EW TAX SO I THE WORLDWIDE COMPUTING AUTHORITY (' 1 Intelligent E-Mail will change the way you work seepage 90 SPECIAL REPORT Where groupware l EXCLUSIVE RATINGS The best E-Mail progra 5 New 600-dpi Laser Printers ir^.I'L^' rfrr=-o»"LEa Beyeml DOS: Next-Generation OLE o 440235 i^Jw-^ii*!. ■■ A./S4.50 IN CANADA blication/0360-5280 TDStfuu Your Wish Is Our a 5 5 — """' "I wish I could get a great PC at a great price without sacrificing performance and features." Your wish is our command! You'll be spellbound by Gateway's ferociously competitive prices on systems that are unequaled in powerful performance, impressive features and graceful integration of components. When readers and editors of the most popular PC magazines are asked which company delivers on its promises, their overwhelming response is Gateway 2000. f^H "Gateway has gone far beyond conventional ideas of price r^ and performance ... it has created new rules that other PC makers will have to follow if they want to remain players." - PC Computing, 1992 MVP Awards "Gateway 2000 was the big 1992 Best Buy winner, sweeping not only the desktop awards as it did last year, but the newly expanded notebook categories as well ... Altogether, Gateway won five Best Buy awards this year, including Best Overall System Vendor ... It's no surprise that Gateway is consistently the people's choice when it comes to systems. - Computer Shopper, 1992 Readers' Best Buy Awards bimand! -T ~"'\ wish I could be sure I'm buying from a PC company that will provide excellent service and support - a company that will be around for me." Your wish is our command! Twice in 1992, Gateway was honored for outstanding service. PC World readers ranked Gateway number one in service and support. And PC Magazine readers gave Gateway the best overall scores in the 1992 Service and Reliability Survey. Just as important is our strength as a company. Warranties and assurances of lifetime technical support don't mean anything unless a company survives to honor them, which is a serious consideration in the shifting sands of today's PC marketplace. Gateway is among the few financially robust companies in the industry. Our 1992 revenues exceeded $1 billion and our earnings are among the strongest in the industry. The company is virtually debt-free. At a time when other companies have been forced to lay off employees, we added 300 people to our staff. You now have 1,800 friends in the business. Rest assured Gateway is your oasis that will never leave you high and dry. We'll be here for you! rt-k "I wish I could find the combination of features I need in a portable PC - at the right price." Your wish is our command! No matter what you need in a portable, you'll find it in one of our Nomad notebooks. Gateway customers selected Nomads as the winners in 386 and 486 notebook categories of Computer Shopper's 1992 Best Buy Awards. "There are faster laptops, there are cheaper laptops, there are color laptops, but there is no better laptop ... Weighing in at only 5.6 pounds, the Nomad combines the powerful punch of a 25MHz i486DX with a working battery life of more than six hours. At long last, we have a laptop that can really go the distance when there's no power outlet in sight." - Computer Shopper, 1992 Readers' Best Buy Awards PC Sources echoed Computer Shopper's conclusions. "The Nomad 425DXL packs an awful lot of computing into a case that's just 1.7 inches high. Its excellent 79-key keyboard has a great typing feel ... The fine video system includes a large backlit black-on-white LCD ..." New this month is the Nomad 450DXL including Intel's 50MHz 486DX2L processor for blazing performance. Our Caravan Of Extras. Software Selections Your every software need is our command. With mini desktop, desktop and tower systems that include "choice of application software," select one of the following applications, all latest versions: I Microsoft® Excel for Windows™ I Microsoft Word for Windows™ ■ Microsoft Word and Bookshelf 92,® CD-ROM Edition ■ Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows™ ■ Microsoft Project for Windows™ ■ The MS Entrepreneur Pack (Works,™' Publisher,™ Money,™ TurboTax for Windows® from ChipSoft, and games) ■ Borland Paradox® or dB ASE IV® ■ The Windows Programmer Pack (MS Quick C,™ Visual Basic and more) ■ Upgrade to Microsoft Office™ for $ 175 If the system you want comes with Works for Windows,™ you can upgrade to one of the software choices above for only $150. Utilities Included, Too Cool Tools for DOS, a diagnostic and utilities package, comes with all Gateway desktop systems and includes: QA Plus™ from Diagsoft,™ Central Point® Anti-Virus, RAM Boost, Defrag and Emergency Disk. Microsoft Windows™ for Workgroups Windows for Workgroups is ideal for e-mail, group scheduling and resource sharing, and includes an Ethernet adapter and software. Hardware and software are factory-installed. You can see Windows for Workgroups running on Gateway systems in any of over 200 Egghead Software® stores in the U.S. Stop by for a demonstration! With the purchase of a system, Windows for Workgroups is specially priced at just $159! Microsoft Windows Sound System™ This sound system designed especially for business use lets you speak to your PC for hands-free operation. It even reads numbers back to you for proofing. You can also embed audio messages in all your Windows OLE applications. Package includes soundboard, microphone, headset and software. You pay only $149 with the purchase of a system. CD-ROM Kit Includes CD-ROM, interface card, and everything you need to add MPC- compliant CD-ROM to your PC. With a system purchase, or if you own a Gateway system, you can buy this CD-ROM kit for only $225! The TelePath™ Fax/Modem A 14,400bps modem, V.32bis, with 9,600bps fax capability. Includes WinFax Pro,™ Crosstalk™ for Windows, Qmodem™ and more. $195 CrystalScan™ 15-Inch Monitor Non-interlaced 15-inch color monitor with flat, square screen - an upgrade option only at the time of purchase on any Gateway 2000 desktop system for only $100. Panasonic Color-Capable Printer Add color to your documents with this Panasonic KXP2123 24-pin dot matrix printer. Includes Adobe Type Manager.® Printer, $259; Color Option, $50 Most Gateway peripherals are sold only with the purchase of a Gateway system. For details on our complete line of components, peripherals and software, call direct to our special add-on components division at 800-846-2080. fr fr ff fr flr Qateway 2000's Magical Values Desktop Systems 3SX-33 ■ 33MHz 386SX Intel® Processor* ■ 4MB RAM ■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives ■ 80MB 17ms IDE Hard Drive ■ Windows Accelerated Video with 1MB DRAM ■ 14" Color CrystalScan™ 1024NI ■ Mini Desktop Case ■ 5 16-Bit ISA Slots ■ 124-Key AnyKey™ Keyboard ■ MS-DOS,®Windows™ & Mouse ■ Cool Tools for DOS ■ MS Works for Windows™ 2.0 4SX-25 4SX-33 $1295 4SX-33V ■ 33MHz 486SX Intel Processor* ■ 8MB RAM, 64K Cache ■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives ■ 170MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive ■ Local Bus IDE Interface I VESA Local Bus ATI Ultra Pro with 1MB VRAM ■ 15" Color CrystalScan 1572FS ■ Desktop Case (Tower Upgrade) ■ 8 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 with 32-Bit VESA Local Bus ■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard ■ MS-DOS, Windows & Mouse ■ Cool Tools for DOS ■ Choice of Application Software $2195 486 Notebooks. ■ 25MHz 486SX Intel Processor* I 4MB RAM ■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives ■ 170MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive ■ Local Bus IDE Interface ■ Windows Accelerated Video with 1MB DRAM ■ 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI ■ Mini Desktop Case ■ 5 16-Bit ISA Slots ■ 1 24-Key AnyKey Keyboard ■ MS-DOS, Windows & Mouse ■ Cool Tools for DOS ■ MS Works for Windows 2.0 ■ 33MHz 486SX Intel Processor* ■ 4MB RAM, 64K Cache ■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives * ■ 170MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive ■ Local Bus IDE Interface ■ Windows Accelerated Video with 1MB DRAM ■ 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI ■ Mini Desktop Case ■ 5 16-Bit ISA Slots ■ 124-Key Any Key Keyboard ■ MS-DOS, Windows & Mouse ■ Cool Tools for DOS ■ Choice of Application Software 4DX-33 ■ 33MHz 486DX Intel Processor* ■ 4MB RAM, 64K Cache ■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives ■ 250MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive ■ Local Bus IDE Interface ■ Windows Accelerated Video with 1MB DRAM ■ 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI ■ Mini Desktop Case ■ 5 16-Bit ISA Slots ■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard ■ MS-DOS, Windows & Mouse ■ Cool Tools for DOS ■ Choice of Application Software $1495 $1695 $1995 4DX-33V ■ 33MHz 486DX Intel Processor* ■ 8MB RAM, 64K Cache ■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives ■ 250MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive ■ Local Bus IDE Interface ■ VESA Local Bus ATI Ultra Pro with 1MB VRAM ■ 15" Color CrystalScan 1572FS ■ Desktop Case (Tower Upgrade) ■ 8 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 with 32-Bit VESA Local Bus ■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard ■ MS-DOS, Windows & Mouse ■ Cool Tools for DOS ■ Choice of Application Software 4DX2-66V 66MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor* 8MB RAM, 256K Cache 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives 340MB 13ms IDE Hard Drive Local Bus IDE Interface VESA Local Bus ATI Ultra Pro with 1MB VRAM 15" Color CrystalScan 1572FS Desktop Case (Tower Upgrade) 8 16-Bit ISA Slots, 2 with 32-Bit VESA Local Bus 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard MS-DOS, Windows & Mouse Cool Tools for DOS Choice of Application Software 4DX2-66E ■ 66MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor* ■ 8MB RAM, 256K Cache ■ 5.25" & 3.5" Diskette Drives ■ 500MB 11ms SCSI Hard Drive ■ 32-Bit EISA SCSI Controller ■ Windows Accelerated Video with 1MB DRAM ■ 14" Color CrystalScan 1024NI ■ Tower Case ■ 8 32-Bit EISA Slots ■ 124-Key AnyKey Keyboard ■ MS-DOS, Windows & Mouse ■ Cool Tools for DOS ■ Choice of Application Software $2495 $2995 M $3795 ^ NOMAD 425SXL 25MHz 486SX Intel Processor* 4MB RAM 3.5" Diskette Drive 80MB IDE Hard Drive Backlit 10" VGA Screen, 64 Grays Simultaneous Video with 256K Size 8.5" x 11" x 1.8", 5.6 Lbs. 6-Hr. NiCad Battery & AC Pack 1 Parallel/1 Serial Port 79-Key Keyboard & FieldMouse™ MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1 MS Works for Windows 2.0 NOMAD 425DXL ■ 25MHz 486DX Intel Processor* ■ 4MB RAM ■ 3.5" Diskette Drive ■ 120MB IDE Hard Drive ■ Backlit 10" VGA Screen, 64Grays ■ Simultaneous Video with 1MB ■ Size 8.5" xll"x 1.8", 5.6 Lbs. ■ 6-Hr. NiCad Battery & AC Pack ■ 1 Parallel/1 Serial Port ■ 79-Key Keyboard & FieldMouse ■ MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1 ■ MS Works for Windows 2.0 NOMAD 450DXL 50MHz 486DX2 Intel Processor* 8MB RAM 3.5" Diskette Drive 200MB IDE Hard Drive Backlit 10" VGA Screen, 64 Grays Simultaneous Video with 1MB Size 8.5" x 11" x 1.8", 5.6 Lbs. 6-Hr. NiCad Battery & AC Pack 1 Parallel/1 Serial Port 79-Key Keyboard & FieldMouse MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1 MS Works for Windows 2.0 S $1995 $2595 $3295 GATEW&2000 ^Contains an Intel386""or Intel486'" microprocessor "You w ?nt a trimi in tov mtsimx; 8 (TT- 8 4 6 - 2 610 Gateway Drive • P.O.Box 2000 • North Sioux City, SD 57049-2000 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023 Sales Hours: 7am- 10pm Weekdays, 9am-4pm Saturdays (CT) ©1993 Gateway 2000, Inc. AnyKey, HandBook, FieldMouse, CrystalScan and TelePath are trademarks of Gateway 2000, Inc. The.lntel Inside Logo is a trademark and Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Prices and configurations are subject to change without notice. Prices do not include shipping. Your wish is our command at ■ Qateway 2000! We can grant you the three most universal PC wishes in the wink of an eye. As a fringe benefit, we won't limit you to three wishes here. Most anything your heart desires in computers (sorry, we can't grant wishes for romance or riches), you can get from Qateway. That's because we built our business by listening to our customers' wishes and doing everything in our power to make their dreams come true. At Qateway, we believe you should be able to have it all: the latest technology, glittering performance, quality construction, enchanting service and the fairest prices in the land. All this from a financially healthy company that won't run dry and leave you stranded in the desert. You don't have to settle for less. With Qateway 2000, you can have it all. Draw up your wish list and give us a call. We'll make some truly magical values materialize for you. GATEWW2000 8 -846-2000 So Powerful It Can't Be A PC. Transform Your PC With The INTERACTIVE UNIX System. Unleash the 32-bit power in your PC with the INTERACTIVE'" UNIX 8 System from SunSoft. Charge through applications at record speeds. Use real-world multitasking and networking. Get on the path to a distributed computing future. Just Say No To SCO. Why? The INTERACTIVE UNIX System is easy to use, simple to administer, all at a great price. Open Systems Today* sap the INTERACTIVE UNIX "system management. ..is easier to use and more comprehensive" than SCO'" and "is simply a masterpiece of good design." Looking Glass Professional" desktop manager makes the INTERACTIVE UNIX System easy enough for novices, yet powerful enough for experienced UNIX users. And the award winning Easy Windows makes setting up graphic environments infinitely simpler. You can't afford not to take advantage of the already low cost of : INTERACTIVE UNIX System. And SCO UNIX/XENIX* users can save an additional 50% by switching to the INTERACTIVE UNIX System today. That's something to say yes to. Everything You Like About Your PC- And A Lot More. INTERACTIVE UNIX System V/386 Release 3.2 supports hundreds of the most popular Intel- based platforms and peripherals. So getting started is fast, easy, and cost-effective. Thousands of UNIX and XENIX applica- tions are at your command. And our VP/ix package runs virtually all DOS software. You get Lotus',' WordPerfect' and Oracle*. You get SCO applications. You get it all. See What Develops. The INTERACTIVE UNIX System is the environment of choice for 80X86 application development. You get access to a full range of development tools including compilers, debuggers and libraries. And for graphical applications, the XI 1 INTERACTIVE environment is a revelation. Partner With Power. The INTERACTIVE UNIX System is a powerful business partner for companies who know something about power. Companies like BMW, Goodyear, Leica, and Dunlop to name a few. That power can be yours, too. All from SunSoft, the leading supplier of 32-bit UNIX system software. Call today and save 50% on UNIX power that's so cost-effective, it can't be anything but a PC. 1-800-227-9227. "Issue dale: April 13, 1992 ©1992 Sun Microsystems, inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, lire Sun logo, SunSoft, the SunSoft Logo, VP/ix and Easy Windows are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. INTERACTIVE is a trademark of INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation. UNlXis a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. Looking Glass Professional is a trademark of Visix Software, Inc. All oilier trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of their respective holders. The promotional discount is available to SCO UNIX/XENIX users and is subject to certain restrictions. Contact SunSoft for terms and conditions of promotion. SunSoft reserves the right to stop the promotion at any time. .SunSoft can be reached at 2550 GarciaAvenue, Mountain View, CA 94043. (510) 460-3267. B-3/93 Circle 1 74 on Inquiry Card . EVTE March 1993 Volume 18, Number 3 COVER STORY FEATURE Smarter E-Mail Is Coming PAGE 90 SOLUTIONS FOCUS A Review of E-Mail Packages PAGE 136 ■nrra 24 MICROBYTES The first HDTV sets are not likely to appear in U.S. homes before 1995, yet companies from Microsoft to HBO are already involved in programming projects. 37 REPORT FROM INDIA High-Tech Opportunities Abound by Jay Remade The government is high on growth but down on imports. 40 FIRST IMPRESSIONS A Spring Harvest of Apple Macintoshes £>v Tom Thompson and Tom R. Half hill With street prices of abotit $ 1 000 to $4500, these new Macs are price- conscious and powerful. 90 46 Lotus 1-2-3 for OS/2 2.0 and Lotus Freelance Graphics for OS/2 2.0, two major applications for IBM's OS Sparcstation LX, Sun' s feature- packed little Unix box Personal Communicator 440, start-up EO does it right the first time 58 PowerExec EL, forgoing some notebook frills means big savings WHAT'S NEW BriteL/te LX puts SPARC power on the road, LANDesk simplifies network management, and more. FEATURES Smarter E-Mail Is Coming by Andy Reinhardt Intelligent E-mail delivers more than messages. It will change how your business works by improving communications and automating workflow. THE VINES ADVANTAGE bv Jon Udell STATE OF THE ART COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING 112 Overview: Collaborative Computing by Jeffrey Hsu and Tony Lockwood Computer technology brings workgroups closer. THE PUBLIC REACTS TO GROUP DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS by James D, Ccmtl and Catherine M. Beise 123 Hitting Warp Speed for LANs by Mark A. Clarkson Collaborative computing demands faster networks. 129 Better Than Being There by Tom Yager Desktop video conferencing is on its way. BEING HERE AND THERE by David H. Mitchell 4 BYTE • MARCH (993 COVER IMAGE: ELLE SCHUSTER 8 1993 REVIEWS OPINIONS 136 SOLUTIONS FOCUS t> Mixed Messaging by Howard Eglowstein and Ben Smith Muitiplatform internetwork mail can link diverse clients on widespread networks. E-MAIL FROM THE WORKPLACE SHELL by Jon Udell 156 A New Resolution for Desktop Lasers by G. Armour Van Horn A comparison of the latest 600-dpi laser printers. 165 How to Deal with Taxing Questions by Kathleen LaRiviere and Stan Miastkowski Tax-preparation software for DOS, the Mac, and Windows. 169 Compaq Stakes Out Both Ends of the Server Spectrum by Barry Nance Compaq's new high-end Systempro/XL and low-end ProSignia servers. 173 Two PowerBooks Great and Small by Tom Thompson The PowerBook 180 and PowerBook Duo 230 show different design directions. 177 Visual Basic for Windows Gets a Face-Lift by Tom Yager Microsoft improves its programming package with version 2.0. 181 Imagining the World by Raymond GA Cote Macintosh software for simulating systems from the administrative office to the factory floor. 183 REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK It Worked Fine a Minute Ago by Rick Grehan Reflections on Macintosh compatibility problems. 73 184 256 12 20 HANDS ON 187 SOME ASSEMBLY 208 REQUIRED Divide and Conquer by Thomas Jeffries Here's how to debug interrupt service routines. 197 UNDER THE HOOD CD-ROM Inside and Out 209 by Roger C. Alford Exploring the complexities of CD-ROM drives, discs, and associated standards. SOFTWARE CORNER Automatic NetWare Log-Ins by Barry Nance, Tom Thompson, and Ben Smith Let your applications log in to NetWare; a Mac text editor; and a graphics file viewer. BEYOND DOS Next-Generation OLE by Bruce D. Schatzman A faster, simpler OLE looms on the horizon. USER'S COLUMN CD-ROM Secrets by Jerry Poumelle The trick to integrating CD-ROM and Windows for Workgroups. BOOK AND CD-ROM REVIEWS The AI Debate Revisited by Hugh Kenner, Dick Pountain, and Raymond GA Cote What Computers Still Can 't Do, guides to the Internet, an updated Grolier's multimedia encyclopedia, and more. STOP BIT Fractal Fantasies by Clifford A. Pickover Fractals add a new dynamic to game design. EDITORIAL The State of BYTE by Dennis Allen LETTERS Choosing a CPU; low-cost PCs; BYTE's Windows issue; and other topics. READER SERVICE 254 Editorial Index by Company 250 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers 252 Index to Advertisers by Product Category Direct Link Cards: 252A 213 BUYER'S GUIDE Mail Order Hardware/Software Showcase Buver's Mart PROGRAM LISTINGS From BIX: Join "Ustings/frombyte93" and select the appropriate subarea (i.e., "mar93"). From the UUNET: ftp to ftp.uu.net, log on as "anonymous," and enter your user ID as your password. Type "cd/published/byte" and type "DIR." Files appear in subdirectories arranged by month. From the BYTE BBS at 1200-9600 bps: Dial (603) 924-9820 and follow the instructions at the prompt. BYTE (ISSN 0360-5280) is published monthly with additional issues in April and October by McGraw-Hill, Inc. U.S. subscriber rate S29.95 per year. In Canada and Mexico, $34.95 per year. European surface mail subscriptions S60. airmail $80. Non-European subscriptions, 360 surface mail or S85 airmail. All foreign subscriptions are payable in U.S. funds that can be drawn on a U.S. bank. Single copies $3.50 in the U.S., $4.50 in Canada. Executive, Editorial, Circulation, and Advertising Offices: One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Second-class postage paid at Peterborough, NH, and additional mailing offices. Postage paid at Winnipeg, Manitoba. Registration number 9321. Registered for GST as McGraw-Hill, Inc.. GST #123075673. Printed in the United States of America. Postmaster: Send address changes and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions. P.O. Box 552, Hightstown, NJ 08520. INSIDE BYTE COVER CORNER PHOTOGRAPHY: MEL LINDSTROM © 1993 MARCH 1993 'BYTE 5 I fWE FIRST OPTICAL s-l&FiQ DMVI, uiimirdlloloii norfonmiiio), . ," 19 Technology • Irvine, CA 92718 • Int'l (714) 727-3300 • Fax (714) 727-1913 rr dfuve You'll ". . . IllO P1MO-6.SO V/iJS il voiitiililo m<:! G2SJ3 I wl nS" GPIB • Data Acquisition • VXI • RS-232 • Instrument Drivers ANALYSIS 3EnB^M ■[§ ; ■ jatuHmn t^H pxa i^H | 1 Sk <" s. 'M in DSP • Statistics • Linear Algebra • Filters • Windows PRESENTATION = n@ BMBBiaB u « « o a 119 Graphical User Interface • Hard Copy • File I/O C and BASIC Programming Graphical Programming See us at PITTCON, Booth Call for FREE demo disks (800) 433-3488 (U.S. and Canada) Branch Offices: Australia 03 879 9422 • Belgium 02 757 00 20 • Canada 519 622 9310 Denmark 45 76 73 22 • Finland 90 524566 • France 1 48 65 33 70 • Germany 089 714 50 93 Italy 02 48301892 • Japan 03 3788 1921 • Netherlands 01 720 45761 • Norway 03846866 Spain91 896 0675 • Sweden 08 984970 • Switzerland 056 27 00 20 • U.K. 0635 523545 ©Copyright 1992 Nationallnstrumcnts Corporation. All rights reserved. Product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. Circle 1 1 6 on Inquiry Card. 4207. f f¥ NATIONAL M INSTRUMENTS T/jt> Software is the Instrument ® 6504 Bridge Point Parkway Austin, TX 78730-5039 Tel: (512) 794-0100 Fax:(512)794-8411 Talk about poetry in motion. Introducing the IBM ThinkPad™ 300. Less than six pounds of brilliance and beauty that can accompany you hither and yon. And won't cost you an outrageous fortune. Introducing ThinkPad ThinkPad 300 comes with 4MB of memory upgradable to 12MB and 80MB of hard disk space, upgradable to 120MB. There's even a math co-processor available. But while ThinkPad is the ultimate tool for your mind, we didn't forget the rest of you. So there's a comfort- able, economi- cally designed keyboard with a numeric keypad built in. And a feature that lets you take a break and pick up where you left off. The display is a big 9.5" with incredibly sharp 640x480 VGA resolution. Since complex ideas are rarely black and white, ThinkPad displays 64 dramatic shades of gray — enough to express the subtleties of anyone's gray matter. ThinkPads set you free, with a world- 'Depending on usage and configuration. "'MSRP. Dealer prices may vary. IBM is a registered trademark and ThinkPad, and HelpWare are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. The Intel Inside Logo is a trademark of Intel Corporation. © 1992 IBM Corp. It's what Shakesp used on a f li I wide AC adapter and a port replicator, so you don't have to detach and reattach peripheral cables when you take your ThinkPad with you. There's an Ethernet LAN port right on the machine, with Data Only (2400 baud) and Data/Fax (2400/9600) modems available, too. The dual VGA connector lets you display on other monitors and keep the control right in your lap. ltd. . ThinkPad Model 300 Processor 386SL/25 MHz Display 9.5" Monochrome Display 64 Grayscale Screen Battery Life* 4-10 Hours Weight 5.9 Lbs. Warranty 1 Year Price** $2,375 Alas, even great thinkers don't always have all the answers. So ThinkPad comes with HelpWare,™ an invaluable service pack- age including a one-year international warranty and 24-hour, seven-day-a-week assistance by fax, electronic bulletin board or toll-free phone, as you like it. To learn more about ThinkPad, or to order, call 1 800 IBM-2YOU. Or visit your nearest IBM authorized dealer. And experience your next flight on a higher plane. :® eare would have ht to the coast Circle 91 on Inquiry Card. EDITORIAL DENNIS ALLEN The State of BYTE The changes we're making this year are being made for only one reason: to serve you better Since I offered my first state-of-BYTE editorial a year ago, BYTE has made some important ad- vances in how it serves you. And this year we have even greater things in store for you. I would like to share a glimpse of what you can expect from BYTE in 1993. First, though, here's a quick re- view of where we are today. In 1992, BYTE began doing a new kind of cover story. Our approach combines repor- torial breadth with technical depth — a combination that no other computer magazine de- livers. To accomplish that goal, we literally threw all BYTE's editorial resources at each cover story. We garnered first- hand reports from our bureaus and staff editors, and, where appropriate, we backed it up with testing from the BYTE Lab. The result has been first-class articles that provide you with information not available elsewhere. Even publications outside the com- puter field, such as BusinessWeek and the Wall Street Journal, have quoted from BYTE's cover stories. Another change came in September 1992 with the globalization of BYTE. Because technology and product developments are not exclusive to North America, BYTE is committed to covering the most important technologies and products from around the world. BYTE also ex- panded its worldwide position with translations in such places as Brazil, Czechoslovakia, and Croatia. Additionally, we produced two special issues in 1992: BYTE's Essential Guide to Windows and Essential Guide to Portable Computing. These issues departed from BYTE's usual technology-centric coverage to provide practical hands-on and buying information for the two fastest growing segments of users. All these changes were in direct response to your in- formation needs. In 1993, BYTE will continue to re- spond to your needs. We'll do so by applying the breadth and depth of our cover stories to other feature articles. BYTE will continue and strengthen its commitment to worldwide reporting on technologies and products. We will also continue to provide the two elements of BYTE that you say you like best: our legendary State of the Art articles that focus on a specific technology topic each month, and the wit and wisdom of industry sage and user advocate Jerry Poumelle. And this spring, BYTE will introduce an updated look that will make finding the in- formation you need easier. In 1993, BYTE is committed to bringing you two bonus issues on using Windows — one in the spring, the other in the fall. We're also going to provide you with in- formation in forms beyond the pages of a magazine. We will be listening to you more closely than ever be- fore. Don't be surprised if you receive a survey ques- tionnaire — or a phone call — from BYTE editors, be- cause we want to hear from you firsthand. All this close communication brings me to our most im- portant announcement of the year. In our May issue, we will introduce the most exciting and innovative product coverage ever. We know that you expect BYTE to write about advanced technologies and leading-edge products, and we will continue to fill that need in a way that only BYTE can. However, we have learned that you also need to know about commodity products for your organization. In other words, it's not enough for BYTE to cover lead- ing-edge dye-sublimation printers, for example — you also need to know which personal laser printer is best for the applications in your business. Therefore, BYTE will provide large-scale exhaustive testing on commodity products every month. The first product-testing report will be on, you guessed it, printers, and we won't cover just a select few. This roundup will encompass virtually every significant printer on the mar- ket. But we won't bore you with 80 to 120 pages of end- less printer specifications and features lists; instead, BYTE will deliver only the information you need, in a for- mat that will make zeroing in on that information a cinch. How can we do it? With our 20,000-square-foot state- of-the-art testing facility, the National Software Testing Labs in Philadelphia. No other computer magazine has such a lab, and no other magazine is listening to its read- ers in the way that BYTE does. Moreover, at no other magazine on the planet can you find a better qualified group of technical journalists/ engineers than at BYTE, BYTE Lab, and NSTL. But it is you, BYTE's readers, who make BYTE a success. No other group of readers demands the kind of excellence in technical reporting that you do. — Dennis Allen Editor in Chief 12 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Introducing Borland's Paradox for Windows. Experience the magic of easy database power Borland, paradox If you're looking for the easiest-to-use, most power- ful, and most reliable Windows database, this is it! With new Paradox® for Windows, there's no limit to what you can do. The graphical interface makes it easy to access, modify, and present your data. Create customer lists in seconds, automatically generate reports with the push of a button, or retrieve data from different sources into a single answer table. The best way to manage Paradox and dBASE data Paradox for Windows makes it easy to work with your Paradox and dBASE* data. You can view, edit, query, and link to all your data, with no limitations. You make your request for data simply by checking off boxes with easy-to-use Query By Example. Then the Paradox for Windows query optimizer automatically Paradox is the best Windows database Paradox Access Performance Insert 1,000 records* Range selection: 15,000 of 130,000 records* Complete Paradox and dBASE file support Visual data modeling for forms and reports Object-oriented development environment 29 sec <1 sec 147 sec 16 sec determines the fastest way to deliver the answer. Paradox for Windows lets you man- age virtually unlimited data types, too. You can store any kind of information, including text, menus, graphics, OLE objects, sound, and even multimedia. You can even mix and match Paradox and dBASE data in queries, forms, and reports. More people trust their data to Borland than all other database compa- nies combined. That's why Borland is the Data Company. Put the power of Paradox to work for you today. You will be amazed at what you can i Special introductory offer. Offer expires April 30, 1993. S 139 95 (regular list price $795) See your dealer or call now, 1-800-336-6464, ext. 5202 In Canada, call 1-800-461-3327. •All test! run on IBM" PS/2 Model 70 386/20 mhz, 4Mb RAM, Novell 3.1 1 NetWare, Ethernet nelwork. Special offer good in the United Slates and Canada only. Prices in U.S. dollars. Copyright © I9'J3 Borland International, Inc. All rights reserved. All Borland product names are trademarks of Borland International, Inc. BI 1548 Circle 70 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 71 ). Increased 386 Perform AMD's 3-Volt 386 Microprocessors Deliver The Longest Battery Life For Portable Computing. The power struggle continues. While you can get a 386 microprocessor that goes fast, you'll still burn through a battery charge in a hurry. Low- voltage 386 CPUs from AMD are the answer — the Am386'"SXLV and Am386DXLV micro- processors. Here are two CPUs made not only to go fast, but to go the distance with portable computer users. Unlike common power- j; ... ,. hungry 386s, these low-voltage CPUs mamuiein run on 3 volts. And they automatically slip into a static "sleep" mode to save power whenever the processor is idle. So users depend less on recharge units — and get the longest operational battery life. Both Am 386 CPUs were designed to fit as comfortably in your budget as they do your portable computers. But you won't compromise on performance because , theAm386SXLVand Am386DXLV 3-volt and the 25MH: SXLV pQFPpacfww microprocessors both run at 25MHz. So 90 1 Thompson Place, P.O. Box 3453, Sunnyvale, CA 94088. © 1 992 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microprocessors For The Masses is a service mark and Am386 is a ance At No Extra Charce o they're plenty powerful for running Windows™ Now there's nothing stopping you from charging forth with more efficient 3-volt laptops, notebooks, and palmtops. AMD also has your memory needs covered with our 3-volt EPROMs. And now that the industry at large has welcomed low- voltage portable computing, you'll find the rest of your components equally easy to come by. For more information on low-voltage 386 micro- processors and support logic, call 1-800-222-9323 and ask for Literature Pack 15F. And become the current leader in portable computing. a Advanced Micro Devices Microprocessors For The Masses!" trademark of Advanced Micro Devices. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Circle 65 on Inquiry Card. EVTE EDITOR IN CHIEF Dennis Allen PUBLISHER Ronald W. Evans HOW TO CONTACT THE EDITORS EXECUTIVE EDITORS New York: Rich Malloy Peterborough: Rich Friedman MANAGING EDITOR D. Barker ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Lauren Stickler Thompson NEWS Peterborough: Senior Editor: Dan Muse News Editors, What's New: Martha Hicks, Carol Swartz Microbytes: David L. Andrews News Assistant: June Sheldon San Mateo/West Coast: Bureau Chief: Andrew Reinhardt Senior Editor: Tom Half hill News Editor: Patrick Waurzyniak Editorial Assistant: Barbara J. Caravello Los Angeles: Senior Editor: Gene Smarte New York: News Editor: Ed Perratore BYTE LAB Senior Editor & Director: A\an Joch Technical Director: Rick Grehan Technical Editors: Stephen Apiki: systems, networking Stanford Diehl; graphics software, add-ins, peripherals Tom Yager: multimedia, Unix, operating systems, software development Testing Editors/Engineers: Howard Eglowstein, Ben Smith, Stanley Wszola Lab Assistant: Selinda Chiquoine STATE OF THE ART/FEATURES Senior Editor: Michael Nadeau Technical Editors: Janet J. Barron, Anthony J. Lockwood, Robert M. Ryan SENIOR TECHNICAL EDITORS At Large: Tom Thompson, Jon Udell Columns: Rob Mitchell ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITORS Ellen Bingham, Susan Colwell, Jeff Edmonds, Tom Kevan, Cathy Kingery, Margaret A. 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Copying done for other than personal or internal reference use without the permission of McGraw-Hill, Inc., is prohibited. Requests for special permission or bulk orders should be addressed to Faith Kluntz, Copyrights Manager, (603) 924-2525. BYTE is available in microform from University Microfilms International. 300 North Zeeb Rd., Dept. PR. Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 or 18 Bedford Row. Dept. PR, London. WC1R4EJ, U.K. "j'jidl Copyright © 1993 by McGraw-Hill, ■Wflifi lnc " A " r '9 hts ^served. BYTE and ■ ■nil byte are registered trademarks of McGraw-Hill, Inc. Trademark registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. ® Member Audit Bureau of Circulation officers of mcgraw-hill, inc.: Founder: James H. McGraw (1860-1948). Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer: Joseph L. Dionne; Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary: Robert N. Landes; Executive Vice President: Harold W. McGraw ill; Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: Robert J. Bahash; Senior Vice President, Treasury Operations: Frank D. Penglase; Executive Vice President. Publication Services: Norbert Schumacher. 16 BYTE • MARCH 1993 ON ONE HAND, PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAN BE A REAL HEADACHE. fiffT '<™ rJx'Hi/ 1 ' MICROSOFT PRQJECT& WINDOWS. ■ You work hard enough plan- ning your projects; why not let Microsoft 8 Project 3.0 for Windows" help you make it easier? With clear graphs, you'll be able to see and communicate your project even better-from the tiny details to the big picture. Changes? No problem. For every revision you make, Microsoft Project helps you see how it will affect the entire job. Assigning a new job? Just click the People button. Want to know who's doing what, when? Mcrosoft Project can help you keep track of everyone. And if you need to get off to a fast start, use PlanningWizards to guide you step-by-step. Soon, you'll have great-looking, easy-to- read reports that make all your plans perfectly clear. You can even exchange files between Project on your PC and your Mac? Either way, why not plan on the leading project man- agement software? Microsoft Project 3.0 - it takes the pain out of planning. Making it easier 5 1 993 Microsoft Corporation. All tights reserved. Printed in the USA. Microsoft is a registered tradematk and Windows and the Windows logo ate ttadcmatks of Microsoft Corporation. Mac is a registeted trademark of Apple Computet, The Widest Ana Fault Tolerant Disk Array Controllers, Subsystems and Servers supporting NetWare, SCO UNIX and OS/2. Powerful 1, 2, 3, and 5-Channel Disk Array SCSI Controllers Mylex now offers a range of disk array controllers, all based on the powerful Intel i960CA™ RISC processor. The controllers feature 4/16/64-Mbytes of cache, an EISA host interface and extensive software support. RAID levels 0, 1, and 5 are supported, with hot swapping, on-the-fly reconstruction, background rebuild, hot standby, multi-threading, and scatter/gather features. NetWare 3.11, SCO UNIX 3.2.4 and IBM OS/2 2.0 operating environments are supported. All controllers are offered with user-friendly software utilities. ► DAC960-I/2: Single fast and wide SCSI-II channel, which can be upgraded to two channels. Each channel has both 8-bit and 16-bit SCSI-II connectors. ► DAC960-3: Three fast SCSI-II channels, which can support up to 21 SCSI drives. ► DAC960-5: Five fast and wide SCSI-II channels, with the option to drive 8-bit or 16-bit fast SCSI drives. NetWare, UNIX, OS/2 All Mylex disk array products support Novell NetWare 3.11, with optional support for SCO UNIX 3.2.4 and IBM OS/2 2.0. Disk Array Subsystem The disk array subsystem (DAS) features a DAC960 five- channel disk array controller and a flexible enclosure which houses up to five 5.25" or 3.5" SCSI drives. Each drive is powered by its own power supply for improved system reliability. Disk drives are offered as an option. Up to four of these enclosures can be powered by a single DAC960-5 controller, allowing up to 20 drives for each controller. The DAS can be used in conjunction with any EISA- based computer to build a powerful file server. Up to four controllers can be configured into the system to offer virtually unlimited disk capacity. Novell Labs Tested & Approved y of Disk Arrays. Integrated Disk Array Server: IDAS2000 The Mylex IDAS2000 is a high-performance integrated disk array server, utilizing state-of-the-art disk array technology. ► CPU Subsystem: Intel 486™ DX2-66MHz EISA system with 256-Kbytes of cache, 8-Mbytes of system memory upgradable to 256-Mbytes, six bus master EISA slots, built-in I/O, flash BIOS and future CPU upgrades with the ZIF socket. ► Disk Subsystem: Features a one-channel disk array controller that is upgradable to two channels for increased performance. The controller utilizes the powerful Intel i960CA RISC processor and includes a standard cache of 4-Mbytes that's upgradable to 64-Mbytes. RAID levels 0, 1, and 5 are supported with fault tolerance, hot replacement, hot sparing and background rebuild capabilities. Both 8- and 16-bit fast and wide SCSI-II drives are supported. Software support for NetWare 3.11 (Novell certified). Optional support for SCO 3.2.4 and IBM OS/2 2.0 operating environments. Extensive user-friendly software utilities included. ► Enclosure: Includes three redundant power supplies, five cooling fans, 10 drive bays for 3.5" SCSI drives, and four addi- tional drive bays for tape drives, floppy, etc. The system includes an EISA LAN adapter and super VGA graphics. Disk drives are optional. We've Benched the Competition When Mylex conducted benchmark tests to compare our disk array system's performance to our competitors', we outperformed the competition s RAID 3 and 5 systems, as well as duplexed and spanned systems, by a wide margin. Benchmarks: Disk Array Subsystems CIPRICO NetArray RAID 3 CORE IAS RAID 3 MICROPOLIS RAIDion RAID 5 ULTRASTOR U124 RAID 5 MYLEX DAC960 RAIDS 4:25 NCOPY all drives 13:19 15:00 13:30 10:06 enabled NCOPY 14:05 15:00 15:30 10:36 one drive down 4:30 10:17 NCOPY during rebuild 26:32 - 20:49 18:30 ► LAN Technology's performance tests for Ciprico, Core and Micropolis consisted of copying 2400 files -totaling about 80-Mbytes-from one directory to another using NetWare's NCOPY. The Mylex and UltraStor test configuration included a 486 DX2-50MHz CPU-based EISA system using five HP 97556-30 796-Mbyte drives. Times are shown in minutes. Visit us at CeBIT - Hall 8/EG, Stand B40. Flexible Purchase Options Controllers only, a complete system without disk drives, or a complete system with the drives are offered. For more information on Mylex disk array systems and controllers, call 1-800- MYLEX or 1-510-796-6100. Or, fax us at 1-510-745-8016. © 1995, Mylex Corporation. Specifications subject to change without notice. All trademarks are the property of their respective holders. © 1992, M&T Publishing, reprinted with the permission of LAN TECHNOLOGY, August, 1992. Novell certification applies to 5-channel disk array products only. The Intel Inside Logo is a trademark of Intel Corporation. flVfKX Circle 1 1 3 on Inquiry Card. LETTERS The Truth About OS/2 I want to clarify one point in Jerry Pour- nelle's comments about OS/2 2.0 ("Pon- dering OS/2," November 1992). Referring to Windows 3.1 bundled applications like Paintbrush and Write, he states that "if you had a bunch of Windows 3. 1 applications on your hard disk, this is probably one of them and you'll get a message that the ap- plications can't be run. Considerable time is wasted to no purpose." But Windows 3.1 -compatible programs definitely work under OS/2 2.0. Some people misunder- stood the phrase and asked me if OS/2 2.0 can't run any Windows 3.1-aware applications. I run Windows applications like Atech's AllType font-conver- sion program without problems. Fernando Cassia Buenos Aires, Argentina Upgrading Made Easier I appreciated the timeliness of Andy Redfern's article "Make the Right CPU Move" (December 1992). I wanted to upgrade my 386SX/25 to remain more current but was unsure of the best path to take. Since I wanted to realize a major performance improvement but not at an astronomical cost, I had narrowed it down to either the 386DX/40 or the 486DX/33. The article clearly showed that there is not enough difference, performance-wise, to justify the extra cost of the 486 for my applications. I'll upgrade to the 386DX/40 and wait for the P5. Also, thanks to Jerry for telling the truth about OS/2's installation: If you read the manuals, it's as easy as insert- ing one disk after another — it is boring, but hardly diffi- cult. Larry Field College Station, TX Static Shock I was shocked when I saw the November 1992 What's New item "Create a New Ion Field" (page 82), which describes a device called the Perfect-Aire 100. There is no such thing as an ion field. There is also no such thing as ion radiation (except maybe in particle ac- celerators, and that's stretching it). There is certainly no such thing as electrostatic radiation: By definition, static electricity is static and thus cannot radiate anything. On top of that, I do not think this kind of device has ever been proved to have any beneficial effect in reducing static. Rather, it often uses high voltages, which tend to produce ozone — a poison if the concentration is too high. Jean-Pierre Weber, Ph.D. in E.E. Stockholm, Sweden WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Address correspondence to Letters Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, send BlXmail c/o "editors, " or send Internet Mail to letters@bytepb.byte.com. Letters may be edited. Investment Credit While many companies may be trading off long-term R&D against short- term financial gain with the new, low-cost personal computers coming out ("Penny- Pinching PCs: How They Did It," Novem- ber 1992), not all are cutting back on R&D spending. Apple has increased spending on R&D (26 percent from 1991). Also, the construction of Apple's new R&D campus (Cupertino, CA) demonstrates that not all companies coming out with low-cost per- sonal computers are taking a short-term view of their future. Mark Boudreau Toronto, Ontario, Canada Windows Rebellion? It was interesting to contrast the tone of BYTE's Essen- tial Guide to Windows (1992) with that of "Penny- Pinching PCs: How They Did It" (November 1992). The former referred to the huge amount of disk storage and RAM required to run Windows applications. The consen- sus seemed to be a 200-MB hard drive and 8 MB of RAM; a 486 was recommended. In the discussion of the inexpen- sive PCs (made by Compaq, AST Research, IBM, and so on), the configuration was more like a 40-MB drive, 4 MB of RAM, and a 386SX. Unless there is a wholesale rebel- lion against Windows applications because of their exces- sive hardware requirements, I fear that the marketing of low-end PCs by high-end companies will fail. Henry T. Minden Concord, MA Where are all the Windows enthusiasts your PC jour- nalists cite in BYTE's Essential Guide to Windows, 1992? The Windows users I see are usually victims of managers trying to entice computer phobics and novices to the system or of their vendor's greedy deals with the Microsoft juggernaut. Enthusiastic PC users gave up on DOS long ago. Most that I know are using OS/2 2.0 and find it a much better platform for their DOS applications than DOS, and especially better than Windows. OS/2's support for Windows applications is a useful bonus. Joseph C. Hager San Francisco, CA FIXES • In BYTE's Essential Guide to Portable Computing, 1992, on page 26 we referred to Mitsuba as a manu- facturer of floppy drives as well as notebook computers. Mitsuba does not make floppy drives. • In "Fast Transit" (October 1992), Henry Quan is identi- fied as president of ATI Technologies. Quan is vice president of marketing. ■ 20 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Important News For The Power Hungry: Your Dinner's Ready. U ome and get it. The new Amiga® 3000T multimedia workstation tower -the most expandable, flexible Amiga ever built. Now powered by a 25 MUZ Motorola 68040 CPU, the A3000T is faster than ever before. (Current A3000T users can upgrade to a 040- based accelerator card.) The A3000T features a 200MB hard disk drive. A 3.5" floppy disk drive. 5MB of RAM, expandable to 18MB. And 32-bit bus architecture to transfer mam- moth amounts of information at breakneck speed. The truly power famished will be happy to know that the A3000T is stuffed with an abundant selection of expansion slots. There's a co-processor slot. A video slot for inter- nal devices. Up to four PC slots. And up to five Zorro III slots. Every Amiga 3000 series computer comes with Commodore Express'" Gold Service options* And convenient leasing terms are available. Now, you'd expect a power feast like this to carry a fat price tag. But now with our new low price, you can sit down to an Amiga 3000T for just $2,875** Which in itself is a powerful reason for seeing your Commodore dealer today. For a dealer near you, call 1-800-66-AMIGA. In Canada, call 1-800-661-AMIGA. Bon appetit. *^n C* Commodore AMIGA ■a © 1992 Commodore Business Machines inc. Commodore and the Commodore logo are trademarks of Commodore Electronics Ltd. Amiga is a trademark of Commodore -Amiga,- Inc. Products available on GSA schedule GS-O0K-9I -AGS-5069. * Available only on systems purchased in the U.S. through an authorized Commodore -Amiga dealer. Customer activation required. Some optional programs include a charge. **MSRP, monitor sold separately. Circle 75 on Inquiry Card. Iomega 21MB Floptical Drive. A standard floppy drive and a 21MB floppy drive in one. • Reads/writes to standard floppy diskettes. • Up to 3 times faster than floppies. • Holographic Optical Tracking for added reliability and speed • New Iomega laser-etched media — every one is a master. Bernoulli MultiDisk 150. Handles like a floppy, performs like a hard disk. • 150MB capacity. • 18-msec effective access time. • Rugged Bernoulli Technology. • Disks also available in 105, 65, and 35MB capacities. • Reads/writes 90MB Bernoulli Disks, reads 44MB Bernoulli Disks. 'Awards won for products using Bernoulli Technology. S1993 Iomega Corp. Iomega, the Iomega logo, Bernoulli, and Bernoulli Technology are registered trademarks, and MultiDisk and LaserSafe call 1-800-456-5522. In Europe, call 49-761-45040. For worldwide customer Hold everything! Iomega introduces storai solutions for everyone. febfe lG , "Qneto.. | °'°*> OH* JAPE250 Never-ending storage solutions. Windows, DTP, CAD, graphics, multimedia, data- bases, programming. Today's demanding software needs powerful storage — removable storage. At Iomega, our solutions are the easiest way to share, transport and protect your data. And they never fill up. You just insert new media. A company you can trust. Iomega has won more awards than any other removable storage maker. And we've been doing it jA j » H , -_ , for nearly JiL *<(^4 fflJHw i W Iffl thirteen xmul *? = R i N^g^ Hem,*- years Call 1-800-777-4045 for a free brochure. Just pick up the phone. We'll send you all you need to know about our fidl line of products. LMzGA Iomega Tape250. Five times the features for one times the price. • Internal fits in standard 1" drive bay. • Parallel port model available. • The only drive that reads QIC and Irwin tapes. • Includes Central Point™ software with Windows support. PRO. Iomega LaserSafe Rewritable 1GB magneto-optical drive. • 35-msec seek time. • Disks have 30-year shelf life. "„ • Dual-mode switch lets drive be operated as fixed or removable. • ISO compatible, so it reads & writes to 650MB MO disks. are trademarks of Iomega Corp. Floptical is a registered trademark of INSITE Peripherals, Inc. All other products are trademarks of their holders. For customer service in U.S.A. and Canada service, call 1-801-778-3000. For accessory items, call I0MART at 1-800-723-3770. Circle 94 on Inquiry Card. NEWS MICROBYTES HDTV Presages a New Wave of Intelligent Entertainment; Computer Companies Watching The first HDTV sets, which will offer brighter, wider, and clearer displays than that of today's TVs, will not likely start appearing in U.S. homes before the 1995-1996 time frame. Yet companies ranging from Microsoft to HBO (Home Box Office) are investigating the on-demand delivery of digital TV programs, where the HDTV not only plays the program but actually scans for programming that interests you and delivers it for viewing at your convenience. Last December, at the HDTV and Future Television conference run by Meckler, Ltd. (+44 071 976 0405) and held in London, Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft's vice president of advanced technology, said the company plans to help produce enter- tainment systems that contain computers running a version of Microsoft Windows. Users will preprogram these HDTVs to scan an electronic programming guide and select a particular type of program or movie that appeals to them. Future enter- tainment centers could also encompass integrated multimedia and movies in which the audience participates with and influences the outcome of a program. With their 16-10-9 (width-to-height) aspect ratios, HDTV screens are wider than standard TV screens, which traditionally have 4-to-3 aspect ratios. And with display resolution in the range of 1920 by 1035 pixels, HDTV display resolution is much higher than regular TV's and closer to that of a 35mm film. HDTV is important to an on-demand information delivery, because it offers pic- ture resolution that's sharp enough to clearly display text. Because most of the new HDTV sets will have considerable built-in digital logic, they will take a more active role in entertainment delivery than do today's passive TVs. With standard, smaller picture TV, screen real estate is at a premium. But HDTV screens are rarely less than 32-inches diagonal in size, which should allow enough room for the TV picture, with menus and status indicators at one side of the screen. Since 1989, Japan has pioneered HDTV broadcasting with daily transmission. Junji Matsuzaki, director of the HDTV division of NHK Broadcasting, Japan, says that "100,000 Japanese households can now receive NHK's HiVision HDTV satel- lite broadcasts." In Europe, programs from the 1992 Summer Olympics in Spain were transmitted using the HD-MAC (High-Definition Multiplexed Analog Compo- nents) standard. In the U.S., four all-digital systems for terrestrial broadcast HDTV have been proposed to the FCC, which is expected to choose its standard before the end of the year. Myhrvold said cable TV systems will likely be the primary providers of interactive HDTV programming in the U.S. He adds, "If you already have digital transmission with cable TV systems, why not [offer] two-way capability and integrate the service with these enhanced entertainment systems?" Robert M. Zitter, senior vice presi- dent of HBO's Technology Operations Division, said that in early 1994, direct satellite-to-home broadcasting will start in the U.S, which should help accelerate HDTVs acceptance. HDTV is already starting to make inroads into high-end graphics displays. Su- permac Technologies (Sunnyvale, CA) and Intelligent Resources (Arlington Heights, IL) have released video cards that let you connect an HDTV monitor to a Mac. HDTV systems are expensive, but Larry Thorpe, vice president, production tech- nologies, Sony Advanced Systems division (Montvale, NT), expects the price of the monitors to come down as they become more widely used. NHK Broadcasting's Matsuzaki-san believes that the average 32-inch HDTV set will fall in price below 500,000 yen (about US$4000) this year. — Trevor Marshall NANO BYTES Researchers at Bellcore Labs (Red Bank, NJ) say they have cre- ated experimental prototypes of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that could result in AA-size batter- ies that can run about three times longer than current products. Re- searchers had known that re- chargeable batteries could be im- proved with lithium-based technology, but safety and envi- ronmental problems with using pure lithium metal prevented lithi- um-based batteries from entering the marketplace. Bellcore scien- tists say they eliminated these problems by replacing the highly reactive lithium metal with lithium compounds and graphite. □ Next Computer hopes to boost sales into the European-finance and public-service markets through an agreement signed with Norwegian server-supplier Dol- phin Server Technology. Steve Jobs, Next CEO, announced in London that Dolphin will sell Next workstations as clients for its Unix-based server workstations. Dolphin will license the Database Kit in NextStep 3.0 and the Net- Info administration software. □ At the Technologic Partner's Per- sonal Computer Outlook confer- ence, the following interchange took place between moderator Richard Shaf- fer and Vern Raburn, chairman of Slate, which develops pen- based appli- cations: Shaffer: So, Vern. What's happened this year [1992] in pen computing? Raburn: Nothing happened in pen computing! That's the problem. □ 24 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Deliverin TT H ,T Windows" NT Development Tools from WATCOM Featuring powerful new GUI debugger NOW available in Beta Calll-800-265-4555 "' ^n to enroll. nanftzfii ► The Wide 32-bit DOS, 32-bit Windows, OS/2 ► The Industry's Leading Code Optimizer Advanced global optimizer with new 486 optimizati' — ► The Most Comprehensive Toolset Debugger, profiler, protected-rhode compiler and linker, 32-bit DOS extender with royalty-free run-time, license! components from Microsoft SDK, and more ► The Best Value in 32-Bit Tools: Unleash 32-bit Power! WATCOM C9.0/386 lets you exploit the two key 32-bit performance benefits. The 32-bit flat memory model simplifies memory management and lets applications address beyond the 640K limit. Powerful 32-bit instruction processing delivers a significant speed advantage: typically at least a 2x speedup. You Get: ► 100% ANSI and SAA compatible compiler and libraries C9.0/ 386 passes all Plum Hall Validation Suite tests ► Extensive Microsoft compatibility simplifies porting of 16- bit code ► Royalty-free run-time for 32-bit DOS, Windows and OS/2 apps ► Comprehensive toolset includes debugger, linker, profiler and more ► DOS extender support for Rational, Phar Lap and Ergo ► Run-time compatible with WATCOM FORTRAN 77/386 32-bit DOS support includes the DOS/4GW 32-bit DOS extender by Rational Systems with royalty-free runtime license ► Virtual Memory support up to 32Mb 32-bit WindOWS support enables development and debugging of true 32-bit GUI applications and DLL's. ► Includes licensed Microsoft SDK components 32-bit OS/2 2.0 support includes development for multiple target environments including OS/2 2,0, 32-bit DOS and 32-bit Windows ► Access to full OS/2 2.0 API including Presentation Manager ► Integrated with IBM Workframe/2 Environment AutoCAD ADS and ADI Development: Everything you need to develop and debug ADS and ADI applications for AutoCAD Release 1 1 Novell's Network CforNLM's SDK includes C/386 The Industry's Choice. Autodesk, Robert Wenig, Manager, AutoCAD for Windows: "At Autodesk, we're using WATCOM C/386 in the development of strategic new products since it gives us a competitive edge through early access to new technologies. We also highly recommend WATCOM C/386 to third party AutoCAD add-on (ADS and ADI) developers." FOX Software, David Fulton, President: "FoxPro 2.0 itself is written in WATCOM C, and takes advantage of its many superior features. Optimizing for either speed or compactness is not uncommon, but to accomplish both was quite remarkable." GO, Robert Can; Vice President of Software: "After looking at the 32-bit Intel 80x86 tools available in the industry, WATCOM C was the best choice. Key factors in our decision were performance, functionality, reliability and technical support." IBM, John Soyring, Director of OS/2 Software Developer Programs: "IBM and WATCOM are working together closely to integrate these compilers with the OS/2 2.0 Programmer's Workbench." LotUS, David Reed, Chief Scientist and Vice President, Pen-Based Applications: "In new product development we're working with WATCOM C because of superior code optimization, responsive support, and timely delivery of technologies important to us like p-code and support for GO Corp's. PenPoint." Novell, Nancy Woodward, VP. and G.M., Development Products: "We searched the industry for the best 386 C compiler technology to incorporate with our developer toolkits. Our choice was WATCOM." WDBLDi j*. _^f COMPUTER *f LANGUAGE WATt 1 -800-265-4555 LANGUAGE The Leader in 32 -bit Development Tools 41 5 Phillip Street, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Telephone: (519) 886-3700, Fax: (519) 747-4971 , ' Price does not include freight anO taxes where applicable. Authorized dealers may sell for less. WATCOM C and Lightning Device are trademarks of WATCOM International Corp. D0S/4G and D0S/1 6M are trademarks of Rational Systems Inc. Other trademarks are the properties pf their respective cwners. Copyright 1992 WATCOM International Corp, Circle 163 on Inquiry Card. NEWS MICROBYTES Popular 486 Sees High Demand in Europe LONDON — Europe faces a potential shortage of 486 chips in the first quar- ter, with vendors saying that Intel has warned that those without a consignment on order should not expect to obtain parts early this year. The processor family is in heavy demand due to a larger-than-expect- ed need for the 486 family and the rush of vendors wanting to deliver low-cost 486- based PCs, said Nick Wood, Intel's tech- nical marketing manager at Intel U.K. Companies that buy 486 chips on the open market — in particular, through the so-called "gray" market from other PC makers — may face a tough time, Wood conceded. "A significant change in demand for 486s started in Q3 last year, compounded by the market reaching an overall size of 30 million units [for all PC processors world- wide], compared to a Dataquest forecast of 23 million," Wood said. "Ql will be tough, but we should be able to meet all market requirements." About 60 percent of PCs now shipping are 486-based, Wood added. Chris Bakolas, Dan Technology's tech- nical director in the U.K., confirmed that Intel was warning vendors about potential 1993 shortages as long ago as October 1992. Michael Spiro, financial director of direct- vendor Elonex, said PC vendors that buy their 486s through the U.K. chip distribution channels may not get enough chips. Chip shortages could recur later this year. — Dom Pancucci IBM No Ostrich in Anticipation of NT, Cairo While Microsoft readies Windows NT, IBM is busily preparing OS/2 2.1. John Patrick, vice president of marketing and sales for IBM's Personal Software Products division, said IBM hopes its 5000- site beta test of OS/2 2. 1 will help it avoid mistakes made with version 2.0. The haste with which IBM released OS/2 2.0 result- ed in about 200 bugs. Version 2. 1 will have seamless support for Windows 3.1 standard mode (with ex- tra drivers for printers and other hardware), the 32-bit graphics engine, and bug fixes. It will also have 256-color XGA and Super VGA drivers, Advanced Power Manage- ment support, PCMCIA-card enabling, pen support, a fax send/receive applet, and for Win-OS/2 users, the Windows File Man- ager and TrueType fonts. What's missing is seamless support for IBM's 8514 graph- ics standard. "All in all, it's the best beta I've seen to run with all these features," said Steve Mastrianni, president of Per- sonal Systems Software (Unionville, CT). IBM's PSP division is not focusing its development efforts solely on the 32-bit Intel version of OS/2, however. Patrick said the company is targeting a "Work- place Shell-like" GUI-based version of PC-DOS — tentatively called Workplace DOS — at users of 286 and lower-end 386 systems. IBM may come out with pen ex- tensions for this PC-DOS and a ROM ver- sion of Workplace DOS. IBM also expects to go into beta test this year with a version of OS/2 running on the Mach microkernel. Also, Taligent spokeswoman Loretta Stagnetto said that the company hopes this year to announce business and prod- uct strategies for the microkernel-based, object-oriented operating system it hopes will win out over Microsoft's upcoming Cairo and other systems. — Ed Perratore Intel Faces Competition on Low and High End BURLINGAME, Calif.— Smaller Intel- clone chip makers AMD (Sunnyvale, CA) and Cyrix (Richardson, TX) are up- beat in their assessments about their ability to compete. At the Technologic Partner's Personal Computer Outlook conference, executives from AMD, Cyrix, Sun Mi- crosystems, and AST Research concluded that despite the massive Intel Inside cam- paign, most users don't care about proces- sor name brand, provided the chip is 1 00 percent compatible and performs well. Cyrix's CEO Jerry Rogers said that as a fabless chip maker, Cyrix has concentrat- ed on its strengths and enlisted the aid of Texas Instruments. Subodh Taprani, AMD director of marketing and systems, said AMD has seen strong demand for its 386 chips, noting that it set a record for its 386 unit sales during the third quarter of last year. AMD plans to release a 486-com- patible chip later this year. As Intel prepares to unleash the first Pen- tium processors and move its user base from the 486 to its next-generation processor, it faces competition from the likes of the Mips R4000 and DEC's Alpha microprocessor. — Patrick Waurzyniak NANOBYTES In an ironic twist of fate, Borland International founder Philippe Kahn blames Microsoft for start- ing a price war that he said forced Borland to lay off 350 peo- ple — 15 per- cent of his company — two- weeks before Christmas. "It's painful, it's no fun, but we have to do it," said Kahn. "Microsoft has been extremely aggressive, and we think there will be more price wars in the future." Kahn attacked Microsoft's pricing strategy for Access, a Windows database pro- gram introduced last November. Kahn said Microsoft mailed litera- ture that advertised Access at $695 and then slashed the intro- ductory price to $99. Ironically, Borland used a similar strategy a few years ago when introducing Quattro Pro. Observers said that things would not be so bad for Borland had it not been so late in releasing its Paradox for Windows (which should be released by now) and dBase for Windows (slated for mid-1993 release). □ Microsoft (Redmond, WA) denies that its $99 introductory offer for Access was a cruel attempt to squash Borland. Charles Stevens, general manager of Microsoft's Database and Programmability Group, told BYTE that Microsoft was only trying to establish a new database program in an entrenched market. Nevertheless, users report that the first version of Access could have benefited from code optimization. One user complained that Microsoft technical support recommended that he upgrade his 40-MHz 386 machine to at least 8 MB of RAM to achieve acceptable performance. This despite the fact that Microsoft's Access box reads that the program runs on a 386SX with 2 MB of RAM; "4 MB [of RAM] recommended." □ 26 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Fina% full-motion video tor your PC. Now you can create full-motion video and multimedia presenta- tions right on your desktop PC with Video Blaster™ hardware and Microsoft® Video for Windows™ software. Everything you need is right in the Video Blaster box. Complete video hardware PLUS full- motion multimedia software... Video Kit for special effects and JPEG compression software to store images in a fraction of the disk space required by other PC video systems. Microsoft Video for Windows: puts the power of full-motion digital video onto your PC screen. Video Blaster lets you capture, freeze, store, manipulate and export fully- scalable digital video images from as many as three sources (both PAL and NTSC). Video for Windows software adds Windows- compatible, Audio- Video Interleave (AVI) format to your Video Blaster hardware. So you can now cap- ture and store full-motion video and incorporate it into OLE-compatible applications. Use the two together to produce and edit full-color digital video sequences in a resizable window. Combine still and moving video with computer-generated graphics and animation, or overlay text and graphics onto live video. With just these tools and a video source, you've got an entire multimedia video studio on your desktop. To add CD-quality 16-bit stereo sound and on-screen digital mixing, just plug in a Sound Blaster'" 16 ASP™ or other Sound Blaster audio card. Your presenta- tions will sound as good as they look. Included in your Video Blaster package is over $1500 in software-including Macromind Action!™ and Tempra™ presentation packages for DOS or Windows environments. Plus Creative Labs' ...all in one package. t,, ,1 i , Special Edition Its the complete { empmGIFand multimedia author- SHOW:forDOS. ing and editing solution. Everything you need to get rolling with full-motion multimedia video. . . and all at a price you can afford. For more information and the name of your nearest dealer, call 1-800-647-9933. Creative Labs and Microsoft team up to offer state-of-the-art PC video far less than $500* W4 ACTION! - MacroMind Action! for Windows. :C ^ Other -Customer- Charles Foster Ka Floral & Hearty, ln< 14 Rosebud Lane Pasadena, CA 90C 1-800 225-5224, E M Ship To Address D Bill To Address The Rose: A beautiful, fragrant blossom; it is the symbol of eternal love and. happiness. Connection Status C0H1: 9660 A ab| X4= El ® □ H sers, Wake Up he Windows. H- 190 Flower chFTD Phone rder 1 ngup DO CA-dBFast includes Windows interface objects/or pull down menus, push buttons, radio buttons, check boxes, scrolling list boxes, bit- mapped graphics and more. The runtime compiler can produce client-server applications that support Novell Netware, LAN Manager, LANtastic and any Net-BIOS compatible LAN system. There 's only one database that can take .DBF files into Windows: CA-dBFast. Support Jor standard Xbase Jilejormats also includes .NTX, .FRMand.LBLjles. The Editor can now support up to 10 open documents at once - with the look and/eel of Windows word processing. You can set and save personal preferences on Editor fonts, tab settings, colors and indentation. CA-dBFast NEW UPGRADE 2.0 IB MICROSOFT- WINDOWS,* COMPATIBLE A new day is dawning for millions of dBASE developers - thanks to new CA-dBFast 2.0, the first and only dBASE-compatible database and language A for Windows. CA-dBFast meets two giant needs: moving existing dBASE applications to Windows and developing dazzling new applications in record time. It's the one J^w solution that lets you take advantage of ^ .^v Windows while protecting the huge investment you've made in Xbase technology With CA-dBFast 2.0, you get a proven, stable environment that's more visual and more intuitive than anything you've ever used. And there's no need for Microsoft's confusing, intimi- dating SDK, so creating applications with CA-dBFast is, true to its name, fast. The Visual Application Designer (VAD) makes creating pull- down menus, push buttons, radio buttons, check boxes, scrolling list boxes and other Windows objects as easy as "point and click" or "drag and drop." The VAD generates the required source code, saving you hours of complex programming. You also get a debugger that's so advanced, it lets you watch your source code execute at run time - even Single Step through execution. CA-dBFast 2.0 also includes CA-RET- an outstanding Windows-based report writer that lets you mix text, graphics and data on the same report in a full WYSIWYG environment. Creating great looking tabular reports, form letters or labels is as easy as using a word processor. FOR A FREE DEMO DISK, CALL 1-800 CALL CAI, Ext. 190. With CA-dBFast applications, there'are no license fees, royalties or key diskettes to bother with. And recipients of runtime pro- grams don't need CA-dBFast to run the application -just Windows. CA-dBFast is also compatible with CA-CLIPPER, dBASE III Plus, dBASE IV and FoxBASE. So whether you want to wake up old appli- cations or build brilliant new ones, you can't afford to sleep through this revolution. ^DISSOCIATES Check OUt CA-dBFast today Software superior by design. New CA-dBFast Release 2.Q ''■■aiiii]ui!i , r:\ssodaie.sliiiciiiaiJtiiui]Jiic.,OneL\impu(er/Vs^oL'iaics[to J iJslandifl,\ T Y11788 7000. All product names referenced herein are trademark ortheirrespmivccdmpaiues. Circle 77 on Inquiry Card. Free Demo Disk II NEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS A Spring Harvest of Apple Macintoshes TOM THOMPSON AND TOM R. HALFHILL Six new computers redefine the Mac product line In 1990 Apple began its major assault on the _ microcomputer market with six new machines. No portion of the market was left untouched: - The Mac Classic II, with its black-and-white display, targeted the low-cost segment, while two 68040-based Macs, the Quadra 700 and 900, took the high-end, high-performance territory. For the on-the-go office work- er, the PowerBooks — three notebook Macs with black-and-white screens — of- fered many features that PC notebook computers lacked. Since then, Apple has made enhancements to these product lines, such as a faster Quadra (the Quadra 950) and more powerful notebooks with gray-scale displays (the PowerBook 180 and PowerBook Duo 230). On February 10, Apple unleashed its second wave in the market-share war. As be- fore, the company introduced six Macs that compose a sweeping revision of its product line. Among the changes is the first compact Mac with a color screen, the first PowerBook with a color screen, and a new Quadra with a shorter mini-tower design. A newly introduced Centris series — a set of 68040-based midrange com- puters — is intended to replace the Mac II line. Also shown was the Mac LC III, a high-powered successor to the LC II. Willi street prices likely to range from $1000 to $4500. these new Macs address the price-conscious segment of the micro- computer market while delivering pro- cessing power. Because low-end Macs now account for the vast majority of Ap- ple's unit sales, we'll start at the bottom of the product line and work our way up. We looked at preproduction units of each mod- el. Note that the prices given here are pre- liminary and may change by press time. Color Classic Low-cosi computing on the Mac tradi- tionally meant sacrificing color capability. This is no longer true. The Color Classic's built-in monitor uses a 76-dot-per-inch, 10- inch-diagonal Sony Trinitron tube that displays a 512- by 384-pixel screen. Pre- vious compact Mac screens — such as the Classic II — are only 512 by 342 pixels, making the Color Classic's screen taller by 42 pixel lines. To accommodate the larger tube, Apple slightly altered the com- pact case design, using a larger front bezel that also includes a built-in microphone. As with the Classic II. the Color Clas- sic's main logic board uses a 16-MHz 68030 processor and has 4 MB of RAM standard (the Classic II initially had only 2 MB of RAM, but since mid-1992, Apple has been shipping the unit with 4 MB). RAM is expandable to 10 MB using 30-pin RAM SIMMs. There is 256 KB of 100- nanosecond VRAM (video RAM) that lets 40 BYTE • MARCH 1993 PHOTOGRAPHY: MEL LINDSTROM 1993 NEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS the computer display 256 colors on-screen. You can expand it to 512 KB by adding a VRAM SIMM; the system can then dis- play 32,768 colors. The Color Classic still uses a 16-bit- wide bus that reduces system costs, but at the expense of throughput. However, the video-frame buffer now resides in VRAM rather than in main memory and thus elim- inates a performance hit that hobbled the Classic's design. In the old design, as the video circuits periodically accessed mem- ory to refresh the screen, they blocked the processor's access to the bus, which de- grades overall performance. With the video-frame buffer in separate VRAM on the Color Classic, both video and proces- sor operations run unimpeded. The result should be better performance, and the pre- liminary BYTE low-level benchmark re- sults (see the figure) support this conclu- sion. The Color Classic is about as fast as a Mac LC II, or about Mac II caliber. Normally, the compact Mac design of- fers limited expansion options, but here's where the Color Classic really breaks with tradition. First, there's a socket for a 68882 FPU. Next, there's a 96-pin PDS (Proces- sor Direct Slot) that's electrically and phys- ically compatible with Mac LC and LC II expansion boards. Finally, you can junk the Torx screwdriver and case-cracking tools required to open older compact Macs. Just tug on two tabs at the bottom rear of the computer to remove a panel, and the main logic board slides out, letting you easily add extra RAM, the FPU, or an LC or LC II expansion board. This arrange- ment also prevents exposure to the haz- ardous voltages lurking in the color-video circuitry. A Color Classic with 4 MB of RAM and a 40-MB hard drive costs $ 1 300. The 68000-based Classic is being discontin- ued, with the Classic II taking its place as the lowest-cost Mac. No upgrade path from a Classic II to a Color Classic is offered. Mac LC HI As limited as its expansion options are (a single PDS slot and no FPU), the Mac LC II is Apple's best-selling computer. The company asked users what design im- provements they'd like to see in the com- puter. The answers were, allow more mem- ory, add more display options, and make it faster. The LC III does these things — and more. A new controller chip — an enhanced derivative of a Mac LC ASIC (applica- tion-specific IC) — enables you to expand RAM to 36 MB (up from 10 MB). The main logic board has 4 MB of 80-ns RAM soldered to it, and a single SIMM socket provides memory expansion using a high- density SIMM. The LC III uses an indus- try-standard 72-pin SIMM, rather than the 30-pin SIMMs found in other Macs. The LC Ill's built-in video supports a bevy of monitors, from Apple's 12-inch RGB display (5 12 by 384 pixels) to its 16- inch display (832 by 624 pixels) and VGA monitors. The 5 12 KB of 80-ns VRAM soldered to the main logic board supports 8-bit pixels (256 colors) on these screens. A single SIMM socket lets you add 256 KB of VRAM (for a total of 768 KB) so that you can view 16-bit images (32,768 colors) on 14-inch monitors (640 by 480 pixels). The LC Ill's 68030 processor is clocked at 25 MHz (up from 1 6 MHz), and there's a socket for a 68882 FPU. More impor- tant, the LC III uses a 32-bit-wide bus. whereas the LC II's bus was only 16 bits wide (a cost-cutting move, as in the Clas- sic design). The end result is that the LC III serves up nearly Mac Ilci performance, according to the BYTE benchmarks. A notched 1 14-pin PDS connector accepts existing 96-pin LC II expansion boards, with a maximum power budget of 4 watts. An LC III with 4 MB of RAM and a 40- MB hard drive costs $1300. Mac LC II owners can rest easy: Through a logic- board swap, they can upgrade their com- puters for $599, although they will have to replace the old RAM^The LC II won't be discontinued; instead, its price will be lowered. Centris 610 With the market's low end firmly anchored by the Classic II, Color Classic, LC II, LC III, and the Performa line, Apple turned its attention to the aging 68030-based Mac II line. The top performer here has been the 25-MHz Mac Ilci, whose design is more than three years old. The new Centris 610 and 650 computers are low-cost 68040-based midrange Macs. Tight integration of components has re- duced the 10 custom ASICs used in the Quadra 950 design to only three, which reduces the cost of the Centris computers and the 33-MHz Quadra 800 (described later). One of these chips, the memory- controller ASIC (MEMC), now lets you mix different-density RAM SIMMs (as long as they are 4 MB or larger) on the main logic board. At boot-up time, the MEMC maps the different-size chunks of RAM into one contiguous memory space. Throughput wasn't sacrificed while cut- ting costs. Both Centris computers use the 53C96 SCSI controller, the same one found in the Quadras. This controller has a maximum transfer rate of 5 Mbps, versus the 53C80 found in other Macs that han- dles only 1.5 Mbps. The I/O bus in the Quadra design has practically disappeared, MARCH 1993 -BYTE 41 NEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS with most I/O signals and controls com- bined into one ASIC (the IOSB). The IOSB is clocked at CPU speeds, so on the Quadra 800 most I/O operations run at 33 MHz. The exception is the Ethernet con- troller, which runs at 16 MHz. The Centris 6 1 is a low-profile desktop computer similar in design to the Mac LC III. It has room for two internal SCSI de- vices: a 3'/:-inch drive and a bay at the front for a 5'A-inch half-height device (typ- ically a CD-ROM drive). An 86-W power supply provides ample power for these pe- ripherals. To reduce costs, the Centris 610 uses a 20-MHz 68LC040, which is essen- tially a 68040 processor without an FPU (sort of like a 486SX). However, it uses the same socket as a 68040, which offers the possibility of an upgrade. An Ethernet port, using the AUI (At- tachment Unit Interface) connector, is an option. This option is actually a main log- ic board populated with the Ethernet port and electronics. Like the Mac Ilsi, the Cen- tris 610 has a single 68040 PDS expan- sion slot, which can also be a NuBus slot by using an adapter board. To fit within the computer, these boards must be only 7 inches long (current NuBus boards can be up to 12 inches long) and use a maximum of 10W. The Centris 610 starts with a base 4 MB of RAM; two 72-pin SIMM sockets let you expand memory to a maximum of 68 MB. Its 512 KB of 100-ns VRAM sup- ports 8-bit colors on monitors from 12 to 21 inches (1152 by 870 pixels). Two SIMM sockets let you increase VRAM to 1 MB, to support 16-bit-deep screens on monitors as large as 16 inches. A Centris 610 with 4 MB of RAM and an 80-MB hard drive is expected to cost under $2000. You get a lot of bang for your buck here: The BYTE low-level benchmarks peg the 20-MHz Centris 610 at better than Mac Ilfx performance (the Mac Ilfx uses a 40-MHz 68030 and 68882 FPU.) Even with the 68LC040, the Centris 610 did better than the Mac Ilfx on float- ing-point operations. Centris 650 If you require more expansion options than are offered by the Centris 610, there's the Centris 650. It uses the same Mac IIvx housing with a bay for a 5 ! /i-inch SCSI de- vice, a 68040 PDS, and three slots that im- plement a NuBus 90 backplane. The slots accept full-size NuBus boards. A 1 12-W power supply powers the system, and 15 W is available for each NuBus slot. The processor is a 68LC040 or a 68040 clocked at 25 MHz. As with the Centris 610, the Ethernet interface is an option. The Centris 650's on-board video is identical to the Centris 610's and supports the same mon- itor sizes and screen depths. But it uses 80-ns VRAM instead of 100-ns hardware. The Centris 68040-based Macs make up Apple 's new midrange computers. Both are shown with an optional CD-ROM drive. The main logic board has 4 or 8 MB of 80-ns RAM; four 72-pin SIMM sockets let you expand memory to as much as 136 MB (assuming 8 MB on the main board). The memory subsystem in the Centris 650 and the Quadra 800 has been enhanced to support interleaved memory. The MEMC ASIC arranges RAM in logical banks and then provides a hardware assist by rapidly stepping through the banks during burst- mode accesses. This shaves several clock cycles off these memory operations and improves throughput The memory on the main logic board is interleaved, and the socketed SIMM RAM must be the same density for memory interleaving to occur. The BYTE benchmarks show that, on average, the Centris 650's memory oper- ations are faster by about 13 percent than the Quadra 700 (Apple claims 10 percent to 15 percent). While not all memory op- erations can take advantage of burst mode, the test results do indicate that the memo- ry subsystem uses them when it can. The benchmarks show that the 650 edges out the 25-MHz Quadra 700 in performance. A Centris 650 with 4 MB of RAM and an 80-MB hard drive sets you back $3000. It's expected that the Mac Ilsi and Ilci will be discontinued, leaving the Mac IIvx as the sole survivor of the Mac II line. Quadra 800 The Quadra 800 is a short, squat tower similar to the Quadra 950, but it stands only 14'/j inches high (versus the Quadra's 18-Y-i inches). It uses a 33-MHz 68040 pro- cessor and comes with 8 MB of 70-ns RAM on the main logic board. Four 72-pin SIMM sockets let you expand RAM to 1 36 MB. Memory on the main logic board is interleaved, and so is the socketed RAM if it is all the same density. Ethernet is standard, and three slots implement a NuBus 90 backplane, which handles full- size NuBus boards. The tower contains three bays at the front that can hold four SCSI devices: a 5'A-inch half-height device (typically a CD-ROM), a 3^-inch half-height device (a hard drive), and either a 3M-inch full- height device (typically a disk array) or two half-height devices. A ribbon cable with SCSI connectors and four power ca- bles at the ready make adding a SCSI pe- ripheral easy. The 200-W power supply provides ample muscle for these periph- erals and 15 W per NuBus board. Because the Quadra 800 borrows from the same design used by the Centris 610 and 650, it supports the same monitors and screen depths (up to 16 bits deep on a 16- inch monitor). Video performance on all 42 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Plug and Play Tape Backup. The Plug. w 0r That's it Go Play. Now, tape backup is easier than ever. Unpack Trakker and plug it into your computer's parallel printer port. That's it. No assembly, no installation, no problem. Trakker goes anywhere. It's light and compact, the ideal solution for backing up notebooks and laptops. And Trakker can back up unattended, so you can go anywhere, too. Trakker is available in two models. At $448, Trakker 120 (120 Megabyte capacity, using data compression) is the price leader. And Trakker 250 (250 MB capacity using data compression) is the fastest in its class at up to 8 MB/minute. Both give you QIC Industry Standard Recording Format, as well as Novell'" and LANtastic" certification. For a FREE 76-page catalog, please call 1-800-451-0897 ext. 227 today. Trakker Backup so simple it's advanced ." COLORADO ™rSYSTCMSiNC. Mini data cartridge sulci separately. © / 992 Colorado Memory System Inc. All rights resen-ed. Jumlxi. Trakker and Colorado are trademarks of Colorado Memory Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective companies. JTB-BYTOI 1593 Circle 73 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 74). NEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS PRELIMINARY LOW-LEVEL BENCHMARK RESULTS I CPU Index FPU Index I Disk Index I Video Index Mac Classic II Color Classic Mac LC III Mac llfx Centris 610 Centris 650 PowerBook180 PowerBook165c Quadra 950 Quadra 800 For all tests, a Classic II = 1. Higher numbers indicate better performance. All Macs ran System 7.1. The Color Classic had an FPU; the Centris 610 did not. three systems is faster because the IOSB eliminates one wait state from VRAM ac- cesses. Also, certain QuickDraw graphics routines have been modified to take ad- vantage of the 68040's MOVE16 instruc- tion (which burst-transfers 16 bytes), im- proving the speed of scrolling and filling operations. The BYTE benchmarks show that the Quadra 800 is slightly faster than the 33- MHz Quadra 950. This results from the improvements in the Quadra design: mem- ory interleaving, the I/O functions merged into the IOSB, and the optimized video. A Quadra 800 with 8 MB of RAM and a 230-MB hard drive costs $4700, a most attractive price when you compare it to a similarly equipped Quadra 950 ($7359). Where the Quadra 800 falls short of its predecessor is in its lack of 24-bit video, fewer slots, and fewer peripheral bays. The features the Quadra 800 packs, however, should attract a flock of buyers. PowerBook 165c Last but not least, Apple closes the gap in its notebook line with the PowerBook 165c. Essentially a PowerBook 1 80 (a 33- MHz 68030 processor, 68882 FPU, exter- nal video, and 4 MB of RAM), the 165c differs mainly in its color passive-matrix LCD screen that displays 256 colors. The 9-inch-diagonal display is smaller than the PowerBook 180's 77-dpi, 10-inch-diago- nal display, but its 85-dpi density packs in the same 640- by 400-pixel screen. The screen uses special filters and polarizer materials to provide good contrast and a wide viewing angle, while two backlight bulbs and a filter increase its brightness. The screen adds only 'A pound to the sys- tem's weight (for a total of 7 pounds). Internally, the engineers moved the 4 MB of RAM and 1 MB of ROM to a "cousin card" to make room for the color display's controller and DRAM. The dis- play consumes more power (about 6 to 7 W). Thus, the PowerBook 165c uses a beefier 2.9-watt-hour nickel-cadmium bat- tery (the PowerBook 140/170 use a 2.7- Wh battery). Also, the power charger now cranks out 24 W (up from 1 5 W) to re- charge the battery faster. The 165c's screen is brighter than we expected, with rich colors. Scanned color images are a joy to behold. The BYTE benchmarks indicate that the 165c is slight- ly slower than the PowerBook 180. The video benchmarks were especially slow because the display's frame buffer doesn't use dual-ported VRAM. Although the PowerBook 165c's passive-matrix screen might not match the brisk colors of an ac- tive-matrix screen, the trade-off here is for your wallet. A PowerBook 165c with 4 MB of RAM and an 80-MB hard drive costs $3279. The prices of comparable PC notebooks with active-matrix screens start at about $4300. A Mac for Every Purpose This latest generation of Macs spans every part of the microcomputer market. At the low end, there is the affordable Color Clas- sic with a small desktop footprint. If you need more power, the LC III serves up Mac Ilci performance. The 68030-based midrange Mac II line was in desperate need of an overhaul. The Centris line of Macs brings this section up to date with affordable 68040-based com- puters that deliver ample horsepower. The Quadra 800 mini-tower offers lead- ing-edge performance while intelligent de- sign compromises make it the most af- fordable Quadra ever. And for those who need color on the road, the PowerBook 165c is a powerful 33-MHz color note- book that delivers performance while spar- ing your budget. As usual, we admire the Apple engi- neers who have reused proven technologies where they can (e.g., enhanced versions of the Mac LC components for the LC III) and maximized their design efforts (e.g., by integrating the Quadra design into fewer ASICs and using them in the Centris com- puters as well as the Quadra 800). The re- sult is better performance at lower cost — a win-win situation for the Mac user. ■ Tom Thompson is a BYTE senior technical editor at large with a B.S.E.E. from Mem- phis State University. He is an associate Apple developer. You can reach him on AppleLink as "T. THOMPSON" or on the Internet at tomt@bytepb.byte.com. Tom R. Halfhill is a BYTE senior news editor based in San Mateo, California. You can reach him on BIX as "thalfhill. " THE FACTS Color Classic (with 4 MB of RAM/40-MB hard drive): $1300 Mac LC m (with 4 MB of . RAM/40-MB hard drive): $1300 Mac Centris 610 (with 4 MB of RAM/80-MB hard drive): under $2000 Mac Centris 650 (with 4 MB of RAM/80-MB hard drive): $3000 Mac Quadra 800 (with 8 MB of RAM/230-MB hard drive): $4700 Mac PowerBook 165c (with 4 MB of RAM/80-MB hard drive): $3279 Apple Computer, Inc. 20525 Mariani Ave. Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 996-1010 Circle 1 165 on Inquiry Card. 44 BYTE • MARCH 1993 1280x1924 Noninterlcc VESA 72 Hz Mtesh Rate, Flicker Free Multistat* Horn. 30-66KHz 8. to, 50-90Hz Advanced _ Compact 8, Slim Design Automatic Dynamic Focusing lAtimatelu the Winner in K EPTRE 17" Flat Screen High Resolution Digital Color Monitor CL-61 Introduced by Brutus*, the King of Monitors: ■ - :■■■■ Wide Turning Angle fi£S£7 fcj 0.26mm MAR Shadow Mask (30% Brighter Screen) Mac Compatible Auto & Manual Degaussing 9Q-26QW - 50/60Hz Auto-input Power FrontAccess Push Button ocessor Controls with 31 Memory Modes Plus: Two Year Limited Warranty, Low Radiation (MPR II) and Anti-Static Options, and many more. For more information, call 1-800-788-2878 SCEPTRE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 714-993-9193 FAX 714-993-2997 ©1 993 Copyright SCEPTRE Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All products and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 223 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 224). NEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS 1-2-3, Freelance for OS/2: Major Applications at Last ® m The lines "something bor- rowed, something blue" came to mind while I looked at Lotus's first two applications for OS/2 2.0. Lotus 1-2-3 and Lotus Freelance Graphics for OS/2 2.0 were written for this platform, not ported, yet they borrow from among the best features of their DOS and Win- dows counterparts while bring- ing out the best of Big Blue's 32-bit operating system. Based on the beta versions that I saw, OS/2 2.0 is worth consideration — or reconsider- ation — as a platform that is supported by major, and native, applications. The attraction of 1-2-3 for OS/2 2.0 and Freelance Graphics for OS/2 2.0, however, is also their tight in- tegration when both are installed — from file operations to the sharing of resources and an OLE-like method of saving all a project's files under a single desktop (.DSK) filename. Both products should now be available, and Lotus says that OS/2 2.0 versions of cc:Mail and Ami Pro should follow with- in a couple of months. Lotus will then have OS/2 2.0 products in all four major appli- cations categories. A 32-bit version of Lo- tus Notes has been held up. Lotus officials indicated at press time that it may not be ready to ship until the end of the year. Lotus 1-2-3 for OS/2, formerly called Lotus 1-2-3/G, has improved with OS/2 2.0's functionality in mind. Lotus quietly shed the redundant G (for graphical) la- bel around the time it released 1 -2-3 for Windows. But true to the form of prod- ucts maintained across multiple platforms, the newer 1 -2-3 for OS/2 has gone beyond the current Windows version. In addition to a more powerful charting engine based on a DLL shared with Free- lance Graphics, 1-2-3 for OS/2 includes Smartlcons — one-click shortcuts to oper- ations such as insert or delete row/column, format currency, add, and undo. One handy icon will resize one or more columns to their maximum widths necessary to dis- play all data contained in each respective column. You can also customize the de- fault Smartlcon set to substitute ones you use more frequently. Among other enhancements, you can select discontiguous sections (called col- lections) for various operations by using the right mouse button, and you can se- Template* if Minimized Window Viewer * mme Master HeSplSSI^i'wfo^ion OS/2 System DOS Piogtams irtdom Pregtam-s Additional DOS Pro-ams Addi m orw! 0512 Picgtarm *Q Dim A P iWa . DESK3.DSK "'" Reedy file Edit Worksheet Range Copy... Move. Print Graph Data Utility Quit. Help lect whole rows and columns by clicking on them in the frame. The next version of 1-2-3 for Windows (expected to ship this spring) will support collections. OS/2's Workplace Shell will now let you drop a filename onto the printer, shredder, or 1-2-3 icon (or the Freelance icon if both are installed). The application icon will launch the application and load the file. Freelance Graphics, developed for OS/2 before DOS and Windows, uses the same process-oriented approach that Lotus first used in the Windows version 1 .0. In other words, the program guides you through each step of building a presentation through a succession of templates. Version 2.0 for Windows shipped early this year, so the OS/2 version gleaned plen- ty of functionality from its older sibling. Smartlcons let you click on page layouts, select a text block for input and change the font, start a new page, and page in ei- ther direction. Some functions (e.g., out- lining and organizational charting) present in the new Windows version are missing from Freelance Graphics for OS/2 2.0. Other functions, particularly those relat- ed to the OS/2 Workplace Shell, are not in versions written for other platforms. Individually, 1-2-3 and Freelance Graphics are worth a look; together they may be irresistible. For starters, you save more than 4 MB on your hard disk thanks to code shared between the two applica- tions; you also save RAM, but usage varies too much to provide a concrete figure. The common charting engine, which saves about 2 MB in itself, represents one less part of either program for new users to learn. And, if you're working on several files grouped under a single desktop file. all Smartlcons and menus are context-sensitive and change as you move from worksheet to graph to presentation. Lotus expects that if you use cc:Mail for OS/2 when it ships later this year, you'll be able to drag a file icon to the cc:Mail icon to attach a file to an E-mail mes- sage. You've heard the OS/2 trash talk: It has no so-called killer application that will do for Big Blue's platform what the orig- inal 1-2-3 did for DOS. No true killer application may surface in a market that is far more segmented and sophisticated today than it was 10 years ago, but Lotus's first two OS/2 2.0 offerings indicate that adopting the OS/2 platform is now an easier choice to make. — Ed Perratore THE FACTS Lotus 1-2-3 for OS/2 2.0 single-user standard edition, $495; network server edition, $595; $395 per concuirent network user (not in- cluding documentation) above price of network server edition Lotus Freelance Graphics for OS/2 2.0 (prices same as for 1-2-3) System requirements: 386 PC (minimum 20 MHz recom- mended) with OS/2 2.0 (equipped with Service Pak) or higher; if in- stalling both products, 4 MB of RAM (7 MB recommended) and 1 1 'A MB of free disk space; for 1 -2- 3 alone, 4 MB of RAM (8 MB rec- ommended) and 9/4 MB of free disk space; for Freelance alone, 4 MB of RAM (8 MB recommended) and 6 [ A MB of free disk space; a mouse. Lotus Development Corp. 55 Cambridge Pkwy. Cambridge, MA 02142 (800) 343-5414 (617)577-8500 fax:(617)693-4551 Circle 1 166 on Inquiry Card. 46 BYTE • MARCH 1993 ^5r<°" ! siro""" 1 ss^-m Co" 1 Type ,.»^stf* ,ft ^ */?C <%* V6> CorelDRAW 3.0 Pi <%£pc^ Create logos! ROUS r SSS-17.3-1 fa^M?' asa** 11 :.tf« I,= 7buc/; up p/Vofos/ Look at all you can do with CorelDRAW 3.0! • Create Effective Charts and Pictographs! Choose from dozens of preset templates or create your own. With over 14,000 clipart images available, you can add power to your message with exciting pictographs! • Type Letters and Produce Dynamic Newsletters! With spellcheck and thesaurus, CorelDRAW is a convenient word processor. Incredible type control and many import/export filters let you add flair to your communication. • Create Inspirational Ads and Brochures! Easily combine photos, scanned images, text, and graphics. A dazzling array of colors are available with world standard color matching. • Design Impressive Corporate I.D.s! Create exciting logos using CorelDRAW's special effects: 3-D, blending, extrusion, and more! You can choose from over 250 fonts. • Make Powerful Presentations! With CorelDRAW's import features, transition effects, hundreds of animation sequences, and professionally designed backgrounds, exciting presentations are at your fingertips! • Touch up Photos and Bitmap Images! Enhance your photos and bitmap images with impressive paint and retouching capabilities. CorelDRAW has 24-bit color and Kodak Photo CD technology support! No wonder CorelDRAW is the world's best selling graphics software! COREL DMM 1 -800-836-DRAW Make powerful presentations! COMPETITIVE UPGRADE OFFER! Limited time only. lp I UU You can take advantage of this sensational offer if you own a competing Windows/DOS product. Call Corel for details. Suggested list price $595 CORELDRAW WORLD DESIGN CONTEST Call to get your FREE DEMO DISK and brochure! Free 24-hour technical support. OVER $1 000,000 IN PRIZES TO BE WON! Enter now and win valuable prizes in the monthly contests (from Sept.'92 to April '93). Each monthly winner qualities as a finalist in the Annual Design Contest in May '93. CorelDRAW is NETWORK READY and is MULTIPLATFORM for corporate standardization: Windows, OS/2, UNIX, CT0S. Soon available for the MAC, and in 20 languages! Circle 79 on Inquiry Card. NEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS Sun's New Unix Box: Short and Sweet With its introduction of the Sparcsta- tion IPC, Sun Microsystems started a new packaging trend: small and inex- pensive Unix workstations. With their small footprints and like-size expansion cabinets (for external drive, tape, and CD- ROM), Sun's IPC and its descendants took the bulk out of workstations. But Sun's best-performing desktop systems were still found only in the traditional "pizza-box" case. If you wanted a zippy CPU or drive, you had to invest in something other than Sun's squat boxes. The Sparcstation LX hopes to change all that. As with the IPC, miniaturization abounds, but Sun has found some innova- tive ways to pack more functions into a case that hasn't gotten any bigger or heav- ier. The LX addresses many of the wish- list items Sun users have desired. At the heart of the LX is its MicroSparc CPU, developed by Sun and Texas In- struments and runnina here at 50 MHz. This CPU rolls the integer, FPU, MMU (memory management unit), and cache into one chip, bringing the chip count down, reducing costs, and making room for more goodies. Those objectives were furthered by Sun's replacement of most of the system's I/O controllers with a pair of ASICs (application-specific ICs). The LX makes fine use of the extra real estate, building in support for basic-rate ISDN, twisted-pair Ethernet, 16-bit digital audio, and accelerated graphics. Most of the new features built into the LX require outside-world connections, and the back panel of this system is densely packed with connectors. One DB-25 splits out to two serial ports, and another one services a bidirectional parallel port, ex- panding the range of supported printers. The Ethernet port pops out in two places: a tiny socket into which you plug a thin- wire transceiver or an AUI (Attachment Unit Interface) conversion cable, and a twisted-pair jack that lets you hook di- rectly into a network. You'll also find a jack for connection to an ISDN line and connectors for SCSI and audio I/O. The LX's standard audio capability is a leap beyond that built into previous Sparcstations. The LX manages 16-bit au- dio at sampling rates of up to 48 kHz. The system includes a battery-driven condenser microphone with mounting hardware to" stick it to the front of your monitor. The most impressive aspects of this new system relate to performance: CPU, dis- play, and drive performance have all been enhanced. With the 50-MHz MicroSparc CPU, the LX is faster than Sun's Sparc- station 2, previously its fastest uniproces- sor desktop system. But it's not much faster — the documentation refers to it as being "1.5 times the speed of a 486." My tests against an Altos System 5000 (33- MHz 486) proved that statement to be true, at least for integer performance. In other ar- eas, the LX positively skunked the 486: The LX was three times faster in floating- point and disk I/O. These results are unre- liable because the LX I tested was a pre- production unit, but they at least show that Sun isn't inflating its performance claims. I'll admit I had hoped that by now Sun would have taken a big leap in single-CPU performance, along the lines of 68030 to 68040 or 386 to 486. That didn't happen: My CPU performance tests showed the 50-MHz MicroSparc to be calculating al- most exactly twice as fast as the 25-MHz chip in an IPC unit. It's fine for Sun to quote performance numbers against the 486, but the company is losing ground against IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sili- con Graphics, all of which have reduced- cost RISC workstations with excellent sin- gle-processor performance. The LX will also be competing soon against systems built around Intel's Pentium, which, if you take Intel's vaunted performance figures as truth, could also make the MicroSparc look a little sickly. If the LX's CPU performance isn't stel- lar, it's at least adequate, and some of the slack is picked up by the system's other turbocharged features. The GXplus graph- ics accelerator built onto the LX's moth- erboard boosts the system's texl and graph- ics performance. The first evidence of this is in the LX's text mode. Previous Sun systems were practically unusable with- out the window system running because text was displayed and scrolled so slowly. Once you fire up OpenWindows, the GXplus really earns its keep. Sun claims the chip enhances everything from win- dow operations to 3-D wireframe and flat shading; I had no complaints with the sys- tem's performance in these areas. The LX comes with a 16-inch color monitor that shows the Sun-standard 1 152- by 900-pix- el resolution, but you can pick up a 21- inch monitor that handles the GXplus's top resolution. Overall, the Sparcstation LX strikes me as a solid machine. True, it's not at the top of its class in CPU performance, but it cer- tainly makes a capable platform for the majority of applications you'd want on your desktop. The standard accelerated graphics means that whether you run a program locally or reach across the net- work to some high-performance computer server, your display won't be a bottleneck. The LX's fast SCSI makes quick work of applications I/O and makes the LX valu- able in the peer-to-peer world of TCP/IP and NFS (Network File System) — or even as a low-cost file server. The Sparcstation LX is priced at $7995 with 16 MB of memory (expandable to 96 MB using 16-MB SIMMs, 24 MB other- wise), a 424-MB hard drive, a 3M-inch 1.44-MB floppy drive, and a 16-inch col- or monitor. A license for Sun's new Unix System V-based operating system, Solaris 2.1, is included with the system. A CD- ROM drive is not included, but if you plan to buy anything from Sun, you'd better make room for one in your budget. All Sun's software products are shipped ex- clusively on CD-ROM, and most SPARC applications vendors are following suit. — Tom Yager THE FACTS Sparcstation LX $7995 Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. 2550 Garcia Ave. Mountain View, CA 94043 (415)960-1300 fax:(415)969-9131 Circle 1 167 on Inquiry Card. 48 BYTE ■ MARCH 1 993 Power Packed Upgrades. STANDARD UNITS These UL/CSA approved, fully-tested power supplies are die best basic units available. STANDARD 200 XT $69 STANDARD 205 SLIM $89 STANDARD 220 BABY $89 STANDARD 220 AI7TOWER $89 ULTRA-QUIET UNITS Unrattle your nerves with noise levels (db) ., silencer power supply, °* recognized since 1986 as °* die industry's quietest. i_ m Cooled with efficient, variable-speed fans that OHDINARY SILENCER . ... power supply power supply w vntually inaudible! A must for home office or multimedia applications. SILENCER 205 SLIM $119 SILENCER 220 AT/TOWER $129 SILENCER 270 AT/TOWER $179 fflGH-PERFORMANCE UNITS Upgrade your computer with one of our premium Turbo-Cool power supplies— die choice of PC professionals. You'll get 50% - 100% more power, built-in line conditioning, a dual-stage EMI filter, super-tight regulation, ultra-clean DC output, our high-capacitv ThermaSense variable-speed fan (300W models), UL/CSA/TUV approvals, and a no-hassle 2-year warranty! Ideal for high-end workstations and network file servers. TURBO-COOL 200 XT $159 TURBO-COOL 300 SLIM $169 TURBO-COOL 300 BABY $169 TURBO-COOL 300 AT/TOWER $189 TURBO-COOL 450 AT/TOWER $349 REDUNDANT POWER SYSTEM Eliminate the risk of network downtime or data loss due to power supply failure with die TwinPower 900 redundant power system. It delivers high-capacity, fault-tolerant power to the entire network server. Consists of two Turbo-Cool 450 power supplies in parallel, utilizing a special power-management interface module. A must for mission critical LANs. 486 CPU COOLER ■ Super Server Power. Widi 900 watts of peak power, die TwinPower 900 effortlessly runs any array of drives- without die need for sequencing. ■ 100 Times More Reliable. Why gamble with a single- , ' ° ° , PROBABILITY OF A unit systems TwinPower's PI,V KSSS URE load-sharing, redundant Zl ^h4 design lets you take die 3 "; power system for granted. «* - — j^- It's the peace-of-mind a .T* ~ — ' r SinglE-Unil TwinPower 900 network manager needs! ■ Hot-Swap Capability. In die unlikely event that one of its 450s should fail, an alarm sounds, and the other 450 sustains the server while the user simply swaps in a new unit. No downtime! ■ Optional Enclosures. We offer "monster" cases that hold TwinPower's two power supplies and the interface. The Standard Tower (51 lbs.) holds 13 drives, while die all-steel Industrial Tower (104 lbs.) allows dual systemboards and holds up to 16 drives. Now, that's expandability! TWIN-POWER 900 $995 W/STANDARD CASE $1695 W/TNDUSTRIAL CASE $1995 It's a fact. 486 chips run hot, often exceeding 185°F! Now, you can reduce the operating temperature of your 80486 processor to a cool, safe 85°- 95 °F with our popular CPU-Cool. You'll prevent random system erron and add years to the life of your investment. Consists of a ^ mimn , f) quiet mini-fan embedded in a sculptured heat sink that easily mounts on the CPU. Powered by a spare drive connector. Effective, . WITHOUT WITH inexpensive insurance! cpu-cool cpikool CPU-COOL $39 1B0 — 160 -\ 140 —I 120 J -I 100" —I GO" - ^H POWER SUPPLY ADVISOR 1. Even before it fails, an inferior power supply can be trouble. Nasty hard-to-track problems such as rebooting, loss of setup, overheating, and memory errors are often power supply related. 2. You can't have too much power. A power supply delivers only what the PC needs and actually performs best at 25% -75% of its rated capacity. 3. For greater hard drive reliability, use a power supply with independent regulation and extra cooling such as the Turbo-Cool 300/450. 4. Buy from a reputable power supply specialist. You'll get real sendee, not some runaround like: "Here's a number in Taiwan, give diem a call". 5. To save money, PC manufacturers put ordinary power supplies— with limited features— in their systems. To upgrade, call us direct or ask your PC supplier for one of our units by name. PC POWER & COOUNB, INC. 5995 Avenida Enemas, Carlsbad, CA 92008 • (619) 931-5700 • (800) 722-6555 • Fax (619) 931-6988 Most orders shipped same day. We accept Visa, MC, COD, or PO on approved credit. Turbo-Cool anil TwinPower models guaranteed for 2 years. All oilier products guaranteed for 1 vear. Hours: 7 a.m. - 5 pjn. (PI) Won. - J : ri. ©1992 PC Power & Cooling, Inc. Silencer, Turbo-Cool, ThermaSense, TwinPower, and CPU-Cool are trademarks of PC Power & Cooling, Inc. All other brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 123 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 24). NO OTHER PEN HAS THIS KIND OF The 3.3-pound machine is considerably lighter than many competitors' machines. Its black-and-white screen uses a back light, *"<-<** , which will allow customers to use the computer in difficult lighting situations. fi *-*+^p it. if '•v^n* -. a ^*' - Los Angeles Times, Nov. 2, 1992 ,i>;naes foi ,v. connections, they saia. One problem we've had is seeing the screens [of other pen computers] in various lighting environments. ..[Toshiba is] using new backlit reflective technology; you can see it in any lighting. - Reprinted from PC Week, Sept. 14, 1992 - -..^date users said. [Toshiba has] done an exceptional job in the industrial design of the system, and going beyond that, looking at specific vertical solutions. See TOSHIBA page 10: - Stella Kelly, InfoCorp Senior Analyst lnfoworM.Nov.2,1992 The Toshiba Dynapad makes most transreflective-sidelit display, engineering in Dyn of its predecessors look clunky by 40MB hard drive and two PCMCIA pen market has bee comparison. Packed into this sleek, 2.0 slots. Clearly a 3rd-generation little 3.3-pound tablet is a 9.5" pen computer, the innovative - Portia Isaacson, Dream IT, Inc. INTRODUCING THE TOSHIBA DYNA INK. [Toshiba has] a much better infrastructure for providing support than some other pen computer companies. -Tim Bajarin, President/Creative Strategies Research International Inc. lnfoworld,'Nov.2,1992 [The Dynapad is] a nice system, has a good feel and [Personal Computer Memory Card International Association] cards, and at that low weight, it's much more the kind of thing people are going to need in the field than something like the ThinkPad. ~-)anet Cole, Dataqitest Analyst Computeruvrld, Nov. 2, 1992 I've been saying that [a pen computer] needs to be small, W rugged, and able to run 386 ' f or better^ ,^. - Mel Hinton, Senior Engineer/Public Service Electric and Gas Co. lnfoworld,Nov.2,1992 Amazingly, we've even been able to incorporate two PCMCIA slots for expandability. PAD T1 OX Leave it to Toshiba engineers to create a pen computer that has left an indelible impression on the computer world. Presenting the acclaimed Dynapad T100X. It's almost as if, for the first time, someone actually considered how people would use a pen computer. And designed it from there. For starters, it's phenomenally light, weighing in at 3.3 pounds. So you can carry it for extended periods in the field without your arm falling off. But don't be fooled into thinking that it's a lightweight. Because it boasts a 25 MHz Am386" low-voltage processor. Offers 4MB RAM — expand- able to 20MB. And comes with a 40MB hard disk. The screen is equally impressive. We pur- posely designed a large 9.5-inch transreflective screen so it's easy to view whether you're in a pitch-black tunnel or out in the field in the blind- ing sunlight. We were no less painstaking with the ergo- nomics. At 10.6" x 8.3" x 1.5',' the T100X is very easy to hold. The weight is well balanced. There are no sharp corners. And we've given you both a top-view silo, so you can see if you have your pen, and the option of tethering the pen. And like every computer we make, our T100X offers a variety of Toshiba innovations. Like our MaxTime" power management system, which offers such features as AutoResume and AutoSave. So you get the maximum out of every battery charge. To learn more, call the toll-free number below for the location of your nearest Toshiba reseller. Because as you can see from the quotes to the left, this is one pen that's already made its mark. In Touch with Tomorrow TOSHIBA 1-800-457-7777 © 1993 Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. AH products indicated by trademark symbol are trademarked and/ or registered by their respective manufacturers. PC Week quote copyright © 1992 Ziff Communications Company. We took pains to ensure our Dynapad is perfectly balanced. Thus making it easy to hold in either arm and in a variety of positions. At33pounds, it's truly one of the few pen computers where employees won't get fatigued carrying it. We gave our pen a transreflective display screen so it can be used in a variety of different locations and lighting conditions (underground, at night, in broad daylight). Circle 1 56 on Inquiry Card. NEWS FIRST IMPRESSIONS EO's Personal Communicator Ushers In a New Era Much as the Macintosh represented a conceptual leap forward for person- al computers, so too does the Personal Communicator 440 from start-up EO. EO has changed the definition of a mobile computer, uniting the functions of a hand- held organizer with a cellular telephone, both running under an intuitive pen-based user interface (see "Communications Gets Personal," February BYTE). In BYTE's first hands-on evaluation of the Personal Communicator 440, 1 looked at a machine that breaks with the past in more than just conception: It is the first system built on the AT&T Hobbit RISC chip, a 3.3-volt CPU that offers fast per- formance with low power consumption. It also runs Go Corp.'s PenPoint operating system, ported to the Hobbit. EO has guts to eschew compatibility with the Intel/Mi- crosoft and Mac standards, but the com- pany sees communicators as a separate market from portable PCs. Available this spring, the 440 sports a unique design with no keyboard and a dis- tinctive set of "ears" on either side of the screen. These ears contain I/O ports, a speaker, and a microphone. The 1 -inch- thick unit measures 1 1 by 7 inches without the ears: with one 4-hour nickel-cadmium battery, it weighs 2K pounds. The system uses a 20-MHz Hobbit chip and ships with 8 MB of ROM (containing PenPoint and 10 bundled applications) and 4 MB of RAM. Using standard 88-pin JEDEC memory modules, you can expand the RAM to 8 or 12 MB through a small door on the front; the preproduction unit I evaluated was loaded with 12 MB. An- other door on the front contains a PCMCIA slot (Type 2, Level 2), which you can use for nonvolatile removable storage or oth- er peripherals. My evaluation model also included the optional fax modem and $800 cellular-phone handset. The 440 makes a nice pen-based per- sonal organizer with a built-in PIM (per- sonal information manager) and note taker, but the system doesn't come into its own without the phone. The 440 diverges from earlier pen-based systems in its tight inte- gration of communications. The bundled GoFax, GoMail, and address book make it easy to send documents from within any program, and the built-in sound lets you attach voice annotations to documents. Much of this capability comes from PenPoint, whose notebook metaphor and gesture interface make the 440 remark- ably easy to use. The object orientation of PenPoint allows transparent sharing of data between applications. The software I ran was a beta release, but it had few bugs and the performance was perky. The bundled programs and ap- plets — which include MiniNote (for writ- ing in digital ink), MiniText (for entering text via handwriting recognition), EO Calc (a paper-tape calculator), and Pensoft's Personal Perspective (a scaled-down ver- sion of the company's PIM) — were pow- erful yet amazingly easy to use. In fact, the 440's intuitiveness demon- strates how far user-interface design has come. I had only a few minutes of training on the basic gestures, yet I barely cracked a manual to use the system. I wasn't able to try the tutorial because it wasn't ready, but I liked being able to get context-sensitive help simply by writing a question mark over the area in question. The Personal Communicator 440 is well designed and feels solidly built, and I found the nonreflective LCD screen easy to read. Perhaps for the first time in pen computing, a company has got the details right. AT&T has even gotten into the act. As a major investor in EO, AT&T will sell the 440 and 880 under its own name. EO is only the first player in an expect- ed wave of mobile devices that integrate computing and telephony. Over the next year, you can expect competition for EO and AT&T, but all new arrivals will have to be judged against the high standard set by the Personal Communicator 440. — Andy Reinhardt THE FACTS Personal Communicator 440 (price not available at press time) EO, Inc. 800A East Middlefield Rd. Mountain View, CA 94043 (415)903-8100 fox: (415) 903-8190 Circle 1 168 on Inquiry Card. PowerExec EL Notebook: More for Less If our review of the AST PowerExec notebook ("AST's PowerExec Goes Modular," January BYTE) caught your eye, but you found the price a bit sleep, AST has something new for you — the PowerExec EL. The EL stands for "en- try level," and with a list price of $1745, it may appeal to cost-conscious notebook users. Thai's what AST is hoping for, any- way. Philip Osako, AST portable systems marketing product manager, says that the EL is targeted at small businesses and peo- ple who need a notebook to supplement their office system. AST is not alone in offering attractive- ly priced notebook packages. Compaq and Toshiba, among others, offer modestly priced 386 systems. But for the purely price-sensitive shopper, the EL, at press time at least, leads the pack. Like the higher-priced PowerExec, the preproduction EL I saw is a roadworthy notebook. It weighs in at almost 6 pounds and uses a nickel-cadmium battery pack. Its base price includes an Intel 25-MHz 386SL processor, a coprocessor socket, a 60-MB hard drive, a 1.44-MB floppy drive, 2 MB of RAM, and one each of serial, parallel, monitor interface, key- board/keypad connector. Type 2 PCMCIA slot, and expansion bus ports. For a $2295 list price, you can get a 120-MB hard drive, 4 MB of RAM, Windows 3.1 , and AST's SmartPoint trackball. With the list price of the PowerExec at $2395, just what do you give up when you 52 BYTE ■ MARCH 1993 Our new color printer not only looks great on it looks great on paper. The eye when it sees black and white. The eye when it sees color. True, the brilliant color produced by the new Tektronix Phaser® 200 is captivating. But the price is equally attractive. And though we've become the award-winning leader in color printers by frequently outdoing the c \Jj competition, this time ^s| we've even outdone our- selves. Introducing our newest business work group color printer. The Phaser 200 is compatible with virtually any business software and can print two colorful pages per minute. No, not two minutes per page— two pages per minute. And even at a speed like that, it still manages to print eye-catch- ing color on common laser paper or transparencies using a separate input tray for each. You select the medium you want at your computer keyboard. And it switches automat- ically from user to user just as easily, using its parallel, serial, AppleTalk,™ or optional EtherTalk™ and Ethernet™ ports. It has all the advantages of a laser printer. True Adobe PostScript™ Level 2, networkability, Pantone* colors, speed and price. (Did you notice it's only $3695, slightly below unheard of?) And when you add to that extremely high materials capacity and sparkling TekColor™ output — not just any color, but the indisputably best color in the business— you've got something even better than our previous best. Which is quite a feat. So stop by your nearest Tektronix dealer or call us at 800/835-6100, Dept 28Jforafree output sample. For faxed infor- ,-- — "5%>. ; f i i i i i ii i m i mation call 503/682-7450, ask for document / 1223. You won't find another business investment that looks this good on paper. Tektronix / Phaser is a trademark of Tektronix, Inc. PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 1 52 on Inquiry Card. Circle 78 on Inquiry Card. Images in your Computer from Video or full page Scanners. Boost your productivity in DeskTop Publishing, OCR and Multimedia applications. ColorSnap PC Professional. REAL TIME, video image cap- ture, full screen. 16.7 million colors & gray- scale. Use any NTSC/PAL video source, camcorder, live TV, still video, VGA, SV- GA supported, files saved in standard for- mats. Free Aldus PhotoStyler. Video-for- Windows compatible. Digitize movies at 30 frames/sec. Hundreds of applications. De- mo disks available. $599.00 Life View Encoder Record your computer pre- sentations to video or display to any TV monitor. NTSC or PAL 249.00 Color 6000 600 dpi. full page, sheet- fed color (24-bit) scanner Complete with Color Im- $595 .00 age Processing Software and WordScan OCR s/w. HP ScanJet emulation driver.. Color 3000, 300 dpi unit, $495.00 ArtiScan 1200 dpi $1795.00 1200 dpi,desk-top, fast (SCSI), 24-bit, flat bed, color scanner. True hardware resolution, su- perb picture quality, color-gray' scale. Free linage Processing software. 600 dpi model $975.00, 800 dpi, $1289.00. Optional X-Ray, Slide Scanner ($545.00). Twain univ. driver with all mod- els. OCR software.Recognita, $159.00 - WordScan, $99.00. Best magazine ratings. PageReader 300 Full Page, 300 dpi Scanner complete with OCR WordScan software & line-art Imager software!! HP-ScanJet em ulation driver hence compatible with any OCR package. Fast! Reads avg. page in <10 sec. With Recognita, add $159.00 - 9600 fax/modem send/rec, add $99.00. Ideal in any office for text, AutoCad drawings, fax etc Call/fax forCatalog on MultiMedia DeskTop Video Systems and Image Transfer Systems 30-day return guarantee. I year warranty. Major credit cards. Resellers Welcome. Computer Friends, Inc. - 14250 NW Science Park Dr. - Portland OR 97229 Founded Toll Free 1-800-547-3303 - tel. (503)626-2291 - fax (503)643-5379 1982 PRICES HARD TO MEET - SERVICE HARD TO BEAT! World Wide Inquiries Promptly Filled NEWS get an "equivalent" EL? First, unlike with the PowerExec, you cannot upgrade the processor and there is no 64-KB cache. Second, there is only one PCMCIA slot with the EL. The 9^-inch-diagonal, 640- by 480-pixel resolution VGA display is different, too. It provides 64 shades of gray, but it's not quite as bright aid doesn't offer as much contrast as the one on the PowerExec. Finally, the AC adapter takes a bit longer to recharge the battery pack. AST says that the nickel-cadmium pow- er pack will last about 3 to 4 hours be- cause the EL has the same heuristic pow- er management system as the PowerExec. In fact, with the exception of the differ- ences noted, this EL is a PowerExec. The long list of options includes a nickel-met- al-hydride battery pack, RAM modules (the EL expands to 20 MB), PCMCIA- based modems, Ethernet and SCSI adapt- ers, and passive- and active-matrix color displays. The PowerExec EL is a good example of the more-for-less, Windows-capable hardware trend so prevalent with desktop systems. Other examples of this move to- ward affordability in notebooks are sys- tems from Toshiba, Compaq, and a few others that are full-featured competing notebooks at similar user-attractive prices. For example, the Compaq Contura 3/25 Model 84/w+ comes with an 84- MB hard drive and 4 MB of RAM. It can be had for a street price of about $1900. Notebooks such as the PowerExec EL show that "en- try level" doesn't have to mean starting at the bottom anymore. ■ — Gene Smarte THE FACTS PowerExec EL with 2 MB of RAM, a 60-MB hard drive, and a monochrome display, $1745 with 4 MB of RAM, a 120-MB hard drive, Windows 3.1, and a Smart- Point trackball, $2295 display upgrades (done at factory): passive, $1 169; active, price not available at press time AST Research, Inc. P.O. Box 19658 Irvine, CA 92713 (800) 876-4278 (714)727-4141 fax:(714)727-9355 Circle 1 169 on Inquiry Card. 54 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Circle 144 on Inquiry Card. P )mj)jmjMH PcJicuitii GO WATCOM SQL Developer's Edition by WATCOM Complete client/server development tool allows you to develop and deploy single- user standalone applications, and to devel- op applications for use with the Network Server Edition. Includes: Single-user database server; ACME application develop- ment system; Embedded SQL C/C++ preprocessor; libraries for WATCOM C, C/386, MS/C ++ and BC/C++. List: $395 Ours: $299 FAXcetera* 1683-0010 HUGE SELECTION AT THE RIGHT PRICE! CALL TODAY 1 3S6MAX $64 Label Master $429 Baler $399 Lahey EM/32 5.0 $1,015 Bar Code Library $350 mini Ed Tools CALL Borland C++ $319 MKS Learning UNIX $99 C Windows Tlkt. 386 $179 MKS Toolkit S239 C++/Views $449 MS C/C++ CALL C-DOC Professional $269 MS FoxPro CALL CAD/CAM Products CALL Multi-Edit Professional $139 CASE:W Corporate CALL Norton Desktop/Win CALL Clipper $499 object-Menu $269 CodeWright $225 Opt-Tech Sort/Merge $119 dBASEIV $499 Paradox 4.0 $569 dBFast Windows $395 PGL CALL dGT-Unlirnited Runtime $499 .RTLink/Plus $445 Dr. Switch-ASE $159 SlickEdit $149 ED for Windows $269 SQA:Replay $79 GX Products CALL Turbo C++ for Windows $112 KPWin++ CALL WATCOM FORTRAN 77/38 6 $719 Essential Graphics Chart™ for Windows by South Mountain Software ■ " lilts Essential Graphics Chart for Windows lets you turn your data into charts and graphs that make an immediate visual impact. Features include; DLL-works with any Windows API compatible language, 2D bar, 3D bar. legends for all chart types, real-time charts, tine perspeclive and rotational capability. No Royalties. List: $399 Ours: $299 FAXcetera # 2089-0017 CA-dBFast Windows 2.0 by Computer Associates The complete stand-alone dBASE/Xbase development language for MS Windows. Create fast, powerful, easy-to-use graphi- cal applications. Over 200 extensions to the dBASE III PLUS language and includes an interactive editor, compiler, and linker. Challenge your creativity and imagination! Design multiple windows, pull-down menus, check boxes. list boxes, radio buttons, bit-map pic- tures, and more! List: $550 Ours: $395 FAXcetera # 1004-0003 Dan Bricklin' s Demo II by Lifeboat Software Experience for yourself why 30.000 people have made Demo II 3.0 the leading tool for producing program prototypes, demonstra- tions, and tutorials. Demonstrate commercial software to potential customers without ship- ping live software. Produce effective tutorials that interactively teach products. Create Computer Based Training for a fraction of the cost of dedicated CBT authoring software. List: $249 Ours: $215 FAXcetera # 0233-0003 Q+E Database Library (QELIB) 1.1 by Pioneer Software A set of Dynamic Link Libraries prowling a common call level interface for developer tools such as Visual Basic. ToolBook, Actor, Smalltalk, C, C++, etc. and most macro language products to access data from Oracle. SQL Server. Sybase. EE Database Manager. DB2. Netware SQL. dBASE. Paradox. Excel, and text files. List: $399 Ours: $359 FAXeefera* 2625-0003 Microsoft Windows for Workgroups Considering how easy it is to use MS Windows™, imagine what MS Windows™ for Workgroups can do for an entire group. Such as information sharing among many PC users that can lead to even better, more collabora- tive work. Printer sharing that uses hardware resources more efficiently. And schedule management that improves efficiency. Workgroups List: $249 Ours: $175 ADD-On List: $ 79 Ours: $ 61 FAXcetera # 1269-0042 FORWORKGROUPS MediaDeveloper by Lenel Systems Create multimedia-enabled applications with MediaDeveloper and ObjectVision. It is THE Multimedia Development Toolkit to integrate sound, images, animation and full-motion video into Windows applications. Includes media and device control for multimedia peripherals including CD-ROMs. VCRs and laserdisc players: support for major animation, video, audio and graphics formats: a multimedia database; OLE server: and many DLLs. MediaDeveloper List: $595 Ours: $449 w/Object Vision 2.1 List: $745 Ours: $499 w/ ObjectVision 2.1 Pro List: $1090 Ours: $749 FAXcetera # 1005-0302 oftmare tha Sizzles! WATCOM C/386 9.0 by WATCOM WATCOM C/386 Develop and Debug 32-bit applications for extended DOS. Windows, and OS/2 2.0 with the most complete 32-bit C development package available. Includes the royalty-free D0S/4GW DOS extender by Rational Systems, components from MS Windows SDK, compiler, linker, debugger, profiler, plus numerous development tools. Supports other industry standard 32-bit DOS extenders. Create Applications for AutoCAD or embedded systems development. List: $895 Ours: $599 FAXcetcra # 1683-0001 ADS Visio by ShapeWare Now everyone can create professional-quali- ty graphics! Straightforward stencils, designed for everyday business drawings and technical diagrams, provide all the shapes you need. Whether you're creating engineering schematics, network or block dia- grams, org charts, programming flow charts, or your own custom drawings, Visio has a stencil of shapes that will make your job easier. GET A $79 VISIO PROGRAMMER'S STENCIL FREE WITH EACH COPY OF VISIO YOU ORDER! List: $299 Ours: $225 FAXretera* 1006-2801 WindowsMAKER Professional 4.0 by Blue Sky Software Next generation of industry standard C/C++ develop- ment tool for Windows. The easiest fastest way to cre- ate Windows apps. just point and click. New architec- ture uses Switch-It™ Code Generation Modules for generating ANSI C, MFC++. or OWL C++ code among others. Award-winning Visual Prolotyper lets you test the look & feel and make changes on the fly. TmeCode technology ensures the user code is preserved during code regeneration. Generates Windows .EXE w/fully commented C or C++ source. List: $995 Ours: $695 FAXatem # 2602-0003 j ■ x • in n _f THE MONTH Visual Basic for Windows by Microsoft Corporation The fastest way to program for Windows just got faster. When you need to create a Windows application quickly, nothing offers the sheer productivity of Microsoft Visual Basic 2.0 Standard Edition. A visual develop- ment environment, flexible programming lan- guage, and fast runtime execution make this the shortest route to full-featured Windows applications. The Professional Edition includes messaging and data access capabilities, a wide variety of add-on tools, and more. Standard Edition List: $199 Ours: $139 Professional Edition List: $495 Ours: $337 FAXcetcra* 1269-0039 ED-The Programmer's Editor for Windows by Lifeboat Software A full-featured Windows-based program- mer's editor is here! ED is setting the stan- dard with features like background compi- lation, automatic code indenting and com- pletion, hypertext function/procedure lookups, "smart" language-specific edit- ing, a fast "C" extension language. Windows Toolbar, unlimited undo and redo, keyboard macros and remap- ping, and emulation of popular DOS editors. List: $269 Ours: $199 FAXcetcm # 0233-0011 CA-Clipper 5.2 Competitive Upgrade by Computer Associates Yes, the newly released CA-Clipper version 5.2 is being offered to Xbase language product owners at the low retail price of $199. This competitive upgrade is avail- able for a short term only! What a great opportunity to get the power of CA-Clipper. at a super price! List: $199 Ours: $149 FAXcetcra* 5400-0001 SB£Sf| CA-Clipper MS Visual Basic for DOS Draw forms and controls, write event-pro- cedures, use and create custom controls-in DOS! Create all-new apps or combine with existing C/C++ or Pascal code. Highly com- patible with VB/Win for multi-platform development. Even run existing MS Quick Basic/Basic PDS code! Includes a native 80 x 86 compiler that creates 100% stand- alone .EXE files, 386 code generation. MOVE overlays, an integrated ISAM and much more! Standard Edition List: $199 Ours: $139 Professional Edition List: $495 Ours: $325 FAXcetera # 1269-0039 Janus/Ada Compiler by R.R. Software Janus/Ada for DOS: the power and reliabili- ty of Ada, priced for everybody! You get a full, validated implementation of Ada-com- piler, linker, royalty-free runtime libraries, multiple memory models, environment, tools, and even a tutorial. And R.R. Software supports you with 12 years of Ada experi- ence and know-how. Now's the time to use Janus /Ada. List: $129 Ours: FAXcetem# 1876-0001 $115 VhJM^MmM 'PohAufobi ® MetaWare High C/C++ by MetaWare, Inc. MaljiWere' !Ui MetaWare, Inc. announces its newest prod- uct! The 32-bit High C/C++ compiler version 3.0 is a true compiler, not a C to C++ transla- tor. "Incremental Strengths" let you specify the level of C++ compilation, allowing you to migrate from C to C++, one C/C++ block at a time. Included is a C++ tailored source-level debugger and a 32-bit Application Development Kit for Windows. MetaWare offers a full line of multi-lan- guage, multi-platform compilers for professional software developers. List: $795 Ours: $669 FAX«tcra# 1590-0008 VMData by PocketSoft, Inc. VMData for Windows is a DLL that manages up to 128 MB of dynamic data. Eliminates annoy- ing slowdowns commonly seen in 386 Enhanced Mode when programs use large amounts of dynamic data, and eliminates out- of-memory problems in Standard Mode. Provides superior run-time performance and ensures that your program is a good citizen under the Windows environment. List: $495 Ours: $359 FAXcctcm* 1987-0005 lWjiiiT VMDattS WinGEN by Buzzwords International Converts ObjectVision .OVD to Source Code! Make the title bar disappear and run your application at compiled speed. WinGEN produces code for Windows versions of a. )' ia e e mt dBASE, C/C++, and Turbo Pascal. Supported engines include: Paradox Engine. Sequiter Codebase, POET. Raima, Faircom c-tree, Sybase, Novell Btrieve, Novell Btrieve with SQL/XQL Manager, OLE & DDE/DDEML, and Q & E. List: $149 Ours: $79 FAXcetem* 1873-0002 DataBoss by Kedwell Software Relational database application generator. Use to develop complete applications with menus, forms, browse tables, memo fields, reports and more. Includes sophisticated screen painter; field definition template for defining field charac- teristics, indexes, data files and their relations; WYSIWYG report designer; generator engine and skeletal files. Generates structured C/C++ or Pascal source code. No license or runtime fees. List: $695 Ours: $499 FAX«tcra# 3758-0001 Multi-Edit Professional by American Cybernetics A richly featured, easy-to-use program- mer's text editor. Multi-Edit's flexibility and sheer power combine to provide you with unparalleled productivity. Features include: intuitive user interface, mouse support, syntax highlighting, cross directory multiple file search AND replace, color templates, + much more! Finally, a text editor that thinks like a programmer! Free demo disk available. List: $199 Ours: $139 List: $295 Ours: $259 FAXcetera# 1846-0001 Jtt SVS C 3 /FORTRAN-77 by Silicon Valley Software Version 2.8.2 SVS C3/FORTRAN-77 runs in and creates 32- bit executables for use with MS Windows 3.x as DPMI executables. Compiler, development tools and applications are DMPI conforming and support most VCPI requirements. Extensive graphics and scientific function library is included. Executables are run-time royalty free. List: $395 Ours: $356 FAKcetm* 2863-0001 PROTOGEN 3.0 by ProtoView Development NEW VERSION! The industry standard for code generation and prototyping Windows applications. Develop the user interface of your application using Visual prototyping methods. ProtoGen generates expert level, commented code for ANSI C, Microsoft NT Win32. All generators included! User Coders preserved from one generation to the next. It's easy and fast. List: $99 Ours: $95 FAXccttra # 2553-0002 rri I M •/■! J k i 1 d il :Mci i PRICES! (Call for details) • order call: 800-445-7899 orporate (CORSOFT): 800 422-6507 FAX: 908 389-9227 International: 908 389-9228 Customer Service: 908 389-9229 For more information on the oducts feat • All prices are subject to change without notice. Circle 102 on Inquiry Card. NEWS WHAT'S NEW SYSTEMS SPARC-Based Portability A portable workstation based on the 50-MHz Sparcengine LX board from Sun Microsystems, the BriteLite LX is 1 00 percent compatible with Sun hard- ware and software, according to RDI Computer. The So- Jaris 32-bit distributed envi- ronment is preinstalled. Features of the BriteLite LX include a Colorplus ac- tive-matrix TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD, which offers 256,000 colors and 64 levels of gray. Standard memory is 16 MB (expandable to 96 MB), and hard disk storage is 450 MB. Ports include a SCSI-2 connector, an audio/attachment unit inter- face port, and a bidirectional programmable parallel port. Price: $15,995. Contact: RDI Computer Corp., San Diego, CA, (619) 558-6985; fax (619) 558- 7061. Circle 1075 on Inquiry Card. Modular Power Fits in Your Hand A hand-held PC geared for rugged use, the modular DAT300 features a remov- able data-cassette hard disk. You can use the cassette — available with from 256 KB The BriteLite LX puts SPARC power into a portable workstation. to 2 MB of SRAM (static RAM) or flash EPROM and as a 20- or 40-MB micro hard disk — like a floppy disk to exchange data and programs. Other modules include a removable battery pack, a plug-in radio interface for wireless communications, and a plug-in impact mini- printer. The unit is C-pro- grammable in Windows. You can access the removable data cassettes, as you would a normal hard drive, directly from your desktop PC's parallel port. Price: $1350 (1,889,325 lira) and up. Contact: 4P.s.r.l., Padova, Italy, +39 498 700474; fax +39 498 700943. Circle 1076 on Inquiry Card. Configuration Choice The expandable DT486 DLC-40 system is avail- able in desktop, minitower, and medium-tower models. The system has a basic con- figuration of 4 MB of RAM (expandable to 32 MB on the motherboard), dual floppy drives, an 80-MB hard drive, a Super VGA color card and monitor, a keyboard, DOS 5.0, and a serial mouse. Upgrades for the system include 120-, 170-, 200-, and 340-MB hard drives, a 2.5- MB IDE cache controller, and a Windows accelerator VGA card. You can also add Windows 3.1 and a 256-KB cache-memory module. Price: Basic system, $1299. Contact: Diamond Tech- nologies, Inc., Irvine, CA, (800) 989-7253 or (7 14) 252- 1008; fax (714) 252-1508. Circle 1077 on Inquiry Card. Desktop Power Packer The small-footprint Image 466/66i runs at 66 MHz internally and 33 MHz exter- nally. The system has 4 MB of SIMM RAM, expandable to 36 MB on the system board, and 128 KB of ROM. NEC's implementation of local-bus video technology, ImageVideo, is a dedicated video bus that operates at 33 MHz. ImageSync automati- cally synchronizes the system to the optimum frequency of one of NEC's MultiSync FG series of monitors. The sys- tem has four 8-/1 6-bit ISA expansion slots and four drive bays. Price: With a 120-MB IDE hard drive, $2501; with a 240-MB IDE hard drive, $2677. Contact: NEC Technologies, Inc., Boxborough, MA, (508) 264-8000. Circle 1078 on Inquiry Card. Multiuser System Alpha Microsystems' mul- tiuser AM- 1600LC runs on the company's proprietary operating system, AMOS, and is based on a 25-MHz MC68020 processor. Four memory slots accept 1- or 2- MB memory modules for ex- pansion (up to 8 MB). The system is available with the company's optional Virtual Personal Computer technology, which lets you execute DOS programs with- out a DOS workstation. Price: With 2 MB of RAM, four serial ports, one parallel port, a 120-MB SCSI hard drive, and a tape streamer for backup, about $7624 (£4830). Contact: Alpha Microsys- tems (GB), Ltd., Maidenhead, Berkshire, U.K., +44 628 822120. Circle 1079 on Inquiry Card. 58 BYTE • MARCH 1993 NEWS WHAT'S NEW A D D - I N S The SCSI-2 Advantage The SiliconAdvantage SCSI-2 host adapter cards provide synchronous data transfer rates as high as 10 MBps and asynchronous rates as high as 7 MBps. Able to perform complex SCSI-2 command sequences without software intervention, the cards automatically handle all command-queue responses from the SCSI devices, in ad- dition to sorting and reorder- ing commands. Other features of the cards include scatter/gather, en- hanced virtual memory per- formance by off-loading disk I/O tasks from the operating system, connect/reconnect support, and slow cable mode for noisy environments. The cards support up to 49 SCSI devices via use of logical unit numbers. Optional driver support is available for oper- ating systems such as DOS, NetWare, OS/2, Windows, SCO Unix, and Solaris. The software interface is ANSI CAM (common access method) compliant. Price: ISA card, $495; Micro Channel card, $795. Contact: Atto Technology, Inc., Amherst, NY, (716) 688-4259; fax (716) 636- 3630. Circle 1086 on Inquiry Card. Up the Resolution The LazerSetter PCL Plus provides 600- by 600-dpi resolution in PCL (Printer Control Language) mode on Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II, IID, III, and HID printers. The optional LazerTrax PostScript-compatible inter- preter can boost resolution to 1200 by 1200 dpi. A controller card that plugs into the optional I/O slot of the printers, the LazerSetter PCL Plus is based on the 960SB/16 RISC processor. On-board RAM provides fast SiliconAdvantage cards boost data throughput in SCSI-2 systems. processing without your hav- ing to add additional memory to your printer. Price: $795 and up. Contact: Bolder Systems, Inc., Boulder, CO, (800) 967- 0973 or (303) 938-9949; fax (303) 449-4005. Circle 1087 on Inquiry Card. A New View for PowerBooks Applied Engineering's BookView Imperial pseudostatic RAM and video adapter card plugs into the memory-expansion slot on the motherboard of the Apple PowerBook to let you con- nect the notebook to large color monitors. The card, which has 6 MB of RAM, provides 8-bit color and lev- els of gray. It supports stan- dard and full-page VGA, Ap- ple monitors, NTSC, and overhead projectors. Price: $11 16. Contact: Applied Engineer- ing, Dallas, TX, (800^554- 6227 or (214) 241-6060; fax (214)484-1365. Circle 1088 on Inquiry Card. DSP Boards Three data acquisition boards use a DSP (digital signal pro- cessor) chip to give you the power of signal processing on your desktop system. complete DSP subsys- & tern based on AT&T's DSP3210 chip, the Qw3210- SA signal analysis board has 136 KB of high-speed SRAM (static RAM) (expandable to more than 2 MB) and a dual- port RAM interface between the PC and the DSP. The board provides 32 MFLOPS of processing power. Each of the two channels in the board's analog I/O sub- section has a 200,000-sam- ple-per-second 16-bit A/D and D/A converter; a differ- ential-input, programmable- gain instrumentation am- plifier; and optional programmable-cutoff analog filters. Software included with the board is a C interface library and Resmon, a mem- ory-resident DSP program that sets up the hardware, re- ports on errors, and provides task-switching services. Price: $2995 . Contact: Quanlawave, Marl- borough, MA, (508) 48 1 - 9802; fax (508) 624-0942. Circle 1089 on Inquiry Card. The DSP_400 and DSP_MOD boards, based on AT&T's DSP32C chip, provide 25 MFLOPS of pro- cessing power and have up to 8 MB of zero-wait-state on- board memory. Each board has a 12.5-MHz, 32-bit paral- lel port for direct data trans- fers to the on-board memory without tying up the AT bus on your PC. Each board comes with a complete software package that provides everything you need to begin developing DSP applications. The DSP_ 400 uses individual memory chips, and the DSP_MOD uses memory modules. Price: $950 each. Contact: Symmetric Re- search, Kirkland, WA, (206) 828-6560; fax (206) 827- 3721. Circle 1090 on Inquiry Card. Sound Out Your PC A sound board that auto- matically adapts to dif- ferent voices and accents, the Cyber Audio Card lets you assemble your own vocabu- lary of voice commands. The card maintains an active 125- word vocabulary. The board includes digital audio recording and playback on two mono channels or one stereo channel at 1 1 to 44 kHz and 8- or 16-bit resolu- tion. Other features include compression/decompression as high as 4 to 1 at a 22-kHz sampling rate, a MIDI inter- face, compatibility with SoundBlaster and Adlib, and an on-board stereo mixer for three stereo channels or six mono channels. Price: $395. Contact: Alpha Systems Lab, Irvine, CA, (714)252- 01 17; fax (714) 252-0887. Circle 1091 on Inquiry Card. MARCH 1993 'BYTE 59 NEWS WHAT'S NEW CONNECTIVITY Manage Networked PCs Intel's LANDesk software tools provide simplified management of desktop PCs and related services on Novell NetWare 3.x LANs. The tools include LANDesk Manager, LANDesk Protect, and LANDesk Inventory Manager. LANDesk Manager pro- vides a single control point for all local network manage- ment solutions. The program lets you remotely view a workstation or file-server screen; query for system in- formation; control the key- board and mouse; and make changes to the system, such as moving or copying files, rebooting, and executing pro- grams. LANDesk Manager also displays statistics such as packet traffic, error rates, and utilization. LANDesk Protect continu- ously scans all network traffic to detect and isolate more than 1900 PC viruses, includ- ing common strains, self-en- crypting stealth viruses, and polymorphic (i.e., mutation engine) viruses. LANDesk Inventory Manager generates a summary of the hardware and software resources on the network to help you manage upgrades, maintenance, con- tracts, and licensing com- pliance. Price: LANDesk Manager, $1295 per server; LANDesk Protect, $995 per server; LANDesk Inventory Man- ager, $595 per server. Contact: Intel Corp., Santa Clara, CA, (408) 765-8080; fax (408) 727-2620. Circle 1092 on Inquiry Card. 14,400-bps Notebook Modem The Smart One 1442 PCM- CIA modem from Best Data Products provides note- book PC users with high- The LANDesk software tools provide LAN administration functions such as node management, network and application monitoring, virus protection, accounting, troubleshooting, capacity planning, remote control, and inventory. speed, error-corrected data transfer and faxing capability. Using built-in CCITT V.42bis and MNP level 5 data compression and V.32bis error correction, the modem lets you achieve ef- fective throughput rates of up to 57,600 bps even on dial-up lines, as well as full send- and-receive fax capability at 14,400 bps. In addition, the Smart One 1442 PCM-CIA operates in full background mode for uninterrupted operation. The modem's fax features include broadcasting of mul- tiple files to various fax ma- chines; the ability to view, rotate, and print incoming faxes; and time-scheduled transmission. You can keep data and fax numbers in a flexible phone book, and handy logs record fax and even error reports. Price: $599. Contact: Best Data Products, Inc., Chats worth, CA, (818) 773-9600; fax (818) 773- 9619. Circle 1093 on Inquiry Card. Antivirus Utility for NetWare Fifth Generation Systems' Untouchable Network NLM (NetWare loadable module) detects and recovers viruses on NetWare 386-based file servers. The package employs integrity checking on the file server to detect viruses without relying on frequent virus signature updates. A patented virus-removal technique guarantees safe restoration of recoverable in- fected files, including those hit by new, unknown viruses. The package also features on-line scanning of com- pressed and archived files and seamless integration of Untouchable Network NLM for detection and recovery of viruses at individual nodes. Price: $995 per server. Contact: Fifth Generation Systems, Inc., Baton Rouge, LA, (504) 291-7221; fax (504) 295-3268. Circle 1094 on Inquiry Card. Workgroup Connectivity With Powerfusion for Workgroups, Unix re- sides as a peer partner in the Windows for Workgroups en- vironment. The package sup- ports Unix, DOS, Windows, and Windows for Work- groups users and provides three connectivity solutions: plug-and-play operation; sup- port for Windows for Work- groups orphans, such as IBM XTs and ATs and Unix; and low memory overhead. Powerfusion for Workgroups allows network users to share resources such as disks, print- ers, keyboards, screens, and CD-ROMs. Price: DOS and Windows users, about $100 per work- station; supported Unix clients, $100 each. Contact: Performance Tech- nology, San Antonio, TX, (210) 349-2000; fax (210) 366-0123. Circle 1095 on Inquiry Card. PCMCIA Wireless Adapter A wireless LAN adapter, the RangeLAN/ PCMCIA fits the specifica- tions of the Type II PCMCIA credit-card-type slot. Using spread-spectrum technology over a range of up to 800 feet, the adapter can operate at a data rate of 242 Kbps. The RangeLAN/PCMCIA adapter provides a wireless network- ing solution to portable users, allowing them to easily set up an "instant" LAN without ca- bles or to extend an existing LAN to hard-to-reach places. The RangeLAN/PCMCIA comes with drivers for popu- lar LAN operating systems. Price: $595. Contact: Proxim, Inc., Mountain View, CA, (415) 960-1630; fax (415) 964- 5181. Circle 1096 on Inquiry Card. 60 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Why some software sejjs more than others. « Success. All software developers strived for it. Now, Don Gall P was on top of the world. Software protection made all the difference. Especially in Europe and Asia. Sales were four times better than before. He is the founding father of Sentinel — the guru of software success. Struggling Software Sales One day, trekking through the coffee fields of Java, Don ran into his old college buddy Simon Seagull. "Don, my sales are well below expectations." Simon explained his plight. "My software should sell like yours, Don!" Yet despite critical acclaim Simon's company SimonSays Software, teetered on a financial tightrope. "What's your secret, Don?" They spent hours analyzing potential problems. They looked at everything. The Key to the Problem Finally, Don leaned back and asked the assumptive question, "What about protection?" Are you using Sentinel?" Nervously, Simon sipped his coffee. His hands shaking as his eyes darted the room. "No. I didn't think I needed to." Don's chair slid out from under him and he crashed to the floor. Amazed in disbelief, Don cried, "You What?!" Grabbing his tattered scrapbook, Don pulled out photos of his travels. "Ever been to Seoul? Prague? Anywhere? Ten bucks will buy you anything even bootlegged copies of software Don's Road to Success Thumbing through the scrapbook, Don shared his experiences. "Back in the '80s, I was in your shoes - beaten, battered and bruised.' Simon listened. "Then, after a heart breaking trip around the world, I called the Software Publishers Association (SPA). "I could hardly believe it.' They told me developers lose billions of dollars each year. Why? Illegally copied software. "In some countries there are nine pirated copies for each legal copy sold." Simon was disgusted, "It's just not fair." "That's why I committed myself to solving the piracy problem." Simon's eyes lit ^\ up. "The dongle!" he shouted. Don ^ corrected him, "Not just any dongle— the dongle that paved the road to success for over 10,000 developers worldwide — Sentinel." Successful Developers Use Sentinel Don pulled a stack of letters out of his gunny sack. "All of these people tell the same story." Don read about a successful developer from California who swears she wouldn't be in business without Sentinel. Another company says protection costs less than litigation, plus they don't have to spend time and money $ i supporting illegal users. Others confessed they wouldn't market products internationally without protection. The hours flew by, story after story, Simon learned Don Gall's secret. To succeed is to protect. To protect is to secure with Sentinel. Most Advanced and widely Used Dongles in the World Backed by the world leader in software protection, Rainbow Technologies, the Sentinel Family of hardware keys is the most diverse and comprehensive selection available. For DOS,OS/2, Mac, Windows, LAN, UNIX and others. They're simple to install, and are the most reliable and compatible available. Rainbow offers just-in- time delivery and the largest technical support and engineering staff in the software protection industry. Call Don Gall today for a free copy of "The Sentinel Guide to Securing Software." Or better yet, ask him for a low cost 1^ Sentinel Evaluation kit today - complete with a working dongle! CALL 800/ 852-8569 FOR YOUR FREE GUIDE TO SECURING SOFTWARE SEIUinEL Securing the future of software When you need a dongle, you need Sentinel. The only dongle Don Gall will use. ^.RAINBOW T ECHH0L0GIES 9292 JERONIMO ROAD, IRVINE, CALIFORNIA 92718 ■ 714/ 454-2100 ■ fax 714/ 454-8557 International offices are located in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Circle 1 38 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 39). microsoft windows comfatible The Muffin Of P 1984 The Luggables ■ 35 pounds class CPU I512KRAM 1 Floppy drive I No hard drive I AC only I Monochrome display $4000 to $5000 Laptops pounds 80286-clas.s CPU RAM ve 20MB hard drive 1.5-hour battery display $4500 You've been wrestling with over-sized, over-priced portables for nine long years! Now Gateway 2000 emerges from the struggle and introduces the missing link in the evolution of portable computing. It's the HandBook, a perfect combination of portability and functionality for all on-the-go Homo Sapiens. The HandBook is a real PC in a revolutionary new form. Not a notebook, not a palmtop, the HandBook is the first fully-functional PC in a truly portable, handbook-sized form. You can easily take the HandBook anywhere because this new species measures a mere 6x10 inches and weighs only 2.75 pounds, yet it runs over 5,000 of your favorite DOS applications. You aren't stuck buying and learning proprietary "card" programs when you have a HandBook. The exclusive auto-resume feature enables the HandBook to work like no other PC you've ever seen. Auto-resume allows you to suspend the computer's operation for moments or weeks at a time, and then return to your work right where you left off - in seconds, and at the touch of a button. With the HandBook you get 40MB of hard disk capacity to easily and quickly store all your DOS programs and files. The quiet and comfortable touch-type keyboard allows you ortable Computing. 1990 The Notebooks ■ 6 lo 9 pounds ■ 80286 or 80386SX-class CPU ■ 540K RAM I Floppy drive ■ 20 to 40MB hard drive ■ 2 lo 3-hour battery ■ CGA or VGA display $2900 to $4500 Today The HandBook ■ 2.75 pounds ■ C&T CPU. 286-clus performance ■ 1MB RAM ■ 40MB hard drive ■ 4.5-hour battery ■ 640 x 400 backlil display ■ Auto-resume feature $1295 to type as fast as you can on your desktop keyboard. The HandBook' s 640 x 400 resolution backlit screen can be read in virtually any light and is large enough to display full 80-column lines of text, so you can use the HandBook whenever and wherever you need to. And the HandBook gives you all this with up to 4.5 hours of life on a replaceable battery. The Gateway HandBook was designed specifically for you - today's on-fhe-move computer user. Once you get your hands on a HandBook, you'll struggle no more with a Neanderthal artifact The HandBook was named one of the year's "Best of What's New" products by Popular Science magazine and received BYTE magazine's Award of Distinction. r GATEWM2000 "You've goi a friend in the business. " 800-846-2000 610 Gateway Drive • P.O.Box 2000 • North Sioux City. SD 57049-20 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023 ©1992 Gateway 2000, Inc., HandBook is a trademark of Gateway 2000, inc. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. WHAT'S NEW NEWS PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE Windows Charting Tools A collection of graphics and user-interface rou- tines, the Windows Charting Tools package helps C and C++ programmers add scien- tific, engineering, and busi- ness graphics to their applica- tions. The package for Windows 3.1 provides dialog boxes, high-resolution printer support, and Clipboard and metafile support. It also in- cludes a library of C func- tions that you can use to cre- ate charts such as line, area, scatter, and group plots; hori- zontal and vertical bar graphs; floating bars; error bars; open-high-low-close plots; and pie charts. Windows Charting Tools let you combine multiple chart types, data objects, and x and y axes in the same graph. You can set axes for linear and logarithmic scal- ing, and you can label axes with numeric values in deci- mal and scientific notation or with user-defined strings. You can output your charts to Windows-supported printers. Price: $400; with source code to the Quinn-Curtis Charting DLL, $800. Contact: Quinn-Curtis, Needham, MA, (617)449- 6155; fax (617) 449-6109. Circle 1 102 on Inquiry Card. Wireless Network Applications You can add wireless ca- pabilities to your new or existing applications with Motorola's WaveGuide 2.0 connectivity tool. WaveGuide provides a consistent API that lets you build applications for multiple wireless data net- works in a DOS or Windows environment with minimal code changes. The Wave- Guide API provides a high- level C-language interface that is independent of the un- Piogram flwland C++ ■ Maiwimi H:\winoraf\dalash6acl 3 2e+03 4 2e+03 5 2c*03 G 7 2c+03 2c»U3 o 2ct03 9 2c i03 With Windows Charting Tools, you can edit chart characteristics such as graph position, plot attributes, axis parameters, fonts, and data. derlying wireless network protocols and modem inter- faces. WaveGuide 2.0-based applications allow two-way data communications over ARDIS and RAM, two popu- lar wireless networks that transmit data using radio- packet technology. Price: $1495. Contact: Motorola, Inc., Ra- dioWare Solutions, Schaum- burg,IL, (708) 576-1600; fax (708) 576-0710. Circle 1 T 06 on Inquiry Card. Mac Error Detection StratosWare offers ver- sions of its error detec- tion and prevention product, MemCheck for the Macin- tosh, for the Think C and MPW C environments. Re- quiring no source code changes, MemCheck detects errors such as memory over- writes and underwrites, mem- ory leaks (i.e., failure to free allocated memory), and heap corruption. MemCheck oper- ates transparently, appearing only to report errors with ex- act file and line-number in- formation in the source code. MemCheck for the Macin- tosh can detect failures in memory allocation routines, failures in many resource op- erations, and invalid opera- tions on unlocked and purged handles, as well as the inap- propriate use of nonresource handles in Resource Manager traps. You can switch Mem- Check on or off at run time, link it out via the Production library, or compile it out with no source code changes. Price: $179.95 each; bun- dled, $239.95. Contact: StratosWare Corp., Ann Arbor, MI, (313) 996- 2944; fax (313) 747-8519. Circle 1 103 on Inquiry Card. Windows Program Generation Microlex says that its GUIDE (GUI Develop- ment Environment) tool pro- vides all the Windows pro- gram-generation facilities you need in one system. The package lets you create com- piled programs in a fourth- generation-language environ- ment, and it can handle future Windows developments such as Windows for Pen Comput- ing, Windows NT, and multi- media. Offering Novell NetWare compatibility, GUIDE pro- vides features such as entity- relationship database design tools, a menu designer, and form- and screen-design tools. Other features include interactive multidimensional graphics, comprehensive font and color-palette controls, bit-map sequencing, an inte- grated table and spreadsheet tool, and report generation and project management fa- cilities. Price: Four-user version, about $18,300 (£12,000). Contact: Microlex pic, Der- by, U.K., +44 332 290630; fax +44 332 290624. Circle 1 104 on Inquiry Card. Unix Productivity Tool WithiXBuild2.1,you can build, prototype, and test OSF/Motif-based GUIs for software applica- tions, independent of the un- derlying application. Inter- faces that you build with iXBuild are run-time inde- pendent and can run on most Unix platforms. The package includes a graphical WYSI- WYG editor, a set of Motif widgets; automatic interfac- ing to existing databases; graphical editing functions, which include a Search Edi- tor for positioning, sizing, cutting, pasting, copying, in- serting, and deleting elements of your work; context-sensi- tive on-line help; and dynam- ic testing facilities. You can also extend iXBuild 2.1 with user-defined widgets and re- sources (i.e., attributes). Price: First user license, $4500. Contact: UniPress Software, Inc., Edison, NJ, (908) 287- 2100; fax (908) 287-4929. Circle 1 105 on Inquiry Card. 64 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Since when is Raima first in Co Database Deve Raima Database Manager was the database of choice in the ; First Annual Windows World Open. The competition featured in- novative 'custom applications built with Windows development took Three of the seven winners, and two of the finalists, used Raima Database Manager to solve their critical application needs. For professional developers like yourself, Raima products offer: • High performance: unmatched application speed. • PortflbJ/^-raifeonDOS^mdow^OS/l/UN^VMS^QNX. • Royalty-free distribution; increase your, profits. • Source-code availability: total programming flexibility. • Affordable. pricing: starting at just $395. ;' ■-.•• Language support: ANSI C, C++, arid Visual Basic. Listen to what some of our customers say about pur products: "No other products matched Raima for the' price" James Lisiak, developer, Chevron "Raima provided us with speed, flexibility, and joydlty-free dis- tribution which Allowed us to meet ani exceed our customers' needs." Dave Cooper, developer, Atlantic Research Corp, (subcontractor, Naval Electronic Systems Engineering Activity) "Database Manager gave us the edge we needed to handle large amounts of data quickly and efficiently within Microsoft Windows..." Kelly Patrick, developer, PHHFantus If you're looking for an award-winning application development tool, give us a call. And discover the Raima advantage. Raima Database. Manager The high-performance dbms Raima Object Manager .jite object storage- class Ubmnj Raima Corporation IbiB NW Sammamish Rd, Suite 200 Iasaquah,,WA98027 (206)557-0200 Fax: (21 Circle 1 37 on Inquiry Co[Utrighiri992 Raitmi Ct>rporath«. All-rights reserved. - *, EY33WA 33 Windows World Play to win in the "City of Winners"...7j&^, It's two world-class events happening side by side in Atlanta... and the year's first opportunity to go to the cutting edge in computer and communications technology. • More than 1,000 exhibiting companies with thousands of exciting new products! • Plus dedicated Technology Showcases on Network Computing, Multimedia, Mobile Computing, UNIX®/Open Systems, OEM Sources, and Office and Imaging Systems! • 75,000-plus attendees... including over 5,000 international delegates from more than 70 countries! • The rollout of Windows NT— plus a world of new Windows applications! • "Featured Country" program highlighting Canada! • More than 100 separate educational conference sessions on the latest technology, business and distribution issues! • Keynote addresses from Bill Gates of Microsoft and James Cannavino of IBM... plus "CEO Perspectives" from Robert Palmer of DEC and Jim Manzi of Lotus! If you play to win in the computer industry, there's only one place to go this spring— COMDEX and WINDOWS WORLD in Atlanta! :|HbL ^^ Don't miss the next COMDEX and WINDOWS WORLD! FAX: (617) 449-2674 Hotels fill up fast— reserve your accommodations today! YES! I want to see it first at COMDEX and WINDOWS WORLD! □ Send information on attending, including hotel and travel savings. D Send information on exhibiting. n ©C@mi>IH7Spring , 93 The world's #1 computer and communications marketplace for resellers and corporate decision makers. □ !ffiWlNDOWS\W)RLD'93 The official conference and exposition on Windows computing. Produced in cooperation with Microsoft. May 24-27, 1993 Georgia World Congress Center • Atlanta, Georgia USA Name. 8LKCA . State. Zip/Postal Code. Telephone. . Country. . Fax Fax 617-449-2674 or mail to: The Interface Group, 300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02194-2722 USA. I «1993The Interlace Group • 300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02194-2722 USA. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc., a subsidiary of AT&T. Circle 93 on Inquiry Card. NEWS WHAT'S NEW • S C I E N C E / E N G I N E E R I N G SOFTWARE Scientific Graphics Grapher for Windows cre- ates presentation-quality x,y graphs for scientific and engineering applications. Graph types include line, symbol, bar, and open-high- low-close graphs. You can add vertical and horizontal error bars, with complete control over their line style, width, and color. The program provides au- tomatic or user-defined axis scaling, tick marks, labels, and legends. You can choose from linear, logarithmic, exponential, power, spline, polynomial, and running- average curve fits, with an unlimited number of curves and fits on each graph. The program supports multiple axes per graph, and you can plot several graphs on a page. Built-in drawing tools let you place rectangles, circles, areas, or points anywhere on your graphs. You can use the text editor to create text blocks with superscripts, sub- scripts, and mathematical formulas and symbols. Price: $199. Contact: Golden Software, Inc., Golden, CO, (303) 279- 1021; fax (303) 279-0909. Circle 1 1 14 on Inquiry Card. Project Visualization The CVpvs project visual- ization system for Sun, DEC, and Hewlett-Packard systems provides a virtual walk-through of large-scale 3-D CAD projects so you can see the structure and appear- ance of the project from every angle. Spatial orienta- tion features let you move forward, backward, left, right, up, and down, as well as turn and orbit. They also control zooming, the point from which a view originates, and the direction of your gaze. A 2-D scientific graphics package, Grapher for Windows supports up to 32,000 data points per curve. In mechanical and manu- facturing environments, the CVpvs software lets you in- spect complete assemblies, subassemblies, and individual components by manipulating, communicating, and animat- ing a large-scale design. The CVpvs program lets you in- terrupt display graphics, ver- ify or query nongraphics model attributes from an ex- ternal database, add notes and labels, and measure dimen- sions and distances. Price: $8925. Contact: Computervision Corp., Bedford, MA, (617) 275-1800; fax (617) 275- 2670. Circle 1 1 1 7 on Inquiry Card. Exploratory Data Analysis The latest version of Data Desk, exploratory data- analysis and graphics soft- ware for the Mac, works with an unlimited number of cases and adds multivariate general linear models, nonlinear smoothers, automated slider tools, summaries by cate- gories, derived variables, and random subset sampling. Fast calculations let you quickly pursue several analysis paths, and Data Desk 4.0 links all plots and analyses, so you can move from one to another to visualize your data in differ- ent ways. A Linear Model Outline organizes the decisions you need to make to perform lin- ear model analysis, as well as the results that linear models compute. An Overview table gives a summary of results from the analysis, so it is easy to identify factors with strong effects, factors with little or no effect, and factors whose effects are not consistent. Price: $595. Contact: Data Description, Inc., Ithaca, NY, (607) 257- 1000; fax (607) 257-4146. Circle 1 1 16 on Inquiry Card. Mathematical Modeling Ideal for technical special- ists, VisSim is an interac- tive program for mathemati- cal modeling, animated simulation, real-time control, and analysis of dynamic sys- tems. The Windows software offers more than 70 linear and nonlinear mathematical function blocks and six integration methods. To visually solve complex differential equations, you se- lect the blocks representing the standard procedures re- quired, wire them together, and run the simulation. Vis- Sim's function blocks cover most arithmetic, Boolean, transcendental, linear and nonlinear, integration, and signal-processing operations. Price: About $755 (£495). Contact: Adept Scientific Micro Systems, Ltd., Letch- worth, Hertfordshire, U.K., +44 462 480055; fax +44 462 480213. Circle 1 1 1 5 on Inquiry Card. The Engineer's Companion If you are involved in the mechanical design of struc- tures for supporting, bracing, and containment, then The Engineer's Companion may interest you. More than 100 engineering calculations let you design and analyze tor- sional and thermal deflection and stress; contact deforma- tion and stress between spheres, parallel and crossed cylinders, and spheres and cylinders on plates, as well as in sockets; beam-column in- stability; stress in curved beam sections; and mechani- cal and thermal stress and expansion in pressurized cylinders and spheres. For most calculations, you can evaluate equations for a single set of values, tabularly display or plot them over a range of a variable, or plot families of curves based on a continuous range of the vari- able and stepped over a range in a chosen parameter. Price: $199.95. Contact: Dynacomp, Inc., Webster, NY, (716)265- 4040. Circle 1 1 18 on Inquiry Card. 68 BYTE • MARCH 1993 The UltraLite Autograph is just one of the many innovations NEC has brought to portable computing. Others include the first active-matrix color notebook, the first color laptop and the first portable Docking Station™ ,n ** «k W After you see our performance * you'll want our Autograph. Applause and standing ovations. That's how people are reacting to NEC's new UltraLite Autograph!" The UltraLite Autograph is a tablet computer that's designed to provide uncompromising performance anytime, anywhere. At just 3.9 lbs., and a mere 1.2" thin, this lightweight delivers heavyweight performance. The Autograph is loaded with advanced features like a powerful i486™SL processor. 40 or 80MB* hard disk drive. A full complement of standard ports. Local bus video for dazzling video performance. A high-quality VGA transflective screen display for clear view- ing indoors and outdoors. Two PCMCIA slots for easy installation of peripherals like fax modems and local area network cards. And programmable HotZone™ icons that work like function keys to allow quick, easy access to frequently used func- tions. And there's an optional keyboard that has been customized for portable use. It comes with plenty of battery life, thanks to its 3.3-volt design that gives users significant battery life improvement depending on usage (3-5 hours with a stan- dard NiMH battery and 6-10 hours with a double-capacity battery pack). And the Autograph can run either Windows™ for Pen Computing™ or PenPoint™ software. NEC's UltraLite Autograph. You'll give its performance rave reviews. To find out where you can see the Autograph, call us at 1-800-NEC-INFO (in Canada, 1-800-343-4418) and we'll tell you where you can sign on the bottom line for one. Because it is the way you want to go. •80MB available 1st quarter 1993. Circle 11 7 on Inquiry Card. Nobody gives you as ZEDS At any Everybody is talking price, price, price. Now ZEOS is talking price, price, price and features, features, features! Right now, you get more features at lower prices from ZEOS than from anyone else! TAKE A REALLY CLOSE LOOK AT WHAT YOU GET: ■ VESA-standard local bus video — the fastest video .performance available anywhere. PC Magazine said the ZEOS 486DX2-66 "shattered our previous record. . .by nearly fourfold." Now the dazzling video perfor- mance that rated #1 with PC Magazine can be yours! I Local bus IDE hard drives. Now we've made your hard disk drive data throughput over twice as fast with local bus IDE! Dell doesn't have it; few others do either. ZEOS does. You do. ■ You get eight expansion slots, including two that support VESA-standard local bus devices with bus mastering. Expand- ability with local bus performance in mind! ■ Twin cooling fans. A ZEOS quality extra to help protect your long-term investment. One cooling fan just isn't enough to cool any modern PC, particularly at such high speeds. That's why ZEOS gives you two. ■ "An array of features to make a user's mouth water. " — PC Magazine. Such as stronger cases, high-capacity power supplies with built-in surge suppression, floppy drives by Teac, and so much more. ■ Award-winning 24-Hour-A-Day Toil-Free Technical Support. We were the first to offer 24 hour support — years ago. Even now, few offer it 'round the clock. But with ZEOS you get it, 365 days a year. ■ On-board SCSI for only $49. Add SCSI devices (such as CD-ROM) now or later and you get high per- formance on-board SCSI, cheap. "The stand-out was the ZEOS 486DX2-66 system that blew all competitors away — in some cases performing more than ten times as fast as competitors." — PC Magazine, January 26, 1993 iZIF (Zero Insertion Force) CPUup- gradability from the 486SX-25 right ' through to the 486DX2-66 and, in the future, Intel's Pentium™ -based Over- Drive'" processor. According to PC Magazine, a system that can accom- modate Intel's future generations of processors "is an advantage that you are likely to appreciate. . ." Gateway doesn't have it. ZEOS does. You do. ■ "It's hard to imagine a brighter upgrade picture." — PC World. Flash BIOS for future upgrades by disk or modem, 6-bay cases, eight slots, cache all the way to 256K. Only from ZEOS! ■ Warranties, guarantees and more. If you're not absolutely convinced your new ZEOS PC is everything we say it is and more, you have a full 30 days to return it Upgrade from a desktop to a vertical case for only $95. 1 ."-';' 1 ' : > L 9 " "' - 1 / irsim j as much price! CHOOSE FROM FOUR MONEY-SAVING PACKAGES. "The ZEOS 486DX-33 is the fastest 33-MHz 486DX-33 system we tested, and its perfor- mance even topped that of two 50-MHz 486DX2s." — PC World, February 1993, BEST BUY to us for a complete, no-ques- tions-asked refund. Plus, you're covered by our One Full Year Limited Warranty, our Express Parts Replacement Policy and our Complete Customer Satisfaction Package. ■ Don't forget, free software too. ZEOS Windows systems in- clude your choice of 1-2-3 for Windows, Ami Pro or Free- lance, plus DOS, Windows and Lotus Organizer. NOBODY GIVES YOU SO MUCH. Nobody, and we mean nobody, gives you as much as ZEOS. At any price. And frankly, in the history of our company, we've never built better PCs than these. That means a lot from a com- pany with nine PC Magazine Editors' Choice awards. SO GIVE US A CALL! You can't make a better purchase decision than to buy your own ZEOS system. So why not give us a call right now and talk with your own friendly and knowledgeable ZEOS Systems Consultant. ZEOS is absolutely your best choice. And we don't just say it. We guarantee it! CALL NOW TOLL FREE 800-554-5226 Fax Orders: 612-633-1325, Government: 800-245-2449, TDD Orders (for the hearing impaired): 800-228-5389, Outside U.S. and Canada: 612-633^131. MasterCard, VISA, Am Exp, Discover, Z-Card, COD and Leasing programs. Open 24 Hours a Day, 365 Days a Year! Purchase orders from Fortune 1000 companies, governments and institutions subject to approval. Leasing programs available. All prices and specifications are subject to change without notice. Please call to confirm pricing, specifications and warranty details. All products and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. © 1993 ZEOS International, Ltd., 1301 Industrial Blvd., Minneapolis, MN 55413 USA. ZEOS is a publicly traded company. (NASDAQ symbol: ZEOS). UPGR-BYT-9303 Or we can custom-build a system to #1 #2 #3 #4 your exact specifications. Just call us! $1395 1895 2195 2595 486SX-25 $1495 1995 2295 2695 486SX-33 $1595 2095 2395 2795 486DX-33 $1695 2195 2495 2895 486DX2-50 $1795 2295 2595 2995 486DX2-66 ■ ■ ■ ■ Intel 486 CPU ■ ■ ■ ■ ZIF upgrade socket 2 4 8 16 MB of RAM expandable to 64MB on motherboard 85 130 245 340 High-speed IDE hard drive (MB) 32K 32K 128K 256K Built-in hard drive cache ■ ■ ■ Local bus IDE hard drive interface 16 16 12 12 Seek time (ms) ■ ■ ■ ■ 1.2MB Teac floppy drive 1.44MB Teac floppy drive ■ ZEOS 14" high-resolution mono VGA monitor ZEOS 14" high-resolution 1024x768 non-interlaced SVGA monitor .28 .28 .28 .28 Monitor dot pitch (mm) 1MB high-speed VESA local bus card Eight expansion slots including two VESA local bus Two serial ports, one parallel port Shadow RAM/EMS support Optional on-board SCSI port Flash BIOS High capacity 200 W power supply and built-in surge suppression ZEOS SpaceSaver case with six drive bays Two cooling fans ZEOS 101-key tactile/click keyboard Microsoft DOS 5.0 and Windows Microsoft Mouse Choice of 1-2-3, Ami Pro or Freelance Graphics Lotus Organizer ■ ■ ■ ■ 24-Hour-A-Day Toll-Free Technical Support ■ ■ ■ ■ 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee ■ ■ ■ ■ One Year Limited Warranty Circle 1 69 on Inquiry Card. NEWS WHAT'S NEW OTHER SOFTWARE Automate MIDI Devices Mark of the Unicorn of- fers Unisyn, a universal MIDI system editor/librarian program for the Mac. Unisyn gives you control over popu- lar MIDI synthesizers and de- vices with integrated editing, librarian, and database func- tions to create, store, and manage synthesizer sounds and other MIDI device con- figurations. A graphical inter- face lets you edit patches and sounds, and Unisyn 's on- screen sliders, buttons, and other controls facilitate pro- gramming even complex synthesizers. The Performance function memorizes and restores the settings for an entire MIDI studio. You can build li- braries of complete studio configurations as well as sep- arate libraries for individual synthesizers and MIDI de- vices. Database functions let you tag sounds with multiple user-definable keywords. In addition, Unisyn lets you freely move patches among libraries, banks, and devices' internal memory. Price: $395. Contact: Mark of the Uni- corn, Inc., Cambridge, MA, (617) 576-2760; fax (617) 576-3609. Circle 1 140 on Inquiry Card. Retrieve SQL Data IQ Access can selectively retrieve and automatically reformat data for use with popular desktop applications such as Lotus 1-2-3, Mi- crosoft Excel, WordPerfect, dBase, and Microsoft Word for Windows, as well as Btrieve, ASCII, and DIF files. The program for Unix SQL RDBMSes (relational database management sys- tems) from Oracle, Sybase, Ingres, and Informix allows File Edit Region Basics Change Windoius Audio Help a»© Bism OXJDMQk FLfiV rflUJf Rid 61 II fil?: Sal's Samba ^ffiiaaiay^y^seq Edit; Start: 1|l|QQQ Conductor Audio- 1 Audio-2 Audio-3 Audio-4 SNARE KICK CONGA DROP BLOCK GO GO BELLS SHAKER TOM cymbal crash BASS Bass .Obi PIANO BRASS Track-3 STRINGS t2 n a o ': 1 If I 1 i ill Unisyn lets you create performance snapshots of an entire MIDI studio, including individual patches and entire banks, and control patches, setups, and sounds for all the devices in your MIDI system. authorized users in an organi- zation to access corporate data and, with just a few keystrokes, move it into their spreadsheets, word process- ing documents, or mail/merge files. There are no import routines or cleanup proce- dures because IQ Access handles the data conversions automatically. The program is designed to take advantage of vendor- specific optimizing features, such as Sybase's dynamic SQL capability and Ingres's histogram-based query opti- mizer. In addition to the four Unix SQL RDBMSes, IQ Ac- cess will also be available for about 60 other databases and ISAM (indexed sequential- access method) file systems on DOS, VAX/VMS, and Data General's AOS/VS, as well as 35 Unix hardware platforms. In client/server environments, the DOS ver- sion of IQ Access will work with software such as Ora- cle's SQL Net, Informix's I-Net, and IngresNet. Price: $1000 to $42,500, de- pending on the CPU; client/ server, $2500 for a five-pack; network versions, $1500 and up. Contact: IQ Software Corp., Norcross, GA, (404) 446- 8880; fax (404) 448-4088. Circle 1 141 on Inquiry Card. Documents to Data Now ListReader dbR lets you convert printed or typed documents to data records without keyboard en- try. The Windows product SPREAD THE WORD Please address new products information to New Products Editors, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. The press release should contain the product description, price, ship date, and an address and telephone number where readers can get more in- formation. scans document pages, recog- nizes the text, and automati- cally places it into the correct data field. You can convert many kinds of documents, in- cluding lists, forms, or tables, and output data for DBMSes or spreadsheets at speeds of up to 2500 records per hour. You can combine the lists, forms, or tables in any combi- nation for complex docu- ments. The program also sup- ports one-to-many relationships for documents that have a master/detail ar- rangement. You create tem- plates that tell ListReader dbR what to expect from in- dividual pages — from simple mailing lists to complex in- surance forms. Price: $895. Contact: Solea Systems, Inc., Laguna Hills, CA, (714) 768-7736; fax (714) 380- 8950. Circle 1 142 on Inquiry Card. Voice Annotation for WordPerfect With VoiceOver, you can annotate your Word- Perfect 5. 1 documents with comments in your own voice. The program lets you record sounds, which it then stores within the WordPerfect docu- ment. Voice annotations ap- pear on the screen as standard WordPerfect comments, and they include each annota- tion's author, date, time of creation, and length. In addi- tion, you can cut and paste voice annotations like stan- dard WordPerfect comments. VoiceOver also works over a network. You can access VoiceOver documents on a file server or send them as an attachment via E-mail. Price: Single-user license, $129. Contact: Rational Data Sys- tems, San Rafael, CA, (415) 499-3354; fax (415) 499- 8115. Circle 1 143 on Inquiry Card. 72 BYTE • MARCH 1993 USER'S COLUMN JERRY POURNELLE CD-ROM Secrets It has been a frantically interesting month. I finished Prince of Sparta, A Novel of Falkenb erg's Legion by Jerry Pournelle and S. M. Stirling (Baen Books) two days ago. By the time you read this, you will be able to buy copies, which is astounding. Jim Baen takes my Word for Windows text, translates it to Xy- Write for prepping, pours it into Ventura Publisher, and prints out page proofs. Copyediting corrections are fed in. The book is then formatted, printed out with the LaserJet in Baskerville typeface, and photoreduced to proper page size. Go buy a copy and compare: I'll bet you the print quality will be as good as that of any other paperback original you'll find. I did Prince of Sparta in Microsoft Word for Win- dows (W4W for short). Steve Stirling did a partial Word- Perfect draft from my outline. Then I used Mastersoft's Word for Word to convert his files to Q&A Write format, which is what I use for creative writing; but this time the first job was extensive editing of Stirling's draft, which is a great deal more easily done in W4W. I piped everything through Word for Word again, converting files to the Word for DOS format because Word for Word doesn't recognize W4W files. However, W4W reads Word for DOS files. Amazingly, everything went fine. On a 486/33, W4W is very fast. While I get frustrated by some of its arcane command structure, I am getting used to it; and it is very powerful. I can keep an entire book in W4W, use book- marks at each chapter beginning or critical scene, and jump around like nobody's business. If I want to be sure of a character's name or make global changes, search and replace is very fast over the whole novel. Jim Baen is a publisher, but he is also one of the best editors I've worked with. I'd PKZip each newly finished chapter and use ZMODEM protocol to squirt it up to BIX at 9600 bps with the USRobotics Courier HST V.32bis modem in about a minute; the whole book took under 5 minutes. Jim would download the latest version from BIX and upload editorial comments. I could then make editorial changes, such as expanding a scene to explain an apparent plot glitch or character inconsisten- cy, and use search and replace to find the exact spot where a change was needed. Sometimes we'd work by telephone. Toward the end, I was creating a new chapter de novo every two days. I would not have finished the book on time without W4W; and it wouldn't be typeset and in bookstores in such a short time without desktop pub- lishing capability. Little computers are wonderful. Integrating a CD-ROM drive with Windows for Workgroups can be tricky CD-ROM and Workgroups I say I've been using Windows, but actually I am using Windows for Workgroups, henceforth W4WG; and it's not quite the same thing. The primary difference is network capability. With W4WG going, I can periodically squirt off a copy of my work to another machine, which makes for great peace of mind. Writers tend to be paranoid about losing text, and I don't really feel that work is saved until there are mul- tiple copies on multiple ma- chines; W4WG makes that easy to do. On the other hand, I nearly went nuts getting the CD-ROM drive to work with W4WG. The good news is that I did suc- ceed. My CD-ROM system ran fine with Windows 3.1. I was using a Corel driver card and software and a Toshiba CD- ROM drive, and all was well; but when I shifted to Windows so I could use W4WG, any at- tempt to access the CD-ROM while I was in Windows would lock up the machine. The infu- riating part was that everything worked just fine as long as I was in DOS; but as soon as I got into Windows, accessing the CD-ROM drive locked things tight. I could recover from the lockup by doing Ctrl- Alt-Del, which would get me back to the program manager; but it certainly wasn't accept- able not to have a CD-ROM drive. Then things got worse. I did something, I forget what, to CONFIG.SYS, and this time I was able to get the CD- ROM going in Windows. Joy. I told File Manager to share that CD-ROM drive on the network and went over to another machine on the network and accessed the CD- ROM. More joy. And then came disaster. I got an error message I had never seen: SERIOUS DISK ERROR. Other mysterious things happened, and not even hardware reset worked. I had to turn the ma- chine stone-cold off, and when I rebooted, CHKDSK ILLUSTRATION: STEVE TURKB1993 MARCH 1993 -BYTE 73 Circle 83 on Inquiry Card. USER'S COLUMN For A Fast, Accurate, Color Video Frame Grabber? Checkout The 'Eyes! h1l¥- ComputerEyes/RT amcordcr Or < omposite and nputs Jupports All Common PC mage File Formats •ncludes CineMaker Movie Capture Software With Support For Popular Sound Boards Developers Software Package Available i ComputerEyes/RT- $599.95 Monochrome-only Version Also Available - $399.95 Also Check Out The New Low-Cost TelevEyes VGA-to-TV Converter - Just $299.95! See Your Dealer Or Call For More Information And Free Demo Disk Digital Vision, Inc. 270 Bridge St., Dedham, MA 02026 (61 7) 329-5400 (800) 346-0090 said my disk was a mess. That was cured by my rebooting with a floppy disk — if you haven't made a bare-bones (no CON- FIG.SYS and no AUTOEXEC.BAT) boot floppy disk for your system, go do it right now! Then I let Norton Disk Doctor do its thing. I could boot up again, but now, any attempt to access Windows failed. Up would come the Windows logo, then my wallpaper (I like EGYPT.BMP), and then that hourglass would sit there, and nothing would happen. Not good. I went back into CONFIG.SYS and RE- MARKed out every reference to the CD- ROM drive, rebooted, and tried again. This time Windows told me that my swap file was corrupt, and did I want to erase it? Certainly, said I. It then said that it was impossible to share the E (CD-ROM) drive, and did I want that shared on start- up in future? No, no, a thousand times no; and that fixed things so that I could access Windows again. Of course, it still didn't get me a CD-ROM drive. By this time I was talking to half a doz- en Microsoft people who were eager to help, but nothing helped. The problem was passed upstairs to a senior Microsoft tech- nical-support official, who said, "Ah, we know about that one. He's got to use the new MSCDEX.EXE that comes with W4WG, and it must have the /S switch in the command line that loads it." Alas, while those are both important points, I was already using the new MSCDEX and W4WG Setup had automatically added the /S option in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Be Relentless I got a lot of advice from other technical- support people, but nothing worked. Time for my never-failing remedy, the relent- less application of logic. Start with when it last worked. That was under Windows 3.1, and I had carefully made no needless changes while convert- ing to W4WG; so what changes had I made? One of them was obvious: I had added the Intel EtherExpress board that comes with the W4WG Starter Kit. Be- fore I did that, I'd used Dariana's Win- Sleuth Gold to determine what port ad- dresses and interrupts were in use and print out a report. This is one of those programs that you don't use often, but when you need it, you need it bad. This time, though, I hadn't needed Win- Sleuth: the Intel Softset program looks for any conflicts and then reprograms the net- work board to an unused address and in- terrupts. It's very painless. I used Win- Sleuth Gold to have another look, and yep, it could see the EtherExpress board just fine, and it was indeed located in what WinSleuth reported previously as unused locations. It didn't look as if there were hardware conflicts; still, the first step in relentless logic is to remove all possible conflicts, so I removed the Sound Blaster card. No joy. CD-ROM worked in DOS, but it locked up in W4WG. Next step: edit CONFIG.SYS to RE- MARK out all references to network driv- er software and run Softset again. When you do that, Softset sees the existing card and assumes that its current interrupt and address are in use; so it finds new ones and reprograms the board accordingly. Thus, if I were accidentally stepping on something already in use because Softset hadn't seen that the first time, this proce- dure, by relocating the board, should have cured that problem. No joy. Symptoms unchanged. In fact, it made no difference whether I let CON- FIG.SYS load the network drivers or I left them REMARKed out; meaning that it might not be the network that was caus- ing the problem. OK, it wasn't hardware. Microsoft tech- nical support told me thousands of people were successfully using W4WG with CD- ROM, so it wasn't inherently impossible. Simplify the software, then. First thing, remove QEMM-386, the Quarterdeck memory manager, and stop loading things into high memory, and see if that works; and in fact it did. The only trouble was that I now had about 400 KB of memory. While that's no problem for people who use Windows ap- plications exclusively, about half the pro- grams I run are DOS applications, and most of them want a lot more than 400 KB. Games, in particular, want upwards of 570 KB to run properly. Some Win- dows users get around that by rebooting the machine using a separate bare-bones CONFIG.SYS that doesn't load any TSR programs; then they play games and run other memory-hog programs in DOS. That doesn't appeal to me. I want big DOS ses- sions under Windows. I reloaded QEMM and did more exper- imenting. I won't report all the tedious work that was involved. The result was that I found the secrets, some as a result of tips from Stafford Williamson of Quarter- deck's technical-support group and some by working on my own. Here, published for the first time anywhere, is the secret for CD-ROM under W4WG while retain- ing 600 KB of memory for DOS sessions under Windows. The Secret The secret of success is that in W4WG you can load MSCDEX into extended 74 BYTE • MARCH 1993 MINUTEMAN TAKES CHARGE IN OVER 1000 JCPENNEY STORES. Every time JCPenney sells a pair of jeans, a toaster or a bottle of perfume, MINUTE- MAN takes charge. 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"There was a violent surge in one of our stores, " says Patefleld. "If we didn t have the MINUTEMAN unit, it probably would have seriously damaged all of our point-of-sale equipment. "The key was the switch-over time from AC to battery," says Patefleld. "It really has the best continuity of the UPS systems we evaluated. Also, the price was very favorable. When you 're installing them in as many locations as we are, the pricing was very attractive." custom solutions. MINUTEMAN PRODUCTS: • On-line and standby UPS 300VAtolOKVA ■ Shutdown software for every available operating system • Automatic voltage regulators • Surge suppressors • International models ■ Two year warranty Call our toll-free POWER HOTLINE now for your free Power Protection Guide. (800) 238-7272 MINUTEBMAN UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLIES Reduced prices up to 36% Call for complete price list. Circle 121 on Inquiry Card. 6 1992 Para Systems, Inc., 1455 LeMay Drive, Carrollton, Texas 75007 (214) 446-7363 (214) 446-9011 fax USER'S COLUMN memory (the /E switch works fine), but you must not let QEMM load MSCDEX high. I know that won't be clear to every- one, so I'll give details. Set up your system without QEMM and get it running properly with the CD-ROM in DOS. Now install W4WG (if it wasn't already installed). When all that's done, you'll have about 400 KB of memory. Now, working in DOS, install QEMM and let its Optimize program do its thing. You may or may not need to do some memory exclusions. In particular, nearly every sys- tem will need the line X=B000-B7FF to exclude some video areas from being used by QEMM; and if you have a caching disk drive controller or other SCSI device, you will need to exclude its address area as well. The next time you boot up your system, you'll probably get some loud complaints. 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Picture new power for host applica- tions with KEAterm 340 for Windows. ^ Full VT340/420 Terminal emulation ► ReGIS, Tektronix & sixel graphics ^ Multi-sessions ► Multilingual menus ► Copy & paste ^- DDE ► File transfer ► Network interfaces ► Script language ► On-screen buttons KEAterm 340 KEA Systems Ltd. Call 1-800-663-8702 Phone: (604) 431-0727 Fax: (604)431-0818 KEA Spisn, Ltd. 3733 Natti Frasei Way. Unt 101 , Bumaby, BC. Canada VBJ 5G1 KEAW. KEAtam ZSTEM. PWaStafon. KEA artitta respecto bjs are tafemarts tt KEA Syaems Ltd Al offer ward and product names are trateTfiitecr Copynn.nl G KEA SYSTEMS LTD . 1 S92. Al ngris resawd ble-buffered SMARTDRV comes in two parts: a chunk that's loaded by CON- FIG.SYS and another that's loaded by AUTOEXEC.BAT. It's the CONFIG.SYS part that's causing the problem; that can't be loaded high, but Optimize will have a try at it. The remedy is simple. Look into CON- FIG.SYS (I use the little editor that's built into Norton Commander for this sort of thing). If you see a line that begins DE- VICE=:\QEMM\LOADHI.SYS, gives a couple of parameters, and continues :\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE /DOU- BLE_BUFFER, delete parts of that line so that it reads DEVICE=:\WINDOWS\ SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER. You can also move the altered line up above the line that loads QEMM in case you need to use Optimize again. Once that's done, it doesn't hurt to put the statement DBF=2 into the QEMM com- mand line. Now reboot. You shouldn't receive any more complaints, and your CD-ROM ought to work fine in DOS. Test to be sure it does. However, if you enter W4WG and try to access the CD-ROM drive, it will probably lock up (although it would work just fine in Windows 3.1). Even if it does not, don't take chances: exit Windows and edit AUTOEXEC.BAT. In there you will find a command that begins :\QEMM\LOADHI and then has some parameters, continues with :\WIN- DOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /S /V, and then has some more stuff. There may or may not be a /E in there after the MSCDEX. If there isn't one, put one in there. Now edit the line so that all traces of the QEMM attempt to load high are gone; that is, delete until the line begins :\WINDOWS\ MSCDEX.EXE and do not change any- thing after the MSCDEX except to add /E if needed. The /S is also needed, but I pre- sume that W4WG's Setup will have added it automatically. Now reboot. Your system should have something over 590 KB of DOS memory, and your CD-ROM will work fine in both DOS and Windows. I don't want to take up the whole col- umn with this, so I'll explain what's going on another time. Adding Network Resources You might think that a writer has no need for networked computers, but that's not so. One major reason I want a network is to access resources that I simply can't pack onto my main system. In particular, 1 want the Pioneer read/write optical cartridge drive (files written to a glass disk are pret- ty safe), a WORM drive (files burned into a good WORM drive are nearly eternal), 76 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Circle 96 on Inquiry Card. ALSO A VA I L A B L E IN NEW CD-ROM MODEL NOW BACKPACK IS SMALLER. AND FASTER. We've just made it easier to backup your hard drive with our 250 MB parallel port tape backup unit. One model works with all PC compatibles and portables. Here's why: Backpack is easy to install. Plug Backpack into the parallel printer port. Then plug the printer into Backpack! Backpack requires no cards. Backpack is 30% smaller (1.5" h x 4" w x 7.75" I). Backpack is easy to transport and share between computers (2.5 lbs). Backpack can backup at a speed of up to 9 MB per minute. Backpack is a QIC 80 compat- ible and can read QIC 40 tapes. Backpack is available in 3.5" and 5.25" diskette, tape and hard disk models. So don't get left in the dust. Call for more information today. Micro Solutions, 132 W. Lin- coln Hwy., DeKalb, IL 60115, 815-756-3411, FAX: 815-756-2928 backpack Li IVIicro5olution5 Computer Products Circle 108 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 109). 1 36 great products save J your time and energy. . . Visual Basic for DOS by Microsoft Corporation Draw forms, controls; write event-procedures; create custom controls — in DOS! Create new apps or com- bine with existing (7C+ + or Pascal code. Highly com- patible witli Visual Basic for Windows. Run existing Quick Basic/Basic PDS axle! 80x86 compiler creates 100% standalone .EXE files; 386 code generation; MOVE overlays; an integrated ISAM and much more! LIST PS Price PRO $495 $339 Standard $199 $139 FastFaxts 502-408: (PRO) , 502-407: (Stand.) ProtoGen 3.0 by Protoview NEW VERSION! The industry standard for code generation and prototyping Windows applications. Develop the user interface of your application using Visual prototyping methods. ProtoGen generates expert level, commented code for ANSI C, Microsoft MEG C++, Borland OWL C++, Turbo Pascal, and Microsoft NT Win32. All generators included! User Code is preserved from one generation to the next. It's easy and fast. LIST; $199 PS Price: $99 FastFaxts 211 5-009. WindowsMAKER Professional by Blue Sky Software™ Considered the easiest and fastest way to create MS-Windows applications in C/C++. Generate the Windows .EXE w/complete source & produc- tion files (no royalties) . Just Point & Click to define the Windows user interface. Lets you ani- mate your design to instantly test look & feel and make changes on the fly without needing to compile. Custom code is preserved during code regeneration. The leading development tool for Microsoft Windows. Highly Recommended. LIST: $995 PS Price: $895 FastFaxts 2001-006 Distinct TCP/IP for Windows by Distinct Corporation Distinct TCP/IP for Windows SDK extends the TCP/IP and RPC/XDR networking capabilities to Microsoft Windows. Includes the smallest and fastest DLLs today available for Berkeley Sockets, RPC, Telnet, and FTP. Coexists on the same board with l.an Manager, Novell and Banyan. Supports Packets, NDIS and ODI dri- vers. Only 5KB of DOS memory required. (SDK) LIST: $495 PS Price: $439 (AppIications)U$T. $395 PS Price: $379 FastFaxts 1951-003:(SDK), 1951-007:(App.) Visual Basic for Windows 2.0 by Microsoft Corporation When you need to create a Windows application quickly, nothing offers the sheer productivity of Microsoft Visual Basic 2.0, Standard Edition. A visual development environment, flexible pro- gramming language, and fast runtime execution make this the shortest route to full-featured Windows applications. The Professional Edition includes messaging and data access capabilities, a wide variety of add-on tools, and more. LIST PS Price PRO $495 $399 Standard $199 $139 FastFaxts 502-443: (FRO), 502-431; (Stand. ) WATCOM C9.0/386 byWATCOM Develop and debug 32-bit applications for extended DOS, Windows and OS/2 2.0. Includes royalty-free 32-bit DOS extender, true 32-bit Windows GUI Application Kit, our bust, tight, and reliable 32-bit Code Optimizer, licensed Microsoft Windows SDK Components, an interactive Source-Level Debugger, an Execution Profiler and more! Now includes OS/2 2.0 support. LIST: $895 PS Price: $599 FastFaxts 1044-029 SVS C3 ANSI C, Pascal, or FORTRAN-77 by Silicon Valley Software Only from the Programmer's Shop! ANSI compliant, optimizing, 32-bit compilers; DPMI-compliant, royalty-free DOS extender; source level debugger; utilities. Supports "flat model" code. Linker, librarian, make, 1387 emulation, W3 1/4 167 support. Interoperable languages! Call: 413-572-880 LIST PS Price ANSI C $325 $315 Pascal $325 $315 FORTRAN $395 $375 FastFaxts 1958-048: (C), 1958-050: (Pascal), 1958-049: (FORTRAN) The PKWARE Data Compression Library by PKWARE The PKWARE Data Compression Library allows software developers to add data com- pression technology to applications. The application program controls all data I/O, allowing data to be compressed or extracted to any device or area of memory. Only 35K of memory is needed to compress data, and only 12K is needed to extract data. Compatible with MSC, BC++, TC, TP 6.0, Clipper, Basic 4.5, 7.1, ASM. LIST: $295 PS Price: $275 FastFaxts 3043-01 1 To Order Call D 1-800-421-8006 Create and Deliver Professional Applications with New CA- Clipper 5.2 Create And Deliver Professional Applications With CA- Clipper CA-Clipper consists of a robust language, an efficient linker, flexible preprocessor and high-performance compiler. Together with tools such as an editor, debugger and make utility, these elements form a complete development system for the creation and distribution of professional PC and LAN-based applications. Only CA-Clipper gives you an open programming environment with high-level networking, data entry and database support. The extended memory system capability of CA-Clipper gives you additional power to build faster, more sophisticated applications. CA-Clipper Shatters DOS Memory Barriers • Dynamic overlay management lets you run applications that exceed available RAM — without the need to manually create overlays • Virtual memory management allows applications to have up to several megabytes of strings and arrays Open Architecture: Freedom to Grow • Customize CA-Clipper with user-defined commands and functions • Build generic libraries to eliminate repetitive programming tasks • Build specialized libraries for applications such as accounting, real estate and personnel • Seamlessly integrate modules from languages such as C, Assembler, dBASE* and Pascal • Access data transparently from foreign data sources with Replaceable Database Drivers and function libraries (available separately), including data on LAN database servers and mainframes via gateways Simplicity and Control: The Optimal Balance • Descriptive function/command names and concise operators promote language fluency • Syntax ranges from simple, expressive commands to precise string and file primitives for minimal programming with maximum control • CA-Clipper promotes disciplined, modular programming for easier debugging, simplified maintenance and greater code reusability • High level "objects" simplify the construction of sophisticated interfaces. Build pop-up and pull-down menus, custom BROWSEs and text editors quickly and easily Open Networking: Freedom to Connect • Create and distribute multiuser applications without LAN Packs or workstation licenses • Applications run on all networks which support MS-DOS 3.1 and higher • Modest memory requirements allow smooth operation with even the largest network shells To Order Call PC Magazine Editor's Choice CA-Clipper, version 5.01 received the PC Magazine Editor's Choice award for Xbase Development Systems in May 1992. qomputer Associates Software superior by design. Full-featured record and file locking gives developers precise concurrency control Intelligent design permits read-through record and file locks Applications run quickly and reliably, even as networks evolve • Connect to IAN database servers with Replaceable Database Driver's (available separately) Free Distribution of Applications • CA-Clipper produces executable applications (EXEs) that you may distribute without additional cost • Multiuser CA-Clipper applications require NO licenses, NO runtime fees andNOLANPacks Capacity • Procedures per application: unlimited • Functions per application: unlimited • Array size: 4,096 elements per dimen- sion, unlimited dimensions • Expanded Memory use: to 32 MB • Virtual memory: up to 64 MB (main memory, expanded memory, hard disk space); up to 16 MB of object memory (character strings, arrays); up to 9 MB (main memory, expanded memory) for database buffering Supplied Database Driver (DBF Format) • 1 billion records per data file • 1,000 fields per record • Over 200 open data files (limited to file handles) • 15 active indexes per open data file • Character fields (fixed length): 65,536 characters • Numeric fields: 30 digits, precision up to 16 significant digits • Support for logical fields (true/false) • Date fields: 01/01/0100-12/31/2999 • Memo fields (variable length): 65,536 character's System Requirements CA-Clipper 5.2 requires an IBM PS/2. AT, XT, PC or its compatibles; 640K RAM; expanded memory requires UM 3.2 or higher; hard disk required for development; DOS 3. 1 or higher; works with all networks compatible with DOS 3.1 or higher. For a limited time only! Clipper users can upgrade to version 5.2 for only $139- A competitive upgrade is also being offered for a limited time to all Xbase system users for only $179, and you'll receive a free CA-dBFast, CA-Clipper Tools or CA-Clipper/Compiler Kit for dBASE TV (your choice). To qualify for the competitive upgrade, fax a copy of your manual cover to 617-749-2018. To order, call the Programmer's Shop at 800-421-8006. Hurry, time is of the essence. Call to place your order today. Mention Code BY393 I 1-800-421-8006 USER'S COLUMN and the Pioneer six-pack CD-ROM Mini- changer. I had the Pioneer R/W optical drive and the Minichanger in a SCSI daisy chain run by a Corel interface card. They were run- ning fine, but as a test, I had, with some help from Alan Rogers ("arog" on BIX), converted that machine to run under DR DOS 6.0. It worked fine, and I so reported, but networking a DR DOS machine into my Windows system was not something I would get done in time for this column. Converting back turned out to be hard- er than you'd think, because DOS 5.0 gen- erally comes as an upgrade, not as a stand- alone product. Somewhere I suppose there are floppy disks of the original DOS that came with that 486 machine, but this is Chaos Manor: the chances of finding them are about nil. The solution was to boot with a bare- bones DOS floppy disk that contains SYS.COM, use Norton Commander to find and delete all the hidden system files in the machine's root directory, and use the SYS command to install the system from the boot floppy disk. I could then re- boot from the hard disk and use the Mi- crosoft DOS 5.0 and Windows upgrade package to complete the job. Next I restored the original CONFIG .SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT so that the machine would access the optical and CD- ROM drives. That turned out to be a te- dious job, but eventually I had it done. Moreover, when I brought up Windows and opened File Manager, there were drives D (the optical drive), and E, F, G, H, I, and J, the six CD-ROM drives on the Minichanger. Joy. At this point I confess a lapse of faith. Remembering the problems I had with converting my main system with one CD- ROM to W4WG, I was so certain I was going to have real problems connecting up to a system with six CD-ROMs and an optical drive that I sent off E-mail to the long-suffering Microsoft PR people, who must pretend to like putting up with my problems, and a copy to the Corel people in case I needed help from them. Inciden- tally, when it comes to systems integra- tion, Corel has always proved to be a tower of strength. They really understand SCSI and other peripheral devices and how to make them work with both DOS and Win- dows. Having confessed my breach of faith, I proceeded to open the machine and insert the EtherExpress board, run Softset and let it choose where to set the board, connect the Ethernet cable and terminator to the new machine, and install W4WG. When that was done, I tested nothing: I entered Windows, opened File Manager — and Lo!, there were all my assets, and they all worked. When I told the system to share them (CD-ROM as read only, the Pioneer drive as read and write), it made no com- plaint. I then put Microsoft Bookshelf into one of the six CD-ROM slots, went over to my main machine, and proceeded to in- stall Bookshelf across the network. It works wonderfully. It's a little slow- er than what I can get with the Bookshelf disk in the CD-ROM drive connected to my local machine, but that's probably because my local drive is faster than the Pioneer Minichanger. That, incidentally, is about to change. At Comdex, Pioneer showed me a new Minichanger that is so blazingly fast I can hardly believe it, and I'm supposed to have one about the time you read this. And in any event, what I've got now is Good Enough, and the installation was harder to describe than to do. Once you ...Shop the Shop. Janus/ Ada for Windows by R. R. Software Janus/Ada for MS Windows is a complete implementation of Ada for Windows. Windows Applications can be developed in Ada when the Toolkit is used with the Janus/Ada PDS. Hosted on 80386 and 80486 platforms, the Windows toolkit with PDS includes: royalty-free runtime libraries, Ada- sensitive editor, Ada make utility, Ada syntax checker and pretty printer, Full Chapter 13 support including C interfacing, assembler, and tutorial. LIST: $900 PS Price: $849 FastFaxts 586-061 Q+E Database Library by Pioneer Software Q+E Database Library provides complete database connectivity to Windows and OS/2 applications using Dynamic Link Libraries. QELIB can read, insert, update, create or delete database records for the following data- base formats: Btrieve, dBASE, DB2, Excel files, INGRES, NetWare SQL, Oracle, OS/2 DBM, Paradox, SQI/400, SQLBase, SQL/DS, SQL Server, Sybase, Tandem NonStop SQL, text files, andXDB. LIST: $399 PS Price: $339 FastFaxts 2137-012 But wait, there's more: Bargains galore! LIST PS • After Dark for Windows 50 28 • Blinker 299 269 • Borland C++ 3.1 495 319 • BTricve for DOS 595 399 • Carbon Copy 6.1 199 165 • Clarion Prof. Developer 2. i 845 469 • CA Clipper 5.2 795 499 • DESQview 386 220 149 Call the P ro gr ■ UCt like I con • DR DOS • LapLink Pro • Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows • Microsoft Excel • Microsoft Windows 3.1 • Microsoft Word (Windows) • Norton Desktop for Windows • Norton Utilities Programmer's Shop today: Mention Code BY393 Call FastFaxts for product information any time, day or night. 617-740-0025. Get free information on all of our more than 10,000 products any time you like • Dial from a fax machine or fax-board equipped PC • Follow the voice computer's instructions • Receive literature instantly via fax LIST PS LIST PS 99 59 • Object Vision 2.1 150 115 170 109 • ProComm Plus 129 89 495 359 • QuattroPro 495 349 495 329 • R&R Report Writer Xbase Ed. 249 159 150 99 • WATCOM C 9.0/386 895 599 495 339 • WordPerfect 495 279 179 139 • 286/DOS Extender SDK 2.5 495 435 179 115 • 386/DOS Extender SDK 495 435 1-800-421-8006 Canada 800-446-3846 MA 617-740-2510 FAX: 617-749-2018 90 Industrial Park Road, Hingham, MA 02043 • Credit card orders processed only when product is shipped • All prices subject to Chang. • International prices will vary The only Windows statistics package you'll ever need. NEW SYSTEM® for WINDOWS #1 for DOS and Windows Rated "the best general-purpose statistics program" for the PC by Software Digest"', SYSTAT for DOS is now joined by SYSTAT for Win- dows. This addition to the SYSTAT family takes full advantage of Windows, with pull down menus, dialog boxes, sizable windows, and the ease of use you expect in a Windows package. SYSTAT for Windows runs in standard and 386 enhanced modes and can take advantage of Win- dows advanced memory manage- ment. No matter how large or complex your analysis is, you can use SYSTAT. SYSTAT delivers a balance of power and simplicity. It lets you analyze and manipulate data with a comprehensive range of advanced statistical procedures, and present your results with stunning graphics. Just point and click SYSTAT is a full-fledged Windows application. Just point and click. SYSTAT's QuickStat™ buttons give you simple, single-click shortcuts to common statistical analyses. More statistics, from the basic to the most sophisticated A full range of univariate and multivariate statistics-from t tests to multidimensional scaling. With a few clicks you can turn most sta- tistics into graphs and perform: ■ multiway crosstabs with log linear modeling ■ nonparametric statistics ■ principal components and factor analysis ■ cluster analysis ■ time series ■ nonlinear estimation ■ correlation matrices ■ means, effect, and dummy models ■ post hoc tests SYSTAT offers the most advanced multivariate general lin- ear model available for Windows. The most graphics No other statistical or graphics package can produce all the scien- tific and technical graphs that SYSTAT can-nor surpass its ease of use. Graphics capabilities include: ■ histograms ■ single, multiple, stacked, and range bar graphs ■ single and grouped box plots ■ stem-and-leaf diagrams ■ pie charts ■ scatterplot matrices ■ 3-D data and function plots ■ contour plots ■ control charts ■ maps with geographic projections ■ Chernoff faces ■ complete color spectrum ■ log and power scales ■ confidence intervals and ellipses ■ linear, quadratic, step, spline, polynomial, LOWESS, expo- nential, and log smoothing A compatible family of products Whichever you choose -SYSTAT for Windows, SYSTAT for DOS or both-you'll enjoy the most power- ful statistics and scientific graphics software available for the PC. For more information, special offers for current users, and demo disks, call: 708-864 : 5670 For Windows circle 1 50, For IBM/DOS circle 151. SYSTAT For more information call or write: SYSTAT, Inc., 1800 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60201-3793. Tel: 708.864.5670, Fax: 708.492.3567 Australia: Hearne Marketing 61.3.8661766, BeNeLux Countries: Oasis 31.3402.66336, Denmark: Agrolab 45.64.406575, France: Deltasoft 33.76.418508, Germany: STATCON 49.55.4272075, Italy: PiSoft 39.587.213640, Japan: HuLinks 81 .33.5902311, Malaysia: Dagang Teknik 6.03.719.8299, New Zealand: Hoare & Assoc. 64.78.562675, Spain: AdrJLink 34.3.4590722, Switzerland: Fritschy & Partner 41.31.215151, SYSTAT UK: 44.81.4620093 © 1992 SYSTAT®, Inc. Software Digest Ratings fleportttS May, 1991. Software Digest is a registered trademark ot NSTL, Inc. USER'S COLUMN have a W4WG network running, adding assets to it really is simple. LAN Alternatives The major advantage to W4WG is the simplicity. You can set it up quickly, and you don't have to know about network management to use it. However, there are limits to what W4WG can do (it won't, for example, run on a 286 machine). Much more on that another time, but you should be aware of alternatives. One is to install Novell NetWare and run W4WG on top of it. That works, but there are disadvantages, two chief ones being that it costs money and you end up with limited DOS memory. The other is not to use W4WG, but use regular Windows and Artisoft's LANtas- tic for Windows. This has the added ad- vantage that you can network in Artisoft's Central Station, which is a network hub without computer to which you can plug in your laptop and other assets for sharing ARE YOU SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME DRAWING FLOWCHARTS? YOU NEED FLOW CHARTING '"3. livery day, professionals worldwide save time and money using Flow Charting 3. It's fast, efficient, easy to use, and always produces presentation-perfect charts and diagrams. With Flow Charting 3's built-in flexibility, you can create customized charts using a variety of shapes, lines, and text — placed where you want them. Plus, Flow Charting 3 is now available in a LAN version. Making it easy to share files and set up work groups for specific projects. And it's backed with free technical support and a 90-day no-risk guarantee. So if you're spending too much time drawing charts, call for a free demo and see for yourself what makes Flow Charting 3 the best-selling flowcharting software. See your dealer today! Or for a free interactive demo disk,call 1-800-525-0082, ext. 112 International: 408-778-6557, ext. 112 a PATT0N&PATT0N Software Corporation Irademark of Novell, Inc. Excellence in charting the flow of ideas! Patton & Patton Software Corp. 485 Cochrane Circle, Morgan Hill, CA 95037 across the network. Another advantage is that you can hook up LANtastic for Win- dows and LANtastic for the Mac, thus net- working the different platforms with some- thing a lot faster and better than AppleTalk. I have all the Artisoft products, and I'll set up a LANtastic network as soon as I have a bit of time. This is indeed the Year of the LAN, and I expect to be doing a lot of LAN development and testing before it's over. Creative's Multimedia Upgrade There hasn't been a lot of multimedia soft- ware, but I think the flood is about to be- gin. Even if it doesn't, there are a lot of good reasons to upgrade your system by adding a CD-ROM drive, and if you don't have a sound board, you're missing some- thing. Of course, you can add a CD-ROM drive to any SCSI device string, and there are a dozen sound boards ranging from expensive professional systems down to swap-meet el cheapos. For that matter, Mi- crosoft has come out with a new Windows sound system. Interestingly, the Microsoft sound board has no joystick port: the prod- uct manager claims they consulted busi- nesspeople, and the overwhelming opinion was that business purchasers would pay extra not to have a game port. One won- ders what that means; after all, you can control most games quite nicely with a mouse.... Anyway, one simple way to add multi- media capability is to get the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Multimedia Upgrade Kit. This comes with a CD-ROM controller on a Sound Blaster Pro card, an internally mountable CD-ROM drive, a MIDI adapt- er kit, all kinds of software, lots of books about the software, and a bunch of CD- ROMs, including Windows 3.1, various sound stuff, Microsoft Works, Microsoft Bookshelf, and Sherlock Holmes, Con- sulting Detective. The software includes Macromedia's Authorware Star and Ac- tion programs, and they're actually pretty nifty for ginning up multimedia presenta- tions. The instructions for installing the Sound Blaster Pro are complete. The board comes set to IRQ (interrupt request) 7 but tells how to set it for other possibilities, in- cluding IRQ 10. Since nothing I know uses IRQ 10, and I might one day want to add something that uses 7, I set mine for 10. Otherwise, I used the default settings. Sound Blaster Pro comes with an installa- tion disk that includes a test of whether or not the board is working: just click, and music plays. No problem, so now it was time to install the CD-ROM drive. I already had a Corel card and CD-ROM 82 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Circle 122 on Inquiry Card. Numbers. TravelMate 1 " 4000 WinSX™ or WinDX™ • 486 SX/25MHz or 486 DX/25MHz • 4MB RAM std. (20MB max.) • 120MB HDD • 5.6 pounds $2,799/$3,299 SRP* TravelMate 4000 WinDX2™ •486DX2/50MHz • 8MB RAM std. (20MB max.) • 200 MB HDD • 5.6 pounds $3,899 SRP* TravelMate 4000 WinSX COLOR •486SX/25MHz • 4MB RAM std. (20 MB max.) • 120 MB HDD • 6.3 pounds $3,699 SRP* TravelMate 4000 WinDX2 COLOR • 486 DX2/40MHz • 8MB RAM std. (20MB max.) • 200MB HDD • 6.3 pounds $4,499 SRP* Texas Instruments comes on strong with the widest selection of powerful 486 notebooks at incredible prices. From 25MHz to the world's most powerful 50MHz notebook in a 5.6- pound package, there's a TI TravelMate just for you. Take a look at these numbers. You get superior 486 performance with an extraordinary three to five hours of battery life. On our color models, you get 256 simultaneous brilliant colors on a large 9.4" display. All these numbers add up to outstanding performance and value. There's one more tant number. For more information and the dealer nearest you, call 1-800-527-3500. lmpor- la MICROSOFT® WINDOWS™ READY-TO-RUN * Texas Instruments TravelMate, WinSX, WinDX and WinDX2 are trademarks of Texas Instruments, The Ready-ro*Run logo Is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The Intel Inside logo is a trademark of Intel Corporation. *Manutacturcr's Suggested Retail Trice. Dealer prices may vary. © 1992 Tl 76574 Circle 1 53 on Inquiry Card. USER'S COLUMN drive, and you have seen what I had gone through trying to get it working with W4WG, so I was a bit reluctant to change; but what the heck, it was only a couple of hours' work, and whatever happened I'd get a story for the column, so I yanked the Corel card and started in. There were two problems: the instruc- tions said, "refer to the instructions that came with your CD-ROM drive." There was another instruction sheet, but that got lost in the chaos. That turned out not to be a problem: it was obvious where the ca- bles connected, and they were keyed so that it was impossible to attach them the wrong way. The second problem was a bit more se- rious: there is no mounting hardware with the drive. It does come with four tiny drive screws, but there are no mounting rails, nothing to hold the drive in the drive bay. Some computers come with lots of extra mounting hardware, but my Cheetah 486 didn't. I managed a kludge that permitted me to install the drive, but be warned, if you get Creative's kit, be sure you have hardware to mount an internal drive in your computer. That done, I ran the CD-ROM installa- tion program. That is, there is a program on the Creative disk entitled INST-CD.EXE, and having lost the instructions, that seemed reasonable. It wouldn't work: the program would get ready to install and then suddenly announce that it couldn't find SBPCD.SYS. This was odd, because I could see that SBPCD.SYS was on the installation flop- py disk. Then I noticed a file called CD- DRIVE. BAT, and sure enough, running that did the job. The CD-ROM was in- stalled. I rebooted, and I could read the E drive. Since Sherlock Holmes comes with the Creative package, that looked like a good test program. So I put in the CD-ROM, logged on to E, got a directory to be sure I was properly reading the CD-ROM, and ran SHERLOCK.EXE. The system trun- dled for a moment and announced that I had no compatible sound card. Then it dumped me back to DOS. It seemed very odd that a program bun- dled with the Sound Blaster Pro card, and running on a CD-ROM drive controlled by a Sound Blaster Pro card, would be un- able to find the Sound Blaster Pro card. I tested the card, both with its test program and with a couple of games, and there was no problem. Eventually, I wondered if changing the IRQ from 7 to 10 had anything to do with it. I pulled the sound card and moved the jumper; and Lo!, up came the Sherlock Holmes game. Apparently the game de- signers hard-coded the interrupt, and no one at Creative has tested Sherlock Holmes with a Sound Blaster Pro set to IRQ 10. Sigh. I left mine set to the default IRQ 7 so that I could fool around with the Sherlock Holmes game, but that's not really very satisfactory. Once I was sure that the CD-ROM was working in DOS, I let Optimize do its thing and then fixed AUTOEXEC.BAT so that MSCDEX.EXE wasn't trying to load high. That gives me 598-KB DOS sessions un- der Windows; and the CD-ROM works just fine, both on my local machine and shared across the network. It's a good, fast drive, and having the CD-ROM drive mounted internally certainly saves space. My friend Rich Heimlich, who does game testing, says that the Creative CD-ROM and Sound Blaster Pro boards are com- patible with more games than any other. If you want to upgrade to multimedia, this A PORTABLE DISK DRIVE YOU'LL l\IEUBf OUTGROW. Valitek sets the standard for die next generation of portable disk i wiih the new Valitek PST -M0128. It's a 3.5" rewritable magneto-optical system dial delivers unlimited portable disk storage. Simply connect il lo the parallel, serial or SCSI port on anv PC or Mac, and store up to 12!i MB of data on a single interchangeable disk. Like ever)' Valitek, the PST -MO 128 features an industrial -grade steel case that stands up to wear and tear. It's built to last in today's hard-knock portable environments. II you can't afford to lose a single bii of data, get a Valitek - the new PST 2 -M0128ora best-sellin valitek high capacity tape drive. VALITEK 100 University Drive, Amherst, MA 01002 CALL: 1-800-VALITEK or 413-549-2700 FAX: 41 3-549-2900 From the worldwide leafier in parallel/serial technology 84 BYTE • MARCH 1 993 Circle 160 on Inquiry Card. New Version 5.0 ofPhar lip's 386IDOS-Extender™ i i Microsoft® C/C++ users: the wait is over! Now you can finally build multi- megabyte 32-bit DOS applications with your familiar Microsoft tools! Version 5.0 of Phar Lap's ' 386IDOS-Extenderlets you run Microsoft's 32-bit Windows NT C/C++ compiler under DOS. You get all the advantages of Phar Lap's industry-leading DOS extender technology, while using the most popular C/C++ compiler available. Multi- megabyte 32-bit DOS development has never been easier. Award-winning 32> technology. 386IDOS-Extender turns DOS into a 32-bit operating environment with a flat, workstation-like address space. Your programs can access all the memory in the machine — up to 4 gigabytes! — and take advantage of true 32-bit speed and power. No more segmentation or overlay hassles. And in addition to 32-bit Microsoft C/C++, 386IDOS-Extender supports a wide range of 32- bit languages, including Fortran, Pascal, Ada, Assembler and other C and C++ compilers. An add-on Run-Time Kit is also available for delivering Extended-DOS applications to customers. bit BYTE CSLW l Ll.i,..i.1 LANGUAGE IJJ.I.W.ilWJ LANGUAGE U.M.IIMIVi.'J Industry-leading compatibility. 386IDOS-Extender is compatible with more than 60 popular libraries and utilities, making it easy to select the best tools on the market for your 32-bit development. Choose from user interface libraries including C-scape, DataWindows/386, WNDX and Vermont Views Plus; graphics libraries including HALO Professional, HOOPS and MetaWlNDOW/PREMIUM; database libraries including AccSys, CodeBase and Raima Data Manager; class libraries including Tools.h++ and Math.h++; and many others. Only 386IDOS-Extender can offer you the universal third-party support you need. "the highest quality 32-bit DOS extender available" -Robert Wenig, Autodesk See how much (aster your 32-bit DOS version could run: support. 386IDOS-Extender, Version 5.0 gives you the full functionality of j the Microsoft run- time libraries, including graphics. You can still make all your 16-bit Microsoft C/C++ calls — but now with 32-bit power! New source-level debugger. 386IDOS-Extender, Version 5.0 includes Phar Lap's new 386ISRCBug, a powerful 32-bit source code debugger for protected mode 386IDOS-Extender applications. 286 1 DOS-Extender - the easy way to build multi-megabyte 16-bit DOS applications. If you'd rather use 16-bit Microsoft C/C++, Borland C++ or Microsoft Fortran, then Phar Lap's award-winning 286IDOS-Extender™ is your solution. With 286IDOS-Extender, your program can break the 640K DOS barrier and access up to 16 megabytes of memory on any 80286 or higher DOS-based PC. You can even use CodeView or Turbo Debugger to debug your protected mode program. Phar Lap Software, Inc. 60 Aberdeen Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 617-661-1510 FAX 617-876-2972 286IDOS-E)Uender and 3861DOS-Extendsr arc trademarks and Phar Lap is a registered trademark of Phar Lap Software, Ine. Borland and Turbo Debugger are registered trademarks of Borland International. Windows NT is a trademark and CodeView and Microsoft arc registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Oilier product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Circle 128 on Inquiry Card. BEFORE PROTECTING YOUR SOFTWARE... WcutSo^o»e ...against piracy and unauthorized use, make sure that your protection system has all the following qualities: A GOOD HARDWARE KEY Hardware-based software protection systems are now the standard worldwide. However, not all keys are the same. A good key should have all the following features: t/ Compatibility and transpa- rency. The key should work without any problem on your , customers' computers. The user should be able to forget the key after connecting it. }/ Unbreakable electronics. A customized ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) component should be integrated in the key. This prevents reverse engineering and makes cracking virtually impossible. l/ A unique and inaccessible software developer's code burnt into the ASIC. (This code should not be held in the key's memory, where it can be read and altered.) V A Read/Write Memory inside the key should be available on demand. The memory should be writable in the field, on any PC, without any special programming equipment. V Veiy low power consumption, enabling the key to work even under the worst power conditions, on PCs and laptops, with or without a printer. POWERFUL SOFTWARE Since it's practi- cally impossible to crack or duplicate a key having all the features mentioned above, a pirate will usually go for the software linking the protected program to the key. Therefore, check that your protection soft- ware has all of the following: }/ A Linkable Protection Module with which calls can be made to the key from any point in the protected program l/ An "Envelope" installation program. Such programs enhance security while making it possible to protect a software even without its source code. \/ Sophisticated antidebugging and encryption mechanisms. HASP®, THE PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE PROTECTION SYSTEM, OFFERS YOU ALL THESE FEATURES AND MORE: HASP was designed by a team of computer experts, professional cryptologists, and electrical engineers. As a result, HASP keys are supported by what is probably the best software in the market, and the HASP system has worked on every computer it has been tried on. In addition to all the features mentioned above, HASP provides: V A Full Autl System for protecting dozens of programs using only one key. l/ A Patterr Code Securii J System (PCS) ^ enabling parallel processing of multiple calls by the Linkable Protection Module. V A Virus Detection option that can be incorporated in the protected program to check whether it has been infected by a virus or tampered with in any way. V Several HASP keys can be daisy-chained. NETHASP, SOFTWARE PROTECTION FOR NETWORKS \/ Only one NetHASP key is needed to run a protected program from many stations in a network. NetHASP provides full support for protecting DOS and WINDOWS software under network environments, including Novell dedicated 6c non- dedicated servers, Lan Manager, Lantastic, Banyan, DLink, and NET-BIOS jased LANs. N A TEST CARRIED OUT BY AN INDEPENDENT LAB, HASP WAS THE ONLY KEY WHICH WAS NOT BROKEN*. OPERATING ENVIRONMENTS S/ PC: DOS, WINDOWS, OS/2, SCO UNIX, SCO XENIX, INTERACTIVE UNIX, AIX, AUTOCAD, DOS EXTENDERS \/ MAC (ADB Port): System 6.0.5 and up \/ NEC (Serial Port): DOS, WINDOWS AND THE BOTTOM LINE: We offer some of the most competitive prices in the market. Since 1984, HASP has enabled thousands of software producers in more than 40 countries, including several Fortune 500 companies, to protect their software. To learn more about why so many professionals have chosen HASP, call us lor our low price evaluation package. o LADD1N SOFTWARE SECURITY INC. North 200 Broadhollow Rd, Suite #207 America: Melville, NY 11747, USA Tel: 800-223 4277 516-424 5100 Fax:516-424 8300 International ALADDIN Office: KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS LTD. 15 Beit Oved St., Tel-Aviv, Israel P.O.Box:11141 Tel-Aviv 61 110, Tel: 972-3-5375795 Fax: 972-3-5375796 ■ Australia Conlab Ply. Ltd., Tel: 3 8985685 ■ Belgium Akkermans bvba, Tel: 3 2338826 ■ CSFR ATLAS Ltd., Tel+Fax: 2 766085 ■ Chile Micrologica S.A., Tel: 562 222 1388 ■ Denmark SC Metric a/.s, Tel: 42 804200 ■ France Logidata Intl., Tel: 50707375 ■ Germany CSS GmbH, Tel: 201 749860 ■ Greece Unibrain SA. Tel: 1 6856320 ■ Holland Akkermans BV, Tel: 45 241444 ■ Italy Fanner Data S.r.L. Tel: 2 33101709 ■ Korea Dae-A Engineering, Tel: 2 848 4481 ■ New Zealand Training Solutions, Tel: 4 566601-1 ■ Poland Systherm Tel: 06] 45065 ■ Portugal Futurmatica Lda., Tel: 1 4116269 ■ South Africa D Le Roux, Tel: 1 1 886 4704 ■ Spain PC Hardware, Tel: 3 4493193 ■ Switzerland Opag AG, Tel: 61 7112245 ■ Taiwan Teco Ltd., Tel: 2-555 9676 ■ Turkey Mikrobeta Ltd., Tel: 4-4677504 ' CT Magazine, May 1990. G> Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd. 1985-1992 See us at CeBIT '93, Hall 018, Floor LOG, Booth B20 Circle 63 on Inquiry Card. Circle 143 on Inquiry Card. USER'S COLUMN is a good way to do it, and in fact the in- stallation is simpler than describing it has been. Recommended. Power Japanese Want to learn Japanese? If so, Power Jap- anese looks like what you need. You get some flash cards, a dictionary, 15 high- density 3M-inch disks of software, a sound- converter gizmo to attach to your printer port, a set of headphones, some exercise books, a dictionary, and instructions. I don't know Japanese, and at my age I'm not likely to learn a new language, so I'm not sure I'm competent to judge the effectiveness of this as a learning tool. It seems to do what you'd want it to: it shows you how to draw and pronounce different Japanese characters, both katakana and hiragana, and has workbooks for you to practice doing those in. It will also show you on-screen other styles of Japanese, in- cluding classical Ming. Meanwhile, the program talks to you. Hear the words, and see it written out on-screen. The speech adapter is small enough that you would have no trouble with it on a portable machine, so instead of watching bad movies and drinking too much on your next flight, you could be learning Japanese. Learning a new language is more de- pendent on the determination of the learn- er than on the instruction method, and I'm not at all sure that if you're serious about learning Japanese, you won't be better off getting human instruction; but if you'd like to try it on your own first, this looks to be the way to do it. With those caveats, recommended. From Space to Dinosaurs If you ever wonder what's the point of multimedia, get one of the Knowledge Ad- venture products. I've previously written about two of their products, Knowledge Adventure and Science Adventure; now they've got two more, Space Adventure and Dinosaur Adventure. Both are won- derful, combining beautiful VGA images, interactive maps and diagrams, and all kinds of other great stuff. I cannot imagine any kid in the world who wouldn't want to spend hours playing with either of these programs. Heck, / like playing with them. You don't need a CD-ROM drive for Dinosaur Adventure. You do need a good bit of hard disk space and a sound board: Sound Blaster Pro works just fine. If you don't have a sound board, these programs alone justify installing one. Knowledge Adventure is a candidate for a big Orchid and a Chaos Manor User's Choice Award, and it gets a highly recommended rating. This is what educational software ought to be. QCESSOR & UPG PS/2 Processor Upgrades. 486 upgrades for Models 70 & 80 386 upgrades for Models 50, 50z & 60 M Sio^ess 535 Mb 340 Mb Mb fi '■'■ 33 MHz Speed! Zero-Slot Solution! 5BK446|BSayf orlejaiisf W ZjSisma Data mm THE UJ>eRAfe>6 SPECIALISTS 'vP.OrBOX 1700, NEW LONDONv NEW HAMPSHIRE 03257 FAX 603-526-6915 saavaDdn 3Aiaci ^ aossaDOHd Aaowaw 3d The Compleat AI This is a CD-ROM in ISO-9660 format (meaning it is readable by PCs, Macs, Amigas, Unix systems, and almost any- thing not coal-powered) with hundreds of AI and related programs. Want source code to a dozen versions of the Eliza program, including one you can put on your BBS to talk to people? An artificial-life pro- gram? Expert-system builder? Neural-net- work builder, including source code to simulate a cockroach brain? It's all here, and more, in FORTRAN, Prolog, Lisp, and even BASIC. There are also hundreds of articles about AI and related matters and tutorials on using many of these pro- grams. It's the most complete collection you're likely to see anywhere. Steve and Susan Chance Rainwater, the principals of Network Cybernetics, told me about this as they drove me to the air- port from a speaking engagement a few months ago; this project is more a labor of love than a profit-making venture. In- cidentally, they're OS/2 and Ami Pro en- thusiasts. Clearly, you can get CD-ROM systems running with OS/2, even if I've had rather bad luck with it myself. If you have any interest whatever in AI, natural-language processing, neural net- works, artificial life, or related subjects, get this disk, for either yourself or your users group; you won't be disappointed. Recommended. Trantor MiniSCSI This product, the T348 MiniSCSI Plus, is darned near perfect. It consists of a cable to connect your parallel port to any SCSI de- vice, such as an external hard drive or CD- ROM; software to install the MiniSCSI; and a needless cable to connect your print- er to the MiniSCSI cable so that you can print when you're not using the parallel port for SCSI. That last cable is needless because any old Centronics printer cable will do; but the FCC requires them to fur- nish this expensive thing because using your own cable might result in some ra- dio noise detectable 10 feet away. Your tax dollars at work. Installing the software is absurdly sim- ple. In my case, I wanted to put the T348 MiniSCSI Plus on my Gateway Hand- Book: this wonderful little portable com- puter can access its floppy drive only through the parallel port, so it would be an interesting test. It turned out to be sim- ple: I created a directory called FOO, copied the floppy disk to it, replaced the floppy drive with the MiniSCSI cable con- nected to a Toshiba CD-ROM, logged on to FOO, and did an automatic installation. That's it. In seconds, I was reading the CD-ROM drive. What else can I say? It works, it's easy to install, and it's another candidate for a Chaos Manor User's Choice Award. Rec- ommended, continued MARCH 1993 • BYTE 87 USER'S COLUMN Winding Down The computer books of the month are both from Sams. First, Gary Entsminger's Se- crets of the Visual Basic Masters (Sams, 1992). An understanding of Visual Basic is important to everyone working much with Windows, since more and more Windows programs have hooks to interface with it. This is an excellent intermediate-level book on writing, debugging, and error- proofing Visual Basic programs. Second, John M. Goodman's Memory Management for All of Us (Sams, 1992). The most complete exposition on memory management I know of is in Quarterdeck's manuals for QEMM and Desqview. Un- fortunately, they are great for reference but unreadable for learning. Goodman's book takes a difficult subject and gives you considerable understanding of it. Reading this wouldn't have solved my CD-ROM/W4WG problem, but knowing what's in this book gave me the approach I needed. If you wonder what the differ- ences between 386Max and QEMM are, this is the book that will tell you, and a lot more. The book of the month is Graham Fuller's The Democracy Trap: Perils of the Post Cold War World (Dutton, 1991). Fuller is a former diplomat and intelli- gence officer, and he has some of the clear- est views on the subject of foreign policy I've seen since Stefan Possony stopped publishing. The game of the month is Quantum Quality Productions' Battles of Destiny. Think of this as Empire died and, if not gone to heaven, then at least to heaven's anteroom. The perfect improvement to Em- pire hasn't come, but this one is a valiant attempt. There are some frustrations in the user interface, but if you want to handle enormous armies and try your hand at air/land battle planning, this will do it. A second game of the month is MicroProse's Ancient Art of War in the Skies, and while you can play arcade sequences if you like, the fun part to me is strategic. As is usually the case, I've still got a huge pile of really good stuff here and no space to write about it. I love it. Next month, a pile of new CD-ROMs and more about networking, including alternatives to W4WG. ■ Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy- chology and is a science fiction writer who also earns a comfortable living writing about computers present and future. Jeny welcomes readers' comments and opin- ions. Send a self-addressed, stamped en- velope to Jerry Pournelle, do BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Please put your address on the let- ter as well as on the envelope. Due to the high volume of letters, Jerry cannot guar- antee a personal reply. You can also con- tact him on BIX as "jerryp." ITEMS DISCUSSED Ancient Art of War in the Skies $59.95 MicroProse Software, Inc. 180LakefrontDr. Hunt Valley, MD 21030 (800) 879-7529 (410)771-1151 Circle 1 153 on Inquiry Card. Battles of Destiny $59.95 Quantum Quality Productions, Inc. 1046 River Ave. Flemington, NJ 08822 (908) 788-2799 Circle 1 1 54 on Inquiry Card. The Compleat AI CD-ROM $129 Network Cybernetics Corp. 4201 Wingren Rd., Suite 202 Irving, TX 75062 (214) 650-2002 fax: (214) 650-1929 Circle 1 1 55 on Inquiry Card. Dinosaur Adventure $49.95 Space Adventure $99.95 Knowledge Adventure, Inc. 4502 Dyer St. La Crescenta, CA 91214 (800) 542-4240 (818)542-4200 fax:(818)542-4205 Circle 1 1 56 on Inquiry Card. Power Japanese $389 BayWare, Inc. 1720 South Amphlett Blvd., Suite 205 San Mateo, CA 94402 (800) 538-8867 (415)312-0980 fax:(415)578-1884 Circle 1 157 on Inquiry Card. QEMM-386 6.0 $99.95 Quarterdeck Office Systems, Inc. 150 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 (800) 354-3222 (310)392-9851 fax:(310)314-4217 Circle 1 158 on Inquiry Card. Sound Blaster Multimedia Upgrade Kit $799.95 Creative Labs, Inc. 1901 McCarthy Blvd. Milpitas, CA 95035 (800) 998-5227 (408) 428-6600 fax:(408)428-6611 Circle 1 159 on Inquiry Card. T348 MiniSCSI Plus $229 Trantor Systems, Ltd. 5415 Randall Place Fremont, CA 94538 (800) 872-6867 (510)770-1400 fax:(510)770-9910 Circle 1 160 on Inquiry Card. Ventura Publisher $795 Ventura Software, Inc. 15175 Innovation Dr. San Diego, CA 92128 (800) 822-8221 (619)673-0172 fax:(619)673-7562 Circle 1161 on Inquiry Card. Windows for Workgroups $249.95 Windows for Workgroups Starter Kit $849.95 Word for Windows 2.0 $495 Microsoft Corp. 1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 (800) 426-9400 (206) 882-8080 fax: (206) 936-7329 Circle 1 162 on Inquiry Card. WinSleuth Gold 3.04 $169 Dariana, Inc. 5241 Lincoln Ave., Suite B5 Cypress, CA 90630 (800) 892-9950 (714)236-1380 fax: (714) 236-1390 Circle 1 163 on Inquiry Card. 88 BYTE • MARCH 1993 SUPERIOR DISPLAYS ARE PART OF OUR HERITAGE. June 30, 1992 FlexScan FBSOI FlexScan F550I Three hundred years ago, our ancestors in the Nanao area of Japan created Kutani, one of the classic styles of Japanese porcelain that is meticulously crafted for display. Inspired by their vision to create such colorful, intricate art, we recreate the richest, deepest colors in our innovative computer displays: the distinguished Nanao FlexScan 6 monitor family. Inherited with a discerning eye and practiced touch, we finely tune every monitor, bringing you displays with a brilliant palette and clear, sharp images - retaining a tradition that reflects our vibrant history and parallels the technology of today. From the affordable 15" to the 21" big-screen, our FlexScan family features top-of-the line flat-square CRTs with ergonomic enhancements including easy- to-use microprocessor-based controls, flicker-free refresh rates and a healthy work environment that meets the Swedish MPR II and TCO low emission standards. We've also added ecological features such as an energy-saving auto-power ON/OFF switch. And all of our monitors optimize performance for Windows users or CAD/CAM, DTP professionals. From generations of finely-crafted displays, our renowned monitor family continues a heritage that is uniquely Nanao. 23535 Telo Avenue, Torrance, CA 90505 (310)325-5202 NANAO Superior in every detail™ 1-800-800-5202 NANAO U.S.A. CORPORATION Circle 1 1 4 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 115). MVPI Finalist FlexScan F340IW COVER STORY FEATURE Smarter E-Mail Is Coming Rebuilding your business processes to take advantage of E-mail promises dramatic productivity gains ANDY REINHARDT Forget for a moment the confusing alphabet soup of E-mail acronyms. Look past the gateways, switches, and battles over APIs. Despite these hurdles, it's only a matter of time before E-mail is as pervasive and easy to use as the tele- phone system. Once E-mail nirvana arrives, huge changes will occur. Organizations that have already implemented enterprise-wide E-mail find that it flattens the management hierarchy, improves project tracking, and speeds time to market for new products or services. E-mail's greatest benefit, however, goes beyond ad hoc exchange of in- formation among employees: Messaging is the foundation for a new wave of work- group software packages that will alter traditional work structures and could dra- matically boost productivity. "Mail should not be thought of as an application," says Eugene Lee, director of product planning for mail software vendor Beyond (Cambridge, MA). "It's an en- abling technology." After years of wrangling with complicated client/server technologies such as RPCs (remote-procedure calls), users and developers are discovering that E-mail's store-and-forward, network-independent messaging provides many of the same capabilities for a fraction of the cost and complexity (see the text box "The Mes- saging Model" on page 92). In effect, messaging enables a type of do-it-yourself dis- tributed computing. "People tend to think of mail today as messages sent between people, but that's just the tip of the iceberg," says John Rymer, an analyst with the Patricia Seybold Office Computing Group (Boston, MA) and the editor of the Distributed Comput- ing Monitor. E-mail can also be used for communication between people and pro- cesses — known as virtual users — or even among processes themselves; in fact, Rymer says, most communication between applications will ultimately use E-mail transports. Applications that will build on the messaging infrastructure include multimedia mail, fax routing, database access, scheduling, and document sharing (see figure 1). Perhaps the most promising avenue is the broad category known as work flow, which encompasses information routing, task automation, and decision support. "We've spent millions of dollars on E-mail," says Larry Quinlan, the manager of LAN services for the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche (Atlanta, GA), "and you can't get a good return on investment from simple messaging alone." Organizations 90 BYTE • MARCH 1993 PHOTOGRAPHY: ELLE SCHUSTER fc) 5993 MARCH 1993 • BYTE 91 E-MAIL The Messaging Model To facilitate interoperability among mail systems, vendors are de- coupling the front-end mail client from the back-end mail server. Most packages today, such as cc:Mail and Microsoft Mail, supply both the client and the server in a single box and use their own proprietary message transports. The exception is Novell (Provo, UT), whose MHS (Message Handling Ser- vice) has used a client/server architec- ture with a published API for more than five years; Novell doesn't market an MHS client, leaving that instead to companies such as Da Vinci Systems (Raleigh, NC) and Beyond (Cambridge, MA). The implications of this shift are twofold. First, breaking the link be- tween the client and server lets cus- tomers use whatever combination of front and back ends they choose. Sec- ond, an open interface exposes the mail transport for use by applications other than a mail client; conventional pro- ductivity packages (e.g., word proces- sors and spreadsheets) will be able to talk directly to mail engines, and new types of workgroup applications can be built on top of the mail transport. It is often cheaper and easier to im- plement distributed computing with messaging than with client/server RPCs (remote procedure calls). RPCs use live "virtual circuits" between applications and require expensive equipment such as high-speed routers and private Tl phone links for WAN (wide-area net- work) implementations. "The bottom line is that people want a simple method of routing informa- tion, "says Rick Bohdanowicz, direc- tor of messaging for Novell. E-mail is cost-effective, he says, because users can implement their own schemes using off-the-shelf software, modems, and dial-up phone lines. Store-and-forward is a good mech- anism for remote access, because it places less of a burden on field systems and communications links than does a client/server architecture. LAN man- agers concerned about network band- width also appreciate that using mes- saging instead of virtual circuits frees up network resources for time-critical tasks. Messaging can also play a role in connecting desktop systems to host pro- grams, says John Rymer of the Patricia Seybold Office Computing Group (Boston, MA). For example, you could communicate with a system not de- signed for the distributed world by giv- ing it an interface for messaging. Compared to the hard-wired design of client/server programs, Rymer says, the more generic messaging interface can prove to be a vital asset in today's climate of corporate mergers and di- vestitures. "If you're a corporate de- veloper, you need to build applications that can interface easily to new sys- tems," he adds. BUILDING E-MAIL AWARENESS User agents Mail-enabled applications i >< £ Message store (data) Work-flow engines (process) A A A\ , l , Directories Distributed database This boundary keeps moving up Distributed-mail backbone The routed network Local-area plumbing Wide-area plumbing Network infrastructure Figure 1: The messaging architecture of the future will let mail-enabled applications and messaging agents communicate interchangeably with message stores and work-flow engines. This layered design permits users to use the networks, mail services, and front ends of their choice. that use E-mail find that it quickly becomes a vital part of their in- formation structure. E-mail is the "de facto mechanism" for mov- ing files at the Social Security Administration (Baltimore, MD), says Jan Hoffman, director of intelligent workstations and LAN engineering. The agency has a network of 15,000 PCs running NetWare and cc:Mail. A fax server routes incoming and outgo- ing faxes, and staffers use E-mail to update databases. Future projects may include tracking and monitoring letters and the use of digital signatures for approving documents. Companies such as Beyond, Action Technologies (Alameda, CA), and Reach Software (Sunnyvale, CA) are creating tools to electronically control the flow of data and forms around organi- zations. These "rules engines" capture existing business pro- cesses or stimulate users to pioneer new, more efficient proce- dures. The results can be staggering. Most business processes have built up over the years without the advantage of modern technology. By applying both workgroup technology and modem organizational theories, says Walter Ulrich, a director of the consulting firm Arthur D. Little (Cambridge, MA), "businesses can move decision making down to the people who have immediate contact with customers and cut cycle times by up to one-third." Building on E-Mail Analysts expect LAN-based E-mail use to grow explosively over the next few years. Market-research firm The Yankee Group (Boston, MA) estimates that the number of LAN E-mail users in the U.S. rose 60 percent last year, from 5.9 million to 9.4 million, and will climb another 60 percent this year to 15.1 million users 92 BYTE • MARCH 1993 RECOVER DATA FROM PHYSICALLY DAMAGED FLOPPIES&HARD DRIVES!! There's no other program like it anywhere! When you have FAILURE READING DRIVE (X), RESCUE™ will read it anyway! RESCUE™ bypasses DOS's inability to read disks that have been physically damaged and will move the drive heads directly! RESCUE™ will even read a floppy that has a hole poked through it! You can recover all the data excluding, ol course, the actual destroyed area. This revolutionary program is now your first line of defense when it comes to recovering your valuable data. Save hundreds — even thousands — of dollars by doing your own data recovery! With RESCUE™ you can perform miracles.* Your data is too valuable not to have RESCUE™ within reach! CALL NOW FOR PRICING! "Some lailuies may be beyond RESCUER'S ability to tecover data. a disk that returns GENERAL "I've never seen anything like this. . . I was horrified when I thought I would be unable to recover 3 years worth of my research... RESCUE" did exactly what you said it would... It's priceless. ' n.e., vp Research/ 777 v THE LARGEST COMPILED REFERENCE NEW/ ?ow MOTHER BOARDS EVER! 5 VOLUMES! HOT OFF THE PRESS! " ^ Over 850 diagrams showing all necessary jumper, connection and component locations! V-- "* Each diagram includes technical specs such as: processor, processor speed, chip set, ■ g " m max. onboard DRAM, SRAM cache, BIOS, dimensions, I/O options and NPU options. Also includes easy to understand tables giving configuration for: user settings, DRAM, SRAM, CPU type jumper and CPU speed jumper. PLUS MUCH, MUCH MORE! CALL NOW FOR PRICING! , ooeri/a olMain Boards™ WkuMp* EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO INSTALL, SET-UP AND OPTIMIZE HARD DRIVES! The Hard Disk Technical Guide™ is the most complete paperback on hard drives ever published. This 1 992 version has 424 pages and is ideal for in the field or office use! • Set-up Specs for all drives from 1984 to present • Diagrams of the most common controller cards with jumper sellings and functions • Diagrams and drive settings of common drives • Installation procedures • PLUS MUCH MORE! 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VOLUME THREE...CONTROLLERS • Over 275 Diagrams of Control- lers with: Specifications, Card Sizes, Largest Head and Cylinder Sizes, Inter- lace Type, Detailed Jumper Settings, Pin Assignments and Cable Locations. • Control ler to Drive Power Con- nections, Drive Activity LE.D. Connections, Common Debug BIOS Format Codes and Default Jumper Settings PLUS... • 1 year subscription with quarterly printed updates • On-line Bulletin Board for immediate access to the most current . updates 'Plus more! CALL NOW FOR PRICING! Free Tech Support Performance Guarantee! Next Day Shipping CALL S H li (800) 65-FIXED 800-653-4933 AIIMicro, Inc. 12S0 Rogers St. • Suite D • Clearwater, FL (813) 446-6660 • Fax (813) 446-8075 Copyright © 1992. The Hard Drive Kit, and The Troubleshooter's '' .Inc. All Rights Reserved Otli - Circle 1 75 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 76). E-MAIL E-MAIL GROWTH Number of users in millions 40 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Figure 2: The number of E-mail users in the U.S. is expected to climb 60 percent this year over last year's levels; by 1995, the user base could reach 38 million. Accurate worldwide figures for E-mail are not available. (Source: The Yankee Group) (see figure 2). By 1995, the figure could climb to 38 million. Meanwhile, the number of messages transmitted within Fortune 2000 firms in North America will surge from 6. 1 billion in 1993 to 14.3 billion in 1995 (including both private E-mail and public services, such as MCI Mail and EasyLink), says the trade group the Electronic Mail Association (Arlington, VA). The size of the potential network E-mail market is limited by the penetration of LANs. Only 42 percent of the estimated 47 million personal computers in the U.S. are connected by LANs, says market researcher Dataquest. That figure is projected to grow to 52 percent by 1996. In the short term, the greatest problem facing enterprise-wide mail is that most of today's mail packages won't talk to one an- other (see "Mixed Messaging" on page 136). User woes include the inability to link different packages across heterogeneous net- works and the thorny problem of how to synchronize distributed directories of network and mail users. For many, the best solutions are gateways from companies such as SoftSwitch (Wayne, PA) and Retix (Santa Monica, CA) that interconnect different mail platforms. In the long term, the emergence of mail standards (i.e., APIs, file formats, transports, and directory services) will ease the need for gateways (see the text box "Standards Coming, But Slowly" on page 96). Aetna Life and Casualty Insurance (Hartford, CT), for exam- ple, has 36,000 employees on five E-mail systems — IBM PROFS, DEC All-in- 1, cc:Mail, and Microsoft Mail for DOS and for the Mac — down from nine systems a few years ago. Kevin Ryan, di- rector of E-mail services, says the firm uses a SoftSwitch mes- saging backbone to connect the different systems internally and X.400 gateways to talk with outside companies, primarily large policyholders. But managing the system isn't easy. "E-mail di- rectories are still cumbersome, overly complex, and not well un- derstood by users," Ryan says. A company as large as Aetna has a lot of people coming and going. "You've got to propagate [di- rectories] out to all post offices and keep all those changes in sync," he says. It's a labor-intensive process. Until standards are in place, MIS managers must struggle to patch together disparate systems or force all employees to use the same software. The latter is nearly impossible for many organi- zations. Workgroups have already settled on different mail pack- ages, and the MIS department must also support public services, such as MCI Mail or CompuServe, and legacy host-based mail packages, such as PROFS or All-in- 1 . Integrating different software and services is technically pos- sible. "It's just that some things are difficult or expensive," says consultant Amy Wohl of Wohl Associates (Bala Cynwyd, PA). "The real hurdles are administrative." E-Mail Applications The types of applications that can capitalize on the E-mail in- frastructure fall into two groups: mail-enabled (or mail-aware) pro- grams (e.g., spreadsheets or word processors that also access mail services) and messaging-centric programs built specifical- ly around E-mail transports and store-and-forward messaging. A few packages, such as Software Publishing's Professional Write Plus, can already talk directly to mail services through custom interfaces. Now, by virtue of standards, such as Mi- crosoft's MAPI (Messaging API) and the VIM (Vendor-Inde- pendent Messaging) interface from a rival group headed by Lo- tus Development (Cambridge, MA), developers can add mail access to any program. In the near term, the most common mail- enabled programs are likely to be versions of shrink-wrapped packages such as WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, and Free- lance Graphics. "It sounds simple," says analyst Mike Ffeylin of market researcher Creative Strategies Research International (Santa Clara, CA), "but [mail-enabled versions of familiar soft- ware] are what users want right now." When Windows applications support mail APIs, for example, you will be able to select Mail from the File menu in the same way you choose Print. A compose-mail dialog box will pop up in the application, along with fields for addressing, priority, and other options. When you send the message, the spreadsheet or word pro- cessing file is automatically attached. In Windows and Mac sys- tems (and with some DOS packages), the recipient can then launch the creating application directly from the mail attach- ment; if the application isn't available, many mail clients provide a means to view the file. By tapping into messaging transports, mail-enabled programs will also be able to communicate with each other, much as they do now through virtual-circuit mechanisms such as DDE, OLE, and Apple Events. "We're very keen on doing mail-enabled ap- plications," says Deloitte & Touche's Quinlan. The real reward, he says, comes from the ability to move data among applica- tions. For example, Deloitte & Touche provides electronic meet- ing registration. Built using cc:Mail's import/export facility, the application lets auditors sign up for company seminars via E- mail. The company also provides automated audit software to its field staff, which uses E-mail to exchange audit workpapers. By hiding the mail capability within the application, Quinlan says, auditors can exchange data without being computer jocks. Building on the foundations of VIM, cc:Mail, and Notes, Lo- tus plans to enhance its applications suite with workgroup ca- pabilities, says Irene Greif, director of workgroup technologies. For example, the mail-enabled 1-2-3 for Windows 2.0, expected lo ship early this year, will include technology called Version 94 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Computing Know How Learn More with Computer Books from Abacus Sound Blaster Book The 486 Book This book is your guide to Sound Blaster, from installation to custom programming. Includes an overview of the different Sound Blaster cards, many specific software products and much more. Also includes simple MIDI system to use with your Sound Blaster. #B164. ISBN 1-55755-164-2. Price $34.95 with 3.5" companion diskette. Explains the features that make this processor so advantageous - the memory capabilities, the math coprocessor, the specialized software that maximizes the CPU' s performance and more. 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You'll get hands-on training with this exceptional book/ disk combination. #B096.ISBN 1-55755-096-4. Price S34.95 with 2 5.25" companion diskettes. Order Toll Free 1-800-451-4319 Available at B. Data, Crown Books, Software Etc.Waldenbooks, Computer City and other retailers nationwide. In Canada, Coles W.H. Smith and Classic Bookshops. In the UK, call Computer Bookshops 021 -706-1 1 8S In Austailia call Pactronics 02-748-4700. In US and Canada add S5.00 postage. Foreign orders add S13.00 postage per item. We accept Visa. Mastercard or American Express. BHBSHl Abacus Dept. B3, 5370 52nd Street SE, Grand Rapids, Ml 49512 Phone: (616) 698-0330 • Fax: (616) 698-0325 Circle 61 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 62). [Please rush me the following books: ■ Sound Blaster Book $34.95 ea, I The 486 Book $34.95 ea. I Multimedia Mania $49.95 ea. ' Upgrading & Maintaining $34.95 ea. I Wicked Sounds $29.95 ea. PC INTERN $59.95 ea, | Turbo C++ Step by Step $34.95 ea. I Windows 3.1 Complete $34.95 ea. I Windows 3.1 INTERN $49.95 ea. I PC Assembly Language $34.95 ea. Subtotal: I CA & Ml orders include correct sales tax: i In US & Canada add S5.00 shipping: Foreign orders add $13.00 per item: ( Total amount (US funds): For fast delivery Order Toll Freel -800-451 -431 9 ext. 23, or FAX (61 6) 698-0325 I Or mail this coupon to: Abacus, 5370 52nd Street SE, Grand Rapids, Ml 49512 Method of Payment: o Visa o Master Card o Am. Express o Check /M.O. Card#: I I I I I II I I I I I I M I I Expires: / Name: Company: Address: _ City: Phoneft: _ . State: .Zip: _Fax#: o Yes, please rush your free catalog of PC books and software. Dept. B3 E-MAIL Standards Coming, But Slowly An industry executive once quipped that there was no clearer sign of the failure of E-mail than the suc- cess of the fax. People needed a fast, standardized way to exchange data and were willing to sacrifice the benefits of editable documents for the one-touch convenience of a fax. Today the situation has improved, but it will be years before standards are established that make E-mail as easy to use as the phone or the fax. The charge toward standards is being fought on three fronts: mail APIs, transports, and file formats. A fourth category — directory services — is so complex that proprietary solutions may continue to dominate for the rest of this decade. Easy Access The fight over mail APIs has garnered the most attention, perhaps out of pro- portion to its long-term importance. Mi- crosoft touts the Windows-based MAPI (Messaging API), parts of which have already been added to Windows for Workgroups, while Lotus (Cambridge, MA) and others are promoting the cross- platform VIM (Vendor-Independent Messaging) API. Apple offers OCE (Open Collaborative Environment), but it also intends to support VIM. Novell (Provo, UT), IBM, and Borland (Scotts Valley, CA) back VIM, too. The mail API battle has generated open hostility among the camps, but many observers view it as a red her- ring. "It doesn't matter what the mail API does," says Eugene Lee of Beyond (Cambridge, MA), "as long as I can run my application on your mail server." The premise of MAPI is similar to that of the Windows printer architec- ture: It's an intervening layer that ab- stracts the behavior of the device on the other side of the interface (see figure A). MAPI specifies a series of 60 oper- ating-system calls that invoke common mail actions such as send, receive, and mailbox management. A DLL performs the client mail services and interfaces to mail engines through what Microsoft calls the SPI (Service Provider Inter- face). Consequently, any MAPI-com- pliant Windows application can talk through the DLL to any SPI-compliant mail engine. Hewlett-Packard, Word- Perfect, DEC, SoftSwitch, Novell, Ban- yan, and AT&T have already committed to MAPI-enabling their mail engines. Microsoft is shipping a subset of MAPI, known as Simple MAPI, in Windows for Workgroups, but it works only with the Microsoft Mail engine. The complete MAPI subsystem, known as Full MAPI, will operate only in Win- dows for DOS and Windows NT, and it won't be bundled with any operating system until late this year. VIM takes a different approach. In- stead of a set of routines that ship with the operating system, VIM is a speci- fication for directly accessing mail en- gines from various client environments. Lotus will offer implementations for Windows and OS/2 clients talking to the cc:Mail engine, but other parties will have to provide VIM hooks for their respective engines or client envi- ronments. For example, Apple is ex- pected to support OCE for Mac-only users but enable VIM access from the Mac for users who want to address other mail engines on other platforms. Lotus promises to provide a subsys- tem to remap VIM calls to a MAPI back end, thus allowing VIM-compli- ant applications to talk to MAPI mail engines. Also, Microsoft and VIM sup- porters joined forces in a group called the XAPIA (X.400 API Association), which is creating a set of multiplatform Common Mail Calls that offer capa- bilities analogous to Simple MAPI. But Suzan Fine, the MAPI product manager at Microsoft, argues that when standards are made generic enough to work across platforms, they forfeit rich- ness and specificity. She says that de- velopers writing complex messaging- based applications such as BBSes or work-flow systems will probably choose to work within a single environment, such as Windows with Extended MAPI. This offers them advanced features, such as folder management, while still al- lowing access from non-Windows sys- tems via XAPIA. Microsoft's main criticism of VIM, that it is too firmly tied into the cc:Mail engine, rings hollow as long as MAPI works only with Microsoft Mail. For the balance of 1993, software develop- ers will rewrite their applications to one or both of the mail APIs, and users will eventually be able to invoke mail ca- pabilities from within their programs without giving a thought to what en- gine lies in the background. Free E-Mail The inclusion of Simple MAPI in Win- dows for Workgroups points to a con- troversial result of separating mail clients and servers. To an increasing extent, the client will become a stan- dard part of the operating system. Mi- crosoft and Apple are moving in this direction. "What this means is that basic E-mail is free in the long run," says Be- yond's Lee. In the future, he says, ven- dors will have to compete based on ad- vanced features such as Beyond's rules engine, which helps users route E-mail and cope with message overload. Not everybody agrees that the oper- ating system is the best place for the mail client, however. Novell argues that, as a network function, mail needs to be cross-platform. Analyst Mike Heylin of Creative Strategies Research Inter- national (Santa Clara, CA) says that in- tegrating E-mail into the operating sys- tem could discourage innovation by third parties. "Personal computing is not a monolithic structure," he says, "and Windows is starting to look more and more monolithic." Servers and Formats VIM and MAPI do not address the is- sue of mail engines talking to one an- other. The solution is likely to come from international standards, specifi- cally X.400, which defines a universal mail-transport protocol. Until now, X.400 hasn't been widely adopted for PC LAN-based mail systems, because it is complex and vendors were already committed to proprietary transports. The protocol is more widely applied outside the U.S., where there is greater demand for international standards. People use X.400 mostly for mail backbones. Through a gateway such as 96 BYTE • MARCH 1993 E-MAIL MAPI VS. VIM MAPI VIM Figure A: Microsoft's MAPI and Lotus's VIM specifications offer top-level APIs that let applications talk to mail back ends. In the Windows-only MAPI, the layer interfaces to mail engines via drivers, while in the cross-platform VIM, the layer is actually part of the engine itself. the Retix OpenServer 400, mail mes- sages are translated from their native format into X.400 and then back to the same or a different format on the other side. But native X.400 mail servers are growing in popularity; for example, Microsoft is developing an X.400-based mail server for Windows NT. Not everybody agrees that X.400 is the ultimate solution. Consultant David Ferris calls it the "lowest common de- nominator" and projects that it will be three to four years before X.400 be- comes attractive. In today's market, he says, customers often decide that they are better off using proprietary mail switches from SoftS witch (Wayne, PA) or DEC (Maynard, MA). Even if you use X.400 natively or as a backbone, you face yet another prob- lem for which no clear solution is in sight. "If the protocol situation is OK, and you've carefully unified the APIs and mail services, you still have to deal with incompatible file formats," says Nina Lytton, president of the consulting firm Open Systems Advisors (Boston, MA). "This is the big smoking gun." For example, Lytton says, efforts are under way to standardize Windows and Mac calendar formats in group schedul- ing programs. But these efforts aren't cross-platform, nor do they address ac- cess to Unix- and host-based calendar- ing systems. However, some vendors offer point-to-point file conversions, such as between Microsoft Schedule+ and IBM PROFS calendars. One technology that may ease the file-format problem is Adobe's (Moun- tain View, CA) Acrobat, a portable doc- ument format that renders WYSIWYG documents correctly across platforms. Acrobat will make it possible to dis- tribute complex documents via E-mail to users on an incompatible system. But while it provides accurate docu- ment display, its files won't be editable in initial releases of the software. You will still need file converters to collab- orate on projects across platforms. Directory Assistance Most mail systems use incompatible naming conventions and addressing schemes. Naming inconsistencies mean that sometimes messages crossing gate- ways get lost and aren't delivered. To make matters worse, many LANs can't share their user directories with the mail systems that ride on top of them, which means that lists of LAN and mail users must be separately maintained and pro- pagated throughout the network. Help is on the way. NetWare 4.0 will replace the server-based Bindary user directory, which requires manual propa- gation from one server to another, with NetWare Directory Services, an open, networkwide, self-propagating user di- rectory. For users of earlier versions of NetWare, Novell will also offer NetWare Global Messaging, an NLM (NetWare Loadable Module) implementation of MHS (Message Handling Service) that taps into the Bindary. Banyan will also target pre -NetWare 4.0 customers with a port of its directory services, StreetTalk, to the NetWare environment. The long-term solution to directory services is another international stan- dard, called X.500, that codifies direc- tory structures and provides a way for di- rectories on linked systems to find and query each other. X.500 is even further from wide-scale implementation than X.400 because it is complex and poses unresolved problems, such as how to limit the extent of a distributed search. Most analysts don't expect X.500 to be widely adopted until the late 1990s. Mi- crosoft plans to use X.500 natively in its Windows NT-based messaging serv- er, but many other mail and network software companies are taking a wait- and-see attitude. MARCH 1993 -BYTE 97 E-MAIL The Vines Advantage JON UDELL Vines users view the chaotic mail situation that prevails on most PC networks with Olympian detach- ment. They have enjoyed seamless global E-mail for eight years, thanks to Banyan's (Westboro, MA) legendary distributed name service, StreetTalk. As a result, Vines' modest 8 percent share of the PC network market includes sev- eral of the world's most sophisticated wide-area installations. "We see a lot of Fortune 1000 customers who use Vines as a backbone, with pockets of NetWare at the department level," says Robert Hankin, director of marketing for CCOM Information Systems (Iselin, NJ). CCOM's HelpLine is a mail-en- abled help desk application that supports Vines mail, cc:Mail, and Microsoft Mail. When an operator logs a call, Help- Line automatically mails the user a call reference number and then follows up with additional messages as the opera- tor researches the problem. Running on Vines, HelpDesk exploits the fact that a user's StreetTalk ID is both a network address and an E-mail address. That identity eliminates the directory synchronization woes so vexing to ad- ministrators of other PC networks. Moreover, Vines' mail system exhibits a simplicity and robustness that so far eludes the Unix mail systems to which it is distantly related. "The mail engine and transports just work, without any fuss, on local- and wide-area networks," says Ted Kull, project manager for sys- tems engineering at the Educational Testing Service (Princeton, NJ). Has Vines, with its superb mail ser- vices, fostered a rich set of mail-enabled applications? Ironically, not yet. In part, that's because Banyan only recently re- leased its Intelligent Messaging mod- ule, which offers message compression, restartable transmission, multithreaded processing, and network management. These features make Vines mail an ef- ficient handler of not only interperson- al message traffic but also the huge file transfer load that companies like Com- paq were placing on it. Mostly, though, Vines users, like their Novell counter- parts, are tire-kicking Reach Software's Workman, Beyond's BeyondMail, and Lotus's Notes, looking for ways to mod- el organizational paper flow and trans- form it into mail-enabled software. Some Vines developers have built custom forms-routing applications us- ing the Vines gateway API, which, un- like the mail client API, can access all users' mailboxes. LANshark Systems (Reynoldsburg, OH), a developer of Vines utilities, has exploited the gate- way API to build simple information servers that receive mailed requests for information and mail back files or the results of database queries. Because the data repository (e.g., a Paradox data- base) is not typically mail-enabled, this kind of application requires homegrown protocols and polling of shared direc- tories. When mail awareness is as com- mon as DDE support, says Scott Shar- key, president of LANshark Systems, you will see several more systems of communicating applications built on a mail substrate. Sharkey is skeptical that Banyan's promised support for VIM (Vendor In- dependent Messaging) and MAPI (Mes- saging API) will smooth the way for Vines developers. "It would be like looking at the world through a peri- scope," he says. Neither API accom- modates the richness of StreetTalk. Users of Vines 5.5, for example, can attach a wealth of attributes to each item in the StreetTalk database. That means an application that encodes the rule "send a copy to Joe's supervisor" can look up the boss's name at run time. Until the APIs and directory services catch up with Vines, Sharkey plans to continue developing two versions of his software: one that fully exploits Vines and one for the rest of the world. Sharkey may not have to wait long. The Vines ENS (Enterprise Network Services), which shipped last Decem- ber, brings StreetTalk and the Vines mail APIs to NetWare 2.x and 3.x. Im- plemented as a dedicated Vines server, a NetWare VAP (value-added process) or NLM (NetWare loadable module) and a small DOS TSR program, Vines ENS threatens to steal the thunder of Novell's (Provo, UT) forthcoming Net- Ware 4.0. Automatically synchroniz- ing StreetTalk with the NetWare bind- ery, ENS gives existing NetWare 2.x and 3.x installations the unified net- work view that would otherwise require an upgrade to NetWare 4.0. Some Vines services may even run better on NetWare than on Vines. For example, the optional Intelligent Mes- saging module can use high-perfor- mance NetWare threads for its multi- threaded message processing. Moreover, while mail-aware applications will need to be rewritten to exploit 4.0' s new API, Sharkey says that his Vines applications run on ENS today as is. It's a smart move on Banyan's part, and one that brightens the future of mail-enabled soft- ware on NetWare LANs. Jon Udell is a BYTE senior technical editor at large. You can contact him on BIX as "judell." Manager, formerly code-named Chronicle, that facilitates shar- ing worksheet data. Version Manager provides a new format for spreadsheet cell ranges that lets users import and export them as objects with at- tached properties such as version number, author name, and as- sumptions. For example, a colleague could mail a range object, not to your personal in-box, but to 1-2-3 's in-box, from which the application would fetch it and incorporate it into a worksheet. For workgroups, Version Manager lets you publish cell ranges into the Lotus Notes database, where they become separate entries. Greif says this will let groups work in parallel on spreadsheet projects while taking advantage of Lotus Notes features — data replication across servers, security, and the ability to sort and view messages by criteria such as author or region. The payoff comes for projects that require consolidating spreadsheets. Greif says, "Instead of waiting for everybody to finish and then doing 98 BYTE • MARCH 1993 THE BENCHMARK FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE 3.5-Inch Disk Drives Have It Your Way Upgrade your AT™ system without changing the interface using a Model 21 12A drive with IDE interface; upgrade any Work- station with the Model 21 12 with Fast SCSI-2 interface Write-Behind Cache Provides up to a 300% improve- ment in write performance by managing writes to the disk Super Fast Performance A 10ms Average Seek, a 5.56ms Average Latency and a 512K Buffer with Advanced Cache Management (SCSI models only) Tagged Command Queuing Increases data throughput by optimizing seek and latency and minimizing other delays (SCSI models only) Multi-Segmented, Read-Ahead Cache Permits multiple seeks to be serviced from the buffer without the delay of mechanical seeks and latency ast Command Processing uts command processing time to owas 180us (IDE) or350us (SCSI) Call 1-800-395-3748 for the name of your nearest Micropolis Authorized Distributor IDE (AT) INTERFACE MS EH Average Transf Rate (IV WBRmjmM 2105 A 560 MB 10 ms 5 ma x* Yes 2112 A 1,050 MB 10 ms 5 ma x* Yes 'Asynchronous FAST SCSI-2 INTI ERE/ Rate \CE K2S21 Formatted Average Capacity Seek BfflBM EH" 2105 560 MB 10 ms 10 max Yes 2112 1,050 MB 10 ms 10 max Yes Micropolis is a registered trademark of Micropolis Corporation. AT is a registered trademark of IBM Circle 107 on Inquiry Card. E-MAIL a massive roll-up, you'll be able to see incremental changes." The same model could be applied to Ami Pro documents or Freelance Graphics slide shows, but Lotus hasn't committed to de- livery dates for workgroup-enabled versions of these packages. "Our goal is to do more than just mail-enable our products," says Greif. "We want to build on the communications infrastructure by using both mail and databases." Borland (Scotts Valley, CA) is keeping quiet about its E-mail strategy, but it is known to be developing a software architecture that will support an upcoming line of workgroup applications. Called Object Exchange, or OBEX, the architecture is built on BOCA (Borland's Object Component Architecture), which builds on the company's InterBase database engine. Borland will likely use VIM as the interface between applications and mail services. As with other vendors' products, Borland's mail-enabled ap- plications will let users send messages without exiting to a sep- arate mail client. But the company's ultimate ambition is to har- ness mail as a medium for IAC (Interapplication Communication). The link to InterBase suggests that Borland has set its sights on work flow. Meetings, Meetings The leading category of messaging-centric applications is group scheduling and calendaring, which lets you plan meetings and al- locate the use of resources such as conference rooms or audio- visual equipment. Microsoft's Schedule-i-, shipped as a part of Windows for Workgroups, may help grow the market, which is already addressed by PowerCore's Network Scheduler, Da Vinci's Coordinator, Futurus's Team, On Technology's Sched- uleMaker, and Attachmate's ZipOffice. While scheduling seems an ideal application for store-and- forward messaging, not everyone sees it that way. Campbell Ser- vices' (Southfield, MI) OnTime for Networks relies on Banyan (Westboro, MA) Vines RPCs to ensure the real-time response needed to reach quick consensus (see the text box "The Vines Ad- vantage" on page 98). "Message-based scheduling systems today don't do a good job of handling conflicts," says Anik Ganguly, vice president of product development at Campbell Services. However, OnTime does support a store-and-forward transport, because many Vines users can't afford the full-time WAN (wide-area network) links necessary for a true client/server system. Messaging also serves remote users who dial in to collect and send mail and then read and respond off-line. Another promising application for messaging is user notifi- cation; for example, Texaco (Tulsa, OK) uses E-mail to coordi- nate employee activities when a tanker pulls into port. A series of synchronized actions must occur among oil terminal workers, ship crew, salespeople, and headquarters; the company uses the mail system to send automatic assignments and updates to em- ployees. The goal is to reduce the po- tential for costly mistakes and sea- port overtime charges of $10,000 per hour, says consultant David Ferris of Ferris Networks (San Francisco, CA). User notification can also advertise job openings, company events, or changes in personnel policy. Fort Howard (Green Bay, WI) has instituted an application that uses messaging to remotely manage the laptops that its field sales force uses. Rob Williams, a personal computer analyst for the firm, says that by us- ing BeyondMail rules scripts and O O o o o o o purchase-order processing travel expense reports sales-lead routing sales-proposal creation document management field sales-force automation non-real-time database access DOS batch files, he can upgrade software in the field, change menu screens, and distribute new E-mail directories. Williams broadcasts mail containing codes that trigger BeyondMail rules running on the laptops. The rules uncompress the attached batch file, execute it while piping the screen to a DOS file, and send a message back with the screen-capture file attached. Williams can verify that the update has succeeded, or he can diagnose and fix any failures. Work Flow Among the many potential applications for E-mail, the one that has sparked the most interest — and could provide the biggest payoff — is work-flow automation. Datapro Research (Delran, NJ) says that work-flow software will be a $250 million market this year, while related hardware and software sales will amount to $1.6 billion. Work-flow packages digitally replicate existing business pro- cesses that involve routing paper or forms among employees (see figure 3). By using electronic forms riding on E-mail trans- ports, users save paper, boost efficiency, and add intelligence to data distribution. But equally important, according to a Datapro report, organizations look to work flow as a means to reinvent the way they do business and create new structures. "The whole way we work and manage will change," agrees Tom White, president of Action Technologies. "Work flow lets your work become more decision-related and less paper-related." A frequently cited example of work flow is in processing travel expense reports. In such a system, an employee fills out an elec- tronic expense form that is automatically routed to his or her manager for approval. After that, the form goes directly to ac- counting, or if the expense level is high enough to require addi- tional approval, it is sent to the manager's boss. The routing of the form follows preprogrammed rules, typically described graphically or with scripts or both. Other basic work-flow applications include purchase-order and invoice processing, vacation and leave requests, creation of sales proposals, engineering change orders, and editorial pro- duction flow. Beyond's Lee says that the company uses its own software for an automated sales-lead routing system. Names are entered into forms and sent to a virtual user acting on behalf of the firm's Paradox database. From the "application mailbox," Be- yondMail's rules engine retrieves a message, extracts data values, and imports them into Paradox. Work flow is a subset of groupware, which also includes shared-information systems such as Lotus Notes (see "Collabo- rative Computing" on page 1 12). The difference, says Esther Dyson, editor of the industry newsletter Release 1.0, is that Lo- tus Notes is a fundamentally passive system that makes no effort to track who gets what information or what they do with it, where- as work-flow systems play an active role in disseminating data to the people who need it. She adds that ^ intelligent routing is based on a com- bination of rules, events, and time. Dyson divides the universe of work-flow applications into two cat- egories: scripted work flows (also known as forms-based or E-mail- based routing) and work-flow tools that enforce process integrity. Into the first category she places Beyond- Mail and Reach Software's Work- man; in the latter category, she calls Action "the conceptual leader." Says Dyson, "Action alone understands the relationships that underlie the flow Work-Flow Applications 100 BYTE -MARCH 1993 nnl 1 il I hp ( eath Has been greatly exaggerated DOS is still the preferred operating system on over 80% of the PCs in Fortune 1,000 companies, according to recent studies. 2— nutoCftP--3B6— H FSjub-JTB H •^Ojicn B I ndot* - ... 1— nS-Dindous-3-Std .-Hode- PageMaker 4.0 Sultclt IfindQHS S 1 Close Uiwlfiu C Rearrange R [Yemeni Window Help 2oon Z 3IAUTHREAD\THREAP1 .PM4 Mark tl Transfer Scissors Iw ushered into the presence > vw.so / * GeaUeiittnmaVingcaL e to ■*[&$, nearly vnnen.fcngnw Hell) fur DESQuieu ? Quit DESQuieu 3 — lotus-l-Z-3-He 1 -Z Mi ' INCOnE STfiTEtlEMI Creati | : ZiHsmnylt iivilc»nI..:... -i * M EE Sup* .,-,:- * Manager . ' Payable _J, i Screen 3: Action 's Workflow Management System is server- based, which allows easier tracking of workflow. It includes a work-flow designer and an applications builder for connecting workflows into external applications, such as E-mail or databases. for PC LANs, LaserData (Tyngsboro, MA) plans to resell Ac- tion's tools starting in the second half of this year, and it is also incorporating work-flow technology into a document management system set for release by the third quarter. Rodney Rogers, vice president of engineering for LaserData, says Action's advantage is that the work flow and task status are monitored and controlled by a central database. "Coded into its design is the knowledge of what is to be done," he says. By comparison, client-based prod- ucts offer less control. "Nothing [in client-based systems] tracks the state of completion of tasks," he says. "This can be built, but it's part of the application, not the underlying work-flow en- gine." Another Action customer is Verimation AB, a Swedish mak- er of PC LAN and host-based E-mail systems and a pioneer in de- veloping intelligent electronic forms and routing systems for 106 BYTE • MARCH 1 993 "Recommended." Jerry Pournelle, Byte, July 1992 -^45 M SupraFAXModem V.32bis Internal $349.95 Dos/Windows The Best Choice: SupraFAXModem Iaside or Out, now you can choose the hot-selling SupraFAXModem technology that best fits your computer. Either way, Supra can turn your PC into a communications powerhouse! SupraFAXModems come in a wide range of models, from our budget-minded SupraFAXModem 24/96i to the fastest fax modem available: the SupraFAXModem V32bis. Whichever model you choose, you will get Supra's proven technology and reputation for high-quality, reliable modems, Supra modems are designed for novice and expert communicators alike. Whether you use DOS™, Windows™, or a Macintosh ™ , we've got a package for you — and our Supra Corporation SupraFAXModem V.32bis External $399.95 Stand Alone $439.95 Dos/Windows packages include everything you need. Plus our easy-to-follow Getting Stalled manuals will help you install your modem and start using it in just a few minutes! Imagine sending and receiving perfect faxes, exploring the world of on-line databases, or retrieving an important work file — all from the convenience of your desk. And advanced users will appreciate the error- coinection and data-compression features that can save you money! No matter what your needs, a Supra modem is your best choice. Call us today at 1-800-727-8647, and * Featuring Rockwell Modem Technology MODEL INT./EXT. 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Send your name and address to: Consumer Information Center Department TH Pueblo, Colorado 81009 A public service of this publication and the Consumer Information Center of the U.S. General Services Administration 108 BYTE • MARCH 1993 mainframes. Adam Sroczynski, president ofVerimation's U.S. subsidiary, says that his company chose Action because its fea- tures met customer demand for process management capabili- ties. "I don't think you can take BeyondMail very far in terms of reengineering your business," he says. "How can you manage and improve a process that's controlled by the user? You need a more top-down approach." Sroczynski says that work-flow customers typically have two demands. First, they want a tool that helps to improve processes, find bottlenecks, and reduce cycle times. Second, "they want to remove the definition of routing from the form application itself and put it into a server process so that they can replicate those functions elsewhere." Verimation is shipping an E-mail pack- age called Memo LAN that incorporates Action tools for creating ad hoc work flows; in the third or fourth quarter of this year, new releases will add Action's front-end work-flow design and management tools, as well as the ability to access the Action work-flow server from a mainframe. In addition to Beyond, Reach Software, and Action, other players in the work-flow software market include HP, Recogni- tion Equipment/Plexus (Dallas, TX) (which supplies the Unix- based technology used in NCR's Processlt work-flow system), and Workhorse (Dublin, Ireland). Keyfile (Nashua, NH) and FileNet (Costa Mesa, CA) market work-flow-oriented document-image- processing systems, while JetForm (Ottawa, Ont.), Da Vinci Sys- tems, and Delrina (Toronto, Ont.) offer forms-routing packages. The recently merged PowerCore (Manteno, IL) and Finansa (London, U.K.) plan to deliver a work-flow package in the third quarter, and Microsoft is rumored to be developing a work-flow capability for Windows, code-named Calvin and Hobbes. In the host world, IBM's OfficeVision/VM and DEC's All-In-1 offer mail management and forms-routing capabilities. Users Lead the Way At many firms, says consultant Ferris, the people installing E-mail are technical-support staff more focused on making the hard- ware and software work than on its potential for reducing costs or enabling new applications. Without the involvement of senior information executives, he says, the investment in E-mail in- frastructure may not be fully harvested. Fortunately, says Reach Software's Spies, a growing number of customers are realizing that messaging applications afford an opportunity to reengineer their businesses. "This whole thing is being driven by users who have needs and are looking for solu- tions," he says. "Instead of having something foisted on them by vendors, this is a rare instance where users are way ahead." Messaging is becoming the foundation of a new information in- frastructure, because it's simple and cheap compared to other techniques for IAC and distributed computing. The pending ar- rival of mail-enabled applications will expose users as never be- fore to E-mail's power as a data distribution medium. The next step is to implement work-flow automation. Best of all, messaging and work flow build naturally on the most important resource of all — human capital — by giving em- ployees tools to do their jobs better. "You don't even have to ex- plain this stuff to people," says Nick Rudd, the chief information officer for advertising agency Young & Rubicam (New York). "It mirrors the reality of what they deal with every day." ■ Editor's note: Also contributing to this story were BYTE senior news editor Tom Halfhill, senior technical editor Jon Udell, and news editors Dave Andrews and Ed Perratore. Andy Reinhardt is BYTE's West Coast bureau chief. You can reach him on BIX as "areinhardt. " How much longer can you afford to wait? Create Overlaid Programs-Fast. BLINKER™, the world's first and fastest dynamic overlay linker, reduces your link time to seconds and reduces program memory requirements. Now you can use one linker for all your software projects. One Linker, Many Languages. BLINKER 2.0 links and automati- cally overlays DOS programs written in Microsoft C, BASIC, Assembler, QuickBASIC", Fortran, Pascal, Watcom" C, Zortecrf C++, Clipper 8 , FORCE 58 and in Borland C, C++, Assembler, and more. Save Time and Memory. 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Bdx 7154 Richmond VA 232Z1 © 1331 Blinkinc. Blinker Is a trademark of ASM. Inc. DfTer nnly applicable in US and Canada. Circle 171 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 172). BUSINESS WEEK AEROSPACE DAILY AIRPORTS AVIATION DAILY AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY BIOTECHNOLOGY NEWSWATCH BYTE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CLEAN-COAL/SYNFUELS LETTER COAL WEEK DATA COMMUNICATIONS ELECTRIC UTILITY WEEK ENGINEERING NEWS-RECORD HAZARDOUS WASTE BUSINESS INDEPENDENT POWER REPORT INDUSTRIAL ENERGY BULLETIN INSIDE ENERGY/ WITH FEDERAL LANDS INSIDE F.E.R.C. rF When you need business information, why not get the total story, instantly! Word for word. The McGraw-Hill Publications Online database gives you just that. Unedited, full-text retrieval (except graphics) of articles exactly as they are published in McGraw-Hill magazines and newsletters. 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Your Best Business Partners. ■ 4- Architectural Record ■ 7- A/C Flyer, Aviation Week & Space Technology, AW & ST China Quarterly, AW & ST USSR, Business & Commercial Aviation, World Aviation Directory and Buyer's Guide ■ 20- Business Week, Business Week China, Business Week Hungary, Business Week International, Business Week USSR ■ 28- Chemical Engineering ■ 32C- BYTE, Data Communications, Data Communications International, LAN Times, UnixWorld ■ 39— Electrical World ■ 41- ENR, Construction News Publishing Network (11 magazines, 4 newspapers) ■ 46- Global Finance ■ H6- The Physician & Sportsmedicine, Postgraduate Medicine ■ 114- Modern Plastics, Modern Plastics International ■ 11 7- Power, Power International m 112 BYTE • MARCH 1993 ILLUSTRATION: STEVEN LYONS «-, 1993 STATE OF THE ART COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING Computer-aided teamwork will change your office culture forever JEFFREY HSU AND TONY LOCKWOOD Collaborative computing is a catchphrase for a new body of software and hardware that helps people work better together. A collaborative system creates an en- vironment in which people can share information without the constraints of time and space. Network groupware applications link workgroups across a room or across the globe. The software gives the group a common, on-line venue for meetings, and it lets all members labor on the same data simultaneously. Collaborative applications include calendar management, video teleconferencing, computer teleconferencing, integrat- ed team support, and support for business meetings and group authoring. Messaging and E-mail systems represent the most basic type of groupware. "I hear of new groupware products every day," says David Coleman, conference chair of Groupware '93, a trade show to be held this August in Palo Alto, California. Coleman ex- pects to list more than 400 products from over 250 companies in a catalog scheduled to be published later this year. Sales of workgroup software are soaring, according to WorkGroup Technologies (Hampton, NH). Sales for 1992 were $1.3 billion worldwide; this year, projections call for $1.93 billion in worldwide sales. No Commander Datas The best that any of these products can do is to put text, data, and graphics together in an integrated groupware package, creating what's known as comprehensive workgroup support. For example, Instant Update from On Technologies (Cam- bridge, MA) is a product for the Mac that lets you create and manipulate tabular data as well as import graphics into your documents. Some packages, such as GroupSystems from Ven- tana (Tucson, AZ), provide transparent access to other ap- plications residing on your server. Although an integrated groupware system allows you to bring supporting applications and information into your col- laborative environment, some researchers, such as Robert Johansen from the Institute for the Future and Mark Stefik from Xerox's PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), hope to extend this support by bringing in artificial team members that can interact with a workgroup. These expert-system and AI technologies provide you with software entities called agents that constantly rummage through information ware- houses, seeking the data that you need. These info-houses are part of your collaborative work environment and are continu- ally fed new information from the workgroup and other data streams that you develop. Like parts constantly arriving at a busy factory, data flows non- stop into your info-house. The agents serve as receiving clerks, routing data to you and your workgroup. "In the short run, it's more likely that, instead of a Com- mander Data [the android on the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation], you're go- ing to have an information re- finery that will be a part of your collaborative work environ- ment," says Johansen. "You would have individual agents, programmed by team mem- bers, pulling out that informa- tion they want." Designed to Help There are three fundamental aspects of collaborative sys- tems: common task, shared environment, and time/space. The first measures the extent to which the members of a Collaborative Computing BY JEFFREY HSU AND TONY LOCKWOOD 112 Hitting Warp Speed for LANs BYMARKA.CLARKSON 123 Better Than Being There BY TOM YAGER 129 MARCH 1993 • BYTE 113 COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING TYPES OF COLLABORATIVE INTERACTION Face-to-face Occurs at the same time and place. Asynchronous Occurs at different times but at the same place. Distributed synchronous Occurs at the same time but at different places. Distributed asynchronous Occurs at different times and at different places. Workgroup interaction can occur in the following dimensions of time and space: face-to-face , same place at different times, same time at different places, and different times and places. workgroup can work on the same task. If the system allows many people to work on the same task, it ranks high on the com- mon-task spectrum (e.g., a software de- sign system that lets programmers inter- act frequently in real time on a module of code). A strong shared-environment system keeps you informed of what a project's condition is, what your coparticipants are doing, and what atmosphere or setting is supported. An E-mail system that simply sends messages back and forth isn't high on the shared-environment scale. How- ever, an electronic classroom — with its emulation of traditional classroom settings, including blackboard windows, lists of students, and questions/responses — rates much higher. Time/space collaborative systems fo- cus on the time and place of the interaction (see the figure). Face-to-face, or synchro- nous, interaction is at the same time and place. Asynchronous interaction occurs at one place at different times. If the inter- action is at the same time but at different places, it's distributed synchronous inter- action. And interaction at different places and times is distributed asynchronous in- teraction. System Types E-mail, computer-teleconferencing, real- time-teleconferencing, and video-telecon- ferencing systems all help to create or to support electronic meetings. Meeting en- vironments are created through text and graphics on computer terminals or via au- dio and video transmitted from one loca- tion to another. Computer-teleconferencing systems (e.g., BIX and CompuServe) rep- resent an extension of the messaging and E-mail system models. Real-time teleconferencing — such as Team Workstation, a research system de- signed by Hiroshi Ishii of the Nippon Tele- graph & Telephone's Human Interface Laboratories (Kanagawa, Japan) — is an example of distributed synchronous inter- action. It allows participants in different locations to interact. Another approach to real-time telecon- ferencing places a single-user application in a computer-teleconferencing environ- ment. Information is exchanged among multiple users using a protocol that deter- mines who has the floor at any given time. Unlike computer teleconferencing, in video teleconferencing, video and audio connections link meeting rooms or net- worked workgroups. Participants can see and hear other members of the dispersed group (see "Better Than Being There" on page 129). Electronic whiteboards, or live boards, electronically mimic the whiteboard that you find in many conference rooms. In this working environment, each member of a workgroup has a terminal on which to work and can broadcast results to everyone else's screen. Xerox PARC developed an advanced electronic whiteboard that uses a projected LCD. Each participant in a meeting gets a stylus that allows him or her to write on the whiteboard from anywhere in the room. Xerox has connected the system to a network and has even used it to connect remote sites (see "The Electronic White- board," July 1992 BYTE, page 166). At this writing, Xerox is in the process of setting up a commercial unit to sell the system. Notable Technologies (Foster City, CA) recently announced Shared Whiteboard, communications software for Go Corp.'s PenPoint operating system that creates a real-time connection between two pen sys- tems. It uses a phone line to transmit graph- ics and text between remote locations. A second phone line is needed for voice com- munications. David Larson, Notable Tech- nologies' vice president of sales and mar- keting, says the company is working on a version that will allow more than two users to participate. continued 114 BYTE • MARCH 1993 PICTURE WINDOWS. Picture This... a real-time television monitor built right into your PC... Now, picuire using this monitor while mnning Windows™ 3 applications at the same time... And, picture taking that video image and resizing, (right down to crystal- clear icon size!) or clicking and dragging it to any position on the screen as easily as moving any other Window... Picture Perfect. With Win/TV's "frame grabber" you capture and save any "still" frame and save it to disk. Using Win/TV and Microsoft® Video for Windows™ , you capture FULL MOTION VIDEO, saving synchronized video and audio clips to disk. You can then send those video and audio files across the network. Seamlessly integrate still and full motion video images into productive multimedia applications such as databases or training and marketing presentations... or give your E-mail a powerful new dimension! Any Windows 3 user can access 122 channel television reception with the built-in timer, PLUS two additional video sources, (such as VCR, video camera, laser disk, etc.,) all with stereo audio capability! Automatically fit real-time video images into any size Window while running your other Windows 3 programs. Hauppauge Computer Works introduces Win/TV™ , the Windows television adapter Picture Yourself owning your own "Windows on the World"! Maybe you want to work on your spreadsheets but don't want to miss an important news flash or a current stock market report. Win/TV is perfect for you. Keep an eye on current events while keeping control of your inventory... No problem! Get the new Win/TV and open a window on some fresh, new, and exciting possibilities. Suggested Retail: $495.00 PC Connection M m 7. -n,( Service Mic: SMUfilMI Micro Warehouse, call: 1-800-367-7080 PC Zone: 1-800-258-0270 Please mention code 21244 when ordering. PC Connection, call: 1-800-243-8088 Trademarks: Win/TV is a trademark of Hauppauge Computer Works, Inc., Windows j is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. I in,- 1,111 1-Im.ui.: Cnlnf: I ^■:li;rr:i l i:iv. |li:l|i I I.i3.,,l,ii|...l ,?l.,.li'-l..,l ,i| ,.l .CT 0N fiN V\:X. / V' 4 m Options flSmfaw Help 5 I a You're never out of touch with your own personal "Windows on the World"! , j||. | (Hi Vh:w Ih'icrl I iirin.it (ni)l-i Utile Wimltiw H«ln ^ t| jKl!T" HGjK I "Ti±Ji'- j liil CalZpLl m * BJ§ I ^^ ' BO Bi HAUVi'AUl HI AND Mg 81 The Hauppauga MI AM ME ! modular designs by immrp achieve* nursitnua i lemfai 1 1 V AT" form factor. Dwstgflm MSW0A0,.3S%Di: ! r;;>2l6l-17063 Circle 88 on Inquiry Card. COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING Instant Update uses arrows to indicate updated documents. In the foreground, you see who made changes and when. (Screen courtesy of On Technology) Collaborative Writing Multiuser editors and group-authoring sys- tems are able to bring a workgroup's col- lective input to bear during the creation and editing of a document. Such collabo- rative systems can be either real-time or asynchronous. If the authoring system is real-time, it lets several participants edit a document at the same time by parceling out logical segments of the document to members of the group. The system controls the read/ write access to the various segments (e.g., the Group Writer facility in GroupSys- tems). Asynchronous editors, such as Instant Update, store both the original text and the reviewers' comments. This allows a document manager to evaluate all com- ments before making final changes (see the screen). Thomas W. Malone, director of the MIT Center for Coordination Science (Cam- bridge, MA) and developer of the research collaborative systems Information Lense and Oval, sees group-authoring systems evolving beyond document creation/edit- ing systems. Malone envisions workgroups collectively creating knowledge networks that describe real-world objects or ideas. The networks would connect those ideas and objects and use hypertext-like links to represent the relationships and depen- dencies among the items. "These knowl- edge networks will be viewable through a variety of displaying and summarizing tools," says Malone. "They will be share- able across global networks and readable, browsable, and searchable" by you and your computer. Conversational structuring, used in Co- ordinator II, an asynchronous groupware application published by Da Vinci Sys- tems (Raleigh, NC), allows the structure of a workgroup's conversations to be devel- oped and used during what is normally an unstructured meeting. You can see at a glance those messages that are most ur- gent. Coordinator II comes with seven con- versational paradigms (e.g., an informal note, an action proposal, and a what-if sce- nario) and prompts you to put your mes- sage into one of them. But it's fluid: Your responses need not follow the original mes- sage's paradigm. For example, you could reply to a what-if message using a for- your-information response. This approach works well for Woods Wire Products (Carmel, IN), according to Robert L. Bogue, its LAN/wide-area net- work manager. Woods Wire Products, a manufacturer of electronic components and telephone accessories, uses Coordi- nator II to keep in touch with its offices Workgroup Goals and Tasks • generate ideas • develop action plans • refine data, graphics, and text • make decisions • negotiate solutions in Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Far East. "The conversation types that Co- ordinator II comes with are the basic build- ing blocks of business communications," Bogue says. "I have not encountered any deficiencies in the conversation structures provided." Group Decision Making GDSSes (group decision support systems) are designed to facilitate face-to-face meet- ings (see the text box "The Public Reacts to GDSS" on page 118). They provide tools for decision structuring, idea gener- ation, voting, and ranking. GDSS meet- ings are frequently conducted by a facili- tator. GDSSes have three feature levels, but individual systems can have features in more than one level. Level 1 emphasizes the improvement of communication, idea formation and discussion, and messaging. Tools for Level 1 include messaging, screen viewing, rating/ranking scales, agendas, and voting. For example, VisionQuest, which was developed by Collaborative Technologies (Austin, TX), provides an agenda struc- ture that a workgroup can use to collab- orate on documents and to generate, pri- oritize, and evaluate ideas. VisionQuest allows comments on ideas to be anony- mous, and it manages all communications and document proceedings. Level 2 systems incorporate the strengths of decision-support modeling and group- decision techniques to enhance the sys- tem. Examples of these techniques include project planning and control/operations research tools such as CPM (critical path method) and PERT; probability and deci- sion-tree software; and statistical features and decision techniques that are designed to solve complex, unstructured problems and to help to coordinate information ex- change in asynchronous problem-solving groups. When equipped with its optional Ad- vanced Tools, GroupSystems V provides a Level 2 environment on desktop comput- ers linked by an Ethernet or token-ring LAN or in a specialized meeting room (see the photo). An outliner lets a group analyze ideas by constructing an eight-level out- line. Its Idea Organization facility lets a workgroup build a list of ideas or cate- gories and attach or import unstructured comments to any item on the list. You can rearrange, edit, and consolidate items and comments. Its group matrix feature helps establish relationships between rows and columns in a matrix format. Ventana's TeamGraphics, which runs on Microsoft's Windows 3. 1 or Windows for Workgroups, features collaborative design of graphical 116 BYTE • MARCH 1993 What You Want, J AMECO JAMECO ServiceLine™ Computer/Printer Repair and Support 1-800 -83 I -8020 Keyboards Fujitsu 101-key enhanced keyboard Part no.: 2B17128 Product no.: FKB4700 $79.95 Computer Cards 16-bit VGA Card Part no.: 2B67459 Product no.: VG7700 $99.95 Floppy Disk Drives Toshiba 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Disk Drive Part no.: 2B40774 Product no.: 356KU $99.95 Memory SIMM Module Function: lMBx9 80ns Part no.: 2B41769 Product no.: 421000A9B-80 $47.95 DRAM Function: IMBxl 80ns Pan no.: 2B42251 Product no.: 511000P-80 $4.99 Cables, Gender "^ Changers, and Adapters 1 r 6-foot parallel DB25-pin male to Centronics male printer cable Part no.: 2B28716 Product no.: PPC6 $7.95 DE9 female to DB25 male serial adapter Part no.: 2B 10305 Product no.: AD925 $4.95 Hard Drives (IDE) Capacity: 120MB Speed: 19ms Part no.: 2B14074 Product no.: CP30104 $389.95 Metex Digital Multimeters 4.5 digit w/frequency & capacitance & data hold switch Part no.: 2B27158 Product no.: M4650 $99.95 Power Supplies 150 watt 8088 Part no.: 2B19465 Product no.: JE1030 $69.95 When You Want H. 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COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING The Public Reacts to GDSS JAMES D. GANTT AND CATHERINE M. BEISE When was the last time you en- joyed a meeting and looked forward to your next one? Sur- prisingly, these sentiments were expressed by the participants in sever- al tests of GDSS (group decision sup- port system) software. Early in 1992, we tested reactions to GDSS for the U.S. Army. Test-group sizes ranged from six to 20 members. Participants represented military (20 percent), government (23 percent), and civilian (58 percent) organizations. About one-third of the people were members of minorities, and one-fifth were women. Computer literacy levels ranged from none to expert. Partici- pants were connected by a LAN run- ning GroupSystems V software from Ventana (Tucson, AZ). GroupSystems provides anonymous, real-time, text- based interaction for workgroups. We collected quantitative data and open-ended comments from partici- pants. Participants used a five-point scale to rate their reactions; 5 was the highest score (see the table). Our posttest interviews indicated that the less computer literate found GDSS meetings more effective than did their high-powered colleagues, perhaps re- flecting lower expectations on the part of the former. More participants com- mented on GDSS's speed and effi- ciency than on anything else. And an additional benefit cited was the way GDSS forces a structure on meetings. Participants believed that learning GDSS was a barrier. But many felt that it would be beneficial after frequent use. Some participants initially feared us- ing a computer, but they overcame this trepidation, perhaps in their desire to join in the discussion. Others felt in- teraction was limited by the system's structure. The meeting facilitator's skill affected whether the GDSS system structure was viewed negatively or pos- itively. One of our more interesting sessions involved members of an academic de- partment with a reputation for raucous meetings. At the end of their test, they were amazed: They had reached a con- sensus on a touchy curriculum issue with everyone participating but with no one yelling in anger. In most groups, the participants be- lieved there was a benefit to the level playing field offered by anonymous communication. But this was put to the test by a group of managers. A gen- tleman in the group began to type his messages in uppercase, perhaps to dif- ferentiate himself from others. To his frustration, someone else opted to do the same. We don't know if these ac- tions were deliberate, but one group member said, "I need to know who made a comment to evaluate it." Overall, our test results indicate that people react positively to GDSS. Its ability to provide anonymity seemed to increase everyone's participation. More important, groups are more like- ly to achieve consensus and commit to following through on action plans de- veloped at a GDSS meeting. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors thank Rick Watson and Alan Dennis of the University of Geor- gia for their contributions. James D. Gantt is the director of group- ware research at the U.S. Army Re- search Laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia. Catherine M. Beise is an assistant pro- fessor of information systems at West Georgia College and a member of the staff at the Army's research laboratoiy in Atlanta. You can reach them on BIX do "editors." PUBLIC REACTIONS TO GDSS A test group of individuals ranging from computer novices to experts reacted favorably to a GDSS trial run by the U.S. Army. Participants rated each category on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most favorable rating. Willingness to use GDSS tools again 4.4 Task accomplishment 4.3 Even participation 4.2 Satisfaction with process 4.1 Satisfaction with outcome 4.1 Good outcome 3.9 Commitment to results 3.8 diagrams, graphical what-if brainstorm- ing, and a group whiteboard to share text and ideas. Level 3 systems, which are in the de- velopmental stage, automate group com- munications patterns. They allow you to select and arrange meeting rules and in- clude such tools as an automated coun- selor and Robert's Rules of Order. Lotus Notes Notes from Lotus Development (Cam- bridge, MA) is a different type of collab- orative system, but its effects are far-reach- ing. "Lotus legitimized groupware with its introduction of Notes," says Group- ware '93 's Coleman. Notes can best be described as a group communications environment that lets you access and create shared information. It gives your workgroup E-mail, distributed databases, bulletin boards, text editing, document management, and various ap- plications development tools, all integrat- ed into an environment with a graphical, menu-based user interface. "It's the Swiss Army knife of tools," says Tim Deagan, manager of the services tools development 118 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Discover why FoxPro, Clipper, and dBASE were all written in C. There is a good reason why • your database language was developed in C. In fact, there are many good reasons. C code is small. C code is fast. C code is portable. C code is flexible. C is the language of choice for today's professional developer. With the growing complexity of database applications, C is a realistic alternative. Now with CodeBase 5.0, you can have all the functionality, simplicity and power of traditional database languages together with the benefits of C/C++. C speed - fast code, true executables... FoxPro, Clipper, and dBASE were written in C primarily for speed. But those compilers don't really compile, they combine imbedded language interpreters into your .EXE. Now that's slow. For dazzling performance you need the true executables of C. With CodeBase you get the real thing, C code. Consider the following statistics, from the publisher of Clipper: SL OWEB "Sieve of Erastothenes" Benchmark for Prime Number Generation Shows C to be incredibly faster ! C size ■ small executables, no added overhead... FoxPro, Clipper and dBASE would like you to believe you need their entire development system to build database applications. But remember, those products are all written in C. So why do you need to lug all their extra code around? You don't. CodeBase is a complete DBMS, in C. No fat executables stuffed with unused code. No runtime modules. No royalties. Just quality C code. CodeBase is just what you need. C portability -ANSI C/C++ on every hardware platform... 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Call 403/437-2410 now for your FREE working model of CodeReporter New ■ Design complex reports in just minutes... Our new CodeReporter takes the painstaking work out of reports. Now simply design and draw reports interactively under Windows 3.1, then print or display them from any DOS, Windows or UNIX application. SPECIAL - FREE CodeReporter Order CodeBase 5 before April 30, 1993 and receive CodeReporter for free! This offer includes our no-risk, 90-day money back guarantee, so order today! CodeBase S.O The C/C++ Library for DataBase Management Call Now 403-437-2410 SEQUITER III SOFTWARE INC. III! FAX Europe 403-436'2999 33.20.24.20.14 (1209.9644-54 AVE.. EDMONTON, AB. CANADA TBE-5V1 Circle 1 42 on Inquiry Card. COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING Workgroups connect with each other from remote sites via a LAN or meet in special conference rooms, as pictured here. (Photo courtesy ofVentana Corp.) group at Dell Computer (Austin, TX). Deagan's group at the time, the R&D department, was among the first Notes tak- ers at Dell, where it flourished. However, Deagan says, other department managers, especially those responsible for cost con- tainment, were hesitant to spend the money (i.e., license fees of $395 per user) for a tool that seemed to many not to have a clear mission. MIT's Malone also sees this as a prob- lem for Notes. "Precisely because Notes is so general, it is often hard to understand at first what it is useful for," says Malone. Notes has gained acceptance at Dell, says Deagan, finding uses in such diverse areas as database development, training, and quality control. But it was a long jour- ney: "You have to lure people to Notes," he says. "Its versatility has kept Notes above water, but its versatility smothers it." Windows for Workgroups Windows for Workgroups integrates group- ware into the network environment. It gives you E-mail; group scheduling; real-lime conference facilities; network-monitoring utilities; and file, printer, and Clipboard sharing (see "Windows for Workgroups," November 1992 BYTE). The Windows GUI is an important part of Windows for Workgroups. Its ClipBook Clipboard sharing facility lets you cut, paste, and share pages of data, such as when you transfer pages of information directly into someone's Clipboard. The Schedule-H feature helps you plan meet- ings on-line by merging prospective at- tendees' schedules, finding a suitable time, and mailing out invitations. Brian Howden, a technical specialist working for the British Columbia Min- istry of Forests (Victoria, BC, Canada), says that his organization is conducting pilot programs to determine if Windows for Workgroups will solve some of the ministry's connectivity and API problems. At the ministry, more than 1500 desktop computers run Windows. Dozens of LANs provide shared resources for these and oth- er types of computers, and an IBM main- frame provides ministrywide E-mail. En- suring connectivity among all workstations and peripherals is a costly and ongoing problem. But Windows for Workgroups supports the Windows Open Services Ar- chitecture, so it provides out-of-box stan- dard APIs for applications development. "Anything that provides a standard API is attractive to us," Howden says. If Howden is apprehensive about any- thing in Windows for Workgroups, it's that the groupware has its own mail applica- tion, which could disturb the ministry's ex- isting E-mail service. Unless the ministry migrates to Microsoft Mail, Windows for Workgroups mail could "entice users to set up noncompatible islands of E-mail with- in our organization," says Howden (see "Smarter E-Mail Is Coming" on page 90). Cultural Challenges Collaborative systems can meet stubborn resistance when they are introduced in a company, because they challenge the or- ganizational culture with a new means of communication. "Groupware moves a company from a very hierarchical struc- ture to one where each individual's input is accepted regardless of sex, race, or office status," says Harold I. Gallagher, CEO of Collaborative Technologies. Some managers have problems with this because collaborative systems can upset a company's unique environment for get- ling work done. You must take this into account when planning your collaborative information system. "The collaborative environment adds a new, on-line culture to your organization," says John Dono- van, an analyst with Workgroup Tech- nologies. As manager, your "challenge is to define that culture so that you have a more effective organization." But the higher you climb in a com- pany's organization, the more you can en- counter resistance to collaborative comput- ing, says Bernard DeKoven, a management consultant based in Palo Alto, California. DeKoven argues that the monetary incen- tive systems of upper management are of- ten disincentives to sharing ideas and data, because personal information is an indi- vidual's powerbase. "If you don't ac- knowledge the incentives for competition that exist in your organization, any effort at creating a collaborative system will be sab- otaged" by office politics, says DeKoven. Groupware and collaborative efforts are most successful at the lower levels of an organization, says DeKoven. Lower-ech- elon employees are used to workgroup projects, have fewer incentives for com- petitive behavior, and usually are so dis- empowered that they prefer to wrap their comments, ideas, and suggestions in ano- nymity, says DeKoven. DeKoven has worked with several com- panies that have successfully integrated collaborative systems into their environ- ments. Mostly, they've been companies that have adopted flat organizational struc- tures, where everyone has access to infor- mation, and high-tech companies, where workgroups are the norm. In more tradi- tional businesses, collaborative systems succeed best when they spread above and below from middle management, accord- ing to DeKoven. But "the technology is not going to drive the cultural changes," says DeKoven. "As long as there are incentives for competition and control, people will use groupware only to further their individual goals." For collaborative systems to be truly successful, you must change the way you operate. According to Groupware '93's Coleman, collaborative systems can pro- vide that incentive to change: "Often peo- ple perceive their value to a company as their expertise, and if they share that ex- pertise, they've lost their value. But fre- quently it turns out to be the other way around — their coworkers find out just how valuable they are to the company." ■ Jeffrey Hsu is a computer consultant and a professor of information systems at Mont- clair State College in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. You can reach him at JHSU on MCI Mail. Tony Lockwood is a BYTE technical editor. You can contact him on BIX as "lockwood. " 120 BYTE • MARCH 1993 R E L E S S -.-. -■ :■■ .. W R K I N B Y MOTOROLA EMBARe; from Motorola, delivers information to moving targets Users roam the nation and stay in the loop Portability doesn't have to mean isolation from important, timely information, thanks to EM B ARC wireless networking. Anywhere in America's top 200 I cities, users stay connected— to E-mail from the office and news and weather briefs from USA TODAY as well as optional services such as sports, key market and financial developments, and targeted industry news briefs from HeadsUp."' 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Inc. c Molorola, Inc. 1992 Now Even Bad Reports Can Look Good New CA-RET 1.0: The Friendliest, Most R)werful Report Witer Ever. Add bitmapped images anywhere in your report/or graphic impact. Create exciting _ outputfromyour CA-Clipper, dBASE and text/ties. Dozens of built-in number-crunching ' Junctions are available/or powerful data analysis. The United States House Of Representatives k BANK MONTHLY BANK STATEMENT-APRIL,1993 Phil A. Buster Acct. # D 3320 67 55509 14 E. Pork Barrel Lane, Potomac, MD 20519 . (301) 555-0269 District: 153 Party: Frequently Campaign Slogan: "A Vote For Buster Is A VoteFor Me" YTD SUMMARY Total Number of Bad Checks Average Daily Balance Average Amount of Bad Checks Largest Overdraft Outstanding Loons ' Overdraft Fees (Waived) Interest Owed (Waived) 6014 -$41,449.00 $19,248.00 $49,650.00 $85,320.00 $1,250.00 $5,360.43 ACTIVITY SUMMARY Date 3/17 3/Sl 3/88 4/7 No. 5261 5262 SBB3 5264 Memo/Category The Watergate Hotel The Hair Club For Men Club Met! 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Call 1-800-531-5236 (Canada: 1-800-665-5449) or see your local dealer. ^ Call today and find out how fjj[OMPUTER easy it is to turn the mundane ^BSSOOATES intO the magnificent. Software superior by design. ©Computer Associates International, Inc., One Computer Associates Plaza. Islandia. NY 11788-70CO. All product names referenced herein are trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 76 on Inquiry Card. STATE OF THE ART/Collaborative Computin; HITTING WARP SPEED FOR LANS High-speed networks promise the performance that collaborative computing needs — at a price MARK A. CLARKSON Brian Lyles, a researcher at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Cen- ter), designs collaborative appli- cations of the future in areas such as scientific visualization, desktop tele- conferencing, and advanced document management. The feasibility of these ap- plications depends on the resolution of formidable problems. LANs provide limited data-carrying ca- pacity (i.e., bandwidth) — 10 Mbps on an Ethernet and 4 to 1 6 Mbps on a token-ring network. But collaborative applications require moving huge data sets that can overwhelm a network's bandwidth. For example, broadcast-quality video, even at 20-to-l compression, requires a 6-Mbps data transfer rate. At that rate, a 10-minute broadcast represents half a gigabyte of data, the equivalent of five sets of the En- cyclopaedia Britannica. The applications that Lyles envisions involve continuous streams of high-qual- ity audio and video data. "We're not going to settle for one stream of video to the desktop. We have applications that use many streams," says Lyles. To make matters worse, LANs such as token-ring and Ethernet networks are shared-media networks. They allow only one conversation to take place at a time. And their bandwidth must be shared by all the users on a network. Shared-media networks work best with short bursts of data (e.g., E-mail messages). In a client-server environment, for example, a number of workstations might share the same server. Because the server can talk to only one workstation at a time, it scarce- ly matters that the conversation takes place over a shared-media LAN. A network that primarily handles E-mail traffic will do ILLUSTRATION: STEVE LYONS ©1993 MARCH 1993 • BYTE 123 HITTING WARP SPEED FOR LANS ONE POSSIBLE CONFIGURATION OF A WAN Figure 1 : LANs connect to each other over a backbone network. In this example, FDDI, a 100-Mbps optical-fiber network, provides the connection. Backbone networks can be connected to each other via a variety of private and public services, including leased lines and satellite links. just fine at token-ring speeds, but shared- media networks are not good at handling continuous data streams, like those created by a video teleconference. Collaborative computing presupposes more interactive use of networks than just providing a medium for E-mail traffic. Much of the use is workstation-to-work- station (many-to-many) rather than client- server (many-to-one). Because you might want to collaborate with someone across town or across the Pacific, your LANs must be connected to each other, and your bandwidth demands grow with every step. To link the slower 10-Mbps LANs, you use the faster 100- Mbps backbone networks. And to tie these together into a WAN (wide-area network), you use an even faster network, say some- thing with a 1-Gbps or higher data transfer rate (see figure 1). Although today's networks are too slow for advanced collaborative applications, a number of network-bandwidth boosters are coming into their own and may pro- vide solutions to the problem. These tech- nologies include FDDI (Fiber Distribut- ed Data Interface), ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), and switching hubs. Video a Problem "Video is the data type that will force the commercial networking business to come to grips with the bandwidth issue," says Jim Long, president of Starlight Networks (Mountain View, CA), a maker of video software for Ethernet networks. Video is a key component of the next generation of collaborative applications, whether for desktop videoconferencing, training, or visualization. Other data (e.g., CAD drawings and true-color scanned im- ages) may gobble up great chunks of net- work bandwidth, but none so voracious- ly as video. "Video is not only huge, but it's con- Advanced High-Speed Networks The Promise: • variable bandwidth on demand • new kinds of workgroup applications • studio-quality desktop audio and video The Reality: • incomplete standards • three to 10 times more expensive • possible software incompatibility tinuous," says Long. Unlike a still image, which is finite and will be on the network for a short time, video just keeps coming. Single frames of broadcast-quality video — with compression — are about 12 KB each, and a new frame is shipped 60 times a sec- ond. Meanwhile, other devices sit idle be- cause the network hasn't any bandwidth to spare for them. "Even a low-grade tele- conference," says Long, "sends more data over your network in an hour than it has ever seen before." Studio-quality video re- quires 10-Mbps or faster data streams, which overwhelms a typical LAN. Token Ring on Steroids How do you increase your bandwidth? One way is to switch to a faster network, such as FDDI. "FDDI is really a token ring on steroids," says Long. Like token-ring net- works, FDDI passes data around a ring, but its bandwidth is 100 Mbps, far faster than a token-ring or Ethernet network. For exam- ple, at 100 Mbps, you could ship this article around a network 1000 times a second. But FDDI has problems. It's a new net- work with new protocols, and your soft- ware may not run on it. FDDI is also 10 times more expensive than an Ethernet network. Pricing for adapter cards starts at around $1000; Ethernet cards begin at about $100. If FDDI is too expensive, how about 124 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Speed And 16.8 Million Colors With The TurboBahn Combo From Genoa The Combo includes - Windows VGA 24 (Model 8500VL) - Fast 24-bit graphics accelerator at 32-bit speed. 1 6.8 Million colors at up to 640 x 480 and 64K colors with up to 800 x 600 resolution. 1 MB DRAM display memory. VESA, IBM VGA, EGA, CGA, MDA and Hercules compatible. Advanced drivers include AutoCAD®, AutoShade™, Lotus® 1-2-3, OS/2®2.0, Microsoft Windows™ 3.1, and more. Flickerfree™ 70 or 72Hz vertical refresh rate. Two year warranty. TurboExpress 486VL - Fast motherboard performance (300% increase over ISA bus) incorporating the latest in VESA Local Bus technology. Supports up to 50MHz and 256 cache. CPU-486 SX-20,25 / 486 DX-33, 50 / 486DX2-50, 66 combinations. Seven 1 6-bit expansion slots consisting of two VESA local bus slots. Two year warranty. TurboExpress 486VL Accelerator / Driver Combination Winmark (16.8 Million colors in 640 x 480 Resolution*) Genoa Model S500VL with Genoa Driver S3 86C805 Adapter + S3 Driver 2.159 Million | L4Z 0.828 Million | .bb Genoa SYSTEMS CORPORATION The Ultimate Graphics Solution " Benchmark results were collected using 640 x 480 resolution in 1 6.8 Million color mode, Winbench 3.1 on a 486DX / 33 VESA local bus. Other Color and resolutions will vary. ©Genoa Systems Corporation 75 East Trimble Road, San Jose, CA. 951 31 all rights reserved. TurboBahn, TurboExpress and WindowsVGA are trademarks of Genoa Systems. All other registered trademarks and un-registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Circle 84 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 85). HITTING WARP SPEED FOR LANS Rolling the DICE DICE (Distributed Interactive Collaboration Environment) is a research project under way at the National Center for Super- computing Applications (Champaign, IL). DICE allows researchers — who may be physically far apart — to col- laborate on large visualizations, which they can all view and with which they can all interact simultaneously. Sev- eral people can steer and control the parameters of the visualization. The project was conceived as an en- vironment in which to develop appli- cations that exploit gigabit networks. Although the image processing and number crunching in DICE run primar- ily on supercomputers, the interactive user interface and the graphical output run on workstations. Sending a continuous stream of high- definition images can consume more than 500 Mbps of bandwidth for each workstation viewing the simulation. "Nothing has been geared up to sup- port these speeds," says DICE author Jeff Terstriep. "Every step you take, you hit another bottleneck." As fast as computer speeds have in- creased, network speeds have grown faster. "All of a sudden, we've got a network that's faster than the VME bus that these workstations are built around," says Terstriep. "Even super- computers don't necessarily have as much I/O speed as you'd like. It's a challenge." For a network to support an ad- vanced, interactive, collaborative en- vironment, says Terstriep, it must be fast and exhibit low latency — outgo- ing data must not sit at your worksta- tion, waiting for an opening in net- work traffic. Without low latency, the value of a fast network diminishes. One intent of DICE research is to develop methods of efficiently moving large data sets on networks. DICE uses a message-passing system designed to move scientific data sets that range in size from 8 MB to 2 GB (e.g., multi- dimensional arrays of data) through various pipelines. It uses both high- bandwidth and low-latency networks, splitting the message to achieve the highest performance possible. For example, the handshaking and control information has low latency. It doesn't require the high data transfer rate that a 2-KB by 2-KB by 24-bit im- age requires. DICE sends the hand- shake information through an Ethernet or FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Inter- face) network and the image through a high-performance parallel-interface network. DICE ensures that these mul- tiple networks operate in harmony and that the operation is transparent to the application and to the end user. "Current high-speed networks have relatively high latency. I think you'll see ATM take over, because it offers very low latency at very high band- width," says Terstriep. But better machine architectures are needed to exploit gigabit networks. The speed at which you can read and write to the RAM on your worksta- tion becomes an issue. "You find you can't afford to copy data from the user space to the oper- ating system, to the networking card, and out on the wire," says Terstriep. All those copies take time and CPU cycles, and at gigabit speeds, time is precious. speeding up your existing LAN? Grand Junction Networks (Union City, CA) is developing a product called Fast Ethernet, which is an Ethernet standard that matches FDDI's 100 Mbps. Also, IBM has report- edly pushed Token Ring to 64 Mbps. The idea behind such pumped-up ver- sions of familiar networks is to preserve your investments in network wiring and software while boosting network capacity to meet increased demands. But these so- called fast LANs are up to three times more expensive per installation, although they are far less expensive than FDDI. In addition, all these fast networks — including FDDI — have flaws that may prove fatal over time. For example, none guarantee real-time data delivery. When audio and video are shipped as separate data streams, it's important that they ar- rive at the same time. The question be- comes: Will 100 Mbps be enough? "Some people say 100 Mbps is plenty of bandwidth," says Steve Krause, a tech- nology analyst at SRI (Menlo Park, CA), an independent research institute. "But when Ethernet was introduced, people said, 'Ten megabits! No one will need more than this.' " Krause believes that as appli- cations become more LAN-intensive they will need more than 100 Mbps. Near-Unlimited Bandwidth If 100 Mbps is not enough, there is a way to achieve almost unlimited bandwidth: switching. To understand switching, think about making a telephone call. You dial my number. I answer. We talk. In effect, we have a dedicated line linking us. In fact, our telephones are connected through one or more switches — universal connec- tions — and can be similarly connected to any of millions of other telephones across the U.S. Millions of other telephone con- versations are going on concurrently with ours. Even though the telephone lines have a low bandwidth, the capacity of this huge switched network — its aggregate band- width — is astronomical. In a shared-media LAN, the aggregate bandwidth is the same as the peak band- width of the individual lines. For exam- ple, an Ethernet's aggregate and peak band- widths are both 10 Mbps. Thus, adding nodes to your network increases its load, but not its capacity. The aggregate bandwidth of a switched network is equal to the peak bandwidth of each line times the number of lines going into the switch divided by two. For exam- ple, 100 10-Mbps lines equals 0.5 Gbps (i.e., 100 x 10 Mbps h- 2 = 0.5 Gbps). "That's why I like switched technology like ATM," says Xerox PARC's Lyles. "Switched networks tend to have an ag- gregate bandwidth that is much higher than their peak bandwidth." When the ATM standard is finalized, says Lyles, ATM should provide sufficient bandwidth for most collaborative applications. ATM is isochronous (i.e., real-time) and provides high bandwidth on demand. Be- cause it's a packet-switched network, it divides data into small clusters, called packets; moves them around the network; and reassembles the packets at their desti- nation. ATM lets you mix and match chan- nels of varying bandwidths and data types (e.g., video, data, and voice). You can have 150-Mbps, 600-Mbps, and 2.4-Gbps links on the same network. "ATM allows you to stop asking, 'What video quality can I get over the network?' and start asking, 'What video quality do 1 want?' " says Lyles. Some companies, such as DEC (May- nard, MA), are developing ATM LANs. But the technology is sophisticated and 126 BYTE • MARCH 1 993 45 SECONDS OF COLOR WEO OH W MS III liv: ■ ggg wm'u. ■ : \. >,', Video feature connector PROFESSIONAL FRAME CAPTURE: 16 MILLIONS OF COLORS EO MAKER yes (about 30 Kbytes per s yes high professional quali 16 millions colors per pixel 4:2:2 (2 times more color samples) NTSC, PAL and SECAM 768x576(PAlandSECAM) 640x480 (NTSC) square pixel short: compatible with desktop PCs miniaturized: SMT no switches at all none: high compatibility all VIDEO SOURCE VIDEO MAKER™ is delivered with the best software under WINDOWS: edlum quality 16 millions colors per 4:1:1 NTSC, PAL. 720x512 (PAL) 640x480 (NTSC) rectangular pixe! long classic many switches several IRQ and Dt limited absolutely necessary IMAGER™ : frame capture, video sequence capture, MPEG compression, image edition (color controls, text overlay, cropping, zoom, vertical & horizontal flip, numerous filters, contour extraction, ...), save images in .BMP (8 bits or 24 bits), TIF (G, P, RGB, YUV, CMYK, ...), .PCX, .VSF, .MPG, ... MPEG PLAYER™ : veritable digital VCR, letting you play MPEG-compressed sequences in normal mode or single-step forward or backward under WINDOWS 3.0 and 3.1. MULTIMEDIA MANAGER™ from MULTIMEDIA TELECOM: true generator of multimedia and hypermedia applications with the following main features: - intuitive icon-based interactive multimedia scenarios, - directly compatible with VIDEO MAKER™ , - compatible with all the MPC audio cards (ex.: SOUND BLASTER™ ), » - manages multimedia libfairies with sound, image, ... | - manages active regions in the images. 3 VIDEO MAKER MANUFACTURER U.S. & CANADA Ph.: 404 921 61 67 - Fax.: 404 921 9243 EEC. Ph.: 33.1.46.29.03.06 Fax.: 33.1.46.29.03.04 Circle 1 77 on Inquiry Card . HITTING WARP SPEED FOR LANS CONVENTIONAL AND SWITCHED ETHERNETS Server Server Server 30 workstations Server Server Server Data stream 1 I pi "l I °l I bi i a ibi I Bl Bl Bi i a; 10 workstations 1 workstations 10 workstations Figure 2: In a conventional Ethernet network with three file servers shared among 30 workstations, only one conversation can take place at a time. With a three-by-three switch added to the network, you can have three conversations on the network at once. expensive — about $6000 per connection, says Howard Salwen, president of Proteon (Westborough, MA), a company that makes networking equipment and plans to deliv- er its first ATM-based products late this year. Given its cost and that the standard has yet to be finalized, ATM will probably not be a major player in the desktop arena for at least five years — pundits are reluc- tant to guess exactly how long. "ATM is a wonderful technology," says Salwen, "but it isn't soup yet." Ethernet for Everyone Switched-hub technology is already be- ing added to Ethernet. It can turn a single Ethernet into an Ethernet for every net- work user (see figure 2). The upgrade is simple: You replace the old hub in your wiring closet with a new one. Instead of 100 people sharing 10 Mbps, you have 100 people sharing 1 Gbps. You haven't restrung any wires. You are still using the same adapter cards and software as be- fore. And it's still Ethernet. "This could mean a new life for Ether- net," says Avi Fogel of Lannet (Hunting- ton Beach, CA), a manufacturer of LAN hardware products. "It's no longer a shared medium — it provides each user with band- width on demand up to the full capacity of the network." EtherSwitch from Kalpana (Santa Clara, CA) adds ATM-like packet switching to existing Ethernet LANs. It is similar to ATM in that it's a packet-switched tech- nology, says Larry Blair, Kalpana' s vice president of marketing. EtherSwitch is in- tended to boost throughput between desk- tops and servers. Seeq Technology (Fremont, CA) adds another dimension to switched-hub Ether- net. Its 80C04 LAN-controller chip set provides Ethernet with two-way, or full- duplex, capabilities. Normally, Ethernet networks are one-way — only one node at a time can transmit, and a node cannot re- ceive data while transmitting. By enabling full-duplex, the 80C04 doubles Ethernet's bandwidth to 20 Mbps (i.e., 10 Mbps to send data, and 10 Mbps to receive data). A switching hub is about an order of magnitude more expensive than standard Ethernet, say $700 versus $70 per con- nection, but you preserve a significant part of your network investment. The Ethernet switched-hub approach is so powerful, says Starlight Networks' Long, "that many networking companies are abandoning FDDI for the desktop." Ethernet may become the ubiquitous connection between computers and periph- erals. "Ethernet could become the RS-232 of the nineties," says Long. FDDI Squeezed "Ninety-five percent of all computer users will do just fine for the next five years with 10 Mbps," says Long. "Shared servers and backbone networks — that's the arena where the battle for high-speed networks will take place first." "It's hard to justify investing in a 100- Mbps ATM or FDDI for the desktop," says Lannet's Fogel. "But what if you can find a way at well under $1000 per user for each user to have a full, dedicated 10- Mbps network available? That's a different story." For those that need 100 Mbps to run the advanced collaborative applications that Lyles is dreaming up in Palo Alto, what will the LAN of choice be? FDDI? Not ac- cording to SRI's Krause. "FDDI is in dan- ger of being squeezed out of the desktop marketplace by faster Ethernets and token rings from below and ATM from above." Most experts agree that the eventual winner in high-speed networks of all sizes will be ATM. According to Proteon's Sal- wen, ATM delivers bandwidth on demand; synchronous delivery of voice, video, and data; and the possibility of seamless con- nection between public and private net- works (because it's a global standard). "We can do lots of things with ATM that we haven't been able to do before," says Salwen. ■ Mark A. Clarkson is a freelance science writer living in Wichita, Kansas. You can reach him on BIX c/o "editors. " 128 BYTE • MARCH 1993 YOUR DIRECT LINK CARD For free product information, mail your completed card today. For quicker response, fax to 1-413-637-4343! 1 . Circle the Numbers on Your Direct Link Card Circle the numbers which are found on ads and articles in this issue or circle the product category number and receive information on all advertisers listed in that category. 2. Print Your Name and Address Answer questions "A" through "E" and mail or fax card to 1-413-637-4343. 3. Product information will be rushed to you from the selected companies! 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I Phone Fax ueaier, uonsunani) t 10 3 Yes 11 ZJ No March W93 \ 86 96 98 \ Product Category Disks & Optical Drives 7 Multimedia 19 Educational 30 Shareware 42 Information Diskettes/Duplicators 8 Printers/Plotters 20 Engineering/Scientific 31 Software Duplication 43 Circle the numbers below for Fax Boards/Machines 9 Programmable Hardware 21 Entertainment 32 Spreadsheets 44 information on the entire category Graphics Tablets/Mice/ Scanners/OCR/Digitizers 22 Graphics 33 Unix 45 of products you're interested n. 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54 80 106 132 158 184 210 411 437 463 489 515 541 567 768 794 820 846 872 898 924 1125 1151 1177 1203 1229 1255 1281 • 55 81 107 133 159 185 211 412 438 464 490 516 542 568 769 795 821 847 873 899 925 1126 1152 1178 1204 1230 1256 1282 i 56 82 108 134 160 186 212 413 439 465 491 517 543 569 770 796 822 848 874 900 926 1127 1153 1179 1205 1231 1257 1283 ! 57 83 109 135 161 187 213 414 440 466 492 518 544 570 771 797 823 849 875 901 927 1128 1154 1180 1206 1232 1258 1284 : 58 64 110 136 162 188 214 415 441 467 493 519 545 571 772 79B 824 850 876 902 928 1129 1155 1181 1207 1233 1259 1285 1 59 85 111 137 163 189 215 416 442 468 494 520 546 572 773 799 825 851 877 903 929 1130 1156 1182 1208 1234 1260 1286 I 60 86 112 138 164 190 216 417 443 469 495 521 547 573 774 800 826 852 878 904 930 1131 1157 1183 1209 1235 1261 1287 1 61 87 113 139 165 191 217 418 444 470 496 522 548 574 775 801 827 853 879 905 931 1132 1158 1184 1210 1236 1262 1288 i 62 88 114 140 166 192 218 419 445 471 497 523 549 575 776 802 828 854 880 906 932 1133 1159 1185 1211 1237 1263 1289 | 63 89 115 141 167 193 219 420 446 472 498 524 550 576 777 803 829 855 881 907 933 1134 1160 1186 1212 1238 1264 1290 i 64 90 116 142 168 194 220 421 447 473 499 525 551 577 778 804 830 856 882 908 934 1135 1161 1187 1213 1239 1265 1291 • 65 91 117 143 169 195 221 422 448 474 500 526 552 578 779 805 831 857 883 909 935 1136 1162 1188 1214 1240 1266 1292 I 66 92 118 144 170 196 222 423 449 475 501 527 553 579 780 806 832 858 884 910 936 1137 1163 1189 1215 1241 1267 1293 i 67 93 119 145 171 197 223 424 450 476 502 528 554 580 781 807 833 859 885 911 937 1138 1164 1190 1216 1242 1268 1294 I 68 94 120 146 172 198 224 425 451 477 503 529 555 581 782 808 834 860 886 912 938 1139 1165 1191 1217 1243 1269 1295 ; 69 95 121 147 173 199 225 426 452 478 504 530 556 582 783 809 835 861 887 913 939 1140 1166 1192 1218 1244 1270 1296 : 70 96 122 148 174 200 226 427 453 479 505 531 557 583 784 810 836 862 888 914 940 1141 1167 1193 1219 1245 1271 1297 i 71 97 123 149 175 201 227 428 454 480 506 532 558 584 785 811 837 863 889 915 941 1142 1168 1194 1220 1246 1272 1298 : 72 98 124 150 176 202 228 429 455 481 507 533 559 585 786 812 838 864 890 916 942 1143 1169 1195 1221 1247 1273 1299 I 73 99 125 151 177 203 229 430 456 482 508 534 560 586 787 813 839 865 891 917 943 1144 1170 1196 1222 1248 1274 1300 1 74 100 126 152 178 204 230 431 457 483 509 535 561 587 788 814 840 866 892 918 944 1145 1171 1197 1223 1249 1275 1301 i 75 101 127 153 179 205 231 432 45B 484 510 536 562 588 789 815 841 867 893 919 945 1146 1172 1198 1224 1250 1276 1302 I 76 102 128 154 180 206 232 433 459 485 511 537 563 589 790 816 842 868 894 920 946 1147 1173 1199 1225 1251 1277 1303 77 103 129 155 181 207 233 434 460 486 512 538 564 590 791 817 843 869 895 921 947 1148 1174 1200 1226 1252 1278 1304 Inquiry Numbers 234-408 1 Inquiry Numbers 591-765 1 1 Inquiry Numbers 948-1122 1 1 Inquiry Numbers 1305-1479 234 259 284 309 334 359 384 591 616 641 666 691 716 741 948 973 998 1023 1048 1073 1098 1305 1330 1355 1380 1405 1430 145 I 235 260 285 310 335 360 385 592 617 642 667 692 717 742 949 974 999 1024 1049 1074 1099 1306 1331 1356 1381 1406 1431 1456 • 236 261 286 311 336 361 386 593 618 643 668 693 718 743 950 975 1000 1025 1050 1075 1100 1307 1332 1357 1382 1407 1432 1457 : 237 262 287 312 337 362 387 594 619 644 669 694 719 744 951 976 1001 1026 1051 1076 1101 1308 1333 1358 1383 1408 1433 1458 i 238 263 286 313 338 363 388 595 620 645 670 695 720 745 952 977 1002 1027 1052 1077 1102 1309 1334 1359 1384 1409 1434 1459 | 239 264 289 314 339 364 389 596 621 646 671 696 721 746 953 978 1003 1028 1053 1078 1103 1310 1335 1360 1385 1410 1435 1460 ! 240 265 290 315 340 365 390 597 622 647 672 697 722 747 954 979 1004 1029 1054 1079 1104 1311 1336 1361 1386 1411 1436 1461 I 241 266 291 316 341 366 391 598 623 648 673 698 723 748 955 980 1005 1030 1055 1080 1105 1312 1337 1362 1387 1412 1437 1462 : 242 267 292 317 342 367 392 599 624 649 674 699 724 749 956 981 1006 1031 1056 1081 1106 1313 1338 1363 1388 1413 1438 1463 : 243 268 293 318 343 368 393 600 625 650 675 700 725 750 957 982 1007 1032 1057 1082 1107 1314 1339 1364 1389 1414 1439 1464 | 244 269 294 319 344 369 394 601 626 651 676 701 726 751 958 983 1008 1033 1058 1083 1108 1315 1340 1365 1390 1415 1440 1465 I 245 270 295 320 345 370 395 602 627 652 677 702 727 752 959 984 1009 1034 1059 1084 1109 1316 1341 1366 1391 1416 1441 1466 ! 246 271 296 321 346 371 396 603 628 653 678 703 728 753 960 985 1010 1035 1060 1085 1110 1317 1342 1367 1392 1417 1442 1467 1 247 272 297 322 347 372 397 604 629 654 679 704 729 754 961 986 1011 1036 1061 1086 1111 1318 1343 1368 1393 1418 1443 1468 i 248 273 298 323 348 373 398 605 630 655 680 705 730 755 962 987 1012 1037 1062 1087 1112 1319 1344 1369 1394 1419 1444 1469 | 249 274 299 324 349 374 399 606 631 656 681 706 731 756 963 988 1013 1038 1063 1088 1113 1320 1345 1370 1395 1420 1445 1470 1 250 275 300 325 350 375 400 607 632 657 682 707 732 757 964 989 1014 1039 1064 1089 1114 1321 1346 1371 1396 1421 1446 1471 ! 251 276 301 326 351 376 401 608 633 658 683 708 733 758 965 990 1015 1040 1065 1090 1115 1322 1347 1372 1397 1422 1447 1472 i 252 277 302 327 352 377 402 609 634 659 684 709 734 759 966 991 1016 1041 1066 1091 1116 1323 1348 1373 1398 1423 1448 1473 i 253 278 303 328 353 378 403 610 635 660 685 710 735 760 967 992 1017 1042 1067 1092 1117 1324 1349 1374 1399 1424 1449 1474 : 254 279 304 329 354 379 404 611 636 661 686 711 736 761 968 993 1018 1043 1068 1093 1118 1325 1350 1375 1400 1425 1450 1475 I 255 280 305 330 355 380 405 612 637 662 687 712 737 762 969 994 1019 1044 1069 1094 1119 1326 1351 1376 1401 1426 1451 1476 : 256 281 306 331 356 381 406 613 638 663 6B8 713 738 763 970 995 1020 1045 1070 1095 1120 1327 1352 1377 1402 1427 1452 1477 : 257 282 307 332 357 382 407 614 639 664 689 714 739 764 971 996 1021 1046 1071 1096 1121 1328 1353 1378 1403 1428 1453 1478 258 283 308 333 358 383 408 615 640 665 690 715 740 765 972 997 1022 1047 1072 1097 1122 1329 1354 1379 1404 1429 1454 147 3 YOUR DIRECT LINK CARD For free product information, mail your completed card today. For quicker response, fax to 1-413-637-4343! co a- CL p CD o X en > =£ o o ro o co I CO CD CD > o m 33 to in 33 < o m BD -o ==- -n jD CD —\ c 5 C/> M^^M s z I— m c/> m 3] a? <: H 33 o m -*j ■o ^™ "a -< CO -n ^ m > M^MI > ■" — z fe -I _ -n rn o m ^ ^ O "D ^ m m 3> > q DUO m -< m CO See reverse side for card. 1 . Circle the Numbers on Your Direct Link Card Circle the numbers which are found on ads and articles in this issue or circle the product category number and receive information on all advertisers listed in that category. 2. Print Your Name and Address Answer questions "A" through "E" and mail or fax card to 1-413-637-4343. 3. Product information will be rushed to you from the selected companies! BVTE u STATE OF THE ART/Collaborative Computing BETTER THAN BEING THERE Desktop video teleconferencing could change how you do business TOM YAGER Companies labor under primitive no- tions when it comes to transacting business. Employees commute to and from offices, spend countless wasted hours on airplanes and in hotel rooms, and generally make bad use of time because people insist on doing business face-to-face. Telephones help, and fax machines and modems help more, but these limited tech- nologies support only one form of com- munication at a time. Business leaders are reluctant to buy into telecommuting be- cause they understand that true commu- nication hinges on the full range of human contact: expressions, sights, and sounds. Yet bringing people together for meetings is costly, both in time and money. Big outfits like IBM and AT&T are ap- plying technology to solving this problem. They're using expensive satellite-based video-teleconferencing systems to create "virtual meetings" with people in multi- ple locations. But those without massive resources are in a bind; even scaled-down video-teleconferencing systems cost tens of thousands of dollars. Perhaps more im- portant, they don't offer a complete solu- tion: You still have to go to the video-tele- conferencing center. Why can't video teleconferencing be something you do from your own desk, just like making a telephone call? That's the objective of many companies working on desktop video-teleconferencing solu- tions. The technology has a long way to go before it's practical, but today's solu- tions suggest plenty of reason for hope. Say What You Will Today's teleconferencing technology falls into one of three categories: voice or data ILLUSTRATION: STEVEN LYONS "1993 MARCH 1993 -BYTE 129 Circle 185 on Inquiry Card. "WORLD'S SMALLEST COMPUTER" CREDIT CARD SIZE PC Now embed a 14MHz DOS compatible PC board in places where you thought it was impossible. It is now simple and inexpensive to build a low power consumption Palmtop, Data Collection Unit, Portable Communications Device, PDA, Pen based hand held unit, and more... ESiMB Ifjpm CAT-3000 • 8086/80186 CPU, Full 16-bit • Runs at 14MHz • Fully compatible with DOS 3.0+, • 1MB RAM, 256K SRAM, 512K EPROM (Optional larger size DRAM, SRAM available) • Socket for PCMCIA memory card CGA and LCD support • Keyboard, serial port RS-232 or RS485 support • Low power consumption • Optional peripheral board for FDD, IDE, controller, parallel, mouse port, analog to digital converter, sophisticated control functions. Call for sample unit and complete development kit pricing. Phone (800) 662-8904 Int'l 1-508-975-4392 Fax (508) 689-8351 Custom hardware and software designs available. DSP DESIGNS INTERNATIONAL 70 Flagship Drive, N. Andover, MA 01845 BETTER THAN BEING THERE Photo 1 : The PictureTel video- teleconferencing system. (Photo courtesy of PictureTel) only; voice and video; and voice, video, and data. Everyone is familiar with the first category; it has been around for years in the form of telephone conference calls — an uncontrolled exchange with notorious- ly poor quality. Combining voice and video is advanced technically when compared to an ordinary telephone call. But most commercial video phones support only one video and audio connection (with a maximum of two par- ticipants). That's too limited for most busi- ness uses. Once you add the ability to pass binary data with the voice and video, the possi- bilities are limited only by communica- tions-channel bandwidth, data compres- sion, and applications software (see "Hitting Warp Speed for LANs" on page 123). With the right application, you can start a meeting with a colleague in another office and, without making another call or break- ing the conversation, send the colleague a document containing a color chart simply by dragging the document into the appro- priate folder icon. In addition to that one- shot use of a data channel, you are able to have a constant binary data stream passing other information, such as the data stream- ing to and from sensory I/O devices (see the text box "Being Here and There" on page 132). Video Teleconferencing • integrates data, voice, and video • can be used by workgroups • can reduce business travel expenses • speeds decision making • is migrating to the desktop To enhance your productivity, a tele- conferencing solution must at least pro- vide the benefits available in an in-person meeting. You want to be able to distribute a written agenda or a proposal for consid- eration, scribble on an electronic white- board, or even pound on a virtual table to get attention. Without electronic equiva- lents for the things that happen in a face-to- face meeting, teleconferencing comes up short. But more than that, if a computer's going to be involved in the process, you expect it to let you do things better than you can in person. Both Sides Now Video teleconferencing is a new spin on an old idea. A dial-up computer service's chat mode is a bottom-rung, mulliparticipant teleconference. Participants talk through keyboards instead of with their voices. More serious versions of text telecon- ferencing are in widespread use. For ex- ample, the U.S. Army Missile Command at the Redstone military base in Alabama uses GroupSystems, a text-based telecon- ferencing system from Ventana (Tuscon, AZ). This system links participants in graphically managed meetings. Files can be shared among participants, and the sys- tem's group-writing feature lets them mark up and comment on shared documents. Meetings can be for brainstorming, vot- ing, and alternative evaluation, according to Danny Washington, one of the system's implementers. External participants can dial in and participate in meetings. In general, Washington believes that electronic meetings are adequate replace- ments for in-person encounters and that they may be better than face-to-face meet- ings for large numbers of people. Wash- ington's group plans to add video capa- bility to its electronic-meeting system, but the text-based side will be maintained. Others at Redstone use MediaMax from CAD From the beginning of time, we have tried to express ourselves through graphics. In the begin- ning of time people had to use primi- tive design tools for creating any type of graphics. In the 1 5th Century design tools were quill ink pens and crude styles of paper. By the 1 8th Century we had advanced to the draft- ing table with T-squares, and the dreaded eraser. In the 20th Century the first CAD pro- grams were very slow and extremely difficult to use, not to mention the expense of buying them. Now step into the 21st Century. .. DesfcmCAD Professional Version H EDITORS' CHOICE DesignCAD Professional is the only complete CAD solution. It's 6 packages in one ! DesignCAD 2D has all the tools and power necessary to produce profes- sional architectural or mechanical blueprints. With DesignCAD 2D you will become extremely productive! DesignCAD 3D gives you the power to create and manipulate solid or wireframe objects with quick and easy commands. Render your designs with outstanding photorealistic color! rk Video Training Tapes for DesignCAD Professional, are pro- duced in a state-of-the-art facility using award winning writers, and pro- fessional technicians. Using these video tapes will assure you of learning faster with higher retention, while becoming more productive! SmartEST quickly generates a spread sheet from your DesignCAD drawings so you may estimate cost, and do take-offs for accurate bidding. Symbol Libraries contain over 6700 pre-drawn Architectural and industry standard symbols. These alone will save you a tremendous amount of time and money! ScanPRO converts (Raster to Vector), scanned images into files that can be read by DesignCAD or most other CAD programs. Circle 67 on Inquiry Card. m Call, fax or write for a FREE brochure & demo! American Small Business Computers One American Way Pryor, OK 74361 ph: (918) 825-4844 fax: (918) 825-6359 BETTER THAN BEING THERE Being Here and There DAVID H. MITCHELL Tele-presence is like the old-time radio broadcasts in which actors re-created the actions of a distant event, except that with this tech- nology you are a part of the action. With tele-presence, you can be in your office in San Francisco and with your colleagues in London at the same time. Tele-presence uses virtual-reality technology to simulate objects, people, sounds, and worlds (see photo A). You are hooked to your computer through tactile-sensor-equipped gloves and head-mounted displays (see photo B). Your computer (an Amiga 4000 or a Sun Sparcstation 2 is muscular enough) brings to life events in a distant, virtu- al world using databases or real-time objects and sounds. Modem-to-modem links or a packet network convey the distant event's essence to you. High-speed (i.e., 19,200 bps) modems are sufficient for two users. ISDN channels are recommend- ed when large amounts of data must be moved quickly for true tele-presence. "With the proliferation of broadband ISDN, virtual worlds will be able to be shared over the phone lines," says Dave Blackburn, founder of The Virtual Re- ality Institute (Santa Monica, CA). The output from the digital databases of real objects and sounds are sent to your head-mounted display, depicting scenes such as the one in photo A. Your senses are immersed in an illusionary, yet sensate, world. These databases are key: They min- imize the amount of information that has to be sent to you through your com- munications pipeline. "With a tele-pres- ence database, you simulate virtual re- ality without having to pass horrendous amounts of data back and forth," ex- plains Clint Woeltjen. a virtual-reality Photos A and B: Photo A (above) is a virtual model of San Francisco. Photo B (right) shows a man wearing tele-presence equipment. (Photo courtesy ofSenseS Corp.) researcher and developer. Photo B shows a man wearing a head-mounted display and a tactile-sen- sor-equipped glove, with which he is reaching out to manipulate a remote object. The roller panels underneath his wheelchair measure direction and ve- locity, which are used to create a view- point in his virtual world. As the man moves, his viewpoint of the world he's seeing changes. Today, this equipment is as rare as it is expensive. A typical setup like this requires remotely operable hands to manipulate objects, two-way micro- phones for conversations, and stereo- scopic TV cameras so that you can see what's going on. Costs can start at more than $100,000 per user. In spite of the high costs, tele-pres- ence's proponents are increasingly op- timistic. Programs that let you design custom databases of real-world objects are already beginning to show up on the market. For example, the World- ToolKit from Sense8 (Sausalito, CA) gives you a set of C functions that you use to build interactive, 3-D, real-time graphical simulations. WorldToolKit runs on IBM ATs, Sun Sparcstations, mid Silicon Graphics Indigo computers. It costs $3500. Tele-presence is "going to be on-line by the end of 1 993 in several large cor- porations," says Mike J. Donahue, pres- ident and CEO of Ono-Sendai (San Francisco, CA), a start-up company specializing in virtual-reality products. Industry insiders anticipate that the first generation of mass-market, affordable tele-presence sear will enter the market in 1994. David H. Mitchell is president of the Diaspar Virtual Reality Network (La- guna Beach, CA), an on-line system devoted to providing an experimental platform for virtual-reality develop- ment. VideoTelecom (Austin, TX) for video meet- ings. This conferencing system works with DOS-based PCs and ISDN connections to manage multiple-participant video telecon- ferencing. Tim Bell, a communications of- ficer, finds that MediaMax is able to han- dle five or six participants simultaneously before the group's size becomes unman- ageable. Participants see color images of each other, accompanied by audio, and they can pass around data through the ISDN link. "The productivity gains are tremendous," says Bell. The video allows them to exchange graphical information and to see facial expressions. Redstone conference members have to trek to specially equipped video-telecon- ferencing rooms. There are no plans to equip every desk with video, but offices big enough for small meetings may be set up for video teleconferencing, says Bell. 132 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Circle 97 on Inquiry Card. BETTER THAN BEING THERE Alison Raffalovich, marketing commu- nications manager for VideoTelecom, cred- its her company with pioneering the type of video teleconferencing that is being adopted by emerging desktop products. The MediaMax system that is in use at Redstone operates over any digital link (telephone and satellite links are preferred) with a bandwidth of 56,000 bps or higher. MediaMax is not a desktop solution — at least not yet. Some VideoTelecom cus- tomers wire multiple rooms and cart the gear from one location to another, says Raffalovich. With each site costing from $35,000 to $80,000 to equip, it's likely to be some time before MediaMax or something of its ilk lands on your desktop. But when video-digitizing and compression/decom- pression chips become less expensive, stan- dards for passing large amounts of data through networks are solidified, and ISDN becomes more available, VideoTelecom 's strategy should map well to a desktop or small-group environment. To Your Desktop The goal shared by those with a stake in video teleconferencing's success is to make a video call as simple to place as a tele- phone call while retaining all the benefits that high-speed digital channels offer. As with most things, there's more than one worthwhile approach. PictureTel (Danvers, MA) is shunning the low end of the market, preferring in- stead to sell smaller systems that equal the quality of their conference-room gear (see photo 1). "People need systems that de- liver good-quality video in a 5-inch win- dow or a 27-inch boardroom monitor," says Ron Taylor, manager of media rela- tions for PictureTel. The company's least expensive system costs about $20,000 and requires an under-the-desk processor unit, but future plans call for personal computer board-based systems and stand-alone video- phones. PictureTel's goal, according to Taylor, is to ensure complete cross-product com- patibility. Video-teleconferencing systems "must have a certain level of quality and performance that makes them more than a toy," says Taylor. PictureTel will eventu- ally compete in the low-end market, but for now it seems content to take the high road. If Taylor's predictions are correct, Pic- tureTel has plenty to look forward to. He estimates that the worldwide video-tele- conferencing market will be worth about $7 billion by 1997, with 30 percent to 40 percent of those dollars invested in desktop systems. Because desktop solutions cost less, the share of the market occupied by desktop systems will be closer to 80 per- cent, says Taylor. In the meantime, Northern Telecom (Research Triangle Park, NC) is explor- ing the market with its own full-featured, card-based desktop video-teleconferenc- ing system. Best known as a supplier of corporate telephone equipment, Northern Telecom has long enabled companies to meld their data and voice networks. The advent of ISDN (and its counterparts, such as Switched 56) paved the way for North- em Telecom to extend its connection mod- el to a dial-up video-teleconferencing sys- tem that it calls Visit. With all its options, Visit equips a PC or a Mac to manage both video teleconfer- encing and ordinary voice telephone calls (with voice mail). After connecting with another Visit-equipped computer, Visit produces a resizable window displaying a gray-scale moving video of the person you're calling. You also see your own im- age, which lets you keep yourself proper- ly framed. Both participants can bring up drawings and documents in a shared work space, and Visit has annotation tools for simultaneous markup and written com- ments. In addition, two-way file transfers are supported. Visit dynamically manages the data channel. When nothing else is going on, the video and audio occupy the channel's full bandwidth, delivering 8 to 14 video frames per second, depending on the size of the viewing window and the transmis- sion medium. Once you initiate a file trans- fer or do something in the shared work space, Visit multiplexes the channel, trim- ming the video frame rate and giving the freed bandwidth to the nonvideo activi- ty. If you want faster file transfers, you can put your video window on hold — whatever you're not doing makes every- thing else go faster. Visit works with a PBX, which solves one of video teleconferencing's diciest problems: how to get connections to mul- tiple desks (see the figure). Rather than investing in ISDN or Switched 56 for ev- ery desk in the company, you have to buy only enough technology to support all si- multaneous video users. Visit communi- cates with a PBX to allocate line resources and route them to the appropriate desk. It doesn't require a Northern Telecom PBX, but its capabilities are said to be enhanced by the pairing. Jeff Benson, Northern Telecom's mar- ket development manager, says that Visit offers robustness, low cost, ease of use, and performance. The per-seat cost of $3899 (this does not include the expense of the computer or the hardware for the telephone connection, which adds from Just Add Code. ; 6 tet» tot s w&* (800) 548-4778 Free, Unlimited Technical Support 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee Same-Day Shipping (702)831-2500 Fax: (702)831-8123 P.O. Box 6091 Fortran is our forte Incline Village NV 89450 MARCH 1993 • BYTE 133 BETTER THAN BEING THERE A TYPICAL VIDEO-TELECONFERENCE SETUP VGA monitor Video processor card Caller 1 Video input Video input Caller 2 VGA monitor Network card Telephone/ speakerphone Standard telephone lines In video teleconferencing, your images are captured by computer-mounted cameras. Video processors digitize and compress images, which are transmitted over a network bidirectional!)' . Audio travels via telephone lines or through your network. $300 to $1500) seems to bear out at least the low-cost portion of that claim. Benson is not optimistic that Visit or something like it will run on an ordinary voice-grade telephone line. Although he allows that modem and compression tech- nology might advance far enough to make it possible, "the real answer has more to do with market requirements than technol- ogy." Users, he says, expect a video-tele- conferencing link to deliver good-quality video and snappy performance for data- sharing exercises. Thus, even though they cost more, digital-grade transmission lines will be the favored pipeline for systems like this. No Longer on Hold The future of video teleconferencing looks bright. The rush of interest in multime- dia is driving the development of custom hardware and software to digitize and com- press video signals. And video telecon- ferencing is helping to drive the prolifera- tion of ISDN in the U.S. Assuming the future will offer accessible digital tele- phone connections and inexpensive video- processing hardware, how far can this tech- nology take us? Brett Boston, president of Group Solu- tions (Atlanta, GA), a teleconferencing consulting firm, sees the limited imple- mentation of ISDN as a barrier to wide- spread acceptance of teleconferencing, "but only in the U.S. — Europe is already there." Small private carriers are already build- ing fiber loops through major U.S. cities. In addition, cellular communications will soon gain enough bandwidth for high- speed data transfer and possibly for low- speed video, he says. Another impediment to the acceptance of teleconferencing is the lack of confer- ence-capable environments and applica- tions. Of the popular computer operating environments, only the X Window Sys- tem is inherently able to provide the sup- port for the networked user interface that teleconferencing and groupware require. "More vendors have to put better hooks in their software so stuff works together over a network link," says Boston. Boston believes that Unix will win out because it already supports most of the cooperative attributes that other environ- ments are struggling to acquire. A Unix application, whether text or graphical, can be run almost effortlessly through any kind of digital data link. It's a short hop from there to the connection of multiple parties in a shared session. But the biggest problem has nothing to do with technology. "People are just now learning to use voice and electronic mail," says Boston. "Groupware is damn scary for some because it is, by design, quick and completely democratic." That goes against the cultural philosophy of most managers, who are accustomed to central decision making and waiting for paper- work and travel arrangements. On the other hand, success is often de- termined by the speed with which a com- pany can make key decisions. Video tele- conferencing has the power to reduce or eliminate paperwork delays and commut- ing and travel time and offers the potential of reducing operating costs by making an employee's work location irrelevant. "Within seven years," says Boston, "there won't be any companies with 3000-per- son staffs all in one place." ■ Tom Yager is a multimedia consultant and the author of The Multimedia Production Handbook for the PC, Macintosh and Amiga (Academic Press, forthcoming). You can contact him on BIX as "tyager" or on the Internet at tyager@bytepb .byte .com. 134 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Get a hold of the best value in LAN power protection Now just $139! Blackouts, brownouts, sags... Your data and hardware are vulnerable to problems that surge suppressors and power directors are just not equipped to handle. Now there's a complete Uninterruptible Power Supply solution to suit any budget. The Back-UPS™ 250 is reliable pro- tection for LAN nodes, 386SX machines, 286, small PS/2 systems, and internetworking hardware such as routers bridges, gateways and repeaters. 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SOLUTIONS FOCUS /Multiplatform E-Mail MIXED MESSAGING HOWARD EGLOWSTEIN AND BEN SMITH Multiplatform w f you want to build a multiplatform . . . . I internetwork mail system today, you internetwork mail links have three basic ch y oices ^ y ym diverse network Clients I can establish a Unix network and use .A. standard Unix mail protocols. Second, you can mix and match client modules for each platform with vendor-supplied gate- ways and third-party mail routers. Or, third, you can set up an integrated mail system designed with multiplatform internet- working requirements in mind. Unix mail is a viable solution, but it's one that doesn't readily lend itself to extensive existing PC or Mac networks. For a look at the state of Unix E-mail, see the text box "The Unix Mail Story" on page 148. (Our cover story, "Smarter E-Mail Is Coming" on page 90, explores how E-mail can automate workflow.) It's the third category, single-vendor mail systems, that we've focused on in this article. We've reviewed E-mail systems that are part of a family of products that promise a full solution to the complex problem of internetwork E-mail. In a shrink- ing world, where communicating with dissimilar systems at various sites is an everyday requirement, these systems look particularly attractive. We've selected five E-mail systems that provide both multiplatform client sup- port and a generous allotment of external gateways. Lotus Development's cc:Mail is a network-based system that relies on a shared-file network connection to share mail among Macs, PCs, and Unix systems. Da Vinci Systems' Da Vinci eMail provides client support for PCs and Macs through Novell's MHS (Message Handling Service). Microsoft Mail comes in two flavors, a Macintosh network version (which connects Macs and PCs through AppleTalk) and a PC network version (which connects similar clients through shared files). We tested the PC network version only. CE Software's QuickMail is an AppleShare-based mail system that supports Mac and PC clients. Finally, WordPerfect Office works through various networks and sup- ports many different workstation platforms. The table presents details of client support and lists other features of each product. Naturally, all these interconnections and all this rampant interoperability create a testing challenge. Our test setup included a battery of Macs and PC compatibles, 136 BYTE • MARCH 1 993 PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD WAHLSTROM & 1993 BYTE ACTION SUMMARY WHAT MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL IS Multiplatform E-mail systems offer support for clients on various operating systems and network platforms and provide extensive gateway links to other E-mail systems. LIKES Gateway connections to virtually every mail system; good user interfaces common among platforms. DISLIKES Client support is uneven on different platforms, and some client user interfaces are poor. Configuring and connecting mail systems is very complex. RECOMMENDATIONS For a wide range of client platforms and for connecting to the most diverse systems, cc:Mail excels. For Mac-specific applications, QuickMail is the best choice. plus a few Unix workstations, all con- nected over a mixed Ethernet and Local- Talk network. Cayman Systems' Gator- Box CS provided the connection between LocalTalk and Ethernet, and a NetWare 3.11 file server running NetWare NFS and NetWare for Macintosh provided a com- mon shared-file system. For wide-area connections, we relied on three Hayes V- Series Ultra (9600-bps) modems. Each E-mail system that we tested used these resources in a different way; we dis- cuss the configurations in the individual product descriptions. We also describe what it's like to set up, administer, and use each E-mail package in a mixed-client, mixed E-mail configuration. There's one piece of the internetwork E-mail puzzle that these systems, for all their flexibility, don't totally address — the issue of multiprotocol mail gateways and mail backbones. We get into that sub- ject, with some hands-on experience with Retix Open Server 400, in the text box "Gateways and Backbones" on page 146. Gateways are likely to become more important as more companies install E- mail systems. At the very least, having gateways in place can save you from hav- ing to dial into several commercial sys- tems each day to pick up all your mail. And a fax gateway would allow anyone in your department to send and receive faxes from his or her desk. continued MARCH 1993 YTE 137 MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL FEATURES SUMMARY: MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL Gateway support and user-interface features are the concerns we concentrated on during our review, but security and configuration issues are also critical. (• = yes; O = no.) cc:Mail Da Vinci eMail 2.0 Microsoft Mail QuickMail 2.5 WordPerfect for PC Networks 3.0 Office 3.0 Configuration Workstation environments Mac, DOS, Windows, Mac, DOS, Windows, Mac, DOS, Mac, DOS Mac, DOS, Windows, SunOS, Open Look, OS/2 OS/2 Windows SCO Unix, Interactive Unix, DEC VMS Requires dedicated mail server O O Mac only • ' Conferencing • O O AppleTalk clients only O On-line conferencing O O AppleTalk clients only Mac networks only Remote-user access • • • Mac or terminal PCs only Mail-center forwarding • • • • • Message creation Text editor • • • • • Graphics editor • o O O O Custom forms Third party o • Mac only Voice mail Third party • Mac only Mac and Windows only Attachments per message 20 Unlimited Unlimited 16 100 Message priority levels 3 3 5 5 3 2 Return receipts • • • • • Message receipt Audio alert Mac, DOS, Unix All clients All clients All clients All clients Pop-up Mac, DOS, Unix All clients All clients All clients (icon) All clients TSR/INITsize 32 KB (Mac), 17 KB (DOS) 4 KB (DOS) 42 KB (Mac), 12 KB (DOS) 96 KB (Mac), 9 KB (DOS) 7 KB (DOS), 76 KB (Mac) View attachments • Launches application Text only O Launches application Administration Read any message O O O O Delete any message O O • • • Purge old messages • o • • O 3 Message tracking o O • • Security Message encryption • • • • Administrator can access mail • • o External mail can be restricted • • • Gateways MHS Optional Native transport Optional Third party Optional X.400 Third party Third party Optional Third party Optional Fax Optional Third party Optional Third party Optional SMTP Optional Third party Optional Third party Optional MCI Mail Optional Third party Optional Through script Optional EasyLink Third party Third party O O Optional AT&T Mail Optional Third party o Through script O CompuServe O Third party Through script O SprintMail Optional Third party o Through script o DEC All-in-one Third party Third party o Third party o IBM PROFS Optional Third party Optional Third party Optional IBM DISOSS/SNADS Optional/third party Third party Optional Third party Optional Banyan Vines Mail Third party Third party O Third party O VMS Mail Third party Third party Third party O User-definable O o • O Others X.25 networks, GE Quick-Comm, Microsoft Mail for Microsoft Mail OfficeVision/VM, Wang VS, Lotus Notes, AppleTalk Verimation Memo Voice/ PBX, Telex Price Open Look, $895 4 DOS Starter Microsoft Mail Server 1 user, $199 5 users, $495 Mac, Windows, (10 users), $499 (10 users), $695 5 users, $399 OS/2, $495' DOS/Windows Starter 5 users, $395 10 users, $599 DOS, $295" (10 users), $799 20 users, $1349 50 users, $2499 10 users, $345 5 users, $249 100 users, $5500 100 users, $4699 25 users, $845 30 users, $1299 500 users, $22,500 1 -user add-on, $99 100 users, $3295 100 users, $2999 (All clients included cc:Mail Remote for 1000 users, $19,999 in server price) Mac or DOS, $295 MacAccess MCI Mail gateway, $1295 (5 users), $395 cc:Mail Router, $1295 SMTPLink, $2995 Notes: 1 Dedicated server required if more than one post office. 2 There are 27 priority levels for Mac clients. 3 Connection server queues only. 4 Prices are per post office. 138 BYTE • MARCH 1993 SOME FEAR IT. ALL RESPECT IT. WE BUILD IT. THE PERFECT PRINTING MACHINE. QMS has just released a serious predator into the sea of ordinary printers. The QMS® 860 Hammerhead printer is the first to feed on a Canon® LBP®- BX engine to give you true 600x600 dpi output in up to 11x17/A3 format. Its 25MHz RISC processor and optional EtherTalk® NetWare,® or a host of other network support make it sleek, fast, and capable. It has everything you've asked for in a desktop printer— high resolution, PostScript™ Level 1 and 2 compatibility, HP PCL® and HP-GL® emulation, and up to 1 1x17/A3 output. It's fast, compact, compatible with all major platforms, and so affordable that it's causing a frenzy among the competition. The QMS 860 Hammerhead™ is the perfect printing machine. Get it. Call 800 841-0760 or 205 639-4400 for your nearest QMS dealer. True 600x600 dpi* 1 Ixl7/A3*$4595* * Suggested retail price, U.S QMS, the QMS logo, and Hammerhead are trademarks or registered trademarks ol QMS, Inc. PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 98 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 99). MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL Screen 1 : cc:Mail' s DOS interface (left) is straightforward after a little practice. After you select a message from your in box, cc:Mail displays the message and presents you with the Action menu. From here you can reply to, delete, or file the message. cc:Mail In the BYTE Lab's last re- view of E-mail systems ("Please, Mister Postman," March 1991), we found a lot to like in cc:Mail 3.15. We judge the latest cc:Mail, now under the auspices of Lotus Development, to be much improved. In addition to the DOS, Mac, and Unix clients, we also tested an alpha version of a client for the OS/2 Workplace Shell (see the text box "E-Mail from the Workplace Shell" on page 142). The central cc:Mail engine remains un- changed. On either Mac or PC servers, cc:Mail uses a shared file area on your net- work for mail exchange, providing BBS and user-to-user communication. All net- work users access the same mail database, and cc:Mail relies on file locks to control the mail system. We tested cc:Mail in a NetWare environment to make Unix con- nectivity easier, but the system should work just as well with an AppleShare file server. You buy cc:Mail in a "platform pack," which consists of an administration pack- age, client software for any one platform, and the ability to create one user, the sys- tem administrator. To add more users to your mail system, you buy user packs that add another 10, 25, or 100 users. The ad- ministrator copies serialized data from the pack disks to expand the system's capa- bilities. The administration utilities are much better than they were in the older version, and they're now available for either Mac or PC platforms. Most of the user interface (see screens 1, 2, and 3) is unchanged. The Mac inter- face has clear, easy-to-follow icons to lead you through creat- ing and reading your mail. The DOS version mimics the Mac's functionality through a menu system. Once you've spent some time with the DOS interface, it's Screen 2: With cc:Mail for the Mac (left), clearly labeled icons are the norm. The second window shows the buttons used to prepare new messages. Even the user directory uses icons to show you the location of each user. The large mailboxes are local LAN users; the smaller ones are users at another post office. The blue postal drop box is another post office — in this case, an Internet mail gateway. ■ ■WiM m~wi i " perfectly usable — it's not a Mac, but not much can com- pare to a good Mac interface. The Windows client soft- ware is brand new. While it has some attributes of the Mac ver- sion, there are a few important differences. Lotus's influence shows in the incorporation of Smartlcons in the Windows in- terface. "Smart" is something of a misnomer, though, because the icons themselves are small and obscure. The Mac interface has fewer icons and a word or two under each icon to describe its function. The Windows Smart- Icons are simply clumped together in a single row, with no label, leaving you to guess what they might mean. The system administrator manages a system directory, which is the complete list of all users and post offices available to system users. Users can be local (they have mailboxes on the LAN), remote (they have no mailboxes but call in using remote soft- ware), or remote via a post office (their mailboxes are not on this LAN but on an- other). The administrator adds users by name and assigns each a mailbox or a re- mote address. Perhaps the most powerful feature of cc:Mail is its wide variety of external gate- way support and the ease with which your local users can send external mail. The cc:Mail gateways are typically programs that run on dedicated PCs on your network. Wnen you address mail to a gate- way, the gateway machine picks it up, readdresses it, and sends it out via modem, network, or whatever mechanism is appro- priate. Subiactl Re Tharfc, fw II* manual P.i0<«j|fla.rn JjTj D BcCCK* J2.1JSZ Z2BPI* Screen 3: The Windows user interface (above) has many features in common with the Mac screen, but it suffers from extensive reliance on obscure icons. For example, cc:Mail's SMTPLink gate- way provides transparent two-way access to the worldwide Internet mail system. In the cc:Mail directory, the gateway appears as the post office "SMTPLink." Suppose that your site and ours are both equipped with cc:Mail and an SMTP gateway but don't have a direct cc:Mail connection. If you wanted to send mail to us at BYTE, you'd simply select the SMTP post office and, when prompted, enter the address as letters@bytepb.byte.com. The SMTP gate- way sees the message, retrieves it from the network, and forwards it to the local mail relay (you need an existing Internet mail link to use the gateway). The Internet brings the mail to our link, bytepb. The bytepb link sees the message and forwards it to our SMTP gateway via TCP/ IP. Our gateway sees the incoming mes- sage, recognizes the addressee as a cc:Mail user, and places the message in our cc:Mail mailbox. A similar mechanism provides for dial-up cc:Mail-to-cc:Mail post office communication, communication between 140 BYTE • MARCH 1993 A chain is as strong as its weakest link. Picture your Hardlock™ key as a bike lock, and the accompanying software routines used to implement the copy protection as the chain. You can own the best lock that money can buy, but that lock is useless if the chain is weak. Introducing HL-Crypt, a major breakthrough in copy protection. HL-Crypt is not just a shell or simple conditional response checker. Using our proprietary Patcher Technology, HL-Crypt encrypts and binds the application to your Hardlock™ device. HL-Crypt features many protection modules that secure the application against piracy, reverse engineering, and debugging, to name a few. Picture HL-Crypt as an ironclad chain. The only ironclad chain in the industry today. For more information, call 1-800-562-2543 L-Crypt The Fortified Protection Linker for Hardlock I SERVING THE oOFIWANE INDUSTRY ZINC! 270 Lsiiiijpion ■Drive Buffed o Grc W9 Phone 70 SiT 708/308-0313 For International information circle 86, For Domestic information circle 87 on Inquiry Card. MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL E-Mail from the Workplace Shell JON UDELL * Testing cc:Mail in the C BYTE Lab gave us ?*? the opportunity to ex- plore an alpha version of cc:Mail's OS/2 2.0 client (see screen A). We ran the client on an IBM PS/2 Model 90 running OS/2 2.0, which was connected to our NetWare host via the Net- Ware requester for OS/2 and an SMC (Standard Mi- crosystems Corp.) Ether- Card Plus Elite/A Ether- net adapter. We found that cc:Mail for the OS/2 Work- place Shell (the client's of- ficial name) lives up to its lengthy title — it is one of the first applications we've seen that truly exploits the WPS (Workplace Shell). Because the cc:Mail folder is a stan- dard WPS folder, you can use the nor- mal Control-Shift-drag procedure to "shadow" the objects it contains (i.e., an in box, public and private mailing lists, a folder list, and a message template) to the desktop for quick access. But just dragging these objects to the desktop, without the Control-Shift modifier, achieves the same result, because ob- jects in the cc:Mail folder exhibit shad- owing as their default drag behavior. This is just one example of the useful customization available through the WPS API. If you check the cc:Mail folder's "work area" option (another standard feature of WPS folders), the shell will retain the state of your cc:Mail objects and restore them — opening and placing windows as need- ed — when you reopen the folder. As with the Windows cc:Mail client, o 3BBaaflBSaB Create $ Delete... 3BM gi5m * : l-ilti Window... ffalp '-. I Ww MtttV>]t inbni Fold* IW FWIeSn 6nar« Lin MKlifig Lira Rrfv MMbAaqUih J£K!L__. :.J^ ( ' ..._ .!>.!■> Jon Udell ft To: Jon Udell To: Jon Udell To: Jon Udell a To: Jon Udell Jo To: Jon Udell U To: Jon Udoll 1Z-1fl-!l2 12-11-92 12-11-9? 12-11-92 12-11-92 12-11-92 12-11-92 !!i;ii!;" ft CCMAIL LiCliiauctinp. scllnda jitColwell, Susan .^Conners, Hike ^Cole. Ray ■A Oavies. Klrlij isDIenl, Stan j. [njmfjnds, Jell ledman. Rich Screen A: cc:Mail provides excellent WPS integration including "mail-enabling" of the desktop. each of the cc:Mail folder's child win- dows presents a row of Smartlcons that make nearly every function locally available. However, right-clickable con- text menus localize control even fur- ther. In Windows you create a new folder by way of the MDI (Multiple Document Interface) parent's File/Cre- ate Folder menu option. Under OS/2, the folder list floats free of a containing MDI parent; you create a new folder by right-clicking and choosing Create Another. You can also reorder any of the list-style displays (messages, fold- ers, addresses) by clicking at the top of the column that you want to be the pri- mary key. Drag-and-drop behaviors abound in the OS/2 cc:Mail client. To add a user to a private mailing list, you drag an entry from the address book and drop it onto the list. To move a message from the in box to a folder, or be- tween folders, you drag and drop. This internal drag- and-drop capability resem- bles that of the cc:Mail Windows client. But the OS/2 client goes further: There are various drag-and- drop operations that extend past the boundaries of the cc:Mail folder and the ob- jects it owns. To mail some- one a file, you can drag a file icon from a folder and drop it on a message tem- plate. (The Windows ver- sion can in principle accept drops from File Manager, but currently it does not.) Or you can drag individ- ual messages to the desk- top or to other WPS fold- ers, where they can freely intermingle with data objects that represent ordi- nary files. You can also drag a cc:Mail mes- sage template from the Templates fold- er. The resulting customizable object acts as a new kind of private mailing list that can contain boilerplate text and attachments and can accept dropped files. Moreover, cc:Mail makes the en- tire WPS mail-aware: Every file ob- ject's context menu offers a "cc:Mail It!" option that invokes a message tem- plate containing that file as an attach- ment. It's a pleasure to see the WPS's rich programming model exploited to such good effect. Jon Udell is a BYTE senior technical editor at large. You can reach him on BIX as "judell" or on the Internet at judell@bytepb.byte.com. cc:Mail and MCI Mail, or communication between cc:Mail and a long list of sup- ported systems. When you travel away from the office, you'll want a copy of cc:Mail Remote for either DOS or the Mac. It has essentially the same interface as the local version, but it allows you only to read new messages. You can't access the BBSes or stay on- line while you write your replies. When you make a connection, Remote snags your new messages and sends out any you've written; you read your mail off- line and post your reply to your portable's hard drive. Sending a reply to a new cc:Mail mes- sage requires two connections: one to re- ceive the message and one to send back the reply. Although this might be the most cost-effective way to handle remote mail, it would be handy if cc:Mail allowed you to stay on-line and respond. That way, you could avoid having to establish two con- nections, continued 142 BYTE • MARCH 1993 How to provide dial-in, dial-out access for every user on your LAN CO/Session™ ACS modem sharing software The only communication software a LAN needs. Data exchange from one location to another is a vital part of daily business operation. Until now, you had to buy thousands of dollars worth of modems, phone lines and software to provide the necessary communication access to LAN users. Not anymore! CO/Session ACS lets all network users share from one to twenty modems on your LAN with full communication capabilities — all for as little as $350. Remotely dial into any PC on the LAN through shared modems CO/Session ACS' easy-to-use selection menu lists all available PCs on the LAN. Simply dial in with CO/Session remote control software and select the network PC you want to control — even PCs without attached modems. You can run that PC as if you were sitting at its keyboard — to access the company database, transfer files, or check E-mail. CO/Session is PC Magazine Editors' Choice, so you'll be assured the fastest, most reliable remote access for both DOS and Windows. Use shared modems to dial out from your network PC Use CO/Session ACS to connect to bulletin boards, online services or other PCs. Or, use any communication software that supports Interrupt 14 including PROCOMM™ and Crosstalk] The Best Value Unlike other solutions, there's no need to dedicate a PC for sharing modems. Requiring fewer modems, phone lines and software, CO/Session ACS handles all your network communication needs and will save you thousands of dollars! For more information on CO/Session ACS call toll free: 800-322-9440 TRITON TECHNOLOGIES, INC 200 Middlesex Turnpike, Iselin, NJ 08830 908-855-9440 /Fax: 908-855-9608 CO/Session is a registered trademark of Triton Technologies Inc. Other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 1 57 on Inquiry Card. MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL Da Vinci eMAII - I UN S File Edit Message Folder Options Help irVStlESskSI dling Lists Create message 3 aaeo ;. I - ^ Screens 4 and 5: Da Vinci eMail provides an excellent Windows user interface (left). It includes tools for composing messages, selecting addresses, and other common functions. Da Vinci MacAccess (below) provides Mac clients with access to MHS-based Da Vinci eMail. Da Vinci eMail 2.0 Da Vinci eMail relies on NetWare MHS as its mail carrier, so it's inherently a PC-centric mail package (see screen 4). However, Da Vinci provides support for Macintosh clients through Da Vinci MacAccess (see screen 5), a Mac MHS client. Relying on a specific network configu- ration limits the applicability of the sys- tem, but it also greatly simplifies its installation and maintenance. Exploiting MHS also gives you the advantage of not requiring a dedicated mail server. Of course, as with all the DOS E-mail sys- tems, you will need separate computers for each gateway. Da Vinci eMail's Windows user inter- face is very good. It includes all the stan- dard tools for composing messages, se- lecting addresses, searching the mailbox » File Edit MiliI ■ ■ ■ - (T) or folders for messages, and building per- sonal mailing lists. You can include en- closures with your messages; Da Vinci gives you a long list of predefined scripts for launching applications associated with enclosures. If your Windows system can record voice messages, you can easily at- tach voice components (i.e., .WAV files) to your E-mail messages. Da Vinci for Win- dows can also send strings and Clipboard contents as E-mail messages through DDE. There are two E-mail DDE request com- mands: one that finds the current user name, and one that brings up the address list. The Windows client also includes pre- defined forms (e.g., While You Were Out slips). These forms make an excellent ad- dition to standard mail. Unfortunately, there are two critical drawbacks: First, you can share forms only among Windows clients (DOS and Mac clients see only the text), and second, you can't define your own forms. When you send a message, you can request a return receipt (Da Vinci calls this "Certified Mail"). This forces the recipi- ent's E-mail post office to send you a message when the ad- dressee reads the message or deletes it without reading it. Under DOS or Windows, Da Vinci eMail notifies you of incoming messages through a separate application that peri- odically checks your mailbox for new mail. Da Vinci MacAccess clients get notifica- tion only when they make connection. Da Vinci eMail has long excelled in ease of use for both users and adminis- trators. Mail gateway support is outstand- ing; MHS-based, Da Vinci eMail offers easy access to other mail systems through a long list of third-party MHS gateways. tead Hail in ipifiae! 9 Delet i Hold Fu imr& Pi'h 1. . St,., a.5 $19.95— 1-800-344-4323 Hard Drive Installation and Diagnostics Made Easy. Now, adding a hard drive to your system is as easy as typing "install." There's no need to know DOS or comp- licated commands. SpeedStor automatically performs all of the operations to make your drive "data ready." And to keep your drive "data safe," SpeedStor contains critical diagnostics not found in DOS — diagnostics that safe- guard your valuable data a n d ensure your hard drive is trouble free. Available at Best Buy. Egghead Software, Computer City Supercenter, CompUSA, Elek- Tek and Software Etc. Order today, call 1-800-344-4323. H STORAGE DIMENSIONS MARCH 1993 'BYTE 147 MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL The Unix Mail Story You may have noticed that the E- mail systems we reviewed for this Solutions Focus are either PC- or Mac-based systems. Where then, you might ask, are the Unix E-mail sys- tems? The answer is: where they have always been — bundled with the oper- ating system. There are commercial third-party E- mail systems for Unix, but the most common type of Unix E-mail product is merely an enhanced E-mail user agent, the front-end mail component used for sending and reading mail. The under- lying routing and transport parts of the system remain untouched. Even the most elaborate Unix user agents (e.g., Next Computer's E-mail, Asterix's E- mail, Z-Code Software's Z-Mail, and Alfalfa Software's Poste) use standard SMTP transports. E-mail is such an integral part of the Unix world that well-established stan- dards are more easily accepted. This isn't to say that routing and transport components can't be improved on or enhanced. The most commonly dis- tributed routing component for Unix, Sendmail, is an obnoxious kludge. To understand and respect Sendmail, you have to appreciate that significant pails of Unix have grown through accretion of academic endeavors rather than pur- poseful commercial design. Sendmail was developed as an ex- perimental project that was distributed and accepted because it fulfilled a need. Understanding and modifying Send- mail's addressing and routing rules is more akin to playing Adventure than to building a structured rule table. On the other hand, MMDF (the router distributed with SCO Unix) is a very flexible and well-organized sys- tem that offers better security and organization than Sendmail. What MMDF lacks is the simplicity of adding connections that Sendmail (and its lit- tle brother, Smail) offers. With MMDF, you have to edit and rebuild tables every time you add a new connection. With Sendmail and Smail, you just add the new sites to standard tables. It's only when you add a new land of connection to Sendmail that you end up getting lost in its twisty little pas- sages, all alike. And it's with this aspect of E-mail — communication in a het- erogeneous E-mail world — that Unix mail systems have the most difficulty. Unix E-Mail Transport The most common transport mecha- nism is a temporary asynchronous com- munication link established through UUCP. This mechanism is the most consistent with the "store-and-forward" model of E-mail. Messages bounce from machine to machine as systems establish connections. The second most common transport mechanism is via an IP network connection using SMTP. The use of UUCP and SMTP for E- mail is governed by RFC 822, a mes- sage-format specification. RFC 822 in- dicates that the message header and body can consist only of 7-bit ASCII characters. But next to PC-based E- mail systems that allow binary enclo- sures, Unix mail systems that adhere to RFC 822 seem dated. Users want to send sound and video clips, as well as spreadsheet, word processor, and desk- top publishing files. To stay within RFC 822 guidelines, any binary files must first be converted to a 7-bit print- able character equivalent. Once a mes- sage is received, it must be converted back (traditionally by the programs uuencode and uudecode). Most E- mail user agents that provide for binary enclosures automate this process. The other Unix approach is not to send the binary file at all, but just a file that notes where the binary file is lo- cated and appropriate methods for re- trieving it from the sender's comput- er. This is the approach that is taken by MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions), an emerging standard for attaching enclosures. One great advantage to MIME is that no files are sent until the recipient ex- plicitly requests them. Since these files can be very large, there is a substantial saving of resources when the attach- ment isn't retrieved. The other advan- tages are that existing routing and trans- port mechanisms need not be changed. Only the user agents have to deal with the details. Older user-agent programs can still be used: If you receive a MIME message with a non-MIME-en- hanced user agent, you can retrieve the attachment manually by using the hu- man-readable instructions that are part of the MIME message body. Internet and OSI If the Internet can make up for its only real E-mail weakness (binary attach- ments) with MIME, does it need the complexity of X.400 messaging? This is a hotly debated question. After all, the Internet is the great mother of all electronic-message backbones. But it is the success and growth of the Internet that makes it look to OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) stan- dards. The Internet addressing scheme is too limited; the Internet is running out of addresses. As long as users are protected from the complexity of X.400 addressing, there is no reason not to implement X.400 gateways on all In- ternet systems. With X.400 addressing and MIME, Unix E-mail will be as flexible as the rest of the E-mail world. system administrator the most control over user access. As an administrator, you assign rights to users as you create them. Some users in your organization may not need to create mail, only receive it, or vice versa. Or you may decide to restrict Urgent mail priority to senior management or to keep some staff from sending mail externally. No oth- er package we reviewed gives you this level of control. Also new in this version is an automat- ic directory update feature. On a set sched- ule, Microsoft Mail can automatically ex- change user directories with other post offices. This can come in handy if you're working with people who are on the move (e.g., senior engineers who might spend a few weeks at each of your R&D centers). You don't have to burden your mail ad- ministrator with making all the address changes. In cc:Mail, the only other package with this feature, it comes as an extra-cost option. continued 148 BYTE • MARCH 1993 I & Down to Earth. m wm, UNIX is changing the world of computers, the world of business - quite simply, changing the world. It's revolutionizing office automation. It's required for U.S. government computer contracts. It's the backbone of information strategies worldwide. That's why you need UmxW/ORLD - the magazine that keeps you up to date on the rapidly changing world of open systems computing. Each issue brings you the latest product trends and technical advances that can affect your business. The inside story on some of the biggest high-tech companies. Easy-to-understand programming tips and tutorials that can help your company use UNIX to its fullest. And unbiased hardware comes with a no-risk guarantee*. and software reviews to help you invest wisely when you buy. UhixW/ow's in-depth features go beyond dry technical facts to show how the pieces fit together - to tell you what's important about the advances and strategies that are changing your world. And UmxWORlD consistently offers the freshest, most down- to-earth writing that you'll find in any computer publication. Subscribe today and recieve the next 12 issues of UmxWORLD for just $18.00 - half the regular newsstand price. Save even more by ordering for two or three years. You can't lose- every subscription to UtilxVJotlLD Substribe now! Call foil-free: 1-80M57-9402 ext. 29 If you're into UNIX, you need UNIXWORLD McGraw-Hill's Magazine of OPEN SYSTEMS COMPUTING. UnixWorid 's no-risk guarantee: II not satisfied, cancel and ream a lull rehnd lor the balance al your subscription. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. S MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL m It doubles your performance. It doubles your disk capacity. microsoft It's fast and easy to install. rSK! It's priced right. It's winSTORE,'" created for the Windows™ user. The first product of its kind, winSTORE combines two award-winning technologies: high-speed disk control from Perceptive Solutions and advanced Stacker ™ data compression from Stac ,* in a plug-and-play solution. It'swinSTORE— think of it as overdrive for Windows! Perceptive Solutions, Inc. 800-486-FAST Main: 214-954-1774 • FAX: 214-953-1774 6(992 by Perceptive Solutions, inc. ■ winSTORE and ine Perceptive Solutions logo are trademarks of Perceptive Solutions, Inc. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft" Corp. Stacker is a trademark and Stac is a registered trademark of Stac Electronics, inc. Circle 1 25 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 126). « File Edit OuickMail a ' iWMMM .irlUvKdf,!,,,!,,,' S. VWO- Fnej-kPfol'-r- .:!./<■ try la hove It sent to the loading dock sroumj noon Date: 12/14/92 9:25 AM To Howard Eglowstein From: Bin Freston Vour widget arrived. Please call with delivery tnsirucilor Screens 8 and 9: QuickMail for the Mac (left) and for DOS (below) use a similar command structure. The Mac version provides labeled icon push buttons, while the DOS version uses a character- based interface. The DOS functions appear in roughly the same place on the screen. Both versions can share forms that you create with the Mac-based forms editor. QuickMail 2.5 if E-mail can be called fun, CE Software's QuickMail (see screens 8 and 9), a Mac- based mail system, neatly fits the description. Macintosh clients use AppleTalk proto- cols to communicate directly with the dedicated Mac mail server. The mail server stores messages; it's also where you install gateway software and physical connections to other networks. If you need PC clients, you can add them to the AppleTalk network with a Lo- calTalk card or create a separate post of- fice (a "mail center") to handle the PC side of the network. With mail centers, DOS clients access a shared file area on a serv- er that's accessible to the Mac mail server (in our test environment, a NetWare serv- er running NetWare for Macintosh). The DOS mail center acts as a gateway be- tween the shared file area and the Mac- based mail server. You end up with two separate mail systems, which means that your messages may be delayed crossing platforms. More important, the two mail centers maintain their own separate user lists. If you set up Bill as a user on the Mac mail center and Ted as a user on the DOS mail center, Bill can't read his mail from a DOS client and Ted can't read his from a Mac. By running the Mac clients over Ap- pleTalk, QuickMail can take advantage of the direct user-to-user link and provide real-time conferencing. From your Mac, you can get a list of other active Mac QuickMail users on your LAN. Select from the list, and you're in a Quick- Conference, where everything you type appears immediately on the other users' screens. It's not a replacement for a face-to- face meeting, but it's better than waiting for an E-mail reply, and it sure beats walking across the building to find somebody. Unfortunately, (file-based) PC clients are reduced to second-class citi- zenship, as QuickConferences work only on Macs. For remote access, QM Remote gives Mac users the same mailbox access they enjoy from the LAN. You can read any message and reply to it while still on-line. CE Software doesn't offer a DOS version of its remote package but goes one better by providing character terminal access. If you dial into the server via generic com- munications software, you get a simpli- fied ASCII interface. Any remote user with an ID and a password can send and re- ceive mail without special software. As with Microsoft Mail, QuickMail's gateways give you good control over ex- ternal mail. The mail server can display a list of messages in the send queue and give you the choice of canceling any mes- sage or returning it to the sender. We also liked QuickMail's catchall gateway, QM- Script, which allows you to de- fine a script to parse your way through any mail system with an ASCII interface. We have used QM-Script as a gateway to handle BIX mail, and we also spent a few days try- ing to get it to handle our Opus BBS system. The prompts from an Opus BBS are pretty typical Create an Enterprise-Wide Mail Network with OpenServer 400" from Retix. I- OPENServer NOW WITH directory Synchronization And Remote Management TIE YOUR PC LAN APPLICATIONS TO ALL-IN-1 AND VMS MAIL VIA X.400 OpenServer 400 ties all of your e-mail systems together. Users see one integrated mail system with the added benefit of convenient, enterprise-wide connectivity. There's no need for users to leave their favorite mail program. No need to replace existing equipment. No need to limit the possibilities of their current e-mail system. OpenServer 400 works in conjunction with e-mail gateways, operating behind the scenes to automatically translate and transfer information using standard X.400 format. With OpenServer 400, your LAN- based e-mail users can instantly com- municate with ALL-IN-1 and VMS Mail I Title _ users, as well as users of other main- frame and minicomputer mail systems like IBM's PROFS. Connecting to public mail networks like CompuServe and MCI Mail is just as easy. OpenServer 400 uses the power of | Com P an y X.400 to link virtually every e-mail appli- cation your company may be using— whether it's Lotus/cc:Mail, Da Vinci eMail, Microsoft Mail, NetWare MHS, Oracle*Mail, WordPerfect Office, or one of the many other popular mail pro- grams. Users can send text, graphics, and virtually any type of binary file with maximum ease and reliability. Put the pieces of your e-mail system together. In the U.S., call Retix at 1-800-255-2333. YES! We want to create an integrated mail system. Please send more information including the "OpenServer 400 Application Guide" nuureas * Telephone I Return to: 1 Retix, MarCom Dept. D, 2401 Colorado Ave. ■ Santa Monica, CA 90404-3563 USA BYTB0393 I Circle 1 40 on Inquiry Card. Retix The OPENNetworking Company™ CORPORATE OFFICE: Retix, 2401 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, California 90404 USA Telephone: (310) 828-3400 Fax: (310) 828-2255 INTERNATIONAL OFFICES: Australia: 61 3 629 2595, France: 33 1 30 70 60 60, Germany: 49 6196 50 50-0, Italy: 39 2 487 08505, UK: 44 483 300 600 Retix is a registered trademark and The OPENNetworking Company and OpenServer 400 are trademarks of Retix. ALL-IN-1 and VMS are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. Other brand and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders. Copyright 1992 Relix. MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL for BBS systems, and it seemed simple enough to set up QM-Script to handle the menu system. Alas, it turned out to be trickier than we thought. A number of the user prompts look similar from menu to menu, and the QM-Script string-matching utilities had some difficulty distinguish- ing between some of the prompts. Also, QM-Script doesn't offer any sort of debugger for testing out a new script. You can put comments in the script that get written to a log, but we would have liked an interactive debugging mode. We never were able to get the QM-Script- to-Opus BBS gateway completely ironed out. Still, QM-Script offers a flexible gate- way alternative that is not matched in other mail packages. QuickMail and QM-Script represent a good solution to any application that requires linking proprietary messag- ing systems. 1 WPMail - LANLABiBfNJS File Edit View Mail Folders lools Font Window Help Benjamin Smith 12/138 1.1 :ZA limit of ottachmen •.esitoi.cier Envelopes:. .■ 2 Benjamin Smith :. . 12/82:14;2 ,<%&ttachmerif Benjamin Smith 1 2/02 i A:A An attachment - Create Mail List Screens 10 and 11: WordPerfect Mail, the E-mail component of WordPerfect Office, runs on a host of systems. The Windows (left) and Mac (below) clients are shown . With WordPerfect Office, Mac clients enjoy many capabilities that don't extend to other platforms. I itaji Maine Given Name ] .Department WordPerfect Office 3.0 WordPerfect Mail is the base compo- nent of WordPerfect Office, an all- around groupware package for Mac LANs, PC LANs, VAX (VMS) systems, Sun-4 and Sun Sparcstations, and SCO Unix sys- tems. The WordPerfect Office mail host runs on all these platforms, and WordPer- fect Office includes gateways connecting each of them. WordPerfect also offers gate- ways to Unix- (SMTP) and VMS-based E-mail. On the PC network side, you administer E-mail through a complex collection of menu-controlled forms and DOS scripts; WordPerfect Mail is difficult to install and configure. The only saving grace is Word- Perfect's excellent technical-support crew, who can walk you through all the nuances of this system. In contrast, WordPerfect Office is easy to install and configure on Mac networks. The interface to the administration tools is very similar to that of AppleShare Ad- min, right down to the icons. But build- ing the Mac-to-PC LAN mail gateway is a complex, difficult process, again main- ly because of the problems with the PC LAN configuration. Surprisingly, WordPerfect Mail for Windows (see screen 10) has the prettiest user inter- face of any client on any E-mail system we looked at. You can forget about all the unfathomable function-key combinations and convoluted procedures of the WordPerfect word processor. The Windows client has the eas- iest and most flexible window widgets and gadgets: resizable, movable, tear-off re- port labels for reports and lists; drag-and- drop selection lists; and hypertext-based, context-sensitive help windows. This in- terface could well be the flagship for future WordPerfect products on Windows. You can send and receive attachments as well as messages. The mail reader can launch an application for each attachment based on file extension, and you can add to and modify the list of associations. There is a mail-list manager and message archiv- ing, as well as folders for holding mes- sages. WordPerfect Mail for Windows sup- ports DDE for Interapplication Commu- nication. However, WordPerfect Mail's documentation of DDE limits the discussion to integration with the WordPerfect word processor. WordPerfect Office is not bal- anced between platforms; in ad- dition to a nice client interface of its own, the Macintosh ver- sion has significant features that the other versions lack (see screen 11). It includes a forms generator, broadcast capability, and the ability to carry on multiway real-time con- versations with other Mac clients. You must observe one caution when using the broadcast feature: The mail notifier locks up any operations on the receiving Mac until it has been cleared. The varying capability of each client is unfortunate. It's understandable that the chat mode doesn't exist on some networks, but it would be nice if forms generation were supported at least on both the Mac and Win- dows. The DOS version of Word- Perfect Mail and Office is the same old maddening Word- Perfect world of inconsistent and incomprehensible menus. This interface fronts the Unix version, too, with the addition- al aggravation of a nonstandard terminal-naming scheme and weird screen controls. One very nice feature of all the clients (even the DOS and Unix versions) is status track- ing for outgoing mail. You can see if mes- sages have been received, read, or deleted. What WordPerfect Mail lacks most sig- nificantly is a mechanism for automatic mail handling (e.g., an automatic reply when you are on vacation). First-Class Mail Choosing one of these systems over the others requires a bit of study. If your or- ganization is already using an E-mail sys- tem, that should form the foundation for your choice. Gateways from one system to another aren't always available, and in- stalling universal backbones and multi- protocol mail routers is a very complex task. If you're not using an E-mail system now, look around and see if you could ben- efit from store and forward. Even small workgroups can gain productivity through the off-hours and remote communication that E-mail offers. Despite their multiplatform flair, most of these systems are better on some platforms than others. If you can live with a Mac- centric mail server, choose QuickMail. It doesn't offer a lot for DOS users, and its 152 BYTE • MARCH 1993 ^rhdesallthecabks, of 9S *T1 pes and Macintoshes l^^^^^TfteHP LaserJet .supports WhW.» ^^ nn^egtSandtbetir ■f •' "■**:. 71 Unt ■CJ $399 LaserJet and H? 16 serial, A po 7 port DOt H4seria\,lj«« ^ 10 port [\0 serial) 10 port (10 serial) $599 $699 *Also compel blc withUPPaWJ PXL300 ' SAN DIE' GO __Pacific ithe LaserJet nd Design^ Plot"* ludes the price * 'j'i. All other irailc names referenced are (he Iraderoarks or regisiered trademarks of lite respective manufacturer EUROPEAN OFFICES; England Tel 0800 51 5511, Fax (44) 442 236540: France Tel Oi 9865 09. Fas 1531 1 39 OS 20 41: derma)' Tel 0130 SI 3885; Ireland Tel 13531 01 475609, Fax (3531 01 475608; Switzerland Tel (ill 22 341 26 50, Fax (ill 22 341 06 82; Belgium Tel 078 111292; Neltatads Tel 06 0222065, '■ 1992 Pacific Daia Undoes, Ine. MULTIPLATFORM E-MAIL reliance on the mail server as a gateway is limiting. Still, on-line conferencing is a great feature, and QuickMail's remote ac- cess and QM-Script are far better than any similar features we've seen. If mixed-client platforms and internet- working are truly crucial components, choose between Microsoft Mail and cc:Mail. Our choice is cc:Mail. It supports all the major platforms, offers gateways to just about everything, and garners sup- port from dozens of third parties. ■ Howard Eglowstein and Ben Smith are testing editors for the BYTE Lab. You can contact Howard on BIX as "heglowstein" and on the Internet at howard@hyteph .byte.com. Ben is the author of UNIX Step- by-Step (Howard W. Sams, 1990) and UNIX E-Mail and Usenet News (Howard W. Sams, forthcoming). You can contact him on BIX as "bensmith" and on the In- ternet at ben@bytepb.byte.com. A MESSAGE ALL VI OUT ON MAIL-IT | ,LUUU ran E5 fr» ■mflOHlPiwJ I,. ni> HUllWil HJMPWM tin. lis«>ttlj;mt SauMHitn Vtl*. 1 1 5tp 9? 1 MIJS *IIV*fM« I «»».;'! Si? is«; n,:ui-ij Umnttmt PC to UNIX E-mail for Windows 3 Interested in an easy-to-use email package that works under Windows, is fully SMTP, POP-2 and UUCP-compliant, and without need for expensive gateways, can put you directly in touch with thirty million Internet, Usenet and UUCP mailboxes worldwide? Then don't miss out on Mail-it, from Unipalm. It works with all leading TCP/IP and NFS transport packages for Windows, including PC-NFS, PC/TCP, LAN Workplace, and WINSOCK. Call toll-free for more details. ODD GiD DED GS3 E=3 1-800-563-6245 (or email: mail-it@unipalm.co.uk) iPGIftl Unipo Call toll-free in US & Canada only. Elsewhere, call Unipalm direct on +44 223 420002. Mail-it is a trademark of Unipalm Limited, COMPANY INFORMATION cc:Mail, Inc. (division of Lotus Development Corp.) (cc:Mail) 2141 Landings Dr. Mountain View, CA 94043 (415)961-8800 fax:(415)961-8400 Circle 1 273 on Inquiry Card. CE Software, Inc. (QuickMail 2.5) 1801 Industrial Cir. West Des Moines, IA 50265 (800) 523-7638 (515)224-1995 fax:(515)224-4534 Circle 1271 on Inquiry Card. Da Vinci Systems Corp. (Da Vinci eMail 2.0) 4200 Six Forks Rd. Raleigh, NC 27609 (800) 328-4624 (919)881-4320 fax:(919)787-3550 Circle 1272 on Inquiry Card. Microsoft Corp. (Microsoft Mail for PC Networks 3.0) 1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 (206) 882-8080 fax: (206) 936-7329 Circle 1274 on Inquiry Card. Novell, Inc. (NetWare MHS 1.5) 122 East 1700 South Provo, UT 84606 (801)429-7000 Circle 1 275 on Inquiry Card. Retix Corp. (Retix Open Server 400) 2401 Colorado Ave. Santa Monica, CA 90404 (310)828-3400 fax:(310)828-2255 Circle 1 276 on Inquiry Card. WordPerfect Corp. (WordPerfect Office 3.0) 1 555 North Technology Way Orem, UT 84057 (800)451-5151 (801) 225-5000 fax:(801)222-5077 Circle 1277 on Inquiry Card. 154 BYTE • MARCH 1993 Circle 158 on Inquiry Card. Mathematics The Complete Solution For technical Computing □ Algebra and Calculus Integrate [x/ (a + Expfx]), x] x Log[l + — ] PolyLogU, - 2 a a Simplify[D[%, x] ] 3 Numbers 250] N[sqrt[Pi] 1.712453850905516 145182797549456 789852911284591 738544665416226 236152865724422 787068462037698 173028950826228 300174639015351 1852340186 1 Graphics H Symbolic Programming log[x_ y_] :■ log[x] + log | log [a b c A 2 d] 200, Mesh->False] When it was released in 1988, the New York Times wrote that Mathematica "fun- damentally alters the mechan- ics of mathematics." Four and a half years later, with several hundred thousand scientists, engineers, stu- dents, financial analysts, medical researchers, and others using the system, Mathematica is firmly es- tablished as the standard environment for techni- cal computing. Starting Out When you first get start- ed, you can use Mathemat- ica just like a calculator. But it is a calculator that lets you do calculations as large as you want, and that can handle the full range of mathematical functions, ma- trices, algebraic manipulation, and calculus as well as creating publica- tion-quality 2D and 3D graphics. log[d] Flexible Programming The easy-to-use language that is built into Mathematica requires no learning Technical Information: Numerical computation with unlimited precision integer, real, and complex numbers. Exact symbolic computation Wide range of mathematical functions, including hypergeometric special functions, number theory functions, statistics. Nu- merical and symbolic matrix operations. Numerical and symbolic equation solving, root finding, integration, differential equations, optimization. 2D and 3D color graphics, animation, and sound generation. Graphics language for representa- tion of arbitrary structures. Output in standard PostScript. Data importing and exporting. External program linkages. Full built-in symbolic programming language, with procedural, functional, and rule-based capabilities. Notebook front end with hierarchical documents, style sheets, importing and exporting of graphics, sound, animations, and typesetting. Net- work operation supported. Journal, newsletters, more than 30 books on Mathematica available. Add-on packages; free MathSource electronic resource. Versions: Microsoft Windows • Macintosh • MS-DOS • NEC PC • SPARC • DEC RISC, VAX • HP • IBM RISC • NeXT • SGI • Convex • and others. Student versions available. Now shipping Version 2.1 . for simple calculations, but has the power to let you create even the most sophisticated programs. And with the Notebook concept pioneered by Mathematica, you can create interac- tive documents that mix text, graph- ics, animations, and sounds with live formulas and programs. A Range of Applications Whether you design airplanes, solve quantum field theories, analyze med- ical experiments, or just want to do your algebra homework, Mathematica provides a unique environment for solving your problems. And you can run your same Mathe- matica programs without change on everything from Macintosh and PCs (with or without Windows) to Unix workstations and supercomputers. To get the latest information call: 1-800-441 -MATH Extension 400 Wolfram Research Wolfram Research, Inc. 100 Trade Center Drive, Champaign, IL 61 820-7237, USA +1 -21 7-398-0700; fax: +1 -21 7-398-0747; email: info@wri.com Wolfram Research Ltd. Evenlode Court, Main Road, Long Hanborough, Oxon 0X8 2LA, UK 444-(0)993-883400; fax: +44-{0)993-883800; email: info-euro@wri.com Representatives in over 30 countries; contact main office. 'e1992 Wolfram Research. Inc. Mathematics is a trademark of Wolfram Research. Inc. Mathematica is not associated with Mathmiiatica Inc., Mathematics. Policy Research, Inc., 01 MaihTech, Inc. All other product names mentioned are trademarks af their producers. For Macintosh information circle 166, For IBM/Compatible information circle 167, For UNIX information circle 168 on Inquiry Card. ^ REVIEWS HARDWARE A New Resolution for Desktop Lasers G. ARMOUR VAN HORN Although the 300-dot-per-inch laser printers of the last several years were a dramatic improvement over the dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers that preceded them, the increasing sophistication of graphics used in business have made them seem slow and coarse. To solve these problems, new 600-dpi laser printers have come to market with better resolutions than typical laser printers, but with price tags that keep them within the range of general office budgets. In this roundup, I look at five such print- ers. All of them offer true 600-dpi resolu- tion, multiple interfaces, multiple PDLs (page-description languages), and high base memory configurations at prices rang- ing from about $2200 to $4600 (see the table on page 158). Three of these units — the Dataproducts LZR-965, the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4M, and the QMS 860 Print System — are good choices for small workgroups using both Macintosh and DOS/Windows sys- tems, because they offer three active ports ready to respond to users over parallel, se- rial, or AppleTalk connections. The QMS 860 accepts simultaneous print jobs from its three ports. At 10 pages per minute, the Lexmark LaserPrinter 4029 lOAand 10P printers offer the fastest engine-speed rat- ings in the test group. A Graphic Difference None of these printers was designed specif- ically to serve the needs of graphic artists, although most artists will be delighted with the results. These printers won't threaten imagesetters for reproduction work that includes photographs, but documents com- prising text, line art, and screen captures can be published economically with speed and minimal loss of quality. The geometry of the 600-dpi grid al- lows for both a finer halftone dot when printing photographs and more gray levels. Most 300-dpi printers offer a choice of 53- or 60-Iine-per-inch halftones, with more gray levels and belter appearance coming from the lower value. These values were replaced by 71 and 85 lines with these higher-resolution units, and the 71 -line screen offers a less-visible dot structure and greater tonal range than 300-dpi print- ers using a 53-line screen. The higher screen value still sacrifices too much tonal range for photographic images, but the less-apparent dots would be useful for il- lustrations with multiple gray values or graduated tints of small range. Graduated or radial fills that extend over large areas still need the extra gray tones that come with the larger dot size. A 600-dpi engine creating 71 -line halftones should be able to produce 72 gray tones; 53-line screens from a 300-dpi printer have 33 possible tones. Imagesetters operating at 2540 dpi can create all 256 possible PostScript grays with screens of over 200 lines per inch. The Performance Penalty The BYTE Lab ran a complete suite of compatibility and performance tests that consisted of a custom version of the Genoa Technologies suite (see the graph on page 160). The results are indexed on the 300- dpi LaserWriter IINTX, so longer bars in- dicate better performance. Because these printers stock more processing power to deal with higher-resolution output, the per- formance penalty for better quality is min- imal. In other tests, I strung all the printers on a LocalTalk network attached to my Mac SE/30 and a 386-based PC running Farallon Computing's PhoneNet Talk PC. I sent documents to each printer from a typical range of applications: Word, Free- Hand, and PageMaker on the Mac; and Word for Windows, Excel, CorelDraw, and FoxPro on the PC. There were copious minor problems with device driver files, but each manu- facturer said it was working to eliminate them. At press time, Adobe had published a new standard for PPD (printer page de- scription) files to support PostScript Level 2, which Hewlett-Packard had dutifully followed but most software doesn't prop- erly support yet. Adobe had not yet re- leased its Level 2 drivers, and three of these printers support Level 2. The QMS 860 has three selectable options for Post- Script support. Printing with Level 2 se- lected almost doubled the time to print a tabloid page, but color images would not print with Level 1 selected. The promised speed advantages of Level 2 presumably will require the final drivers. In most cases, either the manufacturer or I came up with a reasonable workaround. All PostScript Level 2 printers will pre- sent some of these problems for the next 156 BYTE • MARCH 1993 PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS © 1993 BITE ACTION SUMMARY several months, possibly years, until com- plete support for Level 2 becomes com- monplace. One Level 2 feature, cached forms, will allow blank forms to be down- loaded to the printer. The computer will then send the specific data for an invoice or purchase order along with a request for a specific form, drastically cutting down on the network traffic. Until all Level 2 fea- tures are widely supported, printer drivers and PPD files will probably need to be up- dated frequently. The HP LaserJet 4M and the QMS 860 both use new Canon P270 engines rated at 8 ppm; the Dataproducts LZR-965 uses a Sharp engine rated at 9 ppm; and the Lexmark 10A and 10P are built on Lex- mark's own 10-ppm engine. That said, these ratings are generally irrelevant. They come into play only on the very simplest of pages, or when printing multiple copies of a single page. In daily use, the speed of a laser printer depends on the performance of the CPU on the printer's controller. By the same token, I am mostly ignoring life-expectancy ratings for toner and other consumables. The actual rate depends on your images, and the estimates from the manufacturers are not strictly comparable. Dataproducts LZR-965 Based on Dataproducts' history in the large-computer market, I expected more of an industrial feel to the LZR-965. In re- ality, this was the smallest and lightest printer of the group. With the paper tray at the bottom of the unit, the only protrusions during normal operation are the cables, of which there can be several. WHAT 600-DPI LASER PRINTERS ARE Laser printers with true 600-dpi resolution supported in the enqine, not via software algorithms. LIKES Print quality is clearly superior to that of 300-dpi printers, but prices are in the same range as lower-resolution printers. DISLIKES These printers can't match imagesetters for reproduction work that includes photographs. RECOMMENDATIONS Choose the LaserJet 4M for image quality and ensured support for third-party add-ons, consumables, and drivers. The rear panel on the LZR-965 is very clean, with connectors for an external SCSI drive, an RS-232 serial port, Centronics, and LocalTalk, all of which are active un- til a print job is sent to one of the ports. The printer ships with 8 MB of memory, expandable to 16 MB, and it contains the Weitek 8200 RISC chip. Running at only 7.5 MHz, the chip was specifically de- signed for printers, so the LZR-965 per- forms acceptably even when printing com- plex graphics. Although I did not test this printer with an external disk drive, my ex- perience is that even a small drive attached to a printer — when loaded with the most commonly used fonts — can dramatically speed printing. The LZR-965 is built around a Sharp engine, the only model in this review to use multiple consumable cartridges. The documentation has clear diagrams for set- up, and a 20-minute VHS cassette covers first-time setup, including installing the photoreceptor drum, developer unit, toner tray, toner collector, and fuser roll cleaner. The first four of those parts are combined in the other printers tested, as they have been in all Apple LaserWriters and HP LaserJets. The individual components should reduce the operating cost of the printer, as the drum has a life expectancy of 50,000 pages; the other printers call for replacement or exchange of the toner car- tridge when the toner runs out, typically after 3000 to 5000 pages. continued MARCH 1 993 • BYTE 157 DESKTOP LASERS 600-DPI PERFORMANCE All the printers reviewed include true 600- by 600-dpi resolution suppoi the most commonly used fonts, can dramatically speed printing. Dataproducts HP HP LZR-965 LaserJet 4 LaserJet 4M ted in hardware Lexmark 4029 10A . A SCSI drive, Lexmark 4029 1 OP when loaded with QMS 860 Print System Price $2995 $2199 $2999 $2799 $2499 $4595 RAM (min./max.; MB) 8/16 2/34 6/22 5/9 5/9 12/32 CPU Weitek 8200 at 7.5 MHz Intel 960 at 20 MHz Intel 960 at 20 MHz Motorola 68020 at 16.7 MHz Motorola 68020 at 16.7 MHz Intel 960 at 25 MHz SCSI drive support Yes No No No No Yes Interfaces LocalTalk, RS-232, Centronics, SCSI drive RS-232/422, Centronics LocalTalk, RS-232/422, Centronics LocalTalk RS-232, LocalTalk, Centronics RS-232, Centronics, SCSI drive Emulations PostScript Level 2, HPPCL4 HPPCL5+ 1 PostScript Level 2, HPPCL5+' PostScript PostScript, PCL5, IBM PPDS, PCL4, HPGL standard HPGL/2 optional PostScript Level 1 and Level 2, HPPCL4, HPGL Page sizes ('Standard) Letter*, legal, executive, statement 1 Vsttor* lew C4| A4, executive A4, executive Letter*, legal, A5 Letter*, legal, A5 HNHik' i tt * WBHSk legal, tabloid*, A3, A4, A5, A6, B5, B6, executive Fonts 35 45 2 80 39 39 39 Paper 16- to 21 -pound bond, 250 sheets 3 16- to 36-pound bond, 350 sheets 16- to 36-pound bond, 350 sheets 200 sheets 200 sheets 16- to 36-pound bond, 350 sheets 1 PCL 5 enhanced with TrueType rasterizer. - 35 Intellifont faces, 10 TrueType. From cassette; 1 6- to 31 -pound stock from manual feed slot. Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4M The newest member of the LaserJet family was the first to arrive, and it set my ex- pectations for the other printers. It also earned a Best Printer honor in the 1992 Best of Comdex/Fall awards sponsored by BYTE and the Interface Group (see "A New LaserJet, a New Standard," De- cember 1992 BYTE). I received the 4M printer, which includes LocalTalk and PostScript built-in, but the table also lists information on the standard LaserJet 4. The printer opens so that you can easi- ly install the toner cartridge without having to contend with any glaring or obtrusive la- bels or release buttons. A small lever ex- tends from the paper tray to the front, in- dicating the level of paper remaining in the tray. The design was so clear, so obvi- ous, that the first page of 600-dpi text rolled out of the printer 7 minutes after I opened the box, and I never referred to the documentation. (When you need detailed information for configuring options, setting up the printer for DOS applications, or maintenance, the manuals are clear.) The I/O ports — including LocalTalk, Centronics, and RS-232 — are clearly la- beled and accessible, and all are active. The LocalTalk interface is installed in the MIO (modular I/O) port and can be re- placed by interfaces for Ethernet, Token Ring, TCP/IP, and EtherTalk from HP, and third parties are sure to support other specialized network options. HP's Resolution Enhancement Tech- nology, first introduced on the LaserJet III, is even more dramatic when applied to a true 600-dpi image. The edge quality of text from this printer is the sharpest I've seen. Unfortunately, this only applies to line art and has no impact on the quality of halftones. Font support is very strong: the stan- dard model comes loaded with 35 Intelli- font (HP) and 1 TrueType typefaces; in addition to these 45, the 4M includes the standard 35 PostScript typefaces. An in- dustry-standard cartridge slot adds sup- port for the substantial library of font car- tridges developed for past LaserJets. Lexmark LaserPrinter 4029 10A and 10P IBM's Lexmark unit was the first of this group to market; Lexmark should have waited until an industrial designer could be brought into the process. Attention to the way printers are used would have war- ranted substantial redesign. This unit is just not attractive — especially when com- pared to the others. Three contrasting col- ors were used in such a way as to empha- size every lump and protuberance. The printer's ivory body is about the same size as the LZR-965 's, but the elements that protrude from the shell cause it to take up more space than the LaserJet 4M. Inattention to the design process didn't stop with the appearance. This is the only printer in the test that required the manual 158 BYTE • MARCH 1993 ■ . . . An ARCHIVFCompany "Does Maynard 8 really otter the MaynStream 9 4 GB DAT tape system at a 2 GB price?" "Yes." "And MaynStream systems come with software that supports DOS, Microsoft* Windows, OS/2; and NetWare NLM*?" "Yes!' "I know I can depend on toll-free support and 48 hour repair/replacement 1 for any MaynStream system." Enough said. For product literature, including your free Networking Disaster Prevention Information Kit, call 1 800 755-0535. For specific sales or product assistance, call 1 800 845-3125. Maynard m ^F MICROSOFT WINDOWS. COMRflBLE Novell Professional Developer Maynard, a division of Archive Corporation • Marketing Communications * 36 Skyline Drive • Lake Mary, FL 32746 • FAX (407) 263-3638 ■ (407) 263-3500 (USA) • 44-494-473-434 (UK) Maynard and MaynStream are registered trademarks oi Archive Corporation. 'All other products herein mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective corporations. 'Domestic U.S. Only. Circle 104 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 105). DESKTOP LASERS 600-DPI PERFORMANCE Dataproducts LZR-965 HP LaserJet 4M Lexmark 4029 QMS 860 | Spreadsheets I Drawing Word processing 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 Index 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.6 0.9 Index The First-Page Index tests how fast a printer can produce short memos and letters. The Application Index tests common jobs from popular spreadsheets, drawing and design packages, and word processors. Tests are indexed on the LaserWriter IINTX, which has an index of 1 for each test; longer bars indicate better performance. for basic use. The Lexmark printers share one unusual feature: The toner cartridge is shipped installed. After lifting the print- er from the carton, you open the printer and withdraw a laminated foam pad that prevents vibration from damaging the toner cartridge or the contacts with the printer. This almost compensated for the need to attach various feed and delivery guides. The LocalTalk interface plugs into the Centronics connector, receives power from a separate connector, and is lashed to the itheuw0£ DAVISFiS" CSaBrr. PRINTS THIS "fsj £55. 5gfe«i soil »"*" J J, nest pi««' s s " BCTlW^SSoiil M , VltenM ol I- »> . u ,,,» M »,» t* ."fSatbiiimiw i Comment* U«k» ( m a c— tio«l«»« ,„ m b,n 8 .l» hMorewe" aQ i„ni lew 1 ** 5 ■ I pot' I ol the ViUlli |v ' I ever gel 1 down. SSSSS*:- 1200 dpi .TEXT 2400 dpi PHOTOS '"■"•."....itr"" 8 "'-""'-*™ ™»M.,W. l .„4*°"«~«-*,„,,''- """~»"°'""»'*^, 4 , , ^SP DESKTOP USERS back of the printer housing like freight on- board an oil tanker. The 10A version, in- tended for Mac users, supports only Local- Talk; the 10P, intended for DOS/ Windows users, supports only Centronics and RS- 232. While the 10P supports PCL (Printer Control Language) 4 and HPGL (Hewlett- Packard Graphics Language), neither of these is available on the 10A. Mac users aren't likely to miss PCL, but CAD and sign-making applications can make good use of HPGL in a laser printer prior to run- ning full-size plots. Printing from the Mac required more attention than with the other units, even though this printer is driven by a 16.7- MHz Motorola 68020 that has been in use in laser printers for several years. Rather than use the LaserWriter driver to allow printer options to be chosen when print- ing, a DA (desk accessory) is used to con- figure the printer. Using this slow CPU could have been justified if easy backward compatibility had been the goal, but there seems to be none. During my evaluation cycle, Lexmark dropped the lOA's price by $1200, putting it a little below the LZR-965 and the Laser- Jet 4M. The slow printing speeds, awk- ward use, and lack of multiple PDLs in the Mac configuration suggest that this printer should be priced with personal laser printers instead of with these workgroup printers. QMS 860 Print System The QMS 860 is priced at $4595, 50 per- cent above the other printers in this review and over twice the price when in the test configuration. However, it offers imme- diate value: This printer can satisfy some formidable printing needs. The new Canon LBP-BX engine sup- ports tabloid (11- by 17-inch) paper at 4 ppm, and letter size output at 8 ppm. The base memory configuration is 12 MB, with expansion to 32 MB possible. My testing was done with 28 MB installed, although the formal benchmarks were run with the base configuration. All four printers included warnings not to lift the printer out of the carton without help. At 50 pounds for the QMS 860, it would be wise to obey the warning. Al- though I did need the manual to install the additional RAM and paper tray, I was able to print without it. As with the other printers, the primary paper tray slides into the bottom of the printer from the front. The test unit came with the 500-page letter-size tray, which in- stalls below the printer in a special feed module. These options attach without tools and are only difficult to install if you insist on doing it alone. After installing the sec- ond tray, I ignored the upper and lower feed cassette choice in the printer driver, and the printer correctly determined the proper tray automatically. Along with the large-format printing, this unit stands apart on the basis of its operating system, QMS Crown. Based on the Intel 960 RISC processor running at 25 MHz, QMS Crown can accept si- multaneous printing jobs from the three Introducing the Image Xpert 1000. Windows 1 '* output that looks like a million at a price that looks like a typo. XLI's new desktop printer just pushed the PC publishing revolution into overdrive. For less than the price of most new genera- tion 600 dpi printers, the Image Xpert 1000 delivers 1200 dpi for text and graphics, plus an incredible 2400 dpi equivalent with 256 gray levels for halftones, all on a single page. Type prints crisp and clean; photos „ show amazing detail. That means businessX and professional users at all levels can now produce high resolution plain paper mas- ters and proofs without outside services , / saving time and money. The Image Xpert 1000 is the first laser ~ printer to incorporate XLI's acclaimed LaserPix 5 0, the image controller board with patented SUPER LGA™ technology that has taken the world of Windows desktop imaging by storm. Circle 218 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 219). Before you spend a dime upgrading your output, call us for the whole story on how the competitively-priced Image Xpert 1000 can produce high resolution documents for your application. 1-800-433-8040 CORPORATION SUPERIGA is a trademark of XL1 Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. XLI Corp . , 800 West Cummings Park, Suite 6650, Woburn, MA 01801. HOW DO YOU GET A JOB WITHOUT EXPERIENCE? AND HOW DO YOU GET EXPERIENCE WITHOUTAJOB? Most young people have one answer to this problem. They avoid it until they're out of college. But they could be getting solid work experi- ence while they're still in college. With your company's help. And ours. We're Co-op Education. A nation- wide program that helps college students get real jobs for real pay, while they're getting an education. But we can't do it without you. Those real jobs have to come from real companies. Like yours. For more information on how you can participate in this valuable program, write Co-op Education, Box 775E, Boston, MA 02115. Not only will you be giving students a chance to earn money and pick up the most valuable kind of knowledge, you'll be giving yourselves a chance to pick up the most valuable kind of employee. Co-op Education. You earn a future when you earn a degree. ell A Public Service ofThis Publication ©1987 National Commission for Cooperative Education DESKTOP LASERS standard interfaces. Adding a network in- terface board does not require removing or disabling any of the three standard ports. Utilities are included that allow the in- stalled memory to be configured as buffers for each port, font caches, or, with appli- cation support for PostScript Level 2, logo and form storage. If one or more SCSI hard drives are installed for font storage, the controller can be programmed to use space on the hard drive as additional print spooling. This system features an intermediate page-description format that is more com- pact than the bit maps that printers ulti- mately generate. Information received as PostScript, PCL, or HPGL from the com- puters is inteipreted and converted to this display-list format and queued for print- ing, increasing the speed at which jobs can be accepted and enhancing the capacity of the printer's installed RAM. Once the print job has been converted to the QMS dis- play-list format, the generation of the bit maps can then take place at the printer's rated engine speed. This will allow multi- ple-copy printing of collated sets without the time penalty other printers suffer, as the computer normally sends the complete sequence of pages several times when col- lated output is required. The QMS 860 includes the basic 35 PostScript fonts, plus the Helvetica Con- densed family. The Remaining Field One printer that was intended to be part of this comparison is the NewGen Turbo 660 PS, which uses the AMD 29000 pro- cessor and the same engine and case as the QMS 860. NewGen was unable to solve my concerns about print quality in time for this review and withdrew the printer from the market until final debug- ging was accomplished. I expect that it will have printing characteristics very sim- ilar to the QMS 860, without the multi- tasking interface system, and should be available for a price roughly midway be- tween the tabloid 860 and the letter-size printers I reviewed here. I recommend tak- ing a good look at this printer when it is re- leased. True 600-dpi printers are also expect- ed soon from such vendors as Calcomp, Xante, and LaserMaster. Final Resolutions I can't recommend the Lexmark printers. These models simply aren't competitive with other available models at the same or similar price levels. The LZR-965 is fast, sharp, and com- pact. It supports hard disk storage to facil- itate rapid printing as your type collection 162 BYTE • MARCH 1 993 Wuw Stowing M k Dgfilfij 1 I x to Ton] See us at CeBIT Hall 6, Booth B63 NewGen's B Series 11" x 17" Paper Format Automatic Paper Sensing Resolution Up To 1200 dpi +IET When it conies to productivity nothing works harder than the B. That's because NewGen's B Series was designed to deliver the value and quality that experienced PostScript® users demand. The affordable B Series wide format laser printers offer you powerful Ethernet capability, innovative paper handling, and the sharp graphics and high resolu- tion that have made NewGen famous. Call us today for more information at: 1-800-756-0556 i in in ■ ill newgen llll I II II I IIII1H mill I II 17580 Newhope Street, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Telephone 714-641-8600 • Fax 714-641-2800 © 1992, NewGen Systems Corporation. All trademarks and registered trademarks are of their respective companies. Circle 1 1 8 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 119). DESKTOP LASERS No Wild, No Wildlife The California desert tortoise is losing ground. Its young are being crushed by motorcycles and off-road vehicles. Sheep and cattle grazing are diminishing an already scant supply of food while mining and road building are destroying the tortoise's natural habitat. The fact is that the tortoise population has declined as much as 90% over the last fifty years. This drop is a true biological indicator of how severely the des- ert ecosystem is at risk. The Sierra Club works to save wildlife by saving the wilderness. We have a history of victories. And, we believe with your help, the three-million-year-old desert tortoise can win back its native turf. For information on how you can help: Sierra Club Dept. DT 730 Polk Street San Francisco, CA 94109 (415) 776-2211 grows beyond the 35 fonts in ROM, and you'll be able to store forms on a hard drive when that component of PostScript Level 2 is implemented. If you need to print tabloid pages, the QMS 860 offers print speed barely slower than the LZR-965 and the LaserJet 4M. It also offers the greatest flexibility in mem- ory, interfaces, emulations, and paper han- dling. Overall, my vote goes to the LaserJet 4M. It is flexible and offers the best image quality of the group. It also will be sup- ported by a host of third parties offering supplies and enhancements in addition to HP's offerings, and very few software ven- dors will omit drivers and other support for this model. ■ G. Armour Van Horn is a writer and graphics consultant based in Freeland, Washington. He can be reached on BIX as "vanhorn." COMPANY INFORMATION Dataproducts Corp. (LZR-965) 6219 De Soto Ave. P.O. Box 746 Woodland Hills, CA 91365 (818)887-8000 fax:(818)887-4789 Circle 1 229 on Inquiry Card. Hewlett-Packard Co. (LaserJet 4 and LaserJet 4M) Direct Marketing Organization P.O. Box 58059 MS511L-SJ Santa Clara, CA 95051 (800) 752-0900 fax: (208) 344-4809 Circle 1230 on Inquiry Card. Lexmark International, Inc. (LaserPrinter 4029 10A and 10P) 740 New Circle Rd. NW Lexington, KY 40511 (800) 358-5835 (606) 232-2000 fax: (606) 232-2380 Circle 1231 on Inquiry Card. QMS, Inc. (860 Print System) 1 Magnum Pass Mobile, AL 36618 (800) 631-2692 (205) 639-4400 fax:(205)633-0013 Circle 1 232 on Inquiry Card. 164 BYTE- MARCH 1993 Train for a High-Paying Career as a Computer Service Technician NEW! 486sx/25 MHz computer, 80 meg hard drive! Only NRI, the leader in hands-on training for 78 years, could give you training this complete, experience this practical. You actually build a powerful 486sx/25 MHz computer system — including an 80 meg hard disk drive — all the while gaining the hands-on skills you need to service today's sophisticated computers with confidence! Over 220,000 jobs! That* s what the Department of Labor forecasts for computer service technicians by the year 2005, a 38% increase over today's level. For you, that means tremendous opportunity if you have the training and the skills to get into this high-paying, top-growth Geld. Now you can cash in on this opportunity — full-time, part-time, or in a computer service business of your own — once you've mastered electronics and computers the NRI way. NEW! Get inside a 486sx/25 MHz computer system . . . and experience all the power and speed of today's computer technology! Now NRI includes a powerful new 486sx/25 MHz mini-tower computer system as the centerpiece of your course to give you hands-on training with state-of- the-art computer technology. You build this 1 meg RAM, 32-bit CPU computer from the keyboard up, plus you now go on to install an 8( meg IDE hard disk drive to complete your total computer system. But that's not all! You also learn to diagnose and repair IBM-compatible computers with the remark- able diagnostic hardware and software included in your NRI training. See the other side for more details about this exciting NRI training breakthrough. Understanding you get only through experience You need no previous background in elec- tronics to succeed with NRI. You start with the basics, rapidly building on the fundamen- tals of electronics to master advanced microcomputer concepts. Best of all, you learn by doing — performing hands-on experiments with your NRI Discovery Lab and digital multimeter, then actually building and testing the powerful 486sx/25 MHz computer system you train with and keep. Your incomparable hands-on training includes all this: NRI's Discovery Lab you use to design and modify circuits, diagnose and repair faults • Hand-held digital multimeter with "talk-you-through" instruc- tions on audio cassette • Digital logic probe that lets you visually examine computer circuits • A state-of-the-art 486sx/25 MHz computer, featuring a 32- bit 80486sx CPU, "intelligent" keyboard, and 1.2 megabyte, high-density 5-1/4" floppy drive • 80 meg IDE hard disk drive you install internally • 64K ROM, 1 meg RAM • MS-DOS, QBasic, and Microsoft Works software • Ultra-X diagnostic package including R.AC.E.R. plug-in card and QuickTech menu- driven software for fast, professional troubleshooting • Reference manuals, programming guidelines, and schematics. Learn at home in your spare time, backed by your personal NRI instructor With NRI, you learn at your own convenience in your own home. No class- room pressures, no night school, no need to quit your present job until you're ready to make your move. And all throughout your training you've got the full support of your personal NRI instructor and the entire NRI technical staff. See other side for highlights Get all the facts from NRI's Of NRI hands-on free full-color catalog. Send today! computer training ^> SEND CARD TODAY FOR FREE NRI CATALOG! Schools McGraw-Hill Continuing Education Center 4401 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008 Check one free catalog only Microcomputer Servicing TV/Video/Audio Servicing Industrial Electronics & Robotic Basic Electronics Computer-Aided Drafting m For career courses approved under GI Bill, i I check for details Computer Programming Desktop Publishing & Design PC Applications Specialist Programming in C++ with Windows Name (please print) Age Address City Accredited Member, National Home Study Council State Zlp 170-0393 Get In-Demand Computer Servicing Skills With NRI "Hands-On" Training You set up and perform electronics experiments and demonstrations using your NRI Discovery Lab. You even interface the lab with your 486sx computer to "see'" keyboard- generated data. After you build this digital logic probe, you explore the operation of your computer's 101-key, detached "intelligent" keyboard and its dedicated microprocessor. You install the 1.2 meg, 5-1/4" floppy disk drive, learning disk drive opera- tion and adjustment. Later, you dramatically improve your compu- ter's data storage capacity by instal- ling a powerful 80 meg IDE hard drive. You learn to quickly diagnose and service virtually any computer prob- lem with the extraordinary R.A.C.E.R. plug-in diagnostic card and QuickTech diagnostic software,-,^ included in your course. NEW! 486sx/25MHz computer, 80 meg 4 hard drive! 5 NRI training is so complete, hands-on mastery is "built-in" No other training — in school, on the job, anywhere — prepares you so thoroughly for today's money-making opportunities in computer service. And only NRI builds meaningful training around the kind of powerful computer system you'll be called on to service and repair in the real world. As you assemble your 486sx/25 MHz mini-tower computer system — complete with monitor, floppy drive, hard drive, operating and applications software — you'll perform hands-on demonstrations and experiments that bring theory to life, giving you a total mastery of computer operation. But NRI doesn't stop there. Now! Includes diagnostic hardware and software for quick, accurate troubleshooting Your NRI training now includes a remarkable diagnostic package that allows you to quickly locate and correct defects in IBM-compatible computers. SEND CARD TODAY FOR FREE NRI CATALOG! BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 10008 WASHINGTON, D.C. s?V You'll use the Ultra-X RAC.E.R. diagnostic card to identify individual defective RAM chips, locate interfacing problems, and pinpoint defective support chips. Experts call the RAC.E.R. card the easiest to use, most powerful tool for PC troubleshooting available today! With your QuickTech diagnostic software package, also from Ultra-X, you'll go on to test the system RAM and such peripheral adapters as parallel printer ports, serial commmunications ports, video adapters, and floppy and hard disk drives. This ingenious diagnostic package is just one more way NRI's real-world, hands-on training gives you both the knowledge and the professional tools to succeed as today's in- demand computer service technician. NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE nf Schools McGraw-Hill Continuing Education Center 4401 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20078-3543 I„I.IIIm.IIm.Im,II„L.II„I,LI„I„II,I„I,I FREE catalog tells more . . . send today! Send the postage-paid card today for NRI's big free catalog that gives all the facts about NRI computer training. See for yourself how NRI hands-on training can help you cash in on the growing opportunities for skilled computer service technicians. If the card is missing, write to NRI at the address below. Schools McGraw-Hill Continuing Education Center 4401 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008 mi ftnl IBM is a registered trademark of In tern alio mil Buslnes Machines Corp. RAC.E.R. and QuickTech are registered trademarks of Ultra-X, Inc. Card 101 REVIEWS APPLICATION How to Deal with Taxing Questions KATHLEEN LARIVIERE AND STAN MIASTKOWSKI TaxCut STRA01 12 File Edit yiew Forms Tax Tools Window The approach of April 15 is looked upon with much fear and loathing in the U.S., as yearly income tax returns are due to the IRS. If you're a typical taxpay- er — an hourly or salaried worker with per- haps a house and a few investments — tax- preparation software can help in a big way. These programs guide you through the procedure of calculating your taxes and filling out IRS forms, help you make sure you get what refund is due you, and keep you from filing an incomplete form. We looked at four families of tax-prepa- ration programs for DOS, Windows, and the Macintosh: Meca Software's Andrew Tobias' TaxCut for DOS, TaxCut for Win- dows, and TaxCut for the Macintosh; Par- sons Technology's Personal Tax Edge and Personal Tax Edge for Windows; Intex Solutions' Tax Solver (for Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, and Symphony); and ChipSoft's TurboTax for DOS, TurboTax for Win- dows, and MacInTax. Prices range from $49 to $80. At their heart, all these tax-preparation programs are actually spreadsheets using complex links to interrelate numbers and calculations from various IRS forms, schedules, and worksheets. These interre- lationships are a big advantage of tax soft- ware. You don't need a calculator; most numerical calculations are done for you, and most packages have a pop-up calcu- lator. The programs automatically enter calculated numbers in the correct locations on the related forms, schedules, and work- sheets. This capability alone is almost worth the price of admission. Because there are so many individual items that go into the preparation of a tax return, taxpayers can easily miss common deductions that reduce the tax they owe. To maximize the return, the best of today's tax-preparation programs use a step-by- step interview technique — much like what would happen if you sat down with an ex- perienced tax preparer. This on-line inter- view approach isn't perfect, but it goes a long way toward making the preparation of your taxes less headache-provoking. After using one of these packages, you end up with a completed tax return. In- stead of filling out printed IRS forms, these programs use printer graphics (laser or dot-matrix) to create a finished package that the IRS will accept in lieu of its own Screen 1 : Andrew Tobias' TaxCut, available for DOS, Windows (shown here), and the Mac, features an easy-to-use interview process, although you can 't see the forms as you answer questions. Help | fei^t^m FILING JOINT RETURN: Do you inlend to file a Hjj return with your spouse? [Almost always; answer 'Yes," here.) Your Response: Yes No JOINT RETURN TAX TIP: If you ate married and living together, you almost always come out ahead by tiling jointly [and answering "yes," here). For example, the total tax on two taxable incomes [after deductions) of $20,000 each, filed separately, is always larger than the tax on one $40,000 income filed Jointly. But you should consider filing separately [and answering "no'T If: • You and your spouse lived apart during the last 6 months of 1902 [you may be entitled to file as Return to fax l : opM \ lack Up Next Explanation Help forms. With a complex return, the package can run to many pages. Because the IRS will not release all the necessary tax forms until around the first of the year (after this article went to press), we used the prerelease version of each package. All the companies offer early versions that taxpayers can use for plan- ning and then ship final versions to cus- tomers during lanuary. We tested the packages as if we were three hypothetical taxpayers: two had rel- atively simple returns, and one was slight- ly more complex (with self-employment income). All the scenarios involved several gotchas — common yet often-missed in- come and deductions that can make a sub- stantial bottom-line difference on tax lia- bility. Filing Electronically The best tax-preparation packages also offer you the option of filing your return electronically, sending it via modem (or by mailing a disk), but not directly to the IRS. Because of security considerations and other requirements, the IRS does not encourage individual taxpayers to become "direct transmitters." Instead, you send your return to an IRS-authorized service bureau, which then transmits it to the IRS. (Technically, it is possible to become au- thorized to file returns directly, but it re- quires a special 4800-bps modem and a testing process. It's simply not worth the trouble for an individual taxpayer.) Electronic filing costs extra (costs vary by package, usually $10 to $20), and these packages allow electronic filing only if you have a refund coming to you. The bot- tom line is, you'll get your refund weeks earlier. If you owe money, you'll have to find a professional who handles balance- due returns electronically, or simply mail your return in the usual manner. Andrew Tobias' TaxCut Meca Software's TaxCut carries the mon- iker of well-known financial planner and BYTE ACTION SUMMARY ■ WHAT TAX SOFTWARE DOES It guides you through the task of preparing income tax returns. ■ LIKES Interview techniques (usually) help you avoid mistakes that can cost you money; programs perform automatic calculations; links with forms put numbers in the right places. ■ DISLIKES All programs require some tax knowledge, but thafs a function of the complex U.S. Tax Code. Some low-cost packages don't give enough help or explanation. ■ RECOMMENDATIONS TurboTax and MacInTax are the best designed and most comprehensive. TaxCut and Personal Tax Edge are also fine, especially in their ability to import a wide range of data. MARCH 1993 • BYTE 165 DEALING WITH TAXING QUESTIONS Personal Tax Edge (BETA) - [Untitled] File Edit fteturn guide View Tools Window Help Screen 2: Parsons Technology' s Personal Tax Edge has a useful too/bar and allows you to see forms as you answer questions. It's available in both DOS and Windows (shown here) versions. author Andrew Tobias, who's involved in the design of the program. TaxCut is ac- tually one of the oldest of the personal tax- preparation programs, and it's now avail- able in versions for DOS, Windows, and the Mac. Internally, all three versions are virtually identical, with, of course, slight differ- ences in the look and feel for each plat- form. Not surprisingly, the graphics-ori- ented interfaces for Windows and the Mac result in tax forms that look like the real thing on-screen. But the text and details are identical across the three versions. Of the packages we looked at, TaxCut has by far the most informative interview process (see screen 1). Its friendly tone and positive approach almost make prepar- ing your taxes a pleasure — almost. As you go through the interview process, TaxCut keeps you informed of what it's doing and why. For example, it tells you what form it's filling in and shows the calculations, points you to further information (e.g., ad- vantages of filing a joint return), and gives you progress reports on how much of the return you've filled out. TaxCut also al- lows you to jump easily between the form and the interview. Particularly handy is a mini-worksheet that appears between the lines of the form you're working on, giv- ing handy tips and information on what's been calculated and where the numbers came from. In a complex tax return, this can be useful indeed. TaxCut's interview process isn't per- fect. One of our test returns included a scholarship, but the interview never asked about it. If you go directly to the 1040 line 7, where this information would be en- tered, the program essentially ignores that scholarship income exists; TurboTax, on the other hand, asks specifically about it. TaxCut's failure to flag scholarship in- come resulted in a miscalculation that (in our test) would have cost the taxpayer an additional $150 of unnecessary tax liabil- ity. (It can be fixed, but only if you know how.) Not surprisingly, TaxCut is tightly in- tegrated with Managing Your Money. If you've used that package to keep track of your finances throughout the year, Tax- Cut will import the files, do the calcula- tions, and place the right numbers in the right places. Except for very complex sit- uations, it makes tax preparation almost automatic. TaxCut also imports files from Quicken, Microsoft Money, CheckFree, TurboTax, and the TXF (Tax Exchange Format) used by popular accounting pro- grams. TaxCut's on-line help is very useful, but it fell down on describing inventory and accounting methods used by small businesses, providing a simplistic (and in- complete) explanation. And the definition of handling bad debt was misleading. TaxCut features almost every possible form, schedule, and worksheet you'll ever need — about 95. But it balked at filling in page 2 of Form 2210, which covers cal- culating the penalty for underpaying esti- mated tax. This is not an unusual form for self-employed individuals, but TaxCut re- fused to calculate it, with a message saying it's "too complex." Other packages han- dle it with no problems. You can electronically file your finished TaxCut tax return, with or without a mo- dem. (If you don't have a modem, you can send a disk to the service bureau.) Either way, it costs $19.95. Personal Tax Edge Personal Tax Edge from Parsons Tech- nology is available for both DOS and Win- dows. Because of its newness, we focused our testing on the Windows version (see screen 2). The interface is clean, and the forms and instructions are easy to read, even on a standard 640- by 480-pixel VGA screen. PTE has a unique approach to the in- terview process compared to the other packages we reviewed. Other packages do not show you the forms until you're done with the interview; PTE shows you the ac- tual forms and source documents as they're being filled out. This is a handy way of keeping track of your progress. On the negative side, PTE's interview isn't as comprehensive as the others. In some cases, PTE assumes that you have enough tax knowledge to know where to go. For example, while filling out Sched- ule C (business profit and loss), line 10, the program leads you directly to the re- lated Form 4562 (depreciation), but it gives you no help on how to fill out the form correctly. PTE ties in most directly with Parson's MoneyCounts financial package, and it will also handle data from Quicken, Man- aging Your Money, Microsoft Money, and ASCII text. The program has about 70 forms, schedules, and worksheets. You Screen 3: Tax Solver from Intex Solutions has a selection of 147 linked forms, schedules, and worksheets available for Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony, as well as Microsoft Excel (shown here). 7 M1JTO I File £dit Formula Format fiata Options Macro Window help laiigiHi^ii^s i ai^ fBT/iAraiMswa piTOiwi 1040_E3.XL5 1040_E4XLS 10.40_ESC.XLS 1040_F.XLS 1040_F2.XLS 1Q40_F3.XLS 1040_F4.XLS 104Q_RXLS I04Q_SE.XLS 1G4Q_SES.XLS 1040_YR.XLS $1 040A.XLS 1040AJ XLS 1040A_2.XLS 1040A_3.XLS 104QDI.AG.XLS 1040ES.XLS 1040EZ.XLS 1040INST.XLS 1Q4QWKSTXLS 1G-10X.XLS 111SXLS SOPEN ME.XLM Schedule E (Form 1040) - Su^-iemenhil Income and Loss (3) Schedule E (Form 1040) - Supplemental Income and Loss (4) Schedule EIC (Form 1 040) - Earned Income Credit Schedule F (Form 1040) - Prolrl or Loss From Farming (!) Schedule F (Form 1 040) • Prolil or Loss From Farming (2) Schedule F (Form 1040) - Profit or Loss From Farming (3) Schedule F (Form 1 040) • Prolrl or Loss From Fanning (4) Schedule R (Form 1 040) - Credit tor the Elderly or 1he Disabled Schedule SE (Form 1040) - Self -Employment Tax Schedule SE (Form 1 040) - Spouse -Self -Employment Tax Comparison (Form 1 040) - Prior Year Comparison Form 1040A - U S Individual Income Tax Return Schedule 1 (Form 1 040A) - Interest and Dividend income for Form 1 040A Fliers Schedule 2 (Form 1 040A) - Child and Dependent Cwe Expenses for Form 1 040A Filers Schedule 3 (Form 1 040A) - Credit tor the Elderly or the Disabled for Form 1 040A Filers Diagnostic (Form 1040) Form 1 G40ES - Estimated Tax tor individuals Form 1 040EZ - Income Tax Return tor Single Filers Wrth No Dependents Form 1040 IRS Instructions Worksheets (Form 1040) Form 1040X - Amended U. S. Individual Income Tax Return Form 11 16 - Foreign Tax Credit ijteody 166 BYTE • MARCH 1993 There's Sound... "vroom, vroom" And There's SoundMan™. SoundMan" 16. Get Real. SoundManl6 delivers sound so real, 85% of the time people can't tell the difference from live sound. That's because it's packed with the absolute latest in sound board technology: up to 16-bit/44KHz record/playback, Yamaha OPL-3 stereo synthesis 20-voice chip, 1 00% Sound m-^ — Blaster'" and Ad Lib 8 compatibility, and more. SoundMan brings you the highest W - |P - quality sound available, for all your games and applications, in Windows'" ** • * and DOS. From Logitech, the peripherals leader. At your dealer, or call LUI/iTluH 1-800-231-7717. TM/® Trademarks belong to their respective owners. The SeDSeWare™ Company Circle 1 00 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 101). DEALING WITH TAXING QUESTIONS TurboTa mmm BH File Edit Options Window Help 1 E,s y s,=p | |>| 1? I I *| ; Interview Statement B |Div. 1): Dividend Income Topic: [income |*| Sub Topic |Dividends jij 1 Stop [ Piease enter the amounts of ordinary dividends, capital gains distributions, end nontaxable distributions shown on your Form 1 099-DIV from . Ordinary Dividends 1 13 -1 Capita! Gain Dist. [ Nontaxable Dist. | Payer Name <*> t:omifii:e Capital Gain l>t3tributiori3 M Nort-Publicm Traded Mutual Fund Investment Expenses <0 in ESOP ! i.L-.i---!(j Traded u." (c) Ordinary Dividends W) Nontaxable Distributions Return of Cspi/s! m - i r i 1 i 2 u i 3 M i 1 i Lli 1 5 n n l 6 i n i 7 r o ! 8 i i L Screen 4: ChipSoft's TurboTax is the most comprehensive tax-p repa ration package. It's available in DOS and Windows (shown here) versions. MacInTax is its equivalent for the Mac. can also file forms electronically through PTE for only $10. Tax Solver This package, also designed for the expe- rienced tax preparer, is an unusual animal. It's the only package we looked at that doesn't stand alone. Different versions of Tax Solver are available for Microsoft Ex- cel, Lotus 1-2-3 (DOS or Windows), and Lotus Symphony. To use Tax Solver, you need to know how to use the related spreadsheet pack- ages, and the more you know about them, the better. Tax Solver also has the largest selection of forms: 147 (see screen 3). Es- sentially, Tax Solver is a collection of linked spreadsheets that take up about 4 MB of disk space. Tax Solver is recommended for the ex- perienced number cruncher who is also comfortable with taxes. It doesn't have an interview form, and it doesn't import from other tax or financial programs (unless they export to spreadsheet formats). And there are no help screens for any of the schedules. The advantage of Tax Solver is that you can use the advanced what-if capabilities of the underlying spreadsheet. The other packages reviewed here have worksheets for looking at alternative tax scenarios, but they don't have the extensive conjec- tural capabilities of Excel or 1-2-3. TurboTax and MacInTax ChipSoft's TurboTax is available for DOS and Windows (see screen 4); MacInTax is for the Mac. Both programs offer an ex- tensive and helpful interview process, al- though they tend to assume some knowl- edge of tax law. For example, they rightly ask if you have any "nominee interest," but they don't explain what that is. TurboTax and MacInTax also offer the most comprehensive final review of your tax return of any of the packages reviewed here. They are chock-full of hints and sug- gestions, including steps you can take to re- duce your tax liability during the next year. Both offer electronic filing (via modem or disk) for $19.95. TurboTax and MacInTax neglect to give you a running update on your tax liability until you're done with the entire interview, unless you specifically switch to the forms. And they import data only from Quicken and TXF formats. Despite minor shortcomings, TurboTax and MacInTax stand out among the pack- ages here in their ability to handle virtual- ly any tax situation. The packages effort- lessly and correctly calculate even the most complicated of tax returns. They offer ex- tensive help and hints on advanced tax matters and even point you to IRS publi- cations for further reading. ChipSoft is the only company here that also sells versions of its programs specif- ically designed for professional tax pre- parers. In fact, if you prepare your return with TurboTax and bring it to profession- al preparers who use the pro packages, they can import your return and check or complete it for you. Taxing Choices For taxpayers who want to spend the least amount of time dealing with Uncle Sam (and aren't interested in becoming tax ex- perts), any of the packages offering inter- views are logical choices. TaxCut's inter- view process is thorough, but it has some limitations for complex returns. And while TurboTax' s interview has its drawbacks, it's most effective and accurate for all types of returns. Interview-type programs are most effective when used with the financial management packages whose data they can import. That can eliminate the dread- ed Shoebox Syndrome as you sift through piles of receipts as the tax deadline nears. While the DOS versions of these pro- grams are just as functional, we recom- mend that PC users buy the Windows ver- sions: They put on-screen what looks like an actual IRS form, which is definitely helpful. And surprisingly, we found that the Windows versions were just as fast as their DOS counterparts. A dose of reality: Because of the com- plexity of the U.S. Tax Code, the more complex your tax situation, the less cut- and-dried the "answers" are. Like law, taxes require interpretation and opinions, dependent on "facts and circumstances," as the IRS likes to say. Given any com- plex situation, all these packages could deliver slightly different bottom lines based on the interview. Programs like we've re- viewed here are designed for the vast ma- jority of taxpayers and are no substitute for a one-on-one interview with a real tax professional. ■ Kathleen LaRiviere has over 14 years' ex- perience as a tax professional; she owns and operates a tax practice in Peterbor- ough, New Hampshire. Stan Miastkowski is a BYTE consulting editor and a free- lance writer specializing in computer tech- nology. Both can be reached on BIX c/o "stanm " or via MCI Mail at 530-9979. ITEMS DISCUSSED Andrew Tobias' TaxCut for DOS, TaxCut for Windows, TaxCut for the Macintosh $50 Meca Software, Inc. (203) 256-5000 fax: (203) 255-6300 Circle 1225 on Inquiry Card. Personal Tax Edge, Personal Tax Edge for Windows $49 Parsons Technology (319)395-9626 fax:(319)393-1002 Circle 1 226 on Inquiry Card. Tax Solver for Excel, Tax Solver for 1-2-3, Tax Solver for Symphony $79.95 Intex Solutions, Inc. (617)449-6222 Circle 1 227 on Inquiry Card. TurboTax for DOS, TurboTax for Windows, MacInTax $79.95 ChipSoft, Inc. (619)453-4446 Circle 1 228 on Inquiry Card. 168 BYTE -MARCH 1993 REVIEWS SYSTEM Compaq Stakes Out Both Ends of the Server Spectrum BARRY NANCE When it comes to the network server market, one size most definitely does not fit all. One shop may require nonstop operation, another excellent I/O performance for a large LAN, and a third high-speed processing for a database serv- er. And some companies just need reason- able performance at a reasonable price. Compaq has addressed both ends of the server spectrum with two recent server in- troductions. The Systempro/XL (see the photo) is a high-end, dual-processor system with fault-tolerant and management fea- tures; Compaq's new ProSignia is a new low-end, single-processor server. I tested both servers for speed in two environments. In my lab, I alternated be- tween Ethernet and Token Ring to con- nect up to eight workstations. For a larger- scale test, I used a battery of 50 PCs on 16-Mbps Token Ring to give the XL and ProSignia servers more of a workout. I used the BYTE LAN Benchmarks (for NetWare and Unix) to measure perfor- mance on NetWare 3.1 1 from Compaq and SCO Unix 3.2.4. Figure 1 shows re- sults for varying workstation levels on a Token Rina network. In the following sections, I'll discuss performance and reliability aspects of the XL. You'll find details on the ProSignia in the text box "You're Not Going to Pay a Lot for This Server," page 172. Inside the XL The XL is based on Compaq's new Tri- Flex system architecture, which Compaq designed to be upwardly compatible with Intel's entire family of fast CPUs. A natu- ral extension to Flex/MP, TriFlex sepa- rates system operations among the 64-bit processor bus, the 128-bit memory bus, and the 32-bit EISA bus. The TriFlex DataFlow Manager coordinates the work of EISA adapters and the CPU, providing a 267-MBps path to and from main mem- ory. (For comparison, the IBM Model 295 operates at 200 MBps.) DataFlow Manager is Compaq's solu- tion to a performance problem that some- times plagues bus-master adapters. Ironi- cally, as a bus-master adapter uses more memory bandwidth, it reduces the CPU's ability to access main memory during in- struction fetch cycles. According to Com- paq, the DataFlow Manager lets proces- 1 il'J 1 J ACTION SUMMARY 1 ■ PRICE ■ WHAT THE SYSTEMPRO/XL AND PROSIGNIA ARE Systempro/XL (with SCSI, four The XL is a new high-end server 550-MB hard drives, dual with fault-tolerant features. The 486/50s, 1 6 MB of RAM, Token ProSignia is a fast, low-cost server. Ring), $22,014 ProSignia (with SCSI, one 550- ■ LIKES MB hard drive, one 486DX2/66, Fault tolerance and excellent 1 6 MB of RAM, Token Ring), capacity on the XL; low cost but $6097 good performance on the ProSignia. ■ FOR MORE INFORMATION ■ DISLIKES Compaq Computer Corp. No hot-swap capability for the XL; P.O. Box 692000 multiprocessing practical only on Houston, TX 77269 Unix networks. (800)345-1518 (71 3) 370-0670 ■ RECOMMENDATIONS fax:(713)374-1740 Both servers fit their niches well. Circle 1223 on Inquiry Card. The Systempro/XL features dual processors and advanced system architecture for high performance. sors and EISA bus-masters access main memory simultaneously more than 70 per- cent of the time. The XL can accept an optional second processor board. The two CPUs in my re- view unit were 50-MHz 486s, but Com- paq says that the XL's 64-bit processor architecture will readily accommodate In- tel's future high-speed CPUs — Pentium and beyond. The XL's processor boards also add 256 KB of two-way set-associa- tive, write-back cache. NetWare can take advantage of the large CPU cache, but it can't make use of the second CPU. Novell says it's still in the design stages of multiprocessor support for NetWare and that SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) support may appear in a subsequent release of NetWare 4.0 late in 1993. Until then, you'll find the dual -pro- cessor architecture most useful in an ap- plication or database server running SCO Unix with MPX (multiprocessor exten- sion) or Banyan Vines SMP. The XL comes bundled with a new Compaq network interface card. The Net- Flex dual-physical-layer-protocol adapter MARCH 1993 • BYTE 169 COMPAQ SERVERS BYTE NETWORK BENCHMARKS NETWARE Sequential I/O UNIX Sequential I/O 4 8 12 24 Nodes 48 " 4 8 12 24 48 4 8 12 Nodes ProSignia | Systempro/XL Systempro/XL (2 NICs) 24 Nodes Figure 1 : NetWare benchmark results show that both servers are fast but that the Systempro/XL has considerably higher capacity than the ProSignia. The XL shows no degradation at all with two NICs installed. It ran in a dual- processor configuration on the Unix tests, but because I/O is such a significant component of the BYTE Unix Network Benchmarks, the XL doesn 't show much benefit. Figure 2: The Systempro/XL shows a linear increase in processing power when adding an additional CPU running Dhrystones under MPX.~ MP PERFORMANCE 30,000 Dhrystones 25,000 2 CPUs — 20,000 15,000 - 10,000 5000 I 1 CPU 1 Systempro/XL 170 BYTE • MARCH 1993 -rte saw wa/sonne people still cfccafcMbtioHS* Aside fro^vi the charter mil- lion or so people who already useMathc^df most ewirieers and scie nfi<§jg continue -to do calculations' by hand. Vs'ma calculators and /4nd print presenter) quality documents o>mple-te with text , graphics and equations in real math notation . M^-fhc^d comes with m^rd thOr|c- sheef. 5-raph result 'm j-p an^ 3'p. Change variables and instantly update answers. Add |dpgpos dmnix® 1Wt to Support ySNir work. | g SSSSTpftW •available ^th a rvienu pick , $o you can Evaluate any integral, Taylor series or infinite Sum just by dickina. Optional Electronic -Hand- books*^'^ you i nsfcarn dcos&S fo fully interactive -formulas; diaanams 1 7-577- 1 Ot 7 Fax: fal7~577-8g iguTTBBra^SmT^^TiriTiTrin AVERACC RAKFAU. [»y REGtON «*d COUNTRY) rt m m m m g ==^1 Jljlj Hjlf HJIJ H|ll Ujll STATISTICA/Mac" (for Macintosh) A STATISTICA/w-compauble, comprehensive data analysis and graphics system designed for the Macintosh ■ Large selection of statistical methods fully integrated with presentation-quality graphics (incl. KDA, multiplots, a wide selection of interactively rotatable 3D graphs; MacDraw-stylc tools) H Unlimited size of flies ■ Full support for System 7, incl. "Publish and Subscribe" □ Price $595. Overseas Offices: Statsott ot Europe (Hamburg, FRG), ph: 040/ 4200347. fax: 040/4911310; StatSoft UK (London, UK), ph: 0462/482822, tax: 0462/482855: StatSoft Pacific (Melbourne, Australia), ph: (03[ 663 Quick STATISTICA/Mac" (for Macintosh) A subset of STATIS- TICA/Mac: a comprehensive selection of basic statistics and the full graphics ca- pabiliUes of STATISTICA/Mac ■ Price $295. 6580." fa? (03V663 6~1 "station" Canad¥-ccb' (Ontariojiph: "416-849-0737, lax: 416-849-0918. Available From: CORPORATE SOFTWARE and other Authorized Representatives Worldwide: Hol- land-MAB Julsing, 071-230410; France: Version US (1) 40590913; Sweden: AkademiData 018-240035; Hungary: Dagent Kfl 186-5782; Belgium: TEXMA 10 61 16 28; South Africa: Osiris 12 663-4500; Japan (Macintosh): Three's Company, Inc., 03-3770-7600; Japan (DOS and Windows): Design Technologies, Inc., 03-3667-1 110. SlatSotl. STATISTICAL. Quick STATISTICAL. STATISTICA-Mac, Quick STATISTICA/Mac, STATISTICA/DOS. Quick STATISTICA/DOS, and Scrollsheel are trademarks dl StatSoft, Inc. TWO POWERBOOKS GREAT AND SMALL BYTE MACINTOSH BENCHMARKS Power Book 180 PowerBook Duo 230 Mac llci Mac llfx Mac Classic II 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 2 4 6 8 10 12 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 Index Index Index index PowerBook 180 PowerBook Duo 230 Mac llci Mac llfx Mac Classic II i worse Battery Life Better ► PowerBook 180 PowerBook 230 ^ m PowerBook 145 PowerBook 170 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 2000 4000 6000 8000 10.000 Index BENCHMARK SUMMARY 30 60 90 120 150 Minutes PowerBook 180 PowerBook Duo 230 Mac llci Mac llfx Low-level performance CPU index 2.60 FPU index 10.68 Disk index 1 .47 Video index 2.00 2.70 2.22 1.38 2.14 2.18 2.66 1.04 2.17 3.36 4.10 1.51 2.68 Application performance Word processing index 2.76 DTP index 1 .81 Database index 2.50 Development index 2.19 Graphics applications index 2.63 Scientific index 4.46 Spreadsheet index 5.54 Overall application index 21 .91 2.90 1.86 2.59 2.27 2.63 2.67 3.02 17.93 2.99 1.80 2.67 2.06 2.63 4.33 5.98 22.47 4.39 2.44 3.46 2.83 3.63 6.81 8.52 32.08 Mac Classic II 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 7.00 Dhrystone 5555 6250 5555 10,000 2000 All machines were tested using System 7.1 . Except for the Dhrystone and battery-life tests, all results are indexed, and higher numbers indicate better performance. For each indexed test, a Mac Classic 11 = 1. Comprehensive test results and detailed configurations are available for all machines on request. The 33-MHz PowerBook 180 and PowerBook Duo 230 are about 20 percent faster than a 25-MHz Mac llci in some operations. the needs of all but the most demanding users. Both computers' screens were bright and clear, but I especially enjoyed the crys- tal sharpness of the 180's active-matrix display. As for the Duo, there are a lot of little features to like: the LED in the Caps Lock key, the easy-to-reach Power On but- ton (it's by the keyboard rather than in the rear), and its going into sleep mode when you close the lid. However, its smaller, re- cessed trackball takes some getting used to. The trackball got mixed reviews among other BYTE editors. Which computer should you choose? That depends on what you need on the road, and your working style. I have to ad- mit my bias toward the complete, self-con- tained system represented by the Power- Book 180, and I can't praise the display enough. There's a lot to like about the Duo 230's smaller size and lighter weight. Neverthe- less, its lack of a floppy drive scares me. While the Duo Floppy Adapter and exter- nal SuperDrive are a good solution, it re- quires keeping track of too many little parts on the road. If the Duo 230 had a built-in floppy drive, I'd like it a lot better. As it is, I'll stick with the PowerBook 180. ■ Tom Thompson is a BYTE senior technical editor at large with a B.S.E.E. from Mem- phis State University. You can contact him on BIX as "tomjthompson " or on the In- ternet at tomt@bytepb.byte.com. 176 BYTE • MARCH 1993 REVIEWS APPLICATION Visual Basic for Windows Gets a Face-Lift TOM YAGER Until the arrival of Microsoft's Visual Basic for Windows, programmers had to spend hours learning complex de- velopment tools just to work in Windows. Visual Basic simplified working in Win- dows and gave the rewards of custom programming to even occasional pro- grammers. However, its limited feature set was deficient for some, particularly when a large application needed to be cre- ated. At those times, many programmers were forced to write portions of their pro- grams in C or another language. The latest release, version 2.0, removes many but not all of the original version's limitations. Improved performance and new capabilities make custom Windows programming easier than ever. However, Visual Basic still lacks some pieces that I consider important, including a native- code compiler. Greater Magnitude I tested Visual Basic for Windows 2.0 on three machines: a Toshiba T2000SX lap- top (a 16-MHz 386SX), an ALR Flyer 32LCT with a 66-MHz 486DX2, and a Uniq file server with a 50-MHz 486. I spread the testing around to get a feel for the new Visual Basic's performance. How- ever, I did most of my test work on the laptop because I wanted to see how Visu- al Basic's changes played on a system with minimal display resolution and color depth, limited CPU speed, and relatively limited memory (5 MB). If Visual Basic 2.0 could make it there, it could make it anywhere. The first thing that struck me about Visual Basic 2.0 was its magnitude. I installed the Professional Edition, which occupied about 22 MB of disk space and took close to an hour to load on the T2000SX. The installation lets you selec- tively leave out parts of the package and does a fine job of comparing and display- ing required and available disk space. The appearance of Visual Basic 2.0 has changed noticeably (see the screen). Most obvious is Microsoft's ubiquitous toolbar. The toolbar is where the old properties combo box pair used to be; Visual Basic 1 .0 users might find the change a little con- fusing at first. Properties are now man- aged through a floating window. 1 wasn't sure I'd like the new setup un- til I loaded a project I created in the old I'.IUim.l'JHI File _ Edit XView Run Ogfaug Options Window (SB [a Send Massage Visual Basic 2.0 sports a new tool bar and floating window, where you can see multiple properties at once and change properties for multiple selected controls. Message Tel j c ° m ''° 1 Add Recipient \r\* . IS :liSbJ LabJ \ v- jCombol Name Sorted Style Tablndex TabS lop ■ Default Combol False 0- Dropdown Combo i