repro-grammable—you can change the fileswhenever you want to. The similaritiesbetween flash memory and disk storageled to the building of "disks" based onthe concept of flash memory.

A flash disk isn't a disk drive at all;there are no disks or moving parts. Aflash disk is a set of flash-memory partsmounted in a credit-card-size packagethat acts as a hard disk. This same set ofparts could be mounted on a board in-side a machine. The difference betweenthe two is that one is removable storageand one is fixed storage. A flash diskemulates a disk drive.

A flash disk is built from one or moreflash-memory ICs and some controllinglogic devices. For example, to build a512K-byte flash disk, you could connectfour 1-Mb flash-memory ICs and placethem on a small card. Psion has usedthis principle with its flash disk (see thephoto).

Flash disks operate fairly simply. Atthe hardware level, the computer simplysends digital read or write signals to thedisk with the address of the information.If it is a read signal, the disk respondswith the requested information. If it is awrite signal, the disk takes informationfrom the computer and stores it.

In addition to flash-disk hardware,you also need software to manage thefiles on a flash disk. This file-systemsoftware handles creating and deletingfiles, changing the file sizes, and for-matting the flash disk. Microsoft hasworked with Intel to create the Micro-soft flash file system, a standard MS-DOS-compatible flash-disk interfacethat makes it much easier for vendors touse flash disks in their computers.

computer. It takes a lot for a flash disk tofail: The flash memory must be damagedphysically, through destruction of the de-vice package, or electrically, by an ex-treme electric shock or a power spike.

312 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ARTSTORE DATA IN A FLASH

Disadvantages of Flash

Flash memory's extremely high speed,low power, and high reliability wouldseem to make it the ideal storage technol-ogy. Unfortunately, there are two signif-icant drawbacks to flash disks. The mostsevere limitation is its cost. A conven-tional 40-MB hard disk drive costs about$320, or $8 per megabyte. Today, a 1-megabit flash IC costs $15. Eight flashICs are needed per megabyte of flashdisk, making a flash disk cost about $120per megabyte.

Thus, you would have to pay about$4800 for a 40-MB flash disk, or about15 times what an ordinary hard diskdrive would cost. Because of this presentinequality, the first mass-producedflash-based disks probably will store lessthan 40 MB. In the future, flash-baseddisk prices will certainly decline, mak-ing large amounts of flash-disk storagemore affordable. In a few years, youshould only have to pay about $600 for a40-MB flash disk.

The other problem with flash disks isthat they can't compare with hard disksin density. The highest-density flashmemory available today stores 2 Mb perIC—you would need 160 of these ICs toproduce a 40-MB disk. Like all memo-ries, flash memory is expected to grow indensity, so eventually far fewer ICs willbe needed.

Two Flavors

Manufacturers currently offer flash de-vices in two programming flavors: thosethat require a 5-volt power supply, andthose that require a 12-V supply. Withboth erasure and programmability possi-ble at 5 V, only one power supply is re-quired at the system level. The benefits ofthis feature are reduced system-compo-nent cost and space savings. Thus, flashis ideal for portable-computing applica-tions.

The 5-V flash cell is generally a mod-ified two-transistor (or split-gate) deriva-tive of EEPROM and is packaged with adifferent pin-out than the 12-V varieties.Five-volt programming lets a systeminterface with the device in much thesame way it would with SRAM. There-fore, for some applications, a flash de-vice can replace SRAM, particularly insystems that use SRAM with batterybackup.

While both 12-V and 5-V flash mem-ory can be used as an SRAM replace-ment, the 5-V feature becomes more de-sirable for portable equipment where noexternal 12-V power is available and theaddition of a 12-V power supply is notfeasible.

Figure 1: Flashdisks are 125,000to 250,000 timesfaster than today'shard disk drives.However, they arelimited to up to 40MB in capacity,whereas hard diskdrives can storefrom 5 MB to 1gigabyte.

MASS STORAGE COMPARISON

10

10"

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Semiconductor technology

Flash disk

Disk technology

CD-ROM

Magneto-optical

Tape technologyPaper tapeQi-[^ Punched cards

—I—0.1

dAt

10

100

1000

storage capacity (megabytes)

Ideal for Laptops and Palmtops

Laptop and notebook computers are theideal applications for flash disks. Withcurrent hard disk drives, you must carry

around heavy batteries, deal with shortamounts of work time, or suffer fromhard disk drives operating at floppy diskdrive speeds. Flash disks will answer all

Microsoft malss sureyou fly realistically It's up toyou to fly responsibly

So you get an urge tobuzz the Golden Gate Bridge.Okay. You can ignore theFAA-but not the crosswinds.Because in the world ofMicrosoft' Flight Simulator'40, everything that happensis true to life.

Banking, climbing ordodging thunderheads, your plane responds with perfect realismto your every move. Plus, you have 100,000,000 square miles ofland to fly over. And four planes to choose from: a Cessna, a LearJet, a sailplane, or a dogfighter's dream-the Sopwith Camel.Ask your Microsoft dealer about PC Flight Simulator.Take it into the air. And m^-^^^ g-find out what they really mean fMiCfOSOftby "the wild blue yonder." Making it all mate sense'

For more information, call (800) 541-1261. Dept. M5L Customers in Canada, call (416) 673-7638. Outside Sorth America, call (206) 882-8661. © 1990 MicrosoftCorporation. All ri^s reserved. Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are re^tered trademarks a/iif Making it all make sense is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.Flight Simulator is a registered trademark ofSubLOGlC Corporation, used under license by Microsoft C

NOVEMBER 1990 - BYTE 313

1

Mylex has the best EISA solution.At least that's what people tell us.

SCSI Caching Host Adapter

TI34020"^ Graphics Controller

"The Mylex MAE486 with its32-bit EISA SCSI controllerkills the competition for readinglarge sequential files in the lOBench 2 tests

under UNIX." Personal Workstation. June 1990

Ethernet LAN Adapter

"The GXE020A TIGA board...scored as much as 45percent higher on our low-level benchmark tests than any otherTIGA board evaluated." byte, April 1990

"If I wanted to replace my entiresystem for optimum all-aroundperformance, I'd build it from MylexEISA-based boards."

Personal Workstation, June 1990

"Mylex has done a lot of work tvith EISA,and we plan to use its motherboard andadapters in a LAN Labs 'super-AT' server.

PC Magazine, May 1990 Visit us at COIVI DEX/Fal I

Las Vegas HiltonBooth #H7368

Of course, we've tested our EISA peripherals for compatibility with major EISA systems. /VV^llTo see what our high-performance EISA solutions can do for your system, call us at | | %|1-800-446-9539, or fax us at 1-415-683-4662.

486 is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.TI 34020 is a registered trademark of Texas Instruments. Mylex is a registered trademark of Mylex Corporation. © Mylex Corporationa990

Circle 386 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 387)

STATE OF THE ARTSTORE DATA IN A FLASH

Figure 2: A flash-memory cell isbasically onememory bit (on oroff). An array ofup to 4 millionflash-memorycells can beconnected to forma flash IC.

TYPICAL INTEL FLASH CELL

Second-levelpolysilicon

Voltage »-t-source

+Voltage gate

Control gate

First-levelpolysilicon(floating)

Floating gate

Gate oxide > 100A

P-substrate

-KVoltage drain

your critical needs for laptop and note-book computers by providing speed,rugged construction, and low powerconsumption.

You can also benefit from flash mem-ory in other implementations. Flash willlet you update your laptop's ROM withthe latest versions of DOS, or any otheroperating system, whenever you want to.Laptops save space on disks and in RAMby placing the operating system in ROM.The problem with this is that you can'tupdate the operating system without re-placing the entire ROM—an expensiveproposition. Thus, laptops often use oldbut reliable versions of DOS. Using anold version of DOS may mean that yourcomputer won't need a ROM replace-ment in the near future, but it may notrun recently written programs, either.

One thing lacking in palmtop com-puters, such as the Poqet PC and AtariPortfolio, is small, convenient mass stor-age. Without any optional peripherals,their storage is limited to programs onROM cards and memory-expansioncards that lose their contents when theyare removed. With flash-based memorycards, you can put your own programsand data onto the card, modify them atwill, and not worry about losing the in-formation when you remove the card.These features make flash-memorycards the logical choice for the palmtop'smissing "floppy disk drive."

Laser Printers

If you use a laser printer, you can benefitsignificantly by using flash memory in-stead of ROM. In laser printers, ROMstores programs and fonts. ROM replace-ments are expensive because printer-control language programs have becomelarge and are subject to frequent up-grades and improvements. Using a laserprinter equipped with flash memory in-stead of ROM to store control-languageprograms, you can reprogram yourprinter's control language yourself at nocost and without replacing any ROM.

Currently, laser-printer font-storageoptions leave much to be desired. Youhave three choices. You can download afont to the printer each time it is needed,wasting your time and the laser printer'smemory. You can place a font in a ROMcartridge and plug it into the printer, butyou are limited to a selection of only afew fonts out of the hundreds available.Or you can store a font on a dedicatedhard disk connected to the printer.

But when you use flash memory insideyour printer, you only have to download afont once and it remains in your printeruntil you choose to delete it from the

printer's memory. Because you decidewhich fonts are stored in the printer'smemory, you can really personalizethem according to your preferences. Youno longer have to buy cartridges thatcome with a half-dozen fonts just to getthe one font you need.

Fabrication Techniques

Flash devices are manufactured using de-signs and processes similar to those usedfor EPROM and EEPROM, so the tech-

nology is evolutionary rather than revo-lutionary. Because manufacturers havedealt with similar products, they will beable to climb the learning curve muchmore rapidly than if the technology werecompletely new. Thus, vendors planningto produce flash memory should be ableto attain manufacturing costs close to,but perhaps not equal to, those enjoyedby EPROM.

However, flash devices are a bit morecomplex and more silicon-hungry than

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 315

Howto]anda747inanareanobigser

thanyourdea

What do you need tobring in a 400-ton, five-story jetliner? Nerves. Skill.And the new MicrosoftFlight Simulator Aircraft &Scenery Designer

Add it to our FlightSimulator 40, and you're offon the most realistic flightexperience this side of a PC. \bu get a Boeing 747-400, completewith computerized flight display You can also try out a PiperArcher, a Beechcraft Starship or a seaplane. Fly them stock,or push the envelope and modify them to your own specs.

See a Microsoft dealer mmBecause now it's possible to buy awUMft^SOnexcitement. In the jumbo size. Making it all make sense'

For more information, call (800) 541-1261, Dept. M5L Customers in Canada, call (416) 673-7638. Outside Sorth America, call (206) 882-8661. ©1990 MicrosoftCorporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks and Making it all make sense is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.Flight Simulator is a registered trademark of StdiUDGIC Corporation, used under license by Microsoft Corporation.

^6 SPEED

PLETE COMPATIBILITY

Introducing the high speed modems from U.S. Robotics

Now with MAZbis

Until now, high speed modem users had the best ofone world. They either had speed or compatibility.U.S. Robotics just changed all that.

THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS...

With the new line of high speed modems fromU.S. Robotics - the Courier HST, the Courier HST DualStandard and the Courier V.32 - you can now have boththe highest speeds and the most compatibility

For speed - its the Courier HST which deliversthroughput up to 35,500 bits per second with MNP® level1-5 error control and V.42d/s. And it still costs less than$1,000.

For Compatibility - the Courier V.32 provides CCITTstandard modulations from 300 bps to 9600 bps for under$995. And with MNP levels 1-5 and V.42b/syou will getcomplete data integrity plus throughputs approaching24,000 bps.

For the best of all worlds - it's the Courier HST DualStandard, combining the blinding speed of the CourierHST with the compatibility of the V.32. At $1,295, itcosts less than some featureless V.32-only modems.

U.S. ROBOTICS - THE EXPERTS CHOICE

You would expect the broadest high speed modem linefrom U.S. Robotics. We manufactured our first HSTin 1987, and it quickly became the standard on over8,000 bulletin boards and for over 40,000 users. Rated #1by Data Communications magazine, it confirmed whatour customers knew all along - U.S. Robotics deliversthe best modem value. And we've been doing that for 13years - for over 1,000,000 customers.

When you look for high speed modems, don't settle forhalf a solution. Look to U.S. Robotics. Call today fordetails on the high speed modems that give you the bestof all worlds.

Call 1-800-Dlal USR. (1-800-342-5877)

iilobotics

The Intelligent Choice in Data Communications8100 North McCormick Boulevard, Skokie, Illinois 60076

U.S. Robotics. Courier and HST are trademarks of U.S. Robotics. Inc. Other computerand software names identified by s or are trademarl^s of their respective

manufacturers. Phces are suggested retail prices in U.S. Dollars.For sales in the United Kingdom, please call Miracom, Ltd.. Ipswich. England.Telephone: 0473 233888. For Canadian sales, call 1 -800-553-3560.

STATE OF THE ARTSTORE DATA IN A FLASH

Figure 3:

Technology trade-offs forsemiconductornonvolatilememories. Asprogrammingflexibilityincreases, so dodevice complexityand cost.

NONVOLATILE MEMORY TRIANGLE

Byte-level-erasable insystem

Electricallyerasable in system

Requires UV lightfor erasure

Not erasablein system

EPROM devices. The most commonflash chip is an array of single-transistormemory cells and looks much like anEPROM (see figure 2). It is slightlylarger than an EPROM of equal densityto allow for the command port and pe-ripheral circuitry that supports the in-system rewrite function and provides anon-chip processor interface.

The typical EEPROM chip is made ofan array of two-transistor cells to enablebit-level erase/reprogram. For any givendensity, it requires much more siliconthan either the EPROM or flash cell. Be-cause a major cost determinant in any ICis the silicon required, the EEPROM is amore expensive part.

Erasing and Reprogramming

In terms of reprogrammability, the flashIC falls somewhere between the tradi-tional EPROM and EEPROM (see figure3). A major difference between flashmemory and EPROM is that flash doesnot require ultraviolet light for erasure,as does the traditional EPROM. Whileflash resides in your system, you canelectrically erase it in much the sameway as you would an EEPROM.

The energy needed to discharge orerase the gate in a typical EPROM is de-rived from UV light, a requirement thatmakes it difficult and time-consuming toerase an EPROM. In a typical flash IC orEEPROM, energy resident in the systemcan be used to erase a group of memorycells or the entire chip. This featuremakes it easy and fast to erase a flash ICin the system.

You generally cannot erase a flash ICon a byte-level basis as you can with theEEPROM, but some flash ICs can beerased on a sector-level basis. Flash ICsare usually reprogrammable by hot elec-tron injection, a solid-state physics pro-cess that uses the energy in the system. Itis possible to program on a byte level, butbecause it is not possible to erase on abyte basis, reprogramming is limited tosector or the entire chip.

Because the flash device does not re-quire UV light for erasure, the chip doesnot need to be housed in an expensive ce-ramic window package such as that re-quired for an EPROM. Therefore, flashis also an excellent candidate for surface-mount technology.

The advantage of surface mount is thatthere is less distance between the deviceand the board. This reduction can lead toimproved reliability, better system per-formance, and higher board density, aswell as reduced cost. Also, the flash de-vice can readily be packaged in memory-card configuration and handled as if it

were a floppy disk, which is important tothe portable computer world.

The total cost of using flash memorycan be considerably lower than that forEEPROM and, with some applications,close to that for EPROM—about $6.50

for a 1-Mb EPROM versus over $250 fora similar-size EEPROM. On a compara-ble device-density basis, flash memory's$15 average selling price is much lowerthan the EEPROM's and greater than theEPROM's. With flash, application solu-

Create a sceneinyourlMrigroom.

Make mountains. Build bridges. Give rise to rivers and run-ways. When you add Microsoft Fli^t Simulator Aircraft & SceneryDesigner to Flight Simulator 4.0, the worid is literally yours.

Because now you can choose from 34 different objects-natural or man-made-and change their size, shape, color andeven location to your liking. Ask your Microsoft dealer about it.

You'll get the biggest kicks Jljiiri jifvjjv L/fin the air While you're having the fMnPCf (L^SOfCmost fun on earth. Making it all make sense'

For more information, call (800) 541-1261. Dept. M51 Customers in Canada. caU (416) 673-7638. Outside Sortk America, call (206) 882-8661. ©1990 MicrosoftCorporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks and Making it all make sense is a trademark of Microsoft CorporationFlight Simulator is a revered trademark ofSttbLOGIC Corporation, used under license by Microsoft Corporation.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 317

Circle 223 on Reader Service Card

BACKPACK.irS A DRIVE OF ADIFFERENT COLOR.

Add a disk drive without hors-ing around inside your com-puter-just plug Back- !pack into your parallel ^port! Connect yourprinter to the Backpackdrive. No tools. No hassles.No interface cards. Back-pack works with IBM andcompatibles including PCs,XTs.ATs, PS/2s, PS/Is, and

laptops. It's available in 5.25 "and 3.5" and comes completewith everything you need.- T" So see your dealer orget it straight from thef horse's mouth and call usabout Backpack today!

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Video Li.

Truly affordable video imaging forIBM PC and Macintosh computers.ComputerEyes includes everythingyou need to capture 8- or 24-bit color(or 8-bit gray scale) images from anycomposite or S-Video source.

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318 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 110 on Reader Service Card

STATE OF THE ARTSTORE DATA IN A FLASH

L aptop andnotebook computers arethe ideal applicationsfor flash disks.

tions are possible that would be imprac-tical with either the UV-light erasureEPROM or the pricey EEPROM.

The law of the semiconductor jungle isthat over time, all device types see im-proved performance and reach greaterdensity levels. At the same time that sili-con real estate is minimized, costs aresignificantly reduced. By 1994, the costof a megabyte of flash memory is ex-pected to move from its current level ofabout $120 to about $15.

Flash in the Pan?

Unless developers are able to overcomethe current limitations of flash disks, youwill probably continue to use hard diskdrives on your desktop computer formass storage. Hard disk drives are inex-pensive and fairly reliable, and they canstore plenty of data. Although single-user personal computers will probablycontinue to include hard disk drives,eventually network servers will probablyoffer both hard disk drives and flashdisks on-board.

On many servers, you frequently ac-cess files, such as programs, that arerarely changed. Flash disks are ideallysuited to perform this service. You canstore seldom-changed program files onflash disks, relieving the burden on theserver. By doing so, the server's re-sponse to program load requests will befar faster than if the files were stored on ahard disk.

Flash memory combines the advan-tages of an EPROM's low cost with anEEPROM's ease of reprogramming.These advantages will allow flash mem-ory to make significant contributions topersonal computers. Portable computerswill be the first to benefit from this newtechnology, as flash-based disks in-crease their speed, operating time, andruggedness. ■

Walter Lahti and Dean McCarron arevice presidents of In-Stat (Scottsdale,AZ), a company that provides market re-search for the electronics industry. Theycan be reached on BIXc/o "editors. "

htroducingThel)tal LAN Plan.Only EmersonUPS has it.

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Total networkprotection.

With the pricebreakthroughs we've achieved on ourAccupower' line, you can now protecta file server and five to six PC nodes.All for what you'd expect to pay justfor file server protection.

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And cable adaptersmake AccuCard compatiblewith virtually all desktopcomputer brands.

Plusthere'sourproprietaryAccuSaversofiware.

AccuSaver software is acti-vated by any data-threatening powerproblems. While the battery backupcapability of the Emerson UPS sup-plies emergency power to the system,our AccuSaver software orchestratesa controlled shutdown on all^ your PC nodes.—^ Then, when

power is restored,you can eithermanually or auto-matically restoreyour workstation.

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.■\ccupciwer is a registered trademark and AccuCard. AccuSaver and the Total LAN Plan are trademarks of Emerson Computer ftiwer, a division of Emerson Electric. PC is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. LAN Man^r is aregistered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Novell and Netware are registered trademarks of Novell Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T Bell Labs. Ban>-an and 3Cfwn are registered trademarks of those respective companies."Sooie restrictions apply See TOUT reseller for details or call Emason UPS Rmw; a dKision Emerscn Electric Ca

Circle 125 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 126)

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INTRODUCING PC-DOS & MS-DOS,Second Ed. By T Sheldon. 403 pp.,illus., softbound. This Second Editioncovers all releases through 4.0, aswell as Microsoft Windows and DOS-SHELL. Features the same hands-ontutorial format of the First Edition, withexpanded coverage of batch file tech-niques that can dramatically increaseyour computing speed.565/651 Pub. Pr., $29.95

LOCAL AREA NETWORKS: Archi-tectuies and Implementations.

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A PROFESSIONAL'S GUIDE TO SYS-TEMS ANALYSIS. By M.E. Modell.307 pp., Illus. Detailed coverage ofwhat you need to know-what ques-tions to ask, how to conduct a cost-benefit analysis, how to documentand validate your findings-to designthe best systems for your user'sneeds.

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DESIGN OF COMPUTER DATAFILES, Second Ed. By O. Hanson.479 pp., illus. This comprehensivebook contains lucid descriptions ofthe latest techniques and storage de-vices to help you design files for maxi-mum performance at minimum cost.Easy to read, with scores of exam-ples, tables, and illustrations.585143-1 Pub. Pr., $37.95

HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL COM-PUTER CONSULTANT, Second Ed.

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575/541 Pub. Pr, $29.95

POWER GRAPHICS USING TURBO

C. By K. Weiskamp, L. Heiny, and N.Shammas. 367 pp., illus., softbound.This easy-to-follow manual is packedwith practical examples of actualcode, guidelines for programming 2Dand 3D graphics using animation,customizing CAD/CAM, the capa-bilities of the Borland Graphics inter-face, and more.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEUSING C: The C Programmer'sGuide to AI Techniques. By H.

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PROGRAMMING USING THE CLANGUAGE. By R.C. Hutchison andS.B. Just. 579 pp., lilus. Whether youwant to understand programs in Cwritten by others, or write better Cprograms of your own, this practical,authoritative book gives you the toolsand guidance you need. Coverageincludes program organization, sort-ing algorithms, recursion, linked lists,and more - with many sample pro-grams.

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STATE OF THE ARTMAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

DAT'sa Solution

Reliable multigigabyte backup storagewith digital audiotape

Karina Lion

Tape backup hasbeen around for along time. In theearly days of com-puting, mainframe shops de-veloped half-inch reel-to-reeltape drives. (Such drives re-main popular in centralizedcomputing environments to-day.)

Then, with the advent ofpersonal computers, camequarter-inch tape drives.Quarter-inch cartridge tape,developed originally to store5 megabytes of data, soon be-came a popular backup solu-tion for the stand-alone PC.

Next came the 8-mm tapeformat. This storage medium,developed in the 1950s for thevideo industry, uses the stan-dard VHS recording method,helical scan. The primarybenefit to early users of 8-mmtape was its ability to storeover 2 gigabytes of data on aVHS cassette. Like its quarter-inch andhalf-inch cousins, 8-mm tape employsanalog recording methods.

To date, just one company manufac-tures 8-mm tape drives: Exabyte Corp.Nonetheless, 8-mm tape backup prod-ucts have proliferated into many operat-ing environments. Prior to the advent of4-mm digital audiotape (DAT) in themicrocomputer arena, the Exabyte 8-mm

tape was the only high-capacity tape-backup solution available.

Now comes DAT data storage, whichuses digital recording technology devel-oped for DAT devices in the music indus-try. In 1988, GigaTrend introduced thefirst DAT drive for computer data. Nu-merous companies have since announcedDAT products, including JVC, Hitachi,WangDAT, Archive, Wangtek, Hewlett-

Packard, Mitsumi, Sony, andTeac.

No mystery surrounds thepopularity of DAT. The de-mand for multigigabyte stor-age is rapidly becoming com-monplace. The backup andarchival requirements of PCLAN users, for example, havegrown exponentially in thelast five years. Users of high-end workstations and mini-computers also need multi-gigabyte backup solutions.

DAT shares with 8-mmtape the ability to store giga-bytes of data on a small tapecartridge. But although thetwo technologies are able tostore comparable quantities ofdata, DAT drives are cheaperto manufacture. What aboutoptical storage? CD-ROM/WORM (write once, readmany times) technology pro-vides quick random access tofiles. But optical disks costmore than 4-mm and 8-mm tapes, andthey hold less (only 600 to 700 MB), soyou pay for the privilege of instant accessto files. If that's what your applicationrequires, go with a CD-ROM or WORMdrive.

DAT systems, like conventional and 8-mm tape drives, can of course locate in-dividual files, but there's a delay. Formost backup applications, however, tape

ILLUSTRATION: JOE GAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 323

STATE OF THE ARTDAT'S A SOLUTION

remains the medium of choice. And, permegabyte, DAT is cheaper than 8-mmtape storage.

Making the Connection

DAT drives, like the conventional tapedrives and hard disk drives, come in twoflavors: internal and external. The inter-nal DAT systems are available in full-height and half-height models. On aLAN, you can attach a DAT system to a

file server or to a network node.

DAT systems support various inter-faces. SCSI has become the de facto stan-dard for DAT drives. Older tape driveinterfaces such as QIC-02, used withquarter-inch and half-inch tape systems,cannot achieve the high throughput levelsof SCSL If your system already has aQIC-02 interface, your existing tape-backup software could be able to com-municate with a DAT drive. You can even

buy a DAT drive with a Pertec interfaceto modernize a nine-track tape system.

Advantages of Helical Scan

The stationary-head technology used inquarter-inch tape drives puts a great dealof stress on a tape. In order to achieve abackup rate of 5 MB per minute, a half-inch or quarter-inch tape has to move atspeeds of 90 to 120 inches per secondpast the stationary head. (See the tablefor a more complete comparison of quar-ter-inch and DAT technologies.) Thatcauses significant wear and tear on thetape.

As a result, 150-MB tape cartridgesare rated for only about 200 passes; 60-MB cartridges are rated for 400 passes.The newer 300- to 500-MB quarter-inchsystems yield only about 100 passes percartridge. By contrast, a 4-mm DAT cansustain over 1000 passes. Why? With aDAT system's helical-scan technique,tracks are laid down in an angular for-mat, 6 degrees from the physical edge oftape. In a single pass, a DAT system canrecord a gigabyte of data. Quarter-inchtape technology requires 24 passes torecord 150 MB.

In addition to wear and tear, the speedat which tape moves in conventionalquarter-inch systems creates other prob-lems. As the tape passes rapidly over thestationary heads, friction causes heat,which can distort the tape's metal-oxidecoating. Such distortion can compromisethe integrity of data. That's why everyquarter-inch tape drive incorporates atape-tensioning mechanism that thedrive must monitor continuously to en-sure accurate performance.

DAT systems employ a rotating drum.Because the heads on the rotating drumdo most of the work, the tape doesn'tneed to travel so fast. DAT moves at amere one-third of an inch per second.The tape heads record the data in a her-ring-bone pattern. Unlike with the linearrecording method of quarter-inch tape,with a DAT drive each head can read onlyits own track. Tracks can overlap, whichprevents gaps on the tape and cuts downon wear and tear. All this enables thetape to travel more slowly, and thereforeto last longer.

Both 8-mm systems and 4-mm DATsystems employ helical-scan technology.One key difference is the degree to whichthe tape wraps around the rotating drum.In the Exabyte 8-mm system, the angle ofwrap is 221 degrees; with a 4-mm DATsystem, it's only 90 degrees (see figure1). The smaller 90-degree wrap angle re-duces friction and requires fewer movingparts.

DAT VS. QUARTER-INCH TAPE SYSTEMS

A DAT system stores more, faster, for fewer dollars per megabyte.

Quarter-inch

DAT

Capacity in production

60-500 MB

2.5 gigabytes

Next capacity level

1 gigabyte

5 gigabytes

Recording density

12,500 bits/inch

61,000 bits/incti

Maximum data transfer rate

90K bytes/sec.

207K bytes/sec.

Head teciinology

Stationary

Rotating drum

Recording method

Serpentine

Helical scan

Tape movement (wear/tear)

90 inches/sec.

0.32 inches/sec.

Data storage metliod

Analog

Digital

Media cost/100 MB (avg.)

$25

$1.20

THE WRAP ANGLE

8 mm

Figure 1: A DAT system's smaller wrap angle reduces friction during normaloperation and prevents stretching of the tape during high-speed searches.

324 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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STATE OF THE ARTDAT'S A SOLUTION

The DAT system's narrower wrapangle confers another advantage over 4-mm tape systems: It prevents stretchingof the tape during high-speed tape mo-tion. That means file access can occur at200 times the nominal read/write speed.

To obtain high-speed reads of thetape's file marks, DAT manufacturersnow use a digital strobe at the beginningand end of each track. The technique iscalled logical file marking. This differsfrom the 8-mm system's file-markingmethod—an erased length of tape fol-lowed by a series of tracks. These physi-cal file marks use up a lot of tape. Insome cases, file marks can consume asmuch as 2 MB, so a 2.3-gigabyte 8-mmtape can end up with only about 1.8 giga-bytes of data.

The 8-mm systems and 4-mm DATsystems also use different head arrange-ments (see figure 2): 8-mm drives haveseparate servo (positioning), read, andwrite heads. With 4-mm DAT drives, theservo heads are integral with the readand write heads. The latter scheme,which does not depend on mechanicalalignment of servo and data heads, canbetter follow distorted tracks.

DAT Standards

Two DAT recording methods now awaitANSI approval. DDS (digital data stor-age) is a streaming method similar in op-eration to half-inch and quarter-inchtape drives that support the QIC com-mand set. The other method is calledDATA/DAT. Its features include fast se-quential storage and high-speed filesearch with indexing. DATA/DAT alsohas a random-write mode that supportsmultiple (up to 254) partitions on a tape.

DDS does random reads, but not ran-dom writes. It's a bit faster than DATA/DAT, but it isn't designed for updatingfiles in place. DATA/DAT, which sup-ports block- or sector-oriented opera-tions, does support partial updates.

Forward Error Correction

Recording vast amounts of data on a tapeof such large capacity requires superiorerror-detection methods. With a 1.2-gigabyte tape, the conventional error de-tection of one error in 10*, the usual withtraditional drives, is unacceptable. Usingread-after-write in conjunction with cy-clic redundancy checks does not preventthe types of errors that only show up

4-MM DAT AND 8-MM HEAD MECHANISMS

4-mm DAT tape

Servo/Read head position

Drum|^'

^^L,^_^^^^^ ^ ^ .^^^^^ Neighboring track

Servo information ^—

8-mm 8500 tape

Servo head position Read head position

^ Neighboring track

Servo information ^

Anticipated track alignment path/

Tracks that have experienced heat expansion and contraction

Figure 2: An 8-mm tape drive's separate servo and data heads can have troublefollowing distorted tracks. The 4-mm DAT drive's integrated servo and data headstrack more faithfully.

326 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

After centuries of practice,manl(ind perfects engineeringcalculations: MathCAD.

Announcing MathCAD 2.5:The Dawn of a New Age.

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STATE OF THE ARTDAT'S A SOLUTION

when a tape is being read later, such asthose produced by capstan flutter. For-ward error correction (FEC), used onlyin DAT drives, reduces the error rate toone in 10'^ bits. To put it another way,there is only one error per 1,000,000tapes.

The drive's electronics implement er-ror correction using information fromtwo correction layers on the tape. FECcan correct up to 640 consecutive bytesin a 4K-byte block. Older tape-recordingmethods, such as quarter-inch, cannotensure this level of accuracy.

Both DDS and DATA/DAT use a tech-nique that segments the data-recordingtrack into two areas of the tape. Approxi-mately 60 percent of each track is allo-cated to user data and error-correctioncoding. The remainder stores the auto-matic track-finding information used tokeep the tape head centered on the track,along with saveset marks and file marks.

Interleaving

Both DAT formats support interleaving,which prevents the stop/start phenome-non that occurs when a tape drive muststop its streaming operation because itmust wait for the host to catch up. A DATsystem supports interleaving by buffer-ing data and by writing only completegroups of data while the tape is in contin-uous motion. This provides an economi-cal way to use an entire tape from begin-ning to end without wasting start/stoptime. Sophisticated DAT drives now con-tain "adaptive interleaving" that short-ens the tape-repositioning time evenmore.

Although DDS and DATA/DAT havebeen introduced as separate standards,they will probably continue to coexist.Backup applications that don't require aquick file-restore feature can use theslightly faster DDS format. Applicationsrequiring quick access to file marks andfast restore will use DATA/DAT.

Modes of Access

DAT systems support three modes of ac-cess: streaming, random, and update-in-place. With streaming access, you ap-pend data onto a tape. To change a file,you write a complete new version; allprevious versions of the file remain onthe tape. The partition, or tape, does notrequire preformatting, and no sparegroups are provided.

With random file access, you can lo-cate any file on a 1- or 2-gigabyte tape inless than 60 seconds. A DAT system,uniquely, does this in a way that emu-lates a standard block device, such as afloppy or hard disk drive. A tape, or asubportion of a tape called a partition,must be preformatted. The formattedtape (or partition), now called a datagroup, can be overwritten, or refreshed,without the need to change other sectionsof the tape. Note that 4-mm DAT storagedevices can do random reads (as opposedto random writes) in all three modes ofaccess.

The update-in-place mode is the mostadvanced form of the random-accesstechnology. In this mode, data access isa combination of both the random- andsequential-access methods. Append andoverwrite capabilities are both provided,

but no Preformatting is required. In-stead, formatting is done "on the fly" byallocating spare groups at set intervals.This method of dynamically formattingand altering files increases data transferrates with random writes, while simulta-neously maintaining areas of the tapewith streaming compactness, whereneeded.

DAT's Bright Future

With primary disk storage growing at aprecipitous rate, DAT technology offersa fast, reliable way to keep those bigdisks safely backed up. It can be usefulin other ways, too. With a DAT system'srandom-access and update-in-place ca-pability, you might want to keep primarystorage uncongested by off-loading cer-tain files (e.g., images) to tape. That sce-nario would require more sophisticatedapplication software than is available forDAT systems today, but it's entirely fea-sible.

A DAT system offers a higher level ofreliability and data integrity than its ana-log predecessors. Already more than15,000 DAT drives are installed in Eu-rope and the U.S. The technology re-quires little training. If you're responsi-ble for large quantities of data, you'llprobably soon be saving that data on aDAT. ■

Karina Lion is executive director of pub-lic relations and corporate communica-tions for GigaTrend. She holds a B.B.A.degree from George Washington Univer-sity. She can be reached on BIX do"editors."

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STATE OF THE ARTMAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

GettingYour Byte's Worth

Hardware-based data compression is transparent andautomatically compresses everything you store

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Sixty megabytes offiles on a 40-MBdisk! And 120 MBof data packed ontoan 80-MB tape, with fasteraccess time to boot. You cansqueeze more data onto a diskor tape than you might think.

More than ever, mass stor-age devices are bursting at theseams. Hard disk drives rou-tinely come in sizes of over100 MB, and some tapes canhold over a gigabyte of infor-mation. Even so, the numberand size of files continue tooutstrip storage capacities.

Data compression is one so-lution. You may think of thatas a software solution (see thetext box "Software Solutions"on page 332), involving theselective compression of indi-vidual data files. However,hardware solutions also exist.Hardware data compression istransparent and automaticallycompresses everything you store. Often,these techniques are embedded in harddisk and tape drive controllers.

A Gigabyte for QIC

The most notable successes for hardwaredata compression have come in the realmof quarter-inch tape drives. For severalyears, the popular quarter-inch cartridge(QIC) format could hold no more than

320 MB of storage. Recent advances indata-compression and tape-length tech-nology, however, have made it possiblefor these cartridges to hold over a giga-byte of information.

With this boost in capacity, QIC tech-nology is emerging as a serious choicefor any backup job. Within the next year,gigabyte-plus QIC drives will begin ap-pearing. Then, QIC can be considered

not just for single-user sys-tems, but also for LAN back-ups and even mainframe andminicomputer backups.

In the forefront of this tech-nology is Stac Electronics. Itsproduct, the StacPack 9703data-compression chip, hasbecome a market leader inthis developing field. Indeed,the QIC Standards Commit-tee has declared Stac's hard-ware-compression algorithma standard: QIC-122.

But there are standards,and then there are standards.Many tape backup firms havehesitated to use the Stac chip.They are, understandably,concerned about backing thewrong horse in what is turn-ing into a four-way race ofcompeting data-compressionchips.

Advanced Hardware Ar-chitectures, InfoChip Sys-tems, and Hewlett-Packardhave also thrown their hats into the ring.Unfortunately, their chips are complete-ly incompatible with each other. Isn'tthat just what you need—another com-patibility question to worry about? How-ever, it hasn't stopped some companiesfrom leaping into the fray.

Colorado Memory Systems, a leadingsupplier of QIC tape drives, adoptedStac's data-compression algorithm

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 331

STATE OF THE ARTGETTING YOUR BYTE'S WORTH

Software Solutions

There's more than one way to com-press data. Currently, the mostpopular method is to use a sharewareor public domain file-compression pro-gram. You have several choices if youdecide to go this route (see "SavingSpace" in the March BYTE).

Now, as then, PKzip from PKware isyour best choice. The program, now upto version 1.10, continues to stand out inboth speed and efficiency. In addition,you can now view zipped files and ma-nipulate them with popular commercialprograms, such as Lotus's Magellan.

The popular LHarc 1.13 excels atdata compression, but you can feel your-self growing gray as you wait for it tocomplete a job. There have been rumorsthat a turbocharged LHarc is in the off-ing, but so far I haven't seen any sign ofit. The other popular programs, PAK,ARC, and Zoo, remain unchanged.

Software Pluses ...

There are several advantages to usingfile-compression software. Foremostamong them is that you have much morecontrol over which files will be com-pressed. If you only want to slim downdata files, like databases and spread-sheets, you can arrange to do that. Youcan leave executable files untouched.

Another point in favor of this soft-ware is that you can use most compres-sion formats on a range of operating sys-tems. Zoo 2.01, its source code freelyavailable, has been ported to everymodern operating system. Unofficial,but effective, compression programsallow you to use LHarc's LZH, PKzip'sZip, and SEA's ARC files on Unix,

VAX/VMS, AmigaDOS, and Macin-tosh systems.

Hiding behind this advantage is an-other one. Data that has been squeezeddown by a chip must be expanded by thesame kind of chip. This can make trans-ferring information from one system toanother impossible. That may be exact-ly what you want for security reasons.On the other hand, it could be a majorobstacle if your office uses several dif-ferent tape-backup systems. Softwaredata compression avoids all this.

There is one other factor that youshould not overlook: money. None ofthese programs costs more than $100,and Zoo is free. If you're willing to takethe time to manage your burgeoning filecollection, you can't beat the price.

... and Minuses

That's the good news. The bad news isthat, compared to hardware compres-sion, these programs are as slow asmud. They all normally use a disk as ascratchpad for their temporary files.This performance shackle ensures thatthey will always lag behind pure hard-ware data-compression implementa-tions.

There's more. Compression routinesthat do their work in hardware are in-visible. You may never even know thatyour files are being reduced in size. Butyou'd never make that mistake usingdata-compression software. One thingthey all have in common is their painfulcommand-line interfaces. The only wayto make them palatable to many peopleis to use a shell program like CaliforniaSoftware Design's Shez 5.6.

before it had even made the move fromsoftware to silicon. In 1989, the com-pany adopted Stac's algorithm in its soft-ware for the Jumbo tape line.

This option enables you to increase thebackup capacity of the QICs by approxi-mately 50 percent. This increase, inturn, drops media costs to well under 50cents a megabyte for the frequently usedDC-2000 40-MB QIC drive. In addition,increased production has continued toforce the price of QIC drives down.

Even with the additional price of theTurbo-Compression data-compressionboard, these reductions push systemprices per megabyte to well under $10.Coupled with the increased capacity of

mass storage devices such as WORM(write once, read many times) and harddisk drives, QIC drives have thus becomeaffordable and highly desirable optionson even single-user systems.

Data throughput, always a sore pointwhen making backups, has also im-proved. The 9703 chip can, in theory,slim down input data at a rate of 750Kbytes per second. More impressively, thechip can expand data to full size at up to5 MB per second.

In practice, mechanical and data-pathsize considerations drop the overall sys-tem performance considerably. Even so,there's an impressive increase in speedwhen you use a QIC-40-compatible tape

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Automating an of-fice on a budget is acommon challengebusinesses face. Theproject can be partic-ularly difficult whenthe company doesn'thave the money toreplace a diverse- base of equipment^ .^i^^^H ^ and software thathas been purchased randomly throughoutits history, and needs to incorporatethese resources into an integrated,smoothly functioning network.

A case in point is the automation of theFulton County Planning and EconomicDevelopment Department in Atlanta, GA.Faced with a limited budget, an odd assort-ment of computer brands and models, aneed to connect four individual departmentswith 30 users located in two buildings, anda growth plan that demanded a doubling ofthe initial network solution within a oneyear period, the County set to work findingthe best solution.

"Our major concern was to be able tolink all the existing, yet different, types ofpersonal computers, future add-on personalcomputers, and dumb terminals into a cost-effective system," said Dr. June Woodward,who, as Director of the Georgia SystemsDevelopment and Technical Systems Depart-ment, oversaw the project.

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"By combining both types of technologyusing products that are compatible with thebroad base of hardware and software thatthe county already had in place, we gavethem a solution that didn't cost a lot ofmoney and allows the expansion theyrequire," said Williamson.

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STATE OF THE ARTGETTING YOUR BYTE'S WORTH

A One-Sweep Approach

Atypical example of the marriage ofdata compression and primarystorage teclinology can be seen in Hew-lett-Packard's half-incli reel-to-reelstreaming 7980XC tape drive. Whenusing the 6250 GCR tape format, thisdrive uses a real-time data-compressionengine and a "superblocking" packingprocess to achieve data-compressionratios that average better than 2 to 1.

The 7980XC accomplishes this byallying two different components. Thefirst is the integrated circuitry that con-tains the data-compression engine. Thissubsystem catches data as it goes backand forth from the disk interface and thetape-cache buffers. Having captured thedata, it then compresses and decom-presses it on the fly.

The algorithm that actually does thework appears to be based on a public-domain version of the Lempel-Ziv algo-rithm. That isn't surprising. Most data-compression schemes owe a debt to thisalgorithm and its close relative, Lem-pel-Ziv-Welch. Hewlett-Packard's en-hancement to the basic theory was tomodify the contents of the data dictio-nary. This makes an algorithm thatgives good compression results, no mat-ter how many data types it tackles in asingle session.

Removing Redundancy

As with all compression algorithms, thekey to success is the removal of data re-dundancy. That's more easily said thandone. The Hewlett-Packard programencodes patterns that are found in theinput stream. When a unique data string

comes along, it's placed in a dictionary.The string can be any kind of data, fromASCII to imaging data.

The dictionary contains records withtwo elements. The first field contains aunique string, and the second holds acode word that represents the string.This dictionary is made up of 4096record positions and must be initializedbefore data compression begins.

The first eight locations in the dictio-nary are reserved for control flags. Thenext 256 positions are assigned a valuerange from 0 to 255. These represent thefamiliar ASCII characters. The remain-ing 3832 entries are set aside to holdunique strings. As the program fillsthese entries, it link-lists the other en-tries in the dictionary to them. Therecords always end with a pointer to therecords that contain the ASCII values.

The program searches the dictionaryfor matching strings as data is input. Ifit can't find a match, it enters the datastring into the dictionary and assigns it acode word. These code words are outputto the mass storage device, where theymake up the building blocks of the com-pressed file. They are 9 to 12 bits long,depending on the record's position inthe dictionary. If the record alreadyexists, the program replaces the datastring with the code word of the corre-sponding record. The program givesunique strings 12-bit-long code wordsafter it fills all 4096 slots of the dictio-nary.

At the beginning of the compressioncycle, the program doesn't compressdata. In fact, the data stream actually

increases in size at first, because thefirst few 8-bit words are replaced by 9-bit codes. As the dictionary fills withmulticharacter sequences, the 9- to 12-bit-long code words begin to representcharacter strings that are at least 16 bitslong. An example should make this pro-cess clearer.

The word cat is input as part of a datastream. The program searches for thefirst byte, c, in the dictionary. It's foundin the ASCII character set. Since amatch has occurred, the next byte, a, isadded to the string. Then the programsearches for the string ca. If it doesn'tfind ca, it makes a new entry in the dic-tionary for the unique string. The pro-gram sends out the code word for thelongest string that was matched beforethe new dictionary entry was made. Inthis case, the 9-bit code word for c isoutput.

Then, the program drops the firstbyte from the search string, and thehunt begins for the character a. It's alsofound among the ASCII characters. Theprogram adds the next input byte andlooks for the string at. If it finds at inthe dictionary, it adds the next byte, andthen the entire search procedure beginsagain.

In the event that the new search stringisn't found, the program makes a newdictionary entry and exports the codeword for the longest string that was pre-viously found, at, to the tape drive. Inthis case, a 9-bit code word now residesin the place of the 16-bit string at. Datacompression has begun.

The program doesn't attempt to scan

in a Jumbo Plus system. Backup timesare cut almost in half as the throughputincreases from 2.3 MB per minute to 4.5MB per minute. Colorado Memory Sys-tems claims even better gains when usingthe drive with higher-capacity tapes.

These performance improvementshaven't been lost on other vendors in thefield. Tandberg Data A/S is planning toadd the Stac chip to its line of tape drivecontrollers. Archive, the largest QICdrive vendor, has also jumped on theStac bandwagon. Its product, expectedby the end of this year, is named the Vi-per 2650. This drive will use QIC-525tapes to store up to a gigabyte of datawith an effective throughput of 500Kbytes per second.

DAT: Gigabytes for Gigabucks

It's clear that by 1991 every importantQIC drive will sport data-compressiontechnology. That doesn't mean that QICwill rule the personal computer backupworld, though. Digital-audiotape (DAT)drives that use hardware data compres-sion to good effect are also on their way.

The first DAT competitor to see thelight of day will be a 2.5-gigabyte 4-mmDAT drive, the TurboDAT, from Giga-Trend. Stac's ubiquitous 9703 chip pow-ers this SCSI device as well, but it's morethan just another platform. The engi-neers of GigaTape GmbH, the Germanparent company of GigaTrend, haveadded several features to the drive.

One of the most important of these

features is the use of logical file marks,which lets you store more data on a DATthan older file-storage schemes allowed.This and other enhancements havebrought random-file-access speeds downto 60 seconds or less.

Archive has joined forces with Hew-lett-Packard to work on producing a com-pression-capable DAT drive. This deviceis still in the development stage. It will bebased on a variation of HP's DCLZ algo-rithm. HP already successfully uses thisalgorithm in its half-inch reel-to-reel7980XC tape drive compression copro-cessor. (See the text box "A One-SweepApproach" above.)

Peripheral Vision, a data-storage new-comer, is introducing the 4Sight series of

334 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ARTGETTING YOUR BYTE'S WORTH

the data before building the dictionaryto determine which strings occur morefrequently than others. The statistics ofdata redundancy indicate that you canachieve good compression performanceeven with a 4K-byte dictionary. A largerdictionary or a sophisticated data-anal-ysis scan could increase data-compres-sion efficiency, but it would slow downthe operation. This one-sweep approachis at the heart of today's speedy hard-ware data compression.

Clearly, what would prove a goodcompression dictionary for one kind offile would not serve as well for another.To ensure maximum performance, theengineers at Hewlett-Packard have pro-grammed the chip to reset the dictio-nary frequently.

This approach has two points in itsfavor. The most important is that itforces the dictionary to adapt to changesin the current data stream. The secondis that the code-word length for the mostrecent repeating patterns will be set to 9bits.

In other words, the algorithm is al-ways trying to get the highest possibletheoretical compression without wast-ing the time involved in analyzing thedata and then operating on it. But themethod isn't perfect. By resetting thedictionary every time x number of kilo-bytes have been processed, perfor-mance suffers when the nature of thedata stream doesn't change.

Three Systems on a Chip

Originally, Hewlett-Packard coded thealgorithm and proved it successful inPascal. From there, it was ported to aproprietary integrated chip. The com-pany then made several changes to en-sure that the implemented algorithm

could deal with the high-speed through-put required of a tape drive controller.

In the hardware version of the pro-gram, the dictionary is created in a 23-bit-wide static RAM bank. While itmight seem that the dictionary could getby on only 4K bytes of RAM, it reallyneeds more. This extra space handlesdata collisions that occur while buildingthe dictionary. Still, the Hewlett-Pack-ard algorithm requires far less spacethan many other schemes.

A single VLSI chip contains all thenecessary programs and work space.This chip does both the compressionand decompression processes, but it canonly do one at a time. Hewlett-Packardheightened the chip's efficiency by di-viding it into three semi-autonomoussystems: the input/output converter, thecompression and decompression con-verter, and the microprocessor inter-face. Each section operates indepen-dently of the others for the most part.Thus, the chip can maintain a high per-formance level even with changes in thethroughput speed.

Compression and decompression areclosely bonded in this algorithm. Un-like such algorithms as Huffman cod-ing, the data dictionary is an integralpart of the compressed data. As such,the program must re-create it every timeit needs to decompress a data set.

While this process yields additionalspace savings, it also means that decom-pression can start at only a few specificpoints in the data. It would be almostimpossible, for instance, to translate afragment of a compressed file into itsoriginal form. In practical terms, thismeans that data can be decompressedonly when it is presented in proper orderto the decompression hardware.

4-mm DAT drives. These drives are sup-posed to raise the capacity of a 1.3-giga-byte cartridge by almost 300 percent, to5 gigabytes. The company says that datathroughput also increases by almost thesame measure, from about 180K bytesper second to 700K bytes per second.

The 4Sight 4-mm drive is not directlyconnected to the computer. Instead, thecompression device serves as a bridge be-tween the tape system and the host. Thecompression system, which has its ownhousing, is connected to the drive and thecomputer by a SCSI. From the viewpointof the host, the 4Sight DAT drive is justanother SCSI tape drive. Several VLSIchips, controlled by an integral micro-processor, manipulate the data once it

arrives at the device.

The actual data compression (or de-compression) occurs in a 128K-byte stat-ic RAM buffer. The data is then passedon, via a second SCSI, to the drive itself.If you wish, you can switch data com-pression off so that other devices canread its tapes. I expect this to become astandard option on all these systems.Versatility demands it. If this option isn'tavailable, you may want to think twicebefore buying such a device.

DAT drives have several obstacles toovercome, however, before they appearon every desktop. The chief obstacle is alack of consensus on DAT formats. Giga-Trend and several other major companiessupport the Data/DAT format. Others,

including Hewlett-Packard, back theDDS (digital data storage) format.

While Data/DAT is technically supe-rior—it enables both random reads andwrites while DDS permits only randomreads—that doesn't mean it will be thewinner. If you consider the number ofBeta VCRs sold last year versus the num-ber of VHS VCRs, it's obvious that tech-nical superiority is not the only criterion.

And DAT drives are far more expen-sive than QIC devices. In fact, the pock-etbook blues may slow down DAT marketpenetration more than anything else andthus put the brakes on any DAT standard-ization efforts.

Spare Room on Your Hard Disk

Data compression on backup devices isall well and good, but what you reallywant is something that will give you moreroom on your hard disk. Several productshave tried to meet this demand, and, sadto say, without exception, they've allcrashed and burned.

Contrary to popular opinion, data-compression and error-correction issueswere not the culprits. The devices thathave come and gone have floundered onthe rocks of system integration. Everyoperating system has its own way of ad-dressing random-access devices. Fittingcompression and decompression routinesbetween such structures as the DOS fileallocation tables (FATs) and the systemBIOS is a difficult task. For instance, afile compressor could allow a logicaldrive to contain more than the 32 MB offiles MS-DOS 3.x can recognize. Newhardware systems may finally manage tofly past these hurdles.

InfoChip Systems' Disk Expander is ahalf-length card that offers transparentcompression and decompression underDOS 3.x. While its proven IC-105 com-pression coprocessor can work with anymass storage device, the Disk Expanderboard has been optimized for disk drives.

Part of this optimization involves theuse of what InfoChip calls "lossless" or"noiseless" data compression. This re-cording methodology uses proprietaryalgorithms to ensure that no errors creepin during the compression (or decom-pression) cycle. That may sound likewishful thinking, but it's not.

InfoChip's error-free processing isbased solidly on the pioneering work ofinformation theorist and computer scien-tist Claude Shannon. Information loss,often feared in data compression, is ac-tually extremely rare due to successfulimplementations of the Reed-Solomonerror-correction algorithm. InfoChiphas taken a different road from that of

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 335

STATE OF THE ARTGETTING YOUR BYTE'S WORTH

other companies, one that should lead toeven more reliable data compression.

A software driver bridges the gap be-tween the operating system and the hard-ware interface. It maps compressed filesto the DOS FAT and intercepts all operat-ing-system and applications calls to thedrive. This software bridge is necessarybecause the minimal storage unit underInfoChip is the cluster.

True random block read and write op-erations will go much more easily than

when you try to work with a file-basedsystem. This means that an unaugmentedDOS will be unable to use a disk partitionunder the Disk Expander. However, thismay not be a major objection.

InfoChip's president, Dr. Kai P. Yiu,has stated that his company's aim is toproduce a bootable drive that any normalDOS application can run on. If you don'twant to put all your eggs in one basket.Disk Expander lets you have both com-pressed and uncompressed partitions.

You will need a separate driver forevery operating system you use (and theirmajor variants). First to be released willbe the MS-DOS 3.x driver. The beta ver-sion takes up about 27K bytes of conven-tional memory. It will work with mostconventional interfaces—ST506, ESDI,and SCSI—with one exception: It won'twork on Micro Channel PCs. Otherdrivers for DOS 4.x and Micro Channelsystems are under development.

Stac Electronics is also working on acard to bring in-line data compressionto hard disks. This product is intendedto compete directly with the InfoChipboard. Stac is taking its time with thisproject, and no release date has been set.

Stac also plans to use the device driverapproach, but the company has biggerthings in mind than drivers. Stac's meth-od includes a restructuring of the MS-DOS FAT and other low-level data orga-nization structures. The driver will notcover the ground between the FAT andthe compressed files, but rather the terri-tory between the file organization andthe operating system and applications.

It's a tall order, but Stac seems up tothe challenge. To quote Gary Clow, pres-ident of the company, "We're being verycautious and spending a lot of time andeffort in the quality-assurance area andcompatibly testing before even announc-ing the product." Stac plans for its driverto be compatible with DOS 3.x and 4.xand the Windows 3.0 environment.

Cutting Its Teeth

The promise of data-compression firm-ware and hardware is bright. Graphicaluser interfaces demand data-storage andtransmission rates that challenge eventhe biggest and fastest products of con-ventional data storage. Multimedia hasdata requirements that dwarf anythingever attempted on a microcomputer.

The first generation of transparentdata-compression devices has arrived inthe nick of time. It may have teethingproblems, but there will be integral data-compression chips, on either a board or adrive, working in microcomputers with-in the next year. High-end-computer us-ers won't be able to live without them.LAN managers and Unix administratorsin the microcomputer world would killfor data-compression benefits now.Hardware data compression can't come amoment too soon. ■

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is a program-mer/analyst for Bendix Field EngineeringCorp. (Seabrook, MD) supporting NASAcommunications. He can be reached onBIX as "sjvn."

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336 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 372 on Reader Service Card

Technologythat stands the test of time

For over 40 years now Sankyohave been supplying the world withmotors (currently 150 million a year infact), magnetic heads, card readersand industrial robots of outstandingtechnical excellence.

It's true we'\'e been around a longtime. But in all that time we've ne\'eronce rested on our laurels.

Instead we've always aimed topush the boundaries of technology' anddesign still further.

Something that's especially true ofour approach to the tape drive market.

Sankyo tape drives offer state-of-the-art design and unri\'alled reliabilirv'.

Each drive is fully enclosed, has adirect drive motor, a door for media

protection and modem design headmechanism.

And as well as the Sankyo150Mb and 525Mb tape drives, wealso provide sub-systems for PCapplications.

Indeed, what is true of our tapedrives is true of Sankyo.

Technology that stands the test oftime, backed by service of a quality tomatch.

To find out more, contact RogerKirkland, Telephone: (44) 628 810260or Fax: (44) 628 819435

Tape Drive Products

PERFECTION THAT ONLY COMES WITH TIMECircle 306 on Reader Service Card

STATE OF THE ARTMAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

Masses of Storage

For more information on the products and companies mentioned in this State of the Art section,contact the companies and organizations listed below.

Archive Corp.

Compaq Computer

IBM

MCC

1650 Sunflower Ave.

Corp.

Old Orchard Road

3500 West Balcones

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

P.O. Box 692000

Armonk, NY 10504

Center Dr.

(714) 641-1230

Houston, TX 77269

(914) 765-1900

Austin, TX 78759

Inquiry 1226.

(800)231-0900

Inquiry 1240.

(512) 343-0978

Inquiry 1232.

Inquiry 1247.

California Software

InfoChip Systems, Inc.

Design

Enei^y Conversion

2840 San Tomas Expy.,

Microsoft Corp.

P.O. Box 15248

Devices, Inc.

Suite 200

1 Microsoft Way

Santa Rosa, CA 95402

1675 West Maple Rd.

Santa Clara, CA 95051

Redmond, WA 98052

(no phone listed)

Troy, MI 48084

(408) 727-0514

(800) 426-9400

Inquiry 1227.

(313) 280-1900

Inquiry 1241.

(206) 882-8080

Inquiry 1233.

T_~ *— 1 ^ AO

Inquiry 1248.

Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Intel Corp.

One Canon Plaza

Exabyte Corp.

3065 Bowers Ave.

Mitsui Petrochemical

Lake Success, NY

1685 38th St.

Santa Clara, CA 95051

Industries

11042

Boulder, CO 80301

(408) 765-8080

LightStore Co.

(516) 488-6700

(303) 442-4333

Inquiry 1242.

1825 South Grant St.,

Inquiry 1228.

Inquiry 1234.

ouite jjv

JVC Information

San Mateo, CA 94402

Carlisle Memory

Fujitsu America, Inc.

Products Co. of America

(415) 572-2333

Products Group, Inc.

3055 Orchard Ave.

2903 Bunker Hill Lane

Inquiry 1249.

6625 Industrial

San Jose, CA 95134

Santa Clara, CA 95054

Park Blvd.

(408) 432-1300

(408) 988-7506

Mitsumi Electronics

North Richland Hills,

Inquiry 1235.

Inquiry 1243.

Corp.

TX 76180

35 Pinelawn Rd.

(800) 334-8273

Gigatek, Inc.

Laser

Melville, NY 11747

(817) 281-9450

1989 Palomar Oaks Way,

Magnetic Storage

(516) lyi-iii'd

Inquiry 1229.

Suite A

International Co.

Inquiry 1250.

La Costa, CA 92009

4425 Arrowswest Dr.

Cipher Data

(619) 438-9010

Colorado Springs, CO

Mountain Computer,

Products, Inc.

Inquiry 1236.

80907

Inc.

10101 Old Grove Rd.

(719) 593-7900

240 Hacienda Ave.

San Diego, CA 92131

GigaTrend, Inc.

Inquiry 1244.

Campbell, CA 95008

(800) 424-7437

2234 Rutherford Rd.

(408) 379-4300

(619) 578-9100

Carlsbad, CA 92008

Maxoptix Corp.

Inquiry 1251.

inquiry 1230.

(619) 931-9122

ZdIv Junction Ave.

Inquiry 1237.

San Jose, CA 95134

Nakamichi

Colorado Memory

(408) 954-9700

c/o Mass Optical

Systems, Inc.

Hewlett-Packard Co.

Inquiry 1245.

Storage Technology

800 South Taft Ave.

3000 Hanover St.

(MOST), Inc.

Loveland, CO 80537

Palo Alto, CA 94304

Maxtor Corp.

11205 Knott Ave.

(800) 432-5858

(415) 857-1501

211 River OaksPkwy.

Cypress, CA 90630

(303) 669-8000

Inquiry 1238.

San Jose, CA 95134

(714) 898-9400

Inquiry 1231.

(408) 432-1700

Inquiry 1252.

Hitachi America, Ltd.

Inquiry 1246.

50 Prospect Ave.

NeXT, Inc.

Tarrytown, NY 10591

900 Chesapeake Dr.

(914) 332-5800

Redwood City, CA

Inquiry 1239.

94063

(415) 366-0900

Inquiry 1253.

338 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ARTMAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

NoGate ConsultingP.O. Box 88115Grand Rapids, MI49518

(616) 455-6270Inquiry 1254.

O.C.E.A.N.

Microsystems

246 East Hacienda Ave.Campbell, CA 95008(800) 262-3261(408) 374-8300Inquiry 1255.

PanasonicCommunications& Systems Co.

Two Panasonic WaySecaucus, NJ 07094(800) 742-8086(201)348-7000Inquiry 1256.

Periplierai Vision

7712 Paseo del ReyPlaya del Rey, CA 90293(213) 574-1144Inquiry 1257.

Philips-Du PontOptical Co.

1409FoulkRd.,Suite 200

Wilmington, DE 19803(302) 479-2500Inquiry 1258.

Pinnacle Micro, Inc.

15265 Alton Pkwy.Irvine, CA92718(800) 553-7070(714) 727-3300Inquiry 1259.

Pioneer

Communications

Sherbrooke Plaza600 East Crescent Ave.Upper Saddle River, NJ07458

(201) 327-6400Inquiry 1260.

PKWare, Inc.

7545 North PortWashington Rd.Glendale, WI53217(414) 352-3670Inquiry 1261.

Psion, Inc.

(subsidiary of Psion Pic.)118 Echo LakeRd.Watertown, CT 06795(203) 274-7521Inquiry 1262.

Quarter-InchCartridge DriveStandards, Inc.

311 East Carrillo St.Santa Barbara, CA93101

(805) 963-3853Members: ArchiveCorp., Carlisle MemoryProducts, Cipher DataProducts, ColoradoMemory Systems,Gigatek, Laser MagneticStorage InternationalCo., Mountain Computer,Sony Corp., TandbergDataA/S, 3M, WangtekInquiry 1263.

Ricoh Corp.

5 Dedrick PlaceWest Caldwell, NJ07006

(201) 882-2000Inquiry 1264.

Seagate Technology

920 Disc Dr.Scotts Valley, CA 95067(800) 468-3472(408) 438-6550Inquiry 1265.

SEEQ Technology,Inc.

1849 Fortune Dr.San Jose, CA 95131(408) 432-7400Inquiry 1266.

Seiko InstrumentsU.S.A., Inc.

PC Products Division1144 Ring wood CourtSan Jose, CA 95131(800)888-0817(408) 922-5800Inquiry 1267.

Sony Corporationof America

9 West 57th St.

New York, NY 10019

(212) 371-5800Inquiry 1268.

Stac Electronics

5993 Avenida EncinasCarlsbad, CA 92008(619) 431-7474Inquiry 1269.

System EnhancementAssociates, Inc.925 Clifton Ave.Clifton, NJ 07013(201)694-4710Inquiry 1270.

Tandbei^ Data A/SKJELSASUN 161N-0808 Oslo 8NorwayInquiry 1428.

Teac America, Inc.

Data StorageProducts Division7733 Telegraph Rd.Montebello, CA 90640

(213) 726-0303Inquiry 1421.

3M

3M CenterSt. Paul, MN 55144(612) 733-1110Inquiry 1422.

Toshiba AmericaInformation Systems,Inc.

Disk Products Division9740 Irvine Blvd.Irvine, CA 92718(714)583-3108Inquiry 1423.

ToshibaSemiconductor

9775 Toledo WayIrvine, CA 92718(714) 455-2000Inquiry 1424.

WangDAT

151 Kalmus Dr.,

Suite K3

Costa Mesa, CA 92626(714) 241-9613Inquiry 1425.

Wangtek, Inc.

41 Moreland Rd.Simi Valley, CA 93065(805) 583-5255Inquiry 1426.

Zenith Data Systems1000 Milwaukee Ave.Glenview, IL 60025(312) 391-8860Inquiry 1427.

This resource guide listsinformation sources forthe concepts andproducts listed in thissection. Inclusion in theresource guide should notbe taken as a BYTEendorsement orrecommendation.Likewise, omission fromthe guide should not betaken negatively. Theinformation here wasbelieved to be accurate atthe time of writing, butBYTE cannot beresponsible foromissions, errors, orchanges that occur aftercompilation of the guide.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 339

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Circle 190 on Reader Service Card

if You Put it Together.

FEATURE

ChipsFOR THE NinetiesAND Beyond

Chips that speak, reason, and identify smellsoffer more than just MIPS

Janet J. Barron

hips aren't just plain chips anymore. And theyaren't just faster, smaller, and smarter thanthey used to be. Nowadays researchers and de-velopers are creating microprocessors that willdo things that were only theoretically possible a

few years ago—like speak, identify smells, train themselves,and form conclusions with less than hard-and-fast facts.

Here's a look at some of the more interesting new chips. Forthe purpose of this article, I'll discuss only stand-alone micro-processors (versus chip sets or modules). All are programma-ble, meaning that they can be "taught" to perform a number oftasks within the particular class of applications they address.

Many of these microprocessors don't fall into the category of"conventional" chips, and some purists won't consider themtrue microprocessors. But I have included them because theyare noteworthy or have unique features or technologies that willprobably affect the way you compute both in the near term andin the long run.

Some of the microprocessors in this chip medley are still inthe conceptual or architectural stages. Some are in the processof being produced, and some are already helping businesses usetheir devices more efficiently.

Dealing with Logic That's Fuzzy

Currently, many of the most dynamic R&D efforts involvechaos, fuzzy logic, and neural networks. These techniquesdeal with ways of understanding and coming to conclusionsabout phenomena that are nonlinear in nature or aren't clear-cut enough for conventional computers to handle efficiently.

For example, the FCllO from Togai InfraLogic (see photo1) is a digital fuzzy processor capable of performing genericmicroprocessor tasks. However, in a couple of ways (i.e., itsinstruction set and its chip specifications) this processor isgeared to handle fuzzy logic information.

This chip's FZAND and FZOR instructions were designedto perform fuzzy AND and fuzzy OR operations. (For moreinformation on fuzzy logic, see "When Facts Get Fuzzy,"

April 1988 BYTE). The following is an example of a rule thatuses two premises. It is one of several rules used to demonstratethe balancing of an inverted pendulum.

Rule 1: ;Clear the Alpha RegisterLOAD #FF,ALPHA;if(Theta == PM && dXheta == ZO)LHS ALPHA, #2

Theta

Theta.PM

dTheta

dTheta.ZO;Velocity = PMRHSC ALPHA, CONCL

Velocity.PM

The FCl 10 is one of the few chips that has an instruction thatevaluates the entire left side (IF condition) of such a rule. Asingle LHS (left-hand-side) instruction on the Togai processorhandles up to 255 fuzzy membership tests (versus several in-structions per test on chips not specifically developed forfuzzy-logic applications). The RHSC (right-hand-side by cen-troid) instruction evaluates the right side of the rule.

The data processing portion of the FCl 10 was also designedand sized to handle fuzzy-logic tasks. The processor runs at 10million instructions per second (MIPS) and, although mainlyan 8-bit chip, can perform 16-, 24-, and 32-bit (as well as someother) operations especially suited for fuzzy-logic problems.

Because of these features, Togai's processor is suited for ap-plications requiring real-time performance, such as roboticjoint/trajectory control, sensory fusion (combining the inputfrom a variety of sensors), pattern recognition, and analyticaland medical-instrument reading interpretations.

Cloning the Brain

Researchers have high hopes for neural networks as a potential-ly valuable processing technology. These artificial systems

342 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

ILLUSTRATION: LYNN BOYER-PENNINGTON © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 343

FEATURECHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

Photo 1: The FCllO. On the bottom left of the dye, theALU path is set up so it will do 8-, 16-, or 32-bitoperations. The large block at the lower rightcontains the hardware to implement the specialinstruction set that performs fuzzy-logic operations.

AiliajiBgiiiii ifBgiii i I

Hhbb BSBSBsaaaBEMss mmss mss em aaa b

. , - - 6 ■ % f g B f B ' g i i t i i i 9 - -- - ■■ ... - t ■

BBBB i H B S S B B B aBBBBiBBBBSBBH BBSSill r I T 1 ill III III 3 i r ir

Photo 2: 77! w is a rendering of the Bellcore chipthat contains three major functional areas: thenoise generator (extreme right), the neurons (justto the left of the noise generator), and the synapsearray (to the left of the neurons). Most of the chipis occupied by the learning synapse array.

simulate how it is believed the human brain works, learning byexample rather than having to be programmed. (For more in-formation on neural networks, see the State of the Art sectionin the August 1989 BYTE.)

As of this writing, at least a dozen organizations claim tohave produced working neural-network chips. In the last quar-ter of 1988, using VLSI technology, scientists at Bellcore (theresearch arm of the seven regional Bell holding companies) de-veloped an analog neural-network chip. The purpose of thisprocessor (developed for research purposes only) is to performhigh-speed on-chip learning in parallel.

Recently, Bellcore's researchers enhanced the learning al-gorithm and produced a new version of the chip that can learnas well as evaluate information at the rate of about 100,000 pat-terns per second. There are 160,000 transistors and 496 bidi-rectional synapses (electrical connections between neurons) onthe new chip (a 7- by 8-mm die). Each of these synapses has 5bits of dynamic range and 32 neurons with variable gain. (Aneuron is the nerve-cell body and all its processes.) The learn-ing synapse array covers most of the chip (see photo 2).

This second-generation learning chip can perform 10* con-nections per second, as well as the same number of connectionupdates per second. Bellcore calls its neural-network processora "cascadable" learning chip: It can be cascaded (arranged sothat the output of one feeds directly into the input of another)for larger systems with no degradation in performance. A neu-ral-network chip with this type of processing power and self-learning features can tackle hard-to-handle applications such asvisual pattern recognition, speech synthesis and recognition,and network optimization and control.

Alternative Neural Network Approaches

It should come as no surprise that Intel has thrown its hat intothe neural-network ring in a big way. The company has alreadyproduced one neural-network chip and is in the process of let-ting another company use some of its technology to produce asecond chip. Intel also has a neural-network workstation in theprototype stage.

Intel used CMOS-Ill EEPROM technology and a 208-pinPGA (pin grid array) package to create its first neural-networkdevice, dubbed an electronically trainable analog neural net-work, or ETANN (see photo 3). ETANN contains 64 analogprocessing elements and 10,240 trainable weights. It is current-ly being provided to system developers as an experimental chipfor prototyping and research.

Because of its highly parallel architecture, the chip achievesa blazingly fast computation rate—roughly 2 billion multiplyaccumulates (interconnections) per second. Another feature ofETANN is that it uses floating gate storage (versus digitalRAM elements or analog DRAM storage) for its weights.

Since it was Intel's first entry into the neural-network field,the company took a conservative approach by not adding alearning capability to the chip. Thus, you need some supporttools to train ETANN. A PC-based simulation and trainingprogram from California Scientific Software (developer of theBrainMaker neural-network simulator) provides the learningcapability.

ETANN's speed and parallelism make it good at mappingand character- and pattern-recognition. But because the chiphas a memory limitation of about lOK bytes, it is not good atperforming recognition tasks that require a large database.

This past spring, Nestor was awarded a SI .2 million contractfrom the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA) to develop a neural-network chip in conjunction withIntel. According to Nestor, the NIOOO device will be capable of

344 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

FEATURECHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

processing 150 billion synapse interconnects per second andwill function as a true learning device and parallel processor.

The inherently fault-tolerant NIOOO will incorporate Intel'sproprietary flash memory technology (see "Store Data in aFlash" on page 311). The NIOOO will use an estimated 250,000flash memory cells to implement a nonvolatile storage capabili-ty that is expected to provide 10-year data retention. Portions ofthe data path are parallel, and portions are multiplexed. One ofthe noteworthy features of the NIOOO is that learning can beperformed on-chip (as opposed to in software).

A chip as fast as the NIOOO is ideally suited for applicationssuch as speech, handwritten character and pattern recognition,machine vision, signal processing, on-board automotive diag-nosis, and industrial process control.

Sniff Chip Coming

If the collaboration between the University of California atIrvine (UCI) and Adaptive Solutions is successful, a new chipwill be born that can identify, discriminate between, and storeodors.

The olfactory system was the evolutionary precursor to therest of the brain's cortex. If Adaptive Solutions is able to trans-late a simulation of the olfactory cortex onto a chip, researchersmay begin to understand other kinds of primary perception,such as vision, hearing, and touch. Understanding the olfactorysystem would be one of the first steps toward figuring out howthe neocortical brain functions really work (the neocortexcomprises 80 percent to 90 percent of the brain).

UCI scientists Richard Granger and Gary Lynch performedthe research that resulted in programming a computer to dupli-cate the wiring of neurons in the olfactory cortex. "Identifyingsmells is a tentative first step toward circuit designs that mayemulate those in our heads," says Granger. As the simulationreceives the computer equivalent of smells, it stores memoriesby creating a hierarchy of categories and sorting the sensoryinformation into finer classifications with each "sniff."

Currently in architectural form, this neural-network proces-sor will learn with on-chip hardware. You will be able to tweakthe chip to work with any neural-network learning model by

Photo 3: Intel's nonvolatile ETANNchipprovides permanent true analog weightstorage without refreshor battery backup. Its 10,000multipliers and 20,000 analogEEPROM cells take up the bulkof the dye area.

reconfiguring its microcode. Tasks will be distributed amongan array of parallel processors that can process up to 300 mil-lion connection updates per second during learning. The chipwill hold a single layer of processing nodes, which are time-shared among all the virtual connection nodes in a network (seefigure 1). (A virtual node concept uses time-division multi-plexing to simulate all the layers in a particular network, one ata time.)

Help for Your Shrinking Deslctop

Are you getting the feeling that space on your desktop is shrink-ing in direct proportion to the number of imaging devices be-coming available? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to replace all

Figure 1: AdaptiveSolutions' architecture can beextended in two directions.Each chip has 64 processornodes, and additional chipscan be added to providearrays of hundreds ofprocessors. Virtualprocessors, calledconnection nodes, aremapped to each physicalprocessor, creating thousandsof neural-network nodes.Loopback techniques andbroadcast from anyprocessor allow arbitraryinterconnection of allnodes.

MASSIVELY PARALLEL AND EXTENDABLE ARCHITECTURE

Outbus

o

CO.DQ.OO

Inbus

——r

PN(0)

PN(1)

PN(63)

; PN(n)

Physical

Physical

> • • • •

Physical

Physical

processor

'.processor

processor

processor

Virtualprocessor

Virtualprocessor

Virtualprocessor

CN(0)CN(1)CN(n)

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 345

FEATURECHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

THE SHBOOM STACK-BASED CHIP

Control C

Address/data

32

[

I/O

Return

CPU

Stack

16

16

Address

Data

Figure 2: ShBoom has separate 32-bit internal buses foraddress and data. Both access the CPU, its two stacks, and theI/O processor. These buses are multiplexed into a single 32-bitexternal bus with DRAM and I/O control signals.

the clutter with a single box that (with the addition of specialsoftware) would let you scan, copy, and print documents; desk-top publish; communicate via fax, voice, and E-mail; transmitdata; and be networked to your entire workgroup?

A sophisticated chip from National Semiconductor can per-form all these imaging functions. Tagged the NS32GX320, thechip was designed for computation-intensive, embedded-con-trol applications. Concurrent processing, digital signal pro-cessing (DSP) instructions, and a two-channel DMA controllerare features of this new member of National Semiconductor'sfamily of embedded system processors.

The 32-bit chip's internal organization allows a high degreeof parallelism in executing instructions, on-chip BitBlt instruc-tion primitives and logic, stack instruction syntax tuned forPostScript execution, and a two-way set-associative data cachefor character generation. The NS32GX320 integrates more than390,000 transistors that are fabricated in submicron, double-metal CMOS technology and, according to National Semicon-ductor, achieves a peak performance of 15 MIPS.

This microprocessor was designed for applications such asembedded control of high-performance laser printers, intelli-gent terminals, and solid-state phone answering. It can also actas a controller for fax machines (including Group 4 ISDN),scanners, or multifunctional combinations of both.

Stack 'Em Up and Go Forth

A stack-based processor has an architecture that is optimizedfor real-time control with specific capabilities and features thatmake that type of operation its best application area. Among thecompanies that are preparing stack-based chips for commercialproduction are Harris Semiconductor and Computer Cow-boys.

One of the newest chips from Harris Semiconductor is theRTX 2010. This enhancement of the company's RTX 2000chip will be able to run floating-point and DSP operations. The2010 was not designed as a 32-bit chip, but as a high-perfor-mance 16-bit microprocessor. It has a built-in 48-bit multiply-accumulator that provides its DSP capabilities. In working sili-con now, Harris's 2010 is due out at the end of this year.

Why do a stack processor? According to Phil Koopman, oneof Harris's leading experts on stack-based microprocessors, itfills the need for low-cost, low-performance processing. Why astack-based processor for the embedded controller market?Again according to Koopman, "Outside the highest-vol-ume product, DRAMs, the next largest market is microcon-trollers."

Because they are stack machines, both the Harris and Cow-

boy Computer chips run Forth well. Why Forth? A character-istic of high-level machines is that they were optimized for aparticular language to the exclusion of being able to run otherlanguages. Forth makes a natural assembly language for astack machine, but, if you wish, you can also work in C insteadof an assembly language. Both companies offer an ANSI C.

Although both chips are stack-based. Chuck Moore (com-puter pioneer, software innovator, and creator of Forth) wentdown a different trail with his ShBoom chip. He designed it tobe a 32-bit chip with two processors—each with its own in-struction stream, sharing memory. An I/O processor directstime-synchronous data transfers while the CPU asynchronous-ly runs the ALU. A low-power (100 milliampere) CMOSmicroprocessor, Moore's chip was designed for an inexpen-sive, fast (1-megabyte, 200-MIPS peak speed) computer. It has8-bit instructions so that each 32-bit word is a 4-instructioncache.

Figure 2 shows the chip's external 32-bit address and databus interfaced to its internal 32-bit address and data buses.These buses link the stack caches, the CPU with its registers,and the ALU with the I/O processor and its registers. At power-up, the I/O processor writes 32-bit data into DRAM after fourreads from 8-bit ROM. With this bootstrap, additional data canbe loaded from ROM, disk, or serial line.

This type of chip may be used in areas such as storage andtransfer of data as well as communications. Stack-based micro-

his prototypemay show that digital GaAs is readyfor uhralarge-scale ICs and thatit is possible to buildGaAs logic circuits that will operateover a wide temperature environment.

processors such as these may be used as network controllers inhigh-performance LANs. They may also find applications ascontrollers for fiber-optic concentrators with multiple incom-ing fiber-optic lines handling packets of information that needto be switched. This type of chip responds to external events(e.g., catching a packet off a LAN) quickly.

TRON Offspring

Suppose you want to economically produce a microprocessorthat provides 32-bit addressing and upward compatibility withfuture 48- and 64-bit addressing modes. To make things evenmore challenging, say you want the end result to combine thehigh-speed simplicity of RISC and the programming ease ofCISC. How do you develop a chip in record time with thesefeatures plus the ability to include very high-level instructionsuseful for a compiler or operating system?

Today's answer: Develop a chip based on TRON specifica-tions. Anyone can adopt them; they are free of charge; and theygive companies an all-encompassing global computing solution(see "The TRON Project," April 1989 BYTE).

346 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

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FEATURECHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

TRON (for The Real-Time Operating System Nucleus) is astandardization effort consisting of an open architecture, afamily of VLSI chips, and system software. Although it is arecently implemented concept developed by Ken Sakamura ofthe University of Tokyo, several companies have already basedprocessors on its specifications. Mitsubishi is one such com-pany, with its new family of M32 embedded controller micro-processors.

One of Mitsubishi's TRON-based chips, the M32/100, hasbeen optimized for any control application requiring generalperformance rates between 8 and 12.5 MIPS at 25-MHz clockrates. Due to its instructions for bit-mapping operations, thischip is a suitable 32-bit CPU for applications with graphics re-quirements. The M32/100 shines in areas such as laser print-ers, X Window System terminals, and telecommunications.

Although currently produced with 1.0-micron technology,by the end of this year this chip is due to be fabricated with 0.8-micron process techniques. Because of its TRON heritage, theM32/100 provides a good application-specific IC core so that,with the addition of application-specific hardware, users canachieve an economical system-specific solution.

First of the GaAs Chips

Coming soon will be microprocessors fabricated from galliumarsenide (GaAs) instead of silicon, and possibly hybrid chipsthat are a combination of these and other materials.

Photo 4: The first 32-bit GaAs RISC Texas Instruments (TI), one of the major innovators in the

microprocessor. Demonstrated in September microprocessor industry, has in the prototype stage a DARPA-

1988, the chip had 13,000 TTL gates. funded GaAs chip that has demonstrated some very impressive

Improvernents have led to lO-times-faster gates potential capabilities. At a DARPA symposium held last year,

and yields to support 30,000 gates. *is chip was touted as being the world's fastest 32-bit CPU (see

figures).

TPs speedy 150-MHz pipeline RISC processor, with sixpipeline stages, uses heterojunction-based bipolar technology,which is faster but more complex and expensive than conven-tional MESFET (metallic Schottky field effect transistor) tech-nology (see photo 4). According to company officials, thischip's nearest competitors are 80-MHz, 20-watt microproces-

TVS HIGH-SPEED GaAs MICROPROCESSOR

131 mils 452 mils 135 mils 787 mils 1120 mils 925 mils 544 mils

3 fast 2 fast 2 fast 3 fast 13 fast 2 fast Setup time

1 nominal 2 low-power 1 nominal 2 nominal

1 ultrafast

Physical gate count = 32 Total metal = 4094 mils

Figure 3: This critical path analysis shows the trade-offs made in TI's chip between speed and power requirements (which aredirectly proportional in GaAs technology). Propagation delay due to metal interconnects is significant, increasing the criticalpath delay by 25 percent. Note that the design concentrates 13 fast gates at the ALU, where a 1120-mil interconnect wouldotherwise slow processing significantly.

348 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

CHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONTECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGES

B 10"

0)

DlC

(0

10'

Q-P

Joseplison device

10 10Power dissipation (nW)

10

10

Figure 4: A comparison of switching time and heat-generationbetween several kinds of circuit elements. Note the orders ofmagnitude difference between those that use JosephsonJunction technology and those that don't.

sors. TPs prototype is a 13,000-gate microprocessor (equiva-lent to a CMOS chip with 50,000 transistors).

TI has built and tested this 16,000-gate-equivalent logic gatedevice; emitter coupled logic usually runs in the 15,000-gate to20,000-gate range. The processor contains a 32-gate-delay crit-ical path with 200-picosecond-per-gate delays. More typically,high-speed processors contain a 20-gate-delay critical pathwith 650 ps-per-gate delays. This 20-gate-delay path length inGaAs would have required memories in the 1.5-nanosecondrange, which is considered too demanding for current memorytechnology.

Some of the first applications for this high-speed processorwill be in military guidance systems where there is space foronly one processor and it must do the work of six less-powerfulchips. The TI GaAs offering will also lend itself to DSP andother very high data rate applications.

This prototype chip offers many advantages, such as itssmall size and light weight. It has also been shown to be highlyreliable and to offer reproducible performance. And, for logicand processing tasks, GaAs is faster than silicon.

However, since TPs chip hasn't yet been commercialized,with the resultant optimization of its good features, it still hassome disadvantages, as well. Although it will perform threetimes as fast as silicon chips, it will also cost three times asmuch. Another disadvantage is that, at this point, the processordoes not contain much memory. GaAs is an intrinsically poortechnology choice for microprocessor memory, compared toBiCMOS.

Nevertheless, hopes are high for this high-speed, high-per-formance microprocessor. This prototype may show that digi-tal GaAs is ready for ultralarge-scale ICs and that it is possibleto build GaAs logic circuits that will operate over a wide tem-perature environment.

Toward Smaller and Faster Machines

If, as some people believe, silicon- and GaAs-based deviceswill ultimately reach their size and speed scaling limits, sig-nificant opportunities will open up for microprocessors using

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CircU 332 on Header Service Card NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 349

FEATURECHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

COMPANY

INFORMATION

Operational data on the chips discussed in this article was

provided by the manufacturers. For more information.

contact the companies listed below.

Adaptive Solutions, Inc.

Mitsubishi Electronics

1400 Northwest Compton

1050 East Arques Ave.

Dr., Suite 340

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Beaverton, OR 97006

(408) 730-5900

(503) 690-1236

Inquiry 1009.

Inquiry 1003.

National Semiconductor

Bellcore

2900 Semiconductor Dr.

290 West Mount Pleasant

P.O. Box 58090

Ave.

Santa Clara, CA 95052

Room lB-147

(408) 721-5000

Livingston, NJ 07039

Inquiry 1010.

(201) 740-4324

Inquiry 1004.

Nestor, Inc.

1 Richmond Sq.

caiiiornia scientitic

Providence, RI02906

Software

(401) 331-9640

10141 Evening Star Dr.,

Inquiry 1011.

Suite 6

Grass Valley, CA 95945

Texas Instruments

(916) 477-7481

Defense Systems and

Inquiry lUUs.

Electronics Group

P.O. Box 650311

Computer Cowboys

MS 3926

410 Star Hill Rd.

Dallas, TX 75265

Woodside CA 94062

(214) 917-7698

(415) 851-4362

Inquiry 1012.

Inquiry 1006.

Togai InfraLogic, Inc.

jkj v_orporaic r^aiK,

P.O. Box 883

Suite 107

MS 62A-021

Irvine, CA 92714

Melbourne, FL 32902

(714) 975-8522

(800) 442-7747

Inquiry 1013.

Inquiry 1007.

University of California

Intel Corp.

at Irvine

2250 Mission College

600 Administration

Blvd.

Irvine, CA 92717

Mail Stop SC9-40

(714) 856-6922

Santa Clara, CA 95052

Inquiry 1014.

(408) 765-9235

Inquiry 1008.

alternative technologies. Processors developed using Joseph-son junction (Jj) superconducting technology stand a goodchance of being serious contenders.

Jj technology is based on the use of tunnel junctions (a kindof quantum-mechanical switch) made with a thin layer of insu-lating material. This insulator is sandwiched between layers ofa superconducting material cooled to an extremely low tem-perature. Liquid helium is the coolant that is currently used. Jjscan switch voltages extremely quickly while consuming only asmall fraction of the energy that conventional devices need (seefigure 4).

On the road to developing smaller and faster computers thatfeature high switching rates and very low power consumption,

many U.S. universities, as well as companies like AT&T,TRW, Westinghouse, duPont, Conductus, and Hypres, areworking with superconducting technology. But superconduct-ing ventures undertaken by dozens of Japanese companies andorganizations are eclipsing U.S. endeavors in this field. Theseefforts have already resulted in prototype chips and other ele-ments based on Jj technology.

In 1983, IBM abandoned its attempts to develop Jj productsbecause it decided that commercialization of the technologywould take too much time and cost too much money. About thattime, as part of its fifth-generation computing effort, the Japa-nese government beefed up its interest in, and sponsorship of, Jjtechnology.

Several Japanese governmental agencies, such as the Minis-try of International Trade and Industry, the Japanese ResearchDevelopment Corp., and the Electrotechnical Laboratory,launched serious endeavors focused on developing Jj products.A couple of these undertakings, including that by ETL and onecalled ERATO (for Exploratory Research for Advanced Tech-nology)—an offshoot of JRDC—have paid off in Jj chips. Sohave some of the many private efforts by companies like Fu-jitsu, NEC, and Hitachi.

ETL has reportedly developed a 1-kilobit Josephson memorychip in which 90 percent of the cells can be accessed by theperipheral circuit. ETL has also announced completion of afour-chip, Jj-based RISC microcomputer that processes mostinstructions in 1 ns and consumes only about 6.2 milliwatts(mW) of power.

ERATO is taking a new look at a device called the quantumflux parametron, developed about 30 years ago, that uses theJosephson junction. QFP researchers are exploring the possibil-ity of producing an ultrafast computer using this technology.

Fujitsu has demonstrated a single-chip, 4-bit Jj microproces-sor with roughly 3000 gates and approximately 12 instructionsstored in an on-chip ROM module. Its maximum clock fre-quency is said to be 1.1 gigahertz, with a minuscule energyconsumption of only 6.1 mW. Hitachi has also reported havingdeveloped a microprocessor similar to Fujitsu's in complexityand performance.

This past spring, NEC scientists announced development ofa 4-kilobit Josephson memory with a memory read-out time of580 ps (0.58 ns). Comprising about 25,000 Josephson ele-ments, the NEC chip measures 5 mm square, with a cell size of55 microns square.

A Ticket to Tomorrow

With the advent of new superconductive materials that can beused with higher-temperature coolants (liquid nitrogen, for in-stance), a number of experimental Jj processors, switches, A/Dconverters, and even computers are arriving on the scene. Atthe moment, niobium and niobium nitride are the most promis-ing superconductors of choice, while aluminum oxide, niobiumoxide, and manganese oxide are the three most commonly usedinsulators.

Many difficult material problems (as well as a lack of prog-ress in related memory technology) remain to be solved. Butscientists may produce the next generation of chips and com-puters using Jj, SQUID (for superconducting quantum interfer-ence device), and QFP superconducting techniques. Circuitsusing these technologies may run faster, use less power, occupyless space, and in other ways outperform their conventionalelectronic counterparts. ■

Janet J. Barron is a technical editor for BYTE. She can bereached on BIX as "neural."

350 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

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Circle 94 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 95)

ModemBusiness

A close look at the Bell and CCITT standardsfor modem communications

Steven E. Turner

ending and receiving files over modem connec-

Stions is a routine procedure for most personalcomputer users. It's not unusual, however, tofind modems that can't communicate effective-ly because of compatibility problems—theydon't all follow the same standards.

For users, just understanding modem standards can be aproblem. The maze of modem standards grows constantly.Look at modem advertisements and you'll see a long list—Bell103J, Bell 212A, V.22, V.22bis, V.32—not to mention propri-etary technology and protocols that are licensed by individualcompanies.

These standards cover a variety of transmission speeds andsuch features as error correction and data compression. Themodem standards in use today come primarily from threesources: Bell Standards, CCITT Recommendations, or EIA/TIA Standards. (For definitions and an explanation of how mo-dem standards are established, see the text box "Where ModemStandards Come From" on page 354.) Table 1 shows the mostcommon modem standards for data rates of from 300 bps to14,400 bps, over leased-line and dial-up telephone lines.

Low-Speed Standards

The most common low-speed standards in use are the Bell 103Jstandard for 300-bps transmission and the Bell 212A standardfor 1200-bps transmission. Almost every modem sold in theU.S. supports these standards, either as the primary rate or assecondary fallback rates. Fallback rates are used when the mo-dem is unable to connect at higher rates, usually because thetelephone channel is too noisy to provide error-free communi-cation at that rate. For example, if a modem attempts to connectat 2400 bps but determines that the line will not support thatrate, the modem may try to connect at 1200 bps or 300 bpsinstead.

The Bell 103J and 212A standards are two-wire, full-duplexstandards. This means that modems that support those stan-dards use ordinary telephone lines, and they transmit and re-

ceive data in both directions simultaneously. Even at 1200 bps(212A), the data rate is low enough that the data channel forboth directions of transmission can fit comfortably within the3000-Hz-wide voiceband telephone channel.

Because the CCITT was developing international standardsduring the 1960s (while Bell was defining U.S. standards),most 1200-bps modems in the rest of the world operate using astandard known as V.22. This is similar to the Bell 212A stan-dard, but the carrier frequencies at which the data channels aremodulated are different. Thus, V.22 modems and 212A mo-dems are not compatible, unless special design changes are in-corporated.

For 2400-bps transmission, most personal computer mo-dems in use today implement V.22bis. The Bell Standard for2400-bps data was never completely accepted, because at thetime the telephone company's monopoly was dissolved, 2400-bps transmission wasn't yet perfected. As a result, there is al-most universal compatibility among 2400-bps modems basedon V.22bis.

Like the lower-speed standards, V.22bis is a two-wire (dial-up line), full-duplex standard. To fit two 2400-bps data chan-nels in the 3000-Hz-wide voiceband telephone channel, thedata bits are encoded into 4-bit bytes before transmission. Eachdata signal is then transmitted at 600 baud, and the two modemchannels can again fit comfortably within the telephone-linechannel.

High-Speed Standards Grow

Prior to 1984, modem transmission at speeds above 2400 bpswas possible only by transferring the data over expensive four-wire (leased) telephone lines. Special standards, such as Bell208 for 4800 bps, V.29 for 9600 bps, and V.33 for 14,400 bps,were available for use with these leased lines. However, onlyusers needing to transfer very large amounts of data could justi-fy the cost of leasing the telephone lines and buying the moreexpensive modems.In 1984, the CCITT approved V.32 for use with standard

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 353

FEATUREMODEM BUSINESS

Where Modem Standards Come From

To grasp the conglomeration of mo-dem standards, some understand-ing of where they come from and howthey are made is important. The modemstandards in use today come primarilyfrom three sources. The modulation andcoding standards are normally BellStandards or CCITT Recommenda-tions. The interface standards are eitherCCITT Recommendations or Electron-ic Industry Association/Telecommuni-cations Industry Association (EIA/TIA) Standards.

The Bell Standards are holdoversfrom the 1960s when all domestic mo-dem standards were set exclusively bythe telephone company. In those days,the telephone company had a monopolyon anything connected to its lines, and,by law, it was the only one allowed tosell modems. As a result, it set its owndesign standards.

The 1968 Carterphone court decisionopened the door for other manufac-turers to begin making modems, andthe method of standards-making

changed. Since modems used in othercountries at that time generally fol-lowed international standards, U.S.manufacturers became involved in help-ing develop those standards instead ofcreating a new set of standards specifi-cally for the U.S.

Today, most new modem standardsare created by the CCITT, based in Ge-neva, Switzerland, and affect modemusers worldwide. In the U.S., modemexperts participate in national stan-dards development groups, such as theTIA, to create those standards neededsolely for U.S. interests. They also gen-erate technical papers and proposals forthe international CCITT organizationand join technical experts from othercountries in attending CCITT meetings.

Together, these groups work out thefine details of new international modemstandards. However, when it comestime to vote on the new standards, eachmember country is granted only onevote. An official of the U.S. Depart-ment of State (the formal representative

to the CCITT) casts the U.S. vote.

Many standards efforts never make itto a vote because of technical problemsor political snags along the way. As a re-suh, those that do reach approval areusually well-tested and proven tech-niques that can be applied around theglobe. Once a standard is adopted by theCCITT, modem makers begin imple-menting it in their products.

One interesting feature of CCITT"standards" is that they are called Rec-ommendations. The CCITT cannotforce modem manufacturers to complywith its procedures; rather, it recom-mends an approach. However, in manycountries where the telephone networkis operated exclusively by the govern-ment, CCITT Recommendations havethe full force of telecommunicationslaw. In such cases, all modems con-nected to the network must comply ex-plicitly with the appropriate CCITTRecommendations. In practice, world-wide adherence to CCITT Recommen-dations is the norm.

dial-up telephone lines. V.32 leapfrogged from 2400 bps to9600 bps, representing a 4-to-l increase in throughput overmodems using V.22bis. Using advanced technology to provide9600-bps transmission over ordinary telephone lines, V.32 putthe everyday personal computer user in the high-speed databusiness for the first time by opening new doors to sharing filesand programs rapidly over modem connections.

V.32 Specifics

The technology required to implement V.32 modems did notcome easily. The level of technical expertise needed in devel-

MODEM STANDARDS

Table 1: Many standards and recommendations governhow modems are designed. These standards allowmodems from many different manufacturers tocommunicate with one another. An asterisk indicates"with echo cancellation."

Data rate

Standard

Line

Duplex

(bps)

300

Bell 103 J

Dial-up

Full

1200

Bell 212A

Dial-up

Full

Bell 202

Dial-up

Half

Bell 202

Leased

Full

CCITT V.22

Dial-up

Full

2400

CCITT V.22bis

Dial-up

Full

CCITT V.26ter

Dial-up

Full*

4800

Bell 208

Leased

Full

9600

CCITT V.29

Leased

Full

CCITT V.32

Dial-up

Full*

14,400

CCITT V.33

Leased

Full

oping V.32 modems has been conservatively estimated to be100 times greater than for V.22bis modems. As a result, fullyfunctional V.32 modems did not become widely available untillate 1986—two years after V.32 was adopted.

To send 9600-bps data, V.32 modems group the data into 4-bit bytes and transmit them at 2400 baud. Since there is roomfor only one 2400-baud data channel within the 3000-Hz-widetelephone channel, V.32 calls for both modems to transmitover the same channel at the same time. Each modem must thensort out its own transmitted signal from the signal it is receivingfrom the other modem. To do this, V.32 modems use echo can-celers. Figure 1 shows a typical modem connection, with theecho cancelers included in the modems at each end.

Hybrid circuits inside all modems are designed to match thecharacteristics of the modem to the telephone line. Since thenature of the telephone network changes constantly, this matchis never ideal. This results in part of a modem's transmittedsignal being reflected through the hybrid and back into themodem's receiver.

In addition, echoes of the transmitted signal from the hybridcircuits out in the telephone network bounce back into themodem's receiver. To get a good strong received signal, thesereflected echoes must be removed before the modem receiverprocesses its input.

The echo canceler, which is driven by the known transmittedsignal, models the echoes produced by hybrid circuits in themodem and the network. The output of the echo canceler is sub-tracted from the received signal before it goes into the modemreceiver for processing, thus eliminating the effects of the ech-oes. This is not a simple task. The precision that is required inthe echo canceler to remove the echoes is substantial. Since thetransmit signal is constantly fluctuating with changes in thedata, the echo canceler must continuously adapt to those

354 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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FEATUREMODEM BUSINESS

To ,

computer

Transmitter —\

3...

Echocancel

ECHO CANCELLATION

Hybrid

Receiver

Four-wire

Hybrid

carrier

circuit

Hybrid

Local (near-end) modem

Two-wirelocal loop

Two-wirelocal loop

Tocomputer

Remote (far-end) modem

Figure 1: In all modem connections, the computer output signal is sent directly to the modem for transmission over the telephoneline. A typical dial-up telephone-line modem connection requires the modem signal to pass through two-wire local-loop channelsto the telephone company's nearby central office. From there, it travels over a four-wire circuit to the other end of theconnection. The signal then passes through the distant modem's receiver to the computer at the other end. Hybrid circuitsconnect the two-wire/four-wire links and isolate the transmit and receive signals in the modems. In high-speed modems, such asV. 32 modems, an echo canceler is used to further isolate the transmit and receive signals and improve signal reception.

changes as it mimics the transmitted signal's echo.

Since at any given moment a V.32 modem is transmittingmore data than a lower-speed modem, the individual V.32 datasignals are much weaker and harder to detect. For this reason,V.32 incorporates advanced coding techniques such as trellisencoding. Trellis encoding allows the modem to examine sev-eral consecutive received signals and look for known patternsbefore deciding the value of the signal.

This memory effect can produce dramatic reductions in theerror rate. The end result is that well-made V.32 modems pro-duce very low error rates and provide reliable, high-speed datatransfer between modems. This allows personal computerusers to trade programs and download files at rates unimaginedin the early 1980s.

In an attempt to push technology barriers even further, theCCITT began, in 1989, to study the idea of extending V.32 upto a 14,400-bps rate. This standard was named V.32bis, sinceit represented an outgrowth of V.32 rather than a new idea.V.32bis requires even better echo cancelers than does V.32. Italso requires an overall improvement in receiver quality. Test-ing has shown, however, that 14,400-bps transmission overstandard telephone lines is quite feasible with proper modemdesign.

V.32bis is expected to be formally approved by the CCITTby mid-1991. Once adopted, V.32bis will open the door evenwider for very fast data transfer between personal computers.A summary of new and evolving modem standards and theirstatus is detailed in table 2.

Data-Manipulation Standards

With the basic modulation rates approaching the theoreticallimits of telephone-line channels, modem makers and theCCITT have turned to new ways of improving performance andincreasing the data rates. The two most important steps in thisdirection are V.42 for error correction, and its companion,V.42bis, for data compression.

The error-correction and data-compression functions are ap-plied to the data before modulation and stripped off before themodem receiver decodes the data at the other end. An ex-panded view of these functions inside the modem is depicted infigure 2.

At high speeds, modems are prone to making more errors,

not only because of the reduced power in high-speed modemsignals, but also because they use the edges of the bandwidth(which tend to be noisier) to carry data. V.42, formally ap-proved in 1988, provides error correction using the automaticrepeat request (ARQ) principle.

Under ARQ, data is grouped into blocks at the transmitter,and an advanced cyclic redundancy check is applied acrosseach block. This is the same CRC concept already used to en-sure the integrity of file transfers in techniques such as XMO-DEM. The main difference is that V.42 provides error-cor-rected operation for all information exchanges, not just filetransfers using specific computer software programs. Since thetechnique for checking the received data and retransmittingflawed blocks is contained directly in the modem itself, it iscompletely transparent to the user and speeds up the transferprocess.

The main drawback of V.42, as with any error-correctiontechnique, is that when numerous errors are detected, thethroughput rate suffers as blocks of data are retransmitted.However, this only comes into play when errors are actuallypresent, and even then the slowdown in the transfer rate is asmall price to pay for the capability to identify and correctthose errors.

Modems equipped with V.42 were originally introduced inlate 1988 in V.22bis products. It is now widely available inV.32 modems as well.

Data Compression with V.42bis

Approved in late 1989, V.42bis provides the first "official"method for compressing and decompressing data in modems.(Several proprietary compression techniques have been avail-able for some time, the most notable being Microcom's MNPlevel 5 technique.)

As with V.42, the CCITT adopted a technique similar tothose already in use in the computer industry when it selected amethod for V.42bis. This method is a variant of the Lempel-Ziv compression algorithm, the same type of compression usedin the familiar .ARC and .ZIP techniques.

However, instead of applying only to files compressed in ad-vance, V.42bis performs automatic, real-time compression anddecompression on all the data flowing between the modems.This can bring about dramatic reductions in the amount of time

356 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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Circle 217 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 218)

FEATUREMODEM BUSINESS

ING STANDARDS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Table 2; The U.S. TIA and international CCITTcommittees continue to develop new modem recommendations. Here is alist of recent recommendations and important ones currently under development. The V. 32bis Recommendation will likelybe approved in mid-1991; it will provide for 14,400-bps file and data transfer over standard telephone lines.

Standard

Purpose

Status

CCITT V.32bis Fallback ProcedureU.S./TIA Fallback Procedure

Provides a standardized way ofnegotiating fallback data rates from14,400 bps down to 2400 bps.

Provides a standardized way ofnegotiating fallback data rates from14,400 bps down to 300 bps, includingthe Bell 103J standard.

Technically agreed upon but not yetformally adopted.

Under study by the U.S. TIA TR-30.1Committee.

CCITT V.32bis Recommendation

CCITT v.42 Recommendation

CCITT V,42bis Recommendation

CCITT 19.2K-bpsDial-UpModem Recommendation

Provides standardized dial-up modemsat rates of up to 14,400 bps; anextension of V.32.

Provides standardized error correctionin modems via either MNP Level 4 orLAPM (Link Access Procedure forModems) protocol.

Provides standardized data compressionin modems via a version of theLempel-Ziv data-compression algorithm.

Provides standardized dial-upmodem communications at rates ofup to 19,200 bps.

Under study by the CCITT Study Group

XVII Committee.

Possible approval by mid-1991.

Approved, April 1988.

Approved, September 1989.

Under study by the CCITT StudyGroup XVII Committee.

ERROR CORRECTION ANDDATA COMPRESSION

I — Modem |—^

Telephone channelI

Modem

Computer/terminal

Computer/terminal

V.42bis

V.42

data-

error-

compression

control

Signal

function

function

Interchange

converter

circuits

Control function

Figure 2: Many new modems now use the CCITT V.42 error-correction and V. 42bis data-compression Recommendations.In the modem, these functions are located in the overallcontrol processor and are applied to the signal between thecomputer and the signal converter (modulator/demodulator).Modems at both ends of the connection must have V. 42 andV. 42bis capability for these features to be used.

needed to send and receive data. For example, it is possible toachieve up to 4-to-l compression ratios with V.42bis. Thatcould mean effective rates of up to 38,400 bps with a V.32 mo-dem or rates even greater than the 56,000 bps offered by digitalleased-line service when used with a V.32bis modem. The ad-vantages of reducing the time required to transmit files across amodem connection by a factor of four are obvious, especially ifthe telephone call is long distance.

The amount of compression that V.42bis can actually pro-vide depends on the type of data being transmitted. Compres-sion algorithms work by recognizing repeated patterns in dataand substituting shorter symbols for them. This reduces thenumber of characters needed to represent a given set of infor-mation. The more repetition a data file has, the greater thecompression. On the other hand, purely random data containsno patterns at all, and it is noncompressible.

Figure 3 provides a comparison of how well V.42bis workson various types of data. Assembly language and computersource code contain many short, repeated commands, since thelanguage has a limited command set. As a result, data compres-sion ratios on these types of files are generally quite high. Con-versely, precompressed files such as .ARC or .ZIP files havealready been processed to remove redundancy. Passing themthrough V.42bis usually does not provide much more improve-ment. Data files that have been encrypted through a randomiza-tion process will also show little reduction in file size and trans-mit time, because the data has been preprocessed to removeidentifiable patterns. For the average personal computer user,however, V.42bis should reduce modem signaling time and ex-pense considerably.

V.42bis began appearing in modem products this summer,first in V.22bis modems and later in V.32 modems. Many ofthe first V.32bis modems will have V.42bis compression capa-bility as soon as they hit the market.

V.42bis relies on V.42 for its modem protocol and control

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DATA-COMPRESSION COMPARISON

Assembly languagePictures/imagesPrecompressed (.ARC)Random dataProgram source codeSpreadsheet/databaseASCII text

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Average output compression ratio

Figure 3: The amount of data compression that V.42bis canprovide depends on the type of data being sent between themodems. The more random the data, the less the compression,since truly random data follows no clear pattern. Data thathas lots of repetition (such as text, source code, or pictures)can often be highly compressed. A compression ratio of 2.0 onthis chart indicates that the data can be compressed by a factorof 2 and transmitted in half the time needed to transmit ituncompressed.

functions. Because of this, only those modems that have V.42will contain V.42bis. Fortunately, since V.42bis is a software-intensive technique, it doesn't require extensive modem rede-sign, and most modem makers are offering it in their productsat a minimal increase in cost.

Standards to Watch For

The CCITT is continuing to develop new modem standards,pushing the technology envelope a little further each time. Anew effort is under way to standardize a 19,200-bps modem.Another CCITT standard currently under development willprovide a uniform interworking procedure to ensure that mo-dems implementing a number of different standards can com-municate.

For example, if a V.32 modem calls a V.22bis modem, thenew interworking protocol provides a way for the V.32 modemto identify the receiving modem's standard and fall back toV.22bis mode to match it. While many modems are alreadycapable of this, there is no standardized format to ensure thatall modems do it in the same way. The new interworking stan-dard should improve compatibility by increasing conformity.Expect the new interworking scheme to begin appearing inmodems by 1991.

Another important standards issue that the CCITT expectsto take up soon involves interworking between cellular mo-dems and regular telephone-line modems. There is currentlyno accepted way to guarantee that these modems can communi-cate, but with the explosive growth of cellular technology andthe increased mobility of laptop computers, this will become amajor issue in a few years. Hopefully, the CCITT will finalizea standard to solve this problem soon. ■

Steven E. Turner is manager of technical staff research at UDSMotorola (Huntsville, AL), which manufacturers modems. Heparticipates in several TIA and CCITT committees that developmodem standards. He can be reached on BIX do "editors."

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FEATURE

PART 2

A KnowledgeEngineeringToolkit

Your own knowledge engineering toolkitfor building expert systems

Marc Eisenstadt and Mike Brayshaw

s we discussed in last month's installment,

Athere is a difference between knowledge engi-neering shells and toolkits. The shells areready-made solutions and, as such, are restric-tive. With this freely available toolkit, MIKE(which stands for Micro Interpreter for Knowledge Engineer-ing), you can build your own solutions to knowledge engineer-ing problems.

This month we continue with our account of the implementa-tion and use of MIKE. For this discussion, it is important tokeep in mind that the knowledge base is maintained in struc-tured representations, called frames, that are rendered morereadable in MIKE by declaring keywords and symbols such aswith, instance_of, and the colon (:) to be infix operators.Frames can then be stored as ordinary database facts, as in thefollowing:

f red_smlth lnstance_of person withage: 40,

citizenship: UK,weight: 160,

occupations: [teacher, lifeguard, parent].Inheritance

Inheritance is a recursive search along lnstance_of and sub-class_of relations. Finding answers to queries frequently re-quires no more than a simple fetch of the appropriate databasefact. For example, if we want to know Fred Smith's weight,given the representation presented earlier, we can find it outdirectly from the stored frame for Fred Smith because the slot:filler pair weight : 160 is stored there. We explained in lastmonth's section entitled "Frames as Database Facts" that theessential innards of the frame representation could be obtainedwith a query such as ?- fred_smith lnstance_of X with Y,and that the variable Y would contain the relevant information.The crucial step, then, is to search along the conjunction of slot:filler pairs until a successful match is found. Failing that, an-

other possibility is to look further up in the class hierarchy(e.g., under the frame for person) to see if an appropriatevalue can be "inherited."

When developing the code to carry out our intentions, wefirst define a "surface form" for the user's benefit, and an in-ternal form that actually does the work. The surface form wewould like you to use is as follows:

?- the weight of fred_smlth is X.

The relevant Prolog code is in listing 1, assuming our operatorshad already been defined as in last month's listings. The firstclause converts the surface form into our internal form. Thetwo clauses of fetch cater to the cases in which the object isstored either as an lnstance_of something or as a subclass_of something.

The real work is done by the clauses of retrieve and, inparticular, by its final argument. The first clause of retrieverepresents the case where the slot:filler pair Attr: Val (a) justhappens to be the only slot:filler pair, (b) has a filler that is nota list (i.e., does not syntactically match the form [_|_]), and(c) is a successful match with the slot:filler pair we are search-ing for.

The second clause is similar, but in this case, the slot:fillerpair Attr: Val is the very first pair in the (possibly long) con-junction of many. The third and fourth clauses are analogous tothe first and second, but cater to the case when the filler is a listof values, such as [teacher, lifeguard, parent], and it istherefore necessary to invoke member to see whether Val is amember of the list of Vals.

The fifth clause of retrieve optimistically tries to do moreof the same, but this time matching against Rest (i.e., all butthe very first of the slot:filler pairs). This is a standard cliche inProlog, used for traversing lists or conjunctions of items.

The final clause of retrieve is reached only when the firstfive have failed. It invokes fetch, but this time passing inSuper as the first argument to fetch, so that the searching ac-

364 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

FEATURE

tivity begins with the superordinate object in the class hier-archy (e.g., person, in the case of fred_smith). This providesfor the cases when the slot:filler pair is not retrievable for agiven object, so an attempt is made to retrieve the informationfurther up the chain—this is essentially what "inheritance"means.

There are some important details that are omitted here, espe-cially the problem of what to do when there is a conflict be-tween "directly stored" slot:filler pairs and inherited slot:filler pairs. MIKE handles this correctly (e.g., the knowledgethat "an ostrich cannot fly" overrides the knowledge that"birds can fly"), as illustrated in the commented MIKE sourcecode. [Editor's note: The Open University's MIKE source codeand Expert Systems' Prolog interpreter are available in elec-tronic format. See page 5 for details. ]

Backward Chaining in MIKE

MIKE'S implementation of backward chaining is straightfor-ward because it merely requires an invocation of the basic Pro-log proof procedure. There are four main cases to deal with:

• Conjunction of goals (e.g., ' it is raining' & ' it is cold'8t 'it is Tuesday'). The technique is to invoke the proof pro-cedure recursively on the first conjunct, and then on the re-maining conjuncts.

• Frame access (e.g., the age of John is 32). The techniqueis to invoke the workhorse predicate fetch.

•Ordinary working-memory element (e.g., 'it is rain-ing'). Working-memory elements such as 'it is raining'are stored internally using the predicate wm, so we just need tosee whether wm(patteri:) succeeds.

• Anything else. The technique is to try to find a stored rulewhose conclusion matches the argument passed to prove andthen recursively prove the premises of that rule.

These four cases map precisely onto the four clauses of prove,shown in listing 2.

Forward Chaining

Forward chaining searches for the first rule that has all its con-ditions already satisfied. It represents opportunistic processing(in contrast to goal-directed processing). The basic processingtechnique is to find any rule, all of whose left-side patterns(premises) are satisfied (i.e., in working memory), and thenperform the associated RHS (right-hand-side) actions of thatrule. The next thing is to do more forward chaining.

Successful termination occurs when the symbol halt isplaced into working memory. The three clauses shown in list-ing 3 capture this processing concept concisely, with the finalclause merely representing the terminating condition when nofurther suitable rules can be found.

As demonstrated in listing 4, a top-level goal f c (forwardchain) ensures that working memory is cleared up prior to exe-cution and places the special symbol start in working memorybefore invoking the workhorse f orward_chain.

During forward chaining, a rule's left-side pattern is said tobe satisfied either by being present in working memory or bybeing retrievable from frame memory. Working-memory ele-ments are stored internally using the predicate wm, so in themost general case we just need to see whether wm (pat tern)succeeds. More special cases exist for dealing with patterns suchas the X of Y is Z. So the first four clauses of in_mem (listing 5)cater for these cases while the general case is left for last.

In a pure production system interpreter, the concept of per-forming RHS actions is restricted to adding or removing ele-ments from working memory. In MIKE, we make this explicitwith the operators add and remove and allow other special ac-tions as well, such as announce and halt. The first clause oflisting 6 handles conjunctions of RHS elements, while the sec-ond and third clauses deal with adding and removing working-memory elements, respectively. The fourth clause provides forcosmetic printout routines, and the final clause adds the specialsymbol halt to working memory for the benefit of the for-ward_chain workhorse routine.

Other cases of RHSes are dealt within the full implementa-

ILLUSTRATION: JAMES ENDICOTT © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 365

FEATURE

A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING TOOLKIT, PART 2

Listing 1: Fetching from the database. The first clauseconverts the surface form into our internal form. Thetwo clauses o/fetch cater to the cases in which theobject is stored either as an instance_of something orwhen it is stored as a subclass_of something.

the Attribute of Object is Value :-

%

Surface form for user.

fetoh(0bjeot, Attribute, Value).

%

Our internal form.

fetoh(Object, Attribute, Value) :-

%

Here's its definition.

(Object instance_of SuperObject

%

Get stored frame.

with Stuff),

retrieve(Object. Attribute, Value,

%

Invoke real workhorse.

SuperObject, Stuff).

fetoh(Objeot, Attribute, Value) :-

%

Alternatively,

(Object subclass_of Class

%

stored frame might

with Stuff),

%

be found here

retrieve{Object, Attribute, Value,

%

so invoke real

Class, Stuff).

%

workhorse.

retrieve(Obj, Attr, Val, Super,

%

Direct hit (single

(AttrrVal)) :-

%

slot:filler).

not(Val =[_(_]).

%

Assumes singleton

%

value, not a list.

retrleve(Obj, Attr, Val, Super,

i

Direct hit (first

(Attr:Val, Rest));-

i

slot:filler pair of

%

many).

not(Val =[_!_]).

%

Assumes singleton

%

value, not a list.

^

(AttrrVals)) :-

%

filler, which is a

%

list.

member(Val, Vals).

%

so see that Val is on

%

list of Vals.

retrleve(Obj, Attr, Val, Super,

%

First pair of many,

(Attr:Vals, Rest)) :-

%

filler is a list.

member(Val, Vals).

%

so see that Val is

%

on list of Vals.

retrieve(Obj, Attr, Val, Super,

%

Last arg is nasty

(_:_, Rest)) :-

%

conjunct.

retrieve(Obj, Attr, Val, Super,

%

so traverse it,

Rest).

%

searching for direct

%

hit.

retrieve(Obj, Attr, Val,

%

Direct hits must have

Super, _) :-

%

failed.

fetch(Super, Attr, Val).

%

so recursively check

%

out the superset!

Listing 2: Examples of conjunct

on of goals, frame

access, ordinary working-memory element, and

conclusion of a rule.

prove(First & Rest)

%

Conjunction of goals.

prove(First),

%

so prove the first

%

one,

prove(Rest).

%

then prove the rest.

prove(the Attribute of Object

%

Frame access.

is Value) :-

fetch(Objeot, Attribute, Value).

%

so invoke frame-

%

access workhorse.

prove(Pattern) :-

%

A pattern is

%

•satisfied'

wni(Pattern).

%

if it is stored

%

in 'working memory.'

prove(Conclusion) :-

%

A conclusion can be

%

proved by retrieving

(rule R backward if Premises

%

a rule in which it

then Conclusion),

%

appears

prove(Premises).

%

and then proving

%

that rule's premises.

366 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

Listing 3: Forward chaining searches for the first rule.

which has all its conditions already satisfied.

forward_chain :-

% Deliberate

% termination occurs if

wm(halt).

% the symbol 'halt' is

% added to working

% memory.

nl, write('Successful

% so inform user

termination.'), nl.

% accordingly.

forward_chain :-

(rule RuleName forward if LHS

% Find a rule.

then RHS),

% all of whose

% left-side patterns

all_in_mem(LHS),

% are satisfied.

not(aiready_did(RuleName,LHS)),

% and which we haven't

% already performed,

perform(RHS),

% then perform

% associated right-

it hand-side actions.

assert(already_did(RuleName,LHS)),

% Make a note to avoid

% repeating this

% exact case.

forward_chain.

% then carry on

% forward-chaining.

for¥ard_chain :-

% This case only

% reached when above

% clause fails.

nl,

% so inform user

write('No (more) applicable rules.'

),% accordingly.

nl.

tion of MIKE, including those that let you perform arbitrarycalls to Prolog code. But MIKE still needs to include a fewbells and whistles.

The code given so far is sufficient to provide only the barestbones of a toy implementation of MIKE. We have presented theessence of the code to give you a feel for the basic concepts in-volved. In addition to providing numerous efficiency improve-ments (including protection against mindless backtracking),the full implementation has to deal with many conceptual ex-tras, like true defaults, facets, conflict resolution, fast forwardchaining, daemons, explanation facilities, and tracing.

True Defaults

Default reasoning means that we accept knowledge in the ab-sence of information to the contrary. This requires an imple-mentation of fetch that deals separately with instantiated anduninstantiated variables. In the example presented in lastmonth's listing 1, you'll notice that the default r_and_d_bud-gets of hlgh_tech_consumer_market are increasing (in theabsence of information to the contrary). Nevertheless, the fol-lowing query will erroneously succeed in the implementationjust presented, even though the stored r_and_d_budgets ofhome_computer_market are actually decreasing:

?- the r_and_d_budgets ofhome_coraputer_market is increasing.

The query succeeds because, in the simplified implementationshown, it is possible to prove both cases (i.e., that r_and_d_budgets are decreasing and also that r_and_d_budgets areincreasing). In the full implementation of MIKE, the abovequery correctly fails.

Facets

The implementation described above provides only for a sim-plified slot:filler notation, whereas the full implementation ofMIKE allows a richer structure for fillers using fine-grained

FEATURE

A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING TOOLKIT, PART 2

Listing 4: A top-level goal f orward_chain.

fc :-

% Top-level invocation.

abolish(vni", 1),

% Clear out working

% memory.

assertCwin(start)),

% Add special 'start'

% symbol.

abolish (already_did, 2),

forward_chain.

% Invoke forward_chain

% workhorse.

Listing 5: Checking to see if a rule's left-side pattern is

either in working memory or in

frame memory.

all_in_memCFirst & Rest) :-

% Conjunction of

% left-side patterns.

in_mem(First),

% See if the first one

% is satisfied.

all_in_iiie!n(Rest).

% Recursively see if

% rest are satisfied.

all_in_nie[n(X) :-

% Singleton pattern.

not(X = (_ & _)),

% This ensures that it

% really is just a

% singleton, not a

% conjunction.

in_niem(X).

% See if it is stored

% in working memory

? or in frame memory.

in_niem(the Attr of Obj is Val) :-

% Patterns of this form

% require frame access.

fetch(Obj, Attr, Val).

% so invoke the

% frame-retrieval

% workhorse.

in_mein(X instance_of Y)

% This is useful for

% looking up

% instance_of

% relations.

(X instanee_of Y with _ ).

% in which case we just

% ignore the details

% following 'with.'

in_raem(X subclass_of Y) :-

% This is useful for

% looking up

% subclass_of

% relations.

(X subclass_of Y with _)

% in which case we just

% ignore the details

% following 'with.'

in_mem(deduce X) :-

% This is how we invoke

% a backward-chaining

% rule.

prove(X).

% in which case we let

% the workhorse

% do the work.

in_mem(X) :-

% This is the usual

% case, i.e., looking

% for an arbitrary

wm(X).

% pattern.

% Just see if it is in

% the Prolog database

% in this form.

attribute descriptors called facets. For example, consider thefollowing frame for dog:

dog subclass_of animal withnumber_of_legs: 4,consumes: [dog_food, meat].

Here is the same frame using the richer facet notation:

dog subclass_of animal withnumber_of_legs:

Listing 6: Additional RHS actions that MIKE provides

for: conjunction of elements, adding elements, removing

elements, cosmetic printout, and a trap for halt.

perforraCFirst & Rest) :-

% Conjunction of rlght-

% hand-side patterns.

perform(First),

% Do the first one

% (this will involve

i one of the clauses

% below).

perform(Rest).

i and then do the rest.

perform(add X) :-

% MIKE operator 'add'

% signifies 'add WM

assert(wiii(X)).

% pattern.'

% Invoke Prolog's

% assert, which stores

% pattern in database.

perform(reniove X) :-

* HIKE operator

t 'remove' signifies

% 'remove WW pattern.'

retract(wmCX)).

% Invoke Prolog's

% retract, which erases

% pattern from database.

perforni(armounce X) :-

% Cosmetic printout.

% e.g., announce

i ['hi there,' X].

wrltel(X).

% Invoke user-defined

% Prolog utility to

i perform printout.

perform(halt) :-

% Special trap for

% 'halt' action.

assert(wm(halt)).

% Just add pattern for

% forward _chain

% to notice.

[value: 4,type: Integer,cardinality: 1,Inheritance: supersede],consumes:

[value: [dog_food, meat],inheritance: merge].

The value facet specifies what the actual filler is, whereas thetype facet specifies a run-time restriction that traps anomalousassertions applied to subclasses or instances of the class dog, asthe following interaction illustrates (assume we have alreadystored fide lnstance_of dog):

?- note the number_of_legs off ido is mumble.

Warning: 'mumble'violates the'tjrpe' facet of 'dog' forslot 'number_of_legs',which specifies type: ' Integer'.

The cardinality facet specifies how many values are allowedto fill the slot. The inheritance facet allows the user to distin-guish between values that supersede inherited values (e.g., ?-note the number_of_legs of fido is 3 would supersededog's 4 legs) and those that merge with (i.e., augment) inherit-ed values.

Consequently, the inheritance:merge specification forslot consumes of class dog allows the inference that dogs con-sume not only dog_f ood and meat, but also whatever is in theconsumes slot of class animal. In the full implementation ofMIKE, both simple slot:filler and complex slot: [facet:filler]notations are allowed.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 367

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FEATURE

A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING TOOLKIT,PART 2

M

IKE

incorporates three conflict-resolutionstrategies and allows the user to selectcombinations from among these,or even to add more.

Conflict Resolution

The definition of f orward_chain presented here so far doesn'tspecify what to do if several rules have all their left-side pat-terns satisfied; in that event, it will choose the first one. But atrue conflict-resolution strategy requires a principled selectionof a winner.

MIKE incorporates three conflict-resolution strategies andallows the user to select combinations from among these, oreven to add more. The supplied strategies are:

• refractoriness, which prevents identical rule instantiationsfrom firing multiple times,

• recency, which prefers rules that apply to the most recent-ly added working-memory elements, and

• specificity, which prefers rules that have a greater numberof conditions on their left sides.

The simple implementation presented above simulates refrac-toriness by means of the database flag already_did (Rule-Name,LHS).

Fast Forward Chaining

The definition of forward_chain embodies a very naive algo-rithm (i.e., "Find some rule and test whether all its left-sideconditions are satisfied") and incurs huge overheads when theset of rules is large. Fast indexing algorithms (e.g., RETE andTREAT) ensure that the only rules that ever get considered arethose whose left-side conditions involve recently modifiedworking-memory patterns. Future releases of MIKE will in-corporate such an algorithm.

Daemons

Actions associated directly with specific slots in a frame objectcan be invoked either when slots are accessed or when slots arechanged. In MIKE, these are specified by extra facets calledaccess_rule and change_rule. They use the same syntax asMIKE's rule notation. For example, here is an access_ruledaemon that calculates (at run time) the volume of any instanceof class vessel:

vessel subclass_of object withvolume:

[value: unknown,

access_rule:(if

the height of ?self is H &the width of ?self is W &the depth of ?self is D &prolog(Vol is H*W*D)

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FEATURE

A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING TOOLKIT, PART 2

Listing 7: Rule graph for a sample interpreter run.

RULE NAME

lnltlalization_rule

bollingWaterJnplugKettle

boilingWater_FillKettle

boilingWater_PlugInKettle

boilingWater_SwltchOn

boilingUater_yaterBolled

ina]£ingTea_AddTeabag

maltingTea_AadBoilingWater

maiingTea_BrewlngTea

iiiakingTea_ReinoveTeaBag

makingTea_MlllcAndSugar

makingTea_MilkRequired

maltlngTea_SugarRequired

makingTea_StirrlngMil!cAndSugar

maklngTea_StirringMilk

maiingTea_StirrlngSugar

mailngTea_StliTingTea

mailngTea_TeaIsMade

CYCLE miMBER(l-13) : 1...

*++»+

ITEMS

DISCUSSED

MIKE

Prolog Interpreter

Part of a text/video

Supplied with MIKE;

package "Knowledge

a version ofProlog-2.

Engineering " (§PD624).

Expert Systems, Ltd.

Comes with a Prolog

Unit 12, 7 West Way

interpreter for MS-DOS.

Oxford OX2 ORD

The Open University

U.K.

Learning Material

44-865-794474

Sales Office

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P.O. Box 188

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44-908-653338

Inquiry 1016.

then

the volume of ?self Is Vol) ].

Now, suppose you have the following instance of vesseldefined:

taiikl lnstance_of vessel withheight: 10,width: 10,depth: 10.

The next interaction shows the effect of invoking the ac-cess_rule daemon:

?- the volume of tankl is What.What = 1000.

Explanation Facilities

During execution, it is useful to be able to pose "how" and"why" queries that specify, in a comprehensible format, howparticular conclusions are justified and why a particular ques-tion is being asked. This capability is included in the full imple-mentation of MIKE.

Tracing

Monitoring the details of rule execution is critical for debug-ging purposes. MIKE provides both coarse-grained and fine-

grained views of the execution process to facilitate debugging.

The special command ?- show history produces a displayof the behavior of each rule at each cycle of execution duringforward chaining. The style of the graph is based on TRI(Transparent Rule Interpreter), a powerful "click, point, andzoom" rule-tracing enviromnent implemented on a SymbolicsAI workstation by our colleague, John Domingue.

In the example in listing 7, cycle numbers are shown alongthe top row (with a "." for each cycle, a ":" for every fifthcycle, and an integer for every tenth cycle). The left side of thedisplay shows the name of each rule. The symbols in the tableindicate the fate of each rule on each cycle. A "-I-" symbolmeans that the rule entered the conflict set (i.e., it was a poten-tial candidate), but it was not actually fired. A "*" symbolmeans that the rule not only entered the conflict set, but wasalso the one selected for firing. Listing 7 is a sample historytrace showing a simple forward-chaining rule base designed tomake a cup of tea.

The Value of MIKE

MIKE forms the backbone of an Open University Study Packon Knowledge Engineering, which includes text and video ma-terial that is centered around case studies of knowledge-elicita-tion exercises, and a review of commercial knowledge engi-neering toolkits.

MIKE fulfills three purposes in the context of the Open Uni-versity's Knowledge Engineering course:

• It provides a "paper and pencil" surface syntax that helps toconcretize discussions about different styles of knowledgerepresentation;

• It provides a working implementation that encourages userexperimentation via numerous hands-on exercises; and

• It provides fully commented source code that illustrates howto implement a knowledge engineering environment fromscratch.

In the interest of portability, a conservative subset of "Edin-burgh-syntax" Prolog was used to develop MIKE, and graphicswere completely avoided. Even the tracing facilities are essen-tially "glass teletype." This may seem somewhat surprising,given our own conmiitment to state-of-the-art enviroimients forboth knowledge engineering and graphical rule tracing in Pro-log. However, we thought it preferable to adopt a least-com-mon-denominator strategy to encourage the most widespreaddissemination of our courseware. We are encouraging users tomodify MIKE software and to give us suggestions and im-provements for incorporation into future iterations.

An important motive of this whole exercise has been massconsciousness-raising. MIKE contributes to the disseminationof knowledge engineering techniques, and the design and im-plementation of knowledge engineering environments. ■

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The software described in this article was designed and devel-oped under the auspices of a grant from the U.K. Science andEngineering Research Council. The "rule graph " notation wasdirectly inspired by the work of our colleague, John Domingue.

Marc Eisenstadt is a professor ofAI. Mike Brayshaw is a Re-search Fellow. Both authors work at the Human Cognition Re-search Laboratory at the Open University in England, wherethey are currently focusing on program visualization and theProlog programming language. They can be reached at theOpen University or on BIX do "editors. "

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FEATURE

HOT Links

TOGO

Dynamic Data Exchange lets Windowsand OS/2 applications share data easily

Michael Vose

indows 3.0 and OS/2 Presentation Manager(PM) endow application programs with a com-mon look and feel. Programs running simulta-neously almost seem to blend together. Whenthey employ a service called Dynamic Data Ex-change, they functionally do. With DDE, a program can useanother program's data as though it were its own. This intimatesharing of information promises to integrate tomorrow's pro-grams as never before.

While graphical user interfaces (GUIs) abound these days,DDE sets Windows and PM apart from the rest. I'll look at howDDE works and describe how you can use it to realize a newlevel of interprogram harmony.

The Information Melting Pot

Both Windows and PM can multitask different applications, aswell as instances of the same application (sharing code acrossinstances). PM applications can also multitask internally—aprogram might dedicate one thread to menu handling and an-other to screen updating. Furthermore, with the multiple-docu-ment interface, a Windows or PM application can maintain sev-eral active documents. All this concurrent activity, along witha common look and feel across programs, encourages users toview the system as a whole and to expect the parts—includingdata—to work together.

Getting information from one program to another has alwaysbeen a thorny problem. In the character-based world of DOS,nearly every application specifies its own unique format forstoring and displaying information. To exchange information,you have to negotiate some sort of format conversion.

GUIs and some character-based windowing systems try toovercome this problem with cutting and pasting. Although wellunderstood and useful, cutting and pasting suffers from severallimitations. It involves several steps: You have to select the in-formation, cut or copy it, indicate a destination, and then pastethe information. Cutting and pasting can limit you to text- orcharacter-only information exchanges. Additional information

(in the case of text, fonts and emphasis) often doesn't survivethe transfer. Most important, information exchanged by cuttingand pasting is static; if the original information changes, youhave to redo the data exchange.

DDE addresses these information-exchange inadequacies.As its name implies, DDE enables programs to share informa-tion even as the information changes. In addition, DDE oper-ates automatically once a user connects one or more applica-tions.

The programming team that wrote Microsoft Excel inventedDDE to show how to use Windows' message-based interpro-cess-communications facilities. Windows incorporated DDE inversion 2.0; PM had it from the start. (A special dynamic linklibrary to implement DDE under Windows 1.0 appeared justbefore Windows 2.0 was released.) DDE extends the message-based architecture of Windows and PM. Developers can incor-porate DDE, which is a documented protocol for interprocesscommunication, into any Windows or PM program. Such pro-grams can then exchange information whenever instructed todo so.

DDE's Many Uses

Although DDE has been around for some time, not many pro-grams use it yet. The programs that do support DDE illustrate avariety of information-exchange scenarios:

• Stock reports with hot links to real-time data. With a telecom-munications hookup to a stock-reporting service like LotusSignal (which uses an FM radio sideband to transmit stockdata), a DDE-capable spreadsheet receives data from a stock-tracking program, records every change in the price of one ormore stocks, and recalculates the value of a portfolio.

• On-line airline reservations. A network of PCs links a reser-vation database to a graphics program showing an up-to-datediagram of the available seats on any scheduled flight. This ap-plication uses a background "redirector" that intercepts DDEtraffic, converts it to the appropriate network protocol, and

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 373

FEATUREHOT LINKS TO GO

Insert Eield Tijpe: DistTycMsns:

Connents

♦

Create date

Data

Date

DDE

DDE Auto

Edit tine

L

GK

_ [ Cancel)

[ ma ]

Field Code: DDEflUTO app-nane file-nane [place-refefence]

ddeauto excel test.xls r3c5

Type progran name, file name; optional place

Screen 1: This is the Word edit box for creating a field in adocument. This example creates a DDE field that links a cellin an Excel spreadsheet to a Word document.

Microso«Word|P.eview|

File Edit View Insert Format Utilities Macro Window Help

{ddeeuto excel test.xls r3c5}

Pg 1 Sec 1 1/1 jflt 1.1" in 2 Col 1 [ lillll

i f ^

Par<ljfush-DDEnG4KX

Screen 2: In this Word document, the DDE field displaysthe DDE application topic and item names. Alternatively, itcould show the value of the referenced spreadsheet cell.

sends it across tiie network to anotiier station wliere a similarredirector converts it back to DDE.

• Compound documents. These are DDE-linked word process-ing elements that each manipulate a separate document butshare some common text with each other and are thereby alwaysup-to-date—even if the individual documents are on differentmachines on a network.

• Data queries across applications. A spreadsheet queries adatabase for information that updates itself whenever the data-base changes. The PM version of AutoCAD uses this kind ofDDE link to let an Excel spreadsheet's materials worksheetcontrol an AutoCAD drawing.

• Links to remote mainframes. DDE-capable communicationprograms link mainframe databases to PC-based spreadsheetsor word processing programs.

• Remote data gathering. Using data acquisition hardware, aDDE-based software module collects data and simultaneouslysaves it to disk, links it to a chart program that diagrams the in-coming data, and also links it to a spreadsheet that computesaverages.

• Downloads from E-mail or communications services. Insteadof reading information on-line, a DDE-based telecommunica-tions program saves messages to disk or places them into a wordprocessor document for later perusal.

In each case, automatic transfer of data between applicationsfrees users from mundane and repetitive cutting and pastingand welds individual programs together to create metapro-grams that are more than the sum of their parts.

On the Links

DDE supports both temporary and permanent information ex-changes. Temporary exchanges are simple transactions. A pro-gram requests information and receives it or sends informationand receives an acknowledgment. Permanent exchanges comein two varieties: hot and warm. When sender and receiver com-municate by way of a DDE "hot link," information flows onlywhen the sender has new data to transmit. In the case of a"warm link," the sender tells the receiver that there's newdata, but doesn't send it until the receiver asks for it.

A program's user establishes temporary or permanent linksbetween applications. In a DDE spreadsheet like Excel, for ex-ample, you do that by placing a formula into a worksheet cell.This formula describes the target application and the natureof the link. For example, to link an Excel spreadsheet to theQuotes stock market reporting program, you place a formulainto a cell as follows:

= 'QUOTE' I 'NYSE' ! IBM

This formula contains the three essential pieces of DDE syntax:application, topic, and item names.

In Microsoft Word, DDE links are fields. Along with time,date, and comment fields, Word also supports a DDE field. Tolink a Word document to an Excel spreadsheet, you specify theDDE names. The edit box in screen 1 gives an example. Fol-lowing the field code DDEAUTO there is the target applica-tion's name (excel), the topic name (test.xls, a data file),and the item name (r3c5, the cell that has the information).

Once established, this link will place whatever value residesin that worksheet cell into the Word document and will changeit automatically if the worksheet value changes. The Worddocument can either display the value or, as screen 2 illus-trates, show the field specification that governs the value. Asyou can see, it takes just a few steps to link programs together.You can terminate a link just as easily.

Links between programs can refer to fields within files, or toentire files. File-level links ensure that changes to a master filepropagate to any files linked to that master. These secondaryfiles need to be open to stay in sync with the original.

Users of programs that support DDE don't generally need toworry about whether they're running under Windows or PM.Most programs that support the two environments forge DDElinks the same way. Internally, as you'll see, Windows and PMhandle DDE a bit differently.

How DDE Works

The underlying mechanisms that make DDE possible dependon the message-based architecture of Windows and PM. Underthese environments, when anything happens—a mouse-click,key press, window-dragging operation, or menu selection—theoperating system broadcasts a message. These messages accu-mulate in either a system message queue or an application mes-sage queue. Within every Windows or PM application, a mes-sage loop continually examines these messages, selects thosethat it needs to handle, and ignores the rest.

Windows' cooperative style of multitasking relies on themessaging system. Whenever any application retrieves a mes-sage from the system message queue and acts on it, Windowsgives that application control of the CPU. Before it can check

374 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

FEATUREHOT LINKS TO GO

A GRAPHICAL VIEWOF A DDE CONVERSATION

Client application

DDESTRUCT

Server application

INITIATE

INITIATEACK

REQUEST

Data

In a typical DDE conversation, the client initiates theconversation, and the server acknowledges. The client thenrequests data, which the server puts in shared memory.

the message queue again, all other running programs get acrack at the queue and a chance to gain control. Although PMstructures the retrieval and processing of messages in a similarway, OS/2 handles multitasking differently. A scheduler inthe operating-system kernel parcels out CPU time to programthreads.

The stream of messages flowing within Windows and PMenables DDE. It is simply a message protocol: the definition ofa series of messages that Windows and PM programs can re-spond to and act on.

The Client-Server Model and Conversations

The client-server model and the conversation are the two keyconceptual ingredients of DDE. With the client-server model, aDDE server provides data, and a DDE client consumes it. Thisapparently simple model can get complicated, however, be-cause a client can have multiple servers, and a single programcan function as both a client and a server. These complex sce-narios are particularly likely under multitasking systems. Forexample, one application can receive data from a second as aclient and then act as a server to pass information along to athird. Applications can simultaneously play the role of both cli-ent and server (in two separate conversations) to simulate a two-way peer-to-peer interaction.

The interactions between a DDE client and server are calledconversations. Conversations between programs work like tele-phone conversations between people. One program initiates aconversation, the other acknowledges that a conversation hasbegun (like soneone answering a phone), information flows,and, finally, one program terminates the conversation.

Conversations from a client program not only target a serverapplication but also specify a topic and an item. A topic is typi-cally a filename, and an item is any specific data object—usu-ally specified by a field, cell, or range—within that file. Eachdata object requires a separate request.

The behind-the-scenes logic of a DDE conversation goes likethis (see the figure): The client starts a conversation by sending

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NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 375

FEATUREHOT LINKS TO GO

DDE MESSAGES

The DDE message sets for Windows and PresentationManager. The two sets share nine messages. PM adds atenth: WM_DDE_INITIATEACK.

DDE MessagePurpose

WM_DDE_INITIATE

WM_DDE_INITIATEACK

WM_DDE_TERMINATE

WM_DDE^CK

WM_DDE_REQUEST

WM_DDE_DATA

WM_DDE_ADVISE

WM_DDE_UNADVISE

WM_DDE_POKE

WM_DDE_EXECUTE

Request the start of a DDEconversation.

Acknowledge the start of a DDEconversation (PM only).Halt a conversation.Acknowledge a DDE message.Ask server to provide data.Notify client that data is available.Ask server to update data wheneverit changes.

Tell server that a data itenn should

no longer be updated.

Ask server to accept unsolicited

data.

Sends a command string to server.

Listing 1: API calls to initiate a DDE conversationunder Windows and PM.

Windows

SendMessage((HWND) -1,WM_DDE_ INITIATE,hMyWnd,

MAKELONG(aApp, aTopio)

);

Presentation Manager

UinD(ieInitiate(htfnd, "AppName", "TopicName");

out a DDE-initiation message. The target server application (orany interested application if the client names no specific target)responds with an initiation-acknowledged message. The clientprogram next sends a message containing a topic and an itemname, and it requests either a permanent or temporary infor-mation exchange. The server then responds by sending the re-quested information. A client application can also send unre-quested information to a server and can instruct the serverapplication to execute one of its internal commands. For exam-ple, under Windows 3.0, a program's installation module cantell the Program Manager to create a group and add an item toit. Either the client or the server can terminate the conversation.

DDE Nuts and Bolts

DDE relies on a series of nine messages (10 under PM—see thetable) and several important data structures. These data struc-tures provide a memory format for the information that flowsduring a conversation. The DDEINIT and DDESTRUCT PMdata structures appear in listing 2. Windows uses global datastructures that programs create with calls to the GlobalAllocfunction. Parameters accompanying each DDE message pointto these structures. Windows and PM store the DDE informa-tion itself (e.g., spreadsheet values and text) in memory that theclient and server share. The client application program mustallocate memory for all DDE data structures when it initiates aDDE conversation.

A DDE conversation begins when a client broadcasts aWM_DDE_INITIATE message. Under Windows, you use thegeneric application programming interface function Send-Message; under PM, there's a special WinDdelnitlate call(see listing 1). Similarly, Windows uses SendMessage andPostMessage API calls for sending subsequent DDE messages,while PM uses a special call, WlnDdePostMsg.

Once a DDE conversation has begun, a client applicationconducts an exchange by performing the following actions:

• Allocate memory for the DDE memory object. This actioncreates the shared memory area that both applications will use.

• Create a format for the information to be exchanged. Win-dows and PM provide a predefined format (clipboard format)for exchanging string data. A program must create its own for-mat for exchanging other data, like graphics.

• Select an information-exchange type. The client programspecifies whether an exchange will be one-time-only, a hotlink, or a warm link.

• Send a DDE message.

• Deallocate DDE shared memory. This step cleans up memoryafter the completion of a DDE.

Each DDE conversation requires a separate window on bothends. It might be a main application window, a window associ-ated with a specific document, or a hidden window that neverappears on the screen.

Differences Between Windows and PM DDE

Although their DDE message sets are nearly identical, Win-dows and PM use slightly different schemes for passing infor-mation among applications. This difference results from a keydistinction between the memory-addressing design of their re-spective underlying operating systems.

Windows DDE uses 16-bit handles to global memory objectsto locate exchangeable data. PM limits access to global memoryand instead uses a 32-bit memory selector to pass data betweenOS/2 processes.

There are two parameters available as arguments for any

Listing 2: Presentation Manager DDEINIT andDDESTRUCT data structures. The DDEINIT structureholds the application and topic names (Windows storesthese in atoms). DDESTRUCT holds the name of theitem, its format, and the item's data.

typedef struot_DDESTRUCT {

ULONG obdata;

USHORT fsStatus;

USHORT usFormat;

USHORT offszItemName;

USHORT offabData;} DDESTRUCT;

typedef struct_DDEINIT {

USHORT Ob;

PSZ pszAppName;

PSZ pszTopic;

} DDEINIT;

376 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

FEATUREHOT LINKS TO GO

given DDE message. The first designates the handle of the tar-get window. A second 32-bit parameter contains all otherconversation particulars, including memory selectors. The de-signers of PM foresaw that this parameter could not forever ac-commodate the ever-increasing size of processor addressspaces and LAN communications needs, along with strings toidentify DDE objects. So, under PM, the second parameter ofDDE messages became a pointer to one of two DDE data struc-tures. These structures contain all the necessary DDE conver-sation parameters, as well as the actual data being exchanged.This scheme ensures that PM can accommodate future systemsoftware changes and new hardware architectures without al-tering the DDE message format.

Windows uses atoms (i.e., integers that identify characterstrings) to refer to the information being passed between a cli-ent and a server, and global memory handles to refer to the datastructures that actually contain the data. These atoms and han-dles form the contents of the second parameter sent with everyDDE message (the first being the target window handles). PMuses a separate DDE data structure (pointed to by the secondDDE message parameter) in which to package conversation pa-rameters and data. This makes using atoms unnecessary.

Because of the restrictions that OS/2 places on a processwhen it attempts to access another process, PM uses a specialset of DDE API calls that grant this access automatically. Thesespecial calls include WinDdelnitlate, WinDdeRespond, andWinDdePostMsg.

DDE and the Integrated Desktop

Multitasking and DDE will increasingly display a symbiosiswithin the next generation of PC applications. Multitaskingprovides for the functional integration of applications, andDDE furnishes the concordance of information. Once they dis-cover that they can connect disparate applications seamlessly,users will stop thinking about tools (applications) and start fo-cusing on specific documents or tasks. Windows 3.0 and PMboth provide a way to group tasks according to the needs of anyuser. The ability to group all the documents needed to producea firm's annual report, for example, helps the person workingon the report focus on the pieces of the project rather than onthe tools used to complete it.

Grouped tasks lead to the organization of computer desktopsinto workspaces—a workspace for the annual report, a work-space for the new building proposal, and so on. Within eachworkspace, many applications and documents will be open;some of these will share information via DDE links.

DDE extends an application by enabling it to use informationfrom another program that it otherwise could not generate it-self. For example, when you use DDE to embed a chart from aprogram like Microsoft PowerPoint into a word processingdocument, you add to the word processing program a capabilitythat it otherwise would not have.

Because DDE preserves the format of exchanged informa-tion, it eliminates such problems as having to alter the font orpoint size of data linked from an Excel spreadsheet to a Worddocument: DDE can send font and size information with thedata. This preservation of format further enforces the idea thatpieces of information are objects that users can mix and match.

With all these benefits and possibilities, you can bet thatDDE is a term you will be hearing about much more frequentlyin the not-too-distant future. ■

Michael Vose is the author of the book Windows 3.0: A Defini-tive Guide for DOS Users (Addison-Wesley, 1990). He can bereached on BIX do "editors."

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FEATUREALTERNATIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS

Pick*os or dbms?

An ancient breeze still blowsthrough the database world

Ben Smith

Pick: It's an operating system; it's a data-base system. It's both. Although Pick ismost often found as a stand-alone operatingsystem, you may see it implemented as adatabase engine working under other multi-user operating systems, such as Unix. Data-bases have their own special needs for optimal data storage andretrieval. Pick meets those needs and provides the data organi-zation that makes for efficient database operations.

Prehistoric Synergism

Many computers are used for the single purpose of databaseoperations. In this case. Pick is all you need. It includes all thelayers and activities of an operating system: everything fromvirtual memory management, terminal control, and printspooling and control up through multiuser task, account, andfile management, as well as a command interpreter and script-ing language. Pick also includes all the tools for database oper-ations: programs to structure the data, a language for data en-try and data manipulation, and a report formatter.

Pick is more than a collection of utilities and libraries; it is acompletely integrated operating system/database engine—greater than the sum of its parts. There is nothing new aboutthis idea, but that may be because Pick is far from new. RichardA. Pick and his colleagues at TRW started development on theIBM System/360 in 1965. That makes Pick older than CP/M(1977) and even Unix (1970).

Pick's organization of data helped it survive all those yearsand through all the changes in the computer industry. The en-tire system is consistently built using the same data structure: atree of data dictionaries and data files, usually paired together.Even the Pick commands are held in this structure. As a result,nearly everything in Pick is a database and can be manipulatedany way you like.

From the average user's point of view, the operating systemand database operations (e.g., input, search, and report) aresimple and fast. But the developer must come to Pick with as

few preconceptions as possible. Developing Pick applications isunlike working in any modern development environment.

At first glance. Pick appears to be hopelessly atavistic. Theenvironment consists of a primitive, uppercase-only commandinterpreter, a special-purpose line editor, and a steroid-mutat-ed BASIC. If you are used to fancy window- and menu-baseddata management tools. Pick will seem rough and unfriendly.But under this crude surface, there are many fine ideas, imple-mented in a refined (though Spartan) manner.

Operating-System Sorts of Things

Pick's multitasking (and multiuser) capabilities are bare bones.The operating system maintains separate user log-in accounts,each with its own master dictionary, a file that holds pointers toall of the account's files and commands.

Accounts are linked more closely with the data they hold thanwith the people who use them. Everyone using an inventory-control database, for example, would likely share an account.The system has commands for managing these accounts, han-dling system backups and restores, and monitoring system use.There are utilities for transferring files to and from MS-DOSpartitions that might coexist with the Pick partitions on a PC.

Installation of external terminals and printers is easy on aPick system. There is one file describing terminal capabilities,another to configure serial ports, and another that describes theparallel printer ports.

A user can have more than one task running at a time (in

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NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 381

FEATUREALTERNATIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS

A frame is the basic Pickunit of memory; differentimplementations of Pick usedifferent frame sizes. On thePC, frames for executablesand workspace are 2048bytes, while frames for files(shown here) are 512 bytes.Frames are linked togetherthrough a pair of pointers atthe front of each block.

TYPICAL 512-BYTE FRAME IN A MULTIFRAME FILE

Unusedbyte

Unusedbyte

Count

offramesafter

V

Forward link

V

Backward link

Count

offramesbefore

500 bytes of data

12-byte frame header

addition to print spooling). Sucli tasks are called phantom pro-cesses. They handle administrative duties while users are busywith applications. But there isn't any path to client/server con-nections on a single machine; there are no interprocess commu-nications links other than semaphores. However, different Pickmachines can communicate with each other; even MS-DOS cancommunicate with Pick.

Virtual Memory

The Pick operating system addresses both memory and disk as asingle mass. This mass is divided into a file area at the highaddresses, and executable and work areas at the low addresses.

A. frame is the basic Pick unit of memory. Each frame is ref-erenced by a unique frame identifier. Different implementa-tions of Pick use different frame sizes.

On the PC, there are two sizes of frames. Frames for theexecutables and workspace are 2048 bytes in size and are notlinked. Frames for files take 512 bytes and often form doublylinked lists using 12 bytes (of the 512) of data to create the con-nections (see the figure). Alternatively, file space can be allo-cated in blocks of contiguous frames, in which case the blockdoes not require the 12 bytes per frame for memory manage-ment; all 512 bytes is available in each contiguous frame.

The virtual memory manager, which tracks the location ofdata, works directly with the hard disk and RAM. This invisi-

ble layer of device control is responsible for Pick's efficiency onotherwise inefficient or obsolete computers.

The Database

The data files and associated dictionaries allow you to build acomplex interrelationship between data files, since a data itemin one file can be a pointer to data in another file. This kind ofstructure is more akin to a hierarchical data structure than therelational structure that is common on microcomputer data-bases. Most relational database systems have fixed-length datafields, but Pick data fields are held in a variable-length format.As you will see, this is a very important feature.

Both of the data pair (dictionary and data) files have the samestructure. The dictionary contains the definitions of fields {at-tributes, in Pick terminology) in the data file, and pointers tothe fields that use the defined structure. Not only can each attri-bute within a record (or item) contain a value, but each valuecan be composed of subvalues. Each item within a file musthave a unique (to the file) item-ID with which Pick manages itsdata operations. The item-ID may actually be data itself—forexample, a part number.

With this structure, an attribute value (or subvalue) may bethe item-ID of another file, or even of the same file. This lastcapability solves the vexing database problem of how to orga-nize data so that items can be assemblies of peer items. For

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FEATUREALTERNATIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS

example, a parts-numbering scheme usually has unique num-bers for both assemblies and the items included in the assem-blies. Some of the assemblies may also contain subassemblies.Since the items can vary in length, each item can have a differ-ent substructure. Some items may list other items or subas-semblies, and some items may just be elements in themselves.

Other Strengths and Weaknesses

Since Pick is a multiuser database/operating system, it neces-sarily includes a form of record locking to prevent collisions ofdata operations on the same sets of data. There is also a verylimited form of process locking. As more than one user can runthe same program at the same time, the PROC scripting lan-guage contains a semaphore for control between concurrentusers. But the semaphores are local to each PROC script and sodo not offer any way for different programs to communicate.

The way data is written and read is a weakness. Pick search-es data using the unique item-IDs of a file, but the search issequential since there is no index. On the plus side, the over-head and restrictions imposed by maintaining an index don'texist. You can create any kind of index with a data file; therecursive structure of a data tree is already there.

A strength comes from the variable-length data items in afile: A file can actually be a single piece of text, a script, or aPick BASIC program. Like dictionary files, these file formsdon't have a structure defined elsewhere.

New Era

Pick has been around a long time. Respect, as well as manyapplications, has accrued over the years. Word processors,spreadsheets, and other typical business fare are available.Most important, there are thousands of proven vertical applica-tions that run on hundreds of different species of computers.

Recent months have marked the beginning of a new era forPick with the introduction of Advanced Pick and Pick runningunder Unix. Advanced Pick is backward-compatible with theoriginal, but this crispy version includes many features thatwill attract modern applications developers: a screen editor,secondary indexing and B-trees, transaction logging (neces-sary for good computer-based accounting systems), and newutilities for developing screens and tuning an organization ofdata without resorting to Pick BASIC.

Pick under Unix fulfills needs in both computing realms:Unix gains an efficient database engine; Pick gains the connec-tivity and utility of Unix. Because the Unix file system was notdesigned with database operations in mind, you need a separatedatabase file system for Pick. Turbo Informix, another popularUnix database manager, uses a similar method to improve itsperformance. But the integration of Pick and Unix goes beyondcoexistence; Pick can call Unix functions, and Unix can callPick functions. Data flows freely between the two.

Pick's strength is not as an operating system (it is outdatedtechnology), but in its flexibility and efficiency in handlingdata. For this reason. Pick not only will survive, but will flour-ish as a database engine implemented under other, more capa-ble operating systems. ■

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Many thanks to Tim Thomas of Mini Business Systems, Inc.(Southbury, CT), for being a source of Pick technical informa-tion and enthusiasm.

Ben Smith is a technical editor for BYTE and the author of thebook Unix Step-by-Step (Howard Sams, 1990). He can bereached on BIX as "bensmith."

384 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

FEATUREMODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

MODULA-3

A practical and predictable OOP languagefor team projects

Sam Harbison

f you are a Pascal or Modula-2 programmer,

Iyou may have found yourself choking in thedust behind the stampede to C + +. Choke nolonger. Modula-3 has arrived.Modula-3 is not an extension to Modula-2,but a new language in the spirit of Pascal and Modula-2. It com-bines the best features of a modular, strongly typed languagewith support for object-oriented programming (OOP), excep-tions, and concurrency. As a result, Modula-3 is an effectivetool for building large, maintainable, robust systems.

Roots

Modula-3 was developed by researchers at Digital Equipment'sSystems Research Center and the Olivetti Research Center. Itborrows from two evolutionary lines of programming lan-guages: an academic line, represented by Niklaus Wirth's Pas-cal, Modula-2, and Oberon languages; and an industrial re-search line, represented by the Mesa, Cedar, and Euclidlanguages from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).Its immediate precursor is an extended version of Modula-2called Modula-2 -I-, which was developed at SRC in the early1980s and used there for the development of all its researchsystems.

In 1986, an effort to clean up Modula-2-I- became a designfor a new language, christened Modula-3 with Niklaus Wirth'sblessing. The language and two working implementations bySRC and Olivetti were completed in 1989 (see figure 1). TheSRC implementation is available; I'll tell you how to get it later.

Modula-3 is a systems programming language based on twogeneral principles: simplicity and safety. Programming can bea difficult, complicated, and risky activity, made even worseby programming languages that are themselves difficult, com-plicated, and risky.

Rather than spending their time inventing clever solutions fortextbook programming problems, Modula-3's designers se-lected features proven through experience in other languages,especially features that support good program structure (mod-

ules, objects, threads) and those that support robustness (gar-bage collection, isolation of unsafe code, and exceptions). Theysimplified and unified the underlying language concepts, dis-carding features that did not pull their own weight.

Basics

To get a feel for Modula-3, start with Modula-2, Ada, or one ofthe modern Pascal dialects (Turbo Pascal or Apple's ObjectPascal). The general syntax of statements, expressions, anddeclarations is similar to that found in the other languages. Thecustomary basic data types are integers, Booleans, reals, char-acters, sets, enumerations, arrays, records, and pointers.

There are also all the arithmetic, logical, and set operationsand the usual set of basic statements: conditional (IF and CASE),loops (WHILE, FOR, REPEAT), blocks, and so on. Modula-3 in-cludes type, constant, procedure, variable, and exception dec-larations. Like Modula-2 and C, Modula-3 provides proceduretypes, and its variable names are case-sensitive.

Although it resembles the other languages, Modula-3 has anumber of features that you can use to make programs morereadable and maintainable.

Readability

Listing 1 and figure 2 show a simple insertion sort procedure inModula-3. Line 1 has the declaration of an open array param-eter, V; within the procedure, the bounds of the array will befrom 0 to LAST(V). (The expression FIRST(V) used in lines 3and 8 will always be 0, but its use makes the program a bit morereadable.) The index variable 1 in line 3 is automatically de-clared local to the loop body; it cannot be modified except bythe FOR loop control; and it takes its type from the initial andfinal values.

Lines 4-13 introduce a nested block with two new variables.Temp and j. Both variables are initialized where they are de-clared, and their types are taken from the initialization expres-sions (INTEGER, in both cases).

Lines 8-11 are a WHILE loop containing two statements.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 385

FEATUREMODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

Listing 1: A simple example: InsertSort in Modula-3sorts V [ 0 ].. V [ LAST (V) ] into ascending order. (Linenumbers are not part of the code but are included herefor reference.)

1 PROCEDURE InsertSort (VAR V: ARRAY OF INTEGER) =

2 BEGIN

3 FOR i := FIRST(V)+1 TO LAST(V) DOi, VAR

5 Temp := V[l];

6 j :=i-l;

7 BEGIN

8 WHILE J >= FIRST(V) AND V[j] > Temp DO

9 VU+1] := V[j];

10 DEC(J);

11 END;

12 V[J+1] := Temp;

13 ENDli, END;

15 END InsertSort;

Listing 2: InsertSort demonstrates more featuresof data-type declarations.

A_type = ARRAY [1..10] OF INTEGER;

VAR

A := A_type{l,9,3,5,'i,..};BEGIN

InsertSort( V := A );END

Modula-3 permits multiple statements wherever a single state-ment is allowed, so there is no need to clutter your programwith extra BEGIN-END brackets. The DEC (decrement) statementin line 10 is equivalent to j :=j-l. Modula-3 also has an INCstatement. Both can take an optional second argument to spec-ify how much to increment or decrement the first argument.

More features can be seen in the code of listing 2, which callsInsertSort. The declaration of the fixed array A uses an arrayconstructor to create an initialized array. The indicatesthat the last value in the list (4) is used to fill out the remainingelements of the array. The call on InsertSort demonstratesthe use of the optional parameter names at the site of the call.

Modules

The backbone of Modula-3 programming is the module. Mod-ules come in two pieces: the interface part, which contains thepublic types, objects, and procedures provided by the module;and the implementation part, which contains private declara-tions and the bodies of the public procedures. To use the publicfacilities of a module in another module, you must import thecompiled interface of the referenced module. You don't actu-ally need the implementation part to compile your module, butyou will need something (at least some "stub" code) in the im-plementation to have a program that runs.

The module concept is a very powerful tool supporting in-formation hiding, abstraction, and top-down programming.Listing 3 shows a complete example of module Unique that pro-vides a Next procedure, which returns successive integers inthe sequence 1, 2, 3. A Reset procedure is provided to restartthe sequence at a specified point.

The interface (lines 1-5 of listing 3) and implementation

MODULA-3 HISTORY

1970

1979

1987

Niklaus Wirth

Pascal

Modula-2

Oberon

Object Pascal

1984

DEC SRC

Modula-2-i-

Moduia-3

1984

Xerox PARC

Mesa

Cedar

Euclid

1977

1982

1980

1988, 1989

Figure 1: Modula-3 is a descendant of the work of Niklaus Wirth (the designer of Pascal and Modula-2) and of Cedarfrom Xerox PARC.

386 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

FEATUREMODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

(lines 6 -28) of the module would normally be contained in sep-arate files. The interface declares the two public proceduresand a constant integer; this is the only information a user of themodule needs to know.

The implementation part of Unique imports two standard li-brary interfaces, Wr and Stdio, which implement simple textstreams. There are actually two ways to import an interface.For one, if you specify only the interface name (as on line 7),all names from that module must be qualified by the interfacename (e.g., Wr.PutText on line 15). However, if you list indi-vidual names (as on line 8), you can use them without qualifi-cation (e.g., the stderr on line 15). In either case, the originsof the imported names are explicit in the program, making iteasy for any reader to locate the proper interface. It is possibleto import interfaces into other interfaces, but that wasn't neces-sary in this example; the I/O is performed only in the privatepart of the module.

In line 9, a static integer variable, Next_Value, is declared atthe top level of the module and is initialized in the module'sbody (lines 26-28). (Stylistically, it is better to initialize Next_Value where it is declared, but I wanted to show the modulebody.) The Modula-3 compilation system ensures that eachmodule's initialization code is executed in the proper order,that is, before the module's facilities are used by any othermodule. One module must be designated as the main module;that module's initialization code becomes the program entrypoint, executed after all other modules have been initialized.

Line 22 shows the procedure declaration for Reset with adefault parameter value. As a result of this kind of declaration,if Reset is called without parameters, the Next parametertakes on the value Flrst_Value, or 1.

Listing 3: Interface and implementation parts to amodule.

1 INTERFACE Unique;

2 CONST Firsi.Value = 1;

3 PROCEDURE Next() : INTEGER;

4 PROCEDURE Reset ( Next := First_Value);

5 END Unique.

6 MODULE Unique;

7 IMPORT Wr;

8 FROM Stdio IMPORT stderr;

9 VAR Next_Value : INTEGER;

10 PROCEDURE Next{) : INTEGER =

11 VAR

12 Thisjalue := Next_Value;

13 BEGIN

14 IF Next_Value = LAST(INTEGER) THEN

15 Wr.PutText(stderr,"Next() is wrapping aroundO);

16 Next_Value := FIRST( INTEGER); (« e.g., -2in31 »)

17 ELSE

18 INC(Next_Value);

19 END;

20 RETURN This_Value;

21 END Next;

22 PROCEDURE Reset{ Next

23 BEGIN

24 Next_Value := Next;

25 END Reset;

26 BEGIN

27 Next_Value := 1;

28 END Unique.

= First_Value ) =

Exceptions

An exception is an event that suspends normal program execu-tion and causes control to be transferred to a handler for thatexception. After the exception is handled, execution resumes atsome well-defined location in the program, but not necessarily

ALTERNATE TREATMENT OF SAMPLE PROGRAMS WITH COMMENTARY

Parameter passedby reference

Loop variables

automatically

declared

Local blockwith variabledeclarations

procedure InsertSort (jvar V|^)^rray of INTEGER_^begin

fori i ) := FIRST (V)-Hi to ^AST (V)}_do

'^s.x ■ Last index in V

Temp /\= V [ i ];j V:= i-1;begin

Open array parameter

Expressions provideinitial values and types

while j >= FIRST(V) and V[j] > Temp doV[ j + 1] := V[j];

CDgC (j)7^ ^ _end; Same as j: = j-1

Multiple statementsallowed in loops andconditional statements

V[j+1] :=I— endend

end InsertSort;

Temp;

Figure 2: Although Modula-3 looks very much like Pascal and Modula-2, declarations can incorporate initial values,and data typing can be implicit.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 387

FEATUREMODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

where the exception was first raised.

Exception-handling mechanisms are important for robustprograms. Without them, you must manually check statusvalues returned by all procedure calls or depend on awkwardlibrary facilities. Modula-3's exception mechanism is similarto the one used in Ada; it has low overhead and is easy to use.Listing 4 shows an interface, Copy_Stuff, that uses excep-tions. A portion of the implementation of Copy_Stuf f is alsoshown, along with a main module that uses it.

The exception declarations appear in lines 2 and 3; the Errorexception takes a parameter of type TEXT (a Modula-3 dynamicstring). Notice that GetText and PutText explicitly list the ex-ceptions they may raise (lines 4 and 5); this optional declarationimproves readability and maintainability. (The compiler willcheck that no unlisted exceptions are propagated out of the pro-cedures at run time.)

The central code in Main is simply an infinite loop (lines13-16), which is terminated when an exception is propagatedout of either GetText or PutText. The surrounding TRY-EXCEPT statement (lines 12-20) holds the two exception han-dlers (lines 18 and 19), which terminate the program with orwithout an error. The excerpt from the implementation of Get-Text (lines 24-32) shows how the exceptions might be raised.

Objects

OOP is becoming an increasingly popular tool for the program-mer. Its advantages include increased maintainability and ex-tensibility of code. There are three critical elements needed inlanguages that support OOP:

• The ability to define classes (types) of objects that includetheir own data and methods (procedures).

• The ability for a class to inherit data and methods fromanother class (its ancestor), and to change or extend them.

• The ability to create objects (instances of classes) andaccess data and methods through those objects.

Modula-3 provides all these elements of OOP. In fact, byproviding both modules and objects, Modula-3 gives the pro-grammer much more flexibility than languages that provideonly one (e.g., Modula-2 and Ada) or the other {e.g., C ++).

Listing 5 is an example of a module that provides the abstrac-tion of a geometric point, that is, a location in a two-dimension-al plane. In the example, particular attention is paid to hiding asmuch information as possible from the user of the class.

Following a common Modula-3 convention, I have namedthe interface Point and the enclosed class simply T. Users ofthe class will use the interface name as a qualifier and call theclass Point.T. Line 3 identifies T as an opaque type: the decla-ration T< :Public_T means that T is an unspecified descendant(subtype) of class (type) Publio_T, which is declared in line 4as an object type with two methods, PosX and PosY.

The interface also declares a New procedure to create in-stances of the class. New is a normal procedure, not a method.Its declaration reflects a Modula-3 philosophy that not all pro-cedures should be forced into methods if they more naturallystand alone. The text <*INLINE*> is a Modula-3 "pragma" re-questing that the Modula-3 compiler expand all calls to New in-line.

The implementation of Point is shown in lines 11-27. Thefirst declaration reveals the concrete definition of the type T,introducing its two data fields, X and Y, and establishing theactual method procedures for the class, PosXProc and PosY-Proc.

Notice that the first parameter to these procedures is p: T.This "self parameter was implicit in the method declarationson lines 6 and 7.

The keyword BRANDED on line 13 ensures that the type isunique. It is required by the Modula-3 type system for reasons Iwon't go into here.

The Point.New procedure on lines 19-22 is worthy of dis-cussion. It calls the built-in Modula-3 function NEW to dynami-cally allocate an object, and it can set the values of any datafield or method; that is, Modula-3 objects from the same class

Listing 4: An example of Modula-3 exceptions.

1 INTERFACE Copy_Stuff;

2 EXCEPTION Error (TEXT );

3 EXCEPTION EOF;

4 PROCEDURE GetTextO : TEXT RAISES [Error,EOF};

5 PROCEDURE PutText(T: TEXT) RAISES {Error};

6 END Copy_Stuff.

7 MODULE Main;

8 FROM Copy_Stuff IMPORT GetText,PutText,Error,EOF;

9 FROM OSIO IMPORT Exit, Success, Failure;

10 VAR Buffer : TEXT;

11 BEGIN

12 TRY

13 LOOP

U Buffer := GetTextO;

15 PutText(Buffer);

16 END;

17 EXCEPT

18 EOF => ExitCSuecess); |

19 Error => Exit(Failure);

20 END;

21 END Main.

22 MODULE Copy_Stuff;

23 IMPORT OSIO;

24 PROCEDURE GetTextO : TEXT RAISES {Error,EOF) =

25 BEGIN

26 status := OSIO.LoadBuffer();

27 IF Status = OSIO.Error THEN

28 RAISE ErrorC'OS error reading file");

29 ELSIF Status = OSIO.EOF THEN

30 RAISE EOF

31 END;

32 END GetText;

33 END Copy_Stuff.

Listing 5: Objects and opaque types in Modula-3.

1 INTERFACE Point;

2 TYPE

3 T < : PubHc_T;

i Public_T = OBJECT

5 METHODS

6 PosX( ) : REAL; (» X position »)

7 PosY( ) : REAL; (» Y position »)

8 END;

9 <»INLINE»> PROCEDURE New(x, y: REAL) : T;

10 END Point.

11 MODULE Point;

12 REVEAL

13 T = Public_T BRANDED OBJECTH X, Y ; REAL;

15 METHODS

16 PosX := PosXProc;

17 PosY := PosYProo;

18 END;

19 PROCEDURE Ne¥(x, y: REAL) : T =

20 BEGIN

21 RETURN NEW(T, X:=x, Y:=y);

22 END New;

23 PROCEDURE PosXProc( p: T) : REAL =2A BEGIN RETURN p.X; END PosXProc;

25 PROCEDURE PosYProc( p: T) : REAL =

26 BEGIN RETURN p.Y; END PosYProc;

27 BEGIN

28 END Point.

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FEATUREMODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

can have different methods installed when they are created.This is a powerful feature not found in many object-orientedlanguages. In this example, only the data fields are set by NEW;the default methods provided on lines 16 and 17 are retained.

As implied in the example, all Modula-3 objects are dynami-cally allocated. In Modula-3, there are no constructors or de-structors to create and destroy objects automatically. Program-mers must write explicit initialization routines or allow the userto invoke NEW directly. Destructors in other languages are mostoften used to deallocate dynamic storage. But since Modula-3has automatic garbage collection, destructors are not usuallyneeded.

Threads and Programming for Concurrency

Concurrent programming—the management of multiple, si-multaneous control flows—is the third major structuring facil-ity in Modula-3 (after modules and objects). Concurrency isuseful in many programming situations: when you want to takeadvantage of multiprocessing; when you want to provide back-ground processing during slow user interactions; and when youare handling naturally asynchronous or independent tasks, likehandling separate windows in a graphical user interface.

Few other languages provide direct support for concurrency:Modula-2 provides a weak coroutine-based facility, and Ada acomplex rendezvous mechanism. In contrast, Modula-3 adoptsthe thread model in which concurrent threads of control aremanaged within the same program and address space, eachwith its own local call stack but with shared access to all globaldata. This is the model increasingly supported by new operat-ing systems. Threads are typically much more efficient thanprocesses, which are identified with a separate address space.

A detailed example of programming with threads is outsidethe scope of this article. Suffice it to say that Modula-3 has astandard library interface that provides facilities to fork andjoin threads, to use mutual-exclusion semaphores and conditionvariables, and to alert (interrupt) running threads.

Safety

Safety is a principal goal of Modula-3. Most of the language issafe in the sense that the compiler guarantees that run-time in-variants (e.g., variable ranges, array indexes, and the validityof pointers) are not violated. In contrast to this. Appendix F inthe ANSI C standard lists 97 different circumstances in whichthe behavior of a C program is undefined at either compile timeor run time. Modula-3 guarantees safety through a combina-tion of compile-time analysis and run-time checking. This canvastly reduce the time it takes to debug a large application.

Systems programming can be unsafe by its very nature. Stor-age allocators and garbage collectors typically must have ac-cess to the unsafe features of a language. In Modula-3 thesefeatures include the ability to perform arbitrary type coercions,to perform arithmetic on pointers, and to call the DISPOSE pro-cedure to explicitly free dynamic memory allocated with NEW.

To use the unsafe language features, you must insert themodifier UNSAFE in your interface or module. Otherwise, thecompiler will restrict you to the safe language subset. A goodway to include unsafe elements into Modula-3 programs is tocreate a module with a safe interface for others to use, and thento implement that interface with an unsafe module. You must bethe guarantor that using the interface is safe; Modula-3 cannotcompletely check it.

Garbage Collection

Some of the most insidious run-time errors are caused by mis-using pointers, especially by using pointers after the storage

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FEATUREMODULA'S CHILDREN, R\RT 1

they point to has been deallocated. Modula-3 removes thisproblem once and for all by providing automatic garbage col-lection in the run-time environment. Since the programmerusing the safe language cannot write a DISPOSE operation, thecompiler can guarantee that no storage will be freed if there areoutstanding references to it. Dangling references are a thing ofthe past, and programming becomes much simpler when you donot have to worry about storage management.

There is a side benefit to garbage collection. Since type in-formation must be kept for pointer types, using the REFANY type(a pointer to anything) is safe, and the TYPECASE statement canbe used to determine the type of a pointer at run time.

Points of Contention

There are a few design choices in Modula-3 that some program-mers will question. In all cases, the choices were made deliber-ately, and usually because either the alternative had little(proven) utility, it was too complex in all its ramifications, or itwas unsafe.

Modula-3 is biased toward dynamic allocation. Introducinggarbage collection was a calculated technological bet. Do thevalue of program safety and the efficiency of modern collectionalgorithms together make garbage collection acceptable in asystems programming language? I think so, but for the doubt-ers, Modula-3 doesn't completely depend on garbage collec-tion: The modifier UNTRACED can be applied to any pointer orobject type to keep it from the collector (even in the safe lan-guage subset).

Even though Modula-3's OOP model is flexible and is sim-pler than that of many other languages, Modula-3 does not sup-port multiple inheritance, constructors, or destructors, and allmethods are virtual (to use C-I--I- and Eiffel terminology).This means that you must pay for a level of indirection in allmethod calls, but nonvirtual methods can be written as ordi-nary procedures if efficiency is important. Multiple inheri-tance doesn't seem to be essential, and, besides, it introducesadditional complexity and problems whose solutions requireadditional features.

On the other hand, Modula-3's data-type system uses astructural-equivalence model. In other words, two types are al-ways treated as the same if their structure is the same. Thismodel is simpler to understand than the more common name-equivalence model, and it more naturally addresses problemsin distributed systems, where separate programs may sharetyped data.

Modula-3 makes a serious attempt to bring together the long-term maintainability of Ada, the simplicity of Modula-2, andthe modern OOP facilities of C-I--I-. The result is a clean lan-guage that provides programmers who want safety and main-tainability with a language to carry them through the 1990s.

If you would like more information on the Modula-3 lan-guage, you can write for Research Reports 52 and 53 from Dig-ital Equipment Corp., Systems Research Center, 130 LyttonAve., Palo Alto, CA 94301. The SRC implementation of Mod-ula-3 is also available on Internet and via UUCP (Unix-to-Unixcopy). The system consists of a Modula-3-to-C translator withmany tools and libraries. It is distributed in source form and hasbeen ported to a variety of Unix workstations. It is available onBIX as modula.3; see page 5 for more information and down-loading details. ■

Sam Harbison (Pittsburgh, PA) is the author ofC: A ReferenceManual and president of Pine Creek Software, a consuhingfirmspecializing in programming languages and environments. Hecan be reached on BIX as "samharbison."

392 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

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HANDS ON

UNDER THE HOOD ■ Roger Alford

THE MouseTHAT Roared

The history, anatomy,and physiology of thedesktop rodent

Mice! Suddenly they're every-where—about a quarter ofall PCs users have them. PCmice have grown steadily inpopularity since their 1982 introduction.The increased availability of programsthat support mice will continue to accel-erate this trend. In particular, the phe-nomenal success of graphical user inter-faces (GUIs) for the PC—most notablyMicrosoft Windows 3.0—is having a dra-matic effect on the demand for PC mice.Before long most PCs, like all Macin-toshes, will have one scurrying aroundnext to their keyboard.

The Way it Was

Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse in1963, at the Stanford Research Institute.At that time Engelbart was exploring var-ious computer input device possibilities.His first prototype mouse was made ofwood, with metal disks for rollers thatdetected the mouse movement. Afterusing the mouse, Engelbart concludedthat it was superior to the other alterna-tives and that it would remain the bestpointing device for computer users untilsomething better came along.

Xerox further developed the mouseconcept in the early 1970s at its Palo AltoResearch Center (PARC), under the di-rection of Jack S. Hawley. Unlike Engel-bart's mouse, which used variable resis-tors and an A/D conversion circuit,Hawley's was the first digital mouse.Much of Hawley's basic design has beencarried into the modern PC mouse.

In 1982, Mouse Systems introducedthe first mouse for the IBM PC. With noreal software available with mouse sup-port, initial sales of the three-button

mouse were primarily to computer userswho were curious about the creatures,and those attracted to the novelty.

Around that time, Microsoft alsostarted seeing the mouse as a device witha lot of potential in the PC marketplaceand, being a software company, the com-pany had the wherewithal to encouragemouse use by writing mouse support intoits software.

Microsoft introduced its own two-but-ton PC mouse in mid-1983. With the sub-sequent introduction of such programs asMicrosoft Word, and later Windows andExcel, Microsoft showed PC users that amouse can make working on computerseasier and more efficient (and more fun).

When the Macintosh appeared in1984, sporting a mouse and a user-friendly GUI, users everywhere becameeven more aware of the benefits of themouse. Meanwhile, mouse-supportingapplications continued to trickle into thePC marketplace.

Mouse vendors further encouragedmouse use by supplying pop-up menusthat allowed their mice to work withstandard nonmouse applications. Mouse-based PC paint programs also began toappear, and it was common to buy amouse that included a bundled paintprogram.

The use of mice on PCs continued togrow. In mid-1988 Microsoft recordedits one-millionth mouse sale and endedthe 1990 fiscal year in June with nearlytwo million mouse sales—about half ofall PC mice sold that year. Other majormouse suppliers have also benefited fromthe increased popularity of mice, includ-ing Logitech, Mouse Systems, and IBM.According to International Data Corp.(Framingham, MA), 1989 mouse salesin the U.S. totaled around 3.2 millionunits, with worldwide sales for that yearof around 5.5 million units.

As Engelbart predicted, the mouse hasindeed withstood the test of time. Thereare far more mice on PCs than any of thealternative pointing devices (i.e., track-

balls, graphics tablets, light pens, andtouch-screens).

Mouse Anatomy

Mice come in two species: mechanicaland optical. Mechanical mice, in turn,belong to two subspecies: electromech-anical and optomechanical.

Figure 1 illustrates the operation of anelectromechanical mouse. A rubber-coated metal ball protrudes from the bot-tom of the mouse; as you move themouse, it turns. Two rollers touching theball record its movements along the x andy axes. As the rollers rotate, encodersmake and break electrical contacts thatsend electrical pulses the computer canuse to track the mouse.

Alternatively, some mechanical mice,like the Manager Mouse from Numonics,don't use a roller ball. Instead, tworollers protrude from the bottom of themouse to sense the x and y directionalmovements.

The optomechanical mouse illustratedin figure 2 works differently. LEDsshine through holes in the encoders ontophotodetectors. As the rollers rotate, theencoders alternately make and breaklight beams between the LEDs and thephotodetectors. Corresponding electri-cal signals sent to the computer describethe motions of the mouse.

Note that the optomechanical mouseneeds two LED/photodetector pairs inorder to determine the direction of rota-tion. A single LED/photodetector paircan only determipe rotational speed.

Figure 3 shows how an optical mouseworks. It requires a special reflectivemouse pad with a grid of black and bluelines. The mouse has two LEDs thatshine onto the mouse pad, one red andone infrared. The reflected light beamsreenter the mouse through lenses, andthen reflect onto photodetectors. Theblue lines absorb the red light, and theblack lines absorb the infrared light. Asthe mouse moves, the pad alternately ab-sorbs and reflects light. The photodetec-

NOVEMBER1990 -BYTE 395

HANDS ONUNDER THE HOOD

ELECTOMECHANICAL MOUSE

MechanicalEncoder

\

Electrical ^

contactsfor encoder

x,y Directionpick-up rollers

Rubber-coated ballprotrudes frombottom of the mouse

OPTOMECHANICAL MOUSE

Photodector ^ LED

no

Figure 1: Inanelectromechanicalmouse, a rubberball drives theencoders, whichmake and breakelectricalcontacts.

Figure 2: As withan electromechaniadmouse, a rubberball inside anoptomechanicalmouse drives theencoders. In thiscase, however,LEDs shinethrough holes inthe encoders. Theoptical encodingscheme eliminateswear on theencoders.

Figure 3: Red and

infrared LEDsshine from anoptical mouse ontoa special pad.Reflected beamspass throughlenses, thenreflect ontophotodetectors.

tors detect the "makes" and "breaks,"which the mouse converts to signals thatit sends to the PC. As with all species ofmice, additional signals tell the com-puter about push-button events.

Most PC mice have either two or threepush buttons (in contrast to the Mac'ssingle button). Mouse-based PC pro-grams generally require just two but-tons, but can often assign a function to athird button. Mouse push buttons canalso work in combinations (e.g., two but-tons simultaneously) to specify otherfunctions. Some programs support thedouble-click—two button presses in rapidsuccession—to specify more functions.

What are the relative merits of opticalversus mechanical mice? Optical mouseproponents claim greater reliability fortheir favorite, thanks to its solid-state,no-moving-parts design. The "opti-cians" also point out that the opticalmouse is maintenance-free, unlike me-chanical mice, which require periodiccleaning of the roller ball to eliminate theinevitable build-up of foreign substances.They also claim the optical mouse ismore accurate. If an optical mouse movesfrom one point to another on its mousepad, then back, the cursor on your screenshould be back exactly where it started.In contrast, the mechanical nature of me-chanical mice makes them more suscep-tible to slight variations, including minorball skipping and alterations in the regis-tration of the roller ball to the encodershafts. Move a mechanical mouse fromone point to another and back, and you'lltypically find the cursor slightly off itsstarting point.

The mechanical-mouse proponents ar-gue that modern mechanical mice haveshown no reliability penalty, and that theroller ball rarely needs cleaning—espe-cially when used on a rubber mouse pad.Furthermore, the mechanical mousedoesn't need a pad, as an optical mousedoes. Some users don't want to give upthe desk space, or restrict the mouse to alimited field.

Finally, the mechanical design morereadily accommodates higher mouse res-olutions. You can cram only so manyblack and blue lines onto an opticalmouse pad before you begin to lose theability to resolve them.

What about the two species of me-chanical mice? Electromechanical micesuffer from a couple of problems thattheir optomechanical cousins solve.With an electromechanical mouse, theelectrical contacts on the encoders can"bounce" a bit. This affects accuracyand requires a compensating circuit de-sign. Electromechanical mice also tend

396 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

HANDS ONUNDER THE HOOD

to wear out their encoders, since thereare always points of physical contact.The optomechanical design eliminatesbounce, and there's no encoder wear (ex-cept at rotational joints). The optoelec-tronic design of the encoders also sup-ports higher resolution. Most high-resolution mice are optomechanical(although the 350-point-per-inch PCMouse III optical mouse from MouseSystems is the exception to this rule).

The Resolution Revolution

The resolution of a mouse refers to thenumber of points it can detect for everyinch of movement. The distance betweentwo adjacent points (the shortest distancethe mouse can resolve) is measured in ahalf-dozen different units. Programmerswho work with mice have whimsicallycoined the unit mickey, but the industryis using more common ones, includingdots per inch (dpi), counts per inch (cpi),pulses per inch (ppi), and points per inch(another ppi, and the one used for thisarticle).

Early mice, like the original Microsoftmouse, had a resolution of 100 ppi. Mostof today's mice have a 200-ppi resolu-tion, as did Microsoft's second- andthird-generation mice. Some newer high-resolution mice register between 320 and400 ppi, including Microsoft's latest400-ppi entry. There has been some de-bate over the necessity of resolutions ashigh as 400 ppi, but some users claimsmoother mouse operation on high-reso-lution screens when using a high-resolu-tion mouse.

Mouse Interfaces

In what form do the signals enter yourPC, and how does the PC process them?That depends. Three primary types ofmouse interfaces are common in the PCworld: bus, serial, and special port.

The earliest mice were bus mice. Theycame with a half-size interface boardthat plugged into one of the PC's expan-sion bus slots; the board drew its powerfrom the expansion bus. The board pro-cessed signals from the mouse, and peri-odically generated interrupts to passmouse movement and button-press infor-mation to the mouse driver.

Microsoft made a substantial contri-bution to the PC mouse market when itintroduced a serial version of its mouse in1984. The serial mouse could plug into astandard COMl or COM2 RS-232Cserial port. It didn't need a bus interfaceboard or any other external circuitry.The mouse included a small controllerthat sent packets of information to the PCvia the serial port. The controller re-

Circle 257 on Reader Service Card —>.

quired so little power that it could operatewithout an external power source, sim-ply by drawing its power from the RS-232C request-to-send (RTS) handshakeline. This became a trend in the mouseindustry, and now most mice are of theserial variety.

I should mention one caution concern-ing the use of serial mice with laptopcomputers. Since these mice draw theirpower from the serial port itself, they ex-pect to see the typical PC voltage of

around -I-12V on the RTS handshakeline. When laptops are operating on bat-tery power, however, a lower voltage isoften used to generate the serial-port sig-nals. This prevents many serial micefrom working properly with the system.If you use the laptop's AC adapter, ofcourse, there won't be a problem.

If you don't count Microsoft's briefflirtation with its Mach 10 PC turboboard (using the company's proprietaryInPort mouse interface), IBM was the

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HANDS ONUNDER THE HOOD

first company to include a mouse port(aka, "pointing device" port) on its sys-tems. The mouse port on IBM's PS/2systems (Models 50 and up) is essentiallya bus-mouse interface built into the sys-tem motherboard.

Some of the newer bus mice have takena different approach to implementing thePC/mouse interface. Rather than offertwo different mice—one serial and onebus—some manufacturers combine thetwo into a single serial mouse. The "bus

interface" in this situation is functional-ly little more than a standard serial portthat maps to an I/O address other thanCOMlorCOM2.

How Serial Mice Communicate

Serial mice send multiple-byte packets ofinformation to the PC to indicate the di-rectional movement of the mouse and thestatus of the mouse push buttons. A cou-ple of packet formats have emerged as thepredominant standards in the industry.

Most applications, however, don't needto worry about them; the mouse driverhides the packet formats.

The two-button Microsoft packet for-mat is the most popular format in use.The packet comprises 3 bytes; only the 7low-order bits of each byte are signifi-cant. The first byte includes the 2 high-order bits of both the x- and y-positionvalues, and the status of the two push but-tons. The second byte contains the re-maining 6 low-order j:-position bits,while the third byte contains the remain-ing 6 low-order y-position bits.

The 8-bit binary position values are intwo's-complement format (ranging from—128 to -i-127), with a negative value in-dicating movement left or up, and a posi-tive value indicating movement right ordown. The mouse sends the packet onlywhen there's a change of state, such as amovement of the mouse or a press or re-lease of a button. The x- and }'-positionvalues sent in the packet indicate thenumber of points the mouse has moved ineach direction since the last packet.

Transmitting only an 8-bit value foreach direction isn't a limitation—evenfor high-resolution mice—because thevalues indicate only the change in mouseposition since the last packet was sent.

For example, a typical serial mouseoperates at 1200 bps. That means eachbyte needs about 7.5 milliseconds to passfrom the mouse to the PC (7 data bits, 1start bit, and 1 stop bit), and each 3-bytepacket takes about 22.5 ms. Each packetcan specify a maximum position changevalue of 127 (in each positive direction),so the mouse can specify a positionchange of up to 5644 (127/0.0225) pointsper second. Even with a 400-ppi mouse,this scheme allows for movement of over14 inches per second.

Of course, the baud rate can always beincreased if this becomes a limitation. At9600 bps, a serial mouse using the 3-byteMicrosoft packet format can support avelocity of up to 112 inches per second.

The three-button Mouse Systemspacket format comprises 5 bytes. Thefirst byte reflects the current state of thethree buttons. The second byte specifiesthe "first" A:-position value and the thirdbyte specifies the "first" y-positionvalue. The fourth and fifth bytes aresimilar to the second and third, but spec-ifying the "second" x- and y-positionvalues instead of the first; that is, thechange in the x- and y-positions since thereadings sent in the second and thirdbytes. This can, for example, be helpfulin determining mouse velocity.

As with the Microsoft packet format,the X- and y-position values are in two's

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HANDS ONUNDER THE HOOD

complement format. A positive value in-dicates movement right or up; a negativevalue indicates movement left or down.

The Software Perspective

It is probably obvious that Microsoft hasset the standard for PC mice. You'd behard-pressed to find one that doesn't tout"Microsoft Mouse compatibility."

DOS applications generally access themouse movement and button informationby making calls to a mouse driver. Vir-

tually every PC mouse includes a mousedriver that emulates the Microsoft Mousedriver to make the mouse look like aMicrosoft Mouse to the application.Many mice also come with a driver toemulate a Mouse Systems PC Mouse.

Interestingly, the mouse driver inter-acts directly with the video adapter tocontrol mouse cursor movement. Thedriver must therefore include support forthe video adapter you use to ensure prop-er operation on your system. Naturally,

all current mouse drivers support thestandard video adapters, includingMDA, CGA, EGA and VGA, but if youare using something a little newer (likean 8514/A adapter) or something out ofthe ordinary, the mouse driver may notsupport it. Check if you are unsure.

Microsoft's mouse driver supports 35function calls (see the table). The driveroffers a lot of flexibility to the mouseprogrammer. While it is not possible todescribe all the functions in detail here, Iwill briefly describe some of them.

The Mouse Reset and Status function(0) sets several mouse parameters to de-fault values (e.g., the mickeys-per-pixelratio), and returns the current status ofthe mouse; that is, whether or not themouse has been found, and which mousebuttons, if any, are currently pressed.This function also hides the mouse cur-sor on the screen if it is displayed.

The Show Cursor and Hide Cursorfunctions (1 and 2) control whether ornot the mouse displays its cursor on thescreen. A counter value determines whento display the cursor. When the counteris 0 the cursor appears, otherwise it doesnot. The counter decrements with eachHide Cursor call and increments witheach Show Cursor (although it cannot beincremented past 0). Thus, it takes threeShow Cursor calls to undo three HideCursor calls.

The Get Button Status and Mouse Po-sition function (3) returns the currentstatus of the mouse buttons and the cur-rent cursor position on the screen. Be-ware, however, that the mouse driveruses a "virtual screen" matrix for deter-mining the position of its cursor, and thatvirtual screen isn't always the same asthe physical pixel array on the screen.

In the case of a medium-resolutiongraphics screen with a 320- by 200-pixelmatrix, the mouse's virtual screen wouldbe 640 by 200 pixels. The virtual screenconcept is intended to simplify mouseprogramming. You can address the vir-tual screen (which is always a minimumof 640 by 200 pixels) and allow themouse driver to translate the addressedposition to the correct location on the dis-play, based on the current video mode.For some high-resolution EGA and VGAmodes, the virtual screen expands to 640by 350 or 640 by 480 pixels, but for allother modes, the virtual screen remainsat 640 by 200 pixels.

Function 15, Set Mickey/Pixel Ratioallows you to adjust the mouse sensitivityby selecting the number of mickeys, orpoints, required to move the mouse cur-sor eight pixels on the screen. You can setthe value to anything between 1 and

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HANDS ONUNDER THE HOOD

Microsoft's mouse driver supports 35 functions, which provide a great dealof flexibility to the mouse programmer.

Function

number

Description

0

Mouse Reset and Status

1

Show Cursor

2

Hide Cursor

3

Get Button Status and Mouse Position

4

Set Mouse Cursor Position

5

Get Button Press Information

6

Get Button Release Information

7

Set Minimum and Maximum Horizontal Cursor

Position

8

Set Minimum and Maximum Vertical Cursor Position

9

bet Graphics Cursor Block

10

Set Text Cursor

11

Read Mouse Motion Counters

12

Set Interrupt Subroutine Call Mask and Address

13

Light Pen Emulation Mode On

14

Light Pen Emulation Mode Off

15

Set Mickey/Pixel Ratio

16

Conditional Off

19

Set double-speed threshold

OWdp i( ILc! (U|JL SUUIUUUI ICO

21

Get mouse driver state storage requirements

22

Save mouse driver state

23

Restore mouse driver state

24

Set alternate subroutine call mask and address

25

Get user alternate interrupt address

26

Set mouse sensitivity

27

Get mouse sensitivity

28

Set mouse interrupt rate

29

Set CRT page number

30

Get CRT page number

31

Disable mouse driver

32

Enable mouse driver

33

Software reset

34

Set languages for messages

35

Get language number

36

Get driver version, mouse type, and IRQ number

32,767, inclusive. Another way to adjustthe mouse sensitivity is to use Function26, Set Mouse Sensitivity.

Function 36, Get Driver Version,Mouse Type, and IRQ (interrupt request)Number, returns the mouse driver ver-sion, the mouse type (e.g., bus, serial,InPort, or PS/2), and the IRQ number.This information can help determine ifthe current mouse and driver is compat-ible with the application.

An application can access a mousedriver in a couple of ways. One option isto link a .LIB file containing the driverwith the application program. That way,the application supports the mouse di-rectly. More commonly, however, usersinstall the driver by way of the CON-FIG.SYS file (DEVICE=MOUSE.SYS)or the AUTOEXEC.BAT file (MOUSE-.COM), and the application accesses thedriver functions by making calls to soft-ware interrupt 33 hexadecimal.

The Microsoft Mouse Programmer'sReference (Microsoft Press, 1989) fullydescribes the operation of the MicrosoftMouse driver.

MOUSE.SYS and MOUSE.COMwork well enough in the DOS world (al-though I have seen incompatibilities), butthe whole picture changes when youswitch to a protected-mode operatingsystem. OS/2 and Unix can't use a stan-dard MOUSE.SYS driver to allow amouse to emulate a Microsoft mouse, be-cause such drivers won't work in pro-tected mode. If these operating systemsdon't include support for your mouse,you'll need a special driver. Generally,you'll have more options with a serialmouse—particularly one that supportsthe Microsoft Mouse packet format.

ICBM: Infinitely ConfigurableBallistic Mice

An increasing number of mice support afeature known as ballistic tracking (orvariable acceleration). At times, you mayneed to use your mouse for some detailedcursor movement at one part of yourscreen and then move clear across thescreen for some further detailed work.Operating at high resolution, the trekacross the screen can take a long time,and require several repeated movementsof your mouse.

With ballistic tracking, the mouse candetect when you move it faster. As its ve-locity increases, it automatically changesthe number of points per inch to allowfaster travel across long distances. As itslows down, it reduces the number ofpoints per inch to again allow more de-tailed cursor movement.

Ballistic tracking can be implemented

with an on-board controller or in themouse driver software. Although mostwho have tried it like ballistic tracking (itbeats repeatedly pounding your deskwith your mouse to get the cursor acrossthe screen) some find it irritating. Ifyou're unsure, make sure your mousehas the option to disable the feature.

A Faithful Companion

The mouse has come a long way in thepast five years, but in terms of technol-ogy, little has changed. The basic mousedesign remains essentially the same,with increments in resolution being theonly real thing to show for the longevityof the mouse.

Experience has shown that mice ingeneral are quite reliable, most operatebasically as well as others, and resolutionis often not a big concern. Some usersprefer optical mice because there are nomoving parts and nothing to clean; themouse pad, however, takes up a chunk ofyour valuable desk space. Other usersprefer the mechanical mouse to avoid the

optical mouse pad; but the roller ball getsdirty and must be cleaned periodically.

A serial mouse or a bus mouse? Allother things being equal, it depends onwhether you can more easily spare aserial port or an expansion bus slot. Thefinal decision usually comes down towhether you like the size, the style, thecolor, the length of the tail, the numberof push buttons, and the price.

PC mice will continue to grow in pop-ularity. Continuing evolution of the PCmouse will be in the area of ergonomics;I doubt resolution will push much beyond400 ppi. Other pointing devices, espe-cially trackballs, will gain some groundbut the mouse is not likely to give awayvery much of its cheese. ■

Roger Alford is a computer design engi-neer and a freelance writer. He can bereached on BIXc/o "editors. "

Your questions and comments are wel-come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, OnePhoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH03458.

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HANDS ON

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

■ Rick Grehan

Part 2

^ Talking Tasks

A look at how OS/2and Unix handleinterprocesscommunications

Tis month, I will continue mytour of interprocess communi-cations. So far, I have lookedat the IPC facilities provided byQuarterdeck's Desqview and Micro-soft's Windows. I'll now focus on OS/2and Unix.

The fact that OS/2 and Unix appear inthe same column is more or less an acci-dent—but it's a happy one. As it turnsout, remarkable similarities exist be-tween the IPC facilities of both operatingsystems. The similarities appear at ahigh level—the implementations arequite different—but this lets me presentthe material in an overlapped fashion.

Pipes

In the wide array of IPC structures, thepipe is perhaps the simplest. It's a uni-directional communication path, usuallyleading from a parent process to one of itsoffspring processes, or vice versa. Datapasses through a pipe in a purely un-structured form: a "stream" of byteswhose members come out the receivingend in the same order they were pouredin at the sending end. Thus, the namepipe (see figure 1).

Since pipes are one-way streets, youusually acquire them in pairs.

OS/2 and Pipes

You create OS/2 pipes using the Dos-MakePipeO routine, which returns twohandles: one for the read pipe, and theother for the write pipe. This looks strik-ingly similar to the Unix System Vpipe () system call that I discuss later.

You'll notice I said that pipes are "usu-ally" connected between a parent pro-

cess and a child process. This is not sofor named pipes, which can connect un-related processes (see figure 2).

As their title suggests, you can attachidentifying names to named pipes, andthese names are accessible to other pro-cesses. The name you pick actually con-forms to OS/2 filenaming conventionsand has the form \plpe\rajrplpe, whichspecifies a pipe called "mypipe."

OS/2 named pipes operate in a client-server fashion: A server task creates thenamed pipe and awaits the connection ofa client. An example is shown in the codefragments of listing 1, where the serverbuilds a named pipe called "mypipe."The server task will wait at the DosCon-nectNmPipeO call until the client exe-cutes a DosOpenO on the named pipe. Atthat time, the connection is established,and the two tasks can communicate.(Once you create pipes, you can read andwrite to them as though they were files.)

In the example I've given, the serverhas created an inbound pipe, meaningthat the client can only write to the pipeand the server can only read from it.

Named pipes can be inbound, outbound,or duplex (i.e., bidirectional).

OS/2's named pipes enjoy anotherfeature: They can be byte-wide or mes-sage-wide. A byte-wide pipe is a pipe inthe strict sense; data is sent through thepipe as a byte-at-a-time stream. How-ever, a message-wide pipe looks muchlike a message queue. You can send datain chunks of arbitrary size. (Interest-ingly, OS/2's DosTransactNmPlpeOfunction lets you read and write datathrough a pipe at a single call. Of course,this works only if you open the pipe induplex mode.)

The Pipes of Unix

You create a Unix System V pipe with apipe(descripts) call, where de-scrlpts is a two-element integer array.The first member of the array is the filedescriptor for reading the pipe; the sec-ond member is the file descriptor forwriting the pipe.

Typically, you create a pipe between aparent process and a child process. Theexample most often given in Unix texts is

A SIMPLE PIPE

nt process

Read or write

Child process

Figure 1: A pipe provides a single read or write connection between a parentprocess and a child process. If you create a pipe for writing from the parent process,you must open it for reading from the child, and vice versa. Two-way communicationrequires two pipes.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 403

HANDS ONSOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

redirecting standard input through thepipe and executing a program. It lookssomething like what's shown in listing 2.

In listing 2, you simply point the char-acter pointer variable cmd to some stringholding the name of a command you wantto execute, grep perhaps. The programissues a fork() system call, and thechild process does the dirty work of redi-recting the plumbing so that the parenttask can write down the pipe, and theprogram launched by the execl() sys-tem call will see that data coming inthrough standard input.

Unix implements the equivalent ofnamed pipes by using a special file type,FIFO, the acronym for first-in/first-out.Although FIFOs are not commonly used,they are the mechanism used by the Unixprint spooler. Since a FIFO file is an en-tity of the Unix file system, it has owner,group, and world permissions and own-ership as any other file. You need to payspecial attention to ownership and per-missions when you create a FIFO.

The function call looks like raknod(pathname, mode, 0), where pathnameis the name of the FIFO, and mode is the

permissions ORed with the SJFIFO flag(defined in sys/stat.h) to indicate thata FIFO is being created. (The mknodfunction is used for creating all the di-rectories and file types in the file sys-tem.) Once you have a FIFO, you canopen it for reading or writing with thesame functions that are available forstandard files.

Generally, FIFOs are opened only forreading by a daemon (background pro-cess), which uses whatever is poured inas its input. Then, as other processesneed the facilities of the daemon, theysend their data to it. The System V printspooler uses a FIFO to communicate be-tween the user's Ip processes and thesystem's printer daemon, Ipsched. TheFIFO also handles communications be-tween other processes and the daemon. Ifeach message is less than the capacity ofthe FIFO (i.e., 4096 bytes), it is guaran-teed to be atomic; messages cannot mix.FIFOs provide a simple many-to-oneIPC that does not require the processes tobe related.

Semaphores

Semaphores stand apart from the otherIPC structures I've discussed. Unlikepipes, mailboxes, and such, it is not theirjob to pass data from one task to another.Rather, a semaphore exists to control ac-cess to a shared resource. It might be eas-ier to think of a semaphore as a form ofinterprocess coordination, rather thaninterprocess communication.

In essence, a semaphore is a variable.What makes it special is that your pro-gram performs indivisible operations onthe variable. That is, while your programis accessing the semaphore variable, it isdoing so exclusively (see figure 3).

For example, suppose that you have aprinter server that—for reasons of mem-ory constraint—manages a request queuethat can hold no more than 10 filenames.If you build a semaphore to manage ac-cess to the queue, you would initializethe semaphore variable to a value of 10.Thereafter, whenever a client programwishes to send a request down the queue,the client first examines the value of thesemaphore.

If the value is greater than zero, thereis room in the queue and the client taskproceeds to insert the request. The clientthen decrements the semaphore variableto indicate that the request has consumeda queue slot. If the client program seesthat the semaphore is zero (indicatingthat the queue is full), the program eitherindicates the queue-full condition to anoperator or waits for the semaphore to as-sume a nonzero value.

Listing 1: Creating an OS/2 named pipe. The pipe is an inbound pipe,and it's byte-wide. I've reserved 512 bytes for the input buffer, and I'll specifya default wait of500 milliseconds for the DosWaitNmPipe () —other taskswill use that function when trying to open this pipe.

DosMakeNmPlpe ("pipe \ \ myploe", toiyphaiwi, PIPE _ACCESS_INBOUND,PIPE_READMODE_BYTE f PIPE_TYPE_BYTE | PIPE_WAIT,0,512,500L);

/•

Wait for a connection to this piDe.

*/

DosConnectNmPipe(&myphand);

/»

** Read from the pipe.

»« Reaa 50 bytes Into buff (which should be char «).•/

Dosread(myphand,buff,50,&bytesred);/•

«» Close the oioe down.*l

Dos DisConneGtNmPipe(myphand)JDosClose(myphand);

A NAMED PIPE OR UNIX FIFO

Server process

Read or write

Named pipe i .client ,or FIFO i_, I I

Figure 2: Named pipes do not require a parent-child relationship between thecommunicating processes. The client processes can come and go independentlyfrom the server.

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HANDS ONSOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Listing 2: Creating a Unix pipe that writes to a child process.

int pipe(Jesc[2];

char *cmd;

/♦

»» Maie a Dipe. Return NULL if failure.•/

if(pipe(Dipedeso)==ERROR) return(NULL);/»

** Fork a new process to execute Drogram.*/

ifC(pid=fork())==0)

{ /* Child process here */

/* Close writing side of pipe */

Glose(pipedesc[l]);

/* Close standard input. */

close(O);

/* Dup read side-becomes standard input */

dup{pipedesc[0]);

/* Close old read side of pipe */

close(pipedesc[0]);

/* Execute the a program */

execl("/bin/sh","sh","-c",cmd,0);

exit{l);

}

/*

** Parent process here.•« Handle fork failure.»/

if{pld==-l) return(NULL);/•

** Close reading side of the pipe.

»/

closeCpipedesc[0]);

/«

** Now, anything I write to pipedesc[l] will** be passed to the program specified in cmd.

As requests are taken off the queue,the server increments the semaphore toindicate that queue slots have becomeavailable. All these increments, decre-ments, and comparisons on the sema-phore variable occur so that only one pro-

cess has control of the semaphore at atime. This is critical in a multitaskingsystem: While one process is examiningthe value of the semaphore variable, youcan be sure that another process is not inthe midst of modifying that variable.

OS/2 Semaphores

OS/2 provides several kinds of sema-phores and a variety of supporting func-tions. System semaphores are named ob-jects, as were the named pipes that Idescribed earlier. Consequently, youcreate a system semaphore by specifyinga name that conforms to the OS/2 file-naming convention, and the operatingsystem returns a handle by which yourprogram can reference that semaphore.For example, the following routine:

DosCreateSem(CSEM_PUBLIC,Stsemhand,'' \ \sem\ \mysem'');

creates a public semaphore called "my-sem."

The first argument to the function is asystem-defined constant that specifiesthat this particular semaphore's valuecan be modified by other tasks. (If I hadcreated the semaphore with a first argu-ment of CSEM_PRIVATE, the other taskscould only read the semaphore's con-tents.) OS/2 places the handle to thissemaphore in the doubleword variableserahand. Another task in the system cangain access to this semaphore with thefollowing call:

DosOpenSem( Scsemhand,'' \\sera\\mysem'');

Unlike a system semaphore, a RAMsemaphore is not maintained by the OS/2kernel. Rather, it is simply an unsignedlong variable that you create as a globalvariable in the owning process. This pre-sumes some discipline on your part: Ifyou create a variable that is to become aRAM semaphore, you must manipulatethat variable only through OS/2 sema-phore functions. To do otherwise couldviolate the indivisibility of semaphore ac-cess and would surely result in flakycode.

Since a RAM semaphore is simply aglobal variable, processes don't need tocall DosCreateSem() to construct them,or DosOpenSem to gain access to them. Infact, only threads local to the process canaccess the RAM semaphore, so a call toDosOpenSem makes no real sense in thecontext of a RAM semaphore.

OS/2 semaphores are binary sema-phores: They are either set or cleared.You can create the effect of a multivaluedsemaphore (also known as a generalsemaphore)—as in the print-queue exam-ple I gave earlier—by constructing asemaphore that permits access to a vari-able in a shared-memory segment. (I'lldiscuss shared memory later.) The OS/2routines for managing semaphores can

A SEMAPHORE

0 I 0 0

Independentprocess1

1

0

Independe ntprocess2

0

1 0

0 1

Indep

jndent ppcess4

Independentprocess3

1 0

0 1

Independentprocess5

Figure 3: A semaphore is a variable that is shared among processes. Only oneprocess can act on the variable at a time. Thus, a semaphore is ideal for controlof other forms of interprocess communications.

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HANDS ONSOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Listing 3: Creating an OS/2 semaphore.

** Instance of semaphore.•/

struct sembuf unlock = {0,1.SEM_UNDO};/*

** Create a semaphore with one member.

*/

if ((mysem=seiiiget(SEMKEY, 1, IPC_CREAT| IPC_EXCL|WM0DE) ) ==ERROR{

printf("**Cannot create semaphore\n");exit(O);

}

/*

** Unlock the resource controlled by the semaphore.

*/

if (semop(myseni, &unlook, 1) ==ERROR)

printf("**Semaphore error\ n");exit(O);

}

I*

Release the semaphore.

•/

semctl(niysem,0,IPC_RMID);

operate on RAM semaphores as well assystem semaphores.

To set a semaphore, you call DosSem-Set(mysem), where mysem is either ahandle to a system semaphore or the ad-dress of a RAM semaphore. You clear asemaphore with the call DosSemClear(mysem). Finally, your program canwait for a specified semaphore to becleared by calling DosSemWait(mysem).

However, to securely manage a re-source, the operations of waiting on thesemaphore to clear and immediately set-ting it must occur without interruption(as I described above). You can accom-plish this with the call DosSemRequest(mysem,Itlme), where mysem refer-ences a semaphore as before, and Itlmeis a doubleword specifying a millisecondtime-out value.

DosSemRequest () will wait for the in-dicated semaphore to clear or until thetime given in Itlme has elapsed. If the

semaphore clears, DosSemRequest()immediately sets the semaphore and re-turns to the caller. If DosSemRequest ()times out, it returns a value that is anerror code indicating the time-out con-dition.

Finally, if you've got a number ofsemaphores riding herd on various eventsand you want to monitor them as a group,you can use DosMuxSemWalt(). Thisroutine accepts an array of semaphorehandles and waits for any member of theset to clear.

Unix Semaphores

Under Unix System V, you can creategroups of semaphores—referred to as asemaphore set—with one call. Also,Unix semaphores can be multivalued,and the operating system provides a com-plex array of semaphore operations (i.e.,the operations go beyond simply settingor clearing the semaphore).

Whereas OS/2 system semaphores areidentified by name, Unix System Vsemaphores are identified by a uniquenumber referred to as a facility key. Thiskey is of type key_t, and on most Unixsystems it is simply a 32-bit number. Thekey acts as the semaphore's system-wideidentifier—any process that knows theidentifier can access the semaphore.(You'll see the facility key cropping upseveral times before this article is done.It is roughly the Unix equivalent ofOS/2's named objects.)

Unix System V provides three systemcalls for manipulating semaphores. Theyare:

• semget(), which lets you createsemaphores;

• semop(), which lets you operate onsemaphores; and

• semctl(), which provides anumber of service functions forexamining and modifying asemaphore's status.

You can also use seractl() to delete thesemaphore.

I've provided some code fragmentshighlighting usage of semaphores in list-ing 3. The call to semget() creates asemaphore with an identifying key set bythe constant SEMKEY and containing onemember (the number of semaphores inthe set is determined by the second argu-ment). The third argument to semgetOis a flags word that (in the example given)tells the system to create the semaphore ifit doesn't already exist; if it does, returnan error condition.

The semopO call also takes three ar-guments. The first is the semaphore'sidentifying key, the second is the pointerto an array of semaphore operation struc-tures, and the third is the number of en-tries in that array. Since Unix System V

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HANDS ONSOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

lets you create sets of semaphores withone call (and identified by a single key),having the ability to pass in multiple op-erations per the semop() call is a realtime and space saver.

In listing 3, the array consists of onlyone member, and you can see its defini-tion near the beginning of the listing asstructure unlock. The first element of

the semaphore operation structure arraymember (whew!) specifies the memberof the semaphore set with which this par-ticular operation is concerned—zero inthe example, since there's only onemember of the semaphore set. The sec-ond element specifies the operation it-self: In listing 3, this operation value is1, which tells the system to increment the

Listing 4: OS/2 shared memory.

/* 'Selector for shared segment */

SEL myselect;

/•

See if shared segment exists.** Create it if it doesn't.

»/

tfhlle(l)

lf{DosGetShrSeg("\ \sharemem\ \myshrseg",8!iiiyseleot)= = ERR0R_FILE_NOT_FOUND)

If (DosAllooShrSeg(1000,"sharemem/ /myshrseg",&iiiyselect)==0)break;

}

else

breaJc;

}

/»

** Free the shared segment.

»/

DosFreeSeg(myselect);

SHARED MEMORY

Independent

process

5

Jndependentprocess4

Shared memory

-I

Independent process1

Independent process3

1

Independent process2

Figure 4: A region of memory that is shared among participating processes.

410 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

HANDS ONSOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

semaphore by 1. The third element car-ries a number of flags.

The example in listing 3 tells the sys-tem to increment a system variable by theamount that the operating system asso-ciates with the semaphore and the pro-cess. In this way, if the process dies un-expectedly, Unix knows by what amountto readjust the semaphore so that otherprocesses waiting on the semaphore willnot be stranded forever.

Finally, the program calls semctl()to release the semaphore. I should pointout that you can use semctl() to domuch more than I've shown in listing 3.For example, you can determine the pro-cess ID of the last process to perform anoperation on the semaphore set, you candetermine how many processes are cur-rently waiting for the value of a particu-lar semaphore to become greater than itspresent value, and more.

Shared Memory

In structure, shared memory is perhapsthe simplest of IPCs. Shared memory isjust that—a region of memory sharedamong the participating processes.

This makes shared memory the fastestform of IPC; data doesn't really movefrom one place to another. Data writteninto the shared memory by one process is"instantly" available to all the processesenjoying access to that memory (see fig-ured).

OS/2 Shared Memory

OS/2 serves up shared memory in twoflavors: global and local. (Because of thenature of the host processor, OS/2 docu-mentation typically refers to sharedmemory as shared segments. So that Iwon't have to bog you down with shared-memory segments, I'll simply use sharedsegments for the rest of this section.)When you create a global shared seg-ment, you attach a name to it (as innamed pipes and sempahores). There-after, any process that knows the name ofthe segment can also access it.

Listing 4 shows a fragment of code inwhich a process first looks for a globalshared segment and then—if the segmentis not found—creates the segment.

The code in listing 4 appears convo-luted, thanks to the nature of manipulat-ing shared objects in a multitasking envi-ronment. If the call to DosGetShrSegOfails because the segment does not exist(ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND), theif statement falls through to executeDosAllocShrSegO, which actuallycreates the shared segment.

However, between the return of Dos-GetShrSegO and the execution of Dos-

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HANDS ONSOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Listing 5: Unix shared memory.

int shmidj /* Shared memory identifier */

char *shmloc; /* Address where shared memory is mapped */

/*

** Create a IK-byte shared memory segment.

shmid=shmget(SHMKEy,102't,IPC_CREAT | IPC_EXCL | WMODE);/•

** Attach it to our memory space.

** A second argument of 0 means we'll let Unix decide where to** map the block.

** We can access the memory through oointer variable shmloc.

»/

shmloc=shmat(shinid, (char *)0,0);

/•

** Detach the shared memory block and release it.

•/

shmdt(shmloc);shmctl(shinid,IPCJMID);

AllocShrSegO, there is a small chancethat another process might be switched inby OS/2 and create the shared segment.If that happens, when the program of list-ing 4 resumes, the DosAllooShrSeg()will fail with an ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS return code. Hence, the whileloop, which reattempts the DosGetShr-Seg() call and solves the problem.

OS/2's local shared segments are de-signed to be more secure than globalshared segments. You don't reference thesegment by name; you reference it by asegment selector. Since no globally ac-cessible name is available for the seg-ment, the process creating the sharedsegment can control which other pro-cesses have access to the segment.

For example, I can create a localshared segment of 1000 bytes with a callto the following:

DosAllocSeg(1000,toysel,SEG_GIVEABLE);

where mysel will hold the selector to thecreated segment. Of course, the segmentdoesn't become shared until I give itaway.

To do this, I have to build a selectorthat the other process can use to accessthe segment. I do this with the following:

DosGlveSeg(mysel,hisid,&hlssel)

where hlsid is the ID of the process towhich I want to allow access to the seg-ment. Upon return, the variable hlsselholds the selector that I can now pass tothe process identified by hisid. (Ironi-cally, I would have to construct someother form of IPC [e.g., a named mes-sage queue or global shared segment] topass the selector to the other process.)

The above example isn't the only wayto manage local shared segments. I chose

to allocate the segment with attributeSEG_GIVEABLE, which means it's my jobto create the selectors that get passed toother tasks.

I could have created the segment withattribute SEG_GETTABLE, in which case Iwould pass other processes a copy of myselector, and it would be their job to con-vert that selector to one they could use(via a call to DosGetSeg ()).

O5/2 's

local shared segmentsare more secure thanglobal shared segments.

Unix Shared Memory

Unix System V makes no distinction be-tween local and global shared memory(as in OS/2).

If I were to use OS/2 terminology,shared memory in Unix is always global.When you create a shared-memoryblock, you associate a facility key thathas the same form as I described in thesection on Unix semaphores. Any otherprocess that knows the key can attach it-self to the shared-memory block.

You use the shmget () call to create ashared-memory block. If shmget () com-pletes successfully, it returns an integerhandle to the shared memory.

Your program then passes this handleto the shmatO function, which "at-taches" the memory block to your pro-gram and returns a pointer to the startingaddress of the shared-memory block.Your program can read and write into the

memory block as it would any othermemory region.

At its completion, your program "de-taches" the shared-memory block usinga call to shmdt (). This call doesn't actu-ally destroy the shared-memory block; itsimply removes the caller's ability to ac-cess the memory. You have to call theshractlO routine to free the memory.■ Typically, the task that built the shared-memory block in the first place will bethe one to remove it.

I've given an example of creating andusing a shared-memory block in listing5. The listing is very brief. Usually, youwill want to associate a semaphore with ashared-memory block and use the sema-phore to coordinate access to thememory.

As with the semaphores, Unix asso-ciates a structure with every shared-memory block that the tasks create. Thisstructure carries information regardingthe shared-memory segment (e.g., theID of the process that created the shared-memory block and the current number ofattached processes). Although in the ex-ample in listing 5 I've used shmctl()only to release the shared-memory struc-ture, you can use that function to manip-ulate information in the structure thatUnix associates with the shared-memoryblock.

Message Queues

Actually, I have already given a cursorydescription of message queues. Theyfirst appeared last month when I talkedabout Desqview's mailboxes. Also, inOS/2, named pipes can do much of thework of message queues.

The message queue derives its namefrom its FIFO characteristics. Usually,however, operating systems provide waysto let important messages "cut in" thequeue ahead of current members.

OS/2 Queues

OS/2 queues are not restricted to FIFOordering of elements. When you create aqueue, you can select the ordering to beone of the following:

• FIFO—which is a typical queue(see figure 5a)

• last-in/first-out (LIFO)—whichcauses the queue to behave like astack (see figure 5b)

• element priority—The sendingprocess can attach a priority toeach message item. When thereceiving process requests OS/2 topull the next item off the queue, theoperating system will select theitem with the highest priority first.

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HANDS ONSOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

As with other named items, when youcreate a message queue, you must giveOS/2 a unique file-type name to asso-ciate with the queue. The name must be-gin with the string \ \ queues \ \, so a callto create a FIFO queue named "my-queue" looks like the following:

DosCreateQueue(&qhand,QUE_FIFO, "\\queues

\\myqueue

where qhand is a variable that will holdthe queue handle when the call returns.

The creator of the queue is the onlyprocess allowed to remove elements fromthe queue. Other processes can write ele-ments into the queue, but before they do,they must open the queue with the fol-lowing call:

DosOpenQueue(&qowner,&qhand,'' \ \queues\\myqueue'')

where qhand is the handle (as above),and qowner is a variable that receives theprocess ID of the queue's creator. Yourprogram can then issue a write request tothe queue with something like the follow-ing:

DosWriteQueue(qhand,rqid,8,' 'AMessage' ',priority);

The first argument is the handle. The

second is a program-supplied request/identification field that your programscan use to support any sort of private pro-tocol you dream up. The third argumentis, obviously, the length of the message—a pointer to which follows as the fourthargument. The fifth and final argumentis the priority, which can range from 0 to15 (highest priority) and sets the mes-sage's element priority. As you mightguess, the system recognizes the finalargument only if the queue is an element-priority type. Otherwise, you read itemsoff the queue in FIFO or LIFO order.

You read a queue with the followingcall:

DosReadQueue( qhand, Streqinf,&s ize,Sqelement,0,DCWW_WAIT,&prlorlty,NULL);

which has a boatload of arguments. Thefirst is the queue handle; that's easy.Next comes a structure that carries re-sults of the read request (information likethe process ID of the source of the mes-sage). The size variable holds the num-ber of bytes of the queue element the pro-gram has just read. Next is a pointer tothe buffer that will hold the queue ele-ment. The next argument indicates whichmember of the queue you want re-trieved—for the standard FIFO queue,the argument is ignored, so I've set it tozero. I used DCWW_WAIT to tell OS/2 that I

a)

FIFO AND LIFO QUEUES

b)

Last-in/first-out

First-in/first-out

Figure 5: (a) As with a pipe, the first data written to a first-in/first-out messagequeue is the first data read out by another process, (b) The last-in/first-out messagequeue is like a stack; the last data written to a LIFO message queue is the first datato be read.

414 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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Nexis Windows File Server $495

T800/NAG™ — Port of the complete NAGmainframe library. Contains 268 functions; $2750

Personal Workstation magazine, June 1990,said. The Number Smasher-466 lives up to itsname. Its numeric performance exceeds that ofall 25-MHz systems we've tested to date. It givesyou top 486 performance for the best price."NumberSmasher-486™ is a 25 MHz replace-ment motherboard for ATs and 80386s. Thismotherboard supports an optional Weitek 4167numeric coprocessor and up to 16 megabytesof memory. Running with a 4167, our designdelivers up to 10 megaflops. The NumberSmasher-486 is priced from $3195.

n/lath Coprocessors

WEITEK, INTEL, CYRIX

4167-25 $995

4167-33 .$1295

3167-20/-25/-33 $495/$795/$995

mW1167 Micro Channel-16/20 . . from $495mW3167 Micro Channel-25/33 . . from $1295

mW3167/80387 Board $200

8087 $80 8087-2 $115

80287-8 $185 80387-16SX . . $280

80387-16 .. .$295 80387-20SX . . $300

80387-20 . . $345 80387-25 $439

80287XL ..$210 80387-33 $540

287Turbo-20™ $345

CyrixCX83D87FasMath™ SX16MHz$27520 MHz: $375 25 MHz: $460 33 MHz: $570

386 Your AT!

FASTCache-SX™ —The most cost effectiveaccelerator we have ever manufactured. Plugsinto the 286 socket, speeding up all applica-tions by a factor of 2 to 4. Runs all 386 applica-tions, OS/2 and Windows 3.0. Features a 16 or20 MHz 80386-SX, a 4-way 32K cache (expan-dable to 64K) and a math coprocessor socket.16MHz:$495 20 MHz: $595

NUMBER SMASHER-386™ — This full-sizedcard replaces the 80286 microprocessor on yourIBM AT or compatible motherboard with an80386 that njns at 20 or 25 MHz. It runs numeri-cally intensive applications up to a factor of 60times faster, while maintaining full hardware andsoftware compatibility when running all 386 ap-plications. Options include 64K of high speedcache memory, up to 8 megabytes of 32-bitmemory, and an Intel 80387, Weitek, or Cyrixnumeric coprocessor from $895

Micro Wor/cf Leader in PC Numerics

IfwnX/ Corporate Headquarters: P.O. Box 79. Kingston. MA 02364 USA (508) 746-7341

■•^Jr 32 High Sf Kingston-Upon-Tfiames. U.K.. 81-541-5466 USA FAX (508) 746-4678

Germany 069-75-2023 Italy 02-74.90.749 Holland 40 836455 Japan 3 222 0544

HANDS ONSOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

want to wait for an item to appear on thequeue (if it's empty).

The priority variable carries the ele-ment's priority that was set by the senderin DosWriteQueue (). The last argumentusually carries a system semaphore han-dle that can control access to the queue.However, it's ignored because I choseDCWW_WAIT.

As a final tidbit, there often comes atime when you want to see what's on thequeue without actually taking anythingoff it. You can use DosPeedQueue() forthe job.

Unix Queues

In Unix, the creation and manipulationof message queues looks a lot like whatI've already described in the sections onsemaphores and shared memory. Mes-sage queues are identified by a facilitykey that is available systemwide.

By now, you've probably become fa-miliar enough with the Unix conventionsfor working with IPCs that I won't haveto go into much detail. You create a mes-sage queue with a call to msgget(); yourelease the queue by calling msgctl().As with semctlO and shmctl(),msgctlO provides access to system-maintained status information associatedwith the queue. You can use msgctl() todetermine such information as whocreated the queue, how many messagesare on the queue, who last wrote to it, andwho last read from it. (OS/2 has a coun-terpart to this routine in its DosQuery-QueueO system call.)

Items sent through the queue are two-member structures. The first member is

Y

I ou can usethe message type field

to impose orderingon the items in a queue.

a long variable that identifies the mes-sage type. Ordinarily, Unix doesn't payattention to this field, so your programcan make whatever use of it you deemappropriate.

However, a process reading itemsfrom a queue can request the operatingsystem to return the first item whosemessage type field is set to a particularvalue. So you can use the message typefield to impose ordering on the items in aqueue.

An example would be to designate aparticular message type as being an "im-mediate attention" message. In that way,any process reading from the queuecould check for such messages and han-dle their requests first.

The second member is simply an arbi-trarily long array of characters. Yourprogram can impose any structure on amessage element it wishes.

The operating system doesn't care—itjust treats them as a string of bytes. Yousend a message using the rasgsndO rou-tine and receive a message using themsgrcvO routine.

On the Menu

The source code for this month is a goodillustration of Unix semaphores and mes-sage queues. (The source code is avail-able through the usual sources; see page5 for details.) It is the database simula-tion portion of BYTE's Unix benchmarkprograms and is composed of two sourcecode files. One is a server program thatbuilds a pair of message queues and acontrolling semaphore. The programthen launches a number of client pro-cesses (using the Unix fork() routine).The client processes begin making ran-dom database requests (i.e., read a rec-ord, write a record, or update a record) tothe server.

One message queue acts as the client-request channel; the other is the server-response channel. When a client sends arequest message, the program places itsprocess ID in the message type field (de-scribed above). The process ID stayswith the request, so the server's respond-ing message also carries the process IDin the message type field. Consequently,even though several clients are readingfrom the same queue, each can extractthe appropriate response. ■

Rick Grehan is the director of the BYTELab. He has a B. S. in physics and appliedmathematics and an M.S. in computerscience/mathematics from MemphisState University. He can be reached onBIX as "rick_g."

Your questions and comments are wel-come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, OnePhoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH03458.

Avoid screen building

headaclies oiiilDwith. .OlvIK

New Zy^- Hsip S

liable ttiroL'sh ine 5i

Screen Manager Professional, ttie advanced interfacedesign library for C programmers, gives your applications:

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i2 Mouse Support ^Low RAM Overhead / High Speed

To order SMP call:: Magee Enterprises, Inc

Demo AvailableBBS

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See us at ®«Oim®lWFall "90 November12-16,1990 / Las Vegas, Nevada

416 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 211 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 212)

CALL NOW FOR SPECIALINTRODUCTORY OFFER!

(713)782-2700

ma 4 Aid A/"

SYSTEM V RELEASE 4.0

Other companies currently may be offering UNIX System VRelease 4.0 to "qualified" software and hardware developers,but ask them about a commercial release and it's quite adifferent story. "Around the end of the year" they say. Or,maybe, "early next year."

But right now,UHC UNIX SystemV Release 4.0 isavailable! Toanybody! And,with completeprinted docu-mentation, too.

UHC UNIXSystem V Release4.0 is a major newrelease of the UNIXoperating system

for 386'"/486™ computers. If you're running XENIX® or BSD,Release 4.0 offers complete application compatibility.

UHC UNIX System V is available as a complete package orin four modules, including an X Window System'" module thatfeatures both the OPEN LOOK'" and OSF/Motif'" graphical user

interfaces.

You don't haveto wait to make themove up to thelatest and greatest!Call UHC today toorder the only UMXSystem V Release4.0 package nowcommerciallyavailable.

UNIX

GENERAL MEMBER

<UHC

3600 South GessnerHouston, Texas 77063(713) 782-2700FAX (713) 782-3377

FOUNDATION SET NOW $895

UHC and the UHC I<»o are trademarks (rf UH. Corporation. UNIX is a reg^ered trademark of ABcT. 386 and 486 arc trademarks of Intel Corporation. XENIX is a registeredtrademark of Micros<m^ Corporation. X Window System is a trademark of VuT. OPEN LOOK is a trademark of AT&T. OSF^otif is a trademaric of the Open Software Foundation.

Circle 358 on Reader Service Card

Intelligentmultiport,supports RS-422

SmartLynx AT™ intelligent4-port serial adapter for PC-ATand compatibles supportsRS-422 and most multi-useroperating systems. On-boardprocessor takes burden off CPU.

For order info, call:1-800-553-1170

QUATECH

662 Wolf Ledges ParkwayAkron. OH 44311

PC-AT is a trademark of IBM Corporation.

Eight Serial

PortsOne Board

Quatech's ES-lOO provides eightRS/232 serial ports in a single ATslot. RJ-11 modular connectors.16450 UARTS are standard. Optionalbuffered 16550 UARTS. PC-AT ISA,or EISA compatible. Priced below$500! Quantity Pricing Available!Call for our PC Interface Handbook:1-800-553-1170

QUATECH

662 Wolf Ledges ParkwayAkron. OH 44311

PC-AT is a trademark orregistered trademark of IBM Corp.

RS-422/RS-485Boards for AT,Micro Channel

RS-422/RS-485 asynchronousserial communication boards fromQuatech'available in 1 to 4 portsfor PC-AT and compatibles and 1to 4 ports for PS/2 Micro Channel.Call for our freePC Interface Handbook:1-800-553-1170

C^l QUATECH

662 Wolf Ledges ParkwayAkron. OH 44311

PC-AT. Micro Channel, and PS/2 are trade-marks or registered trademarks of IBM Corp.

Circle 240 on Reader Service Card

Circle 241 on Reader Service Card

Circle 242 on Reader Service Card

SynchronousCommunicationBoards for AT

Quatech synchronous/asynchronous serial boards forPC-AT and compatibles supportRS-232, RS-422, and RS-485communication.

Call for our freePC Interface Handbook:1-800-553-1170

G^l QUATECH

662 Wolf Ledges ParkwayAkron. OH 44311

PC-AT and PC are registeredtrademarks of IBM Corp.

Circle 243 on Reader Service Card

Joystick iAdapterfor PS/2

GPA-IOOO works withIBM Micro Channel for PS/2Models 50,60,70, and 80. Connecttwo joysticks or four paddles. Alsocompatible with IBM GameControl Adapter for PC-XT and ATCall our toll free order line:1-800-553-1170

^ QUATECH

662 Wolf Ledges ParkwayAkron, OH 44311

IBM, Micro Channel, PS/2, PC-XT ATand Game Control Adapter are trademarksor registered trademarks of IBM Corp.

CommunicationsDataAcquisition

PS/2 Micro Channel Interfaces

QUATECH

Phone: (216) 434-3154 • FAX: (216) 434-1409TELEX: 510-101-2726

PC-AT. PS/2 and Micro Channel areregistered trademarks of IBM Corporation.

Circle 244 on Reader Service Card

2 parallel,2 serial,! board

Quatech DSDP-402 for PC-AThas two parallel ports, and twoserial ports for any combina-tion of RS-232, 422, and 485communication. DSDP-100,two parallel and two RS-232ports, available at lower cost.

For order info, call:1-800-553-1170

QUATECH

662 Wolf Ledges ParkwayAkron. OH 44311

DigitalI/O Board

Single-slot Quatech PXB-721 forPC-AT has 72 digital 1/0 lines.Connect three choices of dataacquisition modules. SupportsLabtech Notebook™

Call for our freePC Interface Handbook:1-800-5531170

^ QUATECH

662 Wolf Ledges ParkwayAkron. OH 44311

LabTecti Notebook is a trademark ofLaboratories Teclinologies Corp.

Circle 245 on Reader Service Card

Wave Form20MHZ-32K$1290

The WSB-100 Wave Form Synthe-sizer Board from Quatech has thebest set of numbers in the market.With speed to 20MHz and a 32Kmemory at $1290, it's makingwaves in more ways than one. TheWSB-100 is also a stcir performeras a digital pulse/word generatorwith the optional digital module.

Call for our freePC Interface Handbook1-800-553-1170

^ CaUATECH

662 Wolf Ledses ParkwayAkron. OH 44311

Circle 246 on Reader Service Card

Circle 247on Reader Service Card

Circle 248 on Reader Service Card

EVTE

Product Showcase

BUYER'S MART

■ BYTE BITS

■ PRODUCT SPOTS

■ MICRO PRODUCT CENTERr CATALOG SHOWCASE

ILLUSTRATION: JULIE E. MURPHREE © 1989

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 419

Catalog Showcase

Jameco Electronics

miCXtKLOG

30-day Money-back Guarantee-Large Selection, Competitive Prices...l-iigh Quality Technical Assistance...

Our staff of 30 technicians is on hand eighthours a day to answer your technicalquestions before and after your purchase.

99.99% of all Products are in slock...Janneco stocks over 4,000 different prod-ucts. 99.99% of these products are avail-able for off-the-shelf shipment at any time.

Fast Shipment...Most orders shipped within 24 hours.Guaranteed shipment within 48 hours for allin-stock items.

1-415-592-8097Circle 342 on Reader Service Card

Annabooks

Send for Annabooks' free catalog of PC-compatible engineering products.

The newest publication, "AT BusDesign," has the official timing informationfor the AT bus and the 8- and 16-bit parts ofthe EISA bus. Over 200 pages and 100diagrams. Author is member of IEEE P995.Available now for $69.95. VISA, M/C,Amex, COD, P.O.s OK.

Annabooks, 12145 Alta Carmel Ct.#250, San Diego CA 92128

1 -800-462-1042 FAX 619-592-0061

Readers Circle 382 on Reader Service CardResellers Circle 383 on Reader Service Card

Hello Direct

^ Hello

-0-Mtt-

VCe preside Ihs oommusication toolsto do business no matte-where W)U are...

Business Telephone Accessories Catalog

New 40-page catalog from Hello Directfeatures the latest products for today'sbusiness telephone user. Included areheadsets for executives, managers, andtelemarketers; fax machines and accessories;cellular phones, service and accessories. Alsoincluded are call amplifiers, cost controldevices and home office products. Q1144

Call for free subscription, toll-free:

1-800-444-3556

Circle 159 on Reader Service Card

Migraph

aWHOWKINGMIGRAPH

Color & Monochrome Hand-heldScanners

Now you can scan images quickly.Accurately. In exquisite detail—and 4096colors, grayscale, or B&W, with one ofMigraph's cost-effective hand-heldscanners. Our literature provides thedetails you need to make an informedchoice. Available for the IBM PC, Amiga,and Atari ST. Dealer and OEM inquirieswelcome.

Call 9 AM-5 PM RS.T.206-838-4677 1-800-223-3729

Circle 228 on Reader Service Card

Programmers Connection

EXIDE ELECTRONICS

Poking

"An Indispensable reference"

THE CONNECTION is your Ultimate Buyer'sGuide to the highest quality softwareavailable for your IBM PC. You'll find itseasy-to-use cross references will guide youto a description of EVERY product includingits system requirements, cross productcompatibility, version numbers and more.THE CONNECTION is the Only softwarereference guide you'll ever need.

Call for your FREE copy!

USA 800-336-1166CANADA 800-225-1166FAX 216-494-5260

Circle 288 on Reader Service Card

Virgin Mastertronic

Computer games publisher offers excitingnew visions and bestselling classics. Playpopular board games such as Monopoly, Risk,Deluxe Scrabble and Clue Master Detectiveon your home computer. Experience the mostaddictive strategy game since Tetris withSPOT The Computer Game. Play theincredible new windowed adventureWonderland, hailed by the press as one of themost innovative games this Christmas! Andlive Spirit of Excalibur, the epic Arthurian FRPgame. It's computer entertainment at its best.Just in time for Christmas!

714-833-8710

Circle 370 on Reader Service Card

The World

Ejq)ertsOn ProtectingYour InputNeed A Little

Input, From You.

Over half of all computer problems reportedtoday are caused by power surges, sags orbrownouts. These fluctuations in power cancost a business thousands or even millions ofdollars in lost systems availability.

Enter Exide Electronics. We're the woddleader in the development and production ofpower protection prtxlucts and services.

Our Powerware® Systems continuallyfilter and condition commercial power tokeep your computer operating smoothly andwithout interruption. And in an emergencyPowerware Systems allow a controlledshutdown.

Call 1-800-554-3448 for a free brochure.

Circle 129 on Reader Service Card

Boffin Limited

51S-8S4-aB9s' / r

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THE LAPTOP SOURCE

COMPETITIVE PRICINGQUALITY SERVICE & SUPPORT

• We Carry: Chaplet, Commax, Epson,Fora, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, NEC,Packard Bell, Panasonic, Samsung,Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Zenith

• A complete line of Boffin Laptops alsoavailable

• Authorized Service Center: Epson,Hyundai, Toshiba and Zenith

For free product catalog, call or writeBoffin Limited, Attn: Kari Wujek, 2500 W.County Road 42, #5, Burnsville MN55337.

612-894-0595Circle 52 on Reader Service Card

420 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

Catalog Showcase

Advertisers: For more informationcontact Ellen Perham at (603) 924-2598.

Intel Development Tools Lyben Computer Systems

Choosing the right architecture and devel-opment support are two of the most impor-tant decisions you face today. For success-ful microcomputer development, Intel offersyou the total solution with the most up-to-date and powerful tools available.

And we also offer you the easiest way tobuy. Our Development Tools Catalog listsall our tools products in one guide. Call us at1-800-874-6835, or FAX us at 503-696-4633to get your free copy today.

Intel Corporation, Development ToolsOperation, 5200 NE Elam Young Parkway,JF1-15, Hillsboro, OR 97124

1-800-874-6835 FAX 503-696-4633Circle 181 on Reader Service Card

Computer Supplies and Accessoriesat Discount Prices

Over 3500 Items93% of Orders Shipped Same DayMany Hard-to-Find Items30-Day Return Policy

A unique catalog company with apersonal touch. Circle reader service toreceive a free 100-page IntroductoryCatalog with special offers.

1-313-649-4500 FAX 313-649-2500

Circle 210 on Reader Service Card

Businessland Direct

The most convenient, quick and inexpensivesource for your complete business computer,supply and accessory needs. The BusinesslandDirect catalog features more than 1,000products from 750 top manufacturers, withfactual and comparative product informationorganized to help you make educated buyingdecisions for your company.

Call and ask for the free BusinesslandDirect catalog, and start getting computerproduct pricing and selections designedespecially for business.

1001 Ridder Park, San Jose CA 95131

1-800-551-2468

Circle 58 on Reader Service Card

Dispensamatic Label

Affix All Types of Pressure Sensitive LabelsFast and Efficiently

A complete selection of semi-automaticand manual dispensers offer reliabletrouble-free affixing of all types ofcomputer printout or printed roil labelswithout the need for technically trainedmechanics or skilled operators.

For full information: Dispensa-maticLabel Dispensers, 725 North 23rd Street,St. Louis, MO 63103.

1-800-325-7303 or FAX 314-621-1602

Circle 115 on Reader Service Card

DATAWARE

GTCO

lUJAWAFE

-MaxiMarker' SugerLabet^

MaxiMarker® SuperLabels™ are the world'sfirst premium re-usable labels. Original andcreative, SuperLabels are unique becausethey are permanent, yet infinitely changeable.

Information may be written on thedurable laminated stock, but then it can beeasily changed without affecting theappearance or surface of the label.

MaxiMarker SuperLabels are availablefor all types of magnetic media for officeand home. Send for information onDATAWARE'S full line of products

1-800-426-4844 FAX 713-432-1385

Circle 102 on Reader Service Card

The Card Shop

The Memory Board Experts at The Card Shopwould like to introduce ourselves throughsome of our better-known associates, forexample: PARITY PLUS by MEMREL, INTEL,AST, DFI and the exciting new offeringeveryone's talking about, WINDEX.

We invite you to call and talk to ourknowledgeable, courteous staff about any ofyour memory board needs.

You'll also appreciate our Ten-Day,Money-Back Free Trial, Generous Warrantiesand Commitment to Excellence in all of theproduct lines that we carry.

1-800-346-0055 FAX 602-948-8458

GTCO manufactures the followingdigitizer lines: SketchMaster™, a high-resolution, low-cost digitizer available inboth 12" x 12" and 12" x 18" sizes; DIGl-PAD® Super L SERIES™, lightweight, high-resolution digitizers ranging in size from17" x 24" to 42" X 60"; and MacintizerADB™, a 12" X 12" digitizer compatiblewith Macintosh SE and II computers.

1-800-344-4723

Circle 151 on Reader Service Card

National Instruments

Free 488-page full-color catalog describinginstrumentation hardware and softwareproducts for personal computers andworkstations. Application software for dataanalysis and presentation and forcollecting data using instruments and plug-in boards. Features GPIB interfaces, dataacquisition and DSP boards, driver levelsoftware, signal conditioning and VXIcontrollers.

1-512-794-0100

Circle 341 on Reader Service Card

Circle 250 on Reader Service CardNOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 421

-The BUYER'S Mart-

A Directory of Products and Services

THE BUYER'S MART is a monthly advertising section whicti enables readersto easily locate suppliers by product category. As a unique feature, eactiBUYER'S MART ad includes a Reader Service number to assist interestedreaders in requesting information from participating advertisers.Effective January 1,1990.

RATES: 1x-$590 3x-$550 6x-$525 12x-$475 24x-$450

Prepayment must accompany each insertion. VISA/MC Accepted.

AD FORMAT; Each ad will be designed and typeset by BYTE. Advertisers must

furnish typewritten copy. Ads can include headline (23 characters maximum),descriptive text (250 characters is recommended, but up to 350 characters canbe accommodated), plus company name, address and telephone number. Donot send logos or camera-ready artwork.

DEADLINE: Ad copy is due approximately 2 months prior to issue date. For ex-ample: November issue closes on September 8. Send your copy and paymentto THE BUYER'S MART BYTE Magazine, 1 Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough,NH 03458. For more information call Brian Higgins at 603-924-3754.

ACADEMIC COMPUTING

166 IVIHz RC

Prx)prietary technologies allow us to deliver our PC com-patible vmrkstation years ahead of the industry. Take ad-vantage of inexpensive PC software (vs. UNIX), and theperfomnance our platform offers, to execute applicationspreviously run on minis and supers. We're offering thefirst 5000 of our 1993 production units at wholesale pric-ing. Educational and quantity discounts.

Eclectech, Inc.

Dept. 4142, RO. Box 12887, Research Triangle Park. NO 27709

Inquiry 701.

ACCESSORIES

RADIOACTIVE?

Plot it on your PC witti The RM-60 RADIAHON MONITORSerial or printer port. Detects: ALPHA • BETA • GAMMA • X-RAY.MicroR, 1000 times the resolution of standard geiger counters.Excellent for tracking RADON GAS. Rnd sources.Plot: • Background • Cosmic Rays • Ciouds • RxtdsCall/Write for PC MAGAZINE review. • TSR • GM TuIkVISA/MASTER Phone orders. Not satisfied? Full refund,

Tel: (302) 655-3800

Aware Electronics Corp.

P.O. Box 4299, Wilmington, DE 19807 $149.50

Inquiry 702.

CUT RIBBON COSTS!

Re-ink your printer ribbons quicl<ly and easily. Do allcartridge ribbons with just one inker! For crisp, blackprofessional prim since 1982. You can choose from 3models: Manual E-Zee Inker — S39.50Electric E-Zee Inker — $94.50Ink Master (Electric) - $189.007000s of satisfied users. Money-bacl< guarantee.

BORG INDUSTRIES

525 MAIN ST.. JANESVILLE. lA 506471-800-553-2404 In lA: 319-987-297$

Inquiry 703.

ACCESSORIES

FOR 386, 286 & PC

Modem zmn Int. S 69 FaxMMem 480(V9600INT S139/259

640K PC Memory Cart S 29 2M Sr Memory Card S 99

MGP Grapliic cart+P/ports S 25 16 Bits 800x600 VGA Cart S 72

XT HD/00 ro Controller S 32 fll HD/FD Card MFM/RLL 588/119

XT I/O (F/S/P/G/C) S 29 /STIA) (S/P/G). 1SSS S19/25

XT-llK86-12M/8oart 565130 386SX-16M/Board $360

386-25MH2 M/Board 569ra5 386-33 64K Cache M/BoanI 5890(Call fn Complete Prlte Ust 1111

KOPEC INTERNATIONAL CO.

838 N. Glenville Dr., Richardson, TX 75081Omer: 800^54-8008 Tech: gl4-907.1958 hat: Z14-907.1963

Inquiry 706.

HEWLETT PACKARD

Buy — Sell — Trade

Laser Jet II/IID Color Pro (7440)

Genuine HP 2 MegW Meg HP-75504Desk Jet Draft Pro DXLJEXL

Rugged Writer Draftmaster l/ll

Electrostalio Plotters C1600 (D $ize)/C 1601 (E Size)Science Accessories Corporation Sonic Digitizers36" X 43" (2750) 60" X 72" (3175)

T. E. Dasher & Associates

4117 Second Ave. S., Birmingtiam. AL 35222Phone: (205) 591-4747 Fax: (205) 591-1108 (800) 638-4833

Inquiry 707

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

NeuralWorks Explorer

NeuralWorks Explorer is a neural net tutorialthat provides the novice user with a method oflearning neural net theory as vrell as an environ-ment in which to build practical real time applica-tions such as targeted marketing, stock prediction,pnxess control and more. PC and MAC. Price $199.Visa/MC accepted.

NeuralWare, Inc.

412-787-8222

Inquiry 708.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The SoundBytes Toolkit®

Add unlimited HUMAN SPEECH to your PC pro-gram in QuickBasic, C or any language. Fun &exciting—Your program will talk thru standard PCSpeaker! Includes 24 more sound goodies, withSource Code, and free 76-page Al Catalog. Specifydisk size preferred. $59.95 check or m.o. onlyOverseas add $10 Postage, please. Guaranteed.

Thinking Software, inc.

46-16 65th Place, Wbodside, New York 11377

Inquiry 711.

BAR CODE

UBELING SOFTWARE

On EPSON, IBM, OKI dot matrix or LaserJet. Flexibledesign on one easy screen. Any format/size. Up to 120fields/label. 18 text sizes to 3"-readable at 100'. AIAG,MIL-STD, 2 of 5, 128, UPC/EAN, Code 39- File Input &Scanned logosfeymbols (PCX)—$279. Other programsfrom $49. 30-day $$ back.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls St, Santa Cruz, CA 95050

(408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220

BAR CODE READERS

For PC, XT, AT, & PS/2, Macintosh, and any RS-232terminal. Acts like 2nd keyboard, bar codes readas keyed data. With steel wand—S399. Top ratedin independent reviews. Works with DOS, Xenix,Novell, Alloy, -ALL software. Lasers, magstripe, &slot badge readers. 30-day SS back.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060

(408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220

COMPANION AND EXTENDER

Place a keyboard and monitor up to 600' from your CPUwitti EXTENDER and COMPANION products. Keep asecond Keyboard/Monitor at ttie CPU with COM-PANION. Supports MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA, PS2. Usessingle cable.

Prices start at $149.00 for EXTENDER and $219.00 torCOMPANION 25 ft. unit complete.

CYBEX CORPORATION2800-H Bob Wallace, Huntsville, AL 35805205-534-0011 International Fax »205-534-0010

Inquiry 704.

Software EngineerDo Your Own Windows!

At last a LISP programming environment which takes advan-tage of a GUI and protected mode on the PC, SoftwareEngineer'' for Windows'" 3,0 is a complete programming en-vironment. It includes a LISP-aware text editor, allcwing guick,easy and interactive Windows development. SoftwareEngineer supports DDE, GDI, the clipboard, dialog t>oxesand menus. Software Engineer is priced at S249.95.

Raindrop Software Corporation

845 E, Arapaho, Suite 105, Richardson, Texas 75081(214) 234-2611 Fax (214) 234-2674 See our ad on page 222

Inquiry 709.

PORTABLE READER

Battery-operated, handheld reader wit.h 64K static RAM,2x16 LCD display, 32-key keyboard, Reai-Time-Ciock.Wand or laser scanner. Program prompts and datachecking through its own keyboard. Easy data transferby RS-232 port or PC, PS/2 keyboard. Doubles as On-Line Reader. 30-day SS back.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls Sl, Santa Cruz, CA 95060(408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220

FREE CATALOG

A complete source for all your computer supplies — media,paper, cables, furniture, software, ribbons, laser,cleaning, FAX supplies, accessories & more!!Order Bulk Disks, 100% Warranty. 25, Minimum

5.25" DS/DD 25« 3.5" DS/DD 45=5.25" DS/HD 45« 3.5" DS/HD 99«

GAAN COMPUTER SUPPLIES

186 B East Sunnyoal^s Ave., Campbeii, CA 95008Call (800) 523-1238

8Af,1 - 5PM, Mon-Fri, California time

Inquiry 705,422 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

muLISP® 87 for MS-DOS

Fast, compact, efficient LISP programming environ-ment. muLISP programs run 2 to 3 times faster &take V2 to 1/3 the space of other LISPs. 450 Com-mon LISP functions, multi-window editing & debug-ging, flavors, graphics primitives, lessons & help,demo programs, comprehensive manual.

Soft Warehouse, Inc.

3615 Harding Ave., Suite 505, Honolulu, HI 96816(808) 734-5801

Inquiry 710.

PRINT BAR CODES/BIG TEXTFROM YOUR PROGRAM

Add bar codes and big graphics characters to your pro-gram. Print from ANY MS-DOS language. Bar codes:UPC. EAN, 2 of 5, MSi, Code 39. Epson, Oki. IBM dotmatrix text up to'/;". LaserJet up to 2". Font cartridgesnot required. S179-S239. 30-day S$ back.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls St., Santa Cruz. CA 95060

(408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220

The BUYER'S Mart

BAR CODE

BAR CODE READERS

Keyboard emulation for PC/XT/AT & PS/2's, allclones and any RS-232 Terminal. Transparent toyour operating system. Available with Steelwands, Lasers, Slot & Magstripe Readers. Sameday shipping, 30-day money-back guarantee.One-year warranty. Reseller discounts available.

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS

2190 A Regal Parkway, Eubess, TX 76040(800) 648-4452 (817) 571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232

BAR CODE PRINTING SOFTWARE

• MS/PC DOS SYSTEMS

• 9 & 24 PIN DOT MATRIX

• H-P LASER JET/PLUS/SERIES II

• MENU-DRIVEN or MEMORY RESIDENT

• CODE 39, I 2/5, UPC A/E, EAN 8/13

• BIG TEXT & BAR CODE SOFTFONTS

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS

2190 A Regal Parkway, Eubess, TX 76040(800) 648-4452 (817) 571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232

BAR CODE

E IM V

Prints bar coded envelopes for fast deliveryE.,,easy to use, H...nationally listed by USPS, V...valw packedEHV bar coded envelopes are quickly sorted and delivered by the US PostOffice, ftjstage discounted when over 200 bar coded pieces. • Use witti anyWord Processor or Mail Merge pacltage • ENV Balcfi, Popup and Mail Mergeversions on disk • Prm relum address, special messages and logos • forHP Laserjas and EPSON LQ series primers. No new equipment required. Greatprtigram for any type and size business, ctiurch, club or association. OnSerfor MSDOS computers NOW S4955

Pike Creek Computer Company

2 Galaxy Dr., Newark DE 19711-2920To Order: (302) 239-5113 Dealers call (800) SELL LOW

Inquiry 716.

PC BAR CODE SPECIALISTS

Bar code readers designed for fast, reliable, cost-effective data entry. They emulate your l<eyboard,so scanned data looks just like it was typed in!Choose from stainless steel wand, laser gun, cardslot reader, and magnetic stripe scanner. Also,powerful Bar Code and Text printing software. Greatwarranty. Generous dealer discounts.

Seagull Scientific Systems

15127 N.E. 24th, Suite 333, Redmond, WA 98052206-451-8966

CABLE CONVERTERS

Cable TV Converters

Attention Cable Viewers

Jerrald, Zenith, Oak, Hamlin,Scientific Atlantic, Toccm,and many others.

BEST PRICES!! • 1-800-826-7623

Visa, American Express. MasterCardB&B INC., 4030 Beau-D-Rue Dr.. Eagan, MN 55122

Inquiry 721.

CAD

Electro-CAD $99

Designed specifically for schematics and double-sided boardlayouts, Electro-CAD produces high quality tjoard images onstandard dot-matrix printers up to 11 by 15 inches. Virtuallyinstantaneous screen replete, rubber-banding, user definableimages, and many other features make Electro-CAD the besttool for the job or your money back.

Call us for more information and fast delivery.

AEROUX Engineering

32 Vfest Anapamu Suite 228, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 (805) 962-9695

Inquiry 722.

BAR CODE PRINTING

Print barcodes from your custom program. ANSI C routinesgenerate and print Code39,125, Codabar, UPC A/E, EAN 8^3and supplements. Supports LaserJet, OKI. and EPSON andcustom printers. Works with UNIX/XENIX, MSDOS andothers. All SOURCE CODE included. No royalties. Single pat-tern $85. All patterns $250.

infinity Computer Services, Inc.

P.O. Box 269, Coopersburg, PA 18036Voice: 215-965-7699 BBS: 215-965-8028

Inquiry 712.

PC-Wand Bar Code Solutions

Bar codes are easy with a FULL line of readers &printers. They plug & play with your existing systems,most all makes of CPU/printerrterminai/software in youroffice, store, truck, factory or warehouse. Our bar codeDOS programs print on matrix or laser printers. 30 dayrefund, 1 year warranty.

International Technologies & Systems Corp.

655-K North Berry St., Brea, CA 92621TEL: (714) 990-1880 FAX: f714) 990-2503

Inquiry 713.

Introducing ASP BAR CODE READERS

• Keyboard and RS232 readers distinguished tiy superiof wand -S395

• Portable reader doubles as fixed reader - $799

• Wand, bar code printing utility, cable and wanti holder included inprice.

• Reads all major bar codes

• Works with IBM compatible and non-standanl PCs. Eerminals.

• 5 years experience witb bar code solutiofis.Dealer inquiries welcome.

PACIFIC MICROSYSTEMS

2560 9th Strsat, Suite 214M, Berkeley, CA 94710(800) 242-5271 (415) 849-4147

Inquiry 714.

5-YR. WARRANTY AT PERCON

PERCON decoders are now covered by a five-year limited warranty. That means you wontspend one cent replacing your PERCON barcode decoder for five full years. That's reliabilityyou can count on!

PERCON

2190 W. 11th Ave.. Eugene. OR 97402Phone: (800) 873-7266 FAX: (503) 344-1399

See our ad on page 433.

BAR CODE READERS

Among the best and most widely used bar codedecoders. Reads all major codes (39, I 2/5, S 2/5,UPC/EAN/JAN, CODABAR, MSI). Connects betweenkeyboard and system. IBM, PS/2, MAC, DECA/T com-patible. OS & software independent. Same day ship.2 Year Warranty (pen Incid).

Large Reseller Discounts

Solutions Engineering

4705 Langdrum Lane, Bethesda, MD 20815(800) 635-6533 (301) 652-2738

Inquiry 717.

DATA INPUT DEVICES

Bar Code, Magnetic Stripe Readers & SmartCard Encoder/Reader for microcomputers S terminals, including IBM PS/2& others, DEC, Macintosh. AT&T, CT, Wyse, Wang. All readersconnect on the keyboard cable & are transparent to all soft-ware. UPC & 39 print programs, magnetic encoders, & por-table readers are also available.

TPS Electronics

4047 Transport, Palo Alto, CA 94303415-856-6833 Telex 371-9097 TPS PLA1-800-526-5920 FAX: 415-856-3843

Inquiry 718.

VARIANT MICROSYSTEMS

BAR CODE READERS DELIVER

WAND;U\SER/MAGNETiC CARD COhJNECTIVITY

• Keytxjard wedges (Internal/External) for IBM PC/XT/Ar, PS'2and portables.

• RS232 wedges for WYSE, Link. Kimtron temiinaJs

• Bar code and label printing software

• Full two-year warranty

• 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

• Extensive VAR/Dealer Discounts

3140 De La Cnjz BW., Suite 200/Saiita Clara.« 95054/(408) 980-1880800-666-4BAR FAX: (415) 623-1372

Inquiry 719.

BASIC CLIP MUSIC

300 Songs & Sounds + 180 Pg. Book

Besides being a fun jukebox, The ENTER-tainer teaches oos.BASIC. BAT file & display tricks. Many exciting musical projects! It'sgeared for beginners, yet teaches pros bow to run music behindQB or C apps. Source code, no royalties. Money-back guarantee,as* or two 5.25° dislQ. Needs BfiSKi 2.0 or later. $29,95-f$350 s&h.(Europe, Canada & Mexico s/h=S7, others=S11,1st dass air) Forfast VISVMC orders - call:

(800) 727-4140 Price soon going up to S45!

POI Music Software. 1511 48th St.. Bouidei; CO 80303 (303)4404140

CAD-DRAWING VIEWSTATION

Allows non-CAD users to view drawings on PCs, print, plot,attach personal notes, and tiyper-link between files. Ctiangeviews and layers. Accurate entity representation. Easy to use.

• Simn VIEW/DWG for AutoCAD DWG files: $295

• SItlin VIEW/PLUS for DWG, DXF, HPGL and dBase; S395Developers: asK about linkable Sirlin VIEW/LIB. Dealerswelcome.

Sirlin Computer Corporation

225 Lowell Road, Hudson, NH 03051(603) 595-0420

Inquiry 723.

CAD/CAM

CAD/CAM Developer's Kit

Save months writing AutoCAD ADS orstandalone CAD/CAM applications!

(617) 628-5217Building Block Software

PO Box 1373 Somervrlle, MA 02144

Inquiry 724.

CD-ROM

CD ROiUI PLAYERSFOR AS LOW AS $499.00

Aide offers Cfiinon player, cable, card,and DOS extensions bundled with a disc atlowest prices. Aide carries a complete line ofCDROM titles. Write, call or fax for completeproduct information.

ALDE PUBLISHING INC.

Box 1190, Glen Lake, MN 55345800/727-9724 (Voc) 612/934-2824 (Fax)

Inquiry 725.

Largest Selection and Best Price

Microsoft Programmers Library & Drive S949.Computer Library S695 • Public Domain S/W S49.NEC PC or Mac Drive Kit $749 • Booiehelf-Best Price!

Drives from S499, Hundreds of titles from S29.

MCA/ISA/AMEX/COD, Money-back Guarantee.Call or write for free 120-page catalog.

Bureau of Electronic Publishing

141 New Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054800-828-4766THE SOURCE FOR CD-ROM

Inquiry 715.

Inquiry 720.

Inquiry 726.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE

423

The BUYER'S Mart

CD-ROM

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

DATA CONVERSION

CD ROM, Inc.

co-ROM, WORM. MAGNETO-OPTICAL DRIVES, CD-ROM DISCSFOR IBM AND MAC, OPTICAL CONSULTING SERVICES• PUBLISHING ■ DISTRIBUTION ■ NETWORKINGOUALITY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AT COMPETITIVE PRICESFREE CATALOG

TEL. 303-231-9373

1667 COLE BLVD., SUITE 400 GOLDEN. CO 80401FAX: 303-231-9581, CIS: 72007,544

VISA/MC/AMEX/GOV T. PCs

CROSS ASSEMBLERS/SIMULATORS

New unique full-function simulators for the 8096 and80C196 controllers, featuring ALL MODES of interrupts,plus the HSI, HSO, and A/D functions.We also support ttie 8048/49, 8080/85, 8051/52, and Z80controllers with excellent, reasonably priced CrossAssemblers and Simulators.

Lear Com Company

2440 Kipting St., Ste. 206, Lakewood. CO 80215(303) 232-2226 FAX: (303) 232-8721

MEDIA CONVERSION/DATA TRANSLATION

More than just a straight dump or ASCII transfer!Word Processing, DBMS, and Spreadsheet data on Disksor Tapes transferred directly into applications running onMainframes, Mints, Micros, Dedicated Word Processors,Typesetters, and Electronic Publishing systems.IBM PS/2 & Macintosh supported#1 in the translation industry!

CompuData Translators, Inc.

3345 Wilshire Blvd,. Suite 407. Los Angeles, CA 90010(213) 387-4477 1-800-825-8251

Inquiry 727

Inquiry 733.

Inquiry 739.

COMMUNICATIONS

AEG MICTRON RS-232/RS-422 Adapter

• Extends serial communications to 4000 ft.

• Bi-directional-full duplex operation

• Selectable DCE or DTE operation

• 3 LED communication activity indicators

• Tri-state of RS-422 Output controlled by RS-232CRTS or DTR signal

• Optical Isolation Available Soon

Call 1-800-MICTRON Ext. 5587

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

Relocatable ^n.. .i-,.,-,-.^

Macros GUARANTEED,PC Compatible SUPPOFITED

DEBUG SIMULATORS • DISASSEMBLERSEPROM PROGRAMMERS

MICRO COMPUTER TOOLS CO.

Phone Toll Free (800) 443-0779

In CA (415) 825-4200912 Hastings Dr., Concord, CA 94518

DBMS/COPY

CONVEFITS YOUR DATA INTO INFORMATION

New your lawrite star package can access any database.DBMSCOPY can directly convert any database or spreadsheet file(ORACLE. PARADOX. dBASE. LC3TUS etc.) into any Stat packagefile (SAS. SPSS. SYSTAT. eto) and vice versa. The PLUS versionalkMS sorts, selections, and recalculations. S195. 3r><jay guaranteeiVISA/MC/AK«EX/PO/COD. Call for free limited version.

CONCEPTUAL SOFTWARE INC.

P.O. Box 56627. Houston. TX 77256(713) 667-4222 FAX: (713) 667-3FAX

1-800-STATWOW

Inquiry 728.

Inquiry 734.

Inquiry 740.

PC SDL.C SUPPORT

Use Sangoma hardware and software to providea cost effective, robust and easy to use SDLC linkfrom MS-DOS, XENIX, AIX, PICK, PC-MOS, etc.

All real time communication functions performedby intelligent co-processor card.

X.25 support also available.Sangoma Technologies inc.

(416) 474-1990

7170 Warden Avenue 112, Marfdiam. Ontario. Canada L3R 8B2

Cross-AssemblersSimulatorsDisassemblersPseudoCorp

See our ad on page 451.

WE'LL DO IT BETTER. . .FOR LESS!

Conversion, Duplication, Any FormatFREE TEST • SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

Plus, the Personal Touch: Ask Questions an(jwell explain it to you in simple English!!!

DATACOPY SERVICE

PC Box 820214. Dallas. TX 753821-800-969-DATA 214-272-7751

Inquiry 729.

Inquiry 735.

Inquiry 741.

COMPUTER INSURANCE

CROSS COMPILERS

INSURES YOUR COMPUTER

SAFEWARE provides full replacement of hardware,media and purchased software. As little as $49 ayear provides comprehensive coverage. Blanketcoverage: no list of equipment needed. One calldoes it all. Call 8 am-10 pm ET. (Sat. 9 to 5)

TOLL FREE 1-800-848-3469

(Local 614-262-0559)

SAFEWARE, The Insurance Agency Inc.

Inquiry 730.

COMPUTER UPGRADE

Focus on Performance

Fast, 6.000 lines per minute. 06805 Code DevelopmentSystem, first C compiler targeted to 6805 family. Built-in macrocross assembler, optimizing C compiler, integrated editor anddevelopment shell. MS-DOS with Si or HEX output.Free next business day shipping in N. America.

Call now! (519) 888-6911

Byte Craft Limited

421 King St. N.. Waterloo. Ontario N2J 4E4 CAN

Inquiry 736.

CROSS DISASSEMBLERS

^ America^ Leaders In Data Conversion ->

DISK m DISK ' TAPE m DISKOPTICAL SCANNINGWE CONVERT MORE FORMATS THAN ANYONE ELSE!!!

IBM. DEC, tMVVMS, APPLE, WANG, XEROX, NBI, LANIER,OPT, UNIX, Wordpertect. .QUICK—RELIABLE—HIGHEST QUALITY

NATIONAL DATA CONVERSION INSTITUTE

5 East 16th Str. NY. NY 10003 (212) 463-7511

Inquiry 742.

DATA RECOVERY

THE COMPLETE XT UPGRADE

The K-311 Upgrade Kit converts your XT to full 32-bit, 20MHz80386 CPU and high speed disk performance. The K-311 Kitincludes 20MHz 80386 w/IMb RAM, 16-bit Adaptec 1:1 con-troller. 63Mb 28Ms Mitsubishi disk drive, choice of 1.2 or1.4Mb diskette drive, Key Tronic 101 Plus keyboard, 2(X1 WPS, new drive cables. Matches or exceeds the performanceof a new system but at far less cost. Top quality, easy installa-tion, 1 year warranty. $1,795

5G Corporation

4131 Spicewood Springs Road A-4. Austin TX 78759800-333-4131 512-345-9843 Fax 512-345-9575

Inquiry 731.

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

PROFESSIONAL PC SOFTWARE

• CROSS-DISASSEMBLERS

^atylic. AiJtom=;ic Labfll Generation

• CROSS-ASSEMBLERS

Relocatable, .Macro, un^er^ Linker - Librarian

• C CROSS COMPILERS

• SOURCE TRANSLATION UTILITIES

Support for Intel. Motorola. Zilog. Tl. RCAOrder Today: (408) 773-8465

PO Box 61929. Sunnyvale. CA 94086

LOGISOFT

FSX: (408) 773-8466

Inquiry 737

DATA CONVERSION

CRASHED?

Your valuable data can be recovered!

• 95% success rale • Fast turnaround• Servicing Novell, DOS, Macintosh, Unix, Xenix.OS/2. Bernoulli and mofe!

ONTRACK DATA RECOVERY, INC.

Keeping you in business is our business.1-8O0-872-2599

Inquiry 743.

DATA/DISK CONVERSION

CROSS ASSEIMBLERS

Universal Linker, LibrarianTargets for 36 Microprocessors

Hosts: PC/MS-DOS, micro VAX, VAX 8000

ENERTEC, INC.

BOX 1312, 811 W. Fifth St.Lansdale, PA 19446Tel: 215-362-0966 Fax: 215-362-2404

Inquiry 732.424 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

CONVEFrriNG YOUR DISKETTES?ENTRUST THEM TO US!

2500 Word Processor & Compuler formats. 3^,^". 5V,". 8"Disks. Mag Tapes. Mag CarrJs. Canricjges & Cassenes. CustomConversions. Programming & Applications DewlopmentDISK DUPLICATIONOCR SCANNING SERVICESHIGH VOLUME LASER PRINTINGCall us for Quality. Best Prices and Quickest Turnaround Time.

COMPANY COMPENDIA, INC., 55 E. Wtesfiington St..#237. Cnicago. IL 60602 TEL: 312^19-8771 FAX: 312^19-1390

Inquiry 738.

DISK CONVERSIONS

Media transfer to or from; IBM, Xerox. DEC, VJang,Unier, OFT, Micorr, NBI, CT, Exxon, WRDPLEXalso WP, WS, MSMRD, DW4, MM, Samna, DECDX, MAS 11, Xerox-Writer, ASCII.

FREE TEST CONVERSION

CONVERSION SPECIALISTS

531 Main St.. Ste. 835. El Segundo, CA 90245(213) 545-6551 (213) 322-6319

Inquiry 744.

The BUYER'S Mart

DATA/DISK CONVERSION

THE #1 CHOICE

in disk & tape conversion

for many leading corporations, government agencies,law firms, and companies in every industry—worfdivide.Free test • Satisfaction guaranteed

Graphics Unlimited Inc.

3000 Second St. North, Minneapolis. MN 55411(612) 588-7571 or (612) 520-2345 FAX: (612) 588-8783

Inquiry 745.

QUALITY CONVERSIONS

to or from vinualiy

ANY TAPE OR DISK FORMAT!

Horan Data Services converts over 2000 formats incl.9-track tape, 3480 Cartridge and 8", 5Va" or ZVz" disk-ettes. All densities & most operating systems supported.Formats include EBCDIC, ASCII, databases, spread-sheets, and dedicated or PC word processors.

Call 1-800-677-8885

Hours 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM Eastern Time817 Main Street. Third Floor. Cincinnati OH 45202

Inquiry 746.

IBM PC «T0« HP FILE COPY

FASTER EASIER TO USE

Update version uses windows: Call for free demo! IBMPC <to> HP File Copy allows IBM PCs, PS/2,compatibles to interchange files with Hewlett-Packard Series 70, 80, 200, 300, 1000, 9000s.

Oswego Software

Box 310 708/554-3567Oswego, IL 60543 FAX 708/554-3573

Inquiry 747

CONVERSION SERVICES

Convert any 9-track magnetic tape to or from over2000 formats including 3V2, S'A", 8" disk formats &word processors. Disk-to-disk conversions alsoavailable. Call for more info Introducing OCR Scan-ning Services.

PIvar Computing Services, Inc.

165 Arlington Hgts. Rd., Dept. #BBuffalo Grove, IL 60089 (800) Convert

DATABASE

INRO-TRAK

INFOTRAK is a new menu-driven datatiase/cataloguer pro-gram for the professional and the beginner. Ideal for business,home inventory, collections (books, stamps, coins, artworks,etc.), investments etc. Features include SEARCH, add/deletelines, edit data, create custom formats, PRINT and more. (IBMXT, AT and compatibles. DOS 2.0 & up)

Only S59, S3 shipping/handling (check or money order only)

JA-DAL TECHNOLOGIES

P.O. Box 611, Yaphank, NY 11980 (NY res, add 7.5% tax)

Inquiry 748.

DATABASE MGMT SYSTEMS

DBASE COMPATIBLE HYPERMEDIA

CoNET: AN INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH HYPERMEDIASYSTEM. Provides database records, queries, hypertexteditor, graphics, procedures—each object with buttons andlabelled links to any object of any type. 100,000 objects +2 million links per knowledge base in a dBASE compatibledatabase—an open system. Usable interactively or program-mable for applications. S350.

CoNET Systems

5833 Humblebee Road, Columbia, Maryland, 21045 (301) 997-4330

Inquiry 749.

DATABASE MGMT SYSTEMS

SAVE TIME & MONEY!

OCEL0T2—THE SQU is a stand-alone databaseengine with a complete DB2 compatible SOL interfacefor developers who use BASIC, C, PASCAL, or COBOL.

• packs the full power of SQL into a 640KB PC;

• requires only 320KB RAM for program development;" outperforms the rest!

For IBM and clones: S195 & up. Free info.

OCELOT COMPUTER SERVICES INa

#1502,10025 • 106 Street, Edmonton. AB, Canada, T5J 1G7 (403) 421-4167

Inquiry 750.

dBASE file access from C

Code Base 4 is a library of G routines whichgives complete dBASE or Clipper func-tionality and file compatibility. Use DOS,Unix, OS/2 or MS Windows.$295 with Source! FREE DEMO

Sequiter Software Inc.Call (403) 448-0313 Fax (403) 448-0315

See our ad on page 244.

Inquiry 751.

DISASSEMBLERS

80x86 .EXE/.COM to .ASM

• Accurately reconstruct, study & modify [64K+] programs witha minimum of input or editing of output.

• Assembly language output is MASM S-x-compalible.

• Exhaustive flow-trace distinguishes code from data.

• Best formats for each. Commented BIOS calls/DOS func-tions. SEGMENT/PROCtother vital pseudoops.

PC-DISnDATa (5V4" disk & manual) $165PRO/AM SOFTWARE

220 Cardigan Road, Centerville, OH 45459

(513) 435-4480 (9 A.M.-5 PM. EST M-F)

Inquiry 752.

NO Source? ... NO Problemfor DISIDOC PROFESSIONAL

Automatically Disassembles EXE, COM, BIN, SYS, PGM filesand ROM or RAM memory with interactive ability to changecode, data or comments online. Disassembles 8086 to 80486with no file size restrictions. Buiit in utility program EXE Un-packer, for unpacking packed files and BIO's Admission fordisassembling BIOS's are included.

To order call (800) 336-1961 or info (203) 953-0236Or write: RJSWANTEK INC.

178 Brookside Rd., Newington, CT 06111

• Only $24955 MC/VISA accepted

Inquiry 753.

DISK DRIVES

B EST BUY!!!

HD Kits for AT: Drive, Controller, Rails & Cables

40MB - MFM - $339

65MB - RLL - 459

80MB - MFM - 689

150MB - ESDI - 1099

NEW, ONE YEAR WARRANTY

jb TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

5105 Maureen Lane, Moorpark. CA 93021

(805) 529-0908 Fax (805) 529-7712Inquiry 754.

PS/2 DRIVES FOR PCs ATs

CompatiKit/PC S279

CompatiKit/AT $219

Built-in floppy controllers—no problem.Supports multiple drives and formats. Lets yourcomputer use IBM PS/2 1.4M diskettes plus morelCall for further information or to place an order

VISA/MaCOD/CH£CK.

Micro Solutions Computer Products

132 W Lincoln Hwy . DeK^b. IL 60115 815/756-3411 See our ad on page 318.

Inquiry 755.

DOCUMENT CONVERSIONS

Doc-to-Doc

Quickly and cleanly convert your documents to and fromWordPerfect, MICROSOFT WORD. WordStar,MultiMate, ASCII, Tandy, DeskMate Text, Lotus 1-2-3,Enable, Wang and DisplayWrite. Retain special at-tributes and formatting. Doc-to-Doc gives you profes-sional quality conversions at a consumer price—S99.

The MCS Group

2465 W. Chicago St., Rapid City, SD 57702 (605) 341-2166

Inquiry 756.

DOS SHELL

Multitasking for DOS

MultiDos Plus—the fastest multitasking DOS shell.

• Fully DOS compatible

• Tailored for real-time operation

• 4 years of proven reliability with thousandsinstalled

• 30-day money back guarantee ($15 restocking fee)

Call our BBS for free demo (508) 650-9552Complete software package only $99 + $2 S&H

Nanosoft Inc.

13 Westfield Road. Natick, MA 01760(800) 678-2141 (508) 651-0091 FAX: (508) 655-8860

Inquiry 757.

EDUCATION

B.S. & M.S. In COMPUTER SCtENCE

The American Institute for Computer Sciences offers an in-depth correspondence program to earn your Bachelor ofScience and Master of Science degrees in Computer Scienceat home. B.S. subjects covered are: MS/DOS, BASIC,PASCAL, C. Data File Processing, Data Structures &Operating systems. M.S. program includes subjects in Soft-ware Engineering and Artificial Intelligence.

AMERI(»N INST, for COMPUTER SCIENCES

2101-BY Magnolia Aw. South, Ste. 200, Birmingham, AL 35205800-767-2427 205-323-6191

Inquiry 758.

ENTERTAINMENT

WHERE ADULTS COME TO PLAY!ACCESS LA! BBS

• Designed for Adult modem users • Low cost local accessnumtjers covering 850 cities! • Live online chat with otherusers! • Large software file library! • "Bulletin board" -styleForums!' Interactive online games! • Matchmaker datingdatabase! • And much, much more. 24 hours a day!We also can provide your company with national BBS ser-vices. Call (818) 358-0936 for details!

Information and Signup By Modem(818) 358-6968 [3/12/24 Baud, 8/N/l, Must be c^er 18]Voice Information (818) 357-9570

Inquiry 759.

^86 SPYS

.386 SPYS, the energy, excitement and superior graphicsyou've been looking for in an animated arcade game. Writ-ten specifically for PC's with a 386/386SX processor, Hi ResEGA graphics, 1 meg of memory and a hard disk. You willfind incredible detail and action throughout. Try a demo disknow for Sa95 or the full game for S4995l Include S3 S&H.

GENKI SOFTWARE CORPORATION

"Imagination powered by the .386"

(800) 673-9038 Mastercard or Visa (301) 997-6333P.O. Box 2563. Columbia, MD 21045

Inquiry 760.

NEMESIS^ Go Master®

Go. a game of strategic elegance, has been a way of life inthe Orient for over four thousand years. Many consider Goto be the secret of the Japanese businessman's success."While chess is a game of war, Go is a game of market share"[President of Nikko Hotels].

Chaos Manor 1990 User's Choice Award

BYTE 4/90, p.62

Toyogo, Inc. The Leader in computer Go.

PO Box F, Dept. Y, Kaneohe, HI 96744(808) 254-1166 or 1-800-TOYOGO-9

Inquiry 761.

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 425

The BUYER'S Mart

FLOW CHARTS

WINDOWS FLOWCHARTER $129

RFFlow 2.0 is a professional drawing tool forflowcharts & org charts. Requires Microsoft Win-dows 3.0.100 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

Inquiry 762.

FRAME GRABBER

HANDWRITING RECOGNIZER

a Handwriting Recognizer

Awd using your keyboard for heavy typing, for tfie same reason you prefera mouse to cursor-arrows. Especialty efficient for shorttiand, starxjard orpersonalized. Any number of users can create their mm symbol sets, ar-bitrary symbols in each. Every symbol may represent any text—a single let-ter, mni. complete sentence. codetJ graphic symbol for CAD, etc. Asignature can become a password. Requires DOS. s digitizing tablet wtthSummasKeKSi/BP emulation + stylus. Output standard text file. For a singlePC (NOT ropy proieciecf): t195. A few hours evaluation: $19, refundable.Networfcing available. Soon tor MAC. Dealer inquiries welcome.

Nybble Engineering

14 Allyat Hanoar at., 67450 tel Aviv, IsraelTel. 972-3-262-881

Inquiry 768.

HARD DRIVE REPAIR

HARDWARE

FREE INTERFACE CATALOG

Interfaces for IBM compatibles. Digital I/O(8255) and Analog input 8 bit resolution(0-255). Control relays, motors, ligtits, measuretemperature, voltage. Sample interconnectcircuits, BASIC programs, and I/O map areincluded.

John Bell Engineering, Inc.

400 Oxford Way, Belmont, CA 94002(415) 592.8411 9am to 4pm Pacific Time

Inquiry 774.

FRAME GRABBERS

Publistiers' VGA 256 Grey scales $655.00Publishers' Color 256 colors $830.00

VGA-toA/ideo /WapterVGA-TV GE/0 Genlock overlay $830.00(Overlay text and graphics on live videoand record it on a VCR)Manufactured in the U.S.A.3 Year Manufacturers WarrantyTHE KRUEGER COI\/IPANY

(800) 245-2235 (602) 820-5330

Inquiry 763.

GRAPHICS 1

RCouponm Off

Beat the cost of replacementi

10% Off n E B A ■

oisrauni n c r* A I

HARD DISC and FLOPPY DRIVES

FULL WARRANTY PROTECTION

Fast Turnaround • Data Recovery

jb TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

5105 Maureen Lane. Moorpark, CA 93021

(805) 529-0908

Fax (805) 529-7712

Inquiry 769.

LATEST AWARD BIOS

User definable hard drives, 101/102 keyboardand 3.5" 1.44Mb floppy support are nowavailable in Award BIOS Ver 3.1 for the IBM AT,286 and 386 compatibles.

KOMPUTERWERK, INC.

851 Parkview Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15215Orders: 800-423-3400Tech: (412) 782-0384

Inquiry 775.

PCXSLIDE

is an independent .PCX forma! slide show Software everytxxjyneeds. From CGA-EGA to SVGA in 2 through 256 colors or greyscales. User has up to 800x600x256 maximum resolutiofi with ap-propriate graphic board and monitor. Best graphic preserrtalion forthe nineties. Before importing, manipulating or printing, check pic-tures with PCXSUDE. Onfy S24. OEM/Bundled package negotiable.Advise if 5.25" or 35" and send money order/certified check. ForIBM PC/PS or true compatibles. EGAAfljA.

DATALISION Inc.

9 East 45th Street, New York, NY 10017(212) 309-6888 FAX (201) 992-0302

Inquiry 764.

HARD DISC DRIVES

Sales • EXCHANGE • RepairTrade in your defective drive for NEW, witti FULL WARRANTY!TREMENDOUS SAVINGS!TECHNICAL SUPPORT OF COURSE!Large Inventory Hard and Floppy Drives

jb TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

5105 Maureen Lane, Moorpark, CA 93021(805) 529-0908 Fax (805) 529-7712

Inquiry 770.

APPLE" II & MACINTOSH"

» Systems » Peripherals » Parts

Ujok for us at

COMDEX

LAS VEGAS(ttie SandsConventfM Centn)Bootti #N2591

Call tor a CATALOGUSA i Canada:

800-274-5343

IfTtemaSonal: 617.891.6851Fax: 617-891-3556

Saveup to50%on MacCPUs.

Pre-Owned Electronics, Inc.

30 Clematis Avenue • Waltham, MA 02154

Inquiry 776.

EGAD Screen Print

Prints contents of VGA, EGA, CGA displays on varietyof dot-matrix and laser printers. Prints in gray tonesor color Crop box lets you print any region of thescreen. Enlarge graphics 1 to 4 times (reduction too).Setup program for picldng printer colors, etc. $35.00Postpaid. Call or write for free catalog.

LINDLEY SYSTEMS

4257 Berwick Place, Woodbridge, VA 22192-5119

(703) 590-8890

Inquiry 765.

IMAGE CAPTURE BOARD

Capture images from any VCR or Camcorder. Resolution upto 512 X 480 pixels: 65536 colors or 256 shades of grey. Im-ages saved in GIF, PCX, TIFF formats and more. For XT/AT/PS2. Includes user friendly software and user's guide. Oneyear warranty. VGA required. Can capture from live video(eliminales need for expensive digital video). Ideal for Desktoppublishing, CAD, Animation, and Pictorial Databases.

$749 VISA/MC/AMEX/C.O.D.

PEGA Micrographics

P.O. Box 713, Westerville, OH 43081, (614) 885-1007

1-800-477-PEGA

Inquiry 766.

DATA RECOVERY

SALES of new, remanufactured andremovable disk drives

FULL TECHNICAL SUPPORT

ROTATING MEMORY SERVICE

1506 Deli Avenue, Campbell, CA 95008

(408) 370-3113

Inquiry 771.

HARD DRIVE ASSISTANCE

HAVING HARD DRIVE PROBLEMS?NEED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE?CALL THE EXPERTS AT H&W micro labs

1-800-235-0221 ext911

HAVE YOUR MC VISA OR AMEX READY

Inquiry 772.

ROM BIOS UPGRADES

Fn your IBM ot Campatime • A Nm BIOS Upgrade Will:

• Support Window 31S • Support 360K, 720K. t.2 MB S 1.44 MB FloppyOriws • User Oefined tianj time types • Suppo<ts VGA • & Netwareixmpatae • Expantled liaiil drr« a* • EiiliariceP imB teylMartl •«)%IBM compatipte • Complete documentation • Latest «rsion • Complete setup in ROM.

Deilw/DltlTtbalor Inqnirtet VMconM MhortzBd mi Softnre toe ditL

800-800-BIOS Fax 508-683-1630

800-800-2467 508-686-6468

Unicore Software

599 Canal Street. Lawrence, MA 01840

See ocr aa or: cage 108

Inquiry 777.

HARDWARE/COMPUTERS

What do you look for in board computers?

Small size? Low power? High level language? TDS9092 has LCDand keytward interfaces, on-board multitasking, interrupts, dual serialports. RAM, EEPROM, I^C bus and 35 I/O lines. Optional preci-sion A-D and battery-backed RAM. A data togger can run 12 monthson a small battery. Ponh. the language of choice for embeddedsystems mixes with assembler. Used world-wide for machine con-trol, data logging, robotics and automation.Call or fax for full details. 30-day Sale or Return. Only S219 (25qty)

Saelig Company

1193 Moseley Rd.. Victor, NY 14564Phone (716) 425-3753 Fax (716) 425-3835

Inquiry 778.

HARDWARE

Affordable Stereoscopic 3D

Finally, an affordable stereoscopic 3D system forEGA/VGA equipped PC's or compatibles.POSTEREOSCOPE's interface board and glasses, only$350. Software Development System, with high speedgraphics functions, animation and menulng, $250. OEMapplications include medicaJ imaging and statistical datapresentation. Hobbyist inquiries welcome.

Vision Research Graphics, Inc.

99 Madbury Road, Durham, NH 03824(603) 868-2270 FAX (603) 868-1352

Inquiry 767.426 BYTE- NOVEMBER

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER

Has optfmum features for monitor + control applications:16 Chan AJD • 4 RS232/422 Ports • 48 Prog I/O Lines

• 8 Opto INs • 8 HiDrive OUTs • 4 Timers • Watcfidog

• 104K Memory • 5.25 x 80 Options: Resident FORTHOS witfl Target Compiler, Editor, Assembler, + AutoLoad/Start: 5 MHz 8085 • 4 Cfian D/A • Battery BackedClock/RAM • Networking • PC Support.

E-PAC 1000+ $249.00 E.PAC 2000+ $449.00

EMAC INC.

PO Box 2042. Carbondale IL 62902 (618) 529-4525

Inquiry 773.

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS COMPUTERS

SC/FOX'PCS (Parallel Coprocessor System) and PCS32 are

PC/XT/AT plug-in boards, 16 and 32bil. 15 MIPS average. 50 MIPSburst. PCS uses the Harris RTX 2000"'16-brt real-time CPU with1-cy^ muftiplier, 14 prioritized interrupts, 3 limerteountefs, &<;tiannelI/O bus. PCS32 uses ihe new SC32 32-brt Ftjrih CPU.SC/FOX SBC (Single Board Computer) is an 18 MIPS average,60 MIPS burst, Eurocan3-size FTTX 2000 stand-alone computer.SC/FOX SCSI I/O Plug-on board for PCS or SBC with SCSI, flop-py, 56K-baud serial, 1&-bil parallel ports, and software drivers.ftKth 9/w included. C also available Ideal for embedded reaHimecontrol, data acquisition, robotics, and signal processing.

SILICON COMPOSERS INC. (415) 322-8763

208 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306

Inquiry 779.

The BUYER'S Mart

HARDWARE/COPROCESSOR

LAPTOP COMPUTERS

NEURAL NETWORKS

DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR

DSP products for the IBM PC/XT/AT. Our TMS320C25based Model 250, with extensive software, features 250Khz multi-channel A/D and D/A, up to 192 Kwords RAM,very high throughput to PC RAM and disk, and is pricedcompetitively with traditional Analog 10 boards.Call us about your applications.

DALANCO SPRY

89 Westland Ave., Rochester, NY 14618 (716) 473-3610

New Laptop Products for:

Palmtops: Atari Portfolio, PoquetNotebooks: Compaq LTE, NEC-UL, Tandy 100/102,Tandy 1100, TI-M12, Toshiba SE/XE, Zenith-MSPC-Laptops: All major brands and models

Accessories: Auto Adapters, Batteries, Carry Cases, KeypadsPeripherals: Portable Printers, Hard Disks, 360K/1.2M Drives,Keyboard Covers, Modems, Barcode Wands, Laptop Software, etcFor a free newsletter & catalogue, please call or write:

ULTRASOFT INNOVATIONS INC.

1 Transborder Drive. PO Box 247, Champlain, NY 12919Tel: (514) 4S7-9293 Fax: (514) 487-9295 9-6 EST

Canadian Orders 4 Dealer Inquiries are Welcome

Inquiry 780.

Inquiry 786.

BrainMaker:

"The most fascinating computer soft-ware I've ever seen...learn about thisstuff."John Dvorak, PC Mag. Pre(jicts stocks,bon(Js, sales, inventories. ComprehensivecJocumentation. Menus. Only $195!Certified by Intel and Micro Devices

Free Brochure: 916/477-7481California Scientific Software

Inquiry 792.

LAPTOP PERIPHERALS

OPTICAL DISK

DSP32C PC/AT COPROCESSOR BOARD

25 MFLOP 32 bit Floating point DSP:

• High speed NUMERICS and GRAPHICS

• 640K DUAL PORTED on board memory

• 32 bit parallel and serial 10 headers

• 15 ms 1024 point FFT from high level C

• Assembler, monitor, and math libraries

Base board and ALL software S950, 640K S300

SYMMETRIC RESEARCH

15 Central Way #9. Kirkland, WA 98033 (206) 828-6560

Inquiry 781.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT!

LAPTOP BACKLIGHTS

Factory Installed • 90-Day WarrantyToshiba, Amstrad, Sanyo, DG,Kaypro, IBM, HP, etc. $295The Portable Peripherals People

Axonix Corporation

(801) 466-9797

Inquiry 787.

ODIN & VOICEIMAGING SYSTEMS

ARCHIVING & RETRIEVAL SYSTEMSUtilizing WORM optical disk storage, ODIN runs on Unixworl(stations. VOICE runs on MS-DOS personal com-puters. Will scan documents up to "E" size. Provensystem. Available now!

Telephone: 1-800-843-9377

Indus MIS, Inc.

340 S. Oak St.. West Salem, Wl 54669

Inquiry 793.

PROGRAMMERS' TOOLS

STOCK-MASTER 4.0

Commercial grade Inventory managementsoftware at micro prices.

• Supports all 12 • Stock Status Reportingtransaction types • Activity History Analysis

• Trend Analysis • Bill of Materials

• Quality Control • Purchase Order W/riting

• Multiple ijDcations • Order Entry

• Purchase Order Tracking • Material Requirements

• Open Order Reporting • On Line Inquiry

• Serial/Lot M Tracking

Applied Micro Business Systems, Inc.

177-F Riverside Ave-. Newport Baach, CA 92663 714-759-0582

Inquiry 782.

TOSHIBA LAPTOP ENHANCEMENTS

FAX/MODEMS: 9600/2400 bps, software, acoustic portMODEMS, INTERNAL: 2400 bps. acoustic or serial portMODEM, DEDICATED: 2400 bps (T1200, T1600, T3200SX)SERIAL to CARDS: RS232, RS422, SCSI, HPIL, BarcodeBATTERY PACKS: 12V external battery + vehicle adapter

Contact us for more information:

PRODUCT R&D Corporation (Caiif).

805/546-9713, Fax: 805/546-9716

Inquiry 788.

HYPERINTERFACE'' II

Menu Creator^ — An interactive WYSIWYG editor togenerate a menu-driven user interface for your software.Screen Creator™ — An interactive WYSIWYG edtor forquick and easy screen design and a screen databasemanager for your software. Advanced Library — Ex-tended capability for data entry for your programs. FOR-TRAN, Pascal, C, BASIC supported.

Avanpro Corp.

P.O. Box 969. Pacific Palisades, CA 90272(213) 454-3866

Inquiry 794.

MEMORY BOARDS

dFELLER Inventory

Business inventory programs written in mod^ble dBASEsource code.

dFELLER Inventory $150.00Requires dBASE II or III. PC-DOS/CPIvtdFELLER Plus $200.00with History and Purchase OrdersRequires dBASE III or dBASE III Plus (For Stockrooms)

Feller Associates

550 CR PPA, Route 3, Ishpeming, Ml 49849(906) 486-6024

Inquiry 783.

S.SX MEMORY UPGRADES

IBM PS/2

$230$520

2MB module—Model 50, 702-8MB expan. bds^Model 55, 70COMPAQ

4MB module—DESKPRO 386/20E, 25, S S4604MB expan. brd—DESKPRO 386/20E, 25, S $5408MB single slot module—SYSTEMPRO $1600H P LASER JET

2MB upgrades $229

1.800-688-8993 5 YR. WARRANTY

Inquiry 789.

TLIB"' 5.0 Version Control

"TLIB^ Is a great system" — PC Tech Journal 3/88.Full-featured configuration mgmt for software profes-sionals. All versions of your code instantly available, \ferycompact, only changes are stored. Check-in/out locks,revision merge, branching, more. Mainframe deltas forPansophic ADR, IBM, Unisys. DOS S139 (OS/2 S195).5-station LAN S419 (OS/2 S595)

BURTON SYSTEMS SOFTWARE

PO. Box 4156, Gary. NC 27519 (919) 233-8128

Inquiry 795.

LANS

MEMORY CHIPS

The $25 Network

Try the 1st truly low-cost LAN

• Connect 2 or 3 PCs. XTs, ATs

• Uses serial ports and &-wire cable

• Runs at 115K baud

• Runs in background, totally transparent

• Share any device, any file, any time

• Needs only 14K of RAM

Skeptical? We make believers!

Information Modes

P.O. Drawer F, Denton, TX 76202817-387-3339 Orders 800-628-7992

Inquiry 784.

PRICE MEETING & BEATING!

DRAMS

SIMMS/SIPPS

64K X 1-12,10

256K X 9-10.80.70,60

64K X 4-eO

IMEG X 8-10,80,70

256K X 1-15,12,10,80,70,60

IMEG X 9.10,80,70,60

256K X 4-80

4MEG X 8-80

1MEG X 1-10,80.70,60

4MEG X 5-80

INTEUCYRIX/IIT MATH GO'S

PS/2 TYPE SIMMS

80287-3.10

Model 30 286

803S7-SX, 16, 20,25.33

Model 50, 55. 60. 70, 80

CALL DRAM COMPANY

(800) 488-DRAM

P.O. Box 590127 • S.F., CA 94159

(415) 398-2987

Inquiry 790.

The EE-100 EPROM Emulator^

Powerful, \fersatile, and Compact Prog. Tool Closed loopdevelopment capability from source code generation throughin-circuit debugging.

STANDARD EQUIPMENT1-EE-lOO Command Unit • 2-24 pin 2716-32 DetachableHeader Cable • 2-28 pin 275^256 Detachable Header Cable• 1-28 pin 27512 Detachable Header Cable • l-Desk-TopPower Supply HCW AC to 5V DC • l-User's Guide ManualFor more information call:

CompuLynk 1-800-969-9889

ISO-B Turnpike Pa.. WastDOfti, MA 01581Tel (508) 895-3731 • Fax (508) 898-2548

Inquiry 796.

LAPTOP COMPUTERS

MULTILINGUAL APPLICATIONS

Laptop Savings

Laptops: Toshiba • Zenith • NEC • Sharp

• Epson • Mitsubishi • CompaqAlso Laptop Accessories; Modems, Fax Modems,External Drives, Portable Printers, Memory, KeyPads, Hard Drives, Batteries, and Auto Adapters.

Computer Options Unlimited

12 Maiden Lane. Bound Brook, NJ 08805Phone: 201-469-7678 (Fax: 201.469-7544)Hours: 9am/10pm 7 days Worldwide sales

Inquiry 785.

DTP/WP/Forms and Sign Making

Apple MAC & IBM PC Available languages: Russian, E. Euro-pean. Turkish, Greek & Indian. It's a DA on MAC, works withvirlually any application program. It's a TSR on PC, for GEMbased graphical WP. PerFORM & Ventura in WYSIWYG.Keybd remapping utility. Postscript, dot matrix, deskjet &laserjet fonts. Vinyl cutting sys. for sign making for any ofthe languages. Prices start at S250, demo $25. MCA/isa

Solustan, Inc.

378 Hillside Ave., Needham MA 02194Ph: 617.449-7666 Fax; 617^49-7759

Inquiry 791.

Bsupport for Btrieve®

The "Norton Utilities" for Btrieve users.

Bedit: DISPLAY. UPDATE, COPY, and DELETE.

EXPORT SDF to dBASE S LOTUS RECOVER damaged files.

Edit/Insert using Data Dictionary.

Bbug: TSR Btrieve debugger Displays info in pop-up window.

Brun: BUTIL replacement with Run-Time and C source.

Bedit/Bbug: $120. Brun: S150. VISA/MC/COD/PO

800/359-2721 FAX: 517/887-2366Information Architects, Inc.

P.O. Box 4184. East Lansing. Ml 48826-4184

Inquiry 797.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 427

The BUYER'S

Mart

PROGRAMMERS' TOOLS

Dazzle Your Users...

...by including a full-featured pop-upcalculator with memory, a 100-line scrollabletape and more in your application. Takesminutes and costs as little as $395 witfi noroyalties. Demo disk and manual $5.00. Specifylanguage.

Liaison Systems, Inc.

P.O. Box 82720, Kenmore, WA 98028(206) 486-4996 — 30-day money back guarantee.

Inquiry 798.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

325 MEGABYTES Virus Free Share Ware

Dealers/Sysops/Educalors. lnstam IBM Shareware Ubraiy tof yourCustomers, user group or Students. Distributed in 25 Megabyte in-crements on HD l.2n.4 diskettes. S39JX) for first 25 Megabytes, thenadd $40.00 tor each 25 Megabyte increment.

AM S3i)0 postage tor eacn 25 Megabyte irwfemeni.AXJ S4i»/2S Meg incremem tor 1.44 tJ^skenes.

Orders Only: 1-800-876-8496

Info/Tech: 1-405-524-5233

SHARE-NET

ROB 12368, Okla City, OK 73157

No Sorcfiarge for Visa'Mas!erCarOWe gladly accepc PO's from Educational. F=e(l/Slate Agencies

Inquiry 804.

SECURITY

COP'S Copylock II

• Protects on standard diskettes

• Cannot be copied by any device incl. Option Board

• Fully hard disk installable

• Normal back-up of protected programs

• LAN-support

• Creates safe demo version of your softwareStandard Version S975, Automatic \fersion $1950

DANCOTEC Computer

In US: 2835 Serra Rd., San Jose, CA 95132 408-729^162 or 1-800-344-2545Infl: 2880 Baosvart. Oenmarlt Ptione +45-44440322 Fax: -44440722

Inquiry 810.

GW-BASIC PROGRAMMERS

Create professional quality programs with all the bellsand whistles! You get 46 source code files which in-clude Subroutines & Programs such as:

• Bar Menus • Screen Manager ■ Draw Forms

• Shell Soft • Key Handlers • Find File

• ANSISYS • "Wa\k' Dir Tree » Font Demo

Order: (800) 345-3808—S29.00—MC/Visa Welcome

MIPS, InC'Box 3072'Hammond, LA 70404

for the IBM r>c 4 100% Com[>altble5

Inquiry 799.

FREE SOFTWARE FOR IBM® PC^

TRY US! Get our SOLID GOLD HITS—Winter 1991edition 15/5.25" or 6/3.5" disks full of our best-selling software—FREE! Great graphics, program-mers utilities, desktop publishing, finance, games,education, and catalog.Pay only $5.00 for shipping - VISA/MC/AMEX

SMC SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS

CALL TODAY 619-942-9995

Inquiry 805.

BIT-LOCK® SECURITY

Piracy SURVIVAL 5 YEARS proves effectiveness ofpowerful multilayered security. Rapid decryptionalgorithms. Reliable/small port-transparent securitydevice. PARALLEL or SERIAL port. Complemented byeconomical KEY-LOIC" and multifeatured COMPU-LOCK™ including countdown, timeout, data encryption,and multiproduct protection. (Dos/Unix/Mac)

MICROCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS

3167 E. Otero Circle, Littleton, CO 80122 (303) 770-1917

Inquiry 811.

SPEED FORTRAN DEVELOPMENTAND CUT MAINTENANCE COSTS

FOfMARN—Rnds common programming errors such as msmalchedparameter lists and common blocks, and uninitializEd variables. Printsdetailed cross-references and call-tree diagrams. M29FORTRAN DEVaOPMEKT TOOLS-indudes Pretty (indents, renumljeis.ctianges GOTDs to IF-THEN-ELSBS. etc.) and 6 more tools. 5129.For IBM PC. /Uso lor UNIX-ask for details.

Quibus Enterprises, inc.

3340 Marble Terrace, Colorado Springs, GO 80906(719) 527-1384

SOFTSHOPPE, INC.

Selected Programs, Latest Versions, As Lowas $1.50, Same Day Shipping, and NoMinimum Order. For FREE CATALOG forIBM PD/Shareware, CALL 800-829-BEST(2378) or FAX 313-761-7639.

SOFTSHOPPE, INC.

P.O. BOX 3678, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-3678

COPY PROTECTION

The world's leading software manufacturers dependon Softguard copy prtjtection systems. Your FREEDISKETTE introduces you to SuperLock""—invisible copy pro-tection for IBM-PC (and compatibles) and Macintosh.

• Hard disk support • No source code changes

• Customized versions • LAN support

• New upgrades available(408) 773-9680SOFTGUARD SYSTEMS, INC.

710 Lakaway, Suite 200. Sunnyvale. CA 94086

FAX f408) 773-1405

Inquiry 800.

Inquiry 806.

Inquiry 812.

• MULTITASK Real Time

• SERIAL COMMUNICATION by interrupt

MTASK* Professional was designed for the specific re-quirements of Scientific Laboratories and RoboticsDepartments. Gratis: demonstration diskette.

Available for the present, for Turbo Pascal, Turbo C,Quick Pascal, Turtc Basic. Evaluation software for only$95. Price $495 + Shipping $20, Taxes not included.

RAMSI® International

53 rue Bernard Iske, F-92350 Plessis Robinson, FRANCEInternational FAX: 33 (1) 46.32.48.37

Inquiry 801.

and SDK86(i6

(16 btt)

SDK85 (8 bH)

NOW AVAILABLE ONLY FROM URDA, INC. which has anexclusive, world-wide, manufacturing and marketing licensefrom Intel, Inc. The URDA SDK85 and SDK86 educationaltrainers and microprocessor development systems are nowfurnished fully assembled and boxed with manuals. CallURDA, Inc. for new low prices and delivery schedules. Other8. 16 and 32 bit systems are available.

Phone URDA, Inc.

1-800-338-0517 or 412-683-8732

HANDS OFF THE BOARD®

1/2 SIZE SECURITY BOARD

stop floppy boot — Require password to boot PC

Real-time disk encrypt — prevent boot sector virus

Prevent DOS FORMAT/FDISK and low-level formats

Set hard disk READ ONLY or turn ON/OFF

Turn floppies, pnnters and COM ports ON/OFF

IBM XT, AT Bus — DOS V3.0+ — $149.95 + S5.00 S/H

SYSTEMS CONSULTING INC.

PC BOX 111209. Pittsburgh. PA 15238(412) 781-5280

Inquiry 807

Inquiry 813.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

SECURITY

SERVICES

SHAREWARE

FOR IBM- AND COMPATIBLES

FREE 112 PAGE CATALOG

OVER 3000 PROGRAMS

CALL 1-800-245-BYTE (2983)BEST BiTS & BYTES

P.O. Box 8225-B, Van Nuys, CA 91409FOREIGN COUNTRIES SEND $4.00 FOR SHIPPING

FIGHT PIRACY!

Since 1986, companies worldwide have been choosing Az-Techsecurity products. If you demaruj the strongest protection available,why not choose one of these "prwen leaders":

• EVERLOCK Copy Protection

• EVERTRAK Software Security

• EVERKEY Hardware ■Key" Software Security

For IBM and Compatibles. 30 day money back guarantee. Free infoand demo disk available.

Az-Tech Software, Inc.

305 East Franklin, Richmond, MO 64085

(800) 227-0644 ^.t.tlinill

900-258-SAVE

Call REFUNDED if not fully satisfied

Find out wtio sells the product you're looking for at the bestprice BEFORE your next mail order WIDE price variationsexist for even lowKjost products. Our system allows you toeasily find software and hardware and hear vendors sortedby price. (S1.50/min.)

The Consumer Connection™, inc.

PC Box 399, Princeton, MA 01517508-464-5041

Inquiry 802.

Inquiry 808.

Inquiry 814.

SOFTWARE/ACCOUNTING

FREE CATALOG

IBM SHAREWARE/PUBLIC DOMAINLOW AS $1.25/DISK

1-800-321-4270

CRANSTON SOFTWARE

PC Box 2679, Minneapolis, MN 55402-0679

Inquiry 803.428 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

THE ULTIMATE COPY PROTECTION

' Completely Menu Driven

• Defeats all Hardware/Software Copiers' No Source Code Changes

' Multiple Layering

• No Damaged Media

• Full Hard Disk Support

QuiteSimplyThe BestWays ToProtect

Your ValuableSoftware Investment

Unlimited Metering• FREE Demo DiskSTOPVIEVT- STOPCOPY PLUS"

BBI COMPUTER SYSTEMS® (301) 871-1094

14105 Heritage La., SOver Spring, MD 20906 FAX: (301) 460-7545

Inquiry 809.

PC TIME CLOCK

AutoTime is an Employee Management System thatallows you to turn any PC into an Electronic TimeClock. AutoTime provides Time & Attendance, JobCosting, Payroll Interface, and Labor Distributionreporting. Network compatible. Prices start at S495.Other Business Products: Network FAX, AbsenceCall-in, db-EDI.

Chase Technologies

1617 Kingman Ave., San Jose, CA 95128(408) 998-2917

Inquiry 815.

The BUYER'S Mart

SOFTWARE/ACCOUNTING

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

dBASE BUSINESS TOOLS

• GENERAL LEDGER • PURCH ORD/INVNTORY

• ORDER ENTRY • ACCOUNTS RECVABLE

• JOB COSTING • JOB ESTIMATING

• BILL OF MATLS • SALES ANALYSIS

• PAYROLL • ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

S99 ea. + S&H

dATAMAR SYSTEMS Cred. Card-Check-COO

4876-B Santa Monica Ave.

San Diego, CA 92107 (619) 223-3344

Inquiry 816.

Mass2-MASS & VOLUME CALCULATORWith MATERIALS DATABASE

Easily calculate the volume & weight of hundreds ofshapes. Never need to lool< up material densities again!Differential and proportional comparisons madeautomatically. Menu driven with on-line context sensitivehelp. Rexible input system accepts Decimal, Fractional,and Exponential notation. For IBM PCs and Com-patibles with 384K free.

DEMPSEY'S FORGE, Software Division

Rt 2 Box 407, Gladys, VA 24554

Inquiry 821.

Worstcase Gets Even Better!

Analog Circuit SimulationECA-2 Electronic Circuit Analysis offers the tjest Monte Carioand Wor^-Case analyses with ail this and MORE included:

• AC, DC, Transient • Interactive/batch modesFourier, Temperature • Full nonlinear simulator

• Sine, Pulse, PWL. SFFM, • On Line, Real Timeand Exponential Graphicsgenerators • Multiple plots

Tatum Labs, Inc.

3917 Research Park Dr., B-1, Ann Arbor, Ml 46108(313) 663-8810

SOFTWARE/BUSINESS

Inquiry 827.

SOFTWARE/GEOLOGICAL

DATA ENTRY SOFTWARE

Full featured, heads-down data entrywith Uvo-pass verification, edit language,operator stats, much more! Designed forthe PSffi" , PC, XT, AT or compatibles.PC's from $395 LAN version available

FREE 30 day trial

Computer Keyes Tel: 206/776/6443

21929 IVlakah Rd., Fax: 206/776-7210

Woodway, WA 98020 USA: 800/356-0203

PC BASED DATA ACQUISITION

Snap-Series Software is the best solution for IntegratedData Acquisition, Anslysis, and Display without program-ming. Works with I/O hardware by 12 manufacturers,and allows extensive time and frequency domainanalysis. Ideal for monitoring, waveform generation, andDSP.

HEM Data Corporation

17336 12 Mile Road. Southfield, Ml 48076Voice: (313) 559-5607 Fax: (313) 559-8006

GEOLOGY & GROUNDWATER PROGRAMS

Borehole Logs, E-Logs, Cross Sections, Stratigraphy,Well Drawings Fence, Contours, Isopachs. 3-DDiagrams, Pumping Tests, Groundwater Chemistry,Piper, Stiff, Durov etc. Used by EPA and State Agen-cies for RCRA & CERCLA. Our software is used by con-sultants, universities, and oil & coal companies in 26countries. Free brochure and demo disks.

Earthware of California

30100 town center dr. #196. Laguna Niguel, CA 92677Phone (714) 495-5727 FAX (714) 495-4820

Inquiry 822.

Inquiry 828.

LOCATE HARD-TO-FIND BUSINESSAND STATISTICAL SOFTWARE

Econometrics • Biometrics • Cluster Analysis • Multivariate Analysis• Marketing Statistics • Experimental Statistics • ANOVA • Regres-sion • Linear Programming • Project Planner • Forecasting S Time-Senes • SaJes & Market Forecasting • Quality Control and IndustrialExperiments • Parameter and Tolerance Design • And Many More!SEND FOR FREE PRODUCT GUIDE!

Lionheart Press, Inc.

P.O. Box 379. Alburg, VT 05440(514) 933-4918 FAX: (514) 939-3087

Analog Circuit Simulation

• Macintosh and PC CAE

• Schematic Entry

• SPICE Simulator

• Model Libraries

• Monte Carlo Analysis

• Plotting/Graphics Output

Intusoft

The leader in low cost, fullfeatured CAE software

Intusoft has a complete PC-based system including every-thing from schematic entrythnxigh SPICE simulatkxi usingextended memory to com-pfBhensi\« interactNe post pro-cessing. Starting at S95 forIsSpce, the complete systemsells tor just S790.

RO. Box 6607, San Pedro, CA 90734(213) 83»I710 FAX (213)833-9658

GEOLOGICAL CATALOG

Geological software for log plotting, grldding/con-touring, hydrology, digitizing, 3-D solid modelling,synthetic seismogram, fracture analysis, image pro-cessing, scout ticket manager, over 50 programsin catalog. (Macintosh too! Please call, or write, forFree Catalog!

RockWare, inc.

4251 Kipling St., Suite 595, Wheal Ridge, CO 80033 USA(303) 423-5645 Fax (303) 423-6171

Inquiry 817.

Inquiry 823.

SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS

Staff Administration Software — A must for all managers!

Named for its inherent ability to "keep an eye on your staff," StaffMinder™handles ttie Ukwing:

• Attendance tracking and analysis • Salary, rwiew and bonjs traclurg

• \&cdon planning and scheduling •Compliance reporting

• Siatis irvenlory • Employee informationStaffMinder'" provides numerous informative reports. Free serialmouse included with eacti order. Simple poim and click interfaceallows for easy implementation. Source code evailable.

List price S395. Ask for details on current special pricing!

NEXT GENERATION SOFTWARE

Suite 1445, 3340 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30326 CALL (800) 966-0707

Inquiry 818.

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

Affordable Engineering Software

FREE APPLICATION GUIDE & CATALOGCircuit Analysis • Root Locus * Thermal Analysis • Plot-ter Drivers • Engineering Graphics * Signal Processing• Active/Passive Filter Design • Transfer Function/FFTAnalysis • Logic Simulation • Microstrip Design • PC/f^S-DOS • Macintosh • VISA/MC

BV Engineering Professional Software

2023 Chicago Ave,, Suite B-13, Riverside, CA 92507(714) 781-0252

Inquiry 819.

MATFOR

UNMATCHED VALUE FOR NUMERICAL COMPUTING

An interpreter with over 375 functions for Matrix Compula-tions, Calculus, Diffefential/Nonlinear Equations. Optimiza-tion, Linear/Dynamic Programming, Graphics, AdvancedStatistics, Signal Processing, Analysis/Design of ControlSystems, and more. Extendible and Self-contained. S150IBM/compatibles. Editions using extended memory on286/366 also available.

Computational Engineering Associates

3525 Del Mar Heights Rd.. Suite 183, San Diego. CA 92130 (619) 259-8863

Inquiry 820.

MICROSTRESS CORP.

New MICROSAFE 2D/3D Rel. 3.Rnite Element Analysis program for IBM PCs, MAC II Fam.,and compatibles. Number of nodes, elements arrd conditionslimited by disk space and model bandwidth (11000 dxj.f.) Colorgraphics support on various display cards {EGA, VGA. VEGAand Hercules) S250. SAFECAD (bi-directional AUTOCADinterface) S95. GRAFPLUS S55. Plus S/H.

Accept VISA/MasterCard. Send for brochure.P.O. Box 3194, Bellevue, VJA 98009Tel./Fax (206) 643-9941

Inquiry 824.

SIMULATION WITH GPSS/PC^

GPSS/PC"" is an MS-DOS compatible version of thepopular mainframe simulation language GPSS.Graphics, animation and an extremely interactive en-vironment allow a totally new view of your models. Ifyou are contemplating the creation or modification ofa complex system you need GPSS/PC to help youpredict its behavior. Call now.

MINUTEMAN Software

P.O. Box 171/Y, Stow, Massachusetts, U.S.A.(508) 897-5GS2 ext. 540 (800) 223-1430 ext. 540

Inquiry 825.

Circuit Analysis — SPICE

Non-linear DC & Transient; Linear AC.

♦ Version 3B1 with BSIM, GaAs, JFET,MOSFEX BJT, diode, etc. models, screengraphics. Improved speed and convergence.

* PC Version 2G6 available at $95.

Call, write, or check inquiry # for more info.

Northern Valley Software

28327 Rothrock Dr., Ranctio Palos \ferdes, CA 90274

(213) 541-3677

Inquiry 826.

S E G S 2.1

Scientific Engineering Grapfiics System

• Logarithmic, Time/Date & Linear Axes.

• Easy Curve Fitting and Data Smoothing.

• 1-2-3 Interface & Numeric Spreadsheet-

• Supports all Video & Device Standards.

• 10 Curves with up to 16,000 points each.

Advanced Micro Solutions

3817 Windover Dr. 405-340-0697Edmond, OK 73013 800-284-3381

CHAOS: The Software''

Explore Chaos in nature for yourself, in a hands-on, visualway. Autodesk worked with James Gleick to transform someof the most famous equations from the new science of Chaosinto a series of six interactive programs that let you createstunning visual patterns in higfi resolution color and sound.$59.95

For IBM PC/XT/AT, PS/2 or compatibles with 640KB RAM,MS-DOS/PC-DOS. EGA«GA

Autodesk, Inc.

2320 Marinship Way. Sausalito, CA 94965 (800) 223-2521

Inquiry 829.

QuickGeometry Library

All the C geometty and DXF routinesyou expect.. .and morel(617) 628-5217Building Blocl( Software

PO Box 1373, Somervllie, MA 02144

Inquiry 830.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 429

The BUYER'S Mart

SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS

SOFTWARE/LANGUAGES

SOFTWARE/MEDICAL

The Ultimate CAD/CAM Engine

TurboGeometry Library 3.0. The mosl complete tool box of2D & 3D routines availabie today! Over 300 routines. Sur-facing. Soiids, Hidden iine. Wumes, Areas. Transforms.Perspectives. Decomp. Clipping, Tangents & more. 30 dayguar.. S199.95 w/source S&H incl. Foreign S225.00. MS/PCDOS 2.0+. Turbo Pascal. Turbo C. MSG. MIX C. Zortec C++.VISA/MC. PO. Chk. USA funds only

Disk Software, Inc.

2116 E. Arapaho Rd., #487. Richardson. TX 75081(214) 423-7288, (800) S35-7760, FAX (214) 423-7288

FINAL LIQUIDATION!!

IBM ■ Compilers, SAVE UP to BOW

Title Retail Sale

COBOL V2.0 (3%" & 5'A") $900 $100

Prof. FORTRAN V1.3 (3'/2" & 5y<") $795 $ 90

C Compiler (3'/!- or 5'A") $395 $ 50

BASIC Compiler V2.0 (3'/4-) $495 $ 50

Macro Assembler V2.0 (3V2" or 5'A') $195 $ 40

VISA. MC. Cfieck accepted. S and H fee $10 per order

THE COMPUTER PLACE, INC.

12105 Darnestown Rd. #9A Tel: (301) 330-6016

Gaithersburg. MD 20878 Fax: (301) 926-3415

Medical Systems with ECS

PPM offers a complele line of medical software ranging from simpleinsurance claims processing to comprehensive A/R management.PC CLAIM PLUS-claims processing with ECS to over 100 majorinsurance carriers-30-day money-back guaranteeTHRESHOLD-compIete A/R, patient billing, comprehensive prac-tice management statistics

CLAIM NET-Naiionwide electronic claims clearinghouse transmitsclaims to over 100 insurance carriers

Software prices star: at S459.00. Dealer inquiries v«lcome.

Physicians Practice Management

350 E. New York, Indianapolis, IN 46204800-428-3515 317-634-8080

Inquiry 831.

Inquiry 837.

Inquiry 843.

SOFTWARE/MARKETING

SOFTWARE/SCANNERS

RAINDROP'"

FAST, compact PrtScrn Utility for end users ANDdevelopers. Hardcopy as fast as 10 sees. Average binarysize ■ 6 l<byte. 14 video graphic standards. Scale, rotate,colorize and more. 'CALL' from user-written programs.Complete 9- & 24-pin dot-matrix. Inkjet, and laserjetlibrary S44.95+S3 S/h.

ECLECTIC SYSTEMS

8106 St. David Ct., Springfield, VA 22153(703) 440-0064

The "Software Success Reference Book {1987-1988}" is aMUST READ if you want to market your software productssuccessfully. Written by David H. Bowen, publisher of Soft-ware SuccessT the monthly newsletter on successfully run-ning a software business, the Reference Book is a 268-pageguide, organized by topic. Covers Lead Generation. Promo-tion, Pricing, Distribution, Support, etc. Only S25. Check orCredit Card (Visa/MC/AEX).

100% Money Back Guarantee

Software Success

PO Box 9006, San Jose. CA 95157(408) 446-2504 FAX (408) 255-1098

Optical Character Recognition

PC-OCR"" software will convert typed or printed pagesinto editable text files for your word processor Works wilfiHP ScanJet, Canon, Panasonic & most otfier scanners.Supplied with over 20 popular fonts User trainable: youcan teach PC-OCR"* to read virtually any typestyle. ind.foreign fonts. Proportional text matrix pnnter output Xeroxcopies OK. From S99. Check/VISA/^CAmExpCOD

Essex Software Publishing, Inc.

P.O. Box 391, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009(201) 783-6940

Inquiry 832.

Inquiry 838.

Inquiry 844.

SOFTWARE/MATHEMATICS

PEN PLOTTER EMULATOR

FPLOT turns your dot matrix or laser printer intoan HP pen plotter. Fast lii-res output. No jaggedlines. Vary line width, color Works with AutoCad,Drafix, etc. Supports NEC P5/P6, IBM Proprinter,Epson LQ/FX, Toshiba, HP Laserjet, Okidata29X/39X, Hercules/CGA/EGAA/GA. S64 checWm.o./VISA/lvlC

Fplot Corporation

24-16 Steinway St., Suite 605, Astoria, NY 11103718-545-3505

Fast WYSIWYG Editor

Leo — the best math editor available. Seeequations as you type. Menu and control keyoperation. Reads and writes TeX files.Leo for PCs — $199

ABK Software

4495 Ottawa PI., Boulder CO 80303(303) 494-4872

INCREDIBLE OCR

A lota) solution to all your OCR needs. Recognizes many commontext typefaces, ana can quickly learn most others. Supports all themajor word processors. Faster and more accuteiie than systemscosting twice as much. Amazingly il works with virtually every brandof hand-held scanner, most full-page scanners, and all PC/faxBoards. More than 15,000 satisfied users.

All for only $184 including shipping''International include S25 for airmail shippingCheck, money onder. VISft. MC, and COD accepted.

PAi OCR

611 Tucker Street, Raleigh, NO 27603800-762-5542 FAX: 919-828-5196

Inquiry 833,

Inquiry 839,

Inquiry 845,

SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC

GRAPHICS PRINTER SUPPORT

AT LAST! Use the PrtSc key to make quality scaled B&Wor color reproductions of your display on any dot matrix,Inkjet, or laser printer (incl. Postscript) in up to 64 shadesof gray or 256 colors. GRAFPLUS supports all versionsof DOS with IBM (incl. EGA, VGA, Super VGA), Her-cules, or compatible graphics boards. Linkable/OEMversions available. S59.95

Jewell Technologies, Inc.

4740 - 44th Ave. SW. Seattle, WA 98116 (800) 359-9000 x527 (206) 937-1081

Inquiry 834.

MATH EDITING for the pc

1 Fds

v'o±(3x

• MathEdit constructs math equations to tie insened into

WordPerfect. Word. WordStar, and others.

• WYSIWYG interface—no codes need to t>e learned.

• MathEdit—sm

K-TALK

COMUUNICATIONS

30 West First Avenue, SiColumous, Onw 43201(614) 294-3535

Inquiry 840.

C Scientific Library

Create customized scientific and engineering tools with this com-preher^sive library of 600 functions including linear algebra, eigen-systems, matrix computations, time series, smoothing and filtering,statistics, regression, linear and integer programming, nonlinearsystems, optimization, differential equations, curvefitting andgraphics. Superior documentation. Usable, encapsulated, modular,reliable, mature, and affordable. Several licensing and system op-tions are available starting at S295. Request on company letterheador send S5 (refundable on purchase) for 50-page CSL Buyer's Guide.

Elgenware Technologies

13090 La Vista Drive, Saratoga, CA 95070(408) 867-1184 Fax: (408) 867-6575

inquiry 846,

GRAPHICS LIBRARIES forC, FORTRAN, PASCAL & QuIckBASiC

• Supports VIDEO, PRINTERS S PLOITERS.

• Linear, log, polar, smith, bar & pie charts.

• Scalable fonts, line types, markers.

• Multiple plots on a page.

• Over 100 routines with full source code.

• 240 page manual. No royalties.

S295.00 (713) 491-2088

Sutrasoft

10506 Perrrian Dr • Sugar Land, TX 77478

Inquiry 835.

SOFTWARE/LANGUAGES

DRUMA FORTH-83

Break the 64K barrier without speed/space penalty.Powerful, attractively priced. '83 Standard.

• ^Mb+ automated memory management

• Fuil OS interface, extensive utilities

• On-line documentation, ASCII/bl(xk files

• Other products: wind(Dsvs, modules, profiler

• IBM PC/XT/AT including 386 compatibles

FREE leam/utility disks with purchase

DRUIVIA iNC.

6448 Hwy. 290 East E103, Austin, TX 78723

Orders: 512-323-5411 Fax: 512-323-0403

MATHEMATICIANS-ENGINEERS

Have you ever seen functions of a complexvariable? Would you like to really understanddifferential operators like div, grad and curl?How about a peel< into the fourth dimension?Call or write for information on our latest PCand f^acintosfi software.

Lascaux Graphics

3220 Steuben Ave., Bronx. NY 10467(212) 654-7429

Inquiry 841.

ORDINARY/PARTIALDIFFERENTIAL EQNSOLVER

FOR THE IBM PC 8, COMPATIBLES

MICROCOMPATIBLES, INC.

301 Prelude Dr, Silver Spring, MD 20901

(301) 593-0683

FREE CATALOG

800-942-MATH

MIcroMath Scientific Software

Salt Lake City, UT 84121-0550

Inquiry 847.

Scientific/Engineering/Graphics LibrariesTurbo Pascal, Turbo-i-MS C, MS Fortran, Basic

Send for FREE catalogue of software tools for Scientists andEngineers. Includes: Scientific subroutine libraries, deviceindependent graptiics libraries (including EGA, HP plotterand Laserjet support), scientific ctiarting libraries, 3-D plot-ting library, data acquisition libraries, menu-driven processcontrol software. Versions available for a variety of popularlanguages.

Quinn-Curtis

1191 Chestnut St., Unit 2-5, Newton, MA 02164 (617) 965-5660

inquiry 836.430 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Inquiry 842.

Inquiry 848.

The BUYER'S Mart

SOFTWARE/SORT

OPT-TECH SORT/MERGE

Extremely fast Sort/Merge/Select utility. Run as an MS-DOS command or CALL as a subroutine Supports mostlanguages and file types including Btrieve and dBASE.Unlimited file sizes, multiple keys and mucfi morel MS-DOS $149. OS/2. XENIX. UNIX S249.

(702) 588-3737Opt-Tech Data Processing

P.O. Box 678 — Zephyr Cove, NV 89448

Inquiry 849.

SOFTWARE/TOOLS!

CBASIC LIBRARY ON PCDOS!

A general purpose CSASIC function library witfi over 100 functions.Most functions are written in assemWy language for compactness andspeed. Some commands include: Windcws, access all keys on keytwanl.complete screen control without using ANSI .SYS, do any BDOS calls,file and reconj locking, calculator, child processes, peek and poke atany location. Network compatability. access any communication portand printer port, etc. Write or call new for FREE information. Onfy S199.00+ SSlOO S/H. VISA/MC'COD UPS Accepted

GOLDEN OAKS SOFTWARE

(Software & Consulting)

4744 Madison Avenue. Sacramento, CA 95841(916) 331-1111

Inquiry 850.

SOFTWARE/UTILITIES

Duplicate Disks Fast!

DlskDupe duplicates, formats and compares disksamazingly fast—up to 200 disks an hour! Us uniqueRELAY feature lets you quickly duplicate lots of master. disks effortlessly. And you can protect your masters bystoring disk images on your hard disk. Also supportshigh-density formats—plus a whole lot more! S79+S/H,Money Back Guarantee.

Micro System Designs, Inc^

4962 El Camino, Suite 204. Los Altos. CA 94022(415) 964-2844 Fax: (415) 964-4529

Inquiry 851.

SOFTWARE/VOICE

MULTI-VOICE® TOOLS

MultiAtoice Tools is a complete development Toolkit forPascal or "C" lo access all the features of the WATSONor DIALOGIC Speech Boards. It is also a high level libraryof procedures to build MULTI-LINE VOICE RESPONSEsystems in minutes. A powerful TELEPHONE ANSWERINGprogram is given as an example with source code.DIALOGIC. RHETOREX, VBX S599, W^CTSON S99, Visa/MC.Now available: Fax Tool Kit.

ITI Logiclel

1705 St. Joseph E, Suite 4. Montreal. PQ, Can. H2J INI(514) 861-5988

We can also write your Voice Response applicailon programs.

STATISTICS

JUST RELEASED STATISTIX 3.1

PC Magazine Editor's Choice!

^ can refy on STATISTIX to gei your work done EASILY and QUICKLY.Menu-driven. Powerful yet compaa. STATISTIX offers twsic artd advancedstalisiics witti an easy-to-follow manual full of examples.

"Technical support was excellent..."

PC Magazine.

Get ttie quality >tiu want at a price jcu can afford. US. & overeeas price:S199. Money-back-guaranlee.

Tel: 612-631-2852 Fax: 612-636-3070

Analytical Software, ro box 130204, st PauiuN 55113Inquiry 852.

Cover all the bases of design...

with Methodologist's Toolchest™ a comprehensive paclogeof five programs to aid in research design and analysis.Specifically, these programs offer assistance in sampling,data collection procedures, statistical analyses, experimen-tal design, and measurement and scaling. S49955+s/h. VISA,MC. RMEX. PO. Checks accepted.

The Idea Works, Inc.

100 West Briarwjod, Columbia, MO 652031.800-537.4866 FAX 314-445-4589

Outside USA 3144454554

Inquiry 853.

STATISTICS

NCSS 5.x Series — $125

Easy^o-use menus & spread sheet. Multiple regression.T-tests. ANOVA (up to 10 factors, rep. measures,covariance). Forecasting. Factor, cluster, & discriminantanalysis. Nonparametrics. Cross Tabulation. Graphics:histograms, box, scatter, etc. Reads ASCII/Lotus. Manynew add-on modules.

NOSS

329 North 1000 East, Kaysville, UT 84037Phone: 801-546-0445 Fax; 801-546-3907

Inquiry 854.

SCA STATISTICAL SYSTEM

The on/y statistical software encompassingForecasting & Time Series AnalysisQuality and Productivity ImprovementGeneral Statistical Analysis

Available on DOS. OS/2 and Mac operating systems.Call today for more information

Scientific Computing Associates

4513 Lincoln Ave., Suite 106, Lisle, IL 60532, USA

Phone: (708) 960-1698 FAX: (708) 960-1815Inquiry 855.

Experience the POWER!

StatPac Gold is tfie award-winning statistics andforecasting package that delivers! It's fast, flexible,easy to use and dependable. Time-tested and load-ed with features. Basic and advanced statistics withgraphics. Over 14,000 satisfied customers. You bethe judge! Call for your free brochure.

StatPac Inc.

6500 Nicollet Ave. S., (Minneapolis. MN 55423 (612) 866-9022

TERMINAL EMULATION

TEK 4207/4105/4014 Emulation

PC-PLOTV is a complete communications programwhich includes file transfer, script files, VT-100/200emulation plus Tektronix graphics terminal emulation.Supports C0M1-4 plus support for DECnet, NETBIOS,U-B Netl. Graphics screenprint- $225. Free Catalog.

MicroPlot Systems Co.

1897 Red f=ern Dr. Columbus, Ofiio 43229614-882-4786 614-882-3399 (BBS/FAX)

Inquiry 856.

TRANSLATORS!

lOOo/o PASCAL -> C

P2C translates Titrtw Pascal 3'4;5 into C code (TurtX), Microsoft.TopSpeed, ANSI) and supports all TP features: sets, nested func-tions, witfi. variant records, strings, files, interrupts, const expres-sions, graphics, units, dynamic nwmory management, mem & portarrays, absolute variables; in short—everything except inline andobjectoriented teatures. Comes with full TP runtime library emulationand automatically generates project, make, header, and C files.English manual (130-k pages) included. Professional Edition in-cludes complete source code for emulation library.Standard Ed. S395 Professional Ed. S595 (MC, VISA, AMEX)LAUER & WALLWrrZ GmbH, Erlkoenigweg 9,D-6200 WIESBADEN, West Germany, Phone +49 (611) 42771

Inquiry 857.

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER

PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER!

BATTERY BACK UPS

MICRO UPS provides standby emergency pwier and voltage irregularitypfotection! When irregularities occur, UPS kicks in immediately wilflthe necessary power insiiring continuous operation.

200 Watt #29033 ^149.00400 Watt #29034 »199.00FREE CATALOG SS.OOS/HWith your order Call 1.800-776-3700 or send order to:

AMERICAN DESIGN COMPONENTS

Dept. 211-110 815 Faiiview Ave, PC. Box 220. Fain/iew. WJ 07022

Inquiry 858.

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER

And Make It Last Longer

FREE money.saving literature tells you how to protect your com-puter and make H last longer with an uninterruptible power supply.500VA through 18KVA models from the worid's largest manufac-turer of single-phase UPS.

Best Power Technology, Inc.

P.O. Box 280. Necedah, Wl 54646Toil-Free (800) 356-S794, Ext. 3860

Tel«phon«: (608) 56S.7200, Ext. 3860

See our Ad on page 450.

Inquiry 859.

DATASAVER AC POWER BACKUP

Provides reliable, affordable power protection for LANSystems. Fileservers, CAD/CAM Systems, and all DesktopMicrocomputers. Low profile, convection cooled and autoshutdown capabilities are some of the many user benefits.Highest quality. Made in the U. S. A. (Dealer, VAR, OEMinquiries welcome)

For Free Information Call or Write:

CUESTA SYSTEM CORPORATION

3440 Roberto Court, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401(800) 332-3440 (805) 541-4160

Inquiry 860.

UTILITIES

DEAL - STEAL - DEAL

Cardfile/Autodialer

■ DBaselll+compatitile * Any Mouse or none

• More than 1.000.000 Records • Not Memory Resident

• Not Copy protected • Cards can be sorted

• Direct search and content • Any Phone and Modemsearch

This is a MUST HAVE Utility. It's fast, easy, and yotj can afford it.$19.85

Engineering Concepts

314 N. Newell PI., Fullerton. OA 92632(714) 525-3519

Inquiry 861.

EZ-"DISK'' COPY PLUS™

FLAWIiSS DISKETTES FAST! on Sie PC JOU areatfy mii THIS IS SOITOAREONLY! Bypasses DOS lor the utmost speed. Great tor publishers, Oweiopers.MIS directors, etc 2X+ faster than DOS. Read dislcette once, then, quickly& accurately mass duplicate 5.25" & 35" dislc on )Our wn POXT/AT/etcRittttats. copies, wrifies. optionaay SERIALIZES & PfllfnS LABEI^ in 1 smoothopetafion. Save iniages lo KD, more , Replaces dedicated hanlware worthSIOOOs. Only $139 +S&H. (for 1 machine) or $495 (NCR for upto 10 machines.) (£

EZX, 917 Oakgrove Dr.ii>1l)1-B1090, Houston, TX 77058

Otdere C/mama) & Catalogs Toll Free: 1.«00 • 359 • 9539INFO: 713^0-9900: FAX: 713/280-0525: BBS: 713^80-8180

Inquiry 862.

COPY AT TO PC—BRIDGE-IT 3.5

■■CPYA12PC" REUABLY writes 360KB lloppres on 1 2 MB dnves. sawng aslot for a second hard dsk or tape bacitHjp, Only S79O0 + S/H"BFIIDGE.IT 36" is a DEVICE DfllVER supporting S'A' 720KE/1,44MBdrives for PC/XTWT without upgrading DOS/BIOS, Only S39O0 + S/HBRIDGE.n" 3i BUNDLED Wmf INTERNAL 1,«MB DRIVE /!!S129O0 + S/H VIS*/MOtX)0 UPS B/n

MICROBRIDGE COMPUTERS

665 Sky Way Suite 220, San Carlos, CA 94(J70

1-415-S93-8777(CA) 1-415-593-7675 (FAX)

1-416-855-1993 (ONADA) 1-800-523-87770908-260-188 (UK) 4711 4020 (FRG)

Inquiry 863.

DELTA, the better text file comparison tool. ScrollablewintJowed presentations of file or directory comparisons,with a built-in editor iwindow. Ideal for programmers! Re-quires DOS 2.0 or higher with at least 384K RAM. Ahard disk is recommended. Order now. $79.DEMO available on our BBS

OPENetwork

F^WER TOOLS FOR POWER USERS215 Berkely PI. (B-1), Brooklyn, NY 11217718-638-2240 BBS: 718-638-2239

Inquiry 864.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 431

The BUYER'S Mart

UTILITIES

UTILITIES

WORD PROCESSING

Recover deleted files fast!

Disk Explorer now includes automatic file recovery. Youtype in the deleted file's name, Disk Explorer finds andrestores it. Disk Explorer also shows what's really on disk;view, change or create formats, change a file's status,change data in any sector MS-DOS $75 U.S. Check/Credit card vrelcome.

QUAID SOFTWARE LIMITED45 Charles St. E. 3rd Fl.Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1S2 (416) 961-8243

Why You Want BATCOM!

BATCOM is a batch file compiler that transforms your.bat files to .exe files to make them faster. BATCOMextends DOS with many new commands so you canread keyboard Input, use subroutines, and much more.In addition, BATCOM protects your source code. Noroyalties! Only $59.95. Order today!

Wenham Software Company

5 Burley St., Wenham, MA 01984(508) 774-7036

DuangJan

Bilingual word processor for English and: Armenian,Bengali, Burmese, Euro/Latin/African, Greek. Gujarati,Hindi, Khmer, Lao, Punjabi, Russian, Sinhalese, Tamil.Telugu, Thai, Ukranian, Viet, ... Only S109+S5 s/h(foreign + $12 s/h). Font editor included. For any IBMcompatibles with dot-matrix & LaserJet printer. Demo$9+$1 s/h. Visa/MC

MegaChomp Company

3438 Cottman Ave.. Philadelphia, PA 19149-1606

(215) 331-2748 FAX: (215) 331-4188

Inquiry 866.

Inquiry 869.

WINDOWS TOOLS

COPYWRITE

CopyWriteRemovesCopy Protection

No more diskettes, .manuals or Uocodewheels.

1000's of products copied.

QUAID SOFTWARE LIMITED

45 Charles St. E. 3rd Fl, Dept B.Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1S2(416) 961-8243 Fax (416) 961-6448

Hermes DDE Library

The Hermes DDE Library is a powerful library of high levelroutines for MS-Windows'" programmers. Hermes providessupport for DDE at a much higher level than that providedin the Windows SDK. Your program attains added functionali-ty by interacting and communicating with other Windows ap-plications. Compared to the Windows SDK, Hermes reducesthe code required to implement DDE by hundreds of linesof 'C. Hermes is priced at S295.

Raindrop Software Corporation

845 E. Arapaho, Suite 105. Richardson, Texas 75081(214) 234-2611 Fax (214) 234-2674

See our ad on page 222.

Inquiry 867.

MULTI-WRITER"

MULTI-LINGUAL Word processor. 30-f- languages! English,Eastern & Western European, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, etc.No hardvrare modifications necessary! Font editor allowsdesign & prim out of custom-made characters. Customizekeyboard layouts. Edits from right to left. Mail merge. Sup-ports 9 & 24 pin printers S Laser Jet II. Req: IBM/PC/XT/Ar/256K. Only S2O0-fS12 s/h. Demo SIO S4 s/h.Visa/MC/Eurochecques

Summit Software Ltd.

PO Box 2265, Jerusalem. Israel 91022Tel: 972-2-241003 F=ax: 972-2-259239

Inquiry 870.

WORD PROCESSING

REMOVE HARDWARE LOCKS

Software utility allows for the removal ot hardware locks. Don't waitfor your lock or key device to tail or be stolen.Guaranteed to worki The following packages are available:PCAD S199.00 CAOKEY S 99.00

MICROSTATION S99.00 PERSONAL DESIGNER S199.00MasterCAM S250.00 SmanCAM S250.00TANGO PCB S 99.00 CADVANCE S99,00PLUS SHIPPING AND HANDLINGPHONE (204) 669-4639 FAX (204) 668-3566VISA and MASTERCARD Welcome

SafeSoft Systems inc.

191 Kirlystone Way, Winnipeg. MB. Canada, R2G 3B6

FARSI / GREEK / ARABIC / RUSSIAN

Hebrew, all European, Scandinavian, plus either Hindi, Pun-jabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil. Thai, Korean, Viet, or tPA. Full-fealured multi-language word processor supports on-screenforeign characters and NLQ priming with no hardwaremodifications. Includes Font Editor S355 dot matrix; S150add'l for laser; S19 demo. S/H in U.S. incl'd. Req. PC. 640K,graphics. 30-day Guarantee. MCA/ISA/AMEX

GAMMA PRODUCTIONS, INC.

710 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 609, Santa Monica, CA 90401

213/394.8622 Tlx: 5106008273 Gamma Pro SNM

YOUR SALES MESSAGE

about the special computer product or servicethat you provide belongs in print.

THE BUYER'S MART

can help you reach computer professionals andproduce valuable inquiries for your company!Call Brian Higgins for more information603-924-3754

or

Fax: 603-924-2883

Inquiry 865.

Inquiry 868.

Attention U.S. BYTE Subscribers

Watcli for the next BYTE DECK mailing thatwill be arriving in your mailbox soon!

Use this as a fast, convenient tool to purchasecomputer products and services. It's loaded withessential hardware and software products that youshould be aware of when making your buyingdecisions. . .and it's absolutely FREE!

If you have a computer product or service, andwould like to reach 275,000 influential BYTEmagazine subscribers, please give Ed Ware a calltoday at (603) 924-2596.

EVTE

Here's what a BYTE Deck advertiser has to say:

"Ten years ago we advertised in the very first BYTE Deck—the number of salesleads we received was enormous! The BYTE Deck was so successfiil for us, that wehave continued to use it over the past ten years!"

Lisa Tarpoff, Marketing Manager, Heath Company, Benton Harbor, MI

432 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 83 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 84)

VOICE MASTER KEY® SYSTEM II

VOICE RECOGNITION & SPEECH RESPONSEFOR IBM PC/XT/AT/386, PS/2, LAPTOPS, COMPATIBLES

VOICE MASTER KEY' ,

TV5" ^

\n_ju!o mau low «*i-^ttAMi

. ^ IN OUT

II

FOR PRODUCTIVITY, PRESENTATIONS, SOFTWARE DESIGN,ENTERTAINMENT, LANGUAGE TRAINING. EDUCATION, MORE...SPEECH/SOUND RECORDING AND PLAYBACK. Desktop Audio sound editingallows you to create custom sound applications. Variable sample rate {to 20 KHz) andcompression levels. A four-voice music synthesizer is included also!VOICE RECOGNITION TSR utility allows you to add voice command keyboardmacros to your CAD, desktop publishing, word processing, spread sheet, orentertainment programs. Up to 64 voice commands in RAM at once-more from disk.HARDWARE SYSTEM contains built-in speaker with separate volume and tonecontrols, external speaker and headphone jacks. Enclosure made of sturdy vinyl-cladsteel. Attaches to parallel printer port without affecting normal printer operation (U.S.Patent 4,812,847). Headset microphone, printer cable, 9 volt AC adapter (110 voltUUCSA listed), and comprehensive user manual included.

QUALITY THROUGHOUT. MADE IN USA. ONLY $21 9.95ORDER HOTLINE: (503) 342-1271 Mon-Fri, 8 AM to 5 PM PST

Visa/MasterCard, company checks, money orders, CODs (with prior approval)accepted. Personal checks subject to 3 week shipping delay. Specify computer typewhen ordering. Add $5 shipping charge for delivery in USA and Canada. Foreigninquiries contact Covox for C&F/CIF quotes. OEM configurations available.

30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISF/ED.CALL OR WRITE FOR FREE PRODUCT CATALOG

COVOX INC. TEL (503) 342-1271

675 Conger Street FAX (503) 342-1283

Eugene, Oregon 97402 BBS (503) 342-4135

200 MHz Logic Analyzer

200 or 100MHz sampling24 Channels

Expansion to 72 channels16 Levels of triggering16K samples/channelVariable threshold levels3 External Clocks12 Clocl< Qualify lines

$799-12100 (100 MHz) $1299-27100 (100 MHz) $1899-27200 (200 MHz)

UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER

PAL ^ ^

GAL s^i^'div'\ .A

EPROMEEPROMPROM87XXX...

5ns PALs

$475

4 Meg EPROMsFREE software updates on BBS

GANG PROGRAMMER $215

4 32pin Sockets (8 Socket option)•2716-27010 EPROMs

Vr Call "(201) 994-6669Link Computer Graphics, Inc.™^ 4 Sparrow Dr., Livingston. NJ 07039 FAX:994-0730

r^CoMPwom

9,600-38,400 bpsMODEM-i-FAX...$279

NOW you can afford a SPEEDMODEM.^ Raw speed of 300 - 9600bps and 4:1 data compression pusli througfiput up to 38,400 bps.Dynamic Impedance Stabilization- provides robust performance onnoisy telephone circuits. A 9600 bps send/receive, full-featured FAXis included on the same card. Total communications capability-only$279. It comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and a 5-yearwarranty. BYTE magazine said our 2400 bps modem was "a realdeal"*,..well we've done it again... our COMBO - is setting a newstandard for value and performance. See for yourself... ■3,'89p.io2

(408)732 4500 CALL NOW 800 ACT ON IT (800)228 6648

Circle 74 on Reader Service Card

Only your imaginationlimits how you benefit

from PERCON®keyless data collection.

Checking out books or checking in employees—inputdata quickly and accurately using bar codes or magneticstripes. PERCON has proven bar code solutions for IBM®,DEC"", and Apple Macintosh®. Call 1-800-8-PERCON.

PERCON

2190 W. 11th Avenue. Eugene, Oregon 97402-3503(503)344-1189 FAX(503)344-1399

©1989 Percon. inc. PERCON. IB.M. DEC and -Apple Macintosh are trademari(S.

Circle 201 on Reader Service Card

Circle 282 on Reader Service Card NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 433

Circle 81 on Reader Service Card

dBASE Data Entry

The TransTerm 5 is a work station data entry/display terminal for on-lineshop floor data collection into PC/AT based systems. The unit is one of afamily of such terminals which feature LC displays for operator prompting anddata entry via a membrane keyboard or an optional barcode wand (Code 39).A multi-terminal polling controller (up to 250 stations) and a dBASE 111 +compatible software package are also available. System costs below$300.00 per station. Call for info.

Options—backlighting lor display. RS-422 10. 20 Ma current loop 10.dBASE IS a registered trademark of Astiton-Tate. Inc.

CD^PUTfPi¥i5f.,Nc

302 N. Winchester • Olathe, KS 66062 • 913-829-0600 • Fax 913-829-0810

2,168IBM PROGRAMSFREE.

■ Here in the BIX community, you can download your choiceof 2,168 programs developed for IBM PCs and their compatibles.You can attend dozens of informative and provocative con-ferences, too. All this and more is yours in the IBM Exchange,with your subscription to BIX. Call our special Customer Servicenumber for more information: 1-800-227-2983 (in NH, call603-924-7681).

El\

BYTE BACK ISSUES FOR SALE

1987 1988 1989 1990 Rates (postage and handling included):

IssuesAvailable

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovember

December

Inside theIBM PCs

1985 Inside The IBM PCs $4.001988 Inside The IBM PCs $6.00

1987-'90 BYTE Issues $6.00*

BYTE'83-'84Index $4.00

BYTE 1985 Index $4.00

BYTE 1988 Index $4.00♦June 1988 (Benchmarks) $3.00♦December 1988 $3.00

The above prices include postage in the US. Please add S.50 per copy for Canada andMexico; and $2.00 per copy to foreign countries (surface delivery). European customersplease refer to Back Issue order form in International Advertising section of book.

Please indicate whicli issues you would like by checking (>^) the boxes.Send requests with payment to:

BYTE Back Issues, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458(603) 924-9281

□ Check enclosed Charge: □ VISA □ MasterCard

Card #

Exp. DaleSignature

Name

AddressCity _State

. Zip

All orders must be prepaid. Please allow four weeks for delivery.

434 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 353 on Reader Service Card

TREND 386SX/16 COMPUTER SYSTEM 60 MG Hord Drive/14" Monitor

• 14" VGA Paper White Monitor

• VGA Board w/ 256

• Phoenix Bios.

• 1MG On/Bd Memory

• 1.2 Floppy Drive

• 60MB RLL Hard Drive

• 2 Serial Ports

• 2 Parallel Ports

• 1 Game Port

» 101-Key Click Keyboards 3 Button Mouse

• 3 Year Warranty

SIMM MODULES

lMGx91MGx8256x9IMG 4x9-£

100nsS 586020

80nsS626922359

Add S5.00 for SiPP Modules-

COMPAQ

Modules

386/20/20E/25EDeskPro 286E

1MGS125

60nsS80

4MG$349

HARD DRIVES

KAYLOCK 20MB XT 20MB,

MFM. 3.5 HH. 40ms S215.00

MITSUBISHI 40MB, 5.25 HH,

MFM. 28ms S300.00

MITSUBISHI 60MB, 5.25 HH.

RLL, 28ms $400.00

CONNER 3204 200MB, 3 5 HH,

RLL/IDE, 16ms $900.00

IBM PS/2

S 67.50159.00

Models 30-286,S0,S0Z,60

512KKit 30F53482MBKil 30F5360Models 70-E61/121,55SX,6SSX1MB 6450603Models 70-E61 /121,50Z,55SX2MB 6450604Model 70-A212MB 6450608Models 55SX,65SX4MB 34F2933Model 80-0411MB 6450375Models 80-111/121/311/3212MB 6450379

H.P. LASER JET

OK IMG 2MG 4MG

ll&IID $70 $110 S175 S299IIP 8. Ill 69 99 159 289

LAPTOP MEMORY

Toshiba 2MG

T3100E S229.00 T3200SX $269.00

11600 229.00 15100 245.00

T3100SX 245.00 T5200 245.00

Zenith

Super Sport/286

IMG

S199

4MG$899

386 MATH

CO-PROCESSORS

16Mhz 20MHz 25MHz 33MHz SXCYRIX (83D87I

$305 $350 S450 $549 —II T (3C87)

S305 $50 $450 S549 -INTEL (80387)

S305 S350 S450 S49 $290

EVEREX

RAM 3000 $ 89.00

0.3 MG. Will back fill to 640K LIM4.0/052 compatible Expanded and/or extended uses 256l< D-Ram

RAM 8000 190.00

0-8 MG Supports multttaskmgEMS 40 and EEMS compatible.Uses 1 MG D-RAM

D-RAM

All Packages andSpeecJs Available.

SPECIALS

3S0K Floppy Drives $40.00

Panasonic & Mitsumi XT only DS/DD

Mono VGA Monitor

14" Paper wtiite Tilt & Swivel Base

$95.00

OUR PRICES WILL MEET ORBEAT THE COMPETITION!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Terms: Cash, MC or VISA - no surcharge. AMEX only add 4%handling fee. 20% restocking fee on non-defective returns. Weaccept Purchase Orders from Qualified Firms, Universities andGovernment Agencies. Prices subject to change.

800-678-2818

WE BUY EXCESS INVENTORY

TREND

SYSTEMS

I N C

No. 9 Exchange Place, Suite 900, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Telephone: 801/350-9180 Fax: 801/350-9179

SpectacularPerformance.Now Playing On9-Track Tape.

OverlaniJ Data subsystems deliver spectacularperformance play after play. Stay for the credits and you'llsee why:

Speed. Overland Data offers subsystems with the fastestdata rates in the industry. There's never a dull moment.

All Star Cast. We offer eight different tape drives bymajor manufacturers. And our new TXi controller cardtransfers data so fast, it may just steal the show.

Versatile Performance. Exchange data between yourPC's, mainframes and mini's. Use any IBM PC. compatible,or PS/2. Run under DOS, UNIX, XENIX and PICK. Convertfrom EBCDIC to ASCII and back. Backup your hard disk.And more...

Well Developed Characters. We develop our owncustom software for advanced data transfer, conversion, andbackup.

A Great Supporting Cast. You have all of OverlandData behind your subsystem. Expert sales and customerservice staff are always ready to help you by phone. We candeliver to you in 24 hours. We back your tape drive for oneyear and your controller card for two years. And yoursubsystem comes with a 30-day. money back guarantee that itwill meet your application needs.

All of which means that whenever you play 9-track tapeon an Overland Data subsystem, you're in for a spectacularperformance. To reserve your seat, call us at

1-800-PC9-TRAK

San Diego. CA

1-800-729-8725 • 1-619-571-5555 • FAX 1-619-571-0982 • TELEX 754923 OVERLAND

Circle 269 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 435

Circle 312 on Reader Service Card

Scottsdale Systems — Since 1980 — 1-800-777-2369

COMPUTERSSCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS

386-SX w/K-B.. Monitor. 1 Meg of RAM S1656

386-33 MHz w/K.B„ Monitor. 4 Meg of RAM $3925

Choice of Fuii Size Desktop Case or Full Size Tower CaseEach Scottsdale Machioe Has a 1 Year Warranty on Parts& Labor via Overnight Service on Warranteed Products.

Altos W/Xenix SAVE

WYSE 386 25 MHz WYSE 286

1 Year Warranty $3920 Modei2112 $1284

WYSE 386 1 6 MHz 2214 Modei 2116 1351

MATH CO-PROCESSORS save

TERMINALS/MONITORS

WYSE TERMINALS

WY-30 G/A-w/Keytioard $290

WY-50G/A-w/Keyboard 377

WY-60 G/W/A-w/Keyboard ... 40SWY-99GTA-w/Keyl)oard

WY-150G/w;A-w/KeyboardWY-212G/W-w/Keyboard ..WY Height Adjustable Arm..

QUME

OVT 101 Plus G/A/W

QVT 119 Plus G/A/W

OVT 203 Plus G/A;W

QVT POT G/A/W

NEC4D/5D 1160/238S

Mitsubishi Diamond Scar .. .528

Seiko 1440 615

..367 Sony 1303/1302/1304..S77/84S/e«

.95

IBM TERMINALS

IBM 3151 3 Year Warranty ...

Linl< MC5

Altos?

Hitachi Super Scan 1999

Philips 20" Hi-Res 2059

WYSE MONITORS

S316 WY 530G/A 14'Mono . $169

.395 WY 550 AW 14'Mono 179

WY650 12" VGR Color 459

■365 WY 700 W 15'Mono 695

IMTEC

.M5 ImTec 1270/1470 $90/121

.406 ImTec 1430/1441V 348/293

. 457 ImTec 1432M 425

KIMTROK ACER

KT-70PC $349 4" Multiscan 438

14- VGA 640x480 349

14" Amber nonglare 129

Authorized Service for WYSELEASiNG AVAILABLE

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME

PLOTTERS

lOLINE Roland DESKTOP PLOTTERS

ASD/LP3500 $2339 1 Year Warranty

ASO/LP3700 2889 OXY-1100 $895

LP-3700-8 3129 OXY-1200 Electrostatic

LP-4000-1 w/Roii Feed 3579 Paper Hold 1295

LP-4000-8 w/Ron F«ed 3935 DXY-1300 Electrostatic

Vinyl Cutting Machines Paper Hold 1625

Blades S Hot Tips Roland DRAFTING PLOTTERS

HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS 1 Year Warranty

Img Mkr $982 GRX-300AR $3«»5

OMP 52/52 MP 2425/2886 GRX-400 AB 3559

OMP 61/62 2941/3895 Roland FUTBED PLOTTERS

DMP61 DL 3743 1 Year Warranty

0MP62DL 4737 DPX-2500 Pen or Pencil

ENTER w/stand

SP600 $599 DPX-3500 Pen or Pencil

CALCOMP w/stand

1023/1025 $3715/4519 Roland THERMAL PLOTTERS

1043DM/1044 5869/8739 LTX-420

5902/5902A 3819/4275 LTX-320

DM 52224 11.919 LTX-120

HEWLETT PACKARD save Roland CAMM MACHINES

OPTICAL SCANNER* SOFTWARE Softwares Accessories .

Data Copy Authorized Service lor

Panasonic RS-505/506 $1037/1315 Roland Plotters and CAMM Machines

Microtek SAVE UNITED INNOVATIONS

Modei 7000A-CV„ .... 51899

AMT ACCEL 500 Inieiis-Piot $1699 Model 8000A-D . .. 2059

Model 9000A-E 2829

DIGITIZERS ^

KURTA SUMMAGRAPHICS

Lifetime Warranty On Kurta IS-1 Lifetime Limited Warranty

iS-1.12x12 Cordless 4-button 12x12 Summasketch 11 $356

.$42754628

71252135

SAVE

cursor, pen stylus and

interface kit H3M

IS-1.12x17 Cordless 4-button

cursor, pen stylus and

interface kit 629

CALCDMP

CalComp 23120 12x12 $365

Cal Comp 9100 Series save

Cal Comp 9500 Series save

Cal Comp Wiz 165

12x18 Professional .HITACHI

GENIUS TABLET

12x12 w/Cursor. Stylus S Software3 Year Warranty on Tablet. . $299

Call For Pricing OnLarger Digitizers

PRINTERS

ALPS Allegro $345

ALPS324E 735

AMT ACCEL 1299

Canon BJ130E 725

Panasonic 1191 237

Panasonic 1180 185

Okidala all models 3

OTC all models »

Genicom all models

Toshiba all models *

Citizen all models ^

Diconix 150P/300P 339

NECP-2200 $315

NECP-5200 506

NECP-5300 K9

NECLC-890 3159

^Authorized Service lor^^f^'l'riSUttrix

BOARDS 5

Genoa/Intel

Verticom All Models *

BOCA V

VMl/Cobra All Models E

Paradise VGA Plus $289

Paradise Pro! 495

Control Systems/NEC SAVE

Number Nine/Laicomp save

MODEM

U.S. Robotics ail models .. . SAVEMULTITECH SYSTEMS

All Models SAVE

NOVELLARCNET

Coax Slartopology $112

16 Bit Coax $360

TIARA ETHERNETLancard/EPC8-Bit 276

TIARA ARCHNET

Lancard/A PC 91

SYNOPTICS2500/2510 Workgroup CALL

LASER PRINTERS

QUME Apples IBM $3199

H P. Laser 111 1799

Panasonic 4420 1199

Panasonic 4450 1395

LPS 8111 1795

LPB4 959

LAPTOPS

Samsung 286 $2199

Texas Instruments SaVe

IOMEGA

Bernouilli Box

B-120-1 21.4 MB Internal $895

144-1.44 MB Internal 1095

Prices cfo not include interfaceALLOY cAlloy IMP 2 SIMP 8 Cards "aMultiware 386 S 286 VersionsRetriever 60 or 200 c

POWER PROTECTION gDatastiielO

Safe Power Systems yTrippLife P

TAPE BACKUPS 3Emerald Systems all models ^Genoa all models vIrwin all models pHARD DRIVES

CDC IMPRIMIS

/ Year Warranty

72 MB thru 600 MB

Maxtor .. SAVE

SOFTWAREMULTI USER

SCO Xenix 386 510

Concurrent DOS 366 10 User 310Compulone 4 10 1G Port Boards

All software saies are linalCALL SERVICE FOR REPAIRSON PRINTERS. TERMINALS.

MONITORS. COMPUTERS.

1555 W. University Dr. #101, Tempe, AZ 85281

""K^^ Pnces listed are for cash. Discovery. MasterCard and Visa add l .67°*: AZ residents add 6-1 /2^ti tax: add 3% for C.O.D.: add 5% for P.O. Inlemational orders welcome. All items are new with manufacturer's warranty.\^ ^/ Returned products subject to 20% restocking fee and in new condition in oftginal packaging, with all warranty cards, rnanuals and cables.

compalability. Personal and company checks lake up to 5 days to clear Pnces and specifications subject to change. Product subject to availability: all appiicabte trademarks recognized and on file

602-966-8609

SERVICES (Mon.-Fri.).602-731-4742

FAX 602-966-8634

^ "ParlezAX)us Q-TET?"

Oui...Si...Ja...now the answer

is Yes wherever you go internationaliy-thanks to our new Q-TEL International Database.

Q-TEL speaks everyone's language when you're talking about one single source of tele-communications rate, tariff and regulator\' information. Domestically you've already seenhow our Q-TEL Databases (Q-TEL 1000, Q-TEL 5000 Plus, Q-TEL 7000 and Q-TEL 9000)can define a better bottom line for you. Now watch how the newest Q-TEL databasetranslates into maximum cost savings for you internationally

M our Q-TEL products have superior performance packaging, adapting easily to yourapplications with the most current and accurate rate, tariff and regulatory information to keepyou updated and on top of industry activit}'.

So why not parlay our advanced telecommunications capabilities into a unique profitopportunit}' for you. Remember, whatever your role in telecommunications-manufacturer,seller, user of equipment or services-you also get our 20 years oftelecommunications experience, backed bv die information networkof McGraw-Hill. Parlez with us todav..Call: 1-800-526-5307 ext.:290

First-Rate Information

436 BY

T E • NOVEMBER 1990

A-BUS

New Products

Alpha Products proudly announces two newproduct lines: C-Net serial communicationsdevices, and Alpha Box interfaces. Thesenew products are not merely A-Busaccessories, but complete sets of productsfor all of your interfacing needs.

All the products are used to connect differenttypes of devices to your computer. Ourcommunications devices help you connectdevices that have computer interfacesalready built in. C-Net provides the option ofconnecting many different RS-232 devicesto a single serial port on your computer. Wealso carry converters to other standards,including RS-422, RS-485 and IEEE-488.

• C Net Adapter. Connects the master controlcomputer to C-Net. $74

• Quad C-Net Module: Connect 4 RS-232serial devices to C-Net. Each device isconfigurable (baud rate, parity, etc.) and has4.8K byte input and output buffers. $695

• C-Net Device Module: Connect any RS-232 Device to C-Net for data collection orcommunication, with handshaking. $195

Alpha Boxes and A-Bus cards both provideways to interface other types of devices toyour computer. Alpha Boxes sense,measure, switch and govern. They feature:' Each box is an attractively packaged selfcontained module that connects directly tothe computer and includes power supply.

• The input boxes offer the option of loggingdata "off-line" and downloading it rapidly tothe computer.

• Built-in intelligence provides a simple andconsistent interface to your software.

A Sampling of Alpha Box Products:

• Digital Input: 64 TTL7CMOS/0,5V inputchannels. $495

• Digital Output: 64 TTL7CMOS/0,5V leveloutputs. $495.120VAC control available.

• Digital I/O: 32 TTL Level (0.5V) Inputs and32 Outputs. $495

• Analog Input: 16 channels. 0-5.1 V, 20mVsteps (8 bit). 2000 readings/sec. $495.Expansion Option: 16 more channels. $100

• 12 Bit Analog Input: 16 channels,programmable gain. 10000 inputs/sec. max.$995. Option: 16 more inputs. $200

• Analog Output: 4 channel, 12 bit D/A. ±5.1 Voutputs. $495. Expander Option: 12 moreoutputs. $200

• Counter: 16 inputs, 24 bit. $595

"We can make your PC dothings you wouldn't believe."

C' From Your PC

• Command

• Control

• Communications

Bring new dimensions to your computer withA-Bus, C-Net and Alpha Boxes. No longer isyour computer limited to number crunchingor word processing. Now you can connect toall types of equipment, sensors or machines.This offers unprecedented power from pro-duction lines to experiments to home control.

Each product is designed to fit your needs:They're affordable. Compare our prices: thecost of a solution is surprisingly low.They're simple and easy to connect to yourcomputer and your application, and carefullydesigned to adapt to your software easily.They're versatile. An infinite number ofcombinations is possible; one of them is rightfor you. Easily expanded or changed forfuture projects.

They're proven by customers around theworld, including Fortune 100 companies,universities, governments and individuals.

Caii for a Cataiog (800) 221-0916

Overseas distributors

Asia: Batam DA. Singapore

Tel: 473-4518 Fax:479-6496

Japan: Japan Crescent

Tel: 03-824-7449 Fax:03-818-8914Scandinavia: A/S Con-Trade NorwayTel: (04) 41 83 51 Fax: (04) 41 94 72

Spain: Arteca S.C.P.

Tel: (93) 423.77.05 Fax: (93) 325.70.16

Low CostData Acquisitionand Control

A-Bus Sensing & Measuring:

Read switch status. Detect or measurevoltage. Read pressure, temperature, weightand other sensors. For example:

• High-Speed 12-bit A/D converter: 8 10^;sanalog inputs. 1 mV resolution $179

• 8 Bit A/D: 8 inputs, 0-5.1 V in 20mV steps,7500 conversions/sec. $142

• 12 Bit A/D: ±4V in 1 mV steps, 130mSconversion time. 1 input, expandable $153

• Temperature Sensor: 0-200°F 1°Accuracy. 10mV/°F. $12

• Digital Input: 8 opto-isolated. Read voltagepresence.switch closure. $65

• Latched Input: Each individually latched tocatch switch closures or alarm loops. $85

• Touch Tone Decoder: $87

• Counter/Timer: 3 16-bit counters. Generateor count pulses. Time events. $132

• Clock with Alarm: real time clock withcalendar and battery backup. $98

A-Bus Switching & Governing:

Switch any type of electrical device. Adjustlevel or position. A sampling:

• Relay Card: 8 individually controlledindustrial relays. 3A at 120VAC. SPST. $142

• Digital Output Driver: 8 outputs: 250mA at12V. For relays, solenoids... $78

• Reed Relay Card: 8 individually controlledrelays. 20mA @ 60VDC. SPST. $109

• Multiplexer: Swrtch up to 32 channels to asingle common. $83

• Smart Stepper Motor Control: Micropro-cessor controls 4 motors. English commandsfor position, speed, units, limits, etc. $299

• Telephone Control Card: On/off hook,generate and decode touch tones, callprogress detection. $159

• X-10 Controller: Control and sensestandard wall outlet power modules. $149

• Voice Synthesizer: Unlimited vocabulary,text to speech software built in. $159

' D/A: Four 8 BK Outputs. Adjustable fullscale. $149

• 24 line TTL I/O: Connect 24 signal, TTL0/5V levels or switches. (8255A) $72

A Bu8 Adapters and Software:

Adapters connect A-Bus cards to yourparticular computer.

• Plug-in adapters for IBM PC/XT/AT/386 andcompatibles ($69), Micro-Channel ($93).Apple II, Commodore, TRS-80.

' Serial adapters for Mac, PC, etc.

• Odin PC compatible software. Controlrelays from analog inputs or time schedules.Logging. Runs in background. $129

^ ALPHA [p[r®(^lw(mm

242-B West Ave, Darien, CT 06820 USA (203) 656-1806 Fax 203 656 0756

Circle Hon Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 437

ESTABLISHED 1976ORDER DIVISION

^^^\/\/^ MAIL OR

Computer Memoryand Peripherals

We Accept Purchase Orders from Qualified Firms,Universities and Government Agencies

FROM ANYWHERE IN THE U.S.,CANADA, PUERTO RICO ANDTHE VIRGIN ISLANDS.

l-(800)-533-0055

We Accept International Orderswith fast delivery via DHL, Federal Express, Air MallINTERNATIONAL ORDERS: (714) 251-8689

150ns

120ns

lOOns

80ns

70ns

60ns

4MGX9

S365

S385

S415

1MGX9

S60

S65

S69

S79

S90

1MGX8

S50

S55

S62

256X8

SI 6

S24

S29

256X9

SI 8

S20

S24

S33

AM

150ns

120ns

100ns

80ns

70ns

60ns

1MGX1

S5.50

S6.00

S6.50

S7.00

S9.00

256X1

S1.80

S2.00

S2.25

S2.75

S3.25

S3.75

256X4

S5.50

S6.50

S7.00

64X1

SI.00

SI .85

S2.49

64X4

S2.25

S2.50

S2.75

S3.50

256 X 4 Static Col

SI 0.00

S11.00

256 X 1 Static Col

S2.25

S3.00

S4.25

286 MATH CU-PKUCESSUKS i^^H

6MH2

8MHz

10MHz

12MHz

12.5MHz

20MHz

ill (2C87)

SI 83

S208

$280

$324

INTEL (80287)

SI 20

SI 83

S208

S280

MONTHLYSPECIALS

HEWLETT-PACKARD

2P &3

■9K $79

1MG $100

2MG $169

4MG $299

QTY PRICINGAVAILABLE

2&2D

■9K $89

IMG $135

2MG $169

4MG $305

8088 MATH CO-PROCESSORS

INTEL (8087)

5MHz

8MHz

$115

10MHz

SI 65

386 MATH CO-PROCESSORS

16MHz ?nMH7 I PfiMH? I ,'^3MH7 I SX

CYRIX (83D87)

IIT

i3C87)

INTEL (80387)

S305

$305 S350

S350

S450

S450

S549

S549

3305 S350

8450

S549

3290

EPSON LASERPRINTER

Memory Upgrade (orMorJel LP6000

IMG $299

2MG $399

4MG $529

CANON. FACIT.FUJITSU ANDTOSHIBA ALSO AVAIL

IBM LASERPRINTER

Memory Upgrade forModel 4019.4019E

IMG $299

2MG $399

3.5MG $529

PS-2 PRODUCT

MODEL 70&80 SIMM

34F2933 ■ 4MG Memory Module forSSSX: 65SXMemory Option IBM P/N 34F3077:34F3011S469

6450372 - 2MG Module for 6450367 S309

6450375-IMG Memory Bd for 80-041 S139

6450379 ■ 2MG Memory Bd.for 80-111 ;311-121:321 S249

6450603 -1MG Module for 70-E61 ;-121. AdaptorBoard IBM P/N 6450605.6450609, 34F3011 &34F3077 $95

6450604 - 2MG Module tor 70-061 :E61:-

121.50Z:55SX:65SX;P70

Adaptor Board IBM P/N 6450605, 6450609 .34F3011 a34F3077 S185

'10 or more units S175

6450608 for Model 70A21. A61. B-21. B61 ....S1856451060 - 4MG Memor,' Bd.for 80-A21 :-A31 S559

PRINTERS

CmZEN

120D SI 39

180 D S299

GSX 140 S299

GSX 200 GX Color $199

HSP500 S329

HSP550 S449

PANASONIC

MODEL 30-286SIMM

IMG X 9 - icons $75

30F5360(Kit-2ea) $150

256 X 9 ■ 120ns $28

30F5348 ^11-263) $56

:J4:^;;j!i-iM!l=WJ.I>^l

6450605- ■. =MG Expands 10 6M0 $499

1497259 2'.1G Expands to 8MG $499

34F3011 - .■. -MG Expands 10 16MG $749

PTOP MEMORY

2MG Card-Toshiba Portable Tl2Ct0e S445

2MG Card-Toshiba Ponable Tl 600 S275

2MG Card-Toshiba Ponable T3100SX ?275

4WG Card-Toshiba Portable T3100SX S625

512K Card-Toshiba Portable T31D0e s''^^

2WG Card-Toshiba Portable T3l00e $269

2MG Card-Toshiba Ponable T3200SX §299

4MG Card-Toshiba Portable T3200SX $699

3MG Card-Toshiba Portable T3200 1^29

2UG Card-Toshiba PortaWe T5100 X^'^S

2MG Module-Toshiba Portable T5200 §275

2MG Module-Toshiba Desktop T8500 $349

■! M ■'B d !i I ri ? I iic^tyj; IJI giga

MARS 105 PLUS 5-1 naif tone levels (dithered),scan ki! s. : Ssme size phniing 2) Pixii

Editing 3) EMS Support ■;) Quick Merge.Features: I) 105 MM (4.13") scannir>g width 21Selectable 400 300'200'100 DPI 3) ISO.OOO dots perinch area resolution 4) 3 8 X 8 halftone patterns, 1 linean

Includes PC Paint Brush and Cat ReaderSoftware(Marstek Version)

MARS 800 SCANNER 8OO dpi. 64 Shades otGray. Inverse Mode, Resolution 6400 dot-in squared,12 halftone patterns. a^n-mONLY $278

RAMvantage!

tot 286 AT Systems.Split f^iemoryAddressing- DoesBai*fill to 640K andextended memoryup to 3MG. Uses256 D RAM.SuperPak Softwareonly...$69

SIX PAK 286

Up to 4 MB SMS 4.0extended and'orexpanded memoryand does backtill to

640K. 1 serial .1par.port avail. For ATS compatibles- Uses

256K ortMGSIMMs. HeadroomTSR MemoryManagementSoftware included.

with OK $119

wtth512K $159

with4MG $399

RAMPAGEPLUS 286

Up 10 8MG ExpandedMemory - Uses 256 x9ortMGx9SIMM.Supports LIM4.0 andOS/2-Up I0 12-5MHZbus for AT (16 bit bus)

with OK $319

wHh 2MG -.$489

MEMORY EXPANSION BOARDS

BOCA RESEARCH'

I

COMPAQ MEMORY

386/20/20E/25/25EDESK PRO 286E,386S

S129

386/33. 486/25a SYSTEM PRO

3269

Si 695 S7900

MEMORY EXPANSION B

MODEL 512K 1MG 2MG

OAR[

4MG

)S

SMG

386/16

S325

8495

$799

S1299

3S6/20E.25E3S6S

S209

S529

Portable 386

S895

Portable LTE

S139

SI 69

S299

SLT.'286

$199

$999

MEMORY UPGRADE KIT

MODEL 512K 2HG

5

4MG

= -.-.?.z i ; S70 S178

S499

ORCHID

expandable lo 32MG. for IBM PCs. XTs, ATs,PS.'2 Model 30-286 as well as compatibles.Supports both 8 and 16 bit bus.Uses 256K.IMG or 4MG Modules, w/OK $269

RAMQUEST EXTRA 16/32The only e-8MG,e wait state card for PS/2 mod 50. 60, S 80whicfi fully supports both 16 and 32-bit memoryaccess, includes 1 SER and 1 PAR pori plusfree serial cable. EMS 4.0 and OS/2 compatible.Uses 256k and/Of i MG SIMMS S299

ACCELERATORS

TINY TURBO 286 Low cost, nigh speed, half slotPC.-XT - Accelerates your PCXT with a 8MHz 80236microprocessor. 60287 math chip socket $229

TINYTURBOXT High speed half slot accele-rator for PC XT - Accelerates your PC/XT up to ^times faster with a 12 MHz 80286 micropfocessor.80287 Math chip socket $259

D-RAM TESTERS

UNI-002RT S149.95

Tests speed plus parameters

UNI-003RT S199.95

Tests standard SIMM Modules256 X 8, 256 X 9. 1 MG X 9. 1 MG X8

CALL FOR OTHER OPTIONS AVAILABLE

VIDEO ADAPTERS

BOCA RESEARCH

1024 VGA 1024 X 768 in 16 simultaneouscolors. 640/480 in 256 colors. 132 col X 50-43.25. 1024 X 768 - 800.'600 drivers 132 col SI 59

SUPER VGA 800 X 600 Resolution; 256KRAM,' 8 or 16 bit- 132 col X 50.43.25 LIMDrivers/ 800 X 600 drivers for Windows. AutoCAD $109

VGA 540 X 480 Resolution/ 256K RAM. 8 on 6bit S99

Multi EGA 640 X 480 Resolution on multiplefrequency monitors- 640 X 480 ^ 752 X 410/256K RAM/Drivers for Auto CAD. Windows andLotus S89

ATI TECHNOLOGIES

VGA WONDER 256™(256K video memory,user upgradable) Same as VGA wonder 512"^'.except with 800x600 In 16 colors and 1024x768in 4 colors. Includes Microsoft comp|^i^^e

EGA CARD 640 X 480. 16 color, EQA'MGACQA'Hercules S89

VGA CARD 1024X768,16 color.VGA EGAMGACGA S119

MONO CARD w/parallel port $25

CGA CARD w-/parallel port $25

SOFTWARE

DOS 3-3'GW BASIC $59

DOS 4.0,'GW BASIC $65

PAINT BRUSH $39

TOPHAT - Does backfill conventional memoryfrom 512 to 640K on AT/ with OK $6Ef

TOPHAT II - Same as ToptiAT/ with 128K $85

BOCARAM/XT Provides up to 2MG of expandedmemory for 8 bit bus. Operates up to 12 MHz ■

Uses 256K D-RAM/ with BK S109

with512K SI 69

BOCARAM/AT Provides up to 2MG LIM EMS4.0and/or 4MG of extended, expanded or backfillmemory. For 16 bit bus. Operates up to 16MHz.

Uses 256K D-RAM/With 9K S109

with512K S169

BOCARAM/AT PLUS Provides up to SMG ofextended, expanded or backfill memory.Operates up to 33MHz and is set thru software.

Uses 1 MG D-RAM/ withSK S129

with2MG S299

BOCARAM/AT I/O PLUS Provides up to4MG ofextended- expanded or backfill memory-For 16bit bus- Operates up to 33 MHz and is set thrusoftware- Has serial and parallel port. Uses

IMG D-RAM/ withSK S165

with 2MQ S319

BOCARAM 30 Provides up to 2MG ofexpanded memory for IBM PS,'2 model 25. 30and 8.bit bus PC that utilize 3.5 in. floppy disks.

Uses 256K D-RAM' with 6K S149

with2MG S289

BOCARAM 50Z Provides up to 2MG. 0 waitstate, expanded or extended memory for IBMPS/2 model 50. 50Z,60. Uses 1 MG D-RAM/

withBK SI 60

with2MG S299

BOCARAM 50/60 Provides up to 4MGexpanded, extended or backfill memory for PS/2 model 50. 60. Uses IMG D-RAM/

with9K SI 60

with2MG S299

I/O XT 02 41 For 8-bit bus. Has clock, parallelport, serial port, and optional 2nd serial port.$49

I/O AT For 16.bit bus. Has parallel port, serialport, and optional 2nd serial port $69

I/O SER 2 Add 2nd serial port, to I/O AT or L'OXT $15.95

BOCA MCA PARALLEL CARD Adds 1parallel port to PS'2 System $69

BOCA MCA SERIAL/PARALLELCARD Adds 2 serial and 1 parallel port toPS 2 System $119

EVEREX

RAM 3000 DELUXE Up to SMG. Selectablememory addresses, Expanded MemorySpecifications (EMS) 4.0 .' OS'2. Can be usedto backfill base memory up to 640K and the restas expanded and/or extended memory. Uses

256K D-RAM $99

With512K $139

RAM 8000 Up to 8MG capacity/support tobase, extended or expanded memory in anycombination. Fully compatible with Lotus. Intel,Microsoft. EMS 4.0. EEMS. Supports Multi-Tasking and DMA Multi-Tasking in hardware.Software configurable (no dip switches to set).Full 16MG window for future expansion . Zerowait state, uses IMGD-RAM $239

RAM 10000 Up to 10MG capacity/support tobase, extended or expanded memory in anycombination. Compatible with Lotus. Intel.Microsoft. EMS4.Q. Operates with no additionalwait states. Uses IMG D-RAM $159

UNITEX

DPI 3 BUTTON MOUSE -Microsoft Corri-patible w.'software included $35

384 Multifunction Card $89

for PC XTExpands to 384K-SER'PAR,CLK,Game port. Uses 64K DRAM

MARSTEK 3 BUTTON MOUSE

>' Microsoft/Mouse Systems Compatable: Adjustable DPI up to 1280 (software)

SOFTWARE INCLUDED...

$39

Retail Office1025 E. TwainLas Vegas. NV 89109Phone: (702) 732-8689FAX: (702) 732-0390

1-(80q)-843-8414

Mon - Fri Sam - 6pmSat Sam - 2pm

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

No surcharge for MC or VISATemis: MC ■ VISA • COO ■ CASH • AMEX add 4%Purchase Orders from qualified firms.20% restocking fee on non-detecfive reiurns.Prices subject to change.

SEND ALL MAIL ORDERS TO

P.O. Box 19772Irvine, OA 92713

Mail Order Division & Retail Store

17222 Armstrong Ave. • Irvine, CA 92714Phone: (714) 251-UNTX(251-8 6 8 9)Fax: (714) 251-8943

1-(800)-533-0055

Men - Fri 7am • 5pm Sat Sam ■ 2pm

x5\

Initex, Inc

ESTABLISHED 1976MAIL ORDER DIVISION

Computer Systemsand Hardware

We Accept Purchase Orders from Qualified Firms,Universities and Government Agencies

FROM ANYWHERE IN THE U.S.CANADA, PUERTO RICO ANDTHE VIRGIN ISLANDS.

l-(800)-533-0055

CALL for pricing on additionalFLOPPY DISK DRIVES, HARD DISK DRIVES,PRINTERS AND MONITORS

Check Out these GreatComputer Systems Buys!!

SPECIALS

DPI Mouse

3-Button Mousewith SelectableSensitivitySoftware Included

$35

200MB HardDrives

Conner 3204

$899

RodimeR03259A

$825

360K FloppyDrives

Panasonic &MitsumiXT Only DS/DD

$39

Mono VGAMonitor

14" Paper White,Tilt & Swivel Base

$99 ea.

$89-10 or more

HARD DRIVES

MODEMS

KALOCK 20MB XT 20MB,MFM,3.5 HH,40ms $225

MITSUBISHI 40MB.5.25HH.MFM, 28ms $319

MITSUBISHI 60MB,5.25HH.RLL, 28ms $419

CONNER 3204 200MB,3.5HH,RLL/IDE,16ms $899

RODIME R03259A 200MB, 3.5HH, IDE $825

Intemal 1200 BAUD $69

Internal 2400 BAUD $129

Internal 2400 BAUD w/MNP 5 $169

External 2400 BAUD w/MNP 5 $199

Dnitex (HAYES compatibles)

Internal 1200 BAUD $59

External 1200 BAUD $99

Internal 2400BAUD $69

External 2400 BAUD $129

FAX BOARDS

• ■ 1 1 Wow works with

Calculus EZ-FAX Windows 3.0!

The most Highly functional. Fully loaded. Cost effective FAX boardmanufactured.CCm Group III

Provides fullyconcurrent background operation. Allows userto transmit, receiveand view documents on screen. Once in memory, the transmissions may beedited (or retransmission, printed, stored for future, or discarded off your harddrive. SOFTWARE INCLUDED

C,\L OOIFX (4800 baud) Unitex Price $189

CAL 002FX (9600 baud) Unitex Price $269

ZOLTRIX 96/24 9600baud.send/feceivefaxcardwith2400baudmodem.SOFTWARE INCLUDED- „ „ $239

SCANNERS

LOGITECH SCAN MAN Compatible with the Calculus EZ- FAX.Scan man is a 1-400 Multi-Resolution Scanner, Real time screen imagegeneration while scanning. Using this hand scanner makes faxing your scannedimages a simple wave of the hand. AonrtCAL OOZBL INCLUDES CALCULUS EZ-FAX !}>009

DEST PERSONAL SCAN Combinestwo of tfiebestscanningplatformsinto one, compact unit. Full page hand held and ten page sheet feed scanningin one device. Perfonn "free-hand' scanning with the full page hand heldunit-tx)oks, maps, technical documents, oddly-shapped originals are easilyscanned. Place the hand held unit into the feeder base and automatically scanup to ten pages al a time, within seconds.

The DEST Personal Scanned comes bundles with Recognize!, □EST'scriticallyacdaimed omnifont optical cfiaracler recognition {OCR) software. Togetherthese innovative products offer the most cost effective, high accuracy OCRsolution available for the P.C.

300 dpi resolution. Halftone scanning with 64 levels of gray $649

UNITEX COMPUTER SYSTEMS

WITH FULL 1 YEAR WARRANTY

The New 386 Personal Computer Systems from Unitex have someincredible features that outperform machines that cost hundreds of dollarsmore! We have the configuration with exactly the options you want.

TLLSYSTEMriNCUJDFDoTsIs^^

UNITEX 386 SX/i 6

I 14" VGA Paper While Monitor ■I Phoenix Bios. ■I IMG on Board Memory (expandable to 8) ■I 1.2MB Floppy Drive ■I 2 EA. Serial and Parallel Ports ■

1 Game Port101-Key Click Keyboard3 Button Mouse includedSupports E MS/LIM 4.0Has Mathco Socket

INCLUDES60 MB HD

INCLUDES 60MB RLL HARD DRIVE

OUR PRICE

$1295

UNITEX-386-20

■ 20MHz

■ 1 MG RAM (expandable to 8 MB)

■ 1.2MB Floppy Drive

■ Fast IDE 1.1 hard/floppy drive controller

200 Watt Power SupplyFCC Class B approved101 keyboardSupports E MS/LIM 4.0Has Mathco Socket

OUR PRICE

$899

UNITEX-386-25

25MHz

1 MG RAM (expandable to 8 MB)1.2MB Floppy DriveFast IDE 1.1 hard/floppy drive controller

I 200 Watt PovKer SupplyI FCC Class B approvedI 101 KeyboardI Supports EMS/LIM 4.0Has Mathco Socket

AVAIL. WITH64K CACHE

I

OUR PRICE

$1199

UNITEX-386-33

■ 33MHz

■ 1MG RAM (expandable to 8 MB)

■ 1.2MB Floppy Drive

■ FastlDEI.1 hard/floppy drive controller

■ 200 Watt Power Supply

FCC Class B approved101 keyboardSupports E MS/LIM 4.0Has Mathco Socket

INCLUDES

64K CACHE

)

OUR PRICE

$1899

VENDEX HEADSTART 286/12MHz COMPUTER SYSTEM

m 12mhz Motherboard

■ 80287 Math Co-processor Socket

■ Switchable Speed

■ 8 Expansion Slots

■ 1MB RAM

■ 1.1 IDE FD/HD Controller

■ 1.2MB Floppy Drive

1 YEAR WARRANTY

m 2 Parallel Printer Port

■ 1 Serial Port (RS-232 Interface)

■ 101-Key Enhanced Keyboard

■ DOS 3.3 & GW Basic

■ 200 Watt Power Supply

■ FCC Class B approved

■ Award BIOSMADE BY SAMSUNG

OUR PRICE

$579

SYSTEM OPTIONS (Add-ons to systems only)

FLOPPY DRIVES

\ 360K $60

% 720K $75

V 1.2MB $79

^ 1.44MB(3.5")....$89

MONITORS

\ 12" Amber w/tilt and

swivel base $79

^ 14" Paper w/tilt and

swivel base $99

\ EGA Color $299

\ VGA Color $319

\ Super VGA color $419

VIDEO CARDS

\ Monochrome(720X) orColor Graphics(320X)

with parallel port $25

V Boca EGA $89

\ Boca VGA $99

^ Boca Super VGA..S109N ATI-VGA Wonder.$279

CASES

\ Baby SI 00

V Mini Tower $1 GO

\ Full Size Tower..$150

POWER SUPP.

\ XT 200W S30

\ AT 230W $30

MOUSE

\ 2 Button $19

N 3 Button $35

(Includes Software)

Retail Office

1025 E. TwainLas Vegas, NV 89109Phone: (702) 732-8689FAX: (702) 732-0390

1-(800)-843-8414

Mon - Fri Sam - 6pmSat Sam • 2pm

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Terms: Cash - MC or VISA ■ no surcharge

AMEX onfy add 4% har»dlir>g feeCOD, Purchase Orders from qualified fimns.20% restocking fee on non-defective returns.Prices subject to change.

SEND ALL MAIL ORDERS TO

P.O. Box 19772Irvine, CA 92713

Mail Order Division & Retail Store

17222 Armstrong Ave. • Irvine. CA 92714Phone: (714) 251-UNTX(251-8 6 8 9)Fax: (714) 251-8943

1-(800)-533-0055

Mon - Fri 7am ■ 5pm Sat Sam - 2pm

TM

'Ogives you all the Clanguage routines youneed to write an impres-sive scientific graphingprogram of your own.Highly recommended."^"- PC Magazine

IBM® PC (with source code) $395

Circle 309 on Reader Service Card

Macintosh® (no source code) $295

Circle 310 on Reader Service Card

Licensed for personal use only

mmfw

DEC® VT220/102/52& Tektronix®4010/4014/4105

Terminal Emulatorfor IBM® PCs

Circle 311 on Reader Service Card

VTEK-HP has added fullVT220 emulation to VTEK

New High Performance features:

TIFF export

Color PostScript® and viewable EPSHP-GU2™ and PaintJet XL™ support

""^ Full national character set support

""^ Telephone dialer

faster and uses less memory

'I* requires '286 or '386 and VGA/EGA

VTEK-/yP$245 VTEK $195

Scientific Endeavors

508 North Kentucky StreetKingston, TN 37763 USA

(615)376-4146 FAX:(615) 376-1571

QUARTERHORSE

High CapacityTape Subsystems

for Disk Backup, Data Acquisition, andArchiving

Everything you need in a single, high-quaiitypacl<age: Drive, SCSI Host Adapter, Enclosure,and DSI's Backup Software.

• 320/520 Mb 1/4" CI . , . . Si,495

• 1.2 Gb 4mm DAT s3,195

• 2.3 Gb 8mm HS s3,695

New: 450 Mb 3480 CT . . . . $4,295Optional Application interface Libraiy(in "C") available. Full Support.

Terms: U.S.-Vlsa,COD,pre-appvd. credit.Other: Prepaid wire transfer, Inter-national letter ol credit.

DATA STRATEGIESINTERNATIONAL, INC.

9020 Capitol of TX Hwy.Se. 420, Austin, TX 78759(512)338-1745 FAX(6I2)34S-1328

Circle 97 on Reader Service Card

PC CommunicationsCoprocessors

mm «M>

Our communications coprocessors offload serial andparallel communications tasks from PCs used indedicated applications. RS232 and RS485 stylecommunications. Easily programmed using C. Amemory mapped interface to the host PC allows highspeed data transfer and simple buffer schemes.From 64kto 512kot memory local to the coprocessorbut accessible from the host PC. Used in many in-dustrial and business systems to dramatically im-prove performance compared to standard PC serialport implementations.

Z-World Engineering

1340 Covell Blvd., Davis, CA 95616(916) 753-3722

Fax: (916) 753-5141

Circle 380 on Reader Service Card

9 Track Tape Subsystemfor PC/XT/AT/386/PS2

$1995 for 1600/3200 BPI$4995 for 1600/6250 BPI$6995 for 800/1600/3200/6250 BPICALL 1-800-289-4TAPE

Laguna Conversion Systems

1401 South Pacific Coast HighwayLaguna Beach, CA 92651

9-Track Tape Subsystem

for the IBM PC/XT/AT

Now you can exchange data files betweenyour IBM PC and any mainframe or mini-computer using IBM compatible 1600 or 6250BPI 9-Track tape. System can also be used fordisk backup. Transfer rate is up to 4megabytes per minute on PCs and com-patibles. Subsystems include 7" or IOV2"streaming tape drive, tape coupler card andDOS compatible softu-are. For more informa-tion, call us today!

nUfJLSTfJRl

9621 Irondale Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311Telephone: (818) 882-5822

Circle 294 on Reader Service Card

Little Giant"

C Programmable Controller

This shirt pocketsized computerinterfaces directlyto the outsideworld. Use it tocontrol anything.Instantly program-mable using yourPC with DynamicC. ROM and bat-tery backed RAM to 1024k bytes. 8 Channel, 10/12 bit, A/D with conditioning. High voltage andcurrent drivers. Battery backed time and dateclock. Watchdog and power fail, 4 serial channels.24 parallel I/O lines. Timers. Integral power supply.Terminations for field wiring. Expansion connec-tor. Plastic or metal field packaging available.OEM versions from SI 99.00.

Z-World Engineering

1340 Covell Blvd., Davis, CA 95616

(916) 753-3722

Fax: (916) 753-5141

Circle 381 on Reader Service Card

Introducing

ITR VISIONa Software00

'695

Special Offer

The Software SolutionTo Image Compression

• IBM Compatible MS-DOS 3,0 or Higher

• Uses EMS 3,2 or above to HandleLarge Images

• Variable Compression-Up to half a bitper pixel

• No Extra Hardware Needed

• Uses Higfi Resolution TGA Files

• Includes Proposed JPEG StandardCompression Modes

CALL NOW TO ORDER

1-800-966-4487

MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED

440 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 198 on Reader Service Card

Circle 186 on Reader Service Card

in

SOFTWARE

ACCOUNTING IMICE&ACCES.

DACEasy[5aC Easy B

If4S78

$129SI 29S129

: Easy Bonus pack 4

DAC PavroilDollars S Sense (3.Tjw'ForecasiGREAT AMERICAN:One Wriie PlusAccounB PayableAccounS ReceivabePayrol

JK Lasser Income Tax $43Money Matters SA7Peacntree 111 SU'Peacltree DWe Bonis BnsS S210Proftwse Bus, 10 pak S138ProfitwiseiSolorTon repofiS graph S108OuiAen 3.0 S33Tobias Manaong yourMoney 16.01^'Tobias Tax CutTobias Manajng Yajr STuriMTaxWealth BuilberTurt» Tax Professional

Masterpiece

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CAD & ENG.

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CoiCro

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Clarion Personal Oevefoper |l04Clanon Pro Developer S368Data Perfea 2.1 S255

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GRAPHICS

Corel Draw ^2Deluxe Paint II Enhanced $75Deswier $414FirsIThjbfchers Power Pack SS7Rowcharling II Plus $121Form Tools 548FormWoiiffiwifilSiie 581

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Novell Boot ROM aie Bit §9

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GAME & EDUC.

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QCKE

ICOMPUTERS $199

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BACKLIT NOTEBOOK

♦ 9.5Mhz-20MB $1295 $34/mo

only 6lbs

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PALMTOP 80C88. MS DOS compatible.Lotjs 123 file compatible. Word Proces-sor. Address Book. Appointment Diary.Phone Dialer. Up Download thru parallelport to printers' PC/XT/AT/386.0

SHARP NotebookPC 6220 $79/mo

* 286-12Mhz

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* Weighs 4.4 lbs. - 11"x8.5"x14-

15/"^°'

TOSHIBA !

llUUO/ookcoc Si49T1000/I200SE/XEir^B/2tv1B Call/S299T1600/3100/3200/5200 2MB S295

lrvtB/4M3 S199/Cal!Z386.20/25/331MB/2MB S145/2494MB S649Z386SX

2MB S199

COMPAQ

SLTlfvlB STVVLTE286

1MB/2MB S295/475DeskPro286-20/20E/25/286-61MB/4MB S165/440DeskF>ro386S1MB/4MB S165/495DeskPro 386/332MB S295

IBM PS/2

Mdl 3U/O0Z/CO512K/2MB S75/225Mdl70.E61/1211MB

Mdl 70 A-212MB

Mdl 80 1411MB

Mdl 80 111/2112MB

EPSON FAX ■ RICOH

CANON FAX

FaX;rtort;15

Fax aim 20FaX|jfoo«23Faxpi>m26FaxD(wie35Fax 222Fax 270Fax 350Fax 450Fax 630Fax 705Fax 770Fax 850

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PANASONIC

KXF 120KXF220KXF 320KXF 50KXF 90KX110

$749$1045$1335SCALL$CALL$CALL

S125S245

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S299

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UF 160

UF170

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1^900S145/209 t^'lOOM1850F25

S325

80287.8

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80387-16

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S125S196S204S269S295S389S455

$645$925$495$679$979

$395$499S698$769

F37 $849F40 $1110F45 $1299Samsung 1010 $399

RF810RF860RF910RF920Fax 15Fax 25Fax 35Fax 80Fax 95Fax 105Fax 1010Fax1000L

F^lbFO230F0 333FO5I0FO550FO750FO800FO5200UX110UX181

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FAX CARDS

c.j«ft. JT 9600 $299

Hayes JT 9600 $4599600 FAX + 2400

Modem card $299Complete

PC 9600 $394

9600 Faxed $184

MODEMS

2400 int2400 ext9600 int9600 ext

$69$Call$395SCall

TOSHIBA !

T3400T3600T3750

S568$659$748

AMx,2400te $82/1162400 MNP i/e $155/2259600v32MNP5i $745Evew 2400 MNP5i $1752400 MNP5 ext $194

SCANNERS

Stiarp JX 100 S66SSharp JX 300 $2779Sharp JX 450 $4779Chinon DS 3000 $549Chinon DS 3000/OCR $699Epson Color SCallHP Scanjet $1385Oscam dOOdpi full pg +doc feed + OCR S695Panasonic 505U S7B4

SI 078$989$165$499

Panasonic 506UPanasonic 307UComplete PC 1/2 pgComplete PC full pgLogitech 5' ScanMon+ OCR

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FAX: 714-891-12024

M-F: 6a.m.-6p.m. Sat/Sun 7a.m.-2p.m

LAP-TOPS

TOSHIBA

MONTHLY PAYMENTS

TOSHIBATIOOO S599 $23 mo

TlOOOSENotetjook SGAaTIOOO XE 1200 XE NotetXJOk $CAa

$CAaotetXMk SCALLT1200HB20MB S1599 S58moT1600 286 20MB $2399 S64moT1600 286 401^8 $2585 S69moTI600 X 40MB SCALLT3100E 286 40MB 396 mo

T3100 SX 40MB 80MB $3585 CALLT3200SX40MB SCALLT5100 386 100MB S4199 SllZmoT5200 386 40MB S4479 $119.moT5200 386 100MB $4879 $130/1110

SHARP

PC 6220 Notebook 20MB $79 mo

PC 8081 80MB Color VGA SS169mo

PC 4741 Mini Laptop SCall

PC 5741 40MB VGA S93 mo

LEADING EDGE

386SX With 20MB SI 995 S52'mo386SX With 40MB $2095 S57/mo

TEXAS INSTR.^

Tl 12 286 20MB •,=:» SI 895 ^TI45 286 52349 S63 mo

Notebook 286 20MB VGA-4lbs SCALL

ZENITH LAPTOPS

Minsport NOTEBOOK SCall

Superspod 184-2 SI 695

Supersport 286 20MB $2499

Superspoct 286 40MB $2699

Supersport 286E 2040MB SCall

386SX 40MB $3899

NEC LAPTOPS

Ultralite 2MB NOTE BOOK SCallProspeed 286 20MB SCall S67~.moProspeed 286 40MB SCiI $78moProspeed 386SX H;all $102 moProspeed 386 40MB $3499 592 mo

MITSUBISHI

MP 286-210 2 FO S1265 $35 mo

MP 286-220 1 FD. 20t.E $1639 $45 moMP 286.240 1 FD. 40r.!= $2139 $58 mo

COMPAQ LAPTOPS

LTE20MB $2139 $58 mo

LTE 286 20MB $2525 $80 mo

LTE 286 40MB $2699 $87 mo

COMPAQ SLT 20MB 40MB SCallCOMPAQ SLT 40MB SLOWSLT 386SX VGA SCall

EPSON LAPTOPS

286E 20MB removable $2198 S60 mo286E 40MB removable $2349 $65 mo386SX 20MB removable S3159S85mo386SX 40MB 53299 389 mo

GOLDSTAR

GS500 286 20MB $1495 $40 mo

GS520 386SX VGA 40MB LOWS^;all

HYUNDAI

LT4.286 20MB VGA $50 mo

LT5.386SX20MB $64 mo

NB.286 20MB $71 mo

TandonLT286LT386 40MB $CallPanasonicCF150B-.=*. 5599 $23-=

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386-20 Goldstar

$1895

386SX Goldstar

$999 $25 mo

-•■•e ='V.' - - 5' - 21m -cx; eve •' ■ rer'eaveCO—c e- ■

Goldstar XT

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b v-: s\: X: .-c-Ds:3^ • ^6eK ra;.i • ■ 5' y 360KB

486- 25Mhz

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Ma^avox XT20MB $599 $21/mo

386-33Mhz

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Model 25 Mono color S9751229

IBM 8530 286 20MB 30MB $1695 1895

IBM 8555 SX.3OMB S2695

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IBM 8560 286 44MB S3175

IBM 8571561 061 ' $3495 3895

IBM 8570 A61 55845

Portable 70 60MB 120MB SCall

IBM 8570.121 20Mhz 386 $4450

IBM8570.A21 25MI1Z386 $6195

8580.041 16Mhz 386.40MB $4195

8580 111 20Mhz 386.115MB $5795

COMPAQ

Deskpro286E 20MB 40MB S2099 2399

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Deskpro 386 20E 40MB M275

Deskpro 386 20E110MB $4799

Deskpro 386 25E 84MB S5495

Deskpro386 25E 110MB $6195

Deskpro 386 25E 300MB $8495

Deskpro 386 33 84MB $7245Model 486 25N

120MB 320MB 650MB SCALL

Portable III 20MB 40MB S3395 3998

Portable 386 40MB 100MB $4799 5599

APPLE MACINTOSH

Portable S3899Mac SE 30 40MB $2950Mac IIX 40MB $4150

MORE LAPTOPS

FORA 386SX 40MB VGA $2395FORA 386SX 100 200MB $2799 3098PACKARD BaL286.VGA20 31995Sarrst.ngGS 3600 VGA 40MB $1959SamsungGS52W $1495

PRINTERS

Panasonic KXP.1180Panasonic KXP.1191Panasonic KXP.1124Panasonic KXP.1695Panasonic KXP.1624KXP.4420 mSERKXP.4450i LASERKX04455mSERDiconix 150 plusTILasei

Sharp Laser SX.9500 S895NEC2200 S325NEC 6200 SCallNEC 5300 S649OladalaML182 S230OkklataML320 $335OkkJala ML 321 S455OkidataML380 24pin S355

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Toshiba 301TosHiba 311Page Laser 6HFDeskjet PlusHP 2P Laser printerHP III Laser printerHP 2D Laser printer $23M

S318

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$795S2955899

Co-ner200MB18ms S945SEAGATE20MB ST22530MB ST238R40MBST251.1BOMB ST277R80MB ST409620MB ST125 3.5"3(IMBST1393.5"WESTERN DIGITALWD1003V.MM1 HOCWD1003V.MM2<.:CWD1003V.SR1 RLL S99WD1003V.SR2RLL $115WD1006V.MM1 1;1 $99WD1006V.MU2*.: $119WDXTGENZOCTHDC S58RIecard 20MB XT/AT S349WD 3.5-40MB IDE AT S415

Temis: These are pre-payment prices decounled 2.9% for cash. Dscover, VISA/MC/COD a/e not considered pre-paymenL Restocking 20%.AOO BYT ^^^i®^l'° change, all sales are fln^. Defecth/e items repaired, in warranty. A $5.95 handling charge will be added to all orders.

Telephone Product Center

12603 Hoover St.,Garden Grove, CA 92641

We accept Cashiers Checks. We check for stolen credit cards. Prices and availatHlity, NO RETURNS. Monthly financing payments are approximations only.

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mm

MEMORIES.

Description

1MB Add-on Module1MB Add-on Module4MB Add-on Module

4MB Add-on Module1MB Memory Exp. 8d1MB Memory Exp. Bd4MB Memory Exp. Bd4MB Memory Exp. Bd1MB Memory Exp. Bd4MB Memory Exp. Bd1MB Upjrade Bd4MB Upgrade Bd

Equiv. CompaqPart #

113131- 001113646-001

113132- 001112534-001

113644- 001

113633- 001

113645- 001

113634- 001

117428- 001

117429- 001110235-001108070-001

ForModel #

386/20/25/20e/286E

Deskpro 386S3Se/20/25/20E/2S6EDeskpro 386SDeskpro 386/20eDeskpro 386SDeskpro 386/20eDeskpro 386S286E286ESLT/286386/16

YourLow Price179i"i189""359"4ggoa2ggao3jgoa799""799""469""

1299""399""

1299""

Description

256 X 9 IBMIMeg X 8 AppleIMeg X 9 IBM4Meg X 9 IBM

120NS lOONS SONS 60NS

19"" 29"" 33"" 59»"

85"" 95"" 99"" —

— 64"" 69"" 99""

_ _ 39900 49900

IMeg 119"" 2Meg 179"" 4/Heff 299"

HP IIP 1049"" HP LASER JET II 1499"" HP III 1799""All memory lioanls expandable to 4 Meg. Specify Machine Type

8087

8087-2

8087-1

80287

802878

8028710

8 Bit

5MHz or less 88""

8MH2 118""

lOMHz or less 149""

16 Bit

6MH2 149"°

8MH2 189"«

10MHz 218""

8K28712 Laptop

278""

32 Bit

80807-16 16MHz8038720 20MHz8038725 25MHz8038733 33MH280387SX80287-XL

309""359""459""559""2ggoo

228"°

Description

512K Upgrade2MB Upgrade1MB Module2MB Module2MB Module1MB Mem. Board2MB Mem. Board2MB Exp. 8MB4MB Module2MG Module4MG Board2-8MG Board

Equiv. IBMPS2Part #

30F 534830F 536064506036450604645060864503756450379645060534F 2933645057264510601497259

ForIVIodel #

30/286

30/28670-E61 8 12170-f6r « 121

70-A21

80-04180-111 & 311

70/80

70/8070 & 8080-A21 & A3150-55 & 60

YourLow Price59°°189°"104°"1S9"209""149""31900

599°°599°°44 goo

699""499"

Description 150NS

64 X 1 ,.,15* 1"

64 X 4 -foO^w* 2«5

256 x 1 ^'^jW^O' 1"

12aNS lOONS180 2*0

Ml

RAM 3000 DELUXE Up to 3 Meg. (EMS) 4.0 OS/2. Back up basememory and expanded and/or extended memory. Uses nnnn

256K D-RAM 99""

RAM 8000 Up to 8MG capacity/support to base extended or expandedmemory In an/ combination. Fully compatible with Lotus. Intel,Microsoft. EMS 4.0 EFMS. Supports Multi-Tasking and DMA Multi-Taskingin hardware software configurable (no dip switches to set). Full 16MGwindow for future expansion. Zero wait state, uses IMG ^nnnn

D-RAM 199""

RAM 10000 Up to 10 MB extended or expanded memory.Compatible with Lotus. Intel. Microsoft. EMS 4.0. Uses ^-.^nn1 MB D-RAM 179'"'

256 x41 Meg X 1

06-

295IIS

8°°495

3«

23S

9005<s

39s2"10°°5»s

16 BIT MEMORY BOARD FOR 286. 386 AT

0K-8Meg Board • 4 0 LIM Compatible • New 5 Year Warranty• Conventional, Expanded and Extended Memory• Supports DOS, OS/2, LIM/EMS 8, EEMS• Operates with CPU Speeds to 33 MHzOK - 129"" 2 Meg - 246°°

4 Meg - 353"° 8 Meg - 577°"

386/25/33

359""1159""

2MG Card Toshiba Portable T16002MG Card Toshiba Portable T3100SX .4MG Card Toshiba Portable T3100SX..512K Card Toshiba Portable T3100e...2MG Card Toshiba Portable T3100e .2MG Card Toshiba Portable T3200SX .4MG Card Toshiba Portable T3200SX3MG Card Toshiba Portable T3200 ...2MG Card Toshiba Portable T5100. ..2MG Module Toshiba Portable T5200 .3MG Module Toshiba Desktop T8500

49!

13"6«

29800298°°

798°°148°°298°"298""698""498"°298°°298°°348°°

• 300 DPI • 16 Sees per page • 32 Level Gray Scale

• 1 year warranty • Ready to go Interface card and cable Included

List 1595 Your Price 499"''

OPTIONS: OCR 199°" PC Paint By Z-Soft 1.65 79"°

Sheet Feeder (also works with HP) 299'°

-YEAR END CLEARANCE-

WHILE SUPPLIES LAST - WITH 1 YEAR WARRANTY

• Automatic Group 111 Digital Fax • Background operation

• Send & receive, screen images, scanned pages

• 1200 Baud modem built on • Fax 9600/7200/4800/240C

• Software - telephone cord • New, factory sealec

List 695 Your Price 14900

• 6.5MB per minute

• Wangtec 5099EN24 drive o2

• Wangtec 8 fait Qic60 controller

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List 99900 Your Price 399^0

40MB backup works off floppy controller

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• Manufactured by Silver Reed

• IBM Centronics Parallel Interface

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List 1149"" Your Price 149""

12 CPS version for

OCR Software

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List 999»» Your Price 269""

MANUFACTURED BY ZOOM PC 2400 HC INTERNAL MODEM

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• Two Year Manufacturer's Warranty • Auto Dial/Auto Answer

List 199°" Your Price 79"° Each2400 BAUD EXTERNAL MODEM List 299°" Your Price 99<°

~l 1 VtAR

I I

EV-923 EverCom 12 300/1200 bps Bitcom Software 69""

EV-941 EverCom 24 2400 Baud Int. Bitcom Software 139°"

EV-945 External 2400 Baud 199""

EV-942 2400 PS2 199°" Level 5 MNP Add 390«

IBM DIRECT REPLACEMENT150 WATT XT Comp. • UL Appr • 110/20V input switch • 4 drives 49°"200 WATT AT comp. • UL Appr • 110/220V input switch 69'°

12" Amber w/TlIt & Swivel Base

14" Color 640 X 200. 16 colors 209"

14" EGA 640 X 350. 64 colors/31 369"°

VGA 800 X 600 Multisync Compatible 449°°

14" VGA Demo looks new. .31 Dot Pitch 284°"

ST125-0ST125-1ST1380ST138-1ST225

ST238R (RLL)SJ251-1ST227R-1 (RLL)ST4096ST4144 (RLL)

EGA EV659, 640 x 350, Auto SwitchVGA Viewpoint 16 Bit 256 Exp 512k

a If

AT KIT XT KIT

20mB 40msec 3.5" S249 S299

20mB 28msec 3.5" S269 S319

30mB 40msec 3.5" S289 S339

30mB 28msec 3.5" S309 S359

20mB 65msec S199 S249

30mB 65msec S219 S279

42mB 28msec S269 S33S

65mB 28msec S339 S389

80mB 28msec S549 S599

120mB 28msec S649 S699XT kits include cables, software (over 32MB) controllerAT kits include cables, rails, software (over 32MB)

CONNER HARDPfilW±^

99"179"

40 Meg 18 Mil. Sec. .399" 100 Meg 18 Mil. Sec. 549"°200 Meg 18 Mil Sec. 849"

360K V2 Ht. 5'/. 59"

1.2 Meg 5'/i 79°"

720K 3V2" Dnve w/5'A' mounting 69"

1.44 Meg 3ii " Drive w/S'/i" mounting 89"

360K Tandon TM100-2 Full Ht (The original IBM) 89""

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NCC VIDEO CARDS...

MonoGraphics (Hercules Compatible) with Par Port 29"

Color Graphics (Hercules Compatible) with Par Port 39""

Mono Card Text Only 9""

VGA Card 1024 x 768 (256K Exp 512K) 109"

STB mono/color card 29"

FOR HARDDRIVES

39" 8 Bit WD Controller 59"

109" 16 Bit Everex HD/Floppy 1.1 99°"FOR FLOPPYS

Super Floppy Controls 1.2, 360K. 720K & 1.44 Drives 69«»

IDE Controller

16 Bit WD Controller 2:1

ORDERS ONLY

800-654-7762

TECHNICAL / CUSIOMER SERVICE / ORDER STATUS:

702-294-0204FAX 702-294-1168

TnOemtrts »n RagatentI witM OMr nspeetive Cai Prices Sub/eci to Cliiiige

Ail Products 90 Day Warrsnly unless slated otherwise.

• WE ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL ORDERS

• NO SOFTWARE RETURNS

NO SURCHARGE FOR MC/VISA/AE

TERMS:MC • VISA • COD CASH • NET

Purchase Orders fnim Qualitied FirmsPersonal Checks • COD add SS.0020<yt Restocking Fee on Returns Within 15 DaysNo Refunds After 30 DaysALL PRICES FINAL

SE HA6U ESPANOL

7000 Nevada Hwy. • Unit 101Boulder City, NV S9005

SHIPPIHG: (min 8=) UPS

EMBER 1990!

NEW UNIQUE POWERFUL!

INTRODUCING...

NETFAX

NETWORK FAX SYSTEM

• Send from within WordPerfect

• Automatic inward routing via TTI/CSIO

• Uses no TSR Memory

• Includes facsimile modem & network software

• Send FAX messages from any worl<station

• Merge text and graphics

• Automatic personalized cover sheets

• Can both send and receive fnnc

• Secure Journal to Users ^Hilt)

Get FAX Power Today!

\LL XHE FM® 1-800-289-3329

Circle 15 on Reader Service Card

• Intel S052AH-BASIC CPU

• PROM programmer

• Now requires 5V.Supply only

• Enhanced memory mapping:Supports 2K-64K device-^

to a total of 128K.

Still only $228.00 QTY 1Call Now! (603) 469-3232

Inquire about our PKD51 8051-8052 product developmentkit tor the IBM PCXT/AT- $595. and 8051/8053 BASICcompiler: S295.

Binary Technology, Inc. ^

MEMORY UPGRADES

IBM PS/2, APPLE

AST, COMPAQHEWLEH PACKARDZENITH, SUN MICROSTANDARD SIMMS

u\ptop memory(nec, toshiba, apple, compaq)laser printer memory( hp canon, tec engine)no risk, best price, best quality

Ae© On

iiMERICA

A DIVISION Of ROHM CORPORATON«3 N MATHILDA AVE SUNNYVALE. OA 9W88TEL (4081 746-1590 FAX |<08| 746.1593

1-800-292-7771

488

Easiest to use,GUARANTEED!

• IBM PC. PS/2, Macintosh. HP. Sun. DEC

• IEEE device drivers for DOS. UNLX.Lotus 1-2-3. VMS. XENIX & .Macintosh

• Menu or icon-driven acquisition software

• IEEE analyzers, expanders, extenders, buffers

• Analog I/O. digital 1/0. RS-232. RS-422. SCSI,tnodem & Centronics converters to IEEE 48S

Free Catalog & Demo Disks(216) 439-4091

Bcn

25971 Cannon Rd. • Cleveland, OH 44146

Circle 182 on Reader Service Card

8051/8052BASICCOMPILER!

Now with integer, byte and bit extensions.Fully compatible with MCS BASIC 52Runs on IBM-PC or compatible

$295.00

Call Now! 603-469-3232

Binary Technology, Inc.

UNIPRO,

the PC/XT/AT/386 based universal program-mer/tester programs PROMs, EPROMs,EEPROMs up to 4MB and 32-bit wide, PALs,PLDs, GALs, EPLDs, PEELs, and Micro Con-trollers. JEDEC file compatibility and Test Vec-tor verification allow the use of most popularPLD compilers. The unit also tests HL/CMOSLogic ICs and Dynamic/Static RAMs. 40-pinGold ZIP socket, built-in protectionfor short circuit and over current,high speed parallel inter-face to the PC, and menu-driven software are includedat $585.

XEIXEK

764 San Aleso Ave.Sunnyvale, CA 94086TEL: (408) 727-6995 • FAX: (408) 727-6996,

Circle 112 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 113)

-3

DS-DD

Foreign Enquiries Welcome

DS-HD

4?r?Bc, 5.25" 3M Brand Diskettes 3 =^ so.

7§,?,:, 3,50" 3M Brand Diskettes 14?,?b,,<

3M DATA CARTRIDGES

DC-2000 13.95 DC-600A 18.99

DC-300XLP 17.39 OC-6150XTD .... 19.99

3M COMPUTER TAPES

777-yz"-2400'-C55 ... 11.45 700-yz"-2400'-C55... 12.55777-'/2"-1200'-C55 .... 8.95 700-'/!"-2400'-Cr43.. 13.45

DEC-TK-50 25.95 DEC-TK-52 37.95

IBM-3480 4.95 Opt. Rewrite Disks ..169.00

3M HIGHLAND DISKETTES5.25" OS-DD 5.25" DS-HD

=51! BOX 3yHpand

BIfsox 3.50" BRAND NAME 124?.,

DS-DD

.32

Quantity Discounts Available DS-HD

. 5.25" BASF Brand Diskettes.... BOX

. 3.50" BASF Brand Diskettes.... BOX

BASF 5.25" DS-DD No-Logo Bulk• with sleeves, tods & W/P tabs

2400' w/tape seal.... 10.95 600' w/tape seal 6.95

1200' w/tape seal 7.95 300' w/tape seal 5.45

M Verbatim DataLifePlus

TeJIon/Preformalled '

DS-DD Quantity Discounts Available DS-HL)

BOX 5.25 D3taLif6 Plus Disk6ttGS... w =er box

7i?5o> 3.50" DataLife Diskettes...

maxellJ

5.25"DS/DD 5.25"DS/HD 3,50" DS/DD 3.50" DS/HD

5.59 9.69 7.99 14.39

KAO BULK

DS-HD

.69

■|09

DS-DD "No-Logo"

.39 5.25"Color-Bul

.69 3.50" Color-Bulk

BULK DISKETTES

5,25"DS/D0 5,25" DS/HD 3,50" DS/OD 3,50" DS/HD

.25* .46* .45 .99

•WiTH SLEEVES, LABELS AND W,, P TABS

PACKARD Original Toner Cartridges

Laserjet Series IP/N 92285A 75.95

Laserjet Series 11 P/N 92295A 75.95

Laserjet Series IIP P/N 902275A 63.95

Dysan

5 2rCS HC 3,5O"DSID0 3,50" DS/HD

069 795 1495

V :C< I PER BOX IT PER BOX

WE BEAT ANY PRICE!!

TERMS: No surcharge on VISA. Mastercard or AMEX. Orderpackaging and processing = S2.95 per order. COD orders add S3 95.PO's accepted from recognized institutions on Net 30 days. L/C. T/Tand Bank Draft acceptable. Price quoted for case (100 disks or 10cartridges). For quantities less than 1 case add 10%. SHIPPING:U PS surface Si 95/5 cartndges: SO-95/50 diskettes. (Prices subjectto change without notice. Errors and omissions not accepted. AHwarranties are from manufacturers.)

Toll Free Order Line; Information Line:

1-800-523-9681 1-801-255-0080TLX-9102404712 FAX-801-572-3327

n DISKCOTECH

213 Cottage AvenueP.O. Box 1339 Sandy, Utah 84091

Ore/e 13 on Reader Service Card

Circle 375 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 443

Circle 196 on Reader Service Card

KNAPCO

MASTER DISTRIBUTORS

EMERSON UPS

YES "'KNAPCODELIVERSEMERSONPOWER!!!

EMERSON MODELS

Model 10 ISOVa. $ 140.Model20 300Va. $219.Model 30 SOOVa. $309.Model 40 SOOVa. $539.Model 50 UfOOVa. $ 739.UPS 600 $798. $499.UPS 1250 $1398. $709.UPS 1500 $1798. $995.TRUE ONUNE MODELSPCET $798. $479.AP15KVA $3217. $K50.AP 3KVA $5550 $3799.AP 5KVA $9499. $5999.

AccuCard NOW$t99.

ORDER HOT LINE

800-827-4718

true SINEW AVE or ONUNE

KNAPCO DEUVERS THE BEST PRICES !!!!

' IWTERWATiOWAl TRAWSfOftMERS ^

220v. / IIOv. STEP up / dowN

1005005001000IJOO•2000

•>ooo

Watt.

>Vatt.

Watt.

Watt.

Watt.

Watt.

Watt.

TRA^sfTransF

TRANSfTRAMsfTRANsfTRANsfTRANsf

"* SclECTAbU VolTAqe Taps

VolTAqE Regulators & CowdlTiowERS

TVR JOO 500 WATT 1K)/220v. J259. $128.TVRIOOO MOO WAT 110 / 220v. $54». SV)b.MV 2K 2000 WATT 220v. ONLY t429. »25».VR2KDj2000WATT110/220v, »M». »)».

Wtm STEP tp Olt OOWN TRA/fSfOHMCKS

110 VoIt VoItaqe RequUtorsMV 500 500 WATT $119.UPS BATTERIES FOR QUICK SHIP

813 - 449 - 0019

FAX 8U 449 - 0701 P 22

KNAPCO

QUAUTY DISTRIBUTION FOR 45 YEARS

1201 HAMLET AVE.CLEARWATER FL. 34616^

444 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Sureit's

insured ?

SAfE\V\R£» Insurance provides fullreplacement of hardware, media andpurchased sofmare. is little as SW)t covers:• Fire • Theft • Power Surges• Viater Damage • Auto AccidentFor information or immediate coverage call:

1-800-848-3469

Local 1-6l-i-262-0559Subject to underwriting and availability by state.On CompuServe. GO SAF On GEnie. SAFEWARE

SAFEVrARE. The InsiimiiceAgency Inc.2929 N. Higli St.. P.O. Bov 02211Columbus. OH 4^202

Circle 305 on Reader Service Card

Qfl/^CJ BASIC-52OULyDl BOARDFOR DISTRIBUTEDDATA ACQUISITION$220 US includes:

• Intel 80C51FA, new PWM array

• RS422/485, auto RX/TX flow

• RS232, auto override select

• 64K static RAM, battery back up

• 32K CMOS EPROM, 8K BasiC-52

• Battery operated & NlCd charge

• On board power supply, 300ma

• Hitachi LMxx LCD driver port

• PC communication software

• * * OPTIONS * ★ ★

Prototyping Board (Dig.+Analog). .$39US

PC/RS232 t—»■ RS422/485 $44US

80C51 Kit form $99US

BINARY DATA ACQWSmON CORP.

1735 Bayly Street, Pickering, Ontario L1W 3G7Canada, Phone (416) 420-8029 Fax (416) 831-0510Cashiers Cheque or Visa

Circle 47 on Reader Service Card

PROMPT DELIVERY!!!

SAME DAY SHIPPING (USUALLY)

QUANTITY ONE PRICES SHOWN for SEPT. 30. 1990

OUTSIDE OKLAHOMA: NO SALES TAX

DYNAMIC RAM

4M Board for hp LJ

5 w 2MB

SI 73.00

SIMM 2M IBM PS 2 Ivlodel 70

185.00

SIMM 1MASTPrem386 33Mhz 135.00

SIMM

lMx9

80 ns

59.00

SIMM

256KX9

100 ns

20.00

IMbIt

IMxl

60 ns

11.95

1Mbit

1lv1x1

80 ns

6.15

41256

256KX1

80 ns

2.90

41256

256Kx1

100 ns

2.10

41256

256KX1

120 ns

1.95

4464

64KX4

100 ns

2.20

41264*

64Kx4

100 ns

5.95

EPROM

27C1000

128Kx8

200 ns

S15.00

27512

64Kx6

200 ns

7.10

27256

32Kx8

200 ns

5.40

27128

16Kx8

250 ns

3.75

STATIC RAM

62256P-10

32Kx8

100 ns

S6.50

6264P-12

8Kx8

120 ns

4.25

OPEN 6 DAYS, 7:»am-10p«i:SHIP VIA FED-EX ON SAT.

SAT DEL ONFED-EX ORDERS

flECEIVED BY;Th S-2 SL2S 4 lift: M I17«lHiCOD AVAILABLE

Mas:e'Ca-c ViSA c- UPS CASH CODMICROPROCESSORS UNLIMITED, INC.

rEfG°s^;";ir (918)267-4961

No minimum order. = ea5e^c;e j'ces si.:,ei: tr :-a-;i

imSASE

mul

yVOICE MAIL'TELEMAHKETING^ ■ CALL PROCESSING

Let Powerline transform your PC/XT/AT/386u into a multi-line voicej)rocessing command^i^ center. Have you^^mputer intelligentlyS process your sales, inquiries and mes-g sages. Complete package.

^' Single Line (Sgmoutm. .$295.MI Mufli-Une $895.00

^ (Developer/OEM packages avaiiaWe)

z VISA-MC-AMEX-coo

I Call: (415) 522-3800

S FAX: (415) 522-5556

1 TALKING TECHNOLOQY, INC.

" 1125 AFLANTIC AVE., ALAMEDA. OA 94501

See us at COIVIDEX, Booth »H7067

Circle 334 on Reader Service Card

Write COBOL Applicationsfor DOS, UNIX, VMS, Novelland BOS with ijug compiler.

• Multi-user * Multi-platfortn

• DBMS Tools • Transportable Object

• Screen Builder • Subroutine Library

• Report Writer • UUlityToollcit

• Text Editor • Terminal-independent

• Debugger • Many more features

Call or write for complete information.

BOS National, Inc.2<07 Walnut Hill LaneDallas, TX 75229(214)956-7722

Circle 55 on Reader Service Card

AVT286-12 40MB Mono System

$895

- INTEL 80286 12 MHz, 0 Wait

- 1MB RAM Expandable to 4MB

- 40MB Hard Dfive

- 1.2MB or 1.44MB Roppy Drive

- 101 Key ExterxJed Keyboard

- Monochrome Monitor with Here.Graphics

- Parallel, Serial. Real Time Clock

- Choiceof Slimline. Desktop or MiniTower Case

- One Year Warranty

Same Configuration asabove wrth

386SX-16 Si 095

386SX-20 $1175386-25 SI 545

386-33 SI 845

Options

VGA Color Add S350

65MB HD Add SI 20

80MB HD Add S250

Second Roppy Add S89All other upgrades CALL

MOTHERBOARD SPECIAL

80286-12 0 Wait. Exp 10 4MB. AMI BIOS. OK S129e0386SX-16 16MHZ, Exp to SMB. AMI BIOS. OK S31980386SX-20 New 20MHX, Exp to 8MB, AMI BIOS. OK S39980386-25 0 Wa9. AMI BIOS. Exp 10 SMB. OK S74980386.33 64K Cache, 0 Wait. AMI BIOS. OK S1049Special!! 80486-25 128K Cache, 0 Wait CALL

Avantech Solutions, Inc.

3 W. Columbia Ave.Palisades Park, NJ 07650(201)941 -1961

Circle 226 on Reader Service Card

Circle 38 on Reader Service Card

PS/2 model 30/286-30 meg 1795

PS/2 model 50Z/286-60 meg 2395

PS/2 model 55SX/386SX-60 meg . .2875

PS/2 model 70/386-120 meg 5595

PS/2 model 80/121-120 meg NEW

"* Monitor Extra ***

comma

Compaq 286E-40 meg 2150

Compaq 386/20E-100 meg 4150

Compaq 386S-100 meg 3595

Other Models CALL

*** Monitor Extra ***

LOW

PRICE

LEADER

SINCE 1983

VERE^

Everex System 1 1995

Everex Step 286/12 - Imeg40 meg VGA card and monitor

Everex System II 2495

Everex Step 386SX - 2 meg40 meg VGA card and monitor

Everex System III 5395

Everex Step 386/33 - 4 meg150 meg VGA card and monitor

* CALL FOR MODELS & CONFIG *

Macintosh

Mac SE/30-40 meg 3195

Mac-IICX-80 meg 4595

Mac Portable-40 meg 4795

Other Models CALL

*" Keyboard & Monitor Extra ***

LAPTOP

Texas Instruments TM2000 2595

Compaq LTE/286-40 2975

Sharp 6220 2595

CALL FOR OTHER BRANDS

LAPTOPACCESSORIES

Memory

1 meg Toshiba 1000SE 210

2 meg Toshiba 3100SX 230

2 meg Toshiba 3200SX 230

2 meg Toshiba 5200 225

1 meg Compaq SLT 310

AGI Computer

AGI 386SX-1 meg 169540 meg VGA card and monitor

AST 386SX - 2 meg40 meg VGA card and monitor

CALL FOR OTHER MODELS

2395

DISKS

DYSAN S'A HD / 31/2 HD 13/26

MAXELL 5y4 HD / 3V2 HD 12/25

Min. 10 Boxes Order

WE STOCK CITIZEN TOSHIBA PRINCETON GRAPHICS

OKIDATA NEC SONY

EVEREX WYSE ACER

GOLD STAR HITACHI HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS

AMDEK PC MOUSE

HAYES MiCROSOF MICESAMSUNG LOGITECHCALCOMP MITSUBISHI

IRWIN & ARCHIVETAPE BACK

TAXANMAGNOVOX

IntelCoprocessors

8087-3 105

8087-2 145

80287-8 225

80287-10 249

80387-16 395

80387-20 425

80387-25 495

80387-33 599

MONITORS

Nec Multisync IIA ... .499Nec Multisync 3D ....599

Magnavox EGA 339

Nec Multisync 5D .. .2350

Samsung EGA 359

Sony 1302 619

SOFTWARE SPECIALS

dBase IV 455

WordPerfect 5.1 260

Aldus Pagemaker 495

Ventura Publisher 525

Clipper 435

WordStar 5.5 150

EasyExtra 40

PACIFIC

DATA PRODUCTS

R Page II 395

R Page IIP 365

P 1-2-4 Mem II 159

R One Meg IIP 180

P 25 in One III 275

R Headlines 245

NOVELLAuthorizedDealer

LAN BOARDS

8 bit Arcnet 110

16 bit Arcnet 220

8 bit Ethernet 190

16 bit Ethernet 275

8 port Active Hub .. .325Token Ring Card ... .399

Tokenhub 4-port 355

Call for otherLAN Accessories

SPECIALS

HP Scan Jet 1425

HP Paint Jet 965

Lotus Ver 3.0 355

Kodak 150P 370

Complete FaxBoard 499

Okidata 391 625

Epson LQ1050 660

Panasonic 1124 319

HP-7475 Plotter 1595

SummaGraphic 365

LASER PRINTERS

HP Laser HID ...

2650

HP Laser 2P

995

HP Laser III

1695

Panasonic 4450....

1395

Brother HL-8-E

1895

Nec LC 890

3195

Toshiba Laser 6 —

1095

MODEMS

Everex 2400 Int/Mnp

.179

Hayes 2400B

315

Hayes 9600B

875

USRobotics Hst/Dual

1150

More in Stock

Call

EXPORTS

Available

ALL QUOTED PRICES ARE CASH PRICES ONLY.Visa and MasterCard 3% higher, American Express 5% higher

COMPUTERLANE

HOURS:M-F 9-6S 10-6

CORPORATE ACCOUNTS WELCOMECALL FOR VOLUME DISCOUNTSCONSULTANTS CALL FOR PRICING

1-800-526-3482 (omside ca)

(818) 884-8644 (In CA)(818) 884-8253 (FAX)

22107 ROSCOE BLVD.CANOGA PARK

V2 BLOCK W. OF TOPANGA

CA 91304

Prices subject to change without notice* Quantities are limited

Compaq is a Registered Trademark of CompaqIBM Is a Registered Trademark of International Business Machines

Circle 80 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 445

atctFULL page scanner *298

"■^ Includes FREE Microsoft Software:Windows 2.0, Scan, Draw, Fonts, Lan. Modem & Fax

• PC/AT Compatible . Contrast Adjustment. 200 Dots Per Inch ■ Writes Images to Your

• Automatic Sheet Feed Hard Drive (Required)

Deluxe OCR Software..*!98

List Price =1295

JaSecomputbr

Ultra 486

$3698

Double The Power.Twice The Speed

Monitor OptionalTrue 25 MHz. 80486 CPU

ptwer Meter

. Full Size Professional Case. 101 Key Enhanced Keyboard. 200 Watt Power Supply. Built-in Clock/Calendar. Assembled S Tested in U.SA. One Year Warranty

. MB of 32 BIT RAMExpands to 8+ 8 MBBuilt-in High Speed Cache100% Novella IBMCompatible

1 2 MB 5'A" Disk DriveFast 1:1 interleave Dual HardDisk/Dual Floppy Disk Controllerweitck 3167 FPP Socket

Monitor & Hard Drive Options

40 MB 1 80 MB 1 ^0 MBsystem \ System ) SystemComplete Monographics System

H1981*4298 1*6698

Complete VGA System

$6998

$4498 $4698

MEMORY UPGRADES

1000SE2MBcard..1600 2 MB card ....3100e 2 MB card .. •3100SX 2 MB card.3100SX4MBcard.

TOSHIBA1428 3Z00SX 2 MB card ..■ S298 3200SX 4 MB card .' 1298 3200 3 MB card ...1298 5100 2 MB card ...«698 5200 2 MB card ...5200 8 MB card ...COMPAQ2MB '398 / SLT 1 MB

LIE 1 MB '218

486/25 SystetnPro 8 MB

DeskPro upgrades as low as

IBM

PS/Z MDL 30/286 512K '78PS/2MDL70 1MB "8

2 MB '2182MB '2382MB ^298

. 1298

. iess

. '468. '298. '298'1198

1288. '1098. . '144

PS/2 MDL 80 1MB '168 ^

PS/2 MDL 80-A21.Laser Printer

1MB

'128AST

2 MB •258 3.5 MB'398

. '348.. Call

486 2 MB upgrade

All other models available

HEWLETT-PACKARDSee bottom portion of ad for pricing information.APPLE

'388

MAC Portable 1 MB card

All other models available

™'"™ .288

SupcrSport 286 1 MB . _. ■ ■ • ■ ■ -^^ ■ - ^gg386-20/25/33 1 MB '108 I Mii

JADE COMPUTER

Super-386

16 MHz (SX)

*798

..^^^ MB expands to 8 MB

Monitor Optional

25 MHz Cache

M398

33 MHz Cache

M498

1 MB expands to 32 MB64K Cache expands to 128K

1 MB expands to 8 MB64K Cache not expandable

intel'

EPSON Panasonic

KX-1I80 .KX-1191 .KX-1124 .KX-1624 .

.=169.=238.5289.=428

LX-810 ...=178FX-850 ....CallFX-1050 ...CallLQ-510 . ..=289LQ-850 ....CallLQ-950 ....CallLQ-1010 ...CallLQ-1050 ...CallLQ-2550 ...Call

EPL-6000 Call

TIml HEWLETTmHiM PACKARD

New LaserJet IIP =998

H.P. LaserJet Hi =1698

H.P. DeskJet Plus =698

H. P. DeskWriter/For Mac =748

Extra Toner =98

Extra Ink Cartridge =19

Tripplite Battery Back-up

450 Watt UPS =398

750 Watt UPS =498

1200 Watt UPS =698

3'/z" Disk Drives

720K internal/external =78/178

I. 44 MB intemal/extemai .=88/=188Tripplite Line Stabilizer

600 Watt Line Conditioner =89

1200 Watt Une Conditioner .. .=1581800 Watt Une Conditioner ... = 188

No Surchargefor Credit Cards!

8087 ...8087-2 .8087-1 .80287..80287-880287-1080287 XL

..=88

, = 118, = 158.=128, = 198,=228,=228

80287-12 .=27880387-SX .=31880387-16 .=34880387-20 .=38880387-25 .=48880387-33 .=598

Microsoft DOS

3.3 ^78

4.01 _ *88

ITT Co-Processors

2C87-8 =198 2C87-12 ....:-268

2C87-10 .. .. =228 2C87-20 .... =328

VGA PackageCard $'148

Monitor

$298

640 X 480Hi-Bes Ca:^

, 80386 processor running at16MHz(SX). 25 MHzor 33 MHz, 384K Shadow RAM, 1,2 MB or 1,44 MB Drive, 1:1 interleave hard dek/flODDV disk controller

. 80387 socket

. Full size case

. One 32-bit Five 16-bit

Two 8 bit slots. 102 k^ enhanced keyboard- 200 watt power supp^. Clock/calendar

Monitor & Hard Drive Options (16 MHz SX)Floppy 40 80

Only I Megabyte | MegabyteComplete Monographics System

$9481 $1348|M598

Complete VGA System

M298I M698 |M898

For 25 MHz Cache add 'S98For 33 MHz Cache add %98

2400 Baud

Internal Modemw/Software

1200 internal w/software =44

1200 baud external =88

2400 baud external =128

2400 PS/2 internal =198

$74

Trackballs

Logitech Trackman Serial =98

Logitecli Trackman BUS =108

MicroSpeed PC-Trac Serial =88

MicnoSpeed PC-Trac BUS =98

MicnoSpeed FastTrap Serial ....=108MicroSpeed FastTrap BUS =118

Roland Plotters

DXY-1100

All Roland Models Available

.=798

VGA

Panasonic

$468

1024X 768

14- .28 Dot Pitch

^ rx::! Hewlett

A^'^^jr l!!P-M PACKARD

pSpagePos^iptUllP/lll =398

Paafic Page PostSaipt U II

S 25 ,n'. (172 Fonts) UII/llP ■ ■ • ■ |^

POP 25 in 1 (172 Fonts) U III =398

^npprotter.naCannd9ellP/ll/lll ■-■^248

4 MB Memory Can) for U 11/llD

Without RAM... ^98 2MB =^98

1 MB ='48 4MB 398

Newl Memory Card for U llP/lll

Without RAM... =98 2MB =«

1 MB ..=148 4MB 39^

JADECOMPUTER

Technicon 5102

Printer $128

120 CPS. 9 PIN Printer

Near Letter Quality Printing . Four Print StylesEPSON/IBM Compatible . One Year Warrantyinternational Character Set

Logitech

LogiMouse Hi-Rez. Bus ..LogiMouse Hi-Rez Serial.

Microsoft BUS Mouse

200 DPIw/ Drivers Software

$48

Tape Back-up

40 MB Internal =268

150 MB Internal =628

250 MB Internal =728

For External Add =128

Scanner

Diamond Flower HS-3000 Plus .=198

OCR Somvare for HS-3000 =88

Keyboard

102 enhanced click =68

Keyboard Drawer =34

CaSfomia

Torrance. Costa Mesa. Woodland HillsKearny Uesa. Sunnyvale

Texas Georgia Arizona

Addison. Houston Smyrna PhoenixNot all Items in stock at our nine retail locations.

JADE COMPUTER

4901 W. Rosecrans Ave. Box 5046, Hawtliorne. CaBfomia 90ES1-5046 213-973-7707

Continental U.S.A. 1-800-421-5500 Inside Caiifbrnia 1-800-262-1710

10 Day Money Back Guarantee

lwllwl%^ VVe accept checks, credit cards (or purciiase orders from qualified firms and institutions.) Nosurcharge on credit card orders. CA.. TX., GA. & AZ. residents add sales tax. Prices and availability

subject to change without notice. HOC minimum shipping and handing charge.

Circle 189 on Reader Service Card

MAIL

Complete Mailing ListMnun^^cnieiit Software

The most advanced, professional-level mailinglist management system available for IBM andcompatible microcomputers. Save tfiousandsof dollars on postage, printing, and processingcosts.

• Unlimited number of names and addresses

• Sopfiisticated merge/purge duplicatedetection

• Complete postal presorting and barcoding

• Custom letters, labels, reports

• Convert data from dBase, ASCII, other formats

= Arc Tangent, Inc.

-_- A 121 Gray Avenue

= = Santa Barbara, CA 93101-1831(805) 965-7277

Circle 30 on Reader Service Card(RESELLERS: 31)

PLD DesignSoftware

Get Started with CUPL™ for only$149.95

Now you can have a PLD Starter Kitthat gives you all the horsepower thatthe CUPL PLD compUer offers, at afraction of the cost For more infor-mation, call 1-800-331-7766 or 305-974-0967. LOGICAL

DEVICKS, INC.

Circle 202 on Reader Service Card(RESELLERS: 203)

486/33

33Mhz Intel i486 microprocessor.128K liighi speed cactie one board.4Mb of 70ns dynamic ram.1.2 Mb 5'/.and 1.44 Mb 3/:drives.150 Mb NEC ESDI hard disk.Super VGA. 16 bit. 512 Kb card.14 inch Super VGA monitor.2 serial, 1 parallel and 1 game port.Keyboard and MS compatible mouse.DOS version 4.01 or 3.3 included.Deluxe 6 bay Tower or AT case.Burned in and tested. 1 yr. warranty.25Mhz version available.386/25 and 386/33 available.

No Flash, No Hype.Just a good deal!

$5995.00

AME PRODUCTS • PO BOX 8207MISSION HILLS • C.a,. 91346 • (8181 892-9671

GET.». PC BUS

Single Board Computers

• DOS & .EXE on ROM in ten easy steps!

• PC/AT Bus Expansion

• Complete Systems • Cards $299

V50 uP, lOmtiz, CMOS, AT Code Compatible5 Serial Ports, 1 Ivleg RAtvl, 256K ROM.Piggyback: Floppy, Keyboard, SCSI, Printer.BIOS with Utilities and Monitor

Call!

3^s^^,^3 (303)444-7737

656 Hawthorn, Boulder CO, 80304 FAX (303) 7M-9983

Circle 195 on Reader Service Card

Program

Your Chips

In Sets of 4 for $695.00

Special offer Now Includes:

Free UV eraser, CUPL starter Kit anda $300.00 Factory Rebate with the

LOGICAL

EPLD, Micro obwices, me.

Progammer. 1-800-331-7766

Circle 204 on Reader Service Card(RESELLERS: 205)

Write us.. .so theywon't call you

Many people enjoy receiving infor-mation about products or services intheir homes by telephone.

But if you want fewer phone callsfrom national advertisers, we can help.

Telephone Preference Service can ef-fectively reduce phone calls from na-tional advertisers. And, it's absolutelyFREE. Just send us your name, full ad-dress, area code and phone number.We'll tell participating national adver-tisers to remove your name from theircalling lists.

After all, they only want to talk topeople who want to listen.

Telephone PreferenceService

Direct Marketing Association11 West 42 Street, P.O. Box 3861New York City, NY 10163-3851

Circle 114 on Reader Service Card

d Oisiributor Magnetic Media □>

511 □□ 5V HD

5s lOi'v

3\ DS

3)2 HD

895 1795

CanonLBP-4

LASER BEAM PRINTER

OUR PRICE IS SO LOW THAT THEMANUFACTURER WOULD BE VERYUPSET IF WE WERE TO PUBLISH IT.SO WE CAN ONLY SAY "THE PRICEIS LOW & INCLUDES ONE TONER

CARTRIDGE & UPS TWO DAY AIRDEUVERY"

CALL FOR PRICE

Di$i<etti

GCiC

NORTHEAST & CANADA

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MIDWEST

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WEST - HAWAII & ALASKA

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PC BOX 12396, LAS VEGAS. NV. 89112

Minimum Order $20.00 NO SURCHARGE on VISA / MCCOD orders add $3.50 Shipping charges determined byitems and delivery method required by customer.( Prices are subject to change without notice

FAX ( 405 ) 495-4598

Circle 20 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 447

Circle 56 on Reader Service Card

SHIPPING

Now

IncrediblePrices

3M Rewritable

Optical Disks

600 to 650 MbyteErasable, RemovableData Storage

00

each

$179

M61 if 10,

or more.Quantitiesabove 25-contact NBOWIND.800-877-0701

R'50 SERIES

Magneto OpticalStorage SuB-S^TEM

Plug & Play. OpticalDisk Drive w/powersupply SCSI cable,software interface,documentation

^31992'»

IBM and

Compatible.$3124 Mac version. (DOES NOTINCLUDE DISK). 800-877-0701

mm

1 ,'.iiti'

The Little ^ Big LAN

AMAZING^75 NETWORK

Compatible with Twisted Pair orCOAX (Arcnet and Etfiernetcompatible) networks.800-877-0701

VISA, MC, C.O.D.FAX ORDERS 703-631-0708

Next Day or 2nd Day Delivery iforder received before 2pm E.S.T.

1-800-877-0701

IndustriesIncorporated

4116 B Walney Road

Chantilly, VA 22021

Ph 703-631 -0700 FAX 703-631 -0708

Authorized Integrator ''^SIbJI

Optical Recording Department WjNjjayl

448 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

9-TrackTapeFor Your

IBM PC/XT/AT/PS-2"

Read 1600 bpi9-tracktapes from a micro, mini ormainframe in EBCDIC orASCII as mirror image orby individual files.

Use the 2000 PC" fordisk backup, data inter-change or archival storage.

PC/XT/AT/PS-2 are trademarl<s of IBM.2000 PC is a trademark of Digi-Data.

DIGI-DATA CORPORATION8580 Dorsey Run RoadJessup, MO 20794-9990(301) 498-0200800-782-6395-FAX (301) 498-0771.First in Value

Circle 111 on Reader Service Card

X.25

SDLC

QLLC

HDLC

ADCCP

PAD

• C source code

• ROM-able

• Full porting provided

• No OS required

SB

GCOM, Inc.

41 E. UniversityChampaign IL61820(217) 352-4266

Specialists in Computer CommunicationsFAX 217-352-2215

Circle 142 on Reader Service Card

DATA ACQUISITION

Systems for Lab, Factory & FieldPC Software Included• Serial. Il/lodem, & Bus• stand Alone AbilityLaptop & Handfield• PC & MAC Cards• Inexpensive_ T^-^- OEM & VARS^^-gg, ^ . RTU's

FREE CATALOG & DEMO DISK !

I MsnuTacturers of Measurenen: & Ccn:rci s/s-I terns for Laboratory. Industrial. S Field applica-I tions Specialists m Battery-Powered systen^s

I for applications info; (201) 299-1615. Box 246: Morris Plains. NJ 07950 USA

ELEXOR

Real TimeWaveformDisplay.

Only CODAS waveform recording systemsoffer true real time waveform display

• For IBM AT. PS/2 Micro Channel*, andcompatibles.

• Record up to 16 waveforms to disk inreal time at up to 50,000 samples persecond for instant playback, analysis,and manipulation.

• Includes all necessary hardware andsoftware for fast, turnkey startup.

• Includes Microsoft C-compatible libraryof function calls for customization.

For a FREE Evaluation Package, call:1-800-553-9006. In Ohio, 1-216-434-4284.

ISSTRVMESTS, INC.

825 Sweitzer Ave.. Akron, OH 44311

"IBM, AT. PS/2, and .Micro Channel are trademarks Of refisleredIradema.rks of IB.M Corp. Microsoft C is a trademark of Mkrosoft Oirp.

Circle 101 on Reader Service Card

New, Gridless, 100% Autoroutlng

Create schematics and PCBs quickly andsimply with HiWIRE-Plus® and your IBIVlPC. With the new, gridless, multilayer autor-outer (AR) for HiWIRE-Plus, creating printed-circuit layouts is even faster. AR andHiWIRE-Plus are each $895 and come with30-day money-back guarantees. Creditcards welcome.

WINTI^K

Corporation

1801 South St., Lafayette, IN 47904(800) 742-6809 or (317) 742-8428

Circle 374 on Reader Service Card

CROSS-32 V2.0 META

ASSEMBLER

Table based absolute macro cross-assemblerusing the manufacturer's assemblymnemonics.

Includes manual and MS-DOS assembler diskwith tables for ALL of the following processors:

1802 64180 6801

37700 6502 6805

50740 65816 6809

7500 COP400 6811

SUPERS COP800 68000

8M8 TMS320 28

8051 TMS340 Z80

8085 TMS370 Z180

8086 TMS7000 Z2808096 TMS9900 MORE...

I Users can create tables for other processorsor ask us, we have many morel

Generates listing, symbol table and binary,Intel, and Motorola hexcode.

Free worldwide airmail shipping & handling.US$199.00 CDN$239.00

UNIVERSAL CROSS-ASSEMBLERS

P.O. Box 6158Saint Jorin, N.B..E2L 4R6 CanadaVoics;Fax: (506)847-0681

Circle 124 on Reader Service Card

Circle 362 on Reader Service Card

Enjoy

MORE SPEED!

SAVE up to C$ 74.05

PLUS

get the extra IBM PC Special Issue

Send me BYTE for:

□ 1 year (12 issues) for C$ 35.95(Save 33% off the newsstand cost)

EZI 2 years (24 issues) for C$ 68.95(Save 36% off the newsstand cost)

LH 3 years (36 issues) for C$ 87.95(Save 46% off the newsstand cost)

Name.

Company.Address _

City/Code/Country

dH Payment enclosed CH Bill me

No-Risk Guarantee: If dissatisfied, cancel anytime for a full 100% refund. Your subscription will start in 6-8 weeks. Watch for it!Single copy CS 4.50. The basic annual subscription rate is OS 42.00.

IB0C084

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get the extra IBM PC Special IssueSend me BYTE for: ^^^^

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EH 1 year (12 issues) for C$ 35.95(Save 33% off the newsstand cost)

2 years (24 issues) for C$ 68.95 Address

(Save 36% off the newsstand cost)

□City/Code/Country

3 years (36 issues) for C$ 87.95 i—i rn

(Save 46% off the newsstand cost) ^ Payment enclosed U Bill me

No-Risk Guarantee: If dissatisfied, cancel anytime for a full 100% refund. Your subscription will start in 6-8 weeks. Watch for it!Single copy CS 4.50. Ttie basic annual subscription rate is CS 42.00.

IB0C084

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MORE APPLICATIONS!

SAVE up to 46%

PLUS

get the extra IBM PC Special IssueSend me BYTE for: ^^^^

D 1 year (12 issues) for C$ 35.95 Company

(Save 33% off the newsstand cost)

CH 2 years (24 issues) for C$ 68.95 Address

(Save 36% off the newsstand cost)

EH 3 years (36 issues) for C$ 87.95(Save 46% off the newsstand cost)

City/Code/Country

Payment enclosed I I Bill me

No-Risk Guarantee: If dissatisfied, cancel anytime for a full 100% refund. Your subscription will start in 6-8 weeks. Watch tor itSingle copy 0$ 4.50. Ttie basic annual subscription rate is CS 42.00.

IB0C084

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

No Postage Stamp Necessary If Mailed In Canada

POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

BVTE

, SubscriptionsBox 4000

AGINCOURT, OntarioMIS 9Z9

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

No Postage Stamp Necessary If Mailed In CanadaPOSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

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No Postage Stamp Necessary If Mailed In CanadaPOSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

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MEMORY UPGRADES!

FIRST/

mURCEt

>^>^INTERIIIllllllini nil J

WE ACCEPT PURCHASE ORDERS FROM UNIVERSITIES,QUALIFIED FIRMS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.

WE ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL ORDERS

3 day International delivery available via Federal Express or DHL!

CALL (714) 588-9866 .4~.o.v FAX (714) 588-9872

WE WILL BEAT ANY ADVERTISED PRICE

LASER PRINTER MEMORY

IBM PS/2 MEMORY

Models 30-286, Exp. Board 1497259

512KKit 30F5348 S54.00

2MB Kit 30F5360 S179.00

Models 70-E61/121,55SX,65SX

1MB 6450603 S89.00

Models 70-E51 121,50Z,S5SX,6SSX

2MB 6450604 S169.00

Models 55SX, 65SX, 34F3077 & 34F3011

4MB 34F2933 S499.00

Model 70-A21

2MB 6450608 S159.00

Model 80-141

1MB 6450375 SI 45.00

Models 80-111/311

2MB 5450379 S259.00

Models 80-A21/A31

4MB 6451060 S659.00

All Models 70 and 802-8MB Board w^2M

5450605 S499.00

2-14MB Board W/2M

34F3077 S599.00

4-16MB Board W/4M

34F3011 S999.00

Models S0,S0Z.55SX & 602-8MB Board W.2MB

1497259 S599.00

Models 50, 55Z, 60 & 65SX

2- 16MB Board W/2MB

6450609 S625.00

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIP & III

1MB 33474B S99.00

2MB 33475B SI 69.00

4MB 33477B S299.00

Hewlen-Packard LaserJet II & IID

1MB 33443B S99.00

2MB 33444B S169.00

4MB 33445B S299.00

Apple Laservrriter II and ll/NTX

1MB M6005 S89.00

4MB M6006 S349.00

IBM Laser 4019 and 4019e

1MB 1039136 S209.00

2MB 1039137 S375.00

3- 5MB 1038675 S489.00

Canon LBP-8II, 8IIR. 8IIT

1MB S63-1300 SI 29.00

2MB S63-1880 S189.00

4MB Part # N/A S345.00

Epson EPL5000

2MB 1BS401 S375.00

4MB Part # N A $745.00

First Source International also sells printermemory for tlie AT&T 593, Toshiba PageLaser 6, Packard Bell PB9500, MannesmannTally 905 and NCR 6435.

2MB SIM265 S199.00

4MB SIM465 S309.00

Apple Macintosh SE, SE30, II, Ilex and llx

1MB Kit M0218 S95.00

2MB Kit M0219 SI 45.00

Apple Macintosh lici

4MB Kit M0292LL-A S285.00

16MB Kit Pans N/A S1445.00

Apple Macintosh llfx

4MB Kit M0375LL-A S319.00

15MB Kit Part « N/A S1450.00

COMPAQ MEMORY

DeskPro 286-E,386-20/20E/25

1MB 113131-001 S139.00

4MB 113132-001 S349.00

DeskPro 3868/16

1MB 113645-001 SI 39.00

4MB 112534-001 S349.00

DeskPro 286N, 386N and 386SX and 20

1MB 118688-001 S99.00

4MB 118690.001 S499.00

DeskPro 386N, 386SX and 20

2MB 118689-001 S169.00

DeskPro 386-33. 485-33 & SystemPro

2MB 115144-001 S200.00

8MB 116561-001 S1899.00

DeskPro 386-20e and 25e

1MB Board 113644-001 S225.00

4MB Board 113645-001 S569.00

DeskPro 386S

1MB Board 113633-001 S225.00

4MB Board 113634-001 S569.00

DeskPro 386/16 (Populate in this order)

1MB Kit 108071-001 S165.00

1MB Board 108069-001 S359.00

2MB Board 108069/71-001 S579.00

4MB Board 108070-001 S1049.00

8MB Board 108070/72-001 S1499.00

Premium Workstation 286/386SX, Bravo 286

512KKit 500510-010 S59.00

2MB Kit 500510-002 S169.00

Premium 3860 and 386-16

1MB Kit 500510-007 S95.00

4MB Kit 500510-008 S349.00

Premium 386-20

1MB Kit 500510-003 SI 29.00

4MB Kit 500510-004 S369.00

Bravo 385-SX

2MB Kit 500510-002 S179.00

4MB Kit 500510-008 S349.00

Premium 386-SX/16/25/33 & 486-33

Premium 486-25T/25TE/25/25E

1MB 500718-002 S95.00

Premium 486

2MB 500718-004 S342.00

Zenith Z-386 20 25/33 & 33E

1MB ZA36 3800ME S89.00

4MB ZA3800MK S499.00

Zenith Z-386 20/25 & 33

2MB 2A3600MG S169.00

Zenith Z-385 SX

2MB Z-605-1 S267.00

Vectra QS/16S and ES'12PC

1MB Kit D1540A S99.00

2MB Kit D1354A S175.00

4MB Kit D1542A S349.00

Vectra QS'20PC, RS/25PC, 20C and 25C

1MB Kit D1640A SI 05.00

4MB Kit D1642A S349.00

Vectra 485 PC

1MB Kit D2150A S89.00

4MB Kit D2151A S499.00

Vectra 486PC and 386/25 PC

8MB Kii D2152A S999.00

Vectra 386/25 PC

2MB Kit D2381A S266.00

ZENITH MEMORY

HEWLETT-PACKARD MEMORY

COMPAQ

LAPTOP MEMORY

TOSHIBA

Model lOOOSE'XE

1MB S289.00

2MB S399.00

Model T1200XE

2MB S249.00

Model T1600

2MB S249.00

Model T3100E

2MB $249.00

Model T3100SX

2MB S249.00

4MB S689.00

Model T3200SX

2MB S249.00

4MB S689.00

Model T510Q

2MB S249.00

Model T5200,T8500

2MB $249.00

8MB $1300.00

Portable 386

1 MB Kit S32S.00

4MB Extension Brd $1049.00

4MB Expansion Brd S1049.00

Portable III

512K Kit S69.CC

2MB Kit $325.00

Portable LTE 286

1MB $189.00

2MB $269.00

SLT-286

1MB $239.00

4MB $1325.00

SLT-386

1 MB $325.00

2MB $495.00

SuperSport 286 & 286E

1MB SI 89.00

SuperSport SX & 286E

2MB $449.00

SuperSport SX

2MB Alpha $549.00

2MB Beta S549.00

ProSpeed 286

1MB $289.00

4MB $900.00

ProSpeed 386

2MB $450.00

8MB $2250.00

Apple Macintosh Portable

1 MB $279.00

2MB S850.00

3MB S1136.00

4MB SI 564.00

FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONALWILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD ONLAPTOP MEMORY!

COMDEX SPECIALS!

IBM PS/2 IMS EMS 4MB

5CZ,55SX.65SX.70 89 169 499

COMPAQ

286N,385N.385SXS20.... 89 169 499

ZENITH

Z-386/20/25/33&33E 89 169 499

HEWLETT-PACKARD

Laserjet IIPSIII 99 169 299

Laserjet ilSIID 99 169 299

1ME 4Mi 8MB

Vectra 485PC 89 499 999

Prices are valid only Itiru /November 1990

EXPANSION BOARDS

All BocaRam Boards includePrintSpooler and Ram Disk software.

BocaRam/XT

up ;o 2MB of expanded memory for any IBM PC.XT.AT and 8-bil PC bus compatibles runnrng at CPUspeeds up to i2MHz. LIM'EMS 4.0 compatibleUses 256Kxi Dram

OrderNow: SIMXTOO $119.00

with 2MB: SIMXT02 $279.00

BocaRam/AT Plus

up to 8MB for any AT or i6 bil compatible machinesrunning up lo 33MHz. Offers conventional,expanded and or extended memcry. provides amaximum oi 8MB LIM'EMS 4.0. Uses 1x1 Dram

OrderNow: SIMAT80 $139.00

with 2MB: SIM A T82 $279.00

BocaRam 50Z

Up to 2MB zero-wait-state expanded and/Orextended memory board destgned for IBM PS,'2Models 50. 50Z, 60, and true MCA compatiblesUses -^xiDram. 0S.2 corrpatible.

Order Now: SIMMC20 $155.00

with 2MB: SIMMC22 $290.00

SIMMS I DRAM

IBM TYPE

4Mx9-30 $410.00

lMx9-12 S69.00

1Mx9-10 $73.50

1MX9-80 S79.00

1 Mx9-70 $89.00

256x9-12 $20.00

256x9-10 $23.50

256x9-80 $26.00

256x9-50 $35.00

APPLE-MAC

4MX8-80 S335.00

1MX8-12 551.00

lMx8-10 S55.00

1MX8-80 $68.00

256x8-12 $23.40

255x8-10 $24.00

256x8-80 $24.70

SIPPSANDSTATICCOLUMNAVAILABLE

1MX1

1MX1-12 S6.50

1MX1-10 S7.00

1MX1-80 $7.50

1MX1-70 $8.00

1MX1-60 S8.50

256KX4

256KX4-12 $6.85

256KX4-10 $7.00

245KX4-80 $7.20

256KX1

256KX1-12 SI .85

256KX1-10 S2.00

256KX1-80 S2.20

256KX1-70 S2.50

256KX1-60 $3.50

64KX4

64KX4-12 $2.30

64KX4-10 $2.40

64KX4-80 $2.60

64KX1

64KX1-15 $1.10

54KX1-12 S1.70

64KX1-10 S1.90

CALL TOLL FREE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE U.S. OR CANADA!

ORDER NOW: 1-800-535-5892

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1/ NO SURCHARGE ON MC OR VISA

I ✓ Terms: MC, Visa, AmEx (AEt- 4%t, COD, Cash,Net 30 on purchase orders from qualified firms,

j 20% Restocking fee on all non-defective returns& refused orders RMA # required.

✓ Manufacturers pari numbers are tor yourconvenience, all products third party

✓ PRICES AND AVAILABILITY SUBJECT TOCHANGE.

First Source International, Inc.36 Argonaut, Suite 140Aliso Viejo, California 92656Tel. (714) 588-9866FAX (714) 588-9872"The Only Source"

Order Desk Hours:

Monday thru Friday 8:00-5:00Saturday 10:00-3:00Use our 24 hour-a-day voice mail or FAX!

PLEASE SEND ALL P.O. S AND MAIL ORDERS TO:

First Source International, Inc.P.O.Box 3676Laguna Hills, OA 92653

WHY SHOULD YOU BUY FROM F.S.I. ? \

✓ We will meet or beat any advertisedprice!

✓ Limited Lifetime Warranty available,1/ All products guaranteed 100%

compatible in form, fit and function oryou- money back,

✓ No surcharge on Visa or Mastercard,

✓ Most orders shipped Same Day!

WE ARE "THE ONL Y SOURCE!'

FIRST SOURCE IS "THE ONLY SOURCE" FOR MEMORY

Cinle 135 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 136) NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 449

Industrial & Lab /^tomation with PCs

$395

AU-in-One 80286-12CPU Card

PCA-6125

12MHz 80286 miCToprocessorSocket for 80287 math coprocessorAMI BIOS assures compatibility

• Memory configuration: 512K. IM, 2M & 4M

• Built-in interface for 2 IDE H/D and 2 F/DOn-boaid: 1 parallel/2 serial ports

\XS1 CMOS for low power consumption

408-293-6786

1340 lUly Rd., «3U. San Jose, a 95122 FAX 408-293-4697

19" Rack MountedMulti-Sync Monitor

IPC-650/651M $895

• 14" Multi-sync monitor

• Fully compatible thru Super VGA & 8514/A

• 1024 dots X 768 lines with .31mm dot pitch

• 19" ElA RS-310C standard rack

• Nickel coated aluminum housing

• Lexan overlay protects CRT screen

ISA & Canada: San Jose.CATel: -108-293-6-86 Fax: -408-293-4697Europe & .Asia: Taipei. TaiwanTel: 886-2-9I&456" Fav 9I&4566

Industrial PC Card Cagewith 8 Slot Backplane[FC-6010 $195

Open-style framework for flexible installation in acustom enclosure

8 slot baclqjlane with LED power indicators• 4 layer PCB with dedicated power & ground planesSupports both standard PC power conneaion andindustrial screw terminal connectionSpecial hold-down clamp protects plug-in cards

408-293-6786

1340 Mly Rd.. #314, San Jose, a 95122 FAX 408-293-4697

Circle 21 on Reader Service Card

Circle 21 on Reader Service Card

Circle 21 on Reader Service Card

Advertise yourcomputer productsthroughBYTE BITS

(2" X 3" ads)

For more informationcall Mark Stone at603-924-2695

BYTE

One Phoenix Mill LanePeterborough, NH 03458

Circle 59 on Reader Service Card

8fi

MiKk in V.SJL

JC GOLD CARD

jxhe JCS 486, the New Performance■ Leader in Personal 486 Sjstemboards

' Intel S04S£/2S(B«) CPU

■ 8KB Cseh« irle^ated in CPU

I ' Math Copfocossor Ho^^ted in CPU

■ Shadow RAM for Video & System BIOS' Second Level Cache Memoiy

expandadable to 512KB* Weitok 4167 numeric copnxee«or socket

■ 30 DAY HONEY BACK QUARA^fTEE

486 Complete System S3595

Include 4tB Memoiy, ISOIB ESDI »DD,ESDI CechB Corlroller, \2 or 1.44MB FDO,MS DOS, AT VO, 101 Keylioird

SOlitne CPU Bd, C&T chipset $ S90mums CPU Bd, C&T cUpsa $ S9StOjStns Cache Bd, C&T chipset $1095Dealer inquiries wdcomeJemini Electronics (408)727-0986

3400 De Le Cme BM, Unl T

S«ita Clara Ca. 9S054 (408)727-7687

SCHEMATIC TO PCLAYOUT $500INCLUDES AUTO ROUTER ^

EZ-ROUTE Version II from AMS for IBM PC. PS/2 and Com-patibles is an integrated CAE System which supports 256layers, trace width from 0.001 inch to 0.255 inch. Ilexiblegrid. SMD components and outputs on Penplotlers as wellas Photo plotters and printers-Schematic Capture S100. PCB Layout S250. Auto Router S250.

FREE EVALUATION PACKAGE30 DAYS MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

1-800-972-3733 or |305) 975-9515

ADVANCED MICROCOMPUTER SYSTEMS. INC.

1321 N.W. 65 Place - Ft. Lauderdale. FL 33309

Circle 39 on Reader Service Card

How to ProtectYour Computer

And Make It Last Longer

FREE nione\-making literature. What >ou needto know about UPS — uninterruptible powersystems. How to get complete protection frompower line problems. 500 VA lo 18 KVA modelsfrom the world's largest manufacturer ofsingle-phase L'PS.

Best Power Technology, Inc.

P.O. Box 280. Necedah. Wl"54646

ToU-Free (800) 356-5794, ext. 3871

(608) 565-7200. ext. 3871See us at COMDEX, Booth #N4472

Terminal EmulationTEK 4105/4010

• Tektronix 4105

• Tektronix 4010/4014

• VT32a VT220 VT102^ jSj

• Picture files ^Ki

• VGA and EGA support

• l-ligli resolution liardcopy

VT320

• VT320, VT220 VT102 emulation

• File transfer

• 132 column modes' Color support

' Hotkey

• Extensive network support

u u Diversitied Computer Systems, Inc.

3775 iris Avenue. Suite IBBouider, CO 80301 (303) 447-9251FAX303-447-1406

Trademarlfs: VT102, '/T220 — DEC- Tektrontx — Teiitronics inc.

Circle 118 on Reader Service Card

I FREE CATALOG I

RS-232C INTERFACE & MONITORING

EQUIPMENT CATALOG

WRITE or CALL for YOUR ffiffCOMPREHENSIVE B & BELECTRONICS CATALOG TODAY!

Pages and pages of photographsand illustrated, descriptive textforB&B's complete line of RS-232 converters. RS-422 con-verters, current loop convert-ers, adapters, break-out box-es, data switches, data split-ters, short haul modems,surge protectors, and much,n^uch more. Most products meetFCC Part 15J. Your RS-232 needsfor quality, service and competitiveprices will be more than met by 6&BELECTRONICS. Manufacturer to you, no mid-dleman! Money-back guarantee! Same-dayshipment! One-year warranty on products!Technical support is available.

Write For Your FRfl Catalog Today!

B&B electrnnicKrtrtANUFACTURING COf^PANY

4002L Baker Road P.O. Box 1040 • Onawa. IL 61350

Phone: 815-434-0846

Circle 192 on Reader Service Card

Circle 46 on Reader Service Card

Circle 40 on Reader Service Card

Circle 61 on Reader Service Card

$5900

Circle 71 on Reader Service Card

LOOKING FOR

SUPPLIERS

CIKEN SHOJI CO., LTD. is a leading distri-butor of computer peripheral products inJapan.

To correct Japan's enormous trade surplus,Japanese users are being encouraged topurchase foreign products, generating de-mand for software, programming tools,utilities, and application software.We are offering you the opportunity to in-troduce yourself and your products to theenormous Japanese market through CIKENSHOJI.

Please contact us by FAX now.

GEKEN SHOJI CO., LTD.

FAX: 81-52-251-02292nd Floor, Marukoshi BIdg,6-5, 4-Chotne. Sakae, iVaka-ku,Nagoya. Japan.

Circle 397 on Reader Service Card

MULTI-SPEED !!!9 TRACK TAPE SUBSYSTEMfor IBM PC/AT/386

1 YEAR WARRANTY

• IBM/ANSI compatible at 800*/1600/3200 bpi

• Controller, cables and software included

• Interfaces for PS/2*, Xenix* and DEC*

• SCSI*, AT or MCA* Bus I/O at 25/50/100 ips

*0PTIONAL SHOWN W/OPTIONAL DUST COVER

AKSystems Inc

20741 MarillaSt. Chatsworth CA 91311TEL:818/709-8100 FAX: 818/407-5889

Circle 14 on Reader Service Card

Special Offer

Introduction of new transputer products

CD-TBIO/AT 10 slot TRAMmotherboard. Onboard roottransputer with 1-20 MBmemory, FIFO, C004 and T222.High speed 16-bit AT bus inter-face. BOOS compatible.Entry level price .. .US$ 2,700

Size 2 TRAM'S with T800-20CD-TRAM2-1, 1MB RAM US$ 1,040CD-TRAM2-2, 2MB RAM US$ 1,320CD-TRAM2-4, 4MB RAM US$ 2,240CD-TRAM2-8, 8MB RAM US$ 3,590

Cresco Data A/S, 148, OeresundsvejDK-2300 Copenhagen S., DenmarkPhone -H45 31 55 42 70Fax -1-45 31 55 01 53

Circle 85 on Reader Service Card

There is a Difference.

UfetimFree Updates

A programmer is not just another programmer. Thatis why BP Microsystems is commited to brin^g ourcustomers the highest quali^' programmers at anaffordable price. A good example of this commitmentis the EP-1EPROM Programmer Tlie EP-1 supports\irtually every 24- or 28-pin E/EPROM. And. all ofour programmers include lifetime free softwareupdates and an unconditional money back guarantee.

BP

MICROSYSTEMS

1-800-225-2102

(713) 461-9430

Circle 57 on Reader Service Card

Cross-Assemblers from $50.00Simulators from Si 00.00Cross-Disassemblers from SI00.00Developer Packages

from S200.00(a S50.00 Savings)

Make Programming Easy

Our Macro Cross-assemblers are easy to use. Witfi powerfulcorxjitional assembly arxJ unlimiled include files.

Get It Debugged-FAST

Recover Lost Source!

Our line of disassemblers can help you re-create the originalassembly language source.

Thousands Of Satisfied CustomersWorldwide

PseudoCorp has been providing quality solulions formicroprocessor problems since 1985.

Processors

Intel S04S RCA 1S02,OS lnte{ 3051 Intel 30S6,196hc

Motorola eSOO Motorola 6S01 Moiorola 68HC11 Motorola 6805Hitachi 6301 Motorola 6809 MOS Tech 6502 WDC 65C02

RoclfwBll 65C02 Inlel 6060,S5 Zilog Z30 NSC SOO

Hitachi HD64130 Mot. 68k.8,l0 2log 28 Slog Super B

• All products require an IBM PC or eompatible.

Fof Information Or To Order Call:

PseudoCorp

716 Thimble Shoals Blvd, Suite ENewport News, VA 23606(804) 873-1947 FAX:(804)873-2154

Circle 293 on Reader Service Card

LOW COSTINTERFACECARDS FORPC/XT/AT

3iSI

RS-485/422 Card [PC485] $95/125

• Serial A5>-nc Communication uplo4,000fl; 2or4wires; NS16450UART;

• Can be configured as C0M1-C0M4; Maximum Baud Rate 56KB.

• Flexible configuration options. RTS or DTR control of transmission direaion.

• Full/Half duplex operation. Supports hardware handshaking (RTS.CTS).

• Dual drivers/receivers;Handles 64 de\ices:Compatible with most comm. sftwr.

• High speed \ersion a%-ailab!e (supports baud rates up to 256KB ) - S165

Dual-Port RS-485/422 [PCL743] $175"

• Two independent channels / UaRTs; 2 or 4 wire operation. Max. Baud 56KB.

• Dipswitch configurable as COMl-4 (IRQ2-7). On board terminator resistor.

IEEE-488 Card [PC488A]

$145

• Includes DOS Device Driver and sample Communication program in BASIC.

• Additional sample programs in C, Pascal & Assembly - S50.

• IRQ (1.6). D.\£4 channel 1 or 2. Up lo 4 boards per computer.

• Compatible with most IEEE-488 Software packages for IBM-PC

• I/O Addresses and Control Registers compatible with NTs GPIB-PCIIA.

IEEE-488 Card [PC488C]With Built-in Bus Analyzer

$445

• Sofware Suppon for BASICA. QuickBASIC and GWB.ASIC.

• Additional libraries for C, Pascal. FORTRVS. Assembly available - S50 (all)Full range of Talker, listener. Controller, Serial/Parailel Poll. SRO. etc...

• Powerful menu-driven BUS .A\AL\'ZER can be run in the background while488 programs or commands are executed; Features Program Stepping. Breakpoints. Real Time Bus Data Capture (4K buffer). Instant Screen Toggling.

• Complete ControIIer/Talker/Lislenercapabilit>'. Based on NEC-7210.

• Memory-resident Printer Port Emulation Uiiiit>- included (LPTl-3).

• Compatible »ilh NTs GPIB-PCII. TMS-9914 based card - S345.

DIGITAL I/O Card [PCL720] $175

• Input: 32 TTL compatible channels; Input load is 02 mA at 0.4V.

• Oulpui: 32 TTL compatible channels;Sinks 24mA{0JV): Sources 15mA{2.0V)

• CounterA'imer: DC to 2.6MHz; 3 channels; 16 bit counters; 6 counting modes.

• Breadboard area for prototyping. Dipsniich I/O port selection (200-5F8 hex).

LOW COST

DATA

AQUISmON

& CONTROL

CARDS

FOR PC/XT/AT

12BITA/D&D/A [PCL711s] $295

• .\'D converter: 8 single-ended charmlels; De\ice: .AD574; Conversion timeless than 25>i5ec; Input range: =5V; Software Trigger Mode only.

• D/A converter 1 channel: 12 bit resolution: 0 lo t5V,'I0V Output Range.

• Digital I/O: 16 Input /16 Output channels; All I'Os TTL compatible.

• External Wiring Terminal Board with mounting accessones included.

• Utility Routines and Demo.'Sample Programs for B.ASIC and Quick-BASIC.

12 BIT A/D & D/A [PCL812]

$395

• A/D converter. 16 single ended inputs; Device : AD574; Conversion time lessthan 25 >iSec: Built-in programmable pacer; Input ranges: = lOV, =5V, = IV.

• D/A converlen 2 channels; 12 bit resolution.; Output Range 0-5 V,

• DigiUl I/O: 16 Input/16 Output channels: All I/Os TTL compatible.

• Counter: 1 channel programmable interval counter/timer; Uses Intel 8254.

• DMA and interrupt capability. Utility software for Basic included.

FAST 12BIT A/D/A [PCL718] $795

• .AT) converter: 16 single ended or 8 differential channels; 12 bit resolution;Programmable scan rate; Built-in Interrupt and DNLA control circuitry.Conversion speed 60,000 srapls/sec (standard), 100,000 smpls/sec (optional).

• Input ranges:Bipolar =10V, =5V, :2JV, =1V, =0JV: Unipolar 10,S,2,1V.

• D/A converter 2 channels; Resolution: 12 bits res; Settling time: S^sec; ^SV

• Digital I/O: 16 OUT. 16 IN; TTL compatible; Alt I'Os TTL compatible.

• Counter:16 bit progr. interval counter;timer; Uses Intel 8254; Pacer clock;

• Software: Utility software for BASIC and QuickBASIC included,Supponed by LabDAS (S195/495). .ASYST. LABTECH. UnkelScope

6 Channel 12 bit D/A [PCL726] $495]

• Output Ranges: Oio +5V,0to -^-lOV, -5V, -lOVor sink4-20mA.

• Settling time; 70tiS. Unearit)- = ],'2biLVoltage output driving capacity: =5mA

• DigStafl/0:16 digital inputs and 16 digital outputs; TTL compatible.

STEPPER MOTOR CARD

$395

• Capable of independent and simultaneous control of up to 3 stepper motors,

• Speed: Proerammable from 3.3 PPS to 3410 PPS; Built-in acceleration control,

• Output Mode: One clock (Pulse, Direaion) or two clock (CW. CCW pulses)

• Step position Read-back: Opto-isolated outputs; Crvstal based timing.

• Includes 8 bit digital input/output fxin. Order P/N CL-738B]

MC / VISA / AMEX Call today for datasheets!

Circle 62 on Reader Service Card

B&C MICROSYSTEMS INC.

750 N. P.ASTORU AVE.. SUNNYVALE. CA 94086 LSATEL: (408)730-5511 FAX: (408)730-5521 BBS:(408)730-2317

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 451

33 MHz 80486 Motherboard

Faster than ttie Everex Step™ & ALR15 MIPS! $2,990 Qtyl (Ok)

Features:

• 64Ko(25a<WnteBad(Cact>e • Trie32-BitMemoiyExp.to16MB

• 8K Interna) Cadie • Support Weitek

• Dual Read/Write Cacfie • UNIX, OS^ & Novell CompatiWe

• Transparent Refresh • 1 Year Full Warranty

' UurcCBAvaiSt*

MIPS

• Complete Documenlation

Cache

Ok

4M

486/33 15.2 64K 2990 3290

486/25 11.4 64K 2599 2899

386/33 8.3 64K 1429 1729

386/25 6.2 64K 1229 1529

Technology Power Enterprises, Inc

47273 Fremont Blvd. Fremont CA 94538Tel (415) 623-9162 FAX (415) 623^462

niT AAflRVMflC

of discountingTandy® computers.Fax and RadioShack® products

Circle 338 on Reader Service Card

RadM/haek® Tandy'

We will meet or beat.. .GUARANTEED LOWEST PRICES

«lT ^AflflVMflC INDUSTRIES INC.

225U Katy Fwy.Katy (Houston), TX 774501-7U-392-0747 FAX (713) 574-4567

Toll Free 800-231-3680

Cirtle 214 on Reader Service Card

Data Acquisition Processor™

Onboard Intelligence For IBM PC/XT/AT/38«

• 16 MHz 80C186 for general processing

• 20 MHz DSP56(X)1 for digital signal processing

• Sustained digital signal processing of 10 MIPS

• FFT and FIR filtering without programming

• Acquires analog and digital inputs to 235K s/s

• Buffers and processes input data as required

■ Updates analog or digital outputs to 250K s/s

• Over 100 commands without programming

• Custom commands may be written in C

Call for FREE Demo Diskette

MlCROSTAR

Laboratories ,

(206) 881-4286

2863 152 Ave. N.E.Redmond, WA 98052FAX (206) 881-5494

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:OMPUTER AIDEIINSTRUCTION

HYPERTEXT, LAN NETWORKS,LANGUAGE TRAINING, SHOWS,DEMO DISKSLow-Cost Digital Audio for Windows 3.0Protected / Real Modes

IBM-PC DIGITAL VOICE / SOUNDfrom $20 .ph,., „odui., to $640

Quality Software / Hardware- in use worldwide!

30 Day Money-Back Guarantee if not Satisfied

JUST LIKE HAVING A DAT TAPE RECORDER IN A PC.Fastest, easiest Editors with the most features for the price.Quick, simple hardware, software Installation.Use for Foreign Language training / communications.For Business: Training, SWe Show's - witri Grasp. ShowPsrtner F/X ..For Engineering: Function Gen., Clear Voice Aiarms, Storage Scape-For Fun: Creare Yo>jr Own Mac-like 8ooi-uo Sounds. ARe.- Your V&ce...Orders:800-969-4411 by SiltCOR Sliack FAX: 408-374-4412

5120 Campbell Ave. #112, San Jose, CA 95130.

Technical: 408-446-4521

.Ask for FREE PRODUCT CATALOG of IBM-PC sound products.Developers: Ask about TurboSound - PC voice sound engine.

For OZ-Wizard/lO-Electronio Organizer

128 KB RAM CARDfor GZ-Wizard/IQ-Electronic Organizer Series.Trader request desired!

[TJ

RMS GmbHBauerlandstraBe 992390 FlensburgWest-GermanyTel,-49-4 61-4 20 39Fax-49-4 61-4 50 26

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FACTORY SALE

AST RamPaqe Plus 286

Expanded Memory BoardFor

IBM XT /286 AT and compatiblesUp to 8Mb of EMS 4.0 Expanded Memory

Configurations

0Kb $230,00

512Kb $275,00

2Mb $350,00

8Mb $675.00

* Two Year Factory Warranty

* FREE Stiipping on PrePaid Orders

* Immediate Delivery

* Dealer Inquiries Welcome

Galaxy Electronics Inc.

33 Freeman Street

Newark, NJ 07105

201 344-5812 FAX 516 374-4170

Circle 396 on Reader Service Card

The Ideal Keyboard cover!

Protect your computer and eliminate down-time caused by liquid spills, contaminants,environmental hazards, etc. with VIZIFLEXSEELS ■ the only keyboard cover that:

• Remains securely in-place during theoperation of the keyboard and will notinterfere with computer performance inanyway

• Is designed to "form-fit" to the exact con-tours of the keyboard to provide superiortactile sensitivitiy & feel for individual keys,

• Consists of UltraflexTM material, a trans-parent, flexible "film" which allows all"markings" to be clearly visible,

VIZIFLEX SEELS are the only keyboard coversfor your computer!

I 16 E. Lafayene St., Hackensack. Nj 07601

SAME DAY SHIPPING

R & R Electronics

6050-X, McOonough Drive, Norcross, GA 30093(404) 368-1777 • Fax (404) 368-9659

Prices subject to change without notice

SIMMs!

PS/2. AST etc. Call 256Kx9-80

lMx9-70 $59 256Kx9-100

lMx9-80 $55 lMx8-80

lMx9-100 $52 Other Cards

$18$17$50Call

D-RAMS

256K-70

$2.50

64x1-100

$1.80

256K-80

$2.30

64x4-100

$2.75

256K-100

$2.20

256x4-100

$6.00

256K-120

$2.10

lMxl-80

$5.25

256K-150

$2.00

lMxl-100

$5.15

INTEL-

IIT-CYRIX-WEITEK

8087

$ 88

80287-12

$275

8087-2

$115

80387-SX

$288

8087-1

$165

80387-16

$315

80287-6

$135

80387-20

$355

80287-8

$185

80387-25

$445

80287-10

$210

80387-33

$548

& 1

800-736-3644 |

VIDEO FRAME GRABBERS

MODEL RESOLUTION ^

HRT 256-4 256 x 256 x 4 495HRT 256-8 256 x 256 x 8 795HRT 512-8 512 x 512 x 8 995HRT 512-24 512 x 512 x 24 1995

- IBM PCrta/AT COMPATIBLE

- DiGITALIZE IN REAL TIME

■ COMPOSITE VIDEO IN

• 24 BIT RGB OUT except r^odel HRT 256-416 level gray scale out

- SOFTWARE LIBRARY OF IMAGE ANALYSIS ROUTINES

■ FREE SOFFWARE UPGRADES TO REGISTERED OWNERS

■ FULL CREDIT ON UPGRADE PURCHASE IN FIRST YEARRETURN OLD BOARD AND JUST PAY DIFFERENCE

HIGH RES TECHNOLOGIESI I OT P.O. BOX 76n n I LEWISTON, N.Y. 14092PHONE 416-497-6493 FAX 416-497-1988

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Circle 296 on Reader Service Card

Circle 161 on Reader Service Card

Arlington Electronics

386-SX-16

$1198

286-12 40Mb $ 989386-25 40Mb $1549386-33 40Mb $1889

64K Hi speed cache

All systems include:

• Mono graphics monitor

• 40 Mb Teac IDE HDD

• 1.2 or 1.44 Mb Teac FDD' 1 Mb 80ns main memory•101 Keytronics keyboard-MS-DOS™3.3 or 4.01

• Choice of 3 case designs

• 1 year warranty ^.

3% Shipping charge MasterCard_ _ _ AMEX

1-80 0 833-3590

Circle 33 on Reader Service Card

UNIVERSALPROGRAMMER& TESTER

FOR PC XT/AT/386

MODEL: ALL-03

$695

INCLUDES:

• Main Module

• SAC-201 Card

• D-2S Cable

• Software

• Manual & Device List

a E(E)PR0M5 general

NMOS & CMOS [16k to 512k, 1M to 4M BITs)

■ BIPOLAR PROMs

■ PAL. CMOS PAL GAL, PEEL, EPLD, FPL

a Microcomputer (8748, 8751. 87C51 & Z8 series)a IC TEST ITTL 74/54 & 40/45 series}

■ MEMORY TEST

a HEX TO BINARY code converter for INTEL 80/86 HEX

MOTOROLA S1/S2 HEX and TEKTRONICS HEXa HIGH SPEED

a 40 PIN test socket with 40 sets of software controlled

circuit, 40 sets of programmablea ■■GO" KEY & ■■GOOD" —LED permit stand alone machine

operationa 4 SOCKET ADAPTER {OPTION)— 7 Year Warranty & 30 Days Money Back Guarantee —

ORDER TOLL FREE 1-800-633-3449

IN CALIF. (Tel): 408-748-8491 (FAX) 408-748-8492MICROIMICS

1400 Coleman Ave.. #D-13. Santa Clara. CA 95050

Circle 96 on Reader Service Card

Intelligent Solutions

NetWare, DOS, OS/2 & Xenix

SCSI

CONTROLLERSFOR ISA & MCA

Novell testedunider NetWare 286

Use with NetWare286 or 386

Use any sizeSCSI disk drive

Handle large SCSIhard drives anderasable optlcals

Phone: (216) 234-6387FAX: (216) 234-2233

The SCSI Professionals6801 ENGLE ROAD, CLEVELAND, OH 44130

TESTED ANDAPPROVED

NetWore Compatible

DYNAMIC RAMS

I/'

4MX9 80nsPS2 2M 604/6081MX9 80ns1MX8 80ns

256x4 100ns

IMXI 100ns

41464100ns41256120ns

5*1258 80ns4164 120ns

Foe quanta c secret. - sn-speed pans.

$295.00$135.00$ 51.00$ 47.00$ 5.25

• MATH COPROCESSORS

3C87

IIT.'CVRIX

S CALL

80387-33

33mHz

S540.00

2C87-20

20mH:

S245.0O

80387-25

25niHz

S435.00

2087-12

12rRHz

S189.00

80387-20

20mH;

S350.00

2087-10

SI 75.00

80387-te

16^Hz

S305.00

8087-1

3155,00

80387SX

16.-nHz

$275.00

■ V.20

S8.5/15

I.e. EXPRESS

ORDER: (800) 877-81880

CALL FOR CURREr/r PRICES & VOLUME MPrce SJ^c.!! Icf MS.-. WaswCa-sVsa 3% Pncss an SuC^ to ffong*

Aa MERCHANDISE IS 100% GUARftNT^ED Wmn PROMPT DEUVERY.

Circle 188 on Reader Service Card

Circle 200 on Reader Service Card

T-10 UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER

EPROM a PLD a Bipolar PROM

■ Built-in LOG & SMT ZIF sockets to 44 pins

■ Individual pin driving

■ Point & shoot menus, with MOUSE support

■ Device updates on disi< & BBS

■ Built-in margin testing

■ Vector testing

■ User definable test parameters

■ Full screen editing in 21 formats

■ Intelligent identifier

SUNRISE ELECTRONICS, INC.

524 S. Vermont Ave. ■ Glendora. GA 91740

(818)914-19261

16-BIT RESOLUTIONANALOG-TO-DIGITAL

CONVERTER12,000 SAMPLES/SECfor IBM PC, XT & ATSINGLE PIECE PRICE$475

We manufacture a broad lineof data acquisition and controlhardware and software for Appleand IBM computers.

Call for quotes on customhardware or complete systems.

LAWSON LABS, INC.

74 4th AVE. W.N.KALISPELL, MT 59901800 321-5355 or 406 257-5355FAX 406 257-5572

Circle 63 on Reader Service Card

PC BASED UNIVERSALDEVICE PROGRAMMER

$695/895

• PregramsEE/EPROMs. MICROs, BIPOLARsJ>ALs, GALs. EPLDs. PEELS,(current libraries support over 900 de%-ices by over 55 manufacturers).

• Software driven pin drivers. D/A generated programming voltages (8 bitDACs used to generate voltages from 5-25V wth 0.1 V resolution for al! pins).

• Fast device programming / verify / read via dedicated parallel interface.

• Upgradeable for viriually any future programmable devices up to 40 pins.

• Self-subsistent of)eration. No additional modules or plug-in adapters required.

• Includes user friendly MEMORY BUFFER FULL SCREEN EDITOR.Commands include: Fill, Move, Insert, Delete. Search. Data entrv can be donein .ASai or HEX form. FUSENUP EDITOR for Logic devices.

• Friendly Menu-Driven interface. Device seleaioti by P/N and Manufaclurer.

• Supports S/16/32 bit data word formats.

• Programming algorithms: Normal, Intelligent I & II, Quick Pulse Program-ming. Automatic selection of fastest algorithm for any given pan.

• Verify operation performed at normal & worst case operating voltage.

• Functional lest: JEDEC standard funaional testing for logic devices.TTL Logic functional test for 74xx/54xx series devices and memory devices.Test library can be updated by the user. User deilnable test pattern generation.

• File formats accepted: JEDEC (ftill). JEDECOiemal). Binary, MOS Tech-nologj-. .Motorola Hex, Intel Hex, Tektronix Hex.

• Base price ($695) includes Interface card, cable, Memon'-i-Micro + Bipolarlibrarv-, TTL, CMOS'MEMORY device lest capability, one year free updates.

• Complete price ($895) includes all of the above plus Logic Device Library.

• Library updates can be received via floppy or B&C Customer Support BBS.

• Full I year warranty. Customer support via voice line, Fax &. dedicated BBS.

UNIVERSAL RS-232PROGRAMMER

$345/495

• Programs EE/EProms, ZPRams.Inlel Micros.FIash EProms„Memory Cards.

• Stand-Alone Mode for EE'EProm and Memory Card Duplication / Verify.

• .AJi 2-1,28.32 pin EE/EProms to 4 MBits (upgradeable to 32 megabits).

• Micros:8741,'A,-2'.A,-4,-g,-9.-51.-C5!.-C51F.\'B,-52,-53,-55.-C52I,-C541,9761.

• Model LPI00(S345). Model UP200 ($495) accepts dedicated modules.

• Memory Cards Prog.famming Module (Seiko'Epson.Fujitsu.) - S145.

• G.A.NG Programming Module (4 sockets) ■ $145.

• Optional buill-ln Eraser/Timer module - $50; Conductive foam pad.

• On-Board Programming capabilify: Custom interface modules available.

• Userfriend._ Menu-Driven Interface Program fof IBM-PC and Macintosh.

• Can be operated with any computer containing an RS-232 serial port.

• OENf open board programmer configurations available (from S245).

• One year free software updates and Customer Support.

• Customer support via voice line, dedicated BBS or fax; Full I year warranty.

INTELLIGENTROM EMULATOR

$395

• Emulates 2716 through 27512 EProms (2k to 64k bytes) with a single unit.

• M^bit parts can be emulated with multiple units (Mega adapter required).

• Connects to the staadard parallel printer port. Uses standard printer cable.

• FAST data loading via parallel printer pon (64k bvies in less than 10 seconds).

• Inielligem nn-Circuit-EmuIalor* type features include: Address Compare(with HALT output), .\ddress Snapshot (for target addr. bus monitoring).Trigger Input (for external events monitoring). Programmable Reset Output.

• Powerful Memory buffer editor. Selectable wordsizes (8,16,32).

• User friendly software. Command set includes: Load, Write, Display. Run.Type, Edit. Fill Run-Command-File. Monitor, Port Reset, Help, Caleulator-

• Cascadable to 8 units. Includes target cable with Trigger, Halt & Reset clips.

• CMOS model «ith NiCad rechargeable 9V baltery backup - $495.(Can be used in stand-alone mode: Built-in battery recharging circuitry.)

• File formats accepted: Binary, Intel Hex, Motorola S.

MC / VISA / AMEX Call today for datasheets!

B&C MICROSYSTEMS INC.

750 N. PASTORIA A\"E., SUNVW4LE, CA 94086 USATEL: (408)730-5511 FAX: (408)730-5521 BBS:(408)730-2317

Circle 287 on Reader Service Card

Circle 331 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 453

Editorial Index by Company

Index of companies covered in articles, columns, or news stories in this issueEach reference is to the first page of the article or section in which the company name appears

Company, Page# Inquiry*

A

E

1

J

P

Adac, 48

1299

Easy Automation Systems, 66

1278

JVC Information Products,

Panasonic Communications &

Adaptec, 172

1111

Energy Conversion Devices,

323, 338

1243

Systems, 73, 289, 338

1153

Adaptive Solutions, 342

1003

289, 338

1233

1256

Adobe Systems, 107

Entropy Engineering, 73

1158

Patriot Partners, 19

Advanced Hardware

Epson America, 119

L

PC Power & Cooling, 258

1107

Architectures, 331

Eugene Amazon, 73

1146

LaCie, 172

1118

PentaSoft, 127

Advanced Logic Research,

Everex Systems, 19,186

1110

Laser Magnetic Storage

Peregrine Computers, 46

1293

162,268

1075

Exabyte, 323, 338

1234

International, 275,338

1244

Performance Technological

Advanced Micro Devices,

LaserGo, 48

1301

Products, 52

1309

19,194

1061

Lattice, 245

1225

Peripheral Vision, 338

1257

Apple Computer, 107,146

1080

P

Lehigh University, 466

Phlllps-Du Pont Optical,

Applied Concepts, 52

1307

F-Chart Software, 70

1285

Logitech, 132, 395

1161

275, 338

1258

Archive, 323, 331,338

1226

FlexStar, 172

1114

Lotus Development, 165

Photonics, 58

1316

Asahi, 275

Fresh Technology Group, 58

1317

Pick Systems, 381

1020

Ashton-Tate, 165

Fuji, 275

M

Pinnacle Micro, 338

1259

AST Research, 186

1108

Fujitsu, 19

Pioneer Communications,

AT&T, 19

Fujitsu America, 172,338

1115

MacroMind, 72

1287

275, 338

1260

Atari, 311

1235

Mannesmann Tally, 47

1294

PKWare, 338

1261

Autodesk, 73

1147

Future Domain, 172

1116

Mark Williams, 119

Popkin Software and Systems,

FWB, 172

1117

Maxoptlx, 275, 338

1245

62

1274

Maxtor, 338

1246

Poqet Computer, 239

B

MCC, 338

1247

PowerCore, 89

1223

Bellcore, 342

1004

G

Metaphor, 19

Priam Systems, 172

1123

Benchmark Associates, 89

1222

GateWaze, 66,70

1279

Micro Map & CAD, 70

1284

Princeton Graphic Systems, 73 1157

Borland International, 156,403

1281

Microelectronics and Computer

Psion, 338

1262

British Aerospace, 19

Gigatek, 338

1236

Technology, 283

GigaTrend, 323, 338

1237

MicroNet Technology, 172

1119

GRID Systems, 46

1290

Micropolis, 172

1120

Q

c

Grolier Electronic Publishing,

Microsoft, 97,107,127,

QIC Standards Committee, 331

California Scientific Software,

73

1149

338, 373, 395, 403

1248

Quarter-Inch Cartridge Drive

342

1005

Mitem, 62

1275

Standards, 338

1263

California Software Design,

1 1

Mitsubishi Electronics, 342

1009

Quarterdeck Office Systems,

338

1227

H

Mitsui Petrochemical Industries,

19,403

Cana Group, 48

1300

Harris Semiconductors, 342

1007

275, 338

1249

Canon U.S.A., 235, 338

1228

Hewlett-Packard, 119,132,

Mitsumi Electronics, 323, 338

1250

Carlisle Memory Products, 338 1229

275, 323, 331, 338

1162

Montana State University, 19

R

cc:Mail, 89

1221

1238

Motorola, 19,165

Rainbow Technologies, 52

1306

Cipher Data Products, 338

1230

Hitachi America, 323, 338

1239

Mountain Computers, 338

1251

Ricoh, 338

1264

Club American Technologies,

Holder, Egan, 62

1273

Mouse Systems, 395

Rocky Mountain

186

1109

HSD Microcomputer U.S., 47

1296

Communications, 70

1283

CMC Research, 73

1151

N

Rocky Mountain Research

CMS Enhancements, 172

1112

Center, 19

Colorado Memory Systems,

11

N/Hance Systems, 172

1121

Rodime Systems, 172

1124

331,338

1231

IBM, 19, 97, 275, 338, 395

1240

Nakamichl, 338

1252

Compaq Computer,

IBM Magnetic Recording

National Design, 19

127,140, 338

1232

Institute, 301

National Semiconductor, 342

1010

s

CompuAdd, 46

1292

intooritp bystems, Joi, Job

1241

Natural Graphics, 73

1154

Saber Software, 62

1271

CompuServe, 107

Informix Software, 221

1226

NEC Technologies, 47

1295

St. Martin's Press, 466

Computer Cowboys, 342

1006

Innovative Communications

Nestor, 342

1011

The Santa Cruz Operation, 19

Computer Virus Industry

Systems, 72

1286

Network Technologies, 54

1310

Seagate Technology, 338

1265

Association, 466

Integrated Information

NeXT, 165,338

1066

SEEQ Technology, 338

1266

Connect, 107

Technology, 19,194

1064

1253

Seiko/Epson, 275

Core International, 172

1113

Intel, 19, 165,194,338,342

1008

Nissei Sangyo America, 48

1302

Seiko Instruments U.S.A., 338

1267

Cyrix, 194

1063

1062

NoGate Consulting, 338

1254

Sitka, 107

1242

Notework, 58

1315

Software Composers, 66

1277

International Data, 395

Novell, 19, 97,107

Software Security, 52

1305

D

International Standards

Numonics, 395

Sony, 275, 301, 323, 338

1268

Dariana Technology, 132

1163

Organization, 97

Stac Electronics, 331, 338

1269

Data Access, 89

1224

InterNet, 466

Stanford Research Institute, 395

Datacap, 72

1288

lOcomm, 47

1298

0

Stony Brook Software, 73

1150

Defense Advanced Research

Iomega, 47

1297

O.C.E.A.N.,338

1255

Storage Dimensions, 172

1125

Projects Agency, 342

Irma Research, 251

1077

Occam Research, 66

1276

Sun Microsystems, 19, 97,107

Dell Computer, 19

Olivetti Research Center, 385

SuperMac Technology, 172

1126

Digital Equipment, 19,119, 385

Olympus/Rloch, 275

Synthetic Genetics, 70

1230

Disctec, 266

On-Llne Computer Systems, 275

System Enhancement

Distributed Processing

Open University, 364

Associates, 338

1270

Technology, 205

1105

Optima Technology, 172

1122

Systems Enhancement, 72

1289

Dolphin Software, 54 1311

454 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

T

Tandberg Data, 331

Tandy, 10, 46 1291

Teac America, 323,338 1421

Teraplex, 19

Texas Instruments,

19,262,342 10121078

Texas MacExpress, 193Com,97

3M, 275, 338 1422Togai InfraLogic, 342 1013Toshiba, 19, 107,266, 301,311Toshiba America Information

Systems, 338 1423Toshiba Semiconductor, 338 1424Toyogo, 73 1152

u

UDS, 58 1313

UniPress, 227 1018

Universityof California, 342 1014University of Tokyo, 342

Upsonic, 258 1106

V

Velox Computer, 19

Ventura Software, 132 1160

Vision Software, 70 1282

Visionary Electronics, 58 1314

Visix Software, 227 1019

w

Walt Disney Software, 73 1156

Wang/Informatics, 251 1076

WangDAT, 323, 338 1425

Wangtek, 323, 338 1426

Weitek, 194 1065

Western Digital, 172 1127

Willow Peripherals, 73 1148

WordPerfect, 132 1164

X

Xeltek, 52 1308Xerox, 395

Xerox Palo Alto ResearchCenter, 385

z

Zenith Data Systems, 301,338 1427Zero Surge, 73 1155Zinc Software, 62 1272Zirco, 52 1304

BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF:

Steven M. Vito, Associate Publisher A^.P. of Marketing, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-9281Arthur Kossack, Eastern Advertising Director, Two Prudential Plaza, 180 North Stetson Ave., Chicago, IL 60601, tel. (312) 616-3341Jennifer L. Bartel, Western Advertising Director, 14850 Quorum Drive, Suite 380, Dallas, TX 75240, tel. (214) 701-8496Liz Coyman, Inside Advertising Sales Director, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-2518

NW ENGLAND

ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, ONTARIOCANADA & EASTERN CANADADan Savage (617) 860.6344Scott Gagnon (603) 924-2651

McGraw-Hill Publications29 Hanwell AvenueLexington. MA 02173FAX: (617) 860-6999

EAST COASTNY, NYC, NJ. DE, PAKim Norris (212)512-2645Ariane Casey (212) 512-2368Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654McGraw-Hill Publications1221 Avenue of the Americas—2SA Floor

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Atlanta, GA 30319FAX; (404) 252-4056

MIDWEST

IL, MO, KS, lA. ND, SD. MN.WI, NE,!N. MI, OHKurt Kelley (312) 616-3328Mary Ann Goulding (603) 924-2664McGraw-Hill PublicationsTwo Prudential Plaza180 North Stetson Ave.Chicago. IL 60601FAX; (312) 616-3370

SOUTHWEST,ROCKY MOUNTAINCO. OK. TX,

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ampbell.CA 95008FAX: (408) 879-9067

SOUTH PACIFIC: Los Angeles. CALOS ANGELES COUNTY. AZ.NM. SOUTHERN NEVADAAlan El Faye (213) 480-5243Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665McGraw-Hill Publications3333 Wilshire Boulevard #407Los Angeles. CA 90010FAX; (213) 480-5249

SOUTH PACIFIC: Costa Mesa, CAORANGE COUNTY,SAN DIEGO COUNTY, UTRon Cordek (714) 557-6292Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665McGraw-Hill Publications3001 Red Hill Ave.Building #1-Suite 222Costa Mesa, CA 92626FAX; (714)557-2219

BYTE BITS (2x3)Mark Stone (603) 924-6830BYTE PublicationsOne Phoenix Mill LanePeterborough, NH 03458

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Regional AdvertisiogJames Bail (603) 924-2533Barry Echavarria (603) 924-2574Larry Levine (603) 924-2637BYTE PublicationsOne Phoenix Mill LanePeterborough. NH 03458

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BYTE Publications

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Peterborough, NH Office

Inside Sales FAX; 603-924-2683Advertising FAX; 603-924-7507

International Advertising Sales Staff:

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McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Wimbledon Bridge House, One HartfiefcJ Road, Wimbkdtm, Londwi, SW19 3RU, England, Tel: 44 815431234, Fax: 44 81540 3833

GERMAN-Y, SWITZERLAND,AUSTRIA

Uwe ICretzschmar (44-81-545-6268)UNITED KINGDOMRoz Wevman (44-81-545-6269)McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.Wimbledon Bridge HouseOne Hartf icld RoadWimbledon. London SWI9 3RUEngland

Tel: 44 81 543 1234FAX; 44 81 540 3833TELEX; 892191

BENELUX

Ellen PardedeBaienburg 1033437 AB NieuwegeinThe NetherlandsTel: 31 34 02 49496FAX; 31 34 02 37944

FRA.NC3E, ITALY

Zena Coupe, Amanda Blaskett

A-Z Internadonal Sales Ltd.

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Highgate. London N19 3BH

England

Tel; 44 71 281 4116FAX; 44 71 281 8224

ISRAEL

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Ehrlich Communication InternationalP.O. Box 11297Tel Aviv 61112Israel

Tel; (972) 3 449823FAX; (972) 3 5468168

JAPAN

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SWEDEN

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SINGAPORE

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NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 455

READERSERVICE

To get further information on tfie products advertised in BYTE, fili outthe reader service card by circling the numbers on the card that cor-respond to the inquiry number iisted with the advertiser. This index isprovided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes noliability for errors or omissions.

Alphabetical Index to Advertisers

Inquiry No.

Page No.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

S ABACUS SOFTWARE.INC 197

9 ABACUS SOFTWARE.INC 197

10 ABTECH.INC 360

11 ABTECH.INC 360

12 ACMA 263

13 ADD ON AMERICA 443

14 AK SYSTEMS 451

15 ALL THE FAX 443

16 ALPHA PRODUCTS 437

17 ALR 2,3

18 ALR 2,3

19 ALTEC 204

20 AME PRODUCTS 447

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

22 AMERICAN MITAC 393

23 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION - .99

24 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION - . 99

25 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP 300

26 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP 300

27 AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS 143

26 AMSGMBH 452

29 ANNABOOKS 222

382 ANNABOOKS 420

383 ANNABOOKS 420

30 ARCTANQENT.INC 447

31 ARCTANGENT.INC 447

32 ARDEN SOFTWARE 88

33 ARLINGTON ELECTRONICS 453

34 ASHTON-TATE 56,57

35 ASHTON-TATE 56,57

36 ASHTON-TATE 93

37 ASHTON-TATE 93

38 AVANTECH SOLUTIONS.INC 444

39 A.MS 450

40 B 8 B ELECTRONICS 450

41 BAYTECHNICALASSOCIATES 187

42 BAYTECHNICALASSOCIATES 187

43 BAYTECHNICALASSOCIATES 237

44 BAYTECHNICALASSOCIATES 237

45 BELL ATLANTIC 248,249

46 BEST POWER TECH..INC 450

47 BINARY DATA ACQUISITION 444

• BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC 443

• BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC 443

450 BIX 378,379

• BIXINTL 295

• BIX 414,434

49 BLAISE COMPUTING 6

50 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP . . . 407

51 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP .... 407

52 BOFFIN LTD 420

53 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11

54 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11

55 BOS NATIONAL.INC 444

56 BOW INDUSTRIES 448

57 BP MICROSYSTEMS 461

399 BUFFALO PRODUCTS 259

58 BUSINESSLAND DIRECT 421

• BUYERS MART 422-432

• BYTE BACK ISSUES 434

59 BYTE BITS 450

• BYTE BOOKCLUB 320,321

• BYTE CARD DECK 432

• BYTESUB.MESSAGE 392

• BYTE SUB.SERVICE 375

• BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER 410

61 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 451

62 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 451

63 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 453

64 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 285

65 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 285

66 CADRE TECHNOLOGIES 25

67 CANON (OPTICAL CARD) 71

68 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP 84

69 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP 85

• CCMI 436

■ CLEOCOMMUNICATIONS.INC 96

70 CLUB AMERICAN TECH.,INC 199

71 CMETELEMETRIX 451

72 CNS.INC 390

• COMPAQ 154,155

• OOMPUADD 88A-D

■ OOMPUADD 164A-D

73 COMPUCLASSICS 380

74 COMPUCOM 433

75 COMPUSERVE 282

388 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES 225

389 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES 225

76 COMPUTER FRIENDS,INC 400

77 COMPUTER PERIPHERALS 328

78 COMPUTER UPGRADE CORP 250

79 COMPUTER UPGRADE CORP 250

80 COMPUTERLANE 445

81 COMPUTERWISE.INC 434

82 COMTHOL CORP 230,231

• OOPIA INTERNATIONAL LTD 208

83 COVOX.INC 433

84 COVOX.INC 433

85 CRESCODATAA/S 451

86 CSS LABS 280,281

87 CSS LABS 280,281

90 CTA 322

91 CTX INTERNATIONAL 330

92 CTX INTERNATIONAL 330

93 CURTIS,INC 360

94 CYRIX 352

95 CYRIX 352

96 C&JMICRONICS 453

• DAK INDUSTRIES 42-45

■ DAMARKINT'L,INC 409

97 DATA STRATEGIES INT'L 440

98 DATA TRANSLATION 121

99 DATALUX 192B

100 DATALUX 192B

101 DATAQ INSTRUMENTS.INC 448

102 DATAWARE 421

103 DELL COMPUTER CORP Cll,1

104 DELL COMPUTER CORP 102,103

105 DELL COMPUTER CORP 104,105

• DELL COMPUTER CORP 104A-B

107 DELPHI 184

108 DESKTOP TECHNOLOGY CORP 90

395 DFI 389

109 DIGITAL RESEARCH 29

110 DIGITAL VISION 318

111 DIGI-DATA 448

112 DISKCOTECH 443

113 DISKCOTECH 443

114 DISKETTE CONNECTIONS 447

115 DISPENSA-MATIC LABEL DISP 421

116 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH .253

117 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH . 253

118 DIVERSIFIED COMPUTER SYS 450

119 DSM DIGITAL SERVICE 291

120 DSP DEVELOPMENT 391

121 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS 198

122 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS 198

123 ELCEECOMPUTEK 411

124 ELEXOR ASSOCIATES.INC 448

125 EMERSON UPS 319

126 EMERSON UPS 319

• EPSON 22,23

127 ERGO COMPUTING 137

• ERGO COMPUTING 136A-B

128 EVEREX SYSTEMS 256,257

129 EXIDE ELECTRONICS 420

130 EXIDE ELECTRONICS 420

131 FAIRCOMCORP 226

132 FALCO DATA PRODUCTS 183

135 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAI 449

136 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAI 449

137 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING 274

138 FLYTECHTECHNOLOGIES.INC 53

139 FORVALAMERICA,INC 372

140 FORVALAMERICA.INC 372

141 FOX SOFTWARE 7

396 GALAXY ELECTRONICS,INC 452

• GATEWAY 2000 32A-H

142 GCOM,INC 448

397 GEKENSHOJICO..LTD 451

143 GENERIC SOFTWARE 30,31

144 GENERIC SOFTWARE 30,31

145 GRAPHIC SOFTWARE SYSTEMS ... 120

146 GRAPHIC SOFTWARE SYSTEMS . . .120

147 GRAPHTEC 394

148 GREENVIEW 76

151 QTCO 421

152 GTEK.INC 408

153 GTEK.INC 408

154 a.W.COMPUTERS.INC 200

155 HAUPPAUGE COMPUTER WORKS. .234

156 HAVENTREE SOFTWARE LTD 224

157 HAVENTREE SOFTWARE LTD 224

158 HAYES 355

159 HELLO DIRECT 420

160 HERCULES 98

• HEWLETT-PACKARD PERIP ... 138,139

• HEWLETT-PACKARD PERIP 270,271

161 HIGH RES TECHNOLOGIES 452

162 HOOLEON CORPORATION 382

163 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

164 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

165 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

166 HUMMINGBIRD COMM.LTD 246

167 HUMMINGBIRDCOMM.LTD 246

168 IBM PS/2 16,17

169 IIYAMA ELECTRIC CO..LTD 293

170 INDIGO SOFTWARE LTD 295

171 INFOCUS.INC 153

172 INFOCUS,INC 153

• INFOCUS,INC 1S2A-B

173 INSIGNIA SOLUTIONS 106

174 INTEGRAND 100

175 INTEL CORP 26,27

176 INTEL CORP 26,27

177 INTEL CORP 169

176 INTELCORP 169

179 INTELCORP 170,171

180 INTELCORP 170,171

181 INTEL CORP/DEV.TOOLS 421

182 10 TECH 443

183 IOMEGA 144,145

184 IOMEGA 144,145

185 I.S.C. POWER SYSTEMS 308,309

186 ITR 440

187 IVERSON COMPUTER CORP . . 362,363

188 I.C.EXPRESS 453

189 JADE COMPUTER 446

190 JAMECO 340,341

384 JAMECO 420

385 JAMECO 420

6 JDHMICRODEVIOES 461-484

7 JDRMICRODEVICES 461-464

192 JEMINI ELECTRONICS 450

193 KADAK PRODUCTS LTD 326

194 KEA SYSTEMS LTD 265

• KENSINGTONMICROWARELTO. . . .126

195 KILA SYSTEMS 447

196 KNAPCO 444

197 KNOWLEDGE GARDEN 413

198 LAGUNA CONVERSION SYS 440

199 LAHEY 184

200 LAWSON LABS.INC 453

201 LINK COMPUTER GRAPHICS 433

202 LOGICAL DEVICESINC 447

203 LOGICAL DEVICES,INC 447

204 LOGICAL DEVICESINC 447

205 LOGICAL DEVICESINC 447

206 LOGITECH.INC 50,51

207 LOGITECH,INC 50,51

208 LOGiTECH,iNC 297

209 LOGITECH,INC 297

• LOTUS 1-2-3-UNIX 229

• LOTUS - MAGELLAN 77

210 LYBEN 421

211 MAQEEENTERPRISES.INC 416

212 MAQEEENTERPRISES.INC 416

213 MAP INFO 294

• MARKWILLIAMSCO 75

214 MARYMAC INDUSTRIES 452

Inquiry No.

Page No.

215 MATHSOFT 327

216 MATHSOFT 327

217 MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 357

218 MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 357

221 MEGATEL COMPUTER CORP 390

222 MERRITT COMPUTER PRODUCT . . .368

223 MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP.PROD . .318

226 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD 444

• MICROSOFT 8,9

• MICROSOFT 21

• MICROSOFT 68,69

• MICROSOFT 129

• MICROSOFT 130,131

• MICROSOFT 232,233

• MICROSOFT 313

• MICROSOFT 315

■ MICROSOFT 317

227 MICROSTAR LABORATORIES 452

• MICROWAY 192C

• MICROWAY 347

• MICROWAY 415

228 MIGRAPH 420

229 MIS COMPUTER SYSTEMS 329

230 MIS COMPUTER SYSTEMS 329

231 MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS 267

232 MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS 267

233 MIX SOFTWARE 405

234 MKS 118

235 MOUSE SYSTEMS 252

386 MYLEX 314

387 MYLEX 314

236 NANAO USA CORP 238

237 NANAO USA CORP 238

238 NANTUCKET CORPORATION 302

239 NANTUCKET CORPORATION 303

250 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 421

251 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS GUI

252 NATIONAL TELEVAR 110

253 NCR EUROPE 248,249

254 NECHOMEELECT.(MONITORS) . 12,13

255 NEC SYSTEMS 64,65

258 NEVADA COMPUTER CORP 442

257 NOHAUCORP 397

258 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 209

259 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS. 210,211

260 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS. 212,213

261 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . 214,215

262 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS. 216,217

263 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . 218,219

264 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 220

265 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . 242,243

• NRI/MCGRAW-HILL 384A-D

266 NU-MEGA TECHNOLOGIES 78

267 OAKLAND GROUP.INC 310

• ORACLE Ill

269 OVERLAND DATA 435

270 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 151

271 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 151

272 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 201

273 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 201

274 PANASONIC (LASER PRINTER) . .36-38

276 PANASONIC (MONITORS) 15

277 PARA SYSTEMS 81

278 PATTON & PATTON 80

■ PCCONNECTION 112-114

• PCCONNECTION 115,116

• PCCONNECTION 117

279 PENTAX TECHNOLOGIES 181

280 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC 325

281 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC 325

282 PERCON 433

283 PERSONAL TEXINC 240

284 PINNACLE MICRO 109

285 PLUS DEVELOPMENT 185

286 POPKIN SOFTWARE 361

398 PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS 123

• PRINCETON PUB.LABS 288A-B

287 PROCOMP.USA 453

288 PROGRAMMER'SCONNECTION ... 420

289 PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE ... 59-61

390 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP 158-181

391 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP 1S8-161

290 PROMISE TECHNOLOGY.INC 182

291 PROTECH MARKETING 135

292 PROTECH MARKETING 135

293 PSEUDOCORP 451

240 QUATECH.INC 418

241 QUATECH.INC 416

242 QUATECH.INC 418

243 QUATECH.INC 418

244 QUATECH.INC 418

245 QUATECH.INC 418

246 QUATECH.INC 418

247 QUATECH.INC 418

248 QUATECH.INC 418

294 QUALSTARCORP 440

295 QUARTERDECK 298,299

296 RSRELECTRONICS 452

297 RADIO SHACK CIV

298 RAIMA CORP 49

392 RAIMA CORP 371

300 RAINBOW 63

301 RAINBOW 63

302 RAINDROP 222

303 ROSE ELECTRONICS 101

304 ROYKORE 92

305 SAFEWARE.INC 444

306 SANKYOSEIKI(U.K.)LTD 337

307 SANTA CRUZ OPERATION 55

308 SAS INSTITUTE,INC 359

309 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

310 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

311 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

312 SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS 436

313 SEQUITERSOFTWAHE,INC 244

314 SHECOM COMPUTERS,INC 241

315 SILICON SHACK LTD 452

316 SN'W COMPUTERS 4 ELECT 200

317 SOFTWAREPUBLISHINGCORP254,255

318 SONY 369

319 SPECTRUM 307

Inquiry No.

Page No.

320 STANDARD COMPUTER 124,125

321 STATSOFT 87

322 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE 398

323 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE 398

324 STORAGE DIMENSIONS 207

325 STORAGE DIMENSIONS 207

326 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

327 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

328 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

329 SUN MICRO 94,95

331 SUNRISE ELECTRONICS,INC 453

332 SUPERSOFT 349

333 SYSTAT 261

334 TALKING TECHNOLOGY.INC 444

335 TANGENT COMPUTER 179

336 TECH CITY 399

337 TECH CITY 399

338 TECHNOLOGY POWER ENTER .... 452

393 TEKTRONIX 202,203

394 TEKTRONIX 202,203

339 TELEPHONE PRODUCT CENTER... 441

340 TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS 1920,193

■ TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS .... 192D A-B

341 THE CARD SHOP 421

342 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

343 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

344 THE SOFTWARE LINK 332

345 THE SOFTWARE LINK 332

346 THE SOFTWARE LINK 333

347 THE SOFTWARE LINK 333

348 TOSHIBA 82,83

349 TOSHIBA 82,83

350 TOUCHBASE SYSTEMS.INC 74

351 TOUCHSTONE - CHECKIT 79

352 TOUCHSTONE - CHECKIT 79

353 TREND SYSTEMSINC 435

354 TRI-STAR COMPUTER 18

355 TRUEVISION.INC 383

356 TULIN CORPORATION 368

357 TULIN CORPORATION 368

358 UHC 417

359 UNICORE SOFTWARE 108

360 UNITEX 438,439

361 UNITEX 438,439

362 UNIVERSAL CROSS-ASSEMBLERS . 448

363 UPSONIC 189

364 UPSONIC 189

• US ROBOTICS 316

365 VENTURCOM 122

366 VENTURCOM 122

• VERMONT CREATIVE SOFTWARE ... 35

367 VICTORY ENTERPRISES 411

368 VIDEX 402

369 VIDEX 402

370 VIRGIN MASTERTRONIC 420

371 VIZIFLEXSEELS.INC 452

372 VOGON ENTERPRISES LTD 336

• WATCOM PRODUCTS 247

373 WIESEMANN&THEISGMBH 296

374 WINTEK CORP 448

375 XELTEK 443

376 ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS 91

377 ZENY COMPUTER SYS ,INC 208

378 ZIRCOCORP 108

379 ZIRCOCORP 108

• ZORTECH 41

380 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 440

381 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 440

INTERNATIONAL SECTION 72181-96

No North American lr}quiries please.

401 3EST USA IS-74

402 ACER IS-59

403 AGO IS-69

404 ALADDIN IS-49

405 AMDS LTD IS-44

406 AMERICAN BUYING & EXPORTING IS-84483 ARGOSY l$-60

407 ATICO IS-40,41

• BIX IS-77

408 BLUE CHIP TECHNOLOGY IS-72

• BYTE SUB.SERVICE IS-70

• BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER IS-79

412 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-17

413 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-17

414 COBALT BLUE 18-56

415 COMPEX.INC IS-38

416 COMPEX,INC IS-38

417 COMPEX.INC 18-39

418 COMPEX.INC 18-39

419 COMPUSAVE INT'L IS-73

420 COMPUTER CONNECTIONS IS-53

421 COMPUTER QUICK 18-46

422 COSTGOLD RESEARCH LTD 18-52

423 CYBEX 18-56

424 C.TS. LTD 18-72

425 DIETRICH POS-EQUIPMENT 18-74

428 EASY NETWORK 18-55

429 EASY NETWORK 18-55

426 ELEX INTERNATIONAL IS-81

• ELONEX IS-47

427 ESIX SYSTEMS IS-13

430 FAST ELECTRONIC IS-63

431 FORTRON l$-9

432 FORTRON IS-9

482 GALAXY MICROCRAFT SYS.CO . . . 18-70

433 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS 18-28

434 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS 18-28

435 GREY MATTER 18-71

436 GTCO 18-20

437 GTCO 18-20

438 IXILTD 18-30

439 IGEL IS-85

440 IMT FRANCE 18-64

441 INESGMBH 18-62

442 INEX INTERNATIONAL 18-62

443 INTERQUADLTD IS-5

444 INTERQUADLTD 18-7

481 INWIN DEVELOPMENT.INC IS-80

456 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

READER SERVICE

' Correspond directly with company.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

445 IQ ENGINEERING IS-15

446 IQ ENGINEERING IS-15

447 JC INFO SYSTEMS IS-3S

448 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

449 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

451 LOGIDATATECH IS-51

452 MASHOV (USE) LTD IS-67

453 MAXIT DEVELOPMENT/OSBORNE IS-78

454 MAXIT DEVELOPMENT/OSBORNE IS-78

455 MAYFAIR MICROS IS-14

456 MEGADATA IS-36

457 MEGADATA IS-36

458 MICROGRAFX IS-43

459 MINOLTA GMBH IS-23

461 PHILIPS IS-27

462 PROGRAMMERS ODYSSEY IS-12

463 PROLOG DEVELOPMENT CTR , IS-804S4 SAGE/POLYTRON IS-24

465 SMART SOFTWARE 15-48

• SOFTLINE CORP IS-45

466 SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION CO. , IS-57

■ SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYS- IS-33

467 SOFTWARE DMI IS-16

468 SUN'S ELECTRONICS CO. LTD ... IS-54

469 SURAH,INC IS-74

470 TATUNG IS-37

471 TEAC IS-10

480 TP ENTERPRISE LTD IS-68

473 TRIANGLE DIGITAL SERVICES .... IS-72

474 TRIGEM IS-2

475 TWINHEAD IS-18,19

476 UNIVERSAL DATASYSTEMS IS-31

477 UNIVERSAL DATASYSTEMS IS-31

478 USA SOFTWARE IS-29

479 VIKING SOFTWARE SERVICE IS-52

INT'L DIRECT RESPONSE POSTCARDS

• BYTEWEEK IS

• C USERS JOURNAL IS

• COMPUTER SOLUTIONS IS

• COMPUTER SOLUTIONS.N.W IS

• DIGIBOARD IS

• GATEWAY 2000 IS

■ KEITHLEY/METRABYTE IS

• MIGRAPH.INC ' IS

• PROGRAMMER'S JOURNAL JS

■ REASONABLE SOLUTIONS IS

• TECH SPECIALIST IS

inquiry No.

Page No.

REGIONAL SECTIONS

Midwest 72MW1-24

588 ADI CORPORATION MW-21

569 BSI MW-5

590 SSI MW-5

591 CAF COMPUTER CORP MW-23

592 C.E.T.D.C MW-22

593 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS MW-19

594 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS MW-1

595 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS MW-1

596 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

597 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

598 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3

599 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3

600 INTRA ELECTRONICS MW-24

601 IRISSOFTWARE MW-11

602 IRISSOFTWARE MW-11

603 MICRO DESIGNS MW-4

604 MICRO DESIGNS MW-4

605 MICROSPEED COMPTERS MW-9

606 MICROSPEED COMPTERS MW-9

607 MICROCOM COMPUTERS MW-13

608 MYODA.INC MW-15

609 MYODA.INC MW-15

610 REASON TECHNOLOGY MW-6,7

611 SAMPOTECHNOUDGYCORP . . . MW-18

612 SOFT & MORE MW-16

Northeast 72NE1-32

551 ADI CORPORATION NE-29

552 BITWISE DESIGNS.INC NE-12

553 BITWISE DESIGNS.INC NE-12

554 BRIGHTBILL-ROBERTS NE-5

555 BSI NE-16

556 SSI NE-16

557 CAF COMPUTER CORP NE-31

558 C.E.T.D.C NE-30

559 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS NE-27

560 COMPULYNK NE-3

561 COMPULYNK NE-3

• COMP. GRAPHICS SHOW '91 NE-24

562 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAI NE-11

563 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAI NE-11

564 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS NE-17

565 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS NE-17

566 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS NE-20

inquiry No.

Page No.

567 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS . . NE-20

568 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

569 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

570 INTERFACE GROUP NE-7

571 INTERFACE GROUP NE-7

572 INTRA ELECTRONICS NE-32

573 MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT NE-1

■ MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT . NE-72A-B

574 MICRO DESIGNS NE-4

575 MICRO DESIGNS NE-4

576 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS NE-13

577 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS NE-13

578 MICROCOM COMPUTERS NE-21

579 MYODA.INC NE-23

580 MYODA.INC NE-23

581 REASON TECHNOLOGIES NE-8,9

582 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP .... NE-26• SCAN SYMPOSIUM NE-22

583 SOFTS MORE NE-15

Pacific Coast

72 PCI-36

645 ADI CORPORATION PC-33

646 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

647 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

648 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

649 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

650 BRIGHTBILL-ROBERTS PC-6

651 BSI PC-28

652 BSI PC-28

653 CAF COMPUTER CORP PC-35

654 C.E.T.D.C PC-34

655 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS PC-31

656 CONVEX PC-9

657 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS PC-1

658 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS PC-1

659 DEXPO WEST 90 PC-5

660 EASY NETWORK PC.19

661 EASY NETWORK PC-19

662 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS ... .PC-21

663 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS ... .PC-21

664 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

665 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

666 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3

667 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3

668 INTRA ELECTRONICS PC-36

669 IRISSOFTWARE PC-13

670 IRISSOFTWARE PC-13

671 METAWARE PC-25

inquiry No.

Page No.

672 MICA COMPUTER PC-23

673 MICA COMPUTER PC-23

674 MICRO DESIGNS PC-4

675 MICRO DESIGNS PC-4

676 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS PC-16

677 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS PC-16

678 MICROCOM COMPUTERS PC-27

■ MICROCOMPUTER MKTG.CNCL . PC-24

679 MYODA.INC PC-17

680 MYODA.INC PC-17

681 OPTICAL PUBLISHING.INC PC-14

682 OPTICAL PUBLISHING.INC PC-14

684 PROSPERO SOFTWARE,INC . . PC-2

685 PROSPERO SOFTWARE.INC PC-2

686 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP PC-30

687 THE PRINTER WORKS PC-10,11

688 THE PRINTER WORKS PC-10,11

689 UNITED INNOVATIONS PC-20

690 ZERICON PC-15

South 72 SOI-24

615 ADI CORPORATION SO-21

616 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

617 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

618 BSI SO-5

619 BSI SO-5

620 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS SO-9

621 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS SO-9

• BYTE CARD DECK SO-9

622 CAF COMPUTER CORP SO-23

623 C.E.T.D.C SO-22

624 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS SO-19

625 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS SO-7

626 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS SO-7

627 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

628 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

629 INTERFACE GROUP SO-3

630 INTERFACE GROUP SO-3

631 INTRA ELECTRONICS SO-24

632 MICRO DESIGNS SO-4

633 MICRO DESIGNS SO-4

634 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS SO-16

635 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS SO-16

636 MICROCOM COMPUTERS SO-11

637 MYODA.INC SO-t

638 MYODA.INC SO-1

639 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP . 80-18

640 SOFTS MORE SO-15

BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF:

Steven M. Vito, Associate PublisherA'.P. of Marketing, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterljorough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-9281

Arthur Kossack, Eastern Advertising Director, Two Prudential Plaza, 180 North Stetson Ave., Chicago, XL 60601, tel. (312) 616-3341

Jennifer L. Bartel, Western Advertising Director, 14850 Quorum Drive, Suite 380, Dallas, TX 75240, tel. (214) 701-8496

Liz Coyman, Inside Advertising Sales Director, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-2518

NEWENGL.\ND

MIDWEST

NORTH PACIFIC: Campbell, C:a

BYTE BITS (2x3)

BYTE Deck

ME, NH, VT, MA. RI, CT. ONTARIO

IL, MO. KS.IA, ND.SD. MN.

SILICON VALLEY, HI, WA, AK,

Mark Stone (603) 924-6830

Ed Ware (603) 924-2596

CANADA & EASTERN CANADA

WI. NE, IN, MI. OH

W. CANADA

BYTE Publications

BYTE Publications

Dan Savage (617) 860-«344

Kurt Kelley (312) 616-3328

Bill McAfee (408) 879-0381

One Phoenix Mill Lane

One Phoenix Mill Lane

Scott Gagnon (603) 924-2651

MaryAnn Goulding (603) 924-2664

Leslie Hupp (408) 8794)381

Peterborough. NH 03458

Peterborough, NH 03458

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

29 Hartwell Avenue

Two Prudential Plaza

1999 South Bascom Ave.

The Buyer's Mart (1x2)

Catalog Showcase

Lexington. MA 02173

180 North Stetson Ave.

Suite iBlO

Brian Higgins (603) 924-3754

BYTE International Direct

FAX: (617)860-6999

Chicago. IL 60601

Campbell. CA 95008

BYTE Publications

Response Postcards

FAX: (312) 616-3370

FAX: (408) 879-9067

One Phoenix Mill Lane

Ellen Perham (603) 924-2598

EAST COAST

Peterborough. NH 03458

BYTE Publications

NY. NYC, NJ, DE. PA

SOUTHWEST,

SOUTH PACIFIC: Los Angeles. CA

One Phoenix Mill Lane

Kim Norris (212) 512-2645

ROCKY MOUNTAIN

LOS A-NGELES COU.NTY. AZ.

Regional Advertising

Peterborough. NH 03458

Ariane Casey (212) 512-2368

CO. OK. TX.

NM. SOUTHERN NEVADA

James Bail (603) 924-2533

Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654

Alison Keenan (214) 701-8496

Alan El Fave (213) 480-5243

Barry Echavarria (603) 924-2574

Peterborough, NH Office

McGraw-Hill Publications

Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654

Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665

Larry Levine (603) 924-2637

Inside Sales FAX: 603-924-2683

1221 Avenue of the Americas—

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

BTTE Publications

Advertising FAX: 603-924-7507

28th Floor

14850 Quorum Drive

3333 Wilshire Boulevard #407

One Phoenix Mill Lane

New York, NY 10020

Suite 380

Los Angeles, CA 90010

Peterborough. NH 03458

FAX: (212)512-2075

Dallas. TX 75240

FAX: (213) 480-5249

FAX: (214)991-6208

SOUTHEAST

SOUTH PACIFIC: Cosia Mesa, CA

NC, SC. GA. PL. AL, TN, VA,

NORTH PACIFIC: San Francisco, CA ORANGE COUNTY,

MS, AR. LA, DC, MD. WV, KY

NORTHERN CA. OR. ID. MT,

SAN DIEGO COUNTY. UT

John Y. Schilin (404) 843-4782

WY. NORTHERN NV

Ron Cordek (714) 557-6292

Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654

RoyJ.Kops (415) 954-9728

Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publicauons

4170 Ashford-Dunwoody Road

425 Battery Street

3001 Red Hill Ave.

Suite 520

San Francisco. CA 94111

Building #1-Suite 222

Atlanta, GA 30319

FAX: (415)954-9786

Costa Mesa. CA 92626

FAX: (404) 252^56

FAX: (714) 557-2219

International Advertising Sales Staff:

Uwe Kretzschmar, European Advertising and Marketing Manager, BYTE Publicaticms,

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Wimbledon Bridge House, One Hartfidd Road, Wimbtedon, Londim, SW19 3RU, England, Tel: 44 815431234, Fax: 44 81540 3833

GERMANY, SWITZERLANT),

FRANCE, ITALY

JAPAN

Ha\G KONG

TAIWAN

AUSTRIA

Zena Coupe. Amanda Blaskelt

Masaki Mori

Stephen Marcopoto

Anita Chen

Uwe Kretzschmar (44-81 -545-6268)

A-Z Internationa! Sales Ltd.

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

Seavex Ltd.

AcerTWP

UNITED KINGDOVj

4 Ashmount Road. Homsev Lane

Overseas Corp.

503 Wilson House

977 Min Shen E. Road. 1-4 Fir.

Ror Weyman (44-81-545-6269)

Highgate, London N19 3BH

Room 1528

19-27 Wyndham St.

Taipei 10581. Taiwan ROC

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

England

Kasumigaseki Bldg.

Central. Hong Kong

Tel: 886 2 763 0052

Wimbledon Bridge House

Tel: 44 71 281 4116

3-2-5 Kasumigaseki,

Tel: 852-868-2010

Fax: 886 2 765 6874

One Harifield Road

FAX: 44 71 281 8224

Chiyoda-Ku

Telex: 60904 SEVEX HX

Wimbledon. LondonSW193RU

Tokyo 100, Japan

FAX: 852 810 1283

England

ISRAEL

Tel: 81 3 581 9811

Tel: 44 81 543 1234

Dan Ehrlich

FAX: 81 3 581 4018

SINGAPORE

FAX: 44 81 540 3833

Ehrlich Communication International

Jocelyn Domingo

TELEX: 892191

P.O. Box 11297

SWEDEN

Seavex Ltd.

Tel Aviv 61112

Media Marketing AB

400Orchard Road. #10-01

BENELUX

Israel

Karlberesvagen 89A

Singapore 0923

Ellen Pardcde

Tel: (972) 3 449823

S-lOOSfStockholm

Republic of Singapore

Batenbure 103

FAX: (972)3 5468168

Sweden

Tel: 65 734 9790

3437 AB Nieuwegein

Tel: 46 8 301280

Telex: RS35539 SEAVEX

The Netherlands

FAX: 65 732 5129

Tel: 31 34 02 49496

FAX: 31 34 02 37944

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 457

READERSERVICE

To get further information on tfie products advertised in BYTE, fill outthe reader service card by circling the numbers on the card that cor-respond to the inquiry number listed with the advertiser. This index isprovided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes noliability for errors or omissions.

* Correspond directly with company.

Index to Advertisers by Product Category

Inquiry No.

Page No.

HARDWARE

126 ADD INS

10 ABTECH.INC 360

11 ABTECH.INC 360

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

28 AMSGMBH 452

483 ARGOSY IS-60

47 BINARY DATA ACQUISITION .. . 444

408 BLUE CHIP TECHNOLOGY ... IS-72

64 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 285

65 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 285

68 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP ...84

69 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP ...85

• CLEOCOMMUNICATIONS,INC...96

417 COMPEX.INC IS-39

418 COMPEX.INC IS-39

82 COMTROL CORP 230,231

85 CRESCODATAA/S 451

94 CYRIX 352

95 CYRIX 352

424 C.T.S. LTD IS-72

98 DATA TRANSLATION 121

116 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH 253

117 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH 253

119 DSM DIGITAL SERVICE 291

482 GALAXY MICROCRAFTSYS.COIS-70

145 GRAPHIC SOFTWARE SYSTEMS 120

146 GRAPHIC SOFTWARE SYSTEMS 120

152 GTEK.INC 408

153 GTEK.INC 408

160 HERCULES 98

161 HIGH RES TECHNOLOGIES .. . 452

175 INTEL CORP 26,27

176 INTEL CORP 26,27

177 INTEL CORP 169

178 INTEL CORP 169

182 10 TECH 443

447 JC INFO SYSTEMS IS-35

200 LAWSON LABS.INC 453

453 MAXITDEVELOPMENT/OSBORNEIS-78

454 MAXITDEVELOPMENT/OSBORNEIS-78

226 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD . . 444

227 MICROSTAR LABORATORIES . . 452

• MICROWAY 347

• MICROWAY 415

386 MYLEX 314

387 MYLEX 314

280 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC. 325

281 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC . 325

287 PROCOMP.USA 453

290 PROMISE TECHNOLOQY.INC. . 182

240 QUATECH.INC 418

241 QUATECH.INC 418

242 QUATECH.INC 418

243 QUATECH.INC 418

244 QUATECH.INC 418

245 QUATECH.INC 418

246 QUATECH.INC 418

247 QUATECH.INC 418

248 QUATECH.INC 418

468 SUN'S ELECTRONICS CO. LTD IS-54

470 TATUNG IS-37

338 TECHNOLOGY POWER ENTER 452

342 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

343 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

480 TP ENTERPRISE LTD IS-68

353 TREND SYSTEMS.INC 435

473 TRIANGLE DIGrTAL SERVICES IS-72

355 TRUEVISION,INC 383

359 UNICORE SOFTWARE 108

127 DRIVES

COMPUTER UPGRADE CORP . 250COMPUTER UPGRADE CORP . 250

OURTIS.INC 360

IME COMPUTERS NE-2

IME COMPUTERS NE-2

IME COMPUTERS MW-2

IME COMPUTERS MW-2

IME COMPUTERS SO-2

IME COMPUTERS SO-2

IME COMPUTERS PC-14

IME COMPUTERS PC-14

IOMEGA 144,145

IOMEGA 144,145

MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP.PROD. 318MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS ... 267MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS ... 267

OVERLAND DATA 435

TRIGEM IS-2

TULIN CORPORATION 368

TULIN CORPORATION 368

m FACSIMILE

15 ALL THE FAX 443

620 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS. . SO-9

621 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS. . SO-9444 INTERQUADLTD IS-7

129 GRAPHICS TABLETS

326 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

327 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

328 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

787993568569596597627628664665183184223231232269474356357

Inquiry No.

Page No.

5796152153201204205257331375

71101124200235251

99100110147436437

206207208209

261282377

146742042297111137481198217218223280281284285294306318324325471372

162128298384425439171172

174445446195222226272273

334368369371373380381

414243447477139140158179180

HARDWARE PROGRAMMERS

BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC ... 443

BP MICROSYSTEMS 451

C&J MICRONICS 453

GTEK.INC 408

GTEK.INC 408

LINK COMPUTER GRAPHICS .. 433

LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 447

LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 447

NOHAUCORP 397

SUNRISEELECTRONICS.INC. . 453

XELTEK 443

INSTRUMENTATION

CMETELEMETRIX 451

DATAQ INSTRUMENTS.INC .... 446ELEXORASSOCIATES.INC . . . . 448

LAWSON LABS.INC 453

MOUSE SYSTEMS 252

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS Clll

KEYBOARDS/MICE

DATALUX 192B

DATALUX 192B

DIGITAL VISION 318

GRAPHTEC 394

GTCO lS-20

GTCO IS-20

KENSINGTON MICROWARE LTD. 126

LOGITECH.INC 50,51

LOGITECH.INC 50,51

LOGITECH.INC 297

LOGITECH.INC 297

MICROSOFT 68,69

NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 214,215

PERCON 433

ZENY COMPUTER SYS .INC ... 208

MASS STORAGE

AK SYSTEMS 451

CANON (OPTICAL CARD) 71

COMPUTERCONNECTIONS. . IS-53COSTGOLD RESEARCH LTD . IS-52

DATA STRATEGIES INT'L 440

DIGI-DATA 448

FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING ... 274INWIN DEVELOPMENT.INC . . IS-60LAGUNA CONVERSION SYS ... 440

MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 357

MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 357

MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP.PROD . 318PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC. 325PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC . 325

PINNACLE MICRO 109

PLUS DEVELOPMENT 185

QUALSTARCORP 440

SANKYOSEIKI(U.K.)LTD 337

SONY 369

STORAGE DIMENSIONS 207

STORAGE DIMENSIONS 207

TEAC IS-10

VOGON ENTERPRISES LTD . . . 336

MISCELLANEOUS

ALPHA PRODUCTS 437

AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

AMSGMBH 452

ANNABOOKS 222

COVOX.INC 433

COVOX.INC 433

DIETRICH POS-EQUIPMENT . IS-74

IGEL IS-65

INFOCUS.INC 153

INFOCUS.INC 153

INFOCUS.INC 152A-B

INTEGRAND 100

10 ENGINEERING IS-15

10 ENGINEERING IS-15

KILA SYSTEMS 447

MERRITT COMPUTER PR0DUCT368MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD. . 444PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS .... 201PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS ... 201PRINCETON PUB.LABS.... 288A-BTALKING TECHNOLOGY.INC . . 444

VIDEX 402

VIDEX 402

VIZIFLEXSEELS.INC 452

WIESEMANN&THEISGMBH .. 296

Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 440

Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 440

MODEMS/MULTIPLEXORS

BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES . 187BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES . 187BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES . 237BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 237

COMPUCOM 433

COMPUTER PERIPHERALS ... 328

FORVALAMERICA.INC 372

FORVALAMERICA.INC 372

HAYES 355

INTEL CORP 170,171

INTEL CORP 170,171

Inquiry No.

Page No.

451 LOGIDATATECH IS-S1

456 MEGADATA IS-36

457 MEGADATA IS-36

398 PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS 123

350 TOUCHBASE SYSTEMS.INC 74

476 UNIVERSAL DATA SYSTEMS . IS-31

477 UNIVERSAL DATA SYSTEMS . IS-31

• US ROBOTICS 316

• VERMONT CREATIVE SOFTWARE 35

136 MONITORS

551 ADI CORPORATION NE-29

588 ADI CORPORATION MW-21

615 ADI CORPORATION SO-21

645 ADI CORPORATION PC-33

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

559 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS . . NE-27593 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS . . MW-19624 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS . - SO-19655 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS . . PC-31

91 CTX INTERNATIONAL 330

92 CTX INTERNATIONAL 330

169 IIYAMA ELECTRIC CO.,LTD . . . . 293443 INTERQUADLTD IS-5

236 NANAO USA CORP 238

237 NANAO USA CORP 238

254 NEC HOME ELECT (MONITORS) . 12,13

276 PANASONIC (MONITORS) 15

461 PHILIPS IS-27

137 NETWORK HARDWARE

3EST USA IS-74

BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 187BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 187BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 237BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 237

BUFFALO PRODUCTS 259

COMTROL CORP 230,231

CSS LABS 280,281

CSS LABS 280,281

CYBEX IS-56

DELL COMPUTER CORP 1 ,CII

EASY NETWORK IS-55

EASY NETWORK IS-55

EASY NETWORK PC-19

EASY NETWORK PC-19

ELONEX IS-47

FAIRCOMCORP 226

FLYTECHTECHNOLOGIES.INC . .53

INESGMBH IS-62

THE SOFTWARE LINK 332

THE SOFTWARE LINK 332

THE SOFTWARE LINK 333

THE SOFTWARE LINK 333

138 PRINTERS/PLOTTERS

• EPSON 22,23

• HEWLETT-PACKARD PERIP 138,139

163 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

164 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

165 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

448 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

449 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

459 MINOLTAGMBH IS-23

274 PANASONIC (LASER PRINTER)36,38

279 PENTAX TECHNOLOGIES 181

469 SURAH.INC IS-74

393 TEKTRONIX 202,203

394 TEKTRONIX 202,203

687 THE PRINTER WORKS . . PC-10,11

688 THEPRINTERWORKS ...PC-10,11

689 UNITED INNOVATIONS PC-20

690 ZERICON PC-15

139 PRINTER RIBBONS/SUPPLIES

270 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 151

271 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 151

140 SCANNERS/IMAGE PROCESSORS

395 DFI 389

• HEWLETT-PACKARD PERIP 270,271

>41 SOFTWARE SECURITY

404 ALADDIN IS-49

430 FAST ELECTRONIC IS-63

291 PROTECH MARKETING 135

292 PROTECH MARKETING 135

300 RAINBOW 63

301 RAINBOW 63

)42 SYSTEMS

402 ACER IS-59

12 ACMA 263

403 AGO IS-69

17 ALR 2,3

18 ALR 2,3

19 ALTEC 204

20 AME PRODUCTS 447

22 AMERICAN MITAC 393

25 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP . 300

26 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP . 30033 ARLINGTON ELECTRONICS ... 45338 AVANTECH SOLUTIONS.INC . . 444

40141424344399828687423103426429660661

131138441344345346347

Inquiry No.

Page No.

646 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

647 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

552 BITWISE DESIGNS.INC NE-12

553 BITWISE DESIGNS.INC NE-12

616 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

617 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

648 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

849 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

555 BSI NE-16

556 BSI NE-16

589 BSI MW-5

590 BSI MW-5

618 BSI SO-5

619 BSI SO-5

651 BSI PC-28

652 BSI PC-28

557 CAP COMPUTER CORP NE-31

591 CAF COMPUTER CORP MW-23

622 CAF COMPUTER CORP SO-23

653 CAF COMPUTER CORP PC-35

70 CLUB AMERICAN TECH.,INC .. 199

• COMPAQ 154,155

• COMPUADD 88A-D

• COMPUADD 164A-D

560 COMPULYNK NE-3

561 COMPULYNK NE-3

562 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAL .NE-11

563 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAL .NE-1193 CURTIS.INC 360

• DAK INDUSTRIES 42,45

103 DELL COMPUTER CORP Cll,1

104 DELL COMPUTER CORP. . . 102,103

105 DELL COMPUTER CORP ,104,105

• DELL COMPUTER CORP . . . 104A-B

564 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS , . NE-17

565 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS ,, NE-17

594 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . , , MW-1

595 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS. . , MW-1

625 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS, , , SO-7

626 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS, , , SO-7

657 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS, , , PC-1

658 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . . PC-1

• ELONEX IS-47

• ERGO COMPUTING 136A-B

127 ERGO COMPUTING 137

128 EVEREX SYSTEMS 256,257

132 FALCO DATA PRODUCTS 183

138 FLYTECHTECHNOLOGIES.INC . .53

431 FORTRON IS-9

432 FORTRON IS-9

• GATEWAY 2000 32A-H

155 HAUPPAUGE COMPUTER WORKS 234

566 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS NE-20

567 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS NE-20

662 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS PC-21

663 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS PC-21168 IBM PS/2 16,17

568 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

569 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

596 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

597 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

627 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

628 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

664 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

665 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

572 INTRA ELECTRONICS NE-32

600 INTRA ELECTRONICS MW-24

631 INTRA ELECTRONICS SO-24

668 INTRA ELECTRONICS PC-36

187 IVERSON COMPUTER CORP362,363

192 JEMINI ELECTRONICS 450

573 MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT , , NE-1

• MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT NE-72A-B221 MEGATEL COMPUTER CORP, , 390

672 MICA COMPUTER PC-23

673 MICA COMPUTER PC-23

574 MICRO DESIGNS NE-4

575 MICRO DESIGNS NE-4

603 MICRO DESIGNS MW-4

604 MICRO DESIGNS MW-4

632 MICRO DESIGNS SO-4

633 MICRO DESIGNS SO-4

674 MICRO DESIGNS PC-4

675 MICRO DESIGNS PC-4

678 MICROCOM COMPUTERS , , PC-27

576 MICROSPEEDCOMPUTERS, NE-13

577 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS, NE-13

605 MICROSPEED COMPTERS ,,, MW-9

606 MICROSPEED COMPTERS ,,, MW-9

634 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS, SO-16

635 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS, SO-16

676 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS, PC-16

677 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS. PC-16

• MICROWAY 1920

229 MISCOMPUTER SYSTEMS ... . 329

230 MIS COMPUTER SYSTEMS.... 329

579 MYODA.INC NE-23

580 MYODA.INC NE-23

608 MYODA.INC MW-15

609 MYODA.INC MW-15

637 MYODA.INC SO-1

638 MYODA.INC SO-1

679 MYODA.INC PC-17

680 MYODA.INC PC-17

253 NCR EUROPE 248,249

255 NEC SYSTEMS 64,65

258 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS , 209

259 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 210,211

458 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

READER SERVICE

Inquiry No.

Page No.

260 NORTHGATECOMPUTERSYS 212,213

262 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 216,217

263 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 218,219265 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 242,243297 RADIO SHACK CIV

581 REASON TECHNOLOGIES . . NE-8,9

610 REASON TECHNOLOGY , . . MW-6,7

582 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP NE-26

611 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP MW-18

639 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP SO-18686 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP PC-30

583 SOFT & MORE NE-15

612 SOFT&MORE MW-16

640 SOFT&MORE SO-15

320 STANDARD COMPUTER . . . 124,125

333 SYSTAT 261

335 TANGENT COMPUTER 179

336 TECH CITY 399

337 TECH CITY 399

339 TELEPHONE PRODUCT CENTER441

340 TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS . 1920,193■ TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS . 192DA-B

346 TOSHIBA 82,83

349 TOSHIBA 82,83

354 TRI-STAR COMPUTER 18

475 TWINHEAD IS.18,19

367 VICTORY ENTERPRISES 411

376 ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS 91

943 TERMINALS

81 COMPUTERWISE.INC 434

166 HUMMINGBIRDCOMM.LTD ... 246

167 HUMMINGBIRD COMM.LTD ... 246

944 UPS

23 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION99

24 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION9946 BEST POWER TECH.,INC 450

388 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES . . . 225

389 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES . , . 225

125 EMERSON UPS 319

126 EMERSON UPS 319

196 KNAPCO 444

277 PARA SYSTEMS 81

363 OPSONIC 189

364 UPSONIC 189

378 ZIRCOCORP 108

379 ZIRCOCORP 108

SOFTWARE

945 APPLE/MAC APPLICATIONS Scientific/Technical

308 SAS INSTITUTE.INC 359

946 APPLE/MAC COMMUNICATIONS

50 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407

51 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407

947 APPLBMAC LANGUAGES

• COPIA INTERNATIONAL LTD . . . 208

948 APPLE/MAC UTIUTIES

173 INSIGNIA SOLUTIONS 106

949 ATARI/AMIGA —LAN

656 CONVEX PC-9

950 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS Business Office

30 ARCTANGENT.INC 447

31 ARCTANGENT.INC 447

34 ASHTON-TATE 56,57

35 ASHTON-TATE 56,57

108 DESKTOP TECHNOLOGY CORP. .90141 FOX SOFTWARE 7

433 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS IS-28

434 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS IS-28

156 HAVENTREE SOFTWARE LTD . 224

157 HAVENTREE SOFTWARE LTD . 224170 INDIGO SOFTWRE LTD 295

• LOTUS - WAGELWN 77

238 NANTUCKET CORPORATION . . 302

239 NANTUCKET CORPORATION . . 303252 NATIONAL TELEVAR 110

• ORACLE Ill

295 QUARTERDECK 298,299

298 RAIMA CORP 49

392 RAIMA CORP 371

304 ROYKORE 92

951 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS Scientific/Technical

120 DSP DEVELOPMENT 391

202 LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 447

203 LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 447

278 PATTON & PATTON 80

309 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

310 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

311 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

319 SPECTRUM 307

321 STATSOFT 87

333 SYSTAT 261362 UNIVERSAL CRC^ASSEMBLERS 448

Inquiry No.

Page No.

952 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS Miscellaneous

554 BRIGHTBILL-ROSERTS NE-5

650 BRIGHTBILL-ROBERTS PC-6

• MICROSOFT 313

• MICROSOFT 315

• MICROSOFT 317

953 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS Word Processing

• MICROSOFT 8,9

954 IBM/MSDOS-CAD

27 AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS . 143

39 A.M.S 450

656 CONVEX PC-9

143 GENERIC SOFTWARE 30,31

144 GENERIC SOFTWARE 30,31

374 WINTEKCORP 448

955 IBM/MSDOS COMMUNICATIONS

50 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407

51 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407118 DIVERSIFIED COMPUTER SYS, 450194 KEA SYSTEMS LTD 265

956 IBM/MSDOS GRAPHICS

45 BELL ATLANTIC 248,249

123 ELCEE COMPUTEK 411

186 TR 440

458 MICROGRAFX IS-43

• MICROSOFT 129

• MICROSOFT 130,131

317 SOFTWARE PUBUSHING CORP .254,255

957 IBM/MSDOS — LAN

213 MAP INFO 294

464 SAGE/POLYTRON IS-24

958 IBM/MSDOS LANGUAGES

72 CNS.INC 390

199 LAHEY 184

• MICROSOFT 21

• MICROSOFT 232,233

463 PROLOG DEVELOPMENT CTR IS-80

293 PSEUDOCORP 451

313 SEQUITERSOFTWARE.INC ... 244

322 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE ... 398

323 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE .. . 398

• WATCOM PRODUCTS 247

• ZORTECH 41

959 IBM/MSDOS UTILITIES

32 ARDEN SOFTWARE 88

36 ASHTON-TATE 93

37 ASHTON-TATE 93

49 BLAISE COMPUTING 6

53 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11

54 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11

66 CADRE TECHNOLOGIES 25

412 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-17

413 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-17

90 CTA 322

142 GCOM.INC 448

148 GREENVIEW 76

154 G.W.COMPUTERS.INC 200

440 IMT FRANCE IS-64

601 IRIS SOFTWARE MW-11

602 IRIS SOFTWARE MW-11

669 IRIS SOFTWARE PC-13

670 IRIS SOFTWARE PC-13

197 KNOWLEDGE GARDEN 413

211 MAGEEENTERPRISES.INC . . . .416

212 MAGEEENTERPRISES.INC ... .416

452 MASHOV(MSE)LTD IS-67

233 MIX SOFTWARE 405

266 NU-MEGA TECHNOLOGIES 78

267 OAKLAND GROUP.INC 310

684 PROSPERO SOFTWARE.INC . PC-2

685 PROSPERO SOFTWARE.INC . PC-2

304 ROYKORE 92

467 SOFTWARE DMI IS-16

332 SUPERSOFT 349

342 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

343 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

351 TOUCHSTONE-CHECKIT 79

352 TOUCHSTONE - CHECKIT 79

960 OTHER APPLICATIONS Business Office

• LOTUS 1-2-3-UNIX 229

961

OTHER APPLICATIONSMiscellaneous

50 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407

51 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407479 VIKING SOFTWARE SERVICE . IS-52

162 OTHER —CAD

215 MATHSOFT 327

216 MATHSOFT 327

163 OTHER —CROSS DEVELOPMENT

55 BOS NATIONAL.INC 444

414 COBALT BLUE IS-56

438 IXILTD IS-30

inquiry No.

Page No.

681 OPTICAL PUBLISHING.INC . . PC-14

682 OPTICAL PUBLISHING.INC . . PC-14• SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYS IS-33

OTHER-LANGUAGES

BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC . . . 443BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC . . . 443

CNS.INC 390

MARKWILLIAMSCO 75

METAWARE PC-25

IWINDROP 222

SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

OTHER — UTILITIES

GREENVIEW 76

RAINDROP 222

SOFTWARE DMI IS-16

SUN MICRO 94,95

VENTURCOM 122

VENTURCOM 122

671302310311309

148302467329365366

966 DESKTOP PUBLISHING

448 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

449 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

252 NATIONAL TELEVAR 110

283 PERSONAL TEX.INC 240

303 ROSE ELECTRONICS 101

967

EDUCATIONAL/INSTRUCTIONAL

8 ABACUS SOFTWARE.INC 197

9 ABACUS SOFTWARE.INC 197

■ BYTE BACK ISSUES 434

59 BYTE BITS 450

• BYTE BOOK CLUB 320,321

• BYTE CARD DECK 432

• BYTE CARD DECK SO-9

• BYTESUB.MESSAGE 392

• BYTESUB.SERVICE 375

• BYTESUB.SERVICE IS-70

• BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER 410

• BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER . . . IS-79

• CCMI 436

• COMPUTER GRAPHICS SH0W'91 . NE-24659 DEXPOWEST90 PC-5

570 INTERFACE GROUP NE-7

571 INTERFACE GROUP NE-7

598 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3

599 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3

629 INTERFACE GROUP SO-3

630 INTERFACE GROUP SO-3

666 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3

667 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3

• NRI/MCGRAW-HILL 384A-D

• SCAN SYMPOSIUM NE-22

968 MAIL ORDER/RETAIL

13 ADDON AMERICA 443

405 AMDS LTD IS-44

406 AMERICAN BUYING &EXP0RTINGIS-64

382 ANNABOOKS 420

383 ANNABOOKS 420

407 ATICO IS-40,41

646 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

647 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

40 B & B ELECTRONICS 450

52 BOFFIN LTD 420

616 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

617 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

648 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

649 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

56 BOW INDUSTRIES 448

620 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS . . SO-9

621 BUSIN ESS COMPUTER SYS. . SO-958 BUSINESSLAND DIRECT 421

• BYTE BOOKCLUB 320,321

61 BSC MICROSYSTEMS 451

62 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 451

63 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 453

73 COMPUCLASSICS 380

419 COMPUSAVE INT'L IS-73

76 COMPUTER FRIENDS.INC .... 400

421 COMPUTER QUICK IS-46

562 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAL .NE-11

563 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAL .NE-1180 COMPUTERLANE 445

656 CONVEX PC-9

• DAMARK INT'UINC 409

102 DATAWARE 421

564 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . NE-17

565 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . NE-17

594 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS. . , MW-1

595 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS. . . MW-1

625 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . , SO-7

626 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . SO-7

657 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS... PC-1

658 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . . PC-1

112 DISKCOTECH 443

113 DISKCOTECH 443

114 DISKETTE CONNECTIONS ... . 447

115 DISPENSA-MATIC LABEL DISP , 421

121 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS 198

122 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS 198

426 ELEX INTERNATIONAL iS-61

129 EXIDE ELECTRONICS 420

inquiry No.

Page No.

130 EXIDE ELECTRONICS 420

135 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAL449

136 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAL449396 GALAXY ELECTRONICS.INC . . 452

435 GREY MATTER IS-71

151 GTCO 421

159 HELLO DIRECT 420

568 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

569 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

596 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

597 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

627 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

628 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

664 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

665 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

442 INEX INTERNATIONAL IS-62

181 INTEL CORP/DEV.TOOLS 421

188 I.C.EXPRESS 453

185 I.S.C. POWER SYSTEMS ... 308,309

189 JADE COMPUTER 446

190 JAMECO 340,341

384 JAMECO 420

385 JAMECO 420

6 JDRMICRODEVICES 461,464

7 JDR MICRODEVICES 461,464

210 LYBEN 421

214 MARYMAC INDUSTRIES 452

455 MAYFAIR MICROS IS-14

578 MICROCOM COMPUTERS . . NE-21

607 MICROCOM COMPUTERS . . MW-13

636 MICROCOM COMPUTERS .. SO-11

• MICROCOMPUTER MKTG.CNCL PC-24226 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD . . 444228 MIGRAPH 420

579 MYODA.INC NE-23

580 MYODA.INC NE-23

608 MYODA.INC MW-15

609 MYODA.INC MW-1S

637 MYODA.INC SO-1

638 MYODA.INC SO-1

679 MYODA.INC PC-17

680 MYODA.INC PC-17

250 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 421

256 NEVADA COMPUTER CORP . . . 442

258 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS .. . 209

259 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 210,211

260 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 212,213

261 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 214,215

262 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 216,217

263 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 218,219

264 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS .. . 220

265 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 242,243

• PC CONNECTION 112,114

• PC CONNECTION 115,116

• PCCONNEGTION 117

462 PROGRAMMERS ODYSSEY . . IS-12

288 PROGRAMMER'S CONNECTION 420

289 PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE . 59,61

390 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP . . . 158,161

391 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP . . . 158,161296 R&R ELECTRONICS 452

581 REASON TECHNOLOGIES . . NE-8,9

610 REASON TECHNOLOGY . . . MW-6,7

312 SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS 436

314 SHECOMCOMPUTERS.INC , . . 241

465 SMART SOFTWARE IS-48

316 SN'W COMPUTERS & ELECT . . 200

583 SOFT&MORE NE-15

612 SOFT&MORE MW-16

640 SOFT&MORE S0-1S

• SOFTLINECORP IS-45

466 SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION CO IS-57320 STANDARD COMPUTER ... 124,125339 TELEPHONE PRODUCT CENTER441341 THE CARD SHOP 421

360 UNITEX 438,439

361 UNITEX 438,439

478 USA SOFTWARE IS-29

370 VIRGIN MASTERTRONIC 420

969

MISCELLANEOUS

415416558592623654397162264305315

COMPEX.INCCOMPEX.INCC.E.TD.C...C.E.TD.C....C.E.TD.C...C.E.TD.C.. . .GEKENSHOJICO,HOOLEON CORPORATIONNORTHGATE COMPUTER SYSSAFEWARE.INC ....SILICON SHACK LTD

LTD

. . IS-38. . IS-38. NE-30. MW-22SO-22. PC-34. . . 451. 382. . 220. 444. . 452

970

ON-LINE SERVICES

450 BIX 378,379

• BIX 414,434

• BIX IS-77

• BIXINTL 295

75 COMPUSERVE 282

107 DELPHI 184

971 OPERATING SYSTEMS

109 DIGITAL RESEARCH 29

427 ESIX SYSTEMS IS-13

193 KADAK PRODUCTS LTD 326

307 SANTA CRUZ OPERATION 55

358 UHC 417

366 VENTURCOM 122

367 VENTURCOM 122

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 459

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A. What is your primary jobfunction/principal area of responsibility?(Check one.)

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4 □ Sales/Marketing

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B. What is your level of managementresponsibility?

7 □ Senior-level

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Inquiry Numbers 1-495 Inquiry Numbers 496-990 Inquiry Numbers 991-1479

1

2

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8

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496

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1022 102

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1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032

1033 103

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1044 104

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562

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572

1057 1058 1059 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065

1066 106

78

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573

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1068 1069 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1075 1076

1077 107

89

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584

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1088 108

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1099 110

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606

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1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106 1107 1108 1109

1110 111

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617

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1112 1113 1114 1115 1116 1117 1118 1119 1120

1121 112

133

134

135

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143

628

629

630

631

632

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1123 1124 1125 1126 1127 1128 1129 1130 1131

1132 113

144

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154

639

640

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1134 1135 1136 1137 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142

1143 114

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159

160

161

162

163

164

165

650

651

652

653

654

655

656

657

658

659

660

1145 1146 1147 1148 1149 1150 1151 1152 1153

1154 115

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

661

662

663

664

665

666

667

668

669

670

671

1156 1157 1158 1159 1160 1161 1162 1163 1164

1165 116

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

672

673

674

676

676

677

678

679

680

681

682

1167 1168 1169 1170 1171 1172 1173 1174 1175

1176 117

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

683

684

685

686

687

688

689

690

691

692

693

1178 1179 1180 1181 1182 1183 1184 1185 1186

1187 118

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

694

695

696

697

698

699

700

701

702

703

704

1189 1190 1191 1192 1193 1194 1195 1196 1197

1198 119

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

705

706

707

708

709

710

711

712

713

714

715

1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207 1208

1209 121

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

716

717

718

719

720

721

722

723

724

725

726

1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219

1220 122

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

727

728

729

730

731

732

733

734

735

736

737

1222 1223 1224 1225 1226 1227 1228 1229 1230

1231 123

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

738

739

740

741

742

743

744

745

746

747

748

1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1239 1240 1241

1242 124

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

749

750

751

752

753

754

755

756

757

758

759

1244 1245 1246 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252

1253 125

265

266

267

268

269

270

271

272

273

274

275

760

761

762

763

764

765

766

767

768

769

770

1255 1256 1257 1258 1259 1260 1261 1262 1263

1264 126

276

277

278

279

280

281

282

283

284

285

286

771

772

773

774

775

776

777

778

779

780

781

1266 1267 1268 1269 1270 1271 1272 1273 1274

1275 127

287

288

289

290

291

292

293

294

295

296

297

782

783

784

785

786

787

788

789

790

791

792

1277 1278 1279 1280 1281 1282 1283 1284 1285

1286 128

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

305

306

307

308

793

794

795

796

797

798

799

800

801

802

803

1288 1289 1290 1291 1292 1293 1294 1295 1296

1297 129

309

310

311

312

313

314

315

316

317

318

319

804

805

806

807

808

809

810

811

812

813

814

1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 1304 1305 1306 1307

1308 130

320

321

322

323

324

325

326

327

328

329

330

815

816

817

818

819

820

821

822

823

824

825

1310 1311 1312 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318

1319 132

331

332

333

334

335

336

337

338

339

340

341

826

827

828

829

830

831

832

833

834

835

836

1321 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326 1327 1328 1329

1330 133

342

343

344

345

346

347

348

349

350

351

352

837

838

839

840

841

842

843

844

845

846

847

1332 1333 1334 1335 1336 1337 1338 1339 1340

1341 134

353

354

355

356

357

358

359

360

361

362

363

848

849

850

851

852

853

854

855

856

857

858

1343 1344 1345 1346 1347 1348 1349 1350 1351

1352 135

364

365

366

367

368

369

370

371

372

373

374

859

860

861

862

863

864

865

866

867

868

869

1354 1365 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360 1361 1362

1363 136

375

376

377

378

379

380

381

382

383

384

385

870

871

872

873

874

875

876

877

878

879

880

1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 1370 1371 1372 1373

1374 137

386

387

388

389

390

391

392

393

394

395

396

881

882

883

884

885

886

887

888

889

890

891

1376 1377 1378 1379 1380 1381 1382 1383 1384

1385 138

397

398

399

400

401

402

403

404

405

406

407

892

893

894

895

896

897

898

899

900

901

902

1387 1388 1389 1390 1391 1392 1393 1394 1395

1396 139

408

409

410

411

412

413

414

415

416

417

418

903

904

905

906

907

908

909

910

911

912

913

1398 1399 1400 1401 1402 1403 1404 1405 1406

1407 140

419

420

421

422

423

424

425

426

427

428

429

914

915

916

917

918

919

920

921

922

923

924

1409 1410 1411 1412 1413 1414 1415 1416 1417

1418 141

430

431

432

433

434

435

436

437

438

439

440

925

926

927

928

929

930

931

932

933

934

935

1420 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1426 1427 1428

1429 143

441

442

443

444

445

446

447

448

449

450

451

936

937

938

939

940

941

942

943

944

945

946

1431 1432 1433 1434 1435 1436 1437 1438 1439

1440 144

452

453

454

455

456

457

458

459

460

461

462

947

948

949

950

951

952

953

954

955

956

957

1442 1443 1444 1445 1446 1447 1448 1449 1450

1451 145

463

464

465

466

467

468

469

470

471

472

473

958

959

960

961

962

963

964

965

966

967

968

1453 1454 1455 1456 1457 1458 1459 1460 1461

1462 146

474

475

476

477

478

479

480

481

482

483

484

969

970

971

972

973

974

975

976

977

978

979

1464 1465 1466 1467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472

1473 147

485

486

487

488

489

490

491

492

493

494

495

980

981

982

983

984

985

986

987

988

989

990

1475 1476 1477 1478 1479

□ / subscribe to BYTE. / do not subscribe to BYTE. Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for $24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in U.S. and possessions only.

lini NOVEMBER 19

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Want More Information About the Products and Advertisers Featured in this Issue?

Circle numbers on reply cardwhich correspond to numbersassigned to items of interest to you.

a

Check all the appropriateanswers to questions "A"through "E".

Print your name and addressand mail.

Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT.

Name

( )

Title

Phone

Company

Address

City

State

Zip

A. What is your primary job function/priDcipalarea of responsibility? (Check one.)

1 □ MIS/DP

2 □ Programmer/Systems Analyst

3 C Administration/Management

4 □ Sales/Mariceting

5 □ Engineer/Scientist

6 □ Other

B. What is your level of management responsibility?

7 □ Senior-level 9 □ Professional

8 □ Middle-level

C Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD, Dealer, Consultant)?

10 □ Yes llDNo

Inquiry Numbers 1.4934 5 6 7 8 9 10 1121 22 23 24 2S 26 27 28

87 38

104 105

121 122

138 139

155 156

172 173

189 190

206 207

223 224

240 241

257 256

274 275

291 292

308 309

325 326

342 343

39 40

56 57

73 74

90 91

107 108

124 125

141 142

158 159

175 176

192 193

209 210

226 227

243 244

260 261

277 278

294 295

311 312

328 329

345 346

76

375 376 377 378 379 380

392 393 394 395 396 397

413 414

430 431

447 448

464 465

481 482

410 411 .

427 428 .

444 445 ■

461 462 '

478 479 ■

109 110 111 112 113

126 127 128 129 130

143 144 145 146 147

160 161 162 163 164

177 178 179 180 181

194 195 196 197 198

211 212 213 214 215

228 229 230 231 232

245 246 247 248 249

262 263 264 265 266

279 280 281 282 283

296 297 298 299 300

313 314 315 316 317

330 331 332 333 334

347 348 349 350 351

364 365 366 367 368

381 382 383 384 385

398 399 400 401 402

415 416 417 418 419

432 433 434 435 436

449 450 451 452 453

466 467 468 469 470

483 484 485 486 487

46 47

63 64

80 81

97 98

114 115

131 132

148 149

165 166

182 183

199 200

216 217

233 234

250 251

267 268

284 285

301 302

318 319

335 336

362 353

369 370

386 387

403 404

420 421

437 438

454 455

471 472

14 15

31 32

46 49

65 66

82 83

99 100

116 117

133 134

150 151

167 168

184 185

201 202

218 219

235 236

252 253

269 270

286 287

303 304

320 321

337 338

354 355

371 372

388 389

405 406

422 423

439 440

456 457

473 474

33 34 511 512

SO 51

67 68

84 85

101 102

118 119135

152 153

169 170

186 187

203 204

220 221

237 238

254 255

271 272

288 289

305 306

322 323

339 340

356 357

373 374

390 391

407 408

424 425

441 442

458 459

475 476

492 493

596 597 598 599 600

36 613 614 615 616 617

630 631 632 633 634

847 648 649 650 651

664 665 666 667 668

681 682 683698 699 700

715 :

717

716

732 733 734 735 736749 750 751 752 753766 767 768 769 770783

784800 801817 818834 835851 852

785 786 787802 803 804819 820 821

Inquiry Numbers

499 500 501 502

516 517 518 519

533 534 535 536

550 551 552 553

567 568 569 570

584 585 586 587

601 602 603 604

616 619 620 621

635 636 637 638

652 653 654 655

669 670 671 672

686 687 688 639

703 704 706 706

720 721 722 723

737 738 739 740

754 755 756 757

771 772 773 774

788 789 790 791

805 806 807 808

822 823 824 825

839 840 841 842

856 857 858 859

873 874 875

494-986

503 504

520 521

53? 538

554 555

571 572

588 589

605 606

622 623

ess 640

656 657

673 674

690 691

707 708

724 725

741 742

758 759

775 776

792 793

809 810

826 827

843 844

506 507

523 524

540 541

557 558

574 575

591 592

608 609

625 626

642 643

876 877

902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913

919 920 921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930

936 937 338939940 941 942943944945946 947

963 954965966 957 958959960 961 962963964

970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981

508 509 510

525 526 527

542 543 544

559 560 561

576 577 578

533 594 595

610 611 612

627 628 629

644 645 646

661 662 663

676 679 680

710 711 712 713 714

727 728 729 730 731

744 745 746 747 748

761 762 763 764 765

778 779 780 781 782

795 796 797 798 799

812 813 814 815 816

829 830 831 832 833

846 847 848 849 950

863 864 865 866 867

880 881 882 883 884

897 896 899 900 901

914 915 916 917 918

931 932 933 934 935

948 949 950 951 952

965 966 967 968 969

982 983 984 985 986

D. What operating svstems axe you currently using?(Check all that apply)

12 □ PC/MS-IX)S 15 □ UNIX

13 □ DOS + Windows 16 □ MacOS

14 □ OS/2 17 □ VAX^MS

E. For how many people do you injluence thepurchase of hardware or software?

18 □ 1-25 20 □ 51-99

19 □ 26-50 21 □ 100 or more□ Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for

S24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in U.S. andpossessions only. NOVEMBERIRSC004

Inquiry Numbers 987-1479987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 99910001001 1002100310041C05 1006 10071008 1009 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 10181019 10201021 1022 10231024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 10371038 1039 1040 1041 10421043 1044 1045 1046 10471048 1049 1060 1051 1052 1063 10541055 1056 10671068 1069 1060 1061 1062 10631064 1065 1066 1067 1068 1069 1070 10711072 1073 10741075 1076 1077 10781079 1080 1081 1082 1 083 1084 1085 1086 108710881089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 10971098 109911001101 1102110311041105110611071108110911101111 1112111311141115111611171118111911201121 1122112311241125112611271126112911301131 1132113311341135113611371138113911401141 1142114311441145114611471148114911501151 1152115311541155115611571158115911601161 1162116311641165116611671168116911701171 1172117311741175117611771178117911801181 1182118311841185118611871188118911901191 11921193119411951196119711981199 1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 12071208 1209 12101211 1212 1213 1214 1215 121612171218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 12241225 1226 1227 1228 1229 1230 1231 1232 12331234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1239 1240 12411242 1243 1244 1246 1246 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252 1253 1254 1255 1256 1257 12581259 1260 1261 1262 1263 1264 1265 1266 12671268 1269 1 270 1271 1272 1273 1274 12751276 12771278 1 279 1280 1281 1282 1283 1284 1285 1286 12871288 1289 1290 1291 12921293 1294 1295 1296 1297 1298 1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 1304 1305 1306 1307 1308 13091310 1311 1312 1313 13141315 1316 1317 13181319 1320 1321 1322 1323 1324 1325 13261327 1328 1329 1330 1331 1332 1333 1334 1335 1336 1337 1338 1339 1340 1341 1342 13431344 1345 1346 1347 1348 1349 1350 1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 13601361 1362 1363 1364 1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 1370 1371 1372 1373 1374 13751376 13771378 1379 1380 1381 1382 1383 1 384 1385 1386 1387 1388 1389 1390 1391 13921393 13941395 1396 1397 1398 1399 1400 1401 14021403 1404 1405 1406 1407 14081409 1410 14111412 1413 1414 1415 1416 141714181419 1420 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1426 1427 14281429 1430 1431 1432 1433 1434 1435 1436 143714381439 1440 1441 14421443 1444 14451446 14471448 1449 1450 1451 1452 1453 1454 14551456 1457 1458 1459 1460 1461 14621463 1464 146514661467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479

PLACEPOSTAGEHERE

RVTF

READER SERVICEPO Box 5110

Pittsfield, MA 01203-9926USA

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Want More Information About the Products and Advertisers Featured in this Issue?

Circle numbers on reply cardwhich correspond to numbersassigned to items of interest to you.

Check all the appropriateanswers to questions "A"through "E".

El

Print your name and addressand mail.

PLACEPOSTAGEHERE

READER SERVICEPO Box 5110

Pittsfield, MA 01203-9926USA

Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT.

Name

Title

Phone

Company

Address

City

18 19

35 36

52 53

69 70

86 87

103 1M

120 121

137 138

154 155

171 172

188 189

205 206

222 223

239 240

256 257

273 274

290 291

307 308

324 325

341 342

358 359

375 376

392 393

409 410

426 427

443 444

460 461

477 478

State

Zip

i. What is your primary job function/principalrea of responsibility? (Check one.)

1 □ MIS/DP

2 □ Progranuner/Systems Analyst

3 □ Administration/Management

4 u Sales/Marketing

5 ~ Engineer/Scientist

6 Z Other

t. What is your level of management responsibility?

7 n Senior-level 9 □ Professional

8 □ Middle-level

:. Are you a reseller (VAR, VADt Dealer, Consultant)?

0 □ Yes 11 □ No

Inquiry Numbers 1-493

3 420 2137 3854 5571 7288 89105 106122 123139 140156 157173 174190 191207 208224 225241 242256 259275 276292 293309 310326 327343 344360 361377 378394 395411 412428 429445 446462 463479 480

22 23 24 25

73

405774

90 91

107 106

124 125

141 142

158 159

175 176

192 193

209 210

226 227

243 244

260 261

277 278

294 295

311 312

328 329

345 346

362 363

379 380

396 397

413 414

430 431

447 448

464 465

481 482

42 43 44 45

12 13 14 15

29 30 31 32

46 47 46 49

63 64 65 66

34

76 77 78 79

92 93 94 95 96

109 110 111 112 113

126 127 128 129 130

143 144 145 146 147

160 161 162 163 164

177 178 179 180 181

194 195 196 197 198

211 212 213 214 215

228 229 230 231 232

245 246 247 248 249

262 263 264 265 266

279 280 281 282 283

296 297 298 299 300

313 314 315 316 317

330 331 332 333 334

347 348 349 350 351

364 365 366 367 368

381 382 383 384 385

398 399 400 401 402

415 416 417 418 419

432 433 434 435 436

449 450 451 452 453

466 467 468 469 470

483 484 465 486 487

97 98

114 115

131 132

146 149

165 166

182 163

199 200

216 217

233 234

250 251

267 268

284 285

301 302

318 319

335 336

352 353

369 370

386 387

403 404

420 421

437 438

454 455

471 472

99 100

116 117

133 134

ISO 151

167 166

184 185

201 202

218 219

235 236

252 253

269 270

286 287

303 304

320 321

337 338

354 355

371 372

388 389

406 406

422 423

439 440

456 457

473 474

490 491

50 51

67 68

84 65

101 102

118 119

135 136

152 153

170

186 187

203 204

220 221

237 238

254 255

271 272

288 289

305 306

322 323

339 340

356 357

373 374

390 391

407 408

424 425

441 442

458 459

475 476

492 493

494 495

511 512

528 529

545 546

562 563

579 560

596 597

613 614

630 631

647 648

664 665

681 682

696 699

715 716

732 733

749 750

786 767

783 784

800 801

817 818

834 835

851 852

902 903

919 920

936 937

953 954

970 971

513 514

530 531

547 546

564 565

581 562

598 599

615 616

632 633

649 650

666 667

663 684

700 701

717 718

734 735

751 752

768 769

785 786

802 803

819 820

836 837

853 854

870 871

887 886 I

904 905 :

921 922 !

938 939 !

955 956 !

172 973 !

inquiry NumlKfs

496 499 500 501 502

515 516 517 516 519

532 533 534 535 536

549 550 551 552 553

566 567 566 569 570

583 584 585 586 587

600 601 602 603 604

618 619 620 621

635 636 637 638

652 653 654 655

669 670 671 672

494.986

503 504 505

520 521 522

537 536 539

554 555 556

571 572 573

568 589 590

605 606 607

622 623 624

639 640 641

656 657 658

673 674 675

506 507

523 524

540 541

557 556

574 575

591 592

608 609

625 626

642 643

659 660

676 677

508 509 510

525 526 527

569 560 561

576 577 576

593 594 595

610 611 612

627 628 629

644 645 616

661 662 663

678 679 680

702 70! 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714

719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731

736 737 736 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748

753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765

770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782

787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799

804 605 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816

821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 630 831 832 833

838839840 841842 843844845846 847 848849850855856 857 856859860 861862863864865866867

872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 680 881 882 883 884

889390 891 892833894895896 897 896699900 901

907 906 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918

924 925926 927 928929930 931 932933934935

941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 962

956959960 961 962963964965966 967 968969

975 976 977 976 979 980 981 382 983 984 935 986

1004 10051021 10221038 10391055 10561072 10731089 109011061107112311241140114111571158117411751191 11921206 12091226 12261242 12431259 12601276 12771293 1294131013111327 13281344 13451361 13621378 13791395 1396141214131429 14301446 144714631464

D. What operating sj^ms are you currently using?(Check all that apply)

12 □ PC/MS-DOS 15 □ UNIX

13 □ DOS + Windows 16 □ MacOS

14 □ OS/2 17 □ VAXrVMS

E. For how many people do you influence thepurchase of hardware or software?

18 □ 1-25 20 □ 51-99

19 □ 26-50 21 □ 100 or more

□ Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine forS24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in U.S. andpossessions only. NOVEMBERIRSC004

Inquiry Numljers 987-1479

989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 99910001001 100210031006 100710081009 1010 1011 1012 1013 10141015 1016 1017 1018 1019 10201023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 10371040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 10541057 1058 1069 1060 1061 1062 1063 10641065 1 066 1067 1068 1069 1070 107110741075 10761077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1066 108710881091 1092 10931094 1095 1096 1097 1098 10991I0O11O1 11021103110411051108110911101111 1112111311141115111611171118111911201121 11221125112611271128112911301131 113211331134113511361137113811391142114311441145114611471148114911501151 11521153115411551156115911601161 1162116311641165116611671168116911701171 1172117311761177 1178 1179 1180 1181 H82 11831184 1185 118611871188118911901931194 1195 1196 11971198 1199 1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207210 1211 1212 12131214 1215 1216 12171218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224227 1228 1229 1230 1231 1232 1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1239 1240 12411244 1245 1246 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252 1253 12541255 1256 125712581261 1262 12631264 1265 1266 1267 1268 1269 1270 1271 1272 1273 127412751278 1279 1280 1281 1282 1283 1284 1285 1286 1287 1288 1289 1290 1291 12921295 1296 1297 1298 1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 1304 1305 1306 1307 1308 13091312 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318 13191320 1 321 1322 1323 1324 1325 13261329 1330 1331 1332 1 333 1334 1335 1336 1337 1338 1339 1340 1341 134213431346 1347 1348 1349 1 350 1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359136013631364 1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 1370 1371 1372 1373 1374 1375 137613771380 1381 1382 1383 1384 1385 1386 1387 1388 1389 1390 1391 1392 1393 13941397 1398 1399 1400 1401 1402 14031404 1405 1406 1407 1408 1409 1410 14111414 1415 1416 14171418 1419 1420 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1426 1427 14281431 1432 14331434 1435 1436 1437 1438 1439 1440 1441 1442 1443 1444 14451448 1449 14S0 1451 1452 1453 1454 14551456 1 457 1458 1459 1460 1461 146214651466 1467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 14781479

2233 BRANHAM LANE, SAN JOSE CA 95124

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR!

• 30^>AY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

• 1 YEAR WARRANTY

• TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT

DYNAMIC RAMS

PART*

SIZE

SPEED

PINS

PRICE

4116-150

16384x1

150ns

16

1.49

4164-150

65536x1

150ns

16

2.49

4164-120

65536x1

120ns

15

2.89

4164-100

65536x1

100ns

16

3.39

TMS4464-12

65536x4

120ns

16

3.95

41256-150

262144x1

150ns

16

2.59

41256-120

262144x1

120ns

16

2.95

41256-100

262144x1

100ns

16

3.15

41256-80

262144x1

80ns

16

3.75

414256-100

262144x4

100ns

20

12.95

414256-80

262144x4

80ns

20

13.45

1MB-120

1048576x1

120ns

18

11.95

1MB-100

1048576x1

100ns

18

12.35

1MB-80

1048576x1

80ns

18

12.95

1MB-70

1048575x1

70ns

18

13.95

SIMM/SIP MODULES

PARTS

SIZE

SPEED

FOR

PRICE

41256A9B-80

256K X 9

80ns

SIMM/PC

49.95

421000A8B-10

1MB X 8

100ns

SIMM/MAC

109.95

421000A9B-10

1UB X 9

100ns

SIMMPC

113.95

421000A9B-80

1MB X 9

80ns

SIMM PC

119.95

421000A9B-60

lMBx9

60ns

SIMM PC

149.95

256K9SIP-80

256K X 9

80ns

SiP PC

54.95

256K9SIP-60

256K X 9

eons

SIPPC

64.95

1MBX9SIP-10

1MB X 9

100ns

SIP PC

116.95

1MBX9SIP-80

1MBx9

80ns

SIP PC

124.95

MATH CO-PROCESSORS

5 YEARWARRANTY

8087

5 MHz

89.95

8087-2

8 MHz

129.95

8087-1

10 MHz

169.95

80287-8

8 MHz

209.95

80287-10

10 MHz

239.95

80287-XLT

12MHz

247.95

80287-XL

6 8 10 12 MHz

247.95

80C287

12MHz

299.95

80387-16

16 MHz

359.95

80387-SX

16 MHz

319.95

80387-SX20

20 MHz

399.95

80387-16

16 MHz

359.95

80337-20

20 MHz

399.95

80387-25

25 MHz

499.95

80387-33

33MHz

649.00

•FOR COMPAQ L7E286, TANDY 2800

"FOR ALL OTHER 266-BASED SYSTEMS

CYRIX CO-PROCESSORS

STATE-OF-THE-ART TO SAVE YOU LONGEVITY WORRIES*MANUAL S SOFTWARE GUIDE FULL 5-YEAR GUARANTEE'83D87-16 16 MHz S299.95 83087-33 33MHz 549.00

83D87-20 20 MHz 349.95 83S87-16(SX) 16MHz 269.9583D87-25 25MHz 439.95 83S87-20 (SX) 20MHz 329.95

Derici 's

HIGH-TECHSPOTLIGHT

MODEM STANDARDS

I now feei comfortable publicly recommendingCCITT V.32 and MNP communications protocols!

CCITT V.32 is o description of the electrical sig-nals used over ptione lines to move dote. TheCCITT is an international committee that refines theI input from many modem industry experts into oneaccepted standard- Sometimes users or industryexperts reject the efforts of standards committeesand follow a single industr/ leader (as was the casewith the IBM PC). Here, the committee prevailed.

The Microcom Network Protocol (MNP) is theproduct of 1 company's efforts to fix data errors ondI improve transmission efficiency. They've made theiri protocol available to others for a fee. and hovebeen accepted by users en moss. The committeeopprooch has not worked well in this area.

MNP-5 is an implementotion of the protocol thatinsures reliable data tronsfer and compresses dataat a rate of about 2 to 1. Thus, a modem operatingat 9600 BPnS (bits per second) provides o datatransfer rote of approximately 19200 BPS—about 16times the rote of older 1200 BPS stondords!

For we end users, how standards ore created isof passing interest—we want solid ones that won'tbe soon obsolete. CCin V.32 and MNP-5 will bearound for a long, long time.

Derick Moore. Director of Engineering

See JDR s modem selection on the next page.

mm 25MHz 386

' NORTON SI 26.6 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 30.1

■THE FASTEST NON-CACHING MOTHERBOARD THATWE TESTED. "—BYTE MAGAZINE. APRIL 1990.

■ MEMORY INTERLEAVING FOR NEAR ZERO WAIT STATES

■ SOCKETED FOR 80387 COPROCESSOR

■ USES SONS 256KOR 1MB SIMM.'DIP RAMS

■ 16MB RAM CAPACITY: 8MB ON BOARD, 8MB USINGOPTIONAL RAM CARD (0KB INSTALLED;

■ ON-BOARD RAM 1 2MB USING 4 8 256K SIMMS OR 4;8MBUSING 4 8 1MB SIMMS • FIVE 16-BIT SLOTS, TWO 8-BITSLOTS ONE 32-BIT SLOT FOR PROPRIETARY RAM CARDAMI BIOS ■ SIZE: 8,5-X 13-

MCT-M386-25 S799.00

MCT-M386-M25 PROPRIETARY RAM CARD S99.951, 2MB USING 36 72 256KX1 DRAMS OR 4/8MB USING 36.721MBX1 DRAMS

$1495

33MHz CACHE 386

• NORTON SI 45.9 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 50.8

■ 33MHz 80386 CPU ■ 64K ZERO WAIT STATIC RAM CACHE

■ 1 2 4 SMB ON-BOARD RAM USING 80NS SIMMS(0KB INSTALLED)

1 2MB USING 4 8 256K SIMMS OR 4'8MB USING 4:8 1 MBSIMMS • SOCKETED FOR 80387-33 MATH CO-PROCESSOR8 EXPANSION SLOTS (ONE 32-6IT, SIX 16-BIT, ONE 8-BITl

• AMI BIOS ASSURES IBM COMPATIBILITY

• 8 33MHz KEYBOARD ADJUSTABLE SPEEDS

MCT-386MBC-33 S1495.00

MCT-386MBC-25 25MHZ VERSION S999.00

MINI 25MHz $1299

CACHE 386 WITH RAM CARD

• NORTON SI 30.5 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 40.7

■ 25MH2 80386 • REQUIRES 1 OF THE RAM CARDS BELOW

■ SHADOW RAM FOR ROM BIOS

■ MEMORY CACHING FOR SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE

• MEMORY INTERLEAVING FOR NEAR O WAIT STATEOPERATION (8 BANKS OF MEMORY REQUIREDISOCKETED FOR 80387 OR WEITEK 3167 COPROCESSORS

MCT-C386-25 S1199.00

RAM CARDS (ONE REQUIRED FOR OPERATION):

1 2 4MBUSING8'16 32 255KX4DRAMSAND4,8;16 256KX1DRAMS (OK INSTALLEDI

MCT-C386-M4 $99.95

1 2MB USING 36 72 256KX1 DRAMS OR 4,8MB USING 36/72IMBXl DRAMS (OK INST]

MCT-C386-M8 $99.95

1 2 4MB USING 4 8 16 256K SIMMS, 4,8 16MB USING 4 8 161MB SIMMS OR 10 MB USING 8 1MB SIMMS AND 8 256KSIMMS (OK INSTALLED)

MCT-C386-M16 $99.95

486 FROM AJ.R. ^2999

• LANDMARK AT SPEED 113.2

YOUR POWER SOLUTION FOR CAD CAM'CAE WORKSTA-TIONS, AS WELL AS LAN SERVER APPLICATIONS'

■ DESIGNED FOR MULTI-TASKING S MULTI-USER APPLICA-TIONS REQUIRING UNIX OR XENIX ■ INTEL 80486 CHIP HASA BUILT-IN MATH CO-PROCESSOR S 8K OF RAM CACHE

• INTEL 80486-25 CPU • EXPANDABLE TO 16MB ON BOARD(OK INSTALLED) • SOCKETED FOR A WEITEK 4167 MATHCO-PROCESSOR • SUPPORTS SHADOW RAM WITHINTERNAL CACHE CONTROLLER ■ EIGHT 16-BIT BUS SLOTS,6-LAYER BOARD DESIGN • COMPATIBLE WITH OS 2, NOVELL.DESOVIEW, UNIX WINDOWS AND WINDOWS 3 0

AIR-486MB25 32,999.00

799 12.5MHz 286

$199

95

• NORTON SI 14.3 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 16.5

' STANDARD 8088 LAYOUT

• 286-COMPATIBLE • 6T2-5MHZ KEYBOARD SELECT SPEEDS■ EXPANDABLE TO 4MB ON BOARD; 512K/1MB USING 18/36

256KX1 DRAMS: 24MB USING 18/36 1MBX1 DRAMS (0KBINSTALLED)

• MEMORY SPEED: 120NSFQR 1 WAIT, 100NS FOR O WAIT

MCT-M286-12 $199.95

$399'

16MHz MINI 386-SX

• NORTON SI 15.3 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 20.8

■ USES 16MHz INTEL 80336SX CPU

• EXPANDABLE TO SMB ON BOARD

• 512K 1MB USING 18 36 256KX1 DRAMS OR 2 4 256K SIPS OR4 8 256KX4 AND 2i 256KX1 DRAMS: 2:4MB USING 18/361MBX1 DRAMS OR 2 4 1MB SIPS: 6 8MB USING 36 1MBX1DRAMS AND 2 4 1 MB SIPS AMI BIOS

■ CHOOSE FAST O WAIT STATE OR 1 WAIT STATE FORECONOMICAL USE OF SLOWER RAM

• FIVE 16-BIT S THREE 8-BT EXPANSION SLOTS

■ CHIPS S TECHNOLOGY NEW ENHANCED ADVANCEDTECHNOLOGY (NEAT) CHIPSET

• SOCKET FOR 80387SX-16 COPROCESSOR

• 8,5- X 13" SIZE FITS IN MINI-286 AND FULL-SIZE 286 CASES

MCT-386SX $399.95

20MHz 286

^389

95

• NORTON SI 20.3 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 26.3

. NEAT CHIPSET HAS POWER TO COMPETE WITH386 SYSTEMS

■ EXPANDABLE FROM 5I2KT0 8MB: 512K/1MB USING 18 36256KX1 DRAMS OR 2:4 256K SIPS; 2/4MB USING 18/36 1MBX1DRAMS OR 2 4 1MB SIPS; 6'8MB USING 36 1MBX1 DRAMSAND 2 4 1MB SIPS

• 20T0MHZ KEYBOARD SELECTABLE SPEEDS ■ AMI BIOS

• SHADOW RAM AND PAGE INTERLEAVED MEMORY

• FAST O WAIT STATE OR 1 WAIT STATE FOR SLOWER RAM

• 8,5- X 13- FITS MOST 8088. MINI-286 S FULL SIZE 285 CASES

• FIVE 16-BIT S THREE S-BIT SLOTS

• SOCKET FOR 80287-12 MATH CO-PROCESSORMCT-M286-20N $389.95

16MHz 286 W/NEAT CHIPSET ^289^^

MCT-M286-16N NORTON SI 16.2 / LANDMARK AT 21.1

12MHz 286 W/NEAT CHIPSET ^269^^

MCT-M286-12N NORTON SI 12.0/ LANDMARK ATIS.S

$99

95

lOMHZ 8088 NORTON SI2.1

■ 8088- COMPATIBLE, OPERATES AT 4,77 lOMHz

• KEYBOARD SELECTABLE CLOCK SPEEDS • SOCKET FOR

8087-1 COPROCESSOR • 8 SLOTS • MCT BIOS • 640K RAM

CAPACITY /0KB INSTALLEDl

MCT-TURBO-10 $99.95

CUSTOMER SERVICE 800-538-5001TECHNICAL SUPPORT 800-538-5002

MON.-FRI. 7 A.M. TO 5 P.M., SATURDAY, 9 AM. TO 3 P.M. (PST)

ORDER TOLL-FREE 800-538-5000

Circle 6 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 7)

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 461

Microdevices

ORDER TOLL-FREE 800-S38-S000

KEY CODE

- 10

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDRl

• 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

• 1 YEAR WARRANTY

• TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT

MONITORS

VGAPACKAGE

\$4g09s

VGA COLOR ANDCLARITY AT AN EGAPRICE! ■ 8-BIT VGACARD IS FULLYCOMPATIBLE WITH IBMVGA • 640 X 480RESOLUTION IN 16 COLORS• HIGH RESOLUTION ANALOGMONITOR • EGA'CGA'MONOANDHERCULES COMPATIBLE- DRIVERS FORWINDOWS, GEM. LOTUS 1-2-3. SYMPHONY.AUTOCAD S VENTURA

VGA-PKG

16-BIT VGA PACKAGE

16-BIT VERSION INCLUDES MCT-VGA-16VGA-PKG-16

,.S499.95.$529.00

POST CODE DIAGNOSESSYSTEM PROBLEMS!

TO DIAGNOSE. PLUG IT INTO A CARD SLOT, jREAD THE INDICATOR DISPLAY S CHECKTHE MANUAL FOR THE CORRESPONDINGPOWER-ON SELF-TEST CODE, SWITCH-LESS AND JUMPERLESS DESIGN. COM-PATIBLE W'80286 S 80386-BASED SYSTEMS,PCODE $49.95

CABLES AND GENDER CHANGERS

MOLDED: GOLD-PLATED CONTACTS; 100% SHIELDEDCBL-PRNTR-25CBL-PRINTR-RACBL-DB25-MMCBL-DB25-MFCBL-9-SERIALCBL-CNT-MMGENDER-VGA

25 FT. PC PRINTER CABLERIGHT ANGLE PRINTER CABLEDB25 MALE-DB25 MALE 6 FT.DB25 MALE-DB25 FEMALE 6 FT.DB9 FEMALE-DB25 MALE 6 FT.36-PIN CENTRONICS -M/MDB9-DB15 ADAPTOR

15.9515.959.959.956.9514.954.95

RELISYS MULTISYNCH $429.95

■ 14-NON-GLARE SCREEN • 800X560 MAX RESOLUTION

• CGA'EGAA'GA COMPATIBLE ■ TTfANALOG MODE

JDR-MULTI

RELYSIS VGA MONITOR $379.95

•14-ANALOG VGA MONITOR • GLARE RESISTANT SCREEN

• 720 X 480 MAXIMUM RESOLUTION • TILT/SWIVEL BASEVGA-MONITOR

EGA MONITOR $339.95

■ 14- NON-GLARE SCREEN WITH 640 X 350 MAXIMUMRESOLUTION • DISPLAY 16 COLORS SIMULTANEOUSLYEGA-MONITOR

14" SCREEN MONO $139.95

■ GLARE-RESISTANT 14" SCREEN WITH AMBER DISPLAY- 720 X 350 RESOLUTION • TILT/SWIVEL BASE

GM-1489

MONO-SAMSUNG SAMSUNG 12" FLAT SCREEN $129.95

MONO-VGA PAPERWHITE VGA MONITOR $139.95

NEC-MULTI-3D NEC MULTI-3D MULTISYNC $649.00

CM-1440 SEIKO DUAL FIXED FREQUENCY $599.00

CM-1450 SEIKO 15- DUAL FIXED FREO $749.00

DISPLAY CARDS

16-BIT VGA $169.95

■ 640 X 480 IN 16 COLORS • 256K VIDEO RAM EXPANDABLE

T0 512K • 54 LEVELS OF GRAY SCALE

MCT-VGA-16

MCT-VGA-8 8-BIT VERSION $149.95

MCT-VGA-1024 1024 X 768 VGA $189.95

MCT-VGA-1024-f 1024 X 768 IN 256 COLORS $249.95

MOT-VGA VGA WITH TTL SUPPORT $189.95

MONO GRAPHICS/PRINTER $49.95

8088'286 COMPATIBLE • HERCULES COMPATIBLEMONOGRAPHIOS - SUPPORTS LOTUS 1-2-3 • 720X348DISPLAY • ADDRESS PARALLEL PRINTER PORT AS LPT1 OR 2MCT-MGP

MORE DISPLAY CARDS

MCT-CGP GGA GRAPHICS FOR RGB MONITOR $49.95

MOT-EGA EGA CARD WITH 256K RAM $149.95

LiWefoot" CASE

$249^5

HUNDREDS MORE AVAILABLE —CALL FOR MORE INFO

• MOUNTS FOR STANDARD FULL SIZEAND MINI-MOTHERBOARDS

• INCLUDES 250WATT POWER SUPPLY

• MOUNTS FOR 3 FLOPPY AND4 HARD DRIVES

• TURBO AND RESET SWITCHES

• SPEED DISPLAY, POWER, DISK LEDS

• MOUNTING HARDWARE,FACEPLATES AND SPEAKER INCL

CASE-100 $249.95

CASE-200 -SUPERFOOr—HOLDS 11 DRIVES $499.95

CASE-120 -MINIFOOr W/200 WATT PS $199.95

NOTE: CASES DO NOT INCLUDE DRIVES.

STANDARD tCASES \

FULL SIZE SLIDE CASECASE-70 $89.95

CASE-50 FOR 8088 OR MINI-S5 ■.'C^^^SBOARDS $59.95

CASE-FLIP FLIP-TOP XT-STYLE CASE $39.95

CASE-SLIDE SLIDE TYPE XT-STYLE CASE $39.95

CASE-JR $149.95

WITH 150W POWER SUPPLY. FOR 8088 OR MINI-286 BOARDS.

CASE-JR-200 $189.95

WITH 200W POWER SUPPLY. FOR 8088 OR MINI-286 BOARDS,NOTE; CASES DO NOT INCLUDE DRIVES.

PC POWER SUPPLIES

PS-135 135 WATT FOR 8088 - U.L. APPROVED $59.95

PS-150 150 WATT FOR 8088 - U.L. APPROVED $69.95

PS-200X 200 WATT FOR 8088 - U.L APPROVED $89.95

PS-200 200 WATT FOR 286,386 • U,L, APPROVED $89.95

PS-250 250 WATT FOR 286,-386 $129.95

UNINTERRUPTABLE POWER SUPPLIES

CONDITIONED CRITICAL LOAD/BACK-UP DURING BLACKOUT,PART NO. VA FREQ. CURRENT BATTERY PRICE

EMERSON-20 300 60hz 2.50A lOmin. $299.95EMERSON-30 500 60hz 4,20A lOmin. $499.95EMERSON-40 800 60hz 6.70A lOmin. $699.00

P^S^^"'"^ for complata fine!request our catalog

EPROMS

PART*

SIZE

SPEED

Vpp

PINS

PRICE

2716-1

2048x8

350ns

25V

24

3.95

2732A

4096x8

250ns

21V

24

3.95

2764

8192x8

450ns

12.5V

28

3.49

2764-250

8192x8

250ns

12.5V

28

3.69

2764-20O

8192x8

200ns

12.5V

28

4.25

27128

16384x8

250ns

12.5V

23

4.25

27128A-200

16384x8

200ns

12,5V

28

5.95

27256

32768x8

250ns

12,5V

28

4.95

27C256

32768x8

250ns

12.5V

26

5.95

27512

65536x8

250ns

12,5V

28

7.95

27C101-20

131072x8

200ns

12.5V

32

19.95

EPROM PROGRAMMER

• PROGRAMS 27XX AND 27XXXEPROMS UP TO 27512 • SPLITOR COMBINE CONTENTS OFSEVERAL DIFFERENT SIZEDEPROMS (VARIOUS FORMATS ANDVOLTAGES) • READ. WRITE, COPY.BUNK CHECK AND VERIFY • HEXAND INTEL HEX FORMATS SOFTWAREMOD-EPROM

DATARASEII EPROM ERASER ^39^^

• SMALL SIZE! ■ ERASES ALL

SIZE EPROMS UP TO 4 AT A ~-TIME- MOST IN 3 MINUTES - . ' •jjot

• WALL PLUG POWER SUPPLYDATARASE II

JDR'S OWN MODULARPROGRAMMING SYSTEM

EACHUOOULBUSESA COmKIN HOST ADAPTOR CARD-USEJUST 1 SLOT TO PROGRAM EPROMS, PROMS, PALS S, MORE!

COMMON HOST ADAPTOR CARD

■ UNIVERSAL INTERFACE FOR THE PROGRAMMING MOD-ULES! • SELECTABLE ADDRESSES PREVENTS CONFLICTSMOD-MAC $29.95

"iT^- UNIVERSALMODULE

\ ^^^^^B^^^^ • PROGRAMS EPROMS,\^^^^^^^^ EEPROMS, PALS.

^^^^^ BI-POLAR PROMS, 8748 S 8751

SERIES DEVICES: 16V8 AND 20V8 GALS(GENERIC ARRAY LOGIC) FROM LATTICE. NS, SGS

■ TESTS TTL, CMOS,DYNAMIC S STATIC RAMS

• LOAD DISK, SAVE DISK, EDIT BLANK CHECK, PROGRAM,AUTO, READ MASTER, VERIFY AND COMPARE

• TEXTOOL SOCKET FOR .3- TO 6" WIDE I CS (8-40 PINS)

MOD-MUP $499.95

MOD-MUP-EA 4-UNIT ADAPTOR $99.95

EPROM MODULE ^HB^^

■ PROGRAMS 24-32 PIN EPROMS. CMOS EPROMS & 16K TO1024K EEPROMS • HEX TO OBJ CONVERTER - AUTO,BLANK CHECK PROGRAM.VERIFY • VPP 5. 12,5. 12,75.13, 21S, 25 VOLTS • NORMAL, INTELLIGENT. INTERACTIVE SQUICK PULSE PROGRAMMING ALGORITHMS

MOD-MEP $119.95

MOD-MEP-4 4- EPROM PROGRAMMER $169.95

MOD-MEP-8 8-EPROM PROGRAMMER $259.95

MOD-MEP-16 16-EPROM PROGRAMMER $499.95

PAL MODULE ^249^^

■ PR(3GRAMS MMI. NS. Tl 20 S Tl 24 PIN DEVICES • BLANKCHECK, PROGRAM, AUTO, READ MASTER, VERIFTY SSECURITY FUSE BLOW

MOD-MPL

195

$

89

95

8-BIT SOLDERLESS8088 e—j.,BREADBOARD WITH DECODE ^ 79'

■ INCLUDES ADDRESS DECODING LOGIC, DATA BUFFERING,2 LSI CIRCUITS FOR PROGRAMMABLE DIGITAL I'O ANDCOUNTER-TIMER FUNCTIONS • LOGICALLY GROUPED

• ACCESSES ALL 62 1,0 SIGNAL CONNECTIONS ■ CLEARLY-LABELLED BUS LINES ■ ACCEPTS UP TO 24 FOURTEEN-PINICS ■ ACCEPTS 9, 15, 19. 25 OR 37.PIN D-SUBS

PDS-601 $79.95

PDS-600 ABOVE CARD WITHOUT DECODE $49.95

286 BUS BREADBOARDWITH DECODE

■ ADDRESS DECODING LOGIC, DATAT BUFFERING. 2 LSICIRCUITS FOR PROGRAMMABLE DIGITAL I O AND COUNTER-TIMER FUNCTIONS ■ ACCESSES ALL 95 1 O SIGNALCONNECTIONS ■ LOGICALLY GROUPED • OVER 2.000 PTS.

• ACCEPTS 9, 15, 19. 25 OR 37-PIN D-SUB CONNECTORS

PDS-611 $89.95

PDS-610 ABOVE CARD WITHOUT DECODE $59.95

MORE PROTOTYPE CARDS...

JDR-PR1 8-BIT WITH *5V AND GROUND PLANE 27.95

JDR-PR2 ABOVE WITH 10 DECODING LAYOUT 29.95

JDR-PR2-PK PARTS KIT FOR JDR-PR2 ABOVE 8.95

JDR-PR10 16-BITV/ITHI,'0 DECODING LAYOUT 34.95

JDR-PR10-PK PARTS KIT FOR JDR-PR10 ABOVE 12.95

MORE PROGRAMMING MODULES...

MOD-MMP MICROPROCESSOR PROGRAMMER $179.95

MOD-MIC DIGITAL IC S MEMORY TESTER $129.95

MOD-MBP BI-POLAR PROM PROGRAMMER $259.95

PAL DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE

ENTRY-LEVEL PAL DEVELOPMENTFROM CUPL, FULL SUP-PORT FOR 16L8, 16R4. 15R6. 16R8, 20L8. 20R4, 20R8 S 20X8.MOD-MPL-SOFT $99.95

TERMS: Minimum orderSlQ.OO- For shipping S tiantfiing include S4.()0 for ground and S5.50 for air. Ordersover 1 ID ^ 'c = . s v .-.-C'tiona! shipping charges—contact

oor Sales Dept. tor the amoum. CA residents must include applicabte sales tax. Prices subjecl to change without notice .-^graphical errors. Wereservethe

right to limit quantities and to substitute manufacturer. A!f merchandise subject to prior sales. A fui! copy of our terms is a.a .ac e ^por reaves; iten-; s ctured may only be representative.JDR. the JDR logo. JDR Microdevices. and the MCT logo are reaistered Irademarte of JDR MICRODEVICES. INC. Moaular Circiiit Techrioiogy Uttletool Minifoot and Superfoot aretrademarits of JDR MICRODEVICES. INC. Copynght 1990 JDR MICRODEVICES.

462 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 6 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 7)

tfbjDR Microdevices

■ ■ 2233 BRANHAM LANE, SAN JOSE CA 95124 • TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR!® • 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

Tl MICROLASER"—FAST, AFFORDABLEAND EXPANDABLE!

EXPANDABLE PRINTER HAS TEXAS

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NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 463

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1558 338 1MB ESDI, 18MS KIT: S1799 ,.. DRIVE: S1619

1578 338,1MB SCSI, 18MS KIT: S1799 ... DRIVE: S1619

1568 676.6MB ESDI. 16MS DRIVE: S2499

1588 676 8MB SCSI, 16MS DRIVE: $2499

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FDD-1.44X BLACK FACEPLATE $99,95 1

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FDD-1.44SOFT SOFTWARE DRIVER $19.95 I

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ENHANCED KEYBOARDS

FC-3001 101-KEY.12 F-KEYS a CALCULATOR $74.95

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ST-4144R

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464 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 6 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 7)

Chaos ManorMail

Jerry Pournelle answers questions about his columnand related computer topics

Expansion Solution

Dear Jerry,

Last November, I wrote to you to ask ifyou knew of any way that I could addextra slots to an AT in which the existingexpansion slots were already full. Youreplied that you did not know of anyavailable commercial equipment for this.I got similar replies from other sources,as well.

You might be interested to hear how Ihave solved this problem. An inquiry toJameco brought the information that thecompany has an extender card/slot kit,catalog number PCL755C. It consists ofa card that plugs into a 16-bit slot and isconnected to a second card by three plug-in ribbon cables. The second card hasone 16-bit and two 8-bit slots. By simplyadding another edge connector, it caneasily have a total of two 8-bit and two16-bit slots. Power for the additionalslots can come from the main computer(via the ribbon cables) or from an exter-nal source (-1-5 and -1-12 volts).

I bought this extender kit, along withan XT flip-top cabinet and an XT powersupply. The second extender board (theone with the additional slots) mounts eas-ily in the XT cabinet. I only had to drillsix mounting holes and mount the ex-tender board on brass standoffs that wereprovided with the cabinet, instead ofusing its own plastic mounting standoffs.The -1-5- and -I- 12-V cables from the XTpower supply had to be extended to reachthe power connector on the extenderboard. The —5- and —12-V (low-cur-rent) supplies still come from the maincomputer. The +5- and -I-12-V suppliesfrom the main computer to the extenderare disconnected by removing two fuseson the extender board that plugs into thecomputer.

I removed one 8-bit card (which was ina 16-bit slot) from the main computer andreplaced it with the first extender board.This card was then put into one of the 8-bit slots in the XT case. I used anotherslot for a scanner, and I now have twospare 16-bit slots. As soon as I can affordit, I intend to mount a backup tape driveand its controller in the XT cabinet.

The ribbon cables between the twocabinets probably would radiate RFI inexcess of FCC requirements. Althoughthis did not bother any electronic equip-ment in my house, and I am well awayfrom any other houses, I provided someshielding. To do this, I fabricated a metaltrough that bolts to both cabinets andfully encloses the cables. A crude solu-tion would be to use grounded aluminumfoil.

The extender card kit is rather expen-sive, especially considering that it ismade in Taiwan. It costs $99.95 plusfreight. The total cost was about $220,including freight, extra connectors, andso on. For this, however, I have been ableto add a scanner. I will be able to add aninternal tape backup (which is less ex-pensive than an external one) and willstill have a spare slot left.

L. D. ThomasGeorgetown, DE

Thanks for letting us know!—Jerry

Adding Up Bytes

Dear Jerry,

I am writing you to explain the dis-crepancies that you found with the re-ports of XTree and the Norton Com-mander (Computing at Chaos Manor,February).

What you got is not very odd. The totalnumber of files is right: CHKDSK re-ports three hidden files, one of which isthe Volume Label (if you do some peek-ing around with the Norton Utilities,you'll find it stored in your root directorylike any file; it just has a special attributebit set), and the 10. SYS and MSDOS. SYSsystem files. Of these three "files,"XTree (correctly) counts just the lasttwo. Add two to the 1662 "user files"that CHKDSK reports, and you have the1664 that XTree reports.

Note that all the figures the NortonCommander gives you for total directoryspace are exact multiples of your clustersize (2048 bytes). That is all the space al-located to your files, including the slackarea at the end of each file. On the otherhand, when you select some files, the

Norton Commander adds their "logical"^ length, without the slack. If you run File-Size in your directory, it will give youboth figures. So, your small directorycontains three files that use five clusters,even though part of that space (10,240 -6128 bytes) is wasted.

The differences in total drive size canalso be explained by considering that youcould take 1 MB = 1,000,000 instead ofthe correct value: 2^° = 1,048,576 bytes.

Neither XTree nor the Norton Com-mander is wrong; they just do differentcomputations.

Gino LucreziL'Aquila, Italy

I confess that I get lazy sometimes in acase like this, since I know I can count ona reader to explain what's going on.Thanks!—JcTTy

Locating Genius

Dear Jerry,

I just read your comments on KunYung Enterprise's Genius Genitizer(Computing at Chaos Manor, August).

I found a U.S. address for KYE Inter-national in a database called COMPLIBon CompuServe. That's where I find thenames, addresses, and telephone num-bers of most manufacturers. KYE Inter-national can be reached at 12675 ColonySt., China. CA 91710, (800) 456-7593or (714) 590-3940; fax: (714) 590-1231;BBS: (714) 590-3485.

Andre MalletteSt.-Leonard, Quebec, Canada

Thanks. Of course, we good BIX usersdon't use CompuServe, but.. . .

I did manage to make contact with thecompany eventually, and the people theresay they 'II put the U. S. address in theirnew stuff. —Jerry ■

Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy-chology and is a science fiction writerwho also earns a comfortable living writ-ing about computers present and future.He can be reached do BYTE, One Phoe-nix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458,or on BIX as "jerryp. "

NOVEMBER 1990 "BYTE 465

Print Queue

Hugh Kenner

Stomping the Nasties

Afield guide through the jungleof computer invaders

Viruses—There Are No Such Things! That statement ap-peared in print some three years ago. But there are sosuch things, as the fracas at InterNet/ARPANET dem-onstrated late in 1988. That was when, coast to coast, 6200 ma-chines got immobilized by what seems to have been a prank thatoutran control.

But what, me worry? I sit tight at my home machine. Well,no, you needn't worry, not at all, provided only (1) your ma-chine has no modem link to the outer world; (2) you never sharefloppy disks with anyone; (3) you run no software save whatyou've written yourself. So runs the considered opinion of JohnMcAfee, coauthor (with reporter Colin Haynes) of ComputerViruses, Worms, Data Diddlers, Killer Programs, and OtherThreats to Your System (St. Martin's Press, 1989, $16.95).

McAfee is founding chairman of the Computer Virus Indus-try Association, which logged over 300,000 virus infections in1989 alone. And how manywent unreported? That's any-one's guess. Users are readyto blame malfunctions on,oh, operator error. It's whenlinked machines malfunctionidentically that suspicion be-gins to stir. And when suspi-cion stirs in Silicon Valley, itoften prompts a call to JohnMcAfee, who climbs into amotor home that is loadedwith virus-catching equip-ment and steers toward thenew client's parking lot.

Those of us who lack occa-sion to call on McAfee canprofitably read his book. Itdoes the great service of help-ing us understand what thereis to worry about. And vi-ruses do offer plenty of rea-sons to worry.

Like "hacker," "virus" isa term misused to the point ofutter confusion. First, we arenot talking about the antics ofcrackers, who infiltrate sys-tems to filch credit-card num-bers or just leave word thatthey called. We are talkingabout a piece of code. Not justsuch a piece of code as ismeant, say, to install an illicit

account in a certain bank's system and gently transfer funds toit. That's a worm. And not just something meant to go berserkon a preset date. That's a logic bomb. (When a Maryland li-brary withheld payment for a bug-riddled system, it discoveredthat the supplier had installed a logic bomb: "Pay up, or yourdata vanishes!" Luckily, it was located before it went active.)And not just malign software disguised as something interest-ing. That's a Trojan horse.

No, a bona fide virus may resemble any of the above, but ithas one further and deadly capability. It replicates. That meansa single copy can spawn many thousands on many thousand ma-chines. And how does that happen?

Well, somehow or other you've acquired a floppy disk with avirus embedded in one program (its host). Its first act is to sepa-rate from its host and make copies of itself that go huntingthrough your directories for other hosts they can live in. Any

new floppy disk you installwill be likewise searched;eventually, the virus will belodged in a program you'll inall innocence pass on to afriend. . .and so on.

Which so far amounts tovery little, save that increas-ingly numerous programsgrow bigger by a few bytes.That was all the famous Inter-Net virus was meant to do:just spread itself about, to theglee of its perpetrator. Unfor-tunately, it contained a mildcoding error. It should havekept clear of programs it hadalready infected. It didn't;soon, 6200 interlinked ma-chines were busy at nothingsave jamming one another tillCPUs saturated and systemafter system died. (Estimatedtotal damage in lost accesstime and wasted work: S98million.)

McAfee offers fascinatingdetail on how a virus rolls upits sleeves. Thus, a few, likethe Pakistani Brain—towardwhich virus-catchers genu-flect respectfully—concen-trate on the boot sector, thehandful of bytes that load the

466 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

ILLUSTRATION: ANNIE LUNSFORD © 1990

operating system. They move that to a sector they flag "unus-able," and then replace it with a customized boot sector thatwill be in control the next time the machine is turned on.

From now on, Darth Vader is running your machine, on thelookout for opportunities. He can intercept any attempt to mod-ify the boot sector. And if you try to check the boot sector,why, he shows you the clean original he first stashed away! Andevery disk placed in the computer becomes infected instantly."In some corporations, boot sector viruses have spread to athousand computers in less than a week," says McAfee. ThePakistani Brain itself "rampaged through the newsroom andbureaus of the Providence Journal," apparently after one em-ployee put an infected disk in a home computer.

And so what? Well, the Pakistani Brain is by no means asinnocent as the InterNet virus was intended to be. It asks forransom. Nonpayers find files trashed and systems crashing. Noone knows how many copies lie dormant here and there. It wasspread from Pakistan on disks with pirated copies of WordStarand Lotus 1-2-3, sold at a fraction of the U.S. makers' prices.The author's motive? Apparently, irritation when programs hehimself had written were pirated.

So just avoid bootleg copies? Alas, you cannot be sure. Pro-grams routinely go out for beta testing—massive usage, to findbugs—and who knows what beta testers may have done to thedisks they send back? Or not know they have done? An inno-cent beta tester returned to a Seattle firm a disk he'd workedwith on a Macintosh he didn't know was infected. Soon, thou-sands of distributed copies were carrying disease. (The firm-Aldus—acted responsibly, at heavy cost.) So you'll understandthe panic of the man whose newsletter shouted Viruses—ThereAre No Such Things. His business was selling public domainsoftware on disks. Public domain? That's distributed via multi-ple acts of copying. Who knows who's been meddling with it enroute?

And who are these meddlers? In an interview I've read else-where, McAfee said he had no idea, except that some of themwere pretty smart programmers. The more lurid ideas in thebook he has cosigned we may perhaps ascribe to his collabora-tor, who likes phrases like "operating on the dark side." Chap-ter 6, "A Walk on the Dark Side of a Subculture," presentsisolates who shun "conventional human contact," silicon beingso much more dependable. One of them, who'd broken intoDigital Equipment's system, shed tears on being accused of"harming a computer." Couple a sensibility like that with "areal or imagined grudge against big business, the government,or the computer community establishment as a whole," and youhave (it says here) such a psyche as shoots at random intocrowds.

OK, let's buy that to go on with. My problem with all suchscenarios is that, accurate or not, they set adrenaline point-lessly flowing. Better to gaze calmly at such gems as the list, onpages 89-91, of just under 400 common passwords. That listwas embedded in the InterNet virus, which it served as a skele-ton key: "Over 90% of all large systems" have "at least oneuser" whose password it exhibits. Be sure that key fits no lockof yours. (Some samples: Dog, Batman, Rolex, Carmen,Wisconsin....)

Or ponder the fact that you're reading this review (and I hope

T/z^re are

three types of antiviralproducts, all useful,none totally safe.

will read the book). But you're a computer-literate reader ofBYTE. And administrators and law enforcers are apt to be sofar from computerdom they either can't begin to comprehendwhat's been done wrong or else just panic blindly. When PCs atLehigh University were infected in 1987, Lehigh fired the pro-grammer who'd identified the virus and written an antidote. (Ifhe knew so much, maybe he planted it in the first place?)

Or read the section on antiviral products and how they work.There are three main types, all useful, none totally safe. Onetype tries to keep viruses out, and it can be confused by thingsprograms do normally; thus, it can emit so many false alarmsyou stop paying attention. Also, it's vulnerable to the boot sec-tor strategy, which has taken effect before the antiviral pro-gram—or anything else—is loaded.

A second type tries to find and defuse viruses as they arrive;best, by keeping a "snapshot" of the system status when it'sinstalled and thereafter watching for ominous variations. Athird type looks for and cleans up viruses already present; itsweakness is that it needs constant updating to insert the finger-prints as new strains get identified.

For a 50-page chapter on 73 known PC viruses—what theydo, how to find them, how to zap them—try Richard Levin'sComputer Virus Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 1990, S24.95).This big book is meant for serious computer users; the McAfee-Haynes volume trolls for curious bystanders as well.

If you don't feel like paying S16.95 for McAfee-Haynes, youcan get it free with a program called Virucide (from ParsonsTechnology, 375 Collins Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids, lA 52402,(319) 395-9626). Although Virucide is not mentioned in thebook. Parsons assures us that McAfee had a hand in it. Fromthe fact that an updating policy is announced, I'll guess that it'smainly type 3. (The manual keeps a very low profile and digsitself the usual foxhole: No Warranty of Any Kind.)

Well, Virucide installs easily, runs fast, and tells me that my"preowned" 386 system shows no trace of a virus in any ofsome 20 megabytes of preowned software. That's a comfort,even though I'm left unsure how much reassurance it mayreally offer. Next? Well, I'll, yes, run Virucide periodically.And reflect that I can never hope to be in what medical virolo-gists call a sterile environment. ■

Hugh Kenner is a professor of English at Johns Hopkins Univer-sity. He writes for publications ranging from the New YorkTimes to Art & Antiques. His recent books include Mazes andHistorical Fictions. He can be contacted on BIX as "hkenner. "

Your questions and comments are welcome. Write to: Editor,BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 467

STOP BIT ■ Laurens R. Schwartz

y Promises, Promises

What's in a warranty?Most of the time,not much

When computers first becamecommercially available,they were bundled with soft-ware and sometimes mainte-nance agreements. Were those sales con-sidered "sales of goods" (and thereforeunder the purview of the Uniform Com-mercial Code), or were they "sales ofservices," controlled by contracts andcommon law? Was software an intangibleor a product? Was a maintenance agree-ment part of a sales transaction or a ser-vice arrangement?

This is just the kind of meaty debatethat lawyers who know nothing abouttechnology love. They held tax-deduct-ible meetings in exotic locations, filedlawsuits, and issued proposals. After theexpenditure of millions of dollars, it wasdecided that sometimes a system is a saleof goods, and sometimes it isn't; it alldepends.

With those issues clarified, let's moveon to how goods are sold. When a sales-person makes promises of vectors persecond or immediate rendering, are hisor her words legally binding? In most in-stances, the law will find that whatever asalesperson says is precatory. That wordwould be better spelled predalory, butprecatory is an aspect of caveat emptor—let the buyer beware. A reasonable personshould know that the Brooklyn Bridge is

Stop Bit is an open forum for informedopinion on topics related to personal com-puting. The opinions expressed are those ofthe author and not necessarily those ofBYTE or its staff. Your contributions andcomments are welcome. Write to: Editor,BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterbor-ough, NH 03458.

not for sale and that if it is, it needs a lot ofrepair work and a coat of paint.

On the other hand, what a salespersonsays is sometimes considered a warranty,even though the first thing you see whenyou unbox a new system is a piece ofpaper saying you have no warranties ex-cept for a limited 90-day or one-yearwarranty. That limited warranty typical-ly says that if you don't follow certainconditions, such as returning the equip-ment in its original packaging, the war-ranty is off. Of course, computers andperipherals are packaged in boxes 20times their size, with foam rubber in-serts, molded plastic sidings, and mil-lions of foam peanuts. Saving the pack-aging eventually means renting space ina warehouse.

The limited warranty then says thatthe company will replace the failed com-ponent with a new one or a used one, atits discretion. This is known as the law ofrefurbishment. One new twist to the lawof refurbishment is that used equipmentis sometimes refurbished and resold asnew. Recycling used equipment has evenspawned its own specialists: repackagerswho clean equipment, spray it with thatsmells-like-new odor, rewrap cables inplastic bags, re-shrink-wrap manuals,iron out wrinkles in boxes, and put inblank registration forms. Now you knowwhy they make you return equipment inits original wrappings.

Warranties are covered primarily bythe Uniform Commercial Code. Theword "uniform" is used to throw off non-lawyers so that they're forced to hire law-yers who understand that uniform meansone thing to the public and another tolawyers. This code is not uniform, hav-ing been adopted by some of our stateswith variations. In situations such asthis, lawyers use the phrase "the generalrule is." The general rule is that justabout every warranty (and remedy) canbe disclaimed by a seller if the disclaimeris printed in VERY BIG TYPE.

But suppose a salesperson tells you

that a system is capable of performing ina certain manner, and you purchase it re-lying on that statement. "You later findthat the system does everything frombarking like a seal to waking you up inthe morning, but it cannot do that onething that you bought it for. Then youmight have a case for a breach of warran-ty of fitness for a particular purpose. Ofcourse, getting a judge to pronounce yourvictory will probably cost you more thanthe system did.

Then there's the law of disappearingdays. Suppose you have a 90-day warran-ty and you didn't purchase a service plan.The machine breaks down on the tenthday. It takes you four days to retrieve allthe foam peanuts, three days to repackthe equipment, and 16 days to obtainyour authorized return number. Sendingthe machine back using a ground servicewill take four to five business days butwill cost only a few dollars, or you canuse an express service that will deliverthe machine in a day or two for what itcost you to purchase the equipment. In-evitably, you'll get the machine back oneday after the warranty has expired.

A decent manufacturer (or dealer, ormail-order house) will extend the war-ranty period to take into account whenthe machine failed and when it wasreturned repaired. Some states requirethe extension. But guess what? In mostcases, the burden of an extension is onthe purchaser. In other words, you areproviding yourself with your own war-ranties.

That's what democracy is all about: Ifthose manufacturers won't give you awarranty, you are free to pay for one. ■

Laurens R. Schwartz is a New York attor-ney and computer consultant. He is theauthor of numerous articles and books ontechnology, including the Computer LawForms Handbook (Clark Boardman Co.)and the forthcoming Computer Art Book(W. W. Norton). He can be reached onBIX do "editors."

468 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

ILLUSTRATION: KATHERINE MAHONEY © 1990

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