through 18 of the user's manual explain the procedure completely. You simply take the printer off-line,. 16 BYTE • JANUARY 1988 then hold the ...
THE SMALL SYSTEMS JOURNAL PRODUCT FOCUS Database Software REVIEWS Toshiba T3100/20 and T1000 PC Designs GV·386 GCC Personal Laserprinter @Liberty vs. Baler Microsoft's Bookshelf MGMStation CAD IN DEPTH New Ideas for Managing ega ytes JANUARY 1988 VOL.13, N0.1 $3 .50 IN UNITED STATES $4 .50 IN CANADA I £1.95 IN U.K. A McGRAW·HILL PUBLICATION 0360-5280 The fast lane is fas 0 ur new Turbo Pascal ®4.0 is so fast. it's almost structure. It's powerful, coherent, easy to learn and use-and with Turbo decessor. 1\.1rbo Pasca I 3.0 is the worldwide standard , and with Turbo T reckless. How fast? Better than 27.000 lines Pascal 4.0-faster than ever before. Pascal 4.0. we've bet tered that standard. 4.0 is of code per minute. That's much faster than 3.0 or Turbo Pascal: any other Pascal compiler Technical exce/Jence clearly the world's fastest development tool for the IBM ®PS/2 series. PC's and the reason why you p need 4.0 today. Commitment to tech nical excellence and and compatibles-'and the world's favorite Pascal [ Pascal. The fastest and the best. R If you're just now T learning a computer lan p guage, learn Pascal. If you 're already program G ming in Pascal, you're I COMPILE INl111E FASTllANE compiler. 4.0 breaks the code barrier No more swapping code in and out to beat the 64K code barrier. Designed for large pro @ programming with a N winner because Pascal is the worldwide language N of choice. Pascal is the I grams. Turbo Pascal 4.0 lets you use all 640K I memory in your compu ter. You paid for all that most popular language in university computer science classes and with computer enthusiasts who appreciate Pascal's modern programming superiority also means commitment to detail. however painstaking, and that takes time . 4.0's pre memory, now you can use it freely. For t11r I13M PS/ 2 and the IRM and Compaq families of personal computers and all 100% compatib les. YES! I want to upgrade to Turbo Pascal 4.0 and the 4.0 Toolboxes Registered owners have been notified by mail. Ir you are a registered 1\1rbo Pasca l user and have not been notified or Version 4.0 by mai l. pl ease call us at (800) 543-7.54:J. 'lb upgrade iF you have not. registered your product. ju ·t send the original registration form from your manual and payment with thi s completed coupon to: Pascal 4.0 Upgrade Dept. Borland International 4585 Scotts Valley Drive Scotts Valley, CA 95066 iame - -- - - - - -- - - -- - - Ship Address - - -- - - -- - - - - City _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ State _ _ __ Zip _ _ _ __ Telephone ( This oNer Is linvled lo one l.!>O·aoo per valid regls1erea P<oducl II is good un111 June 30. 1988. Nol good with any 01ller oiler lrom il<Mland Outside US maxe paymen1s by bani< drall payable 1n US dollars drawn on a U.S bank COOs and p11chasc orders will nol be accepled by Bolland ter than ever before! 4.0 uses logical units for separate compilation Pascal 4.0 lets you break up th e code gang into "units," or "chunks." These logical modules can be worked with swiftly and separately-so that an error in on e module is seeable and fixabl e. and you're not sent through all your code to find one error. Compiling and linking these separate units happens in a flash because your compil ing horsepower is better than 27.000 lines a min ute.* And 4.0 also includes an automatic project Make. 4.0's cursor automatically lands on any tro uble spot 4.0's interactive error detection and location means that the cursor automatically lands where the error is. While you're compiling or running a program. you get an error message at the top of your screen and the cursor flags the error's location for you. 4. 0 gi ves you an integrated program ming environment 4.0's integrated environ ment includes pull-down menus and a built-in editor. Your program output is automatically saved and shown in the output window. You can Scroll. Pan, or Page through all your output and know where everything is all th e time. Given 4.0's integra tion. you can edit. compile. find and correct errors-all from inside the integrated development environment. You'll never lose your mind, because 4.0 never loses your place Whenever you re-load 4.0. it remembers what you and it were doing before you left. It puts you right back in the editor with th e same file and in the same place as you were working last. ' Run on an 8 MHz IBM Al " II wilhin 60 days 01 pu1tnas.i m·s PIOClucl does 001peitoim 1n accoidance wilh oui claims. call w tuSIOllli!r se1V1Ce deporlmenl. OlllJ we Wiii airanoe a 1eluod All Boiland pioaucts a1c 11aoema1ks OI ieo1slmd 11adema1ks 01 Boiland lmemaUonal, Inc 01nC1 01all() an<J p1oouc1 names a1e 11adema1ks oi 1eois1eied 11adem.llkS 011ne1r resoec1we ~lders Copyi19h1o1 987 Bo1land 1n1er11:111ona1.1nc Bl I 159A Circle 34 011 Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 35) f'/e,m: check bux(es) Sugg. Rcwil D Turho Pascal 4.0 Compiler $ 99.95 o Turllo P8sca l Tutor fi9.95 o Turbo Pascal Dawllasc Toolbox 99.95 D Turbo Pascal Graphi x Toolbox 99.95 o Turbo Pascal Ed itor Toolbox 99.9.5 o Turbo Pascal Numerical Methods Toolbox 99.95 o Turbo Pascal Gamcworks 99.95 Upgrade Price' $ 39.95 19.95 29.95 29.95 29.95 29.95 29.95 Total 11roducLamount Ci\ ancl MA rcsiclcnts add sales tax $ - -- - $ _ _ _ __ In US please add $5 shipping and handling ror each product ordered $ - - -- Outside US please add $ 1Oshipping and handling ror each product ordered Total amount encl osed $ - - -- $ _ _ _ __ Please specify diskcu.c size: o 5W' o 3Yi" Payment: D VI SA D MC D Check D Ba nk Draft Credit card expiration llate: _ __, _ _ _ Card N I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I t To QUalily 101 lne up91ade pnce you 11\JSI QJVe 1he " '"' numbe1 ol ll>e equivalem PfOlluCI you a1e U!>O·ad1no. Serial No. BM 1188 Nows the time for a fast decision: Upgrade now to 4.0 ! Compatibility with Turbo Pascal 3. 0 We've created 4.0 to be highly compatible with version 3.0 and included a conversion program and compatibility units to help you convert all your 3.0 programs to 4.0. Highlights of Borland's new Turbo Pascal 4. 0 ·Compiles 27.000 lines per minute · Supports >64 Kprograms · Uses units for separate compilation · Integrated development environment · Interactive error detection/location ·Includes a command line version of the compiler 4.0 also · Saves output screen in a window ·Supports 25. 43 and 50 lines per screen · Generates MAP fil es for debugging · Has graph units including CGA. EGA. VGA. MCGA. 3270 PC. AT & T 6300 & Hercules support · Supports extended data types (including word. long integers) · Does smart linking · Comes with a free revised MicroCalc spreadsheet source code 4.0 is all yours for only $99.95 Sieve (25 iterations) -----Turbo Pascal 4.0 Size of Executable File 2224 bytes Execution speed 9.3 seconds Turbo Pascal 3.0 11682 bytes 97 seconds Sieve ol EralQSlheoes. "" onan 8MHz IBM Al Since !he SOOtce hie ·OO·e is 100 small lo lnd1ca1e a drllmnce rn c~1l31ion Sl)eed we comptled our GOMOKU program trom Turoo Gameworks 10 owe you a 1rue sense of now rruch laster 4.0 reallyis! Compilation of GO.PAS (1006 lines) Compilation speed Lines per minute GO.PAS compiled on an B MHz IBM A! Turbo Pascal 4.0 2.2 seconds Turbo Pascal 3.0 3.6 seconds 27.436 16,750 60-0ay Money-Back Guarantee ·· l f/l[Rf/AFr D .'IA t For the dealer nearest you or to order call (800) 543-7543. Circle 36 on Reader Seniice Card (DEALERS: 37) Contents Toshiba's New Laptop/133 65 PRODUCTS IN PERSPECTIVE 67 What's New 97 Short Takes MultiSpeed HD GOfer Translmage 1000 RuggedWriter 480 Velan-2V Book One Surpass Reviews Ill SQL Database Management Systems by Richard Finkelstein and Fabian Pascal A look at Informix-SQL , Ingres , Oracle. SQLBase. XDB II, and XQL. 121 BIX Product Focus: SQL-based Database Managers by Curtis Franklin Jr. BIX users comment on the most popular packages. 127 Cache in the Chips by Ed McNierney The PC Designs GV-386 combines high performance with full IBM PC AT compatibility. 133 The Toshiba T3100/20 by Curtis Franklin Jr. An AT-compatible laptop with impressive speed and portability. 141 The Symmetric 375 by Patrick Wood A look at Symmetric's portable Berkeley Unix sy tern . 151 High-Performance Graphics Boards by Bill Nicholls Two super-high-resolution PC graphic boards from Vermont Micro ystem and Verticom . 155 GCC's Personal Laserprinter by Donald Evan Crabb Low-cost laser printing for the Macintosh. 163 Allegro CommonLISP by Ernest R. Tello A complete Common LISP for the Macinto h . 167 Personal REXX by Namir Clement Shammas A powerful batch language for the IBM PC. 173 @Liberty and the Baler by Paul Schauble and Rick Cook The first generation of spread heet compiler . 176 Microsoft's Bookshelf by Ruse/ DeMaria A powerful reference library on your PC. 178 MGMStation CAD by Ruse/ DeMaria A CAD package for precision de ign work on the Macintosh . Columns 185 Computing at Chaos Manor: A Writer's Tools by Jerry Pournelle Editors , pelling checkers, and CD-ROMs: searching for the perfect package from Microsoft , Symantec, Oasis, and others. 205 Applications Only: Real-World Answers by Ezra Shapiro Reflex Plus , PhoneNET , and a TOPS network solve some practical dilemmas. 2 BYTE · JA UARY 198 Cover art by Robert Tinney JANUARY 1988 VOLUME 13 NUMBER I In Depth/213 213 L 'DEPTH: Managing Megabytes 214 Introduction 215 A Better Way to Compress Images by Miclwel F. Barnsley and Alan D. Sloan A new technique can achieve compression ratios in excess of 10,000 to I. 225 Managing Immense Storage by Theodor H. Nelson The "xanalogical" model provides a radical new approach to mass storage. 243 Fast Data Access· by Jonathan Robie Using query optimizers for efficient handling of large databases . 255 Achieving Mainframe Performance by Wink Saville Expanded memory in personal computers opens the door to programming techniques that speed performance significantly. 265 Managing Megabytes Resource Guide 269 FEATURES 271 Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar: The rCC180 Multitasking Controller Part I: The Hardware by Steve Ciarcia A small controller that is both fast and powerful. 285 Focus on Algorithms: Changing Reverse Polish to Infix by Dick Pountain Computers perfonn math using reverse Polish notation . 291 Using Financial Tools for Nonfinancial Simulations by James L. Conger Using spreadsheets as a fast way to simulate real-world problems. Features/269 DEPARTMENTS 6 Editorial: Show Time 11 Microbytes 16 Letters and Review Feedback 33 Chaos Manor Mail 36 Ask BYTE 38 Circuit Cellar Feedback SI Book Reviews 339 Coming Up in BYTE READER SERVICE 338 Editorial Index by Company 341 Alphabetical Index to Advenisers 343 Index to Advertisers by Product Category Inquiry Reply Cards: after 344 PROGRA M L <.\Tl. GS From BIX: see 282 From BYTEnet: call (617) 861 -9764 On disk or in print: see card after 32 BYTEOSSN 0J60.l280) lJ publ llht'Cl monchl'l with ·ddiOONJ wun in JUl'liC ·0«1 Oetobtt RP," ~nw- HiU l.oc r.o.irw1cr hma H. Mc:Oraw ( 1860---19-41). E.u:amtwc, cd i1nrltl, d mil·rk>n. ·nd .ct~'Cnlsing ot'f1C<1 : One: Pbocoi.a Mkil Latic-. hlct · boro.p. NH 034JS. pllon< (6Gl) 924·928 1. Off~< houn: M,,..,.,. """""' Th·Nby ! :)() AM ·".IO PM, Fnd.I)' ! :)() AM- I :00 PM , E.tucm Ti.me . Addr1:.u 1u'lt,.cfipdmu to BYTE .SubKnpciooJ.. P 0 . 8oJ. 6821. Pit<11~ . :0:1 Oi!S~ Pt:Kttn.1utr ; \Cnd addrcuchan,e1o. USPS Fotm lS79. undc-H..'tnblir: ropio. ·~ fu!Ollmcn1 quttl 'lnn\lO HYTI!.SubKr.p huru. P.O. Bo.& 6821. Pisai.w.y, NJ <>BUS . Sci:ond.-claJ1 ptHlaSC ptl.d ·· Pr:tc~&.h. NH Ol4S8 and ldd i 1 ~ I ma1Hn1cfflc:C1. Pb$~JC ptid 11 WlnnipeJ. MlinitOb.. JQ,il1tratlon number 9321 . Su~riptioru lJ'e S11 lor ant: )'Ur. s.&O fo r tllo() )U~. ud S51 for \lu'CC ;yuni in Ille U.S. and lupoucukln.1 . In Canada and. Muko. $25 fo r 011Cyeu. $AS ~rN>o .)UR. S6.5 forlhrt.e yun. S69 rorooa yu r 1lr drllvt:r)' 10 Europe. )I ,OOOycn ror one yeuair dc~fa't'r )' to 1apu. lj,600 .)l!O for Ont yn r wrfl<t ·delivtry w J.apaa . U7 ·utfacc del i ~'t:ry c l~hcl"C' . A.it dclivc-ry 10 ~ lec lCd ·rc.u ·t IMk!Aon.tl n11n upon m~\Klt . Single top)' prkc l\ U ..50 in lbc: U.S. and IU pcKW$Skln, , S4 .2$ ln CaNdl .uMl M.e.uco. '54 .:SO in Europe. ·!'Id SSc l~ l'M'rt . Fortian t.U~r1pti0ft1and Wn tbould be rem1ncd 111 U.S. fund! dB"imOfl a U.S. bank . Plu~ allow si.1 to c1Jh! 'WCCb for diclivc ry of tint iuuc. Pnn&cd in lhc: Unued Sg.tcJ of Americl. MdrtUediWritlconupondeflC'C lO. £clltor, BYTE. OM PbocnlA Miil l.aoc, Pl:tl:rbol'Dlllh, :NH OJ4SI . Unacupublt rtUnu:Ktipu. will be rc:tumcd if iacrom.-niui by ·t.1fncit:ru pos1.1r:i. Nii,)'! ruporislble fo r IO\t rnanuK-tipo or photo-. Opin · l(lrfK v.press.ed by ll'lt ·~l:hon lrt n04 Mffi.Nlril~ ~of BYTE. copynp1 iti t917 t,- Mc<;,...,.,.. Hm 11:11:. All ri1.ht1 rc:Kr..-cd . Tndcmart ft'a1u.r.rc:d in lhe u11.h~ S1.1ia Pu.r.n1 · nd Tl'ldemarkOffl!Ct. WMrt ne<eu.iry. pcnnlnloa Is 1n.nttd tit]' tM- copyri1t11 CJliio'Mr IOr libraries and Olhc-tt tttitlt'nd wh" dK: CC0'ri1tu Clc.tt&tKc Cc·nc:r (CCC)'°~ art)' ..-tic:lc hcrc:.in fDrUllC nu&.: ofSt .5'0 pc:r c:opyofthr a.nidc.oc Ut)' pan chutol. Corruponcknc.e Pd pqmen1 W!uld IX U1\t directly '°!he. CCC. 29 COftj:rut SI . , Salem, MA 01970 Spcoc-if)' ISSN 0360-SllOfll. SI.'°. Cop;rinidoRC for oUKt than pcnonal or ictcm&I n:hn::oi;c tac w 1thou1 lhr: pc.rmit· ·kin of .\kG--H m loc. ·· 9"""·bor..i. ltoq<luU fol ·pccial pcnnluicln Of bulk Ot\1en "'°"Id bo oddmsa1 IO ill< pob fabcr . BYTE r. ....ilablc in mkrolonn from Un1~il)' MK'ml\Jnn. lnll:l'Tl&tlOIW . JOO Nanh b.ir:b Rd_. Dep. PR. AM Arbor. Ml 41106 Qf U Bcd.ilrd llaw', [kpl. PR , landorl \lr't' I R 4£1 . EnJl.and. SubKripcioa qundoru or probltrnj a.hould bt addrtHtd io; BYTE SubKn"bcr Scl"'·icC'. P.O Bo.1. 632 1. Pit.u~~ . ~J oa:&ll _ Section an by Tom Centola JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 3 E'1TE THE SMALL SYSTEMS JOURNAL EllECllTin EDITOR, BYTE Frederic S. Langa PUBUSHEJllGROUP VICE PRESIDENT J. Burt Totaro ASSISTAHT llAHMllHO El>tTOA Glenn Hartwig SEHIOll TECHNICAL EDIYORS Cathryn Baskin Fl8views. G. Ml.chael Vose In Oef)l)l. Gregg Williams F11atures TECHNlCAI. EDITOll8 Oennls Allen, Curtis Franldln Jr., Richard Grehan, Ken Sheldon, George A. Stewart, Jane Morrill Tazelaar, Tom Thompson, Eva White, Stanley Wszola ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EllfTOR Martha Hicks NEWS ANO TECHNOLOGY Gene Smarte Bureau Chiel. Costa MBS8. Jonathan Erickson Senior Technic81 E<itor. San Francisco. Rich Malloy Senior Technk:al Editor. NeN York. Nicholas Baran Asscdate TedlnicaJ Edi!or, San Franosco. Jeffrey Bertolucci Eddorr.!J Assist/Ill/. San Franasco ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS o. Barker Miet0/Jyres. Anne Ascher Lent What's New, Shon Takes. Slan MlastkOW$kl Wha/'s New CONSULTING EllfTOflS Ste-..e Clarcia. Je<ry Pournelle, Ezra $h8jllro CONTRllUTINO EOITOR8 Jonathan Amsterdam Programming Projecrs. Mark Oahmke lildeo, OperaMg Systems, Mark H&M At Large, Rik Jadrnicek CAD. Graphtcs. Spreadsl>ee!s. Robert T. Kurosaka MathematicAI Reaeations, Ala.stair J. W. MB)'9r Soltware, Alan R. Miller LBJJgusges and Engmeenng. Dick Pounlaln Alf)Ofithrns. Aogar Powall Compute!S and Music. Phllllp Robinson 56micon<Jvctors, Jon sn1e11 Hign. Pertonnance Systems, Ernest Tello ArTtfioal 1n1en;gencs COPY EOITOllS Lauren Stickler Chief. Susan Colwell, Judy Connors· Tenney, Jeff Edmonds, Nancy Hayes, Ca1hy Kingery, Margaret A. Richard, Warren Wllll8/llSOn EDITOlllAL AMISTAHTS Peggy Dunham Office Ma.nager. L. Ryan McCombs, June N. Sheldon ART Nancy Rice Orroctor. Joseph A. Gallagher Assistant Director, Jan Muller Ass15111nt, Alan Ell.Slon Dralnng PllOOUCTION David R. Anderson DirflClor. Oenise Chartrand. Michael J. loMky. Virginia Reardon TYPOORAPNY Sherry Aske S)'$1ems Mafl8get, Sefinda Chlquoine. DOnna Sweeney ADYtlm9lllGIPllOOUCT10H 1111131124"6441 Lisa Wozmak Supervisor, L)<la Clark Senior Account Coon:linator, Karon Cilley. Brian Higgins. Linda Fluhr, Wal Chiu LI Oualiry Control Manager. Julie Murphree AdvertisingtPrtXJuefion Coordinator ~TION 8-rty JackSon Pu/;JlfSher's Assistant MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS Horace T. Howland Direelor, CIJ03102"342· Wilbur S. Watson Markebng Selllic8s Managflr. Lisa Jo Steiner Mark81ing Assis/ant. Stephan ie Warnesky Marketing Art DirealOI. Sheron Price Associate Art Direalor. Julie Perron Market Research Analyst PLANHINO MIO llESEAllCH Michale Perron Director Fahh Klunlz Copynghls Coordrnat01, Cynthia Damalo Sands Reader Service Coordinalor FINANCIAL 9EJMCU Philip L Penny Direc101olFinat>CSand58Mces. Kenneth A. King Busi"llSS Maneger, Chriall ne Monkton Assslant. Marilyn Haigh, Diane Henry, JoAnn Walter. Jaime Huber CIRCULATION Dan Mclaughlin Orrecror Jamas Bingham Single-Copy Sales Manager, Vicki Waslon AsslstsnJ Mariaget. Claudelle Carswell Drstribu11ori Coordinator, Karen Desroches Direct Accounts Coo{(Jinator. Louisa Menegus Back Issues PEJISONN!l. Palticla Burke f'6rsonnaJ Coordrnaror. Donna Healy Flece()IJOfOSI BUILDING SEIMCU Tony Bennen Manager, Clill Monkton, Mark Monk1on , Agnes Perry lllX BYTE INFORllATION EXCHANCE EX£CllTIVE EOITOll, BIX George Bond SENIOR EOITOll David Belz A$$0CIATf EDITORS Tony Lockwood. Donna Osgood San Franosco MICA08YTES DAILY 0 . Barker Coordinaror. Pet81borough . Gane Smane Burea.u Cruet, Costa ,MOOa , NIChOlas Baran San Fra!ICJSCO. Riek Cook Ph06rix. Jonathan Erickson San Francisco. Martha Hicka P81erborough, Anne Flacher Lani Peterborough, Larry Loeb Wsl#ngford. CT. Rich Malloy N(JW )1)rk. Brock N. Meeks La Mesa, CA. Jell Marron Pe1B1borough , Stan Miaatkowskl Pelerborough. Wayne Rash Jr. W..stwngton. DC. David Raed Le.>ongtori. KY GAOUP MOOEAATORS David Allen Applications. Frank Boosman Artificial lnte/Ogence, Laroy Castortlne Other. Man: Greenfield Programming Languages. Jim Howard Graphics. Gary Kendall Operating $)$ems. St8Y9 Krenek Compure/S. Brock N. Meeks Teleccmmunicarions. Barry Nance New Technology. DOnald Osgood Computers. Sue Rosanberg Other. Jon Swanson Chips ' BUSINESS AHO MNIKE'llNG Doug Webster Orrector (603) 924 -9027, Patricia Bausum Secretary. Denise A. Greene Cus/omer Se Mce, Brian Warnock Cus/omer SaMce, Tammy Burgess Cus/omer Credi/ and 811/;ng ADVERTISING SALES Oennls J. Riley Director, (I03) 12<-8211 Sandra Fosler Adminstrati..i Assistant NEW ENGL.ANO ME. NH. VT. MA, RI, ONTARIO, CANADA & EASTERN CANADA Paul McPherson Jr. (117) :i.2-11 eo ATL.AHTIC NY, NYC, CT, NJ (NORTH) Leah G. Rabinowitz c2121512.2099 Dick McGurk (203) ....1111 EAST PA, KY, OH, NJ (SOUTH), MD, VA, W.VA, OE, o.c. Daniel FerroC2t5)0~3&33 SOUTHEAST NC, SC, GA. FL. AL. TN Carolyn F. Lovell CCOC) 252-0UI MIDWEST IL, MO, KS , IA, NO, SO. MN. WI, NE, IN, Ml. MS Bob Oenmead (312) 75t-37CO SOUTHWEST, llOCl<Y MOUNTAIN CO, WY , OK, TX, AR , LA Karl Heinrich (713) cu-01s1 SOUTH PACIFIC SOUTHERN CA, AZ.. NM, LAS VEGAS Jack Anderson (71<) 557-Gl2 Tom Harwy CZt3) CI0-52<3 NORTH PACIFIC HI , WA, OR, 10, MT, NORTHERN CA, NV (excepl LAS VEGAS), UT, WESTERN CANADA Mike K'ISSeberlh CctS)312-4&00 Bill McAf&eC<tS)JollMtOO m.EllARKETING L. Bradley Browne Director Susan Boyd Mministra!J..i Assistant 8YTE 8lTS (21c3) Dan Harper (I03J t2<-a30 TlfE BUYER'S MART (tx2) Mark Stone CI03Jt2'"3754 REGIONAL ADVERTISlllO SEC'TlOllS MIDATlANTIC, METRO NY & NEW ENGLAND, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. SOUTHEAST Elisa Lister CIOl) 12....,lo MIDWEST, PACIFIC NORTHWEST, SOUTHWEST. METRO NY & NEW ENGLAND Scott Gagnon CI03J 12..121t BYTE DECK MAILINGS Nalion al Ed Ware(I03102...StM ANC COllPIJTIHG DECK COMPVTING FOR ENGINEEJIS 0£CK Mery Ann Goulding CI03J 12c-v211 TECHNOl.OOY Clay1on U sie Director. BuSlness Systems Technology, MHIS, Bill Garrison Busin6SS$)$ems Analyst. Jeck Reilly BuS1ness Sysu11ns Analysl ---c---·oi-m-c:.: EOITOIUAL ANO BUS/NUS Ol'P'lte: One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, (603) 924-9281 . 425 Ballery St.. San Franclseo, CA 94111, (415)954-9718; 3001 Red Hill Ale., Bulldlng #1 , Suite 222. Costa Mesa. CA 92626, (7 14) 557-6292. 1221 JlllvnueoftheAmericu,NewYork, NY t0020,(212) 512"3 175 . llYTEMt: (617) 861 -9764 (set modem a1 6-1 ·N or 1-1·E; 300 or 1200 baud). ,.., (603) 924-7507. Tolu: (603) 924-7861 . P -. I/loo-· - L IUnc:llJPTIONCUSTOllUIUIMCE: Non-U.S. (201) 837-1315; Inside U.S. (OUlSide NJ) 1-1!00-423-8272; ~nslde NJ) 1-M()..367-0218. Of,,,... ol Mc<l-H· Inc:.: ,.._ W. McG,_ .I<., Cl\olnnan; .-,,., L Olonno, Pro-I - Cl>Jei E - ~: f\:Jbef1 N, J..andos, ~ V.ee Prooldenl Gtne<ai Coun>o!, 111\d Secmaty: - 0 . Setwodo:o. ~ V.. P - - Chio<_.,~ Shel F. " -· - vie. ~ ; - J. Balluh. Soolotllloof'19oido<lt.f'ml>oolndlol"""*tl.fif>g;Ftri0. ~. ..... - _ T-..yOpotmlon>; llalph Fl Sent.a, Sonia E -; ~ Fl EllinllO<, vie. Cln:ulc!lon. SYTC. ll\ITI . and The Small S)'lloms JoumoJ .,. rogl111m u.oomartcs ol McG,_Hlll Inc. 4 BYTE· JANUARY 1988 Circle 294 on Reader Service Card EDITORIAL ShowTime Early winter is a great time for computer trade shows. Each year at this time, dur ing a span of 60 days , we make our travel agency very happy by sending a steady stream of BYTE editors to shows ranging from COMDEX in Las Vegas to Mac World Expo in San Francisco, with many smaller shows in between. These shows yield a feast of new infor mation. At one show, a major hardware manufacturer privately demonstrated for us hand-assembled prototypes of a new line of killer machines that will be an nounced shortly. The high end of this line ranks among the most technologically advanced per sonal computers I've seen. We will be re ceiving sample units from the first pro duction run, and we'll bring you full coverage, with detailed benchmarks, in an upcoming issue. We also picked up a late-beta copy of Surpass, a powerful spreadsheet that en ters the fray-along with new spread sheets like Quattro, Win Excel, and Plan Perfect-against Lotus 1-2-3. Tum to this issue's Short Takes section for an early hands-on look at Surpass. We've also seen a host of 80386 and 68020 hardware and software; tons of new equipment designed to work with or outperform- IBM ' s Micro Channel PS/2s; new Mac enhancers; and more. Embarrassment of Riches Some of these items will show up in print right away, in the sections of BYTE with the latest deadlines: Microbytes, Short Takes, and What's New . Other items will appear later as First Impression articles and full-blown reviews. But we gather much more raw infor mation than we can possibly accommo date, even in a magazine the size of BYTE (e.g., our internal staff reports from COMDEX alone ran to almost 20 ,000 words) . How can we best supply you with all this information? Let's, for the moment, ignore BIX. Our show coverage there, usually as part of the microbytes conference, features detailed information on major product announcements and conference events posted within minutes or hours of occur rence. If you want the most up-to-date microcomputer information you can get, there' s simply no better alternative. But if you can't use BIX, what then? Senior Editor Rich Malloy had a sugges tion: a paper transcript of our show cov erage, mailed to interested readers right after a show . To test the feasibility of this idea, we produced a trial transcript of our COM DEX coverage, and it went well: In a matter of just a few hours, Rich down loaded the BIX coverage, massaged the text, designed a print format , and laser printed the whole package. It went so well, in fact, that we ' ve forged ahead. A New Publication Starting immediately after the close of MacWorld Expo, we'll produce a paper transcript of our BIX coverage. We' ll be glad to send you a copy for just the price of the paper, printing, and postage. Just drop a note to MacWorld Show Report, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peter borough, NH 03458; please enclose a check or money order for $3, and be sure to include your name and mailing ad dress . These new Show Reports will fill a gap in our coverage of microcomputing. Thus, we can now offer you three alter natives for show coverage: For the most timely coverage possible, there's BIX, with its essentially zero lead time and its interactive nature (via BIX, you can ask the BYTE staff questions about the show and our coverage) . Slightly slower, but fast-as fast or faster than most micro computer news weekJies, for instance are the new BYTE Show Reports. And fi nally, for thoroughgoing , in-depth analy sis and selective coverage of the most im portant new products and technologies , there's BYTE itself. Other Changes Does this attention to Show Reports and BIX imply that BYTE is changing? Not at all. Except to get better. Our New Year's resolutions for BYTE include improving the quality of our writing · and editing while retaining or even enhancing the depth and authority that are BYTE's hall marks . BYTE' s technical nature guaran tees we'll never be a McGuffey's reader, but we can- and will- work harder to make even our most technically rigorous articles as readable as possible. And as attractive as possible: Nancy Rice, our able art director, is already hard at work looking at ways we can use new layouts, new line art, and new for mats for tables and graphs to make the great wealth of data found in BYTE more accessible. Other resolutions include giving more space to the print version of Microbytes in BYTE. Microbytes is already one of the finest print sources for microcomputer technology news anywhere, and as such , it has become immensely popular. As a result, we're expanding it by 33 percent , starting with the February issue. A less welcome change: This marks the last issue with which Phil Lemmons is associated with BYTE. Phil worked here for 5 years , starting as a freelance author and ending as editorial director. In the course of his tenure, Phil enjoyed and was largely responsible for-numer ous successes, including the growth of BYTE to its current all-time-high circula tion and the launching of BIX. Phil has left to pursue other career goals. We'll all miss him here, but no one more than I: Phil was, simply, the finest editor I have had the pleasure of working for. We wish him all the best. The up side is that Phil has left BYTE marvelously positioned to continue bringing you the kind of solid , authorita tive, and in-depth information you need- and that you 've come to expect from BYTE. As the resolutions above indicate, we ' ll be building on those strengths to make BYTE even better. We've made other resolutions-too many to talk about in this limited space so they'll have to wait for another issue. But they all strike a similar note: Through 1988, we'll be working harder than ever to keep BYTE your premier source for expert information on personal com puters. If a product or technology is at or near the cutting edge; if it's important and/or interesting; if it's aimed at sophis ticated users ; if it's genuinely useful or will become genuinely useful to you folks who do the hand-holding, not those who need their hands held; then we ' ll cover it in BYTE. And we plan to cover it in a way that's just as authoritative. but more readable, more accessible, and more attractive than ever before. That's our promise to you . -FredLanga Executive EdiWr (BIX name "flanga ") 6 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 When you want to talk computers.. ATARI COMPUTERS 65XE 64K Computer. ... .. .............94.99 130XE 132K Computer..... .. .. .. .. 129.00 520STFM Monochrme System ..489.00 520STFM Color System .. .......... 639.00 SF1224 Color Monitor. ..... ..... :... 289.00 SF124 Mono Monitor ... ....... ...... 139.00 COMMODORE COMPUTERS MS/DOS SYSTEMS AST Premium Computer .. ..... ...... ..Call Compaq .. ..... .... .............. from 1699.00 IBM-PS-2 Model 30 ... ....... ....... ... ... Call IBM-AT Enhanced ....... ....... .. ........ Call Leading Edge .. .. .......... ..... from 999.00 PC-TOO 512K AT/Compal from 999.00 NEC Multispeed Computer ..... 1499.00 Atari 1040 Color System Includes: 1040ST. 1 mb RAM with 31/2" drive built-in, 192K ROM with TOS, Basic, ST language and color monitor. Access Leaderboard Golf... .... ..... ... .. ..... .24.99 Activision Music Studio ... .. ............. ...... .. .... 29.99 Atari First Word ................. ....... ......... . 16.95 Batteries Included Degas Elite ... ... .... .............. ... .. ...44.99 oss Personal Pascal ........ ..... ... ... ... ... 49.99 Timeworks Wordwriter ST.. ..... ....... ...... ... ..... 48.99 VIP Professional (GEM) ... ............... 144.00 AMIGA SOFTWARE Aegis Development Animator/Images .. ..... .... .... ... ...... 89 .99 Electronic Arts Deluxe Video ... ..... ...... ... .. ... .. ..... 69.99 Gold Disk Software Pagesetter wffext Ed ..... .. .......... 93.99 Micro Illusions Dynamic CAD .. ....... .... ..... .... .... 349.00 Micro Systems Software Scribble .... ...... ..... .... .. ... ..... ...... ..69.99 Word Perfect Corp. Word Perfect. .......... .. ... .... ...... ..219.00 Amiga 500 System Includes: Amiga 500 CPU, 1 MB, 1080 RGB Mon itor , Amiga DOS, Mouse, Kaleidoscope Commodore 128 ...... .... ......... ... 259.00 Commodore 1280 ........ .. ....... ... 529.00 Commodore 64C ........ ..... .. ... .... 179.00 64C , 1541C, 1802C Package ....599.00 128, 1571 , 2002 Package ........ . 759.00 128D, 2002 Package ..... ..... ...... 829.00 HARD DRIVES CMS MacStack 20 ...... .............. .... .... 599.00 Logic Array Pro App 20S ... .......... ..... .. ...... ...699.00 Lo Down Low Down 20 .... ..... .. ... .......... ... 849.00 Mountain 20 MB Hard with SCSl. .. ........ ... 899.00 FLOPPY DRIVES Ehman Engineering BOOK External Floppy ....... .. ..... . 199.00 MONITORS Network Specialties Stretch Screen 20 " ..... ......... ... 1399.00 Radius Full Page Display ..... .. ...... ...... 1599.00 Sigma Designs Laser View Display System ... .. 1999.00 MEMORY BOARDS Dove Computer Mac Snap Plus 2 ... ... ........ ..... .. . 249.00 Mac Memory, Inc. Max Plus.. ........ ..... ...... .......... ... 319.00 SCANNERS AST Turbo Scan .. .... .... ....... ........... 1489.00 SOFTWARE Ashton-Tate D:Base Mac ..... ..... ... ... ....... ...... 319.00 Microsoft Word 3.1........... ...... ... ........ ... ...239.00 AST Six Pak Plus PC/XT.. ...... ...... .... 129.00 Hercules Color Card ........................ .. ..... 159.00 Graphics Card Plus ........ ..... ..... 199.00 Fifth Generation Logical Connection 256K ..... .... .299 .00 Quadram EGA Prosync .... ... .. ........ .... ...... 249 .00 Video 7 VEGA EGA Adapter... ...... ...... ...169.00 Zuckerboard Color Card w/Parallel ...... .... ... .... 89.99 MS/DOS SOFTWARE Ashton-Tate d-Base Ill+ ..... ........ ........ ...... ... 399.00 5th Generation Fastback Utility ..... ..... ... .. ...... .... 89 .99 IMSI Optimouse w/Dr . Halo ... ...... ... ....99.99 Lotus Lotus 1-2-3...... ... ...... ... .... ... ..... .329.00 MicroPro Professional 4.0 w/GL Demo.... .239.00 Microstuf Crosstalk XVI ... ..... .... ... .. .. .......... 89.99 P.F.S. First Choice {Prem ium) ... ............ 99.99 Word Perfect Corp. Word Perfect 4.2 ..... .. .... .. ..... .... 209.00 COMPUTER MAIL ORDER 8 BYT E · JA NUARY 1988 ........When you want to talk price. DRIVES MODEMS PRINTERS Atari AA3 14 DS/DD Disk (ST) ...... .... $199 .00 AA354 SS/DD Disk (ST) .. .. ....... . 119.00 SHD204 20 Mb ST Hard Drive ... 569 .00 Commodore Am iga 1020.. .... ....... ...... ........... 189.00 Am iga 1010 3112" ...................... 219 .00 1541C..... .... .... ......... ...... ........ .. 179.00 1571 ... ..... .......... ....... .... .......... .239 .00 1581 3112" External. ............. .. ... 229.00 Indus GT Disk Drive Atari XL/XE ..... ... 179.00 Raco re Jr. Expans ion Chassis ............ ..299 .00 Seagate 20 mb ST-225 Hard Drive Kit. ....339 .00 Supra 20 Meg Hard Drive (Amiga).... .. .749 .00 20 Meg Hard Drive (ST) .... ..... .. . 559 .00 Xebec 20 mb (Am iga) ..... ... ..... .......... ...899.00 MONITORS Amdek Video 300 Amber Composite ... ..139.00 Commodore Commodore 2002 .......... ...... .....319.00 Am iga 1080 Hi-Res Color.. ..... ...299.00 Commodore 1802........... .......... 199.00 $169 Magnavox 8502 13"Composite Magnavox 8505 AGB/Composite ... ........ .... 199.00 8562 RGB/Composite .. .. .... .... ... 249.00 NEC J C-1402P3A Multi-Sync .... ... ....... .. Ca ll Princeton Graphics MAX-1212 " AmberTIL .... ...... . 139.00 Taxan Model 124 12" Amber .... ... ..... ... 119.00 Thomson 4120 RGB/Composite ... .... ...... ..249.00 Zenith ZVM 1220/1230 Composite .(ea .) 99 .99 Anchor Vol ksmodem 1200.... ... .......... ... $89 .99 6480 C64/1281200 Baud ... ... ... .119.00 VM520 ST520/1040 1200 Baud .129.00 Atari SX212 (ST) .... .... .... ..... ............... 89.99 Best 1200 Baud External ............ ...... 119.00 Commodore Amiga 1680-1200 BPS.............. 169.00 CBM 1670 & C-128) .... ........ ... ... ..99.99 Everex Evercom 1200 Baud lnternal. .... ..99.99 Hayes Atari 1020 XL/XE Plotter ... ........ ... ..... $31 .99 XDM121 Letter Qual ity ... ...... .... 159.00 XMM801 XL/XE Dot Matrix .. .. .. . 185 .00 XMM804ST Dot Matrix .. .. .... ..... 179 .00 Brother M-1109 100 cps, 9 pin ........ .. ..... 199 .00 M-1 409180 cps , 9 pin... .... ... ..... 319 .00 Citizen MSP-1 0 160 cps, 80-Column .. ... 279 .00 Premi er 35 cps Daisywheel. ..... .489.00 C.ltoh 315P 132 Column Prowri ter .... ..549.00 Smartmodem 300... ... .... .. .........139.99 Smartmodem 1200 External ..... 289 .00 Novation Parrot 1200 ... .. ............. .. ...... ......89 .99 Practical Peripherals Telecom Package .......... ....... ... 129.00 Supra MPP-1064 AD/AA C64 .... .... ........ 69 .99 2400AT 2400 Baud Atari. ......... . 169.00 Epson EX-1000 300 cps 132 col. Epson LX-800 150 cps , 80-column .. ... .... ..Call FX-86E 240 cps, 80-col umn.......... .Call FX286E 240 cps , 132-column ........ Call LQ-1000 24 Wire , 300 cps ........ .559.00 LQ-850 330 cps , 80-column....... ... .Call LQ-1050 330 cps , 132-column ....... Cal l Hewlett Packard Th inkjet .... ................. ..... ....... .. 379 .00 NEC U.S. Robotics Pinwriter 2200 24 Wire.. .. ......... .379.00 2400 Baud lnternal. ....... ........... 189.00 Pinwriter 660 24 Wire .... ... ..... ... 459.00 DISKETTES Pinwriter 760 24 Wi re ... ........... . 679. 00 Okldata Maxell MD1-M SS/DD 51/4" ..................... 8.49 MD2-DM DS/DD 5V4 ".. ... .. .... .... ... .9.49 MF1-DDM SS/DD 3V2" ............... 12.49 MF2-DDM DS/DD 3112'' ... ..... ....... 18.49 Sony MD1D SS/DD 5V4 " ..... .. ....... .... .....6.99 MD2D DS/DD 5V4 "...... ...... ....... .. .. 7.99 MFD-1DD SS/DD 3112'' .............. . 11 .99 MFD-200 OS/DD 3112'' .. ..... .. ...... 16.99 Okimate 20 Color Printer ... ..... .. 129.00 ML-182 120 cps , 80-column ..... .219.00 ML-192 + 200 cps , 80-column .. .329.00 ML-193 + 200cps, 132-column.479.00 Panasonic KX-1080i 144 cps, 80-column .... 179 .00 KX-109 1i 194cps, 80-column .... 189.00 KX-P3131 22 cps Daisywheel.. .. 289.00 Star Micronics NX-10120 cps, 80-col umn .... .. .. 169.00 NX-10C 120 cps , C64 lnterface . 189.00 Hewlett-Packard Calculators NX-15 120 cps. 132-column ..... .319.00 28C Scient ific Pro .. ....... ....... .....199.99 Toshiba 18C Business Consultant... ...... .139.95 P-32 1 SL2 16 cps , 24-Pin ....... ... 539 .00 12C Slim Financial ... .... ......... ..... 74.99 P-351 11 300 cps , 24-Pin ...... .. .. .. 889 .00 In the U.S.A. and in Canada Call toll-free: 1-800-233-8950 Outside the U.S.A. call 717-327-9575, Telex 5106017898, Fax 717-327-1217 Educational, Governmental and Corporate Organizations call toll-free 1-800-221-4283 CMO. 477 East Third Street, Dept. Al, Williamsport, PA 17701 ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED. POLICY: Add 3% (m inimum $7.00) shipping and handling. Larger shipments may requ ire additional charges. Person al and company checks require 3 weeks to clear. For fas ter delivery use yo ur credit card or send cashier' s check or bank money order. Pennsylvania resi dents add 6% sales tax. All prices are U.S.A. prices and are subject to change and all items are subject to availability. Defective software will be replaced wi th the same item on ly. Hardware will be replaced or repaired at our discretion within the terms and limits of the manufacturer's warranty. We can not guarantee compati bility. All sales are final and returned ship ment s are subject to a restocking fee . Circle 63 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · BY TE 9 While the DAISYWHEEL shoots blanks, the OKIDATA LASER hits the mark. K:" - rad Davte 29)1 $. 14:h Strff1: ;?i!ladelfhia . PA 191.:.7 ,._,,,. 'lt;t)( .·'I/'( :c:o1J Dto.r Mr- Dl\·:111 , Ho&r& ai; ?a.intel", ParUr , et'ld lt.ll.hn ..,. applaud ywr ecbltton to retir~ oi fl6I' 50 v!t!'.: t Oc r~eeG- to travel at l&aet el.X QOl"Jtha o! t.~ yoo.r . \'· Jl.ao t..i\1.M you.'~ Nicir.S a lot oC :J(Nr ci.::-n::.t invo:at:-ente . He r· ta me ideo v& have on hav to~ that. Your p:-ooant port!OliO 11 )6~ blun d!ip &tookn, ~ 1r. & :ir.tual tund 11wa~ed 1.n t.'.:-» Pac ltlc ~i:i am! t.la 'oo..l.M(:e 1:i µ-e!erred ctoekD (QIART t) . Value M of 6/10/frl , s100,ooo. eo.-..~t· l" !. n,g yOW' age r1 >p:>r,'.tf-o Ho lr.t,.. - Use the new LASERUNE"' 6 from OKIDPJJ\ to grab your reader's attention. Make your letters more effective by using graphics. Add emphasis with underlining, boldfac ing and italicizing. And change your tone anytime you like by choosing any of 15 built-in type fonts. Thanks to the LaserControl "' disk you get with it, the OKIDPJJ\ LASER will work with virtually all your present software. It 's compatible with LaserJet and LaserJet Plus·software. There's even a special three-user module for economy no daisywheel can match. So get an OKIDATA LASER and start hitting the mark with your first shot. IO\:J"CM lnt.o · aJtual 1\.!.."ld !or 1..noooo-pro1h ,reeour~ in t.:-iple 9;8JC- f'rM o.:rtlctpal bor k bondo . ThM eplit thl realnder ln:.o u ":tly cleor a.nd t1'.at yrur ne-v lnvee:t=eclt pi you nHd anythlna oltartd up, don't Melt [:"17t?--P~ C. Pe'tfr Pa.tnU!r Ce rtified Pinanolal PJ.annor ® BULLSEYE INVESTMENTS M<. Tod D>Vis 2901 S. 14th Srrcct Philadelphia. PA. 191<7 July 27. t987 0<:1rMr. Dm>, At Bu11seye Jnvcstmc.nu dra...;.og a brighter invutmcr.t piC'tUrc dOCUl' l me.an doillg it ~ tbt numbe.rs..· Somctimci you hav~ to 1:1kc risks. Take your goal of retirement Al age SO. It's ambitious.. but it's possible. YOllr aJ.Hb and htvutmmb as or 6-10-87. ·ttt 1bout Sl00.000. Considering )'OUr dream. ""'c rca>mmcJld the following adjustmenu.:. PRESENT PAOPOWl See your OKIDATA dealer today or call 1-800-0KIDATA, Ext. 22. REGISTERED TRADEMARKS: OKIDAI/\, Oki America, Inc., Marque depos~c de Oki Al11t!rica , Inc.; LaserJet and LaserJei Plus, Hcwlcn·Pack:lrd. loc. T RAD EMAR KS: LASERLINE, Oki Electric Industry Co.. [Jd. ; LascrControt. Insight De·"Clopmcm Corp.. PC M·g;uine " Editor's Choice'' No" 10. © 1987 Zilf Communkations Corp. 10 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 .-..~.... ~~ ; ...,, Rat, . c ..oouv :. ac:::J O.Q-.D.~ P'IG. C Naturally, your Niu: arc great.er. However, so arc you.r r~.rds.. R~ ~ DlOre intctesc Ind appr«Utioo:(FIG.C) l"ll eaU iOOn (O rCYtcw )'OUJ pon:lolio 1n dc111l ;/j~ C. fka ' WillWn C. Ri«i ~~,__ ll)l()An:l'a Rold 0 ~.PA 17070 0 (717)8?8-SSSS \\e put business on paper. Circle 191 on Reader Service Card MICROBYTES Staffwritten highlights ofdevelopments in technology and the microcomputer industry. - .- ... Price of Floppies Doesn't ~uarantee Quality, i Testers Say ~ Nanobytes Engineers at Chips & Technol Despile wide variations in the cosl and another company's box were covered ogies (San Jose, CA) " have be quality of floppy disks, there's no appar with what looked like human hair. come real fans " of IBM 's Micro en1 relationship between the two, ac Memory Control Technology ap Channel Architecture, spokesper cording to a company that has done a plied 1wo standard ANSI recording tes1s son Raj Jaswa told Microbytes I'- compara1ive study of 5 'A-inch floppy disks. Memory Control Technology to the disks. Only seven companies BASF, JVC , Kodak, Memorex, Nashua, Daily. "Our viewpoint is that the Micro Channel market will Corp. (Omaha, NE) , which manufac Sony, and 3M-had all their disks pass really take off, " Jaswa said , pre tures disk-testing equipment and per the "missing bit" test. Only five dicting significant shipments of forms disk duplication services for BASF, Goldstar, JVC, Memorex, and PS/2s and compatibles in the latter software publishers, analyzed 18 brands TDK-had all their disks pass the "extra half of 1988. "With an average of disks over lhe past few months . Ac bit" lest . No company had more than Lof three adapters per system, we cording 10 Jerry Korth, president of the three disks fail the missing-bit test, but see the market for adapters by company, the study was underiaken one company had 27 fail the exlra-bit 1990 as being in excess of 15 mil .· because of suspicions .of declining qual ity in 5 1A-inch floppies. Although many test. Other tests involved amplitude,_ modulation, resolution, and wear resis lion units. " . .. Lotus Develop ment Corp. (Cambridge, MA) disks performed admirably , the resuils tance. According to Korth , all disks per just says no to Windows/386. of the s1udy proved those suspicions of formed outstandingly in these tests. While Microsoft's Windows/386 a decline in disk quality to be true . The final test involved formatting has been hailed as a break The company bought IO boxes of 10 the disks on an.IBM PC under optimal through for users wanting multi disks each al various locations through conditions . Of the 18 companies, 13 tasking and a graphical interface oul the country to ensure that it was had 100 percent of their disks format on 80386 machines, Lotus has no using a representative sample of each without any bad sectors. Korth men plans to support it with 1-2-3 . brand . Prices varied tremendously , tioned that this percentage is probably "Trying to shoehorn 1-2-3 into sometimes by almost 300 percenl for the higher than what many people have ex Windows will give sluggish per same brand . For example, Dysan disks perienced , because the PC used for the formance ," said Lotus spokesper were sold for both $23.90 and $8.40 for test was optimized for the lowest fail son Greg Jarboe. Lotus users a box of 10 disks. The lowest price.was ure rate possible . 'The 13 companies can get a graphical interface with $4.40 for Xidex-Precision disks. whose disks passed this test were the version of 1-2-3 that will Visual quality control also varied BASF, Fuji, Goldstar, JVC, Kodak, run under OS/2 ... . Jim Harris , 1- considerably. Disks from four manufac Maxell, Memorex, Nashua, Polaroid, president of Hercules (Berkeley . 1urers (Fuji , Kodak, Memorex , and Sentinel, Sony, Verbatim, and Xidex . CA , said the graphics-card TDK) bad no visual defects . The re Korth said that predatory pricing maker expects to have a graphics maining companies had disks with policies of some disk manufacturers are board for the Mac II by next such defects as frayed and visible liners, having a deleterious effect on disk summer. The company recently jacket deformities, and contamination. quality. Despite the fact that his com said it would incorporate a One company's disks had three major pany purchases many disks each year, TOPS interface to AppleTalk defects: One disk jacket enclosed two Korth would prefer prices 10 be higher in networks in a new version of its disks , and two other disk jackets en the hope that quality would be, more Graphics Card Plus . . .. Rock closed hard-sectored disks. Disks in tightly controlled. well (Newport Beach, CA) says its R9696DP 9600-bps modem Optical Coprocessor ~onverts Raster to ASCli t board will enable modem devel opers to implement the full CCITT V.32 standard. The t While it was the hand-held optical scanner that can recognize typeset fonts PC, are custom gate arrays that attend to tasks such as character processing and company claims the board, which is being sold to OEMs, repre that brought attention to Translmage classification. Character processing is sents a big step in full-duplex , Corp. (Sunnyvale, CA) , the company 's accomplished in a chip called the Table dial-up modem technology. "We announcement that it will make its Processor that uses proprietary micro expect this product to lead to a 68000-based optical-character-recogni coded "thinning" algorithms to essen new generation of high-speed tion (OCR) coprocessor board avail tially "peel away" the features of the stand-alone and PC-card able to OEMs may have a bigger effect on image-processing applications . character until an identifiable shape can be extracted. Two other chips take care modems, " said Bill Baker1 a Rockwell vice president. Until At the heart of the board, which is of transforming the bit-level image data continued currently an add-in card for the IBM continut!d JANUARY1988 · B' YTE II' : [Irf. ii'~"·'".T.~.'"." . -' ·- n I - MICROBYTES into table image data. Translmage on adding new symbols to the table now , mass-market 9600-bps chairman and architect Jim Faulkerson chjps in the near future . modems, such as those from said that prototypes of these and four What may be significant to image Hayes and USRobotics, have other custom chips required fourteen 1 processing developers is that virtually onJy emulated a true 9600-bps by 10-inch VME boards in a VAX de any raster image stored on disk can be transfer rate .... Tired of hitting velopment system, and it took 300 sec converted to ASCII data by " running" keys-or moving mice? Very Vivid onds to identify a single character. the image through the OCR card . (wTiothroanntoa1ltOernntaatriivoe) has come up interface for With the custom gate arrays and algo rithms the Translmage system can rec Those raster images can be generated by scanning a document or by creating the Commodore's Amiga that con ognize"40 characters per second. images with a drawing program like sists of an Amiga ~000, a tele When analyzing a character, the co MacPaint, PC Paintbrush, and others. vision camera, a digitizer board, processor board operates at an image-ac Developers, of course, would have to and software. The camera is quisition rate of 8192 pixels every write the software to the conversion, aimed at the user, and the system l / lOOth second at a resolution of 1000 which should include operations such as displays a two-color image of the lines per inch. Faulkerson mjnimized character scale. user superimposed over a set of the effect on performance of more Although the initial coprocessor I icons. The user chooses an icon powerful microprocessors, ike the board is configured to work with the PC I, I by moving his or her image over Motorola 68020 or the Texas Instru bus, a custom 8-bit bidjrectional sys ( that icon. The Midivision software ments TMS 4010, stating that the rec tem interface chip on the board can be is available now for $295 .... ognition-intensive tasks are handJed by replaced by a chip to interface with The next frontier for E-mail devel the custom gate arrays. Certainly the other bus architectures-Micro Channel, opers, according to a speaker at current high costs of other chips would SCSI, and so on. The board is current a recent confab on electronic messaging, will be in the area of not justify the performance improve ments. Instead, Translmage will focus ly available to OEMs at the single-quan tity price of$1200 per unit. , I directories. ' Standard directories I will emerge so that you will know who is out there and how to l ~ route mail to them, " said Peter E-Mail Growing; Users Sending Millions i" I Westwood of Sydney Develop ment Corp. (Vancouver B.C.). of Messages Monthly Westwood also said that problems Use of electronic mail systems shows (desktop) publishing, and video con of interconnection are not so no signs of tapering of{, said an industry ferencing . He added that installation of problematic anymore. "Eighty analyst at a recent EJectronic Mail As local area networks (LANs) has aided five percent of all systems can sociation conference. According to in the proliferation of E-maiJ systems. now be connected, and the islands Walter Ulrich, a partner m Coopers & Ulrich said that the current 150,000 of communications have disap Lybrand's technology consulting firm LAN sites (with 3 million nodes) is ex peared." ... The souping up of (Houston, TX), more than 150 million pected to increase to over 3 million sites microcomputers has caused a electronic messages aresent every by 1990 and that E-mail will be the major quandary for developers of turn month by more than 5 million E-mail application used in those networks. key CAD systems whose prod users in the U.S. alone. Ulrich said 74 The predominant trend in the future , ucts are dependent on a particular percent o£the major corporations in Ulrich said, will be the linking of multi hardware system, says Ken the country currently have E-mail sys national companies with their overseas Ledeen , president of CAD soft tems in place (and another 14 percent affiliates. "We need to interconnect ware house Sigma Design (En plan on installing them within the next worldwide and focus on the interna glewood, CO). Customers want to 12 months); 80 percent of the profes tional market," he said. Interconnection first choose the software they sional staff of those companies use E across competing public electronic sys need and then buy the hardware, mail on a daily basis, he said . tems remains one of the critical issues he said. 'Turnkey CAD develop ' E-mail usage is greater than ex facing E-mail vendors, he cautioned, ers are in a difficult situation be pected,., " Ulrich said , "and with the net acknowledging that users will pay a pre ' cause hardware is changing so I rapidJy and dramatically " Ledeen said . . . . Practical computer work infrastructurealready in place and the cost per message declining, E-mail should continue to proliferate." Ulrich mium for sending messages across sys tems. He predicted that by 1991 , the total E-mail business will be worth aided software engineering claimed that E-mail is the primary appli nearly $3 bilJion, and "if that isn 't in CASE) tools might be a few ..,~ - ' ' years away. but some members of the industry are warning now cation large companies plan on adopt centive for interconnecting, I don 't ing, outdistancing voice mail, electronic know what is." r ~ that companies had better start in vesting in those tools if they want to be competitive. "If you consider that in about 10 years we' Ube conversing with our com "'C' How Do You Clone a PS/ 2? Very Carefully Although it has announced board-level avoid legal entanglements with IBM products that can emulate the logic chips over copyrights, trade secrets, or patents I' I·.. puters, think about the enormous software development that wiU be J: :_ required," Scott McNealy, pres ident of Sun Microsystems ·n the IBM PS/2 Models 50 and 60, Western Digital (Irvine, CA) is proceed ing very cautiously in its cloning of PS/2 systems. According to Ed related to the PS/2 series. Western Digital used three sets of engineers to design gate-array chips that emulate the IBM systems. A "forward ..;;; .. continued Marinaro, chief operating officer at the engineering" group was given a set of r company, it is being very careful to continued 12 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 __twe have here to coismamfa.iulumr·ecate. Until now. Ven:fel would like to congrautlate all IBM PS/2'"users. Now let's talk. Because a complete commrn1ications system for the IBM PS/2 has arrived. Introducing the Ven:fel 24/2'"Internal Modem for IBM PS/2 models 50, 60 and 80. This 2400 bps modem is fully Micro Channel'~ and OS/2"'compatible.It's automatically configured by the system, so no option switches are needed. And, as an option, you can buy the 24/2 bundled with CrosstalkXVI"' software. Like all Ven:Yel 2400 & UOO bps modems, quality and reliability are guaranteed by a free five-year warranty. The new Ven:fel 24/2 Internal Modem is in stock now. For the name of your nearest Ven:fel dealer or distributor, call 1-800-538-5121. And start corruntui.icating. Ven::rel Modems Micro Chann el, l'S/2 ;1nd OS/ 2 arc registered rrademarks of IBM Corporation. Crossralk XV I is a registered 1.r.1demark of DCA. Circle 282 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 13 MICROBYTES -,P - -_JP . (Mountain View, CA) , told a specifications and asked to design a they can talk with the managers; all system that would meet them. The other communications must be in writing and press conference at which Sun in troduced its Network Software two groups reverse-engineered the time-stamped . IBM systems. The results of each group Western Digital says it is spending Environment. Sun cofounder Bill were closely compared with each $10 million on the development of PS/2 Joy was a little more aggressive other. The final design, however, most compatible systems. Although it has in his exhortations. "It's time to closely resembles the efforts of the for announced chips that can emulate almost recapitalize software develop ward-engineering group. According to all the functions of the PS/2 Models 50 ment, throw out those minicom Bill Frank, a senior vice president at and 60, the company says it will not an puters, and give [programmers] Western Digital , the system has a much nounce a compatible BIOS until some reasonable computers and new de different architecture than IBM 's and time next year. velopment tools, " Joy said . . . . uses 63 additional devices . Western Digital's Paradise Systems Joy also took a swipe at closed ar As for the patents that IBM re division says it was able to get a head chitectures. " When the next portedly has fur its Micro Channel start on building a VGA-<:ompatible good idea comes along, you won 't Architecture, Western Digital says it is chip by watching certain market events. be able to use it in a closed oper addressing this issue by engaging in a For example, IBM's large purchase ating system, " he said. He pre patent exchange with IBM . last year of 31 .5-kilohertz monitors dicted that Unix will grab half For the job of emulating IBM's from a Japanese company gave some the market for operating systems BIOS chips Western Digital is taking a idea as to the features of the new graph on desktop computers. Develop slightly different approach. Here, the ics protocol Big Blue would use. But ers who scoff at Unix wiU regret it, he said. " It's Like all those de velopers who ignored the Macin 1 company has two sets of developers , one ' a group of analysts and specification writers and the other a group of code de Western Digital 's Faraday division had no such hints about the features of the PS/2s; company officials say they had to tosh. Now that it's starting to velopers, called " virgins. " Both wait until they could buy a machine, sell well, all they can do is stand groups are separated by a group of man which they did at 12:01 in the morning on the sidelines and watch. " agers. The developer groups cannot di of the first day the computers becaine rectly communicate with each other, but available. C&T Chip Could Mean Cheaper Controllers A new 3270 protocol c.ont:roller chip from Chips & Technologies (San Jose, CA) could drastically lower the end user price of 3270 emulation cards used in personal computers for micro-to mainframe connections. Microcomputer add-in boards that are designed around the integrated CHIPSLinlc 82C570 microprocessor can be built with as few as seven chips, said C&T pi;oduct manager Pat Chiu miento. Thai's far fewer than the num ber of chips that are on boards like the DCA IRMA card, which has approxi mately 45 components. Chiumiento showed Microbytes Daily a seven-<:hip working card built by C&T as a development tool. He specu lated that street prices fur such a card will probably be in the range of $200 to $250, which is much lower than the cur rent retail price of nearly $1200 for IRMA cards. The C&T chip itself could be con sidered a microprocessor, since it has an on-chip sequence controller and arith metic and logic unit enabling it to run at 4. 7 million instructions per second . On one end, the 82C570 is compatible with both IRMA and IBM hardware and software environments; on the other end, it is compatible with the PC XT/AT bus. When it is used in conjunc tion with a companion chip, the 82C574, the 82C570 is also Micro Channel-compatible. The chip can be customized via external microcode for special applications or product differentiation . I Borland Says New Debugger Signals "A New Generation" I I Borland International (Scotts Valley , "Source-level data debugging is CA) will soon release a debugger for its completely different from anything windows . "These are the sort of tools that Turbo C compiler that the company else," he said. "The concept of look came from our internal needs ," lnter says will be the first of " a new genera ing at the data types is really unique ." simone explained. "We analyzed what tion of debuggers. " What makes the Other debugger features , said Inter tools we need and what we do when ·- upcoming package different from cur rent debuggers, according to spokes simone, include record-and-playback capabilities and a "log" that records developing products , and we built these tools into the debugger. " person David Intersimone, is that it will what changes were made to a listing, The initial implementations of the combine the properties of source code when those changes were made, and debugger will support Borland's Turbo and data debuggers, allowing program who made them . The ~ebugger will also C package, but Intersimone indicated mers to see the actual data itself, not provide contact-sensitive help and that future versions will support Turbo just pointers to the data. overlapping, multiple-source file Pascal and Turbo Basic. TECHNOLOGY NEWS WANTED. The news staffat BYTE is always interested in hearing abow new technological and scientific developments that might have an impact on microcompwers and the people who use them. We also want to keep track ofinnovative uses ofthat technology. Ifyou know ofadvances or projects that involve research relevant to microcomputing and want to share that infomuuion , please contact us. Call the Microbytes staffat (603) 924-9281 , send mail on BIX to Microbytes , or write to us at One Phoenix Mill l.Ane, Peterborough , NH 03458. 14 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 ~--~; 'I ~=-' · · f.ILc.' WE\1E JUST MADE mE BEST EVEN Peachtree Complete II:The Business Accounting~ The success story of Peachtree Complete (now with over 200.000 users) continues with the newest member of the Pe-achlrec family, Peachtree Complete II. Much more than just an updatl' . Complete II build~ upon the comprehe nsive features that have made Peachtree tile leader in small busi ness accounting software for nearly ten years. We've added many exciting new fea tures and designed state-of-the-art methods for using the packages. The result-all eight modules :ire even more powerful and easy to use, yet still priced at just Sl99-a 96% price reduction fro m the original S4,800. Cil" Easlest Installation Ever. Emer your company's information once and it is reflc<.1cd throughout the system . Complete 11 includes .a separate Installation Guide, basic Accounting Primer, eight-vo lume Reference Library and extensive Tutorials o n each package - all at no extra charge! rn" IdcaJ for SCTVlce Businesses. 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(A 520 res1ocking fee will be charged if disk bag ls opened.) And, of course, Comple rc 11 ls backed by Peachtree Software 's famous technical sup pon , L'lbelcd by InfoWorld as " the finest in the industry". Technical assistance is avail able for SI per minuce with a 20-minule minimum via a to il-free telephone number. Yuu o nly pay for what you need , witho ut unnecessary support contracts. Hardwatt SpeclficaUons or Rcqulrn PC/MS·OOS Vt ...lon 2.0 or h igher with 38 4K us:iblc memory wl1h a minimum 10 MB h~rd d lSk. For u~ with ohc Ill~ PC. PC XT. PC AT. Pc rwcul S)'>lcm/2 T M :m d co mpatibles. 3 y, " media o p1io 02Uy 2Y2J W>le. IBM l5 ~ rcp.b lcn:.-d ltl.d cm2J'k and Pc rsoruLI Sys1<:m l2 ls a 1r:u lcmark of Jmc rruu lonal Businc"SS ~bch lnes. Noc copy protcc ccd. ·Plus 11 2.50 ·hippi ng 2nd h· ndllng. Mo nt)'·b· ck gu·r.rnltt doc< no1 apply to upgndcs . Call Now to Order or for a Dealer Near You ~./' Ti ~9,1...-.~ ~~ To Order by MaU , Send S199 Plus St2.50 Shipping and Handling to: (In G eorgl·. 2dd 2ppllc:ililc s>lcs c:u.) 1-800-247-3224 Peachtree Software In Georgia, call 1-404-564-5800 A Men1b<'f' of tbl! 111101/lgmt Syst.,,,, Family 43 55 Shackleford Rd .. Dcpr. BYT Norcross. GA 3009 3 Circle 202 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · B Y T E 15 LETTERS and Review Feedback On the Epson GQ-3500 In response to the review " Laser Printer Times Four" by Wayne Rash Jr. (October 1987), I would like to clarify some incor rectly stated features regarding the Epson GQ-3500 laser printer. Mr. Rash states, " Without emulation cards, you're stuck with Epson LQ emu lation, and not all software supports it." In fact, the GQ-3500 comes with built-in code sets for the Epson Page Printer and Epson LQ printers, as well as line-printer emulation. In addition to the built-in code sets, there are optional emulation cards for the Diablo 630 and the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Plus. The Epson GQ-3500 is supported by leading software packages, including Framework 11 under either the Epson Page Printer or LQ emulation. Mr. Rash further states, "Many printer functions must be set by software. This includes normal printer operations, plus those operations unique to laser printers, such as printing multiple cop ies." The fact is that, through the use of the GQ-3500's SelecType control panel, the user can select paper size, number of copies, print orientation, font, interna tional character sets, character pitch, line pitch, and weight. Dave Thompson Marketing Support Engineer Epson America Inc. Torrance. CA Epson may well be correct in staling that rhe GQ-3500 is now supported by a num ber of widely available software pack ages. That was not the case when the printer was provided to me, and the com pany was also nor able to provide the em ulaJion modules that are now standard with the machine. Because these capabil ities were not available, they could not be rested as part ofthe benchmarks. -Wayne Rash Jr. Wayne Rash Jr. 's review of the Hewleu Packard LaserJet Series 11 states that "the manual fails to mention that you have to turn the printer off and back on again for the [function and font) choices to take ef fect." What the manual does mention is that you must reset the printer. Pages 2 through 18 of the user's manual explain the procedure completely. You simply take the printer off-line, then hold the Continue/Reset key down until Reset appears on the LCD panel. This also works when the printer gets confused by either software or operator problems. John W. Sawyer Allentown , PA Predefined vs. Customized Formats I read with interest Jonathan Robie's Oc tober 1987 review entitled "Three C Lan guage Screen-Utility Packages for PCs" and must congratulate him on a job well done. But there is a point that some read ers may overlook or find confusing. Mr. Robie points out the limitations that arise from predefined formats and other vendor assumptions about the user interface. He then goes on to suggest that Vitamin C is limiting because it avoids predefined a~sumptions by allowing pro grammer-supplied routines to be inserted in key places for customized operation . He criticizes both flexibility and inflexi bility, and in doing so he presents a con tradiction that may leave some readers confused. Realizing that it is virtually impossible to please all the programmers all the time, we designed Vitamin C with vari ous standard options, behaviors, and data types . This allows typical applications to rely upon these predefined elements and be developed quickly. We also created a mechanism whereby programmer supplied routines can be installed to cus tomize Vitamin C for virtually any appli cation need. This adds the flexibility to create a customized interface. For the record, a generic version of Vi tamin C is also available for Unix and Xenix environments. It will run on virtu ally any host machine and is not limited to XTsandATs. Jeff Betts President, Creative Programming Consultants Inc. Carrollton, TX It is important to let users extend or mod ify the data-entry procedures. Very gen eral routines offer this flexibility but re quire more work from the programmer than routines designed for more specific tasks. All three packages reviewed, in cluding Vitamin C, have a robust sel of general routines and use these as the basis for more specific routines. This makes it possible to have a large number of very specific routines without limiting the programmer who has special needs. - Jonathan Robie Just in Time Thank you for the In Depth articles on workstations (November 1987). I work in purchasing for the New York state gov ernment, and the professors and students at our numerous state universities have been clamoring for a workstation con tract. Your side-by-side comparisons and history of this field could not have been more timely. Lynn Ellsworth Albany, NY Calculating Points In reply to Jean-Fran9ois Colonna (Let ters, August 1987, page 16), I, too, won dered about the effect of truncating num bers in Peter B. Schroeder's " Plotting the Mandelbrot Set. " I have written ma chine-code arithmetic for speed using 40 bit fixed-point numbers , which produces results comparable to those from other computers and programs. The choice of pixel spacing has a much greater effect. I find it truly remarkable that although a pixel is a square of one unit side, the calculation is performed for a point of zero area situated at one comer . It is possible to calculate a greatly magni fied picture that , if suitably chosen, is full of fine detail. When the same area is calculat.ed with a coarser pixel spacing, the general form of the picture is the same even though the points of calculation fall more or less randomly against the pat tern . I believe this is due to the connected nature of the set, along with the charac teristic that points adjacent to the set have continued LEITERS POLICY: To be considered for publication , a letter must be typed double· spaced on one side ofrhe paper and musr in· elude your name and address. Comments a11d ideas should be expressed as clearly and con· cisely as possible. Listings and rabies may be printed along with a letter if they are short and legible. Because BYTE receives hundreds ofleuers each monrh , not all ofthem can be published. Leners cannot be rerumed ro authors. Gener ally , it takes four months from the time BYTE receives a leuer until it is published. 16 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Together they comprise a state-of-the-art encyclopedia of operating systems techniques, ideas, and know-how ... o~11MSNG SYSIE The 3-volume OPERisAyTouINrsGforSoYnSlyT$E4M:5S SET as your introduction to the LIBRARY OF COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES You simply agree to buy three more books-at handsome discounts-within the next 12 months. OPERATING SYSTEMS A Sy11temat:Jc View Third Edition William S. Davis This invaluable sou rcebook gives you a com plete overview of hardware interfaces and the efficient management of computer re sources. Wide-ranging, detailed, and comprehensive, it focuses on interactive processing with de tailed coverage of command and job control languages, and individual chapters on the operating system i nternals for IBM DOS/ VSE, OS/VSI and OS/VS2, UNIX, VM, and MS DOS. Publisher's price: $33.95 OPERATING SYSTEMS Design and Implementation Andrew S. Tanenbaum "Probably the best book on the subject ... well-written, well-organized .. .The author's style is a refreshing change from what one usually finds in computer science texts ." -Eastgate Systems This thorough introduction to operating system design and implementation is packed with practical descriptions of princi ples and techniques, including examples from such commercial operating systems as UNIX, MS-DOS, CP/M, MULTICS, and more. 800 pages long, it covers processes, input/ output, memory management , and file sys tems, plus a complete implementation of a UNIX-like operating system and 300 pages of source code. Publisher's price: $36.95 ADVANCED MS-DOS The Microsoft Gulde for Assembly Language BDd C Programmers Ray Duncan "a good example of what a reference manual should be ... Duncan's strengths include a style that is at once easy to read, a thorough coverage of the subject matter heretofore unknown, and the frequent use of examples in the form of assembly language program and code fragments ... contains a great deal of valuable information I know 1will fre quently refer to." John D. Unger-BYTE Written by a Dr. Dobb's Journal columnist, this definitive source of high-level MS-DOS information covers everything from direct ories and memory allocation to the MS-DOS EXEC function, installable device drivers, and more. It features a unique 130-page guide to each of the system interrupts. Publisher's price: $22.95 4 Good Reasons to Join I. The FIDest Boob. Of the hundreds o( books submitted to us each year. only the very 6nest are selected and offered. Moreover, our books are always or equal quality to publishers' editions, nevereconomy editions. 2.. Big Savings. In addition to getting the three-volume Operating Systems Set for only $4.95 when you join, you keep saving substantially. up to 30% and occasionally even more. (For example, your total savings as a trial member including this introductory ofter- can easily be over 50%. That's like getting every other book free!) 3. Bonus Books. Also. you will immediately become eligible to participate in ou r Bonus Book Plan. with savings of 65% off the publishers' prices. 4. Cooven1eot Service. At 3- 4 week intervals (16 times per year), you will receive The Library of Computer and Information Sciences News, describing the Main Selection and Alternate Selections. together with a dated reply card. II you want the Main Selection. do nothing, and it will be sent to you automati- cally. If you prefer another selection, or no book at all, simply indicate your choice on the card and return it by the date specified. You will have at least 10 days to decide. II, because of late mail delivery of the News, you should receive a book you do not want , we guarantee return postage. The Library of Computer and lnfonnation Sciences is the oldest, largest book club especially designed for computer professionals. In the incredibly fast-moving world of data processing, where up-to-the-moment knowledge is essential, we make it easy to keep totally informed on all areas ol the inlorma lion sciences. What's more. our selections offer you discounts of up to 30% or more oft publishers' prices . II reply card is missing, please write to The Library of Computer and lnfonnation Sciences, Dept. 7-ERS-00856, Riverside, llU, 08075, for membership information and an application . Byte 1/88 LETTERS large escape times that decrease steadily as the point is moved away. A point may miss the set, but its value will reflect the proximity or other features of the set. I also wrote a program to run on a Z80 that can be used to calculate a single point at any level of precision up to 250 decimal digits in floating-point fonnat. At a clock frequency of 6 MHz , it does 5 divides, or 6 products per second , at maximum pre cision , so it' s definitely not for display work. J. Keith Wood liverpool , U. K. Satisfying the Skeptic The heuristic algorithm Peter Wayner de scribes in his article "Zero-Knowledge . Proofs " (October 1987) is designed to satisfy a skeptic of the identity of the prover without revealing secret knowl edge to the skeptic. This condition is much stronger than that required by most of the applications where Mr. Wayner suggests it might profitably be used . For example, a program verifying the identity of a user can know the password ; this in fonnation must be concealed only from all witnesses to the exchange. For this lesser purpose, it is not neces sary to use a one-way function , just an in teractive exchange. A simple algorithm would have the skeptical program display four random digits and invite the prover to reply with a single digit. The correct response would be the result of a simple computation: the sum, difference, prod uct, and/or quotient of some of the digits displayed . This exchange could be re peated until the skeptic was satisfied. Often in programming we must choose between implementing certain logic in data or in code. This technique is the code analog of a password: The password is a simple expression like "the product of the first and third digits mod IO" or "twice the fourth digit less the third . " Since no witness would see the same four digits when he or she tried to sign on dis honestly , knowing the response to any single set of four digits would be of no help . Peter Cyrus New York, NY I read Peter Wayner ' s "Zero-Knowledge Proofs" with interest. Another approach to this problem is to use encryption. Sup pose the user and the computer agree upon an encryption standard and pass word. Then when the user tries to log in, the computer can present him or her with a random list of words, and the user can encrypt them using the agreed algorithm . So , for example, the computer says DOC and the user encrypts it and replies with continued --l-Wll/.CE.~- . .HA\7£ I METTHE ,.'f:{)MPETITION.~._ 1\ND IT IS US. Some nine-wire dot matrix printers hide &om the competi tion. Not the new CitizenTMMSP-50. With the ability to handle all types of paper, top or bottom feed, and a convertible push or pull tractor, it figured it was the best. How ever, another printer had designs on the title. So the MSP-50 relied on its high speed, up to 300 cps, to crush the competition. But it wasn't enough. Feature by feature these two contenders battled. Ouiet mode. 240 dpi graphics. Color capability. Choice of fonts. Front panel feature controls. Even compatibility with most major software.They were equal Finally, the MSP-50 put its 80-column print width on the line. Unfortunately, the other machine offered 136. What was the other machine?The new Citizen MSP-55.Which just goes to prove that if you want to be considered one of the best, you have to be a Citizen in good standing. For more information call 1-800-556-1234, Ext. 34. In C.alifomia cali 1-800-441-2345,Ext.34. ..=::;_ CITIZEN· g:: -·Cl987 Otizen America Corporation. Wa~~'.;td logo arc trademarks of ~ Printers that run like clockwork Circle 45 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 19 Cirr:le 164 on Reader Service Card LETTERS XER, the computer says CAT, and the com puter repLies XYJ, and so on. An eaves dropper will not be helped by hearing this exchange, since on the next attempt to log in , the computer may present the word WHEELBARROW for encryption . D BUSINESS 1 EZ-FORMS business form ge<1erarion. completion and printing program. I D CAD 3-The PC·Flow 1.0 computer aided now I chan generalion program. Color graphics requited. This approach is fundamentally the same as that discussed by Mr. Wayner, but I think it helps to make some of the [ID COMM 4a,b,c,d,e-<S disks) Join rhe world of sysops wilh RBBS Bullelin Board System 14.1D. [?J DATABASE 1a,b-(2 disks) File Express 3.8 I I D I menu driven general purpose database manager. EDUCATION 1- lnteraclive DOS 1u1orial ror new issues involved a bit clearer. James Hamilton Dublin , Ireland PC users . Makes lea ming DOS painless. [?J FINANCE 1a,l>-(2 disks) PC Accoun1an1 2.0 I I considered the same idea for a pass porsonal bookkeeping and finance management D I GAMES 1-3·0 Pacman. Kong. Spacewar. Janlt· I Joe, ruturislic Flighlmare and more. Color required word scheme bw did not include it in my article because both parties must know 0 GAMES 2 -Qubert Pango. Centipede, dun geons and dragons slyle Zoarre, etc. Color req. I D GAMES 3-Blaekjaek with cusiomlzable rules , I Arm:hair Ouanerbaci< {you call plays), and more. the encryption process. In zero-knowl edge proofs, the prover never lets the skeptic know what is being proven-in 0 GAMES 4-Star Trek. Iha Casde adventure D I game, and the original Colossal Caves Adventure. ~ I GAMES ~The Had< adventure game from Iha ;; this case, thaJ the prover knows the en cryption-correct algorithm. The skeptic universities. Like Rogue, only much richllf. ~ I D GAMES &-Pinball, Othello, Dragons. Sopwilh (lly a Sopwitll Carnot) and more. ColC>f requ ired. I [?J INFO 1a,l>-(2disks) Cooking recipes da1abase leams only that the prover couldn 't be wrong. If public-key encryption systems were used in your system, however, you I wilh koywordf111gredlen1 relrievaJ. Add your own. [?J MUSIC 2a,b--(2 disks) PianoMan 3.0 polyphonic music recording and playbaek program. D ORGANIZER 1 -0eskTearn. a Sidokiek clone, I would have a zero-knowledge proof It is a handy idea , though , and I may implement it in the future. and lhe Judy personal calendar program. D PRINTER 1-flesidenl prinl conlrol and lonl utiijty, inteligelll spooler, t>anner makar. and more. I I - Peter Wayner D SIMULATION 1--Maze making program. MIT's I Li1e simulation, slarlields, elC. Color graphics req. D UTILITIES 1- A conection or invaluable general I purpose DOS ut!Oties. An absolute must for all D I UTILffiES 2-More invaluable DOS ul~ilies InD I dudng screen burnout, ram disk, and more_ UTILITIES 3-A comprehensive sel or debugging BASIC Windowing I found " Windows for BASIC" by John W. Ross (Inside the IBM PCs, Fall 1987) interesting and instruc ti ve , but a few and diagrostic utmties ro r monitoring your computer. NEW RELEASES UPDATES D BUSINESS 2--Expressgraph business graphics. Chall your data and find trends. Color graphics req. [?J CAD 1a,b--(2 <fisks) Flngerprunl 1.2 advanced painting and Ahamira object oriented design. ColC>f_ [?J CAD 2a,b--(2 disks) OanCad3d. an advanced 20130 dralling program w/anlmation. 640K, color. [?J COMM 2a,l>-(2 disks) Procornm 2.42, an excel lent modem program w.lh terminal emulation. D EDUCATION 3-PC·FaSlype 120 ryping tulor, ideal for beiJinnets and advanced students aliko. (?J FINANCES 3a,b--{2 disks) Express Cale 3. t2, a powerful and user kiendly spreadsheet program. D GAMES 8--Striker he~copter atlack and Rlsll. the game o! world dornlnalion. Color required. D GAMES 12--Backgammon (play lhe compu1er) and Wheel of Fortune based on the gameshow. D GRAPHICS 1-flecord and play back screen im ages! Excef1en1 ror demo. 91C. Color required. @] GR.APHICS 2a,b,c-<3 disks) An exceUen13-D surface modeling and sha<ing program. COior. (ID INFO 2a,l>-(2 disks) Zip.Phone. national areacodo/prnfix 10 zip-code aoss relernnce. [?J LANGUAGE 3a,l>-(2 disks) The A86 3.09 macro assembler and debugger for 80881861286s. (?J SHELL 4a,l>-(2 disks) Automenu and HOM II 4.04 hard disk prog. lor custom lull-screen menus. D UTILITIES S.-Hard disk utilities for verifying, for matting, parl<tng and op~rn izing your disk dtives. 0 UTILITIES &-Advanced utihies Including Maik/Release (remove residenl progs w/o reboot!) D UTILITIES 7-Moro advanced uliities including Masterkey (undeleleS hies lrom hard disks). (ID WORD 1a,l>-(21fcsks) PC Wrile2.71, a powerful word processing system wlspefl cMcker. laser supL MoS1sot?ware 1iS1ed Is shareware or user-supported. 35 ·· 1ormal add SI d1si. 125 p agt? d"t?c/ory add S2 I I MicroCom Systems 3673 Enochs Street Santa Clara. CA Cost of items _ _ I Sh ipping CA res tax_ _ $3.00 __ I I 95051 Total encl. I L-----------;.a I TM 11 I ~-~~1-!.~!~~~ llJ1 20 BYT E · JA UARY 1988 Listing 1: WINDOW.BAS. DEFINT A-Z CLS : SCREEN 2 DIM A(600),B(600) FOR H=300 TO 600 STEP 10: LINE (H, 0) - (H, 199 ): NE XT FOR V- 20 TO 180 STEP 10: LlNE(300, V) - ( 600,V): NEXT LINE (l 00,100 )-(2 10 , 112 ),, BF LINE(l00.112)-{210,184),,B GET ( l 00,100)-(210, 184 ),A START: LOCATE l,l:PRINT SPC(25) LOCATE l,l:INPUT ;"p ress return. __ ",A$ STARTONE! ·T IMER 1=320 GET(I,I/4)-(!+110,I/4+84),B PUT(I,I/4),A,PSET ENDONE! · TIMER LOCATE l ,l: INPUT; "p ress return again ... '' ,AS STARTTWO! =TlMER PUT(l , I /4), B, PSET ENDTWO! =TIMER LOCATE 2,1 PRINT "Opening window took" ENDONE! - STARTONE! "seconds " PRINT "Clos ing window took " ENDT WO! -S TARTTWO! " seconds " GOTO START statemenlS about windowing in BASIC require correction. Mr . Ross does his windows for BASIC in assembly lan guage, claiming that windows cannot be done in BASIC itself, since they are "ex cruciatingly slow " in the interpreted ver ion of the language-and that compiling "doesn't help much ." To prove the opposite, I wrote a very short BASIC program (see listing I) named WlNDOW .BAS . The program opens and closes a window in the graphic mode. It also times itself: My results for a CGA were about 0.11 seconds on an IBM PC-class machine and about 0.05 sec onds on a PC AT (80286) type of com puter. I don 't think this can be considered slow. The program was compiled using Microsoft QuickBASIC version 3.0. Maciej Zgorzelsk i Flint, Ml In Search of True Resolution The most misused tenn related to printers is " resolution." If in the data sheet of a worldwide-known company you read that its 24-pin impact dot-matrix printer has a " resolution of up to 360 by 360" (i.e., better than the LaserWriter, which has 300 by 300 dolS per inch) then this is not true and can never be. ln the same data sheet , you can also read that the " pin di ameter is 0.2 millimeters." Try to divide 25.4 rrun (l inch) by 0 .2 rrun, and you will find that the result is 127_ This is not even the real resolution , be cause in the typographical industry the line resolution of 10 lines per mm means that in a I-mm space you have IO positive (black) lines and 10 negative (white) lines between them , both of the same width . The term "resolution " signifies that you must be able to distinguish between the printed (black) lines. " Page Printers " by Rick Cook (Sep tember 1987) contains an explanatory ex ample of this true resolution in figure B on page 193- an enlargement of a 300 dpi test pattern . In the above example of 360-dpi resolution on an impact dot-ma trix printer, the authors are in reality speaking of graphic point density of 360 dots per line- their printer can pack 350 overlapping dots into one inch . So far, I have been unable to find in any literature an exact definition of reso lution in terms of dpi that is valid for dot matrix and other printers. It is deplordble that the manufacturers do not care. Only the lack of a real standard makes such a misleading declaration a in the above mentioned example possible and can con fuse all of us if we wish to compare the real resolution. The September BYTE contained many extremely well written and useful articles con1inued . ' .. . . - \ # ----d· ' - --- - '" - - - Upgrade your technology The software technology available to Noncommissioned Staff. Our courteous are experienced at providing a full programmers of IBM-compatible per salespeople are always ready to help range of quality products and customer sonal computers is truly amazing. And yo u. And if you aren 't sure about your services. newer, more powerful development needs, our knowledgeable technical packages appear all the time. But until people can give you sound, objective How to Get Your Copy. 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CALL TOLL FREE USA: . . . . . . . . . 800-336· 1166 Canada: . . . . . . 800-225-1166 Ohio & Alaska (Collect): .. 216-494-3781 International: 216-494-3781 Telex: ........ . . 9102406879 Easylink: . . . . . . . . . . 62806530 Programmer's Connection 7249 Whipple Avenue NW North Canton, OH 44720 Circle 216 on Reader Service Card PrTohgerammerLsConnect1·on Buyer'sGuide. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NewTeleVideo 965. even get your choice ofASCH, ANSI or IBM Enhanced PC An Incredible pjsplay Of keyboard styles to fit anyjob. There's a 14" flat display in PowerAnd Versatility. green or page-white with crisp, clear characters in a high-resolu tion lOx 16 character matrix. For just $599, the new 965 The 965's versatility is A 2-position keyboard with a gives you ASCII, ANSI and IBM® unparalleled. It supports 23 ter true accounting keypad, 20 user PC c?mpatibility in a single minal emulations, more than programmable editing keys, and termmal. any other model in its class.You 128 programmable function keys. The 965 can display up to 49 data lines, enough to show large spreadsheets or two normal display pages of text at the same time. No other termi nal this affordable can do that. There's also an interactive calculator mode and dedicated memory for even more custom features . The 965's state-of-the-art single board design uses a 16-bit CPU and sophisticated gate array to give you a high-perfor mance, very reliable terminal that's very easy to service. There's also a full one-year end user warranty. All in a sleek terminal that takes up very little space. The 965 terminal, a whole new look from TeleVideo . Call us toll-free or write today for more information. TeleVideo Systems, Inc., 1170 Morse Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3568. TeleVideo® TH E VISION YOU NEED TO 5 CCEED Call 1-800-835-3228 LETTERS dedicated to printer technologies. How ever, "resolution" was not always cor rectly explained. For example, Lars Jansson' s article en titled "Print Quality" states, "We find If this statement regarding diameter of dots is right, then such a laser printer has only about a 127-dpi resolution . For a real 300-dpi resolution, the dot diameter has to be 0.00166 inch (0.042 mm) at As for impact dot-matrix printers, the best ones with a wire (pin) diameter of 0.2 mm have a true resolution (theoreti cally) of63.5 dpi, and the more common 0.3-mm wire ones have a resolution of this in laser printers with a resolution of most. only 42.3 dpi. 300 by 300 dots per inch and a dot size of Compare this with the proper wording Jaromir Smejc about 0.1 mm." Here a wrong word is in Julio Guardado 's article "Color Ther Prague, Czechoslovakia used. This is not a true resolution in typo mal-Transfer Printing": "The Color graphic industry terms. If we wish to Master design places up to 200 dots per Calling All Macros compare a resolution of a photo printer linear inch, each dot with a 0.005-inch The members of our group are avid users (for example, Linotronic) and a laser diameter." This is exactly right, because of macros to aid our word-processing printer, we have to use the terms "line" the author uses the word "places." Here tasks . We define macros as prerecorded and "dot" in the same sense . the resolution would be 100 dpi . keystrokes that are fed into a program one - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - -- - - - - -- -----. at a time when a signal is given. While books are available on the use of BYTEK's NEW 135 MULTIPROGRAMMERTM macros in spreadsheets, less attention has been paid to their best use in word pro OFFERS 18/12 PROTECTION PLAN cessing. Accordingly, we have started a Macrobank, an exchange service for word-processing macros so that good ideas can be disseminated to others. If readers send us a 3 'h- or 5 1.4-inch MS DOS floppy disk (any density) contain ing macros they use, we will incorporate those into our collection of macros and send contributors a complete set. The macros don't have to be especially complex . We are interested in all the macros readers use, particularly the sim ple ones they use every day . Readers should consider anything they send us to be in the public domain, as we will make the macros available to other macro users without charge. Rollie Cole PauJ Sommers THREE PROGRAMMERS IN ONE. With the addition of the 135 MultiProgrammer'" BYTEK has pro vided a true Universal Programming Site. The 135 is a SET EPROM Pro grammer, a GANG EPROM Duplicator, and a UNIVERSAL DEVICE Program mer, designed for Engineering Development, Production and Field Service Environments. BYTEK's new 135 MultlProgrammer'" is a High Performance Instrument set ting new standards for Universal Device Support and Flexibility at affordable prices. 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Call us today at: 1-800-523-1565 Mastercard or Visa is accepted In Florida call 1-305-994-3520 BYTEK Corporation Instrument Systems Division 1021 S. Rogers Cir. , Boca Raton, FL 33487 Tel: (305) 994-3520 FAX: (305) 994-3615 BYTEK International 511 11th Ave., So. Minneapolis, MN 55415 Tel : (612) 375-9517 FAX: (612) 375-9460 Telex: 4998369 BYTEK Macrobank 14022 23rd Ave. NE Seaule, WA 98125 Ada's Not Complete I have read many extreme statements about Ada , both pro and con, but never have I read a claim as far out as Mark Fowler's (Letters, October 1987, page 22): "Ada is complete ; substitutions are not needed. " Ada is seriously deficient in character handling. It lacks variable-length strings, not to mention string scanning facilities. Compare Ada's string handling to PL/I , and it looks seriously incomplete; com pare Ada's string handling to SNOBOL 4, SL/5, or ICON, and it looks ludicrous. Ada is missing several important con trol structures. It has no mechanism for backtracking, no coroutines, and no deci sion tables. Ada does not allow the programmer to define new operators, only to overload existing ones. Again , not only is some thing mjssing from Ada, but something is missing that another language (ALGOL 68) has. · Oata UO IS a Regl·ared irod&martc of Oll1..a llO CorpOJatlon. +Somo llmitadons may appty. Ada is not only incomplete, it is not conrin11ed 24 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 41 on R£ader Service Card Let the Evercom Family of modems open your doors of communications. Talk to an old friend in the Far East or send information to Europe. Evercom does it fast.. .up to 2400 bps. And whether you have IBM® PC/XT/AT® compatible or the newer PS/2 machine. Everex offers internal and external modems to suit your needs.Why Wait! Go on line and make the world a smaller place today. The Everex Way... Quality,Features Price,and Performance. 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Fremom.CA 94538 Circle 91 on Readtr Service Card (DEALERS: 91) LETTERS even orthogonal. If I can have entry (task) Ada are reasonable , given its restricted program in (but it ' s still not perfect , or arrays , why can't I have procedure domain , I might buy that. But to claim even "complete") . arrays? that it has no limitations is dishonest, not Seymour J. Metz Of course, you could say that all these to say absurd. Annandale. VA missing features. and many others, could I think that Ada is a dammed good be simulated. But the same claim could start. I just don 't think it is a fini shed Random Point Distribution be made for any other programming lan product yet . What's worse , with the De Dick Pountain 's article " Spraying and guage . ln fact, attempting to simulate partment of Defense's opposition to ex Smudging" (November 1987) i an inter missing features in a language is likely to tentions, I doubt Ada will ever be allowed esting introduction to some graphic lead to a long string of unpleasant sur to grow into a real general-purpose lan techniques, but a couple of point seem prises, and any claim that, say, RPG is guage. That's a shame, because after worth making . complete, would be specious, as is the some experimenting with extensions, I First, concerning the random points in claim for Ada. think that it would be possible to define the Euclidean plane generated by choos If you tell me that the limitations of an "Ada 89" that would be a pleasure to ing a uniform [0,360] angle and a uni form [O,R] random radius: Contrary to Pountain 's assertion , the resulting distri bution is not uniform over the circle of ra dius R. For any r, 0 < r < R, the random points falling on a circle of this radius will be uniformly distributed over its 2 x 'Ir x r circumference. Thus , for example , the probability density of random points at radius r = RJ2 will be twice that at radius r = R. Second , concerning the random points generated by choosing x and y coordi nate.s, within the circle of radius R , from a triangular density : The resulting den Those fanlastic Byre covers-and boy. do !hey look great on lhls stylish, ~sleeve T-shirt from Robert Tinney Graphics! The colored sleeves and neckllno vividly complement the full-color design . And don"I mislako lhls for a rubbery patch lhal cracks and peels off aher a few washings. This is rrue four color process: tho permanonl inks are silk-screened lnlo Iha fabric, res ulllng In a beau1iful, full-color image tha1 lasls! You'll also appreciate the shin i1self: a heavyweight cotton/ polyester blend which combines tough washablllty wilh the cool, softcomfonofcoHon. Each Byte T-shirt Is priced al only s12 .50 (St 1.50eachfor3ormore) . Be sureto Include shirt size : C-(chlfd 10· 12). S (34·36}. M- (38·40) , l - (42·44 ). and Xl-(46-48). Most orders shipped wl1hin a week. sity is not constant on circles . In fact , this density is constant on contours of the form lxl + IYI = r, which are diamond-shaped . Incidentall y, the normal distribution for x and y that was first considered does produce a den sity over the circle that i con tant on cir cular contours. Richard V. Fuller Marietta , GA Dye-Sublimation Printing The Printer Technologies theme (Sep tember 1987) appears to have an incredi ble omission- dye-sublimation printing. While similar to thermal-transfer print ing, it is also somewhat different. The thermal head transfers dye only to the re ceiver-no binder, no wax . Further, by continuously varying the heating pulse a variable amount of colorant is transferred so that individual pixels can have gray scale. For comparison, thermal-wax r-----------------------------1 Sonou.o1011owtt.gf· tnltt(·l·1s1 2.soeae11. 0t s'' 50ttc.nlor3oi I "'°'" 1 MYOll'lciud6cs'2l0t~AMndlinQ (S5ov+raAaa) O I Pl·~ onctoMOV. S. ~or~ord« . o c .o .O. M·UPS-JWnidoCNdtf·CWr> I ""'""'"'° OTY. · mu """""' D Vl$A D D A-'<>·E.oO<... II rn1J1~covoonto RobertTinney G,.phlcs I I I .C.a.te.l.l.. _ _ _ · r:,,::=.~""='~'' II I ~lpmy9hlrtC·JIO! I ~SA.e.:=:. I N~ · I Ot &cw motlll iinfC,r'm.a!lon I (Bu,;,,..,): l Cell 1-504-272-72M I ................_,. __, I :"" ~--- ' ILQ-P\n-YMl-'IC-,.cd-'CO-lOA~----TOTA-L ~ ---St.-i.: --------------~·~I transfer and ink-jet printers must use a group of pixels to produce a half-tone image. Even photomechanical print ing uses dots of va rious sizes to produce gray scale with the printing density (mass/ area) of colorant always fixed . Thermal-dye transfer is not just a revo lutionary computer printing process for color; it is a novel printing process with photographic quality. Just o. it is tar geted to be the printing technology for digital photography . The revolutionary continu ed 26 BYTE · JA UA RY 1988 NETWORK Every Month, We Save Our Members Millions of Dollars HARD DRIVES, DRIVE CARDS, & TAPE BACKUP THE.. !ma-llllltlff ............................... 'Ill.Ill' THE" - - 11111 tiff .............................. 1141.111' IUICllft - .......... l · .......................... &Ill.Ill" DIU - - Cir!. llPl'll wiClrl. .................. l,41i11.llJ' DIU - 111111 c.t.. llPl'll WiClrl. .................. 1,111.GO" ... 1111$A ....... I lmm Ill. · JCll1. .......... ............. 902.00 ' llWll UIJD 199 1111. '"' .................................... m.111· ... l!Wli 146 40MI 111. 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Tll E" - L'O WiP~ ............................ 80.1111 ' 2 5() 1.00 THE " !lll._CINWl9C"!lll ....................... a·· 2.50 2.50 AST ....... 1'1'111111111 .................................._ .._ _.,. 2.50 AST 1111 rlCli .... W/141 ....................................... ia.m· 2.50 2 50 an 1111 , . 1'1'111111111 .....................'"................... · · · 2.50 - ""i.. - .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .... - ·· 2.50 lllll ,..,,, - Al wJtm " - .................... 111.00" 2.50 2.50 lllll Mnl _ . . . . - ........................... ~· 2.50 ?50 2.5() 3.75 ... - T- lZ .............................................. 8JIS.()O · 250 Circle 199 on Remkr Service Card Ifyou dollt buy you'll miss Hyou're looking for a good way to judge per sonal computers, a simple question will do: "Whats in it for me?" In the case of the IBM Personal System/2 family the simple answer is, "a great dear For openers, each model offers higher perform ance levels thanks to a "balanced system" approach for malcing things work together. Components were designed not just to coexist but to bring out the best in each other. So, for example, many of the programs you're using now and a wide range of other DOS applications will run up to 1500/o faster on the IBM Personal System/2 than on previous IBM PCs, de pending on the model, of course. Things that are optional on other PCs are standard on the Personal System/2-like advanced graphics, parallel and serial ports and more. And advanced IBM technology brings new levels of reliability and data protection. 80 Of the Personal System /2 family. Technically it's called parallel bus architecture. We call it Micro Channel. But you can think of it simply as a super highway with lots of fast lanes and bypasses. It allows data to flow faster and more efficiently, re ducing the chance of information bottlenecks in the system. What's more, the Micro Channel architecture not only makes it easier to speed information throughout the system, it also makes it easier to install peripherals and expansion cards in the system. There are no more DIP switches to set. Its all done electronically and automatically and, therefore, a great deal more reliably and easily. Feature cards in your system can even trans fer data directly to memory, via Micro Channel, leaving the microprocessor free to do other things. The design of the Micro Channel also pro vides a faste1; more efficient way to connect your It'll do what you're doing now. Only better. At the heart of many of these advances is a unique design shared by the Models 50, 60 and system to other IBM Personal Systems, local area frame. And with a future edition of OS/2, you'll be networks, minicomputers and mainframes. able to share all this information with others on a It'll do what you want to do tomorrow. Only better. local network or over mega-distances. Vast memory and host processor resources will be more acces sible. And software will do more things more easily. Micro Channel architecture also gives the IBM So catch the Micro Channel bus and you're on Personal System/2 something else that's surprisingly the fast track to higher performance, exceptional rare in personal computing: the ability to improve expandability and greater reliability tomorrow, as with age. weJl as today. One of the main reasons the architecture was fur more data about the IBM Personal created, after all, was to get the most out of IBM's System/2, call your IBM Marketing Representative new operating system, OS/2. And together they'll "AU abo(IJr;... or visit an IBM Authorized unleash the power of the 286 chip in the Personal Advanced Products Dealer. System/2 Models 50 and 60 and the 386 chip in the fur the dealer nearest you Model80. call 1-800-447-4700. With IBM Operating System/2 you don't have l o bea " power user"to run severa1programs at once. You can prepare a presentation while your system recalculates a spreadsheet and gets data from a main -=_--=_---~ .:.--:.-:_-:.--·,--:-_:e IBM Is a registered trademark and Personal System/2. PS/2, Operaring Sysrem/2. OS/2 and Micro Channel a1e trademarks ot IBMCorporallon. ~ IBM 1987. LETTERS step is just that this process makes "soft" dots, and printed pixels may be in 1-to- I correspondence with color video moni tor/storage systems. Companies with prototypes or products already on the market include Hitachi, Sony, Fuji, and Kodak, and we can probably expect full page (8 Vi - by I I-inch) printers about a year from now. Smaller-format (4- by 6 inch) printers are available now . You haven't appreciated a high-resolution screen dump in color until you have seen it in this media. L. M. Marks Mississauga , Ontario, Canada False Claim Roman A. Dyba (Letters, October 1987 , page 12) says that a claim in my and Brian Wichmann's article "Building a Ran dom-Number Generator" (March 1987) is untrue. Specifically, Mr. Dyba says that ifxl and x2 are independent and uni formly distributed over the range (0, I) , then the combination of x l and x2 will also be uniformly distributed over (0, l) . He is wrong. We are well aware that the sum of xl and x2 is not uniformJy distributed, but we had defined "the combination" to mean the fractional part of the sum , not the sum itself. Of this, the statement is true. David Hill Harrow, Middlesex, U.K. AI Limits I read with interest George Beinhom's book review of Intelligence: The Eye , the Brain, and the Computer by Martin A. Fischler and Oscar Firschein (August 1987). One question Mr. Beinhom posed interests me: "What are the inherent lim itations of artificial intelligence?" Obvi ously, we should not waste our efforts at tempting to do the impossible . It is unfortunate that the field of Al seems so unaware of the fact that this question has been given thorough treatment in the past by writers from other disciplines. The subject of human intelligence and how it relates to nonhuman entities is treated thoroughly in a book called The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes by Mortimer J. Adler. Written in 1967 , the book clearly explains intelli gence and how it is qualitatively different between humans and animals. Adler also addresses the subject of machine intelli gence, and he issues specific challenges to the field of Al. People working with Al should read this book to understand the problems they are confronting and learn about what a machine can and cannot do. Marin David Condie Parsippany, NJ Thanks for the Accelerators Thank you for " 80286 Accelerators " by Raymond GA Cote (November 1987). I have tried , without success, to talk with accelerator manufacturers about their products- do they work, how do they work, when do they not work, and with what are they compatible or incompati ble? AJJ I could get out of them was the promise that if it didn 't work, I would get my money back. Now I'm glad I didn ' t do anything at all . The secret was to hold out for a faster system, not to junk up my existing one. If I really do need more speed , I ought to be able to justify it. Ifl cannot, then I should not try to justify a chancy second-best. Sid Phillips LaGrange, GA Acer vs. Compaq DOS I am writing in response to Ed McNier ney's review of the Acer 1100 80386 clone ("Acer 1100 and Micro I 386 +," November 1987) . I have an 1100 at work . co11ti11111:d . market over municat1ons e te\ecom f the vo\um . the future o interested in 10: A.\\ µersons the neY.t decade. · t· GlJ\S Sub1ec . . . Fax products gram. . \J erYeasY to pro Data·. l . comP:~~d:sciad\ulseesfoirn re~~:~ soon designed for faY. p\\cauons. a? .\ t under lJS$1S K 2 . NeW Mode\ 321 and OEM esenaqnui1.lne.re~syµwseet\ecmomlSecdanner d an f aY. d) Car to . reta1 a pC for ma){\muin pCfax . k with a Com?\ete dY av.ai\ab\e- which can \In 3. Products a\rea 1-stand-a\one fa){ 'fe\\erfa){ 20 .\. . v\ted £~or a\\ of these· f\exib1 itY . app\\cat\ons in 0 · tributorsh1P 4. is GUlS be\OW sugges~ed A.ct t.on·. contact GUIS A Little Giant in Telecommunications Glorious Union lnform.,tlon Systems Inc. 14th Floor. 207 Tun-Hwa Norrh Rd .. Ta1pe1. Taiwa n. R.O .C TEL: 2-7153356 2-7168035 TU<: 2265 I GUIS FAX : 2-7134572 30 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 102 on &ader Service Can/ M aking the right connections. The decision is yours. Now that most companies have multiple levels of computing power, you need more than just a short-term answer to your net working demands. You know what you need ... DOS program compatibility, multi-tasking, expandability, file/record locking with password protected security, remote access, and ease of use. In short, you need LANLink"'... the complete networking solution. Network Board Free... Network Operating System Complete. In 1985, LANLink"' was the first network to be free of network boards. All of the network logic was on Server and Satellite diskettes. To this day, all it takes to set up a LANLinkr· network is inexpensive cable, network software, and the very same communications ports most PCs & PS/2s already have. And now, LANLink,.,. comes with its own network operat ing system ... PC-MOS/386"'." So you're no longer dependent on a system designed for single users and stand-alone computers. The First Network You Buy...The Last Network You'll Need. Designed to take full advantage of the newest 80386 machines, LANLink,.,. provides a true multi-user system which supports the complete line of PCs, PS/2s, and PC compatibles. It lets you expand as your office networking needs grow. Each user gets multi-tasking capabilities, and you can network different types of computers. If desired, you can have multiple servers. And with the terminal support upgrade, you're able to use terminals, or PCs, as satellites in multi-user "work groups'.' DOS Program Compatibility.. .Complete Connectivity. dBASE III, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and Symphony, are among the thousands of DOS-programs that are LANLink'" compatible. The network enables security-cleared users to access and share everything from programs and data bases to high-speed laser printers and large-capacity hard disks. R-LAN!" or Remote-LAN, gives you the ability to access the LANLink"' system, via modem, whether you're across the street or across the country. A Platform for YOUR Future. The choice is clear. You can pay more than you want, for a stack of network boards. You can get less than you need with a CheapLAN - that's file transfer software which masquerades as a network. Or, you can get LANLink; ' And install a SOLUTION that will take you far into the future. Its price of $495 includes a server and a satellite module plus the network operating system. For complete details and the authorized dealer nearest you, call The Software Link TODAY at the toll-free number listed below. CALL: 800/451-LINK In Gt>0rgia: 404/4 4 1· 2580 Interna tional/OEM SdlCJ<: 4041263-1006 RcscllcrsfVAR s: 404 /·148 · 54 1i5 Canada: A00/387·0453 HARMONY COMPUTERS 2357 CONEY ISLAND AVE .. (BET. AVES . T & U) BKLYN . NY t 1223 ORDER DEPT. ONLY 800-441-1144 OR 718 -627-1000 - INFORMATION 718-627-88 NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE IBM PS II MODEL 30 (20 Meg) $1 699.00 ~~":r Wr1ll?f It 40 aromo' HPl 20 &olher 1509 ieoo Crt1:c-n 1200 C 111llQ'f't C11zC'fl M$P 10 C;itC" MsP 1!) C111lon MSP 4 0 C1t11en MSP 4.S C1t1:fen Pfemte1 35 Dlmnl· Ink. Jel Epson LX800 1..X ao and 80 Cutsnoel FCQ<J EP""..on LOSOO E"MOn l.01000 Epson LO 1000 Tm.ctoc FOR CREDITCARDS .... 559 329 3:'.i9 144 167 2,-,.. 319 289 409 438 28!il 184 c.2114 52!1 39 e...,.,Loe.so Epson LO 1050 fps.on Fx ooe Epioo FX 286E E""'° EXOOO Epson EX 1000 E""'° L02SOO 19 M Propnniet II reM PfDP'mlor XL IBM Propflnlltt 2-4 18 M P1optlf?IOf XL2<4 18 M Ovte!Yrf·IC'f Ill NEC JS.SO NEC 8850 NEC 2200 EPSON L.X 800 $184.00 " PRINTER SPECIALS" ...489 679 NECP6 NEC P7 NECC-Pti ..9 NEC C-P7 399 489 899 3S9 529 ....099 ,,.n·9 __ .._. Olvdioto 182 Plu$ ()ki&1a 192 Pll.t~ ()kld.11a 1~ PllJ~ Okld.oil3 292 w«INTFC Okidala 293 w 'tnrfc Pooa50nlC KXP 1080 · MoOa-1 2 -!00'10911-2 P;ma$(1ftc KXP 109'2 I PanaSOnic KXP 'JIJI 10l9 329 MONITORS t. -..a ·· .JOO · .........,tl · IOA ............ CICI O!' 6005 · ...a· · Coo.o 111 Pl on<·l- " ·· 11 ~ ..1 P· >"( O! ~ Hll ,' [ p .,"'f. ...... ...,. 17( 11· - c .· l · . , U l t · · S ' f " C S U " ()g,,,~·f'· V1ll N C , ,. N£CM·,1f11 1yM kf t ll it"lrh 'I( P ..,-1 r.i;i..,$1·1IH A,.. br· C".o'~ SU · AG B C.OIO< C'"'°"Co-">901., , ATARI l)Q );f ........ . . ""' . t:f ...., .- ......· °'1.Jo0.-1 A~· IOJ' I " ~ · ~ JO'I 41.t< · ~"'O~ICI AlAl · loXIO.-...°"""' PC BOAROS . ORIVES. CHIPS MODEMS bsh1tN1 ~w. [)a); 0r Tosh iba 3 1.i, lftsk Ot AST Su: P;Jc;:k 384K A.Sl Soi: Pack Plmrnum 256 K 99 129 159 10· " - " " " ·~l4'000 · $11\t~~ ..,,.,""" Hlrtff1400 _ ,. · ~ ~11()1)6 ... .sn-tcam 1 AST Aampagc (266) 2'1· HC'lcv'"' ColOt Caro HetC\.llCS Mono(Jti'\pr..c. Plus 139 169 [ ....... ~l;'OCJO E.......,.· ~'OOINOINll E- · ?400 Et191NI NEC E'.GA G91 2:19 1:-1 U..: : 600 0 ....... .... Oultd Pf05ync (Wl'lh mouso) Ouadram U lt1e VGA (wi1h tn0u$0) V.000 7 ()oe.1llC v.oeci 7 VGA. Genoa Hi RM c.aro 2!0 ~ tlQOli omNil 319 199 APPLE 2m89 ...,,{,,~..! '" ."',"'. """ ' ' ......... ,.·0"...9. Al l 'NOnOef EGA All VGA~ c1·8·9 P1uadlse Auto Swttd't (·80) Paradise VGA 1'9 c.. Evcro· AlJto Sync (480) 129 Evere· EGA Oelu1.e (640x480) 139 Evernx Edge 199 In le t 8087·3 109 Inle t 806M? ·68 "-IOI 00287-6 169 ln!CI 80287-8 Intel 80287-10 ~29·9 SEAGATE HARO DRIVES COMMODORE AT&T PANASONIC 1091 i II COMMODORE 1280 $174.00 $449.00 <27 >99 >2'1 G99 ,,.21< 289 ·2· ,,.549 159 279 263 15911 ..,.,r....,...,,..~,........, ....,.,,.,,,,..,,.,...,, ,.1,.,...,..,.....,,. PJl\aSCIAIC K_)(P 3 151 PanasorllC KXP 159"2 P'artuonlC K.X.P \S9:5 Panasonie 152, Si~ l200 Star NX 1000 Stat N.X· 10 StarN.X 10C StatNX ,S SWNO 10 S W-NO IS SlBI N8 24JO SlaiN82ClS Toshiba 341 SL Toshiho351-2 Toshiba 351 Model 2 Cob" -321Sl - 3 S1 $X 409 3"9 409 ,,.$59 165 1·9 16' ...299 259 :l9!I 569 64A 711:!1 ·1·1024 m SOFTWARE \ ....,1))\lp·' O&lu·3 · ru,ftt -oio' l Syrn Of\Dl'l y 17 M tC!IH~llWOtCl4 0 Ml(tl)10!1 f1i:.tl l Ml·£L Mlloei 01GllE oc l'ltJ8U t MOC:I 010N W .tl00_.,, I~ WV.0 P·rlptl 4 1 '#ofdP11JKIL1CUol r OJA.H PF SF·tJC:ho:lot;· f' F$P111..n 'O"l· I Wl'·te ~'>'·ll""Ul..,_,..1 · O N Dfl11!1'1UhN11'1A.GUIKf'O 1i1.c1uoh t.touu l io:u PC ·"4 P ~1 1 Wot~)Plt PtOIUJIOQl "" I I ~::o::!i"'::.'%.R.t ~ ~!~,~~ ~:,~~:::!...... '°"·.,. _,~. 3112hcl'I~ ,.. ',.",,,. ..,",.,."·..'. ,:? ..'!: ,,",,.. .,~.: C'"o"l PORTABLES LETTERS The hardware seems solid , but the ver sion of DOS provided with it (3 .20) has some serious bugs . Most notably, certain programs that redirect LPTI to COM I fail miserably unless you slow the ma chine down to 4. 77 MHz. These prob lems don't occur if you boot the machine with Compaq DOS version 3. 1. Additionally , Microsoft Windows/386 will not run whatsoever under Acer' s DOS. The machine blurts out Error: Unsupported Intel 80386 CPU version or Error: Incorrect DOS version . Yet, again, if you boot off a Compaq DOS (version 3.1) floppy disk, Windows/386 comes up and runs just fine (on the ma chine that gave the Incorrec t DOS ve r sion error- the machine that gave the Unsupported Intel 80J86 CPU vers ion error still would not run Windows/386) . John Roberts Portland, OR Reader Request I normally work in a Unix environment , but I use an IBM PC under MS-DOS 2 .x frequently enough to wa.rrant pursuing the following task: Is it possible to have the shell (via a batch file) read an ASCII file and return the contents on one line of 1hat file in the context of $1 , $2 , $3 , and so on, so that I can branch to different parts of the .BAT file depending on the state of some routine? One application could be to determine if the communications port is configured for printer x or printer y. The only way I can think of to aulOmate this feature in a .BAT file is IO be able to pass the infonna tion from an ASCII file to the shell in some way. Can that be done without cod ing in assembly language? Perhaps through Turbo C? Do readers have any suggestions? Jacques Cazier Houston, TX FIXES and 4 megabytes of RAM (upgradable to 16 megabytes) . How Much Is That Pup? SK Data alerted us to a pricing error in the announcement of its Golden Retriever Pup on page 18 of our Fall 1987 Inside the IBM PCs issue. The Pup sells for $5, and Golden Retriever sells for $99. VCR Technology Tape Backup On page 70 in the November 1987 What 's New section, we incorrectly stated the name of the company that makes the VAST device. It should be Emerald Sys tems Corp. The item also states that the VAST device will back up data from a CD-ROM . It will not . HYPERchannel Fix Pricing Error We would like to clarify a statement in In the Items Discussed box for Comput "A Look at Apple's Cray Simulation En ing at Chaos Manor for September 1987, gine" (Microbytes, September 1987) . we incorrectly reported the price of De HYPERchannel is not the I/O channel on finicon' s 68020 boards for the IBM PC. the Cray supercomputer but is a separate Prices for the boards begin at $I 094 for a piece of hardware sold by Network Sys 12 .5-MHz board with 1 megabyte of tems Corp. for networking computers of RAM (not upgradable). Models with various manufacturers. HYPERchannel faster CPUs and more RAM are also is the registered trademark of Network available, such as the DSI-785/4, which Systems Corp. for use with Network Sys costs $6610 and includes a 25-MHz CPU tems' network adapters. · 32 BYT E · JANUARY 1988 Circle 33 on Reader Service Card Create Powerful CHAOS MANOR MAIL Programs with Blaise TOOLS Jerry Pournelle answers questions about his column and related computer topics. -------· ------- Wheih er you 're a n expert or a novice, you can benefil from using special tools to enhance yo ur programs, make them reli ab le . and give them a professional look. With windows. menus. pop-up me mory reside nt programs , and communications s uppo rt , Blaise Computing o ffe rs you a wide range of programm ing tools to let you take full Still Speedy After All These Years Dear Jerry, design and concept , but little apprecia agdravma nmtiangge eonfvtihroenmMeicnrtos.soAfLtI and Borland pro langu age support tion for the small things that help market packages include fully commented source code, I was very interested in your August col a system. I wish him well; he 's done a lot complete comprehensive manuals and sample umn about benchmarking two BASIC for the computer revolution.- Jerry p rog ram s. compilers- so interested , in fact, that I C TOOLS PLUS/ 5.0 $129.00 dug out my dusty old Sinclair QL and fi shed around for my copy of the Super BASIC compiler Supercharge. After entering the benchmark test and compiling , I was rather pleased with the How to Publish? Dear Jerry , This letter is a request for advice . If you are not in an advisory mood , please feel free to use file 13 . My ego won 't survive , Full spectrum of general service utility funct ions including; windo ws: me nus: me mo ry residenl applications: interrupt service routines; interven tion code : and direct video access fo r fast screen handl ing. Specifica Uy designed for Microsoft C 5.0 and QuickC. results. Remember , this is the very slow but that's all right. Turbo C TOOLS $129.00 est configuration of the 68008 QL (some Back in the dark ages , as a graduate Windows and menus: ISRs; intervention code: RAM expansions increase speed by more than 50 percent) , using a very old version of a now much-enhanced compiler, com piling a very powerful version of BASIC (more so than QuickBASIC , at least, and I have used both extensively) . The times I- or rather the computer, since I used its clock for accuracy-got were: student , I developed a set of FORTRAN II multivariate statistical programs for use on my research project. In the ensu ing years , every time I used one of the programs, I promised myself that I really would get busy and develop them as a co herent system. Twenty years ago they actually did get translated to the new , screen handling including EGA 43-line 1ext mode support ; direc t screen access: and memory resi· den t applications. Carefully crafted specifically 10 complement Turbo C. Turbo POWER SCREEN COMING SOON ! General screen ma nagement ; paint screens: block mode data entry or field -by· fi e ld co ntrol with insta nt screen access. For Turbo Pascal. Time Code size Data size Slow 3:58 8006 bytes 51 ,200 bytes Fast 2:52 9796 bytes 51 ,200 bytes The fast version of the benchmark used the compiler in-line code option-hence the larger code size. These results raise some questions. What would the results superpowerful FORTRAN IV . Two years ago , several things hap pened nearly simultaneously. First, I in voluntarily became a former geologist. Second, Albert the Compaq home steaded my dining room. And third , I fell in love with C. To while away the time between nonex istent interviews, I began work on my sys Turbo POWER TOOLS PLUS $129.00 NEW VERSION ! Now supports Turbo Pascal 4.0. Screen, window, and me nu ma nagemen t incl ud ing EGA suppon ; DOS memory comrol: ISRs: scheduled inte rvention code; and muc h mo re . Turbo ASYNCll PLUS $129.00 NEW VE RSION! Now supports Turbo Pascal 4.0. Interrupt driven support for the COM ports. 1/ 0 buffer.; up to 64K; XON/ XOFF: up to 9600 baud ; modem and XMODEM control. have been with the latest compiler and a tem , which consists of factor analysis, fast RAM expansion? We could easily ex stepwise multiple regression , distance pect times in the I-minute range for the based cluster analysis with dendrogram , ASYNCH MANAGER $175.00 Full fea tured inte rrupt dri ve n s uppo rt fo r 1he COM ports. 1/ 0 buffers up to 64K ; XON/ XOF F: Fast benchmark- and not an 80286, multigroup discriminant analysis, multi 80287 , 80386 , or 80387 in sight! What group canonical analysis , and a standard rubs in the point even more is that the data-file construction program- all with up to 9600 baud : modem control and XMODEM. For Microsofl C , Turbo C o r MS Pascal. Key Player $49.95 benchmarks were, of course, running under QDOS and were therefore multi tasking with BASIC (which is more than MS-DOS can do) . Perhaps more people should pay atten tion to this long-forgotten machine. And its price in England? The QL is £99 , the dynamic dimensioning. Much to my surprise and the relief of my friends , the Theleme system is now complete. During my thrashing about with translation and development , I dis covered that there is no publication on number crunching in C ; if mentioned at "Super-batc h" program. Crea te batch files which can invoke programs and provide input to them: run any program unattended: create demonstra· tio n programs: analyze keyboard usage. PASCAL TOOLS/ TOOLS 2 $175.00 Expa nded string and screen ha nd li ng; graphics routines; memo ry management; general program control : DOS fil e support and more. For MS· compiler £80 (for the new , faster, more all , it is discussed as an afterthought. Pascal. powerful program called Turbo) . Also , source code for multivariate statis EXEC $95.00 Danny Ross tics, in any language, does not exist at a NEW VERSION ! Program chain ing executi ve. Basingstoke, Hampshire , U.K. price below absurd. Now for my request. I believe there is a Fascinating. I knew the 68000 chip was market for my system as a book. Numeri good, but that's little short ofamazing. cal procedures in C would be illustrated The Sinclair was one of the most frus by the source code statistical system. This trating machines ever constructed. The continued basic computer engineering was excel Chai n o ne progra m fro m a noth e r in d iffe re nt la nguages: spec ify common d ata areas; less th an 2K of overhead. RUNOFF $49.95 Tex t formatter for all programmers. Written in Turbo Pascal: Hexible printer control: user-defined variables; index generation; and a gene ral macro facilit y. lent , but the user interface and video Jerry Poumelle holds a doctorate in psy TO ORDER CALL TOLL FREE were clair just took plain horrible. Sir the trouble to show Clive me his nSienw cwhhooloaglsyoaenadrnissaacosmcifeonrcteabfliectliiovningwwrirtietr 800-333-8087! - - + - - "notebook " machine a fe w months be ing about computers present and future. fore it came out, and it seemed to me to have the same pattern: really excellent He ni.x can be reached c/o BYTE, Mill Lane, Peterborough , NOHne0P34h5o8e . BLAISE COMPUTING INC. 2560 Ninth Street. Suitr 316 S.,rkr l<y. C A 94710 (415) 540.5441 JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 33 Circle 285 on Reader Service Card It copies 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 inch diskettes all by itself. Just load your diskettes, press one button, and W1llk away. The VKtory Auto loader automatically copies diskettes operating stand alone or attached lo an IBM/PC* or Mountain® compatible system. l:lulk cannisters allow fa l, easy loading and unloading. Switching drives takes less than five minutes. Copy Different Fonnats, F lawlessly. Ow- Auto-Format-Analysis ·· feature lets you copy differ ent formats, including PSrZ"'. l11c syste m lesls for quality and accuracy. sortingdisks into one of two output cannisters. No User-Required Adj u tments. The Autoloader's self-<:ali bration and simple diag nostics for chec.king drive alignment allow you lo main tain the syste m without outside service. Cal l 1-800-421-0103. And ask about the Victory family of affordable dupli cation systems-with serialization, copy protec tion and custom label printing. \llCTOY ENTERPRISES 8910 Research Blvd.. B2 Austin, Texas 78758 512-450-0801' In Ewopo al Bflo P.,,. ('.11-1) · 5.330137. Fnntfun (49-6074) 270SI . l...mdon (4'1.. J) 94 1-4066. Mhn09·2l316716. "IBM PC Mid P:i'l ·c u-.imw b of lntrm.!Joo.ll Busrrs.,. M.achmn Cup;n1.ion. Mo.mt.WI " ;m n:tJSlrn."'11tr~n:ll\ 1~ Mouncain Coo11Ufet. Inc CHAOS MA OR MAIL will, I hope , be possi ble a1 a price even poor starving students can afford_ I am electing the book route because practi tioners of any art balk at invariable canned products . In addition , a book would be more u eful as a reference than a disk would be . My experience in publi shing is limited to company reports. where the manu cript i handed to the secretary and the author heads for the field until the furor abates . I also have some experience with journal publication , where the manu sc ript is mailed off a nd th e author cowers in a corner under the slings and arrows of outraged referees . I have no idea how publication is accompli hed in the ··real world. " Any advice you may care to offer will be gratefully received. P.S. T ha nks fo r Footfall. Because most of my recreational reading is pure escape, l thorough.ly enjoy a good blood and-thunder space opera unencumbered with an intrusive moral or philosophy. By the way. what relationship does the biker in Footfall bear to a similar charac ter in Lucifer 's Hammer? They read like the same character with different names . Fred E. Fisher Kary. TX ..... - ,II· ~ .. ... ::- -... ....:..._;.::- ~ 1/ 0 , Power Control GPIB (IEEE-488) CONTROLLER WAVEFORM SYNTHESIZER Arbitrary WCJYE!form Generation . . . . . GIUA TECH t::J-:;:.,~St ~s:=: INCOAPORATED 1-800-553-1170 FAX: (216) 434-1409 The best advice I can give you is to join the writers conference on BIX; a number of professional writers give advice to 11ewcomers. The long answer is, you haunt book stores un til you find a company that pub lishes books like yours- Addison-Wesley , Que, John Wiley and Sons. and Osbome/ Mc Graw-Hill come to mind. Decide which ofthose appeals to you, and write a good letter of i11quiry. If you ha ve the manuscript completed, send ir: if not. send i.11 at least one good sample chapter and a11 outline of what the book will contain . The cover letter shouldn 't try to tell the publisher its busi11ess , which is market ing books. Bur it won't hurt at all to in clude your thoughts on the target marker. A cover letter isn't strictly required, but it ca11 help a lot. It can also hurt; ifit is ar rnga11t, ignorant . or both , your manu script is not likely to be read, or at least it won 'r be read soon. A good cover letter (and your leuer to me indicates that you can write one) can get the editor eager to look at what it covers. If you find a pub lisher. have someone send me a review copy. As to Footfall : A writer I much admire told me that you can put all the morals and philosophy you like in a book as long as the characters don 't know it. Harry Reddington, a.k.a. Mark Czescu, never knew what he illustrated. - Jerry · 34 BYT E · JANUARY 1988 Circle 220 on Reader Service Card 10 Important Reasons C Programmers Use OurFile Manager 1. It's written in C. 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If not completely satisfied , return it for a Price Schedule D Single user D Single user w/ Source D Multi- user D Multi·userw/ Source NEW: 0 VAX Muhl-user D VAX Multl-user w/Source db_ VISTA s 195 $ 495 $ 495 $ 990 $ 990 $1980 db_QUERV s 195 $ 495 $ 495 $ 990 $ 990 $1980 Order Now. Put db_ VISTA to work in your application program . Ordering is easy - simply call toll -free. We'll answer your technical questions and get you started . Call today. CallToll·Free Today! . ~ 1 (800) db·RAIMA (800/ 327 -2462) or 206/ 828-4636 ~RAI M A'1 Ll...,coRP ORATION co 3055 · I 12th NE. Bellevue. WA 98004 USA ~ (206) 8 28 -4636 Telex : 6503018237 MCIUW ....., ASK BYTE Steve Ciarcia answers your questions on microcomputing. A Simple Problem a card connected to the cable, so you lose I can assure you that a speedup card Dear Steve, one slot in each. In some designs the cir won 't work, simply because the longer All three expansion slots in my Tandy cuitry is on the expansion chassis board. bus won 't tolerate any higher speeds. . IOOO are full. I have seen expansion chas Such designs don 'r need a separate card Given the rather low prices for AT sis for additional slots and a power supply · in that box, but they still use a card slot in clones, it may be worth your while to in 1hat cost from about $500 to $1200. the computer. vest in a bigger, better, faster, more ex These prices seem too high for what ap Obviously, a double-buffered expan pensive system that will almost certainly pears to be a simple add-on . Is there an sion bus is a better way to do things. Bui work when you take it out ofthe box. One easy way to build an expansion chassis here's the caJch: There 's no way to tell in problem with trying to exceed the de with, say, four to six slots? which direction tlwse new drivers must signer's specs is that you 're likely to wind I would like to add a hard disk drive, a send the signals. For example, suppose up with a pile of hardware that doesn 't memory board (above 640K bytes) , and a you have a video card in the expansion quite work anymore. - Steve speedup board (if one exists for the box and a hard disk controller in the orig Tandy 1000) . Since I have three slots inal system. When the processor reads Get in Touch filled, I would nee.d four more slots, as data from the disk, the buffers in the ex Dear Steve, suming the expansion unit requires a slot pansion box should be inactive to avoid I am trying to locate a place to purchase in the main unit. conflicts with the disk card. A read from some conductive, lransmissive Mylar Am I wishing for the impossible? the video card requires that the buffers that is used to make touch-screen inpul After all, for between $500 and $1200, I drive data from the expansion box onto · systems. It is similar to the indium-/tin-/ could buy a faster IBM PC AT clone or the original bus. But you can 't tell which oxide-coated glass used in capacitive equivalent unit. (My wife wouldn't balk is which by any logic based on the bus touch-oven controllers . I have called at "add-ons, " but I think I'd have a prob signals alone. some of the thin-fiJm deposition compa lem buying an entire computer.) A similar problem comes up with 110 nies, but I haven 't received any of the Chris Bonney ports and control lines. It turns out that promised literature. Do you know a St. Louis, MO the true-blue IBM expansion box, which source for this product? was recently discontinued, used a bizarre Also, what is the preferred method to The prices for expansion boxes do seem a scheme: It waited to see which bus was connect to th.is material? Several years lit1le extravagant, but they also show no active, then turned on the drivers to send ago I had a sheet of this material , and I sign of coming down (which is a bad data in the other direction. Perforce, it used zebra strips and edge connectors. sign). Ir turns our that those boxes have also added a wait state or two to all data Mike Kerr some interesting design problems, and transfers to cover the indecision. Ugly , Johnson City, TN there are no simple answers. but it worked fairly well. When you sit down to design a bus, you Another problem is radio-frequency I don 't know about any conductive need to know how many circuits will con interference (RF/). The cable between Mylar, but I have tinkered with some nect to each line. Thar gives you the max the two units contains a large number of Kynar film . It has some amazing proper imum steady-stare current the bus drivers lines all switching at the same time, and it ties : It 's piezoelectric, pyroe/ecuic, will have to supply. Next, you.figure out is just about the right length to serve as transparent (with the right electrodes). the capacitance on the bus, which deter an antenna. You wind up with a very nice and durable. It's made by Kynar Piezo mines the transient current. The more loads or the greater the capacitance, the bigger the drivers you need to do the job. Remember that those drivers are on each card, not just the system board. You can add an expansion box in one of TV and radioJammer. continued What dering, to do? Ifyou 're you might want up to for try athliettblerusotel sINulAtaSmK BaYnTdEe,lSetcetvreonCiicasrceian,gainceoemr.puatnesrwcoenrs force approach . Get a PC system board questions on any area of microcomputing. (from the back pages of BYTE) without The most representative questions will be an any components at all. Use some ribbon swered and published. Send your inquiry to two ways: by direct wiring or adding cable to connect it directly to your Tandy Ask BYTE buffers. The former is simply a set of 1000 and see if it works. I'd suggest wir clo Steve Ciarcia wires that runs between the original sys ing the cable with ground lines alternat P.O. Box582 tem board and the expansion board, so ing with signals to keep the RF! down and Glastonbury, CT06033 the bus drivers have to handle the added making it a foot or so long to keep the loads and capacitance. Ifyou add buffers capacitance down. to drive the expansion board, the original You 'II need to add a power supply for Due to the high \IO/ume of inquiries. we cannot guarantee a personal reply. All le11ers and photographs become the property of Steve Ciarcia and cannot be returned. drivers don 't have to contend with an ad the expansion board, bur do not connect The Ask BYTE staff includes manager ditional load (the buffers are located on a the power supply lines between the two Har" Weiner and researchers Eric Albert , card that plugs into the original bus, just systems (only the ground lines-two sup Tom Cantrell. Bill Curlew. Ken Davidson. as you expected). plies connected together don 't work at In fact, buffered designs have bus all). Filling the thing into a case should drivers at each end, so neither bus is con be straightforward, but you 'II wind up nected directly to the cable. Each bus has with a rather funny-looking 1000. Jeanne/le Dojan, Jon Elson , Frank Kuech mann , Tim McDonough, Edward Nisley , Dick Sawyer, Robert Stek, and Mark Voorhees. 36 BYTE· JANUARY 1988 Qualitychamp captures lowpricetitlewith$745 data acquisition board. By: Joe Zimmerman, Sports Staff Marlboro, MA Faster than you could say "what hit me?" the fight was over. With speed (20 kHz), multiple I/O combinations (16 AID, 2DIA,16 DIO), and a below-the-belt price, Data Translation brawled its way to the low price data acquisition championship. Asked after the fight about the loser's slow speed and high price, Fred Molinari said, "Was he fightin' in slow motion, or what? I can't believe anyone would pay him more." Indeed, this reporter can't believe it either. The DT2811 is agreat value - even without the FREE OT/Gallery Software that Data Translation ships with it. And optional industry standard software packages are available at incredibly low prices. For more information, call Data Translation today. You'd have to be punch drunk to buy anything else. Call (617) 481-3700. To learn more , see us in Gold Book 1987, or calJ to receive our first-ever 1987 3-Book Set, including 1987 Catalog, Product Summary Price List, and AppLications Handbook. Modol DT2811 Input Channels Analog Inputs Resolution (bits) Throughput 16SE/ 8DI 12 20kHz Output Channels Ana log Outputs Resolution !bitsl ThroughptJt 2 12 50kHz Digital Functions I/Clines Programmable Clock Sc rew Termina l P3nels S in. BOut Yes Yes Software OT/Gallery (free! LPCLAB LABTECH ACQU IRE OT/ Notebook Poce $745 DA1ll TRANSLATION. World Headquarters: Data Translation. Inc.. JOO Locke Drove, MartDOIO, MA 0 1752-1192, (617) 481-3700 Tix 951646 European Headquarters: Data Translation Lid., The Mulberry Business Park , Wokingham Berkshire, RGll 2QJ, England, 734-793838 Tix 851849862 International Sales Offices: Australia (2) 662-4255: Belgium (2) 735-2135; Canada (4 161625-1907; Chile (2) 25-3689; China (408) 727-8 222, (8) 721-4017 : Denmark (2) 274511: England 734 -793838: Finland (90) 372-144: France(!) 69280173. (!) 69077802: Greece951-4944 . (03) 152· 7039, Ul 361-4300: Hong Kong (3) 7718585: India (22123-1040: Israel (3) 32-4298: Italy (2) Bl-821; Japan (3) 502-5550. (3) 375-1 551, (3) 355-llll ; Korea 778-072115: Morocco (9) 30-4181: Nethe~ands (70) 99 -6360: New Zealand C9l 504 ·759: Norway <02J 55 90 50, Peru (14) 31·8060: Portugal (I) 545313: Singapore 7797621: South Afr ica (12) 46-9221 ; Philippines 8 18·DI03: Spain (I) 455-8112: Sweden (8) 761-7 820; Switzerland (I) 723-1410: Taiwan (2) 709-1394: West Germany <89180·9020. Data Translation i& a regostered trade mark of Data Translation, Inc. Circle 77 on Rea.der Service Card JA UARY 1988 · B Y T E 37 Circlt! 56 on Readt!r Servict! Card 8 CIARCIA FEEDBACK ~ f? El ALLPRODUCTS, LOWEST PRICES, EXPERT ADVICE INTRODUCTORY OFFER Hitachi CDR·1503S CD·ROM drive S895 and you r choice - Grolier Eleclronic Encyclopedta(+ SBO afler 1188) or - Microsolt Bookshelf with MS·DDS Exlension or - McGraw·HiU Science and Technical Reference Sel or -PC·SIG 817 PC SOltware Programs 1Hitachi CDR·1503S CD·ROM DRIVE with Digital Audio Input/Output S729 ~ $929 - Full heigh!· s1aooalone · lront aulo load · Hi·Fi CO audiocapa· . biltl<es (wllh CO·PLAY described below) · daisy chainc.apabil· ·lies . lor IBM PCIXTiATand luUcompalibles. B I Hitachi CDR-3500 CO-ROM DRIVE with Digital Audio Input/Output S829 S979 ~ Hall height - lnwnal mount . same leatures as Hitachi < COR·1503S. 1woRM ORIVES-400 MB S2799 -800 MB S3799 Fu! height ·Slandalone . lor IBM PC/XT//(J and lul compatib!<~ · call lor pricing on all Hitachi . Phillips, Oenon. Sony and Panasonic dri"es. n 0 ~ SOFTWARE FOR HITACHI AND COMPATIBLE CO·ROM DRIVES· · co-PLAY $95 Permitsuser 10 play CO audio disks. RAM resident ..l'Qp.up·· accessory · compal· ibtewith au maior soUWire · rec~ntzes CO aoo displays trnck litle inlormation · outputs to headphones or stereo am· plifior. n 1CD·PLAY + SAMPLER $195 " S.me tealures as CO-PLAY plus CO s.im pling funclions for el.Wonic musicians. 1cD-TEST $195 ,, Testsaccuracy of data storageon CO audiodisks - for audiophiles, CO.Professionals (available soon) . " ~ 1CD·UTILITIES $195 § Quiel< Basicroutines permil sohvme dM!ope~ lo access CO. ~ ROM/Alldio dM capabi6ties. 1cop sels al software including !heInternational Dictionary ol Medicine and Biology · Med Line· Library References and ~ Indexes· Eocyciopedia ol Chemical Technology· Corporate ~ Databases. . i 1call tor PriceSICatalogues. Special prrces lor firs! time 8 8 customers, computor dealers. corporale/gO"Jeinment ac· coun1s. l1brarles. educational institutions. International ship· ~ menls a specially ~ TO ORDER CALL BOO.MEGABYTe (634·2298) 8 INQUIRES CAll 212·996·6999 ~ Pulrcy· Sh1pprng and handling e.xlrn Personal and company checks require 3 weeks lo clear. kir fasler deli""ry use your ;:. C1edil card (add3%for MC and Visa. add 5% for AMEX) or send ~ acashier"s check or bankmoney order. ew York residenlS add 8.2.5% sales tax. Alt prices are U.S.A prices and are subject 8 to change and all ilems are subject to iM!lability. Oelecti\'tsolt· 5 ware Wiii be replaced wilh the same item only. Hardware""" < 8 be replaced or repaired within the terms and limits or lhe manufacturer's warranty. We canno1 guarantee compatibllily. ~ 8 · · 1All sales are final and returned shipmenls are subjeC1 to a restocking fee. · CCDomP pact Disc Products. Inc. < 21 7 East 8Sth Street (Suite 216) New York, NY 10028 l'OOtl oo n .,, n 0 11 ~ nno·,o, mm a:> .-.:~... Parallel port ., Signal strobe Pin# dataO 2 data 1 3 data2 4 data3 5 data4 6 dataS 7 data6 8 data? 9 BUSY 11 Speech chip Pin# Signal 20 ALO 18 A1 17 A2 16 A3 15 A4 14 AS 13 A6 No connection No connection 9 LRO Figure I: Diagram for connecting an Atari 1040ST's parallel port to an SP0256 speech-symhesis chip. You should also wire the parallel port's growzd (pins 18 to 25) to the ground of whatever circuit board the SP0256 is on. Film Group, Pennwalt Corp.. 900 First Ave., King of Prussia, PA 19406, (2 15) 337-6710. The company was selling a $45 experimenter's kit a while ago. The film had aluminum electrodes, so it wasn't transparent. Pennwalt makes it with transparent electrodes, but that costs more. The nice thing about Kynar is that it generates a voltage when you touch it. A few suggested circuits let you pin down where the touch occurred. You can either zebra or pattern the connections right in the film . If you 're- buying the stuff by the acre, the company will do anything you want. In sample sizes, y9u 're stuck with what ever they've got. Depending on your ap plication, Pennwalt may have some stan dard film that will be close enough. - Steve Little Orphan Softcard Dear Steve, After recently purchasing an Apple IIGS computer, I was disappointed to learn from Microsoft that my Softcard (which I used previously on my Apple II Plus) is incompatible with the IIGS . I have heard conflicting reasons for this incompatibil ity . Some ay all I need is a software up grade, while others- including Micro soft- say the situation is hopeless . Can you tell me the cause for this incompati bility and how I can go about solving thi s problem? Steven Park Baltimore, MD One ofthe unfortunate happenings in the microcomputer industry is the occasional creation ofan orphan imerface that is w1 able to follow along when a major equip ment upgrade is performed. If your 280 board is the original Microsoft Softcard. it has indeed been orphaned because of uncorrectable (sans hardware changes) timing problems. If you have the newer Softcard 11 (with 64K byres of on-board RAM), a software update is available from Microsoft that accommodates the differences between the II Plus and the IJGS. Ifyou have the older card, it looks like your only option is to get a newer Z80 card with appropriate software for the new compwer.- Steve Parallel Talk Dear Steve, I am building a speech synthesizer for my Atari 1040ST. The circuit is based on a diagram I found for Commodore 64 and Radio Shack computers, and it uses an SP0256-AL2 chip. How do I connect the chip to my Atari 's serial or parallel port? Kairi Yousi f El Cajon , CA The SP0256 speech-synthesis chip you are trying to imerface was designed to be driven easily from a Centronics-compat ible parallel primer port. The Atari I040ST parallel port meets that re quirement . Look at the pin connection diagram in figure I. You 'II also need a low-pass fil ter and audio amplifier stage, but I as sume those are shown 0 11 the schemaric from which you are working. - Steve CIRCUIT CELLAR FEEDBACK More Talk Dea r Steve, Recently, I came across your article on ADPCM (adaptive differential pulse code modulation) for speech synthesis (June 1983 Circuit Cellar) . I am starting a small project on the sta· ti stical analysis of speech at 1he allophone level. Do you know of any source that could supply a set of the allophones in a digitized form? It would be of great help continued 38 BYT E · JAN UARY 1988 "We need a powerful relational database" It's a Win-Win with Open Access II The Most Powerful Database and Spreadsheet Available in An Integrated Package The arguments for Integrated software used to be convenience, ease of use, and shortened learning curve. The argument against it was no power. The argument is over. According to our users, the primary reason for their purchase of Open Access II is the power of the relational database and the spreadsheet with 3-0 graphics, followed by convenience and ease of use. And, by the way, this database and spreadsheet are integrated with a word processor, communications and desk accessories. Nose-to-Nose Comparison Chart 0Den Access II Symphony Framework .,.,.,. .... ,..,.,. ........ .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ,..,.,. .... .... .... .,.,.,. ........ .... What's New in Open Access II Meeting the challenge of advanced hardware technology, Open Access II update version 2.05 includes graphics drivers for the IBM Personal Systems/2, extended memory support, math co-processor support (8087180287) and 37 other additions and alterations. Developers Delight The power and flexibility available in this package makes it an ideal software choice for developers of complex vertical applications, developers in need of large databases with sophisticated programming capabilities. With the addition to our product line of Runtime System and our upcomig compiler, Open Access II has Software Products International 10240 Sorrento Valley Road · San Diego, California 92121 Circle 251 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 252) strengthened its position as a software developer's power tool. Accounting Access is now available for customized bookkeeping with Open Access II. Also, Filling Your Network Needs Local Area Network users around the world are singing the praises of Open Access II Network. So is the press, lnfoworld calls it "an excellent value ... may be one of the software bargains of the year." LAN Magazine says" ... a sharp product. .. a unique and interesting spreadsheet locking scheme." Test Drive - $19.95 We invite you to experience the power, flexibility, and performance available in this integrated package by test driving Open Access II with our Demo Tutorial. For only $19.95 you can experience this software, limited only by file size restrictions. Call 800-521-3511 (if you're in California call 800-621-7490). Order your Demo Tutorial today, it's a powerful experience. "I always get what I want" Open Access II users call for update trade-in information. JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 39 To develop useful applications with most database management software, you're forced to learn a pro gramming language. But with every rule, there's an exception. In this case, it's R:BASE~ System v. As lke Botnick will attest. Botnick, who owns a company that develops and sells software to monitor stock market fluctuations , needed to keep track of his customers, orders. inven tory and billings. What he didn't need was dBASE~ "THE ONLY GOOD THING I GOT FROM dBASE WAS MY MONEY BACK!' Botnick saw an ad for dBASE III PLUS;" believed its claim that you can develop appijcations without having to program, and bought it. 40 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 As soon as he attempted to develop applications with it, like custom reports, he ran into trouble. When he called Ashton-Tute with questions, he was politely told that he would have to learn the dBASE programming language. To which Botnick politely replied, 'Tm damned if rm going to spend three months learning a program ming language just so I can develop a few simple busi ness databases." That's when he turned to R:BASE System V. "R:BASE SYSTEM V IS THE PRODUCT dBASE PROMISES IN 11S ADVERTISING!' Because our EXPRESS System generates pro gramming code, three days after Botnick opened the box, he had finished two-thirds of his application. Two days more, and his order entry, invoicing and customer tracking application was complete. When he finished, he had a system with three tables, special order entry rules, custom invoice forms that matched his old invoices, a multi-level set of menus, and a whole list of customized reports and summaries. "If I'd worked straight through,"he says, "it would have taken maybe a day and a half. And not only did I get the application I needed, it was automatically debugged. SystemV is exactly what a business needs. It's great for people who don't know how to program." FOR YOUR WCAL MICRORIM DEALER, CALL 1-800-624-0810, DEPT. BY0188! The best way to get started with R:BASE System V is to call our toll-free number and ask for the name of your nearest Microrim dealer. Or, order a llial Pack. Circle 168 on Reader Service Card They're just$19.95plus shipping for theS.25-inch 'Ilial Pack. Or $24.95 plus shipping for the 3.5-inch 1iia1Pack. R:BASE System V. It's one decision you'll swear by. R:BASE SYSTEMV MICRORIM InfoWorld's Overall MS-DOS Software Product of the Year. re. 'From Ab.$kaandcanada c::aD l ·2t.16-807- U1000qit. 8VOl88. nt~. 2.5-lnch form;u runs on f&.\f. XT, ATand 10016 com~tJbrfes. ind on au INJor u.NS w11h no Additional cosr. for cxua users ,a~chtd t0 mt 5ef'Vtr. The 3..S·lnc-.h format NNon ISM PSl2;andothtr1(1()1J,MS·IXl'S compatibles. ~rks/Owner~: Mkfodm, Ri8ASE1Mkror1m. lnc-.1 l&M. PS/2J lnlfinillkm.iJ Bu&iness o\\ICh[ntS. Inc.: d&ASE. dOASE Ill PLUSfA.s._ton ·'lllk Ccupor-:mon: 1nfowortd1CW CommunlGJ.tkuH, Inc. OMkn:w1m 1987. JANUARY 1988 · BYT E 41 42 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 CIARCIA FEEDBACK in getting my project started . A PCM coded set readable on an IBM PC would be easiest to use. Lawrence M. Policzer Engineering Technology Dept. Youngstown State University, OH One of the problems facing anybody building speech-recognition hardware or software is that there's no standard speech against which to measure the re sults. This allows anyone to define a test set that makes the answers come our very well for whatever 's just been developed, bur ii tends to breed suspicion in the users, who find that it doesn't work well in real life. Since you 're not developing a commer cial system, you might be able to pry some samples out of manufacturers who build such hardware. There might be some strings arrached, but they'd surely be Less onerous than having to do the sampling yourself. The IEEE Acoustics, Speech, and Sig nal Processing Society may also have contacts that can help. I recall that there were some tapes avail.able with digitized speech samples, but my memory fails after that point. Get in touch wi1h 1he IEEE, perhaps through your campus chapter, and see what they've got. - Steve Home Control Dear Steve, I would like to put a system for control ling a hi-fi and perhaps other things from any of several locations (upstairs and downstairs) in my two-story home. I'm not ready to design and build the system, but because of some remodeling projects, it is an ideal time to string cables through the walls. Hence , my question: What kind of cables? If they have lots of wires, they will be expensive but will permit rel atively cheap and dumb terminals . On the other hand, if I am willing to build sever al smarter terminals, then perhaps very simple cables will suffice. What do you recommend? Benjamin G. Cooper Minneapolis , MN You 're fortunate to have the opportunity to lay your own wire. Most people ha ve no option b111 to resort to AC power car riers like the X-10 system. As for the type of wire you should use, the best trade-off between cost, flexibil ity, and performance is probably shield ed dual twisted pair, which is just a more expensive variant of phone wire. As ap parent from the name, it combines four wires with a shield connection that you can use for ground. Four wires give you l01s of options: full-duplex RS-232C plus RTS and CTS handshaking: RS-422, single-ended or differential; and so on. RS-232C is the best bet for keeping costs down; nearly every gadget you might want to hook up will adapt to an RS-232C. Wiring topology is a110ther issue. Bus, star, and ring networks have their own advantages and disadvantages. A bus to pology is probably best, but it needs fan cy software and chips. A ring is good. but it requires active nodes (i.e. , every thing 011-line for any communication ro take place) unless you bypass unused nodes with a switch. A star is simple, but it needs lots ofwire and a central control ler. Check our a book on local-area net works (LANs) and see which one is best for you. The shielding really helps protect your data from noise spikes. Though it might be convenient , I wouldn 't route the data cable next to the AC power lines and out 1ets-better be safe than sorry. Of course, it goes without saying that you have to make sure your setup meets all building codes. Safety first. -Steve Just the Facts Dear Steve, I have a few questions for you . First what is a real-time operating system? Second , is MS-DOS a real-time operating system? Finally, how are Unix and Xenix related? Hugh Roth New York, NY MS-DOS was originally designed to han dle just one task at a time. When a pro gram is loaded, DOS gives it all avail able memory with no restrictions on its accessing that memory. DOS was also written with nonreentrant code, which means that trying to run two or more pro grams concurrently is more difficult than it has to be. You usually find real-time operating systems in scientific and process-control environments. For example, a computer may be comrolling an industrial process where, for the most part, very fill le raw computing power is needed. The com puter monitors temperatures , pressures, valve openings and closings, and so on. However, in an emergency, it may be vi tal that the compurer shut down processes quickly. The computer must assess certain in formation-sa y, that a critical tempera ture or pressure has been reached. It may be thar if a high pressure isn't relieved immediately, some damage may occur. Suppose also that as a result of this high pressure, a critically high temperature has been created elsewhere. The com puter must analyze chis information and co111im1ed Advanced technology ready to work for can expect it to run even faste r than the you today. equivalent PS/2 system. At Tand on we feel that our personal Large storage capacity, faster pro computers shou ld not only be exactly cessing speed, in novative technology, compatible - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a small foot with you r present needs, FEATURES print, and the reliability but able to meet all your Processor 80286 and q uality assurance of future stan dards as well. Supports OS/2 Yes an industry leader like Our Targa 20, for example, 1MBMemory Standard Tandon. So whether is a powerful 80286-based Memory Management Yes you need a powerful system with Storage 20MB computer to many features not yet avail Small Footprint Yes help you manage your able elsewhere. present busi- It comes ness , or with a full use a high 1MB of memory and the ability to performance state-of-the-art system to use it all wi th our ingenious Memory keep you compatible with the future, Management System. call today. And when Microsoft's Windows 2 Nationa l 1-800-556-1234 Ext. 171. In operating e nvironment is available, you California 1-800-441-2345, Ext. 171. Circle 266 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 267) IanClan Price.Selection. Quality. ·:····P·l·e·a·s·e·s·e·n·d·m·e··y·ou·r·T·a·n·d·o·n·F·a·c·t·P·a·c·,··········· : acomprehensive set ol llterature and product reviews: : Name - - - - - - - -- - - Comp~y ----------~ Address - - - - -- - - - - - City/State/Zip - - - -- - - -- Telephone - - - -- - - - -- - Tandon Computer Corporation . 405 Science Drive ·. Moorpark, CA 93021 BYTE 1188 JA UARY 1988 · BYT E 43 Circle 101 011 Reader Sen ·ice Card Now use WordPerfect® with PerfectPalNand forget those function keys Sure, Word.Per£ect is the world's best word processing software, but most of us never master more than a third of its power. But now there's a way you can use all the WordPerfect you need.It's called PerfectPal. It will help you become a WordPerfect power-user immediately. PerfectPal is a handy add-on system of 246 pre-coded macros that simplify every WordPerfect command to a key stroke or two. Including commands most give up on such as sort,math, merge, columns, table of contents, and hun dreds more. PerfectPal lets you use easy to remember key strokes like ALT-P to print a document instead of menus and manuals. And, PerfectPal even includes commands that Word Perfect doesn't- such as full foreign language and math symbols. PerfectPal is for the novice and expert alike. So order now and make your perfect better yet. 1-800-451-6086 ! Only 179 CIEi !\"'"!'·' lr1le-_£ectPal ·~ill I plus$3S/H 1-1~ ~ ~ 30-0ay·Money·Back ! Guarantee PC ITEMPLATEf P.O. Box 9273, Glendale, CA 91206 ! ~ 246 pre-coded macros that simplify WordPerfect productivity. You get intelligent IEEE-488 and RS232 ports to make instru m e n t _1>~ing fast and easy. You can have up to 4 Mbytes of memory on the same board for your largest programs, RAM disks, and data acguisition tasks. Compatibility is built-in so you can run your favorite pr~ or create new ones with our advanced programmi!_lg tools. .,..._...._~:----'::l:b get your FREE demo disk-call 617-273-1818. M~ Capital Equipment Corp. ~~~~ Burlington, MA 01803 The bottom line-IEEE-488, RS232, par. port, 4MB EEM LIM, runs DOS and OS/2. CIARCIA FEEDBACK enable equipment ro relieve th e crirical remperatures and pressures. This sce nario demands a real-time operating sys rem , one that can respond ro independent and possibly simultaneous evenrs and do so wirhout the complller 's losing track of whar it is working 011 at the rim e. DOS is nor the operating system for handling environments as described above. Some attempts ar providing multi· tasking for DOS are available: Digital Research 's Concurrent PC DOS, DESQ· view by Quarrerdeck Systems, Windows by Microsoft , and The Software link 's PC-MOS are a few examples. These so fll · rions use some form of time-slicing algo rithm. They intercept th e system-clock in rerrupr. suspend th e curre111ly executing program and srore its operaring sta!lls. and pass control to another process. Usu · ally, the operating system gives each pro gram equal slices of execution time . as signed in round-robin fashion. In our process-cont rot example . this task assignment technique may be unaccept able , since it could be a relatively long time before a critical task is given its exe cution tim e slice. Real-time operating systems can give variable amounts of execution time to processes. They can also assign priorities to processes, thus enabling the computer to recognize emergencies and de vote more time to an importalll program. (I have used a pmcess-comrol application as an example. but the control of scien tific experimems can be similar.) While Unix is a multiuser, multitasking operm ing system, its design is such rhat , like MS-DOS, it is not suitable f or real-time operations. Unix is a rrademark of AT&T. Other vendors, such as Microsofr , license Unix from AT&T but are prohibited from ad verrising it as Unix. They adapt it ro vari· ous machines and marker it under th eir own names (Xenix is Microsoft 's Unix offering). Thus, anyone who is fami liar with Unix on a minicomplller will find ir almost identical to Xenix on an IBM PC. -Steve I Miss the Megabytes Dear Steve, I recently acquired an NEC MultiSpeed laptop computer ; I've owned a Compaq " luggable'' for everal years. I got the NEC because I needed a lightweight computer that I could carry from office 10 office . Now, although I enjoy the speed of my laptop, its two 720K-byte floppy disk drives still seem small after my Compaq's 30-megabyte hard disk drive. I know that at least one manufacturer makes hard disk drives for the NEC (1 saw an NEC with a hard di sk drive at co111i1111ed 44 B Y T E · JA UARY 1988 Circle 42 on Reader Service Card TRANSISTOR_........._ TESTER 9 FUNCTIONS _ _ _~ 34 RANGES CONDUCTANCE _ __ TESTER ADDS VERSATILITY TEMPERATURE - - - TESTER TO 2000° F 7!J95 This full function 3 .5 dlgil DMM offers highly accurate performance and a host of added features to help you do lhe job-fast. Capacllance. lranslstor. tem· perature, conductance and audible continuity In addition to the ranges you'd expect from a DMM of this quality. Temperature probe, test leads and battery included. Inpu t impedance: 10M ohm. Basic DC accuracy; plus/minus 0 .25% Approx. 7"x 3 11.!"x 1:\1·" WI. t3·n ozs. DPM-1000 $54.95 3.5 DIGIT PROBE TYPE DMM Custom 80 p in LSI chip provides accuracy and re liability In such a compact size . Auto rang ing. audibl e continuity and data hold feature help you pinpoint the problem quickly. Case and batteries included. · Basic DC accuracy : plus/minus 1°k · DC vo11age: 2v- 500v. ou1or3119lng · AC voltage: 2v- 500v, auloranging · Resistance : 2k ohms-2 M ohms. auloranging · Fully over-load pro1ected · lnpul impedance : 11Mohm · Approx. 5112.. x 1" x 3/4" Under 3ozs. * i! YEARREPLACEMENT WARRANTY * 3DDAYMONEYBACKGUARANTEE * TOLL FREE TECHNICAL SUPPORT * NEXTDAYAIR§HIPAVAILABLE MODEL 2000 $349.95 20 MHz DUAL TRACE OSCILLOSCOPE Model 2000 makes frequency calculation and phase measuremenl quick and easy. The component tester aids in last troubleshooting. Service technicians appre ciate the TV Sync circuits torviewingTV.V and TV-Hand accurate synch ronization of the video signal . Blanking, VITS , and VIH sync p ulses. · Exceplionolly bright 5" CRT · Bt.Jlll·ln component tesler · TVSyncfilte< · X-Yoperat ion · 110/220volts MODEL 3500 $499.95 35 MHz DUAL TRACE OSCILLOSCOPE Wide bandwidth and exceptional 1mVIDI V sensitivity make the Model 3500 a powerful diagnostic tool tor engineers or technicians al a remarkable price. Delayed lriggenng allows any por11on of a waveform lo be Isolated and expanded for Closer Inspection. Variable Holclofl allows stable vtewmg of complex waveforms. · Exc9ptjondy bright S' CRT · Dllaylct llr1CI "'9t SWMPmodeS · Zuls~lnQCllAallon ·J(·V~*lV . . . $49.95 3.5 DIGIT FULL FUNCTION DMM Get highly accurate performance at a very affordable price. Rugged construction. 20 amp current capability and 22 ranges make ii a perfect chOice tor serious field or bench work. Lo battery indicator and lilt-stand. Probes and 2000 hour battery included. · Basic DC accuracy: plu s or minus 0.25% · DC vollage: 200mv- 1000V. 5 ranges · AC vol1age: 200mv- 750V. 5 ranges · Rosisl<inc:e: 200 ohms- 20M ohms. 6 ranges · AC/DC cu rrent : 200µA-20A. 61anges · Input impedance: !OM ohm · Fully overload pio1ec1ed · Approx. 7· x 3·n· x t ·n· WI. tt ozs. $29.95 3.5 DIGIT POCKET SIZE DMM Perfect tor the lleld service technician. Shirt pocket size without com promising leaturesor accuracy. Large, easy to read ·1.1· LCD display. Fully overload protected for safety. 2000 hour battery life with slandard 9v cell. Probes and battery included. · Bask: DC accuracy: plus/minus 0.5% · 0Cvottage: 2v- 1000Y. · ranges · AC \IOltage: 200V- 750\/, 2 ranges · Resistance: 2k ohms-2M ohms. · ranges · DC current:2mA-2A. ·ranges · tnpultmpedanee: 10M ohm ·· A""o"llOlOVX-8il;t"oxM3"PxIOt·l.eCUlnllddlr1-. CIARCIA FEEDBACK Tandy Computer Accessories: Because there is no better value.TM Take Control with the Tandy® Power Switching System spring COMDEX), but I have lost infor mation on the company . Also, I have been thinking about build ing a battery-backed RAM disk with stor age capabilities on the order of 10 mega bytes . I would like it to be able to plug into the slot vacated by one of the disk drives and include a connector for an ex ternal power supply for when I change its battery . Can you give me any pointers about its construction? Finally , I am considering changing ome boards in my Compaq and replac ing them with some of the newer multi function cards. I am pretty sure that all of the slots in my Compaq are IBM-compat ible, but I would like to be assured of this. I recently replaced the machine's key board (through my local dealer) and ended up paying considerably for the re placement, since the Compaq' s keyboard requires 12 volts instead of the 5 V that most other keyboards require . I've sent Compaq a letter concerning slot compati bility, but the company has not answered so far. David Ferguson Winter Haven, FL Price applle$ ii Aadlo Shack Computer Centers and parlicipatino S1o<es and dealers. Comllllter S)'S1em nol lnckrdoo. Get total control plus power protection for only s7'}95. The Tandy Power Switching System consolidates all of your power needs into one convenient unit. This six· outlet power controller places your entire system at your fingertips. In addition, you get full power-line noise filtration, plus full common and differential mode spike protec· tion. For more protection, the sys· tern includes a circuit breaker. The Power Switching System acts as a monitor base and even swivels to provide the best viewing angle. Take control-get the Tandy Power Switching System today! (26-203) 1tad1e lllaell The Technology Store'" A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION Premier Technologies (1890 McGaw Ave., Irvine, CA 92714, (714) 261 -1184) and Axoni.x Corp. (417 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108. (801) 365-9521) both offer a IO-megabyte hard disk drive for the NEC MultiSpeed. Ir may be technically possible ro build a JO-megabyte RAM disk drive for your NEC, but ir may nor make sense when you take everything into consideration. For example , if you were to use 1-megabir chips, you would need 90 of them for a JO-megabyte RAM disk. Ninety chips rake up a fair amoum of space and produce a fair amount ofheat. Even ar bargain prices of $25 each . that would be $2250 for the chips alone. Power requirements would probably mean either a permanelll AC adapter (limiting portability) or an additional barrery pack to lug around. All in all, one of the above hard disk drives would be a better choice. Compaq makes some nice computers, but it has fallen short in technical support for the end user, refusing ro answer even simple questions. The company requires that the end user be serviced by a dealer and does not make its technical manuals available. Since 1have not had much ac cess ro Compaq's computers, I can't comment on the keyboard question. As far as replacing some boards, they should be compatible, but you should either try out the board before you buy it or make a prior arrangement with the vendor for a refund ifit doesn 'r work. - Steve· 46 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 229 on Reader Service Card How do you make a great deal even better? By adding a full 20 megabytes more storage to our Quantus X/T- and pricing it at only $100 more. The new $895 Quantus X/T 40. Leave it to Quantus to give you more bytes for your buck. Specifications and prices subject to change. Circ~ 306 on Reader Service Card Quantus Microsystems One Butterfield Park Spofford, NH 03462 (800) 255-0125 (800)356-9001 (603) 363-8301 (603)886-3220 · AndTheArchitect... The Quantus 1\Jlbo AT · Monochrome monitor ·Hatt-height 40Mb hard drive · 80286 running at 6-10MHz · 1MbRAM · 8 expansion slots · Text/graphics card · Speaker · 1.2Mb floppy drive · 101-key enhanced keyboard · 200 watt power supply · 3 year limited warranty $1495 COMPLETE The Quantus MT386 · Monochrome monitor · Full-height 80Mb hard drive · 80386 running at 4.77/6/8/10/16MHz · 2Mb RAM · 8 expansion slots · Text/graphics card · Speaker · 1.2Mb floppy drive · 101 -key enhanced keyboard · 200 watt power supply · 3 year limited warranty $2995 COMPLETE The Quantus 1\Jlbo XT · Monochrome monitor · Half-height 20Mb hard drive · 8088 running at 4.77-8MHz · 640KRAM · 8 expansion slots · Text/graphics card · Speaker · 360K floppy drive · 84-key keyboard · 150 watt power supply · 2 year limited warranty S795 COMPLETE ·' ..' . :. , · f I I I 1 I I I I I Specifications and prices subject to change. Circle 307 on Reader Service Card Ouantus Microsystems One Butterfield Park Spofford. NH 03462 (800)255 -0125 (800) 356 -9001 (603) 363- 4564 (603) 886-3220 .................. EGA 91ipfilclt ant axtrWoltmtallane Wfth 8401<, tlappy, manachrome monitor, 101-a.y ~ EGA graphlcl card, 150 watt power eupply 6 network carda, network software, complete netwark cabling, MS-DOS $9900 Specifications and µices subject to change. Circle 308 on &aihr Service Carri Quantus Microsystems One Butterfield Park Spofford, NH 03462 (800) 255-0125 (800)356-9001 (603) 363-8301 (603)886 -3220 J.... M ITSUBISHI Aclual unretouched screen image. Mitsubishi Has AGreat Picture In-Store ForYou. A High-Quality Line of PC Monitors Priced Below The Competition. Introd ucing the Mitsubish i brand name family of PC Monitors. Select from five different IBM®compatible models, along with the new IBM PS/zni compatible XC-1429C. Each has a 13V" diagonal viewing area and proprietary high contrast glass for the sharpest image possible. Affordably Priced PC Monitors T he XC Series incorporates proven Mitsubishi quality and reliability at an extremely affordable price. In fact, we've included a wide variety of features for which you'd expect to pay considerably more. Like advanced video and deflection circuits to reduce distortion and optional tilt and swivel base for improved ergonomics. A lso in-line self-co nvergence for low power consumption and extra reliability. T he XC Series is available in quantity, ready to support a wide range of application needs- from standard word processing and business graphics to windowing and high resolution solids modeling and CAD. Complete Customer Satisfaction Mitsubishi stands behind its brand name XC Series monitors with knowledgeable applications and service personnel and backs each product with a comprehensive one-year warranty. It all adds up to a worldwide reputation for state-of-the-art electronics and unparalleled customer satisfaction. Compare the picture qua lity and see for yourself why Mitsubishi monitor displays look so good. For product literature and your nearest distributor, call Mitsubishi today at 1-800-556-1234 Ext. 54. In California call l-800-441-2345 Ext. 54. Mitsubishi Electronics A merica, Inc., Computer Peripherals Division, 991 Knox Street, Torrance, CA 90502. Circle 183 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 184) MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS ·~ XC-1 4 0 9 C XC-1410C $519.00 Sug. Retail $659.00 Sug. Retail IBM·CGA Compatible IBM EGA Compatible Medium Resolution Monitor: High Resolution Monitor: !3V" · 2,000 characters, 13V" · 2,000 characters, 640 x 200 graphics resolu 640 x 350 graphics resolu tion · TTL video input tion · Dual-Mode/ TTL l5.75KHz · 16 colors video input 15.75/ 0.4mm pitch stripe mask 22.4KHz · 16/64 colors 0.4mm pitch stripe mask XC-1430C $739.00 Sug. Retail IBM EGACompatible High Resolution Monitor: 13V" · 2,000 characters, 640 x 350 graphics resolu tion · Dual-Mode/ TTL video input 15.75/ 22.4KHz · 16/ 64 colors O.Jlmm fine dot pitch XC·1412C $799.00 Sug. Rerail IBM·PGC Compatible High Resolution Monitor: lJV" · 4,800 charac ters, 640 x 480 graphics resolu tion · Analog video input 30.49KHz · Infinite colors 0.3lmm fine dot pirch XC-1429C ~~~ $685.00 Sug. Retail IBM-VGACompatible High Resolution Moni tor: !JV" · 4,800 characters, 640 x 480 graph ics resolu tion · Analog video input 31.SKHz · lnfinite colors 0.28mm fine dot pitch IBM i a regisrered rradema rk of lmerna<iono l Business Mach ines Co rp., © 1987 Mitsubishi Electronics A merica, Inc. BOOK REVIEWS PROFICIENT C Augie Hansen Microsoft Press Redmond, WA: 1987 ISBN 1-55615-007-5 512pages, $22. 95 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO MIDI SOFTWARE Howard Massey and the staffofPASS Amsco Publications New York: 1987 ISBN 0-8256-/088-5 252 pages, $19. 95 A LITTLE SMALLTALK Timothy Budd Addison-Wesley Reading . MA : 1987 ISBN 0-201-10698-1 280pages, $25.95 PROFICIENT C Reviewed by Alex Lane A ugie Hansen wrote Profi cient C for DOS pro grammers who are interested in applying structured pro gramming techniques to de velop libraries of reusable, professional routines. Along the way , he presents a number of interesting and useful utility programs. Hansen assumes that the reader has a " modest" level of experience with some high-level language or assembly language and a working knowledge of C . With nearly 8000 lines of source code in the book, I would amend the latter to a "good " working knowledge . And since the software uses DOS 2 .0 or higher and Microsoft C version 4.0, it wouldn't hurt to be familiar with the product, including support tools like MAKE . In one of the appendixes, Hansen comments briefly on the comparison of Microsoft C to C86 , the Mark Wil liams C Programming System, and Lattice C . The author devel oped and tested all the programs and routines on both an AT&T 6300 computer running MS-DOS and an IBM PC AT running PC-DOS . If you shudder at the prospect of keying in several thousand lines of source code or are interested only in the executable files, two companion disks-one with source code and MAKE files, the other with stand-alone, executable programs and pre compiled function libraries-are available from the publisher for under $20 each. The book is divided into four major sections and a group of appendixes . Section I contains three chapters describing the workings of the Microsoft C compiler (along with a quick rundown on memory models and support tools like the Microsoft L I NK, LIB, and MAKE programs) , thoughts on program development, and a discussion of the interaction between C and the DOS en vironment. Hansen's kickoff cliscussion of program development has a tendency to dissolve into ge neric bromides like "The con sistent and careful application of structured design and the incremental development of both programs and the docu ments that describe them are critical factors in the success of programming projects." Fortu nately , the tone soon improves as attention turns to nuts-and bolts C programming. Standard Libraries Section II describes standard libraries, the user interface , and automatic program con figuration . In addressing the subject of portability, Hansen strives to avoid what he calls the " religious debate" sur rounding this issue. Since the software being developed here is intended for use in a DOS environment, Hansen concen trates on building code that can be moved among various implementations of MS-DOS and PC-DOS . The chapter on libraries is by no means comprehen sive; it does little more than provide a quick survey of exception handling, time, and file and character I/O functions. Although I don't know how the author could have done a bet ter job, I couldn 't help wondering why he selected these particu lar functions for discussion . On the other hand, the ensuing dis cussion of the operating system interface lays a solid foundation of both facts and source code for subsequent programming. All of this is brought somewhat loudly together in a demonstration program designed to let the user control the appearance of the screen cursor. This choice of sample program takes some of the bite out of the author's laudable intent not to "waste any time solving Fibonacci series or calculating factorial s." While I was impressed with the techniques that were used to construct the program, I found the program disappointing. The text quickly gets back on track with a discussion of com mand-line processing. Here , Hansen drops a gem of a C func tion in the reader' s lap: getopt( ), which scans the command continued lllustrdtion by Lynne Buschman JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 51 Clrr:le 255 on &ader Service Card Expansion Chassis/Tape Back-up BOOK REVIEWS line and extracts option flags and arguments (Microsoft C ap parently has no facility to do this) . He puts the function to good use in a sample program called Timer. which perfonns a num ber of timing and sound functions inside the IBM PC . Starting with the Timer program , Hansen puts his programming meth odology into practice by providing both pseudocode descrip tions and manual pages for his programs. Specifica ti o n Model No. o l Spoc e lor Power Supp ly No. Slo l ll Helghl Drive (Wolll) M·1" 0 1 50 M·2 3 3 100 M ·3 5 3 100 M ·d 12 2 100 M·5 0 2 45 M-6 0 1 50 M -7 5 2 100 M ·8 0 2 45 M-9 0 2 60 M·IO 8 . 4 135 · Exlro space IOI o stond olone controller Dimensio n DXWXH(cm) 30x15x6.5 42x25x 16 39x 30x15 d0xd9x 1d 39x18x15 26.Sx 18x 13.5 38.5x30x 13.5 39.Sx 18x 13.5 38 .Sx49x9 43x49x14 Ptlce S139 S299 S239 S299 $1 49 51 69 S299 S149 S249 S239 EXT ond RC\/ Adopters (lnterloclng Computer & Chassis With Slots).. .S149 Tope Back-up (With Controller & Coble).. ..S499 ORDER TOU FREE: (800) 826-0267 In Callfomla Call (408) 434-0877 SOURCE ELECTRONICS CORP. 2380 Qume Drive, Suite A San Jose, CA 95131 Telex: 279366 Fax: (408) 434-0539 File-oriented Utilities Many concepts and much of the code developed in the first two sections find application in Section 111 , which is devoted to a set of file-oriented programs , including several Unix-like file and directory utilities . Although some of the programs duplicate functions provided by DOS , they generally exhibit some added features. The LS utility , for example, is a general-purpose direc tory lister that outperforms the DIR command by affording a number of output options. The subsequent chapter extends the programming technique developed thus far to the methodical development of PR, a Unix-like program designed to display or print the contents of text files either with or without formatting options. Between the author's clear explanations and the pro gram ' s intrinsic usefulness, this chapter is pure gold. Display Functions In Section IV , the author turns his attention to screen-oriented programs, starting with brief discussions about determining the display system type and methods of updating displays. He de velops a synchronized block-copy routine to address the latter problem and extends it in the following chapter into a set of functions that interact with a screen buffer. Hansen begins a separate chapter on the ANSI .SYS device driver with the basics of what it is, how it"s used, and the pros and cons of using it in the IBM PC environment. Having laid the groundwork, he then presents the source code for an ANSI in· terface package and uses it to implement a program that control: screen attributes. ln what is effectively the final chapter in the book , the autho1 presents a file-viewing utility and discusses its construction The appendixes in Section V cover, among other things, over· views of various C implementations and a summary of the rou tines presented in the book. One gauge of the usefulness of a technical book , especially one that presents a series of working examples to the reader, is the value of the examples in relation to the cover price . For ex ample, I have bought books that were hardly worth the trouble to read , despite a plethora of nattily formatted source code. Others have provided one or two gems that made buying the book a break-even proposition . On rare occasion , l run across a book from which you get your money 's worth and more ; Pro ficient C is such a book. " 50 Exact Emulations, 7 File Transfer Protocols, and Muni-port Background Communications" · Seamless Remote Virtual-Disk Integrates file transfers between remote systems and your favorite PC applicat ion using local disk syntax · Supports IBM PS/2, PC, XT, AT compatibles · Operates over any NetBIOS LAN , and the DEC LAT. Banyan. Bridge, Novell, and Allen Bradley Asynchronous S~ SOFTERM PC SOFTERM PCi'T I~ ·:.,,..A, r,..,lc.re· ir-i With A ll Feature~ and · ' Exact f- ,1· ' · 50 EJtact Emula11ons [l ' 'nr. c r '"' "' nn,1· Bloc~ and Convf>·Sat1ona1 -'9500 · DEC V T 240 VI 241 For Information Call ~·.....ca 800/225-8590 303 / 593-9~0 Tele> 4!>0236 Alex Lane (1873 Bartram Rd., Jacksonville, Fl 32207) is a reg is1ered professional engineer wi1h a strong in1eres1 in artificial imelligence. The moderator of1he prolog co11fere11ce 011 BIX, he can be contac1ed 1here as "a. Lane. ., THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO MIDI SOFTWARE Reviewed by Donald Swearingen A ny book that claims to be the complete guide to any subject even loosely related to computer software must inevitably fall short of that claim. In a field where progrclmmers are often hard at work on a program's next revision even as the current release is being shipped, it is practically impossible to provide a truly up-lo-date compendium of available software. co111in11ed 52 BYT E · JA UARY 1988 Cirr:le 246 on Reader Service Card More than two years ago. we introduced the leading low-cost (under $1000) CAO system. ProOesign II. It was priced at $299 . Since that time. more than 1000 enhancements have been added to the software. making ProOesign II the price performance leader in CAD. Now. Pro Design 11 has been renamed DesignCAD and packaged with more than $400 worth of supplementary software. including symbol libraries. file transfer ut1ht1es. and materials list programs. We added more than 100 enhancements to the software. making OesignCAO an extremely powerful CAO system at any W e were at a loss. however. whe n it came time to set the price. We considered pricing Des1gnCAO at $999. W e thought about reducing the price to a low $599 . W e talked to industry experts. We met with marketing consultants. We perlormed calculations on the finest spreadsheets money can buy. Then. in the great American tradition. we said .. Aw . .. What the Heck! " OesignCAO is priced at $299 1 New Features: · Compatibi lity with most ot her CAD systems large and small IDXF and IGES. Input and Output included at no extra charge). · Co mpatibility with virtually all desktop publishing systems is included at no extra charge. · Expanded Memory Support is now provided to utilize the full power of your PC/AT. · Several new character fonts are now provided at no extra charge. · More than l 00 new drawing features are now provid ed at no ext ra charg e. · Symbol libra ries with more than 500 symbols are included at no extra charge. · A Bill of Materials utility is provided at no extra charge . · Des1gnCAD provides comple te support for the IBM System/2. Same Quality: · OesignCAO has all the features and capabilities of ProOesign II - normally found only on CAO systems costing thousands of dolla rs. · DesognCAD. like Pr0Des1gn II. has unparalleled ease of use. · OesignCAO. like ProOesign II, has unprecedented dot matrix pront quality. · OesignCAO supports more than 200 pr inters. 80 plotters. and virtually any mouse. digitizer. and display compat ible with the IBM PC. Call or write for a FREE DEMO DISK: American Small Business Computers 118 South Mill · Pryor, OK 74361 · 918/ 825-4844 ProDesign II 1s now DesignCAD Still On/ 2 9 9 ! Circle 15 on Reader Service Card BOOK REVIEWS Quaid Analyzer the tool that created CopyWrite Now you can debug your own programs with a professional quality debugger the one that unraveled every form of copy-protection used on the PC. With the Quaid Analyzer, you can: D See occurrences of any interrupt. with its meaning shown on the screen. D View memory as text or instructions. scrolling as easily as you do with an editor. D Run until a memory location or 1/ 0 port is changed . D Protect your hard disk from accidental destruction. D Analyze software without the source, even when it uses countermeasures to thwart trac ing. D See all stages of the boot load. We kept the Quaid Analyzer off the market to avoid helping publishers with copy-protection. Now that copy protection is gone, we can sell it to you. The Quaid An alyzer is a software tool occupying 100K bytes. It runs on any IBM PC and most MS-DOS systems without hard ware modification. Call (416) 961-8243 · Quaid Analyzer $99 U.S. All orders shipped at our expense within a day. All major credit cards accepted. or return coupon to: 45 Charles St. East Third Floor, Dept. 605 Toronto. Ontario. M4Y 152 Payment method MC-Visa-Amax -Diners-Check CardNo. ---------------~ Expiry Date - - - - - -- - -- - -- -- Name ----------------~ Address - - - - - - - - -- -- - - -- City/ State Phone No. - - - -- - - - - - -- - -- Signature - - -- - -- - -- - - - - - Not unpredictably , The Complete Guide to MIDI Sofnvare, written by Howard Massey and the staff of New York 's Public Access Synthesizer Studio (PASS), provides something less than a complete overview of this new and rapidly expanding area of soft ware development. What it does provide. according to its authors, is an unbiased survey of some 60 musica l instrument digital in terface (MIDI) software packages ava ilable at the time of the book 's publication. As you shall see, even this more circum scribed objective proves difficult to fut fill. Real-World Perspective PASS , which has been reorgani zed as the Center for Electronic Music. is a nonprofit organization devoted to making available state-of-the-an faci lities for audio production and synthesis, along with various related se rvices . including work hops , semi nars, and individual instruction . I>. uch , the member. of PASS are in the position of having had hands-on experience with all the software described. This reservoir of expertise gives the book its stronge t voice: the comments and observations reflect a real-world per pective rather than the detached or tendentious attitudes that are often present in critical reviews . However. while a great deal of specific and quite useful infor mation is communicated wi thin its pages , the book fails to de fine any ge ne ral criteria by which readers might objectively compare one program with others of its class. Only 8 of the book's 250 pages are devoted to introductory and backgrou nd materia l . The re maining pages consist of actual reviews of 'individual MIDI oftware pac kages. The author skimp on more general information that might have been most useful to a reade r attempting to get hi or her bearing in a n often confusing world of hype and promotion. The author uggest that you "buy the hardware to run the software. ·· While this may represent a good ba ic trategy. it fails to address a broader context where functional overlap, the relative price-to-pe rformance ratio. life expectancy (will the manufacturer even be in business in 2 years?) . and usability for other tasks often cloud the picture , making choices far Jes clear-cu(than such a simple approach might suggest. The allocatio.n of a short descriptive paragraph to each of the computers for which MIDI software is reviewed simply does not provide sufficient enlightenment for making informed choices. Also missing is a discussion of available MIDI interfaces and their prices for each computer. an important factor in the deci sion of which computer to buy. The MIDI software reviews constitute the bulk of the book. They are organized into seven sections, each covering MIDI software for a particular computer. Included are the IBM PC and compatibles, the Apple Macintosh . the Apple II , the Atari ST, the Commodore 64 , and, with a single entry for each, the Commodore 128 and the Texas Instrume nts 99/4A. Amiga owners will be disappointed to find no entries for their com puter, even though a number of MIDI applications are now available for the Amiga . Even for the computers covered , there are a number of puzzling omissions. For example, the Steinberg Pro-24 sequencer for the Atari ST has been available since the fall of 1986, but it somehow failed to make the book , despite its 1987 publication date . Once again, however, any software book call ing itself "complete " must have an omniscient viewpoint and almost no lead time . r~ r==il Quaid Software Limited Ask about Disk Explorer the program that lakes over where Quaid Analyzer leaves off. Review Format A standard format is applied to the review of each MIDI pro gram surveyed. Each review begins with a "box score" describ ing the program name , function , author, MIDI interface re quirements , price , and a list of the program's special features and limitations. This is followed by a " guided tour" d.iscussion conti1111ed 54 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Order Status, Technical & Other Info. (602) 246-2222 FAX # (602) 246-7805 Call for programs not listed WAREHOUSE -; . lill1illlllllll DATA PRODUCTS 110011 r --: SPECIAL MICROSOFT WORD 4.0 $195 No Charge for MasterCard or Visa Ill ~ TOLL-FREE ORDER LINE 1-800-421-3135 FREE SOFTWARE! FREE SOFTWARE! FREE SOFTWARE! Purchase over $100 and receive one of these disks abso lutely FREE! Purchases over $250 get tw o free disks, over $400 get three, or get all four disks when your purchase is over $500! 1) MIXED BAG A great assortment of utilities and games all packed on one disk. 2) PC-WRITE Try this famous feature packed w o rd processor. It's a w inner! 3) FONT-SET Lets you set popular fonts like bold, underline. etc. on most late model printers from Citizen. Epsc , NEC. Okidata, Panasonic, Star, Toshiba , etc. You can even use your printer like a typewriter! 4) ABC-LIST - Great mailing list program! So rt on any field, do qualified searches, print reports and mailing labels. and more! - SOFTWARE ACCOUNTING Cyma ...... . .. . . . .. .. ca11 Dae Easy Acct. . · . . . . . . $54 ·Dae Easy Payroll . . . · . . . 39 Dollars & $ense .. . .. . .. 94 In House Acct. . . . . . . . . . 39 Managing Your Money 3.0 . .. .. . .. . . 117 COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS Carbon Copy Plus . .. . 115 Crosstalk XVI . . · .. . · . . · 89 Crosstalk MK4 ... . ... . 110 Remote . . . .. . .. .. . .... 89 Smartcom II , .. ·...·... 79 DATABASE MANAGERS Clipper . ··.·. . .·· . ··.· 379 Condor 3 . . . . . . · . . . . . . 325 DBase 111 Plus . ·...· . . Call DB-XL . . .. . ..... ... . .. 82 Fox Base P.lus .. ... ... 195 Genifer . . ..... . ... ·. . . 194 Paradox 2.0 · . ... .. . .. . 398 PFS: Pro File · ' ·. · . . .. Call Powerbase . . . . .. · .. . · 169 Q&A .. . .. . . . .. . .· : . .. 190 Quicksilver . .. . ... . .. · 295 Revelation . .. . .. . . . ... 464 R Base System v ... ... ca11 Reflex . · .. .· . .. .. ·· . ... 81 Relate & Report .. .. .. . 112 VPlnfo . . . · . . . . . ·· . . · · . 48 DESKTOP PUBLISHING Pagemaker . · ...... .. . 479 PFS: First Publisher · · . . 59 Ventura Publisher . ..· . 455 GRAPHICS Chartmaster · .... . . .. . Call Diagram Master . ... .. . Call Easy Cad . . ... .. . ... . . 109 Energraphics 2.01 .. . . . 294 Generic Cad . . . . . . . . . . · S9 In-A-Vision ·.. . . . ... .. 27S Microsoft Chart 3.0 .. . · 229 Newsroom Pro . . . . · · . · · 65 Printshop ..... . .. . ..... 33 Prodesign 2 . . . . . . . . . . 148 INTEGRATED Ability . .. .. . . . . . . . .. ... 56 Ability Pills ... . . . . ... . Call Enable ·. . · . · .. . . · ·... Call Framework II . .· . ·.... Call Smart System .... . . .. . 429 Symphony . ... ... .... CaJI LANGUAGES Lattice C Compiler .. .. 242 Microsoft C Compiler · · 249 Microsol1 For1ran . . .. . 255 Microsoft Macro Assembler . . . $84 Microsol1 Pascal . .. . .. 166 Microsol1 Quick Basic . . SS Microsoft Quick C . . . . . . 55 Ryan McFarlan For1ran . · . . ·.· . .. .· . 342 Ryan McFarlan Cobol .... .......... 549 Turbo Basic , . . .. . .. .. . 5S Turbo C ...... . ....... . 55 Turbo Pascal .......· . . SS Turbo Prolog · . .. . .. ... 55 MULT I - USER SOFTWARE Fox Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Word Per1ect ·.... .. ·. 310 Word Per1ect Modules .. . .... · . .· ea 75 Microsoft Word .. . . . .. Call PROJECT MANAGER Microsoft Project . . . ... 219 Super Project Plus .... Call Timeline 2.0 .. .. ..... . 270 Total Havard Man. 2 · · . Call SPREADSHEET Hal .. .. · . . .. .. ....... 11S Lotus 1-2-3 . .... . . . ... call Silk , . .· .... .. . .. .. .. . 149 Spreadsheet Auditor .· .. 82 Supercalc 4 . .. . .. .. .. . Call VP Planner . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 UTILITIES Copy II PC . .. . ..... . .· 19 Copywrite . . . . . . . . · . . · . 39 Cubit . . .... . ... . . · .. .. 30 Deskview 2.0 . . . . . .. . . . 72 Direct Access . . . . · . . . · · 49 Eureka . . ...... . ... . . . . 95 Fastback . ............. 85 Formtools . · . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Graph in the Box 2 · . . . . 55 Mace . . . . ...... . . ..... 55 Microsoft Windows . . . . . 55 Norton Advanced . . . . . . 75 Norton Utilities ·. . .. .. .. 48 PC Tools ... . ... . .. . ... 19 Prokey 4.0 ... ..... . .... 70 Q DOS ...... . ........ . 49 Rightwriter .. · . . . . . . . .. 75 Sidekick · · · . . .. . · · . .. .. 55 Sideways .. .. .. . .. .. · . . 39 Sqz . .. .. . . .. . .. .. . ... Call Superkey .. .. .. .. . . · .. · SS Turbo Lightning . . . · . . . 55 XTree . . .. ..... . ... ... . 3S WORD PROCESSING Microsoft Word 4.0 ..·. 195 Mullimate Advantage II . ... . ... call Volkswriter 3 .··· . ·. ... 139 Webster Spellcheck · . . . 37 Word Per1ect ..·.. . ... 195 Word Perfect Executive . . . . . .. . .. $109 Word Perfect Library . . . S9 Wordstar Pro ........ . 233 Wordstar 2000+ .... . . . 206 -HAROWARE ACCESSORIES Brooklyn Bridge . . . . . . . 72 Copy II PC Bd. . . . . . . . . . 75 Curtis Ruby . . . . . .. .... 59 Mach Ill Joystick . . .. ... 36 Masterpiece . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Masterpiece + . . . . . . . . · . 99 150 Watt Power Supply . . . . . . . . 69 BOARDS AST Advantage Premiurr 422 Sixpac Premium ..... . Call Sixpac . . .... .. ... .. .. 14S HERCULES Color Card . .. .. .... .. 145 In Color Card ..... .... 302 Graphics Plus · . . ..... . 182 INTEL Above PC 64K · . . . .. .. 22S Above 286 .. . . .. . .. ... 319 Orchid Tiny Turbo ... . 389 SUNTEK 10 XT . ..... . ..... .. . . . 65 IOAT .. . .. ... . ...... . . 65 TALLTREE J Ram 3 ATP .. .. .. ... Cell COMPUT ERS AZ386 80386-16 Micro Processor, 1 MB of Ram. Teac 1.2 MB disk drive, 220 watt power supply, 6 layer mother board. RT keyboard ...... $2995 AZ TURBO AT 51 2K. 6 & 10 MHZ. keyboa rd. 200 watt power supply, one 1.2 teac dri ve, Phoenix Bios . ... $975 AZ TURBO XT 135 watt power supp ly. One 360K drive. 640K. keyboard . .... .. $519 AZ 10 150 watt power supply, dual 360K drive. 1OMHZ mother board. 640K. keyboard .. ...... $670 AST286 PREMIUM COMPUTER 512K. expandable to 2MB on the system boa rd. RT enhanced style keyboard. paral lel. serial and clock. 1.2 MB floppy disk drive. 7 expansion slots. two 32 bi t fas tram slots. DOS 3.1 & Basic 1 year warranty ........ Call EGA BOARDS ATI Ega Wonders . . ... 195 Nee GBI ......... .. .. Call Paradise Auto480 . . .. . 155 Quad EGA Plus . . . . . . . 295 Vega Deluxe . . . . . .. · . . 236 EGA MONITORS AMDEK 722 . . . . . . .. .. 455 Casper .. .... . ... . . . .. 410 Mitsubishi Diamond Scan ... ..... .... .. . 509 NEC Multisync . .. . . . .. . . .. . SS9 Mullisync Plus . . . . . . . · Call HARD CARDS AZ20 MB . .......... . 425 AZ30 MB .... .... .... 499 AZ 40 MB . ... . . ... .. . 625 Plus 20 MB .. . . .. .. ... Call Plus 40 MB ........ .. . Call HARD DRIVES Seagate 20 MB · .. ..... 269 Seagate 30 MB . .... . .. 299 Seagate 30 MB AT .... Call MODEMS AZ 300/ 1200 .. . . . . . . . . . 75 Everex 300/1200 ..... .. 89 Hayes 1200 . . .. . · ..... call Hayes 1200B ... . .. . . . Call Hayes 2400 . . .. ... . .. . can U.S. Robotics 2400 . . · . 335 MICE Genius . .. .... . . . ...... 59 Logitech ............ . ca11 Microsoft Bus W/Paintbrush . . . . . . . . 92 Microsoft Serial . .. . ... 119 Optimouse w/Dr Halo . . 89 Optimouse w/DPE .. .. 185 MONITORS AMO EK 410 Amber .... . . .... $145 Magnovox RGB .. . . .. . Call PRI NCETON Max 12 . . . . .......... . 138 HX 12E .· ... . . .. . . . .. . 460 SAMSUNG TIL Amber w/tilt ..... ·· 7S Color w/ tllt ... . .... . .. 249 PRINTERS CITIZEN MSP 10 .. . ........ . . . 249 MSP 15 . . . .... ....... 315 MSP20 .. .. .. . .. .. ... 285 120 D ...... . ....... . . 142 Premiere 35 . . . . . .. .. . 471 Tribute 224 ..... .... .. 639 EPSON - Call on all models NEC P5XLP . ... . . . . .. · . .. · 840 P7 Parallel ... . ...... . . 619 8850 ... . ... . ... ... .. 1059 P6 Parallel .. . ... .. .. .. 439 P960XL . .. .. . .... . .. 1035 OKIOATA Call on all models PANASONIC 1080-l/M2 . . ..... ... . . 169 1090-l/M2 ... .. .. ... .. 199 1092-1 . . .. ... .. . . . . ... 306 1524 . . " ... ... ....... S72 1592 . ...· . · . .. ·.·... . 392 1595 .... .... . .... .. .. 439 3131 .. .. .. . . ... . . " . . 259 3151 .. . . ....... " . .. . 407 STAR MICRONICS NB24-10 ....... .. .... 456 NB24-1 5 ............. 610 ND10 .. .. .. ........ .. 275 NP10 .... .. . ....... . . 139 NX10 . ·. ... .. . . . .. · ·. 160 NX15 .......... ...... 306 TOSHIBA 321 SL ... ..... .... . .. S10 341 SL .. .. .... .... . .. can 351 Modelll . .. .... . .. 910 RAM 64K 150NS ........ . . 16.50 256K 150NS .. . .. . .. ... 33 TlRM~ Stuppmg on mos! souware ls SS 00 AZ orders .f] 7'.6.sales tax Person a I check I company check · allow lour1een (t~) days lo clear Weaccep1e>u1chasc ()(ders from authorize-cl ins111u11on.s fo1 3 5'1', more lhan cash price. All re lurn.s are subjecl lo ou1 ap oroval lbere w1t1bea20% rcs1ock ltt Minimum phOI')! orctr S50 All prir:es are suDjec11(1 change. Gue rocopyriighl laws we cannot take back a_n.,. O!)en soltware TOLL-FREE ORDER LINE 1-800-421-3135 WAREHOUSE DATA PRODUCTS, 2701 West Glendale Ave. · Phoenix, AZ 85051 We do not gu1r11ntM compabfllty Circle 288 on Reader Service Card - STORE HOURS Monday. Wednesday & Thursday Qam-11pm EST 7am-Qpm MST Tuesday & Friday !1Jm-7pm EST 7am-5pm MST Saturday 11am7pm EST 9am5pm MST 6am-8pm PST 6am-4pmPST 8am-4pm PST JANUARY 1988 · B YTE 55 ·DON'T AMERICAN Design CAD 3.0-··-······- $1811.00 ANSA Paradox (C i )------··········$3411.00 Paradox (2,0)-................$409.00 ASHTON-TATE D Base lll+......................$3811.00 FrameWorl< IL.-............ $3911.00 Multimate Advantage 11 - ...SCALL Rapjdfile ......................... $244.00 BOEING Bovlng Cate ...........- ....- $239.00 Boeing Graph ................. $189.00 . 11 ''' 10MHz ~ Swan X 10 Complete System with (2) 360K Drives & Monographic Monitor Assembled & Tested With MSDOS 3.3 $629 Add $69.95 Standard Features · ~ SwanAT12 CompleteSystem with 1.2MB Drive s 9 9 9 & Monographic Monitor Assembled & Tested With MSDOS 3.3 Add $69.95 Standard Features · 80286 12/10 MHz (Keyboard Switchable) 13.3 Norton S.l .Rating · 640K of RAM on 1MB Motherboard · 200W Power Supply · Ports: (1) Serial , (1) Parallel , (1) Game · Dual Floppy/Dual Hard Drive Controller · 8 Expansion Slot · 101 Enhanced "AT " Touch & Click Style Keyboard BORLAND Ouatro ..................... $119.00 Eureka ............................ $104.95 Reflex ...............................$89.95 Reflex Wor1<Shop .. .·.......... $44 .95 S1doK1cK(u nprotected) .·.·.·· $54 ,95 Traveling Side kick Buna1e $79.95 Superl<ey ·......·......... .........· $59.95 Sprml ..... ...·.. ..................... $CA LL Travelling Sidekick ....·..·.·· $44.95 Turbo C ............... ............. $75.95 Turbo Oalabase Toolbox .. $44 .95 Turbo Gameworks ...... .··.·· $44 .95 .oo Turbo Graphix Too lbox ..... $31 Turbo Jumbo PacK ......... $184.95 Turbo Lightnirig ...... .......... $59.95 Tutbo Pascal .................... $62.95 Tu1bo Pascal N . Methods .$62.95 Tutbo Prolog .. ........ .........$64 .95 Turbo Prolog Toolbox ...... .$62.95 Turbo Tulor ........ ............... $26.95 · 1014.77 MHz 8088-1CPU · (1) Game Port · 640K RAM. ·Clock Calendar · 150W Power Supply w/Battery Backup · (1) Serial Port · 101 Key Enhanced · (1) Parallel Port "Ar Touch & Click · Hercules Compatible Video Card (720 x 348) Style Keyboard · Quality HI-Resolution Amber Monitor w/Tllt & Swivel · Clock Calendar wlBattery Backup · Hercules Compatible Video Card (720 x 348) w/Parallel Port (2nd) · Quality Hi-Resolution Amber Monitor w/Tilt & Swivel Mono System w/40MB Min.I~~~~~~-~?.~~~:.~ . $1395.00* WE CARRY QUALITY PRODUCTS FROM THESE FINE MANUFACTURERS Mono System w/20MB Seagate HD ··· $849.00 * Mono System w/30MB Miniscribe HD . $879.00* Base Unit wlo Monitor or Video Card ·· $459.00 * 'Single 360K Floppy Drive Option Upgrades for XT10 & AT12: Mono System w/40MB Se~~~~~ .~?.~~:.1····· $1495.00* Base Unit w/o Monitor or ~!~~?. :.~r·d··· · ···· ··$899.00* PRINTERS ~CITIZEN" 1200 ---··---·-···- ··-·$174.00 MSP-10 ········-······· -··-$2711.00 MSP-15 ......................._.$3711.00 Premier 35 ·-·--··-.....$459.00 Tn"bula 224 - ........- ..- SCALL Hercules to CGAwlth CGA Card and RGB Monitor Add ···..··········.···.·······$170.00 Hercules to EGA with EGA Card (operates in CGA, MDA, or HGA modes)and Packard Bell EGA Monitor Add ..................................$399.00 Panasonic 10801D ......................$159.00 1091ID.............- .......$189.00 10921H·....··.·............·$299.00 30 DAY SA TISFACT/ON GUARANTEE Your complete satisfaction is our top priorty. Any * Swan system may be returned within 30 days from the date of sh ipment for a full refund . FOR YOUR PROTECTION WE GO THE EXTRA YEAR A full 1 year warranty is included. wi1h a 2nd year SEW (Swan Extended Warranty) available. Call or wri1e for details. FAST DELIVERY ... We ship within 24 hours. TECHNICAL SUPPORT Our support statt is on ca ll 9-5 Mon -Fri to answer all of your questions and make sure that you get the most from your systems. YOUR COMPUTER INVESTMENT IS HASSLE FREE!!! j ·. swAN ~VIDEO , & fl/O" CARDS Monographics half card (720 x 348) Hercules Compatible wtparallel port ........ $69.95 Color half card (640 x 200) CGA Compatible .··...·.·.·...·...·.·........·..··.... $69.95 Monographics. Hercules Compatible, 2 Floppy Control/er, Parallel, Serial, Gameport, Clock & Calender w/Battery Backup ...... $119.95 Same board as above,except with CGA output instead ....·.·..··..·...·....·..·.·...·.···....$109.95 *Items returned musr be as-new. without modification or damage. All warranty cards, manuals and packaging musr be included. Return shipping must be prepaid and insvrad, bearing a RAC (Rerurn Authorization Code) on the shipping label. 1592 ······-·····-······-- - ·-· $3811.00 1595 ······-······-·--·-··-$439.00 3131 ........................- .....$259.00 3151 ........................- .....$399.00 Laser Printer ................_..$CALL NP-10 .............................$134.QS NX-10 ...........- .......- .......$157.95 NX-15 .............................$3411.00 ND-10 -··---···-·--·· $2811.00 N0-15 -···-·-··-··-····-$4211.00 NR-15 ............................. $41111.00 N824-10 ···--····-······--· $4119.00 N824-15 -·--··-·---- $6311.00 tcg _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ OPEN: 8:00AM·9:00PM Mon-Fri; 10:0DAM-6:00PM Sat, 12:00PM-8:00PMSun EAST COAST TIME TUSSEY COMPUTER PRODUCTS ~T~T~~~r~~~f PA 16804 SETTLE FOR LESS ··· tcp SHIPS IT SOFTWARE BRODERBUND -~,~-= Graphics Ubraiy Disks ···_$24.95 Nemroom Pro-......--$611.95 Print ShOp···············--······ $311.95 Or= Print ShOp Companion -S32.00 T9Y S .......- .......·-······ $42.95 COPY II PC ......................$27.00 Option Board ......- ·.- ........ $711.95 PC Tools ...........................$27.00 CHANG LABS ~s To R~__tt,-........- .$289.00 DAC SOFTWARE Dae Easy Accounting ..._, $60.95 OQC Easy Acd. Tutor.....- $111.95 Dae Easy PayroM...........- $311.95 Dae E~ P !Qff TJ!!Or -~4.115 SDilAk Y_,.B...R...E...A...K................... .95 FIFTH GENERATION Fastback - ........- ...........- ..$89.00 FUNK Sldiiways ..........................$37.95 GENERIC SOl':'.fW:AllE Generic CAOD 3.0-- -$69.95 Generic CADO w/Oot IOI $89.95 LIFETREE Volks Wri1er - - -··---S157.00 Words & F!gure ...._,_,.,···$137.00 Microsoft· PC Excel.............. $319.00 Access ........................ $159.00 6ookshell ...................... $CALL c Compiler .................. $249.00 Chan 3.0 ..................... $249.00 Flight Simulator ............. $32.95 Fonran ........................ $267.00 Macro Assembler .......... $87.00 MS·DOS & GW 6asic .. .SCALL Mouse ......................... $109.00 Pascal ......................... $167 .00 PC Works .....................$CALL Project ........................$329.00 Quick 6aslc ................... S57.00 Windows 2.02 ............... $79.00 WindowSl386 .............. $149.00 Word Versi on 4.0 ........ $299.00 LIVING VIDEOTIQQ" Ready! ......- ...........- ........$52.95 Think Tank ··-···...- ...........$97.95 LOTUS 123 ................................. $307.00 HAL ................................$119.00 Symphony .......................$439.00 MJCROSTUFF_ _~~ CroSSUltk xv1 ...·-·--~,~ m.QQ NORTON PRODUC'l'S No11on commander ..........$39.95 Nor1on Utllltles _,.............$49.95 Nor1on Advanced Utlitles .$84.00 SOf'fWAR.£ PUBI.ISHCNG First Put>lisher .............. $64.95 Harvard Total PM II .... $349.00 Harvard Graph ics .......$229.00 PFS Firsl Choice .......... $94 .00 Professional File ......... $139.00 Prolessional Plan .......... $CALL Professional Write ...... $109.00 PC HA RD DRIVES - - - MiniScribe 30MB XT Drive w/controller ·. $339.00 30MB Hard Card ...................$429.00 30MB AT Hard Card .............. $479.00 40MB AT Drive ......................$379.00 &? ~agate · ST-225 20MB w/controller ..... $289.00 ST-238 30MB w/controller ..... $359.00 AT Hard Drives:ST-4038 ......$549.00 ST-251 ........ $469.00 WESTERN D,G,TAL File Card 20.......................... $429.00 Fiie Card 30 .........................$479.00 AT FD/HD Controller .............$159.00 Swan Technologies 40MB Tape Backup..............$339.00 PC LAPlOP COMPUTERS 181 .........~ ................ $1,595.00 183 .....................·...$2,395.00 NEC Multispeed...·.·........... $CALL MAGNAVOX 7613 TTL (Green) ............... $89.00 7623 TTL (Amber) ...............$89.00 8515 RGB ......................... $249.00 8083 EGA ......................... $319.00 8873 Multimode ................ $479.00 PC ADD ON BOARDS AST Advant8')e(1281l) ............$319.00 Rampage AT ·-·····-----'419.00 Rampage PC 6 P8k+(64k)......................SCALL l/O Mini II ........................$159.00 ATI Graplilc Solution .............$189.00 EGA Won<Wr ....._ .·..·- $274.00 BOCA RESEARCH EGAICG~IYAIMCA -- $149.ilil BOCARAM XTw/OK ....... $139.00 BOCARAM ATw/OK,_,_$169.00 Bocatams Bril lnt11I Above Board compatib18 BOCA l/O AT ..............._,··$79.115 BOCA l/O XT ...............- ...$79.115 Gameport Adapter tor l/O .$19.115 HERCUJ, ES Graphk:a Plus ··-··-···-·-S179.00 In.COior Card -···-········-·$2911.00 Olh91' tt.rculn bo1mts In stock.. C·ll for fl'IC. MQJJfil; I MS! PC mouse w/Dr. Ha lo II $89.00 F.GA NEC Mullisync R............. $CALL Packard Bell EGAICGA/TTL Auto ..... $419.00 Goldstar EGA ..... ............ SCALL Amdek 722 ...................S4n.oo Thomson Ullrascan ...... $499.00 Zenhh 1470 EGA .......... $219 .00 CUtTIS ~::tl82RW CURTIS PRODUCTS Software orders over $50.00 & Acces sories/Peripherals under 8 pounds wlll be shipped FEDERAL EXPRESS(Ye..ven ·t theM pl'ice·) You only pay TCP's standard shipping ch111ge of $4.00 per order. orders arriving before 1:00 PM our time wlll be ·hipped out same dtiy. " part of your order Is back· ordered the remainder will be sh UPS Ground for FREE! SEC URITY · Your Crii'il Card Is not chargid until your order is shipped. · We Insure your order at no extra cost to you. · Tussey is a financially strong and wen estabhsb_ed company. - - - -- .:11. CUSTOMER SUPPORT · After sa es support. · Knowledgeable stall, all graduates of Tussey's "Computer Boot Camp". · Our advanced warehouse/materials hMdililg system assures your order is shipped out accurately & on time. · Our IBM 5360 allows lnstan order and Jnveotorv tatus. TMo:NOtrd2ewr MbVkms raolrl:pweresoanccael l&>IC~Cn!llelPy8"YOl'CClehre, cckeantllolecc:l1ec1h1e.Schkl,lipllelnrsgo:nSa4l.0c:0hetodrt. software and llCCftSOltell S10.00 for Prtnttrs and color moilftoril Sll.00 for C3C · cltk drives and other molilorsl Add $3.00 per box lllippecl COO. C811 lor other lhlDllina chargq. Addlllonal shipping recpied on APO, FPO, AK, HI. TCAtnSnHa:DAISLCLOPURNICTE, ASDRDEFUL'E!IC. T I · FOR MASTERCARD OR VISA. Al DIOCllcts Include fadOfY warranlY. ALL SALES ARE flNAL Oefeclive ltems repac.d Of l'8P8i<9d II aur dscr9· tlon. Pemsytvanlll residents 8dd 6% sales tax. Pricas and tenne eubieGt 10 ch&!IQ4! whhoul notice. EDUCATIONAL & CORP ACCOUNTS Purch"" orde'8acceplod CALL 1-800-533-1131 rrom quaun~~~,:;;~::~~= Inside PA 814-234-2236 MODEMS Heyes Sman Modem 12006 ......... ...... ..............$259.00 24006 ............................... $CALL swan Technotogtes 112 Card Internal 30011200,lncludes PC Tall< Ill software ................ $69.00 2400 t>aud lniemal ......... $119.00 Packard Ball External 300/1200 baud ...............$149.00 2400 t>aud E<ternal ........ $279.00 US Robotics Sponster 300/1200 baud ............... $139.00 Venial Modems Clll 1or bes1 prices on all models Zucker 300/1200 Hall Cd Modem with software ....................$87.00 DISKS per box ol 10 3.50" 5.25" BONUS 0$/DD $6.95 IUxat. OS/OD $1795 58.85 VERBATlll 0$/00 $19.95 $9.95 SONY OS/DD $17.95 $8.BS CHIPS Numeric Coprocessors 6067 ................. ........ $104.00 6067·2 ...................... $147.00 60267 ....................... $179.00 60267·2 ........... ........... $CALL Call for Pricing on Memory Chips. Prices ere too volatile to llstlll llSTRIO.~~e~ Plus · BMHz Processor ·3Avall ableSlots · 512K Memory ·Par ;illel Port, Serial Port, Game Port Standard · Microsoft Compatible Mouse · MOS·DOS 3.2. GEM Desktop, GEM Basic 2 · CGA Video Card CALL FOR BEST PRICE TELEX: 910 250 4239 Circle 277 on Reader Service Card CALL TOLL FREE 1 ·800·468·9044 Inside PA Call 814-234-2236 tee Circle 140 on Reader Service Card BOOK REVIEWS Imake it the calculator on your PC. Lascaux Graphics 3220 Steuben Ave Bronx. NY 1045112121654-142'J of the program 's use from . ta rt-up to shutdown , usually encom passing several pages and providing a good feel for the program 's basic operations. The book makes extensive use of screen images, reproduced poorly but legibly , to illustrate each program's lay out and use . Each review ends with a short " final word" section that summarizes the program's general characteristics. Based as they are on the personal experiences of the PASS staff, the guided tours represent by far the most extensive and useful material in the book . But the format also reveals the sub tle personal biases and presumptions each of the reviewers in evitably brings to the task at hand. Also, the "forms" are not filled in consistently. One review for an IBM PC program states that the program requires an expansion slot for the MIDI inter face . But this is not listed as a requirement for the other PC pro grams, even though all of them will require a MIDI interface and an associated slot. In a review of a MIDI sequencer program, the ability to record real-time MIDI notes and events is listed as a special fea ture when this is what a sequencer is supposed to do in the first place, a fact readers would have been aware of with better intro ductory material. One of the " limitations" listed for a MIDI voice librarian on the Macintosh is that "Mac Plus users must have a separately powered MIDI interface. " This is , of course , a limitation of the Macintosh and the MIDI interface rather than of the MIDI software. It seems that the review standards, what ever they may be, are not applied evenly and that the reviewers don't want to say anythlng too negative about any of the programs . Take Your Chances This is not the "complete" guide to MIDI software that it claims to be . Can you st ill gain something from this treatise . incom plete as it is? I think so . though it will cost you $20 to find out if you agree. Even with all its shortcomings, you just may find within its pages that one tidbit of information that will galvanize your decision as to which MIDI softwa re package is best for you. And if you make the right deci sion , the book will have been worth its price . Donald Swearingen (2261 Market St., Box 289, San Francisco. CA 941I4) is a freelance programmer, musician, and author. This internal 720K 3.5" disk drive is a "drop-in" replacement for 5.25 " drives! It's the ideal solution for exchanging data between your PC/XT/AT and the new generation of laptops. Disk for mat is compatible with IBM , i:oshiba and Zenith portables. The Model 853W drive kit contains everything you need, including interface adapters, premium SONY drive, and complete documentation. Uses your existing disk controller (no additional slots required). Requires DOS 3.2 for maximum performance. Ask about our Model 873W (1 .44MB). SS SAVE SS SONY DISKS $159.95 + FRT. & TAX 400 Dally Lane · P.O. Box 5210 VISA Grants Pass, OR 97527 . - - ~ '/J~~t~\\ IMMEDIATE DELIVERY! f'l\O Call 503-474-6700 or 503-474-6701 A LITTLE SMALLTALK Reviewed by Joel West T hree years ago, Timothy Budd was faced with the challenge of teaching object-oriented prognimming to students at the University of Arizona. Budd took the resources available-a group of 12 graduate students and a Unix-based time-sharing system-to develop a version of Smalltalk for his teaching. The result was Little Smalltalk. A liule Smalltalk is geared to two types of readers: the intro ductory student learning the language, and the more advanced student modifying the system . The book is a readable teaching text for a one-semester introductory course and a concise com panion to hands-on exercises using the Little Smalltalk system. The System Little Smalltalk is written in C and runs under Unix systems. The author, now at Oregon State University, distributes the public do main source code for the system as a nine-track Unix tape image . Little Smalltalk is a dialect of Smalltalk and nearly a proper subset of Smalltalk-80, which was developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and documented by the original Smalltalk books. Although the dialects are different-Small talk-80 is the original and seminal dialect-Little Smalltalk is cominued 58 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 271 on Reader Service Card If)79U think you canbuy abetterCcompiler, doiit. We'llbuyit for you! Buy Let's C with csdTMfor justs75. Ifyou're not satisfied, get Turbo C or QuickC. Free: Why are we making this increcbble offer? Because we're absolutely certain Let's C and csd are the best C programming tools you can own. Is there a chance you might not jump to take advantage of our proposition? Maybe. So here are a few reasons you should. to get the right answers from the right people the first Rest assured that, like its competition, Let's C time you call. features incredibly fast in-memoiy compilation and And finally, there's the issue of reliability. We've produces extremely tight, high quality code. But these been satisfying users for over ten years. Our competi days eveiybody compiles fast. The differences lie in tors are still working out bugs and initial deliveiy dates. how much faster you can perfonn other program ming chores. Take debugging, for example. How important is the C Source Debugger, csd? When you see it cut development time in half, you'll forget about mere compile time veiy quickly: "csd is close to the ideal debugging environment... a definite aid to learning Cand an indispensable too/for program development. "-William G. Wong, BITE And comparatively speaking: ''No debugger is LET'S CAND csd FEATURES LET'S C: · Now compiles twice as fast · Integrated edit·compile cycle: editor automatically poims to errors · Includes both smalland larye memory model · Integrated environment or command ~ne interface · 8087 sensing and support · MS·OOS object compatible · Full K & Rplus ANSI extensions · Full UNIXcompabbff1ty and complete libraries · Ma!l)' powerful utilrlies uicluding make. assembler. archM!r · MicroEMACS fun screen editor with source code included · Supported by dozens of third party libraries csd: · Large and sman memory model · Debug in Csource code. not assemble! · Provides separate source. eval· uation. program and history windows · On·line help screens · Abiity to set traoe poims and monitor vanables · can interactively Mluate any c expression · can execute any C!unction in your program · Trace back function included in the Turbo Cpackage ... a serious short coming."- Michael Abrash, Programmer's Journal So if you're thinking about buying any other Let's C also comes with its own full-featured Ccompiler, maybe you should think again. But you assembler. Which will save you the time and money of only have until January 31st to order and take purchasing one separately Again unlike our competitors. advantage of this special offer. So think fast. And call As for documentation, the Let's Cmanual is full of 1-800-MWC-1700 soon. (1-312-472-6659 in Illinois.) complete, not partial, examples. With information in a revolutionaiy lexicon format for instant access. Instant access is what we strive to offer when it 11111 Mark Williams · Company comes to technical support, too. See how different it is 1430 West Wrightwood. Chicago. Illinois 60614 MarkWilliams Let's Cand csd. ' Offer avaiLl.ble on telephone onlers only.To exchange Let's Cand_ad for Turl>o Cor 9ui~kC. return registrationcard within 15 da~ ?f purchase dat£. notify Mark WU.Iiams Company that you are returning products and receive a return authonzation munber. Products must be returned within 30 days from shipping da1£. QuickC will be shipped only if available. Circle 152 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 ' B YTE 59 dB FastTM -vsClipperTM New dBase III PlusrM Compiler · Smaller EXE's · Faster compilation · Faster execution · Lower price! OPERATION Minimum .EXE file size Compiling/Linking Execution time PRJCE dBFast lkb 2 Seconds 6 Seconds S149 Clipper 120kb 4 Minutes 17 Seconds S695 d-Smallest' With Clipper';" the smallest program · you can create Is 120k. And ll goes up from there! dBFast'" creates programs as small as lk with typical program sires from 5 to !Ok. Just think, now it's p0ssiblc to fit all your programs on one noppy disk. And if you send files via modem - look what happens to your modem phone bill .. .It almost disappear.;! d-Fastest ' dB Fa.~t compiles and links in a blistering · 3 seconds. Clipper slugs along at 4 minutes. dB Fast compiled programs also run faster. Aprogram that took over I full minu te lo run using dBase Ill Plus and an addJ tional 17 seconds using Clipper, ran in just 6 seconds with dB Fast! BOOK REVIEWS Smalltalk: It treats everything as an object, including numbers. It includes the unary , binary, and keyword messages of Small talk , with single-path method inheritance . The differences be tween Little Smalltalk and Smalltalk-80 are clearly spelled out in an appendix . Given its nature as a simple implementation of Smalltalk, it should not be surpri sing that Little Smalltalk does not emulate the Smalltalk-80 programming environment. Little Smalltalk requires only line-oriented terminals to develop and run pro grams , but it also supports the cursor character graphics system of 4 . 1 BSD (Berkeley Standard Distribution) Unix , as well as the specialized Unix plot libraries for terminals such as the Tek tronix 4014. The Book Inevitably , A little Smalltalk will be compared to the three-vol ume PARC series also published by Addison-Wesley , particu larly Smalltalk-80: The Language and !rs lmplememation. The three volumes are a comprehensive specification of Smalltalk 80, and , in their depth and style. they are most suitable for ad vanced readers. They have also been used as textbooks for courses on learning Smalltalk. In contrast, A little Smalltalk is an intermediate-level text that attempts to cover the breadth of the language quickly . It is not a step-by-step tutorial. In the space of the first 40 pages, it attempts to give the reader the fundamental concepts and syntax of the language . The remainder of the first section of the book is devoted to reinforcing language principles and introducing language sub tleties th rough four topics: simulation, generators, graphics, and processes. The examples in this section were well chosen for teaching (rather than the author's amusement), and many include the output, a boon for those who don ' t have the soft ware. Budd solves several classic problems using Little Small talk . including those of the eight queens and the dining philoso phers . The end of each chapter includes a series of student exercises and references to further reading. The final third of the book covers the internals of the Little Smalltalk implementation . It seems to be a good road map for modifying the system , although the feasibility of such modifica tions depends heavily on the style (or lack thereof) in the actual source code, which is not included . Still , this section offers in sight into implementation considerations in moderate doses . The book 's bibliography is eclectic and a bit arcane. It in cludes a few obvious references , notably PARC's three Small talk-80 books. It also includes references that , while important , are inacce sible to the average reader, such as internal PARC reports and Alan Kay ' s Ph.D. thesis. It also includes items that are a bit tangential to the main thrust of the book. such as refer e nces to the Alphard . CLU. Act 1. Snobol. and GPSS program ming languages. A Little Is a Lot Budd seems to have fulfilled the goals he set out to achieve; as a companion to the software , A little Smalltalk is ideally suited to a one-term course on object-oriented programming , and it would be my first choice if I were offering such a class. For those readers who are not in a classroom , the exercises at the end of each chapter are somewhat frustrating. As someone learning from a book rather than a class, I would like to have the answers to the exercises avai lable. Overall , A Lillie Smalltalk is clearly written and edited and is an inexpensive way to learn Smalltalk . · Joel West (P.0 . Box 2733. Vista. CA 92083) is president of Western Software Technology. He recemly completed th e design ofan object-oriemed language for discrete simulation based 011 Modula-2 . 60 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 78 on Reader Service Card Screen stars with The Visible Edge. What gives Princeton's new generacion of screen stars the Visible Edge is a screen image of incomparable clarity and resolution. Where brilliant colors and infinite shades of gray, with striking contrast and dimension, are commonplace. The versatility of the Princecon family of monitors gives the new generatipn (and presenc generacion) of compucers, the greatesc aucosynchronous horizontal/verci cal scan range combination available. The claricy of .28mm doc picch. 1050x770 display resolution. And the entire spectrum of color, with the ease and comfort that can only accompany an ergonomically designed monicor. Experience a world of unlimited vision . And the technology that's made our high level of quality, service, value and performance, second nature. Experience the Visible Edge. And see what we do best. For more information call (609) 683-1660 x 100. PSC-28 PSM-03 ULTRASYNC MAX-15 IBM PS/2 COMPATIBLE IBM PCIXTIAT & PS/2 Macintosh II COMPATIBLE GRAPHIC SYSTEMS THE VISIBLE EDGE 601 Ewing Su~i. Building A. Princeton . New Jersey 08540 (609) 683 ·1660 Circle 212 on Reader Service Card The computer world was different five years ago. Chances are your business was, too. Software was limited by the limits of the old machines. Your work was limited by the limits of your software. Enter Microsoft Excel. It makes the new machines perform. With features that get the most from today's high-speed processors and high-resolution screens. The new-generation spreadsheet. For the new-generation machines. Display worksheets and charts together. View and link them in an intuitive, commonsense way. Then check your work with an array of built- in auditing tools. Show exactly what those numbers mean with annual-report-quality spreadsheets. Add emphasis with typefaces, borders, and shading. Create vivid charts with just one keystroke. And produce stunning printouts. You don't have to give up your old software. Microsoft Excel lets you load and save Lotus,., 1-2-3,., files. Convert old macros. Record new ones. You'll be ready for tomorrow's software, too. Because Microsoft Excel has the same look and feel as OS/2 Presentation Manager from IBM and Microsoft. Take a visible leap forward in spreadsheet power, capability, and convenience. And see the visible improvement it brings to your bottom line. You've read the ad. Now see the movie. Now you can preview Microsoft Excel. In a brand-new video that shows it in action. It's dramatic. It's humorous. And it's free. Call for your copy today: (800) 323-3577 ext. C55 Ask for the Microsoft Excel video. Or visit your local Microsoft dealer. Find out why we're backing every copy of Microsoft Excel with a money-back guarantee. See what our soul can do for your machine. MicrosoftExcel Note: Video is free 10 the first 10.000 callers. After that, theres a $10 charge, but you receive a complete refund when you get Microsofl Excel. Video offe r good in cont inental U.S. on ly. Money-back guarantee good on purchases made through March 31. 1988 and valid only in the U.S. and Canada. Some restric tions apply. Microsoft a nd the Microsoft logo are reg istered trademarks and T he soul of the new machines is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Lotus and I·2·3 :uc reg iste red trJdcmarks of Lotus Developmenl Corporation. The output shown here was created using Microsoft Exce l wit h Hewlett -Packard. Lase rJe t Plus and LaserJe t 2000 printe rs equipped wi th the Mlcrow ft Z fon t cartridge. Company names and da ta used in the oulpu l are fi ctit iou . Circle 169 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 170) JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 63 E'1TE Products in Perspective 67 What's New 97 Short Takes MultiSpeed HD GO fer Translmage l000 RuggedWriter 480 Velan-2V Book One Surpass Reviews 111 SQL Database Management Systems 121 BIX Product Focus: SQL-based Database Managers 127 PC Designs' GV-386 133 The Toshiba T3100/20 141 The Symmetric 375 151 High-Performance Graphics Boards 155 GCC's Personal Laserprinter 163 Allegro CommonLISP 167 Personal REXX 173 @Liberty and the Baler 176 Microsoft's Bookshelf 178 MGMStation CAD 185 Computing at Chaos Manor by Jerry Poumelle 205 Applications Only by Ezra Shapiro JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 65 IT'S TIME TO DO SOME SERIOUS 386 BUGBUSTINGI PROBE's menu ----~ bar and pull down menus sel a new standard for debugger interfaces. -----7 PROBE has source-level debugging to let you "C" your program. This is an out-of-range memory-ovuwriJe bug. Since it is interrupt related, it only appears in real time. W elcome to your nightmare. Your company has bet the farm on your product. Your demonstration wowed the operating committee, and beta ship ments were out on time. Then wham! All your beta customers seemed to call on the same day. " Your software is doing some really bizarre things:' they say. Your credibility is at stake. Your profits are at stake. Your sanity is at stake. THIS BUG'S FOR YOU You rack your brain, trying to figure something out. Is it a random memory overwrite? Or worse, an overwrite to a stack based local variable? Is it sequence dependent? Or worse, randomly caused by interrupts? Overwritten code? Undocu mented "features" in the software you're linking to? And to top it off, your program is too big. The software debugger, your program and it's symbol table can't fit into memory at the same time. Opening a bicycle shop suddenly isn't such a bad idea. THIS DEBUGGER'S FOR YOU Announcing the 386 PROBErn Bugbuster,*from Atron. Nine of the top-ten software developers sleep better at night because of Atron hardware-a5sisted debuggers. Because they can set real-time breakpoints which instantly detect memory reads and writes. Now, with the 386 PROBE, you have the capability to set a qualified breakpoint, so the breakpoint triggers only if the events are coming from the wrong procedures. So you don't have to be halted by breakpoints from legitimate areas. You can even detect obscure, sequence-dependent problems by stopping a breakpoint only after a specific chain of events has occurred in a specific order. Then, so you can look at the cause of the problem , the 386 PROBE automatically stores the last 2K cycles of program execution. Although other debuggers may try to do the same thing, Atron js the onJ y company in the world to dequeue the pipelined trace data so you can easily understand it. ' finally, 386 PROBE's megabyte of hidden, write-protected memory stores your symbol table and debugger. So youl:'-bug can't roach the debugger. Anc~ so you have room enough to debug a really big program. COULD AGOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP PUT YOU IN THE mp TEN? Look at it this way. Nine of the top-ten software products in any given category were created by Atron customers. Maybe their edge is - a good night's sleep. Call and get your free, 56-page bugbusting bible today. And if you're in the middle of a nighbnare righf now, give us a purchase order number. We'll FEDEX you a sweet dream. .. Gli·:i\\ BUGBUSTERS A division of Northwest Instrument Systems, Inc. 20665 Fourth Street · Saratoga, CA 95070 408/741-5900 ·velOSions for COMPAQ . PS/2-80:< .00 compal.lblcs.. Copyris hl C 1987 by Atron. 386 PROBE is a trademast: of Auon. Cal l 44-2-855-838 in the UK one! 49-8·98~8020 1n Yl'dl Gcnnany. TRBA Cin:le 20 on Re!ukr ~met Can/ WHAT'S NEW Hi-Res TARGA System T he Personal Hardcopy System from Lasergraph ics is a complete graphics system chat lets yo u produce high-quality TARGA-format images on slide film , paper, and overhead transparencies. The system consists of the Rascal II controller board for the IBM PC and compatibles, the PFR (Personal Film Re corder), and PPS (Personal Printi ng System) . Using the Rascol ll , the Personal Hardcopy System can generate color hard copy and slides of prerasterized images at any resolution produced by a variety of methods , including screen dumps and image cap ture. Maximum resolution of the PFR is 4096 by 2731 pixels by 24 colors. · The PPS printer is a ther mal-transfer primer with 200- by 200-dot-per-inch res olution. It produces color or black-and-white images with 64 levels of gray for each of the three primary colors. The system works best with graphics packages that use TARGA-format files . It can also produce lower-resolution graphics from standard PC compatible graphics software such as AutoCAD, Lotus 1-2-3 , and Freelance Plus . Price: $9995. Contact: Lasergraphics, 17671 Cowan Ave . , Irvine, CA 92714, (714) 660-9497. Inquiry 751. Unique-Looking Laptop from Amstrad L ondon-based Amstrad (with a U .S . subsidiary in Irving, Texas) has introduced its PPC 640 and PPC 512 PC compatible portables. Unlike most of the curre nt laptops, where the screen pivots up from the keyboard , the Am- The Personal Hardcopy System creates hi-res images on film . strads are long and thin , with a full -size 101 -key keyboard that folds down from the sys tem unit. The supertwist liq uid-crystal screen-which has a true " television-style " aspect ratio- then pops up from in side the system unit. Weighing 11 '.!4 pounds, the PPC 640 and PPC 512 are both based on an 8086 running at 8 MHz. As their names imply, they're shipped with 640K bytes and 5l2K bytes of RAM , respectively . The PPC 640 also has a built-in 2400-bit-per second Hayes-compatible modem and comes with either single or dual 3 ~-inch 720K byte floppy disk drives. Soft ware shipped with the system includes MS-DOS 3 .3 and SoftKlone ' s Mirror II tele communications package. The PPC 512 comes with a single drive , MS-DOS 3.3, and no modem. Both models have five power options. They'll run on AC , a car cigarette lighter, a rechargeable battery pac k, or even on 10 standard C -cell flashlight batteries. Serial , parallel , and RGB video ports are standard. Price: PPC 640 with single drive, $999; with dual drives , $1099; PPC 512, $799. Contact: Arnstrad Inc., 1915 Westridge Dr., Irving, TX 75038, (214) 518-0668. Inquiry 752. Traveling Software Links Peripherals Desk-Link, a high-speed serial-transfer program, lets you share disk drives and printers between IBM PCs and compatibles, including lap tops and networked computers. With ordinar y se rial ports and up to 100 feet of RJ-11 wire , the company reports transfer speeds of up 10 115,000 bps. The program comes with universal cable for the IBM PC and compatibles and 25 feet of RJ- 11 wire. To install Desk-Link, you SEND US YOUR NEW PRODUCT RELEASE We 'd like to consider your product for publication. Send us full in formmion about ir , including irs price. ship dare , and an address and telephone number where readers can get furth er information . Send to New Products &litor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane , Peterborough, NH 03458. lnfonnarion contained in these items is based on manufacturers ' written statements and/or telephone inter views with BYTE reporters. BYTE.does not represent itselfas hav ing formally reviewed each product mentioned. run an install program on both computers and connect the cable. A pop-up menu lists the auxiliary devices including local or remote hard disks , floppies, and printers. You can select or change the de vices by popping up a menu and pressing a key . Talk Box is a feature that you can pop up when you want to use another computer 's printer or disk. Price: $169 .95 . Contact: Traveling Software lnc ., North Creek Corporate Center , 19310 North Creek Pa.rkway, Bothell , WA 98011 , (206) 483-8088. Inquiry 753. Extra Control Delta Technology 's mem ory manager Extra gives you control over your mem ory-resident programs by let ting you set up a menu and access up to 26 programs while using the RAM of only one . It operates by transferring each terminate-and -stay-resident (TSR) program from memory to disk. The program orga nizes your TSRs in a menu that you can define. The program is menu driven and offers hot-key oper ation , mouse support , and customizable screens. Extra runs on the IBM PC , XT, AT, and compatibles , in cluding the PS /2s. You ' ll need at least 256K bytes of RAM , a hard disk drive, either a 3 ~- or 5 1.4 -inch floppy disk drive , and DOS 2 .0 or higher. Extra runs with a color or monochrome monitor and is not copy-protected. Price: $99. Contact: Delta Technology International , 162 l Westgate Rd ., Eau Claire, WI 54703 , (800) 242-6368 ; in Wisconsin , (715) 832-7575. Inquiry 754. continued JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 67 WHAT'S NEW Lotus Agenda A genda, a personal in fonnation manager from Lotus, lets you enter a series of thoughts or items, which you can then c.ategorize and view in various ways. Agenda also automatically categorizes items. It will run on the IBM PC and compatibles and on the PS/2 family of computers , with versions for both DOS andOS/2. Lotus calls Agenda an " item/category database. " It allows you to type in a free form series of items . Each item can be up to 350 characters long; you can attach "notes" up to IOK bytes long to each item . After you enter an item, you have the option of placing it in one or more categories. An interesting thing about Agenda is that it can match category names with the con tents of an item . If it finds a match, Agenda can automati cally group that item under a matching category . You can control how tight the match must be, and you can designate synonyms for cate gory names. You can also enter rules pertaining to the categorization . You can check the items you ' ve entered by using a fea ture called a "view," which is analogous to a report in a standard database. You can construct a view by arranging the items and categories into a row-and-column format. You can set up a view showing each item you've entered, along with each company category (if any) that you' ve assigned to that category. You can also set up another view showing each company name, with all the associated items below it. Price: $395 . Contact: Lotus Development Corp., 55 Cambridge Parkway , Cambridge, MA 02142, (61 7) 577-8500. Inquiry 755. I ~ . . . . . . JI· ...... l lr.mt.1,. ....~··· · · loh ·IM Ll:z. will ha '" O.llAll ft(Uet. Ylklk · ,..ls;. hf1h Anil e-ph.A · 1· lh ~i"" Nlw.t ·· I· tMN re..Jly · ~ f or lltl · p~t7 i,J}...ff ·her Ioli'· prvacmt -.tlou u.,..,. l .,.. Um lllflltl ...., [~.:..-s:!':·.,r;: ;auo! ::.~· wMthllr ha" · I ....._. flOre . S....U·l. wllll-. lo ctimlllf't.....,,,, .. ..,. 1., M.tt ,_ " ' · ,., ... ·r Lia ......,.~ llar ~l °" ~i.-lUOll Kf.lr · p~ To.. \o MM Mire U.O con.l'arcmc11: do\· Ih: are n1\ · nnn,.n:.h on cmtpetl..., pr-o.Mct ....... ...., M1J -""' ~ to M,Jlut ,,.11.: 1.. ... ili.lstrlbathm ·he : ~11 SI'- .an.t h.aue ,_.,. follvw ur · r... U.1U. .. .ao.1· c.11 · ff!ne:NI tmell"I _.., ..Q ta F o.91' ·II U. ,. urbtf....t.erlds · Si.t [···l ·N ......l Uo lalt c:I_.. I· tM c:u.t.r.::t ; ..... , wtU. . . " ics International 's Nova CG! , and GSS' DGIS and CGI in terfaces . EGA emulation is optional . Price: $2995. Contact: National Design Inc., 9171 Capital of Texas Highway N, Austin Bldg ., Suite 230, Austin, TX 78759, (512) 343-5031. Inquiry 758. A Nonemmissive Monitor Lotus' personal infonnation manager. Hardware-Compatible VGA Board Everex Systems says its EVGA graphics adapter for the IBM PC and compat ibles- using a custom applica tion-specific integrated cir cuit-is fully compatible with all 17 VGA modes at the hardware-register level, not just at the BIOS level. The board hooks up to any PS/2 compatible analog monitor. The EVGA will also sup port EGA, RGB , and mono chrome monitors and their re spective software drivers . The board comes with both 9-pin (digital) and 15-pin (analog) monitor connectors. Price: $399. Contact: Everex , 4843 l Mil mont Dr., Fremont, CA 94538, (800) 821-0806; in California, (800) 821-0807. Inquiry 756. Microsoft's Pagevlew P ageview, from Micro soft, is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) page-preview and graph ics-integration program that runs with Word in a windows environment. To use Page view's graphics capabilities, you need Windows 2 .0 or Windows/386. You can insert graphics from other applica tions programs and move, re size, and preview them on screen. Pageview runs on the IBM PC and compatibles and on the PS/2s. You need 512K bytes of RAM (640K bytes is recom mended) , DOS 3.0 or higher, and Word 3.0 or higher. Price: $49.95 . Contact: Microsoft Corp., 16011 Northeast 36th Way, P.O . Box 97017, Redmond , WA 98073-9717, (206) S82 8080. Inquiry 757. Ultra-Res Graphics from Texas The Genesis 1280 is the latest incarnation of Na tional Design's ultra-high resolution graphics board. It uses Texas Instruments' high powered TMS34010 graphics processor, handles resolu tions of up to 1280 by 1024 pixels by 8 colors, and fits into a full-length slot in any PC AT or compatible. Fully compatible with the Genesis 1024 graphics card , you can program the Genesis 1280 for virtually any analog RGB monitor up to the moni tor's maximum resolution . The 1280 comes with 4 megabytes of on-board RAM (expandable to 32 megabytes on the card). Graphics interfaces avail able for the board include the Texas Instruments Develop ment Toolkit, Metagraphics' MetaWindows, Nova Graph For those who still have doubts about the long-term safety of standard personal computer monitors, even with lead-impregnated glass fil ters, a company named ASK LCD has a new liquid-crystal flat-screen monitor. Because it uses a blue supertwist LCD, the Flat Screen doesn't emit any radi ation. The screen measures 12 inches diagonally. Its low weight (3 pounds) and low vol ume (5 percent of a standard monitor) are additional advantages. The CGA-compatible Flat Screen comes mounted on an " ergo-ann," a flexible ann that mounts the screen above your desk and lets you swivel the Flat-Screen up to 180 de grees and tilt it up to 120 de grees. An optional wall-mount ing bracket is also available. ASK LCD says that besides its lack of radiation , the screen is much easier on the eyes than standard monitors. For se curity-conscious organiza tions, its display can't be picked up by sophisticated RF surveillance devices. The Flat-Screen comes in two different configurations: one for the IBM PC and com patibles , and another that works with several laptops in cluding the Toshiba Tl 100 Plus , Olivetti M 15, and Ze nith Z-181. Price: IBM PC- compatible version, $1150; portable com puter version, $1050. Contact: ASK LCD Inc. , 5 Dunwoody Park, Suite 116. Atlanta, GA 30338 , (404) 399 -5208 . Inquiry 759. continued 68 BYT E · JANUARY 1988 I '-I < r =-1.-cir ~. -~ I I '/_. ' ; ! ,, ) -: \Ourpad orours? If you perform ~111111[11···········..._ text anywhere to calculations, the answer support your work, is obvious. and see and record MathCAD 2.0. every step. You can It 's everything try an unlimited you appreciate about number of what-ifs. working on ascratch And print your pad - simple, free-form entire calculation as math-and more. More an integrated docu speed. More accuracy. ment that anyone More nexibility. can understand. Just define your Plus, MathCAD variables and enter your is loaded with powerful formulas anywhere on the screen. MathCAD built-in features. In addition to the usual trig formats your equations as they're typed. onometric and exponential functions, it Instantly calculates the results. And displays includes built-in statistical functions, cubic them exactly as you're used to seeing them- splines, Fourier transforms, and more. It also in real math notation, as numbers, tables handles complex numbers and unit conver· or graphs. sions in a completely transparent way. MathCAD is more than an equation Yet, MathCAD is so easy to learn, you'll solver. Like a scratchpad, it allows you to add be using its full power an hour after you begin. re· Require.s IBM orcompatible, 512KB RAM,graphics card. IBMPC" lnlt111>1ion.ll Bluin<U M.lchi°" Colponlloo. MaihCAD" M.rhSo.ft, hx. ©I Hl~hSolt,loc. Circle 154 on Reader Service Card What more could you ask for?How about the exciting new features we've just added to MathCAD 2.0... · Built-in equation solver · F'ull matrix operations · 1\vo to four times increase in calculating speed · Easier full-page text processing · Auto-scaled plots · Memory enhancements · Additional printer and plotter support · And more. If you're tired of doing calculations by hand or writing and debugging programs, come on over to our pad. MathCAD. The Electronic Scratchpad. Call for adetailed spec sheet and the name of aMathCAD dealer near you. 1-800-MatbCAD (In MA: 617-577-1017). Math CAO® M1tbSoft, Inc., One Kendall Sq ., Cambridge, MA 62139 JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 69 WHAT'S NEW Low-Cost Multiuser System The Kowin Three is a multiuser, multitasking computer system that runs Unil': V.3 and comes complete with most of the software needed for a small business to get started in computeriza tion. The combination host computer/workstation is based on a 68020 processor, with dual 68000 processors providing peripheral process ing. It has a 12-inch mono chrome display and an inte grated telephone handset and built-in modem . Internally, there's a 40 megabyte hard disk, a 1.2 megabyte 5 1A-inch floppy disk drive , 4.5 megabytes of RAM , a network controller, four network ports , three RS 232C ports , and an ST-506 port. Because the system is de signed for business users with limited computer expertise , the Unix V.3 system is hidden by an interface shell. There are four template levels for the 15 function keys on the 101 key keyboard , giving a total of 60 preprogrammed function keys . Applications software shipped with the system in cludes voice/data communica tions, electronic mail , word processing, networking, fonns management , graphics , cal endar/scheduling, a calculator, a notepad, and a phone directory/dialer. Each host/workstation can accommodate up to 32 work stations. Each workstation in cludes a 12-inch monochrome monitor, a telephone with au todialer, 64K bytes of display memory, a network port, and two RS-232C ports. Price: Hostlworkstation, $11,990; workstation, $1190. Contact: Kowin Computer Corp., Kowin Bldg., 830 North Wilcox , Montebe!Jo, CA 90640, (800) 445-6946; in California, (800) 225-6946. Inquiry 760. The Kowin Three uses a 68020 and dual 68000s. Zenith Upgrades Laptop Z enith Data Systems now has a 20-megabyte hard disk version of its popular laptop. And !he twist in this model has nothing to do with !he supertwist LCD display . Zenilh is using a new CMOS based hard disk controller along with run-length-limited (RLL) encoding on the hard disk. The low-power consump tion of !he CMOS controller (70 percent less than a stan dard NMOS-based board) , coupled with the efficient coding of RLL has resulted in , according to Zenith, the lon gest battery life for a hard disk laptop in !he industry . Zenith is claiming the Z-183 will run up to 3 hours with the stan dard 2.5-ampere-hour re chargeable battery. An op tional 4-ampere-hour battery ($129) extends the running time to 5 hours, according to Zenith . The running times are based on the company·s own benchmark with a 20 percent disk-access frequency , and with both continuous back lighting and hard disk power on. You can extend the run ning time even further by turn ing the backJighting off, and you can set the hard disk to automatically power down after from I second to 5 min utes of non-use. At the same time it intro duced the 20-megabyte -ver sion, Zenith reduced the list price of the IO-megabyte ver sion of the Z-183 from $3499 to $3 199. (The I0-megabyte version uses neither the CMOS controller nor RLL en coding.) Zenith will also offer an upgrade kit that will upgrade current IO-megabyte Z- l 83s to 20 megabytes with the new controller. A com pany spokesperson says a price on the upgrade hasn't been set yet. Price: $3599. Contact: Zenith Data Sys tems, 1000 Milwaukee Ave ., Glenview, IL 60025 , (800) 842-9000. Inquiry 761. Animation Program for AutoCAD AutoFlex, an animation program from Autodesk, generates animation se quences of AutoCAD drawings and AutoShade renderings. The program will be available in the first quarter of 1988 and will be priced at under $500, according to Autodesk. AutoFlex generates a series of user-defined "camera posi tions" into a set of frames. which can be replayed as an an imated movie. You can define camera positions , focal points, and other geometric proper ties of the viewing orientation. You can also create kinetic animation with AutoFlex , which allows you to represent the motion of a moving ma chine part, for example. However, you cannot specify the number of frames per sec ond . AutoFlex compiles the frame sequence into a com pressed file structure , using only about 5 percent of the original file space of each stored frame . The initial re lease of AutoFlex will support only the EGA graphics standard . Price: Under $500. Contact: Autodesk, 2320 Marinship Way , Sausalito, CA 94965, (415) 332-2344. Inquiry 762. Mlte-E.Mall Mite-E .Mail , a data com munications program that allows access to Telex, elec tronic mail , and on-line sys tems, runs with EIT's Fax modem . The program uses EIT's graphics windows soft ware environment, automati cally dialing asynchronous modems. The program in cludes auto-log-on and com mand sequences to a variety of services . It also includes a tenninal mode for direct , inter active transmissions . Mite-E.Mail supports Mite, XMODEM , YMODEM , and Kennit file-transfer pro tocols. It includes a command line operating mode and a programming language that automates common commu nications procedures. The program runs on the IBM PC , XT , AT, and compat ibles with a 300-. 1200-, or 2400-bps asynchronous modem ; an EIT Fax modem ; and a graphics display adapter. It requires 640K bytes of RAM and DOS 3.0 or higher . Price: $179. Contact: Electronic Informa tion Technology , 25 Just Rd .. Fairfield , NJ 07006, (201 ) 227-1447. Inquiry 763. continued 70 BYTE ·JANUARY 1988 A GEM ofa Deal Free Software from Genoa! For a limited time only, every SuperEGA HiRes+"' card comes with a FREE copy of GEM GraphTM-the popular business graphics package that normally retails for $249! What a combination-a quick, easy way to turn your spreadsheets and database files into stunning graphs, and SuperEGA HiRes-+; the only Multisync-compatible 16-color EGA card with 800 x 600 resolution! What can you do with the graphics card that brings you a full-page, readable display for Desktop Publishing? Run your spreadsheets in 132 x 60 columns. Run most VGA applications. Run Ventura:" Pagemaker,"' AutoCAD,TM Windows;M and more-all in dazzling 800 x 600 resolution! Get in on Genoa's GEM of a deal! For the dealer nearest you, contact: Genoa Systems Corpora tion, 73 E. Trimble Road, San Jose, CA 95131 FAX: 408-434-0997 Telex: 172319 Telephone: 408-432-9090 I ,ATF.ST FXPORTS Yl'.l'lll 1: ll Ff(;( Ill FS · IJ SA · lbO n i l Gr-:un s..u SuE'U co rrec Con1n 1od1l y P1mhtcc1t 1u i11e <~E M Gn1·h Free GEM Graph Software with every purchase ofa Super EGA HiRes+ card 'from Genoa! But hurry-offer expires March 31st! G Genoa SYSTE Ms C o n l"'t P O~"A J I O N 0 1987G\:1K>aSut1.:insCut'J)OrJl'°11 Oller bog h" Ck1obcr I. 1987.o>d applb 10 SupcrEGA Hi Re>and Su!"'rEGA H1Re,+ SuperEOA HiRe$ 11odSupcr ECiA H1 R(':5 + an: tfO'derntirk)oofCicno;1. Sys.t11.·m~ Corpor.u km. GEM Graph is , trndcm01irk of Olgh:il Rit:K'31"C'h. Inc'. iul li:sync"- NEC Home Ek<1ronks: Vc.nl ura-Xcry· Corpor.ll ion ; r .· s·m ak<r- AldusCo"'°"''"'" ' AuloCA t>- Au loD<sk. Inc. ; \\'mi.lows- 4tcruwh Curporul 1u11 . -. Circle 101 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW Presentation Graphics Package for Windows 2.0 Pixie is a low-cost presen tation graphics program from Zenographics that runs under Windows 2.0. The pack age features interactive edit ing of graph values and attri butes directly on the graph. Worldng with a bar graph, for example, you can change a value on either axis, and the graph is automatically re scaled . You can also alter the size of a bar or curve using the mouse; the new value of the curve is displayed in a win dow in the corner of the screen . Another interesting feature of Pixie is the use of "mode less" dialog boxes, which re flect object selections in the dialog box simultaneously on the graph. Pixie also uses the Windows 2.0 clipboard, let ting you cut and paste images that confonn to data struc tures supported by Windows 2.0. Thfa means that you can use Pixie to dress up clip art or to add text and charts to other graphic images. Pixie includes a built-in text processor and font library and a standard pal ette of 98 colors (user-<lefin able colors of up to 16 million). Pixie will ship this month . It represents the low end of Zenographics' line of presen tation-quality business graphics software, according to the company. The program is com patible with Mirage .IMA files and supports a device driver for sending data to slide-making service bureaus. Price: $195. Contact: Zenographics, 19752 MacArthur Blvd ., Suite 250, Irvine, CA 92715-9976, (714) 851-6352. Inquiry 764. A Faster Clipper C lipper Summer '87, a new version of the dBASE compiler, is significantly faster in compilation and exe cution times than the original and contains many new com mands and functions along with entirely rewritten documentation. Pixie running under Windows 2.0. The new version also in cludes low-level file access, ex panded string-handling capa bilities, a rewritten debugger, and new utilities. It can use the DOS 3 .3 capability to open 250 files per process. Clipper Summer '87 runs on the IBM PC , XT, AT, and compat ibles with 256K bytes of RAM , a hard disk drive or dual floppy disk drives, and DOS 2.2 or higher. Price: $695. Contact: Nantucket Corp., 12555 West Jefferson Blvd ., Suite 300 , Los Angeles, CA 90066, (213) 390-7923 . Inquiry 765. 68000-based Slngle Board Computer The MS68K Single Board Computer is a complete 68000-based system on a 5 'A by 8-inch board . Besides its 8-MHz processor, the system has 256K bytes of RAM (ex pandable to 512K bytes) , and up to 128K bytes ofEPROM . There are also two serial ports, a parallel port, and a floppy disk controller. Also on the board is a socket for a SCSI protocol con troller, as well as an expan sion bus. The MS68K requires only +5 VDC power, and it comes with ROM-based moni tor software that contains a line assembler, disassembler, and a debugger. Price: $249.95 . Contact: Marion Systems Corp., 1317 Fifth St., Suite 301, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (213) 451-8910. Inquiry 766. Mac II Data Acquisition GW Instruments has a new line of hardware and software to handle all aspects of data acquisition, data analy sis , and external control ap plications on the Macintosh IJ. The MacADIOS Il (which stands for Macintosh analog/ digital input/output system) is a I0-board set that connects the Mac II to the outside world through a number of analog and digital channels. The master MacADIOS II card can sample 12-bit data through one channel at 142,000 samples per second. Conversion time is 5 micro seconds with + /- 0.02 per cent accuracy . The software progranunable instrumentation amplifier has three gain set tings : I, 10, and IOOV/V. The AM9513A counter/timer chip bas five 16-bit event counters . You can attach nine daughterboards, which provide a variety ofl/O functions, to the master board . Available software includes MacADIOS Manager II for nonpro grammers . If you're a more experienced bit jockey, you can program MacADIOS through any of half a dozen program ming languages. Price: $1500 to $10,000. Contact: GW Instruments Inc ., P .O. Box 2145, Cam bridge, MA02141, (617) 625-4096. Inquiry 767. Multlfeature Laser The price of midrange laser printers , usually packed with standard fea tures , continues to fall. A case in point is Kyocera Unison's F-1 OOOA printer. This 10 page-per-minute printer has 79 resident fonts, including 8 foreign-language character sets. Included with the printer are 512K bytes of RAM (ex pandable to 1.5 megabytes) and both parallel and serial ports. The F-lOOOA emulates seven printers, including the Diablo 630, Qume Sprint 11 , NEC Spinwriter, IBM Graph ics Printer, Epson FX-80, Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 11, and a generic line printer. The printer has two card slots that accept customized IC cards , each of which store personalized logos, business fonns, and even signatures. If you want to prepare cards, you ' ll need the optional Font/ Logo Master software ($300) and the IC Card Burner Kit ($500) . Blank IC cards are $55 each. Like other Kyocera laser printers, the F-IOOOA includes the Prescribe printer-com mand language, which accepts commands in straight ASCII . The printer has a 250-sheet feed cassette. Price: $2895. Contact: Kyocera Unison Inc.. 3165 Adeline St., Berke ley , CA 94703 , (415) 848 6680. Inquiry 768. continued 72 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 0 LOGITECH Modula-:! $99 V 3 .0CompilerPack Compiler 1n overlay and fully hnked form. Linkable Library. Posr Morrero Debugger. Poinl &litor 0 LOGITECH Modula·'.! V 3.0Toolkil Ubrar-y sOltl'Ces, Linker, Run Time Oebug· gcr. MAKE.Decoder. Version. XRef. $249 Formarrcr 0 LOGITECH Modula-2 V. 3.0 Dc\elopment System FREE Compiler Pock plu~Toolki1 0 Turbo Pascal to Modula- 2"'D'ansla1or s49 With Compiler Pack or Dcvclopnl<lnl Sy$!em D Window Package Build true windowing into your Modula·2 code. D Upgrnde Pack~ Call LOGITECH for information or to receive an order form. Add $6,50 fM ~hipping ·nd h1ndlln11- Cahfonu· ,.,,;<kn~ odd ·pplicablc ulcs ru . p,..,., ··lid in U.S. nnly, Torol EnulosedS _ _ __ 0 VISA 0 MasterCard 0 Check Enclosed CardNum};er Add~ City State Wrong. It's not the name on the tip of your tongue. But it's the name that soon will be: Logitech. In our short history, we've manufactured over 750,000 mice. More than any other company in the world. And we've supplied more mouse hardware, software and firmware to more major OEM's than anyone else. And along the way, we've earned a reputation for our technological know-how in all facets of mouse production. That's because we design and manufacture our mice ourselves. We even publish our own software. The result: A better, less expensive mouse. Which, when combined with our very affordable software, provides a complete solution for almost any graphics need. But our achievements of tre past are only a stepping stone for the future. Which is why we've designed the new LOGITECH Series 2 Mouse. It's 100% compatible with the latest IBM Personal System 2~ And it plugs right into the mouse port, freeing the serial port for laser printers and J j · t0G1rtcHsER1ES 2MousEwithP1us Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S99 Our new mouie is 700% compatible with IBM . Plus Sofrware includes driver, programmable pqp-up ~~~~:h~t~'"o·u~':a~:11~c!Ji~:/.1 f0r1-l-J.·and other peripherals. The LOGITECH Series 2 Mouse also offers superior hardware, and an ergonomic 2-button design which feels great to the hand. Plus it incorporates opto-mechanical technology, providing long-term reliability and excellent reSOI UtiOn. And like all Logitech products, the new LOGITECH Series 2 Mouse is an excellent value for the dollar. Especially since it comes with our Plus Software, which makes our mouse even easier to use. If you want more information about our products or the name of the dealer nearest you, call 800-231-7717 (800-552-8885 in California) or write: Logitech, Inc., r:::m lJQGITECH 6505 Kaiser Drive, Fremont, CA 94555. In Europe, call 41-21-869-9656. Now, once again, who do you think of as the world's largest manufacturer of mice? Right! ~ I LOGlf1\!NfSET lOGITECH MOUSE with Plus Software . . . SH9 Consistently the r.-iewen'favorites. our Sus and Serial mouse products come complete wilh our Plus Software, which includes driver. Logimenu pr& LOGITECH 'S COMPLETE lOGITECH'S COMPLETE PAINT grammable pop-up menu system, Point ond Click PUBLISHING SOLUTION . .. . S179 SOLUTION .. .. .. .. ... . $149 Shell for Lows 1-2-J: and Point. rhe mouse-based Mouse. Plus Software and PUBLISHER Wirh Mouse. Plus Software and r~r edllor. software. Produces high-impac r, pr& lOGIPAINT. Creates files that fessionol looking documenrs. Design move easily into bath lOGICADD templates make page layout .asy. For and Publisher documenrs. Circle 149 on Reader Service Card beginner and advanced. (DEALERS: 150) LOGITECH'S COMPL£TE CADD SOLUTION . . . . S789 For beginner to advanced, irl a complete solution for dimensioned line drawing and CADD. Package includes Mouse, Plus Software. and lOG/CAOO. WHAT'S NEW GRID Adds High-Powered Laptops GRiD Systems has broad ened its product line with laptops based on the 80286 and 80386 processors. The GRiDCase 1500 Series com puters weigh about 12 pounds apiece. GRiD claims that the units are the only battery powered 286 and 386 laptops. Standard feature.s of the AT-compatible 1500 series in clude a 10-inch diagonal supertwist backlit LCD screen, I megabyte of RAM (expand able to 8 megabytes). two I .44 megabyte 3 'h -inch internal floppy d.isk drives, and up to 512K-byte ROM packs. Options for the 1500 series include two different gas plasma displays , 10- , 20-. or 40-megabyte internal hard drives, a math coprocessor, an internal modem, and a re chargeable battery pack. The Model 1520 uses an 80C286 processor running at 10 MHz, while the Model 1530 has an 80C386 processor running at 12 .5 MHz. Price: 1520, $3495; 1530, $4695. Contact: GRiD Systems Corp., 47211 Lakeview Blvd ., Fremont, CA 94538, (415) 656-4700 . Inquiry 769. PS/2 External 525 Drive Delkin Devices' 525 Extra is a compact, low-cost ex ternal 5 'A-inch floppy disk drive for all models of the lBM PS/2 series. The drive simply plugs into an existing connector inside the PS/2; it gets its power from the computer. Measuring 9 by 6 by 2 1.4 inches, the 525 Extra installs in about 5 minutes with a standard screwdriver. It allows the PS/2 mach.ines to read , write, and format standard 360K-byte floppy disks. Price: $325 . Contact: Delkin Devices U .S .A ., 4655 Cass St., Suite 306, San Diego, CA 92109, (619) 273-8086. Inquiry 770. The GRiDCase 1500 comes with an 80286 or an 80386. Datavue has 386 Transportable A nd yet another entry in the growing list of 80386 based transportable systems comes from Datavue. Adding to its extensive line of laptop , portable, and transportable computers , its power-user system-called the Smoke386-will be available in both a 16-MHz system with a 40-megabyte hard disk drive and a 20-MHz version with a 100-megabyte hard disk drive. A company spokes person says both will be avail able by the end of March . The Smoke386 will run on AC power only. The unit ' s ap pearance is similar to the Datavue 25- the company's first portable. It has a vertical configuration and an appear ance that some have com pared with an electric toaster. Departing from screen types of previous Datavue portables , the unit uses a back.lit twisted nematic LCD display with a I to- I aspect ratio and a black on-white (or inverse) VGA type display featuring a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels. The Smoke386 will come standard with 2 megabytes of RAM, expandable to 8 mega bytes. Besides the hard disk drives mentioned above, sev eral different floppy disk drive configurations are available, including sif!gle or dual 1.44 megabyte 3 1/i-inch floppy disk drives, as well a 1.2 megabyte 5 'A -inch floppy disk drive. Weighing about 16 pounds, the Smoke386 can handle two full-size IBM PC or AT ex pansion cards with an optional expansion chassis that mounts on the bottom of the unit. The box does add to the size, but the computer remains easily tran sportable . Price: 16-MHz version, $4995; 20-MHz version , price not yet available. Contact: Datavue, One Meca Way , Norcross, GA 30093 2919, (404) 564-5555 . Inquiry 771. Operating System for PS/2s Q uantum has a version of its QNX operating system for the IBM PS/2 family . The program provides 150 concur rent tasks in a protectedmode environment and 64 tasks in real mode. Quantum re ports that QNX perfonns 3800 task switches per second in real mode and 2816 in pro tected mode on the Model 50. The operating system pro vides up to 32 serial ports and can handle files up to l tera byte (a trillion bytes), accord ing to Quantum . Running Quantum's DOS-emulator pro gram, QDOS Il, provides DOS compatibility. Price: $450. Contact: Quantum Software Systems Ltd . , l75 Terrence Matthews Crescent , Kanata South Business Park, Kanata , Ontario , Canada K2M IW8 , (613) 591 -0931. Inquiry 772. NEC MultlSync in Monochrome NEC Home Electronics, whose MultiSync color monitors started a minor rev olution in color graphics, has introduced a monochrome version . The " GS " in Multi Sync GS stands for gray scale, and that ' s how it d isplays colors-in up to 64 shades of gray. It ' s available in green , amber, and paper-white phosphor models. The MultiSync GS has a 13-inch diagonal screen and is NEC 's first monochrome monitor. The unit works with all IBM PC-compatible graphics adapters, and the monitor ' s input is switchable between analog and digital . MDA and Hercules inputs are displayed as 3 levels of gray , CGA as 13 levels, EGA and EGA-plus as 64 levels, and MCGA and VGA depend on the mode. The monitor's maximum resolution is 720 by 480 pixels. The scan rate, which auto matically adjusts to the graph ics adapter bei ng used , is 15 .7 to 31 .5 KHz horizontal and 49.6 to 70 KHz vertical. Its screen is nonglare , with a flat CRT and square corne rs . Why a monochrome Multi Sync? An NEC spokesperson says the company 's market research showed a need for MultiSync features in many business environments, but the cost of the color monitors coupled with often-right bud gets meant that workers who needed MultiSync features often didn ' t get them . Price: $279. Contact: NEC Home Elec tronics U .S .A., Computer Products Division, 1255 Michael Dr., Wood Dale, IL 60191 , (312) 860-9500 . Inquiry 773. co11ti1111ed 76 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 DTELL ·.-··------······· Introducing The Complete Personal Communications"' family: hand scanner, fax and personal voice mail for your PC. FAX IT ······· Now you can have voice mail and For only $499 you can forget the dedicated phone line and long w.i.lk to the fax room . Introducing your personal facsimile machine: The Complete FAX T· board . With CGA, EGA or Hcrculcs-compatiblc graphics, you can instantly view incoming faxes on your PC's screen. Then save them to disk or print them on most dot I I matrix or laser printers. Create faxes with your favorite word processor and computer graphics program. ~ SCAN IT lllt~ Smaecnhditnheemin to any Group Ill fax the world. And you ~------- bow and tell. They were the first s communications skills you used. Isn't it time to get more from your personal computer than word processing, spreadsheets and databases? Now you can put on a SHOW with The Complete Hand ScannerTM accessory. Desktop publishing will never be the same. For only $249 you can capture logos, signatures and photographs into popular graphics programs. The Soft Stationery '" program can scan in your signature with included with the scanner lets l11e Complete Hand Scanner. you merge text and graphics as Background CFAX ' " easy as point-and-click. software is always ready to send Scan a 2Yz inch wide image and receive faxes without at a resolution of 200 dots per imerrupting the other PC inch. Merge it. Crop it. Rotate programs you're using. You can it. Insert it. Scale it. Color it. even schedule outgoing faxes to Then print it with your dot take advantage of lower late matrix or laser printer. You can night phone rates for even .. . transmission to distribution lists all over the world. And CFAX is so smart, it can share the same phone line when you . . . TURN YOUR PC INTO THE WORLD'S SMARTEST ANSWERING MACHINE The SHOW wouldn't be complete without the TELL We started the whole personal communications revol ution with our $349 best-selling Complete Answering Machine '" (CAM '" ) personal voice mail system. Why irritate people by making them talk to a dumb answering machine? Give frequent callers their own voice mailboxes. Tell callers your computer will transfer them to another extension or track you down to deliver their messages. Because it runs in background, CAM won't disturb anything else you 're doing on your PC . And the business possibilities for CAMs are endless. With up to four phone lines and CAM boards, you can tum a dedicated PC into your most dedicated employee. e· I Use our new ProCAM TM development system to create order entry, catalog inquiry, customer service or other voice rcsponsc applications. Teach your PC to show and tell, call (800)634-5558 for the name of the dealer nearest you.* Tl-1l=<:C>M PLl:TEPC More f rom your perso11al computer 521 Cottonwood Drive · Milpitas, California 95035 (800)634-5558 · (408)434-0145 · FAX (408)434-1048 "ll>c Compld., PC producrs ·~ ··'llilable at MicroAgt Compu"'r Stott< and Olbtr quality .....utts. To ordor by pbon·, call R + R Dlttcl al (800)654-7587. Copyrighl (") 1987 by The Complc"' PC. Inc. The Complct< PC. Complete l\:ri;onal Communicarions. CPC. l'h< Compl<rc FAX . CFAX. The Complclc Hand Scanner. Sofr Stalioncry. The Compkl< Answering M:achlnc, CAM ilJ1d ProCAM .ltt lradcmarks of'The Complcic PC. 1llt': 01he.r companies mentioned own no mcrou5 n:gi.;.tctcd lrad<:marks. TRUA Circle 58 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 77 WHAT'S NEW PageMaker 3.0 A mong other features, PageMaker 3.0 will pro- vide automatic text flow throughout a document, automatic text wraparound of irregularly shaped graphics, support for color, image controls for scanned photographs and bit-mapped illustrations, user-definable style sheets, and 20 page-design templates. The image-comrol feature lets you control brightness , adjust contrast between an object and its background, define the angle and density of an image's lines and dots to create special effects, and easily modify images. With version 3 .0 , new pages are automatically created for text overflow, and a Snap to Rulers command for precise alignment has been added. You can also import tagged formats from wordprocessing, database, and spreadsheet applications. The new version of PageMaker will require a Windowscompatible PC AT or PS/2 that has at least a l 0-megabyte hard disk drive. Price: $795. Contact: Aldus Corp., 411 First Ave. S, Suite 200, Seattie, WA 98104, (206) 6282375 . Inquiry 774. 80386 Computer Kit I n one or two evenings of simple assembly work, you can build yourself a highpowered computer system with Heath's H-386 kit. Based on an 80386 processor running at 16 MHz, the standard H-386 kit also includes a 1.2-megabyte 5 1.4-inch floppy d.isk drive, a combination floppy/ hard disk controller, serial and parallel ports, ROM-based diagnostics, and a 101-key keyboard. The Heath Z-449 video board that comes with it is EGA-, CGA- , and MDAcompatible. Software includes Zenith's MS-DOS 3.2+ and Integrated 7 + , an integrated software package that ineludes a spreadsheet, word processor, database manager, graphics, and communications. You don't nee.d any special tools or skills to put the H-386 together. No soldering is required, and the completed systern has five full-length open slots. Options include hard disk drives, additional floppy disk drives, and monochrome or color monitors. Price: $3349.95 . Contact: To obtain kit, write to the Heath Company. Dept. 350-010, Hilltop Rd . , Benton Harbor, MI 49022. Inquiry 775. Lotus 1·2·3 Add-on wRelational Database indjanuner Software believes that its product, NexView, is the first relational spreadsheet program. The Lotus 1-2-3 add-on gives you access to data in spreadsheets without having to write any special formulas. You can consolidate a number of spreadsheets into one and work on up to 10 windows simultaneously. The program formats reports and lets you bring entries from one spreadsheet to another. NexView runs on the IBM PC XT and compatibles with 640K bytes of RAM, a monochrome or color monitor, and a hard disk drive. Price: $595. Contact: Windjammer Software Inc., 567 Park Ave., Scotch Plains, NJ 07076, (201) 322-6363. Inquiry 776. Transportable Widecarriage Printer Diconix , a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak, now has a wide-carriage version of its transportable printer. The Diconix 300W takes paper up to 14.8 inches wide, measures 3 by 9 by 19 inches, and weighs just 12 pounds. The printer uses ink-jet technology and has a rated noise level of only 48 decibels. Draft print speeds are 310 cps (elite) and 258 cps (pica); near-letter-quality mode prints at 73 cps (elite) and 61 cps (pica); and letter-quality mode prints at 48 cps (elite) and 40 cps (pica) . A condensed draft-quality mode is also available, and the printer can print full-size graphics at 192 by 192 dots per inch. Emulating the IBM Proprinter, IBM Quietwriter, and the Epson FX-85/100 printers, the Diconix 300W is available in both parallel and serial models. Price: $749. Contact: Diconix Inc. , 3100 Research Blvd., Dayton , OH 45420, (800) 342-6649. Inquiry 777. Skok Announces CAD sPrograms kok Systems began shipping four new drawi.ng programs in December. The first, Drawbase HLR, is a hidden line-removal program that works with other Drawbase software. Drawbase 2000 is a twodimensional program that ineludes construction geometry, interrupt command structure, and DXF import/export capability. Drawbase 3000 is a two- and three-dimensional program that features twoand three-point views, as well as orthographic and wireframe views. The last program in the series, Drawbase 4000, includes a database package and the program Space Accounting, which tracks area and perimeter values of any graphic object. Skok reports that all the Drawbase programs are integrated, enabling you to move drawings back and forth between them without a translation procedure. None of the announced products is copyprotected. Price: Drawbase HLR, $495; Drawbase 2000, $1995; Drawbase 3000, $2995; [)rawbase 4000, $3995 . Contact: Skok Systems Inc ., 222 Third St. , Cambridge, MA 02142, (617) 868-6003 . Inquiry 778. Forget-Me-Not T he programmable message system Forget-Me Not tells your system to exe cute batch-file applications unattended and can be used for sending and receiving elec tronic mail in a LAN environment. The program reads SideKick calendar programs as well as six other files you create. You can pop up a message window using the SideKick notepad , EDLIN, WordStar, or other ASCD text editors. You can program the window 10 ap pear at a certain time or place, and the message can contain multiple windows. Forget-Me-Not is filedri:ven and written in assembly language. It requires 25K bytes of RAM , one disk drive, and MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2.0 or higher. Price: $59. Contact: Sterling Castle Software, 702 Washington St.. Suite 174, Marina del Rey , CA 90292 , (800) 722-7853; in California, (800) 323-6406. Inquiry 779. FORTRAN Compiler with GEM Documentation p rospero Software's program development envi- ronment, Prospero FOR TRAN for GEM, runs on the Atari ST and the IBM PC . An enhanced version of Pro FORTRAN-77, the new compiler offers a four-window source editor, a development envi ronment, a symbolic debugger, and an improved linker. The package is a complete validated ANSI-standard FORTRAN-77-level compiler, Prospero reports. The IBM PC version lets ST programmers recompile source programs to run on the PC and compat ibles under GEM. Price: $199. Contact: Prospero Software Inc., lOOCommercialSt., Suite 306, Portland , ME 04101, (800) 327-6730. Inquiry 780. continued 78 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 persoif' · Perfect matches to DEC user needs. Hip. Hip. And Hooray. One-size-fits-all is an attribute best reserved for inexpensive socks. In the realm of PC-based emulation and communications software for DEC mainframe users. it's important to match specific user needs with specific product attributes. We have. Smatrerm® 240 features exact four-color emulation of a DEC~ VT24 I terminal. AJong with delivering full-screen ReGIS®and Tektronix®4010/4014 graphics. Smafferm 240 offers preci~e VT220. VTI02 .VTIOO. and VT52 text emulation. For non-graphics applications. Smatrerm®220 duplicates virtually every Smatrerm 240 text. communication. and ease-of-use feature. Three error-free file transfer protocols. including Kermit and Xmodem. are provided. Downloading minimizes on-line time requirements to boost overall system efficiency. And an optional network package allows direct LAN access to shared modems. printers. as well as host mainframes. As Smafferm 240 and 220 focus on graphics and text. new SmartMOVE® makes PC-to-the-rest-of-the-World communications sharper than ever. Speed connect. auto redial. and background file transfer features make this VTlOO emulator a loud and clear choice for advanced communications requirements. Graphics.text and communications. If you're looking for a perfect fit. seek the software sized and priced to match your needs. Persoft has it. Period. See us at DEXPO West Booth 1024. visit your dealer. phone us at 608-273-6000.or use inquiry code 50. :~l~a':~~~~~~~~~c:;:~:; i~~=~~~~~~""d=~~~~{~r!::softloc DEC.vtand WHAT'S NEW Mainframe Runs MS-DOS T he Centaur II Mainframe is an MS-DOS-compat ible, multiuser, multiprocess ing system that runs under the Novell NetWare operating system. It can be expanded lo hand.le up to 100 simulta neous terminal users or up to 500 occasional switched ter minal users. Each user's termi nal is connected to a circuit card that incorporates an NEC V40 processor running at 8 MHz, 786K bytes of RAM (640K bytes is user-accessi ble) , and two COM ports: one for attaching the terminal, the other for a printer or modem. The main file processor for the mainframe is either 80286 or 80386-based and includes 2 megabytes of RAM (expand able up to 16 megabytes). The peripheral controller in cluded can handle up to six floppy/hard disk systems and a tape backup unit. The Mainframe itself con sists of a standard 19-inch com puter cabinet and from one to six rack-mounted Centaur II chassis. Each chassis houses from 1 to 14 application proces sors. A full range of storage peripherals is available. Cen taur II supports most ASCII terminals, including DEC VT lOOs and compatibles, as well The Centaur !I is MS-DOS compatible. SYSTEMS as standard PC-type terminals such as those available from DVSC, Link, Kimtron, Tele Video, and WYSE. Price: Starting at $50,000 (30 to 40 users). Contact: Data/Voice Solu tions Corp. , One Newport Place, Mail Stop 800, New port Beach, CA 92660, (714) 752-8181. Inquiry 781. Toshiba's 386 Portable T oshiba's T51~ portable computer gets 1ts power from a 16-MHz 80386 (switchable to 8 MHz). There's also a socket for an 80387 co processor. Other standard in ternals of the portable are 2 megabytes of RAM (expand able to 4 megabytes), a single 1.44-megabyte 3 ~-inch floppy disk drive that Toshiba says is fully compatible with IBM PS/2 drives, and a 40-mega byte hard disk drive with an average access time of 29 mil liseconds. The T5100 requires AC; it wilJ not operate on bat tery power. On the outside, the T5100 measures 12 'A inches wide by 14 IA inches deep by 3 ~ inches high. Like other Toshiba portables , the screen flips up. Like the Toshiba T3IOO, the screen has a gas plasma display . With a resolu tion of 640 by 400 pixels (equal to the EGA standard) , it displays graphics using four shades of gray. There's also a port for an external EGA compatible monitor. The unit has an RS-232C serial port, a parallel port, a port for connecting an exter nal 5 IA-inch floppy d.isk drive , and a Toshiba standard inter nal expansion slot. Software in cludes MS-DOS 3.2 and Lotus Metro; the memory-resi dent desktop manager from the l-2-3 mavens . Options for the TS I00 in clude a 2-megabyte memory expansion board (price not Toshiba's new portable is 80386-powered. yet announced) . There's also an internal 1200-bps modem ($399), an external 5 \.4 -inch floppy disk drive ($499) , and Floppy Link, a $199 package that lets you connect the T5100 to a desktop PC. A carrying case is also optional . Price: $6499. Contact: Toshiba America Inc., Information Systems Division, 9740 Irvine Blvd. , Irvine, CA 92718, (800) 457 7777 . Inquiry 782. Pagelink Merges Text and Graphics Q ume' s PageLink is a self-contained hardware/ software system that merges text and graphics ~om existing word-processing and spread sheet programs to produce typeset-quality documents . It's available in two versions: PageLink has 1.2 megabytes of internal memory to combine text with partial-page graph ics. PageLink Plus has 2 mega bytes of memory, enough to combine text with full-page bit- mapped graphks. The PageLink system has 111 built-in fonts , and software enhancers allow automatic kerning, optim.ized character spacing, and true typesetting functions such as italics. You can create page frames, shades, and patterns. You can also integrate scanned images into documents . PageLink operates in two basic modes. In the PageLink mode , the controller outputs video directly into the imaging unit of your laser printer. In native mode, PageLiok acts only as a buffering multi plexer to the standard laser printer controller. The system lets you connect up to n.ine microcomputers to a single laser printer, and it operates with pop-up software. Price: $3795; PageLink Plus, $3995. Contact: Qume, 2350 Qume Dr. , San Jose, CA 95131 1893, (408) 432-4000. Inquiry 783. cominued 80 BYTE· JANUARY 1988 / -7 nexpert system is like borrowing someone else's experience and expertise on a given subject. l_ UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS by TIME-LIFE BOOKS is exactly that. on expert system on the subject of 7computers. It's not softwore based, so it can't crash. And since it's not machine-specific, it won't become outdated easily. which means you'll find it on invaluable, lo ng-lived reference whether you hove o n IBM®PC, on Apple lie®, a multimillion dollar Croy®, o r no computer a·t all right now. ABRAND NEW SERIES THAT PRESENTS COMPUTERS IN AWHOLE NEW WAY. what it's oll about. Full-color illustrations help make every concept crystal clear. And glossaries of terms help ensure your understand ing. Each volume is a big 9 If.I'' x 11 1Al" hardcover book with approximately 128 pages. FREE 10 DAY EXAMINATION. NO OBLIGATION. Begin to expand your computer know-how now by examining Computer Basics for 10 days free. Keep it and pay only $14.99 ($18.99 in Canada), plus shipping and handling. Then you con continue to receive other volumes every other month, always How o transistor operates os o switch. UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS is o new series of books that with a 10-day free trial. Keep only the books you wont. presents computers in a unique, brood-based woy, unlike ony other And you can cancel ony time. O r return Computer Basics ond compu ter book you've ever seen. It owe nothing. gets "'under the hood," right down Return the coupon today, and start to bridge the gap from to the nuts ond bolts of computers to explain what you need to know about them in plain English. computer buff to computer expert. IBM tS o 1eg15tered trodemoA of ln1emo11()rl(>! &s1ncss Moch.oes CorporotlOll Apple le ~ o regllJertK.I 11odemo~ of Apple Compvtct. lnc Croy is o reg1~e1ed lfodemork ol Goy P.estlOfch, Inc 1987 Tome Lile Boo 1 Box ( - 2066. R<Chmond, VA 23261 ·2066 Ono digital record, sound is The first volume, Computer Basics, carried by pits and spaces, unwraps the mystery of writing which ore read by o loser beam. binary code . . .the concept of logic gates . . .how chips ore d esigned ... how a light pen works for graphic effects ... the sequence of events in a computer from the first clock pulse to the lost. And much. much more. Succeeding volumes cover Soflwore. Input/ Oulpul. Graphics. Networking. The entire gamut of computer topics. EVERY IMPORTANT CONCEPT IS ILLUSTRATED TO HELP ASSURE YOU UNDERSTAND. 1.-------- -- - ~ I UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS I s··RTS HERE IA · MBooxilcto-:3T2I0M6E6-L, I FE BOOKS I Richmond, VA 23261 -2066 YES! Send me Compute- BasJCs, as my 1n1roduc1ion 10 1he shelf-bosed experl syslem, UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS. I agree 10 1he rerms ou1l1ned in this o d. D1Qi1Q3 I I Address- - - -- - - -- - -- - - -- I Not only does UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS g ive you oll the G ty_ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ _ TIM E I computer background you wont that you won't find elsewhere, it also shows you Store or Zipor Provonce_ _ _ __ ,PostolCode _ _ __ All order> ·ubi«· ·o oppiovol. Price s..b;ec110 cl>onge. 1111;1;1 I UNDERSTA~N-D-I~ N~G-C--O-M-P-U-- TERS Introducing the two on earth The new COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20'" The world now has two new benchmarksfrointheleader in high-performance personal computing. The new 20-MHz COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20 and the 20-lb., 20-MHz COMPAQ PORTABLE 386 deliver system performance that can rival minicoinputers'. Plus they intro duce advanced capabilities without sacrificing compatibil ity with the software and hard ware you already own. Both employ an industry standard Intel· 80386 micropro cessor and sophisticated 32-bit architecture. Our newest porta ble is up to 25% faster and our desktop is actually up to 50% faster than 16-MHz 386 PC's. But we did much more than simply increase the clock speed. For instance, the COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20 uses a cache memory controller. It comple ments the speed of the micropro cessor, providing an increase in system performance up to 25% over other 20-MHz 386 PC's. It 's also the first PC to offer an op tional Weitek"' Coprocessor Board, which can give it the performance of a dedicated engineering work station at a fraction of the cost. They both provide the most storage and memory within their classes. Up to 300 MB of storage in our latest desktop and up to 100 MB in our new portable. It simply works better. most powerful PC's and off. 6 % JI and the new 20-MHz COMPAQ PORTABLE 386T" Both use disk caching to inject more speed into disk-intensive applications and both will run MS' OS/2. A5 for memory, get up to 16 MB of high-speed 32-bit RAM with the COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20 and up to 10 MB with the COMPAQ PORTABLE 386. Both computers feature the COMPAQ' Expanded Memory Manager, which supports the Lotus'/Inter!Microsoft' Ex panded Memory Specification to break the 640-Kbyte barrier imposed by DOS. With these new computers plus the original COMPAQ DESKPRO 386"': we now offer the broadest line of high performance 386 solutions. They all let you run software being written to take advantage of 386 technology, including Microsoft, Windows/386 Presen tation Manager. It provides multitasking capabilities with today's DOS applications to make you considerably more productive. But that's just the beginning. For more informa tion, call 1-800-231-0900, Operator 43 . In Canada, call 416-733-7876, Operator 43. Intel, Lotus, Microsoft, and Weitek are trademarks of their respective companies. © 1987 Compaq Computer Corporation. All rights reserved . romPAtr WHAT'S NEW PERIPHERALS Citizen Speeds Low End Citizen America now has a raster version of its pop uJar low-cost 120D printer. The I 80D is, as its name im plies, a 180-cps (draft) dot matrix printer. It also has three additional modes: data pro cessing al 150 cps, high-speed NLQ at 31 cps, and NLQ at 29 cps. The 1800 uses a nine-wire print head and is compatible with both Epson and IBM printers. You can also print graphics in seven resolutions up 10 240 dots per inch. The unit can generate over 200 type styles, including com pressed and expanded characters. You can feed paper into the 1800 through either the rear or the bottom of the unit. A par allel interfu.ce is standard; a serial interface is optional. Price: $259. Conta<;t: Citizen America, 2401 Colorado Ave, Suite 190, Santa Monica, CA 90404, (213) 453-0614. Inquiry 784. Hlgh·Speed AT Hard Disk Micro Systems Group has a new series of hard disk drives for the IBM PC AT and compatibles that feature ultra-fu.st access times and are designed to take advantage of the 16-bit bus and faster clock speeds of 80286-based computers. The fastest of the lot is the MSG-HS40, a 40 megabyte unit with an aver age access time of 8.2 milliseconds. The drives are also avail able in capacities of 82 , 120, and 150 megabytes, each with an average access time of 16 ms . All models are full height 5 1.4-inch drives and come complete with an ESDI controller with proprietary firmware for maximum data transfer. Price: From $3495 to $5495. Contact: Micro Systems Group Inc., 2117 Stonington, Hoffman Estates, IL 60195, (312) 882-5666. Inquiry 785. Low-Cost Modems A new series of modems for the IBM PC and com patibles from Advanced Computer Technology has four different models. The Expert 24E is a 2400-bps external modem; the 241 is a 2400-bps internal modem. Likewise, the Expert 12E and 121 are 1200 bps external and internal models, respectively. All use the industry-stan dard AT command set and are compatible with most com munications software. Each has a two-year warranty and includes auto-dialing, on screen help menus, multiple number storage, automatic speed adjustment for noisy lines, and extensive self-testing and diagnostics. A built-in speaker and dual telephone jacks are also standard. Price: 24E and 24I, $199; 12E and 121, $109. Contact: Advanced Com puter Technology, Worcester Providence Turnpike, Sut ton, MA01527, (800)654 6464; in Massachusetts, (617) 865-3304. Inquiry 786. High-Speed Modem for Normal Lines Ven-Tel's EC18K-34 is a very high-speed 18,000 bps asynchronous modem with integral data compression that the company claims can boost throughput up to 19,200 bps, even on poor lines. The modem automatically corrects errors using 16-bit CRC in high-speed mode and MNP error correction at 1200 bps and 2400 bps. It can also dynamically adjust itself to changing phone-line condi tions . Unlike many competing high-speed modems, the ECI8K-34 can fall back in speed by 100-bps increments if the line degrades. At high speed, the modem uses PEP (Packetized Ensem ble Protocol) multicarrier modulation. Al lower speeds, it is Hayes-compatible and automatically adjusts itself to the highest speed supported by the modem on the other end. The EC18K-34 has ad vanced self-testing and can be configured via telephone line from a remote location. Price: $1300. Contact: Ven-Tel Inc., 2121 Zanker Rd., San Jose, CA 95131, (408)436-7400. Inquiry 811. Fast Mac II Drive With a data transfer rate that's faster than the transfer rate of the Macintosh II, the PRO 140 Il/i is a 140 megabyte internal hard disk drive that's designed especially for Apple's top-of-the-line model. The disk has an average access time of 26 ms and fea tures automatic head parking. There's also a dynamic brake lock system that protects sensitive areas of the disk while it's being transported. The PRO 140 D/i comes with the CMS SCSI Utilities pro gram that helps you formal, initialize, and install the drive. Price: $2695. Contact: CMS Enhance ments Inc., 1372 Valencia Ave., Tustin, CA 92684, (714) 259-9555 . Inquiry 787. Fingerprint Your Computer T humbScan is a "bio metric identification sys tem" that analyzes finger prints to make sure that only authorized users get access to a computer equipped with the unit. The system consists of a small fingerprint-scanning de vice that connects to your sys- tern, as well as software. The software initiaJizes your fingerprint by requesting that you place a thumb or fin ger on the scanner's image area. The ThumbScan then digitizes and encrypts the fin gerprint. Later on, it will compare your fingerprint with the encrypted image. If it matches, you can access the system. It takes about 5 min utes to initialize a user, and thereafter about 5 seconds to check if the user is authorized. ThumbScan is compatible with MS-DOS systems, as well as DEC VAXes and IBM mainframes, which require ad ditional software. Price: $995 . Contact: ThumbScan Inc., Two Mid-America Plaza, Suite 800, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181, (312) 954-2336. Inquiry 788. Heavy-Duty Laser With a target volume of 10,000 pages per month and a rated print-engine life of 600,000 pages, the Facit P7080-A laser printer is de signed for heavy use in a busy environment. The printer comes with six fonts in two sizes; plug-in cartridges are available to provide additional fonts , PostScript and HPGL emulation, and bar-code printing. Rated at 8 pages per min ute, the P7080-A emulates. the Diablo 630, Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Plus, and Epson FX printers. It has both parallel and serial interfaces, and it comes standard with 512K bytes of RAM, expandable to 2 megabytes. The feeder and output trays both handle 250 pages, and the output is col lated face-down . Price: $5895. Contact: Facit Inc., 9 Execu tive Dr., Merrimack, NH 03054, (603) 424-8000. Inquiry 789. continued 84 8 YT E · JANUARY 1988 lrn51 Universal Data Systems lWliJ ® MOJ"OlfO&.A --. -- RS CS QM CO RO TO Full duplex 9600 bps commun ication The unit also features auto dial, auto over dial-up telephone lines becomes answer, call progress detection and more cost-effective than ever, as UDS adaptive line equalization . If degraded announces a 36% price cut for the line quality prevents 9600 bps commu popu lar V.32 modem. nication, a 4800 bps fall back mode is A unique echo cancellation technique available. (patent pending) perm its reliable per If modem cost is the reason you formance over all types of surface and haven't upgraded your dial-up system satellite links. Set-up and operation are to V.32, the rules have just changed. greatly simplified by a 3-key ·, For detailed specifications system of responses to menu and quantity prices, contact prompts on an integral LCD Universal Data Systems, 5000 screen . The same screen dis .._. --- . ,._ -- -- -- - plays results from the modem's Bradford Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805. Telephone 800 -451 · extensive self-test regime. New Quantity One Price 2369; Telex 752602 UDS HTV. Circle 279 on Reader Service Card Universal Data Systems ® MOTOACX.A INC. - Sl'*'N Gto..f> Created by Dayner/Hall, Inc., Winter Park, Florida WHAT'S NEW ADD - INS High-Speed EGA/VGA A head Systems has two new video cards for the IBM PC and compatibles that feature both EGA and BIOS level VGA compatibility. The EGA Wizard and EGA Wizard Deluxe have maximum reso lutions of 640 by 480 pixels and 800 by 600 pixels, respectively . Both cards display CGA and EGA colors as 16 shades of gray on monochrome moni tors and support 132-column modes . Both also have a pro prietary turbo mode, which the company claims improves video display speed by up to 300 percent by reducing the number of wait states to less than half that of standard EGA cards. The cards are shipped with a number of custom software drivers for such popular ap plications as Lotus 1-2-3, AutoCAD , PageMaker, Ven tura Publisher, Generic CAD, Dr. HALO Ill , Framework, and FastCAD. Both also sup port extensive PC-to-main frame and PC-to-minicomputer communications with emula tion support for the IBM 327813279, S3G, VT-100/ VT-220, HP , and Tektronix 400514010/4015. Price: Wizard, $249; Wizard Deluxe, $349. Contact: Ahead Systems Inc ., 1977 O'Toole Ave., Suite Bl05, San Jose, CA 95131. (408) 435-0707. Inquiry 790. Cebleless 386 Upgrade I f you want to upgrade your AT or compatible to an 80386, the Master 386 from Aox lets you do it easily, without removing chips or in staJling cables . Installation is a simple matter of plugging in the board and installing soft ware. The Master 386 is available in both 16-MHi: and 20-MHz versions , with high speed cache memory and a socket for an optional 80387 coprocessor. The EGA Wizard series is VGA-BIOS-level-compatible. The Master 386 includes special circuitry that the com pany claims wiJl prevent problems caused by th e recent ly announced bug in the 80386. The company claims the Master 386 will run flaw lessly in protected mode with an 80387 as required by Unix, PC-MOS/386, and Windows/386 . Using its on-board connec tors, you can equip the Master 386 with true 32-bit memory using Aox's optional memory expansion board. A 2-mega byte card (expandable to 10 megabytes) is $1250 ; a 4 megabyte card (expandable to 16 megabytes) is $1995 . Price: 16-MHz version, $1595; 20-MHz version, $2195. Contact: Aox Inc., 486 Totten Pond Rd ., Waltham , MA 02154, (617) 890-4402. Inquiry 791. SCSI for the PS/2 T he MCS-350 SCSI host adapter from Future Do main is an add-in for the IBM PS /2 Models 50, 60, and 80 . It interfaces the computers with any of the wide variety of SCSI peripheral s. The MCS-350 's transfer rate is 1.67 megabytes per sec ond, and it offers full Micro Channel compatibility with an IBM -assigned ID number. It also has all the features you need to run advanced operat ing systems such as OS/2, Xenix , and Novell. Price: $390. Contact: Future Domain Corp., 1582 Parkway Loop , Suite A , Tustin , CA 92680 , (7 14) 259-0400. Inquiry 792. Acquire Data for the PS/2 50, 60, and 80 T he MDL- 16 is a reaJ time and event-based data acquisition system for the PS /2 Models 50, 60, and 80 . It includes a multifunction Micro Channel data acq uisition board with both RS-232C and RS -422 /485 comunications ports. The system comes with the TransParent Interface , a reaJ time background data collec tion program . Its features in clude interfaces for Borland 's Turbo Pascal, Turbo Basic , and Turbo C, as well as Micro soft's GWBASIC and C . Lan guage variables are updated in real time and directly inter faced with analog and digital inputs and outputs . Hardware features include 16 13-bit analog inputs , 16 TTL-level digital inputs, 16 TTL-level digital outputs, 96 alanns, a battery-backed real-time clock, and stand alone data logging with time and date stamping . Options in clude a 1200-bps modem , a temperature sensor board. 1/0 rack adapter cards, and isola tion modules . Price: $499. Contact: The Automation Group Inc ., 848-R Nandino Blvd. , Lexington , KY 40511 , (606) 254-6916 . Inquiry 793. Your Computer Speaks T he Heath HV-2000 is an expans ion card for the IBM PC and compatibles that gives your computer a wide variety of voices. It's a ha! f size plug-in card that , accord ing to the company, translates ASCn data as well as high- or low-level languages into intel ligible speech. This add-in consists of a speech synthesizer on a c.ircuit board, an audio amplifier, and an external speaker. A Speak utility program lets you add vocal prompts to batch files. It will also read ASCII text files. as well as ASCII data recei ved through a serial port . The board has XON / XOFF handshaking and a 60K-byte buffer. There's also terminal-emulator software that adds speech to modem communications . The HV-2000 uses 64 pho nemes to create word s, phrases , and sentences . Other attributes include four dura tions , 16 rates, 4096 inflec tion levels, 32 transition level s. eight transition rates , eight articulation rates , and 49 musi cal notes. The audio output has 16 amplitude senings. Price: $89.95 . Contact: To obtain kit, write to the Heath Company, Dept. 350-020, Hilltop Rd ., Benton Harbor. Ml 49022 . Inquiry 794. co 11ri11u ed 86 BYTE · JANUARY t988 Nope DEC. HP. Sun . etc. PCs All . 286 & 386 PC Jr. too PCs MS/ DOS <640K >640K programs_ programs 0 2 Ask A.~hton · Yes. Tate first day Multiuser Primitive Mainframe quali ty Networking PC Nets o nl y PC. mini & ma inlram e Fault Tolenmt You must CPU & Di'k be kiddin g Recovery s O racle Corporation, the world's fastest growing software company,' bas just climbed past Ash ton:fate to become the world's largest su pplier of databa.'le man· agement software and services.' Why? · Because ORACLE© runs on PCs. plus mainframes and minicom puters from IBM, DEC. DG, HP. Prime, Wang, Apollo, Sun, etc. virtually every computer you have now or ever will have. Ashton-Tate's dBASE runs only on PCs. · Because ORACLE is a true dis tributed DBMS that connects all your computers - PCs. minicom puters and mainframes - into a single. unified computing and infor mation resource. dBA.SE supports only primitive PC networking. · Because Oracle has supported the industry standard SQL language since 1979. Ashton-late promises to put SQL into dBASE sometim e in th e indefinite future. · Because ORACLE takes advan tage of modern 2861386 PCs by letting you build larger-than -640K PC applications on MS / DOS today. and run them unchanged on 05 / 2. once osn is available. dBASE treats toclav's 286/ 386 PCs aml PS/2s like the now obsolete. originnl PC. Don'! go down in names. Bail out frnm dBASE. Call 1-800-0RACLF.1 and ortler you r $1'1'1-PC copy of ORACLE' tod ay. Or ju st ask and we'll send vou inform<1tion on ORA.G.E. the number one se lling DBMS on minicomputers and mainframes. C>RACLE® COMPAT l8 1LITY · PORTABI LITY · CONNEC TAB ILI TY Call 1-800-0RACLE1. ext. 149 today. Dear Oracle, I PC ORDER PROCESSING Oracle Co rp orat1on I 20 Davis Dr ive · Be lmont. CA 9~002 I want ORACLE to b~ THE l_AST DBMS I =for mv 2116 / 386 PC. F.nclosecl is my Check or 0 VlSA 0 MC C A~ff.X credit card authurizal ion for S199 (Ca lifornia residen ts add 7% sa le> lax). I I undcrsland th is copy is for PC dewlop ment only. O ffer valid on l\' in the US and Canada . I '""':w"' I r"" I Corn1Mn~ :\Ht-<': (f'O Box nllmf>.tin no: iKC~plabflf') I C"d" C>«l :·omb<· C.n <1 f y r1 rM 1M'I L).u ... WHAT'S NEW S O FT WAR E · PROGRAMMING LANG U AGES AND AIDS Programmer's Calculator The XACT-16C is a RAM-resident calculator lhat emulates lhe Hewlett Packard 16-C. It has decimal, hexadecimal, binary, octal, and floating-point modes with words from 2 to 64 bits . If you wish , you can run the cal culator as a stand-alone DOS program. The XACT-16C also has advanced algebraic, logi cal, base-conversion, and bit marupuJation functions . The calculator is program mable , wilh up to 203 program lines. It has a simulated paper-tape feature, and you can print the tape, save it to disk , or stamp it with messages . It also includes a built-in ASCII table. To run XACT-16C , you need an IBM PC or compatible with at least I 28K bytes of RAM, one floppy disk drive, and PC-DOS or MS-DOS 2 .0 or higher. Price: $49.95. Contact: CalcTech Inc ., 13629 Bellevue-Redmond Rd., Suite 202, Bellevue, WA 98005 , (206) 643- 1682. Inquiry 795. Language Combines Prolog, Pascal, and dBASE Complete Logic Systems calls it th e first commer cially available logic pro gramming language based on constraints. As the name sug gests, Trilogy has three levels of programming within the framework of predicate logic: procedural, database, and logic. The company reports that the blind backtracking of Pro log is replaced with con straint satisfaction , resulting in faster logic solutions. The Pascal-like notation makes use of data constructors and de structors. But the file system, unlike P"dscal, offers variable size records and records with arbitrary values. You can in ------ . ':.!.' 11-· ~Ull.l - H.~ · ..nv: -~- - '~ ~ I > Zf 3 ( u 51. u 7 7 H '.B u·:l·l E rn: Rt·h T c-:i Yli" I ~ )';ICT ·1'C Prt~r ' . II · . ., , 0 t ··1 I ~/S S\ :1 I ; 1 r c m I OCH J l I 2 L l II tor K ~·If I HO l llU " ~ , CM; The XACT-16C RAM-resident programmable calculator. sert , delete, and modify records in the middle of a file, and you can query them like predicates. Trilogy has its own en vironment that includes an edi tor, a module library , an in teractive compiler that produces native 8086 and 8087 code, an on-line linker, a loader, and help screens. The four modules (Math, Strings . Files, and Windows) export routines for transcendental functions , string/date/time manipulation, file access , and windowing functions . The language runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT , and compat ibles with MS-DOS or PC DOS 2.0 or higher and 5 12K bytes of RAM. It is not copy protected . Price: $99.95. Contact: Complete Logic Systems Inc ., 741 Blueridge Ave., North Vancouver, B.C ., Canada V7R 2J5, (604) 986-3234 . Inq uiry 796. 386 FORTRAN Compiler NDP Fortran-386 is a globally optimizing com piler that generates native 386 code that runs in protected mode under MS-DOS or Unix V. With NDP and MicroWay 's mWl 167 nu meric coprocessor board , the company reports speed ih creases of up to 60 times the speed of an IBM PC . NDP ' s FORTRAN is a full implemen tation ofFORTRAN-77 and includes FORTRAN-66 and other extensions. Coprocessors supported by NOP include the in-line tran scendentals of the 80387 and the full mW 1167 instruction set. Output is assembly lan guage, which is assembled and linked by Unix V tools or Phar Lap tools for MS-DOS . The addressable memory available in the linear address mode is 4 gigabytes. Price: $595; mWI 167 copro cessor board , $1495 . Contact: MicroWay , P.O. Box 79, Kingston, MA 02364, (617) 746-7341. Inquiry 797 . Cross-Development Kit for Macs Memocom·s cross-devel opment kit for the Macin tosh includes a table-driven cross assembler and a Memula tor II or Memulator 16 in circuit EPROM emulator. Memocom reports that you can assemble and test source pro grams for almost any micro processor/controller with a maximum of24 address bits. Instead of burni ng EPROMs during an applica tion's development cycle, you can download the output of your assembler or compiler directly into the target EPROM socket via the Mac's modem port. The Memulators II and 16 emulate the JEDEC stan dard 2716- through 27256-type devices and have an access time of 150 nanoseconds. The cross assembler and Memulators Il and 16 support standard Intel hexadecimal , Motorola S-record , and straight binary formats, which are compatible with most serial EPROM programmers . Price: $725 with a Memula tor II; $1275 with a Memulator 16 . Contact: Memocom , 1920 Arbor Creek Dr., Carrollton , TX 75010, (214) 446-9906. Inquiry 798. Pop-Up Pal Pop up XO-Shell to do cross-referencing without leaving the editor; view any file and transfer sections of it to you r editor or printer; view, copy , and erase files from a di rectory display ; retrieve, edit, and re-execute DOS com mands; and insert graphics characters into your source code. The memory-resident program also lets you insert ex tended ASCII characters and input them into your applica tions programs. Wyte Corp. says that XO Shell works with most editors, incl uding Turbo Pascal . Turbo C, Turbo Basic, and QuickBASIC . It also works with most applications soft ware , such as Lotus 1-2-3 . To run the shell, you need an IBM PC , XT , AT , or compatible, or a PS/2. It takes up about 88K bytes of RAM and re quires MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2 .0 or higher. Price: $49 . Contact: Wyte Corp ., 701 Concord Ave. , Cambridge , MA 02138. (617) 868-7704 . Inq uiry 799. continued 88 BYT E · JANUARY 1988 4 Meg AT ZIP Board · EMS emulation soltw01 e included · Fully p:>pulated and tested with 4 MB of Micron memory on a smgle PC boa.rd ! · Designed to work with 80286 and 80386 based systems · Com patible with OS/ 2. DOS. UNIX and XEN IX · Operating speeds up to 8 MHz zer o wait-state and 12 MHz with one wait-state · Backfills conventional memory · Switch selectable on 4 MB bound aries at l MB or 2 MB stmting address · RAM diagnostics. RAM dlsk and p rint sp:>oler softw01e included · All boards me tested under a wide range of environmental conditions to insure high reliability and quality · Wmranted !or 2 y ecas to registered users · Made m the USA Operating Speeds Order Number Upto 6 MHz w / no wait-s ate Up to 10 MHz w/ l wait-state .. S!<mdard Board with Board 384 KB Offset" ME-46- 1Z MB-46-32 Upto8 M Hz w/ no went-state Up to 12 MHz w / 1 wait-state .. _ MB-48-1Z MB-48-3Z ·Fo t systems wn.h o l MB Ot 2 MB motl"ler b:xDCI 2/4 Meg AT DIP Board · EMS emulation sottw01e included · Purchase 2 MB mothercard and 2 MB daughterc01d separatel y or together to fit in a single slot! · Designed to work with 80286 and 80386 based systems · Compatible with OS/ 2. OOS. UNIX and XENIX · Operating speeds up to 8 MHz zero wait-state and 12 MHz with one wait-state · Backfills conventional m emory · Switch selectable on 1/2 MB bound aries stmting at 1024K or 1408K · RAM diagnostics. RAM dlsk and print sp:>oler software included · All boards are tested under a wide range of environmen tal conditions to insure high reliability and quality · Warrcmted for 2 yecas to registered users · Made in the USA Operating Speeds Order Number Up to 6 MHz w / n o went-state Up to 10 MHz w / 1 wait-slate . 2MB MB-26--D Dcru~htercard for MB- 6-D . MB-26-DD Up to 8 MHz w / no wait-state Up to 12 MHz w / l w ait-state ... .. ME-28-D Dcru~htercard for MB- 8 -D . . . - . MB-28- DD 4MB MB-46-D MB-48-D 16 Meg AT DIP Board · EMS emulation software included · Purchase 6 MB mothercard and 2. 4. 6 o r 10 M B daughtercard sepa rately or together to fit in a single slot! · Fully p:>pulated and tested with Micron's own l megabit CM OS Dynamic RAMs · Designed to work with 80286 and 80386 based systems · Compatible with OS/ 2. DOS. UNIX and XENIX · Operating speeds up to 8 MHz with zero wait-state and 12 MHz with one wait-state · Backfills conventional memory · Switch selectable on 128KB bound aries · RAM diagnostics. RAM dlsk and print spooler software included · All boards are tested under a w ide range of environmental conditions to insure hig h reliability and quality I Warranted !or 2 years to registered users · Made in the USA M emory Capacity Order Number I OMHz"" 6MB . ... . .. . . BMB __. M B-66 -D MB-86-D lOMB ... - · . ..... - MB-106-D 12MB. - . . .. . MB-126-D l6MB . . . MB- 166-D 12M'.Hz""" M B-68-D MB-88-D MB- 108-D MB-128 -D MB-16 8-D ' "Up to6 MH1. w / M ""''Cilt·SIOlc u p 10 10 MHz w /l '"'cnr-stmr: '''Up to to MHz w /r:.o ....·mt-state p :o 12 MHi w / l \<.·a:J:·stcno Micron Technology. Inc. Systems Group 2805 East Columbia RCXld Boise. Idaho 83706 1-800-642-766 1 (208) 386-3800 UNIX .s a tradem:o£. of 8oll l..a00t tonos-XENIX ~ o uadcma:k c l ~J'Jctoscn cor;:omnon-IBM PC. XT A.T and OSJ 2 ru e u odomrnk.s o1 lBM Corp:imbon Circle 165 on Reader Service Card JANUA RY 1988 · B YT E 89 Tuu ready Best Reasons for FORCOMMENT: 123 ~r. i!.x Di.<tplay nwr data with ·iw loss ofspeed; pcrp up graph. on same screen a · 1;p;- ad~heel. Wcrrdstar 2000 Pl11s Ver. s Display suh/.<t1tpers<'ripls, italics, bold/ace, strikcthmugh. Micmwifr M11/1ipla11 Fbr Comment Display more text with no lo - of speed. I · 11 · ·>rnphnn.r I" WordMARC Diftplay Jo-reign characters at text m.ode 1rpeeds. Mi.crosoft MW,tiplan Display more data witJi no lo · · ofspeed. S?rmplwny Di<.·p/ay mor dall.I witJ1 no lo.· · ofspeed. o~Here's It's hard to find a business application that can't run better with RamFont:" Spreadsheets show nearly twice the data. Word processors dis play foreign, technical and other special characters. All with no loss of scrollingspeed -in fact, it often improves. Now for a real look at what RamFont does, there's Write On! This unique Ram Font word processor from Hercules displays several type styles and sizes at text-mode speeds, complete with headlinesize type, custom and foreign characters, underscore and true boldface. See them on-screen like they'll appear in print, brightening memos, overheads and prompt cards. !le1·wl is rt regi:tered trademark of Herc1des Compul£r 1echMlogy, Inc . f(timFont and /nC()lor ar· trademarks of Hercules Compuler Technology, Inc. Other produc/s CLre trademarks of theii· respective holders. 90 BYT E · JANUARY 1988 Brief Display more Uxt with rw loss of speed. Frarneworlc II Display nwre data, with no loss of.~peed; display bold/ace and ·italics in the word processor. Microsoft.Y\brd Flow Charting II Display special symbols al text mode speeds. I.1 tlll ~JHJJl!S<'l'i]ll NotaBenf! Microsoft Word 4.0 Display for eign character sets a.t ScroU muchfcister tJwn in yraphics text mode speeds. mode, retaining all on-screen fonts One More~·~ Mmmscript Disp/,ay .~ublsuperscripL~. 1:talics, boldface and strikethrough. Create new documents with For a limited time, you There have never been so Write On! or import any ASCII get a.free copy of Write On! many reasons for RamFont. text file. You get full editing with every Hercules Graphics But as any software publisher functions plus pull-down menus Card Plus or Hercules will tell you, there will soon and mouse support for easy InC,olor Card· be a whole lot more. Hercules. font changes.You'll turn plain text files created with other word processors into dazzling Both are at your Hercules dealer, complete with our exclusive RamFont mode that communications in seconds! makes it all possible. R.amFont, by Hercules. "/jyoii.already own a lferculeii Gra]lhics Card Pl-u qr lnColor Gard. call us toll-free at 800-.'i.92-0600. Wc'U tell you how lo yet yo1~r cop11 oj H'i·ite On! Exclu.sively in the Graphics Card Plus and InColor Card. Circle 109 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 110) JANUARY 1988 · BYT E 91 WHAT'S NEW CAD/CAM on the Mac T he Professional System from Douglas Electronics now supports the Macintosh II as well as color and un 1imited layers. The program is made up of three parts Schematic Capture, a layout program , and an Autorouter. To run the program, you need at least 512K bytes of RAM on a Mac or a Mac II. Input is via a mouse; you will need no additional hardware . You begin by designing a sche matic with the Schematic Capture program; then you draw an outline with the lay out software. Using the Parts Placement facility , you posi tion the components on the grid . The Autorouter com pletes the process by automati cally routing the circuit connections. The Schematic Capture module features interactive cir cuit logic simulation that you define; and large ITL, CMOS , and discrete parts libraries. You can use symbols from the library or design your own . The layout system features board designs of up to 32 by 32 inches, an unlimited number of layers, and 50 levels of mag nification . You can view the layers separately or all at once. and, choosing from eight colors, you can assign a color to eac h layer. The routing parameters are controlled via a command file , which provides options for grids, line widths, and maxi mum trace length . Douglas reports that the router is based on a maze router algorithm . A text file lists unroutable con nections and shows them on the layout as rat's-nest lines . Output options include dot matrix , LaserWriter, pen plots , and Gerber files . Douglas will also provide you with artwork or finished circuit boards if you send the layout files via modem or mail. Price: Professional Layout , $1500; Schematic Capture , $700; Autorouter, $700. Douglas Electronics' Professional System offers schematic capture, a layout program, and an aurorourer. Contact: Douglas Electron ics, 718 Marina Blvd., San Leandro, CA 94577. (415) 483-8770 . Inquiry 800. CAMSmlth C AMSmith. based on the Graphics Entity and Oper ation Unification theory (GEOU) technology , offers advanced CAD and manufac turing capabilities. These in clude drafted walls, variable drafted walls , compound planes , intersection of any combinalion or arbitrary and regular surfaces , and interac tive viewing of cutter path with dynamic scaling, rotation , and translation . GEOU is based on re search being conducted at 30 Science Laboratories . The company explains that in a typical CAD system, if you have 11 curve/shape types and m possible operations to per form between curves, then you must code 11 x 11 x m proce dures. The resulting program is large, so GEO U unifies all possible shapes into one, reducing the number and variety of operations you would need to perform . GEOU's implementation in CAMSrnith simplifies the user interface. CAMSmith is a menu driven system that lets you create three-dimensional sur faces and three-axis simulta neous NC code to cut the sur face. You can view bolh the surface and the three-dimen sional tool path graphically . The program is compatible with CAD systems and two dimensional CAM systems , and it supports file formats such as IGES. CAMSmith runs on the IBM PC AT or compatibles with at least 640K bytes of RAM, a math coprocessor, a hard disk dri ve. and an EGA card . Price: 30 machining system with 3D graphics will sell for about $8750; the machining system plus 2D CAD/CAM with 30 graphics will se ll for about $9350; and the 3D CAD system will seU for between $600 and $3500. Contact: 3D Science Labora tories , 3090 Avon St. , Bur bank, CA 91504 , (818) 841 212 1. Inquiry 801. Compute Air and Water Vapor in Four Units Psychrometry is a pro gram for use in engineer ing, physics, and meteo rology. You can compute 10 properties of air and water vapor mixtures in four-unit systems including MKS, SI, English, and English (grains). The program 's algorithms are based on thermophysical properties: specific heat, spe cifie hea t of air , heat of vaporization , and vapo r pres sure of water vapor. You begin by selecting two properties followed by input ting the magnitudes. The pro gram computes the remaining eight and tabulates dry bulb temperature, adiabatic satura tion temperature , dew-point temperature , relative humidity , humidity ratio, enthalpy , en tropy, density, humidity ratio al adiabatic saturation, and enthalpy at dew point. You can repeat the process 12 times , or you can opt to transfer a specified property over some or all repetitions . The temperature range of lhe program is - l05 ° C to 255 ° C ( - 157 ° F to 491 ° F). You can run the program at standard pressure , standard pressure corrected for eleva tion , or at any pressure from a few hundredths of an atmo sphere to a maxi mum of 10 atmospheres of partial press ure. Psychrometry runs on the IBM PC with DOS 2.0 or higher and on the Mac with at least 512K bytes of RAM . Price: $37 .60. Contact: Jim Lang, P.O. Box 307, Oneida, WI 54155, (414) 869-2691. Inquiry 802. CO flli1111ed 92 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Turn N.Y. on its head! You don·r need !he power or a mainframe to turn N.Y. on its head - jusr your own creorivity and DynoPerspective'" trom Dynowore. Pertecr tor conceptual design, visual analysis and presenlolions, DynoPerspeclive·· lets you easily zoom in and oul, change the declination. elevollon, compass direction. and rorore your model lhrough 360 ° for a lull wolk·around ettecr. Advanced hldden·surtoce functions tree you from lhe lime-consuming line deletion lypicol ot wlre·trome line drawings. This powerful sottware package also gives you lull sur1ace color and lighl·source shading tor unsurpassed solid surface modelling. DynoPerspecllve·· does away with computerese. user·trlendly screen Icons and pull·down menus eliminale lhe need for remembering compllcored commands. And DynoPerspecrive·· Is tost as well os powerful. Atter lnlllol compllolion, even major changes ore retlecred in rhe model In seconds. A variery ot powerful rime-saving tealures have also been lncorporared. such as a large parrs library file tor trequenlly used componenls Conceplual design and visual analysis hove never been easier. Whether you're on orchllecr. graphic orllsl. urban designer, or one ot lhe new wave al multldlscipllnary professionals, DynoPerspeclive·· will save you voluoble lime and make your job easier. DynoPerspecllve · also allows you lo network, since ii con communicare wilh orher DXF compollble PC CAD sysrems No wonder ll's been ca lled lhe mosr powerful user·lriendly 3·D solid modeling design sottwore ever creared tor a personal computer. Already available for the IBM 0 PC. AT and compollbles. Dynawore will soon release versions tor !he HP·9DDO'" and Macintosh 11··. Far your added convenienc e we hove established a brand new headquarters In Son Francisco to handle oil Inquiries. A powertul 1001 that lets you maxi mize your lime. DynaPerspective'" is priced al only S975. Toke lhe opporrunlly ro rum NY. on ifs head. ond have the city or your teer ... Try a new perspeclive - o DynaPerspecrive·· · System Requirements Computers: IBM®PC. AT and compatibles (Minimum 640K RAM) Hord disk recommended but not required . Graphic cord lnpur: Tablet or mouse Output: Planer or printer $975 suggested Reloll Price --------------------------, DYN/\P5RSPSCTIV:. 30 Modeling Design ana Presen1atton Sohware Please send me more Informati on. Nome _ _ _ __ _ Compurer All dress Clfy _ Slate Zip --------------------------- DYN/\WAR5M © 1987 Oynoware Corp. TI63 Chess Drive, Suite J, Faster City, CA 94404 TEL (415)·349·5700 FAX (415)-349·5879 IBM PC ana Al ore "'OllSlered rraoemoitts of lntomonono1 Bu:llnes> Mocn1nes Corp. Moc1n1osh I< a rraaemar1< at Apple Computer, Inc. HP-9000 Is a rll<Jlslorll<l tmd& Circle 86 on Reader Service Card mort< al HowleM·POckara Corp. oo~~~~~00010M x 768~~~~boo~-----~~~---------J~~'---------------------------- WHAT'S NEW SOFTWA R E · BUS I E S S Sllverado Expert Tax Advice C omputer Associates de scribes Silverado as a database that operate as a window inside a spreadsheet. It lets you import multiple data bases for analysis and reporting and to link databases IOgether. You can import and analyze Lotus J-2-3, Super Calc4 , dBASE m, and ASCTI text files. " Hotlinks" connect information between the data base and the spreadsheet , with database changes automat ically transferred to the spreadsheet. Silverado operates with 1-2-3- and SuperCalc-style commands and reads 1-2-3 and SuperCalc4 file formats . You can sort and resort data with no limit on the number of sort fields. Totals and subtotals are available at any level , and you can analyze data from most views. The program utilizes back ground processing, shortening the time required for report generation . Database outlining is an other one of SiJverado ' s fea tures. It enabl es you IO view infom1ation at any level of sub totaling or detail. You also have a choice of several ways to view informa tion, including the Spread sheet View , Form View, Crosstab View , and Report View . Silverado also features vir tual data memory that automat ically accesses available memory devices . SmaJI files use the avai lable standard memory and will use expanded memory if it is present. Files that exceed the memory capac ity are swapped to disk . The program runs on the IBM PC , XT. AT , and compat ibles with two floppy disk drives or one floppy drive and one hard disk drive. At least 5 l2K bytes of RAM is re quired, as well as MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2.0 or higher, and Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.0 or higher or SuperCak4_ Price: $1 49 . Contact: Computer Asso ciates International Inc., 2195 Silverado operates as a window inside a spreadsheet. Fortune Dr. , San Jose, CA 95131-1820, (408) 432- 1727 . Inquiry 803. Finance Manager II F inance Manager II con sists of general ledger, ac count-reconciliation , fi nan cial-utilities, accounts receivable, and accounts pay able modules. You can pur chase the modules separately or run them as an integrdted system . The general ledger module lets you set budgets, compare expenses, keep trnck of tax deductions, record all transac tions, and calculate your net worth . You can produce gen eral-journal , income-state ment, accounts-listing, bal ance-sheet, and budget-listing repo rts by month, quarter, year, or year-to-date. You can store up to l999 accou nts and up to 30,000 transaction per year. The account-reconciliation module runs with the general ledger module and enables you to balance bank state ments , keep lrdck of out standing checks, verify chargc card transactions, and produce automatic balance statements. The financial-utilities module helps you make caJcu- lations , create a depreciation schedule for your assets , and calculate loan payments . You can produce loan amortization chedules and calculate pres ent and future values of annuities . With the accounts receiv able module you can calculate finance charges, print cus tomer lists and mailing labels , and produce cash flow fore casts. Reports provided include an accounts receivable jour nal , balance-forward state ments , customer invoices, and a schedule of receivables. The accounts payable mod ule lets you maintain a pe rma nent record of purchases and print checks , vendor lists , and mailing labels. Finance Manager U mod ules run on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatibles with MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2 .0 or higher, 256K bytes of RAM , and two floppy disk drives or one floppy di sk drive and a hard disk drive . All modul es can run independently except the account-reconciliation module, which requires the general ledger. Price: General ledger , $40 ; account reconciliation , $ l 5; financial utilities , $20; accounts receivable, $30; accounts payable, $30 . Contact: Hooper Intema ional , P.O. Box 08430, Fort Myers , FL , 33908-8430 , (8 13) 466-0050. Inquiry 804. A sk Dan About Your Taxes is a rule-based tax preparation program that gives you a personalized analy sis of your taxes, taking the most recent tax-law changes into accou nt, and carries re sults to on-line tax forms. Using an expert system , Ask Dan runs you through in dividually tailored question and-answer sessions, automati cally completing relevant tal\ forms or lines in the process. Legal Knowledge Systems re ports that you can override the exper t at any time , change your answers, and let Dan re compute your tax fonm . The progrnm asks yes/no , multiple choice, and fill-in-the-blank questions. It also offers a cus tomized checklist that de scribes deductions, income items, credits, and additional tax debts you may have . The program can assist you on IRAs , filing status , exemp tions , alimony , medical de ductions, taxes paid , charitable deductions, interest and divi dend income, capital gains , sale of a home , child care credit , and moving expenses. With each answer , your tax form is recomputed spread sheet-style on-screen . The program contai ns Forni 1040, schedules A through F, R . SE, and about 20 others. You can print the form s on any printer , the company reports. and they are suitable for sub mission to the IRS . The program runs on the IBM PC and compa tibles wit11 at least 5 l 2K bytes of RAM and a hard disk drive or two floppy disk drives_ The com pany reports that Ask Dan will ship in mid-January . Price: $69. 95 . Contact: Legal Knowledge Systems Inc. , J95 Maplewood St. , Wate rtown , MA 021 72 , (617) 923-2322 . Inquiry 805. continued 94 BY TE · JANUARY 1988 Now you can develop picture-perfect applications at lightning speed. It's easy with CLARION. Picture this: Envision the convenience and versatility ofall the development tools you need, combined with a powerful new language that's easy to learn and even easier to use. The result is CLARION. Instant development: From prototyping to source code in a flash. C screens and reportsn,earnadtecompile and test the complete range ofPC applications-many times faster than you do now! CLARION runs on any IBM PC, PS/2, or true compatible with 320kb ofmemory and a hard disk dn've. The results are worth framing: CLARION gives you the power and time to create better, richer applications for single users or networks. Without run-time cost. }bu can even create .EXE programs with the optional 11"anslator. If you can picture it in your mind, CLARION can make it a reality. Get the CLARION advantage: Give CLARION a nm for the money. Priced atjust $395 plus shipping, it's easy to switch to our picture-perfect development tool If you're not completely amazed by the results you get, simply return ii within 45 days for a full, unconditional refund. MasterCard, American Express and VIS4 accepted. 7b order CLARION or to receive a sample program, ..-;~~ simply call toll-free: J-8001354-5444 (JS~1BJQ~;Ms. uvc. 150 East Sample Road Pompano Beach, Florida 33064-3597 3051785-4555 FAX: 1-3051946-1650 CLARION 15 a r<!JIS/mxl tmdemaric of Barrinytrm Systems. Inc. © Ccp!Jrighl 1987 BarrinytQn SJµlems CLA RION is NUT <OP!J prol«tM and <Om<$ with f'REE fllll ·llmo lkrnsiny. (8.·I is a "915lertd tmdcmori< ofInternational Bu.smess .'fachU..S C""'°'al.,,,. - a lSgs/"""2 i< a tmdemark ol lnt<rnational Business Machmes (;o,poration. Circle 30 on Reathr Strvict Card WHAT'S NEW SOFTWARE· BUSIN E SS AND OTHER Networking Reports T he Snow Report Writer network version merges data from multiple sources such as Lotus 1-2-3 , dBASE, and over 55 others, including languages. You can create columnar reports. forms , mailing lists, labels, fonn letters , and busi ness graphics . Windowing and help is provided throughout the program. It also has record locking and file protection. The Snow Report Writer runs on the IBM PC and com patibles with at least 384K bytes of RAM. A hard disk drive is recommended . The program supports Novell, PC NET, Token Ring, and 3Com networks. Price: $995 for eight workstation s . Contact: Snow Software, 2360 Congress Ave. , Clear water, FL 3462 J· (813) 7848899. lnquiry 806. Wavefo rm Editing W ith Sound Designer Universal you can edit the waveforms and digital sig nals of musical samples on the Macintosh. The Universal edition of the program supports a variety of MIDI samplers. You can display up to three waveforms on the Mac screen and edit each sound with up to 1150,000-second accuracy , according to Digidesign. Looping is done with a special loop window and a flexible cross-fade looping function . You can digitally rnfa , merge, equalize, and compress sounds, as well as perform complex freque.n<.,'Y analysis using the program's three-d imensional fast Fourier-transfonn display . You can also use Sound Designer Unjversal to transfer sounds between samplers. The Universal edition of Sound Designer does not contain the i~- OJI Ul3l 317711 Q.1d. SJ!tc trlc·tlo·5 Cre4te - ~ utieo Sher.I or hide levelc of detail aM 1~Uot.I rc-cor4i; t\:>110 Re1lo1 ftod1ct U1 lt1 S..lcs: S x n.rrt· - e11otern klt:Jte li ~.IZJ l& &co10-.i Stu·u· i5z $8.ZJi $289 J] Ji Tow I hr ~stern Bl Sli.557 lZ Soo Usun iC:.calc.u..a.:,, S~ctlll iS $i.089 ~ lZ $3,6S9 67 56.m z' JZ Tolo I for Sc.Ucu Iii $11.ili'l lZ IC·.i cn ~lue Ecoao91 Z1 $2.611! lS ]] si.m ie Stud11rd 65 $9.7'19 28 The Snow Report Writer network version. front-panel editing and Kar plus-Strong digital synthesis capabilities . To .run Sound Designer, you need a 512K-byte Macin tosh or a Mac n. Price: $395 . Contact: Digidesign Inc. , 1360 Willow Rd , Suite IOI , Menlo Park, CA 94025 , (415) 327-8811. Inquiry 807. Graphic Design and Technical Report Wr i t i n g Word-CAD combines the function s of a word pro cessor with those of a CAD program. With Word-CAD , you can place lines , rectangles, ellip ses, and polygons in engi neering units of your choice on scalable grids. The program also has zoom and scaling , move and delete , rotation, perspective, and dimensioning . The program includes a line generator that lets you draw ir regular shapes djrectly into memory . You can save draw ings as symbols and call them into a drawing for placement at any point. The word-processing por tion of the program is called Word-Edit. It lets you enter copy . move. change, and cut and-paste operations . You also have bold , compressed , expanded , italic, underline, and subscript and superscript text at your disposal . Up to three fonts are resident in RAM at any time, along with bit-mapped text. You also have the ability to fom1at headlines and subheads and to flow col umns of text around graphics. Word-CAD supports ASCn text. II requires an IBM PC with at least 5 l 2K bytes of RAM; one floppy disk drive; and a CGA. EGA, or Hercules monochrome adapter. It is designed for use with a dot-matrix printer , enabling it to produce drawings up to 13 1/2 inches wide and up to 30 feet long. Price: $99. Contact: lam , P.O . Box 2545 , Fair Oaks , CA 95628 , (916) 961-8082 . Inquiry 808. Fix That Database Hilco Software has com bined two of its database utilities , added some fea tures , and named it Quick Fix-2 . The MS-DOS program repairs dBASE Il and In files, as well as files from Clipper, FoxBASE , and WordTech data bases , by performjng combi nations of the following func- tions: resetting the record counter in the header. repl ac ing corrupted headers, re aligning data witrun the data base, replacing high bits and control characters , and remov ing invalid end-of-file markers. QuickFix-2 has no limit to file size . The vendor ays the program will recover any data in the DOS directory . The soft ware also has context-sensi tive help, the ability to view database records, and a fea ture that lists records contain ing bad bytes. The program requires MS DOS 2.0 or higher and l92K bytes of RAM. Price: $29. Contact: Hilco Software, 11266 Barnell Valley Rd ., Sebastopol. CA 95472-9555. (707) 829-5011. Inquiry 809. AP Stylebook on Disk T he Key otes AP Style book works with your word-processing progran1 . When you need access to AP style or reference informa tion , you press a hot key, which opens a menu of en tries in the stylebook . Or, you can use the automatic search mode. The Stylebook offe rs you information on capitalization, abbreviation , punctuation , spelling, and numbers and their usage . It also gives you guidelines on sports and busi ness writing, and there are in dividual guides to punctuation and computer terms . The program is avaHable for the IBM PC with PC-DOS or MS-DOS 2.0 or higher: another version is available for Macs with at least l 28K bytes of RAM . Price: $49 .95 . Contact: Digital Learning Systems, 4 Century Dr. , Par sippany , NJ 07054 (201 ) 538-6640. Inquiry 810. 96 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 MAGIC PC: A REvOLUflON IN POWER,. PrucE & PROGRAMMING SPEED. Y ou know how database applications are created - by haddng out line after line of tlme-<:onsuming code. Moo DBMS' and 4GL's give you some programming power. But when it comes to serious applica tions, they keep you bolted to your seat writing mountains of tedious code. And rewriting It all over again with every design change. Imagine how much faster you'd be If you could replace the painful coding phase with an innovative visual techoology which takes only a fraction of the time: Introducing Magic PC- the revolutionary Visual Database Language from Aker Corporation; High -Speed Programming: With Magic PC's visual design language )'OU quickly describe your programs in non -procedural Execution Tables. 'lney contain compact progr.mmling operJtions wllid1 are executed by M:igic PC's nmtime engine. Yoo fill-in the ubles using a visual interface dri1-en bywindows and point-and-shoot menus. One table with 50 operations eliminates l'.Titing more than 500 traditional lines of code. Yet with . laglc PC you don't sacrifice an. power or flexibility. $199 - With A Money -Back Guarantee! for a limited time. )'OU can g~1 Magic PC for onl)· Si9'J. And el'en at tl11s low price, Magic PC LI risk-free. If you're not completely satisfled. simpll' return ii within 30 days and we'll buy it back (less $19.95 restocking fee). And if you'd Ii ·ea pl'e'1ew. Magic re· Tumrial Demo is av-Jilable for just $19.95. llut you'd beuer hurry - Magic PC's 5pccial $199 pncc won't last long' Maximum Power AND Slmpliclly: With Magic PC, you can generate robust DBMS applications includ ing scn.'Cns, windo"~. menus. reports, fo mis. import/export, and much mor.! Plus. Magic PC has one of the friendliest user intetfaces )'OU'l'e C\'Cr seen. Using 1agic PC you can look-up and transfer daia through a po"'~rful Zoom Window S}~ten1. Magic PC even lets )'OU petfom1 command-free queries. Btrieve Performance: Magic PC Incorporates Btnei'C. the high · performance file manager £rom SoftCr.tft This gil'el you e.xccptiooal access peed, e>1. ended data dictionary capabilities. and automatic file reco1-ery! Virtually Maintenance-Free: Wi tl1Magic PC )'OU cm modify yoor application design "on the fl)" witl1ou1 any manual maintenanre. Magic PC automaticallyupdates )'OllT progr.uns :md data flies on-line! 1nis also makes Magic PC an ideal to0I for prototyping complete applications in hours instead of da)~FREE Networking: Magic PC comes complete with lAN features. Develop multi- user applications for yrur lAN with Magic's me and record- locking security lel'els. Stand-Alone Runtime: Distribute your applicatiOtlS and protect )'OUr design with Magic PC's low ro;i runtime engine. All For Only $199: Circle 476 on Reader Service Card Join The Magic PC Revolution To unleash your llRMS design power. order your $19') copy of Magic PC right now by calling toU·free or returning the coupon below. ORDER NOW: CALL (800) 345-MAGIC In CA (714) 250-1718 "Magic PC's dll/a ba;e engine deUvers pou'f!Tj11/ applU:atiQn.r i11 a f r/JC/ion of the lime. .. lhl're is /roly 110 <'(Jm{Jel1iiw prod11f/.·' Victor Wright - PC Tech Journal Also recommended hy. PC Magazi11e, l'C lr!orld. PC Week. Co111p11ter la11g1mge. Dilla &ise AdvlS()r, and many olher publications worldwide. MAGIC PC Th e w,,,JDat;ibasc Lang uage 1- - - - - - 1 Yes! I wom 1 to~aie~u 1 applicuicns moch faller! : 0 1%11 n~ my oopy ol Magic l'C at lhc promocm:tl f"1tt = ol Sl'f) (add SIO P&ll. and tLX in CA lnEnUoonal orders :uld S30) I undclsand I can Magic PC i>r a refund v.1dun ~ 1 da)' · 1f I'm llOI romplctdy s:uN'ied ' 0 Ruil1 me a cop)' ol Magic l'C 'l\Jlomll Demo at $1 995 (add $\ ' P&JI. :uid 1;1.~ 111 CA lnltl113tional ordm add SIS) s~~ --------------~ 1 ComJ"ll)' I !ilnL1Addrt:\< (noroti/ - - - - - - - -- - I G~· _ __ 7Jp - - - - ~ 0 O..:X <11Cba! <h'ltf ''""'' D : E D : 0 I!! ~l i' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - k5'ljll;WSllfl1t<_- _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_f-_ 'l' !>_ l!l' _ ____ _).___ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 !\<liJm t<k Aktt '°'i>- l 7Sk)jw\< Gr R2.ll'ind A 2lll ~~,gl!Mf(,.\T, AT.~l w :idie ...'d'l il i1,.U..~di:J.JDJ !Qcr b:tt ~ ..-Wrnw.. 17.1. ~· ~ tiUJJ'(Ol:~ · ~~1 ml!ic lj,,, ,.... lt< '....Jt..ohut.._,.,"1JdNJ\><A""1~ \l~ .........,.,.,...~ <>"4>· '· om c..,, JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 96\-VC-1 WHAT'S NEW REGIONAL SECTION PACIFIC COAST Touch, See, and Hear with AVM Board T he AudioiVideo/Mouse Board fits into a half-slot in your IBM PC , XT, AT , or compatible and provides either monochrome or color graphics with a 640- by 200 pixel resolution from a single video port. The AVM Board features a Microsoft-compatible mouse port and dual-channel music/ voice synthesizers. You can program the synthesizers to provide voice commands and sound effects and to play digi tized music. Each synthesizer provides three channels of audio signal with a frequency response of up to 30 KHz . You can use up to four AVM Boards in one computer. with different program infor mation presented by each card . The AVM Board combines graphics, sound, and a mouse port. Price: $395 . Contact: Electro Design Inc . , 690 Rancheros Dr., San Marcos , CA 92069 , (619) 471-0680. Inquiry 867. Send Data at Speed of (Infrared) Light Hewlett-Packard 's HP82242A infrared printer-interface module plugs into any of the HP-41 calculator's I/O ports. It transmits data via an infrared light beam at a rate of 78 characters per second to Hew lett-Packard 's HP82240A in frared printer. Your calculator can be up to 18 inches away from the printer. Price: $65 . Contact: Inquiries Manager , Hewlett-Packard Co. , 1000 Northeast Circle Blvd ., Cor vallis , OR 97330 ; for telephone inquiries, call (800) 752 0900, Dept. 772A, for the .lo cation of your nearest Hewlett-Packard dealer . Inquiry 868. continued Computers For The Blind Talking computers give blind and visually impaired people access to electronic information. The question is how and how much? The answers can be found in "The Second Beginner's Guide to Personal Computers for the Blind and Visually Impaired" published by the National Braille Press. This comprehensive book contains a Buyer's Guide to talking microcomputers and large print display processors. More importantly it includes reviews, written by blind users, of software that works with speech. This invaluable resource book offers details on training programs in computer applications for the blind, and other useful information on how to buy and use special equipment. Send orders to: Natio nal Braille Press Inc. 88 St. Stephen Street Boston, MA 02 11 5 (617) 266-6 160 , $ 12.95 for braille or cassette, $ 14-95 for prinL ($3 excra for UPS shipping) NBP is a nonprofit braille printing and publishing house. 96WC-2 B Y T E · JANUARY 1988 Now You Have A Friend In The Computer Business Authorized Autocad and Novell Dealer 6 Good Reasons To Buy COMPAQ 286-12 640K, 1.2 floppy, 40 MB HD mo nochrome syscem $2895 IN STOCK 386 / 20 mhz AST PREMIUM 286 5llK RAM , 1.2 Floppy, 40 Mil Fast HD. hi-res mono card, mono monitor, DOS 3.2, G\YI Basic WYSE 286 System Sl2K RA M, 1.2 floppy, 40MB HD full monochrome system Call for all AST products! IN SlOCK! WYSE 386 / WYSE Term inals LAPTOP SPECIALS ACER 910/286 SYSTEM NEW TOSHIBA T-1000 $879 NEC Mulrispced EL $1695 NEW! ZENITH 181 / 183-20 $1649 / 2590 JOOS Full HD Mono System $1195 SOOS 286 Processor Call for Best Prices (Formerly Mul titech) 512K memory. 20 MB HD. 6/ 10 0 wail stale fu11 mono sysrem $1195 I~ INSTOCK! Acer 386 machine We carry a full line of HP, IBM, Intel, Diconix products at best prices in town. SOFIWARE SPECIAL Word Perfect . . . . .............· 194 1icrosof1 Word ... . .. ... ... . .. . . W9 Lotus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 tall t or .'ln't -.oth.. Jr(· \H" d('ll\ l 'T 1r In \OU in :' I h11u r ">' PRINTER SPECIAL Epson LXSOO ........ .... . ...... . ....... 1215 Epson EXS00/1000 .. .. . ·.. . . .· ... .... 399/ 499 Epson LQS00 /1000 . . .. .. ..·. .· . . . . .... 4691549 Epson LQ2500 ...... ... ..... · . .... .. ..... 899 Epson LQ850/ 1050 ... . ...... ..... .. . IN STOCK EC P6/ r7/ 2200 ....... ...... ·.... 414 / 615 / 415 Tos hiba r3llil/ PJSISL . . . . . .. .... . ... IN S"fOCK A<A.tat· .,.J ri..,.... ....J ...... ~T( ( - ..-AC NI~. c.orr· !fl O ·IT'f QI.II,~ up ld l'UF' (·ll ~"' """' """'"'""""""~ We Sell, Deliver, ~'.:.~?,_~~!~pair AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR \, ' Okidata Epson CompulerS & Printers NEC \'\I Ca non Samsung Universal Data Systems Zenit h II YF' Tushiba Ashton Tale Wyse Computers AT&T Pa radox (Ansa Softwa re) ,. '·'" Aulocml Venlurd 1~ "11~., {1·tn· 1 H· 1' Aldus (PageMaker) Co mputm.. n Plca.~;i n t H ill 1527 COntra Costa Bl"d . Pk"'sam Hill . CA 94523 (415) 634-IDWN Computown -M o 11ntain \'iew 2455 M Old Middlefield Way Mountain View. CA 94043 (415) 962-IDWN (415) 962-8696 Computown -San Francisco 760 Markel S1ree1. Suite 21 9 {Phelan Building) San Francisco. CA 9·1I02 (415) 956-'IOWN (415) 956-8696 (415) 634-8696 . FAX (415) 989-roWN NEW LOCATION~ 111.\.1 I\ 1 ~ trlJmu.t ~ of l!'Srl'l.lr..mui alHIDC'\I M.~du.". "a , I · C ~l~ 'I,. J J tlold~mru\ru\l. ~«:WCm-o_mo"."rQ;:rnk.L..:r~Tl:lrunmur111::io!n' t,...., · , '"'~"' ,,·..,..,. d r...~ ..-~ '''" All f'no:D ~ u:~ ()(! ,.,·.ul~Jlt) -~ M1'c- COMPUTOWN Circle 47/J on Reader Service Card JA NUARY 1988 · BYT E 96WC-3 WHAT'S NEW Merge Text and Graphics with The Complete Fax T he Complete Fax is a $499 facsimile board that plugs into a full slot in you r IBM PC. XT, AT. or compat ible. You can receive and send facsimile in the back ground at up to 4800 bits per second. The board lets you send facsimiles at a predetermined time. You can also send fac similes to multiple recipients in a single session, poll with password protection, and log incoming facsimiles with time stamps. With The Complete Fax you can send ASCII word-pro cessing documents . You can also merge text and graphics . It supports CGA, EGA , and Hercules cards, as well as Dr. HALO II. PC Paintbrush, and Microsoft Windows programs . The Complete Fax runs on the IBM PC. XT, AT. and compatibles running MS DOS or PC-DOS 2 . 1 or high er. It requires 384K bytes of RAM, a hard disk drive, a standard telephone line with an RJ- 11 or RJ-14 connector. and a Touch-Tone telephone . Price: $499. Contact: The Complete PC, 521 Cottonwood Dr., Milpitas, CA 95035, (408) 434-0145. Inquiry 869. 3-D Hellcopter Simulator T his simulation puts you in the pilot' s seat of either the " Sierra Helicopter" or an Apache attack helicopter. You can fly alone or with an op ponent or partner via modem . The 3-D Helicopter Simu lator features views ofthree dimensional objects in 16 colors and 360-degree views of the landscape. It provides flight, target practice. si ngle player combat, and dual -play er combat modes . You can fly backward or sideways, take off vertically, and watch your self fly from a ground, satel lite, or tracking-camera perspective. 3-D Helicopter Simulator comes with eight scenery files. It runs on the IBM PC and compatibles with MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2 .0 or higher and 256K bytes of RAM . It sup ports Hercules monochrome, InColor, CGA , EGA , Tandy 1000, and PCjr color cards, Hayes-compatible modems, and joysticks. The program comes on both 3 1/z- and 5 1A-inch floppy disks . Price: $49.95 . Contact: Sierra On-Line Inc ., P.O . Box 485. Coarse gold, CA 93614 , (209) 683 6858. Inquiry 870. Hyundal80286 The heart of the Super 286C computer is an 80286 microprocessor run ning at either 8 or 10 MHz. It includes 640K bytes of RAM (expandable to I megabyte) four 16-bit and two 8-bit ex pansion slots, an EGA video card , a clock/calendar, two serial ports , one parallel port. and one floppy disk drive. The Super-286C also in cludes a 10 I-key keyboard and a monochrome monitor. Electric Desk software th at comes bundled with the com puter includes database man agement, word processing. a spreadsheet, and a communica tions program . Price: $1499. Contact: Hyundai Electron ics America , 4401 Great America Parkway, 3rd Floor, Santa Clara , CA 95054, (408) 986-9800. Inquiry 871. 100% IBM Compatible 30 Day Money Back Guarantee - --· One Year Warranty On Parts Base Systems Include: 11111111 111111111 '/ // ............................... .:.:. ~ ~ *Assembly & Testing * Phoenix Bios *8 Expansion slots*FCC Class B I/J: \ \l Elite 88-$399 XT Compatible Base System 640K Motherboard (256K installed) 8088 Micro-Processor 1/2 Height 360K Drive & Controller 150 Watt Heavy Duty Power Supply *AT Keyboard *Surge protector I *Floppy & Controller *Software Elite 88 Options: Elite 286 Options: 640K S80 640 K $30 Turbo $20 10 M~ (0/1 W) $49 Second drive $95 12Mhz (0/1 W) $99 Elite 286-$899 AT Compatible Base System 1 Meg Motherboard (512K installed) 10 Mhz (Norton SI 9.8) I.2 Meg Drive & Controller 200 Watt Heavy Duty Power Supply Monitors Composite Monochrome $90 lTL Monochrome S90 Color RGB $275 Color EGA $435 Video Cards Color graphics (640 X 200) S60 Color graphics/printer $70 Monographics/printer $70 EGA color (640 X 350) $135 Hard Drives & Contr. 20 Meg 1/2 Ht 68 mSec $345 30 Meg 1/2 Ht 68 mSec $399 40 Meg 1/2 Ht 38 mSec $560 Printers Ci tize n 120D $199 Citizen MSP-10 S299 Citizen MSP-15 S399 Citizen MSP-20 $359 Order Now 1-800-253-4001 Free Catalog Innovative Technology, Ltd. Shipping & insurance 3% · Satisfaction Guaranteed · Systems in stock for immediate shipping· VISNMC No Surcharge · AMEX ADD 4% Technical info., OK residents, (405) 243-1559 PO Box 726 Elk City Oklahoma 73648 · IBM registered tradema rk-International Business Machines 96WC-4 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 480 011 Reader Service Card EQUITY II TURBO · 360K floppy · 20 Mog Hard Disk · 640K Ram · Serial/Parallel · CIC · Monochiome Moni1or · Grap hic Card · MS DOS · GW 8Jsic s1395 EQUITY I+ · 360K FIOPllY · 20 Meg Hard Disk · 640K Ram · Serial/Parallel Pon · Monochrome Card · Monochrome Monr101 · MS DOS · GW Basic S1295 EQUITY Ill+ · 80286 CPU 6-8 10 MHZ · 12 MEG FIOPllY · 30 MEG Hard Disk · DOS 3.2 Mono Monitor & Graphic Card s2595 LO PRICE L 'ADER ramPAa Desk Pro 20 meg . .. .. .... .. . 1495 286 30 meg .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . '' .2875 386 40 rneg .. .. . ... .. .. .. .. . ... .. 4335 386 60 meg/20 MHz ' ' . ..... .. 56 50 Portable Ill 40 meg/20 MHz .. . .. . .. . 5450 CARD & MON ITOR EXTRA I ---------------------------·-- PS/2 model 30/20 meg ...... ... . . ' . 1695 PS/2 model 50/20 meg . . . .. .. . .... . 2595 PS/2 model 60/40 meg . ... . .. . . . . .. 3825 PS/2 model 60171 meg . ... 4595 PS/2 model 80/4 0 rneg '' . .. . .. ... . ' 5100 MONITOR EXTRA LEADING EDGE.A MODEL "D"TM ALL Configurations In Stock! NEW IMS Bernoulli Dual Speed MODE L " D" IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF LEADING EDGE PRODUCTS , INC. Authorized Dealer Serv·ce Genier LAP-TOP ,_ Toshiba 3100-20 . ...... .... . Call Toshiba 1000 . .. . .... . . ' .. .Call NEC Multispeed . . .. . . . . ' 1395 NEC Multispeed EL . . .. . .. .. ····· . 1695 WE STOCK CITIZEN OK IDATA TOSHIBA NEC PRINCETON GRAPHICS SONY AMDEK HAYES PC MOUSE MICROSOFT MICE IRWIN & ARCHIVE TAPE BACK HARD DISK Seagate 20 meg . .. .. . .. . ... .. . . . .305 Seagate 30 meg ...· . ... . . . . .. . . . .365 Seagate 4038 . . .. ... ..·. . . . . . .. . . .495 Seagate 251 ....... .. . . . ... . ... . . .465 SOFTWARE Microsoft Word ... . . .. . . ... . . . .. . . .215 Word Perfect 4.2 .. . . . . .... . . . . . . . .215 Lotus 1-2-3 .. . ........ . . .. . ..... . .325 dBase Ill + ...... . .... .. ..... . .385 Microsoft Works . . ... . . . .. . . . . ..... 135 AND MAN Y, MAN Y MOR E! ~ NOVELL Authorized Dealer Netware AST AST 286 model 80 .. . ... . . . .1495 AST 286 model 120 . ... . .. . .2350 AST 286 model 140 . . . . ..... 2650 CARD & MONITOR EXTRA EPSON ~ PRINTERS Epson FX86E ... . .. . .. .. . .... .315 Epson 286E . . .. .. . .. . . ... .. . .448 Epson EX800 . ....... . .. .. . . . .425 Epson EX1000 ... . . . . . . . . . . ... 499 Epson LX800 . . .. . . . . ..·. . .. . .210 Epson L0800 . . .. .. . .. . .. . . . .405 Epson L01000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 549 G03500 . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . 1295 Epson L0850 . .. . ...... . . · . . .. 550 Epson L01050 . . . ·. . . · .. . .... .725 HP LASER II ... .. . .. . .. . . .. . 1750 I WE ACCE PT LC, CASHI ER CHECKS, MONEY ORDERS, VISA , MC, AmEx 3% charge on VISA, MC & American Express COMPUTER LANE HOURS: M-S 10 6 CORPORATE ACCOUNTS WELCOME CALL FOR VOLUME DISCOUNTS Circle 477 on Reader Service Card (818) 884-8644 22107 ROSCOE BLVD. CANOGA PARK V2 BLOCK W. OF TOPANGA Prices subject to change without notice Compaq is a Registered Trademark of Compaq IBM is a Registered Trad emark of International Business Machines JANUARY 1988 · B YT E 96WC-5 SUR AH a computer company...Where Quality Counts WHOLESALE outlet dlfect from factory LOCATED m the Silicon Valley SERVES thousands of Satisfied Cutomers ·-:~ - 286 AT IBM AT Compatible 6 I 10 MHz 16 Bits 512 K RAM on 1024K Mother Board 360K Flopp &20 Mb HARD DRI VE w1lh Controller Monograph1c Video Card with Printer Porl Til & Swivel TTL Monitor Amber or Green AT style Keyboard , Tur bo/ Reset Push Buttons SURAH 786 IBM XT Compatible 4.77 18 MHz 8 Bits 256K RAM on 640K 4 layer Mother Board 360 K Floppy &20Mb HARD DRIVE with Controllers Monograph1c Video Card with Printer Pon Tilt & Swivel TTL Monitor Amber or Green AT Style Keyboard and Baby AT Case with40Mb Hard Drive s1429 with30Mb Hard Drive s799 OTHER OPTIONS : ADD : XT 10MHzTurbo Mother Board . ....... , .. $ 30 AT 384K RAM Upgrade to640K ... ... . ' ' ' . $ 55 AT 512KRAM Upgradeto1024K . ... . ..... $ 78 Addi tion al 1.2M b Floppy Drive . . . .. . ... . . $ 95 Add i tiona l 360Kb Floppy Dr ive . . ........ . $ 70 Enhanced Keyboard with 12 Function Keys . $ 29 In/output Multi function Card ...... $ 61 RGB Color Conversion .......... ..... .. $300 EGA Color Conver sion .......... . .... .. $555 Printer your choice tor LOW LOW prices, CALL Full Software Compatibility RUN Lotus 1·2·3. PageMaker, Ventura , autoCAD. dBASElll . PTREE and all o ther si m ilar programs. · FULL WARRANTY DEALERS-OEM-GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES INQUIRES WELCOME ~OT respon<iDJe !or typoqrapno<: errois Snipping & Handling extra OlhBr Famous Brand PRINTERS. MONITORS . PERIPHERALS AOD-ON·CAROS and SOFTWARE also available IBM PS2. XT AT AST Premium. HP LaserJet. Como:io Aop:e. MACll . Plus. SE . t IGS are reg1S1ered lrndemarks o: respec the 386 orignale' 16 MHz 32 bits 1Mb RAM on 2Mb board . expandable up to 16Mb 1.2Mb Floppy & floppy/Hard disk Controller 2 Serial & 2 Parallel Ports olf Mother Board EGA· on System Board. Supporls YGa , 640x480 Graphic. CGA , MDA & Hercules emulation AT Style Keyboard . 1· Mon1101 01 1nclude<il $1998 511.JFICIH lllC. 45461 Fremont Blvd. , Suite #9, Fremont, CA 94538 Telex 51060172 47 (ab) SURAH UQ OPEN MON.· FRI. 9A/11 · 6PM SATURDAY 11 AM · 4 PM 8Z PHONE ;~~~ 800·543-1001 NOW IN Cahlornoa 1415) 651·5101 96WC~ BY TE · JA UARY 1988 Circle 484 orr Reader Service Card --··-- -·· - TCS 7000 6, 8, 10, 12MHZ COLOR MONITOR MONO MONITOR MODEL RES. MODEL RES. · CM 1322N · CM 1370A · CM 1380F · CM 1495 640 x 200 720 x 400 640 x 350 800 x 600 MM 1222 MM 1422 MM 1295 800 x 350 800 x 350 800 x 600 Circle 485 on Reader Sen ·ice Card TERMINAL ET - 10 SERIES t.P'i\ TATUNG 408-435-0140 ~ s VARDITRIBUTORS,OEM INQUIRIES ARE WELCOME 11-' I 780 CHARCOT AVE . SAN JOSE CA. 95131 MICROMINT'S Gold Standard in Single Board · f' Computers & Controllers SB180FX--S409.00 ~ llOO!d computet MlcroMJNT 1...."Ti:tODUC£SAS7A-..IDALO~ i;sr,.g1 mGIT"'1 I Y~NGS\SIE.~ tht M!CQO\mH ln\AQt'\l;'l~'- Sirtl.al ~i.I I ~ ~mi bi dle rn0l COM dlccriw n1e4lnd "--o.atlk:~pcrtormanc('l:'fi!f):'*t"dtt) ~mt(m Of'llhoe moM~l IOdsf l \\"15.e J.;Mttrl h." btm ~'nc'(l 10 luOCOOr'I a> <J )(ooWkJnc lbq\fl:('f or M tW"lnl ol<~por~lol11rompkt('tck~ tµ:nn tm...ecWIM!: '"' '· ~n.lllfbu =ol~l:~~t,pk:r~~~~t~:!h~~ICT oat~ . ·11«N;DC: oon..and!«UritT~6~ Cnncolll l hmcucm wch ~ roc».Jncn ~ pk:IWil' updl!e CM\ be con:ro&d a.-.d a:mm.wvkd r~l'F M~ uftnVTlintd ond 1 e<~ x "ti;Jlt;. 1hc-f compr '11 Of uncomf)( at'll;l CM be~ uorum!U1.:d. >lonxL 1."Cf: 1td cw prociewdlotu\.C'lnt1 V"o\ric'4/nf1ndu llf ~dl'lDPkllllOn~l,...Jt~ ~ SYntMi SPCC11ICAJION:5 · Sa'twlltptnditr.1-GM~tlOft~ · nur~ Olblx1-U1ao ~~AIO<l!lfr'Ullrr~O-.K bf".c Oll~lo..QA.l.l lO \ "PIW'l:'An \nl~"'IJIM'Cl.Jl"ld · tf)'..!-M'!f&l&'Ol(..... l'lTjC \~ :vW · S.0.n pi(:IUtbalC ·t WICI :l.6ptu4t.Mk'fotb ~ · :ion°'mn1e·11::itd x 11t0tr.:.i.·ci.tW~fll~'ld4't r~WIO>tk'w-hot .... ~~~~ I! ~(.t'!'....l ,\!('<I I 1~ ·4 IOil' M.o.61.U. : =~;~~~~:·:-"'~~~~~! · ,,,~~~JZ1~,;;_· ~1 ~~11' ~1'!~~1 ot'iic'G)';.l~tonlcle') · ,\\.-..Jn'n c~ ~hn:ocn.a .1 -n.:kvtrltphonrQM'nd di)f(l:"n~ · ~~~ l~J..n:J~u ~ Opoon.I PC Udliidn OWt nxnnu lmavw:V>'lw ~ fil,r_, 1rof .,,.;! r.91llPTwt""1V DTO I l>IJO I lm."'J\.'T l'>.;tt..:C"r Tr.-·\lflltl.-r lm. 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SIU80- l ·20 5.Wnt'.._, "-''Z( PO} WOOS &.IOS.and QOM KIUIC~ COM.Ml lO.S SCSI U· 1d Ot<Jtk\l<"rbc::~ SIUI0- 1 OEM 10\3 ()UA.""1"'1' P AICI! $1 9>.00 H 9'.N U t t.I)) iuo.oo GTISO- $395.00 Ofaplllcs DispLJ1' Sj's<cm 51 ' 9 .0 0 Of.M 100 ()UAHTTTY flUICE IKCSl Multi function E.l.p..w'bkln l'it...'-trrl ·z 'O .t.:Jittt.pot1\andt.111t bf~ St~ . c-3 · MO"A' . . .1.AlllL II' ll'IOU$l1KAL ruu>caANRt AA"iOC - CN..L r\W iN"f'O({AAJ ION BCCtl 8aJlc ConttoDC'f 5139.00 l'T·turcs: e lll<l Zf <:hip mii.:nxOOJP'-J1L"f · On 00.Xd unr b.\S6C tntt1P1tl<'1 · '2on.boanlp.M4!kl porQS.~pon · "llllttru.p!~ (.t ~--lottNJ) · kn.I (QJWW'(I o1 111' .nj IC' control IX :>:anuln~ · 11Kl!iyiaoffl:AV. Ql' £.PQOM motm(Wl'OObNtd · ~ 1 11~110?~)~ · OiauMldold.il.:»bulr.~IOr '6h rn«nOCy and I.() ~~ · Coruwno otif I !i T 1U ·: · + 19 & - 1,-: &CC l 1 ° fl..!..SlC Syi. t~m Cvo11vfk'( S I U. 00 BCC40-Sl59.00 · P°""" UO E.q>amlon lloard Jhc · '·UJll IKC-40 V'U'l"'Ell 110 fA.Derukln eout.1 ptO'h.ln on ..«irr('ol .mij m..;.n11 04 ~I 11) X' \'ACor , ut'OCdcTK.n UplDlfl °" p(')ll.1(1) 1/Qbo.'.:w<h m.tf bl! u l<d 1n · tfU<m \Ql,11 ol M mpv b ;1n d 1.·.11 pub &CC40 PO'r!!P I.IQ f!AJMtUoK>n l'oMd t-.rt:h no ~ r mohlu~ ._,,··· ::·.··· - - · · < . ' . ·, ' I ' . ,_.., · \ ; ·: ' . . .~ ~ i .,~ ·"''.r·- : ' .. =:~~ l: · - ....... -.. ~ 't otM·1M ITAnJOU · lOO'to."" ~..:ll"'ip.liltrk . ..~ . ...... ftil:t\."- (II' i.' '-lh: ... · ~~it··-·"'·"ft'o lof'Ot""" ·N c·UUM ~.111'.-...,,......!..¥ · J.l i'l1'°".0wl~.... · ~Caa:n'lkr · ~c.udlt!t'"iiot · ~ir>ia'..>.:;ctuthe~~Olo · &.1t"1?"Nc.t-nlrt".tlnrni:tk).c'o' · J ~~ Out·2S6t!i O tM ·1861 11)t OfM ·2156 ' W 96WC-8 J. .Wl! AfCPu JOI ..u-1: "1 '-J eSlOiiW?-4"'C"t~~" C BYT E · JANUARY 1988 '' n 00 M1'M'll J1 t>.N 01 190- 1 01 11().2 ""' ·00 SB180 So!Mlre 4nd Ac~ llr~'totm Out florm.lt ~·n.an S<'lh·.t";ut .?~Plullirt inr....:i.d"So~ 'J\.lrto ,l.IOduJ4 ~· 'k!rbo .~ ~y<:lfaph!.A ~ ~r-...t iM:. ·i.·d!'l\..:: o(t'lo..kAou(" ...r~ wpply moun1 h1.1d'll:b llt'lCi tw\N\.-w: 1~ 11-.r)ft lt.)Of !l&lk..-:< _1 ot · .:~ln(b.): ~r tnm h olf'ld p(Wll .....S M.fl JIOOO\:I ,,.,n,..o0o0 BCC22- $249.00 fenn.Mlte Smart Tormlnal \l'hr1>QYJ:....~ urno;icc::kx11Jr.'l111"tlfTtT111'lial'"Thc- 1'63:.lit ·MIT?Sl' Qf.cnJOYAlf t thr Ol'l;t ""k~d1or~ 1h.w\·1.t1t1cpn.-. · ~ ~ · ... 6·:.· · 1':1~Jt!k<rwtc1i:t.:n · 1l ' ... .,c::h.t.1.111.:1 n · """"" tJ'illl)(n;t ' rnl;'"' ' t..a;J t.llt'<rill10 10 . · C QTh.-irnh·I~ Wt!: · Soppotu .. ~"""-'f'nC,..,,.., t,.,.cx._"1{h · ltOt.io~CJ\.V&.:tt'n · v·m·1·-:\'1~ .'tlltOwnnJbol.IV · ~I 0o..:ipc l\#1<.uom · · Ouv.ec-atrd.ytrdcnl\~tu<.;"g\ln.':tIriPmQ'>IK' \.,J;,:v Uf · !<N1'1t~~'1'10f4IOI h.lnctlCt\'.1u1.r.tN".11t' 1.4'ntJrAal ..... lt..m.C' o. Jco .... cl.Ill* tomSO feAIURfS t}~ k-.v JO i<rcc:tl 10 )NC(" Of AUi. er~ to rod at ~l!f.»c' tO tnd ofW.~~a:not«Sdf ' ....,.,.,.... '-1DE0Amuwn:s ~~~ '"=~~~ doubk -.1th N.1S C 0!'.FIC.>lll1AIIC~ MK;.P()ML'<T M:C com~lilk Of no bw COl"ltl«UOO no:ccoi I·.)( >4tW'ld ..iotic ~1,)fJOO .,..., p.w..ncl &CC'12 I KC2 2 K St<t, ,00 s rt.00 BCC52 & BCC 11 Som...tc and AccC550rlcs IKC ~ 'l · QO M A ft.CC~'.2 · 1lO M Alfi tKC~114 1 t\CCS1-0K· U( IKC ~2' · t!K · LX l>CCS) U0-"1A1.111..r~ f\A,.__~ "-''<'""""" MA .lt\d & UtUllll"') M.~c..ll('!'lilOfD.w)J~ '\LUI. ltti~·.tllllTlo"Lh~ tV1t.! l\Jw\:1 \0t,1mw.arc "'-\tAV! ll.l fr,.::(·~Ck.-..._li,M'lo..lPlW\.. 'Y..4.Ull\\fhC('-;'(k"'t·wti'.Q\.\A,n.JI)( >.,i. l. \ uruixU<.JOUp r>c~I. Iii e.ccoa &CC09 IK"C ll DCClO ecei~ · 4 ICC2! ·1 ftCC22X .11.lokl'll)\)l"t\.vi.fr. , l \ f l ; t o· $mMIOE..~&o~J IX'!'!:' "ll'Xn'JC r~·r "&ti eLhar.nriA11r.--..w.1 1.·D11 1&dW".nclAtlr:....n.I ~ ·· :..11.,.l>fJC>P.rp M4 ~LCOO&wl.tr C\.uaB;-1~~4,__~Jl_~d MOTii~ &Oo\JlDS - CA.PD GAOE.:5 ~1()'14"EU SlJP''Ll t.$ M. . . ........ CCO I CCM UPS ll ""''" UPS IO UPS2 1 · "n 1d00 00 · MOO · 1900 u~oo SU fOO · uoo unoo $1'100 · IHC'O JttfOO i rtl'() i '9.00 I tf,00 To order call 1..soo- 6 3 5 - 3 3 5 5 for technical inforrnalion 1-(203)-871~110 Inc~~~ TELEX: 643331 Micromint, 4 Park Street ~~ Vern on, CT 06066 ~ ~ } - - - - - - ·EXCLUSIVE COMPUilRS H QUARTERS · TEK COMPUTER \ THE VALUE LEADER IN COMPUTERS SELECTION: We stock and sell products made by the world 's largest and most trusted names in Computers, Printers and Software Manufacturers. VOLUME: Since we have multiple locations and our overhead is low, we buy and sell an incredible volume. EXPERTISE: Since we deal exclusively with EPSON , TOSHIBA, COMPAQ, IBM, we get special factory training giving us the know how nobody else has. ATTENTION: Our job is not fin ished unless you are satisifed. You must be happy. · Free Radio Watch $19.95 Value · Buy 2 boxes of Janus diskettes at $14.95 and get a d igital watch and rad io free (§[ PREMIUM/286 · 80286 Processor · 1.2 MB Disk Drive · 40 MB HD · Enhanced Keyboard · Monochrome System 12249 S MACINTOSHTM ·MAC SE 2 Drives . . ... . .'2149 ·MAC SE 1 Floppy 20 MB .2799 · MAC PLUS . . . . .1549 · Apple Laser Writer .. In Stock NOW HERE-IN STOCK l'DmPAQ3as 20 MHz SYSTEM Lmt. Quanties Available MONTHLY LAPTOP SPECIALS NEC Multispeed EL/20 MB .. . ... . . . ... .. .. . ... '1599/2450 Toshiba 1000/1200/3120 W/2 MB HD . . .... . '875/2450/3199 MONTHLY PRINTER SPECIALS IBM PROPRINTERS TOSHIBA X241Xl24 . . .... . . . . .'599/840 321 /341SL ... . .. . .'4991785 Boards IBM Mono Adapter . . .. . ...... .... '99 AST Six Pack 64K + Sidekick . ... .. 149 AST Advantage Expansion Board for AT w/128K . ... . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . .. . .349 Vega Board by Video 7 Deluxe . ..... 275 Hercules Graphics Plus . . . .... . .. .190 Hayes 1200/2400B w/SW . . . .. .349/399 NEC EGA . . . . . ....... . . . .... . ..430 Migent Pocket Modem . . ... .... . .. 159 Everex Evercom 1/2 card 1200B .. ...90 Everex Evercom Ill 2400B . .. .. . ... 200 Hard Cards Plus Development Card 20/40 .. '5991899 Iomega Bernoulli Box IMS Disk Avallable Hard Disks 20MB/30MB/40MB . . .. . . .'2591369/599 40/BOMB Hard Disk for AT .... 699/1099 20MB/60MB Tape Back-Up . .. .. 5991799 120MB Hard Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .2600 Computers IBM AT 339K ...... .. . ... . . .. . . .13399 IBM Sys 2 Model 25 ... . . . .... 945/1190 IBM Sys 2 Model 30 .. . . .... 1275/CALL IBM Sys 2 Model 50 10 MHz, 20 MB 2624 IBM Sys 2 Model 60 10 MHz, 44 MB 3499 IBM Sys 2 Model 80 40/70 . . ..... CALL COMPAQ Port 2 Dr .. . ... . . . ..... 1545 COMPAQ Port 111 Dr/20 MB . .. . . .2899 COMPAQ Port 11140/20 . . . ..... .. CALL COMPAQ 286 Desk Pro 12 MHz . .. 1949 COMPAQ 386 Mod 40/70 .... 4499/5499 AST Premium All Models Ava ilable ... . . . .. Best Price Software Lotus 1-2-3/Hal/Metro . ... . .1309/120185 Symphony . .. .. ... . . . . . .. .. . . .. . .410 Framework 2 ..... . . . . ... . . .. . .. .. 365 D Base 111+ ..... . . .. .. .. .. . . ..... 395 WordPerlect 4.2 . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . ... 219 Microsoft Windows . . . . . .... . . . . . . . .69 Xerox Ventura Publisher . . . . . . . . . . .499 Aldus Pagemaker . .... . . . . ·.... . 465 Multimate Advantage II. . . . . ·. . . .. .440 Ability/Enrich by Migent . .. . . .. .. .LOW Printers Okldata 292/293 . .. . . . . . . . .. .'425/599 Epson 850/1050 . . . ... . . . . . . .. 5451745 Epson LQS00/1000 .. . .. . . . . . .4691649 Epson L..X86/FX85 .. . . . .. . . . .. 199/349 Epson EX800/1000 . .. ...·. . . .4981649 Epson LQ2500 ... ... . .. . . .. . .... 1099 Epson FX86E/FX286E . . . . . .. .359 /475 IBM Proprinter II . . . . . . . ... . . ... . . .399 IBM Quietwriter 111 ..... ..· · ... .. .1299 NEC Laser Printer . .. . . .. . . .. . ... 3895 HP Laser Jetll ..... . . . . . . .. .. ... 1699 onitors IBM Color Monitor 8513 PS/2 .... . .'512 IBM Mono Monitor8503 PS/2 . . .. . .200 IBM Color Monitor 8512/8519 .. 485/1196 Princeton SR12P . .. .. . . .. .. . . . .CALL NEC Mullisync II .. . .·.. . . . .. .. . ... 575 Sony Multiscan . .... . ... . . .. . . .. .. 629 Amdek 41 OA/422 . ..... . . · . ... 159/489 Samsung RGB/EGA . .... . . . ... 2991369 1740 ll C·mino Rul Santa Clara, CA 95051 (408) 296-0455 FAX (408) 986-1883 139 Kearney (and Market) San Frandsco, Ca 94108 (415). 362-6870 ·All Good While Ouenn11es Last · Prices Subject To Change · Cash Prices Circle 486 011 Reader Senoice Card JA UARY 1988 · B Y T E 96WC-9 ------------------------------------- MO<lel J0.2 drr·e ' 13S9 MO<lel 30-20M8 ' 1799 Model 50-20 MB MO<lel 6().4J MB '2768 ·40n Model 70-70 MB '4847 IBM PC AT 339 JO MB '3S20 IBM PS12 14" Color t85121 '5114 18 PSl2 12 · Cotor (8513) '548 ISM PSl2 14 · COIOr 1851~ : '1192 ~Seagate s1225 25g* $ 20MB w/controller orv s Cash Price Installation Available I.;.,,,,,.,.,e C. 011e ti IJ// A1 '/' 'YO"" ra/.:,Ij.'i..'.I. HEWLETT PACKARD LAS RJETS 'I ' 1695 HP PLOnE All MODELS HP SCAN JE ' 1225 HP OUIEr JE 'BEST Fons Ira available Toner '83 Legal tray '62 Memory Exp/ ~812MB '398/783 HARD DRIVES Seaga e ST225 20 MB w/Ct .'259 Seaoa e ST238 JO MB wlCt '299 Seagate ST 4038 AT '499 Seagate S 25 I ·429 Mm1scnbe 6053 44MB 26MS '599 Miniscribe 6085 71MB 28MS ·799 Atas13046 39MB '399 Maxtor 1140 140MB '1995 l'DmPAQ 386 Model 40 MB 386 Model 70 MB JtJ6 Model 1JO MB Portable 111 20 MB Ponable Ill 40 MB 268 Model 1 12 MHz OeskPro Model 2 2Dr ·45n '5320 '6790 '3999 '4699 '1995 '1079 EPSON. LX-800 9 Pm-Narr ow EX-1000 9 Pin-Narrow FX 286E 9 Pm.WK! EX·OOO 9 Pin· arrow EX-1000 9 Pin- V1de L0·800 24 Pin-Narrow LO·1000 24 Pin-Wide L0-2500 24 Pm-Wide G0 3500 Epson laser Tractor & Cu Slleet Feeder '189 '339 '449 '399 '565 .'479 ·665 · 0899 '1499 Available AST COMPUTERS ASI Pren·um 286 AT ~ e1 80 ·1~ r1st Pre 1um 286 AT lo<lel 120 '2395 Ast Premium 286 AT Model 140 '2695 As Pic 1um 26fj AT Model 170 '3195 INTEL 80387-16 80287-10 80287-8 Intel 286 (512K) Intel tnbOaro '489 ' 299 .' 245 '387 ' 1203 FLOPPY ORIVES TOS111ba 3·h. ·108 Fu1ttsu J60t< .'69 FUJllSU l 2 MB .'98 SOFTWARE Lotus 1-2-3 '302 Xerox Ventura .' 449 IBM DOS 3 3 .'97 PRINTERS IBM P<oPnnter ' 382 CITIZEN 120 D.. '169 MSP-10 ...'257 MSP-15 . .. .. ... · . . . .'325 PO LICI ES : ; ~ l ·bel 0< ~lext ()ay Offiery Allatlabte · Len1<> or Cr!Ol1 ~ C«oora1e Actounis i«<:'?'.J!CI · we. ace~ C!ttiflt<l Cr.eck3_CaslWef Cf\e(jtS, 'Mred turds · Al O<detS °'~' ssoo""" Ile p..a Dy uW<clleck · f.hntn-.,im order $100 · A.low 1 week 1cw personal & compill r, checks (,,,.,,mum ilTWnl·SSOO! '°' · Prrpaoa onJers [j<I 1% <iscounl :m · AOcl V...n.las:er Cvd Pu'thase> · Plt1H one -'< fO< stWiri · ·~ Reslocmg ftt On d mum mmhindse MSP-25 .'392 Premium 35 '415 Tnbute 224 . . . . '565 s C111en Pruners All MO<lets BH 1 HARD DISKS Mlnlocrlbe 3425 20 MB w/cont . '289 3650 40MB '342 6053 44MB . . . . . .'599 6085 72MB . · '789 WO I003-WA2 Har & FIOppy Conttof:er 1 129 Watson Vooce Rec01dmg Sys .'472 MISC Wyse Terminals Plus Card 20MB SHI S . '615 l.Al'TOP COMPUTERS NEC Mutlispeed .'1299 Zenrth 181 2 Dr . . ..... .'1675 Zenilll 183-92 ilOMBI '2460 TAPE BACKUP DRIVES Irwin 110 10MB ' 219 llW!O t 20 20M8 '375 ll'Am 145 40MB '405 (New) Archive 40M8 '32'.l Talltree JL.aser Still a Great Value The onginal HP Laseqe1 (and similar lasers built on the Canon engine) are sunwidely used But the Oesk1op PObllsh·nQ per formance with 300 OJll graphics is i1Yo1ul. We suggest the r.tttree JLaser interface combined with the Tantree JRAM memory card I i.s lookS to your computer hke an EMS RAM caro. out transters data dtrect to the pnnter"s laser head. Speed improvemen1 > t5 x The melTlOfy c.a1d with 1 MSyte RAM (expandable to 2 MByte). the Jll99ybac taser interface. and the HP style cable (automaticatty s·Mtches between Jlaser and conventional se 1al oM). package pnce S475 This Month's Special FREE Desktop Publishing Software. For limited time only from Quality Mtcro w/ purchase of Logitech Mouse List Pnce $299 $149 Our Cost QUALITY MICRO VISA'., (213) 474-3764 L ~ 800-553·3339 in CA orders only t_ ~ 1-800-MICRO 86 (642-7686) in U.S. west Coast Office 10551 W. Pico Blvd.. Los Angeles. CA 900>4 East Coast Office 313 Post Ave. Westbury, NY 11590 51&-338--4949 For Technical Service Call Watson Line (213) 470-8073 See you a1 @ CGmDEHlfall W No. . 2-6. 1987. Las Ve<Jas. NV Booth R8101 Al pnces suotect to Ctiinoe 'MlhOu'I noiice \'men yOu need C1l~tltll-e IJOC<S. prllfTCJl stlVl« & complete SUPl>Qrt. cal us 96WC-10 B YT E · JA UARY 1988 Circle 481 on Reader Service Card You are looking at the complete picture printing solution from camera to page. When you add Publisher's ImageMaker exclusive halftone technology to your work station, you get B/W Video Camera. Stand, Lens, 9" Monitor, LaserPort, (a laser printer controller for AT c.ompatible personal computers), with PicturePlus software (for cropping, scaling and placement of pictures) and QuickCapture software (for capturing images, modifying contrast and brightness, rubber-band box and rotation for cropping and printing various size images with screen density choices). Now you can print your photos in 64 shades of gray. preserve detail as small as 1/300 of an inch, choose 70, 85 and 100 line screens. No more costly bills from a photographer or photo lab for sizing, cropping and screening. Add Publisher's lrnageMaker. the simple inexpensive way to compose and print your own full pages, complete with offset-quality photo reproductions. Call or write for free information today. 'IP-rt.:f<:_,1nc. (316) 269-3068 245 N. Hydraulic, Wichita, Kansas 67214 v..... ......... ha~el V....... ~l..c. Circle 419 on Reader Service Card One Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words! Step up to state-of-the-art in EGA graphics generation technology. Our 2005 version is notjust another paint program or another version of the "same old thing~' EGA PAINT 2005 is a complete restructuring of our 2001 program (itself the recipient of the PC TECH JOURNAL award for excellence in program design). We believe the end-user comes first and instead of merely patching on more features (as all the others do) we went to a whole new (much easier and faster) way to create truly startling business presentations & EGA color illustrations. Take another look at some of our features (some of which are available only on programs costing hundreds more) and decide for yourself. All this and more for just: Al o ava ilabl e from ll!X : $99.00 EGA SCREEN ENHANCER This easy to install device enables older EGA cards to utilize EGA PAINT 2005 in 640x480 & 752x4IO resolution modes. Our ESE comes complete with a special test pattern diskette for only $49.95 (+ $5 .00 for shipping and handling). ORDER NOW! in CA - (800) 233-5983 out CA (800) 345-9059 -=-=--=----=-=~--- ='==== RIX SoftWorks, Inc. 185 52 MacArthur Bl. Suite 375 , Irvine. CA 92 71 5 96WC-12 BYTE · JA UARY 1988 Circle 482 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 483) SHORT TAKES BYTE editors offer hands-on views ofnew products. NEC MultiSpeed HD: A Best-Seller Gets a Big New Feature T he. EC Mult iSpccd certainly ranks as one of the most popular IBM PC- compatible laptop computers. The dual processor speeds, twin 720K-byte floppy disk drives, super twist LCD screen, and full-size keyboard of the original have been upgraded twice , first with an electroluminescent screen (the MultiSpeed EL) and now with a 20-mcgabyte internal hard disk drive. I had a chance to look at a preproduction sample of the MultiSpeed HD , and I found that the sum of the parts is a fast , highly usable. very portable computer. The hard disk drive is , of co urse, the most notable component in this version. According to the CORETEST. the 20-megabyte hard disk drive has an ave rage seek tim e of 75 .6 milliseconds and a data transter rate of260.3K bits per second . I'm a dedicated fan of hard disk drives , and I found tbis o ne to be fast enough to be well worth the cost in battery lite . According to NEC, the nickel-cadmium battery in the MultiSpeed HD should power the mac hine for 4 to 6 hours if the screen back.lighting and hard disk drive are not used; 2 to 4 hours if the backlighting and hard disk drive are used occasionally (or if the backlighting is adjusted to a low intensity); and I to 2 hours if the backlighting is at full bright and the hard disk drive is accessed frequently. A full recharge of the battery (from a fully di sc harged state) takes 8 hours. According to NEC, you can operate the computer from AC powe;:r without the battery in place. There will be slight cosmetic changes between the com puter that I saw (and we photographed) and the final version shipped to purchasers . The MultiSpeed HD is bundled with MS-DOS version 3 .2 and the NEC set of memory-resident programs . The pop-up software includes a telecommunications program ; notepad. filer, outliner, dialer, and setup software; and on-line help screens. You can disable the memory-resident software by using the KiJlpop program supplied with the computer. Thi s promises to be a solid laptop com puter, offering most of the functionality of a desktop turbo XT computer in a package that can be carried easily and used without an AC umbilical The Facts: NEC MultiSpeed HD $3695 Software included: MS-DOS version 3.2; NEC pop-up software. NEC Home Electronics (U .S.A. ) Inc. I 255 Michael Dr. Wood Dale. IL 60191-1094 (312) 910-1776 lnquir)' 852. cord . Ifl were planning to carry this computer a lot, I would definitely buy the optional carrying case ($99). The MultiSpeed HD does have a built-in handle, but the rather bulky AC ad.apter and numerous holes and slots in the plastic case of the computer cry out for a case to corral and protect the machine. -Curt Franklin GOfer: RAM-Resident Text Searcher F requentl y, I've got to find a block of text fast. Deadlines are approaching, and I have nothing for clues but a couple of key words. This is when GOfer, a pop-up text finder from Microlytics for MS-DOS machines, comes in very handy. After loading the program (it normally occupies 79K bytes of RAM. but you can load it to use more or less , or you can use it as a stand-alone package) , I loaded XyWrite III Plus and called up GOfer. The search process starts at a window wherein you specify the text you want found by filling in one to eight blanks. each of which can take 20 characters. You don ' t have to remember the exact word (o r words) you ' re hunting for; you just have to be close (case and spelling don ' t have to match precisely). With the capability to fine tune these searches , you can be very specific or you can play the old "sounds like " charades game. I sent GOfer after words I was su re were buried in some text fil e and after word s that were sim ilar. Each time , it came back wit11 a hit. Search strategies can also be based on logical relationships. Before the program goes looking for text, you tell it where to look by specifying drives, paths, or subdirectories. If you 're continued JA NUARY 1988 · BYTE 97 SHORT TAKES not sure where you want it to look, you can tell it to look at all the files on the disk. I sent GOfer into the jungle of my hard disk to see if, as Microlytics claims, there 's no limit to the number of files the program can search. The onJy times I ran into problems were when I missed a step in the procedure. It does take a few minutes to tell GOfer what you want it to look for and where you want it to look , but the program then whips through files in its search for text . When the program finds the word , it flashes the chunk of surrounding text on the screen, with the first letter of the searched word highlighted . (At the top of the screen are the name and the location of the file .) GOfer will then send the found text to a printer, to a disk file, or to another program. I was able to easily export snippets of text from my hard disk to XyWrite documents . I've also use<! GOfer to jump out of XyWrite and browse through disk files , which saved me from having to shut down the file I was in , calling up a suspect, and then storing it and calling back the document I was in. If you 're curse<! with tons of text files but not blessed with great powers of recall , GOfer can save you from spending lots of time wandering in the wilds of your hard disk in search of that certain word . -D. Barku The Facts: GO fer $79.95 Requirements: IBM PC or compatible with 256K bytes of RAM , MS-DOS 2.0 or higher , and one disk drive. Microlytics 300 Main St . East Rochester, NY 14445 (716) 377-0130 Inquiry 853. The Translmage 1000: Versatile OCR in a Low-Cost Package The Facts: The Translmage I 000 $2495 Requirements: IBM PC , XT, AT, or compatible; MS-DOS 2.0 or higher. Translmage Corp . 910 Benicia Ave . Sunnyvale , CA 94086-2887 (408) 733-4111 Inquiry 851. The Translmage 1000 is a product that relieves you of the burden of deciding between high functionality and low cost. The package contains three components: the Transimage scanner, the Transimage controller board, and software to make it all work . The controlJer board gives the scanner its power. It is centered on a Motorola 68000 processor and a series of custom logic chips. The custom chips contain the heart of the Translmage's topological-recognition scheme. By using a topological recognition algorithm, instead of the template-matching algorithm used by most low-cost optical-character-recognition scanners, the Translmage scanner is able to recognize a much broader range of typefaces, including typeset , italic , and kerned fonts, than most scanners available for less than $10,000. The scanner itself must have been designed with ergo nomics in mind , as the scanning unit fit into my hand quite well. Six programmable keys on the top of the scanner, if programme<! judiciously , can substantially re<luce the number of times you must move between the scanner and the com puter keyboard during input. An important design feature of the scanner is the set of broad rollers on the bottom of the unit. These rollers help keep the scanner moving in a straight line while scanning, increas ing the accuracy of the scanning process . The software of the Translmage includes stand-a.lone and memory-resident programs. The stand-alone program lets you set exposure levels, prnctice with the scanner, and train the scanner to recognize new or confusing characters. The program is menu-driven , with rudimentary on-line help available. The memory-resident portion lets you choose among driver files that interface with applications programs. Interface files for a number of popular programs (including Lotu s 1-2-3, WordStar, WordPerfect, and dBASE ID come with the scanner, and you can program interface programs for many other applications. I found the Translmage easy to use, although there was a marked increase in scanning accuracy as I became more prac ticed in centering the scanner on a line and moving it smoothly and evenly across the page . In my tests, I was able to scan pages from BYTE and Fortune , several press releases and advertising brochures , and a tabloid newspaper. The Translmage was quite accurate, although it had trouble with multiple white spaces and very small , closely spaced type (Translmage recommends scanning text that is set between 8 and 14 points). I was impressed with its versatility and accuracy , especially compared to low-cost scanners that work only with typewritten , monospaced typefaces. -Curt Franklin continued 98 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 What the PC did for computing, GoldWorks'M now does for expert system building. Remember computing before the PC? Climate-controlled rooms behind "Restricted Area" signs. DP gurus speaking a language nobody else knew. Myst ified end-users. Then technology evolved, the PC emerged and serious desktop computing became affordable. The economics of computing changed fort:ver. Now, GoldWorks uses PCs to transform the economics of expert system building. On your 286- ro levercige ,, or 386based ·'...cd/01rs us tboHSlillds of !.ti~·tctoiolifeil'dl> pCs..· c.- Lybr{ll1rt PC, ._l)r·. J)al'itl S1Jp11berg, Gold Works offers the functionality and power of high-end expert system tools, plus the ease of use and low cost of PC shells. With GoldWorks, you can deve[l)p and deliver serious expert systems cost-effectiuely GoldWorks i.S the: mo:-t powerful l'Xpcn r.'.'lll'nl mol J\-;ti l.1blr un PC). With GoldWorks, you don't GoldWorks lets you have to compromise. integrate with existing Easy-co-use shells run on PCs, but lack real functiona lity. Powerful high-end tools ecPxaC1n·s'aut·pinnpgtlet.-gr.a. .it.fe. aw·p1itmehrit·eSr\1·.1t1eIlYcIoame1b·.eI.,l1olap..tmioerlnt can·ons or deliver 0 (>.\ un< / J~iu/ - u·se1. s·11,1,1/JOl·'Df . -eJJrucc .\1· c rris. .-1rt11111 · Litrk. w . expert systems on PCs. Gold\Vorks combines the best features of both . It's as easy to use as PC programs. You can integrate expert systems with dBASE Ill. Lotus 1-2-3 and C. ..plus build and deliver expert systems in network environmems. See this powerful, flexible tool for yourself. Order the GoldWorks Demonstration Kit. You'll get an 18-minute videotape. a shell... showcasing many GoldWorks features in a The Menu Jnrerface lets you prototype sample application. You'll also receive a and build expert system applications copy of the actual 282-page Experc System fast . without knowing the underlying programming environment. On-line help ·An)' f<0 ·tune toOO 1 aiotl ca n eas i.~y User's Guide that comes and tutorials make you productive quickly. ...and as function-rich ocrogsat1-]-~WI1''~1l1l1tul.lf·r}R'e·i:tet/rJ.·i~s11mr1o11ocl:,ro uP We' with GoldWorks ll credit your . as a high-end tool. 549 to your GoldWorks purchase. GoldWorks offers frames , rules. object programming and powerful control mechanisms. just like the high-end co mparable For more information , or to order, call toll-free: 1-800-242-54 77. tools. And " ..poirer.KfE ..:· GoldWorks to AJ<T Ot .~e ukw11. rr1r. · -Ke1111ellJLe1·111 , runs on In Mass.. call (617) 492-2071. GoldWorks from Gold Hill. advanced PCs, so expert systems you build The expert in AI on PCs. can be delivered cost-effectively ro end-usef!i. ~ Gold Hill Computers. Inc. 16~ Harvard Screec .......====~=-- "' Cambridge, MA 02 1.)9 GOLD HI LL Copy riFh1 JlJlf" . (J t>ltl lhl l <.omputrrs. lnr . Gulth.:n Cu1111~mn l.l ~P i :i rl-gi ~~ernJ lr.tdl'ma rk ;ind Co_ld\\in ks '" ~ trJdt·m:uk ni<;_tilcl Hill (11 r~1p111t·r~. ,Inc I.musb :1rr;:.isirn:d 1r.uJrm:.1rk :unJ 1-2· 5b :l lr.ltkin:uk lJi l.o[ u ~ Dn·c:lopmrm <.orpor:u iun JIH SEb ;1 tr:i demlrk ol A ~ h 1 on·' l':m.: . KF.1: 1~ :i 1r.ukm:1rk of lntdhl.'orp. ART 1:, :1trad<.·m:J rk ul lnfrrr ncl· Cnrpor:rn on Circle 103 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · B Y T E 99 SHORT TAKES The only software tool for FAM/COM RuggedWriter 480: Hewlett Packard's Fast 24-pin Printer FMC Adaptor-II This is the key to debug the custom CPU FMC· 2A03 of the FAMILY COMPUTER (Nintendo). All you need is this unit ! Then, you can debug and develop your sohware for the FAMICOM without much knowledge on hardware of the FAM ICOM . Th is clever adaptor can evaluate the famous SOUND SUPPORT! Th ink FMC Adapto r-II if you are touch ing to FAMICOM 1 CONTACT US TODAY ! NP S 1NC. Arrt·n · l':iul K1 r:1ob. S:i[,., m:in:ig~· r l\! ;1111 Bid!( .. hibuv,1, ,-.10. Udagaw,Hho. Tn kn1. I50 J :ipon l'lun1<· (03HM· ~ 100 bx. (03H66 ~~22 l"t·lcx· )2-H>! NP )1\P1\ C\ hibuva-ku, The Facts: RuggedWriter 480 $1695 Hewlett-Packard 3000 Hanover St. Palo Alto , CA 94304 (415) 857-1501 Inquiry 854. Options: Serial/HP-IB interface , $200; optional automatic sheet feeder , $250; optional font cartridge, $150. Hewlett-Packard's new RuggedWriter 480 dot-matrix printer has the highest throughput of the 16 24-pin printers BYTE has tested during the past year. On the five -page test document (described in the April 1987 BYTE on page 203), the $1695 unit achieved a draft throughput rate of 189 characters per second and a near-letter-quality (NLQ) throughput of 143 cps . The closest competitors among units BYTE has tested are the C. Itoh C-815 Supra at 187 cps draft throughput and the Nissho NP-2410 at 104 cps NLQ throughput. Graphics throughput of the RuggedWriter was 726 cps; only two 24-pin units had a higher rating, the Fujitsu America DL 2600 (933 cps) and the Nissho NP-2410 (833 cps). The subjective NLQ print quality of the unit was supe rior-comparable to the best of the 24-pin units BYTE has tested- but the draft-quality rating was only average. Graphics quality was second only to JDL 's 850 EWS printer. The noise level of the printer was in the lower half of the group. For ex.ample , the NLQ noise level was 72 decibels. The other 24-pin units tested ranged from 68 dB to 78 dB (four were quieter , six were louder , and five had the same rating). The RuggedWriter is a wide-carriage printer and handles up to four-part forms. The unit has two paper-handling sys tems built in: hand feed and fanfold tractor feed . An auto matic cut-sheet feed tray is available for $250. A control panel makes it easy to switch between the three paper paths. If you select automatic sheet feed or hand feed while forms are loaded , the printer automatically retracts the fanfold paper from the platen without completely releasing it ; when you re select the fanfold path , the unit returns the fanfold paper to the platen area. Another important feature for office use is the co111 i 11ue d 100 BYT E · JANUARY 1988 Circle 189 on Reader Service Cord I QUICK5IIYER \\n'ITI~ "'t'l"i,n.i'> I f you can't wait for a new version of dBASE to come out, you don't have to. Because now, there's the Quicksilverrn Diamond Release. A com piler that gives the dBASE world what it's been waiting so long for. The next generation of the dBASE language. Which shouldn't be too surprising. After all, WordTech Systems has long been the leader in bringing improve ments to dBASE. With features like the first true windowing. VALID. User De fin ed Functions. And true native code compiling, for blazing speed. Now, with the Quicksilver Diamond Release, dBASE has been expanded Like never before. New capabilities include a long List of extend ed language features. Like a new GRAPH FORM command that lets you create graphs and charts from your data. Plus the ability to export graphs and data to a format that works directly with desk top publishing packages like Xerox Ventura Publisher:" 111ere are multi-dimensional arrays,for easier, more sophisticated memory variable management. And ON EVENT/SET EVENT commands for communications multitasking, like sorting a database while you receive a modem transmission. What about networking? With WordTech's all new Networker Plus"', you can run Quicksilver compiled programs and dBASE III Plusr"on the same network, at the same time. That's not all. Quicksilver lets network users know who has data locked, and lets them send a message requesting its release. In fact, users can send any message, including exact copies of screens, to anyone on the network. If data has been changed, edit sensing lets you know-it even tells you who changed it. And with Quicksilver's distributed processing feature you can send projects off to unused workstations. The Quicksilver Dian10nd Release runs on DOS 3.1, and compatible networks. And it runs around $599. Your software store or computer dealer has more information. Or give us a call. And see why this is the one dBASE upgrade - - - :.5ILVEK you'll be glad you waited for. ----_-_-----_ ---- ---- --- - ---- ··---- - . .. ~ ·,-_.,...,.,,. ..,, __ J', __ . WOROTECH SYSTEMS Worc!Tech Systems. Inc. P.O. Box 1747, Orinda, CA 94563 (415) 254-0900 Fax: (415) 254-0288 Telex: 503599 Not copy protec1ecl. N<-twork cr Plus is a trademark of WordTech Systems. Inc. Quic ksilver is a trademark of Quicksilver Software. Inc. licensed lo WordTech S)'slcms. Inc. dBASE and dBi\SE 111 l~ u s are trademarks of Ashton-Tate. X rox Ventura Publisher is a trademark of Xerox Corporation. Circle 197 on Reader Sen·ice Card JANUARY 198 · BYT E 101 Circle 162 on Reader Service Card ~ ~~\ Keyboard Protector Finally! A Keyboard Protector That: ·PROTECTS CONTINUOUSLY-24 HOURS A DAY Againsl computer downtime due to liquid spills, dust, ashes, staples, paper clips and other environmenlal hazards. · REMAINS IN PLACE during the operation of your keyboard. SafeSkin is precision molded to fit each key- like a "second skin." · EXCELLENT FEEL - The unique design eliminates any in terference between adjacent keys, allowing smooth natural operation of your keyboard. · SafeSkin IS VIRTUALLV TRANSPARENT - Keytops and side markings are clearly visible . In fact, SafeSkin is so clear, sometimes you may not know it's there! · DURABLE - LONG LASTING - SafeSkin is not a "throw· away" item. Many of our protectors have lasted over 3 years under continuous daily use, without failure . SaleSkin is available for most popular PC's and portables including: I.BM, APPLE, AT&T, COMPAQ, DEC, EPSON, KEY· TRONICS, NEC, TANDY, TOSHIBA, WANG, WYSE, ZENITH. Specify computer make and model. Send $29.95, Check or M.0., VISA & MC include exp. date. Dealer inquiries invited. Free brochure available. Merritt Computer Products, Inc. 4561 S. Westmoreland / DalJM, TexM 75237 / 214/ 339.0753 ~ '.<: TouchTone In/Voice lnnext In ;J'O\r,e 0\\\ E x c e l l e n c e ..........--..;;;;;::] in-Woice Quality · Text-to-Speech · Digitized Speech · Synthesized Speech · AutoAnswer/Auto Dial · Host Independent + 1-904-476-5742 Call to hear our demo: "' 1986SunooastSyslems, inc. 24 Hrs.!7 Days/Wk. 102 B YT E · JANUARY 1988 Circle 258 on Reader SeMJice Card SHORT TAKES ability to tear off a form and resume printing at the top of the next form . Other front-panel controls include selection of NLQ . draft , and compressed typefaces. When an optional font cartridge ($150) is installed, the front-panel button also allows selection of four additional fonts or a downloaded font. The RuggedWriter comes with a 2K-byte input buffer ; the font cartridge adds 16K bytes of additional buffer space . For software control, the RuggedWriter emu.lates an Epson LQ-1000; it also recognizes Hewlett-Packard's printer control language. The standard printer comes with a parallel and serial interface . An optional serial/Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus (HP-IB) interface costs $200. -George A. Stewart Velan-2V: Video-Port Expander T he Velan-2V video-port expander lets you connect two analog monitors to one analog video port. It works with the IBM PS/2 computers and VGA-compatible video cards. Setup and operation are easy. Simply disconnect the monitor from the video port. Connect the video port to the input port of the Velan-2V . (This cable is included with the unit.) Then plug the two analog monitors into the output I and output2 analog ports of the Velan-2V . Flip on the power switch on the front panel , and both monitors can display the same picture . The unit contains active amplifiers for the red, blue, and green analog signals, with a 100-MHz bandwidth for no Joss in resolution . This boost in video signal permits positioning the monitors up to 25 feet from the computer, using a standard cable, or up to 50 feet from the computer, using the optional low-loss video cables. I tested the unit on an IBM PS/2 Model 80 and on an IBM PC using a Sigma Designs Sigma VGA card . I used the IBM 8513 and NEC MuJtiSync XL color monitors for the tests . On the Model 80, the unit performed flawlessly . Both monitors displayed the same screen with good color and resolution. It is possible to simultaneously use both a monochrome and a color monitor on a PS/2 computer with the Velan-2V . The Model 80 reads the ID bits of the monitor (lines 4, 11, and 12 on the video cable) and configures the output of the VGA pore for that particular monitor. Network Technologies recommends that you attach the monitor with the lowest functionality to the outputl port. Both monitors will then operate at the lowest common mode. When I ran the test on the Sigma VGA card, again both monitors operated correctly. The NEC MultiSync monitor had the advantage of adjusting itself to whatever mode the Sigma VGA card was in. The IBM 8513 monitor could operate only in its standard mode of 640 by 480 pixels. The Velan-2V is ideal for situations where a group of people need to see the output from one computer. -Stan Ws.wla The Facts: Velan-2V $279 Network Technologies Inc . 19145 Elizabeth St. Aurora, OH 44202 (800) 742-8324 Inquiry 855. Option s : Low-loss video-extension cables: 25 feet, $70 ; 35 feet , $80 ; 50 feet , $90. cominued How to process documents instead ofwords. ~ H _ . ... .. I i J i,11·!1!·~ ;' 'rt I i i ,I~ j I 1, rt~'j I'.,,,,I IIln·1ll 1j1!l~Jf':,~i!1ll)b!~,1:l;1in~I1~ 1 1~~ ~Iw~~, · I !lli~j·1il1~l!1rI !/!1 l1'l~L 1 h!11W1~1!11I l~liII 1I111.·'11·1''11r~'·1.·1'r=·1·:···.···.~'.·Im·1i:r;·.I 1,., · ! I! jiiii I111I1 1,11· 1' ~ ! 1 1 I Jj / 11 I ~ ilI il l I j' 11! :!: I I I I I · ! ·~t I 1j 11l l 1 . I ~I Ho hum . your word processor enables you to process words. But today, when you' re creating a wide range of business documents you often have to process much more. Graphics, columns, tables, equations, etc. Lotus 1anuscript® is acomplete docu ment creation system that can handle anything froma one-page memo to an 800-page manual. Manuscript can mix text and graphics on the same page, graphics from Lotus® 1 -2-3~ Symphonl,' Freelance® Plus and Graphwriter ll~ It can also import spreadsheets and charts, plus diagrams and scanned images. With our lntegrated Outliner you can collapse a document to navigate the out line, or move any size section with just a few keystrokes. You can globally fonmt an entire Man uscript document, or format by sections. .1 1Vith o11r_Docnmen;·· Pn"IJlell'Jeotnr you " .L..·:._.;;;......_..;_-=-_, urn see hu11·m1y page will look IJ!!for it.'s primed. Zoom capal1ilily leis yuu take a c/oser /uok at gmphics and el/Mlions . Manuscript's Docw11ent Compare fea tur highlights changes between revisions fo r foolproof proof-reading_ Our powerful Print Formatter gives you control over the look ofyour document, from position and size ofgraphics, to fonts, point sizes and more. Manuscript also takes full advantage of today's printing r.echnology. from clot matrix to laser, including PostSc ript~ printers. Manuscript is design d to workon most IBM~ PCs and compatibles~ It familiar 1-2-3interface makes it easv w use. And our Manuscript evaluation kit makes it easy to try. F'or .SI 0.00, you'LI get a presentation disk, working soft ware, and a tutorial manual . 'lo get you reval uation kit, call 1-800-345-1043 and askfordemo kit YB-1450. Lot11s Manuscript © 19 l.J;:)tu:,. [)(·\'\."lupnti.:nl Cvrpflmtioo. All n..,ihts r.::scrvc-d. lfAUS. lhltUS Mlm npt. I ·2-3. . ymp y. rf'.....lan and Grapnwru..r II art: l'l~~l l'f,,;rj t rad~rnarks or l/JilUS t>-:-\'("lopm...nt C'orf)(1~l!On fu:;u.cnpt lS a re ·tstered tradmrark of 1\ dobt: Sy~ll'IH!io. 1 rn~ m~1 ~ .11\.' Liiti'rt'(l lradt<IUaT . of lnt~rn:u.ion3l !~m ~l achU)(."$ I ~li.mu.cript and ~l anu5<'npt ~:\11.l uatY_tl\ Kit rrqotrt~ :1 1:!~: iittd 11 h~ud dl)k Circle 133 on Reader Service Card SHORT TAKES KADAK's engineers bring years of practical real-time experience to this mature MULTl-TASKING SYSTEM (version 2.0) for the IBM® PC, PC/XT and PC/AT · No royalties · IBM PC DOS support · C language support · Preemptive scheduler · Time slicing available · Source code of the C interface and device drivers is included · Intertask message passing · Dynam ic operations: - task create/delete - task priorities - memory al location · Event Manager · Semaphore Manager AMX86'0 oparatas on any 8086188, 80186188, 80286 system. Demo package Manual only AM X86 system $25 us $75 us $2195 us Also available /or 8080. ZBO. 58000 KADAK Products Ltd. 206-1847 W Broadway Vancouver, B.C., Canada ::l~lf V6J1Y5 Telephone : (604) 734-2796 ~ Telex: 04-55670 Laptop &IBM PS/2 Users: The solution to bridge the gap between your 5Y. & 3~ inch drives. " It's a steal. It allows you to use you r favo rite DOS shell lor selective lile lransfer and it eve n lets you use your PC's peripherals fro myour laptop . . . In short: An exce ptionally fast and functional transfer utility ... The Brooklyn Bridge is th e perfect solution for people who use a laptop almost exclusively as a portable machine that travels from PC to PC. It's te rri fic !" - Howard Marks, PC Ma azine Ju l 1987" Rated as one of the best of the best utilities by John Dvorak. "This is one of those rare programs that you enjoy the minute you take it out of the box , especially when you discover that a cable is included . . . Excelle nt product." -PC Magazine, June 23, 1987''' WHlll CRAN! I YI TIM I ·104·394·3119 Su11e 151 6889 Peachtree Ind . Boulevard Norcross. Georgia End users are "sold on Brooklyn Bridge ... Dvorak is certa inly correct in describin~ Wh ite Crane Systems' Brooklyn Bridge as 'Fabulous ... and I love it." - G. Schochet Letter to the Editor PC Magazine. ~19-g PS/2 users: The Brooklyn Bridge allows da ta transfer and drive access in either direclio n so you may also transfer your data back to your 5!-i inch PC. Priced at $129.95, call White Crane Systems to order or for more information. 1 R~p n n 1i:-d lrom PC M arazin~ . coov111h1 1981 Zoff Commun hons Compar1y 30092 Book One: Interactive Authoring B ook One helps you create interactive presentations by combining color pictures, sound, text , and animation using the model of a book to organize your work. You place elements on a page, combine these pages into chapters, and the chapters into a book. Book One currently works only on the EGA and CGA. It also can use either the keyboard or a Microsoft-compatible mouse. More than 40 fonts are supplied , as well as a font editor for creating your own. There are four graphics modes: A , B, E, and P. If you have a CGA, you can use modes A, B, and P. Modes A and B are the low-resolution 4-color and high resolution monochrome modes of the CGA. Mode P displays the top or bottom of a page, using a 400- by 200-pixel resolution. If you have an EGA, you can use mode E, which is the 16-color, 640- by 350-pixel resolution of the EGA. The graphics elements consist of circles, boxes , sketches, fill patterns, and graphics fonts. You can also pull in digitized pictures . The program's animation features let you manually move objects by specifying the steps for drawing , removing. and drawing the object again in another position , or you can have Book One animate the object by specifying a starting and an ending position . With sketch animation, given two sketches, each with the same number of dots, Book One will animate the transformation of one into the other. Font animation takes a series of small predefined pictures that can be displayed at high speed to create the illusion of motion. Sound elements are entered as a four-element string consisting of the note , the octave, note lengths, and rests. Book One provides com mands for controlling the flow of the program and waiting for user input. You need not be a programmer to use Book One , but it was difficult to navigate through its features . The user interface consists of 55 icons divided over three menus , and submenus are associated with many of these icons. In theory, you must memorize 11 symbols from which the icons are constructed . However, I found the sheer number of icons overwhelming , and often it was not obvious how they worked together. The documentation , which consists of an introductory guide, an advanced guide, and a reference manual, is not well organized. In the introductory guide, the directions for using the fill command neglect to say that you must choose a border color to stop the fill in graphics modes A and E. Otherwise , the fill covers the whole screen . The reference guide contained this infonnation. I found the demonstrations included with Book One slow and unexciting , and the sound effects accompanying them were annoying . In all fairness, I think the performance is limited by the hardware it's running on. (I used a Compaq 386 with an EGA .) But if you want build animated presentations on an IBM PC , XT , or AT , Book One is certainly easier to use than a general programming language . -Eva While The Facts: Book One $295 Paralax Software Publishers 2550 Ninth St. Berkeley, CA 94710 (415) 848-9898 Inquiry 856. Requirements: IBM PC, XT, or AT with 5I2K bytes of RAM , an EGA or CGA , and a high-density floppy disk drive and a hard disk drive or two high-density floppy disk drives. co111i1111ed 104 B YT E · JANUARY 1988 Circle 290 on Reader Service Card V..i.QAUBRODU'ATTAANYAouLmYighZt bIeNspGreading your l 1 't\.l.tl. spreadsheet a little too thin. Or maybe you're starting from scratch. But if you're serious about data analysis, you're ready for SPSS/Pc+·· - a full software family that brings you eight high-powered ways to complete any data analysis task. Enter it. SPSS Data Entry 11- is a fully integrated data entry, cleaning and editing tool. Analyze it. The SPSS/PC+ base package provides a powerlul array of statistical and reporting procedures. Picture it. SPSS/PC+ Graph-in-the-Box- featuring New England Software's Graph-in-the-Box- offers full color "snapshot" graphics. Examine it. SPSS/PC+ Advanced Statistics- lets you get more serious with your data. Predict it. SPSS/PC+ Trends--our latest option-is the complete time series analysis/forecasting tool. Table it. SPSS/PC+ Tables- produces presentation ready tables instantly. Chart it. SPSS/PC+ Graphics- featuring Microsoft· Chart creates sh01N-stopping graphs and charts. Map it. SPSS/PC+ Mapping - featuring MAP-MASTER'" creates maps where vast amounts of data can be sum marized and presented in one, simple picture. SPSS/PC+ products are being put to productive use by serious fact finders in business. government and edu cation. For countless purposes such as market research. Wage and salary studies. Survey analysis. And quality control. Plus each product is superbly documented and supported by SPSS Inc., a leader in statistical software for nearly 20 years. While specially tailored customer support is available through the VALUE Plus- plan. And SPSS now offers a SPSS/PC+ version for Novell LANs. So if you're serious about data analysis, step up to SPSS/PC+. For details, contact our Marketing Department. CALL 1/312/329-3315 SI ~ ·1·1:.iiw,;..'-S::P::ss'.:':1nc~.~.444:'.:'.:':No:rth:":M:lch:ig:an:"A:ve:n~ue:.-':.su~ite~3000=~-~C:hicago=.~1:mno1·s:':':606:'!11_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ II"~ " " " In Europe: SPSS Europe BY.· P.O. Box 115 · 4200 AC Gorinchem. The Netherlands· Telephone: 31183036711 ·TWX: 21019 SPSS/PC+ runs on IBM PC/XTIAT$ with hard disk. Con!acl SPSS Inc. for compalillle microcompulOIS, sPSS/PC+. SPSS Da!a Emy II, SPSS/PC Graph-ir>-th&-Box. SPSS/PC+ Advanood Slati:rtlcs. °' SPSSIPC·· Trends. SPSSl?C·· Tables. SPSSIPC+ Graphics and SPSS/PC+ Mapping are tra1emarlc; ol SPSS Inc. VAWE PWS is a bademarl< cl SPSS Inc. Chart and Micrusolt are trademar1<s o1 Microsol1 Corporation. MAP-MASTER Is a lrademal1< Ash"1l-Tale. Graph-in-lh&-Box is a - ol Now England Softv,Qro , Inc. C) 1987, SPSS Inc. Circle Z57 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 105 Circle 64 on Reader Service Card SHORT TAKES I :I·l'ifl 3;{ill~ Q!Ifi UNINTERRUPTIBLE SUPPLY 111rSlltOO!fUl'S-:IDW. lflS .l.fl1--WCll~' ~1'tL: ..-11 c:lftitylW\LrdU ' t.ertyurt ~ pc!lllltl'~~~r~dl!I ., ,___.Diii W11.MJ:lt . larn.tllui-tr·C;tl~htll'u!ellhteW'. I~ ldbut lbllllllli~""' " tlml. UPS-.JllTW ... 1295..llJ Ul'S-<IOOW .·. S379.95 l.Ki$ dlc.:lrKy Z.lail:PllHl).Sl'l'l.lb:I l~~- 1 ~ lunw..~1.. ~·lfill:'!tl ~lb H 'lnllf.!Mt.ltt111"'1 ~ I.SK ... . · 11 ASTEG 200W AT SUPPLY S129.95 Wn lhit AS llC AT~ "4!;ito llt<wtcl'ltyacc lOO'l1"°' ''* ..::M....:t.Wlttlhlll rtc: UL Ud C$.l1~~1h»'fW'--"'Y11,. ~ 1H wtr111V1 1 kw -.'1.Md ~ .. iQllCllllUSllUOl t1'111· ·te11J1iM.tflDIUl'Opewft' In 'ftllllUls l bllll!llerlf ll · llltlettMM · llY r~tal!!fi' k't .,ra r.--111Dt 1;mo AJll!ie,. .-..J!lflisftl.vllll rxuc:u l -, rQLY"' G11 · ummli 119 lftly *ti'DM pJ-MIOl:l'dltU"' tllll ilv &li? -· -~ KEYTRONICS RT·101 KEYBOARD RT-101 S99.95 l lu r Wunn1y Ow riw.sm W .u tt111((TI -El RJ 1:1 lf)'~rd ltt b ll'l91t l· 1t l.'rl AS11CP'CWfr $:mWl1r.dL.. Art.ur: m JMt.__"'tfk>rt l ..a.1Mf ~'-YttM~tylM!'~lt WMua ~~~1 {f'fb'Ettill~ ld:llN'lt.!;ff~ltl!U lattytut'-t l:bry n.a hrMr. °"'flcflwnOllllll. ll'llq'· o-my fM. MMI~ HcJdyu.......,, .... ~L'l.Mlu. nr.w1 1rd.ln- '~U.sll.anuna.cstw1 r!Oulptl:':llloa!kirl1· m11t n u l 1 i· i:1'1. t."A.ilr u ., 1 l1~ p,artlll'ld Tl'lfykC C ~Ull M~l*"'*"l lllltc lN-tl Ow A.T1yi1m kitl1tt 11111t .,,.dlil: l.a:a!s.t.TlU. -2'116~11&afdWAll 'euJ, Wr tC!ifYWIM J.$TlC-ZW#'""' r.m:fl, 11K11 fUr'·TI· ..., ~IU. tt1 J.TIU 18fi tl!ICitftiiNl'd · l:flMZl 91IU)ll, 1OICttltf/IJetoy dtlYf~ tnl!M 1 P"U.l.Stlll: l lllffl'lll, ll'ldll( fTDn JT· MI l'T·t ni1 ,,a. llllUll:S.,.tleMt: l lll &t ~synml! l illf'V STANDARD AT KIT ... S799.95 Wc1 fwrt.f'rt11t'lrtf ml'-lllftlfleit01 ·~ 11 fliltu:blM' u lllU:b-.. u~~ . T"4 0ftlyCMnQ11 11~ · mowtdlM 1 ll CSCfiO. .,.cnwt ~!ab360/ 1 1°'"'tll'llran:rel~. dwf!Jlm1JCUM111 111Utt BASIC AT KIT.. .$599.95 "-'l'lr~ ·flo··llllV\ll:!lcllnluwtll.Mll'JcU\lC ' l ~ll J1mt11 i\T ·J: -196 mx:crbuf(. 111 .Ul£C. 1Q11iP'oww ~ Mll l lfU,Uftip lci t o l.. 1iD . ll/--.r.ld S99.z 11t ~pnm111t0li ·:j itj'fj i 301 :~ i i-w COMPLETE 8MHZ XT TURBO KIT ... $599.95 : ~!lr~ 1u;,... ~,~' : !,,,,..;;:cc!~ · ~lr.llil/UK r1bur d ~,. · CloQ/ ul.lutl JMfj:ttl : :~:::o,c:~<\~ : ::.:!~~~~ BARE BONES BMHZ KIT ...$249.00 .:..... t ~.1 u 111t.1it4 ...m Q01M1 ~' pr.J. ~· Wt .-,,ttaed w ~ am 1 11r11~b~r·w~t111 1111t 1 1 u 11 1·-.· 1tu ( JI :iuJ~·iw... ll.11t ~tJf ltldlllffCC «iwlftw """"'Uu. Hayes compatible MODEM INTfRNAl MODEM FOR XT AT 186 ll!l!llHf~41u.1 $&9 $1 39 (Auto dial . auto answer. w ph & line jack) EXTfRNAl MODEMS for XT/ AT . Apple. Commodore. Atari. etc. 'Fully Hayes compatible ·Auto dial. auto answer with a LED, s a g Speaker. Dip switch . aluminum Case. 1:111:~.,,.,.1 l l po t11t·jJtt·1MlllT(f 4 (less $15 for modems &$50 for computers 9 as restock ing & Shippings 5 5 6 10 MHt 80286 FCC approved · 80286 6/ 10 MHz hardware switch. 512K memory. expandable to 1 MB. . 84 keybas keyboard, 180 wall supply ·Mono-graphic card w_printer port $299 · 360/ 1.2 MB control card (No drive & no monitor TURBO 10 MH t XT · 4.77-10 MHz w. 256K Memory. expandable to 640K · Mono graphic card w. printer port · 360 K floppy control card (No drive & no monitor included) .... ; ·· ,·: FOSTER TECHNOLOGY INC. #3. 810 Peace Portal. Blaine, Wa 98230 Phone; (206) 332-5081 IN CANADA: 343 Railway. Vancouver . B .C . V6A 1A4 Phone: (604) 684-2368 IAdd 16% for C1111edlan orderal Surpass: 1·2·3 Superset S urpass is a powerful new program that 's a worthy competitor to Quattro, Excel, Plan.Perfect, and similar spreadsheets that challenge the dominance of Lotu. 1-2-3. Instead of being a clone, Surpass is a functional superset of 1·2·3. Thus , all your current Lotus worksheets, macros, and learned keystroke sequences should work with Surpass . CV"e tested a late beta version and found no incompatibilities.) The added commands and fun ctions are what really make Surpass stand out. For example , you can have up to 32 different spreadsheets open and at least partially in view at any time (via overlapping windows) . Of course, onJy the three or four windows "on top" will be large enough and visible enough to work on . But you can access other open spreadsheet windows with as few as four keystrokes . (The total number of spreadsheets you actually can open depends on the size of the spreadsheets and available memory . Surpass requires at least 5l 2K bytes of RAM and can use up to 8 megabytes of Lotus/ Intel/Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification [LIM/EMS) memory .) Having multiple spreadsheets on-screen makes it easy to use Surpass ' s slick "hot link" feature : You can link any cell or range of cells to any others simply by opening the appropriate spreadsheet window and using familiar, Lotus-like commands. (You can also link to nonopened spreadsheets.) Once linked, changes in one spreadsheet automatically force recalculations of au other spreadsheets in the linked chain. Fortunately , Surpass is intelligent about recalculations: You can choose to have them proceed in the background , or you can select ''dependency recalc, " in which onJy the cells affected by the new data are recalcu.lated . If you've ever struggled with 1-2-3's column-width settings, you 'll like Surpass 's automatic column-width sizing: With this option, the columns automatically adjust themselves to fit your largest numbers. Surpass has a built-in macro recorder , and you can sto re macros in "libraries" accessible from any worksheet. Its Undo command works just as you'd expect it to . Surpass supports Lotus-style graphics, but with the extra eye appeal of a third dimension (the third dimension does not convey infonnation. but just gives a more polished look). Surpass also has a "find " feature that makes it easy to locate any numeric or alphabetic string in any worksheet. Al so , it comes with a point-and-shoot " visual file manager" that lets you select file s from anywhere on your disk without having to type long path names. Surpass has something else going for it : Seymour Rubenstein. His name may not be a household word , but you have heard of the last major product he was associated with: WordStar. It 's too soon to say whether or not Surpass will become the "WordStar of spreadsheets ," but if yo u need a spreadsheet program that offers enhancements over 1-2-3 without sacrifici ng compatibility, Surpass is worth a look . -Fred Lo.nga The Facts: Surpass $495 Surpass Software Systems 14 Commercial Blvd. Suite 131 Novato , CA 94949 (4 15) 382-8840 Inquiry 857. Requirements: IBM PC, XT , AT , or PS/2 with a 1.5-megabyte hard disk drive , 5 I2K bytes of RAM , and DOS 2. 1 or higher. Supports all current graphics standards and a math coprocessor. Hlfi BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 95 on Reader Service Card Howtotellthe difference between DESQviewTM2.0 and anyotherenvironment. Selecting DESQview, the environment of or compati ble computer wi thou.t choice, can give you the DESQview ''-- Info productivity and powe r Worlu , 1ichael Miller. you crave, without the · ~ coloss us among loss of your old pro windowing environ grams and hardware. m ents''. .. "wi ll r nn If you like your existing almost anything''-- PC programs, want to use Week , Marvin Bryan . them together, transfer " Wi nd.ow s, prmn data between them, ises, but DESQview print, sort, communi deliver s''-- MlCRO cate with or process TIMES, Birell Walsh . in-background, yet still o other environ have the need to keep me nt has consistently in place your favorite pioneered features,open PC(8088, 8086, 80286 ness, and productivity. or 80386), DESQview See for yourself. Send in is the "proven true" the coupon. The possi multitasking, multi windowing environ- One picture is worth a thousand promises. bi lities are endless with DESQv iew 2.0. ment for you. Best of all, DESQview 2.0 is he re now, Attention Programmers: For more information with all the money saving, time saving, and productiv about Quarterdeck 's API, and future 386 program ity features that others can only promise for the all extensions call us today. too-distant future. And with DESQview's new graphics enhancements for Hercules, CGA , EGA, and VGA , Version 2.0 still offers the same award winning and pioneering fea tures for programs that earned DESQview its leader ship, only now you can also run desktop publi hing programs, CAD programs, even GEM -TMTopview-1;' and Microsoft Windows-"' specific programs. ln some cases you'll add as little as 10-40K to your system overhead. YSTEM REQ U lllEM ENTS 1m 1 Personal Computer and !00 % compntlbles ( with 808G, 8088. 8028G or 80~8G processors) with monoch rome or color d isplay; tDM J"erson~ll ~"'ten 2 · ).lemory : 6i10K recommended ; for DESQvlcw Itself 0· 14 5K · l::xpnnded Memory (Op tl onnl): expanded me mory l>oards com 1wt ible with the Intel Above Doarc.1 : enhanced expanded memory boards compnt lblc w ith the A ST RAMpnge · Disk : 'l\vo diskette drl\·c s or one di.skc u c dri ve ;md a h ard disk · Graphics Card (Optional): Herc ules, IBM Color l Gr.·ph k s (CGA ), IBM Enhnnced Graphics (EG A ). IB~I Per son al Syst cm/ 2 Ad vanced Graphics ( VGA )' Mouse (Opt ional ): ~·louse Sy tems, ~l krosoft and compatible ·· Mod em for Auto· Dialer (Optional): Ha_\'es or Compatible · Operntlng Syst em : PC· DOS 2.0·3.3: MS-0052.0 -3.2 · Software : Mo t r '- DO ' and M · DO appl k ation p rogr:11ns:: prog.ra m specifi c to 'lb pVi cw 1.1. G ~; M I.I and ~llcrosoft. Windows I.Oa · Med ia: DE:S<.M cw 2.0 is nvnllnblc on eitheriH4 .. or 3 1h · fl OPf'Y d l!ii Lcctt es Now you can have multi -tasking, multi-windowing, break the 640K habit too and still get an auto d ialer, macros, menus for DOS and, for advanced users, a new complete application programmer's interface capabil ity. No wonder that over the years, and especially in recent months, DESQview, a nd now DESQview 2.0 have earned extrava INFO gant praise from some of the most WORLD respected magazines in the industry. "Product ofthe ~ar" by reade rs vote in InfoWorld. "Best PC Environment" by popu lar vote at Comdex Fall in PC Tech DESQview 2.0 ~ Journal's "System Builder" Conte ·t. ~ - -1 "-!wouldn't w a.n t to ru.n cm.IBM S n. ()( CIWH M ('dl:t ~H'YlllVi" Prl'.WllKI ftlU.U Pricf- "1. 1bUI I I I DESQvicw 2.0 S! 29.95 s Shlpplng & 1-landling USA s r..oo Outside USA $ 10.00 $ I Salos 'l!lx (CA r esidents) 6.5~ $ I P.l.}'lT\~llt: 0 VlSl1 0 MC 0 AMEX 0 Chock AmoWll f: nclosed s I Credit Card:Vn~lid_s~·in_c_· ~~~~-~~-E~'x_p~lr~"11-on~ ~~~~~-~l I L I I I I I . Card Number. I: :,:;:::_____________________I City S!.."'-f': _ _ _ Zlp _ _ _ "JHrphooe _ __ ~fo ll 10 £: : Q\1a r If you tt·n ow lc n cDk~::OSQffviit;cewS)c~atlcl mu ss ,fo1r50~l Pspiceoclla\ol uulpt"g·mrmflle, S:m l : l offe r. Mon lt i-1 or semi ,InCAyo0u0r-lfO)fE"l...$(~\f.'!\\':J - - - - - - - - - - - - - - lr.ltion ~rd. 1\ Sl' S~inl 1'.:dltlon u.sers lncludOO. ,......._...._ I. Ia I I I 48 I I I I L-....1 · i i W-..W... m··i] ' .-. I - ·· Fl)llUt"S ""''-U·Q-..-l 'erdeck CHOICE HOil 2>1, lllB7 Quarterdeck Office Systems · 150 Pico Boulevard, Santa Mon ica, CA 90405 · (213) 392-9851 DESQ\'l ~w Ls a t rot! m!l r'I.:: l"lfQlH'ln crderk (}rflr<! Sys t ems. Al:xJ"i.'\:Boa n:l 1 ~ a t rdd ··nui rSc of lf\lt:I COfl>Or.\tlo'.lfl 11 2.}~ I~<'.\ tr.ul(lrtt3 rk of ll ~'t"S ;\ llc:roCom 1 ~t<· r Prod ucL,. Jnc . IB~! . PC. Pc r~orm ! Sy:?M. emr2 nm1 l o p \llt.."w n n · tr:adt·rna rk.ll o f lnl(· r n:M k!n " l ll u~o¢$S M;i c hl n e$ Cnf'JW'lrn tfo n. Mk m.son \\1lm 1uw}; 11nd M arc IC!;bl ~ red Iradema rj.;$ of ~t!Crosoft (,;Or"J)(t(AllOn. :\lo u se !i)~(! m:o1 lio: !I t r.ulrm:i. rk n r '.\li' l.:tg rn1lh1 Clil~!Du..~ Sy'."t e m.'l R A~' p:i.J.:r· ~a l~ckm~rk ol AS1' R e~:l)l'\'.h , In ~. O E:'-! ts n trndc nu 1.rk or Oi8U:l l Hl'S('llrch. l le rc u les IS 3 tr.ulc nmr k lll' rCu l Circle 319 on Reader Service Card JA UARY 1988 · BYTE 107 This ad is for people who don't know where to find Smalltalk. Or why. Today, the single most important emerging software technology is OOPS,object-oriented programming.It's destined to dramatically change the way you use your personal computer. You'll find it doing things you never expected. And by people you never suspected. At the UCLA Medical Center, it sees patients before the doctor does. In an emergency room in Mike McCoy, M.D. , at the UCLA Medical Vancouver, it's saving lives through animation. What if a medical textbook could come to life? What z/ it could show the effects emergency treatment might have 011 patients? And do it all through moving pie· tu res? These thoughts I.et/ RJ/kstone Design, Edge '71-aining & Consulting, and !11f01111 Software in Vanaiuver, B.C., to create tlw first animated, inter· active textbook for em.ergency room technicians and in-training paramedics. Th.ey found Smalltalk/ V could easily facilitate a combination of text, color graphics and animation lo illustrate vanous Center.found that he amid easily inter/ace Smalltalk! V with dBASEm and Post s cript. His application, now in use at the Clinic, turns a functional status questionnaire on each new patient into a laser pn·nted, advismy analysis for the doctor to review prior to seeing the patient. A pmgram like this would normally take a specialist months to f>mduce. ft took D1:McOJY less than LOO hours with Smalltalk/ V. physical processes and the results of medical inten;ention. It's working on Florida's freeways. R1111ni11g on IB1W's new PS/2, a Smalltalk/ V application dei-eloped by Greiner Engineering's Mike Rice, lets high way engineers create highly sophislu:uted graphic analyses of any proposed reconstruction. Sa nom instead of having to deal with a f[n:dlock of Federal and Slate re![ulations, engineering sf;ecifications and endless C(l/culations, 1111 engineer can quickly explore altemative design strategies using a mouse, windows and VGA color graphics. You can find it in space. On a pmject rommissioned lJy NA SA,D1: Christine Mitchell at the Geargia Institute of Tedmology. chose to use Smalltalk/ Vas an integral part ofa new man-machine interface. Tlze ap/;lication, written in Smalltalk, continually monitors the rommands of the Satellite Netum-k Operato1; the state-ofthe-network and the overall mission plans. To NASA, Smalltalk/ V means real-time. Real OOPS. Real results. It's tracking white-tail deer on the Barrier Islands of Georgia. Dr. Lee Graham, a National Park Seroice ecologist chose Smalltalk/ V to unite an appli cation to help manage the white-tail deer popu lation. 011 the Bairier Islands of Georgia. Dr. Graham found Iha! Smalltalk/ V. with its visual i11teiface and class stmclure, is a /:>e1fect tool to graphically simulate the complex, ecological interactions of natural systems. It's making headlines in Arizona. When Digital Ccmposition Systems sat down to build rm elechvnic typesetting system, they had three major requirements. ft had to have the most advanced user interface. ft had to be fast. And, it had to be able totum u.11tmined personnel into high quality typographers. Ofall the languages in the world, they chose Small talk/ VThe result is the Signature Series, recognized and reviewed lJy The Seybold Report. It's now marketed lJy Digital Ccmposition Systems and one of the largest digital typesetting [inns in the world, Varityper AM flllernational. What thousands of people have found is OOPS. Object-Oriented Programming (OOPS) is programming by defining objects, their inter-relationship and their behavi01: Objects can represent both real-world entities like people, places, or things. They can also represent useful abstractions such as stacks, sets and rectangles. OOPS models the way you think and the way things really are. It lets you solve problems by breaking them down into easily handled sub-problems and their inter-relationships. The solutions you come up with can be re-used to solve new problems. Ultimately, OOPS makes program.ming a simple, logical proces of building on the work of others. Why thousands more are finding their way to Smalltalk/V. First of all, Smalltalk/ V makes OOPS easy It's also fast ln fact, it's the fastest OOPS programming available on a PC. And it's easy to learn. It comes complete with a tutorial that's the best introduction to OOPS available. Smalltalk/V also has a few other features worth noting. Like a user extendable, open ended environment Sow-ce code with browser windows for easy access and modification. A huge toolkit of classes and objects for building a vaiiety of applications. A sophisticated source-level debugger. Object-oriented Prolog integrated with the Smalltalk environment And bit-mapped graphics with bit and form editors, just to name a few. Then, there's its unbelievable price of only $99.95.(Optional appli cation packs at $49.95 include Communications, EGA/ VGA Color and Goodies.) And it has a 60 day, money-back guarantee. With all this to offer, it probably won't come as a surprise to you that more people are solving more problems with Sma11ta1k/ V than any other OOPS. See your nearest dealer today for your own Small talk/Y. Or, order it direct with MasterCard or Vi a at (800) 922-8255. Or, w1ite to Digitalk,Inc., 9841 Airpo1t Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045.Then discover all the great things you can do with your PC and Smalltalk/V Smalltalk/V digitalk inc. Circle 80 on Reader Service Card 'Now that vou've found us. write us. Tell us some of the real Lhings you're doing with malltalk/ V ' bu could be in our next ad . 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Save hig on design, test,and support costs. Linilah 8620 analy·zer-emulator. · Look into it. Toll free: 800/ 245 -8500. lnC.\: 415/ 361 -SAA:\. -----=-----=-------.-------=--------::---· .: INSTRUM E T S Computer hll c)!r-.t tc:tl Ins trum entation -01 ~la n·hall Slrccl . Rc<lwood Cit\~ CA <)-10&5 ·11:1cx: 5_109-1l · 1 1 L'\i~ht b a t r.1de m~1 rh n fOr ~1n l1btnmw11t. lnr GROUP REVIEW D SQL Database Management Systems Richard Finkelstein and Fabian Pascal Everybody seems to be talking about SQL (Structured Query A look at the six 4GL 1.0 ($995). Its purpose is to provide an application devel Language) for relational data packages for the IBM PC or PC AT oper with a fully functional de base management systems velopment tool that can access (RDBMSes). But even though most major database suppliers that now use SOL databases using SQL Develop ers can retrieve, update , and in have announced future support sert sets of rows with SQL. of SQL in their products, only a half The interactive portion of the package You can also use SQL to provide so dozen database software packages for the lets you enter an SQL query , store it, re phisticated, yet concise, editing logic . ln IBM PC or PC AT currently claim to use trieve a previously stored query, and exe formix-4GL contains a full complement SQL: Informix-SQL, Ingres for PCs, Or cute a query. Results are displayed on the of statistical functions, string-manipula acle, SQLBase, XDB n, and XQL. screen , and you can then scroll forward tion commands, and array-handling ca The major strength of SQL is that it through them . Options to change data pabilities. It also contains basic assign deals with sets of data . In fact, SQL is de bases , create tables , execute queries, and ment and looping constructs. fined by relational mathematics-the so forth are displayed at the top of the Informix-4GL doesn't have a screen very base of relational databases . It there screen. painter , which could be a time-saver dur fore needs no new constructs to solve any Perform lets you develop screens to ing the screen-design process. Informix database management problem . More maintain the tables in the database . It is 4GL is portable to a wide variety of plat over , the nature of SQL lets you simply composed of nonprocedural commands forms , including many Unix machines tell the RDBMS "what" you want done that describe the screen, specify editing and DEC's VMS operating system. without having to tell it "how." Also, criteria for the fields, and permit some lnformix-SQL 2.1 and Informix-4GL SQL offers a standard (as defined by basic assignment and arithmetic com I . I, which feature improved perfor ANSI and IBM) method to query very mands to manipulate screen data. mance characteristics, are now available. large databases and exchange data with Ace has a similar architecture, com lnformix offers two types of network mainframes. posed of nonprocedural commands that architectures. It can support local-area The problem is that SQL has created a describe the report layout and the data networks (LANs) (e .g. , Novell , PC Net lot of confusion. At the heart of this con items that appear on the report. work, and IBM's Token-Ring) by having fusion is the standards issue. Based on Unfortunately , Perform and Ace do lnformix software at each workstation ac IBM's Database 2 (082) mainframe not use SQL. To compensate for this, In cess a database residing on a file server. product, ANSI defined two levels of formix Software developed lnformix If a system can use a Unix system as a SQL: Level I , which is a rudimentary database server , Informix offers an alter definition, and Level 2, which is more native requester/server network called comprehensive. All implementations but XQL come lnformix-SQL StarLAN, which places one copy of the lnformix database manager on a central close to matching Level 2 and then go be Unix node . Applications built using In yond that by offering several enhance ments. Also, the way in which the query Ingres for PCs formix-SQL or Informix-4GL access all database information through this central optimizer is implemented can greatly af cominued fect the performance of the database. [Editor's note: See "Fast Data Access" Oracle Richard Finkelstein is a senior consultant by Jonathan Robie on page 243.] with Codd and Date Consulting Group lnformix-SQL SQLBase (25 East Washington St. , Suite 1500, Chi cago, JL 60602) and author ofthe upcom Informix-SQL 2.0 ($795) from Informix ing book Using SQL on the PC, to be Software has three major components: an interactive SQL capability , an applica XDBll published by Howard W. Sams. Fabian Pascal (2950 Van Ness St. NW, tion development tool (Perform), and a #524, Washington, DC 20008) is an inde report writer (Ace). It requires an IBM PC , PC AT, or compatible with a hard XQL pendent consultant specializing in SQL DBMSes. He has published a report con disk drive, 640K bytes of RAM , and cerning optimizers and perfonnance for DOS 2. I or higher. SQL PC database products. JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 111 SQL DATABASE MANAGEMENT Because Oracle 5. 1 mimics mainframe versions, it requires 1 megabyte of extended memory. node , while executing their program logic on the local IBM PC workstations . This type of system provides better recov ery, locking, and security than a file server approach, while reducing network traffic for increased performance. RecentJy, Infonnix introduced a high pe rforma nce database server called Turbo. Besides increasing performance even further, Turbo has better concur rency control and recovery than did its predecessors . lnfonnix offers several other tools for the IBM PC. One of them is the lnfonnix Datasheet Add-In ($199 .95) , which merges a Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet with an lnfonnix database . Informix also gives programmers the capability of writing programs in procedural languages with embedded SQL using an embedded-lan guage interface. While lnfonnix provides C , Ada, and COBOL embedded-lan guage capabilities in its Unix versions, the IBM PC version currently has only a C interface available (ESQL/C for $595) . Ingres for PCs Ingres for PCs 5.0 ($950) from Relation al Technology has its roots in the mini computer world, as do lnformix-SQL and Oracle. It requires an IBM PC, PC AT, or compatible with two floppy disk drives, 640K bytes of RAM, and DOS 2.1 or higher. Ingres was originally de veloped at the University of California at Berkeley and was one of the first RDBMSes. The commercial implementation of Ingres for mainframes (a public domain version also exists) has the largest in staJled base among DEC VAX users. The IBM PC version maintains the same front end as the mainframe version of Ingres , but it was rewritten to take full advantage of the PC architecture. Ingres has always been known for its strong internal architecture. It has sophis ticated optimizer algorithms that greatJy enhance performance. The basic product supports both SQL and Ingres ' s propri etary relational language called QUEL. Even though QUEL is very powerful, Re lational Technology has chosen to also support SQL to maintain the industry standard. You can access Ingres's databases with command-language statements or with a query-by-example facility . (This facility, which is forms-oriented, lets you manip ulate data in designated fields in a fill-in the-blank way .) The command-language interface allows queries to be stored and retrieved . You can scroll the results up , down, left, and right. The Query-By-Forms (QBF) tool cre ates default screens for tables, views, or JoinDefs. Views store logical table defi nitions and let you access those defined tables just as any other table . JoinDefs are defined joins of two tables . You can update tables through JoinDefs but not through SQL views. End users can enter queries using QBF in a query-by-example mode by simply entering values and Boolean operations in the screen fields. Results are retrieved, and users can browse through them a screen at a time . For more sophisticated applications , Relational Technology offers Ingres 4GL ($500) . Ingres 4GL is powerful in that it handles complex entry and update appli cations, like those that require multiple tables per screen, and it is well integrated with QBF, SQL, and the Ingres report writer. It can also access programs writ ten in Ingres's C interface. The screen painter that comes with Ingres 4GL is easy to use, and it lets a developer build and change screens quickly and easily . Ingres's report writer is also nice, but it is missing the Report-By-Forms (RBF) interface supplied on the mainframe ver sions of Ingres . RBF allows reports to be designed on a screen. The company says RBF will be available early in 1988. Relational Technology recently an nounced several gateway products that let users access non-Ingres databases . On the PC, Ingres now offers a gateway to dBASE ill files. Oracle Oracle 5. 1 ($1295), recently released by Oracle Corp . , is a direct port of Oracle's minicomputer and mainframe counter parts. Because version 5.1 includes many new capabilities and mimics Oracle's mainframe versions, it requires a mini mum of 1 megabyte of extended memory on an otherwise standard IBM PC AT with a hard disk drive and DOS 3. 1 or higher. While this is a nonstandard hardware environment, it does provide more room than the other programs for application code by leaving most of the 640K bytes of main memory free. Also , it increases performance with sophisticated data buffer management. Oracle will run on 100 percent IBM compatibles like the Compaq, but it may have problems run ning on other clones because of ROM BIOS sensitivity . The company main tains a list of manufacturers it supports. You can enter, edit , and save SQL queries using SQL·Plus. Multiple rows of retrieved data are displayed a screen at a time . When the screen becomes full , the user is asked if more rows should be displayed . Unfortunately , no scrolling is supported . An earlier version of Oracle , 4. I, sup ported an end-user query tool called Easy·SQL . This package prompted users with questions and built SQL commands automatically . Casual users , therefore, did not have to know SQL to use Oracle. Easy·SQL is currently not available for version 5.1, but it is due out in 1988. Oracle has also a1U1ounced Oracle QMX for 1988. This is a query-by-example in teractive interface similar to IBM 's QMF mainframe product. SQL·Forms is Oracle 's nonprocedural application development tool. It has a nice window interface and also contains a screen painter for screen design and "triggers," which execute SQL proce dures at specific points on the forms (e .g., on entry or on exit from fields and on exit from a form). Procedures consist of SQL commands and other types of in structions (e.g., assignment and string manipulation operations) . Packages like Ingres , lnformix-SQL, and XDB 11 combine explicit statements like IF .·. THEN .·. ELSE statements with SQL to control the program logic. In Oracle, this is done implicitly with trig gers , which execute SQL statements and can activate other triggers depending on whether a return condition is true or false. Both of these environments are very powerful and much easier to work with than procedural languages. For those who need procedural languages, C and FORTRAN interfaces for Oracle are included, and a COBOL interface is available for $395 . SQL·Reports is a capable tool , but it is limited in that it cannot handle heavily formatted reports. However , Oracle is promising a highly functional report writer in early 1988. In the meantime, you can purchase SQR ($295) from SQ Software (2000 Lee Rd. , Cleveland, OH 44118 , (216) 397-0551) . This package , which is also available for SQLBase, greatly enhances Oracle's report-writing capabilities by letting you generate com plex reports. Oracle bundles an add-in module with the package that you may find helpful . SQL·Calc is an integrated spreadsheet that can access Oracle databases. Oracle has also announced a Lotus 1-2-3 inter face for users who need to interfac.e di rectly with 1-2-3 worksheets. If you want to run Oracle in a network, 112 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 SQL DATABASE MANAGEMENT Networkstatjon Oracle provides a link be tween an Oracle application running on a PC with an Oracle database residing on a minicomputer. Oracle also offers a distributed data base product, SQL·Star. While this has limited optimization-it cannot decide whether a distributed database join, for example, should be done on the main frame or the IBM PC-and does not inelude distributed update capabilities, it does let you transparently access Oracle databases at remote sites. Oracle has also announced a database server that will be able to run on the IBM PC AT under the Xenix operating system. According to the company. this product should now be available. SQLBase SQLBase from Gupta Technologies was the first DBMS to implement a requester/ server architecture on a LAN using a PC AT at the server node. SQLBase 3.2.2 ($995, single-user; $1995, multiuser) was specifically designed to work in a re quester/server environment and can man age its own multitasking under DOS . It requires a PC AT or compatible with a hard disk drive , 640K bytes of RAM, and DOS 3. I or higher. (Gupta should be shipping version 3.3 by the time you read this .) At the time of this review , several other SQL vendors , including Oracle, Reta tional Technology. and Software Systems Technology, had announced database servers for the PC AT, but Gupta Tech nologies is the only company to imple ment an SQL server under DOS. Database servers can centrally control database Jocking, recovery , and security . All this is done automatically by the data base server, relieving the programmer from the problems of transaction and re covery management. Under typical networked database con figurations, each workstation includes its own copy of the RDBMS. Each time an application requests rows of information from tables , the RDBMS goes to the file server to retrieve all the rows from all the tables that are part of the request . The RDBMS then selects particular rows from the tables at the workstation . In a requester/server environment, all database processing is performed by the server. Only those rows that are specifi cally needed are sent back to the re quester (workstation), reducing network traffic and increasing performance. All database transaction and recovery man agement (locking, commit, rollback, se curity, and so forth) are centrally con trolled by the server, providing a stable network environment. The workstation continued Table 1: The basic list ofSQL commands. A " Yes" indicates the package includes a particular command; a "No ·' indicates it does not. All packages except for XQL meet at least the ANSI Level I SQL implementation. SOL Command lnformlx 2.0 ($795) Ingres 5.0 ($950) Oracle SQLBaae XDB 5.1 3.2.2 II ($1295) ($995) ($395) XQL 1.0 ($795) DML SELECT COLUMNS EXPRESSIONS DI STINCT FROM \/HERE GROUP BY HAVING ORDER BY SUBQUERIES Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes6 Yes Yes Yes Yes UPDATE SET \/HERE SUBQUER I ES Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No INSERT INTO SUBQUERY Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No DELETE FROM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes SUBQUERY Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes " UNION Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No CORRELATED QUERIES Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No DML Predicates BETllEEN Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes LIK E Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ' I S NULL Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes EXISTS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ALL Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ANY Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No SOME No No No No No No [NOT] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes DML Functions AVG COUNT(*) COUNT MAX MIN SUM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes DDL ALTER TABLE Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes CREATE TABLE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes NOT NULL Yes No Yes Yes Yes No CREATE INDEX Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes CREATE UNIQUE I NDEX Yes No Yes Yes Yes No2 CREATE VIE\/ Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes DROP TABLE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes DROP INDEX Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes DCL GRANT REVOKE No3 No· Yes Yes Yes Yes No3 No· Yes Yes Yes Yes Other COMMIT I/ORK ROLLBACK \/ORK Yes Nc5 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Nc5 Yes Yes Yes No 1 XQL supports CONTAINS. which is a subset ofLIKE. 2 XOL supports UNIQUE indexes with field attributes in the CREATE INDEX statement. 3 lnformix supports GRANT and REVOKE on its multiuser versions. · Ingres supports GRANT and REVOKE on its multiuser versions. s Ingres supports COMMIT WORK and ROLLBACK WORK on its multiuser versions. s Ingres subqueries cannot include built·in functions . JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 113 SQL DATABASE MANAGEMENT still executes the program logic but is re lieved of all DBMS activity . SQLBase can manage several servers on a network, and the program on a given PC can connect to any database on any server . The SQLBase catalog keeps track of which server contains which database . This capability implements a form of dis tributed database processing . Program mers must still manage their own commit logic (in SQL terms , all modifications are tentative until they are made firm [com- Table 2: Extensions that vendors have implemented. While each company may nor explicitly implement the extension in the same way, similar functions are grouped under the same command. You should refer to a vendor's documentation for the exact definition and SQL command for the indicated function . SQL Extension Informix Ingres Oracle SQLBase XDBll XQL DML Outer join Yes No Yes No No No Update statistics Yes No No No No No Select into temp Yes No No No No No Recursive select No No Yes No Yes No Edit masks No No Yes No No Yes Update set Subquery No No Yes No No No Functions Stati stical Arit hmetic String functions Date and time No No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No DDL Create table wi th check option No No No Yes No Yes Create table as select No Yes Yes No Yes No Create synonym No No Yes Yes Yes No Rename table Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Modify columns Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Ye s Table 3: We conducted the following nine rests on each package. Descriptions accompany the SQL queries. 1. Load 1000 records. 2. Create a unique index on sequence number (SEQNO). 3. Create an index on ZIP. 4. SELEC T* FROMPERSONS \JHERE ZIP = ' 60606' AND SEQNO< '999 ' (Tests the ability of the optimizer to choose the correct index. In this case. performance is increased by using the indexZIP.) * z 5 . SELECT FROMPERSONS \JH.ERE I P = I 60606 ' OR SEQNO = I 999 ' (Tests the ability ot the optimizer to use indexes in OR logic. In this case. using both in· dexes reduces the query to select just those rows that meet the ZIP-code or sequence· number criteria, but simply scanning the full table takes a great dea.1of time. Note that if the query was SEQNO< '999' , the index should not be used.) 6 . SELECT* FROM PERSONS \JHERE SEQNO > '980' ORDERBY ZIP (Tests the ability of the optimizer to use the ZIP index so that the query does not req ui re an external sort.) 7. SELECTSUM(SALARY ) FROMPERSONS (Tests the aggregate [mathematical) functions.) 8. SELECT ZIP FROM PERSONS GROUP BY ZIP HAVING COUNT(* ) > 5 (Grouping requires a sort with the additional grouping functions. Packages with efficient sorts will fare best on this test.) 9 . SELECT A. SEQNO, B. SALARY FROMPERSONS A, PERSONS B I/HERE A.SEQNO =B .SEQNO AND A.ZIP LIKE 1 606% I (Tests sell·join with LIKE selection algorithms. There are several ways of executing this query. For example, the rows that contain ' 606% ' can be chosen first and then joined. or the optimizer can join all rows fi rst and select onlythose with a ZI P of ' 606% ' .) mined] or erased [rolled back]) when up dating across multiple servers. Gupta Technologies now offers a com panion product called SQLNet, which costs $20,000 per mainframe and $1995 per PC gateway . This provides an APPC (advanced program-to-program commu nication) link to mainframe relational databases like DB2. Essentially , this lets the program on the PC interact with a mainframe database in the same way that it interacts with any other database on the network. The APPC link will send SQL re.quests to DB2 and receive back any rows returned by DB2 . SQLBase's end-user and development tools consist of an interactive SQL capa bility and a C interface that contains em bedded SQL statements. According to the company, SQLWindows , a top layer to SQL that provides 4GL capabilities, should be available in the first quarter of 1988. Developers who need to create re ports can use SQ Software 's SQR report writer , which is available from Gupta Technologies for $295. XDBll What distinguishes Software Systems Technology's XDB Il ($395) from its competitors are its friendly end-user in terface and application development tool set. It requires an IBM PC, PC AT, or compatible with two double-sided floppy disk drives (a hard disk drive is recom mended) , 5 l2K bytes of RAM , and DOS 2.0 or higher. The company clearly understands the types of tools re.quired on the PC and has built them so that they can be quickly learned by novice users . Upon entering XDB , you are presented with a menu listing all the options . The first option lets you create or alter tables using a table-definition screen. You can also use the SQL command language, but you will probably find the ease of the table-creation facility more to your liking . Another option gives you update or query capabilities on single tables using XDB 's Edit program. Edit creates a de fault screen for a table and lets you enter new rows, update existing rows , and de lete rows in a table. If you want to browse through the table , you can enter search criteria in the fields , and XDB will re trieve all rows that meet the criteria. If more than one row is retrieved , you can use the PageUp and PageDown keys 10 browse through the rows . XDB's interactive SQL lets you store queries and retrieve them for later use . The queries can be stored with a com ment to assist you in recalling the correct query. Resulls of queries are displayed on the screen multiple rows at a time. You cominued 114 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 dBASE Users! lndeoendent Reviewers Sav: Nabadv Beats The Fax ...Nabadv's E11en Clase ..~"~' FoxBASE+/386 ~~ 4'<. · ·I l ~":> ":>;._<t.< Quicksilver ~'\, ":>~<t,<. Clipper '\~ \,<t>< dBASE III PLUS FoxBASE+ Quicksilver Clipper dBASE III PLUS Data Based Advisor BYTE Magazine FoxBASE+ Fastest Bv Far BYTE * benchmarks show that FoxBASE+ take only 14 minutes to do what dBASE lII PLlJS needs an hour to do. The others are even . lower. Clipper n ed an hour and 17 minutes. Quicksilver needs an hour and 40 minutes. Nobody beat FoxBASE + in even one of the 'Z1 BYTE benchmarks. FoxBASE + zipped through the exhaustive Data Ba ed Advisor** benchmarks in just 15.5 minutes. ew FoxBASE+ /386 nrn them in only 7 minutes! By contrast Clippe r took 53 minutes, Quicksilver took 59 minutes, and dBASE III PLUS took an hour and 18 minutes. Whv Waste Your Time? BYTE ·s data shows FoxBASE + is up to 7 times faster. DBA ' s benchmarks show FoxBASE + is ove r 5 times fa ter. You ca n run with Fox ... or you can crawl with the m. FoxBASE+ Delivers Now . .. The Others Onlv Promise We' re totally committed to insuring that FoxBASE + will always be faste st . . . now and in the future. You can 't buy a /'aster product . But that' s not all ... Fox BASE+ offers other great features like : true co mpatibility . .. familiar interactive commands like BROWSE and EDIT ... ·'clot-prompt·· progrdm ming ... major la nguage ex tensions .. . ideal development environment . . . <1nd a money-back guarantee. So call us for the details. After all . . . foxBA E. FoxBA E - . <md foxBA E+ / 386 are lradt!marks of Fox Software. dl3ASE III PLUS is a l rnd emark of Ashton-Tate. Clipper is a trademark of Nantucket. Qui c k ~il ,·e r is a tradenlilrk of Wordlech Sy terns. ·Using the bench mark timings published in BYTE . September 1987. · · U ing the suite of benchmarks published in Data Based Advisor. March 1987. Circle 96 on Reader Sen·ice Card Fox Software 118 W. South Boundary. Perr sbu rg. Ohio 4355 1 (419) 874 -0162 Telex: 6503040827 FOX FAX: (419) 74- 67 JAN UARY 1988 · BYT E 115 SQL DATABASE MANAGEM ENT can scroll right, left , up, and down to re view the results of a query. Query results can be printed immediately or formatted with the interactive report writer. The report writer is accessed directly from the interactive SQL facility . Once loaded, the report writer can format a re port by moving columns to different posi tions on a line or to different lines. You can add titles, perform calculations, change column names, assign report breaks, and define the physical-report format page and margin sizes . Throughout this process , you can see the effects of each command immediately on the screen. When the report is com pleted, you can print it out or save the commands in a special report file. The commands can then be executed again wilh anolher interactive SQL query, or they can be run in a batch mode. The application development tools of XDB include the optional Forms genera tion package ($295), which lets you paint a screen, define edit logic, and use SQL for inserts, updates, and deletes . The sys tem is window-oriented and easy to use. Forms can also be run in a batch mode and can be used to create complex reports beyond the scope of XDB 's report writer . XDB also includes a simple-to-use menu generator that is used to integrate a set of report~ , forms , .BAT files , DOS commands, or other menus into an appli cation . You can purchase an optional graphics package for $69. Other options include C and COBOL interfaces for $295 and $395, respectively. These in terfaces let you embed SQL commands into your programs. XQL XQL 1.0 ($795) comes from Novell De velopment Products Division, formerly SoftCraft, the developers of the well known and highly regarded Btrieve. XQL requires an IBM PC, PC AT , or compat ible with a hard disk drive, 512K bytes of RAM, and DOS 2. 1 or higher. Btrieve 4. 10, necessary but sold separately ($245 , single-user; $595 , multiuser), provides a sophisticated file management system that application developers can in clude in BASIC, Pascal, and C programs . XQL is an attempt to place a relational database layer on top of the Btrieve sys tem. However, XQL does not conform to any SQL standard . Unfortunately , Novell touts it as being an SQL product, which only clouds lhe otherwise good improve ments to Btrieve that XQL delivers. XQL has its own syntax that does not match any SQL database mentioned in this review . SQL users will be frustrated with this unique implementation. XQL is missing many important SQL operations , including subquery capabilities, from which SQL derives its name (lhe "struc tured" in "structured query language" comes from its subquery functions). Re fer to table 1 for more details on XQL 's syntax limitations . XQL also has an awkward optimizer. All tables require at least one index , and the secondary-table column in a join must be indexed. The optimizer is very crude and frequently disrupts the query . For instance , if you restrict a SELECT command (by using a WHERE clause), the XQL optimizer will attempt to use an in dex to increase performance . On the other hand , if the conunand in cludes an ORDER BY, it will override the optimization . A developer is therefore forced to make a decision between opti mization and sorting. Other peculiarities of the XQL optimizer are conscientiously discussed in the documentation . Despite these serious limitations, XQL does provide an interactive retrieval capa bility . Only forward scrolling is sup ported, but results can be output to any device. XQL queries can be stored or re trieved for future use. The XQL query language can be em bedded into BASIC , Pascal, and C pro grams . XQL lets programmers manipu late both application-defined tables and system-catalog tables . Table and field definitions can be interrogated and modi fied , and security can be maintained from within a program. Novell offers a network database server called Btrieve/N, which imple ments the database server/requester ar chitecture. It has fairly good locking and recovery facilities, lhough not on a par with SQLBase, in that it does not provide precise record and page locking. There is much merit in what Novell has attempted , but we strongly disagree with labeling this language SQL. The com pany recognizes the limitations of XQL and says it is in the process of developing a full SQL implementation . In the mean- time, Btrieve users will probably appreci ate the XQL interface. but they should not confuse it with SQL. Standard SQL Features Table I lists standard SQL DML (data manipulation language), DDL (data-defi nition language). and DCL (data-control language) conunands. These are found in the ANSI and IBM standards . The DML contains the basic SELECT, UPDATE, IN SERT, and DELETE commands. All conunands should have subquery capabilities. The EXISTS predicate is par ticularly important, since it is required for the relational division operation. I S NULL supports null values, and the UNION command supports the relational union operation . The DDL is used to define tables, in dexes, and views. All packages support these commands, but each differs on the data types supported. ANSI Level 2 also requires a PRIMARY KEY specification , which all the packages are missing. COMMIT WORK and ROLLBACK WORK are transaction-management commands that let you physically commit or roll back database modifications . All the packages that implement this command can be com inued Table 4: A description of the PERSONS table created by the perfonnance tests. SEQNO CHAR ( 4 ) NAME CHAR(JO) TITLE CHAR(JO ) COMPANY CHAR(JO) DEP ARTMENT CHAR(JO) ADDRESS CHAR(JO ) ADDRESS2 CHAR(JO } CITY CHAR(20) STATE CHAR(2) ZIP CHAR( lO ) SALARY MONEY Table 5: Perfonnance rest results. All times are in seconds. Query No. lnformlx Ingres Oracle SOLBase XDBll XQL 1 23 29 76 35 64 316 1 2 43 30 21 46 16 3 78 22 24 48 18 23 4 39 6 5 2 1 4 5 20 13 5 23 9 29 6 10 21 24 22 7 6 7 26 9 8 17 9 44 8 124 41 15 9 30 37 9 19 33 24 46 40 12 , XOL requires that a u nique index exist when the table is initially defi ned . The results of test 1 include the time required for test 2. The XOLU TIL uti lity was used . which load s a table with a series of SOL inserts Loading may be faster using the Btrieve load utility. 116 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 ADVANCE TO THE NEXT LEVEL Professional Image Board 512 x 256 Just plug the PIB board int o your IBM PC / XT /AT or co m pat ibl e which allows an ordi nary home video cam er a (co lor o r BIW ) or home VCR to be plugged into your syslem . Now. live. fas t ac tion images can be instant ly captured and frozen (1 / 30 second) in a full 32.768 colors . The frozen picture is as c lose to television quality as can be. digitized by th e so ftw are package we bund le with PIB boa rd . T his software pac kage HALOVISION Wrillen by M ED IA CYB ERNE TI CS INC. al lows you to edit. cut, paste, copy, rotate. brush. zoom . sca le. add tex t (21 text lon ts ) free tiand draw. pr int, ere . The PIB is also compatible w ilh the new IBM PS/2 Model 30 and the image can be displayed on IB M's new ana log colo r mon itor. O r you can conve rt the image to EGA display mo de. The image ca n be stored on floppy or hard disk and trans mitted to any remo1e location in the world vi a modem. Professio nal Image Board Plus 512 x 5 12 Same fea tures as the PIB 512 x 256 w it h resolutio n enhanced to 512 x 512 p ixels . AT I-8/ 16:MHz System Board Th is sys tem board runs at 16MHz. 1 wail state Norton 3.0 rating is 19.7 (Co mpaq deskp ro 386 and th e new IBM PS/2 Mode l 80 rat in g is 18 00 to t8.7) . With a fraction ol th e cost ol 386 systems, you can upgrade you r 286 system o 386 sys tem performance by replacing your existing 286 system board . Almos all ex isti ng add-on cards st ill work with this system board . Th is system boards standard fea ture is a lMB high speed memory also switchable to 8M Hz by ke yb oard when necessary. AT l -6/ 12 System 286 The ATl-6/ 12 SYSTEM 286 runs at an amazing speed of 12MHz . That's 20% laster tha n new IB M PS/ 2 model 50 and 60 To protect your exis ting software invest men t. we build- in a normal speed 6M Hz, a simple combina ti on of ke ystrokes wil l cha nge the speed of the system al any tim e whe n necessary. 6/ 8M H z. 6/ tOMHz zero wait stale and 1 w ai t state systems also available. Runs all ex isting soft w are written for IBM PC/ XT /AT. Including new OS/ 2 development software. ATronics International Inc. ~ 'Del'-< rt~ 7ed-'"'J'i 11no ,\f , Condk" llt ~I d pit '" C:.-\ . !l.-,0:;5 l ' ~A 1 -I0.~ 1 <J. l~ -3:1+1 TLX: 5 1 0· liOO·bO'J ~ t 'AX: i·IOll l \Ji ~· 1'· 7'1 Circle 21 on Reader Service Card "IOM . PC / XT A T PS / 2 , OS/ 2. 1$ a lrl'tCle m ar k O! 1n lc 1na t1onHI Bus1ntJSS MH chmos. Inc COMPAQ OESK PR0:38G 1:!: a lraC:cmar\.: of Comp.3Q Inc ATRO N ICS 1s a cradem:lr k 01 Atr on1cs tn 1ern;i1 1io n111 I n~ Sou thern C ah lo rn oa Contac t CNT Marketing 16:.so H a1 bor B lvd . Ste J . Foun tain Valle y. CA 92780 (7 14) 839-3724 Circle 187 on Reader Service Card 118 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 SQL DATABASE MANAGEMENT Company Information Gupta Technologies Inc . 1020 Marsh RcL , Suite 210 Menlo Park , CA 94025 (415) 321-9500 Inquiry 942. Relational Technology 1080 Marina Village Parkway Alameda , CA 94501 (800) 446-4737 Inquiry 945. lnfom1ix Software Inc. 4100 Bohan.non Dr. Menlo Park , CA 94025 (4 15) 322-4100 Inquiry 943. Novell Development Products Division 6034 West Courtyard Dr. , Suite 220 Austin, TX 78730 (512) 346-8380 Inquiry 946. Oracle Corp . 20 Davis Dr. Belmont, CA 94002 (800) 672-2531 Inquiry 944. Software Systems Technology 7309 Baltimore Ave., Suite 2 19 College Park, MD 20740 (301 ) 779-5486 Inquiry 947. used interactively . The commands in table 2 are nonstan dard and are meant to increase the func tionality and usability of SQL. The OUTER JOIN query is important when a row in one table does not have a matching value in the secondary joined table . The outer join ensures that all rows are returned in a query. Packages that do not have an outer join can simulate the command by using UNION. The UPDATE STATISTICS command is used to update the system catalog with statistical information that the optimizer can use . The recursive SELECT is useful for bill -of-material explosion-type problems . Three packages (see table 2) let you create tables using a SELECT statement. When used with a CREATE statement , the tables will be permanent. Informix-SQL is the only product that allows the cre ation of temporary tables. Of course, all packages let you drop tables or indexes (this is not part of either ANSI level) when they are no longer needed . All the systems also let you modify column defi nitions after a table is created . (IBM' s SQL only lets you add new columns .) Performance Tests The perfonnance tests we ran were de signed to exercise the SQL optimizer and test conformance of the SQL syntax. Keep in mind that the performance you experience is relative to the given envi ronment and application you work with . An application that relies heavily on up dates may not require tables to be joined . Some applications may require several tables to be joined . while others may con sist primarily of two table joins. In look ing over the test results, be advised to ex - ami ne your own application needs . We conducted our SQL queries on an 8-MHz IBM PC AT with 640K bytes of main memory and 1 megabyte of ex tended memory. The table that we used contained 1000 rows , and each row contained about 150 bytes of information. with a maximum length of 325 bytes. In formation was derived from a real mail ing list. Table 3 is a list of the nine test that were executed . Table 4 is a descrip tion of the table created . Table 5 co ntain s the test results . All the products were able to execute the SQL queries without modification, with two exceptions. Ingres uses an aster isk instead of a percent sign with its LIKE predicate . XQL requires double paren theses around the join expression in test 9 . Also , XQL uses a BEGINS \./ITH or CONTAINS pred icate in stead of LIKE . LIKE is slightly more powerful, since wild cards can be intermixed within the character string . XQL is also ve ry unforgi ving . It re quires a blank space preceding and di rectly after an equal sign. It also requires all field names to be unique in a database . While creating the test table (PERSONS) in XQL, we received several duplicate field error messages tha t did not indicate where the problems were. After listing the director y, we managed to define unique fie ld names. Each product has strength and weak nesses depending on the type of query . In some cases, it may be possible to address these problems by fine-tuning the quer y to make better use of the optimizer. Gen erally , products that make better use of indexes perform best. Overall , the opti mizers did well -even though most of the SQL products are fa irly new to the PC . · · -1 -c . ,======:J · . 11111111111111111111 111 11111111 1111111 ..... ~ .... ~~~ ··~~ ' '1. 1"""~ "* USE 1llE BRAINSYOUR IBM WASN'T BORNWITH. Right at your fingertips lnfonnation you just can't find low-cost standard rate is in effect 24 in CompuServe's IBM® anywhere else. Download first-rate, non-commer hours a day, every day. And in most areas, you can go online with a local Forums. cial software, shareware and utility pro phone call. Plus,you'll receive a $25.00 grams. Upload your own programs Introductory Usage Credit when you free of connect time charges.Use the purchase your CompuServe Subscrip Our IBM Forums involve thousands of users worldwide who will show you just how easy it is to get the most from your IBM and IBM compatibles. The IBM New Users Forum lets you ask basic questions of PC experts. 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You can also order The Best Of IBMNET-with nearly 600 software C.OmpuServe® file listings-from CompuServe. Just type GO ORDER or call CompuServe for details. Information Services, P.O. Box 20212 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd. Standanl rates, 24 hours a day. CompuServe's standard online Columbus, Ohio 43220 800·848-8199 In Ohio or Canada, call 614-457-0802 charges are as low as 10~ a minute.This An H&R Block Company Circle 60 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 119 HIGH OCTANE PERFORMANCE FOR YOUR LASER PRINTER. Your laser printer does a great job printing graphics. It just doesn't do It fast. Actually, it's downright slow. And while you're drumming your fingers waiting for the output, you're probably won dering If there Is a better, faster way. There is. The Jlaser Plus board from Tall Tree Systems. Insert it into your PC or compatible and watch your laser printer generate even the most graphics intensive documents at incred ible speeds. R:lr example, you can print an entire page of graphics In less than 30 seconds with supporting software. But high performance means more than raw speed. So Jlaser Plus gives you more: 1181 IESlllTlll. JLaser Plus lets you print unrestricted full page text and graphics at 300 dpi. With sup 120 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 porting software. it can double the horizontal resolution to 600 dpi. NOW, IORE DOWILOADAILE FOITS. JLaser Plus can print from 6 to 120 points and use all available H-P LaserJet down loadable fonts. EINllDED COIPITlllLITT. Jlaser Plus interfaces with virtually all Canon-based laser printers. even the new H-P LaserJet Series II. It works with most of the leading desktop publishing software packages, including Ventura Publisher, PageMaker, PC Paint Brush+. PageBuilder, PagePerfect, Halo OPE, LePrint, Printrix, FancyFonts, and DeskSet Design. ECllDllCAL Jlaser Plus gives you unbeatable value. It controls both tre printer and scanner, giving you a printing and scanning interface in one slot. It also comes with 2Mb of RAM which can be used for other EMS software programs when not printing. When you consider all the features and advantages JLaser Plus has to offer, you'll agree that it gives you the highest perfor mance at the lowest cost. Once you Install it. you'll wonder how you ever got along In desktop publishing without JLaser Plus. 2585 E. Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303 (415) 493-1980 Telex: 9102404041 C;rJon. TM Canon USA: LasetJet. TM HewletH'ackMd: PageMal<er, TM Aldus Corp,; \lanUa PuWsher. TM Yentin Soflwale. lnc.; PC Painll!rusll+. lM ZSolt Corp.; Paaelkllder. TM Wiii! Saences. I..:.: Paoel'lrfect. TM IMSL Hilo OPE lM Melli Cybemellcs. Inc; lePnnl. TM' U11a1!1t Sottwln Corp. l'n1nx. l MData TlfflSfums. Inc.: fnlyfoots, l MSoltClalt. Inc.; DeskSel Oesql. TM G.0.~ Cirolt 265 on Readtr Strvkt Card BIX PRODUCT FOCUS Curtis Franklin Jr. SQL-based Database Managers Microcomputer databases with mainframe tools D ealing with complex data sets requires small-system programmers and users to depend on powerful tools . For many database applications , this means using a database manager based on IBM 's SQL. The consultants, pro gramme rs, and end users on BlX discussed three of the most popular SQL-based packages for microcomputers: Informix SQL, Oracle, and Ingres. They also mentioned Btrieve, which has an SQL-based version, Btrieve-XQL. Most love the power and flexibility that these complex packages offer, but there are also some concerns about trade offs in speed and ease of use. The BIX Product Focus presents a variety of informal , diverse opinions from users of a selected class of products. (For more information on the terms and technologies discussed , see the preceding Group Review.) Messages selected for publication may be edited for length or clarity . The views expressed here are those of each message's author, and they do not necessarily reflect those of BYTE or BYTE's revi e wers . INFORMIX-SQL dbms/app_builder 11194, from wsm ilh (William Smith). I purchased Informix-SQL because versions are available for Xenix machines, MS-DOS machines, and most minicomputers. llhen pur chase d with File- i t, an I nfomix - compatible file manager , s i mple e.pplice.t i ons remain s i mple t o i mplement. It took only about 10 minutes to s e t up and enter data into an address database. The system can manipulate str i ngs of up to J2,000 characte r s, but the data- entr y program Pe r form is awkward to use for strings of greater than 80 characters. There is no full screen report writer, but the system comes wi th i ts own report programming language, Ace , whict1makes it very easy to output rec ords consecutively . If you t ake the time to learn a few trick s , Ace will even l et you output differ ent recor ds on the same ine, a feat that is surprisingly difficult for most databases. dbms/app_builder #196, from rbrenner (Rick Brenner). \le spent a month convert ing menus and many programs from C to Infomix . lie were astonished; simple menu selections that happened instantaneously under BTr ee t ook up t o 40 seconds. I'm not talking about searching files; I'm talking about Just opening up files and ge tting set to be able to do some thlng . lie paid appr oximately $2000 for the package and the phone support and another $J OOO in progr amm1.ng time, only to finally t r ash the whole effort after about JO days and go back once again to our supe r fast BTr ee. dbms/app_ builder 11271, from schin (Sam Chin). I agree that Informix is very powerful, but l ts SQL and Ace run tl.mes give me te r rible error mes sages like "Syntax Error" without telling me 'Jhere t he error occurred. I still use 1t, though, because there doesn't seem to be anything bette r and it is totally flexible. dbms/other 11136, from schin. I use Informix - SQL and Informix- ESQL/C on a Unix machine and on a Novell networ k. ESQL/C is an implementation of an embedded SQL for C. You can actually embed SQL statements in C by prefac i ng them with a$. You define var iables t hat are s he.red be tween ESQL and C so tha t you can extract de.ta through ESQL and massage it w1th C. Aprepr oc ess or converts the ESQL and C code mix to pu r e C code after checking the SQL for syntax, and you then compile it with your f avor i te Ccompiler ( ESQL/C librar i es on the PC use the Microsoft CCompiler version J. 0) . Informix also provi des versions tha t do automatic file and r ecord locking on Unix, Xenix, and any network that conforms to the MS-NET standard for file and record locking (such as JCom' s J+, IBM ' s Token - Ring, and Net\/are 2. 0). Other Inform ix products are ESQL/COBOL; C-ISAM, a file manager (bullt into Inform ix ); and Informix -4 GL, an i ntegrated fourth - generation language based on SQL. ORACLE dbms/other 11115, from wseeley (Bill Seeley). The main problem with SQL is that it pr ovides only a dat a defini tion and data-manipulation language (DDL/DML) and has not been fleshed out by IBM with a full set of integrated fourt h generation tool s, such as screen painters, report generators, and a de.ta dictionary. It ls also not available on anything but IBM mainframes ( 1t is c alled SQL in the VM/CMS environment and 062 ln the MVS environment). Oracle has a complete set of fourth - generation tool s and runs on PCs, a wide variety of minicomputer s (both under Unix and propr ietary oper at i ng systems), and IBM ma i nfr ames under both VM/CMS and MVS. It also has a bull t - in microcomputer- to-mainframe link and an opt i onal spreadsheet called SQL*Ce.lc . The mlcroc omputer version has an optiona l end-user inte r f ac e called Easy·SQL. I ·ve Just spent the le.st couple of weeks doing a hands - on evaluation of these pr oduc t s, and i n general t hey seem pretty good. The one problem Orac le seems to have is keeping all the versions for a 1 the various machines in sync . Some of the subsystems ar e not yet availab l e unde r all versions. Another pr oblem with Oracle is that it is a superset of SQL and thus continued JANUARY 1988 · B Y T E 121 The new HP PaintJet color graphics printer. Great color is only 1/2 the story F/,O'I HEWLETT ~~ PACKARD BIX PROD UCT FOC US d es . ' t guarantee poi·te.bility of code or data to other S L systems (Le . , it isonlydownward-compatiblewi hSQL , and it can 't read/,.ri te 3M SQL databases). focus i s a proprietary product developed by Information Builde r s and is a mature pr·oduct that has been around a number of years . Th e DDL/D L is no q - te as e l egan as S L, b t it has a l'ich feat re set. It has a nice system for tabl e generation and query (Filetalk and Tabletalk ) that enables end users to easi y c reate relational tab es and extract data from them. It also has a nice screen pa. nter and e quasiprocedurel lan6Uage for control ing data entry and validation . foc us is al so available for PCs, selected minicomputer s (not as many as Oree el, and 13'1 mainframes, and it has a bu1 t - 1n mi crocomputer- to mainJrame link. Focus evo_ve d out of the Information Center e:w ironment, and one of its major strengths is i ts nbllity to interface ··i t h a llide variety of othe r mainframe DBMSes (e.g., Cullinet' s IDMS/R , 18 I's SQL and VSAM, and Computer Corporati on o f America's Mode l 204) . I've also had an opportunity t o do a hands -on eva uation of focus, and it seems a bit easier to use than Orac e and more consistent acros s the microcomputer- to mainframe ver~ions . IN GRES dbms/other #270, from jrobie (Jonathan Robie). I just received t wo copies of Ingres l ast week. he basic design ls al.~.ost ldentice. l t o that of t he minicomputer i mplemen tati on . Docu e ntation is also quit e similar-the Ingres Quickd emo section is incorrect for he PC vers ion, but i i s correct for the VMS version! played ··l th 1 t a 11 ttle, and I really like the user interface. · hes · ea l SQ" a..d Q EL , is ca._lable from C, and has a good forms ed i or an repo rt ·Ti er . his is a rea l re ! eti o a l etaba se , and the ini compute r version was voted database prod ct of t . .e yea r in Digi tBl Revi ew. My initial impress i ons a:·e favorable . ! does have probler.is 1.1ith memory management, though . I hope i gets e little mo r e soHd · ith !me. dbms/dbwars 11 141 , from jrob ie. :n res, Orac l e , and Inform ix ··ill all run on a ·.oi de variety o f ma chi nes, al l suppor t so e . orm of distribu ed database, and a l a l o·· externa l pr ograms to make calls to t heir ut il ities. I · you can afford them ( they a.re expensive), these migh be logicel choic es. Tl ey me.ke great demands on your co, .puter sys terns, t hough . dbms/dbwars #182, from jrobie. i..gres ·s a very nice re l etl onel database th tis r:lu ch :r.o:-c po.,e r fu than dB ASE, R: base , Condo r, and the ike . t has bo r. SQ and QUEL- a superior query language the t did not become the standa r d. It has good query optimization ( very i por ant f or l arge data sets ) and runs on any machine you 1g t be consideri ng , It is expensive, eats RAM, and takes a lot of disk space. This is not the best solution for someone -.·ho .eeds a s ir.tp e fi ing system . BTRIEVE dbms/callable #13, from pmahoney (Peter Mahoney). Btrieve is ve r y good and very fast . - he multilanguage interface is nice a l s o . C-tree is a l so a good product. faircom, its 122 BYT E · JANUA RY 1988 Circle 112 on Reader Service Card HP PAtMlJET PRlMlER for_ business use . Ooees~.\.<c.rtOinr?ticoon1or gra?h"·cs µrioter o dµi; 330 col or"- ;> at 90 dn""1 ) C6leoc~lootr-loSprsee~1us black at 18 ge s {average pa in 30-40 seconds µrioted t software . a"d snreadshee NLQ at 167 cp s " "" b\1\ tY ~=~~\ Software d processing, ·graph1C ' 1 "'acintosh IB"' PC and compati b1es, "?l> e HP vectra pc' arencY fi 1m Med·1a ll" µaper or transl> B 1/2" x P$1ri,3c9es us "st for a Pai ntJet-Pack, call 1 aoo 1~2-0900 EJ.1. g04B -l 1t' Jh7. 1.'r Sh!J:' a~- kn1,v) It can also print a page of text in 30 seconds flat. F//;'I HEWLETT a:~ PACKARD BIX PRODUCT FOCUS © 1987 Hewlett·Pacl< 81d Co developer, is good with suppor t and upgrades. It is also as portable as they c l aim . I developed an application under DOS and then ported it to RSX- 11 using C- t r ee under RSX- 11. No small task, but possible. C-tree is for Conly, though. possibilities, such as purchasing a run - time library for a DBMS and writing your own TSR routine. The run-time library would still provide you with the management functions . dbms/callable #22 , from jcoombs (James J . Coombs). "Memory- resident DBMS" sounds a lot like Btrieve. I don't use it, but a lot of people speak highly of Btrieve . I do kno;i that it runs resident and can optionally be evicted upon termination of the application. I tried a share;iare file cataloger that used the program and left the DBMS in RAM . I don't recall how much RAM was being consumed , but I ··ould guess that it ;ias around lOOK. I ;iould call them up for more definl te information. Also, peop l e on the BOSS BBS use Bt rieve . rn fact, I think the BBS itself uses Bt rleve . The author 1 Dan Doman , would probab y be happy to discuss its merits with you (BOSS at (201) 568- 7293- C language conference [reg i stration required); PCSI [Doman' s home board] at (212) 529- 0498). My impr ession ls that if you don't need sou r ce code and can live ·.'i thin Btrieve' s lim 1tat ions (e . g. 1 max i mum record length), then Btri eve is the best cho i ce . If its limitations ar e a problem, you ;iould be ;iell-advised to negotiate a solution before purchasing Btrieve; I have heard complaints from at least one pe r son who was having trouble working out an arrangement for customization or purchasing source code . If you need source code for porting or customizing, then C-tree is the bes t choice ( assuming you are coding in C) . Oh, yes, report generation is hand ed through a separate program- Rtrieve-and there is another called Xtrieve. The company is SoftCr aft, and they advertise regularly. There might be some other dbms/callable #29, from abender (Andrew L. Bender). Btrieve is ve r y good i n terms of securl ty. The pre imaging files protect the user against data corruption quite ;iell. As t o security in terms of intrusion, a user code ;iil scrambl e the file beyond recognition so that one \o'Ould have to be quite a hacker to figure ou t what 1t says. dbms/other 11 186, from abender. If you really ;iant to get an application up to maximum speed once you get it going i n an interpretive language like Revelation, KMan, or even dBASE II I Plus, I suggest that you give serious thought to getting a.way from that kind of database adm i nistration and go i ng 1.1 i t h a different approach. I transferred an entire KMan system (six floppies) to Lattice C using Btr ieve/N as my file hand l er and Vi tam in Casa screen handler . There is no comparison in speed, and Btrieve's excellent recovery and pre i maging ma.ke for an almost brealcproof system. You can do any kind of field validation in Vitamin C. I stayed away f rom Clippe r and such th i ngs because that kind of compi er is tied so tightly to the dBASE III procedural language that I found it very inflex ible ;ii thout considera ble "own code" stuff . · Curtis Franklin Jr. is a technical editor for BITE. He can be contacted at BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough , NH 03458, or on BIX as "curt/ " JA NUARY 1988 · BYTE 123 y. pro orpeoRew o ~ Nobody ever said programming know to program in your PCs was supposed to be easy. But does it have to be tedi ~ favorite language. -----------~ ous and time-constuning, too? Not any more. Not since the arrival of the remarkable new prograrn in the lower right-hand comer. Which is designed to save you most of the time you're ,currently spending searching tlu·ough the books and manuals on the shelf above. The Norton On-Line Pro gramn1er's Guides are a quar tet of pop-up reference packages that do the same things in four different ln ,;t;mt :\n:ess Proi.:ram · Me mory-reside nt -uses just 71K · Full-sc rc<:n or mov<.:ablc: half-screen vi<: w. wit h pull -down ll1< '1111s. · J\uto lookup <Jnc.1 s<:arl'hin.~ . · 'lools for compili ng your own databa sl'>'. A SSE1\1HLY (6001( uf data) · DOS Scrvitl' C.11ls: All INT2 llt "crvin'"· interrupt s,c:rror code. , FCB and !'SI' fi elcl s,standan l h;mdl1·s an d 1110rP. · ROM 1310 ' Calls: All ROM rails µlus low RAM usage. · Instruction Se t: All 80 8/86 instruct ions. addressi11g 111odes.!lags. by tes pl'r instruction.clock cvdes and more. · MAS:'vl: Ps udo-op; and ass('mbkr d ircc t iv c·s . · 'fobl ·s: A.'C lIt.:llilrt. li nc-d rawi ng cha rt -. key board scan codes and more. B ASIC (270K ead 1cbtabase) · !UM BA ·1 AMkro ·oft Qu ic-kBASIC and TurboBJ\S!C. · State men ts and Funi: tion s: l k;:cribe ~ all statements and bui lt-in library fun ctions. · 'fabl !!s: Line-drawing <:hara cti: rs.A. Cl! chart. keyboa rd cod<'s.crror codl:s. op e rator s. et c . C (600K each d a tabiL~e) · Micrn:ofl and Turbo C: Desc ribes languag .inc!uding stall'lll nts. opt"raiors.da ta ty pes and structur""· · Lib rarv h11Kt ions: !Jl'lail ·cl dc,;niiJtions of all f11n c1io11s. irm11 abort () lo wril··· (). · PreproC'cssor Directives: Desc ribes commands. usag- and sv ma x. · 'fabl e~: ASC ll cha n .line- drawing clian11·tl'rs. keyboard r<1de" L'tTor collt·;:. np P rator ~ . e l c. PASC.'\ L-Tu rbo n 60K of data) · Lang-uilgt': !Je> cribes s1a11.:m1.:nts. sy nlax.opcraturs.rla ta types and rec ord s . · 1.ihrar v: De:cribt·s the librarv pr redu res and func tions. · · lllbk ·:!\SCI! (' ha rt. !in -drawing characters.kcvboard code. .<"JT1ir c<1des. n'scrvcrl words.etc. languages. Each package consists of two parts: A memory-resident instant (If you don't believe us,you tnight want access program. And a comprehensive, to take a moment or two to examine the cross-referenced database cramrned data box you just passed.) with just about everything you need to You can, of course, find most of this 124 B YT E · JA UARY 1988 · information in the books and manuals on our shelf But Peter Notion-who's written a few books hitnself-figured you'd rather have it on your screen. In seconds. In either full-screen or moveable half- A (;uidt·s reft·rem.:e s ummarv scr en (shown in blu..) pop~ 111) on lop of the pro)'.!ram you'r work i n~ <'ll (~hown in gret'n). Summary dat.a expands on command in to t~ Xtt-osive detail. And you can ·cl ct from a w ide varit·ty (>f informa litm. screen mode. Popping up right next to your work Right where you need it This, you're probably thinking, is pre cisely the kind of thinking that pro duced the classic Norton Utilities. And you're right But even Peter Norton can't think of everything. Which is why there's a built-in com piler for creating databases of your own. And why all Guides databases are compatible with the instant access pro gran1 in your original package. Soyou canadd morelanguageswithout spending a lot more money. To get more informa tion, call your dealer.Or call Peter Norton at 1-800-451 0303 Ext40. And ask for some guidance. th.·3ler~. 11r tlirect 1ro 11 1l't'fl' r Norton Com put in[~, In (,' , :J.:tlO \\' il~ hin· Blvd. if 1S6. Santa Monic:i. CA ~0·10:3. 21:~.453.2:35 1. J-·ax 2 l 3 - ·LZ}3-6~~9S, MCI Mail · PNCI '(·, Hl8 7 J>f·kr No11on Cumµulins.: Circle 320 011 Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 321) JAl UARY 1988 · BY TE 125 "The [time ] sa,·ings we gained with R&R were remarkable." Info World, 5/25/87 "The consummate dBASE report writer." PC World, 3/87 ··... a powerful tool that's executed beautifully...." PC Magazine, I/13/87 ''Constructing a report layout with R& R is easy and quick...." Business Software, 2/87 ··... run. don't walk. to the nearest phone and place your order...." PC Week, II/11/86 SIMPLE REPORTS \.. .. ~Ix::·::···~·: ·,,,;:. :;?-~ V:::~-- -~.~;;~,}; ~;?:.~. ·:~~~ ORDERS .DBF ,.,. ,., :- · . .-.1. . . PRICES . DBF l:·uI l·l··-·t =L"H .1 ~t -.. 1 ~ ; ·.c; Tfl 1"'"'· ACCTREC . DBF ·C(l..,1.,.,,· 11,, n · "V ' ~o,' ')..., J:.:,, '" COMPLEX REPORTS A pro,·en timesaver. R&R users say they can create reports in half the time or less, com pared with programming in dBASE. So can you. More flexibility than you11 ever need. Relate and report from up to 10 files at once using one-to-one and one-to many relations. Place free-form text and fields anywhere. Calculate new fields using more than 70 functions. Eight sort levels. Eight levels of record grouping . Page and group headers and footers. Totals, subtotals. Memo field support including query. Use bold. underline. italics. combinations. and different fonts. Hundreds of other features. The ease of use for fast results. Lotus -like commands. Plain English query. Automatic trim. Standard field formats such as currency. commas, and word-wrap. c;.,,11· l hr ~~~t~ ·~;:,~~f';_ ,, But what you really want is results. Fast. And R&R quickly delivers reports like those shown here. Complex reports such as multi-page invoices. Simple reports such as employee list ings. (Actually the "simple report" shown here is not so simple without R&R.) Even form letters are just reports created with R&R's relational merge feature . Relate and Report. then rest and relax -with R&R. Only $149!* Satisfaction guaranteed. Try R&R. If you aren't satisfied for any reason , return it within 30 days for a full refund (if purchased directly from Concentric or a Concentric Authorized Reseller) . For the name of your nearest dealer. or to order, call : 800-325-9035 In Mass.. call 617-366-1122. Major credit cards. checks , COD, and POs (from major corporations and institutions) accepted. Add $3 shipping , $2 if COD. 5% tax in Mass. R&R works with dBASE Ill . 111 PLUS . Quicksilver'", and other dBASE-file-compatible products. Clipper' " and FoxBASE+'" Module $49.95' additional. Runtime included with unlimited use license. Another timesaving tool from the authors of 1-2-3 Report Writer'". Concentric Data Systems. Inc. 18 Lyman Street. PO Box 4063 Westboro, MA 01581-4063 ·on 5.25" diskettes. With 5.25" AND 3.5" disk ettes. $165 for R&R and $55 for Module. 126 BY T E · JA NUARY 1988 Trademarks d8AS E. d8ASE 111. d8ASE 11 1 PLUS by Ashton -Tote Lotus. t · 2· 3 RePort w111er by Lotus ~otopmon t CorPoratoon Ou1 Ck$ilVCr by WordToch Systems , Inc FoxBASE · by Fox Software. Clipper by Nantu cket Corporation R&R Re lati onal Report Wnter by Concentric 0Ml8. Sys1erns, lnc Circle 68 on Reader Service Card SYSTEM REVIEW Cache in the Chips Ed McNiemey The PC Designs GV-386 is an other hybrid entry into a grow ing field of 16 - megahenz 80386 computer. that use the speed and performance of the 80386 CPU while still retaining full fBM PC AT compatibility . Although it runs at the same clock speed as most other 80386 ystems . it uses clever design components to squeeze as much performance as possi ble out of the sys tem. The result is a high-powered PC AT-com patible computer. As reviewed, the GV-386 came with 4 megabytes of RAM , a Priam 40-megabyte hard disk drive. and a Toshiba 1.2-megabytc 5 \t.\-inch floppy disk drive. The computer has eight expansion slots , two 8-bit and six 16-bit. The two 8-bit slots were filled with a half length Everex EGA-compatible display card and a haJf-length Everex serial / parallel card . One 16-bit slot contained the full-length combination floppy disk/hard disk controller card . An 80287 math coprocessor running at 6 , 8. or 10 MHz is supported, and the re view system was equipped with a 10 MHz version . The system unit also fea tures a keylock on the front panel and a co nvenient Reset switch next to the power, disk-access, and Turbo (16- MHz) indicator LEDs. The power supply is rated at 200 watts and is switchable from 115 volts AC to 220 volts . An NEC MultiSync monitor was included with the review system. The system comes with a one-year warranty for parts and labor and a 30-day money-back guarantee of IBM compati bility. The li st price for the entire pack age is $522 1. Software Features The GV-386 uses the Americ.an Mega trends 386-BIOS. This BIOS , composed The PC Designs GV-386 offers more speed and less wait of four 27256 ROMs, lets you interrupt and cancel tJ1e power-on RAM test by pressing the Escape key . Since the unit can be configured with a lot of RAM , this shortcut is a real convenience, especially if you do software development that may require frequent use of the Reset switch . After the self-test, you can press the De lete key to enter the ROM -based Setup utility; no separate disk is required . Con figuration CMOS RAM is powered by four AA batteries. The Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager 386 (QEMM) and DESQview 2.0 are bundled with the system, as are MS-DOS 3.2 and GWBASIC 3.2. The QEMM software lets you use the ex tended memory in the system as Expand ed Memory Specification (EMS) expand ed memory; when used in conjunction with DESQview 2.0, it provides a power ful multitasking environment . You can run muhiple DOS ap plications in separate windows at the same time. Fast RAM The PC Designs motherboard is unusual in that it can hold up to 4 megabytes of RAM. Other 386-based systems, such as the Compaq Deskpro 386, use a separate 32-bit memory board and slot. All RAM on the GV 386 motherboard is accessed by the processor through a 32-bit wide data path, so the RAM sockets must be fully populated for the system to operate prop erly . The board is designed to accept 64K-bit, 256K-bit , or ! megabit RAM chips; the 36 sockets provide 256K bytes., 1 megabyte, or 4 megabytes of parity-checked RAM. The memory consists of 120 nan oseco nd dynamic RAM (DRAM ): this type of RAM re quires the insertion of two wait tates for processor access . Al though this is normally a severe performance penalty , 120-ns DRAM is relatively inexpensive and readily avail able , so upgrading a base I-megabyte system to 4 megabytes is affordable . PC Designs has enhanced the performance of this DRAM system with a 64K-byte cache of 45-ns static RAM (SRAM) that can run with zero wait states, allowing full processor access to memory without delay. The SRAM cache has access to all 16 megabytes of the machine's address able memory. so memory added on an expansion board i cached just as effec tively as system board memory . The use of cache memory is not free, c:on1i1uu-d Ed McNiemey is a principal engineer at Lotus Developme121 Corp . He can be reached at 54 Pleasa111 St. . Groton , MA 01450, or on B/Xas "meed. " JAN UARY 1988 · BYTE 127 REVIEW: CACHE IN THE CHIPS PC Designs GV-388 Company PC Designs Inc. 2500 North Hemlock Circle Broken Arrow. OK 74012 (800) 322-4872 (91 8) 251-5550 in Oklahoma Size 21 Va by 17V:i by 64/s inches: 45 pounds Components Processor: Intel 80386 running at 16 MHz with zero wait states or at 8 MHz; 6·, 8·, or 10-MHz Intel 80287 Memory: 1 megabyte of zero-wait-state DRAM on motherboard (system maximum of 16 megabytes); 64K bytes of 45-ns static cache RAM Mass storage: One half·height 1.2 megabyte 5%-inch floppy disk drive; one 40-megabyte hard disk drive Display: Everex EGA-compatible display adapter with an NEC MultiSync monitor Keyboard: 101 ·key modified AT-style enhanced keyboard 110 interfaces: One parallel port (DB· 25): two serial ports (one DB·9, one DB 25): six 16-blt PC AT-compatible ' expansi on slots; two 8-bit PC-compatible expansion slots Sof tware Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager 386; ROM-based Setup utility Options Hard disk drives (from 20 to 230 megabytes): $475 to $2495 Tape backup units: $589 to $759 Graphics cards: $75 to $285 Display monitors: $95 to $599 Internal modems: $109 to $199 EGA graphics cards: $159 to $350 10-MHz 80287-10 math coprocessor: $355 MS-DOS 3.2 with GWBASIC 3.2: $99 3-megabyte expansion RAM on motherboard (total of 4 megabytes of RAM): $885 NEC MultiSync monitor: $599 MS·DOS version 3 .2: $99 Documentatio n User's Guide and Operations Manual; DESQview and QEMM user documentation Price Base system (1 megabyte of RAM , 40-megabyte hard disk drive, 1.2-megabyte floppy disk drive): $3124 System as revie'NEld: $5221 Inq uiry 885. WRITE DISK ACCESS IN BASIC (IN SECONDS) READ SIEVE BASIC PERFORMANCE (IN SECONDS) CALCULATIONS SYSTEM UTILITIES (IN SECONDS) 40K FORMAT/DISK COPY 10 JO 40 so 40K FILE COPY 0 5 10 15 20 NIA NIA NIA NIA [1 111 2'5 1 LOAD SPREADSHEET (IN SECONDS) RECALCULATE -· IBM PS/2 MODEL 80 · - PC DESIGNS GV-386 COMPAQ DESKPRO 386 IBM PC AT (8 MHZ) Test GV-388 10-MHz 80287 Model 80 16-MHz 80387 Compaq 386 8-MHz 802 87 Compaq 386 16-MHz 80387 IBM PC AT 8-MHz 80287 Dhrystone' Fibonacci Float Savage Sieve Sort 4356 48.55 5.80 18.05 5.07 6 .29 3626 57 .26 1.62 9.49 6.45 7.74 · Higher numbers denote faster perlotm ance. 3748 53 . 12 6.80 21 .53 5.99 5.58 3748 53 .11 1.43 8.95 5.98 5.58 1590 126.22 10.98 37 .3 0 24.60 43 .17 The Disk Access benchmarks write and then read a 64K·byte sequential text file to a hard disk. Sieve runs one iteration of the Sieve of Eratosthenes. Calculations performs 10,000 multiplication and division operations. The 40K FormaUDisk Copy benchmark is not performed on computers with only one floppy disk drive. The 40K File Copy benchmark copies a 40K·byte file on the hard disk. The Spreadsheet tests load and recalculate a 100-row by 25-column Multiplan (1. 06) spreadsheet. All BASIC benchmark programs were run with MS·DOS 3.20 and GWBASIC 3.20 on the PC Designs GV-386; PC-DOS 3.3 and BASICA 3 .3 on the Model 80 and PC AT; and Compaq DOS 3.1 and Compaq BASIC 3 .11 on the Deskpro. The table contains the results of C language benchmarks (see "A Closer Look" by Richard Grehan in the September 1987 BYTE). All times are in seconds, except for the Dhrystone, wh ich is in Dhrystones per second. 128 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 REVIEW: CACHE IN THE CHIPS however. When data is written to mem ory, it must be written to both the cache RAM and the standard DRAM. As a re sult, data writes do not benefit from the cache ; they run at the two-wait-state speed expected from the 120-ns DRAM. Also , if the processor needs to access data that is not currently stored in the cache, the system must perfonn a read from the DRAM as well as update the cache memory with the new data . This delay slows down reads from noncached memory to three wait states. Of course , the entire principle of cache memory relies on the fact Lhat software retains a certain frequency of reference; that is, memory Lhat has been read re cently is likely to be read again . Although such redundant data read may not be common in well -des igned so ftwa re. caching applies to instruction fetches as well and can greatly improve Lhe perfor mance of tight programming loops. The cache memory system in the GV 386 is tested as part of the ystem' s power on self-te t. If the cache is found to be faulty, the system disables it and displays an error message; the system can still be operated nonnally . The cache can also be selectively enabled or di sabled from the keyboard. This feature is designed to pro vide maximum compatibility wilh copy protected or timing- ensitive software . All the tested software operated properly with Lhe cache enabled . The resu lt of PC Des igns· perfor mance efforts is significant. Designing a cache me mory system that real ly boo t execution speed of real-world applica tions is not easy. but PC Designs has suc ceeded. By using a rather large cache size. the GV -386 ensures a high ratio of cache hit and therefore a measurable benefit to the user. The BYTE Dhrystone benchmark rates the GV -386 at 4356 Dhrystones per second when the cache is enabled , a perfonnance level that is 15 percent higher Lhan Lhe Compaq Deskpro 386 and 20 percent hjghcr than the IBM PS/2 Model 80. The value of the cache syste m is fur ther demon trated by the fact that the GV 386's Dhrystone performance drops to 3259 Dhrystones per second, well below the Compaq and PS/2 machines, whe n the cache memory system is disabled . The BASIC benchmarks also show an in crease in perfonnance with the cache en abled on the GV-386 as compared to the Compaq 386. All benchmark re ult s shown on page 128 were produced with Lhe 64K -byte cache enabled . The hard disk was set up as two 20-mega byte DOS partitions Lhrough the use of the Priam disk driver software . The hard di sk drive has an access time of 27.4 mil 1iseconds and a data-transfer rate of 238.8K byte per second (as measured by the CORETEST utility). The dj k also showed a remarkably low track-to-track seek time of 4 . 1 ms. The Priam hard di sk dri ve is a full-height drive and fill s the entire left disk bay . The right disk bay has space for three half-height devices, all ac cessible from the front of the computer. PC Designs GV-3 86 offers a keyboard or DIP switch- selectable clock speed of 16 MHz o r 8 MHz . When the clock speed is set at 8 MHz , the cache can still be enabled or disabled . but it makes no measurable difference in performance. The standard system RAM is fast enough to keep up wilh Lhe 8-MHz speed . Because di sk-based copy-protection schemes are sensitive to clock speed , most olher 80386 systems automatically slow the proce sor down _to 8 MHz when ever the floppy di sk drive is being ac cessed . The slowdown in system speed is unnoticeable since Lhe floppy disk drive is the real limitfog factor. and the com patibility gained is worth the trade-off. Unfortunately , the GV-386 slows down the processor for only the operations re quired by the DOS FORMAT and DISK COPY programs, not for all floppy disk accesses . As a result, Lotus 1-2-3 Re lease 2 would start up only if Lhe proces sor was lowed down to 8 MHz. Once the program started , however, the speed could be brought back up to 16 MHz. The keyboard is a Maxj-Switch 10 I key unit that uses a modified enhanced AT keyboard layout. Except for Lhe L shaped Enter key and backslash key to the left of the Backspace key , the keyboard i identical to the enhanced layout. The MaxiSwitch keyboard has a sw itch o n the underside that lets you wap the positions of the Caps Lock and left Control keys. The GV-386 documentation claims that the Escape key can be moved but it gives no instructions for accomplishing thi s. The keyboard feel i oft and quiet. The system unit contains eight full le ngth expansion slots. To maintain com patibility with the majority of PC add-on cards , Lhe 1/0 connectors are run at a clock speed of8 MHz, independent of the processo r speed . Since most add-on board are not designed to run any faster than 8 MHz , this feature let you pur chase new hardware without worrying about compatibility . Hardware Features The disk ystem on the reviewed mac hine con isted of a 1.2-megabyte floppy disk drive and a 40-megabyte hard disk drive. Documentation The User 's Guide and Operations Man ual supplied with the GY-386 is very in Circle 8 on Reader Service Card The fastest Modula-2 Extremel~ltSiiigl&iJ8.!!p1..,,le'T,Tr Amiga ~rkbench, support for documented func tions (Intuition. Exec, Graphics, etc.), double-precision numeric types, Including FFP. produces optimised machine code, links in just a few seconds! The com prehensive development system contains an editor, compiler. linker, library modules (Standard &Amiga lib raries), manual and introductory Modula-2 book. Minimum c figuration: 512K, 1 drive. $5 $ 99 PCSUHll &compatibles lop )Uur Modula-2 programs Ina environment, where all the tools are d and efficiency: ltor piler-much faster than aconventlo- · calcu lator 1Wtli6lirvn.ided in source form 8087 maths co-processor, REAL to 15 digits accuracy and easy MS-OOS/PC-OOS/Coneu11ent-OOS eni Programs and data may use up piemory. No other software de· ~as many tools and toolboxes as REVIEW: CACHE IN THE CHIPS teresting; it's unlike any comparable written. It appears to be written for the are included for the Priam hard disk drive manual. Nearly 200 pages of information technically competent owner who is like and the serial/paraJlel card. are presented in a somewhat disorganized ly to buy a stripped-down machine and Interspersed with this technical infor manner. The preface covers the compati who feels comfortable adding disk drives, mation are chapters that go into great de bility guarantee and warranty informa memory, and 1/0 boards. The manual in tail describing keyboard commands in tion. The first chapter of the manual is cludes a potpourri of technical informa BASIC (a topic covered much better in devoted to a well-written overview of the tion, supplying 1/0 address maps, tables the supplied GWBASIC manual) and a technical features of the 80386 processor. of hard disk drive parameters, system useful but slightly condescending tutorial Although a note indicates that the chapter board switch settings, system error mes for new users that is laid out in a question is of interest only to programmers, it is sages, and programming information. A and-answer format. Perhaps the best indi still a bit daunting to have the first page of comprehensive set of troubleshooting cation of the tone of the entire documen chapter l contain such terms as "barrel suggestions is provided to assist the user tation set comes from the first page of the shifter" and "prefetch queue. " with most of the common setup and in chapter entitled "For New Users." Al The manual is clearly and concisely stallation problems. Separate booklets though it states that "This chapter is writ ----------------------------~ ten specifically for the person who has never used a personal computer," the first step in the orientation process is to BACK ISSUES FOR SALE remove the cover of the system unit so that you can look inside. Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 1985 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4 .25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4 .25 $4.25 1986 .$4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 1987 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 $4.25 SPECIAL ISSUES and INDEX BYTE '83-'84 INDEX $1.75 BYTE 1985 INDEX $2.00 1984 SPECIAL GUIDE TO IBM PCs. $4.75 1985 INSIDE THE IBM ·PCs $4. 75 1986 INSIDE THE IBM PCs $4.75 APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE lDDAY SPECIAL $4.00 Circle and send requests with payments to: BYTE Back Issues P.O. Box 328 Hancock, NH 03449 D Check enclosed Payments from foreign countries must be made in US funds payable at a · US bank. 0 VISA D MasterCard CARD # - - - - - - - - - - EXP. DATE - - - - - - SIGNATUf'.E - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The above prices include postage in the US. Please add $ .50 per copy for Canada and Mexico; and $2.00 per copy to foreign countries (surface delivery). Please allow 4 weeks for domestic delivery and 12 weeks for foreign delivery. NAME ADDRESS CITY _ _ _ _ __ __ S T A T E - - - - - - Z I P - - - - - Compatibility The GV·386 demonstrated excellent com patibility with the PC AT and with 80386 specific software. Lotus 1-2-3 version 2.01 , Microsoft Word 3.0, the Microsoft Bus Mouse, Microsoft Windows version 1.03, and SideKick version J.56A all ran correctly, except that Lotus 1-2-3 had to be started at 8 MHz or installed onto the hard disk. I also used Borland's Turbo C to test compatibility and system perfor mance. The sample MicroCalc spread sheet program supplied with Turbo C (7700 lines of C code) compiled in only 25 seconds, as opposed to 71 seconds re quired by the Compaq Deskpro 386. The 80386 control software and oper ating systems I tested included Digital Research Concurrent DOS 386, PC MOS/386, DESQview 2.0, Microsoft Windows/386, and a prerelease version of Microsoft OS/2 version 1.0 . All worked without any problems. Final Judgment The system requires little technical skill to set up and use. In addition to the excel lent warranty , PC Designs offers a toll free help line to registered owners, so buyers can get ready assistance and in formation . The PC Designs GV-386 is a compat· ible, high-speed personal computer. It is well-suited for any application that re quires an 80386 processor or high pro cessing speeds, ranking at or near the top of the 80386 range in all the benchmarks and tests . Its cache memory system is well-designed and produces a measurable increase in system throughput when com· pared to other 80386 systems. The GV 386 is a solid, robust machine; its design ers paid attention to features and detail. Given the trend toward software with large memory requirements, the GV· 386's ability to hold 4 megabytes of RAM on the motherboard is a valuable asset . · 130 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Advancing the state of the art in raster graphics. With TV-quality resolution. pixel depths. Presenting the AT&T True TARGA 8 ($1 ,595) : 256 vision~ Advanc ed Raster levels of grey Graphics Adapter (TARGA,,,.) TARGA MB ($1,995): 256 series. Five separate models levels of grey or 256 colors address the spectrum of your from a palette of over 16 million continuous-tone imaging needs. TARGA 16 ($2,995): 32 ,76B Each single-slot TARGA colors plus overlay dig itizes and displays elec TARGA 24 ($3,995): tronic photographs with your 16,777 ,216 colors AT&T- or IBM-compatible PC. TARGA 32 ($4 ,995) : TARGA captures images in 16, 777 ,216 colors plus overlay real time from standard video and 12B levels of mixing for sources. And because the im sophistrcated blending of live ages are digitized files of in video and stored images. formation, you can store and retrieve them . Display them with striking clarity _And ma nipulate lhem with incredible subtlety. And with elegant engineering. TARGA is elegantly en gineered for performance, efficiency, and reliability. Its At varying pixel depths. powerful gen-lock capability TARGA provides up to 512 X 482 pixel resolution at different lets you grab from VCRs and videodisc players as well as video cameras. Our propri etary video controller limits memory contention to less than two percent. And TARGA incorporates a number of sophisticated hard ware features, including 2X. 4X, and BX zoom. Smooth, independent horizontal and vertic al panning. Bit plane masking . And a wide range of programmable options p ro vides unlimited flexibility in working with continuous-tone im a g e s . And elegant applications. TARGA C language program ming utilities and Halo drivers enable you to create your own applications . Or you can use one of the many software packages developed for TARGA by AT&T and others. Our Truevision Image Proc essing (TIPS, $1,250), for example, provides powerful paint, text . and image manipu lation functions. Advance the state of your art. If you have an idea for an ap plication , talk to us. We'll pro vide the technical support to help you advance the state of your art. With Truevision . We're changing the way personal computers see things. For additional information or to locate a Truevision dealer, please write or call: AT&T, Electronic Photography and Imaging Center. 7351 Shadeland Station , Suite 100, Indianapolis. IN 46256-3921 . 1-800-858-TRUE. ,.... ATaT The right choice. Trueyis1on ·&a <eg1s1ered 1rade_mar1< of AT&T IBM is a ' fJ.9is1cred trademark or 1~rorna119na1 Business Machines Corpo<aflon Compaq is a <eg.slered kademark of Compaq _ Cornpuler Company RALO I:; a registered trademark of Media Cybemellcs Truevision Des.gn and development by- RADAKAKACACCCEJHDHJHBHDJCMGM BPLRASTSJSBSJW Q 1987 AT&T Circle 275 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 131 FUJITSU'S DX2000 SERI ES PRINTERS Switchit)gfrom computer p~er to letterheadis as simple as1...2...3. InstructiooS: 1. Push Push a button. Pull a lever Push abutton. Its tl1at eas) to switch fi·om computer paper to letterhead u.ing a Fujitsu DX2000 Series 9-wire dot matrixprinter Theres no wrestling wirl1 continuous forms or optional tractors. No wasting time loading and unloading paper: And automatic feeding of cut heet paper is faster with the optional, sir gle-bin sheet feeder: More Efficient, lore Productive. Now you can choose from four printers that can produce bet\veen ill and 135 Ii nes ofcopy per minute. Or an average-size memo indraft quality in justll seconds. Print speed range from 44-54 character per second in near-letter quality mode, to 220-324 cps in draft qua!it), depending on which modelyou choose. Each printer can create letter preaclsheets de c!·ip tive charts and professional gnphs. For bril liant 7-color printing you can get an easy-to-install optionalcolor kil Quiet, Reliable,Compatible. Listen. The DX2000 printers arequiet. What's more theycan give youyear of trouble-free printing without taking time off. And thats not all. Each printer i. compatiblewith the most popuhr software 1r:tckages, using Epson FX80,JX80, IBM®Graphics Printer.. or fBM Proprinter)L commands. For pricing, more information and a cl 111011 tration of the DX2000 .eries or an) ofour complete Iine of daisywheel dot matrix band or laser printers, calI. 800-626-46 6. Make theeasy S\~~tch to Fujitsu printers. A COMPANY WITH CH ARACTER AND DRIV E FUJITSU FUJITSU AMERICA Computer Products Group FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE DX2000 SERIES PRINTERS, CALL 800-626-4686 ·9.87 ~u~ 1~ Amerie.,'1 _Inc EpSOfi FXBO and E.l)SOfl JX80 are tC'g· S.ltlf cd 1rad(!mtuk$ 01~\.;O Eoson COfO()tA1iOn IBM. Gr.3phlC$ Pnnler l!llt.l Proprml.Ur illU IC\jl!ilUH.'. ll lrudl'..·marks. ol l nlermmr;mal ausin.eu M.3CJ"li n.f!JSC0rl)Or.'tlt0n 132 B Y T E · JA UARY 1988 Circle 98 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 99) SYSTEM REVIEW The Toshiba T3100/20 Curtis Franklin Jr. If an AT-class machine is part of your normal working envi This laptop strikes tions include an IBM PC- com pat ible five-slot expansion ronment , the To hiba T3100/20 ($4699) can let you work with a balance between portability chassi ($999) and a 5 1.4 -inch ex ternal floppy disk drive your usual tools when you are traveling . The T3100/20 is bui lt and power ($499). See page 134 for a com plete list of options with prices. around an Intel 80286 micro proces ·or ruoning with one T he Power wait state at 8 MHz , switchable When compa red with oth er to 4 MHz. It comes standard popular laptop computers, the with 640K bytes of 120-nano Toshiba is at least twice as fast second RAM. wh ich al lows it to as most that operate at 4.77 run software that run on desk MHz and is about 20 percent top AT . Ma torage for the faster than the NEC MultiSpeed T3100/20 consist of a 720K operating at 9.54 MHz. [Edi byte 3 1h -inch floppy disk drive tor ' s note: See " Th e NEC Mul and a 20-megabyte hard disk tiSpeed " by David Satz in the drive with a run-length-limited September J987 BYTE. ] You (RU ..) cont rol ler. The size of can easily switch the speed of the hard disk drive and the fact the T3 l00120 ·s processor from that it u es RLL encoding are the keyboard by using a three the only differences between key combination . the T3 l 00/ 20 and the older In addition to the advantage T3 l00 with a 10-megabyte hard in ca lcula ti on speed, the disk drive. 3 100/20' s internal hard disk A highly readable gas-plasma drive gives it an obvious advan display top the system . The tage in disk access over floppy di play swings up to reveal a disk drive- based portables . For full -size 81-key keyboard with example, the spreadsheet used l 0 function keys running across in the BYTE benchmarks took the top . A template (a blank is provided wani a laptop 1har does no1need an elec approximately 7 seconds to load from the with the computer) can sit in a shall ow trical umbilical cord..me the text box MultiSpeed's flo ppy disk drive. The well above the function keys . Above the " The Toshiba 1000" OJI page 135.J spreadsheet loaded from the 3100/20 's template , the T3 l00120 sport even All these AT-class featu res are packed hard disk drive in just over l second. In LED indicators fo r Power/Speed disk into a compact 15-pound box , measuring compari son to the PC AT's hard di k use , external monitor. and keylocks . approximately 12 by 3 by 14 inche , drive , the Toshiba 's hard disk drive !Urns With RGB , para ll el , and 9-pin seria l which comes standa rd with a padded in a slightly better performance . The ports lined up across the rear of the com nylon carrying case. The unjt also comes CORETEST gives Lhe data transfer rate puter, the !/O of the T3 l00/20 is com with MS-DOS 3.2 and Lotus Metro a of the T3100/20's hard disk drive as plete, especially for a laptop computer. desk accessory that provides a notepad, 107.4K bytes per second , and the average The power supply i witchable between an appointment book , and a clipboard eek time as 77 .7 milliseconds. · I I5 and 230 volt . among other feature ). The To ·hiba lands out most not in cal To hiba doe not provide a battery The unjt I reviewed had an optional culation peed which i impressive . but pack for the T3 l00/20; the company ha. RAM upgrade ($1699), providing 2 in clarity of di. play, which is amazing. Its designed the system to operate from an megabytes of Expanded Memory Specifi resolution is 640 by 400 pixe ls, giving a AC power outlet. While this limits the _use cation (EMS)- compatible RAM for pro co111i11ued of the computer to times when an electri grams that can make use of it, and an op cal out let is handy , the convenience of a tional 1200-bit-per- second in ternal Curtis Franklin Jr. is a BYTE technical hard disk drive and an easily readable Haye -compatible modem ($399). As re editor. He can be reached at One Phoe screen may be more important in some viewed , with added memory and modem . nix Mill Lane , Pererborough, NH 03458, situations. [Editor' note: For th ose who the system retails for $6797. Other op- or 0 11 BIX as "curtf " JA NUARY 1988 · BYTE 133 REVIEW : THE TOSHIBA T3100120 Toshiba T3100/20 Company Tosh iba America Inc. Information Systems Division 9740 Irvine Blvd. Irvine . CA 92718 (714) 538-3000 Size 121A by 3 by 14'A inches: 15 pounds Components Processor: 16-bit 80286 running at 4 or 8MHz Memory: 640K bytes of RAM . expandable to 2.6 megabytes internally Mass storage: One 720K-byte 3 112-inch floppy disk drive and one 20-megabyte hard disk drive Display: Red -orange 53/·· by 7V2·inch flat gas-plasma with 25·1ine by 80-column text and 640· by 400-pixel monochrome graphics: also emulates IBM CGA graphics Keyboard : 81 keys ; 10 function keys: separate cu rsor keys; LED indicators for Caps Lock. Num Lock. and Scroll Lock keys 110 Interfaces: RS·232C 9·pin male connector; 25-pin female parallel connector: RGB video 9-pin female connector Software MS-DOS verS1on 3.2: Lotus Metro Options Internal 1200-bps modem : $399 5 Y· ·1nch external floppy disk drive: $499 Floppy link fi le-transfer board/cable: $199 15-key numeric keypad: $99 IBM PC-compatible five-slot expansion chassis: $999 Interface card for expansion chassis: $199 2-megabyte RAM upgrade: $1699 Documentation 168-page Toshiba T3100 Portable Personal Computer User 's Manual Price $4699 Inquiry 887. DISK ACCESS IN BASIC (IN SECONDS) WRITE RE AD ~.~11 i I r kr·LI I r SIEVE BASIC PERFORMANCE (IN SECONDS) CALCULATION S SYSTEM UTILITIES (IN SECONDS) 40K FORMAT/DISK COPY 40K FILE COPY LOAD ~..,.,,r ..r SPREADSHEET ON SECOND~ RECALCULATE r r r ~: ! r.. r 11 · TOSHIBA T3 100120 TOSHIBA T1000 - IBM PC AT (8 MHZ) - IBM PC The Disk Access benchmarks write and then read a 64K-byte sequential teX1 tile to a hard disk. Sieve runs one iteration of the Sieve of Eratosthenes. Calculations performs 10,000 multiplication and division operations. The 40K Format/Disk Copy benchmark is not p erformed on computers with only one floppy disk drive. The 40K File Copy benchmark copies a 40K·byte file on the hard disk. The Spreadsheet tests toad and recalculate a 25· by 25-cell Multiplan (1 .06) spreadsheet. GWBASIC 2.1 was used for the disk access and basic performance tests. On the T3100/20 and the IBM PC AT. the disk access. file copy, and spreadsheet tests were performed from the hard disk drive ; on the Tl 000 and the IBM PC. the disk access, file copy, and spreadsheet tests were performed from the floppy d isk drives. full 25 lines by 80 columns. The red orange gas-plasma display is a large part of the T3100/20's appeal and usefulness, and there is no question that it is far more readable than even the best LCD screens. The character set of most LCDs is blocky at best . The characters on the Toshiba are sharp and easy to read, due in part to the screen 's I-to- I aspect ratio . In addition , LCD displays tend to "ghost " as informa tion scrolls down the screen , mak ing it difficult to read information from the MS-DOS TYPE command, or from a bul letin board or on-line information service at 1200 bps. The T3100120 's sc reen showed no lag or ghosting and no flicker under fluorescent lights. For all its virtues , however , the To shiba ' s display has a serious drawback : The surface of the screen is smooth and highly reflective . In my office, the fluo rescent lights overhead caused consider· able glare . The screen reflected light from the overhead fixtures , the image of my clothing , and anyone who happened to walk into my office. All this activity in front of the characters on the screen was 134 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 REVIEW: THE TOSHIBA T3100/20 Toshiba T1 000 Company Toshiba America Inc. Information Systems Division 9740 Irvine Blvd Irvine. CA 927 8 (714) 538·3000 Size 12'/s by 2 by 11 inches: 6V2 pounds Components Processor: 8·b1t 80C88 running at 4.77 MHz Memory: 5 12K bytes of RAM. expandable to 1.2 megabytes internally Mass storage: One 720K-byte 3'/z-inch ·1o ppy disk drive Display: Supertw1st LCD with 25-li ne by 80-column text and 640· by 200-pixel monochrome graphics Keyboard : 82 keys: 10 function keys: separate cursor keys 1/0 interfaces: RS-232C 9-pin male connector; 25-pin female parallel connector: RGB video 9-pin female connector: RCA-type composite monochrome connector Software MS-DOS version 2.11 (in ROM): Borland SideKick Options Intern al 1200-bps modem· $399 Internal 768K-byte memory card: $549 External 5'/· ·inch floppy disk drive: $499 Automobile power adapter: $59 17·key numeric keypad: $99 Flop py Li nk: $199 Universal AC adapter (100 V to 264 V AC) :$ 5 9 Carrying case: $59 MS-DOS 3 .2 (on floppy disks): $75 Documentation 116-page Toshiba T1000 Portable Personal Computer User 's Manual Price $1199 lnquky888. The Toshiba TlOOO T he Toshiba TIOOO (S 1199) presents a nearl y complete contrast to it bigger brother. the T3 I00/20. Where the T3100/20 trades elements of porta bility for power. the TIOOO 's scales are tipped in favor of portable convenience . In fact , the TIOOO is the first laptop I've seen that's better than the vene rable Tand y model 100 for the type of work (writing on the road) for which I need a portable. The TI 000 (see photo A) is a ful1IBM PC-compatible computer in a compact 6 1/i -pound package . In it standard con figuration , the TIOOO comes with an 80C88 running at 4 . 77 MHz , 512K bytes of 100-ns RAM , MS-DOS version 2 . 11 in ROM , a si ngle 720K-byte 3 1/z inch floppy disk drive , a 25-li ne by 80 column supertwist LCD screen with a resolution of 640 by 200 pixels. a full size 82-key keyboard, and video (RGB and composite). parallel. and se rial ports. The machine that I reviewed had the optional 1200-bps internal modem ($399). It also had a memory-expansion board with 768K bytes of 100-ns RAM ($549) that could be configured as a nonvolatile RAM disk . Like th e T3 I00/20, the TI 000 is covered by a o ne -year warranty. with an extended two-year warranty avail a ble at ex tra cost. For a complete list of the available options and their prices , see the box at left. Without the RAM disk. the TlOOO harks back to the olden days of personal computing, when disk space was pre cious and users often had to spend a con siderable amount of time swapping disks with files back and forth in laborious "housecleani ng . " With the RAM disk in place, the T 1000 become the most portable IBM PC - compatible computer I' ve ever used, free not only from the power cord but also from the extra bag gage of numerous floppy disks. After setting up the RAM disk (a one time , I-minute procedure) . I installed the XyWrite III Plus word processor. the Photo A: The Toshiba Tl()()() is a 6!1 -pound BOCBB-based laptop that operaces from rechargeable baueries. communications program PC-Talk, and Lotu 1-2-3 on the RAM disk . There was still plenty of room left over for files that I needed to work on, and working comple tely from the RAM disk was both much fa ·ter and less of a battery drain than working from the floppy di k drive. As with any battery-powered device , battery life is an important issue for the TIOOO. The nickel-cadmium battery on the computer lasted from 3 to 5 hour before the low-battery indicato r was ac tivated ; the exact time depended on how much disk activity had taken place. Ac cordi ng to Toshiba, the nonvolatile RAM is safe as long as any charge re mains in the battery . One user's RAM disk wa still intact 2 days after the low power light came on : however , I would recommend that you recharge the bat tery as soon as possible after the light appears. Of course. the T 1000 is no match for the T3100/20 in computing speed, but then. a PC is no match for an AT . Life is filled with decisions and compromises . In th is case , the TI 000 trades bulk , ex pandability , and · peed for functional it and tremendou~ portability at a rea son able price. more than a little distracting . The screen angle is adjustable across a wide range , but no angle (al least. no angle that left the screen visible from my chair) could eliminate the glare. In fairness, my office lighting is tough on displays , and the . parse incandescent lighting found in most hotel rooms is perfect for the gas plasma di play . The problem with glare also turns up with the screen on the Com paq Portable HI , which ha a gas-plasma screen that is very imilar to the Toshiba T3100/20's. Using the Power I ran a number of programs o n th e T3100/20 , including Lotus 1-2-3 Relea e 2, XyWrite Ill Plus. WordStar 4.0, Pib term 3.2.5 , PC-Talk III , GWBASIC 2 . 1. and Refl ex version I. All ran quite well. The only problems arose when CGA graphics were di played on the gas-plas ma screen in such a way that the " colors " were indistinguishable from one another . A mentioned earlier. the computer comes packaged with MS-DOS version conti1111('(/ JA UARY 198 · 8 YT E 135 REVIEW: THE TOSHIBA T3!00/20 3.2 and Lotus Metro . As a longtime user of SideKick, I was impressed by Metro ·s ease of use and the flexibil ity and power of the various desk accessories . The T3100/20' s keyboard is a solid, middle-of-the road affair. It does not of fer the tactile feedback of the IBM key boards or an audible key click, but it is far superior to some of the mushy keyboards sold with clones. The lack of a separate numeric keypad may be important to some users, but I found the layout easy to use and work with. An optional numeric keypad is available for $99 for those who need one. The Toshiba T3100 Portable Personal Computer User 's Manual, included with the system , is thorough, clearly written , and well organized. A one-year warranty is standard on aJI components; a two-year warranty on all components is available at additional cost. The Beauty and the Blemishes The T3100120' s predecessor, the T3 l 00. achieved the rank of status symbol among many of America's regular business trav elers . A major factor in the status of the T3100, and of the T3100/20 as well, is the laptops ' appearance. These ma chines, with their angular, sleek, matte gray plastic cases , conjure Eurotech visions of an elegant office. The only part of the T3 I 00/20 that seems out of place is its handle. It's not that the handle is useless; it makes a dandy stand to bring the machine and its keyboard to the proper angle for typing. The problem is that the handle might suggest that the computer can be carried around without its case . From desk to desk in an office, this is OK , but venturing outside with a bare T3100/20 would be a major mistake. For one thing, there's no place to put the power cable. For another, the case has holes in it. There are cooling slots in the back of the display panel and an opening for the cool ing fan in the rear of the computer, thus affording lots of opportunities for water and assorted detritus to get in and wreak havoc on this beautiful and rather expen sive machine . Another drawback of the T3 l00/20 is its cooling fan . Obviously , in a computer based on the components used by this ma chine , forced-air cooling is a must. Un fortunately, the fan in the Toshiba makes a sound at a pitch and volume optimal for making my teeth itch. The noise is made worse by an apparent interaction with the hard disk drive: Disk activity causes a definite change in the noise pitch of the fan, in addition to the normal sounds of disk access. The third problem has to do with the power consumption of the T3 I00/20 , which is high enough to require connec tion to an AC power outlet. I didn't think the power requirements would be a severe handicap; I simply planned my work for places where I could expect to find an electrical outlet. I didn't reckon on the security forces at LaGuardia Airport . Their hand-check of a computer is sim ple: Tum it on , and if the screen does computer-like stuff, it's a computer. We searched the X-ray machine for an outlet while the passengers for the 6:00 shuttle stacked up behind me. This episode aside , I found that a portable computer is most useful when it can be used in a car , on a plane, or in an airport waiting area. All this is sacrificed with the Toshiba T3100/20. A Stiff Competitor The Toshiba T3 l00/20 is certainly at or near the top of the portable computer field in both price and performance. I ex pect it to compete directly with two other computers on the market : the NEC MultiSpeed , which runs faster than the crowd of 8088-based portables, and the Compaq Portable III, which uses an 80286 CPU clocked at 12 MHz . The T3 l 00/20's hard disk drive speeds opera tions and reduces the number of floppy disks in your carrying case. In sheer screen readability, the Toshiba comes out well on top . On the other hand , the Multi Speed frees you from dependence on an AC power supply-and does it for $2195 , a considerably lower price than that of the T3100/20. The Compaq Portable III shares many features with the Toshiba T3 l 00/20. They both have 80286 CPUs , internal hard disk drives, and gas-plasma dis plays. The price of a Portable III with a 20-megabyte hard disk drive is $4999 , which is about the same as that of the T3100/20, and it too has to be plugged into an electrical outlet. The Compaq 's advantages include its capability (through a piggyback unit) to use full -size AT add-in boards , and its speed, from a 12-MHz system clock . The Toshiba gets the nod for pure portability: The Compaq is 5 pounds heavier, and its lunch-box configuration is more cumber some than the Toshiba's flat shape. Last ly , the Toshiba is a simply a better-look ing computer than the Portable III . This didn't make my spreadsheets recalculate faster or replace the AC power cord , but it did please my sense of aesthetics. [Edi tor's note: For more information on the Compaq Portable Ill, see the review "Compaq 's new Carry-on " by John Unger in the May 1987 BYTE.] The Toshiba T3100/20 is expensive , but for the money you get 80286 power and greater portability than any other AT compatible. You can buy computers that are more portable, and you can buy faster computers , each for less money than the Toshiba . But if you need speed and porta bil ity in one package, the Toshiba T3 I00/20 should be at the top of your list. · VIEWS FROM BIX : T3100/20 and T1 000 laptops/reviews #4 , from Tom Moran. I do s of t ware deve l opment and must occasionally v1s1 t distant customer s. I 've t aken t he TJ 100/20 to Eur ope an d As i a . \11th the he.rd disk, I can take along essent i al ly a duplicat e softwar e deve l opmen t envi ronment and make any changes, or s howany demonstr ations , on the spot . The dis k can a l so be a "data briefc ase" for taki ng l arge files to and f r o . My customers and my hote l s a l ways have electr i city, and the pl ane or ai rport between customers i s the last place I need t o us e the compute r . The TJl00/20 oft en dr aws admir ing and cur i ous cro.,ds . I th i nk that has had a posit i ve effect on my meeti ngs . laptops/reviews #5 , from Richard Berry. I amusing e. TJ100/20. The fan pi t ch i s actually a high-voltage leak f r om the pol.'er supply , as ne ar as I can te ll. I had a prev ious TJl OO that s ound ed 11.ke na ils on a che.licboard. I t app ears t hat the s tronger the powe r draw, the quie te r the noise is. To demons t rate this, cl ose your s creen 111t h t he machine on . I t shoul d be qui te strong at that point . I simpl y t ook my machine back and had it r epl aced . My pr esent mach i ne has no noi s e a t al l . Since Tosh i ba offer s an exc ellen t se r vice poli cy , you may wi sh t o s end i t back to be re paired . My only experi ence "ith service has been wi th the 20-meg upgrade through the DYNs ervice network , but I l.'as extreme ly impre ssed , sendi ng in my mach i ne Monday night and receiving the upgraded machine llednesday mor ning . As I said, t he sc r eech i ng i s not unkno\IJI among the TJlOOs , but 1t isn 't a necessity to operati ng the mach ine . laptops/reviews #6, lrom Jean U. Thoma. I f the Toshi ba TlOOO had a seat for an 8087 copr oc essor (wh i ch could take t he physical s pace of t he modem) , it would r each a vast mar ket 1n uni ver s it ies . ll ithout it, engineer in g s of tware runs J times s l ower or not at a ll , so I am unab l e to recommend it to students . I lik e the TlOOO for portabili ty and memor y , but I sor ely miss t he coproc ess or . I use on l y l aptops , at home and on or off campus, and do not ne ed bat ter i e s s i nce I al ways find an electric outl et. 136 B Y T E · JANUARY l 988 No One Computer Can Meet All Of Your Needs, But One Company Can. Priorities. They're differ ent for every department. Some need more power Take the AST Premium/386, for example. With 20 MHz op eration, advanced architecture in a computer that takes and AT® hardware compati up less space. 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Expandable to 13MB 13MB 4MB Name _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Video Adapter Optional EGA/HGC EEGA/EGAIHGC (most models) module Expansion Slo!S 7' Fixed Di.sk 401901150 MB Diskette Size 51/·" or 3'h" 7'' 20140170 MB 5V·" or 3112 · 2 40MB sv.· or 3112· Company-------- - - - -- - - - - A d d r e s s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- City/State/Zip _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ rThn!e oft:<1<1n! sekrtablr spudsfor timi11g-s1:11sllt're pro11ra11t<. · onr J2·bil dtdicattd lo memO>J·. t/lru AT-rompat1blt 16-bit m11illmil$1<ra11d one 16- bit ·.fl"-co111pn1ib/r; 1111d 11ro8·bil in sltmdard model · ' 0 11· 8-bll, six Hl l6· b1/ i11c/11di11g 2FASTs/o/s"; 1111dfour user s/o/s in sl11ndard modd Phone _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ AST Research, Inc., 2121 Alton Avenue. Irvine, CA L 9_271_4-49_92_Attn_: M_.C._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _B_YfE_l/88~ AST Marke1s producls world·vide- in Europe and th e Middl East C.;Ul: 44 l 568 4350; In the far East cal l: 852 5 717"223; ;,, Can:ub. call: 416 !126 75 14. A:>T1wd AST 10110 ret,islerod 11nd .-lST Premium mul AST Pn:mium Workstallon lrademarh A.IT Rrsearrl:, lnl'. MS-DOS mu/ X£1VIX n:gislert:d mul MS 0 '2 lrtulcmnrk Microsoft Cor-p. ;\Trc:gfstered lrru4muirk lnternt11ional R1<si11~.<S Math mes Corp. Copyri_~/11 · 1987 AST lit· t·t1rrl1. Inc All rir,ltts rr!.<en"d. Circle 17 on &ader Service Card (DEALERS: 18) JA UARY 1988 · BYTE 137 · Zero 811 Sblc 80286 /· 16Mltz1brouppul I · Smlll Foocprlnr Clllllll / · Sttuttd Hardware Reset I· 12" Mo..oclll'Olnt Monitor (800x3~)/· Hercules Compallblc 132 Column Video Card · Speaker On/Olf I· Slandard l Memory /· Nonon SI: t 5.3 ·Keyboard Selectable Bctwccn 8/12 and Zcro/1 Wait Statc · Plus Basic System Fcnrcs I · Mack In U.S.A. $2065 12MHz EGA System Buie System Features: · 80286 16-hit CPU/ · 512K Motherboard Expandable 10 !MB · <:lock Calendar With Battery Backup/ · 195 Watt Power Supply 220/ 1IOV (Ul, CSA)/ · Fully Compatible AMI BIOS (Written in USA) · 200 Page Documentation and User's Guide/ · Limited One Year Warranty · Optional Add Ons: 36oKB floppy Drives/ Enhanced Keyboard/ 720KB Floppy Drives 3 111" OfU>t!~B'f' MAIL<:hcd;u-.J M VfK"'· cmkf. UJibnbmtl .,..;. s.aJ~T'o... ~ ORJ>BftY Pl l ~L COO Ctihk'fCbttll.. '\-L~ ( _\ ');. ) Amniclnf..xpa!> ( " ) orApptv>TdComp;l")' P O .,. . . . Polio' ~ndT~· AUprlt'nU(' aib;tn todu~\111d cp.uni:Mo rN)' tX' limllC'd m:l't'T rc'X'l"T dx ri¢w: lO K!bJl: lfuo; !;'QUi-·~ r1~ t "ruUIMtb<'d tt1\l""'-~ltt: tJbjttltai l'"i .-., tiNot'ldftStk'~ RMA ~muw bt:m:K'hnJloi.llrrni~ lr c:tTD2nl1 mu.'!' hC' )mt ~n,i:. f'"'1"'1kl ""' tvMlimc"J 1ltC" Hmil ~ ·'3n-~1'W\' 1 )T.M' M f)M ' ~N t> mtWtK M llhOt 138 BY TE · JA ARY 1988 · 80286 10Mffz Zero Yllr ~ I· 8110 ~ "'1lldl · 12" Moooc:brome Monlror (800x3SO) / ·Hercules Coolpaiblc 132 Column Video Card I· Walt SUic lmcrtlblc Sloes · 12MHz Tbroughput /· 2 Serials. I Parallel Port Built In · Nonon Sl:V(3.0) 1t.5 I· Plus Basic System PClllUrCS /·Made In l'.S.A. 1 95 lOMHz EGA System 286 System Options 20MB 65ms Half Height 30MB 39ms Full Height 44MB 28ms Full Height 72MB 23ms Full Height 1Mll 28ms Full Height I30~IB 18ms Full Height NEC Mullisync $280 $.500 $.575 $920 $870 $1800 CAll 80287-8 $23.5 80287-10 $310 Optical Mouse $99 Mechanical Mouse $69 14" Flatscreen Evervision Mono Monitor CALL All l4 ~ f.Vt'T\'h&Mtllr(}nk0A \hc'N.'T1~T¥~ (lp0on.1l NT(' Hnrn""' El'n'o~OS/2_ 05/ \ X:mlL l'.ntx..DB~lll t . Lol\U.f~'tlft..~S,.~· PC Umltnt rlVl"(\Ml B'ld Ph'fnium 2.Al· .1r(' tr.ld<'m;lf\,,. Cit '*~C'1nl rndit'mw\.' °' '""' '~' ""' ~~ ters is ready for OS/2 TMand OS/ 3"'~ run Xenix, Unix, DBase m + , Lo ymphony and a host of all think of. W1· S1111s 0 0 0 15.3 10.1 13.3 11 .5 11 .5 ldl)n · frl Mon·fri !\olur<b)· Salurtb)· 7· o-6c~(Wo<Co»<) 10..'0-9'.,0 (&><C-) 10;'\0 - ~00 (WC$< eo...) 1:30 - 6.-00 ( E2u ea...) International sales desk now open Corporate Buyer call for Corporate Desk University P.0 .'6 are welcome Deal= :md Qumtlty Discounts arc available (415) 490-2201 TechSupon (41S) 683-6580 Circle 46 on Reader Service Card 4.77/ 8Mllz EGA S'ystem --...·.-. ........ - -- II ·.-- r _._I - ~ · - II - - ~ American Technologies, Inc. 3401 W. Warren Ave. Fremon~ CA 94539 FAX (41S) 490-2687 (24 hrs.) JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 139 Who's got connections at AT&T...Rolm...DuPont... and 39 of the other top 50 Fortune 500? USRobotics CourierMmodems. The lop Fortune 500 compa nies know data commwlicalions and look hard al !heir bottom line. What could pexsuade !hem lo purchase USRobotics Courier modems? Superior perfonnance. At a fair price. With our complete line of dial-up modems - from 1200 bps to 17,400 bps-our customers get dependable performance under exacting conditions. Plus the assurance ofdealing with a manufactw;er who has over 10 yeaIS experience and has sold over half a million modems. Of course. it's easy to spend money for the false security you get from a more fa mous name. But with USRobotics, you pay only for what's important: reliability, manufac;tuling quality, ease of use, robustness. elegant technical design. And a company committed to service. support and caring for its customers. Courier modems from USRobotics. Connect with us. 140 B Y T E · JANUARY 1988 Call 1-800-DIAL-USRExt. 57 In Illinois (312) 982-5001 011t.ftobotics® Thl!' fntl!'lligent Choice in D at3 Comm un1c31 1on s . 8100 McCormick Blvd.. Skokie. Illinois 60076. USRcbotics and Couner are uad~marks oru__ RoOOt!cs. Inc:. Circle 280 011 Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 281) SYSTEM REVIEW The Symmetric 375 Patrick Wood The Symmetric 375 computer i a mall , portable Berkeley Symmetric 's new ta ndard Seventh Edition ver ion. The line-printer spoole r Standa rd Distribution (BSD) 4 .2 Unix ystem loaded with system brings Berkeley Unix worked fine (wi th a erial printer), and none of the system many u ·eful features . Its small ·ize (about that of a Compaq to a portable box util itie I used showed any de parture from a tandard BSD Portable II ) a nd weight (22 ·ystem . pounds) make it the only porta I ported evcral thousand ble BSD Uni x system I know of. line ofC code from a variety of The list price of the system re sources designed to run o n viewed here (which include a Berkeley Unix , and all of it bundled terminal and printer) is com pil ed and ran wi th ou t $8995 , but Sy mmetric di s change, except for a problem counts the price to $8,095 if it is with floating-point numbe rs prepaid . (discussed below). Some code de igned to run on Sy tern V System Hardware and Xe nix V ported over, but The Symmetric uses a ational ome of these programs simpl y Semiconductor S32016 pro wou ldn ' t run at a ll. This i. cessor running at I I megahertz hardly su rprising, given the dif with no wait states and a 64-bit fe rences between the e ve r ion NS3208 I floating-po int pro of Unix. Symmetric says that , cessor. The reviewed syste m by the time you read th is a new <:a me with 2 megabytes of 150 version of the operati ng system nanosecond dynamic RAM (ex will be available that upports pandable to 8 megabytes) and both BSD 4.3 and the System V an 85-megabyte (unformatted Interface Definition (SVID), ize) hard disk drive . Due to a the standard by which Unix ys shortage of the 60-megabyte sta nd a rd SCSI cassette tape tems are compared to AT&T's System v . drives , the review system came equipped on a 360K-byte floppy disk) with no trou The Symmetric 375 i shipped wit11 with a I-megabyte floppy disk drive . ble . The system comes with two com eight tandard language : C , FOR The Symmetric has several ports on mand s for ha ndling MS - DOS disk s: TRA -77, Pa cal, BASIC , APL assem the back, including four serial ports that msdir and msget . .I was able to copy the bly language, LISP , and !CO . Of these. can be set from SO bits per second to BYTE benchmark fil es from MS- DOS I evaluated onl y the C compiler. The re 38 .4K bps, a Centronics parallel port , a forma ned floppy di sks with no problems. view system also <:ame loaded with op I0- megab it " thick" Eth e rnet port a The inside of the Symmetric is rather tional software , including TEX Ingres , SCSI po rt with an asy nchronous transfer unexciting: There are no slots for expan EMACS , SPICE , TOP , GOB , Q-CALC , rate of l megabyte per second, an ST506 sion cards, and most of the circuitry is on the Symmctrix Kernel Configuration hard disk drive port, and a floppy disk the main board, with a few cables leading Package, and a window manager fo r drive port. The system also has a Reset off to peripheral s and a power suppl y. co mi1111 ed button and an LED dig ital display located in the back. The digital display shows the System Software Patrick Wood (Pipeline Associate Inc., current interrupt level. and you know the The Symmetric runs a " plain vanilla " 49 Manito Ave.. Lake Hiawarha. NJ system has hung if the number doesn' t Berkeley 4.2 BSD Unix. It supports de 07034) is th e coawhor oj four books 011 change. mand paging to disk with a 16-megabyte Unix and C and is consulting edi1or for The hard disk drive is fairly fast , with a virtual memory address space for each the Sams Unix System Library. He is also 28-milli econd average access time . The process. The standard Berkeley features, vice preside111 of Pipeline Associate fl oppy disk drive can read both 40- and such as job control and the new terminal Inc.. a company specializing in Unix and 80-track floppy disks in a number of con driver , performed flawlessl y . as did vi C training and con.mltin . He can he fi guratio ns· it read a Xe nix tar di k (made and the C shell . T he Bourne shell was the contacted on BIX as "patwood. " JA UARY 1988 · B YT E 141 REVIEW: THE SYMMETRIC 375 Symmetric 375 Type Por table 4.2/4.3 BSD Unix system Company Symmetric Computer Systems 40487 Encyclopedia Circle Fremont. CA 94538 (415) 651'6090 Size 14 by 6 by 12 inches: 22 pounds Component.s Processor: 11 -MHz National Semiconductor 32-/16-bit NS32016, with NS32081 floating -pcint unit and NS32082 memory management unit Memory: 2 megabytes of zero-wait-state RAM. expandable to 8 megabytes: SK· byte ROM start-up program Mass storage: 85-megabyte (unformatted size) Internal hard disk drive: internal 60-megabyte SCSI cassette tape drive Ports: Four serial RS-232C ports, configured as DCE and speed-selectable from 50 bps through 38.4K bps: Centronics-compatible parallel port: 10· megabit Ethernet with TCP/IP support: external Shugart-style floppy disk interlace; external SCSI interface; external ST506 hard disk interlace Other: DEC VT-52-NT·100-NT-220 compatible Esprit Opus 220 term inal with amber screen, detached keyboard, Epson-compatible printer. and clock/calendar with battery backup Software Berkeley Unix 4 2. FORTRAN -77 . assembly language. Pascal , LISP. ICON . BASIC, APL. and C Options 8 megabytes of RAM : $2200 170-megabyte hard disk drive: $1900 380-megabyte hard disk drive: $3200 760-megabyte hard disk drive: $4500 Q-CALC: $750 University Ingres: $20 EMACS: $20 SPICE : $15 TOP: $15 GOB: $20 Ke rnel Configuration Package: $100 TEX: Contact company for availability Documentation The 375 Owner's Manual. 232 pages Price Symmetric 375 with terminal and printer: $8995 ($8095 prepaid) Symmetric 375 low-end system with 50· megabyte hard disk drive. 1·megabyte 5 1/4 -i nch floppy disk drive and without SCSI port and Ethernet port : $5550 ($4995 prepaid) Inquiry 886. 142 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Apple Macintosh computers. Of these , I tested TEX . EMACS , Q-CALC and GDB. All performed well. In all , 30 megabytes of software was supplied with the system , some of it in source code form . With the exception ofQ-CALC and the Kernel Configuration Package. the optional software is available on floppy disks for a copying fee of either $15 or $20 per program. Software distribution on 50-megabyte TEAC cassette tapes is available at $15.50 per tape . The C compiler on the Symmetric seems slow because it spends a lot of its Lime in the optimization phase and pro duces tight code. Symmetric claims that its C compiler is "highly compatible with Berkeley VAX C" and that "all data types except float and double are bitwise identjcal to VAX convention . " The float and double data types follow the IEEE 754 standard floating-point for mat, to support the NS3208 l math chip. However, the compiler's floating-point ·compatibility leaves much to be desired . For example, the code struct obj ( float x; float y; ) obj; test (pl, p2) struct obj *pl, *p2; ( float y; y = p2->y; y = y * (p2 - >y - pl->y); I* dies on this line */ produces this error message: "test.c", line 12 : comp i ler error: expression causes compiler loop: try simplifying This code compiles properly on a VAX running BSD 4.3, Xenix V, and Bor land's Turbo C compiler. It also com piles properly on the Symmetric if the structure elements are anything but float or double, or if the pointers pl and p2 are static. GDB, a symbolic source-code debug ger, was supplied with this system. I used it to debug a couple of programs that I had difficulty porting. I was able to find sim ple bugs with GDB's extensive on-line help facilities. The Symmetrix Kernel Configuration Package allows the system admirustrator to customize the configuration of the op erating system. It lets you add or remove device drivers , thus changing the amount of memory required by the kernel. The Symmetric comes with a stripped version of Donald Knuth' s TEX text formacting system (the full font package is around 300 megabytes). It doesn't in clude all the TEX font file s, but it does include all the files for 300-dot-per-inch printers in sizes from 5 10 12 points, as well as 10-point fonts for printers of other resolutions. This represents an in telligent compromise : 300-dpi la ser printers abound , and they are good de vices for getting reasonable-looking out put from TEX . Communications Software The Symmetric is shipped with a couple of networking packages : UUCP the standard Unix networking software , and TCP/IP, the standard BSD Ethernet soft ware , which includes commands for copying files to and from remote systems, remote command execution , and remote log-in . It also comes with SL/IP, a serial networking package. The Berkeley version of UUCP that comes with the system had some prob lems communicating with my Xenix sys tem at 9600 bps . I could send data from the Symmetric to my Xenix system (an AT&T PC 6300 running Xenix V) without any problems; however, data sent the other way caused UUCP's communi cations program uc i eo to fail. At 9600 bps, some files did make it through , but the effective transmission rate was around 400 bytes per second (probably due to the number of packet retries). Communicating with other systems over the modem worked properly . The program tip, used to connect to the modem for logging into remote systems, worked well, and the uueico program transferred and received files with no problems . The only drawback of this sys tem is that it has trouble dropping the DTR line, causing the modem to remain connected to some systems. Although there may be a way to fix this . I couldn't determine how from the documentation provided . , I didn 't test the TCP/IP or SL/IP soft ware because I didn ' t have access to an Ethernet network or another system that could run SL/IP; however, the l ocal host command (used to test the local part of TCP/IP via cooperating processes) worked fine . Terminal, Printer, and Documentation The Symmetric 375 is bundled with a VT-220-compatible Esprit Opus 220 ter minal with a detached keyboard and an amber screen. The keyboard contains the full ASCII character set, an 18-key nu meric keypad on the right, 18 program mable function keys across the top , and <' omi1111ed ~ I We're Making A Small Case For The Hard Disk. The industry said it couldn't be done. You can't put a more ports than the California coastline. One for every hard disk in a portable PC, make it powerful, and keep thing including parallel, serial, RGB and monochrome it under 11 lbs. monitors, 51,4" floppy disk drive and numeric keypad Well, with that challenge in mind, we immediately The Tl200 is easy to face, too. With its new super went to work to prove them wrong. Presenting the twist LCD screen and a full-size keyboard. But better results. The new Tl200. still, thanks to its removable, rechargeable battery,you With afootprint ofonly one square ~!!li!!i!!i!iilll!!!!!I···· can keep computing wherever you go. foot, it comes with a20:MB hard disk, Just call 1-800-457-7777 for your one 720KB 31/z" diskette drive, lMB nearest Toshiba dealer and ask him to ofRAM, MS.DOS® 3.2, and Borland showyou thenewT1200. SidekickTM software. So you get Before they all get canied away. desktop PCfe.atures, with the perfor mance ofa powerful PC-compatible 80C86 processor, running at In Touch with Tomorrow TOSHIBA 9.54MHz. Tos hiha .-\ml' r1 t.a, Int., l11f111111;1[1 n11 ~-~h:· m " l11·.·131r;n But that's not all Take a look around back. There you'll find 1~m~~a~rk~~<";ll~\s1Ntt~T1!IW~~'l.fr~(~M;r:>~i~1:~rin~.!:i~rS1ir.flir:Y~~.i~4~"-k'1~1{1 ~r~~i;1~~tr·;!~~~~~~!:;. :11r :11rlf'm:u k llfl1.!1rl :11'1.rl . lritrtMllnl'\:il. l nC' REVIEW : THE SYMMETRIC 375 Table 1: Unix benchmarks. User time is time spent executing nonprivileged instructions. System time is time spent executing privileged (kernel) commands (i.e., system calls) plus system-level overhead (e.g .. context switching between processes). Real time is elapsed time, and it is often not rhe sum ofrhe user and system rimes; the difference is the time spent waiting for 110 operations to complete, waiting for a signal from another process, "sleeping, " or being swapped into memory or out to disk. Pipe measures how long ir rakes to set up a pipe and pass 0.5 megabytes ofdata through it. System Call queries the operating system 25,000 times concerning its process identity with the getpid() system call. Function Call runs two programs: One uses a function call ro accomplish a goal, and one doesn 't use the function call for the same goal. The user time ofthe program not using the function is subtracted from the user time ofthe program using the function; the difference is function-call overhead, shown in the table as Delta user. Sieve runs one iteration of the Sieve ofEratosthenes. Write and Read test the random-access disk implementation. Write creates, opens, and writes a 256- by 512-bytefile. Read reads this file and then removes it. The Shell rests invoke background processes. The shell statement wait causes the shell script in multi. sh to pause until all the requested background processes have terminated. The background process ts t . sh invokes several commonly used Unix commands and exercises disk access with them. Loop tests long-integer arithmetic and is mostly processor-bound. All times are in seconds. Unix benchmarks Machine Unix version Real Pipe User System Rea l System Call User System Function CBll Delta user Symmetric 375 4.2 BSD 13.53 0.01 IBM PCXT PC/IX 16.6 0.1 AT&T PC6300 Xenix V 11 .70 0.07 AT&T Unix PC SystemV 4.2 0.0 Sun·3/160 4.2BSD 2.73 0.00 VAX8600 4.3 BSD 0.67 0.00 6.75 6.98 1.13 7.6 39 .8 2.9 3.62 15.32 1.10 1.6 8.1 0.2 1.90 2.75 0.48 0.28 0.77 0.05 5.70 35 .6 14 .05 7.5 2.13 0.55 0.90 4.7 1.52 0.7 0.20 0.12 Sieve Write Read Shell Loop Real User System Real Real Real User System Real User System Symmetric 375 IBM PC XT AT&TPC6300 AT&T Unix PC Sun-3/160 VAX8600 2.73 2.58 8.2 7.8 4.42 3.85 2.4 2.1 0.73 0.62 0.32 0.28 0.06 0.3 0.40 0 .0 0.00 0.00 2.25 11 .6 7.23 3.9 1.33 0.32 5.38 20.7 17.35 11 .6 1.00 0.13 4.66 8.5 12.38 5.1 2.78 1.07 0.26 1. 1 0.43 0.2 0.08 0.00 1.96 3.2 3 .98 1.2 0.77 0.15 8.18 8.01 0.08 32.2 31 .5 0.3 16.62 15.8 0.37 6.8 6.2 0.1 2.00 1.80 0.02 0.73 0.60 0.00 Multitasking Unix benchmark (reel time): Machine Unix version Number of concurrent processes 2 3 4 5 6 Symmetric 375 IBM PCXT AT&T PC6300 AT&T Unix PC Sun-3/160 VAX8600 4.2 BSD PC/IX Xenix V SystemV 4.2 BSD 4.3 BSD 4.65 10.6 12.52 6 .3 2.63 1.17 6.42 23.4 16.38 8.7 3. 14 1.51 8.15 42.8 22 .97 12.7 369 1.83 9.80 74 . 1 28.33 19.2 4.25 2.17 , 1.61 84 .2 35 .78 22 .8 4.85 2.53 13.29 130.7 43 .33 29 .8 5.51 2. 83 Table 2: The BYTE C language benchmarks. (For more information, see "A Closer Look" by Richard Crehan in the September 1987 BYTE.) All times are in seconds. except for the Dhrystone, which is in Dhrystones per second. The Dhrystone version is J. I, using no registers, for 50,000 iterations. Test Symmetric IBM PC AT Model80 AT&T AT&T Sun-31160 VAX8600 11-MHz 8-MHz 16-MHz PC6300 Unix PC 16-MHz 32081 FPU 80287 80387 NoFPU NoFPU 68881 Dhrystone' Fibqnacci Float Savage Sieve Sort 793 206 .16 4.57 103.39 46.19 47 .08 1590 126 .22 10.98 37 .30 24 .60 43 . 17 3626 57 .26 1.62 9.49 6.45 7.74 5615 356.45 764 .50 6607 .00 59.03 105.42 980 185.4 39.1 1009.0 41.0 51 .9 3333 44 .13 14 .67 205.30 11 .23 12.07 8888 .67 33 .40 0.40 5.35 4.55 4.27 · Higher figures denote faster performance. 144 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 REVIEW : THE SYMMETRIC 375 l l cursor keys. It consumes under 50 wat1S of power . I'm used to an IBM PC keyboard lay out , and I found the layout of this key board almost unusable. For example, the Shift Lock key is on the left-hand side be tween the A and the Control key ; the > and < symbols are on a special key on the left-hand side , to the left of the Shift key ; and the I symbol is on a special key to the right of the Return key . These keys are used extensively on Unix systems, so I had trouble getting used to the layout. Since the Opus 220 lists for $675 , I would suggest getting a terminal you're com fortable with and asking Symmetric for a credit. The printer was unavailable for review. However , considering the low cost of to day ' s printers and the fact that many peo ple already have one or two , it seems odd to bundle one in with this system. Again , I see no reason to get the printer with the system and suggest that you ask Symmet ric for a credit for it or that you settle for the low-end version of the system , which doesn't include the printer or the tenninal. No printed documentation was avail able when the system was first sent to me. Symmetric explained that the documen tation was being revised and reprinted . However , the standard Berkeley Unix manual pages were on the computer, so I was able to navigate my way through the system . A few weeks later, I received The 375 Owner 's Manual which includes schematics of the CPU board but lacks an index and is very light on introductory material. Performance and Problems I ran the BYTE Unix benchmarks (see " Benchmarking Unix Systems" by David F. Hinnant in the August 1984 BYTE) and the BYTE 32-bit C benchmarks (see " A Closer Look" by Richard Grehan in the September 1987 BYTE) on the Sym metric 375, an IBM PC XT running PC/lX, an AT&T PC 6300 running Xenix V, an AT&T Unix PC running System V, a Sun-3/160 running Sun BSD Unix 4.2 release 3.2, and a VAX 8600 running BSD 4.3 (see tables 1 and 2) . As the Unix benchmarks show the Symmetric 's performance is roughly three times that of the PC 6300 and is about the same as the Unix PC's , except for the disk I/O and the multitasking benchmark (the Unix PC was tested with l megabyte of memory and a slower disk drive) . The C benchmarks show that the Symmetric teste<l slightly slower than the AT&T Unix PC, except in the floating point benchmarks , where the Symme tric's floating-point unit (FPU) gave it an advantage. The Symmetric has Jess raw processing power than an 8-MHz IBM PC AT and isn 't nearly as fast as the Sun . Ken McDonell's Monash benchmarks, which are more extensive workload based Unix benchmarks, show the Sym metric running about 40 percent slower than a DEC MicroVAX II and a Sun-3/50 and about 60 percent slower than a Sun-3/1 60. The Centronics port failed to work with my Okimate 20 printer with a paral lel -port PC personality module. Al though I tried a number of tests , technical support was unable to help me get the printer to work with the system. [Editor 's note : We attempted to use a Citizen Model 120D printer and experienced the same problem . We contacted Symmetric 's tech nical support, and after we conducted several tests, technical suppon conclud ed that something had gone wrong with the. handshake electronics to the printer port for the review system.] Under normal use, the system didn't crash. However, it did crash when I dis co111in11ed The Word Is Out: Send Protected Data Over Any Modem_. Data Sentinel-secured data can be transmitted . You can even send secured data to electronic bulletin boards and mail services like CompuServe and GEnie for a 'pickup' the next morning. And ifyou're not transmitting, you can use your Data Sentinel to protect your own personal files. All of which ties up a lot of very loose ends. Very quickly. And at $195 a pair, very a fford ably. . The word is out in data security. And the word 1s Data Sentinel. Data Sentinel-How It Works. The Word Is Out. Now you can secure your PC data files and keep modem transmissions completely private. With the Data Sentinel hardware key from RainbowTuchnologies. And without passwords or modem-matching. Simply plug the Data Sentinel into your PC's parallel port. Then follow the easy step-by-step menu to encrypt and compress your data files. Which can be opened only with a duplicate of your own personalized Data Sentinel key. Up to now, it hasn't been easy to send secured files. You see 'old' modems don't encrypt or compress data . And whlle 'new' ones can, they can't send the secured data to an 'old' one. But to the Data Sentinel, that's a piece of the past. Because as long as your old-old, old-new, new-old or new-new modems at each end are compatible, Circle 231 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 131) MOANDYEM .ll.ll.o...... ENC+:,v:,.reo Features: · Fvr IBM PCs and Compatibles · Saves rransmission Tims & Cost · Proprietary Encryption & Compression · No Password · Easy Menu Prompts · Plugs Into Parallel Port ·Modem & Printer rransparent · DES System Compatible RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES 18011-A Mitchell South, Irvine , CA 92714 · (714) 261-0228 TELEX: 386078 ·FAX: (714) 261-0260 0 1987 Rmnbow'fnchnoloi;;ies, JnC'. o~u a ~n t inel la a cr1ide msrk o( R.e1nbowTcchnolog1es. t:T*kml,._ UlM ii: · ~t.r.n!d 0( lntaT..allmlAI RUE~ ~hthlftn. Coal~~M' u II rTPtnvd ~rl <JI l·MrR Bk.-1.... ceoie · ~....in.>&A:J at,-m EllCNl:t!«IMdonSco,.,_.Omi.~ JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 145 Circle 260 on Reader Senice Card REVIEW : THE SYMMETRIC 375 SPEED UP YOUR PC/XT NOW NORTON SI = 9.4/10.3 You know that SPEED is the only thing your PC/XT never has. Its brain tak es too much time to think. Have it t ransplanted now with the EPC motherboard and your sy stem would yield an astonishingly high performance. exceeding even that of the PC-AT. EPC is simply the FASTEST PC/XT Motherboard In the World that is fully compatible to all PC/XT hardware and softw are. It's 100% designed and made in CAN.ADA and absolutely not a downsize AT clone. EPC comes with an s tep-by- step installation manual plus a TWO-YEARS warranty and prices only US$399.00 (with 0Kb) SPECIFICATIONS · 80286- 10 CPU in 8088 mode · Dual speed : 8Mhz/ 1OMhz · Scxketed for 60287 · Scxkcted fo r BIOS/640Kb RAM 0 Industrial Grade 4-l ayer PCB · 8 XT slots · XT keyboa rd Inpu t · XT Power supply input · Dlmenslons: 8.51 n.x 141n. (lit most XT clone c~se s) Dealer Inquiries Welcome NEW VERSION 4.0 For IBM ~c·s. XT's . AT's and other DOS machines. This is the one you've heard so much about- with last compile times. small object code modules, no royal ties. and clear error messages. Version 4.0 is based upon AN Sl -74 standards with new features including: · Multi-key Indexed files with up to 24 keys. This advanced feature requires !he software package Btrieve®.vhich is optionally available. ·Windowing , pop-up's, color and overlays. This advanced feature req uires the software package Saywhat?!T" which is optionally available. · ACCEPT numerics with decimal point alignment, numeric checking, AUTO-SKIP, SECU RITY , LENGTH-CHECK, EMPTY-CHECK. · Fast memory mapped DISPLAY's (1, 5) ERASE , BEEP. ATTRIBUTE. ·Level 88's - READ INTO - WAI TE/RE WRITE FROM - and DELETE. ·An easy 10 use. COBOL source code EDITOR with auto line numbering, A-margin. B margin tabbing with full screen cursor control. Curren! customers can receive the new version by sending in th eir original diskette and $30 .00. This ofter expires Dec. 31 , 1987 Also available : Utah FORTRAN . Utah BASIC , Utah PASCAL, Utah PILOT, Btrieve and Saywhat? !. Used by 50,000 professionals, students and leachers in 40 countries. To order call : C. SI CE 1977 ELLIS COMPUTINGTM 5655 Riggins Court , Suite 1O (702) 827-3030 Reno , Nevada89502 IBM is a reg1s t~rod tr.lelem ark of Intern ational Business Machines. Inc. Btneve is a registered Hademar of Sof1craft. Inc SAYWHAT?! 1s a 11ademar of The Research Group. U1ah COBOL is a 1radeina1k ol Elhs Compu11ng. Inc ·'· 198i Elhs Computing Inc. connected the cables while troubleshoot ing the Centronic printer connection . T he system also crashed when J tipped the unit 45 degrees forward and caused the disk tO mi strack. The fourth time I did thi . , the y. tern era. hed and refused to boot properly. A call to technical support informed me that tipping the unit had af fected the alignment of the di. k ' s read/ write head and subsequently had dam aged a boot file. Technical suppor t was able to talk me through booting from the floppy disk drive check ing the hard disk drive, restoring the damaged files, and getting the system operational again . The per on I dealt with from Symmet ric' s technical support wa s qu ite knowl edgeable. Also, Lo my surpri se, I wasn't bounced around to several people to find one who could fix my problem ; instead , the first person I spoke with in technical support helped me with both th e disk and printer problems. Portable BSD Unix, But at a Price The Symmetric 375 is a nice system for people wh o need a portable Unix system . Its portability is hampered. however, by the fact that you need a separate terminal 10 use it (unlike, say , a Compaq Porta ble). The many languages provided with t.he system make it ideal for program de velopment for Berkeley Unix . It per fo rmed well, bu! the di k can ' t be ' ub jected to much stress while running . T he y tern is fast, but not as fa st as the cur ren t generation of 802 86/ 80386 PC clones . Its lack of high-resolut ion bit mapped graphics puts it at a disadvantage with respect to Suns and VAXslatioas. The reaJ question for the pro pective buyer of thi system is whether its fea tures j ustify its price compared to oth er small Unix systems . For about the same price , you can get a similarly configu red Sun-3/ 50 or VAXstation 2000 running Berkeley Unix with an Ethernet port. For around $5000, you can get a imilarly configured 80386-based PC clone , without an Ethernet port, that run s Xenix V or Unix System V Relea e 3 and can easily outperform the Symmetric. The PC clone can also run multiple MS-DOS programs as processes under Un ix. ote that all the se oth er sys tem s have bit mapped displays , while the Symmetric uses an ASCH terminal . If you ' re looking for a portable Berke ley Unix system, thi s is it. If you ' re look ing for a portable software development system w ith a wide choice of program ming languages, the Symmetric looks good. However, if you' re looking for j ust a portable Unix system, you may want to look at the Compaq Portable m or one of the. small 80386-based portables starting to come out now. · 146 BYT E · JA UARY 1988 Circle 89 on Reader Sen·ice Card .. ... Tooay'snew generation of personal comput· ers.provldes unprecedented power and capability. That'sthe good news. Now the bad news. Your diskette media Is stretched to the limit every lime It'staken for aspin. And, as diskette densities increase. so does the chance of failure. That's why Kao (pronounced oow) Corpo ration re-thought the diskette. And applied Its 100 years of expertise In surface science t~hnology to developing the first diskettes designed for today's high performance computers. . Kao diskettes employ patented, wear· resistant resins and surface-treated mag netic particles for better head-to-surface contact, the key to diskette durablllly and performance. And unique surface lubricants actually extend the IHe of your drlve's read/ write heads. Our new Canadian mlcrodlsk plant-the world's largest and mosJ mod· em-ensures that Kao diskettes exceed every Industry standard worldwide. Mor,e than 12 mllllon high pertormance Kao diskettes have been sold under many well-known brand na~in the llSA Now they're available ftom leadllljl~mputer spe 'tlatty and ~ products dealers under the Kao na11'18,1 ln aCOt11Plele selection of sizes, densities, and.Colon all the way to 2MBytes In 3.5~ We even litm;§l{stom silkscreen designs-an lnncivlillft ay to enhance mar ketl~ progrart1$, I~ securlly, ·nd ilm plHy diskette Id ~· For the nanit191 VU\11' nearest Kao dealer, call (800).541·3475. ~n CA: BOO 548·34]5). And get the first diskettes designed for the Fortune 500. Or cbtnpanies that will! Iii totnthem. ~·~·=~'!sc=:=;~~4.! ~~~!"~~~=~=~~;~°!:i~¢1:,C!'~~mr,~;-~~r.:t~i~~rYOJ2~8H5 ~O:~:~':~~~i::~o,::;::;~;~~~~t~ °' lnCaf\4.dttC.04'\IOCT K-D'd.i. ltd. PO Bo), .:.t, l00ioo).I 0..1vO. Afl'\P<llOr.Onl loOS3H2(613tG237'001 Fo;.:(6~JS23· 2e00 fQie -.. ~6 1fCf0000tOCOtJSOt'KJ00ncMll'TI:>l'flJSOOJOf Ofldornemonl byll'Wt!WJ Jn EvrQ>M COl"ilOCI K· o CO<pot· l5Qt\ (llr\bH In n~yattl.l"l'\S DNiAllOt\ W anholmrn Stt 57. ~ 000 OOaMJkM>f l 30. F R._ G4tr l"T\lln)' . 1·4 !7tl-O~f\;I( O?l l ·1l355!) T~ ~ 858?58t> ~000 (I e0r11PU r110:t QI Koo dUJkollo· 0 ~B7 Kao COfOOIR:K>f'I Circle 134 on Reader S ervice Card JANUA RY J988 · BYTE 147 I 9-pin pnn thead prints black and white only MARKET SHARE BY COLOR Top speed 200 cps for drafts, 40 cp s for le tter quality text. I ·t . °""'llitl'" A· U~· cn·r " o...· "''"·..· · r·o ..... ti\· .,,.. ... ,. ntoo·· l ··11 tno cohl!·. ca.-·'ld inQ "' ~"( sn111r· ot '"v u r 1 ,..,.,~ 11·1 (('r ~ c;t1"lll1111ntl y . o·r nl~ · r.:,'lt 'Mlfllro . l'rlw tu IUhl··t ·urpr··· Oc ( ell ..,.,, O" - ' ' · ·t. "°~ ' · \ 11> 6'\<111· ..,.. ll oul:l l ot \ · c.. f the 1\l"·.,lo.u· ytuu·. h· · peC"lff · 00 1 oh.1· "!\Cl .,... 11 0 .. f' f'c:ttd c~n· 10· "·~ ly 1n ooo~ l ,.rity. Suggested retail price: $549. Control panel with 3 selections. A "Pro" doesn't stand a chance next to the new ALPS ALQ200'."4 Because the ALQ200 has more of what it takes to get more done. Take speed, for instance. With its 18- or 24-pin printhead, the ALQ200 prints excellent letter quality text twice as fast. And the same is true for high resolution graphics. Where, as you can see, we also have a distinct color advantage. The ALQ200 even has what it takes to make people faster. Like auto matic paper loading. A full-function, push-button control panel. And com patibility with all the leading PCs and software. Speci.hcanon.s and pnce:s hued on respecti ve ma.nu_facture(s published hteratu1e. Sub1ect to change without notice. EATA PRO. MARKET SHARE BY COLOR Snap-in lout, inter chan geahle 18- and 24-pin prin theads print 7 colors, includin g black. Top speed 240 cps for drafts, 100 cps for letter quality tex t. _ , II.a I PI· L l't.,t ·~·v · ·~ . r·~ tl\.f ~.,., · · t1 I C:<1t · I w l l l l'IO ci;tlor , ~~ nol n9 · 3 01 e n a r · 0 1 1rwi - ' kt l . Of' · l'IO-- e le o o. r ur -~ &>t"H1 t 1111 11 .,, ··" " "'1 · '"" :~ \' .~.,.. . b<" l g ., ua t 1<11rD' l et er e l I · ·· 0''' " · · t lO · , o &Ml'· ....a 4 ... bt · t h.al e l t k9 _.. , .,., .... t· t r . A.e · ·,a·c. t e ll , Ntl'tlll., t ~·· I' °'"" 'Hto c04'1t l Cl tra= lv r" ooo.v t a11 1y . ALPS AlQ2{)() Suggested retail price:$595 for 18-pin, $695 for 24-pin. Push-button panel controls all printing functions without DIP switches or software commands. Noise level 55 dBA. You'll also find the ALQ200 espe cially compatible with busy offices. After all, it's about as solidly built as a printer can be. So it's quieter. And nearly impossible to overwork. But what really beats all is that the ALQ200 costs about the same as the so-calle d "Pro.II For a free demonstration or more Circle 11 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS : 12) information, call us at (800) 828-ALPS. In California, (800) 257-7872. And see a real pro at work. ALPS AMERICA IT'S TIME YOU SAW THE ALPS. ALQ200 15 a tradomork of ALPS Electric Co.. Ltd C l987 ALPS Am e r<c· HypertExpert Systems ...something totally new from Knowledge Garden HYPERTEXT Hypertext lets you link related concepts. logic or procedures. It adds a whole new dimension to written material like training manuals,help systems and reference works. Hypertext allows users to access information in anon-linear fashion by follow ing a train of thought. Hypertext lets the reader control the level of detail and the type of information displayed. But that's just one side of the coin. EXPERT SYSTEMS The other key ingredient to real exchange of knowl· edge via the computer is control by the author. 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A TOOL FOR BEGINNERS KnowledgePro let's you communicate knowledge, easily and without spending weeks on the details. KnowledgePro handles the details for you. It provides easy access to colors. windows and mouse control. It's been called the BASIC of the 80's because anyone can get results Quickly- and then grow into more sophisticated features at their own pace. TO ORDER Call 518·766-3000 (American Express, Visa. M/C accepted) or mail yo?'"''"""'""' today. Knowledge Garden c. 473A Malden B ge Rd. Nassau, NY 23 The run-time v ion of KnowledgePro is free on th electronic networks or $15 from owledge Garden complete with u ul example applications. () Another Intelligent Kn:!l:ge tool In the Knowledge Garden GARDEN Inc. family of products. Published by IBM is a reglsteted 1rademar1< of lniematlonal Business Machines Inc. Knowl~ Pro is a trademar1< of Knowledge Gatden Inc. OBASE Ill is a trademar1< ol Ashlon Tate. LOTUS 123 Is a registered tradematk ol LolUs Development Corp. Pholo: Tcherevkofl C 150 B Y TE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 138 on Reader Service Card HARDWARE REVIEWS High-Performance Graphics Boards Bill Nicholls m ~ We can no longer expect lhe main system processor to ade Separate graphics the VMI could operate in dua.l monitor fashion with an exist quately handle ever-more-com plex applications and, at the processors provide high-speed, ing display (i .e., you can use a standard graphics adapter- same time, maintain high-per formance graphics on displays high-resolution displays CGA, EGA, or Hercules-with the VMI in the same system with more and more pixels. To simultaneously) . relieve the graphics bottleneck, The VMI' s CGA emulation two new high-performance is top-notch . It uses a custom graphics boards for IBM PC. AT . and compatible systems are now available: Vermont Micro systems' Image Manager 640 (VMI 640) and the Verticom 2Page Display (VTP) system. -,-. I- < 'C . . - ·- - .' . 1\· ..; ·. - - ·.--:- _ : ·_. : ~ , .. II VLSI chip to perform the emu lation, and the CGA character set takes advantage of the dis play's 400 scan lines to replace the 8- by 8-pixel CGA font with an 8- by 16-pixel one. This is a The VMI 640 uses the TI 34010 CGA that you could work with graphks processor chip, while all day without getting eye the VTP incorporates the Intel strain. The VMI's CGA-emula 82786 graphics processor chip tion speed is faster than the IBM (see the text box " Graphics Co CGA board and is compatible processors" on page 154). with all the software I tested. Both boards emulate the (The YMI even ran in my Sanyo CGA and provide their own 885 ; that and the IBM CGA high- resolution modes and cus board were the only ones that tom drivers for a number of would .) software products (see the box The VMI 640 also has a well on page 152 for details) . They designed PGL (Professional also differ radically from each Graphics Language) software other in several ways. The VMI package and can emulate the 640 is a medium-high-resolu tion (640 by 480 by 256 pixels) color board for MultiSync-type The Image Manager 640 (top) and Verricom 2Page (bottom) graphics boards. IBM Professional Graphics Controller (PGC). This pack age includes a language manual displays (an EGA monitor does and reference card, a special not have the required bandwidth), partic The VTP board has 512K bytes of RAM MS-DOS program that you can use to in ularly useful for CAD applications . The for the display and 8K bytes of ROM . teractively write commands that are im VTP is a high-resolution (1280 by 960 mediately executed on the screen, and C pixels) monochrome board , with a 19- VMI640 language bindings for professional soft inch monitor included. My VMI 640 full -length board arrived ware development. To give you an idea of how these well protected with a 2-inch three-ring The high-resolution performance of boards differ from current display con binde r. The documentation is well orga the VMI under Microsoft Windows trollers, let's compare a CGA display nized and clear, has plenty of diagrams , varied from slow to glacial. Scroll times controller with the new designs . The first makes no assumptions about what you were two to three and a halftimes that in thing that jumps out at you (besides the know, and has a competent table of con the CGA mode, and the delay increased prices-$1695 for the VMI 640 and tents and index. It describes the installa continued $1295 for the VTP) is the amount of tion process and gives detailed instruc f11emory included on the new boards. The t ions . The board requires very few Bill Nicholls r;eceived his B.S. in physics display on a CGA board has only 32K jumper adjustments, and I had no prob from Notre Dame University and is the bytes of RAM. The VMI 640 board has lem installing the VMI 640, which re owner of BGW Systems Inc. He can be l28K bytes of ROM (twice that of an AT) , quires a long expansion slot in an IBM cofltacted ar BGW Systems Inc. , 16714 l40K bytes of RAM for the processor, PC, XT, AT , or compatible computer. I Meridian S, Suite 200, Puyallup , WA and 300K bytes of RAM for the display . was particularly happy to discover that 98373. oron B/Xas "bil/n . " JANUARY 1988 · BYTE ISi REVIEW : HIGH-PERFORMANCE GRAPHICS BOARDS Image Manager 640 Company Vermont Microsystems Inc. 11 TiganSt. P.O. Box236 Winooski, VT 05404 (802) 655·2860 Size Standard XT full-length expansion card: 13V3 by 4 inches Features 640· by 480· by 256-color resolution; screen refresh is 60 hertz noninterlaced, 30.48 kilohertz horizontal: 16-million· color palette; 300K·by1e on-board graphics RAM arranged in 8 bit planes; uses the Tl 34010 graphics processor running at 6 MHz with 128K by1es of processor ROM and 140K bytes of processor RAM ; supports the complete set of PGL commands: emulates CGA, IBM PGC. VMI VM·8820. and Image Manager 1024. Support for applications software includes: Ansys, Anvil· 1000MD. AutoCAD. CADKEY, CADvance, DataCAD 2 and 3, Design Board Professional, GM 1000, Personal Designer. Pro-Series, Redliner. TGRAF· 05 and -07, Uniras Series. and VersaCAD. Board consumes 5 volts DC at 2 amps typical. Hardware Required IBM PC, XT, AT, RT, or true compatible Software Required MS·DOS 2.1 or higher Documentation Three-ring binder with two SV2· by 8V2· inch typset manuals: Installation and Usage Guide, 65 pages plus introduction, appendix. and index; and Professional Graphics Language Version 2.0, 170 pages plus appendix and index Price $1695 Inquiry 889. with the speed of the system. The low performance was clearly linked to the be ginning of each page, where a pause of almost a second occurred. A call to the company revealed that Windows places a " >>" character at the beginning of each page and that the symbol is not in the character set (Helvetica) that the board uses as a default. The company said that because of Windows' driver limitations, each time this symbol appears, the cur rent character set is cleared, the set with this symbol is downloaded, the symbol is displayed, and the whole process is done again to reload the correct character set to Vertlcom 2Page Dlsplay System Company Verticom 545 Weddell Dr. Sunnyvale. CA 94089 (800) 433-5760 (408) 747-1222 in California Size Standard XT expansion card: 4'.4 by 13V3 inches Features Monochrome display with 1280· by 960-pixel resolution ; screen refresh is 64 Hz noninterlaced. with 63.65 KHz horizontal; 512K by1es of on-board graphics RAM: incorporates a 20-MHz Intel 82786 graphics coprocessor with SK by1es of processor ROM : provides CGA emulation and a Microsoft lnPort Device Interface. Support for applications software includes Microsoft Windows. GEM . AutoCAD ADI , Aldus PageMaker, and Ventura Publisher. Controller consumes 5 volts at 3 amps maximum. Hardware Required IBM PC, XT, AT, or compatible Software Required MS-DOS 2.1 or higher Options Programmer 's Guide and System Toolkit, free if requested with purchase of VTP system; $20 if purchased separately Documentation Two SV2· by 8112-inch spiral-bound manuals: Operations Guide. 61 pages plus appendix; Programmers' Guide, 107 pages plus appendix Price 2Page controller: $1295 With Verticom 2Page monochrome monitor: $2395 Verticom 2Page monochrome monitor alone: $1395 Inquiry 890. continue the display process. I let them know I thought they had a serious perfor mance bug, and they promised to look for a solution. I made several calls to the support peo ple. While I couldn't permanently dis guise the fact that I was a reviewer, the response was prompt and competent for simple as well as technical questions. VTP The VTP board and display arrived in two boxes. The board appears well made; it is fully packed with circuits and has no jumper wires visible . The 19-inch mono chrome display was packaged face-down in a large, heavy cardboard box with molded plastic cushions on all sides . Ac cording to the documentation, the VTP is compatible with the IBM PC, XT, and AT, the Compaq Deskpro 286 and 386, and the Hewlett-Packard Vectra. The documentation for this massive package consists of a slim spiral-bound book entitled Operations Guide , with scattered installation instructions and some README files on the driver disk. The 51h- by 81h-inch manual has a table of contents buried 9 pages deep, has no index, and was run off on a letter-quality printer with right-margin justification, which makes it difficult to read. The pages have large margins, few diagrams , and less than 80 worthwhile pages. Be cause of the manual ' s shortcomings , you 'II need some technical knowledge to install this board . The VTP has a number of annoying in stallation restrictions : You cannot use it with an EGA in the same system or with a Compaq monochrome/CGA board. The board creates an address restriction for software access (in the AOOOO-A03FF hexadecimal range), so if you try to ac cess this area, the system will hang . You also have to set a few jumpers; fortu nately , there is a clear jumper diagram in appendix A. The manual's discussion of interrupts is confusing, mixing XT and AT inter rupt structures and the mouse and CGA interrupts almost at random . The manual presents no clear solution for resolving conflicts between the interrupts and ad dress ranges that the board requires and the interrupts and address ranges re quired by other system components. You cannot reconfigure the VTP to use other memory addresses. This is especially an noying because the Intel 82786 chip has the ability to locate those addresses anywhere in the bottom 4 megabytes of address space. Another unnecessary restriction is the VTP's lack of support for monitors other than the VTP display (actually a Phillips model Ml9P114B monitor) . You can program the Intel 82786 chip for a wide variety of monitors; this is an opportunity that Verticom missed. A second slim volume, entitled Pro gramm£r 's Guide, is an optional docu ment for those who'd like to try program ming the display directly . Only the hardiest programmers should apply. In addition to the guide and the system tools disk, you need the full Intel documenta tion on the 82786, an assembler and linker, some experience with assembly language and with graphics, and a lot of patience to put a working program to gether . A Toolkit disk provided with the 152 8 YT E · JANUARY 1988 REVIEW: HIGH-PERFORMANCE GRAPHICS BOARDS manual includes one example in assem bly language that consists of almost noth ing but Verticom-supplied macros and one-line comments. You get neither bind ings nor information on how to drive the display from a higher-level language such as P'ascal or C. If you execute software that drives the screen in reverse video (black on white), the old scrolling method of blanking the screen wilJ strobe arwoying horizontal black bars about 112 inch in height on the display. This is not primarily a fault of the VTP , but the nature of the display makes the problem very obvious. I tested Aldus P'ageMaker under Win dows and found that the tutorial displayed very nicely . On closer inspection, I found that the fit-in-window display option made the type unreadable, but the actual size choice exceeded the screen size for the two facing pages (even though the type was legible at close range). DESQ view 2.0, however, would not boot up with the VTP display installed as the only display. The system froze, and I had to tum the power off and back on to get it to reboot. In high resolution, the VTP display shows mixed CAD performance against the base CGA speed. Using the version 1.2 Windows driver supplied by Verti com, l achieved some interesting results . The speed was not impressive, running about one-half to one-third that of raw CGA. However, 9.6 times as many pixels were being updated on the screen, and the font legibility was very good . A couple of service calls to Verticom gave me the impression that the general support level is good, but below that of VMI. A couple of times the support line was busy; when I finally got through, the person answering took my number and said that a support person would call back. The callbacks were delayed by vari ous amounts of time , one taking more than a day . Based on the available docu mentation, it is likely that this support service wilJ be busier than it should be. Performance I encountered a dilemma when I con sidered benchmarking the VTP and VMI graphics boards. Before this review, there was no set of benchmarks, standard or otherwise, for graphics displays. While I do not expect complete agreement on the benchmarks I developed, they are at least a starting point. There are a number of reasons for the lack of graphics benchmarks. Until re cently there have been only two classes of graphics controllers: too dumb (such as CGA), and too expensive (such as PGC) . Since the great majority of us use only the former, benchmark results are dependent Table I: The benchmarks were run on (a) a 16-MHz 80386 system and (b) an 8-MHz 80286 system. The real-world benchmarks (c) were also run on the VMI and VTP boards in high-resolution modes. All rimes are in seconds. (a) 80388 at 18 MHz Test IBMCGA EGACGA VMICGA VTPCGA Simple Complex Windows AutoCAD Softwest Test (b) 80286 at 8 MHz 16.48 35 .83 29 76 37 16.2 38 .62 39 76 37 15.82 33 .3 28 71 34 16.14 35 .42 28 .5 78 37 Test IBMCGA EGACGA VMICGA VTPCGA Simple Complex Windows AutoCAD Softwest Te st 26.34 51.91 52.5 124 59 (c) High-resolution mode 26.58 54 .87 54 126 60 26 .8 48 .89 51 123 58 26.44 52.18 52 125 59 Test 8038616 MHz VMl640 VTP VMI 640 802868 MHz VTP Windows AutoCAD Softwest Test 107 100 127 136 78 91 138 143 36 50 61 78 on the host processor and whatever meth od of writing to the controller's memory the benchmark uses . In addition, the ear lier (pre-single-chip) technology for graphics processors generated large and expensive display subsystems, restricting their use to a few critical applications. After considerable head scratching, I decided on a matrix of tests that would cover multiple dimensions of the use of graphics . Since no end user buys a graph ics processor except as part of a function ing system, the relevant point is how these boards work in a system. I decided that I should cover host processor dependence, resolution dependence, simple drawing tests, complex drawing tests, and real world application tests. To examine host processor depen dence, I tested a variety of display con trollers (CGA, EGA emulation of CGA, the VMI, and the VTP) in systems of dif ferent speeds. I ran the tests on a 16 megahertz ALR Access 386 with 512K bytes of 32-bit memory, 512K bytes of 16-bit extended memory, a 30-megabyte hard disk drive, and a 1.2-megabyte flop py disk drive (see table la). Then I ran them on an 8-MHz ALR Dart 286 with I megabyte of memory, a 40-megabyte hard disk drive, and a 1.2-megabyte flop py disk drive (see table lb). Simple drawing tests are those requir ing a minimum of calculation to draw graphics shapes on the screen. These tests show the maximum sensitivity to graphics performance, as opposed to host computational speed. (These tests folJow a set suggested by Jim Omura on BIX.) Complex drawing tests are designed to reproduce real use of graphics devices, including windowing and complex shapes. The complex function tests use a modified version of Borland's Turbo Graphix Toolbox demo program. Real-world application tests use soft ware that places large demands on the graphics capability of the system. For this series of benchmarks, I tested Microsoft Windows version 1.03 and AutoCAD version 2 .6 in typical use that demands graphics performance. I executed the Windows test in Win dows Write by scrolling an SOK-byte file from top to bottom. After Write displayed the first page, I began timing when I pressed the PageDown key, and l stopped when Write beeped at the end of the file . I used AutoCAD to display two fairly com plex drawings: Softwest, a complete printed-circuit-board drawing (201K conrinued JANUARY 1988 · B Y T E 153 REVIEW: HIGH-PERFORMANCE GRAPHICS BOARDS Graphics Coprocessors T he Tl 34010 chip i a general purpose 32-bit microprocessor with special graphics support instruc tions (see "The TMS34010 Graphics System Processor" by Carrell R. Kille brew Jr . in the December 1986 BYTE). Its strengths are its great flexibili ty, customization via software, large mem ory-address range and its ability to act as host as well as graphics processor. Its weaknesses are the requirement for minimum programming to drive the di play, a fair! y complex in tructjon set (with a long learning curve), and, as a result , the probability that each manu facturer 's board will have a different software interface. The Intel chip is a hardware copro cessor design with built -in graphics drawing capability that can be driven by call with ets of parameters (see my " Inside the 82786 Graphics Chip'' in the August 1987 BYTE) . Its strengths in clude a simpler standard incerface, built in support for most basic graphics oper ations, and a flexible display-support capability. It weaknesse are the re quirements for host proce or upport and programming where the built-in funccions cannoc meet specific needs . byte file) , and Te t, a simpler image (167K-byte file) with a lot of curves (a rainbow of colors drawn as a series of arcs). I began ciming when I pressed lhe Return key after the filename and stopped after the drawing (inished when AutoCAD prompted with Command on the bouom lefl of the display. I also ran these real-world tests on both boards in high- re olution mode . See lable Jc for the results. Operations in high resolution (com pare tables I a and I b with table le) were anywhere from slightly to dramaticaJly slower than the equivalenc CGA opera tions . Thi s wa a significant disappoint ment to me , a I had expected that the graphics processors would more than make up for the work of updating extra pixels. On reflection, I concluded that the re sponsibility for the lack of performance cannot be laid entirely at the board manu facturer's door. The essentiaJ cause of the performance problem is the lack of a well-defined and generally used graphic. interface- other than , possibly , Micro soft Windows. Unfortunately , Microsoft designed Windows before graphics pro cessors were available , and the results indicate that the interface defined by Win dows drivers does not lend itself to efficient operation with graphics processors. Thus, these graphics boards deliver on the higher resolution and flexibility that their processors can give, but they can't deliver on their performance promise with most current software . (Those pro grams whose designers have specifically incorporated code to make use of the pro cessor's advanced features are the excep tions.) Future software based on a device independent interface between the host processor and the graphics processor could dramatically improve both the graphics display and the system's perfor mance . This could be especially true of a multitasking operating system that takes advantage of the support and memory ecei v1 na Report Checks Printed &Signed Transmitted Invoice Price, Qty, Part# lfatched lnv" i~ " Stamped :oded (c) I I I ,--- ---- --+----------, I I I I ' ' Open Check Register Accounts Payable (e) (e) A/P Circle 197 011 Reader Senice Card REVIEW: GCC'S PERSONAL LASERPRINTER that the graphics processor provides. [Editor's note; In evaluating the boards for this article, the author ran many more resrs rhan we can show here. For the com· plete set of benchmark results. see the BIX conference graphic.displreview.J GCC 's Personal Laserprinter Assets and Liabilities The VMI 640 board comes from a manu facturer with a history of providing high resolution graphics boards and software support for the CAD user. The experi ence shows. Tills board is well suited for CAD, CAE, or perhaps business and sci entific graphics. It also perfonns well in a mi,:ed-task environment because of the superior CGA emulation. With the exception of the problem in the current Windows driver, the board's perfonnance and the manufacturer's sup port are about all you could ask for . I'm particularly impressed with the board's ability to run in so many dual-monitor configurations. The only thing left to wish for is a lower price; $1695 will re strict the sales of this board . When the full Windows screen opens up in front of you the first time you use the VTP, the impact is considerable. I have to commend Verticom for supplying a very readable Windows font. The VTP display is well suited to page layout; if you spend a significant amount of time at this, the VTP should provide sufficient productivity enhancement to justify the cost ($2395) . If you already have a large screen that can be driven by the controller, the cost of the controller alone ($1295) is much easier to bear. However, for the price Verticom is asking , the very least you should expect is comprehensive, carefully indexed, and accurate docwnentation. Verticom should also add the ability to configure the board for addresses other than AOOOO . Finally, Verticom should broaden the base of compatible software (to include DESQ view, for example), improve the CGA emulation, and expand the number of supported monitors. · [Editor's note; Source code (nonexe cutable) listings of SIMPLCGA and CMPLXCGA. the simple and complex drawing benchmarks, respectively, are avai/nble on BEX, on BYTEnel, on disk, and in the Quarterly Listings Supple ment. See "Program Listings" in the table of contents. Porzions of CMPLXCGA based on Borlan.d 's Turbo Graphix Toolbox are used by pennission from Borland lntemational. To "find " source code in the Listings areas on BIX and BYTEnet, search by article title, au thor name, or issue date. Some archived files may contain numerous listings for a single article. A description of the file also accompanies each entry. ] Donald Evan Crabb The PersonaJ Laserprinter from GeneraJ Computer Corp . (GCC) is designed to compete with the Apple LaserWriter Plus in single-user desktop publishing. While some companies (e .g ., QMS and Data products) are trying to beat Apple with laser printers that offer greater perfor mance yet are priced somewhat lower than the LaserWriter Plus ($4000 and up) , GCC hopes to beat Apple mostly with its price: Where the LaserWriter Plus lists for a hefty $5799 , the GCC Per sonal Laserprinter comes in at a trim $2599. Features and Description The differences between the LaserWriter Plus and the Personal Laserprinter (PLP) are significant. The LaserWriter Plus is designed as a shared device to be ac cessed over an AppleTalk network. The PLP is a single-user device dedicated to a single Macintosh. The LaserWriter Plus contains its own MC68000 CPU, RAM , and ROM, and a complete implementation of Postscript. The PLP has no CPU or memory and doesn 't speak PostScript. It prints by ac cepting a compressed QuickDraw image sent to it by the Macintosh, while the LaserWriter Plus composes its own print image. Communications between a Macintosh and a PLP take place through a SCSI con nection . The actual imaging is by a semi conductor laser, similar to the one used in the LaserWriter Plus . The PLP's en gine, produced by Ricoh, gives a resolu tion of 300 by 300 dots per inch and is rated at 6 pages per minute. Like the Canon engine in the Laser Writer Plus , the Ricoh engine is a "write black" design: Toner sticks to the imag ing drum in places charged by the laser . Unlike the Canon engine, however, the PLP's Ricoh engine does not use a single printing cartridge that combines the toner and the im,aging drum. Instead, it uses two separate snap-in cartridges for the drum and the toner. The toner cartridge lasts about 1500 pages, while the imaging drum (OPC in PLP/Ricoh parlance) must be replaced about every 20,000 pages. The OPC drum's cleaning assembly must be re placed separately every 10,000 pages. These figures compare to a rated life of about 3000 pages for a Canon Laser Writer Plus cartridge. The toner cartridges list for $29 , and the OPC cartridges cost $199. The OPC cleaning assemblies cost $99. A Canon LaserWriter Plus cartridge lists for about $120, but it can be recharged with toner several times; the Ricoh toner cartridges cannot be recharged. In the long run, then, the PLP/Ricoh system costs more to use than a LaserWriter Plus/Canon sys tem, given current costs for the different supplies. The Ricoh engine has a theoretical du rability advantage over the Canon engine; 180,000 lifetime pages versus 100,000. In practice, the LaserWriter Plus has proved to be a rock-solid printer that will last far beyond 100,000 images before re quiring a major overhaul or replacement of the imaging system. The monthly rated duty cycle of both printers is 3000 pages ; these figures can be safely exceeded, however . Because of the printi ng method of the PLP , a hard disk drive is required to store the compressed QuickDraw files it will print. The PLP is also a memory-inten sive device ; it needs at least I megabyte of RAM for its printer-support software to spool the compressed QuickDraw files properly. Bitstream Fonts The PLP comes with two sets of Bit stream fonts that mimic the Postscript fonts used by the LaserWriter Plus. These fonts are mathematically defined in out cominued JANUARY 1988 · B Y T E ISS REVIEW: GCC'S PERSONAL LASERPRINTER Personal Laserprlnter Type Laser printer Company General Computer Corp. 580 Winter St. Waltham, MA 02154 (617) 890-0880 Size 9 by 16 by 16V2 inches (without paper tray); 38 pounds Features Ricoh print engine. rated at 6 ppm; 300 by 300-dpi resolution; set of six Bitstream font families ; Personal Laserprinter Print Manager and system resource: high-quality and draft printing modes; SCSI address preset to 3, externally switchable; power requirements: 120 V or 240 V AC Hardware Required Macintosh Plus, SE, or II with at least 1 megabyte of RAM and a hard disk drive; SCSI cable and terminator Software Required Personal Laserprinter printing resource file and font disks Optlona SCSI cable: $49 SCSI terminator: $30 Set of seven additional Bitstream font families: $299 Documentation 96-page spiral-bound manual: two addenda ; on-line documentation (minimal) in Personal Laserprinter Print Manager Price $2599 (includes one OPC and toner cartridge; does not include SCSI cable or terminator) Inquiry 891. ONE PAGE MACWRITE TEXT 0 60 90 ·20 ·50 180 210 240 270 JOO 179 88 3B JO i - 22 1 ONE FULL PAGE MACDRAW GRAPHICS ONE FULL PAGE OF MIXED TEXT AND GRAPHICS g:.;·O 30 GO 1 90 120 I I oro 180 I 150 210 240 270 I I I 1!: JOO I 30 PAGES MACWRITE TEXT 600 900 1500 1800 2 100 2700 2320 ~ 40 1090 1~2 1 81? 789 c::i PERSONAL LASERPRINTER · c::i LASERWRITER PLUS - - MACINTOSH SE 2·MB MACINTOSH SE W/LEVCO PRODIGY 5-MB MACINTOSH II All benchmarks were run with no RAM cache , System 4.1. Finder 5.5, MacWrite version 4.6, MacDraw version 1.9.5, and Courier font . line form, like the Postscript fonts, so that they offer the same high-quality 300 dpi resolution, regardless of their point size . Unlike the PostScript fonts that are stored in the LaserWriter Plus , the Bit stream fonts must be stored on your Mac's hard disk (because the PLP has no ROM or RAM), where they occupy about l megabyte of storage. The Bit stream fonts supplied with the PLP look like the LaserWriter Pius ' s Courier, Hel vetica, Times, Symbol, Palatine , and Helvetica Narrow fonts. GCC offers a $299 set of seven additional Bitstream font families. The PLP connects to the Macintosh Plus, the Macintosh SE, or the Macintosh Il through the SCSI port . The SCSI ad dress is preset to 3 at the factory , but an easy-to-set external push button allows a quick change . Setup took about 30 min utes , from opening the box to printing my first test page . The complete PLP package includes the printer, one toner cartridge, one OPC assembly, three disks, the spiral-bound manual, two manual addenda , a warranty card, and a power cord. The printer lacks the needed SCSI cable and terminator , which are available from GCC for $49 and $30, respectively . GCC provides the usual 90-day warranty , but it does not of fer any extended warranty coverage-a disadvantage, since Apple offers the AppleCare extended warranty for the LaserWriter Plus. Printing Software The PLP includes its own printer soft ware : the Personal Laserprinter Print Manager, the Personal Laserprinter I.0 system resource, and the Bitstream fonts . You can install the Print Manager anywhere you like; I put mine in a special hard disk directory to keep track of all my PLP files. The Personal Laserprinter 1.0 system resource must be copied into the System Folder, so that the System and Chooser can access it . I also put all the continued 156 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 · Microsoft ~ Quick BASIC 4.0 is no longer your basic BASIC. Now, because of a revolutionary break through, you can run, test, debug, then continue running your program and see the results. Instantly. Which is why we call it 'i nstant programming~' Other compilers make you wait while they compile your program at an unimpressive rate of 12,000 lines per minute. But Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.0 translates your program into executable code at a breathtaking 150,000 lines per minute. You get all the speed you can possibly use right when you need it. While you 're developing your program. And for the first time in BASIC, you'll find the most sophisticated debugging tools around. Like the freedom to change a run ning program on the fly. Without restarting. And you also get instant syntax checking, watch expressions, even runtime type checking. Besides all these advances in the environ ment, Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.0 gives you a sophisticated collection of language extensions: records recursion, huge arrays and true functions. There's even interlanguage calling that lets you call subroutines from other Microsoft languages. And if you think all this means you might have to give up phenomenal execution speed , think again. Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.0 &>ives high performance executable code that's the fastest anywhere. About the only thing that isn't more advanced in Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.0 is the price. It's still just 599. And it's stiJI backed with a 30-day money back guarantee. Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.0. Tb make a quantum leap in your pro gramm ing, you need a quantum leap in your language. Microsoft.~QuickBASIC 4.0 For tile name o f yo ur nearest Microsoft d akr. c all (800l 5-IH~6 J. D~p 1. A'13. l">. ti crl--.sofl 1~ .1 r~!..!1S t ~rt;{.) 1r.1di;m:ir l-. t1 i Mi l' n.~..... u·1 Coqx1r:i 1urn Off(,.·r \:1l11J 111 th1,· :.<.> li nitl!<.1 -"1: 11~ .. c."' nly. Circle 171 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: J72) REVIEW: GCC'S PERSONAL LASERPRINTER The Mac /l's processing speed helped close the gap on the LaserWriter Pius's advantage, but it wasn't enough to make up for the lack of a CPU and RAM in the PLP. Bitstream fonts into my PLP directory . If you already have LaserWriter Plus fonts installed, the DA/Font Mover will replace some of those fonts with PLP fonts that have the same name. This is in convenient if you want to alternate be tween a PLP and a LaserWriter Plus, since you' II always get the Bitstream screen version of those fonts when you are editing a file. Of course, during print ing, the LaserWriter Plus will print with its own built-in PostScript fonts , so the inconvenience is not a serious one. Because GCC had to provide a prinl management utility for the PLP, the com pany decided to add some options that you don't find in the Apple LaserWriter Plus print dialog boxes. These additional options include the ability to spool files to disk for later printing (not a true print spooler that returns control to your Mac intosh earlier than straight-through print ing); a limited letter-kerning capability; draft printing (similar to the ugly Image writer draft mode); the ability to process bit-map images with smoothing; and a preview option. Print previewing is by far the most use ful option. By building a print-spool file, the print manager's previewer lets you see the final Macintosh page in as close an approximation to WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) as your Mac screen allows. I only wish I could add this preview feature to Apple's standard LaserWriter Plus print dialog box. Like many other GCC products, the PLP comes with very good documenta tion. Its 96 pages are broken up into four chapters on setting up the printer, install ing software and printing, using the printer, and maintenance and trouble shooting. Each section is well written, but the opening chapter on installation and setup suffers from poor illustrations. Two addenda update the changes made in the PLP software since its beta release. Pe.rformance There is no getting around it-the PLP is a slow printer. To test performance, I compared the times the two printers took to print four different documents : a one page MacWrite 4. 6 file, consisting of the string "The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over The Lazy Dog" repeated; a one page MacDraw 1.9.5 file (four images of a custom-designed business card); a 30 page MacWrite 4.6 file (30 pages of the one-page MacWrite example); and a page combining text and graphics. For each printer, I ran the four tests on three systems: a I-megabyte Macintosh SE, a 2-megabyte Mac SE with a Levco Prodigy SE accelerator board installed, and a 5-megabyte Mac II (see the graph on page 156). Even with the 5-megabyte Macintosh II, the PLP's times were slower than the slowest LaserWriter Plus/Macintosh combination, except for the time required to print a full page of MacDraw graphics . The processing speed of the Mac II helped close the gap dramatically on the LaserWriter Pius's advantage, but it wasn't enough to make up for the lack of a CPU and RAM in the PLP. In short, the ways in which GCC has chosen to cut costs in the PLP made an obvious differ ence in printing speed in the tests I conducted. Software Compatibility ace provides an extensive list of soft ware that will not work with the PLP: Great Plains Accounting 4. 10, Layered's Insight 1.02, Software Ventures' Micro phone 1.0, OverVUE 2. la from ProVue, Aldus PageMaker 2.0 (although Aldus offers a free upgrade, 2.0a, that will print on the PLP), Apple's AppleLink 2.0, Red Ryder 10.0, Maitreya Design's mini WRITER, and VersaTenn-PRO. GCC also provides a list of software that works with the PLP, although with some problems: Telos' Business File vision; Cricket Draw; Odesta's Double Helix; Microsoft's Chart, Excel, File, Filemaker Plus, Word 3.01, Works , and PowerPoint; Ann Arbor Softwork's Full Paint; Apple's ·HyperCard, MacPaint, MPW, and MacWrite; Lotus's Jazz; Think Technologies' Lightspeed C and Pascal; MindWork Software's Mind Write; Living Videotext's More; Blyth Software's Omnis 3 Plus; Broderbund's Print Shop; and Silicon Beach Software's SuperPaint. The release notes with the printer de tail the problems with printing and the processes required to make each of these packages print with the PLP. I tried all the workarounds and found that they act just as GCC says they do. In addition to these programs, there are programs that will work with the PLP but, because they rely heavily on the abilities of Postscript. will produce Imagewriter-quality results at best. These packages include Cricket Draw, Adobe Illustrator, and Quark XPress. By compa.rison, GCC's list of software that works without problems is smaller: Acius's 4th Dimension , Symmetry's Acta , Cricket Graph, Ashton-Tate's dBASE Mac , Apple's MacDraw , Mac Terminal , and MacProject, Paragon Courseware's QUED/M, Orange Micro's Ragtime, Letraset's Ready-Set Go , Data Tailor's Trapeze, and T/Maker's WriteNow. When a software package and the PLP work together, either seamlessly or through a special workaround, the output quality is generally high. It is at least as good as any LaserWriter Plus output of the same document, and in many cases , the PLP graphics looks slightly crisper and the text a bit blacker. Because of dif ferences in the positioning of Quick Draw- versus Postscript-generated graphics, most PLP output is not aligned quite the same as equivalent LaserWriter Plus output. Recommendations The PLP is not the universal answer to Macintosh owners who need a high-qual ity laser page printer but who don't want to part with more than $4000. Freelance writers or text-oriented con sultants, for example, may find that the PLP is a big win . The output of the PLP is about equivalent to the LaserWriter Plus or to the other 300-dpi Macintosh laser printers on the market. If you can get by without Postscript (many users can't) , and if you already own a faster Macintosh (accelerated Mac Plus, Mac SE , or Mac II), then you're likely to find that the PLP is a wonderful printer at an affordable price. On the other hand, if you are heavily dependent on accurate PostScript output, like many desktop publishing users, graphics designers , engineers, and others, then the Bitstream fonts and QuickDraw graphics of the PLP do not provide the flexibility and quality of Post Script (although , for some applicatfons, they are close). The PLP is also not a good laser-prim ing solution for offices that want to share printers, since it is a SCSI device that must be assigned to a single Mac. Its lack of AppleTalk support is a major limita tion for those users who need to share computer resources within work groups. Finally, this is one very slow printer. Because (unlike the LaserWriter Plus) it has no CPU or RAM to speed page pro cessing, its printing speed is largely de pendent on the computing bottlenecks of the Mac that drives it. The speed problem is compounded by the printer' s memory 158 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 REVIEW: GCC'S PERSONAL LASERPRI TER needs. Although the machine can work with a I-megabyte Mac Plus, I often got Out of Memory messages when I tried to prim long documents containing text and graphics. In fact , when I tried to print a si ngle copy of this review in its unedited form (a 12-page Microsoft Word 3.01 file) on a 5-megabyte Mac n, the PLP print man ager ran out of memory because I had set a 3-megabyte RAM cache. I ran into thi out-of-memory problem most often with Microsoft Word 3.01 and Excel I .03. For the small business owner, consul tant. or manager in a larger corporation who needs an inexpensive laser printer for his or her Macintosh, the PLP can be very attractive. For my own needs , I can't afford to give up 100 percent Postscript compatibility or wa ·te time dealing with software workarounds when printing , so I' ll pass on the PLP. · Donald Evan Crabb (Department of Computer Science , University of Chi cago, Ryerson Hall 260,1100 East 58th St ., Chicago IL 60637) is the director of instructional laboratories for the com puter science department of the Univer sity of Chicago and is a lecturer in the department and the college. VIEWS FROM BIX: Postscript vs. Non-Postscript Printers macintosh/reviews 1125, fro m Tom Hedges. fl general commen on non - PostScrip t l aser pri ters: I thin k his is e bad mistake, on the part of bot h CCC and others (even Ap ple , according to persis t ent rumors). Granted , Adobe may be charging too much f or i t s impl ementa tions , but the coming clones should inject some needed competl t ion to t hat arket . The advent of Pos tScript has given the persona computer indus try 11 very powerful, resolution- independent way t o output te xt , line graphics and even h igh-quali ty scanned gr ay-scale images (on the phototypesette rs ) . The lase r llriter provides a very accurate proofing device for professional desktop pub ishing and e f i na l output device for many others . The prob l emt hat comes from the release of significant numbers of non- Postscript pri ters is hat software deve opers wil l be forced back to the Apple QuickDraw standard i n order to be compat ib le and · 111 ot be able o take full advantage of the superior ebi " i ti es of he PostScript outpu devices . his is particular ly t r e in t he grey- scale scanned- i mage - output area, 1.·here etreset and my firm , Fractal So ftware, elon vit hothers, are just no1.· starting to provi de goods pport f or grey- scale i mage ou tpu . 111 t· the price of he R . hard .,1a re com i ng quickly own and the roye ties for Postsc r i pt u de r competit ive press ur e, t se ems a very shortsighted move to "expand" the aser prin ter market for the Mac in the direction of the IBM-compatible world , name ly toward "dumb" l aser prin ters. macintosh/reviews 1128, from Chris Crawford . Tom Hedges made a strong case agains t the dumb l aser printers, a d in general r tend to be sympathetic to such arguments . But the cost difference bct··een the PostScript pr inters and the PLP is gigantic ; we' re talking a factor of two he re! I simply cou l d not have afforded a laser printer et the prices thet the Postsc r i pt pri nters no·· sell for . And while a Postscript printer is fester end can do more things than the PLP, I find that the PLP does everything that ·;ant it to do, quite well. I especially like the notion that addi ional fonts ove in o he system grace fu lly . The UnlWare""' 68000 C Cross Compiler gen erates fully optimized code for your ROMable applications. It supports: * 68000 * 68010 * 68020 * 68008 * 68012 * 68881 You won't find a more complete package - the UniWare 68000 C Compiler comes with a relocating macro assembler, type-checking linker, librarian, and all the utilities you need to put your program into ROM. And it's just $995 under MS-DOS . Also available under UNIX. CALL TODAY (312) 971-8170 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS, INC. 3110 Woodcreek Drive Downers Grove, IL 60515 Circle 248 on Reader Service Card The UniWare"' Z80 C Cross Compiler gener ates fully optimized code for your ROMable applications. It supports: ·Zilog ZSO ·Zilog Z180 *Hitachi HD64180 You won't find a more complete package - the UniWare Z80 C Compiler comes with a relocat ing macro assembler, type-<:hecking linker, librarian , and all the utilities you need to put your program into ROM . And it's just $995 under MS-DOS. Also available under UNIX. CALL TODAY (312) 971-8170 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS, INC. 3110 Woodcreek Drive Downers Grove, IL 60515 JAN UARY 1988 · BYT E 159 To some ple,the ''For sheer power, ease of STyuseteSmmMartanual use, speed, and flexibility, you would be hard pressed to fmd a more capable product, especially if you need ad vanced features. 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Quantum Software Systems Ltd.· Kanata South Business Part< ·175 Terrence Matthews Crescent· Kanata, Ontario, Canada· K2M 1W8 ...WX,11511r~1T~~~ Al & f&d "L:lbtl.ttw. PC.AT )(Tt'adP$?, PC-· DOSat\Clos.rl'atOt~cltl°'!:emr-Ullll~f~ HPm10Vt'Ot·~Ol~fOlri.l~ L50(~·~J P. ~aComp.wr, Circle 225 on RHder Service Card SOFTWARE REVIEWS D Allegro CommonLISP Ernest R. Tello Allegro CommonLISP version 1.0 ($600) is an interactive pro A complete User's Manual is devoted to -documenting how to customize gramming environment for the Apple Macintosh based on the microcomputer implementation the editor. Because of the scarcity of Common LISP standard as de fined in Guy L. Steele 's book of Common LISP auxiliary keys on the standard Mac keyboard , it is not easy to Common LISP: The language. i mple~enr an EMACS-style Allegro CL was produced jointly by items give you access to the editor, the editor on this machine. Allegro CL han Coral Software Corp. of Cambridge , compiler, the debugger, and other tools. dles the problem by using the Option key Massachusetts, and Franz Inc. of Berke The Windows menu option lets you easily as a Meta key and the Clover key and ley , California. It is a complete Common cycle through the windows open on the Shift-Clover key for Control and Com LISP running on a mjcrocomputer, and screen. mand , respectively . The editor also sup for this reason it should be a good deliv The Listener is a special window on ports more recent Mac keyboards that in ery environment for Common LISP pro the screen through which you type com clude a separate Control key . In admtion, grams from larger machines. mands and get responses . The Listener the Macintosh Clipboard has been inte The implementation consists of an in behaves exactly like an interpreter, al grated with the EMACS kill-ring. Any cremental compiler, an EMACS-style though in this case it is based on incre time text is moved to the Clipboard , it is editor, a debugger, an object-oriented mental compilation. Allegro CL auto also automatically moved to the top of the programming system called Object LISP , matically compiles any new funct ion kill-ring, and vice versa. and Macintosh interface tools for creating definitions . (You can tum offthjs feature The Tools menu has options for debug windows, menus, and dialog boxes. Al by setting the *compile-defini tions* ging , such as a window-based inspector, legro CL has a pseudomultitasking sys variable to nil.) backtrace, stepper , and trace facility . tem that lets you edit code while pro The Eval menu has options for evaluat The Inspector lets you browse about in grams are compiling or executing in the ing either a selected expression or the en data structures, examining and modify background. The garbage collector is a tire editing buffer. The Eval menu also ing them . Allegro CL implements the in mark/compact/forward collector that im includes an option that lets you save com spector as a window-oriented utility that plements virtual memory by loading piled code in a file by specifying the can be invoked in three ways . First, you functions into memory only as they are names of the source file and the destina can select the I nspect option on the needed . The garbage collector is invoked tion file for the compiled code. Tools menu . Second, when within the automatically when either the Macintosh Two modes are available for the evalu FRED editor, you can use the key com operating system or LISP needs more ation of LISP expressions: one that con mand Control-X Control-I; this causes memory . forms exactly to the Common LISP stan the current LISP expression to be in Allegro CL comes on two double dard , and one that is faster but does not spected. The third way of invoking the in sided SOOK-byte floppy rusks. The mini support the debugging functions eval spector is directly from the LISP listener mal hardware required to run the system hook and applyhook. You select the lat by calling the i nspect function and sup is a Macintosh Plus, SE, or IT with 1 ter by setting the *fast-eval * variable to plying it with an argument. So, for exam megabyte of RAM and 1.6 megabytes of true . ple, (inspect *infer enc e-engine* ) disk storage; it can support up to 8 mega The full-screen window-oriented edi would open an inspector window on the bytes of RAM. The manual recommends tor in Allegro CL is called FRED, an ac inference-engine class. 2 megabytes of memory and a hard disk ronym for " FRED Resembles EMACS Allegro CL also supports a typical drive. This is good advice; I found that Deliberately . " FRED is an EMACS LISP backtrace facility as a dialogue win the system does not run very well with style editor that allows multiple win dow . The back.trace window pops open only I megabyte of memory . dows and the use of a mouse . The advan whenever the listener enters a break tage of using an EMACS-style editor is loop. This can happen either when an Good Environment that you can customize it to suit your error occurs or when a programmer calls Allegro CL provides an interactive menu needs . For example, you can add macros com inued system that lets you edit and debug for commonly executed key sequences as without leaving the LISP environment . commands to the Edit menu. Each indi Ernest R. Tello (1518 West Cliff Dr. , The main menu bar in Allegro CL has the vidual erutor window can have a separate Santa Cruz. CA 95060) is director of following command options: File, Edit, package or Common LISP name space research and de velopment at Integral Eval, Tools, and Windows. These menu associated with it . One chapter of the Systems. JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 163 REVIEW: ALLEGRO COMMONLISP Allegro CommonLISP 1.0 Type Common LISP programming language Companies Coral Software Corp. P.O. Box307 Cambridge. MA 02142 (6 17) 54 7-2662 Franz Inc. 1995 University Ave. Berkeley. CA 94704 (415) 548-3600 Format Two SOOK -byte 3 V2-inch floppy disks Language LI SP Computer Macintosh Plus. SE. or II with 1 megabyte of RAM and 1.6 megabytes of disk storage; 2 megabytes of RAM and a hard disk dri ve are recommended Software Required Macintosh system version 2.1 and Finder 5.5 or higher Documentation Common LISP: The Language: Common LISP: The Index; 200-page User's Manual describing im plementation details Price $600 Inquiry 883. a break deliberately (for example, by se lecting the Backtrace option on the Tools menu) . Two tables appear in the backtrace dialogue window. The table at the top displays the functions on the stack awaiting return values . Preceding the name of each function is the address of the funct.ion's stack frame in hexadeci mal . The lower table displays the values of the functions listed above . Currently , the backtrace does not show the names of lexical values . The compiler uses tail recursion to minimize stack space. Tail recursion is an optimization used when an iterative process is described recursively. This means that only the most recent iteration of a loop appears in the stack history of a backtrace window. When debugging, you will want to tum off this optimization by setting the *nx-ta ilcalls* variable to nil; then there will be no tail-recursion optimization, and all the function calls will be found in the backtrace ca ll history . A trace function is implemented in ac cordance with the Common LISP stan dard and also extends to the Object LISP system. You attach the trace function to a particular function so that tracing occurs for each call to that function . In the case of method functions that are defined for different classes, you can trace each of the versions of the function separately by sending the trace message to a specific object and telling it which method to trace . Allegro CL implements a form of pseudomultitasking that allows editing and various other operations to be done wh ile LISP programs are compiling or executing. For this reason , the Macintosh watch cursor is not used in this environ ment. However, some tasks in Allegro CL (e.g ., garbage collection and event processing such as menu selection) are noninterruptible. This means that during these tasks other operations, such as LISP evaluation, are halted . Object LISP Object LISP is an interesting and full im plementation of object-oriented program ming for Common LISP, but it suffers from two handicaps : There is little expe rience in its use and the Common LISP community is standardizing on the CLOS (Common LISP Object System) stan dard . (The manufacturers say they will replace Object LISP with CLOS when the specification of CLOS is complete.) While CLOS incorporates some features of Object LISP, it is closer to the ap proaches taken by Xerox CommonLoops and Symbolics New Flavors. However, Object LISP is an interesting way to implement objects in Common LISP . I particularly like the way it places classes and instances on the same level. It has always seemed artificial to be able to create objects only as instances of already existing classes . In Object LISP , you create instances the same way you create classes , so it is perfectly legal to create an object that is neither a class nor an in stance of a class. This is ideal for applica tions where the problem is to detennine what something is, such as a disease or a malfunction . Once it is determined, the object can be assigned to the class , and further processing can be driven by the methods and variables it has now inherited . Another good feature of Object LISP is that objects can be modified "on the fly , " while programs are running . I would like Object LISP to be included with Allegro CL even when CLOS be comes available . Unfortunately , while making the switch from Object LISP to CLOS won 't be difficult , it won't be transparent , either. Also the manual cautions the pro grammer that portions of code that need to run efficiently should not be written in Object LISP. It is unfortunate that the de velopers never got around to optimizing their implementation of Object LISP. Interface Tools Allegro CL provides interface tools for building Macintosh menus, windows , and dialog boxes. Menus and windows in the current implementation of Allegro CL are implemented on top of Object LISP by means of the menu and window classes. A window is a subclass of the stream class . Every menu item in a menu object has five characteristics: the title , the keyboard equivalent (if any), the font style , check mark or no check mark , and enabled or disabled . An entire menu bar for an application in Allegro CL is simply a list of menu objects. The menu bar func tion returns a list of the menus currently active in the menu bar. You can easily change the menu bar at any time by using the set-menubar function , which can be assigned to any LISP expression that re turns a list or sublist. Different types of windows are imple mented not as different subclasses of the window class, but as different alterna tives to the :window-t ype option of the window class itself. There are seven dif ferent window types: document , docu ment-with-grow , document-with-zoom , double-edge-box , single-edge-box , shadow-edge-box. and tool. A dialog box is a special kind of win dow that contains various messages and options that are sensitive to mouse clicks. Both the dialogs themselves and the items they contain, such as buttons , check boxes , radio buttons, static text , editable text, and tables, are created as instances of their own object classes. Since the dia log class inherits from the window class , dialogs can do anything ordinary win dows can do . Event Handling and Graphics Allegro CL typically handles events initi ated by a user automatically as a back ground task . For applications that need to handle user events explicit!y, a variety of event-hand.Jing methods are available to programmers . For example, you can specify the response of window objects to certain types of events or to all events di rected at them ; you can specify a hook procedure that gets the first chance to process any event ; or you can disable all background processing of events and han dle them with a special event loop . Typi cally , programming languages on the Macintosh support only the last and most difficult type of event handling . With a system like Allegro CL, however , the first type often suffices. 164 BY TE · JANUARY 1988 REV IEW : ALLEGRO COMMONLISP Allegro CL Benchmarks Jean-Denis Muys-Vasovic I ra n the Gabriel benchmarks on a Macintosh II with 5 megabytes of RAM, a 68881 float jng-point copro cessor, and an Apple 20SC hard disk drive . Table A shows the results, along with the values for the VAX 750-CL and the Symbolics 3600 from Richard P. Gabriel's book Performance and Evalu ation ofUSP Systems (Cambridge , MA : MIT Press, 1985). Every benchmark ran without any modification , with the exception of the Puzzle benchmark . Puzzle has a variable named *d*. Since Allegro has a system variable with the same name, I renamed *d* to *dd* in Puzzle. Conunon LISP has a declare state ment that gives compile-time informa tion to the compiler. A declare state ment can be associated with every block of code: the scope of a function, of a loop, of a lambda expression, and so on . Allegro CL has two flavors of the de clare statement : type declarations and optimizing declarations. Type declarations tell the compiler that one or more variables will hold a known type of data-for example, a nu meric index. This allows the compiler to generate specialized and more efficient code. Recall that variables in LISP can hold any value: numerical , symbolic , string, and so on . With optimizing declarations, you can then tell the compiler to optimize the compiled code for sa fety , space, or speed. You write something like : (de clare (optimize (safety n1) (space n2) (speed nJ))). where nl , n2 , and 113 are integers between 0 and 3. The in teger 0 indicates not to optimize in a par ti cular way, and the integer 3 means to optimize as much as possible in that di rection. Safety controls the ability to handle errors and interrupt the code, space controls the memory used , and speed controls how fast the code runs. The first column in table A shows the times for the benchmarks without opti mization. The second column shows the times with the optimization statement (d ec l are (optimize (sa fe ty 0) (space 0) (speed J) ) ) added to each definition. I did not include any type declaration because lhis would have in volved some semi-intelligent process of code and would not have been a fair comparison. In columns where two values Table A: The first column gives the times for th e Gabriel benchmarks run under normal conditions. The second column gives rimes for these same tests optimized for speed. Values for the VAX 750-CL and Symbolics 3600 are those published in Richard P. Gabriel 's book Performance and Evaluation of LISP Systems. A detailed description of the benchmarks can also be found i11 this book. Test Tak Stak Ctak Ta ki Takr Boye r Browse Dest ructive Traverse·init Traverse Deriv Dderiv Div2-1ter D1v2-rec Fft Puzzle Triangle Fprint Fread Tprinl Frpoly2rxyz1 Frpoly2r2 Frpoly2r3 Frpoly5rxyz1 Frpoly5r2 Frpo ly5r3 Frpoly 1Orxyz1 Frpoly 10 r2 Frpoly10r3 Frpoly15rxyz 1 Frpoly 15r2 Frpoly15r3 Allegro CL (n o rmal) 1.40 16.05 4.40 15 .03 1.47 35 . 15 62 .06/3 . 17 8.93 35 .35 131.08 27 .22/3.25 27 .00/2 .98 5.22 5.27 61 .22/2 .95 72 .62 899 .85 9. 17 2.93 30 .02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0. 17 0.25 0.2 1.57 2.67 1.92 10.22 20.55 12 .22 Allegro CL (o pt i m i z ed ) VA X 750-CL Symbolics 3600 0.70 14.97 3.433 6.65 0 .92 22 .083 51 .58/3.25 7.600 18.57 49 .08 26. 16/3. 12 26 . 10/3 .00 3.267 2.617 60 .00/2 .97 64 .85 826.37 8.983 3 .167 29 .25 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.13 0 .25 0. 17 1. 17 2.27 1.50 7.57 17.97 9.63 0.61 6.21 13.86 12.35 4.39 69.3 8/79 .30 195 . 111164 .05 11.30 35.44 217 .2 1 24 .50/49.63 32.90/4 5.80 14.32/24 .85 9.07 131 .59/101 .84 23 1.79 1021 .35 6.08 11 .21 4 . 11 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.37 0. 16 0.48 3 .38 7.25 4.69 21 .51 57.00/5 1.82 31 .05/26.80 2.69 2.58 7 .65 6.44 0.06 11 .99 30 .80 3.03 8.62 49 .95 5. 12 5.24 1.85 2.89 4.75 13.89 151 .70 260 4.60 4.89 0.00 0.00 0.00 005 019 0.05 0.49 2.89 0.54 3.45 22 .35 3.84 are separated by a slash, adding the two numbers gives the total lime; the second number indicates how much of that total lime was spent in garbage collection. On the whole, Allegro is very fast. Its only weak point is the speed of the text display Tprim . This is a drnwback of the graphics-only aspect of the Macintosh . Allegro CL is nearly always faster, and sometimes much faster , than the VAX 750-CL. It is slower than the Symbolics 3600, but seldom by a facto r of more than 2. [Editor's note: Source code (nonexe cutable) listings for the Gabriel bench marks are available on BJX, 0 11 BYTE net , on disk. and in th e Quarterly Listings Supplement. See " Program Listings" in th e table of contents. To ''find " source code in the Listings areas on BJX and BYTEnet . search by articl~· title . author. or issue date. Some ar chived files may contain numerous list ings for a single article. A description of the file also accompanies each emry.] Jean-Denis Muys-Vasovic can be con racted at 6 Semier Valetre, F-95100 Argenteuil, Fran ce, or 0 11 BIX a s ''jedivasovic. .. JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 165 REVIEW: ALLEGRO COMMONLISP Allegro CL impleme.nts graphics sup legro CL graphics routines over the com the current pen position, and its appear port through a set of functions that pro parable Pascal QuickDraw functions de ance is determined by the window 's cur vide an interface to the Macintosh Quick scribed in Inside Macintosh is that rent font, size , and mode. Draw package. So far, the routines Allegro CL's routines are written to take completely support only Macs with the full advancage of the optional argument Low-Level ROM Access 64K-byte ROMs . To use more recent capability of Common LISP. This means Most programmers will be able to do QuickDraw features, you must write low that, in cases where operations have to be everything they need with Allegro 's high level trap routines. Allegro CL currently performed for all the objects on the level Macintosh routines. However, Al provides two basic kinds of graphics screen at a given time, functions can sim legro CL provides a means for making di functions: those that must be performed ply be applied to the list that keeps track rect calls to the Macintosh ROM . The within some window object , and those of all current screen objects. main purpose of this low-level access is that can be used globally without refer You can have text drawn in a window for using traps not provided in the higher ence to the window system . by designating the window as an output level interface and, if necessary , for opti One important advantage of the Al- stream. The text is displayed starting at mizing those that are provided. Low-level -----------------------------~ traps that can be called from Allegro CL include both those that handle arguments on the stack and those that handle them using registers. This low-level interface SUBSCRIPTION PROBLEMS? must be used with care, since it is very easy to crash the system while using it. Making low-level calls requires an un derstanding of how memory is parti tioned in Allegro CL. The basic djvision is between the two rypes of data, Macin tosh resource data and LISP structure data . These two rypes of data are stored in the Application heap and the LISP heap, to respectively . The Mac Application heap is needed in this context primarily for storing data used for communicating with help! the Mac ROM . Before any data can be passed to the ROM , it first has to be put in the fonnat used either by the Application heap or the stack. Allegro CL also provides a set of func tions and macros that let LISP programs manipulate data stored in Pascal record formats- the main fonnat used by the Macintosh Operating System. You can If:..ou have a problem with your BYTE subscription, write us with the details. We'll do our best to set it right. But we mu.st use these functions to access and manipu late Macintosh resources and data struc tures created at run time, such as window setups and text-edit records . The func tions supported include defrecord, have the name, address, and zip of the subscription (new and old address, if it's a change of address). If the problem involves a payment, be sure to include copies of the credit card statement, which defines new record rypes, make record , which creates new records, and dispose-record, which deallocates records. Various other functions access , copy, and manipulate'record data. For documentation of generic Com or front and back of cancelled checks. Include a "business hours" phone number if possible. mon LISP functions and variables, the standard texts Common USP: The Lan guage by Guy L. Steele and Common USP: The Index by Rosemary Simpson are also shipped with the product. Imple mentation specifics are covered in a 13'1TE MAGAZINE User's Manual that consists of about 200 pages of text divided into 13 chapters and four appendixes. Programmers are ex SUBSCRIBER SERVICE P.O. Box 6821 pected to refer to the standard texts for documentation of portable Common LISP behavior and functions. PISCATAWAY, NJ 08854 Benchmarks Although the manufacturers claim that Allegro CL will run on a Macintosh with just l megabyte and no hard disk drive, I 166 B Y T E · JANUARY 1988 REVIEW: PERSONAL REXX don 't think anyone should consider using that configuration. The reason stems partly from the sheer size of Common LISP and partly from the fact that AJ legro CL uses a virtual-memory archi tecture, which results in a lot of disk activity . I tried running the Gabriel benchmarks on a Macintosh SE with 1 megabyte of RAM . Although it ran, garbage collec tions and disk accesses were so frequent that it was clear why the manufacturers recommend using a 2-megabyte machine . Most users doing serious artificial intelli gence work with this system wilJ want to run it on a Macintosh II with 2 megabytes or more of RAM . Because I was running so close to the memory limits, I did not think it fair to benchmark Allegro CL on my machine. However , Jean-Denis Muys-Vasovic ran the suite of Gabriel benchmarks on a Macintosh II with 5 megabytes of mem ory (see the text box "Allegro CL Bench marks " by Jean-Denis Muys-Vasovic) . What's Missing? Unlike many state-of-the-art LISP sys tems today, Allegro CL does not provide complete on-line documentation . There is no on-line tutoriaJ here, either. The written documentation , though excellent in many respects, lacks an index of topics and a concise summary of functions pres ent in the system that are not part of Com mon LISP. To look up a given function, you have to go to the chapter it should be in and hunt for it. Also missing is a way of packaging ap plications for stand-alone delivery . Ac cording to the company, a stand-aJone application generator, as well as a for eign-language interface to C, Pctscal , and assembly language, are in the works . Allegro CL is a very well crafted pro gramming system, but I regret that the CLOS system standard , the object-ori ented extension to Common LISP, has not yet been finalized. The object-ori ented aspect of this implementation is ex tremely important, since the user envi ronment is built on it. The definitive implementation of the Allegro CL environment wiJI be present when CLOS replaces Object LISP as the object-oriented extension and when the application generator and the foreign-lan guage interface are included. However, since Allegro CL adheres to the Common LISP standard , the base of Common LISP programs can be migrated from minicomputers to the microcomputer world. Also, the benchmarks show that, when used with a machine like the Mac intosh Il , Allegro CL is clearly a system on which substantial development efforts can be conducted. · Personal REXX Namir Clement Shammas Personal REXX 1.6 ($125) from Mans field Software Group implements a sub set of VM/CMS REXX on the IBM PC , with some extensions to tap into DOS. REXX is an interpretive, mainframe pro granuning language similar to PL/I but easier to learn. Personal REXX also con tains additionaJ functions specifically for the IBM PC . (The original REXX was created by Michael Cowlishaw of IBM ' s United Kingdom Scientific Center.) As a progranuning language, Personal REXX supports structured coding, an ex ternal stack, and global variables, and it provides various clauses, constructs, and looping features. It lacks the math func tions and working memory necessary to be a useful general-purpose language, but its parsing and environmental-interfacing capabilities make it a powerful language for batch programming. For a summary of its capabilities, see table l . Personal REXX requires an IBM PC, XT , AT, PS/2 , or compatible with at least 256K bytes of RAM and one disk drive, running MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2.0 or higher. It occupies from l 15K to l40K bytes of memory, depending on the size of the internal-storage area (ISA), which may range from !OK to 40K bytes. The default ISA size is 30K bytes; you can change it with the corrunand SET RXISA= mm . PersonaJ REXX also supports the Ex panded Memory Specification (EMS) . I tested Personal REXX on a 6-megahertz IBM PC AT running under PC-DOS 3. 1 with 512K bytes of RAM, 1.5 megabytes on an AST Advantage! card, and a 6 MHz 80287 coprocessor chip. The language comes on one 5 \4-inch floppy disk that contains sample pro grams, several utilities, the interrupt manager, and the interpreter. The inter rupt manager is memory-resident and must be loaded before you invoke the in terpreter. REXX.EXE contains the Per sonal REXX interpreter, which is loaded into memory from DOS at the REXX com mand; appending the /R command direc tive makes most of the interpreter mem ory-resident. RX .EXE invokes the memory-resident version of the lan guage . Adding the /U option to the RX command will unload REXX .EXE from memory while it invokes RX.EXE. Data Types and Variables REXX supports various structured coding facilities while keeping data typ ing simple. It uses characters to support two basic data types-strings and num bers- and makes no explicit distinction between integers and reals . Variable names are not case-sensitive and don't have fixed data types associated with them . Thus, a variable that stores a nu meric value one time may be reused to store a string of characters another time, and vice versa. There are three classes of variables: simple symbols, compound symbols, and stems. Simple symbols are synonymous with simple variables . Compound sym bols are similar to arrays and use a period in the identifier's name . Stems are identi fiers that end with a period and are con sidered the " parents" of compound variables. For example, Tozal. is a stem, while Total.Sum and Total. SumSquares are compound symbols that stem from Total. This is not merely an aesthetic relation ship; REXX lets you write the clause Total. = 0 to assign zeros to all those compound symbols that start with Total. Thus, you can collectively initialize com pound symbols without using an explicit loop . Compound symbols may contain more than one stem. For example, Cel/.l.J is a two-dimensionaJ compound symbol ; Cell is one stem, I the other. REXX supports a string-based, indi rect-access scheme with compound sym bols not commonly available in other lan guages . For example , X ="Sum" Total.Sum = JO; Total.Sum2 = Total.X The first statement assigns the string con stant "Sum " to the scalar X; the second assigns 10 to the compound symbol Total.Sum . In the third statement, REXX first interprets Total.X as Total. Sum, since X has been assigned the value " Sum. " Consequently, REXX assigns the value 10 to the compound symbol Total.Sum2. Stacks and Global Variables REXX uses an extemaJ stack, or queue, onto which its programs can put data items. The words stack and queue refer to the same structure; the difference be tween the two lies in how the structure is used . The PUSH instruction sends data continued JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 167 REVIEW: PERSONAL REXX onto a last-in first-out (LIFO) stack, while the QUEUE instruction sends data onto a FIFO queue. The PULL instruction serves to read data from the stack or queue. In other words , you have one "pile" of data items. If you PUSH data, it goes on the top of the pile; in this case, the pile is called a stack. If you QUEUE data, it goes on the bottom of the pile; in this case, the pile is called a queue. In either case, when you access the data with PULL, it comes off the top. There is no way to ac cess data from the bottom of the pile. In Personal REXX, you must install the stack and specify its size (between I K and 62K bytes) using the stack-manager utility that comes with it. The external stack also lets you increase the size of the type-ahead buffer from the standard 15 keystrokes to a maximum of 159. A REXX utility also maintains exter nal global variables that are static and ac cessible to different programs. These global variables divide into three classes, based on their lifetimes: Simple global variables remain in memory until you power down or reboot the system; session global variables are retained for the life of a session, which can span several re boots; and permanent global variables are available permanently . Session and permanent global variables are stored in the DOS files SESSION .GLV and LASTfNG.GLV (always located at the root directory of the current drive), re spectively. To start a new session, you must erase the SESSION.GLV file. REXX provides commands to transfer data among the various global variables and both local variables and the external stack. The GLOBALV SET var_name value command defines a simple global vari able and assigns it a value. Similarly, the GLOBALV SETS and GLOBALV SETP com mands set session and permanent global variables, respectively . The GLOBALV PUT and GLOBALV GET commands provide du plication of the global variables and their contents between REXX programs and the memory area for global variables. You can also group global variables. Clauses, Constructs, and Loops REXX programs consist of various kinds of clauses: null clauses, labels (used to define procedures, functions, and error trapping code), assignments, instruc tions, and commands. You may place multiple clauses on one line, but they must be delimited by semicolons. REXX provides a collection of math, string, comparative, and logical opera tors. It supports the four basic numerical operations plus raising to a power, integer division, and remainder. Double bars are use<l to concatenate strings. The logical AND , OR, XOR , and NITT operators are also available. There are two sets of com parative operators: one for normal com parisons (in which strings may be padded with trailing blanks), and the other for strict comparisons (in which strings must be exactly the same) . For example, a nor mal comparison of ( ' ' =") yields a 1, for true, but a strict comparison, (' '=="), returns a 0, for false. A number of instructions exist to con trol numeric accuracy and display for mat. For example, the NUMERIC FORM [SCIENTIFIC I ENGINEERING] specifies scientific or engineering format for dis played numbers. Also , NUMERIC DIGITS expr specifies the arithmetic precision to expr significant digits. You can assign the number of digits you want to ignore dur ing a numeric comparison with the in struction NUMERIC FUZZ expr. There are two decision-making con structs: the I F... THEN ... ELSE and SELECT statements. If you put the THEN and ELSE clauses on the same line, you must precede the ELSE keyword with a semicolon. If the THEN and ELSE clauses contain multiple statements, you must en close them in a DO ··. END block. While this resembles Pascal's BEGIN ... END, it is actually a single-iteration DO loop in REXX. You can't have ELSE-IF compo nents in an IF statement , although nested IF statements are supported. However, you can obtain the effect of one or more ELSEI Fs with the SELECT statement . The SELECT construct doesn't contain a switch expression with its accompany ing case 1ists. Rather , the SELECT Table 1: A list ofthe capabilities and functionalities ofPersonal REXX. Interpreter Support visual environment Built-in editor Data types Need to declare scalar variables Need to declare nonscalar variables Support external stack Support external static global variables Yes No No Numeric and string No No Yes Yes Decision-making constructs IF statements IF ... THEN Yes IF . .· THEN · . . ELSE Yes Multiline IF ..· THEN ... EIBE Yes ELSEIF No SELECT Yes Use switch variable No OTHERll!SE clause Yes ooloops One-iteration loop Yes Fixed iteration loop with no control variable Yes Open loop Yes Fixed iteration loop with a control variable Yes Step option Yes FOR fixed number of times Yes \IHILE test Yes UNTIL test Yes Cycle in a loop Yes Exit a loop Yes Multiline user-defi ned routines Functions Yes Procedures Yes Recursive Yes Predefined functions Basic string manipulation Extended character-based word manipulation Math functions Data-representation conversion Date/time functions PC hardware-information query functions DOS access functions PC hardware-access functions Windo'NS Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (library) Text-file l/O Sequential, variable-length line 1/0 Yes Sequential character 1/0 Yes Random-access. variable-length line 110 No Random-access character 1/0 Yes Error trapping Yes Resume execution of offending lines after error No Tracing capabilities Yes Interactive tracing Yes 168 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 REVIEW: PERSONAL REXX keyword is followed directly with one or input characters to uppercase. In addi more \/HEN clauses, each containing a tion, PARSE can store input in several complete logical expression. The THEN variables with or without an input tem keyword separates the logical expression plate. For example, PARSE PULL hours from the outcome statement (with multi 11 : 11 minutes ":" seconds takes a string ple statements enclosed in the single-iter from the keyboard inpu t , such as ation DO ... END loop here also) . SELECT 12:22 :50, and assigns 12 to hours, 22 to also has an optional OTHERWISE clause minutes, and 50 to seconds . that acts as a catch-all . For example, PARSE is not limited to keyboard input, however. It can work with other program SELECT WHEN x a 1 THEN components, such as variables, the pro gram's arguments, source code Iines, and DO input-file lines . Thi instruction can statements END WHEN x > 1 THEN DO statements END OTHERWISE DO parse the contents of a variable (using a data template), extract information, and store it in other variables. For example, if the variable name contains the string "Ada Augusta Byron ," then the state ment PARSE VAR name first 4 middle 12 last assigns "Ada" to first, "Augusta" statements to middle, and "Byron" to last. END END /* SELECT */ One highlight of this language is its ability to interact with its envirorunent. Typically, the environment for Personal REXX supports three forms of the DO REXX is DOS. However, in place of loop: single-iteration (DO statements DOS, you can invoke the language from END), repetitive, and conditional. The re Mansfield Software's editor, KEDIT, petitive loop may indicate the specific and make it REXX's environment. number of iterations, the keyword FOR The interface between REXX and its EVER (to loop continuously), or a loop environment is not at all casual. The en control variable, var = first TO last vironment is such an integral part of the [BY step) [FOR count). The conditional language that any program instruction the loop contains either \/HILE logical ex interpreter doesn't recognize is consid pression or UNTIL logical expres ered to be a command and is passed to the sion. Repetitive and conditional clauses environment. To avoid being limited to its can coexist in a single DO loop. "parent" environment, REXX supports DO loops end with the END keyword and the ADDRESS instruction, which Jets you an optional end-of-loop name. The ITER direct commands to other environments. ATE instruction is used to cycle the inner REXX also has an INTERPRET instruc most DO loop . ITERATE has an unusual tion that enables the interpreter to read a ability: You can skip the remaining por character string as instruction code dur tion of one or more inner DO loops and ing run time. This is a very powerful cycle back to an outer DO loop, so that any mechanism for user-modified or self intervening inner loops are bypassed . modifying programs. You specify an end-of-loop name on the ITERATE instruction to cycle to the END Functions and Procedures statement of the outer loop (which also Function and procedure declarations be contains the end-of-loop name); then the gin with a label name (which ends with a outer loop continues if it has more itera colon), followed by the PROCEDURE tions to perfonn. To my knowledge, the keyword. If the function or procedure only other progranuning language with this needs to access global variables , an ability is Ada. You can also exit a DO loop EXPOSE variable_list clause follows altogether with the LEAVE instruction. the keyword. The called routine can alter the values of exposed variables; any pa Environmental Issues rameters are declared on the line follow Console 1/0 in REXX is simple but flexi ing the PROCEDURE line. ble. The SAY instruction displays items on Procedures are CALLed with their op the screen; you can list multiple items de tional parameters delimited by spaces; limited by spaces after the SAY keyword , they issue a RETURN to the calling routine which always issues a carriage return . without any returned value. Functions , For keyboard input, you can follow the on the other hand , are CALLed with their PULL instruction with a list of input vari optional parameters enclosed in paren ables, and you can use PULL with the theses; they issue a RETURN expression PARSE instruction. to the calling routine, with a value in the The combined PARSE PULL command predefined variable, RESULT . lets you control input assignment. For ex In a REXX program, functions and ample, PARSE UPPER PULL translates the procedures follow the main program Personal REXX 1.60 Type Interpretive programming language Company Mansfield Software Group Inc. P.O. Box532 Storrs, CT 06268 (203) 429·8402 Format One 51/· ·inch floppy disk Language C language Hardware Required IBM PC . XT. AT, PS/2. or compati ble with at least 256K bytes of memory (640K bytes recomme nded) and one disk drive Software Required MS·DOS or PC-DOS 2.0 or higher Documentation 210-page Personal REXX User 's Guide : The REXX Language: A Practical Approach to Programming by Michael Cowlishaw (Prentice-Hall , 1985) Price $125 Inquiry 884 . body, which must end with an EXIT state ment . Like procedures and functions, the main program can define a list of param eters (REXX calls them arguments) de limited by spaces. However, these argu ments receive their values from the input typed at the DOS conunand level. If more arguments are supplied than are declared in the main program or routine, the last declared argument inherits any extras. REXX's predefined string-manipulation functions let you detect and extract each of the extra arguments. The language also provides a collec tion of built-in functions, most of which fall into the following categories: string manipulations, conversions among dif ferent numeric representations, file 1/0, time and date queries, and queries about arguments. Notably absent, however, are math functions, such as logarithms, trigonometric functions, and square-root calculations. The most impressive functions are the ones for string manipulation. They re semble those of BASIC or Pascal, but they pay special attention to character based words . Spaces in a character string are considered to be word delimiters . The word-related functions deal with word cominued JANUARY 1988 · B Y T E 169 REVIEW: PERSONAL REXX position and word count, as opposed to character position and character count. You can ex.tract words from a string, count the words in a string, and obtain the position of a word in a string. For example, to ext.ract the third word in the string Name, you would use the function WORD(Narne,J) . Similarly, to de lete four words from the string Days starting with the second word, you would use the function DELWORD(Days,2,4) . In other words, you don't have to know the exact character position of the word or the length of the extracted or deleted strings. The REXX functions do the work. Personal REXX also provides func tions for tapping into the hardware and the operating system . The hardware infonnation routines return data such as the genre of the IBM PC (including the new PS/2 models), the number of serial and parallel ports, the date of the in stalled ROM, the amount of RAM, and the number of floppy disk drives. The DOS function group performs op erations such as changing directory or drive, returning the current directory path, getting a directory of files, return ing the volume label, creating or deleting a directory , and returning the value of a DOS environment parameter. The hardware-access group conta.ins routines that manipulate the screen cur sor, the screen, and the display attributes. Other routines in this group perform PEEKs and POKES and port 1/0. A fourth group includes miscellaneous routines that perform data conversion, re turn the amount of EMS memory avail able, convert a string to uppercase or lowercase, and return the stack status. The RXWlNDOW library contains a set of window functions that let you open and close a window, display the borders, per form 1/0, define .or remove an input field, and set the attributes of an entire window or portions of it. REXX supports file 1/0 using text lines or characters. The CHARS(file n8Jl!e) and LINES(filename) functions return a 1 (i.e., true) if there are more characters or lines, respectively, to be read from the file . Thus, REXX provides two forms of the logical EOF( ) function common in BASIC and Pascal. The functions CHAROUT and LINEOUT write characters and lines, respectively, out to file. Likewise, you can use CHARIN and LINEIN to read characters and lines, respectively. REXX automatically opens files the first time you attempt to read from or write to them. Personal REXX deviates from the mainframe version by not supporting ran dom access of variable-length lines, since PC-DOS does not support such a file access scheme. However, while perform ing character 1/0, you can specify the quential text file, while Personal REXX starting location of the 1/0 task. This is needed 90 seconds. I can't find any rea REXX's mechanism for supporting ran son for this difference in performance. dom character access. Performance on the Floating Point benchmark (performing 10,000 itera Tracing and Trapping tions of a double-precision multiplication REXX also offers flexible tracing capa and division test) also varied considera bilities . Using tracing directives, you can bly : 176 seconds for Personal REXX and trace all clauses (A), commands (C) , only 79 seconds for BASICA. This differ errors (E), failures (F), results (R), inter ence is more easily explained: Personal mediate results (I), and labels (L). Per REXX doesn ' t use the 80287 to enhance sonal REXX can also redirect the trace its slower interpreter. output to the printer. I was unable to run the Sieve bench Personal REXX also supports interac mark because I ran out of ISA memory. tive tracing, during which the interpreter The Sieve contains a very large array, and executes a clause and then pauses to wait Personal REXX's 40K-byte maximum for your command . You can respond by for both program and variables was not pressing Enter, to resume execution, or enough. by typing =to re-execute the last clause; [Editor's note : FLOATPT. REX, any other response goes to the interpreter WRITE. REX, and READ. REX contain for immediate execution. While tracing, the code used for the benchmarks. REXX displays various symbols at the ROOT. REX is a REXX program that beginning of each line to indicate the na solves for the root of a nonlinear equa ture of the item shown on that line (e .g. , tion . It provides an example of the result, intennediate result, or label). INTERPRET instruction and lets you key in The language provides two general the function's expression (as well as a error-trapping mechanisms via the SIG guess at the root) at run rime. These four NAL instruction . In the first, SIGNAL di programs are available in Personal rects the program flow to a label that is REXX 1.6 source code for the IBM PC either a string constant or an expression and compatibles on B!X, on BYTEnet, on (whose value specifies the target label) . disk, and in the Quarterly listings °Sup The predefined variable SIGL returns the plement. See "Program Listings" in the offending line of source code. table of contents. To ''find" source code The second mechanism tackles pre in the listings areas on BIX and BITE defined types of fatal errors by using net, search by article title, author, or SIGNAL [ON I OFF] condition . Some issue do.re. Some archived files may con error examples are SYNTAX, which occurs tain numerous listings for a single arti when REXX detects a syntax error; NO cle. A description ofthe file also accom VALUE, which occurs when an uninitial panies each entry. ] ized variable is used to evaluate an ex pression; and FAILURE, which occurs Capability-Oriented when a command passed by REXX to its As a general-purpose language, Personal environment fails. REXX is limited by the size of its 40K Error trapping doesn't contain any byte working memory and the absence of program-resumption mechanism, so you math functions . It is also a fairly slow in can't simply resume executing a troubled terpreter overall. However, its strength program . This is acceptable since most lies in its capabilities, not its speed. Its REXX programs are batch programs , DOS interface, hardware-access func and a malfunctioning batch file can cause tions, and ability to address various envi unexpected damage. ronments, along with its parsing, word manipulation, and string-manipulation Testing Personal REXX functions, make Personal REXX a very I generated Personal REXX programs to powerful batch language. · run the BYTE Floating Point, Disk Write, and Disk Read benchmarks on my system. I loaded the REXX programs and interpreter from a RAM disk. For com parison, I also ran the same tests in BASICA 3 . 10 on the same machine. The Disk Write benchmark timings were almost identical (47 seconds for BIBLIOGRAPHY Cowlishaw, M. The REXX Language: A Practical Approach to Programming. En glewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1985. O ' Hara, R. , and D. Gomberg. Modern Programming Using REXX. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1985. Personal REXX and 46 seconds for BASICA to write a 64K-byte sequential Namir Clement Shammas (4814 Mill text file to a blank, fonnatted floppy Park Court, Glen Allen, VA 23060) is a disk) . However, the Disk Read timings freelance writer and columnist for sever differed significantly: BASICA required al microcomputing magazines. He can be only 23 seconds to read a 64K-byte se reached on BIX as "nsluunmas. " 170 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 REVIEW : PERSO AL REXX Circle 71 0 11 Reader Service Card VIEWS FROM BIX: PERSONAL REXX oth er.langs/reviews 11 4, from Paul Hoffman. There are over 100,000 PCs connected to IBM meinfre.mes, end probably at least 75, 000 are running CMS (Conversational Moni or System) . The feet that Personal REXX is so close to REXX under CMS means het hese users ca now control their PCs in a fashion al os identical to ho·· hey control their ma infra.mes . i.1i th more end more eop e using CMS, learning about ho·.r to use a very basic CMS tool like REXX · s very ve uab e. Personal REXX is an e xcellent 1;ay to do so . It also l ets you "rite scripts/macros/batch f es on one me.chine and easily convert hem to run on the other. other.langs/reviews 117, from Salvatore Ricciard i. · The revic·· fails to men t on tha REXX is IBM's SAA (Systems Application Architecture ) coll'.m1 ted command interpreter . Cer ain y this merits a note. he me in advantage of Personal RE XX is i s use es a repl acement for Batch end es a programmatic 1 terrace to KEDIT . I don't belleve 1t is meant to be e replecemen for BASIC . While the language features are there, perhaps it should be eviewed in the context of a command 1 terpreter tha has a good set of l anguage features. other.langs/reviews 111 2 , from Mark Guzdial. The product doesn't impress me from this review. i have more cepab ili ty fromthe Unix She ll or the public domain she lls for the PC , so the language descrip ion makes the product sound rather weak. But I can unders and the argumen that his is e greet enviro ent for devel oping scripts to use on CMS . That · ould impress me more and g ve me an idea of the real value of he product . Now there's a smart way to connect more than one prmter Forget those dumb A/B boxes and those expensive switching devices. Now you can connect up to six parallel printers to your computer and let your programs do the switch ing intelligently for only $119. SmartPorts automatically sends your output to the correct printer. You just add a simple code to your program or printer setup string. Or, select a printer from a pop-up window utility that's included. SmartPorts recognizes the cede and makes the switch. So, call now and use your Vrsa, MasterCard or AmerEx. It's smart! other.langs/reviews 111 3, from Cheyenne Wi lls . Frome language viewpoint, REX.Xis a very nice command language (if you are from the Un ix world , reed "shell language") . It · st so ..appens the t you can use the same language for yo r ed 1tor macros , or any h ing else hat has been s et up to interface ··ith it . Having REX.X on the PC mean s that I can replace a l my . BAT ' iles · 1th a "rea " language . ( BM also markets a subset of REXX for the PC . t is included w1th the VM BOND product. ) By the way, wha t I use REXX for mostly is not commend scripts, but editor macros. 1-800-368-773-·7 (Anywhere in the United States or Canada) ~ Smartftl'ts~ r e s s e a u s ~ D ·~ 8560 Vineyard Avenue. Suite 405, Rancho Cucamonga, C.A 91730 An intelligent software -controlled printer switching device Circle 83 on Reader Service Card JA UARYl988 ·B YTE 171 See Deralls Bolow PRINTERS AIPSAll Modcl· . Call Brother All MOOol' C.1111 Cll i2on MSP...O M$P~5 $285 5'115 M S P·5 0 MSP-55 $355 . 5455 Promlor 35 . · . 5445 Tri bu to 224 St505 1200 . $140 Citizon 1800 Cit izen 15E Dlablo 635 . 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'°'VISA 3l"ld Mastercard · vou Pay mo Ci1ounct Snroo1ng-v.;e Pay lhe Air · Ground sn.~ng & Hancmng sa oo · Freo AJr acoi~ ONLY 10 orCl'Ot"S up to 10 lbs.. & Ovof $50 " Ail pcoducts cnny a man\/iaclurcrs warranty All Guaran ees.. rebeles:. tnaJ penod Df"V'tleQes 6 nromouonal Pf'Oliilt'M"I!. are l'\andl9d t:fol tho manul8Ct~JlfU:r only. · NO APO, FPO, or 1nlema1ional OfdOffi. pieas.o · C311 before S.Ubm1nlng PO Numbers · Pl."1'50n41 nnd comoany Cn«' Will Dof.aY Stl·O p,ng 3 ~ · ~. Terms & Ava1IObt.lity S1..1t:,,ect l o Chnnge W1thoul NDl)OO · Add &1J, fOf COO Order.; · WO 00 NCI GuaratltCO ~actllno COffipat1bllity APPLICATION REVIEWS D @Liberty and the Baler Paul Schauble and Rick Cook A spreadsheet compiler lets a programmer tum a spreadsheet These spreadsheet the Lotus 1-2-3 version 1A for mat. It claims to process into a tamperproof, stand-alone program. It automatkally pro compilers are among the first spreadsheets from Lotus 1-2-3 version 2, as long as they do not duces a compiled version of the spreadsheet that runs faster and of their kind use commands unique to ver sion 2. takes less memory than the in The biggest weakness of terpret.ed version, whHe producing exact the run-time manual for executing com @Liberty is its minimalist approach to ly the same results. piled spreadsheets. Under the program's spreadsheet progranuning . The run-time The first generation of spreadsheet license , you cannot copy any pa.rt of the package does not support a number of compilers makes a bold claim- that you package, so distributing the compiled Lotus 1-2-3 commands, including can take a Lotus l-2-3 spreadsheet and spreadsheets requires buying one copy of RANGE, COPY, MOVE, DATA, and most of speed up its execution while hiding for @Liberty for each 10 users. the Worksheet submenu. The documen mula information from users. You can let The typeset manual adequately covers tation claims these commands are used other people benefit from your work the features of @Liberty, and it is easy to only for designing a spreadsheet. Unfor without giving away your secrets. understand. The preparer's manual is tunately, this isn't quite true; these com The two Lotus 1-2-3 compilers we written at a fairly high level and assumes mands are often used in macros . tested, @Liberty-pronounced "At Lib the reader is quite familiar with both To alleviate this problem, @Liberty erty" -($99.95) from SoftLogic Solu Lotus and general computer-operating provides many additional macro tions and the Baler version 3.27 ($495) techniques. commands (e.g., BORDERS ON/OFF , from Brubaker Software , only partially The run-time manual (packaged sepa BEEP, and HOME ON/OFF). This helps, but meet these goals . While spreadsheets rately) lacks installation instructions, and these commands are not supported by compiled with these products give the so cannot stand alone. This is unfortu Lotus . This makes it impossible to move same computational results as a Lotus nate, since it could have been written for a spreadsheet directly from Lotus to the 1-2-3 spreadsheet, neither of them is a less-experienced operator. compiler. Rather than creating and test really Lotus command set-compatible. Because of these documentation limits, ing a spreadsheet in Lotus and then com Many spreadsheets will have to be re the compiled spreadsheets need to be op piling it, you end up using Lotus as a spe written before compiling with either of erated by a knowledgeable person. You cialized text editor. these products . Neither compiler is suit can't simply put one on a disk , mail it out @Liberty doesn't always tell you when able for the casual Lotus user; both as to all your field offices , and expect un a spreadsheet will not run because of sume that the programmer is thoroughly trained users to get it up and running. missing commands. Some spreadsheets familiar with MS-DOS and Lotus 1-2-3. We tested a version of @Liberty identi compile nicely, but they bomb on exe fied only as the "initial version." @Lib cution. The Tests erty consists of a separate compiler and These limitations showed up in our We tested each of the compilers on six run-time modules. It requires an IBM tests. Two of our sample spreadsheets different spreadsheets. Three of these PC-compatible machine using PC-DOS compiled without error, but failed to run. Savage, Recalc , and Scroll-are used fre or MS-DOS 2.0 or higher with a mono It is possible to rewrite the macros using quently in BYTE. The other three were chrome. CGA , EGA, VGA, or Hercules @Liberty ' s extra commands, but this re selected from our previous projects. video card and display . The graphing fea quires major changes. It generally is not We ran the tests on a Multitech 900 , an tures will not operate on a standard possible to make a version of one of these 80286-based AT clone running MS-DOS monochrome monitor . con1i11ued 3.2 with a 6-MHz clock speed and no @Liberty automatically senses and floating-point unit (FPU). ln addition , uses an 80x87 FPU when present. Mem Paul Schauble is a computer consultant the compiled programs were run on a ory requirements depend on the spread doing business as The Second Ring. He standard IBM PC with and without an sheet being processed . The compiler can be reached ar 5316 West Port au 8087 FPU. We used Lotus 1-2-3 version operates on any machine with 384K bytes Prince , Glendale, AZ 85306 , or on BJX I A for all comparisons. of RAM, enough to support Lotus itself. as "pis. "Rick Cook is a freelance writer The run-time module executes most mod specializing in computers and high tech @Liberty erate-size (1000- to 2000-cell) spread nology. He can be reached at 3820 West @Liberty comes with one manual for the sheets on a 384K-byte machine. Flynn, Phoenix , AZ 85019, or on BJX as spreadsheet programmer and l 0 copies of @Liberty processes spreadsheets in "rcook. " JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 173 REVIEW: @LIBERTY AND THE BALER Table I: The timings (in seconds) for the spreadsheet rests using @Liberty and the Baler. File sizes are in bytes. Savage Recalc Scroll Savage error Lotus AT clone PC w/08087 PC w/8087" ®Liberty Compile time Compile size AT clone PCw/08087 PCw/8087 Baler version 3.27 Compile time Compile size AT clone PC wlo8087 PC wl8087 39 127 127 16 33 ,391 47 166 12 656 42,661 17 163 9.3 2 5.6 5.6 33 75 ,787 2 2.3 2 520 63 ,573 1 10.8 4 39 -2.0e-08 121 121 33 75 ,787 81 282 NIA -1 .00e-06 520 63 ,573 16 173 NIA - 3 .5 6 e - 0 9 NIA = Not applicable: an 8087 does not affect scroll operations. · =Lotus 1·2·3 version 1A does not support an FPU . spreadsheets that works in both Lotus and @Liberty . We did not convert these spreadsheets for this review. The Savage, Recak, and Scroll spread sheets converted and executed without error, but none contained any macros. On Savage and Recalc, the precision of the calculations was very good. In all three cases, the final results from @Lib erty matched those from Lotus. Although a compiled program usually executes faster than an interpreted one, @Liberty's spreadsheets were consider ably slower than the Lotus originals (see table I). Execution times without an FPU were about 20 percent to 30 percent longer than the spreadsheets run with Lo tus. However , the compiled spreadsheets were about 15 percent smaller than their Lotus counterparts. [Editor's note: Soft Logic Solutions claims that it is possible to create @liberty spreadsheets that run faster, slower, or the same as their Lotus counterparts. The individual operations in @Liberty are slightly slower than Lo tus; but where Lotus recalculates alt cells in a spreadsheet, @liberty recalculates only those cells whose values are afJeered by a previous calculation. ] One feature of @Liberty, notably ab sent in Lotus, is control over screen colors. The @Liberty run-time package has conunands to separately change fore ground and background colors for the data and command areas on the screen; however , the commands are present only in the run-time package, so the program mer cannot select colors . Once set, colors will not be saved with the spread sheet and must be reset manually each time you load the spreadsheet. The Baler The Baler comes on three floppy disks in an IBM-size three-ring vinyl binder and cardboard slipcase. There is only one copy of the program and manual in the package, but the license agreement lets you make unlimited copies of the run time software, and the compiled spread sheets may be distributed without royalty or limitations. Unfortunately, this privi lege does not extend to the manual, so the progranuner has no documentation to in clude with the compiled spreadsheets. Brubaker Software would do well to pro duce a separate, copyable manual for the run-time package. The manual assumes the reader is ex perienced with both Lotus and MS-DOS. Even so, it leaves too much unsaid . While the Baler's commands are much closer to Lotus's than @Liberty's, there are stiJJ important differences; for example, the Baler does not support deleting rows and columns from a spreadsheet. These dif ferences are not adequately explained, particularly for the file-handling com mands, and the sparse index makes it dif ficult to find information. We reviewed the Baler version 3.27 . It requires a 512K-byte IBM PC or full compatible running MS-DOS version 2.0 or higher. The Baler does not support any form of graphics and operates only in text mode on any monitor. The memory requirement for the compiled program depends on the size of the spreadsheet. A small spreadsheet (less than 500 cells) executes on a 384K-byte machine. A hard disk drive is a practical requirement: You need to have on-line the spreadsheet, the Baler itself, QuickBASIC, the Baler run time library. the QuickBASIC run-time library, the linker, and Lotus. You could run from floppy disks, but an edit/com pile/test cycle would have you changing disks four times. The company says the compiler pro cesses spreadsheets from Lotus 1-2-3 versions IA, 2, and 2 .01 . It also claims the compiler can process spreadsheet files from Symphony and VP-Planner, provided that they do not use features unique to those programs . The Baler supports an 80x87 FPU if selected on compilation. If a spreadsheet is compiled without an FPU switch, it will not use an FPU. even if one is present. If a spreadsheet is compiled for an FPU, it will use the FPU if present and emulate it if absent. However, to use an FPU, the spreadsheet must be compiled on a machine with an FPU . Unlike @Liberty, the Baler is not complete as delivered. It generates BASIC code for Microsoft QuickBASIC version 3.0 and requires that Quick BASIC be installed with it. The Baler's installation instructions do not cover QuickBASIC. We discovered it is possible to have QuickBASIC installed and working but not usable with the Baler. The problem is that when the Baler does its translation, it creates a batch file that has QuickBASIC calls in it and then executes this file . For this to work, QuickBASIC has to be in the same directory as the Baler or it has to be findable via the "path" variable. When we first tested the Baler, we had Quick BASIC in a directory by itself so the Baler couJdn 't find it. This requirement is not seated in the Baler documentation, but an experienced progranuner should be able to resolve these problems quickly . The BASIC code is specific to the Baler and probably could not be adapted to other uses. Spreadsheet execution uses the QuickBASIC run-time library and follows those conventions. One convention the Baler does nor fol low is the MS-DOS convention for han dling path names . Under MS-DOS, a filename by itself is assumed to refer to a file in the current directory. Thus, bale filen8llle would compile the spreadsheet in the current directory. But the Baler doesn 't work that way. Instead, it remembers the path name from its last invocation and uses that path. This may help the novice user, but it is guaranteed to confuse anyone familiar with MS-DOS conventions. Like @Liberty. the Baler also has a set color feature . A configuration file that is used by both the compiler and compiled spreadsheets determines screen colors. The configuration file is distributed with the compiled spreadsheet. so the pro 174 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 REVIEW: @LIBERTY AND THE BALER grammer has control over colors on the screen. Running @Liberty simply compiles a spreadsheet, whereas running the Baler brings up a configuration menu that allows removal of Lotus error checking, overriding formulas, adding fonnat com mands, specifying Range Protect, in voking the Data commands, and using the data-imerchange fonnat (DIF) facil ity. Removing these features makes the compiled spreadsheet smaller and per haps more secure. Brubaker Software claims that removing Lotus error check ing also reduces run times , but we found no significant differences . The Baler has a menu-activated audit feature that produces reports that cross reference and document the spreadsheet. While not a substitute for testing, it helps locate problems in a large spreadsheet and serves as a permanent reference . The Baler's execution speed was excel lent. Run times averaged about half that of Lotus and down to 40 percent of the run times from @Liberty. The price for this speed is very slow compile times. Compiling a spreadsheet with the Baler (our tests left Lotus error checking on) takes from 15 to 40 times longer than @Liberty: Most of the time was spent in the Baler itself; the QuickBASIC compile and link times were relatively insignifi cant-I minute out of a IO-minute com pile cycle. The Baler implements much more of the Lotus command set than @Liberty ; for example, it implements the COPY, MOVE, and RANGE functions, but @Liber ty does not. The only major omission is the graphics facility. In keeping with the style of the manual , the only mention of this omission is buried in an appendix. Unique commands are also provided , mostly for additional display formats that do not affect spreadsheet operation. The compiled spreadsheet has the format corrunands , Range Protect and Unpro tect, the Data menu, and the ability to read OIF files. Despite thfa, there were stm problems with our test spreadsheets. Of the test spreadsheets, Savage and Recalc compiled and executed without error. Precision of calculation was excel lent; the results matched Lotus to more than seven significant digits. But error checking was a problem. We used the Savage spreadsheet to test error handling on all three products. With Lotus and @Liberty, specifying an in valid starting value resulted in a spread sheet full of error values, as first the in valid value and then the error propagated through the chain of formulas. We ran this test through the Baler both with and without Lotus error checking enabled. With error checking, the first @Liberty Baler ver91on 3.27 Type Spreadsheet compiler Spreadsheet compiler Company Softlogic Solutions 1 Perimeter Rd. Manchester, NH 03101 (603) 627-9900 Brubaker Software 8825 North County Line Rd. E Lafayette. IN 47905 (317) 564-2584 Format One 5'14·inch floppy disk Three 51/4·lnch floppy disks Computer IBM PC or compatible with 384K bytes of RAM and MS·DOS 2.0 or higher with monochrome, CGA. EGA VGA. or Hercules video card and display IBM PC or compatible with 512K bytes of RAM: MS-DOS 2.0 or higher and OuickBASIC 3.0 Documentation 100-page programmer's reference and ten 36-page user's manuals A single 1.30-page manual for both programmer and user Price $99.95 $495 including QuickBASIC Inquiry 892. Inquiry 893. formula using the incorrect value was not recalculated and kept its value. The rest of the formulas in the chain used this value in their calculations. Without error checking, the first formula returned a completely erroneous value that was then used by all the other formulas . The result was a spreadsheet filled with incorrect values with no indication of an error. Al though no similar problems were seen in the other tests, this did not inspire our confidence in the product. One of our test spreadsheets failed to compile. One of the cells contained the formula @NPV(B 122,069 ... 069). The compiler converted the range 069 ... 069 to a single-cell reference 069; then it complained that the @NPV function required a range specification. This is obviously a bug rather than a de liberate design decision. Our second test spreadsheet compiled and executed with only minor changes to its macros. The Baler normally saves spreadsheet data in a different file than the spreadsheet itself. The macros that automatically saved 1be spreadsheet needed to have the embedded filenames changed. Although we did not do so, we could have changed the macros to execute either in Lotus or in the Baler. Another test spreadsheet required the same change of filenames but then crashed. This spreadsheet used the Lorus / FILE COMBINE COPY NAMED command to extract data from a disk file. The Baler was unable to locate the named range; again, this is a bug rather than a de liberate design feature. The Savage, Recalc, and Scroll spread sheets from both compilers were exe cuted on an IBM PC with and without an 80x87 FPU . The First of Their Kind These spreadsheet compilers are among the first of their kind . As might be ex pected of first-generation products, they have serious problems. Neither ®Liberty nor the Baler can be expected to reason ably compile a spreadsheet of any com plexity. In most cases, the spreadsheet will have to be redone for the Limitations of the chosen compiler, and the result will not run in Lotus or in the other compiler. Thfa makes it difficult to con struct and debug a spreadsheet with Lotus and then compile and distribute it. The changes required demand a new test cycle. Unless you really need to distribute a spreadsheet in a form that keeps users from fiddling with the formulas, you are probably better off distributing uncom piJed Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets or waiting for a more developed spreadsheet compiler. A good second-generation spreadsheet compiler should completely duplicate the command set and execution characteris tics of the spreadsheet program, except for the minimum necessary changes a compiler requires. Ideally, the spread cominued JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 175 REVIEW: MICROSOFT'S BOOKSHELF sheet program would have a development mode that would exactly duplicate the ef fects of the compiler. With this combination, a spreadsheet that has been developed and tested with the interactive spreadsheet program could be compiled and distributed without modifications or the need for re testing. Not only would the compiler have most of the characteristics of the interac tive program , but the interactive program would have some of the characteristics of the compiler. Experience with other lan guages indicates this happens only when the compiler and interpreter come from the same company. In the meantime, it is important to use @Liberty and the Baler cautiously when you need to hide the information contained in a spreadsheet. A user can run the compiled spreadsheet but can neither modify it nor see the hidden for mulas or tables. A compiled spreadsheet can produce a publicly available result with a secret mechanism. Another advantage is cost. You can distribute compiled spreadsheets without having to purchase a copy of Lotus for each user. Even when you are limited to 10 spreadsheets per copy of the program , as with @Liberty, this adds up to a con siderable savings. However , unless a present need is overwhelming, we recommend waiting for the next generation of spreadsheet compilers to appear. · Microsoft's Bookshelf Rusel DeMaria We may be on the threshold of an era when such things become commonplace, but for now, a reference source like Microsoft's Bookshelf represents a re markable advance in computer informa tion technology. Bookshelf is arguably the first general-purpose application for CD-ROM . Bookshelrs CD-ROM con tains the complete text of 10 major refer ence works, as well as a sophisticated memory-resident user interface designed to locate and retrieve information. The references on the Bookshelf CD ROM (I tested version 1.00) are: The American Heritage Dictionary, The World Almanac and Book ofFacts 1987, Bartle11 's Familiar Quotations, The Chicago Manual of Style, Roget's II : Electronic Thesaurus, U.S. ZJP Code Di rectory; Houghton-Mifflin Spelling Veri fier and Corrector, Forms and Letters, Houghton-Mifflin Usage Alert, and Business Infonnation Sources (compiled by the Regents of the University of California). Since most of its resources are avail able in book form, you might well wonder what makes Bookshelf such a superior reference source. For starters, Bookshelfs fast search features and its ability to cut and paste directly from CD ROM to various personal-computer word processors reduce research time dramati cally. For example, The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1987 is nearly 1000 pages of tightly compressed text. Imagine searching such a book for every reference to the city of San Francisco; the task could easily take days. With Bookshelf, you can locate, read, and even transfer passages in a matter of minutes; it took me about 20 minutes to locate and read every reference to San Francisco in The World Almanac and Book ofFacts 1987. You can execute Bookshelf either as a stand-alone application or as a terminate and-stay-resident (TSR) program. When operating Bookshelf as a TSR, you can call it up from within other applications. Bookshelf fully supports several major word processors, including Microsoft Word (I tested version 3.1), PC-Write version 2.71, WordPerfect 4.2, Multi Mate Advantage (version I), IBM Dis playWrite III , Volkswriter 3, XyWrite III and III Plus, and WordStar 4. It also rec ognizes Lotus 1-2-3 and Multiplan, but it does not perform automatic lookup and replacement or paste into these applica tions . Other word processors and text edi tors may allow a limited interface. For instance, in tests with programs not specifically supported (a beta copy of Borland 's Sprint and Broderbund 's MemoryMate), I found that lookup and cut-and-paste functions worked very well, but automatic text replacement was disabled in the spelling corrector and thesaurus. lnstatung and Learning To use Bookshelf, you need an IBM PC--<:ompatible computer, MS-DOS or PC-DOS 3.1 or higher, a CD-ROM drive, and the MS-DOS CD-ROM exten sions (device drivers generally supplied with the CD-ROM drive that allow your PC to operate the CD-ROM drive as though it were a single, large disk drive). I tested Bookshelf on an 8-MHz AT with 640K bytes of memory, a 30-megabyte hard disk drive, a 1.2-megabyte floppy disk drive , a 360K-byte floppy disk drive, and an Amdek LaserDrive 1. Before installing Bookshelf, you must instaJI the CD-ROM drive and its driver software. You then execute the Setup program, which presents questions about your equipment and uses your responses to complete installation of the software and modification of the AU10EXEC .BAT file on your floppy disk or hard disk (whichever you boot from) . The full set of programs uses about 600K bytes of disk space . To load Bookshelf as a TSR, simply enter books from the PC-DOS prompt; to run the program in stand alone mode, enter books /s. Once instaJled, the CD-ROM drivers add about 13K bytes to your system's en vironment space used by the CON FIG.SYS file . Microsoft's CD-ROM ex tension driver adds another 28K bytes , and the Books program uses another 135K bytes when residing in memory ; thus , Bookshelf requires at least l 76K bytes of free RAM . Ifyou want to run any worthwhile applications with Bookshelf installed as a TSR, you 'IJ probably need a 512K-byte machine. Although Bookshelf is tolerant of some other TSR programs (e.g ., you can use it with SuperKey if you folJow instructions given in a READ.ME file on the Bookshelf CD), Microsoft recommends using Bookshelf without other TSRs . If you discover a conflict while running Bookshelf in TSR mode, you can remove the program from mem ory using the Unload command. The documentation consists of a short reference and installation guide and a quick-reference pamphlet to commands. The Learn program on the CD takes you through an excellent guided tour of the program and its capabilities. Finally, there is on-line help available through either context-sensitive help screens or a help index . Using Bookshelf Bookshelf uses the type of interface pop ularized by Apple's Macintosh: pull down menus and dialog boxes with but tons and text entry fields. Bookshelf 176 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 REVlEW : MICROSOFT'S BOOKSHELF works with the Microsoft Mouse as well as the PC Mouse from Mouse Systems, but you can also use the program from the keyboard. When running Bookshelf as a TSR, you call it up by pressing AJt- Left Shift, which causes the Bookshelf menu bar to appear at the top of the screen. At this point, you can hit the first letter of any menu item (e.g., Tforthesaurus), or you can use the Alt key in combination with a letter key to implement a search or open a particular dialog box. For example, if you press Alt- Left Shift, then immediately press AJt-T, the thesaurus opens and searches for syn onyms of any word at the current cursor location (the cursor can be either inside the word or just past it) . This allows you to type a word and then immediately check its spelling or look for synonyms or a definition. Moving around within dialog boxes, which are common to most references, is awkward if you ' re using the keyboard . The Tab key moves from one text entry field or button to the next. The space bar executes the current button , but the Re turn key executes the default selection (the default selection's button is sur rounded by a double bar) . I often found myself pressing the Return key out of habit when I should have pressed the space bar. (You don't have these prob lems if you use a mouse.) Bookshelf also uses Macintosh-like scrdl bars to handle tables that are longer or wider than a single screen. AJthough the keyboard works well for scrolling up and down a long table (using the PageUp and PageDown keys), it is sluggish when you scroll across a table wider than one screen. However , you can quickly hide individuaJ columns of any table to bring off-screen columns into view. Addition aJly, you can lock titles on long tables so that column header information is always displayed as you scroll through the data. (This feature works automatically unJess you tum it off from the Options menu.) The zoom fearures make Bookshelfop erate a little like a hypertext document. [Editor's Note: For a description of hy pertext, see William Hershey 's review of Guide in the October 1987 BYTE.] If you find a reference to a subject in an index or a table of contents, zooming lets you go to the chapter, subheading, or paragraph levels, or directly to the text of that entry . Some searches reveal onJy the chapter, the subhead, or the fi.rst lines of particu lar results, and you can go to the full text by pressing Return, or you can use Zoom In to move down one level. Some entries contain cross-references ; others contain footnotes. Special commands under the Options menu let you view these supple mentary texts and, in the case of cross referenced material, to return to the origi nal text immediately . You can copy up to 50 lines of text at a time into Bookshelf's clipboard; for long passages, you can copy the first 50 lines , then append to the clipboard for as much data as you need . Finally, you can paste the entire contents of the clipboard into your word processor. Whenever you discover an important passage, table, or other text that you ' ll want to refer to again, Bookshelf lets you create bookmarks. You add a descriptive title to each bookmark, and later, when you want to return to that point, you sim ply choose View Bookmark (AJt-0) from the Options menu and select the particu lar bookmark's name. Since Bookshelf stores bookmarks on your hard disk or floppy disk, the number of bookmarks you can create is limited by the amount of free disk space you have . The References Using Bookshelf's thesaurus , you can lo cate synonyms for a word in text or a word that you enter into the thesaurus's dialog box. You can also perform multi ple searches and cross-reference the re sults of a search (i.e.· search for a syn onym to a synonym) . If you 're using a Bookshelf-compatible word processor, you can automatically replace the origi naJ word on your screen with the selected synonym. Bookshelf's American Heritage Dic tionary contains the definitions and ori gins of over 200,000 words. Its limited phonetic spelling checker is usefuJ on occasion, but I would not rely on it in place of Bookshelf's separate spelling verifier. On the other hand, the wealth of words and their definitions makes this an extremely useful dictionary . For exam ple, "rise" has 35 distinct definitions, many with sample sentences, as well as a set of synonyms and their definitions . The dictionary ' s search capabilities are impressive. I searched for all defini tions that contained both the words "scientific " and "mathematical , " and within about 10 seconds , the program presented four entries: "engineering," "index," "operations research," and "parameter." In contrast, a search for definitions containing either "scientific" or "mathematicaJ" took about 27 sec onds but located 210 entries. The dictionary also features a biogra phy and geography section. Each entry is brief; for example, the biographical entry for Nikola Tesla reads: "Tesla, Nikola . 1856- 1943 . Croatian-born Amer. elec trical engineer, physicist , and inventor." The Houghton-Mifflin Spelling Veri fier and Corrector can check the spelling Bookshelf version 1.00 Type Multifaceted reference and lookup tool onCO·ROM Company Microsoft Corp. 16011 Northeast 36th Way P.O. Box 97017 Redmond. WA 98073·9717 (206) 882-8080 Format One CD-ROM (High Sierra format) Hardware Required IBM PC or compatible; if Bookshelf is used as a TSR . it requires a minimum of 512K bytes of memory for a hard disk drive system (640K bytes for floppy disk drive systems and 256K bytes if used stand.alone); Microsoft Mouse or PC Mouse recommended Software Required MS·DOS or PC-DOS 3 .1 or higher: CD· ROM drive with MS-DOS CD-ROM extensions; compatible word processor (recommended). CD·ROM drive supported by Microsoft CD-ROM extension software; dri ves supported include Hitachi 1502S/1503S, Sony CDU -100, and Amdek LaserDrive· 1. Documentation Short reference and install ation guide: quick·reference pamphlet; on·disk tutorial program Learn: help screens Price Disk alone: $295 Bundled with Amdek LaserDrive , MS DOS CD·ROM extensions. and controller card: $1285 Inquiry 894. of an individual word or an entire screen of text . If it finds a word it doesn't recog nize, it offers you the opportunity to search for alternative spelHngs, Jook up another word or speUing, add the word to a user dictionary (so that it can be identi fied in the future) , ignore the word, re place it, or cancel the search. (It does not bypass additional occurrences of ignored words encountered during the same search, however.) The spelling verifier is phonetically based (e.g ., it will find "psychotic " from "sikotic"), but it isn't perfect. I asked it to look up the misspelled word "cronic" ; it found "ironic." When I instructed it to seek more alternatives, it found "conic" and finally, on the third try, " chronic ." By contrast, Microsoft Word 3. 1 on the conrinued JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 177 REVIEW: MGMSTATION CAD Macintosh found "chronic" the first time but failed the "sikotic-psychotic" test. Bookshelfs Usage Alert tool checks the proper usage of words and phrases. For instance, you may be unsure whether you should use "effect" or "affect" in a particular sentence. Usage Alert deter mines whether an individual word (or an entire screen of text) has usage rules associated with it. The usage rules dis played are brief definitions. (For exam ple, principle is defined as "rule, law" and principal as "chief, money.") You also can suppress certain words or phrases so that they will not be flagged during a Usage Alert scan. The Chicago Manual ofStyle is a well known reference for English language usage . As a Bookshelf reference , it offers almost instantaneous access to the rules governing good writing. For elWllple, if you have a question regarding punctua tion within parentheses, you can search for entries containing "punctuation" and "parentheses." You might want to nar row the search to only paragraphs that contain references to "punctuation" and "parentheses," or further narrow it to refer to " question marks" and " parenthe ses. " Searches of this type usually yield results in less than 10 seconds. The World Almanac and Book ofFacts 1987 is a massive compendium of infor mation ranging from who won the 1985 Academy Awards to a complete list of U.S. senators , imports and exports from each state , and many other interesting facts and statistics. With the Almanac, the capabilities of Bookshelf make the search possibilities virtually endless. Not all words can be the target of search operations. You cannot search for numbers other than four-digit years (e.g ., 1987); nor can you use wild cards, so you have to design searches exactly. The good news is that you can put several search criteria on one line (for OR operations; the string to request a search for Califor nia or Michigan might read California, CA, Michigan, Ml), and you can have up to three levels of AND operators. If you want to search for infonnation containing references to California and cotton, you would place "California" on one text entry line of the dialog box and "cotton" on another. With over 22,500 quotations in Bart lett's Familiar Quotations , you should never be at a loss for someone else's words . You can search by author or by subject mauer and construct complex searches on multiple criteria. A search for entries containing references to "crime" or "money" and "politics" came up with one entry from Aristotle and another from Will Rogers . The Business Information Sources ref erence contains a compendium of busi ness resources, including periodicals and books, government agencies, specific market-oriented groups , and other infor mation for business users. A search for references to " advertising" and "televi sion" revealed seven entries, which in cluded books about television advertising as well as statistical articles. You use the ZIP code locater to look up five-digit ZIP codes for standard postal addresses. You can either enter addresses into the ZIP code locater' s dialog box or place the cursor after the state in a stan dard two-line address so that when you call up Bookshelf, it reads the address di rectly from your word-processing docu ment. (It also will paste the complete ad dress back into your document when it has located the ZIP code.) Although the ZIP code locater even supports post office boxes, it isn't fool proof. In one test, it failed to recognize an address as valid , and in another it re turned the wrong ZIP code for a post of fice box in New York City. The problem in both these cases was that the official U.S. ZIP Code Directory contains more than one listing for these addresses, but the program did not rerurn a message to that effect. In all 0th.er tests, however, ii returned the proper ZIP codes in under 5 seconds . If you've ever wondered how to phrase a difficult· letter or set up a financial fonn, then you should appreciate Book shelfs Forms and Letters reference. Di vided into four categories (Business Forms, Business Letters, Business Out 1ines and Checklists , and Personal Forms), the Forms and Letters reference is full of useful information and practical templates . There are financial forms (e.g. , financial statements , cash dis bursements, and expense tracking); busi ness letters of all kinds (with helpful hints); special outlines for marketing plans, pricing, and other business appli cations; and several personal finance forms as well . The Fonns and Letters' Transfer Forms option will transfer an entire form directly to a fully supported word processor. Even if you're using an application that Bookshelf does not sup port, copy and paste procedures often work. As a last resort, you can copy the form to the clipboard, then save the clip boa1d to an ASCII file . Let Your Fingers Do the Walking Bookshelf's few flaws do not detract from its overall value as a reference . About the only thing missing is an en cyclopedia . There is no question that Bookshelf puts at your fingertips a library of infor mation that won't simply sit on the shelf. It's so easy to find and extract what you want that Bookshelf invites usage in ways that ordinary books do not. One of the greatest pleasures Book shelf offers is the opportunity to browse through reference works any time the mood strikes. Finding useful information is aided by powerful search features , but it is also aided by the convenience of a computer interface that can often lead to serendipitous discoveries. For profes sional writers, students, business people, and anyone who likes to have lots of infor mation, Bookshelf is more than a refer ence; it is an opportunity. · Ruse/ DeMaria is a freela11ce writer. He can be contacted at 109 Akea Place. Kula, HI 96790. MGMStation CAD Rusel DeMaria MGMStation CAD version 2 .091I, from Micro CAD/CAM Inc ., is a powerful two-dimensional drafting program that runs on most Macintoshes (512K Mac, Mac XL, Mac Plus, Mac SE and Mac II) and costs $799. MGMStation CAD is not a simple, freehand sketch application, nor is it MacDraw . This program pro duces high-precision drawings to be used in machining and industrial design. Its floating-point accuracy and finely tuned user interface also allow it to be used by professional draftsmen , architects, or electrical engineers. Billed as "Professional CAD for the Mac," Micro Graphics Manufacturing Station CAD (or MOMS , for short) of fers a wide variety of drafting tools in the form of menus and icons . In addition to the basic tools of the trade (e .g. , points, lines, arcs, and fillets), MGMS can create and manipulate symbol libraries. create groups from individual drawing entities, calculate and draw dimension statements, use built-in plotter support, continued 178 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 When Your Computer Sends An S.O.S. - - -It Can ·~l::.L I UH NU I l"UUNU ·FILE ALLOCATION TABLE BAD ·DISK ERROR READING FAT ·DISK NOT READY ·INVALID DRIVE SPECIFICATION Cost You ·DATA ERROR ·GENERAL FAILURE ·ERROR READING ·WRITE FAULT ·BAD SECTOR Plenty. ·NON-SYSTEM DISK OR DISK ERROR ·READ FAULT ·BAD DATA ·ABORT, RETRY, IGNORE ·PLUS HUNDREDS MORE!!! A revolutionary, new way You can successfully attack The costliest problem In business computing today. No matter what they say, e very one of these messages usually means : data los s due.to hard disk fa ilure. Part of your business is suddenly missing-in-action. So you call technical support. Pay for unnecessary repair or replacement. Pay overtime attempting to recover or reconstruct as much of your scrambled information as possible. Spend your valuable time soothing customers' ruffled leathers because one of your computers is "down." Again T hink about it a momen t : how much have these disguised hard disk error messages already cost you in unrecoverable data. time and torture? Disk Techniciantm keeps a history in its database of failure pallerns it detects. The astounding accuracy of Disk Techniciantm and the long -term reliability of your hard disks depend on decisions reached by its artificial intelligence (Al) considering data gathered from previous tests It has performed on your system . Million-dollar mainframe reiiability For PCs? Disk Technician m ~ses special proprietary wnte and read testing to identify marginal bits and/or continual dynamic changes. 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Can be reset to opera te on a new machine or hard disk by calling the factory. · Even works on finicky 1. 2 megabyte AT -type floppy disk drives. · Ouiksta/Pm installation guide and 60 Second Instruction ManuaPm get you going fast and are all you will need to run Disk Techniciantm. Now for the shocker: your average business user sees these disguised hard disk faJ/ures many times each year! But it doesn 't have to be tha t way anymore ... The good news is : All this and '' glitch" protection, too? SafeParktm memory resident softwa re program (included!) works with all of your programs all of the time to prevent destruction of your data from static electricity, turning power on-and-off, Press Reviews: New York Times: "Disk Technician seems like a product every owner of a hard disk should seriously consider buying an d using daily for preventive maintenance. Think of it as denial floss for your computer. 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Tclophono :619 274 5000 Technical Suppon :G19 272 -1000 Circle 209 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 210) JA ARY t988 · B Y T E 179 REVIEW: MGMSTATION CAD MGMStatlon CAD version 2.0911 Type CAD program Company Micro CAD/CAM Inc. 5900 Sepulveda Blvd . #340 Van Nuys. CA 9141 1 (818) 376-0008 Format Three 400K·byte 31h·inch floppy disks: one system disk with installation program and device drivers and two master disks with MGMS CAD application; key disk is requi red Implementation Language Macintosh Programmers' Workshop Pascal Computer 512K Mac (with two disk drives). Mac XL. Mac Plus. Mac SE. or Mac II Software Required System 3.2: Finder 5.3 or higher Output Devices Supports lmagewriter and LaserWriter printers and Houston DMP series, Hewlett-Packard and compatibles. Graftek, Gould, and Apple Color pen plotters and Roland plotters Documentation Micro Graphic Manufacturing Station, 145 pages Prtce $799 for CAD package with plotter drivers and Geometry Analysis module (calculates area. perimeter. moment of inertia, etc.) Options IGES module: $500 MGMS CAD/CAM : $7000 Inquiry 895. and more. I evaluated MGMS on a Mac II with 2 megabytes of RAM and an NEC MultiSync color monitor. User Interface MGMS's user interface is one of its more controversial features . Although it de parts from some traditional Mac pro cedures, given the context of precision drawing, it is both logical and easy to use. Many commands are used for the exact placement of points, lines , arcs , and other entities and often require some key board input or several mouse clicks to identify exact locations. Thjs method of manipulation does not resemble the typi cal MacDraw point-and-drag operations . One variation on the Mac interface is MGMS's use of icons. The usual pull down menus are present, but along the left side of the screen are 11 icons; each icon represents a submenu of graphic functions. Though this system differs from the traditional Mac interface it allows many commands to be accessed from one screen without excessive sub menu levels. Another variation is MGMS 's imple mentation of user prompts. A typical Mac application prompts you for an action using a dialog box that has a message and option buttons. MGMS blanks the menu bar and places a message there with your options. Rather than using a mouse, you type the first character of the option per forming the selected action. or type the requested information (text or digits) and hit the Return or Enter key. For example, when selecting Quit from the File menu , MGMS prompts Save the document be fore exit? ·Yes · · No · ; typing n causes MGMS to discard the file and return you to the desktop. Many menu choices set the program into a specific mode of operation . For in stance, choosing Delete allows you to delete specific entities from a drawing. You delete by cljcking on a particular line, curve, or shape . You stay in delete mode until you leave it by using one of MGMS ' s convenience features-the " mouse escape." To escape any ongoing mode , you just move the mouse to the left-hand row of icons, aborting the current action. When working with MOMS, this mouse-escape technique be comes second nature. Pull-down menus control general fea tures of the program: The File menu con trols file operations, printing, and plot ting; the Zoom menu controls various zoom options; and the Group menu con trols group operations . The General menu allows you to undo certain com mands and modify the grid and drawing sizes, as well as repaint all the elements of a drawing, or only the actual drawing group itself (leaving out dimensions, labels, and hatching). The Hatch menu selects various hatch-and-fill patterns (a future version will allow you to select color on the Mac II). The Text menu se lects the labeling mode. The Library menu handles specific library functions, and the Cale menu summons an on screen calculator. MGMS handles measurements in both the English and metric systems. When entering feet and inches, you can enter a value-for example , JO feet , 6 inches-as !Of 6; as tolal inches (126); as decimal feet (IO .Sf); or as a fraction (IO l/2f). You can enter a measurement in meters or feet at any time by entering the appro priate letter (i .e., Sm would represent S meters) . Usable coordinate systems in clude polar coordinates (by angles), Car tesian coordinates (x and y), or user defined grid coordinates. Construction Icons The 11 icon menus used in the actuaJ construction of drawings are Point, Line , Arc, Fillet, Sect(ion), Spline, Rotate, Mir ror, Dimen(sion) , Types (lines) , and De lete. Within each menu are several choices used in creating precision drawings . MGMS excels at precision drawing . Many options allow exacr placement of objects, lines, arcs, and other details. Under the Point menu, there are options for setting an absolute point; increment ing the position of an existing point: choosing a new or an existing point; and finding the midpoint/vector point, a poim on an existing arc , a polar increment point, a point on the grid , or any free point. The Line menu includes automatic creation and exact placement of parallel lines ; and lines perpendicular to other lines , arcs, free lines, and so on. You can create all kinds of arcs and cir cles from existing points in a drawing : from exact center, radius or angle dimen sions entered at the keyboard, or in sever al other ways. In addition, the Fillet menu offers easy ways to create a fillet (an arc that forms part of an imaginary circle and is tangent to two objects) between lines , lines and arcs, two arcs , from arc to point, and tangent between two arcs or tangent between an arc and a point. An other option, Fillet All Corners, lets you create fillets on all comers of a figure in one continuous operation. The Sect(ion) menu enables you to re section lines and arcs and trim intersect ing lines and arcs. This menu also in cludes chamfering (connecting two nonparallel lines by another straight line-similar to filleting , but with straight lines instead of arcs). The Spline menu contains options that create shapes, curves, and contour off sets . You can, for instance, use a pre pared file of Cartesian coordinates (per haps originally generateo from a spreadsheet or database) to define a com plex curve, or you can enter up to 80 co ordinate pairs from the keyboard. The program then creates a smooth curve between the starting and ending coordi nates , using the intermediary points as guides . These coordinates approxjmate the use of a spline in manually drawn continued 180 8 YT E · JANUARY 1988 The $19.95 High-Performance C Compiler M ix Soft>.vare presents P~r C . . . Our new cost efficient alternative to high-priced C compilers. Now you can create high-performance programs without spending all }{Jur hard-earned money. But price isn't the only reason to choose Power Cover the competition. C ompare the performance. P~r C's integrated Make saves you time and effort by automati cally managing your large programming projects. And with PO\ver C. your programs can be as large as available memory. As for speed. the performance chart speaks for itself. Power Cexecutes most of th benchmarks faster. And Power C creates smaller EXE files. out-performing the competition. Performance Chart (execUllOfl ltrnes m ooconds) PowerC MSC Turbo C 1) fib' 23.8 47.0 26.4 2) sieve· 27.6 40.2 25.5 3) ldbl" 3.5 9.0 9.6 4) diskio· 13.5 14.2 14.3 5) report·· 11 .0 86.3 60.7 6) drystone'' 36.6 38.2 31B Compile/Link 73.9 187.6 81.4 EXE File Size 25120 29008 27184 Benchmatks from Dr. DollD's Journal' & Computer Language··_ Flist four programs res 1) function ca/ling. 2) loops/integer math 3) floating poim math, & 4) disk UO. Pro grams 5 & 6 simulate typical applications. Tests complied from command line using Make supplied with each com piler. Tests "'"on 8 MH2 AT with medium model of Power c ·r.o. MS (Microsoft) C 4,0, & Turbo C 1.0. Circle 185 on Reader Service Card C ompare the functions. \Vith O'v'er 400 functions. the PO\ver C library is vastly superior. Our library is a superset of Microsoft C and Turbo C. Plus. we\-e added an e.xtensi1.-e set of graphics functions for drawing lines, boxes circles. pie charts, and more. C ompare the portabilit . Power C supports the lat L features of the proposed A SI C standard. Plus. Power C is compatible with both Microsoft C and Turbo C. All of which makes it easier to move program LO and from Pow·er C. C ompare the documentation. Our competition assumes that you·re already a Cwizard. We don't. PO\ver C includes a step-by-step tutoria l and sam ple programs with every function. With our com plete documentation. programming in couldn't be easier. PO\ver Cis factors less expenSi\-e. And the source cod e to our function library is available at a fraction of their price. Price Chart G Compiler Power C MSC Turbo C $19.95 $450.00 $99.95 Library Source Code Option $10.00 N/A $150.00 Total Cost with Source $29.95 N/A $249.95 Technical Specifications Pcmer C includes: Power C compiler with integrated Make, Power C linker, Pcmer C Libraries, Poo.·,rer C book, and support for.. . ..L... ANSI standard ..L... IEEE floating point ..L... 8087180287 coprocessor auto-sensing of 8087180287 ..L... automatic register variables mixed model (near & fa r p0in1ers) ..L... CGA, EGA, & Hercules graphics Options are... ...L.. Library source code ..L... BCD business math O rder Po...-er Cnaw by calling our toll free number or mail the oupon to Mix Software, 1132 Com merce Drive, Richardson, l); 75081 . 1·800·523·9520 For technical support and for orders inside Texas call: 1-214-783-6001 Minimum System Requirements: MSOOS 0< PC DOS 2.0 Of later. 256K memory. 2 ROPPY drives or hard drive recommended. Runs on IBM PC, XT, AT, and compatilltM. and IBM PS/2 modol 25, 30, 50, 60, or 80. 60 day money back guarantee Name Street City State 7ip Telephone_ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ __ Paying by: O Check 0 MC/Visa# 0 Money Order Exp _ _ Computer Name Disk Size D 5V. " 0 3'12" Product(s) (Not Copy Protected) n c Power (S19.95J n Library Source Code ($10) s _ __ $ _ __ (In-eludes e.n assom blt:lr) O BCD Business Math ($10) S _ __ Texas Residents add 8% Sales Tax $ _ __ Add Shipping ($5 USA · $20 Foreign) Tolal amount of your order $ _ __ f>a,yer C is a trademark ol Mix Soltwara. Microsoll C is a reglslered trademark ol Mic:rosolt Cotporalion. Turbo C is a registered trademark ol 6orland International. B JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 181 REVIEW: MGMSTATION CAD MGM works on a standard Macintosh screen. However, it works better on a large screen display because more data in a large design is visible. curves. The Spline menu also has com mands for creating contour offsets for both open and closed figures. You can create inside or outside offsets after you've selected the distance. In effect, the contour offsets create an outline of any shape in the drawing. The Shapes option, found under the Spline menu, allows you to select prede fined shapes, such as rectangle, round rectangle, hexagon/polygon, slot, and D hole. For each shape, you enter the ap propriate dimensions from the keyboard, and the program creates the shape at the current point in the drawing. The Rotate menu is similarly versatile, letting you rotate and duplicate defined groups in various ways, such as to spe cific points on the drawing or to a point indicated with the mouse. You also can click and drag groups to a new location or assign them to a new coordinate location entered from the keyboard. Mirroring allows you to create mirror images around the x or the y axis or around a sloping x or y axis. You can choose to include or exclude hatching in the mirrored image. Dimensions let you mark the two points of a dimension line, then mark where the line should be drawn. You can select different hash marks for the dimen sion lines from a special Install program that 's run separately. You also can nest dimension lines or run them together in one Jong, subdivided line. The only drawback to dimensioning applies to ar chitects: The vertical dimension state ment cannot be placed along the edge of the object or rotated at angles ; it always displays horizontally inside the dimen sion line. Other than that, MGMS offers instant and effortless dimensioning. Organizing the Data You can zoom a drawing by setting a new scale or by outlining a portion of the drawing using Cursor Zoom. You can use Cursor Zoom many Limes to blow up spe cific details of the drawing, returning instantly to the full picture using the Original View command or typing Conunand-B (one of the useful keyboard equivalent commands for selections in the menu bar). MOMS works on a standard Mac screen. However, it works better on a large screen display such as Megagraphic Images' MegaScreen because more data in a large drawing is readily accessible; on a smaller screen , you spend a lot of time scrolling about the drawing. At first, I found the lack of keyboard equivalents in the left-hand icon menus to be annoy ing. Constant scrolling of the mouse to the left side ofa large screen was cumber some, but setting the mouse-tracking speed to a higher rate in the Control Panel solved the problem. Grouping is accomplished in one of two ways: by clicking on individual enti ties or by defining a region with the mouse. Although MGMS does not have true layering, you can treat groups as layers since you can hide or display any defined group at any time. As an exam ple, you might have a plumbing layout de fined as one group in a house plan . By hiding or displaying that group, you could effectively work within different "layers." The disadvantage to this, how ever, is that in order to make alterations, you have to ungroup the plumbing group, alter it, and then regroup it. You can define any group as a symbol in a symbol library . Libraries can contain up to 56 symbols, but you can have un limited numbers of libraries. You can pick any symbol from the libraries, rotate or scale it, then paste it into a drawing at whatever point you choose. Then, if nec essary, you can ungroup the symbol , modify it, delete it, or manipulate it using normal group commands. For more complex effects, you can even load an existing drawing over the current one. You also can import Mac Draw (or compatible) documents or ex port in PICT format via the Clipboard. You label drawings in the text mode . Labeling is versatile, allowing various types of text displays and labels. You can enter comments, labels, balloons , or tables of entries. Text size can be modi fied as a percentage of the total drawing, but only two fonts are available: Monaco and a special Symbol font . Also, text can not be rotated. You can, however, choose different types of pointers, select the exact position at which the text should point , and modify the position and size of text labels as needed. Documentation and Add-On Modules MGMS comes with a fairly basic manual and tutorial that-considering its size and complexity-is remarkably easy to learn. However, the learning time required varies depending on how much prior CAD experience a user has. This is not a package for casual graph ics applications. Its real strength is its fine precision. Some experimentation is nec essary to achieve fluidity with the pro gram. Experienced users of both Auto CAD and MGMS will like the laner's accuracy of object placement and speed of drawing construction. MGMS' s user interface makes designing easier with MGMS than with AutoCAD. MOMS has a few add-on modules available fromMicro CAD/CAM or from third-party vendors. For those people needing full CAD/CAM capabilities , MGMS is ideal because it is often mar keted with the Manufacturing Design Systems CAM program (called MOMS CAD/CAM) for accurate manufacturing applications. It costs $7000, but this includes installation and training, and MGMS CAD/CAM uses the Mac and a serial connection to drive manufacturing equipment, quite unlike the situation where buying a software product and reading a manual will suffice. Another company, Compu-Arch, offers three symbol libraries: architectural symbols (for $195) , electronic and electrical drafting symbols ($195), and interior de sign symbols ($195). Micro CAD/CAM also offers an Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (lGES) module for $500. A Geometry Analysis program also is included with MGMS bur, according to the manufacturer, it will eventually be an optional add-on module. The program can determine the area, perimeter, mo ment of inertia, and center of gravity of a contour or figure . Results can be saved to a file if required. CAD for the Professional MGMS is a powerful and versatile CAD program for the Macintosh whose user interface is designed to achieve precision drawings ; it may not appeal to people who like to point, click, and drag every thing. At times, the precision features may inhibit free-form creativity, but for those who need precise results, that may be a small price to pay. In some cases, it makes sense to do the more free-form work in MacDraw, then import the re sults to MOMS for further refinement. Although some Mac users have criti cized the user interface's departure from the Mac standard, I think it serves its pur pose well. It takes getting used to , but once you pass the learning curve, it pro vides a great deal of utility, and it lets users accomplish goals in record time . · Ruse/ DeMaria is a freelance writer. He can · be contacted at 109 Akea Place, Kula , HI 96790. 182 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Cirtlt 19 on Rtadtr StT11ict Card TD YOUR PC! Whether your tape data comes from millions of miles away by satellite or from just down the hall in accounting , our " TAPE CONNEC· TION " can read and write 112 " 9-track magnetic tapes using your PC! Over 500 million reels of magnetic tape are in use by most mainframe and minicomputer systems. For more than 25 years, 1h " 9-track tape has been the standard worldwide for storing and retrieving large data fi les. Why not let your PC and our tape system assist you In using the vast resources of the tape data world? Supporting 800 NAZI , 1600 PE and 6250 GCA , our file transfer soft ware processes labeled or unlabeled tapes from most computer systems, including IBM OS/DOS, DECNAX, UNISYS, Honeywell, Burroughs, NCR , and HP . Large multivolume tape reels can be transferred to disk at rates up to 5 MB/m inute! 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Our high volume allows us to otter low prices on Anritsu, Cipher, Kennedy and Qualstar equipment. Systems come complete and ready to use with controller card, cables, software and drive . Ranging from $2995 to $8995, we have a system for you, so call us today! Dealer and volume discounts available. ''JOIN" FLAGENG for vendor support on BIX! Circle 93 on Reader Sel"l'ice Card (DEALERS: 94) 1120 Kaibab · Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 · 602-779-3341 Compusol·Europe · 12 Rue Rosenwald · 75015 Paris Tel 530.07.37 ·Telex 205431F _C~OM_P_U_T~ING~A_T~C_H~AO_S~M~AN_O_R~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Writer's Tools Jerry Pournelle I'm back at Chaos Manor after many adventures. Prince of Editors, spelling sert a formfeed character_ WordStar does much the same Mercenaries is finished-well, checkers, and CD-ROMs: searching thing with its .pa command . there's still the exciting final This method is clean , neat, and chapter to do, but that's plotted, and action scenes are easy to for the perfect system intuitive. Q&A Write tries to be " what write-and ought to be out from you see is what you get ," or Baen Books sometime in 1988. I spent a you can search for all italic characters and " WYSIWYG," which means that it not couple of weeks in Silicon Valley, mostly replace them with underlines in one oper only shows you the page breaks, but all working on the book, but I also got to ation. You can even convert all italic cats the blank lines at the top and the bottom Hackers 3 .0- the third edition of the into boldface dog.<; if you ' ve a mind to. of the page. This is annoying if you're Hackers ' Conference-and some press As it happens, some of the early chap trying to write a column. I don't need to conferences. When I got back to Chaos ters of Prince of Mercenaries had been see an electronic analogue of paper. Manor, the place was, of course, filled written on old Zeke the Z80 using CP/M The page breaks can be eliminated, with stuff, so it's hard to see where I WRITE, which defines underlining by though, if you tell Q&A Write that your should begin. enclosing the text to 5e underlined in page length is zero . This seems a bit odd , underbar characters, _ thus_. I devel but it does work, and it 's what I used Text-Editor Blues oped a macro that would search for the when I wrote Prince ofMercenaries; and I wrote Prince of Mercenaries with Sy first underbar character, delete it, mark after all, when you ' re writing letters it mantec's Q&A Write. This is one of the text as italic until it came to the next really is nice to see the page breaks, so those programs I have to call infuriatingly underbar, delete that, and go find the that additional capability is a bonus. excellent. I've written about it before, next set. I stored my manuscript as one-chapter and normally I wouldn't use so much This worked fine until it found the very files. Q&A Write is a " text in memory " space on one program, but the problems last phrase marked by underbars, after editor , meaning that there 's a finite are illustrative. Let me explain. which it did strange things . Eventually, I length to the size of a document you can First, Q&A Write is, in the main, ex discovered that Q&A Write didn't stop work on . Some people object to that, but traordinarily easy to use. The documen searching and replacing when it reached it's all rigbt by me. I'd as soon break my tation is spotty, varying from pretty good the end of the text. Instead, it wrapped work into chapter-size chunks. to positively harmful. I'm beginning to back to the beginning and started over. However, when I print the stuff, I like think that no tex.t editor can have really "Intolerable," I muttered . Spelunking to have a different header on each chap good documentat ion . Still , the help through the manual , I found that if I ter, so that if I'm thumbing through the screens really are nice, and most of the pressed PageDown after I entered the printed tex.t and find an error, it's easy to instructions are quite intuitive. search and replace command mode, I see from the header which chapter I'm in . Symantec has thoughtfully built in the could tell the editor to stop searching at I tend to use a single running header re old WordStar commands-Control-G de the end of the text. I could even make that lated to the title, then the chapter num letes a character. Control-T deletes a the default. If you press the Help key (FI) ber, so that Prince ofMercenaries would word, Control-F jumps forward a word, when in search and replace mode, you 'II have headings like " Prince- I" and and so on-as well as the more " modem" learn things not discussed in the manual . "Prince-2." commands, like Control- right arrow to There are pages of options. Score more Alas, Q&A Write won 't let you put jump forward a word. points for Symantec. headers on a pageless document. WRITE Q&A Write also has a very good macro I ran into at least a dozen things like accepts dot commands: you say . lh capability . Thus, if you grew up on Elec that, poorly documented or even undocu Prince-2 (beginning the line with the tric Pencil, you can redefine Control-Y to mented features , until I began to believe . lh, of course), and from that point on , be "delete to end of line" and Control-U there wasn't anything that program every page has a left header of "Prince to be "delete entire line." Indeed, you couldn't do. Then came time to print. 2" until you put a different . lh command can key nearly any multistroke sequence continued to be accomplished by a single command. PagingJ Paging Good macro capability is essential in a My old text editor, CP/M WRITE , Jerry PourneUe holds a doctorate in psy text editor. doesn't bother with pages. You just type chology and is a science fiction writer Second, it has a quite sophisticated in what you want. If you want to force a who also earns a comfortable living writ search-and-replace facility . For example, page break at a particular point , you in- ing about computers present and future. JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 185 CHAOS MANOR in the text stream. Similarly, you can have variable footers if you like. Not with Q&A Write. Unless your document has been saved with a finite page length, the program won't accept headers or footers at all. Well, I thought , all right, I'll tell each chapter it now has 66-line pages, and then I'll add my headers . This was a bit of work I hadn't expected to have to do, but it's easier than rewriting the book with some other word processor, which is what I'd probably have had to do, since I don't have a program that converts Q&A Write files to WordPerfect or WordStar. Before I went to all that work, though, I thought I'd experiment a bit; and that's just as well , since I'd have been wasting my time. In Memoriam Nearly every text editor I've used has been a "text in memory" editor: it works only on files it can hold in memory, and it can't create a file larger than the mem ory space it has to work with. As I said above, some people hate thfa, but it has never bothered me. The advantage of " memory only" pro cessing is speed. The disadvantage is that if you want to do a global search and re place, you have to do it for every one of your files . (This is enough of a disadvan tage that I've sometimes concatenated WRITE files into one big WordMaster file , done the global replacements , then broken the text back into chapter-size files .) It's not a problem for printing, at least not with CP/M WRITE , which has provi sions for linking files: at the end of the file , you simply put I FILENAME . EXT as the last line (where the filename you give is the filename for the next chapter) , and when you go to print, the linked files are automatically read in and printed. There was once a version of WRITE that actually used the linkages to control search and replace as well , but that got lost in a later version. It would be a great advantage if you could optionally do search and replace through linked files , but it's not vital. Clearly, though, "text in memory" editors simply must allow print linkages . This seems so obvious, I never thought about how Q&A Write would handle long documents until I was ready to print Prince of Mercenaries. I found out soon enough . The program solves the problem by ignoring it. That is: Q&A Write has a provision for linking files. You merely insert a com mand of the form JOIN filename, whkh has about the same effect as WRITE's link in that, when you 're printing , as the program comes to the J OIN command, it reads in the referenced file and prints it. Alas , it doesn 't do that very welJ, be cause it ignores the new file's header. The header you put on the very first page of your document will be the header you get for the rest of it. In fact, JOIN ignores the formatting saved with the file and reformats the in coming file to conform with the format ting (e.g., margins, page length, single or double-spaced) of the file that contains the J OIN. That's all right, but it wouldn't give me a different header for each chap ter. Whatever header I started printing with would be what I'd keep. There is another way. Instead of JOIN, you can use the Q&A Write QUEUE file name command. This one treats the new file as a separate document and thus pre serves the header and footer (and format ting) you put on it when you saved it. Since all the chapters were saved as page less documents, I'd have had to call up each one and change those formats, then save the document again . That might have been worth doing-but JOIN begins the page numbers all over again each time that it calls in a document. That wasn't precisely what I wanted either. No WYSIWYG It took me about 3 frustrating hours to discover all this. I decided to go with the JOIN system. That is, I created a docu ment that contained a title page, followed by *JOIN PRINCEl.QW*, the page-break command, *JOIN PRINCE2.QW* , page break, and so on , all through the 20-odd chapters. This was pretty tedious, but at least I'd get consecutive page numbers from beginning to end. Publishers like that. .. Halfway through that process I had an idea. Since I want to create my docu ments in the "pageless" mode-that is, give the program a page length of zero but I also want them to have headers, sup pose I tell the program that the page has, not zero length, but a very long length, say, 99,999 lines? That way I'd get a header, but no page breaks. It was a good idea, too; but Q&A Write won't accept page lengths longer than about 200 or so. Back to zero page lengths. Tediously , I created the JOIN document . Now, of course, I wanted to print my book double-spaced. Fine. Tell the Q&A Write program that. It accepts the com mand-and does nothing with it. It will print a document double-spaced, all right, but it doesn 't show the double spaced page breaks . It doesn't even tell how many pages the document will be: it continues to act as if you were going to print single-spaced. Since one of the options in Q&A Write is to print from page X to page Y, it is a lit tle odd to tell it to print from page l to page 7 in order to produce 13 pages of double-spaced tel'\t. When I called Symantec about that, I was told that Q&A Write wasn't intended as an editor to create books. It's mostly meant for business correspondence. I told them I bet there are quite a few peo ple out there who have to create a long document once in a while . Font Support If that weren 't bad enough, Q&A Write likes to boast of its ability to handle type fonts, and, indeed, it does that in a fairly simple way. I have the Z font for my Hew lett-P'ackard LaserJet Plus, and it's won derful, with three sizes each of Times Roman and Helvetica, plus some others. Normally, telling the LaserJet Plus about its fonts is a black art, but Q&A Write does this automatically and can change fonts within a line. This sounded great , and I wanted to use the feature to write fancy letters with several fonts . Alas, if you tell Q&A Write to print your document in Times Roman of the same point size as Courier 10-pitch (the LaserJet Plus defuult), it does that nicely, but the page breaks and line-end breaks have zero relationship to what you see on the screen . Formatting the text neatly is nearly impossible. It's no good trying to use one typeface for your letterhead and another for the body of the letter, either. Sure, Q&A Write will print both fonts on one page , but you'll waste a lot of paper trying to figure out where on the page the text will be . There's just no relationship between what you see on the screen and what comes out on paper. Also, if you have numbers in the text, the columns don't line up. Neither do the tabs. I was using Q&A Write to create my el'\pense reports (it has a primitive calcu lation routine built in), but I found I had to do them in Courier rather than in Hel vetica or Times Roman. In fairness, Q&A Write is a character editor, intended to run with monochrome screens as well as with machines that sup port graphics. It's not supposed to show you different fonts on the screen. On the other hand , if you've got graphics capa bility , you probably ought to have an edi tor that makes use of it. Certainly, I want an editor that under stands the font metrics well enough to show me, if not the fonts themselves, at least the line and page lengths I'll get when I print. I suppose some business tasks don't require that capability, al though offhand I can't think of too many . Any reports that involve forms or tabular columns of numbers will need better WYSIWYG than Q&A Write has. continued 186 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Paradox: the top-rated relational database manager in the world -C:rtrtrf.! 8.7 <:! ·tr<:r tl 8.2 <:i <:i<:i 7.6 tf'{;i<(;/ 7.0 '(;{'tf'(z 7.0 i:r-tt 6.6 <:!tr 6.4 Paradox XDB PowerBase Open Access 11 Data Ease dBASE Ill PLUS R:BASE System V Paradox is once again the top-rated pro gram. with the latest version scoring even higher than last year's top score... (Software Digest's 1987 Ratings Report is an inde pendent comparative ratings report for selecting IBM PC business software. Ratings Report tests were done by the prestigious ·ational Software Testing Laboratory, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania.) The Ratings Report mes sage is crystal clear: there is no better relational data base manager than Paradox. STL tested 12 differen programs and amongst other results. discovered that Paradox is 3 times faster than dBASE arx:I 6 times faster than R:BASE· on a two-file join with subtotals test.t 1.1 512K $495 · · · · · 1.10 320K $750 · · · · · 2.3 384K $349 · · · · 2.0 256K $395 · · · 2.5/2 384K $600 · · · · · 1.1 384K $695 ·· ·· · 1.1 512K $700 RATINGS KEY (On a scale of 0 to 10) Overall Evaluation "'"' "'''"" 9.0 or higher "'"'"'"' e .o . e .9 "'"'"' 7.0 - 7.9 "'"' 6.0 . 6.9 "' 5.0 . 5.9 All Other Ratings · 7.0. 9.9 5.0 · 6.9 · UNDERS.O Paradox combines ease of use with power and sophistication Even if you're a beginner. Paradox is the only rela tional database manager that you can take ou of the box and begin using right away. Because Paradox employs state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology. it does almost everything for you-except take itself out of the box. ' ' Paradox 2.0 will do for the LAN what the spreadsheet did for the PC David Schulman. 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It 's fast and has the ability to export my text into ASCII file that can be ent into BYTE' s Atex ystem or otherwise put on the wire . The only 1rouble is that it can 't print a simple double-spaced manuscript of 300 or more pages. Clearly, I was better off with WordS1ar . Now What? I drifted away from WordPerfect largely because of its complexity compared to Q&A Write . ow I discover Q&A Write isn ' t going to do the job. I 'll alway want a paper copy of my books. More than that, Jim Baen , my editor at Baen Books, i spoi led: he likes the way the book looks in Times Roman with real italics . I suppose I can live with Q&A Write's limits . It is certainly the easiest to use , really the be t in its price range, and maybe they ' ll make some fixes . However, I' ll be trying several more editors in the next few months . WordPer fect is certainly a contender. It' s perhap more complicated than I need , but what the heck , it does seem to do the job- and unlike Q&A Write, the WordPerfect for mat is known to a number of desktop publishing programs that can fonnal my books exactly the way I want them. Another possibility is Microsoft Word 4.0 , which people I respect tell me is wonderful. I got to looking at il today and I stil l cannot find any references on how to delete a word, delete to the end of the line. or delete an entire line , withoul 1aking your hands off the keyboard . A s far as I can see, you have to mark the word (either with the arrow keys or the mouse) , then hit the Delete key. That gets in the way of creative writing , and I won 't do it. I want to have delete word , delete line , and delete to the end of the line as ingle Control -key key stroke s . Spe lunkin g through the Microsoft Word 4.0 manual reveals the flat statement that you can build macros to do all this. It doesn ' t tell me how, but I think I see the light. Given that I can do that, I find a great deal to like about Microsoft Word 4.0; and it will certainly support my LaserJe1 Plus Z car tridge , since that one was developed for use with Microsoft Word. The "stylesheet " features are also ap pealing; Microsoft Word lets you keep file of variou fom1ats and insert them cominued 188 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 214 on Reader Service Card i i 111 Ql{llfJ lllJ fJ I~ lt'L'J ICl) ~ helps save time, money, and cut frustrations. Compare, evaluate, and find products. FREE Innovative Softwarl' Technology Details "\111l"o.' l·J,..; t . \,.,,. \ ._· J...\.·pt n11 .. n"-.1 1inptll\.' I ,!..·\,· l1 1J'l\.'I"' .1tm.· .1 ...1 ·1f ,ofl\\,Ll'1..' ,1,_·\\.'h)p11h,' lll lh:1ll.\ ... 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Canada V6K 4L9 Support (604) 732-7411 TELEX 04·352848 VCR FAX (604) 732-0715 Order Desk (800) 663-8702 Toll Free 30 <Jay rnor.oy OOCk goa,.nroo MCN/SA 190 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 135 on Reader Senoice Card CHAOS MANOR into documents at need. One stylesheet is for letters, another for the opening page of a chapter, another for regular pages, and so on. The Word manual explicitly tells me I can change my "running heads" any time I want to, provided that the new running head is the first para graph on the page and marked as a head er, so I'll be able to print chapters the way I like. All in all, Microsoft Word 4.0 looks very tempting. I have also promised John Hild, presi dent of XyQuest, that I'll try XyWrite III Plus, which can't possibly be as good as some of my professionaJ colleagues tell me it is. Or maybe it can be. XyWrite has become something of a standard within the publishing industry. While it's not yet standard practice to submit books on disk, that day is getting closer; and all the publishers I know will accept XyWrite files that have embedded ASCII commands. The way this works, to mark a passage as italic, you use some scheme like <ITALIC> this will appear in italics< ROMAN> ; which is fairly easy to do using XyWrite macros. Accordfog to Frank Romano , who is publisher of Type World and a spokesper son for the publishing industry, so long as you use a consistent scheme and your text is in ASCII, publ.ishers will be able to translate it. XyWrite is faster than the dickens, and the only reason I didn't use it in the first place was that version 2.0 would not work with SideKick. XyWrite HI Plus has been tamed down so that you can use it with your favorite memory-resident programs. Finally , there's good old WordStar 4.0 and a new edition of WordStar 2000. Those are the main candidat.es. They all swear they are trustworthy , Joyal friendly, thrifty, and very, very fast. Certainly, they ' ll all do 300-page double· spaced manuscripts with consecutive page numbers and different headers at the top of each chapter. What Do You Want, Anyway? When I first started writing with com puters, I was so thrilled about not having to retype manuscripts in order to revise and edit, I didn't care what else the com puter could do for me. Now, after more than 10 years of this , I have a few higher expectations. We professional writers are, after all , businesspeople. Our needs in text editors aren't all that different from anyone else's . Most ofus don't need a lot of bells and whistles on our editors; but what we do need, we need badJy ; and our first re quirement is that the editor be as nearly invisible as it can be. 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NJ 07724 Aztec C is available on a thirty -day money back guarantee. Call now and find out why over 50.000 users give Aztec Cone of the highest user-satjsfaction ratings in the mdustry Call 1-800-221-0440 In NJ or outside the USA, call 201-542-2121 Telex: 4995812 Fax 201-542-8386 JA UARY 1988 · BYT E 191 DEBUGGING SWAT TEAM Order Eco-C88 Rel. 4.0 New Modeling Compiler and get C-more at no extra charge! Seek and Correct You already know that fast compilation does not mean fast program development. Backing up for bogus error messages and removing the bugs takes time. Eco-C88's "Seek and Correct" three - way error checking finds even the most elusive bugs, clearing the path for swift program development. Double Barrel Error Checking Eco-C88 nails syntax errorscold and tells you about the error in plain English. And there's no avalanche of false error messages, either. Other compilers can generate up to four times the number of error messages actually present; they leave it up to you to guess which ones are real. You'll be more productive with Eco-C88 because there is no guess work. Eco-C88 provides ten levels of semantic error checking. You can select from almost no checking to the fussiest you've ever seen. Eco-C88's "picky flag '' finds subtle errors that slip by other compilers. Eco-C88 also features: · All data types, plus ANSI Enhancements · Robust library, including many new ANSI functions · CED editor with online function help, split windows, compile-edit-link capability · New, expanded manual with sample pro grams for the library functions C-more Source Code Debugger Finally, if a really nasty bug persists, put C-more, our source code debug ger, to work. With (-more you can watch your program as it executes, single-step it, set simple or conditional breakpoints, test complex expressions, use variables as indexes into other vari ables, initialize and trace variables, examine CPU registers, display results with print f() type optionsand much more. C-more can help you track down bugs in minutes rather than days. The price for Eco-C88 is $99.95. And, for a limited time, we'll give you our C-more debugger at no extra charge. Ecosoft Inc. 6413 N. College Ave. Indianapolis, IN 46220 (317) 255-6476 (Tech Info) _ (BOO) 952-0472 (Orders) f . ,. 1 Circle 87 on /&ader Servid Oml .- . ' .~ ... .. CHAOS MANOR Circle 192 011 Reader Sen·ice Card lines , rulers, help lines, or anything else on my screen; what I want to see there is my text , and the more of it , the better. For reasons I have never understood , editor designers almost never provide a toggle that lets you simply blank out all the help ful information and fill the screen with what you 've written and nothing ebe. I don 't know why . When you ' re creating text, you don 't need a lot of fancy commands . If you write the way l do, with trial sentences and words and suchlike. you will want the ability to do selective deletions cleanly and easily. Of course, you want your paragraphs to reformat as you insert and delete. Also , you want to be able to vary the margins to suit the job at hand , and yo u want an easy way to get word and line counts. Mostly , though , you want some thing you can feel comfortable with . As a businessman, I write a lot of let ters, and while most are only a single page. some are longer. It would be nice if my program would, somehow, generate letterhead from normal paper so that I don't have to put letterhead into th~ laser printer every time I want to send corre spondence . It would also be nice if it were easy to call up a " letter format " form to take care of margins and such . Finally, some kind of attached card-file system to keep track of the correspondence would be helpful. All that , though , can 't compensate if the editor can ' t do the primary task of producing manuscripts in the format that editors like. As I 've been writing this (in Q&A Write ; this goes in electronically , so the print problems don't apply , and I won 't meet deadlines ifl change text editors to night), I've been checking the Microsoft Word 4.0 manual ; so far, I haven ' t thought of anything it doesn 't claim to be able to do . That' s certainly the next pro gram to try . Spelling Checkers I recall stories of some famous advertis ing people who insisted that their staff use the products they advertised . If you have the Arrow shirt account , you wear Arrow shirts . Drink Schweppes. Etc. I don 't care much about the advertisers, but I sure wish the people who design user software were forced to use it. In particular , I think anyone who publishes a text editor and doesn't use it to create that editor's documents ought to be shot. It's the same with spelling checkers. Sometimes I can't believe the people who design them actually use them at all. Take my situation . I write for a living . It's important that my manuscripts be as near perfect as possible . Since Robert co111i11ued OKIDATA'" 1200 and 2400 BPS Modems To most people our name says reliable PC printers. But the fact is, we've been in telecommunications for over 100 years. And our new PC modems are all you'd expect from that experience. 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The most powerful PC FORTRAN available. FORTRAN TOOLS: Profiler, Mathematical Functions Library, Overlay Linker, Utility Libraries, Widows Library. Toolkit. The difficult decision is not from whom you should buy your PC FORTRAN, but which Lahey compiler you should purchase. Call us today to discuss your PC FORTRAN needs. FOR INFORMATION OR TO ORDER: 1-800-548-4778 30-Day Money·Back Sallslacllon Guarantee Lahey Compuler Sys1ems, Inc. Box 609 1. Incline Village. NV 89450 Tel: 702-831·2500 TLX: 9102401256 Circle 139 011 Reader Service Card JA NUARY 1988 · BYTE 193 CHAOS MANOR Heinlein once solemnly informed me that carefully packaged so that it takes no time I was a terribul spellur. you may imagine to set it up. Of course, once I had a CD my relief when the first really good spell ROM reader. there wasn't much to do ing checkers came out. with it-Grolier's Encyclopedia is inter Alas, the first few were better than esting to experiment with, but it's not many of those that followed . something I use much. A decent spelling-checker program On the other hand, given that Micro needs at least three dictionaries. First is soft sponsored the CD-ROM confer the Main dictionary. This one is saved in ences, it was pretty clear that Microsoft a special algorithmic format to make would be one of the first companies to searches faster . It's often impossible to bring out a spectacular application of insert or delete words from the Main CD-ROM technology; and they did . dictionary. Microsoft Bookshelf is a preview of the Second is the Update dictionary. This future. is the one that gets things missed by the What Microsoft did was put The Amer Main dictionary . Words like your own ican Heritage Dictionary, Roget's The name, lots of plurals, favorite slang ex saurus , The World Almanac and Book of pressions, and so on; words you ' re likely Facts , Bartlett's Familiar Quotations , to use in any kind of document. The Chicago Manual of Style , the Third are speciali.zed dictionaries . As a Houghton Mifflin Spelling Verifier (a science fiction novelist, for example , I book of forms and letters that will be very have alien characters with odd names, useful to small businesspeople) , the U.S. like Chowpeentulk and Harpanet. I cer ZIP Code Directory, the Houghton Mif tainly don't want those in the Update dic flin Usage A/err, and Business Informa tionary or anywhere else that will be tion Sources , along with their indexes, on searched when I'm not working on the a single CD-ROM disk. particular book that employs those They then made an interface that's names . I thus need, in a word, a Special pretty easy to work with . Naturally , it's dictionary. geared to work best with Microsoft Word I can make a good case for there being · 4 .0 , but so what? I tried it with WordStar, yet a fourth dictionary , but I won ' t XyWrite, and WordPerfect , and it works bother. My point is that I don't want to fine with all of them. However, it will not look at the same dictionaries every time; work with Q&A Write or the current and of the three dictionaries I use, at least DESQview . two will have been created by me. The interfacing isn't perfect. Some of So far , so good. My quarrel with most the early beta-test versions were bloody spelling checkers is that even if they allow awful . The release version is pretty good. me to invoke several optional dictio The control software is generally RAM naries, they make it very difficult to resident, though you can use Bookshelf create them. as a stand-alone program . When you in The exception to this is The Word Plus voke it. there ' s a command line at the top from Wayne Holder, which offers you faintly reminiscent of Digital Research ' s one-keystroke commands to put a word GEM . into the Update (press U) or the Special If you ' ve called up the thesaurus , for (press S) dictionary . The words are then example, the program will offer to look automatically put in the proper place in up the word that happens to be under the the appropriate dictionary file . Since that cursor (if you ' re merely in DOS, that will program first came out in the 1970s , be the prompt, which the thesaurus is un you'd think later program designers likely to find). If you want it to look up a would have made theirs at least as good as different word, you type that in . Book Holder's used to be, but most didn't shelf shows you the synonyms and offers bother. to substitute one of them. All this works Worse, Oasis now sells a version of quite smoothly. The Word Plus that doesn't work that The interface with the other books is way . Naturally, that's the version Syman similar. There are also browse features . tec bought. Sigh. On the other hand, When you use it in document mode, Microsoft Word 4.0 clearly uses the old you've got the option of cutting stuff out version of The Word Plus and does sup of the books and pasting it into your port Update and Special dictionaries. work. Generally , it 's pretty easy to do that. Microsoft Bookshelf What's important isn ' t that there are a I knew CD-ROMs were the wave of the few glitches and frustrations in the user future the first time I ever heard of them. interface: it's that, glitches and all, it's a I got an Amdek CD-ROM reader as soon heck of a lot easier to use all those refer as it came out. The Amdek engine is ences as part of Microsoft Bookshelf than made by Hitachi, and Amdek ships it as a it is to get up, go find the printed copy of class act , with cables and instructions the book , and use it manually . Most pro fessional writers-at least the ones I know- own copies of almost every one of these books, but they seldom use the things because it's just too much trouble. No longer. When word processors first came out , I was far too lazy to do without one, and as far as I know , I wrote the first book certainly the first science fiction book ever done on a microcomputer. Back then , I said that pretty soon all books would be written with the little beasts; and while there are exceptions (1 know some writers who still use foolscap and pens they dip in ink), that's a prediction that has effectively come true. I'll make another: in 10 years (prob ably fewer) , all professional writers will have CD-ROM readers , and if they don ' t have Microsoft Bookshelf, it will be only because someone has brought out an even more complete set of writers' tools on CD-ROM; and unlike the shelves of ref erence books we all keep but don't use enough , the CD-ROM references will be used every day. More Writing Tools When I went off into hiding to write , I needed something to put Zelda the Zenith Z-248 on, so I hared off to hardware stores . By sheer good luck, I ran into a desk made by Foremost Furniture (502 Middle St. , Archbold , OH 43502) . Their Model 4530, of simulated wood on fiber board , is one of the best computer desks I've seen yet, and it costs only about $50 retail. It's large and has a pull-out keyboard drawer. That drawer is big enough for the keyboard and has a raised level for a mouse; under the raised level is a sepa rate drawer big enough for labels, disks, small tools, and other stuff. There's also a matching hutch. This desk and a stand to hold stuff you ' re copying from can make a real difference in produc1ivity. While I was at Spring COMDEX , I bought The Winner, a dual-level ·com puter table manufactured by Hubbard Furniture (P.O. Box 104, Northbrook , IL 60065). This is a stand of good design , better looking than Foremost's desk and a bit smaller. It 's good , too , and !heir ca1a log is definitely worth writing for. The right furniture can make a real dif ference in work habits. QuickBASIC 4.0 Microsoft has done it again . Quick BASIC 3.0 wasn't bad , but some of it was kludged up and rushed out in order to match features in Borland ' s Turbo BASIC. It was probably a mi~take for Microsoft to do that. In any event, Quick BASIC 4 _0 is new from the ground up , with features that are truly stunning. 194 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 CHAOS MANOR To begin with, it 's got records; that is. data structu res that contain several data types. String data must, naturally, be de claied as fixed-length (as all strings are in Pascal); once you've done that, Quick BASJC 4.0 records work just about the way Pascal records do. As a result, the dreaded FIELD statement is no longer needed. It still exists but that's largely to retain compatibility with programs writ ten for earlier versions . Unlike version 3.0, which had a sepa rate compiler for programs to be run on machines with a math chip, 4.0 is uni fied; there's a conversion program to read your old Microsoft binary-number files, but all mathematical operations are now done in IEEE standard format . You don "t have to have a math chip in your machine to compile, but if you do have one, 4.0 will use it automatically. I think the most impressive feature is the debugger. When you interrupt a pro gram, you are automatically in the appro priate section of the source code. You can cause the assembly language instructions associated with that code to come on screen . You can also revise the source code and restart the program from where it left off without recompiling the whole thing. The debugger is little short Qf amazing. I haven't had QuickBASIC 4.0 very long, but I think I'm in love . This is what BASIC ought to be. Hackers3.0 The annual Hackers' Conference has be come a bit more sedate, but it remains the most interesting computer conference of the year, at least for me. It's hard to come up with specifics. I spend most of my time talking with small groups, rather than listening to the presentations, and the main result is mutual stimulation of ideas. Mostly, I guess, it's the excite ment ; this is one of the last places where people aren't ashamed to say they love these little machines. This year. there were lots of buttons: MS-DOS & OS/2 Just Say No Now you can play Assembler in the key of C. risCTM from IMSI: ;I/ A ~-- 11 · 9 ~ J=e:i Sometimes you've just got to write in Assembler. It's tedious. But it makes the ma"cltine perform. ,~~I~ When you're used to writing in a friendlier and easier language like C, working in Assembler is a little like fi8d1Tl11]111t\\ working in Greek. But now, there is a better way to ,S9fl'!l!U JJ)jj? write A:;sembler code. Add unbelievable speed to ~----=::o=-' program development. And make programs easier co maintain _It's called risC. risC transposes for you. Fast. risC is the first portable, C-like, object oriented , High-lexel Assembly Language (HAL). It includes features of object-oriented high-level languages like Smalltalk, Objective C. LISP and PRO LOG. You write in a C-like syntax, and risC transposes to Assembler. At Assembler speeds. With tight Assembler precision. Your objects will work in concert. Wich risC, your program costs will go down, because you can create objects and operators to go with them. And risC contains a complete object-oriented messaging kernel (source code included) which allows risC objects (.EXE files) to pass messages back w and forth. Add your own personal touch. You can tailor the language co your own personal sryle. risC's flexible syntax allows you co create customized compilers thanks co its Ian- /~j guage extension capabilities {"packages"). risC ,- ::-- keeps "packages" in compiled form for speedy compilation times. Your development process will go faster than ever before. Your program development costs will be reduced even more because risC allows you to specify ~q 1 ,· 1jifp))£a~ , ~~(;,{(:i;,'(~_;;) the exact Assembler code generated by each object/ operator combination. Producing .ASM files with risC variable names and comments intact. risC helps you identify when you're off key. You 'll have better applicarions. Faster and cheaper. 0 °\ ~ Because ri Callows debugging cwo ways: under its own source code debugger. DBG, and under Microsoft's CodcView. To bring down your development time and · co t even more, risC interfaces with a large variety of existing .OBJ library routines. It's easy to take with you . '. \ \ \ ~J Unlike Assembler, risC creates portable programs. /,..,.-:\ So you can easily port your applications to other 'f////fl1 111; ;j!~ ~~-z: 0/,/, ~p current and future machine architectures. risC is a sophisticated programming tool. risC has compile~ options allowing you to inter face with many different C and Pascal compilers and with different 8086 models- 'NEAR: 'FAR'. and 'INTERRUPT So if you're a serious programmer, you'll find risC is a serious programming tool. !e's just easier. There was also a slogan: PS/2: Yesterday 's Hardware , Today OS/2: Yesterday's Software, Tomorrow to which I added OS/2 Extended: Today 's Software Real Soon Now And, of course, there was a strong mixture of Unix enthusiasts. I must say cor1ti11ued Order today. And play Assembler in the key of risC. Only 579.95, with a 30·day, mon ~")"back guarantee. In CA add 6't .olc> <ox I To o rder risC . jusr all IMSI at (415) 4-4.7101, or o ll toll · frcc. 1·800·222·4723. (In CA call I 1·800- 562·4723). If y<>u pr<f<r. return this couPQn wi1h your mlu cnrd i . or o check fo r S79.95 to IM I. 1299 41 h S1rcci. San Rafael. CA 94901. Pbse. dd · }.00 shipping and h·ndhn~. 1 Name_'_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ Tide_ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ I Firm_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ I Addrt>·'--- - - -- - -- - - - -- -- - - - - - - - -- Clly_ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Sror"'---- --Zip_ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ I O \lj53' _ _ _I 0 Ma>terCard· _ I I I I __ II I __ I _ I _ IriIsexCp. dabte y _ I -I _ _ _ ;_J Circle 116 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 195 Circle 254 on Reader Service Card CHAOS MANOR ~eJ"\ Hire aPro for YourNewTurbo 4.0 T um o n the po we r of T urbo PROFESSIO AL 4.0. a libra ry of more than 300 state-of-the-an routines optimized for Turbo Pascal 4 .0. 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CA 95066 that as I watch the OS/2 story unfold. I do begin to wonder : if Unix is ever made stable enough co be put in ROM , so that you don't need a guru to maintain the sys tem , there' s less and less reason why it won ' t catch on . I think of liule that OS/2 promise that you can ' t do with Unix: and now that American Management Sys tems has actually developed the long mythical user-friendly Unix shell , who know ? However. Unix i n' t going anywhe re without a major backer. The obviou s major backer is AT&T . a company with deep pockets brilliant engineers and de signers, and a monopolist ·s attitude co ward marketing. Think how diffe rent the world would have been if, a few year ago, AT&T had bought Apple Computer for its marketing savvy . At one meeting , someone wryly ob served that if AT&T would copy-protect System V Unix. within 6 months it would be so widespread that nothing would be able to top it. Actually , I suppose the most probable outcome is that a year after OS/2 comes out , there will be as many OS/2 user a Unix users, after which both will con tinue in parallel and without actuall y competing , Unix growing slowly , and OS/2 charging ahead ; but while that 's the most probable event , it ' s by no means in evitable . After all, the main objection to Unix was that it's too big and coo slow and that applie j ust as strongly to OS/2. The main excitement at Hackers 3.0 was hypertext . Hypertext i an idea that Ted Nelson expressed many years ago in, among other places, his book Compwer Ub: You Can and Must Undersiand Com pwers Now!: the idea that document stor age needn't be linear, that you can and should be able to j ump from one relevant idea to anothe r by ideas and relevance: and that small computers can store idea. in ways that make that easy. The implementation of hypertext is under the control of Project Xanadu , with most of the work being done by Roger Gregory in his spare time . This project is very probably the library system of the future ; the only thing stopping its com pletion is money. If you've got a spare 10 bucks, there are an awful lot worse thing you can do than send the money to Project Xanadu (Xanadu Corp., 2438 Newhall St. , San Jose, CA 95128) . Meanwhile , the closest thing to hyper text is HyperCard for the Macintosh. Since everyone el e has already written about HyperCard , I don ' t have 10. Inter estingly, Apple, the company that seems so quick co complain about " look and feel , " had a presentation about Hyper Card in which , oddly enough , Ted e l- i;o 111i1111 e d 196 BY TE · JA . UARY 1988 Circle 276 on Reader Service Card SOME PEOPLE ASK LIFE&: DEATH QUESTIONSWITH OURMICROPROCESSOR DEVElDPMENT 10015. 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(Outside North Amtrica: 305) CHAOS MANOR son's name never appeared (although the the computer, on a split screen with a live nating to watch two pacifists yelling like Apple spokeswoman who gave the pre- . opponent, or through a modem against a savages as they blew each other's build sentation sajd that would be fixed Real live opponent. ings away. Soon Now) . The graphics are stunning . There are At Hackers 3.0 I played Fire Power HyperCard really is a neat hack, a still a few bugs on interface control. awhile, after which someone asked me if software breakthrough that deserves its When you blow up buildings-which you I had reconsidered my opinion of the popularity. do often- they collapse to rubble. No Amiga 's multitasking operating system. matter how careful you are at driving It seemed a fair remark . However , when I Fire Power your tank, you can get it stuck ; some got home and loaded my own copy of Fire By far the most popular game at Hackers times stuck so that it's impossible to re Power, I managed to get a system crash 3.0 was Fire Power, a new Amiga game trieve . There's no game command to re and guru meditation (Commodore 's mis from MicroTllusion. This is a joystick lease you. You have to restart the game. erable excuse for humor in error mes controlled arcade-type game involving The map is complex. the action is fast. sages) within 5 minutes . tanks . It can be played solitaire against and everyone liked the game. It was fasci Since that time, I' ve seen the guru sev ------------------------------~ era! times. The game will be going along fine, when two of the automated helicop "01·1·<·lu/Ji11~ mr a/J/J/i,at11m 111 (' ·u 11111/d hac'<' l<tl·t'll 6 mm1fJ,, to a rn11 . 11111 in '''"'ii lo11h 2 11u111th1 . .. - Hri"11 l-(·11.1l1t'. Ho,.i11~ <:01111111·1'<"1(1/ Afr/J/{1111· <:ompn11y ters will somehow stick together, or one of the tanks gets blocked in a strange way; th en the screen goes blank , and oul ''To C ACTOR or not 0 0 to c...'' Actually, you don't have to make the choice. Once C was ideal for all PC pro gramming . But it has been complicated by windowing and graphical interfaces. Now windows development with C is difficult, time-consuming and error-prone. You need a new language that simplifies win dows programming. Introducing Actor~ comes the guru. I don't know if I have a broken copy of the game; at Hackers 3.0 the game was played all weekend and if there was ever a crash , I didn't see it. Even with the crashes , this is one of the best arcade games I've ever played . I su re like blowing up my friends. Ancient Art of War at Sea Actor is the first interactive object-oriented language made for commercial development. I mentioned this one before, but it's j ust Its powerful browsers , inspectors and debuggers give you more insight into a windowing too good to pass off with one line. environment than Cever will. But your Cwork is not lost. Clibraries can be linked to Actor. Broderbund named this to be reminis Plus. its procedural syntax is easy for Cprogrammers to learn. Actor comes with windowing classes built in. Customize Actor's classes to create stand alone windowing applications. And objects give you another layer of independence for a cent of their Ancient Art of War, but , in fact , it's not about ancient times : it's the age of fighti.ng sail , and about the best game of that period I have ever seen. smooth transition to OS/2 and Presentation Manager. It's the quickest and easiest way to write There are ome limits I wish it didn't a windowing program. have-for example, fleets can have al "You 0011 write Windows programs much faster with Ador tlra11 witlr C or assembly language. " -PC Magazi11e,)1111e 9, 1987 most three ships in them , so you can't really play out Trafalgar- but for sheer realism . this beats the competition all hollow. · Runs wilh Micro!iOft Windows 1.04, 2.0 and 386. EX"tended memory under 2.0 and 386. · Pure. singlt>-inheritance objec1-<>riented language, ina·ementally compiled. ·Dynamic linking to C, Pascal, Assembler, · Wind<'>w scyles: tiled, overlap- ping, popup, child. edi1, dialog11. Con crols: list boxes, scroll bars, buuons, i;heck boxes. · Data SLru tur s: stack,~, arrays, queues, lists, dic1ionaries, St:lS. sorting. hashing, There· s a strategic level , in which you give long-range orders to little artificial symbols ; and a combat level, in which really neat graphic representations of sailing ships " tack" and "wear ship" and generally react the way you'd expect. or Fortran libraries. Pa.~s data in C imervals. There are six different opponents, stn1crures. · Pascal and C like ~-yntax . · Programming tools: Browser. Inspector, Debugger. File Editor. · Full access to MS-Windows systems calls, multitasking. and DOE. · Fast device-independent graphlcs: lines, shapes, icons, c11rs@rs, biunaps. metafiles, Turtle graphics, sample · Al suppon: frames. ~bols. dictionaries. Ii.sis, symbolic program ming, fun etional argu ments. Parsing and lexic-.tl analyi;is YACC compatible. · String manipulation: substring. conca1, append. insert, remove. search. · 643-page manual includes t11to,1:ial and refer ·nee. · No license fees. Generates stand-alone from a crazy Viking who makes no plans at all , to Lord elson who will probably beat you every time. In addition to the JO or so preset scenarios, there's a game building kit that lets you set up your own maps, allocate fleets to yourself and your enemies, and choose your opponent. I do wish they 'd work on the user inter c::ontrol Jan~ge using YACC. app1ic<1ti0ns. face , and there 's one serious bug involv · L&OGlasses, 1500 fun ctions. fully extensible. · Fastes1 imeraccive 00 a.,.-ailable. · Fast incremental garbage collecior. ing captured ships-if you capture an e nemy and there 's another enemy fleet Actor $495 · Academic price $99 ·Academic site license $99 · Manuals for site license $35 · New! Language Extension $99 ·Shipping $5 US, $25 lnt'l close behind, the next fight will be be tween your crippled prize and the new The Whitewater Group Technology Innovation Center 906 University Place, Evanston, Illinois 60201 (312) 491 -2370 .~ctor is :i rcgi tc..·rcd tr.:tdcm:u k of The: \\l'hitc\\<11er \,rou . Inc. enemy. They'll win, after which your nex.t fight will be against their newly re captured ship , and so on , until you wish you could scuttle the darned thing and get r-ontinued 198 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 291 on Reader Service Card AutoSl{etchTM AResource to Draw Upon To gc1 any jnh done yrn 111 ccd l hl' righ l tool s. Id ea Ily, th ey should be L'Xll' llS iO!lS o f yo11r La Jen IS. freeing you LO do \\' hat you do best . ml -;peed. prccisiPn. lkx ibi li t y, and con.'is Lcn cy an.: i1 h\"il}'Stop prioriti es. 11 0 m.:illcr what thejob. II' co rnrnunic,it i ng \\"i l h drd\Y ing_ is pan of your j ob. _,;. Aut0Ske1d1 should be 01 1c of vour reso urces. J\utoSke tch l'rnrn Autode sk. th e develop ers of 1\ 11toCAD: is th<: prcci-;inn drJ\ \'ing 1001for professional u~c . ll 's l~1 s t powtrful. and sim pl<.: to lea rn . Th e price is right. toP. \V iI h Au I0Ske1 ( h a nd your p n so 11 a I ( 0111 PU IC' r. Y< n1 ' I\ cll tl rt he\ \"Odd o r(() Ill pu tn-a ickd dra 1·1·ing 1\ i1 l·1ca se . You n1a y 11cTn \Ja\·c designed with ~ P( bc!"o rc . a11d y\lu 111ay thi nk it · ~ hrn1nd 10 l.wcomp licJtl'd a11cl 1inw-co11s1 1111ing. Sttrpri se! With AtttoSkctch . yu11 ' I\ prnh.:ibl y be up and running in a bout an hour. Oc-;pitl' i1 -; case tlf' use . Au10S \.; c 1ch is cl l'u l l-f'uncti(1Jl. ob ject-or ien ted CA IJ program. Pu ll -do1\·n lllL' llU S and dia lpg box es he lp )'Oll l' cH.'h · tcp of th e w ,)y . With a click of the 1110 11 se. yo11 can draw. then copy. lllirror. nr lllO\ c ohjcns. eve n crc,1tc sy mbo l l i b raries. Au t(lSketclt a ut<irn a tica Ily upd ate ~ tll (' cl S\ ll'Cl11ClllS \\'h c n cvcr )'O l l q1\' I ·h . sca le . or rotate climcnsioncd olijccts. It f' \ 'Cll kee p s track of every! hi ng \ 'Oll d o. so 1h a1 vn u ca n delete and rc~torc JXHlS nfvmir dravv in g as easily ilS you cha n ge y u1· m ind . u sing succc ..;ivc und o <1r redo commands. We know you 'll be impressed with the professiona.l results. So will your clients and colleagues. Aut oSket ch runs in th e IB M l'C/XT/AT a11d compatible system s w i1 l1 cl minimum of 5121< RAM and either co lo r or 111o noc ltrome disp lay. The standard ver ion is yo 11rs for just $79 .9 5. If yo ur PC ha s an 808 7 o r 80287 math co proce ssor. th is ve rsio n o pe rJ1cs about three Limes faster. The speed-enhanced version tor $99. 95. requiring the coprocessor, is three rimes faster sti ll. Ca ll 800-445-5415 for Lhe name of the AucoSke tch Dealer nearest you or more information on supported peripheral s. To order direct with a credit card , cal l 800-223-2521. Circle 22 on Reader Senice Card Circle 121 on Reader Sen·ice Card CHAOS MA OR Items Discussed Ancient Art of War at Sea .. $44 .95 Broderbund Software 17 Paul Dr. San Rafael , CA 94903 (415) 492- 200 Inquiry 934. Fire Power ... ........ .... ..... . $24.95 Microlllu sion 17408 Chat worth St. Granada Hill , CA 91 344 (818) 360-3715 (800) 522-2041 Inquiry 935. Microsoft Bookshelf... . .. ......$295 Microsoft Word 4.0 ... ........ .$450 Integrand's newChassis/ System is not another IBM mechanical and electrical clone. An entire! fresh packagbg design approach has been ta.ken using modular construction. At present. 01·er 40 optional stock modules allow QuickBASIC 4.0 ... ..... .... ... .. S99 icro oft 16011 orthea t 36th Way P.O. Box 97017 Redmond , WA 98073-971 7 you to customize our standa1d chassis to nearly any requirement Integrand offers high quality, advanced design hardwaJe along with applications and technical suppon all 01 prices compefilfre wilh imports. Why settle for I~? the whole thing over with . Forget the bugs , though . You'll love this game. Recommended. Rack & Desk Winding Down I'm out of pace, and I haven't talked about haJfthe stuff here . There 's Electro home' s new 19-inch multiple- ync moni PC/AT Chassis t0r that will handle everything from PGA to CGA and comes with an optional box that will let you connect it to cable to be you r televi ion ·et. Thi thing is greal. Rack & Desk Models Acccpts P , XT. AT Mo1herboards and Passive Backplanes Doesn ·r look like IBM Rugged, Modular Consm1c1ion ext month , I'll try to do it justice. I also have received Office Publi her , a new desktop-p ublishing pack.age that 's real ly simple to u e. rm no expert on desktop publishing, but I like this pack age . The documents actually explain how Excellem Air Flow & Cooling Optional Card Cage Fan Designed to mee/ FCC 204 Wall Supply. UL Recognized 145W & 85W also available Reasonably Priced to do things . There are new ideo board from Or chid and Zenith . Both support a wide va ri ety of video output , from CGA to VGA and thus are designed to work with multiple-sync monitors like the Electro home. I find EGA color good enough text on the EGA is crisp and readable but PGA i even better. EGA is the business standard now (al though there are probabl y more mono chrome monitors in the bu iness world) but it will be a sho rt-lived standard , largely because of some technical design Call or write for descripti e brochure and priCtS: 8620 Roose1'Clt Ave. · Visalia, CA 93291 209/651 -1203 TELEX 510601 2330 (INTEGRAND lJD) EZU K629'?6572 We acccp1BankAmericard/ VISA ·nd Ma.o;1erCard flaws in the EGA chip et (and beside , EGA doesn 't have square pixel ). If I were buying a monitor, I wouldn't even consider one that didn 't upport multi ple- yne frequencies. The Atari Mega ST is a 4-megabyte l k.'i.t PC. XT. T trldmw ol I OQr:ftl.a~f ~\ ~ Om·a .llld mmpulO ro.nb rlOI tad~ machine with more bang for the buck 200 B Y T E · JA UARY 1988 (206) 882- 080 (800) 426-9400 lnquir. 936. Q&A Wr ite.... ... ...... ... .... .. . 199 Syma ntec I020 I Torre ve. Cupert ino, CA 95014 (408) 253-9600 Lnq uiry 937. The Word Plus .................. 150 Oasi · S tern 2765 Reynard Ave. San Diego, CA 92103 (619) 453-5711 Lnq uiry 938. than anything I' ve een . More and more, I am beginning to believe that the Atari ST really i the machine for the rest of u : it's fast reliable , inexpensive, and get ting a lot of software. In Europe . the Atari i con ·idered a _eriou bu ine machine. I don't see why it an't be here. The book of the month i John Do Pa os · Midcemury . I picked up a copy in a library ale. o the edition I have i long out of print but I'm su re there are still ·omc around . There are three computer book of the mo nth . Two of them are by Dan Shafer: Turbo Prolog Primer a nd Advanced Turbo Prolog Programming. both pub 1i hed in 1987 by Howard W. Sams. The other book i by K.h in Maung Yin. Using Turbo Prolog (Que Books . 1987) . You ' ll want Lhem all. If! had to pick one ingle recommendation for people who want to try to keep up with the computer revolu tion , I'd say . " Get and learn Turbo Pro log . .. Declarative language like Prolog will be the wave of the future. All in all , a good month. ow , if you ' ll cxcu e me, I'll get back to Fire Power. Who care about the si lly guru? · Jerry Pourn elle welcomes readers' com ments and opinions. Send a self-ad dressed, stamped envelope to Jerry Pour nelle, clo BYTE. One Phoenix Mill lane, Peterborough . H 03458. Please p11r our address on the letter a · well as on the envelope. Due 10 rhe high volume of fellers , Jerry cannol gua ramee a person a/ reply. You can also comae/ him on BIX a ''jerryp . " UNLEASH YOUR 80386! Your 80386-based PC runs at least twice as fast as your old AT. This is good, but not great. The products described below will unleash the true potential of your 80386, giving you 4 to 16 times the power of your old AT. These new Micro Way products include a family of 80386 native code compilers and the mW1167 numeric coprocessor. Examples of the increases in capacity and performance include: · Programs compiled with MicroWay NOP Fortran -386 execute 2 to 8 times faster than those compiled with existing 16-bit Fortrans. NOP Fortran-386 can also address up to 4 gigabytes of memory instead of the standard 640 kbytes. MicroWay's NOP compilers and the programs they generate run on MS-DOS or Unix V. · NOP Fortran-386 generates code for the 80287, 80387 or MicroWay's mW1167. The mW1167 has a floating point throughput exceeding 2.5 mega- flops, which is 4 to 5 times the through put of an 80387 and is comparable to the speed achieved by the VAX 8600. Equally important, whichever Micro Way product you choose, you can be assured of the same excellent pre- and post-sales support that has made Micro Way the world leader in PC numerics and high performance PC upgrades. For more information, please call the Technical Support Department at 617-746-7341 MicroWay® For the Tandy4000 80386 Support MicroWay 80386 Compilers MicroWay Numerics 80386 Multi·User Solutions NOP Fortran-386 and NOP C-386 are globally optimizing 80386 native code compilers that support a number of Numeric Data Processors, including the80287,80387 and mW1167. They generate mainframe quality optimized code and are syntactically and operationally compatible to the Ber1<.eley 4.2 Unix f77 and PCC compilers. MS·DOS specific extensions have been added where necessary to make it easy to port pro grams written with Microsoft C or Fortran and RIM Fortran. The compilers are presently available in two formats: Microport Unix 5.3 or MS-DOS as ex tended by the Phar Lap Tools. MicroWay will pert them to other 80386 operating systems such as OS/2 as the need arises and as 80386 versions become available. The key to addrE05Sing more than 640 kbytes is the use of 32-bil integers lo address arrays. NOP Fortran-386 generates 32-bit code which executes 3 to 8 times faster than the current generation of 16-bit compilers. There are three elements each of which contributes a factor of 2 to this speed increase: very efficient use of 80386 registers to store 32·bit entities, the use of inline 32-bil arithmetic instead of library calls, and a doubling In the effective utilization of the system data bus. An example of the benefit of excell011t code is a 32-bit matrix multiply. In this bench marl<. an NOP Fortran-386 program is run against the same program compiled w ith a 16·bil Fortran. Both programs were run on the same 80386 system. However, the 32·bit code ran 7.5 times faster than the 16-bit code. and 58.5 times faster than the 16-bit code executing on an IBM PC. NOP FORTRAN-386'· ... ... ......... $595 NOP C-386"'. .. . .............. . ..... $595 The mW1167 "' is a MicroWay designed high speed numeric coprocessor that works with the 80386. It plugs into a 12 1 pin "Weitek " socket that is actually a super set of the 80387. This soc ket is available on a number of motherboards and accelerators including the AT&T 6386, Tandy 4000 and MicroWay Number Smasher 386 (Jan. '88). It combines the 64-bit Weitek 1163/64 floating point multiplier/adder with a Weitek/lr)tel designed "glue chip". The rnW1167 "' runs al 3.6 MegaWhetstones (corn· piled with NOP Fortran-386) which is a factor of 16 laster than an AT and 3 to 5 limes laster than an 80387 ..... ....... . ............. $1495 Monoputer'" - The INMOS T800-20 Trans puter is a 32-bit computer on a chip that features a built·in floating point coprocessor. The T800 can be used to build arbitrarily large parallel pro cessing machines. The Monoputer comes with either the 20 MH z T800 or the T414 (a TBOO without the NOP) and includes 2 megabytes of processor memory. Four or more Transputers can be easily linked together to form a Ouad puter. A single T800 is comparable in speed with an mW1167·equipped 80386. The compilers to drive one or more Mpnoputers include Occam, C, Fortran, Pascal and Prolog. MonoputerT414-20 ' ..............$1495 Monoputer TB00-20 ' .............. S1995 Biputer '" TSOO!T414 2 ·············· $4995 Quadputer'" T414·202 ···········.· $6995 'Includes Occam 'Includes TDS 80287 ACCELERATORS 287Turbo-10 ... .. . .... ..... ........$450 287Turbo-12 ................ .. . . . . .S550 287TurboPlus·12 ... .. . ........... .. $629 ATS "' - This intelligent serial controller is designed to handle 8 users (16 with two boards) in a Xenix or Unix environment with as little as 3% degrada tion in speed. It has been tested and approved by Compaq, Intel, NCR, Zenith. and the Department of Defense for use in high performance 80286 and 80386 Xenix or Unix based multi-user systems . ........... .. ... .. .... .... S1299 MicroPort Unix 5 .3 is a port of the nevii Unix 5.3 to the 80386. MicroWay NDP-386 compilers currently run on this version of UNIX. MicroPort Unix 5.3 ..... . ... .... from $399 PC-MOS·386 '" is an 80386 operating environ ment that turns an AT with an ATB into an MS DOS multi-user system. The system makes it possible to run applications such as Lotus 1·2-3 on terminals. The operating system also has a Phar Lap compatibility mode that runs programs developed with the Phar Lap versions of Micro Way's compilers ............. . .. from $199 Phar Lap'~ created lhe first tools that make it possible to develop 80386 applications which run under MS-DOS yet take advantage of the full power of the 80386. These include an 80386 monitor/loader that runs the 80386 in protected linear address mode, an assembler, linker and debugger. These tools are required for the MS DOS version of the MicroWay NOP Compilers. Phar Lap Tools ... ... .. . .. .. . ...... . .$399 MATH COPROCESSORS 80387 -1 6 16 MHz . . .... ............. $495 80287-10 10 MHz ........... .. .... .. S349 80287-8 8 MHz ....... ...... ... ..... $259 80287·6 6 MHz .... . . ...... .........$179 8087-2 8 MHz ......... ... .. .. ...... $154 8087 5 MHz ..··............·....···. $99 Micro Way The World Leader in PC Numerics P.O. Box 79, Kingston, Mass. 02364 USA (617) 746-7341 32 High St., Kingston-Upor:i-Thames, UK., 01 -541-5466 Circle 182 on Reader Service Card JA UARY 1988 · BYTE 201 ¥ER~ GHAfl.l b CiRA f ~I ATI C / Pl. OT MATt C MAT llPA NO t. 1 ~1 1 1' . · p PC TE KMAM G RAPlll C " LIB. l.·IST 0 HS 115 169 135 I 19 ·195 -U ~ 1 2~1 11 ;, :l..""10 2G9 SEW l !."t:'.i l b."1 r.tt \ 1' 11 1 1 ' ~ A I H'A~ TAG E G ~A l 'HJ CS (C l ESSE XTIAl. GRAl'lll C . G RAPlll~ (j~S l1H: A l1 HI ( [) f. \ Touu :1T llALU 11 ,\LO 15 .'l lt" ROS(W T [. ,\:< ~ I ME T.r\ ~\' INDC'N1' ~1 t-:TA. W l~D OW l' Ll ! TURBOll' l~lJ OW C TU ~l\ O IJ,\1.0 lf'O ~ T ll RIH) C\ .,SQ :!~~ 1$() JAi 1·1~:9i W5 31l1 300 205 5~1 5 J S!J 1,3 159 :!i5 ~~, ;j 'j~ 100 ": !I l.l''\ T PC- LINT l1 HF. -C 1 :i~ · 9 ~~l ~ l.'J ::. \ U1!H f \ ! fAHBWARI: ;!OOlll. c\ ·2 WG!Tf.CH ;1 ll 1LA ' CUMPll.f.R I' K [)£Vt-: UJl ' Mf.:-J r S\':il'fo: M ; !} 'J~ ,M'J CAI . I. TUOLKl'I W l~' U O\\' P'.i\ !\AGE r< O ~! 11 \ CKAGI-: A ~ lH'. kCJ _ S Rl . Tl \ti=.: D F.: l\lf (~ C ~F.:k Selection, Program111er's Paradise Gives You Superb · El 'El<"JOl· E I JJ'}o. IL\ TI'(, . \"'.l'-Tt·. '1'" 111 ~1 139 19 "' ;9'J ?~ .. ; 5c Personal Service and Unbeatable Prices! .\ll <; M(JllOKT: 2SG Jll) > M f:RC'. SYSH MV1AT ICO m 'L HE l ti·.· 12!1 ~ l {.l l i1T1 RUSTI ME PACK,\ GE I 1·~9 Welcome tu Paradise. The:: minocumputel" suftwure source Lhal calel"s to yo u!" prngrnmming needs. SOFIWAR F. DF.\". P1\Cl\r\GE 2.19 :!(19 Discover the Many Advanta res of Parndi se ... Tf:XT P1<J-: l1:\ "1 Al" IOS PACh.At 1F. n~ U:<l.IMITW LICf:~st; KIT i 1'9 16· 20~ sco, · Lowe ·t price !',llilr<mteed · Latest versions · Huge inventory. irrune<liatc shipment · Knowledgeable sales staff · ·pccial orders · 30-day money-back guar.mtee* XEN I\'. S'1 5T~ \1 \ ' tCO!rilP U'.Tl='. 1 12!15 1'.'i IJE \'ELOPM ENT 5Y. l f.:\t ; 9; 199 O l'E~ATl,:'.;" (; ~\' ST E M St·!> Tl-:XT l'ROCl-:SS ll\"G l'ACK :\VF.: \11 11, ... XEN I X r o R PS '2 ;Af,60.80 ,\'/i i'" l "ALI. a: WF.~IJ I ~ : Ol' t-;l(T\TINC ; ~Y:'iTt·: M T (JUl.BUX ·l!.19 I.·I~. i9 LIST Ol. RS LI ST Ul ' RS l. IST O t' RS PCV ~I S ·~J 19 l' t::<X ll' E:>l!l:> · IJ05 oq '9 ~1~ ;g ll'F.:-OIJIS . J<Cl> Ai'l'l.IL\TIOS KIT ~~' '9 l 6 SI' Fl'\\'.\ Rf: r\ OVANTA<;t-: JS6 · S'!J:S i9 t\OVANTAGE 3SG l)A.SC.i\L s9,:, i!.t9 ,\l lCROPORTDOS Mf:RGE 39~ 3~ G .\II ROPORT 5\'STF. 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F.N JOO 185 J OU 1"5 FO R XENIX 695 119 ~I QUICK BA SIC Ht:lhlTC 99 65 MS QUIC K C HF.BATE: 99 65 MS SORT 1"5 12> ~I S WI NOOl\'S 99 65 M S Wl:S DO\VS DE \I ELOP M E~·r KIT 500 309 ~I S ll' I N O O\\'Sr31l6 195 12S .IZTEC t' OMMf.RClllL <99 H9 AZTEC l) F.VEI.Ol'F.R 5 C·Tf.RP DB ~IA . · 2';9 269 98 79 15Q 119 I.ATT ICF. M11 GA DOS COMPILER 200 LATT ICE PRO /\ MIGA C COMPILER J75 MO DU LA 11 RE G 00 t1·5·9 7:5 M ODU L A 11DF.:V T RUE ~A S I C 15Q 125 100 79 New Year's Celebration in Paradise Microsoft Rebate - v-r TO-A ' s.50 REBATE Tums your 386 P inlo Many P s.Multitas k Your DOS Programs- Quickly and Easily. VM/386 is a control program for 386 Computers that creates Virtual Machines, like se parat e PCs. each running its own tas k simul taneously. Virtual Machines are protected from one anothe r. A crash in one wi.11 not crash the others. Run a diffe re nt DOS. 0 FI G. SYS, AUTOEXE C. BAT, me mory resident program and application in each Virtual Ma chine . Run any DOS application and memory-reside nt program including EM 1!C applications, without modific-<1tions. Recalculate a l- 2-3 spreadshee t, sort a dBASE Ill tile and receive your E,mail-all at the same time. Buy a combination of these new, fas l and complete Microsoft language products -QuickC, QuickBASIC and Macro Asse mbler- and get a check for up to $50. For programmers who hate to wail, QuickBASIC is ideal because it eliminates the time-consuming compile s tep. For more sophisti cated programming, choose QuickC for fast and e asy compilation and prototyping. Whe n you really need cont rol. ,hoo~e Macro Assembler. The Code Vie w debugger, an integral part of the Masm s ystem, lets you test and Al1clOsofr debug your Microsoft QuickBASIC. QuickC and Macro Assembler programs all at the same lime . All three List $348 Ours S2251after r ebate $175 Any two List CALL Our s CALL Run EGA applications pe rfe ctly in foreground and background. List: $195 Special Price $119 GreenleafC Sampler ADVANTAGE Disassembler A memory-reside nt program. AOVA . TAGE Disassemble r gives program mers the ability to disasse mble executable fil es (.e xe and .com files) to produce compre htrn si ve, we ll·docum e nt e d asse mbly language source code. Provides imme diate feedback as you work , s toring results in tables on amnAT disk. Final output is ready for MS assemble r. upport s 8086/1861286 code and 8081180281 coprocessors. I List $295 Special Price $249 . . ~· 3,jn,1oil for your C programs. Interrupt communications. windows. menus and more in a big new library. Device indepe nde nt, logical attributes. unlimited logical windows. Keyboard input includes function and other keys. Clear examples to help you get started. Drives rnmm ports up to 9600 baud , .rGO with XMODEM included. using the most powerful system available . Also includes pull down menus that are easy to use . Avail able for Quick C and Turbo C. free source code with ~I purcha "e by Feb. 15th. List $95 Specia l Price $69 PI Editor C..RHNIW ~· Imagine editing multiple Jile s in multiple resizabl windows : invoking your Microport System V/386 Get mult i-user. mult i-t asking performan ce today with your 80386 PC and iicroport's U IX System V J<eleasc 3. the real UNIX de veloped by AT&T ~ n d Intel and e nhanced and exte nded by Microport. Syste m V/386 de live rs almos t unlimite d s pee d and powe r. l<uns in protected mode and su pport s fo ur giga bytes and an unlimited compiler and seeing )'our e rrors highlighted with e rror messages; using advanced feature s like undo, macros. regular expressions . and "Find All " to speed your deve lopment process. Pl-featllre packed, liRhtning fa st. fully configu.r able. The ultimate e diting environment. List: $195 Special Price $149 11 1 numbe r of users. M · c " 0 " 0 "' ' Complt:te Sys te m Lisi $799 Special Price $679 Tcnn1 and Poliriu ·\\'~honor MC, VISA . AMERl.C:AN EXPRESS S et ~m~~ !'XI c1C'dl1 nnl Qt C-·).IJ Ptr~l'~fll bt ~k "-'C' ""'l.i:l'fkSl>tC" t C''ldc-"tSaddapp9i.,~~ ~~ ~_::~~~.;::..:,~,:;; u ~ · f"ro~.1Tm'ln '<l ~~ ·ii ma.I t h 4tly CW'Ti:'ftl IWdt· illk·>d,rnt.,"'C'd pttr:- hr 1hr i:imcllll·t!t> li!lrcl m l hl~ ;td · P'nft'".li ;md l 'fM1navb;«1111dwllXt' .. ,,bniv1 l'llll11;(" · Hoon 91\M EST - il'M 1-; rr ·A,d ; b drlot.ir.. Scxtr rrwMKh1r'l'"f1' ..,11 rv~ )Jk;,. 1rt~nu fmCC' Gs~ K"1> ·It twolrn.. Corpo1111r Buyra-s-Call ror uecial dil.t'OUn(s and M-nefit·: 1-800-445-7899 In NY: 914-332-4548 Customer Service: .914-332-0869 International Orders: 914-332-4548 Telex: 51()...6()1-7602 A Oi\; !lion of Hudson l«" hno loJ:iu. Im:. ·12 Rh·irr S lnoel . Tarr)'town . ~y I 0 5 9 1 Cirtle 217 on Reader Service Card JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 203 BYTE ' is Number One · · . agai.n . MRI's Fall syndicated research results have confirmed its Spring results. Among BYTE's closest competitors studied, specifically PC Maga zine and PC World, BYTE remains the winner in k ey target markets: Largest Reach Target Market Among Total Adults: Fortune 500 Middle Management Small Companies (less than 50 employees) tedium Companie (50-999 employees) Large Co m panies (1000 + employees) Engineering Job Function Innuence Purchase of PCs/EDP/Conunw1icalions Use a PC at place of business Use il Mac at place of business Among Professio nal/ Ma nage rial/Technical: Fortune 500 Middle Management Engineering Job Funct ion Small Companies [less than 50 employees) Medium Companies (50-999 employees) Large Companies (1000+ employees) Use a PC at place of business se a Mac at place of business um ber of BYTE Readers 1,6 19,000 328,000 141 ,000 427,000 177,000 446,000 582,000 597 ,0 0 0 ) ,032,000 95,000 1.24 4 ,0 0 0 318,000 138.000 546,000 339,000 146,000 427,000 937 ,000 93.000 Source: Mediamark Resea rch , In c. Fall 1987 IJ'1TE It 's indispensable. Lowest 4-C CPM Target Market Am o ng Total Adults: Fortune 500 Middle Management Small Companie (le than 50 employees) Medium Companies (50-999 employeesl Large Companies (1000 + employees) Engineering Job Function Influ ence Purchase of PCs at business Influ ence Purchase of: PCs/EDP PCs/EDFYCommunicalions PCs/EDP/Co mmunicati ons/ Word Processi ng Use a PC at place of bu~iness Use a Mac at place of business Among Profess ional/ M a n a g e ri a l f f e c h n i cal: Fortw1e 500 Middle Management Engineering Job Function Small Companies jle lhan 50 employees! Medium Companies (50- 999 employees) Large Companies (1000 + employees) Influence the Purchase o : PCs al business PCs/EDP PCs/EDP/CommWlications PCs/EDP/Communicalions/ Word Processing Use a PC at place of business Use a Mac at place of business BYTE 's 4-C CPM s 6.90 34.05 79.22 26.16 63. 11 25.04 19. 19 23.17 21.56 18.71 18.62 10.82 117.58 s 8.98 35 . 13 8 0 .94 20.46 32.95 76.51 26. 16 23.97 22 .6 6 20.53 20.38 11.92 120. 11 _A_P_PL_I_C_~_T_IO_N_S~O_N_L_Y~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Real-World Answers Ezra Shapiro I started out the month trying to solve a simple problem that Reflex Plus, PhoneNet, when I'd tried it more than a year ago . I felt fairly sure that I shouldn 't have been a problem. I needed to build a name-and and a TOPS network solve some could get it running in the limited time I had remaining. address database, then merge it into both form letters and mail practical dilemmas The documentation was worse than I remembered , with ing labels. I had little time to massive tutorials and little com complete the project, so I had to get up empty. "This should work, " I said, "and mand reference but I uncovered a feature and running quickly. it's more eleganl than merging into a called "variable heighl text, " which takes Because I wanted to use some down word processor. " an area in a report and pulls up any data loadable Adobe fonts on my QMS laser So I set about building a form-letter lower on the page to fill gaps left by null printer, I decided to work on the Macin matrix with FileMaker Plus, figuring that fields. It sounded like a winner. tosh . I also think it"s easier to construct the "slide up" command would take care When the SE rental unit arrived, I be data-entry forms on the Mac than it is on of my blank lines . That it did , but I fid gan designing my project with Reflex . I the IBM PC. Two solid votes for the Mac. dled for 3 hours and never got the line created both a flat database file structure I went to work. spacing to look decent. Scratch File and a data-entry form in less than I0 min My first attempt was with Microsoft Maker Plus. utes . Using the Clipboard , I cut the text of Works. It's incredibly easy to use, and At this point, with deadlines looming, my letter out of Word and paste.ct it into a you can merge fields from the database the power su pply in my Mac Plus went up "label" area on my Reflex report form . I module into documents created with the in a puff of acrid smoke. I hauled it off to wrote a formula for a variable-height ad word processor. What could possibly be the shop and put in a call for a rental Mac dress block and positione.d it over the let easier? Well , because Works is suppos intosh SE. AU told , I lost a day and a haJf. ter. Done. edly geared to the entry-level user, it's During those 36 hours without a Mac , 1 I had a database and a form-letter ma missing a few features. In this case, I was piled up the manuals for all the other Mac trix within Reflex that spat out printed chagrined to learn that it lacks any sort of databases I have in my collection and mailers as fast as I could feed paper into blank-line control ; ifl had a null field for started reading . my laser printer. There was onJy one mi a person ' s COfl?Orate title, there was no I find Double Helix extremely convo nor annoyance: Reflex won't let you have way I couJd avoid a blank line in the mid luted; it' s about as easy for me to get data more than one text attribute in any de dle of my address block. Scratch Works . out of Double Helix as it is to get baggage fined region of a report. so I had to edit "OK." I thought. ''I'll use the data out of United Airlines (the only airline the letter to eliminate any italic and bold base in Works , then dump out a tab that has lost my luggage on a flight be face phrases. delimited text file that I'll merge into big, tween San Francisco and Los Angeles) . In the mjddle of all this , Borland an powerful Microsoft Word 3.01. That's a Though the documentation indicated that nounced an update package called Reflex serious word processor. This should turn I could probably create a report form that Plus. Since the company promised a new , out 10 be a cinch." would accomplish my mail merge, I shrink-wrapped copy of Reflex Plus to Hah. Though Word has some impres didn't have the time to fuss with anything any journalist who attended the an sive mail-merge features, like a minimal but 100 percent certainty . Scratch Dou nouncemen~ shindig, I headed south to macro language with if ... endif con ble Helix. Santa Clara with software lust in my structions for printing optional fields and Two hours with the documentation of heart . When I returned to San Francisco , puncluation marks , its blank-line control Omnis 3 Plus convinced me that I was bearing an uncomfortably large box in a is only half-implemented. Word can looking at one of the most unreadable bright red tote bag, I rushed to the SE, squelch blank lines , but onJy if they're manuaJs ever written . I couldn't begin to plugged in the new disks, and replace.ct the result of nonprinting instructions or determ.ine if it could do the job. (I later Reflex for the Mac with Reflex Plus. comments. Once again, I faced a gaping learned from an Omnis guru that it could, comimud hole if somebody didn't have a corporate in fact, handle my merge, but I'd already title. Scratch Word. given up.) Scratch Omnis 3 Plus. Ezra Shapiro is a consulting editor for The next try was with FileMaker Plus, I never got around to looking at either BYTE. Contact him at P. 0 . Box 146069. which has great facilities for designing 4th Dimension or dBASE Mac; I ended San Francisco , CA 94114, or on BIX as both data-entry and report forms. It even my search with Borland 's Reflex for the "ezra . " Because of1he volume ofmail he has an option to "slide " fields up and to Mac . I had liked the product (called Inter receives. Ezra. regretfully, cannot re the left if it encounters any that are lace before it was acquired by Borland) spond 10 each inquiry. JANUARY l 988 · B Y T E 205 APPLICATI0:'-15 0:'-ILY Reactions to Reflex Plus Reflex Plus is the first product packaged as part of Borland' s Professional Series. Dornmentation is no longer a cheaply printed paperback book ; you get a fat loosc-kaf binder in a striking black-and red slipcase. The manual has been com pletely rewritten . Introductory. tutorial. and reference materials are neatly broken out into discernible sections . The topics are ordered logically and treated exhaus tivel y: this is light-years ahead of the old Interlace documentation. The index is lengthy and thorough. and I liked using it . The basic Inte rlace/ Reflex e ngine is stil l familiar. but some features have been added and some commands have been moved around. You first enter a Ii ·t of field names in a "database overview " window. Ncl\t, you go back through the list and declare field types and select .. key fields." (Because Reflex indexes its data files. you must have a unique key made up of one or more fields-in every record_) Reflex follows a very relational model; you can set up links between data files on a one-to-one. one-to-many. or many-to many basis. Linking is accomplished by simply drawing a li ne on-screen in the overview window from one field name to another. There's no need to establish an overall data library or collection: Reflex databases exist as separate files on disk. even if they· re connected. It's best to set up relationships at the outset. as Reflex demands that the linked fields be empty. but it· s no big deal to add fields and Jinks to existing databases late r on . though you may have to export some data from one structure to another. Reflex for the Mac allows multiple re port forms but only one data-entry sys tem. Reflex Plus stores both input and output forms as separate files , so you can have as many of each as you need. Forms are designed on a standard Macintosh page grid: you move objects around with the mouse. Calculated fields in entry and report forms make use of a wide selection of for mula functions. and Reflel\ Plus employs a device. called a "repeating collection." that lets you display intricate relation ships on any form. The best news is that once you get the hang of Reflex Plus (which should take no longer than an hour or two). you can do amaiing things with ii. U nless you need full programmability. network sup port. absolute control of the user inter face. and /o r "choice" fields that let you enter data by selecting from a li st of pre defined alternatives. Reflex Plus is an ideal program. The relational foatures will e nabl e me to cake my mailing li st and convert it into Items Discussed PhoneNet ... .$59 .95 per connection Farallon Computing 2150 Kittredge St. Berkeley. CA 94074 (415) 849-2331 Inquiry 939. Reflex Plus ..... Borland International 4585 Scotts Valley Dr. Scotts Valley, CA 95066 (408) 438-8400 Inquiry 940. .. .$279 TOPS/DOS (MS-DOS) ......... $189 TOPS for the Macintosh .. ___ .S189 TOPS FlashCard (PC AppleTalk card) ....... . ..$239 TOPS 2560 9th St .. Suite 220 Berkeley, CA 94710 (415) 549-5900 Inquiry 941. a full-blown order -entry system when the time comes. Because every file is in dexed. search speed on either the Mac Plus or the SE is quite acceptable . I like this program . even if the $279 price tag for Reflex Plus is quite a j ump from the $99 for Reflex for the Mac. As one of the few writers I know never to have been quoted in one of Borland ' s direct -response advertisements. I'm fi nall y willing to say something favorable about a Borland product : Reflex Plus of fers tremendous versatilitv in the man agement and display of data . Building complex. interrelated database structures is no longer a mysterious process avail able only to elite programmers: anyone with half a brain can make Reflex Plus perform magic tricks . That said. I have one final comment. I could control blank lines with WordStar on a CP/M machine 5 years ago . I'm ap palled that Microsoft missed this feature in its two Mac word processors. On the other hand . I was relieved to find data bases that could handle what I consider to be text-management functions. Must the Mac be forever doomed to be called a lousy machine for word proces ing ? Come on. let's get with it. you g uys. In Praise of TOPS Networks used to make me nervous . I broke into a cold sweat when anyone mentioned token ring, file and record locking. twi.,teu-pa1r cabling. or an~ or th e other buzzwords associated with the arcane sciem:e of network in \!. There were two reasons 'rnr thi s pho bia _ First_ I was wo rrieu Iha! the increa., ing emphasis o n local-area networks was a scheme cooked up b)' the Force., or Darkness to squelch the independent spi rit of "personal" com puting. Second . I saw th e purely techni cal and mec hanical aspects of hooking up a ne twork as a way to pend uncounted ho urs 1ln my hand' anu knees unuer my worktable. mu tter ing curse as I struggled vainly to connect patently unconnectable Jevice s. Furthermore. I didn't bclic\·c 1 needed a network_ There a re no coworkers in my basement with whom I have to share my resources: it's just me. a bunch of com puters. <ind a bu nch of printers . And I have e nough serial cables. null modems. and ge nder c hangers to hook the various machine_ together and shoot files around the r om to tl1\" heart's co ntent. O r so l thought. Then I began to have thc.,e annoying Iittle problems . I sta rted a project that in volved moving megabyte files betv,,ee n the Macintosh and the Tandon AT c lone: eve n at high uata lransfer rates. this took a lot of time and tied up both machine.. >iext. software for the Tandon began ar riving with PostScripl printer d ri vers. how could I test this stuff wi th out linking the Tandon to the QMS laser printer" True. the QMS has connectors for both ApplcTalk and a sta nd a rd serial cab le. but there ' s al. o a switch on the side of the printer that has to be set to tell it wh ich port to use . I've neatly blockaded that side of the printer with the corpse of my old Compaq Portable. and I didn't want 10 have to rearrange the whole place j usl to get at the switc h . Final ly. I hit the limit on the Mac ' s 20-megabytc DataFrame and began eyeing the empty regions of th e Tandon 's 40-megabyte hard disk as a solution to my space woes. if only I could get to it. So. with a sinking leeling in my stom ach . I decided to try out the TOPS Applc Talk network. I wa not happy about this. but there seemed to be no way out. l was so uncomfortable with the deci sion . in fact. that I put off installin_g th e thing for nearly 2 weeks. You' ve probably gotten the point by now . When I finally went to work. it took me all of 20 minutes to get TOPS run ning. and most of th at time 1v-Js spent tak ing apart the T ando n to install the Apple Talk card. I haven 't read more than. oh. 25 pages of the manuals that come with th e network. and everything has behaved wonderfully . Files zip back and forth between the n mtimtl'd 206 BYTE · JAN "ARY 1988 APPLICATIO S Oi\LY two computers like lightning (I can even run a program on one computer and edit a file on the other withour any transfer at all ). the Tandon now speaks to the la ·er printer on a polite basi., and I'm u. ing the Tandon· - di k lo hold the overflow from the DataFrame . I' m beg inning to consider myself a tupid jerk because I didn't do thi any sooner . TOPS tand for .. tran cendental oper ating ys tem ," but the Tcou ld just as eas ily indicate " transpa rent." It' s old a~ software for both the MS-DOS world and the Mac world , at S189 per machine , and it will run with PC AppleTalk cards from TOPS. Apple, He r ul es, Tand y , and anyone else who follows Apple ' s ·pee . (The Mac has AppleTalk built in. so you don't need an add-in board.) For cabling , I had the choice of either Apple's kits (S75 per machine) or Phone Net from Farallon Computing ($59 .95 per machine). r went with Phone et; not on ly i it a little le expensive. but yo u can use standard RJ - 11 modular cables to connect machines , or nab any two unused wires in your installed telephone cabling to go from room to room. Software installation is automated on both the PC and the Mac (batch file on the PC side. self-contained program on the Mac -ide). The PC softwa re seems a bit more cumbersome to run than the Mac software, but it's not much more omplex than any other simi lar DOS task- setting up a mouse, for example. The central act in ll.' ing TOPS is log ging on to the network and -' pu bli shing vol ume -" · that is, decla ring which dri ves o r direc t rie yo u ' re willing to make available to th r computers on the net work and a ·signing read/write o r rcad only status 10 your volumes . One that' s out of the \Vay. you can access published files on any other stat ion as if you were acce · ing fi les on an external drive con n cted to you r machi ne. TOPS keeps track of what' s where. Mac files look lik PC file s when viewed from MS-DOS : PC fi les look like Mac fi le when viewed from the Ma . TOPS assign val id fil enames appropriate to the operating y ·tem. You can opy a fil e from one environment to the other and back again. and TOPS won' t mis a beat. Ev n a m:tophobe lik.: myself can handl e it without much brainpower. The . alient point in all 1hi.. for me . i\ that TOPS i · an ideal operating- ·y tern extension in any environment with more tha n one compu ter, even if there 's onl y one u er. It· s ital if you've got a Mac in tosh and a P -type machine. but it al·o makes sense if you' re using computers of the ·ame spe ic . I' ve read s ad.· of ana lyses of TOPS (a nd other low-c t network -) that grade ii in comparison to larger. faster. multi user netwo rks. lot one of these analyses h·-. · looked at TOPS fo r teeny env iron ment like min . But it wo rks, and it wo rks spectacularly we ll. even if I don't have to tap it capabi litie fo r pa sword protection and AppleTalk wnes. r do not have the faci li ties to si mul ate a mult iuser network load: I ca n't say how many machines TOPS will upport wi th ut performa nce degrada tion. For the simple ki nd s of operations a single user will perform. though. I concur wi th a co mment in the TOPS manu al : Loading a program or file from another com puter' · hard disk is about as fa . t as load ing fr m an internal floppy di k on your machine. fn other wo rds. the decrea: e in speed is barely noticeable. In <tbout a m<nth. TOPS has proven to be va luab le for backup operations. stor age, file trnnsie r. and editing between op erating : sterns. I'm beeom ing as ad dicted to it a I am to hard di k.. I imply wou ld not have two or more l:Omputers wi1hout a cop of TOPS for each. · Hardware Specials ~:~1!,!~~:,.~~l~~Tc~!potlbt· ... 112995 ~~~~,~~ o'!~~~~~. ICIOOft ··· SJ3995 AMDEK COLOR 722 MONITOR $ 1.\-W:l'I !GA., ombo1l g1e111n mod"' ···. 39995 ti:1~!P~~10;~~,!~.~Y~,nM _ .. _179905 [JiA;Y,~fo) []; Floppy Disk & Software ~~~,! ,;~~1,~:.~:~~~~-y. ~l~K~··« 11895 FUJI 5.25·1NCH FLOPPY DISKS sats 1 5 Do t>lo sfdOd/<lonslty · · · · , . · · ··· 10-,ack ~:,~.T ~~~~~~~0.~1~~. CASE ___ . _114, ~i.:~:ooJ~l~c~!~ ~l.~K CASE .. - . .. $89S ~~~~~~~m~~~.~~~~1RAM ·..· . 114995 5109 AMIGA A1680 MODEM l00/1200 bclJd lor Amigo compu1or1 . - 95 20MI DISK ON A CARD fo· XI and compot Olos · ···· . · ·· .. . s339os .... .s ~~:~~.o~o:;,,:;~o'.~~o~~- 1629 ~~~~~~~!Em;n2~0·2· ~.~~1~~~24995 ~:.~a~~n~?o~~:,~~ME C..R~pock>t s599s INLAND SPGSPL PROTECTOR s39·s i}Outlol, turgt. 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Airport 17 Cemor II other .,,]b (201) 2ll8$.ll29 Hnshrouck He1ghL-., .) 07001 Circle 219 on Reader Service Card JA UARY 1988 · B Y TE 209 Oops. Accidents do happen. But fortunately, now there 1sa floppy disk that protects against these hazards of office life. New DataL1fePlus.'M It has a revolutionary (yes, revolution ary) new recording surface protected byTeflon®So spills wipe clean. Fingerprints harmlessly disappear And data stays safe and secure Each DatalifePlus disk has also been preformat ted for IBM PC's and PC compatibles to save you time. If youCJ like more information,call 800-538-8589. New DatalifePlus with Teflon.Only from Verbatim. The floppy disk for life's minor catastrophes. Verbatim:Ordo itover. Cirr;le 283 on Reader Service Card "180PI"'· 37705NA CLEO now delivers 3278 coax cards at s795.oo! ~r \\ ~~\ CLEO is your SNA or BSC Gateway Remote Sites Communication Whatever your industry, your remote computers need to share information with your mainframe. 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There's no waiting for non CLEO add-ons. And, you get prompt single source service. Package prices range from S795.00 for most stand-alone packages. up to Sl ,995 .00 for the 32-user SNA gateway. Call u t0day tO discu · your application. CLEO Software 1639 North Alpine Rd . Rockford , IL 61107 Telex 703639 FAX 815/39 -6535 Headquarters: SA 1-800/233-2536 Illinois: 1-800/4 22-2536 lmernational: 815/397-8110 Sales and Dlstrlburion, Benelux , Scandinavia: 3 1(7 l) 899202 Canada , E·st: 800136 1-3 185 Canada , Wes r: 800/36J-l2t0 Ca n ad~. Mo mreal : 51 4/737-3631 Colombia , S.A. : 12875492 Fmncc: 146873366 lla ly: (0331) 634 562 CLEOm. Cl.EU :i l'KI )780Plus.ur TT~lq_rl"t'd tndcmulr3or CLl:.0 Sofl'.,'m'_ IBM I 2 1~iS1crn1 frldc-rnu.I: of ln!c-l'l'Wif.nlli B11$1n ~ Ml<hioc. COtpOl"lli<Nl IN DEPTH Managing Megabytes 215 A Better Way to Compress Images by Michael F. Barnsley and Alan D. Sloan 225 Managing Immense Storage by Theodor H. Nelson 243 Fast Data Access by Jonathan Robie 255 Achieving Mainframe Performance by Wink Sa ville 265 Managing Megabytes Resource Guide o. a · I JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 213 Introduction Managing Megabytes T he memory capacity of personal computers is undergo ing another round of inflation. with the onset of 32-bit architectures and operating systems . New hard disks, video disks, and CD-ROM devices are bringing similar increases in the area of nonvolatile, high-speed storage. The megabyte has joined the kilobyte as a common coin for measuring memory and storage. Unfortunately, you won ' t benefit fully from this increase in capacity until software is available that takes full advan tage of it. To be sure. OS/2 in the 80x86 world and Multi Finder and A/ UX in the Macintosh world offer system-level support for large memories. But the end user needs applica tions specifically designed to take advantage of the vast data sets , high-density graphics images , and voluminou s text files that can live in megabyte storage systems. The four articles in this section present some of the new techniques and design ideas for managing megabytes. In "A Better Way to Compress Images ." ' Michael F . Barnsley and Alan D . Sloan present a new technique for image processing , storage, and retrieval that yields compres sion ratios of 10,000 to I. This is the first detailed exposition of the method outside of academic literature . The authors in clude a BASIC program so that interested readers can see the image-reconstruction part of the method at work. Theodor H. Nelson, originator of the hypertext concept. presents a detailed explanat.ion of the storage scheme for Project Xanadu. Xanadu is the first node of a proposed worldwide hypertext network. It uses a radical new system for storing the vast quantities of text, image, and other data that may be generated by entirely new categories of applica tion progran1s and their users. Database consultant Jonathan Robie explains why tradi tional personal-computer style database management sys tems are not adequate tools in the megabyte era . "Fast Data Access'" is a good introduction to the next generation of DBMS tools. ·' Ach.ieving Mainframe Perfonnance " by Wink Saville gives a programmer's view of the challenges and opportuni ties of working with large memories and storage devices. He cites some general principles and gives specific algorithms demonstrating how three common operations- displaying bit-image graphics, computing trigonometric functions , and sorting data- can be speeded up significantly by using the extra memory available. The author writes from experience: He spearheaded the development of a 2.4-gigabyte CD ROM development system at Meridian Data Inc. For further information on some of the topic s presented in this section , refer to the Resource Guide on page 265 . -Ken Sheldon and George A. Srewan , Technical Editors 2 14 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 MANAGING MEGABYTES A Better Way to Compress Images Mathematics is providing a novel technique for achieving compression ratios of 10,000 to 1-and higher Michael F. Barnsley and Alan D. Sloan THE NATURAL WORLD is filled with intricate detail. Consider the geometry on the back of your hand : the pores, the fine lines, and the color variations. A camera can capture that detail and, at your leisure , you can study the photo to see things you never noticed before. Can personal computers be made to carry out similar functions of image storage and analysis? If so, then image compression will certainJy play a central role. The reason is that digitized images images converted into bits for processing by a computer- demand large amounts of computer memory. For example, a high detail gray-scale aerial photograph might be blown up to a 3 lh -foot square and then resolved to 300 by 300 pixels per square inch with 8 significant bits per pixel. Digitization at this level requires 130 megabytes of computer memory-too much for personal computers to handle. For real-world images such as the aeri al photo, current compression techniques can achieve ratios of between 2 to 1 and lO to 1. By these methods , our photo would still require between 65 and 13 megabytes. In this article, we describe some of the main ideas behind a new method for image compression using fractals. The method has yielded compression ratios in excess of 10,000 to 1 (bringing our aerial photo down to a manageable 13,000 bytes). The color pictures in figures l through 5 were encoded using the new technique; actual storage requirements for these images range from I00 to 2000 bytes. A mathematics research team at the Georgia Institute of Technology is devel oping the system, with funding provided by the Defense Advanced Research Proj ects Agency (DARPA) and the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GfRC). Our description is necessarily simplified, but it will show you how a fractal image compression scheme operates and how to use it to create exciting images. Describing Natural Objects Traditional computer graphics encodes images in terms of simple geometrical shapes: points, line segments, boxes, cir cles, and so on. More advanced systems use three-dimensional elements, such as spheres and cubes, and add color and shading to the description. Graphics systems founded on tradi tional geometry are great for creating pic tures of man-made objects, such as bricks, wheels, roads, buildings, and cogs. However, they don't work well at all when the problem is to encode a sun set, a tree, a lump of mud, or the intricate structure of a black spleenwort fern. Think about using a standard graphics system to encode a digitized picture of a cloud: You'd have to tell the computer the address and color attribute of each point in the cloud. But that's exactly what an uncompressed digitized image is-a long list of addresses and attributes. To escape this difficulty, we need a richer library of geometrical shapes. These shapes need to be flexible and con trollable so that they can be made to con form to clouds, mosses, feathers, leaves, and faces, not to mention waving sun flowers and glaring arctic wolves. Fractal geometry provides just such a collection of shapes . For a hint of this, glance at the pictures in The Fractal Geometry ofNa ture by Benoit Mandelbrot, who coined the term fractal to describe objects that are very "fractured" (see references for additional books and articles) . Some ele mentary fractal images accompany this article. Using fractals to simulate landscapes and other natural effects is not new; it has been a primary practical application. For instance, through experimentation, you find that a certain fractal generates a pat tern similar to tree bark. Later, when you want to render a tree, you put the tree bark fractal to work. What is new is the ability to start with an actual image and find the fractals that will imitate it to any desired degree of ac curacy. Since our method includes a com pact way of representing these fractals, we end up with a highly compressed data set for reconstructing the original image. Overview of Fractal Compression We start with a digitized image. Using image-processing techniques such as color separation, edge detection, spec trum analysis, and texture-variation analysis, we break up the image into seg ments. (Some of the same techniques continued Michael F. Barnsley and Alan D. Sloan are professors of mathematics at the Georgia Institute ofTechnology (Atlanta, GA 30332) and officers of Iterated Sys tems Inc. (1266 Holly Lane NE, Atlanta, GA30329). JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 215 IMAGE COMPRESSIO ·.· ./ ~ .. - . \:.~·~ ·i· · ~ :: . , _. - . Figure 1; IFS- encoded color image of three-dimens ional f em s (4 transformations , I 00 bytes) . Figure 2: IFS-encoded color photo of Black Forest, color set adjusted to give winter tones (120 transformations , 2000 bytes). form the ba i for the automatic coloring of black-and-white motion pictures.) A egment might be a tern a leaf a cloud, or a fence post. A segment can also be a more complex collection of pixels : A sea scape, for example . may include sprny , rock, and mi t. We then look up these segments in a li brary of fractals . The library doesn 't contain literal fractal s; that would require astronomical amount of torage . In stead our library contains relativel y compact sets of numbers called irerated function system (IFS) codes that will re produce the corresponding fractals . Fur thermore, the library ' cataloging system is such that images that look alike are close together: earby codes correspond to nearby fractals. This makes it feasible to et up automated procedure for searching the library to find fractal s that approximate a given target image. A mathematical result known as the Collage Theorem (more on that later) guarantees that we can always find a suitable IFS code-and gives a method for doing so . Once we have looked up all the seg .ments in our library and found their IFS codes , we can throw away the original digitized image and keep the codes , achieving our compression ratio of 10,000 to 1- or even higher. Iterated Function Systems We start by explaining how a set of IFS codes can approximate a natural image. IFS theory is an exten ion of cla icaJ geometry . It uses affine transformations, explained below, 10 express relations be tween parts ofan image. Using only these relations , it defines and conveys intricate pictures. With IFS theory , we can de scribe a cloud as clearl y as an architect can describe a house. By studying the following sections, you hould be able to encode and decode fa cinating black-and-white image seg ments, such as leaf skeletons, tree ·hadow , spirals , and thunderheads. You should also obtain an overview of how a fully automated fractal compression sys tem operates. Affine transformation s can be de scribed as combinations of rotations, scalings , and translations of the coordi nate axes inn-dimens ional space. An ex ample in two dimensions is W(x y) = ( 1h x+1A y + l , 14x+'hy+ 2), which can aJ o be written in matrix form as Thi transformation moves the point (0,0) to (1,2) and moves ( -1 ,0.5) to (0 .625. 2). To confirm your understanding of the idea you should work out where it moves the point ( I , I). We denote this transfor mation by W; the notation W(S) denotes the subimage of Won a set of points S. Now let's see what W does to a picture of a smiling face. F , lying on the x ,y plane (see figure 6). The result is a new. squeezed face W{F). The affine transfor mation has deformed and moved the face . Notice that the eyes in the transformed face W(F) are closer together than they are in F. We say that the transformation W is contractive: It always moves points closer together. Another example of a contractive af fine transfomiation is shown in figure 7. This time it acts on a leaf to produce a new , smaller leaf. The general form for an affine trans formation is Figure 3: IFS-encoded color photo ofa Figure 4: IFS-en coded color photo of Bolivian girl (120 transformations, 2000 rhe Monrerey coast (60 tra11sforma1ions, by tes) . JOO bytes). Figure 5: IFS- encoded color image from A Cloud Study (30 transfomwtions , 500 bytes). 216 13 Y T E · JA NUARY 1988 Photog.ra~ © 1987 Gcorg.10 Tc h Rcs.e.:i.r.;h Corp . Figure J: Barnsley; Mgurc 2 a.nd J: Bat~ l cy. Jacquin. Molouc11<1. Reuter. SI0<1n: Figum 4 and S: Blrn11ey. l·<quin . RetJtcr. Sloon IMAGE COMPRESSION w [~J= [ ~ ~J [~J+ [;J = [acxx++dbyy++ef ] .· 0!1 a + 0!2 b + e = a1 ' (1) /31 a + /32 b + e = ~ 1 , (2) 'Yi a + )'2 b + e = 1'1 · (3) y and find c, d, and fin similar fashion from these equations: where the coefficients a, b, c, d, e, and/ are real numbers. lfwe know in advance the translations, rotations, and scaJ ings that combine to produce W, we can generate coefficient values as follows : a= rcos8,b = -ssin¢, c = rsin8,d = scos</>, where r is the scaling factor on x, s is the scaling factor on y, 0 is the angle of rota tion onx, </>is the angle of rotation on y, e is the translation on x, and f is the transla tion on y. How can you find an affine transfor mation that produces a desired effect? Let's show how to find the affine trans formation that takes the big leaf to the lit tle leaf in figure 7. We wish to find the numbers a, b, c, d, e, andffor which the transformation Whas the property 0!1C+0t.2d+f=a,, (4) /31 c + f31 d + f = ~l · (5) )'1 c + )'2 d + f = ;y, . (6) We recommend the use of an equation solver such as TK Solver Plus (Universal TechnicaJ Systems, Rockford, Illinois) or Eureka (Borland International, Scotts Valley , CaJifornia) for finding the coeffi cient values. Doing it manually can be tedious. Now that we know what a contractive contin ued Figure 6: An affine tramformarion W moves rhe smiling face Fro a new face W(F). The transformarion is called contracti ve because it moves points closer together. y (y, 'yzl ~ (a, .azl W(big leaf) == little leaf. Begin by introducing x and y coordinate axes, as already shown in the figure . (/3,./3,) Mark three points on the big leaf (we ' ve chosen the leaf tip, a side spike, and the point where the stem joins the leaf) and determine their coordinates (0!1,0!,), (/3,,/32), and (-y,,-y2). Mark the corre sponding points on the little leaf and determine their coordinates (0., ,a2) , (/3,,/32) and (1'.,,Y.), respectively . x Determine values for the coefficients a , b , and e by solving the three linear Figure 7: Two ivy lea ves fix an affine transfonnation W. equations Table I: IFS codes for a Sierpiiiski triangle. w a b c d e p 1 0.5 0 2 0.5 0 3 05 0 0 0.5 0 0 0.33 0 0.5 1 0 0 .33 0 0.5 0 .5 0.5 0.34 Table 3: IFS codes for a fem . w a b c d e p 1 0 0 0 0.16 0 0 0 .0 2 0.2 -0.26 023 0 .22 0 1 6 0.07 3 - 0.15 0.28 0.26 0.24 0 0.44 0.07 4 0.85 0.04 -0.04 0.85 0 1.6 0.85 Table 2: IFS codes for a square. w a b c d e p 1 0.5 0 2 0.5 0 3 0.5 0 4 0.5 0 0 0.5 0 0 0.25 0 0 .5 0.5 0 0.25 0 0 .5 0 0.5 0.25 0 0.5 0 .5 0.5 0.25 Table 4: IFS codes for fractal tree. w a b c d e 1 0 0 0 0.5 0 2 0.1 0 0 0.1 0 3 0.42 -0.42 0.42 0.42 0 4 0.42 0.42 - 0.42 0.42 0 p 0 0.05 0.2 0.15 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.4 JANUARY 1988 · 8 YT E 217 IMAGE COMPRESSION affine transformation is and how to find one that maps a source image onto a de sired target image, we can describe an iterated function system. An TFS is a col lection of contractive affine transforma tions . Here's an example of an IFS of three transformations: w, [xy] = [00.50 00.50] [xy] + [O0J [x] 6] ' [~] W, y = [00..05 00..50] + [ [x] - W J y - [00..05 00..50] [~]+[j5] Each transformation must also have an associated probability , Pi> detem1ining its "importance" relative to the other trans fonnations . In the present case we mjght have p,, p 2 , and p 3 . Notice that the proba bilities must add up to I. That is, p, + p, + p, = I. Of course , the above notation for an IFS is cumbersome. Table 1 expresses the same information in tabular form. Other examples of IFS codes are given in tables 2 through 4. Notice that an IFS can contain any number of affine iransfomrntions. The Random Iteration Algorithm Now let's see how to decode an arbitrary IFS code using the random iteration method. Remember that in general an IFS can contain any number, say m , of af fine transformations , W, , W, W, ... W.,, each with an associated probability . The following code summarizes the method: Figure 8: The result ofapplying the random iteration algorithm to the IFS code in table 1. It is called the Sierpinski triangle. (i) Initialize: x=O y =O . (ii) For n = I to 2500 , do steps (iii)- (vi i). (i ii) Choose k to be one of the numbers 1, 2 . .. . , m , with probability p,. (iv) Apply the transformation W to the point (x ,y) to obtain (.r ,Y). (v) ~et (x ,y) equal to the new point : .x=x, y=y. (vi) If11> JO plot (x,y) . (vii) L-0op. Applying this procedure to the trans formation in table I produces the figure shown in figure 8-a fractal known as the Sierpinski triangle . Increasing the num ber of iterations n adds points to the image . Figure 9 shows the result of the random iteration algorithm applied to the data in table 3, at several stages during the process . By increasing the scale fac tor used in plotting, you can zoom in on the image (see figure 10). The text box on page 221 contains a BASIC implementa tion of the method with additional com ments on programming. You may wonder why the first 10 points are not plotted (step (vi)). This is to give the randomly dancing point time to settle down on the image. It is like a soccer ball thrown onto a field of expert players: Until someone gains control of the ball , its motion is unpredictable, or at least is independent of the players' ac tions. But eventually a player gets the ball, and its motion then becomes a direct result of the skill of the players. The fact that our transformation is contractive guarantees that the "ball " will eventually get to one of the "players," and that it will stay under control after that. How do we know that the random iter cominued .. , ~ ·" . ·. ·: ·,· Figure 9: A fern appears when the random iteratio11 algorithm is applied to the IFS code in table 3. 218 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Circle 244 on Reader Service C.ard for MS DOS Product~·. 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C8U Dollars & Sense wlforcasl . . ... $ 92 . ' . .. . . _-; .. ·,.~...<,. ·:)r?:~~·~' ~v. ··.. : ... ;·:..";· ........., ~ , .........:"" 'fe. ~· .. }:·¥ Y· · .. IMAGE COMPRESSION ation algorithm will produce the same image over and over again, independent of the particular sequence of random choices that are made? This remarkable re sult was first suggested by computer-graph icaJ mathematics experiments and later given a rigorous theoretical foundation by Georgia Tech mathematician John Elton. The CoUage Theorem Our next goal is to show a systematic method for finding the affine transforma tions that will produce an IFS encoding of a desired image. This is achieved with the help of the Collage Theorem. To iUustrate the method, we start from a picture of a filled -in square S in the x ,y plane , with its vertices at (0,0), (1,0), (1,1), and (0 , 1) (see figure 11). The ob jective is to choose a set of contractive af fine transformations , in this case W,, W1 , W3 , W, so that Sis approximated as well as possible by the union of the four sub images W,(S)U W2 (S)U W,(S)U W.(S) . Figure 11 show , on the left , S together with four noncovering affine transforma tions of it ; on the right the affine trans formations have been adjusted to make the union of the transformed images cover up th e square. To find the coefficients of these trans formations, we use the method described earlier in the section on iterated function systems leading to simultaneous equa- Figure 10: Successive zooms on pieces ofan IFS-e11codedfern. lions l through 3 and 4 th ro ugh 6. The values one finds in the present case are given in table 2. When the random itera tion algorithm is applied to this IFS code, the square is regenerated . The preceding example typifies the general situation: You need to find a set of affine transformations that shrink dis tances and that cause the target image to be approximated by the union of the af fine transformations of the image. The Collage Theorem says that the more ac curately the image is described in this: way , the more accurately the transforma tions provide an IFS encoding of it. Figure 12 provides another illustration of the Collage Theorem. At the bottom left is shown a polygonahzed leaf bound ary , together with four affine transforma tions of that boundary. The transformed! leaves taken together do not form a very good approximation of the leaf; in conse quence , the corresponding IFS image (bottom right) , com puted usi ng the ran dom iteration aJgorithm, does not look much like the original leaf image. How ever , as the collage is made more accu rate (upper left), the d ecoded image (upper right) becomes more accurate. So , there 's a fundamental tabilit}' here . You don't have to get the IFS code exactly right in order to capture a goodl likeness of your original image. More over, the IFS code is robust: Small per turbations in the code will not result in unacceptable damage to the image . In each of the above examples, we have used four transfom1atio ns to e ncode the image. However, any number can be used . For example, the spiral image in figure 13 can be encoded with just two contrac tive affine transformations. See if you can find them . Then determine the IFS trans formation coefficients and input them to the random iteration algorithm to get the spiraJ back again. y (0, 1) ,___ W3(S) - s W.(S) · (1, 1) y (0 , 1) I W3('S) Wo(S) (1. 1} (0 ,0) Wl{S) W 2(S) (1 .0) I x (0,0) Wl(S) W;(S) (1, 0) x Figure 11: The collage th eorem is used to encode a classical square S. Th e correct IFS code is obtained when the four affine transformations ofS cover S, as shown on th e right. 220 BYTE · JA UA RY 1988 IMAGE COMPRESSION Assigning Probabilities Once you have defined your transforma tions, you need to assign probabilities to them. Different choices of probabilities do not in general lead to different images, but they do affect the rate at which vari ous regions or attributes of the image are filled in. Let the affine transformations W, corresponding to an image I be where 1, 2, 3, ... , n. Then the amount of time that the randomly dancing point should spend in the subimage W, is approximately equal to area of W, are.a of I continued IFS Decoding in BASIC L isting A is a BASIC implementation of the random iteration algorithm. It includes the data for the Sierpinskj tri angle, but you can use it to process any IFS tables . In particular, you will want to try the data in tables 2, 3, and 4. Be sure to set the variable m correctly ; it tel.ls the program how many transfonna tions are in the IFS. It is also essential that the probabili ties in p( ) add up to I. For speed, the transfonnations should be listed in de scending order of probability : the high est probability t.ransfonnation first, and the lowest probability last. The program includes variables for rescaling and translating the origin to accommodate the range of the points be ing plotted to the limits of your screen . If the image is too wide, decrease xscale; if the points are too close horizontally, increase xscale. Adjust yscale simi larly to get a good vertical point spread . To move the image, adjust xoffset and yoffset. You can do these adjustments by trial and error: Run the program ; interrupt it and change the offse.ts and scale factors ; and run it again . Or, you can replace the plot command pset with a command to print the values of x and y and run the program to get an exact idea of the range of points being plotted, so you can adjust the scale and offsets more precisely . Another way to arrange the program is to have it read all the data-m, a(), b( ), c ( ) , d () , e(), f(). p( ), xscale, yscale, xoffset, and yoff set -from a disk file specified by the user. Instead of reading in the coeffi cients a, b, c, and d, you may want to read in angles (J and <P and scale factors r and s , and then calculate the coefficients. The random iteration method is com putation-intensive, so we recommend use of a compiler such as Microsoft 's QuickBASIC or Borland 's Turbo BASIC . If your computer has a floating point coprocessor and your compiler supports one, so much the better. Listing A: A BASIC program demonstrating the use of the random iteration algorithm to reconstruct an IFS-compressed image. 10 'Allow for a max i mum of 4 tra n sfo r mat i ons i n t he I FS 20 DI M a(4), b(4), c(4), d(4), e(4), f (4), p(4) 30 ' 40 'Transformation data, Sierpinski triangle 50 'First comes the number of transformations 60 'then the coefficients a through f and probab i lity pk 70 'The values for pk should be in descending order. 80 DATA 3 90 DATA .5,0,0, .5 , 0,0, .34 100 DATA .5,0,0, .5,1,0, .33 110 DATA .5,0,0, .5, .5, .5, .33 120 · 130 'Read in the data 140 READ m 150 pt ~ 0 'Cumulative probability 160 FOR j = l TO m l 70 READ a ( j) , b Cj l , c ( j) , d ( j) , e ( j) , f ( j) , pk 180 pt = pt + pk 190 p(j) = pt 200 NEXT j 2 10 220 'Set up for Graphics 230 SCREEN 3 'Select graphics screen 2 40 xscale = 350 'Map [0,l] onto [0,350) 250 yscale = 325 'Map [0,1) onto (0,325) 260 xoffset 0 270 yoffset s 0 'Leave the y-origin 280 ' 290 'Initialize x and y 300 x - 0 310 y - 0 320 · 330 'Do 2500 iterat i ons 340 FOR n - 1 TO 2500 350 pk - RND 360 'The next line works for m<=4. I t must be modified 370 'for values of m > 4. 380 IF pk <= p(l) THEN k · l ELS E I F pk <= p(2) THEN k 2 ELSE IF pk <m p(3) TH EN k = 3 ELSE k = 4 390 newx = a(k) · x + b(k) * y + e(k) 400 newy · c(k) · x + d(k) * y + f(k) 410 x = newx 420 y = newy 430 'Use PRINT x,y instead of the PSET li ne 440 'to see the range of coord i nates. Then fix 450 'xscale, yscale, xoffset, and yoffset 460 IF n > 10 THEN PSET (x * xscale + xo ffset , y * yscale + yoffset) 470 NEXT n 480 · 490 LOCATE 24, 35 500 PRINT "Press any key to end.·; 510 WHILE INKEYS - nn 520 WEND 530 ' 540 'Return to text screen 550 SCREEN 0 560 END JANUARY l 988 · B Y T E 221 IMAGE COMPRESSION Figure 12: The Collage Theorem is applied to a leaf The collage al lower left isn 't much good, so the corresponding IFS image, shown at lower right, is a poor approximation. But as the collage improves, upper left, so does the IFS image. Figure 13: Can you find the IFS codes for this spiral image? Only two transformations are needed. 222 B Y T E · JANUARY 1988 So long a · ad - cd is not 0, it is a stan dard calculus result that our ratio equals the determinant of the transformation ma trix for w,. So a good choice for the prob ability p, is a,d, - b, c, I: la,d,-b,c,I I provided none of these numbers p, comes out to be 0. A 0 value should be replaced by a very small positive value. such as 0.001, and the other probabilities corre spondingly adjusted to keep the sum of all the probabilities equal to I. We now surrunarize the compression and decompression process: An input image is broken up into segments through image-processing techniques. The se image components are looked up in the IFS library using the Collage Theorem. and their IFS codes are recorded . When the image is to be reconstructed. the IFS codes are input to the random iteration al gorithm. The accuracy of the recon . tructed image depends only on the toler ance setting used during the col lage mapping stage . Applications For graphics applications, we use a more sophisticated procedure that allows full color images to be encoded . Combina torial searching algorithms can be used to automate the collage mapping stage . Fig ures 2, 3, and 4 were obtained using IFS theory at compression ratios in excess of 10.000 to I . These images were based on photographs in recent issues of National Geographic. A full-sequence video ani mation, A Cloud Study, vlas shown at SIGGRAPH '87. This was encoded at a ratio exceeding 1,000,000 to I and can be transmitted in encoded form at video rates over ISDN lines (ISDN stands for integrated services digital network. a concept for integrated voice and data communications) . A frame from the ani mation is shown in figure 5. The IFS compression technique is computation-intensive in both the encod ing and decoding phases. Computations for the color images were all carried out on Masscomp 5600 workstations (dual 68020-based systems) with Aurora graphics. Complex color image · require about JOO hours each to encode and 30 minutes to decode on the Masscomp . For practical applications, you need custom hardware that can speed the en coding and decoding process. An experi mental prototype , the IFSIS (iterated function system-image sy nthesizer) , de codes at the rate of several frames per second . The IFSIS device was produced from a cooperative effort between GTRC , IMAGE COMPRESSION DARPA, Atlantic Aerospace Elecrronics Corporation , and Iterated Systems, and it was demonstrated on October 5, 1987 , at the third annual meeting ofthe Applied and Computational Mathematics Program of DARPA. It can be connected to a personal computer through a serial port; the per sonal computer sends the IFS codes to the device , which responds by producing com plex color images on a monitor. The IFSIS is a proof of concept for faster devices with higher resolution. Once the higher-performance IFSIS de vices are combined with ISDN telecom munication, full-color animation at video rates over phone lines will be a reality . Another area for future application of IFS encoding is automatic image analy sis. What's in a picture? Does it show a spotted sandpiper or a robin? The more complex the image or the more subtle the question , the harder it becomes for an al gorithmic answer to be formulated. But here 's the point: Whatever the answer, it will proceed faster if stable, compressed images are used. The reason for this is that image-recognition problems involve combinatorial searching, and searching times increase factorially with the size of the image file . During the spring of 1987, Iterated Systems was incorporated to develop commercial applications of IFS image compression. It is exciting to see how an abstract field of mathematics research is leading to new technology with implica tions ranging from commercial and in dustrial work to personal computing . · ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Figures 2 through 5 were encoded by gradu ate students Franr;ois Malassenet, Laurie Reuter, and Arnaud Jacquin . All color images were produced in the Computergra phical Mathematics Laboratory at Georgia Institute of Technology and are copyright 1987, GTRC. BIBLIOGRAPHY Barnsley , M_ F. and S. Demko . "Iterated Function Systems and the Global Con struction of Fractals ." The Proceedings of the Royal Society of London , A399 , 1985 , pp. 243 - 275 . Barnsley , M. F., V. Ervin , D. Hardin, and J . Lancaster. "Solution of an Inverse Problem for Fractals and Other Sets." Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, vol. 83 , April 1985 . Barnsley, M . F . Fractals Everywhere. Ac ademic Press, 1988. Forthcoming. Elton , J . " An Ergodic Theorem for Iterated Maps ." 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Copyright 1987 R W SYSTEMS. I NC . 224 B Y T E · JAN UARY 19 8 Circle 29 on Reader Service Card MANAGING MEGABYTES Managing Immense Storage Project Xanadu provides a model for the possible future of mass storage Theodor H. Nelson PROJECT XANADU IS a system de signed to be the principal publishing util ity of the future. It will provide for the de posit , delivery, and continual revision of linked electronic documents , servicing hundreds of millions of simultaneous users with hypertext , graphics, audio, movies , and hypermedia . Xanadu has been under continuous development for over 27 years and has been repeatedly re designed as better methods were devel oped for achieving broader goals . (Xana du is a trademark for hypenext and software products and services offered by Project Xanadu , San Antonio , Texas.) The present system, Xanadu 87 . I, is an operational file server program , in tended to run in many computers of a net work that performs a full set of functions and that can be incrementally improved without major revision up to the full per formance of the network. This article is an introduction to its principal concepts and indexing schemes. I began what is now Project Xanadu in the fall of 1960 as a term project for a graduate course at Harvard on computers in the social sciences. During the 1960s, it evolved into a new set of data structures (see reference I), then a single-user workstation (reference 2) , and finally the idea grew to its present scope, detailed in my book literary Machines (reference 3). Through all this time , however, two main specifications remained the same: A user would be able to see and follow arbitrary links between pieces of non sequential text and be able to intercom pare different versions of documents, noting which parts were the same-a fea- ture I believe to be necessary for office Jjnked together in various ways. I will ex systems and other forms of intercon plain this concept further and then pre nected writing (such as hypertext). sent various technical details- such as the Project Xanadu has suffered from too addressing system and its arithmetic, and much publicity . The project is well · the structure of links- by which we known, but not well understood . Its create the particular xanalogical structure greatest aspiration, a universal instanta of the Xanadu system. neous hypertext publishing network, has Often, apparently simple designs for not been generally understood at the tech data storage merely foist complexity on nical level and has created various false users, requiring many adaptations out impressions. One publication, for exam side the design . Traditional computer ple, referred to it as "a database-to-be the storage is such a system; it pushes onto size of the world" -a very muddled the user the problem of naming and keep description . ing track of hundreds or thousands of We at Project Xanadu have another files and their backup copies, and the re great aspiration for the same software and lations between them. Existing systems underlying ideas: the organization and encourage clutter; files with unknown clarification of files on a small scale, contents are saved as a precaution, and cleaning up the clutter of computer files the connections between things get lost that now chokes both individuals and of and deteriorate. fices . People everywhere are drowning in What individual users and offices little files with mysterious names whose don't know they need is a system of stor origins and relationships are forgotten. age that keeps track of the origins and We want to clear that up as well. variations of everything. Such a system We believe we have a unifying techni would Jet a user see the origin of any part cal solution to both problems. of a document, provide insight into its meaning in different contexts, and allow A New Form of Storage it to be used in new ways easily. We have a model of storage that is rational For example, consider a lawyer who yet radical : rational because it proposes uses variations of the same contract re to keep things orderly to a degree they peatedly . He wiJJ tell his secretary, "I could never be before; and radical be want to give this cljent the modifications cause it requires a fundamental change in we did for Jones, but also the changes we the way computers are programmed. Like continued other new paradigms, this presents an en tirely new worldview, and it provokes Theodor H. Nelson (Project Xanadu , various forms of confusion and anger. 8480 Fredericksburg, Suite 138, San An Our generic name for this is "xanalogi tonio, TX 78229) is the director ofProject cal storage. " Xanalogical storage lets Xanadu and the inventor ofthe hypertext units be built from parts of other units and concept. JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 225 MANAGING IMMENSE STORAGE did for Smjth. " On the screen , he ought to be able to see each borrowed part high 1ighled in both old and new contexts . Without this , in today's offices, a good secretary must do what the system ought to do-keep track of the origins and inter connections of the material . Traditional computer file structures have also generated many computer ap plications- and their problems-as we now know them . Conventional files are streams of bits divided into blocks and given a name. Text systems began when someone decided to treat the sequence of bits as text characters, then set up con trols for their revision. Database pro grams began when someone decided to treat individual blocks as units and divide them into named and addressable fields. In this way , I would argue, our applica- Document A Document C Native Native Figure 1: A Xanadu document can consist ofnative bytes, which originated with the document , and inclusions ofnative bytes from other documents. DocumentX Document Y a b Original link h I Document Z Included instances of efgabc Same link k I Figure 2: An example of linking: Some ofthe bytes ofdocwnent X have been included into document Z. Since those bytes contain links to document Y, Zand Y are now linked. lol I I I I I I Humber complete in 7 bits I1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I· ··I I I I I I I I I Length of humber Actual binary digits of humber Figure 3: Humbers can be represented by 1 or more bytes. A 0 in the first bit signals that the number is complete in I byte. A I in the first bit means that the remaining bits ofthefirs1 byte specify the length, in bytes. ofthe number, which can be a binary number up to 1016 bits long-an extremely long number. tions programs have become artificially divided into functions on the basis of how they are implemented. This keeps us mis led into believing that such programs as "database' and "text" are divinely or dained, and leads us away from designjng functions best suited to particular uses. The alternative is a new module for maintaining storage in its real complex ity , perrrtitting you to understand the in terrelation of all stored materials . Under this storage paradjgm , you can ascertain the origin of every part of every docu ment (in a way that will even save space in some environments), as well as make note (as if using a highlighting pen and sticky notes) of every interconnection and feature of interest. To distinguish materi als stored in this way, I will avoid confu sion by not using the word "file ," since that is what conventionally stored units are called. I will use the tenn " docu ment" for materials stored according to this new paradigm . Building Documents by Inclusion In the Xanadu paradigm , a document consists of native bytes, which originated with the document, and inclusions, which are bytes native to other documents but also present by inclusion , or virtual copy, in this one (see figure I). Concep tually , there is only one copy of every byte (though for both safety and imple mentation there are generally other copies) . A byte is just as fully a part of a document in which it is included as it is part of the document to which it is native. Thus, a document consists (first ap proximation) of native bytes and a struc ture of pointers (hidden and maintained by the storage system) for bringing in stances of included bytes from other documents. By various system com mands, you can ask where bytes came from, ask to see them in their original context, and so on . At about this point some people-espe cially assembly language programmers who like to optimize systems for speed invariably ask, "What about efficiency?" Well, at every stage in the development of system facilities, some people object to a lack of raw access. But keeping in mind that storage and computers are cheap, and people are expensive , then the real efficiency is human efficiency, and it is that efficiency we are trying to maximjze_ Keeping Track A truly efficient storage system needs a data structure that keeps track of arbi trary links between arbitrary portions of arbitrary documents. This is important for hypertext, for the marking and anno tation of all kinds of data , and for search conrinued 226 BYTE · JANUARY 1988 Spectrum Software's MICRO-CAP II® is fast, powerful, and feature rich. This fully interactive, advanced electronic circuit analysis program helps engineers speed through analog problems right at their own PCs. MICRO-CAP ll, which is based on our origi nal MICRO-CAP software, is a field-proven, second-generation program. But it's dra matically improved. 7l'a11sie111 Analysis SchemtJ/ic Edi/or MICRO-CAP II has faster analysis routines. Better resolution and color. Larger Librar ies. All add up to a powerful, cost-effective CAE tool for your PC. The program has a sophisticated hne grated schematic editor with a pan capa bility. just sketch and analyze. You can step component values, and run worst-case scenarios-all interactively. And a 500-type" Library of standard parts is at your finger tips for added flex.iblity. MICRO-CAP II is available for IBM® PCs and Macintosh."' The IBM version is CGA, EGA, and Hercules® compatible and costs only $895 complete. An evaluation version is available for $100. Call or write today for our free brochure and demo disk. We'd like to tell you more about analog solutions in the fast lane. · Integrated schematic editor · Fast analysis routines · High-resolution graphic output · Standard parts library of 500* types · 113M versions only. Circle 256 on Reader Service Card · 'fransient, AC, DC. and FIT routines · Op-amp and switch models · Spec-sheet-to model converter· · Printer and plotter· hard copy .4C A11t1/ysis --=---- -- 1021 S. Wolfe Road, Dept. E Sunnyvale, CA 9408 (408) 738-4387 lllCR().CAP II ls > r..g;..t<r<d tr:idcm.r. of Spcnrum Soh~-zr· \bdmosh is 2 tndemlft D( Mc!mosh Ubontory, Inc. '1!1J is ht>ing u..foed walh exprd.i ~nru.i.Sion of il.i O"l"nU llercule tS 1. n>psn.·f'l'd 1n<km:1rk o( Herrult':l Co rnpul'1" Tcrhnoiof;)· IBM ls. :i rcgistrrcd cr:i.dtm:ulii orlnU.'Tl11Iion't.I 8uslru.". U ,\brhlnes, Inc. JA 'UA RY 1988 · BYT E 227 MANAGING IMMENSE STORAGE ing on such links and markings. ln the Xanadu system, we do thjs by at taching links not to points in the data , but to the bytes themselves. Thus, a given link is present on every document in which any of the bytes (native or in cluded) are linked to another document. For example, in figure 2, some of the bytes of document X have been included in document Z. Since those particular bytes are linked to document Y, the same link now exists between Z and Y. This link will always exist between Z and Y until the last of those linked bytes from X is deleted from Z. We have taken pains to generalize th.is linking system so that it can work seam lessly across all disk, computer, and net work boundaries as the world of com puter storage becomes united. Our storage program is designed to be run in parallel on networks of an unlimited number of servers that respond essen tially as a whole. Link types are extensible, and any user can create new ones. Although primitive Links are two-sided , one-sided links can be used; links can also be combined (like CAR and CDR in LISP) into structures of arbitrary richness. Links can be searched for by type and by endpoints throughout the universe of data. Thus, we see the flat file with searchable links as potentially a universal data structure. Since the "byte" parts of a file can be 1.1 1 .2 1.3 I ,_,r.12 -1-.,1.3 1.2I. 1 I 1.2I.65 etc. ~ , .2. 2 I 1.1.2.1 1.1.2.2 1 1.2.1.9 1.2.65.831 Figure 4: A small branching structure ofsimple 1umblers. Server User Document Contents ,------"---, ,,-"---., ,-"'--., 1.2368. 792.6.0.6974 .383.1988 .352 .0.75 .2.0 . 1.9287 I I I Major dividers Figure 5: Xilnadu address tumblers are divided inw four fields: Server, User, DocumenJ, and Contents. E.achfield can be short or long depending on the complexity ofthe item being addressed, and the major divider ".O. "is used to separate fields. The digit 1 in the firs: position ofthe Contems field indica1es thal this tumbler designates a byte; a 2 in the first position would indicate a link. Table I: Sample commands from Xanadu 's FEBE protocol, in simplified fonn. DELETEVSPAN (doc, span) Deletes the span. MAKELINK (doc, rrom-spanset, to- spanset, type) Makes a link from one document to another. FINDNUMFOFLINKSTOTHREE (home-set, from-set, to-set, type) Returns the number of links of the specified type residing in the home·set between the specified sets. FINDLINKSFROMTOTHREE (home-set, From-set, to-set, type set) Finds all the links of the specified types connecting any bytes of specified sets, provided that those links reside in the home-set. FINDDOCSCONTAINING(spans) Returns a list of all documents containing any of the material specified by the span addresses. instanced anywhere, and for different purposes, this method encourages using the link mechanism to represent those parts that are variable, arbitrary, and viewpoint-dependent. For example, para graphs and text attributes such as under lining are represented by links; thus, each included instance of specific text material can easily be underlined and paragraphed differently. The Numbering Problem Our system must keep track of a very large number of items: an ever-growing network of serving units (computers, also called nodes or file servers) with no cen ter; an ever-expanding system of docu ments, growing unpredictably; an ever expanding number of authors and publishers, business users, scholars, and miscellaneous accounts; and an ever-pro liferating system of versions of docu ments , some controlled by their origina tors and others not. Keeping track of all this essentially means keeping track of a Jot of numbers, some of them small and some very large . These internal numbers are used for counts and pointers, and for the overall scheme of where things are and how to get to them. We could, of course, treat the growing universe of documents (or "docuverse") as a large integer domain, sparsely occupied by assigned document addresses . However , this would mean un occupied areas using up many, many pre cious bits. In designing the structure , we faced the problem of how to specify a sprawl ing, rapidly and unpredictably growing docuverse in a tractable form, with an in dexing scheme that could possibly grow very large and still be cogent and parsi monious on the small-scale integer ma nipulations within individual documents. As an inspiration, we looked to the Dewey decimal system, which, while not perfect, doesn't waste a lot of space on empty characters. It led us to the concept of forking numbers-numbers that can be continually separated to make more num bers-which we have developed in an un usual way . The solution to our numbering prob lem involves two concepts. The first is the use of compound numbers called humbers. Humber stands for "humongous num ber, " which can be represented by I or more bytes. The very first (or complete ness) bit signals whether the number is complete in I byte. If this bit is unset (equal to 0), the remaining 7 bits hold the number itself (r.rnging from 0 to 127), and the entire number is stored in the I byte (see figure 3). continued WI BYTE · JANUARY 1988 WINDOWS FOR DATA® 11 Unconilllon Screens you program in C, take a few YOU ARE ALWAYS IN CHARGE moments to learn how Windows for Data can help you build a state-of-the· Control functions that you write and attach to fieJds and/or keys can read, compare, validate, and change the art user interface. data values in all fields of the form. Upon entry or exit ~ Create and manage menus, data-entry forms, context sensitive help, and text displays - all within windows. ~ Provide a common user interface for programs that must from any field, control functions can call up subsidiary forms and menus, change the active field, exit or abort the form , perform almost any task you can imagine. run on different machines and operating systems. ~Build a better front end for any DBMS that has a c. language interface (most popular ones do). OUR WINDOWS WILL OPEN DOORS ---- - - 1 FROM END TO BEGINNING Windows for Data begins Our windows will open doors to new markets for your software. High-performance, source-code compatible versions of Windows where other screen packages end, with special features like nested pop-up forms and menus, field en try from lists of choices, scrollable regions for the entry of variable for Data are available for PCDOS (OS/2 soon), XENIX, UNIX, ~------- and VMS. PCDOS versions are fully compatible with Microsoft Windows, Top-View, and DESQview. No royalties. numbers of line items, and an ex clusive built-in debugging system. You owe it to yourself to try Windows for Data. If not satisfied, return for a full refund. To order, or for a FREE NO WALLS If you've been frustrated by the limitations of other DEMO, call (802) 848-7731 · 51. Telex: 510·601·4160 VCSOFT FAX 802·848·3502 screen utilities, don't be discouraged. You won't run into walls with Windows for Data. Our customers repeatedly teU us how they've used our system in ways we never Vermont Creative imagined-but which we anticipated by designing Win dows for Data for unprecedented adaptability. You will be amazed at what you can do with Windows for Data. · Software 21 Elm Ave., Richford, VT 05476 Circle 284 011 Reader Service Card JA UARY 1988 · B Y T E 229 New From Osborne/McGraw-Hill The OS/2TM Hooks by The OS/2TM Experts According to Bill Gates "Ed Iacobucci was a key architect.. . and made very important contributions. Ed is one of the few individuals who can explain the foundation that U 1_; l l~ L::: OS/2 will provide for the industry. .. what you will read here represents the 0 ~/ real ideas behind the operat ing system and what can be done with it " Ffom the Rlreword of OS 2 Progr11mmer'1 Guide OS/2TMProgrammer's Guide by Ed Iacobucci, Leader of the IBM ® OS /2 Design Team I I Foreword by Bill Gates Here are the techniques and insights on OS/2 version 1. 0 that serious programmers need . Learn how and why the system works . Iacob ucci discusses · Dynamic linking and the system AP I · Memo ry management in a pro tected environme nt · OS/2 multi-tasking · Adva nced inter-process commu nicatio ns facilities · The system 1/0 capabil ities · Sessio n manageme nt. user interface , utilities. and more . $24.95 , ISBN: 0-07-881300-X, 650 pages Using OS/2TM by Kris Jamsa , Author of the Bestseller DOS: The Complete Reference You 'll get up to speed on OS/2 with Jamsa ·s exper tise. This quick-paced guide covers fundamenta l to advanced conce pts , ill ustrated with numerous exam ples and screen displays. You 'll find details on · Redirection of 110 · System configuration · Multi-tasking · Simi larities between DOS and OS/2 · A complete command refe rence with syntax charts that are unavailable elsewhere · Ti ps to r system conf iguration wi th analyses of con figuration fi le entr ies $19 .95 , ISBN: 0-07-881306-9. 600 pages Available at Fme Book Stores and Computer Stores Everywhere Or Call Ou r Toll-Free Number 800-227-0900 (Outside California) 800-772-2531 (Inside California) (Use Yo ur Visa or Mas terCard) ~ 'i ~ Osborne McGraw+lill I M .J· 1 ~ 2600 Ten th Street Berkeley, Cali fornia 94710 Circle 196 on Reader Service Card MA AGING IMMENS E STORAGE A completeness bit th at is ·ct (equal to I) mean that the remaining 7 bits of the first byte specify the length , in bytes , of the number. The largest 7-bit number ( 1111111) equals 127 (decimal) , so the by tes that follow the first by te can carry a binary number up to 1016 bits (127 x 8) long, a number greater than l0'00 , and large r than we will need very soon. In thi s sc heme , numbers occupy no more space than they need; they are short most of the time (when needed for small incrementation) and stretch out whenever needed, without any change in the gener alized manipulation routines. There is lit tl e space overhead: the completeness bit , the first byte (if over 128), and no more than 7 bits in the length of the mantissa , if ove r 128. Humbers are digits re presented in the main addressing scheme of our system , which we call tumblers - a name chosen because the action of our system resem bles that of the rotary mechanisms of a lock . which slide a nd increment indepen den tl y with res pect to each other. Anatomy of a Tumbler A tumbler consists of a series of integers, called "digits, " that have no upper limit. The di g its of the tumbler are separated by minor dividers, o r points. Thu s, The rumbler pace is an accordio n-like master address space , po tentiall y very large , that prov ides for the notation of the complex relations between documents , their ancestors and progeny, their own ers, their home locations o n the network, and the expansion of the network itself. We have developed these basic mathe matical ideas into the Xan adu system as follows: The digits in a tumbler are di vided into field s, which are separated by the major divider " .0. ", a kind of punc tuation between the fields that also has certain useful mathematical properties. As set up for th e Xanadu system , the four major field s of tumblers are expand able indefinitely , with three major di vide rs betwee n them. These fields are called Serve r , Use r. Document, and Contents. Tumblers may be shorter or longer depending on th e complexity of the item being addressed , as shown in figure 5. The Server is the node on which a document is stored, eithe r a single physi cal device or a logical division that may be mapped to subdevi ces o r co lle.c tions of co111inucd C5.0 has three features professional programmers can~ live without. .373 . .675923 . .40 . arc examples of tumbler di git One digit can become several by a forki ng or branching process. For in sta nce . the dig it Micro.'ll?fr C .2 can branch into several more items, each of which is a uccessive daughter item placed " under" the digit: .2 . I. .2.2 . .2.3 . .2.4. Similarl y, the sixth item under " .2 .4." is 2.4 .6., a nd the 312th item under that is .2.4.6 .3 12 . The use of such numbers imposes a tree strucrure upon the address space of the sys tem (alth ough not upon material contained in the system). Figure 4 shows a small branch ing structure of simple tumblers . 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Fax: 408-9220176, 408-9220177. (.all toll-free (800) 7821155 (Gilifomia only). (800) 5381542 for the name of the dealer nearBt you. 232 B Y T E · JANUARY 1988 AceR A New Word For Value Circle 4 on Reader Service Card MANAGING IMMENSE SlDRAGE devices in the future, all of which would branch within this first field. The User field of the tumbler desig nates the owner of a document, which can also branch off within this field to indicate daughter accounts, departments, interes!S and projectS, or areas of record keeping. A Document is the logical entity in which materials are stored . Within this field, subdivisions can branch off to rep resent different versions of the document, as shown in figure 4. The final tumbler field specifies the in dividual contents and can represent either bytes or links. When this section of a tumbler address begins with a I, the ad dress is that of a byte . Thus derived from two address tilmblers in a process called tumbler subtraction . This involves the first object in a specified subtree (the subtrahend) and the first ele ment afrer the specified subtree (the minuend), which i~ always "larger" (in the sequence of tumblers) than the subtra hend; the result is a difference tumbler representing the intended span. The rules for tumbler subtraction are as follows: Place the subtrahend under the minuend; start at the left , and for every field that is the same in both tum blers, place a zero (maintaining the field divider zeros as checkpointS, always in correspondence); when you encounter a difference in corresponding digits, sub trac t the integers in that position. (The re sult cannot be negative; this would mean the subtrahend was larger than the minu end, which is illegal .) All digitS that fol low are copied down from the top row. For example, the span of addresses be tween the tumbler address 1.0. 1.0. 1.0.1.9287 cominued X.0.X.0 .X.0.1. I indicates the first byte of the document, and X.O.X.0 .X.0.1.9287 Speed. indicates the 9287th byte of the docu ment. Numbers with I as the first digit in the last field can, by interpretation, map se quential data other than simple bytes (e.g ., a DNA sequence). When the fourth section of a tumbler address begins with a 2, the address is that of a link . The number after the 2 in dicates the number of the link. Thus, X.O . X . O . X . 0 . 2 . 3 5 2 indicates the 352nd link contained in this document. [n the future , numbers above 2 could be used in the first position of this field to indicate that the following digits are parts of nonsequential structures , such as a graphic image, a video frame, or a musi cal notation. Two Types of Tumblers Tumblers are used in two ways: They can refer to an address (a place tumbler, as discussed already) , or to a span of the ad dress space- a series of bytes and/or links. a series of documents, a tree struc ture in the address space, or even the en tire docuvcrse. A span is represented by two tumblers : an address tumbler and a difference tum bler. These tumblers are governed by dif ferent rules. To begin with, address tum blers are stable, referring to the same entity no matter how much additional ma terial is added to the docuverse; they re main valid wherever you are. A diffe.rence tumbler , on the other hand, is valid only in relationship to its tumbler address. Difference tumblers are Fast Execution Speed. Microsoll' C 4.0 \ 11rrosof\ C ':J.O Sieve (2'> itJTJlions) ':J. 7 Loop 11. 0 3o.o3 · Floa t 19.9 0. 1 Dhryst.one 2'.LH l \l 1 Prnnter H .2 7.· I · New optiJn.izations generate the faste;t code: - lnline code ~nerati on. NEW! - Loop optimizations: NEW! - Loop invariant expression removal. NE\\ ! -Automatic register allocation of variables. '.'JEW! - Elimination of common sub expressions. - Improved constant folding and \·aJue propagation. ·Fine tune your programs for evr;1 greater speed: -Coding techniques for writing Uic fastest possible programs are included in the docwnentation. NEW' -Segment AJJocation Control: -Group fimctions into the same segment lo gel !'aster . EAR calls. NEW! -Spedfy which segments receive variables to yi eld faster NE.AH references. NEW! - Uses register variable declarations. - .Vlix memo!)' models using NEAR, FAR [, HUGE pointers. Microsoft C5.0 Optimizing Compiler Circle 175 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: I 76) JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 233 U.S. HEADQUARTERS: GI'X INTERNA'DONALt INC. 280 PASEO TESORO/WALNUI', CA 91789 Tm.: (71') !185-6148 FAX: (71') 59M293 MS'IDN DGIONAL OFFICE CON'l1NBNTAL TBCINOLOOY, INC. 300 McGAW OIUVE l!DISON, NEW )l!ISEY 08837 Tiit: (201) 225-7377 FAX: (201) 225-83H NEW ENGLAND ADA MICRo.Rl!P 141 BROOKS ST., SIJll'E NO. 1 lllDl'IUN, MA 021311 Tiii.: (81.7) 2M-1488 FAX: (817) 78W877 FACTORY CBtlNTBX m.BCl'RONlC CO., LTD. ROOM 401, NO. IO Sl!C.1, llSIN"5lll!NG S. ID., TAIPEI. 'tAIWAN, K.O.C. UL:. (02) 3921171 FAX! (02) 3918780 234 8 YT E · JANUARY 1988 Cude 70 on RMltUr S..mce CanJ (DEALERS: 71) MANAGING IMMENSE STORAGE and the earlier tumbler address 1.o. 1.o.1.0. l .7156 is represented by the earlier address and the difference tumbler 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.2131 . This is the simplest kind of tumbler sub traction. in which the tumbler addresses have the same Server, User, and Docu ment fields. A more complex example of tumbler subtraction , in which a span covers two different users, would be: requests to the system. Subtraction is the process needed to specify the spans, and addition is its inverse. This system has some interesting and helpful features. For example, it lets you refer to the entire docuverse simply by using a span whose difference tumbler has a I in the very first position. A Matter of Protocols Now that we have a scheme for referring to documents and the links between them, I'll explain how the system will handle these pieces. Xanadu has two main sets of protocols, which dictate how the system behaves: FEBE (front end to back end) and BEBE (back end to back end). All requests to the Xanadu system are made by applications programs through the FEBE protocol, which manipulates the addresses (and spans of addresses) necessary to find 1ext and links and to fol low them. The FEBE protocol also in cludes instructions for insertion in a doc ument, deletion from a document , and rearrangements of unlimited size. continued 1.0.234.0.45.0.1 .334 1.0. 112.0. 17 .0. J.977 0.0.122 .0.45 .0.1.334 It may help to think of tumbler subtrac tion as something like "step backward one chapter, three paragraphs, and two lines." Tumbler addition involves the first ele ment in a specified subtree (the augend) and a difference tumbler (the addend) representing the span; the result will rep resent the first element after the specified subtree. The mechanics of tumbler addition are as follows: For every leading zero in the second row, the corresponding integer is copied down from the first row. When a nonzero digit is encountered in the sec ond row, an addition between the two rows is performed for that field . All addi tional fields are copied down from the second row, as shown in the following examples : l.O. l.0.1.0.1.7156 (first tumbler in tree) 0.0.0.0.0.0 .0.2131 (difference tumbler) l.O. l.O. l.0.1. 9287 (first tumbler after end of tree) I.0.112.0.17 .0. l.977 (firsttumbler in tree) 0.0.122 .0.45 .0.1.334 (difference tumbler) Speed Fast Compilation. Fast Prototyping. Microooft C Version 5.0 includes QuickC~ which lets you edit, compile, debug, and execute in an integrated environment It's ideal for prototyping. ·In-memory compilation at 10,000 lines/ minute. NEW! ·Built-in editor wit11 parentlieses, bracket and brace matching. ·Use the integrated debugger to animate through your program, add watch variables and set dynamic breakpoints. NEW! ·MAf(.£ file is automatically generated for you. Simply indicate the modules you want to use, then MAKE recompiles and links only those modules that have changed. NEW! ·Full C 5.0 oompatibility: - Completely source and object code compatible. - Emits Code\ iew"-supported executables. - Identical compile/link oonunand line switches. I.0.234.0.45 .0. 1.334 (first tumbler afler end of tree) Let me stress thal tumbler arithmetic as presented here has been contrived, like many other mathematical activities we need, rather than discovered . Span addresses are necessary 10 spec ify what links point to and from , and to specify the domains to be searched for documents and links in the various user Microsoft C5.0 Optimizing Compiler Circle 177 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 178) JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 235 ea In the beginning, there was power. When Wyse engineers set out to create a new PC f~!y, cr~terion one was power with total compatibility: higher performance for industry standard software. Todays and tomorrow's. The results are four uniquely upgradeable Modular Systems ArchitectureTM Wyse PCs that make up the most powerful PC family in the business. At the top, the new WYSEpc 386 has one of the highest benchmark ratings yet for a personal computer. Our unique design achieves exceptional memory speed as well as processing speed for zero wait state performance on multiple operating syste!Ils. Such as MS-DOS~ OS/2~ and Xenix~ It delivers power to satisfy the insatiable. And it's only the beginning. Our 8 MHzAT Wyse· is Modular a ri>gistcred trademark of System Architecture are WrraydsecmTearrlklnsoolof lW!¥y· sSeyTsteecmhnWoylosgey.WOYthSeErptcra3d8e6~aarnkds/ owners: MS· DOS. Xemx/M1crosoft: OS/2, AT. IBM / International Business Machines. 236 BY TE · JANUARY 1988 WYSEpc 386 driving our VGA color monitor. Actual screen image. compatible, 12.5 MHz I?rofessional desktop 286, and 12.5 MHz zero wait state 286 provide more power for every level of user. Introducing SystemWyse'.'" Our PCs form the <=?re of a comprehensive syst~m for creating solu tion~. They hnk effor~lessly with our terminals, morutors, and expans10n modules in solutions of exceptional quality and value. And SystemWyse is backed by the company that makes more terminals than anyone but IBM. SystemWyse. It's a power structure you can build on. 1-800-GET-WYSE WYSE We make it better, or we just don't make it. Circle 298 on Reader Service Card MANAGING IMMENSE STORAGE Table I contains samples of FEBE commands. Note that these commands are not seen by the user but handled in visibly by programs in the user 's front end machine. Some of the commands as presently defined will return avalanches of material . Further refinement of the protocol will specify handshaking meth ods for controlling this. The BEBE protocol, which is still un dergoing definition , will connect nodes of the Xanadu network so as to meld the contents of separate Xanadu servers into a single unified space, where different nodes contain maps of the whole docu verse with varying degrees of detail. available via phone line for experimenta tion by serious developers. Its software mechanisms are proprietary and are pres ently covered by trade secret; we hope to publish them at a future date . The present architecture is chiefly the work of Mark S. Miller and Roger Greg ory , with myself, Stuart Greene , Eric Hill, and Roland King . The program is written in C under Unix . In the current version (August 1987) , it compiles to about l35K bytes on the 68000 micropro cessor. A local search space of 10 mega bytes is desirable, though we expect that to be reducible for personal and office ap plications. The res.ident protocol man ager (require<! by applications programs) compiles to about 35K bytes. [Editor 's note: The C source code for Ihe Xaruulu protocol handlerfor applica tions programs is available on BlX, on BITEner, on disk, and in the Quarterly Listings Supplement as the file XANA DU.PRO. See "Program Listings" in the table ofcontents. To use the module, you will need a C compiler for the IBM PC, the Macintosh, or zhe Amiga. Serious ap continued Application Design The interior design of applications for use with the Xanadu storage engine is very different from conventional application design , since so much is handled by the storage mechanism. All references to links and stored materials go th.rough the FEBE protocol (even if the entire Xanadu module is bound into the program) , and the programmer' s design work becomes , to a large extent , the user interface. Note that the application designer is no longer constrained by old categories of programs, since the Xanadu data struc cure provides a broad-spectrum represen tation method for word processing, data bases, CAD/CAM , molecular modeling, seismographic data, bit-mapped graph ics , image synthesis, and other functions , which can be combined in new ways. Software designers have not merely a li cense, but a mandate , to start from scratch , since (regrenably) no existing programs will work with our model of storage . But we believe that applications as presently implemented-balkanized , irreparably divided in function , and carved into zones of partial compatibil ity-have reached the limit of conunon sense and tolerability . As when any higher-level function mi grates to system software and language facilities, some programmers may feel that part of their creativity has been taken away . On the contrary , we believe that our system frees programmers for the truly creative work of designing interac tion, visualization , and conceptual struc ture. Applications programmers are usu ally so busy with the impediments of storage and data-structure maintenance that they tend to sleight the more impor tant subtleties of interaction and what I call " virtuality " -the conceptual struc ture and feel of a system. Now they can concentrate fully on these issues . Implementation The Xanadu storage engine described above presently exists in full prototype , Andspeed. Fast Debugging. Microsoft C \.ersion 5.0 includes .\1.icrosoft CodcVie"' our source-level windowing deburu,ier lhal lets you debug more quickly and thoroughly than ever belorc. · Debug larger program.~: - Uebug through overlays created by the Microsoft overlav linker. NEW! - Expanded Memory Specification (E!YIS) upporl NEW! ·Fast debugging through precise control or your p~1J<irn CXL'CUtio n : -Access source lt>vcl and symbolic debug information from your Microsoft C, FORTRAl'\I, and Macro Assembler programs. NEW! - View yuur source code and =nbly simullaneously. - vmtch the value or variables chanhie as you execute. -Sd conditional breakpoint . - Animate or single step through your program. ·CodeView brings )·Uu as close as you 've ever been to your hardware: - Swa p bctwccn your code ruid oulpul screens. 'N - \.'hitch your registers and nags change n. your - program e.xeculcs. \ For your free C5.0 information packet, call: (800) 426-9400. In w.ishington State and Alaska, (206) 882-8088. In Canada (4 16) 673-7638. Microsoft, the Microooll logo and Code\liew are registered trademarks and Qu.ickC is a trademark of l"' licrosoft Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark and Personal Systcm/2 is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Circle 179 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 180) JANUARY 1988 · BY TE 237 MANAGING IMMENSE STORAGE plications developers who hnve a pro gram incorporating this module and wish to experiment with the Xflnadu system can contact Roger Gregory at (408) 244 2643.J We have dealt with a large-scale prob lem where clean design is vital-both in ner simplicity and a clean interface to the outside world. We believe we have achieved this. Our analysis indicates that as the num ber of documents and links grows, degra dation of the performance of lhe system will, at best, be log-like and at worst , square root-like: a rate of deterioration that is greater at first, then leveling off. For instance, each time the number of links doubles, there should be only a slight degradation of performance. Unfortunately, this analysis doesn't give us base rates to judge what perfor mance we'll get on presently available machines, and we await these empirical figures with great interest. The present design calls for the use of sequential computers. However, given our long-term goals and today's new hardware, we expect to introduce various types of parallelism to improve perfor mance and make the system practical on the scale we intend . Universal Hypertext Publishing slightly different rules: A private docu The grand ambition of the Xanadu system ment can include or link to published is not .. a database the size of the world," documents, but not vice versa . but rather a repository publishing net Today's conventional databases will work for anybody's documents and con not satisfy the information needs of the tents, which users may combine and link noncomputing public, nor can they pro to freely . vide methods for publishing the ever This will pennit a new fonn of elec more-interconn~ted writings now being tronic publishing, entirely within the tra placed on electronic networks . It is our dition of paper publishing but greatly hope to bring the power of electronic ac streamlined: One need not ask pennis cess to the new and sweeping literary me sion to republish something, but simply dium of hypertext, in all the forms that place it in a document as an inclusion . the mind can devise. · The bytes will not be physically copied, but only included by reference. REFERENCES Nothing will ever be misquoted or out I. Nelson, Theodor H. "A File Structure of context, since the user can inquire as to for the Complex, the Changing, and the In the origins and native form of any quota determinate ." Proceedings of the 1965 tion or other inclusion. Royalties will be ACM National Conference. · automatically paid by a user whenever he 2. Nelson, Theodor H. " Replacing the or she draws out a byte from a published Printed Word : A Complete Literary Sys document. The permission procedures of tem ." Proceedings of the 1980 IFIP World conventional publishing are bypassed , Computer Conference. with complete fairness to all parties . 3. Nelson, Theodor H. Literary Machines. Blanket permission for inclusion and Project Xanadu, 1987. linkage must be granted contractually by a user when depositing a document for BIBLIOGRAPHY publication. Legal accountability for both Drexler, Eric . Engines of Creation. New links and text will be the responsibility of York: Anchor/Doubleday, 1986. their owners. Private documents can be Rheingold, Howard . Tools for Thought. stored under the same system, but with New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. '>~HOf:.E EARTH ELECTRONICS // 849. Free Freight . WHOLE EARTH , XTTurbo Other Great Prices 80286. complete , IOMhz.......... ..979. ' Complete 20 MB System · · - ··.,,Complete plug-in-and-use system 80286, complete, IOMhz 20M8 HD .. .. ....... ... ... .... .... ...... 1395. 80286, complete. I OMhz d The Confident Compatible . Superb im workmanship. Assembled ii our Berkeley , ,, ___,, California plant and lab tested to -·· "'~"> , ensure quality and . compati JOMB HD ... ......... ...... ... ...... .. .. 1495. 80286, complete , IOMh1 40M8 HD....... .......... ........ ..... .1595. 80386, base system , I 6Mhz ... ... 1995. 80386. complete. I 6Mhz. __... -' bility! Each computer gets a 40MB HD .. ... .... .......... ... .. ... .. ..2895. 48-hour bum-in. Cards................. ..... ..... .......Lowest Drives ........ .... ............. ........ Lowest Features Include: Plus Hardcard 20 ... .. ... ... .... ... ..... 559. Everex I 200b modem.... ........ ...... 89. ·Dual clock speed/keyboard switchable 4.77Mhz and IOMtu · 640K RAM · 150 watt power ~y · Eight expansion slots · Runs aJI MS-OOS programs · BRAND NEW (not relurt>Cihed) famous makf! 20M8 t"<ard drive and contrOller card · 360K famow make m floppy drive · AT style BS key keyboard w/LED status indic.ato~ · Monographics (Her cules compatible) card w/pnnter port · Hifh resolution amber screen monitor · Hayes compat. 2400b modem ..... 179. Everex HOOb external ... ... ....... .. 209. Star NPIO ... .... .......... ............ ... 149. NEC Multisync ..... .................... . 529. System uwmbled a . nd tested · FULL ONE YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY · 30· Day retum for refund policy · FCC Class B approved -------------- 238 BYT E · JANUARY 1988 Circle 292 on Reader Service Card llORTOI UTILITIES DATA R E COVERY DISK MANAGEMENT f ut !JIP ( 4~1.. ttf4,l l't. lllMl~ill!d~Yl'.lt · "Don't compure without Ir.'' - New York Times. · "Higlzly rccomme11ded for b111im:s.¥ users," - Time-Life Access NC!Wsle11cr, · "l11dl.fpe11sable."- PC Mag;i zlrw. · "£!4.'11!/t/ln/ in da1~10-drw personal comp11tln1t."- Pcrwrnil Compurlng MaJ!i!zlne.· Three ymrs ~'Oll!d "World Class'' Bi's/ Utilities~ , - PC World. · "A pleasure lo /IBC.''-PC Week. · "You 11bless rhls dialL" - Peter McWllllams/ The Persona.I Computer Book. A life saver for your data owitSnotso one at At.last After five long years alone at the top of the best-seller lists, the Norton UtilitiesT~ is being challenged by another software pac ka~e. Which is no small feat, considering that Version 4.0 i selling even faster than its prede cessors did. Unfair competition. Of course, in order to compete with the Utilities, this upstart new package first had to copy it. It had to include the famous UnErase;Mwhich has rescued the derrieres of thousands of grateful PC users. As well as the uniqu Fif.e Info, which lets you attach de scriptions of up to 65 characters to your files. Not to mention the Norton Integrator, which lets you con trol everything from a single program and gives you on-line hep for each function. In fact, The Advanced Edition of the Norton Utilities includes every single one of the features, functions and enhancements that have made Version 4.0 so popular. Right down to the user inter face which,according to the Info World Review Board makes the Advanced Edition "as easy to use as possible'.' And that's not all. The more the merrier. Because the Advanced Edition goes on to include a wish list of brand new technical features and functions. Like Speed Disk, for tighten !ng up disk space and optimiz mg access. And Format Recover, for unformatting your accidentally reformatted hard disk. As well as a FAT Editor; a Par tition Table Editor; a Directory Editor and access to absolute disk sectors. All of which ex plains why InfoWorld called the Advanced Edition "a great program that has gotten even better." We just call it good company. '2mr Nf.lrltM, COMPUTJNG Des i ~ ri ed for the IBM PC. I' -i\T and OOS ~ompo t ibl cs. Avnilnblc nt nto<t so ftware denlcrs.or direc t from Poter Norton Compu t ing. lnr , 2210 \\C,Jshire Blvd. 1 186.Sa nla Moni a.CAY0.\03. To order: 00~1 51-0303 Exl10 (VISA and Maste r ·a m welconw). M I fai l : P 'Cl. Fax 21:1-45:1-6:198. 19Si Pctt·r No rton Com putin~. Circle :Z06 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: :Z07) JANUARY 1988 · BYTE 239 Horowitz In Moscow The h1slonc return Music by Scarlani, Mozarl. Rachmaninov. Usz1. Chopin. Scriabin. Schumann, others . OG DIGITAL 125264 Handel, Water Music The En glish ConcerVP1nnock. " Quile the besl perlormance ...now on the market." Gramophone Archlv DIGITAL 115306 Holst, The Planets Montreal Symphony Orcheslra/Dutoil. " IAI stunning performance ... The bes1 ava ilable on both LP and C O."-G ramophone London DIGITAL 1t5446 Andrew Lloyd Webber, Varia· tlons; more Julian uoyo Weboer. cello. London Philnarmonic Orchestr Maazel. Philips DIGITAL 115473 Dvorak Symphony No. 9 (New World) Chicago Symphony Orcheslra/Solti. " The playing Is super latively good."-Gramophonc London DIGITAL 115168 Handel, Messiah (Highlights) Musica Sacra!Westenbu rg . Hallelu jah Chorus, I Know That My Redeem er Uveth . more. RCA DIGITAL 153566 James Galway & The Chief· tains: In Ireland Danny Boy. When You And I were Young . Maggie; Down By Tho Sally Gardens; more. RCA DIGITAL 124344 Ravel, Daphnis et Chloe (Complete) Montreal Symphony/ Du1oi1. " An absolute dream performance: · - S1ereo Review London DIG ITAL 115520 Mozart, Clarinet & Oboe Con· certos Pay. basset clarinet; Piguet, oboe. Academy or Ancient Musicl Hog wood . L'Oiseau- Lyre DIGITAL 115523 Brahms, Cello Sonatas Yo-Yo Ma. cello: Emanuel Ax. piano. ··01stln · guished ...handsomely recorded." Stereo Review RCA DIGITAL t54044 Richard Stoltzman: Begin Sweet World Title song. Amazing Grace, Clouds, Abide With Me /Blue Monh. more. RCA DIGITAL 150414 Mozart, Requiem Leipzig Radio Choir: Dresden State Orcheslra/ Schreier. " Exceptionally sa lisfying."' .t!!gh Fidelity Philips DIGITAL 115039 Rimsky-Korsakov, Schehera zade Vienna Philharmonic/Previn . " A fresh and spacious reading." ~ Philips DIGITAL 115415 Pops In Love The Boston Pops/ Williams. Clair de lune. Gymnopedies Nos. 1 & 2. Alblnoni Adagio. Fantasia On Greensleeves. Pachelbel Canon, more. Philips DIGITAL 125230 Galway & Yamashita: Italian Serenade Flute & guotar work s by Paganini, Cim arosa , Giuliani. Ros· slni & Bazzinl. RCA DIGITAL 173824 Horowitz In London Recorded live! Schumann. Kinderscenen ; Cho· pin, Polonaise· Fantaisie & Ballade No. 1; more. RCA DIGITA L t62507 Mozart, The Piano Quartets Beaux Aris Tno; Bruno Giura nna. v iola. " Absolulely ir1d1spensable .·· -S tereo Review Philips DIGITAL 115271 Wagner, Orchestral High lighls From The Ring Vienna Phllharmonic/Solti . Ride Of The Val kyries. more. LondOn DIGITAL 115426 The Canadian Brass: High, Bright, Light & Clear Air On The G String , Masterp iece Thealre Theme. others . RCA DIGITAL 144529 Pops In Space John w111tams leads The Boston Pops in music from Star Wars, Close Encounters, Super man. more. Philips DIGITAL t05392 Pachelbel, Canon in D Also includes other works by Pachelbel & Fasch Maurice Andre . lrumpet: Pail· lard Chamber Orchestra. RCA 133877 Gershwin, Rhapsody In Blue; An American In Paris; Con certo Pll1sburgh Symphonyl Previn (pianisl & conductor). Philips DIGITAL 115437 Vivaldi, The Four Seasons The English Concer Pinnock. " The llnest recording ol Iii) I've heard."-!::!!g!) Fidelity Archiv DIGITAL 115356 Sousa, Stars & Stripes For ever Philip Jones Ensemble. Plus Semper Fide/is . Wash in gton Post. more . London DIGITAL 115051 Michael Feinstein: Remember Irving Berlin standards include title song, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Put· rin ' On The Rirz. more. Eleklra t53947 Tchaikqvsky, Symphony No. 6 (Pathettque) Chicago Symphony Orcheslra/Levlne...A sound lhat dai zles and sings."-Milwaukee Journal RCA DIGITAL 153939 Teresa Stratas Sings Kurt Weill Havanna-Ued. Foolish Heart, Lonely House . Surabaya -Johnny. One Ulo To Live. more. Nonesuch 124746 Rudolf Serkin: Mozart, Piano Concertos Nos. 12 & 20 "He makes every phrase glow with lile." Slereo Review DG DIGITAL 115062 Rossini, Overtures Orpheus Chamber Orches1ra. The Barber 01 Seville , The Turk In Italy, Tancredi , 5 olhers . OG DIGITAL 115527 Gregorian Chant Schola of the Hofburgkapelle. V ienna. 10 Propers from Graduale Romanum; more Philips DIGITAL 115434 Alicia de Larrocha: Falla, Nig~ts In The Gardens Of Spain Plus rhapsodies by Albliniz & Turina. London DIGITAL 115410 Tomita : The Mind Of The Uni verse (Live At Linz, 1984) Ode To Joy. Also Sprach Zarathustra (opening), more. RCA 173629 IPS /6550 E. 301h St. /lndta napol·S. IN 46219 IPS 520 Fiddler On The Roof Ze ro Mos 1e1& original cast. Marchmaker Matchmaker. Sunrise Sunset, 111 Were A Rich Men, more. RCA 100051 Mozart, Posthorn Serenade; 2 Marches Academy of St . Martin- in the·Fields/Marriner. ..Gracious. warm musicmaking:·- The New York Times Phillps DIGITAL 115151 Pavarotti: Anniversary Che gel· Ide manina. E /ucevan le stelle. Vesli la g/ubba. Cielo e mar. Addio el/a maore. 11 more . Loncson 115344 Bach, Goldberg Variations Trevor Pinnock. harpsichOrd. " This is a definitive performance ."-S1ereo Review Archiv 105319 - Kat~leen Battle: Salzburg Recital Wilh James Levine. piano. Purcell, Mozart. Strauss. Handel, Faurli, & more. DG DIGITAL 115292 Mendelssohn, A M i dsummer Night's Dream Amllrosian Sing ers. Philharmonia Orcheslra/Marrlner. Philips DIGITAL 115546 Artur Rubinstein: Chopin, 14 Waltzes " (His] playing is relaxed. assured, and wonderlully con trolled."-American Record Guide RCA 101987 Kiri te Kanawa: Blue Skies With Nelson Riddle : Title song . Speak Low, How High The Moon, So In Love. 8 more. London DIGITAL t1 5035 Strike Up The Band-The Canadian Brass Plays George Gershwin Tille song. Th9 Man I Love, Porgy & Bess Suit9, 3 Preludes. more. RCA DIGITAL 160640 The King And I Yul Brynner, Constance Towers & revival casl. Gel· ling To Know You, Hello Young Lovers, Shell We Dance. more. RCA t23742 Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4 Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Soll!. "Eminently successful: powerlul , lluenl and virtuosic."-Ovation London DIG/TAL 125038 - Mozart, Symphonies Nos. 40 & 41 (Jupiter} James Levine con ducts the Chicago Symphony Orches lra . RCA DIGITAL 104810 Beethoven, SY"!phony No. 3 in E-Flat (Ero1ca) Academy of Ancient Music/Hagwood. L'Oiseau· Lyre DIGITAL 115535 Rubinstein Plays Rachmanin· off Plano Concerto No. 2 & Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini. RCA t7023" Debussy, La Mer; Nocturnes Boston Symphony Orchestra/Davis. ..The BSO is in lip-top form lhrou9h· ou1."--0valion Philips DIGITAL 115068 Bach, Organ Works Daniel Chor zempa plays 1he Toccala & Fug ue in D Minor ; the Prelude. Largo & Fugue in C; more. Philips DIGITAL t t5193 Placido Domingo Sings Tan gos Mi Buenos Aires Querido, Alma de Bohemia, Nostalgias. El Dia Que Me Quieras. 6 more. DG 105302 Kiri te Kanawa: Ave Maria Jesu, Joy Of Man 's Desiring; Let The Bright Seraphim; 0 Divine Redeemer; more. Phillps DIGITAL tl52 13 S Perlman: Mozart Violin Con certos Nos. 3 & Vienna Philha r· monlc/Levine. " Radianlly sumpluous... - !::!!gh Fidelity DG DIGITAL 115146 Barry Douglas: Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 London Symphony Orchestra/Slatkin. Ova tion·s Debut Recording Arli sl Of The Yearl RCA DIGITAL t64293 his remarkable $1 offer is being made to introduce you to an outstanding clllssical music membership-with never any obligation to buy. You'll find hundreds of outstanding albums in each issue of the Society's magazine, which will be sent to you every 4 weeks. You will also receive 6 special sale issues. giving you 19 opportunities a year to shop for fine music at home. But there is no obligation to accept any ottering at any time. You choose only the music you want! If you 'd like to accept the Main Selection, you need not do a thing. It will be sent automatically. If you'd prefer an alternate selection or none at all, just mail back the Notification Card by the specified date. You 'll always have at least 10 days to decide. Substantial savings with our half-price bonus plan. For every regular purchase you do make, you may choose a bonus album for only half of the members' club price! A ship ping/handling charge is added to each shipment. 3 Compact discs or records or cassettes for just $1 ! Begin your membership now by choosing any 3 albums shown here for just $1 plus shipping and handling. Send no money now. We want you to judge for yourself before you decide to buy. If not delighted, return your 3 albums at the end of 10 days without obligation. Values up to $47.94 r -~-~-yl-/-d-@-?-l-dc-f-f-J-~-o-l-~ - - - P.O. Box 91406 ·Indianapolis, IN 46291 D YES! Please accept my membership In The International Preview Society and send me, for 10 days' FR EE examination , the 3 albums I have Indicated below. I may return them after 10 days and owe nothing. or keep them and pay only $1 plus shipping & handl ing. 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IMll De ad<led. .~ L 1111111111111111111111111 MANAGING MEGABYTES Fast Data Access As personal computers accommodate larger and larger databases, we'll need new methods of "query optimization" to get at the data quickly Jonathan Robie THE HARDWARE FOR handling very large data sets on personal computers is here: 20-megabyte and 40-megabyte hard disk drives are commodity items. IBM has decided to port DB2 , its mainframe relational DBMS, to the OS/2 operating system, and has announced that a 314 megabyte hard disk drive will be available for the PS/2 Model 80. However, these large data sets require careful handling. Accessing the data in the wrong way can bog down the com puter for hours or even days. You can't get quick responses if your query re quires a 30-megabyte table to be sorted or if it compares every item in three 5-mega byte tables. Mainframe and minicomputer users, who have dealt with large databases for years , have come up with two basic solu tions . The first is to use hierarchical or network database managers that use pointers to set up paths for accessing data. These systems are called naviga tional databases because the user must "navigate" a series of pointers, telling the database manager precisely how to find the desired information. They are very efficient in the hands of an expert, but they are much harder to use than rela tional database managers . The second solution is to use a query optimizer to find an efficient way of an swering the user 's question, making use of indexes, hashing, and other aspects of the database's organization. The user does not tell the database manager how to access the information and never sees the access plan that is used. Query optimizers for relational data- bases are the focus of this article. I will explain why they are necessary, cite gen eral principles for query optimization , and show how a query optimizer gener ates an access plan for a simple query. The Need for Query Optimization Query optimizers are found on nonproce dural relational database managers (see the text box "Database Terminology" on page 244). The user's queries specify what information is wanted but not how the database manager should go about finding that information. The query optimizer chooses an effi cient access plan for the query using in formation about the structure of the·data base. If the optimizer makes the right choices, a relational database can be ex tremely efficient, but wrong choices can make it unbearably slow. Almost all relational systems with query optimization use SQL (pronounced "sequel") or Que! as a query language . Of the two, SQL has wider support, and ANSI has adopted a SQL standard. Microcomputer programs that use SQL include PC Ingres, Sybase, lnformix, Oracle, Emerald Bay , and SQLBase. I would like to illustrate the nonproce dural nature of SQL with an example that will be used throughout this article. Fig ure l shows a simple database that might be used by a hardware store to manage its supply . Suppliers are each assigned a supplier ID (sid), and parts are assigned a parts ID (pid). The supply table tells how many parts are in stock for each sup ply ID and parts ID . Suppose the man ager of the store wanted to know which items in stock came from Wanda's Ware house. He might use the following SQL statement: select parts.pname, supply.quantity from parts, supplier, supply where supplier.sname = "Wanda's Warehouse" and supply.sid = supplie r .sid and supply.pid = parts.pid; This query involves three tables and th