ST Report: 11-Jul-97 #1328
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 07/18/97-05:07:48 PM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 11-Jul-97 #1328
Date: Fri Jul 18 17:07:48 1997
Silicon Times Report
"The Original Independent Online Magazine"
(Since 1987)
July 11, 1997 No.1328
Silicon Times Report International Magazine
Post Office Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
R.F. Mariano, Editor
STR Publishing, Inc.
Voice: 1-904-292-9222 10am-5pm EST
FAX: 904-268-2237 24hrs
STReport WebSite http://www.streport.com
STR Publishing's FTP Support Server
10gb - Back Issues - Patches - Support Files
(Continually Updated)
ftp.streport.com
Anonymous Login ok - Use your Email Address as a Password
Check out STReport's NEWS SERVER
NEWS.STREPORT.COM
Have you tried Microsoft's Powerful and Easy to Use Internet Explorer?
Internet Explorer is STReport's Official Internet Web Browser.
STReport is prepared and published Using
MS Office 97, Corel Office Perfect 8 & Adobe Acrobat Pro
Featuring a Full Service Web Site
http://www.streport.com
Voted TOP TEN Ultimate WebSite
Join STReport's Subscriber List receive STReport
Via Email on The Internet
Toad Hall BBS 1-617-567-8642
07/11/97 STR 1328 Celebrating Our Tenth Anniversary 1987-97!
- CPU Industry Report - Adobe Spotlight - Links LS 98 Ships
- Domain Name Probe - CC #'s Exposed - END Spamming SPAM!
- Top Modem Co's Sued - Thumbs Plus 3.0g - Redneck Rampage
- HOT DOG 4.0 beta - People Talking - Classics & Gaming
Amelio OUT as Apple Chief
Germany Passes Net Data Law
Debit Cards a HIT!
STReport International Magazine
Featured Weekly
"Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information
Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
Adobe Acrobat Pro 3.0
Please obtain the latest issue from our Auto Subscription, Web Site or FTP
Site. Enjoy the wonder and excitement of exchanging all types of useful
information relative to all computer types, worldwide, through the use of
the Internet. All computer enthusiasts, hobbyist or commercial, on all
platforms and BBS systems are invited to participate.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
STReport, with its policy of not accepting any input relative to content
from paid advertisers, has over the years developed the reputation of
"saying it like it really is". When it comes to our editorials, product
evaluations, reviews and over-views, we shall always keep our readers
interests first and foremost. With the user in mind, STReport further
pledges to maintain the reader confidence that has been developed over the
years and to continue "living up to such". All we ask is that our readers
make certain the manufacturers, publishers etc., know exactly where the
information about their products appeared. In closing, we shall arduously
endeavor to meet and further develop the high standards of straight
forwardness our readers have come to expect in each and every issue.
The Publisher, Staff & Editors
1987-1997
Florida Lotto - LottoMan v1.35
Results: 07/05/97: two of six numbers with no matches
>From the Editor's Desk...
This will be a very short editorial. There is much to be said about
the future of computing.. especially in the areas of 75Mhz and 83Mhz.
Those are bus speeds above the standard 66Mhz. Using these speeds in
conjunction with "upped" CPU speeds is called "overclocking". Can you
imagine a 133Mhz Pentium zooming along at say.. 150? Or more? In the
coming weeks we'll cover the pros and cons of overclocking. Its become
quite popular and successful. I believe you'll enjoy this series io
articles. It'll also carry some very valuable information about the latest
"auto-config" and "soft-menu" config motherboards. No more bothersome
jumpers or "pia' dipswitches. This "computing thing" .it keeps getting
better and better.
Also, we'll be concentrating on Adobe's fine family of Graphical and
Publishing products. As far as we are concerned, there's no finer than
Adobe when it comes to Graphics and/or Publishing. Electronic or hardcopy,
Adobe sets the standards by which all others are ultimately judged. This
will be a highly informative series that'll take us right into the fall
season.
Of Special Note:
http://www.streport.com
ftp.streport.com
STReport is now ready to offer much more in the way of serving the
Networks, Online Services and Internet's vast, fast growing site list and
userbase. We now have our very own WEB/FTP Site, do stop by and have a
look see. Since We've received numerous requests to receive STReport from
a wide variety of Internet addressees, we were compelled to put together an
Internet distribution/mailing list for those who wished to receive STReport
on a regular basis, the file is ZIPPED, then UUENCODED. Unfortunately,
we've also received a number of opinions that the UUENCODING was a real
pain to deal with. You'll be pleased to know you are able to download
STReport directly from our very own FTP SERVER or WEB Site. While there,
be sure to join our STR AutoMailer list which allows a choice of either
ASCII or Acrobat PDF.
STReport's managing editors DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU!
Ralph F. Mariano, Publisher - Publisher, Editor
Dana P. Jacobson, Editor, Current Affairs
Section Editors
PC Section Mac Section Shareware Listings
R.F. Mariano Help Wanted Lloyd E. Pulley
Classics & Gaming Kid's Computing Corner
Dana P. Jacobson Frank Sereno
STReport Staff Editors
Michael R. Burkley Joseph Mirando Victor Mariano
Vincent P. O'Hara Glenwood Drake
Contributing Correspondents
Jason Sereno Jeremy Sereno Daniel Stidham
David H. Mann Angelo Marasco Donna Lines
Brian Boucher Leonard Worzala
Please submit ALL letters, rebuttals, articles, reviews, etc., via E-Mail
w/attachment to:
Internet rmariano@streport.com
STR FTP ftp.streport.com
WebSite http://www.streport.com
STReport Headline News
LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Amelio OUT as Apple Chief
Gilbert F. Amelio is out as Apple Computer Inc.'s president and CEO. The
struggling computer maker says Fred Anderson, executive vice president and
chief financial officer, will assume responsibility for the company's day-
to-day operations until a replacement can be found. Apple also says that
co-founder Steve Jobs will assume an expanded role as a key advisor to
Apple's board and executive management team. Amelio joined Apple in
February 1996, replacing embattled chief Michael Spindler. Despite slashing
the company's workforce by 30 percent and trimming its product line he has
been unable to stem the firm's losses. Apple's stock recently hit a 12
year low.
Another victim of the shakeup is Ellen Hancock, Apple's technology
director, who is following Amelio out the door. "In recent months, Apple
has made significant progress in addressing the crises which were
threatening its viability," says Edgar S. Woolard Jr., Apple's board
director and chairman of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. "In pursuit of the
best interest of our shareholders and our customers, we now want to move
forward and return the company to growth and sustainable profitability. We
believe that with a customer focused CEO and Apple's product and technology
portfolio, the company will have the necessary ingredients to return to
success."
Poll Finds Favor for Net Rules
In what is certain to make online free speech advocates squirm, a new poll
finds nearly a third of Americans believe the First Amendment goes too far
in guaranteeing free speech and almost half favor government restrictions
of speech on the Internet. The Chicago Tribune reports the poll, conducted
for it by Market Shares
Corp., surveyed 1,001 adults and has a margin of error of plus/minus three
percent.
Of those surveyed, says the Reuter News Service:
z 27 percent said the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went too
far in the rights it guarantees.
z 55 percent said the guarantees were about right.
z 8 percent said the amendment did not go far enough.
z 11 percent said they did not know.
And on the question of whether the government should restrict the kind of
material that can be transmitted on the Internet:
z 50 percent said the government should.
z 31 percent said it should not.
z 08 percent did not know.
z And 12 percent were not familiar with the Internet.
On other free-speech related issues, the Tribune poll also reported 58
percent of those surveyed said radio personalities who use implicit or
explicit sexual expressions should not be allowed on the air, 35
percentsaid they should be allowed and seven percent said they did not
know. Regarding the rights of anti-government groups, 52 percent polled
said groups advocating overthrow of the government should not be allowed to
make their views known to the general public, 40 percent said they should
and eight percent did not know.
Publisher Note; (Who REALLY took this Poll?? .Control Freaks Anoymous? )
Germany Passes Net Data Law
A measure to keep out cyberspace smut and Nazi propaganda has been passed
by German lawmakers, but critics are saying the law is too vague on what
responsibilities online services had for content they didn't create or
control. Associated Press writer Tony Czuczka, reporting from Bonn, says
the law, which also aims at boosting electronic commerce, penalizes online
providers for providing a venue for material that is illegal in Germany
even if it originated beyond Germany's borders.
Saying children must be protected against material deemed offensive,
research/technology minister Juergen Ruettgers told the wire service, "That
applies even to a network that knows no national borders. The Internet is
not outside the reach of the law." He added the new law also clarifies key
legal issues regarding commerce on the Internet.
AP says this makes Germany the first country to set rules for so-called
digital signatures, codes used to protect Internet communications and give
them the status of a legal document. The law gained final approval in the
upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, only six months after the
government proposed it. It takes effect Aug. 1. However, attorney
Christopher Kuner, a Frankfurt specialist on cyberspace issues, told
Czuczka the law was too vague on what liability online providers have, that
"it leaves a lot of things open."
Also, the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany said liability for online
services will have to be tested by court rulings, which "may cause prudent
investors to hesitate." The new law says online providers can be
prosecuted for offering a venue for content illegal in Germany if they do
so knowingly and it is "technically possible and reasonable" to prevent it.
This could apply to World Wide Web sites, chat rooms, bulletin boards and
similar exchanges originating in other countries and offered by German
online services without direct control over their content.
Commercial services like CompuServe and America Online have maintained they
provide only a connection like a telephone company, which is not held
responsible for everything its customers say on the phone. Czuczka
comments, "German prosecutors have been in the forefront of attempts to
rein in the globe-spanning free-for-all on the Internet." He notes a
leftist politician, Angela Marquardt, was charged with helping others learn
how to commit crimes by linking her Internet site to an electronic magazine
that included articles on how to build bombs and derail trains. A Berlin
court has cleared Marquardt, without delving into the issue of how courts
should deal with material banned in Germany but stored on a computer
somewhere else.
Publisher Note; (Speaking of Control Freaks.)
France Applauds U.S. Net Policy
While applauding President Bill Clinton for a laissez-faire policy on
Internet commerce, French officials says they still worry that young people
and consumers should be protected. As reported earlier, Clinton says he
wants the U.S. to work with the World Trade Organization to create a "free
trade zone" for Internetcommerce.
In Paris recently, Junior Minister for Industry Christian Pierret told the
Reuter News Service, "We agree with the United States that we must avoid
holding back (Internet) development by imposing a paralysing regulatory
scheme, but we must not ignore the serious difficulties that nations are
encountering in attempting to assure the protection of consumers and to
safeguard fundamental ethical principles, particularly with regard to young
people."
Reuters notes U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky later has said
she hoped to start with a basic group of countries -- including the
European Union -- to secure agreement on a hands-off policy on
internetcommerce and build global support from there. Pierret told the
wire service France wanted to be an active participant in the formulation
of European and international policy on Internet and would make its views
known at a coming meeting in Bonn on global information networks. He
added Paris hopes the European Union will adopt a common position on the
technology, saying the Internet would "without doubt be one of the most
important elements of economic growth and job creation."
Europeans Agree About Net
Meeting in Bonn, Germany, this week, European governments have agreed to
take a largely hands-off approach to regulating the Internet, leaving it up
to industry to police its own online actions. However, says The Associated
Press, the agreement by officials from 29 European nations also sketched
out a role for government in ensuring the Internet's development.
The wire service adds, "The non-binding resolution approved at a conference
here borrowed from differing approaches toward Internet commerce recently
adopted by the United States and Germany." As reported, President Clinton
last week said the Internet should be a "global free-trade zone" where
there is little interference by governments. The United States was among
non-European nations invited to the Europeans' conference as guests.
Meanwhile, Germany has passed a law that attempts to give a legal framework
to the transmission of data on the Internet.
The Europeans' so-called "Bonn Declaration" says expansion of the Internet
"must essentially be market-led and left to private initiative." At the
same time, it says, governments should work toward providing the
frameworkfor electronic commerce and toward "stimulating new services."
Speaking with reporters later, U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley said
he is pleased with the "strong statement" by European officials that "the
private sector must lead on so many of these (Internet) issues, and
government should take a step back."
Reporter Andrew Gray of the Reuter News Service says Daley acknowledged
there were differences on some issues -- particularly over how to regulate
encryption technology - - but said these were far outweighed by
theconsensus on most points among ministers and industry leaders at the
Bonn conference. Said Daley, "I think it's been a huge success because we
seem to be in agreement on about 98 percent of the principles."
EU Pledges No New Net Biz Taxes
A European Union-sponsored conference on Internet commerce has agreed in
principle not to impose new trade barriers or taxes on companies or
individuals doing business in cyberspace. But the Reuter News Service
reports that the conference, which was attended by 40 government ministers
from Europe, the U.S., Japan andCanada, appeared to make little progress on
how to regulate the encryption technology required for transaction security
on the Internet.
"The ministers agreed Internet regulation should be led by private
enterprise rather than governments and embraced some ideas proposed by U.S.
President Bill Clinton last week, but stopped short of advocating the U.S.
proposal in full," notes Reuter. "We have agreed there should be no
discriminatory taxes and laws placed on the Internet," German Economics
Minister Guenter Rexrodt, host of the two-day conference, told Reuter. "The
ministers have agreed that there should only be state regulation where
absolutely necessary and private initiative and market forces should have
as much room as possible."
Justice Probes Net Naming
An antitrust investigation into the business of registering Internet
addresses has been launched by the U.S. Justice Department. Reporter Aaron
Pressman of the Reuter News Service notes Network Solutions Inc., the
leading registration company, has revealed it had received a request for
documents from the Justice Department as part of the investigation. A
Justice Department spokeswoman today told the wire service, "We're looking
at the possibility of anti-competitive practices in the Internet address
registration industry."
Of course, all Internet addresses end with a short designation, usually
three letters -- such as .com, .org, .edu, .net -- known as a top-level
domain. Herndon, Va.-based Network Solutions has a monopoly to register
Internet addresses in the most popular domains under a contract with The
National Science Foundation. "The company," says Pressman, "has struggled
to cope with surging demand for Internet addresses, dozens of lawsuits
arising from alleged trademark infringements in address names and
difficulty collecting fees from some Internet users. In documents filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation for a public
stock offering, Network Solutions said it received on June 27 a 'civil
investigative demand' from theJustice Department."
Pressman says the demand requested documents and information from the
company and its corporate parent, Science Applications International Corp.
This follows a private lawsuit filed against the company in March alleging
violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In its filing, the company said
it is not aware of the scope or nature of the investigation. In its initial
public offering, the company plans to raise $35 million, but has not
revealed how many shares would be sold or at what price.
As reported, a group of Internet organizations and companies has proposed a
new plan for assigning addresses through at least 28 competing registrars,
but the plan may not go into effect. "The federal government has
established an interagency task force to examine possible solutions,"
Pressman reports. "Last week, the Commerce Department asked for comments
from the public on the issue."
NEW LINKS LS 98 IN STORES
Access Software's newest edition of its award winning LINKS LS in now in
release and turning a quick profit for software stores everywhere. The
first production run was entirely presold. "With the way LS 98 is selling
right out of the `chute it looks like we'll keep our production facilities
going full time, day and night," saiud Frank Bone, fulfillment manager for
Access Software.
The new LINKS LS features "look-ahead rendering" which has greatly reduced
the waiting time between screen redraws to almost instantaneous. Its
stunningly beautiful water reflections and improved sky panoramas recreate
a beautiful golf day right on your PC. With LS '98 also comes the
capability to have up to eight internet players at one time and multiplayer
gaming over the net and lan has been greatlyh enhanced.
Other new features include environmental animations such as waving pin
flags, flying airplanes, balloons and blimps; improved haze and fog weather
conditions as well as increased realism in terrain rendering. New shot
formats include Scramble and Alternate in addition to Stroke, Skins, Match
and Best Ball. Two additional Golfers (6 in all) Smart Camera views off-
line Tournament play and other golfers on screen are some of the 25 new
features of LS'98.
LS '98 is now a native Windows 95 and NT (4.0 or higher) application with
full Direct X support. As always, Access provides Toll Free support for
all its products.
Anti-Virus Upgrade Offered
TouchStone Software Corp. has introduced a new version of its PC-cillin
anti-virus software. The Huntington Beach, California, company says PC-
cillin 3.0 offers users 100 percent protection from all types of viruses,
as well as free Internet virus pattern updates for the life of the product
and Microsoft Office 97 compatibility. According to TouchStone, new patent-
pending MacroTrap technology protects users from both known and unknown
strains of destructive macro viruses, which now account for more than 80
percent of all virus infections.
"Computer viruses have become so clever and sophisticated, users need to
prepare themselves with the best protection they can get their hands on and
keep that protection constantly updated for it to be effective," says Larry
Jordan, Touchstone's president and CEO. PC-cillin 3.0 is scheduled to
become available in early August for $44.95.
Digital Camera Market Continues to Soar
Worldwide shipments of digital still cameras will reach nearly 10 million
units in 2001, finds Lrya Research, Inc. The research firm, based in
Newtonville, Massachusetts, projects that the market will advance at a
compound annual growth rate of slightly more than 58 percent over the next
seven years. "Total shipments will rise to more than 9.8 million units in
2001 from 990,000 in 1996, as the consumer and general business markets for
the technology catch fire, driven by a host of new applications and falling
digital camera prices," says Steve Hoffenberg, director of Lyra's Digital
Photography Systems Advisory Service.
According to Lyra, revenue generated by digital camera sales will expand to
more than $3.6 billion in 2001, up from less than one third of that amount
-- $984 million -- in 1996, according to Hoffenberg. "Thus far, the market
for digital cameras has been largely confined to professional photography
and vertical niche business applications," notes Hoffenberg. "But that is
about to change. Beginning late this year, the consumer market will start
to open up, as users of conventional film photography will finally have
reasons to purchase digital cameras."
Leading Modem Makers Sued
Seven leading modem manufacturers have been named in a patent infringement
suit filed by General Patent Corporation International of Monsey, New York.
The suit seeks to enforce four of GPC's patents, which cover specific
aspects of PC Card modems, the credit-card- sized modems primarily used in
notebook and other types of portable computers. The alleged infringers are
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc., Boca Research Inc., Xircom, Inc.,
MaxTech Corp., Archtek America Corp., New Media Corp and Cardinal
Technologies Inc., which was recently acquired by Hayes. The suit was
filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in
Orange County. In March, GPC filed a patent infringement suit against IBM
Corp. and U.S. Robotics Corp. for alleged infringement of the same PC Card
patents. "Every company manufacturing or selling PC Cards owes it to
themselves to take a close look at our patents and consider taking a
license," says Alexander Poltorak, GPC's chairman and CEO. The patents in
question are U.S. Patent No. 4,603,320 ("Connector Interface"), U.S. Patent
No. 4,543,450 ("Integrated Connector and Modem"),U.S. Patent No. 4,686,506
("Multiple Connector Interface"), and U.S. Patent No. 4,972,470
("Programmable Connector").
Trend Micro Sues British Firm
Anti-virus software publisher Trend Micro Inc. is asking a federal court to
stop Integralis Ltd., a British company, and its U.S. subsidiary Integralis
Inc., from infringing on its patent covering virus detectiontechniques for
data sent over the Internet and electronic mail. In legal documents filed
yesterday in the U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle,
Trend Micro identified Integralis' MIMESweeper andWebSweeper as products
covered by the patent and asked the court to stop both Integralis
companies from selling the infringing products to customers in the U.S. The
lawsuit asks for damages, including trebledamages for willful infringement,
and preliminary and permanent injunctions. The alleged infringement
concerns U.S. Patent No. 5,623,600, which was issued to Trend Micro on
April 22 and involves techniques used to protect large computer networks
from viruses. The patented technology is used in Trend Micro's InterScan
VirusWall product. It is also used in the server-based anti-virus products
of a number of other vendors that have signed licensing deals with Trend
Micro. The patent also applies to certain virus detection methods recently
incorporated into some firewalls.
"This action is part of our ongoing effort to protect our intellectual
property," says Robert Lowe, general counsel for Cupertino, California-
based Trend Micro. "The federal government has determined that our
innovation in this area deserves patent protection. Our business is being
damaged illegally every day that this infringement continues. This is the
only way to enforce our rights." In May, Trend Micro sued its two largest
competitors, Symantec Corp. and McAfee Associates Inc. for alleged patent
infringement. That lawsuit, which remains pending, cited corporate anti-
virus products such as McAfee's WebShield and GroupShield, as well as
Symantec's Norton Antivirus for Internet Email Gateways, as infringing
products. Trend Micro maintains the Antivirus Support Center on the World
Wide Web at http://www.antivirus.com.
Stop Spamming Spam, Hormel Asks
Hormel Foods Corp. is tired of hearing the trademark for its famous canned
meat product -- Spam -- being used online and in the press as a pejorative
for junk e-mail. While the company has not filed suit, it has asked the
nation's largest bulk e-mailer, Philadelphia-based Cyber Promotions Inc.,
to stop using the term. However, Cyber Promotions founder Sanford Wallace
-- sometimes known as "Spamford" -- tells The Associated Press the company
will continue using the word on its Internet site. Says Wallace, "The term
`spam' is part of the vocabulary of 25 million Internet users. We didn't
believe it's trademark infringement to use a slang word," adding he doubts
the term "spam" would be confused with the food, Spam. AP notes a federal
court in New York last year rejected Hormel's trademark infringement case
against Jim Henson Productions for calling a pig-like muppet "Spa'am" in a
recent movie.
Incidentally, Wallace says he believes Spam became slang with a skit from
the British comedy group, Monty Python's Flying Circus. In that skit, the
word is repeated until one of the actors is driven crazy, he said. While
Hormel wants Cyber Promotions to stop using the word Spam, it hasn't asked
the company to stop using the term "spamming," a slang word that denotes
mass junk e-mailing. Hormel spokesman V. Allan Krjeci says in a statement,
"We want them to recognize that Spam has been a widely known Hormel Foods
trademark for 60 years and they are not authorized to use that trademark
for their commercial use." Also Austin, Minn., -based Hormel is asking
Cyber Promotions to stop displaying cans of Spam when promoting the bulk e-
mail business.
Prof Sees Worker Privacy Threat
Corporations are using advancing technology to spy on workers faster than
the law can uphold privacy rights, says a University of Illinois legal
scholar. United Press International, reporting from Champaign, Illinois,
quotes a new study by law professor Matthew Finkin as saying employers are
steadily narrowing their workers' legal "reasonable expectations" of
privacy because of the nature of computers and other new technologies.
Writing in the Chicago Kent Law Review, Finkin said corporations are taking
advantage of this phenomenon to steadily narrow what courts are willing to
deem as "outrageous" -- and therefore illegal - monitoring of workers'
activities both on and off the job.
Finkin notes courts have ruled it is not an invasion of an employee's
privacy to read the employee's personal
e-mail, peek into restrooms with video cameras or interrogate an employee
in a locked room about the details of her sex life. With the advent of
computers, he says, "as the worker watches the display terminal, the
terminal can, in effect, watch the employee," thereby narrowing the
employee's "reasonable expectation" of privacy. The deck is stacked
against employees, he believes, by an antiquated body of U.S. law that is
designed to protect corporations from government intrusion.
"Liberty in the workplace," Finkin writes, "is conceived in terms of the
employer's freedom from state control, in which the employee's freedom from
employer control is, at best, derivative," adding European laws showit is
possible to strike a better balance between privacy and the needs of
employers.
Credit Card Numbers Exposed
Hundreds of ESPN Sportszone and NBA.com Web site users have received e-
mail claiming their credit card numbers have been exposed to unauthorized
access, reports The New York Times. In Thursday's edition, the paper said
the messages were signed by "an anonymous organization seeking to make the
Internet a safe place for the consumer to do business." The messages
included the last eight digits of each recipient's credit card number, the
newspaper stated. Both sites are operated by Starwave Corp. A Starwave
spokesman confirmedto the Times that system security had been compromised
and that the files of 2,397 customers were potentially exposed. The company
added that none of the card numbers have been misused. The sites have been
taken offline until an investigation has been completed, the newspaper
said.
A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N
LEXMARK OPTRA C
COLOR
LASER PRINTER
For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent to
you that demonstrates LEXMARK Optra C SUPERIOR QUALITY 600 dpi Laser Color
Output, please send a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business
sized envelope please) to:
STReport's LEXMARK Printout Offer
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
Folks, the LEXMARK Optra C has to be the very best yet in its price range.
It is far superior to anything we've seen or used as of yet. It is said
that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. The out put from the Lexmark
Optra C is worth ten thousand words! Send for the free sample now. (For a
sample that's suitable for framing, see below) Guaranteed. you will be
amazed at the superb quality. (Please.. allow at least a two week turn-
around).
If you would like a sample printout that's suitable for framing. Yes
that's right! Suitable for Framing. Order this package. It'll be on
special stock and be of superb quality. We obtained a mint copy of a 1927
COLOR ENGRAVER'S YEAR BOOK. Our Scanner is doing "double duty"! The
results will absolutely blow you away. If you want this high quality
sample package please include a check or money order in the amount of $6.95
(Costs only) Please, make checks or money orders payable to; Ralph Mariano.
Be sure to include your full return address and telephone number . The
sample will be sent to you protected, not folded in a 9x12 envelope. Don't
hesitate.. you will not be disappointed. This "stuff" is gorgeous!
A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N
Shareware Treasure Chest STR Feature "The Latest & Greatest"
Shareware Treasure Chest
By Lloyd E. Pulley
lepulley@streport.com
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Quicktime Plug-in Version 2.1.2 7/01/97 869kb Freeware
Allows you to view quicktime movies (.MOV) in your Web Browser.
Home Page Site - http://quicktime.apple.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
CD Wizzard 32-bit 4.31 7/05/97 .32mb Shareware $19.95
Wizzard CD Audio Player for Windows has all the functions of a home CD
player plus many, many more! It saves the disc and tracks names in its
database. CD Wizzard has a full 3D look that is totally customizable. In
icon mode, the icon is updated with the disc and track time. There is a
full help file that describes all features of CD Wizzard.
Home Page Site - http://www.bfmsoft.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Becky! Internet Mail for Windows 95 Version 1.21 7/03/97 1,219kb
Shareware 40.00
Becky! is a multi-featured E-mail client specialized for Windows 95 and
the Internet. You will find many features which are expected for an
Internet E-mail software, and some of them would be beyond your
expectation.
Home Page Site - http://www.rimarts.co.jp/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Beatnik Plug-in Version 1.15 07/01/97 2,395kb Freeware
A driver which manages the playback of RMF and other audio files within
Web browsers. The greatest strengths of the Beatnik Plug-in are its high
fidelity and its potential for interactivity. The sound quality is
comparable to high-end PC wavetable sound cards even though the processing
is entirely software-based. The potential for interactivity results from
Beatnik's support of a comprehensive set of JavaScript functions, which
allow for a richer and more personalized musical experience than other
multimedia delivery solutions. Beatnik allows a Web page to play music not
only on opening, but also on an event such as a "mouse click" or "mouse
over." These events can also trigger individual notes, sampled voices, or
sound effects; start or stop music; and change tempo, volume, pitch, or
mix. This is revolutionary in that it allows and even encourages direct
musical interactions with Web pages, instead of the current use of the
Internet as a playback-only system.
Home Page Site - http://www.headspace.com/beatnik/plug-in/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
ThumbsPlus Version 3.0g 7/03/97 3,021kb Shareware $60.00
ThumbsPlus is a graphic file viewer, locator and organizer which
simplifies the process of finding and maintaining graphics, clip-art files,
fonts and animations. It displays a small image (thumbnail) of each file.
You can use ThumbsPlus to browse, view, edit, crop, launch external
editors, and copy images to the clipboard. This update has many bug fixes.
Home Page Site - http://www.cerious.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Thing Viewer 32-bit preview release plug-in 07/06/97 .32mb Free
Allows you to view multimedia content created with the ThingMaker.
Basically, Things are rich multimedia objects. They have a series of
attributes that you can change via simple menus and mouse clicks.
ThingMaker gives you the power to "Make Things Do Things" in an easy-to-use
drag-and-drop authoring environment. No programming knowledge is required
on your part. Things can be created with images, animations or sounds.
ThingMaker promises the functionality of Macromedia Director as well as the
ability to assign copyright information and restrict images from being
downloaded -- all for a little more than 10% of Directors' cost.
Home Page Site - http://www.thingworld.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
ViruSafe FireWall Version 2.50 7/07/97 216kb Shareware
Uses a full 32-bit, NCSA certified anti-virus engine to scan EXE, COM,
DOC, XLS and ZIP files, even in MIME and UUencoded E-Mail attachments.
ViruSafe FireWall provides real-time scanning of FTP, SMTP and HTTP file
transfers. It provides full protection from all viruses, including macro
viruses, even in Office 97 files. In addition, ViruSafe FireWall uses an
advanced engine to protect the network from known and unknown hostile Java
applets and ActiveX controls. Advanced configuration options allow you to
control what actions are taken when an infected file is encountered.
Home Page Site - http://www.eliashim.com/firewall.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
TrueStream 32-bit 1.1 plug-in 07/06/97 N/A Free
If watching videos over the 'net reminds you of sitting on the airport
taxiway, then you're ready for TrueStream Video, Motorola's new streaming
video software. With TrueStream you can start viewing videos in moments,
not minutes.
Home Page Site - http://www.mot.com/MIMS/ISG/Products/video/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Cryptext Version 2.32 7/05/97 83kb Freeware
Little encryption and deencryption program. Works together with Windows
Explorer. Very small, but really good.
Home Page Site - http://www.pcug.org.au/~njpayne/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
IBM Internet Connection Phone 32-bit 2.01 beta 1 07/04/97 2.60mg
Freeware
Here's a new version of Internet Connection Phone with better voice
quality and support for Interest Groups (Topics). This version is
compatible with the previous version and lets you talk with users who use
either this version, or the older version. Internet Connection Phone lets
you talk, send data and work collaboratively all on a single telephone
line. IBM's easy to use Internet Connection Phone is the first Internet
phone to support the use of speaker phones with full duplex capability and
echo suppression, thus providing you with high voice quality. This version
supports 2 codecs, GSM-VQ which is a high quality GSM that lets you work on
486/66MHz machines and G723-6.3kbps which gives you a better voice quality
on 586/100MHz machines. In fact, the quality is comparable to the best
cellular systems available today.
Home Page Site - http://www.ics.raleigh.ibm.com/ics/icphone.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Multiple Choice Test Generator Version 1.0 7/07/97 1,731kb Shareware
$5.00
A tool which allows teachers and others to write and print multiple
choice tests. It has the capability to allow teachers to administer
multiple choice tests both in printed form or on the computer directly.
Tests administered on the computer are graded automatically. Both a raw
score and a percentage score are calculated. For each question entered in
the test creation mode, up to four possible answer choices are available.
There is no limit to the number of questions allowed for each test.
Home Page Site - http://www.eagle.ca/~hsteve/powers.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Extreme Assault 7/07/97 13.00mb Commercial Demo
If you are looking for a good adrenaline rush, then you're sure to enjoy
this intense action game from Blue Byte. Aliens have secretly set up
operations on Earth and it's up to you to put a stop to their sinister
plans. Blow `em away with your Sioux AH-23, a high tech attack helicopter,
and the T1, the next generation battle tank. Almost 20 different types of
tenacious and cunning opponents will be gunning for you from the air and
the ground. Increase your killing power and strengthen your defenses with
bonuses found in secret passages and hidden rooms. Experience awesome real
time 3-D graphics as you journey through mountain ravines, subterranean
caves, Inca ruins and underground alien complexes. This breathtaking,
lifelike world will unfold before you smoothly and quickly, thanks to a
highly advanced 3-D graphics engine that does not require any accelerator
cards (although the game has support for 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics based cards).
Home Page Site - http://www.bluebyte.com/us/products/ea/ea.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Debt Analyzer Version 2.5 7/06/97 1,500kb Shareware $10.00
Designed to help people get out of debt through the most efficient means
possible. It calculates three different payoff scenarios: highest rate,
smallest balance, and smallest (balance to monthly ratio). The user can
apply all three and see which one provides the best way of getting out of
debt while paying the least amount of interest in the shortest possible
time. You must enter the name, balance, interest rate, and minimum monthly
payment for all your outstanding debts. You also have the ability to put in
a delayed start time for those debts you are not currently making payments
on such as those "no payments till 98" deals on new cars. You also enter
any extra money you have to apply towards paying off your debts. It then
calculates how you should apply your payments so you can get out of debt
through the quickest means possible.
Home Page Site - http://www.magicnet.net/~seren/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Mini Notetab 32-bit 2.63 7/07/97 .44mb Freeware
Mini Notepad is not just another Windows Notepad replacement! It is a
feature-rich program with a selection of original productivity tools that
you will find in no other editor. Mini Notepad has been designed to use a
minimum amount of Windows system resources so you can safely keep the
editor open all the time. The program is capable of opening a very large
number of files (the actual limit is determined by the amount of free
system resources). Each document is displayed on a tabbed page making it
easy to switch between them. A separate window, called the Document
Selector, makes it easy to find a specific document when a large number of
them are open.
Home Page Site -
http://www.unige.ch/sciences/terre/geologie/fookes/mininote.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Norton Anti-Virus Montly Update Version July 7/01/97 1,200kb Freeware
July 1997 Definition Update for Norton Antivirus
Home Page Site - http://www.symantec.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
WarSport 32-bit beta 7/07/97 N/A Free
This new online game is something of a cross between Command and Conquer
and a futuristic sports game. The game is set within an arena and is played
in two ten minute halves. The field is divided into eight pie shaped
slices, one for each player. Up to eight players may participate but only
two are required to play. At their disposal, players will have several
types of units ranging from invisible spies to fast riders to powerful
boomers. Each player also has a comcen (communications center) within their
slice of the field that it must protect. Destruction of the comcen means
elimination for a player.
Home Page Site - http://www.warsport.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Rule Organiser Version 2.14 7/06/97 1,248kb Freeware
A simple to use Rules Organiser that allows you to simply change from one
set of rules to another in Westwood Studio's Command & Conquer Red Alert
and Red Alert Counterstrike.. This gives you things like TeslaTanks,
FireBreathingDogs, Crazy Crates etc...
Home Page Site - http://pages.infinit.net/mclarry/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
SecurityPlus 32-bit 4.02 7/07/97 2.00mb Shareware $29.95
File viewer with on-the-fly encryption/decryption. Supports 24 different
file formats including Animated GIF files. Zoom, Full view, Auto-Hide, JPG
options, File Info including CRC, Full privacy of images and any other
files, runs in the tray, +more. One other unique option, Secure Access,
will encrypt entire programs. By using this option you may prevent total
access to items such as e-mail, company accounting records, programming
source files and image files. File Formats Supported: *.iff, *.lbm, *.gif,
*.png, *.gem, *.img, *.cut, *.tif, *.jpg, *.mac, *.msp, *.art, *.pic,
*.hrz, *.ras, *.tga, *.bmp, *.dib, *.emf, *.rle, *.wmf, *.wpg and *.pcx.
Animated GIF files.
Home Page Site - http://www.softbytelabs.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Multi Program Launcher Version 1.01s 7/06/97 151kb Shareware
$10.00
A small (36Kb), fully configurable, easy to use, but very powerful
Win95/NT notify bar program launcher. It is accessed via the world icon in
the notify bar region, one click and you have full access to the power of
MPL, literally at your finger tips. It was designed to run multiple
programs from one menu entry, as well as to keep all your most used short
cuts, in one place for easy access. You can run files via file association,
or just by including the full path and executable filename, you also have
various switches to display the windows in various styles (i.e. hidden,
minimized, maxmized, etc..), as well as access to a switch which allows you
to run specific programs in a default directory for even more flexibility.
Depending on your screen resolution, you can have up to forty six viewable
menu entries on screen, and to get around this paltry restriction, I have
also incorporated an option to create up to a maximum of 65535 submenus,
for those other important menu entries.
Home Page Site - http://homepages.enterprise.net/cwood/mprog.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
HotDog 32-Bit 4.0 beta preview 1.01 7/07/97 4.40mb Shareware
$99.95
A really good editor. It has a ton of features like floating toolbars,
long file names, Style Sheets, Dynamic Dialogue Builder, Dynamic Button
Builder , Massive Plug-In Support, On-the-fly Image Conversion, Create
Gif89a Animations, and much more. New features include:
z New super fast drag and drop interface
z Wizards for advanced HTML functions
z Intelligent documents (with error hints)
z The Power of all new Supertoolz plugins
Home Page Site - http://www.sausage.com/hotdog32.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
CircSolver Circuit Analysis Version 1.1 7/07/97 2,043kb Demo
$65.00
CircSolver can analyze any arbitrary analog circuit by deriving Transfer
Functions, generating Bode Plots, and plotting the time-domain response of
circuits to user-designed Input Signals. CircSolver can even plot the
response of circuits with multiple sources and with different Input Signals
applied to each source. The application contains an integrated circuit
editor with a graphical user interface, multiple document interface,
dockable toolbars, right-click menu, context sensitive help, and advanced
editing features like unlimited undo/redo and smart mouse cursors.
Home Page Site - http://www.micronation.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
MidiMaster 32-bit 7.1 7/07/97 1.00mb Shareware $20
MidiMaster is a multimedia player for Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 that
supports MID, RMI, AVI, QuickTime and WAV formats. It is not only a media
player but also a media file organizer. It is specially designed for those
who like a desktop media player which brings convenience whenever they play
and manage their beloved media files. MidiMaster runs on both Windows 95
and Windows NT 4.0 as it provides specific Windows 95 GUI features. Also,
users can either minimize MidiMaster to taskbar or shrink it to the
TaskTray of Windows 95. MidiMaster also provides library functions for
managing or categorizing media files. It has many extensive functions which
make media files playing extremely simple and controllable. There are many
more functions available to make your life of playing media files easier.
Home Page Site - http://www.cs.ust.hk/~paul/mm/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
SMPTE Time Calculator Version 2.1 7/06/97 713kb Freeware
Time Calculator 2.0D is a time calculator. SCalc 2.0 supports both
standard time (hh:mm:ss), and frame based time (hh:mm:ss.ff) in both 24
frames per second and 30 frames per second.
Home Page Site - http://lighthouse.tierranet.com/scalc/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Cookie Pal 32-bit 1.1a 7/07/97 .18mb Shareware $15
Cookie Pal is a complete internet cookie management system for Windows 95
and Windows NT 4.0. It lets you automatically accept and reject internet
cookies from all or user specified web sites, without having to click on
the web browser's annoying "Cookie Alert" messages all the time. Cookie Pal
works with Internet Explorer 3.0 or later and Netscape Navigator 3.0 or
later as well as Compuserve WinCIM 3.01 to give you complete and
transparent control over the cookies which are accepted by and stored on
your system. You can also view and delete existing cookies on your system.
Home Page Site - http://www.kburra.com/cpal.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
CacheCompactor Version 4.0 7/07/97 306kb Shareware $10.00
Automatically removes temporary and cached files from your computer. It
can also be configured to remove any user defined folder as well as
individual files. CacheCompactor can recover a large amount of space
consumed by your web browsers cache, and can also protect the privacy of
your data by removing temporary copies of files that may be created while
you are editing documents( for example, in a word processor).
Home Page Site - http://www.triceris.com/CacheCompactor/default.asp
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
BlackBox Version 1.2 7/04/97 111kb Shareware $15.00
An easy to install enhancement to the Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft
Windows NT 4.0 (x86 only) shell, and it provides users the ability to
encrypt and decrypt files with exactly two mouse clicks. You have files
that should be seen only by you? Have you transfer files over unsecured
networks? Worried about someone is reading your files? Your Boss is reading
your mail? Then BlackBox is for you! BlackBox will be installed as a system
shell extension, this meaning that you will find it by double clicking on
any file or folder you want to protect. By protecting a file, this file
cannot be read anymore until it will be decrypted. It uses DES (Data
Encryption Standard), the well known encoding standard. BlackBox implements
besides the standard 56-bit key version of DES also a version of 56-bit key
DES without the initial and final permutations, optimized for speed.
Home Page Site - http://www.interscope.ro/BlackBox/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Clean System Directory Version 1.2 7/07/97 75kb Freeware
This program scans your system looking for all references to DLL files in
your Windows system directory. Those DLL files in the system directory that
have no programs calling on them can be moved out of the system directory,
saving disk space and improving system performance. For experienced users.
Home Page Site - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~kevsol/sware.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Maplay 32-bit 1.90 7/08/97 .88mb Freeware
Maplay is a program that decodes MPEG Audio Layer 1 and 2 files, which
are factor of 6-12 times smaller than uncompressed audio (like Windows PCM
WAVE, Sun AU, or Mac AIFF files). Despite the huge compression, there is no
audible signal loss! You can retain CD-quality sound at compression ratios
around 1:6 (128 kbit/s). This new version adds layer 3 support.
Home Page Site - http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ctsay/mp2win32.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Disk Format Quick Version 1.01 7/03/97 242kb Freeware
You need a tool to quickly and correctly format a diskette? Now you get
it with DF. You simply have to right click the small symbol in the task
bar, choose "Format diskette" from the popup menu and you'll get the format
dialog. It's that easy as it looks like.
Home Page Site - http://strebersdorf.ac.at/CMSystems.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Cookie Web Kit 32-bit 1.01 7/08/97 .01mb Free
The Cookie Web kit automates the deletion of your cookie files everytime
you boot up your computer or click on a certain icon. It works by the use
of a simple bat file, and can also be configured to delete cache and
history files. This software is compatible with all versions of Netscape,
and Internet Explorer (Windows95). Includes comprehensive setup file.
Home Page Site -http://www.cookiecentral.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Pegasus Mail Version 2.54 7/03/97 1,700kb Freeware
A really good E-mail program that's free. It has a lot of nice features
like a spelling checker, mailing list support, and much more.
Home Page Site - http://www.pegasus.usa.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
PhoneBook95 32-bit 2.3 7/08/97 1.40mb Sharware $20
Windows95 Phone/Address Book Manager, the only phone book you'll ever
need ! Features:
z powerful 32-bit application
z intuitively easy to use
z organizes all your phone #'s, addresses, e-mail addresses, web
addresses and more with ease
z search for any keyword in your database
z phone dialing capability
z one button emailing
z one button web site access
z separate personal / business directories
z printing capability
Home Page Site - http://members.aol.com/lwsoftware/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
RaMaster Version 1.0 7/08/97 1,800kb Shareware $20.00
A RealAudio file queuer and librarian. It has two major functions: (1)
Help users organize their RealAudio files in libraries. Users can also
establish libraries which contain folders of songs in addition to
individual song items. (2) Provide an intuitive user interface to make a
list of favorite songs. The queue could be a persistent or a temporary one.
Home Page Site - http://www.cs.ust.hk/~paul/rm/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Polyview 32-bit 2.90 beta 9 7/08/97 1.40mb Shareware $20
PolyView is a BMP, GIF, JPEG, photo-cd, PNG, and TIFF graphics viewer,
file conversion, and printing utility for Windows NT and Windows 95.
PolyView features fast image rendering, panning, and zooming that is
optimized for Windows 95 and Windows NT. PolyView is a 32 bit application
that uses multithreading to enhance usability and allow time consuming
operations, such as image file reading and writing, to be performed in
parallel with user interface operations. PolyView's multithreaded nature
also allows the reading and writing of multiple image files at the same
time. With its image appearance manipulation, copy and paste facilities,
and DDE execution capabilities, PolyView is an excellent companion to your
favorite Web browser.
Home Page Site - http://www.netins.net/showcase/polybytes/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
RealAudio Tuner Version 2.0 Beta 7/08/97 543kb $15.00
The RealAudio Tuner will allow you listen to radio stations from around
the world. Any radio station that broadcasts with RealAudio compression
over the Internet can be easily accessed with this tool. The RATuner will
help you to keep track of the rapidly growing list of radio stations on the
Internet. The easy to use interface helps you to find stations easily and
quickly. Designed to look and act like the radio in your car, RATuner makes
use of up to 10 preset stations for setting your favorites.
Although RATuner is distributed with over 130 live stations ready to play,
you can add your own as you find more, giving it the flexibility to stay up
to date. There are also options to delete and edit the station list as your
needs change.
Home Page Site - http://www.dragontek.com/RATuner/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Warlords 3 for Win95 7/08/97 12.40mb Commercial Demo
Warlords III: Reign of Heroes continues the popular Warlords series in
one of the most complex and challenging strategy gaming environments ever
created. Starting with a single hero and a modest selection of armies,
build up your forces and capture enemy cities to push back the evil hordes
of Lord Bane and Lord Sartek. Or stage an epic campaign and vanquish your
enemies to take over every city on the map. Warlords III offers a wealth of
game play options, intricate strategic detail and many scenarios to choose
from in a variety of settings.
Home Page Site - http://www.warlords3.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
SmartTracker Stamps 97 Version 3.2 7/08/97 1,710kb Shareware $25.00
Organize and Catalog your stamp collection. Enter a multitude of
information about your Stamp Collection including user defined fields.
Easily mark stamps as "wanted". Narrow data down to a search. Sort data on
any field 4 levels deep. Search and Replace, Import, Export, User Definable
Reports, Select Colors, Select Fonts, Maintain Multiple Databases and more!
Home Page Site - http://www.smartcode.com/isshtml/smtstamp.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
PerspectaView 32-bit 1.2. beta 3.0005 plug-in 7/09/97 3.00mb Free
Searching a web site with traditional indexing technology can lead to
information overload with long lists of potentially irrelevant and
unrelated information. The Perspecta SmartContent System is a fundamentally
new approach for adding value to information whereby the user can
dynamically interact with information, organize it according to their own
point of view, and discover related information." It's kind of hard to
explain, but basically it lets you "fly" through information.
Home Page Site - http://www.perspecta.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Book Catalog Version 2.8 07/08/97 4,114kb Shareware $20.00
Features an elegant, user-friendly interface for storing book and author
information. Subjects are displayed as a hierarchial tree and includes drag
and drop support for maintaining data. Other features include realtime
parsing of dewey decimal classes into categories and field customization.
Many fields of information stored using Microsoft's powerful Access engine
make Book Catalog useful for home, book collecting, and even small
libraries.
Home Page Site - http://www.vecdev.com/dem/BookCatalog/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
PassWords Plus 32-bit 2.2 7/09/97 1.10mb Shareware $5
Passwords Plus allows an unlimited number of users to each keep an
individual password-protected list of their passwords. Names and passwords
may be pasted into other applications using the standard Windows clipboard.
Passwords lists may be browsed and printed.
Home Page Site - http://www.dlcwest.com/~sorev/passplus.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
WinImage 32-bit beta 3.05.3044 7/09/97 .25mb Shareware $30
WinImage is a powerful disk utility that enables users to make disk image
from floppy, extract file from image, make an empty image, put the image on
blank disk. WinImage also supports many different standard and non-standard
formats, including Microsoft new DMF format.
Home Page Site -
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gvollant/winimage.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
BusinessCards Version 4.18 7/07/97 350kb Shareware $29.95
BusinessCards is EXTREMELY INTUITIVE and EASY TO USE universal
database/organizer software. It is a perfect Cardfile replacement: COMPACT,
FAST and FLEXIBLE. Sports elegant folio-like user interface with
alphabetical tabs and flipping pages. Fully Internet enabled, packed with
lots of advanced features.
Home Page Site - http://www.midstream.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
LifeSaver 32-bit 3.30 7/09/97 1.50mb Shareware $30
LifeSaver is a configuration file backup and restore utility which can be
used to recover from problems due to corrupt configuration files or changes
to configuration files which can not be undone.
Home Page Site - http://members.aol.com/aeroblade/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Wallpaper Wizard Version 1.0.2 7/09/97 3,500kb Freeware
The purpose of this program is to allow you to have a different wallpaper
image each time you boot up your computer. This program is very simple to
use.
Home Page Site - http://members.aol.com/brandoprod/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Beasts & Bumpkins for Win95 7/10/97 16.00mb Commercial Demo
Stripped of your lands and exiled by the King, you must rebuild your
empire from scratch with just a handful of smelly peasants at your command.
It'll take careful management of your limited resources to increase the
population of your servants. And you're going to need every penny - and
peasant - you can muster if you're to defeat the monstrous minions of the
Dark Lord Sabellian that terrorise the countryside. Expand your population,
increase your lands, wipe out all the opposition and look forward to being
crowned King Mildew I". (It's a real time strategy/wargame).
Home Page Site - http://www.ea.com/eastudios/beasts/home.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Companion Reader Version 2.0 7/07/97 740kb Shareware $19.95
Designed to give you the ability to predict the outcome of a wide
selection of daily personal and business events involving you and any other
individual, or just any two individuals via Numerological and Astrological
calculations as well as The Book of Dead and The Cabala. Numerology has
been used for centuries to compare individuals' profiles. Now, the power of
that knowledge is finally at your fingertips. Discover the future or check
your past - the choice is yours!
Home Page Site - http://www2.pitnet.net/numer/companion.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Internet Neighborhood 32-bit 1.1.26 7/10/97 1.00mb Shareware
Internet Neighborhood is a Windows 95 Shell Extension which is used for
browsing remote FTP sites as if they were directories/folders on your local
computer! With KnoWare's Internet Neighborhood, there's no longer any need
for those 'Explorer Like' applications and utilities; It's all integrated
into your existing namespace. Why launch a separate application to browse a
remote FTPsite, download the file, close the application, then run
Explorer? Simply launch Explorer directly, browse your way through the
Internet neighborhood, then drag-drop the files/application directly into
your file system.
Home Page Site - http://www.knowareinc.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Wheel 'O' Yum Version 1.0 7/07/97 33kb Freeware
This is a little silly utility that you will strangely find yourself
using often. It solves an age-old problem. Where are you gonna go eat? It
allows you to add and remove restaurant names and select which ones you do
not want the Wheel 'O' Yum to choose from. Requires the VB 5.0 Runtimes.
Home Page Site - http://www.fhsu.edu/students/dave/yum/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
HR Manager Version 1.4 7/07/97 8,570kb Shareware $75.00
A Human Resources database management program that tracks all pertinent
HR data including training classes attended, wage and personal information,
time off earned and used, and performance reviews due. A variety of reports
are available to the operator. The AutoCalc feature calculates time off
earned in five categories according to the user-defined parameters,
vacation, sick days, personal days, and two user-defined categories.
Registered users receive free upgrades for life (only cost is cost of
media) and free e-mail support.
Home Page Site - http://www.silverbeaver.com/
EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
Edupage
Contents
BT/MCI Merger Gets Justice
Department Okay
FCC Puts Bell Atlantic-Nynex Merger
On Hold
Tech CEOs Form PAC
Cutting Prices On International
Faxes
Governments, Online Services Tangle
Over Net Rules
Alumni Groups And Prodigy Link Up
For Net Access
Net Advertising And The Effect On
Kids
Gates Pitches New Type Of Set-Top
Box
Scientists Propose New Encryption
Scheme
Study Predicts Fragmented Long-
Distance Market
Jobs Switch At Apple: Gil And
Ellen Out, Steve InMicrosoft
Network Does Another About-Face
EU Ministers Issue Declaration On
Internet
SPA Cracks Down On Student Software
Piracy
Debit Cards A Hit
Motorola Pulls The Plug On DRAM
Chips
Compaq Slices Prices ...
...And HP And IBM Follow Suit
BellSouth Joins Wireless
Partnership In Brazil
BT/MCI MERGER GETS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OKAY
The U.S. Justice Department has approved the acquisition of MCI by British
Telecommunications PLC, subject to various safeguards. The merger would
be the largest acquisition of an American company by a foreign
corporation, and the deal still requires approval by the Federal
Communications Commission and several state agencies. The two companies
say that job losses will be minimal and that most cost savings will come
from sharing underwater phone cables and other resources. (New York Times
8 Jul 97)
FCC PUTS BELL ATLANTIC-NYNEX MERGER ON HOLD
Lawyers at the Federal Communications Commission, acting with the approval
of FCC Chief Reed Hundt, are putting the Bell Atlantic-Nynex merger on
hold, pending further discussions with telco lawyers on opening their
local telephone markets to competition. Industry officials had expected a
speedy okay after getting approval from the Justice Department's antitrust
lawyers. Hundt privately has expressed concerns that once the merger
occurs, East Coast consumers will have very little choice among local
service providers. Under negotiation is a proposed requirement that the
new combined entity would be forced to open its "operational support
systems" to would-be rivals, such as MCI and AT&T. The FCC is also
considering a variety of reporting requirements on how quickly Bell
Atlantic and Nynex are accommodating new competitors. (Wall Street Journal
8 Jul 97)
TECH CEOs FORM PAC
Leaders of the country's most powerful high-tech companies have formed
their own political action committee, dubbed Technology Network, or
TechNet. Leading the new PAC are co-chairmen John Doerr, a technology
venture capitalist, and Jim Barksdale, Netscape Communications' CEO. "This
is going to be a public policy and political advocacy organization that
will focus on making sure the technology industry in Silicon Valley and
nationally has a long-term voice at state and federal levels," says a
TechNet spokesman. The group will initially focus on two issues --
establishing testing standards and fostering education technology, and
urging uniform criteria relating to litigation among high-tech companies.
The primary goal of the new organization, however, is to encourage better
relations between politicians and technology companies. (TechWire 7 Jul
97)
CUTTING PRICES ON INTERNATIONAL FAXES
WorldCom International is initiating a new service providing cut-rate
transmission of faxes over the Internet. The service, which will be
operated by UUNet Technologies, a WorldCom subsidiary, and called UUNet
Fax, will allow users to send documents not just from their personal
computers, but also from standard fax machines. (Financial Times 8 Jul 97)
GOVERNMENTS, ONLINE SERVICES TANGLE OVER NET RULES
Government officials from Europe, the U.S., Canada, Japan and Russia have
been meeting together with online service providers in Bonn, Germany to
discuss ways of regulating the Internet without stifling its growth. "We
need a minimum of clear rules as quickly as possible so that the users and
suppliers of material on the Internet can finally enjoy greater legal
certainty," said the German Economics Minister, reflecting the strong
regulatory mood in the German government, which last week passed a
comprehensive Internet law. Meanwhile, an America Online VP told the
meeting, "We can and must break the regulatory cycle that has trapped each
new electronic medium this century." AOL has advocated a self-policing
policy for online providers. Both sides agreed that it is important to
encourage an online environment that's hospitable to electronic commerce
and
other business functions. (USA Today 7 Jul 97)
ALUMNI GROUPS AND PRODIGY LINK UP FOR NET ACCESS
Three alumni associations representing alumni of Duke University, Fordham
University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have cut a deal
with Prodigy Internet to provide graduates with Internet access at a
reduced rate of $17.95 a month -- $2 less than regular Prodigy customers.
When they log on, the alumni will see an opening screen featuring their
alma mater's logo and a link to the institution's Web site. Prodigy will
pay the associations a small royalty for each member who signs up for the
service. (Chronicle of Higher Education 11 Jul 97)
NET ADVERTISING AND THE EFFECT ON KIDS
The Center for Media Education and the Consumer Federation have asked the
Federal Trade Commission to require that online companies have written
permission from parents before collecting any personally identifying
information from children. The groups also want the government to prohibit
unsolicited commercial e-mail sent to children, as well as giveaways or
contests and the use of fictional figures to solicit identity information
from children. (USA Today 8 Jul 97)
GATES PITCHES NEW TYPE OF SET-TOP BOX
Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has been meeting with top cable executives to
promote a new digital set-top box design that would connect TVs and cable
systems to provide a variety of two-way interactive programming. The box
would be based on Windows CE software, and Microsoft is suggesting that
rather than collecting software royalties, it would settle for a share of
subscription fees for new services. The company also hopes to sell
software to cable companies' central offices to administer the new
services. Other companies hoping for a slice of the cable set-top box pie
are Wink Communications and Navio, the Netscape Communications spinoff
recently acquired by Oracle Corp. (Wall Street Journal 8 Jul 97)
SCIENTISTS PROPOSE NEW ENCRYPTION SCHEME
Two scientists at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. Have
developed a new approach to public key cryptography based on mathematical
constructs called lattices. The system would be based on a particular set
of hidden hyperplanes that constitute the private key and a method of
generating points near one of those hyperplanes for the public key. The
security of the system rests on the computational difficulty of finding the
"unique" shortest line segment (or vector) that connects any two points in
a given lattice -- a task that's fairly easy in two or three dimensions,
but much more difficult in a 100-dimensional lattice. The researchers are
working to turn their theory into a marketable product, and see
applications in creating digital signatures and other security and
authentication schemes. (Science News 5 Jul 97)
STUDY PREDICTS FRAGMENTED LONG-DISTANCE MARKET
A market report by Northern Business Information predicts that by the year
2001 AT&T's share of the long- distance telephone market will fall to 38%
(compared to 55% last year), and that the Bell regional operating systems
that now dominate local service will capture 13% of the long-distance
market. The author of the report says: "For the first time, we will soon
have a long-distance market without a dominant player." (Atlanta Journal-
Constitution 8 Jul 97)
JOBS SWITCH AT APPLE: GIL AND ELLEN OUT, STEVE IN
Apple Computer has announced the resignations of Chief Executive Gilbert F.
Amelio and Chief Technology Officer Ellen Hancock, and indicated that
Apple co-founder and "strategic advisor" Steve Jobs "will an assume an
expanded role as a key adviser to Apple's board and executive management
team." Jobs will continue as chief executive of Pixar, the computer
animation company, and Apple will conduct an external search for a new
leader who can help the embattled company find a way to make a comeback.
In the meantime, the company will be managed by its chief financial
officer, Fred Anderson, who said: "The board of Apple is not happy with
the company's financial performance. We've made progress in the last year
and a half. But we're not yet on a growth path and not on a path to
sustainable profitability." (New York Times 10 Jul 97)
MICROSOFT NETWORK DOES ANOTHER ABOUT-FACE
Following much fanfare last fall over the unveiling of its television-style
programming format, Microsoft Network is once again revamping its
strategy, moving back toward informational and service-oriented
programming and beefing up the content on its free companion MSN.com Web
site. "The movement to the free side is inevitable," says MSN's VP. "It
doesn't mean there won't be things behind the subscription wall, but the
competitive price of entry in the free space is going to go up." The
company hopes to make MSN.com a "portal," to other Microsoft and World
Wide Web sites, similar to the strategy adopted by Yahoo!, Excite and
America Online. A recent subscriber survey showed that MSN users spend
about 70% of their time on the Web, and only about 5% of their time in
Microsoft's exclusive Onstage area. (Wall Street Journal 10 Jul 97)
EU MINISTERS ISSUE DECLARATION ON INTERNET
European Union officials have issued a broad declaration touching on 69
points related to future regulation of the Internet in Europe. The
declaration is the result of intense discussions among delegates from 29
European countries over two days. On the issue of content liability,
delegates agreed that what is illegal off-line is also illegal online.
Internet service providers generally aren't responsible for what their
subscribers do, and shouldn't be subject to "unreasonable,
disproportionate or discriminatory rules." In addition, the declaration
states that Europeans support the ideal of nondiscriminatory taxes on
Internet use, but stops short of declaring it a free- trade zone. Value-
added taxes and other sales taxes that apply to goods purchased in stores
should apply to products and services ordered and delivered over the
Internet. With regard to encryption, the U.S. and Europe still have
differences over the export of strong encryption technology, but U.S.
Commerce Secretary William Daley says the U.S. agrees with about 98% of
the Bonn declaration. (Computerworld 9 Jul 97)
SPA CRACKS DOWN ON STUDENT SOFTWARE PIRACY
The Software Publishers Association has come up with a new way to punish
college students who violate computer software copyrights by distributing
them free over the Web. It's negotiated a settlement with a University of
Puget Sound student who was caught operating such a site whereby the
student will write a 20- page paper on the evils of computer piracy and
copyright infringement, and perform 50 hours of community service, wiring
schools for Internet access. If he reneges on the agreement, he must pay
$10,000, and the association may sue him for copyright infringement. SPA
says it reserves the right to fine the institution and the student up to
$100,000 for each instance if school officials know about it and do nothing
to stop it, and even an "unwillful infringer" can be fined up to $20,000.
An assistant to the president at Puget Sound says the SPA's approach puts
too much pressure on higher education institutions to police their
networks: "We don't have a duty to monitor what our students are doing
with the Internet any more than the phone company has a duty to monitor
what's going on on the phone lines." Educom President Bob Heterick says
the dilemma stems from the difficulty of balancing sometimes-conflicting
interests of publishers, authors and educators: "It's an extraordinarily
difficult problem that's a manifestation of a whole series of access-versus-
privacy issues." (Chronicle of Higher Education 11 Jul 97)
DEBIT CARDS A HIT
This year, Canadians will offer a debit card for payments on purchases
almost as often as they offer a credit card. A survey conducted for the
Interac Association found 50% of respondents prefer to pay by cash, while
22% prefer to pay by debit card (up from only 9% two years ago), and 17%
would rather pay by credit card. Last year, there were 676-million debit
card purchases, and Interac anticipates there will be 1-billion debit card
purchases this year. (Ottawa Citizen 9 July 97)
MOTOROLA PULLS THE PLUG ON DRAM CHIPS
With computer memory chip prices spiraling downward, Motorola is phasing
out production of its low-margin DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) chips
by year's end. The company will still crank out some DRAM chips in the
billion-dollar plant now being built in Richmond, Va. -- a joint venture
with Siemens -- but once the plant's operating at full capacity, Motorola
will switch over to other types of more profitable chips, such as flash
chips. (Business Week 14 Jul 97)
COMPAQ SLICES PRICES ...
In a move aimed at undermining the competitive advantage of direct mail
computer sellers Dell Computer and Gateway 2000, Compaq Computer is
lowering prices 10% to 15% on its corporate PC line. The company says the
price reductions are not meant to fuel a temporary price war, but are
intended to be permanent. Like Dell and Gateway, Compaq is launching a
build-to-order business, and recently demonstrated to dealers that it could
fill orders in five days. (Wall Street Journal 9 Jul 97)
...AND HP AND IBM FOLLOW SUIT
Hewlett-Packard and IBM are also making aggressive cuts in the prices of
their personal computers, in order to match the lower prices offered by
Dell. The HP announcement indicates price cuts by as much to 24% on
commercial desktop computers. (New York Times 10 Jul 97)
BELLSOUTH JOINS WIRELESS PARTNERSHIP IN BRAZIL
BellSouth's $2.5 billion bid has won a wireless license for Sao Paulo,
Brazil, giving the company an investment in 10 Latin American nations.
Three Brazilian companies joined with BellSouth in making the bid. Sao
Paulo currently has 12 phone lines for each 100 people, compared with 70
lines for each 100 people in BellSouth's base territory in the
Southeastern U.S. Brazil's economy is growing at 5% a year and the number
of cellular phone customers has been growing 70% a year. (Atlanta Journal-
Constitution 10 Jul 97)
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educom.edu).
Voice: 404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057.
Technical support is provided by the Office of Information Technology,
University of North Carolina.
EDUPAGE is what you've just finished reading. To subscribe to Edupage:
send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message
type: subscribe edupage Marvin Minsky (assuming that your name is Marvin
Minsky; if it's not, substitute your own name). ... To cancel, send a
message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type:
unsubscribe edupage... Subscription problems: educom@educom.unc.edu.
EDUCOM REVIEW is our bimonthly print magazine on learning, communications,
and information technology. Subscriptions are $18 a year in the U.S.; send
mail to offer@educom.edu. When you do, we'll ring a little bell, because
we'll be so happy! Choice of bell is yours: a small dome with a button,
like the one on the counter at the dry cleaners with the sign "Ring bell
for service"; or a small hand bell; or a cathedral bell; or a door bell;
or a chime; or a glockenspiel. Your choice. But ring it!
EDUCOM UPDATE is our twice-a-month electronic summary of organizational
news and events. To subscribe to the Update: send a message to:
listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: subscribe
update John McCarthy (assuming that your name is John McCarthy; if it's
not, substitute your own name).
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE The CAUSE organization's annual
conference on information technology in higher education is scheduled for
the end of this month in New Orleans. The conference will bring together
administrators, academicians and other managers of information resources.
For full conference information check out <http://cause-www.colorado.edu >
or send e-mail to conf@cause.colorado.edu.
ARCHIVES & TRANSLATIONS. For archive copies of Edupage or Update, ftp or
gopher to educom.edu or see URL: < http://www.educom.edu/>. For the
French edition of Edupage, send mail to edupage-fr@ijs.com with the subject
"subscribe"; or see < http://www.ijs.com >. For the Hebrew edition,
send mail to listserv@kinetica.co.il containing : SUBSCRIBE Leketnet-Word6
<name> or see < http://www.kinetica.co.il/ newsletters/leketnet/ >. For
the Hungarian edition, send mail to: send mail to
subs.edupage@hungary.com. An Italian edition is available on Agora'
Telematica; connection and/or free subscription via BT-Tymnet and Sprint
(login: <agora) or via telnet <agora.stm.it; mail: <b.parrella@agora.stm.it
for info. For the Portuguese edition, contact edunews@nc-rj.rnp.br with the
message SUB EDUPAGE-P Seu Primeiro Nome Seu Sobrenome. For the Spanish
edition, send mail edunews@nc-rj.rnp.br with the message SUB EDUPAGE-E Su
Primer Nombre, Su Apellido.
Educom -- Transforming Education Through Information Technology
STReport's "Partners in Progress"
Advertising Program
The facts are in... STReport International Magazine reaches more users per
week than any other weekly resource available today. Take full advantage of
this spectacular reach. Explore the superb possibilities of advertising in
STReport! Its very economical and smart business. In addition, STReport
offers a strong window of opportunity to your company of reaching potential
users on major online services and networks, the Internet, the WEB and more
than 200,000 private BBS's worldwide. With a readership of better that
200,000 per week, this is truly an exceptional opportunity to maximize your
company's recognition factor globally.
(STReport is pronounced: "ES TEE Report")
STR Publishing's Economical "Partners in Progress" Plans!
"Partners in Progress" Program.. Call Today!
STR Publishing, Inc. (STR, STReport, CPU Report);
z maintains a commitment to utilizing the power of the Internet and Web
to keep computer users, worldwide, both private and commercial, informed of
new trends in equipment, upgrade reports and future planning.
z offers highly informative Hardware and Software Reviews, Press
Releases, hands-on stories, user experiences and show reports.
z presents the NEWS about new hardware, new software and how-to
publications within HOURS of its being made public.
z is dedicated to keeping the users informed of what your company has to
offer at incredibly, almost the moment its offered!
Take full advantage of STReport's Exciting "Partners in Progress" Programs!
MAXIMIZE your Company's Presence Worldwide. TODAY!
Eighth Page - $50.00 Quarter Page - $100.00
per issue per issue
Half Page - $200.00 per Full Page - $400.00 per
issue issue
Your company's color ad, as described/submitted by you or designed by us,
will appear in STReport International Magazine. STReport is published and
released weekly on Fridays Evenings. All sizes based on a full color,
eight and a half by eleven inch page. Trade-outs and Special Arrangements
are available.
Email us at or, for quick action call us at:
VOICE: 904-292-9222 10am/5pm est FAX: 904-268-2237 24hrs
Or, write us at:
STR Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205
"It doesn't get any better."
Takin' a good look at Adobe
By R. F. Mariano
Beginning with this week and for the next twelve weeks, we are going
to be running a Spotlight on Adobe. Why Adobe? Well. first of all,
because we use their products extensively in the production of STReport and
STReport's highly popular WebSite.
In the coming weeks we'll present what we consider to be the finest
Publishing (both Electronic and HardCopy), Graphical and Photographic
editing, enhancing, manipulation programs like Acrobat, Acrobat Capture,
Photoshop 4.01 (the best in the business as far as we are concerned) to
Pagemaker 6.5 (The Premier Desktop Publishing package) to Adobe Framemaker,
Illustrator, Pagemill, Streamline and Dimensions.
We shall endeavor to offer you a valuable overview, insight and review
to these powerful programs. You can believe this. STR Publishing (that's
us) has had the opportunity to use just about everything available in our
marketplace from the most expensive to the so-called "fancy-frilled"
imports and on to the bargain basement disasters. We advocate and have
chosen Adobe products for their support, reliability and power.
We are confident that once you've read our coverage of these and other
fine Adobe products yet to be mentioned, you'll be as enthusiastic as we
are. That is, if you're not already. Let me warn you now though, do not
expect lengthy, boring statistical nonsense. Oh we'll get technical but
it'll be in easy understanding conversational composition rather than
techno-jargon. Also we are going to call upon some of the best minds in
the Adobe World to make an "appearance" in this series. After all, we have
one major goal in mind. That's to make certain you get the very best and
up to date information available.
Kids Computing Corner
Frank Sereno, Editor
fsereno@streport.com
Redneck Rampage
PC CD-ROM
Street Price: $39.95
For ages 17 and over
Interplay Productions
16815 Von Karman Ave.
Irvine, CA 92606
714-553-6678
www.interplay.com
Program Requirements
OS: DOS 5.0
CPU: Pentium 90
HD Space: 150 MB
Memory: 16 MB
Graphics: 640 x 480, 256 colors
CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 8-bit sound card
Other: keyboard, mouse
review by Jason Sereno (jason.sereno@mules-ear.com)
What do you get when you cross the 3d Build engine of Duke Nukem 3D, your
basic Hee Haw cast members, a slew of aliens bent on destroying the earth,
and the firepower of a small third world country? Give up? The answer is
Redneck Rampage. This new and hilariously gruesome game from Interplay
plays on a stereotype that has been long overlooked by game makers.
Redneck Rampage is a game that will keep you laughing all the way to the
mothership.
You play as Leonard, a farmer and long time resident of Hickston, Arkansas.
He was celebrating with his friend Bubba after Bessie, their hog, won $250
dollars at the county fair. Suddenly, someone steals Bessie. Leonard and
Bubba are attacked by clones of their long time friend and fellow redneck,
Billy Ray Jeter. The rest is history as Leonard takes it upon himself to
rescue Bessie from her alien capturers and also save the world in the
process. While on his journey, Leonard will fight aliens of all shapes and
sizes as well as clones of his fellow townsmen in fourteen levels of fun
and excitement through Hickston. Redneck Rampage contains "colorful"
dialog and a soundtrack that will suit any redneck or rock n' roll gamer,
for that matter. Redneck Rampage is great for the gamer who is looking for
a shoot em' up that doesn't take itself seriously and contains laughs just
as a high as the body count.
Redneck Rampage contains two episodes. The first is located around the
outskirts of Hickston and the second concentrates more on the downtown
area. Each level in the game is very distinct from the next. You feel a
difference in your surroundings whether you are in a trailer park, meat
packaging factory, or a city atmosphere. You don't notice any heavy
repeating of wallpaper or textures during the game either. The moveable
trucks and forklifts, although not controllable by the player, add a nice
presence to the levels also. Some buildings may be blown up and contain
moveable parts, such as bookcases, inside of them.
In the early levels of the Outskirts episode, you will face mostly just
Billy Ray Jeter and the Skinny Old Coot's clones. There is also an
assortment of barnyard animals that could prove to be useful or harmful to
you. Yes, the chickens, cows, and pigs may make good target practice, but
they are useful as stepping stones to get to otherwise unreachable areas.
The pigs may even retaliate in some instances if you try to harm them. The
savage dogs have bitten at the ankles of intruders and the mosquito
population isn't kindly to people either. Sometimes, even if considered
inhumane, these pests need to be dispatched Leonard style.
When you enter the later stages of the Outskirts episode and the Downtown
levels, you will start seeing aliens popping up unexpectedly and
unwontedly. The aliens range in size, strength, and of course, firepower.
The little cute E.T. type aliens are affectionately called Turd Minions.
They are said to be made from alien fecal matter and move around throwing
parts of their body at you. These are the smallest and least harmful of the
aliens. A shotgun should suffice in dealing with them. The next fiercest
are the Alien Hulk Guards. These ten-foot tall aliens/machines pack a lot
of firepower but are lacking in the brain department. Usually you will
find that you will unload your whole arsenal before destroying these bad
boys. After that, you have to blow them up with a stick of dynamite or the
Hulk Guards will come right back to life! When you do destroy one, you can
pick up his alien weapon to do some real damage. The Alien Vixens are the
last type of aliens you will meet. These beautiful, yet deadly, creatures
will either seduce you to death or blow you away with their pectoral
shooting machine guns. You can pick that up too after you destroy her.
You will occasionally come upon Sheriff Hobbes, the law in Hickston. He
packs two guns that appear to be revolvers but shoot like Uzi's. When he
reloads them, you should unload a heavy dose of your saw blade shooter.
When you find yourself low on your life meter, you have to find a source of
health. In Redneck Rampage there are two basic ways to gain back the life
energy you need: alcohol and junk food. Alcoholic beverages include beer,
whiskey, and the ever popular moonshine. If you drink too much alcohol in
a short period of time, you may become disoriented. This will wear off
eventually, but if an alien sees that you are tipsy he may take advantage
of the situation and blow you to smithereens. The junk food in the game
consists of your basic large bags of pork grinds and the assortment of
cowpies. If you consume too much junk food at a sitting, Leonard may be
heard relieving himself while you are playing. Other ways to gain health
are yelling, "Yee Haa!!" or emptying your bladder.
You will find Leonard and the other characters in the game making comments
and yelling things that will keep you laughing as you kill your enemies.
The Skinny Old Hoot, who thinks he owns everything in Hickston, will yell,
"Get off my land!" even when he lies dead on the floor. The Alien Vixens
in their last attempt for forgiveness moan, "But I loved you" as they fall
to their demise. Even Leonard joins in the fun, as he blows up someone
with a stick of dynamite he yells, "That boy done blowed up good!"
Unfortunately there are other phrases that aren't suitable for all ages.
That is why Interplay has included a child mode on the game that is
password locked. The child mode will curb the violence by taking away all
gore in the game and remove all offensive comments. In this mode, I would
rate the game as possibly as a 13 or over game instead of the 17 or older
from the ESRB.
Redneck Rampage features a unique soundtrack with tunes from Mojo Nixon,
The Beat Farmers, and Reverend Horton Heat. With songs like "Nurture My
Pig" and "Baby's Lickered Up" you might be able to tell that these songs
are for more mature audiences. There are eight songs all together and each
one depicts difference aspects of being a redneck. The songs contain funny
lyrics and fit along with the story pretty well. These songs are a well-
needed rest from the likes of other 3D shooters that make half-hearted
attempts to scare gamers with spooky and eerie tunes.
I found Redneck Rampage was just what I expected it to be. I wasn't
thrilled to death with the graphics or immersed into the ever changing
story line. You can think of this game as a Jackie Chan movie. You don't
pay to see heavy dialog or drama, but you want hard hitting action and the
occasional side-splitting comedy thrown into the mix. I found both in
Redneck Rampage. Although the game does not contain a large assortment of
characters, the huge levels and scenery make up for it. This game will be
great for someone that wants the perfect amount of action and violence with
a light touch of humor sprinkled on top. If you or someone you know is
looking for a hilariously funny 3D shooting game that packs aliens,
rednecks, and laughs all into one, pick up a copy of Interplay's Redneck
Rampage today!
The Great Battles of Alexander
Windows 95 CD-ROM
Street Price: $40
For all ages
(contains mild violence)
Interactive Magic
P.O. Box 13491
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
(919) 461-0722 (telephone)
(919) 461-0723 (fax)
www.imagicgames.com
Program Requirements
OS: Windows 95
CPU: 486DX/100
HD Space: N/A
Memory: 16 MB
Graphics: 640 x 480, 256 colors
CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 8-bit sound card
Other: keyboard and mouse
Review by Jason Sereno (jason.sereno@mules-ear.com)
Alexander of Macedonia: The man perhaps considered the closest ever to
ruling the world. He became a king at the age of twenty and was conqueror
of the Western world by his early thirties. He defeated the Greeks and the
Persians while taking the crowns of kings and pharaohs from fourteen modern
nations. His aspiration was to have a great empire, united in harmony and
fellowship, spanning the known world. Although he died of fever at the age
of 32 and his empire diminished shortly after, Alexander will be remembered
forever as Alexander the Great. As he said to his troops before passing,
"It is a lovely thing to live with courage, and to die, leaving behind an
everlasting renown."
Well, Interactive Magic has made sure to keep that everlasting renown with
The Great Battles of Alexander. This entertaining and informative history
lesson/strategy game combines both very well to entertain while teaching
the user about someone that they may not be too familiar with. Personally,
I didn't know a great deal about Alexander the Great until I used this
program. Sure I had read about other conquerors like Napoleon and Julius
Caesar. Actually I have only read Shakespeare's version and I am sure it
is not historically correct, but Alexander the Great has always been a very
vague figure to me.
The basic style of the game is similar to strategy board games of the same
genre. In both, the players take turns and must wait until the other
completes his turn before he may move again. Each squadron of warriors can
move a specified number of squares. There are numbers in the game that
indicate each group's power. This is due to the number of warriors and the
means of destruction (as I like to call them) that they have. If one of
the small units has a high rating and possesses spears, they would surely
conquer a group of men with light artillery. These things do reflect some
of the classic board games like Stratego and others.
The Great Battles of Alexander displays SVGA battle sequences filled with
animation and sounds. The skirmishes depict ten actual battles Alexander
and his armies fought in the ten year span between 338 BC and 326 BC. You
control the fates of soldiers armed with bows, spears, and cavalry riding
on elephants and horses. While on the battlefield, you can watch the
action take place and listen to the swords clash. You soon discover if the
soldiers that you position vanquish the enemies or parish at their hands.
In some instances, you can attack the other armadas or you can wait for
them to attack in "shock" mode. Either way, the results will be basically
the same.
In some battles there may be more than one leader in each army. When there
is more than one present, only the designated commander has jurisdiction
over his units. Also, when the group is out of reach of their commanders,
the troops cannot receive instructions. This can be confusing when the
player is jumping all over the map acting as separate commanders and I
found myself trying to control groups that did not belong to me. It seemed
odd however that some units that are not yours are closer to you than their
own leader. It probably would have helped it Interactive Magic had
highlighted the groups under your control. Before each battle, you have
several options. You can make the game easier or harder by adjusting the
amount of Macedonians or their adversaries. The Great Battles of Alexander
also explains in intricate detail the circumstances of the battles and the
results in a brief and informative history lesson. This part of the game
teaches you about the time of Alexander and his quest for an empire.
In the game you can play as Alexander and try to rule the world in less
than a decade. You can battle as Darius, Mennon, Clitus, and other
celebrated military commanders of the age to try to stop Alexander from
ruling the Western world also. You have the opportunity to actually change
the course of history! If you want to fight in all of the battles in
order, you can start a campaign that will take you from Alexander, the
prince of Macedonia, to the most powerful man of his time.
This game has multiplayer capability as well. Two players can sit at the
computer together and match wits. Modem to modem play is available as well
as network and Internet connection too. This adds depth to this already
fun to play game. When playing with a friend, you are not only playing for
the rule of most of the Western continents but for bragging rights until
your next battle over the computer.
The Great Battles of Alexander is informative and entertaining while
possessing that great addiction factor that all great games must have in
today's market. There is some mild animated violence that I feel most kids
and parents will not mind that much. This is a strategy and history game
before anything else and does not contain explicit violence. "War is hell"
you must remember. The information is some that you won't find anywhere
else in a game on the market. This is a game that is fairly easy to play
and understand, too. If you love strategy, history, or both, then check
out The Great Battles of Alexander. Other games in the Great Battle series
include The Great Battles of Hannibal and The Great Battles of Julius
Caesar.
Special Notice!! STR Infofile File format for Articles
File Format for STReport
All articles submitted to STReport for publication must be sent in the
following format. Please use the format requested. Any files received
that do not conform will not be used. The article must be in an importable
word processor format for Word 6.0 and/or Word Perfect 7.. The margins are
.05" left and 1.0" Monospaced fonts are not to be used. Please use
proportional fonting only and at Twelve (12) points.
z No Indenting on any paragraphs!!
z No Indenting of any lines or "special gimmickery"
z No underlining!
z Columns shall be achieved through the use of tabs only. Or, columns
in Word or Word Perfect format. Do NOT, under any circumstances, use the
space bar.
z Most of all.. PLEASE! No ASCII "ART"!!
z There is no limits as to size, articles may be split into two if
lengthy
z Actual Artwork should be in GIF, PCX, JPG, TIF, BMP, WMF file formats
z Artwork (pictures, graphs, charts, etc.)should be sent along with the
article separately
z Please use a single font only in an article. TTF New Times Roman
12pt. is preferred. (VERY Strong Hint)
If there are any questions please use either E-Mail or call. On
another note. the ASCII version of STReport is fast approaching the "end of
the line" As the major Online Services move away from ASCII.. So shall
STReport. All in the name of progress and improved readability. The
amount of reader mail expressing a preference for our Adobe PDF enhanced
issue is running approximately 15 to 1 over the ASCII edition. I might add
however, the requests for our issues to be done in HTML far outnumber both
PDF and ascii. HTML is now under consideration. We'll keep you posted.
Besides, STReport will not be caught in the old, worn out "downward
compatibility dodge" we must move forward.
However, if the ASCII readership remains as high, rest assured. ASCII
will stay. Right now, since STReport is offered on a number of closed
major corporate Intranets as "required" Monday Morning reading.. Our ascii
readers have nothing to worry themselves about. It looks like it is here
to stay.
Many grateful thanks in advance for your enthusiastic co-operation and
input.
Ralph F. Mariano, Editor
rmariano@streport.com
STReport International Online Magazine
Classics & Gaming Section
Editor Dana P. Jacobson
dpj@streport.com
>From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
Going back to work after a two-week vacation is maddening! Nothing I
despise more than trying to play catch-up, but I guess it's all part of the
job...
It's been hectic around here - even more than usual. My wife and I put in
a bid for another house last weekend but we haven't heard back yet because
one of the owners is out of town. It's been difficult to have much online
presence this past week as I've had to keep our lines open for our real
estate agent to call! The waiting is driving us crazy (worse than
returning to work!). It appears that the offer will be accepted, but that
doesn't make the waiting any easier! We hope to know where we stand by the
end of this weekend.
So, my mind has been on other things, as you can tell. I feel a little
derelict for not having a lot to say with regard to all things Atari during
the past few weeks, but I'm sure you'll bear with me. And then in another
month or so (positively thinking, of course!), we'll be moving and setting
up the new house, so I may be a "stranger" for a couple of more weeks or
so. I am looking forward to becoming a home owner, however!
So, let's get to this week's issue and perhaps my anxiety attacks will be
over by this time next week. <g>
Until next time...
MiST AtariFest IX!
I got a flyer with more updated information but I cannot find it... so
here's the information straight off my website:
"Mid-Indiana ST AtariFest IX is all signed to get its 9th annual event
under way by 10 a.m. Saturday, July 26, at the Post Road Community Center
on the east side of Indianapolis. The location is not hard to find, but
it's not really close to any interstate highway. Best way is to take the
Post Road exit off either I-70 or I-74. From I-70, you drive south a couple
miles on Post Road. From I-74, you drive north even farther on Post Road.
Tell your friends: No. 9 is on for sure! The biggest and best MIST yet!
The location is well marked at 1313 South Post Road in a park-like setting,
standing well back off the road at least 100 yards. We'll have at least 30
3x8-foot tables available. There are no extra charges for electricity -
vendors, be sure to bring extension cords and outlet strips. The space is
about the same as available in the main ballroom in the past, but the
ceiling is much higher and the whole atmosphere is more open. More updates
will follow as soon as we get them.
See you there! "
Digital Antic Project
>From Kevin Savetz
The Digital Antic Project is a small crusade to put all of the old issues
of Antic (and eventually its sister magazine, STart) on the Internet. I
have received permission from the publisher of Antic to make the material
available on the Internet for free. The site currently features the
complete text of nine issues, as well as cover art and memorable ads from
the magazine. More material will be added as time permits -- faster if YOU
volunteer to help by scanning, HTMLizing, or proofreading. The site is at
http://www.northcoast.com/savetz/antic/dap.html
Your comments, suggestions and help are welcome!
Cheers,
Kevin Savetz
Earnings Update - JTS Expects Lower 2Q Earnings
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1997 JUL 8 (Newsbytes) -- By Newsbytes Staff.
JTS Corp. [ASE:JTS] announced that revenue for the second quarter of fiscal
1998 ending August 2, 1997 is expected to be lower than the prior quarter's
level, which were at $73.4 million. The company also saw a net loss of
$11.8 million or a $0.11 per share loss based on 105.8 million shares, for
the first quarter of fiscal 1998. The company plans to announce its second
quarter financial results during the later part of August 1997. Company
officials blamed an "industry-wide weakness in the disk drive market" for
its impending results. JTS Corp. designs, manufactures, and supplies
enhanced-capacity hard disk drives for the notebook and desktop personal
computer market.
Publisher Note.. (Who Cares??It's just another dose of the "Tramiel
Treatment")
Gaming Section
More Jaguar Joystick News!
"Tanarus" and more....
>From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
The summer months are taking their toll on gaming news. Most people
are spending time out of their homes and letting their game machines
collect that proverbial dust. Quantity of news is bleak, but we do have
some information for you this week, including a couple of Jaguar-related
items. Atari may be gone, but the stubborn among us remain. Let's see
what's happening this week!
Until next time...
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
Sony Interactive Studios America's First On-line Game
SAN DIEGO (July 7) BUSINESS WIRE - July 7, 1997 - "Tanarus" Is Rated the
No. 1 Game on the Internet Top 40 Download Chart as Listed on the Internet
Entertainment Charts, www.worldcharts.com "Tanarus," Sony Interactive
Studios America's (SISA) first on-line multiplayer game, stormed onto the
Internet and is now ranked the No. 1 game on the top 40 Internet download
list for the second straight week.
Out for only a brief 10 weeks, "Tanarus" has exploded to the top due to its
unique and highly addictive style of game play, strategy and tactics. The
Internet Entertainment Chart's Web page draws players from around the world
to vote for their favorite game each week, and as the page states, "The
list contains the most popular PC games in the world at this time."
SISA develops software for the PlayStation game console, personal computer
and on-line markets. With headquarters in Foster City, Calif., and
development offices in Foster City and San Diego, SISA is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Visit the company
on the Web at http://www.tanarus.com.
Jaguar Online STR InfoFile - Online Users Growl & Purr!
Sb: More Joystick Info!
Fm: Larry Tipton
To: All
Dark Knight Games, a company based out of Nashua, NH has announced the
possibility of doing a limited release of High-Quality Arcade JoySticks for
the Atari Jaguar. Dark Knight Games is already working on "Defcon 1" a 3D
Tomb-Raider style game to be released for the PC, and the Atari Jaguar.
The conditions of this release are very rigid, so please read this
carefully. In order for this release to happen I have to gather 140 names
on a petition whom will buy the JoyStick. If you are interested please send
me e-mail including your Name, E-mail address, and whether you would like a
Regular or Pro
model.
The prices should be $50.00 for the regular model, and $69.00 for the Pro
model. Plus whatever shipping charges are incurred. We will not be
requesting any form of payment until we reach the 140 mark. Two weeks after
we reach 140, we will send e-mails out to all the people that requested a
joystick through this petition. Please note: Payment will be needed either
by Personal Check or by Money Order. No credit card orders will be taken.
This will be a limited release. We will only be making the amount of
JoySticks necessary to fill the orders on the petition. In order for us to
go ahead with the plan we must have a minimum of 140 signees. If there are
more than 140 that's OK. Anyone who signs the petition is guaranteed one.
There is a possibility of another production run only if there is enough
demand for the product after the initial run.
The joysticks have the same buttons as the corresponding controllers. The
regular has Three buttons with joystick, and the Pro has six buttons with
the JoyStick. Both models should have the 1-9 keypad. These joysticks are
ideal in games like BattleSphere, and Blue Lightning. The main reason were
in a rush is so these are available before BattleSphere comes out.
Joysticks are great in games such as Doom, AVP, HoverStrike, and AirCars.
Fighting games will never be the same once you experience them with the Jag
Joystick. ----Not to mention the improvements it will bring to games such
as Tempest 2000, Defender 2000, Breakout 2000, and Missile Command 3D. Iron
Solder, and the ever impressive Iron Soldier 2 by Telegames are incredible.
It's like you're in the game. For more information please contact
ShelShock@juno.com.
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
On CompuServe
Compiled by Joe Mirando
jmirando@streport.com
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, I realize that I filled up last week's
column with a bit more of my own material than I had intended to, but
thanks to those of you who emailed me to let me know what you thought. They
say that for every person who writes, there are five or ten who don't. Gee,
there are a lot more people reading this column than I had thought.
While most email pertained to either supporting or dissenting views, one
person asked why I hadn't even mentioned the Mars Pathfinder Mission. The
answer is quite simple. When I first started writing reviews (which seems
like such a long time ago), I had written a small review about a piece of
software that I had expected would be the next big thing in the Atari
world. After putting a beta version through its paces, I spoke with the
author to see if any of the options that were non-functional in the beta
version would be non-functional in the finished version. I was assured that
the final version would be complete and that everything would work as
advertised. I wrote the review as if the options really did work and, while
I did not dwell on them or go into any specifics about _how_ they worked,
several people let me know after release of the product that these things
did not work. Due to programming problems, the options were never
implemented and the menu entries had been removed from the final product. I
never received any hate mail or nasty messages about it, but I always felt
like I had cheated the readers.
Okay, so what does this have to do with the Mars Pathfinder? Simple. If I
had included info about all of the things I had expected Pathfinder and
Sojourner to see (which, by the way, is pretty much what they _are_ seeing
now), and it had gone the way of Mars Explorer which had blown itself to
bits as it attempted to enter Mars orbit, I would again feel that I had
cheated the reader. The fact is that Pathfinder and Sojourner are alive and
well on the surface of Mars, and are expected to continue performing
admirably for the remainder of their planned mission. I'm also glad that I
waited to mention the mission because CompuServe has made the following
announcement this week:
"Mars Pathfinder Lands on CSi
Internet users around the world will be gathered around their
terminals on the Fourth of July when the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft
lands on the red planet. And in conjunction with NASA's mission to
learn more about the surface and atmosphere of Mars, CSi will be
the only online service with a mirror site on the Internet at GO
http://mars.compuserve.com to help absorb some of the high online
traffic anticipated at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Web site.
CSi's site features constant updates on mission activities and
information about mission objectives. Pathfinder photographs of the
Martian surface will also be added regularly as they become
available."
If you have the ability and the chance to do so, check this site out. I can
remember back when the best you could possibly do was to order slides of
the pictures that the Viking landers had taken on Mars about twenty years
ago. Now you can get the latest pics almost instantly. Ain't progress
wonderful? Well, let's take a look at what's going on in
the forums.
>From the Atari Computing Forums
First up, Michael Pappas asks:
"Are there any web browsers out for the TT?"
Albert Dayes tells Michael:
"There is CAB and another one that was recently uploaded to the
library. I assume they work on a TT."
Michael asks Albert the all-important question:
"Is it fully Web compatible?"
Carl Barron jumps in and tells Michael that it...
"Depends on what 'fully web compatible means'?"
Michael explains his concerns to Carl:
"I mean if the program would work with most web sites without
problems or severe crashes."
Carl replies:
"Well cab is supposed to work with html. I don't know of any java
support for atari. I think there is none. If the site expects you
to have java it won't work. If it sends a 8 meg jpg it won't work.
If its a nice and friendly place, properly designed it will work,
if its an 'everyone has a vax' site then it could be a problem with
data choking the atari client. I must confess that I do everything
these days on my macs."
Rich Link adds:
"As far as I know, there are no "fully web compatible" browsers,
if you define that as supporting all the current html extensions,
plus the appropriate browser plug-ins that are used by the common
PC browsers (IE 3.0 and Netscape 3.0).
You won't have Real Audio or Beatnik sound, Quicktime movies may
not be active, etc. The basic HTML browser functions should work."
They do, in fact, work quite well. I use the CAB version 2 demo fairly
often and am fairly impressed at the quality of the product and that you
can get a one megabyte, 8 MHz machine to do what it does. Sure, it takes a
while to build the images and the colors are quite limited with a 1040, but
it _does_ work.
Michael asks Rich:
"Would you know if there's a commercial web browser for the TT?
I'm surprised that there isn't one. The TT is a 68030 computer and
I can't see why a web browser isn't available for it since a web
browser would run on a 386 or a Mac with a 68030 processor. Maybe
there's a Magic version of it?"
Good ol' DPJ, our own Dana Jacobson, tells Michael:
"There are at least two commercial web browsers currently being
developed. Last I heard, the one from Oregon Research was planned
to arrive in late summer, early fall."
Joe Villarreal adds:
"Version 2.0 of CAB (Crystal Atari Browser) is commercial and
works very well on a TT. I just got mine 06/23/97. It'll work
with any Atari St, STe, TT, or Falcon. You still need to know how
to connect using Stik 1.12 since the Cab 2 manually does not
describe it. I suggest that you start using Cab 1.5 along with
Stik 1.12 and the Cab overlay version 1.25 first. Cab 1.5 also
works well although Cab 2 is a little faster; it's actually faster
than the 68030 version of Cab 1.5 on my TT.
I've been connecting thru a local BBS that supports Slip/PPP
connections for more than a month now. It cost $16 a month for
unlimited access at speeds up to 33k, I believe, although I only
have a 28,800 modem.
Cab 1.5 is shareware. It's in the database, along with Stik 1.12
and the Cab overlay 1.25 which are also shareware. Place the
overlay in the same directory that Cab 1.5 is in. You'll need to
configure the two Stik dial scripts to login; probably the hardest
part. Make sure that the internet provider supports Slip and not
Cslip. Stik does not support Cslip or PPP at the moment. STING is
supposed to support Slip and Cslip but not PPP at the moment. I
haven't tried using Sting although I might one of these days.
Cab works well with graphic cards. I'm using a Nova Vme Plus and
use Cab in a 640x480 32k color window most of the time. I also use
it in a 800x600 32k color window."
Kevin Hawthorne tellss Joe that he...
"Just had to jump in and say "thanks" for the first understandable
explanation of what versions of what to use with which versions of
what else... I got CAB up and runningmonths ago, had a hard disk
disaster, and couldn't replicate what I had done with CAB to save
my life. WHERE DID YOU GET the commercial version of CAB?"
Joe tells Kevin:
"I bought Cab 2.0 from System Solutions in England. I've learned
that's it now available in the U.S. at Chro_Magic Software and also
Systems For Tommorrow. Price is $34.99."
Alvin Baligad asks:
"...Which is a better multitasking system, Magic or Geneva? I have
Geneva on my Falcon030, but I can't run too many programs with my
4MB of memory. I like the process of a faster TOS system, but
scared it might mess up some programs I use."
Albert Dayes tells Alvin:
"You might try adding more RAM to your system. That should improve
your performance overall."
Bob Matiska adds:
"Like Albet says in his reply, a Falcon really shows its strength
when you bump the memory up to 14 megs. More than 4 is extremely
useful when multitasking. Systems For Tomorrow is selling the Ram
Gizmo 14 meg upgrade with memory installed for just $159.99 plus
shipping and I heartily recommend it. Mine works perfectly and was
very easy to install. Their email address:
sales@SystemsForTomorrow.com. Info at 816-833-4738, orders at
800-875-4943, Tues- Fri noon to 6 P.M. Central time, Sat10 A.M to 6
P.M."
Alvin replies:
"I'll look into getting the RAm Gizmo But do I need a new case to
install it in? I heard that somewhere."
Bob tells Alvin:
"Nope, the Ram Gizmo fits perfectly in your standard Falcon case.
Everything goes back where it was; there's no cutting or shimming
of anything.
There is an aftermarket case available for the Falcon's innards,
maybe several, in fact. They give you plenty of space to add things
that won't fit in the standard case. You won't need them for this
upgrade though."
Michael Pappas jumps in and asks Bob for more info:
"I notice your message on memory upgrades and I was wondering if
this place you mentioned, "Systems for Tomorrow" would carry memory
chips for the TT and if so, how much would it cost? I'd like to
get my system to 8 or 16 megs."
Bob tells Michael:
"The TT uses a separate card for the TT ram, from what I
understand. ( That's one Atari computer I don't have any experience
with. ) If you have only ST Ram in your TT and no TT ram card,
Systems For Tomorrow has them for $99.99 with no ram installed.
They take 8 chip 30 pin simms to give you 4 or 16 megs of TT ram,
according to my catalog. SFT doesn't list ram in its catalog, but
it wouldn't hurt to ask. I notice they list the Falcon Ram Gizmo
for $59.99 less ram and $159.99 with 16 megs, so if the same type
of simms are used in both, the price for 16 megs would seem to be
approximately $100. I know the Ram Gizmo takes 4, 4-meg simms but
am not sure if the TT ram card takes one simm or four. Maybe
somebody here with experience on the TT can answer this."
Alvin Baligad asks:
"Does anyone know how the Outside virtual memory software works for
the 68030 computers (ie Falcon & TT & compatibles)? It sounds
great, but after seeing some big messes made with PCs and Macs &
their virtual memory managers, I'm a little concerned."
Albert Dayes tells Alvin:
"I have not seen many messages about Outside at all unfortunately.
RE: Virtual Memory on other platforms.
On the PC it depends what operating system you are running. UNIX
is very stable operating system on Intel Platform. I have more
experience with SCO UNIX and it was stable back when the company I
worked for ran it on a 386 complete with medical office software,
SQL databases and of course the C/C++ compiler that I was working
with."
Fred Horvat adds:
"Hope this helps you out. I have the latest version of Outside
for my TT030. Version number I think it is Ver 3.80? But on my
TT030 once configured properly it worked well but slow. With
Outside what you do is set up a permanent swap file of any size
that you'd like up to 256 Meg on a partition that you will not use
for any other data. I guess the reason for that is to protect the
integrity of the FAT for that partition and swap file. One major
note, the hard drive must be formatted with Atari's HDX or
compatible software. ICD format will not work. You can run ICD
driver software but not to format it. There is an excellent Hard
Drive format and driver software that comes with Outside that is
worth looking at. I am currently using the software without any
problems. For me I used my last partition H: and set the swap
file size for 8 Meg. When you boot the computer you now have 8
Meg of TT RAM available on top of whatever ST RAM in my case 2 Meg
ST. The program used 300k of memory to control that 8 Meg. Now to
use that virtual memory you must flag your software to use TT RAM.
An included utility or any other TT RAM flagging software will
work. After you flag your software and run it the program thinks
it is running in TT RAM. For example with only 2 Meg of ST RAM I
was always running out of memory with Speed of Light or Image Copy.
With Outside I could view any JPG or TGA file. It takes a long
time to load programs or files but once loaded they run fine. How
long is long? I don't have any benchmarks to tell you but as a
guess I'd say depending on the size of the program or file 10-30
times longer than loading into ST RAM. Sounds crappy, not really.
If a program takes 1 second to load then is 10 seconds or around
there really that bad? Biggest benefit is that you get to run
software you could not run before. Plus Outside sells for around
$70 US. Currently I am not using Outside because the TT030 now has
4 Meg of TT RAM installed. For the most part from what I remember
most software that is TT030 compatibly and TT RAM compatibly would
run under Outside. There were some programs that would bomb but I
don't remember which. It's supposed to work on a Falcon and have
talked to people who have used it successfully on that machine. I
think it's also supposed to work with any hopped up ST with a 68030
board also.
Why does it run so slow in comparison to other operating systems
and platforms like IBM/Win95? My best guess is that the operating
system has it built in to handle it. Atari and TOS never had it
intended so they have the software running on top of TOS and not
part of it. Outside does a very good job for what it is intended
to do. I don't remember trying it out with MagiC 4.0 or 5.0 so I
can't help you there. OS/2 and Windows 95 have dynamic swap files
or virtual memory files. They may start out 0 but load your Web
browser or Word Processor and then they get created and grow say 16
Meg. When the program is exited the swap file will shrink or
possibly disappear again only to get created when needed."
Gary Partington asks:
"Can anyone explain what MagiC is and what it does?"
Carl Barron tells Gary:
"MagiC is a tos replacement compatible with tos, and offering many
enhancements. There is also a tos clone for macs and one for
wintels with a similiar name. MagiC, MagiCMac,MagiCPC or similar
titles."
Gary asks Carl:
" Where can I get it and what does it cost and how easy is it to
fit?"
Carl tells Gary:
"North America?
toad
computer direct
Europe
Systems Solutions [?]"
Fred Horvat tells Gary:
"MagiC is a complete replacement of TOS on the Atari computer.
Besides being much faster on any Atari like 20% it also is truely
multitasking. Most productivity software, newer software written
after say 92 or 93 runs fine. Most games will not. But for games
you can diable MagiC and play away. MagiC has it's own desktop
that is different from GEM. You may not care for it. It's not
horrible, but different. EASE, Thing, or NEOdesk will work with
MagiC. I use and prefer EASE."
Well folks, that's about it for this time around. Tune in again next week,
same time, same channel, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
EDITORIAL QUICKIES
When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him
keep her.
- Sacha Guitry
STReport International Magazine
[S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport
http://WWW.STREPORT.COM
OVER 200,000 Readers WORLDWIDE
All Items quoted, in whole or in part, are done so under the provisions of
The Fair Use Law of The Copyright Laws of the U.S.A. Views, Opinions and
Editorial Articles presented herein are not necessarily those of the
editors/staff of STReport International OnLine Magazine. Permission to
reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Reprints
must, without exception, include the name of the publication, date, issue
number and the author's name. STR, CPU, STReport and/or portions therein
may not be edited, used, duplicated or transmitted in any way without prior
written permission. STR, CPU, STReport, at the time of publication, is
believed reasonably accurate. STR, CPU, STReport, are trademarks of
STReport and STR Publishing Inc. STR, CPU, STReport, its staff and
contributors are not and cannot be held responsible in any way for the use
or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained
therefrom.
STReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" July 11, 1997
Since 1987 Copyrightc1997 All Rights Reserved Issue No. 1328
-----------------------------------------
Return to message index
